Nightmare at 20,000 feet: Chapter 1 of 4 (all parts linked)

[jlvsclrk]

Title: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
Author: jlvsclrk
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: PG13
Warnings: None
Spoilers: S4 – Goes AU during Scare
Word Count: 17,500
Summary: Lex has nightmares about being attacked by a monster only he can see.
Written for the Twisting the Twilight Zone challenge.


Thanks to twinsarein for the beta and danceswithgary for the lovely cover!



Chapter 1
 
In the darkness, faces flicker through his mind – father, mother, former friends, business associates, employees, lovers. They stare at him accusingly, then turn away.

White lights strobe through the darkness, making him squint. A doctor approaches with a needle and frowns down at him. “Lex, you shouldn’t take chances like this. What’s worth risking your life for?”

Her voice echoes strangely in an oddly shaped room. He looks down and sees he’s lying on a makeshift examining table. A heart monitor beeps erratically in the corner. The doctor holds the needle up to the light and squeezes out the proper dose. The needle pierces his skin, a second’s pain, then blessed numbness. He feels himself floating above the table, rising through the ceiling of the room. No, it’s the cabin of his plane, speeding above sunlit clouds. It’s beautiful here but he knows he cannot rest. He struggles to re-enter the plane, knowing there’s something important there. Something he must protect.

He reaches down, down. There it is, the statue he’d spent all too much time trying to find. He reaches for it with unsteady hands: a treasure of unknown value. The symbols on it remind him of a metallic disc, lost in a tempest. Drawings in a cave and a scientist’s crazed warnings. A farmboy’s cryptic family tree. A knife and his father offered for sacrifice. The images blur in his mind.

The statue falls and shatters, like so many of his dreams. In the shards glistens something metallic, another mystery. He reaches for it and the room fills with light. He is dazzled.

The plane shakes. He hears a bang, then a rush of air as the cabin loses pressure. The plane takes a sickening dive. He shrugs off the terrified doctor and reaches for the metallic object. But propelled by invisible forces, it moves away from him. He persists and feels an implacable force tighten around his neck. He struggles forward to see what’s happening. Through a hole in the bulkhead, he perceives a shape, strangely familiar but not. Red eyes flash in warning.

“It is not meant for you.” The voice is cold, dispassionate, condemning.

“You’re not even human,” he whispers with dread.

He turns back to the doctor. “We have to stop it,” he tells her. “I’m the only one who knows how.”

“Stop what, Lex? There’s nothing there.”

He turns back and the figure is gone, along with the metallic object. “It was standing right there. Didn’t you see it?”

“You’re hallucinating, Lex. Let me give you something to help you.” The doctor’s voice is meant to be reassuring, but has the opposite effect.

He feels the sting of another needle and screams, “I have to stop it!” He struggles to get free and feels hands pinning him down. A straightjacket tightens around his arms and torso. He struggles to stay awake. He screams again and again, unheeded in the empty room.

“I have to stop it!”

***

Lex awoke with a gasp to find himself pinned to his bed, sheets tangled about him from yet another restless night. He breathed deeply to control his racing heart and inhaled an elusive scent, like sunlight in the meadow. He opened his eyes to see worried green eyes staring down on him. “What the… What’s going on, Clark?”

“I heard you shouting and was worried you’d hurt yourself. Again” Clark flushed slightly as he released Lex. He scooted to the far wall of the bedroom, his movements a fascinating mixture of athletic grace and diffident shyness.

Lex nodded slightly as he surveyed Clark and the room: both were looking somewhat more disheveled than usual. Clark was dressed in only a tight blue T-shirt and some jogging pants: a good look on him. Judging from the hair though, it looked like Clark had just woken and Lex glanced at his clock - 3:27. “And what exactly were you doing here at this time of night?”

Clark flushed again and looked away. “I’ve been worried about you ever since the accident at the plant. Chloe talked to the doctors and they told her the vaccine really only stabilized the patient. It did nothing to stop the nightmare itself. And they were worried about its impact if used on someone previously uninfected. Which means you might still be in danger.”

“So you decided to sleep outside my window just in case?” Lex looked again at Clark’s clothing. It was the middle of winter and Clark wasn’t even wearing socks. Another mystery he wasn’t supposed to notice.

The flush grew slightly as Clark raised his eyes. “I just thought you might need some help. It’s not fair that everyone else is able to move on and you still have to suffer.”

Lex gave a tight lipped smile. “Clark, I’m the one responsible for the toxin’s release. Yes, the project’s engineers said we’d taken all the necessary precautions, but they were wrong. I should have put the project on hold to commit a safety review when I took command of LuthorCorp. But there were so many projects to check into. I made a mistake.”

