Title: The Making of a Monster
Paring: Chloe/Clark Luthor
Spoilers: For the episode Luthor
AN: For the purpose of this fic, some of Clark's powers developed faster than in the Smallville universe. If you need a reason, it's because Lionel pushed him to develop his gifts.
Chapter One
Chloe glanced up from her books to see Clark entering the coffee shop.
"Come on, Pete, lets get out of here," she said, none too quietly.
"Why?" Pete frowned and followed the direction of her gaze to Clark. "Oh. Yeah, good idea."
They began collecting their books up.
"Was it something I said?" Clark asked, as he paused beside their table, his trademark smirk fixed on his lips.
"No," Chloe snapped. "It's the stench of corruption that follows you around."
"Aw, come on Chloe," he smirked. "Don't be such a sore loser."
Chloe dropped the pile of books she'd been collecting and turned on him.
"A sore loser?" she asked. "Believe it or not, Clark, this is about more than just my feelings! Your father might have bought Principle Quan, the Smallville Ledger and the Daily Planet, but he can't hide forever. One day people will learn the truth about him."
Goading Chloe was one of Clarks greatest pleasures in this hick town, he loved it when she got angry. She was like a kitten showing it's claws, trying to look tough but only succeeding in looking damn cute.
"So you're blaming me for my fathers sins?" he asked. "That's hardly fair."
"No, Clark, believe me, you already have enough sins of your own to fully justify my vitriol."
"Oh, such cutting words from the poison penned pixie!" Clark clutched his chest as though he was in pain.
Chloe's glare intensified and Clark was glad that she didn't have his heat vision, because he'd surely be a crispy critter right about now if she did.
"Come on, Chloe," Pete had collected her books for her and took her elbow to nudge her along. "He's not worth it."
Chloe was still glaring at Clark.
"Oh, believe me, I know he isn't," she said before finally turning and heading towards the exit.
"Chloe, you've got to tone it down," Pete urged when he though they were out of ear shot.
"Why? So I can run scared like the rest of this town? So I can more easily pander to the whims of a meglomaniacle billionaire and his twisted offspring? No thanks." She turned and glanced back at Clark who was now chatting with two pretty blonds at the counter.
Almost as if he'd heard her, Clark suddenly looked over and winked.
"One day, Pete, I will bring the Luthors down. You mark my words."
Pete believed her, that was what worried him.
III
Chloe had a knack for getting into places she wasn't supposed to be but the Luthor Mansion stretched even her skills. Somehow though, she had made it inside undetected. She knew the Luthors were at a charity event in Metropolis this evening so she should be relatively safe.
Before coming she had tried to find a schematic or layout for the place so she would know where Lionel's office was. Unfortunately all she had been able to find was an old magazine spread in Hello magazine. From the picture of Lionel at his desk and the position of the sun, she had surmised that his office was on the north side of the building on the second floor. However, in a building that Chloe estimated must have close to a hundred rooms, that didn't actually narrow things down very much.
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.
Lionel left his drink on the bar and calmly walked back to Clark. Chloe saw a flash of blue as Lionel punched Clark, sending him crashing to the floor.
"Do you think you can outsmart me?" Lionel asked. "Do you think I can't see right through you?"
"No." Clark sounded like he was in pain.
Lionel pulled Clark up by his shirt and punched him three more times.
"You will never beat me, son, so you might as well stop trying."
Lionel collected his drink and calmly took a sip. "Do you know the worst thing about your attempt to spy on me? That you could be so sloppy, Clark. It's insulting. That isn't how I raised you."
He strode from the room and left Clark lying on the floor.
Clark slowly got to his feet and he headed over to Chloe. He tore the cabinet door open and dragged her out. He looked venomous.
Chloe cried out in pain so Clark put his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams. Chloe kicked, clawed and bit as he dragged her out of the room but it didn't have any effect on him. He carried her down the hall as if she weighed nothing and into another room. Once the door was closed he leaned in close to her ear and whispered.
"If I put you down, do you promise not to scream?"
Chloe considered her options and finally decided to agree. She nodded her head as best she could.
