Clark wasn't in the hospital the moment I woke up, but I didn't expect him
to be there either. He showed up in August, about a month later, just as I
was finishing rehab. The hospital was ready to release me, but I had no
home to go to. Everything was gone, and the doctors said my dad was in a
permanent coma. To top off my luck, inoperable too. They said from the
injuries he took to the head, even if they had a successful operation, he
would either be severely brain damaged, or still a 'vegetable'. I hate that
term. Although there was no lifting my grief over my father, I had to be
thankful that he was at least still alive, conscious or not.
The day that Clark came was the best I'd had since before the accident. But there was something different about him. Almost a sadness. He never told me what happened or where he was during the time that I was unconscious, but I don't think I really wanted to know. What he did tell me, though, changed our relationship forever - for the better. Clark told me a secret that only three other people in the whole world know. Clark is an alien. I know, it sounds crazy, but if you think about it, it makes sense. Personally, I thought it was totally cool. Clark said I took it just the same as the first time he told me. Sadly, that time I had some ancient cave parasite in me and woke up not remembering anything. But I felt special nonetheless that he would trust me with his secret.
The Kents were kind enough to take me into their home the day I was released from the hospital. They were happy that Clark had someone else to confide in since Pete left. Mrs. Kent even moved a lot of her sewing things into the living room so I could have her sewing room as a temporary bedroom.
I read all the articles from the Smallville Ledger and Daily Planet on the explosion. The police were never able to conclude who did it, but I had my suspicions. I knew Lionel Luthor did it, but I needed proof. Lionel was too smart to openly leave clues, documents, anything written or tangible, but he still had his conversations. That was how I got him in the first place. So Clark was my key, with his little gift he called 'superhearing'. It wasn't easy to convince him to make a visit to the Metropolis Penitentiary, but he also knew it was the only way to get insider information.
We arrived at the penitentiary at about 6 o'clock after a 4-hour drive. I was able to make my way through security the normal way – flashing my Torch pass then flirting with the guard (ok, so he was over 30, who cares?). We didn't have to go in that far, Clark spotted Lionel in the conference room talking on one of those phone doohickeys to what appeared to be his lawyer. Clark quickly tuned in and filled me in on what was being said as we hid in the shadows. They were obviously whispering, but I still attempted to read their lips:
"Now look, Carter, those documents must be found, do you understand me? There's enough medical experimentation information in there to bring the entire company down." Lionel said angrily.
Carter nervously shook his head, "Y-yes sir."
Lionel pulled his face closer to the glass and spoke in barely a whisper, "Get to the former pool supplies and chemical mixing store, it's in Smallville. There's a dense filing cabinet in room eight."
"Luthor, your time is up," a burly security officer pulled Lionel's chair back and latched handcuffs around his wrists then prodded him towards the room's exit.
Clark turned to me after the conversation ended, "I'm sorry we didn't get the information you were hoping for," he said with sincerity in his eyes.
I paused for a moment. "Well... They could have information that we could use to our advantage in there. To my- my dad's advantage."
He seemed to get where I was going. "LuthorCorp took charge of a lot of the strange medical cases in Smallville claiming it to be 'charity' so they wouldn't be pointed at in suspicion. Like Cyrus, last year."
"And he was in a coma!"
"So d'you think they might have experimented on him or something?" Clark asked.
I shrugged. "Well, they did take him to Summerholt, I found that out during my little exposé last year. You wouldn't believe how many meteor-freak cases ended up there... Anyway, whatever they did to him, they would've had it documented if they made any medical breakthroughs, unless they were that unethical."
Clark nodded, then lowered a brow, "So what are you suggesting we do?"
"To the Clark-mobile!" I smiled.
We left Metropolis before Carter did, and Clark even sped a little to get us there faster (ok, so he protested against speeding. He's so law- abiding!). Smallville Pool & Spa had been closed for about two years, and the windows were boarded up from the moment the 'For Sale' sign left the window. People assumed that Mr. Norton either never ended up selling it, or whoever bought it only used it for storage. Now Clark and I knew the truth.
Clark pulled his truck into an alley two lots over from the store in case anyone came across it.
"Chloe, you better stay here. If this place really is involved with LuthorCorp, then there could be some serious danger."
