He watched her as she brushed Jenny’s mane. It had now been over a month since he saw her last. She appeared to look more fragile and a bit weaker, yet from his distance a person couldn’t make out one wrinkle that was on her face. He used this time to picture her as a young woman full of life and enjoying her time out in the sun.
After a few moments of studying his mother, he ran out from within the cornfield and was instantly behind her. He took both his hands and covered her eyes, “Guess who,” he asked?
“Land’s sakes boy, you could have given me a heart…” she stopped and paused. Remembering Jonathan, she couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Sorry mom. I didn’t realize…”
Wiping away a tear, “Now don’t you go worrying about it. Anyway, it’s real good to have you home. You are here to stay I hope.”
“Yeah I am, at least for awhile now. I’ll be communicating with Jor-El from my ship. And when the time comes for me to leave again, he’ll let me know.”
“Well, let me fix you something to eat. You must be famished from your trip.”
Clark grabbed Martha’s hand and stopped her in her tracks, “Actually mom, I’ve been kind of fasting for some time now. I’m trying to see how long I could last.”
Like a deer caught in the head lights Martha looked into Clarks eyes. “Last? Without eating,” she asked? “What is this fast for, how long has it been going on?”
“The fast is just to see what I’m capable of. I’ve been on it since the first day I left.”
“You’re going to put some food in that belly of yours and that’s final. You’ve been gone for over a month now.”
“Mom, you need to understand that I’m not like everyone else. My stomach hasn’t growled once due to emptiness. Food is only a fraction of my replenishment. It is the sun that gives me my energy to go on.”
Puzzled she asked, “You don’t get hungry?”
“I don’t get hungry, I don’t thirst and I can hold my breath for hours on end. Not only do my lungs have the capacity to hold large amounts of oxygen, but it feels like every cell in my body captures it as well.”
“My word, I don’t know what to say about all this,” Martha said astounded.
“Don’t worry mom, I didn’t know what to say either. When Jor-El informed me about his calculations of what this planet could do to me and for me physically, I was speechless too.”
“What else did Jor-El say? What did he train you to do?”
“Back home on Krypton, Jor-El was looked upon as a savior; someone with answers. But when the time came down to Krypton’s destruction no one wanted to listen to him. They thought he lost his mind. He wants me to prevent something like that from ever happening here. Our worlds are quite similar. The people have the same understanding, but Krypton was well advanced. When it comes to technology, medicine, laws and virtually everything else Krypton was three or four centuries ahead of Earth. The one thing that wasn’t advanced was mankind’s battle with fear. When it’s all said and done with, no matter what planet one is from it is the fear of the unknowing which leads to our devastation; ultimately, the fear of change.”
“Well, what does Jor-El expect you to do?”
“He expects me to challenge this fear head on. To show the world that change for the better is o.k. I’m to be the one man, the one voice with no specific country’s borders to base my objectives on and stand and defend for truth, justice and…”
“Yes Clark, that’s all very nice.” Martha interrupted. “But I believe this Jor-El needs you to stand on his soap box for him. Ma Kent says it’s time for lunch, and you need to catch up on your chores young man.”
“Yes ma’am.”
_______________________________________________________________________
The pair stepped off the boat like a couple of tourists. Their eyes gazed all around them trying to take in the magnificent structure. The escort had to snap them out of the wonderment to get them back on course. No one without an escort or a high security clearance could even make it this far onto New Troy Island. They were both caught off guard by the blow horn of the SS Meersman as it sailed off. The two looked at each other and laughed at the fact that they both jumped from being startled, and then they followed the escort to the main facility.
Upon the entrance, they watched as the escort slid her I.D. card through a slot like an ATM machine. They then noticed her put her right hand up against a black window that assumingly scanned her palm print. The door opened, and the escort heard the security officer from inside say, “Good morning Dr. Faulkner.”
“Good morning Glen. These two gentlemen with me will be getting their permanent identification badges today.”
“Well you’re in luck ‘cause Doris is in early today and there is no one else scheduled to see her.”
“Thanks Glen. Have a good day.”
“You too, Dr. Faulkner.”
With a knock on the open door Dr. Faulkner asked, “Hey there Doris, you got time to give two newbies some I.D.?”
Doris turned with a clipboard in her hands and eye glasses half way down her nose and saw the three at the door, “For you Kitty, of course. You know where the paperwork is. Just let me know when they’re done filling it out.”
Kitty went over to the file cabinet and removed some documents. She then got two similar clipboards that Doris had and placed the documents under the clip and handed them out to be filled in. Ten minutes went by, and the two were done. They gave Kitty their clipboards which were handed over to Doris. After Doris had gone over the paperwork she said, “O.k. everything checks out. Kitty, why don’t you have the young one stand in front of the camera first?” Their pictures were taken, and then the cards were signed and laminated. On completion, Doris handed out the new I.D. cards and said, “Well, Mr. Jayden and Dr. Hamilton welcome to S.T.A.R. Labs.”
