Chapter 21
Smallville Medical Centre...
By the time Clark and Andrea arrive it's clear the facilities are being overwhelmed with patients. They're lying out in the corridors there are so many of them.
"If this spreads beyond Smallville to say Metropolis..." Andrea says, being the fatalist one.
She doesn't need to say it. Clark can pretty much guess what would happen...and the problem is what can he do?
What can he do?
He can fly, superbreath...
"I can redirect the cloud," it suddenly occurs to him.
"You think so?" Andrea asks him. "It's spread pretty far," she cautions.
"I can try," Clark promises to give it his all.. "If I can re-compact it, try and freeze it the bacteria should become inert...at least until I can find a place to safely store it. I can't do anything about those already infected but I can stop the spread beyond Smallville."
"Then go. I'll talk to bald-zilla."
"Bald-zilla?" Clark queries with a queer look at her.
Andrea shakes her head. "Remind me to stop hanging around Lois," she requests as an indication as to where that came from.
"I tell myself that everyday. Don't hang around Lois," he jokes.
Andrea eyes him. Chloe had mentioned he and Lois didn't entirely get along. "Just...save the day," she says with hope he can.
Clark places two fingers to his forehead and gives her a little salute before taking to the air and getting to work.
Andrea marches through the corridors looking for Lex, moving past all the comatose people. She's not worried about being infected because she almost certainly already is. The only question is does her enhanced body have the ability to keep her safe or is it merely only delaying the inevitable. Just makes it all the more important she finds Lex now and gets some damn answers. The world deserves the truth. This time Lex won't get away with brushing his crimes under the carpet.
With the chaos all around her it's not too hard for Andrea to get where she wants. All proper quarantine procedures are breaking down under the sheer weight of numbers. It's all going to hell to put it succinctly.
All apart from one door which is expertly guarded by men in protective suits. Suits that have the Lexcorp logo on them. Ah ha! The game is afoot.
Now how to get past them.
Andrea walks up to them and waits for them to try and stop her progress...which they do. At which point she breaks out her fighting prowess and superior strength and skills and knocks them into tomorrow.
Hey, she's in a rush. The world's falling apart in case you didn't notice. No time to be subtle.
She barges through the doors and reaches another set...through which she hears voices. She peers through those round circular windows and sees on the other side Lex speaking with a doctor, both dressed in protective suits, standing on front of a glass window which looks like the view into an isolation room.
Andrea snorts. Isolation. Bit late for that now.
She sees the doctor fill a syringe with some kind of clear liquid.
"Mr. Luthor, we have never tested this antidote. I urge you to try it on one of our lab animals first," the doctor is cautioning about testing this on a real living patient.
"Look around you Doctor Ford, we're running out of time to stop a pandemic. Do you see any other options for us right now?" Lex asks, sounding rather cold about it.
Dr Ford sighs in resignation. "No, sir, I don't. But please remember, this is like a flu inoculation. It contains traces of the infectious element," he reminds Lex of what the antidote is.
"Is that your way of telling me the patient's gonna get worse before he gets better?" Lex questions for clarity.
"Assuming it works..." Dr Ford hedges his bets as he nods slightly.
"Lets get on with it," Lex commands and the two enter the isolation room.
Andrea gently pushes through the doors, bent down low and silently walks to the window and peers inside.
Lex is now sitting down at one side of a man lying in the bed while Dr Ford is at the other side preparing the arm for the injection. Despite her mistrust and dislike of Lex Luthor Andrea prays to God this works.
Dr Ford sticks the needle in the man's arm and injects the antidote.
There is a short pause as they wait for a reaction, and then the heart monitor starts to beep at frightening speed as the man's eyes open wide and he grunts painfully. He sits up, wildly reaching for Lex, and Lex stands up, backing away and knocking his arm against a table. The heart monitor flat-lines, and the man falls back against his pillow, dead.
Lex glances down at his arm where he hit the table and sees a small tear in his protective suit.
This is when Andrea bursts in...literally kicking the door down, her face twisted in rage. "You monster!" she accuses Lex in utter pure fury.
