A/N: For whatever reason, I kept making the mistake of calling "Smallville Medical Center" the "Smallville General Hospital" in all my previous stories. Well, no more. Also, I always felt that had Kyla's story continued, she might have had other powers besides just turning into a full wolf. I touched on that a little in my "Kawatche" and "Beast" stories, but in this one, I go a little further.
The following morning, Clark and Kyla are in the kitchen; the former wears only his jeans while the latter wears only her boyfriend's shirt, being otherwise nude. As Kyla makes French toast in a pan, she looks to Clark with a very ardent expression. He walks over to her and wraps his arms around her waist before he proceeds to kiss her neck repeatedly.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were ready for another round." Kyla giggles and kisses him back.
"But you do know better, don't you?" Clark kisses her.
Slam! Unable to restrain herself, Kyla passionately kisses Clark and shoves him against a counter as she unzips his jeans. WOOSH! Clark speeds himself and Kyla upstairs, leaving behind the shirt she was wearing. The two teens "go another round" in the shower, the steam covering their respective nudity. Kyla moans, rolls her eyes, and licks her upper lip in sheer pleasure as Clark caresses her from behind as the both of them remain standing. Next, Clark is on his back on the shower floor as Kyla is on top of him. She bites her lip and touches her boyfriend's face before he sits up, kisses her censored chest, and kisses her lips fervently as the torrent of water from the showerhead continues to sprinkle upon them both.
Not long after that, the young couple are out of the shower with their clothes back on and return to the kitchen in an attempt to actually eat breakfast this time. All the while, they look to each other with post-coital bliss, with Kyla being the most satisfied of the two, as she sports what could be a permanent smile on her face as she glances unwaveringly at Clark. He looks back at her and is having problems keeping himself from carrying her upstairs to his bedroom.
TERZ! Clark uses a small amount of heat vision to warm up the French toast Kyla was making and as soon as he is done, he looks and smiles right back at her. Giving her a plate, he kisses her repeatedly. As he is about to sit down and eat with her,
RING! The phone rings.
"There goes the moment." Clark sarcastically remarks.
"We'll get another!" Kyla jokes.
"Hey, Mom! It's…" Clark ceases speaking when he realizes that it is not Martha that is calling him. Rather, it is Dr. Scanlon from the Smallville Medical Center. He learns that it is a very serious matter. Detecting this, Kyla ceases eating and walks up to Clark, who hangs up the phone and looks to his girlfriend with a grave facial expression, "It's Lex."
Wasting no time to see their friend, Clark and Kyla join Pete and Chloe at the Smallville Medical Center to meet up with Dr. Scanlon.
"Sorry, kids." Scanlon explains, "Mr. Luthor is in a coma. One so deep, that there is no clear answer as to when he will come out of it."
"But could we at least see him?" Clark asks, practically begging.
"Sure, but make it fast. He's being flown to Met-Gen in a few minutes." Dr. Scanlon walks away to tend to another patient.
The four teenagers enter Lex's room to each say some words to him.
"Lex…I know you can't hear me, but…you're strong. You're strong and you know it." Clark touches his comatose best friend's shoulder. "You can't let this beat you. You've got to beat it. Get back here and live your life. The life your Dad never wanted you to have."
Kyla touches the comatose Lex's hand, "Lex, you've done something I never thought any Luthor would have the heart to. Help my people. You got my Grandpa out of jail. You had a hand in cleaning up the rez. Now, you need to help yourself. Come back. Come back."
Chloe touches Lex's other shoulder, "Lex, just 'cause you've got a whole lot of green doesn't mean you get to be a vegetable. You've got too much left to do. Too much left to fight for. You can't stay like this."
Pete clears his throat, "For a good long time, I blamed you for what happened to my family's business, but that wasn't the part that was really real. I hated you 'cause I was jealous. Jealous that you were Clark's best pal when you only rolled into town for a little bit. And then you…you gave it back to us. You helped Kyla's tribe. You're not your Dad, Lex. So don't lay down and roll over like him. You get your butt back here and be our friend again."
