Banner by Purplemoon123
Still on Arctic.
Chapter 38
Chloe paced back and forth in her apartment. It was too small a space for good pacing, but it was all she had. She didn't want to do this at the farm or anywhere Kara felt too at home. Besides, Clark was there waiting for her second call. Though she supposed she couldn't call it that when she hadn't even made the first.
She continued pacing madly, but she finally dialed Kara, trying to sound fearful. She didn't need to try hard these days.
"Yes?"
"Kara, there's something wrong with Clark," she lied, genuine fear, she supposed, lending a certain authenticity. "He's convinced that if he destroys the fortress that no one will be able to control him. We're at my apartment. I need your help." She'd barely taken another step before Kara was there.
"Where's Clark?"
Chloe kept a hand in her purse as she moved to the bedroom area, gripping the rock. "He's, uh, right back here." She pulled it out quickly, waiting for Kara to recoil.
Then she didn't.
"Why isn't it working?" she breathed.
Kara stepped toward her, unaffected. "Check the expiration date?"
Chloe stepped back. "Kara, there's something seriously wrong with you." And that was kind of an understatement. What the hell had happened to her on Krypton? "It was the only way--"
"You lied to me. Clark's not here," Kara growled.
And what the hell was she supposed to do now? Run for it.
She'd barely opened the door when Kara's hand shot past her, slamming it shut. Then it... changed, turned black and spotted, as if dark oil were snaking its way over her skin. The hand lifted and she turned to follow it, dazed.
Not Kara. Brainiac. Had it been him? All these weeks? "Oh, God."
He gripped the hand still stupidly clutching the useless rock. "I'm impressed. I wouldn't have thought a member of your weak-willed species," he said calmly, backing her away from the door, "especially a friend of Kal-El's, could ever use kryptonite against his cousin."
"Let me go." She tried to pull out of his harsh grip, but it was as inescapable of any Krytonian's. And she had no way to fight him. Nothing.
"I remember you," he said, his voice still calm, his grip still painful. "Always sticking your pretty little head where it doesn't belong." Then he lifted a finger, just a finger... until it wasn't. It snaked into two, sharp snakes of liquid that moved with a metallic clink.
She felt them like large insects, biting into the side of her head. Is this what he did to Lana? Would she become a shell, too?
No! That was all she could think, all she could feel, that this wasn't happening. This wasn't how she went. Everything in her resisted and... then she saw something in his eyes. Something not so calm and cool, then the light engulfed them and she saw nothing. But she felt him release her, felt her body hit the floor hard.
"What the Hell are you?" she heard, though she couldn't move, couldn't open her eyes. She had to wonder, too.
What was she now?
***********************
Lex stared out the window at the darkened runway, a chill moving over his skin.
But why was that? Everything was fine. Everything was going according to plan. Regan had men prepared to retrieve Sullivan, Mercer had men ready to retrieve Lana. He'd rather Mercer was handling both, but he didn't think she was quite ready for Chloe. Until he got back, until he explained things, she was likely to be a difficult captive. He nearly smiled, knowing if she had an inkling it was him, she'd fight tooth and nail. He'd let her believe it was the government for now. It might keep her more on the docile side. Lana was more likely to keep quiet, especially at the moment. Though he supposed she couldn't help it.
He thought of her state again, completely unresponsive, yet with active brain waves. He couldn't imagine such torture. And who was responsible for it? None other than... the Traveler. It was best to keep to that name, keep to something impersonal. He wasn't sure what he'd have to do, but he knew for damn sure that it would be easier if he didn't humanize the Traveler. He'd learned that from his father, he supposed. His notes on Level Three had never called the freaks by anything but their number. It was always easier that way.
Yet here he was, sitting here waiting for Kara. That chill moved over him again and he wondered if she was the reason why. He didn't know what else to call her, except chilling. She never had been before. Sometimes, he'd looked at her and saw all the possibilities he'd missed with... someone else. There was that same seeming guilelessness that her cousin wore so well. But also that same idea that, if she just let him in, if she just let him open up her world, she could be something great. So why did she raise his hackles now? Was it just the angelic face telling him to destroy? And could he even do it?
With all he'd done this year, he'd surprised even himself. And as much as he told himself it would be worth it, he didn't feel that way about this. But the idea of looking into those eyes and seeing their light go out... For some reason it weighed him down more than what he'd done. And he hadn't even done it. And the more he waited, the harder it would be.
