Blackout - Part 5/8
Title: Blackout
Beta: ladydreamer
Chapter Summary: Reunions and revelations at the Smallville Medical Centre - special thanks to ladydreamer for her help with this section!
11 - Smallville Medical Centre - next day
Through the long drive from Spring Cove to Smallville, Clark had remained mostly silent, struggling with his new identity. Lois had filled him in rather volubly on the events of the past year, slowing down only when she discussed the death of Jonathan Kent. With that news item, she had been surprisingly gentle and compassionate, showing a different side of the brash girl that formed her public persona. Clark hadn’t known how to react to the death of someone who had by all accounts meant the world to him. He sensed a world of grief was being held back only by his misplaced memories.
It had been a long drive - over 1200 miles. Bruce had done most of the driving, going as fast as he thought he could without attracting the attention of the police. They had only stopped for gas and to pick up food. They’d been lucky that both Bruce and Lori had been carrying cash as the credit freeze continued. The computer problems were in fact still spreading, which is why they’d had to drive rather than fly. Airports had been temporarily closed by reports of widespread computer errors in the flight control systems. As they’d driven, news reports over the radio had told of an ever-widening range of issues. Tension was high as officials feared a possible terrorist attack.
They finally arrived in Smallville near sunset and went straight for the Medical Centre. Lois led the way to Martha’s room while Lori walked beside Clark, clutching his hand for moral support. Bruce trailed behind, scanning the crowd for unusual activity. Clark had told them about his encounter with the Brain Interactive Construct, which Bruce had quickly correlated to the worldwide computer failures. If there were more inhabitants of the Black Ship, the Medical Centre would be an obvious place to look for Clark.
Lois argued with a nurse at the reception desk for a minute, then waved Clark forward. “She’s still unconscious, but stable, so you can go in. Don’t worry, she’s going to be fine. She’ll be so happy when she finds out you’re alive.”
Clark straightened his shoulders and moved into the hospital room, stopping dead at the sight of the person lying so still on the bed. She was the woman from his dream, red haired and beautiful, but so pale. With a flood of emotion, he remembered when she’d tried to comfort him about his fear of being different. It was so devastating to see her like this.
Swallowing hard, he moved to the bedside and gently clasped her hand. Leaning forward, he whispered, “Mom, mom. It’s me, Clark. I’m back.”
At first, nothing happened. Then as Clark reached up to stroke her hair, the bedside monitors picked up a sudden increase in her heart rate. Her eyelids started to flicker until suddenly she gave a huge gasp. Her eyes snapped open, dilated with fear that gave way to delight at seeing Clark. She reached up and pulled him down into a tight hug, tears welling up furiously. She strained to speak and finally whispered, “Clark. I’d almost given up hope.”
Clark whispered back, “I’m here. I never would have left you if I had a choice.”
Martha nodded and brushed away at the tears. “I know sweetheart. Lionel let something slip one night. When I confronted him later, he just got so angry. He’s not the man I thought I knew - he’s meddling with forces he can’t even begin to understand. I need to talk to you and Lex - it’s important.”
Clark gave her a disorientated look. He haltingly explained, “I’m not exactly sure how much help I can be. I barely even remember you, much less the Luthor family. Lois filled me in a bit, but it’s all so jumbled up.”
Martha gave him another hug. “I know. That’s why we need to talk to Lex; you’re going to need help.”
At that moment, the medical staff rushed in, alerted by the changes in Martha’s vitals. Needing room to perform tests, they ordered Clark to leave. Clark wanted to protest but Martha told him to go and tell Lois to call Lex to meet them. Reluctantly, Clark obeyed.
It seemed to take forever to Clark, but in reality Lex arrived only ten minutes later. He’d been in touch with them on the drive from Spring Cove, but they’d kept the conversations short for fear of someone listening in. Lex had planned on greeting them on their arrival in Smallville, but a last minute call had set back his timetable. He arrived with a swarm of bodyguards and assistants, but waived them back as he approached the small group outside Martha’s room.
He gave a quick nod to Lois and Bruce but his eyes were all for Clark. The cuts and bruises had long healed, and Clark’s skin was starting to take on its normal golden hue. But Clark was still so thin it made Lex’s eyes sting. He hesitantly reached forward and clasped Clark’s upper arm. He gave a firm squeeze and fought for words.
Clark looked back at him in confusion. He’d read a great deal about Lex’s arrest in the papers and learned some more details from both Lois and Bruce, but meeting him in the flesh stirred up long buried memories. There was nothing concrete, just random moments - a shared smile here, a laugh there. But it was enough for him to recognize Lex for what he was - a friend. He gave a sigh and pulled Lex into a closer hug. He felt like he had come home.
Lex relaxed for a few moments, then pulled back and gave a rare brilliant smile. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you, Clark! We’ve all missed you, even Lois here.”
