Hello, my Lovelies! I'm back and with only one chapter left to go on this short story. I am hoping to get back to a regular updating schedule in the coming new year.
Superboy screamed as the scalpel pierced his skin, digging deep into his abdomen. The scientist sighed above him. IT had been screaming or whimpering since they had started and was beginning to get on everyone's nerves.
The skin tugged against the serrated blade causing the scientist to frown. He turned to his colleague.
"Increase the Red Sun exposure from 75% to 90%," he said, turning back to his work. The red sunlamp burned brighter against his skin, warming him while the subject whimpered below him. The whimper evolved into a scream the further the scientist dug the scalpel into the flesh.
He sat down the scalpel ready to move on to the next step in the procedure. Another scream died off when a guard groaned in frustration.
"Can you shut IT up?!"
He turned to the guard behind him.
"There is nothing I can give him. You'll have to deal with it like the rest of us unless you have a better idea."
He grabbed a syringe off of the table. Superboy shaking in fear and exhaustion, more so the former, seeing the object in his hands. A small whimper escaped him.
"I can think of a few," the guard said finally, with a grin that could rival the Jokers.
The purified metal became flimsy under the Man of Steel's strength. Breaking its hold on the doorway, the metal groaning in protest before being flung away to reveal an opening in the wall.
A hallway that leads to two different doors at the end. His stride was thunderous as he chose the first door he came upon. Upon opening the door, he knew that he didn't like what he saw.
The room was pristine, the light glaring off of the surface and empty. Nothing but medical tools scattered about the place and a medical table in the middle.
Walking into the room was a different story.
The fire left in a millisecond. His eyes widening in worry.
Heart monitors and other machines littered the floor in various stages of destruction. Blood spattered across the screens. Bloodied sheets, scalpel, and a prong were piled on the floor, hidden behind the table.
His gaze swept across the counters on the far end of the room. Jars and glass containers were filled to the brim. There were bags of blood laying across the surface, one was almost empty. Petri dishes that held what looked like muscle tissue, a nail, a white glossy thing, and…. Is that bone?
He didn't stay in the room for another second, rushing back out into the hallway. He needed to find the kid.
A weak cry echoed through the hall followed by a voice.
"Shut up," a sharp sound of flesh being hit, "Hold him down." The voice shouted over the commotion.
He felt his anger rising like a fury. The flames he thought were extinguished, renewed with vigor. Their power rocked the ground as he ripped the door off its hinges.
The door clanged against the ground as he dropped it at his side. The sudden sound made the other people in the room jump. A sight that he wouldn't have taken pleasure in otherwise.
The man in the black and other in a white coat stood over the boy. The black suited man held down the boy's arms as the white coat struggled to secure the straps on the table. Both froze in their place, eyes wide as they took in the scene before them.
By the fear in their eyes, he suspected he looked quite threatening with his large stature and glowing eyes. But he didn't care about how he seemed at that moment. All he cared about was stopping whatever this is.
Using his speed, he grabbed hold of the back of their coats, then knocked their heads together. Heads rolling on their shoulders, he let go of their jackets. He watched as their unconscious bodies hit the floor.
He looked up and almost wished he hadn't.
Quick short gasps of breath filled the room. Their sound accompanied by winces of partially hidden pain. Small burst of shivers from the cold. Nothing more for his body could barely handle the movement.
Clad in only his underwear, the boy laid on the cool surface of the metal table. Kal's eyes widened in sorrow at every stitched cut, bruise, and open wound on the boy.
As he surveyed the boy he had subconsciously moved closer till he stood beside the table. A steady hand reached out lightly pushing the sweaty hair out of the kid's eyes. His kid.
The kid flinched, turning his head away from the contact. Kal's heart clenched in his chest knowing the reason. He felt himself softening before he knew it.
"Hey bud. It's okay, I'm going to get you out of here," his voice was soft compared to his earlier rage. "I'm going to loosen the straps now, alright?"
Going as slow as he dared, one by one the straps fell off, falling to the side. He winced seeing the bruises forming from underneath the bands.
The kid quietly whimpered. Kal sighed wishing he could ease the pain away. His eyebrows scrunched watching the hairs on the boy's arms rise from the temperature.
It was quite chilly down here for it to be in Hawaii. He glanced at the figures on the floor. Setting them with a hard stare.
That explained the coats. He thought. A cruel thing to do to anyone, especially a child.