He drummed his fingers on the arm rest and called for Regan, knowing before he checked his watch that he'd waited too long already.
"Sir?"
"Tell the pilot to start the engines," he said firmly.
"I thought we were waiting for your guide."
"I don't need her. Not sure I should even trust her." Whatever had happened to Kara since he'd last seen her, she was different. That was the only thing he was sure of.
"But, Sir, the last few teams have all disappeared."
"I believe I have everything I need to reach my destination." He pulled the case to his lap. "This is meant to protect all humanity," he said dully. "It should protect me, as well."
"You don't know that for sure, Sir. It seems extremely dangerous."
But he did know. It was about the only thing he was sure of.
"It's worth the risk." He met Regan's eyes, almost wishing he'd contradict him again. Because he really hated giving out severance packages on principle. "We leave now."
Regan looked as if he wanted to answer back, but he walked back to the cockpit. Lex heard the blinds close as he opened the case. It would protect him. It would guide him. It would tell him what needed to be done, not some baby-faced blonde with bloodlust in her eyes.
He would know what had to be done.
**************************
She heard everything, felt everything, felt most deeply the frustration of being unable to respond. She seethed inside when Wendy, the Talon's day waitress knocked on the door, asking if she was okay. She screamed with her internally when Wendy found her on the floor because she knew where she'd be taken.
No hospitals. Please no hospitals.
But she couldn't say it. She couldn't even open her eyes. She wondered if this was how Lana felt all these weeks. She also wondered if her body was fighting this. She'd felt it fighting. She only wanted it to fight harder so she could tell Clark.
Just get Clark, she wanted to say to someone, anyone. Clark would know what to do.
She suffered through what felt like hours of tubes and needles that she wanted to tell the frustrated doctors and nurses were useless against whatever Brainiac had done. Then she wanted to sob in relief when she heard the words she'd been waiting for.
"Clark Kent is listed as her next of kin."
Yes! Yes, he had been since graduation, since her father had moved away. Call him! Please!
"We should call him in, see if he knows what caused this."
Finally!
She knew the minute he walked in her room. Hell, she knew his heavy footsteps by now. She hated that she couldn't tell him, couldn't put him on his guard. But if he looked her over, he'd know. Wouldn't he?
"I'm so sorry," she heard him whisper.
Damn it, Clark! He thought Kara had done this. This was no garden variety beating. Couldn't he see that?
She felt his hand around hers and desperately wanted to squeeze it back. But, even if she could, what would that do? She cursed the many times she'd entertained the idea studying Morse code and then hadn't actually done it!
She fought now. She fought nearly as hard as she'd fought Brainiac. She fought the lethargy and the frozen limbs, frozen everything. He had to know. He had to know what he was really up against! What she wanted to do was grab him and shake him and yell her head off that Brainiac was out there and had to be destroyed.
What she did was open her eyes. She felt momentarily triumphant, then realized she could barely see past the white haze. She also couldn't move anything heavier than an eyelid. But Lana. With her blank eyes. Would he see that now? She fought to keep her eyes open. Please, Clark! Please see...
"Brainac," she heard him hiss.
Thank you!
She fell back into dark then, depleted.
She wasn't sure if it was hours or days later when she felt this sort of jolt, felt this prickling in her limbs, all over, like the pins and needles that race across skin after a long time sitting on her legs. She heard a gasp and opened her eyes, surprised it was so easy when it had been a fight to the death before. She blinked several times just to be sure she could.
A woman swam into her vision. "Miss Sullivan?"
"Clark Kent," she tried to choke out, then realized something was blocking her. She pulled at whatever it was in her mouth, only to be horrified that there was a damned tube down her throat. She pulled at it.
"Please don't..."
She ignored the woman and pulled the rest of it out. "I need Clark Kent," she croaked, pushing herself up.
"Please don't move," the doctor... or nurse said, rushing to the foot of the bed and grabbing the chart. "I think... I think he signed in a half hour ago. Then he just..."
"Yeah. He does that," she panted, ripping at the wires, feeling rather sick as she pulled at one embedded in her wrist.
"I need to go home."
"We... I... Miss Sullivan, we can't just let you go home. You were infected with a virus of unknown origin. We actually had a similar case a few..."
