Almost Partners (Chapter Thirty-Five)

"...And he tells me to stay out of it!! ME!! I'm his wife! If anyone should be in it, it's me! I have a good mind to go back there and..."

"Linda," Lois hissed. "I know you're angry, but I have neighbors. Could you keep it..."

"I'm sorry," Linda whispered brokenly. She suddenly grasped Lois, who still had her hand on the key in the door. "I mean, here you are in a time of deepest crisis and I can only think of myself. I'm an awful cousin. I'm just..."

"No, you're not." Her arm was twisted awkwardly, but she patted with her other, sort of wishing Linda would save the bear hug for when they were actually in the apartment. "I just think we should go inside before you thoroughly trash Oliver."

"What?" Linda pulled away, her face suddenly stern. "I'm not trashing Oliver. I'm reacting reasonably to an upset. Doctor Melcher says that I keep too much inside and I am simply letting it out so I can be calm when the time comes for a reasonable confrontation."

"Okay," Lois breathed, turning her key and opening the door. She didn't think Linda had ever kept anything inside and she was sure the many four-letter words grunted out during the ride over could be misconstrued as trashing. "Sorry I said that."

"It's fine." Linda's face softened as Lois gestured for her to go in. "This is all just so hard." She grasped Lois' chin. "My baby cousin. It's like... You and me against the world. It's just like before." Her eyes narrowed as she let Lois' chin go and stalked inside. "Except this time, we obviously can't depend on a bunch of wannabe heroes to save the day. We should get to work."

"Uh-huh." Lois stared at Linda as she locked the door. She was glad Linda was, it seemed, on task now, however incoherently. She wanted to dig into Thorul Industries. She didn't believe Lex was behind it for a second, but she wanted to know why these women, both previously associated with him, seemed to make it point to him. Her laptop was out of commission, but her PC was still working. If she could...

"The first thing we should do is... God, I'm hungry. Do you have anything here?" Linda stopped and looked at her hands. "I'm kind of dirty, too." She started toward Lois' room. "Maybe I should wash up before..."

"No! Linda!" Lois tried to rush ahead, but Linda opened her bedroom door and stepped in.

She'd see it all. The articles Lex sent. Her broken laptop. She really didn't want to have it out right now, considering how strange Linda acted about the past and...

"Oh, my God!" Linda squealed from the room. Lois winced and approached the door. "Your new bedspread is too cute."

Lois stepped forward, confused. She found Linda clasping her hands at the foot of her bed.

"I like lavender, too." She turned to Lois, her face hard again. "But Ollie wanted the green. And I just... gave in." She threw up her hands. "I always do. Dont come along on this one, Linda. Okay. I can't do the press conference Thursday, Linda. That's fine. We'll reschedule. I don't want to get a vasectomy. Why don't you go on the pill? Sure thing. Well..." Linda clapped her hands together. "I'm done giving in. This is my life and I will do what I please. I might even use aerosol hairspray." She nodded to herself and moved to the bathroom.

Lois could only stare at her bed. It was empty. It was even made. Linda's mood swings aside, this night was a little surreal. Her stuff... It was gone. She hadn't imagined it had been here! She hadn't!

"Oh, darn it!"

Lois moved to the bathroom, her mind still hazy. "What's wrong?"

Linda was staring at a bottle of her shampoo. "You have the body-enhancing kind. It turns my hair into this frizzy mess and... I hate my hair," she finally sobbed.

Lois sighed and leaned against the door. It was going to be a long and strange night.

*****************************

"Well, you should know. Weren't you raised by a childless couple? Weren't you the little miracle boy?" He heard a sharp inhale. "They want more of you."

"More of me," Clark repeated dully.

"Little superboys and girls raised in a loving home to grow up and save the world. It's almost noble if it would just fucking work." Her voice shook slightly.

He kept his eyes down and his mouth shut, trying not to prod her, hoping she'd go on. But she didn't. He finally spoke. "Why isn't it working?"

