Subject: Chapter 20
Short summary: Clark recovers from the vision tests and Colonel Preskin tries something new to get Clark to cooperate...
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Chapter 20
Clark woke up the next morning groggy, exhausted, nauseous, and in pain. His body hadn't yet cleared out the kryptonite that was in his system from the drugs. His memory of most of the testing was fuzzy at best. Clark groaned; his eyes still really hurt and his vision was blurry.
He remembered clearly they tested his hearing going through the entire range of sound that the headphones were capable of making, both in frequency and volume. Yet Clark knew they hadn't come close to limits to what he could hear. Worse, he had actually told them that. That made Colonel Preskin very happy. He remembered quite clearly the man's glee at the level of Clark's cooperation as they planned what other methods they could use to further test his hearing later.
Later, the ophthalmologist tested Clark's vision by having him look at letters projected onto a wall. They quickly got to the point where they'd reached the machine's limit for size. They simply couldn't make the letters too small for Clark to read. They next attached extremely high definition virtual reality goggles to the frame that held his head still. If he hadn't been under the influence of the drugs he might have thought to burn them but the thought didn't even occur to him.
The VR goggles weren't a perfect test but apparently did give them an idea of the range of his vision. The ophthalmologist and the other scientists were very excited by the simulated distances that Clark could see and wanted to do real distance testing but that would take time to arrange.
The eye doctor next leaned the restraint chair back and put kryptonite laced drops in Clark's eyes to dilate his pupils. This allowed the doctor to get a better look at the inside of Clark's eyes but they were agonizing. It felt better if Clark kept his eyes closed. The technicians had to keep giving him more doses of the kryptonite enhanced medicinal mist to get Clark to comply with the constant requests to open his eyes.
When Clark did open his eyes, the light the doctor shined in them only added to the pain and nausea. The more medicine he got the foggier his mind got and the sicker he felt. After a while, he could barely remember anything except for the pain...
He hated the new restraint chair and the drugs. The colonel was right about their being truth serum properties and they took advantage of them. After all the vision and hearing tests were done, they'd asked Clark questions. And he answered them.
Thanks to the stupefying effects of the drugs Clark didn't remember what they'd asked, or how he'd answered. He wracked his brain trying to remember what they'd asked and he couldn't.
He hated how easily they'd controlled him in every way against his will.
Once again he had been lulled into a false sense of empowerment. He had thought if he could fight them, even if it didn't help him achieve anything, that he would have at least some control of the situation. The Man might be gone, but Colonel Preskin wasn't about to let Clark have any more control than the Man had. Arguably the most powerful being on the planet it was ironic that Clark had been made completely powerless. As long as they had the kryptonite and Clark was under their control, all of his abilities were made moot.
Clark was depressed by the fact that this was what his life had become and there seemed to be no hope of escape. Who would, or even could, help him now? How would his parents find him? Were they still looking? Had they lost hope as well? Clark missed his parents terribly. He didn't even have a picture of them to look at.
He didn't want to spend a lifetime locked away from the people he loved. He didn't even know how long he could expect his lifespan could be. What if he lived a lot longer than a human? 150 years? 200? How many tens of thousands of children could he father in that long a life? How many millions of others might pay the price for an army of his children being under the control of ruthless, power hungry men bent on taking over the world?
His eyes still burned from the tests the day before so he squinted at the impending dawn. The world appeared fuzzy, like it was slightly out of focus.
The sun hadn't quite come up yet and despite its healing properties for him, he didn't look forward to seeing it arrive. The dawn meant that it was the start of another day in the hell Lex had consigned him to.
Clark looked at the kryptonian alloy bracelet that he still wore and scowled. The bracelet was a symbol of their ownership of him and he hated it. Although they called him by name now, it didn't mean that he was anything more to them than a marked piece of property. The bar code, and the serial number beneath it, turned him into something less than a person. He was still tagged like a thing. Human or not, it wasn't right that he be that. No one should.
Clark's closed his eyes and they felt better, although 'better' was a relative term. His eyes still hurt and they felt hot and dry. He imagined that they were probably bloodshot. He covered his eyes with an arm as he lay soaking up the sun from the dawn, trying to block out the faint light that shone through his eyelids. He managed to doze until he heard Philip approach with his breakfast tray.
Instead of standing at the window as he usually did, he stayed in bed with his arm draped over his eyes. Lying in bed, he was closer to the small table and it was harder to hide feeling the effects of the kryptonite amulet that Philip wore. He couldn't resist the urge to curl up on his side and hold his stomach. He turned his face to the pillow and managed to suppress a groan but the kryptonite effects got stronger as Philip approached him.
"Clark, are you okay?"
Clark's only answer was a groan at the increased pain and curling into a tighter ball.
-----
Clark could tell Dr. Edwards was getting frustrated even though the man tried very hard to not let that creep into his voice.
"Clark, you aren't doing yourself any good. I have to take a look at your eyes."
"It hurts..."
"Do you want me to have the guards take you down to the exam room and strap you down?"
Clark replied softly, "No."
"I'm going to have to look at your eyes one way or the other... I need to see what's going on."
Clark allowed Dr. Edward's fingers to hold his eyelid open, despite the pain. He cried out when the doctor shined a light into his eyes. His chest heaved as the doctor swore under his breath and looked into the other eye. Clark clamped his eyes shut as the doctor let go.
Clark heard the door open and someone come closer to the bed where he was surrounded by the doctor and several nurses.
The doctor addressed the new person. "Can you tell me again why you fired the pharmacist and brought in pharmaceutical technicians?"
Colonel Preskin replied. "The program is severely over budget, part of the reason the army took over was because of the cost overruns. You know that."
"Well, when I found out Clark was still in pain more than twelve hours after the tests were done yesterday I looked into what drops exactly the ophthalmologist had put into his eyes. It turns out your cheaper idiots prepared the eyes drops with a one percent solution of liquefied kryptonite instead of a point one percent solution... He got ten times the dose he was supposed to get."
The doctor sighed. "His corneas are scarred and tear production appears to be severely inhibited so the kryptonite that's left isn't getting flushed out of his eyes naturally. I'm going to have to help that along and restrict his activities severely until he's feeling better." Clark heard a rustle of fabric and the clink of medical implements. "Clark, I'm going to need..."
Colonel Preskin interrupted, "I'm not done talking to you yet, doctor."
The doctor's tone was cold. "I'm done talking to you. My patient needs care..."
"I need to know what his prognosis is going to be and when we can start testing again."
"As long as you keep that idiot ophthalmologist and your incompetent pharmaceutical technicians away from Clark, I'm sure he'll have a full recovery but I have no idea how long that will take." Doctor Edwards sighed expectantly. "Can I help my patient now?"
The colonel growled, "We'll talk later, doctor."
"I'm sure we will."
The colonel walked away and out of the door.
The doctor swore under his breath again before he spoke softly to his patient. "Clark, let's get your eyes flushed out... it should make them feel better."
