Disclaimer: I do not own DC or Smallville.
Author's Note: I was shocked and saddened by a review I received for the last chapter. I have sent a polite e-mail to the reviewer in question outlining how wrong it is to assume someone is homophobic simply because they have chosen not to explore a homosexual pairing. That is a Straw Man argument; it would be just as easy to say that DC are homophobic because they didn't make CLEX a pairing in the first place. I've read many good CLEX slash fictions and it does work as a pairing but I chose to write a gender swap because there are so few in the Smallville fandom and I wanted to try something new. I hope that the matter is now settled and we can put this issue behind us. Thank you to everyone who has given encouraging reviews and I hope you enjoy the next instalment.
Chapter 8
Chloe Sullivan prided herself on being a first rate reporter. She could dig up information the public was not privileged to. Some of which was gained through less than legal means. But then, what was a computer genius worth if they didn't snoop a little?
Through her recent net wanderings she had discovered several peculiar things.
Whitney Fordman's grades had been in steady decline since last semester.
Whitney had been working triple the hours she usually did at her father's store
Whitney had dropped all her extracurricular activities apart from Cheerleading.
Whitney was visiting the school counsellor twice a week.
None of this had been reflected in her behaviour towards the school populace. Or perhaps it had, Chloe knew from experience that disturbances in school were often related to something going on at home.
Chloe dug into the Fordman family.
What she found was not what she expected.
Copious hospital bills, Health insurance receipts and the beginnings of funeral arrangements...
These were all for George Fordman, Whitney's father.
Amlodopine Besylate, George Fordman had a heart condition that had become terminal. Whitney's father was going to die within the year, perhaps only in a few months. The cost of his hospital treatment meant that Whitney wouldn't be able to go to college and that they couldn't afford to pay employees to work at the department store. Once Whitney graduated from high school, she'd be trapped at her father's store.
Whitney had always been a bitch, but she didn't deserve this.
Chloe knew what it was to lose a parent, even if her mother had left rather than died. If lashing out was Whitney's coping mechanism, if focusing all of her energy on Lucas, all her hopes, helped her get through it...that was her prerogative. Falling back onto prescribed behaviour as a coping mechanism, it wasn't dissimilar to how she had buried herself in studying after her mother left.
But, just because she understood her, didn't mean she had to like her.
She couldn't take revenge on Clara's behalf. Whitney had kept her father's condition a secret because she didn't want pity, or to be treated differently.
Perhaps, the situation called for a change of tactics. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Helping Whitney may in fact help alleviate some of her burden and therefore her behaviour.
An icon flashed on Chloe's screen, she had e-mail from Dr Swann. Clara had told her about her meeting with the Martian, the not so little green man. Well, she'd started to tell her, then Chloe had gotten impatient asking questions, so Clara handed her a journal with everything written down. Chloe was a speed reader so quickly finished and had a list of questions for Clara about her close encounter. Apparently, Martians like cookies and dress in flamboyant colours. But when she read about Dr Swann's involvement with Kryptonian symbols, she had to e-mail him more directly than before. A lot had changed since they began corresponding, the veil had been dropped. With Clara's permission she proposed a meeting between the three of them, and stated that a certain detective has suggested it.
As expected, Dr Swann had replied enthusiastically and his e-mail suggested a time and date for Chloe and her "friend" (Chloe hadn't revealed Clara's identity) to visit his observatory in Metropolis.
Chloe text Clara the time and date, and asked if her parents would allow her to go. This was a family matter.
...
Clara sat with her parents in the living room, discussing the upcoming visit with Dr Swann. Clara was anxious about this stranger who according to the Martian, knew more about the Kryptonian language than any person alive. He held the key to uncovering more of her past, parts of her culture she had lost. But what did they know about this person other than his recommendation by John Jones, another mysterious figure?
This could be the start of something momentous and life changing, or the biggest mistake she ever made. She'd be revealing her true identity to a stranger, likely a stranger who knew more about it than she did, but it left her and her family open to danger.
"Clara-Lily" her mother said, "Your whole life we've guarded your secret, we've been so worried about revealing you that even my father, your grandfather, couldn't visit you. But you're 18 next week and this is your future, it's up to you to decide what happens now. All we can do is be there for you whatever happens."
