Asylum Part 4
I have updated the Chloe and Lana conversation in Whisper Part 6. The main takeaway is Adam is still alive.
At Smallville High…
Pete emptied his pockets in front of the vending machines. His stomach growled as he counted his change. Pete was so hungry he could eat every morsel on the other side of the glass. But all he had was two dollars.
Just go home, his belly pleaded. But the dreaded silence or angry shouts waiting for him were worse than a rumbling stomach.
Dinner ended up being a packet of pop tarts. As Pete munched on the sugary meal, he walked down the hallway where Alicia's locker was. Pete was happy Clark had a girlfriend now. Alicia seemed nice and supportive enough. When he caught glimpses of them in the hallways or in town, Clark was smiling as they talked.
But there was an odd feeling Pete had about Alicia. It had bothered Pete when Clark allowed Alicia to take his photo away this morning. And Clark not visiting Lana in the hospital was unusual.
And then there were the looks Pete caught on Alicia's face. Looks of intense rage Clark conveniently missed.
Stuffing the last morsel of pop tart into his mouth, Pete walked over to the locker and began to wiggle around the dial. Pete had forgotten his own combination plenty of times; he discovered the trick of feeling around for the right click. Anyone with enough time, silence, and patience could open one.
"Why exactly are you breaking into the locker of Clark's new girlfriend?"
"Chloe," Pete breathed out as his friend looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You scared me."
"Cause of action?"
"Fine. I admit it; Alicia makes me feel…"
"Uneasy? Suspicious? Yeah, I can relate to that."
The lock popped open. Inside was nothing more than the normal organized chaos of schoolbooks and binders. Pete had expected Alicia's locker to reflect the decorum she insisted Clark on having. But she only had her copy of the ice cream parlor photo, the latest article Clark wrote for the Torch, and an enlarged yearbook photo of Clark surrounded by pink and red heart stickers.
"I was expecting something more…crazy," Chloe admitted.
"Like this?" Pete pulled out a ripped photo that had been peeking out from a textbook. The standing images of Clark and Alicia had been taken from two different photos, stitched together by scotch tape. Pete recognized Clark's image from the Talon photo Alicia removed from his locker earlier that day.
"No. Like this." Chloe pulled out the other side of Clark's photo from the bottom of the locker. Alicia had taken a paperclip to Lana's face and scratched it off.
"I got to say something." Pete went about putting everything back to where it had been, except the scratched discarded side. That he put in his pocket.
"Good luck. Oh, hey, I bumped into your mother at the courthouse. You didn't tell me she was up for a federal judgeship."
Their footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. "She doesn't have the job yet."
"Well, with her record she's a shoo-in. I was talking to some other people…"
"Just stop!" Pete covered his ears.
Chloe seemed taken aback by Pete's outburst. On autopilot, they walked into the Torch office, only to find Clark sitting at a computer in the dark.
"Clark, turn a light on. You'll hurt your eyes. What's wrong?" Chloe asked as she caught a look at Clark's face.
"Dr. Foster has Lex scheduled for radical electrotherapy. Tonight." Clark choked. "It's successful in less than fifty percent of patients. And most of those 'survivors' come out as vegetables."
"That's messed up." Pete could afford Lex a a sliver of empathy at the moment.
"I have to make a call." Chloe ran out of the room.
"I'm breaking him out." Clark said with determination once Chloe was gone.
"Clark, Lex knows. And he's not exactly stable. He could spread your secret across Smallville without even knowing what he's doing."
"I don't care! Lex's mind is at stake; I'm going to take that chance. Will you help me or not?"
"Fine." Pete grumbled.
"Thank you. Meet up in the barn as soon as you can."
Clark supersped away, leaving Pete alone in the dark. He glanced down at the shredded image of Lana. His talk with Clark about Alicia would have to wait. Pete could only pray that Clark would listen.
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Pick up, pick up, pick up. Chloe prayed as the phone rang. During Lex's incarceration, Chloe had been doing her research. This was not the first time Dr. Foster had used radical electroshock therapy on a patient. Memory loss was a certain side effect. No doubt the reason Lionel insisted on Lex having this.
If Lex survived the procedure, he would forget Morgan Edge's confession. He would forget Chloe asking for help. And then Chloe would be back at square one under Lionel's thumb with no allies.
"Hello?"
"Dr. Foster, this is Chloe Sullivan."
"Who?"
"You have to cancel the order for Lex to have that therapy right away."
"Whoever you are, I'm not at liberty to discuss my patients' needs."
Chloe could sense the doctor was about to hang up. "Lionel Luthor won't let you go!"
Her line worked, and Dr. Foster remained silent on the other line. "Lionel has something on you, doesn't he? You know this could kill Lex."
"Yes, I've said as much."
"If you allow this to happen, all you'll be doing is getting your hands dirty and digging yourself one foot deeper into the grave. You have the power here doctor. Use it."
"I…no. No!"
Chloe could only listen as Dr. Foster screamed. There was the squealing of tires, the blasting of horns, and more screams ending in a deafening crunch. The line went dead, and Chloe sunk to the floor.
It could all just be a coincidence, Chloe tried to reason as she wrapped her arms around her knees, huddling into a ball. Just a coincidence Dr. Foster was delayed due to a messy car crash hours before the therapy was supposed to take place. Or it could be the handiwork of Lionel Luthor, not wanting to take any chances.
At the Kent barn…
"He's late," Alicia said, lounging on the sofa.
"He'll be here. Pete's just at the mercy of the speed limit."
