Chapter One: No Longer Alone
A flash of light brought Clark Kent to his senses. The three stones merged together and created one really powerful crystal. And this really powerful crystal created one magnificent Fortress. He looked around and took the first tentative steps inside of the Fortress.
Clark took a look around. Several more miniature crystals jutted out from the wall. Golden symbols lined the walls. He could almost feel new knowledge pouring into his mind.
"Welcome, Kal-El!" the loud voice of Jor-El boomed throughout the Fortress. "You are here, you are ready to face your destiny."
Clark cocked his head to one side. There was this word again, destiny. Jor-El used it liberally and only gave Clark the vaguest hints of what it meant. Then again, Clark's relationship with his Kryptonian father had been a strained one. The artificial construct appeared to be rather unmoved to any and all plight Clark must have felt.
"You have passed the latest trial, and now, the only logical course of action is to allow your training to begin," Jor-El said a few seconds later. Clark frowned when looking in the general direction of the voice. "And given the problems caused by your lack of action in obtaining the stones of power, to create the Crystal of Knowledge, you have triggered the meteor shower."
"Wait a minute, I…"
"Clark!"
Clark's ears perked up at a familiar voice. It had been a half frustrated whisper, sounding hoarse, and weak. Yet, it was strong enough. Clark only had his attention on Jor-El for long enough to see the figure who appeared in the Fortress.
Chloe Sullivan took a couple of steps into the Fortress. She tried to manage a weak smile, but she was not dressed for the Artic. The blue tinge to her skin was not becoming of someone like her. Her eyes flashed over and her body continued to shiver.
"Chloe!" Clark yelled. He took a step towards her. "Chloe….what are you….how did you….?"
Those questions faded out of Clark's mind. Chloe tried to give Clark a reassuring smile. Her smile only reassured him so much when Chloe's next step caused her to collapse onto the cold Arctic. She started to shiver one more time.
"You knew she was here, didn't you?" Clark demanded of Jor-El. His voice grew a bit harsher.
"Yes, Kal-El, I sensed she followed you here, but given she was no immediate threat, I decided it was not prudent to alert you, at least for the moment," Jor-El said. "You allow yourself to be distracted easily. Something which is a failing of your human upbringing. You must understand…"
"She could have frozen to death!" Clark yelled. He balled his fists up to one side. He thought about smashing his hand through the Fortress of Solitude but decided it would not do him any good. He had never been more angered by anything ever in his life. "Can't you do something to warm her up?"
"Yes."
Jor-El's blasé tone caused Clark's temper to reach a fever pitch. His lack of action caused Clark's temper to increased even more.
"Then why don't you do something?" Clark asked. He took a second to hitch in his breath. "Why don't you do something to warm her up?"
A bright orange light started to flash into the Fortress of Solitude. It hit Chloe for a moment and caused her to rise up from her knees. The light remained in the Fortress.
'Guess I didn't feel anything because the cold didn't bother me.'
Clark turned his attention towards his best friend. She looked at him, shaking off the feeling of near hypothermia and now was back to her normally bubbly self.
"Chloe?" Clark asked.
"Mmm."
"There's…there's….."
"Clark, relax," Chloe said, cutting off his words. She raised her fingers and pressed them up against his lips to stop him. The two of them shared a smile with each other. "I know your secret….the only thing I'm pissed off about is the fact I didn't put two and two together sooner. Some budding reporter I turned out to be, huh?"
Clark responded with a smile at Chloe.
"And this is amazing!" Chloe exclaimed. She took a good work around "All this…it's….just wow!"
Clark almost could have broken out of laughter. Chloe looked like a sugar-starved kid in a candy store right about now.
"It has the knowledge of the twenty-eight galaxies, well the known ones anyway," Clark said. He looked in Chloe's eyes with a half teasing expression. "So, yes, I would have to say that's pretty amazing."
Chloe shook her head. She was pretty sure Clark was engaging in a little light-hearted teasing with her. She leaned closer towards him, the smile on her face gaining in greater prominence.
"I just can't believe this…this is…"
"You should not be here," the voice of Jor-El boomed.
Clark could have thrown his head back in one of the most prominent sighs ever. Leave it to his biological father to ruin any potential moment he might have had. He saw the look on Chloe's face who frowned deeper than ever before and knew there was going to be trouble.
"And you are?" Chloe asked.
"My name is Jor-El, I am the father of Kal-El," Jor-El said.
Chloe had been confused for only a few seconds before her sharp mind managed to put two and two together.
"Right, Clark's real name is Kal-El, and you're his father, of course, you are," Chloe said a few seconds later. "But, I don't think…."
"Jor-El, allow me to return Chloe to Smallville," Clark said.
A long pause followed and Chloe folded her arms. She wondered if Jor-El had these controlling freak tendencies when he was alive. Of course, it was hard to judge someone from their AI.
'For all I know, he could be the Windows ME of AI,' Chloe thought to herself.
"Very well, but remember, you are to return to the Fortress to begin your training before sundown," Jor-El said. "Or there will be dire consequences."
Chloe didn't wait for Clark to tell her to leave. She was perfectly capable of stepping outside. Chloe walked outside and she had been submerged into her own thoughts.
The moment the stones had been merged, she saw a flash of something. She touched one of them, trying to keep it away from Lex. Chloe experienced some weird flashes, a planet being destroyed, blown up, and a rocket flying off of it. There were some weird flashes like she was a spectator.
"Clark, there's something weird about those stones," Chloe said. Clark raised an eyebrow and offered her the chance to continue. So she did, taking a deep breath. "When I touched one of them...I saw a flash of a planet blowing up."
Clark hung his head somberly. While he never knew the planet in question, he experienced the sense of loss behind it.
"Krypton," Clark muttered underneath his breath. Chloe craned her neck. "The planet I was from before all of this happened before….and you know."
"I've known for a long time," Chloe said. "But don't worry, I'm not going to start spouting off to anyone in town about the great secret I know. Because, if I'm honest, how many people are going to even believe me?"
'Better not worry him too much how close to death I was,' Chloe thought to herself. 'Or the fact I can understand alien writings which I couldn't a day ago.'
Something else clicked in Chloe's mind and she needed to remind him of something.
"Oh, and before I forget, I left Lex Luthor unconscious in the Kawatchee Cave," Chloe said. Clark gave one Spock-like raised eyebrow towards her. "Don't look at me, he was after one of those stones….you know someday his curiosity about you is going to get the better of him."
Clark answered with a sigh. He knew all too well about that particular quality of Lex.
Clark returned back to Smallville. He had brought Chloe up to speed about as much as possible before they landed back in town. Chloe tried to take things in stride about as much as she could, although there were a couple of questions which entered her mind.
"So, the second Meteor Shower?" Chloe asked. "Do you think there's going to be a similar fallout like the first one?"
Clark looked back at Chloe and the grimace on his face made Chloe think she might have opened a couple of obvious wounds. She fully appreciated how many times Clark had been there for her, along with Lana, and several others when the meteor freaks attacked. Chloe thought Clark may have felt a sense of duty given the meteors came down when he was brought here.
'Psycho-analyzing your best friend, not exactly the healthiest thing in the world, is it' Chloe asked.
