Never Say Goodbye

Chapter 4: Electric Arrows & Passionate Kisses

Duncan was alive. Nothing could have prepared Clark for the revelation Lionel finally made to him when he visited him. At first he was reluctant to talk and tried to stall but when Clark made it clear how serious the situation was, he confessed.

Not only had Lionel lied to everyone when Duncan was pronounced dead, Duncan had been residing in a Luthorcorp lab for the past ten years, where a team of scientists were constantly running tests to see if they could reverse the damage to his brain.

But what if one of those tests had worked? After he learned the truth, the question dawned on him and upon bringing it up, Lionel seemed to be horrified of the implications that may bring. Immediately he gave him the address where Duncan was, knowing Clark would easily be able to get in.

Which brought him to his current location. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hands and walked down the hallway, looking for the matching room number.

“Smallville?” A voice came from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and inwardly cringed as he saw Lois.

“Lois, what are you doing here?” He asked.

“I'm following a lead.” Lois answered, catching up to him. “I checked out Duncan's mother.”

“She’s dead.” Clark told her.

“I know that, Sherlock.” Lois responded. “On a hunch, I dug up all her old phone records. And every day while she was still kicking, she placed a call to this facility.”

“She was checking on her son.” Clark said.

“Duncan?” Lois asked, stunned. “I thought he was dead.”

“Yeah, so did everyone else.” Clark said wryly. “I think he's in this room.” He gestured to the piece of paper in his hand.

“How do you know all this?” Lois questioned.

“You’re not the only one with hunches.” He said, intentionally remaining vague.

“Nice work.” Lois said, snatching the paper from his hand. She continued down the hallway and he stopped in front of the room.

“Lois?” Clark said. When she turned around, he looked pointedly at the door.

He was about to open it when she slightly pushed him out of the way. “Unh-unh. It's my story. I don't share bylines.” She cleared her throat when she found she couldn’t open the door. “It's locked. You stay here. I'm gonna flirt us up a set of keys, alright?”

Watching her walk away, he turned the handle, breaking the lock.

“Lois,” he said, getting her attention. “It was just . . . stuck.”

She nodded and then smirked. “Well, ladies first.” He glared at her but entered the room. She took a quick look around to make sure they were alone and followed him in.

Clark’s heart went out to the man he saw lying in the chair. What kind of life was this? Did he even recognize what was going on? He had been so young when the accident happened and his last memories consisted of betrayal and pain.

This was no place to be. Clark knew that if anything like that happened to him, he would just want to be let go of. He felt for Duncan’s mother, who held on to the hope that her son would someday come out of this state.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he realized that they still had a case to solve, before more people died. He searched the room for clues and found the pad containing Duncan’s medical information.

“I'm not a doctor, but I've seen enough Discovery Channel to know you don't get the squiggly lines when you're in a vegetative state.” Lois was saying.