The next round began and Clark was in the first fight. This round would have only have four fights total. Clark was once again paired with a veteran of the arena. By this time he'd detected a pattern in the setup of the fights. All of the veterans would be set up each round to fight new fighters so that they could be assured of winning. The Owner clearly wanted him to fight a veteran each round so that the audience would stay entertained. Clark made his way to the entrance thinking of what this meant for him as the rounds progressed. He would have to finish this fight with the Temerian and then he would have to fight either the Talitcit or Kronus. Whichever he didn't fight with in the next round he would have to fight in the championship round.
Focusing his mind on the fight ahead Clark entered the pit and tried to prepare. He hadn't been able to come up with an effective strategy to defeat the Temerian, at least not without revealing another power. The best way he could think of to win was to simply move too fast for the Temerian to follow.
The second the shield hit the ground he was off like a shot. Unfortunately it was too late. The Temerian had a hold on him with his telekinesis. Picking Clark up, he threw him from one side of the pit to the other, never letting him go. This wouldn't have been too hard for Clark to get out of, but the Temerian had turned him around so that Clark's back was facing him. He couldn't turn around far enough to be able to see him and use his heat vision. The longer the beating took the more Clark began to feel each encounter with the shield.
The landing itself wasn't too bad, but the repeated blows he received from hitting the shield repeatedly was beginning to get to him. Apparently there was some sort of effect that the shield had on anyone who ran into it. Nothing much happened at first, but the effect seemed to be accumulative. The more he was rammed against it the more he felt numb. He couldn't seem to get his legs and arms to work anymore. All they would do is twitch every now and then.
Finally, in a move Clark recognized from a previous fight, the Temerian threw him across the arena one last time and let go. Clark bounced off of the shield and was turned around just in time to see a massive block of stone hovering directly in his flight path. Almost directly behind it was the Temerian. Clark knew that the Temerian meant for him to crash into the stone and any efforts he made to dodge it in his weakened condition would only serve to alert the other contestants of his flying ability. Instead he chose to meet the stone head on.
He crashed into the stone, smashing it into a multitude of small fragments. The impact hurt a lot after the beating he had received from being smashed into the shield time and again. However he was able to carry through with his plan. As he cleared the debris field left by the shattering rock Clark tried to use his heat vision to stop the Temerian from grabbing him again. Unfortunately he wasn't able to use it as strongly as he would have liked because of the shields effect on him. He ended up giving the Temerian a very bad sunburn on a small portion of his body.
However, the pain and the shock of this was enough to cause the Temerian to move backwards out of instinct, putting him directly into Clark's flight path. The pain also served to crowd the Temerian's nerve pathways, limiting his ability to use his telekinesis. All he was able to do was slow Clark down a little before he slammed into the Temerian at nearly twenty miles an hour. This wouldn't have been quite so bad for the Temerian if it hadn't been for Clark's invulnerability. It was much like running head long into a thick brick wall at twenty miles an hour. The wall didn't give way, you did. The Temerian was almost instantly knocked unconscious from pain overload.
Clark wasn't doing much better. He was still conscious, but he couldn't move. The effect of the shield was still preventing him from moving in any coordinated fashion. He could feel the effect wearing off a little at a time, but he knew it would take a while.
Both Clark and the Temerian had to be carried off of the field, but since Clark was still conscious he was declared the winner. This was a relief for Clark, who didn't want to have to fight the Temerian again anytime soon. The medics set him in a chair to watch the rest of the round. All three of the fights were interesting and Clark was very glad to be able to see them. By the end of the last fight he had regained almost full use of his faculties. He was able to talk and walk well enough so that he could visit the girls during the intermission, which he was half convinced was extra long to give him time to recover so that he could put on a good fight.
He grabbed another couple of food bars in case the girls were still hungry, although he had no clue of how he was going to sneak the bars to them this time without being caught. He wasn't in good enough shape yet to try anything fancy like last time. Maybe Chloe would have an idea.
He made his way carefully to where the girls were sitting. He put on his game face, but was too tired to think of the appropriate misleading thing to say so that The Owner could overhear. Instead he simply walked up to them as arrogantly as he could manage under the circumstances.
Chloe was visibly concerned for Clark as he neared, and Clark knew that that wasn't a good thing. The Owner could notice it and start wondering. He used his eyes to connect with her and then glanced up towards The Owner.
Chloe once again got the message and immediately put on her game face.
Clark leaned up against the box where the girls were sitting, putting most of his weight on it. He figured he would start off by seeing if the girls wanted more food.
"I brought some more food. Do the two of you want it?" Clark asked in a normal tone of voice. His expression said that he was trying to proposition them.
Chloe tried to get in to the act by acting repulsed and also by acting as if she was trying to hide it.
"Sure, we're starving. Thanks for the other two bars by the way. I didn't get a chance to tell you that last time since you had to rush off."
"Not a problem, but you're going to have to earn these. I can't think of a way to get the bars to you without giving myself away. You're going to have to come up with a way to get them from me without anyone noticing." Clark said, trying to look as if Chloe had rejected his advances.
