Clff 14th wave entry.
Title - Cold-hearted
Rating - R: Violence, Implied Rape, Character death
Written for the CLFF Wave 14 Fix-the-outcome challenge: Kardasi.com
My Prompt: Cool - Sean at the Castle after the power goes out.
Author's notes - Deep thanks to Blackpsychi, Ilovedoyle, and Enderwiggins/Enderluke for beta’ing and suggestions. Any mistakes are entirely my own and the only things herein (other than my own rabid plot bunny) that I own.
Summary - Same essential outcome for vastly different reasons.
Luthor Estate - Exterior.
Clark: Go in the house, Mom. Go, now!
Sean: That's your mom? She's hot!
Clark: Sean, you have to get to a hospital.
Sean: What are they going to do? Put me under an electric blanket? I need heat, Clark - contact! That's the only thing that's going to work for me. Every person's another fix.
Clark: You're not getting into that house.
Sean: Who's gonna stop me? You? Ooh! Brr!
Clark and Sean fight. Sean winds up straddling a prone Clark.
Sean: I don't know what it is about you, Clark, but I haven't felt this good in two days. And when I'm done with you, there's your mom, your dad...and Lana.
Clark: I'll never let you hurt them.
Cold-Hearted
***
Sean stared down at Clark seriously. His wild look softened into a sad frown as he met Clark’s eyes.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. Not really. But… you … don’t know what it feels like to feel yourself freezing bit by bit from the inside out.”
At Sean’s mournful statement, Clark had a momentary flash of hope that he’d gotten through to Sean, relaxed the muscle tension that he’d been gathering to throw Sean off, and released his grip on the other boy.
***
The sound of Martha’s boots thumping down the hall immediately caught Lex’s attention. Leaving Lana and Whitney, he locked the door behind him and warned Lana to open it only for him or the Kents. As he turned from the door, he was glad to see Jonathan and Martha had already met in the hall. If their gaze had not flown directly to each other, he was certain that he would not have overheard their next whispered words.
“He’s here.”
“Who, Clark or…?”
“Both, Sean froze the generator.”
“Okay, Let’s get back to the others. We’ll need to keep everyone in until Clark can handle this.”
“Jonathan, no, I can do that. You need to go help Clark. I think Sean’s more dangerous than Clark realizes…He seemed so sweet and innocent just standing there. If I didn’t know better I would have brought him right inside when he said that he needed to get warm.”
Lex watched Jonathan follow her gaze back down the hall then look back uncertainly and understood his hesitation. He had no doubt that Clark could handle himself in a dangerous situation. That had been proven in a very short time. His weakness, however, seemed his gentle heart-Clark was absolutely willing to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone even despite overwhelming evidence against it. Their very friendship was proof of that.
“Whitney and Lana shouldn’t be any difficulty to contain,” Jonathan debated, “but Lex…”
“Will behave…” Lex interrupted, “If it means getting you out there to back Clark up.”
Their shocked eyes flashed toward him as he took advantage of their surprise, “Just a second though,” he waved for them to follow him. “Martha, how big is the young man in question? Closer to Clark’s size, Whitney’s, or Pete’s?”
Martha stared at him in confusion for a second then shrugged, “He’s closer to Jonathan’s height, I think but… possibly not as broad through the shoulders?” Martha ended in a questioning tone hoping that her description helped.
While Lex wouldn’t admit it, he nodded with satisfaction as he approached the gun cabinet. Martha had given him the perfect reference. Unlocking the cabinet, he pulled out three trank guns and a case of the tranquilizer darts that he had, just coincidentally, specifically tailored to someone who happened to be Jonathan’s weight, height, and age… according to his last insurance physical.
“These should do, but considering the possible effects of meteors you may need to use a second dart.” That should take care of any age difference in the dosage.
***
As soon as Clark released his hands, Sean dropped one hand to the ground beside Clark’s head and used it to lean forward, lifting one knee as though to climb off of Clark’s prone form. But as soon as his knee and hip lifted high enough to give Sean access to Clark’s upper torso, he unerringly slammed his hand to the warmest spot on Clark’s chest and concentrated on drawing his heat off directly from his heart.
Before Clark could marshal his surprise and react, he was in utter agony. Helpless, he felt his heart quickly still as his chilled blood coagulated and froze- even as he continued to feel the remainder of his unfrozen body starving for the next beat and his lungs contracting away from the frigid muscle as they struggled to supply his oxygen-deprived brain. There was barely time to cry out as the pain of unanswered nerve responses besieged his mind.
***
Clark’s guttural cry of agony reverberated through the castle- interrupting Lex’s explanation of the trank gun’s telescopic lens.
“Clark?” They exclaimed simultaneously- turning in shock towards the direction that the cry had echoed from.
Jonathan glanced between Martha and Lex uncertainly. Normally, he would hesitate to involve Lex, but Clark’s cry had resounded with such pain that there could be no doubt that the was being cruelly injured. If Clark could be hurt, Martha… Martha could be killed. He would risk anything to protect Clark, up to and including his own life. But, Martha… Martha’s life was more precious than anything - even Clark’s secret. If that meant that he would have to deal with the consequences of letting…
“I’m going!” Lex interrupted his train of thought firmly… apparently sensing Jonathan’s hesitation. When Jonathan seemed ready to object, Lex continued emphatically, “Look, you can stand here fighting me, or we can both go out there and stop whatever’s hurting Clark.”
Jonathan’s abrupt nod surprised them both, but not as much as their sudden unspoken but unified stance surprised Martha when they turned as one, wearing almost identical looks of determination - each broadcasting his intent to convince her to stay behind. Throwing her hands up in mock-surrender, Martha acquiesced, “I’ll stay with Lana and Whitney.”
When she started to hand off the trank gun, Lex gestured for her to keep it- saying: “If Clark’s been hurt…”
***
Sean practically growled with pleasure as he felt the surge of power rushing through him and bumping the residual traces of Clark’s body heat from his earlier draw. The first time, Clark’s body heat had been simply that: a dose of the heat that Sean needed so badly. But, this time as he bled off heat and energy from Clark, it flowed through him like an orgasm. Waking freeze-deadened nerve endings, a warm flush seemed to alternately ‘touch’ every centimeter of his skin then flared with random nerve shocks that felt for all the world like fingers gently exploring everywhere from the crown of his head to the soft ticklish flesh between Sean’s toes- everywhere… everywhere!
Dropping his knee so that he was again straddled across Clark, he caught Clark’s frightened face in his hands and stopped drawing heat for a moment as he watched the panic growing in Clark’s eyes.
“Man, you’re mom’s still hot,” Sean exclaimed while he began to shift his hips rubbing his crotch against Clark’s. “But, you… this… this is incredible.” It took barely two strokes before he was shuddering and scarcely able to speak.
“God, that was. Oohh. That was incredible. Sean shook his head as he stared down at Clark.
“Man, nothing like happened with anyone else, and they didn’t come back like you did. I wonder…” he looked around quickly - seeming to have heard something in the distance then glanced back at Clark explaining: “They’re bound to get here soon, but I want more time with you.”
Then, Sean gave Clark his first experience of being subject to someone who’s speed and strength matched his own as he jumped to his feet, grabbed Clark up easily with one hand, and ran into the wooded expanse with the immobilized boy thrown over his shoulder.
***
Lex watched Lana and Whitney (smiling and chatting amiably as they grabbed their bag lunches) with almost unreasonable anger. He almost regretted his decision to provide meals on site for the search parties. True, it allowed the hungry searchers to refuel without returning to town or going back to the Kent farm as they had first two days of Clark’s formal disappearance. But, it had begun to devolve into a community event, as opposed to the grim task that Lex and his security team still pursued, and the whole town’s blithe lack of concern was starting to fray his nerves. Even Clark’s parent’s hadn’t seemed to give his absence it’s full weight until a full day had passed.
He tried unsuccessfully to shift his thoughts away from the subject of the full day that had passed between Clark’s actual disappearance and the start of the search. It chagrined him that the Kents had been so willing to blow off his assistance after their initial search of the grounds - assuring him that Clark must have dealt with the situation and then headed home. But, it served no purpose to cling to anger that he could never vent against them when he recognized how much they were already punishing themselves for Clark’s week-long absence.
