Superboy saves the day
That's what the article for the torch read. "I guess we know what happened to your powers Clark," Martha said putting down the paper. Clark couldn't believe it. His powers weren't just gone; they had been transferred into an entirely different body.
"You said Eric was holding a meteor rock when the lighting struck," Jonathan said to Clark.
"Yeah; that must've been what caused the transfer," Clark said placing the paper back down on the table.
"You know what they say Clark. Lighting doesn't strike twice in the same place. I don't think your powers are ever coming back," Jonathan said.
"I thought that knowledge would make me sad, but I actually feel strangely relieved. I don't have to hide who I am anymore. Better yet I don't have to worry about Chloe discovering my powers," Clark said then checked the clock. I gotta head to school now. See ya," and Clark ran out the door to catch his bus. As he sprinted to catch it he wound up tripping. He got up, dusted off, and ran after the bus as it started pulling away. His parents watched him from the window.
"You're kind of relieved aren't you?" Martha asked Jonathan.
"He always did say that he wanted to be normal," Jonathan said. "Not having to worry about him being exposed is an added bonus though," he added with a small chuckle.
While Clark was enjoying the pleasures of a normal life, Eric was experiencing the pains of being superhuman. His own parents were afraid of him and his dad actually wanted to have some tests run on him. Eric snapped and pinned his father up against the wall. He threatened him and declared that he no longer had to take orders from him or anyone else. He could have anything or anyone he wants and there's nothing no one can do to stop him. With that he super sped out of the house.
Gym class was once again a bitch for Clark. He struggled through pushups, took longer than usual to climb up the rope, and was ready to die following the bleacher run. Despite all of that Clark actually felt good; not in a physical sense of course, but in a mental sense. He actually liked feeling the pain of a hard day's work. As he continued to pant from the end of class he felt a bottle of water crash into his face.
"Sorry Clark," Chloe apologized. "I thought you'd catch that," she said.
"No problem Chloe," he said picking up the bottle and started to drain it.
"Can I tell you a secret?" Chloe asked him.
"Depends; who's it about?" Clark asked her.
"You," she answered.
Clark hesitated for a moment then said, "What is it?"
"Well you know how Eric admitted to being the meteor freak that we've been tracking since the homecoming dance?"
"Yeah… why do you ask?"
"Well this is going to sound silly, but I thought the freak was you for a while now," she confessed.
Clark laughed. "Me? That's hilarious Chloe," Clark laughed.
"Yeah I know," she agreed with him. "I just thought with all the quick exits and how you never seemed to get tired or whatever I thought you might have been it. But after seeing Eric in action plus how you've been running on emergency fumes these past couple of days I think we can safely rule you out as a suspect." Clark held on to his breath of relief and just smiled at Chloe. "Just to let you know Clark even if you had been the meteor freak that wouldn't make me look at you any differently. You'd still be the same guy I've know the past two years," Chloe said, which made Clark smile.
"What are you guys talking about?" Tess said entering the gym with a basketball in hand with Pete and Jimmy following close behind.
"Just about the school's new superhero," Chloe answered.
"Just because he has powers doesn't make him a superhero," Clark muttered.
"You're just jealous Clark. I'm pretty sure most of the guys here would kill to have the powers Eric has," Pete said.
"Doubting that," Clark thought.
"We were' just about to shoot the ball around Clark. Like to join us in a game?" Tess asked.
"Sure," Clark agreed standing up.
"Cool. You're on my team then"
"Hold on for a second," Pete said.
"What's the matter Pete?" Tess asked tossing him the ball and then stealing it back. "Afraid of losing to a girl?"
Pete narrowed his eyes. "Give me that ball," he said.
"You're gonna have to take it from me," Tess said already dribbling past him only to have the ball stolen out of her hands by Jimmy. The game began and the four friends played fiercely with Chloe acting as a cheerleader for both sides. Even though Clark and Tess started off losing the game, Clark was having the time of his life. For once he could just let go and enjoy life without having to worry about injuring somebody. Team 'TC' as Chloe called them soon retook the lead from team 'PJ'.
"That's a terrible pun, Chloe!" Jimmy shouted out at her. Chloe just shrugged as the game continued. A half hour later they were all lying on the floor sweaty and out of breath. Clark and Tess had won the game by a single basket. Chloe helped the two losers to their feet as they were to 'weak and exhausted' to get up on their own.
"So; when do you think Jimmy will admit to being Chloe's admirer?" Tess asked lying next to Clark.
"Jimmy? Chloe's admirer; yeah right. What makes you think that?" Clark asked turning his head to her.
"It's obvious he has a thing for her," Tess answered.
