Chapter 8
The Advancement of the School Troops
7:30 AM
Kal walks out of the bathroom that he just took a shower in. He is stark nude, and the Kent house is empty, except for a certain somebody downstairs, playing with Krypto. Kal superspeeds through the clothes the Kents have bought for him, and quickly puts on underwear, shorts, and a black shirt with a green crystal on the front of it. He runs downstairs, and stops short of Cara and Krypto, who look at his "human clothes." Cara is wearing blue jeans, a blue tank top, several bracelets on her wrist, and what humans call a "scrunchie," which is holding her golden hair into a "ponytail".
"Humans have weird clothing." Kal states, and kneels down to pet Krypto. He wags his tail at his owner, and then licks his hand.
"I like it. It's more comfortable than the sacred cloaks."
Kal stands up, just as Cara walks over and hugs him. They kiss again, then break away.
"So, where's Kara and the Kents?" Kal asks.
"They took Kara to this "school" place. They had to get "schedules" for our classes. Apparently, we have the same classes, Kal."
Kal smiles, and then remembers what Jor-El told him. He looks at Cara, worried.
"Do not worry, Kal. Kara made a new friend that could help us with our army problem. She says her name is Chloe Sullevin, and she works for something called the Smallville Torch."
"I met her in the caves before you came. She wanted to be my friend. Do you think she can be trusted?"
"Well, if she couldn't be trusted, people would be swarming around this place."
"Your right. How did you know what I was thinking?"
"I can read minds, but only Kryptonian. It started to happen once I was out of that ship. I saw images of what your father showed you. It was horrible."
Kal hugs Cara again, and notices on her left wrist is a purple, metallic bracelet. Several charms cover it, and Kal notices the biggest one, the one he gave her, of Krypton. Others are of several animals that used to be native to Krypton, and of Krypton's most historic building, Sem-L Plaza, devoted to Kal's Great grandfather.
The door opens, and Krypto moves his head to the sound. Kal and Cara let go, and look at the door. Johnathon, and Martha walk in, and stare at them.
"You guys are gonna be late for school! I guess I'll drive you." Says Johnathon.
"No need, Mr. Kent. We have a faster way." Kal says. Suddenly he picks up Cara, and they superspeed out the door, past Johnathon and Martha. As they reach the road, Kal easily lifts off the ground, and they still speed up. The ground is now a mile below them, but neither Kal or Cara can feel the bitter coldness of the air. Soon, a wide building is in sight, and Kal drops down. They land behind a row of trees, and Kal eases Cara next to him. She hugs him, and they kiss again, not hiding the love they have for each other. They walk out from the trees, holding each other's hands, as they enter the parking lot.
From fifty feet ahead of them, three people watch as Kal and Cara walk by. Alicia watches, and notices their hands together.
"Alicia, dude, she looks just like you." Adam remarks.
"Don't push me, Adam. I think he's that special person the press were talking about. You know, the one that saved the man from the burning building."
"He does look a lot like the description. We should talk to him. Maybe he could join our team. According to what the wife said, he can't be hurt." Justin states.
"Maybe the girl is "special" too. I haven't seen her around before. But, damn it's eerie that she looks just like you, Alicia. I feel like I'm in a really good Outer Limits episode." Adam states, not knowing that Alicia is getting pretty pissed off.
Alicia storms off, towards Kal, and stops ahead of them. Kal and Cara stop, and Alicia stares at Cara. Cara unknowingly stares in amazement at the woman in front of her, a woman that looks exactly like her, except for her eyes, and that her hair is shorter. Kal switches stares from Alicia, and Cara, and finnaly back at Cara.
"Hi Clark. How are you doing?"
Cara stares at Kal.
Who's Clark, Kal?
I had to fake a name so she wouldn't find out that I was an alien. You should do the same.
Oh, ok.
"I'm fine. Getting used to this school is hard."
"I see, and who is this?"
"I'm Clark's girlfriend, Sarah Shaw. And who are you?" Cara states.
