Chapter Three
Scarecrow
By the time Clark had stopped running out frustration to what had been explained and shown to him and his sister, he found that he had run all the way out to the cemetery and stopped. The sun was starting to set as Clark stood at the center of the many gravestones and markers just staring off into the distance as he tried to understand what was going on now in his life. Lara and I are aliens from another planet? Why didn't they tell us sooner rather than wait until we had an event like what happened at the bridge to tell us why we're different? His hands, which had been hanging at his sides, balled tightly into fists at that moment as he stared at the ground with a scowl on his face. Speaking of Lara, Clark looked up and back over his shoulder expecting to see his sister come running up right behind him at any second. However, Clark found himself alone in that graveyard, as his sister was absent from the scene. For once she had not followed after him like his shadow. Looking back around to his forward attention Clark couldn't help but feel a bit alone without her there. When was the last time there had been a problem and Lara wasn't there to help him figure it out? Frustration and confusion was starting to get the better of him now, and Clark sought out a place to sit down to try and sort things out.
Sitting down off to the side and almost at the far back of the cemetery, Clark hid behind a large gravestone and just sat there thinking. The sun had gone down a few hours later and still Clark had yet to move from his spot any more than he had when tears stung his eyes and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. Other than that, he had remained motionless the whole time. He didn't know when it was exactly that the sounds of hooves beating into the ground at a walking pace reached him, but when it did he suddenly realized just how late it was at this point. The sun had long since gone down and night had fallen. The horse that entered the graveyard belonged to one Lana Lang, and she was upon his back at that very moment riding into visit with her mom and dad while also bringing fresh flowers for their grave. Bringing her horse to halt about halfway in, Lana dismounted and brought the reigns around so she could tie the horse up at the front gate. A sudden snap of a branch or twig nearby caused Lana to jump and hesitate before moving onward.
"Who's there?" she called out trying to keep her voice from shaking with the growing fear that was appearing at that moment. Lana was a small petite thing, and she was in no way capable of really defending herself if attacked by an assailant any size bigger than she was.
After hearing Lana's voice call out, Clark got up off his seat behind the gravestone and stepped out into the open. "Just me." He answered while coming into Lana's line of sight. "Clark."
The moon was out along with a million or so stars, so there was an ethereal light shinning down and chasing away most of the darkness while a slight mist dampened the air and gave the cemetery that all too familiar creep factor. Seeing Clark step somewhat into the light, Lana raised a curious brow while walking towards him. "Clark Kent?" she asked just too make sure she was right, and as she got closer she realized that she was. "What are you doing creeping around a cemetery this late at night?" Lana asked while coming to stop about a few feet from where he was standing.
"I'm not really sure." Clark answered while looking away from her, as there were still some remnants to the fact that he may have lost a few battles with his own tears before she showed up. "But I could ask you the same thing." He stated while glancing over at her momentarily.
Lana grinned at this, as it did seem kind of odd for someone like her to be out in a graveyard as well at this hour of the night. "I came to talk with my parents." She simply replied while coming around to try and look Clark in the face. "Do you think I'm weird?" she asked while raising a slight brow in question.
Clark glanced over at her again. "No, I don't think you're weird." He replied.
A smile graced Lana's face at that moment after hearing his reply. "Good." She stated and then paused a moment to look around. Someone seemed to be missing even though she really couldn't put her finger on it. Then it struck her. Clark Kent was without his twin sister. "So, going solo tonight Clark?" she asked only to gain a look of slight confusion from him in response. "I don't see your sister around." Lana explained while gesturing with her hand in a wave about the graveyard. "Your twin sister, right?"
"Yeah, Lara's my twin sister." Clark confirmed but then added in another quick piece of information to clear up any thing else that Lana might be thinking at that moment. "But we're not identical twins." He pointed out while shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. It was often mistaken that Clark and Lara were possibly identical twins, but the two had come to the conclusion that they were just twins since they weren't at all that identical to each other in looks rather than just looking to be brother and sister.
Lana nodded in understanding to this and then smiled. "I've talked to her a few times since the first day of school, she's really sweet." She commented on the absent girl in all truth. The two girls did have a few classes together and had some conversations, where if in possible the two were on the verge to sparking a small friendship as they had found few things in common. "So, Clark what are you doing out here?" Lana asked, as she was genuinely curious as to why he was out in the cemetery in the first place.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Clark answered while quickly taking a hand up to his left eye and quickly wiped away what could have been a tear if he hadn't put a stop to it.
Seeing as how Clark wasn't going to willingly say why he was out at this time of the night, and Lana could see he was upset about something, she simply smiled and took a hold of his wrist. "Come on, I'll introduce you to my parents." She stated while then walking off and taking Clark with her. The walk to where the grave of Lewis and Laura Lang was located, took about several minutes and then Lana stopped just before marble headstone. "Mom, dad, this is Clark Kent." Lana introduced them to her companion and then looked over at Clark. "Say 'hi'."
Clark raised a hand timidly and waved. "Hi."
Lana grinned a bit as she crouched down in front of the gravestone and placed the bouquet of flowers down before the marker. "Yeah he is kind of shy." She spoke as if talking face to face to her parents. "Well how should I know?" she asked and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as Clark crouched down beside her as well. "Mom wants to know if you're upset about a girl." Lana stated while looking over at Clark, who only shook his head 'no' in response to this. Lana nodded and then there was a small pause before she continued. "Dad wants to know if you're upset about a guy."
