Similis

"So apart from being fast, strong, and incredibly protective, what else is the kid good for?" Wolverine tipped back on the rear legs of the chair, gesturing over to the bed currently occupied by a softly snoring Clark. "Buzz saw impressions not included?"



"Be fair, Clark probably hasn't slept properly in weeks." Lex gazed at his sleeping friend fondly. "And for the past day or so he's been utterly terrified that Haze would just die, and leave him all alone in the world."



"Hardly alone? I count two parents, Batman, Bruce Wayne, Virgil Swann, and you. Not exactly chicken feed."



"Not the same though." Lex pointed out. "None of us could bring down a whole building on a whim, quite apart from his looking just like Clark, really it's no wonder that the two of them are so close."



"They look exactly alike." Wolverine observed. "Don't you find that at all strange?"



"I'd be the last person to accuse anyone of being strange." Lex smiled. "In fact, have you been to Smallville? No?" He grinned. "Well, let me tell you - the whole damn town sits about three miles off the bottom of the scale at the exact opposite end to 'Normal'. Haze fits right in with hardly a ripple. Hell, even I've begun to fit in there."



"Sounds like my kinda place." Wolverine smirked.



"Only if you really get off on being attacked on a regular basis?" Lex's grin widened. "Or you happen to be some sort of mutant?"



"My life all over." Came the dry response. "Thinking of lives, how come you and they are so cosy? Assuming you don't mind me asking? Otherwise I might have to start thinking of slicing you over the mutant crack?" Wolverine flexed his knuckles meaningfully.



"It wasn't any sort of joke. I just found out recently that I can definitely count myself among the Smallville Meteor Mutants," Lex looked at the sleeping boy and gave a rather wistful sigh. "Clark was the first real friend I ever had. Now it's almost like I have two of him…"



"Just friends, huh? So you're telling me that you haven't ever found yourself wanting a even a little piece of that?" Wolverine gestured in the direction of the two occupied beds.



The younger man barely hesitated. "No. I couldn't tell you that."



"Good. 'Cos then I'd know you were lying." Logan tapped his nose meaningfully. "The nose never fails…"







Lex merely gave a small, mysterious smile. "Then what I will say, with my hand on my sacred business portfolio, is that I'm utterly glad Clark has Haze. Clark is a genuinely good person, and he deserves not to feel that he is entirely alone."



"You're a good person too, Lex." Wolverine sucked his teeth and stared at the ceiling for the thirtieth time in under an hour. "An' naturally I'll deny I ever said that, if you mention it to anyone."



Lex made a 'lips zipped' gesture and grinned.



"What do you bring to this little party then?" The older mutant wondered.



"Charm, wit, brains, style, business sense …" Lex smiled.



Wolverine raised a cynical eyebrow. "Mind if I ask what you get out of it?"



"Not at all. I get to exercise my scientific genius occasionally, plot a bit, pay some of the bills, and work unstintingly on corrupting the innocent…"

He gave Wolverine a beaming smile. "Guess which is my favourite?"



"You figure that part is gonna pay off anytime soon?"



"Oh, there are definite indications." Lex purred.



"Ah." Flicking a casual eye over both the raven-haired lads, Wolverine gave a sly smirk. "Which one? Or would that be confidential information?"



"Both." Lex's cat-got-the-cream grin widened. "Though recently I've begun to appreciate that technically Haze doesn't count as your traditional Innocent…"



"Both?" Wolverine let out an approving whistle. "You rich guys sure do know how to live. What is it about these kids and billionaires anyway? Since they seem to have three of them in tow?"



"Actually Haze has never met Dr Swann, at least not as far as I'm aware. Virgil Swann's interest is purely in Clark."



"So how come he stepped in for Haze … Ah, stupid question…"



"Not really." Lex was feeling magnanimous. "Bruce showed him a picture of the two of them. How could he resist?"







"I would dearly like to know how one kid, even one as strong as that one looks, could turn a whole building down into powder by himself? I take it you saw what was left of Edge's HQ?" Wolverine asked.



"I had a first hand look at the new municipal sand-pit myself yesterday, plus I have the preliminary report right here." Lex patted his laptop, and lifted a small bag up from beside his chair. "Some of Bruce's team very kindly spared me a soil sample as well."