***
Groping his way along the wall, Clark tried to move as carefully and as quietly as he could, but it was incredibly difficult because his eyes were nowhere near normal yet. But, he knew that he didn’t have time to wait until they returned to normal; Sean would be back soon. Sean had kept an exact record and knew exactly when his latest freeze would end. This time only his eyes had been frozen; but, Sean having become increasingly bored with Clark’s growing passivity had threatened that if Clark wasn’t out of the caves by the time he returned, the next freeze would be much worse.
He was so exhausted and confused that he truly wanted to simply collapse and give up to the inevitable. Clark had been wandering through the caves for hours, hungry and cold - having been allowed only half of a corn cob to eat and his t-shirt for cover since the day before. Sean seemed to think that those added “incentives” would give him more motivation to run than his other warning alone. Still, neither were really necessary, , because Clark knew that no matter how exhausted he was, it was and incredibly bad idea to let Sean get bored. In fact, their game of “freeze tag” had been born out of Clark’s first desperate attempt to escape after Sean’s initial bout of boredom inspired him to discover how many different ways he could freeze and immobilize Clark.
That investigation had spawned almost 18 hours of seemingly endless pain, which Clark had finally tried to escape from - dragging himself by his fingertips after Sean had frozen the muscles in his biceps, his back, and his upper thighs. Waking to find Clark missing, Sean quickly learned that he enjoyed the hunt - particularly when he finally found Clark (after twice getting lost in the caves). His thrill at Clark’s panicked bark and terrified gaze fed Sean’s mind-blowing orgasm and earned Clark something of a reward: the next morning Sean froze him into a sitting position with his legs wrapped around one of the cave’s strange outcroppings and used Clark’s stolen speed to zip away. When he returned, he gave Clark discarded disposable cup full of water and fire baked an egg and a whole corn-cob for him. It was the closest thing that Clark had had to a meal in the first three days. That had been four days ago, though Sean had let him earn two and a half more corn cobs in the time since and promised another as a reward if he could manage to get out of the caves in time.
As his eyesight began to clear to a thick haze that suggested an almost blurry view of the caves, Clark’s panic grew. Sean would find him soon and he was nowhere near the cave’s entrance if he was interpreting the now familiar blurs correctly.
***
“Lex, Man, you need to chill.” Pete stepped around into his view to capture his attention.
“Pete.”
“Listen. I know you’re worried about Clark, but you should like drop the attitude over Lana - you know. She’s not doing anything wrong.”
“Apparently, you and I have a different opinion of what wrong is. I somehow seem to think that it’s wrong to turn a search and rescue into a dating event… particularly when Miss Lane is well aware that Clark w... is smitten with her. But, then perhaps, I’m just being old fashioned.” If Clark had heard Lex’s tone of voice, he would have easily recognized that Lex was rapidly loosing his temper, but Pete … Pete was not one accustomed to subtlety and recklessly decided to chastise Lex despite the fact that he’d noticed signs of Lex’s impatient, angry tone just a few moments earlier.
“That’s cold, Man.”
“No, that’s not cold. Cold is treating your best friend’s disappearance like it’s just a good excuse to get out of school.” Lex lashed out at Pete quietly. He probably wouldn’t admit it to anyone except Clark, but he was running on too short of a fuse, felt like too little was getting done in Clark’s search, and needed a relatively safe vent- without needing to go back to the manor for a much needed session with Heiki. But, instead of the satisfying fight that he’d expected from Pete - Clark’s friend just canted his head, dredged up a sympathetic gaze, and mumbled: “See, what I mean? You’ve just gotta chill.”
“How am I going to do that when we haven’t found Clark, yet?” Lex tried to keep the anxiety out of his voice and only barely managed to succeed, but it was a pointless attempt as Pete stared at him with a slightly less affected look of concern.
“You know we’re going to find him don’t you?”
“How can I know that?” Lex asked - exasperated. “For that matter, how can you?”
“Lex, this is Clark we’re talking about here. Of course were going to find him and he’s gonna be just fine when we do.”
***
Clark’s whimpers lead Sean to him as much as any other trait that Sean been tracking. Slipping behind Clark so quietly that he wasn’t heard over Clark’s panicked mews until he was less than a foot away, Sean leaned in until Clark felt Sean’s breath on his ear and froze.
“How very disappointing. And, I thought you’d want something more to wear or eat. Oh, well…” Sean murmured happily.
“Please, Sean. Please.” Clark begged futilely knowing that Sean preferred him to beg but that it would make no difference.
“Your shirt: take it off.”
The words were barely out before Clark scrambled to comply. After Clark finished pulling off the t-shirt and handing it back to Sean, he waited quietly, trying not to tense his muscles in case Sean decided to freeze him without warning. Clark had learned quickly form Sean’s earlier experiment that bunching his muscles from tension elongated others and -regardless of which muscle group was frozen- the other was forced to hold a position meant to be temporary for several painful hours.
Nevertheless, when Sean dropped his frozen balled up T in front of him and laughed as it shattered, Clark couldn’t help but jump away from it. Enjoying Clark’s startled reaction, Sean wrapped an arm around his waist pulling Clark back against his chest.
Despite himself, when Sean’s free hand cupped his crotch, Clark could not stop himself from tensing in fearful anticipation. But, instead of the freezing touch that he feared, Sean pressed his palm hard against Clark’s shaft until Clark retreated from the painful pressure - unconsciously pressing his hips into Sean’s groin. With Clark pressed tightly against him, Sean chuckled, curled his hips to brush his stiff cock between Clark’s tensed cheeks, and murmured breathily in his ear, “Clark, have you ever wondered…”
He paused to push Clark’s hips more firmly into his own for emphasis as he continued, “Have you ever wondered what it feels like to freeze from the inside out?”
Sean’s meaning sunk in quickly and his shaft flared into the crevice between Clark’s cheeks, reacting to Clark’s horrified cry of “nooo.” For the first time in days, Clark thrashed against Sean trying to break his grip, but was held in place, ironically by his own stolen strength- as Sean’s cruel laughter rang through the cavern.
***
Filling fist Pete’s cup, then his own, Lex was nearly startled into dropping both when his cell phone jangled discordantly.
“Man, download some new ring tones. “ Pete chastised, not realizing that Lex had intentionally programmed the discordant series less than two minutes after giving the sheriff his private number to ensure that he wouldn’t miss any call about Clark.
It was from one of his security teams. Lex pressed the cups off onto Pete, and answered quickly, but before the security man could finish saying, “Sir, I think we’v…” Lex heard in the background an agonized cry that was unmistakably Clark’s.
“I’m on my way.”
***
Lex knelt beside the strangely shredded pile of Clark’s clothing that his security team found. He had never seen anything torn apart in the manner that Clark’s clothing had and could only console himself with the thought that, at least, there had not been even the slightest trace of blood found on any of the pieces… small consolation though that was when they still could not find Clark after his cries died off abruptly. By the time Lex and Pete had reached the scene, the only evidence that the team could offer of Clark’s presence was the pile of shredded jean and flannel that matched the description of Clark’s clothing from the had last time he had been seen .
“Shit. This ain’t good.” Pete interrupted Lex’s train of thought as he scanned the pile trying to discern some clue form the pattern.
“No, it’s not.” Lex acknowledged, squeezing Pete’s shoulder in sympathy as he realized that Pete was finally breaking through his ingrained if misguided trust of Clark’s uncanny luck.
“No, Sir. Most of it was and we walked through some, but Tim found some scattered further along the path. They’re following it up now.”
“Show me.” Several minutes later, they were following the security team’s path into the caves that stretched beneath Smallville.
***
“Incredible as always, Babe.” Sean smacked Clark’s seat and laughed as he rolled away. Throughout the week, after satisfying his … need for excitement and heat, Sean had started using sappy relationship nicknames further demeaning Clark as though what he had been doing had been pleasurable to both of them. For Sean, Clark’s first angry reaction to the nicknames had almost been as fun as the fight leading up to the freeze, but over the past two days, Clark had become more and more pathetic - hardly even fighting this time when Sean had chosen a punishment that he knew Clark would be afraid of.
As he stared down at Clark, who seemed little more than a shivering lump, Sean decided it was time to find a stronger motivation.
***
Meeting up with the security team at the mouth of the caves, Pete and Lex split up - Lex to lead the security teams back through the caves and Pete to go back and inform the sheriff and Clark’s parents what they had found.
As soon as Pete left: Lex flicked on his flashlight, shined it into the depths of the cave, and waved them forward.
