Chapter Thirteen: Black and Blue
The hospital room was a concrete pen with a window the size of a biscuit tin lid. It had a stagnant smell, like it was cleaned with plain water instead of disinfectant. The bed sat low to the ground, the frame baring the signs of rust and the mattress worryingly thin. Silvia bit her lip. From the moment she woke up she had been assessing how to leave without alerting the nurses. Staying promised to be a slowly unfolding nightmare, one she didn't intend on enduring.
A white curtain kept her seperate from the other patients but the room itself looked like no hospital she had ever seen... and she'd been admitted into almost every medical centre in Metropolis.
Passed the dirty old beds, there was large machines and technology. All of which looked new and a little too advanced. From her right she could see someone walking over to her. A tall woman with caramel skin and dark brown hair. Around her shoulders was draped a large white coat, in her hands a few dozen papers.
"Reaper, is it?" She asked casually, flicking through the papers and glancing up through half-moon spectacles.
At first Silvia was shocked, hands reaching up to her face and breath hitching when she realised her mask was gone.
"The costume gave it away rather quickly, I'm afraid." The stranger said, pointing to a bunch of folded black clothes behind her. "There's no need to concern yourself. We at S.T.A.R Labs are under oaths of secrecy." Silvia barely had time to give a sigh of relief when the woman spoke again. "You took quite a beating."
"You should see the other guy." Silvia smirked almost proudly.
"I did..." The woman frowned in disapproval then returned to her papers. "Fractured sternum and internal bleeding caused by a blade buried on the right side of your body. Not to mention a concussion, broken collarbone and multiple lacerations. You're lucky Superman brought you in when he did. Those are some serious injuries, even by your standard."
"I would have managed without him." Silvia retorted stubbornly.
"Your body was working on the breaks and fractures but that blade would have killed you if left unchecked." The woman whipped a pen out and started ticking something on the opposite end of her documents. "You should thank him if you ever see him again."
Silvia bared her teeth in irritation. "Not going to happen, Lady." She forced herself to sit up, refusing the gasp that threatened to escape at the pain that shot up her side. "Look, I appreciate all your hard work and all, but I'll be going now."
The woman, unlike at most medical centres, didn't seem compelled to stop her. In fact, she nodded as if it were common for her patients to leave straight away. "Of course... though I would like to discuss the traces of chemical additives in your system before you leave."
Silvia's face instantly dropped, washed over with a numb expression. "I don't know what you're talking about." Her voice was monotone and harsher than before, as if daring the woman to continue... and she did.
"S.T.A.R Labs represents the forefront of metahuman research. Lying is a waste of time." Her brown eyes stared at Silvia, unintimidated and unblinking. "I've seen similar compounds in few others...but this variation was unstable and volatile. The kind of thing that was made in a garage rather than a lab. I'm sure you're aware of its poor quality."
Brow darkening, Silvia pushed out of the bed and begun gathering her things. Her back was turned to the woman for a long time, hiding the anger that flashed across her face. "That's none of your business."
"The moment you were brought here it became my business."
"Then the moment I leave it won't be." Silvia snapped back, yanking her costume from a nearby bench and beginning to march out.
"There's nothing we can do to counter it anyway." The woman called out behind her, determined to get a few words in before Silvia's departure. "But destroying your body for some delusion of power never ends well. I just hope that in future you accept that not everyone was born to be super... and that's not a bad thing. Altering your genetic make-up for a few enhanced abilities was foolish."
Finally, Silvia stopped and glared over her shoulder. Her blue eyes were no longer tranquil. The silver sheen had disappeared like metal melting in a furnace. "You know nothing about me." She hissed, tone laced with fury. The idea that anyone could think she'd do this to herself... It disgusted her.
Once outside the weather contradicted her emotions. Metropolis overflowed with generous sunshine and warmth, all sweetness and brilliant unfettered golden rays. However, this changed drastically the moment she returned to Southside. It was dark, brooding, resisting the sun, threatening to bring down a storm with every ounce of power at its disposal.
Silvia made it inside before she had time to care whether it would start raining or not. She limped in, holding her side with shaky breaths. Her other injuries seemed all but gone... This one was taking longer than most.
