Similis

"So you were sitting with Chloe inside the Talon when Clark was snatched?" Lex changed gear with practiced ease.



Hulking in the front passenger seat, Haze nodded grimly.



"I gather that Lana came over to the table and told Clark that someone was at the front door asking for him. Apparently Clark went to check, and they got him. By then it was already too late to stop it. Does that tie in with what you know, Haze?"



From the hard set of Haze's body language, that was about it. Lex tried very hard to concentrate on the road ahead, while remaining sensitive to his passenger.



Gradually the strained silence, which Haze could unfortunately do absolutely nothing to ease, began to get to Lex.



"It would help if we knew where they were taking him." He found himself saying.



Talk about stating the bleeding obvious. Real smooth Lex. If you try hard maybe you can get the other foot in alongside that one?



"Of course, if you knew that, I don't suppose you would have involved me at all?" He suggested. "I'm betting that it was only because Chloe and Lana called me in that you didn't just set straight off after Clark all by yourself?"



Haze shrugged, setting off a landslide of firm muscle under his t-shirt.



Lex found himself glad that he and Haze were on the same side.



"Haze, I know this may sound crazy, but I get the feeling that you and Clark share … some sort of bond?" He tried not to sound too 'Outer Limits', but he felt compelled to ask. After all, he owed it to Clark to explore all of the possibilities as quickly as possible. Chloe was already working the computer angle, but if there was an easier method of doing this, then why not use it?



Haze nodded, fidgeting with his fingers.



Almost like he's muttering to himself? Although he tried to keep his eyes on the road, and therefore was only able to watch Haze out of the corner of his eye, Lex didn't think he had ever seen Haze look so miserable. Noble suffering was more Clark's bag than Haze's, and Lex was finding it distinctly unsettling to see the usually jovial Haze acting more Clark-like than his twin, especially when Lex wanted nothing more than for both of them to have Clark back with them, safe and sound.



"I'm guessing that you feel guilty for not stopping this before it got started?" He supposed. That seemed to be it.



That figures, Lex thought, if Haze could read Clark's mind, but hadn't been doing it when it could have prevented this, no wonder he's acting like he's currently carrying the weight of the world on his back. Just what is going on between these two?



Lex had another notion. If the twins were connected, then how come Haze didn't know where Clark was right now?



"Is this – whatever it is – better when you're close to him?" He asked, receiving an immediate confirmation. "And can you reach him now? Let him know we're coming?"



Haze toed the carpet in almost exactly the same way that Clark would have, when being tackled directly about something that he would rather no one else even knew about.



"You can't, can you?" Lex sighed. Well, why would he think it could be that easy? "So how do you even know we're going in the right direction?" He worried aloud.



Haze pointed tersely toward the oncoming horizon, stabbing his index finger at it for added emphasis.



"You're that sure? If you can't read him, or whatever you do, Haze, then we could just as easily be heading away from him, for all we know? I was only making an educated guess that the limo would head along the Metropolis road."



The hiss of disgust Lex received in response to his well-intended question made it painfully obvious that there was something leading Haze, even if it wasn't what Haze was accustomed to.



"Haze. I'm sorry." He threw out an olive branch to his muscular companion, figuring that the last thing they needed right now was any further problems with communication. "I'm just worried about him."

A broad hand settled on Lex's thigh, and Haze squeezed lightly.



"Yeah, I know." Lex told him. "You are too." Obviously once Haze had decided to let someone in, he did so without reservation. Lex still could not quite get over the way that he had hurried into the Talon that morning, only to find Haze standing right beside the counter, clutching Clark's ominously empty jacket in one white-knuckled hand. Not that it had been a hard decision to let himself get involved: Lex had always secretly longed for a noble quest, and he would do anything for Clark…





Lex thought it over. "Okay, so let's see if I've got this right… Once we get to within a reasonably short distance, you should be able to tune in to Clark, or whatever it is you do?"



From Haze's reaction, that seemed to be a fair estimation.



"And once we are that close, how deeply would you normally be able to interact with him?" Lex watched the fingers measure out a small portion.



"So, a bit then? Good. That might give us some advantage?" He assumed, chancing a quick glance at his passenger as the landscape blurred past outside the car.