“Let’s go.”
Moving deeper into the caves, Lex swallowed the anxiety rising in his throat as he thought of Clark having spent the whole week in their gloomy recesses. If there was anyone that he could think of, who epitomized sunshine and open spaces, it was Clark. Lex could only imagine that the sheer oppressiveness of the heavy darkness and moldering walls must have been torment to Clark, who he had frequently seen simply rush out of the Talon or the castle to pause and fawn in the sunlight.
Consoling himself with the thought that at least they could be sure that Clark had survived the week, Lex scanned the passage until he found the next shred of clothing.
***
“I’ll be back, pet.” Sean as he ran his hand over the curve of Clark’s hip watching his captive plaything shudder weakly in response. “It occurred to me that we might have more fun with another playmate. Who do you think we’d have the most fun with? Maybe Lana or Chloe? Oh, I know…” Sean paused to draw the suspense out as he watched Clark mouthing “no”.
He almost regretted freezing Clark’s throat earlier (his cries would have been a delicious jumpstart), but -with half the town roaming the woods- Sean had not wanted to give their location away too soon. Still, Sean didn’t need to hear Clark to have fun with him - when he dropped his punch line: “Your Mom. She’s so fuckin hot and you know she’d come with me quietly just to make sure you’re all right.”
Sean’s erection jumped at the thought, and he moved around to where Clark could see him stroking it playfully.
“Just think of all the fun we’re gonna have with her. And, if you can warm me up. Just think what she can do.”
Despite the agony that it cause him, Clark thrashed angrily at Sean’s comment-almost shredding several muscles with the torque of his movements. Even though he couldn’t yet feel their destruction through freeze-deadened nerves, Clark’s mind accurately catalogued their devastation and pressed Clark into unconsciousness. As what remained of his senses slipped away, slushy tears edged out of his eyes only to be frozen by a touch of Sean’s fingertips on his cheeks.
Sean couldn’t have been more thrilled. Clark had really reacted this time and Sean knew he could work more out of him with Mrs. Kent on hand. Over the week, he learned that stronger Clark’s emotional reaction the more of a charge he gave off, and the longer Sean stayed warm. He could tell that he was close to getting the burst he needed to free himself totally from his eternal chill.
He didn’t know if Clark would live through it… didn’t think so actually. But, if he were being honest with himself- he’d admit that he didn’t really care. It wasn’t like Clark was anyone who mattered. He was such a loser in fact that his best friend, Pete had helped set him up to be the scarecrow by getting Clark to stay after school at the Torch long enough for the rest of the team to get out of practice. Sean realized that it probably had a lot to do with the fact that Chloe was obviously interested in the loser even if he was too much of an idiot to see it for all that he tagged around them interfering in Pete’s chances with her.
Now Pete was someone he was going to have to do something about. Before the party at the lake, Sean had never paid any particular attention to Chloe. But since then… even though he had only really known her for a very few days, Sean realized that Chloe was very definitely fuck-able. And, maybe girlfriend material with a little persuasion and Sean was nothing if not persuasive.
First, he needed another little power up from Clark so… running his index finger down the back of Clark’s spine he drew off enough energy to leave a fine veil of frost running from the base of his neck down his spine. On a whim, even though he’d drawn off enough of a charge (thanks to Clark’s angry outburst), Sean continued to trace his finger across Clark’s skin until the thin line of frost on down Clark’s spine had been turned into an arrow pointing to Clark’s backside with the label “Fuck Me” written distinctly in white crystals.
***
Within twenty minutes of entering the caves, Lex had scoured every wall he passed until he’d turned up other piles: one clearly composing the shredded leather uppers of Clark’s tennis shoes and another that seemed suspiciously like material from cotton boxers and socks. Following from one patch of cloth to the next, Lex soon discerned a trail and called back a warning to the security team: “Keep a look out, this is a little too neatly laid to have been an accident.”
Lex’s mouth went dry as he scanned the stone floor. There were only three reasons that he could think of for the scraps of clothing to have been laid out with such haphazard deliberation - none of them he wanted to pursue even mentally. As if sensing his dread, just at that moment, the flashlight’s gleam swept across the cave floor and slashed over a dark patch of red.
Blood? If it was blood…if it was Clark’s blood, he was going to see to it that Kelvin spend the rest of his life, however long or short that would be, regretting his actions.
Lex’s hands shook so violently that he nearly dropped the flashlight as he bent over to run his finger over the red splotch. Thankfully as his fingers lifted away, the red splotch became a still frozen translucent shard of cloth. Without registering it, Lex brushed his fingers off on his slacks, smearing a bloody trickle from the cut on his finger into his slacks and ordered them to fan out and look for more shreds of red cloth.
Within minutes, they were on a new, intentionally-laid trail heading deeper into the caves. So intent on finding and following the trail that he was practically disregarding most of his other senses, Lex was startled when Tim caught his shoulder and whispered urgently, “Mr. Luthor, come with me please.”
“What is it?” Lex asked with impatient curiosity. Unlike his father, Lex had no difficulty with junior staff jumping the chain of command, but knew that Darius, his ex-military, chief-security officer ‘ran a tight ship’ and would in all likelihood fire the young man for the procedural lapse.
“Sir, please, I’ll explain as we go.” Tim dropped his voice another level and spoke rapidly to prevent an interruption from Lex. “I think I’ve found Mr. Kent, but you need to be the first to see him. It’s important.”
As Tim’s words sunk in, Lex immediately forestalled any further explanation and gestured him forward. If he was unnecessarily delaying Clark’s rescue, Lex would see to it that he was never hired in the security field again, but suspected that Tim already expected that and would be less than likely to take that chance.
Tim’s meaning revealed itself in horrific fashion as Lex rounded the third bend, and nearly tripped over Clark, who was curled on his side in an almost fetal position with numerous broad splotches of frost indicating where his body had been frozen. If Tim hadn’t caught his arm so quickly, Lex would have certainly collided and fallen heavily over Clark - probably causing his friend serious damage.
“Why did…” Lex’s question died on his lips as Tim swept his flashlight beam across Clark’s back, giving Lex the opportunity to note and read the frosty letters before the flashlight beam traced the arrow down Clark’s back showing further evidence of his abuse.
“Oh… Oh God. Clark.” Lex dropped to his knees beside his friend and bent as carefully as he could over Clark’s shoulder to try to look into his eyes. Perhaps thankfully, Clark was asleep… or unconscious.
“Okay,” Lex stripped off his overcoat as he spoke and gently used it to cover Clark. “Go get the others and have them bring the backboard as well as the stretcher. We don’t know how deeply he’s been frozen and can’t take the chance on moving him without it. The castle is closer so have Toby set up there. He knows the layout.”
Tim hurried off to follow Lex’s instructions, and Lex carefully turned in his crouch and knelt by Clark close enough that he could reach under the blanket and cover the frosted letters with his hand until they warmed and melted away one by one. As soon as he had erased the words, Lex started on the arrow.
***
“Hey, Pete” Sean’s voice startled Pete out of his reverie. He’d been caught up in re-thinking his past convictions about Lex. Sure, the guy was a Luthor, but after watching how Lex had thrown himself into the search the last week, Pete had no doubt that Lex was genuine in his concern about Clark’s absence. In fact, best friend or no, Pete had to admit, that there was no one beside Clark’s own parent’s, who pushed harder than Lex, and frequently Lex could be seen plotting the latest reports well after the Kents had been sent home to rest. Last night, Lex had even stayed after the sheriff left, to sketch new boundaries for the search while he nibbled on a tuna sandwich that Mrs. Kent had pressed on him before leaving.
As he heard Sean’s voice, it almost seemed like a shame, that after all of Lex’s work, he would be finding him instead of Lex. Still, although he had first wondered how much of the search and rescue could be chalked up to public relations, Pete had recognized, when he saw how deeply irritated Lex was by Lana’s seemingly endless flirting with Whit, that Lex was motivated by his concern for Clark more than any other factor. So, he knew that Lex would be just as glad that he’d found Sean and Clark. Speaking of which…
“Hey, man, what you’ve been doing isn’t cool. Where’s Clark?”
Sean almost laughed at Pete’s word-choice, but quickly recognized that it would not further his goals. Instead, he added a soft groan to his half-stifled laugh. “Thank God, I found you. I was going to run into one of the deputies or security men. Come on.”
