CHAPTER IV

I was still perplexed, trying to figure out what I should do about this Metallo guy. I still didn't have a name, or anything, other than what little Alexander gave me. I walked back into work looking at the floor, and as I entered, the supervisor I'd talked to earlier said, "Hey, how'd that lead go?" I looked at him, saying, "He didn't feel like talking. I don't think it'll work out." "Ah, well, better luck next time," said the supervisor. "Yeah," I said quietly. I walked back over to my desk, looking over some drafts I'd made for a couple articles. The subject still bothered me, and I wanted to ask Kelex, but I knew there wasn't any way for me to go out for another "lead" and then return a few hours later with nothing. So I just continued to sit at my desk and work. When I got off that afternoon, Lois walked up to me, asking, "So, you want to go out again sometime?" "If I can," I said, sighing, "I have a lot of stuff to do. But I'll see if I can clear up my schedule enough." I showed her the drafts I'd been working on. "Well, at least you're trying," said Lois, "Bye, Clark." "See you, Lois," I said, waving goodbye. She walked off, waving back. Jimmy walked up to me, saying, "Love is in the air, isn't it?" "A little bit, yeah," I answered, smiling. I looked at him, saying, "I'm going to head to the Fortress. Something's been nagging at me." Jimmy nodded seriously, saying, "All right, good." I walked to the curb, hailing a taxi and getting back to the college. Once there, I dropped off my work stuff.

I flew out of my dorm, going full speed towards the Fortress. Once I reached it, I touched down and quickly headed through the door. Kelex immediately said, "What is it, Kal?" "Do we have any kind of facial recognition scanner?" I asked. "Of course," said Kelex, "The very best. Who are we talking about?" "Some guy who talked to me about the kryptonite we picked up on the radar," I said, "It looks like he has everything to do with it." "Okay, what does he look like?" asked Kelex. I gave him as good of a description as I could. Kelex ran my description through the facial recognition software in the Fortress. Eventually, Kelex said, "Nothing. There are literally no records connected to this face. Maybe you just forgot what he actually looked like." "No way," I said, "I'd remember a face like his." "If that really is the case, we have someone very powerful on our hands," said Kelex, "In a world where everything is recorded, he's successfully keeping his very existence secret. This is some bad news." I sighed, saying, "Thanks, Kelex. If I find anything else, I'll come back." I was about to walk out when Kelex said, "Wait. That reminds me." He rolled over to a panel in the wall, opening it. Inside, there were several other necklaces similar to the one that had created the Fortress. Kelex took one, closing the panel and rolling over to me. He extended his hand, revealing the necklace.

I asked, "What's this? It looks like my old necklace." "Exactly," said Kelex, "And actually, it was your old necklace that looked like these. These were standard modes of communication within clans on Krypton. Jor-El created your necklace to look like these so no one would suspect. With one of these, you won't have to come here all the time." "How does it work?" I asked, taking the necklace and putting it around my neck. "It syncs up to your DNA signal first, so it only responds to you," answered Kelex, "All you have to do to activate it is say, 'open communication'. It'll immediately connect you to me, and we'll be able to talk. You should be able to try it…now." I said, "Open communication." The necklace buzzed and glowed slightly. A second later, I said, "Is it working?" "Yes," said Kelex. I didn't just hear Kelex's response. It felt like his voice was in my head. It felt like my whole body vibrated for a second. "Whoa," I said. "Yeah," said Kelex, "It's pretty cool, right?" "I guess," I said, "It feels really weird, though." "Ah, you'll get used to it," Kelex said dismissively. "Let's hope you're right," I said, chuckling lightly, "Thanks, Kelex. By the way, can you generate a virtual photo of this guy?" "Yeah, sure," said Kelex, "I'll get it to you in a few minutes." A little later, I held in my hand a very detailed, very accurate virtual rendering of Alexander's face. "Thanks, Kelex," I said, "I'll see you later." "Hopefully not too soon," said Kelex seriously. I nodded, walking out.

When I reached my dorm room, Jimmy was working on the pre-assignments for our classes. He was editing a few photos for his photography class, and there were a couple printed essays for his other ones. I still had quite a bit of work to do. Jimmy saw me, saying, "Oh, hey. How'd it go?" "Good," I said. Jimmy looked at my necklace, saying, "I thought that was at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean." "Apparently, Kelex has spares," I said cheerily. I explained the purpose of the necklace, and Jimmy nodded. "Well, I'll try my best to be out of your way," I said, "I have some stuff to do, myself." "Don't worry too much about it," said Jimmy, "I'm almost finished here." "Sounds good," I said, walking over to my laptop. I picked it up, turning it on and sitting on my bed. I went online and checked the syllabus for the classes I had. A lot of it was reading at that point, so I decided I should just get started. The book was available online, so I pulled it up, putting in my headphones and listening to some good classical music. Unbeknownst to me, Alexander was resting comfortably in a hotel in Gotham, New Jersey, watching me through my own laptop video feed. He smirked, saying, "Ah, the woes of college. Good choice of music, though." Suddenly, the door was thrown open, and several men in suits walked through.