Clark's head snapped up from looking down at the ground. "No, no." The first 'no' went to Lana and then the second was directed to the gravestone quickly. This caused Lana to laugh.
"Sorry, dad has a twisted sense of humor." She apologized while laughing a bit as she spoke.
The two teens looked at each other and smiled a bit as apparently the mood had been lightened quite a bit now. An hour was spent before the grave of the Langs, Lana mostly conversing with them whiel asking Clark a few questions on part of her parents. Before long Clark and Lana had said good-bye to the Langs and started back towards the front entrance of the cemetery to grab Lana's horse and then headed for home. Clark walked Lana home, the two managing to carry out a conversation the whole way. By the time Clark had returned home it was well passed ten and the three members of his family were still up and waiting for his return.
Lara had eaten dinner with her parents in a total silence, as she really didn't want to talk too much about what had been revealed to her and Clark down in the storm cellar. After dinner, Lara helped clean the kitchen and then retreated to her 'Fortress of Solitude' for the remainder of the night just sitting on the sill of the hay door and stared out at the countryside. Her parents decided it was best to give her the space she needed to think things over, and left her to the solitude of the barn loft. For the past four hours Lara hadn't moved from her spot on the sill, but when she spotted Clark coming up the driveway finally at around ten o'clock, she perked up a bit but remained inside the loft as she watched him grow closer and closer to the barn.
Clark had been rather preoccupied as he walked up the driveway, mainly beaming a bit to himself over the fact that Lana had promised to save him a dance if he showed up at the dance tomorrow, but as he grew closer to the barn a feeling came over him as he felt like someone was watching him. Clark stopped and then looked up at the barn to see his sister staring down at him from the loft. He could tell just the look on her face that she was a bit relieved to see him, but at the same time she did seem still a bit upset. Clark raised a hand and waved at her only to receive a small smirk from her along with a wave of her own in return to his. He only blinked once and then furrowed his brow as Lara was now missing from the hay door, only suddenly be pitched forward a bit as something hit him from behind on the back.
Catching himself after a few forward stumbled steps, Clark looked over his shoulder to stare at the grinning face of his sister as she had jumped on to his back. "Sorry." Was all he said in apology to her for having taken off like he had.
Lara shook her head to this as she didn't think it was necessary for him to apologize. They were both upset over the whole thing, and it was just a normal reaction, as far as normal went for them anyways. "It's okay Clark." She stated while patting his shoulder with her hand that at the same time was helping keep her up on his back along with the other arm wrapped around his neck from behind. "Just carry me to the house and I'll forgive you." Lara laughed while waving towards the house with her hand. "Now move 'em out."
Clark laughed a bit while shrugging his shoulders before walking towards the house with his sister hanging off his back. "You okay Lara?" he asked as they reached the middle of the yard.
"Well I have my personal escort service taking me where ever I want, so yeah, I'm good." Lara replied while jumping down off her brother's shoulders and coming around to walk up the steps towards the door.
Not exactly the answer he wanted, Clark took a few steps to catch up and grabbed Lara by the arm to stop her. When Lara looked back over her shoulder at him with a somewhat questioning look on her face, Clark let go of her arm. "Stop doing that." He simply stated and the received a confused look from his sister in return. "Knock it off Lara, you know what I'm talking about. Now tell me the truth."
Lara stared at Clark with a somewhat blank look for a moment and then sighed while turning around to face him completely. "I don't know." She replied. "How am I supposed to feel? I mean, we find out at least for the most part where are parents and us are from, but to learn that we fell out the sky during the meteor shower, it's not going to be that easy in accepting." Lara explained while sitting down on the steps of the porch, Clark following right after her. "But something tells me that it won't be as hard as I'm thinking it would be if you weren't here." She stated while looking over at Clark with a faint smile on her face.
Clark returned her smile and placed an arm about her shoulders in a sideways hug. "Same here."
The following day, things weren't entirely settled since Clark and Lara learned that their parents weren't from around Kansas and neither were they. In fact, the two twins were from an entirely different planet all together from god only knows where in the universe. The thought that had been a subject of theirs even before all this was what had caused their parents to give them up like they had. And for a while, Lara had even wondered if their biological parents even loved them at all. However, the two siblings were up at their normal time and were downstairs for breakfast at seven. Martha was just taking out a tray of muffins from the oven when her son and daughter came down the stairs, jabbing each other like they always did to get there first before the other. A smile appeared on her face as it was good to see that the discovery of where they were from hadn't changed their daily morning routine. Setting the tray down on the butcher block cutting board that was laid out across the top of the kitchen island, Martha looked over at them as they entered. "Good morning." She greeted while pulling the oven mitt off her hand and then tossed it aside. "You two better get the lead out or you'll never make the bus." Martha stated while pointing at them and then to the tray she had set down in indication for them to grab something to eat.
"Yeah Clark, get the lead out." Lara teased while going around to the ridge and opening the door to grab the orange juice bottle for herself.
Clark mouthed her words back at her in a mocking while she ducked into the fridge and then grabbed a muffin off the tray without even thinking about the fact that they had just come out of the oven. It didn't really dawn on him even when his hands started to grow a little warm while holding the blueberry-sweetened pastry. As Lara was coming out of the fridge with the orange juice bottle in hand, Jonathan walked in through the kitchen door and grinned at his family, and maybe a little more so at his daughter after she popped back up with the rim of the glass bottle containing orange juice at her mouth. "Morning." He greeted to them and received back the same from all three, a kiss coming his wife in accompaniment to her verbal greeting. "Clark, Lara, when you two get home from school today I want you to return the truck to Lex Luthor." He stated while taking a seat at the island with a cup of coffee in his hands.