I sighed, and Clark got out of the car. I waited until he was around the corner, and quietly slipped out to follow and observe.
I watched in amazement as Clark peeled the door off its hinges as if it was a piece of tin foil. He placed it aside and walked inside the building. LuthorCorp always scared me, but their hidden labs were always worse. I couldn't help but shudder at the memory of inhaling that green gas, and nearly dying because of it. To think, it had only been a couple months since that happened!
Clark seemed to be taking longer than he should have, so I got out of the car. The ground was slick with the rain that fell a few hours ago. There was no way to tell where they had security cameras or stations on this compound, and I was usually good at spotting those sorts of things while gathering my bearings. If there were any cameras, Clark would have found them with his x-ray vision and obliterated them.
There were no lights on inside the building so I had to rely on my keenest senses to guide me through the dark passageway. Everything was so quiet that I decided to take off my shoes, as to not gather any unwanted attention from anything that might have been hiding in the shadows. I edged my way along until I felt the fourth doorway on the right-hand side of the hallway. I was certain it was the room that Clark and I had heard Lionel talking to his lawyer about, the one with the documents on all the medical research performed by LuthorCorp. He probably wanted them destroyed.
The door was already open, but the room was dark. Someone else was there. Feebly, I whispered out, "Clark?"
"Yeah?"
I was relieved, "Thank God it's you. Have you found them yet?"
"No, there's lead in the lining of these cabinets. Whatever kind of information Lionel has in here, he sure wanted it protected."
"Ok. Here, give me a file." I remembered that I had a mini flashlight attached to my car keys that I used when I spent late nights at the Torch. Since I didn't have x-ray vision like Clark, the flashlight would have to do.
We went through at least 15 more files each until I found the right one.
"Here it is! Developments on patients in a permanent coma." I had a strong feeling that I was going to start crying soon.
Clark paused for a moment. "Someone knows we're here. We better get out."
He could have easily raced ahead to start the truck, but Clark stayed back to make sure I got out ok. I could hear the voices getting closer as we neared the exit:
"So you say you saw these kids around the east hallways?" said a middle- aged male voice.
"Yeah, around room 8. Mr. Luthor gave specific orders to not let anything leak. By any means necessary," said a second voice.
"I'll go ahead and make sure there's no trouble. You stay here and check the damage. Fix it if you can. Mr. Luthor will have both our lives if anything has leaked."
The last thing we both heard as we left the building was the loading of a gun.
I took the file out from under my jacket after Clark had quickly but safely gotten us out of the area of the lab. He took a few back roads and drove around a bit, because we were both certain the LuthorCorp guard was following close behind in an unmarked car.
I flipped through the file reading a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo that only doctors and people in the medical field would understand, and possibly Chad the Goth as well. Then one thing caught my eye. It was on the paper containing payment information for the entire project. It said:
"Paid for and initiated by Lex Luthor"
"What?" Clark kept his eyes on the road and knitted his brow. Suddenly, he slowly nodded his head in disappointment.
Lionel must have wanted the papers to be saved, not destroyed, so he could bring down his own son from the inside, give him the same fate his father held. That meant it wasn't Carter who was after us. In fact, he couldn't have arrived at the building in time to know we took it anyway.
Clark and I had both come to the same bitter realization. The man that was after us now was hired by Lex, not Lionel. This was the same Lex that I had once helped bring his father down, the same Lex that Clark had saved and been best friends with. So the question that troubled me, was why? What other secrets did this cure hold that we weren't aware of?
We pulled onto the gravel driveway that lead to Clark's barn and parked the truck inside.
"We'll leave the truck here. He might think that we drove by the farm and continued on to the forest, or into town."
I nodded and pulled myself closer to Clark, "Maybe I should just give up the documents, Clark. I don't want to put any more lives in danger than I already have. It's not worth it."
Clark looked at me, "Chloe, we're home-free. And this is worth it; it could save your dad's life. Everything about you is important to me," he smiled shyly, "I love you."
I blushed and grinned. "I love you too Clark."
He smiled back again. "We better get these papers to your father's doctor at the hospital. My dad's old car is in the shed at the back of the house, we can take that."
I got out of the car and looked around the dark barn. Shadows were elongated from the partial moonlight and appeared as dark creatures climbing up the walls to the hayloft.