"No more questions," she barked. "God, I keep forgetting. You're a reporter now. You and your little friend, Sullivan." She laughed slightly. "Guess I'm not the only dead girl in these parts."

He closed his eyes. He suspected there was a connection, but it was another thing to have it confirmed. "Her name is Lois..."

"Lane. Yes. I saw that. And it was like... a revelation. When Doc slipped me that license, I just... I couldn't believe my luck. Our suspicious little couple was half Chloe Sullivan. I had an inkling who the other half was. I knew Lois Lane had in an with Superman. I knew Chloe Sullivan was your little sidekick. But I had to know for sure. So I drained her brake fluid. Then I watched her. I waited. I drove all the fucking way to Smallville, just waiting for it. Waiting outside the gates if that damned mansion..." She stopped. "Did you know your little friend was visiting Lex Luthor?"

He could only nod. It had been the day her brake fluid was drained.

"Well, I was surprised.If anyone had a reason to hate Lex Luthor as much as I did... Why would she be visiting him?"

Because she doesn't know she shouldn't. But he didn't answer. His mind was too busy trying to put it together. He was sure that the chemicals on Lois' shirt, so similar to those found in the homes, spoke of some sort of connection. He'd thought Helen must have been behind Lois' memory loss. How could she not know about it?

"Oh, so you're all silent now?" Helen grunted. "Fine. Doesn't matter. Lex doesn't matter, anyway. Sullivan doesn't. See, it's all about you, Clark. You're the key. You always were." Her voice quieted slightly. "I'd watched you before, but I was never allowed. I mean, I knew it. I knew what you were, but I could never act on it. I just watched." She was silent for a moment. "I watched you come and go from your apartment for a while. And I knew I could get more then. I knew how to do it. But I didn't. I wasn't supposed to. But when you just... you showed up. You saved her. You fell into my hands. And how could I resist? It was almost like fate, like permission. I was meant to find you. I was meant to get what I needed."

He couldn't stop himself. "By trying to kill me?"

"No," she snapped. "Your blood was supposed to heal itself. I'm not a murderer. You'd be hurt, but it would go away. You see?"

"You were a fool. You didn't know what you were dealing with."

"Then tell me!" she yelled. She swerved to the side and the car stopped. "Tell me why it didn't work! Tell me why, when I try to make it better, get a pure sample, it only makes it worse! Tell me what the fuck makes you so impossible to replicate!"

He chanced a look at her in the dark car. "I won't tell you anything until I know she's safe."

She held his gaze. "I have no reason to hurt her. I know her secret. I know yours. I know your story would never make it to print, not unless the two of you want an unplanned move to Belize." She smiled suddenly. "She's fine, Clark. Your little girlfriend is just fine."

"And Linda?"

Her brows furrowed. "Linda..."

His eyes widened. "Oh, my God." How could he have been so stupid? He'd just assumed she'd got herself into trouble. "You don't have them. You never did." She lifted and cocked her gun. "Don't even bother. The both of us know I can outrun that bullet."

Her hand shook and he took the opportunity, reaching forward in a blur, taking the gun. He bent the muzzle as she collapsed against her seat, breathing heavily. He wouldn't leave. He waited. Whether he was her prisoner or she was his, she was taking him exactly where he needed to be. "Come on, Helen. Drive. I have a bad feeling we need to undo what you've done."

She shifted into drive and moved back to the road. There was only the sound of her breathing before her voice sounded out again. "I'm not a murderer."

She was silent again. He wasn't sure how to answer, whether he should answer at all.

"I've never killed," she finally said, staring straight ahead. "But I tried. And the fact that I failed... The fact that Lex survived against all odds. That meant something. The fact that I survived... That meant something, too. Even in my shadow of an existence, I'm creating life. I'm not ending life. No one's dying tonight," she said softly. "Not if I can help it."

Clark stared hard at her profile. "What do you mean? Is someone in danger?"

