Infringement - Chapter 5

Title:    Infringement
Series:    Infected
Rating:    T
Author:    SilverSnikle
Character:    Clark
Timeline:   Around 6 months after Clark Luthor's Seventeenth Birthday
Warnings:   Luthor-verse
Disclaimer:   Borrowed characters and some dialogue... No affiliation to CW/WB, DC
Summary:   My take on Clark Luthor's descent into darkness. This story focuses on his relationship with Chloe Sullivan.

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infringe
1. ( tr ) to violate or break (a law, an agreement, etc)
2. ( intr; foll by  on or  upon ) to encroach or trespass

Clark grinned when expected, and nodded on cue. He normally quite enjoyed these little dinners, and tried hard to swallow the knot that had been stuck in his throat all evening. He had convinced himself he was past little human imperfections, such as caring. The thought that he'd been wrong simply pissed him off, which oddly didn't make the anxiety lessen any.

"So, if we were to find these stones... We could- Clark?"

He lifted his gaze to meet her jade eyes and frowned. "Sorry, Sis," Good job, Luthor, he chastised himself. "Continue, please."

He didn't miss the skepticism in her eyes, but she took a small breath and continued. "If we find these remaining stones, they could be our chance to be free." He watched her take a sip of her wine, and noted her steady hand. He wasn't deceived - she was nervous.

He leaned back in his seat and ran a slow hand down his tie, smoothing his shirt over his abs. After taking a deep breath, and making sure he had her full attention, he smiled. "I'm sorry. I just can't understand how these special stones are going to magically fix our lives. Do you even know what it is they do?"

"I know that when they are all brought together the power they will provide will be unimaginable, even for you. If the two of us were to find them before Father, then we could take off and not ever have to worry about him again. It's a chance for us to live a completely different life." Together, was the unspoken addition to that statement. They both knew it. Clark sighed and pushed his plate away toward the middle of the table. A year ago, he wouldn't have thought twice before agreeing with her. He had wanted as far away from the name Luthor as he could get. Now? He wasn't so sure.

"Honestly, that sounds kind of crazy. Where would we even start looking? What if we spend all this time looking for the rocks and then, nothing? Knowing Lionel this is some ruse to trick us in to showing him all our cards." He shook his head, a barely noticeable movement, letting his eyes say the same as his words. "That's just not something I'm interested in doing." He was sure Lionel had his suspicions about the true nature of Clark and Tess's relationship, but their old man needed no proof. Watching her expression closely, he feared she was about to lose her carefully put together composure and he smiled warmly at her. "I love you sis, you know that. And I promise to take care of you, no matter what. I will find us a way."

She lowered her head momentarily, he suspected to strengthen her resolve, and then smiled back at him. "Of course you will."

...

Chloe rounded the corner carefully. She was close to the crime scene now. Granted, it had been weeks since the murder; there wasn't a lot of hope for her to find anything new. She held on to that sliver of a chance though, and moved as quietly as humanly possible through the shadows.

"Well, hello there pretty thing." A gruff voice spoke to her back. Chloe swallowed, gripping her mace tightly, her knuckles white.

"You look lost." This was a second voice. If surviving an attack by one crazy guy in the Slums had been improbable, surviving a duel attack was impossible. She let her shoulders drop and turned slowly toward the voices. There was no point in running.

In the light of the street, from her place in the alley, she could see two figures leaning down toward the pavement. She squinted, straining her eyes to focus on the object between them. Her vision cleared, revealing a small alley cat. She bit her cheek to keep the fearful groan blooming in her throat from being released. As horrible a situation as it was for the cat, it would be much worse for Chloe if the two men were to notice her.

She started to slowly back away, glancing behind her here and there so as not to fall into anything. There was just enough light for her to see the clear outline of a dumpster, and make sure she side-stepped before smacking her shoulder into it. Looking back out of the alley, she sucked in a much needed deep breath. Breathing had been forgotten when she'd heard that first voice.

The two figures were headed straight toward her. From what she could tell, they still hadn't noticed her, but that was sure to change momentarily. Her heart was pounding against her ribs frantically. She bit down on her bottom lip. No one would hear her screams out here.

To run, or not to run?

