EDITOR'S NOTE: I’ve noticed that there are quite a few Roswell fans that call Smallville a ‘copy’ of Roswell. Now, I could go into a ‘chicken and the egg’ speech, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The only similarity between the shows I found were the titles and the fact that the leading characters are both from other planets. So this story focuses on the differences between the two instead of the similarities. One more thing…Lana Lang is the complete polar opposite of Liz Parker, I don’t care what anyone else says. Even trying to compare those two is…just wrong. Clark Kent has his own ‘Liz’, and it’s definitely not Lana. Her name is Lois Lane.
PROLOGUE:
Space.
Infinite. Dark. Blanketed with stars, each one home to its own star system. Legends have been shaped by such majesty.
There are billions of worlds in the universe. And millions of them home to intelligent life. However, in the entire cosmos, there is no place like this.
Earth.
Out of the sky came a blast of emerald fire, so intense that the stars paled in comparison, streaking directly towards earth.
Towards Roswell, New Mexico. And whatever fate awaits it.
"Great," Kyle Valenti muttered. “Why do I get stuck with 'clean up crew'?"
Kyle walked around the desert, just outside Roswell. As usual, he was the one everyone went to when the ‘manual labor’ had to be done.
Max was inconsolable ever since Liz left, Michael didn’t do much these days but mope around at watch ‘Bewitched’. Isabel was too involved in newlywed bliss, and his dad was still immersed in his mid-life crisis.
That left ‘good old Kyle’ to check out and see if there was anything left of the pod chamber after Tess rocketed out of there. Why they didn’t just go check it out months ago was beyond him.
'Avoiding suspicion' apparently. As far as Kyle was concerned, he called it 'twiddling their thumbs'.
Kyle looked up at the hill that the pod chamber entrance used to be, and grasped his shovel. Oh well, time to get to work.
Then, he noticed something streaking in the sky. Something green.
A shooting star? he thought. Well, maybe it was worth the trip after all.
He stared at the self-styled comet and smiled. Then, something bizarre started to happen.
It turned towards him.
"Holy—" Kyle watched as the 'shooting star' buried itself where the pod chamber used to be, leveling the rock formation and burying itself deep under ground.
Kyle ran towards it, his curiosity getting the better of him. If there was anything left of the pod chamber before, there definitely wouldn’t be anymore.
He reached the area where it landed, and looked down. It had hit on an angle, so it wasn’t so much a hole as a tunnel. A tunnel that was glowing green.
Suddenly something occurred to him. What if it wasn’t a comet?
What if it was a ship. More aliens?
Maybe Tess had found a way back?
Oh God, Kyle thought. I’ve got to talk to Max, or dad, or...or...
"Aw the heck with it," Kyle said out loud. "Wherever you are, Alex, I hope you appreciate this."
Then he slid down the tunnel.
Liz Parker gazed out the window of the bright yellow cab. The green grass…the deep blue rivers…the amber fields…it was so different from the deserts of New Mexico.
After all, she’d lived in Roswell her entire life, hadn’t she? She needed a change, and a sense or normalcy. If she could be considered ‘normal’.
A small patch of frost on the window blocked her view. Cautiously, she raised her hand her hand to it.
Focus, she thought. Like what Nasedo told Michael, remember? All you have to do is...
All at once, the palm of her hand began to glow. Then, the patch of frost melted.
Liz smiled, proud of herself.
That was her, Elizabeth Parker: super hero.
Yeah right, she thought. I’m just a small town girl who just happened to be the object of the affection of someone literally 'out of this world'.
It was poetic justice, really. For most of her life, she hated being so ordinary. So boring. Then, she met Max Evans and everything changed.
At first, it was just the secret she had to keep from the world. That Max, Michael, and Isabel were aliens. The very same ones who crashed in Roswell back in 1947. They stayed, for decades, in incubation pods. Until they hatched just over a decade ago, resembling ordinary human beings. That stayed a secret until the day Liz was shot at the Crashdown restaurant. Max used his powers to heal her, and then it began.
As time went on, things became worse. The special unit of the FBI kept trying to expose them, and kill them. Then they found out where they were from. A planet called Antar, which was caught in the middle of a civil war. A planet where Max was the king.
And Tess, a fourth alien, was his queen.
Tess, she thought, with rage. She had to force herself to calm down when she noticed the green electricity began to form on her hands again.
As fast as it came, it went again.
Liz sighed in relief. As long as she kept calm, she’d be fine.
Tess was gone now, but her troubles were far from over.
It had just became too much. When Max brought her back to life, it didn’t come without a price. Ever since, she’d been changing. At first, she just got mental ‘flashes’ whenever her and Max kissed. However, slowly and surely, she was becoming like him.
She was turning into an alien herself. The only problem was, when she was around Max, she couldn’t control it. She had to get away. To somewhere where Max couldn’t find her, as much as it hurt to be away from him.
Everyone…Max, Maria, even her parents, thought she was at that boarding school in Vermont. She couldn’t go there…Max would find her there. She had to go somewhere no one would find her. Somewhere…small.
They passed the sign then, the one that said ‘Welcome To Smallville’.
"Well, Miss Parker," the cab driver told her. "Welcome to Kansas."
Liz sighed. Half with awe, half depressed.
Her expression changed when something came streaking by the window, too fast for anyone to see.
Unless, of course, your senses had started to be more…accurate. Liz could see things other people couldn’t.
"Damn wind!" the cab driver exclaimed.
But it wasn’t the wind. Liz knew that. It was some sort of car. Or a jet. Or...
No, that was crazy. It couldn’t be. But...
...for a moment, she almost swore that it was a person.
The 'streak' ran ahead, faster than the normal eye could see.
You see, Max and his friends weren’t the only aliens on earth.
In the middle of a wheat field, the speeding figure stopped. Without any effort at all.
He was fifteen years old, dressed in blue jeans and a red t-shirt. Underneath the shirt was a physical figure that would make most Olympic athletes. His pitch-black hair grown just over his ears. And his eyes were ice blue, almost crystal-like.
His name was Clark Kent.
"I am so late," he muttered, and took off running again.
He needed to get to class.
Little did Clark know, in only a few days, his life would change forever.
PART 1
Clark started to slow down as he reached the football field. It was a usual pattern for him. Run at super speed all the way from home, enter through the football field, which was usually abandoned this early. Even if someone was there, which was rare, he was moving so fast that they would never even see him.
Ah, the perks of having alien powers.
Alien, Clark thought. I’m still getting used to that.
Indeed. Clark had only found out about him otherworldly origins back in October. Up until then, he just thought he was an ordinary person.
Yeah, right. An ordinary person who’s stronger than an ox and faster than the fastest horse. He’d always known that he was different, but he thought he was some sort of mutant, or something like that.
That is, until that day his father showed him that ship.
I just wish I could understand that writing on the ship, he thought. That’s ironic, isn’t it. The only clue as to where I come from, and I can’t even read it.
It didn’t really bother him that much. He liked living on Earth. As far as he was concerned, it was his home. But sometimes he just…wondered.
Clark sighed as he walked into the school. He didn’t like to dwell on it. His life was complicated enough without worrying about some flying saucer coming to take him 'home'. If it hadn’t happened by now, it obviously never would.
"Hey Clark," he heard someone call out to him.
He turned around to see his friend, Pete Ross, walking towards him.
"Hey Pete, what’s up?" he asked.
"Are my ears deceiving me?" Pete inquired. "You’re actually looking for a job? How did you pull that off?"
Clark chuckled.
"A magician never reveals his secrets, Pete" Clark responded. "My dad…just suddenly didn’t need me at the farm as often."
"Your dad sprung for extra help?" his friend asked. “Pinch me, I must be dreaming.”
Clark shook his head.
“He got this call about someone wanting some ‘honest work’ while in town,” he continued. “In return, dad put in a good word at school, and provides room and board. She’s supposed to meet me after class today.”
A smirk appeared on Pete’s face.
“She, huh?” he asked. “Is she cute?”
“How the heck should I know?” he asked. “I’ve never even seen the girl.”
This was a small town, hence the name. Everyone knew everyone here.
“Why do you look like somebody died?” a female voice said to her.
Liz snapped to attention suddenly. She’d been daydreaming so much that she didn’t even notice someone sit down at the table.
A blonde girl was facing her. She looked about 16.
"You a senior or something?” the girl asked her. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before."
"Yeah, I just moved here,” Liz answered. “Liz Parker. I’m from Roswell.”
The girl shook her hand.
“Chloe Sullivan,” she introduced herself. “Wow, are you serious? As in ‘Roswell, New Mexico’?”
Liz smiled.
“The very same,” Liz answered.
Chloe chuckled.
“You’ll fit right in here,” she told her. “Don’t mind me. I’m the editor of the Torch. It’s my job to dig up info on people. So, what’re you doing so far from home?”
Liz paused for a moment.
“I just needed a change of scenery, you know?” Liz told her. It wasn’t a complete lie.
At that moment, Clark entered the cafeteria. He made a beeline straight for the girls.
“Hey Chloe!” Clark called for her.
Both Liz and Chloe looked over to them.
“Who’s that?” Liz whispered to her.
“A friend,” Chloe said with a smile. This caused Liz’s eyebrows to raise.
“Boyfriend?” she suggested.
“No!” Chloe said, slightly flustered. Her cheeks turned bright red. “Just a friend.”
Clark and Pete sat down with them. Clark noticed the red color of Chloe’s face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“Nothing, just playing welcome wagon,” she quickly changed the subject. “Meet Liz Parker”
Clark’s eyes snapped to attention.
“Looks like I get to save some time after class,” he commented. “I’m Clark Kent.”
The two shook hands.
“Oh, I talked to your dad on the phone yesterday,” Liz informed him. “Am I…?”
“Yep,” Clark answered before she could finish. “Dad wants you on the farm as soon as possible.”
“I don’t envy you, believe me,” Chloe mentioned.
“I’d watch it, Chloe,” Clark warned his friend jokingly. “Mom might decide she likes female farm hands.”
Then he smiled at her.
God, that smile. Chloe just couldn’t even come up with a witty comeback when he smiled at her like THAT.
He just lighted up the room when he smiled. Like everyone else suddenly became a little more uplifted and cheery.
It wasn’t just his smile, either. Clark wore baggy clothes, but he had a figure that you’d find on a bodybuilder…even though he never worked out. Must be from living on a farm. Then there was his dark, black hair. He kept it short as often as he could, but it still grew out just below his ears. His bangs hung down, and curled slightly, perfectly framing his forehead. His skin was smooth, almost like a baby’s. As long as Chloe had known his, she had never even seen his get so much as a pimple. And his eyes…the ones she could just stare into for hours…were ice blue, almost crystal-like.
Liz just HAD to go bring up the ‘just a friend’ thing, didn’t she? Yeah, there was nothing romantic between them. At least on Clark’s part. He practically had ‘infatuated with Lana Lang’ tattooed on his forehead. It just made her so angry whenever she saw him...looking at her like he did.
She never said anything about it, though. They were supposed to be ‘just friends’, so she kept her mouth shut. But every once and while, he just started to act so down. Like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Like he had some deep dark secret that he was afraid to share with anyone…even those people who were closest to him. Whenever she saw him like that, she just wanted to swing her arms around him and never let go.
“Chloe?” Liz asked. “You alright?”
Chloe smirked, realizing that she had let her mind wander.
“You two mind if we stopped at my place before heading to Casa De Kent?” she suggested. “I need to pick something up.”
“Actually, you two run ahead, I’m going to talk to Lex,” Clark told them, and stood up.
