Clark and Chloe found Gail’s room directly down the hall, right in the middle of the heaviest floor traffic. Nurses walked by briskly with doctors, their heads buried in charts as they talked. Injured people lay on gurneys all throughout the hall, heavily bandaged, but lying still. The two had to pause for a while, as a pair of nurses maneuvered a gurney down the hall and into the elevator. “How are they keeping up with all this?” Clark asked quietly.

“They’ve already flown most of the serious cases out to Metropolis,” Chloe told him. These are the people that can treat here, or wouldn’t survive the trip,” she finished in a whisper.

Clark stared all around him, feeling a deep sinking in his chest. Richie had done all this to people he knew, people he saw everyday. And worse yet, there hadn’t been a single thing he could’ve done to stop him. Clark had tried and despite all his powers, he had failed. Clark touched the cold metal bar of a gurney, staring at the face of the young boy on it. He had a large bandage wrapped around his head, covering his left eye. An angry red cut peaked out from beneath the end of the cloth. The metal bar crunched in Clark’s hand as he stared, gritting his teeth. He recalled the little girl he had saved the night before, silently crying as she struggled underneath her dead mother. His hearing, already sharp, became like a razor, and he heard every moan and cry echo in his ears. Letting go of the bar, Clark backed away; the world’s suffering engulfing him suddenly.

“Clark?” Chloe asked. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She took hold of his shoulder to steady him and guided him to a chair next to the wall.

“I’m fine,” he muttered, his knees buckling slightly as he almost fell into the seat.

“Sure you are,” she remarked.

“No, it’s alright. I just got a little… overwhelmed, I guess,” he said. He stared at the floor, keeping his head down. The cries mercifully faded in his ears to a dull murmur. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told her. “I didn’t know it could get like this.”

“It was like this when the meteor’s crashed down,” Chloe said quietly. “My mom used to be a nurse, and so after they hit, she packed me and my brothers and sisters into the van and drove here, to see if she could help out. I was only three when it happened, but I can still remember sitting in the waiting room, watching injured people being rolled by endlessly. The worst part about it was, that I recognized some of the people, but I didn’t understand what had happened to them.” Her eyes started to water, and she dashed her arm across them, wiping away tears.

“I had nightmares about it for years,” she admitted. “I’d see my friends, my brothers, and sisters being wheeled past me, and I’d try and yank open the door to the waiting room open so I could stop them, but I could never get the door open. Then finally I’d see my mom and dad wheeled past and…” she stopped and looked away. “It doesn’t matter, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I guess I should be glad I didn’t lose anyone. People like Lana weren’t that lucky.”

“It’s alright,” Clark told her, taking her hand. “I don’t remember the meteor shower at all. Sometimes, I guess I forget how horrible it must have been for everyone. It changed everyone’s lives; this town’s future.”

“Yeah,” Chloe said bitterly, “really did us a favor, didn’t it? If the crash wasn’t bad enough, it left all sorts of nasty surprises lying around for people to find.”

“Like Richie.” Clark looked up at the little boy across the hall and decided something. “You still feel up to talking to Gail?” Clark asked Chloe.

“That was where we were headed,” she replied. Clark got to his feet, listening to the dull murmur in his ears. Was it always going to be like this, he asked himself. Would he always be able to hear every cry of fear and pain of those around him for the rest of his life? Maybe it would be, but that didn’t mean he had to sit by idly and just listen. He swore that to himself as they walked to Gail’s room.

Unlike Bruce, Gail shared a room with three other people. Two looked to have been here before last night; an old woman who was currently sleeping, and a young man with his lower body in a cast. The other was a young woman whose arms were wrapped in bandages. She was cradling them softly in her sleep, her face twitching in pain occasionally as she breathed. Gail lay on her sheets, her face cut and bruised and a tight bandage on her right arm. She stared out the window as they entered, not looking towards them. “Gail, right?” Chloe asked. “We met the other day at the circus. I’m Chloe Sullivan and this is Clark Kent.” Gail didn’t respond immediately, she just stared out the window. “If you’re able to, we’d really like to ask you a few questions about Richie Tele-“ Chloe continued when Gail spoke up, cutting her off.

“You came yesterday looking for Tom, didn’t you?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the window.

“Uh, yes,” Clark said. “Yes I did.”

“Why?” she asked him quietly. Clark shrugged uncomfortably, trying to put it in words right.