He turned and searched around the room for anything resembling a blanket. The room laid mostly bare unlike its twin down the hall. Nothing essential was stocked. Nothing besides more medical equipment, a little different from the past room. A few oxygen canisters in the corner. Not that they would've needed to with their coats….. Their coats.
His head snapped up. Of course. It's not like they would miss it after all.
Making his way over, he noted the white coat was nothing more than a lab or surgical coat at best. The other was more fitting for warmth.
He gently removed the man in black coat from his shoulders, leaving the man face down on the floor. Kal shook out the coat as he made his way over to the boy. He frowned seeing that he hadn't moved an inch.
Kal laid his hand on the kid's shoulder, ignoring the flinch.
"Bud, do you think you can sit up for me? I need to get this jacket on you. Bud? Kiddo? Hey, look at me," Kal said, desperation leaking into his voice as the kid failed to respond.
As gently as he could, Kal held the kid's cheek to turn his head towards him. What he saw caused the fire to bloom behind his eyes. He held it back forcing a small smile onto his face. Blue iridescent eyes met a terrified dull gray.
Kal swore his heart stopped as the kid's face came into the light. There was a bright red hand mark across his cheek, the one cradled in his palm. Blood dripped down the kid's face from a cut above his eye dragging below it. Dried blood trailed out of the corner of his mouth.
Kal swore out loud. The kid's right eye was covered in a growing bruise. A patch was temporarily placed over the appendage that was glowing bright red. Soaked to the brim in crimson blood.
The sixth sense of someone staring at him alerted him of the boy's gaze. Kal looked the kid in the eye as he spoke.
"Hi, bud. I'm going to get you out of here okay? I'm taking you home," Kal said, hoping the boy could hear him, "No one's ever going to hurt you again. I won't let them. I promise."
The boy gave no recognition that he had heard him. Kal sighed.
"Okay. I'm putting the jacket on you. Here we go," Kal said. Talking to the kid as he went. A gut feeling that said it was better than not talking at all.
The boy didn't move when Kal zipped up the jacket. The boy tensed up but nothing more.
Pulling the hood over the kid's head, he gave the kid a final warning. "There you go. I'm going to pick you up now," he said, edging his hands underneath the frail body.
He cradled the boy closer, nudging his head to rest upon Kal's chest. The boy was light. Lighter than a kid his age should be. Just from looking at him, you could tell the boy was malnourished. Kal didn't realize how much until he felt the frail weight.
A surge of the desire to protect flared within him. It was a feeling shared by his love for his parents and Lois. The desire to protect others was why he wished he could be a hero. His powers were the reason why he did. Now he has the power to help the boy. A son he didn't know he had.
"Let's get you home." Kal stood to his full height. Precious cargo secured in his arms.
"Fat chance," a voice said from behind them. Kal glanced over his shoulder keeping his body between the boy and the new threat.
Kal glared at the man in black. The man had woken up from his sudden slumber. A gun in hand, pointing it at the pair.
"Put it down now, or I will shoot." The man's hand shook as he tried to steady the weapon. The air shifted around the pair.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kal warned. The man laughed.
"You don't get to tell me what to do," the man said, firing upon will. A grin was wide as can be appearing on his face.
That grin fell as the bullets fell upon impact with Kal's back. The man growled, emptying the gun's magazine. Each bullet was crushed except one.
The boy whimpered at the sound, trying his best to turn his body away from the noise. Kal curled himself around the younger, giving the man less of a target. The last bullet went flying through the air missing Kal's shoulder blade and hitting the oxygen tanks.
In the span of a second, Kal turned his body away from the growing flames. The man stared in horror at the sight frozen with shock. The duo quickly escaped from the room and down the hall.
Kal gently took off, weaving through the corridor until they hit the open sky. Once they were free from the burning building, Kal released a breath of supercooled air extinguishing the flames. All that was left of the building was a pile of ash and metal.
It wasn't long before they were crossing the Pacific.
The boy shivered from the wind. Turning his face into the warm chest of the person that held him. A warmth he had never felt before. A sharp change from the increasing cold of the laboratory he was trapped in.
Dreary, he opened his good eye seeing nothing but black. A faint shape of lines almost like the S symbol of his suit. And stars passing by at an incredible speed.
The strong thump of a heartbeat against his ear lurked his tired mind to sleep. A sleep he wasn't sure he would wake up from. But that was okay.
He wouldn't hurt anymore. And this was a nice dream to fall asleep to. Flying with his dad. Something he's always wanted to do.
His eyes slowly shut, exhaustion taking its toll. The last thing he heard was a voice.
"Hang on kiddo. You're going to be okay."
And he believed him.