Liz looked at Chloe, a little confused.
“Who’s Lex?”
“Come on,” she told her. “I’ll explain on the way.”
Max walked into the Crashdown, surveying his surroundings. It just looked different to him. More a business than the life-filled restaurant he remembered. A little darker…a little colder.
Then he realized that was because of one thing. Liz Parker wasn’t there. It still amazed him how she brought the place to life simply by just being there.
It seemed like he had more in common with the Crashdown than simply the ‘alien’ angle.
It had been a week since she had left. Left Roswell…and left him as well. Liz hadn’t even said goodbye to him face to face, only leaving a letter. A letter that never left his jacket pocket. He could still feel her energy on the letter.
He had to call her. Her cell phone…if she had brought it...
Max ran into the back storage room and took out his cell phone. Using speed dial, he phoned Liz.
“The number you have dialed is currently out of range,” the annoying announcer voice said on the other line.
Refusing to give up, Max’s hand that was holding the phone began to glow.
“This isn’t a ‘marker’, Lex” Clark responded. “I’m just asking for a job, but I don’t want you to give me one simply because you feel you ‘owe’ me.”
“Hey, we’re friends,” Lex reminded him. “I’m just joking with you. I’m going to see if I can fit you into management.”
“That’s not necessary, really,” Clark informed him. “I’m just looking for some honest work.”
“Ever the boy scout, huh?” Lex asked with a grin. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Clark got out of the car. However, before he could get far, he turned back towards Lex.
“I’ve got a question,”
“Shoot,” he answered.
“When you say ‘I’ll see what I can do’, does it occur to you that you own the entire company?” Clark said with a smirk.
After a pause, Lex started to chuckle.
“Go on, get out of here,” Lex said jokingly.
With that, Clark turned and headed towards the door.
Lex, still laughing, drove off.
Little did he know, a child was watching him. A sinister smile on his face.
“I think I’ve decided on someone,” he said.
And when Nicholas decided on something, he didn’t stop until he succeeded.
“You can’t be serious?” Liz asked. “What kind of ‘weird things’?"
“Two words: super powered mutants,” Chloe said, more excited than she should have been. “I’ve actually seen the results up close. Closer than I’ve wanted to.”
“This is some sort of small town initiation, right?” Liz asked her. “You’re forgetting that I’m from Roswell, remember? I’ve actually been behind some of those ‘alien photo’ pranks.”
“Believe what you want, Liz, but I almost had the body heat sucked out of me,” she informed her. “Ever since the meteor shower, strange things have been happening in Smallville. Anyone who gets too close to those rocks has had something bad to them.”
“As in what?” Liz asked, the inquisitive scientist in her taking over.
“They just get…changed,” she told her. “It’s hard to explain.”
Changed? Liz thought. There’s irony for you. I spend all this energy to ‘get away’, and I end up in the exact same place I started. Just replace desert with cornfields.
There was one difference, though. A certain someone was nowhere in sight.
Just then, a loud ringing came from nowhere. Liz’s eyes went wide as she tried to find out where it was coming from.
“Do you have a cell phone in there?” Chloe asked, pointing to Liz’s bag.
Her phone, of course. She must have packed it by accident. Liz was confused, though. Who would possibly know her number all the way out here.
She pulled the phone out of her bag and answered it.
“Hello?”
There was no answer for a moment, but she could swear she heard someone breathing.
“Liz?” someone finally answered, causing her eyes to go wide. She knew that voice.
“Max...?” she responded, almost a whisper.
Chloe saw the look on her face. This probably qualified as a ‘personal call’. Quickly, she went to her room. Liz, meanwhile, stood up and started pacing around the room, still on the phone.
“How did your phone signal reach all the way here?” Liz asked. “It shouldn’t be strong enough.”
“I, uh, got an upgrade,” Max replied.
Liz, of course, knew what that meant. He must have used his powers to enhance the range of the radio signal.
“I’m sorry, I just…” he continued. “I just needed to hear your voice, that’s all. There was no way of knowing if something had…happened to you.”
Liz leaned against the wall, sadly. It was a lot easier to be away when she couldn’t hear his voice.
“Max, please, don’t do this,” Liz asked him. “I’m just really scared right now. I just need to be by myself for awhile.”
“If it’s any consolation, I’m scared too,” he responded.
Liz could hear the pain in Max’s. She knew it was as hard for him as it was for her, being so far away. That’s why she had to go so quickly. If she had to see his face one last time, pleading with her to stay, she probably would have.
The memory of him outside her window, tears in his eyes, mouthing those three words…it was still etched in her brain. Just the thought of it made her want to cry as well.
As a result, she noticed her opposite hand start to crackle with green energy again.
“I’ve got to go,”
She was so caught up in her emotions that she didn’t notice Clark walk in the house. Clark didn’t say anything, just stood at a distance.
“If you really feel that way, just let me be,” she said into the phone. “This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, but I just know that I have to.”
“I just miss you so much,” he whispered, his voice almost cracking.
Liz’s heart broke upon hearing him like that. He sounded so small, as if the slightest tap would shatter him into a thousand pieces.
Then she saw Clark.
“I’ve gotta go,” she said quickly.
“Liz, please don’t shut…” he began, but was cut off by the phone being hung up. She placed it on the table
Clark, pretending he didn’t hear the conversation, just looked at her.
“Who was that?” he asked innocently.
“No one,” she lied in a monotone voice. “Ready to go?”
Chloe came out of her room with an overnight bag.
“Let’s make tracks,” she announced.
Wait to go, Evans. Now you’re starting to feel like a stalker, he thought, sitting down on a box.
He couldn’t help it though. He loved Liz more than anything in the world, and it frustrated him so much that he couldn’t do anything to help her.
No, it was more than that. What was happening to her was his fault. His powers were what caused her to start changing. He was the one she was mad at, which caused those powers to go out of control.
The thought of that made him so angry with himself. He just wanted to…wanted to…
Without warning, the only light source in the entire room burst into glass shards and fell to the floor, casting Max into total darkness.
“And people tell me to have some self control?” a voice called out. A second later, the room lit up.
Standing in front of him was his best friend, Michael Guerin. Like Max, Michael was also an alien. And though his power was mostly used as destructive force, he still had pretty much the same abilities as Max did. Michael was using his power to cause his hand to glow with such intensity that it lit up the room again.
“Sorry,” Max apologized, and kneeled next to the shards that used to be a light bulb.
“You ok?” Michael asked him, concerned.
Max held his hands over the broken light bulb, and began to concentrate. After a moment, he moved his hands away, and picked up the now-repaired light bulb.
“I’m fine,” he said, screwing it back into place. “I just wish I could fix what’s wrong with Liz as easily as I can fix this.”
Michael made a mock sigh.
“Women, who can understand ‘em?” he joked. Max, suffice to say, was not amused. “You didn’t try to call her, did you?”
A guilty look on Max’s part gave him his answer.
“Maxwell, you are an idiot,” he said. “Just give her some time to sort things out.”
“I can’t,” Max answered. “Michael, what’s happening to her is my fault, don’t you understand. My power is what’s changing her.”
“If you hadn’t healed her, she would have died!” he reminded him. “You didn’t know this would happen.”
“But I should have, the signs were all there,” Max replied. “The flashes, that vision I saw of her in New York...everything. I should have found a way to reverse it before it got this far.”
“Max...”
“What if it’s not reversible now?” he suggested to Michael. “What if she’s stuck with those powers permanently? Stuck in our life? We’ve spent our entire lives hiding the truth about who and what we are, Michael. Did I condemn Liz to that kind of life too?”
“Just stop it right there,” Michael warned, trying to calm him down. “You’re supposed to be our leader, right? When you let your emotions get out of control, you use your focus. I’m supposed to be the ‘out of control’ one, remember?”
“What if it was Maria?” Max asked suddenly.
Michael winched inside. Ever since Maria had dumped him, even the mention of her name gave him a knot in the stomach. Especially after the…incident…with her getting that demo deal.
“What about her?” Michael replied, trying to hide how much it got to him.
“If Maria was the one who was changing, and it was hurting her, what would you do?” he asked.
“Easy,” Michael answered. “I’d bring her out to the desert, and tell her to start blowing things up.”
Max looked at him, a little confused.
“That’s a little…extreme, don’t you think?” he asked.
“Not really,” Michael informed him. “You see, Maxwell, our powers are tied into our emotions. That’s why yours have always been so under control, and mine were always so unpredictable. You have more self control than I do, so you’ve got more control of your power.”
“And Liz?” he asked.
“From what Kyle told me, she’s sort of mad at you,” Michael started to explain. “She’s mad, so her power is out of control. That means that, if she holds her anger in, the power attacks herself.”
“That leaves the question, doesn’t it?” Max asked. “When she’s around me, she hurt. When she’s not around me, I hurt.”
Max hung his head, as Michael slowly exited the room.
“Hey Liz?” she heard Clark’s voice call out for her.
Clark walked up to her.
“Hey, what’s up?” she asked.
“Just thought you’d like some company,” he told her. “Plus, we are going to the same place.”
They continue walking.
“So, how long are you planning on staying in Smallville?” he asked. “Just curious”
Liz turned to him and smirk.
“I sort of already have a boyfriend,” she informed him. “Well…sort of.”
Clark’s eyes went wide in surprise.
“I—I wasn’t trying to come on to you,” he told her. “Trust me, when I’m interested in someone, it’s usually not noticeable at all.”
They both laugh.
“You sound like Alex,” she replied.
“Is he your boyfriend?” Clark asked.
“No—no, his name is Max,” he corrected him. “Alex was a friend. He…passed away last year.”
Clark’s heart sank.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “How’d he die?”
“Car accident,” she recalled, sadly.
Clark bit his lip. He decided to change the subject.
“So, what’s Max like?” he asked, out of the blue.
“Can we not talk about Max?” she asked, slightly agitated.
“Okay…I know a sore spot when I see one,” he admitted. “I won’t pry.”
“Thank you,” he said, and started to walk faster. “It’s getting dark, we’d better…”
Clark didn’t hear Liz finish her sentence. Instead, his ears perked up. He heard the sound of crumbling rock.
Then he looked up, and saw large chunks of rock falling straight towards Liz.
“LIZ, LOOK OUT!!!” he hollered.
Using super speed, Clark ran towards her. Pushing her out of the way seconds before the rocks hit her, and fell on him instead.
Picking herself off the ground, Liz looked at the scene, mortified.
“Oh God...” she whispered. “No! I...I should have.”
“Ugh,” a small groan escaped from Clark’s mouth. Then, he raised himself off the ground. At least a quarter-ton worth of rock sliding off of him.
There wasn’t a scratch on him.
This is impossible, Liz thought. That should have killed him. It would have killed me. And he moved so fast...
Afraid now, Liz started to back away as Clark raised to his feet.
“No, wait,” he told her. “Please, don’t be scared.”
Liz slowly walked up to him.
“Why aren’t you dead?” she asked in a quite voice. “Who are you?”
He must be a shape shifter. Or something else? A skin maybe? Were there any left alive?
“I’m Clark,” he answered with a small laugh.
“I’m serious, no normal person could survive that,” he continued.
Clark sighed. Oh well, he tried.
“I’m don’t exactly come from around here,” he admitted. “Long story.”
“Where do you come from, then?” she asked.
This seemed so familiar. He couldn’t be…but Liz just need to be sure.
He just couldn’t be a…
Clark simply looked up at the stars blanketing the night sky.
“There,” he said suddenly.
Liz couldn’t help but get a feeling of déjà vu.
