Subject: Chapter 22
Short summary: Clark dreads the coming day but someone leaves him a surprising gift...
See all chapters here...
Chapter 22
After the colonel left him, Clark had laid in the bed so long exposed to kryptonite that he had eventually lost consciousness. He woke up naked on the floor back in his enclosure; the new clothes and the electronic equipment were all gone, although they'd left the privacy screen and the bed. The down comforter was gone but the expensive Egyptian cotton sheets were on the bed in a tangle and the down pillows were piled high.
The screen wasn't that big a deal really so Clark could understand them not taking that, but not the bed. It had been a primary demand of Kal's and the bed was huge. Maybe they were just lazy. It probably would have taken the humans hours to disassemble.
Clark sighed. He got up and crossed over the metal chest of drawers. Now that they had taken away the clothes they'd bought for Kal, they'd apparently restocked the supply of clean t-shirts and shorts. He sighed and threw on a pair of shorts. He looked out onto the bright sunlit day and decided to soak up some sun on the enormous bed.
The fact that Kal blackmailed the colonel to get the bed made Clark feel a bit guilty about enjoying it, but he laid himself out on the huge surface anyway. Clark didn't think for a minute that he'd really be able to keep the bed for much longer and wanted to enjoy while he still had it. Clark closed his yes and enjoyed spreading out comfortably on it in the sun instead of on the cold metal floor. He was exhausted from the kryptonite exposure and wanted nothing more than to sleep.
The narrow hospital style bed had been serviceable but never comfortable and it wasn't all that practical, really, when Clark wanted to soak up some sun... It had been hard to get enough of his skin exposed to the sun when lying in the narrow bed.
He stretched, enjoying the luxuriously spacious soft surface, his back arching into the sun. He could hear Lex's heart beat speed up as he flexed his bare chest in the bright sunshine. He almost let Lex's reaction ruin the moment as his own desire for Lex flared up. The thought occurred to him that he should tease Lex like Kal had, and even try to enjoy it. He wanted to play with him, like his less inhibited half had.
No. He wanted to hurt Lex, just like Kal had.
He knew that he had a lot of sexual power, in addition to all his other abilities. He shouldn't be shy in turning it into a weapon like Kal had shown him; like the Man had shown him...
It'd be so easy, but he was just too tired to play games. Sleep was far more seductive an option right at the moment...
He gave the camera one last glare before he let his eyes close and he heard Lex sigh deeply. He turned his face away from the camera and tried to ignore the increased breathing rate from his very own personal stalker.
Clark heard the door open to the room Lex was in. The colonel entered.
The colonel spoke in a shocked whisper. "Is he sleeping?"
Lex cleared his throat. "Not yet. Right now, he's just trying to ignore me..."
The colonel sounded perplexed. "How does he know you're even watching?"
Lex replied very matter-of-factly. "He can hear me, just like his darker side said..."
The colonel was skeptical. "I find it really hard to believe he can hear you from here."
Lex sighed. "Believe it. He knows someone is always watching; he's not stupid. However, he seems to give especially hateful glares to the camera whenever I'm here... He knows when I'm keeping an eye on him."
The colonel's tone turned contemplative. "Have the scientists had any luck designing equipment to test just how well he can hear?"
Lex sighed. "No. They can't even intellectually grasp the range of his hearing, except in mathematical terms, much less design equipment to test it."
Colonel Preskin's was matter-of-fact in his reply. "Is there any chance they can figure out a way to keep him from listening to us?"
Lex played it seriously, but Clark could hear the humor in Lex's response. "The engineers thought that he might not hear us through a mile of granite bedrock. There's a deep granite deposit about 30 miles from here that might be a good location for the new control room. However, you would have to wait nearly a year while a team of engineers and miners bored out a cavity big enough for a control room and the thousands of feet of shaft needed to access it... Do you want to authorize the expense so Clark can't hear us talk about him?"
The Colonel cleared his throat. "No, uh.... No, I don't think that will be necessary."
Without opening his eyes, Clark smiled as the colonel left abruptly. Lex chuckled softly then remained silent. The only sounds Clark heard were Lex's heart beat and the heart beats of the other nameless men in the room. Occasionally the other men would type something on their computers, but aside from that all was quiet.
Despite everything else that had happened, listening to Lex's heart beating comforted him with its familiarity. Exhausted, Clark finally fell asleep as he listened to Lex's heart beat in its slow, steady rhythm.
------
Clark woke when the sun was going down. He realized the sound of a distant door opening woke him. Still tired, he rolled over onto his side to try and go back to sleep. The door closed and Clark heard Gus's heart.
Gus spoke. "Is he still sleeping? It's almost dinner time..."
Lex replied. "Dr. Edwards thought that it was best he sleep, especially given the length of time he had been exposed to green-k earlier... He needs rest more than the meal."
Gus sounded concerned, "He's still so thin from his illness..."
The door opened and closed again. The colonel entered the room, Lex replied more stiffly. "I think he'll be okay, it will take some time before he fully recovers..."
Gus cleared his throat. "I'd like to ask you about something I've been worried about..." Gus cleared his throat again. "How's Celia?"
Clark could hardly contain his gasp, and he hoped he succeeded. No one had mentioned her name in the months since he last saw her...
Colonel Preskin growled, "We were talking earlier about how little escapes the alien's attention, you shouldn't talk about that here, Mr. Barrows."
"Why not? Clark's asleep. Even if he weren't, he deserves to know. No one has said a thing about how she's doing... Celia was well liked and yet you've not let anyone know what happened to her. She left here looking close to death. I was her friend. I'd like to know whether she's okay..."
