FIC: Must Be Dreaming, Part Sixteen
I lied. I'm not waiting for Mpreg Day. I'll do something else for that.
Title: Must Be Dreaming
Series/WIP: Sequel to So Much Dreaming
Pairing: Clex!
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After being abducted by aliens and discovering that Jonathan Kent is alive, Lex must come to grips with his shifting relationship with Clark and an unexpected pregnancy.
Spoilers: Through S5, after Cyborg.
Warnings: Mpreg, character death
Much thanks to my unbelievably gorgeous beta herohunter ♥
Chapter One ♥ Chapter Two ♥ Chapter Three ♥ Chapter Four ♥ Chapter 5.1 ♥ Chapter 5.2 ♥ Chapter Six ♥ Chapter Seven ♥ Chapter Eight ♥ Chapter Nine ♥ Chapter Ten ♥ Chapter Eleven ♥ Chapter Twelve ♥ Chapter Thirteen ♥ Chapter Fourteen ♥ Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Redness was spreading around Lena's wrist, and she kissed the top of Maddie's head, trying to ignore it without shutting herself off. It was important that she be open to whatever Lex was feeling; anything could prove to be a clue.
She doubted that it would work, but she did hope. Her eyes closed when she felt the hit to Lex's ego. She didn't understand why her brother had to hurt so much, but she could feel the push, and she knew that his father was behind it.
"Lena, what happens if Lex doesn't come back?" Maddie whispered.
"He'll come back. Clark's going to get him for us."
"But… The DHS will take me back, won't they? If we can't find him?"
"Over my dead body, baby." She kissed Maddie's cheek. "Don't think about that okay? We'll all be home safe, and soon."
"Is the baby…?"
"Still there. That I can feel. She's a fighter, just like her daddy."
Maddie wrapped her arms around Lena and frowned. The girl's heart was swelling with worry for Lex and those she had befriended. Lena tried to never push. Just this once, she pushed, just a little. She felt Maddie's panic and projected calm as she rubbed Maddie's shoulders, hoping it would reach the little girl.
Domovoi would take her back to her lessons soon. It was important to keep her busy. Lena needed to try to keep busy herself.
***
It should have come as no surprise to anyone involved that Lex Luthor was a champion among sulkers. Being chained to the wall did nothing to improve this mood.
"You should have realized that your father wouldn't tolerate escape attempts," Dr. Largess admonished. "Stop doing that."
Lex jerked again, trying to squeeze his hand through the shackle. His wrist was bloody and raw from his attempts. "You're a doctor. You know that I can't stay here much longer."
"I know that you'd be under much less stress if you'd lay back and just let us take care of you."
"And here you were playing good cop this entire time. How did Opal feel about that?" Lex sneered. His head dipped, and he closed his eyes.
"We're doing everything we can to keep you nourished. This child you're carrying is very demanding, indeed." Largess approached him and checked his IV bag.
"I seemed to be doing okay before you stuck me underground," Lex replied.
Largess ignored him and headed for the door. Lex could have gotten up to go after him, but he realized he should really pick his battles. And anyway, the chain didn't reach that far.
A moment later Dr. Opal Deighton entered wearing her lab coat instead of the pink scrubs and carrying a thin metallic band in her hand.
"Please remain relaxed, Lex." She reached over with the band, and Lex jerked away. She sighed heavily. "This won't harm you. It'll simply record your brainwaves as you sleep."
"Why do you need to do that?" Lex looked at her suspiciously.
Opal pulled up a chair and sat by his bed. "Your father has given us permission to study your ability."
"Aren't you already doing that?" Lex pursed his lips.
Opal shook her head slowly. "No. The pregnancy is not an ability. From my observations, it is something that someone has done to you. Abilities such as yours are inherited, although they tend to exhibit differently in different subjects. Yours matches your brother's, though. Prognostication is prognostication, whether it is the seeing of multiple probabilities or seeing of the future in other ways."
"I don't quite follow. You have Luc down here too?" Lex demanded, his nose wrinkling.
"No," Opal said again. "Lucas unfortunately did not survive the tests done on him. You are lucky that your body holds something that your father wants."
"Lucas… Lucas is dead?" Lex looked down and stared at the expensive sheets of his prison bed, and as he blinked away tears and tried to swallow this blow, Opal slipped the band around Lex's head. He jerked his head up and looked at her with cold, dangerous eyes. "You will not get away with this. I don't forgive easily, and for those who have hurt me and mine, I don't forgive at all."
"That's fine, Lex. I've lived much longer than I deserved. I've done more than enough to earn my place in Hell," Opal said certainly. She reached over and touched his arm. "Stop struggling with that shackle. The bone pain you are feeling is a result of the Vitamin D deficiency, and you'll want to save your strength. I don’t know why we can't keep your levels up, but we'll do all we can."
"The best thing you could do would be to let me go," Lex replied smoothly.
"The best thing I could do right now would be to give you a sedative." Opal reached into her pocket.
Lex set his face in an obstinate frown. "I'm not taking any more drugs."
"It must be getting uncomfortable for you. Can you sleep without the sedative?"
"I could sleep if you had a gay elephant in the corner trumpeting "I Am What I Am."" Lex winced as he tried to push himself up in the bed.
Opal seemed to reconsider. "All right then. Lex, we have an amnio planned for you, perhaps in a few days. If that happens-"
"You understand that I'm not eager for you people to stick a needle right next to my child?"
"I didn't think you would be. I just thought a warning would be helpful. In your situation, you don't have much control over anything. Information about what is happening to you is probably all I can give you."
"Do you have children, Opal?" Lex asked, wondering if her sympathy was true or just generated for the situation.
"Oh, Lex. I have grandchildren. Most of them are grown now, though." She stood. "Your father is coming to visit. Soon."
"Another warning?" Lex wondered how in the world a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties could have grandchildren.
"I imagine that one is much needed, son. Avoid looking in his eyes."
As Opal disappeared, Lex pushed himself up and struggled to get out of the bed. The chain reached the bathroom, but it was too bulky for him to close the door, and so he would like to get that out of the way before his father came in to crow over his victory. It took perhaps ten minutes to complete the task, and by the time Lex was returning to the bed, he was more than a bit spent. He eased himself down and curled around his belly, focusing on his daughter's little kicks. Thankfully, she seemed as strong as ever, regardless of how Lex felt.
"I'll get you out of here, baby. I don't know how, but I will," Lex promised. He rested his head on his pillow and rubbed his hand up and down over the rise of his belly. Within moments he was dozing.
Lionel's voice jolted Lex out of his dreamless sleep, and although he couldn't make out the words, Lex lifted his head with his eyes stubbornly closed.
"Your specimen needs its sleep, Dad. Pregnancy is hard work."
Lionel smiled widely, apparently amused at Lex's grumpiness, and drew closer. "Indeed it seems to be. How are you feeling?"
"Slim and fit," Lex replied dryly. He rubbed his eyes.
"Hm." Lionel sat by Lex's side. "Your relapse has told me that, if nothing else, your best interests are served by staying in bed under the observation of qualified doctors. You must make it through, Lex, at least a few more months."
"I plan on it." Lex glared at his father.
Lionel reached over and caressed Lex's abdomen.
"Stop," Lex ordered, but his father didn't have much of a reason to heed Lex wishes.
"I don't know how much will be left of you by then," Lionel commented, his eyes drifting over his son's weakened form.
"You don't need to worry about me, Dad. You know I've lived through everything you've put me through." Lex waited a moment for that shot to sink in. "The goal right now is to give her what she needs. That done, I'll be fine."
"You believe so? Hm." Lionel's hand rested where the baby was moving. "Your mother delivered you both early. She seemed to get a bit stir crazy in the later months. Didn't like to be cooped up."
Lex shrugged. "I've got to say, I'm kinda feeling Mom on this one."
"You are… so much like your mother."
"Obviously. If I weren't enough like her already, someone had to come along and help the process." Lex closed his eyes again.
"Go on, Lex. Joke if you must."
Lex felt his father remove his hand. "You know, Dad, it becomes less and less of an insult. To be like her. She had her flaws, but so do you. I find myself ceasing to care if you call me a woman. I mean, I am pregnant. I'm sort of defying gender boundaries here."
"You certainly seem to have given up on everything I've tried to teach you," Lionel said sternly.
"No, Dad." Lex opened his eyes and looked at his father. "I'm just a gender outlaw. A bisexual freak who defies binaries. It's always been true. The pregnancy just made it obvious. Just like losing my hair made my difference obvious before. It wasn't that the difference wasn't there before. It was simply hidden."
"You believe so?" Lionel stood and tugged at his shirt.
"I believe so."
"Lex, for what it's worth, I do think that had you embraced your destiny, you could have become a truly formidable man. A man who never did good things, but great things. A man to be feared."
"I spent most of my life trying to both become that man and not become that man at the same time," Lex agreed. "But I don't think that deciding to become a parent, and hopefully a good one, will preclude me from becoming formidable or from doing great things."
"It will if you sacrifice yourself for you child, Lex," Lionel countered, meeting his eye harshly.
Lex rubbed his temple and shook his head, feeling at once vulnerable and a failure. Still, he continued, "I don't think you should choose to become a parent if you aren't willing to sacrifice for you children."
