Chapter 54 - Destined

Clark spent a lot of time in the caves over the next few weeks. He told Mr. Willowbrook that he wanted to write a term paper about the paintings, but he really didn't need to make the excuse. They were happy to let him go down there. Part of Clark wondered if they'd be happy to let anyone down there, if they genuinely enjoyed the artwork. The paintings must not have been getting much recognition underground, and they were a huge part of the Kawache history and culture.

Clark's parents didn't mind him spending time in the caves. His dad only minded when he spent too much time with Lex, or when he tried to go into the experiment room alone. One time, he stayed too late and missed a couple of chores, and his dad made him do extra when he got home, but that was the worst of it.

Clark ignored the numbers, after he'd finished writing them down for Lex. They didn't seem important to him. He also mostly ignored the comments on the various stories and legends. In fact, he didn't spend a lot of time in the cave he'd found, the one with the legend of Naman, at all. He wandered over to the other caves; they had more information about the history of the Kawache people, and more importantly, the meteor rocks. Kryptonite. He copied down as much information as he could each day and sent it over to Lex, even when the words didn't mean much of anything to him.

One afternoon, when Ryan was feeling up to it, Clark took him down to the caves to show him around. Clark skipped over the wall of numbers, and he tried to get Ryan interested in the information about Kryptonite, but he seemed to be just listening politely. His eyes lit up, though, when Clark told the story of Naman.

"So . . . so you're Naman?" Ryan grinned ear to ear. "This is so cool! You're a legend!"

That kind of talk always made Clark feel uncomfortable. "No, I'm not."

"But, yes you are! They pro-prophe . . . made prophecies about you."

"Those could mean anything."

Ryan laughed. "The man who fell from the sky with the strength of ten men? Who could shoot fire from his eyes? Those guys knew what they were talking about. They were obviously talking about you, they knew you were coming!"

Clark shifted his weight. "Maybe."

Ryan pointed up at the image of Naman and Sageeth. "What's that?"

"Um." This was the part of the legend Clark really didn't like to think about. "That's Sageeth. He and Naman were like brothers, but he's supposed to become Naman's enemy."

"Oh." Ryan frowned. "Who do you think it is?"

"How would I know? It's probably not real, anyway."

"Okay, but if it is. And if you are Naman."

Clark began to pace a little. "I don't have any real brothers, as far as I know. It might be someone I haven't met yet. I mean, right now, the only person I'm close enough to call a brother is . . ." He felt a sinking in his stomach.

Ryan seemed to know what Clark was thinking, even though he couldn't read Clark's mind. "No, Clark."

Clark raised his eyebrows. "You're the one who said he was hiding a lot of darkness."

"He is, but that's not all that's in his mind. He admires you, a lot. I think . . . the only way he'd become your enemy is if you turned your back on him."

"Oh." Clark shrugged. "Well, I'm not planning on it."

"What if you're destined to? What if you can't stop it?"

Clark paced a couple more steps, then came to a stop right in front of the wall. "I ran into a woman at a retirement home once. Cassandra Carver. She could tell someone's future by touching their hand."

Ryan came to stand by him.

"She saw a vision of some people dying, and I saved them. I change the future, changed their destinies. Maybe . . ." He shook his head. "I don't know if I'm Naman. I don't know if he's even real, or if Sageeth is, or who Sageeth is supposed to be. But if I've learned anything in the last year? It's that I don't want to push anyone away from me. And if it's Lex, and I'm destined to push him away . . ."

"Screw destiny," Ryan said softly.

Clark chuckled to himself. It wasn't quite the language he would have used, but . . . "Yeah. That's right."

Lex tried to sit and get work done while he waited for Clark to come in for his weekly visit, but he kept getting up and pacing. He was a lot more excited than he usually was. Finally, after months of waiting, his team of scientists had made an actual breakthrough in their research on the meteor rocks—or Kryptonite, as Clark was calling it, though Lex was very careful not to use that term with anyone else. Some of the translations Clark had sent over had been the key he needed.

Like always, Clark hung his backpack on the hook before coming over to Lex's desk. "You found out something, didn't you?"

Lex smirked. "How'd you know?"

"That's the look you get when you have something to tell me."

"It's a step forward. We've still got a long way to go, but—"

"What is it?"

Lex took a deep breath. "We know what Kryptonite does. Well, we know one gene set it affects."

Clark blinked a couple of times. "So . . . so you know how people get powers?"

"No, that's the part we don't know." The twisted wish fulfillment still felt like something magical to Lex rather than scientific; he didn't know if they'd ever make headway on the people with powers. "But we know why they become homicidal."

"Can we fix it?"

"Well . . . yes . . ."

Clark frowned. "There's a catch?"

"We also found out what causes the cancer."

"And?"

"It's the same gene set."

"Great! So, it fixes both?"

"No." Lex swallowed hard. "The mutation can be flipped, but not undone."

"Meaning . . ."

"You have to choose one curse or the other."

Clark's jaw dropped. "So if someone has cancer and you . . . flip the gene . . ."

"It's an oversimplification, but yes. If it really was the meteor rocks that caused the cancer, it'll cure them. Well, it won't remove all of their tumors, but it'll stop the cancer from coming back. But sooner or later—"

"They'll start killing people."

"Yes."

Clark slowly let his breath out. By the look on his face, Lex figured he didn't consider it much of a breakthrough; more of a return to the drawing board. Clark paced a few steps away, stopping in front of a shelf that held Lex's stereo, then his eyes narrowed. "Lex, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"It looks like a little computer chip in your stereo. I've never seen it there before."

Lex hurried over to the stereo, but he didn't see anything. "Where?"

"Inside. I was just using—"

"Sh, sh." If it was a bug, the last thing Lex wanted was for whoever was listening in to hear Clark talking about X-ray vision. He took the stereo over to his desk, took out a screwdriver, and carefully took it apart.

Sure enough.

Lex wondered what his father had remembered this time. A wave of rage passed over him, and Lex swept the speaker off his desk. It shattered on the floor.

"Someone's spying on you?" Clark asked.

"It's my father." There was no one else it could be.

"How did he even get the bugs into your office? He's been in the hospital, hasn't he?"

"I'm sure he sent a team while I was out, Clark." Lex should have been more careful. He should have doubled down on his security when he had the chance.

"Well, I can take care of them, if you want me to. I can use my—"

"That would be great." Lex winced. "Any chance you could search the whole mansion?"

"It might take awhile, but I'll call my dad and explain. It should be okay."

Lex didn't feel as optimistic, but based on Clark's comments on the phone, it was his mom who picked up. She gave him the go ahead to stay through the dinner hour, and he spent the rest of the afternoon and evening scouring the mansion for bugs, which he brought back to Lex, smashed to bits. It made Lex feel a lot more secure.

But after Clark was gone, Lex called a surveillance team and scheduled an appointment for them to put bugs in his father's offices. One could never be too careful, especially now that Pamela was working for Lex's father.