Clark's heart raced and he wasn't sure he was really hiding the fact he was awake all that well, but he hoped they wouldn't notice. He had to hear more...
The Colonel wasn't having it. "We can talk about this later when the alien is less likely to be listening in."
Gus growled, "What difference does it make even if Clark wasn't asleep? He would probably want to know more than I do about how the mother of his child is doing."
Lex took in a breath, as if he were about to say something, when the colonel interrupted. "Don't say a thing, Mr. Luthor... Her condition is a need-to-know piece of information and Mr. Kent certainly doesn't need to know about Dr. Casey's medical status. His state of mind has a direct affect on the project, so I don't want him to know anything more about things like this than is necessary..."
Furious, Clark jumped out of bed and sped over to the wall closest to the camera. He yelled, his voice booming inside the glass enclosure. "My state of mind? With what you're planning to do to me, it's amazing that now you're concerned about my state of mind." He growled at the camera as it adjusted to get a better look at him. "It's okay to subject me to institutionalized rape and torture, but when it comes to telling me about the health of a woman I care about all of a sudden you don't want to upset me? You tell me right now. What happened to Celia?"
The Colonel sighed and spoke softly and the intercom hissed on. "You don't need to know, Mr. Kent. I wouldn't want to anger you any further."
Clark was so completely enraged that he wanted to pound something into dust and his body shook with the barely restrained fury. "You haven't seen me angry..." He picked up the set of heavy metal drawers as if they were made of paper and lifted them above his head. His jaw clenched in his fury, Clark spoke quietly, his voice heavy with menace and a cold resolve. "I could smash this through this glass and I could maybe, if you're lucky, only burn down only half the building before losing consciousness..."
Clark growled, "You tell me now or I'll burn everything."
There was a sudden rush of feet running outside in the hallway and the door flew open. Clark raised the chest of drawers higher but swallowed when soldiers ran in. They stopped and pointed their weapons at Clark's chest.
One of the men yelled, his voice booming in the hard tiled room outside Clark's enclosure. "Put that down and back away from the wall now!" The soldiers' fear made their faces pale and their hearts race...
Clark didn't move. His eyes narrowed and he glowered at the soldiers.
The man yelled again, holding his gun up higher. "Put it down now or we will fire!"
Clark's eyes flicked to the camera and then back to the soldier who was giving him orders. He still didn't move.
The intercom hissed again and the colonel spoke curtly. "If you would rather die, keep it up. They will shoot to kill before they let you run rampant. That is a promise, Mr. Kent."
Not ready to die and feeling trapped, Clark knew the colonel had called his bluff. He never would have killed. He angrily threw down the chest hard and it wrenched out of shape. The drawers wouldn't open ever again.
Clark roared, his cry of pain and frustration was so loud it startled the soldiers and rattled the glass panels in their brackets. He and ran his fingers through his hair. Clark breathed deeply, trying to get control of his turbulent emotions. Desperate to know what they knew, he knew he had to try and be calm.
He swallowed and stepped up to the wall and stared intently into the lens of the camera, his hands spread wide on the cool glass. Clark whispered softly. "Please tell me what happened to Celia anyway... I can't force you but she's the mother of my child..."
Lex spoke next, the intercom was still on so the soldiers in the room heard everything. "He should know, Colonel..."
Clark was distraught, Celia was clearly in trouble. He had to know what happened to her and his baby. His frustrated whisper was so pained that the soldiers in the room look startled. "Please... Let me know what happened to her..." The soldiers shifted uncomfortably as they finally lowered their weapons.
Lex cleared his throat and spoke and Clark was surprised when the colonel didn't interrupt. "Around the time that Kal made his appearance, it was a week or so ago, Celia complained of cramps. A short time later she was taken out of here covered in blood..."
"Oh, God." Clark's legs nearly gave out and had to lean against the wall so he wouldn't fall to the floor. "Is she okay?"
"She nearly died but the doctors at the hospital were able to stop the hemorrhaging. As soon as she could be moved, I had her taken to a specialty clinic in Metropolis... She's getting the best treatment. She'll make a full recovery, Clark."
Relieved, Clark sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned his head against the cool glass but a realization hit him hard.
The baby...
He looked up, his chest tight. "The baby?"
He could hear Lex swallow hard before he whispered over the intercom. "Celia lost the baby, Clark."
Clark nodded, resigned, it was probably for the best. Celia was now out of danger and no longer under the government's control. It was hard to not feel hurt about losing a baby, but the loss was a blow to the colonel's plans, so part of him was glad.
However, a troubling thought occurred to him. He looked up at the camera again and spoke softly. "Why did she lose the baby?"
Lex hesitated..."They don't know why..."
"Was it because the baby was mine?"
Lex cleared his throat. "Women lose babies all the time, Clark. It doesn't have to mean anything."
"How many women have kryptonian hybrid babies? You said Celia nearly died, Lex... What if I can never be a father without killing the mother?"
Lex didn't reply but Clark was in turmoil.
The women losing their babies, maybe even losing their lives, wasn't a danger that had even occurred to him. Never mind the pain and torment he was going through, even if they never became mothers the government was endangering the lives of the women involved. What if next time the woman wasn't going to be fine? What if the next one bled to death?
Clark straightened and looked at the camera. "You've got to put a stop to this, Colonel... Lex... It's too dangerous."
The Colonel replied. "That's not for you to decide, Clark. This will happen, no matter what."