----
It was a painful process, but Dr. Edward's rinsing out Clark's eyes out helped him feel so much better. There was still some residual pain so Dr. Edwards used some anesthetic eye drops and placed soft gauze eye patches over Clark's eyes and instructed that Clark try to keep his eyes closed and rest.
Over the next day or so Dr. Edwards checked Clark's eyes regularly and was happy with the improvements he saw. While he still had the eye patches on Gus helped Clark to eat and tried to get Clark to talk but Clark wouldn't speak to him. Clark didn't need to see to tell that Gus was hurt by Clark's silence. He slept a lot and once the patches were off, Clark stood and looked out onto the distant landscape whenever he wasn't eating.
Dr. Edwards had been right. Once the kryptonite was out of his system, his eyesight fully recovered but Clark wished it wasn't that easy.
Time and time again they'd hurt Clark only for him to completely heal. All they had to do was wait and give him time to mend in the sun. They'd hurt him so badly that he had nearly died more than once but all it cost them was a little inconvenience. There were no consequences for them. The only scars left behind were the ones left inside of Clark.
The physical pain would always fade but he knew he would never be the same after this was over. If he did ever did escape this place, would there be any going back to the way things were? How could things ever be back to normal? Could he ever just be a college kid again? Clark didn't think so.
The morning after it was clear he was fully recovered, something different happened. Instead of Philip coming to collect his breakfast tray like normal, he heard the guards snap to attention. He heard them say "Sir" to someone as the door opened. Clark turned to the entrance to see the Colonel enter. He tried to hide his surprise and his dread.
He folded his arms across his chest and made his face as stony as he could. He waited for the man to get to whatever it was he wanted to talk about.
The man started innocuously enough, "Good morning, Clark." He didn't respond.
The man sighed and sat down on the little chair over by the table.
"I'd like to explain to you what's been happening because...." He paused and obviously changed what he was going to say. "Because I think it's important that you understand."
He sighed again, this time more deeply, and looked at the floor. "The scientists had hoped with Dr. Casey's pregnancy that they would figure out how to get fertilization to happen with your sperm and a human egg. They haven't been able to do it and they can't figure out why not." The colonel leaned back, looked at Clark and crossed his hands in his lap. "An interesting thing was what they found when they looked at the semen samples they'd taken from Dr. Casey the times you'd made love to her. There was an extra chemical compound in those samples that weren't in any of the other samples and they couldn't figure out what it was. It's been weeks since they found out that Celia was pregnant and they've gone over the data dozens of times trying to figure out what could explain why Dr. Casey got pregnant and none of the other girls did. That chemical, whatever it is, is the only thing that they think might explain it."
Clark couldn't help but be intrigued and he arched an eyebrow at the colonel but otherwise didn't respond.
"They said that the chemical is a lot like a hormone. Or at least, that was as near as they could explain it to me. However, they have no idea why it was present only in the samples they got from Dr. Casey but not in any of the dozens of other samples they have. They don't believe it's a coincidence that chemical was present in the only girl to get pregnant."
Clark scowled, he didn't like where he thought this was going. "Why do you want me to understand this?"
"We're going to need your help."
"I'm not going to help you."
"I understand why don't want to help, Clark, but I was hoping that we might come to some understanding. Perhaps negotiate..."
"Negotiate what? What I want in return for standing stud for you?"
"To make your life more bearable, there have to be things that you want... Luxuries that might make life easier..."
"I don't want luxuries. I want my freedom but you'll never give me that" Clark shook his head, shocked by the implications. "So, what is it exactly that you're asking of me? You seriously think that if you give me enough things that I'd willingly prostitute myself and father an army of supermen for you? You haven't been here very long but you should know by now that isn't something I'd ever willingly do."
Colonel Preskin frowned and looked up at the camera that hung over his head. "Tell him to bring it in."
The outer room door opened and Philip came in carrying a plastic box. Clark glared at the little man as he placed the box down on the floor by the colonel's feet and took Clark's breakfast tray away. Clark frowned when the colonel opened the lid, curious what was in the box. It opened away from Clark so he couldn't see what was in it. He trained his x-ray vision on the box but it flared blue. It was lined in lead. Worried what the lead was hiding from him, Clark looked back up the colonel and grimaced.
The colonel took out something small and then closed the lid again. "I think that there might be some things in here that might change your mind about helping me out." He turned what he held around so that Clark could see it. He gasped and actually felt faint.
It was a small photo of his parents. It had been sitting on Clark's night stand at home the last he saw it.
The Colonel had a smug smile on his face. "You're looking a bit pale, Clark..."
Clark could only whisper in horror. "Where'd you get that?"
"Director Strickland had several boxes of things like this in his office. I found them after I took over... I think he must have taken them from your house when you were first... ah... acquired. You want to see more?"
Clark couldn't think. He wanted to speed over and take the photo out of the colonel's hand and take whatever else was in the box. He didn't want the things left from his previous life contaminated by his touch. However, he stood rooted to the spot.
The colonel asked again, "Do you want to see more?"
Feeling trapped and unable to even move much less speak, all Clark could do is stand there and nod as tears welled up in his eyes. The colonel smiled as he laid the small photo face down onto the table. He lifted the box lid and took out something else.
It was a copy of Tom Sawyer that his dad had given him when he'd graduated from high school. It pained him that this strange man would be going through his things and might have read the sentimental thoughts his father had written inside the cover.
A tear rolled silently down his cheek as Colonel Preskin laid that down next to the photo on the table and took out a pillow his mother had hand quilted. She had given it to him for his 10th birthday and it had lain on his bed ever since. Seeing something she'd made for him was finally too much.
Clark sped over and took the pillow of the colonel's hands. He dropped to his knees and just hugged it as tears streamed down his face.
The colonel closed the lid to the box and looked at Clark quietly. "Are you willing to consider the possibility of us coming to some sort of understanding now, Clark?"
He looked down at the delicate stitches his mother had made which formed swirling patterns across the surface of the pillow. He felt them with his big hands. The intricate designs she easily formed one stitch at a time had always made him feel clumsy. Despite how strong he was, Clark knew he would never be able to ever duplicate the delicate hand-stitched patterns. Even at 10, he had been in awe at what she'd done.
He'd seen her working on quilts for their beds at night after all the other chores were done. It would take months and months to finish even a small project but it could take years to finish a quilt. Her patience and the care it took amazed him and this one was made only for him. He found out later that unlike most of her projects, which were mostly machine stitched with only the quilting done by hand, she had sewn the primary colored pillow completely by hand and it had taken her more than year to complete.
The small square pillow had been a total surprise and he had loved it from the first instant he saw it.
He'd slept with it and hugging it would make him feel better when he was having a bad day. He hadn't taken any of his stuffed animals with him to college like some kids. Clark knew Lana had a beaten up Teddy Bear that she'd taken to college and even some of the guys in the dorm had animals sitting on their beds, but all he had taken had been that pillow. It had meant more to him than almost anything else he had ever owned.
