Hi! So, here I am again, with yet another chapter. Big thanks to Mellia Bee for explaining me American Educational System - it was a huge help! :)
I rewrote this chapter like three times, and I'm still not sure if I'm completely happy with it. Well.. :D
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OCs.
Chapter 38 - A.R.G.U.S.
A few days ago, Clark decided that he would walk with her to school, and she didn't protest. She wasn't the clingy type of girlfriend, but she really liked spending time with him. This morning, however, he really seemed like something was bothering him. He tended to overthink things, a little side effect of his Kryptonian brain, as it's trying to find patterns and analyze everything everywhere.
Clark was a very tactile person, there was no doubt about that. He wasn't possessive or anything of the sorts, but he just liked to be in some sort of physical contact with her, be it hugs, cuddling, or just hand-holding. And she didn't fail to notice that today, he gripped his hand a little bit stronger than normal. Not nearly strong enough to hurt her or be uncomfortable, but strong enough for her to notice.
"Clark, are you okay?" she asked. He was quiet, which was never a good sign. Sometimes, she wondered if he had ADHD or was just plain hyperactive, because he'd talk her ear off in a matter of hours. A treat she found strangely attractive.
"Clark?" she asked again and squeezed his hands. His eyes were unfocused, as if he wasn't even there. And she realized that he probably wasn't. She stopped abruptly, and Clark, noticing the lack of her hand in his, came to his senses and stopped, too.
"Sarah? What's going on?" he asked as he turned around.
"I'd like to ask you the same question, Clark. Are you okay?"
"Me? Uh, yeah. Sure. Why wouldn't I be?" he tried to sound nonchalant, but there was still the false, forced cheer in his voice.
"Clark," she stepped closer to him, "firstly, I know when you're lying. Except when you're in that Kryptonian mode of yours. I know when something's bothering you. It's like you have a dark cloud over your head. If I can talk to you about my problems, you can talk to me about yours. Trust is a two-way street."
They were standing in the middle of the sidewalk, but neither one of them noticed. Clark's hands instinctively curled around her waist as he brought her closer to him while she put hers on his shoulders.
He took a steadying breath, though it came a bit shaky.
"It's—it's nothing. Just something an agent of A.R.G.U.S. said to me yesterday," he said quietly.
Sarah looked at him questioningly. "A.R.G.U.S.?"
"A government organization, something similar to D.E.O. or C.I.A. I read about it in the League database. It's led by a woman named Amanda Waller, and supposedly, Luthor does some occasional work for them as well."
"Oh," she said, before her gaze turned serious again. "What did the agent say to you?"
Clark closed his eyes again, and whispered the exact same line the agent told him literally just a few hours ago, "As an alien organism, you have no rights."
Sarah's eyes flashed angrily. She knew very well that sometimes, Clark still doubted his humanity, and whether he wanted to or not, he wears his heart on his sleeve. Clark is thick-skinned – he never lets people's opinions of him cloud his judgement, or worse, get to him. But this one hit a nerve.
"Clark," she said, her voice sounding strangely protective, as she put her hands on the sides of his face, "you might be an alien, but you are human. You were raised as one of us. You are one of us. You have rights, just like everyone else. You'll probably have this on your mind for a long time, but try not to think about it. Please. You are human. To me, to your parents, to your friends. You are the most human of us all."
She kissed him, and Clark felt his negative thoughts slowly melting away, being replaced by the familiar warm feeling he gets every time this girl says something smart. Or anything at all. He let himself melt into the kiss, subconsciously bringing her closer to him, pulling her flush against his chest. He smiled against her lips.
She smiled at him when she pulled away and intervened their fingers. "You can always talk to me, Clark."
He smiled at her and nodded, giving her a silent promise. "Ready to go?"
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The first day was highly uneventful. The teachers were usually just reading the syllabus before giving each student one. Clark, having almost all of his classes AP, quickly scanned the syllabi and learned that he already knew most of the stuff.
He was happy to find out that Sarah was in most of his classes, even though both of them wanted to study completely different subjects. Clark took AP World History, AP English Language and Composition, AP Calculus BC and AP Biology. Clark figured that he could find a use for the Chemistry classes for his superhero persona, while the others are mostly needed to pursue his career in journalism.
Plus, he could use the few classes he shares with Sarah as an excuse for study dates.
Sarah, on the other hand, decided to take AP Chemistry, AP Biology and AP Physics to pursue her career as a biologist.
"4 AP courses? Are you crazy, Kent?" asked Whitney during lunch.
"A little, yeah," answered Clark easily. Sarah and Lana stifled a laugh beside him.
"It's your doom," said Whitney, and Clark barked out a laugh. "So, what college you wanna go to?"
"Metropolis University," answered both Sarah and Clark at the same time. They high-fived. Whitney rolled his eyes.
"What about you?" asked Clark.
Whitney shrugged. "Not sure. They offered me a football scholarship for Gotham and Ivy University last year. I still don't know where to go," he admitted. Lana put her hand over his and squeezed with a soft smile.
"You'll figure it out," she said.