"You don't care if women die?" Clark was amazed. He stared into the camera lens, shaken to his core. "I can understand what you're doing to me. I'm less than human to a monster like you. I'm a thing, just a source of genetic material that can help you take over the world, but the girls... You risk their lives and they won't even know all the facts, will they? Will you even tell them that I'm alien?"
The soldiers shifted and looked at each other, and Clark, uncomfortably. Colonel Preskin was officious. "They don't have a need to know the truth..."
Clark was astounded by that. "They don't need to know? Unbelievable... They have the perfect need to know, Colonel. You're playing with their lives without letting them know all the facts and that they're risking their lives..." Clark shook his head, resolved. "If Celia nearly died because of some problem caused by being pregnant with my baby, then you have to stop this."
"No, I don't."
"To get your army, you're willing to let innocent women die?"
The Colonel replied icily. "It's for the good of the country, Mr. Kent."
Clark voice dropped to a low growl, his fury and frustration overwhelming him. "I used to think that Jonathan and Martha Kent exemplified the best of humanity. You've shown me that kind people like my parents, who are capable of loving an alien child unconditionally and raising him as their own, are the exception rather than the rule." His lip curled in disgust. "Kal was right. Humans are a disgustingly brutal and greedy race. You are beneath contempt..."
Frustrated and revolted, Clark turned away from the camera and looked at the bed. He was tired all of a sudden but too wound up to probably sleep... Something caught his eye. A spot of bright yellow peaked out from between the pale blue pillows piled up at the head of the bed. It was so out of place among the pale pastel color of the sheets, Clark was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. Perhaps the pillows shifted when he jumped out of bed...
Clark sat on the bed and moved the pillows away and what he saw took his breath away.
His primary colored pillow sat there in the amber hued sunlight of the dying day...
Clark's reached out to touch it, not really believing it was real.
He grabbed it, his argument with the colonel now forgotten. The homesickness hit him like a ton of bricks as he hugged it tight to his chest and looked out onto the setting sun.
The pillow brought home just how much he missed his parents; how much he missed being with his friends...
Clark tried very hard to will away the tears he felt about to well up in his eyes... He didn't want any of them, especially Lex, to see him cry. Not now... He sat down on the bed and closed his eyes.
The camera lens motors were all whirring; the people watching were to trying to get a closer look at Clark and the pillow. The intercom was still on so Clark, and the soldiers in the room, all heard the colonel speak... "How did that get in there, Mr. Barrows?"
A short pause and then Gus's heart beat sped up, Clark knew he was covering but the lie didn't show in his voice. "I don't know how he got his pillow back."
The man replied curtly. "I want you to go retrieve it...." Clark clenched his jaw and looked back at the camera. He hugged the pillow more tightly, it sounded like they were not going to let him keep it.
Clark's fury came roaring back. Angry tears stung his eyes as he stood and yelled at the Colonel.
"No, I won't let you take it!"
The Colonel growled his response. "You don't have a choice, Mr. Kent."
"You've taken away everything from me: my home, my family, my life, any chance at a happy future... I won't let you take this too."
The Colonel growled at Gus, "Mr. Barrows, I want you to go and get that pillow back."
Gus cleared his throat and sounded resolved. "I won't do it, sir."
Colonel Preskin sounded shocked. "I'm the director of this project, Mr. Barrows. You're supposed to do as I say..."
Gus spoke urgently. "It's a small comfort, Colonel." The soldiers shifted uncomfortably when Gus continued. "You forget he's a boy that will maybe never get to see his mother again..."
The colonel spoke coldly and with resolve. "I need to reassert my authority over him or the project may not succeed. Someone took that pillow from my office and I can't allow him to benefit from the theft..."
Lex replied; his anger barely contained. "The theft happened when that pillow was taken from where it sat on Clark's bed, not when it was removed from your office. Whoever left it for him should be thanked for returning a prized possession to its rightful owner."
"According to the 'International Disposition of Extraterrestrial Artifacts' treaty, Clark is the property of the United States..."
Lex interrupted and Clark was surprised by the vehemence with which Lex debated the point. "Clark is arguably government property, but his adoptive human mother's handiwork isn't at all extraterrestrial in origin. Nothing in that treaty justifies theft of Clark's possessions. Director Strickland overstepped his bounds when he committed armed burglary to take that."
Clark felt helpless... Men he hated debated whether or not he be allowed to keep was his. He had become totally dependent on the mercy of others, but there was so little mercy shown to him...
He hugged the pillow tighter and sat back down on the bed.
He could hear the colonel take in a deep breath and let out a huge sigh. "Okay, I'll let it slide. He can keep his precious pillow but I will find out who took it..."
Relief flooded Clark's body even as a sharp jab of pain took his breath away as realization hit. The ramifications of the Colonel's decision to let him keep the pillow couldn't be ignored.
He said quietly. "You gave up too easily..."
The colonel spoke, sounding perplexed. "Did you say something, Mr. Kent?"
Clark sat up straighter and looked directly into the closest camera. "You gave up too soon, Colonel."
"Are you actually looking a gift horse in the mouth, Mr. Kent? I could still send Mr. Barrows in there and get it back."
"You're calling me 'Mr. Kent' now and you let me keep the pillow after letting me keep the bed too..." Clark shook his head sadly. "Why all of a sudden are doing nice things for me? I wouldn't have expected it after 'Kal' made you so angry..."
Clark looked down at the pillow and traced a finger along a line of stitching his mother had made on its surface. "Gus said that you should let me have the pillow since maybe I wouldn't get to see my mother again, but he was wrong wasn't he? There's no 'maybe' about it... I will never see her again, will I? That's why you let me keep this pillow after making such a big deal about it before."