"I think I've got a way. An open bribe."
"Huh?" Clark was stumped by this. What did she mean?
"It's simple Clark. You act like your bribing me to kiss you with the food and no one will suspect anything different is going on. I doubt The Owner would care if you bribe me with a little food, and it would be perfectly in character for you. We get the food and we don't even have to hide it." She said with a smile.
For an instant Clark broke character. He looked absolutely stunned. He had been stretched enough as it was to go through with the last scheme, and he hadn't even touched her, just pretended like he was trying to. He had even warned her so that she would know what to do. If they did this, it would have to be for real. There wouldn't be any faking this close to The Owner, not of something like this. He informed Chloe of his thoughts as he reentered character.
"I know that! It's the only way that I can think of. It doesn't sound like you have anything better, so let's do it." Chloe said. In spite of the fact that she sounded professional, she was actually a little bit happy at the prospect of being able to kiss Clark again, even if it wasn't for real. Not that she'd admit it, even to herself. It was simply too embarrassing for her to even think about.
Clark almost broke character again thinking of what they were about to do. He didn't though, and held the bar's of food aloft, out of Chloe's reach.
She pretended to try and grab them and, of course, failed miserably. Clark's height was simply too much of an obstacle for her to overcome. She faked disappointment until Clark acted like he had propositioned her again. She tried to look as if she was considering his offer and then she acted like she accepted it. Moving close to him she gave him a very dramatic kiss.
Under any other circumstances, Clark would have blushed a thousand shades of red by now. Under the eyes of The Owner and his guard, however, he was able to restrain himself to where he only turned slightly pink, easily disguised as a flush from the kiss.
As the kiss broke Clark had an unusually naughty thought. He could only give Chloe the one bar and make her kiss him again for the other. He dismissed it almost the second he thought of it, but couldn't quite help the grin that the thought caused.
Chloe would have wondered at the grin that crossed Clark's face, but she was too busy trying to act greedy. She jumped up surprisingly high and grabbed the food bars from Clark's slightly lowered hands. By the time she looked at him again the smile had been reduced to where it was unnoticeable.
A sudden thought occurred to her and she latched onto it immediately. It amazed her that she hadn't thought to ask before now.
"Are you all right, I saw them have to carry you out of the arena. Are you sure you're well enough to be bringing us this food?" Chloe asked, greatly concerned. She wasn't too worried for Clark during the fight as she'd seen him take worse blows before and be fine. She had nearly lost it, however, when she had seen the medics carry him out of the arena in a stretcher. Only when the announcer had said that Kal-el would be fighting in the next round did she even come close to returning to normal. When she saw him walking towards them she had been both relived and worried about him enough that she had forgotten to act her part in their little drama.
"I'll be fine. I'm still a little off, but it should correct itself in a few minutes. I didn't get hurt too badly out there; I just got stunned by hitting the shield so many times. Apparently it has a stunning effect on anyone who rams into it repeatedly. I'll be back to normal before the next round begins."
"You're sure your all right, and not just brushing it off so that I don't worry?" Chloe asked.
"I promised you that I'd tell you the truth from now on and I will. I'll be fine."
Actually it had been hard for Clark to admit that he wasn't already fine. He didn't want her to worry about him and knew that she might if he told her the whole truth. However, he remembered his promise to be honest with her from now on and he kept his word.
Clark knew that there wasn't much time left before the next round would start so he also knew that he needed to start heading back so that he could rest up a little more before his next fight.
"I'll see both of you soon and then we'll get out of here and head home." Clark said as he started to back away. He decided to lighten the mood a bit and have a little fun.
"I can't wait to get the two of you on the farm and put both of my new slaves to work," Clark said with a huge grin, "There are just SO many chores for you to do there that I'm just SICK of. It'll be nice to have someone else do them for a while."
Clark turned around and headed off as fast as he could go, wanting to get out of earshot before Chloe recovered. By the look on her face when he looked back after he was out of talking range he had just made it. His grin lasted him all the way back into the Trough and to his seat, which he sat down in just in time to watch the first fight of the round.
As he sat down it occurred to him that he had forgotten to ask Chloe if she had noticed anything different about Kronus. He shrugged it off and made a mental note to ask her next break. It would likely be the last one he would get before facing him. There were only two fights this round, the first one between Kronus and another newcomer, and Clark and the Talitcit. If both he and Kronus won, and Clark was planning on it, they would fight together in the next round, which was the championship round.
Clark continued to try and remember where he had heard the name Kronus before as he watched the current fight take the course of the last three Kronus had taken part in with almost no deviation. The unnecessary loss of life sickened him and made him even more determined not to pull any punches when he fought Kronus. He had to be stopped, and Clark would die before he let Kronus take the girls as slaves. However, before he fought Kronus, Clark would have to face the Talitcit.
TBC
Oh, and to those who mentioned it, I'll try to go over the previouse chapters and weed out those pesky mistakes. Thanks for telling me about them.