“This isn’t happening,” she said, panicking. “This is not happening!”
“I think that’s supposed to be my line,” Clark responded, innocently.
His inappropriate sense of humor was the only thing that kept Liz from loosing control of her powers again.
After a long pause, she finally spoke up.
“So…you’re an alien?” she asked.
“Well, I prefer to think of myself…”
“Yeah, I know… ‘not of this earth’” she interrupted him.
“Actually, I was going to say ‘a strange visitor from another planet’” he corrected her with a smirk. “But whatever works…”
“This isn’t happening” she said again.
“Take my word for it,” Clark responded. “No matter how many times you say it, it won’t make it true. I just need you to promise me you won’t tell anyone. I’m…my parents want me to keep it a secret.”
His parents knew?
“Your parents?” she asked. “I—ok, I promise.”
Clark sighed in relief.
“Come on,” he said. “I want to show you something.”
Liz walked into the barn. A million questions circled through her mind. Did he have any other powers? What did he think of normal humans? Were there any others in Smallville like him? Did he come from the same place as Max?
Was he related to Max? Like a brother, or a cousin.
These questions suddenly escaped her when she saw Clark, standing up by the window looking down at her.
“Like it?” he asked.
“It’s very nice,” Liz answered, assuming he meant the barn.
“This is where I go when I need to think and be by myself,” he told her. “Though, you’re probably freaking out right now, right?”
Liz didn’t answer.
“Come on, ask me anything,” he suggested. “Look at the position you’re in. An honest to god man from outer space is letting you quiz him. For a scientist, that’s probably the opportunity of a lifetime. One that you might never get again.”
If you only knew, Liz thought.
“Ok, what’s your name?” she asked. She thought she’d start with something easy.
“Just Clark,” he informed her. “If I have any other name, I don’t remember it. I was three years old when my ship crashed.”
Liz thought about it for a moment.
“That’s twelve years ago,” she mentioned. “The same time of the meteor shower that Chloe mentioned?”
Clark nodded his head.
“The exact same day, at the exact same time,” he recounted. “Everyone was so busy running for their lives that they didn’t notice a metal spaceship crash into the cornfield along with those rocks. Well, everyone except my parents.”
“You said before that your parents know, but they knew since the beginning?” Liz asked him. It sounded so weird, since Max and Isabel had never told their parents the truth about them.
“Of course they did,” Clark replied, a bit confused. “I mean, they’re the ones that found me. I didn’t even know I wasn’t human until a few months back when my dad told me. I just thought I was…I don’t know…some sort of mutant.”
“So, you have powers?” she asked, trying not to sound so obvious and act surprised. If she acted like she knew too much, it might give her own secret away. “Like what?”
Clark smirked.
“Well, for starters…” he answered. “I can move pretty fast?”
“How fast?”
Clark took a penny out of his pocket and dropped it over the side of the balcony.
The second it left his hand, Clark was running. A blur, followed by a gust of wind accompanied him as he ran at super speed. He stopped right in front of Liz, catching the penny before it hit the ground.
Clark smiled smugly.
“That fast,” he said. “And I’m strong too. I can actually lift cars over the top of my head as easy as you would lift a grocery bag.”
“You don’t have to demonstrate that one,” she asked him. “And rocks apparently can’t hurt you either.”
“Nothing can hurt me,” he corrected her. Liz’s eyes went wide.
“What do you mean ‘nothing’?” she asked, surprised.
“I mean, nothing,” he repeated. “Not fists, or rocks, or knives, or even bullets. Well, ok, bullets hurt me, but they can’t pierce my skin. I just get bruises from them.”
Liz’s mouth was hanging open slightly.
“You’re BULLET PROOF?!” she asked in shock. “And you know this how? Someone shot at you?”
“It’s a long story, and he sort of doesn’t even remember now,” he informed her.
Liz let out a breath. She was convinced that he must not be from the same planet as Max at least. Max’s powers were amazing, but even he couldn’t shrug off someone shooting at him. Well, not without that shield of his, anyway.
“Is that it?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” he finished. “My senses are a little sensitive than a normal person’s. I can hear things normal people can’t, and I can see things that are far away as if they were up close. Plus, if I concentrate hard enough, I can see through things. Sort of like an x-ray.”
Then Liz noticed that he started looking at her hand. His eyes started to squint.
Clark had found out how to shut this ‘x-ray vision’ on and off. He could focus it now, so he only saw through what he wanted to.
First, his eyes peeled away the layers of Liz’s jacket sleeve, then her shirtsleeve. Finally, he saw past the skin on her arm, and then past the veins and blood. Until, finally, he could see the bone.
“You have some sort of healed fracture in your wrist,” he told her. “It probably doesn’t hurt, but the bone was broken. I’d say about five years ago, right?”
“In gym class,” she told him. “I misjudged…you saw through my skin?”
“Yeah, I’m glad I can control this now, though,” he said, turning slightly red. “When I first found out I could do that, I had zero control over it. It kicked in and I was facing the girl’s locker room”
Liz covered her mouth with her hand, trying hard not to laugh.
“Most people would probably not have minded,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, but I’m not most people,” he said. “In every sense of the word.”
He walked back up to the window, with Liz close behind him.
“I don’t remember where I come from,” he said, looking into a telescope positioned there. “I don’t really care, to tell you the truth. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just a normal human being like anyone else.”
“But you’re not,” she reminded him. “Don’t you ever wonder where you’re from?”
Clark smiled.
“Occasionally,” he admitted. “I just wish I knew why my real parents, whoever they were, sent me here. Sometimes I just look at the stars, thinking that maybe I came from somewhere out there. Hey, look at that!”
He motioned for Liz to look into his telescope. She complied.
“Neat, huh?” he asked.
Through the telescope, Liz saw five stars close to each other. They seemed to be shaped into a v-formation. Somehow, it looked familiar to her.
“I’ve seen it a few times, it only comes out every few days,” he told her. “Our sun is actually a giant star. Who knows, every single star out there could be home to an entire world and we don’t even know it.”
Liz moved her eye away and sat down.
“So, it’s your turn,” he told her.
“My turn?” Liz repeated.
“Yeah,” Clark answered. “I probably just told you the biggest secret I have, so now it’s your turn. Tell me about Max.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t pry?” she reminded him.
“That was before I let you in on the super powers thing,” he justified.
Liz couldn’t help but smile. The guy was an alien, just like Max. But from the way he looked…like some innocent child who didn’t know how dangerous the world actually was.
“Max is great,” she said with a dreamy smile. “He’s quiet, though. Keeps to himself a lot. He’s caring, and selfless, and noble. And that smile of his…I just melt whenever I see it. He's the most important person in my life. I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for him. “
“Ouch,” Clark replied.
“Yeah, that probably sounds bad, but it’s not,” she informed him. “Sometimes it feels like Max is my whole world.”
“Then why come here?” Clark asked her. Liz paused.
“Because sometimes it feels like he’s my whole world,” she repeated with a smile. “For the past three years, it’s like...my entire life revolved upon where I stood with Max Evans. Even when we weren’t together, my number one concern was finding out why. It’s just…it got to be too much. I just need some time to be just ‘Liz Parker’ I guess.”
“But you miss him, don’t you?” he replied.
A small shade of red crossed Liz’s cheeks.
“More than he’ll ever know,” she whispered.
“Then why don’t you tell him that?” he suggested. “I overheard your phone call earlier, and it sounded pretty intense. Maybe all that could be resolved just by telling him you miss him.”
“No...no...” Liz sighed. “It’s too complicated.”
“In my experience, things are only complicated when people make them complicated,” he told her. “Those ‘shades of gray’ people keep talking about…I think they’re really just excuses people make up. Because they’re afraid or nervous of what will happen if they make a choice on something. But at the end of the day, it’s just a choice between ‘yes’ and ‘no’.”
“I envy you, Clark,” she admitted. “I wish I could do that, I really do. But I’ve been through too much to believe it’s that simple.”
She stood up and walked down the stairs.
“I guess I really am too scared to say ‘yes’,” she admitted at the door. “But I love him too much to say ‘no’.”
She left, leaving Clark alone in the barn.
Max climbed the balcony at the roof of the Crashdown. He opened the window and climbed inside, surveying the empty room.
He looked on the dresser, picking up a framed picture of him and Liz. It was from two years ago. Back when things seemed more confusing, but so much simpler.
Without another word, he climbed back out the window and left.
Clark ran through the wheat field, and into the woods. Moving a super speed. It was so...freeing...for him to do this.
I wish that I could cry
Somewhere out there was where he came from. What was it like? Did they miss him?
He sighed, and walked at normal speed back towards town.
*****
Liz’s phone. She had left it right there…on the table.
He picked it up and hit the ‘redial’ key.
*****
Up ahead
“Is Max there?” the voice asked on the other line.
On the other side, Clark smiles.
Max became puzzled.
“Who is this?” he asked. “Why are you doing this?”
Max sighed in relief, and managed a small smile.
*****
I'm only a man
“No...” he whispered, as he saw smoke directly over where his farm was.
“NO..!” he yelled, and ran faster than he ever ran in his life.
Above, unknown to Chloe, the window blew out with intense force as Liz escaped the burning farmhouse.
She landed on the ground with a ‘thump’. No bones were broken, so it wasn’t that high up. However, the stress levels weren’t exactly ideal for her. Especially in her condition.
Liz grimaced in pain as streaks of green electricity appeared on her face and hands. Using sheer willpower, she forced herself to calm down, until the energy built up inside her went back to a manageable state.
Then she picked herself off the ground just in time to see the nearby wheat field part suddenly, as something sounding like a sonic boom mixed with a gale-force wind signaled the arrival of Clark Kent.
“Liz?” he asked. “What happened? My parents...?”
“Still inside,” she gasped, out of breath. “Some sort of bomb came through the window. I tried to shield everyone, but...”
"Shield everyone?" Clark asked. With what?"
Before she could answer, a grenade landed near them. Liz, panicking, put her hands up in defense.
Suddenly, a crystal blue wall made out of energy appeared out of nowhere, protecting the three of them.
"Wha-wh-what was that?" Chloe said, flabbergasted. "What the heck was..."
"Did you do that?" Clark asked. “How did you do that?”
Liz turned to face the two of them.
"You’re not the only one with secrets," she whispered.
A sound of clapping came from the farmhouse, causing their attention to be diverted.
"Bravo, bravo," a voice said. "Blue, not green? I’m impressed. Is that a natural thing, or did you personalize it yourself Liz?"
The voice belonged to a man standing at the door to the farmhouse. He was wearing a full-face mask, so they couldn’t see his face. However, they did see him have Jonathan in a headlock, and a gun pointed to his head.
"Dad!" Clark screamed, and began to run towards him at super speed. He completely forgot about Chloe being there.
"I wouldn’t!" the man warned him. "Unless you want your 'dad' to have his brains splattered over the ground?"
Clark stopped, a few feet away.
"Clark?" Chloe asked, shocked. "How on earth did you move that fast?"
"Not on earth," the man said with a chuckle.
"Drop that gun and let’s see how funny you are?" Jonathan asked, through gritted teeth.
"Hurt him, and so help me, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth" Clark promised him.
"He’s human, like me," he armed man said. "He doesn’t have to die, as long as you do what I say."
Slowly, at least a dozen other people walked out of the burning building. Each one of them were dressed exactly like the first one. One of them had Martha.
Clark just got angrier.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?!" Clark screamed, demanding an answer.
"We didn’t come here for you, we came for the girl" he corrected him. "You’re just the extra bonus, freak."
