Chapter Five:
She was still trying to digest what exactly had happened whilst a nurse dealt with the cut above her left eyebrow. Her shirt and lab coat were ruined but they were the last thing on her mind. What the hell had caused Clark to react just like that? The Foundation were up to date with the various types of kryptonite, in that there were only three known to them so far, red, green and black, so what was this purple kryptonite? She looked up as her door opened and Doctor Graham entered. Fresh anger welled up inside of Anna when she saw him. The nurse paused long enough to place a band-aid over the cut and make a quick get away. Anna glared at the doctor.
"What the hell just happened in there?" she demanded.
"Are you okay?" Anna got to her feet.
"I am now. Bruised and battered but I'll survive. You didn't answer my question. What the hell did you do to him in that lab?" Dr. Graham smiled secretively.
"It's just something I've been working on for a little while. I just wanted to experiment," he explained.
"And it almost got me killed. He was in a homicidal rage, he was going to kill me and you all just left me in there to let him!" she yelled.
"But he didn't and that was interesting" Anna sighed in defeat.
"It hurt him Doctor Graham, whatever that rock was, it caused him a lot of pain and that was what he was reacting to" the doctor regarded her curiously.
"How did you know it was hurting him?" Anna rolled her eyes.
"Observation Dr. Graham plain and simple. So tell me, what was in that rock to make him go crazy like that?" Dr. Graham looked at her, not sure whether to divulge his secret.
"We amalgamated the green meteor rock with the red, added a little something…" he shrugged.
"And decided to use me as a battering ram. Well, thank you very much" she turned and tried not to wince at the pain in her side. She had at least two cracked ribs and she'd be a patchwork of bruises in the morning.
"That wasn't intentional. He didn't hurt you Anna and that was very interesting, to be in a psychotic rage and not harm you"
"Uhh, in case you forgot, he threw me clean across the laboratory, my ribs are testament to that" she reminded him.
"But he went back to you…" she swung around, deliberately ignoring the pain in her side this time.
"You saw him do that? You actually observed him doing that?" her voice rose in fury. He had the grace to look a little embarrassed.
"All in the name of science Miss Vale," he replied with a guilty little shrug.
She paid another nocturnal visit before her trip to the Foundation. She had a pounding headache and her ribs ached fiercely. The guard at his door barely gave her a second glance as she let herself into Clark's cell. She locked it behind her and ventured in.
Clark was sitting up against one wall. His arms were strung out to either side of him in those hated manacles. His head was slumped forwards; chin resting on chest yet again. For a second Anna just looked at him, the image of him under that purple kryptonite still extremely vivid. She edged towards him. He seemed to be either sleeping or unconscious. Taking a deep breath, Anna grasped his chin and gently tilted his head upwards. She gasped. There were fresh bruises on his skin; dried blood matted the hair at his temple.
"God Clark, what else did they do to you?" she whispered and picked up her clipboard.
I didn't mean to hurt you Anna. He wanted to tell her that but he was so weak now that he couldn't lift his head or react to his surroundings. He felt dead inside, utterly numb. What had happened in the laboratory had been beyond even his comprehension. Red kryptonite caused him to lose all conscience, green could kill him, black tore him in two then rejoined him but this one seemed to do all of those. Warring energies within the stone had created a warring personality inside of him, that seemed hell-bent on destruction, of himself and those around him, and that had included Anna. The agony of the new kryptonite had been unreal, vibrating through him like a lightning bolt but more virulent, it had clawed at his brain, tore at the neurons leaving him screaming for release. Then he'd heard her voice and stopped. They had been alone in the lab, alarms screaming loudly enough to rival the throbbing in his own head and amidst all the chaos, she had asked him to trust her.