He hugged it again and looked up at the colonel from underneath wet eyelashes. He stood slowly and looked down at the colonel. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat. It was probably the hardest thing he had ever done in his life up to that point, but he handed it back.
"I won't help you."
He walked slowly over to the side of the enclosure farthest from where the Colonel sat and tried to get control of his emotions as the man swore softly under his breath and sighed heavily.
"Okay, Clark. I guess we'll do this the hard way."
He left as two men entered. They wore kryptonite amulets and Clark collapsed to the floor before they reached him. They dragged Clark from enclosure and he stole a glance back at where the colonel had left the pillow sitting on the table. He looked at it as long as he could before the door closed and blocked it from his sight.
-------
Clark fought as hard as he could as the men dragged him away but his strength soon gave out as the pain and weakness took over. He could only groan in protest as took him into the exam room. It took almost no effort for them to place him onto the restraint chair and strap him down. Clark tried to twist away from the head restraint, but they easily held him still and locked it in place trapping him completely. They left his clothes on, which perplexed him given what he thought was going to happen...
As the men retreated and Clark recovered from the kryptonite exposure, his anger built. He pulled against the restraints as hard as he could. His muscles felt as if they were going to pop but he couldn't budge the restraints. He gave up with a cry of anger and frustration.
Out of breath, his chest heaved and he glared at the mirror. Without really trying he heard the distinctive ticking of Lex's watch and his former best friend's quickened heart beat. Clark didn't know why Lex's heart beat would have sped up. Was he enjoying watching him suffer? Did it turn him on like it did the Man?
He heard the door open beyond the glass and an unfamiliar heartbeat join Lex's familiar one. Lex spoke coldly, "I told you that he wouldn't cooperate."
Colonel Preskin spoke. "I didn't think he'd turn me down after I pulled out his things."
"You don't know Clark Kent."
"Mr. Luthor, if the Department of Defense had been aware of your previous relationship with the subject, you would have never been awarded the contract to oversee this project. There was definitely a conflict of interest..."
Lex's voice turned cold. "I am not to blame for the DOD's shoddy work on performing my background check..."
Colonel Preskin replied matter-of-factly, "The only reason you've been retained as a consultant to the Department of Defense, Mr. Luthor, is because you know the subject on a personal level. Your advice has proven beneficial on several occasions."
"I'm glad, Colonel, that you've found my expertise valuable. However, I'm confused why you're not taking my advice now. I must reiterate my objection to your current plans. You can't expect the solution you've come up to work in the long term. There are just too many variables... This project has reached an impasse and should be shut down."
"We are not at an impasse yet..."
There was a sound of rustling fabric and Lex sighed. "Why are we even here and not downstairs? I thought the next step was strapping him down in bed..."
"There is one other thing that we think might help us successfully negotiate with the subject..." There was movement behind the mirror and the door opened and closed. He heard the colonel's footsteps move away from the exam room. Clark was going to have to wait to find out what the Colonel had in mind.
Clark hoped his worry didn't read on his face. He didn't know what the colonel and Lex had been talking about but it didn't sound good. The Man had suggested at one point they had thought about grabbing his parents to help control Clark... Was that what Colonel Preskin was going to threaten to get Clark to cooperate?
Angry and scared at what it all meant, Clark tried again to break the restraints. He strained harder than he had ever had before, so much so he wore himself out struggling against the cold metal that held him, but it didn't budge.
Clark looked toward the door as he heard footsteps approach. It opened and Colonel Preskin entered. The man stood just inside the door and looked at Clark, his tone was very matter of fact.
"I have to tell you that you have surprised me. I never expected a teenaged boy to turn down the chance to make love to as many girls as he could."
"I can't believe you would think that prospect could be even remotely appealing to me but I'm shocked you have me chained down fully clothed in an ice cold, harshly lit lab. It's not very romantic in here." Clark raised his eyebrows. "Are the girls waiting somewhere? Are you going to bring them in now and let the raping begin?"
The man smiled and shook his head. "No, not yet. I wanted to try something else first to see if we could find a way to get you to see reason. If it doesn't work, we have a very romantically lit room downstairs with a four poster bed in it to chain you to."
The smug smile that Colonel Preskin had on his face was chilling. The older man took out one of the small lead lined pouches. Clark frowned, unsure what the "something else" the colonel wanted to try had to do with kryptonite...
When Clark saw what Colonel Preskin pulled from the pouch, he gasped. The kryptonite the man pulled from the pouch wasn't green.
It was red.
Colonel Preskin held a choker similar to the one The Man had used on him before, only this one had a red stone where the green kryptonite had been in the other choker. It also had the same sort of locking clasp.
He panicked. Clark didn't know what they knew about red kryptonite but they obviously knew enough to guess that exposing him to it might get them the helpful subject they were looking for.
Clark wasn't sure that they were wrong.
He had no idea how he might react in this situation under the influence of red kryptonite. He couldn't trust that he would be as strong while on red-k as he had been. It had been so difficult to be brave and try to do the right thing, yet he knew that his red-k influenced self didn't like things that were hard to do... 'Kal' liked things easy. Under the influence of the red rock, they just might get the cooperation they craved. He couldn't let them succeed.
Even though he knew it was futile, Clark had to get up and get away if he could. He pulled and twisted as hard as he could against the restraints even as Colonel Preskin held up the choker to get a better look at it.
Seemingly oblivious to Clark's struggles, the colonel talked casually as he examined the red stone he held. "We're not quite sure how this affects you differently from the green variety but we know it affects your behavior more than your health." He looked up at Clark, who was using as much strength as he had to pull against the restraints. "You said the other day while under influence of the medicinal mist, that the red kryptonite lowered your inhibitions... Answers given while under the influence of those drugs can't always be trusted so I have to ask. Is that true?"
Clark's eyes were glued to the red stone as the Colonel walked slowly closer. Panicked as he pulled and twisted, his brain could only process one word, "Don't..."
"Does your distress mean it's true? Does your pointless struggle against the unbreakable mean that I'm right and we just might be able to come to some understanding while you're under the influence of this red rock?" The Colonel held the stone out toward Clark.
"Don't..."
The Colonel looked at Clark as he continued to fight. "I'm glad I had them restrain you completely, given your reaction I think it would have been extremely difficult to put this on you otherwise..."
"Don't... Please."
The Colonel's eyes lit up. "Will you cooperate to avoid this?"
It took a moment for Clark to process that question as he couldn't stop staring at the stone. If he'd been able to shake his head, he would have. His eyes flicked to the Colonel and then back to the stone. Out of breath, Clark replied in a breathy whisper. "No. I won't cooperate."
Colonel Preskin shrugged. "Okay, I'll have to give this a try."
Clark redoubled his efforts to struggle but he knew it was no use. He heard a gasp from behind the mirror. Lex.