Liz ran up, placing herself between the two of them.
"Liz, don’t--" Clark tried to warn her, but it was too late.
"I’ll do whatever you say, just don’t hurt these people" Liz told him.
"Don’t you dare," Jonathan said, causing the man to apply more pressure to his head.
The leader, who was holding Jonathan, turned to one of his men.
"We can’t have any witnesses," he told them. "Bring the foster parents, and the blonde. If either Parker or the kid tries something, kill them."
“You sure about that Pierce?” one of them asked.
Pierce? Liz thought. PIERCE?!
That was impossible. Pierce was…he was dead. Michael killed him.
It couldn’t be.
“Do we have a choice?” Pierce asked his men.
They circled around the three teenagers, and forced them into the back of a van.
“Where are you taking us?” Liz asked.
She could almost swear that she saw Pierce smile beneath his mask.
“Did your boyfriend ever tell you about the White Room, Liz?” he asked.
*****************************************************************************************************************
PART 2
Lex Luthor drove down the road, towards the Luthor ancestral home. He savored the feel of wind against his face as he smelt the crisp country air. It was heaven compared to the air back in Metropolis.
Lex smiled at himself. It was sort of ironic when you thought about it. His father, Lionel, the president of LuthorCorp, had banished him to Smallville because of his ‘past misdeeds’. That was the nice way of saying ‘you screwed up and made me look stupid, so I’m sticking you here where you won’t bother me’.
However, things seemed to have worked out in Lex’s favor. Being in control of the fertilizer plant let him show people he wasn’t the corrupt person his father was. Plus, he’s made some friends. Not like those punks at Club Zero…real friends. People who trust him and believe in him. It was a good feeling.
Although, lately something strange had been happening. All these people have been disappearing or gone crazy somehow. However, in the middle of it was always Clark. Then there was that footage of the museum heist back in Metropolis. Someone had stopped it…someone who could move faster than a camera could follow.
Could the two be connected? Lex didn’t know, but he was sure going to find out.
“Help!” he heard a voice call, out of nowhere.
Immediately, Lex stopped the car. He opened the door and stepped out, searching for where the voice came from.
“Hello?” he called out. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” the voice replied.
Lex looked down the side of the road, to where a pile of rocks was lying. Underneath was a boy, around 12 years old, pinned to the ground from the waist down.
“Oh my god,” Lex muttered, horrified. “Hold on!”
Lex ran to the boy, and started lifting the rocks off of him.
“Don’t worry, kid,” he said. “I’ll get you to a hospital or something.”
Then, the boy smiled. Not a happy smile, but a sinister one.
“Don’t bother,” Nicholas told Lex. “I can help myself.”
Without warning, Nicholas took a square device out of his pocket. It was covered with circuits and wires, a crystal diamond in the center, which seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. He then quickly attached it to Lex’s chest.
At the very second it touched him, something resembling red lightning began to course over Lex’s body, covering him from head to toe. His eyes started to glow the same crimson color.
“AHHHHHHHH!” he screamed in pain as the energy crackled around him. His mind started to become clouded, he couldn’t think straight.
Then, he collapsed to the ground.
Nicholas put his hands over the rocks, causing them to evaporate into dust. Standing up, he brushed himself off and walked towards Lex.
He offered his hand.
“Have a nice trip?” he asked, as he helped him to his feet.
“Does it look like that was pleasant?” Lex snapped. “Couldn’t you find a less painful way, Nicholas?”
Nicholas shook his head.
“Not unless you want the same limitations as before,” he replied. “We’ve never attempted it before. Either way, welcome to earth.”
Lex dusted himself off, then walked to the car. Nicholas climbed in the passenger’s side and they drove away.
A few moments later, Nicholas finally spoke up.
“Look at it this way, at least you have a fully grown body,” he said, grinning.
“I would have killed you if I didn’t,” he replied. “Where are we, by the way?”
“Smallville,” Nicholas answered him. “It’s a agriculture-centered town in Kansas.”
“I studied those maps you sent back,” Lex recalled. “That’s quite a way from New Mexico.”
“I followed Liz Parker here,” he informed him.
Lex turned to him and sighed in frustration.
“And I care about Zan’s little concubine why?” he asked, annoyed.
“You wouldn’t believe how much of a bargaining chip hostages are here,” Nicholas explained. “Zan’s protective of her. Threaten her…”
“And he might hand me exactly what I want?” he asked. “Ok, where is she?”
Nicholas didn’t answer. He just started to stare ahead, towards the Kent farm…which was surrounded by police and firemen.
“There,” he said. “At least, she was”
The town sheriff sighed in frustration as he turned to the deputy.
“Any bodies?” he asked.
“None sir,” the deputy replied, shaking his head. “So either they got away, or this wasn’t an accident.”
“Probably the later,” a voice replied, behind them. “If they had gotten away, they would have tried to contact someone to let them know they were safe. This has ‘abduction’ written all over it.”
They turned around to see someone walking towards them. It was a man, Caucasian, in his late thirties. His hair was styled in crew-cut fashion, and he wore a brown trench coat. He flashed a detective badge to the sheriff.
“John Jones, Denver PD,” he read. “You’re a long way from Colorado, detective Jones.”
“Following a lead,” he replied. “Should have called ahead to warn you about this. You might have been able to stop him.”
“Him?” the sheriff asked. “You know who did this?”
“Sorry, that’s confidential,” John informed him. “How many are missing?”
“Five,” he answered. “Two adults and three teenagers. Jonathan Kent, his wife and son. A local girl, and their new farmhand. Elizabeth Parker, or something.”
John’s eyes showed shock, but he attempted to hide it.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Lana Lang, her boyfriend Whitney, and Pete Ross ran up to the sheriff. Before they could ask detective Jones, anything, he had slipped away.
However, he noticed two people watching the scene. Lex Luthor, and Nicholas. He could sense something was wrong with them. But he didn’t pursue it. Better to deal with them later.
Right now he had a phone call to make.
In LA, the mansion of film mogul Cal Langley...
Langley was adjusting his tux when the phone rang. Great. Just when he’s on his way to the big premiere, someone calls. Probably that talent scout again. Oh well, fresh talent was cheap talent.
“Hey, this is Langley,” he said into the phone.
“Cal?” the voice said on the other line. He knew that voice.
“Jones?” he sighed. “What do you want? I’m sort of late for a premiere.”
“A case I’m working on, there’s been a kidnapping,” John replied. “Liz Parker is one of the victims.”
“I’m a director, not a cop,” Cal informed him. “Detective work is your forte, remember?”
“She’s romantically involved with Maxwell Evans,” he said in a monotone voice.
“Wonderful,” Cal said sarcastically. “Last time I tried to help Max, I was almost killed. Why on earth would I want to help him now?”
“I think its Pierce,” John told him. “I saw Nicholas at the scene. Someone was with him.”
“All the more reason to stay as far away as you can, John,” Cal warned. “Don’t get involved. You’ll just get yourself hurt to.”
“Not if I had your help, pal,” he asked.
“I have my own life,” Cal argued. “You’re a fool if you consider butting in.”
“Better a fool than a coward,” John replied, before hanging up the phone.
All right, then. He would have to do it alone.
He just hoped he wouldn’t be too late this time.
Clark sat in a chair in the center of a room. It had no windows, and only one door. The air smelled stale, almost artificial. Two armed guards guarded the door, as the man who had threatened his father earlier circled around him. At this point, he had switched his ‘commando’ uniform for a three-piece suit.
"Where are my parents?” Clark asked him, finally having had enough of the silence. “If you’ve done anything to them…”
Pierce turned to face him, giving him a cold stare.
“I’ll ask the questions here, alien,” he spat. “What is your connection with Max Evans?”
Clark tried to look completely unemotional. That’s how they did it in movies, right? When you interrogate someone, you look for any indications that may help.
“I asked you a question,” Pierce said. “What do you know about Max Evans?”
“We spoke on the phone,” Clark joked, giving a little smirk. It wasn’t exactly a lie, either.
“Don’t play cute with me,” he replied. “Do you honestly expect me to believe you don’t know anything.”
“Believe what you want, it’s the truth,” Clark reassured him. “The only thing I know about Max is that he has a deep voice and he’s Liz’s boyfriend. Beyond that, I don’t know what he has you’d be so interested in.”
An ironic smile appeared on Pierce’s face. He didn’t really know anything.
“You really don’t know do you?” he asked. “Well, your parents are safe. For the moment, anyway. I’ve seen what you can do, boy, so I won’t take chances. Try to escape, or help anyone else escape, or attack my men, or me, and they will die. Understand that?”
Clark nodded, becoming angrier by the minute.
“You are possibly in one of the most bizarre coincidences in the world,” Pierce continued. “You are an alien, correct?”
Clark didn’t answer. It was obvious what was happening here. His parents had been right all along. This was some sort of ‘alien hunter’, and he had caught him.
“Answer the question!” Pierce demanded.
“Yes, I’m from another planet,” Clark snapped. “No use trying to hide what you already know.”
Pierce smiled smugly.
“I’m in the business to catching people like you, Clark,” he said. “But we had absolutely no idea you were there or anything about you. Liz Parker was our target, you were just an added bonus.”
Clark looked up, surprised. That ‘force field’ she made on the farm when the explosion went off. She was like him?
“Liz is an alien too?” Clark asked.
“No, no,” Pierce laughed. “Her boyfriend is, though. We’ve been after him for three years now, and I think we’ve found the perfect bait.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” he asked.
“The Federal Bureau Of Investigations,” Pierce responded casually.
“The FBI!?!” he yelled, almost jumping up from his chair. “You’re supposed to be protecting us, not kidnapping us and threatening our lives!”
“We protect the public,” he said. “National security. Not freaks from outer space.”
“Chloe and my parents are human, so is Liz,” he pointed out.
“Necessary casualties, I’m afraid,” Pierce said coldly. “Oh, and I never said Liz was human. I just said she wasn’t an alien.”
Jesse and Isabel Ramirez looked at the expensive dining hall in awe. They were in Sana Fe, with Isabel’s father on a case. Isabel had decided to tag along, simply because she was curious about what the big deal was.
Suffice to say she was impressed.
“What do you think, sweetheart?” he father, Phillip Evans asked her.
“We’ll take it,” she joked.
“I wish,” Jesse said, half-laughing. “The entire firm could hardly afford to rent this place.”
“What is this?” a voice called out to them. “I’m not paying good money for you to give tours of my building, Mr. Evans.”
Lionel Luthor walked up to the three of them. Dressed in a black business suit, and his neatly, trimmed beard, he seemed to be completely humorous.
“Of course not, Mr. Luthor,” he said. “This here is Jesse Ramirez, the best lawyer on my entire staff.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Luthor,” Jesse said, putting his hand out.
They shook hands.
“Well, I hope Philip’s description of your abilities are not hyperbole, Mr. Ramirez,” he mentions.
“I’ll do my best, Mr. Luthor,” Jesse responded.
“And who is the young lady?” Lionel asked, turning to Isabel.
“That would be Jesse’s beautiful wife, and my daughter, Isabel,” Mr. Evans informed him.
“Congratulations,” Luthor said, with a smile. “Being the president of a family business, I can relate. I simply wish my son was as enthusiastic.”
“Oh, I’m enthusiastic enough,” a voice said from behind them. “My father simply doesn’t like the way I do business.”
They turn around, seeing the twenty-something-young man facing them.
“I’m Lex Luthor”
“Lex, please could you attempt to bury our disagreements in front of business associates,” Lionel muttered.
“Of course, dad” he answered.
