Chapter Fifty-Eight: Strange Encounters Part One
A couple of goons thought they had the score of a lifetime. Smallville was a town out in the middle of nowhere, the type of small town which everyone knew everyone, and thus, they didn't worry about a couple of low-level petty thugs who were trying to make a quick buck and get that big particular score.
"Are you sure this place is right for us to rob?" one of the goons asked the other goon. "I mean, you heard all of the weird stories, about how this is grand central for weirdness, and there's a lot of freaks here, and….."
A goon pushed his hand in the air and silenced his partner in crime. "Hey, it's going to be fine. We're not going to get into the same trouble we would by robbing this place than we would robbing a place in Metropolis or Central City or Gotham City, or any of those other big places. It's just a couple of small bank jobs, something we can retire off of. And besides, these meteor mutants, they're not going to bother us. If anything else, they're going to help us."
A dubious expression crossed the face of the first thug. He just turned to his partner in crime and shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay, if you say so."
"Joey, listen to me, I don't say so," the gruffer of the two thugs. "I know so….just stand back and get ready to hold the bag. And remember, Daddy needs a brand new pair of shoes."
Both thugs straightened up and looked ready to perform the job at hand. The one self-assured of the two thugs patted his younger partner on the shoulder and turned around. He took out a crowbar. No one needed high-tech ways to enter a building to rob the place when the good old fashioned methods worked just as well. The thug tried to use the crowbar, but the door had been a bit stubborn. He groaned when trying to open up the door.
"Okay, you're going to be tough, aren't you?" the thug asked. "Well, I've got ways of cracking a tough door…..Joey, hand me the blowtorch."
"Um, sure thing, Mikey," Joey responded.
He reached into the case and pulled out a blowtorch to hand to his partner.
"Are you sure you don't need a mask or something?" Joey asked.
"Hey, hey, I know what, I'm doing," Mikey the thug responded. "You might want to stand back, give me all the space I need so I can just blow this door open."
Joey dropped his arms down to the side and stood back. He really did hope his partner was not just blowing smoke out of his ass, and he knew what he was doing. Mikey put the blowtorch to the door and started to go to town on the lock. Sparks flew in every direction possible.
Seconds passed before the door snapped open. Mikey's look of triumph spread over his face and he turned towards the bank, stepping inside. He motioned for Joey to step in towards him. Joey did so, looking very triumphant in his own right.
"Told you, it would be just fine," Mikey said. "Now, keep an eye open, while I figure the safe."
"No alarms or nothing?" Joey asked.
"Nah, small town folk are too trusting to use an alarm, we're going to be fine," Mikey said.
Joey leaned back and he looked at the clock. It was well past midnight. He drummed his fingers on the side of the door, looking very nervous. Something was not right about this job, but it was somehow more relaxing than the one he did in Gotham before. That had been nerve racking for a number of reasons.
Always a chance for a bigger, worse, bad guy to swoop in and get a piece of the take there; here in Smallville, not so much, even though there was a rumor that there was some mysterious savior who helped the people in Smallville. It wasn't bad though, they weren't any of those meteor freaks.
"Just give me a minute," Mikey grumbled. "Okay, I'm going to have to…"
The doors blew up, and a figure moved at the speed of light into the bank and pulled the explosives Mikey was about ready to use out of his hand. Mikey staggered an inch forward and dropped down to his knees. He turned around and noticed something moving through the bank.
"Don't just stand there, shoot it!" Mikey yelled.
Joey pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots towards the figure who moved and weaved at the speed of light. The figure rushed forward and grabbed Joey by the arm, before taking him down to the ground. Joey struggled to get to his feet, only to find himself spun around and dropped to the ground. Something bound his hands and feet behind his back.
Knowing when a job was licked, Mikey decided to rush out the front door, as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him. He breathed heavily when moving towards the nearest exit.
One thug had been taken down, and Clark made his way for the other thug. He wasn't going to get too far, in fact, Clark could still hear the rotund man's heart beating when he left the premises. Clark was going to be right behind him, off to the side.
A loud thud had followed, and Clark showed up. He saw a figure standing over the man, in the moonlight. The figure ground a boot into the back of the head of the attacker. Clark took a second to step towards the figure, and reared back, suddenly seeing a ghost.
Alicia Baker stood on the head of the second goon, having taken out. Clark tried to move closer towards her, but she disappeared through his fingers before he could grab on her.
Clark had seen everything else in Smallville, but a ghost? She was a ghost, right? Clark thought there were only two possibilities, one she was a ghost, and the other, she made her way back from the dead. Either possibility seemed rather off and indicated something was going on.
There was a third possibility, and that was something, or someone was messing with his mind. Clark didn't remember being exposed to any foreign substances which could cause a mental lapse, but that seldom meant anything. All he had to do was get off to the Fortress, and have his brain scanned.
Clark flew into the Fortress and saw Raya standing over some notes about something. Raya stood up.
"Kal, you look haunted," Raya said in an instant.
"I look haunted, because I was tonight, at least I think I might have been," Clark responded. "Is my mother around?"
"Yes, I'll get her at once," Raya said. "Please, sit down, and take a calming breath."
Raya wasn't going to lie, she had been a bit put off by the look on Kal-El's face. He looked like he saw something which unnerved given all he went through, that really said something. Raya made her way off to the other direction to see if she could find Lara.
"Kal, what is it?"
An instant later, Lara returned and made her way towards her son. He looked rather pale and his eyes had a disturbed look in them.
"I saw someone tonight who I know died a couple of years ago," Clark said. "Alicia Baker, we were….involved, a couple of years back…"
"And she died?" Lara asked.
"Yes, I saw her before my very eyes," Clark said. "But tonight, I stopped a couple of hoods in Smallville, and one got away. But she appeared, knocked him out. By the time I approached her, she disappeared…at least I think it was her. At least, I think I'm not seeing things."
Was he seeing things?"
"I need to know whether or not I've been compromised by anything," Clark said.
Lara nodded. "Understandable, please follow me so I can check you out."
Anyone would have been mildly put off by what Clark encountered, Lara understood that much. She didn't really know how to explain it to be perfectly honest. She led Clark inside of the chambers. Her son looked fine, but Lara knew appearances could be deceiving. And it would give them a piece of mind to ensure he had been cleared of all foreign substances, so they could move on from there.
Lara walked on the other side of the crystal shielding when Clark laid down on the table. The machine locked into place, with the crystals pointing towards Clark. They flashed over his body and formed scanning motions over him. Lara leaned in closer towards the readings.
Clark was well above average in his solar radiation retention, which was a good thing. Kryptonian females absorbed radiation at a much quicker rate than males, but males could store a slight amount more, at least through Lara's readings. Naturally, how much and how fast varied from person to person. Lara chewed down on her lower lip and kept reading the numbers flashing across the screen.
A long and tedious process to get something like this completed, but it was very necessary to ensure Clark was one hundred percent healthy. His mind readings read strong, so there was no hypnotic suggestion planted in his mind. Lara went through for a deeper scan, to see if there were any trace elements of Kryptonite radiation. Even if someone infected Clark with a rare strand of Kryptonite, the radiation would still have a common energy signature.
"You're clean so far, Kal. I want to perform one more deep scan, to ensure you're completely free and clear of any radiation."
"Do it," Kal told her.
Lara nodded and did as her son requested. She scanned him with the deeper tissue scanner, to see if she could break down the strands of Kryptonite at the deepest level possible. So far, she located not even a strand of Kryptonite in his body. No residual traces of magic which could cause problems with Kryptonians, just the same as anyone else.
"You're clean," Lara said.
"Without a doubt?" Clark asked.
"Yes," Lara said. "Without a doubt….which means, you may have seen a ghost….or someone is trying to play with nature, and is resurrecting someone beyond the grave."
Clark didn't think that possibility was a very good one to think about. His mind flashed back to the look on Alicia's face, how haunted she seemed. How she disappeared, almost in fear, when Clark showed up around the corner. Clark didn't really know, but he had a strong suspicion resurrection wasn't exactly a picnic. And whoever pulled Alicia back beyond the grave.
