Red Sky in the afternoon equals Kryptonian street pizza apparently.
Near Phoenix, Arizona 1999
Clark was flying over, hoping to get home within the hour when he suddenly had an odd feeling as the sky around him seemed to blink red for a second. He crashed hard into the ground. He stood up as the sky went red again, this time holding. He tried to fly but it didn't work so he started running but couldn't pick up much speed. Clark sighed and started walking, after a mile or so he found two men tinkering with a large machine.
They flipped a switch as he approached and the sky cleared up and Clark started to feel normal again, one looked over and saw Clark, "This area is for authorized personnel only."
Clark waved, "Sorry I'm a bit lost, could you please point me toward the nearest highway."
The scientist picked up a phone to call security but the other stopped him, "Ease up Silas, I doubt a spy would wander through the desert to take a peek at a glorified cloud seeder."
They came down and one of them introduced the pair, "I'm Emil Hamilton and my friend here is Silas Stone."
Clark was now wary of giving out his real name so he once again introduced himself as Kal. "What's that?"
Hamilton grinned, "Its supposed to be a weather generator, if we can get it to work people may never have to worry about drought again."
Silas nodded, "Unfortunately all it does now is turn the sky red for a few miles around."
Clark looked to the sky, "So is it altering the solar radiation somehow?"
The two scientists gave each other a curious look, Emil's eyes brightened a bit, "I hadn't considered that."
They went to the truck and went to lug out some equipment. Clark helped them out a bit then they set it up and Silas flipped the machine back on. Emil paid close attention to the equipment and yelled to Silas, "Seems we are altering the solar rays, we may as well be turning the sun red."
Silas flipped off the machine and came down, "Well back to the drawing board I guess."
Emil glared, "Why?"
His partner leaned on the truck, "Well aside from making it a bit colder, red sun light doesn't really help with our goal."
Clark looked over, "Still cool that you can do it though."
He then looked to the truck and saw a S.T.A.R. Labs logo on the side, "Are you guys with the Government?"
Silas shook his head, "No S.T.A.R. Labs is an institution for independent research, we're free of the government control and corporate greed that holds science back."
He then looked at Clark, "How'd you end up here?"
He turned to him, "I'm on my way home from a trip I was taking before starting college and I lost my bus ticket so I decided to see if I could catch a ride but there weren't many cars going by where I was so I tried to find the highway and got lost."
Emil nodded, "Well I guess we could give you a ride to the nearest bus depot."
***
Clark hopped out of the truck and thanked them for the ride. He then waited for them to be far enough away and headed away from the depot and was off.
He arrived back at the Kent farm a few minutes later and walked inside, "Mom, I'm home."
***
After he'd explained what he did during the trip, omitting the part where he took a bullet Martha gave him a big hug, "I'm just glad you made it home safe, and that I get a little time in before you run off to college."
Clark chuckled,"Did you get my gift from Hong Kong?"
***
Kansas State University, a few weeks later.
Clark sat down on his side of the dorm room and finished loading his bed side drawers as his new roommate walked in he turned to greet him and they both instantly sighed.
Kenny Bravermen had been the Quarterback of the Smallville high football team until graduation, he and Clark had never been on friendly terms. They glared at each other for a second before Clark spoke, "Look, I know you don't like me with you being a big jock and my ability to read and spell but lets just try not to be dicks to each other for the year."
Kenny looked down at Clark's extended hand and swatted it away, "Just stay on your side of the room Kent."
Clark stared down at his hand and found it a bit odd that the swat had actually stung a bit.
(To be continued)
I know this one was a bit light, I'll try to make up for it soon.
Log in to comment