Haze rubbed at the hair on the back of his neck in a nervous gesture uncannily reminiscent of Clark.



"Don't you start." Lex warned, only half-joking. "I get enough flak from Clark about my driving… Besides you're a Clark-clone, shouldn't you be immortal or something?"



The resulting light poke in the arm convinced him that Haze disagreed with that idea.



But he didn’t try and deny everything … That little detail was mentally filed away for future perusal.



Lex found that he was not surprised that Haze should admit to being somewhat out of the ordinary. Unlike Clark, Haze seemed at ease with his differences, however he was proving just as fanatical as his brother about not even acknowledging any of Clark's peculiarities and Lex could not help but admire him a little more for that; it showed deep loyalty to his new family, and in Lex's book, loyalty was a highly desirable trait.



"Are you telling me that you're both telepathic?" He wondered, chancing a glance.



The answer to that one was a resounding 'No' if Haze's current expression was anything to go by.



"So it's only you that can do it? I guess I read too many comics." He added.



Haze seemed to relax a little at that confession.



"That has got to come in useful though?" Lex grinned. "At least most of the time. Though Clark isn't exactly hard to read." He smiled at the memory of a beet-red Clark, blushing furiously at one of Lex's more successful innuendoes. "If Clark was any more open, his thoughts would be scrolling across his forehead in bright red letters."



From the wave of acknowledgement Haze agreed



"That's what I love about him." Lex added. "Clark is such a straight guy."



Haze nearly choked.



"Maybe those two sentences don't quite tally." Lex managed to say. "Or maybe I didn't mean it the way you took it?" He suggested. "Or perhaps you would know more about that particular issue than I do?" Which would be more than interesting…



It was readily obvious that Haze did, and equally plain that he did not intend sharing that particular titbit either. Well, that was all very fine, but Lex refused to be fobbed off with a blank wall. "Haze, would I be right in thinking that the two of you are…" He hesitated, "Not entirely conventional siblings?"



Haze took time to consider that, and when at last he started to respond, it was not what Lex had expected, nor quite what he had dreaded either…







"I hadn't made any moves on him either." Lex told Haze. "Even though I have been tempted to ever since I woke up on that riverbank. Clark really is too damn innocent for his own good."



Haze nodded, and let out a long and very audible sigh. The 'Clark effect' seemed to be spreading.



"He's not putting on an act, is he?" Lex supposed. "Clark really is as every bit as sweet and innocent as he looks?"



Haze shrugged and cracked his knuckles.



"And I guess that we are both really hoping he can stay that way, at least for a while longer?" Lex waited, and didn't detect any hint of disagreement. Point made, he deliberately changed the subject. "How alike are the two of you two, really? Judging purely judging by surface appearances I would have said that the two of you were identical, except that you seem older somehow. I'm guessing that there's a perfectly good reason for that?" He added, deliberately throwing the conversational ball back toward Haze.



His passenger merely nodded.



"And you aren't going to spontaneously tell me, are you? So, let's see if I can guess … You are somehow older than Clark, maybe not in the body, but certainly in the soul…?"



Haze gestured casual agreement, and for a moment Lex thought that he might have made just a tiny hint of a breakthrough, however, Haze turned away, looking out of the window at the world speeding past.







"What is it with the Kents and their damn secrets?!!" Lex slammed the steering wheel in sudden rage. "Why won't any of you trust me?"



A warm hand settled lightly on his forearm.



"All right! I'll back off," Lex promised. "I didn't mean to insult anyone." He found himself covering all the angles on Haze's behalf. "You're not really a Kent, and maybe you do mean to tell me? And perhaps you're right not to want to discuss this now ... I suppose it isn't exactly the perfect moment."



Haze nodded emphatically, gesturing a 'watch' face on his bare wrist, before gesturing at the steering wheel meaningfully.



"So when will it be the right time?" Lex took the hint and went back to watching the road, carefully.



"How about I ask you again when we have Clark back and he's safe?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Haze sit up straighter. For that second, Haze suddenly seemed absolutely nothing like Clark. Sure their flesh looked identical, but Lex began to realise that he had been spot on in thinking that there were important differences between the two, and that those differences were going to turn out to be far from subtle.