There were two guards in the room. As they reach for Andrea she punches them in the chest...with her full strength meaning she caves their chests in, killing them. She stalks up to Dr Ford and with a quick motion snaps his neck like a twig leaving only Lex left. Before he can say anything Andrea moves in, sends her right arm forward...into Lex's chest where she then proceeds to rip his heart out.
As Lex falls over she looks at the still beating organ in her hand, a faint twisted smile threatening to pull at the corner of her lips. She then looks back to the window where still peering through is herself, that version's eyes' wide in fear. "Oh come on," Andrea says. "You know the truth. You know deep down this is who we really are."
The other Andrea screams...
Outside up in the sky Clark had struck upon the idea of trying to create a vortex by flying round in a tight circle really fast. The hope being he pulls everything in the area, including the bacterial cloud into the funnel he is creating.
That's the theory anyway.
Whether he can do it is another question. Whether he is powerful enough to generate the forces required...well all he can do is try his best.
Once he has done that his next thought was to freeze it. That should cause the bacteria to hibernate so to speak to survive the cold. That'll buy time at the very least.
Round and round, faster and faster, trying as hard as he can and the vortex starts to form, a red/blue streaked funnel of air and cloud and dirt and bacteria. As he goes round Clark starts to blow out his freeze breath forming an enormous elongated chunk of ice.
When he thinks he has done all he can he catches the icy chunk before it falls to Earth and shatters. He brings it down slowly and places it on the ground. There we go. He did it!
"YOU REALLY BELIEVE YOU'VE SAVED THEM. YOU'VE ONLY DELAYED THE INEVITABLE...KAL-EL," an immense voice echoes all around.
Clark spins round until he comes face to face with the source. "Apocalypse," he spits out.
"YOU WASTE YOUR TIME EXPENDING EFFORT IN PROTECTING THESE INSECTS. THEY ARE DOOMED TO GROW OLD, WITHER AND DIE WHILE WE, THEIR BETTERS, LIVE ON ETERNALLY. OUR TASK IS TO RULE THEM AS IS OUR RIGHT."
Clark's eyes narrow. "You want to know what I think of that?" he asks, his voice edged with anger, tension...and just a hint of fear. Clark pulls his fist back and unleashes all his strength...only for his fist to go right through Apocalypse as if he is a ghost. The momentum causes Clark to fall right through the ghostly outline and fall flat on his face...into mud while Apocalypse's laughter echoes in his ears.
Clark pushes himself to his feet and as he wipes the mud from his eyes he finds the sky has darkened over with dark, angry clouds and all around him are graves. An endless field of graves. "No," he whispers. He shakes his head in denial as he reads the faded names of all his loved ones on the time worn stones. "No. It's not possible. I can't be here!" he cries.
In response Apocalypse's voice echoes through the endless monument to death. "THERE IS NO CAN'T. THIS IS YOUR INEVITABLE FUTURE. YOU HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN IT TO BE TRUE. HERE LIES THE HUMAN RACE. DEAD THROUGH YOUR FAILURES."
It all starts to well up inside Clark. Grief, anger, fear that Apocalypse's words might be true. That all this is his fault, his doing, his failure and through that failure he ends up alone. A poor lonely immortal on a dead planet.
Then the ground shakes hard...and harder and harder until it cracks open, fissures form under his feet. In the distance massive volcanic eruptions in every direction he looks. It's like the planet is tearing itself apart...just like Krypton.
Then just like Krypton it explodes from the inside out, the intense fire consuming Clark in blazing hot white heat...
At the Institute...
Logan and Jonathan are just engaged in their usual maintenance tasks. With many of the students gone it was a chance to get some proper work done on the plumbing which is again acting up. It's ridiculous. The plumbing was all replaced when they rebuilt the mansion last year. It's suppose to have a lifetime guarantee yet the kids have managed to wreck it in less than a year.
Anyway the two men were down in the void between the ground floor and the lower levels mending the pipework.
