-------------
Part 2 - Freedom at a price.
Today was a good day, he could remember his name and who he was, that was an
improvement on other days. He didn't really know what was day and night anymore
as they had a cycle that was designed to keep him confused but he treated any time
that the lights were on as a new day. Clark did not know how long he had been at the
'facility', there were a million things around him with the key intention to disorient
him and make him unaware of where he was, who he was or even what the people
holding him had wanted.
Good days when he could remember his name also came at a price, he could
remember the day he had come to the facility and it was something that he had played
over in his head again and again. He kept replaying the events, trying to find a
possible solution, some other way that he could have done it but he never came up
with anything, it was just the same scenario repeated over and over until he wished it
was just a day when he could forget.
He wasn't sure how but they had known his secret, Phelan was dead and anyone else
that knew had been in the car with him that night, his parents and he were to his
knowledge the only ones that knew about the space ship in the storm cellar and the
only ones that knew he was extra-terrestrial. Yet when they had been pulled over by a
state trooper as part of a 'routine enquiry' he had known something was up. In a flash
they were surrounded by the army and the special forces and he had been warned not
to move. Someone had put a shotgun to his mother's head and threatened to shoot her
if he moved. There was a needle then, he remembered thinking that it would be okay
because he broke the needles other people had tried using. He didn't think that they
were in any real trouble until he felt the burn as whatever they had injected him with
entered his system. It had been a meteor rock compound needle, he knew that now
because when they used them them now they glowed green, whatever they had hit
him with had knocked him out for a long time, he had woken up later at the facility
strapped to a chair and told that if he broke his bonds his parents, his friends, anyone
that even knew his name would be killed and it would be on his head.
Some days when whoever was keeping him captive felt generous, he got news of his
family or friends, like the day LuthorCorp had been overtaken by Lex Industries, or
when Lana and Whitney got married. Other days they tested things on him, strange
new substances that would give him a headache or make him sick. There were lots of
tests too, new and interesting ones mixed with the same old taking of samples. Clark
supposed that they were trying to find out where his powers came from but he was
pretty sure that they were not succeeding and it puzzled them even more when he
started developing new ones.
Some months back (as far as he could tell by his crude way of passing time) he had
developed the ability to 'see fire', he felt like a comic book superhero who could burn
things with his eyes, the guy from X-men that wore glasses to protect himself came to
mind. They had covered his eyes for days, taped them shut as they worked out what
to do with him. Also he had learned that his hovering could be controlled, maybe in
his old life he could have tested it, could have gone out to the barn and fallen out of
the window to see if he could fly. Now he knew he would never see the sky, let alone
fly in it. He had learned to disassociate himself from his past, they called him Patient
X and some days he remembered only that, sometimes he wondered if it would have
been better if he had landed a few fields over and been picked up by the army first,
been tested and not loved. At least that way he would not feel the pain he did.
Clark rolled over on his mattress as he heard the door click open, there was no use
steeling himself for attack, he knew that it was coming and he was ready for it. He
could not fight or they would hurt his parents, hurt his friends, or hurt Lex. He
wondered what they wanted to test today, he thanked whichever doctor it was when
they injected him with the green drug as the blissful state of unconciousness overtook
him again. At least he would not feel this batch of tests.
------------------
Doctor Zimmerman frowned at the notice, he didn't understand the government memo
that he had just received. They were a semi-autonomous organisation with a large
government funding behind them, they worked outside the law for the good of
America, or at least that was what he had always thought. His early career had been
threatened by his own work that was questionable when he had worked with genetics
and cloning but now he was working for Uncle Sam it didn't matter that there was
some ethical questions surrounding his work, they didn't care as long as it was
controlled. Now he found out that his specific experiments were to be terminated and
all findings were to be transferred to the LexCorp Scientific Foundation which was
based in Metropolis. The test subject was to be transferred too and any of his staff
that refused the 'severance' package that they were being offered would be terminated
without pay.
Bradley Zimmerman decided that he needed to call a meeting, at least if he could
determine what findings they had he might be able to save some jobs by appealing to
the scientists at LexCorp when the patient was relocated. The message he sent around
to his employees was clear, we need to get some results quickly and for the first time
we need to justify our experiments to the government or at least make them saleable
to the private sector, otherwise we all lose our jobs and more than that, our lives.
---------------------
There was something that made this day different than any other for Clark, it was not
only that it was one of the days that he remembered who he was (although that made
for a good day) but it was that he had been left alone. He knew that a lot of time had
passed, maybe more than the regular cycle of artificial light that he knew as a day, and
no one had come in to take blood or other specimens. He wanted to knock on the
door to ask if they had forgotten he was there but that was the one wish he knew
would not come true, there were only two things that were consistent about his life,
his lack of freedom and his tests. Being an alien he did not know if he would ever die
but he knew that since he had come here he did not have any rights and he was
subjected to regular tests, that was just the way it was.
The door opened and he let out the tense sigh that he had kept in, but this was
different, sure the lady had come in carrying the syringe with the glowing green
compound in it and she carried a tazer in her other hand in case he tried to fight her
but there was a second person, a man with a trolley to put him on. Clark wanted to
fight but he knew that it meant pain, if nothing else they would use the meteor rocks
that they all carried and he would be incapacitated. If they were feeling particularly
cruel they would beat him while he was weakened. Instead the lady reached out to
inject him and then he felt strong arms lift him up onto the gurney to take him away.
His last thoughts before oblivion were that at least he might get to see some other
place before was taken off for the 'final experiment', he hoped that he would and that
they would finally end his misery, that was all he wanted.
