Subject: Chapter 2
Short summary: Clark finds out more about why the Man kidnapped him and meets the pretty young physician, Dr. Casey....
See all chapters here...
Chapter 2
When he'd smashed the hole into the glass, Clark immediately felt the nauseating, painful and weakening effects of kryptonite. Adding to that was the agony from the jagged edges of the broken glass as they sliced deep into his arm. He screamed in pain as alarms blared and the lights in the outer room came on. Barely able to stand, he had trouble pulling his arm back into the enclosure.
The razor-sharp spikes dug deeply into his arm as he tried to pull it away from the shattered glass... The pain was incredible, Clark had to move from the glass, but his legs could barely support his weight. In torment and close to passing out from the agony, Clark screamed and finally managed to pull his arm out of the hole he'd made.
Once free, Clark fell. Cradling his injured arm, which was bleeding profusely, he landed flat onto his back. One handed and weak from kryptonite exposure it was extremely difficult, but he backed away from the kryptonite that must be near the broken panel but the pain and weakness only continued to get worse. The pain burned his wounded arm and in spots down his legs, it radiated up his arm to his shoulder… He moaned in pain and confusion. Where was the kryptonite?
He kept backing away from the broken panel. Clark could now see the glass of the broken panel was glowing green. He looked down and understood.
Clark shook his head at his own stupidity…
The thick, slippery gel that was smeared on his arm up to his elbow was the same gel that dripped down the broken panel. And like the substance on his body, it glowed an obscene green.
A dozen men wearing kryptonite amulets rushed into the outer room. They stopped just outside the enclosure and looked at Clark as he lay in agony on the floor.
Clark's pain clouded eyes drifted up to the hole he had made in the glass to see the Man. He smiled, his face made ghoulish by the green glow that emanated from inside the broken panel.
"Well, you were more a lot more cautious than I thought you would be." The Man smiled at him as Clark turned his head away and closed his eyes in defeat. The Man spoke, "Open it up."
The door slid smoothly open and the Man entered. He crossed to Clark and knelt down next to where he lay on the floor. He pulled Clark's chin to face him.
"You seemed to consider what to do before you did it. But you still learned an important lesson today, didn't you, Mr. Kent? Or should I say, Kal-el?" Clark just glared up at the man, trying hard to hide his surprise at the Man using his birth name.
He managed to pull his chin from the Man's grasp. "My name is Clark."
This made the Man frown. He stood up and turned back to one of the men standing outside the enclosure. "Give me a rock."
Clark moaned in anticipation of increased torment. He managed to roll over onto his side and pull his legs up. As pitiful as that was, it was the best he could do to defend himself.
One of the guards came into the room and gave the man a rock virtually identical to the one he had disabled him with at the farm.
"You didn't answer my question. What was the lesson you learned, Kal-El?"
Clark squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, wishing that the nightmare would end. A groan escaped him as the man brought the glowing green rock closer. He growled with as much force as he could muster, "My name is Clark."
"You don't deserve that name; a human name. Now, you're going to answer me or this will seem like a walk in the park compared to what I will do to you." The Man leaned in closer to Clark, who moaned with the agony, and whispered into Clark's ear, "If you tell me what I want to hear, I'll take this rock away and get you cleaned up. After that and a day's rest here in the sun, you'll be good as new."
Clark still didn't answer and the man was losing his patience. He yelled at Clark, "Tell me now. What lesson did you learn today, alien?"
Clark, just wanting him to take the rock away, looked up at the man. He took a deep breath and spoke between clenched teeth, "It's dumb to break the glass."
"Good. People were wondering how smart you are… At this point I think that it's only safe to say that you're smarter than an amoeba, but tell me more. Why is it dumb to break the glass?"
Clark shook his head, and looked away. He cried out as the man painfully pulled his head up by the hair, "You will tell me what else you've learned tonight, alien, or I will be very angry with you." The menace was clear…
Clark groaned in protest, but answered. "The glass is full of kryptonite gel." Clark moaned as the gel that was now smeared over most of his arm continued to painfully weaken and nauseate him, the green glow shining up from Clark's body to cast a green light onto the man's face. The man beamed at Clark.