"By the way, Sarah, honey, you know you could most likely get in to Stanford or even Harvard, right?" said Lana.
Sarah shrugged. "Yeah, but it's closer to home. Plus, Metropolis University offers the best Biology program in the States."
Clark nodded. "And the best journalism program, too."
"So, I see your internship in the Planet brought out some passion out of you," stated Lana with a teasing smile. Clark rolled his eyes and drank his water.
"Yeah, Clark. What did you do there, anyway?" asked Whitney, his voice curious and his gaze even more so, as he leaned forward.
Clark shrugged a little. "Not much. Just doing copies, carrying coffee, pointing out Lois' spelling errors, talking to Perry… you know, the usual."
"Lois as in Lois Lane?" asked Lana. Clark nodded.
"Yep."
"Nice," she whispered. Clark grinned.
Sarah noticed a couple of girls looking at Clark and giggling to themselves from the corner of her eye and rolled her eyes before she joined the conversation.
"Perry liked you a lot, didn't he?" asked Sarah.
"Well, he let me write a few short articles and then said that he's going to recruit me the moment I come out of high school…" he said with a little blush, and Sarah kissed him on the cheek. He kissed her knuckles. "You'll make a really hot reporter."
Clark blushed. Harder. And then grinned at her.
"Goals," whispered Lana quietly while Whitney nodded. Clark almost choked on his own spit as he tried not to laugh. Clark saw Sarah shaking from laughter.
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Clark came home only to find the house empty, which was highly unusual. His parents usually told him, or at least texted him, that they wouldn't be home. Something wasn't adding up, and Clark's stomach tightened. He immediately scanned the house, but nothing seemed out of place, except for a broken vase with blood on it. Clark's eyes widened a little bit as he scanned the blood, recognizing his Pa's DNA.
"Shit," Clark whispered, "shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"
His breathing became erratic and short. His heart was racing and he felt dizzy. Clark fisted his hair and tried to calm his breathing. He knew the signs of a panic attack.
"Come on, come on," he gasped out, "I'm Superman. I'll find them. They're fine. They'll be fine."
But it wasn't working. He was full-on panicking. He sank down to the floor, his back facing the wall, and tried to think about the good things in his life. His friends, his colleagues, the pure excitement he felt every time he flew, Sarah, his paren—no, he can't think about them. He can't. Not right now. It would send him over the edge. He shut his eyes tight.
Clark held his breath. Sarah once told him that she read that holding your breath can stop a panic attack. He wasn't sure if it would work on him, but he could only hope. Clark felt his heartbeat slow down as he exhaled slowly. He took a deep breath and exhaled again.
Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.
Finally, the panic he felt inside of him was subsiding. He opened his eyes and took another deep breath before slowly standing up. He didn't feel weak anymore. Instead, he felt something burn within him.
A high-pitched noise made him cover his ears and grunt in pain. "Hello, Superman. Or should I say Mr. Kent?"
Clark froze. He recognized the voice. Lex Luthor. "Only dogs, cats and beings with extremely enhanced hearing are able to pick this frequency – and so far, you're the only one with hearing range on this scale. Now, as you've probably already noticed, we have your parents. It's not them we want. We want you."
Clark's eyes snapped open – the soft blue replaced by angry red. They took them because of him. He tore his shirt apart, revealing the House of El symbol underneath. As the supersuit spread all over him, he activated his earpiece and alerted the League while listening to the message.
"They are unharmed. For now. That, however, can change."
Batman was already alerting the rest of the League of the emergency, and Clark broke the door apart as he flew straight into it and into the sky, following the soundwave with his various vision powers.
"So, we propose an exchange, Mr. Kent. You for your parents."
Clark's eyes still glowed bright red, including his sclera, as he landed roughly on the pavement approximately 250 miles west from Metropolis.
A.R.G.U.S. base.
"Clark, don't do anything rash," said Batman through the League comm. Clark barely heard him.
The building looked ordinary, but Clark knew what was beneath it. The guards already noticed him and started walking towards him. They met halfway and armed their weapons at him.
"Now," said Clark, his voice quiet, yet so cold and full of anger at once that most of the guards stepped back, "I'm here because you took someone I care about. I'm here for them. Move."
One of the guards shoot him in the eye. Clark didn't even twitch. The guard's eyes widened and he stepped back.
"Or I'll move you."
All guards but three stepped back, letting him pass. Clark looked at them, their eyes full of hatred and defiance, with weapons still raised at him. "These won't work."
"I don't care," said one of them as he used up all of his magazine for shooting Clark in the chest – straight on the S. Clark didn't even feel it.
He gave the guards a little push with his palm, sending them flying and getting knocked out by the wall. Some bones were broken.
He entered the building – more agents tried to shoot him. He didn't even spare them a glance. Clark noticed an elevator, and with a quick use of his x-ray vision, he saw that the shaft led straight down. He ripped the elevator doors apart like an aluminum foil and jumped down, not using his flying ability to slow down his descend. His landing was so hard it shook the floor.