She could see Clark looking off in the distance. Chloe grabbed Clark on the shoulder gently and made him turn around towards her.
"Sorry, but you looked like you were a million miles away," Chloe said. "You know, back on Krypton….yeah that might have been more than a million miles away, but you know…"
Her voice trailed off suddenly and the most sheepish of sheepish grins popped on Chloe's face.
"It's just…my parents were here, and Lana and Lois and everyone else, I'm just worried what might have happened to them," Clark said.
Chloe looked up and could see they had been gone for a long time. And to think just this morning, Graduation was the only thing on their minds. And the rest of their lives, and now the rest of their lives changed.
"Um, you might not want to go down there," Chloe said grabbing Clark's arm. "Looks like Kryptonite Central from here, doesn't it?"
Clark nodded, but he could hear something off to the side. A pair of whooshes and then the screams of people panicking, very obvious and very painful panicking.
He noticed two figures who were flying and they were looking for something. One of them was a broad shouldered dark skinned gentleman with a rather determined look on his face. The other was an attractive brunette woman with a toned figure who looked even more determined than her male companion. Both of them looked ready to get down to business and put a hurting on someone.
"Clark?" Chloe asked. "Who are these…."
"They're Kryptonian," Clark said a few seconds later. He took only the merest moment to regain his bearings. "Go….get to Lois, Lana, and my parents…I'll deal with them."
Chloe didn't even protest. She only had one thing to say, especially given they were terrorizing people.
"Go kick their asses."
Clark fully intended to try, although these particular individuals looked to be pretty formidable. He made his way over towards them and landed in front of them.
Both of the individuals turned towards Clark. The man's face finally showed emotion, with a smile, although not the smile anyone wanted to see if they wanted to have happy times.
"Finally," he said. "You can only be one person. You can only be Kal-El, the son of Jor-El."
Clark matched his matter of fact tone with his response. "So, you know who I am. You are from Krypton, aren't you?"
"Yes," the man said. "We managed to flee before the planet could meet its final destruction. But while the planet has died, the spirit will live on. There will be a bold new Krypton."
Clark could tell already these two were going to be some trouble. He looked towards them and braced himself for a battle.
"My name is Nam-Ek, and she is Aethyr," the man said. "And we are here to bring back the true leader of Krypton, and we will do so through any means necessary."
Clark could tell straight away these two were not of the friendly sort.
"Join us," Aethyr said in a creepy monotone. "Or perish."
Nam-Ek offered his hand to Clark. Clark extended his hand to grab the hand of the invader for a brief second, it looked like he was going to join them.
Clark used a swift leverage move to hurl Nam-Ek over and cause him to land down onto the ground. The Kryptonian Survivor hit the ground with a grimace.
"You'll pay for that!"
The woman charged him and nailed him with a swift kick in mid-air before Clark had a chance to blink. He fell back into the ground, bleeding from the mouth.
"We offered you friendship," Nam-Ek said. "But, considering you prefer to be in the league with these humans, then decimation is the only option."
Clark tried to nail him with a punch. Nam-Ek moved out of the way and used Clark's superior speed against him. Nam-Ek grabbed Clark around the arms and hooked him in a full nelson. Clark managed to break free of the hold by jumping into the air. He landed down onto the ground.
Aethyr rushed over and Clark just narrowly avoided a kick to the face. He avoided a couple more and grabbed the woman by the hair. He flipped her to the ground. The woman landed on her feet.
Clark channeled his heat vision in an attempt to deter her from a further attack. She used her hand to block it and slammed it back into his face. His eyeballs began to sting from the backfire of the attack when she brought her feet down onto him.
"On the ground, just like a human loving worm such as yourself belongs."
Nam-Ek grabbed Clark by the scruff of the neck and hurled him down to the ground. He moved forward and Clark rolled back a second.
Clark made his way over and could feel the sting of the Kryptonite washing over him. The radiation caused him to hunch over.
The two Kryptonian soldiers stepped forward and suddenly, they experienced the same problem Clark did with the Kryptonite hunching them over. Clark responded with a smile, staggering a bit, but not as bad as they did. Constant exposure over the past few years caused Clark not to be affected as much by the Kryptonite as those two.
"Very clever, son of Jor-El, but….we have an advantage you lack," Nam-Ek said. He activated a shield on his outfit. "Do you really think an advanced race would not have radiation shielding?"
Aethyr did the very same thing. Clark swung his fist forward, but she blocked it and kept nailing him before throwing him halfway across. Clark flew into the pavement with a thud, cracking against the concrete.
Clark rolled to his feet and saw Nam-Ek coming. He recovered from the latest beating, realizing now he dealt with trained soldiers who were toying with him and could kill him at any time.
A bright light brought a figure in greater prominence. This particular woman's golden blonde hair flipped against her face. Her white regal robes clung to her supple and toned flesh. The top of it veered down to show a tiny bit of cleavage and the bottoms of it came open a bit to show her supple and well-toned thighs. Given the circumstances which she had been in, the traveler thought she could have been a lot worse off. On her robes, a blue "S" symbol flashed onto them.
A few scattered memories came to the girl's mind when she regained her bearings. She reached towards her ring finger to touch it, feeling it. The girl frowned and abandoned the pursuit of feeling around her ring finger.
A flash of green caused her to take a couple of staggering steps. The girl's breath continued in a very ragged manner. Annoyed, the blonde visitor pushed a button on the band and caused a flash of light to appear around her. The shield blocked the harmful radiation from making her sick.
'The perks of being part of part of an advanced race,' she thought with a smile creeping out from the corners of her lips. The girl surveyed the damage around her and it had not been pretty. 'I just hoped I'm not too late...Mother warned me of the Meteors. And if they're here, Kal-El made it to Earth.'
The visitor craned her neck from one side to the other, before her focus fell upon someone walking up the road. She put herself on high alert, not wanting to be seen by anyone, especially the military of this world. Another thing her mother warned her about on the way here.
Unless the military employed shell-shocked teenage females, no immediate danger existed now. The visitor's eyes fell upon the dark haired female. Attractive, even with her dishelmed appearance, the woman stumbled all the way up the road. Her pant leg ripped with some scrapes and cuts, and her face looked rather worn.
The visitor's eyes fell upon a very familiar looking black ship. She walked towards the shell-shocked woman and gripped her hand gently, but a bit firm as well.
"Did anyone come from that ship?" the visitor asked. The woman looked at her with a frown, and the visitor had to repeat her question in a more concise manner. "Did anyone come from the ship?"
The woman's head responded with a firm nod.
"A man….and a woman….they could both fly," the dark haired woman said. She slumped forward for a moment, forced to grab onto a tree to keep herself upright. "They were looking for something…..maybe someone….it all happened so fast…..they didn't…."
The visitor only had one word for this particular woman.
"Run."
The visitor departed after a few seconds. A very distressed and still very dazed Lana Lang staggered a bit, wondering if she could run at this moment. She still had to spend a lot of time trying to process the situation around her.
"Lana!"
Lana looked over and breathed a sigh of relief. She saw Chloe running up the road. Her friend walked over towards her and grabbed Lana so she could be propped up.
"Thank Rao, I found you," Chloe muttered.
