0 comments/ 4717 views/ 2 favorites Something Extraordinary Ch. 01 By: crazyniks Author's Note: DC Comics owns Superman and related characters. Only the following literary work is mine. *** He could see the birds flying freely in the sky, no strings and no boundaries. Fourteen year old Clark Kent always wondered what it would be like to fly up away in the sky, through and above those clouds. "Why are you here?" He asked himself. "Clark, why are you here?" The voice asked again. It apparently belonged to his best friend Pete Ross. "Are you here to play football or what?!" Pete had to repeat his question twice to bring Clark to the present. Everyone was surprised that Clark had come to play ball. He never did, even when invited. Oh well, one more player. "Go long Kent." Billy yelled at him throwing him the ball. Nothing seemed to exist when Clark's concentration was on the ball and nothing else. He was too involved to see Pete running towards him. "I'll get the..."Clark managed to say before colliding with Pete. Clark could easily hear the crack of Pete's arm. Somehow he had lost control his strength in catching the ball. Pete was screaming painfully clutching his left arm. Everybody was running towards them. Clark was too horrified to notice the punctured ball in his fist. "I'm so sorry" Clark was repeating himself over and over. *** "You told me you were going to the library, Clark." Jonathan Kent asked plainly. "I said I'm sorry, Pa." The only words he get out of his mouth. *** "Don't be sorry Clark." Pete said. His grin had never left his face in the last half hour. His left arm was fractured pretty bad and would be in the cast for a few weeks, the fact that didn't seem to worry Pete. "This, my friend, is the greatest day. Of. My. Life." Pete continued with a smug expression on his face as the swarm of girls surrounded him to sign his cast. It was not that the girls didn't take notice of him, but this was a whole new level for Pete. So, he was quite happy with the status quo. In that commotion, one of the girls shoved Clark away dropping all his books on the floor. "Need some help?" a soft voice asked him. That voice belonged to the one of the most beautiful girl of the school, Lana Lang. Red shoulder length hair on the head, cute little upturned nose, beautiful almond shaped green eyes and a few freckles on her cheeks to touch up the beauty. Every boy wanted to date her but somehow she was only interested in Clark ever since she knew him, the fact that seemed to surprise everybody in the school. Not that Clark was ugly or anything but he was far from the most handsome boy in the school. Jet black hair, long face with a long pointed nose and a thin frail body which was 'frail' just in appearance. Actually no work out was enough to tense up his muscles so his body remained thin though he was far more stronger than any other human could ever dream of. The only positive characteristic in his appearance were his eyes, striking blue, pure cerulean, totally out of this world. "No thanks" Clark answered her question not looking into her eyes. "I called yesterday. I left a message with your mom." "Sorry Lana. But I don't feel like talking to anyone." Still not looking at her. "Not even me?" Lana asked. "Wanna sign my cast, Lana?" Pete interrupted hoping to get a hit with her seeing the present circumstances. "No thanks" Lana replied blankly. "What about you Clark? The doc says good vibes from friends make it heal faster. And what better friend do I have than you?" Clark looked down at his cast. He could hear the small buzzing sound emanating from the back of his eyes. He tried to shake away the sound but suddenly the cast disappeared from Clark's vision as if it was never there. He blinked then the clothes, the skin, the flesh, the veins, all of them disappeared one after another. The only things he could see were the number of skeletons standing in front of him and in the centre a particular one with broken bones in the left arm talking to him. Fear took the grip of his body. It was like the scene from the horror movie he saw a few nights ago. He did not like horror but, no, he had to be dragged to the movie hall by Pete. "Clark? You don't look so good. Are you okay?" Pete's voice fell on his ears. "Clark? Clark? You are white as a ghost. Are you alright?" He turned to Lana's voice and saw another skeleton right beside him. "Holy-!" He could not take it anymore and ran away as fast as he could. "Clark?!" He could still hear Lana's distant voice. Though the buzzing had stopped, he did not dare to look at anything. "Are...you...okay? Man...you run...fast." Lana asked with labored breaths as she reached him. "No. I am not