inalienable rights CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Chloe rushed to catch up with Clark as he stalked ahead of her toward the house. "Clark, come on, would you just talk to me? What did I say?" He had left the loft without a word after Chloe made her argument, and she found this new habit of slinking off in silence distinctly unsettling. "Clark, I can't apologize if I don't know what I did wrong!"
Clark stopped and wheeled to face her, and his brusque manner left Chloe unprepared for the softness of his expression. "You didn't do anything wrong, you just - you did what everybody always does. Well, what my parents always do. And I know you all mean well, and I'm grateful for it, but I just can't take it sometimes."
Chloe shook her head in bewilderment. "Okay, color me confused," she said.
Clark stepped closer to her, leaving only inches between them as he looked down at her with profoundly lonely eyes. "It's just that people who know my secret seem to have this idea that if they can find the right words to explain the differences away, then I won't be different anymore. But sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade and let it be what it is."
"Clark," Chloe began indignantly. "I wasn't trying to insinuate that your identity is only a question of semantics. But you're not happy with being a spade, as you put it - you're the one who keeps pointing out how different you are. All that any of us is trying to tell you, I'm sure - I can't speak for you parents but I'm sure they mean the same thing - is that you're human in the only ways that really matter."
"But see, that's just not true. No, I know, you have a great argument I'm sure, but it just isn't true. A child raised by wolves is no less human for it, and me being raised by humans doesn't make me one, no matter how much I want to be. I am different!" Clark cried emphatically. "There's no denying that. Like I said before, I've had a lot of time to think about this. I'm not stupid enough to believe that the world would see me for who I am if they know what I am."
"Okay, fine, I'll go with you on the 'rose by any other name' argument - but they might, Clark. If they know who you are before they know what you are," Chloe insisted gently.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It's my job to make sense, remember?" Chloe retorted. "Think about it. You can do amazing things - really great things, Clark! Things that nobody else can do, and if the world sees those things first - all the good you can do - before everybody finds out where you came from, then there will be somebody speaking for you. I will, for one, and I'm pretty loud."
Clark was incredulous. "You've got to be kidding me! You're talking about using my abilities in public, like - don't you remember Eric Summers? He absorbed my powers, and look what happened to him. And he was human."
"Yeah, he was also on a massive power trip - come on, he threw a squad car through the roof of his house! You wouldn't do things like that. You have a total hero complex, Clark. You'd help people."
Clark snorted. "So, you're suggesting I just run around saving the day until people wouldn't care if they found out I'm from another planet?" Chloe's completely flipped.
"Yeah - or fly around, whatever suits you," Chloe smiled, hoping she'd made her case.
Clark shook his head, though good-naturedly. "That's the craziest thing I ever heard."
They were interrupted by the squeak of the front door when Jonathan pulled it open. "Clark!" he beckoned. "You'd better come here. We may have a plan."
"What it that?" Clark puzzled, peering through the white mist pouring over the edge of a cooler packed with dry ice. Nestled in the center were four insulated plastic cases.
"It's the EF series, formulations 01, 08, 12, and 19," informed Dr. Crosby, standing beside the cooler.
"What happened to the other fifteen?" Chloe asked.
"Variations in the formula produced even more adverse side effects than memory loss in those versions. Most never went to human trials, they all showed significant anomalies in the early stages and were destroyed, leaving these four. EF-19 is a milder derivative of EF-12, and so on. They were the only ones that showed any applicable promise."
"Why did you bring them here?" Clark wondered.
"I didn't plan to, but I told Andrea to pack everything. Most of it was coming to you, there were only a few cases meant to be sent back to Dr. Swann in New York. This one, evidently, was mixed up with the bio-sample containers," Dr. Crosby explained.
"And there's some sort of plan now?" prodded Clark.
"That was Marin's idea," Dr. Crosby stated, gesturing to Marin to take the floor.
"Oh," Marin started, shaking her head slightly. "It was less of a plan than a suggestion, I really don't know how you could implement it."
"Well, tell me what you came up with."
"Okay," Marin sighed. "The EF formula's potency decreases incrementally in each iteration. EF-19, as you know, causes permanent loss of up to three hours of the preceeding memories if an improperly large dose is administered. In the earlier versions, however, even a miniscule injection would trigger this effect, leaving the subject with no memory of the previous days, weeks, or up to three months in the case of EF-01."
Clark nodded. "So, you're suggesting…"
"That we somehow administer one of these to Lionel Luthor."
All eyes and ears were suddenly focused on the entryway with rapt attention at the sound of scuffling footsteps on the porch.
"Don't patronize me with that 'ladies first' opening the door nonsense, Luthor. I don't swoon, if that's what you're going for." Lois Lane's snark was tangible, even through the wood and glass of the front door.
"I'm only going for the door, Ms. Lane," Lex answered smoothly.
"Hey! Ladies first!" Lois cried, and shoved past him, opening the door even as she knocked on it. After stepping through the door, she and Lex stood transfixed by the scene before them - The Kents, Chloe, and two strange visitors gathered around stacks of boxes and files. "Some party, Smallville. Guess my invitation got lost in the mail?"
Clark could only stare aghast, glancing back and forth from Lex to Lois.
So much for super-hearing, thought Chloe.
Only Lex appeared to be completely composed. "Well, Clark. I think it's time that you and I had a little talk."