"Not with you here. You're going to make it better. Because I can't end up a murderer. I failed when I tried. I'm not going to succeed when I didn't mean to. You see?"

He didn't see. But he knew that saying that would do no good. "Yes."

"So, you'll help, right? You'll tell me what to do. Because... The babies... I could take that. They weren't right. They weren't meant to be. But Morgan... "

"Morgan?" Clark burst out, letting his eyes move to her. "Morgan Hunter?"

"You try to detach," she said as if he hadn't spoken. "You know you have to. But you can't." She closed her eyes briefly and the car swerved. Clark flinched as she righted it again. He saw a dark road, almost crumbled asphalt here, giving way to dirt and trees. "It was my fault. I was missing something. If she dies, I killed her. I'm not a murderer," she repeated firmly.

The car jerked to a stop again. Clark stayed still. He felt nearly sick, though he knew that wasn't possible. The idea of the babies... Babies. Plural. This was worse than he thought. "Helen," he tried softly. "Listen to me." He risked looking up and over. They were surrounded by trees now, pulled over in the dirt at the the side of the road while Helen stared ahead, still as a statue. She finally moved, looked over at him. "I'll stay. I'll help you. I don't want you to be a murderer, either. I want to save her, too. But I need to know what I'm dealing with."

"Yes. So you can put me away forever." She shook her head.

He kept his voice soft. "That isn't what this is about." It was true. Though he thought someone like Helen Bryce should be put away, that didn't mean she couldn't redeem herself first. "It's not about punishing you. It's about saving them." He held her gaze. "I need to know... What exactly have you done?"

*******************************

"What have I done?" Linda sobbed, wiping her nose with the sleeve of Lois' bathrobe. "I totally just walked out on Ollie. It's over," she wailed. "Our marriage is over. My life is over."

Lois handed her a steaming mug of tea. "Linda, your marriage isn't over. It's not like you two never fight. Besides, Ollie was being a jackass."

"Yeah," Linda sniffed, her sobs turning to anger. "Total jackass. And to you, too. I don't care what anyone says. Underneath all that, you're still you and you're not a...a baby." Her voice choked on the last word and she devolved into sobs again.

"Huh?"

"Is this decaf?" she asked, sniffling.

"It's chamomile," Lois said, staring at the crazy person.

"God, it wasn't like this when it started," Linda moaned. "He respected me. I mean, I deserved it. I totally know martial arts and I have perfect aim and... Okay, not perfect. There was that time with the crossbow, but that was months ago and Victor should really let that go. It's not like it hurt him... much. I just... I don't know what to do. I mean, it was one thing when I was married..."

"You're still married, Linda. Calm down." Between Linda's strange declarations, gardening and pet observations, and mood swings, she was starting to wonder if she wasn't the only one walking the edge of sanity.

"Married to who? A man who doesn't respect me. Doesn't trust me. If he can't trust me to go off for one hour, then how can he trust me with something as big as this?"

"As big as what?"

"The worst part is that I don't even know if I trust me. I don't know if I'm ready. I don't know who I am and I should by now. How can I show anyone else who to be if I don't know who the hell I am? I mean, what the hell am I going to tell him... or her?"

"Linda, what are you..."

"Oh, God. Fine," she snapped at Lois. "Enough with the third degree. I'm pregnant. Okay? Pregnant!"

Lois mouth dropped open so far, she thought the strange buzzing sound had come from her. But it hadn't. She looked to the door, then back at Linda. "Um... just hold that thought for a second." She walked to the door, pulling at her robe anxiously. Linda was pregnant. It explained a lot. It even explained why her door was suddenly buzzing at midnight. She pressed the intercom button. "Just come on up, Ollie"

"What?" Linda jumped up from the sofa. "Don't tell him that. I'm not ready. There was supposed to be this surprise dinner and... I can't just tell him now. We're in a fight."

"You mean he doesn't know?"

"Of course he doesn't know. You see the way he is when I'm not pregnant. Imagine him when he knows. I won't be allowed to go to the store."

"Linda, you have to tell him."

