Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
Here Part 53 Part 54***************
For the First Time***************
Forty-five minutes earlier…Clark was distracted. For some reason, he couldn’t focus, and he thought that reason probably had something to do with his lack of powers. He couldn’t remember if he had been so distracted that first time he’d been exposed. The fact that he couldn’t
recall that time clearly was a sign that his eidetic memories were another one of his super abilities.
Was this the pathetic man he would have been if he'd been born without powers? No wonder Lois wasn’t attracted to him. Actually, she
was attracted to him, but without his super metabolism, he’d most likely have ended up either a ninety-eight pound weakling, or a four-hundred pound whale.
He tried again to recall those days after that other Lois, the one who had made him Superman, had left, but the memory was vague, distorted, and painful. He scoffed.
Painful? Ha! He hadn’t known the meaning of the word. What he was experiencing currently was the loss of Lois’s trust, of her affection, of her – dare he say it? –
love. That was more agony than anything that other Lois had done to him.
She had always been straightforward with the facts.
She had told him from moment one that she had been engaged to that
other Clark, and that was where her heart lay.
Clark winced. Was this the petty man he had become? Did he blame Lois for no longer wanting him, when it was he who had been lying to her? He was ashamed. It was his fault. He had pushed her away with his lies, his secrets, and now he had no idea how to undo this mess without coming clean, all the way clean.
Unfortunately, he felt caught. If he revealed to Lois that he was Superman – once he got his powers back, because even without his glasses he doubted he’d convince her of that fact – then she would know. There would be no taking it back as he often wished he could do with Lana. Once Lois knew his secret, he lost his chance to let her fall in love with Clark, the real him. He would never know for certain whether it was the real him, or what he could do, or even the man in the revealing tights with whom she had fallen in love. Anyway, if he couldn’t convince her to love him without powers, then he didn’t deserve her love. He needed to work harder as Clark to earn her love, that was, if he hadn’t already lost her completely.
Clark finished his circle around the barnyard and still saw no sign of Lois. It was as he had feared. Unable to wait for him to get his slow brain around Rachel’s death in this dimension, Lois had headed off to the Irigs’ without him. His uncontrollable reaction confused even him. He knew that the Rachel Harris in his dimension was still alive and well, but still…
Thomas joined him from making his circuit from the other side of the barn. “Did you see her?”
“Nope.”
“Me neither,” Thomas said, stating the obvious.
“She probably went to your farm,” Clark told him.
“Would she do that? Go off on her own into danger, without telling anyone?” Thomas asked.
You have no idea. “Yes.”
“Lois has spunk. She kind of reminds me of Rachel,” Thomas said, and Clark couldn’t help but notice the wistful note in his tone.
Clark raised a skeptical eyebrow, but didn’t say anything about disagreeing. “I heard in town what the Harrises did to you after the accident. I’m sorry.”
Thomas shrugged. “It was a long time ago.” He said it in the same tone that Clark used when he talked about his life in foster care, and Clark knew immediately that the wound had never healed.
“Ironic,” Thomas scoffed.
“What is?” Clark asked lost on Thomas’s train of thought.
“If Rachel had been alive she would have been the loudest critic of her family’s behavior. Of course, if she had been alive it never would have happened in the first place.” Thomas shook his head. “They disrespect her memory, who she was, by using her death to attack us.” A small smile came to his face. “Man, nobody could Push Tush like her.” He laughed.
Clark let a slight chuckle escape, remembering Thomas’s comparison with Lois. He couldn’t picture
her relaxing long enough to country line dance, which was a pity. He bet she’d enjoy it if she gave it a chance.
As they walked on, Thomas rambled on about nothing important, mostly some movie he saw that past weekend in Wichita.
Clark let his mind wander back to dancing with Rachel. She had been so much fun. She knew what to take, and what not to take, seriously. She stood her ground. She had no fear. If she didn’t like something, or felt someone was being mistreated, she was the first to step in. All of those aspects of her personality were what had made her such a good sheriff. Despite all of those similarities to Lois, he hadn’t felt the connection with his blonde best friend back then as he had with Lois now. While he and Rachel had been friends, Clark knew without a doubt that he loved Lois.