Clark's eyes snapped to the mirror where he knew his ex-best friend, and ex would-be-lover, stood despite being hidden from his sight. "Lex, don't let them do this to me... How can you watch? Do you hate me that much?"
The Colonel turned to glance at the mirror and then he looked back at Clark. "You know Mr. Luthor is in there?"
"Lex... Answer me. Do you hate me so much you want to watch him torture me?"
There was a soft sigh and Lex answered without using the intercom. "I don't hate you, Clark."
"Then how can you watch?"
Colonel Preskin looked perturbed that Clark replied to an answer that he couldn't hear. His face turned hard and he pressed the red stone against Clark's skin and his body tensed as he felt the rush the red kryptonite always gave him. His sight flared red as Colonel Preskin snapped the chain around Clark's neck and his body relaxed with the evaporation of the tension. The relief Clark felt was amazing. The fear, worry and panic were all gone. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off Clark's shoulders. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the sudden lack of care in spite of himself.
Lex spoke, his voice an urgent whisper. "Clark?"
Clark's eyes opened and he gazed, heavy lidded, at the mirror that hid Lex from his view. "Lex..."
Lex sounded perplexed. "Are you okay, Clark?"
"I'm fine but you didn't answer the question."
"What question?"
"Why do you watch them torture Clark? Do you hate him that much?"
Lex sounded surprised. "Aren't you Clark?"
"No. At least, not really. I'm the part of Clark he doesn't want to admit exists. I'm his hate, lust and greed unrestrained by guilt or whatever it is that makes him a good little alien..." Clark smiled as much as he could. "You still haven't answered the question, Lex. Do you watch because you enjoy it like the Man did? He got aroused watching Clark suffer..."
"The 'Man'?"
"The 'Man' came before..." Clark looked over at the Colonel. "...him."
Colonel Preskin shook his head. "The previous director was a sick man, Clark."
Clark's eyes narrowed. "I think we covered that I'm not really 'Clark'... Not who you think of as 'Clark,' anyway." He sniffed and turned his attention back to the mirror. "You can call me 'Kal'..."
He heard Lex sigh. "Okay, 'Kal.' Seeing Clark in pain does not arouse me. I watch only because it's part of my job as a consultant to the Department of Defense." There was a rustle of fabric, as if Lex had folded his arms across his chest. "How did Clark know I was here? I didn't say anything..."
"He always knows when you're there, Lex. You don't need to say anything. The sound of the watch your mother gave you is unique. But even if you didn't wear that, your breathing, even the sound of your heartbeat is so familiar to him he'd know them anywhere. A lead crystal two-way mirror can't hide you."
Colonel Preskin sighed. "What's going on, Mr. Luthor? I'd like to hear both sides of the conversation."
The intercom hissed on and Lex spoke over the intercom this time. "Maybe I should come in where you can see me so we can continue the conversation in there?"
Kal said softly, "No, don't."
The intercom hissed again. "Why not?"
"I'm not really Clark but..." Kal cleared his throat. "...when the red kryptonite is removed he will remember everything I do and see. The part of me that is still Clark will find seeing you painful."
"You make it sound like it wouldn't be painful to you."
"It wouldn't be but then again, I don't love you."
Silence hung in the air for a few moments, Colonel Preskin didn't even say a word, before Lex asked softly. "Clark still loves me?"
Kal laughed. "You didn't know that? You're a bigger fool than I thought. You've betrayed him and gave him over to the worst kind of people on this planet, the kind he feared most in the world. The kind of people that scared him and caused him to lie to you all those years and yet he still loves you." Kal sneered at Lex dismissively, the human totally beneath even his contempt. "You don't deserve his love."
Ignoring Lex, Kal looked over at Colonel Preskin. "So, you wanted to negotiate? Let's negotiate."
------
Colonel Preskin smiled with a gleam in his eye.
Kal cut Colonel Preskin off as the man was about to speak. He growled. "Before you say anything else, I'm going to need you to get this fucking thing off of my head."
Colonel Preskin nodded quickly, all of a sudden fawning at the more cooperative alien. It disgusted Kal. "Of course...." He looked back at the mirror. "Send the guards back in..."
The guards came back in and removed the head restraint. Kal stretched his neck out and looked at the colonel not bothering to hide his disgust.
"What are you going give me, Colonel?"
The man took a deep breath and could barely contain the excitement in his voice. "What do you want, Kal?"
"I'm thinking you must be desperate and desperate means expensive. I'll be wanting a lot..." Kal smiled at the fading smile on the colonel's face. "However, I do not want to talk you about what you're going to give me while restrained in this chair. Let me up first."
The Colonel smirked. "I'm willing to do almost anything to get you to cooperate, Kal, but don't think that makes me stupid. If I were to let you up, there'd be nothing to stop you from killing me."
Kal's fury rose and the heat built up in his eyes. "If you thought I couldn't kill you now where you stand, you're dumber than I thought." He barely contained the urge to burn the colonel to a crisp. The man must have realized the danger because he blanched but he didn't leave despite his fear. Kal could hear Lex chuckle at the man's sudden discomfort and was annoyed by that. He glared at the mirror and then turned his attention back to the pale faced Colonel.
"Do what you want, Colonel, but know that either you get these restraints off me or this negotiation is already over."
The Colonel's fear made his heart race but his eagerness to make Kal happy apparently overrode that fear. However, he couldn't hide the shake in his voice and the tremor in his hands. "Don't be so hasty, Kal... I'm sure we can come to some sort of deal."
Kal sniffed and looked at the man with an eyebrow arrogantly arched. "You're terrified of me, yet you can't walk away from what I have to offer. The nearly limitless human greed amazes me." The man looked taken aback and he appeared unable to figure out what to say...
Kal sighed. "You have nothing to worry about. I won't kill you. As much fun as crushing your skull like a peanut shell might be, there are too many kryptonite bullet loaded guns out there now. As important as I am to you, I'm not at all important to those soldiers outside in the hallway, am I? They would kill me without even blinking if they thought their lives depended on it. I'm not ready to die and, despite how depressed he is, Clark's not suicidal yet either."
The Colonel looked quietly at Kal, as if trying to see if he could be believed, but said nothing. Kal sighed again, spelling it out to the colonel as if he were a child. "Look. You've made it quite clear you're never letting us out of here and this hell hole has proven inescapable. The one escape attempt Clark made nearly killed us. Thing is, I have no idea how long I'm going to live but I have no intention of living inside an empty glass box for how ever long that is going to be. I have something you want and you have the power to make my life here easier. Let me up and we'll talk about what you're going to give me in return for fathering a master race for you." Kal's voice dropped and his eyes narrowed. "However, I must tell you that a hundred years' worth of meaningless sex is going to really cost you..."
The Colonel looked at Kal with narrowed eyes and seemed to consider what he was going to do for a moment. He sighed and looked back at the mirror and nodded.