She shook her head over and over. "No. No, no, no, no, no. There is way too much going on and this is not the time and..." She stopped, gasping at the knock on the door. "Ollie, go away," she shouted at the door.

"I can't," an unnaturally deep voice answered. "I've come to woo you with a hearfelt speech on eco-terrorism."

"Oh, Jeez." Lois rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Bart, you idiot."

He giggled and stepped in. "Sorry, couldn't help it. So..." He closed the door and leaned against it. "Word on the street is there's dissension in the ranks."

Lois blinked at him. "Huh?"

He shrugged. "Okay, it's not on the street. But I came back to give Greenbean and The Toaster a piece of my mind and I saw you two pealing out of the parking lot and I figured I wasn't the only one who wasn't feeling Ollie's little power trip and..."

"Where have you been, Bart?"

"Just around. I didn't exactly leave town. I mean, I did, but leaving town is kind of like running around the corner for me." He sighed. "Guess you heard. I've been totally stripped of my membership privileges. Have to turn in the keys... give back the T-shirt... and the secret decoder ring and... "

"Bart, it's midnight," Lois grumbled, "Clark's missing and we're just a little stressed here, so can you get to the point?"

"Can I crash here? I mean, I figure we're all on the outs, so we might as well... Wait a sec. Clark's missing?"

Lois sighed and locked the door. "Sit down. We have a lot to go over."

****************************

There was a buzzing from the cup holder. Helen glanced at it, but didn't move toward the cell phone.

"You can answer that." He nearly wanted her to. He'd have no problem hearing the other end.

"There's no point." She nodded ahead of her. "We're almost there. She's just checking up on me. Thinks I'll do something crazy, like the brake fluid. Thinks I'll blow the whole thing. It's not like she knows about anything. Lately, she treats me like the outsider. Always calling, talking about me as if I'm incompetent, crazy. And I wished I could tell her that it was her. She was the one on the outside. But I was never allowed to say it." She shook her head. "That I knew the source." She turned to him. "You."

He held her gaze, horrified that she could speak of nearly killing Lois as if it was anything but crazy. He tried not to show it. This thread between them was tenuous. Her eyes held his, almost reverently. She seemed nearly even now. He needed her to stay that way. "She?" he asked softly. He said nothing else. He waited.

She took a deep breath. "I guess you'll meet her again soon enough." She laughed harshly. "The noble Doctor Albright."

He didn't react. He didn't want to break this. Lizzie. He'd hardly seen her, but he knew the name. Lois was half-right. Marcy did have something to do with this. Knowingly or not, she was feeding Lizzie information.

"Her with her sweet bedside manner and wisely crinkled eyes. They look at her like a savior and look at me like... like I'm about to kick them. And she's the fucking kicker. At least... At least I don't fool myself. It's not like she gets it. Not really. She... She talks to them all the time. She looks in their eyes. She lies so prettily. I almost wish I could. Once things started going downhill, I couldn't hide it. I couldn't hold their hands and tell them how special they were. I could hardly look at them. But she could. She can handle it. But then... Joanne..." She shook slightly. "She touched my hand. She looked at me and her eyes... they were begging me to do something that... I can't promise. I can't lie." She shook her head rapidly. "I don't have the answers and I was so sure I did."

"Helen, I need you to stay on track." He leaned toward her. "What did you do with the blood?"

"The blood," she breathed. "It was like salvation to me. When I held on to a fucking buoy in the middle of the Pacific, I held on for that. Even surviving was the lowest point of my life. I had money, but I couldn't get to it, not if I wanted Lex to know I was alive. I had nothing. I had no one. I was fucking waitressing and living in a dingy room in Coast City. Me. I graduated med school before I could legally drink. I was a Gd damned genius! It wasn't the life I was supposed to have." She took a deep breath. "But I had one thing going for me. Somewhere in the Mayo Clinic, there was your blood. Ten tiny little ccs in a locked box and I had the code. It took me three years to even get near it. Darcy Marie King had to move to Rochester and work her way up to even medical records at the Mayo Clinic. It was humiliating, really. That was when Lizzie found me."

