Smallville

The Evil Legend

Chapter Thirteen - Breaking the Code

                The cool night breeze drifted into the air-conditioned room, making a shiver go up her spine. Chloe Sullivan found her items arrive on time, knowing for a fact that Lionel never went back on his word, and she could tell he enjoyed her company. Looking at all the equipment laid out in her hotel room, she rampaged through it, seeing what would really be useful for her. Knowing only a few guards would be on duty for the night. She didn't have to worry about them. Her only worry, were those damn video cameras. A black spandex outfit lay on the bed. She just prayed it would fit her. A new camera sat next to it, with a high speed program to get even finger prints off the object, she would acquire. A small black staff sat on the floor. Lifting it up, she snapped her wrists, like she was opening a Chinese fan, as a rope shot from the top of it extending a few yards into the room. Snapping it back, it rolled back in like a yoyo. She was going to like this little toy, and saw the tip of it had a serrated edge on it, so it would hold on to sold objects. Seeing the bottom of the device, it had a hook on the bottom, so it would hold her; it reminded her of mountain climbing gear. The map of New York's Planetarium sat in front of her on the coffee table by the window. Knowing that the controls for the video cameras were inside the building, she has to cut the power as well, to avoid any other problems that may occur. A small long thin device sat next to the rod, picking it up she watched the lights blinked on it, and saw the tip of it was small enough to fit into any door. Walking to the door of the hotel room, she had to try it out. Shutting the door behind her, she turned to face it, seeing some buttons on the side, she hit one. A black card popped out, tilting her head; she didn't have to second guess how it worked. Sliding it through the slot, the door's green light clicked, and it opened smoothly for her; allowing hardly any noise to wake up anyone.

                Hearing her cell phone ring on the other side of the room she ran to answer it; "Hello." She answered waiting for the person on the other end to speak.

                                "Miss Sullivan." He paused; his strong voice rang through the reciver calming her. She knew it would work now, seeing he was actually calling.

                                "I just want to make sure you have everything you need." Lionel said on the other end.

                                "Thank you Mr. Luthor." She smiled, and took another sip of her coffee next to the table. She didn't sleep the night before, and didn't want Lionel to worry about nightmares right now.

                                "How are things where you are?" Chloe asked him.

                                "Oh, they are moving along very well. Better than I hoped for. Believe me, once you return all the information. I'll be sure to fill you in." Lionel told her assuringly.

                                "Great!" She said excitedly.

                                "Well, I'll leave you to your next story." Lionel said. She could hear the man laugh a little on the other end. A thought crossed her mind; 'was he laughing at me, or at his idiotic idea of finding out about Clark?' She asked herself; 'if he is this interested in Clark, I may not tell him what I find, and keep it to myself.' She knew the Luthor's were known for their ulterior-motives, and she hoped Lionel wasn't about ready to make that mistake with her. During the past few days she had already been having second thoughts on the investigation; "Thank you Mr. Luthor." Chloe said, making herself sound excited; "Please Miss Sullivan, you may call me Lionel." He paused; "Any journalist such as yourself; has the right to be on first name basis here." Lionel told her.

                                "Alright Lionel, have a good night." Chloe told him assuring.

                                "Thank you." Lionel answered and hung up leaving that annoying dial tone in her ear.

~*~

                The evening hours had finally changed to night, as Magneto, Eric Marsh, John, and Mystique hurried inside one of LuthorCorp's highly secured companies. A fire had already broke out at the back of the building, as Pyro set it into flames, allowing them time to break through. Marsh was ecstatic at how they all worked together. Hearing the fire trucks in the near distance they hurried inside. The long corridors glowed from the fire trying to burn its way through the building. Marsh coughed getting the dust, smoke, and paint particles out of his system, as they ran down the hall. He still was nauseated from all the treatments they had done on him. Mystique placed her arm around him, to help him keep up; "Thanks;" Marsh said to her. She smirked, and led their way. Magneto had his fun as each video camera went crashing to the floor with a thud.

                                "Are we trying to draw attention?" Marsh asked out loud. They all stopped seeing the night patrol heading their way. Magneto turned to face Marsh; "Why don't you go with Pyro. There's an office down the hall on the third floor. Mystique will be their as soon as she can." He paused; "I'm making sure that Charles will know what I'm up to." He told Marsh. Marsh still didn't understand the man, but didn't answer him, and hurried after Pyro. He was still having trouble with his clothes he had on from the Rehab center.