The two gave their thanks, and Kitty continued to escort them down the hallway for further admittance. They went in and out of rooms meeting and greeting other personnel. Within this time frame they were fingerprinted so that their prints could be entered into the scanner which was also required to gain entrance.
The next day Emil and T.J. had an easy arrival and no problems getting access through the main doors and to their new private laboratory. T.J. loved the short boat ride to and from work each day. It was much better than the congested commute on the freeway he thought. Emil resided at a house not too far from the main facility. The street he lived on was owned by the lab, and the houses were rented out to its employees. T.J. lived a bit further; sharing an apartment with another lab tech that was looking for a roommate.
The day was started by emptying boxes and arranging the shelves with microscopes, test tubes and other lab equipment. Emil had a bit of an obsessive-compulsive way of organizing everything according to size.
Noon time came around, and all the boxes were now flattened and tied in the corner closest to the door. The lab looked like the two had been there for years. Emil’s desk was now almost covered with some of his paperwork. The two were over at a lab table, and Emil was peering into an electronic microscope.
“You’re not going to believe this T.J.”
“What did you come across professor?”
“Wait one more second…good. T.J. go over to the printer, I printed out two results. Can you kindly get them for me?”
T.J. excitingly ran to the printer and back to Emil, “Here ya go professor.”
After a moment of looking at the two documents, Emil said, “I thought so. T.J., the high carbon elements in the meteorites we were working with are also found in the hemoglobin of these red blood cells.”
“Wow, professor. What did that person die of, suicide or accidental death?”
“This person is not dead at all T.J.”
“Professor, if what you’re looking at is a case of carboxyhemoglobinemia, then this person must be dead.”
“Normally you would be correct, and may I say, good job on the proper terminology. The typical color of red bloods cells affected by Carbon Monoxide poisoning would be much duller. But these cells appear to be perfectly healthy. I would need a sample of the person’s bone marrow to be sure, but it seems as if the blood cells that are developed from the marrow already contain this mutated Carbon Monoxide. Yet they still allow oxygen to bind with the red blood cells’ hemoglobin. This is just fascinating.”
“But how would the bone marrow be able to create such blood cells?”
“The only way is for the bone marrow to have been directly affected while one’s immune system was non-existent or at the least very weak.”
“Professor, directly affected by what?” asked a confused T.J.
“By the meteorite of course.”
“Do you know what you’re saying? The chances of someone being deeply injected with a piece of this meteorite and at the same time being a new born or say someone on chemo must be one in a billion.”
“You are absolutely right on the latter. The radiation in chemo had wiped out this person’s immune system.”
“What are you saying? Whose blood is…” and then T.J. remembered. He continued quietly, “Mr. Luthor’s?”
“That’s right. I found out that the Luthors were in Smallville on the day of the big meteor shower, and that their plane put out a distress call. While I was down there, I was able to get access to some past medical reports. I got lucky due to that uniqueness of the case because most records this old are destroyed or archived. And I came across the record of an Alexander Luthor, Jr. It stated that he had a recent dose of chemotherapy, yet the Kansas small town doctors couldn’t find any evidence of his leukemia.”
“So, where does the meteorite come in?”
“This is what he was being treated for. A chunk of this rock was lodged in his skull. My guess is that the meteorites properties mutated his bone marrow in the process causing his white blood cells to be produced at an accelerated rate. The red blood cells mutated and forged with some of the carbon elements from the meteorite. In cases like this rare cancer, doctors are more concerned with the white blood cells which help the body’s immunity. As long as he’s still breathing, they assumed the red blood cells were doing their job. Basically, this accident cured his cancer.”
“And you kept a sample of his blood to test your theory.”
“Right again T.J.”
“But if he’s cured, why is he still bald?”
“There are studies in trichology that show the cells in the immune system do not recognize the keratin proteins presented to them, and that they are in fact invisible to the immune system. It is also demonstrated that these proteins did not interfere with the body's normal immunologic response. Basically, something in Mr. Luthor’s mutated immune system stopped the body from creating or assisting with the makeup of keratin, which stopped producing hair follicles as well as finger nails.”
“Well, he could at least wear a toupee.” T.J. joked.
“To a man like Mr. Luthor, wearing a toupee is like wearing a mask. And he wants to show the world exactly who he is. Mr. Luthor isn’t looking to have a secret to his identity.”
______________________________________________________________________
Walking up to the door of his boss’ office, Frederick couldn’t have been more pleased by the news of the completed tasks of Molina and Fu. He knocked once on the door then stuck his head inside. He noticed a hand motion from his boss signing him to come in. Frederick walked in and stood patiently by an empty chair waiting for the other to get off the phone.
