Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.

Chapter 9

On the airplane trip to Metropolis Andrew grinned, "I can't believe we have a company jet now, last time we came here we had to go first class."

Jacob shook his head at the spending while Selmak chuckled a bit at Gol'Tok's host's relative innocence, he would not have lasted long in the Tok'ra.

Daniel was reading some books, he was trying to ignore Andrew as he felt that Andrew was wasting what Gol'Tok gave him but not all of this could be from the Tok'ra in him, some of Andrew's potential was all Andrew.

Andrew read several reports from the men working on meteor rock excavation, he was being careful as he had heard about the damaging effects of the meteor rocks from Chloe Sullivan's reports, most intriguing.

Gol'Tok whispered, 'Andrew, there is something about these caves; they seem important, perhaps it is something here but the town feels odd and yet, as in one of those movies you watched. There is a touch of destiny there; something great will come from here, one that does not need the SGC's meddling.'

'Yeah,' Andrew found himself agreeing with what Gol'Tok was saying; he didn't want them around the meteor rocks.

'Metropolis looks beautiful,' Andrew thought, 'I still didn't have offices here but soon I will, maybe.'

As the plane landed Andrew and Buffy prayed that the Luthors weren't going to meet them again.

Andrew sighed as he got off the airplane and saw that Lex Luthor was waiting for him, Lex looked at him and said, "Mr Wells, welcome back to Metropolis."

"Hello Mr Luthor," Andrew said while hearing Gol'Tok whisper calming things into his ear.

"Well Mr Wells," Lex said, "You've been involved with our little town again; my father is quite upset at you for taking charge of mining for the meteor rocks. I have to ask; what is so fascinating about the rocks?"

Andrew smiled slightly, "Can't say Mr Luthor, you know that, right?"

"Indeed Mr Wells," Lex said, "But this time you'll spend the night, right?"

"Umm, yeah," Andrew sighed nervously.

Lex looked at Jacob and Daniel and said, "New employees? When your personal assistant is more than capable enough."

Andrew smiled, "This is Daniel; he's my resident crackpot archaeologist."

Daniel glared at Andrew and muttered, "I'm gonna have to get the little warmonger for that one."

"And this is Jacob Carter; umm, he's my military adviser," Andrew shrugged.

Lex nodded and said, "Come, I have a limo ready for you. Do you want to ride with your employees?"

"Umm, yeah," Andrew said, "It's fine if I ride with them."

Lex chuckled a bit and said, "Alright," and ushered them into a limo waiting for them and said, "I'll be waiting for you at my mansion."

As they got into the limo Daniel looked at Andrew and said, "Crackpot archaeologist?"

"Hey, it's what I read about you on the web; you were discredited by every reputable museum and organization out there and then you disappear for a couple of years," Andrew said shrugging.

"But you know I'm right," Daniel said, "You have proof living in your head."

"Yes and you've been passing judgement on me," Andrew said, "Ever since you found out about what I do, so what gives you right to ride on such a high horse?"

Daniel glared and said, "Alright, maybe I'll stop being so critical of you."

Andrew snorted and looked away when his eyes glowed and Gol'Tok sighed, "Daniel Jackson, Andrew is sensitive, it's one of his virtues and one his flaws too and he realizes the grave danger that is the Goa'uld all too well and he honestly believes in what he's doing here; he is helping your world prepare for a war that may come. Who knows where destiny could've taken him if I had not made it or if I had died on that ship?"

"It doesn't make it right," Daniel said, "He should be concerned about being a kid for just a bit longer."

"Just be quiet," Andrew said, "I don't wanna have to listen to you for the next however long it takes to get to Smallville," and fell asleep.

Daniel looked a bit irritated and looked at Buffy who shrugged and said, "He's just a bit iffy right now because he has to get involved in this matter."

"Truthfully," Buffy said, "Andrew probably wouldn't have got involved with the problems here if only for Jonathon Kent's asking him too, we both owe Mr Kent a bit as he helped us out when we visited."