                Magneto turned to Mystique; "There should be an underground part of the building, from how the read out looked. Lionel must keep his information there." Magneto told her. She nodded her head; "Is there anything else you want me to bring out from the room?" Mystique asked him.

                                "No, we just need the meteor rocks for right now." He told her, as they ran down another corridor, watching the guards turn sharply around the hall they were just in. The flames in the building had already reached where they stood, giving them no time to head down the hall, where the others went.

                The building was a deep blue, with yellow lights that hung softly down the corridors, making only small detail escape the human eye at contact. Mystique didn't mind the way the building was layout, but the only thought remained in her head. She knew Lionel was a top notch business man, just like Swann, Wayne, and others that they knew of. Lionel was known to have other back up plans if one failed. It made her feel uneasy, knowing that Magneto had no idea who he was actually dealing with. This man had money, and ways to make any break in look like someone else's fault. Gun shots rang off the walls of the long corridor, as she pushed Magneto through the door at the end. Swinging it back forward she watched the men run noisily in their direction. She smiled, seeing they weren't taught very well to keep quiet, if they didn't want the intruder to know about it. Taking one step, she was now running toward them at full speed.

                The men stopped watching in awe, as the being in front of them that seemed like a woman, jumped into the air, and landed softly on her hands, doing somersaults. Finally doing a back flip, landing back on her feet, she shot her leg out, and kicked the first guard across the room. This time the men took action, and fired their hand guns at her. Ignoring each bullet, she flipped over them, taking one of the guards by the shoulder slamming him into the wall next to her. Only two more guards were now standing. She watched seeing their guns fly out of their hands. The men turned to see a tall dark man at the end of the hall. Moving his hands upward the guns hit the ceiling landing hard onto the floor in pieces. Grabbing the nearest guard by her; Mystique flipped him, sending the young man into a body slam onto the cold hard floor. The other man yelled in anger and ran at her, before he could get close enough to touch her, what he saw was skin. Magneto pulled his empty hand back, watching the man stop in mid-stride. Mystique walked up to him, seeing the panic on his face; "Tell your boss we were having a meeting with his so-called underground work." She hissed at him, kicking the poor man to the ground. She leaned over him breathing in his ear; "Or, we could just end your torment here." She said and brought her right foot up to his neck, hearing it crack. The man went limp on the floor; she shuffled over to Magneto and took the stairs to the basement of the building.

                Pyro sat at the office desk flicking his lighter once more, board waiting for Magneto to get his green rocks. Papers laid over the top of the desk, scattered in a mess. Marsh didn't like waiting either, knowing they were on the third floor of the building, and this being one of Lionel's main office building in Metropolis. The office was a silver bluish color, and windows en-lined the outside. The night had finally unfolded onto the city sky of Metropolis, cascading into the office. Finding the light switch at the side of the door, Marsh hit it. Watching the lights flood the room; "Is he a neat freak, or a messy one?" Marsh asked loudly seeing the desk full of read outs, and plans for something big. Walking over to the oak wooden desk, he rambled through the first pile next to Pyro; "Yo; you probably don't want to touch those." Pyro told him.  

                                "Why not;" Marsh snapped back.

                                "It's not like I've already stole items from Lionel." He informed him. Pyro's eyes widened; "What did you steal before?" Pyro asked.

                                "What your old buddy is doing right now." Marsh paused; "The old man here is obsessed with aliens, and meteor rocks. Don't ask me why, but he's been also doing experiments behind his son's back, in Smallville." Marsh filled him in.

                                "Aliens huh;" Pyro sat up in the leather seat.

                                "Yeah, he got this weird idea like all the other reporters back home think some alien came down during the meteor shower." Marsh explained. Pyro smiled at him, and laughed a little at the story. If he hadn't of met Clark Kent in the beginning he may not have believed the story of aliens; "So what would Lionel do if he actually found him?"  Pyro brightened up the subject. Marsh stopped at what he was doing and looked right at Pyro, looking for some flaw as to tell him he was lying.

                                "Don't tell me you believe this old nut." Marsh said.

                                "Why would I ask you about him then?" Pyro said to him truthfully.

                Marsh shrugged his head and saw a list of peoples names on the top of the next pile of papers. Holding it up in front of him, he read his name on the top of the list. Pyro stood up now, leaning over his shoulder; "Hey, how come this man has information you?" Pyro asked him, seeing his name on the list.