"My name's Alicia Baker. Wow, you look just like me, Sarah."
"And you look like me, Alicia." Cara muttered.
"Well, see you later, Clark."
"Uhh...bye."
Cara grabs hold of Kal, and this time, he feels her hand holding tighter, and tighter, with enough force to bend a lead pipe.
"What's wrong, Cara?"
"She was hitting on you, Kal. It was so obvious."
"Oh, I didn't notice."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Cara, I want to spend an eternity with you."
Cara smiles, and they walk to their first class, Chemistry 1. Kal and Cara walk in, and both of them immediatly sense the prescence of a meteor enhanced individual. Cara activates her X-Ray vision, and notices the skeleton of a person in the back of the room. Several of his bones are enlarged and boney plates cover right below his skin. Cara blinks twice, returning to normal. It is a young man with wavy black hair, and is scribbling in his notebook. She watches as he suddenly cracks his knuckles, and they constently pop throughout his entire hands.
Cara and Kal find seats next to each other, and sit down. The class is full, and the teacher walks in through the door, carrying a heavy bag, and sets it on the table in front of all the kids.
"Hello students! We seem to have two new pupils in the class. Please stand up."
Kal and Cara stand up. The enhanced young man stands up, also.
"Please state your names." The teacher states.
"My name is Clark Kent."
"I'm Sarah Shaw."
"And my name is Eric Summers." States the young man in the back.
"Well, I'm Mr. McLaughlin, and today, we're going to study... Meteor rocks!"
Mr. McLaughlin immedietly empties the contents of the bag. About twenty meteor rocks fall across the table. They glow radiantly, and Kal looks at his hands. His blood vessels pulse out, and his blood starts to turn a greenish-black. Kal looks at Cara's hands, and the same thing is happening to her. Kal's hands tremble as he grabs Cara's hands, and watch as the Mr. McLaughlin walks around each desk, and hands each group a meteorite.
My heart feels like it's going to burst, Kal. Please help me.
I will Cara, just try to overcome it. Damn this Kryptonium!
Mr. McLaughlin walks over to Kal and Cara, and looks concerned. He doesn't notice their hands are under the desk, hiding their over enlarged blood vessels, pumping poisoned blood to their hearts. Mr. McLaughlin puts a meteor rock on the desk, and walks away. Kal activates his heat vision, and it impacts with the kryptonite. Immedietly, the green rock turns black, and the radiation settles, but isn't done. Kal notices all around the room, people are holding meteor rocks.
That bastard! How dare he bring these here! Cara thinks.
Mr. McLaughlin runs over to Kal and Cara's meteor rock, and studies it.
"Wow, that is one major change. How'd you do it?" McLaughlin asks.
"We didn't do anything. It just changed." Cara says.
"Huh...miraculous. The rest of you, we're going to test these meteor rocks, so in front of you is Sodium Chloride. Please break your metoer rock in half, and drop half of it onto the solution, please."
The students do as told, and when the meteor rocks fall into the solution, they start to bubble in the beakers. The bubbling starts to increase, until a bright light flashes from each beaker. Then the flash dissappears, and each student removes the remaining meteor rocks. Instead of green, they have turned red. Immedietly, Kal and Cara feel better, but they still feel the effects of the remaining green meteor rocks.
"Excellent, students. Now, polish these new stones, and then put the remaining meteor rocks into plastic bags, and put them in this container full of liquid nitrogen. Do not burn your fingers in this though, it will hurt like hell."
The students immedietly get up ,and insert the bags into the container. Kal and Cara watch, and notice that Eric hasn't gotten up yet. Kal looks over to him, and sees that he is studying the green and red meteor rocks. He puts the green meteor rock into the solution, and watches as the flash appears and dissappears at the same time. He smiles, as he pulls out the newly created meteor rock, and puts it into the plastic bag. As the rest of the class walks back to their seats, Eric walks up to the container. He sets the red meteor rock inside, and McLaughlin watches.
"Where's your green meteor rock, Eric?"