“What do you mean ‘come on’?” Pete asked angrily.
“Clark’s been hurt, and I’ve been trying to take care of him, but…” Sean shrugged significantly as he headed back toward the caves.
“But, what?”
“He’s getting worse. He barely ate anything at all yesterday.”
“What the fuck, Sean? Why didn’t you go for help?”
“Shit, Man, I was afraid. The Sheriff blames me for a bunch of deaths. And, I don’t want to go to jail. But, you could help.”
Pete paused suspiciously.
“I’m not helping you do anything.” He practically snarled. “If you’ve hurt Clark, man, the only thing I’m gonna help you do is meet your maker.
“No, Pete, That’s what not I meant. If I take you to Clark, you’d think it was more important to get Clark help, than it was to chase after me - wouldn’t you? That’s all I’m asking here now. I’ll take you to Clark, but you’ll have to promise me that you won’t come after me.”
“Sure Man, I swear.”
***
As Lex and his team congregated in the cavern to remove Clark, Lex crouched beside him careful to keep Clark covered from everyone’s sight. The ice crystals had reformed three separate times before the whole team had reformed in the cavern. With Tim’s help, Lex carefully moved Clark onto the stretcher and sent the team ahead including several of the team that Tim had covertly pointed out as being on Lionel’s payroll- with Darius covered up on a makeshift stretcher as a decoy. Once they were on their way back to the camp, Lex and Tim started toward the castle grounds (which were closer by foot than going back for the trucks as Sean hadn’t actually gone very far from the castle, but had hidden underground instead).
***
Sean and Pete talk several minutes more and Sean convinced Pete to go with him into the caves to get Clark. As they walked back, though, Sean started to drop clues about how Clark had been hurt-- playing word games with Pete. When they finally stopped deep in the cave, Pete had no idea that several minutes earlier they had passed through the cavern that Sean had left Clark in. But, when Sean turned on Pete with a disturbing grin, Pete knew that he was in trouble.
“What? What’s up? Where is he?”
“Hmmm. Funny that. It looks like someone else found him. You know what that means?” Sean patted his arm with a smirk.
“What?”
“I don’t need you.” Before Pete could protest, Sean gripped his shoulder tightly and ice crystals began to form under his hand. Finally, Sean clapped a hand on Pete’s shoulder throwing his frozen form forward to shatter in the cave floor and ran out of the cave excitedly looking for Clark.
***
Unaware that Sean had correctly discerned which stretcher was carrying Clark and was heading their way, Lex and Tim stopped beside small man-made lake behind the castle when Clark stirred and moaned loudly. As his throat started to defrost, Clark began to feel the pain of his tortured muscles and broke into tears. Realizing that carrying Clark any further would only multiply the pain he was feeling, Lex ordered Tim to hurry to the castle and bring back Toby.
Afraid of even touching Clark, now that he was coming to, Lex stared forlornly at his friend-wondering how he could overcome what Sean had done. Of any characteristic that could truly be said to describe his friend, from the time he had met Clark, Lex had believed that Clark’s fundamental belief in others was the most intrinsic and inherent quality defining his friend. He could not fathom how some one who so thoroughly trusted in the better natures of others could reconcile that belief with the obvious torture that he had suffered at the hands of someone, who might have once been a friend.
“…ex. Go…get aw…” Clark panted trying to catch his breath to warn Lex again. “Sean…”
“Clark!” Lex dashed around to where Clark could see him without moving so that he could assure his friend that he was finally safe. “It’s okay. You’re safe. I promise. Sean won’t lay another hand on you. I swear. I’ll kill him if he tries.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Sean chuckled as Lex whipped his head around - straight into the path of Sean’s fist and Clark’s residual strength.
“Noooo.” Clark gasped as Lex toppled in front of him.
“What are you saying, Clark?” Sean asked as he straddled Clark’s hips and pulled Clark’s chin around to catch his eyes. “You heard him. He said that he was going to kill me. I should just let that go? I didn’t let Pete, and he’s a friend. Or, at least he was.”
Sean waited several seconds until his words sank in and Clark’s tears poured down his cheeks before he went in for his last power draw. Laying a finger over Clark’s, as though to silence him, Sean assured Clark, “I’m sure he didn’t feel a thing, but you’d know about that as well as I would, maybe even better. One minute he was looking for you-the next he was just a pile of ice pretty crystals on the floor. I bet he won’t be so pretty when he defrosts though.”
As he spoke, Sean began drawing Clark’s heat and energy through the finger laid across his mouth until Clark’s already pale rose lips turned a shade of grey and frosted over.
“Now, him, even if Daddy Warbuck’s pays the ransom I’m gonna ask for, I want him to feel it.” Sean nodded toward Lex. “Hell, I want him to ‘beg for it’. Even without the hair, he’s almost as pretty as you, and I bet he’ll look fucking hot iced over.”
Enraged by Sean’s comment, Clark bucked violently and screamed in agony as Sean was thrown off into the lake and instantly frozen. As his scream died off, Lex came to in time to watch Clark collapse back onto the stretcher - horrified by the look of utter agony frozen on Clark’s face as his friend slipped back into unconsciousness. Lex had barely finished pushing himself into a sitting position when Toby and Tim arrived. After injecting Clark with a sedative, Toby took Lex’s place at the head of the stretcher and helped Tim carry Clark back to the castle. With Sean death’s the physical effects seemed to be wearing off and, although, Toby gave him the once over, the torn muscles had slightly repaired themselves so that the physical injuries seemed far less serious than what had actually been inflicted.
***
When Martha and Jonathan arrived, they thanked Lex profusely for everything he’d done, but told him that they still wouldn’t be taking the loan.
“I can’t believe that you’d risk you’re home, farm, and future needlessly. Clark…” Lex cut off short, reminding himself that it was Clark’s place to tell his parents what had happened- if and when he was ready, but that didn’t make his point any less valid. “Clark… will need some serious down time after this and every day that the farm isn’t producing your funds are going to be eaten up by interest payments. I…Do you really have so much pride that you can’t bear to even consider accepting a loan...from… a Luthor.”
If Jonathan hadn’t had the opportunity to watch Lex over the past week and learn how earnestly Lex seemed to care for Clark’s friendship, he would have bristled at Lex’s accusation. Hell, he would have blown up at the comment. Instead, he shook his head gently and caught Lex by the arm when he started to turn away angrily.
“Son, no, that’s not why. We do need your help. Clark needs your help and your friendship. We know that. But, not that way. Not your money - if we took that, how long would it be before you began to wonder why Clark’s your friend or why we’re treating you like a member of the family? Whether its because we genuinely like you or because of the money?
Son, you’ve proven that your part of a family, now, and if you still want to help, we’ll gladly accept it. With Pete… gone, Clark will need a confidant he can trust and if you feel like you need to do more than that, perhaps, you could come to dinner and put some of your business experience to use - reviewing the farm’s operations. We can’t offer much in return but…” Jonathan smiled solemnly.
“Dinner’s fine, Sir. Thank you.”
***
After they talked a little bit longer, they made arrangements for Lex’s first visit and helped a still-silent Clark into the truck to go home.
In the weeks that followed, whether from the injuries traumas suffered in Sean’s captivity, from the belief that Pete was dead because of him, or from his knowledge that all of the meteor mutants could be traced back to him through the meteor shower -Clark ’s once buoyant personality had veritably shut down. Although he seemed deeply wounded and quietly troubled, flinching at even the slightest noise and refusing to say much more than an abrupt greeting to visitors that he quickly found a reason to escape -- neither Lex nor his parents had heard Clark cry or even utter as much as a sigh.
In fact, as the weeks passed the only sign of improvement that he showed, came after one of Lex’s dinner visits. When the call came through to Lex’s cell phone and he excused himself, Clark wasn’t really trying to eavesdrop, but super-hearing just kicked in - for the first time since the cave - forcing him overhear Lex making arrangements to finish buy controlling interest in the bank- stating as he discussed it that the Kents, Rosses, Sullivans, and several others would be exempt from Bankruptcy.
Even though, the thought of Lex protecting his parents even so surreptitiously brought only a briefest sad smile to his face- Clark’s his mom noticed and asked about. Clark barely had the energy to explain, but even though both Jonathan and Martha shook their heads at Lex's behind the scenes manipulation, they couldn't find it in them to chastise him when he returned- knowing that Lex had just secured the first smile their son had worn in over a month.
