"Fifty laps. Go."
It was almost like he was in boot camp, he thought, as he whipped them out so fast that there was no way Private Luthor could count them.
He'd blown off the soldier's cap in the process, and disgruntled, he picked it up off the ground.
"Sorry about that," Kal-El apologized when he finished.
"No, you're not."
He was right. He wasn't that sorry. The man made his life a living hell.
He was out here regular now and Lois found a way into this section of the fort almost every day. She was here early today because it wasn't a school day. It was almost funny how the days of the week didn't matter anymore when it wasn't observed by school or work or church. It was just another day.
She came up to the fence. She looked amazing in a tank top and running shorts, the sheen of sweat from her jogging giving her a healthy glow but mostly it was her smile, so freely given that made her radiant.
He heard the loud, heavy pounding of a heart. At first, he thought it was his, but then he realized it was actually coming from Private Luthor. He looked over and saw the man looking at her with unmasked desire, and he'd never disliked him more than he did in that moment.
He looked back at Lois, who was looking at him. "How are you holding up?"
"It's tolerable. I'm sure I'll be out soon."
Private Luthor laughed, having turned his attention back to him. "You really believe that, don't you?"
He had to believe it. They would run through all their tests, see that he wasn't a threat to them, and they'd let him go. He'd reunite with his mother and start thinking about colleges and the career path he wanted. If he gave up that hope, then what? He didn't want to think about how miserable a life that would be to spend the rest of his days locked up in a government facility.
"I'm sure you will too, Kal-El," Lois said, either not hearing Private Luthor or choosing to ignore him.
"I don't want to have to call General Lane," Private Luthor said to Lois with a tenderness he hadn't known the man was capable of possessing.
"Then don't," she said snappily. "See you later, Kal-El."
Private Luthor made him run more laps, which wasn't so bad because the sun always rejuvenated him like a battery getting recharged whenever he started to get tired. It was worth it just to see Lois, the only one who still looked at him like he was human.
sss
It was the middle of the night when the door to his room burst open. He almost thought it was Private Luthor come to make him run more laps, but it was Lois.
"You lied to me," she accused.
"What?" he said, sitting up. There were no guards posted. They rightly realized the only guard needed in front of his door was the green kryptonite.
"You're an alien," she said. "Private Luthor told me."
Why did the word sound so harsh? It was true. He wasn't a natural citizen. He wasn't even from this planet. It was just the word was so, well, alienating that he really hated it. "Technically, but I grew up here. This world is all I know."
"You lied to me," she repeated.
"Not exactly. I just didn't tell you the full truth about why they locked me up."
"That's lying by omission, genius."
"I guess...I just didn't want you to look at me differently." He looked to the ground unable to face her censure. She was his last contact to his humanity. Now he would only ever be seen as a creature at best or an invader at worst.
"I am going to look at you differently because you are different."
She was crushing him with that statement, grinding his heart into a fine powder.
"But that doesn't mean I can't accept you as you are. It's the content of your character that I care about and not telling me the truth is a mark against it."
He looked up with a note of fresh hope in his eyes."Do you mean it?"
"I don't say things I don't mean. Although, I guess I can see why you would keep your history a secret because of this. It's practically a sci-fi movie plot: government finds alien, government locks alien up and conducts experiments."
"At least they haven't dissected me," he said.
That brought a smile to her face. Then she got serious again. "What do they want you for?"
"For now, to run tests and find all the knowledge they can about the planet I was born on. When they've exhausted that, I really don't know."
"This does complicate things. I could probably break you out, but-"
"They wouldn't give up until they found me again."
"We'll think of something. This is far from over."
He loved her fighting spirit. Her determination made him want to fight too, and he couldn't help noticing her use of "we". Perhaps, he was reading too much into it, but it made him feel lighter than air even so.