fic: Contingencies, 6/7

[xparrot]

One part to go; let's see if I can finish it before "Nemesis" casts me into Clex-depression - considering so much of the story is about racing against the clock, it's only fitting that I'm writing with a deadline...

Smallville: Contingencies, 6/7 {5,427 words}
PG-13; Clark/Lex; 6th season; angst, drama, h/c
Lex, forced to his last resort, comes to the Kent home, and Clark must rise to the occasion, as he finds himself questioning his assumptions about his dying enemy.

Read it on AO3

Comments

[ladydreamer.livejournal.com]

Go boys go! And take that, Jor-El! He's such a bossy AI sometimes.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Jor-El is rather an ass...Clark needs to learn to boss him, rather than vice versa!

[morganlilah.livejournal.com]

D’oh! I thought Lex died in the previous chapter. *facepalm*

I’m glad you didn’t choose the previously-trodden path of death and resurrection but I must admit that this chapter felt a little anti-climactic to me. Having given it some thought, the reason I feel this way is because I was expecting the chapter to go in different direction (viz., Clark saving deadLex) and because this chapter is sandwiched between the emotional wringer that was Chapter 5 and the finale.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was frustrated with this part...after the extremes of the last chapter, it pretty much couldn't help but be anti-climactic. I'm happier with what comes next; hoping the final chapter works as a bang to go out on...!

[danceswithgary]

Yay!

The battle between Jor-El was great - At another time, Clark might have taken some small, sour satisfaction in Jor-El's resigned, "I do not." Might have felt an unkind measure of victory, that after having been his long-dead Kryptonian sire's puppet, he dared order him now.
- perfect.

Clark waking up and kissing Lex just grabbed my heart and shook it. I just hope they have a chance for more after this is over.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks! I think Clark is hoping to have a chance for more, too... XD

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

It's so nice to see Lex open up :) And Clark, too. They've both become so guarded this season, keeping so much to themselves.

I'm expecting that fight with Brainiac to be appropriately epic, btw. ;P

You've got Jor-El's voice down to pat.

"Because it was the right thing to do."
[...]
"I can't afford to do what's right. I do what's necessary. What has to be done."
This is the perfect summary of their conflict!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Most of the problems of SV would be solved if everyone would just talk to one another! The web of lies everyone is so invested in weaving is what's doing the most damage...

Oh, I hope the battle will be epic! - or exciting, at least (hey, I'm a fight shounen girl, when it comes down to it I love writing the action scenes. Whether I'm any good at them is another story... ^^;)

[hils.livejournal.com]

ZOMG! I'm on the edge of my seat here! I hope you won't keep us waiting too long for the final part ;)

I knew Clark would find a way to keep Lex alive. He's a smart boy :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Still hoping to get the end up before Thursday night, so yeah, I won't keep you hanging too long!

Clark will always find a way to save Lex, at least that's my belief and I'm sticking to it!

[herohunter.livejournal.com]

He wasn't smiling. He wasn't lying, either. If anyone could make things true just by saying them, then it was Lex, and when Clark said, "Okay," he meant it.

Oh gods, only one more?

*faints*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Will have the end up soon! ^_^

[dogwoodblossom.livejournal.com]

I knew you wouldn't kill my Lexi! This really is such a great story, and I really should be writing a paper instead of writing it, but oh well! Next installment! Also, when you mentioned "Oliver and his crew" I totally expected "Oliver and Company" for some reason. Now that's the real name of the JLA in my head.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heh - if ever I killed Lex there would be huge warnings and boxes of kleenex everywhere (for me! the readers could find their own...) And he'd probably be coming back from the dead the next day anyway, somehow or other...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The end will hopefully go up tomorrow - I'll poke you! XD

[annakas.livejournal.com]

Ohhh nice to see the finally working togehter.
Yayy and Lex is awake. Not cured yet but still alive *purrs*

Now I wonder whose shaoe the Braniac will take.

annakas

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

They're always so much better working together than against one another! And Lex is always more fun awake (woobie though he is when out...)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Mr. Evil Alien AI, would you mind terribly if we destroyed you?"

"What's that, old chap? Oh, right, very well then. Do you need a vein or an artery?"

