Xavier Institute for Gifted Children - Bayville, NY...

Upon his return to the mansion, Clark had put the mystery of Ahti behind him. For now. She had helped Clark get his emotions back under control, so not a problem. Still, how had she disappeared like that? Why had she seemed so familiar? Why had she called him Kal-El? That was a Kryptonian name, and from the context, his name.

Right?

Clark stopped midway up the driveway and shook his head, trying to settle his thoughts. There were too many questions, and he had other things to deal with. Ahti would remain a curiosity for now. Still... No!

Clark started walking again, refusing to distract himself. He needed to deal with the consequences of his reaction. Yes, all of his doubts, fears, and frustration were tied to his adoption. But he should not have let it get to him.

His steps slowed as he saw a rental car waiting near the mansion's front door. Clark grimaced, already picturing his dad's look of frustration and his mom's look of worry. Why was it he always seemed to cause them stress and trouble? Steeling his resolve, Clark continued to the front door, prepared to face the music.

Inside, he found an annoyed looking Logan waiting for him. Clark paused, then closed the door, bracing for whatever he was about to hear.

"You got your head back on straight?" Logan asked, at last, frowning.

Clark nodded.

"Good," Logan grunted before jerking his chin toward a side hallway. Which Clark knew was Logan's way of saying 'I understand, now go deal with your mess'. With a nod of his own, Clark started down the hallway, thankful for Logan's rather brisk nature. He knew the others would have questions, and that eventually he would have to talk with them. But not now.

Squaring his shoulders, Clark made his way to the only place for his parents to be. The professor's office. Reaching the door, he hesitated yet again. Uncertain of how his parents were going to react. Taking another breath, he hesitantly opened the door. His mom and dad were sitting across from the professor, and all three turned to look at him.

There was a moment of surprise.

Then his mom surged out of her chair. "Clark!" A moment later, she was hugging him.

"Hey Ma," Clark murmured, hugging her back and glancing at his dad. The older Kent stood as well and stepped close, though he settled for squeezing Clark's shoulder. But Clark could see the worry in his eyes. "Sorry about running off like that."

"While not the best reaction," Professor Xavier said, drawing all attention back to him, "it is also hardly the first time a teenager has made a rash decision."

"He's right." His dad said, squeezing his shoulder again.

Clark appreciated both his dad's and Professor Xavier's words, but it still bothered him.

"Now, before we discuss the immediate situation," Professor Xavier said, gesturing at the chairs in front of his desk, "we have a far more serious situation to discuss."

Clark sighed.

Smallville: X-men

Episode 11: Conversations

by Geor-sama

"First, let me assure you that I was as caught off guard by this as you were." Professor Xavier said, breaking the silence that had settled over them. "Perhaps even more so. I promise you I looked deeply into Metropolis United and there was never a hint of Ms. Dunleavy or her son."

"How is that possible?" His dad asked voice tense.

"It was the sealed record."

Clark blinked and looked at his mom, as did his dad.

"Yes." Professor Xavier said. "It was a failure on my part, I'm afraid."

"What does a sealed file have to do with my adoption?" Clark asked, glancing between his mom and the professor. He knew roughly what a sealed record was, thanks to Chole complaining about them. But Clark had thought they were only involved when a criminal made a deal.

"Sealed files are a means to hide, or in some cases destroy, court records. While the protections it offers vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, generally, a sealed record means that unless you have a court order, then the contents are legally considered never to have occurred and are not acknowledged by the state." His mom said, and from the way she spoke, she was repeating something she had learned a long time ago. If Clark had to guess, from her dad. "Sometimes for a criminal matter, but most often it's connected to juvenile records, such as an adoption."

"Exactly," Professor Xavier said, "While I knew one would exist for you, I did not think to investigate your file because I believed like the rest of the agency records, it would contain only false information intended to obscure you."

"It's also," his mom said, her expression one of annoyance and frustration, "way for very rich assholes to hide inconvenient truths."

