Imprisoned, Chapter 3

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 2 here.

"I want to see Lex."

Clark crosses his arms over his chest, doing his best to look big and intimidating. The knowledge that Lex didn't betray him last night fills his chest with warmth, changing his whole perspective. He no longer feels crushed by lonely despair. Of course, he realizes they're both in a bad situation here-- but now he has faith they'll get out of it.

Together, they'll get out.

He remembers last night, the way Lex finally threw the kryptonite aside and accepted him for what he really is, the way they made love. He remembers his own voice, uttering a truth he just can't deny any more: Oh, God, Lex. I love you.

Earlier he was in anguish, thinking he'd given his love to the wrong person, afraid he'd been betrayed, but now he has hope again, hope that Lex loves him, too. The warmth swells inside him until he thinks he might burst.

He's in a cell, at the mercy of a jailer who hates him, and who's stripped his powers from him.

But all he can think about is the fact that Lex hasn't betrayed him.

Lana smiles at him, that same sweet, horrible smile. She doesn't appear intimidated in the least. He looks at her, a girl he once loved a great deal, and admits to himself how disturbed she is.

He'd been aware that she was slipping down a very dark path for the past few months, but he hadn't realized the extent of it until he'd learned she'd been watching videos of himself and Lex making love. At that point, he'd finally acknowledged she wasn't the same girl he'd met in high school, even as he admitted he wasn't the flawless and pure Galahad he'd always thought she deserved. The truth is that both of them have embraced their dark side recently.

But now he's starting to realize that Lana has gone beyond mere darkness, beyond slight sexual perversion and lack of concern for others' privacy. There's something very wrong with her. She doesn't mind imprisoning people, or causing them pain, to get what she wants.

She's a psychopath.

He knows the shock and revulsion he feels must be reflected in his eyes, but she seems oblivious to his expression. "You're going to see Lex," she answers, her voice as sweet as ever. "Don't worry, Clark. He's perfectly all right. I promise."

After everything that's happened, her promise is worth less than nothing, but he decides not to say so. He only stands silently, watching her turn and walk away, and he hears the door clang behind her.

He stands next to the entrance to the cell, waiting.

Eventually the door swings open of its own accord. Magnetically sealed, he thinks, even as he's going through it. His superspeed is gone, thanks to the blue K that's been inserted somewhere under his skin, but there's no real need for speed here anyway, because that door certainly wasn't opened by accident.

He glances around, sees an open door at the end of a short corridor, and heads for it.

He's aware that he's not being allowed to escape, just being herded where Lana wants him to go. And that's okay, because right now, what he needs to do is find Lex. He can't escape without Lex. But that doesn't stop him from trying to investigate a little, to figure out what this place is for.

There are ten cells lining this corridor, five on either side. They all seem to be empty, but he stops in front of one, looking curiously inside it. After three seconds, the floor beneath him delivers a jolt to his bare feet. He jumps, realizing he's being discouraged from any sort of exploration, and heads obediently down the corridor at a faster trot.

He sees another intersection of corridors. In front of him is an open door, but to the side there's a closed door. Instead of going through the open door, he lunges abruptly to the side, reaching for the other door. But the instant he veers toward it, pain crackles through him, and he jumps back into the main corridor, yelping.

Damn it. Being vulnerable really sucks.

He realizes he has to go where Lana wants him to go, and at the speed she wants him to go. But later... later he'll figure out how to get Lex out of here, somehow. He's not sure, but somehow, he'll figure it out.

He has to protect Lex. Because Lex is what matters most to him.

He jogs down the next corridor, taken aback by how big this place is. Where is it located, and what exactly is Lana using this facility for? It's obviously too big and too well designed to just have been set up to hold him and Lex. Apparently Lana has been up to something in her spare time. But exactly what that something might be, he can't imagine.

He's passed twenty or thirty empty cells now, but finally he sees one with an open door. He breaks into a run, figuring that's where Lex is.

At the open door, he pauses in dismay.

Lex is indeed in the open cell, and just like Clark, he's been stripped naked. But unlike Clark, he's chained to a flat table, arms immobilized, legs spread wide. He looks helpless and vulnerable, and in other circumstances, some dark, perverse, deeply buried part of Clark might find this situation arousing. But right now, he's just too full of concern for Lex to be turned on by it.

He remembers Lana's words: I'm going to watch you have sex with each other.

He realizes Lana has brought him here so he can screw Lex.

Read Chapter 4 here.