...perhaps not, no ^_^

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

oh boys! *smishes them so hard*

I love this so freaking much. And I'm so TENSE waiting for the final conflict with the brainiac. *jitters*

excellent chapter!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The final battle - er, chapter - should be up tomorrow, if all goes according to plan...

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

This continues to be fantastic, and I'm on tenterhooks for the final chapter. I'm proud of Clark for winning the battle with Jor-El (okay, the AI) and buying Lex some more time. I melted when Lex was all worried about Clark when he woke up and found Clark still unconscious, and again when Clark woke up and kissed him. I loved Lex being angry with Clark for taking the risk of infection to (temporarily) save him, and then assuming that Clark did it solely to keep Lex available as a last resort. I squeed when Lex said, "I can't afford to do what's right. I do what's necessary. What has to be done." And I nearly danced around the room when Lex joined Clark before the fight, having driven the distance faster than Clark thought it could be done. (And then cracked up when Clark asked Lex how he got past the guards. Oh, Clark -- still the BDA.)

But you have me very curious about this Brainiac now. Lex kept warning Clark to remember it wasn't human -- whatever it looked like, whatever it said -- and added that it also wasn't Fine. So just who does it look like? We aren't going to be seeing another Lex, are we...?

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Eee, thank you! After all the darkness that came before, I had to get a little sweetness and fun into this chapter. A breather before the final battle...
Hope the end measures up! *goes back to writing*

[tasabian.livejournal.com]

Yay, exciting! I love that Lex has some ambivalence about being saved (and understands the risk that Clark is taking for him.) And the dialogue with Jor-El at the FoS is great.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, Lex is a bit torn on the whole being saved by his nemesis's sacrifice. Especially when he sort of felt he was getting what was coming to him anyway...lucky for him that Clark disagreed!

[issen4.livejournal.com]

He wasn't used to waiting; that was the hazard of his speed, he guessed.

That struck me; Clark is used to doing things at his own speed too much.

The encounter with Jor-El was satisfying. Looking forward to your next chapter!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Once Clark decides to do something, he acts immediately and usually without much trouble, compared to the difficulties ordinary people would have. Things he can't handle easily or right away he tends to have lots of issues with...

The last chapter will be up soon, hope you enjoy it!

[blue-gold.livejournal.com]

this entire fic is heart wrenching. The fortress scene really struck me and the whole dynamic between Clark And Jor-El. I'm waiting anxiously for the battle!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The final battle is coming soon...

[ladydey.livejournal.com]

Oh, Oh, OH! Awesome. Look at Lex and Clark standing together against a commone enemy; Look at the setting things right -- SO NEAT! (And Lex pushing his car to the max of its capabilities - HA!! - so that he could stand with Clark see things through to the end.)



I love that Clark is finally realizing that Lex will always find him wonderous and amazing if given the opportunity. Clark, Lex thinks you're the coolest thing since sliced bread - give him a chance silly!



For too long Clark had been uncomfortable questioning himself, had avoided any self-contemplation, for fear of being unable to disentangle what he wanted to do from what he should be doing. Unable to separate his conscience from his heart, separate the responsibility of his powers from the demands of his ego. Was he fighting the Zoners because they needed to be stopped before they hurt people, or because it was an excuse to hide from Jor-El's promised destiny? Was he so reluctant to join Oliver and his crew because he decried their methods, or because he was afraid of getting caught? He didn't know; he hadn't wanted to ask.


I like what you did here with Clark being scared to think about to really examine what he wanted out of life and use of his powers - sort of what his powers mean to him, absent or even ignoring all the things that his fathers want for him. This is such a process that Smallville Clark needs to go through - that I thought that he would be going through, not fighting Lex for freaking Lana (ending bitter rant, now).

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Clark may have superspeed but Lex Luthor is a demon behind the wheel!

Lex was totally lying with the "when I thought you mattered" - I don't seem him ever getting over his Clark-fascination. Even if it gets twisted into power-lust...Lex is clearly intensely interested in his 33.1 subjects' talents, and Clark will always be the holy grail when it comes to meteor freaks...

And oh, how I want to see Clark coming into his own, struggling with what he's going to do with his gifts...I think sometimes that he holds onto Lana because she is part of his childhood, before he realized what he really was and what he might become. Lana's the representation of normality that he's never going to have, but is still too scared to give up...