His mind flashed back to the night that Rachel Harris had changed his life.
After his freshman year at college, Clark had returned to Smallville, not sure where else to go. The Ross family had hired him again as a field hand. During his free time, he and Rachel had hung out. They laughed and talked about his college experiences and what hers might be like.
One weekend, shortly before they both headed off to their respective universities, Clark and Rachel had spent the evening stargazing in Shuster’s field. Old Shuster never used that field anymore. He might let a cow or two loose in it occasionally to keep it mowed, but other than that, it was a beautiful field of grass. Clark’s folks used to take him there for picnics as a child or just to run around. It was almost like a private park out in the middle of the country.
There was just something about that particular place that relaxed Clark. It made him feel like the weight of his differentness didn’t rest so heavy on his shoulders. He felt happier there than any other place in or around Smallville, except maybe that small circle of trees on his family’s old farm. He used to come out to Shuster’s Field and stare into the sky, think of his folks, and where he might have come from. He wanted to share that with someone else; not his whole secret, of course, but maybe unburden some of this weight of the unknown off his chest. He had been considering how and what to say, when Rachel nudged him with her elbow.
“Clark,” she said softly, and he distinctly heard her heartbeat rise with nervousness. “Have you ever…?” She nudged him again. “—
you know.”
He couldn’t believe that Rachel had brought up such a subject with him. “Rachel!” he said with exasperation, and embarrassment.
“Well, you’re big man on campus now…”
“Hardly,” he chuckled.
“I was just wondering…” Rachel continued after a pause. “— you know, what it feels like.”
“Like I’d know,” Clark scoffed, and then winced realizing how much he had revealed to her, his best friend. Luckily, the darkness covered most of his embarrassment and they were both looking upward at the sky.
“I’m just nervous. Are college guys going to expect me to do more… things?” she murmured.
“Of course not, Rach. They aren’t any different from high school guys, just bigger and drunker,” he teased.
“Thanks for the reassurance there, Clark,” she spat back.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, feeling like kicking himself for his insensitivity. “When you find the right guy, and you’re ready, it’ll be like magic. I promise.”
“But what if my first time isn’t with the right guy, Clark? What if I think he’s the right guy, and he turns out to be a jerk, who dumps me afterward? That’s not how I want to remember my first time,” she whispered, and he could hear a catch in her throat. “It would be better to have my first time be with a friend.”
Clark wondered if she was saying what he thought she was saying. He cleared his throat. “That would be kind of risky.”
She rolled over and faced him. “How so?”
“What if you got…” He sat up on his elbows, and looked at her. “—
you know? It would change your whole life, both of your lives. It isn’t a decision you…anyone should rush into.”
“Okay. So, not tonight then,” she replied with a nod. “Tomorrow night?”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Rachel!”
“I’ll bring the blankets, and you bring the precautions,” Rachel suggested.
“Here?” he sputtered.
She shrugged. “Why not? There’s nobody around for miles. Nobody will see us.”
“I don’t know, Rach,” he said, knowing she would be able to hear the hesitation in his voice.
“Is there someone else?” Rachel asked softly.
Clark had spent all his free time hanging out with Rachel. If there had been someone else, and he hadn’t mentioned it to her, he could see why she would feel hurt, being his best friend and all. He had a crush on Lana, but he knew that was a pipedream. “No, but…”
“But what?” she asked, folding her arms across his chest and looking him directly in the eyes.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he explained. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t want to lose control.”
Rachel lips broke into a smile. “I know you, Clark, probably better than you think I do. You’re not going to hurt me. We’ll go slow. Okay?”
He brushed a lock of her blonde hair off her face and behind her ear, cupping her jaw with the palm of his hand. “If something happens…”
“Then you’ll have yourself a wife,” she said with a laugh.
“Your dad would kill me,” he replied.
“Probably,” she agreed with a nod. She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Let’s not tell him.”