Clark could clearly hear both Lex's and Gus's sharp intakes of breath but there wasn't one from the colonel. He was right.
Clark hugged the pillow tighter as a tear finally won the hard fought battle and rolled slowly down Clark's cheek. "You're never going to let me go... No matter what happens or how many children I manage to father or how many women die..."
"You are never getting out of here alive. I can guarantee it." The Colonel took a deep breath and sighed. "I will see you tomorrow, Mr. Kent. Your destiny as father of an unbeatable army awaits you." The intercom hissed off and Clark stopped Listening.
He didn't want to know what else Lex might have to say. Clark fell back onto his bed and looked out onto the setting sun as he hugged the pillow tight and dreaded the coming of a new day.
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The soldiers turned to leave the room, but Clark hadn't bothered to watch them go. He just stared out into the twilight but a sigh by the door caused Clark to look back. One of the soldiers had paused by the door and looked back at Clark. The soldier looked so young. He was probably not long out of high school and gave Clark a sympathetic look, the gun he held loosely in his hand.
When he saw Clark looking at him, he whispered so only Clark could hear. "We're not all like him..."
The soldier quietly left and Clark was left to ponder the human race in all its perplexing diversity.
Humanity bred nightmarish monsters like the Man and cold hearted bastards like the colonel, but also warm loving people like his parents and whoever it was that left his pillow for him.
Maybe Kal wasn't right, unlike what he had told Lex and the Colonel. Humans are not all brutal, greedy monsters.
Later, when it came time to eat, Clark ignored Gus when he brought his dinner tray. He decided to just lie in bed instead.
He didn't want to talk to anyone and didn't want to even bother 'pretending' to be a stoic bad ass alien... Any pretense was a farce at this point anyway. They controlled everything and it was thanks to whatever it was about the radioactive debris from his home planet that allowed them to so easily control him.
Gus tried to talk to Clark but he just rolled away from him and hugged his pillow tighter. The man left without further attempts and Clark just laid there until he was finally able to get back to sleep.
-------
Clark's nightmares returned... He woke up several times screaming, his body soaked in sweat, the dreams only vague memories. Shaken and dreading the coming day, it was very hard for Clark to find sleep again.
His insomnia wasn't helped by Lex's ever present heart beat. Clark shouldn't have been surprised; Lex's obsession with him was seemingly relentless, but even in the middle of the night Clark could hear Lex breathe. His own personal peeping tom was apparently never leaving his post in the control room.
He had no idea what time it was, but it must have been very early. Dawn hadn't yet come and the moon had already set. The quiet of most of the building and the soft sounds of dozens of sleeping people on the floors below him, likely those were the girls who waited for him, reminded him of his own inability to sleep.
Completely unable to sleep, Clark decided to take a shower instead.
He let the scalding hot water just beat down on his shoulders as steam slowly filled his enclosure. He looked over the privacy screen at the camera closest to him and wondered if Lex was as tired as he was. Clark was just so tired. He wanted it to be over. Maybe he should have let the soldiers shoot him. They wouldn't have killed him, of course. They would have just wounded him and hoped that his healing abilities would help him recover quickly. Wounded, at least it would have put off the inevitable a few days more.
He looked down at his body. It was so strange how human he looked and yet how fundamentally different he was. Those differences made him unique on the planet, maybe even in the whole universe. When Dr. Swann had told him that he was the sole survivor of a dead planet it had been shocking and made him feel even more alone.
His time here in this lab, valued only because of his unique DNA, had only underscored his otherness and increased the feeling of isolation he'd always felt. There was a reason his father had called the loft Clark's fortress of solitude, he had always been a loner.
When he was younger he had worried about being different, maybe even hurting the people he cared about by not being able to fully control his abilities, so he had chosen to spend a lot of time alone. Even once he'd learned to control his gifts, even venturing into a sexual relationship with Lana, he had never shaken the habit. His inability to share his secret with Lana, she was smart enough to realize that he was hiding something even if she never figured out what it was, had killed their relationship. That failure made Clark believe that perhaps he'd never be able to have a significant relationship with anyone.
If he'd had it to do over again, Clark would have told Lana, even if it would have meant she would turn away from him in disgust and fear as he had been afraid she would. Clark also regretted never telling Lex, despite everything else that had happened. Maybe telling Lex wouldn't have prevented him betraying Clark to the government, but at least Clark would have been able to just be himself with someone. Aside from his parents and Pete, he'd never been able to do that with anyone.
Clark again looked at the nearest camera, the water dripping down the curls that hung in front of his eyes. He could hear Lex's sharp intake of breath as soon as he glared at the camera. Clark turned off the water and stepped out and around the screen, dripping water all over the cold metal floor. He grabbed a towel.
He slowly dried himself off as he continued to glare into the camera. Lex's heart was racing. He was getting aroused at the sight of Clark drying himself off. It made Clark angrier.
Lex lusted after Clark still, even after betraying him and selling him to the government. Clark continued to slowly dry himself, taunting Lex with the sight of his body, a body he couldn't have anymore, and he sneered at the camera as he threw the towel on top of his sweat stained shorts.
He held out his arms, and stood in front of the camera in all his naked glory. "You still want this, Lex? Is that why you watch?"
There was no response except for faster breathing.
He frowned and pulled on a clean pair of shorts and took out a dry towel. He sat down with a heavy sigh and dried his hair as he looked out into the growing light in the east. Once his hair was dry, he lay down and tried to get back to sleep but sleep still wouldn't come. He kept hearing Lex. He rolled over and tried to ignore the sound, but he couldn't.
He stayed awake listening to Lex's heartbeat until it was time for breakfast and Gus came.