"And what was that bastard hiding?" His dad bit out.

The professor hesitated for a moment, studying them, clearly measuring and weighing what he was about to say. "Rachel Dunleavy was Lionel Luthor's mistress."

Both of his parents made angry noises at that.

Clark sighed, almost able to hear Lex snort in amusement at their shock.

Professor Xavier waited until his parents calmed down, before speaking once more. "When his wife's heart condition began worsening, he hired her as her full-time nurse, and from what I've found out, their affair started within months of her starting. I'm not sure if he knew just how mentally and emotionally unstable she was. I hope Luthor was unaware. Still, knowing men like him, I am aware of how foolish such hope is. What I do know is that within a year she gave birth and when after three more years it became clear that Lionel would not be leaving his wife, she attempted to murder Lillian Luthor."

Clark's mom gasped at that and his dad swore. Clark, for his part, was wondering if Lex knew any of this. He doubted it, but he might suspect. Unfortunately, Lex was jaded enough that even if he knew it would not surprise him. Lex would probably shrug it off as one more of Lionel's sins.

"Thankfully Ms. Dunleavy failed in the attempt," Professor Xavier continued, "and Lionel committed her. I have no idea if Lillian Luthor knew of the affair or the child, but given how ill she was, I do not doubt that Lionel could easily keep it from her. It was also after this incident that Metropolis United was established."

"That's why he agreed." Clark said, a few things falling into place for him.

"What?" His dad asked.

"It's just, I've always wondered," Clark glanced at him and then at his mom, before back to the professor, "I mean, Lionel doesn't do anything out of the kindness of his heart, we all know that. Even if he gave his word, he could have found a way to get out it. Unless he saw a benefit for him and more than just using you to get the Ross's to sell. I bet you the paperwork he gave you was for a random child in foster care first, but when you asked for his help, he saw a better way of controlling his situation and pointed Lucas' trail at me."

"That is what I think as well." Professor Xavier said, steepling his fingers. "It not only created an extra layer of protection for Lucas, but it ensured that if anyone tried to track Lucas they would find Clark. He no doubt expected you to turn to him for help if she should turn up, allowing him to handle the situation however he saw fit."

"Bastard." His dad hissed.

"But then, what did he do with his son?" His mom asked, tone cold and tight.

"A snake like him would want to hide something like that fast." His dad said, disgusted. "I bet he tossed the kid into foster care under a false name and forgot about him."

"No." Clark said, frowning. Given what Lex had told him about his father, that was not what Lionel would do. Seeing the looks his parents and the professor gave him he sighed. "There's no way Lionel would risk losing track of a potential heir, even an illegitimate one. He's with a guardian and Lionel knows exactly where he's at, in case he needs Lucas. "

"How can you be so sure about that?" His mom asked, looking thoughtful.

"Lex is not shy about his opinions on his father," Clark said with a wry smile, "and few of them are positive. The most common phrase is 'Lionel is the pinnacle of Machiavellianism."

By the look on his parents' faces, Clark could tell they didn't know what to do with that.

"I believe Clark is correct, and sadly, I must point out that we can't dig further into Lucas' location." Professor Xavier said, drawing a protest from his parents. Which he cut off with a calming gesture. "Martha, Jonathan, while I understand your instinctive need to protect a child, let me point out that as reprehensible as Lionel Luthor is, his actions have kept a child safe and I would not risk altering that."

His parents glowered, but nodded, though Clark could tell neither was happy.

"Now, turning back to the matter at hand. As I see it, we have two options. First, we fight her. I have lawyers that will tie any attempt or challenge she makes into so many knots of red tape that even the Gordian solution would fail."He paused as if gauging their reactions. "I would rather avoid this. She is a mentally unstable woman and the harm it would do would be criminal, both to her and to those she would lash out at."

Martha nodded after a moment, sharing a look with Jonathan. "And the second option?"

