Title: Protector
Author: Erika
Email: funhapjoy@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Challenge: CLFF 18th Wave challenge Gossip: Bodyguard to Lex
Note: Beta: Sylvie
How would
weren't on their set paths in life? What if they were able to be
what they'd wanted to be when they grew up?
~oo00oo~
He thought that the damage that he'd inflicted on Earth, the
destruction that followed the meteor, shower was a one-time event,
but that wasn't to be the case.
He wasn't even supposed to be in Smallville, but for some unexplained
reason he'd found himself back in this small Kansas town just as the
meteors started to rain down once again.
He had been in his car when he heard a quiet gasp of help coming from
the cornfields. He had stopped the car and run toward the cry only to
come to an abrupt stop as fire lit the sky and as Kryptonite rocks
rendered him powerless.
The next thing he knew, he was in a hospital with other survivors.
He sat up gingerly in the hospital bed, in an overcrowded room
housing four other patients. He felt queasy and the panicked cries
and shouts from those around him was not helping. He
took a deep
breath, slowly releasing it, forcing himself to calm down. Now was
not the time to panic. He walked to the shared closet, mindful of the
thin hospital gown. He searched what was left of his clothes.
Everything would need to be replaced.
He quickly searched for something decent to wear. All he could find
were thin hospital pants and a white t-shirt. Ignoring the startled
glances from the other occupants in the room he quickly put on the
borrowed clothes. This would have to do for now.
Then he walked out.
He needed to get out of here, needed to find out what else had
happened in Smallville, when amidst all the cries and continued panic
a child's pained, scared voice penetrated through all the chaos.
A young boy was crying for his mother. Crying to be let go, that they
were hurting him.
Kal-El found himself moving quickly towards that cry, ignoring
everything but the whimpers coming from the boy. Soon Kal-El entered
a crowded room, to reporters' shouts and repeated flash bulbs all
surrounding a small, injured boy, a hairless youth who laid
trapped
on a bed.
"Hey, kid, look here. Come on, smile for the cameras."
"Luthor, how does it feel, losing your father in the cornfields? Were
you scared?"
"Your mother is said to have fainted at the news of your father's
death. Have you heard from her?"
"If you keep hiding your face, we’re just going to take more
pictures," an angry photographer yelled as he held tightly to the
boy's wrist, keeping him still.
Kal-El had seen enough. "Everyone get out now!"
"Hey!"
Kal-El confiscated the cameras, crushing them to the floor. He then
pushed everyone roughly out of the room.
Vultures.
Kal-El then turned to the small boy, who was busy wiping away his
tears. "It's all right. I won't let them back in."
The child gasped, and let out a small whimper. "It hurts."
Kal-El crossed the floor and gingerly reached to touch the boy's
hand. "What does?"
"Everything," was the boy's reply.
Remembering back to something one of the reporters had said, Kal-El
asked, "Were you caught in the meteor shower?" One of the reporters
had said something about the cornfields, and unless this boy was
undergoing cancer treatment, he was as bald as the day he was born.
"Yes," the boy mumbled.
Kal-El was about to ask him more questions when he realized that the
boy was looking wearily at him, probably wondering if he, too, was a
reporter.
"Look, why don't you rest now? I'll make sure no one bothers you."
"Really?" the boy replied hopefully.
"Yes, really." Kal-El smiled. "Come on,
close your eyes." He tucked
the boy in. "I'll be here when you wake up."
"You…you won't let them in?" Vulnerable deep blue eyes glanced up at
him.
"No.I promise," Kal-El reassured him.
"Thank you." The boy gave him a shy smile as his eyes fluttered
close.
Now, hours later, still standing guard at the foot of
the child's
bed, Kal-El wondered what it was about this child that had made him
throw caution to the wind, that made him stand here instead of
running back home to
He also wondered why he was listening so intently to the child's
laboured breath and what he gained by standing here,
hoping the boy
survived the changes the meteors were inflicting on his body.
Using his x-ray vision, Kal-El could see the miniscule changes taking
place and the cell mutation that would forever mark the boy.
The child let out a whimper as he started to shake.
"Sh..." Kal-El told him, leaning down to
touch the boy's forehead
briefly. He was burning up and he would continue to do so until the
mutation was complete; Kal-El would stand guard and protect him as
long as he was needed. "Sh...," he said
again. "I promise you, I'll
always be here."