Despite the report from Emma and Jean that Justin was now nothing more than a killer looking to take out the next person who looked at him funny, the group of dimensional travellers decide to cater to Clark and Jonathan's pleas not to simply kill him.
As a result Harry was fairly grumpy. He was still unhappy about having Coach Arnold alive. The man was a child abuser, the only reason he allowed Jonathan to sway him was because he wasn't a sexual predator.
The next few days calmed down considerably, Justin was declared missing and Emma began searching for a new assistant principal.
Lana decided to follow Chloe's advice. She arrived at the Kent home with two horses.
"Hi Lana, what brings you here?" Dani asked as she opened the door and instantly moved to the horses.
Lana began to blush, she hadn't thought about how she would react to any one but Clark being home. "I… is Clark home?"
Dani spun around to face her with a huge grin on her face. "I'll go get him!" She said before vanishing on the spot.
Lana jumped as she heard shouting from in the house.
"DANI! GET OUT!"
That was Clark.
"THERE IS A LOCK ON THE DOOR!"
"DANI, LEAVE CLARK ALONE!"
That was Amara.
"LANA'S HERE TO SEE HIM! I THINK IT'S FOR A DATE!" Dani yelled.
Lana cringed; she didn't want that announced to the whole house.
"GIRL'S! STOP SHOUTING!"
God bless Martha Kent.
The front door opened to reveal Martha standing there with a smile. "Tie those two up Lana and come on in." She instructed.
"Clark will be a few minutes, he needed a shower. There was an incident with a witch and some manure."
"Dani?" Lana asked with a smile, everyone knew the American Indian witch had a tendency to play jokes and mess around.
"Actually it was Amara."
"It was not my fault!" The blonde haired roman princess protested as she walked down the stairs drying her own hair.
"Clark's jacket says otherwise." Dani grinned as she held up Clark's familiar red jacket, it was badly burnt.
"What did you do?" Lana asked curiously.
Amara sighed and blushed. "I was taking Clark a hot drink, I was heating it as I went." She set her finger on fire to demonstrate. "There was a lot of manure out there. And a lot of methane as a result."
"You blew up the stalls?!" Lana asked, horrified.
"No, just Clark." Dani smirked. "Although she did get covered in crap when Clark landed in it. It went everywhere."
"Why didn't you just use magic to clean yourself?" Lana asked.
"Nothing beats a good water shower." Amara said firmly. "We have experienced magic cleaning, baths, sonic showers and various other technologies, but at the end of the day, water is the best." She sighed wistfully.
"And this is coming from someone who turns into a lava creature." Dani smirked. "OW!" Dani rubbed her butt where Amara had singed her.
"You had better repair that hole… and Clark's jacket." Dani warned.
"Hi Lana." Clark said bashfully as he came down the stairs, his hair still wet.
"Hi Clark." Lana smiled… she then froze as she realised she hadn't planned to do this with an audience.
Martha just smiled. "Come on ladies, someone has to clean up the mess in the stalls." She said as she led them out the door.
This left the two teenagers alone in the kitchen.
"So… "
"Yes, I came here to ask you if you wanted to go out." Lana sighed. "I wasn't going to use the word 'date' but I guess it doesn't matter now."
"And you told Dani that?"
"No! She assumed."
They stood there for a moment in an uncomfortable silence.
"Aren't I supposed to ask you out?" Clark questioned hesitantly.
He was a little taken aback by the glare Lana sent him.
"Do you want to ask me out?"
"Well… yes-"
"When did you plan to ask me out?" Lana demanded.
Clark's mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"That's why Chloe suggested I make the first move."
"Chloe!?"
"Yes, Chloe."
"Hey Clark, you up for some motor-" Pete froze in the front door as he saw the awkwardness that was Clark and Lana. "Right, I'll come back another day." He said as he backed out the door.
"There goes any chance of keeping this private." Jonathan muttered as he walked down the stairs to the kettle.
"Dad! How long were you listening?" Clark asked.
"Since Lana asked if you wanted to ask her out." Jonathan smiled slyly. "I would have waited but I really need a drink." He said as he began ushering them out the door. "Have fun, we can handle your chores for the day."
They stood there staring at the door as he slammed it shut behind them.
"Maybe we should leave." Lana offered as she looked around nervously.
"Quickly!" Clark agreed.
Whilst Clark and Lana were racing off for their first date, Harry joined Lex and Pamela Jenkins at the mansion.
"You decided to share your secret then?" Harry asked knowingly.
Pamela nodded shakily. She was quite pale, and not just because of the cancer tearing her apart. "I have many secrets, or rather, I know many secrets. Too many too actually recite but there is a personal secret that has haunted me for years. It is the reason I was sent away."
Pamela turned to Lex. "I was not as faithful to you and your mother as I should have been. I had an affair with your father a year so after you were born."
"That doesn't surprise me." Lex sighed. "I believe in his own way he loved my mother, but in the end he is still Lionel Luther at heart."
"That wasn't the worst part, I conceived a daughter, I gave birth to that daughter. You have a sister Lex."
Lex's head shot up at that. "Then where is she?"
