N/A: So I know that as boring as the freak-of-the-week stories were getting by the end of season three, now, in season seven, we're kind of missing the meteor freak storylines. So I'm giving us a nice little season one three-shot. Set in the final episode of Season 1 (Tempest) during the spring formal. I've made some pretty radical changes to the plotline.
First off, Lana and Whitney go to the dance together, and Whitney hasn't enlisted. Second, Clark has already discovered all of his powers (except the power of flight, naturally), and knows more about Krypton and his origins than he did originally. Third, the meteor freaks such as Jodi Foster who didn't really have a lot of choice have MUCH more control over their (extended) powers. And then things get hairy...
As always, please leave reviews, tell me what you think. Chapter Two will be coming soon.
Jeremy Creek picked up the cord for his toaster. Absentmindedly, he reached to plug it in, still absorbed in his newspaper. Focused on the latest foibles of Smallville's mayor, he stuck his finger into the outlet instead of the plug.
"Aaaaggghhh!" he screamed, as the electricity shot through his system. He crumpled to the floor in a twitching heap.
Several minutes later, a much younger-looking Jeremy stood up. Memories from earlier in the year flooded his mind, and power flooded his veins. He clutched at his head. No! No, he had left all this behind!
But it was too late. The memories he had lost returned in a rush. He had been doing the right thing- he had been helping people! But Clark Kent- Clark Kent!- had stopped him, had hurt him! It was time to continue his crusade, Jeremy decided. An angry smile crossed his face...
In a small tree fort just outside of Smallville, two beetles crept across the floor toward each other. Meeting, they brushed antennae, and suddenly morphed together into a much, much larger beetle. A third beetle joined them, and another and another...
The insect swelled in size, growing larger and larger, changing shape as it rose up. After several minutes, a young man stood naked in the tree fort. He looked perfectly normal, a handsome young man, until you looked into his eyes. These were deep black all across, and faceted like a bees.
He found an old bomber jacket in the corner of the fort and put it on. It had taken him far too long to pull himself together, almost six months. He sat down on a web-covered bed and mused. His thoughts were still muzzy, but one thing was rapidly becoming clear.
Clark Kent had done this to him. If Clark hadn't interrupted his chance at Lana, hadn't chased him into the quarry, he would never have been divided in the first place. This was Clark Kent's fault. Clark Kent would have to pay...
Tina sat silently on the cot in her cell. It was almost meal time. Very soon, the little orderly with the food cart would come in and offer her some disgusting slop.
She didn't deserve this! Tina had only wanted to help her and her mother have a better life. But her mother hadn't seen it that way, and had gotten herself killed in a tumble down the stairs. And then Lana- Lana! her best friend!- had rejected her. She had abandoned her when Tina had needed her most, and for that she had deserved to be punished.
And so did Clark Kent, for getting her stuck in this asylum, for rescuing Lana when she didn't deserve it. Clark Kent should pay for what he had done to her. But she couldn't do anything from within this cell.
Lucky for her, Tina mused, her powers had expanded rapidly after her incarceration. She wasn't sure how it had happened, but it was certainly useful. She had waited, built up her strength, her patience waning daily. Now, today, it was time, time to break free. Tina shifted easily, through great practice taking the shape she knew would raise the least suspicion...
The young orderly pushed the door open, and dropped the tray she carried in shock. The inmate was gone! She rushed over to the bolted-down cot, hoping against hope that perhaps Miss Greer was simply hiding beneath it.
Suddenly, one of the pillows on the bed leapt upward and morphed into the girl. Before the orderly could react, Tina had struck her across the face hard enough to knock her unconscious. Slipping the orderly's key card out of her pocket, Tina stole out of the cell, through the asylum, and slipped away into the night...
Deep under Lex Luthor's mansion, a block of ice lay in a dank room at the foundations of the buildings. Through the clear ice, a young man's face could be seen, frozen in a silent scream.
The temperature of the ice dropped rapidly. It was approaching absolute zero. Very soon it became so brittle that even the boy's slow heartbeat cracked it.
The ice shattered. Sean Kelvin stood up shakily. He was free... finally. And... he was warm. How had this happened? He wasn't supposed to be warm. Could he possibly be cured? He reached out and touched the cold stone of the wall beside him. It iced over.
Sean smiled wryly. Perhaps a cure had been too much to hope for. But now he wasn't cold anymore. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage. He owed Clark Kent... Owed him the months of frozen torture he himself had been forced to endure.
Sean grinned wildly. "Revenge is a dish best served cold," he murmured to himself, and laughed.
Jodi Foster shook in terror. No! No! They said they'd cured her! But the expansion of her jaw was all too real. She was hungry... hungry... HUNGRY!!
Leaning over the nurse who'd come to check her IV bag, she drained her of all the fat in her body. Jodi stood up and smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. After all, if they couldn't fix her, she might as well get used to this.
She caught sight of her reflection in a mirror on the wall above her hospital bed. She was slim and beautiful, and looked just like her mother. Well, vampires were supposed to be beautiful, weren't they. And that was more or less what she was now.
