Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4)(45)

“I realize you want to practice your powers, Clark. But between you and me…we just can’t afford to keep buying you new clothes. Your friends out there may have unlimited resources, but we don’t. You understand, right?”

“Absolutely.” Clark never wanted to cost his parents extra money. They worked so hard just to make ends meet. He wished he could at least tell her it was for a good cause. That he’d helped someone who was in real trouble. But he couldn’t.

He had to own her disappointment.

His mom’s face softened, and she reached up to tousle his hair, like she used to when he was a kid. “Now go tell those hotshot friends of yours to use the driveway next time. We don’t bite.” She went onto her toes to kiss him on the cheek, then left with his ruined jacket.

Clark rumbled down the stairs and jogged along the farm’s gravel road to where Lex’s fancy red car was idling. Bryan got out of the passenger’s seat, and Clark climbed in back, saying, “Thanks again for agreeing to do this.”

“The question is,” Lex said, “will we even be able to get in?” He hit the gas before anyone could answer, and all three of them were thrown back in their seats. He reached over a hundred miles per hour before he let off the gas and allowed the car to gradually slow down.

“We’ll get in,” Bryan said.

“Just so you know,” Clark said to Bryan, “your dad stopped by the farm today and made an offer to buy the place.”

Bryan craned his neck so he could look at Clark. “You’re kidding. I’m guessing it was a waste of time?”

“Yeah, my parents turned him down,” Clark told him. “But I think they were genuinely flattered by the offer.”

Bryan shook his head. “Ever since my dad found out Wesco is buying up farm properties, too, he’s been out of control. He can’t stand competition.”

That would definitely explain Montgomery’s outburst, Clark thought.

“You heard about what happened last night, right?” Lex asked, making eye contact with Clark in the mirror. “That guy Sheldon Ealing from the restaurant claims he and his friends were assaulted by an actual alien. Like, from another planet.”

“An alien,” Clark repeated. He’d had a feeling this topic might come up with Bryan and Lex, and he was ready. “Isn’t it weird how alien sightings and racism seem to go hand in hand?”

“The thought of aliens alone disgusts me,” Lex said.

“Maybe it isn’t normal to spend so much time outside,” Bryan said. “The quiet, clear nighttime sky must just overwhelm some people.”

“Also they were drunk, right?” Clark asked.

“But get this,” Lex said. “One of Sheldon’s buddies showed up at the emergency room claiming his hand had been frozen solid by the alien’s breath. Keep in mind it was almost sixty degrees last night.”

Clark shook his head, playing along. He’d scanned the internet while waiting for Bryan and Lex to show up. He was relieved that the only stories he could find said the man was expected to make a full recovery.

When they neared the outskirts of downtown Smallville, Lex slowed to a crawl along a street of nondescript, closed-down warehouses. “Not sure you guys heard about this,” Lex went on, “but apparently a couple of undocumented workers have gone missing lately. I wouldn’t be surprised if Deputy What’s-His-Name makes a statement that they may have been abducted by aliens.”

This comment stung Clark a little. Lex was making fun of small towns again. But Lex was an arrogant, rich city kid. He just didn’t understand small towns. And that was his problem. What Clark chose to focus on instead was the fact Lex had heard rumors about the missing workers. The more attention the story received, the more people would want to do something about it.

“There!” Bryan said, pointing toward a huge, mostly empty parking lot tucked between several abandoned warehouses. Clark knew this was a remnant of a different era, back when Smallville was home to a number of leather-treatment companies. Or skinhouses, as some of the old-timers jokingly referred to them. They’d all shut down long before Clark was born.

He pulled out his phone and quickly texted Lana. He pinned his location to where Lex was parked and told her they were going into the lab. He slipped the phone back into his pocket without waiting for a response, saying, “This is where Wesco’s labs are?” It looked more like a ghost town, especially at night.

“Where else can you find so much square footage?” Lex asked. “I bet it’s dirt cheap.”

“I wonder if my dad knows how involved my brother is,” Bryan said. “He’d be pissed.”

As they quietly approached a long stretch of dark, dilapidated structures on foot, Clark felt slightly anxious. There were no lights anywhere. No security guards outside. No front entrances. He wasn’t worried about his own safety. But the whole setup seemed sketchy, like the company’s main objective in being out here was absolute secrecy. And if that was the case, what was Wesley trying to hide?

“Do we know where we’re going?” Lex asked Bryan, after they’d walked almost three blocks.

“I think so,” he answered uncertainly. “Though it was always light when I came here before. I remember that we have to go in through the back.”