"Yes. Lana Lang," she said in a rush. "Two weeks ago. But I'm fine." And she'd bet anything Lana was fine. "And I need to go."
"We can't just..."
"If you won't let me go, then I need a phone," she said, louder now, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Where was she? ICU? They had phones.
"Okay. Make your call. But... Just don't move. I'll be back."
She was tempted to do just that, rush right out while the woman was distracted. But she still felt so damned weak. Also, she was sure they had her clothes and her purse and her own damned phone.
She dialed Clark and wondered what Lana was feeling now. This was what happened to her, after all. And was it gone from her? If it was gone from Chloe, then there was only one explanation. Either Clark had made Brainiac fix it or Brainiac was destroyed, taking all his hoodoo with him. She knew which was more likely, even in her limited face-to-face time with Brainiac.
"Hello?"
"Did you do it? What happened? How did you get him? Did you know he was Kara all along? Clark, Kara might have never actually..."
"Chloe, I know," he cut in. "But don't worry. He won't be hurting anyone again."
"What did you do? Damn it! I wish I'd been there to see his circuits fry! Did it hurt?" She gasped. "Clark, I think I might have actually hurt him. When he started to take me over, I..."
"I'm starting to think you're feeling better," he broke in. "But are you alright? Really?"
"I think so." She just had to convince that cursed woman. "Well, I just think you should know that I definitely had some part in destroying that mother... board. I told you. I said all along these powers were a gift and look what..."
"That's great news, Chloe. I'm glad you're okay." She could hear the distraction in his voice and she knew where he was. "I'll call you after I check on Lana."
"But..." She sighed as he hung up. She supposed they could dissect this later. There was nothing that could keep Clark from a newly sentient Lana Lang.
Still, they'd got rid of Brainiac. That was one big, honking check on the list. She felt good, energized even -- which only made it more frustrating when that woman came back with some pals to poke and prod her.
She tried to tell them she was fine, tried to tell them it must have been viral. Nothing made them stop until she threatened legal action if they kept her here when her vitals were all obviously fine.
Then Jimmy showed up. Clark must have called him. She felt rather glad he was getting her out, despite what she knew she'd have to do.
She was silent as the doctor gave him a rather standard list of "don'ts" that she knew, from her many hospital stays, were arbitrary at best. She stayed silent on the drive home, hoping he'd think she was just weak. She didn't want him to think she was gearing up to... do what she would. And she'd do it. But she didn't want it to hurt him. She'd never wanted to hurt Jimmy. But she knew now that it was inevitable. He was a nice, polite, normal guy. And she didn't live in a world like that. She was fooling herself, thinking she could have some double life.
She wanted to cry as they pulled up to The Talon, not just for hurting him, but for knowing she couldn't have nice things. She didn't even want them. How fucked up was she? She rushed out of the car and up to the door.
"Hey!" Jimmy followed, then overtook her, ushering her in the door. "You just got out of the hospital. You're supposed to take it slow. Okay?" She made herself smile. He was being so damned sweet, after all.
"You know what?" He pulled her in. "Maybe I should... Yeah. I'll carry you up the stairs."
"Jimmy, we're climbing the stairs to The Talon, not scaling the mountains of Tibet. I'm fine." She kept her smile pasted on. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe that was when she'd do it.
"How about some water? Or some tea? I pretty much mastered the..." He tripped into a table and a chair hanging on it clattered to the floor. "Uh, or maybe, you know what? You're maybe not supposed to have caffeine," he went on in an awkward rush as he righted it. "So maybe we'll just get you some, uh, some bottled water or some tap water. I know, some sparkling, because, you know, it matches your smile."
She smiled, then. She had to. Such a sweet boy, really. But wasn't that the problem. He was a boy to her. She never quite saw him as a man. Yes. Tomorrow. She wouldn't find the right words, after all that happened today. She needed sleep. Maybe he did, too. He seemed so... off. "Jimmy, I realize that I was the one that was just in the I.C.U., but you seem to be the one with marred motor skills. Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
She moved past him, still wondering how to say it. Maybe their jobs. He was at The Planet and she was... Well, she supposed she'd continue with Isis. Maybe now that Lana was okay, just had to be okay, she'd do it with her, like they'd planned on that drunken night. Together, they'd bring Meteor mutants into the light, protect them, allow them to flourish, help them to use their powers for good and...
"Chloe."