Clara sat contemplating while her parents watched.
"I think I'll go see Dr Swann, I can't live my life afraid of discovery. I trusted Chloe, and John Jones trusts Dr Swann, I'm going to have faith in humanity, just like you've always taught me."
She went over and hugged her parents, who reciprocated gladly. Growing up was full of life changing decisions; this was just another step on the journey.
For good or ill the Lily would meet the Swan.
...
It was Martha Kent who dropped her daughter and Chloe to the observatory in Metropolis that Sunday. Jonathan had remained behind to take care of business on the farm. Martha had wanted to be in the city if the meeting with Dr Swann did not go well, but she also had another purpose. Her daughter was growing up and would need her family around her. Soon she'd be going to college, exploring the big city and would need a guiding hand. If Jonathan and she could not be there she wanted her father, Clara's grandfather, William Clark attorney at law, to be at Clara's side. Jonathan and her father had never gotten on, William Clark had wanted his daughter to be a lawyer, she'd been at college to do just that when she met Jonathan. When Jonathan asked for her hand William refused, stating his daughter deserved more than to be a farmer's wife. That had fractured their father/daughter relationship and the animosity between Jonathan and William had never subsided. Her father had tried to reconcile after they adopted Clara, but Clara had trouble controlling her powers when she was small, and the constant disagreements between Jonathan and William had made them cautious to trust him with Clara's secret. Martha had always regretted her father's absence from Clara's life.
Jonathan's news about George Fordman's illness brought home to her how fragile life was, she wanted Clara to have as many family members for support at possible.
It was time to visit her father for the first time in 12 years.
...
Dr Swann's building was gargantuan and art deco, a beacon of Metropolis's historical roots. After her mother dropped them off Clara began to feel the squirming of worms in her gut. She let Chloe take the lead, she was far more confident than her anyway. Clara had tried to be tidy in how she dressed, electing for her newest and smartest pair of flare jeans and a new red blouse her mother had gotten her. The necklace that bore the symbol of the house of El lay on her chest. She'd taken care to brush her hair and polish her work boots too. She didn't know why she wanted to make a good impression, but she did.
Before they entered the building Clara felt someone watching her from across the street. She couldn't tell you how she sensed it, but she knew. Glancing over she saw the figure of John Jones standing stationary amid the flow of pedestrians, they didn't seem to notice him. He gave her an encouraging smile, and then was gone in a blink, disappearing into the mass of Metropolitans.
Clara let the breath she didn't know she was keeping out; the Martian was close if she needed him. It would seem foolish to most to trust someone who you had only met once, but Clara could feel the genuine goodness that emanated from him, and he was the only living connection she had to her father.
Chloe looked at her curiously, as if asking if they should leave. Clara smiled and gestured for Chloe to go inside. The receptionist at the desk was young and blond, but did not smile when she saw Chloe and Clara. She seemed extremely surprised when Chloe told her who they were there to see and rang upstairs to check. She looked thoroughly chagrined when she was told they were meant to be upstairs. She directed them to the elevator and told them to press floor 59. Clara had never ridden in an elevator for so long, she didn't like the confinement, even Chloe looked slightly worried. There was nothing but air beneath them. When they alighted it was to another reception room, with large windows giving a panoramic view of the city. Clara made sure to avoid looking at how high they were, she suffered from vertigo.
Clara was suddenly struck by the irony that a girl who was impervious to harm and floated when she dreamed was afraid of heights. What an odd little alien she was.
Chloe had chattered the whole way to and up the building; it was her way of displacing the awkward silences. Chloe had seen Clara fiddling with her fingers in the elevator and then the reception room; she reached out and took Clara's hand firmly in comfort. Chloe always knew the right thing to do.
Chloe kept hold of her hand (which earned them a strange look from the receptionist) as they were directed to a large pair of double doors, it was another elevator, and it went up one last floor.