Both the faces of the two teens fell at the mention of this. They had hoped with everything that had happened yesterday, their dad would have forgotten about the whole gift from Lex thing. But their dad wasn't going to forget something like that with the brand new pickup still sitting in the driveway. Lara looked over at her dad with a furrowed brow. "Why do I have to go? I think Clark is old enough to handle something like that on his own." She pointed out while getting ready to take another drink of orange juice only to have immediately taken away from her by the hands of her own brother.
Martha had been ready to say something to Lara about using a glass, but when Clark took the bottle from her she gave a small smile thinking that he was going to intervene but found that he had only taken it from her to take a drink for himself. "Honestly, I don't know how the concept of using a glass has somehow managed to slip passed the two of you." Martha stated while coming over to Clark and taking the orange juice away from him now.
Jonathan only laughed lightly but then received an accusing look from both Clark and Lara deeming him just as guilty as they were. "Lara, you're going to go with Clark to return the truck and, don't you two have a school bus to catch?" he stated while hooking a thumb over his shoulder to change the subject.
Clark looked out the window of the kitchen that stared out towards the road. The yellow school bus was already pulling away to once again leave behind the two Kent siblings with their own mean of transportation to be taken now. Looking over at his sister with a somewhat panicked look, both siblings grabbed their backpacks off the coat rack and then were out the door and gone from sight within the blink of an eye. Martha looked over at her husband after their children disappeared in two separate blurs of blue, and gave him a tired smile to which he returned with his own. Both were still greatly concerned over how Clark and Lara were taking everything dumped on them yesterday. They were hoping later that evening after dinner the four of them could sit down and talk.
Somehow Clark and Lara had managed to make it to school with only a minute to spare before the bell rang. The two had homeroom together, but after that the two separated to head off towards their next classes. As Lara headed off towards Home Economics a sudden pressure started to build up again on both temples that caused her to slow her walking pace down greatly for a moment while placing a hand up to one temple since her other hand was full with several school books. Rubbing her temple, Lara tried to shake the feeling off, but as she did a flash came across her mind again like it had back in the barn. A red 'S', cornstalks, the Luthor Corp Fertilizer Plant sign, and then it was gone just as quickly as it had flashed by. The images caused Lara to grimace a bit while stopping completely in the hall, her eyes shutting for a moment before opening again to see the high school mascot of a black crow monogrammed on the back of a red and yellow letterman jacket come right up in her face before slamming into her completely and knocking Lara off her feet. Normally something like that wouldn't have fazed her, but a rather sick feeling came over her just as the crow came into her line of vision. Landing on her backside, Lara winced slightly while trying to steady herself through the rather uneasy sick feeling coming over her.
"Whoa, jeez Kent, sorry about that." A male voice stated that Lara recognized. When she looked up, Lara found herself staring at the apologetic smile of Whitney Foreman as he had crouched down in front of her and had her schoolbooks she had spilled in his hand. He had accidentally walked backwards into her while talking with a few other football players that were friends of his. When he hit Lara, he turned about to see who it was while the other guys hid on coming laughs behind a hand each. "You okay?" he asked as she only tried to smile back in response. "You look kind of sick." He stated while standing up and then offered down a hand to her.
"I'm fine." Lara replied while taking Whitney's offered hand and found herself then pulled up to her feet. The sick feeling was starting grow stronger for some reason and Lara nearly yanked her hand out of Whitney's, while leaning against the wall at her side. Whitney gave her a rather confused look before handing over her books. "Thanks." She breathed out while taking them back and holding them under her arm, that feeling was just so sickening to her for unknown reasons that it was confusing. Even Clark got the same feeling every once in a while, and it usually happened around Lana Lang, and often Lara felt herself feeling that way too, which caused her to wonder and then panic.
Whitney raised a brow slightly with a small smile on his face. "Okay then." He stated while making to leave with his friends, but then stopped and looked at Lara. "Hey, Lara, I think I asked you this already but, are you going to try out for the girls soccer team this year?" he asked.
Another type of sick feeling came over her now to add in with the other one. Soccer, the one thing she knew she would be good at and, it was one thing her dad restricted her from participating in. Lara shook her head a bit before answering verbally. "Not sure." She replied while trying to push aside that sick feeling to pass herself off as fine.
"Why not?" Whitney's brow furrowed slightly as he couldn't understand why she wouldn't try out. "If you tried out, I don't see why you wouldn't make it. You have some of the best skills with a soccer ball, and I can personally vouch for that if you want." Whitney offered in hopes of getting the female Kent to reconsider her choice. When Lara shook her head in response to this, his brow only furrowed further. "Okay." He stated while raising and dropping his hands in sign of defeat. Before he turned away, Whitney paused a moment and then decided to ask Lara a different question while taking note of the fact that she still looked rather sick. "Lara, you wouldn't happen to know what's going on between your brother and my girlfriend, would you?"
The question nearly raised the hairs on the back of Lara's neck in response. It wasn't like it freaked her out to hear something like that, but instead it made her a tad angry. Lara waited a moment to compose herself before answering, if she said anything now it would come out wrong. "No, Whitney I don't. Why don't you go ask Clark yourself since apparently it concerns him." She replied while giving the jock a rather stern look that showed just how unamused she was by his question.