"Now, we're going to have to find her."
"I agree," Lara said. "She's a danger to both herself and others…..but more importantly, we need to find the people who are behind this. That's a pressing matter as well."
Dead girls showing up when they shouldn't weren't the strangest thing Tess ever encountered in her life. Regardless, it was something which caught her attention when Clark mentioned it for her. Tess showed up at the Star Labs facility, to meet with Patricia Swann, and also, Helena Wayne, who showed up.
"You have news," Tess responded.
"Yes, although, I'm not certain whether or not we're going to like what we find out," Helena answered.
Tess responded with a slight shrug of her shoulders. She had been used to receiving bad news for a very long time. Whatever they found out, they would have to take. The two of them entered the lab area, which Patricia waiting. She had been looking at a sample of blood, frowning.
"It was a body the police found," Patricia said. "The subject has been identified as a meteor mutant who died five years ago."
"That shouldn't be possible," Tess answered.
"No," Helena said. "It shouldn't be possible, but yet it is."
Patricia made a couple of notes about the same of blood she managed to get her hands on. She had a feeling the same facility which had Tara contained, and also apparently brought Alicia Baker back from the dead, was behind this. It was important to find out who these people were, and what their agenda was. They needed to put a stop to them.
"He has higher than usual amounts of Kryptonite radiation in his blood stream," Patricia said. "There's something….unique about the meteor mutants, and how they reacted to the Kryptonite. There were many people who were close to the impacts who died because of radiation poison. But there were a number of them who survived, and got these extraordinary powers."
"We thought it was the meteors who gave them the powers," Tess responded. "But, the meteors were just the shock they needed to awaken their powers."
"Correct," Patricia said. "My father was studying it right before he passed away. It's the meta-gene….no one quite knows how some humans have it, while others don't."
"Some…think, these people who have it, were the ancestors of a group of humans who were abducted years ago, and experimented on by aliens, before being brought back to Earth," Tess said. "I don't know the truth of the matter."
Tess had been trying to hunt down more information about the meta-gene throughout two timelines, but all she had run into was dead ends. She thought it could be the key to understanding why some people got powers, and others had been condemned to death.
"It wouldn't be surprising," Patricia said.
"Well, aliens is one matter, but one of my associates as uncovered actual tangible information about the human beings who are behind these meteor mutant resurrections," Helena said. "The tag number, Tara wore, it was in a database of meteor mutants who were held by Belle Reve."
"So, they're not experimenting with just dead meteor mutants, but live ones as well," Patricia said.
"I've also found references to a project in the notes we uncovered by HIVE," Helena said. "But, these people aren't making the information very easy to uncover."
"That's by their nature," Tess said. "Why don't we ask our resident meteor mutant if she knows anything or if she has any idea?"
Patricia snapped her fingers, they nearly forgot they had a very useful resource, who had uncovered some information about several shady government operations, which got her in danger of being killed. Just because HIVE had been taken down, it didn't mean they were completely out of the woods just yet.
She moved her way towards the area where Claire stayed. Patricia raised a hand and knocked on the door a couple of times.
"It's unlocked."
Patricia entered the room, and stepped into the quarters, with Helena coming along with Tess. Claire raised her eyebrow and looked at all three of the women.
"Let me guess, the shit has hit the fan," Claire said.
"Meteor mutants are coming back from the dead," Helena responded without any hesitation.
"Yes, of course," Claire said. "Well, this was bound to happen…..HIVE might have been crippled, but there were other people who were working with these experiments. And these people harbored a distrust to aliens."
"Do these people have a name?" Tess asked.
"Cadmus is what I heard them referred to," Claire said. "No one knows who is running them, or where they are….and I didn't get in too deep down that particular rabbit hole before HIVE sent their drones after me, to silence me."
Tess knew all about Cadmus, it was like a couple of bad memories coming back to life.
"Cadmus," Tess said. "It was funded in part by Lionel years ago, and I think Lex may have also funded some of their activities, before his unfortunate sabbatical."
Everything had gone from bad, to so much worse, at least in Tess's mind.
"HIVE was working on ways to bring meteor mutants back to life," Claire said. "And it appears Cadmus has gotten ahold of some of their research."
If they had been working together, it would have been easy for Cadmus to get ahold of that particular research and cause an insane amount of damage. Tess wondered how this could get any worse. She turned towards Helena, who wore a grim expression on her face.
"An old friend might be involved," Helena said. "Professor Hugo Strange was working at Belle Reve when the alive meteor mutants were moved to another facility…..none of the administration is willing to admit what his intentions were, as well."
Strange, after his time with Lex, had been very busy. Tess thought she might live to regret not taking care of Strange. There were other unfortunately pressing matters which distracted her. Tess wished she had not been so easily distracted after what happened.
"LuthorCorp had connections to Cadmus," Tess said. "Lionel's very good about covering his tracks, but I'm going to have to be even better at uncovering them."
They were playing with human nature and bringing meteor mutants back to life. Tess moved over to make a couple of calls. She knew they were playing with some pretty heavy fire, but Tara's mind could hold a key to solving exactly where Cadmus was. They had to take every opportunity.
"No, I don't think you're insane," Karen said.
"Thanks, Kara, I appreciate that," Clark said. "But, she's been brought back from the dead, just like that. There should be something I can do to help her."
"Maybe there is. But it's hard to help someone when they keep running away. The moment you saw her, she panicked, and ran."
Clark had a lot to think about, and there were a lot of very troubling thoughts which passed through his mind. Tess relayed the information they dug up, which wasn't really much, to be honest. Cadmus was a research lab, which had been co-opted by some people with some bad intentions. People who mistrusted those like Clark, and the rest of the Kryptonian survivors. They couldn't distinguish good aliens from bad aliens.
'Some people see everything as black or white,' Clark thought.
Raya moved over to join the other two.
"The scans turned up fine," Raya said.
"I'm not worried about me, not right now," Clark said. "I'm worried about Alicia, and what they made her go through, to get brought back to life. I saw only one glimpse of her face, and I can't get it out of her mind."
"She's living, but she's not alive," Raya said.
Clark understood where Raya was coming from, with that particular comment, even though he really didn't have to like it. Alicia had tried to come back from a very dark place, only to die for it. Maybe there was hope for redemption, maybe she couldn't come back, Clark didn't know. They would never know.
Would this perversion be a second chance of life?
"I've looked at the samples Doctor Swann sent over, of the deceased meteor mutant they found," Raya said. "And a second one which just had been found this morning as well….the process they're using to bring them back is more refined now than it was at the beginning."
"So, they're getting better," Clark said.
Clark looked at the scans and the pictures which had been brought up in the form of holograms through the Fortress. The two meteor mutants looked like they descended into something less than human. Their remains were mutated. Was this the fate which waited for Alicia? The second body looked less deformed than the first one. Clark spent a fair amount of time studying this from every angle.
Suddenly, the doors of the Fortress entered, and Lara stepped in, with Tara, who had her eyes covered with a cloth. Just in case, they didn't want her to see the way to the Fortress.
"Where am I?"
"We need your help with something," Lara said. "It's going to be fine…"
Lara removed the clothing from the eyes of the younger girl. Tara spent a moment looking around with wide eyes. She fell on two friendly faces in Clark and Karen.
"We could find out where you come from," Clark said. "It won't hurt at all, I promise."
Tara nodded and took his word for the fact it wouldn't hurt. It would be just fine, even though she didn't really remember anything for the facility. She moved back onto the table, where a crystal gently shined some light onto her mind.
Lara, Raya, and Karen leaned over to study the brain patterns. Tara closed her eyes.
"She didn't die," Lara said.
"I remember it…..after I escaped the orphanage," Tara said. "I hurt some really bad people who were after me, my powers put me into a catatonic state. The next thing I remember, I woke up in Belle Reve, and there was this weird doctor."
"Do you know who he was?" Clark asked.
"He was balding, with glasses on, a bit fat," Tara said.
'Strange,' Clark thought to himself.