okay. I saw right through Pete's cast, Lana! I broke his arm. It was my entire fault." "Clark, look at me." Lana cupped his chin and slightly raised his face so he could look at her. "It's not your fault. You were just playing football. You didn't do it intentionally. Well looking at the present situation, I don't think Pete minds at all." She tittered lightly. "You weren't there, you didn't hear his bone snap and you didn't hear his scream." Lana did not like pain and horror in his eyes. "And dad. He had warned me not to play with them. Even though he didn't say it he knows it was my fault too. I could see it in his eyes." "You remember what you said the first time we found out how strong you were? We were playing hide and seek and I was in Ben Hubbard's field. I could hear the thresher but I didn't know it was coming right at me but somehow you did. And you came to get me out of the way. The blades broke when they hit you and we were both safe. That day you said, 'I am stronger than steel. COOL!' What you're capable of? It's still COOL, Clark." "Not anymore. It's not. I hurt Pete real bad. I am afraid to touch anyone, Lana." "Don't ever be afraid of that, Clark" Lana took hold of his chin and made him face her. "What, Lana...?" Clark stopped when he saw the look in her eyes. Something was about to happen. Oh god, Lana was going to kiss him. But before their lips could come in contact, he felt the sudden rush in his blood and the sudden increase in his heart rate. Suddenly his eyes were burning. He held his head to stop the pain. He pushed Lana away. "It's really hot in here." Clark grunted through the pain. "Clark. Your eyes." He heard Lana gasp. Hot red beams of fire shot out of his eyes onto the school banner in front of him immediately catching fire. The fire alarm went off instantly soaking them in the sprinklers. They were still trying to understand what had just happened. *** "Dad, I didn't put fire in the school intentionally. It was just that fire shot out my eyes." Clark answered. "So you're telling me that the whole school burnt down due to your 'HEAT VISION'?" Jonathan seemed more amused than being angry. "Yes dad." "Clark. Okay son I believe you. But from now on be careful and try not to use your powers in front of others. I don't want my son to be taken away from me by those government people." Jonathan said still trying to grasp the fact. "Yes dad. I'll be careful. But may I ask something?" Clark said. "Anything." Jonathan answered. "What's wrong with me?" "Nothing is wrong with you. You are just a very special boy." Jonathan answered but he seemed to be worried about something. *** "Oh my god, are you okay baby?" Martha Kent was pretty shocked when she heard there was a fire at the school. This discussion interrupted the dinner in the Kent house. "Mom, please relax. I can't get hurt, remember? Anyway the fire was my fault." Clark informed her. "What? What do you mean your fault?" Martha asked dropping her spoon in her plate. "I did not do it intentionally. I guess I got excited about something at school and fire shot out of my eyes." Clark was clearly embarrassed about the real reason of the accident but he had to tell something to his parents whenever any new power emerged. "Look Clark. We love you more than anything in the world but you need to get control over powers as fast as possible. On your last birthday instead of blowing off the candles on your cake, you blew the whole cake into the wall in the front. Thank god, we did not invite anyone from the outside. At first it seemed amazing that you had special powers but now it's going out of control. You need to get control over them." Jonathan spoke first. "I think its past time, Martha." Jonathan took his empty plate to the sink. "Well past time." "Past time for what?" Clark was now concerned. "Nothing, Clark." Martha assured him with a weak smile. "He almost set the school on fire, Martha" Jonathan spoke again as he returned to the living room. "No, he is too young for that." "But he needs to know." "I need to know what?" Clark again interrupted, again curiosity winning over him. *** Jonathan took Clark to the barn and pointed at some large rusted junk covered by a dirty rug. Clark had seen it over all these years but never bothered about it much but wondered why his dad didn't sell that old scrap. Clark looked at Jonathan totally clueless. "Clark, the day we found out that you are stronger than the blades of Ben Hubbard's thresher wasn't the first day we knew you were special. Neither was it the day you blew out just more than the candles on your birthday." "Dad it was my last birthday." Clark chuckled. Somehow Clark found it funny that he blew