                                "Cause' I told you already, I stole some of his belongings." Marsh told him, from what he could remember of the incident.

                                "Who are all the other people?" Pyro asked.

                                "People I've heard of back in Smallville. Most of them went to Smallville High with me." He told him; "Were they like you? Before you were sent to the Rehab Center?" Pyro asked him. Marsh nodded; "Man, there was a lot of crazy kids in that town." Pyro said, Clark's name on the top of the list with a question mark by it.

                                "Better, take that list to Magneto, I'm sure he'll find use for it." Pyro told him. Marsh nodded and put it in his pocket, as they headed for the door. They had to be downstairs soon, or they'd miss their cue to leave.

~*~

                Mystique saw rooms upon rooms in an endless hall, that didn't seem like it had an end. She was beginning to wonder if Mr. Luthor was an insane man to have so many halls in one basement. Taking a deep breath, she looked farther down the corridor that was lit brighter, hearing Magneto's steps behind her, she kept going, and saw a vault at the end. She turned her head over to Magneto; "He keeps this stuff in a vault?" She asked him wondering why it was important to him. Looking at the vault, she noticed there wasn't any way they could possibly open it.

                                "I think he has more in there, than just a few meteor rocks for Clark." Magneto told him; "Stand back." He ordered her. As she moved away, she heard the door move slightly, "Better duck." Magneto warned her. Right as he swung the door over her head, she knelt down. The lead door flew to the end of the hall. They stood up glaring inside the vault.

                                "He melted them into bars." Mystique hissed surprised. As they walked inside, Magneto found files of building layouts for one of his LuthorCorp Plants in Metropolis. Others where read outs on blood types, and a list of names. Some were crossed off, along noticed Eric Marsh's name on it.

                                "How are we going to bring all this upstairs?" Mystique asked him, knowing now they didn't have any transportation whatsoever. Magneto looked at her; "You don't have enough faith." He told her honesty. Hearing the wall the back of the vault rumble, it shattered leaving the vault floating a few inches above the ground; "You really want Charles to know." Mystique said to him. She watched, as the vault lifted into the air. They both jumped inside as he waved his hand to bring the door out of the dirt up to them. Looking through the glass windows he searched for Pyro, and Marsh.

                Pyro walked slowly down on of the corridors of the third story building. Marsh was getting annoyed by Pyro clicking and flicking his lighter; "Would you put that damn thing away. It's driving me insane!" Marsh yelled. Pyro shrugged, and continued to do it. Before he knew it, Marsh, had grabbed his lighter and threw it out the glass windows inlining the building. Just as Pyro watched the glass shatter in a million pieces, they stopped dead in their tracks, looking at a vault of glowing green meteor rocks. Marsh smirked widely, knowing this man meant business as the door to the vault inched its way up to the building. As they jumped onto the door, Pyro looked up seeing his lighter floating in midair; "I don't need any fights right now, unless it's with the police force." Magneto ordered, as the door of the vault closed on them.

                Down below they heard gun fire hit the lead vault, as it flew into the night air. Opening the door a little bit, he saw Mr. Luthor standing along side the police force yelling at the officer in charge. He smiled, knowing everything was going to plan.

~*~

                The night air hit Chloe's hot face, as she finally reached the top of the New York Planetarium. Feeling her heart beat fast, she grabbed one of her water bottles from her bag; that hung on her back. She didn't realize how heavy it was going to be to lift everything, while she climbed. Looking at the round dome in the center of the building, she knelt down between each air vent that went through the building. Taking out her little video camera, she scanned the area ahead of her. The dome shinned a ghostly white against the moonless sky of New York. Hearing the night traffic down below, she prayed a cop wouldn't arrest her. Her father would kill her, if he knew what she was doing now. Placing her hand on the dome, she felt the crevasse of the small door that was near the bottom of the rim, before it rounded to a balloon. Grabbing her lock tool, she placed it inside the hole, and waited, as the lights on the small machine calculated the right numbers to find the combination it needed. Hearing the click on the inside of the lock, the small door swung open. Feeling cold air blow upward, she knew she was inside. Taking her rod, she flicked her wrist, allowing the end of the rope to grip the edge of the doorframe. Zipping up her bag, she gripped the top of the rope, and slid silently inside the building. Her black spandex outfight shinned against the low lights that hung on the ceiling; "I hope Lionel never asks me to wear black spandex again." Chloe said under her breath, as she itched her side. The brown chairs that lined the auditorium, she found the center stair path, and followed it to the corridor in front of her.

