Perry Part 5
At Smallville High…
Chloe shuffled through crime scene photos as she made her way to the Torch office. After last night's emergency meeting, it seemed like Belle Reve was the best lead to get evidence against Van. They had established from the photos at the swim meet from the beginning of the year that Van had been on the bus but wasn't present in the bleachers during the meet. Van had told the economics teacher he didn't have permission from his mother to attend the Luthor Corp field trip, but the school thought he was going so his absence went unobserved.
All of this was circumvential; nothing iron-clad to give the Sherriff. As Clark had said, there had been power outages at Belle Reve the night of Lex's shock therapy making it riskier than ever to attempt the procedure. Yet, Lionel Luthor had insisted on moving forward. The salvageable security footage only caught the masked man running, but nothing that could prove it was Van. That left the photos of the aftermath. The young reporter was currently staring at one photo from Cyrus' scene. It was an enlarged photo of the meteor rock with the word "Freak" written on it. Unlike the other rocks left at the other crime scenes, the K was smudged.
Chloe entered the office to see Bobby Big Mouth standing in front of the Wall of Weird with a strange man with white hair. The older gentleman was taking a non-subtle swig from a flask.
"Bobby. Where've you been?"
"Where've I been? I've been stuck in Hicksville. That's where, Sullivan. Sure, it's got a home-cooking-grub vibe, but where's the diversity, huh? Where's the Italian? My Pad Thai? Ramen?" Bobby threw his hands in the air. "Where's my sushi, Sullivan?"
"Wait, you haven't gone back to Metropolis? Why?"
"The zombies, Sullivan! Or did you forget? I can't go home until those zombies are gone. And since you seem to have better things to do, I brought in the big guns." Bobby pointed at his friend.
"I thought our stuff was off-the-wall. This is incredible," the stranger said. He turned towards Chloe. "Do you make it all up yourself, or do you pull in other writers?"
"Excuse me?"
"Professional curiosity." The man pulled out a business card labeled 'X Styles'. Chloe was familiar with the show. It chased after so-called paranormal events. But while "Tales of the Weird and Unexplained" had eyewitnesses and scientific data to prove the observations were bizarre phenomena, "X Styles" just had desperate people with cameras and bad CGI.
"It's not every day I meet another junk journalist with a penchant for the bizarre."
That just boiled Chloe's blood. "I have a penchant for the truth. Something your freaks and shrieks cable show gave up around episode two."
The man gave a good natured chuckle and turned his attention back to the wall.
"Really, Bobby? He's your 'big guns'?"
"I know how it looks, but the guy's legit. He and I go way back. My dad knew him. Well, closest thing to a dad I had. Sore Throat taught me everything I needed to know about snitching."
"I know that kid," the old man muttered as he tapped an article. Chloe glanced at it and saw it was the article about Clark finding the Kawatche caves.
"Well, best of luck to you in Metropolis." Chloe did not appreciate the strangers intense gaze on Clark's photo.
"Oh, my team and I can't leave. Not yet. There's a story here. I can smell it."
"How could a small town compete with the lure of real zombies?"
The stranger pulled out a recent article that read "Smallville Shooter Strikes Again." As Chloe leaned in to read the headline, the old man caught sight of the photo in Chloe's hand.
"Huh. The paint was still wet."
"What?"
"The smudge."
"I knew that." Chloe bristled as the two walked past her to the door. Her thumb moved on the card to reveal the name typed in the bottom right corner: Perry White: Journalist.
"Wait, wait, wait…you're the Perry White?"
The man's bravado faltered. Without another word, the man disappeared down the hallway.
"I told you, Sullivan. The guy's legit." Bobby shrugged as he made his exit.
Chloe stood in shocked silence for a minute. Perry White dominated the front page of the Daily Planet when Chloe had been living in Metropolis. The man had sent untouchable thugs to jail. He exposed corporate sabotage; shed light on the criminal underbelly. Until, one day, Perry White disappeared from the world of journalism.
How does a reporter go from multiple Pulitzer nominations to walking the Big Foot beat?
At the Kent farm…
Lana took in a steadying breath before knocking on the Kents' front door. Enough was enough. She needed to talk with Clark about why he was being so distant. She was supposed to have this conversation yesterday, but she just couldn't bring herself to face him in light of the current rumor mill. Felice Chandler claimed Clark had to have let her in. Dawn Styles insisted Alicia crawled into Clark's bed while he was still asleep.