He realized what happened, Cadmus started by bringing people of comas and then delved to bringing them back to life.
"It's odd," Lara said. "I scanned her deeply, with the deep tissue scan, and I found no traces of meteor rock energy at all."
"She isn't a meteor mutant then," Karen said.
Lara shook her head in negative. "No, she isn't, but she is a metahuman."
Tara received her abilities, whatever they might have been, from some other sort. They had very little information, only more direct confirmation Hugo Strange had been involved with this entire Cadmus mess.
"You're all done," Clark said. "Why don't I take you back to the Farm?"
"Really?" Tara asked. "That wasn't so bad at all."
Clark offered her the piece of cloth and put it over her eyes. He scooped Tara up under his arm and flew her away to leave Raya, Lara, and Karen to look over the readings. Nothing out of the ordinary at first glimpse, but if they could find something, anything, they would be able to uncover it.
X-X-X
Ever since the dream, Lana had been on pins and needles. Chloe noticed Lana's disturbed nature.
"You're not yourself lately," Chloe said.
"Yeah, I guess you can say that," Lana responded. "I've had some mysterious ancestor or whatever, pop into my dreams, and tell me that there's some alien invasion coming. And Clark is the only one who could stop it, or maybe he leads some kind of resistance to stop them from taking over the Earth."
Chloe smiled and looked at Lana.
"You know, don't worry about Clark, he always finds a way to come out of situations which he really shouldn't," Chloe said.
"I'll try," Lana responded.
She was more worried about the nature of the woman who visited in her dreams. What was her game? Lana did, in fact, wonder about that much.
The two girls took a walk around Smallville and made their way back to Lana's house. They only had a short way to walk.
Lana stopped short and could see someone wearing a hooded sweatshirt lurking around outside of the front entrance area. She took one look at the figure, and then to Chloe. Chloe rolled up her sleeve, and had her finger on the pulse of the watch she wore, just in case.
"Are you lost?" Lana asked.
The figure turned around and whipped her hood back. Lana almost stopped back, in shock, coming face to face with someone who she thought died years ago.
"Alicia Baker?" Chloe asked.
Alicia turned her attention to Lana and said something in a strangled language which neither girl understood. Then, in a flash of light, Alicia struck and wrapped her hands around Lana's throat. Lana gasped the second Alicia grabbed ahold of her and had been choked down to the ground. She struggled against the tight grip around her neck.
Lana pushed away, with a blast of purple light discharging from her hands and striking Alicia. Alicia had been launched up into the air and dropped down onto the ground. Chloe reached towards the watch, but Alicia disappeared before they had anything.
"Okay, what the hell?" Chloe asked. "Are you okay?"
Lana's fingers still hummed with some kind of energy which blasted from them.
"Yeah, I think so," Lana said. "We better tell Clark about this."
"Lana, those energy blasts….do you…"
"I don't really know," Lana said.
Something unsettled Lana about what happened, even though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
Chapter Fifty-Nine: Strange Encounters Part Two
After the little incident with Alicia, Lana had been shaken up. It had not just been the incident where Alicia attacked her which caused Lana some trauma. Those incidents which Lana had been attacked by some meteor mutant had been far too common for her to count. The girl either had been attacked by them, stalked by them, or some strange combination of both.
No, that attack wasn't what caused Lana frustration to be honest. The fact was, somehow, some kind of power manifested which helped Lana repel Alicia, at least for a moment. A confused Chloe stood next to Lana, and if Lana was honest, she expected Chloe to have most of the answers, so when she didn't, it caused Lana a great deal of confusion.
Both agreed it would be a good idea to get Clark in on the situation. Clark appeared in a blink of an eye, and dropped down before both of the girls. Already, by the look etched in his eyes, both girls knew, he knew, something had happened.
"We were attacked, "Chloe said. "And you're not going to believe in a million years…"
"It was Alicia Baker, wasn't it?" Clark asked. Both girls looked towards Clark in obvious confusion and he had to clarify it for them. "I saw her last night, when I was stopping a couple of low level criminals. Someone is bringing meteor mutants back to life. It's a long story."
Chloe shook her head, and turned to Lana who had one of those far off looks etched in her eyes. Both of them could tell it was a long story, but Lana was the one who allowed her mind to run away. Clark grabbed Lana's hand and caused her to jolt up.
"Maybe we should get you to STAR labs, have you looked at," Clark said. "It's closer than any hospital, and more discreet than any hospital."
Nodding, Lana thought agreeing with Clark was the path to the least resistance. At least, it was what she thought in her mind. She was going to have to break it to Clark, she had powers too, but for now, Lana had been too shell-shocked. Clark scooped up Lana underneath one arm, and scooped up Chloe underneath the other arm, and brought them to STAR Labs.
Tess waited for them at the front door. She didn't seem too surprised to see either Lana or Chloe there.
"Alicia had some very aggressive thoughts about Lana, about both Lana and Chloe maybe, before she died," Tess said. "At least according to the medical report at Belle Reve which I dug up….."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure she did," Lana said, shaking her head. "She was struggling with something though….maybe it was just my imagination though."
"Maybe we should get you checked out first, before you relieve all of that," Clark responded.
"Right," Lana answered.
Lana stepped into Star Labs. Chloe was giving her one of those looks, which plainly stated she should tell Clark sooner or later. And Lana planned on doing so. She just thought everything had been turned around, for the worst now.
"Alicia may be trying to act on these thoughts she had against us then," Chloe said.
"Well, it's not so much of a coherent thought, but, perhaps an impulse," Tess said. "She had these impulses which triggered…..she made her way to help Clark, which was first and foremost on her mind."
"It's reassuring to know that despite being a Kryptonite zombie, she still likes you," Chloe said, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Tess turned her attention to Chloe and gave her a raised eyebrow, as if to tell her now was not the time or the place. Chloe fell into a calm stupor.
"And she felt Lana was something she was hostile to in the past, so she targeted Lana," Tess said. "Of course, these are only guesses. Without knowing the exactly process Cadmus did….."
Tess trailed off, and Lana sat down on the table. Chloe and Clark took seats on either side of her as well. Clark, in particular, entered some pretty deep thoughts. Somewhere, out there, there was Alicia Baker, with a series of confused thoughts, or as Tess called them, confused impulses. Clark didn't even know where he wanted to begin.
"There's just more thing I have to tell you," Lana said, finally breaking through the silence. "When Alicia attacked me, I thought I was going to die. My adrenaline was pumping, and some kind of purple energy discharged from my hands, and took her out."
Everyone had grown silent. Tess took a moment to think about it, eyes closed very tight when she did so.
"Do you think I might have meteor mutant powers?" Lana asked.
"It's possible," Tess said. "Given your close proximity to the meteor rocks when they fell down."
Lana inclined her head down, unfortunately, she knew what the close proximity to the meteor rocks went. She thought, over the years, she had been one of the few people in Smallville not to be infected. All she had to live with was being that little girl who watched her parents died, a legacy which Lana tried to shake. And a legacy which followed her slowly throughout the years. Wearing a necklace with a piece of the meteor rock from the meteor which squashed her parents didn't help that.
"Do you think it could be something else?" Chloe asked.
"Lana may have some kind of latent magical abilities," Tess responded. "Given her connection to her infamous ancestor, it's possible some of these powers could have been awakened by this recent stress."
"Well, I can't access whatever they are," Lana said. "It's not like a light switch, or a water faucet, I can't just snap and it happens."
"Don't force it," Clark told her. "That's the absolute worse thing you can do with powers, trust me."
She did trust Clark, having the most experience out of all of them, with dealing with powers. Still, her powers might have been a little bit different than his, at least from what Lana could figure out.
"It's too bad we can't figure out a way to get into Alicia's mind, and try and fix what's wrong," Lana mused.
"Maybe we can," Tess offered. "We're going to have to be extremely careful about what we do, and more importantly how we do it, but there are ways."
Getting her to the Fortress, and putting her through the same process where they re-awakened some of Tara's memories would be a good step to take. Unfortunately, every time they got close, Alicia kept slipping through their fingers.