Lana blinked and had been caught off guard by what Chloe said. Then again, she might have been hearing things because everything happened so fast.
"Thank Rao?" Lana asked.
"Thank…..God, I meant," Chloe said a couple of seconds later. "It's been a long day….and I need to get you out of here because…."
"Flying man and woman, they came out of the ship, I know, I saw them, don't know if they saw me, though," Lana said. She allowed herself a moment to catch her bearings and sigh. "I'm not sure if they even cared enough to see me."
Lana allowed Chloe to lead her up the road, hopefully as far away from the ship as humanly possible.
"Why does all the weird stuff always happen to us?" Lana asked before she could help herself.
"I don't know," Chloe said. "Just lucky I guess."
Lana broke out into a smile. "Yeah, lucky's really the word to use for this."
The two of them made their way up the road. Chloe tried not to look back to see where Clark had ended up.
Clark swung his fist in an arching punch towards his adversary. Nam-Ek blocked the fist and he brought him down onto the ground again. The large soldier grabbed his arms around Clark's neck and wrapped him into a head vice, threatening to crush his head or snap his neck. He could have done so easily, and he didn't even need Kryptonian powers to do so.
"You do have raw potential," Nam-Ek said. "But your abilities lack much….but we can fix that."
"The General will be pleased with the vessel we have selected for his grand return."
Clark's head started to swim.
"The General…what are you….."
"Jor-El has left his spawn quite ignorant," Nam-Ek said. "I have to say there will be no waste when your mind is locked away and General Zod uses your body to bring about a new Krypton. No one can stop it."
Clark broke Nam-Ek's grip, causing him to fly backward into his companion. Aethyr and Nam-Ek hurled down to the ground.
"Enough charades, the game ends….."
A blur came from the East and nailed Nam-Ek with an uppercut punch to the jaw mid-sentence. He flew back a few inches and knocked him down to the ground.
Clark surveyed his eyes skyward. His mouth opened up. It was not a bird, it was not a plane, it was a flying girl.
Aethyr's eyes bugged out the second she came across the new party to the game. She reached into her uniform and pulled out a knife. The girl dodged the thrown knife before it spiked through her.
"You'll wish you never survived Krypton, traitor!" the Kryptonian survivor said. "Given the role she played in the defeat our leader, the daughter of A….."
Aethyr's sentence had been cut short by Clark rising from the ground and nailing her from the side. The soldier dropped to the ground and did a duck and role. She tried to reclaim her knife. Clark knocked it from her hand.
Nam-Ek made his attempt to get back into the battle. The visitor rushed towards him and pulled a purple ring from his belt, ripping it from his being. The dark-skinned soldier's eyes almost burst out in surprise and he looked towards the blonde.
"Stop, you don't know what you're doing…"
"No, "she said. "I know exactly what I'm doing."
She configured the Phantom Zone singularity and caused a flash of light. She reached over and grabbed the young man who had been bravely, if foolishly, fighting the two Kryptonian rebels. The two of them flew off to one side, away from the pull of the portal.
They watched the two Kryptonian rebels being sucked through the portal all the way to parts unknown. The flash of light resulted in a messy ending for both of them.
Clark turned his attention towards the mysterious blonde who had caught the purple ring in her hand. She looked at it with a frown.
"Thank you….umm," Clark said. "Just thank you, whoever you are."
"It was necessary," she responded with a smile. "They could have put you and the other people here in grave danger. It was lucky I arrived when I did, or things might have ended up a lot worse."
To her statement, Clark had little doubt at all she was telling the truth. The woman reached into the edge of her robe and retracted a purple crystal.
Clark watched the frown deepen on her face. He reached over and grabbed her shoulder to try and steer her to face him.
"What's wrong?" Clark asked her.
"Something is wrong, this crystal isn't properly calibrated," she said. "Mother assured me it would lead me directly to Kal-El."
Clark only responded with a smile and the attractive blonde frowned.
'Could it be?'
"Yes, I was born Kal-El, it's a pleasure to meet you….so I take it you're another survivor from Krypton."
If it wasn't unbecoming of someone of her stature, she would have done a dance.
"Yes," she responded. "My name is Kara Zor-El, I'm your cousin from Krypton."
Chapter Two: Glitch in the AI Matrix
Taking in the events of the last couple of days were enough to make anyone's head a little bit sore. Clark
thought he managed to take them in about as well as one could expect given the circumstances, at least to the best of his abilities. From Graduation to his world being changed, finding some Krypton survivors, a couple of them wanting to kill him and one trying to save him, everything just went through Clark's mind rather quickly.
To be honest, he had been through a whole lot during his life. And even after these events, Clark still spent some time taking it all in.
Clark looked at Kara for a couple of seconds. She claimed to be his cousin, and Clark was inclined to believe it. Cousin or not, though, she was extremely attractive, and Clark found himself looking at her time and time again, almost as if his eyes had been drawn to her by some kind of magnetic force.
Most of the other Kryptonians he met tried to either kill or manipulate him.
'Focus,' Clark said. 'No matter how hot she is, you can't get in bed with your cousin.'
Clark shook his head; a small voice which sounded like what got brought out by Red Kryptonite when he ran into the stuff asked why couldn't he? Is it because society told him he couldn't be with Kara? Society was the type of thing which would frown on him being an alien, to begin with. So Clark wasn't so inclined on following society's whims.
'If you can't take control of your own life, then how can you expect to stand up to anyone who is going to put your friends in danger?'
He had something more important to deal with. His parents had been unaccounted for.
Clark stepped back for a second. He had to be careful. A new wave of Kryptonite fell from the sky. Every time he got close to a rock, he instinctively shuddered. Something Kara picked up on straight away and frowned about and she moved over to the side to survey him in the most curious of ways.
"You keep flinching every time you see a green rock."
Kara spoke in the most matter of fact voice. She reached over and grabbed Clark by the hand. Her extremely soft fingers wrapped around his rugged ones.
"There, this should help you," Kara said.
"You know the rocks make me extremely sick," Clark said.
Kara paused and nodded in understanding.
"Yes, I'm aware, but with the proper radiation shielding, they shouldn't have been a problem," Kara said. She eyed Clark and looked him over, her bright blue eyes burning into his. "I don't understand, this is one of the things Lara should have done with you when she started your training."
Clark had been taken off guard because of this statement. Kara noticed him and frowned.
"She did start your training, didn't she?"
Confusion hit one Clark Kent fast and hard, but he didn't have any time to register any confusion. They had reached the Kent Farmhouse and they had seen it toppled over. Clark's heart started to race and a feeling of mortal dread passed through his body.
"Mom, Dad!" Clark yelled at the top of his lungs. "Pa, are you….."
He saw a pair of boots sticking out from underneath the collapsed Farmhouse, and Clark's heart sank a small amount. He had been so busy dealing with other things, he neglected his parents.
"Clark, we're over here."
The voice of Martha Kent directed Clark over in her general direction. Her face looked bruised, cut up, but for the most part, she was in good spirits, or at least she was in better spirits than someone in her position should have been. Then again, both of his parents were always strong.
It was how they had to deal with the challenges of raising a son like Clark.