And then a moment of fury came rushing back as she remembered the last time she'd looked in a mirror. She could have ended this all! She could have stopped all of this!
She had hurt Pete, man she loved! And for that she deserved to burn! And she had tried to end it! She'd tried so hard, but someone had stopped it. Who had it been? Who had been with her that night when she had blown up her father's greenhouse?
Her face twisted in rage as she suddenly remembered. It had been Clark Kent. He had been kind to her, but nobody was kind. Not to fatties. Not to freaks. Clark Kent had been lying; it was inexcusable. It deserved the worst punishment she could inflict. And inflict it she would. Dressed only in a hospital gown, Jodi Foster strode out of the hospital, ignoring the cries of the nurses behind her...
Jeff touched the bandages on his scalp. The wound there still hadn't healed, despite the two months that had passed since it had been inflicted.
His mother changed his bandages regularly, and fussed over him. But he couldn't trust her with what had happened since The Incident. He couldn't trust anyone but Amy, and she was away at the special school she'd been sent to to help her deal with her obsession with Lex.
He suspected that when his head had been cut open, some of the oils he had used to create his invisibility had gotten into his blood stream.
It was a funny thing, he thought, looking at the tracking bracelet on his ankle. There was nothing to stop him from slipping out of this thing like nothing.
In fact, he decided, he ought to. He closed his eyes and disappeared. Even as he became invisible, his molecules exploded outward from each other, dissipating and reforming across the room. Walking back to where the tracking bracelet was, he scoffed and picked it up. Something like this couldn't trace him.
It was all Clark Kent's fault, he thought bitterly. Clark had stopped him from taking his revenge on Lex. Didn't he understand how Lex had treated Amy? Didn't he see that Lex needed to be punished? Well, now it wasn't Lex who should be punished- it was Clark. Clark would be punished.
Jeff Palmer tossed the tracking bracelet out the window, became once more intangible, and drifted in a hazy cloud out the window and into the night.
Sasha shivered. She had been released from the hospital six days ago. Her second degree burns on her legs had finally healed. The moment her parents had left her alone, she had run away.
She didn't want to see them, see their disappointed faces anymore. They had had such high expectations, but now she had failed. Her failed run at school presidency was the last straw. She was a terrible daughter. She had run to the only place she had left.
A tear trickled down her cheek. She had no friends, her family hated her. And because of Clark Kent, even the bees had left her. It was all his fault! It wasn't fair! She wasn't a bad person!
But now she was here, shivering at the bottom of Saunders Gorge- the place where it had all changed. Her life had improved here, but then Clark Kent had crashed into her life, and had ripped all of the good things away from her!
He had to be punished, he had to die as she was dead inside! But how? She had lost her power.
A green glint out of the corner of her eye attracted her attention. It was a meteor rock. She smiled. Rocks didn't abandon you.
Sasha Woodman cried for hours as the loss of everything washed over her. Finally she fell asleep from exhaustion, right there in the dripping cave at the bottom of the gorge.
When she awoke, something had changed. There was a familiar buzzing in the back of her head. Could it possibly be? She looked at the meteor in her hand. What had changed?
Hesitantly, she reached out in her mind. A few minutes later, ten or so bees landed on the rock in front of her. They shifted to spell out the word "Hi" in tiny letters. Sasha smiled. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Clark Kent would pay...
Justin Gaines glared through the rain at the Kent farm. He had been sitting here for days, just watching. Always watching. The cops were still looking for him, he was sure, but they wouldn't find him. Or if they did, he could take care of them the same way he had with that stupid Principal Kwan.
Clark Kent had destroyed his life. He had stolen the woman of his dreams. He had destroyed his life, and ruined his enjoyment of his failed revenge.
He would kill Clark Kent. He had to. There was nothing left for him.
Eric Summers sighed. He didn't want to go home yet. He had just recently been released from the asylum, and going home was worse than being there had ever been.
He wanted Clark Kent's power. He had to get it back. HAD to. But to do that, he'd need help. He'd done some research after leaving the asylum, and discovered that there were others whose lives had been destroyed by the damn farmboy.
Suddenly, he caught sight of a familiar face. It was Greg Arkin! That bugboy the school paper had talked about! "Hey Greg!" Eric called.
Three days later, nine teenagers were sitting around a table in the Talon. It was almost closing time and the place was empty but for themselves. Even the girl running the latte machine was marathon-texting and paid them no mind.
One by one, the group introduced themselves. Finally, Eric Summers stood up. "Nice to see you all here. You each have something special to offer to this group. We all know that we hate Clark Kent. Do you all want to see him dead?"
There was scattered nodding among the group. "Well, if you help me get his powers for myself, I can guarantee that you'll be able to see it happen." Jodi Foster nodded. "Then we will help you."
Nine teens rose up. They left the Talon without paying, and strode into the night. As they passed under a streetlight, Eric Summers said idly, "I have a plan..."
TO BE CONTINUED...