The two guards came back in and Kal smiled as they released him from the restraints.
Continued here....
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Chapter 20
Clark woke up the next morning groggy, exhausted, nauseous, and in pain. His body hadn't yet cleared out the kryptonite that was in his system from the drugs. His memory of most of the testing was fuzzy at best. Clark groaned; his eyes still really hurt and his vision was blurry.
He remembered clearly they tested his hearing going through the entire range of sound that the headphones were capable of making, both in frequency and volume. Yet Clark knew they hadn't come close to limits to what he could hear. Worse, he had actually told them that. That made Colonel Preskin very happy. He remembered quite clearly the man's glee at the level of Clark's cooperation as they planned what other methods they could use to further test his hearing later.
Later, the ophthalmologist tested Clark's vision by having him look at letters projected onto a wall. They quickly got to the point where they'd reached the machine's limit for size. They simply couldn't make the letters too small for Clark to read. They next attached extremely high definition virtual reality goggles to the frame that held his head still. If he hadn't been under the influence of the drugs he might have thought to burn them but the thought didn't even occur to him.
The VR goggles weren't a perfect test but apparently did give them an idea of the range of his vision. The ophthalmologist and the other scientists were very excited by the simulated distances that Clark could see and wanted to do real distance testing but that would take time to arrange.
The eye doctor next leaned the restraint chair back and put kryptonite laced drops in Clark's eyes to dilate his pupils. This allowed the doctor to get a better look at the inside of Clark's eyes but they were agonizing. It felt better if Clark kept his eyes closed. The technicians had to keep giving him more doses of the kryptonite enhanced medicinal mist to get Clark to comply with the constant requests to open his eyes.
When Clark did open his eyes, the light the doctor shined in them only added to the pain and nausea. The more medicine he got the foggier his mind got and the sicker he felt. After a while, he could barely remember anything except for the pain...
He hated the new restraint chair and the drugs. The colonel was right about their being truth serum properties and they took advantage of them. After all the vision and hearing tests were done, they'd asked Clark questions. And he answered them.
Thanks to the stupefying effects of the drugs Clark didn't remember what they'd asked, or how he'd answered. He wracked his brain trying to remember what they'd asked and he couldn't.
He hated how easily they'd controlled him in every way against his will.
Once again he had been lulled into a false sense of empowerment. He had thought if he could fight them, even if it didn't help him achieve anything, that he would have at least some control of the situation. The Man might be gone, but Colonel Preskin wasn't about to let Clark have any more control than the Man had. Arguably the most powerful being on the planet it was ironic that Clark had been made completely powerless. As long as they had the kryptonite and Clark was under their control, all of his abilities were made moot.
Clark was depressed by the fact that this was what his life had become and there seemed to be no hope of escape. Who would, or even could, help him now? How would his parents find him? Were they still looking? Had they lost hope as well? Clark missed his parents terribly. He didn't even have a picture of them to look at.
He didn't want to spend a lifetime locked away from the people he loved. He didn't even know how long he could expect his lifespan could be. What if he lived a lot longer than a human? 150 years? 200? How many tens of thousands of children could he father in that long a life? How many millions of others might pay the price for an army of his children being under the control of ruthless, power hungry men bent on taking over the world?
His eyes still burned from the tests the day before so he squinted at the impending dawn. The world appeared fuzzy, like it was slightly out of focus.
The sun hadn't quite come up yet and despite its healing properties for him, he didn't look forward to seeing it arrive. The dawn meant that it was the start of another day in the hell Lex had consigned him to.
Clark looked at the kryptonian alloy bracelet that he still wore and scowled. The bracelet was a symbol of their ownership of him and he hated it. Although they called him by name now, it didn't mean that he was anything more to them than a marked piece of property. The bar code, and the serial number beneath it, turned him into something less than a person. He was still tagged like a thing. Human or not, it wasn't right that he be that. No one should.
Clark's closed his eyes and they felt better, although 'better' was a relative term. His eyes still hurt and they felt hot and dry. He imagined that they were probably bloodshot. He covered his eyes with an arm as he lay soaking up the sun from the dawn, trying to block out the faint light that shone through his eyelids. He managed to doze until he heard Philip approach with his breakfast tray.
Instead of standing at the window as he usually did, he stayed in bed with his arm draped over his eyes. Lying in bed, he was closer to the small table and it was harder to hide feeling the effects of the kryptonite amulet that Philip wore. He couldn't resist the urge to curl up on his side and hold his stomach. He turned his face to the pillow and managed to suppress a groan but the kryptonite effects got stronger as Philip approached him.
"Clark, are you okay?"
Clark's only answer was a groan at the increased pain and curling into a tighter ball.
-----
Clark could tell Dr. Edwards was getting frustrated even though the man tried very hard to not let that creep into his voice.
"Clark, you aren't doing yourself any good. I have to take a look at your eyes."
"It hurts..."
"Do you want me to have the guards take you down to the exam room and strap you down?"
Clark replied softly, "No."
"I'm going to have to look at your eyes one way or the other... I need to see what's going on."
Clark allowed Dr. Edward's fingers to hold his eyelid open, despite the pain. He cried out when the doctor shined a light into his eyes. His chest heaved as the doctor swore under his breath and looked into the other eye. Clark clamped his eyes shut as the doctor let go.
Clark heard the door open and someone come closer to the bed where he was surrounded by the doctor and several nurses.
The doctor addressed the new person. "Can you tell me again why you fired the pharmacist and brought in pharmaceutical technicians?"
Colonel Preskin replied. "The program is severely over budget, part of the reason the army took over was because of the cost overruns. You know that."
"Well, when I found out Clark was still in pain more than twelve hours after the tests were done yesterday I looked into what drops exactly the ophthalmologist had put into his eyes. It turns out your cheaper idiots prepared the eyes drops with a one percent solution of liquefied kryptonite instead of a point one percent solution... He got ten times the dose he was supposed to get."
The doctor sighed. "His corneas are scarred and tear production appears to be severely inhibited so the kryptonite that's left isn't getting flushed out of his eyes naturally. I'm going to have to help that along and restrict his activities severely until he's feeling better." Clark heard a rustle of fabric and the clink of medical implements. "Clark, I'm going to need..."
Colonel Preskin interrupted, "I'm not done talking to you yet, doctor."
The doctor's tone was cold. "I'm done talking to you. My patient needs care..."
"I need to know what his prognosis is going to be and when we can start testing again."
"As long as you keep that idiot ophthalmologist and your incompetent pharmaceutical technicians away from Clark, I'm sure he'll have a full recovery but I have no idea how long that will take." Doctor Edwards sighed expectantly. "Can I help my patient now?"
The colonel growled, "We'll talk later, doctor."
"I'm sure we will."
The colonel walked away and out of the door.
The doctor swore under his breath again before he spoke softly to his patient. "Clark, let's get your eyes flushed out... it should make them feel better."
