A Dangerous Mind
I don’t really have a specific summary yet. This idea came to me at 3 in the morning, so I’m working on it as I go along, and I don’t want to give too much of the plot away. This story takes place in my ‘Gone Too Soon’ universe. Not necessary to have read that to understand this story.
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August 17, 2011- 4:36 am
Clark is awoken to the sounds of a fire alarm happening somewhere in Suicide Slum. It sounded big, so he gently extracted himself from Lois’s grip and spins into the suit. He scribbles a note to his wife at near superspeed and takes off from the balcony.
Clark arrived on the scene just as the fire department arrives. He scans the building to check if anyone is trapped inside, he is about to report to the fire chief that the building is empty when movement on the roof caught his attention.
There is a lone figure standing on the rooftop of the burning building, the smoke obscuring their features. But if Clark had to guess the figure is that of a teenage girl, probably a squatter. But the odd thing is the girl isn’t panicking.
Clark flies up to the rooftop to save the girl. When he gets to the roof, he finds the girl standing on the roof ledge. Clark is correct in his assessment that the girl appears to be in her young teens and her clothing is a good indicator that the girl is probably homeless and possibly a runaway.
She stands with her back to him, blankly staring over the edge of the rooftop. Seemingly sensing his presence, the girl turns her head towards him and the absolute lack of any emotion in the girl’s eyes is startling. Before Clark can move to grab the girl, she turns back to staring over the building ledge just before stepping off. Clark runs to the ledge to try to grab the girl, but it’s too late. And before he has a chance to fly after her, the scene unfolding on the ground has him too stunned to even move.
In almost slow motion, he sees the girl’s impact on the ground; her impact creating a small crater in the pavement. And instead of laying lifeless on the ground, the girl climbs out of the crater seemingly unscathed. Before any of the firefighters on the scene could approach her, she disappears in a flash that is eerily similar to superspeed.
Clark really wants to go after the girl, but not knowing what kind of other powers the girl has; it might put innocent people at risk if the girl believes she is being pursued. It might be best to let her believe she has gotten away until he is sure exactly what this girl is.
Clark flies down to the pavement below to examine the crater that the girl created in her fall. The firefighters seem to have overcome their shock of seeing the girl fall from the top of a seven-story building and not only survive but disappear into thin air; as they are back to work trying to get the fire under control. On the edge of the broken concrete, Clark notices a few spots of blood; indicating that the girl had been injured in her fall. Getting a tissue and plastic bag from the firefighters, Clark carefully collects a sample of the blood; intent on taking it to Bernie Klein.
Clark already knows that this girl couldn’t be 100% human given her actions tonight. And Clark is intent on finding out exactly what she is. While he thought the New Kryptonians had all returned to their planet, Clark knows that it is just as likely that a few might have stayed behind. And while he won’t publicly expose them, he does want to know if any other Kryptonians have decided to make Earth their home.
Seeing that the fire department is getting the fire under control, Clark excuses himself claiming that he is going to try to locate the girl and flies away. The sun is just starting to rise and knowing Bernie, he is probably already at Star Labs. So, Clark flies in the direction of the laboratory complex.
When Lois had found out that she was pregnant with their daughter Lara, they had let the scientist in on the Kent Family secret. They had been concerned about the effect of Lara’s mixed Kryptonian heritage would have on both Lara and Lois.
Sadly, they had lost Lara a few days before she was expected to be born due to Lois having been a victim of a random shooting. While Lois survived and eventually recovered, they had been told that the bullet that had hit Lois in the abdomen had hit Lara, entering her body under her tiny ribcage and piercing her left lung.
Had Lara survived, they would be celebrating her twelfth birthday next month. But instead, he and Lois along with their seven-year-old daughter, Mariah, will go to the cemetery where Lara is buried. They normally place flowers and release a balloon for Lara. Some years, their extended family of his and Lois’s parents, along with Lucy, Perry and Jimmy join them; but most years it is just the three of them.