"May I?" Wolverine eyed the bag with interest.



"Be my guest," Lex offered. "But please don't open it. I don't want to contaminate it, I intend running a few tests on that."



"I would'a thought that you'd have people to do that stuff for you?"



"I have some rather unusual tests in mind for this specimen." Lex admitted. "Besides, I don't like to keep all of my eggs in the one basket, as Jonathan would probably say..."



"Smart." Wolverine approved. Turning the sealed jar back and forth in his hand, he squinted at the contents. "I reckon I know what you're going to find."



"I'd be interested to have your opinion, Wolverine."



"Can't give you a full opinion without smelling it too, but this looks like building sand, well mixed with metallic grains, maybe some mica too?"



Lex nodded. "That fits with what I was thinking."



"So any idea of how a building came undone?"



"Undone?" The bald youth raised an eyebrow. "Curious turn of phrase?"



"Broken down into its component parts," Wolverine glanced at the only other fully conscious occupant of the room. "See, I can talk 'science geek' too… That suit you better?"



"I was quite happy with 'undone'." Came the easy reply.



"Glad ta hear it."



"Then you'll probably also be glad to hear that we already know that Haze can manipulate matter. At the atomic level is my guess, but it is just a guess, could be molecular."



"Whoop-de-doo. Big difference."



"Not at first glance, but if you were able to get in close enough then the differences would be fairly obvious."



Wolverine's senses started twitching. "Want to hear something a bit more interestin'?" He asked.



"Sure."



"By the way his scent's changing, your buddy here is starting to wake up."



"Haze!" Lex was on his feet in a second, laptop and reports forgotten. "Haze? Can you hear me?"







Wolverine had watched more than a few knockouts in his time, observed accident victims returning to consciousness, he had even witnessed a few coma patients slowly revive, but he had never seen anyone wake fully and completely in just the space of the time that it took them to open their eyes.



By the time the kid's pupils had contracted against the light in the room, the lad knew exactly where he was, and what was happening… There was no panic or confusion, only that calm awareness.



Wow, kid's got some presence! Wolverine could practically taste the strength of the boy's personality now that Haze was actually awake.



Looking around, the dark-haired youth gave Lex a questioning glance.



"Glad to have you back, Haze." Lex told him. "This is Wolverine and we can trust him – with everything."



Haze nodded politely at Wolverine before glancing over at Clark.



"I'm guessing that you want to know if Clark's okay?" Lex answered.



Haze shook his head slightly, and winced. His eyes flicked back over to where Clark was still happily snuffling. He already knew how Clark was, no doubt about that.



"Okay, cut me a little slack here?" Lex was being pinned by an uncomfortably active stare. "Batman had to step in and rescue Jonathan, Martha, and me from Edge while you were out of it. We managed to keep Clark safely out of that part. Of course, my father decided to stick his oar in too, although he actually deliberately helped for once." He flinched visibly while delivering the last bit of information.



"What else is there? Oh, yes, Bruce has been called away to sort out one of his Pacific Rim investments and may not be back for a few days."



Haze made a hasty one-handed gesture in the approximate shape of a building, accompanied by an odd sharp gesture.



"Oh, right, Morgan Edge?" Lex guessed.



Apparently that was it.







"I saw him shot, by at least four different guns. Hopefully this time he might even stay dead? I'll tell you about it properly when I've had a chance to get some food inside me." Lex stated quite matter-of-factly. "I'm not going over it on an empty stomach."



Haze seemed to accept that.



"The authorities are trying to find a reason for the destruction of his HQ." Lex continued. "But so far they have nothing. You know exactly what happened to that building, don't you, Haze?" He asked, receiving a patient nod. "You feel like sharing that with the rest of us?"



Haze shrugged, but remained silent.



"Throat sore?" Wolverine guessed. "Have a sip of water, that might help?" That didn't seem to be it exactly, although the youth readily accepted a beaker of water from Lex, grimacing as he sank it down.



"Plasticky?" Lex sympathised, "Or warm? I loathe hospital water, and god knows I've drunk enough of it in my time."



