Chapter 6 – Clark Two?

The day finally came when Chloe, Gabe and Lana were moving in. Clark had cleaned out the attic to make a room for Chloe and Lana, and also a storage room in the house where Gabe would now sleep.

Chloe sat in her truck, driving behind her dad's car. Behind her truck Lana drove. Although unfortunate events had caused her to move in with Clark, she couldn't help but be excited about it. Her heart raced at the thought of living with Clark every day, and perhaps some non-innocent thoughts came to mind when she pictured seeing Clark in boxers. She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head, a little embarrassed at her strong attraction to him.

When she pulled into the driveway and got out of the driver's seat, Clark rushed out to greet her. He insisted on carrying her luggage for her, but Chloe was as stubborn as usual. She grabbed one of the boxes from Clark as they walked up to the attic. As soon as everyone was out of earshot she whispered, "You think just because you have super strength that I can't carry a box. I'll show you!" And with that she raced down the hall, leaving Clark to laugh and eventually zip down to catch her and the box as she slipped and almost fell on her backside. Immediately she began laughing. "Give that back!" she said as she took the box back and pretended to stomp up to the attic.

After a few hours everything was brought in the house, except for the beds. Of course it would've only taken Clark a few minutes to unload everything, but seeing as he had to be careful that wasn't really a good idea. Clark brought in Lana and Chloe's beds, one by one of course, with Gabe so as not to attract attention. Gabe and Jonathon brought in Gabe's bed to the guest room, leaving Clark with the girls.

"Well, I have to be getting back to the Talon. I'll unpack when I get home." Lana said, and waved, as she got in her jeep. In all fact of the matter, Lana was heading to the Talon to meet with Pete. She had decided that if she played her cards right, then maybe she could get some information out of him.

In Clark's driveway, Chloe and Clark glanced at each other, and then headed to the attic. With Chloe watching out for Gabe, he went into Clark time and assembled Chloe and Lana's beds in what seemed like seconds to Chloe.

"Cool!" she thought.

After that, the two headed outside for Clark to show Chloe some chores that had to be done.

The Talon . . .

"Pete, I know there's something up with Clark. Why won't he tell me?" Lana questioned.

Pete looked down at the table. He had to choose his words carefully around Lana. "Why do you want to know so much? It's Clark's business." he stated.

"I'm just worried about him." Lana said, half telling the truth.

"Lana, I'm sure he'll tell you when he's ready." Pete said.

"So then, Clark is definitely hiding something." Lana said cunningly.

"No . . . I just meant, you know, that if he did have a secret then I'm sure if you wait…"

"Not only is Clark hiding something, Pete, you're helping him."

Pete gulped. "No, I'm not. I know as much as you do."

Lana looked at him, not convinced. "When you look away like that, you're lying," she said.

"Okay fine! So what if I am? I can't tell you, Lana! It would betray Clark's trust."

"Protecting Clark is the only thing you care about isn't it?"

"No actually Lana," Pete stuttered, "I care a lot about you, and I thought that was why you asked me here."

Lana's eyes widened and she sat up straight, obviously surprised. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't see the point, Lana. You loved Clark and he was crazy about you. How did that leave any room for me?"

"Oh, Pete, I'm so sorry!" Lana apologized.

"You still care about him don't you?" Pete asked, looking down.

Lana thought about it for a minute. "No, Pete. No more than friends anymore. I mean that. I don't think that Clark and I were ever compatible."

"Lana, how about dinner and a movie tonight?" Pete said, working up some courage.

Her answer caught him by surprise.

"You know what Pete? I would love to."

In a small, dimly lit lab, Whitney was laying in a chamber filled with green fluid. He opened his eyes to an empty lab: no scientists, no lab technicians, no one even monitoring his vital stats. He figured that they must've all gone home for the day. Of course, this had been his life for…how long was it? He couldn't remember. All he knew is that it had happened directly after the bomb had hit.

Whitney's eyes rolled back into his head and he shifted into a dream. His team was running through the jungle. Most of them were amateurs. They had been trained but they weren't as experienced as one senior member in their group. Their task was regarded as an easier one – one of their men had been suspected of spying for the enemy's militia and they were sent to his tent to capture him, since he wouldn't respond to the Sergeant's orders. However, somehow the traitorous soldier had been aware of their attempt to capture him and things had gone awry from there.

Whitney remembered, along with a couple of others, being told to stay behind and watch in case the soldier returned to his tent. They had only been stationed for a few minutes when unexpectedly, a bomb dropped. All Whitney remembered was scrambling to get away, and then it all went black.

Waking up, Whitney again looked around the room. He didn't even really know how this whole thing had started – how he ended up in a lab, in a substance that somehow looked like liquefied meteor rocks from his hometown. It was as though he'd never actually gotten away from the weirdness at all.