One of Clark's former girlfriends coming back from the dead certainly presented them all with a fresh challenge. Kara In-Ze, better known these days as Karen Starr, loved a challenge. She bit back on her lip and looked over the reports Tess sent over. Containing her would be something easy, at least in Karen's mind. Capturing and finding her were two other matters.
Footsteps could be heard, and Karen turned her attention towards Astra, who stepped over.
"This is a distraction we can't really afford with the prospect of Thangarians looming," Astra said.
"Yes," Karen agreed. "I know it, you know it, but there really isn't much we can do about it. These Cadmus people are going to be an annoyance, we're going to need to deal with."
"They have the ability to raise the dead, dead who have been gifted powers by the radiative core of our planet," Astra said. "Yes, I agree they're a problem. But much more than annoyance…it's just a feeling I have, one that I can't really place."
"But, if we find this one and bring her back to a mental state, than maybe she saw something about Cadmus," Karen offered, shrugging her shoulders.
To be honest, she could tell how this one caused Kal frustration. Mostly because he blamed himself for Alicia's death, even though someone else killed her, but that was just how Kal worked these days.
"Are you sure there are ways to bring her back to a stable mental state?" Astra asked.
"We won't know unless we capture her," Karen said. "Finding her and capturing her is a very hard thing to do though."
"Yes," Astra agreed. "I'm not disputing that fact, but I hate to be the one to bring up this point, but what if we can't save her? She is just a walking body, with blood thirsty instincts. What if there are no coherent thoughts to be rescued there?"
"Well, we're going to have to deal with that, when we've exercised all of our options," Karen said. "You really think there might not be no hope for her, do you?"
"All, I'm saying is, we should just make sure we're ready to do what's necessary, when it's necessary," Astra said. "We're going to have to put her down, if she's a threat."
Astra didn't really like it as much as the next person. War, however, forced them to make so many choices which they did not like. And they had to put down people, even though they had a solid preference not to put them down. Astra leaned in and looked towards the report.
"For the record, she can be contained with this, and these should….hopefully cause her to calm down long enough to let go of the feral rage she's holding onto," Astra responded.
"We should try and not think she's a lost cause," Alura said, stepping forward. "After all, if we gave you up as a lost cause, where would be we be now?"
Astra hated to admit her sister had a point. Why did she have to be so right at a time like this? Astra didn't know. She bunched up her hands and sighed in very obvious frustration, shaking her head in response.
"You have a good point," Astra said.
"Of course I do."
Lara stepped into the Fortress, with Raya following them. Raya had a smile on her face, even though it was slightly sad in the process.
"It's ready," Raya responded. "All we have to do is get her, if we can catch her."
"That's down to Clark, and me, if he needs my help," Karen said. "We're going to do everything we can to save her, and get to the bottom of the Cadmus mess."
Out of all of the things Astra said, she was more than correct about Cadmus. It was not the kind of distraction they needed, when they were this close to being visited by an alien invasion. Karen decided to check in with Clark, and hope he had better luck.
"Anything?" Karen asked, sounding a bit more hopeful than she might have been.
"No, but, we're going to find her," Clark said. "I'm going to find her…I'm not going to fail her again."
The thoughts echoed throughout the shattered mind of Alicia Baker when she reached her destination. Her mind was pounding away, when she stepped into a warehouse. She needed to shake off the cobwebs, the frustration, and everything which went along with an extremely tormented mind. Her mind went about a million miles a minute, and her head started to thump even more loudly.
"You couldn't save me," Alicia muttered.
The final moments of Alicia's life slipped into her minds high. She saw her death, in all of its horrific glory. A moment of horror when she realized her life had been cut off. Alicia didn't know what else to say, other than the nightmares would reflect in her mind.
Yet, she had been given a second chance to do what. All she thought about, was how Clark failed her, and how much it hurt her. She gave her life to Clark, and instead, she had died. Then, suddenly, when Alicia was at peace, something happened to jolt her back to life.
Was she really dead, or just trapped as a prisoner in her own body, in her own decaying body. It was very hard for Alicia to determine this and she wanted to scream, but no one would hear her words. She dropped down to her knees and took a deep breath. Everything hurt, and the only thing which felt right was vengeance.
"You couldn't save me, you failed me."
These mutterings continued to bubble on through the very troubled mind of Alicia Baker. She tried to hold her head back and was on her hands and knees. The cold hard environment of the lab flashed into her mind, before the man, set her loose. Alicia could not remember much of anything, between her death and encountering Clark for the first time outside of the bank.
She had a strong impulse to lash out and attack him, hence why he ran.
'Clark, couldn't save me, he should suffer because of that,' a dark echo thought in the back of her mind. 'He would have jumped a tall building in a single bound to save either Chloe or Lana….but he just left you to suffer, left you to die. Did he think you were damaged goods?'
Alicia closed her eyes, a tight pounding echoing the back of her head. She could hear something, while on her hands and knees. A security guard made his way to the corner.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
His voice might as well have been thunder, roughly hammering around in the back of Alicia's head. Her knuckles grew white when trying to keep herself calm. Alicia had not yet given into her base impulses, except for one time. The only time she gave into them, was Lana.
'Well, you are a monster, maybe you deserve to be put down,' another dark echo in the back of her mind thought, practically taunting Alicia.
Alicia closed her eyes and gripped the side of her head. The groaning became very obvious the longer things went.
"Hey, did you hear me?" the guard asked.
The guard caught one look at the haunting, depraved stare the girl gave to him and terror filled his body. He reached over to grab the phone, and try and call for backup. The police might have to be called as well, given how this girl was trespassing.
Alicia flashed over in an instant, and grabbed him by the arm. She ripped the phone out of his hand and pushed him back against the wall. The security guard dropped down onto the ground.
"You're one of those meteor freaks!" the security guard yelled. "Stay away from me, you monster!" Stay away from me!"
Alicia picked up a pipe, and considered, it would be the easiest thing in the world to teleport with this pipe extended, and leave it inside of the person. She took a deep breath, and the small part of her, who had not been entombed in darkness just yet, calmed down.
'No, I can't,' Alicia thought to herself.
'Sure you can, and it would get Clark's attention…..'
Alicia closed her eyes and swung the pipe, opting to nail the man in the ribs with it. Alicia caused him to drop down to the ground and caused the pipe to clatter. Something was happening in the back of her mind, these dark thoughts threatened to break out and torment Alicia even more.
'HE FAILED YOU!' another scream echoed in the back of Lana's mind. 'Are you going to let him get away with that?'
Alicia decided to leave, if there were one guard here, there would be many more here. She had to get out of here, there was no question about it.
'Weak, very weak,' the voice taunted Alicia in the back of her mind.
"She was sighted again, but the witness said she disappeared before they could get too close to her," Tess said. "I don't know, do you think she's playing hard to get?"
Clark answered with a very obvious sigh, and he couldn't put his finger on what Alicia was doing. The theory her mind had been messed up since coming back from the dead was very obvious. He looked at all of the sightings, and tried to find a pattern.
Any patterns had been rather erratic though, another sign Alicia had lost what passed for sanity and was just zipping around. Yet, she knew enough to flee to make sure Clark didn't grab onto her. Clark didn't know what to think of it, although he was pretty sure something bad was going to happen.
"Everything is ready," Clark said. "All we have to do is grab onto her."
"She isn't making it very easy," Tess said.
Tess hoped this situation would get a lot easier in a hurry. Alicia continued to play a very deadly game of cat and mouse with them all, and the stakes were getting extremely high, and very frustratingly so. Cadmus must have been pulling the strings.
Knowing Strange, and Tess got to know him during his time working with Lex, he had let Alicia out into the wild as some kind of project, to see what happened. Her tormented actions could be pinned o Hugo Strange.
"I'm just thinking," Tess said. "Some people….it's hard to reach them."
Tess thought at one time she would be one of those people.
"If I can't reach her, we're going to have to do what's necessary to make sure she doesn't hurt anyone," Clark said. "But, I saw something in Alicia's eyes. It was fleeing, for a second, but there's a part of her which is still alive, buried in all of the feral attacks."
