Chapter 7: The Birth of Evil

Clark just could not concentrate on school the next day. His mind was racing with everything that his father had revealed to him yesterday. It still sounded preposterous. As much as it hurt, he could handle the fact that he was adopted. What he could not handle was that there was the possibility that he was not even from this planet. How could anyone believe such a strange thing? It had to be some kind of practical joke played on his parents.

Everything was still rolling around in his head, as he walked down the school hall. He was nearing his classroom, when an eighth grader stepped in front of him. Clark still toward over him, since he was about the size of a high-school teenager, but that did not stop this bully.

This particular bully was pretty much the most popular kid amongst all the bullies. His name was Johnny Corben. He was loud-mouth, disruptive kid in the eighth grade. He probably spent most afternoons, afterschool, in detention. Not much was known about his parents, though. Rumors were that they were divorced, and that his father was a security guard, by night; and drunk out of his mind, by day.

Whatever his situation was, it appeared that he was going to be the first bully to test the boundary that they had set for themselves, regarding Clark. "Hey, Supernerd!"

The irony of a smaller kid trying to bully a taller kid did not escape him, but Clark was just not in the mood for this. "I'm really not in the mood, Johnny."

"What's the matter, dork? I don't think you're all that scary." He was trying to find a nerve, to get Clark to respond.

"Not now, Johnny," Clark's temper was flaring, but was still able to keep his emotions at bay. His father had always taught him to never let other kids get under his skin.

"You're always sticking up for that bald-headed dweeb, but who's gonna' stick up for you? I don't think you're as tough as you look." He tried to shove him, but it was like trying to shove a brick wall. Clark hardly felt a thing. He tried harder, but to no avail.

"Are you done now?" Clark asked, raising his right eyebrow.

That only infuriated Johnny. He hated to be embarrassed in front of his friends who were watching from a distance. "You're dead!" He no longer cared if he was caught by the principal; no one was going to make him look stupid in front of his friends. He went for an amateurish right hook, probably learned from watching boxing on television.

Without even flinching, Clark raised his right hand and caught Johnny's fist in mid-jab. "You should thank me. I just saved you from breaking your hand."

Johnny snapped his arm back, rubbing his fist. "Geez, you are a freak." Johnny walked away in retreat.

Thankful that it was over, Clark headed towards his classroom.


Recess could not come soon enough. Clark was just glad there were no pop quizzes today, because his mind was everywhere except the classroom. After eating his bologna sandwich alone, he went outside to the playground and sat on the bench. He watched as all the kids played and enjoy their thirty minutes of freedom. His mind was too busy for play right now.

"Clark!" Lex came, out of nowhere, to meet him at the bench. "Good news, my father didn't notice my lip."

"What? Oh, that's good," Clark replied coldly.

Lex knew something was wrong. "What's wrong?"

"Last night, my dad told me that I'm adopted," Clark responded.

"Oh, bummer," Lex said, not sure what to say. "Sometimes I wish I was adopted." Lex looked down, recounting all the times he had wanted to run-away. "Anyway, may this will take your mind off things a little."

Lex pulled out a pocket size steel case and handed it to Clark.

"What is this?"

"I took it from my dad's desk." Actually, everything did not go as well for him last night as he had told Clark. His father immediately noticed his lip and tried to get him to tell him what happened. When he refused, he cursed him out and said he was worthless. That was one of the most painful things his father had ever said to him. As revenge, he 'borrowed' this artifact off of his desk to show his friend. "I wanted to show you this. It's a space rock. It's the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

Clark flipped the lid open, and a feeling of nausea hit him like a ton of bricks. There was nothing vulgar about the rock; in fact, it looked rather magnificent with its glowing green attributes. Whatever was sweeping over him, had nothing to do with the glowing space rock; or so he thought.

His nerves felt as if they were burning, and the intensity was only getting worse by the second. Clark grunted, finding it extremely difficult to breath. Lex saw the instant change. "Clark, what's wrong?"

"I-I don't know," Clark gasped, dropping the case with the glowing space rock. Overtaken by the pain, he slipped off the bench and curled into a ball. "It hurts!"

Lex was at a lost. He had no idea what brought this on. The only thing he could conclude was it had something to do with the space rock. Lex quickly reached down and put the space rock back into the steel case and locked it. The moment the steel case was shut, the pain ravishing Clark's body had disappeared.

Lex was relieved when Clark uncurled himself and climbed back up onto the bench just as if nothing had happened. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Clark admitted. "Must have been something in that space rock that I'm allergic to."

"There you are!" An adult, male voice said; standing out amongst all the kid's clamoring. Cutting through the sea of playing children was a man dressed in a very luxurious, business suit.

"Oh no," Lex cried under his breath, completely frightened out of his wits. The man walking towards them was his father.