The door opens, "Okay, kids. We gotta take him now."
The four teenagers then stand outside as Lex is loaded onto a medivac and flown high into the sky and out of town. Clark then declares,
"We gotta get down in those caves. See what knocked him out like that."
"But the caves are-" Pete starts to warn,
"When has that ever stopped me?" Clark cuts him off.
"Or me?" Kyla adds.
Later,
WOOSH! Clark arrives in the caves.
PATTER! Kyla also arrives in the caves with her wolf-speed.
"How many caverns does this place have again?" Kyla wonders. "33?"
"36." Clark corrects her. "Let's do halfers."
"Let's." PATTER! Kyla speeds in one direction.
WOOSH! Clark speeds in another. After four seconds of running around his end, he stops immediately when he notices something. His old octagonal disc. The missing piece of his ship. Still lodged in the wall where Lex put it.
"No way." Clark takes the disc out of the wall just as…
PATTER! Kyla speeds up behind him, "Hey, wha—Hey. Is that the-"
"Sure is." Clark deduces, "And I got a feeling it wasn't here the whole time."
Kyla touches the disc and in so doing, uses one of her skinwalker senses that her mother trained her to use. The ability to see all that have laid hands on the object just by touching it herself.
Kyla first sees an older, Human-looking man on a harsh planet quite unlike Earth placing the disc into Clark's baby ship before it takes off into the stars. Next, she sees the disc being found in Miller's Field by Dr. Steven Hamilton before he brings it before Lex. Then, she gets a glimpse of Roger Nixon stealing the disc and activating the ship. After this, she witnesses one of Lionel Luthor's men finding the disc, of all places, on Miller's Bend and giving it to Lionel himself, who becomes fascinated with it and speaks about how it might have something to do with the Kawatche Caves and Clark. She even witnesses Lionel placing the disc, files on Clark and other people, and a cart full of meteor rock bricks in his vault. Finally, she sees Lex, quite recently, finding the disc in the vault, holding it in his hand on the helicopter ride back to the Kawatche Caves, and placing it into the impression before it activates and unleashes a burst of energy. She snaps out of it.
"Ky! Ky!" Clark holds his girlfriend, who stumbles back in slight exhaustion. "Look at me. You okay?"
Kyla looks to her boyfriend and gently touches his face, "Yeah, but…you won't be…if we don't do something."
Clark shoots her a suspicious, confused look, "What did you see?"
"Everything." Kyla remarks.
That night at Luthorcorp Plaza,
WOOSH! PATTER! Clark and Kyla arrive undetected in Lex's main office and stand before the latter's vault. Kyla has already told Clark everything she had seen through her contact with the disc, which definitely includes the meteor rock bricks. One of the reasons why they are there in the first place. The other being the files she had seen.
CRONG! Clark easily rips the safe-door off of its hinges, but before any alarm could be set off…
PATTER! SLOSH! Kyla uses speed and the wolf-claws that appeared at the tip of her nails to slash the code system next to the vault. Her claws retract and fade back into her nails.
"Errgh." CLANK! WOOSH! Already feeling the discomforting radiation stemming from the meteor rock bricks, Clark puts the safe-door to the side and speeds six feet back, now not feeling it at all.
Kyla, unaffected by the radiation, grabs the files on the cart and finds the one with Clark in it. She shows it to him.
"Bring them all to me. Can't risk them being found either." Clark tells her.
PATTER! Kyla speeds up to Clark and hands him the files. She then turns to the meteor rock bricks and inhales. But then,
"Wait." TEEERZ! Clark uses his heat vision to burn his and the other files into nothingness before he covers his ears and nods his head as he smiles to her in approval.
Kyla again inhales before,
WHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! SHATTER! She unleashes her wolf howl, a powerful sonic wave, that completely decimates every single meteor rock brick. The cart as well.
Once she finishes, Clark takes his hands down and uses his hearing to detect the oncoming presence of several security guards on this floor. He calculates, "8 seconds."
WOOSH! CLANG! TEEERZ! Clark uses speed, strength, and heat vision to put the safe-door back.