"Helen, I need to know what you..."

"I panicked when I saw her. We'd met when I was with Lex. Big friend of the Luthors. She was more Lionel's style than Lex's. Old-school, made house calls. She'd leave whatever she was doing if a Luthor needed her. I handed her some files and I was so afraid... But she just smiled. She didn't seem to know me. We'd met, but only a few times. I thought I'd be okay. But then she said the words. Thank you, Helen. And then she smiled and walked away. It was over. She'd tell them. I'd only got so far as to pack my clothes when she found me at my apartment. And... She knew something was up. She knew I'd been trying to gain more access. I thought she'd turn me over to Lex, to Lionel. But... She held my hand. She said she'd never tell and... I told her. I told her everything. It was my only chance. I couldn't get to it and she could."

She smiled. "It was nice, at first. She set me up, helped me study further. She was off and about, of course. Always rushing back to Kansas whenever he called. Lex actually bought her house then. Nice new planned community. I got worried. I thought she was putting down roots there. I thought she'd use me for research and then drop my name to Lex. She told me not to worry. The house was just a part of our plan. We were in this together. She was just using him. Lex had some projects going. It was only to keep an eye on him, she said. I was afraid she was lying, but she wasn't. She always came back with information. He had nothing. He was floundering in robotics and clones and searching the globe for something to make it all work." She smiled to herself. "It might have worked out for him if he had what we did. We were the ones holding a miracle. I thought of telling her sometimes, where it came from. But I never did. I needed something of my own." She smiled at him. "And that was you. I spent spent all of 2006 studying your blood, comparing it, contrasting it, testing its reactions. The spores... They were the only substance that harmed you before. I didn't let them get too close to your blood. I couldn't risk it. It was the only sample I had. But I let it near and... It caused a change. Your cells... They nearly squirmed away from it. I knew what you were and I knew what it took to control you." She leaned in suddenly. "Don't worry, though. I wasn't planning to hurt you directly, not really. You were a good kid, Clark. I'm not evil, you know. Not like Lex with his secret room, trying to figure out the mystery of you. You aren't a mystery. You're a miracle."

He didn't move, tried not to react. Evil. There were different shades of it. Helen was tainted by it as sure as Lex was. Yet she didn't see it.

"It was almost an accident when the revelation came." She sighed. "One crossed wire and a world of possibilities opened up. Your blood, human blood, the spores, and just a little dose of electricity and... all of your properties seemed to... duplicate. The electricity destroyed the harmful affects of the spores only leaving traces of meteor rock and that was the key. And I found it." She smiled. "I found the way to take what was inside you and... duplicate it, but in a human. I'm not very religious, but it was said Jesus was perfectly human and perfectly divine... Isn't that fucking poetic?"

He closed his eyes. He thought of his father, Eric Summers... Both had a taste of his power and neither could handle it. "Please say you didn't..."

"It was then that we realized that what we had was bigger than anything Lex could ever have. It could be done. We weren't about to try it on a human, not at first. Lizzie was able to snag a few of the early clones from Lex's little science project. They were failures in his eyes, but just human enough to work for us. But it didn't work. Their bodies rejected the enhancements your blood could give. Their hearts gave out under the pressure. We knew that we needed to start fresh. We needed to make sure the life-form could develop with your powers. We needed females for that. Luckily..."

A bright light suddenly lit the Hummer from the front. Two large figures appeared in front. Clark grasped Helen's arm. "I'm your hostage."

She stared at him blankly.

"If you want my help, you do this my way." Whatever was about to happen, no one needed to know he had the upper hand. Not yet.

*******************************

Bart pursed his lips. "And he's not back yet?"

Lois nodded.