"Good job, alien. Excellent, I think you've moved up above ants in your intelligence quotient. Now tell me more." He held the glowing amulet up to Clark's face. The Man seemed to enjoy the effect this had Clark.
Clark moaned. It was getting harder to breathe, he doubted he could speak. He looked up at the Man, pain and confusion twisting his face but the Man had no intention of letting Clark off the hook.
"Tell me why it was a bad idea for you to break that glass."
Between ragged hitches in his breathing caused by the excruciating pain now enveloping his entire body, he managed to get out, "Break glass… The gel… hurts… don't… lead glass… protects… me."
"Well, you're pretty smart after all… Maybe you're even smarter than some humans. Thank you. Now, tell me one more thing. What will you not do ever again?"
"I… won't… break," Clark gasped for air, "… glass."
The man placed the amulet a short distance away from Clark, giving him some relief from the pain, and smiled down at Clark as he let his head fall back with a sickening thump to the cold metal floor. "That's good, Kal-El…"
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
"Because it's your birth name..."
Clark could hardly disguise his shock, "What makes you think so?"
"We know a lot about you, Kal-el… Like your parents sending you here in a meteor shower to hide your ship's entry into Earth's atmosphere. That was very clever of them, actually. Too bad those meteors are your only weakness. What'd you call it, Kryptonite? How ironic that the remnants of your dead birth planet cause you immeasurable pain and take away your abilities. I wonder if they knew that would happen..."
"I don't know what you're talking about…"
The Man glowered at Clark, "Don't insult my intelligence, Kal-el. You are the sole survivor of a dead planet and your lies won't protect you anymore. Not here."
"Who are you?"
"I'm the director of the project here that will be looking into… well… will be looking into you." The man gently fingered the bar coded bracelet on Clark's wrist. "This marks you as US government property. We want to find out what you have in you that might be helpful to scientific discovery, US Government Test Subject K-34623." He smiled at Clark's confusion.
"From now on, you will not be referred to by your human name. That's a good American name that a creature like you doesn't deserve to have. You are now Test Subject K-34623. Or we could just call you 'K,' for short."
A beautiful woman dressed in a white lab coat rushed in. Her clothes were wrinkled, her hair was slightly mussed and her face free of make-up, almost as if she'd just woken up to join them.
The Man stood and smiled down at the confused Clark. "Thank you, K. I think that's enough for tonight." He put the kryptonite in his pocket. Clark felt a little better, at least he felt like he could breathe again.
The beautiful woman shook her head, incredulous. "You didn't tell him? You were supposed to tell him."
"I guess it slipped my mind."
"You knew he would try to break the glass if you didn't warn him about the gel…" She looked down at Clark with pity in her eyes, Clark said nothing.
The young woman, she was gorgeous with striking sky blue eyes and thick, dark, silky hair that fell to her shoulders, hesitated. She spoke quietly, yet intensely to the Man.
"He's just a boy. You could have spared him this painful injury."
"Oh, believe me doctor. This is no boy." The man threw the rock down onto the floor next to Clark. And, with his energy almost all but spent, he moaned and writhed on the floor with the renewed agony. The pain pushed him nearly to unconsciousness, his eyesight going gray…
"Green meteor rock, or kryptonite, does that to him. A mineral that is perfectly harmless to humans causes him agonizing pain and strips him of his abilities…" The man picked up the stone from next to Clark and gave it back to the guard, who took it way. Clark immediately improved; his breathing became easier and less labored. He glanced up at the pretty young doctor, who now looked down at him quizzically. "It's like magic. You take the rock away, and he's better."
The Man's tone became grim. "He needed to learn this lesson, doctor. I doubt a lecture from me would have had the same effect. Believe me. He won't try to break the glass again." The Man walked up to the petite doctor, he towered over her, and growled. "Take him and clean up his wounds." The Man looked at the broken panel and all the blood smeared on the floor with disgust, "It will take a couple of hours to get this bloody, and very expensive, mess cleaned up."
She sighed heavily, "Okay." She motioned to the goons standing just outside the door and they came into the enclosure. The men wore refined kryptonite pendants hanging from their necks… Clark groaned as they approached.
The two burly men, with some difficulty, picked up Clark… His hold on consciousness was precarious at best at this point. However, when the men dragged him past the broken glass, and all the kryptonite-laced gel dripping from it, Clark's hold finally gave out and the world went black.