"Hm." Lionel stared at Lex for a long moment. "And still you fight me. I wonder if she'll have as much fight in her. Really, no one has ever fought me so much as you have, Lex. Rest assured, I will make fewer mistakes in raising her. She will be a heir I can be proud of."
Lex held Lionel's gaze firmly until the man turned to leave the room, then closed his eyes and let the tears run down. He had no more defenses against Lionel. How he'd remain sane over the upcoming months, Lex was uncertain. But he would, because he had to. He had to keep his wits about him, for her sake, because he wouldn't wish Lionel's parenting skills on his worst enemy, let alone his own blood.
Lex's head is heavy and his eyes wet. It feels as though his skull is filled to the brim with water. He is reeling from his father's cruel words, but he is too tired to think on it.
When Lex looks up he is alone, and he sits up and looks around his small, damp cage, eyes filled with desolation. The elephant in the corner of the room dances, a little more happily than he should, but the crowd cheers him on regardless.
"Clark," he whispers hopefully to himself. Maybe Clark will hear, somehow.
Then, the door opens. Clark bursts through and looks around frantically.
"Oh, I hoped I'd find you."
"Clark?" Lex gapes a moment and then drops his head in his hand. His voice pierces through the elephant's accompanying music in a strident, pained pitch. "This is impossible. I'm dreaming again."
"Yeah, you are." Clark slips into the bed and wraps his arms around Lex. "But it's okay. We're coming for you, okay?"
Clark tucks Lex under his arm and pulls him to his chest. He studies Lex's face as though reading a book. But they say you can't read in dreams. "You don't look so good."
"I have to get out of here." Lex's hand moves over Clark's chest, trying to verify that he is really there, even if it is a dream.
"I'll try to help, whatever I can do. We found out that your father is behind this, Lex." Clark rubs Lex's back and kisses his forehead. With a frown, he pulls off the metal band and tosses it aside.
"I know. He has us all here. Me and all the other meta humans he's found." Lex closes his eyes and took in Clark's warmth. "You're like the sun. I miss it, Clark. I can feel it. It's like the longer I'm down here, the less life I have in me. I'm like a flower waiting for the sun to wake me up."
"I guess that makes sense. The baby probably needs a lot of sunlight, and she can only get it from you."
Lex nods. "And now he has us all hidden away under the city in his dungeon. No sunlight to be found."
"Under the city? Like… how?"
"Help me out of this bed and I'll show you. I snuck up there trying to get some information. It's why they chained me up." Lex wiggles his wrist and the chain clinks.
"That's real? I thought that was dream symbolism!" Clark reaches over and snaps the chain. "Come on. Show me whatever you can. I know this is just a dream, Lex, but we are going to come for you. And then you and I can spend all the time in the sun you want."
"Yeah?" Lex leans forward and kisses Clark. When he pulls back, they are in the control room. "This is as far as I got. See? The facility is located under the city. Under the water. The Hobbs River runs underneath because Metropolis is an island. It's why the walls leak."
Clark's eyes widen almost comically as he looks at the screens. "We can swing this. I'm sure of it."
He turns to Lex and hugs him around the shoulders. "We'll be here soon. Just try to relax, and keep your eyes open. Before you know it, I'll really be coming through that door for you."
"You have to hurry, Clark. The great cat can't escape Atlantis if he drowns," Lex urges.
"I'll be there. I promise. Do you still have my ring?"
Lex lifts his hand, a smile tugging on his pale lips as he looks up at Clark. The warmth seems to almost touch Lex's skin when Clark takes his hand and rubs it to his cheek.
"Have faith."
"I'm trying, Clark."
Their noses rub together slowly as they breathe against one another's lips. Lex can almost feel Clark's warmth filling him up and pushing all of the water out of his head.
"How I miss your rhyming couplets," Lex whispers.
"I don't understand much about poetry," Clark replies. "All I have in the world is you, my child, and a bracelet."
Their lips meet as a shark circles around them.
The gray dripping ceiling came into stark clarity as Lex's eyes popped open. There was definitely more water there than there was before. That much, Lex was certain of. He reached over to his panic button, but hesitated. In a dream, he was so certain that Clark was coming and that…
What? Something was happening. Lex pushed a little at the headband Opal had put on him, but he couldn't pry it loose. So he lay back again and stared at the ceiling.
"Underground he lays a'waiting
A hero he is contemplating
Though he cannot parse his dreaming
He cannot dismiss it seeming
That his unconscious mind knows more than it tells
Unsated the urge for freedom, it swells
As they must, events converge
Water rises in a surge
Child inside a'moving, chest a'tensing
Chain too tight, doom I'm sensing
Somehow the dancing elephant is missing
Still I won't regret the kissing."
Lex's lips quirked to the side for a moment and closed his eyes, imagining Clark's whispered words and hot breath on his ear.
Breathe, Lex.
***
Clark practically leapt to his feet when his eyes opened, and he pulled out his cell phone and dialed as he ran to the elevator. He could barely catch his breath, for practically the first time in his life, excluding days when he'd been stripped of his powers, that he struggled to take air in and out.
"Lori! I need you."
"Um…"
"Shut up. Lex needs you. I have an idea of where he is, and I think you could give us more specifics. There's a facility under Metropolis. Under the water. Can you like… talk to the fish and ask them if there's a building down there?"
"Who can talk to fish? That's like you having a conversation with a squirrel."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Just because I'm Atlantian doesn't mean I can commune with the animals. They have really tiny brains and no memory. Even if they saw something, the realization would be gone a minute later. Hm… I don't there there's anything down there smart enough to help…"
The elevator stopped and Clark headed down the hall.
"I'll stick my head under and see what's going on," she said after a moment. "Keep your cell phone on you."
"Okay, thanks, Lori. Be careful, though. Lionel has all the other-"
"I know, Hope and Mercy told me he got the guys staying at LuthorCorp. I'll be honest, Clark. That scares me. Mercy found out that Lionel was talking to the people who gutted my brother. They sold his eggs."
"They…" Clark stopped in front of Lex's office. "What?"
"Cut him open. Took out his eggs. I know humans eat fish eggs sometimes, but…"
Clark felt his stomach lurch, and his lips curled into a deep grimace. "You've got to be kidding! They… that's horrible! Ugh, I don't think I'll ever risk eating caviar again."
"You couldn't mistake our eggs for a regular fish's. Ours are bigger, rounder, and kind of give off light."
"…Still." Clark didn't want to admit it, but Lori was starting to put him off meat. He'd never live it down with his dad, though. "Okay, go ahead, Lori. Get back to me when you find something, and we'll put the girls on how to get in."
"'Kay!"
Clark pushed open the double doors open and spotted Chloe at Lex's desk, deeply focused on the laptop in front of her. Mercy was leaning over her shoulder with a stern frown. She looked up and raised a brow.
"Good beddy bye?" Mercy asked.
Chloe gave her a sideways glance then turned her head to Clark. "I haven't found anything yet. Since Lena gave us the heads up on Lionel-big duh for us, right? I've been scanning all the larger facilities that Luthorcorp, their subsidiaries, or the labs of LexCorp that Lex has been acquiring for the big switchover once LuthorCorp is cleaned up. Trying to track sources of unusual energy uses. He wouldn't have used any of the obvious installations, but I'm betting that Lex is wherever the rest of our missing metas are, which means it's a big facility, with big energy usage, and big is not small. Big is hard to cover."
"If anyone is going to cover big, though, it's going to be Big Daddy," Mercy pointed out.
Chloe shrugged. "Big Daddy had a level that wasn't on the plans. Lex's facilities are in between floors or protected by materials that render the building invisible. I'll take dealing with Big Daddy before Junior any day."
"Chloe, I know where Lex is. I dreamed it." Clark rushed up to the desk.
The two women both tilted their head to the right as they studied him.
"Stop that. You two are getting creepy. I'm serious!"
"Clark," Chloe said softly. She reached for his hand.
"The last few times I've fallen asleep lately, I see him and talk to him," Clark explained, looking between the two of them. "He thought he was at Metropolis General-"
"But he wasn't. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Clark," Mercy told him. Clark had to hold his tongue, because he knew they were all stressed out now, and with Mercy it was hard to tell if she liked you on a good day. He wished she had tail. Then if it were swishing, he could tell she was about to scratch his eyes out.
"You think you and Lex are sharing dreams?" Lena asked as she entered the room.
Clark turned to her hopefully. "You said yourself that some people can see the future in their dreams, and when you were attacked, Lex knew before anyone that it was Milton Fine who did it. Even before you woke up and told us what happened, he dreamed it."
Taking a breath and rubbing his palm, Clark drew nearer to her. "You and Lex have been able to feel each other more and more the longer you've known each other and farther along he gets. Is it such a stretch that Lex could be trying to reach out to me?"
"Or you could be wishin' and hopin' that some miracle is going to deliver him to us," Mercy replied. Chloe touched her shoulder gently.
"No." Lena shook her head. "You know, Lex has been having nightmares that his father was going to take custody of his baby."
"The one where um… I'm… having sex in the delivery room with someone else? And then he goes with me to the caves? And my red couch is there."