Tess smiled and shook her head. Clark wouldn't be Clark if he didn't bring up this particular point.
"Maybe," Tess responded.
"I'm being serious," Clark said. "There has to still be a part of Alicia which I can reach, and I can help her. And until that part is gone, I'm not going to give up to her….she hasn't killed anyone, even though she has plenty of chances to do so."
Tess nodded, Clark had a point she had to agree with, at least in principle. She took a second to look at him, a half of a smile entering her face.
"I just want to try and reach her," Clark responded with a smile and a shake of his head. "Is that a problem where I want to see the best of her?"
"No, not really," Tess said. "It's one of your more endearing qualities, you have to see the very best in people."
Tess leaned in and caught Clark with a very light kiss on the side of the cheek before she pulled back from him. She locked onto him with a very slight smile on her face.
"Although, there are some times where it might not be the best, to see the best in some people," Tess said. "Still, I can't help, but think your instincts are on point this time. If you saw something, you might have saw something."
For Clark's sake, Tess really hoped Alicia did not go the same way as the other meteor mutants, where they decayed over a matter of weeks. Tess didn't know whether or not they went on some kind of rampage or anything, but she figured it was possible they could have.
'Always something,' Tess thought in bemusement. 'Going to have to take this one day at a time, I suppose.'
Tess's expression flickered over to the view screen. Much like Clark, she tried to pick out some kind of pattern with what Alicia was doing, but much like Clark, she hadn't figured out exactly what Alicia was up to. She was most certainly moving around in a very eratic manner.
'You are an enigma, Ms. Baker,' Tess thought to herself in bemusement.
"We have another sighting," Indy chimed in. "She's actually close by Star Labs."
"So, do you want to go check it out?" Tess asked. She didn't even finish her sentence, when seeing Clark disappear into a flash of light. Tess cracked into a smile and pulled back from him. "I guess we should count that as a yes."
Lana thought the last couple of weeks had been weird. She and Chloe had been kept at Star Labs, under the best security possible. Alicia should not have been able to teleport inside of the room, because it had been lined with lead paint.
Wringing her hands, Lana really hoped that Clark and Tess would have better luck in tracking down Alicia now. All Lana could do was lean back and wait for everything to unfold. Chloe currently was working on the laptop at the foot of the floor.
'Just have to relax.'
She never had been one to use meditation tactics, but Lana did read up on them a little bit. Living in Smallville with all of the chaos and insanity was something Lana needed some kind of stress relief. Thankfully, she got it, when she finally decided to join Clark's group.
Lana thought about her new powers, which she only could use in times of immense stress. Nothing had ever been simple, but that was just the life of someone in Smallville. And it was the unfortunate life of Lana Lang, if she had to say so.
Suddenly, Lana's eyes opened, and she came face to face with the same woman who showed her the vision of the hawks some time back.
"Why am I not surprised?"
"I'm glad you're not surprised," the woman on the Astral Plan told Lana. "It shows you're learning, it shows you can adapt, which are both good things."
Lana nodded and kept her gaze focused on a woman. The woman moved forward, and Lana turned around. She sat down in front of Lana. It was almost like she sat in the middle of the room with Lana, but Chloe kept typing away at the keyboard, oblivious to what was going on around her.
"If you're willing to work with me, we can help Alicia," the woman said.
"Oh?" Lana asked.
"We have to repair the damage done to Alicia's soul, it had been splintered, shattered, upon her death," the woman said. "It's really a simple enchantment, although it can be very tricky to pull off. And when she's back, she's going to need an anchor to stabilize her to the world."
Lana just nodded in response.
"How did she come back?"
"Hugo Strange was able to bring her back to life, although she wasn't completely dead," Lana's ancestor responded in a sad voice. "Or rather, her soul wasn't completely at rest, at ease with her fate, hence it made it a lot easier for Strange to bring her back. She's very broken though."
"How can I do this though?" Lana asked. "I have these powers, and I can barely use them. I don't know how to consciously use them."
Lana waited for some kind of answer from her ancestor, a real answer, and not some kind of cryptic bullshit answer either. The ancestor placed a calm hand on Lana's forehead and slowly traced some kind of symbol in it. Lana noticed the symbol flashing into her forehead, and some complex knowledge of magical energies long lost flashed in her mind.
"You know what you need to do when Alicia is found," the ancestor said. "It will bring her mostly back to life, but you're going to need a stabilizing anchor, someone to bond her to."
"Clark," Lana muttered.
"You're catching on fast."
Lana's eyes snapped open, and she noticed Chloe peering over from the side of the laptop, with a very evident frown crossing over her face.
"Are you okay?" Chloe asked. "It's just….you were talking into thin air…..should I get in touch with Clark?"
"Yes," Lana agreed. "You should because I know exactly how to fix Alicia."
Chloe had no idea what was going on. This was beyond weird, even for Smallville reasons.
"It was her, the woman I had the dream about," Lana said.
Now, Chloe would be lying if she was not worried. Was Lana being possessed again? Still, if she thought Alicia could be helped, then maybe they should go along with it, for now.
Chapter Sixty: Strange Encounters Part Three.
Lana Lang hoped this insane plan would work. If it didn't, well she didn't know where they would go from here. She looked over her shoulder and saw Clark standing about three feet away from her. He had his share of misgivings and if Lana had to be honest with herself, she would have had her share of misgivings as well. Yet, they had to do this, because it was necessary to do this.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
One particular question always had been loaded, and the thing was, Lana was not completely sure she wanted to do this. The only element of this situation she was nearly certain about was she had to do this. There was really no question about it. She turned towards Clark and responded with a nod. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.
"I'll be fine," Lana said. "You should….you should stay out of sight until I give the signal."
Clark looked like he wanted to protest, but at the same time, he knew Lana was right. Alicia would never show up if she knew Clark was there. He just missed her one more time, and the game of cat and mouse continued. Lana watched Clark disappear around the corner, and left her all alone to deal with Alicia. Lana took in a deep breath, and reminded herself what was at stake. According to the mysterious woman who she could only see, Lana had the ability to do this.
Lana closed her eyes, mentally prepping herself for the next encounter. She could most certainly do what was asked of her. Lana hoped Alicia would show up, because otherwise this entire trip would have been all for nothing. And that would be the worst thing possible.
A cloud of green mist took Lana aback. Despite the girl's first instincts being to run and get as far away from the situation as possible, Lana did what was right. Lana Lang stood her ground, for better or for worse. She would not be bullied in this particular situation.
"It's always about you, isn't it?"
Lana turned herself towards Alicia who stood forward with an accusatory gaze. She somewhat regained the ability to speak, which might have been an encouraging sign she was not beyond being reached. At least, Lana hoped so.
"I don't know why it's always me…"
"You get off on the attention, and the danger, and you're always a distraction," Alicia said. "Both you and Chloe, you always distract Clark…"
"I know you're upset, and I know we've never really gotten along," Lana responded. "But, you know, Clark seems to see the best of you, and he wants to help you. But, you're going to have to let him help you."
"You don't understand, I don't want to hurt Clark," Alicia responded. Her breathing increased when she approached Lana. "He's better off not knowing where I've been…..it should have never ended like it did….but the only thing to give me piece is to see you dead."
"If you really wanted to kill me, you would have killed me by now. What's stopping you, Alicia?"
Lana really hoped the bluff would work in the best case scenario, or in the worst case scenario, the bluff would provoke Alicia into an attack. A very long, and anxious moment passed before Alicia appeared behind Lana with a flash of light and tried to grab her around the back of the neck.
She pulled out of the attack, and closed her eyes. The energy channeled into Lana's body and caused a warm, tingling feeling to erupt around her being. Lana blasted Alicia almost off of her feet and caused her to drop back down onto the ground with a thud.
Alicia rolled over to her feet and dodged out of the way of another magical attack. Lana turned around and blasted Alicia with all of the force she could. Lana's eyes screwed shut when pushing through the energy beam to connect with Alicia and bring the woman down to her knees.