"Your father took her away when she was a few years old. It was cruel, he didn't do it when she was a baby, he separated myself and my only child and he just abandoned her." Pamela cried as tears fell. "He didn't even tell me he was doing it! He cared for that girl like a daughter and he still managed to just throw her away like that!"
"Didn't you try and find her?" Lex demanded.
"Lex, I was a prisoner in your home. Your father sent me away; I didn't leave of my own free will. He never told me anything about what he did, I searched as hard as I could but… I wasn't able to get back in the country until now. He threatened to kill me."
"Lionel Luther goes that far?" Harry asked.
"Not overtly." Lex answered. "But my guess is he has a lot of contacts with contacts with contacts and so on that help keep his hands 'clean'."
"I will get together with a friend and see if he can track down your wayward sibling." Harry said. "He's an excellent tracker, better than me even and he taught Laura a lot of what she knows. Put them together with Dani and I reckon it will take about a week."
Harry stood and straightened his shirt. "Well, I'll leave you two to talk. Lex, call me if you need anymore help."
"Harry, the cancer?" Lex asked. Pamela sent a pleading look to Harry.
Harry just smirked. "What cancer?" He walked towards the door calling over his shoulder. "You are free to give her the full rundown Lex, bring her to the castle if you want."
"But I told him the truth!" Pamela wailed.
"Yes, and Harry has- look, the only way to do this is to take you to the hospital for a full workup. I'll see if Jean can meet us." Lex sighed. He also needed to have someone around to help him in case she fainted.
Clark and Lana couldn't help but smile and laugh as they raced through the fields together on their mounts. It was a beautiful day and the company was even better. Eventually they slowed to a trot as they approached a fence and the edge of the current field.
"It's good to get them running, Whitney's horse doesn't get much exercise these days, although I do try." Lana said with a sad smile as she dismounted, Clark following suit.
"Have you heard from Whitney?" Clark asked, he may not have liked him but he couldn't feel ill for anyone.
"No, but Mr. Fordman asked if I wanted to buy this handsome fella." She said as she patted the horse's flank. "I just can't afford him."
"Talk to Dani, she would probably love a horse and would use it to ride the around the farm." Clark suggested.
"The American Indian Cowgirl." Lana smirked.
"And she would inform you that her people were doing it long before the settlers arrived in America." Clark said. "Then she would teleport you into the nearest pile of manure." He added with a grimace.
"She doesn't like cowboys?" Lana asked with a laugh.
"Sure she does. She dresses half Indian half cowboy. She just feels that she is the only one allowed to make references about it when it comes to her.
"Although she and Dad have started a prank war. He keeps changing her clothes to cowboy clothes and he keeps coming home in war paint and feathered head dresses." Clark smiled.
"It definitely seems like life is fun on the farm." Lana mused as they tied up their horses and began removing the picnic from her saddlebags.
"And weird. Very weird. One day you come home and do your chores and help your dad bale the hay, the next there's an Native American and a Roman Princess doing it with magic."
"Is that how you first found out about magic?"
"No, I first found out when I jammed my arm in the wood chipper to make a point and Mr. Summers saw me do it. He called in Harry and the rest… is history."
"You jammed your arm in a wood chipper?" Lana asked with narrowed eyes.
"I was upset and was trying to prove a point about me being different to my dad."
"What could possibly drive you to do that?" Lana asked in disbelief.
"I wanted to join the football team." Clark said with red face. At Lana's raised eyebrow he continued. "Because of all my abilities I haven't ever been able to do what others call 'normal', football was something my dad always talked about and I wanted to be able to experience it as well."
Lana just looked at him. "You have a lot of issues Clark."
Clark smiled at her sadly, with a hint of worry. "Does that mean you regret asking me out?"
"No, the triplets and Chloe warned me that you would be a lot of work. Someone has to try and sort you out and they voted for me." She smirked.
Clark shuddered at the thought of Lana and Chloe discussing him with the Cuckoos. Nothing good could come of it. No matter how beautiful Lana was.
"So… how were you introduced to magic?" Clark asked a little too quickly.
Lana laughed softly at Clark's obvious attempt to change the subject, but allowed him the out. "The Triplets held me captive whilst they showed me what they can do. I was more scared than when Greg Arkin kidnapped me or my horse bucked me off."
"Really? They can be… aggressive, but I didn't think they would try and scare you." Clark frowned.
"They weren't happy with me from the beginning." Lana admitted. "First I had quit the cheerleading squad and they thought I was crazy for doing so. What they considered an even bigger crime was dating Whitney instead of you." She smiled.
"They told you that?" Clark asked curiously.
"Quite openly as well."
"Then why are they always hanging all over me?" He demanded.
Lana just laughed. "They think you are hot!"
Clark couldn't help but feel a little pleased about hearing that, despite his blush. The Cuckoos had always said he was a 'hottie' but hearing that they had said it to someone else made it more believable.
"So they don't want to date me?" Clark asked with a curious frown.
"They do, but they claim we all live for thousands of years and will learn to share." Lana replied with a frown of her own.