The elevator binged and the doors slid open to reveal a large circular room, an observatory with a colossal telescope. There was projection screen on the opposite side of the circumference and short chalkboards, and a large desk. Behind it sat a middle-sized man in a wheelchair. He had square rimmed glasses upon his face in front of ice blue eyes and a well define nose. His face was quite striking, still holding some of the good looks that must have made him stunning in his youth. It was clear that he was paraplegic, but this did not seem to dim the aura of self assuredness and power about him. He smiled at the girls as they came in and seemed to recognise Chloe.
"Hello! I'm sure you've guessed that I am Dr Virgil Swann, and you must be Miss Sullivan, and this is Miss Kent? I read Miss Sullivan's wonderfully written piece on your daring rescue of Luthor the younger a few weeks ago, that was quite a heroic feat."
So, Dr Swann found out who she was without Chloe revealing it, but did he know what she was.
Clara felt bashful and answered truthfully.
"I was just doing the right thing, I'm sure anyone else would do the same."
Dr Swann smiled and gave her a knowing look.
"But perhaps not something anyone else could do."
Dr Swann's eyes flickered to the necklace Clara wore, as if confirming a suspicion.
Clara saw Chloe shift slightly in her peripheral vision.
"So, that is the necklace you spoke of? Indeed it looks like the others I have studied, would you like to see them?"
Chloe chatted enthusiastically with Dr Swann as he wheeled over to the projector, giving vocal commands to the computers as they projected an image of space.
"Ladies, this is an image of a region of space that is many light years from our own. I have always been fascinated with space, the curiosity of the unknown; it is why I chose Astrophysics as one of my many interests. The red glow you see is the wondrous phenomena of a crimson sun, much like our own yellow sun. The green star circling it, is not a star at all, but a planet not unlike our own. It is, or was, the planet Krypton."
Clara stared at that green dot, the source of her creation.
"What is even more curious is that 18 years ago, that green spark disappeared entirely, leaving a void in space. The planet was destroyed by some cataclysmic event, but its remnants flew across the stars, arriving at our own planet in your hometown of Smallville 15 years ago, 3 years after the spark of Krypton went out. But that was not all that arrived on that day. A short time before the planet vanished a message was received by my SWANNSTAR Satellites, a message in a language no one had ever seen. I and some of my companions studied it intently for two years, trying every algorithm but to no avail. The others disbanded and I continued alone until I hit upon a mathematical code so pure it decrypted it. The Kryptonian's must have been a highly intelligent and advanced race, for their language reflected their grasp of mathematics, science and logic. It was a message for a traveller, who was being sent across the stars to earth for their own safety, as their planet was doomed."
The image changed and many unfamiliar symbols and shapes began to run across the projector screen. Yet, Clara recognised one, the symbol of her house, El.
"For years, we searched for the traveller, hoping to fulfil the message, but to no avail. But the traveller was found but the most unlikely and perfect people possible. Clara, the message is for you, read it."
Chloe looked at Clara in encouragement.
"I can't it doesn't mean anything."
Dr Swann smiled sadly.
"I think, perhaps, you need only be reminded."
Dr Swann looked on at the screen and began a verbal translation.
"This is Kala-El of Krypton, our infant daughter, our last hope. Please protect her and deliver her from evil..."
Something strange occurred within Clara's brain, where once the symbols and the words had not made sense, they seemed to transform before her until they formed English words, and then sentences. A hidden part of her brain, long unused, began to flood her consciousness and the symbols that had once been strange began to make perfect sense.
Clara's voice interrupted Dr Swann's.
"We will be with you Kala-El, all the days of your life."
Clara was astonished by her own pronouncement and Chloe looked upon her in wonder and pride.
Dr Swann smiled and wheeled forward.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Kala-El of the planet Krypton; I have waited to do so for 18 years. I admit in my youth I was apprehensive at the possibility of alien life, I feared that you would have been sent here to subjugate us. But, having met you, seen the evidence of your deeds, and seen the humble way you have been raised, I feel that you could in fact one day be Humanities greatest champion. If that were not enough, our friend the Martian presented himself to me some years ago, after he discovered my search for you, and named himself as your sworn protector. I have found him to be an honest and trustworthy ally and a great resource on the wonders of the galaxy. I am gratified that you have experienced the love that your parents wished for you and the best friendships that humanity has to offer."
He looked at Chloe at that moment.
