Chapter 39

Location: Smallville General, Smallville, Kansas - 2003

The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the first thing Chloe Sullivan became aware of as she blinked awake, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of her hospital room. The second thing she noticed was the dull, aching pain radiating from her ribs and the faint throbbing in her skull.

Her body felt like it had been put through a blender, but at least she was alive. That was something.

"About time you woke up."

Chloe turned her head, wincing slightly at the movement. Sitting beside her bed, arms crossed, was her father, Gabe Sullivan. His face was lined with exhaustion, but the relief in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Dad," she croaked, her throat dry.

Gabe immediately reached for a Styrofoam cup of water, holding it to her lips. "Here, drink."

Chloe took a sip, letting the cool water soothe her throat. "You look terrible," she rasped, smirking.

Gabe scoffed. "Yeah, well, I just spent the last six hours watching you sleep, so excuse me if I'm not looking my best."

Chloe chuckled weakly, then immediately regretted it as pain lanced through her ribs. "Ugh. Laughing? Bad idea."

"Well maybe next time you don't do something dangerous enough to make you wind up in hospital. Y'know, if I had a dollar for every time I had to visit you in a hospital bed, I might actually be able to afford your medical bills," Gabe said.

Chloe snorted. "You and me both."

Gabe wasn't smiling, though. He pulled his chair closer so he was right beside her bed, his eyes scanning her—checking, worrying, like all dads do.

"Chloe…" he started, voice quieter this time. "You have to stop doing this."

Chloe sighed, looking away. "Dad—"

"No. I mean it." His voice was firm, but there was something else there too—fear. "You're my kid, Chloe. And you—God, you could've—" He stopped himself, rubbing a hand down his face. "I almost lost you."

Chloe's throat tightened.

She knew her dad worried about her. She knew every time she went after a lead, every time she dug too deep, it scared him. But this time was different.

Because this time, she had almost died.

And he had been the one to find her.

Strapped to a chair. Burned. Barely breathing.

Her father had seen her like that.

And she knew—she just knew—that it must've reminded him of Mom.

She forced a weak smile. "C'mon, Dad. I'm fine. This is just, y'know, occupational hazard."

Gabe didn't laugh. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You keep throwing yourself into danger like this, Chloe, and one day… one day, you won't be fine."

Chloe looked away.

She hated seeing him like this. Tired. Scared. Like he was losing her too.

So, she did what she always did when things got too serious.

She cracked a joke.

"Well, you're the one who raised me. If I've got a self-destructive streak, that's gotta be on you."

That got a laugh—small, but genuine. Gabe shook his head, sighing. "Right. Next time, I'll just raise a daughter who listens to me."

"You could always adopt Pete."

"Pete actually values his life."

"I dunno, have you seen him eat a chili dog? That's a man with no fear."

That one made Gabe chuckle, and for a second, the tension in the room lifted.

But then he exhaled and stood up. "Alright, smart mouth. I'm getting you a snack before you start roasting my parenting skills again."

Chloe smirked. "Get me something good."

"Hospital vending machines only have two options: stale and disappointing."

"I'll take both."

Gabe gave her a small, tired smile before stepping out, leaving the room eerily quiet in his absence.

Chloe let her head fall back against the pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

She hated this.

Not just the pain. Not just the hospital.

She hated what it was doing to her dad.

She could see it in his eyes—every time she ended up like this, every time she got too close to something dangerous, he had that same look. That look like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Like he was waiting for her to leave him, just like Mom did.

Chloe bit her lip.

She didn't want to put him through this.

She didn't want him to feel like he was losing her too.

But what was she supposed to do?

She couldn't stop.

She couldn't just sit back and pretend she didn't know what was out there—the corruption, the conspiracies, the monsters hiding in plain sight.

And yet…

She hated seeing him like that.

She exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through her hair, trying to push away the wave of emotions threatening to take hold. Her gaze drifted to the IV in her arm, the heart monitor hooked up to her, the stupid hospital bracelet wrapped around her wrist.

Even getting hurt meant someone was profiting off you.

She scoffed under her breath. "America."

And then—

The lights in her room flickered.

Chloe froze.

A strange tingling sensation spread down her arms, her fingertips buzzing like static against her skin.

The room suddenly crackled with energy, and before Chloe could react—

POP!

The overhead lightbulbs burst in a shower of sparks. The heart monitor flatlined, the IV machine shut down, and the lamp on the nightstand shorted out, sending a small shock through her fingertips.

Chloe's eyes widened.

"What the hell?" she whispered.

She looked down at her hands, her fingers tingling, a faint blue spark still arcing across her fingertips.

Chloe stared as the sparks crackled between her fingers, a faint glow of electricity dancing along her skin before disappearing just as quickly as it came.

Her heart pounded.

What just happened? Did she do that?

Location: Kent Farm, Smallville, Kansas - 2003

Back at the Kent Farm Apollo was being dropped off by Skye and her father. He stood at the entrance to the farm. His Dad came out of the house to say hello.

"Thanks for chaperoning them at the gala tonight" Jonathan said to Ben Hubbard truly appreciative he drove them to the event because Ajak had his car and was at the hospital tonight.

"It's no problem, I ended up having quite a good time tonight with them anyway" Ben replied.

