Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4)(63)

At the top of the structure, the four of them removed their grip socks and crept over to the lone skylight to peer inside.

Gloria gasped.

She could now see what Clark had seen earlier.

Lana and Lex looked, too.

Dozens of men sat motionless, chained to the floor of the structure, watching some kind of instructional video. It showed an older man in a business suit who was speaking directly into the camera while every few seconds a seemingly random image flashed onto the screen, never long enough for Clark to make out what it was. The only source of light inside the room was the screen, but Clark could clearly make out that all the men had IVs coming out of their arms, which were strapped to their sides. A scientist Clark didn’t recognize was going down the line of chairs, reading the machines connected to the men and recording information on a small tablet.

But what made Clark’s entire body go numb was something he was just now beginning to recognize. A single characteristic linked all the men chained to the chairs.

The color of their skin.

Brown.

Fury boiled inside Clark’s chest. He turned and saw the horrified look on Gloria’s face. “I’m going down there,” he snarled.

“No,” Lana said. “Lex is recording. We’ll take the footage to the cops, and they can come out here with the proper reinforcements.”

Clark shook his head, repeating, “I’m going down there. Now.” When he stood up, Lana and Lex both grabbed hold of his arms. He easily brushed them away.

But then Gloria stepped in front of him, saying, “Don’t, Clark! It’s suicide.”

The desperate emotion in Gloria’s voice stopped Clark in his tracks.

He took a deep breath and tried to think. The men inside this building had been taken against their will. They were chained to the floor, IVs forced into their veins and propaganda forced into their brains. They needed help. And Gloria probably knew some of them. Yet she was still telling him to wait. Maybe she was right. If he barged into the building now, people could get hurt. Maybe even killed.

Lana or Gloria could get killed.

Clark balled his hands into tight fists and growled soundlessly. Then he knelt beside the skylight and stared down at the men again. When his eyes had adjusted to the dim light, he picked up on more troubling details. Some of the men were older, some in their thirties and forties. Others hardly even looked eighteen. And the IVs were feeding a light green liquid into each man’s veins. It looked similar to the substance he’d seen Bryan inject at the gym.

He spun around to Lex. “You’re getting all this?”

Lex nodded. “Every bit of it.”

There was a commotion near the small building. Men shouting.

“Let’s get out of here,” Lana whispered.

Clark scurried to the edge of the roof, where he saw three Mexican men being led from the smaller structure to the bigger one.

Lex was suddenly beside him, aiming a tiny digital camera down at this new cluster of men. Lana was there, too, pointing at Lex’s watch. “Seriously, we gotta go. Now.”

One of the guards looked up. Clark quickly backed away from the edge, pulling Lex and Lana with him. Gloria remained behind them, looking all around. Clark listened for movement. He heard the guards mumbling to each other below. Using his super-hearing, he could just make out some of what they were saying:

“They’re not ready,” one said.

“They have to be. We don’t have any more time.”

“Should I increase the dose, then? Or wait on the improved formula?”

Clark saw the beam of a flashlight pass over their heads. He was pretty sure they hadn’t been spotted.

But had the men heard them?

They quickly put their grip socks back on and readied themselves to climb down the side of the building. But just as Lana was turning around to descend the wall feetfirst, the top of a ladder swung into view and came to a rest against the edge of the roof right next to them. Clark’s stomach dropped as he heard someone beginning to climb the aluminum rungs.

He pulled Lana away from the wall.

Gloria was beside him now. “We have to go down the other side,” she whispered.

Clark put a finger up to his lips. He quickly moved around the perimeter of the roof, peering down at every other option before coming back to Lex and Lana. The man climbing the ladder was closer now.

“I got him,” Lex said, pulling out his dart gun.

Clark watched Lex raise the narrow barrel and wait for the man to come up over the side of the roof. His hand was shaking.

When the man finally emerged, Lex fired, missing badly.

Before Lex could reload, the man had swung himself onto the roof. He bounded to Lex, grabbed the dart gun, and chucked it away.

Clark lunged for the man, quickly taking him down. Within a fraction of a second, Clark had him in a tight sleeper hold. When the man’s body went limp, Clark gently set him on his back.

Gloria stared at Clark, wide-eyed.

“Come on,” he said to her. He motioned for Lana and Lex, too, and the four of them made a move for the opposite side of the roof. But in the chaos, none of them were able to use the grip socks correctly. They kept forgetting to slide right and tripping. “Take the socks off,” Clark said. “I’ll help you down.”

Clark descended the wall using only his hands. When the others made it to the edge of the roof, he held out his arms, motioning for them to jump. “Gloria, you go first,” he said in a loud whisper. She hesitated, then dropped into his arms. He caught her, making sure he went to the ground once she was secure, so that it appeared to take a great effort.