-----------
Clark awoke, in pain, his wet hair in his eyes… he tried to wipe it away, but found he was too weak to lift his hand up that high. He was vaguely aware of water falling on him and a man soaping him up…
The man wore a large kryptonite amulet and was washing Clark as he sat on the floor of shower leaning up against the wall. He groaned and the man looked at him with a leer. He wanted to push the man away, but his head swam and the world went black again.
------
He next awoke to find himself propped up in a chair. In pain, he felt weak, dizzy and cold. Blearily, Clark looked around. He was in some kind of a medical exam room. There were cabinets and medical equipment… A large mirror covered most of one wall. He tried to wipe the damp curls from his eyes, but something held back his arm. He looked down and saw that his wrists were cuffed to the chair. The cuffs and the chair were both made with that same coppery bronze colored metal.
He realized that he was naked under the thin sheet that covered him, his skin still wet from the shower they'd given him.
He felt better with the gel washed off of his skin, but his arm still burned with pain and he still felt weak and nauseous… Didn't they wash the kryptonite out of his cuts? He tried to turn his injured arm to look at the injuries, to see why it was covered in his blood, but couldn't… The pain overwhelmed him and the black pushed in. Nearly passing out again, Clark groaned.
"K, how are you feeling?"
Dazed, he looked up to see the young, pretty doctor standing over him. Her white coat was off and her porcelain skin was radiant, even under the harsh fluorescent lights. She looked like an angel to his pain fogged eyes, but Clark was too weak to say a word. She smiled warmly at him…
"I'm Doctor Casey and I'm going to clean those lacerations on your arm." She smiled another soft comforting smile but he didn't return it. He's chained to the chair, after all. This is no benign doctor/patient exchange.
"Are you still in pain?"
He gave her a look he hoped looked like a 'What do you think?' kind of look and she nodded sadly. "Sorry, of course you are. I'll get those cuts cleaned out for you… Then you should feel a lot better." She pushed over a cart that held a small basin, a bottle of sterile saline solution, and what kind of looked like a large syringe that had a narrow plastic end instead of a needle.
She turned away from Clark to wash her hands at the sink. When she turned back around, drying her hands with a paper towel, he could see that she wore a bracelet similar to his. He frowned, perplexed by that.
She walked back over to him, as she pulled on sterile gloves. Clark turned away, not ready for the pain he knew would come … When she turned his arm over, the pain was incredible. Clark moaned and tried to pull his arm away, but he was too weak…
He spoke to her for the first time, "Hurts..."
"I'm sorry, K. I have to clean this out…" She gently removed the large blood soaked bandage and gasped.
She spoke more to herself than to him, "My God, the lacerations are deep… And the poison is causing black streaks that almost look like a septic infection." She looked up at Clark, "Does it always do that when you have a kryptonite intrusion into your body?"
Clark grimaced with the pain and nodded.
"Interesting…"
He watched as she filled the small basin with the saline solution. She took out the large irrigation syringe and then pulled water into it.
"I'm sorry, but this will probably hurt."
She then gently used the syringe to irrigate and wash the wounds on his forearm where the glass had shredded the skin. She was being very gentle, but the sudden stinging pain made him gasp.
It took a painfully long time for her to rinse out the wounds. She set down the irrigation syringe and smiled at him as if she thought she was done, but the weakness and pain had only been lessened. His wounds hadn't healed and, strangely, the worst of the pain had moved from his arm to his lap. He looked down and saw the reason why… He frowned at her perplexed look. He thought she should be more observant than that.
"The black infection looks gone but why haven't the wounds closed up?"
He swallowed hard and tried to speak, but all that came out was a barely intelligible croak, "Sheet…"
"What?"
He swallowed again, and cleared his throat. "Sheet…"
She looked down at the sheet covering him. Some of the bloody fluid she'd flushed from his wounds had soaked the sheet with a sickly greenish glow…
"Oh, I'm sorry about that."