“I had some questions about the guy,” he said finally. “But the more I found out, the more confusing he became.”

Gail smiled sadly and looked at him finally. Her eyes narrowed a little as she saw him, then she turned to Chloe. “I’d say that’s a fairly good description of how I feel right about now,” she said. “About both Tom and Richie.”

“So how long did you know Bruce Wayne as Tom Malone?” Chloe asked, taking out a notebook. Gail arched one eyebrow and looked at Clark in puzzled amusement.

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“Am I being interviewed here?” she laughed. Clark rolled his eyes and nodded. “Oh my first interview,” Gail said, reclining in her bed, “and I’m in such a state.” Clark laughed in spite of himself as Chloe made a wry face.

“Sorry, it’s just I’d like to be a reporter someday and I guess I got into the habit,” she apologized, but Gail shook her head.

“No, its alright,” she told her. “I don’t mind being interviewed, but I don’t know what I can tell you. What I mean is, I thought I knew Tom and I thought I knew Richie, but now,” she paused and sighed, “I don’t think I ever really knew either of them.”

“Just tell us what you can,” Clark urged her. “Anything you can tell us would be helpful.”

Gail nodded and looked down at hands, folded on her blankets. “Alright, if you say so. Then I think I’ll start with Tom, or Bruce as I suppose you know him,” she said. “I guess I keep thinking of him as Tom Malone, the same guy who showed up at my father’s tent two years ago. He’d never worked in a circus a day in his life, never trained with any other escape artist, and yet he just walked up to my father and told him he’d like to learn anything he could teach him. My father laughed him off,” Gail admitted, “but he was so insistent that I guess he just let him stay around to shut him up. I think that was the most that I ever heard him talk to anyone.” She stopped and laughed a little. “My dad told me he had planned to work Tom so hard he’d quit on his own, but that never happened. Tom’s the strongest, hardest person I’ve ever met. He did any job my father had for him, and was still ready and willing to learn whatever scraps my father had for him at the end of the day. And that’s when my father found out how smart he was too. Tom can figure anything out, pick up any trick just by watching it once. He’s really amazing,” she told them, “much better than me. He could’ve been the best if he’d really wanted to be.”

“But he was just there for something else,” Clark finished for her. Gail looked up at him and nodded.

“He doesn’t want to be a performer, I know that for a fact. I asked him once, if he would stick around with us,” she said slowly, looking back out the window, “but he said no. I don’t know what he plans on doing with this life, I’m not sure he knows either. Sometimes, I’d watch him, watch him work or train, and he’d get this look on his face. It was like, despite everything he was doing, it wasn’t enough. Like he needed something else, but he didn’t know what.” She sighed again and rubbed her arms like she was cold. She flinched a little as she touched her bandage, the wound still raw.

“How are you feeling?” Clark asked quietly. “Everything okay?”

She smiled gratefully at him and nodded. “I’m fine, this is nothing. They say my dad’s going to be okay too. He wasn’t hurt too bad.” Her face fell as she said, “But a lot of people weren’t so lucky. I still don’t understand how he could just lash out at everyone like that. His father, yes, but we all loved him.”

“This would be Richie now,” Chloe said, writing furiously. “What about his father?”

“Richie’s dad was a jerk,” Gail stated. “Everyone hated him, but no one was willing to quit over it. I told my dad we should’ve plenty of times, but he never agreed. There aren’t too many other circuses that can a support a sideshow act like ours. If it wasn’t here, it was Vegas, and that was something my dad swore he’d never do. So we all just put up with him. I don’t think Richie could do that, he had to live with him.”

“If he was so mean to his son, why didn’t someone say anything?” Clark asked. Gail shrugged and looked at him seriously.

“What can you say to someone like that? We didn’t know that he was abusing him. We knew they had fights, but it wasn’t like Richie went around telling everyone about it.” She frowned and looked down at her hands. “You probably won’t understand this, but a circus is really like a family. We all stick together, and try and help each other out. Sometimes that can go the wrong way and everyone just ignores what’s really going on because we don’t want to turn on a family member.”

“Maybe that’s why he lashed out,” Chloe offered. “He felt that he was the only one left out.”

“I don’t know,” Gail said quietly. “I’m not too sure what to think about him anymore.”

“Do you have any idea what he’ll try and do next?” Clark asked her.