"I decided I wanted to test the red meteor rock. I wanted to see what happens to a red meteor rock when it's frozen. To see if anything is different. You obviously have enough green ones being frozen."
McLaughlin stares at Eric.
"Nice hypothesis, Summers. But I want to see a report on everything that happens to that meteorite on my desk, tomarrow."
"Yes, sir."
Suddenly, the school announcements start up.
"Hello, Smallville High School students. We have a special speaker that is going to talk about the meteor shower incident. Mrs. Sullivan, you may start."
"Thank you, Principal Kwan. Hello, students. I have a special message to all of you. There is a special meeting held as soon as possible, at the Torch Office. Only people who have been changed by the meteorites can go. Your names will be classified, so please inform me, Chloe Sullivan, at the Smallville Torch office. We need all of your help. More info is provided at the meeting. Thank you."
Did you here that, Kal? A meeting at the Torch. And we're the leaders.
Yes, hopefully the meeting is over before Darkseid arrives. Hopefully.
Kal gets up, and so does Cara. Eric gets up, and they start to walk out, when McLaughlin stops them.
"Where are you three going?"
"We're going to the Smallville Torch office."
"Why?"
"Didn't you hear? We're people who were changed by the meteor rocks. Now we have to leave."
The class gasps, as Kal, Cara and Eric leave the room. The hallway is empty, except for a small group of people who walk towards them. Kal X-rays them, and suddenly stops. A girl walks out from the group, and grabs the air, like a rope, and pulls. Kal is suddenly rocketed forward, and gains his footing on the ground.
"I'd be careful if I was you, using those powers of yours." Says the young woman.
"Oh yeah? Why do I have to be careful?"
"Because, if you use those powers on me, I'll reflect them back at you."
"Then how'd you pull me like that?"
"Because of my other power. Every power that we use emits a invisible force. I can bend that to my own will. When you X-rayed my group, I grabbed that force, and made it into the consistancy of a rope. Since the X-rays emmited from you, I pulled, and you followed."
"Who are you?" Kal asks
"My name's Kailey Clawson, and I'm wondering why we are all going to a group meeting that we don't even know about."
Kal straightens himself, and Cara walks up to him. Eric walks over to the group, and stands with them. In the two groups are Kailey, Alicia, Adam, Justin, Eric, Shane, Cara and Kal. They walk towards a door marked SMALLVILLE TORCH. The door opens, and Chloe walks out.
"Oh good, you're here. Please, come in."
The group walks inside the office. The office is filled with computers and chairs. Kara sits on one chair, investigating a computer, completely mesmerized by it.
"Please, everyone sit."
Alicia takes a chair, and sits next to Kal, while Cara sits on the other side of Kal. Cara and Kal hold hands, and Alicia notices. Chloe watches as the rest of the group grabs chairs and sits down. She walks to the front of the room, and motions to Kara. Kara notices, and walks over to her.
"Your probably wondering why Chloe called you all in. I think the best explanation should come from my cousin, Kal."
Kal gets up, and walks over to the front of the room. He looks at the group of very powerful people in front of him, and figures this is all his fault.
"This is going to be very hard to explain, but, basically the meteor shower, and all of the origins of your superpowers is my fault."
"What are you talking about, Clark? And why did your cousin call you Kal?" Alicia asks.
Kal exhales, and scratches his head.
"I'm an alien."
The group looks at Kal, completely shocked.
"I know it sounds crazy, but, yes, I'm an alien. And so is Cara, and Kara. And my mother. Even my dog."
Alicia stands up, looking confused. Cara stands up, and walks over to Kal.
"What's your real name, Clark? Where are you from?" Alicia asks.
"My real name is Kal-El, and we are from the now uninhabited world of Krypton."
"Excuse me for asking, but what happened?" Adam asks.
"My father, Jor-El had an army of superdrones, and was at war with a monster called Darkseid. Jor-El was successful in destroying Darkseid's ship, but Darkseid got away, and followed the trails that my remaining family made with their ships. As we speak, he is near Earth. When he lands, he will destroy the world, but if we fight him, we might win, but we need you all."
