Clark stared at the vial. "Whatever you have in there, it will do you no good. I could get away before you could even..."
"But could Roger?" She nodded to the man still fiddling with the gray box. "I mean, you seem to know what takes this away. I have no doubt you'd want to come back and help poor Roger. He may not have the most over-the-table job, but he has two kids in high school." She pushed the vial close to his neck. "Either I release this and find out what I need or you tell me without all the mess."
"Or I could take it and run away before you could..."
"Are you sure?" She squeezed it tight. "Are you absolutely sure you want to take that chance? Because I might just break it with my bare hands. This one is absorbed through the skin. I might be infected if I'm not careful, but the effects wouldn't be immediate. I could touch God knows how many people while you run off and..."
"Enough." He gritted his teeth. He couldn't be infected again. He'd be no good to anyone. And he couldn't use the crystal to heal Morgan if it had to heal him. He had no idea if it had enough power. "Let me see Morgan. I'll tell you then and only then." He only hoped he could get the crystal away from her first.
"You aren't making the decisions anymore, Ke..."
"Disarmed." They both turned to the large man at the tree.
"Good." He moved toward Clark with the gun, but Helen stayed close, holding the vial against his neck. "No. I've got this one. We're going to the Med center. Just arm it again from inside."
Clark let her push him along, feeling both angry and impotent. His anger was mostly with himself. He'd wanted to believe that there was hope for her. He'd wanted to trust at least that much. Maybe hope was his greatest weakness.
*******************************
"I don't know, Lois." Bart said dully. "I know Ollie was being a total d*ck, but if this Luthor stuff is..."
"No. I know." Lois sipped her black coffee and grimaced. "Lex Luthor couldn't build a blanket fort right now, let alone mastermind something like this."
"Lois, no offense, but I don't think you know what you're dealing with when it comes to Lex Luthor."
"Excuse me, but I know what I've seen and..."
"What have you seen?"
Lois turned to her cousin, standing in the bedroom doorway. She was dressed. "Linda, you need your rest, especially now that..."
"He's done awful things, Lois." Her eyes were tired and her voice croaked. "Things that I wish..." She suddenly stopped herself and hugged her arms. "I... I want to trust your judgement, but... I don't know. Lois, he's..."
"A dead end," she cut in. "They won't find Clark this way." She had to admit that Luthor creeped her out, but... "You didn't see him and I did. It was only two days ago and... He's unhinged. His company is sinking, he's losing money, and his shirt wasn't even buttoned correctly. I think the serum must have done something to him, something that..." She trailed off, noticing that both Linda and Bart were staring at her in horror.
"Two days ago," Linda began, moving forward. "You saw, as in you were in the presence of, Lex Luthor?"
She put her hands up. "Okay, I know you all have this idea that he's some kind of..."
"Murderer!" Linda shouted. "Psycho! You, of all people, should be far away from..."
"Dude. Linda," Bart cut in. "Remember what we..."
"No," Linda growled. "This is horse shit! I can't sit by and let this man kill off any more of my..." She suddenly stopped speaking, crumpling down to the couch, sobbing. "I can't do this anymore." She looked up at Bart. "We have to..."
"We can't risk it."
Lois stared from one to the other, torn between concern for Linda and a need to know what the hell was passing between them. And she had time for neither. "Clark is in danger," she snapped. "It's nearly dawn now. He should be back, but he's not. You can argue with me all you want, but I think setting up surveillance on a mentally ill man is a waste of time." She dug in her pocket. "They're all heading east to Smallville. But we're heading west." She pulled out the crumpled toll receipt. "On the seventy. I don't know how far, but..."
"Hey!" Bart suddenly smiled. "Are we like twins or something? I got a clue, too. No one would listen, but..." He pulled a bit of paper from his pocket. "Found it at the storage area. No one would listen because I found it while breaking protocol, which I still think is total..."
Lois grabbed it from his hands, her face dropping when she stared at it. "Bart, this is just a receipt for junk food."
"Yeah. But it was found in an evil warehouse, so I think it has potential."