"Yeah….we barely managed to get out," Jonathan said. "The second time we just barely avoided being hit….guess we got luck on our side when it comes to meteor showers."
Jonathan limped around, leg looking a bit crooked when he did. His breath looked a bit ragged when he tried to walk forward.
"We better find a place for you to sit down," Clark said. "With your heart, it's really not….."
"Clark, I'm fine."
Martha looked towards her husband with a frown. Jonathan sighed, knowing this argument was not one he was going to win.
"He's right, you know."
Jonathan shook his head. He didn't really need two people mother-henning him today, he was fine. A bit beaten up, a bit bruised, a bit battered, but you know what, he was fine.
"We're good….not sure about Teague…he was in the house, and he threatened us, wanted us to hand over the stones," Jonathan said. "And that's when the Meteor Shower hit."
The young man looked towards the house. His parents surviving was lucky enough.
"There shouldn't be any way he should have survived that."
Clark came up with two possibilities. First, Jason Teague was killed and there weren't that many remains. Second, he did survive, and the meteor shower gifted him with abilities, which given his suspect mental state towards the end, it didn't really fill Clark with many thoughts of happiness and joy.
'Wouldn't hurt to have a look around, to see what's going on.'
Clark did have a look around to see if he could find anything. A bit of sleuthing lead to him finding the burned out, charred body of one Jason Teague lying underneath the rubble. It was a grisly end to be certain. Jason ended up getting hit with the same mania of his mother.
'Well, that's the end of him.'
The young Kryptonian turned towards his parents. They were looking at Kara curiously. Martha finally was the one to speak up.
"Clark who is….."
"She's Kara, my cousin…she arrived to help me deal with a problem with the meteor shower," Clark said.
A moment passed while the two Kents looked from Clark to Kara. Clark understood in an instant why his parents were acting like they did.
"Last year, another girl who called herself Kara showed up at my doorstep claiming to be from Krypton," Clark explained to Kara. "And….well she was an Earth Girl had been given powers and brainwashed by Jor-El to do his bidding…to trick me into…beginning my training to get the stones, and create the Crystal, create the Fortress."
Kara took this in stride as much as she could. She only responded with a swift nod externally. Internally, she fumed about as much as the next person about Jor-El using her name to manipulate her cousin. There was no question in her mind. He used the other method to configure his AI, the one which her mother warned him not to use. It had made him only bound to a certain logic, which was the same logic which the council doomed Krypton.
Almost alarming how Jor-El ended up being the same thing which he crusaded tirelessly against.
"It's sunset," Clark said. "I need to get back to the Fortress, now."
Clark tried to speed off, but he only made it about ten yards before collapsing on the ground like a puppet cutting his strings. Kara rushed over and bent down, his parents not too far behind.
"Kal, what happened?" Kara asked.
Kara extended a hand and assisted Clark in getting to his feet.
"I didn't return to the Fortress…..Jor-El said there would be consequences," Clark said.
"He removed your powers," Kara said.
Her voice sounded soft but rather deadly. Clark could see something flashing through her eyes, very intense, and very angry.
"There he goes again, playing God," Jonathan said. He stood up straight. "Why don't you take me to him, and we can sort this all out….."
"No, that wouldn't be a good idea," Kara said wiping the sweat from her brow.
She didn't understand how this could have gone so wrong. She was supposed to come out of the ship when Kal-El was fourteen years old. Yet, she didn't make it out until he was an adult by Earth standards. And Lara was supposed to begin his training before them. Jor-El would offer education on certain aspects of his heritage, but Lara was supposed to be the guiding light.
It was for the best to balance out some of Jor-El's worse tendencies. Kara had no question about it, something had gone completely wrong.
'Time to figure out what,' she thought.
Kara had a feeling some puzzle piece missed from the entire mess as well. Her memories weren't exactly solid after coming out of her vessel.
Lana still couldn't believe what she saw. Years in Smallville should have prepared her for the very worst. And she seemed to be in the center of it more often than not, from the meteor shower onwards. There were times where Lana almost entered the possibility she had been infected by the same meteors which had killed her parents. Which drew these strange people to her, but she shook her head, trying not to go down this particular road.
Regardless, the dark haired girl shook her head.
'And here I was preparing for the rest of my life, and my life almost ended in an instant,' Lana thought. 'And Clark…..what happened to him…..I swear the oddness follows him around just as much….even more than I do….it's really strange. And he opens up about as well as a safe which has been welded shut.'
Bad analogy or not, Lana didn't know what to make of this. The two of them were sitting at the table, with Chloe bringing Lana a cup of coffee. She set it down on the table.
"Thanks."
"Figured you could use something to pick up your mood."
Lana shifted off with a smile. She took the cup of coffee with a calm smile on her face.
"I wouldn't say no to something a bit stronger if you had it," Lana said. Regardless, though, she took the cup of coffee and drank it. Mind numbing caffeine resulted in everything falling into an even perspective. Lana continued to drink it, taking in every single last drop up of the coffee.
Chloe raised an eyebrow when considering Lana. She was glad Lana was fine. She worried about Clark.
'It's good you've been there for him for so long.'
Those weird thoughts continued. She had been receiving them ever since touching the stone. Chloe wondered if it was just the stress of the day getting to her, or something else entirely. Maybe the stress of living for Smallville for years finally caused her to crack.
'One meteor mutant too many,' Chloe thought. 'I need a vacation….maybe on a tropical island out in the middle of nowhere.'
Chloe realized perhaps a second too late how Lana stared across the table at her and frowned.
"Chloe?" Lana asked. She raised her fingers and started to snap them. They just barely brought Chloe out of her thoughts.
"Yeah, Lana?"
"You looked like you were off in a distinct galaxy."
Given some of the flashes Chloe saw after touching the stone, and things which were still coming into her mind, Lana really did hit the nail on the head, in a roundabout way, at least what Chloe figured. She tapped a finger underneath her chin.
"Just thinking about everything which has gone on, well since I've been here," Chloe said. "Do you ever wonder what would have been…if Clark hadn't been around?"
Lana took a moment to consider what Chloe said before deciding she really didn't want to.
"Life would be...I don't know," Lana said. "I don't know what to think about it…what brought that up anyway?"
The thought sounded so awful, Lana didn't understand why Chloe of all people would bring up this particular point. It sounded, well she knew what it sounded like, it didn't sound very good, not at all.
"Just thinking, you know," Chloe said. She leaned closer towards Lana, her smile growing sharper.
'You were there just as much for him, as he was for you, and you should be commended for it, and you will get rewarded.'
The voice which sounded unlike anything Chloe had ever heard chimed off again. She was afraid to respond to it to be perfectly honest, because responding to the voices in your head was confirmation of insanity, at least in Chloe's book. She would get over it, maybe, she would recover from it, eventually.
Funnily enough, her voices never did sound that conceited.
"To be fair, I do that a lot too," Lana said.
Lana tried not to get hung up on what might have been. It was a bad thing. Maybe life would have been a lot easier if her parents had been around.
The phone rang and Chloe picked it up.
"Hey….yeah, Lois…..don't worry, Lana and I are safe….yes, I'm sure Clark's fine as well….the Kents...I don't know…but I'm sure they're okay….oh don't let him get under your skin...talk to you later…yeah, I'm up at the Talon, stop by."