Whitney only gave her a weak smile before walking passed her with the other guys following after him. As soon as Whitney got about five-feet from her, Lara suddenly felt a lot better in the fact that the feeling of an uneasy sickness faded almost instantly with the star quarter back of the football team walking away from her. Shaking her head to clear the 'cobwebs', Lara headed off towards her next class before the bell could ring her in as late.
The periods following after the first weren't anything that eventful and most of the day remained that way until after school let out. Clark and Lara met up outside the Torch office and then after saying good-bye to Chloe and Pete, they headed for home to get the pickup that Lex had given them as a gift to return back to him as said by their father…well stated. After tossing their backpacks on to the bench sitting up on the porch deck, Clark went inside for a moment to let their mom know they were home and that they were now leaving for the Luthor Mansion. Lara waited out by the new truck, staring at for a moment with a lost look. It would be nice to have a second truck around, and it was a rather nice to know how appreciative Lex was, but then again their dad had explained why they needed to return it. Sighing, Lara placed her hands atop the truck hood as the back screen door opened and closed. Clark came up beside her and set a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I know." He stated, only to fight back a laugh as Lara only groaned while dropping her forehead down on the hood with a bang. "I really hope you didn't dent the truck Lara." Clark said while sliding his hand under her downed forehead and then lifted it up enough to make sure for real she hadn't. Seeing nothing on the hood of the truck, Clark only nodded his approval and then let her forehead set back down. "Come on, let's get this over with."
The pickup pulled up in front of the black rod iron gates of the Luthor Mansion after a near thirty-minute drive from the Kent Farm. With the gates locked and closed, Clark got out of the pickup and went over to the panel embedded within the left stone pillar that seemed to be their only way in. Clark pressed the call button and then waited for a reply from anyone inside the mansion, only to get nothing over a period of near five minutes. Looking over at the truck, Clark found that Lara had scooted over into the driver's seat and was now hanging out the window with a somewhat confused look on her face before shrugging her shoulders and then got out.
"After you." Lara gestured towards the gates with a wave of her hand while grinning at her brother.
Clark rolled his eyes and then stepped over to the gates. Both brother and sister looked around to make sure the coast was clear, before Clark turned back to the gates and then grabbed one bar in either hand. With ease, Clark bent the two bars away from each other creating a space between them large enough for both him and Lara to get through. After they stepped through the space in the gate, Lara turned back around and re-bent the bars back into place so that way no one would stumble upon something that strange, and then the two took off across the large expansive piece of property and arrived just on the edge of the entry courtyard a second later. Looking around just to make sure no one had seen them arrive almost out of nowhere, the brother and sister duo started across the courtyard towards the front door of the mansion and found that it was unlocked.
Lara stepped forward and knocked only once before turning around and facing Clark. "Well, looks like nobody's home, let's go." She stated while starting to walk back towards the front gate, only to be stopped as Clark reached back and grabbed a hold of the collar on the back of her denim jacket. "Oh come on Clark." Lara moaned as she looked back over her shoulder at him with a pleading look on her face. "Seriously, do I really need to be here?"
"Yes, you really need to be here." Clark returned and then yanked her backwards towards the door while also turning his sister about to face the door. "Because dad said so." He added in before Lara could say anything in protest again. Reaching out passed his sister; Clark grabbed the door handle and then opened the door. "After you." He grinned while somewhat mocking her earlier comment at the gates.
Growling quietly in her throat in disproval to this whole thing Lara walked into the mansion and then waited in the entryway for Clark, who closed the door after them. The two started down a long hallway leading towards various parts of huge castle-like estate. Lara looked about herself while following Clark down the hall in a sort of awe to how big and grand this place seemed, though bare it was for the moment. "Wow, I could never imagine living in a place like this knowing that I would have to clean it everyday."
Clark looked over at his sister and smiled. "Well if you lived in a place like this, then that would mean you would be able to afford the help to clean it for you." He retorted while turning his attention forward again as they were coming up on a staircase off to the left.
"Good to know that your responsibility as a big brother hasn't fazed your sense of humor with any type of cruel sarcasm." Lara gave him a small glare out of the corner of her eye.
He had to force himself not to laugh at this comment, but instead just grinned broadly. Stopping just at the base of the stairs, Clark looked up towards the landing. "Hello?" when no answer came, Clark glanced over at Lara.
"Hey, I'm not going to search this entire place. God only knows I would get lost in here." Lara stated while putting her hands up in protest to whatever he might think at that moment.
With an unamused look on his face, Clark just shook off his sister's comment and started walking the hall again. As they ventured further down, Clark happened to look up at the ceiling high above them and was momentarily struck with the same sort of awe like his sister. "Hello?" he uttered the question more or less under his breath than anything else.
There was an open doorway off to the right now that they were coming up on, and Clark stopped here as the sounds of clashing metal caught his attention along with Lara's. The two siblings stopped within the doorway and watched as a pair dressed in all white dawning full faced masks with face netting come near dancing across the wood floor in a fencing match. Lara came in around Clark to watch as the match continued further down the room, but stuck close to his side just to be on the safe side. The two sparing partners clashed a moment longer until the smaller of the two backed the other up against a wall and then stuck the point of the fencing foil right at the center of the other's chest declaring the end of the match. As the winner backed off, the looser seemed to become frustrated and took the fencing foil in hand and speared it towards the wall that Clark stood right beside. Sticking out of the wall like a pin, the foil wobbled a bit while being stared at by two pairs of rather wide blue eyes. The looser of the fencing match suddenly removed the full-faced mask to reveal that it was in fact Lex Luthor underneath, and he seemed rather surprised to see the two Kents standing in the doorway.