[the-rejection.livejournal.com]

The kiss was so sweet. And it's nice to finally see Clark put himself through the wringer over Lex and his powers instead of Lana.

(also, go ahead and ignore the Lexana all you want; no one's complaining and no one will, I think.)

I can only hope Nemisis will be good. I mean - it looks like it could be, and it would be nice for Clark and Lex to get some animosity out and for Clark to start feeling some guilt over his supposed friendship with Lex, but I have the feeling they're going to mess it up. Only SV could mess up "Clark and Lex get stuck in a cave together and hash things out."

Like the way Lex had stared at him in the very beginning, on the bank of the river, soaking wet and half-drowned and too surprised to even be grateful for his life. Like the look in Lex's eyes in Morgan Edge's driveway, that epiphany which was later erased: drugged and halfway out of his mind and stunned almost to laughter, almost to tears.

Lex had told him he didn't matter. Lex had been lying. Clark had seen that in Lex's face, the frozen split second he had passed him by. Even knowing the truth, Lex still watched him with such wonder.

<3

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I want Clark to come into his own as Superman so badly. (Which I suppose is some credit to the show, really, as I never gave a fig about Superman before; he always seemed a rather boring example of superhero. SV managed to humanize him for me, but now they've gone too far, and I'm getting desperate for him to get the cape and tights!)

*laughs* Yeah, the lack of Lexana/Clana is the one really OOC thing in this fic, but no one seems to be unduly bothered by it! I'm not planning on ignoring it entirely, but...

The thing about "Nemesis" is since "hashing it out" cannot, by the determinism of comic canon, mean "resolve their differences" (or "have hot sex") - it's going to hurt no matter what; and the better the ep is, the more it ought to hurt, the more tragic it should be. So maybe I should just be hoping they mess it up Though either way I hope that Clark comes out of it guilting. I want the Lex-trying-to-kill-Superman and Superman-saving-Lex-anyway dynamic, darn it! I'm just afraid Clark is going to decide they were never really friends, Lex was always lying to him only in an effort to learn his secrets (or to get Lana, because that makes sense, Clark, you idiot, Lex was giving you trucks before he ever set eyes on Lana), and pretty much waste the first four seasons that established how much more there was between them...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Glad you're enjoying it - and hee, yes, Clark needs to figure out what to do to Lex, definitely! ^_^

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Great update!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[lukita.livejournal.com]

Glee~ ♥ Oh there are too many perfect lines in this, and I really love the way they're just talking. And the kiss. And the sunrise. And all those great dialogues.

"How'd you get past the guards?" Clark asked without thinking.

Lex stopped before him, stared at him cock-eyed. "This is a LuthorCorp facility."

"Oh, yeah."

*snicker*

Eeee... I don't know if I want to watch "Nemesis", they already did the one thing I feared most by giving Lana a more important part in the rift than necessary. Shouldn't all those secrets, lies and convenient head injuries be more important in a friendship than some girl who played the both of them? In a perfect world, Lana would have stayed in Paris. XD

[gnine.livejournal.com]

In a perfect world, Lana would have stayed in Paris. XD


Or at least had the decency to STAY DEAD in Reckoning! ^_-

[brandil.livejournal.com]

Eep! ::bites nails::

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Should be posting the last part today!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yup, they need to face death a little more, it's pretty effective...!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I hope the final fight doesn't disappoint (I sorta forgot to mention Lana at all, in the end...I meant to, but she's so emminently forgettable...!)

[(Anonymous)]

OMG! The final battle begins, and Clark kissed Lex! SQUEE

[hangebokhan.livejournal.com]

that was me btw

Really enjoying this story...

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

... and Clark's solution to Lex's disease. I was thinking something along those lines myself, and kept telling Clark to take Lex to the FoS.

I've been enjoying the discussions of SV, Clark and Lex, as well -- which surprises me, as I didn't think I'd ever enjoy a fandom discussion again. The reason I haven't been joining in the last few days, is that I've got too much to say, and my posts would be so long, no one would read them. :-)))

Re: Really enjoying this story...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The Fortress is a useful deus ex machina, Clark needs to learn to harness and invoke it more!

Glad you've been having fun with the discussions, too...feel free to jump in anytime, considering how long my posts are, I don't think anyone will mind thoughtful comments!