Chapter Forty-Three: Parasite Part One


Claire Selton, codename Volcana, slipped her way past the city limits into Smallville. Her palms sweated, her heart beat, and it was very difficult for Claire to hold her head up high, no matter how much she tried. She thought about heading to Smallville for quite some time to meet up with an old friend. Unfortunately for Claire, her trip to Smallville showed she was not alone.

Several agents from the group known as HIVE stalked her every move. Claire didn't dare use her powers, despite the fact it would be an easy way to give the slip. She quickened, following the pathway. She knew they would keep following her.

She managed to uncover one of their operations during a job she had. They were part of the same government organization which increased Claire's powers, and they didn't like when someone exposed their actions. Claire learned just as much when she spent the last couple of months in an endless and never ending game of ducking and dodging.

'These guys don't know the meaning of the word, no.'

The redhead tried not to lose her temper no matter how hard it was to stay a few inches away from her adversary. Claire's mind hammered even harder at the thought. She had to find him.

The problem was, he was not too easy to find. She didn't have any way to signal him, and especially not a wait which was discreet and would keep these HIVE assholes off of her back for a couple of minutes. Claire closed her eyes when running further away from them.

'Almost there….no, damn it!'

Claire was so close to slipping away from them, her heart sped up even more when running. The redhead woman turned around a corner and continued to run.

A truck skidded to a stop directly in front of her. Claire took half of a step back and dodged behind the sign.

'Maybe if I stay perfectly still, and don't say a word, they won't find me.'

The sound of a gun clicking put Claire on edge. She guessed it would not be as easy as keeping in the shadows and more importantly, staying out of trouble.

"Alright, we know you're there, Volcana. You just come quietly, and there's no need to hurt you."

"You should return to us. You were a valuable asset, and you could be a valuable asset again."

Claire shook her head. They really were good at the sweet talking. Okay, not really. She caught sight of one of the HIVE agents pointing a cannon at the edge of the sign she stood underneath.

'Yeah, I better move.'

The cannon bombarded the side of the sign and knocked it completely over. Claire managed to make her way all the way to a fence. They fired at the woman's back. Claire had been forced to duck and evade the attack. The gifted woman flipped over to the ground.

It took her a few seconds to take a deep breath and a few more seconds to properly assess the situation.

'Okay, I'm pinned down, and they know I'm here. Stealth really isn't my strong suit.'

"You want to see how dangerous I can be?"

Claire's dangerous words followed her eyes lighting to a glowing orange light. She lifted her hands in the air and shot balls of flames from the tips of her fingers. The flames flew across the field towards the AIM agents.

They dodged the balls of flames which came inches away from incinerating them. Claire controlled the fire and made another attempt to run down her adversaries. Said adversaries scrambled away from the flames which threatened to wipe them out.

The pyrokinetic woman dodged off into the other direction and scrambled as far as she could. She ducked into the woods, hoping to lose them under the cover of trees. It actually brought her further away from the destination. Sometimes it could not be helped though. Claire bolted further into the forest, heart racing even faster when she made her way to her particular destination.

The agents of HIVE moved in, with many of them none too happy about losing that particular asset. The leader of the group of drones bunched his fists up with a very obvious scowl, which grew in prominence. The lack of patience he exhibited made the other members of the team becaome uneasy just as much.

"What should we do?"

One of the drones spoke up. It was a very rare event when one of the drones asked questions. That drone had been lucky enough not to get burned to fire.

"Our leader said not to come back empty-handed," the leader of the drones responded. "We need to acquire her, for she's one of the most valuable assets we can have."

The woman would need some re-programming to fall back underneath the agenda of HIVE. They all conceded it was difficult but very doable to be perfectly honest. The leader of the drones took a deep breath and decided to go with Plan B. He wasn't particularly fond of Plan B all things considered. He whipped out a cell phone and dial the number.

"I'm calling it in," he said. "Yes, you heard me right, deploy the Parasite.


Clark Kent took a couple of deep breaths when he stepped in. He stopped by STAR Labs to see if he could test out a brand new suit. The suit favored the colors of the House of El, who preferred a more primary scene. It was a full body suit, a dark blue, along with a yellow shield and a red "S". Clark wore a flowing red cape and matching red boots. He noticed the original design made it look like he was wearing his underwear on the outside, but he would have to agree with Astra. That particular element was counter-productive to taking him seriously.

