Beyond Smallville: Fan Fiction

 

"It’s not that simple, Mr. Worthington," Clark said. "I say it is." Marc countered. "There is good and there is evil, right and wrong, so striking a balance is what we all strive for." Clark sighed. It was clear that the argument was circuitous.

"Mr. Worthington, what exactly is your power source?" Clark chose to change the subject. "It’s a combination of things, Clark. Beneath Worthington Ranch is a previously unknown geothermal spring. The power of heated water. It’s not drinkable in its raw form, but when purified, is a clean, recyclable energy device. I’ve combined that with the mineral rocks, and the mixture provides energy."

"Marcus, if I may call you that..." Superman began. "Where did the mineral rocks come from? I don’t need the exact location, just some background info." Marcus folded his arms and pressed the exit button. "Come on, we need to meet up with your counterpart." Clark reluctantly followed him out of the area.

He turned back to take one last look at the Sky Skiffs. "Clark, the minerals were found purely by accident, as are most important discoveries. My girlfriend Zara was on an archaeological dig in South America, when she noted a higher concentration of radiation, which had no business being within a rain forest. She cordoned off the dig and called in my Haz Mat team. We mined some of the rocks."

"There’s no great mystery there, other than the previously unknown elements within the raw material. I would appreciate if you didn’t include that explanation in your report." Marc pleaded. Clark agreed. "We trucked the minerals out of the rain forest and sent them back to this facility. The rest is history, as they say. The minerals mixed with the geothermal spring create controllable energy."

Clark and Marc emerged at the lobby where the tour had originated. Lois was impatiently awaiting their arrival. She turned to face Clark...the edges around her eyes lit up briefly in yellow. She flashed Clark a knowing grin. He stared in amazement, as Lois ran over and hugged him, saying: "There you are!"

Superman enjoyed the attention she was paying him, but knew that somehow the minerals had affected her. "Lois, it’s only been about an hour..." He weakly protested, feeling a surge of energy from her.

They walked hand in hand behind Marcus into the high level control room. Trish Van Dorn gaped at the young journalists. What was Marcus doing, bringing strangers into the most secure section of the compound? What was he playing at? She wondered.

Scene: WorthingtonCo Ops Center

Melanie Shaw was staring intensely at her personal monitor’s view screen. She’d been rerunning the S31 video over and over, trying to determine what exactly she was seeing. The olive skinned intern was so engrossed that she ignored the entrance of her boss and his guests.

"The Central Ops Control Room is the brain behind all of WorthingtonCo’s North American operations." Marcus explained under the watchful gaze of Trish and Maggie, the Chief of Security. Please don’t say ‘brain’, Clark thought sourly.

"Hey! What’s that?" Lois exclaimed as she darted across the room nearly knocking Melanie from her chair. Lois had used some low level form of hyper speed. Clark was sure of it. Papers scattered into the air, swirling behind her, as Lois’s high-speed jaunt came to an end.

"What’s what?" Melanie feigned innocence, still stunned by Lois’s rapid approach. "That footage!" Lois pointed to the monitor screen. Melanie hadn’t had time to delete the video. "Uh…sorry about the mad dash." Lois smirked. "I guess that spa rejuvenation treatment went a bit too far."

"I mean the shadow beneath the airplane’s wing." Lois tried to shift Melanie out of the way. "Miss Lane! That is classified information!" Trish’s tone was deadly serious. Lois spun to face her, as Maggie drew her weapon. Clark bolted in between the women, but the move felt awkward to him.

He was afraid that he’d lose his balance, steadying his posture by holding on to the back of a nearby console seat. "Lois, it was probably just a bird." Clark downplayed the incident. "Now, you’re embarrassing me!" Lois glared at him. "Then that bird was a Pterodactyl, because it should’ve been sucked up into the engine turbines!" She was getting frustrated.

In Lois’s mind, her hormones were acting up. She’d admitted being on an emotional rollercoaster all week. Lois felt wired, like she was amped up on steroids, or overdosed on caffeine. Her heart pumped faster than it should’ve been able to do. Clark could barely hear her heartbeat above all the other noise in the room. Something’s wrong!

Superman admitted that fact. His abilities seemed diminished. Clark tried his x-ray vision, but could only get past Lois’s clothes. Her skin blocked his usual internal view. He reddened, and finally gave up trying. "C’mon Lois, we’ve been disruptive enough already." He urged.

"Miss Lane, do I have to restrain you?" Maggie snarled. "That won’t be necessary, Maggie." Marcus stated in a calm, even tone. "Perhaps we’ve all had too much excitement for today." He added diplomatically. That translated to: The tour is now effectively over, Clark guessed.

Lois gazed at the plush carpeted floor, and then her vision proceeded to look down through it into the facility’s lower levels. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. "Okay, okay, I get the hint!" She threw her arms up in resignation. Suddenly, the young reporter felt light on her feet.

Lois had been levitating about three inches above the floor. Clark noted that and gasped. He quickly joined her, though the sudden move made him dizzy. Fortunately he distracted Lois by grabbing her arm by the elbow. She promptly floated to the ground.

