The email read simply:

Chloe,

Please meet me up in Grant Gabriel's office now.

-LL

P.S. - Do not mistake my use of "please" to see this as a request.

It came from the address

There was no way this was good news.

"Alright, Lex. I'm here. What do you want?" Chloe challenged as she let the door to the Daily Planet editor-in-chief's office close with a slam.

Lex didn't flinch at the noise or the challenge. He just stood calmly gazing out the large window at the city of Metropolis below. Chloe imagined he felt like the King of the Universe in his immaculately tailored dark suit, purple dress shirt, and perfectly smooth scalp. The dramatic view of the city behind him felt like a backdrop set up just for him.

Chloe nearly rolled her eyes at the little tableau he made for himself.

In his own time, Lex turned away to face the annoyed blonde standing before him. "Hello to you too, Chloe."

Chloe snorted derisively. "Oh, please, Lex. Cut the crap. Why did you drag me up here?"

Lex smirked in reply. That self-satisfied expression made Chloe's hand itch to slap it off his face. "I'm sure the story about the Brookville Antique Show will leave readers frantic for more, but this is important."

Chloe narrowed her eyes and folded her arms under her chest. "Fine. Back to my question then. What do you want?"

Lex looked her up and down pointedly, taking in her green sweater, dark knee-length skirt, and practical heels. The strange once-over gave Chloe the feeling she should run for the hills.

Too bad running away wasn't part of her nature. So instead, she straightened her spine and met Lex's gaze unflinchingly.

He smiled with wicked humor. "Why, I need a nosy investigator, of course."

Chloe blinked in surprise. She couldn't help it. That was about the last thing she would have expected. When he had called her up here, she had figured Lex had some new torment or belittling assignment to aim at her. Something to crush another small part of her dream of working under the Tiffany lights. Not...this.

She spoke very slowly, to make sure she understood. "You want me to investigate something...for you?"

He was still smirking. "As I recall, you used to enjoy investigating. Or rather, snooping. Has all that changed? Have you found your true calling writing about craft fairs and lost kittens?"

Chloe didn't respond, just gave him her best glare. She had earned her spot at the Daily Planet under Pauline Kahn, and she wouldn't let Lex belittle that. Sure, maybe she had hoped to be writing more high profile stories like Lois kept getting, but then Lois was...

She quickly halted that thought before it could show on her face.

Seeing she wasn't going to respond to his jab, Lex sighed. He lifted a manila folder from a stack of papers and tossed it over to her side of the desk. "Well, even so, I'm going to take the risk that the nosy girl I knew is still in there."

Chloe didn't move.

Speaking slowly, with exaggerated patience Lex said, "Chloe, it would really be in your best interest to take a look at that."

She still didn't move.

Lex sighed again. "Fine then." He turned back to face the window and spoke without looking at her, his words coming out full and strong. "A few years ago a tainted shipment of Luthorcorp material was slotted to be destroyed. We had always believed it safely disposed of. Unfortunately, some evidence has recently come to light that was not the case."

"Sucks to be you."

Even facing away from her, she could tell he smirked again at her snarky comment. "The material was meteor-rock tainted fertilizer from the Number Three plant in Smallville. The event happened while I was in charge." He paused and glanced back over his shoulder at her. "As for why I requested you...open the folder."

A sick feeling hit Chloe's stomach as she placed the timing and location of the incident. She wasn't exactly sure what Lex was going to show her, but she had a sinking suspicion she wouldn't like it. Feeling like she was moving through quicksand, she picked up the manila folder. Slowly she opened the slim file. Sitting on top of the small stack of papers was a document with the Luthorcorp logo emblazoned on the top. Scanning farther down she saw it was a shipping and transfer manifest for the destruction of some tainted soil, just as Lex had mentioned. That wasn't what arrested her attention. At the bottom, as clear and unmistakable as day, was the signature that confirmed the shipment had been properly destroyed.

It was signed by Gabe Sullivan, Plant Manager.

Oh, crap.

Lex had gone back to gazing out the window as she read over the document. She could see the smirk had never left his face. Chloe tried to school her expression, but she feared Lex knew exactly what she was thinking. He thought he had her trapped.

And damn him, he was right.

Still, she tried for nonchalance. Closing the folder without looking through any of the other papers within, she asked, "Ok, so why are you bringing this to me? Why not take it up with my father?"

Lex turned back around to face her, even going so far as to place his hands on Grant's desk as he leaned towards her. She knew it for a "power move" and forced herself to hold her ground. She saw a flicker of something that may have been respect or maybe pleasure in his eye when she failed to react. He should know her better than that to think she would be cowed so easily. Intuition told her that standing her ground caused him to reassess how he would respond. She was even more sure when his voice came out firm and reasonable without any more hints at threat. "Because Chloe, I need to know what actually happened to it. If your father was involved in the disappearance, he will do one of two things." Lex stood up from the desk and counted off on his fingers. "One, he will lie and I'll need to waste valuable time hunting down the lies, which would give his partners time to cover their tracks. Or Two, he will bolt, which means I will again have to waste time hunting him down."