"He told you about that one?"
"No, Lena. I had that dream. It was the day you woke up, and I took Lex to his old loft for some rest," Clark told her seriously.
Lena's eyes widened, and Clark could easily see that she believed him as much as Mercy didn't. He took a breath.
"Lex told me that he got out of his cell and made it up to the control room. The facility is under water. Under Metropolis. I asked Lori to check it out." Clark turned to Chloe again. "Did you find any power irregularities that lead under the city?"
"No." Chloe shook her head, then focused on her laptop again and bit her lower lip. "But I wasn't exactly looking there. Whatever Lori finds will be helpful… Okay, wait, I'm just going to tap into the city's grid and check out what's going on. Keeping something going underground is hard, and under water would be harder."
"Thank you." Clark took in a big breath and waited as Chloe's fingers flew on the keyboard.
"If he's underwater, how the hell are we going to get to him?" Mercy demanded.
Clark shrugged, but Lena spoke up in an even voice. "Lex tells me that security systems are really your specialty. I'm sure if Chloe can get into the system, and Lori can get us an some details on the location, you'll be able to crack their defenses."
Mercy put a hand on her hip and looked out the large window with a sigh. "There's probably not much of a defense system. That far under? The water is the defense system. Lori's a natural to take along. The rest of us will need oxygen, and if we have too many, then they'll see us. Lemme think."
"I'm coming," Clark said firmly. "Have you found anyone else who can help?"
"Domovoi's best at disrupting other people's powers. We shouldn't take him," Mercy said. "Mxyzptlk has done a disappearing act."
"Really, Mercy, I think we have enough," Chloe interjected. "You, me, Clark, and Lori. Do we really want anymore? The only others I can think of are just kids, and Lex has a problem with putting kids in the field."
"I have a problem with putting you in the field," Mercy replied.
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Well, once you get in, you're going to need someone to get into their computers. I don't know for sure how they're keeping the metas in order, but I'll put my eggs in the basket that they have to have some kind of dampener to quell the powers of psionics, right?"
"Chlo, I don't know," Clark put in hesitantly. "What if the guards come after you?"
"What if I have a gun?"
"I want to be close by," Lena put in. "Give me an earpiece. I'll keep you updated on Lex. We need doctors on hand, too."
"I'm a good swimmer, Mercy," Chloe argued. "I can wear the Kevlar protective suits that LexCorp has been developing, and I've been training-"
"Not this time," Mercy snapped. "I want you on the outside. You and Lena will have earpieces, and if we need your expertise, you can help us from there."
Chloe gave a frustrated sigh and dutifully turned to her screen. "Alright. You're in charge, Merc."
Clark and Lena exchanged a look.
It wasn't long before Clark's phone was ringing "Down by the Sea," and he turned from the girls to listen to what Lori had to say.
"Clark, you gotta get down here, now."
"You found it."
"That bastard is leaking. I'm not even kidding. I found it, and we have to get the people out of there."
"Leaking…"
"There's a crack in one of the walls. You can only have so much pressure on a building before… Well, in Atlantis, we have a lot of support beams. You can't build something under the water the way you would build it on land."
"Okay, I need you to come up here-"
"No," Chloe said. "We'll get on the road and meet her there. We need to move fast. I think I've found where the building probably is. Let me talk to her for a sec?"
Clark placed the phone in Chloe's waiting hand and slipped his hands into his pockets to wait. He wasn't used to working for a team, beyond being paired up with Chloe, but just busting in there wasn't an option this time.
***
Something was different, and it slipped into Lex's dreams as rain before he ever opened his eyes. With a soft frown, he looked over to the wall stained by the water. It wasn't dripping now. It had upgraded to trickling. Water was beginning to pool on the floor.
"Oh…" Lex reached over to the button by his bed and pushed it a few times. "Come on, the doctors are always in here when I don't want them to be. Why not now?"
Lex was too impatient to wait long; he began jerking at his chain again.
***
"Ow." Lena touched her wrist and frowned.
Clark looked over at her with concern, and she took his hand silently.
"I'm in. Set us up over there by the docks," Chloe announced.
Mercy nodded and took her turn.
"I'll fill Tanaka in when she gets here," Chloe continued.
When the car stopped, and Chloe and Mercy were busy setting up, Clark slipped out of the car and motioned for Lena to come with him.
"Is this his? He was wearing a shackle on his left wrist in my dream," Clark said softly, gently turning her wrist over in his hand.
"I think so. They have him chained?" Her eyebrows wrinkled with worry.
"He did try to escape." A smile teased Clark's lips. "I'm kind of proud of him. He's… He thought I was dead, and he's so tired, but he tried to get out anyway."
"Oh, Clark." Lena's lower lip crumbled, and Clark wrapped her up in his big arms.
"I know this is hard, but we'll get him back. You'll be able to see him by the end of the day. Promise."
"He's scared."
"I would be too, if Lionel had me locked up in a dungeon," Clark muttered. He kissed the top of her soft, thick hair, and pulled back to look at her.
"That man is the devil. I don't think I've seen much evil in my life. Even the man who attacked me and… I don't know if it's because there's no emotion attached to what he was doing. It didn't seem as evil. But what Lionel's doing to Lex? Who can do that to their own child?" Lena's eyes shone in grief and frustration. "Your child is like an extension of yourself. Even with Maddie, I could no sooner hurt her than I could cut off one of my own limbs."
"I've never understood Lionel," Clark admitted. He cupped her cheek and kissed the other. "I don't think I can understand him. Hang tight, Lena. I'll bring your brother back to you."
She gave him a watery smile and looked up as Lori approached the two of them, wringing out her hair.
"We gots to get moving, Clark," she announced, craning her head to the side as her wide, blue eyes took in the both of them.
"How bad is the crack?" Clark asked.
Lori made a big shrug. "I dunno when it happened, but it looks like it's been cracking for a while now. Something got it going now, though."
"It'll hold long enough for us to get to them, right?"
Lori shrugged again and sucked in the left side of her lower lip. Pearly little teeth peeked out of her mouth. Clark ran a hand through his hair and went to get things moving with Chloe and Mercy.
***
"How did you let this happen?" Lionel demanded. The two security guards shook their heads and looked to Dr. Largess for explanation.
"Sir, during testing, we have to remove Lowell's restraints. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able gauge his strength," the man protested.
"Granted, Dr. Largess," Lionel replied with barely veiled rage. "However, how that translates into letting one of our patients send an enormous crack through the outer wall of this facility continues to elude me!"
Largess flinched backward. Behind him the security video of Lowell straightening up and sending his fist into the wall replayed.
"We are not exactly the Titanic, Mr. Luthor. And I would know," Dr. Deighton interrupted. "But the structure of this facility was put together haphazardly at best. It doesn't surprise me given the leaks that a bit of force would cause the southern wall to crack like this. You can assign blame later, but what must happen now-"
Lionel's eyes fixed on her. "We've know each other a long time, haven't we Opal?"
"Mm. We have to make sure the patients are evacuated," she continued in a softer voice.
"And do you have a plan on how to do that without arousing suspicion?"
"Sir, surely we had an exit strategy here," Largess said, looking between the two of them.
Lionel kept his eyes looked on Deighton's. She crossed her arms and sighed in resignation.
"Largess, send word down. We need to bring up all of the Class A patients-"
"Wouldn't it be easier to simply evacuate by level?"
"Just like the Titanic, Dave," she said coldly. "We ensure the safety of those most capable of continuing to propagate our objectives. In their case, women and children, in ours, the mutants most vital to our research. They're marked in the files. We'd better get to it."
Largess gaped at them a moment, before Lionel's gaze turned to him, and then he hurried out the door. The two security guards followed. There was much to do.
"He knew this was coming," Deighton whispered, looking at the video again.
"Kestrel," Lionel surmised.
"No. Your son. He's been having dreams in which he's under water for weeks now." She didn't look at him, but instead, pressed the button that would show them the feed from individual rooms. Lex was on his bed, awake, and had his legs pulled up as close to his chest as he could manage. The water in his cell was starting to cover the floor. "He's marked Class A?"
"No, he wasn't. I suppose in light of this information he should have been." Lionel put his hands on his hips for a moment. "No matter. I'll instruct them to evacuate him with the others."
Deighton nodded and sat in front of the console. "I'll scan our other facilities and send word of which one we should employ for the survivors."
Lionel nodded and after touching her shoulder briefly, left the room. This day was not going according to plan at all, and he had to say, that while he'd known the precarious position of this facility when he'd begun gathering his patients here, he never thought that through such incompetence, he would be facing this decision.
Oh well. There were always more mutants out there to further their research, and they had the time to save the most interesting of the ones they'd collected. Lex had always seemed to think that he could make great advances without getting his hands dirty, but Lionel knew otherwise; the greatest medical discoveries were born from experimentation on the unwilling, on children even, during outbreaks of infectious disease. It was the bold and the brilliant who made history, not hand-wringing intellectuals who thought they could have a continuous succession of bloodless victories. Science was anything but bloodless.
