Chapter 8: Pray
It hurts to breathe when you know someone you love is hurting. My chest tightens at the thought that Lois is just getting worst and worst. That she may never wake up, be cold, quiet…
"God, I'm not a religious man… Heck, I'm a freaken clone. But, if you can do miracles like they say you can, you gotta save Lois. You have to cos', there are people here on this earth that you made in seven days… they need that woman a-and I'm one of them."
Tears make tracks down my dirt covered face; they descend towards the end of my chin. My hand lifts to stop it from dripping to the floor. I gently put down my head onto the wooden hand-rest in front of me. I needed to get away from everything in that hallway.
So I now kneel in the hospital's chapel.
Middle row.
The sadness, the regret, the General… I just had to leave. I move my jaw slowly, surprised that it still hurts from Lane's punch.
The pain and hurt in my chest bubbles at a rapid rate from the very thought of him. "God, I have a few more things to say…" I mumble, before raising my head. "What kind of father does those things, huh? I mean you're one aren't you? What kind of-of…Monster, would do that? To his own daughter…His family…"
The silence mocks me, throws my questions back into my face. "Heh… I can't even get an answer to a simple… QUESTION!!" Suddenly that bubbling in my chest burst and I slam my fists down, hard, onto the wooden seat. I continue to bring them down; imaging that beneath them was Sam Lane and Lex Luthor. I want them to hurt like I am, for the first time in my short life I want to kill. I want them dead. Every time I see them in my mind I scream and rage; my eyes close trying to stop the tears that flood around them.
Finally after the continuous onslaught, the thick wood and stone floor break from my strength. And I fall to the white cracked floor. My last tears splash onto the ground under my pathetic form.
And I now feel…nothing.
At the back of the chapel stood Clark Kent. His watchful gaze never once leaving the hurting teen before him. After letting Conner go off to the chapel for awhile, Clark had decided to follow him. He was worried about the young man. Seeing the fight between him and General Lane, the unspeakable fear in his eyes when Conner looked at the older man...That scared Clark a lot. The Kryptonian knew that there was something here, because now he wondered: what exactly did Lois' father do in his job?
His blue-green eyes caught a slight glow from his clone's clenched fists. The glowing stopped before Clark could even tell what colour it illuminated. He quickly put that bit of information at the back of his mind, right now he was needed.
Soundlessly Clark walked up to the broken boy and cradled him in his arms. "Let's pray together."
And that was all he needed to say.
(Un-named Island, Pacific Ocean)
A large fighting ring in the very middle if the room displayed one male; he stood erect, to attention. His spine up straight… Too straight.
"State your code age and project number." A robotic voice commanded from the speakers placed around the dark room.
The tall male mindlessly stepped forward. His chiselled jaw strong and clenched, he looked like an exact replica of Clark Kent. "I am Project 404CK, Code age 20. Modelled after failed Project, 001CK."
Up in the seating arena, over looking the ring that held the new clone sat Lex Luthor and one of his many advisors. "So Mr. Luthor, what do you think? Quite a fine specimen don't you agree?"
Lex's cold stare left the unmoving form of 404CK to lock eyes with his advisor. "'What do I think?'" He said slowly, turning back towards the clone. "I think this little trip has wasted my time and precious fuel, that's what I think! Johnstone I don't want a replacement to project 001CK. I want the real 001CK…Is that understood?"
"But Mr. Luthor…The upgrades-"
"But nothing, we're done here Johnstone." Lex picked off some dirt from his Armani suit and cleared his throat, before opening the door. "Terminated 404CK immediately." He commanded over his shoulder. The expensive black suit's receding form went into the descending darkness of the corridor outside.
One last sentence echoed off the cold gray walls:
"I want my son back…"
Walking back into the bright hospital hallway, I feel weak and strong at the same time. Weak because of this hate that swells inside me. Hate that I don't want to feel. - Strong because of Clark's hand on my shoulder. Helping me try and pass the hate, make it something positive.
The General is no where to be seen… typical. I shake my head at the thought; Clark's hand squeezes my shoulder underneath. It's like he could tell what I was thinking, maybe he was thinking the same thing. Chloe breaks away from her conversation with that Bruce Wayne guy and runs up to us.
"Hey, you ok?" She wraps her arms around me as Clark goes and talks to Wayne.
"Yeah I'm good." I pull away slightly. "Why are you asking me when you're her cousin?"
"Its fine, I'm fine…" she falters but tries to cover it by taking my hand and walking me over to the others. However, I catch it. I decided to let it go if she doesn't want to talk about it, then I won't push…For now. I'll tell Clark later. "The doctor came out before you two got back."
Chloe's eyes lock with Clark's. "You can go in and see her if you want to."
You know I never thought I'd see so many emotions coming from one person. They say the eyes are the window to the soul…Who ever came up with that, they were right. "You go ahead Clark, we'll wait out here. Besides, I'm kinda hungry."
Clark gives me a small smile. "Thanks Conner."
"Kent, before you go…" Bruce pulled Clark over. "I'm going to head off and let the team know what's going on."
Clark shook his head in response. "No Bruce, there's too many people here already."
The billionaire smiled slightly "He needs to know, Oliver would want to. He cares about her…As do the rest of them."
Clark just shook his head again. "Listen Bruce, I don't mean to be a pain…I don't. Ollie hurt her bad, he wasn't there when she need double chocolate fudge at three in the morning. He wasn't there to hand her tissues when she was watching The Notebook. He wasn't there. He broke her heart."
Bruce breathed in before pouncing. "You don't want him here do you? You're jealous of Oliver Queen."
Clark's large hand swept through his jet black locks. "Listen…Ok, tell them…You're right they're her friends, just don't let them come here yet. I don't want to get their hopes up."
Bruce gave a slight nod, but there was a frown on his face. "You're going to do something aren't you?"
But his new companion just slapped his back quickly. "No Bruce…I'm just going to pray."