A long pause followed when Chloe hung up the phone. She felt like her ear had been running a marathon. Lana snickered from the other end of the table until Chloe turned towards her.
"What's so funny?" Chloe asked.
"Well, I think you can appreciate how people feel like when you're amped up," Lana said.
Chloe could have scowled, but she figured Lana was right. She could get a bit hyperactive and excited sometimes.
The moment Kara stepped into the Fortress of Solitude, she almost scoffed. Yes, this is exactly what she expected it to be. It was devoid of any life or warmth whatsoever. Fitting given Jor-El put it on one of the coldest and most desolate places on Earth.
'Practical, but not exactly inviting,' Kara thought.
She reminded herself, the Jor-El she knew alive was a brilliant scientist, but he could have some odd quirks. And apparently, one was building an AI who expected compliance and when he didn't get his way, he acted like a small child who had his favorite toy being taken away.
"Jor-El!" Kara yelled at the top of her lungs. "I know you're here…..I need to speak to you...Kal-El needs to speak to you….don't you ignore me!"
A longer pause made Kara wonder if she was going to have to start tearing into the Fortress.
"I had given Kal-El a directive to return to this Fortress by the end of the day," Jor-El said. "And you shouldn't have been here….and you shouldn't get involved with him."
"Oh, I'm glad you remember me," Kara said. Her cheeks had gotten red and fists curled up to the side. It took every bit of self-control he could must not to smash the Fortress into pieces. "Then again, you thought enough of me to use my name and likely imprinted a part of my personality on one of your puppets, to lure Clark here."
She waited for whatever excuse Jor-El had to justify his behavior this time.
"It was necessary to ensure compliance."
Kara counted to ten in her head while holding her breath.
"Compliance, funny word, makes you sound like a certain General we all know too well, doesn't it?" Kara asked.
Clark knew this was about to take a turn for the ugly, really quick. He decided to step in before things took a turn for the worst.
"Is it true my mother was supposed to undertake my training when I turned fourteen?"
A long pause followed in the area. Kara moved over to the control panel. If Jor-El wanted to play this game, she could play it as well.
"Yes."
The word had been so matter of fact, so much of an afterthought, that it caused Clark's head to spin. He had an obvious follow-up question to it.
"Then why didn't she?"
"Lara's system could not be accessed, and it was unwise to stall with your training, so I took the necessary actions," Jor-El said. "But, I must warn you about Kara."
Kara almost stopped what she was doing to listen. Oh boy, here he went, Kara figured out which direction he was going.
"Given the bloodline on her mother's side of the family, you cannot trust her," Jor-El said. "I'm only acting in your best interests, to ensure you achieve your destiny. But she isn't…she isn't even telling you the full truth of who she is."
Those comments rang in Clark's ears, but at the same time, he couldn't believe them. They were very unbelievable as a matter of fact.
"Pretty interesting coming from someone who had to manipulate me every step of the way over the past couple of years," Clark said. "Did you really think I would ever take anything you said at face value after what you pulled in the cave last year?"
Jor-El's AI didn't miss a beat.
"Yet, I had proven given your inability to procure the stones caused chaos, and could have led to the decimation of countless lives. The consequences of your inaction will doom this planet, Kal-El."
Kara could see this argument going back and forth for a very long time. She finished bypassing Jor-El's security protocols and accessed the system. She scanned for any trace, any hint of Lara inside the system so she could put her up.
"You lying piece of…."
"Kara?" Clark asked.
"There's no hint of Lara in this system at all," Kara said. Her hands found their way towards her hips and she stared at Jor-El's main matrix crystal, the closest thing she could do staring him in the eyes. "Did you delete your wife from the system, you poor excuse…"
"I have no idea what happened," Jor-El said. "But, I can assure you, I did not go as far to delete my wife's artificial construct from the system."
"Well, time to fix….."
"I must discourage you from what you're doing…."
Kara already started to remove crystals. She learned how to rewire these things at a very young age, and Jor-El's attitude, and what he already did to Kal put her in a foul mood.
Clark watched Kara, mouth hanging slightly open. He had never seen someone so pissed before and she ripped out one of the larger crystals before crushing it in her hand.
"What did…um…what did you do?" Clark asked.
"I removed the personality matrix from Jor-El," Kara said.
The words "personality" and "Jor-El" just didn't mix in Clark's mind.
"He didn't seem to have much of a personality, to begin with," Clark said a second later. Kara looked back at him for a long moment, but she was smiling.
"Yes, he didn't," Kara agreed. "He used his own form of AI construction, which has a few flaws….and wasn't exactly the best way of going about things. He thought his emotion would be a burden….like the Council did…the same….pigheaded notion which led to Krypton's demise. If he had been upfront with you, you wouldn't be so behind in your development."
Clark raised an eyebrow for a moment. There was a multitude of protests coming through his mind. Kara's hand once again found its way intertwined in his. Clark wasn't going to lie, it gave him strength enough.
"All of the programs are there, all of the information, except for Lara," Kara said. "And don't worry, there has to be a way of restoring her, and I'll find her….but we are five years behind on your training…..but at least your powers have been restored."
Clark could feel it even without Kara's confirmation of his powers being restored. It did feel rather good to be back on track if he was perfectly honest.
Something hit him, though. He knew believing Jor-El at face value would have been pretty foolish at this particular point. Yet something hit Clark hard, and he couldn't just shake it off.
"Jor-El mentioned something about your bloodline…"
"My aunt," Kara said without missing a beat. "She was sent to the Phantom Zone after an assassination plot and attempted hostile takeover on the Council had gone wrong. She had seen the same things like your father did. She believed Krypton was dying….she just decided to go about it in a different, and less…passive way."
Clark swallowed for a second. He could tell Kara was upset and he opened his mouth to apologize bringing it up. Kara stopped him by holding up a hand.
"No," Kara said. She leaned closer until she and Clark were face to face. "You have to know everything…and there're some parts of it I don't know….but I do know one thing. The Council was so vindictive they made my mother sentence her own twin sister to the Phantom Zone….she needed help….something at the battle of Kandor changed her….made her a bit more….trigger happy."
And shortly after, Kandor vanished. It showed that everything ended up for nothing.
Clark wrapped his arm around Kara, the gesture of which she appreciated. Her hair flipped over from her face.
"I suppose it doesn't matter now," Kara said. "Her sentencing was for life, though….and despite the fact we have a portal to the Phantom Zone, I don't want to risk it…no matter how many happy memories I have of her."
"Phantom Zone?" Clark asked.
"Yes, a place for some of the worst criminals in the universe," Kara said. "I forgot how much…you don't know, and how much I will teach you….and it won't just all be boring history, I swear."
Clark wondered exactly where Kara was going with this particular line of thought. He suspected in time, he would find out.
Lex Luthor found himself in a state which he always hated being in. He had a few questions, zero answers, and someone with an unbelievable appetite for knowledge hated this more than anyone else. He made his way to the LuthorCorp facility. He was currently on a phone. The news he received, well he couldn't decide whether it was good or bad.