What frustrated her most was that she hadn't even made it to the crime scene yet. She thought maybe that was a blessing. How much more frustrated would she be in this moment if she had actually find some evidence there and then faced impending doom, unable to share her find with the world?

What Chloe had left out of her earlier conversation with Clark (and previous conversations with Lois) was that she actually had a working theory. It seemed quite a few 'muscle men' for the biggest crime bosses in Metropolis had gone suddenly missing. That in itself wasn't such a revelation. The fact that they had all started to disappear four months ago combined with the reports from their friends or family that none of them had any plans to leave meant Chloe had a conspiracy theory. Vigilante.

This theorized vigilante was the reason why Edge was moving all his goods. Chloe knew that had to be the case. She couldn't prove any of it, yet. And she wasn't sure how much she would report about the vigilante, even if she did somehow find proof of him. She wasn't sure the public was ready to know about him just yet.

Obviously, this vigilante had some issues to work through. Death wasn't exactly the best way to handle crime (she couldn't figure any other way to make these guys disappear so easily). No one should count themselves capable of being judge, jury, and executioner. But she had done some digging, and she couldn't find any evidence that this same set of circumstances had befallen any innocent people.

The pieces started falling into place after her source at the precinct had told her about a thug who had just up and disappeared. At first, Chloe wasn't sure why it mattered. But then he had informed her that this particular thug was actually feeding information to the cops; he was a snitch. He didn't show up for a meet and the cops couldn't find any sign of him, or any signs he'd attempted to run. They had all assumed Edge had figured out he was talking and found a way to shut him up. What no one was talking about was the weird burn marks in the alley just outside the guy's apartment.

According to the report that had suddenly gone missing hours after Chloe had received a copy via e-mail, the burn marks were anything but normal. The fire that caused them had to have burned unreasonably hot. There were no accelerants found at the site. To anyone else it appeared to be some kind of freak accident, or a college kid's chemistry experiment gone very wrong. To Chloe it reeked of meteor infected freak. A super powered Dexter, if you will.

There was only one place she had encountered those types of people. For a short time, Chloe's father had moved them to a small town, aptly named Smallville. In high school there, she encountered case after case of irregularities. These kids had all sorts of weird 'abilities' or mutations, and most of them lost it (as in went 'batty') at some point, murdering or attempting to murder someone. Once her father had found out the truth of what was happening in the town he moved them back to the city. It was her theory that this vigilante was also from Smallville.

A meteor shower had fallen in 1989, and brought with it some odd green meteors that Chloe believed were the cause of the mutations. Most of her investigations proved that the freaks involved all came into contact with these meteors at some point.

"Well, what do we have here?" Chloe swallowed, and stopped still her thoughts halting. She didn't need to look forward, back down the alley, to know that her fears had finally come to pass. She still had ten good feet to go before she was out of the alley. She bit her tongue, no reason to say something smart and piss them off. Instead, she tried to focus on reaching into her pocket and wrapping her hand around her taser.

The barely audible sound of Bob Dylan singing ‘All Along the Watchtower’ made Chloe's nostrils flare; it's the only movement her body would allow. Of course, Clark was calling to check on her, he didn't want her out there alone in the first place. It was ridiculous really, that Chloe was angry with him at this moment; first she's mad he was right, and second, his worry had just broken the silence and her assailants were advancing quicker. She let out a slow even breath, preparing to shock whichever man reached her first, while wondering what her second defensive action should be. Her phone stopped singing and immediately started up again. She rolled her eyes.

Clark more than likely would not stop calling until her phone's battery gave out. The thought made her frown. By then, she'd be past saving. That's the moment she realized this was not going to end in her favor. The odds of her exiting this alley some way other than in a body bag were slim to none.

She squeezed the taser tightly in her fingers and narrowed her eyes. She was not going down without a fight - a very long, and hopefully painful for her soon to be attackers, fight.

Brightness lit up the alley. Chloe planted her feet, only slightly disoriented by the sudden flood of light. The two men turned around, fleeing back down the alley. Before Chloe had a chance to sigh in relief, two large men ran past her. She sucked in a sharp breath as she watched the new guys tackle the original men. She knew she should be grateful, but she couldn't help feeling like the new arrival could be something even worse.

