"Hey Clark. Who's this?" Lana greeted Clark and Ginny from behind the counter as they made their way through the Talon.
"This is Ginny." Clark laid his hand on Ginny's shoulder, which was an easy task since she was about a foot shorter than him. "She's a….." Clark took a breath. "A friend. She's staying at our house for a while."
"Well, nice to meet you Ginny, I'm Lana." Lana smiled and held out her hand. Ginny smiled back and pulled at the blue brace before shaking Lana's hand.
"Hi."
Lana let go and nodded. "Is there anything I can get you two?'
Clark half smiled. "A coffee and some clothes would be great." Lana looked up at Clark, confused. Clark cleared his throat. "Ginny is kind of short on clothes at the moment. We were wondering if she could borrow some." Lana glanced at Ginny then back at Clark who gave her a meaningful look. Lana took her cue and didn't question him.
"Sure. The pants might be a little long but no problem. Clark, you can get the coffee yourself and Ginny, follow me." Lana motion for Ginny . "Stephanie, will you cover for me?" A girl with short blonde hair looked up from the table she was serving and nodded.
Clark watched the two girls disappear up the stairs before moving behind the counter and pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Clark!" Clark looked up to see Pete walking towards him. "Hey, I called your house, your parents said you were over here with Ginny?" Pete looked around energetically as he walked over and leaned on the counter.
"So?" Clark questioned taking a gulp from his cup.
"So…" Pete looked incredulously at Clark. "So, who's Ginny? Is she some one I should know about." Pete raised his eyebrows.
The wheels in Clarks head turned slowly as he figured out what Pete meant. Realization dawned on Clark and he rolled his eyes. "Ginny is a fourteen year old girl." Clark explained. "She showed up in the barn last night."
Pete looked slightly put out. "How'd she get there?"
Clark shook his head. "She's hiding from someone but wont say who."
Pete laughed ironically. "Well she must not be from Smallville." Clark looked at Pete quizzically. "If she was from Smallville and had anything to hide she wouldn't have chosen your barn as a safe haven," Pete answered his unasked question.
"Why not?" Clark asked.
Pete grinned. "Come on Clark, the sheriff has visited your house more than anybody else's. Well, except for Stan on the corner street. They're still trying to bust him for drugs."
The door to the apartment opened and Clark looked up. Lana appeared, laughing and holding the door open for Ginny who was holding 2 pairs of jeans and a few shirts and was also laughing. They tried to compose themselves as they headed down the stairs. Clark was slightly alarmed by the pair.
"What's so funny?" He questioned apprehensively, tilting his head to the side as the girls reached the bottom of the stairs. Ginny and Lana looked at Clark then burst out laughing again. Clark gave them a side ways glance and took another swig of his coffee. Ginny and Lana sure have made friends quickly.
Lana stifled her laughter once again and looked abruptly at Clark with a mock serious look on her face. "Do you have any cheetos? Lana questioned with concern then broke into another laughing fit. Ginny followed suit.
Clark looked at the two of them like they had definitely gone insane, which he figured they must have. "Cheetos?" He had to admit though, it was a nice sight. He hadn't seen Lana laugh like that in a long time.
"Are you ok? Clark questioned, determined not to laugh himself. Lana and Ginny let out a fresh laugh and Clark smiled in spite of himself. He decided to wait until they had stopped laughing before trying to resume conversation.
"Ok…" Pete said in a tone that one would use around the insane. "Well, Chloe sent me out to find you, and I did, but since I have no idea what she wanted me to do with you when I did that, I will see you all later." Pete bid them goodbye and departed.
Lana and Ginny finally got themselves under control and Clark felt it was safe to speak again. "Ok, well we better head home, is there anything you want before we go?" Ginny shook her head still smiling. Clark nodded. "Thanks Lana. See you later."
"Thanks for the clothes." Ginny lifted up the pile in her arms.
Lana cracked a smile. "No problem, see you around." Lana giggled and shook her head, turning around to clean the counter behind her.
"What was that about?" Clark slid into the drivers seat of the car. Ginny sat down next to him in the passengers chair.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ginny mimed confusion but the look on her face told Clark otherwise.
"Well either Lana has gone insane or… what did you say to her?" Clark started the engine as he ran through in his mind all the possible things that living in his house might entitle Ginny to say.
"Oh that. Well," Ginny grinned wickedly "I was just wondering who had given you those rather bright pair of cheeto boxers."
Clark looked around at Ginny in alarm then remembered that he was driving and turned back. "I'm going to kill Lois." Clark grumbled.
"Who's Lois?" Ginny questioned still smirking.
