fic post: Mariposa

[roxy]

Title:Mariposa
Fandom: SV
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating:2
Summary: any AU SV with Lucas can’t be all bad….

The Previous Parts are here, too damned tired to move.




The Black Angel’s…


“You know he’s sick, right? He knows it; you know it, but no one’s talking about it.”

Lucas was an asshole, but…Lex worried that he was right. Through the French doors, he watched the tall thin form aimlessly move about, wander around the pool. It tore at his heart to see how the bones moved under Clark’s skin, it was pitiful, painful. His hipbones rose up under the milk pale skin like they might rip through—he watched, rubbing his lower lip unaware, as Clark slowly wandered back and forth on the patio. He moved as if he were searching for some specific spot… he’d sit for a bit, grimace and move around again, coming to rest in the brightest spot he could find, and sink down with a sigh. Lex stood and walked close to the wide glass doors as he watched, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, his shoulders slightly hunched. Worry bent him. He jerked his chin towards the window. “Look at him. I know he’s eating better now, he gets exercise…I know he sleeps well, but he’s so fucking damn thin and too damn pale. Ever since he had that break down—since he threw away that ring it’s like he just refuses to thrive.”

Lucas glanced up from the couch; he turned and watched Clark too. “Well…” He stopped and went on in a doubtful tone. “I guess it’s possible he’s just feeling sorry for himself. That ring was some big deal for him. Dead boyfriend gave it to him, I think. Still, you should get him checked out…” He shrugged.

“I know. I know that.” Lex snapped. He turned from the wrenching sight and focused on Lucas, who was really beginning to get on his nerves.

Lucas turned completely to stare out onto the patio. He was on his knees, like a kid, resting his chin on his arms, folded on the back of the couch. “Maybe…he’s dying, hunh? Looks kind of like it, don’t you think? Look at him, stalking back and forth…like he’s looking for a place to do it in. Like a stray cat--”

Lex lashed out, punched Lucas hard. He grunted and folded over, fell off the couch. He slapped his hand over his face, pulled it away and looked in his palm with a creak of surprise. Blood from his mouth dripped into his open hand, and he looked up at Lex with a bloody grin and a ghost of hurt in his eyes. “I think you knocked a tooth loose, damn it…instead of wasting time being pissed off, you should be checking him out.”

Lex watched blood leak out of his brother’s twisted grin and felt a shiver of guilt—but Lucas shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t have laughed... “I tried—am trying, you bastard. I’ve been hounding him to go to the doctors, offered to bring doctors here—he won’t let me. He refuses everything. Just like the fucking therapists—he’s fucking driving me crazy!” He slammed his fist into the leather couch back, the vibration shooting up his arm. He glanced back, and Clark was staring at him through the glass, a little frown drawing lines around his mouth, concern wrinkling his brow. Lex waved art him, tried pasting a little smile on.

“You idiot,” Lucas laughed. “You’ve got doctors out the ass—a private hospital all your own. What the fuck are you waiting for? Or maybe you and Camille are happy this way—you can hold him while he coughs his lungs out and whine all heartbroken and ‘Oh fucking woe is me, the world hates me? Look how I suffer’, blah, fucken’ blah—ouch, god damn it.”

Lex bent over Lucas, hissed and shook his hand out; a red weal bloomed on Lucas’s cheek bone. “I’ll kill you, you little fuck…”

“Your dragging your ass on this is killing Clark—ah-ah, *don’t* hit me again; you *can’t* take me in a fight, Lex.” Lucas pushed him away and got to his feet, and it was maddening to Lex that the bastard was still grinning. “I’m saying, for his own good, drug him if you have to but find out what’s wrong with him. Save him.”

Lex snarled, “I knew it—I knew you wanted him too, I knew it from the beginning--”

“Oh, fucking spare me the paranoid ravings—I don’t want that pathetic little bitch. And try to get it through your head, not everyone wants what’s yours. That was Dad’s kink.” Lucas yanked his shirt tails loose and wiped his mouth. “Go on, do what I tell you to do—in the long run, it’ll be right.” He grabbed his coat from the couch, and walked up to Lex. He grabbed his tie, and gave him a bruising kiss, pushed him back. “Ass hole.”