"Are you okay?" Her heart pounded loudly, she could barely make out the words coming from behind her. When her mind caught up with her ears, she recognized the voice.

"I – I think so. Yeah, I'm fine." Her phone stopped ringing. She glanced curiously down toward her pocket, but raised her eyes as a figure stepped up in front of her. He was not much more than an outline against the bright beams of the headlights behind him.

"Come on. What were you doing out here anyhow?" He continued talking, but Chloe wasn't listening. She wondered absently how Clark suddenly knew she was okay. It was the only reason he would hang up mid-ring. Of that she was certain. "We'll take you home." He held the car door open for her, guiding her inside. "I'll call Clark, I'm sure he'll want to meet us there." She wanted to smile at that. Lex knew about her and Clark. He also seemed to think his brother cared enough about her to call him so he could comfort her. But she couldn't seem to move. Lex scooted into the backseat next her; he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her arm.

...

Clark swore under his breath. This was bad. This was worse than bad. Lex knowing about Chloe was not a surprise; he hadn't exactly been trying to hide her from the family. However, Lex knowing that Chloe was investigating the recent murders of Morgan Edge's men, that was detrimental to the girl's health.

He forced himself inside his car, making himself drive, only to keep from speeding to her apartment. Although from what he gathered, she was somewhat in shock and probably wouldn't notice his too quick appearance. His radio blared to life when he started the engine. His frustration forced a fist into the car's console, silencing Three Days Grace.

Clark let out a growl, throwing the car into reverse, and sped out of the parking garage. He knew he wouldn't get pulled over, not with his 'C-LUTHOR' plates. Any cop stupid enough to try would just have to follow him to his girlfriend's apartment. He was not stopping.

The fact that he wasn't really torn between holding her and strangling the two peons from the alley should have confused him. His normal reaction to anger was brute force. Right now, he just wanted Chloe safe in his arms. He could go express his anger later. Maybe that meant he was maturing. Something told him Lionel wouldn't agree.

At her apartment, Lex was sitting on the couch, Chloe leaning into his embrace. Clark swept past Lex's driver, who had opened the door, and didn't hesitate before picking her up, effectively getting her away from Lex. With her safely cradled in his arms he noticed, but did not acknowledge, the frown on his older brother's face.

"Hey. I'm here." He held her tight, his cheek pressed into the top of her head. "I'm so sorry. I should never have let you go out there."

Lex cleared his throat.

"I should have canceled my dinner. We could have gone together."

"You knew she was out there? Investigating a murder?" Clark wanted to fry Lex, but settled for shooting him a glare instead of deadly laser beams. Now was not the time for Lex's inquiries, and Clark knew his brother understood what he was telling him. "I'm going home. Let me know if you need anything."

And with that, Lex exited the apartment.

Clark sat on the couch, still cradling Chloe in his arms. She had pressed her face into his neck and he could feel the dampness from her tears. They sat that way until she turned her head to look up at him, almost a full hour later.

He smiled down at her, knowing it was forced and she'd see that, but he still had to try. She always seemed so strong. So much so, that it frequently frustrated him when she seemed to handle things so well. He'd watched over her many nights while she investigated. He didn't understand why the events of tonight had shaken her as bad as they did. It seemed out of character.

"Baby? You want to talk about it?" His brow creased with worry. He watched her bite her lip before nodding.

"I just - I thought..." He watched her take a deep breath, preparing her thoughts. "I didn't tell you before, I'm sorry." Clark added confusion to the long list of emotions he was feeling. He was the one who should be apologizing; for not being there, for not protecting her. He was already planning to make up for it, in a big way. "I should have told you."

"You have nothing to apologize for." He squeezed her tighter to reiterate his point.

When she began shaking her head and fresh tears appeared, he shushed her gently. When she spoke again her voice was so low he was certain a human could not have heard her. "I thought he would protect me."

Clark felt lost. Maybe she was still too shaken up, because she certainly wasn't making any sense. "Who, Baby? Who was going to protect you?" Was there someone else she trusted to back her up tonight? He tried to suppress the jealousy emanating in his gut.

"My vigilante."