Opal knew that. Lord knew she'd seen enough history to come to the conclusion. Science she trusted. Magic she abhorred. With good reason. The woman had encountered her long lifespan by utter chance, touching a crystal at the same time as her infant great-granddaughter had reached up to touch it. Of course they mistook the old body for senile, and Opal had been too young, developmentally, in the body of her great-granddaughter to tell them what had happened. A short life for the girl. A longer life for the already old woman.
Lionel was now grateful that after having collected the crystal from Opal he had been unsuccessful in switching bodies with his son. He quite preferred his own strengths, and would find another means of evading old age. Granted, if they could keep Lex alive, that means might come from further experimentation with his blood. Lionel was certain that whatever physical differences Lex possessed were from exposure to the meteors. This new discovery, well, it had to be one of the Luthor family gifts. Though not royalty, Lionel's research into his family line seemed to reveal an inordinate tendency to be run out of town or be accused of witchcraft.
Lionel had always known that he was a cut above the rest of humanity, even from his very early days. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed an office at the very top of the largest building in Metropolis. Everyone, no matter where they were, had to look up to him.
Lionel stopped in his tracks as he spotted Largess's body on the ground. Approaching carefully, he saw that just around the corner, the two security guards were also down. He pulled out his phone to alert the rest of security.
Suddenly the phone was plucked from his hand from behind.
"Not quite so easy," a dry feminine voice drawled.
Lionel turned slowly. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but the tall but slenderly built Asian woman was not it. "Dr. Tanaka. Come for your patient?"
"I suppose you are a credit to your species for having been able to hide him from me at all." She tilted her head to the side slightly and looked at him with hooded, disparaging eyes.
Lionel was repulsed by the way she regarded him, as though he were a base animal. "There's plenty of security here. You won't get far. In fact, you needn't have worried at all. We were just about to take Lex to safety."
"I'm afraid that most of your security staff has suffered fatal stab wounds. They're very fragile. Prone to bleeding out." Her lips pulled into a cruel, tight smirk, and she took a step forward, crushing Lionel's phone in one hand.
"Who are you?" Lionel demanded. He gave ground, but only because he could sense a fellow predator when he saw one.
"Lionel, I am someone who dearly detests his experiments being muddied by some fool who thinks he would be king," she replied. "You see, I did do preliminary tests on a few subjects, and none of them took well to captivity. The icing on all of this is that you deprived my subject of sunlight, thereby jeopardizing the entire endeavor. It isn't as though I could simply begin again with a new subject. The subject is unique. There are no others. He is the one. I need him."
She had slowly gotten closer and closer to Lionel, and he reached out to push her back, but she caught his wrist and gripped it firmly with her preternatural strength. Too late it dawned on him that there was something wrong with her eyes. They seemed to have dilated, because now they were nothing but shining black. He was fairly certain they hadn't been black before.
"You're a mutant," he accused.
"No, Lionel Luthor. I am no mutant. I did, however, need a meatsuit that your son would trust so that I could properly monitor him without his security detecting me. I'm not particularly good at emulating human emotion, so when an individual presented herself who had the same flaw, one who Lex had already met, you see that she was my only choice. No one would have believed me as Dr. Redbloom. Too soft, and his daughter would have spoiled it. This works much better."
Lionel watched her closely. That she was telling him all of this didn't bode well for her intentions toward him.
"You must understand. If you do not have the material to work with, certain experiments are impossible. Kryptonian DNA won't mix with just anyone's DNA. What you've done here is simply unacceptable."
When her eyes flickered to the side, seeming to detect a noise, Lionel swiftly jerked to the other side, slipping around her and making a break for the open hallway. There would be weapons there.
Then all at once, she was in front of him again. He hadn't even seen her move, but there she was, and he was pinned against the wall. As pain bloomed in his upper abdomen, he looked down and blinked in disbelief at the long, sharp metal protrusion extending from her arm and through his body. Blood quickly stained the front of his custom-made suit.
"There is no deeper ideology here. It is as simple as this," she said coldly. "You have gotten in my way."
The shining fluid metal withdrew from Lionel's body, and she coldly stared down at him drowning in his own blood for a moment before looking up, her eyes narrowing, and leaving the hallway quickly.
***
"Hey!" Lex bellowed. He stood on his bed, trying to squeeze his hand through the shackle they'd placed on him. Unfortunately, the thing was just too damn tight, and the water had risen enough in the past few minutes that even standing on his bed, his feet were getting wet. His heart was frantic in his chest like a caged animal.
"Let me out of here! The room is flooding!" he yelled again. It was likely useless, but he had to do something. He was chained to the wall and the door was locked. So he yelled, as long and loud as he could.
***
"This is weird," Mercy muttered as they slipped through the hallways. She'd planned a strike involving the three of them, and they had gotten in through a hatch on the north wall. So far they had been completely unseen.
Of course they hadn't seen anyone either.
"Weird how?" Chloe asked, her small voice coming in through their earpieces.
Clark squinted and scanned through the walls. He went stiff as he saw the first person. "They're dead, Chloe. Someone got here first."
"Let me check the cameras again. They were nothing but static a moment ago," she said. The line went quiet for a moment.
Lori looked around, her lips pursed into an exaggerated circle. "If no one is around, I could just go down and grab some of them. Swim 'em out."
"Clark, the water levels are rising fast," Chloe announced. "I'm looking into the feed now, and I don't know what caused it, but you have a pretty clear shot downstairs. I can't see any further than that, though. I think the water has shorted out the cameras. Can you get to a control panel? There should be one in the room to your left. I'm trying to unlock the doors on the lower levels, but it would be faster to just do it manually. If they can get out of their cells, this'll go a lot smoother."
"We'll give it a try," Mercy promised. She met Clark's eyes and he could tell that she was regretting not bringing Chloe along to do this bit of tech for them. Particularly if anyone who might have tried to stop them was already dead.
Clark chest tightened as they stepped over the body of a security guard. It didn't matter that this man had been helping to keep who knew how many people prisoner. A life was a life, and it bothered Clark that he couldn't save this guy too. They didn't even have time to check to see what had done it.
***
The room was a pool of murky river water.
Treading water, Lex tried to swim towards the door, but now he had to duck his head under the water to even reach the handle. After a few attempts, he determined it was useless since the door was locked and he didn't have the strength to bust it open, so he swam back over to the other wall. He kicked the bolts that secured his chain a few times, and then surfaced again, gasping.
His limbs were feeling heavy already, but he had to keep afloat. His eyes scanned the room for anything that would help him out of this. Maybe he was just too tired to come up with something. He suspected that if he could get a concave object, then he could trap a little air with it, and give himself a little more time.
There wasn't much in his room to use for that purpose, however.
It was like a dream. A nightmare. The cold and sinister water kept rising, and all Lex could do was try to keep his head above water. He couldn't tell how much time had passed since the water had begun to rise, how long he had been trying to keep swimming, keep breathing. He pressed his cheek to the ceiling, knowing that the side of it would collapse soon, and there would be no hope.
Just as the water threatened to cover his head, Lex let out one last long cry for help, then took a deep breath.
Lex knew enough to try to stay as still as possible. He had to conserve whatever oxygen he had left, for as long as possible. His head began to throb, and he felt the pressure building. Repeatedly, his body tried to force him to take a breath, and he fought it. Water in his lungs would be the end of everything.
He closed his eyes briefly, shaking his heads at all his little efforts to stay alive a few more minutes. I'm sorry, baby, he thought.
His head turned and suddenly everything became surreal, as though oxygen deprivation had set in a bit early. The wall seemed to explode, and through the floating bits, Clark appeared, dark and curly hair swirling around his serious face. Sharp green eyes looked around quickly, then swam over to Lex's chain and snapped it in his hands as easily as he had in Lex's dreams.
Blinking sluggishly, Lex watched Clark put his arms around him securely and swim back out through the hole in the wall. Lex pressed his face into Clark's chest trying to hold his breath just a bit longer. The burning in his chest felt urgent, but Lex knew it was just a reflex. He had to trick his body into doing what he needed to survive. He just needed a little more time…
As he looked up, Clark's worried, scowling face was the last thing Lex saw before darkness collapsed around them.
***
Lex woke with Clark's lips on his own, his arms cradling Lex tenderly.
"You're okay, Lex. It'll be okay. Please wake up."
"I'm awake," he muttered, although the sound was weak and garbled. Clark hugged him closely and peppered his cheek and forehead with kisses. The room still seemed blurry, although very bright, but Lex thought Clark was there, really there. He hoped this wasn't yet another dream. He hoped he wasn't drowning in his room, imagining this fantasy as his brain gradually died. "Dreaming."
"No more dreaming, Lex. You're safe," Clark promised, his fingers brushing over the strange band on Lex's head.
"I thought I saw… The wall… the chain…"
"You did," Clark replied, his lips at Lex's ear. "You did see that, Lex."
"Where…?" Lex blinked a few times at the brightness before he realized that he was outside. The sun was above them, and it felt good.
"Riverbank. The Hobbs."
Clark had tears in his eyes as he looked at Lex, so Lex reached up and wiped them away. After staring at one another for a moment, their lips met. And again and again. Until Lex was breathless, and then Clark just nuzzled Lex's neck and whispered for him to take deep breaths. Clark's large hand mapped Lex's body, slow and curious. Hungry to know Lex again, and every change in it since they'd last held one another in the castle back in Smallville.