He looked at Isabel. A bit longer than she felt comfortable with. There was something…familiar…about him.
Oh well, it was probably just nerves.
Chloe and Liz were in a small room, a glass shield separating them from the hallway outside. They sat at the lower half of a bunk bed, looking down.
Then, they heard the glass door slide open, catching their attention. Someone was coming inside.
Pierce walked inside, pushing Clark in front of him.
“Hello, ladies,” Pierce said, then turned to Clark. “Just what are you?”
Clark stole a look at Chloe, taking a deep breath before turning back to Pierce.
“You know what I am,” he muttered.
In a swift motion, Pierce took out a knife, and struck at Clark with it.
“CLARK!!!” Chloe screamed in horror, jumping forward. Liz grabbed her, holding her back.
Both girls watched in surprise, as the knife shattered into a thousand Pieces. It was over. There was no denying anything now. Everyone in the room knew his secret.
“And the point of that was…?” he asked Pierce, defiantly.
“We know you’re an alien, kid,” Pierce mentioned. “What we don’t know is what kind. You can’t be hurt by anything we have. Your senses are a hundred times what ours are. You’re stronger than anything we’ve ever seen. Even your DNA is unreadable. We can’t even analyze it.”
“Isn’t that a shame?” Clark responded, sarcastically. “Let Chloe go, you don’t need her.”
“She knows about us and about you, alien,” he said.
“My name is Clark!” he spat.
“Because a pair of farmers named you that?” Pierce asked. “You’re not human, why keep up this charade?”
“I’m more human than you’ll ever be,” he whispered.
In rage, Pierce struck him. Wincing in pain, he clutched his now-sore hand. Then he called for the guards.
“Take Ms. Parker to the White Room,” he ordered, and then marched out.
The guards entered the cell, and grabbed Liz by the arms, pulling her away.
“NO!” she yelled, and tried to struggle out of their grips. But it was no use. She couldn’t control her powers, so she couldn’t save herself.
They pulled her out, slamming the door behind them. Clark and Chloe were there now…alone.
An uneasy silence came over the two of them. Both refused to look the other in the eyes.
Finally, Clark spoke up.
“Chloe, I…”
“You’re an alien?” she asked, looking into his crystal-blue eyes. “We’re not talking from another country, are we? We’re talking from another planet, right?”
Clark nodded.
“The meteor shower,” he explained. “My…ship…crashed at the exact same time.”
“And…and I guess you just forgot to tell your best friend about it, huh?” she asked, angry. “Oh, I guess us poor inferior humans aren’t good enough to know the truth.”
“Chloe, no…” he said, his eyes softening. “I didn’t even know myself until my mom and dad told me a few months ago. I didn’t tell you because…I was scared.”
“Scared?” she asked, still mad. “Of what? You…you’re invulnerable.”
“That you’d think I was some sort of monster,” he finally blurted out.
Those words almost shattered Chloe’s heart.
“Chloe, you’re my best friend in the entire world,” he reminded her. “And the though that I might…lose you…because of what I was, it was more than I could bare.”
Chloe didn’t know how to respond to that. So she did the only thing she could do.
She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. After a moment, she finally said something.
“Wait a minute,” she wondered. “Those meteor mutants…did you have something to do with stopping them?”
Clark nodded.
“I fought each and every one of them,” he informed her.
“My god, Smallville’s own personal ‘vampire slayer’,” she said, with a grin.
“No vampires yet, but…” he joked.
Both of them laughed for a moment. It felt good.
“So, you got an escape plan?” she asked.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” he responded. “They’re holding my parents. If I do anything, they’ll kill them.”
Liz sat in a chair, her arms fastened to it with metal bands. She was in the middle of a room with no windows, and only one door. There was a mirror on one side...probably a two-way one.
She knew where she was. She had seen it in Max’s mind.
The White Room.
Liz was trembling inside, terrified. Max had never completely told her what they did to him in here. Not even when they were connected, because his subconscious wouldn’t even let him completely remember. However, she did know that, whatever it was, was so horrible that it traumatized him. Max was one of the strongest people she had ever known, yet even the mention of this place made him as scared as a lost child.
Suddenly, the door opened, and in walked Pierce.
Don’t let on that you’re scared, she though to yourself. If he can see that, he’ll know how to get to you.
Oh god, what was he going to do to her?
“Comfy?” he asked.
Liz mentally recited the periodic table, like she always did when she was scared. It relaxed her.
"Who are you?" she asked. "I know you're not Pierce...he's dead. You just...look like an older him."
"Ah, I see you've met my brother, then?" he asked, bile rising up in his voice.
Brother?
"Yes, he's quite dead," Pierce recalled, hatred in his voice. "It was a tragedy, too. Killed...by an alien. By Max Evans."
"Max never killed anyone," Liz whispered, fear in her eyes. "He would never..."
"Then it was his sister, then," he cut her off. "Or Gurin..."
Without warning, Pierce grabbed Liz's hair and pulled her head backwards.
"Ah..." she yelped.
"What do you want?" she asked, pleading for an answer.
"Simple," he explained. "My brother died because of Max, so I want him...dead!"
Pierce paced around the room, his eyes watching Liz. He was almost like a walking shark.
"There's something else, too," he explained to her after a moment. "Doctor?"
Just then, a doctor walked through the door. It was Liz's...the one she went to when her powers first showed up. Liz's mouth hung open, a look of betrayal apparent in her face.
"Liz...I'm sorry," he said, and handed Pierce a chart.
"Don't judge the doctor too harshly, Ms. Parker," Pierce said. "He was just doing his job. According to these charts, you're human. You're not an alien at all, but you have their powers."
He leaned in close to her, until she could feel his breath on her face.
"Max gave you those powers, didn't he?" he asked. "I want to know how."
Liz kept her mouth clamped shut. It was obvious what he was after now...and she had no intention of letting him have it.
"Do they transfer with a kiss?" he asked. "Blood transfusion? Constant presence? Does it go to his chosen mate?"
Liz still didn't answer.
"The doctor here said you got pretty defensive when he asked if you were sexually active," he mentioned with a grin, touching the side of her face. "Is that how he did it to you?"
v
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she yelled, not thinking.
Pierce backed away from her, still smiling.
"Fine then," he muttered. "I want that power. If you won't tell me how to get it, we'll just have to do this the hard way..."
Almost immediately, five scientists entered the room. One of then checked Liz's pulse, while another rolled up her sleeve.
Panic filled Liz’s mind. She took a deep breath, realizing what they were about to do. A single tear fell down her cheek.
Max...help!
Max. That single thought...that single name...would probably be the only thing that
would help her stay sane for whatever happened next. She watched, terrified, as one
of the scientists filled a syringe with a light-blue liquid.
"You're a scientist, right Liz?" Pierce asked with sinister delight. "Consider yourself an experiment."
Max. Think of Max… That thought kept going through her mind, as the three-inch needle pierced the skin of her arm.
That was when Liz Parker started to scream.
"LIIIIIIZZZZZZ! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Max Evans screamed at the top of his lungs, sitting up in bed. His face was covered in sweat, having just woken up from a nightmare.
"Geez, Maxwell!" Michael said as he ran into the room. "I think the whole neighborhood heard you."
"It was Liz," Max informed him, breathing heavily. "She...she was in pain. It...I know it was my fault. She kept asking me...begging me to save her. But I..."
"Hey," his friend said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, take it easy, Max. It was just a dream, right?"
Max took a deep breath. Yeah, it was a dream. But it had seemed so real. He and Liz…they were in the White Room. Together this time. Pierce was there too…alive. Then he started to…to torture Liz just like he did to him.
“Yeah, you’re right…” Max said, trying to convince himself. “Just a dream.”
If only he knew.
Clark and Chloe still stood together in the cell.
Chloe could hardly believe everything he had told her. Beginning with the meteor rocks, and what they did to him, to when his dad told him where he came from.
It was a lot to take in. To find out that someone you’ve known your entire life wasn’t what they appeared to be.
“Pierce is some sort of alien hunter, then?” Chloe asked. “That’s why he came after you, isn’t it?”
“No,” Clark corrected her. “He was after Liz.”
Chloe stepped back, surprised.
“Liz is an alien, too?” she asked.
“No, but her boyfriend is apparently,” he informed her. “I spoke with him on the phone before Pierce showed up. He sounded…normal.”
“So do you,” Chloe reminded him.
Before either of them could continue, the cell door opened. Then, two guards dragged Liz inside. Her shoulder was bleeding, and she seemed to be weak. As if the guards were the only reason she didn’t crumple to the floor.
Chloe ran over and caught her, just as the guards let her go. They left, letting Chloe bring Liz to the bed.
“What did they do to you?” she asked, worried.
Clark walked up to the two girls, concerned.
“Can you heal it?” Liz asked, her voice ragged.
“Huh?” he asked.
“My shoulder…” she asked again. “Could you use your powers to…?”
Clark sighed, then kneeled down next to her.
“My powers…” he told her. “They don’t work that way. I can’t heal wounds or make pain go away or anything like that.”
Liz sighed. She should have realized that herself. His other powers weren’t like Max’s, so why should he have Max’s healing ability? The truth was that the shoulder didn’t bother her so much. It was the fact that Max wasn’t there. Thinking of him was the only thing that had kept her sane when she was in there.
“Maybe...” Clark said, then ripped the sleeve off his shirt. He wrapped the torn fabric tightly around Liz’s wounded shoulder, and tied it in a knot.
“Here,” he said. “Keep it tight, it’ll stop the bleeding.”
“My god, you ARE a boy scout!” Chloe joked, smirking at him.
“No, I’m a farmer,” Clark corrected his friend. “Dad made sure I knew everything about first aid, just in case anything bad ever happened with the equipment. Not that I’d ever need it myself. But I’m not complaining.”
“Thank you,” Liz whispered.
A moment of silence came upon the three of them. But only a moment…
“Soooo...” Chloe said. “You’re dating an alien, huh?”
“Chloe?!” Clark protested, but it was no use. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t stop until she got some answers.
Liz actually managed to laugh.
“Yeah, you could say that I am.”
“Max has powers, then?” Clark asked her. “Like me?”
“Not like you,” Liz corrected him. “They’re different.”
“In what way?” he continued.
Liz sighed, sitting up.
“I’m going to try something,” she said. “Do you two trust me?”
Clark and Chloe gave each other looks, then turned towards Liz.
“Yeah,” Clark said. “We do.”
Liz put out her hands.
“Give me your hands,” she asked. The two teenagers complied.
“Now I want you to try and blank out your minds,” Liz continued. “Close your eyes…take deep breaths…and concentrate...”
Then it happened...
Clark suddenly found himself in a diner, and saw Liz wearing a waitress uniform. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw two men struggling over a gun…
...a gun that went off, shooting Liz.
The restaurant went into a panic, as things focused on two boys sitting at a nearby table.
"What are you doing? Let go of me."
"Max, what are you gonna do?"
Max...ran over to the wounded Liz...
"Liz, LIZ! You have to look at me. You have to look at me."
The scene quickly changed to a classroom, where Liz and Max are talking.
"Well, I’m not from around here"
"Where are you from?"
Max points up.
Liz just stairs at him than says, "Up north?"
Max then points higher.
"You're not an, a...alien, I mean. Are you?"
Clark felt as if he was living another person’s life in fast-foreword. He saw Max make a connection with her, the same way she was with him and Chloe right now. Then he saw Sheriff Valenti threaten Max...
...her grandmother dying...
...the two of them kissing on her balcony...
Liz walking away from him, tears in her eyes.
"I didn’t do that."