"They aren't lying." Clark told her, then he saw her head snap to him. "About the living long!" He amended hastily. "Harry took me to meet real live gods from the last universe he was in. The one the others like the Cuckoos are from. He even introduced me to his children."
"Is that how you found out about him being Death?" Lana asked with a bit of a shudder. Doctor Potter was a nice person, but it was very unsettling to find out he was the personification of Death.
"No, he told us that when we first met. Cassandra was the first time he actively proved it. She died of old age right in front of Lex, Harry built her a new body and transferred her soul into it."
Lana shivered as she remembered the warnings that Cassandra had given her when she shook her hand. She still had trouble believing that she was capable of the things Cassandra warned her about.
Clark didn't notice this though. "How did they tell you about Harry being Death?" He asked with a smile.
Lana relaxed, grateful for the slight return to the original subject. "Harry took Chloe and me back to the time of dinosaurs, we got to see baby triceratops!" She smiled brightly.
"You're lucky, he took me back in time and the first thing I got to see was the inside of a Tyrannosaurus Rex's mouth." Clark grumbled. "It did not smell nice."
"You got eaten by a T-Rex?" Lana laughed.
"Yes, and Harry just stood there and laughed. Hilde too."
"But it couldn't hurt you right? You have unbreakable skin." She said as she poked him in the arm. She was a little surprised that it felt like regular flesh, not the cold hard steel she had expected. She started squeezing his arm and rubbing it, trying to figure it out.
Clark sat there frozen as the girl of his dreams… played with him.
Lana looked up at Clark and realised what she was doing and withdrew her hand quickly as though it was burnt.
Both were blushing heavily.
Lana cleared her throat nervously. "So… what happened to the T-Rex, how did you escape?"
Clark released a long breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. "Oh, I crawled out after it broke most of its teeth on me and it was all gums."
Lana couldn't help but laugh at that.
"I really stank though and no amount of magic helped, I didn't feel better till Harry took me to waterfall and gave me some soap and new clothes." Clark shuddered.
"You really got eaten by a T-Rex?" She asked, still laughing.
"Have a look at the mantle over the fireplace in the castle. Harry mounted one of the broken teeth up there." Clark said with a straight face and a hint of wryness.
"You have to be-"
Lana was interrupted by the sound of an explosion nearby.
"I should go and see what that was." Clark frowned. They were still on Kent property so he felt responsible for anything that happened.
"I'll secure the horses." Lana assured him.
It didn't take long for Lana to have both horses firmly secured to the fence before she hopped over and followed the direction Clark had gone. What she found were public works men and members of the sheriff's department working on an exploded gas line. They seemed to be struggling, but what caught her attention was the crumpled form of Clark Kent not far from a pipe outlet that was vibrating wildly. She quickly rushed over to Clark and realised he was still trying to get to the men.
"Clark, what's wrong?" She asked worriedly.
"Feels like meteorites." Clark wheezed painfully. "Need to tell the men about the pipe."
"First I need to get you away from here or you'll die." She said firmly.
"No! Tell the men- "
"Shut up Clark and work with me." Lana snapped as she tried to help him to his feet.
She saw a rock at Clark's feet, it seemed like a normal rock, no hint of green crystals, but it suited her purposes. She grabbed it and threw it at the group of men.
Regrettably she hit one of the deputies on the head, but she got their attention. "THIS PIPE IS GOING TO BLOW!" She screamed before returning all her efforts to moving Clark.
She could hear the men shouting behind her as they worked faster and harder. But she knew it wouldn't be long before the pipe burst.
There was a loud bang and Lana pushed Clark away from her as hard as she could before the explosion picked them both up and tossed them away.
That was the last thing Lana knew as she saw various faces looming over her and she passed out.
"She should be fine, Miss Potter. She just has a concussion so I want her in over night." The doctor explained to Nell as they stood outside Lana's hospital room.
"As long as she gets better." Nell said worriedly. "Is Clark ok?"
"As far as we know he should be fine, you'll need to consult with Doctor Potter and Clark's parents about that." The doctor smiled reassuringly.
Nell nodded and entered Lana's room closing the door behind her. Lana had been unconscious since they brought her in with Clark Kent, she knew she had intended to go riding with the boy and she suspected she was about to make her move on him. She didn't mind too much, especially as they were all friends with the castle residents and Lex Luthor. Nell was very much the social climber.
Lana was her daughter in every way that mattered. She kept the relationship to that of an aunt and niece out of respect for her late sister and brother-in-law, but she loved Lana like she was her own. She settled into the chair to wait for Lana to wake up.
"Clark, you're awake? I thought you would be unconscious like Lana." Chloe remarked in surprise as she entered Clark's room.
"Our boy has a hard head." Pete teased. "He's been awake since I got here."
"Thanks Pete." Clark said sarcastically. "How is Lana?"
"Still hasn't woken up. Nell is here though. Who's your doctor?" She asked, she hadn't seen Harry on her way in.
"Harry, but he wanted to check up on some other patients so he'll be around later." Clark shifted uncomfortable in the bed. "These gowns are very uncomfortable… and revealing." He scowled.