Rating - R: Violence, Implied Rape, Character death
Written for the CLFF Wave 14 Fix-the-outcome challenge: Kardasi.com
My Prompt: Cool - Sean at the Castle after the power goes out.
Author's notes - Deep thanks to Blackpsychi, Ilovedoyle, and Enderwiggins/Enderluke for beta’ing and suggestions. Any mistakes are entirely my own and the only things herein (other than my own rabid plot bunny) that I own.
Summary - Same essential outcome for vastly different reasons.
Luthor Estate - Exterior.
Clark: Go in the house, Mom. Go, now!
Sean: That's your mom? She's hot!
Clark: Sean, you have to get to a hospital.
Sean: What are they going to do? Put me under an electric blanket? I need heat, Clark - contact! That's the only thing that's going to work for me. Every person's another fix.
Clark: You're not getting into that house.
Sean: Who's gonna stop me? You? Ooh! Brr!
Clark and Sean fight. Sean winds up straddling a prone Clark.
Sean: I don't know what it is about you, Clark, but I haven't felt this good in two days. And when I'm done with you, there's your mom, your dad...and Lana.
Clark: I'll never let you hurt them.
Cold-Hearted
***
Sean stared down at Clark seriously. His wild look softened into a sad frown as he met Clark’s eyes.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. Not really. But… you … don’t know what it feels like to feel yourself freezing bit by bit from the inside out.”
At Sean’s mournful statement, Clark had a momentary flash of hope that he’d gotten through to Sean, relaxed the muscle tension that he’d been gathering to throw Sean off, and released his grip on the other boy.
***
The sound of Martha’s boots thumping down the hall immediately caught Lex’s attention. Leaving Lana and Whitney, he locked the door behind him and warned Lana to open it only for him or the Kents. As he turned from the door, he was glad to see Jonathan and Martha had already met in the hall. If their gaze had not flown directly to each other, he was certain that he would not have overheard their next whispered words.
“He’s here.”
“Who, Clark or…?”
“Both, Sean froze the generator.”
“Okay, Let’s get back to the others. We’ll need to keep everyone in until Clark can handle this.”
“Jonathan, no, I can do that. You need to go help Clark. I think Sean’s more dangerous than Clark realizes…He seemed so sweet and innocent just standing there. If I didn’t know better I would have brought him right inside when he said that he needed to get warm.”
Lex watched Jonathan follow her gaze back down the hall then look back uncertainly and understood his hesitation. He had no doubt that Clark could handle himself in a dangerous situation. That had been proven in a very short time. His weakness, however, seemed his gentle heart-Clark was absolutely willing to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone even despite overwhelming evidence against it. Their very friendship was proof of that.
“Whitney and Lana shouldn’t be any difficulty to contain,” Jonathan debated, “but Lex…”
“Will behave…” Lex interrupted, “If it means getting you out there to back Clark up.”
Their shocked eyes flashed toward him as he took advantage of their surprise, “Just a second though,” he waved for them to follow him. “Martha, how big is the young man in question? Closer to Clark’s size, Whitney’s, or Pete’s?”
Martha stared at him in confusion for a second then shrugged, “He’s closer to Jonathan’s height, I think but… possibly not as broad through the shoulders?” Martha ended in a questioning tone hoping that her description helped.
While Lex wouldn’t admit it, he nodded with satisfaction as he approached the gun cabinet. Martha had given him the perfect reference. Unlocking the cabinet, he pulled out three trank guns and a case of the tranquilizer darts that he had, just coincidentally, specifically tailored to someone who happened to be Jonathan’s weight, height, and age… according to his last insurance physical.
“These should do, but considering the possible effects of meteors you may need to use a second dart.” That should take care of any age difference in the dosage.
***
As soon as Clark released his hands, Sean dropped one hand to the ground beside Clark’s head and used it to lean forward, lifting one knee as though to climb off of Clark’s prone form. But as soon as his knee and hip lifted high enough to give Sean access to Clark’s upper torso, he unerringly slammed his hand to the warmest spot on Clark’s chest and concentrated on drawing his heat off directly from his heart.
Before Clark could marshal his surprise and react, he was in utter agony. Helpless, he felt his heart quickly still as his chilled blood coagulated and froze- even as he continued to feel the remainder of his unfrozen body starving for the next beat and his lungs contracting away from the frigid muscle as they struggled to supply his oxygen-deprived brain. There was barely time to cry out as the pain of unanswered nerve responses besieged his mind.
***
Clark’s guttural cry of agony reverberated through the castle- interrupting Lex’s explanation of the trank gun’s telescopic lens.
“Clark?” They exclaimed simultaneously- turning in shock towards the direction that the cry had echoed from.
Jonathan glanced between Martha and Lex uncertainly. Normally, he would hesitate to involve Lex, but Clark’s cry had resounded with such pain that there could be no doubt that the was being cruelly injured. If Clark could be hurt, Martha… Martha could be killed. He would risk anything to protect Clark, up to and including his own life. But, Martha… Martha’s life was more precious than anything - even Clark’s secret. If that meant that he would have to deal with the consequences of letting…
“I’m going!” Lex interrupted his train of thought firmly… apparently sensing Jonathan’s hesitation. When Jonathan seemed ready to object, Lex continued emphatically, “Look, you can stand here fighting me, or we can both go out there and stop whatever’s hurting Clark.”
Jonathan’s abrupt nod surprised them both, but not as much as their sudden unspoken but unified stance surprised Martha when they turned as one, wearing almost identical looks of determination - each broadcasting his intent to convince her to stay behind. Throwing her hands up in mock-surrender, Martha acquiesced, “I’ll stay with Lana and Whitney.”
When she started to hand off the trank gun, Lex gestured for her to keep it- saying: “If Clark’s been hurt…”
***
Sean practically growled with pleasure as he felt the surge of power rushing through him and bumping the residual traces of Clark’s body heat from his earlier draw. The first time, Clark’s body heat had been simply that: a dose of the heat that Sean needed so badly. But, this time as he bled off heat and energy from Clark, it flowed through him like an orgasm. Waking freeze-deadened nerve endings, a warm flush seemed to alternately ‘touch’ every centimeter of his skin then flared with random nerve shocks that felt for all the world like fingers gently exploring everywhere from the crown of his head to the soft ticklish flesh between Sean’s toes- everywhere… everywhere!
Dropping his knee so that he was again straddled across Clark, he caught Clark’s frightened face in his hands and stopped drawing heat for a moment as he watched the panic growing in Clark’s eyes.
“Man, you’re mom’s still hot,” Sean exclaimed while he began to shift his hips rubbing his crotch against Clark’s. “But, you… this… this is incredible.” It took barely two strokes before he was shuddering and scarcely able to speak.
“God, that was. Oohh. That was incredible. Sean shook his head as he stared down at Clark.
“Man, nothing like happened with anyone else, and they didn’t come back like you did. I wonder…” he looked around quickly - seeming to have heard something in the distance then glanced back at Clark explaining: “They’re bound to get here soon, but I want more time with you.”
Then, Sean gave Clark his first experience of being subject to someone who’s speed and strength matched his own as he jumped to his feet, grabbed Clark up easily with one hand, and ran into the wooded expanse with the immobilized boy thrown over his shoulder.
***
Lex watched Lana and Whitney (smiling and chatting amiably as they grabbed their bag lunches) with almost unreasonable anger. He almost regretted his decision to provide meals on site for the search parties. True, it allowed the hungry searchers to refuel without returning to town or going back to the Kent farm as they had first two days of Clark’s formal disappearance. But, it had begun to devolve into a community event, as opposed to the grim task that Lex and his security team still pursued, and the whole town’s blithe lack of concern was starting to fray his nerves. Even Clark’s parent’s hadn’t seemed to give his absence it’s full weight until a full day had passed.
He tried unsuccessfully to shift his thoughts away from the subject of the full day that had passed between Clark’s actual disappearance and the start of the search. It chagrined him that the Kents had been so willing to blow off his assistance after their initial search of the grounds - assuring him that Clark must have dealt with the situation and then headed home. But, it served no purpose to cling to anger that he could never vent against them when he recognized how much they were already punishing themselves for Clark’s week-long absence.