"Would I be correct in assuming that you don't feel that you have the right to tell me if Clark hasn't?"



That seemed to be it.



"I understand that, and I can appreciate your loyalty to the Kent's." Lex told Haze. "They took you in, and I won't ask you to repay their kindness by betraying them. However will you give me your word that when the time comes I will get a full answer to my questions? Except where it might compromise Clark? I promise you now, Haze, I won't even ask you to tell me what Clark is hiding."



A warm hand closed gently around his and Lex let go of his tension.



"Fair enough." He trusted his instincts, and all of his instincts were telling him that Haze would keep his word, at least as far as he was able.



"Haze? What if he isn't safe?" He didn't even want to think about that, but he was a realist, and he had to consider every contingency, even the unbearable…



The broad shoulders hunched in misery, and Haze slapped his fist into his open palm. The sound was louder than it should have been, given the steady background hum of the powerful engine.



"Forget I said that." Suddenly Lex desperately wanted to find a more comfortable topic. The other youth laid his hand gently on Lex's shoulder, his warmth infiltrating through the thin silk of Lex's shirt. Touching Haze was like basking in sunlight. Lex sighed and managed to push his worries to the back of his mind again, at least for that moment.



"I didn't … " What had he meant? Lex was not sure himself. He wondered if he was really that transparent? Could Haze read him as easily as he claimed to be able to read Clark? Lex no longer doubted that the twins shared some unique sort of contact, he had seen Clark interpret Haze's early silences with uncanny ease, this at least explained why…



"If whoever has him has so much as harmed one hair on Clark's head, I will personally take my time ripping the bastard into shreds, and then set fire to the pieces." Lex promised himself and his companion. He glanced at Haze, not surprised to find that all hint of gentleness had been subsumed by cold calculation. "I take it you were thinking along similar lines?"



Haze gave him a sideways look that spoke volumes.



"Tell you what. When we find them, you can hold the gas can and I'll provide the spark?" Lex suggested, depressing the accelerator pedal more firmly into the carpet.



Haze stared out at the blurring scenery and then reached over to poke one broad finger at the speedometer.



"Too fast?" Lex sighed, "Sorry."



The dark head shook urgently.



"What?" He watched the deft weave of Haze's hands in growing disbelief. "You were wondering if the car would go any faster?"







Time passed at a snail's pace until the cell phone startled them both.



"Lex here." He pressed the hands-free that Clark had nagged him to install, and Chloe's voice echoed through the car.



"You know the old grain warehouse on the outskirts of Metropolis? The one that LexCorp handed back last month?"



"Sure."



"I'm guessing that they could be taking Clark there. There are a lot of cargo manifests logged for that place, and they aren't for making cereal."



"Thanks Chloe."



"My pleasure. Of course your computer codes helped…" Chloe sounded scared suddenly. "Bring him back safe, Lex. I'm worried."



"We're about quarter of a mile away from there, Chloe." Lex tried to sound reassuring. He hoped it had convinced her, because he sure as hell wasn't fooling himself.



"Neither of you have any allergies to the meteor rocks, do you?" Chloe's disembodied voice asked suddenly.



Lex looked at Haze, who gave a quick shake of his head. "Nope, why?"



"According to the delivery notes, there should be almost two hundred weight of green meteor rock on the premises…"



For a moment neither Lex nor Chloe knew what to say.



Haze's fists clenched on his lap. He jerked forward, tensing.



"Clark…" Lex guessed at once what that meant. "We're in range?" He received an anguished nod in response. "We'll get him!" Lex told him softly, "Chloe? Listen, I'm going to hang up now."



"Good Luck!!!" Chloe called anxiously, and was gone.



"Direction?" Lex demanded. They needed Haze to stay on top of this. He was their compass to Clark. The grain warehouse could still turn out to be a dead end. If that happened then Haze was their only hope of locating Clark.



Haze pointed along the road in front of them, and then off to the right.



"Got it." It looked to Lex like Chloe had come through, yet again…



A hand squeezed his bicep urgently.



"Hurry…?" Lex supposed. Chancing a glance at his travelling companion, he was shocked to see how tightly Haze's jaw was clenched. The youth's expression was grim, haunted…



Lex stepped harder on the gas and indifferently watched the needle twitch into the red.