Continued here....
See all chapters here...
Chapter 22
After the colonel left him, Clark had laid in the bed so long exposed to kryptonite that he had eventually lost consciousness. He woke up naked on the floor back in his enclosure; the new clothes and the electronic equipment were all gone, although they'd left the privacy screen and the bed. The down comforter was gone but the expensive Egyptian cotton sheets were on the bed in a tangle and the down pillows were piled high.
The screen wasn't that big a deal really so Clark could understand them not taking that, but not the bed. It had been a primary demand of Kal's and the bed was huge. Maybe they were just lazy. It probably would have taken the humans hours to disassemble.
Clark sighed. He got up and crossed over the metal chest of drawers. Now that they had taken away the clothes they'd bought for Kal, they'd apparently restocked the supply of clean t-shirts and shorts. He sighed and threw on a pair of shorts. He looked out onto the bright sunlit day and decided to soak up some sun on the enormous bed.
The fact that Kal blackmailed the colonel to get the bed made Clark feel a bit guilty about enjoying it, but he laid himself out on the huge surface anyway. Clark didn't think for a minute that he'd really be able to keep the bed for much longer and wanted to enjoy while he still had it. Clark closed his yes and enjoyed spreading out comfortably on it in the sun instead of on the cold metal floor. He was exhausted from the kryptonite exposure and wanted nothing more than to sleep.
The narrow hospital style bed had been serviceable but never comfortable and it wasn't all that practical, really, when Clark wanted to soak up some sun... It had been hard to get enough of his skin exposed to the sun when lying in the narrow bed.
He stretched, enjoying the luxuriously spacious soft surface, his back arching into the sun. He could hear Lex's heart beat speed up as he flexed his bare chest in the bright sunshine. He almost let Lex's reaction ruin the moment as his own desire for Lex flared up. The thought occurred to him that he should tease Lex like Kal had, and even try to enjoy it. He wanted to play with him, like his less inhibited half had.
No. He wanted to hurt Lex, just like Kal had.
He knew that he had a lot of sexual power, in addition to all his other abilities. He shouldn't be shy in turning it into a weapon like Kal had shown him; like the Man had shown him...
It'd be so easy, but he was just too tired to play games. Sleep was far more seductive an option right at the moment...
He gave the camera one last glare before he let his eyes close and he heard Lex sigh deeply. He turned his face away from the camera and tried to ignore the increased breathing rate from his very own personal stalker.
Clark heard the door open to the room Lex was in. The colonel entered.
The colonel spoke in a shocked whisper. "Is he sleeping?"
Lex cleared his throat. "Not yet. Right now, he's just trying to ignore me..."
The colonel sounded perplexed. "How does he know you're even watching?"
Lex replied very matter-of-factly. "He can hear me, just like his darker side said..."
The colonel was skeptical. "I find it really hard to believe he can hear you from here."
Lex sighed. "Believe it. He knows someone is always watching; he's not stupid. However, he seems to give especially hateful glares to the camera whenever I'm here... He knows when I'm keeping an eye on him."
The colonel's tone turned contemplative. "Have the scientists had any luck designing equipment to test just how well he can hear?"
Lex sighed. "No. They can't even intellectually grasp the range of his hearing, except in mathematical terms, much less design equipment to test it."
Colonel Preskin's was matter-of-fact in his reply. "Is there any chance they can figure out a way to keep him from listening to us?"
Lex played it seriously, but Clark could hear the humor in Lex's response. "The engineers thought that he might not hear us through a mile of granite bedrock. There's a deep granite deposit about 30 miles from here that might be a good location for the new control room. However, you would have to wait nearly a year while a team of engineers and miners bored out a cavity big enough for a control room and the thousands of feet of shaft needed to access it... Do you want to authorize the expense so Clark can't hear us talk about him?"
The Colonel cleared his throat. "No, uh.... No, I don't think that will be necessary."
Without opening his eyes, Clark smiled as the colonel left abruptly. Lex chuckled softly then remained silent. The only sounds Clark heard were Lex's heart beat and the heart beats of the other nameless men in the room. Occasionally the other men would type something on their computers, but aside from that all was quiet.
Despite everything else that had happened, listening to Lex's heart beating comforted him with its familiarity. Exhausted, Clark finally fell asleep as he listened to Lex's heart beat in its slow, steady rhythm.
------
Clark woke when the sun was going down. He realized the sound of a distant door opening woke him. Still tired, he rolled over onto his side to try and go back to sleep. The door closed and Clark heard Gus's heart.
Gus spoke. "Is he still sleeping? It's almost dinner time..."
Lex replied. "Dr. Edwards thought that it was best he sleep, especially given the length of time he had been exposed to green-k earlier... He needs rest more than the meal."
Gus sounded concerned, "He's still so thin from his illness..."
The door opened and closed again. The colonel entered the room, Lex replied more stiffly. "I think he'll be okay, it will take some time before he fully recovers..."
Gus cleared his throat. "I'd like to ask you about something I've been worried about..." Gus cleared his throat again. "How's Celia?"
Clark could hardly contain his gasp, and he hoped he succeeded. No one had mentioned her name in the months since he last saw her...
Colonel Preskin growled, "We were talking earlier about how little escapes the alien's attention, you shouldn't talk about that here, Mr. Barrows."
"Why not? Clark's asleep. Even if he weren't, he deserves to know. No one has said a thing about how she's doing... Celia was well liked and yet you've not let anyone know what happened to her. She left here looking close to death. I was her friend. I'd like to know whether she's okay..."