the whole cake into the front wall instead of just blowing off the candles. "1st of December is not your birthday, Clark." Jonathan spoke with a serious tone as he approached the old junk. "It was the day we found this." Jonathan removed the rug. It was not rusted at all and it looked like some kind of a small rocket shining brightly in the light of the electric bulb. "What is that?" Clark asked fascinated by the rocket. "As far as we've been able to tell, it's a rocket."He heard Jonathan speak. "I know that. Where did it come from? It is awesome." "It came from the sky, Clark. It landed right in front of us." Jonathan paused for a moment then continued. "You were in it." The last sentences did not register in his mind as he watched the rocket in awe. He could not resist touching it. As soon as his fingers came in contact with the ship, it started glowing brightly. Jonathan and Martha had to cover their eyes until they could adjust to it. "Clark?!" He heard Martha gasp. "#&$*#& $*@#& #*$# $#@$@$#! Suddenly a hologram of a tall man and a woman wearing some kinds of robe appeared in front of him. There was a godly glow on both their faces. The robes were brightest of white they had ever seen and a symbol looking much like 'S' on their chest which seemed to be very familiar to him but could not recall where he had seen it before. Both of them had a caring smile on their faces. "#@{{@ *#@( #(@. #* $** #$*# #(@. #*$ #*& #*$#@." The man spoke in the same alien language as the ship. "What did he say?" Clark's voice interrupted the message. The message stopped immediately. The voice from the ship again spoke: "TRANSLATION TO LANGUAGE: PLANET EARTH, ENGLISH. COMPLETED." Again it continued. "IDENTITY CONFIRMED: KAL EL." Again the man and the woman appeared. "Hello Kal El. I am Jor El. I am your father." The man spoke and turned towards the woman. "This is Lara. She is your mother." Clark turned towards Martha with a questioning look, but nothing escaped her mouth except from the tears flowing freely from her eyes. "You were not born on Earth, Kal El. You were born on planet Krypton." Jor El's eyes saddened as he continued. "Krypton was the victim of its unstable RED SUN. But ultimately our fate was sealed because of my failure. I couldn't save Krypton. But I saved you, Kal El." He turned to Lara. "We saved you." Adrenaline was again rising in his blood now due to the mixture of various emotions, anger, confusion, grief, panic. Again he could feel the same heat in his eyes. "You were sent here with a reason, Kal El. You are the Last Son of Krypton. You will be protected on this new world by the abilities this world itself will provide you. And you will be free to move among the people of earth, but never forget, although you look like one of them, you are not one of them." Clark's vision was blurred by the vapors of his tears from his red hot eyes. Fire shot out of his eyes passing through Jor El onto the ship curiously unaffected by it. "Chief among your protective abilities is your enhanced strength fueled by the yellow rays of the Earth's sun."Jor El continued. Clark plunged through Jor El punching into the ship as hard as he could. "GO AWAY!!" Clark yelled through his tears. At last the message stopped at his orders. "This isn't true. It can't be." Clark ran out of the barn as fast as he could. He could still hear his parents' voice telling to stop but he didn't. Finally he tripped over his own feet and fell face first. Not a single scratch on his skin. The fact that he could not get hurt was hurting him more. The fact that he was an alien. He didn't stand up. He could not. He just laid there on the ground until Jonathan reached him. "Clark?" He turned to look at his father speak. "I know this is scary." "Why do you have to show me that? Why?" Clark yelled through his tears. "I didn't expect that. I only wanted to show you the ship. I thought you deserved to know. It might help you understand." "I... I don't want to be someone else. I don't want to be different." Clark spoke rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. "I want to be Clark Kent. I want to be your son." "Clark!" Jonathan hugged him tightly, tears flowing freely from both their eyes. "You are my son." *** "Mom, I can't wear these. I can't see anything. I am sure I look like a dork." Clark said took off the specs. "These glasses are way too large for me." "Well use your X-ray vision to look through the glasses. We couldn't do much about the size of the glasses. But we don't want anymore fires now, do we?" Jonathan told him. "How are these glasses gonna help, Pa?" Clark stared blankly at his spectacled reflection. Yup, he looked like a dork, well, even