Wherever You Will Go, Chapter 3

Clark/Chloe
Season 6, following my story "Ever the Same"
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Read the previous chapter here.
Read the story from the beginning here.

The woman stared into Chloe's face for a moment, her eyes blazing. Then she lifted her arm and backhanded Chloe across the face.

Chloe flew backward and slammed into the rock heavily. The lacerations on her back hurt like hell, and for a moment spots danced before her eyes. She thought she might just pass out.

Good one, Sullivan, she thought. She'd known this was a prison, known it had been built by Jor-El to hold the worst criminals in creation, and yet she'd gone and announced she was related to the guy who'd built it. Related by marriage, sure, but still, that wasn't likely to win her friends in here. In fact it was likely to put her on the hit list of everyone she met.

She needed to stop opening her mouth before she thought things through. She probably ought to read How to Win Friends and Influence People. Either that, or she could write a new advice book: How to Piss Off Criminals and Get the Hell Beaten Out of You. After all, she was obviously a world-class expert at that.

The woman was stalking toward her, her eyes narrowed, and Chloe gritted her teeth and struggled to her feet. "Look," she said, "let's talk about this. We can talk, right?"

"You lie." The woman spoke in an angry snarl, aiming another punch at her, and Chloe ducked. So much for talking, she thought with a sigh. She straightened up, annoyed, and threw a hard punch of her own. It connected solidly with the woman's midsection, and she doubled over, gasping.

Strange, Chloe thought again. She knew this wasn't a real, physical body, but here in this place, she seemed solid enough.

Chloe put her hands together and slammed them down on the woman's head, and the woman went right to her knees. She wasn't unconscious, but the fight had clearly been taken out of her.

"Okay," Chloe said. "Now maybe we can talk."

*****

"Please..."

The pain ebbed only slightly, but it was enough that he could utter a desperate plea for mercy. His face was wet with tears, his throat raw from screaming. He lifted his head slightly and forced his eyes open, seeing that she stood over him, smiling.

"Now you know why I chose a human body," she said softly. "A human body can be made as strong and durable as yours. But a Kryptonian body has one fatal weakness. Exposure to kryptonite radiation renders you helpless."

He fought to get to his feet, and failed utterly. The green glow of kryptonite still surrounded him, and pain bombarded him relentlessly. He couldn't stand up. He couldn't even get to his hands and knees.

He looked up at her, seeing the curvaceous body he'd made love to so many times poured into a tight-fitting black leather jumpsuit. She looked like Chloe, but the unpleasant smile on her face bore absolutely no resemblance to the bright, beaming grin he knew.

"While you lie here helpless," she said softly, "more and more of this world falls under my rule. Your people are fighting me, and they are dying. And there is nothing you can do about it, son of Jor-El. You are powerless to save anyone."

Her words hurt him almost as much as the radiation had, and he tried once again to get to his feet. But the effort was fruitless.

"Rest, Kal-El," she said softly. "Rest... while your world surrenders to me."

She left the cell, the iron bars clanging shut behind her, and the pain began again in earnest. Anguish filled his mind and body and heart.

He dropped his head back onto the metal plating of the floor and sobbed.

Read Chapter 4 here.