“Please, don’t shut me out...”
I won’t leave...
LIZ: Max, who else knows this?
LIZ: What about your parents?
MAX: We don't tell anyone. We sorta think our lives depend on it.
MAX: Yea.
MAX: It was you.
Clark and Chloe stumbled back once the connection was broken. Each one had a shocked look in their face.
“What did you see?” Liz asked.
“Uh,” Chloe said. “Wow! That was…intense…”
“Yeah,” Clark said. “How…how did you do that? Telepathy or something?”
“No, it’s…hard to explain,” Liz said.
Clark paced around the room for a second, taking it all in.
“I think I got it,” Chloe said. “Basically, your boyfriend is like this…half-human, half-alien combination. And Pierce, who should be dead, is after him.”
“It’s Pierce’s brother,” Liz corrected her. “He told me. He thinks Max killed his brother.”
“Did he?” Clark asked.
“No,” she answered. “No, that was somebody else.”
“Your powers…” he said suddenly. “Max somehow transferred his to you, right?”
“Yeah, but I can’t control them,” she informed him. “Pierce wants to know how I got them, to repeat it on himself.”
“Not a good idea,” Chloe said, worried. “We do not want that loony to have super powers. That’s out of the question. We have to get out of here.”
“If I make a move, they kill my parents,” Clark reminded the two of them.
Pierce walked through the hallway, a smug smile on his face. The thought of that alien bugged him. How dare he think he was ‘human’, anyway? Who would dare talk that way to the FBI.
Of course, he wasn’t FBI. Not anymore, at least. That ended when he threw this job in his bosses’ face, after those idiots in Washington had shut down the special unit. That…shape shifter…who had been posing as his brother helped with that. But he knew…he knew the truth, and he wasn’t going to stand for it.
Luckily for him, his brother had kept notes, and videos, of his mission. Where the White Room was located, their powers, even who the human species traitors were. Just a few dozen other former agents, and he was set.
All he had to do now was get the secret from the girl. Then, when he had the power, he would kill Evans with his bare hands.
The thought quickly left Pierce as he walked past the cell and saw Liz sprawled on the floor.
“SOMEBODY GET A DOCTOR IN HERE!!!” Clark Kent started to yell.
Damn! He pushed those tests too far. He didn’t expect her to...
Pierce quickly opened the cell and ran up to her.
“Just calm down, kid,” he ordered, and kneeled down. Only to see Liz’s eyes wide open. She was conscious?
That’s when he heard footsteps running away from him. The other one...
“CHLOE RUN!” Liz yelled. Pierce hit her, then used his communicator.
“We’ve got an escapee, on sub-level three,” he called. “Human, female. Blonde. Between fifteen and sixteen.”
Don’t think, just run!
That thought kept going through Chloe’s head. She had to get out of there. Otherwise, they’d keep Clark and his parents and Liz as long as they wanted. Then, eventually, kill them.
How long until they found out about the meteor rocks?
She ducked down a side hallway, just as three agents passed by. Taking a deep breath she continued on, until she saw a large grating below her feet.
Either it was the air conditioning, or the sewer.
“Only one way to find out,” she muttered to herself, then opened it up and jumped in.
It was the sewer.
Pierce flung his fist against the plexi-glass door in rage.
“DAMN IT!” he yelled. “I warned you, kid!”
Then he took out his phone.
“The Kents...kill them!” he ordered.
“NO!” Clark yelled.
Using super-speed, Clark ran right up to him, snatching the phone away. Pierce quickly took out his gun.
“I’m betting you aren’t bullet-proof, kid!” he said.
He was wrong, of course. But Clark wasn’t just ready to give him that information yet.
“I could of escaped at any time, but I didn’t,” Clark said, handing him back his phone. “Do you honestly think the police are going to believe a 15-year-old talking about aliens? I’ll tell you this much: if my parents are dead, there is nothing that will stop me from tearing you apart piece by peace”
Pierce smiled, impressed.
“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that,” he said, then turned back on the phone. “Belay that ‘kill’ order, boys. I’ve got something better.”
He turned the gun on Liz.
“Liz, come with me,” he ordered, with a grin.
Liz, not having a choice, followed him out the door.
For a long time, Clark sat there…alone in the cell.
For all his power, he had never felt so helpless. If he wanted to, he could have torn the entire instillation apart with his bare hands, but he couldn’t do anything as long as his parents were in danger. There was only one hope.
Chloe.
“Chloe, please hurry,” he whispered.
Then he heard the screams coming from the hallway…
“RHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”
His fear suddenly became anger.
“You’re not getting away with this, Pierce,” he vowed. “I promise it!”
Chloe had climbed out a drainage pipe just outside of Roswell, New Mexico. Once there, she just kept on running.
She had to get there…fast! There was no telling whether they were still following her or not.
She came to a small city…must be Roswell. Then she ran through the city streets as fast as she could. Panting, scared, desperate…she had to find them.
Then, suddenly, she saw it. The Crashdown Café. Exactly where Liz said it was.
Chloe just hoped she wasn’t too late.
She ran up to the front door…locked! She pounded on it…
“Open up, please…” she yelled. “Somebody help!”
That’s when the door suddenly opened, and a figure looked at her.
“Yeah?” Michael asked her.
Short of breath, Chloe simply stared at the stranger.
“I need to talk to Max Evans,”
Deep underground, Kyle wandered blindly. The tunnel was deep, and had gone on for hours. How deep was it, exactly?
Maybe he should have gone back for the other after all.
Suddenly, he realized something. There shouldn’t have been any light this far underground. Yet, a soft, green glow came from the cave walls. As if illuminated by it’s own unseen energy.
That was crazy, he thought. Walls don’t glow. Rock and dirt don’t have lights.
That’s when he saw it. Just beyond his line of sight, was a large, silver machine. With windows, and a door.
A spaceship.
“Holy!” he whispered. “I really should have went to dad first.”
Kyle
Kyle did a double take. Was someone...calling him?
Kyle Valenti
There it was again. Something he didn’t hear…but felt.
Kyle, please help me.
Reluctantly, Kyle approached the ship.
A few moments later, inside the Crashdown Café.
Chloe sat in a chair, as Jim Valenti brought her a glass of water. The Crashdown was closed for the night, so there was no one else there.
Only Chloe, Jim, Max, and Michael.
She didn’t know what to say. These were perfect strangers…people she had never met in her entire life. Yet, here and now, they were her only hope to save Clark.
And they were Liz’s best friends. She had to remember that.
“Now, what seems to be the trouble?” the former sheriff asked her as she drank.
“I--I need to talk to Max Evans,” she responded, swallowing quickly.
Curious, Max walks up to her, taking the empty glass from her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Liz told me to ask for you.” she told him. “Said you were the only one who could...”
“Liz?” he asked, shocked. “She's here? In Roswell? Where?”
Max could hardly contain his excitement. Liz was back in Roswell? Why wasn’t she there?
“Slow down, Maxwell,” Michael warned him, stepping between Max and Chloe. “The girl looks like she's about to faint.”
Chloe quickly stood up, pushing Michael to the side.
“Could someone tell 'mullet-boy' over there I can talk for myself?” she commented, walking up to Max. “They took her to get to you. They were holding all three of us, god I was so scared. I thought they were going take me in that 'White Room' too.”
When Max heard her words, the glass dropped from his hand and shattered into a thousand fragments. His face turned dead white, a look of absolute horror in his eyes.
The words kept going through his mind like a mantra:
White Room!
WHITE ROOM!
Memories flooded his mind. Pain, questions, torture, searing anguish...
“Max?” Michael asked, going up to him. “MAX?”
Michael shook Max by the shoulder, trying to snap him out of it. Max grabbed his arm, showing that he was all right.
“We have to get her out of there,” he whispered.
Michael nodded, understanding
“Yeah, I know,” his friend answered him. “I'll call Isabel, we'll get there as soon as we…”
“WE HAVE TO GO NOW!!!” Max ordered, cutting him off. “You...you don't know what it was like in there. What...what they did to...to...”
Then, it hit him. With the force of a title wave. Images. Not his own thoughts, but the thoughts of someone else. Reaching out for him. Holding onto him for dear life.
Then came the bloodcurdling scream.
“RRRRHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” the girl’s scream cut through him like a knife. Almost simultaneously, Max screamed himself. Grasping his own head in pain, he collapsed to the floor.
The others all ran up to Max, as Michael helped him up.
“Is he all right?” Chloe asked, concerned.
Max faces Michael, his nose bleeding. Then, though gritted teeth, he said…
“Where...is she...?”
*****************************************************************************************************************
PART 3
Eagle Rock military base.
A pale blue pickup truck pulls up a few feet away, near an open set of drainage pipes leading inside. A small group of people exit, looking down at the sludgy water.
"This is where I came out," Chloe Sullivan told the others. "They lead inside, into a sub basement."
Max Evans, Michael Gurin, and Jim Valenti gather around her.
"Max?" Michael asks his friend, concerned.
“I’m fine,” he replied. “We go in, we get Liz out of there, we get out.”
“Wait!” Chloe warned. “Clark’s in there too. And his parents. They’re going to kill them if anyone escapes.”
“But you escaped?” Valenti asked her.
“I wasn’t that important to them,” she replied. “Get the Kents out first, or they’re dead.”
Max looked down at the water, then took off his jacket and tossed it at Michael.
“Find them,” he said casually. “I’m going after Liz.”
Chloe attempted to stop him.
“Hey, hold on a minute,” she warned. “How’ll you know where she is?”
“I’ll know!” he answered, not facing her.
Then he dove in.
*****
He had to get out of there.
That was the only thing Clark was completely sure of. Pierce was insane, and there was no telling what he was capable of.
No telling whether or not he would even keep his word. For all Clark knew, his parents were already dead.
“Don’t think that way!” he whispered to himself. “Just focus on getting out of here.”
It wasn’t impossible, he knew. If he could get out without anyone knowing that he was gone, his parents would be safe. The old ‘person under the sheets’ trick they used in movies would be too predictable, and he couldn’t just repair broken glass to hide his escape.
But there had to be some way out of there...
Suddenly, the lights went out.
*****
Max had definitely had better days.
He crawled through the drainage pipe on his hands and knees. He couldn’t help but think of that scene in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, when Andy Duphrane was escaping. Though, Max was trying to get in, not out.
Max chuckled at the comparison. If only that character could do what he could. He would have been out a lot sooner.
He came to a clearing in the pipes, where it reached upwards. Exactly like Chloe described it.
I need a plan first, he mentally warned himself.
Of all the times he told off Michael for not thinking ahead, he was just as guilty. It was Liz. The thought of her in that...horror...was more than he could bare. Even so, he knew that he’d be no use to her if he got caught to.
That’s when he noticed something on the side of the pipe. A power outlet box.
Max touched the side of it and used his power.
“I coming, Liz” he said as it shorted out.
*****
“What the hell?!” one of the guards exclaimed as the lights went out. “Power outage?”
“Must be,” his companion answered. “Don’t worry. The generators will kick in after a while. What do you think caused it?”
“I don’t know,” a voice called from the dark. “But their timing is really good.”
Before either guard could answer, something stuck them. With the force of something akin to a hurricane, they fell unconscious on the floor.
Just then, a red light flashed over the entire compound, showing Clark standing over them.
When the lights went out, Clark had just acted. Not wanting to break the glass and let everyone know, he dug his fingers into the metal wall, and pulled the entire glass window out.
For now, no one knew he was out except for the two guards. He had to act fast, and hope Pierce was too busy fixing the power to come check on him.
