"What's happening to me?"
Sam's eyes shot up as he heard Clark's faint whisper. He placed another layer of bandaging around his shoulder, weakly offering him the only response that came to mind. "I honestly don't know, son." Another few minutes of awkward silence lingered between the two until Sam spoke again. "Until we can figure out what's going on with your powers, you shouldn't take the risk using them."
"That's just the thing, Sam. I haven't been using my powers- they've been using me."
The two sat in heavy silence for the duration of Sam's examination, the doctor's occassional 'hmms' being the only sounds radiating through the room.
The sound of medical tape being wrapped jarred Lois from the few moments of stillness she'd been able to grab hold of while waiting downstairs with everyone, as requested by both her father and husband.
"He's, umm..." she picked up on Sam's voice as he made his descent down the stairway. "He's all finished. I put a few stitches in his shoulder and taped him up."
"Why does he keep bleeding, daddy?" Lucy leaned forward, resting her knees.
"He's been weakened. His body is not used to *not* being able to heal itself...it's having a hard time adjusting."
From her seat beside Jonathan, Martha's fear and worry was painstakingly evident. "What did they do to my boy?" she whispered, sharing a sidelong glance with Lois.
"That's what I'm hoping Dr. Klein can tell us. So what do we do now?" she asked her father. "Will he be alright tonight?"
"He should be. His vitals are all fine; it's just his powers that aren't functioning properly."
"Dr. Klein thinks Clark may have been exposed to a new form of kryptonite. He wanted to get more information first, but he said to bring him in tomorrow morning."
"Then that's what we do," Sam firmly nodded. "We go about our daily routines. If what you've said is true, and that man...Braden, does know about Clark, then we shouldn't be drawing any uneccessary or suspicious attentions to the family."
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Morning came much too soon for the family. Following through with Sam's sound suggestion, everyone went about the day's events with their already laid plans. After sharing a relatively quiet breakfast, Lucy, Sam, and Ellen set out to run the last of their errands in preparing for the surprise party they'd been planning for Lois and Clark's anniversary. And though paling in comparison to the interest they held in their son's well-being, Martha and Jonathan's trip to the Metropolis Museum of Natural Sciences still held a fascination for the two, having been anticipating the exhibit for weeks on end.
It was a little after nine when Lois and Clark arrived at the Planet.
"Conference room. Oh- one sec, Martha," Jimmy looked over to the ramp, "he just came in." With a waving arm, he motioned for Clark to come over. Jimmy couldn't help but take notice of his friend's unusually slow pace as he walked through the glass door, shutting it behind him. "CK, your mom's on line three."
"Thanks Jimmy." Clark took a seat as Jimmy handed him the phone, leaving him to his call in private. Seeing that Lois was still getting organized at her desk, he walked back to his own to retrieve a stack of folders and papers. Briskly walking back over, anxious to share what he'd dug up, his early morning grin soon faded as he caught Lois' deeply troubled face. "Lois, you okay?"
She looked up, her eyes lingering on his in an uneasiness she refused to let spread to the rest of her face. "Yeah. I'm fine, Jimmy. What have you got?"
"That image from Star Labs' security tape hasn't come back yet, but I did get a list of every other project Dr. Evans and Dr. Braden had worked on, separately and together, at LexCorp. Get this-" he flipped open to a lab report, bearing both of the doctor's good names, "they were both involved in Luthor's early cloning experiments."
"Nice work, Jimmy. Lemme know when you've got an ID on that photo."
With a satisfied nod, Jimmy turned to leave, his phone already ringing as he approached his desk. "Daily Planet..." He cradled the receiver to his shoulder. "Lois, I've got Dr. Klein on line two, he says it's urgent."
Without glancing up, her eyes still perusing the lab records, Lois transferred the call. "Dr. Klein?"
"Lois- is Clark there with you?"
"He had to take another call. We're just picking up a few things here, then we're headed over."
"Well, I might as well give you a heads up first to let you know what we're dealing with. You see, I've discovered something rather unusual about the bombs that were planted around the research facility that was destroyed. Out of the fifty or so that were set off, there was only one that contained aboslutely no traces of explosive devices. Instead, it held nanoscopic bioprobes. Fascinating devices, really. Tiny enough to be absorbed right through the skin. They emit low-level electromagnetic waves that can short circuit brain activity. They're used mostly in neurosurgical procedures, but it seems as though whoever set off this particular bomb was able to weaponize them."
"Translation please," Lois quipped.
"Sorry." Keeping his tone and extent of knowledge at a professional level, unsure of who else might be listening, he continued. "When I examined Superman, I'd found some strange blips that had shown up on his x-rays. At first, I'd thought these to be fragments of kryptonite, in light of the symptoms that he'd explained to me. But upon further inspection, they actually appear to be these very same probes, composed of kryptonite particles."
"So he has been injected with kryptonite?" she cut him off, the fear and anger raising in her voice.
"Kryptonite probes. And from the looks of it, the composition is unnatural; chemically synthesized. Almost as if it's man-made," Klein emphasized, trying to gather his thoughts before continuing his explanation. "From what I can tell, while these probes are quite present in his system, the amount of kryptonite isn't necessarily lethal, just enough to leave him susceptible."
"To what? What can these probes do?"
"Depends on who's controlling them from an outside mechanism." He paused briefly to scroll down his own computer screen, bringing up a particular file. "Once the probes are implanted into a person's system, whoever's controlling them can send out frequencies that interfere with normal brain functions."
"He said he couldn't control his flying..." Lois whispered aloud, her spoken thought easily overheard by Dr. Klein.