"Hi, Stryker," said Alexander, standing up. Alfred Stryker, a prominent mobster in Gotham, pointed at Alexander and said angrily, "You stiffed me! I was promised big bucks for state-of-the-art guns, and I get shortchanged! Did you really think I wouldn't get to you? Or more importantly, how are you stupid enough to come back to Gotham?" "That's just it, Al," said Alexander, "I wasn't stupid. I was smart." He stepped to the side, and suddenly, a window partially shattered. A puff of red issued from the back of Stryker's neck, and he fell face-first onto the carpet. Alexander grimaced, saying, "Now I'm going to have to move. If housekeeping finds this, I'm going to have a bad time." The three henchmen who'd walked in with Stryker, though still shocked, drew their guns, aiming them at Alexander's face. "You really want to do that?" asked Alexander slyly, "That guy's got more than one bullet. Or maybe there's even more than one sniper." One of the henchmen gulped, and another said, "There's no way they'd kill us all in time!" "You really want to test that?" asked Alexander. The henchmen stared at him. One said, "I'm tipping out of here." He holstered his gun and ran out. The other two swiftly followed his lead, running out of the hotel. Alexander smirked, looking at Stryker's dead body.

Alexander dialed the number of the disposable phone he'd given the sniper. The sniper picked up, and Alexander said, "You'll have your money soon. Make sure you get rid of any burn marks, gunpowder, and dispose of the shell safely. Use what I gave you." The sniper said, "Okay. By the way, how'd you know that whole thing would work? After all, I really am the only sniper." "I didn't," said Alexander, "That's why it was fun. Now get to it." "And you're not really gypping me, right?" asked the sniper, "I'll have my money?" "Oh, yeah," said Alexander, "I've never let my men down. You can do whatever you want with it. Heck, you can even spend it in one place! Just finish the job." He hung up, staring again at Stryker. He stepped backwards a few inches, making sure not to get Stryker's blood on his shoes. Alexander sighed and said, "Well, at least this isn't the only good hotel here." He walked out, leaving Stryker face-down on the floor. As he passed the front desk, he handed a large sum of money to the concierge, saying, "Give this to the cleaning staff. I'm afraid I just made their job a little harder." The concierge gingerly took the money, and Alexander smiled at him, turning and walking out of the hotel. He hailed a taxi and left in no hurry.

Meanwhile, John Corben had appeared to make a miraculous recovery from his injuries, and even more fortunate, his cancer had not returned. As he was about to leave, his doctor entered, saying, "It's pretty extraordinary, how you recovered." John thought about revealing what happened in full, but he doubted that his doctor would believe him. And so, he simply responded, "It sure is. It's strange." "But it's good," said his doctor, "You're very fortunate." "I'd like to think so," said John, "But it still seems a little off that I'm fine." "Don't pay attention to those feelings, John," said his doctor, putting his hand on John's shoulder, "I'd just be glad this turned out so well for y…" The doctor trailed off. "What is it?" asked John, nervous. "Your shoulder," said the doctor, "It's uncommonly…firm." John felt his shoulder and moved his arm around. He shrugged, saying, "Doesn't feel any different to me." The doctor shrugged too, saying, "Ah, I must've been imagining it. Well, anyway, just focus on this: you're alive, and you're fine. Keep thinking that, and life will feel like a breeze." John nodded, saying, "Thanks, doc. I'll see you around." "I certainly hope not," joked the doctor. John laughed lightly, grabbing his stuff and exiting the hospital with a smile on his face. He walked to his apartment building, going inside and going to his apartment.

John set his things down in his room, going into his kitchen and grabbing a water bottle from his fridge. He sat down on his couch, grabbing his TV remote. He turned on his TV, saying, "Let's see here, what's on…?" He stopped suddenly, furrowing his brow. He muted his TV, setting the remote and bottle aside and standing up. He heard a strange tapping coming from a distant part of his apartment. He grabbed the baseball bat that rested on his front doorframe, saying loudly, "Anyone there? Look, if this is some kind of prank, you'd better give yourself up now! I don't take kindly to this kind of thing!" The tapping continued, and John gulped nervously. The tapping didn't sound…right. Even being a soldier didn't help his composure, the unnerving sound continuing. "What is that?" he whispered to himself. He sighed to calm himself, continuing, "Hey, it's your choice! I'm coming your way, and I'm not happy!" The tapping didn't stop. It continued in its monotonous pattern, frightening John. He walked towards the sound with as much caution as possible. He got closer to it, the sound becoming louder with each step he took. He found that the sound was coming from behind his closed bathroom door. He steeled himself, throwing open the bathroom door…only to find that the sound came from his faucet, which was leaking slightly.

In Alexander's new hotel room, Alexander clapped once, saying, "Yes! Augmented hearing works! I'll just fiddle with this, then…" He clacked on the keyboard of the laptop he was using to observe John. "You're doing great, Metallo," said Alexander, grinning, "You're doing real well." He clacked the last key required to turn down John's hearing, chuckling lightly. He was that much closer to knowing that Metallo was ready for his inevitable fight.