“Now you listen to me Queen, we had a meeting scheduled today at ten to talk about the take-over. And you’re telling me you’re cancelling to take your son to some archery contest…Oh, I see. Well it appears you must fire your useless secretary and find one who knows how to work a calendar.” I abruptly slammed the phone down.
“First of the morning problems sir?” asked Frederick.
“Just that this mindless moron is willing to risk millions just so he can take his little Ollie to play Robin Hood at some archery contest. There is no way Prime Inc. will reschedule.” I pushed the button to my intercom and said, “Camille, contact Prime Inc. and see if they can reschedule. Have them pick any time of day that is good for them. If I have engagements previously scheduled then cancel them. Got it?”
“Yes sir. Reschedule with Prime Inc. Move everything else back,” said a voice from the intercom.
I then looked up at Frederick and told him to bring me up to speed.
“Fu has located and spoke with Dr. Donovan. He stated that Donovan is on board and that it didn’t take much convincing. Molina has made contact with Waller and after a few days of thinking it over she agreed. She has members of her previous team on board as well. Waller has a Pamela Isley, better known as Poison Ivy in Gotham, with the help of her sidekick Bane on locating this Freeze fellow.”
“I hope this Bane doesn’t mind the cold when he’s up against Freeze.”
“From what I heard, Bane is your typical juggernaut.”
“Great, the more muscle the better. Now get all the names together along with their files and have everyone meet for the first Cadmus retreat.”
______________________________________________________________________
I took notice of some of the glasses that were on the table, and I realized that the important ones were all empty. Everyone was talking very loudly all at once. The spacious room they were concealed in made their voices seem louder as each had a private conversation with one another.
They didn’t even realize that I had entered until I yelled, “Quiet! This isn’t a tea party we’re having here.” I walked over to my chair and sat between Molina and Fu who were already at the head of the table. Frederick stood behind me with his side arm in plain view. “This meeting has officially come to order. Dr. Donovan, did everyone get a drink?”
“Yes sir. All refreshments have been given,” said Donovan.
“Luthor, I hope this isn’t the permanent location of our headquarters,” said Amanda Waller.
“What’s the matter Waller? How many headquarters do you know with a Park Avenue address like this one?” I said.
“Park Avenue address? Yeah, but two hundred feet below.” Waller said sarcastically.
“I suppose you would prefer your very own private island that orbits around the Earth, but for now this is it. Granted, this isn’t the Ritz; however, we’re safer underground as we’re smack dab in the middle of Metropolis beneath the ever so busy Park Avenue.
Now, what we’re planning to do is to go after Metahumans. I do realize that some of you sitting here fall into this category, yet I’m willing to show leniency for your cooperation.”
“Just how lenient do you intend to be once you get what you want” asked Ivy?
“Well Pamela, if you help me then you will be free to go, untraced forever. Well, untraced by me anyway,” I said with a smile. “But you double cross me, and I’ll have the ‘Wall’ here hunt you down and hang you by your shortest vine.” Looking around the room I continued, “That goes for all of you.”
“Touchy, Touchy Luthor. Didn’t mean to pluck your stamen? How ‘bout we kiss and make up.” seduced Ivy.
“Do you honestly think I didn’t read your file? I know all about you and your lethal lips.” The five foot wide giant that was sitting beside Ivy stood up being rather bothered by my words. His fist, like a hammer, came down hard on the table top, and a crack ran from his side to the opposite side on the marble practically splitting it in two. Frederick grabbed and pointed his gun between the eyes of this heartless creature before he made another move.
Ivy calmed the creature down and lightly pet the creature’s fist that still remained on the cracked table. She slowly said, “There, there Bane. It’s o.k. I actually want to hear what he has to say.” Taking Ivy’s cue, Bane took his seat. It was then that I noticed a chain link leash where one end was wrapped around the creature’s bulging neck and the other was held ever so loosely in Pamela’s hand. When all seemed calm, Frederick lowered his weapon but kept it in his hand.
I went over the procedures of Project Cadmus and handed out names on a list of high profile targets. Then, I proceeded to let Dr. Donovan help Waller with her side project she labeled as the “Ultimen.” But I highlighted that her main goal was to run and operate Cadmus. The teams were dispersed to cities around the country that were home to these infamous Metahumans. But, I specifically sent Ivy and Bane back to Gotham to capture Freeze and to let me know when the Iceman cometh.
After the mayhem that occurred with Pamela and her side kick, I thought that it was a good idea that I had Dr. Donovan slip a microscopic locating device in the drinks of each Metahuman that was there to help Project Cadmus before my arrival.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