"One more stop." Kyla reminds him.
WOOSH! Clark speeds into the security guards' office and removes the most likely footage to record his and his girlfriend's activities, leaving the present guards completely flabbergasted and confused.
The threat being taken care of, Clark and Kyla continue their romantic weekend and preparation for graduation alongside their friends. As the months pass, they spend much time together; at the Hot Java, the theater in Granville, and even to a game in Metropolis courtesy of Pete's father Bill. All the while, they never forget about Lex and drop in to see him at Metropolis General Hospital on occasion. But then, one day, when they come to visit him…he is gone. No longer there.
"Sorry, kids." Dr. Chisholm tells Clark's group. "Mr. Luthor was discharged this morning. And…even though I believe exposure to restore one's memory is effective, for Mr. Luthor, it…it may not be wise."
"Wait are you saying…Lex doesn't remember us?" Kyla asks.
"This morning, he barely remembered the passing of his father." Chisholm continues, "Prior to being comatose, Mr. Luthor seemed to have suffered from a severe cranial anomaly. During his time being inactive, his brain activity was off the charts and yet, when he emerged from his coma, he…"
"Was a walking vegetable?" Chloe wonders.
"Not exactly, but..." Chisholm gestures. "Like I said…it's an anomaly."
An awakened Lex stares out his penthouse window but has anything but vacant thoughts. He closes his eyes,
He gets a flashback to when Clark pulled him out of the river.
He flashes back to when Jeff Palmer bound and attacked him in his own home.
"Mmm." Lex groans in discomfort.
He sees another flash in the form of Clark's face when he first showed him the caves to get him to bail out Joseph Willowbrook.
He flashes back to when he inserted the disc and the energy consumed him.
"Ergh." Lex holds his head in greater discomfort.
He begins to see random images that are not memories at all. Himself at the now non-existent Luthor Mansion. The entire town of Smallville on fire. Numerous individuals with superpowers creating havoc. Many Kawatche symbols within the Caves glowing and animating. A dark, shadowy figure standing before Lex himself in the Luthor Mansion. A mysterious caped figure standing atop with an "S"-like symbol on his chest standing atop the windmill of Chandler's Field. The images repeat themselves in both scrambled order and rapid succession until...
"Agh!" Lex turns away from the window and cries out in pain.
"Mr. Luthor!" Two security guards and a medical attendant rush inside to tend to him. "Sir, you should be resting! Back in bed."
"I've been in bed for months. I need to get back to work." Lex insists.
"Not until you get the doctor's clean bill." The medical assistant remarks. "Otherwise, they're gonna have to get drastic and believe me, it's not gonna be good. Even for a Luthor."
Lex relents, "Then, at least bring me something to read or study. I've had enough sleep."
"What would you like, sir?" A guard asks.
"Newspapers. Articles. Standout stories on everything about that town Smallville and those caves I was in." Lex sits on his bed.
On the Kent Farm, Clark shows his parents his graduation gown and hat. They are both excited and sorrowful about their once small boy inching ever-so close to adulthood. Clark himself is more concerned about the status of Lex's mental health, an issue he brings to his parents.
"Lex will be fine, son." Jonathan insists, "As strange as this sounds coming from me, he has the best healthcare money can buy."
"That's right." Martha adds, "You should think about your own future. Especially now."
She hands Clark an envelope. He opens it and reads the paper inside. He looks to his knowing parents in excitement, "I don't believe it! Ha! Ha! I don't believe it! Finally! An interview about my book! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"I told you, Clark." Jonathan remarks, "Little bit a patience pays off in a big way."
Clark heads over to Kyla's house to tell her the news. She and her parents are more than happy for him. Although, Kyla brings up a point to consider.
"What do you mean?" He asks his lovely girlfriend.
"I mean, when you're being broadcast for your interview, everyone's going to see your face." Kyla explains, "And once they get the face with the name, they'll want to do background checks on you. Find out the history behind the man. The wrong people could dig up the wrong things."