Clark began to run. At normal speed, of course. Anything faster than human would create a back draft, thereby giving away his location. No, he had to settle this the normal way.
Still, the question remained. Did he go after Liz first...or his parents.
The choice was obvious. He did what his dad would want.
He passed the elevator and continued down the hall.
*****
Unaware of what was going on only three floors below them, Jonathan and Martha were kept in a room. A single guard watching them outside, gun in hand.
“So what’s the deal with this guy Pierce?” Jonathan asked the guard. “And what’s with the lights?”
“Be quiet!” he ordered.
Jonathan sighed, and continued pacing around the room.
“Will you stand still?” the guard asked him.
“Would it be ok if I just continued breathing?” Jonathan asked sarcastically.
Both of them had been stuck there for an unknown amount of time, not even allowed a phone call or to see their son. Truthfully, Jonathan was getting stir crazy, and was spoiling for a fight.
Not that fighting a trained soldier holding a firearm was the smartest decision to make.
In response to his outburst, the guard aimed the weapon at him.
“Would you just shut up?!” he yelled again.
Before he could react, Jonathan grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it aside.
“I’m getting sick and tired of people poking me with guns!” he spat.
Suddenly, the guard heard a voice behind him.
“Hey!”
The guard spun towards the sound of the voice, seeing Michael Gurin standing right there. He panicked, raising his gun.
However, before he could fire, Michael raised his hand. Using his power, he flung the weapon out of the guard’s hand.
Then the guard...fell to the floor?
“You have no idea how good that felt,” Jonathan exclaimed, rubbing his knuckles. “Thanks...whoever you are.”
Behind them, Chloe and Valenti entered the room.
“Chloe!” Martha said, running over to her. “Oh my god, how did you get out?”
“Where’s Clark?” Jonathan asked her in turn. “And who are these people?”
She indicated behind her.
“Michael Gurin, local guy,” Chloe answered. “The other guy’s Jim Valenti, the former sheriff of Roswell.”
Martha raised her eyebrows.
“Roswell?” she asked. “As in New Mexico? We’re in New Mexico?!”
“Come on!” Michael yelled. “We gotta meet up with Max and get out of here.”
Valenti leaned down and picked up the gun from the fallen guard. Then, the five of them started to run down the corridor.
“Who’s Max?” Jonathan asked as they continued to run.
“Liz’s boyfriend,” Chloe answered. “He’s gone after her and Clark.”
“One more question,” he said. “That thing with the gun...how did Michael do that?”
No one answered him.
*****
It just...scared her.
Isabel looked out towards the pool, thinking. The Luthor’s were...well, they were impressive. They had everything: money, power, respect. She thought that she saw an actual Olympic discus.
“Penny for your thoughts, Miss Evans,” Lex called out from behind her.
He walked towards her, a smile on his face.
“It’s Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Luthor,” she reminded him.
“Please, call me Lex,” he asked her.
He moved closer to her, looking deeply into her eyes.
“If it’s all the same, I’d rather not,” Isabel told him, chuckling nervously.
He looked at her, curiously.
“Do I scare you, Isabel?” he asked her. “Because I don’t mean to. You’re just so...intriguing.”
“That coming from the great Lex Luthor?” she asked, mockingly. “I would have thought someone with your power wouldn’t be so humble.”
“That’s the thing about having power, you know?” he mentioned. “You get lonely.”
“Lonely?” she asked.
Lex nodded.
“When you have power, people are either jealous of you, or afraid of you,” he explained. “That sort of makes it hard to get close to people. To have people genuinely care about you without being distracted by what you can do.”
“And what can you do, exactly?” she muttered.
Lex simply smirked, grabbing her by the arm.
“Anything...I...want...”
Then he kissed her.
Almost immediately, Isabel pushed him away. She wiped her mouth off with her jacket sleeve and backed away.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” she exclaimed. “I’m...I’m married to Jessie.”
“Do you think I care?” he asked, suddenly laughing. “You never change, do you Vilandra?”
Isabel froze.
Vilandra?!!!
That was her alien name. The person she was back on Antar. How did Lex know that.
“Who are you?” she asked.
But before she could get an answer, Lex put his hand up. A wave of energy struck Isabel, knocking her to the ground.
“You can’t trick me the same way this time, Isabel,” he said, standing over her. “No pushing me into any more wormholes, got that?”
“Kivar?” she whispered, as a hand grasped onto her head from behind.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Lex, or rather, Kivar responded with a grin. “You remember Nicholas, don’t you?”
That was the last thing she heard before she passed out.
***** Kivar threw Isabel in the back seat of the limo, where Nicholas sat waiting.
“What about the humans?” Nicholas asked. “Won’t they start wondering where she went? Or you for that matter?”
Kivar sighed, and closed the door behind him.
“She wasn’t feeling well, so I had Mercy drive her home,” he explained. “As for me, well, something came up at the plant.”
He smiled smugly. Phase one of the plan was complete. The royal family was strongest when they were together, and he had already taken away one of them. The only one that was important to him.
“You always have a plan, don’t you?” a voice spoke from the driver’s seat. “Well, that didn’t stop them from sending you back last time.”
“I underestimated them,” he admitted to his unseen companion. “These...human bodies. They’re different. They have instincts and reactions that I didn’t expect. It makes them unpredictable.”
“So your solution is to become a human yourself, and not just use one as a vessel, right?” the voice asked again. “They’re weak. The longer you stay as Lex, the more at home you’ll feel.”
“When I want your opinion, I’ll ask,” he spat. “Besides...Lex here is different. He’s...cunning. Ruthless. The power in this body, you wouldn’t believe just by looking at it.”
Nicholas looked over at the driver, then back at Kivar.
“So what’s next?” he asked.
“Simple,” Kivar responded. “We find Max and let him lead us straight to our goal.”
*****
He had absolutely no idea where he was going.
Without a watch, Clark had no way of knowing how long he had been wandering around. The steel walls were like a maze to him. No labels on any doors or anything.
The only hope he had of finding Liz in this place was pure dumb luck.
‘Where’s a spider-sense when you need one’, he thought. Just his luck, because that was the one power he didn’t have.
Then came the sound. His ears focused as the soft patter of rubber against metal sounded. Hardly noticeable to normal ears, but Clark’s super-hearing picked it up instantly.
Someone was coming.
Before Clark could react, a hand reached out from nowhere and rammed him hard against the wall. As it held him there, another hand appeared inches away from his face. A hand which, by the way, started to glow bright green.
At first he panicked. Green usually meant the meteor rocks, but he didn’t feel weak or anything. That’s when the face came into view.
The same face he saw in Liz’s mind.
“I’m going to ask you this once only,” Max ordered. “Where’s Liz?”
Clark knew that, no matter what Max’s powers were, he could probably throw him ten feet before he could even blink. However, Max wasn’t his enemy. On the contrary, he was perhaps the only ally he had right then.
“Max Evans, right?” Clark asked. “We spoke on the phone...”
Max suddenly stopped. Turning off his power, he let go. This was the mysterious ‘friend’ who had contacted him about Liz a few days ago. He must be Clark.
“I thought you were a guard,” Max said, apologizing. “Chloe found us, led us right here. How did you get out?”
“I caught them by surprise,” he admitted. It wasn’t completely a lie. “Mind explaining the glowing hand? Can you make anti-grenade jello too?”
A knot appeared in the pit of Max’s stomach. It didn’t take much to realize that Clark must have seen Liz use her powers. He knew the secret, or at least knew something was wrong.
“You probably have a lot of questions,” Max said in reply. “I’m sorry we had to drag you into this. I’ll explain, but first you have to help me get Liz out of here. Please...you don’t know what these monsters are capable of.”
Clark looked at the look in Max’s eyes. One of desperation.
Little did Max know that he would have helped without asking.
“I think I have the general idea,” he admitted. “Think you can find her?”
Max had a far away look, as he started to walk. It was as if he knew the way by heart.
“Follow me,” he said. “And stay behind me. I can do things that you wouldn’t believe.”
“You’d be surprised,” Clark said, as he followed him.
*****
He felt her.
As Max started to run, he could feel what Liz was feeling. Her terror, her fear...he had to get there.
The same instinct that had been present in his mind since he was at the Crashdown was stronger than ever. It meant they were close by.
Then he heard her scream.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“That was...” Clark started to say, as Max made a beeline for a metal door on the left.
“LIZ!” he yelled, as he tried to open it.
Clark tried to get to the door, attempting to get around the desperate Max.
“It’s locked,” he informed him. “Let me...”
But Max didn’t listen. He simply focused his power on the door, causing it to shake violently.
To anyone else, it would look like him, Michael, and Isabel all had different powers. In truth, they were all the same. However, they chose to concentrate on a certain level that fit them.
One time, a long time ago, Michael had tapped into his anger...transforming it into pure, unrestrained power. Max didn’t realize it, but at that moment, he was channeling that same power...
...and the metal door shattered into a million gray shards in a blast of pure white light.
“Wow!” Clark exclaimed, almost speechless. He had thought that Max’s powers weren’t under his control, like Liz.
Obviously that wasn’t the case.
Max stood, horrified at the sight before him.
Liz was in the center of the room, strapped to a chair. Surrounding her were three men in white coats, holding instruments of some kind.
Her head was held in place, as one of them held her left eyelid open. A needle only inches away from her eye.
“LEAVE...HER...ALONE!!!” he screamed, as pure energy erupted from him. The men were thrown back against the walls, falling unconscious.
Then he ran to her.
“Liz?” he called out. “LIZ?!”
Quickly, he used his power to dissolve the leather bands, freeing her.
Max gazed down at her, horrified at the woman he loved looking so...fragile. Like the slightest wind would shatter her like glass. Her shallow breathing almost made his heart shatter itself.
He saw a tiny stream of blood on her forehead, as her eyes fluttered open to look at him.
"What did they do to you?" he asked, trembling. Max almost sobbed at hearing her voice.
He was so occupied that he didn't notice one of the men from earlier regain consciousness...
"ALIEN SCUM!" he yelled, pulled a revolver from his pocket...then opened fire.
"MAX!" Clark hollered from across the room, and ran towards him.
Max didn't have time to raise his shield. He wasn't fast enough...
...but Clark was.
*****
Clark was always amazed by exactly how fast he was. It reminded him a bit of 'The Matrix'...where Neo was able to dodge those bullets. However, Clark couldn't afford to just 'dodge' it...he had to stop it.
Clark ran at top speed, racing the bullet. Until, finally, he grabbed it out of mid-air when it was only an inch away from the back of Max's head.
Max's eyes went wide in shock, as he stared at the glistening piece of metal in Clark's hand.
"How?" he asked. "How...how did you...?"
Max didn't have time to finish his sentence...
Once again, the bullet flew through the air. Only, this time, Clark was ready for it. He didn't bother trying to 'catch' it this time...that bruised him. Instead, he 'snatched it' out of the air like you would a snowflake.
...and he caught it again.
And again, and again...
The weapon was empty now, leaving the shocked guard speechless.
Clark put up his hand, showing the discharged pieces of metal. Then, in one swift motion, squeezed his hand together. A fine powder fell to the ground.
Then the guard bolted.
"How did you do that?" Max asked, still in shock.
"Hey, those are the perks of alien powers, right?" Clark said, trying to joke.
ALIEN? The word went through Max's mind. This guy...he was an alien too.
"You're an alien?" Max whispered.
"Yeah, don't act so surprised, you are too..." Clark reminded him. "I'll explain later."
They ran out. Hoping to escape before Pierce found them.