"My father's still speaking in tongues?" Lex asked. "Yes, that could be a problem…make sure he's locked up….until he's coherent….yes, the best care necessary. We wouldn't want him to be a danger to himself and others."
Lex turned around the corner. He saw a crew of people busy at work. The good thing about LuthorCorp was it's self-sufficient. It had been set up that way from Lionel Luthor and continued to run in this particular manner when Lex held the reigns.
"Mr. Luthor, you're not going to believe this…it's amazing!"
Lex considered his own insatiable curiosity piqued by a fair amount.
"And we just managed to secure it before the military could get there, and do so," the aide said. "You're going to have to see it believe it, sir."
"Well, don't just tell me," Lex said. He answered with a smile. "Show me."
Lex turned the corner, being lead down the hallway by his aide. He came face to face with a remarkable looking black ship. It looked to be made of a material which Lex didn't really recognize. It was extraordinary no matter how you sliced it. The billionaire placed a hand on the edge of the ship and frowned. Cool to the touch.
He half expected something to happen, and it was disappointing when nothing did. Something about the ship just drew Lex towards it.
"Interesting," Lex murmured underneath his breath. "Well, things are about ready to get very interesting...I want all research teams to prepare to study this ship. Around the clock work, do you hear me?"
"Yes, Mr. Luthor," his aide said.
"I'll meet with them personally, telling them what I want to get done."
The ship could have been the breakthrough he needed.
The doors shut behind them and the lights flicked off. The ship lingered in the distance.
Black liquid dripped off of the ship. The liquid formed into a man which caused a pulse of energy to temporarily short out the cameras before it could get a good look at the man.
The man slipped out the door and out through the back entrance as if it was no big deal at all.
Chapter Three: The Education of Kal
Clark thought he had a fair bit to learn given what Kara mentioned. And he was willing to learn if someone people were willing to give him direct answers. Jor-El always spoke in the most cryptic way, as if he always expected the people he dealt with to be just as intelligent as he was. And given what Kara claimed, when Jor-El lived, actually lived, and not had been a bastardized artificial intelligence copy, he was the most intelligent individuals on his planet, and perhaps the entire universe.
Regardless, as Clark found out over time, intelligence led to some rather unfortunate blind spots on the part of Jor-El. He was beginning to realize that now more than ever before. He and Kara walked out into the gentle spring breeze.
Kara changed into something a bit more suitable for Earth travel. She dressed in a black tank top which fit her nicely and a pair of jeans which fit her lower body. Clark, having walked behind her, had his eyes drift to a certain part of her body more often than he should, to the point where he wondered whether or not he had a Red Kryptonite infection.
To her credit, Kara took this in stride, because they had something to find. The ship which Kara exited from needed to be found. It had to have been around here somewhere. Leaving it out in the open could lead to disaster.
The good news was Kara knew where to look.
"So, I'll give your father all of the credit in the world, even if his AI is something to be desired," Kara said. She allowed the breeze to hit her in the face and blow her hair about. "Jor-El's a pretty brilliant scientist. I think it's safe to say he's one of the most brilliant in the universe."
Clark heard all about Jor-El's brilliance. Well, at least his research would not go to waste in the Fortress.
"So you told me," Clark said.
Kara smiled, understanding why more than anyone else why Clark acted like this.
"I'm not going to say he didn't make his mistakes, but he tried to do everything in his power to save Krypton," Kara said. "The Council listened to the wrong people and it led to our end. And we might not be having this conversation if the Council actually wised up and listened to your father."
Clark stopped short of a small fragment of Green Kryptonite. Despite the fact Kara rigged him up some temporary shielding; he was still a bit gun shy around Kryptonite. It triggered certain thoughts in his mind which lead to him being more than a bit nervous.
The shielding selectively blocked out the Kryptonite radiation while also causing him to absorb the normal yellow solar radiation. It allowed him to absorb more of the yellow solar radiation.
"Is the shielding working?" Kara asked.
"Yes, it is," Clark said.
Kara could tell Clark still flinched out of habit.
"Good," Kara said. "The point is, things happen for a reason, though. And we wouldn't be where we are now without these things happening."
Clark nodded in response.
"Well, I guess it's for the best," Clark said a half of a second later. He continued to look forward. "How about my mother?"
Kara smiled, almost thoughtfully about the question about Lara.
"She was a doctor, and one of the best," Kara said. "She had a pretty good idea how to heal, and….well, she knew all of the ways to make a belligerent patient regret their attitude if they took one with her."
Clark looked at Kara for another moment.
"There are ways to cause the most amount of pain, but not cause any kind of lasting injury, or at least any kind of fatal injury," Kara said. "Lara knew them all, and…..they could be interesting, even though she only mentioned a few of them to me."
Clark allowed it all to sink in. There were a couple more people which caused Clark to have some questions to ask the visitor.
"So, you told me all about my parents," Clark said.
Kara laughed. If he thought that was the tip of the story, boy was there much more to discuss.
"Oh, I can assure you there's so much more to tell," Kara said. She flashed one of those smiles at him. "Well, about your mother more than anything, but….there's still a lot more to tell."
Clark just brushed off her words about as much as possible. He reached towards her and gripped onto her hand, smiling.
"Right, but how about your parents?" Clark asked.
A long pause followed when Kara tried to get her thoughts together. A moment passed when Clark wondered if he said a very personal question. He almost opened his mouth to apologize for how forward he was. Kara stopped him pretty much in his tracks.
"My father and your father….they never really got along too much," Kara said. "And my mother, well she was brilliant. She didn't get the recognition she deserved because your father was so much more of an infamous figure, though….and he spent more time rattling the Council's cage…..he was a lot like you in some ways, always questioning authority."
Clark almost scoffed in response. It was kind of difficult to believe Jor-El had a rebellious streak in his body.
"Look, we're here!"
Kara hunched over some rocks, bending over in front of Clark. Clark tried not to enjoy the view too much; in fact, he shook his head to clear it. Some magnetic force brought his eyes to the same spot.
'I don't know what's wrong with you,' Clark said. 'It's almost like ever since….it's just likely nothing….she's really hot, even though she's your cousin, and you….just focus, Clark.'
"That's your ship, isn't it?" Clark asked.
Kara responded with a nod. She could feel relieved beyond all belief no one had come across her ship, or worse of all had started to play with it. She was just glad the temporary shielding would hold because those green rocks were everyone.
"We're going to have to take the ship and move it somewhere," Kara said. Clark looked towards her. "Because it's just laying here in the middle of nowhere."
"The meteor shower just jarred it loose, didn't it?" Clark asked.
Kara only responded with a half-committed nod. A few thoughts went through her mind when she tried to figure this out, where she was going, and where she needed to head. There was not a doubt in her mind some drastic action was really needed.
"My ship will need to be moved," she murmured underneath her breath. "I don't know how I landed so far off course...I was supposed to be right behind you…..guess it was an unforeseen variable of the meteor storm."
Kara closed her eyes and started to mutter complex equations underneath her breath. Clark allowed this to go on for several moments before clearing his throat.
"We're going to have to get this out of here soon before someone notices we're here," Clark said. "It's a fair bit bigger than mine, but I guess that's obvious."
Kara smiled. It was very obvious why.
