The Making of a Monster

She crept as stealthy as she could through the castle, until she reached the second floor landing. From there she listened at every door for signs of life before she opened it and looked inside. Most of the rooms were deserted, many had their contents protected by dust sheets and still many others Chloe couldn't figure out a function for.

Finally she hit paydirt and found Lionel Luthors office. She quietly closed the door behind her and looked around. Now that she was here, she wasn't quite sure where to begin. She'd been hoping to find filing cabinets or something similar but of course it couldn't be that easy. She did spy a computer though and decided that would probably be her best bet.

It felt odd sitting in Lionel Luthors chair as she waited for the machine to boot up, but she tried not to let her mind wander too much, she was already terrified. When the machine was ready she clicked on the LuthorCorp logo and was asked for a password. Chloe had done her research so she tried Lillian, Clark, Lex, Tess and Julian Luthors date of birth. None were correct so she took out the disk she had brought with her and loaded it into the CD drive. It had a password hacking program on it that would crack the code for her. It was a blunt tool, a brute force hack, but she didn't have any more sophisticated tools at her disposal. She minimised the program to the taskbar so it wasn't easily noticeable.

While the program worked it's magic, she took out her camera and began snapping pictures of the office. She wasn't quite sure why but she felt they might be useful.

When she was nearly finished she realised that there was no office storage in here at all, there was hardly even a draw. With her interest piqued, Chloe began to look more closely at the fixtures and fittings. When she reached the book case she could feel a very slight breeze, meaning there was something other than a wall behind there. She tried to push the bookcases aside but they wouldn't budge. Obviously they wouldn't open without knowing how but before she could investigate further she heard footsteps outside the door.

Her mind darted to the cupboard she had spotted during her search and she rushed towards it. Then she remembered that her disk was still in Lionel's computer. She hesitated briefly as she wondered if she had time to retrieve the disk but decided she didn't. She would just have to pray that whoever came in wouldn't go to the computer.

She pulled the cupboard doors almost closed behind her but left a tiny crack so that she could see out. She tried her hardest to quieten her breathing but she was so frightened that it wasn't easy.

She saw Lionel stride in and head for his liquor cabinet. He poured himself a large measure and downed it in one. He poured another shot and replaced the stopper in the bottle, then he walked out of her field of vision.

"Clark!" she heard Lionel yell.

The next thing she knew Clark was striding into the office.

"What?"

"I didn't see you at the fundraiser this afternoon." Lionel walked back into her line of sight and stood with his back to her as he interrogated Clark. "I was under the impression that we had an appointment."

"I was busy," Clark smirked at Lionel.

Suddenly Clark's gaze flickered the the cupboard she was in and Chloe would almost swear that he could see her. She shrank further back into the shadows, though there wasn't a lot room.

"Were you?" Lionel said. "What was her name, if I might ask?"

"Leona."

"Really? That's pretty." Lionel finished his drink and went to pour another.

Clark finally tore his eyes away from the cupboard she was hiding in and turned towards his father.

Chloe wasn't sure what was going on here. Lionel sounded perfectly civil but there was an under current of menace in his words that she was missing.