Title: Must Be Dreaming
Series/WIP: Sequel to So Much Dreaming
Pairing: Clex!
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After being abducted by aliens and discovering that Jonathan Kent is alive, Lex must come to grips with his shifting relationship with Clark and an unexpected pregnancy.
Spoilers: Through S5, after Cyborg.
Warnings: Mpreg, character death
Much thanks to my unbelievably gorgeous beta herohunter ♥
Chapter One ♥ Chapter Two ♥ Chapter Three ♥ Chapter Four ♥ Chapter 5.1 ♥ Chapter 5.2 ♥ Chapter Six ♥ Chapter Seven ♥ Chapter Eight ♥ Chapter Nine ♥ Chapter Ten ♥ Chapter Eleven ♥ Chapter Twelve ♥ Chapter Thirteen ♥ Chapter Fourteen ♥ Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Redness was spreading around Lena's wrist, and she kissed the top of Maddie's head, trying to ignore it without shutting herself off. It was important that she be open to whatever Lex was feeling; anything could prove to be a clue.
She doubted that it would work, but she did hope. Her eyes closed when she felt the hit to Lex's ego. She didn't understand why her brother had to hurt so much, but she could feel the push, and she knew that his father was behind it.
"Lena, what happens if Lex doesn't come back?" Maddie whispered.
"He'll come back. Clark's going to get him for us."
"But… The DHS will take me back, won't they? If we can't find him?"
"Over my dead body, baby." She kissed Maddie's cheek. "Don't think about that okay? We'll all be home safe, and soon."
"Is the baby…?"
"Still there. That I can feel. She's a fighter, just like her daddy."
Maddie wrapped her arms around Lena and frowned. The girl's heart was swelling with worry for Lex and those she had befriended. Lena tried to never push. Just this once, she pushed, just a little. She felt Maddie's panic and projected calm as she rubbed Maddie's shoulders, hoping it would reach the little girl.
Domovoi would take her back to her lessons soon. It was important to keep her busy. Lena needed to try to keep busy herself.
***
It should have come as no surprise to anyone involved that Lex Luthor was a champion among sulkers. Being chained to the wall did nothing to improve this mood.
"You should have realized that your father wouldn't tolerate escape attempts," Dr. Largess admonished. "Stop doing that."
Lex jerked again, trying to squeeze his hand through the shackle. His wrist was bloody and raw from his attempts. "You're a doctor. You know that I can't stay here much longer."
"I know that you'd be under much less stress if you'd lay back and just let us take care of you."
"And here you were playing good cop this entire time. How did Opal feel about that?" Lex sneered. His head dipped, and he closed his eyes.
"We're doing everything we can to keep you nourished. This child you're carrying is very demanding, indeed." Largess approached him and checked his IV bag.
"I seemed to be doing okay before you stuck me underground," Lex replied.
Largess ignored him and headed for the door. Lex could have gotten up to go after him, but he realized he should really pick his battles. And anyway, the chain didn't reach that far.
A moment later Dr. Opal Deighton entered wearing her lab coat instead of the pink scrubs and carrying a thin metallic band in her hand.
"Please remain relaxed, Lex." She reached over with the band, and Lex jerked away. She sighed heavily. "This won't harm you. It'll simply record your brainwaves as you sleep."
"Why do you need to do that?" Lex looked at her suspiciously.
Opal pulled up a chair and sat by his bed. "Your father has given us permission to study your ability."
"Aren't you already doing that?" Lex pursed his lips.
Opal shook her head slowly. "No. The pregnancy is not an ability. From my observations, it is something that someone has done to you. Abilities such as yours are inherited, although they tend to exhibit differently in different subjects. Yours matches your brother's, though. Prognostication is prognostication, whether it is the seeing of multiple probabilities or seeing of the future in other ways."
"I don't quite follow. You have Luc down here too?" Lex demanded, his nose wrinkling.
"No," Opal said again. "Lucas unfortunately did not survive the tests done on him. You are lucky that your body holds something that your father wants."
"Lucas… Lucas is dead?" Lex looked down and stared at the expensive sheets of his prison bed, and as he blinked away tears and tried to swallow this blow, Opal slipped the band around Lex's head. He jerked his head up and looked at her with cold, dangerous eyes. "You will not get away with this. I don't forgive easily, and for those who have hurt me and mine, I don't forgive at all."
"That's fine, Lex. I've lived much longer than I deserved. I've done more than enough to earn my place in Hell," Opal said certainly. She reached over and touched his arm. "Stop struggling with that shackle. The bone pain you are feeling is a result of the Vitamin D deficiency, and you'll want to save your strength. I don’t know why we can't keep your levels up, but we'll do all we can."
"The best thing you could do would be to let me go," Lex replied smoothly.
"The best thing I could do right now would be to give you a sedative." Opal reached into her pocket.
Lex set his face in an obstinate frown. "I'm not taking any more drugs."
"It must be getting uncomfortable for you. Can you sleep without the sedative?"
"I could sleep if you had a gay elephant in the corner trumpeting "I Am What I Am."" Lex winced as he tried to push himself up in the bed.
Opal seemed to reconsider. "All right then. Lex, we have an amnio planned for you, perhaps in a few days. If that happens-"
"You understand that I'm not eager for you people to stick a needle right next to my child?"
"I didn't think you would be. I just thought a warning would be helpful. In your situation, you don't have much control over anything. Information about what is happening to you is probably all I can give you."
"Do you have children, Opal?" Lex asked, wondering if her sympathy was true or just generated for the situation.
"Oh, Lex. I have grandchildren. Most of them are grown now, though." She stood. "Your father is coming to visit. Soon."
"Another warning?" Lex wondered how in the world a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties could have grandchildren.
"I imagine that one is much needed, son. Avoid looking in his eyes."
As Opal disappeared, Lex pushed himself up and struggled to get out of the bed. The chain reached the bathroom, but it was too bulky for him to close the door, and so he would like to get that out of the way before his father came in to crow over his victory. It took perhaps ten minutes to complete the task, and by the time Lex was returning to the bed, he was more than a bit spent. He eased himself down and curled around his belly, focusing on his daughter's little kicks. Thankfully, she seemed as strong as ever, regardless of how Lex felt.
"I'll get you out of here, baby. I don't know how, but I will," Lex promised. He rested his head on his pillow and rubbed his hand up and down over the rise of his belly. Within moments he was dozing.
Lionel's voice jolted Lex out of his dreamless sleep, and although he couldn't make out the words, Lex lifted his head with his eyes stubbornly closed.
"Your specimen needs its sleep, Dad. Pregnancy is hard work."
Lionel smiled widely, apparently amused at Lex's grumpiness, and drew closer. "Indeed it seems to be. How are you feeling?"
"Slim and fit," Lex replied dryly. He rubbed his eyes.
"Hm." Lionel sat by Lex's side. "Your relapse has told me that, if nothing else, your best interests are served by staying in bed under the observation of qualified doctors. You must make it through, Lex, at least a few more months."
"I plan on it." Lex glared at his father.
Lionel reached over and caressed Lex's abdomen.
"Stop," Lex ordered, but his father didn't have much of a reason to heed Lex wishes.
"I don't know how much will be left of you by then," Lionel commented, his eyes drifting over his son's weakened form.
"You don't need to worry about me, Dad. You know I've lived through everything you've put me through." Lex waited a moment for that shot to sink in. "The goal right now is to give her what she needs. That done, I'll be fine."
"You believe so? Hm." Lionel's hand rested where the baby was moving. "Your mother delivered you both early. She seemed to get a bit stir crazy in the later months. Didn't like to be cooped up."
Lex shrugged. "I've got to say, I'm kinda feeling Mom on this one."
"You are… so much like your mother."
"Obviously. If I weren't enough like her already, someone had to come along and help the process." Lex closed his eyes again.
"Go on, Lex. Joke if you must."
Lex felt his father remove his hand. "You know, Dad, it becomes less and less of an insult. To be like her. She had her flaws, but so do you. I find myself ceasing to care if you call me a woman. I mean, I am pregnant. I'm sort of defying gender boundaries here."
"You certainly seem to have given up on everything I've tried to teach you," Lionel said sternly.
"No, Dad." Lex opened his eyes and looked at his father. "I'm just a gender outlaw. A bisexual freak who defies binaries. It's always been true. The pregnancy just made it obvious. Just like losing my hair made my difference obvious before. It wasn't that the difference wasn't there before. It was simply hidden."
"You believe so?" Lionel stood and tugged at his shirt.
"I believe so."
"Lex, for what it's worth, I do think that had you embraced your destiny, you could have become a truly formidable man. A man who never did good things, but great things. A man to be feared."
"I spent most of my life trying to both become that man and not become that man at the same time," Lex agreed. "But I don't think that deciding to become a parent, and hopefully a good one, will preclude me from becoming formidable or from doing great things."
"It will if you sacrifice yourself for you child, Lex," Lionel countered, meeting his eye harshly.
Lex rubbed his temple and shook his head, feeling at once vulnerable and a failure. Still, he continued, "I don't think you should choose to become a parent if you aren't willing to sacrifice for you children."