"You mean to say that he gave us shelter after we tromped all night through the fields of Smallville?" Gol'Tok said, "Good times, very good times."

Jacob shook his head and said, "Irregardless this seems like a bad situation, why did you two get involved with this place?"

Buffy frowned, "Umm, company secret; you might find out later I suppose, if he wants to Andrew will explain."

The trip to Smallville was boring; Selmak wondered why did Gol'Tok involve himself with this situation? They talked long and hard about it.

Andrew was shaken awake by Buffy who whispered, "We're here Andrew."

"Thank god!" Andrew said as he got up and got out of the car breathing heavily, he hated having to stay with Lex Luthor but he was betting that leaving in the middle of the night was out of the question.

Buffy sighed as Lex walked out and said, "Welcome again to Smallville."

Andrew looked at him and said, "Mr Luthor, thanks for your hospitality but I must go talk to the Kent's, they asked us to dinner to discuss the caves their son discovered."

Lex nodded and said, "I'll drive you there if you want?"

"Umm," Daniel said, "I'll come too, actually I want to meet the young man who found the cave."

"Sure," Andrew said, "Whatever, if you want to come you can."

Buffy sighed, "Andrew, be nice, alright? He's trying to be nice to you so you be nice to him, alright?"

"Sure, I guess I can be nice if he's nice to me," Andrew said as he gave Daniel a look.

'Oh, so that's how it is?' Gol'Tok teased internally, 'You like Daniel, don't you? Regardless of how you cover it up you like him; well don't be mean to him, try to be nice to him and he'll be nice you Andrew.'

Andrew didn't say a thing; he simply looked away and got into the car. Jacob frowned and he looked at Daniel and said, "What is the deal between you two?"

"I don't know," Daniel frowned, "I'm trying to be nice even if he's a weapons dealer, though I'm starting to blame the symbiote for that part of the company."

Jacob smiled simply, Selmak agreed with Daniel on Gol's part of the company; he was driven when he believed in something and part of that determination was passed to Andrew but even Jacob agreed with him, he seemed a bit young to be working on weapons technology though the Earth Zat looked nice.

When they got to the Kent's Jonathon came out and frowned slightly when they came out of Lex's car, Andrew smiled at him and waved a bit causing Jonathon to smile a bit at him and his smile turned wider when Lex left but he wondered vaguely who the other two men were.

Andrew came up and said, "Hello Mr Kent, how are you?"

"Doing well," Jonathon said, "And your company? Since you've been cleaning up the meteor rocks or at least all of the ones that you can find."

Andrew smiled, "Oh, umm, this is Daniel Jackson and Jacob Carter."

"Oh, well hello," Jonathon said, "Martha will be happy to hear that she can feed two extra men."

Daniel smiled and said, "Thanks for having us."

As Jonathon ushered them in Martha smiled at them and said, "Welcome back, I'm sorry I didn't get to introduce myself before."

Andrew nodded and another voice said, "Umm, hello, I'm Clark Kent."

"Oh, hello," Andrew said looking at the taller man, "It's nice to meet you and I do hope we can help you with your cave problem."

Clark smiled and looked at Buffy and introduced himself to her and the others, then Martha had Andrew and the others sit down until she was ready to call them for dinner.

Daniel rattled off questions to Clark about the caves and Clark stared at Jacob and Andrew, he tried to answer questions from Daniel but there was something about those two, it wasn't a bad feeling, he focused his eyesight and nearly collapsed: wrapped around their spines were two snakelike things, he stared at Buffy and didn't see anything.

"So," Andrew said surprising Clark from his staring, "I'd like to see these caves Clark, maybe after dinner you could take me and Buffy to them? I'd like to see these caves that I'll be defending from the Luthors and what makes them so important, if that's alright?"

Buffy and the others stared at how tense the Kent's became and Andrew smiled and said, "If it's alright with you guys?"

Clark nodded and said, "I'll take you there, alone though, okay? Then you can see the caves."