"Yeah, isn't this like the first time you've ever been a patient in hospital?" Pete said in realisation.
"Hopefully my last too."
"This has to be a cause for celebration!" Pete said eagerly.
"Pete Ross, you are not throwing a party in a hospital room." Scott said firmly as he entered the room.
Pete just pouted. "Not now I'm not, yeah." He grumbled.
"Clark, you feeling alright?"
"Yes, Coach, I feel… I have a bit of a headache and some sore ribs. But I'll be fine… soon." Clark had to remember he was supposed to be injured so he repeated what Harry said he should be feeling.
"Glad to hear it. I'd hate to have to put Pete in to replace you." He warned with a slight smirk at Pete.
"I really don't think I have the arm for that, Coach." Pete said warily.
"Which is why I don't want to put you in for Clark. Now why don't you go and put some practice in. You only have one game to play before you move and if you want to make the team in your new school you need to put on a good showing."
"You got it Coach." Pete grinned. "Clark, catch ya later, Chloe, see ya when you get back." He said as he headed out.
Scott waved a hand at the door. "We can talk a bit more freely now." He explained. "I assume there is nothing wrong with you?"
"Other than feeling overly exposed, no." Clark grimaced as Chloe giggled behind her hand. "Did you check on Lana?"
"No, Laura is handling that. But she says she should wake up soon. She is applying a little bit of healing to speed things along."
"Can't you just heal her and have her fake symptoms like you did for Clark?" Chloe asked, having caught on to the plan.
"They took a scan of her head when she came in and there was some swelling, we can't take that out without raising a few eyebrows. All we can do is make sure there are no complications and ease the swelling quicker." Scott explained.
"What time do you have to leave for your conference, Chloe?" Clark asked.
"Now, but I'm not sure I should go, maybe I should wait for Lan-"
"I am sure she will appreciate the sentiment but I know she will want you to attend this conference. You've been going on about it for several weeks." Chloe looked at Scott quizzically. "You've been talking about it non-stop in the hallways." Scott smirked.
Chloe just blushed.
"Coach Summers is correct, Miss Sullivan." Emma concurred as she entered. "You are making good progress to being reappointed as Editor of the school paper, but attending this conference will be a fine feather in your cap. We will pass your best wishes on to Miss Lang, now, go." She said firmly.
The problem with Emma Frost was that it was hard to say no to her. Even Harry had a hard time.
"I guess I'll see you when you get back." She shrugged as she collected her bag and left after giving Clark a hug.
"You do love to throw your weight around, don't you." Scott laughed as the door closed.
"If you've got it, flaunt it." Emma shrugged. "I spoke with Harry, Lana has a fairly heavy dose of meteor radiation in her head. He wants her healed up and at the castle overnight."
Scott just groaned. "Ok Clark, get dressed. You are about to see how much trouble it is to do something like healing someone quickly and convincing the doctors to let you leave."
"You forget, we also need to convince Miss Potter to let her niece stay with us." Emma turned to Clark with a stern expression. "Clark, what you are about to see us do is considered highly unethical. We are going to be modifying memories and using our magic and abilities to make people do things we need them to do."
Clark was a little startled by this. Forget the fact that they were about to engage in mind control; Emma Frost had used his first name. It wasn't as uncommon these days for her to do so, but it was unusual.
She waved a hand and Clark was dressed. "Follow me." She instructed.
"Isn't there a way to do it without modifying memories?" Clark asked as he quickly got out of bed.
"Modifying memories is always the last resort. We will do what we can and then decide if we can afford to leave people's memories alone. Modifying memories is usually done only in the best interests of the person whose memories will be modified. We may be able to get away with claiming that Lana's scans were faulty, but it will be much harder to convince Nell Potter to let Lana stay with us."
"Couldn't one of you stay with Lana at her place? You could be invisible and only Lana would need to know." Clark asked.
Emma stopped and spun around with an intense look on her face. "Very good, Mr. Kent. Very good indeed. Scott, take Clark and have him explain his plan to Harry. I will handle Miss Lang."
"It's just a regular sleep over Lana." Phoebe smiled as she settled into the conjured bed next to Lana's. "Just relax and sleep. I will be here if anything happens."
"It's just strange to only have one of you around at a time." Lana sighed.
"Technically we are all here, just in the one body."
"That doesn't really help." Lana muttered as she settled down for the night. "Are you sure you don't know what the meteor rocks did to me?"
"Harry said that some were embedded in your skin and that your pores had the energy in them. He cleaned as much of the rock out as he could but he still hasn't gotten a grip on the energy. If worst comes to worst then he will build you a fresh body and transfer you across."
"I really don't want to try that." Lana groaned.
"Considering who your friends are, I'd start getting used to it." Phoebe laughed.
Chloe was positively terrified. She had been knocked out and abducted and now she was bound and blindfolded somewhere. She couldn't move to get rid of her blindfold and she had been trying.
"Couldn't have a normal day, could you?"
At that moment she fell in love with Lorna Dane.
A few seconds later and the blindfold was off and she could see Lorna and Harry standing there.
"I don't know when he might come back." She said frantically.