                Taking the map out of her bag, she unfolded it. Making sure no one was around; she saw a basement at the far end of the building. Using the small campus in her hand, she watched the light at the top. Once she saw it blink twice, she knew she had to go that way. Opening her bag again, black gloves were removed from it. Placing them on her hands the rubbery feeling of them left her moving her hands making sure they wouldn't stick together; "I hope these come in handy." Chloe said to herself. Gripping the side of the wall she felt her body move upward to the ceiling, as she crawled fast to the end of the corridor. Watching the video cameras below her move, she went up to each one unplugging them. She just prayed there wasn't anyone in the control room watching.

                It took what seemed all night, as she finally reached the basement of the building. Making her way down the small hallway, she saw the lead door at the far end. Pulling it open, her eyes squinted, from the irritating noise from the door. She made a mental note to herself to write Dr. Swann, and tell him to oil his doors. The room was cluttered with objects from the planetarium. Books, globes, maps, star charts, you name it; were scattered all over the room. She wondered if the Doctor ever cleaned the backroom up. Seeing a desk in the back of the room she slowly moved forward, and stopped. A small black screen was on, with a language moving across the screen. She had never seen this kind of language before. To her she thought it maybe some big math problem the doctor was trying to work on. Whatever it was, she had to save it to a disk. Maybe with Lionel's help, she could have him translate it. Walking up to the desk, she placed CD inside the computer, and hit save, seeing the file loading. Her stomach was swirling inside, feeling the butterflies taking over. She was so worried; someone was going to see her. Hearing the file finish, she slipped the CD back into the solid silver case, and placed it in her bag. Heading for the door, she heard a faint sound of the door swing open. Using her gloves she clawed up the wall to the ceiling and crawled into one of the tiles of the roof. Watching the young worker make his rounds for the night, her stomach subsided, knowing she just have to go up to get outside. Looking forward, the roof above the tiles was stuffy and moist and damp from the rain that had fallen earlier that day. The door swung open again, as another security guard came inside.

                                "Did you hear the news?" The first one said.

                                "No, what happened?" The other asked, Chloe bent her head closer to the tile so she could hear what they were saying.

                                "One of those mutants broke into LuthorCorp back in Metropolis." He paused; "They don't know why, but he stole a vault loaded with important information.

                                "What did they do?" The other asked.

                                "Well right now, they can't really give out any details, but Luthor is planning on going to the legislature of New York, knowing that more of the mutants live here." He explained. Chloe had never heard this information if she was back home. She knew Lionel never let anything like that lose among the city. Watching them leave the room, she climbed back down and made sure she didn't leave anything on the desk. Packing up her items she left the building, making herself remember to call Lionel in the morning.

~*~

                Ororo entered Charles' office slowly, as he finished a meeting with one of their students. She knew he was upset by the way he sat at the desk. After hearing the nightly news, he had been quiet. Taking a seat in front of him, he said goodbye to the student and watched her leave the room, before his attention when to Ororo. Her white hair had been pulled up, from the hot weather.

                                "How is Clark?" Charles asked her, he had been thinking about using Cerebro all day long, but was going to wait until Clark was asleep.

                                "His blood is unlike anything I have ever seen before." She paused trying to find the right words to describe it; "Normally his blood, from what I've tested it with the red rock, would only harm him physically, or through his mind, but it seems he was so stressed out from everything that had happened. He started to see things and attacked the mirror without realizing what would happen in the out come." She explained to him.

                                "So, if he's around this rock, long enough it causes him to see and hear things that we wouldn't see?" Charles asked her.

                                "To put it shortly, yes;" Storm answered. Charles rolled out from behind his desk in the office, "Is he asleep right now?" He asked her.

                                "I'm not sure. Do you want me to go check?" Ororo asked him. Charles nodded, and watched her leave the room without asking why. Ororo headed up the long staircase, and looked in every room, making sure that everyone was asleep. She knew another weekend was coming up, and the holiday was almost upon them, but she didn't want any to be up. Seeing a light on down the hall, she hurried to see what room it was. Looking inside she saw Clark already asleep. She watched him sleep, and noticed him talking. As she was about to walk in the room she jumped hearing him scream. Seeing the light on near his bed, she didn't take the time to turn it off, as she went back down to the main floor.

