Chapter 3: Clark Kent and a Close Encounter
I spent the next two days trailing Lex around the mansion and the town of Smallville. I wasn't a lost puppy, but whenever Lex moved about inside and outside the mansion, he would find me first and bid me to follow. I didn't mind it, but I did wonder if Lex found it taxing.
Lex and I got to know each other a little be more over those two days. When I told him I was a fan of superheroes and comics, he immediately showed me his collection of Warrior Angel comics, and was aghast when I admitted to never reading it. He promptly set me down with a stack of his "readable" copies for me to pour over. I did, gladly, thought made a point of telling him that I was a Captain America fan and expert. (Thank goodness Captain America comics also existed here in this universe!)
Of course, Lex asked all the pointed questions about me too. Where was I from, what was my family like (if I remembered), what was the last thing I remembered, etc. I didn't know how much I could truthfully tell him, so I tried to stick to the basics. I knew that he nor the authorities would be able to find my "family", and my life would be scrutinized once everyone knew I had a blank record. I also feared the sort of backstory Zeed had created for me, and wasn't looking forward to any sort of big reveal.
On the third day, Lex informed me that we were going into town to mee a friend of his. I was curious, but a little apprehensive. We hadn't taken a lot of trips into town, and if we did, Lex ran in to do his errand, leaving me in the car with a trusted driver. I didn't have a lot of experience with any of the local folk of Smallville.
Lex drove this time, and we spun out onto the streets in his silver Porsche. He drove like a mad man, and it reminded me greatly of one of my brothers, Bill, who drove a little like this when he was a teenager. Whenever we sped up and down hills, I couldn't help but smile with excitement, much like how I did when I was younger with Bill. Then I would remind myself that Lex almost got himself killed going sixty on a bridge, and many other times, and that would sober me up quickly.
We didn't go directly to town, instead we stayed close to the farmlands, and I realized exactly who we were meeting as we neared a certain farm. The wooden sign at the front of the drive said Kent, and my heart began to pound in my chest. We rolled up close to the familiar farmhouse when a woman with red hair came out the front door with a container of produce. She caught sight of Lex and I in the car and juggled the container in order to wave at us.
"Good morning, Mrs. Kent," Lex called as he got out of the car. "Thought I'd come down and introduce my temporary visitor."
Mrs. Kent looked from Lex to me, and gave me a wide smile. She set down her container and then walked up to me with her hand extended. I took it and gave it a firm shake.
"Martha Kent," She told me. "It's so nice to meet you!" Her voice was warm and her overall appearance inviting.
"Maddie Davis, it's nice to meet you too." I grinned back at her.
Martha Kent a pleasant person, and she seemed to shine from the inside out. Her presence was calm and reassuring. It had a nice soothing effect on my poor nerves at the moment. She went back and picked up the carton of produce, giving it to Lex.
"You're weekly delivery." She said cheerily. Lex took the carton and thanked her before quickly stashing it in the trunk of the Porsche. "Clark is in the barn with John," She called back to us as she turned to go back into the house. "Stop by inside before you leave!"
Lex stood next to me as we watched her go back inside. Once the door closed behind her, Lex tapped my shoulder and cocked his head towards the barn. He led the way and I followed a few steps behind, turning my head this way and that to look at the all-too familiar Kent Family farm.
"Mrs. Kent is nice," I said, and Lex nodded happily.
"She kind of likes me," He shrugged. "Mr. Kent on the other hand,"
"Kind of doesn't?" I finished for me. He stopped short of the opened barn door and looked at me rather curiously.
"That is probably the nicest way to put it." He muttered thoughtfully.
He entered the barn and I followed after him. The sound of hammering metal rang throughout the open space. The smell of hay and dirt filled my nostrils, and I stared at the various pieces of farm equipment strewn about. We rounded a small stable area and saw two people hammering away at an engine of some sort. I held my hands over my ears as the tinny noise of the hammering got louder and reverberated in my head. Lex and I stood off to the side awkwardly for a minute or two before one of the two men caught sight of us.
"Hey Lex!" It was Clark that had noticed us and spoke first. He broke away from the work he and his father had been doing and came towards us.