"Like we really care." Lorna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "He comes back and we deal with him. But as we have the opportunity we will simply see if he is in our jurisdiction or if the Sheriff's office can handle it."
"How did you find me?" Chloe asked as she rubbed her freed wrists.
"Lana's accident today gave her some visions. She alerted us and we teleported to you. We don't actually know where we are." Harry shrugged.
"Do you have a phone?" Chloe asked.
Lorna pulled her phone out of her back pocket and Chloe started fiddling around before she handed it back to her.
"Of course, they have GPS back here." She said annoyed with herself.
"You didn't have it in your world?"
"When you can teleport everywhere maps aren't really needed for navigation, just geographical documentation." Harry explained. "Now, please excuse this intrusion but I doubt you want to play hostage for the night." He said.
Chloe watched in fascination as Harry morphed into her. "What are you doing?"
"Pretending to be you so that we can determine who your kidnapper is and whether we should deal with him ourselves or hand him over to the Sheriff."
"How are you going to explain escaping him?"
"I am going to kick his arse and then lie my own arse off." Harry grinned with Chloe's face. "By the time we are done, you will be a superhero and no one will ever dare mess with you again. Now, see you later!"
Chloe didn't get a chance to answer as Lorna teleported them out.
When they reappeared she found herself at the castle in the sitting room.
"Wait, don't I need to see what Harry does? How will I know what to tell the Sheriff?" She asked.
"Harry will show you the memories when he is done. For now you have an appointment with Laura."
"I do? It's 2am!"
"And hopefully in a few hours you will be sitting in the Sheriff's office telling them how you escaped. You need to be suitably dishevelled and exhausted."
"Couldn't we just use makeup?" She whined.
"No, now get moving."
"EW! EW! EW! EW!"
Phoebe sat up quickly as Lana's disgusted cries woke her. "What? What is- ewwwwww!"
"Get this stuff out of me!"
Phoebe grabbed her and teleported them straight to Jean, who was unfortunately buck naked in bed with Emma and Scott… who were also buck-naked.
"Oh god this day cannot get any worse!" Lana cried in desperation.
"Miss Lang, do get a hold of yourself." Emma said tiredly as she sat up, not bothering to cover herself.
Scott just rolled over. "I'm leaving this one to you two." He grunted.
"Infirmary now!" Phoebe told the women sternly.
Another jump and the four females were in the infirmary.
"Ok, what's the problem?" Jean asked as she conjured some clothes for herself.
Emma didn't bother.
"Lana's visions are from a man." Phoebe scowled. "She just had another one… of a fairly… intimate nature."
"Urination?" Emma asked curiously.
Lana and Phoebe shook their heads.
"Defecation?" Jean frowned.
Again they shook their heads.
Both women frowned as the girls shuddered.
Then it hit them, the one '-ation' left that was fairly intimate.
"By the Fury!" Jean scowled. "Lie down Lana and I'll get rid of those memories."
"Please, get rid of the link as well! I don't want to see that again!" Lana pleaded.
For Chloe it was the worst news possible. Her kidnapper was actually Deputy Watts who kidnapped her and he wasn't a meteor infected.
Now she was stuck in an interrogation room with Sheriff Miller.
"You can't seriously expect me to believe that someone of your size and stature took down a trained officer of the law, or that Watts would even do something like this." Miller scoffed.
"Where do you think I got these?" Chloe snapped tiredly as she held her wrists to show the marks from where she was bound.
"Maybe you got into a little kinky business with your boyfriend! I don't know what you kids get up to today!"
"That's it, I want a lawyer!" Chloe shouted angrily.
"You're not under arrest." Miller frowned.
"I want one to sue you!"
"There's no need for that, Miss Sullivan." Miller said soothingly.
"You doubt my story without investigating and you accuse me of sexual deviancy, let's not even get started on the fact that you haven't called my dad or an ambulance for me, I am a minor you know."
Miller stood up and looked at her apologetically. "You're right, I'm sorry. I'll go and call your father now."
"No, you should go and question Watts before he can think of a good story." Chloe snarled. "You should let me call my dad."
"That won't be necessary Chloe." Amara declared as she strode in. "I called your father already and my friends are picking him up as we speak. Sheriff Miller, are you in the habit of discussing the sexual proclivities of underage teenage girls who just suffered a traumatic experience?" She asked icily.
"Ma'am, what I am in the habit of is making sure I have all the facts." Miller said as he drew himself up. He knew he had crossed the line earlier, but he also knew not to admit anything to a lawyer.
"Then why haven't you questioned Deputy Watts like my client suggested? When Chloe Sullivan called my friend and explained the situation, she was trapped at the carnival grounds, correct?"
Miller just stared stone-faced.
"I do hope you haven't compromised the crime scene. It would be a shame to have you ousted from office due to incompetence."
"Now see here-"
"No! You see here! You will make sure that every 'I' is dotted and every 'T' crossed or so help me I will not only sue the Sheriff's office but I will take every penny you have and then have you put in prison!" Amara hissed angrily.
Chloe shifted uncomfortably. She was sure it had gotten hotter in here.
