"What'd you tell him?"

"He passed out before I could say anything. He's just a weakling"

"As soon as he's awake, tell me, I'll deal with him"

The phantom nodded obediently and lowered his head.

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That rock, that darned rock! Why did they have to toss it right next to him? Couldn't they see he was dying?

"Hey, get up!!" The phantom picked up the rock and held it up to his Clark's face "Get up or I'm gonna stuff it down your shirt" He snickered slightly, smiling inwardly at his devious plans. He was simply brilliant.

"I can't with it so close to me..." Clark answered weakly, his eyes still closed shut, and his teeth clenched tight. He was fighting the pain. His head pounded with a furious might, and his broken ribs shallowed his breathing to hardly nothing at all.

The phantom waved it around Clark's head for a few seconds before dropping it on Clark's head, and letting it fall freely to wherever it pleased. It landed in the same place as before.

The phantom dusted his hands of and looked at Clark with an ordering expression "Release the phantoms from the zone, or the life of your mother will be buried deeply in a casket"

Clark's head shot up.

"No, no... please... don't make me do this..." Clark pleaded.

"Release them, and I'll spare your friends and families lives" He tried to bargain with Clark, the same smile still playing his alien features.

"I won't let you do this" Clark tried to sound deep and in control, but it came out weak.

"And who are you, in your state, to tell ME what do?" He laughed maliciously "You think you can take me on? AHA! That's as funny as your broken body" He stopped laughing and looked hard at Clark "Your weak, just as your father was. You cannot stop what is coming"

"Why don't you just take my blood, there's plenty of it" Clark motioned to his deep wounds and cuts.

"Because that blood has phantoms DNA on it, and the gate won't except it, the blood has to be fresh and alive"

"I won't do it" Clark said again.

"Fine. Then I'll bring your mother here, as well as your little Blondie friend, and torture then right in front of your eyes. You can see their dark crimson blood soak the floor as I squeeze the life out of-"

"Stop..." Clark whispered "...just stop..."He looked up at the phantom, his eyes not focusing on him. "Why are you doing this?" He looked at him pleadingly.

The phantoms smile diminished, and he looked at Clark with hatred and anger flowing freely from his every move. He didn't answer. He walked over to the door way and shut it, making sure to secure it tightly.

Clark let his back slide against the wall. His head pounded with all that was in it. He wanted to sleep, he wanted to let go of every problem there was.

But he couldn't.

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Screams and struggling diminished into nothing as the bodies fell to the hard floor.

A man stood smiling down evilly "Weak" He laughed "Ever so weak"

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He tried to move the rock away from his body, to try and escape its close vicinity. He couldn't think straight, he couldn't see clearly, he couldn't breathe right. He felt the sleep taking him, the longing for rest almost becoming more then he could handle.

He was fully awake when he seen Martha and Chloe thrown to the ground, there unconscious bodies hitting the ice cold floor.

He was fully awake when attacked the phantom with everything that was left in him.