Clark Kent was a tall, musceled farm boy dressed in a red flannel shirt over a blue t-shirt, and faded blue jeans. His sparkling blue eyes scanned Lex and then me as he ran a hand through his tussled black hair. It occurred to me then, that because of Zeed's making me fourteen in this reality, that Clark and I were actually quite close in age. A shiver ran up my spine as a heat rushed my face. I pretended to itch my nose to head the worried and flushed look that had probably appeared on my face with that realization.
"Hello Clark, Mr. Kent." Lex smiled as he and Clark shared a hearty handshake. Clark then stood next to Lex, but close enough to still see me and his father.
Johnathan Ken seemed unenthused at having his work time broken by Lex Luthor. He wiped the sweat from his brow, shaking his head in the process. He kept whatever contempt he had for Lex's appearance hidden as he took off his gloves and turned to us. He caught sight of me and cocked one of his eyebrows up in a silent question.
"Well, hello there," He said to me.
"I just wanted to stop by and introduce Maddie." Lex turned to me and patted my shoulder.
"Hello," I gave a little half-hearted wave.
"This isn't the girl you found by your factory, is it?" Johnathan asked. He put his gloves down and wiped his hands on a towel hanging close by.
"Yes, she's staying with me until we find the man who attacked her." Lex said matter-of-factly. It almost felt like he was part of some hardboiled interview, instead of talking to a friend and his father.
Then again, I knew that Lex and Johnathan Kent were not really on friendly terms. There was bad blood in the relationship, and I knew that it plagues Clark and Lex to no end. They were friends, and Johnathan had a hard time seeing that.
"You really think the Smallville Prowler attacked her?" Clark asked, lowering his voice at the mention of the Prowler, as if merely speaking about it would summon him right in the middle of the barn.
"Her injuries were all the same with those of the previous victims, and it's still being investigated. In the meantime, Maddie is with me." Lex turned and smiled at me and I nodded hesitantly.
Gall this was all so awkward!
I glanced back at Johnathan Kent, who looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn't. It almost looked like he was buzzing with burning questions, like why I wasn't in foster care like a regular person, and why Lex felt like he needed to be involved at all. Instead, Johnathan gave me a warm smile and welcomed me to Smallville. He excused himself, making some excuse about checking on something with Martha. The three of us all watched him leave the barn in silence.
"Sorry about that," Clark mumbled, looking a little embarrassed. Lex just shrugged. He seemed to be unbothered by it. "I'm Clark, by the way." Clark leaned past Lex and held out his hand. I took it and gave it a shake.
"Maddie, but you heard that." I rubbed the back of my head as I chuckled dryly. Secretly, I was wishing I could sink into the ground and disappear.
Lex and Clark began to talk about school and town, leaving me to wander the barn a little bit. After a while, Lex called for me to follow the two of them up to the loft part of the barn. There was an assortment of comfortable chairs and a couch, with a telescope pointed up to the sky.
"So, the Smallville Prowler," Clark said, clasping his hands in front of him. "You don't remember anything about what happened, Maddie?"
He and Lex watched me intently as I looked to the wooden floor and thought about it. I closed my eyes and tried to remember something that I could tell them. My brow cinched together in hard concentration, and soon I did begin to remember something. At first I remembered Zeed, but then, I saw the strange silhouette with the bright green eyes. When I looked directly at the green eyes, a spasm of pain erupted all over my body. As if lighting had ignited inside of me.
"When he looked at me, it hurt." I blurted out through the memory of pain. I opened my eyes and looked from Lex to Clark. "I don't know why, but his eyes were bright green, like radioactive green, and when he fixed his eyes on me it was like he could make me feel pain."
The memory felt strange to me, like it had been placed there conveniently for me to explain. I wondered if this was part of Zeed's plan, but I couldn't really see him giving me an excuse to remember the "attack". Maybe Watt had managed to slip that detail in along with his strange note from earlier.
"That's what the first victim's friend said happened when she disappeared." Lex mused, giving Clark an intriguing look. "One stare had her in immense pain that knocked her out."
"The man's eyes were really bright green?" Clark asked, I nodded, and related my dream I had during the night, confirming the color. I knew that Clark would make an immediate connection with that.