Lionel Luthor was a man to be feared and respected. Not to do so would come at a high price. His perfectly groomed red hair bragged of his hard-fought status in life. There was a hint of grey in his thick, red goatee which highlighted his superior intelligence. Everything about this man shouted that he was better than everyone else.

His face was as cold as ice as he stormed toward the two boys. Both boys were now on their feet. There was something about his arrival that caused Clark to side-step away from Lex a few steps. "I think you have something of mine, do you not?"

"Yes, sir," Lex was too scared to look his father in the face. All he could do was give his father the steel box containing the space rock.

"Sir, he only wanted to…" Clark found the courage to come to his friend's defense.

"Shut your trap, boy!" Lionel snapped; his icy green eyes shot towards him.

Clark complied, afraid to say another word. Lex had said that his father was scary, but he never imagined him to be this awful.

His attention returned to his son. "So, you resort to stealing from your old man, do you?"

"No, sir," Lex replied just before the stinging of a violent slap came across his face; leaving a red hand print behind.

The blow was so hard, in caused Clark to shiver. He was powerless to do anything about this. Lex's face was already moistened from his tears. "Are you going to lie to me again, boy?"

"Excuse me, sir!" A teacher who was supervising all the kids saw what was happening and immediately ran to come to the rescue of the boy. "I don't care who you are, but…"

"Woman, you better start caring," Lionel growled towards her. "I am this boy's father, and I will do to him what I want. I have the money and the power to get you and your husband fired from your jobs. I can blacklist you two all across this country. I will have you living out in the streets, before you can even blink an eye. Unless you want to be living in a cardboard box, having to sell yourself for services to desperate, young business men; you will keep out of my family business."

Never had Clark seen a teacher get torn into like that. The teacher was shivering uncontrollably. She wept as she turned and ran into the school building.

Before returning his attention back to his son, Lionel glanced over Clark, seemingly inspecting him visually. "Who is this boy?"

"My-my-my friend," Lex stuttered.

"Wait a minute, I know you. You are the Kent's boy." Just when Clark though he could not get any angrier, he was wrong. "You become friends with the son a farming peasant! Do you realize how bad this would look for me? Do you have any idea, whatsoever?"

Lex flinched, getting ready for another hard slap which nearly came. Lionel stopped himself, figured that he had embarrassed himself long enough; airing his dirty laundry in public. "This is my fault. I wanted to save myself money by not having to pay for your education, but now I see that was a mistake."

Lionel grabbed Lex by the arm. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Lex cried as his father's grip was so tight, he was afraid his bone would shatter.

"I'm sending you away to private school, and getting you away from this riff raff."

Clark watched with tears flowing from his eyes as his best friend was being dragged off. His heart was breaking as he knew that he would never see him again. Lex was looking back towards him with apologetic eyes, and a tear-soaked face. He, too, knew the same thing.


Lex did not want to enter the mansion; he knew what would happen the moment they were in. The same way he was dragged to the limo, he was being dragged out of it. There was no use resisting; his father was too strong.

The giant, oak-wood, double-doors were opened for them by one of Lionel's men. His father threw him into the giant entry with such force; he tripped over his own feet and fell to his side.

"Get up, boy, and take your punishment like a man."

"I'm-I'm sorry, Dad!" he pleaded to his father, as he slowly got back up onto his feet.

His response was another swift slap across the face. "You are an embarrassment to me, boy." Another slap across the face caused his lip to start bleeding again. "Why do the gods torment me with such a pathetic excuse of a son?"

His father delivered an even harder blow. Lex could not hold back the tears, which he knew was causing his father to continue hitting him. "You are weak. You are not worthy to be a Luthor!"

His father was not stopping. His face had become so numb, that the sting of the slaps were losing their intensity. That was when something snapped inside of Lex. It was something he never knew he had within him. Like a caged animal suddenly let loose, he screamed and delivered two quick punches to his father's abdomen. The two punches forced Lionel forward. Before Lex came back to his senses, he was able to deliver one last jab; this time, square in the face.

The anger quickly receded after he saw what he had just done to his father. The rage quickly turned to fear when his father regained his posture. Lionel pulled out a white handkerchief from his chest pocket of his jacket. After gently dabbing the handkerchief on his lower lip, he looked down on it see his own blood.

This was it. Lex knew that he was dead. He knew he should be running for his life right about now; but he was so scared, his legs would not comply. He expected a wallop like no other, but instead, his father just chuckled. "Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps there is some hope for you after all."

Lionel put the handkerchief back in pocket. When his hand came back out, it held the steel case that contained the space rock. He tossed it to Lex who barley caught it. "Keep it."

Lionel turned to walk up the spiral staircase on the right side of the giant foyer. As he walked up, he spoke loud enough for his voice to echo through the whole foyer. "You're going to learn that whatever you want in life, you have to take it by force. If there is something standing in your way…destroy it."