4- Disclosure
A/N: Sorry, been having a devil of a time trying to download this chapter, not able to access FF.net . Obviously I'm setting them all up for something…. And thanks, I love your reviews.
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"So what do you think of those people?" Lex asked Clark as they sped toward the mansion in the Jaguar.
Clark shrugged. "We didn't have much time to talk; their friend was in such bad shape we had to get him to the hospital quick. I think they are a group of corporate people who crashed their plane en-route to wherever their business led."
"Plane?" Lex commented.
"Yeah. It was in pretty horrible shape," Clark replied. "They were lucky to get out alive."
"Where did it crash, Clark?"
"Oh, not far from the house," Clark replied. "I wouldn't be surprised if the police is all over the place now."
Lex glanced at Clark skeptically. "They might not even be aware of it. Did anyone call them?"
"I'd expect so, but we were so busy getting them out of the wreckage…"
"Hm. Maybe we can swing by there after we check out the mansion for Dad," Lex wondered aloud. "They obviously recognized me and I'm certain their business intentions concerned me." Lex said, focusing on the road. "The fellow named Jesse handed me this." He handed the news clipping with photograph of Desiree and Lex. Clark looked at it and whistled softly.
"Do you think Helen will be upset to see this?"
"Naw. We have no secrets from each other," Lex replied casually, glancing at Clark to see if he reacted. "She knows about Desiree and Desiree is history."
Clark and Lex arrived at the mansion to find it in shambles. "Dad?" Lex called. There was no answer. "Frank!" Lex shook the unconscious bodyguard. "That's Frank Rose, my dad's assistant," he told Clark. Frank began to stir and grabbed his head in pain. There was a slamming noise behind them that made them jump and look around nervously. Unable to find anyone, Clark and Lex returned and supported the thirty-ish man as he sat up and described what happened.
"A large group of trained fighters invaded the mansion," Frank replied. "We asked them what they wanted, but they wouldn't answer. They went through every inch of this room, pointing some sort of scanning machine around, and then checked out other rooms." Lex's eyes took on a wild, concerned look but he refrained from bolting to his secret room.
"Your father kept asking them by whose authority they were trespassing on a private citizen's property. When they finally finished trashing the mansion looking for whatever they were looking for and they took him away, Mr. Luthor." Frank closed his eyes and grimaced with pain. The chandelier suddenly swayed erratically.
"They did a lot of damage," Clark commented. "Better watch that chandelier," he added, eyeing it suspiciously. Almost in shock, Lex continued to eye the damage.
"When did they arrive, Frank?" Lex asked.
"It was about 7pm." Frank described a group of armed fighters overpowering him and Lionel Luthor. He grasped his head as another jolt of pain exploded through the back of his head. The sofa slammed against the wall. Lex and Clark eyed the sofa, then the man suspiciously.
"Are you all right, Frank?" Clark asked.
"Did you see that sofa move by itself?" Lex commented.
"We should get you to the hospital," Clark said, wondering if this man had space-rock powers. "You seem to be in a great deal of pain."
"No," Frank replied, running his hands over his crew cut hair. "I'll be fine. My head hurts where they hit me, I'll be fine." Clark scanned the man discretely with his x-ray vision. There was a small circular device imbedded in the back of his neck and not far from it, a small metal rod that looked like a nail piercing the back of his skull.
"I need to check something," Lex said, unable to contain himself any longer. "Just yell if you need me, I'll be down the hall." He bolted for his secret room, leaving Clark alone with Frank Rose. Frank bowed his head to his knees, hands trembling as he sought for some semblance of control over his powers. Another jolt of pain caused him to lose control again. A large mahogany chest slammed against Clark, throwing him across the room. Frank groaned as unbearable pain racked his head. Clark, recovering quickly sped back to Frank's side.
"What on earth are you doing!" he exclaimed ducking as an end table flew across the room for his head. "You're the one who trashed this place, aren't you? Where's Lionel Luthor?"
Frank didn't answer. The pain was so great that eyes glazed over, he opened his mouth in a soundless scream of pain. The wall near the fireplace started to fall apart. Frank grabbed Clark's hand and placed it on his head where the metal rod was imbedded. Nodding, Clark understood what the man was trying to tell him. Concentrating, he focused an extremely thin heat ray at the base of the metal rod. There was no telling what the heat would do to the man, but he indicated that the problem was here. The metal turned a dull red and then back to a black color as the heat ray melted then disabled the rod-like device. Frank collapsed in relief.
"It worked. Whatever you did, kid, I owe ya," he rasped.
"Oh, it was nothing that a good jackknife couldn't handle," Clark answered, wielding his knife, opened to the fine blade. Frank Rose studied the youth skeptically, grey eyes calculating. Just then Lex returned, looking relieved.
"Anything Lex?" Clark asked.
Lex shook his head.
"We should go try to find your Dad," Clark said. Lex stopped him.