Lex caught her eyes and his expression made her think of a cat that held a mouse down by the tail. "Besides, I know that by bringing it to you, there would be a real...motivation to find out the truth."

Chloe tried for nonchalance again, but guessed she failed miserably once more. "Don't think you can use him to motivate me. My father and I have barely spoken for years now." Her eyes turned hard. "As I know you are aware."

Lex hadn't let his irksome smile drop, but something flickered in his eyes. Something there and gone so fast she wasn't sure it was real. It almost looked like...sorrow. "Yes, Chloe. I'm aware, but that won't matter. He is still your family, and you would do anything to protect your family. Just look at what happened to your cousin."

Chloe felt a brush of panic. Did Lex know about what happened with Lois at Reeves Dam? Did he know about her healing ability? No, he couldn't. If he did...no. Best not to even think about that. Just play it off.

She saw him studying her expression, but she kept her face impassive. She knew Lex well enough to know he wasn't above some fishing.

He sighed. "Anyway, Chloe, we both know you are going to look into it."

Crap, crap, and double crap. He was right.

Even though her relationship with her father had been irreparably torn by her decision to stand against Lionel Luthor...Gabe Sullivan was still her father. She loved him and would do anything she could to protect him. Even if she didn't think he would do that same. Even against bad things he may have done...

"Ok, let's say for argument's sake, that I was willing to look into this...why the sudden rush after all these years? Are you being sued or something? I could see how that would get you all in a huff if you or Luthorcorp could be held liable."

"Check the folder again."

Copying Lex's heavy sigh, she opened the folder again. This time looking behind the shipping manifest. There appeared to be about 5 large glossy photographs. It was immediately obvious they were not taken by a professional. They were blurry and poorly centered, with the graininess of a cheap disposable camera. Everything about them indicated the photographer had taken them in a hurry.

Leaning a hip against the desk, Lex started to explain. "That manifest along with a disposable camera containing only those five photographs were delivered to me via courier today. There were no prints on the camera and it was a brand sold nationally. It didn't have a serial number. Only thing of use off of it were those images."

Chloe nodded though she wasn't really listening. Gone were her thoughts this was only about Lex covering his ass from a legal suit. The five images told a very frightening story.

The first image was of a few of barrels with the Luthorcorp logo inside something that looked like a storehouse or factory.

The second image was a close up of one of the barrels open. Inside appeared to be dirt, or more likely, fertilizer. Clearly visible in the dirt was a large concentration of green crystals. Some of the crystals looked to be the size of marbles, while others were almost as fine as sand.

The third image was of a factory. A crane of some kind was lifting one of the Luthorcorp barrels. It was fuzzy around the edges, but behind the crane, it looked like a massive tank of dirt. The image left no doubt in Chloe's mind the crane was dumping the barrel contents in with that dirt.

The fourth image looked like some sort of giant industrial egg beater. Except this beater was mixing dirt. The dirt had the deep healthy black of rich loamy soil. As long as you ignored the green flecks of crystal.

The last image was the most disturbing of all. It appeared to be part of a label mock-up. In bright green letters over a white background and it read "NOW WITH ENRICHING CRYSTALS!"

Chloe understood instantly and looked at Lex with large, startled eyes.

He nodded, seeing she understood. There wasn't even a hint of a smirk now. He looked serious and...dangerous. "I see you understand. It looks like someone got a hold of that meteor-rock tainted material and is mixing it in with clean soil for distribution."

Chloe felt her blood run cold again. "They want to get it out to farmers and gardeners." Chloe grabbed one of the two chairs facing Grant's desk to steady herself. When that wasn't enough, she sat down heavily, visions of Jody Melville and her meteor-rock tainted greenhouse coming to mind. Jody had developed an appalling craving for fat - including human body fat. She had even tried to eat her friend Pete. And now someone was trying to do that intentionally. "It'll poison the food, poison God-knows-how-many people."

"Yes," Lex replied simply. "I would normally have set my own investigators on it, but I don't think working this with my usual contacts is safe. To pull this off, I think someone within Luthorcorp may be involved. The list of potential suspects is huge. The mole - if I am right about there being one - may not even be with Luthorcorp anymore, but there is no way of knowing in time." He paused, thinking a moment before he continued. "I also don't want to scare off whoever it is that sent me this warning. They took a tremendous risk in getting this evidence to me. They must know I wouldn't brush off the dangers of meteor rock. Most people don't appreciate the hazards of exposure." Stabbing a finger at the pictures for emphasis, he declared, "This is a call for help that I won't ignore." He paused and looked at her hard. "That said, of all the people that know about the meteor rocks and the danger they represent, there is only one person I would trust to look into this that I am sure wouldn't have been involved."