He was out the door so fast Lex was still gasping from the kiss, spitting blood. He turned and Clark thank god was at the far end of the patio, swimming in the pool. Lex mulled over Lucas’ words, poking his tongue into the cut inside his mouth, where his own teeth sliced into the tender flesh inside his lip…Lucas…was pretty much crazy but maybe he was right. He had to do what it took—and live with the consequences. What the hell—he was already responsible for murder—murders. What could be worse?

If it benefited Clark…fuck all, sometimes; the end did justify the means.

Lucas wasn’t really that far off the mark. Clark wasn’t cooperating in his own care, so…someone had to take control. Hadn’t Clark more or less already asked him to do that? In a way, if he—he drugged him and brought him to the lab to be examined, well. That’d be taking care of him, just like Clark had asked. So…it wouldn’t be wrong and it wouldn’t exactly be a violation—intrusion. That was the word he was looking for…yes. He’d be well within his rights, and Clark’s expectations, to do that…

Clark was being absolutely unhelpful. He fought against doctors, he refused the idea of therapists like he’d been trained to—and that was odd, and not. It was typical of abuse situations—but not of the people that Lex remembered. He sighed. Hell, the fog of drugs and booze he’d swum in so much back then might be gilding the memories he had of the parents. And Lex definitely recognized the wall Clark had built between himself and the world around him.

Lex glanced outside again, and saw that Clark was pulling himself out of the pool. For one moment, the sun hit him in such a way that his skin was flooded with color—he was golden, wet curls framed his face and he was smiling up at the sky. For the moment, he looked happy…Lex felt there was nothing he wouldn’t give, to have Clark look like that—to look that happy all the time. Maybe…even risk making a horrible mistake….

******

The conversation with Lucas motivated him to finally inspect the labs personally, see what it was all about. The time was right at any rate. He couldn’t ignore what was happening any more. He thought maybe he could take care of Clark and then, shut down this part of LuthorCorp. That would be the simplest, the most desirable action.

The driver left him outside of an average building in an office complex in Edge City, less than an hour from LuthorCorp. Inside, the building was quite a bit grander, flooded with light from the glass and metal frame that made up the far wall. Potted trees stood about, there were granite pools, koi lazily swimming in them. A light well ran from the top floor three stories above and went down four stories. Offices were arranged against the three walls that opened to the light well. It looked like any business, industrial carpet and furnishing, office art on the walls, and everything beige and rose, stylish colors a decade or so ago. There was no way to know what went on in the lower levels. Lex shook his head. Amazing.

The twisted man that Lucas had described came to greet him, a large smile pulling up the corners of a lipless mouth. He introduced himself as Director Smith and apologized for the dark glasses that his eyes. “The light. It’s wonderful for the plants and the fish, but not so much for my eyes. I much prefer a dimmer light,” he chuckled dryly. Lex wondered if he practiced his mad scientist persona. The man certainly seemed to enjoy it.

He was asked if he cared to visit the apartment first—he was surprised to find that Lionel had sometimes stayed in the building. Lex supposed that it was…convenient. He declined, and asked if they could begin the tour. With another dusty chuckle, the man indicated he should follow. “We’re going below now. It’s a bit…farther than you might imagine."

An elevator dropped them below the floors Lex had seen, it was explained to him that no one could access the elevator but key holders—staff entered the complex through a different place—another building. The elevator shrugged, and Lex was startled.

"Sideways," the man smiled. "We’re going a little sideways now.”

The doors opened, and Lex breathed a sigh of relief not to be in a small enclosed space with the unpleasant man. He followed the Director to his office. They passed rooms that looked rather like dormitories, and every so often, a station staffed with security, and what looked like medical personnel. Even with uniformed security, even with cameras bristling on every surface, it was bright and cheerful. Bulletin boards announced events, as they walked past double sets of closed doors, he heard the sound of groups of people eating together, the smell of institutional meals…it was familiar, and that made it so much more…frightening. He could have ended here, too. If his dad hadn’t decided that he was valuable to him—this was where he’d have lived out his life, while Lucas walked in the sun….

“It’s…cheerful. Bright.” Lex tried not to make it sound like an accusation.

“Ah. Cooperation can sometime be obtained by offering an alternative to…well, let’s just say by offering a reward. Honey and vinegar, am I right?”