***
Groping his way along the wall, Clark tried to move as carefully and as quietly as he could, but it was incredibly difficult because his eyes were nowhere near normal yet. But, he knew that he didn’t have time to wait until they returned to normal; Sean would be back soon. Sean had kept an exact record and knew exactly when his latest freeze would end. This time only his eyes had been frozen; but, Sean having become increasingly bored with Clark’s growing passivity had threatened that if Clark wasn’t out of the caves by the time he returned, the next freeze would be much worse.
He was so exhausted and confused that he truly wanted to simply collapse and give up to the inevitable. Clark had been wandering through the caves for hours, hungry and cold - having been allowed only half of a corn cob to eat and his t-shirt for cover since the day before. Sean seemed to think that those added “incentives” would give him more motivation to run than his other warning alone. Still, neither were really necessary, , because Clark knew that no matter how exhausted he was, it was and incredibly bad idea to let Sean get bored. In fact, their game of “freeze tag” had been born out of Clark’s first desperate attempt to escape after Sean’s initial bout of boredom inspired him to discover how many different ways he could freeze and immobilize Clark.
That investigation had spawned almost 18 hours of seemingly endless pain, which Clark had finally tried to escape from - dragging himself by his fingertips after Sean had frozen the muscles in his biceps, his back, and his upper thighs. Waking to find Clark missing, Sean quickly learned that he enjoyed the hunt - particularly when he finally found Clark (after twice getting lost in the caves). His thrill at Clark’s panicked bark and terrified gaze fed Sean’s mind-blowing orgasm and earned Clark something of a reward: the next morning Sean froze him into a sitting position with his legs wrapped around one of the cave’s strange outcroppings and used Clark’s stolen speed to zip away. When he returned, he gave Clark discarded disposable cup full of water and fire baked an egg and a whole corn-cob for him. It was the closest thing that Clark had had to a meal in the first three days. That had been four days ago, though Sean had let him earn two and a half more corn cobs in the time since and promised another as a reward if he could manage to get out of the caves in time.
As his eyesight began to clear to a thick haze that suggested an almost blurry view of the caves, Clark’s panic grew. Sean would find him soon and he was nowhere near the cave’s entrance if he was interpreting the now familiar blurs correctly.
***
“Lex, Man, you need to chill.” Pete stepped around into his view to capture his attention.
“Pete.”
“Listen. I know you’re worried about Clark, but you should like drop the attitude over Lana - you know. She’s not doing anything wrong.”
“Apparently, you and I have a different opinion of what wrong is. I somehow seem to think that it’s wrong to turn a search and rescue into a dating event… particularly when Miss Lane is well aware that Clark w... is smitten with her. But, then perhaps, I’m just being old fashioned.” If Clark had heard Lex’s tone of voice, he would have easily recognized that Lex was rapidly loosing his temper, but Pete … Pete was not one accustomed to subtlety and recklessly decided to chastise Lex despite the fact that he’d noticed signs of Lex’s impatient, angry tone just a few moments earlier.
“That’s cold, Man.”
“No, that’s not cold. Cold is treating your best friend’s disappearance like it’s just a good excuse to get out of school.” Lex lashed out at Pete quietly. He probably wouldn’t admit it to anyone except Clark, but he was running on too short of a fuse, felt like too little was getting done in Clark’s search, and needed a relatively safe vent- without needing to go back to the manor for a much needed session with Heiki. But, instead of the satisfying fight that he’d expected from Pete - Clark’s friend just canted his head, dredged up a sympathetic gaze, and mumbled: “See, what I mean? You’ve just gotta chill.”
“How am I going to do that when we haven’t found Clark, yet?” Lex tried to keep the anxiety out of his voice and only barely managed to succeed, but it was a pointless attempt as Pete stared at him with a slightly less affected look of concern.
“You know we’re going to find him don’t you?”
“How can I know that?” Lex asked - exasperated. “For that matter, how can you?”
“Lex, this is Clark we’re talking about here. Of course were going to find him and he’s gonna be just fine when we do.”
***
Clark’s whimpers lead Sean to him as much as any other trait that Sean been tracking. Slipping behind Clark so quietly that he wasn’t heard over Clark’s panicked mews until he was less than a foot away, Sean leaned in until Clark felt Sean’s breath on his ear and froze.
“How very disappointing. And, I thought you’d want something more to wear or eat. Oh, well…” Sean murmured happily.
“Please, Sean. Please.” Clark begged futilely knowing that Sean preferred him to beg but that it would make no difference.
“Your shirt: take it off.”
The words were barely out before Clark scrambled to comply. After Clark finished pulling off the t-shirt and handing it back to Sean, he waited quietly, trying not to tense his muscles in case Sean decided to freeze him without warning. Clark had learned quickly form Sean’s earlier experiment that bunching his muscles from tension elongated others and -regardless of which muscle group was frozen- the other was forced to hold a position meant to be temporary for several painful hours.
Nevertheless, when Sean dropped his frozen balled up T in front of him and laughed as it shattered, Clark couldn’t help but jump away from it. Enjoying Clark’s startled reaction, Sean wrapped an arm around his waist pulling Clark back against his chest.
Despite himself, when Sean’s free hand cupped his crotch, Clark could not stop himself from tensing in fearful anticipation. But, instead of the freezing touch that he feared, Sean pressed his palm hard against Clark’s shaft until Clark retreated from the painful pressure - unconsciously pressing his hips into Sean’s groin. With Clark pressed tightly against him, Sean chuckled, curled his hips to brush his stiff cock between Clark’s tensed cheeks, and murmured breathily in his ear, “Clark, have you ever wondered…”
He paused to push Clark’s hips more firmly into his own for emphasis as he continued, “Have you ever wondered what it feels like to freeze from the inside out?”
Sean’s meaning sunk in quickly and his shaft flared into the crevice between Clark’s cheeks, reacting to Clark’s horrified cry of “nooo.” For the first time in days, Clark thrashed against Sean trying to break his grip, but was held in place, ironically by his own stolen strength- as Sean’s cruel laughter rang through the cavern.
***
Filling fist Pete’s cup, then his own, Lex was nearly startled into dropping both when his cell phone jangled discordantly.
“Man, download some new ring tones. “ Pete chastised, not realizing that Lex had intentionally programmed the discordant series less than two minutes after giving the sheriff his private number to ensure that he wouldn’t miss any call about Clark.
It was from one of his security teams. Lex pressed the cups off onto Pete, and answered quickly, but before the security man could finish saying, “Sir, I think we’v…” Lex heard in the background an agonized cry that was unmistakably Clark’s.
“I’m on my way.”
***
Lex knelt beside the strangely shredded pile of Clark’s clothing that his security team found. He had never seen anything torn apart in the manner that Clark’s clothing had and could only console himself with the thought that, at least, there had not been even the slightest trace of blood found on any of the pieces… small consolation though that was when they still could not find Clark after his cries died off abruptly. By the time Lex and Pete had reached the scene, the only evidence that the team could offer of Clark’s presence was the pile of shredded jean and flannel that matched the description of Clark’s clothing from the had last time he had been seen .
“Shit. This ain’t good.” Pete interrupted Lex’s train of thought as he scanned the pile trying to discern some clue form the pattern.
“No, it’s not.” Lex acknowledged, squeezing Pete’s shoulder in sympathy as he realized that Pete was finally breaking through his ingrained if misguided trust of Clark’s uncanny luck.
“No, Sir. Most of it was and we walked through some, but Tim found some scattered further along the path. They’re following it up now.”
“Show me.” Several minutes later, they were following the security team’s path into the caves that stretched beneath Smallville.
***
“Incredible as always, Babe.” Sean smacked Clark’s seat and laughed as he rolled away. Throughout the week, after satisfying his … need for excitement and heat, Sean had started using sappy relationship nicknames further demeaning Clark as though what he had been doing had been pleasurable to both of them. For Sean, Clark’s first angry reaction to the nicknames had almost been as fun as the fight leading up to the freeze, but over the past two days, Clark had become more and more pathetic - hardly even fighting this time when Sean had chosen a punishment that he knew Clark would be afraid of.
As he stared down at Clark, who seemed little more than a shivering lump, Sean decided it was time to find a stronger motivation.
***
Meeting up with the security team at the mouth of the caves, Pete and Lex split up - Lex to lead the security teams back through the caves and Pete to go back and inform the sheriff and Clark’s parents what they had found.
As soon as Pete left: Lex flicked on his flashlight, shined it into the depths of the cave, and waved them forward.