Clark laughed. “That’s a given.”
The next night two giddy teenagers had met in the field. Clark had arrived early, cleared a spot, and set up a small fire pit, more for something to do than for the need for heat. He had flown himself to Austin in the predawn hours and bought the condoms. He felt dirty, cheap, and excited. He had never thought of Rachel in that way before, and even though he had seen her a couple of times that summer in her navy one-piece swimsuit, he still couldn’t picture her naked. He was nervous, very nervous. He couldn’t believe he had agreed to this.
He brought hotdogs, and chips, and even a couple bottles of beer he had been able to purchase because he looked older when he didn’t shave.
Rachel arrived shortly before dusk. She had a car. He didn’t, but she never asked how he got anywhere. She dropped the blankets down on the dry grass and sat down next to Clark on the log he had dragged up to the fire pit.
“This is cozy,” she remarked, setting a hand on his shoulder.
Clark shrugged. “In case you changed your mind, I thought we could still have a good final farewell before we head off to college.” Glancing over at her, he noticed she was dressed differently. Gone were her usual jeans and t-shirt. She wore a denim dress with buttons down the front – easy access. He gulped. “You look nice.” It didn’t look as if she had changed her mind.
“You too,” she replied, even though he hadn’t done anything extra special about his appearance.
Okay, he had used his heat-vision to burn off the stubble on his jaw, and even trimmed his hair a bit, adding a bit of styling gel. He had taken two showers. Once that morning, and then he had taken a dip in Rocky Cove creek after setting up the site. The water had been cool and refreshing. The shirt was new, too, but his jeans were old and so were his boots.
“I’m nervous,” he said. “I don’t know if can maintain control.”
Rachel laughed. “
That’s what you’re nervous about?” She grinned. “Don’t worry. I have nothing to compare you to, and anyway…” She nudged him with her shoulder. “I’ll just feel like a hotty, if you feel the need to rush.”
He shook his head, and held up his hands. “Slow.” He cleared his throat and decided it was time to change the subject. “I brought dinner,” he said, holding up the pack of hotdogs.
“Did you bring precautions?” she asked.
Clark nodded. So much for his diversion technique.
“Well, why don’t you start heating up the hotdogs and I’ll spread out the blankets,” she suggested, standing up.
Soon, they had each eaten a hotdog, and drunk a beer, and were sitting on the log in silence. They both must have been thinking about what came next.
“Should I kiss you?” Clark asked, breaking the ice.
“Yes, that sounds like a good start,” Rachel nodded, gripping her hands together in her lap.
He ran his hand through her hair and gently held the back of her head. “If you change your mind at any moment,
any moment, for
any reason, let me know, and I’ll stop.”
She nodded, pressing her lips together.
“Um… Rachel, I need… um… I need your lips,” he said.
Rachel blushed, closed her eyes, and puckered her lips in a most posed way.
“Relax, Rachel. I’m only going to kiss you,” he said. “I’ve kissed you before.”
Her eyes flew open. “You have?”
“Prom night. I kissed you on prom night,” he reminded her. It didn’t bode well that she had forgotten.
“Oh, right,” she said with a smile, remembering. “That was nice. I wish you could have been my date to my prom.”
“Rach, you should have said something. I would’ve come,” he said, knowing he would have.
“How? You don’t have a car, and Kansas State is hours away by bus…” she said skeptically.
Clark placed his lips onto hers in a gentle kiss. “I fly.”
She smiled, believing he was teasing. “You
fly?”
“Uh-huh,” he whispered and kissed her again. “And I run really fast.”
“Do you?” she giggled.
“I do,” Clark said with mock seriousness, his gentle kisses continuing. “
Really fast.” It felt good to reveal these facts to someone. He promised himself he would never make love to anyone who didn’t know what she was signing up for beforehand. He knew he was cheating this promise with his teasing tone, but he had a good feeling about his chances. “And I never get tired.”
“No?” Rachel said, a little bit of awe to her voice.
“I’m also very strong,” he murmured.