"No. I don't owe him anything." Lex said, replaying the security tapes as Frank sat motionless, recovering his strength. Clark fidgeted, covertly scanning the room with his X-ray vision.
"But what about trying to get him to donate some of his blood?" Clark asked insistently.
Lex glared at Clark. "Do you really think that my father would give one hoot about your friends' predicament? He'd probably suggest that if your friend was that badly off that he be euthanized." Lex glared a moment longer, wrestling with some thoughts of his own and returned to reviewing the security tapes.
After a few minutes, Lex called out, "Hey Clark, listen to this." He played back a tape showing two of the masked men walking out of Lex's bedroom. One of the attackers spoke into a communication device.
"We got the older Luthor. Got his freak bodyguard under control. Too bad we couldn't make it a one-stop and bag his son as well." Lex's face was expressionless except for his eyes. His hazel eyes betrayed apprehension and anger.
"We've got to find out what the hell they want with the Luthor family," Lex asked, "and what do they mean by freak bodyguard? Does it have anything to do with things moving around by themselves since we arrived; is that why the mansion is in such a mess?"
Determined, Lex stared suspiciously at Frank Rose. The man shrugged nervously, looked at Clark as if appealing for help, then looked at both of the young men almost mockingly. Suddenly his eyes widened with apprehension as they fixed on something behind them.
"Hello, Frank. Nice to see you again. Cat got your tongue?" Shalimar asked from the door. The man known to her as Frank Thorne stared at her apprehensively. His eyes widened and he scrambled backwards trying to get as far away from her as possible. As Lex Luthor and Clark Kent studied him then Shalimar with puzzled looks, Thorne glanced wildly around the room for the companions he was sure had accompanied the Feral.
"Blast from your past?" Emma stepping into view from behind Shalimar asked the shocked man. Frank Thorne, his eyes still registering shock, scrambled to his feet and started to back away.
"Oh, c'mon. You're not afraid of a couple of ladies are you?" Shalimar asked in a sugary tone.
Frank, beginning to recover from the shock of seeing his old adversaries relaxed a little, but kept looking around as if expecting someone else to show up. Emma indicated that he sit down and Frank Thorne complied.
"Excuse me, but do you people know each other?" Lex asked.
"I thought you were staying at the hospital," Clark blurted.
"We changed our minds. Our friend is stable. We thought we'd stop by and see the mansion. Clark's folks dropped us off," Emma explained. "Besides," she looked at the shambles around her, "looks like you can use some help cleaning up."
Lex smiled fixedly at Emma. She looked at him startled and glanced at Shalimar in alarm at the gun in his hand. He motioned Shalimar to step closer to Emma.
"Kind of you to offer, however, we seem to be missing my father," Lex answered, his expression like flint. "Mr. Rose here is eminently qualified to protect my father, and I'm curious as to why he seems to be intimidated by you young ladies. You obviously know each other. And since you obviously have some business with the Luthors, perhaps you might have some clue as to where my father is?"
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Lionel Luthor awakened in a small, clean but poorly lit cell. He had been dumped onto a small cot that barely held his lanky frame. A single incandescent light bulb hung above him, metal bars extended on all four sides from floor to ceiling. The place smelled musty, as if an old cellar existed beyond the four walls of his immediate surroundings.
Lionel brushed the long, tousled hair out of his face and jumped to his feet. Ignoring the urge to call out for help, he tested the strength of the bars. Surprised at the absolute strength in the metal, he quietly and patiently tried each bar for weakness but found none. Looking up at the ceiling, he noted that the ceiling had to be about eight feet high. Standing on the cot, he hopefully pushed up against the ceiling tiles. There was slight give as the tile lifted up an inch, just enough to allow a spattering of mouse droppings to roll through the opening and onto his upturned face. Lionel Luthor hastily let go of the tile and disgusted, spat the filth from his lips, frantically shaking the dust out of his hair and off his shirt. He spat again outside of his cell, then paced moodily, listening for sound, any sound in his dank isolation.
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In the night, a tall, dark figure emerged from a cloaked VTOL and hurried toward the employee entrance of Smallville Hospital. Producing a special card, he swiped it at the secured entrance and walked in. The tall dark-haired man looked around briefly then walked resolutely toward Critical Care area.
Brennan lay sleeping, hooked up in a private room to all kinds of monitors and tubes. Jesse sat in a chair next to him, dozing, his hair more tousled than usual from having pulled at it so many times today. The tall, dark-haired stranger quietly stepped into the room and perused the equipment that was monitoring the wounded Elemental. He cast a sidelong glance at Jesse and placed a hand alongside Brennan's neck at the carotid artery.
Jesse suddenly sensing something different in his environment, exploded into wakefulness. He looked up and saw the man standing barely a foot away from him, holding something against Brennan's neck.
"Oh, it's you, Adam." Jesse exclaimed softly, relaxing. "You should have woken me up."