"So how are we finding Mystique staying with us?" Jonathan wonders about how Logan is coping. He himself...well Martha had told him what she had done. He just took it as a mother feeling sympathy for a fellow mother thing. Like her he's all for giving people a chance. Though for Mystique he feels this could be the last one she gets when it comes to relation to her children.
Logan makes a grunt. He gets why Chuck is doing it. Doesn't mean he likes it. "The second she strays out of line I'm cutting her head off," he vows.
Jonathan isn't sure whether Logan is serious or not. He's not a fan of violence yet understands that Logan has suffered much of it in his life. "Violence only begets violence," he gives Logan his philosophy.
Logan makes a sort of noise that gives no indication what he is thinking.
BAMF!
The space is filled with choking smoke and that sulphuric smell that only comes from Nightcrawler teleporting.
"ELF!" Logan bellows between coughing fits.
"Sorry," Kurt apologises.
"It's ok, Kurt," Jonathan says between his own coughing fits. "What can we do for you?"
"Have you seen Rogue?" he asks, getting to the reason he's here.
"Down here?" Logan asks back.
"Nein, I mean at all in zhe last few hours. I can't find her."
"She's left already?" Jonathan asks having heard about Rogue's threat.
Kurt shakes his head. "Nein. Dom's checked her room. All her belongings are still zhere but she is just novhere to be seen. I've looked all over!"
Logan's brow furrows. If her stuff is still here where could she have gone? He sighs.
"You go. I'll finish the plumbing," Jonathan offers.
"You sure?" Logan asks.
Jonathan nods. "Yes. I'll, uh...I could ask Piotr to help. He tends to be looking for something to do and since he did say he ran his farm after his parents died he must have done the general maintenance."
Logan can see Jon-boy's reasoning is pretty sound. "Alright elf. Lets go," he agrees to help. He raises his hand which Kurt takes and the two teleport off.
Logan's number one advantage in hunting down Rogue. His nose. Which had led him into the grounds of the mansion heading for the gazebo.
What doesn't help is the criticisms from the peanut gallery he's attracted. Domino, Kurt, Storm...Mystique too, he thinks with a sick stomach at the idea of her. He's barely tolerating her presence.
Mystique is here because she is concerned. She's trying really, really hard this time. Rogue may not want to talk to her but she is still the girl's mother and her daughter is missing. Not her only daughter mind you.
Mystique has not forgotten about Alicia. Problem is she doesn't know where Alicia is. Polaris and Colossus had been no help at all. The last time they saw Alicia was just after Magneto's death in the base but where she went from there no-one seems to know and Charles can't find her on Cerebro.
The fact she's not showing up makes Mystique wonder if Alicia is down in the Savage Land. Oh yes she knew all about it and knows that whole valley is shielded from detection. Charles had pushed for answers from Mystique on the topic. He clearly knew about some of what Magneto was planning but not the specific location. She skilfully fobbed him off. If Polaris isn't talking then she certainly isn't.
Logan gets near the gazebo when he sniffs that bit harder near the bushes and then makes a growling sound.
"What is it?" Ororo asks, knowing he's found something.
"I smell Cajun," he growls in low anger.
"Gambit?!" Mystique chokes. She knows he and Rogue...slept together. Something Rogue can't remember. Charles gave her the bare bones of what happened between the two in Tibet. That being the case why is the no-good Cajun here now?
"How did he get through zhe defences?" Kurt asks.
"He's a thief," his mother answers from him. "It's his job to get around defences and bypass security systems."
"You know anything else about him?" Dom asks, fishing for information that might help track him down.
"I didn't care for him so didn't get close to him so no, I don't know much," Mystique gives the honest answer. "Beyond he's a womanising, cheating, untrustworthy..."
Storm cuts Mystique off right there. "If that is the case why was he working for Magneto?" she asks.
"All I know is that he owed Magneto a favour."
Dom eyes Mystique closely, wondering how truthful the still powerless shapeshifter is being. She turns her gaze to Logan. "Hairy, can you track them?" she asks.
Logan nods. "Yeah...and I think we need to hurry."
"Vhy?" Kurt asks.