"Just like I do with every case." Sheriff Miller sneered before he stormed out.
Sheriff Miller was very familiar with Chloe Sullivan. She was the bane of his existence; always turning up at his office looking for quotes and scoops. He really couldn't discount the fact that she had set this up herself to get a big story. He knew she could be reckless and after some of the things he had seen in this town like the scarecrow fiasco, he knew the kids were downright dangerous.
But he knew the girl was right and he had screwed up. He'd let her talk to her father and lawyer whilst he questioned Watts, but then he'd investigate everything about her to make sure she wasn't trying to set Watts up.
"You do realise that a lot of his animosity towards you is deserved?" Amara said pointedly to Chloe after she had calmed herself down with a few deep breaths. "You have a way of annoying people when investigating your stories."
"It's not my fault if the truth hurts!" Chloe said indignantly.
Amara sighed. "Chloe, no one will hear the truth if the messenger gets themselves killed or jailed."
"Welcome to your new body." Harry smiled at Lana as she opened her eyes.
She smiled back and then turned her head to see her old meteor infected body lying crumpled on the floor.
Then she looked down at her new body and blushed.
"Clothes!" She squeaked as she covered herself as best she could.
"Oh! Right, why the devil do you lot never remind me?" Harry glared at the Cuckoos, Jean and Emma.
Then he looked at Emma again. "Well, not you." He told the naked and proud woman.
Chloe's life became absolute hell over the following two days as Sheriff Miller tore her life apart. It wasn't until Amara had threatened him with a harassment suit that he finally charged Deputy Watts and handed him over for prosecution.
"I trust you learnt your lesson, Miss Sullivan?" The Sheriff said pointedly as she finished signing her name on her witness statement.
Chloe went from annoyed to livid in 0.5 seconds. "I'm sorry? Are you saying I asked to be kidnapped?"
"Get off your high horse, Miss Sullivan." Miller scoffed. "I'm asking if you've learnt a lesson from the past two days about harassing people. Poking your nose where it shouldn't go and generally respecting other people. Believe it or not, I was quite restrained with how I investigated this case. Ideally I should have called in additional aid from the FBI as they handle kidnapping cases, especially when minors are involved. They would have been much more invasive."
"Are you trying to claim you were only doing your job when you questioned my friends? Went through my belongings and generally made my life hell?" She demanded.
"Yes. You are just lucky that Watts confessed this morning or I would have had to get other people involved and nothing your lawyer said would have changed that."
Chloe looked at Amara. "He's right, legally he is required to report this to the federal authorities, but he held off for the maximum amount of time he could."
"Here." Miller tossed a book on the table.
"'The FBI Handbook'?" She read the title questioningly.
"It's not the official handbook, but it is something that is passed around to help the new recruits, it might help you understand that what I did was limited compared to what the FBI would have done. Just remember how this felt the next time you start your own investigation." He warned as he turned and left the interrogation room.
It was a long shot, but Chloe Sullivan was young and headstrong. She firmly believed she was in the right and Lorna and the others clearly didn't think she would mature for a few more years… barring any more life threatening events. They would just do what they could to prevent her getting herself killed.
"Clark catch!" With super human reflexes Clark's hand snapped out and caught the object Harry had thrown at him. He looked at the strange octagonal disk curiously.
"You have no respect for safety, do you?" Lex asked as he, Martha and Jonathan glared at Harry.
Clark, who had just arrived at the castle from doing his chores, sat down on the nearest free sofa. "Was this meteor rock?"
"It's a possible part of your ship, Clark. We were worried it might react badly to you." Lex explained as he sat back. "I've had teams going through the field you landed in looking to clear out all the meteor rocks and hoping they would find something. They found that."
"It does look like it would fit." Clark admitted. He then looked at Harry with narrowed eyes. "How many of them did it take to convince you not to just ram this into the ship?"
"Just these three." Harry grinned. "The rest knew I wouldn't do it without consulting you first, considering it is your ship."
"And the ship is still…?" He asked leadingly.
"Hidden in the storm cellar."
Clark nodded. "So when do we try this out?"
"You will observe from safety. I will be alone when I try this thing." Harry said sternly.
"But it's from my planet, why would it hurt me? It brought me here."
"Two words, can you figure it out?" Harry asked patronisingly.
Clark furrowed his brow. "Alien Invasion?"
Lex just laughed. "Meteor rocks, Clark. The ship hasn't hurt you yet, but what happens if we turn it on and you react to it like you do to meteor rocks?"
"Wouldn't they have thought of that?"
"Nobody can think of everything, Clark." Harry warned. "After millions of years I still forget things."
"Like how to knock." Jonathan grumbled.
"I said I was sorry!" Harry exclaimed.
"I really don't want to know where this is going so can we get back to turning my ship on?" Clark asked hastily.
"We can do it on Saturday, that way Lana and Chloe can both be there for you."
"Is it safe for them?" Clark asked worriedly.
"Considering I'll be there and I can heal everything including death… I'd say so."