Haze shifted uncomfortably, and peered at the monitor pad attached to his arm. Before anyone could think to try and stop him, he was pulling at it. The adhesive under the pad tore with an unpleasant sucking sound, leaving Haze baring his teeth in a grimace of discomfort.



"Hurts when it grabs the hair, don't it Kid?" Wolverine offered sympathetically, a veteran of many such experiences.



Nodding, Haze disposed of the pad on his left temple with ease.



"No hair up there." Wolverine explained to Lex.



Lex gave him a very uncertain look, as if trying to decide whether Wolverine was getting in a subtle dig at him or not?



Carefully Haze peeled another of the devices off his right shoulder. Evidently he was no more enthusiastic about dressings than monitors, as he used his fingernails to gouge off the gauze pad and adhesive tape from over the bullet wound on his arm, wincing as he probed the area with careful fingers.



"I hope you heal fast." Wolverine whistled as he saw what was under the gauze. "That's one helluva hole you got there."



Haze nodded and visibly concentrated. When he removed his hand from over the area there was only a faint dusting of dried glue, which he brushed off with evident distaste. By the expression on his face as he briefly lifted the sheets that lay over him and peered underneath, he was not at all happy at what he had found.



"Naked?" Lex supposed. "Just the paper gown thing?"



Haze nodded curtly.



"He's probably finding more pads…" Wolverine smirked. The cold look in the pale eyes stopped him from taking that thought any further.







There was another ripping sound and a crumpled up wad appeared from under the sheet, with just a hint of metal buried in the centre.



Pushing the sheet down to his waist, Haze yanked off the hospital gown. Attacking the dressing covering the wound on his chest, he repeated the healing process, lying back and staring at the ceiling for a moment. Finally, dragging the last of the pads off the top of his leg with a particularly harsh glower, he vanished it, which seemed to help restore his spirits a little.



"It could have been a lot worse, Haze," Lex advised hastily, "One of the attending team wanted to shove in a few tubes, drip lines, etc., well, you get the idea? Except Clark threw a wobbler." He grinned darkly.



"Actually, Clark probably would have thrown furniture too, but Jonathan stopped him. Jonathan and the doctor argued over you for quite a few minutes, the guy really was most determined. I could tell that Jonathan was wishing for his shotgun about then."



When Haze started to smile, Lex pointed out a dent in the bedside table.



"Martha said that she noticed Clark start to pick up the table. Thankfully that was when Batman showed up and made the man leave. Apparently Batman in a mood is even scarier than Clark." Lex gave a sigh, "I really was disappointed not to have seen that part. It seems that no one was watching what Clark was doing by that point, except Martha, so he almost got away with it."



By now Haze was grinning widely.



"If you look, you can still see Clark's fingerprints in the bed rail? Just here?" Lex added blithely. "Martha told me that she had to be quite firm with him about not breaking things." He suppressed a shudder.



Haze duly inspected the dents with silent approval. Running his own fingers over them, he rubbed them away, leaving only shiny unmarked chrome behind him, as if the deep indentations had been nothing more than grubby marks.



"Yes, Martha really is quite terrifying." Lex agreed, taking his cue from Haze's expression. "In fact, she's probably even more scary than the Batman. Okay, now you're up to date, give us your side…"







Opening his mouth momentarily, Haze then shut it. He shrugged and made a throat cutting sign.



"Of course, we need Clark awake if you're going to give us any detail. Damn!" Undeterred, Lex soldiered on. "So you got there okay? Right, of course you did. They showed a few seconds of footage from the security cameras outside the plaza on the news. Liked the dark clothes by the way, very mysterious. I wouldn't have known it was you, if Bruce hadn't told me."



With a smirk, Haze gestured for Lex to continue.



"Naturally the various security recordings of you heading in for a landing on the roof have been … dealt with. You can thank Bruce later for that. The Press are now calling that part an unrelated hoax, and we're encouraging them to go with that angle." Lex glanced at Wolverine for collaboration. "After all, how many angels do you normally see around Gotham?"



"Not many." Wolverine agreed. "Not the genuinely flying 'Wrath of God' kind anyhow."



