"Give me all your money the man yelled!" Clark turned to see medium sized man holding a 9mm gun. He moved the gun frantically back and forth from Clark, to the cashier. The man was wearing a black ski mask on his head.
Clark didn't feel in the mood to humor the man. He had thought of just leaving, but taking care of the situation sounded a little more exciting. In the blink of an eye he reached out and grabbed the gun out of the man's hands. Then he bent the barrel until it touched the end of the handle.
The man stared at him, eyes wide in complete shock.
"Now, if you're not out of here by the time I count to three, I will break you in half." Clark said in an amused voice. The man stared at him like he was crazy, "One . . ." Clark smiled at him, "two . . ." the man ran out the door, "three." Clark said as he heard tires squeal out of the parking lot.
"Oh, thank you." the cashier said. "If there is anything I can do for you, just ask."
"There is one thing. This never happened."
"Yeah, it never happened." the man agreed with a little fear in his voice. "Come by any time, snacks are on me."
Clark walked out and hopped on his motorcycle. He knew he could have handled the situation a little more discreetly, but this way was so much more fun. He knew now that there was a gas station attendant and a robber who could expose him for what he was. But he didn't care and it felt good not to care.
He revved the motorcycle's engine for a moment before he sped down the road once more.
*****
Pete sped down the road making sure not to speed too much, he didn't want to be delayed by getting pulled over, every second counted. He hoped he wasn't too far behind Clark. The last he had seen of Clark was when he was looking for the red kryptonite ring that was in Chloe's desk. He tried to stop him. He had chased after Clark and went to his house hoping to find him there. The only one he found there was Lana crying. She told him Clark had rode away on his father's motorcycle.
Pete hoped he was heading in the right direction. He would have been closer if he hadn't stopped to grab a huge chunk of green kryptonite. He knew he would need it to get the ring off of Clark.
He thought back to the first time Clark had a red kryptonite ring on. Clark was just like an unruly teenager. The problem was Clark was extremely strong and it wasn't good for him to loose control.
It had been Mr. Kent's idea, to use the kryptonite, he had told Pete to get close to Clark then open the lead box. He had wanted his friend back just as much as Mr. Kent had wanted his son. He remembered he found Clark in that corn field, and approached him. He stepped closer to Clark and opened the lead box to reveal the green kryptonite. When Clark saw it he turn and saw Mr. Kent on the other side. Clark then swung to hit Mr. Kent when Mr. Kent pulled out a sledge hammer and smashed the ring while it was still on Clark's finger.
He knew this time would be a little harder because he didn't have a lead box and if Clark saw Pete he would expect he would have kryptonite. He would have to figure out how to get the kryptonite near Clark.
* * * * *
Scott was glad to get out of the mansion. Everything there reminded him of Jean. 'Course the Blackbird also reminded him of her since the jet had a lot to do with her death. He hadn't slept for over a week because every time he laid down to sleep he couldn't stop thinking of her. Her smell was everywhere, on the pillows and even on his clothes. He was glad he had a mission.
"Scott." Ororo said.
"What?" he asked.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"The Professor has been trying to talk to you."
He shook off his thoughts. "Go ahead Professor." He needed to stop thinking of Jean.
"Your getting close to him, I will update your coordinates when needed so you can track him." Professor Xavier said.
Scott was now on auto pilot not really paying attention. Flying was second nature to him now. He just zoned out and before he knew it the target stopped moving. Cyclops was glad they were in the middle of nowhere otherwise it may have been a little harder to land the jet. He found a nice spot in some trees to land. He turned on the vertical thrusters and lowered them gently to the ground.
He and Ororo walked over to the hotel. It wasn't hard to see what room he was in since there was only one vehicle in the parking lot, a motorcycle. They walked up to the door and knocked. There was no answer so he knocked again.
"Go away." He heard a voice yell from the room.
Scott undeterred, knocked again. The door then opened to reveal a young man with dark hair. He was the about the same height as him.
"What?" the young man said angrily.
Scott looked at him, he had to be only seventeen years old. "Hello, I'm Scott Summers and this is Ororo Munroe. We are from Xavier's School For The Gifted. Can we come in and talk?"
"No." he said as he started to close the door.
Scott put his hand up and stopped the door. "Please, we will only be a moment." He could see the young man thinking through what to do. Then he opened the door and gestured with his hand to say come in.