"I smell traces of a knock-out gas. I recognise the scent."
"He abducted her!" Mystique raises her voice in ire. Oh he is so dead. She already planned to rip his balls off for touching both her daughters. Now she's just going to skip all the way to homicide.
"Zhere's no vay he could hold her," Kurt thinks considering how powerful Rogue is.
"I wouldn't put it past him, elf," Dom cautions. "I saw enough of him when we were chasing after the great bald circus freak and his chosen company at that time to know he's pretty resourceful," she points out, referencing when she, Logan, Sabretooth and Gambit were chasing after Mesmero, Mystique and Rogue to Tibet.
"Domino's right," Mystique agrees that Gambit could come up with something.
"Logan, lead the way," Storm orders, taking charge of the situation.
"This way," he says, pointing in the direction they need to head to and he leads the group off.
Smallville...
Clark jerks awake with a start, gasping for breath and looking around. He's in...a field...next to that chunk of ice. Overwhelming fear is making his heart pound against his ribcage.
It takes a moment for Clark to realise what has happened. He was infected...he faced his worst fear...yet he's awake and not in a coma.
Clark pulls himself to his feet.
Andrea.
He needs to check up on Andrea. He's not sure how long he's been unconscious. Probably too long. Quick check on his watch...yikes! It's been hours!
He takes to the air and toward the Medical Centre.
It doesn't take Clark more than a momentary scan to spot her...spot her lying on the floor in a certain part of the hospital. Clark blurs through the corridors until he's at her side. He bends down and checks her pulse. It's still there but she's unresponsive. A coma. Just like everyone else.
Clark stands up and looks into what is an isolation room. The man in the bed is dead. Clark can't detect a heartbeat. What happened here?
Clark sniffs the air...like Logan taught him. There's a scent he recognises. Lex. Lex was here...and then he left.
The age of the scent...Clark can't be certain but it's possible Lex just went right past Andrea, leaving her lying there.
That's just...well it's not going to reverse Clark's currently low opinion of Lex. That's for certain. He once more bends down and gently scoops Andrea up into his arms. Because of her mutation he can't leave her here and risk her secret identity being exposed.
In a blur he's gone and only seconds later he's back at the Mutant Community...where it doesn't take him long to see things have gotten worse in his absence.
Once he finds a spot to lay Andrea down he finds himself standing over the unconscious Lilandra, standing next to Jean. Not too far away he spots Lois sitting next to Chloe.
"I talked to the Professor while you were away," Jean tells him.
"Uh huh," Clark says, which asks her to carry on.
"As soon as he can get the proper protective and isolation gear together he and Beast and a small team will come to assist."
"I don't think we have that much time, Jean," Clark cautions. "I saw a dead man at the hospital. He may only be the first," he says with due sadness at the fact a human being has died.
"So what do we do?"
"According to Andrea, Lex was suppose to be working on an antidote. That's why she was at the hospital, looking for him. I know he was there because I could detect his scent but by the time I got back he was gone."
"Got back?" Jean asks in puzzlement.
"Oh I created a twister and pulled everything in I could and then froze it. I hope that got most of the bacteria out of the air but it may already have spread too far amongst the population to stop its spread without that antidote."
"We're relying on Lex?" Jean queries that sceptically.
"I know. The irony's not lost on me." Clark sighs. "There's one more possibility for an antidote."
"Which is?"
"My blood."
"Huh?"
Clark turns his head to look at Jean sincerely. "I've been away so long because I was infected."
"Y-you were?" Jean asks, her face showing her concern.
Clark shakes his head in disappointment...at himself. "I should have realised as soon as Andrea told me what she discovered Lex was up to."
"I don't understand," Jean says, her expression of one suitably confused.
"The bacteria...Lex created it by mutating a bacteria strain to create something new. Considering we're in Smallville guess what he was using to mutate it?"
It takes Jean a moment before it clicks. "Kryptonite," she says in a whisper.
Clark nods to confirm she's right before shaking his head again. "You'd think me throwing most of the stuff into space would slow him down," he grumbles under his breath.