He stepped into the simulation chamber at STAR Labs. He saw Lara, Raya, Patricia Swann, and Eliza Danvers standing on the other end of the room. Patricia decided to be the one to address him.

"The modifications of the suit should work," Patricia commented. "The suit is going to allow you to absorb further amounts of yellow solar radiation at a more accelerated rate."

Clark smiled and took in a deeper breath. He could hardly wait for this to take place. Clark took his first steps into the solar chamber. He could see the equipment on the wall.

"Just fly as you normally would fly and we'll test the rate the suit absorbs the solar radiation," Eliza continued. "I wouldn't worry about trying to push yourself to your boundaries, we can do that on a different day."

Clark answered with a nod and stepped into the middle of the room.

Raya smiled. They put a lot of work into creating the suit for Clark, and she wanted to see how it would work out on the field. She had some pretty good hopes for it, but it would remain to see what would take place.

The young man's eyes closed for a few seconds and then he took flight, flying around the training room.

Lara watched the progress of her son. The more he grew comfortable with using his powers, the faster he become. It all came with practice.

"He's clocking in as….well he's faster than a speeding bullet," Patricia said.

Raya responded with a nod. They hoped, based on their studies, Clark could go faster. They all knew though it would not be a wise idea to push him to go faster. They just hoped to allow Clark to move at a steadier, fluid pace. They watched him blast around the corner very quickly.

The sound of Clark flying around the corner could be heard inside of the chamber. Lara put her hands together and leaned back. The smile barely left her face when watching Clark move about at the speed of light. She was very excited.

"A couple more laps so we can get a look at how the suit is performing."

Lara leaned back and watched her son's speeds and the suit's speed of absorbing the solar radiation being clocked on the screen. Was the suit performing up to expectations? Yes, Lara could say about as much. Could the suit be better? Well, Lara would be lying if she didn't say the suit had some room for improvement. She watched Clark circle around several times at the speed of light.

"One more time," Raya said.

Clark flew around the chamber one more time. The glow coming from the chamber caused the four women to step back and almost recoil.

The moment it ended, Clark stepped out of the chamber.

"The suit works good, great," Clark said.

"Yes," Lara said.

"But, it can always be better," Eliza said. "Thanks for helping us run the preliminary tests."

They had to make the suit a little more durable, without sacrificing any level of functionality. It always was a balancing act to be perfectly fair.

"No problem," Clark said. "I'm just doing anything I can to help."

Eliza nodded, she knew he did, and believe her, she appreciated all of the help they could get, especially in a situation such as this one. She watched Clark leave and go to change the suit.

The doors busted open and a very frantic redhead woman made her way through the door. Patricia raised her eyebrow. She recognized the woman instantly as a meteor mutant Clark encountered about a year back.

"Claire?" Clark asked when walking around the corner.

"Sorry to burst in like this," Claire said. "But, we have a serious problem."

Clark put his hands around the waist of the woman and caused her to calm down. Claire took a moment to adjust her stance in front of him.

"HIVE is after me."

The good news kept rolling, okay, not really. Clark stepped back from Claire who took a deep breath. The last thing any of them wanted was Claire to have a pyromaniac fit and start wrecking the very expensive and extremely dangerous equipment in this place.

"HIVE's after you," Clark responded.

"Yes, they're after me," Claire confirmed. "HIVE has been picking up meteor mutants. And they've never seen the light of day."

Claire decided it wasn't important to tell Clark they wanted her as one of their best agents. That particular point could wait until later. She hitched in her breath one more time and leaned closer towards him.

"There's a HIVE agent who is tracking down meteor mutants. And he's draining their powers, rendering helpless. That's how HIVE's getting them."

One guess on Clark's part, but he was pretty sure this individual was also a meteor mutant. He could be wrong, but he doubted it.


Rudy Jones at one time worked a job as a high school janitor. It was the type of nine to five job someone of his stature was qualified for. It was about the only job someone of his stature was qualified for. He cleaned up the messes, never once getting a pat on the back or any appreciation for the hard work. No one appreciated the lowly janitor, they were just there to clean up the mess other people made.