'It's not working.'
'That's because you don't have faith in your abilities….don't hold back, believe this can work.'
The voice cutting through her mind gave Lana about all of the encouragement she could. She blasted Alicia again with a full force attack. Alicia dropped to the ground, and she tried to close her eyes. Lana pushed herself into the blast and Alicia closed her eyes.
Everything bombarded Alicia at once, everything, and she found the shattered parts of her psyche being forcefully jammed back together in one fluid motion. Alicia's shaking knees prevented her from standing up straight for a long moment. Lana kept pushing forward, trying to get everything she could into this one solid assault.
Lana prevented Alicia from escaping and dropped her down to the ground, stunned. A flash of light appeared, with Clark scooping Alicia up, and then zipping her off as fast as he could. In a blink of an eye, Lana saw Clark leave, and then reappear down onto the ground right next to her.
"Are you okay?" Clark asked.
"Yeah," Lana said. "That wasn't easy."
Lana took a step forward and collapsed into Clark's arms. One look at Lana's pale sweaty face indicated that Clark would have to also get her off to the Fortress for some medical attention before too long. He hoisted Lana off of the ground and brought her back to the Fortress in a blink of an eye.
Everything appeared to be fine, but there were so many unanswered questions.
A dark and brooding feeling passed over the mind and body of one Alicia Baker when she struggled to wake up. She had been through terrible ordeal, she had a feeling. The girl's body was cold and shaking, and her mind was temporarily confused as she tried to recall the ordeal she had been through.
The very last feeling Alicia remembered, was she died. It was awful, it was horrible, and she died, full of regrets of some of the things she done in her life. How, she would never get a chance to make the most out of her life.
Alicia slowly opened her eyes, and found herself breathing, alive, or at least in not in a bad place in the afterlife. She was not sure what to believe, with what happened. Her head started to thump, as it adjusted the brand new line shining. The one thing she realized off of the bat, was she was in the middle of what seemed to be some kind of fortress made entirely of ice, at least that's what she was able to guess by looking around.
Seconds passed as Alicia tried to take as much of the area in as possible. These warm crystals gave off some heat, even though Alicia was still cold, confused, and shaking. Everything just happened so fast. Alicia tried to remember something between dying and waking up. She did die, didn't she? Alicia felt like she did, but at the same time, she could feel breath being drawn into her lungs.
Alicia tried to turn over, but found herself restrained to the table for a moment.
"Sorry about the restraints, but we couldn't be sure you wouldn't attack us when you woke up."
The woman turned around and saw Clark standing there right next to her. She could still feeling a throbbing motion between her ears, something which got a little better the longer Alicia was awake. Or perhaps, she attempted to rationalize the pain away. It was very hard to determine what was going on at certain particular points.
"Maybe," Alicia responded. "I'm not sure if I was able to move….if I was move….it's really good to see a friendly face."
Clark took a second to take in a deep breath. She didn't remember what happened in between the time she died and she got resurrected, which Clark was very comforted by in some way. Whether or not those memories would return, Clark really had no idea.
"So, did I really die?"
Clark hesitated for a minute. He would have to explain this to Alicia later, but right now, until it was confirmed she was of sound mind, she didn't need to know all of the grisly details of her death, resurrection, and indeed, what was done following her resurrection.
"You woke up from a very nasty nightmare."
Alicia had half of a thought there was much more to this entire situation than from outward appearances, but she decided not to question it. Death was a bad enough nightmare, but now she was here, apparently among friends.
"I'm glad things came out okay," Alicia said.
"Lana helped me bring you home."
Alicia raised an eyebrow at surprise about that, but said nothing. Apparently, a lot had changed, and she didn't know the landscape of things. She was certain someone would fill her in on a lot of details sooner or later, right now, all Alicia wanted to do is sleep.
"Just yell if you need anything," Clark said.
She gave a half-hearted nod before making her way to bed. There was a few seconds where Alicia thought she might say something, but instead, she just drifted back off to sleep, without any word whatsoever. It left Clark standing in the Fortress, while taking in a deep breath.
Clark turned his attention back to Raya, who had been waiting in the doorway for him. He took a half of a step in towards Raya, who had several scans up on the screen.
"Alicia's brain scans have come back normal," Raya informed Clark. "She's going to be a bit rattled for the foreseeable future, but she'll be fine all together."
"That's encouraging," Clark remarked to Raya.
"And we managed to piece together some evidence from her mind in the building she woke up in," Raya said. "It may have been a different location than the one Tara woke up in."
Clark responded with a nod in response. It was a start, and something they could build on. Cadmus seemed dangerous from what little he knew, but what was their agenda at the end of the day? Clark would have to send the information along to some very trusted people so they could figure out what to do.
"There are no residual effects, none of the high spikes of radiation which lead to the decomposition of the other test subjects," Raya said. "Which means, they've refined the process."
Lara moved around the corner, and nodded, she would have no choice, other than to concur with Raya's findings. "And they're going to keep refining the process, until they get a meteor mutant which we might not be able to talk off a ledge like Clark did with Alicia."
The grim reality of this awful situation began to sink in with all of them. Clark looked over the information to see what he could do with it. One thing was for certain, and he couldn't say it clear enough, Cadmus needed to be stopped at all means. For now, Clark chased ghosts because he didn't know who all was involved in the process at Cadmus, other than one Hugo Strange.
"At least Alicia is fine," Clark said. "Helena and Thea are investigating Cadmus, I'll make sure to get them the information….especially considering this facility is very close to the area they're investigating in."
Clark had to check out something in Smallville, all of the places Alicia had appeared to, because he wondered if they had any significance to Cadmus. Alicia didn't remember, and Clark wasn't going to try and coax the memories out of her mind. He was going to have to allow that information to be left alone.
He moved over to see Lana who was sleeping off what happened.
"She'll be fine too," Raya responded. "I admit, magic is out of my understanding, along with the understanding of most Kryptonians, but she just overexerted herself."
Clark answered with a nod. He knew both Alicia and Lana would be in good hands, and would not cause any problems. Just in case, Clark kept them at separate sides of the Fortress for security reasons.
With those thoughts out of the way, Clark made his way off to see if the places where Alicia gone, had any sort of significance at all, or not.
Thea Queen knew how some people felt about her now. Helena pulled a disappearing act in the middle of talking with her and left Thea standing out in the middle of nowhere. Her hands dropped to her side, and everything was clear. There were no guards at this facility.
"The alarms are disabled. We can go in now."
It was a mark of years of practiced self-restraint, Thea did not jump, turn around, and put an arrow into the head of Helena. She relaxed the bow a little bit, and the two of them slipped into the unknown. Which, Thea thought reminded her of something out of some kind of bad 1950s B horror movie.
No one was here, and it was quiet, too quiet. The last statement anyone in their right mind wanted to make in a horror movie, but Thea digressed. She just turned around and kept looking. The silence of the room was not very golden, and in fact it was horrifying.
They stepped into an office area, and could see someone shredded a lot of documents in a hurry, given the scraps of paper. There had been a desk where a computer had once set, but it had been pulled. It seemed like the people who were in this facility knew they were coming, so they cleared out any evidence.
Helena Wayne in particular was not going to give up. They always left some kind of clue behind. Helena stepped over and pulled open the filing cabinet, to reveal several folders. She dropped them on the desk, but the files were empty, other than pictures of meteor mutants who had been transferred out of Belle Reve. Some had a Red X slashed through them, and others had a gold circle around them.
"These are the ones who failed the experience, and those are the ones who didn't," Helena said.
"Why would they be sloppy enough to leave something like that laying around?" Thea asked.
"Because, they're taunting us," Helena answered. "It's a game they're playing."
Those words sounded very cynical to be honest, but Thea found some level of truth to them. She watched with Helena turning her head three hundred and sixty degrees to a certain part and then turning it back around. Helena tapped on the wall, clearly in search for something. What she intended to find, Thea didn't know, but she was certain they would find out in a matter of minutes.
The walls retracted, and caused a small staircase to be revealed. Helena stepped down the staircase, with Thea following. The lab was something out of a horror movie as well.