Lois protested, “Hey, I was only worried for the Kents and Chloe’s sake. Me, I liked not having to share the shower all the time.” She turned to Lori and confided, “Smallville here used to take the longest showers. Said he didn’t like people teasing him for the cow smell.”
Lori laughed, then introduced herself to her half-brother. Beyond a certain familial resemblance, she recognized in him a shared intelligence and passion for knowledge. She was also delighted to see how he and Clark instinctively leaned into each other. It would take a special kind of person to deal with all the strangeness surrounding Clark - she hoped Lex could be that man.
Her musings were interrupted by the doctor, who told them that they were holding Martha overnight for observation. On protest from the group, she allowed them in for 15 minutes to say good night.
Martha was sitting up in bed, looking remarkably well for someone who’d just spent two weeks in a coma. There was a hubbub of introductions, hugs and well wishes which she cut short as soon as possible. “I’m sorry everybody but I need to talk to Clark and Lex about something private.”
“The rest of them all know more than I do. Maybe they should stay,” replied Clark hesitantly.
Lois responded, “That’s okay, Smallville. I think the rest of us could use a bit to eat.” She gave Martha a parting hug and left with Lori and Bruce. ”
“The first thing you need to know Mrs. Kent is that Lionel is dead,” Lex explained gently. “He died not long after you were hospitalized. It was an accident, or so I thought. Now I’m wondering if I was set up.”
Martha closed her eyes with a sigh and said tiredly, “Call me Martha, Lex. Tell me what happened.”
Lex looked at Clark and took a deep breath. “I haven’t told anyone the whole story; not because I’m afraid it makes me look guilty but because I’m afraid it makes me look crazy. But given everything that’s happened recently…”
He licked his lips and organized his thoughts again. “Just after you were hospitalized, Mrs.… Martha, this man approached me. His said his name was Milton Fine and that he worked for the DDS. He showed me records of my father’s contacts with an old group called Veritas. Virgil Swann was the leader in a search for intelligent life in the universe. He thought he found it, only to eventually lose the signal.”
Martha gripped Clark’s hand tightly and nodded at Lex to go on. “But the other Veritas members had their own agendas. Fine told me that the group had found evidence that an alien race had visited Earth repeatedly over the last few thousand years. Some were excited about the potential for knowledge. Lionel of course only cared about the prospect of more power.”
Martha nodded at that - Lionel and the quest for power were virtually synonymous.
“So about two years ago, the remnants of the Veritas group started searching for some artifacts. Nobody trusted anyone else, and it turned into quite a free for all. I found one of them but it was stolen. My father found another, but it went missing only to find its way back into his hands. And Lana somehow wound up with the third. She was threatened and wound up fighting for her life. According to Fine, this acted as a beacon for something he called the Black Ship.” Lex shrugged expressively. “Once the Black Ship arrived, the stone my father was holding started glowing and he seemed to slip into a coma. Then that stone vanished as well. I didn’t know what to think.”
Clark was silent but Martha replied, “We never wanted to hurt you Lex, but Clark was told the safety of the world depended on assembling the stones. He hated having to lie to you.”
Lex nodded reassuringly. “I know that now, but back then all I could see was that someone or something was stopping me from getting what I needed. I confronted Clark about something I saw, and we parted bitterly. Clark went to see you at the hospital, then went to the mansion, then vanished, along with the aliens from the Black Ship.”
Lex paused for a moment, then went on, “I thought, what if Clark was sent here as part of an invasion force? I knew that sometimes at least he was incredibly fast, strong, invulnerable - just like the aliens. And the timing seemed to fit. But then the violence started to escalate all around and I gradually realized how wrong I’d been. I worked with Jonathan and saw his commitment to helping people. I watched Lionel spin his webs of power, poisoning everything he touched. And I remembered who my best friend really was. Clark was always the one who tried to help us when we needed it. I finally realized I’d let dad’s training cloud my judgment.”
Lex could see Martha was tempted to comment, but she bit her lip and nodded at him to go on. “So that’s where things stood when Fine approached me. He was trying to play on my ambitions and my fears of invasion, and he would have succeeded if he’d talked to me sooner.”
Martha apologized again, “Lex, I’m so sorry. Please don’t blame Clark for this. We were always so afraid someone would take him away. We trained him to never stand out. It wasn’t until recently that I realized how much damage we might have done.”
Lex looked at her steadily. “The thing is Martha, it’s clear from what happened that you were right to be worried. If anything, you should have trained Clark to lie more effectively. Better still if he never used his abilities at all. But then he wouldn’t be Clark and I’d be dead several times over. So please don’t apologize.”
Lex gave Clark’s hand a squeeze. “One of these days you’ll get your memory back and I’m sure you’ll go back to feeling guilty about all kinds of things that you had no control over. But just remember, you’re only human, for lack of a better word. You’re allowed to make mistakes, even if you are a super powered alien.”