She turned back to Jimmy, keeping that smile on, though she wished he hadn't interrupted her thoughts. They were such nice ones. They made her world seem like a place of hope for a change. She stared at him, still reflecting that it was a world he'd never belong in. And that had nothing to do with Lex and just... everything to do with Jimmy.
He took several deep breaths and stepped to her and she wondered if he was coming to the same conclusion. He'd been buzzing with nervous energy, tapping his fingers on the wheel all the way here. Not many guys could pick their erstwhile girlfriends up from the hospital after suffering a strange mystery illness and not somehow know they were in over their head.
"Until tonight... I never thought that I would lose you."
She smiled sadly. He had to know by now.
"I mean, I know that we've been on again and off again and on again. But... I figured even if we didn't end up together," he shrugged, "I could be happy just knowing you're in the world."
She held his gaze. She felt the same way. This didn't have to hurt anyone if...
"Today, I... I realized that that's not true."
Oh, God. No.
"No, I mean..." he moved to her, not understanding. "I mean, of course I'm happy that you're in the world, but..."
She kept her smile stoically as he went on. This was what he meant. Some reaffirmation of their relationship. And she kept smiling, wanting to give him the option of believing that for tonight.
"You mean so much to me, Chloe. And I want to spend the rest of our time in it together."
Her breath caught as he dropped to one knee, pulling a yellow, plastic egg from his pocket and cracking it open, pulled out a plastic ring... a blue heart, like something from a little girl's playset.
"It's all they had at the hospital gift shop, but... I didn't want to wait."
Her smile was unwavering. She nearly wanted to laugh, really, it all seemed so surreal. In mere hours, she'd had her mind invaded by a supercomputer and now... she was being proposed to with a plastic ring from a plastic egg from a... boy. She wondered if they'd build a pillow fort and play house in it next. She swore she still had her old Hello, Kitty teaset.
"We can have Breakfast at Tiffany's in the morning. Will you marry me?"
How the hell was she supposed to avoid hurting him now?
"Don't move!"
She whirled around, found a man with a gun and vaguely noted that the universe, or whatever was getting her out of this, didn't need to go this far.
Jimmy stepped forward. "Hey, whoa, hey, hold on. This isn't right." He was pushed out of the way as the man came at her. "What's going on?! Hey! Who do you guys think that you are?"
Another man appeared and wrestled him to the ground. "Department of Domestic Security."
"Jimmy!" He was hurt. She'd never wanted him hurt. Never. Then she was rather distracted by the other man forcing her into handcuffs. "Chloe Sullivan, you are under arrest."
The two men were on either side of her, pulling her backwards, away from Jimmy's terrified face. And she felt for him, but there was only one person she could think of now.
"Jimmy, call Clark!" she yelled, hoping he'd do it. "Get Clark!"
****************************
Lex walked the length of the... fortress. That's what Kara called it. Somehow, he'd expected dank stone and high walls, not this. It was somehow beautiful. He'd thought that the moment he saw it, faintly glowing in the distance from his rented snowmobile.
Lex had left Regan on the plane, had taken a snowmobile from the Yukon alone. He knew the coordinates. He also knew this was for him alone. His father had never got this far. It was only he who was capable of making this decision. What to do...
Yet he found himself too fascinated to decide. There really was a glow all around. He stopped, arrested by a V-shaped formation of crystals. V. For Veritas, maybe? He rather doubted it, deep down. At this point, that was all he had to go on -- gut feelings.
He moved past it and saw a more intense glow coming from the center. That's where he was now. Smack in the middle of everything. He felt almost unworthy of this moment. Look at all he'd done. Somehow, in the middle of all this bright light, he felt dirty.
Yet that glow intensified, coming from a mass of crystals, a bright purple glow, like the glow from the device. It flickered as he moved closer. Didn't that mean something?
It glowed like he imagined truth should.
He pulled the device from his pocket, staring at it until it, too, glowed. A flash of light and the tiny piece was absorbed as if it were made of water. Then it glowed even brighter.
This was right. It had to be.
He heard a soft whoosh of air behind him and he turned.
It was him. Of course it was him. He'd been afraid to say it, to think it, hoping against everything that he might be wrong. That this wasn't the thing he had to.
But he knew now. He knew from that glow, from Kara's words... He'd have to destroy him. And it hurt.
He swallowed hard. "I must admit, Clark. This is a big step up from the barn."
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
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