"Well... That could be kind of bad. I mean, Clark would have at least checked in or something. He's by the books, mostly." Bart glared at Lois' floor. "Not Like me. I pretty much hate the books and... See, that's just it. Everyone toes the line over there. Maybe I don't, but... I kind of thought that was what made me an asset. Maybe I jump in, but someone has to. If I waited for Vic and Ollie to make a move, we'd be standing still and I never stand..."

"Bart," Lois cut in. She had heard several variations on this speech in the last half-hour and it was getting tiring. She glanced at Linda. She'd been hugging her arms and staring ahead of her for a while now and Lois suspected she desperately needed to talk... or fall into a dead sleep. Either one. "Are you hungry?" It was the only thing sure to distract him.

He shrugged. "I could eat."

"Great. There's a twenty-four-hour grocery store on fifth. Why don't you see what you can scrounge up?"

"And get those chips," Linda suddenly said, her eyes finally lighting up. "The ones with the guacamole flavoring."

"Sure, but..." Bart stared at the floor. "I'm kind of a little low on scratch and Ollie usually..."

Lois sighed and moved to her purse. She pulled two lonely twenties from her wallet. "Work within that budget."

He moved to the door. "Cool. Thanks."

"And get me some creamer!" The door swung on its hinged and she closed it. She hoped he heard. What creamer was in her fridge smelled a bit like cheese and she'd need her coffee to survive this night. She turned back to Linda, who seemed very still and quiet now. "Come on." She grasped her cousin's hand and pulled. "You can snuggle up in my adorable bedspread."

Linda stood. "I wouldn't go that far. I only said it was cute."

"Fine. My cute bedspread." Lois led her in and pulled the aforementioned bedspread back, gesturing for Linda to get in. She did, but then held her hand out to Lois. "I'm not tired," she lied.

"Just lay with me for a second," Linda pleaded.

Lois sighed. "Scootch over." She sidled next to Linda and pulled the covers over both of them. She waited until Linda leaned her head on her shoulder before she asked. "How long have you known?"

"Since Thanksgiving. I wanted to tell him then, but he made this big toast about how awful and hopeless the world was... it's what he does. Stupid killjoy. Then I wanted to tell you and then... Well, you wouldn't answer my calls or call me back and I... I couldn't tell Ollie. Not yet. He was always going on about what an awful world this is and how careful we needed to be because... Who could bring a child into a world like this?" She sighed. "How could I tell him? I just... I wanted to tell the next best person. I wanted to tell you. You were all I had. So I flew out and... Well, Clark's near-death experience kind of showed me up. I really couldn't follow that."

"Don't joke," Lois said, moving a hand under the blankets to rest on Linda's belly. "How far along?"

"About two months. I haven't been puking much and I read that's good, so... I'm just not ready to tell him. Not yet. I just... I guess I'm waiting for the right time. I mean, there never is a right time. Between being Mayor Queen and The Green Arrow, Ollie seems to always be fighting this world of wrongs and... I wonder how he'll even react."

"Maybe better than you think," Lois said, trying to focus. Her head ached and she felt so tired... "It's a baby. Not a nuclear bomb. How can a baby be bad news? Their little heads smell so nice and..." she yawned. "They make spit bubbles that are actually cute."

"Yeah." Linda snuggled closer. "And the tiny socks and the little pink hats."

"You think it's a girl?"

"I hope it's a girl," Linda sighed. "I'll name her Lucy."

"Lucy," Lois repeated on a yawn. Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl. A girl with skinny legs and long, brown hair, always the little tag-along, nosing around where she wasn't wanted, listening in at sleep-overs, the the sneaky little...

"No. That's Chloe." Lois moved to scratch out the name Lucy on a notepad. A hand grasped hers.

"No!" It was the blonde girl again. "Don't! Don't do that!"

She looked around. She was at her desk in the bullpen. There was no one there but the girl. "Why not?"

"I can't say," the girl said, her eyes frantic. "I don't have it all. But... you can't just cross out that name. I "

"But this doesn't fit. It doesn't..." Lois stared at the name. It was suddenly all over the page, duplicating, getting bigger. She turned the pages. It filled every one. "Stop." She looked up at the girl. "Stop it."