----
It was a painful process, but Dr. Edward's rinsing out Clark's eyes out helped him feel so much better. There was still some residual pain so Dr. Edwards used some anesthetic eye drops and placed soft gauze eye patches over Clark's eyes and instructed that Clark try to keep his eyes closed and rest.
Over the next day or so Dr. Edwards checked Clark's eyes regularly and was happy with the improvements he saw. While he still had the eye patches on Gus helped Clark to eat and tried to get Clark to talk but Clark wouldn't speak to him. Clark didn't need to see to tell that Gus was hurt by Clark's silence. He slept a lot and once the patches were off, Clark stood and looked out onto the distant landscape whenever he wasn't eating.
Dr. Edwards had been right. Once the kryptonite was out of his system, his eyesight fully recovered but Clark wished it wasn't that easy.
Time and time again they'd hurt Clark only for him to completely heal. All they had to do was wait and give him time to mend in the sun. They'd hurt him so badly that he had nearly died more than once but all it cost them was a little inconvenience. There were no consequences for them. The only scars left behind were the ones left inside of Clark.
The physical pain would always fade but he knew he would never be the same after this was over. If he did ever did escape this place, would there be any going back to the way things were? How could things ever be back to normal? Could he ever just be a college kid again? Clark didn't think so.
The morning after it was clear he was fully recovered, something different happened. Instead of Philip coming to collect his breakfast tray like normal, he heard the guards snap to attention. He heard them say "Sir" to someone as the door opened. Clark turned to the entrance to see the Colonel enter. He tried to hide his surprise and his dread.
He folded his arms across his chest and made his face as stony as he could. He waited for the man to get to whatever it was he wanted to talk about.
The man started innocuously enough, "Good morning, Clark." He didn't respond.
The man sighed and sat down on the little chair over by the table.
"I'd like to explain to you what's been happening because...." He paused and obviously changed what he was going to say. "Because I think it's important that you understand."
He sighed again, this time more deeply, and looked at the floor. "The scientists had hoped with Dr. Casey's pregnancy that they would figure out how to get fertilization to happen with your sperm and a human egg. They haven't been able to do it and they can't figure out why not." The colonel leaned back, looked at Clark and crossed his hands in his lap. "An interesting thing was what they found when they looked at the semen samples they'd taken from Dr. Casey the times you'd made love to her. There was an extra chemical compound in those samples that weren't in any of the other samples and they couldn't figure out what it was. It's been weeks since they found out that Celia was pregnant and they've gone over the data dozens of times trying to figure out what could explain why Dr. Casey got pregnant and none of the other girls did. That chemical, whatever it is, is the only thing that they think might explain it."
Clark couldn't help but be intrigued and he arched an eyebrow at the colonel but otherwise didn't respond.
"They said that the chemical is a lot like a hormone. Or at least, that was as near as they could explain it to me. However, they have no idea why it was present only in the samples they got from Dr. Casey but not in any of the dozens of other samples they have. They don't believe it's a coincidence that chemical was present in the only girl to get pregnant."
Clark scowled, he didn't like where he thought this was going. "Why do you want me to understand this?"
"We're going to need your help."
"I'm not going to help you."
"I understand why don't want to help, Clark, but I was hoping that we might come to some understanding. Perhaps negotiate..."
"Negotiate what? What I want in return for standing stud for you?"
"To make your life more bearable, there have to be things that you want... Luxuries that might make life easier..."
"I don't want luxuries. I want my freedom but you'll never give me that" Clark shook his head, shocked by the implications. "So, what is it exactly that you're asking of me? You seriously think that if you give me enough things that I'd willingly prostitute myself and father an army of supermen for you? You haven't been here very long but you should know by now that isn't something I'd ever willingly do."
Colonel Preskin frowned and looked up at the camera that hung over his head. "Tell him to bring it in."
The outer room door opened and Philip came in carrying a plastic box. Clark glared at the little man as he placed the box down on the floor by the colonel's feet and took Clark's breakfast tray away. Clark frowned when the colonel opened the lid, curious what was in the box. It opened away from Clark so he couldn't see what was in it. He trained his x-ray vision on the box but it flared blue. It was lined in lead. Worried what the lead was hiding from him, Clark looked back up the colonel and grimaced.
The colonel took out something small and then closed the lid again. "I think that there might be some things in here that might change your mind about helping me out." He turned what he held around so that Clark could see it. He gasped and actually felt faint.
It was a small photo of his parents. It had been sitting on Clark's night stand at home the last he saw it.
The Colonel had a smug smile on his face. "You're looking a bit pale, Clark..."
Clark could only whisper in horror. "Where'd you get that?"
"Director Strickland had several boxes of things like this in his office. I found them after I took over... I think he must have taken them from your house when you were first... ah... acquired. You want to see more?"
Clark couldn't think. He wanted to speed over and take the photo out of the colonel's hand and take whatever else was in the box. He didn't want the things left from his previous life contaminated by his touch. However, he stood rooted to the spot.
The colonel asked again, "Do you want to see more?"
Feeling trapped and unable to even move much less speak, all Clark could do is stand there and nod as tears welled up in his eyes. The colonel smiled as he laid the small photo face down onto the table. He lifted the box lid and took out something else.
It was a copy of Tom Sawyer that his dad had given him when he'd graduated from high school. It pained him that this strange man would be going through his things and might have read the sentimental thoughts his father had written inside the cover.
A tear rolled silently down his cheek as Colonel Preskin laid that down next to the photo on the table and took out a pillow his mother had hand quilted. She had given it to him for his 10th birthday and it had lain on his bed ever since. Seeing something she'd made for him was finally too much.
Clark sped over and took the pillow of the colonel's hands. He dropped to his knees and just hugged it as tears streamed down his face.
The colonel closed the lid to the box and looked at Clark quietly. "Are you willing to consider the possibility of us coming to some sort of understanding now, Clark?"
He looked down at the delicate stitches his mother had made which formed swirling patterns across the surface of the pillow. He felt them with his big hands. The intricate designs she easily formed one stitch at a time had always made him feel clumsy. Despite how strong he was, Clark knew he would never be able to ever duplicate the delicate hand-stitched patterns. Even at 10, he had been in awe at what she'd done.
He'd seen her working on quilts for their beds at night after all the other chores were done. It would take months and months to finish even a small project but it could take years to finish a quilt. Her patience and the care it took amazed him and this one was made only for him. He found out later that unlike most of her projects, which were mostly machine stitched with only the quilting done by hand, she had sewn the primary colored pillow completely by hand and it had taken her more than year to complete.
The small square pillow had been a total surprise and he had loved it from the first instant he saw it.
He'd slept with it and hugging it would make him feel better when he was having a bad day. He hadn't taken any of his stuffed animals with him to college like some kids. Clark knew Lana had a beaten up Teddy Bear that she'd taken to college and even some of the guys in the dorm had animals sitting on their beds, but all he had taken had been that pillow. It had meant more to him than almost anything else he had ever owned.
