Chapter 29: The Dam Breaks
Eric Summers descended from the sky like an angry god.
The dam stretched behind me—concrete and steel and the constant roar of water through the spillways. I'd positioned myself at the main entrance, visible, exposed, exactly where I wanted to be.
"You actually came," Eric said, landing ten feet away. His feet left cracks in the pavement. "I thought you might run."
"Running's not really my style."
"No?" He smiled—the smile of someone who'd finally gotten everything they ever wanted. "What IS your style, Cole? Standing around while better people do the real work?"
"Something like that."
Eric circled me slowly, savoring the moment. Behind his confidence, I could see the hunger—the desperate need to prove himself, to matter, to be seen as more than the bullied kid from the wrong side of town.
I understood that hunger. I'd felt versions of it myself.
But understanding didn't mean sympathy. Not when he'd threatened everyone I loved.
"Here's how this works," Eric said. "You challenged me. You called me out in front of the whole school. So now I'm going to show everyone what a real superhuman looks like." He cracked his knuckles. "And when I'm done with you, I'm going to find your girlfriend. See what makes her so special."
[THREAT LEVEL: MAXIMUM. RECOMMEND: IMMEDIATE COMBAT ENGAGEMENT.]
I moved first.
The Controlled Burst technique kicked in, flooding my muscles with energy. For one perfect moment, I matched Eric's reaction time—my fist connected with his jaw before he could dodge.
His head snapped back. More from surprise than pain, but it was something.
"That—" Eric touched his face, stunned. "That actually—"
I didn't let him finish. I threw everything I had into a combination—fists and elbows and knees, all the techniques I'd developed fighting meteor freaks who were stronger than me, faster than me, more dangerous than me.
Eric blocked most of it. But not all.
"You're FAST," he admitted, finally catching my arm. His grip was like a vise. "Not fast enough, though."
He threw me.
I flew thirty feet and crashed through a maintenance door, rolling across concrete floor until I hit a wall. The impact drove the air from my lungs. Something in my chest cracked—ribs, probably, the same ones that had just finished healing from the Jeff Palmer fight.
[DAMAGE DETECTED: FRACTURED RIBS (2). ENERGY DEPLETED TO 65%. RECOMMEND: TACTICAL RETREAT.]
Can't retreat. Clark's not in position yet.
I pulled myself up, tasting blood.
Eric stepped through the shattered doorway, silhouetted against the afternoon sun.
"That was impressive," he said. "For a meteor freak. But you're still just human underneath, aren't you? Still breakable."
"So are you." I spat blood on the floor. "You just don't know it yet."
His smile disappeared.
"I'm going to hurt you now. Not kill you—not yet. I want Clark to see what happens to people who stand against me."
He moved.
I activated another Burst—this one shorter, more focused. Dodged left when Eric expected me to go right. His fist hit the wall behind me hard enough to crater the concrete.
While he was off-balance, I ran.
Not away from him. Deeper into the dam. Toward the generator room where Clark was supposed to be waiting.
The chase through the dam was a nightmare of industrial corridors and emergency lighting.
Eric could have caught me instantly if he'd used super-speed. But he was playing with his food, letting me run, letting me tire myself out. He didn't know the layout like I did. Didn't know where the chase was supposed to end.
[ENERGY: 45%. CONTROLLED BURST TECHNIQUE: LIMITED AVAILABILITY.]
I burst through a door marked GENERATOR ACCESS and found myself in a vast chamber filled with massive turbines. The roar of machinery drowned out everything else. Catwalks crisscrossed overhead. Cables thick as my arm snaked across the floor.
And there, near the junction box Chloe had identified, was Clark.
He looked terrible—pale, sweating, barely able to stand. But he was there. In position. Ready.
"Clark!" I shouted over the machinery. "NOW would be good!"
Eric crashed through the door behind me.
"Oh, this is perfect." His voice carried somehow, cutting through the noise. "Both of you in one place. The has-been and the wannabe." He stalked forward, each step deliberate. "Which one should I break first?"
"Neither." Clark's voice was weak but steady. "The power you stole doesn't belong to you, Eric. It never did."
"Doesn't BELONG to me?" Eric laughed. "Look at me, Clark! I'm everything you were and more! I don't hide behind a secret identity. I don't pretend to be normal. I'm finally who I was always meant to be!"
"You're dying."
Eric's laughter cut off.
"What?"
"The energy isn't bonding to you." Kara's voice came from the catwalk above. She'd positioned herself perfectly, ready to throw the switch. "Your cells can't integrate it. In another week, maybe less, the power will tear you apart from the inside."
"You're lying."
"I'm Kryptonian." Kara's eyes met Eric's. "I know how this energy works. I know what it does to incompatible hosts. You're not dying quickly—but you ARE dying."
The horror on Eric's face was almost pitiful. Almost.
"No. No, you're lying to save him. This is a TRICK!"
"Then let's find out." I stepped forward, drawing Eric's attention. "If you're really invincible, prove it. Touch Clark. Let the energy choose its true host."
Eric's eyes darted between me and Clark and Kara. I could see the fear beneath his rage—the desperate terror of losing the only thing that had ever made him special.
"You're trying to take it back. You're ALL trying to take it back!"
He lunged for me instead of Clark. Exactly as I'd hoped.
I activated my last Burst, throwing myself sideways. Eric's fist passed inches from my head. His momentum carried him forward—straight into Clark, who grabbed him with both arms.
"KARA, NOW!"
She threw the switch.
The world turned white.
Electricity arced through the junction box, through Clark, through Eric. Both of them screamed—different screams, pain and transformation and something beyond human understanding. The air itself seemed to tear apart.
I was thrown backward by the shockwave, hitting the floor hard enough to see stars. My vision swam. My ears rang.
But I saw it. I saw the moment when golden energy poured OUT of Eric and INTO Clark. Saw Eric's face go slack as the power left him. Saw Clark's eyes ignite with yellow light as everything that had been taken was returned.
Then the surge ended. The machinery wound down. The lights flickered and died.
In the darkness, I heard Eric sobbing.
And I heard Clark say, in a voice full of wonder: "I can fly."
I couldn't move.
Every bone in my body felt like it had been replaced with broken glass. The ribs that had cracked earlier were definitely shattered now. Something was wrong with my wrist—it bent in a direction wrists weren't supposed to bend.
[CRITICAL DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: MULTIPLE FRACTURES. INTERNAL BRUISING. CONCUSSION PROBABLE. RECOMMEND: IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION.]
Yeah, no kidding.
Footsteps approached. Then Kara's face appeared above me, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Cole? Cole, can you hear me?"
"Heard everything," I managed. "Did it work?"
"It worked." Clark's voice, stronger now. "He's depowered. Powers are back where they belong." A pause. "You look terrible."
"Feel worse."
I tried to laugh. It came out as a wet cough that tasted like copper.
"Don't move." Kara's hands were on my face, gentle despite her obvious panic. "You're bleeding inside. I can feel it. We need to get you to a hospital."
"Eric?"
"Unconscious. We'll deal with him." Clark knelt beside Kara. "Cole, you didn't have to do this. You didn't have to risk—"
"Yes I did." My vision was fading at the edges. "You would have done the same. You DO the same, every day."
"That's different."
"No." I grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at me. "It's not. It's exactly the same. That's the point."
Something in Clark's expression shifted. I couldn't quite identify it—I was having trouble identifying anything through the pain and the encroaching darkness.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
I wanted to respond. To say something meaningful, something that matched the weight of the moment.
Instead, I passed out.
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