Clark smiled shyly and carefully squeezed Lex’s hand in return. He asked hesitantly, “So what happened next with Fine and your dad?”
Lex started to pace. “Fine told me that dad had found something called the Control Orb and used the powers to seize control of the gangs that Morgan Edge used to run. He also was enhancing the abilities of metahumans, all to set up a threat that he could then take on with his law and order platform. But Fine said Lionel was just an alien dupe - they wanted him to take out our potentially strongest defenders to make invasion easier. Fine had plenty of evidence but nothing that could be used in court. He said the only way to take Lionel down was to take away the Orb. And I was the only one who could do it. Apparently it was somehow genetically keyed.”
Lex paused at the expression on Martha’s face. She was clearly struggling between a desire to trust him and fear based on their complicated family history. He couldn’t say he blamed her. He glanced over at Clark, who smiled back encouragingly.
“Fine clearly wanted me to take the Orb. I’m guessing he had tried to get Lionel to do something for him and Lionel didn’t cooperate. Say what you will, Lionel was no man’s dupe. I think Fine thought I’d be easier to manipulate. I decided not to play the game. I destroyed the Orb instead. Lionel rushed over and started to attack me, and before I knew it, my bodyguard was strangling Lionel.”
Martha looked at him with concern, while Clark squeezed his hand for support.
Lex smiled sadly. “I swear I don’t know happened with Victor. But now I have my guess. Because Fine never worked for the DDS, to start with. And he looks exactly like Chloe’s doctor at Belle Reve. Exactly like the person caught on tape murdering Dr. Lowe at the Rossville Chemical Plant. And exactly like the Brain Interactive Construct you fought in Spring Cove, Clark.”
Clark’s face tightened as he started to put pieces together. Before he could start questioning Lex though, Martha spoke up. “Thank God that you destroyed that thing, Lex. Fine told you only part of the truth about it. That’s what I needed to talk to you about. They’re going to kick you out any minute now, so I’ll get right to the point. Chloe helped me put together some files on Clark’s past - here’s the password so you can read up. But the important thing is that Lionel was contacted by an artificial intelligence based on Clark’s real father, Jor-El. Lionel was supposed to act as a guardian for Clark, but found a way to turn the situation to his advantage. He convinced Jor-El that Clark wasn’t to be trusted with his powers. Clark could never satisfy Jor-El because he was raised as a human and set his priorities accordingly. So Jor-El drained Clark’s powers and transferred them to Lionel to be used in a more ‘appropriate’ manner.”
Lex and Clark looked at each other with astonishment. Clark blurted out, “You’re saying this alien intelligence is supposed to be my father? And that it helped Lionel lock me up?”
Martha responded by giving him a quick hug. “I think the programming was damaged, sweetheart. Anyways, Chloe told me that when you assembled the stones, you both were sent to the Arctic and the stones changed into a sort of ice palace. Jor-El wanted you to stay there, but Chloe was dying from the cold. You got permission to leave by promising to return soon, but then had to run off to fight the other aliens.”
Lex interjected, “And that’s when he went missing.”
Martha agreed, “Exactly. Chloe talked to us and we thought at first he was back in the Arctic. But when things started getting so bad, we thought something worse must have happened. But I could never find any leads, not until Lionel complained about all the headaches he was having. Then his eyes rolled back and he started scribbling. I recognized some of the symbols and knew it meant Clark was still alive. I took the page to Chloe to investigate, but then she wound up in the hospital. I confronted Lionel and he told me to stay out of his business. He was trying to stop the most deadly threat imaginable, something he called Brainiac. I imagine that’s the same thing as this Brain Interactive Construct you met.”
Clark nodded slowly and looked over at Lex who agreed as well. “Judging from the ongoing computer problems, this Brainiac is still out there. We need to know how to stop it.”
Martha nodded in agreement. “And the only way I can think of to restore Clark’s memories and full potential is by returning to the Arctic. Clark, you need to find the Key and use it at the Caves. Lex, you’re looking for the octagonal disk you found all those years ago. Clark must have hidden it somewhere before Lionel got a hold of him.”
Clark laughed for the first time, “What is this, an alien scavenger hunt? Ships, stones, orbs, ice palaces, keys - what next?”
Martha gave a strained smile, then grasped Lex’s hand. “Lex, I want you to go with Clark to this ice palace and help him confront Jor-El. I don’t trust it after everything that’s happened over the years, but somehow I think you can speak its language. I hope I’m not insulting you by saying that.”
Lex smiled wryly. “I think I understand what you mean, and I’m not insulted. I’ll keep Clark safe, I promise.” He gave her hand a squeeze and stepped back.
Clark gave Martha a last hug as he too prepared to leave. “I’m as confused as I could possibly be, but I know one thing. Something bad is coming - we need to act fast!”
(Part 6 - Chapter 12)