dorkier. Martha answered the question. "These lenses we made from the crystals that broke from the rocket when you punched it. Your heat vision had no effect on them and they are quite durable too. By the way, you look adorable." Clark groaned. Jon just laughed at the boy. "Come on, let me get you to school." Jonathan said pushing Clark out of the main door. *** After a few months, Clark got control over his X-RAY VISION and HEAT VISION. But he stopped using them frequently as he feared to give some kind of cancer through his X-rays and his head hurt after using heat vision. He was even more cautious about his STRENGTH than before. He was afraid that he would hurt someone unintentionally. The world seemed like made of paper to him so had to be careful. In doing so, he started pushing away from everybody else. The only person and friend at school who was determined to stay close to him was Lana. He would always try to push her away but she would find some or other reason to be walking alongside him. But Clark never let her in a few feet radius around him. *** Another day that was another milestone in his life was the day he turned fifteen. Clark and Lana were walking to their home from the school all the way alone, no one to be seen around. Suddenly a car lost its track on the road and was speeding at full speed towards Lana. Before anyone could understand anything, Clark ran to Lana pushing her out of the car's way. The car smashed into him and stopped right there. He could see the pieces of glasses shattered from the windshield thrown towards him in slow motion but none of them could pierce his skin let alone injure him revealing his power of invulnerability for the first time or we can say he noticed his invulnerability. Almost nothing of the car was left, but Clark hadn't moved an inch from his initial place. The driver side door opened and driver fell out, thudding softly onto the pavement catching his attention. It was a woman in her early 20s. She did not appear to be moving. Clark took a monster leap and jumped onto that side of the car. "Get away, there's gas leaking out of the car!" Lana yelled at him. He took the lady to the safety where Lana was standing. "My sister. Save her," Clark heard her mumbling weakly. Clark went back to the car as fast as he could despite Lana's protests. He looked through the rear passenger window, seeing her sister lying in a crumpled heap. The force of the collision had flung her into the back, and she was lying against the driver side of the car. She, too, wasn't moving. Clark grabbed the door handle and pulled, only to find it was stuck. He braced himself and tried again only to tear off the door and throwing it away. He let himself in and leaned to check on her. He fought hard against his urge to puke when he saw the blood on her head, the ugly bruises on her face and shoulder. She had a huge swelling on her left leg. "The fuel is getting near the engine; you have got to get out of there!" He heard Lana yell as he tried to get the girl out of the car without damaging her anymore. Suddenly he felt the car catching fire. He knew that within few seconds the car would explode. He threw the girl towards Lana and away from the car. "Clark, hurry!" Lana yelled from somewhere close by, and as he tried to climb out of the car he saw her standing way too near. "It's going to blow!" Suddenly he lost his balance and fell back into the car shook due to explosion, the last sight he saw was Lana being thrown away by the explosion. And then all he saw was fire surrounding him, the whole car was burning. His clothes had caught fire. He could feel the warmth of the fire but nothing uncomfortable nor any burning sensation on his skin. The fire could not damage his skin. He stood up calmly through the fire and got out of the car. Lana recovered from her fall and managed to stand and saw him running towards her. It was a sight she could never forget. Almost all his clothes were burnt away, one or two spots of modesty still on fire which died out as he brushed his hand over them. His hair was tousled but nothing of his body was damaged "Are you okay?" Lana heard him say as she felt his still warm fingers brushing against her cheeks. "Y-Yeah. I am okay." Lana snapped out of her thoughts. "Lana. Call 911 from the lady's cell. Please stay until the medics get here. I have to go. I cannot explain people how I survived the explosion." Clark said. "What the hell just happened here? I mean how did you survive the explosion? You are not burnt anywhere?" Lana asked him. "I really have to go now. I will explain everything LATER. I promise." Clark said as he sprinted away from the sight. She looked up after dialing 911 to find Clark out of sight. "Hello. 