Ultimate Soldier
Stopquitdont@bellsouth.net
Rated: PG-13
Submitted: January 2003

This started as a little thought to explore what might have 
happened if Clark had been found by someone other than the 
Kents. This starts very early on and continues through into 
something you can recognize from the show. Although clearly 
different, I hope it keeps you interested and entertained.

I want to say a very special thanks to Avia for beta-
reading this for me. I know she had to wonder what she'd 
gotten herself into. Also note that **** denote a change 
from one scene to another in the same timeframe. @@@@ 
denotes a shift in time (and some shift may be longer than 
others). This story covers a lot of ground and at a very 
fast pace. So if you don't prefer those kinds of stories, 
this one isn't for you.

Usual disclaimers apply. I only borrowed the characters so 
I could play for a while. This doesn't really resemble the 
show all that much. I do hope it's worth the time to read 
it. It sure was a lot fun to write. Feedback is not only 
welcomed, but appreciated. Thanks again and enjoy!

++++

The tiny silver vessel streaked through the dusk of the 
Middle American sky. Inside, unaware of the fate escaped 
from and that to come, the small infant stared into the 
darkness. Soon, very soon, this journey would come to an 
end and another would start.

****

"Sir, the UFO has landed in a field three miles from here."

The large man looked up at the younger one awaiting further 
instructions. "Do we have a team en route?"  

"Almost there."

"Good." The man led the way to the communications counter 
to listen as their team descended on the object their 
equipment had been so diligently tracking since it entered 
the earth's orbit some hours earlier.
 
"You are not going to believe this," came the voice over 
the loud speaker a few moments later.

"What is it?" demanded the commanding officer.

"It's a baby, sir."

@@@@

Major Trask had been especially proud of his discovery five 
years earlier. The appearance of the silver vessel proved 
that there was indeed life beyond the bounds of this 
planet. But it was what was inside that had single handedly 
funded alien research well into the next century.

"He's remarkable," commented a voice to the Major's side.

Trask turned to see Doctor Dale Kent. "Yes. A scientific 
wonder."

"Not just scientific. Major, every statistic we have on 
this child seems to point to only one conclusion. He is 
indeed homo sapien."

"Human? Don't be ridiculous. He's an alien."

"So are Mexican nationals when they enter our country," the 
doctor told him sarcastically. "Look, Jason, I know you're 
still backing the theory that this child was sent here as 
some kind of front for a future invasion, but I think 
you're wrong. Clark has feelings..."

"Clark?" Trask glared down at the man. "You've named this 
creature?"

"The board was tired of referring to him as a number."

"The board has no idea what this creature is capable of. 
Mark my words, this..." He turned and waved at the window 
through which they had been watching the small boy. 
"...thing will cause an enormous amount of trouble."

"Come on, Jason. He's not going to cause any trouble."

"Oh really? Look at your figures, Dale. The creature is 
five years old and can read better than most middle school 
kids. It's never been sick. Broken bones heal in days." 

Dale cringed at that statement. The military had insisted 
on the most inhumane tests in regards to the child in the 
next room. The Major had personally broken the boy's leg to 
prove the child had healing abilities beyond the realm of 
what was normal.

Trask turned and glared at the dark haired child as another 
skill was mastered with ease. "No. 'Clark' is definitely 
more than it appears to be. The military still has final 
say on what happens to this creature." The Major turned and 
glared at the doctor again. "There will be no tests in 
emotional capacity and there will certainly be no stimuli. 
Is that clear?"

Dale glanced at the child. "Yeah."

"Good. Prepare the alien for tactical evaluation. It's time 
we start grooming this creature to be useful until its old 
enough to reveal its plan."

Dale shook his head sadly as he watched the uniformed back 
of the officer turn the corner. The doctor had been 
convinced at the beginning of this mission that there may 
have been some truth to Trask's theories. But they had been 
studying the vessel and its navigational panels during the 
years it had been at the lab. If a small child had been 
sent to grow into a man that would lead his world to attack 
another, wouldn't he at least be able to access necessary 
information to know what he was doing? The United States 
military had not been able to discover anything other than 
the ship had been programmed to land exactly where it had. 
While that proved whatever world sent the small ship knew 
about Earth, it did not prove Clark was the front man for 
an alien invasion. He was a child. What could he possibly 
do?

@@@@

Trask stood on the platform and watched with a huge smile 
as the scrawny boy lifted a drum and carried it 
effortlessly across the room. The drum weighed more than 
five hundred pounds. No normal ten-year-old boy should be 
able to do what this boy was doing.

This alien creature had been probed and studied 
relentlessly since it was found. Trask was convinced it 
would reveal a multitude of information about its origins 
and plans to come. However, until it turned five or six 
years old, the creature appeared to be just as normal as 
any earth child. That age was when it was noticed the boy 
was stronger than should be possible.

Of course, lifting heavy weights was just one of the things 
they were discovering this alien creature could do. 

@@@@

Over the next four years the scientists and military 
personnel at the laboratory watched as their alien 
discovery developed into somewhat of a super man. At 
fourteen, Clark was strong enough to lift vehicles. He had 
developed telescopic vision, x-ray vision, and an ability 
to hear things from miles away. He could run a great 
distance in a matter of seconds, and he could even shoot 
beams of heat with his eyes. He was truly an amazing 
biological wonder.
 
To the military, he was also a potential threat. While the 
scientists at the lab had discovered what was causing his 
unnatural abilities (His amazing biological make-up was 
powered by the sun.), Trask was instructed to groom the 
young man to respect authority. Clark was constantly fed 
information so that he was manipulated to believe the only 
reason he had his unique abilities was because of the 
government. It wasn't long before the information took hold 
and the boy believed that if he did anything to cause 
trouble, he would be taken 'offline', as Trask had put it. 
Clark was told he was a biological machine. He existed only 
because the military found him and restored his limited 
memory reserves in the computer that made up part of his 
brain. The young man had no reason to doubt what he was 
told. After all, he'd been bred from day one to believe he 
would one day be a negotiation tool for the US Military, 
although he'd never understood that.
 
Dr. Kent discovered that Clark's amazing abilities came 
from the boy's ability to absorb the sun's radiation. His 
body used the sun's rays as an energy reserve to allow 
itself to be able to do the things it could do. The day 
Dale discovered Clark's skin was becoming virtually 
impenetrable was the day the military began to form plans 
to make their 'discovery' even more useful. Led by Trask, 
an outline was formed to mold Clark into the military's 
'ultimate soldier'. With his amazing abilities he would 
make the US Infantry almost obsolete. The doctor began to 
evaluate the reasons he'd become involved with this case. 
While Clark could prove invaluable scientifically, Kent was 
not so sure the young man should be groomed to be a killing 
machine.

@@@@
 
Dale stood on the platform and watched as the grenade was 
thrown at Clark. He reached up and caught it without a 
moment's hesitation. It exploded in his hand with a silent 
thud. Trask smiled and ordered the next test be performed.

"What are you doing, Jason?"

"Preparing America's ultimate soldier."

"This is insane. We don't need an ultimate soldier."

"Sure we do. This creature is the answer to never having to 
live through another world war."

"At what price?"

Trask turned to the man angrily. "At what price? At no 
price. This was a gift... dropped in our laps. All we've 
had to do was groom it."

"Don't you see? There is a price. You're destroying a young 
man's life."

"Don't start with that rubbish again. 'It' is no young man. 
It is a machine. Nothing else."

"No. He's not. He's a living, breathing teenage boy. He has 
a heart, lungs, and a brain. He has feelings that he's 
never been able to develop. Think of the scientific 
significance if we started studying him with more emphasis 
on science."  

"Significance of what? You can't possibly be thinking of 
this thing being turned into what? A regular man?"

"Think about it. His body has amazing healing abilities 
that could be studied to help cure cancers and diseases 
that have devastated the human race for years. And who 
knows what possibilities a child of his could render."

"This 'thing' will never be allowed to infect the human 
race. 'It' is a soldier. It will soon be the most powerful 
soldier alive. The United States will be untouchable." 
Trask glared at Dr. Kent. "You've been ordered to find a 
way to sterilize it. I suggest you do it."

"And what happens when your soldier dies? He's not 
immortal. He will die."

"That's why the samples will be taken. The military has 
wanted to clone humans for years. Now they have the perfect 
specimen to experiment with. No humans will have to be 
involved. If things go wrong..." He shrugged with a smug 
grin on his face.

Dale gasped at the man's insinuation. "You're planning to 
clone an army of your ultimate soldiers?!"  

"Very good, Kent. With twenty soldiers like this one, no 
one would mess with us. And they could all be programmed to 
alleviate the alien threat when it happens." Trask turned 
back to the activities taking place on the field. Test 
after test, the creature was proving to be nothing short of 
phenomenal.  

The color drained from Dale's face as the realization of 
what Trask had in mind sank in. If the military created an 
army of clones with the powers Clark had, the world 
wouldn't survive if something went wrong. He had to do 
something and he had to do it now.

****

"Are you sure, Dr. Kent?"

"I'm positive, Clark. You have a brain. You are no more a 
machine than I am. And what the government plans to do with 
you is insane. I can't allow it to happen. And neither can 
you."

Clark stared across the room. Dr. Kent had just told him 
everything he'd ever known to be true really wasn't. He 
wasn't some kind of half alien, half machine the government 
had found. He was a real person. He had a brain.

Dr. Kent peered into the corridor of the lab. It was well 
after hours so no one was around. He'd made the decision to 
get Clark out of this place and tonight was the night. The 
good doctor hadn't come to this conclusion lightly. He knew 
he'd be sacrificing monumental scientific breakthroughs, 
but at the same time he could be saving mankind from 
possible destruction. If Trask were allowed to lead a 
platoon of super powered soldiers, the world wouldn't live 
through the wrath that would surely follow. Besides, he'd 
long ago had to admit that the government's agenda for 
Clark's purpose on earth was one thing and his, as a 
doctor, was another. This boy was a living human being, and 
he deserved more than what they were planning for him to 
do.

"Just stay close," the doctor told Clark as he turned to 
lead the boy into the corridor.

Clark looked up at the man. "I don't know about this. Major 
Trask says that I'll be offline..."

"Clark! Are you hearing me, boy?" The doctor pulled out a 
file and held it up to Clark. "This is your file. If you 
come with me now, I'll let you read it as soon as we're in 
the car."

The man now had Clark's attention. The thick packet of 
papers had always been something Clark wanted to read. The 
manila file was never far from Clark or far from where they 
were running tests on the young man. He'd theorized that 
everything known about him was in that file. He'd been 
tempted on more than one occasion to use his gift of x-ray 
vision to take a peek, but feared what the Major would do 
if he was caught. If he read that, he'd know if Dr. Kent 
was telling the truth.

The young man stood and nodded at the doctor. Together they 
fled the sterile confines of the laboratory that had been 
the only place Clark had ever known.

****

Dale Kent glanced over at his passenger. The young man had 
read the contents of the file on himself immediately upon 
entering the vehicle the night before. Now he sat quietly 
looking out at the rising sun.

"Clark?"

"I've never seen this before," the teenager replied without 
taking his eyes off the horizon.

"What?"

"The sun breaking the darkness."

"It's called a sunrise."

"It's..."

"Beautiful," the doctor offered.

Clark turned to the man. "What does that mean?"

"It means something looks very nice to you. Beauty comes in 
all forms, shapes, sizes, and varieties. Beauty is in the 
eye of the beholder."

"Does that mean that something I find beautiful, you may 
not?"

"That's exactly what it means."

Clark looked back out at the rising sun. "This sunrise is 
beautiful."

"On this we agree." Dale watched the young man for several 
more miles before he spoke again. "How do you feel about 
what you read in the file?"

"Feel, Dr. Kent?"

"Yes, feel. Respond to; think."

Clark thought about that for a moment. "I think... that 
maybe I've missed a great deal in my life."

"Yes, Clark. You have. I'm sorry about that. I once 
believed that mankind could learn so much from the things 
I've done. At one time, we were learning... and growing. 
When we first discovered you, I was sure that history was 
in for a drastic change. Now I'm not so sure science has 
the right to mess in the lives of humanity. And I'm 
positive that government has no right."  

"According to this file I am... human? Even though I have 
these powers?"

"Yes. You are every bit as human as I or anyone else."

Clark took that in a moment. He was about to speak again 
when the doctor did. "Clark, what you can do is nothing 
less than phenomenal. Yet, it could also be very deadly. 
The government has been training you to kill. Killing is 
wrong."

"As my duty?"  

"Especially as your duty. You have been programmed to 
believe that's all there is to you. It's not. Clark, you 
are very much alive. You're alive and you breathe just as 
any other person. Now it's time you learn to live as any 
person does. That's why I'm taking you somewhere to have 
time to do that. You will be exposed to a whole new world. 
You will learn how to be 'alive'; how to live."

Clark's attention was fixated on the approaching bridge and 
the huge body of water under. "Dr. Kent! What is that?"

The older man couldn't help but smile. "It's called a lake, 
son."

The dark haired boy turned to the man with wide eyes. "I'm 
not a sun."

Dale smiled at him. "Not sun, s-u-n; son, s-o-n. It means 
male child."

"Do that again."

"Do what?"

"That thing with your mouth."

"You mean smiling?" Dale did just that. Clark's eyes 
widened as he watched the man. "You can do it, too."

The young man furrowed his brow and was just about to 
attempt to smile himself, when he noticed a boat out on the 
water. "Stop!"

The doctor pulled the car to a stop and watched as Clark 
climbed out. The boy stood at the rail of the bridge to 
gaze at the small watercraft as it skimmed the crystal 
water. After several moments he settled back into the 
passenger seat of the car and the pair continued their 
journey.

****

It was early evening when Dale pulled the small car to a 
stop in front of a farmhouse. He cut the engine just as the 
front door opened.

The man on the porch stood speechless as he watched the 
doctor climb from the vehicle. Slowly he made his way down 
the steps.

"Jonathan," Dale said as he came within a couple feet of 
the man in front of him.

"Dale?"