"In Superman's case, yes- the use of his powers would be affected. If one wanted, they could even deactivate the right and left frontal lobes of the brain, which would have drastic effects- cutting the person off from all memory, emotion, self-awareness, and the ability to distinguish between the real and vividly imagined experience. The devices can suppress actual memories and replace them with false memories and experiences, created by whoever's controlling the probes."
"Wait- I remember hearing about these gizmos. NASA had started using them in their flight simulations."
"For a while, yes. The implanted memories were used as learning tools, a kind of virtual reality exercise to teach pilots space shuttle emergency procedures. NASA stopped use because of certain unforseen side effects. They'd found that the implanted memories could be used to manipulate people; make them believe things that weren't true. Fear, paranoia, feelings of vengeance, anger, rage...a person could be manipulated by virtually any means necessary. Control a person's fears-"
"-you can control the person," she finished for him, her ensuing thought one that sent a piercing chill through both her and the doctor. "And who wouldn't want to control Superman. Clark and I will be over shortly, Dr. Klein."
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"Yes mom...I haven't been...I know...Not yet, we need to grab some stuff from the office first, then we're headed over...I will, mom...Mom, I'll be fine- you and dad just enjoy the museum exhibit; I can't wait to hear all about it tonight...Okay...I love you too, mom...Bye."
Slowly placing the phone back in its handset, Clark began to feel a growing discomfort. He leaned back slightly, slumping in his chair, and closed his eyes.
It was the sound of his wife's heeled footsteps on the smooth, tiled floor behind him that drew his attention. He looked up, taking a deep breath, as he sat back up in his chair and turned toward the doorway. Lois stood there, looking at him quietly, her hands resting behind her on the door handle.
"Hey," she whispered, walking over to him. She stopped as she reached the long table, tilting her head and studying Clark's face.
"I'm just tired," he answered her forthcoming question, already seeing the worry etched across her features. As she sat ontop of the table beside him, his arms instantly circled her from the side, leaning his head against her shoulder.
"Jimmy found some more on Braden," she said, lowering her face, planting a soft kiss into his kiss. "I told Dr. Klein we were on our way over."
The two were shrouded in silence until Lois felt Clark's weight shift towards her, as if going slack against her. "Clark?" She pushed him gently away so that she could search his face. Seeing that his eyes had fallen closed, Lois reached out a hand, blinking back tears as she saw the blood seeping through his shirt, the gauze her father had taped into place doing little to contain the slow but steady flow coming from his shoulder wound.
"Lois! Clark!" With Jimmy right behind him, Perry entered the conference room. Judging by the panicked look on Lois' face, he'd seemingly caught them off guard.
By now both of their faces were twisted with pain and a terrible fear. "Clark..." a desperate Lois whispered, trying to maneuver herself to conceal his current state; just long enough to get rid of Perry and Jimmy. She watched his hand slowly come up to the wound, covering her own hand, already stained in blood. Absentmindedly, she took notice of the red stain smeared over the diamond of her engagement ring, a few specks glazing over her wedding ring as well.
"You guys," Jimmy eagerly began, "I was showing the chief the police report from the investigation on Braden, and..." The realization finally dawned on the young reporter-in-training that they'd interrupted something. "Everything okay? Guys?"
"Uh, Jimmy- go see what's going on out there, would you?" Perry nodded out to the rest of the newsroom, seemingly abuzz with some breaking story. Turning back to face his top reporters, Perry hesitated. For starters, he waited until he'd heard the door shut firmly behind Jimmy, guaranteeing them a few moments of privacy. After hearing the familiar and secluding click, he wasn't quite sure how to approach Lois and Clark. Although he himself had adjusted to what he was about to acknowledge, he wasn't sure the couple was going to react to his adjustment with the same equanimity.
Clark could only stare at Perry as he made his determined, yet calm approach. The editor's movements came through instinct, pure and simple. With a steady hand, he reached out to gently slide Clark's glasses from his face. He looked to Lois before proceeding, as if checking for permission.
"You've certainly been having a hard time of it lately..." he let his fingers brush back Clark's hair, "...haven't you, son...?" He faltered to a halt, his face crumpling with compassion when Clark tensed, then froze. His eyes grew wide as Perry repeated his hand motion, the dark waves of his hair smoothing down, into the style both he and his wife now realized was all-too familiar to their boss.
After a few moments, Clark finally found his voice, though barely above a whisper. "How long have you known?"
Perry's countenance grew deeply serious, as he walked slowly toward the windows of the conference room. He looked out over the city for a long moment, watching as the people and cars wove in and out of the streets below them. "Being in this business for...shucks, damn near a whole lifetime...having suspicions comes with the territory. I'd always wondered," he said, shaking his head slowly. "Questioned alot of...situations that presented themselves."
"Why didn't you ever say anything?" Lois asked, respectfully. "Come to us?"
Turning back to approach them, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Darlin', the mark of a good editor is knowing when to trust his reporters' judgements and decisions. I knew that when you both felt it was the right time, you would come to me yourselves. And, well...if that day never came, I knew you'd have your reasons not to. Either way, just know that I'm with you. And if there's ever anything..."
While he would've liked to finish, the sight being revealed to him drained him of any coherent thought. He'd known that Superman had been through the ringer this week, but he didn't realize the extent of the damage until seeing the walking wounded himself, bleeding right before his eyes. "Oh lord. Clark-"
"Chief, we need to get to Star Labs," Lois cut in, "without causing a scene."
Having barely escaped from the scene converging inside the Planet's newsroom, Jimmy reentered the conference room. "You guys, something's up at the Museum of Natural Sciences," he gasped. "Two men have taken everyone inside hostage."
[Just a head's up everyone- the major WHAM I mentioned earlier will be coming within the next few posts]