“We all make mistakes, Lex, but you acted as quickly as possible to fix this one. That was so amazing!” Clark ducked his head away before looking up at Lex through thick eyelashes. Lex wondered if Clark knew how that look made him feel. He felt a more genuine smile grow as he relaxed. Then Clark continued, “I know it’s a lot to ask but maybe it would help if you talked about it.”

Lex’s smile vanished and he replied harshly, “Do you want to talk about your nightmare, Clark? Do you think that would help? Or is it another one of your precious secrets?” Feeling somehow betrayed, he rose from the bed and strode to his closet. Since he obviously wasn’t getting back to sleep, he might as well start his day early.

Clark was silent behind him as he sorted through the clothes then moved towards the bathroom. “Look Clark, there’s no need to stay. I’m fine. I’ve just got a lot of things on my mind. Taking control of LuthorCorp is harder work then I’d ever imagined. Lionel had started so many top secret projects and I still don’t know if I’ve found them all. And the senior management team sometimes resembles a pack of rabid dogs vying for dominance. I need all my energy to keep them from trying to make me their next meal.”

Clark’s silence continued but he showed no signs of leaving. He had picked up a pillow that Lex had earlier kicked off the bed and was absently squeezing it, lost in thought.

“Clark, you should go home and get some more sleep. I’m just going…”

“I dreamed that Lana stabbed me because she blamed me for her parents’ death. But the worst part was when I woke up and there was no one there. ‘Cause I knew that meant my parents were infected too and might be dead. My worst fear is that that one day I’ll wake up and everybody will be gone.”

Lex felt dizzy, like a punch had knocked the wind out of him. Hearing the truth from Clark was something he no longer expected, in fact quite the opposite. But for once, Clark was letting him glimpse at the real person who hid behind the farm boy façade. Lex carefully laid down the clothes he was carrying and sat down on the bed. He stared wide eyed at Clark, who refused to look back. The silence stretched.

“I… I don’t know what to say Clark. Losing a parent is something we all have to face. But that doesn’t make it any easier to bear. Look, sit down so I don’t have to stare up at you.” He patted the bed beside him and Clark awkwardly perched at the edge, looking set to flee.

“I wish my nightmare was as easy to explain. There’s something I desperately need to remember but I can’t. And there’s this monster who’s trying to destroy me and I need to stop him but no one believes me. So they lock me up in a straight jacket and walk away.”

Clark gasped and turned to him, concern and fear darkening his eyes. “Lex, I promise I won’t let that happen again. I’m so sorry for what happened before.”

Lex snorted. “This isn’t about you Clark. I know you did what you could at Belle Reve, and your testimony was crucial to my father’s conviction. But when someone truly powerful has targeted you for a fall, well, a seventeen year-old farm boy isn’t going to be enough to stop them.”

“I’m not just a farm boy, Lex. You know that.”

Lex nodded. “But there’s so much more to this than even I know. My father has connections with some of the most influential men in the world. They were up to something, something that involves Lana too. I stumbled across a clue in Egypt, but it was stolen from me. At 20,000 feet in the air, mind you.”

Clark curled forward, wrapping his hands around his stomach and scrunching his neck, hedgehog position. “I’m so sorry.”

“All I know is that feeling sorry for myself won’t solve anything. Whatever Dad was up to, there’s something out there more powerful than I can imagine. And I need to figure out how to stop it.” He stood up from the bed and picked up his clothes again. “Clark, I think you should leave now. I have work to do.”

“Lex, I…” Clark’s voice trailed off uncertainly. Clark bit his lip, then looked up again into Lex’s eyes. He took a deep breath and stood tall by Lex’s side, all hesitation banished. “Lex, there’s something I need to show you.”

***

 

Lex switched off the Porsche’s ignition and sat in numb silence as he tried to process Clark’s almost whispered revelations on the drive over. Speed. Strength. Invulnerability. Alien. Virgil Swann. Jor-El. Morgan Edge. Belle Reve. Kal-El. It was almost too much. No wonder Clark always looked so nervous when he was pushed about his secrets.

 

But perhaps the revelation that frightened Lex the most was regarding the source of LuthorCorp’s most prized asset: a vial of alien blood. Carefully hoarded, the blood cells were the foundation of at least seventeen promising research projects. Billions in profits stood to be made, delayed only by the scarcity of the supply. Did Clark know? Did he understand the risk he’d taken last week by offering himself up for research?

 

Clark interrupted his musings, “I’m not sure how safe it’ll be for you in there. It usually ignores visitors, but last year, it did put dad in a coma. If it tries anything, I’ll do what I can to get us out. But I can’t make any promises, Lex.”