If a guy did that to me, I'd be freaked out. Lana shuddered, remembering being under the influence of Seth Nelson. But the girls of Smallville High only laughed and the guys were wishing it would happen to them.
I feel like there's a double standard here.
Besides, Lana believed she knew what had really happened. Alicia had used her powers to get into Clark's bedroom. Whether he was asleep or waiting for her was a missing detail.
"Coming," a voice said from inside. But it was not Mrs. Kent who answered. It was Alicia.
"Lana," the girl said. Her annoyance was quite clear from her tone of voice.
"Hi, Alicia." Lana tried to stay calm. "I'm here to drop of the Talon's order." That had been her cover all along.
"I can take that." Alicia opened the door to accept the piece of paper, but not wide enough for Lana to walk in.
"Actually, I was hoping to speak with Clark if he's here."
"Oh, he's not. He and Mr. Kent are gone on an errand. There's no telling when they'll be back."
"I'll wait."
Lana stood her ground, waiting for Alicia to move and allow her inside. The intruder made no effort to smile; she only turned around, walking back into the kitchen. Lana managed to get the door open with her free hand as her other still held on to the cane. Alicia stood at the counter, an array of vegetables waiting to be diced for dinner spread out before her. Lana took a seat at the dinner table.
"Can I help?" Lana asked to break the silence.
"No."
What is her deal?
In the silence that followed, Lana connected Alicia's behavior to what she had observed during her time on the cheerleading squad. Too many of the jock girlfriends felt threatened whenever their boyfriends spoke to another girl. Even if it was harmlessly asking what the teacher had just said. And Chloe mentioned Alicia's past of being imprisoned by her old boyfriend. Maybe Alicia was just relieved to have a boyfriend who respected and cared for her. No doubt the school gossip oversold the relationship she had with Clark.
"Alicia, look," Lana began, "I want you to understand I'm not trying to get Clark back."
"Oh, I know. Cause that's not happening." Alicia never took her eyes from the cutting board.
"We just have a lot of history between us," Lana continued, "and I want to clear the air. I have a lot of respect for Clark. He's very caring towards his friends. I'm confused why he never visited me in the hospital. Do you know anything about that?"
"I guess he didn't want to. He's moving on. You should to."
Lana felt annoyed again. She was trying to civil and empathetic towards how Alicia might feel, but it was like talking to a brick wall. "Look…"
Before Lana could get another word out, Alicia brought the chef's knife down in a fluid motion on a head of lettuce, slicing it in half. One side rolled onto the floor as Alicia turned towards Lana, knife raised.
"Clark. Is. Mine." Alicia spoke in a soft, calm manner, but there was no mistaking the unspoken rage.
"Clark doesn't love you anymore. He never did." Each word brought Alicia one step closer to Lana. She wiggled knife in front of Lana's face as the girl was trapped between Alicia and the table. She lifted her cane to be ready to strike if needed. "I think it's best for everyone if you just leave us alone."
Just then, Mrs. Kent walked through the door, her arms full of produce crates. The armload blocked Mrs. Kent's view, giving Alicia time to put down the knife and put on a friendly smile.
"Here, Mrs. Kent," Alicia rushed over to grab some of the crates.
"Thanks, Alicia. Lana, how nice to see you. How are you feeling?"
"Much better. Thank you."
"Would you like to stay for dinner?"
Lana glanced over at Alicia. The girl had calmly returned to the chopping board, as if she hadn't made any threats a minute prior.
"Thanks, but I can't."
Lana retreated to her car, breathing in relief as she drove away. Out of habit and for safety, Lana checked her rearview mirror.
And looked straight into the eyes of Alicia Baker.
Lana gasped and stepped on her brakes. She quickly twisted her body to view the backseat, only to find it empty. It took her a full minute to calm down before resuming her ride.
I knew it. Those freaks are dangerous. Every last one of them. I need to warn Clark.
Now was not the time. Lana knew she needed proof before she could talk with Clark.
Proof that Alicia was dangerous.
In the Kent back 40…
Clark made sure to pace himself as he dug a hole for a fence post. Part of his punishment was extra chores at normal speed. Clark knew if he could just use his powers, he would be done with this chore in an hour or two, tops. But Clark's annoyance disappeared as he took notice of how his father's breathing was louder than normal. And he would stop every so often to just stand still, or rest against one the newly secured posts.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"Never better."
