CHAPTER 1. Documents and Questions
The sun was slowly setting over Smallville. From the quiet of the Kent barn loft, Clark stood, silently gazing at it resting over the fields. A gentle warm Autumn breeze blew in and could hear footsteps approach. "Hi Clark. Your mother said you were up here, so I thought I'd drop these by" Chloe said as she placed some schoolbooks on the coffee table.
Clark turned around. "Thanks Chloe" he replied as they both went and sat on his couch. "Sure thing" Chloe said. "Um, so Clark…you know me, can't go a minute without some questions…" Clark chuckled at this. Chloe rolled her eyes at him. "Anyway…I wanted to know, why you weren't at school today. I asked Pete and Lana, they'd no idea. Then I asked Larry the bus driver who was having a break with Jake the groundskeeper. Did you know they just started a new petition for pesticide free grounds? I think that's an amaz…"
Clark placed his hand in the air, waving her to cease. "Chloe, take a breath" he shook his head and smiled. "Sorry, anyway, like I said, what's up?" she asked again. Clark relaxed back into the couch. "Nothing. I just needed to help dad out today with some new farm equipment". Chloe looked sceptically at her friend. "You know Clark, I can see right through you sometimes. You're not fooling anyone. Where'd you go?" she continued her inquiry. Clark sighed and got up. He knew she wasn't going to rest the issue anytime soon.
"I went to Metropolis" he replied turning his attention to his telescope. "What for? Some random personal school trip no one else knew about?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, desperate to know. Clark lent against the wall. "I went to Sommerhalt " he paused "with Lex". Chloe rolled her eyes again and sighed. "Why couldn't he have gone by himself? He does have an all access pass" she said sarcastically. Clark frowned. "Chloe, give him a break. He's not always that bad" he replied. Chloe stood up and collected her bag from the table.
"If you say so Clark". Turning to leave she looked back at him. "I guess your not going to grace me with details so I'll leave you be. Will you be coming to school tomorrow? Or is it going to be another Lex & Clark Excellent Adventure?" she asked mockingly. It was Clark's time to roll his eyes. "I'll be there. Thanks again for the books". Chloe nodded, "sure. Goodnight" she said as she made her way outside. Clark walked back to the loft window bay and watched Chloe drive home. Yawning, he walked over to his desk and sat down. He looked at the envelope in front of him. He hadn't opened it yet since returning home that day.
Emptying the contents out onto his desk, he scanned each page. It was documented information Lex had retrieved from Sommerhalt earlier that day concerning test results pertaining to Clark's telepathic late friend Ryan. Halfway through reading the files, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "How could they have done that to him?!" he thought angrily to himself. A little while later, his mother called him into the house for dinner. He took the files inside to show them to his folks. After their meal, they sat and began to discuss the findings.
"What are you going to do?" Jonathan asked his son as Martha made everyone some cocoa. Clark shook his head. "I've no idea. Lex thinks he could sue, but not much will come of it. I need to try and shut it down. So that they can't keep experimenting" he said with anger building in his voice. Jonathan looked hard at Clark. "I don't want you doing anything rash son. And especially is Lex is involved. I know you trust him, but I still don't and I don't want anything to happen to you alright?" he said grabbing Clark's arm. They stared at each other for a moment.
"Maybe wait a few days before deciding what to do" Martha said sitting down beside her husband. Clark sighed and nodded. "I guess…it's just I'm so…" he trailed off sadly. "Your mother and I know how much Ryan meant to you, we just don't want to see anything like what he went through happen to you as well" Jonathan said gently. Clark looked back at both his parents. "I know your both trying to look out for me. And I get it. I'm sorry". He walked over to them and group hugged them both. "I don't know what I'd do without you guys". They smiled. "Back to school for you tomorrow mister" Jonathan said as Clark made his way up the stairs to his room. "Yeah, Chloe's already betting the odds" he jokingly said before closing his door behind him.