"We voluntarily submit to a DNA test," Professor Xavier said and held his hand up as Jonathan started to reject the idea, "please allow me to finish." Seeing that both Martha and Jonathan settled, he continued. "As I said, we offer a DNA test, but one that we arrange to come out in our favor."

"How?" Clark asked, thinking about how they could manipulate such a test.

"By faking the DNA test, or rather my faking the blood tested." Professor Xavier said.

"You mean we'd substitute someone's DNA for Clarks?" Jonathan asked, uncertain.

"No, that would introduce too many outside variables. No, I mean in this case that we would create the DNA sample and submit that instead."

"Create? You can't just, I mean..." Martha blurted before trailing off. "How could you even do such a thing?"

"Quite easily, I assure you." Professor Xavier said. "The process was created and proven by the founder of Nucleix, Doctor Frumkin. It is honestly rather criminal how little attention the process has drawn. But given that we shall be using the process and the general blind acceptance of DNA results, I can assure you that it is the safest and quickest option to put this behind us."

His parents shared a grim look, having some kind of private conversation before his mom sighed. "Ok."

"Very well, I will contact all the relevant parties as soon as we're done here." The Professor said, relaxing minutely before leveling a serious look at Clark. "Now, we should address the events of this afternoon."

"Yes, about that," his dad said, "what exactly happened?"

At this Clark grimaced. That was his dad's 'I'm trying to be reasonable' voice. His mom grabbed his hand and squeezed it, drawing his attention to her. "Clark, honey, you need to explain what happened. All we know is that the other students found out that you're not from around here."

Clark nodded, sighing in defeat before telling them exactly what happened.

Bayville, NY. - Patel Residence...

Homework, as a rule, sucked.

It was as if the teachers forgot that they already spent seven hours learning stuff that most people never used. At least with school, she had a few bright spots. Though lately, even those bright spots had failed to bolster Eva's flagging spirit. To make it worse, it was hard to care about homework when your whole life was being turned upside down.

Her previous experience with a life-altering change provided little help. Figuring out she preferred kissing girls paled in comparison to the fact that she could stop time. Unlike that moment of self-discovery, she had no support group to turn to now. She blamed her mom. Unfair but safer. Eva considered blaming God, but with how screwed up her life was now Eva would rather not poke a sleeping deity. Besides, her mom was always trying to take control of her life, so it only seemed fitting that she also took the blame.

Shaking her head, Eva tried to focus on her homework once more, but her mind refused. Instead, it kept turning back to her power. To the fact that no matter how she acted or wished she could never be normal. That she would always be alone. Just the freaky que-

Eva violently shook her head and lunged for the neon green lanyard on her nightstand. Hands trembling she began to twist the lanyard around her hand while dark thoughts plagued her with each fumbled attempt. Eventually, her motions grew steady and her hurtful thoughts retreated, as she fell into the rhythm of wrapping and unwrapping.

Still, she continued to twist the lanyard for another hour.

When she finally put the lanyard aside, she sighed. Trying to focus on her homework proved impossible, so it was time to resume her hunt for answers. Retrieving her laptop, Eva settled against her bed and started as she always did. With Google and Bing. 'How to freeze time', 'stopping time', 'Ways of controlling time', and various variations led to the same pages she had already seen. The scientific ones boiled down to it being impossible. A few explored the idea of what they believed it would be like and the rest led to some strange porn.

So rather than waste more time on them, Eva returned to Revver and the available 'real Super power' videos. There were a few new 'superhuman' feats, but as before, they all turned out to be either a hoax or something explainable. Each also failed to even approach the level of what she did.

Still, she watched each video and the suggested videos, with fading hope.

Eva could remember that burst of adrenaline the first time she saw a 'real' video. The sureness that she was not alone. The despair as she discovered the truth behind the video and its ilk. All of them, even the new ones, were faked. Some for fun, and others for profit.

Yet, Eva kept looking, clinging to the desperate hope that something real would appear.

