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14 April 2008

Red Suits Us Part 3



It was a lot like being drunk, only without the downsides, like slowed reaction time, dulled thinking, and the inability to walk straight. Chloe went from the bedroom where Clark had left her, feeling her stomach burn as though she’d swallowed large amounts of pure grain alcohol. It wasn’t painful, just annoying, and Chloe imagined the rock dissolving in her stomach like some sort of poisonous alka-seltzer tablet.

Chloe slumped in front of the commode and attempted to make herself wretch by sticking her finger down her throat. It worked, somewhat, and she managed to vomit up a small amount of grainy red bile. The burning in her stomach lessened, though her belly behaved as though it was reluctant to relinquish the red meteor rock.

“Chloe? Are you sick?”

Clark’s cousin, Kara, stood in the doorway, watching her. Chloe was always civil toward Kara, and though she didn’t really miss being with Jimmy, she resented the way the girl had moved in even before she and Jimmy had split up.

“No, Kara. I’m making out with the toilet for the hell of it.”

Chloe pulled herself to her feet, flushed the toilet, and then and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were glassy, like they got whenever she had too much to drink.

“Have you been drinking?” Kara asked, coming further into the bathroom. “I wish I could drink, it looks fun. But alcohol has no effect on me.”

“Too bad for you,” Chloe said. She was feeling strange, feeling more than drunk. She felt apathy warring with anger as she took note of the heat radiating off of Kara. “I haven’t been drinking. I ingested red kryptonite.”

Kara frowned. “Why?”

“Trying to get it away from Clark. Didn’t work. Now I’m sick.”

“What do the red rocks do to us?”

Chloe washed her face, explaining how the red k affected Clark, and how it had affected some humans by lowering their inhibitions, and making them reckless.

“Do you feel reckless?”

“No, I feel sick.”

She turned to face Kara full-on, looking the taller girl in the face. She was exquisitely beautiful, with long blond hair and stunning blue eyes.

“You’re lovely, Kara,” Chloe said. She reached up to move a strand of hair from Kara’s face.

“Thanks,” said Kara, looking a little uncomfortable. “Um…would you like to lie down until you work the red kryptonite out of your system?”

Chloe’s fingers brushed Kara’s soft skin, and a jolt hit Chloe’s fingers like an electrical shock. Kara hissed and jumped back, holding her face in confusion, but Chloe knew exactly what had happened. She’d felt something come into her through contact with Kara’s skin. Something powerful.

“What was that?” Kara asked. She had a red mark on her face, and excitement flooded Chloe.

“That…was you,” said Chloe. She lunged for Kara, grabbing onto her hand, and the sustained contact was both excruciating and exhilarating. A red cloud churned around Chloe’s hands, she felt her eyes heat up.

“Stop!” Kara shouted, and shoved Chloe, who sailed from the bathroom and into the hall, landing on her back.

“Is that the best you’ve got, you Kryptonian bimbo?” Chloe said, floating to her feet. “Whoa…”

“What did you do to me?” Kara demanded. Her wrist was bruised almost black.

“Somehow, I took your powers. “I’ve wanted to do this since I found out about you and Jimmy.”

Chloe rushed Kara, who couldn’t move fast enough to avoid her, and grabbed her by the throat. Moving at super speed, she took her outside into the front driveway, where she dropped Kara to her feet. Drawing back her fist, Chloe punched Kara with all her might, sending her flying back until she faded from view.

“Now,” Chloe said, willing herself into the air. She soared higher until the landscape below was reduced to a patchwork of cornfields. The air felt cool, but it didn’t have the uncomfortable chilling effect it would have had she not been imbued with Kara’s strengths.

Something tapped her on the shoulder, and Chloe turned around.

“Guess what?” Kara said, floating before her. “You’re not my favorite person either.”

She landed a hard blow to Chloe’s face, but unlike Kara, Chloe’s lip didn’t bleed. Kara’s eyes widened in alarm as she realized she may have bitten off more than she could chew, and she flew for the farm, but Chloe easily outstripped her. They plummeted toward the ground, with Chloe’s fist tangled in Kara’s long blond hair. She slammed Kara face first into the soil hard enough to rattle the windows in the house. She let go, and Kara made no move to get up.

“Hey,” said Chloe, nudging Kara with her foot. “You still alive?”

Chloe listened, honing in on Kara’s heart. It beat slow and steady. The girl was just knocked out. The blond hair reminded her of Oliver Queen, who was waiting to hold a video conference with her at that very moment. She smiled. An in-person visit would be much, much better.

***

“Chloe! Daddy’s home! He wants to eat his sweets before dinner.”

Clark stood in the bedroom doorway, laughing, but the room was empty. He ran downstairs and out onto the front porch, where he saw a small indent in the soil where he normally parked the truck when unloading groceries. Kara sat on the porch, her face bloodied and filthy with dirt. She was crying.

“What happened to you?” he asked, surprising even himself by the lack of genuine concern that his Krptonian cousin had met with something that had managed to draw her blood. She was alive, that was something.

