Chapter 1: Two Weeks Later
Two weeks later
Karen Castle stepped out of her car and headed to the front door of the Luthor mansion. She was going to pay a surprise visit to Lex and tell him about her next story involving his father. As she stepped up to the front door she heard a struggle inside and immediately on journalistic instinct pulled out her camera and rushed inside. The main hall was empty along with the surrounding rooms and the noise must have been coming from upstairs. She heard it again and began running quietly up the stairs. She heard voices, but couldn't make out who they belonged too.
"Jason, stop this, please. You've been infected by the meteor rocks. That's what's causing you to do this. We can get you help." Karen didn't recognize the voice, but she knew it sounded like a teenager. She hit the record button on her camera and poked her head around the corner finding three teenagers, one with black hair that was very tall, a blonde, and the third person she knew, Lex.
She saw one that appeared to be sick, but very strong heading for the blonde girl. But just as he was about to reach her the tall black haired teen ran at a very fast speed and knocked the kid right into the air across to the other side of the room. Amazing. Karen said to herself. And she was getting it all on tape.
This kid had powers, and it was all on tape. She couldn't believe it. Later she would find out the names of the teens, but for now she was focusing on getting everything she could on her video camera. She saw the infected teen laying unconscious on the floor and knew that was her exit cue.
She rushed down the stairs as quietly as she could and headed out the door to her car. By the time she was on the road again she pulled over to the side and took another look at the video camera. What she saw was a teenager running at incredible speed to get in front of his blonde friend and punching the other kid causing him to fly across the room. She stopped it as the teen was in mid-air and smiled.
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It was Friday night and Clark still had the rest of the weekend ahead of him before he went back to school Monday. He was exhausted from his encounter with their newest meteor infected teen and he was just ready to go to bed. He threw himself onto the couch and dozed off to sleep.
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"Clark Kent. Wake up." Clark was awaken in his loft by a female voice he never heard before. He opened his eyes and saw a pretty brunette standing over him.
"Hi, who are you?" He asked still half asleep, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I'm Karen Castle and I'm a reporter from Metropolis. Can I have a moment of your time?" As she said the words "reporter" and "Metropolis, Clark was immediately awake. What does a reporter want with me?
"I have chores to do." He said standing up and heading for the loft stairs to head down. She followed close behind him.
"I've got something I want to show you." She held up a video tape and he stopped as she held it in front of his face. Clark didn't know what she wanted to show him. But his eyes widened as he saw what it was. She pressed stopped and stepped away from him.
"What do you want?" Clark asked flatly, scared about what she would do.
"I want to do a story about you. You have these amazing gifts that the world needs to know about. I can see it now, the headline Teenage Superhero by Karen Castle." She said trying to make herself sound like she was doing the right thing. She brushed her brown hair away and behind her face as Clark began walking rapidly down the stairs, Karen close behind.
"Please, just leave me alone." He pleaded reaching the bottom of the stairs.
"This story will be monumental. Everyone will know your name. You'll be famous."
"Maybe I don't want to be famous, or have people know my name. Did you ever think of that? Did you ever stop and think that maybe there's a reason why I haven't told anyone about my abilities?"
"I can't just throw away a good story, you have to understand that. Either you let me interview you or I run the story and put in my own words about your abilities." She was beginning to get frustrated, she needed this story, not that the Luthor story she ran was already a good boost for her career several months ago.
"Tell you what Clark, I'll give you time to think about it okay? Here's my card," she said handing him a card with her name printed on it along with a home and cell number. "and call me within the next few days." She said and headed out the barn door leaving Clark standing in the dark, empty loft alone.