inalienable rights CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"Mom!" Clark cried out in recognition and bolted from the loft with Chloe in pursuit, tearing toward the Kent house. The single, razor sharp scream continued to throb in Clark's ears, and it terrified him - not only because of the almost tangible fear in the scream itself, but because nothing followed it. There was only silence, thick and ominous, and Clark felt like he was treading water as he fought through the deafening quiet to get to his house.

Ten yards from the porch, Clark was suddenly gripped with crippling weakness and doubled over, dropping to the ground as if he'd been instantly drained.

"Clark!" Chloe exclaimed, catching up to him just as his head fell back against the ground. "Clark, what happened?"

Clark could hardly move, but even so he tried in vain to inch himself backward. Chloe's voice sounded distant and hollow, but her concern rang true and he managed to feebly clutch her hand. "You have to… help… away… from house," he drawled laboriously, straining for breath between words.

Chloe nodded and hooked her arms under his, trying with all her strength to tug him away from the house. "I'm trying Clark - you're gonna have to help me here, I'm half your size."

Drawing on the last of his strength, Clark grunted and pushed himself up enough that so he could fall backward and let Chloe and his momentum carry him through. At a safe distance from the house, Clark sat heaving and gulping air.

"Clark, what was that?" Chloe whispered. The sound of men's voices reached Clark's ears before he could reply. Chloe observed him closely; he appeared to be intensely scrutinizing the house, and when overwhelming shock registered on his face he turned the same intense focus on the barn.

"Now they're in the barn too," he whispered, horrified when he thought of how narrowly they'd missed them.

"Who's in the barn?" Chloe questioned, very worried about Clark.

"Not here," Clark replied and finally turned back to her. "We have to get out of here." Clark grabbed her by the arm and led her into the cornfield. "I don't think they saw us, but they'll be combing the fields before long."

Chloe, despite her concern, was getting anxious and impatient. "Clark, what are you talking about? What is going on?"

Clark was peering through the corn stalks at the house, then the barn, then back at the house. Chloe saw nothing out of the ordinary, and had it not been for the scream she'd heard moments earlier she'd have assumed that Clark had completely lost his grip on reality. "Shh, whisper… we should go deeper into the field. I need your phone."

Chloe handed it over somewhat grudgingly. "Are you going to tell me what this is all about at some point, or am I supposed to just blindly follow orders?"

"Chloe," Clark said sternly in an almost parental manner. "It's really important that you just listen to me for a minute, okay? I don't know what's going on, but I'm trying to find out, and I just need you to be quiet and stay with me for now. I need to make a call." Clark's words were meant to calm her, but the look in his eyes was so tortured that Chloe began to understand that the danger was very real.

Clark dialed the phone and concentrated on the ringing while he tried in vain to convince himself that he hadn't really seen what he thought he saw through the walls of his home.

"Hello?" A woman's voice answered.

"Dr. Crosby?" Clark looked perplexed. "I thought I called Dr. Swann's office."

"Clark?" she guessed, relief apparent in her voice. "It's Clark," she relayed to someone else in the room. "His number rolls over to me directly after hours. Listen Clark - "

"Dr. Crosby, I have a big problem." Clark was pacing through the stalks now, his eyes never leaving the house.

"I know. How do you know? Did Marin tell you?"

"Marin? What? I don't know what you mean - look, my parents - they're being held hostage, or something - I don't know. There are men all over the house - they were in the barn too, but they left. But the house is full of Kryptonite - it's everywhere, in every room. Who could do that? Who knows how I react to it? The men are even wearing it on some kind of security badge."

Stunned, Dr. Crosby took considerable time to reply. In the silence, while Clark visually deconstructed the house, Chloe stood in her own private whirlwind where questions whipped around her like debris. Not a single thing that Clark had just said made any sense to her, and there was no way he could know any of that.

At last, Dr. Crosby spoke. "This is serious, Clark."