"Hm." Lionel stared at Lex for a long moment. "And still you fight me. I wonder if she'll have as much fight in her. Really, no one has ever fought me so much as you have, Lex. Rest assured, I will make fewer mistakes in raising her. She will be a heir I can be proud of."
Lex held Lionel's gaze firmly until the man turned to leave the room, then closed his eyes and let the tears run down. He had no more defenses against Lionel. How he'd remain sane over the upcoming months, Lex was uncertain. But he would, because he had to. He had to keep his wits about him, for her sake, because he wouldn't wish Lionel's parenting skills on his worst enemy, let alone his own blood.
Lex's head is heavy and his eyes wet. It feels as though his skull is filled to the brim with water. He is reeling from his father's cruel words, but he is too tired to think on it.
When Lex looks up he is alone, and he sits up and looks around his small, damp cage, eyes filled with desolation. The elephant in the corner of the room dances, a little more happily than he should, but the crowd cheers him on regardless.
"Clark," he whispers hopefully to himself. Maybe Clark will hear, somehow.
Then, the door opens. Clark bursts through and looks around frantically.
"Oh, I hoped I'd find you."
"Clark?" Lex gapes a moment and then drops his head in his hand. His voice pierces through the elephant's accompanying music in a strident, pained pitch. "This is impossible. I'm dreaming again."
"Yeah, you are." Clark slips into the bed and wraps his arms around Lex. "But it's okay. We're coming for you, okay?"
Clark tucks Lex under his arm and pulls him to his chest. He studies Lex's face as though reading a book. But they say you can't read in dreams. "You don't look so good."
"I have to get out of here." Lex's hand moves over Clark's chest, trying to verify that he is really there, even if it is a dream.
"I'll try to help, whatever I can do. We found out that your father is behind this, Lex." Clark rubs Lex's back and kisses his forehead. With a frown, he pulls off the metal band and tosses it aside.
"I know. He has us all here. Me and all the other meta humans he's found." Lex closes his eyes and took in Clark's warmth. "You're like the sun. I miss it, Clark. I can feel it. It's like the longer I'm down here, the less life I have in me. I'm like a flower waiting for the sun to wake me up."
"I guess that makes sense. The baby probably needs a lot of sunlight, and she can only get it from you."
Lex nods. "And now he has us all hidden away under the city in his dungeon. No sunlight to be found."
"Under the city? Like… how?"
"Help me out of this bed and I'll show you. I snuck up there trying to get some information. It's why they chained me up." Lex wiggles his wrist and the chain clinks.
"That's real? I thought that was dream symbolism!" Clark reaches over and snaps the chain. "Come on. Show me whatever you can. I know this is just a dream, Lex, but we are going to come for you. And then you and I can spend all the time in the sun you want."
"Yeah?" Lex leans forward and kisses Clark. When he pulls back, they are in the control room. "This is as far as I got. See? The facility is located under the city. Under the water. The Hobbs River runs underneath because Metropolis is an island. It's why the walls leak."
Clark's eyes widen almost comically as he looks at the screens. "We can swing this. I'm sure of it."
He turns to Lex and hugs him around the shoulders. "We'll be here soon. Just try to relax, and keep your eyes open. Before you know it, I'll really be coming through that door for you."
"You have to hurry, Clark. The great cat can't escape Atlantis if he drowns," Lex urges.
"I'll be there. I promise. Do you still have my ring?"
Lex lifts his hand, a smile tugging on his pale lips as he looks up at Clark. The warmth seems to almost touch Lex's skin when Clark takes his hand and rubs it to his cheek.
"Have faith."
"I'm trying, Clark."
Their noses rub together slowly as they breathe against one another's lips. Lex can almost feel Clark's warmth filling him up and pushing all of the water out of his head.
"How I miss your rhyming couplets," Lex whispers.
"I don't understand much about poetry," Clark replies. "All I have in the world is you, my child, and a bracelet."
Their lips meet as a shark circles around them.
The gray dripping ceiling came into stark clarity as Lex's eyes popped open. There was definitely more water there than there was before. That much, Lex was certain of. He reached over to his panic button, but hesitated. In a dream, he was so certain that Clark was coming and that…
What? Something was happening. Lex pushed a little at the headband Opal had put on him, but he couldn't pry it loose. So he lay back again and stared at the ceiling.
"Underground he lays a'waiting
A hero he is contemplating
Though he cannot parse his dreaming
He cannot dismiss it seeming
That his unconscious mind knows more than it tells
Unsated the urge for freedom, it swells
As they must, events converge
Water rises in a surge
Child inside a'moving, chest a'tensing
Chain too tight, doom I'm sensing
Somehow the dancing elephant is missing
Still I won't regret the kissing."
Lex's lips quirked to the side for a moment and closed his eyes, imagining Clark's whispered words and hot breath on his ear.
Breathe, Lex.
***
Clark practically leapt to his feet when his eyes opened, and he pulled out his cell phone and dialed as he ran to the elevator. He could barely catch his breath, for practically the first time in his life, excluding days when he'd been stripped of his powers, that he struggled to take air in and out.
"Lori! I need you."
"Um…"
"Shut up. Lex needs you. I have an idea of where he is, and I think you could give us more specifics. There's a facility under Metropolis. Under the water. Can you like… talk to the fish and ask them if there's a building down there?"
"Who can talk to fish? That's like you having a conversation with a squirrel."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Just because I'm Atlantian doesn't mean I can commune with the animals. They have really tiny brains and no memory. Even if they saw something, the realization would be gone a minute later. Hm… I don't there there's anything down there smart enough to help…"
The elevator stopped and Clark headed down the hall.
"I'll stick my head under and see what's going on," she said after a moment. "Keep your cell phone on you."
"Okay, thanks, Lori. Be careful, though. Lionel has all the other-"
"I know, Hope and Mercy told me he got the guys staying at LuthorCorp. I'll be honest, Clark. That scares me. Mercy found out that Lionel was talking to the people who gutted my brother. They sold his eggs."
"They…" Clark stopped in front of Lex's office. "What?"
"Cut him open. Took out his eggs. I know humans eat fish eggs sometimes, but…"
Clark felt his stomach lurch, and his lips curled into a deep grimace. "You've got to be kidding! They… that's horrible! Ugh, I don't think I'll ever risk eating caviar again."
"You couldn't mistake our eggs for a regular fish's. Ours are bigger, rounder, and kind of give off light."
"…Still." Clark didn't want to admit it, but Lori was starting to put him off meat. He'd never live it down with his dad, though. "Okay, go ahead, Lori. Get back to me when you find something, and we'll put the girls on how to get in."
"'Kay!"
Clark pushed open the double doors open and spotted Chloe at Lex's desk, deeply focused on the laptop in front of her. Mercy was leaning over her shoulder with a stern frown. She looked up and raised a brow.
"Good beddy bye?" Mercy asked.
Chloe gave her a sideways glance then turned her head to Clark. "I haven't found anything yet. Since Lena gave us the heads up on Lionel-big duh for us, right? I've been scanning all the larger facilities that Luthorcorp, their subsidiaries, or the labs of LexCorp that Lex has been acquiring for the big switchover once LuthorCorp is cleaned up. Trying to track sources of unusual energy uses. He wouldn't have used any of the obvious installations, but I'm betting that Lex is wherever the rest of our missing metas are, which means it's a big facility, with big energy usage, and big is not small. Big is hard to cover."
"If anyone is going to cover big, though, it's going to be Big Daddy," Mercy pointed out.
Chloe shrugged. "Big Daddy had a level that wasn't on the plans. Lex's facilities are in between floors or protected by materials that render the building invisible. I'll take dealing with Big Daddy before Junior any day."
"Chloe, I know where Lex is. I dreamed it." Clark rushed up to the desk.
The two women both tilted their head to the right as they studied him.
"Stop that. You two are getting creepy. I'm serious!"
"Clark," Chloe said softly. She reached for his hand.
"The last few times I've fallen asleep lately, I see him and talk to him," Clark explained, looking between the two of them. "He thought he was at Metropolis General-"
"But he wasn't. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Clark," Mercy told him. Clark had to hold his tongue, because he knew they were all stressed out now, and with Mercy it was hard to tell if she liked you on a good day. He wished she had tail. Then if it were swishing, he could tell she was about to scratch his eyes out.
"You think you and Lex are sharing dreams?" Lena asked as she entered the room.
Clark turned to her hopefully. "You said yourself that some people can see the future in their dreams, and when you were attacked, Lex knew before anyone that it was Milton Fine who did it. Even before you woke up and told us what happened, he dreamed it."
Taking a breath and rubbing his palm, Clark drew nearer to her. "You and Lex have been able to feel each other more and more the longer you've known each other and farther along he gets. Is it such a stretch that Lex could be trying to reach out to me?"
"Or you could be wishin' and hopin' that some miracle is going to deliver him to us," Mercy replied. Chloe touched her shoulder gently.
"No." Lena shook her head. "You know, Lex has been having nightmares that his father was going to take custody of his baby."
"The one where um… I'm… having sex in the delivery room with someone else? And then he goes with me to the caves? And my red couch is there."
"He told you about that one?"