It all changed on the day meteors rained from the sky. Rudy had not been around for the first meteor shower, but the second meteor shower hit hard. Rudy had been in the high school science lab, cleaning up when the meteors rained down at the school. The chemicals in the lab resulted in him obtaining some new powers, combined to the meteors.

Everything he touched, everyone he touched, he could drain their essence. He got more than life energy from them. Memories, feelings, and if they had been gifted, he obtained their abilities. Rudy gained the ability to sniff out meteor mutants in the crowd.

He also had the misfortune of having small echoes of his victims in his head. Rudy had never been the sanest guy in the room, but now he had a bit of full-blown split personality disorder to go with his many other problems.

He looked up just in time to see two gentlemen, agents of HIVE walking down his padded cell. Most of the time, they ignored him. No one needed to come to feed him, Rudy didn't feed off of food anymore after all.

To be honest, Rudy kind of missed the experience and the taste of food.

HIVE did allow him certain favors, one of them was to suppress the voices inside of his head. Rudy knew it was a temporary measure at best, and those voices would be back and stronger together.

The only catch was Rudy would help them wrangle up other meteor mutants. He did, mostly because of the rush of using his powers to absorb the powers of others. The abilities the meteor shower gifted Rudy Jones on that day were like a drug. He couldn't explain the high, the rush, the absolute feeling of joy he got from unleashing his power on some poor unexpected person.

Every day he used it, a bit of the desire to become human left him. It shrank, with Rudy's subconscious growing weaker. He did cling onto the part of who he was.

Rudy Jones was no longer Rudy Jones. He had become the Parasite, with all of the drawbacks and benefits of that.

Regardless, his handler stood outside the door and looked at Rudy with a smile.

"So, what do you want now?"

Rudy sounded rather calm, businesslike, and extremely casual. He had to be extremely casual in a situation like this. His handler peered on the other side of the cell.

"Rudy, my friend, we have a deal for you."

The last time he made a deal with HIVE, it led him to become their personal attack dog. Granted, Rudy didn't mind the feeling of absorbing those powers. In fact, he quite enjoyed the feeling of absorbing those powers. It was just, each passing day, he thought more and more about the fact he was just another drone. A drone who had special abilities, but he was the drone nevertheless.

"Another meteor mutant for me to wrangle up?" Rudy asked. "You know, I could handle it."

The handler smiled and consulted his clipboard.

"Yes, but this one ran into Smallville."

Rudy shrugged his shoulders and leaned back a fraction of an inch back on the chair. The saying was true, you could go home again, he guessed.

"And there's more than a meteor mutant in Smallville," the HIVE leader said. "There's the biggest potential source of power in the entire world. He's been called many things, but he could be a power beyond anything you imagined."

'Don't do it,' the small voice who was one Rudy Jones said. 'Don't do it. When you go over to that ledge, there's going to be no one to pull you back.'

'I say do it!' a series of voices echoed. 'You want to go back to being a nobody? If his power is so strong, take it. TAKE IT!'

'Rudy, please,' the normal Rudy Jones voice said. 'Just….think of what happened…..you might not be back to the way things were.'

'The way things were weren't good!'

The internal conflict in the Parasite's head had been snuffed out. Pure biological need to feed overruled everything. He only had one thing to say.

"Hook me up, boss."


Clark hoped to lure out the Parasite. If what Claire said was true, and he had an insatiable need to feed, then Clark would be able to lure him out with a taste of power from him. It wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world, but Clark would be there, right in front of him.

Patricia, Eliza, Raya, and Lara were there, and Chloe popped over to join them as well to offer her input. Karen and Astra were off on a mission to track down Kandor. Given their bonding exercise last week, Clark was more confident they would not kill each other, and it put his mind at ease.

"So, the suit?"

"The suit should protect you from his powers," Patricia said. "Granted, it hasn't been fully tested yet but….."

Clark tried to block out her worry, along with his own worry. "There's no time like the present."

The man stepped to the end of the road. Claire stood by, good ways away. As much as Clark hated to admit it, they needed a proper amount of bait to spring a trap. And Claire was the target.

An unremarkable man stepped at the end of the road, dressed in rags. He looked like a high school janitor.

