Chapter 9
The Flight
Clark sat on the couch in his loft that night, which he now shared with Andy; her room was the guestroom, in the process of being redecorated to her peculiar liking, but like him, she preferred to hang out in the loft. Andy sat perched on the sill of the window where Clark's telescope poked through, her legs dangling into the barn and her wings stuck out for balance.
"So, how did you hide your abilities so well?" she asked. "So far, no-one I've met around here seems to know about them. Except for Pete maybe, you guys are always whispering to each other or taking your conversations to another part of the room. He must know, right?"
"Yeah, Pete knows, but only because he discovered my spaceship when the tornado took it up and put it back into the field. He had no idea—I had to tell him so that our friendship didn't go down the drain..."
"You have a spaceship? You haven't shown me yet! C'mon, let me see!" she said, becoming excited momentarily, but instantly calming down when she saw the reaction on Clark's face. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"The spaceship is gone...I used a kryptonite key to destroy it when it was acting as the spirit of my biological father, Jor-El, who was trying to convince me to overtake the human race and return home. I knew kryptonite would destroy it because whenever it was around kryptonite, it would neutralize it, once saving me when it did so. The blast from the ship overturned my parents truck when they were coming home, and it...killed my mom's baby that she was going to have," Clark explained sadly.
"I'm so sorry," Andy said sympathetically. "So, you didn't come here with any siblings or anything?"
"No, just me. I've always wanted a brother or sister...I guess now I do," he said, grinning at her. She smiled too, she was glad she had a new family. She still grieved for her mother, but she knew that it wouldn't help the situation; her mother was gone. She leaned back to look at the stars, Clark's original home, and then realized she had leaned back too far and was falling through the open window. Instinctively, she let out a small yelp, and Clark's head snapped up from gazing down at his hands on his lap.
"Andy!" he yelled, panicked and rushing to the window, but she was too far to reach by now. He put on his speed, and rushed to the ground, waiting for her to fall safely into his arms. As he stopped below the window, he realized she wasn't falling anymore, but flying into the night air.
"It's OK, I'm fine!" she said. "I've never been the most graceful of people. Maybe that's why I was gifted with these," she said, for once referring to her wings positively. Clark blushed for his overreaction—how could he forget Andy's beautiful wings would save her? She came back to the ground gently, and slight breeze from her open wings drifted down to him.
"Come with me," she said, offering a hand. "It's OK; I'm stronger than you'd think." He tentatively took her hands before she snapped her wings open again, as they rose slowly into the air.
"Wow," Clark breathed. He had always wanted to fly, knowing that one day, that might become true. With every day, he never knew if he would develop another one of his Kryptonian abilities, but he knew one day he would fly; his floating spells had already told him that much, but it was the extent of his experience. They rose higher, and Clark looked down, instantly becoming dizzy—his fear of height was irrational since he couldn't be hurt if he fell anyway, but the thought still lingered in the back of his mind.
"Andy, can we go…lower?" he asked.
"Why? This is not nearly as high as we can go, it's really fun, you'll love it!"
"Actually, I'm not so sure...I'm afraid of heights," Clark admitted to his new sister.
"Now how can the man of steel be afraid of heights?" she asked, giggling at the thought. At his embarrassed demeanor, she began to go lower.
"Andy, please, can we just go down a little bit?" he asked desperately after a few moments, keeping his eyes squeezed shut.
"I am down!" she cried. He opened his eyes and gazed back at the ground below. Andy was standing below him on the ground with excitement written all over her face. "You never told me you could fly too!"
"I didn't know I could!" he replied, surprised. He looked around, and tried to rise a little, feeling more at ease doing it on his own. At his own will, he went higher, rising into the cool air with a smile as big as Kansas. Andy rose herself, coming face to face with him, effortlessly flapping her massive wings slowly and methodically, as if it were second nature.
"Let's try out this new ability, shall we?" she asked. "Wanna race?" Clark situated himself in the air so that he was pointed towards the finish: the windmill in Chandler's field. "Are you ready?" she now asked.
"Bring it on," he said. He willed himself forward as Andy started beating her wings fiercely, producing a giant gust of wind that blew Clark off course by a few feet. Gasping for a moment, not used to feeling, he righted himself. Seeing that Andy had already taken off, he couldn't stand to humiliate himself by losing. Clark stuck an arm out in front of him, leaving the other against his side; flying was unbelievable! He tried his speed in the air, and all time stopped. To Andy, all she noticed was a blue and red blur brush past her, but Clark took a second to admire Andy's wings stuck in time as she used them to propel herself forward with as much force as she could. He noticed how powerful they appeared to be: soft over strong. Within an instant, Clark was at the windmill where he sat down at the top and waited for Andy to arrive.
"You're even faster at flying than me, and you've never done it before?" Andy said, reached the windmill a few minutes later, out of breath. Clark shrugged. "I didn't know you could use your speed even when you flew!"
"Swimming, running, flying…I guess I can use it whenever I want," he said. "Hey Andy, what do you like about your wings the most?"
"My wings? I dunno. I guess I like how they're soft over strong." His new sister said, and Clark marveled at how he had thought the exact same thing. It was as if they had always been related! Andy's voice snapped him back to reality again: "Ever since I realized they had grown large enough that I might be able to fly, I've been bodybuilding; I knew that so long as I was really lightweight and muscular, I would be able to fly. With my wings though, I never needed to build them up; they were always strong. Of course, what's the use of wings if you can't use them to fly, right?"
"Just what I was thinking…" Clark said to himself, gazing up into the stars, hoping time would stand still and be perfect forever.