---------------------
To be continued soon…
Part 2 - Freedom at a price.
Today was a good day, he could remember his name and who he was, that was an
improvement on other days. He didn't really know what was day and night anymore
as they had a cycle that was designed to keep him confused but he treated any time
that the lights were on as a new day. Clark did not know how long he had been at the
'facility', there were a million things around him with the key intention to disorient
him and make him unaware of where he was, who he was or even what the people
holding him had wanted.
Good days when he could remember his name also came at a price, he could
remember the day he had come to the facility and it was something that he had played
over in his head again and again. He kept replaying the events, trying to find a
possible solution, some other way that he could have done it but he never came up
with anything, it was just the same scenario repeated over and over until he wished it
was just a day when he could forget.
He wasn't sure how but they had known his secret, Phelan was dead and anyone else
that knew had been in the car with him that night, his parents and he were to his
knowledge the only ones that knew about the space ship in the storm cellar and the
only ones that knew he was extra-terrestrial. Yet when they had been pulled over by a
state trooper as part of a 'routine enquiry' he had known something was up. In a flash
they were surrounded by the army and the special forces and he had been warned not
to move. Someone had put a shotgun to his mother's head and threatened to shoot her
if he moved. There was a needle then, he remembered thinking that it would be okay
because he broke the needles other people had tried using. He didn't think that they
were in any real trouble until he felt the burn as whatever they had injected him with
entered his system. It had been a meteor rock compound needle, he knew that now
because when they used them them now they glowed green, whatever they had hit
him with had knocked him out for a long time, he had woken up later at the facility
strapped to a chair and told that if he broke his bonds his parents, his friends, anyone
that even knew his name would be killed and it would be on his head.
Some days when whoever was keeping him captive felt generous, he got news of his
family or friends, like the day LuthorCorp had been overtaken by Lex Industries, or
when Lana and Whitney got married. Other days they tested things on him, strange
new substances that would give him a headache or make him sick. There were lots of
tests too, new and interesting ones mixed with the same old taking of samples. Clark
supposed that they were trying to find out where his powers came from but he was
pretty sure that they were not succeeding and it puzzled them even more when he
started developing new ones.
Some months back (as far as he could tell by his crude way of passing time) he had
developed the ability to 'see fire', he felt like a comic book superhero who could burn
things with his eyes, the guy from X-men that wore glasses to protect himself came to
mind. They had covered his eyes for days, taped them shut as they worked out what
to do with him. Also he had learned that his hovering could be controlled, maybe in
his old life he could have tested it, could have gone out to the barn and fallen out of
the window to see if he could fly. Now he knew he would never see the sky, let alone
fly in it. He had learned to disassociate himself from his past, they called him Patient
X and some days he remembered only that, sometimes he wondered if it would have
been better if he had landed a few fields over and been picked up by the army first,
been tested and not loved. At least that way he would not feel the pain he did.
Clark rolled over on his mattress as he heard the door click open, there was no use
steeling himself for attack, he knew that it was coming and he was ready for it. He
could not fight or they would hurt his parents, hurt his friends, or hurt Lex. He
wondered what they wanted to test today, he thanked whichever doctor it was when
they injected him with the green drug as the blissful state of unconciousness overtook
him again. At least he would not feel this batch of tests.
------------------
Doctor Zimmerman frowned at the notice, he didn't understand the government memo
that he had just received. They were a semi-autonomous organisation with a large
government funding behind them, they worked outside the law for the good of
America, or at least that was what he had always thought. His early career had been
threatened by his own work that was questionable when he had worked with genetics
and cloning but now he was working for Uncle Sam it didn't matter that there was
some ethical questions surrounding his work, they didn't care as long as it was
controlled. Now he found out that his specific experiments were to be terminated and
all findings were to be transferred to the LexCorp Scientific Foundation which was
based in Metropolis. The test subject was to be transferred too and any of his staff
that refused the 'severance' package that they were being offered would be terminated
without pay.
Bradley Zimmerman decided that he needed to call a meeting, at least if he could
determine what findings they had he might be able to save some jobs by appealing to
the scientists at LexCorp when the patient was relocated. The message he sent around
to his employees was clear, we need to get some results quickly and for the first time
we need to justify our experiments to the government or at least make them saleable
to the private sector, otherwise we all lose our jobs and more than that, our lives.
---------------------
There was something that made this day different than any other for Clark, it was not
only that it was one of the days that he remembered who he was (although that made
for a good day) but it was that he had been left alone. He knew that a lot of time had
passed, maybe more than the regular cycle of artificial light that he knew as a day, and
no one had come in to take blood or other specimens. He wanted to knock on the
door to ask if they had forgotten he was there but that was the one wish he knew
would not come true, there were only two things that were consistent about his life,
his lack of freedom and his tests. Being an alien he did not know if he would ever die
but he knew that since he had come here he did not have any rights and he was
subjected to regular tests, that was just the way it was.
The door opened and he let out the tense sigh that he had kept in, but this was
different, sure the lady had come in carrying the syringe with the glowing green
compound in it and she carried a tazer in her other hand in case he tried to fight her
but there was a second person, a man with a trolley to put him on. Clark wanted to
fight but he knew that it meant pain, if nothing else they would use the meteor rocks
that they all carried and he would be incapacitated. If they were feeling particularly
cruel they would beat him while he was weakened. Instead the lady reached out to
inject him and then he felt strong arms lift him up onto the gurney to take him away.
His last thoughts before oblivion were that at least he might get to see some other
place before was taken off for the 'final experiment', he hoped that he would and that
they would finally end his misery, that was all he wanted.
---------------------
To be continued soon…