“Let’s go.”
Moving deeper into the caves, Lex swallowed the anxiety rising in his throat as he thought of Clark having spent the whole week in their gloomy recesses. If there was anyone that he could think of, who epitomized sunshine and open spaces, it was Clark. Lex could only imagine that the sheer oppressiveness of the heavy darkness and moldering walls must have been torment to Clark, who he had frequently seen simply rush out of the Talon or the castle to pause and fawn in the sunlight.
Consoling himself with the thought that at least they could be sure that Clark had survived the week, Lex scanned the passage until he found the next shred of clothing.
***
“I’ll be back, pet.” Sean as he ran his hand over the curve of Clark’s hip watching his captive plaything shudder weakly in response. “It occurred to me that we might have more fun with another playmate. Who do you think we’d have the most fun with? Maybe Lana or Chloe? Oh, I know…” Sean paused to draw the suspense out as he watched Clark mouthing “no”.
He almost regretted freezing Clark’s throat earlier (his cries would have been a delicious jumpstart), but -with half the town roaming the woods- Sean had not wanted to give their location away too soon. Still, Sean didn’t need to hear Clark to have fun with him - when he dropped his punch line: “Your Mom. She’s so fuckin hot and you know she’d come with me quietly just to make sure you’re all right.”
Sean’s erection jumped at the thought, and he moved around to where Clark could see him stroking it playfully.
“Just think of all the fun we’re gonna have with her. And, if you can warm me up. Just think what she can do.”
Despite the agony that it cause him, Clark thrashed angrily at Sean’s comment-almost shredding several muscles with the torque of his movements. Even though he couldn’t yet feel their destruction through freeze-deadened nerves, Clark’s mind accurately catalogued their devastation and pressed Clark into unconsciousness. As what remained of his senses slipped away, slushy tears edged out of his eyes only to be frozen by a touch of Sean’s fingertips on his cheeks.
Sean couldn’t have been more thrilled. Clark had really reacted this time and Sean knew he could work more out of him with Mrs. Kent on hand. Over the week, he learned that stronger Clark’s emotional reaction the more of a charge he gave off, and the longer Sean stayed warm. He could tell that he was close to getting the burst he needed to free himself totally from his eternal chill.
He didn’t know if Clark would live through it… didn’t think so actually. But, if he were being honest with himself- he’d admit that he didn’t really care. It wasn’t like Clark was anyone who mattered. He was such a loser in fact that his best friend, Pete had helped set him up to be the scarecrow by getting Clark to stay after school at the Torch long enough for the rest of the team to get out of practice. Sean realized that it probably had a lot to do with the fact that Chloe was obviously interested in the loser even if he was too much of an idiot to see it for all that he tagged around them interfering in Pete’s chances with her.
Now Pete was someone he was going to have to do something about. Before the party at the lake, Sean had never paid any particular attention to Chloe. But since then… even though he had only really known her for a very few days, Sean realized that Chloe was very definitely fuck-able. And, maybe girlfriend material with a little persuasion and Sean was nothing if not persuasive.
First, he needed another little power up from Clark so… running his index finger down the back of Clark’s spine he drew off enough energy to leave a fine veil of frost running from the base of his neck down his spine. On a whim, even though he’d drawn off enough of a charge (thanks to Clark’s angry outburst), Sean continued to trace his finger across Clark’s skin until the thin line of frost on down Clark’s spine had been turned into an arrow pointing to Clark’s backside with the label “Fuck Me” written distinctly in white crystals.
***
Within twenty minutes of entering the caves, Lex had scoured every wall he passed until he’d turned up other piles: one clearly composing the shredded leather uppers of Clark’s tennis shoes and another that seemed suspiciously like material from cotton boxers and socks. Following from one patch of cloth to the next, Lex soon discerned a trail and called back a warning to the security team: “Keep a look out, this is a little too neatly laid to have been an accident.”
Lex’s mouth went dry as he scanned the stone floor. There were only three reasons that he could think of for the scraps of clothing to have been laid out with such haphazard deliberation - none of them he wanted to pursue even mentally. As if sensing his dread, just at that moment, the flashlight’s gleam swept across the cave floor and slashed over a dark patch of red.
Blood? If it was blood…if it was Clark’s blood, he was going to see to it that Kelvin spend the rest of his life, however long or short that would be, regretting his actions.
Lex’s hands shook so violently that he nearly dropped the flashlight as he bent over to run his finger over the red splotch. Thankfully as his fingers lifted away, the red splotch became a still frozen translucent shard of cloth. Without registering it, Lex brushed his fingers off on his slacks, smearing a bloody trickle from the cut on his finger into his slacks and ordered them to fan out and look for more shreds of red cloth.
Within minutes, they were on a new, intentionally-laid trail heading deeper into the caves. So intent on finding and following the trail that he was practically disregarding most of his other senses, Lex was startled when Tim caught his shoulder and whispered urgently, “Mr. Luthor, come with me please.”
“What is it?” Lex asked with impatient curiosity. Unlike his father, Lex had no difficulty with junior staff jumping the chain of command, but knew that Darius, his ex-military, chief-security officer ‘ran a tight ship’ and would in all likelihood fire the young man for the procedural lapse.
“Sir, please, I’ll explain as we go.” Tim dropped his voice another level and spoke rapidly to prevent an interruption from Lex. “I think I’ve found Mr. Kent, but you need to be the first to see him. It’s important.”
As Tim’s words sunk in, Lex immediately forestalled any further explanation and gestured him forward. If he was unnecessarily delaying Clark’s rescue, Lex would see to it that he was never hired in the security field again, but suspected that Tim already expected that and would be less than likely to take that chance.
Tim’s meaning revealed itself in horrific fashion as Lex rounded the third bend, and nearly tripped over Clark, who was curled on his side in an almost fetal position with numerous broad splotches of frost indicating where his body had been frozen. If Tim hadn’t caught his arm so quickly, Lex would have certainly collided and fallen heavily over Clark - probably causing his friend serious damage.
“Why did…” Lex’s question died on his lips as Tim swept his flashlight beam across Clark’s back, giving Lex the opportunity to note and read the frosty letters before the flashlight beam traced the arrow down Clark’s back showing further evidence of his abuse.
“Oh… Oh God. Clark.” Lex dropped to his knees beside his friend and bent as carefully as he could over Clark’s shoulder to try to look into his eyes. Perhaps thankfully, Clark was asleep… or unconscious.
“Okay,” Lex stripped off his overcoat as he spoke and gently used it to cover Clark. “Go get the others and have them bring the backboard as well as the stretcher. We don’t know how deeply he’s been frozen and can’t take the chance on moving him without it. The castle is closer so have Toby set up there. He knows the layout.”
Tim hurried off to follow Lex’s instructions, and Lex carefully turned in his crouch and knelt by Clark close enough that he could reach under the blanket and cover the frosted letters with his hand until they warmed and melted away one by one. As soon as he had erased the words, Lex started on the arrow.
***
“Hey, Pete” Sean’s voice startled Pete out of his reverie. He’d been caught up in re-thinking his past convictions about Lex. Sure, the guy was a Luthor, but after watching how Lex had thrown himself into the search the last week, Pete had no doubt that Lex was genuine in his concern about Clark’s absence. In fact, best friend or no, Pete had to admit, that there was no one beside Clark’s own parent’s, who pushed harder than Lex, and frequently Lex could be seen plotting the latest reports well after the Kents had been sent home to rest. Last night, Lex had even stayed after the sheriff left, to sketch new boundaries for the search while he nibbled on a tuna sandwich that Mrs. Kent had pressed on him before leaving.
As he heard Sean’s voice, it almost seemed like a shame, that after all of Lex’s work, he would be finding him instead of Lex. Still, although he had first wondered how much of the search and rescue could be chalked up to public relations, Pete had recognized, when he saw how deeply irritated Lex was by Lana’s seemingly endless flirting with Whit, that Lex was motivated by his concern for Clark more than any other factor. So, he knew that Lex would be just as glad that he’d found Sean and Clark. Speaking of which…
“Hey, man, what you’ve been doing isn’t cool. Where’s Clark?”
Sean almost laughed at Pete’s word-choice, but quickly recognized that it would not further his goals. Instead, he added a soft groan to his half-stifled laugh. “Thank God, I found you. I was going to run into one of the deputies or security men. Come on.”