Lana knew she couldn't take it anymore: she had to see Clark and ask him if he could explain the other morning's events at the barn. She hadn't even bothered to go to the front door to ask where Clark was—the lights in the barn were on and she knew he must be there. She walked to the barn, looking up at the stars and the brilliant moon—so bright and full tonight it seemed to light up the whole sky. She hadn't seen Clark today at school, or Andy either for that matter, who Clark seemed to be hanging out with frequently lately. She then saw something up in the sky—or make that two somethings. They appeared to be rather large birds, flying straight for the barn loft.
As they neared, the light from the loft illuminated them both, and Lana gasped—what appeared to be birds were Clark and Andy. Andy had a gigantic pair of wings which she had been using to fly with, but Clark was free-flying, no wings or anything. Lana shook her head and rubbed her eyes—surely she must be dreaming! She looked again, but there they were, flying straight into the open window of the barn, which she ran into and up the stairs.
Lana reached the top of the stairs to meet the surprised faces of Clark and Andy, whose great wings she immediately furled behind her and tried to make as inconspicuous as possible. No such luck however, they were much too large to be hidden that easily.
"Clark? Andy? Did I just see what I thought I saw, or am I dreaming?" she asked in disbelief.
"Lana, uh, this is going to take some explaining…why don't you sit down," Clark said. He knew that he really didn't have any escape route this time; he was going to have to tell her everything.
"Is this what the floating thing was the other day?" Lana asked him, then realizing Andy was still there and blushed.
"I think there's a different time and place for that," said Clark, his own face red with embarrassment. Andy knew what was going on without them having to say anything. "In the meantime however, I'm going to tell you where I'm from…" he said, realizing this was the second time today he was going to have to recite his story. Lana sat there patiently, knowing he was finally going to open up to her after all these years. "I'm not really from around here…" Clark continued.
"Well, you are adopted. Did you find out where your biological parents live?" she asked. Clark sighed; this was it, now or never. He only hoped she would understand, and not be frightened.
"A planet called Krypton," he said, looking into her eyes as he tried sounding as sincere as possible.
"You're an alien?" Lana asked, disbelieving. Then again, some pretty weird things had happened in Smallville since the meteor shower, the most likely time for something as significant as an alien to come to earth. "Are you sure you just weren't altered like a lot of others from the meteor shower? Because if you were, it would be alright…" Andy shifted uncomfortably.
"No, I'm positive. I came to earth during the meteor shower," he explained.
"Whoa, you really are an alien," she said automatically. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that… Clark, how could you keep this from me, from everyone, for so long? You've been lying to us the whole time!"
"The only reason I haven't told you is because it's dangerous. See, I told Pete and he's been the prime target for people trying to get him to reveal my secret," Clark said.
"But no-one has to know that I know," she said.
"It's not that simple," Clark sighed again. "I have these powers that in some situations are necessary for helping others. I always have to cover up what I've done so that no-one will suspect me."
"What kinds of powers?" she asked. Clark was too tired to demonstrate, so he simply told her, hoping she'd believe.
"Super-strength, hearing, and speed, X-ray and heat vision, invincibility unless you count kryptonite—"
"What's kryptonite?" she asked.
"Meteor rocks. They make me feel really sick whenever I'm around them…" he said. Lana made a mental note to never wear her meteor rock necklace again, if she could ever find it. She began remembering all the times Clark had tried to come near her, but instantly fell ill; now she knew why.
"And what about the flying?" she asked. "I've always wanted to fly…"
"I just discovered that one a little while ago. The floating? I guess that's when I'm feeling really strong emotions, like fear and happiness…"
"This explains so much though, like the tornado! Did you fly up to the car? Because I swear you were there, Clark, and you didn't have a scratch on you!"
"I couldn't fly then, and I don't really know what got me to your truck, but the important thing is that you're alive, and safe," he said. Lana turned to Andy, and stared at her gorgeous wings, which Andy had let loose from behind her back.
"No, I'm not an alien if you're wondering," she snapped, noticing Lana was looking at her. "I got these," she said, implying her wings, then unsheathing her talons, receiving a slight jump from Lana, "…and these, from the meteor shower."
"So you're the winged wonder. I'm sure Chloe didn't mean anything personal by that article, I mean, it's kind of her life, the Torch," Lana said, absent-mindedly apologizing for her friend's actions.
"It's OK. I kinda like it, as long as no-one has to know who I really am. Clark's and my secrets are really important…and difficult to keep…" she admitted.
"I know. But I also know now why you didn't tell me," Lana said, turning back to Clark.
"Well, what's done is done. Now, shall we go tell my parents? I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear that not only does Andy know, but now you know about the family secret as well! Not to mention the flying…" Clark said, grinning with sarcasm. And, with one girl's arm looped around each of his, they marched into the house to confront Clark's parents once again.
Chloe sat at her computer that night once again, half expecting the still mysterious –Determined to contact her again. She had the awful feeling in her gut that she had given whoever it was too much information about Andy, but when she had tried to visit her that afternoon after not seeing her in school that day, no-one had answered the door. She had visited Clark after that, wondering if he had any information as to where Andy was, and why he hadn't been at school today himself.
When Clark had opened the door, Chloe immediately began hounding him; asking if he was sick or if he just had a rough day and didn't feel up to going to school. He had immediately told her that she was overreacting and that he just didn't feel well and had decided to skip school, something Chloe found surprising with his perfect attendance record, but didn't push the issue. When she had asked if he knew anything about Andy, he had played dumb, acting as if he hadn't a clue. Chloe caught a hint of deceitment in his voice; did he know more than he was telling her? Maybe she'd ask him later about it, but right now, she stared at her computer with only one thought on her mind: Who was
–Determined and what did they want with Andy? Chloe knew she was too stubborn to let the case go cold, but she didn't know that this was a mystery that would go unsolved until Clark and Andy decided to open up and reveal what had really happened that bright but grim Kansas day.
