Chapter 46 - Endangerment
"Syringes with green liquid?" his dad repeated. "You don't think . . ."
Clark hung his head, sitting across from his parents at the kitchen table. "I don't know what else it could be."
"Well, did you feel the effects?"
"I was a little far away." Clark looked over at his mom. "That's why I ran, but it's not all I saw."
"What did you see?"
Clark had been dreading this part. He had a pretty good idea of how his parents would react, and he didn't want to see the looks on this faces. "Mutants."
His parents exchanged a glance. "Like, on a computer screen?" his dad asked.
"Like in jail cells."
His mom gasped, and his dad's eyes fell closed.
It felt even worse than Clark had expected. "Maybe he has a reason," he said quietly.
"For imprisoning human beings?" his dad cried.
"Some of them used to be in Belle Reve. They're murderers."
"Some of them."
"Well. All of ones I recognized."
His dad's voice caught. "So what, he's experimenting on them?"
"I don't know what he's doing. And I can't get in there to find out, not with all that kryptonite."
"Clark," his mom started gently, "maybe we should try to get through to him. You had built a connection with this side of him, hadn't you?"
"I thought I did. But to tell you the truth, I don't know who he is, Mom. I don't know if his...good side...is still even in there."
"He's still your brother."
"I know. And I can't stop caring about him. But what if there's no way to bring him back?"
It was quiet at the table. His dad looked away, grief and guilt stamped on his face. He was still convinced this whole thing was his fault, no matter how many times Clark said that the darkness had taken over long before Dad had broken his promise. He wouldn't repeat what Lex had said that caused him to punch him, but Clark could imagine it must have been really awful.
"One thing at a time," his mom said. "Right now, we need to figure out what to do with those inmates."
"It's not going to be simple," Clark said. "I can't just release them, they were in that asylum for a reason."
"Couldn't you take them back there?" his das asked
"I don't think he kidnapped them from the institution. I think he worked out a deal."
"Well, what he's doing can't be legal."
"So what do you want me to do? Call the cops?"
"I'm sure he's worked out contingencies for that," his mom said.
That wasn't exactly what Clark was concerned about. The truth was, he didn't know if prison was the right place for his brother. Clearly, Lex needed help. He just wasn't accepting it.
The doorbell rang, cutting off their conversation. His dad stood from the table. "I'll be right back," he said.
Clark let his breath out, and his mom put her hand over his. "It's going to be OK," she said.
"How do you know?"
"Because healing takes time, but that doesn't mean there's no hope."
"We don't have time. Dad only has another year."
She frowned, and his dad came back into the room. "You let Chloe help you investigate Lex?"
The shock on his mother's face and concern on his father's weren't exactly pleasant to watch. It left him almost wishing he had told them sooner, but he doubted that would have helped.
"She has access I don't have," Clark said.
"So that's a reason to endanger her life?"
"She wanted to look into things. I couldn't have stopped her if I wanted to."
"Why didn't you talk to us?" his mom asked.
"For the same reason she doesn't tell her dad about our family's business. It's not my secret to tell."
His mom frowned, but she seemed to accept that, even if she didn't like it.
"Well, I'll go let her in." His dad raised his eyebrows. "This conversation isn't over."
Clark sighed, shifting uncomfortably, until Chloe entered the room.
He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. Her face was as white as a sheet, and she barely seemed to be breathing.
"Oh no. What happened?"
"It's gone… All of it."
"What's gone?"
"The labs."
This had happened before. "He must have found out about the security breach and moved everything."
"No, no, not just the equipment. Everything." She took a deep breath. "It burned down."
His heart sank into his stomach.
"W-what about the people?" his mom asked.
"It sounds like most of the employees got out okay. But there were bodies found in cells."
"The test subjects," Clark said, numb.
"Chloe," his mom said, "do you know if Lex got out okay?"
"His body wasn't found. But neither was he. He's missing."
Clark looked from his mom, whose eyes had filled with tears, over to his dad, who was gripping the back of the chair so hard that his knuckles were white. "Thanks for coming to tell us, Chloe."
She seemed to catch the hint. "I'll catch you at school, okay, Clark?"
"Yeah." He stood to walk her to the door.
When they reached it, she turned back to face him. "Clark, I don't think he was the one who set the fire."
Clark didn't want to say what was on his mind, because he wanted to agree with her. Wanted to still believe that Lex wasn't capable of it. But the facts were what they were. Clark had breached the security, the lab had burned down, and Lex had disappeared . He might still have been Clark's brother, but that didn't mean Clark knew him at all.
"I did a little more digging on the people Lex has been working with. There's a man named Milton Fine. I think he might be more dangerous than Lex himself."
"Do you think he might have something to do with Lex's disappearance?"
"I really don't know, Clark. I'll keep looking." She took a deep breath. "For what it's worth, I don't want to see Lex in prison. I think he's sick, not evil."
Clark nodded. "Thanks, Chloe."
She gave him a last sympathetic look before heading out.
Very slowly, Clark began the trek back to the kitchen, where his parents were. Neither were sitting at the table anymore. They stood beside it, arms wrapped tightly around each other.
He had to do something. Sneaking around, investigating things he couldn't stop, it wasn't enough anymore. He couldn't keep letting his parents suffer like this. He couldn't keep suffering like this. They'd lost another Christmas together, and his dad didn't have many left.
Clark stepped past his parents and out of the house. He sometimes caught his dad deep in prayer in moments like these. Clark didn't usually take the same approach—he had come to wonder if whoever his father prayed to would even hear Clark, since he wasn't of the same planet or even the same species.
But today, without knowing who he was speaking to or whether anyone would hear him, Clark lifted his eyes to the sky. "Please," he whispered. "I'm lost, my parents are lost, and my brother is lost . . . what do I do?"
He didn't know what he was expecting to happen. He knew better than to hope for fire from the heavens or a miraculous sign. But within seconds, his head exploded with pain, and he collapsed to the ground. An intense ringing pierced his ears before a voice broke through.
Kal El, the voice said, a voice he'd heard before.
"Jor El," he whispered.
It is time. Your destiny hangs in the balance.
Now was not a good time for this.
