Imprisoned, Chapter 2

Clark/Lex
Season 7
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Read Chapter 1 here.

Lana Lang looks him over as if he were a slab of meat, and there's an expression he can't quite decipher in her eyes, a look of mingled contempt and lust. The look in her eyes makes him very, very uncomfortable.

Lana was his live-in girlfriend until very recently, and he can't really blame her for the contempt. Because while he was living with her, and professing to love her, he was screwing Lex.

He'd basically been trying to have his cake and eat it too, and in the end, he'd gotten what he deserved for his behavior. Eventually the whole situation had all blown up in his face, in a really ugly way.

A week ago, he'd learned that Lana had been watching him and Lex on video. He confronted her, almost as disgusted by her behavior as she was with his, and after an angry fight, she left the farm.

But she had apparently had a little conversation with Lex yesterday, telling him all of Clark's weaknesses.

He hadn't been quite sure what her motives were for doing that, but now it all begins to make sense. She and Lex are working together. She's not just Clark's ex, after all-- she's Lex's ex-wife, too. He'd thought it was long over between the two of them, but apparently he'd been wrong.

A terrible sensation of rage and betrayal twists in his chest. The idea that she and Lex are still close, still working together, maybe even still sleeping together, makes him see red. Lex is his, damn it.

Which is stupid. Lex clearly isn't his at all, or he wouldn't be here, trapped in this cell like a tiger in the zoo.

Anyway, he doesn't appreciate the contempt in her eyes, but he's not really comfortable with the lust, either. Because as difficult as it was for him to admit it, he's really not into Lana that way.

He's really not into girls that way.

She's looking him over from head to toe. Eventually her gaze settles on his crotch. He feels his cheeks flush hot, and he can barely restrain the urge to cover himself with her hands. He doesn't like being exposed this way, especially after everything that's happened.

"Well," she says, looking wryly at his flaccid penis, "I guess I understand why you had so much trouble getting it up for me now."

He blushes a little more at the uncharacteristic crudeness of her words. He'd tried really, really hard to want Lana. He really had. But Lex is the only one he truly wants.

God help him.

He doesn't like the sensation of being trapped and helpless, so he tries to gain some sort of control of the situation. "How long have you and Lex been working together?" he demands.

Her head jerks up, and he sees a flash of surprise in her eyes. Just for an instant, but it's enough to loosen the painful knot of betrayal in his chest.

Lex isn't involved with Lana. He isn't involved in this situation.

Thank God.

She tries to cover her reaction. "Lex and I have been working together ever since you left me."

"No." Clark suddenly feels more confident, as if his feet are on solid ground again, for the first time since he woke up. "You're lying. You and Lex aren't working together at all, are you?"

Her eyebrows draw together in a frown, and she stops bluffing and lays her cards on the table, metaphorically speaking. "As if I would ever trust him," she says coldly. "The only person on Earth I trust less than Lex Luthor... is you."

Ouch. Clark tries not to flinch. There was a time when he loved Lana, or thought he did, more than anything. And yet during that time, he couldn't stop himself from indulging in hot sex with Lex, so he figures he probably didn't love her quite as much as he thought he did. Still, she was important to him, and the contempt dripping from her voice hurts.

"Okay," he says, still looking for information. He needs to figure out what's going on here, and fast. "So what did you do to me?"

She smiles, an angelic, horrible smile that sends shivers down his spine. There's something terribly creepy about her expression.

"One of my people exposed you to green kryptonite while you were sleeping in the barn," she says. "That made you vulnerable, and then they injected you with a sedative. After that, they brought you back here, and we inserted a small sliver of blue kryptonite under your skin."

Under his skin. Great. He wonders if he can figure out where the sliver is. If he can get a knife or something sharp, does he have the guts to cut it out?

He doubts it. Just the thought of seeing his own blood makes his stomach roil unpleasantly. The mental image of digging a knife into his own flesh makes him cringe.

He turns his mind away from the thought. "Where did you find blue kryptonite?" he asks. "I wasn't even sure it could be found on Earth."

"Neither was I. I consulted a local mineralogist who specializes in the meteor rocks. It's extremely rare, but samples of it do exist in Smallville. I had to spend a rather substantial amount to buy a tiny sliver of it, though."

Since Lana somehow finagled ten million dollars out of Lex-- she claims it was a divorce settlement, but Clark has a suspicion that the truth isn't quite that pretty-- money really isn't a problem for her. He wishes she'd done like other women who split up with billionaires in high-profile divorces and just bought herself a yacht, or a Rolls-Royce.

Instead, she bought the one substance on Earth that can depower him. He isn't sure what she wants from him, but he's pretty certain that whatever it is, he won't like it.

"So," he says, meeting her eyes as levelly as he can. "Why am I here?"

"Don't worry, Clark." She smiles sweetly. "You're not alone."

Fear grabs him by the balls. Suddenly he's twice as scared as he was before. He's not the world's bravest guy, particularly when he's missing his powers, but he can face being tortured or experimented on or even vivisected

But he doesn't think he can face seeing Lex in danger.

"You have Lex," he says in a low growl.

She nods, smiling that terrible, beautiful smile.

Clark steps toward her, grabbing the iron bars, staring at her pleadingly. "Lana," he says. "Let him go. Please. I'll do anything you want if you just let him go."

"You'll do anything I want anyway."

He shakes his head. "No, I won't. I won't cooperate unless you let him go."

"You don't understand what it's like to be powerless. You never have." Her mouth curves, but her eyes are humorless. "Let me show you."

She reaches out and pushes a button on the wall, and suddenly pain jolts through him. Only for a second, but it's startling and unpleasant and something he will try really hard to avoid in the future. He gives a yelp of pain, letting go of the bars and jumping straight into the air.

The pain's already gone by the time his feet hit the floor again, but the memory of it will remain for a long, long time. He doesn't like being depowered and vulnerable. It sucks.

"An electric shock," she explains, as if he hasn't already figured that out. "A mild one. If you defy me, it can be a lot more painful than that."

He figures he knows why the walls and floor of his cell are all metal now. The better to barbecue him with. He resists the urge to rub at his skin and looks back at her, as defiantly as he dares.

"Let him go, Lana."

She shakes her head slowly. "No," she answers. "I have both of you... and I intend to keep you."

Clark lets out his breath in a frustrated sigh. He's smart enough to realize he's not in any sort of position to argue here. He has no power, nothing to offer, nothing to negotiate with. And if he argues, he's going to wind up being charbroiled, which does not appeal to him in the least.

He decides the best thing to do-- the only thing to do-- is to go along with whatever Lana wants, until he can find a way out of this.

"Fine," he says shortly. "What do you intend to do with us?"

Her eyes light up, and she smiles at him, a radiant, fallen angel.

"I'm going to watch you have sex with each other," she answers.

Read Chapter 3 here.