"Yeah. It's me."

"My God! They told us you were dead."

"I know." The man was near tears as he stared at his 
brother. "I had no choice. I've sold my soul to the devil."

The men stood there for several long minutes before 
Jonathan stepped forward and embraced his brother. After a 
few tears, a little laughter, and some small talk, Jonathan 
noticed the young man on the opposite side of the car.

"Hello."

"Hello, sir," Clark answered.

Dale turned to Clark and motioned for him to come around 
the car. When he stopped beside the doctor, Dale placed his 
hand on his shoulder. "Jonathan, this is Clark. Clark, this 
is my brother, Jonathan."

Jonathan stuck his hand out to shake Clark's. The boy 
looked down at it. Dale immediately demonstrated what to 
do. Clark repeated the handshake a second later.

"Clark is... well, maybe we can talk about it over 
something to eat," Dale offered at Jonathan's raised brows.

"Sure. Martha will be home from her..." Before he could 
finish his sentence, the woman in question came out of the 
front door.
 
"Jonathan, who's...?" They turned to face Martha where 
she'd stopped and stared at the men before her. "Dale!" she 
gasped before coming down the stairs.

"Martha." Dale was smiling widely at his sister-in-law. 
"You look lovely as ever."

"Dale?" She was within arm's length of him now and trying 
to convince herself that what she was seeing was real. 
"Dale Kent." She reached out and touched his cheek. "You 
are real."

"Yep." Dale covered her hand on his face. "It's a long 
story."

Martha smiled and hugged him. When she pulled back, she 
noticed Clark. "Hi."

"Martha, this is Clark."

"Hi, Clark."

Clark couldn't take his eyes off this new person. He'd 
never seen anyone like... whatever this was. Although he 
and Dr. Kent had just driven most of the day, he'd been 
subject to lying down in the vehicle most of the time so he 
wouldn't be seen. He hadn't seen anyone other than a man at 
that one gas station they'd stopped at.

Clark leaned over to Dale. "What is it?"

Martha raised her brows at the rude young man. Dale turned 
to smile at Clark. "Son, this is a woman."

"Woman? Meaning...?"

"Meaning female."

Clark understood now. His training had never involved the 
human population unless it was to show him films of armies 
or terrorists. They were all men. But he had limited 
knowledge of animals. He knew there was male and female. He 
knew that to be true of humans as well, but he'd never 
actually seen a human female before.

"He's never seen a woman?" Martha asked incredulously.

"No. Before today Clark had never seen anything outside the 
laboratory. I was hoping to explain a little more to you 
over some dinner?" He said the last hopefully.

"Of course. Come on in." Martha turned and started toward 
the house.

Dale stopped at the top of the stairs to see Clark hadn't 
moved from his spot by the car. He was still watching 
Martha. "Clark?"

"Yes, Dr. Kent?"

"Come on."

"Yes, sir." The young man followed the adults into the Kent 
farmhouse. He stopped just inside the front door and let 
his eyes sweep the room. He'd never seen anything like this 
place. It was small and a lot dimmer than the rooms in the 
lab. And it smelled... it smelled...

"Dr. Kent?"

"Yeah, son?"

"What is that smell?"

"That's pot roast," Martha answered.

"Pot roast?"

"Yeah. Meat. Food."

"Oh." Clark vaguely understood. He's seen some of the men 
at the lab eating. He'd asked once what they were doing. 
The man that answered him hadn't been assigned to any of 
his areas again. The scientists had long ago discovered he 
didn't need to eat or drink. So food was something he'd 
never seen and certainly never smelled.

His eyes roamed the room. He saw something he recognized... 
books, lots of books. They lined shelves along one wall.

"Dr. Kent?"

"Yes?" he answered from his conversation with Jonathan. 

"May I have a look at those books?"

"Well, Clark, this is my brother's home. Maybe you should 
ask him."

Clark turned back to Jonathan. "Mr. Kent, would it be okay 
if I had a look at those books?"

"Sure it's all right. Read all you want."

"Thank you, sir." He moved carefully over to the case. Just 
before he reached for one, he spoke again. "Mr. Kent, I 
will be very careful with them."

"Okay." The man smiled as the boy pulled the first book 
from the shelf. "You can sit on any of the furniture."

"Thank you," Clark answered without looking up from his 
first selection.

****

"That's one heck of a story, Dale," Jonathan told his 
brother as they sat sipping coffee.

"All true, I'm afraid." 

Martha glanced into the den. "That poor boy."

"That's why I got him out. Clark has the potential to be so 
much more. Think of the possibilities. If he were to use 
those abilities to help people..." The man took long 
breath. "A lot of people could benefit from his abilities. 
That was the purpose of the whole study into his biology to 
begin with."

"You had no idea that the government was going to turn him 
into some super soldier?" Jonathan asked his brother.

"No. Of course not. When we first discovered Clark, we had 
no idea he would develop into the incredible person he is."

Just then the boy in question burst into the room. He 
dropped a book in front of the doctor. "Is that what they 
want me to do?"

Dale looked down at a photo in a book describing the 
devastation war causes. "Yes, Clark."

"They want me to destroy entire cities? Countries? Kill 
women? Children?"

"Yes."

Clark picked up the book and stared at the photo. "I can't 
do that," he whispered.

"I know. That's why I got you out of there."

Clark nodded and turned to go back into the den.

"Clark, put the book away. It's time to eat," Martha told 
him.

He turned to face Martha. "I'm sorry... What's the word for 
sir when you're talking to a women?" he asked Dale.

"Ma'am."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I do not need to eat."

She shot a look at Dale. 

"Clark's body metabolizes the sun. He doesn't have to eat 
or drink."

She looked back at the boy. "Well, you may not have to, but 
it sure is nice to. Won't you try it?"

Clark glanced at Dale, then at the woman. Something in her 
expression made refusing impossible. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Put the book away, then go down the hall and wash 
your hands and face."

"Yes ma'am."

A few minutes later, Clark was watching as the adults 
started to eat. He lifted his fork and stuck it into the 
meat on his plate. He cut the meat with his knife as he saw 
the others do before lifting it to his mouth. It was an 
overwhelming sensation when he first put the food into his 
mouth. 

"Don't forget to chew, Clark. That means to mash the food 
between your teeth until it's small. Do that before you 
swallow."

He nodded and did as he was told. The more he chewed, the 
more he liked it. Soon he was eating as if he'd been doing 
it his whole life. Drinking sweet tea was just as 
satisfying to the young man. When the ice clinked in his 
glass, he frowned at the container.

Martha smiled and poured him another full glass.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Clark, there is plenty of food and tea. You can have as 
much as you want."

"Thank you," he said again as he sat his glass back on the 
table. "I think maybe I would like to have a little more."

Martha smiled and refilled his plate.

"Clark, do you remember what I said beautiful meant?" He 
nodded. "Well, this food tastes good. That means..."

"It's nice to your senses, especially the one of taste."

"Yeah." Dale smiled over at the boy as Clark shoved another 
mouthful between his teeth. He lifted his head and 
addressed the other adults. "Clark was only subjected to 
the things that the military thought important. Since he 
doesn't have to eat, they never saw fit to tell him about 
it. They have given him water from time to time, just to 
check his internal cleansing abilities."

"Does his body work like ours in that respect?"

"Yes. If he eats and drinks, he would react just like any 
normal person. Clark is human."

"So... when he needs to get rid of all that tea, it won't 
freak him out?"

"Jonathan!"

Dale laughed slightly. This caused Clark to look up at the 
man. "No, Mr. Kent. I won't freak out. I've been given some 
kind of substance once a week for as long as I can remember 
to see what I could handle."

"What you could handle?" Martha asked.

"Yes. They've given me different kinds of liquids, solids, 
and so forth to see if it has an effect on my body."
  
Martha stared at Dale in horror. He nodded sadly.

"I'm afraid so. He's been forced to drink deadly chemicals, 
swallow biological agents, stuff like that. His body either 
processes it or expels it. So he does know what waste is."

Martha looked back over at the young man as he ate in 
silence.

Suddenly Clark stopped and looked up at her. "This isn't 
anything like that, though, ma'am. This is... good."

"Thank you, Clark."

"You're welcome, ma'am." He looked down at his empty plate. 
"I think maybe I should stop now."

"Not yet." Martha jumped up to get the apple pie she'd 
baked for dessert. "You have to have some of my apple pie."

Clark's eyes widened as his nose picked up this new smell. 
It was wonderful. "This is what I smelled earlier."

"Does smell good, huh?"

"Yes." He lifted a forkful of the pie to his lips. This was 
unlike any of the other foods. It was better than the sweet 
tea. "This tastes good, too," he said around a mouthful.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Dale told him.

"Sorry," he mumbled after he swallowed.

The adults shared their pie as the young man before them 
finished up. When Clark was done, he went back into the den 
to finish his reading. He was about half way through the 
books on the shelves.

Martha kept glancing through the door at Clark as she 
listened to Dale and Jonathan. The dark hair sat atop a 
mind ready to learn and explore a world he'd never been 
privy to. She'd been shocked when she first saw him skim 
one of the books. Dale quickly told her Clark could speed 
read. He'd since told them all the things the boy was 
capable of doing. She was in complete awe. Her mind knew 
she should be scared or at least apprehensive. Instead she 
was intrigued.

She pushed up from the table and went into the den. Clark 
was sitting on the floor in front of the shelves. "Hi."

He looked up at the woman. "Should I get up?"

"No. But do you mind if I join you?"

"Ah, no, ma'am." Clark watched as she sat down next to him.

She peered at the book in his hand. "Shakespeare. Good 
choice."

"It's fascinating. I never knew people wrote things down 
just for other people's pleasure."

"They do. Some folks even make their money like that."

"I read about money in another book."

"I'm afraid that's the greatest evil in this world."

"Yes. It makes people do crazy things. But this..." He held 
up the book. "This talks of something called love."

"Yes. Love is a feeling. It's the way you view someone 
else. You want to protect them, look out for them, make 
money for them." Martha smiled at the young man. "It can 
also make you do crazy things."

"Like kill yourself?"

"Yeah. But this is just fiction."

"I know. That other book, the one about the war... Did 
those people do that for money or for love?"

"Those people did that for power. Do you know what that 
means?"

"Yes. Major Trask has never let me forget what that means."

"You do know that what they did to you is wrong?"

"Yes, ma'am. Dr. Kent says he took me away because it was 
wrong. He wants me to experience the world, the way it 
should be experienced."

Martha had been trying to figure out how to help this boy. 
Suddenly she knew exactly how to do it. "Clark, how would 
you like to stay here with us?"

"What? I mean, ma'am?"

"I think it would be wonderful if you stayed here with us."

"I was just telling Dale the same thing," Jonathan offered 
from the doorway.

"We have a friend at the adoption agency who owes us a few 
favors. I'll bet we could even get some legal papers for 
you."

"Good idea, Martha. I'll call him right now." Jonathan 
hurried back to the kitchen.

Clark rose from his seated position on the floor. "Dr. 
Kent?"

"It's okay, Clark. My brother will take good care of you 
here."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." He went to Clark and placed a hand on his 
shoulder. "Clark, this is the way you should have been 
living. Not in some sterile, white lab. Stay here and give 
it a try, son."

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure. You'll see. In a month's time, you'll be a 
regular teenager."

"What's a teenager?"

Martha and Dale burst into laughter. This was going to be 
an experience they'd not soon forget.

 ****

Clark stood rigidly in the door of the small bedroom as 
Martha made up the
bed for him.

"Mrs. Kent, where is the chamber?"

"Chamber? What chamber?"

"The one for..." Clark drifted off as what he was about to 
say hit him. "At
the center, during the night hours, I was put into a 
chamber. I was told it
was so they could input more information. I guess that 
wasn't true."

"No Clark. This is a bed. You sleep in it." She moved 
around the room as she
straightened the bedclothes. "You lie down on it, close 
your eyes, and
hopefully your body will rest even if your mind doesn't."

"Yes, ma'am." Clark approached the bed and was about to 
take his clothes off
when something occurred to him. "Mrs. Kent, at the lab they 
put me in the
chamber with nothing on."

She picked up some clothes Dale had given her for Clark. 
"Dale got these
for you. In a few days, we'll go into town and get
you some more."

"Okay. I mean, yes ma'am."

"Honey, you don't have to be so polite all the time."

Clark stopped, holding the clothes out in front of him. 
"Honey? Isn't that
what bees make? I read that in one of your books."

"It is. It's also a term of endearment. People say it when 
they like someone
else."

Clark's eyes widened then. "You like me?"

"I do." She smiled at him as he pulled the clothes to his 
chest. "Now you
put those on and climb into bed. I'll check on you in a few 
minutes."

"Yes... Okay."

Martha smiled again and left the room.

Clark lay in the dim light from the lamp, looking at the 
room. This one was
not like the rest of the farmhouse. It only had a couple 
paintings on the
walls, a dresser, bed, nightstand, and the lamp. It was 
nowhere near as
inviting as the other rooms in the house. He supposed this 
room must not be
used much.

It was a while later when Martha peaked in on Clark. To her 
complete
delight, he was sound asleep. Dale told them he was certain 
the young man
would soon respond just as any normal person to the outside 
world.

****

Clark dressed in the clothes he'd had on the day before 
when he awoke the
next morning. He found the other adults at the table, and 
soon learned the
morning meal was called breakfast. He also learned 
breakfast was something
he really liked.

"Come on, Clark," Jonathan told him. "I'll show you how to 
do the morning
chores."

"Yes, sir." Clark followed the man out the back door as his 
eyes searched his
surroundings. He stopped just outside the barn door when an 
old dog walked
up to Jonathan. "That's a dog!"

"Yep. This is Toby. He's getting kind of old. I guess I 
really should get a
younger one to help out around here."

Clark watched the older man pat the dog. "May I do that?"

"Sure." 

Clark knelt and ran his hand slowly over the dog's fur. "He 
feels... funny,"
he commented, remembering the word from his reading.

"Think that's funny?" Jonathan nodded for Clark to follow 
him in to the barn.