 

Lex nodded as he stepped out of the car and helped Clark gather the items he’d picked up at the loft on the way over. “I understand the risk, Clark. But so much of what you’ve said just doesn’t make sense. Why would your real father have sent you here to be raised by the Kents if it wanted you to rule the world? If that was his goal, Lionel, for one, would’ve been a much better choice.”

 

Clark shuddered, “I’ll bet. And why force me to leave Smallville, only to help dad bring me back? And I don’t understand why it sent me after that stone you found.”

 

Lex nodded again. Learning Clark was behind the attack on his plane had proved to be one of the least of the morning’s surprises. He needed to put all of those disturbing and tantalizing discoveries aside for now, though, to focus on the task at hand. He switched on the flashlight and descended with Clark into the cave.

 

Clark pointed to one of the symbols on the wall, resembling a stylized ‘LL’. “That’s the symbol for water, or transformation. The same symbol was on the stone your father used in prison to switch bodies with me. And Lana’s got a tattoo of it on her back, which I guess has something to do with the witches that attacked us. She asked me if I knew what the symbol meant. But I really don’t, Lex.”

 

“Arthur Clarke once said that any sufficiently advanced technology would look like magic: I guess he was right.”

 

“When I fought Lana, her magic was real - and scary. I’ve often wondered if Kryptonians stopped coming to earth because they feared something so unpredictable. I think they were seriously into logic and science, and kind of looked down on emotions.”

 

“We’ll see if we can get some answers for both of us. I don’t like the idea of something that can control you and turn you into some sort of Kryptonian crusader. Not to mention kidnapping a girl and turning her into a super powered murderer.”

 

Lex stopped in front of the wall that bore an octagonal shaped indentation. He brushed his hand over it reverently and turned to Clark. “I’ve always wondered if you stole the disc from me back then. Strange to think it was Nixon. I’m sorry about that Clark. I tried to call him off but he sensed a story and that meant more to him than his own safety.”

 

“It’s all in the past now Lex. Nixon is dead, the disc is gone. I’d say good riddance except I’m scared of where it may have wound up this time. Who knows what would’ve happened if Lionel had seen this wall while he still had it”

 

Clark then touched three of the symbols on the wall, which glowed blue, red and yellow. There was a faint cracking sound and a door opened into the cave’s hidden chamber. Lex took a deep breath and ventured inside. There, on a stone dais, rested the metallic object he’d discovered in Egypt. Clearly it belonged here, but why? If they found the other two objects, what would happen next? Too many mysteries. Time for some answers.

 

“How do you start the interface program?”

 

Clark shuffled in embarrassment and admitted, “Well, sometimes it calls me here and sometimes I use the key. Honestly though, I usually just start yelling until it answers.”

 

“Why am I not surprised? Let’s see if that works for me.” Lex tried circling around the chamber while shouting at the walls. It felt strange and was clearly pointless. He turned back to Clark. “Maybe it’s programmed to ignore intruders. Why don’t you try?”

 

“If you’re sure, Lex.” At Lex’s nod, Clark took a deep breath and bellowed, “Jor-El! We need to ask you some questions! Jor-El! Speak to me!”

 

“I am disappointed in you, Kal-El,” responded a cultured but forbidding voice. It seemed very loud in the small chamber: Lex now understood why Clark felt compelled to shout back at it. “The secrets of our civilization are not meant to be shared with humans. They are a flawed race, and their greed for knowledge will drive them to destruction and ruin. The man beside you, Lex Luthor, is especially dangerous and must be stopped. If you will not do it, I shall.”

 

A blinding light reached out for Lex and raised him from the floor. As his senses started to shut down, Lex watched Clark spring forward and try to pull him away, to no avail. He felt an overwhelming flood of knowledge cascade through his mind; too much to assimilate. This was how the machine had sent Dr. Walden into a coma and rewritten his personality, ultimately leading to his death. Lex fought to control the interface by focusing on the key question, “What is your purpose?”

 

Strange symbols blurred through his mind’s eye in response, reminding Lex somehow of Japanese writing with its combination of alphabets. “I don’t have time to learn your language now. Can you respond in English?”

 

The symbols shifted to a bewildering mixture of characters, some Kryptonian and others in various Earth alphabets. Lex felt his mind retreating from the onslaught, but forced himself to concentrate. He realized that part of the interface was trying to distract him with tidbits of knowledge that he’d normally drop everything to investigate. A scientific paradise beckoned, but he knew it was just a mirage. Earth was thousands of years from understanding the crystal technology that was the foundation of Kryptonian science. Without that understanding, it would be like finding a computer in the Stone Age: even if you got it to work, you wouldn’t know what to do with it.