Linda snatched it from Lois and sighed. "Well, I doubt they've left a trail of cans and candy bar wrappers for us all the way to... Vona." Her eyes widened as she looked up at them. "Vona. Seventy."
Lois stared at her cousin. "I suppose the seventy passes through Vona, but..."
"No. I know!" Linda shook the receipt in front of her, suddenly smiling. "I know where we need to go."
****************************
Helen hustled him along as the large man, Roger, she'd said, opened the metal door. The other man, Peters, was already there. And he hadn't seen another. Were there only two? It would makes things that much easier if he could get that vial away from Helen somehow. She was clutching it tight in her fist, pressing that fist against him. He couldn't risk it. Not yet. He wasn't even sure how to dispose of it properly. Still... only two.
How could two men keep all of the couples here? He wasn't sure what the situation was, but someone had to have gotten antsy after all this time. Was it this electric fence? Helen had mentioned bleeding ears. It didn't sound pretty, still... these weren't undereducated people. These men and women were investment bankers, lawyers, high-priced accountants. One of them must have tried to think their way out. Why hadn't they?
"Is she here?" Helen barked at Peters.
He nodded. "She's not happy. You know she doesn't like it when you run off."
"Doc's not the only boss around here, okay? You'd best remember that." He felt her dig her fist into his neck. "Move it, Kent." It didn't hurt, but it would hurt more than just him if she broke that vial. He moved forward, taking in the stark walls and their peeling paint. He supposed the appearance didn't matter, as long as they got what they needed. What Helen seemed to need was more of him. It didn't seem to matter to her that she was harming people in the process. And it didn't matter to him that their goals seemed more noble than those of Lex Luthor at Ruby Ridge. People suffered while they played God.
And not just Helen.
"Lizzie," Helen drawled as she neared a lit doorway. She held Clark to the side of the lit doorway as she leaned in. "So sorry. Had a little errand and..."
"What the hell are you thinking? Peters said you have a..."
"Guest?" She pulled at Clark and he moved through the doorway in front of her. "Why, yes we do. As a matter of fact..."
Lizzie stared from Clark to Helen. "Your irrational behavior has mucked up the entire thing from the beginning. Showing up at Met Vista, infecting our patients, and now... Who is this?"
Helen moved in front of Clark, still gripping the vial in her hands. If she'd just put it down... "I'm not sure I want to tell you now. Why should I let you in when you obviously think I'm irrational."
"You bring some random stranger..."
"This man is not random. This man is not only part of the reporting team that's been dogging us, but..."
"Oh, honestly," Lizzie groaned. "Do you even have eyes? That's not the man staying with the Lane woman."
"What?" Helen moved in front of Clark, still unfortunately gripping that vial. "This is him. His name is actually Clark Kent and..."
"I'm sorry, young man, for all of this. I'm sorry my colleague is such a hot-head. Peters," she called through the door. The slightly smaller large man stuck his head in. "Prepare a room for our guest, but not here. One of the houses. Not too ventilated, if you get me."
********************************************
"Camp Tremain." Lois was afraid to hope. "You're sure?"
Linda nodded. "Posit... Well, okay not one hundred percent, but I'm only a half-percent unsure. Does that help?"
"I don't know." Lois paced in front of the couch.
"It's no longer an active training facility. It's been shut down since 2000. But it's the only place I could think of where these people could be so out of sight. It's in the middle of some pretty dense woods."
"I don't get it. How do you know this place?"
Linda shrugged. "Daddy was stationed there for about six months when I was fourteen. We lived about a half-mile off the base and..."
"Why would an accountant be stationed..."
"An accountant?" Linda snorted. "Where'd you get the idea that... Oh. Yes." She nodded. "Daddy was the camp's accountant. That's why." She glanced at Bart, then shook her head. "Anyway, there was this guy. This really cute guy. He was like four years older, but I told him I was sixteen and... Not relevant. Anyway, me and Elliot used to meet in the woods and..."
Bart snickered. "Elliot? Nice name."