"No." Lex agreed. "I still don't understand how you do that whole putting the wings away thing?"



Haze made a short series of rather complicated gestures, and then looked at Lex hopefully.



"Nope. You lost me right after the first part." Lex confessed. "This is so frustrating! I want to know what you did, but I can't interpret you like Clark can. He's the one with the insights as to what you mean."



'Clark … up' Haze gestured toward his 'twin'.



"Me? Wake him? Oh sure!" Lex snorted. "Clark's snoring for Kansas. Nothing short of a forklift will get that boy off of that bed before he is ready."







The resulting smile totally animated Haze's pleasant features. He glanced at Wolverine evidently evaluating whether the mutant could be brought in as an accomplice.



Wolverine could suddenly see how this lad managed in the everyday human world even without being able to talk like the rest of them.



Kid's got a very expressive face. Maybe more so than Clark. Although Wolverine was the first to admit that he had not yet been privy to Clark at his best, so maybe it was an unfair comparison.



"Whatever." Wolverine shrugged. "Just don't hurt him." The look of indignation was enough to make him realise that Haze had no such intentions. Either that, or the lad thought that it was patently impossible to do such a thing.



"As long as you 'fess up, and don't blame me for it, I'm with you too." Lex bargained. "No offence to Bruce, but I have already had as much time in this place as I can stand."



Haze nodded and lay back, getting himself comfortable. Reaching out with the hand nearest to Clark, he made a gentle shaking motion in the air.



Over on the other bed, Clark stirred slightly, and mumbled something unintelligible.



Haze frowned. Again he looked at his 'twin', but this time sent a quick prodding gesture toward him.



Clark muttered in his sleep, but did not show any signs of waking.



With a determined stare, Haze extended his arm fully, palm out and lifted it.



Wolverine watched wide-eyed as the recumbent Clark began to float. Used on him, Wolverine supposed that the move would have probably woken him from the dead, but apparently the other kid was used to floating above the bed on a regular basis, as hanging in limbo did not disturb him in the slightest.



Haze sucked air through his teeth, obviously becoming thoroughly vexed. He trembled his upraised hand firmly, vibrating the levitating Clark actively in the process.



Clark remained asleep, in fact if anything he snored more loudly.



Being dropped at least four inches made no discernible difference either. Not even the second time, and that was as high as Haze dared get him, in case the bed broke.







"I told you. Clark could sleep through an Apocalypse." Lex was obviously enjoying this hugely. "I don't know, can demolish a building but can't wake his 'little' brother up…" He teased.



Haze looked around the room for inspiration, and found it. He pointed, first at the water and then at Lex.



"No way," Lex warned him. "He'll kill me if I do that. You know how Clark hates being wet?" He hesitated, looking at Wolverine. "How about you? You're a hero…"



"Me?" Wolverine had a very rapid mental image of the speed at which Clark had moved earlier, and of the way in which the boy's hand had locked around his wrist. Sure, Wolverine could heal himself of just about anything, but it would still hurt, and the youngster was built like the side of a barn, so why look for trouble? He gave a casually indifferent shrug.



"Well, I would, but we didn't exactly get off onto the right footing first time round, and I don’t want the kid ta think I got it in for him…" He tried for tactful-but-not-going-there. "Like you said, Hero stuff an' all that…"



"Okay, you're worried about pissing him off too, I can understand that." Lex agreed. "What we need is someone who Clark can't get back at. Someone who he would forgive instantly…" He gave Haze an utterly evil grin. "Looks like you'll have to do it yourself."



Rolling over onto his side, Haze waved his hand at the jug and a rolling blob of water rose into the air and shot across the room to hover over Clark's face.



"Oh, come on, cut it out Haze." Lex smirked. "Like we're supposed to believe that you would really do that to Clark?"



The water poured down over Clark in a satisfying cascade. With a startled yell the newly awakened youth sat up sharply, wet hair dripping down into his eyes. Even in the daylight there was a distinct red rim around the edges of his pupils.



"Ah, you're awake, Clark." Lex noted absently, as if he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. "You'll be glad to hear that Haze is awake too," He said hastily, getting a look at Clark's expression. "I think he's anxious to get out of here."



