IV
Chapter Eleven - Redemption
Tempers were running high, and nerves were being tested as ten o'clock drew nearer. Breaking into the lab and stealing the vaccinations would normally have been a breeze for Clark, but he felt completely vulnerable in Chloe's body, and, although he wanted to trust her, he wasn't 100 sure she could pull it off.
They had gone back to the Kent Farm from the Talon, to practice speed and heat vision. Martha and Jonathan had discovered them after about half an hour, and had been told what had happened. They were upset at first, but after having the situation explained to them, even stubborn Jonathan couldn't argue the fact that telling Chloe was necessary, unless they wanted to trade their son for a daughter.
Finally, Clark decided they couldn't put it off any longer, and picked up their bag that had all their essentials in it; flashlight, rope, but most importantly, a lead-lined box containing Clark's least favorite mineral.
"C'mon." He said to Chloe. "It's now or never."
"Yeah, ok." Chloe said, taking a deep breath. "I'm ready."
Jonathan looked up from where he and Martha were seated at the table.
"You're off then?" He asked, accidentally turning towards Chloe.
"Yeah." Clark said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.
"Clark, I want you to be careful." Jonathan said, feeling very strange to be talking to Chloe's body. "I know that this must be so hard for you, and I'm sure I didn't make matters any easier by freaking out. I know you need out support, and I just wanted to let you know that you have it, every step of the way. Son."
Clark smiled.
"Thanks dad." He said. "That means a lot."
Chloe grabbed the lock in Clark's huge hand and wrenched it downwards. It crumbled into dust, the back door of the lab swinging open.
"Good Job, Chloe." Clark congratulated her. Although this was the easy part.
They entered the lab and closed the door behind them.
It would have been completely dark were it not for the soft blue lights, illuminating the different experiments. It gave an eerie glow to the already unnerving room.
There didn't seem to be anything of much use in this part of the lab, so they pulled open the heavy door, and started down a long hallway, also eerily lit with blue lights, the glow bouncing off the polished steel walls, floor and ceiling.
After about ten minutes of searching down side hallways and slightly promising-looking rooms, Clark spotted a door that displayed the sign 'Vaccinations and Disease Research. Authorized Personnel Only.'
"Hey, Chloe. I think I found it!" He said quietly.
When she didn't reply, he turned around.
"Chloe?" He asked, but she was nowhere in sight. "Oh shit!"
He didn't know where she had gone, but he decided to get the shots, then find her.
He opened the door with a creak. The room was, so far, the only one not lit with a ghostly blue glow. Clark clicked the flashlight on, and shone it around the room.
The beam caught a large metal freezer laying on its back on the other side of the room.
Bingo. he thought, making his way over to it.
He held the flashlight between his teeth so he could use both hands to lift the heavy lid. He wasn't used to not being able to easily lift things with one hand.
The lid slowly opened, and cold blue mist seeped out. Clark waved his hand around to try and clear the fog drifting out of the freezer.
Slowly, a shape became visible. Clark squinted. He couldn't quite make it out, but the mist kept getting thinner and thinner until -
Clark let out an involuntary shriek, the flashlight falling out of his mouth and clattering to the floor, going dead.
"That's one helluva scream you've got there." A voice said behind him, causing him to spin around.
"Who's there?" Clark called out, Chloe's voice shaky, making him sound a lot more frightened than he cared to let on.
The knowledge of the previously unknown presence was made more daunting and ominous due to the lack of light, apart from the blue-tinted smoke filling the room with a ghostly demeanor.
"Surely you can guess." The man said in a heavy Irish accent.
"Roy." Clark gasped, looking from his shadowy form to the freezer, making the connection. "You killed him."
"It's better this way." Roy said coldly.
"You're sick." Clark said. "You need help."
"No, Clark, don't you see?" Roy asked, walking right up to Clark, shoving his face down close to hers. His breath stank of alcohol. "You have been given an amazing opportunity. You can leave your old life behind, start fresh! You'll never have to stack another bale of hay again!"
As Roy continued talking, Clark caught sight of something behind him. The shots. They were on a shelf, about one meter back and to the right of him. Clark decided not to let on that he had spotted them. He fixed his eyes back on Roy.
"That's not for you to decide for me." He said.
"He's right, Clark." Clark heard his own voice from the shadows, causing him to spin around again.
"Chloe!" He said. "Where were you? Wait, what are you talking about?"
His own body stepped forward out of the shadows, giving him a little chill. Chloe had a strange look on his face.
"I can do things I've never even dreamed of." Chloe said. "Listen to him. he's right. It's better this way."
"Chloe, what's wrong with you?" Clark asked, then turned to Roy. "What did you do to her?" He screamed at him, although he had a dreadful feeling he already knew. He recognized the arrogant, self-assured expression on his face and the tone in his voice.
Sure enough, on his finger was a red kryptonite class ring, glinting as the blue light hit it.
"Where did you get that?" He asked Roy.
"I have friends in high places." He replied simply.
Clark turned back to Chloe.
"Chloe, you have to take that off." Clark begged her. "This isn't you."
"It's more me than I've ever been!" Chloe argued, taking a few steps towards him. "I can do anything I want, I can… have, anything I want." She moved her hand towards his face and started running her fingers through her hair. "This is the real me."
"No, Chloe, it's not!" Clark shouted, slapping his own hand away. "It's the ring, not you! Trust me, I've been there!"
"Then you know how great it feels." Chloe replied, staring defiantly at Clark.
Clark lowered his head.
"I do." He said, slowly reaching into his shoulder bag, searching around with his hand, careful to keep Chloe's eye's fixed on his own. "But it made me do thing's I never wanted to do, and still regret to this day. It made me into someone I never wanted to be."
Chloe rolled his eyes.
"Well, that was very touching Clark, " She said sarcastically. "But I'm afraid we must be going. Screw you."
Finally, Clark's fingers closed around the item he had been looking for, and his hand shot out of the bag, shoving the meteor rock at Chloe.
She screamed and his knees bucked, sending her crashing into a display of test-tubes., his skin taking on a sickly green hue as she fell to the ground.
Roy roared and launched himself at Clark, but he ducked out of the way, and he crashed into the table as well. He seemed to be unconscious.
Seizing his chance, Clark dropped the meteor rock beside Chloe and dashed over to the shelf holding the shots. They were labeled. They were the ones.
He snatched up two, and ran back to where Chloe lay, writhing on the floor.
He pulled the red kryptonite ring off his finger and chucked it behind a set of drawers, then he plunged the needle into Chloe's upper arm, and the same with his own, barely even noticing the pain due to all the adrenaline pumping through his body, despite his fear of needles.
Once the needles had released all the fluid into their bloodstreams, Clark pulled them out, and threw them across the other side of the lab.
Panting, he grabbed the meteor rock and placed it back in the lead box, hands shaking.
Chloe stopped writhing, and carefully sat up, out of breath.
"Oh my god, Clark, I'm so sorry!" Chloe gasped, covering his mouth with his hand, remembering what she had done. "He gave me red meteor rock, you know I don't feel that way, you know I want to switch back as bad as you do."
"I know, Chloe." Clark assured her. "Red meteor rock has that effect on me."
Chloe suddenly realized that they had been injected, and touched her chest. It was still flat.
"I don't feel any different." She said.
"I think it'll take a while to kick in." Clark said. "Y'know, like the first time."
"I hope you're right." Chloe said, standing up. Clark joined her.
They looked around at the trashed lab, and Roy unconscious on the floor. After what he did, they hardly felt guilty leaving him with the blame and the mess, but Clark couldn't help reaching out to pick up a toppled-over beaker as they quietly slipped out the door.