"Clark? Lara?" He asked while walking towards them, taking note of the rather surprised looks that remained on their faces even after the whole foil into the wall thing. "I didn't even see you there." Lex stated while giving both a grin as he stopped just short of them.
Clark looked from the foil to Lex. "I buzzed but nobody answered." Clark explained while glancing over at his sister who seemed to have taken a rather death-like grip on his shirtsleeve from behind his arm whiel her eyes remained on the foil.
Lex raised a brow to this while yanking the foil free from the wall. "Then how did you get through the gate?" he asked, a bit confused to this bit in how they had gotten into the house in the first place.
"We kind of squeezed through the bars." Lara answered while finally releasing Clark's sleeve as he secretly shrugged for her to let go. "If this is a bad time…" she started while looking over at the woman who had been sparing with Lex. In a way, Lara was also looking for the possibility to not be there any longer than she needed to be.
"Oh no, no, I think Hikya has sufficiently kicked my ass for one day." Lex assured her while walking back over to where the woman was setting aside all of her fencing equipment. Handing her his mask and foil to her, Lex said something to her that went unheard by the two Kents and then returned to where they were at a brisk walk.
Clark watched Lex and then became a bit uncomfortable, as he wasn't sure on how he was going to explain to him why he and Lara had to return the truck. "Uh, this is a great place." He commented while stalling for more time to think or at least for Lara to come up with something to break the whole thing to Lex. But he was being genuine in the fact that he was rather impressed with the whole place.
"Oh yeah? If your dead and in the market for something to haunt." Lex joked while leading the way out the room that Clark and Lara had found him in. A smile was on his face.
"Well what I meant was that it's roomy." Clark turned to follow after Lex and found that Lara was just standing there near stalk still. Raising his brows and gesturing with his hands for her to get moving, Clark nearly had to force her to move as Lara was acting slower than he wanted her to be doing and managed to get both their selves out into the hall following Lex.
Lex continued to walk down the hall towards the staircase that led up to the second story of the mansion. Stopping a moment he turned about to look at the Kent twins. "It's the Luthor ancestral home." He stated while then turning to resume his walk towards the staircase. "My father had it shipped over from Scotland, stone by stone." Lex explained.
"Oh yeah. I remember the trucks rolled in for weeks. But no one ever moved in," Lara mused, mostly to herself while glancing over at her brother as he had grabbed her by the wrist to stop her a moment as Lex had gone up the stairs and stopped about several steps up.
"My father had no intention of living here." Lex stated while pulling the gloves off his hands while giving Clark and Lara a smirk. "He hasn't even stepped through the front door."
Lara's nose wrinkled a bit while one of those somewhat puzzled smiles came across her face. "Then why'd he move it here?" she asked while receiving a rather odd look from Lex that appeared as though he were almost admiring the look on her face. This in turn had Lara raising a brow, while Clark only looked between his sister and a guy they had only known round about a few days now. Something about the way they were looking at each other, primarily the way Lex was looking at his sister was stirring up a rather odd over protective flare in him. Then again, that was just something all guys with sisters felt when another guy looked at her.
Lex held a somewhat amused smirk to what Lara had asked. "Because he could." He simply replied while taking notice of the somewhat disturbed look on Clark's face. Giving both another smile, Lex continued up the stairs to the second level with Clark and Lara following. As he led them upstairs, a question came to mind. "So, how's the new ride?" he asked while entering into an office like space, the doors already standing wide open, and headed straight for a table where there was an ice bucket holding chilled bottles of water while removing the padded jacket he had been wearing.
"Actually, that's why I'm, I mean we're, here." Clark corrected himself while pulling the keys out of his jeans pocket. Glancing over at his sister, Clark noticed she was stuck in the doorway looking at the stained glass piece decorating the double doors to the office. Rolling his eyes slightly, Clark looked back over at Lex who had by noticed that Clark had the keys in his hand.
A bit of curious look crossed Lex's face as he headed over to another table in the office after grabbing a bottle of water and dumping off his padded jacket. "What's the matter? Don't like it?" he asked while crossing the room and grabbed a towel to wrap around his neck.
"No it's not that." Lara answered while finally entering the room and came to stand by her brother who had moved across the room after Lex. "It's just that, we can't keep it." She explained while both her and Clark tried to hide their disappointment in the whole thing.
Lex turned about to face the two. "The both of you saved my life, it's the least I can do." He stated while stepping towards them a bit and then stood before them a small smile as he was starting to understand why they were bringing back the truck. "Your father doesn't like me does he?" he asked. Both Clark and Lara looked ready to say something in response to this, but he cut them off by turning away and running a hand across his baldhead. "It's okay, I've been bald since I was nine. So I'm used to people judging me before they get to know me." He stated while looking at the full-length mirror that was set beside the table.
"It's nothing personal, our dad's just not that crazy about your father." Clark explained, hoping that Lex would understand.
Lex gave a small laugh to this while still staring into the mirror. "He just figures that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Lex stated while nodding to himself. "Understandable." He again nodded and then looked over his shoulder at the twins behind him. "How about you two? Did you fall far from the tree?" he asked with a somewhat amused look on his face.
"About a billion light years far possibly." Lara muttered quietly under her breath to where Clark barely even caught it, but she received a quick jab to her side from him in response. Wincing a bit she then gave him a quick glare while crossing her arms over her chest and then rolling her eyes slightly as she looked off to the side.
