Smallville Big Bang 2012
Human Nature
Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7.
Clark threw off his jacket and rubbed his eyes. His body was tired, but he was more than ready to lay himself on the line for the love of his life. He ascended the path that lead to the stoop and knocked firmly on the front door.
No answer.
Clark narrowed his eyes and flexed his fingers. He inhaled and exhaled several times, he pictured Chloe’s face in his mind. Her hands on his body, under him, over him, wrapped around him in the most intimate of embraces. He gripped the old brass knocker, the tips of his fingers curling tentatively around the tarnished surface. He bent his elbow, closed his eyes and pulled.
The hinges creaked and buckled and the door gave several inches. Again, Clark forged on. His grip tightened and on the third stretch, the door gave way. He’d have to remember to destroy the video footage, lest Lex used it against him. And then there was Lois, poor little clueless, Lois. He’d cross that bridge when they came to it. He had to find Chloe.
“Clark,” Lois called as she scaled the steps two at a time. “What the hell just happened? You ripped the door off its hinges. Is this one of those adrenalin rush things?”
“Something like that, Lois,” Clark intoned. “Come on. Follow me, stick to my side and don’t wander off.”
They followed the long marble hall and turned into the sitting room. Clark ignored the pain and extended his hand as if trying to gauge by feeling the wall. His heat sensors were flaring and he’d traced it back to the far wall. Clark closed his eyes and let his instincts guide him.
Lois threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. “Are you blind now? Is that what’s wrong? Are you substituting one capability with another?”
He tuned her out, one ear focused on Chloe’s ragged breath, the other closed off against Lois’ invasion of his haphazard ability to perceive sound. He stopped at a partition in the wall and focused his gaze. His eyes watered and his focus was blurry.
Still no x-ray vision.
“Damn it.”
The thrumming in his ear was hammering now. Chloe was panicking. Did that mean she could see him? Or did that mean Lex knew that his visitors had extended their welcome?
“Lois, stand back.”
Lois had little time to react before Clark had drawn back his fist and made contact with the granite wall that separated himself and Chloe. He punched through the stone and straight through the thick, plate glass foundations. Rubble and debris clouded his vision and he held his hand up to shield his eyes as the dust around them settled. The sight before him made his breath catch in his throat. He swallowed around the tight knot and raised his hands slowly.
Lex stood with Chloe in his arms. One hand was poised at her throat with a syringe pressed against the supple skin; the other griped her arm, the pads of his fingers pressed firmly into the flesh.
“Step back, Clark. Step away from here or Chloe gets it. I’m not going to let you destroy this research.
“Just let Chloe go.”
Lex chuckled. “Do you really think I’d let her go just like that?”
“Clark, don’t do anything stupid,” Chloe begged.
“I’m really, really confused,” Lois sighed.
A thin sheen of sweat covered Clark’s upper lip and brow. Chloe watched with wide eyes as his pores detoxified his body. He was sweating out the Blue meteor rock. She had to find a way to make him work harder.
Chloe caught Clark’s gaze and his eyes locked onto hers. Blue against green, fierce and piercing. She could see into the depths of his soul, a lost child searching for acceptance. She saw toil and turmoil, and love. Above it all there was admiration, friendship, happiness.
Slowly, Chloe rolled her eyes to her right where the other patients slept in fits of rage and restless wonder. She knew that they needed a diversion, some kind of distraction. Clark followed her eyes as she looked up at the clock in on the wall. Was Chloe trying to tell him something?
Fifteen. She mouthed the words that his eyes could not see. Clark furrowed his brow.
Fifteen. She whispered beneath her breath.
Fifteen. What was she trying to tell him?
Chloe waited for the big hand to tick over. She counted the seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. She closed her eyes and hoped that Clark would catch on. She hoped that his speed could cause enough chaos to dislodge the needle from Lex’s hand.
The first bed springs bucked and squeaked as the man in restraints started to contort his body. The second and third followed in quick succession.
“Shut them up,” Lex demanded, momentarily distracted by the audible screams of the terrified house guests.
“Now, Clark,” Chloe whispered.
Clark blurred into action. Whipping across the space between them and snatching the syringe clean out of Lex’s grasp. He threw Chloe to the floor and told her to crawl over to Lois. The force and vibration of the echoes caused the breech in the wall to waver, the intricate stone work began to crumble and if they didn’t retreat they would soon be trapped.
“Lois,” Clark boomed, his voice projecting and thick with emotion. “Get Chloe out of here, now.”
“No, Clark. I won’t leave without you,” Chloe cried. “Come on. We have to go now.”
“Get her out of here, Lois. Now.”
Lois was torn. How could she take Chloe and leave Clark to probably die all alone? Chloe would never forgive her. Family loyalty seemed to serve little purpose if it meant that Chloe would live the rest of her life in misery.