“Chloe. She drained my powers,” Kara sniffed.

“Did she now?” Clark said. “Huh.”

Kara looked as though she were having difficulty focusing on him. “Did you hear what I said? She’s out there with almost all of my strength.”

“You’re just sulking because she kicked your ass,” Clark said, rubbing the top of her head as he walked past. “You’ll get over it, little skillet. Just soak up the sun, you’ll be good as new in no time.”

Clark!”

“Gotta run. I need a shower.”

He ran upstairs, stripped his clothes, and put the little red chunk of kryptonite on the built in soap dish. He turned on only the hot water, and the bathroom filled with steam. Anyone else would have been reduced to a mass of blisters, but Clark reveled in it. That was the beauty of the red k—it made him more sensitive to things he liked, like a hot shower.

But as he lathered his hair for the second time, he noticed his sensitivity fading only slightly. The buzz that elated him was fading rapidly, and as it did, his head began to clear. He remembered Lois, fucking her in the grass, and the way she’d begun to tremble at his callous rejection, and he hadn’t cared. He remembered his cousin, Kara, sitting broken and bleeding on the front porch, and again, he hadn’t cared, because those things didn’t make him feel good.

Guilt suffocated Clark, who looked for the little red rock. It had slipped down the drain, and he moaned under the heavy weight of remorse that settled over him for the terrible things he’d done.


***

“Kara, are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m doing like you said, soaking up the sun.”

Clark winced at her words, at how the lack of venom in her voice hurt the most, because he was sure that she wasn’t fully aware of the total lack of concern he’d felt when he’d told her to recharge her batteries in the yellow sunlight. Or perhaps she had been aware, but thought it normal because from what he'd seen of other Kryptonians, they could be completely heartless, and ruthless. In that moment, Clark was keenly aware of how different Kara was from other people—from humans, and how totally fucked up their family must have been if she found his callous lack of concern even remotely acceptable.

“I’m sorry, Kara,” he said. “I was high on red kryptonite. It…it makes me a little apathetic. Are you really okay?”

"I'll be fine."

Clark disappeared into the house and reemerged seconds later with a wet cloth. He gently wiped away the dirt and dried blood on Kara's face.

“Does that hurt?”

“Not really. I’m getting better, but not back to full strength.”

“I have to find Chloe and make her give them back to you.”

“She’s got that red kryptonite in her blood too.”

Clark nodded, remembering Chloe swallowing the rock. Apparently red kryptonite had a strange affect on her meteor power. It enabled her to take on more than someone’s pain. It enabled her to rob them of their strengths, not just their weaknesses.

“Did she say where she’s heading?”

“No.”

“I’ll bring her back, I promise.”

“What’s to stop her from doing to you what she did to me?”

Love, Clark thought, and took off. He had one stop to make before he left to find Chloe.


***

Chloe’s car, which had been hotwired by Lois, was now parked in front of the Talon. He rushed up the stairs, and knocked on the door, which was unlocked. He opened it and saw Lois lying in bed, her eyes closed, but he knew she was awake. Her hair was wet from the shower, and she wore only a bulky robe.

“Lois.”

“Go away. I never want anything to do with you again.”

“I’ll leave, but not until I explain something.”

“Get out!” she said, sitting up and throwing a pillow at him. He caught it and came to sit on the edge of the bed, out of range of her foot.

“We have to talk.”

“Oh, so now you want to talk?”

“I have a good reason for what I did today. It was the red—”

“Red kryptonite, I know. Chloe told me you’re allergic. She didn’t tell me it turned you into the worlds biggest asshole.”

“It does,” he said. “Lois, I never would have tried to seduce you if I hadn’t been affected by the red kryptonite, I swear.”

She shook her head. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“That’s not a reflection on you,” said Clark. “You and I are good friends, Lois. I value that. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you.”

“How do I know you’re not lying right now?”

“I guess you don’t,” he said.

But the look in his eyes, that look of warmth, and caring, that puppy dog look that was all Clark Kent, was back, and the fuck me voice, the hooded, sexy eyes…that was all gone. She liked the puppy dog eyes in Clark much, much better.

“I’m sorry, Lois,” Clark said, with such genuine anguish that some of her hurt lessened, her anger cooled, but she didn’t trust him, and she wasn't sure she ever would again, not as completely as she had before.

“I’m tired,” she said.

“Do you forgive me?”

“No,” she said truthfully.

“Will you, some day?”

“Probably. I don’t trust you, Clark.”

He nodded. “I understand that. I wouldn't trust me either, if I were you. Look, I have to check on Chloe, but I’ll come back to check on you soon.”

He stood and headed for the door, but Lois’s voice called out to him.

“Hey. Are we just going to pretend like it never happened?”

“I wasn’t myself,” Clark said, turning to face her. “I think its best we put it behind us.”

She nodded, looking disappointed. “Fine.”

“I’ll never forget it, even if I pretend I have.”

“Me either.”

Smiling, feeling somewhat less burdened, Clark left Lois and the Talon. He didn't dare hope that dealing with Chloe would be anywhere near as simple.

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