If Clark dared to scream right then, he would have. "Of course it's serious! My parents are tied up in the kitchen! And Lois - damn it, I have no idea where she is."

"It sounds like whoever is in your house is going to great lengths to keep you out."

"But why?" Clark was frantic, still watching his parents and the men surrounding them, traipsing through the Kent house like it was a military compound.

"I wish I could answer that, Clark. As it happens I have more bad news, and it's most likely connected - although I'm not sure yet exactly how."

Clark tried to keep from crushing the phone as he braced himself. He swallowed dryly. "What happened?"

"There's no easy way to tell you this, Clark. Dr. Ripley's disappeared."

Clark had expected something more dire, until he considered exactly what Dr. Ripley's unknown whereabouts might mean. "What do you mean, 'he disappeared?' When?"

"A few hours ago, give or take. But he didn't exactly leave empty-handed."

Clark closed his eyes and sank to his knees, momentarily giving up his watch over the house. "What did he take?"

"At least two full sets of all your fluid and tissue bios, and we just checked the log-in reports for the network. Within the last two weeks he's accessed and downloaded every file we have on you."

Clark exhaled until he felt completely empty, and held on to that emptiness for a moment before he could bring himself to draw another breath. "So he knows everything, he has proof."

"Clark, I'm so sorry about this, we never suspected he would do - "

"Never mind, Dr. Crosby," Clark interrupted. "It's not your fault."

"I am sorry."

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

Dr. Crosby hesitated long enough to look sideways at Marin, who had been listening to the call. Marin shook her head with a pleading expression. "Not now, we'll let you know if we find out anything else. I wish I could tell you where he went."

Clark stood and looked at the house again. "I already know where he went."

"Where?"

"He went to Lionel Luthor."

"How do you know?"

Clark couldn't answer. He hadn't been listening to the sounds around him, and a sudden rustling of the corn stalks made his blood run cold. He hung up the phone. "Chloe," he whispered, reaching for her hand. He tried to scan through the field to find whom, if anyone, may be approaching, but found himself overwhelmed and unable to focus. Putting a protective arm around Chloe, who shrank against him in confusion, he waited.

"Clark? Chloe?" Lois' voice called through the darkness. Chloe laughed in relief but Clark quickly turned to silence her.

"Chloe, listen to me," he implored in hushed tones as he brought his lips to her ear. "You can't tell Lois anything you heard. I'll explain, I promise, but you can't tell her anything. We have to get her to leave, it isn't safe here. Then we'll go and I'll tell you everything, but first promise not to tell Lois." His eyes were fiercely insistent. "Promise me, Chloe."

Despite Clark's intensity, Chloe found a small part of her consciousness wondering if Clark had intentionally pulled her into that crushing hug when he bent to whisper to her. With his arms gripping her so tightly, almost desperately, she might have agreed to anything he'd demand of her. "I promise."

Lois happened upon them finally, finding them in what looked to her to be a compromising position. "Okay, children of the corn, I don't care what I'm interrupting, if anything. It took me forever to find you. What are you doing out here? Did you guys hear that scream?"

Clark still had a steel gaze fixed on Chloe, but she managed to tear her eyes away from his and grin at Lois. "Yeah, uh - that was me."

Lois looked doubtful. "That was you?"

"Yeah… well, I got a little turned around in here, and Clark snuck up on me. Sorry if it scared you. You can blame Clark." Chloe wasn't surprised at how quickly the lie came to her, but she was a little mystified by how calmly she was able to spin it.

"Oh, I'll happily blame Clark whenever the opportunity arises. Can we go now? I've had enough of good ol' green acres for one night."

Chloe glanced from Clark to Lois, and back to Clark. "Actually, um… Clark and I were talking, and…"

Lois held up her hands. "Say no more - really, spare me the details. I'm gone. I'll just get my boots and be on my way."

"No!" Clark cried. "I mean, uh - I'll clean them for you and bring them over tomorrow, or something. You can use my mom's shoes for now."