Clark stepped forward towards Lex while fiddling a bit with the keys in his hands. "We better go." He stated while handing the keys out to Lex, who held a hand out to take them. "Thanks for the truck." Clark placed the keys into Lex's hand and then turned around and grabbed Lara by the arm in gesture for her to start moving.
Lara gave Lex a quick wave before turning about as well to take the lead out the door. As Clark guided his sister out, Lex turned around further to watch them pass out the door, a bit of a genuine smile passing over his face to the simple friendly gesture the female part of the duo had given before leaving. Something about the Kent twins intrigued him, and on different fields respectively.
Almost as soon as they were down the stairs of the mansion, Clark caught his sister by the shoulder to slow her down. "What was that?" he asked in a near hiss to keep their conversation from falling upon the wrong ears.
"What was what?" Lara asked while stepping off the last step and then gave Clark a confused look. "Cause I'm pretty sure I waved good-bye." She stated while continuing down the hall back towards the front door.
"Lara, knock it off." Clark warned as he stuck to her side. "What was that comment about the whole apple from the tree thing?" he asked as they were coming up on the front door.
Lara shrugged her shoulders in response. "I'm not sure why I said it." She replied and then stopped a moment to look at her brother. "Clark, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"
"Its fine." Clark assured her as he just about nearly lost the whole sudden irritation towards what had happened in the office upstairs. Clapping his sister on the shoulder as they walked out of the mansion, he then shoved her from behind in a short playful manner as he was turning the tables on her. "Come on Lara, get the lead out. I need to meet up with Chloe and Pete at the Torch." He stated with a laughing tone of voice as he watched her near stumble out the door and then whipped about to give Clark a rather evil glare, which only caused him to laugh in response.
A rather odd scene was playing out in front of a store on the downtown streets of Smallville which had a rather large crowd gathered about the area watching as medics wheeled a man out on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on his face. Both Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross were present watching the whole thing as people murmured amongst themselves on what could have happened. "That's the third guy this week." Pete pointed out, as the guy was loaded into the back of the stretcher.
"Yeah, and they're all former jocks." Chloe added in while shaking her head at the whole situation and then sighed.
As the doors to ambulance closed, Pete's gaze drifted away towards the faces in the now dispersing crowd. However, he caught a rather odd looking guy who was staring after the ambulance as it drove away with a rather unsettling smile on his face that had Pete growing suspicious. Tapping Chloe on the shoulder, Pete then pointed over at the guy he was staring at.
Chloe followed his gaze and shrugged. "Don't know." She stated while holding up her digital camera to aim its focus at the said guy. "But let's find out." Chloe snapped off a picture of the guy before he turned and walked away with the rest of the crowd. Feeling a bit satisfied, Chloe looked over at Pete and grinned. "Come on, we're supposed to meet up with Clark at the Torch." She stated while then turning about on her heel and taking the lead.
By the time Clark showed up at the Torch, Chloe had done a rather quick but extensive search on the guy she had taken a picture of about an hour and a half ago. And as luck would have it, something rather strange popped up during the search in which Chloe pulled out a yearbook for Smallville High dating back twelve years ago in 1989. "His name is Jeremy Creek." Chloe stated while pointing to the black and white picture. "This is a picture of him twelve years ago, and this is a picture I took two hours ago." Chloe stated while pointing to the said picture on the computer and then looked over at Clark.
"That's impossible, he'd be twenty-six today. It has to a be a kid who looks like him." Clark stated while looking at the computer screen as Chloe got up and went to go get something from another table.
Pete nodded to this in a agreement. "My money was on the evil twin theory, until we checked missing persons." He explained while looking over at Chloe as she was coming back with a piece of paper in her hand printed with a missing persons report upon its surface.
"Jeremy disappeared from the state infirmary just a few days ago where he had been in a coma for twelve years." Chloe stated as she came to sit down next to Clark atop the computer table while handing over the report for him to go over for himself. "They say he suffered from a massive electrolyte imbalance."
"That's why he hasn't aged a day." Pete added in while pointing at the paper in confirmation to this statement. "There was a lightning storm a few days ago, and the infirmary's generators went down. But when they came back on, Jeremy was gone. The storm must have charged him up like a Duracell." Pete explained as Chloe turned back around to the computer to search for a few more things.
Clark folded his arms across his chest and started to think about this. "So now he's back in Smallville putting former jocks into comas. Why?"
"Because twelve years ago today Jeremy had been chosen to be the 'Scarecrow' that year." Pete stated with a worried look on his face as he was realizing something in connection to it all after remembering an article he had read about previous years Scarecrows.
Shaking his head, Clark was about to say something to this when he noticed a newspaper article being wave in his face by Chloe's hand. Taking it from her, he quickly read it over. "Comatose boy found twenty yards from a meteor strike." He read aloud while then looking at it with a furrowed brow. "Wait this can't be right." Clark stated while looking between his two friends.
"I think you better show him." Pete stated towards Chloe. Which had Clark looking even more confused than before.
Before anything else could be said, Clark was ushered out of the Torch and down the hall a few doors and then waited as Chloe opened the door and flipped on the light. Stepping inside, Clark's attention was taken right to the wall off to his left which was covered completely in newspaper article clippings and headlines accompanied with pictures. "It started out as a scrapbook, but then it just kind of mutated." She explained while all three came to stand before the wall.
"What is it?" Clark asked as he scanned over various things that seemed rather outlandish for the most part.