Meteor Rock was a popular term thrown around Smallville, especially around strange occurrences. They were pieces of the meteors that had rained down on Smallville, bringing Clark with them, almost a decade ago. For unknown reasons, the meteor rocks gave people strange powers or abilities, but made Clark extremely sick. He didn't know why that happened, but I knew: the meteor rocks were Kryptonite. However I was not going to explain that detail anytime soon.
"Have you seen someone around town with bright green eyes?" Lex asked skeptically, and Clark smiled. He shook his head acting oblivious. I wondered too, if Clark knew something we didn't.
"You both seem to know a lot more about it than anyone else." I commented and they looked at me with raised brows.
"It's a small town, news carries fast." Clark said quickly, brushing the comment off while Lex nodded. I rolled my eyes at them, I knew they were secretly playing detective, even without them coming out and telling me outright.
Got away! Got away!
I flinched and grabbed my head as the angry words pierced my mind. They were accompanied with a splitting pain, and I moved my left hand to press the heel to my forehead to try and make it go away.
"Maddie?" Lex asked. His voice sounded very far away.
You got away! How did you get away?
I won't let that happen again!
I whimpered as I stood, swaying a little on my feet. Lex and Clark both got on their feet as well and crowded around me. My head pounded over and over as the words repeated in higher pitch. I closed my eyes against the agony, and when I opened them again, I gasped.
I was looking at the barn from the outside, but in a green haze. I could feel angry determination emanating from with me, with bitterness mixed into it. They weren't my emotions; I could tell that instantly. From far away, I could hear Lex and Clark calling my name, but I couldn't see them. I understood then that I must have been looking through the eyes of the Smallville Prowler, and whoever they were, they were getting closer and closer to the barn. My heart constricted in panic, and I took an involuntary step forward. When I did, I bumped into something and fell to the floor.
"Ouch!" My left arm slammed into the wood floor of the loft really hard. It burned all through my bone, settling on the scar down my left arm. A pair of hands pulled me up by the shoulders, and when I opened my eyes again, I was looking at Lex.
"Maddie!" His eyes were wide with worry as he scanned me over. Clark stood behind him, brow furrowed with concern as well.
"He's outside!" I started. "The Prowler! I could see the outside of the barn, as if through his eyes." I anxiously touched the area of my face around my eyes, feeling really dizzy all of a sudden.
Lex jumped to his feet and dashed down the stairs of the loft. Clark and I watched him, and Clark then took a step as if to follow him.
"Clark stay with Maddie!"
"Lex, wait!" Clark called out after him, but Lex was gone in a flash. Clark looked conflicted, but came back and stood next to me.
Behind us we could hear the rustling of grass and crop leaves, hinting that someone was in the cornfield behind the barn. Clark and I turned and waited anxiously. I almost believed that the man would super jump up into the loft and attack. I grabbed Clark's arm in fear, and he put his free hand reassuringly on my shoulder. We heard Lex's voice calling out, and soon it was followed by Johnathan's as he joined in the hunt as well. I quickly inspected my arm, since I had fallen almost right onto my stitches. Luckily it looked relatively unharmed, except for the bright red color it was, and the lingering burn of pain. I could handle that, though, and was just happy to be otherwise fine.
"You could see the outside of the barn from this guy's eyes?" Clark asked, pulling me back to the present.
"Yeah, but almost through a green cloud." I replied.
"That makes sense," Hu muttered, and I cocked my head to the side.
"What makes sense?" I pressed.
"Your eyes were bright green for a second." I stared at Clark with wide eyes.
My eyes were green naturally, so I could only imagine that they were bright, meteor rock green, and glowing. If that had happened, did Clark feel sick? I scanned him over as covertly as I could, but he seemed fine. Maybe because my eyes weren't the source, he didn't feel the full power of the meteor rock.
"What else happened? Can you explain it?" Clark tried to seem he wasn't overly interested, but I didn't care. Somewhere out in the cornfield a voice called out, and I flinched against it.
"It was just like the dream I had, that I told you about. I kept hearing his voice saying 'got away' over and over again. It got louder and started to hurt my head. Then when I opened my eyes again, I was staring at the barn, from the outside." My brows knitted into an expression of confusion and fear as I told Clark what had happened.