The following Saturday the ship was moved to the Castle and to a special laboratory that Harry had created. It resembled the Danger Room from the X-Mansion in that it was mainly metallic and had a viewing room situated high up. In the lab itself stood Laura with the octagonal disk. In the viewing room stood the Kents, Lex, Chloe, Lana and all of the other dimensional travellers.
"Why is Laura doing this and not you? I thought you couldn't die?" Chloe asked.
"Laura has a very impressive healing ability. Not as good as my own but she can take a huge amount of punishment. It was pointed out to me that if something goes wrong I should be able to move freely to try and correct it." Harry explained.
"Ok, I'm putting the disk in now." Laura's voice came over the speakers.
They watched as the ship lit up and suddenly began to hover. The spherical section began glow brightly.
Down in the lab Laura began to address the ship.
"Identify yourself."
"Why is she talking to it?" Lana asked.
"Most forms of advanced tech can be activated verbally." Scott answered. "This is the safest route. If this doesn't work she will need to find an interface to use."
"You're assuming that the ship has an intelligence and isn't just a life boat with a rocket." Chloe argued.
"Someone took the time to make sure Clark was comfortable and safe in that thing for the time he was travelling. I don't believe they would leave his fate to chance."
"But we are running on assumptions and theories of which we have little to no proof." Jean admitted.
"What if it doesn't speak English?" Lana asked.
"She is using a translation spell, it usually works on technology as well." Scott explained.
"Moving on to establishing a physical interface." Laura announced.
They watched as Laura began touching and prodding the surface of the ship.
The ship suddenly sent out a burst of light that flooded the lab and the viewing room.
"Kal-El my son, we must leave this place at once." Came a deep calm voice from the ship. "These people are a threat to us."
"Kal-El?" Lana asked.
"Probably Clark's birth name." Jean offered.
"Not bad guys." Dani grinned at Martha and Jonathan. "I don't think you could get much closer to 'Kal-El' then 'Clark Kent'."
"Not now Dani." Amara chided. "That thing just called us a threat to Clark."
"Pfft." She said dismissively. "Harry, go show that thing who's boss."
"Yes dear." Harry laughed as he walked through the viewing room window and floated to the floor.
"Does he do that to show off?" Chloe asked.
"No, he's just been doing it for millions of years, its like breathing to him." Amara explained.
"Alright you overpowered tin can, why are we a threat to you?" Harry asked the ship as he landed next to Laura who took a step back.
"Kal-El, we must leave."
"Don't ignore me. I don't like people who lie. Especially if they try and deceive my friends. Now why are you lying about us being a threat to Kal-El?"
The ship rose into the air and began to head for the viewing room.
"Scott, activate containment." Harry ordered.
In the viewing room Scott hit a button and a metal shield slammed down over the window, blocking their view.
"We can watch here." He said as he led them to a table behind them. He pressed a few buttons and a holographic image of the lab and its occupants appeared.
"Whoa! Why doesn't the rest of the world have this?" Chloe asked.
"Because they would blow themselves up with it. Now, focus." Emma said sternly.
Back in the lab, sections of the walls had retracted to reveal sheets of meteor rock, the ship began to stutter and fall before it built up an energy surge that it released.
"Huh… thanks, I didn't know how to do that." Harry muttered as he examined the now crystal clear sheets. They appeared to be completely inert, emitting no energy. "Doesn't change anything though. You keep trying to get Clark to leave, his family love him and so do we. That makes you our enemy. Give me a good reason why we shouldn't rip you to pieces."
The ship turned and suddenly accelerated in the blink of an eye ploughing into the ceiling.
There was a loud bang before the ship fell to the floor with a crumpled nose point.
"That was pointless." Harry sighed.
The ship rose shakily into the air. "You are not humans. Humans do not have this level of technology." The ship stated.
"Sure they do. I am human."
"Your genetic makeup is similar but you have an energy that marks you as something else."
"I'm just a different branch of humans. I can use magic." Harry explained.
"Magic? The superstitions of the humans your 'Dark Ages' spoke of? You still have not broken free of that delusion?" The ship queried. "I was wrong to send my son to Earth. I should have sent him to the Guardians, they may have found a more suitable home for the Last Son of Krypton."
"Krypton, is that the name of your planet?"
"It is."
"What do you know about the green meteor rocks that affect Clark so badly?"
"Clark?"
"The one you call Kal-El, the one you brought to this planet."
"They are fragments of the destroyed planet of Krypton. Kal-El was sent here to preserve the Kryptonian legacy. Under a yellow sun Kryptonite is deadly to Kryptonians."
"And Kal-El is the last one."
"Yes."
"Back to my earlier question, why do you consider us a threat to Kal-El?" Harry asked.
"Humans are primitive and their values are not the same as Kryptonians. He has already been tainted by the human way and now I must correct that."
"Then why bring him to Earth in the first place?"
The ship remained silent.
"That can't be good." Laura muttered.
"Agreed." Harry frowned. "You sent him here to conquer Earth."
The ship remained silent.
"Fine, you can stay in here. We will deal with you later." Harry said before he teleported Laura and himself up to the viewing room.
"That was fairly productive!" Harry smiled happily as he rubbed his hands together.
"It was?" Lana asked.
