Chapter 9: Red
Klark returned to the Luthor mansion while Lex sat at his desk talking to Chloe and Pete. "What happened?" Lex asked.
"Lana's safe," Klark said. "And Greg's taken care of."
"What do you mean 'taken care of'?" Chloe asked.
"He wont be threatening anyone anymore, leave it at that." Klark said.
"Would I be able to have a word with my brother alone?" Lex asked.
"We should be going anyway," Chloe said as her and Pete got to their feet. "Someone has discovered a some caves hidden outside of Smallville, and we're going to check them out for the Torch."
"Wow, that sounds fascinating." Lex said sarcastically, then Pete and Chloe walked out.
"What did you do to Greg Arkin?" Lex asked Klark.
"Simply what he deserved," Klark replied.
"He was affected by the meteor rocks and insects, what he did wasn't his fault." Lex said. "What he deserved was treatment, not to be 'taken care of.'"
"He kidnaped Lana and could have killed her," Klark said. "I had to stop him, and might as well have some fun while doing it."
"Sometimes I cannot believe that we are brothers," Lex said.
"Sometimes, neither can I." Klark said.
"And please explain your sudden interest in the meteor rocks," Lex said.
"I encountered some while I was tracking Greg, and found them very interesting." Klark said. "I'm going to go to my room and rest. Also I am planning on extending my stay for about a week or so, if dad calls you can inform him." Klark said then walked out.
After school, Pete and Chloe went out past Route 8 on the highway to meet Tom Randall, a Smallville High student with short curly brown hair. They pulled off of the road to Tom, who waited by his car.
"Hey Tom," Chloe said as they got out of the car. "What's up?"
"Follow me," Tom said. He led them off of the road and through many bushes. They walked into a large cave system with various strange markings all over the walls. They looked up to see one symbol that was two curved lines with dots on top and bottom, and another symbol that looked like a stretched out diamond with an eight in the middle.
"When did you find this?" Chloe asked.
"I stumbled in here yesterday by accident and looked around a bit," Tom replied. "I called the police and talked to someone with the Smallville Ledger, but no one really cared."
"Well you can always count on us," Pete said. He took out a camera and started taking a few pictures.
"Do you know anything about these symbols?" Chloe asked.
"I wish I did," Tom said. "All I know is I've never seen anything like them before."
"Well after we put these in the paper somebody might pay attention to them," Chloe said. She looked at the wall closest and saw a small octagonal slot in the wall, like it was meant for something.
Klark returned to the warehouse, now with Greg and most of the machinery gone. He held his stomach and stumbled against the walls and looked down at the meteor rocks around the warehouse. Klark looked over and saw another man looking and picking at the rocks. He had greying hair and a thin unshaven beard. "Who are you?" Klark asked he tried to back away from the rocks.
"I'm Dr. Hamilton, I study these rocks." He said and picked up a red rock.
"A red rock?" Klark asked. "I thought they were green."
"There are different kinds," Dr. Hamilton said. "I took many samples of the known green meteor rocks and began conducting experiments on them. Trying to discover different chemical and physical properties, molecular composition, etc, but now that I have discovered this red meteor rock, there are so many other possibilities. There could be so many more types of rocks, with so many different properties."
"So what's so different about these red ones?" Klark asked.
"Well both rocks appear to have very similar molecular structures, suggesting that both meteor rocks came from the same place. It is my theory that these meteor rocks come from a system or planet, possibly far from here." Dr. Hamilton said. "As for differences, there is the obvious color difference, molecular mass, and some different properties."
"Different properties," Klark repeated. He looked down to see a piece of red meteor rock next to his feet, but he didn't feel weak. Klark picked it up, the veins in his hand began to ripple, just as the did when he is exposed to green meteor rocks. This time they ripple red, and moved up Klark's hand then up his arm, under his shirt sleeve, leaving no visible traces of it's existence behind.