"Now this smell is not good," Clark told him.

He laughed out. "No. It's not." He continued over to gather 
up the pails and
the towels to do the morning milking.

"That's a cow!"

"Clark, meet Sally." The man dropped the stool and sat 
down. "Watch what I
do."

Clark was mesmerized as Jonathan began milking the cow. 
Soon enough it was
his turn. And though it took a few minutes, he was 
producing milk for his efforts. "I did it!"

"Keep going. I have to milk Meg."

"You have another cow?" He'd been so intent on this one, he 
hadn't seen
anything else in the barn.

"Sure. Now be careful with her. She's sensitive."

"Okay." Clark continued with his task until Jonathan came 
back to get him.

"That's real good work there, son."

"Thank you."

"You take these buckets in to Martha and don't spill any. 
Then hurry on back
out here. We have a lot of work to do."

"Yes, sir." Clark held the pails effortlessly as he went 
back to the house.
Martha saw him coming and held the door for him to come in. 
He sat the pails on
the counter. "Excuse me. Mr. Kent says I have to hurry 
back." 

Martha smiled as she shut the door behind him. He just may 
make it after
all, she thought.

****

Clark had spent the morning in wide-eyed wonder. Jonathan 
had shown him
things he'd only read about and some he hadn't ever heard 
of at all. The
highlight of the morning was the tractor. It had only taken 
the teen's quick
mind all of ten minutes to master driving it. 

Jonathan had answered countless questions and swore he saw 
Clark smile when
he was learning to drive the tractor. The young man was 
like a small child
in so many ways and almost a man in so many others. He'd 
seen horrible
images in his young life. A nice, quiet life on a farm was 
just what he
needed.

Later in the day, Clark was stunned into silence as he 
watched Jonathan and the neighbor tend to a cow that was 
having difficulty delivering a calf. When it was all over, 
Clark asked to hold the small animal. He was told to be 
gentle and take care not to hurt the calf. He questioned 
Martha if she was concerned about his strength, but she 
quickly assured him she in no way worried if could control 
himself. She explained that many things had to be handled 
gently to keep from causing undo pain or suffering. He held 
the new calf with all the care he could muster.

****

By late that evening, Jonathan's friend had called back and 
told him things
were all set on his end to start the paperwork to make it 
look as if the
Kents had adopted Clark. The official story would be that 
one of Jonathan's army buddies had called and asked 
Jonathan to take his only son because of his impending
death. With any luck, the paperwork would be ready in time 
for Clark to
start school in September.

At the first mention of school, Clark had been entranced. 
He'd asked dozens
of questions and dove back into the books. It wasn't until 
that night that
he'd discovered television.

The next day, Dale said his good-byes and left. He told his 
brother that as
far as the lab knew, he really had died in a plane crash 
the night he took
Clark. His group had been sent to another lab across the 
country. At the
last minute, Dale had decided not to go. Lucky for him he 
hadn't. The plane
crashed, exploded over Texas a couple hours later. Dale 
theorized Trask had
ordered the demise of the scientists because of a 
confrontation with the
Major earlier in the week. Three of Dale's colleagues lost 
their lives in
that explosion. Although he had no idea where to go from 
here, he knew he
couldn't stay on the farm. He needed to see if he could do 
some convert investigations that may lead to a worry free 
life for Clark some day. For now, what he and his brother 
had planned to do would have to be enough.
 
So Clark was left to learn how to become a normal teenage 
boy. Martha and
Jonathan Kent had enlisted to help Clark overcome the 
training to kill he'd undergone over the years. 

****

Clark adjusted more quickly than anyone could have hoped 
for. It wasn't long before he'd mastered all the farm 
chores, had the barn so clean it almost shined, the back 
field had been cleared for the autumn crops, all the farm 
equipment had been rebuilt, and he had adjusted to living a 
somewhat normal life. He ate, drank, slept, bathed, and
interacted just as any other teen would. Television and 
books had provided
an unlimited resource of information on how people lived. 
He was fascinated
and completely enjoyed his new surroundings.

Martha had had to remind him almost constantly on his first 
trip to town not
to stare or ask too many questions. He apologized on the 
ride home, but she
smiled and he did the same. An understanding between the 
two was
established that day. Their next trip to town was much more 
enjoyable.

The older couple felt like they had gained a son as they 
watched Clark grow. The first time he saw a girl, the first 
time he saw a child... Everything was all so new to
him. It was a wondrous thing to witness.  

****

Clark couldn't stand it any longer. He had to make sure 
Martha was okay. He'd been listening to Martha moan for 
twenty minutes. She'd even yelled out once. He got up 
and went to the closed door of the Kents' room. He could 
just take a quick peak 
with his vision, but he and Martha had talked about that. 
She told him it
was invading another's privacy. It was wrong. 

He was about to knock when Jonathan groaned as if he were 
in pain, then
there was silence. Maybe everything was okay after all. 
Clark listened another
moment. The couple was laughing. Yes, they were okay. He 
went back to his
room. 

Funny how this seemed to happen often, at least three or 
four times a week.
Sometimes it lasted much longer than tonight, sometimes 
only moments, but
definitely often. Clark had wanted to ask about it, but was 
afraid he'd be
told he had to leave if he did. 

He rolled over and pulled the cover around his body. 
Whatever they did, it
was over now. Soon he was sleeping soundly.

****
Clark carried Martha's purchases as his eyes searched his 
surroundings, just
as they always did. He stopped dead in his tracks when he 
saw a woman and
small child coming out the hardware store.

"'Morning, Martha," the woman told her.

"Good morning, Tammy. How are you?"

"Still waiting." The woman patted her very pregnant 
stomach. "Only two
more weeks." 

"And how are you, Jake?"

"Fine. Who's that?" the boy asked, pointing at Clark.

Martha glanced back at Clark. "That is my son, Clark. 
Jonathan and I were
asked by an old friend to adopt him."

"Isn't he a little old for that?" the younger woman asked, 
uncomfortable
with Clark's scrutiny of her.

Martha noticed her discomfort. She turned to Clark. "Clark, 
it's not
polite to stare."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied and dropped his gaze to the boy. 
"Hi."

"Hi. I'm Jake."

"Jake. I like that name."

"I like Clark."

Martha smiled at the conversation between the boys. "To 
answer your
question, Tammy, no child is ever too old to be loved."

Clark's head shot up to look at the woman who'd said that. 
For a moment he
wasn't sure what was happening to him. His heart was racing 
and his hands
felt wet. He realized he liked what Martha had said. He 
smiled faintly and
finished his conversation with the younger boy.

In the car, Clark turned to Martha. "Martha, what was wrong 
with that
woman?"

"Tammy? She was pregnant."

Clark's mouth hung open. "Really? Humans procreate the same 
way animals do?"

Martha realized Clark didn't know what sex was. A long talk 
was in store for
that evening.

**** 

Clark had never been so shocked in his life. Martha and 
Jonathan had just
told him about sex. He now understood why it was his body 
was starting to
react the way it had been doing lately. He was maturing. He 
also realized
the strange noises coming from the couple at night was 
something they both
were doing... to each other. He was suddenly very grateful 
those noises always stopped before he gathered the resolve 
to check on them with his special vision.

He covered his head with the pillow and growled in 
frustration. 

The next day was the first day of school. Clark was listed 
as a senior and
it didn't take long for him to realize he was going to 
enjoy the
year.

Soon Clark couldn't be distinguished from any other teen 
among his high school peers. He learned quickly how to 
interact and was well liked by his classmates. Clark was, 
by all intents and purposes, a normal teen.

He'd asked the Kents to get him a pair of glasses with lead 
crystal lens so
that any teenage temptations would be eliminated. He wasn't 
so much
interested in anything particular, it was that he was 
incredibly curious about everything. He wanted to know how 
things worked and why. With his glasses in place and 
distractions aside, he quickly rose to the top of his class 
and discovered the joy of sports.

All the tests at the lab had long ago taught him how to 
control his powers.
Finding out he was more than just a machine was more 
interesting than
anything he could do on his own. He'd used his powers to 
help
him learn more about this beautiful world he lived in. He 
soaked up
knowledge like a sponge.

Clark also liked the Kents. Martha and Jonathan seemed to 
never tire of
answering his many questions. He worked side by side with 
them, helping with
farm chores and learning how to cook. They were teaching 
him so much. He'd
even learned to laugh. 

**** 

Martha watched as Clark stood in the falling snow. He was 
marveling at the texture 
as the flakes fell around him. He'd stretch out his arms 
and stick his tongue
out, all the while laughing and smiling.

"He's amazing, isn't he?" Jonathan asked her as he came up 
behind Martha to
watch Clark from the kitchen window.

"He is. I now know what it feels like to be a mother." She 
felt her husband
rub her arms. "What if they find him someday?"

"Martha."

"I know."

He turned her so he could see her face.  "We've had this 
conversation. We both know that's a possibility. Someday 
they will discover Dale wasn't on that plane. We just have 
to feel confident that Clark won't allow them to take him 
back to that place. And you know we couldn't stop him if he 
ever decided to leave. We have to hope he'll always want to 
be here. Or at least come back again."

"I hope you're right."

Clark burst through the back door. "Hey! Come out and play 
in the snow."

"Oh, Clark. I have so much work to do," Martha told him.

"Please," he begged with sad eyes.

Martha put her hands on her hips. "Where did you learn to 
make that face?"

"Lana. She does it with her father all the time."

"Do you understand it's wrong to do that just to get your 
way?"

"Yes ma'am. But I really want you to come out... just for a 
few minutes.
Please." He walked up to Martha and clasped his hands 
together. "Pretty
please."

Martha couldn't stand that expression. "Oh all right. Just 
for a minute."

Clark beamed as he grabbed her jacket and held it for her. 
When it was on,
he snatched her up and whisked her out the back door. She 
squealed as he
plopped her down in a pile of snow and threw a snowball at 
her. She
immediately launched one back. Jonathan laughed from his 
position at the
window, but couldn't resist going to join them.

****

Clark felt horrible. Martha caught a cold as a result of 
their snowball
fight. He picked up the tray with the chicken soup he and 
Jonathan had made
to help her feel better.

"It's okay, son. She just has the sniffles."

Clark shot a sad gaze at Jonathan as he went up the stairs. 
"Martha," he
called as he stopped at her open door.

"Hi, sweetie."

"I have some soup for you."  

She sat up and motioned for him to come in. He sat the tray 
across her lap,
then stood gazing at the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Martha."

"Oh, honey. This wasn't your fault." When he wouldn't look 
at her, she patted
the side of the bed. He sat hesitantly. "Clark, people get 
colds all the time. I'll
be fine. You'll see."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Is there anything I can do?"

Martha smiled at him. "Yes, there is. You can read me a 
book."

"What?"

"When I had colds as a little girl, my mom always read to 
me."

Clark smiled slightly as he went to find a book. He came 
back with a small
notebook. Martha finished her soup as Clark started to 
read. When she was
done, Clark sat her tray on the side table and climbed up 
on the bed beside
her. Half an hour later he closed the book.

"That's all I have so far."

"You wrote that?"

"Yes, ma'am. Like it?"

"Clark, I loved it."

He beamed with her words of praise. She laid her hand on 
his arm when he started to
get up.
 
"Stay with me. Let's talk."

He looked down at her hand on his arm. "May I... touch your 
arm like that?"

"Sure."

He placed his hand on her forearm and closed his eyes. "I 
can feel your
heartbeat. I can hear it, too."

"Really?" He nodded as he opened his eyes. She lifted his 
hand and placed it
on her chest over her heart.

His eyes shot wide open. "Wow!" She smiled at him. "Can you 
feel mine?"

Martha placed her hand over his heart. "Yep. It's faster 
than mine." Clark
closed his eyes and his heart slowed to match Martha's. 
"How did you do
that?"

"I don't know. I just can." He looked at Martha for several 
minutes before
he lifted his hand to touch her face. "You're beautiful."

"Thank you. You're handsome."

Clark smiled as he withdrew his hand. "Thank you for 
letting me touch you."

"You know what I want?" He shook his head. "I would like to 
give you a hug."

Clark stared at her as if trying to decide if that was 
okay. Finally he
leaned over allowing Martha to wrap her arms around him. 
Slowly his arms 
encircled her body.

Martha felt him start to shake. "Clark?" He turned his face 
into her neck.
That's when she felt the wetness. He was crying. "Oh 
honey." She tightened
her grip and cradled his head while he dealt with this new 
emotion.

Jonathan found them some time later. Martha was leaning 
against the
headboard holding Clark's head in her lap. The boy was 
sleeping.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I think he learned he has feelings." Martha ran her 
fingers through Clark's
hair.

"That's great, but he's on my side of the bed."

"Oh, Jonathan, don't make him leave."

"Martha, he's too big to sleep with us."

"No, he's not."

"Martha!"

She looked down at the sleeping boy in her lap. In so many 
ways that's all
he was: a boy. Yet, he was also becoming a man.

"Oh, all right," Jonathan mumbled as he climbed in beside 
the pair.
"It's a good thing we have a king size bed." He settled on 
the other side of Clark,
steadily mumbling. A smile graced his lips as he told his 
wife goodnight.

****

"Good morning," Clark said with a smile as Martha and 
Jonathan rolled over
to look at him. He was standing beside the bed with a tray 
full of food.
"Breakfast in bed." He sat the tray between them. "And 
don't get up. Chores
are done, and I'm cooking a big lunch." He turned and 
headed for the door.

"Clark?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

She waited until he turned to look at her. "Thank you."

"No, ma'am. Thank you." Clark smiled again and closed the 
door behind him.

Martha and Jonathan looked at each other and smiled. "He's 
such a good boy,"
she told him.

"Yes, he is."

****

With the snow came the holiday season. Clark asked a ton of 
new 
questions, read even more books, and decorated the house to 
look like a huge
holiday display. He worked odd jobs in town to earn money 
to buy Martha and
Jonathan a gift, while they thought he was working to have 
his own money.