*****
The guard’s head rattled as it hit the ground. Not that he didn’t expect it, of course. Pierce wasn’t someone who liked failure.
“How could you let them escape?!” Pierce exclaimed.
“He got the drop of me,” he attempted to answer. “Another alien...a male with brown hair. Grown long.”
“Gurin!” Pierce concluded. “They’re here. Get Parker!”
Over by the intercom, one of the agents turns to Pierce.
“She’s gone,”
“What do you mean Gone?!” Pierce growled.
“Evans showed up,” he replied. “He was with the Kent kid”
“He’s out too?!” Pierce spat.
Then he marched over to the agent, rage in his eyes.
“Ragggghhhh!”
With one punch, he shattered the intercom. Clutching his hand, he turned towards the others.
“Find them!” he ordered. “Find Evans...find Parker...find Gurin...and bring them to me!”
“What about the Kent kid?” one asked, curious.
His face turned suddenly cold.
“Kill him!”
*****
Clark slowed down to normal speed just as he reached the end of the corridor, looking from side to side.
Behind him, Max ran to catch up. He was still cradling Liz gently in his arms.
“Is that the exit?” he asked.
Clark shook his head.
“Another dead end,” he admitted. “Hold on...”
Clark narrowed his eyes and started to concentrate.
“What are you doing?” Max asked.
“Quiet for a moment,” Clark asked him, and then it happened.
Then, he watched as the layers of the wall faded away beneath his gaze. He saw the entire area in outline, various guards reduced to their skeletons. Then, he saw a large open area, with a catwalk above. On the edge of the catwalk was a glowing sign that said ‘exit’.
“Go left,” Clark said, as his vision returned to normal. There’s an open area with a catwalk a few yards away. There’s an exit there.”
“How do you know?” Max asked, as the two of them ran left.
“I can see it,” he answered.
“What, you can see through walls?” Max joked.
Clark’s silence answered for him.
“Super strength, super speed, and now this?” Max asked. “Where are you from? I can’t do anything even remotely like that.”
“Let’s just concentrate on getting out of here first,” Clark told him. “Is she ok?”
Max looked down at Liz’s unconscious face. Instinctively, he touched her face. However, he snapped his hand back when green electricity arched from his fingertips.
Gasping, he turned back towards Clark.
“We have to get her out of here,” he said.
“Come on!” Clark encouraged, as he led the two of them down the corridor.
Max’s mind was still trying to wrap itself around this strange boy who was suddenly stuck in the middle of all this. If he hadn’t been so concerned for Liz’s safety right then, he would probably have panicked.
Another alien? A good one at that. He seemed pretty decent, and he was younger than Max himself by about three years or so. And his powers...they were like nothing he had ever seen before. Were they some untapped power that he, Michael, and Isabel hadn’t discovered yet?
Max’s thoughts quickly forgot themselves as they came to the clearing. In front of them were at least twelve armed guards, all aiming at the three of them.
“Uh oh!” Clark exclaimed, as they raised their weapons.
That’s when Clark realized that it was over. His parents were dead. Who knew, maybe Pierce had lied, and had them killed back in Kansas.
This thought did not last long. For, at that exact moment, a group of five people appeared on the catwalk above.
Chloe was there, with Michael and Valenti...and his parents were there too.
“Come on!” Valenti yelled. “There’s the exit!”
Jonathan looked down, and saw the three teenagers being approached by the guards.
“CLARK!” Jonathan hollered at the top of his lungs.
Hearing the familiar voice, Clark looked up to see his father smiling at him.
A ear-to-ear grin appeared on Clark’s face as he turned towards the guards.
“Sorry guys,” he said. “Ball’s in my court.”
Then he was off.
Laying Liz down on the ground, Max raised one hand in the air, letting his energy shield materialize in front of him. He knew it was only a temporary solution. After all, he couldn’t maintain it indefinitely. However, his first priority was protecting Liz.
When she was safe, however, Max was treated to a different scene entirely.
Clark became a blur, as he charged the dozen guards. The first one fell in under a second, the next two within five seconds. Systematically, Clark attacked each guard one by one.
They shot at him, of course. Even so, he was moving to fast for any of them to get a direct hit.
Clark grabbed one of the guards by the shirt collar as he ran past, and threw the guy at two of his friends. The momentary pause, however, gave one of the others an opening.
He fired. However, the bullet harmlessly ricocheted off Clark’s back. Though, it definitely got his attention.
Clark ran up to his assailant at super speed, and grabbed his weapon from him. In one swift motion, he crushed the gun with his bare hand, and flung the guard behind him with the other. The guard flew ten feet, hitting the opposing wall.
Only two left.
But before Clark could take care of the remaining two, he saw a flash of white light which knocked them to the ground. Looking for the source of it, he saw Michael walking towards him.
“What the hell are you?” Michael asked, looking Clark right in the eyes. “Max, who is this guy?”
Clark looks behind him at Max, who was in the process of removing his shield and picking Liz back up.
“He’s a friend, Michael,” he said.
“Not one I ever met,” Michael argued, but was soon pushed aside by Jonathan, Martha, and Chloe as they ran up to Clark. They were followed by Valenti.
Martha ran up to Clark and threw her arms around him.
“Oh, thank God you’re ok,” she said, hugging him tightly. “Did they hurt you?”
“I’m fine mom,” Clark assured her.
“Oh, how touching!” Pierce’s voice sounded, causing the seven of them to snap to attention.
They saw Pierce, holding a weapon and smiling smugly. There were also a virtual army of agents with him. Not more guards, but FBI agents dressed in black. They circled around the group.
“PIERCE!” Clark yelled. Causing Max, Michael, and Valenti to look at him in shock.
“His brother was the agent Pierce who was after you,” Chloe informed them. “He blames you for his death.”
“Thanks for the introduction, Miss Sullivan,” Pierce replied sarcastically. “Make no mistake, Max...you’re not going to leave this place alive this time around. Payback for murdering my little brother.”
“I’ve never killed anybody,” Max replied innocently.
Michael moved to the front of the group, facing Pierce.
“I did!” he admitted. “You got a vengeance deal, take it up with me. He’s innocent.”
“No one here is innocent, Gurin!” Pierce announced. “You’re either an alien, or guilty of associating with one. Those people are traitors to mankind.”
“Why don’t you drop that gun and come over here?” Jonathan demanded. “Then we’ll see how much of a ‘man’ you are!”
Pierce smiled at Jonathan’s bravado.
“Still, they are human,” he admitted. “I’ll tell you what, Max? I’ll make you a deal: tell me how you transferred your powers to Liz, and I’ll let them go. Even Liz, since she’s not a real alien like yourself. How about it?”
“Don’t do it, Max!” Clark ordered. “He wants those powers for himself. The guy is completely nuts.”
At that comment, Pierce fired his weapon directly at Clark’s heart. He staggered from the impact, but the bullet just fell harmlessly to his feet.”
Pierce’s jaw slowly hung open.
“I...don’t...believe it...” Valenti said in shock. “That’s...that’s impossible.”
“Bullet proof?!” Pierce said in shock. “What does it take to kill you?!”
“More than you’ll ever have!” he replied defiantly.
Pierce pointed at them, causing the other agents to take out their weapons.
“Tell me, Max,” he commanded. “Or I start killing you one by one. I think I’ll start with the former sheriff over there.”
Max heard the various clicking sounds, indicating the weapons were preparing to fire.
“Clark?” he whispered. “That thing you did back in the lab...?”
Clark shook his head.
“Not this many,” he whispered. “And not from this many angles.”
Max didn’t think he could create a shield big enough, either. At least not for too long.
They were finished.
At least they should have been.
Without any warning whatsoever, one of the agents suddenly dropped their weapon. He was followed by the one next to him, and so on. Each one’s pupils became dilated, and their faces became expressionless, as if in some sort of trance. The only one spared this zombie-like state was Pierce.
“HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!” he demanded. “Let them go, or so help me I’ll...”
Pierce was about to fire, only to find a barrel of a gun suddenly pressed against his own neck.
“I wouldn’t!” a voice warned. “Unless you want to be a bloodied corpse in the next ten seconds.”
Pierce looked to the gun’s owner. Holding the weapon was John Jones.
“Hey,” he greeted everyone. “Detective John Jones, Denver PD. Agent Pierce, you have just committed a kidnapping. Add attempted murder to the list as well. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you no longer even work for the bureau, am I right? Impersonating an officer of the law too? Frankly, I’m disappointed.”
Pierce gritted his teeth.
“You did this!” he realized.
“Me?” John asked innocently. “Now, what would a gumshoe like me know about mass hypnosis on this level. Probably something you put in their food by mistake. I’d have the cook look into it.”
He then turned to Max and the others.
“Your truck is parked out front,” he informed them. “Get there as soon as you can. Odds are these people won’t be like this for long.”
With a nod, Max, still carrying Liz, headed for the catwalk and towards the exit. He was followed by everyone in turn.
The last one to leave was John, who kept his gun trained on Pierce until he was at the door.
“Don’t try this again!” John told him, and then left.
The second Jones was out the door, the agent’s eyes returned to normal, as they came to their senses.
“AFTER THEM!” Pierce ordered, as everyone but him ran up the catwalk.
He knew, of course, that they’d be too late. They’d lose them in the desert.
“Damn it!” he muttered, and kicked his gun across the room.
“Feeling pretty pathetic, aren’t we?” a voice called out to him.
“Who’s there?” he asked.
From out of a corner, Lex Luthor appeared.
“Hello agent Pierce,” he greeted him. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”
*****
A blanket of stars was the first thing Liz noticed when her eyes fluttered open. The second thing was a pair of eyes, belonging to a face she knew all too well.
“You’re safe,” Max reassured her. “It’s going to be ok.”
Max looked in her eyes, still cradling her head. She was still so weak from her ordeal in the white room.
She could hardly even move, but managed a small smile.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she whispered, as she cuddled closer to him.
“Always,” he whispered back.
Jonathan looked out the back of the truck as it sped away. He turned back towards the others.
“I think we lost them,” he said. “Just why is an FBI agent trying to kill us?!”
“Former FBI agent, Jonathan,” Jones corrected him, not taking his eyes off the road. “He’s not after you specifically. You just got caught up in a bad situation, and for that I’m sorry.”
“How do you know my name?” he asked.
“Yeah, good question,” Michael mentioned. “How do you know so much about us, and who’s the bullet-proof guy?”
Clark looked at him. From his tone, he could tell that Michael was going to be trouble.
“Just get us somewhere safe,” he asked. “Then I’ll tell you everything.”
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NEXT: Alliances
Where’s Kyle, you ask? We find out in the next chapter, as well as what John Jones is hiding. Plus, a familiar face shows up when Lex Luthor...or rather Kivar...gives Pierce his proposition.
Plus, Kyle’s encounter with the alien spacecraft. Don’t miss it!
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THE SECRET
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me
I'm more than a plane
I'm more than some
Pretty face beside a train
Fall upon my knees
But don't be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
But won't you conceive
And it's not easy to be me
Away, away from me
Well it's all right
Or anything
I'm not that naive
With clouds between their knees
In a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite
On this one way street
In a phony red sheet
Looking for special things
Inside of me
Inside of me
Inside of me
Inside of me
In a phony red sheet
I'm only a man
looking for a dream
in a phony red sheet
and it's not easy
to be...
me...
RETURN TO THE WHITE ROOM
innocent unknowing
promises of a long lost friend
speaks to me of comfort
here in this lonely place
there's nothing I'd like
better than to fall
THE RESCUE
BANG!
BANG!
BANG! BANG!
Click click!