"Lois, don’t we have to fine tune the story for the paper?" Clark said anything to get her moving. "Yeah, you’re right." She grumbled. "Thanks for your time, Mr. Worthington," Clark shook his hand on the way out of the control room.

"You’ve been very patient." Lois reached for Marcus’s hand as well, and Clark intercepted it, fearing that she’d transfer her newfound abilities to him. Superman shifted his arm across her back. Luckily Lois didn’t resist.

"Should we say our goodbyes to the rest of the staff?" He urged, attempting to keep Lois distracted. Trish put her head in her hands, and Rukmina rolled her eyes. "What a nightmare! That was close!"

Lois and Clark followed Maggie and Marc into the lobby. "What’s that noise?" Lois questioned, as she seemed more irritated than usual. Her hearing upgrade picked up the whirring of gears nearby. "Noise?" Clark wondered. "He could barely hear much more than a normal human at this point. "It’s probably just a lift truck." He downplayed. "Miss Lane? Mr. Kent?" A pleasant voice said.

Symone had returned, smiling brightly with her perfectly aligned teeth. She led them out into the sunlight. Lois felt an abundant energy surge, nearly knocking her off her feet. Marc and Maggie followed at a safe distance, ever watchful of Symone and their visitors.

"Lois? Clark?" Marc called. "Maybe you’d like to come back to the house for lunch?" Lois froze in her tracks. "Sure." She responded before Clark could protest. "Uh Clark? A moment please?" Worthington stopped as Maggie, Symone and Lois moved on. The women and the AI headed for the green and gold SUV.

"Yes?" Clark was worried. "Mr. Worthington, I’m sorry about all this." Marc brushed it off. "No harm done so far. I want you to take this card." He handed Superman a snazzy business card. "Dr. Emil Hamilton?" Clark read aloud. "Is someone ill?" he asked sarcastically.

Marc shook his head. "No, not exactly. Dr. Hamilton isn’t that type of physician. He specializes in your issues. Well, let me rephrase that…he’d be more familiar with unusual situations." The young billionaire said evasively. Clark frowned. "You didn’t tell him about…?"

"No, Clark, not in so many words." Marc slapped him on the back. "Dr. Hamilton was referred to me by the U.S. Government. He helped in an unusual set of circumstances Zara and I ran across a couple of years ago." Clark nervously fiddled with the card. "Were you in Smallville at the time?" he fished.

"No. In South America. I’d never been to Smallville until last night." Marc added. "Zara and I were on a dig. We’d just unearthed an ancient Inca pyramid. Two of our colleagues were there. They were horribly killed by some sort of creature." Clark and Marc began walking towards the SUV.

"I’ll spare you the gory details, but let’s say that when we found them…it was a mess." Marc shuddered. "I’m sorry, Mr. Worthington." Clark felt ill. One of the Phantom Zoners! He guessed. "Thanks Clark, but we were at a loss for an explanation. Any normal animal would likely have fed on its felled prey. The injuries sustained were more like an autopsy."

"At first, Zara and I thought that it might have been the Traveler, mostly because there were no strange footprints…in the residue." Marc continued. "Whatever killed your colleagues was most definitely not the Traveler." Clark assured him. Lois popped her head out of the SUV window.

"Let’s go Smallville!" She urged. "Mr. Worthington’s a busy man." Clark waved at her. "The card only has Dr. Hamilton’s name and cell phone number on it. What about an office address?" He inquired. Marc shook his head. "Even you’re not allowed to know where Dr. Hamilton is located."

"It’s a violation of Federal Law, and Homeland Security, to disclose that information." Marcus said sternly. "Call Dr. Hamilton, and he’ll find you." Clark was not keen on getting involved with the Feds again, after barely rescuing Chloe from their clutches. "Yeah, well Dr. Hamilton better not wait by the phone for my call." Clark added sourly. They finally reached the SUV.

"Clark, when you’re ready, Dr. Hamilton will be willing to help you." Marcus smiled as he opened the SUV door for him. "You’re going to a doctor, Smallville?" Lois asked warily. "Not right now, Lois." He replied, climbing across the back seat behind Symone.

They took the quick drive up to the Worthington Ranch Mansion, exited the SUV, and waited patiently for Marcus to call them for lunch. Lois whipped her fingers across her laptop. The keyboard began to overheat, before she slowed to a stop. Clark still hadn’t figured out her problem.

Mr. Worthington approached quickly under the watchful eyes of Symone, who trailed the visitors everywhere, like a lost puppy. "Hi again. Before lunch, how would you two like to see the most rare of all the items in my collection? Before you answer, you may not report on them."

Lois reluctantly nodded, dutifully leaving her laptop and steno pad behind on the desk near the foyer’s center, within the domed ceiling area. "Clark, I called Dr. Hamilton and he’s willing to check in with you at your convenience." Marc informed him. "Ask him about the DETAB." Superman stared blankly at him. "He’ll know that I sent you, and to what I’m referring."

 link to conclusion.