Eventually, her autoplay started a video about Atom Eve from 'Because Science with Kyle' and she debated on going back to her homework. Listlessly, her eyes drifted across the 'Up Next' section, and frowned. At the very top of the list, having only been uploaded a few seconds ago sat a video titled 'Real Life Carrie' uploaded by 'TheGreyWalker'.

Eva wasted no time clicking on it.

The video contained only the still image of a teenage girl and the words 'link in the description'.

Cautious Eva moved her cursor over the shortened link, revealing it to be a redirect to Liveleak. She hesitated. The link could be a spoofed address that could lead anywhere. Still, while she had never bothered with Liveleak, she knew the site. It was the domain of whistleblowers and watchdogs, featuring only leaked security videos from businesses, governments, and militaries.

With mounting uncertainty, she double-checked the 'TheGreyWalker' account. The profile was blank, with not even a generic user badge, and they had only the solitary video uploaded. The only reason she didn't blow it off though, was because next to the words 'date joined' sat an infinity symbol. Eva had no clue how they had managed to get that there and it made her both nervous and curious.

She went back to the video.

Squinting she studied the girl's face as best she could, recognizing something in it. In the end, her curiosity and hope won out and she clicked the link. Eva held her breath as a new tab opened, exhaling only as the Liveleak page opened with the teased video. It held the same image while details filled the description area:

Location - Faircroft Preparatory Academy. Individual Responsible - Jordan Gibbs. Event - Telekinetic assault during lunch in the cafeteria of Faircroft Preparatory Academy, New York City, NY., Results of Investigation - None. The school performed a brief investigation but dropped the incident once it became incidentally connected to a murder case investigated by Detective Kate Beckett and Police Consultant Richard Castle of the NYPD's 12th Precinct. Those Involved in the Event - Madison Beaumont, Kris Howard, Hillary Cooper, Lucas Troy, and Jordan Gibbs.

Licking her lips, heart racing in anticipation, Eva clicked the video.

When it started, the color and clarity surprised her. Despite that, there could be no mistaking it as a security camera feed.

Students in school uniforms filled the cafeteria, moving through the lunch line or sitting around talking. Until an attractive girl crossed the cafeteria, moving with purpose toward a mousey looking girl leaving the line. The two collided, dumping the mousey girl's tray as everyone else in the cafeteria began to laugh. The mousey girl looked on the edge of tears while the other girl just continued to stand there.

The camera zoomed in on the confrontation and caught a flash of anger crossing the mousey girl's face. Seconds later a chair jumped into the air, startling everyone. Then more started to move, slamming and sliding and jumping. Chasing the now fleeing bully. Then the tables started to move and the other students began to panic, shoving each other as they tried to get away.

For five minutes the cafeteria turned into chaos. Then it was over, the space a disaster area, devoid of all students except for the mousey girl. Who stood frozen in place, staring at her hands, expression one of utter terror.

Eva stared at the girl's expression, transfixed despite her vision blurring from tears. Unless the girl was the best actress in the world, there could be no faking that expression. Eva had seen it several times in the mirror. The video, the event - "It's not just me."

Wiping furiously at her eyes, she bookmarked the video before checking the Liveleak profile for 'TheGreyWalker'. Like Revver, the profile remained frustratingly blank. Except that this one had a playlist. Dozens of videos, all with simple but clever titles, hinting at what they would contain. Eva picked one at random and watched.

And then picked another. And another. And another. And another. And another.

Each contained a report and ended with the subject's shocked and terrified face in the video. At some point, Eva started to cry again, but she made no move to wipe her tears away this time. The last video opened to a black screen and lacked any details in the description. It also had a run time of thirty minutes and the title said only 'Hope'.

Eva watched.

Xavier Institute for Gifted Children - Bayville, NY...

Stepping out of the Professor's office, Clark sighed.

Behind him, he could hear the professor and his parents still talking, trying to decide how to handle Kurt and Kitty. Clark had offered some defense. While he was upset with Kurt for pushing and for Kitty invading his privacy like that, he also could not forget they were trying to help.