"You're going to clean my boots? And deliver them? Is that the cow-town version of kissing my feet?"

Clark rolled his eyes impatiently and threw another glance toward the house. He knew he didn't have much time to get her away from the farm safely. "I wouldn't even think of kissing your feet - I know where they've been."

"Oh fine, for that I'm gonna let you clean my boots, and I just may have to come back and run behind the barn so you can do it again. Whatever happened to small-town friendliness?"

"Too many loud-mouth city slickers killed it."

"Ugh! The less time I have to spend around you, Kent, the better." She started to stalk away. "I'll see you later, Chloe. I'm assuming boy wonder will give you a ride? You know, if he's evolved opposable thumbs by the time you have to go."

Chloe chuckled in spite of the true gravity of the situation. "Yeah." Lois continued to walk away, and then Chloe jumped. "Oh! I forgot to give her the keys."

Clark glanced from Chloe's car to the house. There was an uncomfortable lack of distance between the two. He looked toward the barn and thought for a moment. "Look, I can't get close to the house. I don't want either of you near it, but if I get too close I'd be no help to you at all. Run and give her the keys as fast as you can, but don't stand around talking. She has to leave right away. Nobody's watching the car right now, but I heard them say there will be more people here soon to check the fields. They're looking for me. I'll wait in the barn, okay? There's nobody there right now - I just need to stay out of sight. I'll be watching to make sure you're safe, but hurry - just give her the keys and get back to the barn."

Chloe couldn't possibly have been more confused, but she rushed to do just as Clark ordered. She sensed an urgency that left no room for her not to comply. "Bye Lois!" she said as brightly as she could, tossing the keys to her cousin before wheeling around and running back to the barn. In the darkness within, she ran straight into Clark's chest, where he held her fast while silently watching the taillights of Chloe's car disappear down the road. Satisfied that Lois was safe for now, Clark turned his attention back to Chloe. "I know I owe you an explanation."

Chloe nodded and smiled. "Nah, this is how I always spend my evenings." She reconsidered her words. "Actually, this kind of is how I spend my evenings." She caught her breath somewhere between heartbeats when Clark took both her hands.

"I really do owe you the truth."

The real truth? After all this time? "Oh… okay. Well, yeah, the truth would be - " She was abruptly cut off when Clark covered her mouth with his hand.

"We're too late," he mouthed almost silently. "They're here."

"Who's here?" But then she heard them too - the rumble of approaching motors - they seemed to be coming from everywhere.

Clark turned in a slow circle, panning through the walls. Vehicles were indeed approaching from every direction - even from the fields. They were cut off entirely. "They know we're in here. They have us surrounded, there's no way out."

"Who? Clark, what is going on? Who's looking for you? What is all this about your parents and - "

"Chloe, I need you to trust me right now. More than anything, all you have to do is trust me."

Engines were roaring all around them, the sounds of men exiting trucks and barking orders. Shafts of blue-white light pierced the blackness around them, but Chloe was contained in Clark's eyes, and felt nothing but safety. "I trust you."

Clark nodded wordlessly and closed his eyes. His lips moved subconsciously and he concentrated inward, silently pleading for his brain to comply with his heart. It began to return to him… lightness, weightlessness… he could feel it again.

Then it was gone.

"No!" Clark screamed, inflamed in righteous rage.

"What is it?"

Clark enveloped Chloe into himself, covering her head with his hand and again retreated into his mind, where he knew the last of himself was hiding. He strained and broke into a cold sweat, he felt like gears too tightly wound and about to snap, but still he pushed. Kal-El…

Chloe looked up when she felt a tremor rush through Clark's body. His eyes flew open and he looked down at her, fierce with determined fire. "Hold on," he directed darkly, as he strengthened his hold around her and bent low at the knees.

Chloe hadn't even registered the feeling of being suspended above the ground before she realized they'd crashed through the roof.