Clark's heart raced and he wasn't sure he was really hiding the fact he was awake all that well, but he hoped they wouldn't notice. He had to hear more...
The Colonel wasn't having it. "We can talk about this later when the alien is less likely to be listening in."
Gus growled, "What difference does it make even if Clark wasn't asleep? He would probably want to know more than I do about how the mother of his child is doing."
Lex took in a breath, as if he were about to say something, when the colonel interrupted. "Don't say a thing, Mr. Luthor... Her condition is a need-to-know piece of information and Mr. Kent certainly doesn't need to know about Dr. Casey's medical status. His state of mind has a direct affect on the project, so I don't want him to know anything more about things like this than is necessary..."
Furious, Clark jumped out of bed and sped over to the wall closest to the camera. He yelled, his voice booming inside the glass enclosure. "My state of mind? With what you're planning to do to me, it's amazing that now you're concerned about my state of mind." He growled at the camera as it adjusted to get a better look at him. "It's okay to subject me to institutionalized rape and torture, but when it comes to telling me about the health of a woman I care about all of a sudden you don't want to upset me? You tell me right now. What happened to Celia?"
The Colonel sighed and spoke softly and the intercom hissed on. "You don't need to know, Mr. Kent. I wouldn't want to anger you any further."
Clark was so completely enraged that he wanted to pound something into dust and his body shook with the barely restrained fury. "You haven't seen me angry..." He picked up the set of heavy metal drawers as if they were made of paper and lifted them above his head. His jaw clenched in his fury, Clark spoke quietly, his voice heavy with menace and a cold resolve. "I could smash this through this glass and I could maybe, if you're lucky, only burn down only half the building before losing consciousness..."
Clark growled, "You tell me now or I'll burn everything."
There was a sudden rush of feet running outside in the hallway and the door flew open. Clark raised the chest of drawers higher but swallowed when soldiers ran in. They stopped and pointed their weapons at Clark's chest.
One of the men yelled, his voice booming in the hard tiled room outside Clark's enclosure. "Put that down and back away from the wall now!" The soldiers' fear made their faces pale and their hearts race...
Clark didn't move. His eyes narrowed and he glowered at the soldiers.
The man yelled again, holding his gun up higher. "Put it down now or we will fire!"
Clark's eyes flicked to the camera and then back to the soldier who was giving him orders. He still didn't move.
The intercom hissed again and the colonel spoke curtly. "If you would rather die, keep it up. They will shoot to kill before they let you run rampant. That is a promise, Mr. Kent."
Not ready to die and feeling trapped, Clark knew the colonel had called his bluff. He never would have killed. He angrily threw down the chest hard and it wrenched out of shape. The drawers wouldn't open ever again.
Clark roared, his cry of pain and frustration was so loud it startled the soldiers and rattled the glass panels in their brackets. He and ran his fingers through his hair. Clark breathed deeply, trying to get control of his turbulent emotions. Desperate to know what they knew, he knew he had to try and be calm.
He swallowed and stepped up to the wall and stared intently into the lens of the camera, his hands spread wide on the cool glass. Clark whispered softly. "Please tell me what happened to Celia anyway... I can't force you but she's the mother of my child..."
Lex spoke next, the intercom was still on so the soldiers in the room heard everything. "He should know, Colonel..."
Clark was distraught, Celia was clearly in trouble. He had to know what happened to her and his baby. His frustrated whisper was so pained that the soldiers in the room look startled. "Please... Let me know what happened to her..." The soldiers shifted uncomfortably as they finally lowered their weapons.
Lex cleared his throat and spoke and Clark was surprised when the colonel didn't interrupt. "Around the time that Kal made his appearance, it was a week or so ago, Celia complained of cramps. A short time later she was taken out of here covered in blood..."
"Oh, God." Clark's legs nearly gave out and had to lean against the wall so he wouldn't fall to the floor. "Is she okay?"
"She nearly died but the doctors at the hospital were able to stop the hemorrhaging. As soon as she could be moved, I had her taken to a specialty clinic in Metropolis... She's getting the best treatment. She'll make a full recovery, Clark."
Relieved, Clark sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned his head against the cool glass but a realization hit him hard.
The baby...
He looked up, his chest tight. "The baby?"
He could hear Lex swallow hard before he whispered over the intercom. "Celia lost the baby, Clark."
Clark nodded, resigned, it was probably for the best. Celia was now out of danger and no longer under the government's control. It was hard to not feel hurt about losing a baby, but the loss was a blow to the colonel's plans, so part of him was glad.
However, a troubling thought occurred to him. He looked up at the camera again and spoke softly. "Why did she lose the baby?"
Lex hesitated..."They don't know why..."
"Was it because the baby was mine?"
Lex cleared his throat. "Women lose babies all the time, Clark. It doesn't have to mean anything."
"How many women have kryptonian hybrid babies? You said Celia nearly died, Lex... What if I can never be a father without killing the mother?"
Lex didn't reply but Clark was in turmoil.
The women losing their babies, maybe even losing their lives, wasn't a danger that had even occurred to him. Never mind the pain and torment he was going through, even if they never became mothers the government was endangering the lives of the women involved. What if next time the woman wasn't going to be fine? What if the next one bled to death?
Clark straightened and looked at the camera. "You've got to put a stop to this, Colonel... Lex... It's too dangerous."
The Colonel replied. "That's not for you to decide, Clark. This will happen, no matter what."
"You don't care if women die?" Clark was amazed. He stared into the camera lens, shaken to his core. "I can understand what you're doing to me. I'm less than human to a monster like you. I'm a thing, just a source of genetic material that can help you take over the world, but the girls... You risk their lives and they won't even know all the facts, will they? Will you even tell them that I'm alien?"