Chloe stepped forward towards the wall and spread her arms out in a sort grand introduction. "I call it 'The Wall of Weird'." She announced while then turning about to face her friends. The look on Clark's face was sort of hard to read at the moment and this caused Chloe's brow to wrinkle a bit as she wasn't quite understanding what it was that caused him to take on such a look.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" he asked while wandering towards the wall as one particular picture caught his interest. It was the cover of a TIME magazine with a little girl dressed in a fairy costume, crying. "Does Lara know about this?" he asked without looking away from the title reading HEARTBREAK IN THE HEARTLAND. Chloe shook her head 'no' as she hadn't told the other Kent half about the wall yet. "It's all our fault." He whispered under his breath before taking off out of the small closet like space, leaving his friends to wonder what that was all about.
Four maybe five hours later, no one had heard from or seen Clark since he stopped off at the farm with his sister before heading off to the Torch and then left there after seeing the 'Wall of Weird'. Night had fallen and Lara was out in the barn loft watching the road from her perch on the hay door to catch sight of her brother speeding over the flatland faster than any car could ever hope to travel. He hadn't been home for dinner, and Lara's worry for him was now on Defcon 5 as the near antique clock sitting on the desk hit ten o'clock. Giving the clock a quick scowl, Lara got up off the hay doorsill and headed down out of the loft to leave the barn and head inside. Martha and Jonathan were sitting in the kitchen drinking a cup of after dinner coffee and talking about a few things when Lara walked in with the screen door slamming closed behind her. Looking over at their daughter, they held somewhat concerned looks for the rather odd way she was acting for the moment.
"Is everything okay Lara?" Martha asked while setting her mug down on the table before her.
"I'm not sure." Lara replied while shaking her dark head and looking over at them both. "It's already ten o'clock and Clark hasn't been home since he left to meet up with Chloe and Pete." She explained while glancing over at the stove clock that now read 10:02pm and another scowl passed again over her face.
Jonathan exchanged looks with his wife and then got up from the kitchen table to come over and stand near his daughter. Placing a hand on her shoulder he gave it a squeeze while smiling a bit at her. "Lara I know you and Clark are going through a difficult time right now after learning about your birth parents and the spaceship in the storm cellar, but sweetheart, you have to realize that you and Clark can't always be attached at the hip." He explained gently as he could only figure that Lara was worried for reasons pertaining to the other day, and just wanted Clark around at that point in time. "Your mother and I are here for you Lara if you need to talk."
Lara gave her dad a half-hearted smile, as she understood what he was saying, but yet at the same time she knew he didn't understand the deeper reasons why she was worried. There was an unsettling feeling that had come over her ever since running into Whitney, literally, in the hall and the question he had asked aside from the whole soccer thing. "I know you guys are, but dad, I'm not worried about Clark because the whole family secret thing coming out. There's something else I can't put my finger on, but I have this feeling that Clark just isn't out with Chloe and Pete at the school dance tonight." She explained and then stopped short as she saw the look on her mother's face.
Standing up from the table now, Martha came across to her daughter with a rather shocked look on her face. "Honey, you never said anything about a dance at school."
"I know." Lara stated with a somewhat nervous look on her face. "I didn't want to go, that's why I didn't bring it up or let Clark say anything." She explained while trying to assure her mother that it wasn't a big deal to her. "But I know Clark's not there."
Jonathan looked over at his wife who seemed ready to say something to Lara, but he stopped her before she could with just the look on his face that silently asked for her not to press the issue. Giving a quiet sigh, Jonathan looked over at his daughter again and gave her a defeated smile. "Alright Lara." He stated as he finally agreed with her conclusion that something was up. "What do you think is going on?"
Lara gave her dad a big smile, as she was rather relieved to the fact that he trusted her on this. However, she lost the smile as soon as it came. Something was starting to click in her mind now as she thought about those rather weird flashing pictures that had crossed her mind earlier that day and the day before. Then it hit her. "Riley Field." It came out in a quiet murmur that was mainly said aloud to herself, but both her parents seemed to have caught the fact that she had said something. Lara looked up at them with a look on her face that stated she knew something.
Jonathan only nodded to her with a knowing look on his face and then clapped her shoulder. Without another word spoken to between any of them, Lara was out the kitchen door and speeding off across the farm headed towards Riley Field. She knew what the red 'S', cornstalks, and the fertilizer planet sign meant now as she crossed over other pieces of private property at a blinding speed. Clark wasn't home because he had been chosen as this year's Scarecrow, and was now strung up in Riley Field in his boxers with an 'S' painted upon his chest. In only a minute Lara was coming to a stop on the road that separated the fertilizer plant and the cornfield from each other. After stopping, Lara looked around as she crossed over to the soft shoulder that was sectioned off from Riley Field with a horse wire fence and noticed off to the left side of the road was parked a silver Porsche that seemed somewhat familiar to her which caused her to stop and stare. Lex? Before she could confirm the fact that the car was in fact his, Lara was nearly bowled over by her own brother as he came running out of the field through a break in the fence. Clark came to a near skidding halt so as not to smack right into Lara who had her attention elsewhere at the moment, but when he showed up her attention had snapped back over to the field and right to him.
"Clark!" Lara's face went from a look of quick momentary joy at the sight of her brother to a look of total shock to the fact that he was in his boxers and bearing a red 'S' painted on his chest. "Are you okay?" she asked looking him over quickly with her eyes.
"I'm fine." Clark replied while tossing most of his clothes at her but kept his pants to pull them on quickly. "We have to get to school." He stated while catching his shirt as Lara tossed it back at him. Once Clark pulled his shirt on over his head, he nodded to Lara and both were off and running towards Smallville High.