A sudden surge shot through the tank, and Whitney winced. "Smallville," he thought. "Lana."

She was the only thing keeping him going. The only memoir he had of her, they had taken it. They had taken her necklace. He remembered the video she had sent him, the last one. It had broken his heart, but he still believed that somehow, if he could go back, she would love him again.

The surge coursing through the tank got stronger. Whitney tried to curl into a ball, but there wasn't much room. He started to think of Lana, like he always did, to get him through this. But his mind drifted and he found himself thinking about her…and Clark. One phrase kept going though his head – the last thing he said to Clark: "I need you to look after her until I get back." Clark had promised to look after Lana.

He had learned a great deal about Clark since he had been there. It seemed as though everyone constantly had Clark's name on their tongue, well indirectly anyway, and not that there were many people around. A vial of Clark's blood, or "the subject's blood" as everyone called it, was actually hooked up to the apparatus that held him in. Whitney had actually figured out who the subject was by the name of the project: Clark II. When he attempted to ask whether it was the Clark Kent he knew, he received harsh stares and his drug dosage was increased. He knew that because most of the time he was too 'out of it' to wonder why the project had such a name. Meanwhile, he had heard a few things he wished he had not, which explained why Clark was always there to save everyone, and why he was so secretive.

Turning his thoughts back to Lana, he again pictured the video of her breaking up with him. Her words became louder and louder in his head. "I don't know how I feel about us anymore." It nibbled at him and nibbled at him for hours, until he came to a realization. "It was Clark," He thought angrily. "That's why Lana gave up on us. She loved him all along, and I just threw her into his arms. That son of a…I asked him to watch out for her, not take her away. Just because he has all those powers, he thinks that he can do whatever he wants. Well he's not getting away with it. I'm going back to Smallville if it kills me."

He slammed his fist into the glass, to which the liquid drained and the container opened. He noticed that his hand wasn't cut. Besides that, the glass had been three or four inches thick. How had he possibly broken it? He ripped off the respirator, and walked around to find something to cover up with. Oddly enough, there were some of his clothes left on a chair. Although angry, he still had some wits about him, and glanced at a lab shower in the corner. He was covered in the liquid goo from the tank and he certainly didn't want to keep it on him, so showering sounded like a good idea. So he did, and he put on the clothes and began to run toward the door. Before he had time to register that he was running the door seemed to appear in front of him. Something in his mind clicked. This was all too familiar.

"There's only one person who could do this." He thought. "Clark."

He clenched his fist, conflicted. The one person who he hated the most right now, or maybe the second most, since whoever put him here in the first place wasn't exactly on the top of his list of friends, was Clark, and now he was like Clark.

Whitney pushed his thoughts aside and looked at the door. It was wide open. Someone must've planned for him to leave, he realized, but he had more important things to think about now. That could be dealt with later.

Later that evening . . .

Lana had worked for most of the day, and after calling Martha to tell her that she was eating out for supper, she and Pete went out for a wonderful evening and she returned later that night. She explained that she and Pete had gone to a dinner and a movie. After an hour of endless teasing and trying to watch TV, Chloe and Clark went out to the loft, and Lana decided to head to bed.

As Lana started to go upstairs she heard someone out in the yard. She thought Chloe and Clark were out in the loft, but she could've been wrong. Slowly opening the door and walking outside, she said "Clark? Chloe?" but there was no answer. Walking further out onto the front bridge she noticed a light on in the loft. It looked at though Chloe and Clark were there after all. Shutting the front door, she started to walk down the steps when someone grabbed her. Her eyes were covered. "Guess who?" A familiar voice said. She knew that voice. She remembered it from somewhere. "Oh my God, Whitney?" Turning around, sure enough, he was there.

Seeing Lana there suppressed Whitney's anger toward Clark temporarily.

"But you're dead!" she cried.

"No, I survived. Lana, I was being held in a lab somewhere, for how long, I don't know. Tonight I managed to escape, and luckily I was close to Smallville," he said. "It was the thought of you that kept me going. I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, but there's something you should know."

"Now we can go back to the way we were, Lana, before I left." Whitney said, holding her hands.

"Actually we can't. That's what I need to tell you."

Whitney's facial expression turned fierce. "What do you mean we can't?"

"I'm seeing someone." she began.

"Clark." Whitney spat. She hadn't needed to say it. "It should've been so obvious anyway." He thought. "Here she is, staying at Clark's, of all places. But why? Where did Nell go? Lana hadn't moved in with Clark because of…because she was…pregnant…had she? No, he couldn't think about that. It hurt too much."