Clark dropped her onto the floor and stood over her. Chloe almost quailed under his murderous gaze.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
Chloe wasn't really sure how to answer that since the truth would surely anger him even more than her silence.
When Clark didn't get an answer, he turned away, shaking his head and grinding his jaw. He was clearly still furious. Chloe pulled her legs under herself so she would have a better chance of running if the opportunity presented itself.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous coming here was?" he demanded. When Chloe again didn't answer he turned back to her and yelled. "Do you!"
Chloe swallowed. "No."
"If my father had found you, it would be your story that someone was trying to sell to the Daily Planet tomorrow, Chloe. Lionel Luthor does not take prisoners!"
"I know. I'm sorry."
Clark turned away and looked out of the window, giving Chloe an opportunity to look around the room. Although it was dark, she thought she might be in Clarks bedroom and that sent another shiver of fear through her.
"Not so chatty now, are you?" Clark asked rhetorically.
Chloe slowly got to her feet. "I'll go."
Clark blocked her path by standing in front of the door.
"You're stuck here," he explained. "Lionel brought company back with him and between the guests and the servants downstairs, you don't stand a chance of getting out of here unseen."
"Why do you care?" she asked.
"I don't."
"Then let me leave," she said, stepping forward.
"I can't do that," Clark said softly.
"Why not?" Chloe asked.
Clark looked into Chloe's eyes and for the first time he was close enough so that Chloe could see the blood on his face from when Lionel had hit him.
"Oh my god," she raised her hand towards his face but daren't touch him. Instead she pulled a tissue from her coat pocket and attempted to clean the blood from his face, but he caught her wrist.
"Don't."
Chloe lowered her hand. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely.
"What for, you didn't do this?"
Chloe stepped away and turned her back to him. After his beating and the humiliation of her seeing it, she wasn't sure how well he would handle this additional piece of news.
"It is my fault, Clark. I was trying to access LuthorCorp files so I opened the application on his computer. I think he saw the screen and that's what he was blaming you for."
She stiffened as Clark came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"So you thought you could just log onto a Fortune 500 company server without any problems?" he whispered in her ear, his voice was both seductive and serpentine.
"No," she swallowed. "I have a hacking program working on breaking your fathers password."
"Why would you admit that?" he asked. "I can see how scared you are of me, why risk enraging me further?"
"Because you got hurt because of me. You deserve to know the truth."
Clark walked around her slowly. Chloe almost felt like she was being stalked.
When he was standing in front of her, he ran the back of one finger down her cheek and then tilted her chin up with it.
Chloe looked like a deer caught in the headlights but as Clark lowered his lips to hers, he earned himself a slap.
"Oww!" Chloe called as she flexed her hand battered hand. "What the hell are you made of, steel?"
Clark shrugged and touched his jaw. "You know, you pack quite a punch in that little package. I'm impressed."
"Then my life's work if done." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh, the kitten found her claws again," he grinned.
Chloe glared at him. "I'd like to leave now."
"Chloe, there's only one way you're getting out of here undetected right now, and it involves a blindfold."
"Why?"
"Don't worry, it's not a sex game," he teased "There are just some things that you can't see."
"You have secret tunnels or something?" she asked, intrigued.
"Or something," he smirked. "It's your choice."
"If I don't want to, how long will I have to stay here?"
Clark checked his watch. "Probably another four or five hours."
Chloe didn't like the idea of being blindfolded but she liked spending hours stuck with Clark even less.
"Okay," she closed her eyes and waited for him to blindfold her.
She didn't even hear him move but suddenly he spoke to her from behind, making her jump slightly.
"You're either very brave or very foolish," he purred.
Chloe didn't know what to say to that since she agreed with him. She finally felt something soft and silky fall across her eyes. He tied it tightly then to her surprise he swept her into his arms, one arm under her knees, the other supporting her back.
"Put me down," she said.
"There's too many steps, you might fall. Hold on tight."
Reluctantly Chloe put her arms around his neck.
Chloe didn't know what happened next, she felt a burst of air, then it felt like she was jumping, then another burst of air then finally it felt like they were walking in the cool night air.
Chloe wanted to ask where they were but she daren't. She would guess they were in the grounds, heading for the wall so she was surprised when he set her on her feet only a few minutes later.