******

Lex disliked the twisted man intensely. There was a mocking light in his eyes that called his father to mind. It made it difficult to concentrate and he needed to pay attention. Director Smith sat calmly at his desk, the deep cherry wood gleaming, the faint scent of orange in the air. The man’s perfectly manicured hands were folded, and he was so still Lex thought idly about holding a mirror to his nostrils…

“The experiments interest you, of course,” he smiled. Lex leaned forward slightly; his brow furrowed as he tried to hear what Director Smith was saying--the man had the annoying habit of speaking just a shade too softly, like Dad. “I understand that at first sight, some of the facility may look distressing but you must look beneath the surface. The subjects on the whole have no chance of living a normal life on their own; most of them are not equipped to interact with non-mutants. They can be, willfully or not, dangerous to the average person. Your father provided them with a place to stay, with safety, protected them from themselves…he gave them a chance to live some sort of life. If he received some return on that, why, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?”

Lex didn’t answer. The man’s tone was reasonable, logical--as he spoke, Lex found himself nodding, quietly agreeing. Yes, the man had a valid point… he wanted the man to find him agreeable. He wanted the man to like him, it was important that he liked him… “Stop that.”

The man looked at him with a satisfied smile. “Interesting, isn’t it? I’ve been injected with a serum developed with the help of one of our charges. Just one of the many fascinating results of our research. This particular effect has no practical application at this point, unfortunately-—its effect is very mild, and as you see, if the object of influence resists, it’s easily thwarted. The effect on the injected is also temporary.” He shrugged. “There have been more successful results but every step, no matter how small, is a step forward. Work continues. You see, there are many, many talents gathered here. Your father was a man of vision. I hope his son follows in his footsteps.”

The man led Lex on a tour of the rest of the facility, and he saw first hand what Lucas had described, what he’d seen on the security tapes. He saw people so altered that they could never live among humans. He saw people who’d been driven to survive anyway they could, people who wanted to destroy and people who begged not to, but mostly he saw terrified children. He saw himself in some of them.

They entered a final level, the security was heightened, the atmosphere was tinged with fear and a sense of hopelessness. Lex’s skin crawled, and he felt his heart beat faster…sweat broke out on his lip, his scalp. He wanted—he needed to be out….

He looked into the thick glass window of one cell door. In the far corner of the cell, a rather average looking girl sat cross-legged. She was completely still, her face expressionless. Only her eyes were alive. They drilled into him, and she smiled…Lex tore his eyes away and shivered. He licked dry lips, glanced back into the cell and she was staring at the floor. Lex felt oddly grateful, and hurried after the twisted man.

The end of the tour brought them to the research facilities—labs, exam rooms, operating rooms, where they did actual work on the subjects. The people…kids. Lex swallowed. Some of the exam rooms they looked in were no different than any room he’d found himself in at four o’clock in the morning, yelling his brains out, having his stomach pumped, having drugs shot into him…flashes of memory hit him, again and again, fleeting, flickering images…fear, coldness, loneliness. And pain of course, always pain.

He made arrangements for Clark to be examined there.


All the way back to LexCorp, he thought about what he’d seen, thought about what his father had done, and the lost souls he’d penned together. He wasn’t really sure what direction to take—letting them go--didn’t seem a likely solution. In a way…he wasn’t sure…it was possible…maybe it was his fault, their pain. They were certainly his responsibility now. Lex chewed on his lip, thinking over possibilities, changes…the current staff was used to what his father deemed right. They needed to be evaluated. Certain mindsets couldn’t be allowed, not for the changes he had in mind...if those changes were practical. He sighed. Lucas would have to be the one to handle that. He tended to be razor clear about risks and profit. Lucas would ferret out who could be trusted and who…who couldn’t. And then…and then.

Lex dropped his head back against the soft leather of the seat back. He was piling sin after sin on his…soul. But he had no other option. No other plan or way he could see out of this minefield without taking steps backward, into darkness that he’d hoped to climb out of. Lex closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples.

Sure. Sure, Lex, if that’s what you wanted, you’d have sent Lucas away a long time ago. You’d have stopped him—you wouldn’t have cleaned up after him…you’d never have kept Clark…. The light rubbing at his temples turned hard, vicious enough to leave pink streaks from eye to ear. I’ll make up for it—I’ll fix him, make it better.


He called Lucas, and left a message when he didn’t pick up. “We need to talk. About Dad’s work. Come see me.

******

That evening Clark was surprised with a cup of hot chocolate, topped off with a dollop of cream just he way he liked it, or so he told Lex.

“Great,” Lex smiled, watching Clark lick cream from his lip. “I was guessing you’d like it this way. Drink up, Clark.”

tbc