Enemy, Chapter 5

Clark/Chloe
Late Season 5
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the WB and DC Comics, not to me

"Wake up, damn it!"

Pete smacked his brother across the face, but Andrew didn't stir. He was breathing, but he was out cold. Pete sat back on his heels, cursing mentally.

He had to get his brother out of here. Andrew was the oldest Ross brother, and he'd practically defined what it meant to be a Ross for all the siblings that came after him. He was six foot three, muscular, had been a football star in college, and was now a very successful engineer. He was strong, tall, and smart.

He was everything that Pete wasn't.

Pete was a pipsqueak. The family misfit. The family clown. Too small for sports, not particularly intellectual, lacking any clue as to what he wanted to major in, and generally a poster child for lack of achievement. He knew he was a disappointment to his parents, after all his other brothers had accomplished so much. The sad truth was that the world probably wouldn't miss him a great deal if he got killed here today.

But a hell of a lot of people would miss Andrew.

There was no possible way Pete could lift his brother, but he was damn well going to get him out of here somehow. He grabbed his brother's arms, exerted all his strength, and started to drag him across the floor.

The Ross brothers were leaving here together, damn it.

*****

"I can't believe you missed this," Chloe said, waving the white card at Clark. "You can spot a drop of blood, or a footprint, but you can't see a business card. Way to use that vision, Sherlock."

Clark's eyebrows drew together in an annoyed frown. "I didn't miss it. I just hadn't looked at that particular area yet."

"Sure you hadn't," she said, deliberately tweaking him a bit. He bristled, to her amusement, and snatched the card from her fingers.

He instantly went still, and his eyes narrowed with a kind of controlled fury. She knew he'd recognized the logo immediately, just as she had. A stylized LC.

The logo of LuthorCorp.

Clark had once been good friends with Lex Luthor, the current CEO of LuthorCorp. But last year, things had started to go badly wrong between them, and now he considered Lex his enemy. It looked to Chloe that Lex reciprocated the feeling. And if Lex in fact had figured out that Clark was vulnerable to kryptonite, that was very, very bad, because Lex could be merciless to his enemies.

"I wonder if they dropped this by accident," Clark said at last, studying the card, "or if they meant for me to find it."

"No way of telling for sure," she answered. "But unless they were out here conducting business in your barn, I don't see why they would have been pulling business cards out of their wallets."

He nodded. "So it was probably deliberate."

"Yes. A clue left behind so you'd know who took Pete. Which means it's probably a trap."

He frowned. "There's no name on it. Lex has his name engraved on his cards. So did Lionel, when he was the CEO. Any top executive would."

She shrugged. "That proves nothing, Clark. Lex doesn't do his own dirty work. That's what his employees are for."

He turned it over in his hand, looking at it thoughtfully. "The business address isn't for LuthorCorp Plaza in Metropolis. It's for the fertilizer plant here in Smallville."

"You think maybe they took Pete there?"

"I think maybe they want me to go there. Whether Pete's there or not, I don't know."

"You can't go there," she said. "You're still recovering. We need to call the cops."

"Fine," he said. "Call the cops. But I'm not going to wait around for them. I need to go try to find Pete."

"No," she said, more forcibly. "You are not superspeeding over there by yourself, Clark. How many times do I have to tell you that even heroes need backup?"

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll be fine."

"That's crazy, Clark. If Lex knows about the kryptonite--"

There was a rush of air that made her hair blow wildly, a whooshing sound, and suddenly he was gone.

Chloe stood there for a second, dazed, then ran for her car. Damn him, she thought furiously. She'd hoped he was still too sick to use his superspeed, but obviously he'd recovered. But he wasn't even wearing shoes and a shirt. Or had he supersped into the house to change first, before heading for the plant?

Either way, he'd be at the LuthorCorp plant in a very few seconds. Even if she shattered the speed limit the whole way, it would take her at least fifteen minutes to get there.

She hoped to God that would be soon enough.

More to come...