The walls were laced with lead. Clark used his superhearing to find his parents' heartbeats. He picked them up fairly quickly – they were definitely here and beating strong. They weren't seriously hurt.
"Clark, we're two minutes out. Diana went ahead, she'll be there in a minute," said Batman.
He followed the heartbeats and a few seconds later, he stood in front of a two feet thick titanium door. He ripped them apart. The room was dark, but Clark, able to see in the dark, could see his parents. He immediately scanned them for injuries, and was relieved to find none, except for a black eye Jonathan had and a sprained wrist his mother sported.
They smiled the moment they saw him, and their tensed bodies relaxed, making Clark's relax, too. He knelt down in front of them and broke the cuffs, rendering them free. Both of them rubbed their wrists, especially Martha.
"Are you okay?" asked Clark quietly, his voice full of concern. They nodded reassuringly.
"Yeah. Thank you," said Jonathan as Martha caressed his cheek with her uninjured hand.
"I'm getting you out of here."
Before he could stand up, however, a sharp pain in his whole head made him cry out in agony and cover his ears with his hands. It was as if he had a sensory overload all over again, when his hearing abilities first manifested, except that it was three times stronger and more painful. Clark felt something wet on his palms – blood.
His vision went fuzzy, and before he could pass out, the sound and the pain stopped. Clark supported his weight by putting his hands on the ground. He was breathing heavily, his body recovering from the assault.
"I thought Batman told you to not do anything stupid," said a feminine voice Clark recognized, making him breath out a sigh of relief.
Clark smiled at his parents before helping them stand up. "Thanks, Di."
"You're welcome," answered Wonder Woman.
"It was Luthor," said Clark. "He talked to me through the high frequency soundwave. And I'm guessing A.R.G.U.S. isn't innocent, too."
Batman appeared, then. "Yes. We will take it from here. Take your parents home, Clark."
Clark smiled and put his hand on Batman's shoulder. "Thank you, Bruce," he said quietly. He nodded in response.
After introducing Diana and Bruce to his parents, they decided to leave. Clark tried to look nonchalant the whole flight home, but both Jonathan and Martha could see that he felt guilty, even though he had no reason to.
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After they went home, the married couple noticed Clark slowly distancing himself from them all in a matter of hours – they knew what it was. It was his Kryptonian side showing. He once told them that Kryptonians were cold and aloof in nature, that they had complete control over their emotions. Jonathan and Martha raised Clark to always talk if something's bothering him, but sometimes, even they couldn't fight with his alien nature.
It was around 7 PM when Martha knocked on her son's bedroom door. "Come in."
"Clark, are you okay?" she asked as she entered the room. He was sitting on his bed, reading his school notes from junior year. He tried to distract himself – he knew all those things already. He looked up at her, and there was the guilt in his pure, brilliant blue eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, his gaze falling to his notes again.
"Clark," she said, her voice a little forceful, "look at me."
When he didn't, she put two fingers under his chin and forced him to lift his head to look at her. "It wasn't your fault," she said softly, her expression open, her eyes earnest.
"They kidnapped you because of me," he whispered.
"No. They kidnapped us because they are a bunch of degenerate idiots. And while you may have been the reason, it wasn't your fault. Some people in the world are just bad and are willing to use whatever means necessary to reach their goals – be it just plain, usual rudeness or kidnapping a superhero's family. Still, it doesn't change the fact that it was not your fault."
"You could've died," he whispered again, more quietly this time.
"We could die every day. Clark, we could easily die in a car accident or get a heart attack, and you wouldn't be able to do anything. You saved us today. Think about that. Don't think about the negative things that happened there. We are okay, and you saved us. You are a hero, Clark. The greatest of them all."
Clark's eyes were now full of tears, and the dam finally broke when he heard his father say, "She's right, Clark."
Martha put her arms around him and hugged him tightly to her while Jonathan ran comforting circles down his back. Clark wasn't letting just the guilt out. He was letting out all the horrible things he's seen since he became Superman.
All the lives he couldn't save. All the destruction. All the catastrophes. All the evil in the world. And yet, he also cried because he was grateful for everything he had - his friends from the Daily Planet – Jimmy, Lois, Perry, Jenny, even Steve. He was grateful for his team mates – his friends - who are always there for him when in crisis. He was grateful for Sarah – a girl who somehow managed to bring herself into his life, making him fall in love with her along the way, and who, by some miracle, loves him just as much as he loves her, and that he maybe makes her as happy as she does him.
Most of all, he was grateful for the best parents a superpowered boy could ever ask for – parents so compassionate, loving, caring and good. Parents who taught him that crying is not a weakness, but a sign of person who's been strong for too long. Parents who taught him that compassion and kindness was not something to be ashamed of. Parents who taught him that love was something a person should give to everyone around them.
And so, Clark let himself finally cry.
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Clark hugged Sarah tightly the moment he saw her at school the next day. She hugged him back without hesitation, albeit with confusion. "Clark, are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said heavily. He kissed her forehead and intervened their hands together. "I'm okay now."
She smiled up at him, her eyes full of happiness, mirroring his own.