"When will he be here?" Shane asks.
Suddenly, an extremely loud, high pitched hum eminates from nowhere. The whole group screams in pain as it gets higher and higher. The only person in the room who isn't affected is Chloe, who is wondering what is happening.
HELLO, KAL-EL. I WAS WONDERING WHEN WE WERE GOING TO MEET. I HOPE THIS MESSAGE IS GETTING TO YOU, AND YOUR LOVED ONES, KAL-EL. ESPECIALLY YOUR VERY ELUSIVE LIFE PARTNER, CARA-LO. YOU KNOW ABOUT ME, KAL-EL, BUT YOU CAN'T STOP ME. YOUR FATHER COULDN'T STOP ME. AND WHEN I LAND, I WILL MAKE SURE THE PEOPLE OF THIS TOWN WILL DIE AND SUFFER FIRST.
"I WILL STOP YOU, DARKSEID! MARK MY WORDS, YOU WILL DIE, AND I WILL BE THE ONE TO KILL YOU!"
YOUR FATHER COULD'T STOP ME. NOT EVEN YOUR PLANET COULD STOP ME. I WILL PERSONALLY KILL YOU, KAL-EL, SON OF JOR-EL, AND THEN I WILL CONQUER THIS PLANET WITH EASE. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I CAN'T STOP YOU, KAL-EL? IS IT YOUR FRIENDS! THE ONES WHO WERE CHANGED BY THE KRYPTONIUM! THEY WON'T STOP ME! AND I WILL FINALLY HAVE THE REVENGE I DESERVE FROM YOUR FATHER!
"I WILL KILL YOU, DARKSEID! I WILL RIP YOUR HEART OUT, YOU BASTARD!"
WE SHALL SEE, KAL-EL. AS I SPEAK, MY SHIP IS IN ORBIT ABOVE EARTH. I WILL LAND VERY SOON, KAL-EL. AND THEN THE WAR SHALL BEGIN.
The noise and the voice of Darkseid vanishes, and the group gets up slowly. Cara and Kara are shocked from this, as is most of the group. Cara runs over to Kal, hugs him deeply, and starts to cry. Kal holds her, and runs his fingers through her hair. Shane gets up, and helps the other group members shake off that terrifying voice.
"We have to go against that god damn thing! Are you nuts!" Alicia screams.
"We have to kill him. It's the only way to make sure that Earth is safe." Kal expalins
"All I can do is teleport! How's that gonna help?"
"Maybe we can help." Kara says.
"How?" Alicia asks.
"We could give you a blood transfusion." Kara explains.
"How are we going to do that? We're impenetrable." Cara asks.
"Not if we use kryptonium needles." Kal states.
Shane looks shocked. Could the actually consider giving these people their special blood? What could be the side effects?
"No, it's too dangerous. You can't do it. I'll protect Alicia." Shane states.
Kal looks at Cara. She has stopped crying, but is still clinging to Kal. Alicia looks over at Shane, and Shane smiles. Alicia walks over, and Shane sticks his hands into his jean pockets.
"You would protect me from that Darkseid freak?" She asks.
"Well...yeah...I wouldn't let a monster like that hurt you. I couldn't deal with myself if you were hurt." Shane explains.
Alicia smiles, and Shane smiles back. Justin practices his ability by letting his metal skin wrap and unwrap around his normal skin. As his skin wraps and unwraps, he walks over to a window. He clenches his fist when his metal skin is active, and a rigid sword breaks the glass. He watches the clouds gather, when Adam walks over to him. Justin still watches the sky, when the clouds start to turn red. Kailey is talking with Kara, when Adam motions Kailey over to him. Kailey and Kara walk over to where the rest of the group is. They stare out the broken window, as the red clouds start to rain a red liquid, almost like blood.
"Oh my god. It's raining blood." Kara states.
"It begins. The Apocalypse. It's here." Kal states.
Cara looks at Kal.
"Allah save us all."