The girl only stared at her. "You stop," she said coldly.

"It hurts." She couldn't explain where the pain was, but the name filled her with it. She picked up another pad, flipping its pages. The name kept appearing, then... pictures. Pictures appeared, like a cartoon flip book. The girl in white turned red. The girl in white fell down. The girl in white... "No. Please, stop."

"I'm not doing anything," the girl sneered. "You're the one that did it. You're the one that let..."

"Lois!"

She shot up in bed. "I didn't do anything!"

Bart stared at her, his eyes wide. "Okay. I believe you."

She glanced beside her at Linda, snoring softly into the pillow. She closed her eyes, then opened them wide. "What time is it?"

"Like, three. I let you guys have an hour, but we really need to get cracking, here."

She nodded, still bleary. "Yes... Wasn't supposed to sleep. That damn girl..."

"Yeeeah." Bart shifted a brown bag in his hands. "You might need coffee."

Lois shook herself, trying to shake the sleep off, trying to shake the dream. She half-wondered if she was being haunted. All week, ever since Saturday, her dreams had been nothing but that girl. Just one night, she'd like to dream about synchronized swimming in spaghetti with Edith Bunker. Something normal. "Yes. Coffee," she grunted. She squinted at Bart. "Did you get my creamer?"

"Oh... was I supposed to?"

***********************

Clark stepped out of the Hummer and immediately felt one man's gun poke him in the back. He stiffened and grunted, trying to make it convincing. He glanced at Helen as she stepped out of the driver's side and came around the hood. "Take him to the med center," she barked.

Clark looked around as they moved forward. There were only dense trees. He looked beyond them, through them, and saw flat, square buildings, separated by green grass and wild bushes. Ivy climbed the bare walls of some buildings. The place was old. It had been let go. Only the bright lights seemed new and the cameras. They were everywhere, on every lamp post. He wished he could rush around now, disabling each, but a display would do no good. He needed to get in, find out what he was up against, plan...

"Wait a sec," the hulking man behind him said. He stopped as a hand grasped his shoulder. He stiffened, this time for real, as he felt it slipping away from his pocket...
.
"Guy's got some kind of weapon." He saw the crystal, gleaming faintly as the man held it out.

Helen stepped forward, looking from him to the crystal, then back. "What is this?"

Clark stared hard at her. "It's nothing. Just my lucky charm."

The man with the gun poked him again. "Who is this guy, anyway?"

"None of your concern." Helen slipped the crystal into her own pocket and turned to the other man. "Get the Doc. Tell her we have company." The man nodded and moved to the left through the trees. She turned back to Clark and the man holding him. "You. Come with me." She strode toward a larger building and Clark followed, poked forward by the man, pretending he had no choice. The trees gave way to the flat ground and grass that he'd seen from afar, then to the buildings. He glanced around quickly. So far, he'd only seen the two men. It didn't seem the place was too heavily guarded. How were these people being held if...

"Disarm it," Helen barked.

The man stopped short, grasping Clark still. "Peters probably already did it from the east box, so..."

"Oh, so you like it when your ears bleed?"

"Well, no but... This system's old and I almost got electrocuted the last time I..."

Helen crossed her arms. "Just do it, Roger. I'll keep an eye on him."

The man groaned and let go of Clark. Clark watched him moved toward a large gray box embedded in an oak tree. He heard a slight snap beside him and glanced over at Helen. One of her hands was encased in a rubber glove and she was pulling another from her pocket, putting that one on as well. She moved toward him, holding the crystal. "What is this?"

He glanced at her rubber-gloved hands. "It's not a weapon. It won't hurt you."

"That's not what I asked. I asked..."

"It's not something you need to know," he hissed. "We need to get in there and fix this, so stick with the plan. I'm your hostage and..."

"I've got news for you," She pulled a slim vial from her pocket. "You're still my hostage."

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Chapter Thirty-Six