“Oh,” was her only response, and their conversation died away with their kisses.
The gentle kisses turned hotter, deeper, and he could feel his body reacting positively to hers. She reached over and started fumbling with the buttons on his shirt. Soon his shirt was all the way unbuttoned and her hands were caressing his bare chest.
“Oh, Clark,” Rachel moaned, and a new scent joined the smoke from the fire. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, except for the fact that he liked it, very much. She pulled back for a moment, and started to unbutton her own dress. Then she took his hand and slipped it inside her dress. “It’s okay, Clark. You can touch me.”
His palm touched her skin, and he realized that she wasn’t wearing a bra. He swallowed, and moved his hand to touch her chest. The caress caused them both to tremble in anticipation. Her hands continued to unbutton her dress buttons as his lips returned to hers.
Soon, her hand returned to his chest. His hand slipped down her body and found that she wasn’t wearing anything under her dress.
“Are you ready to move to the blankets?” he asked, between kisses. He was more than ready for the next step, but he wasn't going to rush her.
“Uh-huh,” she mumbled, moving closer to him, so that her bare chest met his.
He swept her into his arms and carried her to the blankets.
Her hands started fumbling with his jeans, reaching inside as soon as she had gotten them unzipped. “Oh, my!” she murmured. No woman had ever touched him like that before, and it certainly felt much better than when he had done it himself.
Before he knew it, that time had come. He tore open a small foil package. He only hoped it held. He had done a trial run that morning by himself, after he had gotten back from Austin, and had be able to complete it to his satisfaction without breaking the condom, much to his relief. This, of course, would be much different.
Clark looked down at Rachel as he slid another blanket over his backside. The cool night’s air was settling in. He glanced over at the campfire and sent a couple of blasts of heat to restart the coals.
“Are you sure about this, Rachel?” he asked, and with her nod, he joined them together. His body indicated that it was ready for more, but ‘slow’ was the word of the day. “Does it hurt?”
She shook her head. “No. I heard that it could, but it doesn’t. I’m ready,” she told him. “Let’s do this.”
Clark decided that the best way to keep control was to concentrate on her pleasure. So, he listened to her heartbeat and her panting. He even floated them slightly off the hard ground, so she wouldn’t bruise with his pushing. For her part, she wrapped her body around his and dug her fingernails into his back, moaning his name. Her body tightened around his and the control he was trying to maintain slipped. His movements sped up until he was sure he must have felt more like a vibration than actual pumping, before he let go of the last of his control, calling out her name.
Relaxing, he floated them back down to the hard ground, thankful to know the truth about this ability. He rested his head on Rachel’s clavicle, drowning in sensations: the sounds of the birds and the crickets playing their evening song, the scent of the wildflowers, smoke, and the sweat on her body. He opened his mouth and kissed her neck, tasting her. She trembled as if with an aftershock, her arms holding him to her. He glanced up at her face when that happened and he saw pure bliss streak across it before fading into contentment.
“Wow!” Rachel said, turning to look at him.
Wow was good. He’d accept ‘wow’.
Her smile turned into a grin, as she rolled him over, so that he was on the bottom. “You know we’re going to have to do that again, just to make sure that wasn’t just beginner’s luck.”
“Are we?” Clark replied with an answering grin. “Well, if you insist.”
Overall, they had made love three more times that night. They fell asleep sometime after the second time. They woke up in the middle of the night, starving. Clark restarted the fire. They wrapped blankets around themselves and sat on the log, heating up more hotdogs. At dawn, she asked for one last ride on her cowboy, before disappearing into the morning mist with a goodbye flick of her hand.
After he cleaned up the camp, Clark crawled into the hayloft at the Ross’s barn to sleep. He thought back upon that night for many years to come, and not just because he had made love for the first time.
Clearly, Clark hadn’t been thinking straight during those last few days before heading back to Kansas State. He couldn’t believe he had broken the law to buy those two bottles of beer as a minor.
Him! Clark Kent, the big boy scout, the man who would become Superman.