She quickly balled up the sheet and tossed it to a far corner, leaving Clark uncovered. Dr. Casey crossed to the sink and filled a small basin with water and soap. She picked up a clean cloth from the cabinet and then sat the basin on the small tray table. Sitting back down next to Clark, she soaked the cloth and squeezed out the excess water…
She turned back to him and looked down and immediately her face flushed bright red. Clark smiled slightly at the sight, despite the pain. Her distress was somehow endearing, but then a wave of dizziness hit him. Squeezing his eyes closed, Clark moaned.
"I'm sorry, K. I'll wash this off right away…"
She started to gently wash the residual blood and kryptonite from his legs. The sudsy water was warm and Clark let his eyes stay closed. His breathing eased and he let him himself just enjoy the warm and soothing motions of Dr. Casey washing his skin. As she washed his legs, the pain lessened and the nausea decreased…
He started to fall asleep but woke when he realized she stopped. Clark opened his eyes to see Dr. Casey staring at his lap, her cheeks even redder than before. She looked up into his eyes and swallowed hard. She bit her lower lip and gently started to wash him around his genitals.
He gasped in surprise at the gentle touch and its effect: at her gentle touch, he became aroused and stiffened. Clark blushed, his face completely flaming red, and looked at the doctor from under his lashes. His own embarrassment increasing as he saw that his erection was making her face redden more deeply.
He turned away as she continued, trying to suppress the rise in his need but he was glad when he felt the last of the kryptonite gel leave his skin and she took the basin away.
He heard the cloth hit the floor in the same corner as the sheet, which her latex gloves soon followed. He looked up at her back as she rinsed out the basin, washing the last remnants of the kryptonite down the drain.
Clark breathed a deep sigh of relief. He again closed his eyes as felt his strength partly return. He still felt groggy, but at least the worst of the pain was gone.
She finished at the sink and then he heard her take a step and stop. He looked up and saw she was looking at him, her eyes dark and heavily lidded. She swallowed hard and sat back down next to him. The young doctor examined his arm and gasped, totally in awe. She touched his completely healed skin, a look of total amazement on her face.
"That was astonishing… I'd read about that but reading about it isn't like seeing it happen. The wounds just closed up with no scars." She looked up at him, "You are truly amazing."
"Where'd you read about it?"
"Oh, they have a database on your abilities."
"How…?"
"I don't know where the information came from." She looked appraisingly at him a moment, "You do look better, maybe still pale and a bit shocky... I think the drugs they gave you before were too strong."
"Drugs?"
"Well, they wanted to do some tests so they had to keep you sedated… it took some trial and error to figure out what worked. I'm afraid it looks like it hasn't totally worn off yet." She smiled, "Did you know that except under the influence of kryptonite you skin is impervious to x-rays?"
Clark didn't answer, looking up at her perplexed, but she went on anyway. "They had to sedate you with kryptonite laced drugs to get the films and CT scans done… You know, I don't think they expected that. MRI's scans seemed to work just fine, however."
Clark frowned, not sure what to say. He grimaced as a wave of nausea hit him.
She looked at him appraisingly, "K, how are you feeling now?"
Clark swallowed hard, trying to keep his stomach quiet. He said quietly, "My name is Clark…"
"Clark?" She shot him a confused look, "Okay, well…" She never got to finish her sentence. Dr. Casey was interrupted when the Man entered the room.
Clark was immediately on edge and tried to cover himself, but the cuffs wouldn't let him reach… He glared at the Man, frustrated.
"Hello, K. It looks like you're feeling better." He smiled as he looked down at Clark's naked body. "Much better."
Clark's stomach twisted into a knot of fear he hoped didn't show on his face. It must have, however, because the man smiled. The Man turned to the doctor.
"Leave us. I want to have a word with K; in private."
She looked up at the Man, concerned. "I need to dictate my notes anyway but I'll return once I'm done to check on him. He's still a bit diaphoretic..." She grabbed a sheet from the cabinet and quickly covered Clark. He looked at her with gratitude as she flashed him a brilliantly warm smile and left.
Once she was gone, the man removed the sheet. The fear turned Clark's insides into knots as he pulled futilely at the hand cuffs. He tried harder, but it was no use. He was still too weak to break them. Clark grunted in frustration and looked up at the Man, out of breath from the exertion.
The Man just smiled, as if he'd expected this.