911." "Hello. It's an emergency. There has been a car accident." *** Clark reached home in his shredded clothes covering his exposed body parts with his hands. Martha Kent was the first person in the house to notice him walking through the door. She was standing on a chair and cleaning the house when she saw him and almost lost her balance on the chair. "Good lord. What happened to you Clark?" Martha asked him out of her shock. Jonathan walked out of the kitchen to look at him and was shocked dead in his tracks. Eventually Jonathan found his voice and asked him sternly, "What happened to you boy? Answer me." So he did. "We are very proud of you, son. We are very happy that you used your powers to save lives even though you didn't know you had them until then. You risked your life here." Jonathan said. Something Extraordinary Ch. 01 "You could have been injured." Martha said through her tears flowing due to the fear of losing their only son. "But I am OK, mom. See?" Clark said with a funny grin pointing towards his tattered clothes almost making Martha laugh through her tears. "Can I ask you something?" Clark asked to his parents. "Of course, baby. Anything", Mom smiled at her son. "Today when I saved the lives of those ladies I got a feeling of self-satisfaction like it gave me a purpose here. Maybe this is my destiny. Maybe this is why I was sent to Earth. I just wanted to ask your permission for being a savior." Martha took a serious look at him and then a little smile appeared on her face, "Clark, if you want to continue this thing, then you would have to wear something more durable than those tatters. We can't afford to always get you new clothes. For now clean yourself and come down for dinner. We will talk about it after dinner." *** "What are these?" Clark asked his Ma. "These are the blankets you were wrapped in when we found you. From what I can tell these are durable. Like really durable." Martha raised her eyes from the multicolored blankets and showed him the broken pair of scissors, "And you are going to help me cut and sew them with your heat vision into this." Martha handed Clark a sheet of paper with the drawing of a uniform on it. "I saw this symbol on Jor El's chest. It could be your family crest or name and the rest of it, well, it is the normal attire for kids on Krypton," Martha smiled for the first time during the conversation. "No. No way! I am not wearing that. It's embarrassing! See, even the underwear is on the outside." Clark whined. Jonathan put his hands on Clark's shoulders and whispered into his ears, "Your mother went through a lot of trouble for this, Clark. She broke five pairs of scissors and my chainsaw," then sternly said, "You will help her and you will try it on." "But Pa..." Clark tried to reason but Jonathan interrupted him. "You don't want to disappoint your mother, son." He warned him. "You know dad? That line gets me every time." Clark huffed. "I know." Jonathan laughed. "But, can't we do something about those bright colors?" Clark asked. "Sorry honey, the bleach doesn't work on this material. The color won't come off. You will have to do with them." Martha replied. "Alright," Clark frowned. *** The wood of the staircase creaked as Clark stepped down. "He's coming down," Martha enthusiastically told. Clark stepped down in his uniform bright blue in colour with yellow belt and red boots and his shining red and yellow 'S' shaped family crest on his chest and a red cape behind him up to his knees. "Don't you think it's a little tight, Martha?" Jonathan commented. "Oh, it's adorable!" Martha exclaimed. "You two take a nice long look," Clark scowled, "because today is the last time I ever wear this." Something Extraordinary Ch. 02 Author's Note: DC Comics owns Superman and related characters. The only thing mine is the following work of literature. ***** The shouting matches are nothing new in any household. But it was much more frequent in the Anderson household. It was just this morning that Daniel had one with his stepson. Hah! He would laugh at the word 'stepson'. He was no stepson, he was the devil. He had a feeling that something was really weird with Alex. His mother was always able to keep his antics in check. Since she died, he had a feeling that Alex was trying to hurt him. It was like Alex blamed Daniel for Lynn's death. He tried to through to him but to no avail. By now the relationship between them had deteriorated from bad to worse. Daniel growled as he sped his truck nearing the turn. "That fucker thinks he knows everything. Wait till I get through with him, he will be homeless and regretting the day when