Chloe pulled the blindfold off and blinked against the glare of the street lights. She looked around.
"How did you know where I live?" she asked, slightly disconcerted.
Clark laughed. "You spent last week trying to convince the world that my Dad blackmailed the District Attorney into dropping the insider trading charges. Last month you were trying to prove that he bribed a Saudi Prince into giving him oil rights. Then you tried to-"
"All right, I get it!"
"How could you even think we don't know every single detail of your life, Chloe."
Chloe didn't like that idea but she crossed her arms and stuck her chin out.
"I'll bet you don't know what colour my underwear is."
She could have cringed for choosing that but she had been flustered.
Clark stared at her intently for a moment.
"Pink," he said with a smirk as he began to walk backwards, away from her. "Pretty too."
Chloe didn't know what to make of the fact that he was correct. That was a whole new level of creepy.
"Wait, your scarf," she held it towards him.
"Keep it, it suits you."
She hadn't paid much attention up until this point so she looked down at it. It was dark red and felt like silk. She looked up to Clark again but he was gone.
Thoroughly disconcerted by the events of the day, Chloe let herself into her house and went straight up to her bedroom. She downloaded the pictures from her camera but there was hardly any damning evidence on them. For all the effort, planning and risk involved in today, it had been a total bust.
She wondered why Clark had saved her and hadn't told Lionel she was there? Why had he helped her escape? Why had he tried to kiss her? Why had she almost let him?
She knew if she stayed here along any longer that she would drive herself insane with questions so she grabbed her keys and headed over to Pete's house, not that she had any intention of telling him what had happened today.
III
Clark was back at the mansion just seconds after leaving Chloe and he sped to Lionel's office. The program Chloe had talked about had finished running and there was his fathers password.
He grinned, closed the program window and removed the CD from the drive.
For all of Clarks gifts, Chloe had just managed something he had been trying to do all year. Perhaps there was more to Chloe Sullivan than just an annoying wannabe journalist. Maybe she could even be of some use to him.
III
Chloe was reading in the Beanery the next weekend when a shadow suddenly fell across her book. She looked up, expecting to see Pete standing beside her. Her smile faded when she saw that it was Clark blocking her sun.
"What do you want," she snapped.
Clark sat in the chair opposite her and Chloe wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug grin off his face, just like Lionel had.
She looked away at that thought. As much as she might dislike Clark, no one deserved to be treated like that and she felt ashamed for even thinking it.
"Pride and Prejudice?" he asked, reading the cover of her book. "I hadn't pegged you as a romantic."
"I'm not," she assured him. "It's a classic."
She glanced around and saw that a few people were staring in their direction, probably wondering what a Luthor was doing sitting with her.
"Right," Clark's smile widened. "And I'm Mother Teresa."
Chloe admitted defeat, slipped her bookmark into the pages and put it down.
"As much as I'm enjoying this little tet-a-tet, is there a reason you're annoying me or do you just do it for sport?"
"Mostly sport," he admitted with a shrug.
"Hey, Clark." Brittany, the head cheerleader said as she paused beside the table. "The girls and I are going swimming down at Crater Lake. Do you wanna join us?"
"Like you'd have anything to do with him if he wasn't rich," Chloe said softly as she shook her head in disgust. Like Chloe, Clark was only 16 and without his money and family name, there was no way a Senior like Brittany would be seen dead with him.
Brittany glared at her. "I wasn't asking you."
"Of course not." Chloe began gathering up her things. "Not after I exposed how you and your gang of cheerios all cheated on your midterms."
Brittany glared at her. Clark was sitting back and simply enjoying the show.
"You'll pay for that," Brittany swore.
"I'm sure." Chloe flashed her a plastic smile. "Well, as much fun as this had been, I really have to leave in case whatever destroyed your brain cells is contagious."
She headed towards the exit with her head held high, though she was gripping the strap on her bag so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Once outside the air seemed fresher and she took a few long deep breaths before she continued down the street.
She had barely gone three paces when she became aware that someone was walking beside her. She risked a glance and her worst fear was confirmed when she saw that it was Clark.