"I wouldn't talk, Bartholomew," Linda sneered. "Anyway, we used to meet and it was really hard for him because the place had this electric fence, but he and some of the guys had found a bare spot between two trees in the south end, so... Yeah. There."
"Huh?"
Linda grinned. "There. We have the place. We have a way in. Let's call Ollie."
"Why?" Bart tossed himself on the couch. "So he can complain about being sent on a wild goose chase. That's what he said about the warehouse." Bart shook his head. "I say we check it out before calling in those doubting..."
"Okay, okay." Linda stared at the floor. "There's no harm in checking it out first."
"Exactly." Bart stood. "I can piggy back one of you. Probably only get half-speed, but..."
"Stuff," Linda burst out. "There's some gear in the Bell. We could use it for the recon, at least. Rainy day stuff, mostly. But if I can get back to the clocktower, I could promise at least..."
"Shh!" Lois waited for them to quiet. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it all the way. If it turns out Clark is there, I'm not going to sit back and wait for someone else to save the day." She nodded to herself. "Either they come along from the start or not at all."
***************************************
Helen stepped in front of Clark. "No. Lizzie. I need him to have his wits about him. None of your treatments here."
"You leave me no choice," Lizzie hissed. She shook her head at Helen. "First, you nearly kill the Lane woman, now this poor stranger's..."
"Oh, for God's sake! This is no stranger!" She glanced at clark, then at Lizzie. "Is everyone really that blind?" She moved forward and snatched a pair of reading glasses from the pocket in Lizzie's white coat. She shook them open with one hand and placed them on Clark. "Got it now?"
Lizzie stared at Clark, confused. "Kent Cameron... or Clark Kent, I suppose." She sighed. "I didn't know your real name." She glared at Helen. "To be honest, I didn't want to. We had the perfect set-up here and it took a lot of work and compromise to get here. I don't see why you would bring a reporter into our midst. This is just the topper after everything else you've..."
"Oh, shut up, Lizzie," Helen growled. "I'm sick of being treated like some kind of screw-up when I'm the only one of us that knows the source. I'm the one that can save all of it."
"Yes. This mystical source. Tell me all about it and how the sample from your precious source is killing Morgan as we speak. I apologize," she said coldly. "You obviously really think things through."
"You're one to throw stones. You with your fucking chemicals. By the way, I heard your little friend walks around in her nightgown these days. And let's not even talk about Allen Kern."
Lizzie stiffened and drew back. "I had to do something. Marcy was asking too many..."
"And you didn't stop. Not even after you knew it turned Kern into a dribbling vegetable."
"I had no other option. Grady's still missing and..."
"Grady? Kevin Grady?"
Lizzie stared from him to Helen. "You told him about..."
"I didn't say a word about Grady." She narrowed her eyes at Clark. "How did you..."
"Helen, I didn't want this much attention," Lizzie said tiredly, "but you seem to have brought it to us. Now I'll have to..."
"No! You don't have to. You never should have! I'm not the only one who fucked up here, Lizzie."
Lizzie drew back. "That language is hardly..."
"Don't even give me that sanctimonious prattle. Your stupid nerve gas has caused more damage than..."
"We had no other way to... clear those we needed to." She squared her shoulders "At her age, it's best Marcy slips away quietly rather than go on with what she knows."
"Best for who?"
"For us! For all of us, the subjects as well."
"Please! I need to see Morgan Hunter," Clark suddenly yelled. He couldn't wait any longer. He could see the crystal in Helen's pocket. If he could just be in the same room with her, with Morgan, with the crystal... He'd find a way. He always had.
Lizzie folded her arms. "Why exactly do you want to know?"
Helen pressed the vial against him again. "Because our little friend knows more than he's telling."
*******************************
Lois paced the living room in her black pants and top. "She should have been back by now."
"It's only been a half hour." Bart was crunching loudly as he stared at the monitor. "Um... where would I find a map of this place, anyway?"