'I wouldn't be surprised to find brains in a jar or something down here,' Thea thought, hoping to keep some kind of levity when going down into this area, but finding nothing.
Helena frowned when kneeling down. Her scanner started with a tiny blip.
"They were doing experiments down there, but all of the equipment was removed when Alicia's mission became compromised."
She looked into the corner and saw the decomposing body of one of their failed experiments. The stench overwhelmed anyone. This particular meteor mutant had spikes jutting out of where his eyes were in the most painful way. Some of his DNA looked to be harvested, judging by the incisions made.
Helena leaned in and scanned the figure down on the ground. For one wild second, she thought there was a still beating heart in the downed creature's chest, but it didn't appear to be that way.
"They would have needed a diamond tipped drill to get through the skin on this one."
"Yeah, because that's not the least bit creepy," Thea said. "There's no one here."
"No, it's been cleared out," Helena said. "The only evidence we found, is evidence we already have. Which means, someone in Cadmus is monitoring investigations, so we have to be very careful."
"If they're a step ahead, how can we catch up to them?"
"They'll get cocky eventually, and then we'll have them," Helena said. "In the meantime, this facility is going to have to go."
One last facility for Cadmus to perform their sadistic experiments in would do the world a whole lot of good.
What seemed like several hours passed, and Alicia had just gotten through a battering of tests. Raya was very kind to her, and very professional when running through the tests. Alicia felt she was one hundred percent, or at least as close to one hundred percent as possible.
"So, I'm good to go?" Alicia asked.
"From a scientific perspective, your mind and body have stabilized," Raya said. "From an emotional perspective, I'm afraid I can't tell you that. You're the only one who could make that particular decision."
Alicia nodded, she figured about as much. She hadn't been perfectly well for a long time, especially considering she couldn't shake this thought she had just returned back from the dead. Still, Alicia was willing to go with the flow and see where it took her.
The restraints on the bed had been removed, and Alicia had been very thankful this type of trust had been offered to her, where she could move freely as possible. She smiled and tossed her hair off to the other side of her head. Alicia rose up to her feet.
"So, feeling better?"
Alicia smiled at the presence of Clark. There was always something about him which brightened her day. Alicia, dressed only in a hospital gown, approached Clark. She couldn't quite sway her hips the way she wanted, due to being wobbly, but it was the thought that counted.
"Now that you're here, I'm fine," Alicia said. "And thanks for saving me….it always has to be you."
Clark gave her a smile and Alicia leaned in to put her finger on Clark's lips. She knew what he was going to say, and it turned out, Alicia had a counter argument for what he was about to say.
"I know you're going to say Lana helped, and you're right. But, without you, would she have been able to help? Let's face it, you're the person who inspires people."
Here, Clark had been reminded about the dream Lana had, about the upcoming invasion. How he was the only hope for the world, or something. That was a lot of pressure to put on a person, but Clark had been used to having very great expectations.
"I would love to take more credit," Clark said.
"And the fact you don't take credit is what makes you….well you," Alicia responded, when she moved closer towards Clark. Her fingers intertwined with his when edging as close as possible to you. "You were going to say you couldn't do half of you do without the help and support of your friends."
"I only say it because it's true," Clark said. "And I hope to count you among those friends as well."
"Friends?" Alicia asked. "Well it's more than I deserve, and not quite as much as I want…..but, I hope to thank you, if you don't mind. A hero deserves his reward after all."
The gap between Alicia and Clark had been closed with a very passionate kiss between the two. Alicia put everything into this particular kiss, trying to convey all of those feelings, all of the pent up frustrations. And indeed, all of the apologies she had, for some of the things she did in the past.
Could not change the past, but she could make up for the future.
Clark held the back of Alicia's head, and kissed her even more. Her lips tasted tantalizing, and her body pressed against his made things warm up in the cold Arctic in a hurry. Alicia slowly maneuvered her fingers towards the bottom of Clark's shirt and slowly slipped her fingers onto his abs.
"Still hot enough to melt ice," Alicia murmured, with a wicked smile on her face, as she tried to pull the shirt.
"So, bad time?"
Alicia pulled away from Clark, and saw Lana standing there. Lana had a look on her face where she wasn't really surprised.
"You know something, fuck it," Alicia said. "It's just as well you're here, because we have some issues to work out."
For a second, both Clark and Lana thought Alicia was going to attack Lana. And she did, in a certain sense of the word. Alicia jumped in, wrapped her arms around Lana's neck, and pulled her into a sexually aggressive kiss. Lana had been surprised, but returned the kiss.
The least they could do, to ease up the tension is to find some common interest to bond over, and the most common interest they had was the young man who was sitting right before them.
Both girls, dressed in hospital gowns, didn't have much to get undressed for. The tore at said gowns when they kissed each other, before turning their wicked attention to Clark just a mere moment later, with smiles crossing over their faces.
Lana moved over to attack Clark with a kiss and pull his shirt over his head. Alicia slipped behind Clark and pressed her perky breasts against his back. She moved her fingers down Clark's back and reached down to cup his crotch.
"That looks a bit constricted," Alicia said. "Why don't we help him get some air?"
Lana smiled, and had already worked Clark's shirt off. She slowly kissed down his abs and then reached his belt. Unlooping the belt allowed Lana to remove Clark's pants and drop them down to the ground. His boxer shorts stretched to show his big, throbbing cock which Lana had out.
Dropping to her knees, Lana worshipped Clark and licked the length. Clark enjoyed the sensation of her warm tongue going down his cock in a zig-zag pattern. She moved down the length and then back up towards the head. Lana's wet lips drew his cock in between them and sucked him for a few seconds before releasing Clark from this particular position.
"Where are my manners?" Lana asked. "You want a taste of him, don't you, Alicia?"
Alicia smiled and moved down to grab Clark's cock before sinking down onto the ground. Her lips wrapped around Clark's cock, and she looked up towards him, quite shamelessly sucking him off. She didn't get the entire length into her mouth, but she made a good effort
"Alicia!" Clark groaned.
Alicia's warm mouth caressed every inch of Clark's cock. Pleasure jolted through him when the beautiful blonde meteor mutant sucked him off while on his knees. Clark held the back of her head and guided his length deeper into Alicia's mouth.
Clark pulled back from her mouth and Lana took her place. Alicia's blowjob was intense, and powerful, while Lana's was more slow and rather measured, but both sets of lips felt good around Clark's cock. He grabbed the back of Lana's head and guided her mouth.
The feeling of Clark's cock buried into her mouth made Lana feel good. She sucked him for a few minutes, committing the taste of his length to her mind, and boy was it ever committed. She grabbed Clark's balls and squeezed hem as hard as possible, before pulling away from him.
Lana traded off to Alicia, and both girls took turns sucking Clark. Each action from both of these hot girls caused Clark's cock to tighten, the muscles in his groin were about ready for his orgasm.
"I want to feel your cum all over my face," Alicia said.
Alicia got on her knees and stroked Clark, nice and fast, using both of her hands to do so. She also kissed and slurped at his head to coax the cum out of him. Lana caressed his balls with her soft fingertips to encourage the explosion which was about ready to come.
"Oh, Alicia, Lana, I can't hold back!" Clark groaned.
He fired his cum all over the faces of both of the beautiful women. Alicia and Lana closed their eyes and accepted the blasts of cum into their faces. They took the warm bursts hard and fast, having their faces covered in thick, dripping gooey spunk.
Alicia smacked her lips and climbed to her feet. She collected the dripping cum off of her face and sucked it from her fingers. An erotic look flashed through Alicia's eyes when doing this action. Out of the corner of her eye, Alicia watched Lana do the same.
Clark took them both onto the bed in a flash, and Alicia and Lana's legs were both spread, revealing their very wet and very dripping pussies. Alicia's was shaved bare, while Lana's had a small strip of black hair coming between her legs. Both of them were quite lovely, and Clark couldn't wait to have a piece of both of these girls.
"Oh, I like it when a man takes charge."