She had just sat down, groaning at the uncomfortable couch that did nothing to soothe her pain, when there was a knock on the door. Nothing could describe the sheer annoyance that covered her face. Why would someone visit her? She barely knew anyone.
And now of all times... A growl formed deep in Silvia's throat but curiosity compelled her to open the door.
When she did she was surprised but relief washed over her after weeks of worrying. "Clark..." She said, voice breathy and hollow. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Smallville..."
"Guess I had to come back at some stage, right?" Clark joked, adjusting his glasses. "Can I come in?"
Silvia, who had been using the door to hide behind, pulled it further open without thinking it through.
"How did you know I was in Smallville, Miss Stone?" Clark asked as he stepped into the apartment.
"Oh... Your boss told me..." Silvia lied, hoping that it would suffice... When Clark didn't deny his boss ever knowing about his trip home she figured that he believed her.
"Perry? When did you see-" The man trailed off the moment he turned to face her, stepping forward just as Silvia forced the door closed. "W-Wow, hey, are you alright? What happened?"
Silvia bit her lip. She hadn't looked at herself in the mirror yet but she could only assume that she looked like a mess. "It's n-nothing, really. Debris from a building fell on me during the attack on Metropolis... I'm fine now." She watched as Clark's eyes filled with concern and had to look away from the softness they exhibited. Before he had a chance to vocalise his concerns Silvia had spoken again, almost hurriedly as if she meant to cut him off. "I was looking for you. That's when I ran into your boss."
"You were looking for me?" Clark said, the hint of amusement in his voice only succeeding in frustrating Silvia further. "Were you... worried about me, Miss Stone?"
Silvia froze, gulping down the lump that had lodged itself in her throat at his words. "O-Of course not! I just thought... I thought th-that..." She rattled her brain for excuses, face growing hot and body slumping against the kitchen counter. "I th-thought that I should get a second copy of that interview off of you... If you died then this whole thing would have been a massive waste of my time."
There was a silence that lingered through the small room. One that had Silvia glancing up at the reporter, only to instantly regret it when she saw his lips quirk upward. "Well, that's a real shame because I was definitely worried about you."
The shock registered on her face slowly. First her eyes widened and stared at him as if she didn't quite catch what he had said, then her mouth parted enough to suck in a few small gasps of air. Her mind was the last to react. It lit up like a UV light, invisible thoughts suddenly plastered on her face. No one had ever cared to acknowledge her existence until recently, let alone like her enough to worry whether she was still breathing. Well... at least not for a very long time.
Silvia pushed back the stuttered words that wanted to escape. She tried to compose herself though her surprise was still painfully obvious. Somehow the thought of him caring unlocked something in her, stripped another layer away. Silvia took a deep inhale, knowing that she would regret being so vulnerable later... she always did. Yet she still stepped over to the window next to her couch and waved Clark over.
The reporter wasted no time, almost tripping over a loose nail on his way over.
"The last time we met... I may have overreacted when you asked how long I've lived in Suicide Slum." It was almost physically nauseating to force each word out. It wasn't exactly an apology but it was as close as she could get to one. The blonde pointed at the unimpressive view from her window. "See that gutter across the road?"
Clark nodded and raised his eyebrow in succession. It was apparent that he was just as confused as he was interested in what she had to say.
"That's where I was born." Silvia leaned against the sill, forehead tapping lightly onto the glass and resting there. She appeared lost for a moment, memories clouding her mind that she had blocked out for years. "I came one week early. My mom had to rely on the help of strangers to deliver me, thankfully there were a few there that weren't too drugged up to help."
The gutter she had pointed to was filthy, riddled in gunk and appeared to have not been washed down in decades. Clark remained quiet but glanced in her direction. She was still lost on the curb outside, mind elsewhere. "My mom told me that story as if it were something to be proud of. She believed, like most parents I suppose, that I was destined to change things. To do some good in the world... but I never left the slums."
The hurt that riddled Silvia's face softened Clark's expression even further. As she pushed herself away from the window, feeling rather idiotic for sharing something so personal, Clark finally decided to speak. "Where you're from doesn't determine what you do with your life, Miss Stone. Trust me, I know."
Silvia crossed her arms and in an instant he could see her walls building themselves up again. "You're from Kansas, Dorothy. What exactly did they deprive you of?"
