This is my first long Smallville fic, I wrote it last year so it's finished. There's Chlark, no TC but there is some TL (Torture Lex) ;) This is set sometime in early season 3, while Chloe is still trying to get out of her deal with Lionel. Feedback would be very good! Hint hint
Thank you very much to my beta katieishere, who did a wonderful job:D
Mindgames
Part1
Lionel Luthor emerged from his black limo with the usual level of revulsion and disgust that came from having to do his own dirty work. Dark shades covered his eyes and, rather appropriately, the spatter of rain falling on concrete accompanied the sound of his footsteps as he sauntered up to the gates of Belle Reve. No entourage flanked his sides, yet still he walked with a practised arrogance, a small barely concealed sneer of disgust playing on his lips.
The huge iron gates slid open with a mechanical hiss before he even reached them, and no guards delayed him by questioning his purpose. The mad raving of a few of the more extroverted patients did not distract or deter him from his mission, though he did allow himself a small scowl to show his displeasure at having to be there.
The squeaking of his new shiny black shoes on the green tile eventually halted outside the cell of patient 133, and he tapped one foot impatiently as the occupant got up with exaggerated slowness. Lionel Luthor did not appreciate being made to wait. For anybody.
"I see I find you awake and healthy." Lionel said by way of greeting, and the man apparently still had enough of his marbles left to raise an eyebrow, glancing round at the less-than-five-star accommodation. However, he got straight to the point instead of commenting on it.
"What do you want?"
Lionel perfected a look of fake astonishment and hurt. "I'm surprised you're so eager to get rid of your only visitor in, what, must be six months now. "
The man didn't reply, and Lionel gave a low chuckle at his silence. "I see your time here hasn't changed you, Aaron, as you call yourself now," he commented; then began strolling casually along the outside of his cell, hands in his pockets.
"Get to the point." The man ground out, obviously having to restrain himself from tearing Lionel limb from limb.
"Point?" Lionel stopped pacing and looked directly at his companion with an aggravating smirk. The man clenched his fists. "Very well." He said, a slight note of sarcasm in his voice, otherwise undetectable to those who didn't know him well. Aaron Asidian knew him far too well for his liking. "There is the small matter of your little sister… Katie, is… ah, was, her name, wasn't it?" Lionel said, laying emphasis on the past tense.
The man let out a primal roar and lunged forward; suddenly Lionel found his neck in the grip of a vengeful man who'd been working out steadily for the last four years, having had nothing better to do.
Aaron accused him furiously. "You killed her!"
"I never said anything of the kind." Lionel choked out, strangely calm. "She is safe and well under the care of Luthorcorp."
The man's grip relaxed and he slowly set Lionel back on his feet. Lionel straightened his tie and took a sensible step back from the bars of the cell.
"However." He added, and Aaron's heart jumped back into his throat. "Luthorcorp is expanding, becoming bigger, better. Katie has become… shall we say, 'surplus to requirements'?"
The man saw straight through Lionel's innuendo and threw himself at the bars again, seeing red. Nobody touched his sister, especially not rich old eccentric billionaires.
Lionel's infuriating smirk returned as the man desperately tried and failed to reach him, his green eyes appearing to glow with rage. He gestured to the bars separating them. "Lead bars, remember?"
Lionel turned to leave, then paused as if a sudden idea had come to him. "There is one thing you could do to ensure her safety, though. I believe you were once on good terms with one Chloe Sullivan?"
The man's grasp on the bars became limp and his body turned cold. He shook his head vehemently. "No." He half gasped, half whispered. "You can't…no…"
Lionel's smirk grew.
"Hey Clark. Holding a staring contest with the wall? That's an all-new low for boredom."
Clark spun around, surprise written all over his features. "Chloe. Hi." Chloe tilted her head, frowning curiously at the guilty embarrassment covering up the surprise. "I was just… wondering whether this would be a good spot to migrate the Wall of Weird to," he added at the look she gave him, and felt quite pleased with himself for coming up with the lie so quickly when he was actually checking to see if it was safe to sneak past Principal Reynolds' office to his locker.
"Always an excuse for everything, isn't there Clark?" Chloe said with a sarcastic smile, then she turned and walked over to her desk, tossing a folder to land beside her stapler. Clark stood there for a second, trying to interpret her meaning before frowning and following to stand on the opposite side of her desk.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Busy plugging her computer in she absently replied, "You tell me. You're the one with the talent for twisting words."
"Twisting words?" Clark repeated, frowning even harder. "Chloe, what's-"
"We've got ourselves a new addition for the Wall of Weird. Looks like it really will have to move house. Or spread elsewhere." Chloe cut him off with a little laugh.
"Addition?" Clark again repeated, feeling a horrible knot of dread tighten in his stomach. Chloe was acting strangely.
"Yeah. You know the source at Belle Reve I told you about?" Chloe glanced up at her friend, pausing in her typing.
Clark wrinkled his nose. "You mean the guy with the-"
"The guy with the vendetta against personal hygiene, yeah." Chloe confirmed, and Clark walked around to stand behind her, leaning one hand on her chair and the other on the desk.
"He says one Aaron Asidian escaped from his high security cell by, wait for it, walking out in broad daylight in full sight of the guards who did nothing whatsoever to stop him." Chloe read out to him.
"That source of yours is sane, right?" Clark commented sarcastically.
Chloe glanced a him. "If that sounds weird wait till you take a look at the files on the guards who were supposed to be, well, guarding him."
Clark leaned even closer to the screen as she brought up the file on the men. His left arm came around her shoulders to click down to the next page and Chloe shivered involuntarily at the contact. She looked up. He hadn't noticed her momentary lapse of concentration. Oblivious as always.
"Everyone who saw him walk out and didn't try to stop him seemed fine if not a little confused after the incident, but once those responsible for his little walk in the park were fired, they just ... went off the rails." Chloe read aloud, pulling herself back to reality.
"And killed three fellow officers in the process." Clark said heavily. This most definitely was not making sense. At all.
"Aaron managed to get out even with increased security after all the fuss surrounding Lex's attempted escape. And nobody knows how he did it." Chloe finished, standing up and beginning to file seemingly random sheets of paper into folders.
Clark stood up, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. "Nobody? I'm betting the guards will have a little light to shed on the subject."
Chloe let out a little sardonic laugh. "Not where they're rotting in the criminally insane ward of Belle Reve, God help them."
"The guards become the guarded." Clark shook his head. "Well, sounds like a certain meteor freak to me."
"Well you would know." Chloe replied in a sing-song voice, pinning up some fresh newspaper clippings on the Wall of Weird as she spoke.
Clark shifted uncomfortably. "How would I know?" He answered defensively.
Chloe finished hanging up the clippings and turned back to him, hesitating before saying brightly, "What, with all the meteor junkies you've stopped you should have learnt something by now, right?"
Clark nodded, averting his eyes. "Right. See you at the Talon later?"
"Sure, Clark." Chloe smiled half-heartedly. "But you're buying."
"Deal." Smiling his charming Kent grin, Clark backed out of the room.
Chloe stared at the closed door long after he'd departed, a wistful if not bittersweet smile on her face.
End of Part 1
I'll update every Monday, please review:)