"No, Lena. I had that dream. It was the day you woke up, and I took Lex to his old loft for some rest," Clark told her seriously.
Lena's eyes widened, and Clark could easily see that she believed him as much as Mercy didn't. He took a breath.
"Lex told me that he got out of his cell and made it up to the control room. The facility is under water. Under Metropolis. I asked Lori to check it out." Clark turned to Chloe again. "Did you find any power irregularities that lead under the city?"
"No." Chloe shook her head, then focused on her laptop again and bit her lower lip. "But I wasn't exactly looking there. Whatever Lori finds will be helpful… Okay, wait, I'm just going to tap into the city's grid and check out what's going on. Keeping something going underground is hard, and under water would be harder."
"Thank you." Clark took in a big breath and waited as Chloe's fingers flew on the keyboard.
"If he's underwater, how the hell are we going to get to him?" Mercy demanded.
Clark shrugged, but Lena spoke up in an even voice. "Lex tells me that security systems are really your specialty. I'm sure if Chloe can get into the system, and Lori can get us an some details on the location, you'll be able to crack their defenses."
Mercy put a hand on her hip and looked out the large window with a sigh. "There's probably not much of a defense system. That far under? The water is the defense system. Lori's a natural to take along. The rest of us will need oxygen, and if we have too many, then they'll see us. Lemme think."
"I'm coming," Clark said firmly. "Have you found anyone else who can help?"
"Domovoi's best at disrupting other people's powers. We shouldn't take him," Mercy said. "Mxyzptlk has done a disappearing act."
"Really, Mercy, I think we have enough," Chloe interjected. "You, me, Clark, and Lori. Do we really want anymore? The only others I can think of are just kids, and Lex has a problem with putting kids in the field."
"I have a problem with putting you in the field," Mercy replied.
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Well, once you get in, you're going to need someone to get into their computers. I don't know for sure how they're keeping the metas in order, but I'll put my eggs in the basket that they have to have some kind of dampener to quell the powers of psionics, right?"
"Chlo, I don't know," Clark put in hesitantly. "What if the guards come after you?"
"What if I have a gun?"
"I want to be close by," Lena put in. "Give me an earpiece. I'll keep you updated on Lex. We need doctors on hand, too."
"I'm a good swimmer, Mercy," Chloe argued. "I can wear the Kevlar protective suits that LexCorp has been developing, and I've been training-"
"Not this time," Mercy snapped. "I want you on the outside. You and Lena will have earpieces, and if we need your expertise, you can help us from there."
Chloe gave a frustrated sigh and dutifully turned to her screen. "Alright. You're in charge, Merc."
Clark and Lena exchanged a look.
It wasn't long before Clark's phone was ringing "Down by the Sea," and he turned from the girls to listen to what Lori had to say.
"Clark, you gotta get down here, now."
"You found it."
"That bastard is leaking. I'm not even kidding. I found it, and we have to get the people out of there."
"Leaking…"
"There's a crack in one of the walls. You can only have so much pressure on a building before… Well, in Atlantis, we have a lot of support beams. You can't build something under the water the way you would build it on land."
"Okay, I need you to come up here-"
"No," Chloe said. "We'll get on the road and meet her there. We need to move fast. I think I've found where the building probably is. Let me talk to her for a sec?"
Clark placed the phone in Chloe's waiting hand and slipped his hands into his pockets to wait. He wasn't used to working for a team, beyond being paired up with Chloe, but just busting in there wasn't an option this time.
***
Something was different, and it slipped into Lex's dreams as rain before he ever opened his eyes. With a soft frown, he looked over to the wall stained by the water. It wasn't dripping now. It had upgraded to trickling. Water was beginning to pool on the floor.
"Oh…" Lex reached over to the button by his bed and pushed it a few times. "Come on, the doctors are always in here when I don't want them to be. Why not now?"
Lex was too impatient to wait long; he began jerking at his chain again.
***
"Ow." Lena touched her wrist and frowned.
Clark looked over at her with concern, and she took his hand silently.
"I'm in. Set us up over there by the docks," Chloe announced.
Mercy nodded and took her turn.
"I'll fill Tanaka in when she gets here," Chloe continued.
When the car stopped, and Chloe and Mercy were busy setting up, Clark slipped out of the car and motioned for Lena to come with him.
"Is this his? He was wearing a shackle on his left wrist in my dream," Clark said softly, gently turning her wrist over in his hand.
"I think so. They have him chained?" Her eyebrows wrinkled with worry.
"He did try to escape." A smile teased Clark's lips. "I'm kind of proud of him. He's… He thought I was dead, and he's so tired, but he tried to get out anyway."
"Oh, Clark." Lena's lower lip crumbled, and Clark wrapped her up in his big arms.
"I know this is hard, but we'll get him back. You'll be able to see him by the end of the day. Promise."
"He's scared."
"I would be too, if Lionel had me locked up in a dungeon," Clark muttered. He kissed the top of her soft, thick hair, and pulled back to look at her.
"That man is the devil. I don't think I've seen much evil in my life. Even the man who attacked me and… I don't know if it's because there's no emotion attached to what he was doing. It didn't seem as evil. But what Lionel's doing to Lex? Who can do that to their own child?" Lena's eyes shone in grief and frustration. "Your child is like an extension of yourself. Even with Maddie, I could no sooner hurt her than I could cut off one of my own limbs."
"I've never understood Lionel," Clark admitted. He cupped her cheek and kissed the other. "I don't think I can understand him. Hang tight, Lena. I'll bring your brother back to you."
She gave him a watery smile and looked up as Lori approached the two of them, wringing out her hair.
"We gots to get moving, Clark," she announced, craning her head to the side as her wide, blue eyes took in the both of them.
"How bad is the crack?" Clark asked.
Lori made a big shrug. "I dunno when it happened, but it looks like it's been cracking for a while now. Something got it going now, though."
"It'll hold long enough for us to get to them, right?"
Lori shrugged again and sucked in the left side of her lower lip. Pearly little teeth peeked out of her mouth. Clark ran a hand through his hair and went to get things moving with Chloe and Mercy.
***
"How did you let this happen?" Lionel demanded. The two security guards shook their heads and looked to Dr. Largess for explanation.
"Sir, during testing, we have to remove Lowell's restraints. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able gauge his strength," the man protested.
"Granted, Dr. Largess," Lionel replied with barely veiled rage. "However, how that translates into letting one of our patients send an enormous crack through the outer wall of this facility continues to elude me!"
Largess flinched backward. Behind him the security video of Lowell straightening up and sending his fist into the wall replayed.
"We are not exactly the Titanic, Mr. Luthor. And I would know," Dr. Deighton interrupted. "But the structure of this facility was put together haphazardly at best. It doesn't surprise me given the leaks that a bit of force would cause the southern wall to crack like this. You can assign blame later, but what must happen now-"
Lionel's eyes fixed on her. "We've know each other a long time, haven't we Opal?"
"Mm. We have to make sure the patients are evacuated," she continued in a softer voice.
"And do you have a plan on how to do that without arousing suspicion?"
"Sir, surely we had an exit strategy here," Largess said, looking between the two of them.
Lionel kept his eyes looked on Deighton's. She crossed her arms and sighed in resignation.
"Largess, send word down. We need to bring up all of the Class A patients-"
"Wouldn't it be easier to simply evacuate by level?"
"Just like the Titanic, Dave," she said coldly. "We ensure the safety of those most capable of continuing to propagate our objectives. In their case, women and children, in ours, the mutants most vital to our research. They're marked in the files. We'd better get to it."
Largess gaped at them a moment, before Lionel's gaze turned to him, and then he hurried out the door. The two security guards followed. There was much to do.
"He knew this was coming," Deighton whispered, looking at the video again.
"Kestrel," Lionel surmised.
"No. Your son. He's been having dreams in which he's under water for weeks now." She didn't look at him, but instead, pressed the button that would show them the feed from individual rooms. Lex was on his bed, awake, and had his legs pulled up as close to his chest as he could manage. The water in his cell was starting to cover the floor. "He's marked Class A?"
"No, he wasn't. I suppose in light of this information he should have been." Lionel put his hands on his hips for a moment. "No matter. I'll instruct them to evacuate him with the others."
Deighton nodded and sat in front of the console. "I'll scan our other facilities and send word of which one we should employ for the survivors."
Lionel nodded and after touching her shoulder briefly, left the room. This day was not going according to plan at all, and he had to say, that while he'd known the precarious position of this facility when he'd begun gathering his patients here, he never thought that through such incompetence, he would be facing this decision.
Oh well. There were always more mutants out there to further their research, and they had the time to save the most interesting of the ones they'd collected. Lex had always seemed to think that he could make great advances without getting his hands dirty, but Lionel knew otherwise; the greatest medical discoveries were born from experimentation on the unwilling, on children even, during outbreaks of infectious disease. It was the bold and the brilliant who made history, not hand-wringing intellectuals who thought they could have a continuous succession of bloodless victories. Science was anything but bloodless.
Opal knew that. Lord knew she'd seen enough history to come to the conclusion. Science she trusted. Magic she abhorred. With good reason. The woman had encountered her long lifespan by utter chance, touching a crystal at the same time as her infant great-granddaughter had reached up to touch it. Of course they mistook the old body for senile, and Opal had been too young, developmentally, in the body of her great-granddaughter to tell them what had happened. A short life for the girl. A longer life for the already old woman.