Clark slammed his fingers into Alicia's pussy, and did the same to Lana. Both of the girls moaned with Clark ramming his fingers deeper inside of their dripping cores. He pushed into their bodies and made them scream, squirm, and thrust their hips upwards to meet his fingers.
'Oh, yes, I do, like that, right there!" Alicia mewled at the top of her lungs.
What Clark did to her made her gush in pleasure, and caused her pussy to clench Clark. She released his fingers and then he pushed it back into her.
"He's good, isn't he?" Lana asked.
"Yes, this is….more than worth the wait," Alicia breathed.
Clark spent several more minutes bringing both girls to explosive orgasms. He retracted his fingers from their cunts, and then shoved the fingers with Alicia's juices into Lana's mouth and the fingers with Lana's juices on them into Alicia's mouth.
The taste of Lana's juices got Alicia hot and more bothered than possible. Her pussy was more than ready to take in Clark's throbbing hard cock.
"Clark, I need you, please."
Clark smiled and turned his sights towards Lana, who was willing and ready for his cock. Her legs spread out, and Clark sunk his cock between her legs. One sigh of pleasure and one sigh of absolute frustration intermingled in the air between both of them.
Twelve inches of meat half slid into Lana before pulling out. Her pussy was going to get a workout the likes of which it never felt. Intense pleasures built up in Lana's mind. Clark was more than capable of bringing her to an orgasm in a matter of seconds, but what Lana liked about him was how he dragged out the orgasm. He made her want it more, and it in turn made Lana want Clark even more.
"Take me," Lana begged him. "Harder, oh harder."
Lana's wet thighs slapped together with Clark's. Clark reached down and grabbed her breasts, squeezing the perky globes in his hand.
The dark haired girl wondered if her breasts had grown, or was it just her imagination? One thing was certain, and it wasn't her imagination in the slightest, they were more sensitive, and more responsive to Clark's touch. Her legs spread out to make sure she took as much of Clark inside of her.
Suddenly, Alicia, despite not being touched by anyone, felt something strike her clit and caused her body to thrash up and down. It just made her want Clark even more.
Lana hung on, feeling satisfaction at mind-screwing Alicia like that. She held onto Clark, and could feel the big one coming on. Clark set the stage with a series of small orgasms.
Always, Lana's pussy was so tight, and it seemed to be tighter around Clark's cock now with her brush with magical energy earlier. Clark made the fit work, even though her tight walls clenched around his mighty cock when he shoved himself deeper inside of her. Clark closed his eyes, and brought his rock hard cock inside of Lana one more time.
Every scream coming from Lana only made Alicia want Clark's cock even more. She tried not to touch herself, because that might cause her to cum, and that was Clark's job. Her orgasm belonged to Clark Kent.
Every second, Lana's body expanded and contracted around Clark. It felt so good to have him buried inside of her. Her orgasm came next, and Lana almost blacked out from the pleasure. She held long enough to ensnare Clark's cock and squeeze it.
Magic was an even bigger Kryptonite to Kryptonians than Kryptonite, and despite his ability to hold back, Clark let it go and spilled his load inside of Lana as she stimulated every single nerve center of his hard cock. Clark pushed his manhood into her and filled her body up with an increased amount of seed.
Clark pulled out of Lana, his cock dripping with her clear juices. Suddenly, Alicia was now on top of him, straddling him. Her pussy grinded against his cock. The bare, silky flesh of her walls pushed deep inside of her, and caused her to close her eyes.
"I think it's a bit tighter than I remember," Alicia said.
Clark smiled, it had been a very long time. He grabbed Alicia's ass and squeezed it. She slowly sank down onto his manhood and filled her pussy up with his cock. It was hard in an instant, and Alicia slowly started to roll herself down onto his rock hard cock.
"Clark!" Alicia screamed in a passionate voice.
She placed her hands on his shoulder to steady the lift and then the drop. The feeling of Clark's hands tempting Alicia's body made her feel extremely good. Clark tormented Alicia with those small touches.
Clark listened for Alicia's heart beat when he touched certain spots, and learned very quickly what spots drove her completely insane. Clark held onto Alicia's lower back and positioned her to come down on his cock. She did, bouncing higher, harder, and faster. Alicia squeezed him with her thighs when riding him.
"Touch me, anyway you want to," Alicia begged him.
The beautiful meteor mutant craved Clark's touch. He lightly caressed Alicia's nipple and pushed it between his fingers. Alicia closed her eyes and hummed hungrily, when driving her dripping pussy down onto his hard cock driving inside of her.
Every touch brought Alicia to her peak. She rose up and dropped down onto Clark's hardening rod. She pushed down onto him and bounced higher, faster, and with more fluid actions. Alicia spread her thighs down around Clark's rock hard cock and then dropped down onto him.
Clark groaned when feeling Alicia's wet, tight pussy wrap around him. The minutes ticked by, as Clark allowed her orgasm to come freely. Alicia didn't break, she made up for lost time. And Clark's reward was feeling her wet pussy grind up against his cock when she squeezed and released him with a certain rhythm.
"Mmm, that's a good spot, right there," Alicia breathed.
She had Clark all alone, well at least until Lana recovered. Alicia grabbed her hand around Clark's shoulder and kept driving more of herself down onto his hard cock. Time ticked by, and so did Alicia's orgasms.
Everything reached a fever pitch, the moment Alicia saw stars. She came around Clark's hard cock, and then dropped down onto him again.
"Time for you to get a reward as well."
Alicia didn't think she deserved it, but she would take it. Clark worked his cock into her pussy, and made her cum one more time. Every single inch of Alicia's insides had been stretched with pleasure, with Clark working his hard cock inside of her body.
Then, Clark's orgasm hit, and filled Alicia up with cum. She managed to stay with Clark to the end, riding and clenching him, making sure to drop every single drop of cum.
Clark pulled out of Alicia with a smile, leaving both girls dripping with his essence, sore, with a satisfied smile on his face. Both rested on the bed, and Clark decided to stay with them through the night, just to make sure everything was cool between them, after the post-sex high wore off.
A long and busy night at the DEO was only going to get long and busier, with news coming in about this Cadmus group. Alex hadn't heard about this group before today other than it being a research lab which was underneath the ownership of LuthorCorp, at least until a couple of years back.
Luthors, it always had to be Luthors, at least Tess assured them that Lex and Lionel were locked snugly in their prison cells, at an undisclosed area deep under the ground. The legality of holding them here was something Alex didn't even want to discuss, but given the circumstances, the ends most certainly justified the means.
Saving the world meant you had to be very leisure with some of the laws. Alex responded with a yawn, and turned her attention to a dimly lighted lab. She needed to get a cup of coffee to keep her mind stable, and also maybe check on her old friend, the scarab.
Alex took half of a step to the coffee machine, and saw the case, the case containing the scarab. It had been opened, and the blue scarab, the one which was acting strangely around her, had been missing. Alex drew her gun, not knowing how good it would do against an ancient alien artifact.
'Not good, not good at all,' Alex thought to herself.
Her heart started to hammer a couple of solid beats against her chest. Alex turned slightly around to the left, and slightly around to the right. No signs of the scarab. Maybe someone removed it from the case to investigate it, but Alex had been keeping a very close eye on the movements regarding the scarab.
A stabbing sensation came through her spine, and Alex dropped to the ground to her knees. Alex reached behind her and touched the back of her neck. The blue scarab hooked to the back of her neck and was digging in, and not letting it go. All Alex could do was scream in horror.
The doors burst open, and Daisy made her way inside.
"It's fusing with my body!" Alex yelled.
"Hold still!"
Daisy tried to aim for the scarab and not Alex to rock it off with her powers. Unfortunately, that little tactic was a lot easier said than done. The screams of Alex continued, blood curdling and inhumane. Daisy lifted her hand and tried to once again rock the scarab from its particular position.
"We need help!" Daisy yelled. "Code seventeen, we need help, now!"
Everyone in the DEO knew what a Code Seventeen was, agent compromised by an alien artifact. Alex closed her eyes and could feel something working into her mind, before she consciously blacked out.