“What do you mean ‘come on’?” Pete asked angrily.
“Clark’s been hurt, and I’ve been trying to take care of him, but…” Sean shrugged significantly as he headed back toward the caves.
“But, what?”
“He’s getting worse. He barely ate anything at all yesterday.”
“What the fuck, Sean? Why didn’t you go for help?”
“Shit, Man, I was afraid. The Sheriff blames me for a bunch of deaths. And, I don’t want to go to jail. But, you could help.”
Pete paused suspiciously.
“I’m not helping you do anything.” He practically snarled. “If you’ve hurt Clark, man, the only thing I’m gonna help you do is meet your maker.
“No, Pete, That’s what not I meant. If I take you to Clark, you’d think it was more important to get Clark help, than it was to chase after me - wouldn’t you? That’s all I’m asking here now. I’ll take you to Clark, but you’ll have to promise me that you won’t come after me.”
“Sure Man, I swear.”
***
As Lex and his team congregated in the cavern to remove Clark, Lex crouched beside him careful to keep Clark covered from everyone’s sight. The ice crystals had reformed three separate times before the whole team had reformed in the cavern. With Tim’s help, Lex carefully moved Clark onto the stretcher and sent the team ahead including several of the team that Tim had covertly pointed out as being on Lionel’s payroll- with Darius covered up on a makeshift stretcher as a decoy. Once they were on their way back to the camp, Lex and Tim started toward the castle grounds (which were closer by foot than going back for the trucks as Sean hadn’t actually gone very far from the castle, but had hidden underground instead).
***
Sean and Pete talk several minutes more and Sean convinced Pete to go with him into the caves to get Clark. As they walked back, though, Sean started to drop clues about how Clark had been hurt-- playing word games with Pete. When they finally stopped deep in the cave, Pete had no idea that several minutes earlier they had passed through the cavern that Sean had left Clark in. But, when Sean turned on Pete with a disturbing grin, Pete knew that he was in trouble.
“What? What’s up? Where is he?”
“Hmmm. Funny that. It looks like someone else found him. You know what that means?” Sean patted his arm with a smirk.
“What?”
“I don’t need you.” Before Pete could protest, Sean gripped his shoulder tightly and ice crystals began to form under his hand. Finally, Sean clapped a hand on Pete’s shoulder throwing his frozen form forward to shatter in the cave floor and ran out of the cave excitedly looking for Clark.
***
Unaware that Sean had correctly discerned which stretcher was carrying Clark and was heading their way, Lex and Tim stopped beside small man-made lake behind the castle when Clark stirred and moaned loudly. As his throat started to defrost, Clark began to feel the pain of his tortured muscles and broke into tears. Realizing that carrying Clark any further would only multiply the pain he was feeling, Lex ordered Tim to hurry to the castle and bring back Toby.
Afraid of even touching Clark, now that he was coming to, Lex stared forlornly at his friend-wondering how he could overcome what Sean had done. Of any characteristic that could truly be said to describe his friend, from the time he had met Clark, Lex had believed that Clark’s fundamental belief in others was the most intrinsic and inherent quality defining his friend. He could not fathom how some one who so thoroughly trusted in the better natures of others could reconcile that belief with the obvious torture that he had suffered at the hands of someone, who might have once been a friend.
“…ex. Go…get aw…” Clark panted trying to catch his breath to warn Lex again. “Sean…”
“Clark!” Lex dashed around to where Clark could see him without moving so that he could assure his friend that he was finally safe. “It’s okay. You’re safe. I promise. Sean won’t lay another hand on you. I swear. I’ll kill him if he tries.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Sean chuckled as Lex whipped his head around - straight into the path of Sean’s fist and Clark’s residual strength.
“Noooo.” Clark gasped as Lex toppled in front of him.
“What are you saying, Clark?” Sean asked as he straddled Clark’s hips and pulled Clark’s chin around to catch his eyes. “You heard him. He said that he was going to kill me. I should just let that go? I didn’t let Pete, and he’s a friend. Or, at least he was.”
Sean waited several seconds until his words sank in and Clark’s tears poured down his cheeks before he went in for his last power draw. Laying a finger over Clark’s, as though to silence him, Sean assured Clark, “I’m sure he didn’t feel a thing, but you’d know about that as well as I would, maybe even better. One minute he was looking for you-the next he was just a pile of ice pretty crystals on the floor. I bet he won’t be so pretty when he defrosts though.”
As he spoke, Sean began drawing Clark’s heat and energy through the finger laid across his mouth until Clark’s already pale rose lips turned a shade of grey and frosted over.
“Now, him, even if Daddy Warbuck’s pays the ransom I’m gonna ask for, I want him to feel it.” Sean nodded toward Lex. “Hell, I want him to ‘beg for it’. Even without the hair, he’s almost as pretty as you, and I bet he’ll look fucking hot iced over.”
Enraged by Sean’s comment, Clark bucked violently and screamed in agony as Sean was thrown off into the lake and instantly frozen. As his scream died off, Lex came to in time to watch Clark collapse back onto the stretcher - horrified by the look of utter agony frozen on Clark’s face as his friend slipped back into unconsciousness. Lex had barely finished pushing himself into a sitting position when Toby and Tim arrived. After injecting Clark with a sedative, Toby took Lex’s place at the head of the stretcher and helped Tim carry Clark back to the castle. With Sean death’s the physical effects seemed to be wearing off and, although, Toby gave him the once over, the torn muscles had slightly repaired themselves so that the physical injuries seemed far less serious than what had actually been inflicted.
***
When Martha and Jonathan arrived, they thanked Lex profusely for everything he’d done, but told him that they still wouldn’t be taking the loan.
“I can’t believe that you’d risk you’re home, farm, and future needlessly. Clark…” Lex cut off short, reminding himself that it was Clark’s place to tell his parents what had happened- if and when he was ready, but that didn’t make his point any less valid. “Clark… will need some serious down time after this and every day that the farm isn’t producing your funds are going to be eaten up by interest payments. I…Do you really have so much pride that you can’t bear to even consider accepting a loan...from… a Luthor.”
If Jonathan hadn’t had the opportunity to watch Lex over the past week and learn how earnestly Lex seemed to care for Clark’s friendship, he would have bristled at Lex’s accusation. Hell, he would have blown up at the comment. Instead, he shook his head gently and caught Lex by the arm when he started to turn away angrily.
“Son, no, that’s not why. We do need your help. Clark needs your help and your friendship. We know that. But, not that way. Not your money - if we took that, how long would it be before you began to wonder why Clark’s your friend or why we’re treating you like a member of the family? Whether its because we genuinely like you or because of the money?
Son, you’ve proven that your part of a family, now, and if you still want to help, we’ll gladly accept it. With Pete… gone, Clark will need a confidant he can trust and if you feel like you need to do more than that, perhaps, you could come to dinner and put some of your business experience to use - reviewing the farm’s operations. We can’t offer much in return but…” Jonathan smiled solemnly.
“Dinner’s fine, Sir. Thank you.”
***
After they talked a little bit longer, they made arrangements for Lex’s first visit and helped a still-silent Clark into the truck to go home.
In the weeks that followed, whether from the injuries traumas suffered in Sean’s captivity, from the belief that Pete was dead because of him, or from his knowledge that all of the meteor mutants could be traced back to him through the meteor shower -Clark ’s once buoyant personality had veritably shut down. Although he seemed deeply wounded and quietly troubled, flinching at even the slightest noise and refusing to say much more than an abrupt greeting to visitors that he quickly found a reason to escape -- neither Lex nor his parents had heard Clark cry or even utter as much as a sigh.
In fact, as the weeks passed the only sign of improvement that he showed, came after one of Lex’s dinner visits. When the call came through to Lex’s cell phone and he excused himself, Clark wasn’t really trying to eavesdrop, but super-hearing just kicked in - for the first time since the cave - forcing him overhear Lex making arrangements to finish buy controlling interest in the bank- stating as he discussed it that the Kents, Rosses, Sullivans, and several others would be exempt from Bankruptcy.
Even though, the thought of Lex protecting his parents even so surreptitiously brought only a briefest sad smile to his face- Clark’s his mom noticed and asked about. Clark barely had the energy to explain, but even though both Jonathan and Martha shook their heads at Lex's behind the scenes manipulation, they couldn't find it in them to chastise him when he returned- knowing that Lex had just secured the first smile their son had worn in over a month.