On hearing the good news, Clark instantly recovered his normal enthusiasm and bounded over to his 'brother'.



"Kinda glad I didn't risk any money on that one…" Wolverine grinned.



Lex gave him a positively evil grin. "It wasn't a gamble. Best way to get Haze to do something is to tell him that you think he won't… Like Clark, he's very direct. Makes them both relatively easy to predict."



"You sneaky bastard!" Wolverine approved. Lex merely smirked.



* * * * *





"Pair bonding." Wolverine observed dryly. "Don't it make you sick? " He pulled the curtain closed and turned his attention firmly onto Lex.



"No?" He shrugged. "Don't go in for all that mushy stuff myself, still, strokes for folks an' all that baloney. They really ain't brothers?"



"No." Lex agreed. "I believe them when they say that they aren't related at all. In point of fact, it's times like these that I'm glad of knowing that part."



"I reckon they're a bit glad about that too." Wolverine pretended not to hear the sounds coming from behind the curtain. "You sure you got a chance there? They sound pretty exclusive."



A farm-boy sized hand came round from inside the curtained area and confidently catching hold of Lex, tugged him back toward the opening.



"Fairly sure." Lex managed to say, before he disappeared smoothly behind the billowing fabric.



Wolverine sighed and took a moment to examine his nails. Maybe he could find time in the next few weeks to get a manicure and all-over massage from that cute little blond? She seemed to find his hands irresistible. He turned them over and looked at them from all possible angles, He couldn't see the attraction himself, but what the heck? Who was he to disappoint a lady?



The sound level increased, and Wolverine was just about to call out and suggest to the trio that they got a room, when he realised that they already had one, and it even had two usable beds, at least for the moment. He grinned and went off to see if the vending machine still had a few chewy bars left, shutting the door on his way out.







After about an hour Wolverine wandered by the room again, to find that at least one half of the curtain was hanging open. He double-checked to make quite sure that it was not simply hanging off, before knocking politely on the doorframe.



The door opened almost at once and a thoroughly mussed and very smug-looking Lex Luthor stepped out into the corridor. "Haze is looking for his clothes." He explained, neatening his own attire.



Wolverine regarded him with ill-concealed amusement. "Did he think you might be wearing them?"



Tucking his shirt firmly back into his slacks, Lex gave him a happy smirk. "If he did, he now knows that I'm not. And none of my clothes would fit him anyway." He added with the smug air of a man who knows that the contents of his wardrobe are set to remain his own exclusive property for the foreseeable future.



"Lex…?" Came a soft query.



"Yes, Clark?" Lex opened the door and leant back in.



"Haze wants to know if you know what they did with his boxers?"



"Go commando, Haze, it's warm out." Lex called back.



"That’s gonna be difficult if we can't find his jeans." Clark called back to remind him.



Lex rolled his eyes. "Then look for them, Clark." The heavy emphasis he put on the 'look' part had Wolverine raising a querying eyebrow.



"X-ray vision." Lex whispered.



"Handy!" Wolverine finally found something he could whole-heartedly approve of.



That earned him a sigh from his companion. "Only if Clark remembers to use it."



"Haze doesn't have it?" Wolverine supposed.



"No."



"Or the kid's speed, either?"



Lex looked at his watch meaningfully. "Do you think we'd still be waiting if he did? My guess is that Clark could run buck-naked all the way home to Smallville, and no one would see a thing… Unless he decided to stop for a red-light on the way?" He gave a wicked grin. "Maybe I should suggest that he offer Haze loan of his clothes, and then arrange for a few traffic lights to go on the blink?"



"Would the two kids share like that? I really ain't askin' fer details but if we get something arranged, we can get moving a whole lot faster?"



"They argue over things, but Clark is like warm jello where Haze is concerned." Lex agreed. "Apparently when Haze arrived at the farm, they both wore Clark's clothes until Martha got the money together to buy Haze some things of his own."







"Lex?" Clark called again.



"Clark?" Lex peered back into the room.



"I found them."



Wolverine decided that what he was hearing was the sound of a cupboard being made to open without a key. He was not sure which of the 'twins' was responsible, but he suspected that Haze would have made less noise.