“Come on, Chlo,” she spoke reluctantly, pulling her cousin’s tired body along with her.
“Clark?” Chloe watched as Clark zipped from one bed to the next. He wasn’t listening, she knew that he’d blocked out her voice in order to concentrate. The splash of farm-boy red was all that she could barely make out. Lex stood dazed and confused watching Clark, his mouth agape, his eyes narrowed, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Lois turned towards the truck with Chloe tucked safely up under her arm. There was a thunderous crack behind them and the two were thrown to the ground. The impact of the hand-crafted stone wall caught them off guard as it collapsed like a house made of cards. Lois scrambled over to Chloe and shook her limp shoulders. She’d promised Smallville that Chloe would be safe. She owed him that much now.
“Chloe, we have to get out of here. The house isn’t stable. I’m not sure what Clark did, but he punched his way through the God damn walls. The whole house could fall down around us if we don’t move.”
Chloe shook her head and looked around. Her voice was raspy as she spoke, choking on words that she’d strung together without much thought. “I can’t leave him. I can’t leave Clark. He’s still sick. He doesn’t have the strength.”
“He’ll be fine,” Lois bluffed, not really having any conviction in her own words. There was no way that Clark had managed to survive such a disaster.
“He’ll be fine,” Chloe mumbled as she shuffled down the front steps with Lois. “He’ll be fine,” she repeated.
The truck door slammed shut behind her and Chloe slumped down into the seat, clutching Clark’s jacket to her cheek. She inhaled his masculine scent and smiled. “He’ll be fine.”
Lois took her place beside Chloe in the driver’s seat and paused briefly to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She looked at her hands. They were shaking. She hoped that the wheel didn’t swerve with the force of the tremors. She unfurled her fists and opened and closed her fingers several times trying to stem the ache in her joints. This one is for you, Smallville.
Lois seemed to feel each jolt as the labored suspension in the old truck forced the seats beneath the occupants to rise and fall ungracefully. Lois rubbed her neck and peered across the cabin at Chloe. She was curled in on herself. Clark’s jacket was balled up in her hands and her face was pressed against the collar. As far as Lois was concerned, she was riding the slow boat back to the Kent Farm.
Martha and Jonathan met Lois and Chloe at the front gate. The Kent patriarch, with his arm wrapped tightly about his wife’s shoulders, remained sullen. He counted Lois and Chloe, but where was Clark?
“He’s gone, isn’t he?”
Lois had witnessed the rigors of war before. Some of those memories were still vivid in the fore of her mind - Mothers and fathers who had not returned from active duty. She’d been too young to understand the significance of such a loss back then. The knot in her gut twisted and she felt the bile rise to the top of her throat. The bitter taste of defeat was more than she could handle and she stepped past Clark’s parents, her body heaving.
“It’s not your fault, Lois,” Jonathan spoke kindly as his wife wept in his arms. “We’ve always known that Clark was going to grow up and leave us some day.”
Lois was speechless. She had no reply. What could she say? The Kent’s had just lost their son, their only son. She stood and pointed to the side of the truck where Chloe remained lifeless. “Somebody needs to speak to Chloe.”
Jonathan took his wife’s face in his hands and cupped her cheeks. The rough pads of his thumbs grazed her soft skin, working from the bridge of her nose. He drew the digits across her cheeks, catching her tears and consuming her grief. “Chloe needs you now, Martha. I know that you can do this.”
She rose on her toes and pressed her forehead against her husbands. Silently, she nodded in agreement.
Martha gripped the door handle and tugged the stubborn door open with a flick of her wrist. Chloe sat on the seat curled into a ball. Her feet dangled from the edge of the seat, her toes were dirty, her feet grazed and swollen. She noticed the faded fabric of Clark’s jacket clutched tightly between Chloe’s fingers. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the item like a life preserver keeping her afloat.
“Chloe, honey …” Martha wasn’t sure what to say to comfort the girl. “It’s time to go now. Can you do that for me, Sweetheart? Can you come with me now?”
Chloe remained silent. She did not move.
“I think Clark would want you to come with me. He’d want his father and I to take care of you. I’d like to take care of you, if you’ll let me.” There was no question in Martha’s mind.
“You know that you can stay here with us. And Lois is here. Lois is worried about you. Won’t you come out of there please?”
Chloe pressed the tattered jacket up to her nose and opened her eyes. Martha looked anxious; her eyes were red and rimmed with dark circles. She extended her shaky hand and brushed the upturned palm of the older woman trying to coax her out gently.
Chloe smiled brightly and her legs fell from under her as she stretched her limbs and pushed herself up out of the uncomfortable position. She ducked under the frame of the door and Martha helped her to stand, supporting her weight as she did so.
With Clark’s jacket in one hand and the other curled around the palm of her lover’s mother Chloe looked up at Martha and whispered.
“He’ll be fine.”