Clark loved everything about Christmas. It took him two 
days to find the
perfect tree. He refused to let Martha and Jonathan 
dissuade him from
hanging the lights on the oak in the front yard. Even the 
barn held twinkling lights.

Although Clark was much too old to believe in Santa, he 
wasn't too
old to help Jonathan play Santa at the local children's 
home. His eyes
danced as much as the small ones' as he and Jonathan passed 
out the toys.

****

"Hey guys, wake up. Santa came!" 

Martha and Jonathan watched as Clark left their room. They 
followed sleepily
after a few moments. Both stopped in the door to the den to 
see
the two large boxes in front of the tree.

"Told you he came," Clark said with a smile. "They're for 
you."

"Clark?" Martha walked over to the box that held a card 
with her name written in Clark's beautiful handwriting. She 
was near tears when she looked back up at him.
"Clark."

"Open it."

She did cry when she saw the new sewing machine inside the 
box. "Oh, Clark."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it, but how?"

"All the money I was earning. I saved it so I could buy 
these gifts."

"This is really expensive, Clark."

Clark was heartbroken. He wasn't sure he'd done the right 
thing. He'd asked several of his friends about the 
tradition of gift giving and they told him they usually 
bought their parents and friends things they knew the 
people would like to have or needed. The only things Martha 
or Jonathan had talked about was what he'd bought for them. 

"I just wanted to give you both something that you really 
wanted. Was that wrong?"
 
"No, honey. Not wrong. It's just... you didn't have to 
spend so much on our gifts."

"And you and Jonathan didn't have to let me stay here." His 
eyes pleaded with them to understand.

Martha could see the battle behind his dark eyes. "Oh, 
Clark," she whispered. 

"Open yours, Jonathan." He was almost begging for 
acceptance now.

The older man smiled as he revealed the table saw he had 
been
gawking at whenever he passed the hardware store in the 
last few
months. "Son, this is too much."

"No, sir. It's not enough. You guys have given me so much. 
This is the least
I could do." He watched their expressions for a moment. 
When they didn't
seem happy, his heart sank even further. "They're both paid 
for. I promise."

"It's just... honey, you spent all your money on us."

"And you've spent all your money on me. I have new clothes, 
shoes, a new
home. I have a life. I could never pay you back for all of 
that."

Jonathan grinned widely over at Clark. "Well, I for one 
love my gift. Thank
you, son."

Clark flinched as the man reached to hug him. 

"It's okay, Clark. A man's allowed to hug his son."

"I like the sound of that," Clark told him next to his ear 
as he took the offered hug.

Jonathan pulled back to look at him. "And I like having 
you."

Clark smiled, then turned to Martha. "Ma'am?" 

"I love it, honey."

Clark grinned at her, waiting patiently for the hug he knew 
was coming. He wasn't disappointed. She embraced him 
tightly. Before she pulled back, she placed a kiss on his 
cheek. The young man covered the skin she'd touched her 
lips to with his hand. A new feeling was coming over him he 
didn't quite understand. All he knew is he felt great when 
Martha or Jonathan hugged him. He felt fantastic just now 
when she kissed him. He wouldn't mind more of those.

**** 

Jonathan even surprised Martha when he gave Clark the 
Mustang he'd picked up at a junkyard, swearing to fix up 
but never did. He told Clark they'd work on it together.

Over the rest of Clark's winter break, the barn was 
transformed into a
garage. The Kent men spent evenings working on Clark's car 
and becoming
friends. After the first of the year, the older man started 
giving the teenager driving lessons in the truck. 

As January gave way to February, Martha began to notice the 
changes in her
son. He was starting to become interested in girls. He 
often got calls from
Lana Lang and had even taken her to a movie. Clark was 
truly finding his way
in the world.

****

"Clark, do you know what a birthday is?"

The young man looked up at her over his dinner. "Yes. David 
Irig celebrated his birthday last week." He lowered his 
head sadly. "I don't have one."  

"Sure you do.  I read the file Dale left. It says they 
found you on
May 17, 1966. They estimated you to be about three months 
old. Dale told us he took it
upon himself to list February 28th as your birthday. 

Clark looked back up at her. "What? He never told me."

"I know. Major Trask told Dale it was useless in your 
training and he wouldn't allow Dale to make such a notation 
in your file. Anyway, that's the day we listed on your 
adoption papers. It's next week, so I was wondering if 
you'd like to have a party."

"A party? Really?"

"Sure. It's not everyday a guy turns seventeen. We can 
invite all your
friends from school and have music and snacks."

"A cake?"

"Yeah." 

Clark's eyes danced like a small child's at the prospect of 
having his first
birthday party. He told Martha he thought that would be 
wonderful.

****

Clark was cleaning up the gift wrapping from the den's 
floor. There had been about ten kids at his party and it 
had been a blast. Clark had danced for the first time in 
his life and enjoyed it. His friends had given him clothes 
or tapes for his portable player. Martha and
Jonathan gave him a stereo for his room. He had been moved 
beyond belief. It
was all so much. Yet, there was one thing he wanted he 
hadn't gotten. Truth
was he'd have to ask for it and he didn't know how to do 
it.

Martha noticed Clark had something on his mind. She reached 
out and placed a hand on his arm and he looked over at her.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"Nothing."

"Clark, you can't fool me. I know there's something on your 
mind."

Clark half smiled and pushed some more paper into the trash 
bag. "It's
nothing."

"Was it the party? I thought you enjoyed it."

"I did. The party was great."

"The stereo? You didn't like it. I told Jonathan you were 
too old for it."

"No!" Clark grabbed her arm. "I love it. It'll be great to 
be able to listen to music in my room all the time. 
Really... It's just... well..." He moved over to the mantle 
and looked at a photo of himself and the Kents. 

"Did you want something else? We can get you something 
different, but we'd
have to take the stereo back. We can't afford both."

"No, ma'am. I like the stereo. I want to keep it." He 
turned wide eyes to
her. "But if it costs too much, we can return it."

"No, honey. I saved my quilt money for it."

Clark smiled as he remembered the conversation they'd had 
about money at Christmas. It seemed he wasn't the only one 
who spent all of his own money on someone else.

"Clark, honey, you can tell me. It won't hurt my feelings 
if you want
something else."

"I do want something else, but it won't cost money."

"It won't?"

"No, ma'am." He paced back and forth in front of the 
mantle, rubbing his
hands up and down his pant legs. "I want... I'd like..." He 
stopped
and faced her. "I don't know how to say this."

"Honey, you can tell me anything."  

"I'd-like-to-call-you-Mom," he said in an incredible rush.  

Martha covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes welled 
with tears. 

"Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?" 

She came over and wrapped her arms around Clark. "No! You
said something right," she gasped against his shoulder.  

Clark smiled and pulled her further into his chest. "I 
think I love you," he
whispered.

Martha drew back and stared at Clark. "Clark..." Her hand 
smoothed his
cheek. "I love you, too, honey," she whispered back. "And 
I'd love for you
to call me Mom."

"Hey. Is this a private party?" Jonathan asked as he caught 
the tail end
of their conversation. "Or do you know how to say Dad, 
too?"

Clark looked over at the man, his dark eyes dancing with 
joy. He released Martha and
embraced Jonathan. "I love you, too." 
 
"Ah, boy. My boy. My son." Jonathan's hand patted Clark's 
back as he hugged him in return. "I love you."

No one would have ever believed you could love someone as 
much as the couple
had come to love Clark. To them he didn't come to them as a 
teenage boy who
had never lived before. He didn't come to them an alien 
from another planet.
He came to them as a child in desperate need of parents. He 
also filled the
void their inability to have children had left years ago. 
Clark had been born just for them. It was destiny that they 
were now allowed to live with and love this incredible 
young man.

****

"Mom?" Clark pushed through the back door. He was late 
getting off work and
was scared his mother would be mad because he hadn't 
called. When she didn't
answer, he instinctively knew something was wrong.

He stepped into the den and dropped to the floor in a 
crumpled heap,
writhing in pain.

"Nice of you to join us, Clark."

Clark looked up at the eyes he'd hoped he'd never see 
again. "Trask!"

"Very nice of you to remember me." The man leaned over and 
held up the
glowing green rock. "This is a nice little memento from 
your home planet. I told those smart ass scientists this 
thing would make you beg for your life." He reached down 
and roughly grabbed Clark's arm. "Let's go!"

"I'd rather die than go back with you," Clark gasped.  

"Okay." He stood and went over to a figure Clark hadn't 
noticed
before now. Martha was being held around her neck by one of 
Trask's men.
"Maybe you'll come along to save her life."  

"Let her go!" Fear gripped Clark as his eyes met those of 
Martha. She appeared to be more afraid of what would happen 
to him than she was about her own safety. She shook her 
head, silently asking Clark not to go.

"Sure. As soon as you agree to come back and fulfill your 
duty to the
agency."

Martha's eyes begged Clark not to do it. He could almost 
hear her tell him to just go... get as far away as he 
could. Yet, he couldn't allow her to be hurt. He drew his 
gaze from her and glared at Trask angrily. "I'll go, just 
don't hurt her."

"Clark, no!" Martha wanted to scream at him. Their lives 
weren't worth the suffering she knew he'd face. A mother 
would gladly die to save her child. Martha was no 
exception.

Clark read her thoughts in her expression. There was no way 
he'd be responsible for her death or for that of Jonathan. 
He dropped his gaze so that he couldn't feel the intense 
pain coming from his mother.

Trask placed the rock back in the case he had for it. 
Clark's pain eased,
but his powers were gone. The young man was forced to his 
feet. Trask faced Clark with a predatory glare. "You didn't 
really think I'd allow you to stay here forever, did you?" 
Clark simply glared back. The soldier chuckled wryly and 
brought a hand up to squeeze Clark's face roughly. "You are 
an 'it'; a freak of nature. You will never be allowed to 
live with humans."

Clark pulled away from Trask's grasp. "You can do whatever 
you want with me. Just leave them out of it." His eyes 
pleaded with Martha to understand his decision to do this. 
Hers simply screamed fear for her son.

Trask turned to face Martha and laughed loudly. "Isn't that 
cozy? You're protecting these traitors."

"They're not traitors!"

Trask turned back to face Clark. This time all emotion but 
anger and contempt was gone from his expression. "Anyone 
who would knowingly help the likes of you is a traitor! I 
should just kill them and be done with it."

Clark fought against the hands that held him tightly. This 
seemed to amuse Trask once again. "Relax, freak. They will 
live... for now." The soldier turned and started out of the 
door. "Bring him," he yelled back over his shoulder.

As Clark was dragged past the sofa, he noticed Jonathan's 
unconscious form lying on the floor.
  
"Is he okay?"

"Relax." Trask stopped just outside the door to glare back 
at... the creature.  "He'll live... as long as you do what 
you're supposed to be doing." Trask came back inside the 
door, within inches of Clark's face. "From this day on, 
their lives will be in your hands. You do as you're told, 
and they live. Is that understood?"

"Yes." Clark turned regretful eyes to Martha as the 
soldiers started to pull
him out the door. "I'm so sorry."

"No. We're sorry." She watched as the young man transformed 
before her. He seemed to turn in on himself, as if he knew 
whatever lay ahead would be worse than anything he'd known 
previously. Her heart ached as the beautiful spirit they'd 
watched develop started to fade.  

"We love you," she mouthed as Clark was forced down the
stairs and he gave her one last sorrowful gaze. He turned 
his head as if he was accepting his fate. As she watched 
her son be tossed into the back of a van, she
vowed she'd do all she could to get him back. He didn't 
deserve the hell she knew would follow. He deserved to live 
and be happy, just as he'd been here with them.

Clark's face was mashed into the cold metal of the van 
floor as the engine
roared to life. He would never forget his time here with 
these wonderful
people. He'd always remember that he had parents that loved 
him and a life,
a real life. 

For now he had to concentrate on a way to make sure the 
Kents were never harmed because of him. If Trask drugged 
him, how would he ever know? Would they live? He may never 
know the answer to that, but he could do all he was told to 
ensure that was what happened.

He was also afraid of what would happen to him. Trask was 
sure to start his training again. This time it would be 
much more intense. He closed his eyes as he realized he 
would probably be trained to be someone he wouldn't like 
very much. As the fear gripped him, his body started to 
shake. Yes. He would do as he was told to keep the Kents 
safe. He'd also make sure Trask paid the price for making 
him into a monster.
 
@@@@

"Ladies and gentlemen, Agency 39 has long fought to protect 
humanity,"  now 'Colonel' Jason Trask,  addressed the 
various military personnel seated at the table in the huge 
auditorium. "For years people told us we were crazy. 
Chasing aliens, waiting on something that would never 
happen. Don't be silly, they said. There is no such thing
as UFOs. Well, I'm here to tell you that there is. And I 
can now provide you with undeniable proof."

The cover was yanked from the small silver vessel. The 
crowd gasped. As
whispers started to rise in volume, the man continued.

"Sure, this could be a joke. But it's not. And I know that 
beyond a
shadow of a doubt because inside that ship was an infant. 
He was tagged S-517. For twenty years this creature has 
been groomed for this moment. Let me introduce you to the 
United States' answer to infantry. This is S-517: the 
Ultimate Soldier."

The doors behind the man opened and the impressive soldier 
stepped through.
He was clad in black fatigues, boots, and a hat. His face 
was as rigid as stone, his eyes expressionless. He looked 
straight ahead as he awaited his instructions.

"S-517, at ease."

"Yes, sir," replied the man stoically and snapped into 
position.

The Colonel gave a brief description of the soldier 
standing in front of them. He noticed that several people 
were snickering. They were not convinced that the creature 
could do what he was telling them could be done. He shouted 
an order that could not possibly be performed by a human. 
The collective gasp sent a thrill down Trask's spine. A 
stream of commands to perform equally unique tasks were 
shouted from the egotistical Colonel. Each and every one 
was quickly followed by the soldier. The demonstration left 
no doubt that S-517 was far from usual.

"Colonel Trask, how do we know he'll follow any command?" 
asked another officer in attendance.