"I want to underline the basic facts here, K. You are completely under my control and you aren't going anywhere I don't want you to go. And you've noticed that you can't break that metal… Surprising, isn't it? Well, let me tell you a secret. When you refine kryptonite there's a lot of non-radioactive waste product. You mix the leftovers with some hard metals and low and behold, the metal becomes stronger than anything else on earth. The metallurgists we had working on that thought it might be enough to hold you back and yet not affect your abilities… Glad to see that they were right. They also guessed you wouldn't be able to see through it either… were they right about that too?"
Clark frowned and didn't answer but that was answer enough because the man smiled. He then leered at Clark's nakedness.
This scared Clark more than anything else and it must have looked it. "Yeah, you better be scared of me, Subject K. I know your weakness and can exploit it to the fullest extent needed to keep you in control. The green stuff causing you pain is just icing…"
The Man reached his hand out toward Clark's bare stomach, and Clark grabbed his wrist. The hand cuffs gave him just enough reach.
Clark hoped his voice dripped menace, "Don't touch."
He glared at the Man and painfully squeezed his wrist. Clark couldn't tell if the pain even affected him. He didn't react except for a slight narrowing of his eyes, and was surprised when the Man simply smiled. With his free hand, the Man took out what looked to be a small remote control and pressed a button.
The pain was immediate and Clark screamed. Clark could see above him that a small grate had opened up in the ceiling. The intense green glow of refined kryptonite was unmistakable.
Soon, barely able to breathe and squirming to get away, he was reduced to nothing more than pitiful moans as he finally let go of the man's wrist.
"That's much better. An alien in pain is an alien that is very easy to control."
Clark weakly twisted in the chair, trying futilely to get away from the kryptonite in the ceiling. Beyond being able to scream, Clark could only moan in his agony. The Man smiled at Clark's suffering and pressed the button again and the grate finally closed, protecting Clark from the kryptonite. Clark breathed a deep sigh of relief, he looked up; wary and out of breath.
"Now, I want to make one thing perfectly clear here: you are here at the pleasure of the US government. We own you."
Clark scowled, angry. "You don't own me…I'm a person, not a thing! My parents adopted me…" The man pushed the button again and let the grate open even wider, putting Clark into intense agony.
He waited for Clark to stop screaming before he leaned in close and whispered into his ear. "You need to learn the rules, alien. You don't speak unless spoken to, that's right up there with not breaking the glass. Got it?"
Clark looked at the Man, pain fogging his vision, and reluctantly nodded. "I can't hear you, K. Do you understand me?"
Clark took a deep breath and swallowed, trying to suppress the pain, "Yes."
The man smiled and hissed in Clark's ear, "Sir."
Clark could barely understand what he meant through the torment and he looked up at the man, completely baffled. Frustrated, the man hissed, "You need to always address me as 'Sir.' Do you understand me?"
Clark closed his eyes, the torture almost unbearable. He whispered, "Yes… Sir…"
"Much better; you're learning." He pressed the button and the grate closed. Clark swallowed hard, the pain was gone but he knew the torment would continue. He gazed up at the Man, his breath ragged, worry and fear causing him to tremble.
"As for owning you: actually, yes we do. According to an international treaty signed back in the 1950's anything of extraterrestrial origin that comes to Earth is the property of the jurisdiction it lands in. And I do mean anything, including you. Since you landed in Kansas, that treaty makes you United States Government property. The agency that arranged your adoption was a sham and you know it. Your adoption was illegal in addition to being amoral."
The Man all but growled as he sneered at Clark. "The Kents taking in an abomination like you kept them from giving a human child a happy home. You don't deserve that happy life that you stole away from a human boy or girl. You're a thing, not a person, and that treaty gives ownership of you to the people of this fair country."
Clark glared at him, knowing he shouldn't speak.
"But it's not like any government that signed that treaty would ever admit it existed. That would mean they would have to admit to their citizens that little green men were real. That wouldn't do, now would it? But, that shouldn't concern you. You need to only be concerned about being a good little lab rat since you're going to be here for the foreseeable future."
Clark growled. "You can't keep me here. My parents will search…" In shock, Clark stopped short when he realized his mistake but it was too late.
The Man glared at Clark and grimly pushed the button, and the grate opened even wider than it had before.