He hugged it again and looked up at the colonel from underneath wet eyelashes. He stood slowly and looked down at the colonel. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat. It was probably the hardest thing he had ever done in his life up to that point, but he handed it back.
"I won't help you."
He walked slowly over to the side of the enclosure farthest from where the Colonel sat and tried to get control of his emotions as the man swore softly under his breath and sighed heavily.
"Okay, Clark. I guess we'll do this the hard way."
He left as two men entered. They wore kryptonite amulets and Clark collapsed to the floor before they reached him. They dragged Clark from enclosure and he stole a glance back at where the colonel had left the pillow sitting on the table. He looked at it as long as he could before the door closed and blocked it from his sight.
-------
Clark fought as hard as he could as the men dragged him away but his strength soon gave out as the pain and weakness took over. He could only groan in protest as took him into the exam room. It took almost no effort for them to place him onto the restraint chair and strap him down. Clark tried to twist away from the head restraint, but they easily held him still and locked it in place trapping him completely. They left his clothes on, which perplexed him given what he thought was going to happen...
As the men retreated and Clark recovered from the kryptonite exposure, his anger built. He pulled against the restraints as hard as he could. His muscles felt as if they were going to pop but he couldn't budge the restraints. He gave up with a cry of anger and frustration.
Out of breath, his chest heaved and he glared at the mirror. Without really trying he heard the distinctive ticking of Lex's watch and his former best friend's quickened heart beat. Clark didn't know why Lex's heart beat would have sped up. Was he enjoying watching him suffer? Did it turn him on like it did the Man?
He heard the door open beyond the glass and an unfamiliar heartbeat join Lex's familiar one. Lex spoke coldly, "I told you that he wouldn't cooperate."
Colonel Preskin spoke. "I didn't think he'd turn me down after I pulled out his things."
"You don't know Clark Kent."
"Mr. Luthor, if the Department of Defense had been aware of your previous relationship with the subject, you would have never been awarded the contract to oversee this project. There was definitely a conflict of interest..."
Lex's voice turned cold. "I am not to blame for the DOD's shoddy work on performing my background check..."
Colonel Preskin replied matter-of-factly, "The only reason you've been retained as a consultant to the Department of Defense, Mr. Luthor, is because you know the subject on a personal level. Your advice has proven beneficial on several occasions."
"I'm glad, Colonel, that you've found my expertise valuable. However, I'm confused why you're not taking my advice now. I must reiterate my objection to your current plans. You can't expect the solution you've come up to work in the long term. There are just too many variables... This project has reached an impasse and should be shut down."
"We are not at an impasse yet..."
There was a sound of rustling fabric and Lex sighed. "Why are we even here and not downstairs? I thought the next step was strapping him down in bed..."
"There is one other thing that we think might help us successfully negotiate with the subject..." There was movement behind the mirror and the door opened and closed. He heard the colonel's footsteps move away from the exam room. Clark was going to have to wait to find out what the Colonel had in mind.
Clark hoped his worry didn't read on his face. He didn't know what the colonel and Lex had been talking about but it didn't sound good. The Man had suggested at one point they had thought about grabbing his parents to help control Clark... Was that what Colonel Preskin was going to threaten to get Clark to cooperate?
Angry and scared at what it all meant, Clark tried again to break the restraints. He strained harder than he had ever had before, so much so he wore himself out struggling against the cold metal that held him, but it didn't budge.
Clark looked toward the door as he heard footsteps approach. It opened and Colonel Preskin entered. The man stood just inside the door and looked at Clark, his tone was very matter of fact.
"I have to tell you that you have surprised me. I never expected a teenaged boy to turn down the chance to make love to as many girls as he could."
"I can't believe you would think that prospect could be even remotely appealing to me but I'm shocked you have me chained down fully clothed in an ice cold, harshly lit lab. It's not very romantic in here." Clark raised his eyebrows. "Are the girls waiting somewhere? Are you going to bring them in now and let the raping begin?"
The man smiled and shook his head. "No, not yet. I wanted to try something else first to see if we could find a way to get you to see reason. If it doesn't work, we have a very romantically lit room downstairs with a four poster bed in it to chain you to."
The smug smile that Colonel Preskin had on his face was chilling. The older man took out one of the small lead lined pouches. Clark frowned, unsure what the "something else" the colonel wanted to try had to do with kryptonite...
When Clark saw what Colonel Preskin pulled from the pouch, he gasped. The kryptonite the man pulled from the pouch wasn't green.
It was red.
Colonel Preskin held a choker similar to the one The Man had used on him before, only this one had a red stone where the green kryptonite had been in the other choker. It also had the same sort of locking clasp.
He panicked. Clark didn't know what they knew about red kryptonite but they obviously knew enough to guess that exposing him to it might get them the helpful subject they were looking for.
Clark wasn't sure that they were wrong.
He had no idea how he might react in this situation under the influence of red kryptonite. He couldn't trust that he would be as strong while on red-k as he had been. It had been so difficult to be brave and try to do the right thing, yet he knew that his red-k influenced self didn't like things that were hard to do... 'Kal' liked things easy. Under the influence of the red rock, they just might get the cooperation they craved. He couldn't let them succeed.
Even though he knew it was futile, Clark had to get up and get away if he could. He pulled and twisted as hard as he could against the restraints even as Colonel Preskin held up the choker to get a better look at it.
Seemingly oblivious to Clark's struggles, the colonel talked casually as he examined the red stone he held. "We're not quite sure how this affects you differently from the green variety but we know it affects your behavior more than your health." He looked up at Clark, who was using as much strength as he had to pull against the restraints. "You said the other day while under influence of the medicinal mist, that the red kryptonite lowered your inhibitions... Answers given while under the influence of those drugs can't always be trusted so I have to ask. Is that true?"
Clark's eyes were glued to the red stone as the Colonel walked slowly closer. Panicked as he pulled and twisted, his brain could only process one word, "Don't..."
"Does your distress mean it's true? Does your pointless struggle against the unbreakable mean that I'm right and we just might be able to come to some understanding while you're under the influence of this red rock?" The Colonel held the stone out toward Clark.
"Don't..."
The Colonel looked at Clark as he continued to fight. "I'm glad I had them restrain you completely, given your reaction I think it would have been extremely difficult to put this on you otherwise..."
"Don't... Please."
The Colonel's eyes lit up. "Will you cooperate to avoid this?"
It took a moment for Clark to process that question as he couldn't stop staring at the stone. If he'd been able to shake his head, he would have. His eyes flicked to the Colonel and then back to the stone. Out of breath, Clark replied in a breathy whisper. "No. I won't cooperate."
Colonel Preskin shrugged. "Okay, I'll have to give this a try."
Clark redoubled his efforts to struggle but he knew it was no use. He heard a gasp from behind the mirror. Lex.
