"We've got to go and talk to Mike," he said to Chloe. Clark walked into the kitchen and met his mother.
"Mom, we've got to talk with Mike in the loft. Will you keep Rachel busy for a little bit?" Clark asked.
Martha gave him a curious look, but said, "Sure, Clark."
"I'll tell you later," he promised. "Chloe, let's go upstairs."
The two headed up the farmhouse stairs, to Clark's room, where Mike had laid an open envelope on Clark's bed. Chloe caught a glimpse of a roll of currency before Mike tucked it into his pocket. He folded up the paper he was reading and put that into another pocket.
"Well, Clark, Chloe, it's been a fun time," Mike said sarcastically. Then, in a more sincere tone, he said, "I do want to thank you for everything." He looked at Rachel; in his momentarily unguarded expression, Chloe caught a glimpse of the deep love he had for his daughter. "You had said something about heading right to Metropolis?" Mike continued, bringing his jacket edges closer together.
"Um, we have to talk to you about that," Clark said.
Mike shot him a pointed look.
"What's to talk about? You know that Rachel and I have to get out of here ASAP," the man said pointedly. "I'm sure you don't want to put Chloe in danger again."
Ooh, low blow! Chloe thought, as Clark grimaced.
"Mike, we have to talk to you about something," Clark said again, moving his eyes to Rachel and then back to Mike, to indicate it was something that she shouldn't hear about. "Would you come to the barn loft with us, please?"
Chloe found herself wondering at Clark's voice. Suddenly, there was power and command in it. She would have marched off with him right away. Mike fought a little. "Rachel…" he protested weakly.
"My mom can watch her in the kitchen. I think she's going to make some cookies." Clark played the cookie card without compunction.
Rachel's eyes lit up. "Can I help her?" she asked eagerly.
"Yes. She was hoping you would," Clark replied. Rachel looked at her dad. He gave a reluctant nod, and she rabbited out of the room and down the stairs.
"What's going on, Clark?" Mike asked.
"Please come to the loft, Mike," Clark said. "I don't think we want to talk about it here."
"OK." The three of them trudged back to the loft, site of their first meeting. Now, though, three bodies instead of two sat on the battered old furniture.
"Mike, I have to ask you about how you found me today," Clark said.
Mike looked nervous. "Well, I'd, ah, foundyou before, when we were doing the work with Chloe. So I could find you again."
Chloe, sitting silently beside Clark, was pleased to have her suspicions confirmed.
Mike continued. "But I couldn't get in you and tell you directly, so I had to go to the person who was closest to you."
Clark pounced. "What do you remember about her?"
"Not much," Mike replied, puzzled. "I was so worried about contacting you that I didn't think about her at all. Except I was really frustrated when she, when I couldn't talk to you." He said pensively, "Now I remember a little bit. It was like she was, I don't know, off, orwrong, somehow."
"Her name is Perdita and she's in a coma," Clark said sternly. "And we can't go to Metropolis till you come with us tonight and try to help her."
"Ah…weren't you the one who said we should get out right away?" Mike asked. "I don't really want to stay here a minute longer than I have to. Rachel and I have to get away. I know where to go now, and I've got some money…I really want to get out of Smallville."
Chloe felt sympathy for him. His Lowell County experience had been a year of unmitigated horror. Now that Mike saw the chance of a new life, no wonder he wanted nothing more than to escape.
Clark sat in the chair, facing Mike who was sitting on the old sofa. He stared at Mike for a moment, saying nothing. Then Clark nodded and said, "Do you know who came in just now?"
"No, should I?" Mike replied.
"Her name is Mary Daugherty. It's her daughter Perdita who's in the coma," Clark said.
"Perdita?" Mike said incredulously. "They named their daughter after a dog?"
"What?" Clark said, momentarily fazed.
"It's from that Disney movie '101 Dalmatians', Clark," Chloe offered. "The lead dogs are Pongo and Perdita."
Clark smiled. "Actually, I think it's because Mary's got some sort of Latin fixation. Perdita has two sisters called Concordia and Terentia. And her brother is Marcus."
"I can't believe anybody would name their kids that," Chloe said, grinning.
"Could be worse," Clark said. "But, Mike…"
"Yes?"
"Mary's daughter is in a coma. Mary did something for you." Clark stared hard at Mike. "You owe her." The last words came out quietly but firmly.
"I owe her?" Mike asked, confused.
