The Arrival Series

[lilly-pilly.livejournal.com]

Title: Suspicion

Fandoms: Smallville/X-men

Timelines: Season one of Smallville, and the third X-men movie.

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Neither Smallville, nor X-Men is mine, and I’m making no money off this.

Summary: Snatched from the moment of his death to another dimension, Scott Summers begins to alter the destiny of Smallville. Fourth chapter – Clark might have changed his mind about the whole ‘no research’ thing.

Previous Parts: Arrival, First Day, Secrets

 

Chapter Four: Suspicion

 

“Remind me again why we’re watching football practise?”

 

If Pete was a little more cranky than usual, he had good reason. Guys didn’t watch football practise. Players’ girlfriends and girls with unattainable crushes watched football practise. Guys might occasionally pretend to watch, but actually fooled around on the stands and tried to chat up cheerleaders. There was something seriously suss about a guy who actually watched the players.

 

“I’m telling you there’s something weird going on,” Chloe said. She was cupping that morning’s second cup of coffee between her hands and was leaning forward slightly, intently watching the distant figure of Coach Arnold walk about the field and shout directions at players. “At first I thought it was just that elitist, team-for-the-team macho crap, but now I think it’s something else.”

 

“Really?” Pete was bored and hungry and seriously not interested. He felt the sarcasm in his voice was called for. “Like what?”

 

Chloe didn’t seem to notice. 

 

“Like the players are absolutely terrified of Coach Arnold. And that guy who had handprint on his arm, like he’d been burned.”

 

“Which means…”

 

“Coach Arnold is a meteor mutant!”

 

“Right.”

 

Privately, Pete thought Chloe was a little too obsessed with mutants. Just because she was right the one… okay, two… times, didn’t mean there were meteor mutants lurking around every corner in Smallville.

 

“Are you sure you’re not just pissed off that Clark won’t let you do a story on his cousin?”

 

“Please!” Chloe waved it off. “I am so over that. There are much better and more interesting stories out there than Clark Kent’s mysterious cousin. Honestly, if I did follow it up, I bet you he’d probably turn out to be a furniture salesman for Iowa. That’s how over it I am.”

 

“Sure.”

 

Pete didn’t get why she’d been so keen in the first place. Mr Summers wasn’t that interesting. He’d been a cool teacher, the one time he’d had to substitute for their maths class – probably even knew the syllabus better than their regular teacher – and had some interesting ways of getting around his blindness, but that was it. There was nothing particularly sinister about him.

 

“Hey guys.” Clark made his way up the benches, bag slung over his shoulder. “How’s the stake-out going?”

 

“Lousy,” Chloe said, taking a sip of her coffee. “Nothing weird or mutant-y going on.”

 

“Just wait until the sun goes down,” he said, sitting down beside her and grinning that wide, white, wholesome farm boy grin. Pete turned his eyes away from the radiant look on Chloe’s face. Honestly, Clark was so clueless sometimes.

 

“Anyway,” Clark continued. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about: Scott.”

 

Pete groaned and Chloe said:

 

“Oh not this again! I’ve told you, Clark. You said no research, and that means no research. Honestly, I’m begginning to think you don’t trust me…”

 

“Actually,” Clark said sheepishly. “I might have changed my mind about the whole ‘no research’ thing.”

 

Chloe blinked.

 

“In that case…” She shoved her coffee into Pete’s hands and grabbed a folder out of her bag. “This is a list of persons employed in secondry schools for the last ten years. Scott’s not on it. Not anywhere. And this is a fax from the last school he supposedly taught at. According to the principle, Scott never worked there.”

 

Both Pete and Clark stared at her. Clark’s expression contained a hint of recrimination.

 

“What?” She said defensively. “I was curious. It’s not like I was actually going to use any of it.”

 

“So, Clark, what made you change your mind?” Pete asked, deciding a subject change was in order.

 

Clark flushed and stammered a little as he got his story out: usually a sure sign that if he wasn’t outright lying, he was ommitting something important. But the story he gave was so twisted, anyone would hesitate a little before telling it.

 

“…and stuck him with a needle?” Chloe said. “Okay, that’s creepy.” She looked positively delighted to have a reason to research Scott further.

 

“That’s not creepy, that’s common sense,” Pete said. “Come on, guys. The guy’s blind. He couldn’t take on a twelve-year old, let alone an insane, super-powered insect-man.”

 

He took a sip of Chloe’s coffee and made a face. She’d forgotten to add sugar again.