The barn door creaked softly as the wind blew it open. I looked back, and was shocked to see the hit man Lex hired standing in the doorway. I turned my heel to get out of there, and whispered to Clark, "Run!"
"Chloe, no!" Clark shouted after me as I ran towards the other end of the barn. The door seemed just inches away from reach. I turned to look back at Clark, who was torn from escaping or facing the gunman. He looked back at the man one last time then began to run towards me. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. A loud crack echoed, and I turned back again to look.
Clark dashed in between the man and I, and allowed the bullets to hit his chest. Even in a moment of extreme danger, his power never ceased to amaze me. Knowing that Clark could handle it, I continued running for my life, only to run into someone else at my exit to freedom. A second hit man shoved a gun into my chest and pulled the trigger. Two more shots resonated out as I moved away.
I stumbled backwards as the bullets entered my body, two in my chest and the last one in my stomach. I barely felt the ground as I fell; in fact, I barely felt anything except for my own life flowing out of my body.
The hit man sneered as he pointed the gun at Clark next, and saw his colleague dead on the floor of he barn.
Out of pure spite and hatred, Clark rushed forward at superspeed and reached for the man's throat with his hands, and crushed it like a paper tube. The man fell to the ground, dead.
Clark was shaking as he came towards me, then dropped to the ground and kneeled beside me.
I sputtered, and droplets of blood rose to the corners of my mouth. I wasn't sure what scared me more: the fact that I was dying, or the fact that I would never see my friends and family again.
Clark reached out to me and lifted my head gently, then slid his powerful arm under my legs and held me close to his body, "Oh god Chloe, I'm so sorry," he was sobbing, "It's my fault, it's always my fault, I couldn't save you..."
I opened my eyes and tried to smile, "You'll always be my superman, Clark."
He looked at me with tears streaming down his face, and slowly kissed me one last sweet time on my lips. But his eyes, still fixed on mine, pleaded with me, please, not now, not this way.
Suddenly, a shock passed through my body and I tried to gasp for air, but the muscles in my chest wouldn't move. I couldn't feel my heart beating anymore. I looked at Clark with fright, then everything went black.
"No, Chloe!" he yelled, "No!"
His screams rose up with me into the night sky and echoed into eternity.
Not long afterwards, a new hero arrived in the city of Metropolis. He went by the name Superman.
The day that Clark came was the best I'd had since before the accident. But there was something different about him. Almost a sadness. He never told me what happened or where he was during the time that I was unconscious, but I don't think I really wanted to know. What he did tell me, though, changed our relationship forever - for the better. Clark told me a secret that only three other people in the whole world know. Clark is an alien. I know, it sounds crazy, but if you think about it, it makes sense. Personally, I thought it was totally cool. Clark said I took it just the same as the first time he told me. Sadly, that time I had some ancient cave parasite in me and woke up not remembering anything. But I felt special nonetheless that he would trust me with his secret.
The Kents were kind enough to take me into their home the day I was released from the hospital. They were happy that Clark had someone else to confide in since Pete left. Mrs. Kent even moved a lot of her sewing things into the living room so I could have her sewing room as a temporary bedroom.
I read all the articles from the Smallville Ledger and Daily Planet on the explosion. The police were never able to conclude who did it, but I had my suspicions. I knew Lionel Luthor did it, but I needed proof. Lionel was too smart to openly leave clues, documents, anything written or tangible, but he still had his conversations. That was how I got him in the first place. So Clark was my key, with his little gift he called 'superhearing'. It wasn't easy to convince him to make a visit to the Metropolis Penitentiary, but he also knew it was the only way to get insider information.
We arrived at the penitentiary at about 6 o'clock after a 4-hour drive. I was able to make my way through security the normal way – flashing my Torch pass then flirting with the guard (ok, so he was over 30, who cares?). We didn't have to go in that far, Clark spotted Lionel in the conference room talking on one of those phone doohickeys to what appeared to be his lawyer. Clark quickly tuned in and filled me in on what was being said as we hid in the shadows. They were obviously whispering, but I still attempted to read their lips:
"Now look, Carter, those documents must be found, do you understand me? There's enough medical experimentation information in there to bring the entire company down." Lionel said angrily.