"Where is your ship anyway?" Kara asked.
"My parents hid my ship in the storm cellar, and didn't show it to me until I was fourteen," Clark said. He looked back at Kara. "Something tells me your ship isn't going to fit."
Clark considered something for another moment and looked towards her.
"I may have a spot where your ship could go," Clark said a couple of moments later. "The cave….which is connected to the Fortress…..there's a spot where no one but a Kryptonian could enter…..it would be the perfect spot to stash it."
"It's a good enough spot for now," Kara said. "Damn, I'm going to have to repair this."
"What?"
Kara hoped it would be an easy fix. She really didn't have the crystals to reconfigure it. Not even the Fortress did.
"The AI construct of my mother….it was built into the ship," Kara said a second later. She wiped a brow of sweat from her face, which was surprising given how she shouldn't be sweating. "And unlike your father's, it works as intended. Or would, if it wasn't broken"
Kara picked out some crystals, yanking them out of the edge of the ship. She thought they might be a bit useful for her cousin's training. And she also managed to get the main matrix crystal for her mother.
She smiled when watching Clark hoist the ship over his head. Not exactly the most subtle way to move something, but she supposed it worked well enough in a pinch.
"Try hard not to drop it," Kara said.
Kara and Clark moved the ship away, so no one would mess with it and put themselves or others in danger. Now, Clark was leading Kara over to the Talon. The other Kryptonian, now she was dressed for the occasion, was ready to meet with Clark's friends. And given when Clark mentioned his friends in passing, Kara was rather interested in meeting them.
"So, do you remember the cover story?" Clark asked.
"You're telling me none of them know about….who you are?" Kara asked.
Clark thought that was a pretty good question.
"Well, Chloe does, and it took her four years to figure it out," Clark said. "I think Lana….there are times where I think she might suspect something, but she hasn't been able to put the pieces together. And as for Lois, who knows what she knows. I think though if she did figure out I was not of this world, she would have been blunt enough to say something. Lois is about a subtle as getting run over by a train when she wants to speak her mind."
Kara hid a smile. Sometimes people just needed to get out what she thought.
"Yes, I remember the cover story," Kara said. "But, I just find something shocking."
Clark raised an eyebrow towards Kara. He wondered what she could have found shocking. A second passed before Kara revealed it to him.
"You weren't being open and honest with your friends about whom you were," Kara said. "You know, if they were truly your friends, they wouldn't shun you just because you're….not exactly human."
Kara learned her own lessons about being shunned the hard way, and true friendship. The moment people found out she was a natural birth and not an engineered one for a certain purpose, people shunned her. She recalled those moments where she was at her darkest.
Only a few looked past the expectations of what a Kryptonian should be. It was difficult.
"It can be difficult to find true friends, so I understand your hesitation," Kara said, tone softening after recalling her own experiences.
"It's not….well my father, Jonathan Kent, not Jor-El, he wanted me to live as much of a….conventional life as possible," Clark said. "You've met him; he's a pretty practical man."
Kara only responded with a nod. She didn't say anything negative out of respect for her cousin, but she didn't know if this was for the best. She knew the Kents had their hearts in the right place, but it wasn't how she would have encouraged Kal-El's upbringing had she had a say in it. And Lara would have encouraged him to choose his own path, and appreciate both sides of himself.
His human upbringing left him pretty grounded. Almost too grounded if Kara had, to be honest. He didn't give any indication he mastered the ability to fly. Then again, maybe he could, once those self-doubts stopped weighing him down.
They swung the doors open to a place called the Talon. It was very early in the morning, and there were only three people there. A dark haired girl with an olive complexion stood in the back. Kara recognized her as the girl she found when going up the street when looking for Kal-El, and before they fought the Disciplines of Zod.
'Lana,' Kara reminded herself. Her eyes followed around the room. She noticed the perky blonde who flashed a smile the second she laid eyes on Clark. 'And there's Chloe…and that must be Lois.'
The brunette dressed in a white top and a pair of blue jeans which fit her quite nicely. She noticed Chloe's smile and turned her direction towards him. She bent over, with Kara catching a full view of her assets.
"Smallville, I swear, whenever there's trouble, you don't seem to be around," Lois said. She blinked when looking at him. "How are you doing?"
Clark caught a hint of a smile on her face. It was only the most subtle thing.
"Oh, you know me, I can't say down," Clark said. "How about you, Lois? Are you actually staying out of trouble for once in your life?"
Lois responded with a half snort.
"Well, I haven't tried very hard," Lois said. She looked towards the blonde. "Did you get lost?"
"Actually, this is my cousin, Kara," Clark said. "She's new in town."
Lana's intrigue perked up, along with the other two girls. For a second, Kara thought Lana put two and two together. Technically, they met before, even though Lana was a bit shell-shocked at the time.
"Oh, she's….is she….biological?" Lana asked. "You know, from your birth family….not that your real…"
"Yes, I'm Clark's blood relation," Kara said.
Lois slapped palms down on the table and gave Kara a look like she wanted to interrogate her underneath a lamp like an old time detective movie.
"And where have you been his entire life?" Lois asked. "You waited until he was eighteen to come and look him up….how old are you anyway?"
'Good question,' Kara thought. 'Better go with the age I was supposed to be when I arrived at Earth…because technically I didn't age.'
"I'm eighteen," Kara said. "And my parents….died when I was very young…..like his did…in the same accident which killed them."
Chloe knew Clark was going to tell her the full story earlier. Lois and Lane looked to be buying the story, and Kara's tears when remembering her parents, and Clark's parents, were very convincing.
"That's terrible, I'm sorry for your loss," Chloe said to her. "So, I'm sure you were taken in by nice people?"
"I spent the last eighteen years trapped in an orphanage," Kara said. "It was not bad; it was completely understaffed…"
"It wasn't one of those Dickens wet dream orphanages, was it?" Lois asked. "You know something out of Oliver Twist."
Kara wished she knew what Lois was talking about.
"Wow Lois, I didn't know you were so cultured," Chloe said.
Lois folded her arms and looked towards Chloe.
"No, it wasn't bad, it wasn't…it wasn't home," Kara said. "Now, I've found my cousin, I'm home."
Clark almost could have smiled. He sat down right between Chloe and Lois, where Kara sat the seat next to Lana, in front of him.
"Are you all okay?" Clark asked.
"Oh, I got back fine, found Lana….she saw the ship which came down," Chloe said.
"About where did it come down?" Kara asked. She had been so busy worrying about dealing with Jor-El and her ship; she didn't notice the ship coming down.
"Oh, a field….it was field your cousin knows very well," Chloe said. "It's right near his house, you spent a fair amount of time playing in it, didn't you, Clark?"
Clark answered with a very light shrug. He really had no idea how to respond to that to be perfectly honest.
"So, when did the three of you meet Clark?" Kara asked.
"Well, I pretty much knew Clark for as long as I can remember," Lana said a second later. She hitched in her breath for a second. "After my parents died, I moved in with my aunt….Clark and I were neighbors for a long time."
"I came into town in the eighth grade, and….well, Clark seemed to be one of the few people I connected with, I was new in town," Chloe said. "We've been pretty close ever since."
"Yes, we have," Clark said, responding with one of his warm smiles.