"You probably don't know that Mary Daugherty is the clerk at the county courthouse. And only Chloe and I know that Luthorcorp and Dr. Caselli are putting pressure on her to put false papers in the files of Belle Reve inmates." Clark continued looking Mike in the eye. "And she was going to put some papers in your file, papers that would have kept you in Belle Reve."
Mike paled.
Clark went on. "But she's an honest person, so she took those papers out. Or she never put them in your file in the first place. And now, Luthorcorp and Dr. Caselli are going to make her pay."
Chloe gasped. This was the first time she'd heard the whole story. "Clark, you don't mean…" she asked.
"I think they'll start by making sure her husband – who works for Luthorcorp – will lose his job, and the family medical insurance. And they'll probably work out some way for Mary to lose her job, too." Clark sounded grim. "I don't know what else they'll do. Probably make it so that Perdita has to go into some medical warehouse where she won't get good care. Then she'll get pneumonia and die, or they'll decide to pull the plug on her." He sat straighter. "You owe Mary."
Mike seemed undecided. Several minutes passed. Chloe squirmed in her chair, unable to stand the suspense. "Well…" Mike said. Then he leaned back with a rueful expression and Chloe knew they had lost.
"I'm sorry for the kid," Mike said, "but my first duty has to be to my own kid. We've got to get safe." To his credit, the man looked a little queasy, but his voice was firm.
Disappointment crossed Clark's face. He nodded his head slowly. The tense silence in the loft continued. Mike looked away from Chloe and Clark, a tinge of shame in his eyes.
Clark broke the stillness, his voice low. "You killed him, didn't you?" he asked Mike. "That man from the limo?"
Mike's initial surprise, morphing into guilt, and then a stone face, was his confession. Chloe was almost as surprised as Mike. She'd been so relieved at her rescue and so busy worrying about their safety that she hadn't had time to think about it. Now, in retrospect, she asked herself how she could have been so stupid.
"You got into his head and took over his body. You used him to shoot the driver, didn't you?" Clark asked, leaning forward as he stared at Mike.
Mike maintained his neutral expression for a few moments before he cracked. "Yes." He said it in a low, shamed voice, as he looked away from Clark. He avoided Chloe's glance too.
"How did it feel?" Clark asked, almost curiously, Chloe thought.
Mike sighed. "At first, I was happy. I thought he'd just killed Chloe. I knew he was going to take Rachel and me prisoner. I was glad I shot him." The low voice could not be heard outside their close circle. "Then…I've been thinking about it. I wish I hadn't done it that way," Mike confessed. "I've never used my ability…that way…before." He looked up defiantly. "But I'm not sad I killed him. It was him or me, and I'm glad it was him. That was the only way to do it." He looked at Chloe. "Chloe, I'm glad you're alive too, although it wasn't me that had anything to do with your surviving."
"Thanks," she murmured absently.
"When I first got this ability," Mike said passionately, "I thought it was fun. And then it turned into a nightmare. And now I hate it. I don't want to use it." He spoke a little louder. "I never had to kill anybody when I was in the military," Mike said. "I always wondered if I had the guts to do it." He laughed bitterly. "I guess I do."
He stared back at Clark. "Can you say that you've never hurt anybody? Nah, I guess your power on electrical fields is pretty harmless. You've probably never hurt anybody with your power, I bet." He got up and started pacing, not looking at either Clark or Chloe.
Clark remained silent.
Mike looked away again. "Yeah, I wish I hadn't had to do it. But I did. And now I'm alive and he's dead and that's the way I wanted it to be." He sat down again. "And now I just want to get out of here."
"I understand," Clark said gently. Actually, he did, more than Mike could know. He'd used his abilities in various ways, not always ethical, in his younger days. He'd never killed anyone directly (although he'd come shudderingly close to it a few times) but circumstances had arranged a lot of dead bodies around him, usually based on incidents where he'd had to use his powers. Clark knew well the feeling of regret.
"But do you want that to be your last memory of using your ability?" Clark probed. "Using it to kill someone?" He stood up, paced. "Look, I know it wasn't what you wanted. But this isn't you, Mike. I've got a sense of you from our…adventures together. You did what you had to, but you're a good guy at heart." Mike's eyes wavered.
Clark continued. "Get the bad taste out of your mouth." A persuasive tone entered his voice. "Come with us tonight and use your ability for good. Try to help this girl."
Chloe held her breath. What Clark said was true. Mike was a good guy, now frantic with worry over the safety of himself and his daughter. The silence was deafening. Mike's choice balanced on the edge of a knife.
Clark paced some more, stopped in front of Mike. "Nobody else can do what you can." He caught Mike's gaze, and said quietly, "Please."