Lex went after him, the thought chilled me. Instant regret and guilt pounded down on me; I let go of Clark and rushed over to where the telescope was, looking out into the field. Clark followed after me, trying to follow my gaze and see what I was looking for.
"Anything else?" Clark asked.
"He said 'I won't let you get away again'," I whispered, looking up at Clark.
Down below, the door banged open, and I yelped. Clark grabbed me, pushing me so I stood behind him as he went to inspect who had come into the barn. I followed and we both craned our necks to peer down, spotting Lex half carrying, half dragging Johnathan into the barn.
"I told him to stop the moment I saw him, but then he looked at me and I just felt all of this pain." Johnathan explained once Clark and I joined him and Lex on the dirt floor of the barn.
Mr. Kent leaned against a sturdy tool table, panting and grimacing a little. Clark and rushed to the house and told his mother to call the authorities to come and search the farm. Once Mr. Kent caught his breath, he advised Lex and I to go back home, just in case.
"I'm so sorry that this happened," I told Mr. Kent as we turned to leave. "This is all my fault."
"No, Maddie, don't think that," He said reassuringly. "I'm just glad you weren't hurt in any way."
Lex spirited me back to the mansion where security was doubled and then checked repeatedly. Later in the evening Clark called to inform us that no one had been found on the farm, but there was evidence that someone had been walking around, other than the Kent's. It was a little frightening knowing how close the Prowler had gotten to me so quickly.
I spent the rest of the day in my room, sitting on the bed and looking over the note from Watt, and listening to the MP3 player. Leave it to Watt to make sure I had my music in times of need, like this. It was a little comforting, and I felt save in my little room. I couldn't seem to push past the intense anxiety raging inside of me, though. And when there was anxiety, my depression would soon follow it.
I had been clinically diagnosed with anxiety and depression after my first adventure into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I had been taking antidepressants for years, and was now even taking two different types a day. I was a little unhappy to find out I was taking two antidepressants, but they made me feel better, so I couldn't really argue. Here, in Smallville though, I didn't have my antidepressants to help me feel better emotionally. To everyone's knowledge I only had asthma, and I had three different inhalers: one on my person at all times, an emergency one stashed in my room, and an emergency-emergency inhaler Lex carried with him.
Lex had been completely understanding when it came to my asthma. He himself had had asthma when he was younger, though it went away the day the meteors hit Smallville. I was the opposite, never having it when I was young, but getting it during my first year of college (in my reality of course). I didn't know how to handle my need to antidepressants, or if I even needed them here in Smallville. I didn't in the MCU, since being there was an extensive antidepressant dose anyways. Sitting on my bed, I knew I couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in my chest, signaling the start of a depressive episode.
There was a knock at the door, and I looked up to see Lex standing in the open doorway.
"Hey," I said as I pulled off my headphones. A low thump came from them, and I had to remind myself to turn the player off. I sure did miss Skull Candy noise cancelling headphones.
"How are you doing?" He asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Okay, I guess." I mumbled, looking away.
"Clark just called and said the police finished up the sweep on the farm. They didn't find anyone." Lex's tone was meant to be comforting, but I still felt awful.
"So, are you going to turn full detective and try and find the guy? You could use my 'vision' like a psychic." I sighed in frustration, slumping my shoulders.
"Tempting, but no," Lex laughed softly. "I'll let the proper authorities do the detective work." I had a small feeling that he had come to that decision when he had found Mr. Kent writhing in pain during their search.
I nodded, though inwardly guessed that he would still in some way play off-screen detective. I knew that Lex was sly, or so I could recall from the television show. I thought about Clark at that point too, wondering how much of a detective he was going to be. His father had been attacked, so he could have taken it personally. I had wanted to ask if he had felt ill when my eyes went green, but he didn't know that I knew of his secret origins, and I was prepared to share that little detail. And being grilled by Lex was also not on my agenda.
"We're going to catch this guy." I looked back at Lex. He gave me a serious, determined look.
"Yeah, I know," I replied.
I just couldn't help feeling like a problem, and guilty that others were getting hurt. I didn't want to see anyone else go through such pain just to make sure I was safe. If anyone had to get hurt, it should be me.