From that point onwards she kept her gaze focused firmly in front of her, determined not to acknowledge his presence. She expected Clark to speak, to try and explain his actions but he didn't, he simply matched her pace.
As she spied a pharmacy up ahead she smiled slightly, suddenly having thought of the perfect way to get rid of him. She did need some tampons anyway so she could kill two birds with one stone she reasoned.
Pete had followed her into the pharmacy once but as soon as she stepped into the sanitary isle he began to stammer and back away. He met up with her again outside the shop. When she was younger she also used ask her father to put them on the shopping list but if he ever went shopping alone, it was pot luck what she would end up with, it was like he just stepped into the isle, closed his eyes and picked the first box he touched. Once he had even come home with incontinence pads!
Smiling slightly at the genius of her plan she marched purposefully into the pharmacy and straight to the tampon boxes. To her surprise, Clark stayed right by her side as she looked for the right brand. In fact it seemed to amuse him.
"Well, that's explains your mood," Clark quipped.
Okay, now she was getting annoyed. She snatched her usual box off the shelf and headed to the make-up. In her experience men also hated women shopping for make-up.
"I had no idea you were such a girl underneath that tough exterior," Clark said as she tested the fourth shade of eye-shadow on the back of her hand. He leaned in conspiratorially. "But don't worry, Clo, you're secret is safe with me."
Chloe's temper was really rising but she managed to pay for her items and make it out of the shop without causing a scene.
"Okay, what the hell do you want?" she said, turning on him as they exited the shop.
"Maybe I just like your company." Clark shrugged.
"Really? I thought you only liked girls who put-out," she fired back.
Clark grinned. "Well, sometimes I enjoy a challenge."
Chloe's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Look, I don't know what planet you're from but let me assure you, there is no way on this earth that I will ever put-out for a low life, spoiled, rich, brat like you."
She stormed off and for a moment thought she'd succeeded in dissuading him from following her, until he jogged a few paces to catch her up again.
"You really don't like me, do you?"
"Is it that obvious," she said, deadpan.
"I thought that after what happened last weekend, you might have warmed up to me a little."
"Clark, as much as I appreciate the help you gave me, it doesn't alter the fact that you're a Luthor and about as trustworthy as a rattle snake."
"Ouch! You really know how to wound a guy," he chuckled. "Besides, are you really going to hold a little thing like my family name against me?"
Chloe stopped dead in her tracks and Clark had to turn back to face her.
"It may not get reported and your father might be able to get the charges dropped but I still have contacts in the police department. I know all about your under age drinking, the drugs, the bar fights, the joy riding, the sexual assault-"
"Okay," Clark held his hands up. "Those first four I will admit to but I have never assaulted a woman."
"Then why would she say that you did?"
"Because I rejected her and she saw a chance to get a nice fat cheque out of my father. He knew I was innocent but he said it was easier just to get rid of her. I think she settled for five grand, but she could probably have gotten double if she'd tried a little harder."
Chloe's glare began to turn into a frown. She was amazed to find that some part of her believed him.
"Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't hurt that girl."
Clark closed the distance between them and looked down into her eyes. Chloe suddenly felt very small standing next to him. She'd never realised before just how tall he was.
"I didn't hurt her," he said quietly.
Chloe searched his face for a long time, looking for any signs of deception but didn't find anything.
"Okay." Finally she looked away and continued walking.
"Does that mean you believe me?" he asked, falling into step beside her again.
"It means that I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."
"I'd call that progress," he smiled at her. Unlike his usual self satisfied smirks, this smile was warm and genuine. To her surprise, Chloe found the corners of her own lips turning up.
"That still doesn't answer my question though," Chloe reminded him. "Why are you stalking me?"
"Not here," Clark said.
"Then where?"
Clark took her elbow and guided her across the street to where his car was parked. It wasn't just any car though, it was a bright red Mercedes convertible that literally screamed 'look at me!'.
Clark dropped her arm and went around to the drivers side. Chloe stood by the passenger door for a moment, trying to decide if she trusted him enough to get into his car.
Clark started the engine then looked over at her. His expression was challenging, was she going to rise to the occasion or run away, with her tail between her legs. He didn't think she was a coward and he was pleased when she opened the door and climbed in beside him.