He had broken the law. He had never broken the law or a rule in his life, up to that point. He hadn’t wanted to draw the attention to himself. Just thinking about it filled him with humiliation.
He didn’t know why he had done it. It was as if he hadn’t cared if he had been caught. He didn’t drink soda pop, and water, juice, or milk seemed a bit juvenile for night when they were going to be doing something so adult. If the Harrises or Sheriff Tinney had caught them, he could have been accused of getting Rachel drunk with the intention of seducing her. Luckily, Rachel was of age and wouldn’t have accused him of such a crime. She was his best friend, and it had been
her idea to begin with.
Clark never knew why he had gone along with Rachel’s suggestion. When his folks had sat him down to tell him about the birds and bees, they had recommended that love, and not just desire, be the over-riding factor. He hadn’t understood exactly what they had meant, being that he had been so young at the time, but when the question had come up, he hadn’t even thought about love. While he and Rachel had been friends, Clark knew without a doubt that he loved Lois, yet he had no second thoughts about becoming intimate with his childhood best friend.
That night reminded him almost like how he felt now, mentally drugged and slow, only without the pain or the loss of invulnerability or powers. Only now, knowing he wasn’t at the top of his game, he cared more about the consequences. Back then, he had let his emotions and desires rule him and he didn’t care what the end effects might be. True, he had only been nineteen, but still…
He had hoped for that kind of freeing experience with Lana, after they checked into that hotel in Kansas City, the night she had told him to propose, but it had never materialized. A part of him wondered if it was nostalgia more than the actual experience he remembered.
“You’re quiet,” Thomas said, interrupted Clark’s thoughts.
Clark realized the man hadn’t said anything for a while, and when he had been speaking, Clark hadn’t been listening.
“I’m worried about Lois. If anything happens to her because she went off on her own, I’ll never forgive myself,” Clark replied, feeling guilty that he had let his mind wander away from the present, from their current problem and, most importantly, from the disappearance of Lois.
“How’d you get married to a big city reporter, anyway?” Thomas inquired.
“It was love at first sight,” Clark said honestly, kicking himself once again for telling everyone that he and Lois were married. “Unfortunately, we don’t love each other equally. We rushed things.” He cleared his throat. “We’re still in ‘the getting to know you’ phase.”
“She doesn’t like that you’re a farmer?” Thomas guessed.
Not quite. “Let’s just say I may have elaborated a bit on my history and circumstances in her opinion,” Clark said, balancing dangerously on that line between truth and a lie. He chuckled forlornly. “I’m hoping patience and persistence will win her in the end.”
“Yeah, I know about that. Just make sure someone doesn’t snatch her away before you get there,” Thomas said with wisdom far beyond his years. “Man, if I had only had the chance with her.”
“
Excuse me?” Clark sputtered, knowing he must have misheard the kid.
Thomas blushed. “Rachel. Rachel Harris. The only reason Walt took her to prom was because he caught me mooning after her.”
Clark stared at him. What Thomas had said about Walt, he could believe, but Rachel? “She was a bit old for you, wasn’t she?”
“Only three years,” Thomas said adamantly. “Senior guys date freshman girls all the time. Why not the other way around?”
Clark shrugged. Thomas was right.
Why not? He wondered if Thomas and Rachel were destined for one another like he and Lois were. He would have to ask the Thomas Irig from his dimension when he returned home.
Shame instantly filled him and Clark lowered his head. He wasn’t going home. He would never see
his Rachel or his dimension’s Thomas again. Although he was sure, he’d miss the former, especially since this Rachel was dead, more than the latter. Having tasted Lois’s kisses Clark knew he was in this dimension for the long haul. Of course, if he could ever convince Lois to take a chance and love him, he was sure time would pass like the blink of an eye. It was the getting to love that seemed to be dragging its feet.
He sighed, and clenched his hands into fists hoping they would find her sitting in the bushes, safely observing the Irig Farm.