Carter nervously shook his head, "Y-yes sir."
Lionel pulled his face closer to the glass and spoke in barely a whisper, "Get to the former pool supplies and chemical mixing store, it's in Smallville. There's a dense filing cabinet in room eight."
"Luthor, your time is up," a burly security officer pulled Lionel's chair back and latched handcuffs around his wrists then prodded him towards the room's exit.
Clark turned to me after the conversation ended, "I'm sorry we didn't get the information you were hoping for," he said with sincerity in his eyes.
I paused for a moment. "Well... They could have information that we could use to our advantage in there. To my- my dad's advantage."
He seemed to get where I was going. "LuthorCorp took charge of a lot of the strange medical cases in Smallville claiming it to be 'charity' so they wouldn't be pointed at in suspicion. Like Cyrus, last year."
"And he was in a coma!"
"So d'you think they might have experimented on him or something?" Clark asked.
I shrugged. "Well, they did take him to Summerholt, I found that out during my little exposé last year. You wouldn't believe how many meteor-freak cases ended up there... Anyway, whatever they did to him, they would've had it documented if they made any medical breakthroughs, unless they were that unethical."
Clark nodded, then lowered a brow, "So what are you suggesting we do?"
"To the Clark-mobile!" I smiled.
We left Metropolis before Carter did, and Clark even sped a little to get us there faster (ok, so he protested against speeding. He's so law- abiding!). Smallville Pool & Spa had been closed for about two years, and the windows were boarded up from the moment the 'For Sale' sign left the window. People assumed that Mr. Norton either never ended up selling it, or whoever bought it only used it for storage. Now Clark and I knew the truth.
Clark pulled his truck into an alley two lots over from the store in case anyone came across it.
"Chloe, you better stay here. If this place really is involved with LuthorCorp, then there could be some serious danger."
I sighed, and Clark got out of the car. I waited until he was around the corner, and quietly slipped out to follow and observe.
I watched in amazement as Clark peeled the door off its hinges as if it was a piece of tin foil. He placed it aside and walked inside the building. LuthorCorp always scared me, but their hidden labs were always worse. I couldn't help but shudder at the memory of inhaling that green gas, and nearly dying because of it. To think, it had only been a couple months since that happened!
Clark seemed to be taking longer than he should have, so I got out of the car. The ground was slick with the rain that fell a few hours ago. There was no way to tell where they had security cameras or stations on this compound, and I was usually good at spotting those sorts of things while gathering my bearings. If there were any cameras, Clark would have found them with his x-ray vision and obliterated them.
There were no lights on inside the building so I had to rely on my keenest senses to guide me through the dark passageway. Everything was so quiet that I decided to take off my shoes, as to not gather any unwanted attention from anything that might have been hiding in the shadows. I edged my way along until I felt the fourth doorway on the right-hand side of the hallway. I was certain it was the room that Clark and I had heard Lionel talking to his lawyer about, the one with the documents on all the medical research performed by LuthorCorp. He probably wanted them destroyed.
The door was already open, but the room was dark. Someone else was there. Feebly, I whispered out, "Clark?"
"Yeah?"
I was relieved, "Thank God it's you. Have you found them yet?"
"No, there's lead in the lining of these cabinets. Whatever kind of information Lionel has in here, he sure wanted it protected."
"Ok. Here, give me a file." I remembered that I had a mini flashlight attached to my car keys that I used when I spent late nights at the Torch. Since I didn't have x-ray vision like Clark, the flashlight would have to do.
We went through at least 15 more files each until I found the right one.
"Here it is! Developments on patients in a permanent coma." I had a strong feeling that I was going to start crying soon.
Clark paused for a moment. "Someone knows we're here. We better get out."
He could have easily raced ahead to start the truck, but Clark stayed back to make sure I got out ok. I could hear the voices getting closer as we neared the exit:
"So you say you saw these kids around the east hallways?" said a middle- aged male voice.
"Yeah, around room 8. Mr. Luthor gave specific orders to not let anything leak. By any means necessary," said a second voice.
"I'll go ahead and make sure there's no trouble. You stay here and check the damage. Fix it if you can. Mr. Luthor will have both our lives if anything has leaked."