"Well I'm glad to hear that, Apollo didn't give you too hard a time did he?" Jonathan joked.

"If I struggled dealing with Apollo I wouldn't be able to handle any child. He's basically a saint" Ben told Jonathan and Jonathan smiled proudly.

"Well Skye's just as great" Jonathan truthfully told Ben making him smile in response.

Ben sometimes struggled raising Skye as a single dad but hearing a man he respected praise his daughter and knowing how much Skye loved him made him feel very at peace. He was raising her well and he knew she was going to do great things with her life.

"Now why don't we give these two love birds some privacy to say their goodbyes" Jonathan said to Ben as he walked him to his truck and the two engaged in some small talk.

"Tonight was amazing. Thank you for taking me" Skye said to Apollo.

"There's nobody else I'd rather take" Apollo said honestly.

"We've been through so much these past few months, our lives have changed but I want you to know my feelings haven't. I love you Skye" Apollo said to her.

"I love you too Apollo" Skye said a big smile on her face.

The two kissed and embraced before breaking apart and staring into one another's eyes. They stayed like that for a moment, forgetting about the world and focusing only on each other. Apollo held Skye's hands and the couple left butterfly kisses on each others lips as they said goodnight to one another.

Skye touched Apollo's face and they smiled at each other before Skye slowly began to back away, still holding Apollo's hand. She finally let go of his hand and left Apollo with a smile on his face.

Ben and Skye drove off and Apollo waved goodbye still smiling. Jonathan then walked up to his son and put his hand on Apollo's shoulder happy to see his son so happy. The two turned back to enter the house after the Hubbard's completely left the compound.

Suddenly though Apollo's ears started ringing.

A loud high pitched tone flooded his ears so hard it felt like it was piercing his brain.

Apollo collapsed overwhelmed by the sound.

"AAAAAGGGH!" Apollo screamed in agony.

He covered his ears hoping to block the sound as he tried to focus on controlling his senses but it was no use. The ringing just got louder.

"Son?" Jonathan said concerned as he held the writhing Apollo.

Apollo tried to hone in on the sound. To identify where the sound was coming from.

He let out another scream as the noise was getting louder with every passing second completely disorienting him.

"Son, talk to me what's happening?"

Apollo couldn't answer, he could barely form a sentence or walk with how debilitated he was by this sound.

He let out another scream of pain as the sound continued to overwhelm him and Jonathan got up wanting to rush into the house and call his wife to come help him.

Apollo looks around the sound was still overwhelming him but he managed to pinpoint where it was coming from.

Apollo took a deep breath blocking out as much of the sound as he could. Then he got up slowly.

He walked to the barn still overwhelmed and disoriented by the sound but filled with determination to understand what was calling out to him like this.

He opened the barn door and saw the storm cellar at the bottom of the barn was emitting a light.

Apollo's eyes widened.

His ship is what's producing this sound.

Maybe he would get answers, maybe this was a message, maybe his parents were finally calling out to him.

Questions flooded Apollo's mind as he walked towards his ship opening up the cellar door and walking down just as a robotic voice spoke to him in his mind shocking and scaring him.

Apollo stopped as the words echoed through his mind over and over again.

"It is time. The day is coming"

Location: Triskellion, Washington, DC – Earth – 2003

A beautiful woman with brown hair enters the office of a man. The man is African American, bald and wears an eye patch. The man is Nick Fury and the woman is Maria Hill

"Fury, there's been an uptick in suspicious activity in Smallville" Hill says.

"What kind of activity? Is it the meteor infected? We've already partnered with Hammer to contain them"

Hill stayed silent and Fury nodded.

"It's not the meteor infected? What is it? An 0-8-4?" Fury asked curious.

"I'm not sure what it is sir but I know that whatever it is it's become difficult to not notice. Hammer Industries has worked well with us to cover up proof of the meteor infected" Hill started.

"To protect their bottom line. Smallville starts looking dangerous just as Hammer begins to settle their and investors could pull out. Hammer isn't doing this to save the world. So whatever it is it's not something Hammer made or is tied to otherwise he'd be advertising it to the world" Fury said offering his reading on Justin Hammer and the situation.

"I agree but there is something in Smallville sir, because the meteor infected aren't just being stopped by local law enforcement or Hammer's security or the army. There's something else sir, or someone else" Hill said.

"Someone? You believe this is an individual?"

"It might be, over the last few months in keeping with the uptick in strange phenomena in Smallville there's also been an uptick of miraculous saves seemingly done by one individual. Some residents have taken to calling the individual the Smallville Samaritan. If what they're saying is true, then there is potentially a being there that is fighting and defeating super humans in Smallville. A being that is very powerful and therefore could be very dangerous." Hill told him.

Fury took pause with that statement. It was clear it intrigued him.

"Smallville huh? Go and investigate it. Take Coulson and look into this for as long as you need to. Find out if it-s an 0-8-4 or a potential asset" Fury ordered.

"Asset? Still looking for people for your initiative?" Maria questioned.

Fury raised his eye at her.

"That will be all Agent Hill, I expect detailed reports when you arrive" Fury said his tone commanding.

"Yes sir" Hill said as she left and began to prepare for her mission to Smallville.

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