Clark's eyes snapped to the mirror where he knew his ex-best friend, and ex would-be-lover, stood despite being hidden from his sight. "Lex, don't let them do this to me... How can you watch? Do you hate me that much?"
The Colonel turned to glance at the mirror and then he looked back at Clark. "You know Mr. Luthor is in there?"
"Lex... Answer me. Do you hate me so much you want to watch him torture me?"
There was a soft sigh and Lex answered without using the intercom. "I don't hate you, Clark."
"Then how can you watch?"
Colonel Preskin looked perturbed that Clark replied to an answer that he couldn't hear. His face turned hard and he pressed the red stone against Clark's skin and his body tensed as he felt the rush the red kryptonite always gave him. His sight flared red as Colonel Preskin snapped the chain around Clark's neck and his body relaxed with the evaporation of the tension. The relief Clark felt was amazing. The fear, worry and panic were all gone. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off Clark's shoulders. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the sudden lack of care in spite of himself.
Lex spoke, his voice an urgent whisper. "Clark?"
Clark's eyes opened and he gazed, heavy lidded, at the mirror that hid Lex from his view. "Lex..."
Lex sounded perplexed. "Are you okay, Clark?"
"I'm fine but you didn't answer the question."
"What question?"
"Why do you watch them torture Clark? Do you hate him that much?"
Lex sounded surprised. "Aren't you Clark?"
"No. At least, not really. I'm the part of Clark he doesn't want to admit exists. I'm his hate, lust and greed unrestrained by guilt or whatever it is that makes him a good little alien..." Clark smiled as much as he could. "You still haven't answered the question, Lex. Do you watch because you enjoy it like the Man did? He got aroused watching Clark suffer..."
"The 'Man'?"
"The 'Man' came before..." Clark looked over at the Colonel. "...him."
Colonel Preskin shook his head. "The previous director was a sick man, Clark."
Clark's eyes narrowed. "I think we covered that I'm not really 'Clark'... Not who you think of as 'Clark,' anyway." He sniffed and turned his attention back to the mirror. "You can call me 'Kal'..."
He heard Lex sigh. "Okay, 'Kal.' Seeing Clark in pain does not arouse me. I watch only because it's part of my job as a consultant to the Department of Defense." There was a rustle of fabric, as if Lex had folded his arms across his chest. "How did Clark know I was here? I didn't say anything..."
"He always knows when you're there, Lex. You don't need to say anything. The sound of the watch your mother gave you is unique. But even if you didn't wear that, your breathing, even the sound of your heartbeat is so familiar to him he'd know them anywhere. A lead crystal two-way mirror can't hide you."
Colonel Preskin sighed. "What's going on, Mr. Luthor? I'd like to hear both sides of the conversation."
The intercom hissed on and Lex spoke over the intercom this time. "Maybe I should come in where you can see me so we can continue the conversation in there?"
Kal said softly, "No, don't."
The intercom hissed again. "Why not?"
"I'm not really Clark but..." Kal cleared his throat. "...when the red kryptonite is removed he will remember everything I do and see. The part of me that is still Clark will find seeing you painful."
"You make it sound like it wouldn't be painful to you."
"It wouldn't be but then again, I don't love you."
Silence hung in the air for a few moments, Colonel Preskin didn't even say a word, before Lex asked softly. "Clark still loves me?"
Kal laughed. "You didn't know that? You're a bigger fool than I thought. You've betrayed him and gave him over to the worst kind of people on this planet, the kind he feared most in the world. The kind of people that scared him and caused him to lie to you all those years and yet he still loves you." Kal sneered at Lex dismissively, the human totally beneath even his contempt. "You don't deserve his love."
Ignoring Lex, Kal looked over at Colonel Preskin. "So, you wanted to negotiate? Let's negotiate."
------
Colonel Preskin smiled with a gleam in his eye.
Kal cut Colonel Preskin off as the man was about to speak. He growled. "Before you say anything else, I'm going to need you to get this fucking thing off of my head."
Colonel Preskin nodded quickly, all of a sudden fawning at the more cooperative alien. It disgusted Kal. "Of course...." He looked back at the mirror. "Send the guards back in..."
The guards came back in and removed the head restraint. Kal stretched his neck out and looked at the colonel not bothering to hide his disgust.
"What are you going give me, Colonel?"
The man took a deep breath and could barely contain the excitement in his voice. "What do you want, Kal?"
"I'm thinking you must be desperate and desperate means expensive. I'll be wanting a lot..." Kal smiled at the fading smile on the colonel's face. "However, I do not want to talk you about what you're going to give me while restrained in this chair. Let me up first."
The Colonel smirked. "I'm willing to do almost anything to get you to cooperate, Kal, but don't think that makes me stupid. If I were to let you up, there'd be nothing to stop you from killing me."
Kal's fury rose and the heat built up in his eyes. "If you thought I couldn't kill you now where you stand, you're dumber than I thought." He barely contained the urge to burn the colonel to a crisp. The man must have realized the danger because he blanched but he didn't leave despite his fear. Kal could hear Lex chuckle at the man's sudden discomfort and was annoyed by that. He glared at the mirror and then turned his attention back to the pale faced Colonel.
"Do what you want, Colonel, but know that either you get these restraints off me or this negotiation is already over."
The Colonel's fear made his heart race but his eagerness to make Kal happy apparently overrode that fear. However, he couldn't hide the shake in his voice and the tremor in his hands. "Don't be so hasty, Kal... I'm sure we can come to some sort of deal."
Kal sniffed and looked at the man with an eyebrow arrogantly arched. "You're terrified of me, yet you can't walk away from what I have to offer. The nearly limitless human greed amazes me." The man looked taken aback and he appeared unable to figure out what to say...
Kal sighed. "You have nothing to worry about. I won't kill you. As much fun as crushing your skull like a peanut shell might be, there are too many kryptonite bullet loaded guns out there now. As important as I am to you, I'm not at all important to those soldiers outside in the hallway, am I? They would kill me without even blinking if they thought their lives depended on it. I'm not ready to die and, despite how depressed he is, Clark's not suicidal yet either."
The Colonel looked quietly at Kal, as if trying to see if he could be believed, but said nothing. Kal sighed again, spelling it out to the colonel as if he were a child. "Look. You've made it quite clear you're never letting us out of here and this hell hole has proven inescapable. The one escape attempt Clark made nearly killed us. Thing is, I have no idea how long I'm going to live but I have no intention of living inside an empty glass box for how ever long that is going to be. I have something you want and you have the power to make my life here easier. Let me up and we'll talk about what you're going to give me in return for fathering a master race for you." Kal's voice dropped and his eyes narrowed. "However, I must tell you that a hundred years' worth of meaningless sex is going to really cost you..."
The Colonel looked at Kal with narrowed eyes and seemed to consider what he was going to do for a moment. He sighed and looked back at the mirror and nodded.
The two guards came back in and Kal smiled as they released him from the restraints.
Continued here....