Lionel was now grateful that after having collected the crystal from Opal he had been unsuccessful in switching bodies with his son. He quite preferred his own strengths, and would find another means of evading old age. Granted, if they could keep Lex alive, that means might come from further experimentation with his blood. Lionel was certain that whatever physical differences Lex possessed were from exposure to the meteors. This new discovery, well, it had to be one of the Luthor family gifts. Though not royalty, Lionel's research into his family line seemed to reveal an inordinate tendency to be run out of town or be accused of witchcraft.
Lionel had always known that he was a cut above the rest of humanity, even from his very early days. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed an office at the very top of the largest building in Metropolis. Everyone, no matter where they were, had to look up to him.
Lionel stopped in his tracks as he spotted Largess's body on the ground. Approaching carefully, he saw that just around the corner, the two security guards were also down. He pulled out his phone to alert the rest of security.
Suddenly the phone was plucked from his hand from behind.
"Not quite so easy," a dry feminine voice drawled.
Lionel turned slowly. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but the tall but slenderly built Asian woman was not it. "Dr. Tanaka. Come for your patient?"
"I suppose you are a credit to your species for having been able to hide him from me at all." She tilted her head to the side slightly and looked at him with hooded, disparaging eyes.
Lionel was repulsed by the way she regarded him, as though he were a base animal. "There's plenty of security here. You won't get far. In fact, you needn't have worried at all. We were just about to take Lex to safety."
"I'm afraid that most of your security staff has suffered fatal stab wounds. They're very fragile. Prone to bleeding out." Her lips pulled into a cruel, tight smirk, and she took a step forward, crushing Lionel's phone in one hand.
"Who are you?" Lionel demanded. He gave ground, but only because he could sense a fellow predator when he saw one.
"Lionel, I am someone who dearly detests his experiments being muddied by some fool who thinks he would be king," she replied. "You see, I did do preliminary tests on a few subjects, and none of them took well to captivity. The icing on all of this is that you deprived my subject of sunlight, thereby jeopardizing the entire endeavor. It isn't as though I could simply begin again with a new subject. The subject is unique. There are no others. He is the one. I need him."
She had slowly gotten closer and closer to Lionel, and he reached out to push her back, but she caught his wrist and gripped it firmly with her preternatural strength. Too late it dawned on him that there was something wrong with her eyes. They seemed to have dilated, because now they were nothing but shining black. He was fairly certain they hadn't been black before.
"You're a mutant," he accused.
"No, Lionel Luthor. I am no mutant. I did, however, need a meatsuit that your son would trust so that I could properly monitor him without his security detecting me. I'm not particularly good at emulating human emotion, so when an individual presented herself who had the same flaw, one who Lex had already met, you see that she was my only choice. No one would have believed me as Dr. Redbloom. Too soft, and his daughter would have spoiled it. This works much better."
Lionel watched her closely. That she was telling him all of this didn't bode well for her intentions toward him.
"You must understand. If you do not have the material to work with, certain experiments are impossible. Kryptonian DNA won't mix with just anyone's DNA. What you've done here is simply unacceptable."
When her eyes flickered to the side, seeming to detect a noise, Lionel swiftly jerked to the other side, slipping around her and making a break for the open hallway. There would be weapons there.
Then all at once, she was in front of him again. He hadn't even seen her move, but there she was, and he was pinned against the wall. As pain bloomed in his upper abdomen, he looked down and blinked in disbelief at the long, sharp metal protrusion extending from her arm and through his body. Blood quickly stained the front of his custom-made suit.
"There is no deeper ideology here. It is as simple as this," she said coldly. "You have gotten in my way."
The shining fluid metal withdrew from Lionel's body, and she coldly stared down at him drowning in his own blood for a moment before looking up, her eyes narrowing, and leaving the hallway quickly.
***
"Hey!" Lex bellowed. He stood on his bed, trying to squeeze his hand through the shackle they'd placed on him. Unfortunately, the thing was just too damn tight, and the water had risen enough in the past few minutes that even standing on his bed, his feet were getting wet. His heart was frantic in his chest like a caged animal.
"Let me out of here! The room is flooding!" he yelled again. It was likely useless, but he had to do something. He was chained to the wall and the door was locked. So he yelled, as long and loud as he could.
***
"This is weird," Mercy muttered as they slipped through the hallways. She'd planned a strike involving the three of them, and they had gotten in through a hatch on the north wall. So far they had been completely unseen.
Of course they hadn't seen anyone either.
"Weird how?" Chloe asked, her small voice coming in through their earpieces.
Clark squinted and scanned through the walls. He went stiff as he saw the first person. "They're dead, Chloe. Someone got here first."
"Let me check the cameras again. They were nothing but static a moment ago," she said. The line went quiet for a moment.
Lori looked around, her lips pursed into an exaggerated circle. "If no one is around, I could just go down and grab some of them. Swim 'em out."
"Clark, the water levels are rising fast," Chloe announced. "I'm looking into the feed now, and I don't know what caused it, but you have a pretty clear shot downstairs. I can't see any further than that, though. I think the water has shorted out the cameras. Can you get to a control panel? There should be one in the room to your left. I'm trying to unlock the doors on the lower levels, but it would be faster to just do it manually. If they can get out of their cells, this'll go a lot smoother."
"We'll give it a try," Mercy promised. She met Clark's eyes and he could tell that she was regretting not bringing Chloe along to do this bit of tech for them. Particularly if anyone who might have tried to stop them was already dead.
Clark chest tightened as they stepped over the body of a security guard. It didn't matter that this man had been helping to keep who knew how many people prisoner. A life was a life, and it bothered Clark that he couldn't save this guy too. They didn't even have time to check to see what had done it.
***
The room was a pool of murky river water.
Treading water, Lex tried to swim towards the door, but now he had to duck his head under the water to even reach the handle. After a few attempts, he determined it was useless since the door was locked and he didn't have the strength to bust it open, so he swam back over to the other wall. He kicked the bolts that secured his chain a few times, and then surfaced again, gasping.
His limbs were feeling heavy already, but he had to keep afloat. His eyes scanned the room for anything that would help him out of this. Maybe he was just too tired to come up with something. He suspected that if he could get a concave object, then he could trap a little air with it, and give himself a little more time.
There wasn't much in his room to use for that purpose, however.
It was like a dream. A nightmare. The cold and sinister water kept rising, and all Lex could do was try to keep his head above water. He couldn't tell how much time had passed since the water had begun to rise, how long he had been trying to keep swimming, keep breathing. He pressed his cheek to the ceiling, knowing that the side of it would collapse soon, and there would be no hope.
Just as the water threatened to cover his head, Lex let out one last long cry for help, then took a deep breath.
Lex knew enough to try to stay as still as possible. He had to conserve whatever oxygen he had left, for as long as possible. His head began to throb, and he felt the pressure building. Repeatedly, his body tried to force him to take a breath, and he fought it. Water in his lungs would be the end of everything.
He closed his eyes briefly, shaking his heads at all his little efforts to stay alive a few more minutes. I'm sorry, baby, he thought.
His head turned and suddenly everything became surreal, as though oxygen deprivation had set in a bit early. The wall seemed to explode, and through the floating bits, Clark appeared, dark and curly hair swirling around his serious face. Sharp green eyes looked around quickly, then swam over to Lex's chain and snapped it in his hands as easily as he had in Lex's dreams.
Blinking sluggishly, Lex watched Clark put his arms around him securely and swim back out through the hole in the wall. Lex pressed his face into Clark's chest trying to hold his breath just a bit longer. The burning in his chest felt urgent, but Lex knew it was just a reflex. He had to trick his body into doing what he needed to survive. He just needed a little more time…
As he looked up, Clark's worried, scowling face was the last thing Lex saw before darkness collapsed around them.
***
Lex woke with Clark's lips on his own, his arms cradling Lex tenderly.
"You're okay, Lex. It'll be okay. Please wake up."
"I'm awake," he muttered, although the sound was weak and garbled. Clark hugged him closely and peppered his cheek and forehead with kisses. The room still seemed blurry, although very bright, but Lex thought Clark was there, really there. He hoped this wasn't yet another dream. He hoped he wasn't drowning in his room, imagining this fantasy as his brain gradually died. "Dreaming."
"No more dreaming, Lex. You're safe," Clark promised, his fingers brushing over the strange band on Lex's head.
"I thought I saw… The wall… the chain…"
"You did," Clark replied, his lips at Lex's ear. "You did see that, Lex."
"Where…?" Lex blinked a few times at the brightness before he realized that he was outside. The sun was above them, and it felt good.
"Riverbank. The Hobbs."
Clark had tears in his eyes as he looked at Lex, so Lex reached up and wiped them away. After staring at one another for a moment, their lips met. And again and again. Until Lex was breathless, and then Clark just nuzzled Lex's neck and whispered for him to take deep breaths. Clark's large hand mapped Lex's body, slow and curious. Hungry to know Lex again, and every change in it since they'd last held one another in the castle back in Smallville.