The Colonel smiled smugly. "S-517, undress."

"Yes, sir." The young man did as he was told, coming back 
to attention
completely naked.

The man who'd originally asked the question laughed. "Guess 
that answers
that."

"But is he trained to kill?" a higher ranking officer 
asked.

"S-517, kill Private Taylor."

"Yes, sir." The soldier searched name-tags until he spotted 
the
private in question. The young man started sweating 
profusely as S-517
approached him. S-517 raised his hand to grab the soldier 
around the neck. Right before contact was made, the soldier 
stopped, his hand in mid-air. "Colonel
Trask, sir, I cannot kill Private Taylor. He is one of 
ours." 

A very relieved young man released the breath he'd been 
holding.

S-517 turned to face Colonel Trask, but did not look 
directly at him.

"He may be one of ours, but you were given a direct order."

"Yes, sir. That is why the order you have just given cannot 
be carried out. It is the mission of any good soldier to 
perform his duty and never leave a man behind. If I took 
this man's life, I would be violating that aspect of my 
training. My mission is to take out the enemy. Private 
Taylor is one of ours."

"I am your superior officer!" Trask almost yelled. His 
soldier had no right to disobey him. "Your 'mission' is to 
carry out orders. Kill Private Taylor!"

The soldier seemed to be debating that last order, but 
finally he spoke. "Yes, sir." S-517 leaned to grab the man 
again, this time wrapping a firm hand around the man's 
neck.

"Stop! That is a direct order." S-517 immediately dropped 
the Private. 

Trask turned to face the General. "Someone asked for a
demonstration, sir."

"I am satisfied with the Ultimate Soldier's abilities. S-
517, I am General
Gordon, your superior."

"Yes, sir." The soldier spun and saluted the General.

"Get dressed."

"Yes, sir." 

"Colonel, the Ultimate Soldier seems to be all he was 
designed to be. Is he
capable of handling hostage situations, terrorist threats, 
that sort of
thing?" The General was speaking again.

 "S-517 can handle anything. He has full tactical 
abilities."

"We don't need full tactical abilities. We're not at war," 
General Gordon told him.
 
"True, but with his powers, we will never have to be 
again."

"The Ultimate Soldier will not be utilized for active 
infantry unless the
United States is threatened first." The General rose along 
with the rest of
the men at the table and addressed Colonel Trask. "Your 
services in this
program have been invaluable. Congratulations. Your new 
assignment." He held
out a file to Trask.
 
The Colonel took the manila folder and read the contents. 
"S-517 is going on
a recon mission?"

"Yes. We have a stranded team inside that hell-hole. Get 
them out."

"But General..."

"That's a direct order, Colonel. And don't forget the rest 
of that order.
There are to be no casualties. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," Trask ground out.

"Good." The group made their way out of the auditorium in 
silence.

Trask was left fuming. He'd spent every moment turning that
piece of alien trash into something useful. And now all 
that training
would be wasted retrieving people who got themselves into a 
jam. Special forces my
butt, he thought as he stormed from the room to program his 
weapon.

One day, he thought. One day they'll all pay.

****

"Talk to me," the young woman said into her cell phone. 

"Lois! Got something good for me?"

"That depends on what you have for me, Bobby."

"How does Project S-517 sound?"

"As in the military's Ultimate Soldier program?"

"That's the one. The word on the street is that the leader 
of Agency 39 is
livid. His coveted Ultimate Soldier is being used for recon 
missions, as
aids de camp, to deal with terrorist threats, handle bomb
disassembly, stuff like that. I hear they even want to use 
this thing for
federal disasters and what not."

"He feels the soldier should be used differently?"  

"That's an understatement. He wants the U.S. to throw its 
weight around with his 'ultimate weapon'."  

"So it's true the soldier is some kind of biological 
wonder?" 

"And then some. He is awesome. Gotcha' an in to the private 
screening of his
training skills on Friday at Fort Pierce."

"Bobby, you're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just pay for the duck at Chow's."

"Consider it paid for. Anything else?" 
 
"Yeah. At Fort Pierce you'll be approached by a man who 
wants you to look
into some things."

"How will I know him?"

"He'll know you. Look, I've got to run."

"Thanks again."

"Yeah. I'll call when I'm hungry."

Lois dropped the receiver back into place and pumped her 
arm in the
air. Finally, a story that may get her somewhere.

****

Lois looked around her at the people assembled for the 
demonstration.
They were military, civilian law enforcement, civilian 
rescue, and a handful
of press members. It appeared the military really did want 
to use this
Ultimate Soldier for more practical matters rather than war 
tactics. She
quickly found a seat when the Colonel came out.

The man introduced himself as Colonel Jason Trask. He gave 
a brief history of the Ultimate Soldier program, then 
introduced the biological wonder. Lois was surprised
when one of the soldiers that had been standing to the 
Colonel's left
stepped forward. S-517, as he was introduced, seemed like 
any other man.

And what an impressive man he was. Lois had to concentrate 
to keep her thoughts from roaming into dangerous territory 
as her eyes took in the wonderful specimen before her. S-
517 was about six feet of pure muscle. His fatigues hugged 
his powerful body like a glove.  Dark hair sat atop a thick 
neck and broad shoulders. If this alien wasn't a man, he 
was doing a darn good impression of one.

Lois sighed a little dreamily and concentrated on the 
activities the soldier was starting to perform.

She sat mesmerized as the impressive demonstration took 
place. The soldier
did things she didn't think possible. When he completed his 
performance by
flying, with no help whatsoever, Lois was so stunned she 
dropped the pencil she had been writing with. She recovered 
and scrambled to retrieve the wooden item so she could 
write down possible contact names. Suddenly the thrill of a 
prize winning article ran through her. Things like this 
didn't happen every day, and she would be the reporter to 
expose the truth.

"We will take questions from the press now," the Colonel 
announced.

Lois shot to her feet. "Does he talk? I mean, other than 
answering
commands?"

"Yes he does. S-517, step forward and talk to the lady."

"Yes, sir." The man walked to the edge of the platform. 
"Good afternoon,
miss. How are you today?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Lois stepped a little closer to the 
soldier. "Can you
make eye contact?"

"Yes ma'am." The man immediately looked directly at the 
woman. For an
instant, his expression flashed something close to 
surprise. However, his reaction faded as quickly as it had 
appeared.

Lois didn't miss the hesitation on the part of the young 
man. She also
couldn't help but notice that there was so much more behind 
his brown eyes. Whatever it was buried there called to her. 
She found herself wanting to know more than just the 
government rundown on him.

"Do you have a name?"

"S-517, ma'am."

"No. Not a number. A name. Like Jack or Sam or something."

"No, ma'am."

"Too bad. Everyone should have a name."

"Miss..."

"Lane. Lois Lane, Daily Planet," she replied automatically 
to the Colonel.

"Miss Lane, please move on to more important questions."

Lois glared at the man before turning back to the soldier. 
"I refuse to call
you a number, so I'll just ask my questions. What exactly 
are you?"

"I am a perfect biological soldier."

"Are you a machine?"

"S-517 is part machine. His brain is comprised of tiny, 
very sophisticated
equipment," the Colonel hastened to point out.

"How is that possible?" Lois was looking at the Colonel as 
if daring him to prove it.

"Believe me, Miss Lane, we have asked that. Wherever he 
came from was,
without doubt, a civilization far more advanced than 
anything we could hope
to be any time soon. His race is remarkable."

"Yes. And now I want him to answer me." She faced the 
soldier again. "Are you a machine?"

"I am a perfect biological soldier," he answered again.

Lois thought that odd. He couldn't answer her directly. 
"You appear to be a
man. Do you work like a man?"

"I breathe. I have a heart beat, internal organs, external 
organs. I do not
eat, drink, or have to sleep often. So, no, I do not work 
like a man."

"Then with you lies the end of your race here on Earth?" 

That stopped the soldier. He didn't know how to answer 
that. The Colonel
spoke up. "Miss Lane, S-517 is the last of his kind. Now, 
do you have any
more questions for him?"

"Just one," she answered with a glance back at the Colonel. 
She slowly turned to meet the soldier's gaze. "Do you mind 
if I touch you?"

The soldier flinched. "Ma'am?"

"Miss Lane?" Trask felt sick. Surely no self-respecting 
human could actually 'want' to touch this freak?  

"I just want to see if he feels like a man or a machine. 
Surely you won't
jeopardize the people's right to know."  

The Colonel seethed in anger. It wasn't bad enough he had 
to parade his weapon around like some prized possession. 
Now he had to allow some noisy reporter who didn't have 
enough sense to distinguish the difference between a human 
man and a filthy alien touch him. What was next? Tea 
parties with the President?

"Look at me," she whispered as her hand rose to touch the 
stone
statue of a man before her. He did as he was told. She 
watched as something
happened behind his eyes just before she touched his face. 
"You don't feel
like a machine to me."

He watched her carefully. His mind was screaming a thousand 
things all at
once and he was unsure what was right anymore. His hearing 
picked up the
Colonel's whispered command. 'Kill her, S-517. She's the 
enemy.' His hand
lifted, set to grab her throat, but something in her eyes 
wouldn't let him
complete the order.
 
Lois watched as his eyes reflected the war raging inside 
him. In an instant, she knew what was going on. She turned 
to look at the Colonel. "What did you tell him?"

"Tell him?"

"You gave him an order. What was it?"

"Miss Lane, are you paranoid?"

Lois focused on the man in front of her again. She took one 
of his hands in
hers. "What did he order you to do?"

The man looked down at her hands around his. An image 
danced through his
mind of another pair of hands holding his like that. His 
other hand lifted
and surrounded hers. She was so warm and soft. 'Be gentle,' 
he heard in his
mind. 'You should always be gentle so that you won't hurt 
anyone.'
 
"I have to be gentle," he said softly. He squeezed her 
hands hesitantly. Her
thumbs rubbed across the top of his.

"S-517, let her go and prepare to go offline."

He looked at Lois as if wanting to say something. Finally 
he dropped her
hands and snapped to attention. "Yes, sir." 

Lois watched as he turned on his heels and marched to a 
tall, black case-like box. He backed inside and was still 
while another soldier strapped him in. The Colonel stepped 
over and touched him with a small box. The soldier's large 
body jerked and his eyes closed.

Trask turned to the crowd. "S-517 has to go offline to 
allow his body and
mind to regenerate. He is in no pain and the shock to shut 
down his computer
doesn't hurt him." He waved his hand and several soldiers 
laid the Ultimate
Soldier's case back onto a lift and it was loaded in the 
back of a truck.

Trask turned to address the crowd and pass out some press 
releases about the
Ultimate Soldier project, but the words were lost on Lois. 
She watched as the soldier was trucked off the field. The 
few moments they touched told her more than anything she'd 
read in their papers. The touch told her the truth. S-517 
was not a machine. He was a man, albeit an incredibly 
powerful man, but still a man. She scrambled from the
platform after she snatched one of the files from Trask. 
She intended to
find out just what was going on here.

Trask watched her as she went across the field to the 
parking area. "Find
out what you can on her," he whispered to one of his men.

**** 

Lois pulled open the door to her car and froze. A man had 
walked up to stand next to her.

"Miss Lane?"

"Yes?" She turned warily to the man.

"I need to speak with you... in private."

"Look, mister..."

"No, no. Please. Bobby was supposed to call you. I need 
help, before they kill us all."

"Before who kills us all?"

"Trask and his army of Ultimate Soldiers. He's a madman."

"And he's planning to... what? Take over?"

"Yes. Look, meet me at the library down the block from the 
Planet in half an hour. I'll be in the computer archives. 
We can talk in private."  

"Okay." 

The man turned and hurried away. Lois jumped in her car and 
raced back
towards town. She had been right. There was something huge 
going on here.
 
****

The black gave way to sunshine. A cool breeze blew across 
his skin.
The crisp blue sky told him there was nothing he couldn't 
handle. He smiled
and watched the birds play in the field. He'd missed the 
summer harvest. He
would bet those fields were gorgeous then. 

Slowly his breathing changed. It came faster as the images 
of perfect summer
days gave way to the dark, to haunting images that were 
constantly invading
his mind, people falling, dying at his hands. Blood, there 
was blood
everywhere. 

His hearing kicked in. The commands, the horrible commands. 
'Kill them. Kill
them all.' 

Then there was a new sound he'd never heard before, soft 
whispers, nice
tones. It was a voice. 'Look at me.' The voice sounded 
soothing.
'You don't feel like a machine to me.'

Not a machine. Not a machine. 'Be gentle.' 

Suddenly his eyes popped open. He was in the lab. No one 
was there. He was back online, but the voices were coming 
again.   

'You have a mind.'

'You are a man.'

He closed his eyes as the voices roared out of control. He 
didn't understand
any of this. What was happening to him? As he struggled to 
catch his breath,
he tensed, breaking his shackles with ease. For a moment he 
panicked. If
Colonel Trask found him out of his case...

His eyes fell on some open files. Maybe he could just see 
what was written on those papers. He stepped over and 
quickly scanned the words. When he was done, he raised his 
head. 

"I am a man," he whispered into the room. He moved around 
the room trying
to find more information. Several moments later he slumped 
to the floor. His
mind was a jumble of images and voices, but the one thing 
coming in loud and
clear was the fact that he knew what Trask had written was 
true. If he
didn't want to stay here, they couldn't make him. Yet, for 
some reason he
couldn't make himself get up to go either. A tickle at the 
back of his mind
told him that if he left, something bad would happen.

His hearing picked up Trask's voice outside. He made a 
split second decision
to stay and see if he could learn why he felt he couldn't 
leave. He pushed
up from the floor and in a blur he was settled back into 
his case. Trask and
two of the scientists entered only seconds later.
 
**** 

Lois sat down next to the man in front of another computer. 
Apparently he wanted to make it look as if they were both 
doing nothing more than research and carrying on a casual 
conversation. Her insatiable curiosity led her to play 
along. "I'm listening."
  