Though Clark had his doubts about how helpful his words had been. While his mom and the professor seemed to be thinking about what he said, his dad had been less than impressed. Which is why they had decided he did not need to be involved in that conversation any longer.

Which was good.

Clark still had plenty of homework, and he needed to finish reorganizing his bookshelf since he got interrupted. Letting out another sigh, Clark started making his way down the hall. Hopefully, he could make it to his room before he ran into anyone - and promptly found his path blocked by Scott and Jean who were exiting the kitchen carrying bowls of popcorn.

Both of them looked startled to see him.

After a moment of awkward silence, Jean spoke.

"Welcome back."

"Thanks?"

"We're going to marathon Silverstone." Scott said, gesturing with his popcorn bowl. "The new season starts next week."

"Oh." Clark said, uncertain. "Ok."

Jean hesitated, before speaking. "Do you want to talk?"

"Not really," Clark said after a moment, running a hand through his hair "but I think I need to. I mean I don't know that much and most of what I do is from a couple of memories that Logan recovered."

"We get that," Jean said, tone earnest, "and I'm going to have a like a million questions about that cause...its huge news. But I think," she glanced at Scott who nodded fractionally before she continued "we're more interested in how you're doing with things?"

"Oh." Clark paused and reconsidered what he was going to say. "It's not ok. But I'm better? I don't know why I just got so, I mean my parents are awesome, and I've had a good life. I know I'm blessed, and I know other kids, not even adopted ones have horrible lives."

Jean nodded and Scott pursed his lips.

"So the way I reacted? The way I handled things? I just feel so stupid. Ungrateful? But I've always been touchy about being adopted and suddenly I had all of this thrown in my face and then Kurt, I know he was trying to help but he was pushing. And Kitty was just the tipping point, I guess."

"We understand," Jean said, "I know I've certainly reached that point before and done things I regret."

"You say that as if you'd ever telekinetically throw someone around because they didn't see why shampoo was so important." Scott shot back, tone teasing but wary.

Clark blinked, wondering what that meant. Well, he knew at least from context, but still...what?

Jean sighed, seeing his look. "Last year, between my homework, clubs, and multiple team practices I hadn't been sleeping. So when somebody," Jean gave Scott an unamused stare, "decided to use the last of my favorite shampoo the night before the Regional Soccer Championship I got a bit upset. This person also did not help, since when I confronted them they had the gall to say 'it was just shampoo'."

Clark grimaced.

"And I apologized and bought her a year's worth later," Scott said, sheepish, "once she started talking to me again and I wasn't one big bruise."

"Point is," Jean said, clearly embarrassed, "we all have moments where we snap and act stupid."

"As for feeling ungrateful," Scott said, "you're not the only one. Before the professor found me, my family had died in a plane crash. No surviving family so I ended up in a foster family. The Russells were good people, anyone that got taken in by them was lucky as hell. But I couldn't do it, I wanted my mom and dad and my brother. I was hurting and afraid and I acted out a lot. Looking back I realize just how lucky I was, and I regret I wasn't more grateful, but I can't apologize because they won't let me, and that just makes it worse."

Clark let out a breath, relieved. He had known that nobody would blame or send him away, but somehow he had never believed it. Until now. He also knew that they would have plenty of questions, but he appreciated them holding off for now.

"So," Scott said after a moment of silence, hefting his bowl of popcorn, "you want to join us?"

"Yeah, I think that sounds good," Clark said, managing a faint smirk, "besides, I can't pass up seeing Agent Hawk be awesome."

"Oh yes, I'm sure that's why you want to see Agent Hawk." Jean said, smirking.

"Well, I mean, that is..." Clark trailed off, caught out at being called out. After a moment he shook his head, laughing. "I can't say it's the only reason, but it is a reason."

"Hmm," Jean hummed, eyes narrowing in a mock glare, "just as long as you're not objectifying her like Scott does."

"Hey!" Scott protested.