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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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 :)

[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*

[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.

[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

[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!

[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...?

[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.

[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!

[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!

[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]

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

[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...!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

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

[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... ^^;)

[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!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Will have the end up soon! ^_^

[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

[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 ^_^

[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