"Why are we bringing Pete again? Why not Jordan?"
"What do you mean?"
"Jordan has powers, doesn't he? What help can Pete be?"
"I never said Jordan has powers," Clark insisted as he sat next to Alicia on the couch. "I said the shooter thinks Jordan does. He knows someone was with me at Jodi's house. Why he thinks it was Jordan, I'm not sure. As for Pete, he's a good friend and has had my back plenty of times. And he's been very helpful in keeping my secret. He'll keep yours too."
Clark had explained his plan to Alicia as they waited for Pete. Alicia was going to transport all three of them inside Belle Reve. This meant Alicia would be revealing her powers to Pete, but she had thankfully agreed. Pete was going to stand lookout as Clark located and then broke Lex out. Alicia would then bring all of them back to the barn and they'd figure things out from there.
Alicia snuggled closer into the nook of Clark's shoulder. "It's good of you to protect Jordan. I guess that's a code for people like us: the right to disclose our powers must be done by the wielder or with the wielder's permission. So, are we going to release the other powered inmates tonight?"
"No. Tonight's about rescuing Lex. For the others, I've made a call to a friend: Dr. Swann. He understands the situation and will be able to convince the people at Belle Reve to heighten security around them."
"Wait, wait, wait. Dr. Swann? Dr. Virgil Swann? Founder of S.T.A.R. Labs Virgil Swann? You know him?!" Alicia squealed. "Can I meet him? Can I get his autograph? How do you know him? Maybe he can help me with this experiment I've been doing."
Alicia grabbed Clark's hand and the two of them were standing in a room Clark was unfamiliar with. He took in the bed and the posters on the wall and surmised he was in Alicia's bedroom.
"Uh…is it okay I'm here? Where's your mom?"
"Still on a business trip." Alicia walked over to her desk.
"Right. This experiment," Clark gulped, "does it involve magnets?"
Alicia paused to give Clark a weird look over her shoulder. "No." She resumed to shift through the papers on her desk. "See, theoretically I should be able to teleport, catch something midair, and then teleport again to another location on the ground. But I can't seem to do it."
Clark began to walk over to the desk, but when he was a foot away he felt the all too familiar sickening feeling of the meteor rocks. It was innocently resting on Alicia's desk, buried beneath a pile of papers. And not just a green one. One with veins of red was sitting right next to it.
"Don't you want to look?" Alicia held out her report.
"We're on a timetable right now. Why don't we go back to the barn and see if Pete's there?"
Alicia frowned slightly. "Okay."
Pete was still not in the barn when they returned.
"While we wait, why don't you tell me what those guys in Belle Reve can do?" Alicia asked, taking her seat again on the sofa.
"Jeff made himself invisible with an oil extract. Ian can duplicate himself; Cyrus can heal. And Eric…" Clark didn't know how to explain Eric's "powers" to Alicia. He had never had powers of his own; Eric had only taken Clark's after a lightning strike. Eric had been holding a meteor rock at the time; it was the catalyst that caused the transference. To tell Alicia about Eric would be exposing his weakness.
"Right now, he's harmless," was all Clark said. He glanced at his watch.
"We really should go." Alicia pointed out.
"Fine," Clark conceded.
The two held hands and vanished in a cloud of green mist.
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Lex was strapped to the poor excuse for a bed. All he could do was lie there helplessly as he waited for the orderlies to drag him to his fate.
"Lex!" As if his wildest fantasy had come to life, Clark Kent was standing in the doorway of his cell. With his bare hands, he pulled the door of its' hinges, and then proceeded to rip away the steel cage that had been bolted to his bed.
"I knew you'd come."
Clark knelt down to rip the rest of Lex's straps to shreds. At this level, Lex could see the guilt in Clark's eyes; the remorse. But that didn't matter now. Clark was here, willing to expose his deep, dark secret to save him once again.
"All this time, I was right about you."
Clark managed a weak smile. Then, he gasped as a twist of pain crossed Clark's face. He turned and there was the sound of fist meeting jaw. As Clark fell to the ground, Lex saw Ian Randall standing behind him.
"What do you know? It worked," Ian crowed as he tossed something into the air.
"Knew he'd come to save your ass." A second Ian walked into the cell.
Ian One turned his attention to Clark, lying helpless on the floor. He landed a few more punches. Ian Two brought out a Billy Club the orderlies used on unruly inmates. Lex was his target and Lex yelped as the rod was brought down on his back. He was still weak from the sedatives and unable to defend himself. Clark wasn't faring much better; he lay stunned on the ground, blood running down his chin.
Clark, able to tear metal with his bare hands seconds earlier, was now too weak to defend himself.
"What'd you do to him?" Lex gasped.
"Your buddy's our first class ticket out of here." Ian Two now turned his attention to Clark. The clone made sure to get in a solid kick to Clark's stomach before they both dragged his body into the hallway. A gurney was waiting outside to easily transport their captive.
"Leave him alone!" Lex gasped as he tried to drag himself after his friend.
"Or you'll do what?" Ian One laughed as a helpless Clark was pushed away. "They'll be here any minute to deep fry that brain of yours."
Lex took a moment to catch his breath. Somehow he managed to get to his feet. He stumbled down the hallway, hoping to catch up with the two Ians.
Instead, Lex ran into two guards. They overtook him in a matter of seconds.
"How'd he get out!" One asked as they brought Lex down to the ground.
"Not sure, but I'm not taking any chances."
Lex saw a syringe come closer to his neck.
"Clark!" was the last thing Lex could scream before the world faded to black.