Epilogue
Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7.
Clark threw off his jacket and rubbed his eyes. His body was tired, but he was more than ready to lay himself on the line for the love of his life. He ascended the path that lead to the stoop and knocked firmly on the front door.
No answer.
Clark narrowed his eyes and flexed his fingers. He inhaled and exhaled several times, he pictured Chloe’s face in his mind. Her hands on his body, under him, over him, wrapped around him in the most intimate of embraces. He gripped the old brass knocker, the tips of his fingers curling tentatively around the tarnished surface. He bent his elbow, closed his eyes and pulled.
The hinges creaked and buckled and the door gave several inches. Again, Clark forged on. His grip tightened and on the third stretch, the door gave way. He’d have to remember to destroy the video footage, lest Lex used it against him. And then there was Lois, poor little clueless, Lois. He’d cross that bridge when they came to it. He had to find Chloe.
“Clark,” Lois called as she scaled the steps two at a time. “What the hell just happened? You ripped the door off its hinges. Is this one of those adrenalin rush things?”
“Something like that, Lois,” Clark intoned. “Come on. Follow me, stick to my side and don’t wander off.”
They followed the long marble hall and turned into the sitting room. Clark ignored the pain and extended his hand as if trying to gauge by feeling the wall. His heat sensors were flaring and he’d traced it back to the far wall. Clark closed his eyes and let his instincts guide him.
Lois threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. “Are you blind now? Is that what’s wrong? Are you substituting one capability with another?”
He tuned her out, one ear focused on Chloe’s ragged breath, the other closed off against Lois’ invasion of his haphazard ability to perceive sound. He stopped at a partition in the wall and focused his gaze. His eyes watered and his focus was blurry.
Still no x-ray vision.
“Damn it.”
The thrumming in his ear was hammering now. Chloe was panicking. Did that mean she could see him? Or did that mean Lex knew that his visitors had extended their welcome?
“Lois, stand back.”
Lois had little time to react before Clark had drawn back his fist and made contact with the granite wall that separated himself and Chloe. He punched through the stone and straight through the thick, plate glass foundations. Rubble and debris clouded his vision and he held his hand up to shield his eyes as the dust around them settled. The sight before him made his breath catch in his throat. He swallowed around the tight knot and raised his hands slowly.
Lex stood with Chloe in his arms. One hand was poised at her throat with a syringe pressed against the supple skin; the other griped her arm, the pads of his fingers pressed firmly into the flesh.
“Step back, Clark. Step away from here or Chloe gets it. I’m not going to let you destroy this research.
“Just let Chloe go.”
Lex chuckled. “Do you really think I’d let her go just like that?”
“Clark, don’t do anything stupid,” Chloe begged.
“I’m really, really confused,” Lois sighed.
A thin sheen of sweat covered Clark’s upper lip and brow. Chloe watched with wide eyes as his pores detoxified his body. He was sweating out the Blue meteor rock. She had to find a way to make him work harder.
Chloe caught Clark’s gaze and his eyes locked onto hers. Blue against green, fierce and piercing. She could see into the depths of his soul, a lost child searching for acceptance. She saw toil and turmoil, and love. Above it all there was admiration, friendship, happiness.
Slowly, Chloe rolled her eyes to her right where the other patients slept in fits of rage and restless wonder. She knew that they needed a diversion, some kind of distraction. Clark followed her eyes as she looked up at the clock in on the wall. Was Chloe trying to tell him something?
Fifteen. She mouthed the words that his eyes could not see. Clark furrowed his brow.
Fifteen. She whispered beneath her breath.
Fifteen. What was she trying to tell him?
Chloe waited for the big hand to tick over. She counted the seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. She closed her eyes and hoped that Clark would catch on. She hoped that his speed could cause enough chaos to dislodge the needle from Lex’s hand.
The first bed springs bucked and squeaked as the man in restraints started to contort his body. The second and third followed in quick succession.
“Shut them up,” Lex demanded, momentarily distracted by the audible screams of the terrified house guests.
“Now, Clark,” Chloe whispered.
Clark blurred into action. Whipping across the space between them and snatching the syringe clean out of Lex’s grasp. He threw Chloe to the floor and told her to crawl over to Lois. The force and vibration of the echoes caused the breech in the wall to waver, the intricate stone work began to crumble and if they didn’t retreat they would soon be trapped.
“Lois,” Clark boomed, his voice projecting and thick with emotion. “Get Chloe out of here, now.”
“No, Clark. I won’t leave without you,” Chloe cried. “Come on. We have to go now.”
“Get her out of here, Lois. Now.”
Lois was torn. How could she take Chloe and leave Clark to probably die all alone? Chloe would never forgive her. Family loyalty seemed to serve little purpose if it meant that Chloe would live the rest of her life in misery.