"Try city hall. There must be some kind of blueprint on record, building plan. We need to find the south side and... Oh! I should have just gone myself. Laid it out straight. She's going to waste time getting into an argument and we don't have time for it. We should just go," she muttered. "She should just stay here, anyway."
"Why?"
Because she's incubating an Ollie/Linda hybrid. "Because she's erratic. You've seen it. She just needs a long nap and everything will be..."
"It says I'm not authorized to view the..."
"There's probably a firewall to prevent outside access." She moved to the computer and leaned over him. "Just override it by convincing it you're accessing it from the mainframe." Her fingers worked and the screen changed. "There. The original plans should be in there somewh..." Bart was staring at her. "What?"
"Nothing. Just, uh, good to see you still got it."
"Still got..." She stared at her hands, then at the monitor. "How in the hell..."
"Okay!" Lois turned to the door as Linda burst through it, lugging a wheeled case. "I got headsets. I got mylar. I got only one tranc gun. I think the bullets are still good. I even have some of those freeze-dried ice cream pellets the astronauts eat. They're not that great, but if you mix them with pretzels..."
Bart leaned by the door. "Yeah? I find them too sweet, too, but you might have something with the pretzels."
Linda struggled with the case, trying to get it over the hump in the doorway. "I know. A little salty in the mix and..."
"Bart, help her with that," Lois cut in.
Bart stared at Lois. "Why?"
Lois rolled her eyes and moved past Bart to take the case, wheeling it to the center. "So are they coming?"
"Them? Of course not. They're too busy wiring Lex Luthor's house for sound and they don't have time for our little field trip." Linda glared at the couch before she sat on it. "Field trip. He's the one on the trip. The giant I Am The Center of The Universe ego trip. Do you know what he said when I walked in? He said he was glad I'd come to my senses. Then he tried to kiss me!"
Bart gasped. "Your own husband? The nerve."
"Well, I told him where he got off, then I grabbed my clothes. If he didn't know I meant business before, then he will now. Especially when he finds out the Bell's gone and..."
"You took the Bell?" Lois gaped at her.
Linda shrugged. "Yeah. It's on your roof. Tight fit, too. It took me over..."
"Linda, we want to find Clark, not start a fight over..."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Bart cut in. "Taking the Bell is like a daily occurrence with this lady."
"But they'll notice and..."
"Not if I leave now," Linda cut in.
"No. You can't come. I hate to sound like Ollie, but..."
"Oh, relax." Linda opened her case and tossed Lois a headset. "I'm not coming, coming. I'm just... Listen, I'm no Victor and I've had no time to plan anything, but... The Bell only seats five, but it holds over four thousand pounds. The Bell can give me accurate coordinates. If I park it ten miles south of the barracks, we can all stay in contact and I can be waiting to land and fly us out. Think about it. Who else here can fly the thing?"
"She's right, Lolita." Bart clicked on the mouse. "Hey! Got it." He pointed at the monitor. "If Clark's at this place, there's more than just him that needs out."
"Yes." She felt suddenly energized. It was all coming to a head. Clark, the couples... It would all end before sunrise. She should be afraid of this undertaking, but she wasn't. She could do this. It was in her to do this. She felt it. Ridiculous, really, but there it was. She turned to Linda. "Okay. You park yourself, but you stay put unless we tell you to move in."
Linda smiled and saluted. "Yes, Sir." She suddenly giggled and clapped her hands. "I'm gonna go put on my blacks."
Lois moved to the monitor, eyes hungrily scanning the blueprint. "We'll leave right after she does. Are you sure you can piggyback me all the way to Vona?"
"Oh, please! What do you weigh? One-sixty?"
She turned to him slowly. "Excuse me?" A knock on her door prevented her from ripping into him. She straightened and stared at the door. "You think Ollie followed her?"
"I don't know." Bart grasped her arm. "And by the way, you are not fat at all. Far from it. You're a very sprightly... One-forty?"
She rolled her eyes and moved to the door.
"Well, I'm not a magic scale, you know."
"Can it, Bart." She looked through the peephole, then quickly pulled the door open. "Martha?"
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