"What?" Jean asks, not catching that.
Clark has not told anyone he threw all that kryptonite Lex had collected into space and has no intention of starting now. Though he always assumed he never got it all. Seems his assumption was correct. In response to Jean he says, "The only time I have ever been sick was when I was exposed to some spores from the storm cellar which had been coated in kryptonite dust. That time it took my ship to cure me. This time it seems my immune system managed to fight the bacteria off. Probably the second only time in my life it has had to work hard. Though I did go through what Chloe and Lilandra did. I saw my worst fear only when it reached the crux of it I woke up...unlike them."
"What did you see?" Jean wonders.
"Nothing I haven't seen before," Clark answers...and it's not. What he saw, apart from the addition of Apocalypse, it's what he saw when the blind prophet Cassandra touched him and he shared the vision. The vision of his immortality. Of ending up alone. The fact his fear is that it's caused by his failures...well he's had a lot of time now to brood over that vision and that's just some of the thoughts he's mulled over.
Jean wonders even more now what that is.
"The point is Jean I fought it off. It means the cure to this disease is in my blood," Clark gets to the point.
"Clark...that would take a major effort to isolate your immune system...whatever passes for your immune system," Jean cautions, readily getting what he is meaning.
"It would take the resources of someone like Lex Luthor."
Jean's eyes go wide. "You can't! Clark once he sees your blood he'll know!" she points out, referencing his alien origin.
"And if I don't hundreds of people, perhaps thousands will die," Clark argues. "What's my secret worth compared to that?"
Jean is torn. He's right. Of course he's right. If his blood will stop the spread Clark's selfless nature would lead him to offer it and damn his secrets. On the other hand someone like Lex Luthor knowing what Clark is and having access to his amazingly powerful blood...she shudders to think. In the end though the most important thing is the lives of innocent people. "Do you even know where Lex is?"
"I know he was at the Medical Centre so he can't have left town since they've locked the town down. It won't take me that long to search for him."
Jean rises up on her toes and kisses Clark on the cheek. "Be careful," Jean says softly.
Clark smiles softly at her concern. He gives her a wink and is gone in his usual gust of wind.
At the Institute...
The search for Rogue led to the train yard and that was as far as they could get. The train had obviously long gone. Then it was back to the mansion and the last course of finding her; Cerebro.
"I have her," the Professor announces from within his mutant tracking machine. Only Logan was currently here with him. "Her and Gambit," he announces. "They're moving south," he relays as he brings up a map showing the two red circles that are Gambit and Rogue.
Logan quickly realises something. "Look where they're heading," he says.
Charles isn't sure at first what Logan means until the feral mutant points far down south on the coast. "New Orleans. Where Gambit comes from I believe."
Logan snorts. "Convenient. It's where I'm going to bury him," he says, sounding deadly serious about it.
Charles sighs as he removes the helmet. "You must do as you feel as Rogue's father but be warned this is the last help I'll be able to give you. I must leave for Smallville and deal with that crisis."
Logan nods in understanding. He had seen the news about the toxin or whatever it was afflicting the town. "You do what ya have to Chuck. I can find Rogue the old-fashioned way," he assures the man in the wheelchair it's fine.
"I suspect you'll have company," Charles says wisely in reference to the rest of Rogue's family. Ororo, Kurt, Dom and Raven.
"I make no promise about the former Smurfette returning in good health," Logan says gruffly.
Charles smiles. He knows it's been a strain for everyone trying to get use to Mystique being around. "Good luck, Logan," he wishes him.
"To you too, Chuck," Logan returns the sentiment.
Author's Note: Andrea being afraid of herself. Of the darkness inside her and that one day it'll consume her and she'll cross the line she can't return from. Clark's vision in the episode was being rejected by Lana when she found out what he was. Since he has a home at the Institute with people who know and accept him I figured it wouldn't be his deepest rooted fear any longer so I chose his fear of his immortality and tossed in him ending up alone because he failed to save everyone. That sounds like something he would deeply fear. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Cajun Spice/Scare part 4.