                Charles sat in the hallway, as he saw Ororo approach him; "He's sleeping, but he's having nightmares." Ororo told him.

                                "I thought that if he's asleep Cerebro maybe able to lock on to his mind just a little bit, for me to at least see or read what he's feeling." Charles told her; "From looking at the blood DNA, Clark is different, and since he's not a mutant or human. Then he's." He stopped himself, as they slowly walked down the hallway to the basement.

                                "An alien;" Ororo stated out loud; "After hearing you couldn't read his mind, Dr. Swann wouldn't give you any other detail on him either, so I figured it out myself." Ororo said. Charles nodded.

                                Cerebro stood before him, as the eye scanner read his retina; 'Welcome professor.' It said, as he slowly rolled inside. Ororo stood outside waiting for him to give her information.

                                As he sat at the consol of Cerebro, he placed the helmet on top of his head, and watched, as the room expanded stretching out. The tiles in Cerebro turned blue, then red as he read each mind of humans or mutants all over the world. As he narrowed it down, it stopped at a yellow dot. A picture of Clark appeared in bed, struggling to sleep. His thoughts ran fast through Charles head. He still didn't understand how this alien could keep up with all this information so fast. Watching his dream, he saw what had happened back home, and could now feel Clark's emotions, which ran higher than when he had the ring on. His eyes looked right at the image of Clark, and felt so sorry for this young boy. He had a secret that was now known to him, and the boy was scared for what was going to happen next. He was scared to go home, even though deep down inside he knew his parents still cared deeply. Feeling the tiles move backward again as they turned blue. He felt something staggering in the back of his head, and could hear it through Mystique's mind. His eyes widened with fear, and allowed Cerebro to turn off.

                Ororo waited outside of Cerebro, as she saw Charles come out from the room; "We need to have a meeting right away. Tomorrow morning. I fear, Magneto has started something, we may not be able to stop." Charles told her. Ororo's heart grew heavy, seeing the way Charles expression was; "What about Clark?" She asked wanting to know what he found out; "He's an alien." Charles told her. Storm's eyes widened. She had so many questions to ask Clark, but she knew Charles would never allow it, unless Clark was ready.

~*~

                Lionel sat and waited, for the scientist to break the code, that the light had given the computer. The first few times, left one of his good workers dead with in the hour, and the second time the computers blew up. Now they finally had the code, and the men were working hard to break it. Hearing his cell phone ring he picked it up; "Hello?" He asked.

                                "Lionel; hello, this is Chloe." Chloe said on the other end.

                                "Miss Sullivan; how was the little adventure into the doctor's building?" Lionel asked.

                                "Good, I found more information that will be of use to you." Chloe assured him.

                                "Wonderful; I'll make sure there is a flight to bring you home as soon as you need it." Lionel told her.

                                "Actually I was thinking of staying here a little bit longer. I have another story I wanted to look into." She paused; "I heard what happened on the news today, about LuthorCorp, and I may have an idea where to start on that." Chloe told him.

                                "Miss Sullivan, you don't need to investigate any other stories. Right now our time is limited, and I need anything you have on Clark now." He said.

                                "I have something I downloaded off of Swann's computer. I'll send it to you tomorrow morning." Chloe assured him.

                                "That would be fine." Lionel said. The young man came over to him as he read the paper; "Do you know what this means?" The man asked Lionel. Lionel's eyes widened, seeing the message unfold in front of  him; 'The day is coming, when the last son will begin his quest, to rule the third planet.' Lionel read it over and over again, but this didn't tell him that Clark was the alien. The only thing that gave him that proof was the blood test they had done a while ago to build the room at the third LuthorCorp plant in Metropolis.

                                "Is there any other message?" Lionel asked him.

                                "No, only the old one that just states a story about a boy landing on earth from another planet, who has strength of ten men, and his goal." The man stopped unable to tell Lionel the rest of the message; "His goal is to what?" Lionel demeaned.

                                "To rule this plant;" The man finished; "Alright, call doctor Conners back in Metropolis. Tell him to send this to a lab and have it studied." Lionel ordered. The man nodded and left the cave.

End of Chapter Thirteen: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave reviews. If there is something you didn't understand, please email me and I'll try and explain it to you. I tried to make it understandable. So I hope it worked. Have a great week.