"Like how I found the caves and why I was at a lot of crime scenes. And I can't exactly say I fell over 100 feet and took down some meteor freaks." Clark realizes that she has a point. He could just say that he was looking for inspiration, but that will only convince several people. He then figures out what she is really suggesting,
"A disguise? Really? Me?" He chuckles in disbelief.
"Nothing big." Kyla explains, "Just…a little work on your hair and maybe…some glasses?"
"Oh, I've got some spares, too." Chance hands his spare black-rimmed glasses to Kyla, who puts them on Clark's face.
She then uses her wolf claws and some strength to straighten Clark's hair out. She takes a look at him and rough his hair up again, "Nah! I think straight hair looks better on you without glasses. But we should probably think about something for you to wear."
"Oh, boy." Clark thinks to himself.
After some time, Lex has re-learned everything he could about the Kawatche Caves and Smallville's recent history, including the meteor freaks. He is appalled. Shaken even by the notion of beings with power "infecting" the town and no one being able to make a distinction. In the middle of all of this, he has even re-learned about his friendships with Clark, Chloe, Kyla, and Pete, but doesn't understand how or why he could be friends with teenagers even though he and Clark have been through and gone through a lot since the boy saved his life. Based on more recent images and flashes, he figures that he was just lonely because of his father's treatment of him and his own lack of friends. Even more-so, he figures maybe he promised Clark and his friends that he would help Smallville and the Kawatche tribe just like Clark helped him. Lex's idea of help being to rid the town of the meteor freaks so that Clark and his friends do not have to spend their young lives in fear of the unknown.
"Darius!" Lex calls to one of his security guards, who walks in, "Get the chopper ready. We're going to Smallville. I need to see someone."
Despite being told to rest and not go anywhere, Lex wins out and is flown to the Kent Farm. He knocks on the door and the one who answers it is a bespectacled Clark in a black tuxedo, much to Lex's confusion.
"Lex! You're on your feet! And you remember me!" Clark excitedly hugs his friend.
"Uh…just barely." Lex, uncomfortable, hugs Clark half-heartedly. "I actually thought you looked a little bit different."
"Very funny." Clark rolls his eyes; Lex himself just goes along with it despite genuinely being thrown off by Clark's new appearance.
Clark invites him in to sit down, "How do you feel? What's going on?"
"I'm still trying to put things together, but I know we're sort of…friends?" Lex wonders.
"Best friends." Clark nods. "You remember any of the stuff we did?"
"Not everything, but the rest will come to me in time." Lex convincingly lies to Clark. "But here's something I do know. The meteor freaks. They've got this whole town shaken up. I don't want anything happening to you on your graduation. To Kyla, Pete, or anyone at the graduation. So, if we're really best friends, would you…trust me if I told you what I was up to? To stop those things? To save this town?"
"Uh…yes." Clark answers, though hesitantly.
"Good. I'll meet up with you face to face when the time's right." Lex stands up and shakes Clark's hand, not being comfortable with hugging the young farmer.
As Lex leaves, Clark ponders on the strange new behavior of his older best friend. What could he be up to as far as dealing with meteor freaks? With the town itself? Is this really the friend that went into the coma? Or did someone else come out in his place?
Lex meets with a scientist named Jansen in a laboratory that houses much technological advancements. The young billionaire had learned about it some time ago after he had personally investigated the off-the-books projects started by his father for his ends. Now, he is using it for his own ends.
"Not one expense spared, Dr. Jansen." Lex declares. "Gotta clean up Smallville. And with it…him."
Lex sees another image of the mysterious caped figure standing atop the windmill of Chandler's Field; the "him" he is referring to.
It seems the burst of energy that bathed him in powerful luminescent force in the Kawatche Caves has had a negative effect on his mind. He acknowledges the figure as "Naman" and has come to believe that he is responsible for the death, destruction, and misery as seen in his other visions. That his standing atop the windmill is his reveling in the chaos. Lex has also come to believe that the dark figure that stood before him in his former home, in another vision, is Naman's darkest work. To this end, he believes that it is his destiny, as "Sageeth", to stop him and save Smallville. And possibly even…the world.