Clark chuckled. "Do you know how many reporters come from Smallville, Miss Stone? I'm the first."
Silvia's face cracked into a smile, one that Clark had never seen grace her features before. It was genuine, almost sweet. Then she laughed. Not cruelly or ironically... The sound was so real that he could hear a slight snort within each breath. For those brief few minutes he had seen deeper into her than anyone else had, and even when her laughter died and she instantly closed back up, he couldn't help but be amazed at the contrast.
Silvia sighed, embarrassment riddling a red flush across her cheeks. She hardened her expression once more and when she finally looked back at him her eyes had lost all their previous light. "If you put any of that in your article I'll kill you, and I don't mean that figuratively." She said coldly, but with none of the sternness that she wanted. "I'm hungry. The least you could do is go get us some food after coming here uninvited."
Despite her intentions being to sound demanding, even her voice rang softer now. Clark smiled. "What do you feel like?"
"Chinese." Silvia stated simply. "Just don't get it from around here, we'll both develop food poisoning before we can finish it."
"Don't worry, Miss Stone. I know a place."
When Clark left the apartment and turned out of Southside, Silvia was left unaware of just how far this 'place' was. By the time he had flown back from China he had barely been gone ten minutes... and most of that was spent waiting for them to cook the food. He had done this for many others before; Lois, Jimmy, Kat, even Perry once though he hadn't asked for it. They were always astonished at how fresh the food was.
Due to the positive reviews he'd usually get from people he acquired authentic Chinese food for, Clark appeared rather confident in his choice of restaurants. He walked straight into the apartment, without so much as a knock this time, and stumbled to the couch where Silvia was sitting uncomfortably.
"That was fast." She said, taking the small cardboard box Clark held out to her.
"Y-Yeah, there was no line... Guess I got lucky."
Silvia wasn't entirely sure if she believed him, but with no other explanation coming to mind, she motioned for him to sit beside her and opened the box of fried rice. Her stomach rumbled and she dug in, completely ignoring the chopsticks that she had no idea how to use and opting for a fork instead.
Clark, on the other hand, appeared to be having no problem with the chopsticks. It was hard to imagine that someone as clumsy as he was could use them so effortlessly. He looked over at her, smiling broadly as if waiting for a reaction to the food. Silvia pouted. "I don't like it."
Clark's face fell.
"I don't like prawns." She poked at the seafood with a repulsed look then begun picking them out and dropping them in Clark's food. "Here, you have them."
The reporter did nothing to stop her but wore a rather sour expression during the whole meal. It looked a little like he was sulking. Once Silvia finished her meal she placed it down and huffed "It...wasn't that bad without the prawns."
Clark, at first, looked a little unsure. He was confused at the drastic change of opinion, but eventually he smiled again. He had started realising that Silvia had her own ways of thanking him, even if she never said it outright.
Silvia was an extremely difficult person, but layer by layer, Clark was starting to understand her. Maybe he could still change her... somehow. "You know there's an opening at the Daily Planet if you were ever looking for work."
"Pfft." Silvia scoffed. "I'm no reporter."
"Really? That's too bad, Miss Stone...because I've already secured you a test run."
"What?!" In an instant the girl had jumped to her feet, panting and glaring at him. "Who told you I would ever be interested in such a stupid job?!"
Clark laughed in amusement, seeming less affected by her rage the more he got to know her. "Just assumed that you needed the money."
"Of course I don't! I'm perfectly well off-" Behind her came a crumbling sound, tiny sections of the roof falling to the floor and the rest looking like it might cave in at any second...luckily she was on the top floor.
Clark raised an eyebrow and his lips formed a tight line, trying not to laugh at the irony. The large man jumped to his feet. "I'll see you Friday then." He grabbed their rubbish and threw it in the bin before sauntering over to the door. "Oh, and pack your bag, we'll be gone a few days."
Silvia's hands curled into fists. "W-Wait! I never said I'd do it-" but he was descending the staircase, pretending that he was too far down to hear her. Silvia's blood boiled. "Jerk!" She yelled even louder but all she got in response was a knock on the wall from one of her neighbours. The girl hissed at the sound and marched back into her room, slamming the door shut only for it to fall off of its hinges again...maybe she really did need the money.