"I will keep your secret, Kala-El, it shall never leave this room. A new age is coming, when humanity will know they are not alone in the universe. When that time comes and you decide to step into the spotlight, know that I am your friend and will offer any assistance I can. Until then, I wish to give you this."
Dr Swann wheeled over to the desk and Clara followed, upon it was a journal much like her own, he indicated for her to look through it and she saw countless pages of Kryptonian writing and drawings and diagrams."
"The message did not only contain words for you, it contained some of the history of Krypton. All I could decipher I have in this journal, and I gift it to you, Clara, this is your inheritance."
"Thank you Dr Swann, for everything. You've given me a piece of my culture I would never have had otherwise."
"It was yours to begin with; you only needed to find it."
Chloe stood at a respectful distance, letting them have their space.
Dr Swann turned the wheelchair towards Chloe.
"And you, Miss Sullivan, are a very enterprising young woman. Those searching algorithms you used to find references to the El necklace, they were your own design?"
"Yes, I couldn't find an existing algorithm aggressive or accurate enough."
"That was very nice work Miss Sullivan, if you ever want to pursue a career in technologies, I would love for you to come work for me. The future of this planet is dependent on the curiosity and brilliance of minds such as yours, as well as the goodness and loyalty of their hearts."
"Or, if you should ever need my help in a more unofficial capacity, do not hesitate to contact me."
Chloe smiled at his adulation of her technical brilliance. She also looked a little star struck. Not many people got to see the sheer magnitude of her capabilities, especially in a town like Smallville. Or if they did they had no idea what she was doing.
"Now, I believe Mr Jones has given you something to show me?"
Clara removed the octagonal key from her pocket, she now recognised the symbols to mean "hope" "SM" and "Barcode", whatever they meant together she had no idea.
Dr Swann asked her to place it on the scanning pad by his laptop, and verbally commanded it to create a 3-D image. A replica of the key became visible on the projection screen.
"Yes, the shape is familiar to me."
"From where?" Chloe asked excitedly. It seemed the preliminaries were over.
"There are a rather wonderful set of preserved Kawatche Indian caves in Smallville. They have pictograms containing the histories of the people, as well as some curious symbols I think you'll recognise. Computer, open file: Kawatche Caves.
New images flashed to the screen of the interior of a massive cave system.
Clara touched her necklace.
"I know the family who excavate those caves, the Willowbrooks. It was Grandmother Willowbrook who gave me this necklace, she said it was mine."
"Then she was very astute" answered Dr Swann as he pulled up a photograph of a wall that contained depictions of two monsters fighting, the Kryptonian symbols for "destroyer" and "saviour" and a octagonal shaped hole.
"Computer" said Dr Swann, "Shrink Image 1 to the size ratio specifications of grid area G4 and align."
The key image shrunk and moved over the hole depicted in the photograph, they aligned perfectly.
"It would seem, Clara, we've found where your key belongs. The Kawatche caves are the next step on your journey."
Chloe and Clara looked at each other excitedly; there was a new lead to investigate.
"Clara, Chloe, I'm a scientist, I consider curiosity to be a most admirable trait, go seek out the unexplained and continue your journey, it is the only way you can write your own destinies."
Dr Swann gave Chloe some new software, stating she would find it interesting. Clara and Chloe bid goodbye to Dr Swann, Clara kissed him on the cheek for all his help, and they left Swann Tower with the journal, the key, and a new heading.
Dr Swann watched them go with the distinct feeling he had just met the future of Earths heroes. He would speak to the Martian John Jones again, his informants and computer taps had informed him that Lionel Luthor was on the move. Their younger days in the Veritas movement, awaiting the coming of the traveller, had never stopped for Lionel, long after the Teagues and the Queen's had abandoned their beliefs. Lionel Luthor wanted the traveller for his own purposes but having met Clara, Dr Swann knew this must be prevented at all costs.
Kala-El was the future hope of Earth and Luthor's were poison.
...
Author's Note: I hope you liked it and didn't consider it rushed! I thought I'd save Martha's encounter with her father for next time! Please review! I've added a few paraphrased pieces of dialogue from episodes with Dr Swann in for those who can spot them!