Andrew nodded and smiled, inside Gol'Tok stared through Andrew's eyes at Clark and saw a barest hint of suspicion and he chuckled, obviously Clark Kent did his best to hide his emotions but not well enough it seemed, he was suddenly suspicious.

At dinner, as Andrew ate the ribs Martha prepared, she looked at Andrew and thought; he's young to be a CEO of a company and the fact that he's removing the meteor rocks from the town had won him some admirers in town.

"So," Martha said, "Your own company, your parents must be proud of you?"

Andrew frowned and thought, 'My parents? I haven't spoken to them since I left Sunnydale,' he frowned and said, "They must be, I haven't spoken them or my brother for a bit, but then again we never had much to say to each other in the first place."

Jonathon frowned as did Martha and Jonathon muttered, "Not really proper but it is your life, but without family it must be lonely."

"Yeah, maybe," Andrew said, "But we weren't close to begin with; we loved each other but we hardly talked."

After dinner Clark said, "So, umm, Mr Wells, do you want to check out the caves now?"

Andrew nodded and Daniel looked up and said, "I'd like to come too, if that's alright? I've been wanting to see them for a few months."

"Tomorrow," Clark said, "I just want to show Andrew around and," he stared at Jacob, "Just Mr Wells right now, I'm going to show Andrew what he might be protecting from Lionel."

Buffy frowned; she knew Gol had concealed that Ribbon device plus the new Zat gun so he'd be safe from Clark if he did something."

"Lionel," Andrew frowned, "Not Lex as well?"

"No Mr Wells," Clark said, "Lex is my friend and he's been trying to keep his father from the caves."

Andrew nodded as they walked out; Clark pulled him into the truck and drove him to where the caves were.

"So," Andrew said, "These caves; they're important to you, how come?"

'If you only knew Mr Wells,' Clark thought a bit wryly, but still he had to find out what Andrew was.

When they got out Clark stared at Andrew again and found that he couldn't stop staring at Andrew's back as that creature was wrapped around his spine, it was horribly fascinating. When they got into the caves Clark stopped him and said, "What are you?"

Andrew stared and said, "Umm, Mr Kent, are you alright?"

"What are you?" Clark repeated, "There's something in your neck."

"How the hell?" Andrew muttered.

Clark backed away when Andrew's eyes flashed gold and said, "I am Gol'Tok of the Tok'ra and you have nothing to fear from me or my partner. But how did you see me? Are you one of these meteor enhanced humans that Ms Sullivan writes about in her school newspaper? Which, by the way, makes it sound like a tabloid newspaper."

Clark stared, "Yeah, meteor enhanced human but you still haven't told me what you are."

Gol'Tok laughed, "The Tok'ra are symbiotes; I am the snake you saw within Andrew somehow and Andrew is my host: we are partners and we are friends or at least I'd like to assume we are."

Andrew grinned and spoke up, "Yeah, we share my body and if you saw Gol in me then you must have seen Selmak in Mr Carter."

Clark nodded dumbly and Andrew sighed, "He's an alien worm living inside of me. Now let's go see the caves, okay?"

"Sure, I guess but," Clark said, "I'll have more questions for you."

As they walked into the picture cave Andrew stared at the caves and said, "Umm, Mr Kent, do you mind not staring? It's making Gol'Tok self conscious."

"Sorry," Clark muttered, "It's really weird to see a snake wrapped around your spine like that."

"Umm, you have to feel it too," Andrew said giggling slightly, "But hey," Andrew smiled, "Tell me about this legend?"

As Clark explained the legend Andrew held his hand up and Gol'Tok spoke, "Sageeth, you said Sageeth? Interesting."

Clark frowned, "What's so interesting about that?"

"Well," Gol'Tok said, "Because Sageeth was the name of Goa'uld System lord who was reportedly killed thousands of years ago. How would this tribe know of him? Sageeth, as far as I know, only terrorised the other system lords."

TBC

Should Andrew and Gol'Tok figure out that Clark is not human? What do you think of Sageeth being the name of a System Lord?

Please rate and review.