 

Lex found himself chanting, “Focus. Focus on breathing. Focus on the one question: what is your purpose?” Time passed, and he felt his childhood memories receding, replaced by images of a strange world. A tidal wave of Kryptonian history threatened to obliterate his knowledge of Greece and Rome. He fought to retain his sense of self, but grew weary. The interface was relentless: there was too much here for him to process. He almost laughed at the irony: Lex Luthor dying by data overload.

 

Then suddenly, the flood stopped.

 

Lex felt his senses reawaken as he dropped to the floor of the cave. The first thing he noticed was a sickly green light emanating from a meteor rock held in Clark’s hand. Clark laid unconscious, blood seeping from several gashes in his arms. “Oh Clark, what have you done?”

 

“Kal-El pleaded with me to release you. When I advised him that I was acting in his best interest, he exposed himself to a fragment of our home planet – what you commonly refer to as meteor rock and Kal-El calls kryptonite. The most common variety is poisonous to our kind in a yellow sun environment. You must return the kryptonite to the lead box Kal-El used to transport it here or he will die.”

 

Lex silently cursed Clark for not discussing his emergency plan with him. He picked up the kryptonite fragment then looked down at Clark. He looked ghastly, veins distended, his normally golden body turned to green. Lex leaned down and placed the rock in Clark’s pocket, then grabbed him by the shoulders. “Sorry, Clark. Not much longer. But I don’t think it’s safe yet.”

 

Hauling Clark out of the caves would have been taxing in even the best of circumstances. Muscle is heavier than fat, and Clark had packed a lot of muscle onto his frame in the past few years. Lex also found himself wondering if Kryptonian bones were denser than human ones: Clark certainly felt heavier than expected. Or maybe it was just exhaustion from too many sleepless nights and his battle with the AI. He could only move them a few feet at a time and was acutely aware of Clark’s increasingly laboured breathing. Finally they reached the cave’s exit to be greeted by the morning sun. Lex looked down at his watch: 7:54. Amazingly, only four and a half hours had passed since his life had changed beyond all measure.

 

Lex placed the kryptonite fragment in the lead box, then sank gratefully to the ground beside Clark’s sprawled body. He picked up Clark’s head and gently placed it in his lap. Struck by whimsy, he leaned forward to give Clark a tender kiss. “Wake up, sleepy.”

 

Slowly, oh so slowly, Clark’s body regained its normal colouring and his breathing steadied. Lex wiped away the blood on Clark’s arms, then watched as bit by bit the cuts healed. Clark’s eyelids flickered then slowly opened. The two stared at each other wordlessly. Clark gave a tentative smile and whispered, “It worked. You saved me.”

 

Lex tried for a stern tone as he replied, “You’re a fool, Clark. We both might have died.”

 

Clark’s smile brightened and he repeated, “It worked.”

 

Lex had never been able to resist that smile and gave up trying. He leaned forward and kissed Clark tenderly, almost chastely. His mouth moved languidly over cherry lips, mapping their texture. Clark’s face was slightly sweaty from the recent kryptonite exposure, heightening the flavour. Lex tangled one hand in dark, silky curls while the other traced the contours of Clark’s cheekbone, jaw and neck. So soft, despite the hint of stubble.

 

Clark’s eyes widened in surprise then flickered shut as he relaxed into Lex’s embrace. Lex let the pressures of the world fade away and breathed him in, happier in that moment than he could ever recall. The only sound was their mingled breathing. It felt so good to be here, together in the sunlight. But a quiet chirp from his watch ended the moment and reluctantly, he pulled back with a hint of a smile.

 

Clark gazed almost sleepily up at him. “What was that?”

 

“It’s called a kiss, Clark,” Lex responded teasingly before resuming more seriously. “It just felt like the right way to celebrate getting out of the cave alive. I hope I didn’t offend you. Frankly, I’ve wondered what it would be like for quite a while now. But you were so young, and … There were always too many secrets.”

 

Clark sat up slowly and gave Lex a hesitant smile. “And it’s different now, right? But Lex…”

 

Lex interrupted, “Clark, don’t. Now isn’t the time for this. I… care for you, surely you know that. I really want us to work at rebuilding our friendship and perhaps see if there’s something more there. And we really need to talk about what just happened. But it’s already eight. I have some crucial meetings that I have to leave for right away. And unless I miss my guess, you’ll need to run fast to check in with your parents and still get to school on time. We’ll talk tonight. I should be back by nine. You don’t mind waiting, do you?”

 

Clark grimaced and stood, still a bit shaky but recovering fast. “I mind but I understand. Stuff doesn’t stop happening just because we need to deal with crazy alien machinery.” He gave a small snort. “You know Lex; my parents are going to freak. They’ll never understand this. Not in a million years.”

 

“Consider yourself lucky. At least they’ve never tried to kill you.”

 

Clark snorted again. “Well, there was this one time…”

continued in Chapter 2