Experiment 001

Chapter 10: Burn the Midnight Oil

Burn the midnight oil...that seemed to be the motto Chloe lived by. How else was such a teen, so driven by journalism supposed to get any work peace while researching a potential story? Especially if that research involved a process that was just barely legal, if not entirely illegal.

She hated to do this to someone who was obviously having a hard time dealing with everything that had been happening, but Chloe was an investigative journalist. Besides, it wasn't as is she would print anything that might hurt her. This was just for her own personal knowledge. Well...at least that was how she wanted to think it was.

She wanted to believe that she wouldn't write anything; but in all honesty, she wasn't too sure she would be able to stop herself. The only thing that she felt she knew for sure was that her mind wasn't going to allow her any rest until she found out something, anything, that answered her questions.

She had snuck into the school's records and had "borrowed" Alli-Oxah Luthor's file. Unfortunately, the oddest thing about it was that there was nothing odd about it. She wasn't a horrible student, but she wasn't valedictorian material either. She had never gotten into a fight. Never been disciplined. Alley just seemed to be a normal girl.

She did well in math though. She never received anything but straight "A"s. Language Arts was an entirely different matter. It seemed that she barely squeezed by. But that didn't make any since to Chloe, Alley was a beautiful writer. It was obvious that that she tripped over her words constantly and had to think a great deal to speak though...Chloe was getting immensely frustrated. Every bit of information conflicted with every other bit of information!

She had returned that file, more frustrated and craving more answers than she had when she started. Her "contact" had gotten a few more files from Metropolis that she had asked him for. Right now it was safely held in her right hand. She sat down at a desk in the journalism classroom and opened the files.

Odd...

Alli-Oxah did not exist until Lionel's adoption in 1994. There was no social security number. No hospital record. Not even a birth certificate. There were no immigration records to say that she was from a different country. It was as if she had just suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Almost like Clark...

Interesting.

Lionel didn't have Alley on any documents either. She was legally the heir to the Luthor fortune but there was nothing to say that. She didn't even have any insurance. No medical, no dental...though her name was on car insurance in four different states.

Chloe almost jumped out of her skin when she heard her cell phone ring. Her fingers fumbled nervously as she opened it, "Hello?"

"Chloe, Chloe. Hi, I...I need your help."

"Pete? What's wrong?"

"Where are you? I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours! You weren't picking up your cell..."

"Pete, calm down," she said, worry starting to bubble in her stomach along with the guilt that had already been there. "I'm at school, what's wrong?"

Pete sighed on the other end, "I'll be right there." And he hung up.

Chloe was confused at first; Pete knew that she almost always stayed at school. She also wasn't sure if she should hide the files or not. She was sure that Pete knew exactly what she had been doing anyway, but she decided to lock them in the filing cabinet.

Pete was there in a matter of minutes and he didn't waste anytime, "Chloe, I need your help."

Chloe wasn't sure exactly how to respond. "Hello to you too."

Pete gave an exasperated sigh, "I don't have time for jokes, Chloe! I need you to help me find out everything about Alley!"

"Why?" Weren't he and Clark trying to stop her from doing exactly that?

Pete sighed again. He put a hand up to his head and slumped into the nearest chair, "Cause I found her tied up and drugged, being kidnapped by the same guy that attacked her in the Talon." Chloe's eyes widened. "Lex called him Frampson, I think."

"Frampson?" Chloe repeated, taking a seat at her computer, quickly she started typing madly. A picture filled the screen. "This him?" Pete nodded. "John Anthony Frampson, Ph.D. He was in charge of Luthor Corp.'s science lab in Virginia...Something called, 'Experiment 001'."

Pete stood and walked to better see the screen, "How'd you get this so quick?"

Chloe shrugged, not wanting to tell him that she had already started looking up the man's background only an hour after Alley had been attacked in the Talon. "He was fired after five and a half years for illegal and inhumane experiments," she read aloud. "After a routine check by Lionel Luthor himself, the entire project was shut down. Frampson went to prison for a few years...but was put back in again a year after he was released for breaking and entering and assault. He was released again, two weeks ago on good behavior."

"Yeah, well, I don't think he was taking Alley out for coffee."

Chloe frowned, "Look at this, it says here that he believes he was working on an alien being for Luthor Corp. He also vowed that he would prove aliens existed. Wow, what a wacko."

"And he thinks Alley is this creature he was working on?"

"I guess...but why would he think that?" Chloe's eyes suddenly went wide; she pulled the file out of the cabinet and started searching for something. Suddenly her face drained of color, "Look at this. Less than a week after 'Experiment 001 was shut down; Lionel adopted Alley from an orphanage in the same city as the lab."

"So what? I bet a bunch of kids were adopted from that place."

"Yeah, but Alley didn't have any records, she had been anonymously dropped at the orphanage just two days earlier! Don't you think that it's a little strange for a seven year old to be dumped at an orphanage? She couldn't even speak English."

"How do you know that?"

"Alley let it slip to me that Lex was the one who taught her English."

"So you are saying that Alley is an alien that Lionel Luthor had captured and had experiments conducted on it, but when he saw what it was, he decided to adopt it instead?"

"She isn't an alien; Frampson can just be after revenge. And it says that Frampson has more than his fair share of mental illnesses. Wow, why did they even release him?! He probably just got it into his head that she is this experiment and now believes it."

Pete sighed and sat back down, he knew better. Alley was an alien. She was from the same planet as Clark. And if Frampson knew about Alley, it was only a matter of time before he found out about Clark.

A/N: Heehee, sorry it took so long. Hope you like it. I'm writing the next chapter as you read! Please review!

Rebel Goddess- Sorry...but I needed to have the Kryptonite be under her skin. Don't worry...Chloe won't cause too much trouble!

Jer- How did you know I was blushing?! What you said was really nice. Thank you. I work very hard on my stories, original or fanfiction. I hope that I can continue to be as good as you're review says....lol, wish me luck :-P

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