Adam smiled. "I apparently did. Thought I'd let you rest. He's doing well, considering what you told me about his condition."
"Yeah. Shal and I heard the code Blue. We knew it had to be him and we were freaked. It was a minute or two later that the hospital lights dimmed down as if going through a power drain." Jesse told him.
Adam nodded approvingly. "Someone either knew enough or was desperate enough to ramp up the voltage to where Brennan's cellular level could assimilate the energy he needed to survive. I'd bet on the latter, but my thanks to the person who made that call to ramp up the voltage."
"You're very welcome, sir." Dr. Bryce replied as she stepped into the room to check on Brennan just in time to hear the thanks. As Adam turned to look at her, she stared hard at him. Her eyes suddenly lit up with recognition and disbelief as if she couldn't believe who she was standing face to face with. "Dr. Kane?" she asked, her brown eyes shining with awe. Adam nodded, his dark eyes mysterious and unreadable as his gaze met that of Dr. Bryce.
"May I shake your hand?" she asked fervently.
Adam looked a little startled, but replied pleasantly, "No trouble at all. I may have been a public figure in the past but I'm always somewhat startled that perfect strangers know me."
Helen pulled off the surgical gloves that she had just put on prior to entering Brennan's room and shook his hand enthusiastically. Adam's gaze dropped momentarily to the sparkling gem on her hand. He raised an eyebrow and sighed imperceptibly with a resigned smile.
Apparently oblivious to Adam's reaction, Dr. Helen told Jesse excitedly, "Dr. Kane is the world-famous geneticist. I've studied all of your papers," she told Adam. Jesse smiled in indulgent amusement.
"Dr. Kane, did you know that your works are required reading in Med School? You write beautifully, making a complex subject so understandable! I loved your dissertation on the genetic sequencing of drosophila melanogaster. Why did you drop out of sight for so many years? I never dreamed that you'd resurface here." Helen was bursting with questions.
Adam smiled gently down at her. "And you are…?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Dr. Bryce. Helen Bryce." the elegant woman replied, slightly flushed at her breach of etiquette. "Dr. Morris and I resuscitated Brennan--Mr. Voltaire here," she indicated Brennan. "He's one lucky man, to have been transported here so promptly. While we were applying excess voltage to bring him out of cardiac arrest, we came close to losing power, but he hung on. Thank God he's stable now." The dark-haired doctor considered the situation for a moment and looked inquiringly at Adam and Jesse. "You must know each other," she said lamely.
Adam returned to scanning Brennan. "We are associates, Dr. Bryce, in the same business. Brennan Voltaire and Jesse Wall," he indicated the two teammates, "and some other associates were flying in to Metropolis on a business trip. Apparently their aircraft crashed somewhere near here."
Adam examined the readout on the tiny device and pulled out a small case from his lapel pocket. He selected a small ampule and loaded it into a gunlike device.
"Is that FDA approved?" Helen asked cautiously.
"This is a compound containing monoterpene and sesquiterpene alcohols, farnesol, citrals, paracymene, and terpinene adapted to a buffered, mineral base." Adam looked calmly at the doctor and added reassuringly, "it's perfectly safe."
Dr. Bryce looked uncertainly at Adam for a brief moment, then nodded. Adam injected the contents of the ampule into Brennan's arm. "This will help his body's ability to rebuild cells and to ward off infection."
"Amazing," Helen said.
Adam continued his examination. Lifting the bandage carefully from the massive puncture wound, he held a portable scanner and watched the readings intently. Looking gravely at Dr. Bryce, Adam said, "he'd do better with some light therapy, but you're facility isn't set up for it." He sighed, placing the patch back over the wound. "There had been some internal damage that had been nicely repaired," he said appreciatively. "Aside from the general swelling and inflammation, he's in pretty good shape. He's going to need lots of rest for a few days, keep him well hydrated and give him another dose of this, 2 cc's intramuscular in 2 days. I know he's going to want to be back on his feet in a day or so, but not until his internal organs have healed completely.
"C'mon Adam," Brennan protested weakly, his eyes still closed. Adam and Jesse beamed.
"What a trooper," Jesse said.
Adam smiled down at Brennan and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Where's the others?" he asked Jesse.
"Over at the mansion," Helen interrupted. "I live there with Lex. I'm technically off-duty. I can drive you over there." The beautiful woman hesitated. "Dr. Kane, may I speak with you privately in my office?"
Adam looked quickly at Jesse then nodded at the doctor. He followed her into her office. Closing the door, she studied Adam for several moments without speaking, her dark eyes pools of intense, conflicting emotion. She unconsciously toyed with her engagement ring. "I have always wanted to meet you, Dr. Kane. You've been well, sort of a role model for me and an inspiration." She licked her lips nervously and brushed the stray lock of hair out of her face. "I wonder if you would mind looking at something for me, but you must promise not to say anything to Lex."