Chloe matched his hard look. "Me."

Lex nodded. "You."

Chloe broke away from Lex's almost hypnotically pulling look. She had forgotten how magnetic he could be. "Ok, so let's say I agree to look into this missing material. What if I find something that does incriminate my fa-...Luthorcorp of wrongdoing?"

Lex smiled. Her slip was obvious, but he let it lie. "I know for a fact that I and no one above me was involved in any scheme to hide the fraudulent disposal of hazardous material. So any wrongdoing would be limited to the lower levels of the organization." His eyes became hard. "As long as we can keep that material from being distributed, we can resolve this with minimal impact. But if that fertilizer gets out, it will be a disaster and heads at all levels will have to roll. So we have to track who has it, how it got out, if there is more, and put a stop to it."

Chloe knew he was right, and she knew that in all good conscience that she would have to help, but... "You didn't say what would happen to any 'lower level' employees that may have been involved."

Lex's smile was nasty. "I suggest they find lawyers."

Chloe shook her head. "Not good enough, Lex. Luthorcorp must render them any sort of help they need. Up to and including agreeing to pay for defense attorney's of their choosing."

"Not a chance!"

"That's my price, Lex."

Lex waved an arm to indicate the Daily Planet around them. "I could fire you, you know."

"Oh yeah? Then you would be down a reporter and still not have an investigator." She paused, letting the next words sink in. "At least, not an investigator that had any concerns for Luthorcorp."

They held each other's eyes for a long moment, testing the resolution of the other. They both knew that now she was aware of it - not to mention her father's possible involvement - nothing was going to stop Chloe from investigating on her own. Though with her limited resources, it was a dangerous bet if she could do anything in time. On the Luthorcorp side, with a possible mole working against him, Lex would be hampered in his research by his own notoriety. And they both knew that material had to be kept contained at all costs. If the tainted fertilizer was distributed to farmers and retailers, it could cause incredible amounts of grief as hundreds or possibly thousands of new people were exposed to the poisonous rock.

The best way of stopping the possible disaster was to work together, pooling resources and knowledge.

"Fine then." Lex finally agreed. Then he checked his watch. "Grant should be here in just a moment for a meeting. I'll request that he assign you to work with me for the next week. I'll tell him you are working on a profile piece."

Chloe nodded. "Alright. I'll start some digging. And I'll need any and all evidence that you have found."

Lex pointed to the manila envelope she still held. "All I have is right there."

Chloe looked at the slim folder that had only contained six pages. "Well, glad to see this isn't going to be a challenge or anything."

Lex smiled again, but for the first time since she had walked in the room, she saw it reach his eyes.

Challenge accepted.

As he watched Chloe leave Grant's office, Lex couldn't help but smile to himself. He had known she wouldn't be able to resist the challenge.

Even if it was to help him.

The opportunity to prevent a meteor-rock fueled disaster, vindicate her father, and poke her nose where it really had no business being, easily outweighed the minor fact that she would be helping out a Luthor.

How strange that felt. To have Chloe Sullivan working on his side again after so many years of her not-too-subtle attempts to undermine him. Things had once been different. For one summer they had been on the same side, they had shared a purpose. But that was a long time ago now. Since then, they had been engaged in mostly silent battle. Sometimes when he had matched against her, that he felt she saw it as he did. That Clark and his secret were just one of the battles they waged. That most of their battles had been about something else. A need to prove one or the other of them was smarter, more capable, a better defender for the world.

Because of that he had no doubt. He fought for the world against the dangers he saw - aliens and meteor freaks with incredible abilities. That was what his secret projects and ethically questionable experiments were really about.

And she fought for how she saw it - enormous potential and a need for truth. To move in the shadows, disrupting his plans to bring them into the light. To expose all the secrets and lies to the world for its protection.

It was so odd then that she herself kept so many secrets. But then again, except for her meteor ability - if it had manifested - most of the secrets she kept were because of loyalty. That was something Lex could appreciate. He had experienced so little loyalty in his life that when he saw it, it felt almost sacred to him.

He moved to the sideboard and pulled out the bottle of scotch and a glass he had sent to Grant. He had wanted to be sure there would be something drinkable if he stopped by to visit his brother. Tipping a healthy portion of the liquor into the crystal glass, he took his drink to the window. The view from here wasn't as good as the one from his own Luthorcorp office, but it was still respectable. Looking out at the busy city below, Lex switched his mental focus from his blonde partner to the work to come. With Sullivan looking into it, he didn't doubt that all the dirty little secrets surrounding the theft of the meteor-rock tainted material would surface. The only outstanding questions were if they could do it in time to prevent a disaster...and how she would react if her father turned out to be as dirty as the fertilizer he had stolen.

Because Lex was pretty sure the Luthorcorp insider had been Gabe Sullivan.