I do not own Clark Kent/Superman, the Kents, Smallville, or Martian Man-hunter. DC does. Please enjoy for free.

Clark cautiously sucked in a breath before trying to respond ... "I ... I didn't mean to ... I meant to stop the tornado ..."

Even in the deep, overcast night sky darkness, Clark thought he saw the, now whites, of Moe's eyes disappear briefly in a blink. "Clark ... try to think loudly with your mind about what you mean by that."

Ordinarily, Clark would have asked questions about those instructions. In that moment though, his lungs hurt so much even speaking in a whisper pained him, so he tried it without question. He remembered the discovery and testing of his powers, the footage of the damage of the tornadoes and his study of the destructive weather phenomenon, and his plans. Then he thought about how those plans hadn't worked as he planned.

Moe's eyes widened. He finally interrupted Clark's loud thinking to ask, "You used up the power already at your disposal without being able to replenish it due to the lack of sunlight?"

Clark groaned gently, and used the sharp pain that came with that to power an inner shout. "Yes!"

Moe glanced up at the sky and then back at him. "Does it work with reflected sunlight as well?"

Clark stared back at him remembering how much stronger he felt on full moon, his energy after sunset waning or waxing with the moon's face in the sky. Moe looked up again and then down to meet his gaze. "How much of your ability to heal from wounds have you tested?"

Clark's brows furrowed. He hadn't gotten hurt much since he was about eleven. Around that time, he had noticed any bruises or scratches he got disappeared in minutes. Moe seemed to get the message, because he sighed. When he spoke, his deep voice seemed to reverberate in Clark's chest igniting a flame of hope and soothing away the icy fear and loneliness he'd suffered minutes ago at least until the Martian's last statement. "Alright ... I'm going to try to help, but you need to cooperate with me. You were frightened when I first approached. The red glow of my eyes is not evil. They do that when I use some of my Martian abilities. I'm going to have to use them to try to move the clouds, so the moon can shine on you and so I can ... remove the foreign objects from your body and reset your bones."

Clark's eyes flew open. He swallowed. Behind his new fear, though, was a spark of his usual curiosity. You can DO that?

"I can fly like you, and I can move things, even heavy things, without touching them."

What's your upper limit?

"Clark, I think we should concentrate on me helping you."

Sorry ...

"I know you were just now afraid of being hurt. There may be a way I can help with that too."

Clark gave the Martian his full attention. Moe continued. "You need to try to relax, though, and let me into your mind."

Isn't ... that how we're communicating now. You've known what I'm thinking.

"I'm 'receiving' your thoughts only, which is why my eyes aren't glowing red. I haven't entered your mind yet. When I do, I can find good memories, calming, even sleep inducing memories. And if that's not enough, I can knock you unconscious. But if you panic and fight me, there may be damage."

Uh, what kind of damage?

"Hopefully, you will only awake with a bad headache along with whatever pain you will have from me removing the shrapnel and resetting your bones."

Okay, just ... just do it! I owe it to my parents and everybody to at least try ... after I disobeyed my pa and everything! They don't even know where I am! I don't even ...

"Clark, Clark ... calm yourself. Whatever happens or doesn't happen, I will take you home to them. And I will tell your father you were sorry you disobeyed. But I will also tell them both you were attempting to help them and your neighbors. For what it is worth, while I also think you were being unwise, I think you were trying to help. And I think the tornado did stop spinning early ..."

Thanks, really, but ... don't encourage me ... And thanks Moe. Please, do take me home and tell them I'm sorry! I appreciate it. I'm glad you're here, whatever happens ..."

"I'm glad I'm here too Clark. But, you may feel differently in a few minutes."

Please ... just help me fall asleep ...

Moe nodded. Then Clark felt a large, warm, rough hand cover his forehead and saw the eyes go red and bright above him again. It was still an odd thing to see, but then ... he wasn't seeing it. He was sitting on a fence-post staring at a gorgeous sunset. Bright oranges along the horizon turned to deep reds, then pinks and purples coloring the low clouds that didn't quite obscure the bright sinking disk till it was gone. Rest seemed to come over the entire land after along with cricket songs and the rustling and mewing of exploring kittens in the tall grass.

Then he was drifting off on the couch after a heavy, filling meal of cornbread, stew, and pie. Then came a far more distant memory, a little more uncomfortable. His throat and stomach were a little sore, but better than they had been an hour before. His ma's cool hand was stroking his feverish forehead. She also hummed a gentle tune. As this memory faded away, he entered a deep soft darkness.

He'd just starting drifting back to awareness realizing he was feeling a little warmer and stronger, when pain like he'd never felt before hit him. In fact, it hit him twice in quick succession, and in different ways. First, he felt what seemed like dozens of sharp objects pulled out of him. It was not even comparable to pulling out splinters, more like pulling out spikes. Then, not only bones in his legs and arms, which he "had" experienced the resetting of before as a young boy, but also places in his "spine" and "neck" were snapped back into place!

His eyes flew open. He screamed louder than he ever had before. Then, he noticed his telescopic vision was back. A bald humanoid figure with red glowing eyes floated miles above him near the center of a circular break in the clouds which was allowing moonlight to hit him. The pain began to fade away, but was still worse than anything he'd known or could ever have imagined as that being floated down and landed next to him.

Clark released a sigh. He dared to fill his lungs and talk again, when the sigh didn't hurt them too much. "Can we ... never do that again?"

"I think so ... as long as you never get hurt so many places and in so many ways again." Moe the Martian ran the gaze of his red glowing eyes over Clark's body again. "You are indeed healing more quickly than I hoped, but I think full recovery will still take several hours."

Clark swallowed, now noticing his throat was dry, though his skin was still wet, but heating up. Then he said, "Yeah ... it's not like it's broad daylight."

"I can put you back to sleep again."

Clark frowned at his old friend. Moe nodded slowly and spoke a bit more gently. "I know ... it is hard to trust again after that. Perhaps I should not have let your flesh heal so much before pulling out the shrapnel and resetting the bones."

"What?!"

"I was not certain it would work at first. I did not want you to bleed to death. And once I began, I thought it better to do it all at once."

Clark released a breath. "Sure, yeah, I guess that makes sense."

"Don't you want to sleep through the rest? It could speed recovery as well."

Clark swallowed again thinking of that comfortable sleep before the pain. Then he nodded. "Okay, go ahead."

He shut his eyes and felt the martian's hand on his head again. This time, he felt his mind pull away, but then he heard Moe's voice in it deep and soothing. "Shhhh ... I know ... Relax ... Let me find those memories again."

He did find those again, along with others: eating his ma's chicken soup while recovering from a flue in his favorite pajamas on the couch watching cartoons. Sitting on a hay bale while holding a kitten on his lap as it purred and fell asleep. Scratching Rex's head while watching another gorgeous sunset from the porch this time. Falling asleep on the couch after eating a second piece of pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving dinner hearing an announcer's voice and a crowd cheering coming from the TV as his pa watched Football. Soon, he was back in a dark, but not uncomfortable or frightening place of being nearly asleep. Then, he was fully asleep.

What do you think now?

For the Whumptober prompt for Oct 7th 2024 "Only for emergencies" namely Moe/Martian Manhunter using so many of his powers and looking Martian in front of somebody as well as sadly causing Clark so much pain while helping him. Also, the alternative prompt "Secrets revealed" can apply here as Martian Manhunter shows so much more of what he can do to Clark. Both can also apply to Clark letting Martian Manhunter know so much about "his" powers.

God bless

ScribeofHeroes