"Miss Lane, my name is Dale Kent. To the government, my 
family, and anyone
else, I am essentially dead. What I tell you today is 
highly classified... information your country never intends 
for you to know."  

Lois listened intently as the man told her the real story 
behind the man
known as the Ultimate Soldier. His name was Clark and he 
was a man, not a
machine. Kent had been the scientist that led the research 
team that studied
Clark when he was first found as a baby. That baby had been 
raised in a
cold, sterile lab. He had been constantly tested and 
probed, brainwashed for humanity's sake, until the day Kent 
took him to a farm in Kansas. For nearly a year he'd lived 
as a normal teenager, then Trask found him and took him 
back.

"But how is he able to control him?"

"I have contacts-a friend on the inside. He tells me Trask 
found some kind of rock from his home planet. They say it's 
poison to him, makes him sick. I'm told Trask leaves him 
weak and fills his head full of the things he wants him to 
know." 
 
"He's an animal."

"That's not the half of it. He wants to clone Clark, use 
his sperm to grow
an army of super powered soldiers."

"So he does work like a man?"

"Oh yes. All of Clark's basic functions are the same as any 
normal adult male. But if
Trask creates his clones, they can be implanted with 
computers before they become invulnerable and they would be 
a massive force in the hands of a madman."

"Do you think he's started that particular project yet?"

"Probably. If he has, God help us all."

"The lab, where's the lab?"

"It's in the side of a mountain in the middle of North 
Dakota. But there's
another here in Metropolis. I hear that's where Trask has 
held Clark when he recaptured him four years ago."  

"Here." Lois took out her notepad. "Draw me a map."

"You can't go there."

"I have to see what's going on."

"If Trask finds you, he'll have Clark kill you."

"I think he tried that today, but Clark couldn't do it. I 
knew I saw
something in his eyes." Lois wrote something on the 
notepad. "Oh, and I need
to contact your brother and sister-in-law. Maybe if they're 
willing to go
public, we can force the government to release Clark. Alien 
or not, he's a
man. And a man has rights."

"I wouldn't count on it."

"You said yourself not everyone is aware of what Agency 39 
is doing. For all
you know, they think Clark is a machine as well."

"I hadn't thought of that." He scratched his chin. "I tried 
calling my
brother several times over the last couple years. If 
they're still in
Smallville, they're not listed."

"I'll find them. Please... draw a map." 
  
"Miss Lane, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Just do it. We have to get Clark away from that man. From 
what I saw today, he is suffering and isn't even aware of 
it. I've read that brainwashing can have all sorts of 
affects. What if the poor guy has a breakdown or something? 
He wouldn't even know what was happening to him. Besides, 
if Trask succeeds with his plans, the whole world will have 
to pay for it."  

Dale blew an exasperated breath and started drawing. He 
didn't know if the
young lady knew what she was doing or not, but she was 
right. Clark's time
was running out. The doctor had been trying to go through 
every possible channel, without being discovered, to see if 
he could get Clark released from Agency 39. Knowing he 
couldn't do much without being discovered or getting 
himself killed, his hands were tied. But his thoughts were 
seldom far from the young man whose life he'd had a hand in 
ruining. Was it too late to repair the damage?

****

Jason Trask yelled at the top of his lungs, then threw the 
file in his hand
across the room. The papers landed everywhere. "I can't 
believe
those idiots!"

"Sir?" questioned one of his officers.

"They want to loan S-517 to the city of Metropolis to use 
as an emergency
services help-mate. Of all the insane, moronic things to do 
with this
perfect soldier." He turned and glared at the other man. 
"Initiate Operation
Take-Over. We have to move now!"
 
"Yes, sir."

Trask turned and walked over to stand in front of Clark. 
"You will help me
change this world forever."

When the door shut behind Trask, Clark opened his eyes. He 
didn't know what
was about to happen, but he knew he had to find out 'now'. 
He freed himself from his shackles and eased through the 
dark room. He thanked the powers that be for his incredible 
vision. A second later, he was floating down the corridor. 

****

Lois had made sure to bring plenty of small flashlights 
with her, unsure of
how many she'd need. This lab was not that big, but it was 
full of some of
the most incriminating evidence in the world. She'd found 
and made copies of
Clark's file. That information alone would bring Trask to 
his knees. The man
had been performing the most insane tests on Clark. It was 
inhumane and
cruel. When she was finished with the Colonel, he would be 
in prison for a
very long time.

She pushed open the door to a small room. When she flashed 
her light she
almost passed out. The room was full of glass cylinders 
that contained what
looked like...

"My God. He 'is' cloning him." Lois froze when a noise from 
the other side of
the room cut through the silence. She turned and flashed 
her light. There,
sitting against the wall on the floor, was Clark. "Clark?"

His head snapped up when she spoke. He recognized that 
voice. It was one
he'd been remembering in his mind most of the afternoon, 
but what did she say? He looked up as she came closer. 

"Clark?"

He was unable to respond and just stared at her.

Lois kneeled in front of him. "Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes. I'm fine." He blinked several times in an attempt 
to focus.
This was the woman from the demonstration. What had she 
said her name was?
"Miss Lane?"

"Yes. You remembered me?"

"Yes. What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story. What are you doing here?" She'd read 
the file. He was
supposed to be drugged and in that hideous case.

"I was trying to find out what Trask was doing."

"You mean you... But I thought..."

"I woke up. I don't know how. When he came back, I 
pretended to be asleep.
He's angry because Metropolis wants to use me to help the 
Emergency
Services. He's starting something he called Operation Take-
Over."

"I think he's planning to use you to try to take over the 
country."

"He said I would help him change the world."

"We need to get you out of here."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. There's something in the back of my mind 
that tells me if I
leave bad things will happen."

The meaning of what Clark said hit Lois like a ton of 
bricks. "I know what
it is."

"You do?"

"Yes, but I can't tell you here." She rose and held out her 
hand to Clark.
"Please. Trust me. Everything will be okay."

He looked at her hand. The images of touching her came 
back. She was so soft
and warm. He wanted to feel that again. He reached up and 
clasped his hand
with hers, then stood. She pulled him toward the door, but 
he stopped her.

"I can't leave these here. This is... wrong."

She looked around the containers. "Yes it is." She let 
Clark's hand go and
took out her camera. "I'll take some pictures then we'll 
decide what to do."

He looked at his empty hand, wanting to feel hers again. 
Finally he
looked up and watched her snap several pictures. She pulled 
open a freezer
on another wall and gasped. He was by her side in a flash. 
The small vials
stared back at him.

"Clark, this is your... sperm. My God! How much did they 
take from you?" He
simply looked at her. "This is the substance your body 
makes to reproduce."

Clark's mind raced to understand what she was talking 
about. He could hear
two new voices explaining to him the mechanics of human 
reproduction. His
eyes dropped to his crotch. "They... they..." He closed his 
eyes and ground
his teeth. Images of being on an exam table while a tube 
was forced into his
body...

He reached out and grabbed the freezer case. "They did the 
procedure once a
week," he said softly. "Once a week for nearly six months."

"Oh, Clark." 

His eyes shot open when Lois touched his arm. "You're not 
scared of me?"

"Scared of you? Of course not." She rubbed his arm softly. 
"Let's get out of
here."

He nodded. "I think I should burn this room up, starting 
with those vials."

"No. They'll know we were in here. Can you use some of your 
vision gizmo to
just kill everything?"

"Vision gizmo?"

"Your heat vision."

"Oh. Yes. I can kill all this with a quick shot. They won't 
notice for a
while." 

Lois could swear he almost smiled as he stood and stared 
intently at the vials. When he was done, he picked one up 
and looked at it.

"All dead. Sorry fellows," he said as he put the vial back.

Lois laughed softly as he turned and stared at the 
cylinders. Though the machines that had been keeping the 
clones alive were still running and everything appeared to 
be normal, Clark assured her all the tissue was indeed 
dead. He'd simply severed the life giving main vessels to 
each specimen along with a slight sting from his powerful 
eyes to assure none of Trask's 'soldiers' would be brought 
online.
 
When she opened the door to the lab, Clark put his hand on 
the jamb. "Should
I... hold your hand?"  

She was about to make her usual reply of a snide remark, 
but something in his eyes stopped her. "Would you like to?"

He looked down at her hand. "Yes."

She held her hand out and he gently took it in his.

"Gentle. I have to be gentle," he said absently as she led 
the way out the
door. Ten minutes later they were standing by her car.  

"You have to let go now so you can get in." 

Clark looked down at the small hand in his. He knew he 
should let go, but for some reason it felt so good to hold 
her. 

She watched him battle with her statement.  "Look, get in. 
When we get out on the road, I'll let you hold it again."

That seemed to do the trick. Clark let her hand go and 
hurried around to get
in the car. He watched her hand intently until she turned 
it over in
invitation for him to take it again.

He wrapped his large fingers around her smaller ones as 
they made their way
through the city streets. "I can drive a car," he said 
absently a few
moments later.

"You can?"

"Yes. Although..." He furrowed his brows. "I can't remember 
how I learned."
He shrugged, then thought of something he wanted to ask 
Lois. "Why do you call me Clark?"

"Because that's your name."

"No. I'm S-..." He stopped as more images and voices filled 
his head. A soft
feminine voice and a strong, masculine one. His breathing 
started to get ragged as the faces materialized. It was... 
That's why he couldn't leave. Trask would kill them. "I 
have to go back. He will kill them."

"You remember?"

"Some. Please, take me back."

Lois pulled off the road and turned to face Clark. "Clark, 
listen to me. I
ran a search on the Kents today. They don't live in 
Smallville anymore. I
can't find them."

Fear gripped Clark like a vice. "He's already killed them," 
he whispered.

"I don't think so. I ran checks for their deaths and didn't 
find anything." She lifted Clark's hand and covered it in 
both of hers. "We'll find them, but you can't go back."

Her touch seemed to pacify him. He watched as she squeezed 
his hand. "You're
the only person that has wanted to touch me since I lived 
with them," he
told her softly.

She met his gaze in the pale light shining through the 
windshield. "You must
think people are pretty horrible."

"Some."

Lois smiled softly before turning back to the steering 
wheel. "We need to
get out of here."

"Where are we going?"

"To my apartment." She pulled back onto the road and within 
minutes they
were walking through her front door.

****

Lois looked back at Clark. He was taking in her apartment 
very slowly.
"Could I have my hand for just a few minutes?"

Clark hesitantly released her. "I'm sorry. That was wrong."

"What was?"

"To hold you when you didn't want to be held."

"No, Clark. I just need both hands to go to the bathroom."

That made him drop his head, his cheeks turning red. She 
had embarrassed
him.

"You look around. I'll be right back."

"Okay."

She returned a few minutes later to find him thumbing 
through her books.
There was a stack on the forward ledge. She watched 
silently as he flipped
the pages of one book, then preceded to another. She 
realized he was reading them and
cleared her throat to get his attention.

Clark looked up at her. "I'm sorry. I like to read."

"I see. You can read them all, but in a bit. We need to 
talk."

"Okay." He placed the book on the others and followed her 
into the kitchen.
Clark watched as she prepared coffee. 

A few minutes later they were seated at the table with two 
steaming mugs. He
looked down at the black liquid in the cup.

"Don't you like coffee?"

"I don't know."

"I forgot you don't have to eat or drink."

"I used to, when I lived with the Kents. But Mo... Martha 
never let me have
coffee. She said it would stunt my growth."

Lois looked at him with raised brows. "I don't think you 
have to worry about
that now."

This time the young man did smile. "I guess I am a big 
boy."

"Yeah." Lois sipped her coffee. "I think the first thing we 
need to do is
contact someone in the government and see if we can't get 
you released from
whatever claims that agency has on you."

"But the agency is part of the government."

"Not the good part. Perry has some contacts. We'll talk to 
him."

"Perry?"

"My editor at the Planet, Perry White."

"I read the copy you had on the coffee table. You write 
really well."

"Thank you... I think."

Clark smiled again. "I can read."

"I know. It's just... I don't know how to treat you here. I 
mean, for
four years you've been brainwashed..."

His eyes widened at that. She had told him she wasn't 
scared of him. Had she changed her mind? "I won't hurt 
you." 

"I know that. You couldn't do it today when Trask gave you 
a direct order."
 
"How did you know that's what he said?"

"I'm not sure, but I could see in your eyes that you could 
never hurt anyone."

"Thank you. Your belief in me means a great deal."

Lois reached over and covered his hand with hers. "You need 
a friend and
I want to help."

Clark looked down at her hand on his. "I'd like that."

"Good." She patted his hand. "How about we get on the 
computer and see if we
can find the Kents?"

"Yes. I'd like to know if they're okay."

"Come on."

Clark got up to follow her to her desk in her bedroom, then 
turned back and picked up his coffee taking a good, healthy 
swallow. He looked down at the cup with disinterest.
It wasn't the best tasting stuff he'd ever had, but... He 
took another gulp.
It was nice to be drinking something again. Maybe he'd ask 
Lois if he could
have something to eat.

****

Clark watched as Lois' fingers strummed the keyboard. He 
could read the
screens faster than they could ever pop up, so he watched 
to see what Lois
did to get the changes on the monitor.

She glanced up at Clark. He had been quiet, taking in every 
move she made.
"You okay?"

"Sure. You?"

"I'm fine." She smiled and read over another page. "I got 
it!"

"What?" Clark read the words carefully. "They're here. In
Metropolis." His heart raced in his chest. He hadn't felt 
this way in... well, he couldn't remember when, but he felt 
good.

"Seems so."

"There's a number. Call them. See if it's them. See if 
they're okay."

"Calm down." 

"I'm sorry. It's just... they were so good to me. I was..." 
He remembered
things they'd said, things they'd done. What would things 
have been like if
he'd been allowed to remain with them?  

Lois rubbed his arm as she stood. "How about we go see them 
tomorrow? It's
late."

"You're right. They're probably in bed."

"Yeah." Lois dug through a dresser drawer before pulling 
out a pair of
shorts and a shirt for Clark. "Here. These should fit you."

Clark looked at the offered clothes, wanting to ask if they 
belonged to someone special to her. She answered for him.

