(Untitled)

[cuteandsomodest]

Marco looks pretty frazzled when he gets to the Nexus. He's walked rather than morph, given how incredibly unpleasant the last morph was. He's nearly out of breath when he gets there

Comments

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"I don't think you can just step back from the hero type of role," Clark says, a little regretfully. "I've tried it myself and it doesn't really work. Running away just makes the guilt worse."

He's faced a lot of creepy shit over the years, but one incident stands out the most. "I'd say the most nightmarish thing that ever happened to me was when my dad was in the hospital for a triple bypass, and the brother of another patient strapped a bomb to his own chest and demanded that I let them transplant my dad's liver into his brother to save his life or else he'd blow up the hospital."

[cuteandsomodest]

"Sure you can. You quit. You stop answering the phone and going to meetings to attack the enemy. Sounds pretty simple. I'm mostly just asking about breaking it nicely to people."

Marco's eyes get wide. If there's one thing he's grateful for, it's that so far he's had no reason to believe that his dad's been in immediate danger. "Well, that sounds cheerful. What happened?"

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Well the last time I tried 'retiring,' I dosed up on red kryptonite and rode off on my dad's old motorcycle and disappeared for three months, so I'm not really the best person to ask if you want considerate. Or subtle."

"Well, I tried to track down a vial of this stuff that brought his brother back from the dead in the first place, and found out that it was made with my blood as a base, which rendered it completely useless once it got near the refined meteor rock in the bomb. One of the police snipers took him out and he dropped the deadman's switch, but I managed to pitch the bomb out into a field before it exploded. Barely."

[cuteandsomodest]

"Skipping town's a bit out of my range, but that doesn't sound like such a horrible idea. Maybe the Yeerks haven't gotten to South America yet."

"That's insane," Marco says softly. What is it with his comic books and videogames and movies always pretending superheroing is full of striking poses and booking the bad guys? Every story he hears from a superhero - at least, he's pretty sure that's what Clark is, but he doesn't want to out and go "are you Superman?" - gets worse and worse

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark raises an eyebrow. "Who are the Yeerks?"

"Yeah, it wasn't my favorite day. I had a hell of a time explaining to the cops how I went from standing next to Garrett to being absolutely nowhere along with the bomb, and what the hell happened to the lead-lined sheet I stole from Radiology."

[cuteandsomodest]

"Pretty much? Brain-stealing alien slugs and the world's biggest pain in the butt."

"What did happen to the lead-lined sheet?"

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark sighs. "Why is it almost universally consistent that if aliens are on Earth, it's a bad thing? Not that these Yeerk guys aren't, but the alien invasion thing is getting cliche." Not that he can talk.

"It blew up," he says simply. "I had to wrap the bomb in it so I could get it out in time. My abilities don't work when I'm exposed to meteor rock, and it kind of hurts like hell."

[cuteandsomodest]

"Hey, E.T. was pretty cuddly, for an alien."

Marco raises his eyebrows. "Uh, "kind of hurts like hell"? That sounds like a nominee for Understatement of the Year."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark shudders. "E.T. gave me nightmares. Not the alien, the part where they were gonna cut him up."

"There is something to be said for the sensation of your blood boiling in your veins," Clark agrees. "I don't mean like when you get angry either, I mean actual bubbling and churning and agony." He doesn't have a lot of experience with "normal" pain, but the pain caused by kryptonite is horrific.

[cuteandsomodest]

"He got away in the end, though," Marco says, fully aware that even if there's an okay ending, the stuff in the middle can haunt you forever.

"Yeah, that sounds...fun. I'll ask the doctor if that procedure's covered by insurance."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"The last time I trusted a doctor to do anything for me, she sold my blood to my worst enemy," he states flatly. "That's how the whole resurrect-the-dead-with-Clark's-blood thing started. And I don't tend to bleed, so I'd rather not give them an excuse to grab some more, thanks."

[cuteandsomodest]

"It was a joke. You know, like haha, that's so silly, why would anyone want their blood boiled and why would insurance ever cover it? You're supposed to laugh, not tell me even more disturbing stuff."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Sorry. I'm not very good at joking about this sort of thing." He's been accused of having no sense of humor before, and it won't be the last time, either. "Besides, you're the one who asked for the horror novel treatment."

[cuteandsomodest]

"I came here to hear other people talk about their awful experiences so I could forget getting dismembered earlier. I was thinking of collecting a little anthology or something. Chicken Soup for the Post-Traumatic Soul or something."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"I could tell you about the time an ancient flower got revived and turned the entire town into homicidal nymphomaniacs, if that'd help. Or the brain parasite that made everyone act like suicidal thrill-seekers. Or how half my classmates snap and try to kill people, like that girl who ate people for their body fat."

[cuteandsomodest]

Marco just stares blankly for a second, at an uncharacteristic loss for words.

"That's...pretty insane. I thought my world was messed up but I think you just won some kind of really awful contest."