***
When the camouflaged soldiers had jumped out of the trees around him, Clark felt like a fool. He and Thomas had split up to make another wide circle around the Irig house and barns. Clark couldn’t believe he hadn’t heard them. He hadn’t thought to look. He had relied on his superior senses for so long that now that he was without them, he found himself forgetting basic rules from scouting 101, such as listen, observe, and pay attention to one’s surroundings.
Clark hoped that they hadn't caught Thomas as well. He had quickly scanned the area but without his powers, he hadn’t seen anything outside of the camp the intruders had set up around the Irigs’ barn. He doubted that these guys were EPA, as they appeared to be anything but civil service employees. Not that he had bought the EPA cover after hearing Thomas’s tale.
“Who are you guys? Who do you work for?” Clark asked.
Trask walked out of the tent, and Clark’s stomach sank. Once again, Lois was right. If Bureau 39 had Lois, who knew what they would do to her?
“Well, well, well… Clark Kent. Isn’t this a surprise?” the alien hunter said more than asked.
Of course, after they had introduced themselves to Ms. Sherman, liaison for the “EPA”, that morning, they had lost the element of surprise.
“Trask! What are you doing in Smallville?” Clark asked, yet fearing he already knew the truth.
“Now, here I was just wondering the same thing about you,” Trask replied.
“My newspaper sent me to investigate an EPA cleanup,” Clark explained.
“Me? Don’t you mean ‘us’, Mr. Kent?” Trask corrected with a knowing smirk.
“Where’s Lois?” Clark demanded, wishing he could use his x-ray vision or even his hearing to search for her.
Trask’s eyebrows shot up. “Lost your partner, Kent? I’d say ‘girlfriend’ but, come on, none of us really bought that act on the plane. Is she still up close and personal with the Daily Planet’s favorite spy in tights?”
Clark jerked his arms, trying to free himself from Trask’s men. He just wanted to land one good punch before his powers returned and it would kill the man. Something about Trask seemed to push all of Clark’s buttons.
“Sir Gallant to the last,” Trask mocked. He nodded to one of his men and waved him off. That man took three others and headed back into the woods. “You aren’t here for your environmental virtue any more than I am. You know it, and I know it.”
If Clark hadn’t felt a fool before, he did now. If Trask didn’t have Lois, where was she? Was she outside the perimeter of the camp? Had he just alerted Trask’s men to her locale? She would really kill Clark now.
If Lois had avoided Bureau 39’s detection, Clark didn’t have any doubt that she would come after and save him, no matter how annoyed with him she was, no matter how much it pained him to have
her be the one rescuing him. Not only because she wouldn’t want Trask to win in any way, but mostly because she still thought Clark had some way to reach Superman. At this point in time, Lois might be willing to risk Clark’s life, but she wouldn’t risk her hero.
As the soldiers pulled him into a tent and attached chains to his ankles and wrists, Clark wished that a fraction of her would want to save him for himself or, better yet, save him for
her.
***
Clark sat at the table in the tent for a good hour, if not longer, before one of Trask’s men unlocked the manacles at his wrists. Not long afterwards, Trask came in to question him. Clark didn’t know if Trask had found Lois or Thomas, and if he had, whether the man had interrogated them before coming to discuss things with him.
“What have you done with Wayne Irig?” Clark demanded. At least, he knew that Trask
had captured him.
“I let him go,” Trask replied flippantly.
Crap, thought Clark. He really had screwed up this time. They hadn’t caught Lois, Wayne Irig had been set free, and Clark had stupidly gone and gotten himself captured, when he was without powers.
Good going there, Kent!“You see, small town ties mean a lot. Any other man would have given up his contact in a minute, but this man…
this man took sodium pentothal, a couple of broken fingers, and he still wouldn’t talk,” Trask said, marveling at Wayne’s endurance. “Then it came to me. Let him go and see where he went.”
Clark had a sinking feeling in his gut about that theory. He hoped that Wayne went and hid himself in the woods, but that was doubtful. Maybe he could lose Trask’s men in the woods, or get to Lois, Thomas, and Kents in enough time to call in the reinforcements, but with Sheriff Max Harris on the case, that wasn’t likely.