"They're my brother's. Louis breezes in and out about three 
times a year. He
leaves clothes every time."

"Breezes in and out?"

"Comes in, stays a day, and leaves again."

"Why doesn't he stay?"

"Louis is a professional baseball player. He's a huge 
disappointment to
our father, but very much his own man. He's only a year 
older than me and
earns more in a year than I'll earn before I'm thirty."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah. He's the best." She picked up a photo and held it 
out to show Clark.
"That's him."

"Wow. He looks like you."

"Poor kid," she mumbled.

"Don't say that. I happen to think you look very nice."

"Thank you, Clark." She smiled and pointed to the bathroom. 
"Go shower. You
do know how to do that?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry. I need to quit asking you if you know this or 
that."

"It's okay. Some things I don't know about. I'll tell you."

"Deal."

Clark stopped at the bathroom door. "Miss Lane?"

"Please. Call me Lois."

"Lois... Would you mind if... maybe I could eat... 
something when I'm done?"

"I thought you didn't have to eat?"

"I don't have to, but I'd really like to."

Lois smiled then. "I think I would too. I'll fix us a 
sandwich while you
shower."

"Okay. Thank you." He smiled and disappeared into the 
bathroom.

****

Lois looked up when Clark came out of the bathroom. Her 
breath caught as
she looked at him. He was certainly one of the best looking 
men she'd ever
seen. Louis' clothes were a little tight showing off a lot 
of Clark's attributes.
"Feel better?"

"Yes. It's nice not to have to wear those fatigues."

Lois gestured to the tray on the bed. "Come and eat." 

Clark nodded and settled in the chair beside the bed as he 
ate his sandwich.
Lois was pouring through some files.

"What are you reading?"

"Your files. I copied them with my scanner tonight and 
printed some out
while you were in the bathroom. You certainly are one hell 
of a man."

Clark's cheeks reddened at her words. For the second time 
tonight, he was
embarrassed.

"You'll have to show me the flying again though. That's 
incredible."  

"I think out of all I can do, I like that the most. I 
discovered I could do
it about a year after the agency took me from the Kents. 
Trask was both
happy and mad about it. He reminded me that Martha and 
Jonathan would suffer
if I got out of line. He stepped up his brainwashing 
techniques after
that."

Lois looked up at him in confusion. "Why is it you didn't 
remember the Kents when I found you tonight?"

Clark screwed his face, just as confused as she was. Until 
just this moment, he didn't even realize he knew what he'd 
said. Suddenly more memories came flooding through him. He 
could vaguely remember some of Trask's brainwashing 
techniques. Some involved... needles? Shock treatment? He 
closed his eyes a moment to concentrate on this new 
information. 

He remembered the threats against the Kents when Trask 
first took him from the farm. At first, that's how the 
Colonel controlled him. That seemed to be enough until he 
started to fly. Apparently Trask felt Clark might use his 
new ability to escape and spirit the Kents away to some 
place safe, so he stepped up control techniques. Clark was 
often exposed to Kryptonite enough to weaken him so Trask 
could fill his head with images that were meant to control 
the powerful being. The control progressed to include 
injections of Kryptonite, undoubtedly in an attempt to keep 
Clark docile. The day Trask reminded him that the Kents 
would suffer was also the first shock treatment. He could 
very clearly remember one more after that day, then 
nothing. He drew a blank until this afternoon in the lab. 
Until he started to 'awaken' from the fog Trask had plunged 
him into, there was no way he could have remembered any of 
this.

Clark finally opened his eyes to look at Lois. "I remember 
shock treatments and needles. I guess my mind started to 
block everything out after a while."

"They say people do that... block out painful memories. 
Maybe your subconscious found it easier just to forget 
everything and follow orders without question." 

Clark swallowed a mouthful of soda before he spoke again. 
"I was disappointed that those files didn't have more 
details about what Trask did to me. It would have made it 
easier to understand the things I can't remember."

"I guess Trask thought it too risky to put that kind of 
information in a file that could lead back to him and be 
viewed as inhuman and too severe. The things written that 
he did do border on maniacal, but could also still be 
viewed as scientifically necessary considering the fact 
that you have such powerful abilities." Lois looked down at 
a piece of paper she held. "According to this, your mind 
may also be what kept the brainwashing from continuing to 
work. Your mind works at what would be ninety percent of 
human potential. We only use about ten percent. What a 
waste."

"Me or humans?"

Lois looked over at Clark. "Humans. You are about the most 
remarkable person
I've ever met."

"Thank you... I think."

"You're welcome."

Clark finished his sandwich and soda before lifting the 
tray to carry it
back to the kitchen. He stopped outside Lois' bedroom door. 
"I'll be
out here. I think maybe I'll finish those books."

"Okay. Good night, Clark."

"Good night, Lois."

****

"Where the hell is he?!"

"We're looking, sir."

Trask slammed his hand down on the desk as he fumed. He 
discovered the alien was
missing this morning and he was not happy at all. His plan 
to lead the world into a new light was useless without his 
weapon. He jumped up and headed for the lab. He'd just have 
to step up the production of his army.

****

The ringing phone wrenched Lois from her sleep. She turned 
over and
snatched up the receiver from its cradle. "Yeah?" It was 
way to early for
niceties.

"Lois?!"

"Perry? What is it?" She craned her head to look at the 
clock. "It's not
even six yet."

"Get your butt in gear! We're being invaded!"

Lois sat bolt upright in the bed. "What?!"

"There's a... a space ship on the White House lawn."

Lois jumped from her bed and ran to the living room to turn 
on her
television. The sight that greeted her when she rounded the 
corner made her
drop the phone.

Clark was... floating, in his sleep about two feet above 
the sofa.

"Lois!" Perry's voice yelling through the phone brought her 
back to her
surroundings. She leaned and picked it back up.

"Yeah. I'm here."

"Just hurry down here, will ya'?"

"Give me half an hour."

"Okay."

Lois cut the connection and went to inspect her guest. She 
ran an
experimental hand under him. He was definitely floating.

"Wow!" She jumped back when he sat up abruptly.

Clark's frightened eyes searched his unfamiliar 
surroundings. He'd been
having horrible dreams in which Trask had killed the Kents. 
His
breathing finally slowed when he saw Lois.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Ah, yeah. I was... dreaming."

"Do you float when you dream?"

Clark looked down at himself, realizing he was indeed in 
the air. "Sorry."
He lowered his body back to the sofa.

"Don't be sorry. You can float any time." She smiled at him 
before realizing
what she'd come into the room for. She hurried to turn on 
the television.
The scene playing out at the nation's capital brought a 
startled gasp from
her lips.

Clark was on his feet and right behind her when he realized 
what he was
looking at. There was indeed a spacecraft on the lawn of 
the White House.
Several men, several very powerful men were making their 
presence known in a
threatening way. 

The scene changed as the camera focused on one of the men 
and the voice of the news commentator remarked, "Once 
again, the President has surrendered to this man. In his 
words, 'I have no choice. He has killed half the staff and 
is threatening to kill
more'. There is also apparently some kind of force field 
over the White
House grounds. Where do we go from here?"

Clark startled eyes met Lois'. "Clark, do you think...?"

"I have no idea. Trask said in those papers that he 
believed I was the front
man for an invasion..."

"No, Clark." Lois placed her hand on his arm. "I don't know 
what happened
that caused you to end up on Earth, but I don't believe it 
was to
lead an invasion."

"How can you be so sure? Maybe they didn't make me into a 
monster because I
already was one." 

"No!"  

He took a step back when she yelled. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell."

"Does that... make you feel better?"

"Not really." Lois smiled shyly at him. "Although it can 
help... when I'm
frustrated."

"I remember that means that you can't figure something out 
or remember
something or get something done."

"Basically." Lois eyed the man standing in her living room. 
He was truly a
living miracle. He was also convinced he was the monster 
Trask had told him he was. She stepped closer and reached 
out to touch his arm.

"Clark, 'you' are not a monster. I don't care what has been 
burned into that amazing brain of yours, but that's not one 
of them. What you can do is nothing short of phenomenal. 
Why that's possible should be seen as a gift, not something 
horrible." She stroked his forearm softly. "If you were 
really a monster, you would have killed me at the 
demonstration. You would have killed long before now. And 
the fact that you care so much about what happens to the 
Kents should be another indication that you couldn't 
possibly be some... freak like Trask says you are."

Clark had looked at her closely the entire time she spoke. 
The gentle tone of her voice and the soft touch of her skin 
did more to ease his fears than rational thought. He 
reluctantly nodded his head. "I hope you're right." 

"I am." She offered him a smile and was momentarily 
surprised when he gave her a small one in return. "Listen, 
I have to go to work. Do you want to come with me?
You could help me try to figure out what's going on with 
these aliens and we
can call up the Kents."

"You sure it wouldn't be too much trouble?"

"Are you kidding? As fast as you can read..." She started 
for her bedroom.
"I'll see if I can find you some jeans of Louis' so you 
won't have to wear
those fatigues."

"Thank you." Clark glanced at the makeshift bed on the 
sofa. He was about to
start folding the covers when a thought occurred to him. He 
straightened,
smiled, then super sped around the room to clean it up. He 
stopped to find
Lois staring at him with a smile.

"That is too cool," she told him as she held out the 
clothes she'd found.

"Thanks." He took the offered items and went to change.

Lois was dressed as well when Clark came out of the 
bathroom. She wanted
to whistle at him. He had on blue jeans and a white tee 
shirt, but the
effect was out of this world. "Ready?" she asked a little 
unsteadily.

"Let me slip my boots back on." He did so in under two 
seconds.

Lois was still smiling as she held out a leather jacket to 
him.
"Put this on." He took it and slipped it on as she hurried 
into the living
room. She grabbed up her bag and a few minutes later they 
were headed out
the door.

****
Trask stood in disbelief as the General finished his 
request. "So now you
need my Ultimate Soldier?"

"Colonel Trask, you forget this is 'my' Ultimate Soldier. 
And furthermore, I
am your superior."  

The Colonel just stood in silence as he was reprimanded by 
his superior. Finally the General ran out of steam. "Just 
bring in S-517."

Trask stood silent for several minutes. He hadn't reported 
the
disappearance of the government's multi-million dollar 
Ultimate Soldier.
"Trask! Are you disobeying a direct order?"

"I can't bring S-517 in, sir." 

"Why not?"

"Because... he's gone."

"He's what?!"

"We went to bring the soldier back on-line this morning and 
he wasn't there."

"You've misplaced the only defense we may have against this 
threat to Earth?"
Trask couldn't answer the General. He didn't know what had 
happened to S-517. Nor was he sure he'd find it either. 

The General rose to his feet. "He may be our only chance to 
stop those damn aliens from taking over Earth."
 
"Now do you believe it was the front man?" The General 
turned to look at Trask, his face clearly showing this new 
possibility. "That's right. I've tried to
tell you since we found the creature. It was sent here as 
the advance guard."

"How, may I ask, did S-517 contact them? This has been your 
project. Are you telling us you allowed this to happen?"

"Of course not! It hasn't contacted them, not while it's 
been with me. Maybe that's why it disappeared. Have you 
thought of that? It went missing during the night  and this 
morning the White House is crawling with aliens."

"Contrary to what you believe, I don't think it's 
scientifically possible for the soldier to have contacted 
them and they arrived here so soon."  
Trask glared at the scientist who had spoken. "Do you know 
that
conclusively?"

"No. I am offering my expert opinion on this matter. We 
have theorized S-517 came from another galaxy. It would not 
have been possible for contact to be made last night and an 
invasion take place today."

"And don't forget you've trained S-517 to follow orders," 
added another officer. "You have led this team to believe 
your soldier would follow orders. Why would these orders be 
defied?"

Trask could only glare at the younger officer. He didn't 
need some snot nosed brat telling him about 'his' soldier. 
"We'll have him back and on-line before noon,"
he said flatly.

"See that you do." The General, followed by his team, 
exited the room.

Trask turned to the officer beside him. "What do we know?"  
"That he broke his shackles and walked out. None of the 
security devices
were breeched. With S-517's super speed, he could have 
easily broken all the
codes."  

Trask was thinking that over when another man came in. 
"Sir, we have a
problem in the lab."

"What kind of problem?"

"The soldiers, sir, they're dead."

"What?!" Trask ran out the room. It was beginning to seem 
that S-517 was causing him more trouble than he was worth. 
Finding him gone was bad enough. The last thing he needed 
was finding out his future was gone. How did one take over 
the world without a little powerful help?
 ****

Lois was immediately up to her elbows in work when she 
arrived at the
newsroom and wasted no time putting Clark to work going 
through some research for her.
  
Perry stepped out of his office and stopped dead in his 
tracks when he saw
Clark speed reading through some files. Or was it the fact 
that the young man seemed to be working with Lois? Lois 
worked alone. Perry decided this was definitely a situation 
he had to investigate. He walked up to stare at the young 
man with wide eyes.

Clark's head slowly turned to look at the older man. When 
he saw the expression of the older man, he immediately 
stood to his feet. "Sir," he stated, as if waiting for 
further instructions.
Perry was shocked by this young man's presence and wondered 
if the man had read the papers he'd flipped through. "Ah, 
did you just read that?" The older man gestured to the 
files Clark was holding.

"Yes, sir," Clark answered.

"Really? And what does it say?" Perry was still 
unconvinced.

"It tells of the government program known as Agency 39."

"39? As in the UFO chasers? Weren't they disbanded years 
ago?"

"I wish they had been, sir."

"Excuse me?"

Lois swiveled in her chair to face the two men. "Perry, 
this is Clark. He's
known to our government as S-517 or the Ultimate Soldier."

"What?!" Perry stared at Clark a moment before turning to 
Lois. "What the Sam Hill is he doing here, Lois? We could 
go to jail for having him here."

"Read this, Perry." She shoved the thin file of papers she 
had on Clark at
Perry.

The man read for a long moment before he looked back at 
Clark. "Damn!"
He took another look at the file before he spoke again. 
"Ah, Clark... I
don't quite know what to say."