Arriving on the backside of the school building where the janitors and other maintenance workers used for storage and access purposes, Clark and Lara came to a running halt. Lara looked around the dark alley-like passage and really saw nothing that seemed to out of the ordinary. "I don't understand, why did we need to come to the school? All that's going on here is the dance." Lara's brow furrowed while looking over at Clark.
"You remember reading about those two guys who used to be jocks here at Smallville High?" he asked while walking off to take the lead further down the back alley with Lara following after him.
"Yeah, they both suffered something like a heart attack." She replied while matching each of Clark's strides with her own rather easily. "What about them?"
Clark glanced over at her and decided it was best just to give her the whole thing in a nutshell. "Twelve years ago when the meteor shower happened, the guy who had been chosen as that year's Scarecrow was strung in the field about twenty feet from a hit. His name was Jeremy Creek and he's been a coma since then until now, and he's back in Smallville taking out the people who put him there in the first place." He quickly explained and then stopped as he took notice of someone moving about what appeared to be the emergency sprinkler system. "Lara," Clark looked over at his sister while stopping their walk. "Go find –"
"Clark, no!" Lara protested while cutting him off quickly. "I am not going to go hide and let you handle this on your own." She stated while taking a rather stern look on her face. Lara wasn't exactly that thrilled about the fact that Clark was going all over protective brother on her at the moment.
"I wasn't going to say that." Clark returned in defense of himself and then gave her a grin. "I was only going to say, go find out if everyone is okay in the gym."
Lara's brows rose in surprise to this. "Oh, well, okay then. I'll be right back." She stated and then turned on her heel to go around the other side but stopped a moment to look back at Clark. "Clark, be careful." Clark only gave her a small smile in assurance that he would, and then Lara took off back down the alley to check out the dance going on inside the gym. Showing up at the back door within a few seconds the younger Kent arrived in time to watch the King and Queen of homecoming slow dance along with everyone else who was attending the dance. A small amount of guilt and want came over Lara as it looked like it would have been fun to be inside all dressed up with a date on your arm. Shaking her head, Lara reminded herself why she was there in the first place. Everyone was okay from what she could tell. Nodding to herself, Lara headed back to where she had left Clark to deal with Jeremy Creek. Arriving in time to see Jeremy holding Clark by the shoulders with an electric field coursing over his body. Lara was momentarily stock still watching this, but then a flash of anger came over her in response to her only brother in danger.
Jeremy had a bit of a smile on his face as he electrocuted Clark, but his smile soon vanished as his left shoulder was suddenly within a vice-like grip causing him to end his little light show for the moment and release Clark. Looking over his shoulder, Jeremy stared into the rather angry looking face of the dark haired and blue-eyed Lara Kent. "Who are you?" he asked while wincing under the rough hold on his shoulder.
"His sister." She answered simply and then with just a mere jerk of her hand into the motion of a throw, Lara sent Jeremy flying across the alley to hit the hood of a parked pickup truck belonging possibly to a maintenance worker who worked at the school. Jeremy's body hit the truck, denting the hood a bit and even cracking the glass of the window shield. Lara looked over at Clark with a small amount of concern on her face that was only answered with a shake of his head to let her know he was fine.
Both brother and sister looked over to where Jeremy had been relocated too, only to watch as he stood up on the other side of the truck and place a hand down on the hood. Clark stared at the guy who hadn't aged a day sense slipping into a coma twelve years ago. "Give it up Jeremy." He warned while taking a step forward.
Jeremy only smirked a bit while a pulse of electricity released from his hand and immediately started up the car engine. Getting into the truck, Jeremy put it into drive had went straight for the two who were keeping him from getting done his purpose in being there at the school in the first place. Clark glanced over at his sister quickly as the truck came their way. They had both been hit by a car before and survived, and this time hopefully wasn't going to be any different. However, he wasn't going to take a chance and just seconds before the car reached them; Clark shoved his sister out of the way. Lara hit the ground off to the side as Clark was hit head on with the truck and stared with a mixed look of both confusion and concern as she watched the truck push Clark right through a solid brick wall busting a water main on the way in. The truck came to a halt after hitting the wall, and Lara was back up on her feet and at the tailgate of the truck all in the same second.
"Clark!" she called out his name while trying see passed the truck itself. When Clark's head popped up from in front of the car she breathed a sigh of relief but then gave him a rather heated glare for the stunt he had pulled. Before a word could be said on her part or his, a surge of electricity crawled over the truck and zapped both Kents to shove them away in a slight explosion-like manner. Lara was the first to get back up and rubbed her head a bit as she was a bit confused as to what had just happened. Clark got back up at about the same time and looked through the busted window shield to see where his sister was. Lara looked around to assess the situation for a moment and then gestured with a nod of her head for Clark to step aside. When he moved to the side, Lara grabbed the lip of the tailgate and then propped her shoulder up against the truck, and gave a good push on it to shove the entire truck forward to unblock the driver side door.
Clark came to the door and pulled it off its hinges, a small wave flooding out as it had built up inside the cab. Jeremy was coming too as he had been knocked out after the crash and looked at Clark with a confused look on his face. "Where am I? And who are you?" he asked while then catching sight of a girl's face in the rearview mirror.
"I'm Clark Kent, that's my twin sister Lara, and you're in Smallville." He explained with a small smile on his face before looking over at his sister who was grinning a bit at him.