Thoughts of the daughter that they had lost cause Clark to get distracted and before he realizes it, he is flying over the great lakes. Correcting his course, Clark flies back to Metropolis and Star Labs.
As expected, Bernie is in his lab already. And after Clark explains what happened that morning; Bernie promises to run some tests on the blood sample that Clark had collected.
With that, Clark leaves the lab and flies back to his house. He does make a quick stop for breakfast for them this morning as it is getting late and they have to get Mariah to school and get to work at the Planet in only a few hours.
Entering the house, Clark makes sure that Mariah is up and getting ready for school. Satisfied that the seven-year-old is making adequate progress in her morning routine, Clark heads towards the master bedroom to see Lois and explain what had happened that morning. When he enters the bedroom, he finds that Lois is just drying her hair from her shower.
“Are you ok?” Lois asked, as she came out of the bathroom and recognized Clark’s distracted demeanor.
“Yeah. I think so at least. Something strange happened at the fire call I went to this morning.” Clark explains.
“What happened?” Lois asks. While it isn’t unusual for Clark to need to talk about his rescues, she has never seen him react to a call like this before.
Clark explains about the girl from the fire. For Lois’s part, she merely listens as Clark explains what happened until he gets to the part of the girl not only surviving the seven-story fall to the pavement but having taken off from the scene at superspeed.
“So, what do you think she is?”
“I don’t know. I know I haven’t been struck by lightning lately to explain a power transfer. And given that she was hurt by her fall, given that there were a couple of small blood spots at the crater. I’d say she doesn’t fully have all of my powers. I took a sample of the blood to Bernie this morning.”
Before either can say anything else, the phone rings. Clark answers it and from what Lois hears of his side of the conversation, it is Bernie Klein on the other end of the call.
“Bernie wants to see us. He says he found something in the blood sample.” Clark explains when he hangs up.
“Let’s get Mariah to school then we’ll go to Star Labs,” Lois says as she turns to the closet to select her clothes for the day.
“You might want to take a shower, you smell –“ Lois starts before hearing a whoosh behind her before she turns to find Clark standing on the other side of the bed adjusting his tie, and obviously freshly showered. “-of smoke. Cheater.”
They drop off Mariah at her school before heading to Star Labs. Entering the building they quickly make their way to Bernie’s lab. Once they are inside, Bernie closes all the blinds and deactivates the security cameras so that they can speak freely. He does some other checks on his computer monitor to make sure that their privacy is assured.
Bernie then invites them to sit down at a lab table, which they do. Whatever Bernie had found in analyzing the sample must be something significant as Clark had rarely seen Bernie this concerned about making sure absolutely no one was able to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“I finished analyzing the sample that you brought in. And you were right that it does show Kryptonian markers in the DNA; but just as strongly, there are Earthling markers in her DNA as well. Which would lead me to believe that this girl is a product of a Kryptonian father and an Earthling mother."
“You’re sure of that?” Lois asks. The implications that another Kryptonian is on earth and fathered a child with someone could have a severe repercussion on their lives if the public found out that it is possible for a Kryptonian to reproduce with a woman of earth.
“Yes. I was able to extract Mitochondrial DNA from the sample, which is passed exclusively from the mother to her offspring. It is definitely from earth. And the chromosomes that are passed from the father are definitely Kryptonian. What’s more. I did a comparison of the DNA to yours, I found that it was a close match. So, investigating further I ran a comparison to other DNA profiles I had on file and I was surprised to find it matched your daughter’s.”
“Mariah?” Clark asks, stunned that somehow this girl’s DNA could match his daughter’s.
“No, not Mariah.” Bernie laid out a couple of files on the table so that Lois and Clark can see the results on the papers inside.
“Her DNA is a perfect match to Lara’s.”
Last edited by Daytonagirl; 05/09/20 05:17 AM.