The soldiers shifted and looked at each other, and Clark, uncomfortably. Colonel Preskin was officious. "They don't have a need to know the truth..."
Clark was astounded by that. "They don't need to know? Unbelievable... They have the perfect need to know, Colonel. You're playing with their lives without letting them know all the facts and that they're risking their lives..." Clark shook his head, resolved. "If Celia nearly died because of some problem caused by being pregnant with my baby, then you have to stop this."
"No, I don't."
"To get your army, you're willing to let innocent women die?"
The Colonel replied icily. "It's for the good of the country, Mr. Kent."
Clark voice dropped to a low growl, his fury and frustration overwhelming him. "I used to think that Jonathan and Martha Kent exemplified the best of humanity. You've shown me that kind people like my parents, who are capable of loving an alien child unconditionally and raising him as their own, are the exception rather than the rule." His lip curled in disgust. "Kal was right. Humans are a disgustingly brutal and greedy race. You are beneath contempt..."
Frustrated and revolted, Clark turned away from the camera and looked at the bed. He was tired all of a sudden but too wound up to probably sleep... Something caught his eye. A spot of bright yellow peaked out from between the pale blue pillows piled up at the head of the bed. It was so out of place among the pale pastel color of the sheets, Clark was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. Perhaps the pillows shifted when he jumped out of bed...
Clark sat on the bed and moved the pillows away and what he saw took his breath away.
His primary colored pillow sat there in the amber hued sunlight of the dying day...
Clark's reached out to touch it, not really believing it was real.
He grabbed it, his argument with the colonel now forgotten. The homesickness hit him like a ton of bricks as he hugged it tight to his chest and looked out onto the setting sun.
The pillow brought home just how much he missed his parents; how much he missed being with his friends...
Clark tried very hard to will away the tears he felt about to well up in his eyes... He didn't want any of them, especially Lex, to see him cry. Not now... He sat down on the bed and closed his eyes.
The camera lens motors were all whirring; the people watching were to trying to get a closer look at Clark and the pillow. The intercom was still on so Clark, and the soldiers in the room, all heard the colonel speak... "How did that get in there, Mr. Barrows?"
A short pause and then Gus's heart beat sped up, Clark knew he was covering but the lie didn't show in his voice. "I don't know how he got his pillow back."
The man replied curtly. "I want you to go retrieve it...." Clark clenched his jaw and looked back at the camera. He hugged the pillow more tightly, it sounded like they were not going to let him keep it.
Clark's fury came roaring back. Angry tears stung his eyes as he stood and yelled at the Colonel.
"No, I won't let you take it!"
The Colonel growled his response. "You don't have a choice, Mr. Kent."
"You've taken away everything from me: my home, my family, my life, any chance at a happy future... I won't let you take this too."
The Colonel growled at Gus, "Mr. Barrows, I want you to go and get that pillow back."
Gus cleared his throat and sounded resolved. "I won't do it, sir."
Colonel Preskin sounded shocked. "I'm the director of this project, Mr. Barrows. You're supposed to do as I say..."
Gus spoke urgently. "It's a small comfort, Colonel." The soldiers shifted uncomfortably when Gus continued. "You forget he's a boy that will maybe never get to see his mother again..."
The colonel spoke coldly and with resolve. "I need to reassert my authority over him or the project may not succeed. Someone took that pillow from my office and I can't allow him to benefit from the theft..."
Lex replied; his anger barely contained. "The theft happened when that pillow was taken from where it sat on Clark's bed, not when it was removed from your office. Whoever left it for him should be thanked for returning a prized possession to its rightful owner."
"According to the 'International Disposition of Extraterrestrial Artifacts' treaty, Clark is the property of the United States..."
Lex interrupted and Clark was surprised by the vehemence with which Lex debated the point. "Clark is arguably government property, but his adoptive human mother's handiwork isn't at all extraterrestrial in origin. Nothing in that treaty justifies theft of Clark's possessions. Director Strickland overstepped his bounds when he committed armed burglary to take that."
Clark felt helpless... Men he hated debated whether or not he be allowed to keep was his. He had become totally dependent on the mercy of others, but there was so little mercy shown to him...
He hugged the pillow tighter and sat back down on the bed.
He could hear the colonel take in a deep breath and let out a huge sigh. "Okay, I'll let it slide. He can keep his precious pillow but I will find out who took it..."
Relief flooded Clark's body even as a sharp jab of pain took his breath away as realization hit. The ramifications of the Colonel's decision to let him keep the pillow couldn't be ignored.
He said quietly. "You gave up too easily..."
The colonel spoke, sounding perplexed. "Did you say something, Mr. Kent?"
Clark sat up straighter and looked directly into the closest camera. "You gave up too soon, Colonel."
"Are you actually looking a gift horse in the mouth, Mr. Kent? I could still send Mr. Barrows in there and get it back."
"You're calling me 'Mr. Kent' now and you let me keep the pillow after letting me keep the bed too..." Clark shook his head sadly. "Why all of a sudden are doing nice things for me? I wouldn't have expected it after 'Kal' made you so angry..."
Clark looked down at the pillow and traced a finger along a line of stitching his mother had made on its surface. "Gus said that you should let me have the pillow since maybe I wouldn't get to see my mother again, but he was wrong wasn't he? There's no 'maybe' about it... I will never see her again, will I? That's why you let me keep this pillow after making such a big deal about it before."
Clark could clearly hear both Lex's and Gus's sharp intakes of breath but there wasn't one from the colonel. He was right.