Clark screamed with the tortuous agony, a scream which quickly died as Clark struggled to breathe. Nearly incoherent with the pain and his near inability to breathe, he tried to twist away from the painful green glow, but couldn't. The restraints easily held him in place. He was soon reduced to a pitiful whimpers as he struggled to stay conscious…
"K, you're letting me down. I thought we had an understanding. You are only supposed to speak when spoken to and I hadn't said anything to you that required a response."
The Man leaned in close and whispered into Clark's ear, "Do you understand what not speaking unless spoken to means, K?"
Clark tried to think, the gray fog pushing in on him made it hard, but he racked his brain for the appropriate answer… He swallowed hard and managed to croak out a weak whisper, "Yes… sir…"
The Man sighed as he looked down at Clark's agony, "That's better." The Man pressed the button.
Clark closed his eyes with the relief and looked away, he wanted to give in to the exhaustion, but the Man wouldn't let him… He grabbed his chin and pulled Clark's head around to face him.
"Now that I think that I finally have gotten your undivided attention: As much as we do know about you, there is still so much we don't and the United States government wants answers. You will provide them. Now, it will go easier on you if kryptonite exposure is kept at a minimum. The scientists whom I've brought here will also likely appreciate a cooperative test subject. You will give the answers we want one way or another. Is that clear, K?"
Confused and scared, Clark swallowed hard, his stomach turning flip-flops…
"What do want from me?"
"I want you to follow the rules, the rest we'll explain to you as we go along."
Clark looked at the man as the pause hung in the air. The Man sighed and said, "Do you want to know what the rules are?"
Clark hesitated for a fraction of second. He looked away and replied softly, "Yes, sir."
"Rule number one, you know. You will not try to break out of your enclosure. Rule number two, we've just covered: you will only speak when spoken to. Rule number three is you must do whatever is asked of you, no matter what it is. That means you must obey any commands given to you without hesitation and answer any questions asked of you honestly. I will not tolerate lies." He gently stroked Clark's thigh as he spoke. Clark gasped as his body responded and his cock stiffened. He could feel the heat rise in his cheeks as his face flamed. The man smiled as he tenderly ran his fingertips up Clark's shaft…
"You break any of these rules, you will be punished. The punishment may vary depending on the severity of the infraction, but I will see to it that you will regret any rule breaking. Do you understand?"
Clark answered through clenched teeth, his shame and disgust pushing him near tears. His answer was barely audible, it was so quiet, "Yes, sir."
"I don't think I heard you. Do you understand?"
It was difficult, but he managed to contain his anger and fear enough to answer, "Yes, sir."
"Much better; so, what are the rules?"
Clark hesitated and that brought a glare from the Man, "I've asked you a direct question, Subject K." He held up the remote as a reminder of what consequences he faced.
Clark said quickly, "I won't try to break out, I will speak only when spoken to, and I will do what I'm told including answering any questions truthfully."
"Excellent, Subject K. What else?"
"I will be punished if I break the rules."
The man smiled and gently gave Clark one last caress. He laughed at Clark's furiously flushed face and threw the sheet back over Clark, "I'm glad that we finally understand each other."
The doctor breezed in just then, her eyes going wide as she saw the scene and the look on Clark's face. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, doctor. I was just explaining the rules to the test subject. I think you'll find he's much better behaved now that he fully understands what's expected of him."
------
After dragging Clark back to his enclosure, the goons dropped him onto the bed. There was a tray waiting for Clark on top of the small bedside chest of drawers; it had a large glass of orange juice and a covered plate. Clark was desperately thirsty but lacked the strength to pick up the glass of juice he wanted to drink so badly… He managed to roll over onto his side reaching for it, but collapsed with a groan.
He was surprised when a gentle hand turned him over. One of the goons, with a surprisingly sympathetic look on his face, was standing over him. He then helped Clark to sit up and then covered him.
The other goon stood at the now open door, "Gus, what the hell are you doing? They didn't tell us to do anything besides bring him back here…"
"He needs some help…"
Turning back to Clark, 'Gus' pulled the covers up to his chest, covering his nakedness, and then helped him to drink. Desperately thirsty, Clark drank greedily. The glass of juice was quickly finished and then Gus refilled the glass with water three times before Clark's thirst was sated.