* * * * *
It was dark now and Pete was starting to wonder if he had went in the right direction. He was about to give up and call Mr. Kent to tell him what was going on when he spotted the motorcycle. He pulled into the parking lot. Then he turned off the engine and watched as two strangers dressed in black approached Clark's room. He assumed it was Clark's since it was the door with the motorcycle in front of it. When the door opened he could see Clark standing in the room. Then the two strangers went inside. Pete couldn't tell if he should be more worried for Clark, or for the strangers.
Pete again considered calling Mr. Kent, wondering if he might think of a plan. Then he figured Clark wouldn't let him get close enough to do anything. In the state of mind Clark was in he was sure that if he saw any of them, he would bolt and they probably would never see him again.
* * * * *
Clark wasn't quite sure why he let the people in his room. He looked at them the man had a visor on. Clark couldn't figure out why he would wear one when it was dark outside. "Speak." He said not having patience.
"First, what is your name?" Asked Ororo.
Clark didn't know what to tell them. He didn't feel like a Kent anymore. The last time his father had spoken, he spoke with such hatred. He thought he would use the name the ship had called him. "Kal-El."
"Kal-El, we help people that are gifted. We teach them how to control and use their gifts responsibly." Ororo said.
Clark laughed, trying to hide his worry that these people might know of him. "Gifted how?"
"Have you heard about mutants?" Storm continued.
Clark wondered if they were talking about meteor mutants. He was curious now. Had meteor mutants actually started a school? The concept seemed a little funny to him. Did they know that the mutants were his fault? "How do you know about the mutants? And what does this have to do with me?"
"Mutants are getting more and more known." Ororo said.
He remembers now, hearing something about mutants at Liberty Island, and an attack at the White House, it had been on the news, but he figured they were more like urban legends. "Are they? I can fix that." He said with coldness in his voice.
Then Scott and Ororo looked at each other, he could tell they were a little confused and worried. "We have reason to believe that you are gifted. We are here to offer you help." Scott said.
"Help? I don't need your help." Clark spat as he stood and opened the door gesturing for them to leave.
"Please, we only want to help Kal-El." Ororo said again.
"Your too late." Clark said as he practically shoved them out. Then he slammed the door and sat on the bed. It felt weird for someone to call him Kal-El.
*****
Pete watched the room. He wondered what the two strangers would want with Clark. They were in the room about ten minutes before they came out again. He watched the strangers walk into some trees across the street. Then he got an idea, maybe he could somehow get them to bring the kryptonite close enough to Clark, to make him weak. Pete hoped Clark would be weak enough that he could pull it off his finger. Then he would have his friend back.
The only problem was to be able to do it without revealing Clark's secret.
*****
"That went well." Scott said as they walked back to the jet. "He and Logan would get along very nicely."
"I wonder what happened to him. He said we were too late."
"I don't know, I'll call Xavier." Scott turned on the communication and called the Professor. He explained to Xavier what happened. "When Kal-El heard of the mutants he said he would fix it."
"Wait and see what he does. Maybe he will come to you. Scott, I gather from what he said, you shouldn't tell him you and Ororo are mutants. Not until we know what we are dealing with." Xavier said.
"Got it. I will call you tomorrow." Scott turned the communication off and then walked to the back of the ship to Ororo. "I guess we're staying here tonight, and Ororo, the Professor said not to tell Kal-El of our abilities." Then he pulled out two beds from the wall and laid down.
Cyclops went back into his mode of thinking of Jean and before he knew it he fell asleep. He and Jean were on a picnic, she was sitting on the blanket laughing. Scott watched her with excitement. How had anyone with such beauty and intelligence as her fall for a guy like me. He moved in to give her a kiss when he heard some thunder claps, Scott groaned and prepared for the shower. The thunder claps seemed to get more urgent, then they turned into knocking.
*****
Clark laid on the bed thinking about what they had said to him. So, there was a school for mutants he thought. Now he wanted to check it out. He got up and went outside to find where Scott and Ororo went. He didn't see them but who he saw was much more interesting. He watched as Pete crossed the street and went into the woods.
He thought again of the ship's voice and how it had told him he would rule the world. Clark smiled ruling the world wasn't sounding like such a bad idea anymore.
Author's Note: Yes I know Ryan couldn't read Clark's thoughts and Xavier is much stronger than Ryan. Hence even though Xavier could sense Clark, and only with the help of Cerebro, he still couldn't read his mind he could only sense him.