Ch. 10

"So you're telling me that you're an alien? How is that possible? I mean, you look human, sound human, and even feel human. Not that I'm doubting you about being an alien or anything, but how can you look human? The odds of two different peoples on two different planets looking exactly the same are immense."

"Chloe, this IS how Kryptonians look. I can't shape shift or anything. Why humans and Kryptonians look so similar is beyond me but I do know that the resemblance is one of the reasons that I was sent to Earth. It would allow me to blend in while I grew up." Clark said, hoping she would leave it alone. He had often wondered the same thing and had never really been given a straight answer by Jor-el on the subject, which Clark took to mean the Jor-el really didn't know why they looked alike but couldn't bring himself to say so.

"What about your abilities? I know you can do some amazing things, but I don't think I know all of them."

At this statement Clark's curiosity was once again peaked. How much had Chloe known about him and how had she found out?

"Why don't you tell me what you know and I'll fill in any blank spots afterward?" Clark asked.

After debating whether or not she really wanted to go first Chloe decided that she might as well. She would have to sooner or later.

(Remember what I said about Clark setting the lamp on fire after looking at Chloe, not at Lana? Well here's where it comes into its own)

"Well, I know that you are very strong, very fast, have incredible hearing, can see through objects, oh, by the way, please remind me to discuses that with you in greater detail later, because you have some 'splaining to do," Chloe said in her best Ricky Ricardo voice, "You can also set fires with your eyes when you … well, lets just say we'll be discussing that too." Chloe nearly split her lip she was smiling so much. It was fun to catch Clark off guard for once.

After listening to Chloe, Clark's jaw was very nearly touching the floor and he could feel his face getting very, very red. After collecting himself he tried to respond the best he could.

"I'm not sure I even want to know how you know about me setting fires when …, well never mind about that. However, you still missed a few. One, I'm virtually invulnerable. Two, as you recently glimpsed, I can fly. Three, I can freeze just about anything with my breath. Don't feel too bad about missing the last two. They're both brand new." Clark said with a bit of pride.

"Invulnerable, huh. I saw you brought low just by being around a meteor rock." Chloe said with a grin.

"How did you know about … of course. The prom. I should have known you were faking being knocked out. Well, if I'm going to tell you about that, then I had better tell you about all of the 'meteor rocks'. For one thing, their real name is Kryptonite, named after the planet they were once a part of. For another, they come in three varieties that I know of, each designated by their color, green, red, and black. Green, the most common, is my only real weakness, and is probably the only thing on earth that can kill me, other than possibly a meteor freak or two, and maybe a direct hit from a nuke. It has something to do with how the radiation it gives off affects my body. Then there is red kryptonite. It has a very different affect. It … changes me, does to me what the Nicodemous flower or the parasites in the cave wall does to humans. Fortunately for me and everyone around me, it's very rare. The third type is even rarer. In fact, I've only seen it twice before and I'm not one hundred percent sure what it does, so I try to avoid it as best as I can."

"So you're telling me that all of those time you acted really weird, even for you, and were a real jerk, you were really being affected by red meteor rock?" Chloe said.

"Yep. Oh, except for the last time. Lionel switched bodies with me, courtesy of one of the stones. That was NOT fun."

"You're telling me that Lionel Luthor kissed me while in your body? Yuck! I need some mouth wash."

"Lionel kissed you?"

"Yep, and then he said, and I quote, 'In your dreams'."

"No wonder you were so mad at me."

"Wait a second; you said that he used one of the stones to switch bodies with you? How was it able to do that?"

"Oh, um, well you see … their actually Kryptonian."

"Kryptonian?" Chloe said in a skeptical voice.

"Actually, the stones are really the sum of all knowledge gained by the Kryptonians over all of recorded history. Some how or another, those stones were actually meant for me. Unfortunately, I didn't really want them, so I never really tried to find them. This resulted in two of the stones falling into human hands. One of the stones was 'desecrated' to use Jor-el's word, which resulted in the second meteor shower. When Jor-el told me what had happened, I knew that I had to unite the stones before anything else happened. So I gathered all three stones and united them in the caves. I was then transported into Antarctica where the stones created a huge cavern made of crystal. When I went inside I met Jor-el face to face, so to speak, for the first time. He directed me into a chamber in one of the walls and then downloaded a lot of information into me, including how to use all of my abilities, even those I didn't even know about yet. After that he told me about how the two of you were kidnapped, and here I am, trying to rescue the two of you."

"Hold on, I thought that Jor-el was dead, and how did you get here, and how are you planning to rescue us exactly? Why didn't you just come in, bust a few heads, grab us, and then leave? And …"

"Hold up!" Clark interrupted, "one question at a time. First, Jor-el is dead. Sort of. What lives on is his 'will and memories'. Don't ask me how it's possible, because I don't know. I haven't gotten that far yet. As to how I got here, well, I flew." Clark made a hand gesture of him flying.

"What do you mean, you flew? You flew in a space ship or you…" Chloe was at a loss for words to describe what she was thinking.

"I … flew." Clark said, again making the hand gesture of him flying. "That's part of why I didn't 'Come in and bust a few heads' as you put it. I maybe able to withstand the vacuum of space, but you wouldn't. The other reason was the Ish-nith, the people who own this ship." Seeing Chloe's puzzled look Clark tried to elaborate, "You know, the ones that look kind of like rats."

Seeing the look of comprehension that Chloe gave him, he decided to continue with his explanation.

"Anyway, the Ish-nith have a policy of killing all prisoners and slaves in the event of an attack or rescue attempt. While I may be very fast, this ship is HUGE, and by the time I took out its defenses, having to be careful the whole time not to cause too much damage just in case you were near one of its defenses, and then found you, they probably would have had enough time to kill you unless I was really lucky and stumbled onto you right away. Then there was the problem of getting the two of you off of the ship and back to Earth in one piece and that was even trickier than finding you alive in the first place. So Jor-el came up with an alternative. I was to sneak on board and then win the tournament, at which time the two of you would be given to me as slaves and we could go home. To accomplish this I had to get on the good side of The Owner, the Ish-nith who owns this ship. Jor-el figured that if I could convince him that I was a bored aristocratic Kryptonian looking for some fun when he would be much less likely to see the holes in my story. Jor-el fed me enough information telepathically so that I could seem as if I had spent my entire life on Krypton. That's why I acted the way I did earlier. Sorry about that, but it was necessary."

"I guess its O.K., but you are going to have some major kissing up to do when we get back home." Chloe snarked.

"Oh, and saving your life, AGAIN, won't count?"

"Well, maybe." Chloe said with a smile. Suddenly another thought came to her. "Hold on, you said that Jor-el communicated telepathically with you? How?" Chloe asked, half wondering if Clark had conveniently forgotten to mention that he could read minds. Boy would THAT be embarrassing. Some of the day dreams she had had in his presence at the torch about one day being Mrs. Clark Kent …

She blushed at the thought that Clark might have known what she was dreaming about. If he could read minds, he wouldn't have to worry about rescuing them any more, because somehow she would kill him. Somehow. No jury with a female on it would ever convict her. Chloe's thought process skid to a halt as Clark removed the top half of his outfit. She winced at what she saw. Running across his chest, directly beneath where the symbol had been on his shirt, was the same symbol, this time etched into his flesh instead of into cloth.

Clark explained as best he could, "By … allowing Jor-el to give me this mark I also allowed him to communicate with me telepathically. It was the only way I could rescue you."

"Did it hurt?"

"Yes," Clark said, remembering exactly how much it had hurt, "but that doesn't matter now. What does matter is me winning that tournament and then getting us all home."

TBC