Gus uncovered the plate, "Are you hungry?"
Clark looked over, the plate held eggs, toast and bacon. It was late enough he guessed it was closer to breakfast than dinner, but it didn't matter. He wasn't hungry. Clark shook his head and closed his eyes.
"…jus' tired."
"Okay, I'll just leave it here in case you change your mind. There are clothes in the drawers, if you want to get dressed later, okay?"
Clark looked up at Gus in gratitude, "Thanks…"
Gus smiled and then left quickly as the other goon gave him a look like 'What the hell are you thinking?'
Clark sighed and pulled the covers up to his chin and stared fiercely at the shiny glass walls of his enclosure.
Doctor Casey had told him that he would be allowed to sleep in; thanks to the after-effects of the kryptonite laced drugs he'd been given… The sun would help speed his healing and apparently they wanted him healthy to get accurate baseline test results.
Nice, Clark thought.
They'll let him sleep in and recover but only because it's convenient for them. He sighed heavily. Clark was worried about what was going to happen to him but he was more worried about his parents.
They weren't due back for two more days but what would they find when they got back? The cows would be in a bad state not having been milked or fed …
Clark sat up, suddenly alarmed. How long had he been there? How long had those other tests taken?
He had no idea, so they could be back now wondering where he was, worried about him… Were they in danger? His stomach twisted into a knot of worry about them. He fought back tears as he took a ragged breath. He looked up at the camera hanging from the ceiling just above his cell.
He didn't want the people who watched to see him crying so he lay back down and swallowed hard. Clark turned away from the camera and faced the now completely dark window. He wasn't sure what time it was but it was extremely early in the morning. He was extremely tired but there were so many things to worry him into sleeplessness here…
Clark tossed and turned so much that his eyes didn't finally close until just before the faint light of the coming dawn peeked into the room…
------
Clark slept a very restless sleep, causing much note taking and discussion from the people who watched him very closely on the monitors.
------
He woke a short time later when he felt the warmth of the sun hit his body… It took him a moment to remember where he was. Clark sat up and listened. No one was nearby. He looked up at the camera hanging above him, as its lens motor whirred to focus on him. He sighed, then reached over and pulled open the top drawer of the nightstand. It held more of the dark blue t-shirts. He looked in the next drawer down, he found the shorts. Glaring at the camera overhead, he pulled a pair on underneath the covers and then slowly climbed out of bed.
Clark walked groggily to side of the enclosure closest to the window. The one closest to the sun… He was exhausted, but he needed the sun.
In his short trip to the side of the enclosure, he could hear more camera lens motors whirring. There was more than just the one hanging over his enclosure. Either they weren't on during the night or they'd added more cameras while he slept. He listened to them focusing on him, their lens motors working so hard he could hear them without trying. He sighed.
He supposed that he would have to get used to that, whether he liked it or not. Clark supposed that he would have to get used to a lot of things from now on that he didn't like.
Reaching the southern wall, Clark pressed as much of his body as he could against the side of his enclosure. His face pointed toward the east, Clark smiled a hint of a smile as he nestled his cheek against the glass as it warmed in the growing heat of the sun. He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the nightmare he'd found himself in long enough to just enjoy the heat and light as it rejuvenated his body.
His relationship with the Earth's yellow sun wasn't something he really thought about, although he knew sunspot activity could adversely affect his abilities and being outside in the sun always made him feel better. However, Clark's need now to feel the heat of Earth's yellow sun on his skin now that was so strong that it was overpowering.
He craved feeling the heat of Earth's yellow sun on his skin like someone dying of thirst might crave a glass of water. Despite his exhaustion, the drive to soak in as much of the sun's heat and light as possible over-rode all else. So he stood there, his legs barely able to hold him up at first, soaking in as much of the light and heat as he could.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there, but once the sun had given him enough of his strength back, he let himself sink slowly to the cold metal floor. He laid down spread eagle, spreading his arms and legs wide to expose as much of his skin to the sun as possible. Comforted by the warm yellow light of Earth's sun, he soon fell fast asleep.
Only this time it was, finally, a truly restful sleep.
The people who watched scribbled more notes and had more discussions over Clark's reaction to the sun than anything else that had happened so far.
Continued here....