 

“I don’t know,” Clark said. “Just the whole thing. It felt…” He searched for a word. “…too smooth. Practised, even. Like he’d done it before.”

 

Chloe paused in the middle of turning a page. Her expression was intrigued in a way it had never been for Pete, and only occasionally Clark.

 

“So you think maybe he’s some kind of… mutant hunter?” She said the words tentatively, testing them out. Pete could already see her next headline forming.

 

Clark looked puzzled: a common look for him.

 

“But why would he do that? What does he get out of it?”

 

“Who knows?” Chloe said impatiently. “The thrill of the hunt, the warmth of doing a good deed? The point is he does it.”

 

“You know, guys, maybe we should be more grateful,” Pete said. “I’m just saying… Clark, things could have gone down a lot differently in the warehouse. I can’t say I’m sorry they didn’t.”

 

Clark looked uncomfortable.

 

“Yeah, I guess…”

 

“I can’t wait to get started,” Chloe said enthusiastically. “I’ll see if I can get in to talk to Greg at Bellereve – maybe he saw something you didn’t. Oh, and I’ll see what I can find out about your adoption, Clark. Scott’s claiming to be your biological cousin, so we’ll see just how honest he’s being…”

 

“Chloe,” Clark began, and there was an uncomfortable look on his face.

 

“Clark,” Chloe groaned. “I know how you feel about your family’s privacy, but if I’m going to get anywhere I need to know if he’s really your cousin –”

 

“No you don’t,” Clark said. He folded his arms and there was that stubborn look on his face. “No researching my family, or the deal’s off.”

 

“But Clark –”

 

Chloe looked at him, and seemed to reach the same conclusion that Pete had: Clark wasn’t going to budge on this one. Pete almost expected her to bluff and say ‘no deal.’ But he also knew her well enough to know she’d already been hooked by this story, and there was no way she was letting it go, no matter what restrictions she had to work within.

 

“Fine,” Chloe sighed. “But if I get nowhere, I’m blaming you.”

 

“Do you promise? No backing up, no ‘just checking.’ No anything.”

 

“I promise.” Chloe looked a little hurt by how pedantic Clark was being. Honestly, Pete could see where he was coming from. One of Chloe’s faults was being nosy. Of course it made Chloe Chloe, and Pete loved her dearly, but it still got her into trouble. 

 

Pete cleared his throat, figuring a subject change was in order.

 

“So, Clark – ”

 

He was interupted by Chloe swearing. She stood up, staring down at the field. 

 

“That sneaky on-of-a… I don’t believe it!”

 

“What?” Pete peered down and saw Coach Arnold talking to Mr Summers. The counsellor had that pleasant expression on his face that preceded interrogation – like, why you didn’t do your homework last night, or why you felt it was necessary to pass notes in class. Coach Arnold was looking uneasy.

 

One glance at Chloe’s face, and Pete sensibly slid along the benches to a safer distance. Clark, always a little slow on the uptake, remained where he was.

 

“He’s stealing my mutants!” Chloe burst out.

 

“Your mutants?” Pete said. 

 

“He’s probably just being friendly,” Clark said soothingly.

 

“To the only other mutant I’ve managed to track down?” She snapped. “After he stole my insect-boy? After we just spent the past ten minutes discussing the possibility that he’s actually a mutant hunter?”

 

She snatched up her folders and stuffed them in her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and grabbed her coffee from Pete without apology.

 

“Hey!”

 

“This isn’t over,” she said. Her eyes were cold, blue chips of unbreakable diamond. The last time she was this filled with righteous fury, they were in eighth grade and she had convinced Pete to cuff himself to the cafeteria door until they started serving double-shot lattes again.

 

She stalked down the benches in the direction of the two teachers. Clark and Pete watched her go with the respect generally reserved for tornadoes.

 

“Think maybe we should stop her?” Clark suggested tentatively.  Pete gave him a ‘what are you, crazy?’ look.

 

He’d rather face a mutant any day.

 

---

 

Comments

[silentrequiem.livejournal.com]

Nice installment. Poor Scott. He won't know what hit him...

[xenokattz.livejournal.com]

I just inhaled all 4 parts of this. *L*

Oh, how I wish you'd continue this. I love X3/post-X3 fics where Scott is NOT dead. And this? Mixed with Smallville? BRILLIANT! With Scott's background working with teenage mutants ninja turtles, he could have changed all of Smallville. It would have also been great to see how he could help Clark grow up more comfortable in his skin.

If you don't continue this, I'd just like to thank you for letting us peek into the world.