"Well, thanks for letting Alicia come to dinner."
"If she's special to you, your mother and I would like to get to know her better. Look, son," Mr. Kent coughed, "I'm still upset about what happened. But, I do have to admit, you did the right thing in respecting Alicia's privacy and not telling me about her ability. I only hope she'll do the same."
"She will, Dad. She does. Alicia's kept my secret this whole time." But Clark couldn't help but frown as he remembered their most recent heart-to-heart.
"What is it?"
"Well, we had an agreement when we started dating; that we would be as honest with each other as we could, but we could also not tell anything we didn't want to. It was great at first, but now…"
"Honesty is the foundation of any relationship, Clark."
Clark nodded. He had heard his parents say so often. And it made sense. "I just learned something about Alicia and…Dad?"
Johnathan Kent was cluthing his ears and groaning in pain. As his voice became a full-on scream, he dropped to his knees.
"Dad!?" Clark knelt in front of his father.
Mr. Kent shook his head a few times. "I'm fine. It was just that noise. Where did that come from?"
"What noise?" Clark hadn't heard a thing.
"It was probably nothing." Mr. Kent tried to brush it off as he got to his feet and reached for another post.
Clark used his mighty grip to try and take the post from his father's hands. "Uh, Dad, you don't have to…"
"I'm fine, Kal-El!" Johnathan snarled as pulled back on the post. Clark felt his blood freeze and father and son stood staring at each other in shock.
"Why'd you call me that?" Mr. Kent ignored the question and returned to work. "Dad, that noise you heard, what did it sound like?"
"Just a loud, high pitched…"
"Hum? That was the key. Are you sure this doesn't have anything to do with Jor-El?"
"I thought we agreed we were going to drop that!"
Mr. Kent threw the post down to the ground and stormed off.
Meanwhile, in Metropolis…
Dr. Teng stared in despair at the data laid on her desk. She had the numbers and formulas memorized, but nothing made sense. And she did not know the next step she was supposed to take.
The eccentric billionaire had come to her rescue about a year ago. Lionel had saved her from an abusive marriage; one Dr. Teng had only taken to ensure a green card. Mr. Luthor had swooped in, securing her visa and giving her a prestigious job. His only request was that she develop a cure for a rare liver disease.
But while a project like this normally took years, he made it clear she was to do it in months.
Lionel Luthor demanded the impossible.
True, the blood sample he gave her was impossible by itself. It was nothing short of a miracle. The serum she developed revitalized human tissue, even enhancing it. Each of the subjects displayed an above average ability in strength and speed.
But the brain was another matter.
The gray matter showed decay, albeit at a slower rate than that of the normal deceased. The subjects showed no ability to speak or reason. They just stood still with vacant stares for hours on end. The displays of strength and speed had happened purely on accident.
Dr. Teng sighed in frustration. There just wasn't enough platelets to conduct the necessary trials. She could only pick the best theory before running a trial that ended in limited data. Each attempt gave valuable information, but with the blood running low, Dr. Teng would run out before developing Lionel Luthor's cure.
The doctor's attention was grabbed by the alarm signaling the delivery truck had arrived. Dr. Teng gulped down the rest of her tea, now stone cold. On autopilot, Dr. Teng went out to grab the body Lionel Luthor had ordered she do an autopsy on.
Dr. Teng unzipped the body bag. Inside was a teenage male, but the facial features looked nothing like the photo she had been provided.
"Stop!" She ordered the driver. "You brought me the wrong body!"
"You wanted a 'Cyrus Krupp' from Belle Reve, right?" The delivery guy tapped his clipboard. "One Cyrus Krupp."
"No, no, no. There's been a mix-up." Dr. Teng inwardly groaned. "This is not Cyrus Krupp. I need the body of Cyrus Krupp."
"Hey, I don't know what to tell you. This is what they gave me." The driver kept walking towards his truck.
"Don't just leave this here. Take it back!" Dr. Teng growled at the displayed incompetence.
A collective yell from inside the building turned all their heads. Dr. Teng sprinted to the observation window and peered down at the holding cells. Each subject was screaming with their heads pointed to the sky, their eyes still vacant.
Then, just as suddenly, they stopped. In unison, they lowered their heads to the normal level. The building shook and, after Dr. Teng regained her balance, she realized why.
Every subject had ripped open the door and sped off through one of the walls.
Fifteen super strong, super fast, incognizant beings were now loose in the city of Metropolis.