Klark closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, then opened his eyes. They flashed red, almost bloodshot, before returning to normal. Klark let his breath out slowly, sighing in pleasure. He squeezed the rock a little to break a small red piece off then put it in his pocket and walked out of the warehouse.
Lex sat at his desk in the mansion talking on the phone when Klark walked. Lex looked up to see him, then got back to the phone. "I'll call you back," Lex said then looked up at Klark. "Can I help you with anything, brother?"
"Yes, brother," Klark said as he walked closer. "How about you give me what I deserve?"
"What do you mean?" Lex asked.
"You know I thought about what that crazy bug boy sad," Klark began. "He talked about instincts, survival of the fittest, etc..."
"What's your point Klark?" Lex asked.
"Simply I haven't been 'free'," Klark said. "I've been denying my instincts for far too long." Klark walked right up to Lex and picked him up by his shirt collar.
"Klark, put me down !" Lex yelled. Klark smiled then threw Lex on the desk and pressed his face on the desk hard. "What do you want?"
"Everything you have here," Klark replied. "We're both heirs to the Luthor fortune, and I'm the more deserving."
"Are you kidding, you are not even in the family." Lex asked. "You're not even human."
Klark's smiled faded then he threw Lex at the wall. Lex hit the wall hard and fell to the floor. As he slowly crawled to his feet, Klark grabbed Lex by the neck and threw him into the desk. "First I want you to sign over the Smallville plant to me, or I'll earn it by default."
Lex crawled to the chair, quickly wrote something on a piece of paper and passed it to Klark. "Oh Lex, this isn't very nice." Klark said. Lex lunged at Klark, but Klark caught him and squeezed Lex's neck until he passed out. Klark put Lex in a chair then bent a set of golf clubs around him, trapping Lex in the chair with only one arm free.
"You're not going to get away with this," Lex said.
"I'll let you relax here and let you sign the plant over to me," Klark said. "I'll be back later, after I get what else I deserve." Klark put a gag in Lex's mouth then left the mansion.
Later Whitney approached Lana, who was sitting in front of her house. She looked up at him as he walked on the porch. "Hey Lana," Whitney said. "Look what I've got for you." He took out her necklace and put it around her neck.
"Thank you," Lana said. "Was it good luck?"
"Yeah, we won twenty-three to twenty-one." Whitney replied.
"I'm glad to hear that," Lana said. Whitney sat next to Lana and put his arm around her. They heard a noise then saw Klark walk around the side of the house. "Klark?"
"Yeah," Klark said. "It's me."
"What are you doing here?" Whitney asked.
"I came to see you, Lana." Klark said and walked onto the porch. He walked around them and sat close to Lana on the opposite as Whitney, then put his arm around her. "I need you Lana. I denied it at first, but it's so obvious to me."
"Look man, we appreciate what you did for Lana, but this is too far." Whitney said and pushed Klark's arm away from Lana. "You would do best to leave now."
"Or what?" Klark asked. "You going to beat me up?"
Whitney got to his feet, but Lana put up a hand to hold him back. "Whitney," Lana said and shook her head. "Klark, you seemed confused, you need help."
"I've got all the help I need," Klark said and put his arms around Lana. Whitney grabbed Klark's arm and threw him away from Lana.
"You stay away from her," Whitney said.
"Whitney, you just made a big mistake." Klark said. Whitney threw a punch but Klark grabbed his hand and squeezed hard until Whitney dropped to his knees. Klark then threw Whitney threw a column on the porch and several meters away from the house. Lana jumped to her feet and tried to run, but Klark grabbed her and threw her back to the chair. Klark kissed her forcefully and felt up her back. He ripped apart her shirt then Lana's necklace fell to the chair. Klark felt the pain again and stumbled back. Lana searched for whatever was in reach, grabbed her necklace and swung it at Klark. The piece of meteor rock cut Klark's check then Klark fell back. He felt the blood running down his check with shock then crawled to his feet and ran out of sight.