Chapter Four:
Anna managed to get some sleep back in her small box-like apartment. After leaving the Institute in the early hours she was careful to make sure that she wasn't followed to her apartment. The cat and mouse part of her job was almost second nature to her. Her confrontation with Dr. Graham sat slightly uneasily with her. He was a smart man and she wondered whether he was suspicious about her outburst. She hoped not, her ability to blend anonymously in the background was essential. Dr. Crosby was almost ready for the mission. Just a few more days she'd said and everything would go like clockwork and Clark would be free. She just wondered whether Clark would be able to survive. She remembered him lying strapped on the table in the lab. She remembered the looks on the scientists' faces when they realised how impervious to harm he was. That was before the introduction of the kryptonite. They'd been like little boys at Christmas then, watching wide-eyed as probes entered his skin, pushing through muscle, drilling into bone. His screams for mercy had gone ignored.
She followed the team into the laboratory and saw Clark strapped to a chair this time. His head was forward, as if too heavy for his neck, his chin on his chest, his eyes closed. She resumed her position at the back of the room, her clipboard at the ready, observing as always. She watched Dr. Graham enter the lab, a heavy looking black box in his hands. She watched him place it on the metal table that Clark was normally strapped to. He then walked to Clark and stood in front of him and the smug expression on his face irritated Anna.
"Well now Clark. It's about time to see what it is you're really capable of" he announced to him. Clark gave no indication that he'd heard him. The doctor went back to the box and picked it up again. He walked towards him. Anna watched him carefully and the glint in the doctor's eyes made her uncomfortable. She wondered what was inside of the box; the way Dr. Graham held onto it made her think that it was something extraordinary, a treasure of some sort. She watched him open the box and the change in Clark was instantaneous.
His whole body stiffened, his head snapped back and his eyes opened and widened. It was as though an electric current had been blasted through him. Anna watched Doctor Graham lift out a crystal, it was a deep red shade, almost purplish in hue and it glowed in all its violent glory. Anna took a half step forward, her attention focused entirely on Clark and his reaction to the crystal. Another type of Kryptonite? It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. And Clark's reaction to it was alarming. His breathing changed, becoming more laboured, almost hyper-ventilating. Carefully Anna worked her way through the crowd of curious scientists, all watching the goings-on with avid curiosity. She stopped once she could get to see Clark's face more clearly and saw that his eyes seemed to be glowing a weird deep amethyst hue. Every muscle in his body strained against his constraints and Anna got the impression that he was trying everything to get away from the rock's influence. There was the sound of metal being ripped from metal and she realised with wide eyes that he was breaking free of the bonds that chained him to the chair. Her heart began to hammer in her chest. The other scientists also realised what was happening and began to scatter, trying to get out of Clark's path. Anna was frozen to the spot as Clark sent furniture sailing across the room. He screamed, holding his head still with those horrible purple irises. Belatedly Doctor Graham realised that Clark wasn't under the influence of the green meteor rock, so awe struck he had been by the sudden change in personality of his subject. The manacles were in pieces on the floor.
All of a sudden alarms were blaring and the team were running for the door, all trying to avoid Clark and his path of destruction. Still Anna couldn't move. She watched him head straight for her. He grabbed her by her upper arms and all of a sudden she was flying through the air. She crashed against a wall and fell down, hitting a bench and landing in a crumpled heap on the floor, too dazed to move. She tried to breathe, her entire body racked with white-hot pain. She slowly raised her head and saw him coming towards her, still raging and it was then she realised that she was alone in the room with him. Everyone was gone, the door was closed. Clark grabbed her arms and hauled her upwards. She was utterly at his mercy and her feet were at least a foot off the ground, hanging in mid-air.
"Clark… Clark… don't hurt me," she whispered frantically. He looked at her, frowning.
"Please…don't hurt me" she could feel blood sliding down the side of her face and Clark was staring at her in some kind of fascination.
"Let me help you… it hurts doesn't it? Worse than the green rock… it hurts," he continued to look at her, his chest was heaving with exertion.
"Put me down Clark… the guards will be here soon… put me down" she told him. Amazingly he did that, and then collapsed. Anna stared at him, shock warring with amazement. Then she spotted the purple rock on the floor less than ten feet away from him, still glowing. She scrambled towards it. The box it had been contained in was beside a cabinet. She made her way towards it, dropping the rock into it and closing the lid. It was a lead box and weighed a ton. The silence was deafening. She turned from her kneeling position and saw that Clark hadn't moved. She scrambled towards him amidst the debris. His eyes were closed.
"Clark?" he didn't respond. She smoothed a lock of his hair away from his face. His eyes were closed. She looked up as she heard running footsteps. She looked back at Clark. Quickly she lowered her head.
"Trust me," she whispered to him before the door was slammed open and guards swarmed through, armed to the teeth with green meteor rock infused tranquilliser guns. One of them dragged Anna away from him and she watched, as he was cuffed again with fresh manacles and hauled, unconscious back to his cell.