“Come on, Chlo,” she spoke reluctantly, pulling her cousin’s tired body along with her.
“Clark?” Chloe watched as Clark zipped from one bed to the next. He wasn’t listening, she knew that he’d blocked out her voice in order to concentrate. The splash of farm-boy red was all that she could barely make out. Lex stood dazed and confused watching Clark, his mouth agape, his eyes narrowed, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Lois turned towards the truck with Chloe tucked safely up under her arm. There was a thunderous crack behind them and the two were thrown to the ground. The impact of the hand-crafted stone wall caught them off guard as it collapsed like a house made of cards. Lois scrambled over to Chloe and shook her limp shoulders. She’d promised Smallville that Chloe would be safe. She owed him that much now.
“Chloe, we have to get out of here. The house isn’t stable. I’m not sure what Clark did, but he punched his way through the God damn walls. The whole house could fall down around us if we don’t move.”
Chloe shook her head and looked around. Her voice was raspy as she spoke, choking on words that she’d strung together without much thought. “I can’t leave him. I can’t leave Clark. He’s still sick. He doesn’t have the strength.”
“He’ll be fine,” Lois bluffed, not really having any conviction in her own words. There was no way that Clark had managed to survive such a disaster.
“He’ll be fine,” Chloe mumbled as she shuffled down the front steps with Lois. “He’ll be fine,” she repeated.
The truck door slammed shut behind her and Chloe slumped down into the seat, clutching Clark’s jacket to her cheek. She inhaled his masculine scent and smiled. “He’ll be fine.”
Lois took her place beside Chloe in the driver’s seat and paused briefly to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She looked at her hands. They were shaking. She hoped that the wheel didn’t swerve with the force of the tremors. She unfurled her fists and opened and closed her fingers several times trying to stem the ache in her joints. This one is for you, Smallville.
Lois seemed to feel each jolt as the labored suspension in the old truck forced the seats beneath the occupants to rise and fall ungracefully. Lois rubbed her neck and peered across the cabin at Chloe. She was curled in on herself. Clark’s jacket was balled up in her hands and her face was pressed against the collar. As far as Lois was concerned, she was riding the slow boat back to the Kent Farm.
Martha and Jonathan met Lois and Chloe at the front gate. The Kent patriarch, with his arm wrapped tightly about his wife’s shoulders, remained sullen. He counted Lois and Chloe, but where was Clark?
“He’s gone, isn’t he?”
Lois had witnessed the rigors of war before. Some of those memories were still vivid in the fore of her mind - Mothers and fathers who had not returned from active duty. She’d been too young to understand the significance of such a loss back then. The knot in her gut twisted and she felt the bile rise to the top of her throat. The bitter taste of defeat was more than she could handle and she stepped past Clark’s parents, her body heaving.
“It’s not your fault, Lois,” Jonathan spoke kindly as his wife wept in his arms. “We’ve always known that Clark was going to grow up and leave us some day.”
Lois was speechless. She had no reply. What could she say? The Kent’s had just lost their son, their only son. She stood and pointed to the side of the truck where Chloe remained lifeless. “Somebody needs to speak to Chloe.”
Jonathan took his wife’s face in his hands and cupped her cheeks. The rough pads of his thumbs grazed her soft skin, working from the bridge of her nose. He drew the digits across her cheeks, catching her tears and consuming her grief. “Chloe needs you now, Martha. I know that you can do this.”
She rose on her toes and pressed her forehead against her husbands. Silently, she nodded in agreement.
Martha gripped the door handle and tugged the stubborn door open with a flick of her wrist. Chloe sat on the seat curled into a ball. Her feet dangled from the edge of the seat, her toes were dirty, her feet grazed and swollen. She noticed the faded fabric of Clark’s jacket clutched tightly between Chloe’s fingers. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the item like a life preserver keeping her afloat.
“Chloe, honey …” Martha wasn’t sure what to say to comfort the girl. “It’s time to go now. Can you do that for me, Sweetheart? Can you come with me now?”
Chloe remained silent. She did not move.
“I think Clark would want you to come with me. He’d want his father and I to take care of you. I’d like to take care of you, if you’ll let me.” There was no question in Martha’s mind.
“You know that you can stay here with us. And Lois is here. Lois is worried about you. Won’t you come out of there please?”
Chloe pressed the tattered jacket up to her nose and opened her eyes. Martha looked anxious; her eyes were red and rimmed with dark circles. She extended her shaky hand and brushed the upturned palm of the older woman trying to coax her out gently.
Chloe smiled brightly and her legs fell from under her as she stretched her limbs and pushed herself up out of the uncomfortable position. She ducked under the frame of the door and Martha helped her to stand, supporting her weight as she did so.
With Clark’s jacket in one hand and the other curled around the palm of her lover’s mother Chloe looked up at Martha and whispered.
“He’ll be fine.”
Epilogue