Clark hugged the pillow tighter as a tear finally won the hard fought battle and rolled slowly down Clark's cheek. "You're never going to let me go... No matter what happens or how many children I manage to father or how many women die..."
"You are never getting out of here alive. I can guarantee it." The Colonel took a deep breath and sighed. "I will see you tomorrow, Mr. Kent. Your destiny as father of an unbeatable army awaits you." The intercom hissed off and Clark stopped Listening.
He didn't want to know what else Lex might have to say. Clark fell back onto his bed and looked out onto the setting sun as he hugged the pillow tight and dreaded the coming of a new day.
--------
The soldiers turned to leave the room, but Clark hadn't bothered to watch them go. He just stared out into the twilight but a sigh by the door caused Clark to look back. One of the soldiers had paused by the door and looked back at Clark. The soldier looked so young. He was probably not long out of high school and gave Clark a sympathetic look, the gun he held loosely in his hand.
When he saw Clark looking at him, he whispered so only Clark could hear. "We're not all like him..."
The soldier quietly left and Clark was left to ponder the human race in all its perplexing diversity.
Humanity bred nightmarish monsters like the Man and cold hearted bastards like the colonel, but also warm loving people like his parents and whoever it was that left his pillow for him.
Maybe Kal wasn't right, unlike what he had told Lex and the Colonel. Humans are not all brutal, greedy monsters.
Later, when it came time to eat, Clark ignored Gus when he brought his dinner tray. He decided to just lie in bed instead.
He didn't want to talk to anyone and didn't want to even bother 'pretending' to be a stoic bad ass alien... Any pretense was a farce at this point anyway. They controlled everything and it was thanks to whatever it was about the radioactive debris from his home planet that allowed them to so easily control him.
Gus tried to talk to Clark but he just rolled away from him and hugged his pillow tighter. The man left without further attempts and Clark just laid there until he was finally able to get back to sleep.
-------
Clark's nightmares returned... He woke up several times screaming, his body soaked in sweat, the dreams only vague memories. Shaken and dreading the coming day, it was very hard for Clark to find sleep again.
His insomnia wasn't helped by Lex's ever present heart beat. Clark shouldn't have been surprised; Lex's obsession with him was seemingly relentless, but even in the middle of the night Clark could hear Lex breathe. His own personal peeping tom was apparently never leaving his post in the control room.
He had no idea what time it was, but it must have been very early. Dawn hadn't yet come and the moon had already set. The quiet of most of the building and the soft sounds of dozens of sleeping people on the floors below him, likely those were the girls who waited for him, reminded him of his own inability to sleep.
Completely unable to sleep, Clark decided to take a shower instead.
He let the scalding hot water just beat down on his shoulders as steam slowly filled his enclosure. He looked over the privacy screen at the camera closest to him and wondered if Lex was as tired as he was. Clark was just so tired. He wanted it to be over. Maybe he should have let the soldiers shoot him. They wouldn't have killed him, of course. They would have just wounded him and hoped that his healing abilities would help him recover quickly. Wounded, at least it would have put off the inevitable a few days more.
He looked down at his body. It was so strange how human he looked and yet how fundamentally different he was. Those differences made him unique on the planet, maybe even in the whole universe. When Dr. Swann had told him that he was the sole survivor of a dead planet it had been shocking and made him feel even more alone.
His time here in this lab, valued only because of his unique DNA, had only underscored his otherness and increased the feeling of isolation he'd always felt. There was a reason his father had called the loft Clark's fortress of solitude, he had always been a loner.
When he was younger he had worried about being different, maybe even hurting the people he cared about by not being able to fully control his abilities, so he had chosen to spend a lot of time alone. Even once he'd learned to control his gifts, even venturing into a sexual relationship with Lana, he had never shaken the habit. His inability to share his secret with Lana, she was smart enough to realize that he was hiding something even if she never figured out what it was, had killed their relationship. That failure made Clark believe that perhaps he'd never be able to have a significant relationship with anyone.
If he'd had it to do over again, Clark would have told Lana, even if it would have meant she would turn away from him in disgust and fear as he had been afraid she would. Clark also regretted never telling Lex, despite everything else that had happened. Maybe telling Lex wouldn't have prevented him betraying Clark to the government, but at least Clark would have been able to just be himself with someone. Aside from his parents and Pete, he'd never been able to do that with anyone.
Clark again looked at the nearest camera, the water dripping down the curls that hung in front of his eyes. He could hear Lex's sharp intake of breath as soon as he glared at the camera. Clark turned off the water and stepped out and around the screen, dripping water all over the cold metal floor. He grabbed a towel.
He slowly dried himself off as he continued to glare into the camera. Lex's heart was racing. He was getting aroused at the sight of Clark drying himself off. It made Clark angrier.
Lex lusted after Clark still, even after betraying him and selling him to the government. Clark continued to slowly dry himself, taunting Lex with the sight of his body, a body he couldn't have anymore, and he sneered at the camera as he threw the towel on top of his sweat stained shorts.
He held out his arms, and stood in front of the camera in all his naked glory. "You still want this, Lex? Is that why you watch?"
There was no response except for faster breathing.
He frowned and pulled on a clean pair of shorts and took out a dry towel. He sat down with a heavy sigh and dried his hair as he looked out into the growing light in the east. Once his hair was dry, he lay down and tried to get back to sleep but sleep still wouldn't come. He kept hearing Lex. He rolled over and tried to ignore the sound, but he couldn't.
He stayed awake listening to Lex's heartbeat until it was time for breakfast and Gus came.
Continued here....