"Well, I don't actually know her." Clark explained "But I'm sure if I did I wouldn't like her. She's my friend Chloe's cousin. She's the one who convinced Chloe to get those for my birthday as a joke."
Ginny giggled. "I saw them in the laundry. I think they're cute." Ginny quipped. Clark sidled another glance at her.
"I'm sure Lana appreciates her new found knowledge of my boxers." Clark answered sarcastically.
"I think she does." Ginny smiled broadly at Clark. They lapsed into silence as the car moved down a dirt road. "You really like her don't you?" Ginny asked after a while.
"Lana?" Clark kept his eyes on the road. "What gave you that idea?"
Ginny shrugged. "You're no good at hiding your feelings. I saw the way you looked at her."
Clark swallowed but didn't answer. He pulled the car to a stop at the Kent farm and both of them got out. Ginny walked over to Clark's side of the car. "Look, I don't know anything about your relationship, but I do know that there is nothing worse than a missed opportunity." She looked at him sincerely for a second then turned around and headed for the house. Clark stood on the spot. What did a 14 year old girl know about love? Clark shrugged to himself. He took a step towards the house but stopped when he heard a car coming up the drive way. It was Chloe's green buggy.
"Clark, I've been trying to reach you all day. Pete is not the brightest side kick. I heard about …Ginny right? Another stray huh?" Chloe said as she closed the door behind her.
Clark smiled. "It seem to be a gift of ours."
Chloe nodded. "It does, doesn't it? But getting to the reason I'm here, they identified the 'attackers' body. His name was Evan Cortes, he worked at Cadmus labs."
"Why would he be interested in robbery?" Clark asked.
"Why does anyone who works for Lex feel the need to point guns at people? Before he died he was working on a top secret project which to my best guess-"
"Was a way to kill people without leaving any signs." Clark said in realization.
"Exactly. That's where the interesting part comes in. The doctors found a chip in Cortes' head." Chloe said with excitement.
"What does it do?"
"They couldn't figure it out, but.. they found traces of red meteor rock."
"Do you think it gave him the power to-"
"Maybe. It wouldn't be the first time the meteor rocks produced something dangerous."
"But that still doesn't solve how he died." Clark continued.
"There was someone else there remember? Cortes was killed with a knife so whoever did it was most likely not involved in the project."
"So it's just a random person?"
"I don't think so. This person didn't stick around for an award from the police. They might have been in some sort of trouble."
"You're dealing with a lot of maybes."
"I'm not finished. The day after the murder there was a break in at Cadmus labs. I'm thinking the murder and the break in are connected."
Clark was catching on. "Cortes had an accomplice in the robberies."
Chloe smiled at her detective work. "Right."
"Can I help with that?" Ginny stood in front of Martha Kent who had just finished clearing the table.
"I'm done, but if you want to you can help Clark clean stalls out in the barn." Martha said with a smile. Ginny had been badgering her all day to give her things to do.
Clark entered the room tossing an apple in the air. He stopped and gave his mother a meaningful look. Ginny didn't seem to notice.
"Great, I lived on a farm when I was little, I used to help my mom out." Ginny smiled and headed for the open front door.
When Clark was sure she was out of ear shot he turned to his mom. "Mom, I can't do the stalls at super speed while she's there."
Martha looked blankly at Clark.. "Well I thought that it would be safer to not use your powers at all when there's any chance of Ginny seeing, so you could use some help to make it go faster."
Clark sighed, a little frustrated but headed out to the barn after Ginny. When he got out there Ginny already had a wheel barrow sitting in front of a stall. She had rolled up the sleeve of Lana's lavender shirt and was forking dirty hay when Clark entered. "Looks like you know what you're doing." Clark marveled at her progress.
Ginny nodded. "At the barn my parents worked at there were 50 stalls so you had to work fast."
Clark let out a short laugh. He turned around to get his own wheelbarrow and pitch fork, when he turned around the pitch fork Ginny was holding had clattered to the ground. Ginny had a look of terror on her face. Clarks heart beat rose. "Are you ok Ginny?"
Ginny's left hand flung to her right arm and she doubled over, letting out a scream of pain. Still bent over she brought her right hand close to her face and stared at it. Clark realized why when he saw a faint green light had started to shine from under Ginny's blue wrap. Ginny looked from her hand to Clark's face in alarm. She ran from the stall and past Clark out into the yard.