"Even if he does that doesn't mean he's the one who's admiring her from afar," Clark said staggering to his feet. He held his hand down to Tess and she gripped it. Clark helped her up, but pulled a little too hard because Tess bumped into his chest and they both fell back down to the floor with Tess on top of Clark.
"Sorry Clark," she said.
"Don't be," Clark responded looking up at her. They started to lean down towards each other, but then they heard the door swing open making Tess roll off of Clark.
"Kent," Whitney said walking past the two of them and into the locker room. Ever since he got out of the hospital he's been having these weird flashes. Flashes of something he knows he should remember, but for some reason can't. If there was one thing that he did know it was that Clark was somehow connected to them and he was going to figure out how one way or another.
Lunch Time
Eric was looking like a different person altogether. He was no longer wearing his glasses and he was walking around with a boom box.
"What parallel dimension did he come from?" Chloe asked as she, Lana, Tess, Clark, Jimmy, and Pete were all eating lunch. They saw Eric sit down at the table his crush was sitting at and heard him ask her out. Her boyfriend got in Eric's face and he proceeded to punch out the side mirror of a truck before chasing the scared jock throughout the parking lot eventually throwing him into a table. Clark sprung up and ran in Eric's way.
"Stay out of my way Clark!" He ordered.
"No Eric! You have to stop. You could kill someone. You don't want that on your conscience," Clark attempted to reason.
"You aren't my father Clark. No shut up and get out of my way!" Eric chucked Clark halfway across the parking lot and he landed on the windshield of a truck. Everyone stared at Eric with scared eyes; some even backing away from him.
"Get away from us you freak!" His crush shouted at him. Eric looked shocked at what he did and sped away into the distance. Tess ran to the truck and looked over Clark. He had a cut on his forehead, but that wasn't what made her sweat. She felt the part of his body where he landed. "His ribs are bruised! Someone call an ambulance!" She called out.
Clark cringed a little as the doctor finished wrapping up Clark's bruised ribs.
"How long am I gonna have to wear these?" Clark asked.
"You'll be fine in a couple of weeks," the doctor said.
"Weeks?" Clark said in disbelief just as his parents walked into his room. His mother put him into a hug and Clark had to push her back gently off his bruised ribs.
As Clark relayed the day's events to them, Tess knocked on the door and poked her head inside. "It's alright Tess. You can come in," Martha said to her. Tess walked inside and gently hugged Clark.
"Are you alright?" She asked as Martha and Jonathan stepped outside and closed the door to give the two some privacy.
"I've been better," he replied. "Has anyone heard from Eric?" He asked.
"The police were just at his house. He went ballistic and tore them apart as well as most of his home. No one has seen him since. Can you imagine having such power at your finger tips?" Tess asked talking about Eric and yet at the same time, herself. She still remembered the gruesome image of the cops she brutally killed.
"You have no idea," Clark thought then said, "It must've been scary for him. But still someone has to stop him before he seriously hurts somebody."
"You're talking about yourself aren't you?" She asked him. Clark didn't answer her. He just started to walk towards the door. "You can't go after him, Clark," Tess said grabbing Clark's arm to stop him. "You've seen his strength and other powers. If you try to fight him you'll die. Look what he's done to you already," She said lightly touching the bandages over Clark's ribs. Clark softly took Tess' hand and pulled her into a hug. They just stood there in each other's arms; slowly swaying.
"I think I know a way to stop him," Clark said to her.
"How would you know?" Tess asked still clinging onto Clark.
"I just have a feeling," he answered.
"But why does it have to be you? You don't have to act like everyone's hero," she said pulling away slightly and looking into Clark's eyes.
"It's not about acting like a hero. It's just about doing the right thing," he said rubbing Tess' right cheek. They heard a knock at the door making them jump apart.
"Clark. Are you ready?" His dad asked from outside.
"One more minute," Clark answered him.
Tess looked at Clark, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Just promise you won't die," she requested.
"Promise," Clark said pulling her into another hug.
Clark went to see Eric's parents shortly after he got out of the hospital. He went to see Lana first and asked her if he could borrow her meteor rock necklace. She told him ok even though she wasn't sure why he needed it. Mr. Summers told Clark that Eric said he was going to where it began. Realizing that Eric meant the dam Clark raced there as quickly as he could; this was one of the moments where he missed having his super speed. He reached the dam just in time to see Eric jump off. Clark sighed and ran off down to the bottom of the dam. He really, really missed his super speed.
"Eric!" He called out. He heard a familiar sounding whoosh and spotted Eric.
"You should've let me go the first time, Kent," he said.
"Why'd you throw yourself off that dam?" Clark asked him holding a lead box with the necklace behind his back.
"I was testing myself to see if I have any limits. But apparently I don't," he answered stepping towards him.