“No. Richie never was much for planning ahead. I don’t know where he’d go or what he’d do now. Sorry.”

Clark waved away her apology. “It’s alright. Thanks anyways.” Chloe nodded and put away her notebook. Then she took it out, scribbled a number on a piece a paper, and tore it out of the book.

“If you can think of anything else,” she said, handing the slip to Gail, “just call me at this number. It’s my home number, so I probably won’t be there, but just leave a message.”

“Thanks,” Gail said, looking at the slip of paper. “Could you do me a favor though, first?” Chloe nodded. “Could you find Tom for me?” Gail asked her quietly. “I don’t see what happened to him, and none of the doctors or nurses would tell me either. He could be dead for all I know.”

“Don’t worry, he’s not dead,” Clark told her, coming back to her bedside. “He’s fine. Well enough in fact to nearly bite my head off when I tried to help him.”

Gail let out a sigh of relief and fell back on her pillow. “Oh thank God,” she said, her eyes tearing up. “I saw him try and fight Richie, but then I passed out and woke up here. Where is he?” she asked. “Is he alright?” Clark and Chloe exchanged a look that Gail caught. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “You said he’s fine, right?”

“Yes,” Chloe assured her, “but as for where he is…” her voice trailed off.

“He was taken here too,” Clark stepped in, “but he didn’t seem to plan on staying. The doctors had him locked up in a room down the hall, and we sorta let him out.”

“What?” Gail asked, confused. “What do you mean? Where is he?”

“That’s just what we were asking a few minutes ago,” Chloe said sarcastically. “Our Millionaire Wonder gave us the slip the second our backs were turned.”

“He left you?” Gail asked them incredulously. “I don’t understand. Didn’t he know I was here?” she asked them, her voice almost a whisper. “Didn’t he want to make sure we were alright?” Clark tried to speak, but when he looked at her face, he couldn’t seem to get the words out. Gail saw him floundering and the truth slowly started to dawn in her eyes, when suddenly Chloe spoke up.

“Of course he didn’t know,” she told Gail matter-of-factly. “He left before we could tell him.” Gail turned to her, relief flooding back into her face. “None of us knew you were here until we checked the nurses station. Bruce, Tom, thought you might be still back at the circus, trapped somewhere. That’s probably where’s he headed now.” Out of the corner of his eye, Clark stared at Chloe, stunned. Chloe’s face was calm and soft as she spoke to Gail, not betraying anything. “He seemed really worried,” Chloe told her finally. Gail’s cheeks went a little red and she glanced out the window again, turning away from them. Clark turned to Chloe, an unspoken question on his face, but Chloe held up a finger on her hand, telling him to wait.

“Well, the police are at the circus, right?” Gail said slowly. “So I guess he’ll find out that I’m here pretty soon. But,” she remarked, “After he finds me, he’s going to want to find Richie. They’ve never liked each other,” she told Clark and Chloe forcefully. “I’ve seen Tom practice and fight, so I know he’s amazing, but what he can do against Richie?” She turned to Clark and stared into his eyes. “Please, you’ve got to help him,” she begged him. Clark backed up a step, suddenly very worried about how sure Gail was that he could help Bruce.

“I’m not sure what I could do,” Clark said quietly, looking away from Gail. “Even if I could, I don’t think he’d accept it.”

“Please,” she begged again. “Forget about what he wants. He can’t do it alone, he knows it, but he’ll still try even if it kills him.”

Clark stared at her, looking at him helplessly. Chloe looked at him, her face sad, but also a little puzzled. He turned away, looking down at the floor. Bruce couldn’t beat Richie alone. He’d tried and he’d almost gotten killed in the process. Clark didn’t owe the guy anything, he didn’t want him hurt, but he also wouldn’t have been that upset if he had never heard from Bruce Wayne ever again. He’d stop Richie on his own, then he’d deal with Bruce, Clark tried to tell himself. He could do it; he was strong, he was fast, he was… He was a liar, he realized suddenly. He’d tried to fight Richie and he’d almost wound up in as much trouble as Bruce. Clark couldn’t beat Richie alone. Bruce couldn’t beat Richie alone. But together… It went against all of Clark’s wishes, but there didn’t seem to be any other choice. They’d have to fight together; there was no other way.

“I’ll try,” he promised Gail, trying to keep his voice from sounding as reluctant as he felt.