Chloe piped in when she got a visual reading through the "S" on Clark's costume, which served as relay camera back to STAR Labs. "He's Rudy Jones. He's a high school janitor who was cleaning up a chemistry lab

Clark appreciated Chloe's input in pretty much every situation, this one included. He turned his attention down the road to the unremarkable man.

"Rudy Jones?"

The mostly unremarkable man looked up the robe. Clark had been caught off guard by those glowing purple eyes, which locked onto him.

"I haven't been called that name in a very long time!" he yelled. "Most call me the Parasite."

The Parasite turned around and looked towards the young man up on the road. Now, he was face to face with him, the Parasite's enjoyment increased. He could have this young man, he could taste him from all the way up the road.

"I've never sensed such great power. I have to have it. It's greater than anything I've ever imagined."

The Parasite rushed up the road at a surprising speed. Clark had been a little bit faster and dodged out of the way. The suit should block a lot of his power drain, but Clark wasn't about to take any chances.

He noticed the Parasite's hand raised in the air and he shot a blast of lightning towards Clark from up the road. Clark just barely avoided the attack from burning into him.

"He has the powers of the other meteor mutants."

Chloe's groan over the system was very obvious.

"Great, we just went from bad to worse, didn't we?"

A blast of very sticky glue shot around Clark's wrists. Clark vibrated his wrists to get out of the modified handcuff restraints. He dodged the attempt of the Parasite to wipe him out in one fell swoop. The monster rushed towards Clark one more time.

"I have you now!"

Claws retracted from the Parasite's wrists when he rushed towards him. Clark looked up just in time to see the Parasite charging towards him, an attempt to take him down very obvious. Clark ducked the Parasite's attempts to impale him with the claws.

"Just a little taste, come on buddy! I want to taste you!"

Clark continued to utilize his super speed to keep an arm's width away from the Parasite. The Parasite's obvious groans continued when he tried to approach Clark from far away from him. The Parasite rushed towards Clark a half of a second later.

In a blink of an eye, Clark moved away from the Parasite. Clark ended a few inches from behind him and waited for the Parasite to come after him.

A blast of cold air shot through the air. Clark had been slowed down as if something froze him in time. The Parasite's purple eyes glowed in glee.

"YES!"

Parasite rushed towards Clark. Clark tried to break free from the attack. The Parasite smashed the front of Clark's suit and started to rip it.

"I WANT THIS!"

The Parasite's eyes glowed when he started to drain power. Memories, abilities, everything, they started to flow into the Parasite. He grew excited when forcing himself on this young man and taking his powers.

A blast of fire shot up the road and knocked the Parasite away from Clark. Clark took a half of a step back and fell down onto the ground. His breathing escalated.

"Stay away!"

Claire fired a blast of fire towards the Parasite. The Parasite blocked the fire with a shield and then shot heat vision through his eyes towards Volcana.

"Just come after me!" Volcana yelled.

"Yes, I want you, I want your power…."

Diana jumped into the air and put her herself between the Parasite and Volcana. She whipped out a sword and stabbed it through the Parasite's chest!

The Parasite screamed in agony. The sword, gifted to Diana by the Artemis, the goddess not the Amazon, proved to hurt the Parasite. He pulled away, screaming, howling in pure agony. Diana retracted the sword from the monster's chest.

The monster faded into a cloud of mist and disappeared.

Diana rushed over to check on Clark, who had been knocked out. She scooped Clark underneath one arm and Claire underneath the other arm before flying off to STAR Labs.


Chloe entered pure panic mode the moment they lost all power and all visual contact with Claire. She looked over to one side and noticed Patricia Swann's mouth becoming increasingly thin every second.

"It should have worked."

The suit should have worked, but it didn't. The doors burst open, and Diana stepped in to carry a drained looking Clark in her arms. Chloe caught one look at his face and realized Clark resembled someone who had a very bad case of the flu.

Raya stepped in and she looked concerned but brushed it to the side to perform her duties.

"Get him to the solar chamber, now."

Claire walked behind them. The Parasite struck and got some of Clark's powers, leaving him a very fatigued state. If she had never gotten involved with HIVE, none of this would have happened.


To Be Continued on June 20th, 2017.