Clark immediately followed her, his heart beating rapidly. He ran out into the yard and looked around. He couldn't see her but then his eyes fell on the open door of the storm cellar. Clark sped to the door, his heart racing. He started to take a step down the stairs but a green light blinded him and he was thrown back a few feet. Clark sat up staring at the cellar doors. He stumbled to his feet and ran down the steps. "Ginny!" he yelled. Please let her be alright, let her not have seen… Clarks eyes adjusted to the light and he looked around frantically. His eyes stopped on the ship who's cover must have been blown off and then to Ginny. Ginny stood just feet away from the uncovered ship staring at it in disbelief. Clark tried to move forward but it seemed like his legs had forgotten how to carry him. Ginny turned slowly to face Clark, blood dripped from her nose and she held the blue wrap in her left hand.
"I thought that there must be something different about you Clark." She talked just as slowly as she had turned. "You do things too fast. It doesn't take as long as it should, and how fast I got to the hospital…" Ginny squinted, her eyebrows furrowed. "Your not even human…are you?"
Clark stood stunned. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He tried again "Are you OK? What happened?"
Ginny just stared at him. The blood from her nose dripped into her mouth which seem to wake her up. She nodded but still stared without blinking at Clark, wiping the blood from her lips.
" You- you can't tell anyone. Please, it's important that you don't." Clark pleaded. Ginny didn't say anything.
Clark stood in waiting silence until Ginny spoke. "You can trust me Clark." She kept staring at him. "I wont tell anyone. I know what it's like to have a secret." She turned her back on Clark to look at the ship.
"That's why I'm going to ask you to do the same for me." Ginny turned back around to face Clark again. At this moment she looked much older than the small, teenaged girl she was.
When she spoke she spoke with a weary voice. "When I was eleven my parents were driving me home to our house in Grandville from a Karate competition in Smallville. It was wet, and the car crashed into a tree. " Ginny paused. "My little sister and I were sent to an orphanage after that. Then a year ago my sister and I were playing outside and I put up my hand to stop her running into me." Ginny paused again taking a deep breath. "I got this headache and I couldn't move my arm. There was this flash of light… and she was dead. Ginny looked down.
"The doctors couldn't find any reason why she should have died but I knew that some how I had done it." She sniffed. "It's happened more times than I can count. Most of the times I've been alone, but sometimes not. I've tried to control it but I can't, not really." Tears slipped down her face.
Clark's eyes widened. "It was you who killed those people." Ginny looked up tears now falling consistently from her eyes.
Ginny continued like she hadn't heard." I was so afraid." Her voice broke as she talked. "I couldn't touch anyone, or be around anyone without there being a chance of someone ending up dead. Then he came. Cortes said he could help me control it. I was so scared…..so I went with him. He brought me to Cadmus labs. They experimented on me and did tests. I don't remember most of it.
Her voice broke. Ginny shuddered, looking down once more.
"Instead of helping me control it he some how gained control over my powers. He could make me kill. Cortes told me that if I didn't help him he would use me to kill everyone I ever cared about and that there was no way to escape him. He made me kill for money." she sobbed. " But having control over my powers came with a price. He was falling apart and getting worse all the time. So he needed more money, and more people died. I tried so many times to keep it from happening.
She paused and took a deep breath.
"I killed him in Grandville. It was the only way." Ginny's voice filled with hatred even as she sobbed harder. "For my sister, for all those people he killed ...for using me to do it."
She backed into the dusty wall and sunk to the floor, her back taking the dust with it. Before speaking again she took a steadying breath but tears still rolled down her cheeks. "I went back to Cadmus labs, if anything could help me, I thought it would be there. That's were I found this." Ginny flopped the brace around in the air. "It's lined with iron, and that's the one thing that my…power," She scoffed at the word. "can't penetrate. Or at least I thought it couldn't." She fell silent.
Clark knelt beside Ginny and pulled her small body into his embrace.
"I never wanted to hurt anybody." her cries were muffled by Clark's chest.
"I know." Clark sighed. "I know." He held her closer. It wasn't her fault, that was an awful thing to have to deal with. When Ginny had stopped crying he loosened his embrace and she looked up at him. Clark brushed the tangled hair from her face. She shook when she took a deep breath.
"It's not working Clark." She said in distress. "My arm, it started to burn, I had to take the wrap off. It helped before but now it almost seems to be fighting to get out."
Ginny seemed to recover a bit and wiped the blood from her face with the sleeve of her shirt then looked down at it. "I don't think Lana will want this back." Ginny gave a weak smile then pulled away from Clark and shivered. She slid the brace back on and pulled the fabric of the shirt over her hands as she stood up. Clark mimicked her and stood as well. "It's getting cold."
"Yeah." Clark said in agreement even though he was wearing a t-shirt and wasn't cold at all.