"That's nice." Lex called back, for want of something to do.



A dull smacking sound echoed out of the small room.



"Ow."



"Clark?" Lex called, it was obvious that he really did not want to be asking, but felt that he had to. "What are you two doing?"



"Haze is hitting me. With the railing." Came the immediate response.



"I thought that was what it was," Lex rolled his eyes. "But why would Haze do that, Clark?"



Wolverine frantically chewed on the edge of his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud. He figured that however much it hurt he could heal in a few seconds, while upsetting Lex, Clark, or even worse, Haze, would probably be a good deal more painful and would almost certainly take a hell of a lot longer to fix.



"How should I know?" Clark called back.



"You are supposed to be able to interpret what Haze is thinking, yes?" Lex was asking.



"I guess." Clark didn’t sound too sure.



"Then maybe you should be working on whatever it is Haze needs you to be doing? Instead of playing with the TV remote."



"Okay Lex." The bounding puppy enthusiasm had very definitely turned down a degree or three.



"Oh, right. I'll give you my t-shirt, and you can wear that, Haze." Clark was obviously getting the message loud and clear now. "Well, you can have my shirt if you'd rather? No, why would I mind?"



"No, I don't have any spare shoes, and Mom and Dad already went back home in the truck. No, Lex came over in the limo with Alfred." There was a pause. "What happened to your shoes? Wouldn't they have put them in the cupboard down there? Oh, you weren't wearing any. Well, why not?"



The quality of the silence became ominous.



"I know that you're tired from all the healing, Haze, and I can feel that you're frustrated, but I don't understand why you are in such a rush?"



Another pause was followed by a quiet "Oh."



The version with the red plaid shirt walked out of the room. "Haze says he's decent, and you can both go in now." He told them, thereby immediately identifying himself unmistakeably as Clark.







"What does Haze want you to do?" Lex asked, since the other boy was obviously preparing to run some sort of errand.



"I don't want to tell you. Mom says I'm not supposed to use language like that."



"Clark?" Lex fixed him with a firm stare. "Haze isn't the only one who is frustrated. I'm bored, I'm also hungry, thirsty, and I don't want to be taking any of that out on you, but unless you let me in on what you are planning to do, I have to warn you that I will probably end up doing precisely that. Aside from which I expect that you will need someone to bankroll you?" He gave Clark a meaningful look.



"'Kay." Clark shuffled his feet. "Apart from the rude stuff, Haze wants me to go down to the nearest stores and get him some cheap sneakers. He also wants clean socks, and a meat based deep pan pizza without olives, and a thick chocolate milk shake."



"No boxers?" Lex wondered.



The blush that appeared on Clark's face was truly spectacular. "He says he'll go commando, 'cos we found his jeans and Haze can make the wrong holes go away now he's getting more awake, but he refuses to wear sneakers without socks."



"Smart kid." Wolverine approved. "What?" He addressed his audience of two. "Cheap sneakers dye your feet funny colours, everyone knows that!"



"I bet Lex didn't." Clark grumbled, "I bet he's never had to wear cheap sneakers…" Sullenly he waited for Lex to peel a few bills from the fat pad in his wallet.



"I'm going now, Haze, yes, really!" He called back over his shoulder to his unseen and silent interrogator. "I just had to wait for the money! No, not for it to be printed!!! Gees, you are so moody today Haze!" His expression softened. "Okay, I forgive you, and I'll ask him right now." He looked down at Lex with guileless eyes. "Haze wants to know if the bed at Bruce's house is still made up ready for us?"



"Of course." Lex gave him a puzzled glance. "Why would he want to know that?"



"Haze says he's wondering if everything still works okay, and he wants to test it…. Oh gosh!" Clark flushed the brightest that he had been so far that day, and blurred into a heated red streak. The door to the emergency stairs banged shut but the boy was long gone.



Probably halfway back to Smallville already by the look of it. Wolverine smirked. Wonder if he really stops for red lights?



Lex smiled. "Clark's a nice kid, emphasis on the 'kid' part."



"Real angel." Wolverine agreed.



The bald youth grinned at him wickedly. "No, that's the other one."