"I can completely control myself, sir. Although I'm not 
sure what all they did to me, I won't lose my mind or 
anything. I won't hurt anyone." Clark's eyes pleaded with 
the older man to understand and not be afraid of him. 
Though he was terrified about what was happening, it would 
make things much more difficult if this man were afraid of 
him. He was anxious to figure out what was going on and 
help in any way he could. 

"No, no. I didn't think you would." Perry offered the young 
man a soft smile when he saw the rigid set of his jaw. It 
was obvious this man had been through things he didn't 
understand. The last thing Perry wanted to do was confuse 
him more.

"Perry, don't you have contacts in Washington?" Lois asked 
in an attempt to move the focus of the conversation away 
from Clark's emotional state over his powers.

Perry's gaze drifted back to Lois. He nodded as he tried to 
figure out where she was headed with this new train of 
thought. "Storming Norman."
  
"Could you call him and see what he can find out about the 
Ultimate Soldier program? The government shouldn't have 
control over Clark. He's every bit as human as you and I. 
We need to see if we can't break that hold."

"Absolutely. With all this hype with the take-over though, 
I don't know how
successful we'll be." 

"Chief, you might want to listen to this," came Jimmy's 
voice as he reached to turn the volume up on the monitors.

The apparent leader of the group that had taken over the 
White House was
about to speak.

 "My name is Lord Nor. I am from the planet New Krypton. 
I've
taken it upon myself to come in search of the son of 
traitors to our world.  According to the readings we've 
been picking up, his ship did indeed land here. It would be 
wise to produce this man because he poses a threat to both 
our worlds." Although he didn't speak the words, he, too, 
was threatening Earth with an undercurrent of menace. He 
smiled smugly to emphasize his point.

"He would have grown up from an infant, easily recognizable 
by his unique
abilities...." Nor continued.

Clark's eyes met Lois'. "He's talking about me," he said 
softly.

"I know."

"What threat does he feel I pose?"

"I don't know."

They turned back to the television monitors again. "His 
name is
Kal-El, of the noble house of El...."

Once again Clark wasn't paying attention any longer because 
his hearing had
picked up a voice... in his head.

<<<Lord Kal-El, you are hearing me with your thoughts. I am 
Zara, and I hope
to be able to explain everything soon. Come to the parking 
garage of the
building you are currently in.>>>

Lois had noticed Clark's strange expression. "What is it?"

"I heard a voice... in my head. She wants me to come to the 
garage." 

Lois stared at Clark incredulously. "In your head? Like 
telepathy?"

Clark was just as surprised as Lois. "I know it sounds 
crazy..."

"That seems to be the understatement around here," Lois 
mumbled, a little exasperated by the turn of events in the 
last few hours. "And you say it's a woman?"

"Yes," Clark told her. "I'm not crazy. I know what I 
heard."

"I didn't say you didn't." She stopped when she realized 
Clark was walking toward the elevators. "Wait! Where are 
you going?"

Clark turned to face Lois again. "I'm going to see what she 
wants."

"Just like that?"

"Yes. She says she can explain things."

"And you think it's wise to believe this 'strange' woman? 
She wants you to come to the parking garage," she told him 
with a flourish of her hands, expecting him to understand 
the ridiculousness of the situation.

"What choice do I have? There are people hurting others 
because of me. I have to go." He shot her a regretful 
glance before heading toward the elevators again.

Lois grumbled and followed him to the elevator. If she 
couldn't talk him out of this, then she was going, too.

****
A few minutes later they were stepping off the elevator to 
face three black clad individuals. 
 
"I am Trey, chief of the elders," the white haired man 
spoke.

"Am I... this son of traitors Nor spoke of?"

"You are Lord Kal-El, our rightful leader," Trey told 
Clark.

"How do I know this?"

The dark haired woman with the two men stepped forward. "I 
am Zara. At present, I am the leader of our people. We 
uncovered information discs given to the former council 
chief by your birth parents before their death."

Clark's eyes widened. "Their death?"

"Yes. You were born on Krypton, our mother planet. Your 
father, Jor-El was a scientist and he discovered the planet 
was about to explode. Myself, along with several other 
babies and various others were taken from the planet on an 
expedition in search of another planet in which to inhabit. 
We settled on a planetoid we named New Krypton."

"How does that make him your leader?" Lois spoke up.

"Jor-El's son, you, by succession of power through 
alliances between noble houses, 'is' our rightful leader," 
Trey told them.

"Wait," Clark said with a raised hand. "This is all so 
confusing. Slow down and explain this slowly."

"On our world noble houses are joined together to keep 
alliances strong.
That's done by unions at birth," Zara began the 
explanation.

"You mean, you're married? As babies?" Lois asked.

"Yes," Zara answered. "One noble house is joined with 
another to make the ruling house even stronger."

"And you were... joined with Clark?" Lois didn't miss 
Clark's expression of shock and disbelief. It was exactly 
the way she felt, too.

"Yes. Lord Kal-El and I were united by ceremony upon my 
birth as I am two months younger. We were joined only two 
weeks before I was taken from the planet. It is our 
understanding he was sent away only hours before the planet 
exploded.
 
"It was never our intention to come for you..."

"Then why did you?" Lois had heard enough. These people 
sounded like quacks. If they really didn't want Clark, why 
come at all?

"We were not even sure if you were alive until Nor found 
you three months ago," Trey continued. "He has spent the 
last several years searching the various planets that have 
intelligent life in hopes of finding you."

"And why would he want to find me?"

"With your abdication, he would inherit the throne," Zara 
told him flatly.

Clark nodded. "If I abdicate, will he leave?"

"I wish it were that simple," Zara replied.

"Why isn't it?" This time it was Lois asking the question. 

"Nor is a monster." For the first time, the third man had 
spoken. "He has led troops against the throne for several 
years, mercilessly taking innocent lives. If he were to 
take the throne, our world would perish."

"So how did he find out about Clark?" Lois crossed her arms 
and waited for an answer she could swallow.

This time it was Trey who answered. "Until just a few years 
ago, the former council chief had kept your possible 
existence a secret. He had an alliance with Jor-El and had 
vowed to the man to protect you at all costs. It wasn't 
until Nor started quoting ancient laws in an effort to take 
the throne did he reveal that you could possibly be alive. 
"

Zara took up the explanation again. "However, the council 
and myself decided that I was quite capable of leading our 
people. And because I am your wife, Nor realistically 
cannot claim the throne as long as I rule. Thus, we saw no 
reason to justify a search for you, not knowing if you 
could ever be found."

"But you allowed Nor to search?" Lois half accused.

Zara gave the woman a disapproving glance before 
continuing. "Somehow Nor found out that Lord Kal-El could 
be alive. Even with the possibility, Nor could never take 
reign until Kal-El abdicated his rule."

Clark looked at the trio of people for several moments, not 
sure whether he believed them or not. Even if he did, what 
could he possibly do to stop this Nor? Was he supposed to 
go to New Krypton in hopes that the rouge Lord would follow 
them back? And what then?

"How do expect Clark to believe he is this... Lord you say 
he is? You've offered no proof," Lois was quick to point 
out.

"Your ship... the one you arrived in as an infant? Have you 
seen it?" Zara asked Clark.

"Yes."

"On the nose is an emblem... much like this one." She 
pulled out a
black suit with the same emblem as the one on the ship. It 
was shaped like a stylized 'S' in a triangle. "This is the 
crest of your house, the crest of El. It was also on your 
ship."

Clark's eyes widened when he saw the suit with the emblem. 
"Yes," he managed to say softly.

Trey looked seriously at the young man. "Why would we say 
you were Lord Kal-El if it were not so? You have powers, 
the same ones we have since coming to this planet."

"And the same ones Nor has," Clark said in tone that 
indicated he'd just realized how serious this whole 
situation could be.

"How did you get here?" Lois interrupted. "It just occurred 
to me to question why you came to Clark. For all we know, 
you could be agents of this Nor."

"We took a smaller ship once Nor had left.," Trey told 
Lois. "Once we learned of Nor's intentions, we knew we had 
to come and warn you."

"Warn me?" Clark's brows were furrowed in confusion. His 
mind was racing so fast with all this new information, he 
wondered if he'd ever be able to get his equilibrium 
straight again.

Trey spoke up again. "It was Nor's intention to come here 
and charge you
with treason."

"How is that possible?" Lois asked incredulously. She 
glanced at Clark, who had become a little pale with Trey's 
words.

"Kal-El failed to fulfill his duty when he and Zara were 
not officially united in his twenty first year. Further, it 
is custom that an heir be produced during the first year. 
This has not happened."

"How could I be charged with treason for things I had no 
idea I was supposed to do?" Clark was beginning to become 
panicked. It was looking as if he would be made to pay a 
price for something else he didn't understand or have any 
control over.

"It would have been Nor's contention that your heritage was 
provided for you
in your ship. He would further contend that it was your 
responsibility to
learn those customs. In doing so, you would have been aware 
of your duties
and responsibilities."

Lois snorted audibly at Trey. "That's ridiculous."

"We agree. None the less, it would not have stopped Nor."

"You keep saying would have and talking in the past tense. 
What does that mean?"

"Sources tell us Nor no longer wants to just rule our 
world. He wants to
rule this one as well. He has decided that he will simply 
kill Lord Kal-El, then take over Earth."

Clark's face turned white. The implication of that was 
deadly. With his powers, Nor could easily kill everyone on 
Earth.

"How do I stop him?" he asked with determination.

"Clark, no! You can't do this alone," Lois pleaded with 
him.

He looked at her sadly. "Lois, I have to try. I can't let 
him kill innocent people."

"But he has a whole army. They'll kill you." She reached 
out to place a hand on his arm, hoping the contact would 
offer her as much comfort as she hoped it would offer him.

He looked down at her hand on his skin. The feelings that 
swept through him each time another person touched him 
still overwhelmed him, almost to the point of disbelief. 
Finally he raised his eyes to Lois'. "Then I have to hope 
I've succeeded before I die." He faced the three New 
Kryptonians with an expression as rigid as stone. "What do 
I do?"

"By the laws of our land, you are our ruler. What Nor has 
done by invading
Earth is illegal. However, given he's bent on taking over, 
he will not heed
your command to withdraw," Zara told him.

"And he doesn't recognize you as our leader," the third man 
spoke up again. Lois
decided she didn't like this man. He was looking at Clark 
with contempt.

"But," Trey continued. "in accordance with the law, you 
have to issue him
the order to surrender. He will most likely counter your 
order and insist
you be charged with treason. If this happens, you have the 
right to
challenge."

"What does 'challenge' mean?" Lois asked hesitantly, 
although she felt sure she knew. 

"To challenge means you will have to face Nor in hand to 
hand combat using the weaponry we call the Dre," Trey 
informed them.

"A task you will most likely not survive." It was the third 
man who said this. Apparently he'd already tried Clark and 
found him guilty of some crime.

"Ching, please," Zara told the man. "My Lord, Ching will 
train you to use the
Dre. When you face Nor, we will provide back-up in the form 
of a substance
from our mother planet. It has deadly results when 
Kryptonians are exposed
to it."

Clark's eyes widened in horror. "You mean Kryptonite?"

"That's not what we call it, but it seems you know what we 
speak of."

"Only too well," Clark mumbled. "Long story. You were 
saying?"

"Shall you fail to defeat Nor, he will be destroyed."

Clark blanched at that. He hated the thought of anyone 
having to die, and
especially because of him. 

"If Nor's as evil as you say he is, what makes you think if 
I defeat him, he
will surrender?"

Zara and Trey looked at each other for a long moment before 
Trey spoke. "My Lord, it is our hope that if you defeat 
him, he will be unable to surrender."

Clark was silent, his expression unreadable, until he 
realized what Trey really meant. He took a step backward, 
his fear of taking another life threatening to make it 
impossible for him to breathe.

Lois, too, understood what it was Trey meant. Instead of 
fearing the unknown, she unleashed her rising anger and 
frustration. "Why don't you just tell him you want him to 
kill Nor?!" The three strangers' expressions didn't waver. 
"Why did you come here? You could have... destroyed Nor 
long before now."

"Nor had committed no crimes that could be proven," Zara 
said.

"What?!" Lois was going beyond angry now. "He led troops 
against your authority."

"Yes, but he was never so forthcoming with his actions..." 

Lois huffed and threw her hands into the air, cutting off 
Zara's sentence. "So you wait until he openly attacks 
innocent people?!"

Clark watched the emotions on the faces of the three people 
before him. They seemed unconcerned with Nor's actions, 
even now. In fact, he was hard pressed to gage their 
emotions at all. Since he stepped into the garage with 
them, they hadn't showed much concern at all for anyone.

"Lois is right. If all you want me to do is kill him, why 
can't you do that yourselves?"

Lois crossed her arms hastily over her chest and glared at 
Zara for an answer.

"Nor is still Kryptonian. He wants to rule, yes. But to do 
so with respect from his people would be even better. If 
you claimed your position as leader, then challenged him, 
he would see it as a chance to gain that respect. It would 
be an opportunity too good to pass up."

Clark could only stare at the people. Lois was shaking her 
head in disbelief. He felt much the same way, but knew he 
had no choice but to try to stop this mad man. If he did 
nothing, Nor would kill millions of people. Allowing that 
to happen would be no different than doing some of the evil 
things Trask had hoped he would do one day.

Just as he was about to ask how he went about taking his 
place as the mighty ruler of his people, the building shook 
as a blast thundered outside. Clark instinctively reached 
for Lois. The garage shook with unforgiving force. He 
tucked Lois against his chest and leaned over her to take 
the brunt of the falling debris. He didn't worry about the 
others. They were Kryptonian and they could fend for 
themselves.  

"Hold on," he told Lois over the sound of the chaos. He 
held her tightly and whisked them from the garage. Clark 
deposited Lois on the sidewalk down the block. The three 
Kryptonians were by their side. They all watched as a small 
spaceship hovered above the buildings and shot blasts at 
the row of mortar a