"How close?" Lois asked.
"Well, I kissed him the first time I saw him," Chloe said.
"You didn't?" Lois asked. She never heard this story.
"Figured, we were both thinking about it, so we could get it over with," Chloe said.
"And you haven't done anything else since have you?" Lois asked. "Because, I don't want to have to…"
"Lois relax, it's time, Clark and I are just very good friends," Chloe said.
Kara caught onto the look and knew Chloe wouldn't be opposed to more. It was just she wasn't going to be the one to make the move to jeopardize her friendship.
"How about you?" Kara asked.
"Well, I came to Smallville after this little bundle of trouble went missing," Lois said, pointing towards her cousin, who responded by sticking her tongue out. "Your cousin was delirious….and naked in the corn field…I'm not sure what happened…..someone must have drugged him, or something. That's why you should always keep an eye on your drinks because you never know."
The General always barked about never keeping her eye off of a drink, or never accepting a drink from others. It was a good lesson.
"I don't…remember that," Clark said.
"Well, it sticks out in my mind quite vividly," Lois said, brushing off it. "You tended to make quite a the…first impression."
"Why, did you like what you saw?" Clark asked.
Lois stared him down with daggers burning through her eyes.
"Please, don't flatter yourself."
'Yes, a little bit,' Lois thought. 'But, I didn't have a chance to really look so…..'
Clark leaned back, pleased his cousin was getting along with his friends so well, but she also seemed to be interrogating them a little bit which was very interesting. He did have his own hunches why she was doing this.
Chloe and Clark went for a walk, with Kara deciding to go off to check on a couple of things. They made sure they were out of earshot.
"So, she's your cousin from Krypton?" Chloe said after Clark told her the real truth. "I'm going to have to say, she seems a lot more into you than a cousin but…maybe it's just things are different on other planets, and I guess in a rural area, such things are more common."
Clark wondered what Chloe was driving at. She gave him a smile.
"What I want to know is why you had been transported to the Fortress, and Lex hadn't?" Clark asked. "I don't think I'll ever know…..because Kara disconnected Jor-El."
"She did?" Chloe asked.
She didn't like Clark's biological father if she was perfectly honest. He seemed like a bit of a jerk, to be honest, or at least his artificial intelligence seemed like a bit of a jerk.
"Yeah, she did," Clark said. "Or rather, she removed his personality matrix and control of the Fortress. She does have my best interests in mind, and you can't really argue with that."
"No, I guess you can't," Chloe said, a smile crossing her face when looking back at Clark. "Sorry, there's just a lot on my mind after what's happened."
'Not going to tell him about the voice in my head.'
Chloe did her best to ignore said voice from overwhelming her.
Clark and Chloe turned around the corner where Lana said the ship had landed. The ground was empty, nothing other than a large crater. Granted, they couldn't really get close, because some military people were in the area.
"Not there," Clark said. "Let's go, too many people around."
"Right," Chloe said. "Maybe it….vanished, or something….maybe it phoned home."
"It's from Krypton; all it would get is a busy signal."
Chloe had a bad feeling about the ship. Just a bad feeling she couldn't place. Then again, her questionable sanity made her question her bad feelings.
"Hopefully, it's in the hands of someone…who won't be a problem," Chloe said, hoping beyond all hope. "And I'm really happy for you, you've found family….well blood family, I'm not trying to discount your parents or anything….."
Clark responded with a smile and Chloe wondered if this feeling of having legs made of jelly would pass shortly.
"I get what you're saying."
His parents were his parents, but Kara could give him answers on where he came from, straight answers, and not answers which were wrapped in some kind cryptic challenges.
"As you could guess, there are some differences between the people of Krypton and the people of Earth."
Kara's matter of fact statement resulted in Clark barely avoiding cracking a smile. He leaned closer toward his cousin, the smile never once fading from his face.
"You mean other than the fact we get extraordinary super powers underneath the yellow sun," Clark said. "And most normal people are normal…..would humans get super powers underneath Krypton's red sun?"
Kara cupped a hand underneath her chin and smiled.
"An interesting idea, it's possible," Kara said. "But, given our biology is different, I'm not sure if your average human could withstand the type of abilities we have."
Clark thought about his father's heart condition, developed after Jor-El gave him powers after Clark ran wild on the red Krypton.
"Our culture is different," Kara said. "For instance, relations between first cousins are not exactly encouraged here on Earth, if I'm not mistaken?"
Clark didn't quite know where this one was going. Kara crossed her arms, waiting for an answer. They moved underneath Kara's attention, drawing clearer attention towards her perfect, round, breasts. The fact Clark had been raised in a rather traditional Earth manner made this particular taboo thought much more delightful.
'This is so wrong,' Clark thought. 'Why does the thought make it feel so right?'
"Yes, it happens, but….people who do it….tend to be the subject of a lot of ridicule," Clark said, tearing his eyes away from Kara's breasts.
Kara smiled, quite knowingly.
"The biological implications Earth holds from these unions aren't present on Krypton for we had several more generations to evolve," Kara said. "Therefore, marriages between first cousins can be arranged…..if the match is perfect….and if there's a connection between the two of them."
Kara took a moment to gauge Clark's reaction. He wasn't exactly repulsed by the idea, which was good. It was going to take some way to convince him what needed to be done. Given she was four years behind schedule; Kara's work really was cut out of her.
Naturally, he would have to progress at his own speed, but Kara had a feeling there were some Alpha tendencies borrowed underneath that "aw shucks" farm boy look (Lois's words, not hers).
"Krypton wasn't without its flaws," Kara said. "We ignored them, until the end. We're among the very last of Krypton."
Clark responded with a nod. It was a heavy burden to bare.
"Some others are in the Phantom Zone, having been lost to the chaotic elements within the Zone," Kara said. "And some may have shown more foresight than the Council, and found alternate ways off of the planet. I don't know of any, though."
He got where she was coming from.
"Makes a whole lot of sense," Clark responded to her.
"We're the only two, at least to my knowledge, who are here on Earth," Kara said. "And thus, being the only two members of the House of El, and the final two survivors of Krypton, we have certain duties to fulfill."
Clark only raised an eyebrow. Sure she wasn't thinking what he thought she was thinking?
"We'll progress at your speed," Kara said. "Even though, I'm not going to lie….we're going into uncharted waters."
"How so?" Clark asked.
"You grew up on Earth," Kara explained. "Therefore your powers grew accordingly, and they really didn't start coming into greater prominence until you hit puberty."
He was a well of untapped potential. Kara just needed to figure out a way to get the water out, and they would be off to the races.
"I'd like to run a scan of you, both mentally and physically," Kara said. "We really should have done this when you were fourteen, but….the best-laid plans."
Clark responded with a nod. Kara reached over and touched her hand on Clark's shoulder.
"With your permission, I can do this," Kara said. "It won't be painful; all you'll feel is a slight warm feeling."
"If you think this will help me?"
Kara squeezed his shoulder and leaned closer towards him. Her hot breath went in his ear before speaking.
"It will…trust me….."
Clark felt something warm on the side of his cheek, and he turned to Kara, who pulled away from him, in the blink of an eye.
"And then, your training can begin."