he thought of going against me." In his drunken haze he did not notice himself drifting to the opposite lane. As soon as the turn came he saw a car come into view, he impulsively steered himself into the guardrail at the edge of the cliff. He tried his brakes but they didn't work. Just he was about to crash his truck through the guardrail down the cliff, he heard a gust of wind and abruptly his truck stopped. He immediately regained his senses and in the rear-view mirror, he saw a dark head rise from below the bed of the truck. Then he saw his eyes, most cerulean blues he had ever seen; but before he could clearly see the face, his savior disappeared from his view the same way he had arrived. *** "It was a boy. I tell ya' it was a boy." the man tried his best to describe the event with his bedazzled brain to the chief of police, "It was 'im. I tell ya. Stopped my truck and WHOOSH, gone." "I've had enough. Put him in the tank and let him sober up", the chief yelled and looked out the window. What the heck is in the water around here? *** That was too close, Clark was still thinking about this morning as he entered through backdoor. He smiled as he heard the proud voices of his parents. Maybe this thing is worth it. "FATHER AND SON RESCUED FROM FLOOD!" "FAMILY HOME FIRE EXTINGUISHES ITSELF!" "Don't forget that one, 'WHO IS THE SUPERBOY?'" Jonathan laughed. "No one believes that nonsense anyway, Jonathan." Martha smiled back from her plate. "But you're still worried." "Well, I gotta admit that he's doing a great job stayin' out of sight for these months, but still..." "Of course, I'm staying out of sight, Dad" Clark commented as he entered through the backdoor. "Seriously, look what I'm wearing?!" "Clark, why aren't you putting on your cape?" Martha remarked. "I don't like it. For goodness sake, I'm wearing this underwear on the outside. How embarrassing is that! I can't wait to wear it on the inside." "Clark Jerome Kent, don't tell me you're not wearing your underwear?!" Martha pointed her fork at him. "Yes ma, I'm." "Is it clean?" Martha asked back. "Come on Ma, I'm sixteen now." Clark whined. Jonathan started laughing at him, Clark and Martha joined him. *** "Hello?" Alex answer his cell. He grinned as he paused to hear the other side, then he spoke in a fake concern, "Yes he is my father. What happened?" His smile faded as he heard the other side, "Oh Thank God, He is alive!" He tried not to sound sarcastic to the chief of police, "Really? Someone clipped his brakes? Why would someone do that?" He paused again, "Yes sir. THAT is a MIRACLE. Yes, I'll pick him up. Thank you very much, Sir." As soon as he ended his call, he smashed his cell phone into a wall, "MIRACLES... DON'T... EXIST! You might have survived this time but someday, Daniel, someday you'll be dead and I'll be out of here." Then he was out of the door. Alex was kind of a genius from a young age but there was always a sinister edge in his little science projects. His mother had kept him in check. He might have not been strong enough to fight back but he had very sharp brain. He thought of every plan to kill his stepfather and executed it though every time by some or other MIRACLE he survived. Next time you won't be so lucky, Alex thought as walked his way to the police station. He caught something in the corner of his eyes. There was a small green rock at the side of the road. It had a strange glow about it almost imperceptible. He put it in his pocket and walked away. He would work on it later first he had to do something. *** "Sorry, Lana. I'm late." "Clark Kent, where the hell were you?" Lana yelled at Clark as he reached Lana's aunt's floral shop. "I was... um... I was working with Jor El, you know my SPACE DAD. Time flies fast during the workout. I came as fast as I could without destroying anything," Clark answered. Lana calmed down, "Well, at least you showed up to help with setting up the booth. No one else did..." She looked at Pete Ross with his girlfriend at a distance. "... at least not to help." "So, how's your other work? Superheroing around? Wow, how cool is that, huh?" Lana beamed at him and turned to her work. "No, it's stressful." Clark sighed. "And it's not superheroing, if that is a real word which I'm sure it's not. I'm just helping people." "Every hero says that. Anyways, get me the pot with the tulips. It must be..." She turned around and shook her head. "And there he goes 'helping people'. Sure do your thing." She looked the floral mess surrounding her. "No help needed here." "Need some help?" Lana turned to the front of the shop. There was a red haired young man, "You're Alex, right? Christine's brother?" He chuckled, "Call me