"I knew it. I knew that as soon as I left you'd go out with him." Whitney exclaimed, both angry and hurt. Immediately it came to him how he could use his newfound powers to his benefit. "Lana, I know why you love Clark, and I can see why, but you don't have to settle for him anymore. You and I can be together, because I'm like Clark now, so nothing can be between us."

Lana winced. She wondered what he meant by that. Suddenly he picked her up.

"See? I'm strong now." He said, and set her down. "And I'm fast too." With that he disappeared and reappeared with freshly picked flowers. "You can love me."

It was a request so pleading and innocent, yet so deranged. But she wouldn't take it. "Whitney, I don't love you anymore, and this…this…whatever it is…doesn't change anything."

Whitney's eyes lit up with a fire that Lana had never seen before. They went from blue to neon green and back again. "Clark will pay for this." Whitney claimed.

"It's not Clark," she cried, with fear. Her eyes brimmed over with tears. She couldn't really tell Whitney that it was Pete who she loved, could she? Who would Whitney hurt more? Immediately Pete came to mind. Come to think of it, maybe she let Whitney think it was Clark because for some odd, inexplicable reason, she believed that Clark would be invincible, unaffected, like he seemed to be all the times he was there for her. "Besides, Whitney, you're not yourself. What happened to you?"

"I am myself, Lana. You're the one who's not yourself. Clark is going to pay, and then I'll make you see that I'm the one you love."

And with that he sped off, leaving Lana to feel the breeze he left behind.

"Whitney," she thought. "What's happened to you?"

A Few minutes earlier…

Chloe and Clark were in the loft. Clark was looking through his telescope.

"So Clark, where was it?" Chloe asked.

"Where was what?" Clark looked confused.

"Your star. You know."

"Oh." Clark replied, blushing. "There." He pointed into a slightly empty spot in the sky that seemed to be surrounded by stars. She gazed at it. Seeing it, she felt compassion and empathy for Clark. He saw the look and held her in his arms.

Just as they were getting comfortable, Clark heard a noise outside. Both he and Chloe tiptoed out to see who it was, but all they saw was a blur and felt a breeze pass them. Picking Chloe up, Clark quickly took off to follow the blur.

They ended up at the graveyard. Clark and Chloe both shivered. This had been the place of many unfortunate events the past year. Chloe rubbed the sides of her arms as a slight chill went up her spine.

"It looks as if we lost it." Clark said.

Chloe's curiosity started to get the best of her, and she started to think. "Clark, that person or thing - whatever it is - ran just like you!"

Clark went pale. Chloe was right. He hoped it wasn't another meteor mutant, because if they had the same powers he did, he didn't know if he could stop them. Then another thought came to him. What if it was actually another survivor of his home planet? He didn't know if he could deal with that.

"Hello . . . Earth to Clark Kent! What exactly is going on inside that head of yours?"

Clark snapped out of it. Chloe took him by the arm and as always, began her investigation. But in an instant, she fell. Quickly, he caught her. Immediately, however, he felt a slight wave of nausea. He could see the veins in his hands turn green and it was most definitely not a good sign.

"Clark." Whitney said.

"But you're dead!" Clark mumbled, in shock.

"You're going to wish I was." Whitney threatened. "You're going to wish that you never messed with my girl."

Suddenly the grass in front of Clark lit on fire. Clark looked at Whitney. Oh no. Whitney's eyes were glowing, just as his did when he used his heat vision, except that Whitney's were glowing green. However, Whitney looked surprised.

"How did I do that?" Whitney thought. "It was like I was really mad and this heat built up behind my eyes and the grass set on fire."

Whitney stood for a second, a little startled.

Clark used the opening to stamp the fire out.

"I'll figure out what it is later." Whitney decided. "Right now, I have something to do."

Immediately after stamping out the fire, Clark couldn't breathe. He felt his chest begin to clamp and tighten. His palms were sweaty and his head was pounding. Whitney took advantage of Clark's apparent weakness and picked him up by the throat. Clark desperately tried to breathe. Chloe kicked Whitney in the back, surprising him more than anything and causing him to drop Clark. A grateful Clark grasped at his throat.

Chloe was angry. "Try that again, you son of a …" she yelled at Whitney.

But Clark cut her off. "He's getting back up! We're gonna have to run for it!"

"Clark, what's wrong? You can kick his ass!"

"No, Chloe, I can't. Something's wrong with him and it has to do with Kryptonite. We're gonna have to run."

"Figures." Chloe muttered.

Both of them ran out of the graveyard. Clark immediately began to feel better and ran faster until they reached the loft, but even there, neither felt particularly safe. If Whitney had Clark's powers, he could be anywhere at any time and nobody would know. They decided to head into the house and to keep Whitney's reappearance from Lana until they had it at least somewhat figured out.