"We learnt Clark's real name, the name of his planet and the reason for the green rocks affecting him." Scott explained.
"We also learnt that the ship has an Artificial Intelligence and possibly a complete record of all knowledge on Krypton as it knew a fair amount about Earth." Laura added.
"Is the ship secure in there?" Lana asked worriedly. "It won't be able to break out and get to Clark?"
"It would take a god to break out of there." Harry assured her. "That or a very powerful witch or wizard."
"None of us could do it." Laura answered.
"Even I would have trouble." Brunhilde added as the closest of them to an actual god.
"What do we do with that information?" Clark asked. "And the ship."
Everyone turned to the rather subdued alien being. It was clear he had a lot on his mind now. Lana took his hand and squeezed it comfortingly.
"We are going to remove the computer so it can't physically harm us, then we are going to interrogate it further and possibly attempt to extract all the raw data." Laura answered. "I'm looking forward to the challenge." She smiled.
"Likewise." Brunhilde grinned.
"You like playing with computers?" Clark asked in disbelief. It was hard to imagine the Valkyrie who always beat him into submission during training and actually acted like she belonged in a Viking Mead hall sitting in front of a high tech computer.
"Indeed. It was Laura who taught me computers many millennia ago."
There was a squeak/moan from Chloe. "Millennia!" Everyone just looked at her. "Sorry, still have trouble dealing with the fact that you lot are older than dirt."
"I am not!" Dani objected. "Harry might be, but we aren't."
"You're older than civilisation in this reality." Clark countered.
Dani just gave a shrug of acceptance of that fact.
"When will I get to speak to the ship?" Clark asked.
"When we are sure we have removed its ability to interact with the world physically or we have at least catalogued all of its abilities."
"And preferably after we know what the ship's intentions towards you and for you are." Jonathan added.
"But for now… more training!" Harry decreed as he clapped his hands causing himself, Clark, Lana and Chloe to vanish.
"He has something new planned for Clark?" Martha asked.
"TO THE WINDOW!" Dani cried dramatically before she vanished.
"Are we sure-"
"Yes Lex, she's perfectly sane." Jean sighed.
"Do you have a permit for all these guns?" Chloe asked as they stood in the courtyard. In front of them was a table with a vast array of weapons from pistols to shotguns to assault rifles.
"Nope!" Harry grinned.
Clark hated that grin. It always spelt suffering for him. Maybe not pain, but he was usually the butt of Harry's jokes and enjoyment.
"First rule of guns… what goes up must come down." Harry said seriously. "In other words, don't shoot in the air unless you know for damn sure there isn't another person around for miles."
"Really? That's the first rule of guns? My uncle is an army general and that's not what I was taught." Chloe said with a sceptic look.
"What do you want from me? I never had formal training with weapons, I just know how to use them."
"How old were you when you first learnt?" Lana asked.
"About sixteen. My dad taught me."
"And he wasn't responsible enough to teach you how to use them properly?" Chloe demanded.
"His main rule was don't shoot what you don't want to hit."
Chloe just stared at him.
"What? Safety wasn't a big deal around me. I could heal anyone I shot… which included myself as my first real encounter with a gun involved the Queen of England shooting me with a hunting rifle."
"You brought that on yourself, didn't you?" Clark asked suspiciously.
Harry looked sheepish. "I may have broken into her private rooms with the Prime Minister."
"He's not lying is he?" Chloe asked as she turned to Clark.
"I doubt it. You should have Hilde tell you some of the stories of what he got up to with the kings of Asgard and Olympus."
"Why are we learning about guns?" Lana asked somewhat stressed. She didn't like being close to such dangerous objects.
"Because they are good for protection, considering the trouble you two girls get into, and also because I thought you would like to help with Clark's next stage of training."
Harry picked up a standard revolver and pointed it at Clark. "Dodge this." He instructed as he began firing the weapon at Clark rapidly causing the two girls to dive to the ground in fear.
As the gun clicked on empty Harry looked down at the two girls. "I've been firing these things for millions of years, don't you think my aim is good enough to not hit you?"
"Where was the bang?" Lana asked. There had been no sound as the bullets left the gun.
"Silencing charms on the guns means you don't need to wear protective ear wear." Harry explained.
"Here." Clark said as he held out his hand and dropped the spent bullets he had plucked out of the air on the table.
"Oh my god! You caught those? You're that fast?" Chloe asked in awe.
"Wow… faster than a speeding bullet, Clark?" Lana echoed Chloe's sentiments.
"Be careful when you say that to a guy, Lana." Harry smirked.
The three teenagers frowned as they tried to work out the meaning. Chloe got it first whilst Lana and Clark seemed to suddenly catch on soon after. Chloe just snorted a laugh whilst the other two blushed like crazy.
"Anyway!" Harry clapped his hands loudly. "Girls, grab a gun and start firing at Clark. Clark, you need to catch every bullet."
"Aren't you going to teach us how to fire them?" Chloe asked.
"Fine, pick a gun and bring it here." He sighed. Honestly, he preferred it when people just tried new things; it wasn't like it would kill them… at least not for long.