Lex." *** It took almost two hours for Clark to return back to setup Lana's shop. When he entered, he could hear some laughs from inside, "Oh, you're so funny!" That is Lana's voice. He called out, "Lana?" "Hey Clark, come to the back." He could see that the shop was setup and it looked really good but something was off. When he reached the back, there was a boy seating with Lana taking something from her hand. He did not look closely it was their private matter. But jealousy flared up inside him anyway. As he reached them, Lana spoke up, "Lex meet my best friend Clark Kent. Clark, Lex Luthor. Christine's elder brother." Clark eyed him suspiciously, "Luthor? But Christine's last name is..." "Anderson. Step-siblings." Lex smiled as he held his hand out to Clark. Clark did not like Lex, he didn't know what it was about but he did not like it. Clark shook his hand gingerly. Lana spoke suddenly, "Clark, Lex is kind of a genius. He has invented some of his own gadgets." Now Clark was interested. He turned to Lex, "Really? I'm kind of a science nerd myself." "You definitely look the part." Lex smirked as he pointed to the large glasses covering half his face. Clark fake-laughed as he pushed the glasses up his nose with his middle-finger. Lex raised an eyebrow, did he just flip me? Yes, I did. So, in your face. Clark smiled. Lana, not oblivious to the tension between the boys, tried to break it, "So, Lex was showing me this meteorite he found. Clark is really into space stuff." Clark narrowed his eyes at Lana but she ignored him, "Show him, Lex." "Really? So Clark, do you believe in the extraterrestrial?" Lex asked with an almost maniacal grin as he waved his hand at Clark to come closer. The topic did make him Clark nervous, but he tentatively stepped ahead and held his hand out. The weird feeling returned, he felt weak. His palms felt wet. Is that sweat? Wow that is sweat. First time! However, the feeling intensified as Lex took out the green meteorite from his pocket. He felt dizzy and nauseous. As Lex put the meteorite in his hand, it became so extremely painful to Clark that he immediately dropped it and fell down hitting his head into a nearby table. "You clumsy idiot!!" Lex snarled as he hastily picked the meteorite up. "Lex?!" Clark groaned holding his head. He tried to apologize but Lana interrupted him, "Clark, no need to apologize. Lex, apologize to Clark." "Why should I-?" "Apologize." Lex calmed himself, "I'm sorry, Clark." Then his eyes widened, "Oh man you're bleeding!" "What?!" Both Lana and Clark exclaimed. "Your head. It's bleeding." Clark looked horrified and almost passed out at the sight of blood on his hands. Lana was worried too. Lex laughed, "You're acting like you've never seen your blood before." You don't know how right you are, Clark thought. "Lana, where's your first-aid kit. I'll patch him up." Lex stood up after bandaging Clark's head and stood up, "Well, I should be going. Nice to meet you, Clark. Goodbye, Lana." "We should hang out sometime, Clark. I would like to show you some of my inventions." "Definitely, Lex." They exchanged their numbers as Lex left. As soon as Lex was out the door, Lana rushed to Clark, "How are you bleeding?" "I think I lost my powers. Pinch me, Lana." "What?" "Just do it." She did. "I don't feel any pain so I'm okay now. There is only one possibility: That meteor rock." "So that meteor rock can hurt you." "I think I'll do some research on the rock and stay away from Lex for the time being." "But you just promised to hangout with him." "That was a formality. He won't call me and I won't call him. People do that all the time." "You don't have enough friends as it is. You should give it a try. I'm sure he isn't keeping that rock with him all the time" Lana suggested as she handed him the broomstick. "I think I don't want to be friends with him. He just rubbed me the wrong way and you are all the friend I need, Lana." "Just a friend, huh?" She asked silently but Clark's ears caught it. "Lana, you know why we can't be together?" "Yes, I know. You're super-strong, you think you might crush me or something if you slip up and-" "It's not just that. I won't be able to give you enough time with my heroics and all, a relationship needs work from both sides. Anything less and it's doomed from the start." "You know you are really wise for your age." Lana narrowed her eyes at him then turned back to, "Or you are old and you just look young. You can't really tell with the aliens." Clark laughed, "I'm really sixteen just like you. By the way, the wisdom comes from my..." "From what?" She turned back to find him gone. Damn it, Clark. Really should say something before going 'poof'.