The last thing we both heard as we left the building was the loading of a gun.
I took the file out from under my jacket after Clark had quickly but safely gotten us out of the area of the lab. He took a few back roads and drove around a bit, because we were both certain the LuthorCorp guard was following close behind in an unmarked car.
I flipped through the file reading a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo that only doctors and people in the medical field would understand, and possibly Chad the Goth as well. Then one thing caught my eye. It was on the paper containing payment information for the entire project. It said:
"Paid for and initiated by Lex Luthor"
"What?" Clark kept his eyes on the road and knitted his brow. Suddenly, he slowly nodded his head in disappointment.
Lionel must have wanted the papers to be saved, not destroyed, so he could bring down his own son from the inside, give him the same fate his father held. That meant it wasn't Carter who was after us. In fact, he couldn't have arrived at the building in time to know we took it anyway.
Clark and I had both come to the same bitter realization. The man that was after us now was hired by Lex, not Lionel. This was the same Lex that I had once helped bring his father down, the same Lex that Clark had saved and been best friends with. So the question that troubled me, was why? What other secrets did this cure hold that we weren't aware of?
We pulled onto the gravel driveway that lead to Clark's barn and parked the truck inside.
"We'll leave the truck here. He might think that we drove by the farm and continued on to the forest, or into town."
I nodded and pulled myself closer to Clark, "Maybe I should just give up the documents, Clark. I don't want to put any more lives in danger than I already have. It's not worth it."
Clark looked at me, "Chloe, we're home-free. And this is worth it; it could save your dad's life. Everything about you is important to me," he smiled shyly, "I love you."
I blushed and grinned. "I love you too Clark."
He smiled back again. "We better get these papers to your father's doctor at the hospital. My dad's old car is in the shed at the back of the house, we can take that."
I got out of the car and looked around the dark barn. Shadows were elongated from the partial moonlight and appeared as dark creatures climbing up the walls to the hayloft.
The barn door creaked softly as the wind blew it open. I looked back, and was shocked to see the hit man Lex hired standing in the doorway. I turned my heel to get out of there, and whispered to Clark, "Run!"
"Chloe, no!" Clark shouted after me as I ran towards the other end of the barn. The door seemed just inches away from reach. I turned to look back at Clark, who was torn from escaping or facing the gunman. He looked back at the man one last time then began to run towards me. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. A loud crack echoed, and I turned back again to look.
Clark dashed in between the man and I, and allowed the bullets to hit his chest. Even in a moment of extreme danger, his power never ceased to amaze me. Knowing that Clark could handle it, I continued running for my life, only to run into someone else at my exit to freedom. A second hit man shoved a gun into my chest and pulled the trigger. Two more shots resonated out as I moved away.
I stumbled backwards as the bullets entered my body, two in my chest and the last one in my stomach. I barely felt the ground as I fell; in fact, I barely felt anything except for my own life flowing out of my body.
The hit man sneered as he pointed the gun at Clark next, and saw his colleague dead on the floor of he barn.
Out of pure spite and hatred, Clark rushed forward at superspeed and reached for the man's throat with his hands, and crushed it like a paper tube. The man fell to the ground, dead.
Clark was shaking as he came towards me, then dropped to the ground and kneeled beside me.
I sputtered, and droplets of blood rose to the corners of my mouth. I wasn't sure what scared me more: the fact that I was dying, or the fact that I would never see my friends and family again.
Clark reached out to me and lifted my head gently, then slid his powerful arm under my legs and held me close to his body, "Oh god Chloe, I'm so sorry," he was sobbing, "It's my fault, it's always my fault, I couldn't save you..."
I opened my eyes and tried to smile, "You'll always be my superman, Clark."
He looked at me with tears streaming down his face, and slowly kissed me one last sweet time on my lips. But his eyes, still fixed on mine, pleaded with me, please, not now, not this way.
Suddenly, a shock passed through my body and I tried to gasp for air, but the muscles in my chest wouldn't move. I couldn't feel my heart beating anymore. I looked at Clark with fright, then everything went black.
"No, Chloe!" he yelled, "No!"
His screams rose up with me into the night sky and echoed into eternity.
Not long afterwards, a new hero arrived in the city of Metropolis. He went by the name Superman.