“I’m going to make a little deal with you, Clark, trusting your stay in Metropolis has put some sense into your head. We both know Ms. Lane is too attached to her alien lover to ever give him up, but if you do, I’ll let both you and her live,” Trask said, pacing back and forth behind him.
“What makes you think I’d do that even if I could?” Clark retorted. Without any proof that Trask had found and detained Lois, he would still assume her freedom.
“Because I’ll make sure it never gets back to her who turned him in. You can be the sympathetic shoulder she cries on after his funeral,” Trask suggested. “You can finally win the woman of your dreams.”
Clark felt like banging his head on the table. Wasn’t there one person in this dimension who didn’t know he was head over heels in love with Lois? He squeezed his lips together in disgust. “I’ve considered your kind offer, and have decided to pass.”
Trask slammed his hand down on the table. “I’m trying to save humanity from an alien invader.”
“You have no proof of that, Trask.”
“Okay, how about this?” Trask said softly, walking slowly around the table so he would be facing Clark. He leaned forward to look Clark in the eye. “Maybe he has taken over your mind. Perhaps he has infused you with his power.”
Was this guy serious? Did he really believe this nonsense he was spouting? Did his flunkies believe as deeply in this muck as Trask did? Clark glanced over his shoulder at the soldiers behind him. Neither of them moved. Neither of them looked him in the eye. He returned his gaze to Trask. “If he had infused me with his power, why I am here? How were your guys able to capture me? Why haven’t I broken free?” Clark retorted.
Ms. Sherman stepped just inside the tent, and Clark saw her eyes widen at the sight of him at the table. She cleared her throat, and Trask approached her with some annoyance.
“We have a location on Irig. He’s heading down an access road to the home of a Jonathan Kent,” she told Trask in hushed tones, but still loud enough for Clark to hear her.
Oh, no.Trask’s eyes flashed to Clark’s and his annoyance had clearly turned to anger. As he walked back to Clark, his voice was more patronizing than mad. “Clark? Why didn’t you tell me this was a family affair?”
“I’m not related to those Kents,” Clark told them honestly.
“A coincidence then?” Trask scoffed. “You’re born in 1966, named Clark Kent, raised in Smallville, and yet not related to the Smallville Kents?”
“That’s right,” Clark said, but even to him the story sounded unbelievable. Why had he told people in this dimension he was from Smallville, Kansas? No wonder Lois was angry with him. “My folks died when I was ten, and I went into foster care in Wichita.”
Trask discounted this new information. “Superman came to Smallville around the same time you were born. There has to be a connection. Now, tell me and
live.”
Ms. Sherman moseyed out of the tent, as if she didn’t want to be a party to his death. Too late.
“There is nothing
to tell,” Clark insisted. “I know as much, if not less about this, than you do.” While he might know more about Superman than anyone, the details of his first few days on Earth came only from one telling of the story from his folks shortly before they died. Sure, that other Lois had told him a bit more, like about the globe, but mostly it was a mystery.
“Mind if I disagree?” Trask said, pulling the tag Clark had removed from Kal-El’s spaceship out of his pocket and dropping it on the table in front of him. “I found this on the plane after you and Ms. Lane took your swan dives. I didn’t think anything about it at first, but then about a month ago I discovered a vessel with Superman’s logo on it in my collection, a vessel without an identification tag. Another coincidence? Moreover, when I checked the files under Smallville, for some reason the file had not only been misplaced, but the name was blackened out so I couldn’t read it. Sounds like a bit of a cover-up to me.”
“You’d know about cover-ups more than I would, Trask,” Clark said.
Trask scowled at him before focusing his attention on one of his soldiers. “Put his chains back on and throw him in the truck. We’re going to take a little drive in the country. After we’ve left, tell Sherman and the others to start packing up. Meet us at the rendezvous place at nineteen hundred.”
“Yes, sir!” the man said, standing at attention.
***End of Part 54*** Part 55 I hope that wasn't too much information.
Comments?