"Look Eric you can adjust to these abilities; you just have to give yourself some time," Clark said.
"You'd know that wouldn't you Clark?" Eric asked him. "I'm not stupid Clark. I've seen how you never seem to tire no matter the workout during gym and the fact that you just happened to be there when the lighting struck. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together." Eric super sped at Clark and shoved him through the fence that housed several generators. Clark groaned out and saw that the necklace had fallen out of the box. "It all makes sense now," he said as Clark crawled away trying to find the necklace. "All of our classmates that wound up in Belle Reeve that were supposedly infected. You put them there didn't you?" He asked dragging Clark to his feet.
"They were killing people. I couldn't just stand around and let them do that," Clark said.
"And who asked you to do that?" Eric asked and shoved Clark into a generator almost breaking Clark's back. "So you get these powers and you decide to play hero, huh?" He asked. "Someone should've told you Kent," he said stepping on Clark's bruised rib. "There are no heroes in this world," he said slowly crushing it.
Clark felt like he was going to pass out from the pain any second. He saw the look of enjoyment on Eric's face at Clark's pain. As Clark started losing his consciousness he spotted the necklace and snatched it from the dirt. Eric immediately backed away from Clark and almost fell down. Clark pushed himself up and though in pain, punched Eric in the face as hard as he could. Eric fell to the ground and was surprised to see himself bleeding.
"What did you do to me Clark? What did you do! ?" He shouted and sprinted at Clark sending him crashing into the next generator. Clark felt everything spin and almost go dark. He saw Eric approaching him with a fury burning in his eyes. Just before he could reach Clark someone tackled Eric into the dirt. "Mercer?" Eric asked.
"Get away from him!" Tess shouted and threw a punch at Eric. He blocked it and threw her off of him. Tess sprung up and tried to kick Eric, but her caught her leg and chucked her into the fence knocking down the entire structure.
"Stay away from her!" Clark ordered Eric as he moved towards her.
"You should've minded you own business Kent!" He yelled and then ripped and electrical wire from one of the undamaged generators.
"I hope this works," Clark thought as Eric approached him. Clark threw out his arm just as Eric shoved the wire at Clark. Clark grabbed his arm electrocuting them both; the necklace glowing vibrantly. They both fell into the dirt. Clark felt all the injuries he received from the fight heal instantaneously as well as the radiation from the necklace. He quickly put it back into the lead box.
"What did you do to me, Clark?" Eric repeated lying on the ground in pain. He shut his eyes and was out cold.
"Clark! ?" He heard Tess call out to him. Clark pretended to still feel injured as she helped him to his feet. "I thought I saw you get electrocuted," she said.
"Eric got the worst of it," Clark said. "I'll live. How did you find me?"
"I was worried about you so I kind of followed you," she admitted.
"It was a good thing that you did. If you hadn't I might've died tonight," he said. Tess gave him a bright smile.
"Just trying to do the right thing?" She said repeating his words from earlier today.
"Well isn't this a pretty picture," Chloe said stepping into the scene.
"Chloe? What are you?"
"I gave Tess a ride here," she answered then looked at Eric and then Clark. "Eric had all those powers and yet Clark is still standing. Was he really infected or just really lucky? I honestly don't know what to think anymore," Chloe wondered. Perhaps this was one mystery that was best left alone.
Clark, Tess, and Chloe kept watch over Eric until the police and ambulance arrived. Afterwards Clark gave Tess a ride back to the mansion. "Thanks for the save," Clark thanked Tess once he pulled the truck to a stop.
"Anytime Clark," she smiled. Clark walked Tess to the front door, which was answered by Lex.
"Tess. I was wondering where you've been all day," He said to her.
"Just hanging out with a few friends; should've called I guess," she said.
"It's ok," he said. "Thanks for giving Tess a ride home," he said to Clark.
"You're welcome," Clark replied then looked to Tess. "See you tomorrow at school," he said and then walked back to his car.
"You and Clark seem to be getting along nicely," Lex said to Tess.
"He's the best friend I've ever had in a long time," Tess said watching him leave then turned to Lex. "By the way. I heard there was an explosion at the plant. Is everything alright?" She asked to change the subject. As much as she liked Lex she'd rather not discuss Clark with him. Lex seemed to have some sort of fixation on Clark. Like there was something he believed that Clark was keeping secret from him.
"Nothing too serious he said. There were a few injuries, but nothing too severe."
Smallville Hospital
Rudy Jones lay in his hospital bed in a coma. His body was horribly scarred. As a matter of fact some portions of his skin had changed color from white to a dark purple.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Next time we finally reach 'Obscura', which along with Tempest are the most important parts of my story like I've been saying since the beginning. See ya soon!