Smallville: X-Men
A Side Story
-Memories-
Pt. 1
by Geor-sama

Bayville, NY - Xavier Institute, Secure Subbasement...

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In the most isolated area of the high-tech subbasement were two titanium doors. Behind these magnetically sealed doors existed a utilitarian and soundproof room. A room designed for the express purpose for treating any mutant who could prove a danger to others.

So far the only guest to visit this room had been Logan.

Logan took a steadying breath. Fought his instincts as he focused on the sterile white ceiling. Tried to ignore the thick metal cuffs that secured him to the exam table.

"Are you ready for this?" Charles asked, tone grave.

Logan nodded.

Charles said nothing, growing still. Logan remained quiet knowing from past experience the telepath had to center himself. Charles expected the memories they were going after to buried deep. Deeper than any of the scant few they had ever recovered before.

Eventually Logan became aware of the gentle touch of the Professor's mind. Logan tried to keep his mind blank, but he could not hope that stirred. If this worked he would at last stop being so paranoid around Clark.

{Relax, close your eyes, and remember how Clark smells. Concentrate on that scent and only that scent. Concentrate on the smell Logan. The texture and strange familiarity, let your mind go. Think, go back, always thinking about that scent.}

A moment of faint vertigo washed over him as he followed the man's directions. Then the nightmare, his one constant returned.

The military lab loomed over him. Crazy instruments. Bottles, machines, tanks of fluid. Bright lights filled the ceiling over him. Belts held him down... Someone in a mask was drawing on him, laying out his skeleton with a blue pen. Their eyes full of coldness and intellect. He fought against the belts, straining to break free and kill them all. Scalpels cut. Pain! And cut. Pain! And cut. Unbearable pain! His bed lowered and scalding liquid washed over him and he tried to scream. The liquid filled his every pore, touching his every nerve with hot tips of agony. Creeping and unstoppable. A black figure loomed in his vision-

{Logan.} A strong voice said, breaking into the memory, shattering it. {Logan, it is only a memory, it cannot hurt you now. It only has power over you if you allow it.}

In the wake of the voice the nightmare receded Leaving darkness and clam. Leaving Logan, briefly, at peace.

{Remember the scent, only the scent. Where did you first experience it?}

Logan jerked as if thrust forward on an abruptly moving roller coaster Faster and faster, climbing higher and higher. The invisible roller coaster peaked and then he plunged downward with impossible velocity -

"You know, this place ain't half bad." Victor said, idly using his finger nail to carve a pattern into the top of their table.

"Ain't exactly thrilled comin' to a place that just got over that damn plague." James growled, glancing up from his newspaper to eye their surroundings.

Open shops filled with odd goods lined the small street, as Chinese immigrants passed to and fro. They seemed oblivious to them, but James knew better. He and Victor stuck out like sore thumbs even in the best of circumstances. So sitting at one of the outdoor restaurants in an all Chinese section of a city made it impossible to miss them.

"Meh, plague, bullets, knifes. We've lived through it all before."

"Doesn't make it pleasant." James growled, while his brother barked a laugh.

"So, anything in the paper?" Victor asked, his attention shifting from his carving and to a passing waitress.

Clearly Victor had things on his mind other than finding the missing locals or Raven. For a brief moment Logan considered punching him, but decided against it. That last thing they needed to do would be starting fighting. At least right then.

"No." James grunted. "The only thing their talkin' about is some mountain in Naples blowing its top. Nothing about local disappearances or anything useful for finding her."

"Think maybe we should ask the locals?"

"Eventually." James bit out, revisiting his idea of punching his brother. "I want to check out where Raven was staying again, see if we missed anything last time."

Victor laughed. "You still think she didn't give your 'gringo' ass the mitten?"

James growled, eyes narrowing but the impending fight fell to the way side when a new scent filled the area. Something completely and powerfully alien. It did not take them long to locate the source - a man and a woman standing in the middle of the street.

The silence was instantaneous.

The man wore the latest fashion, had his hair neatly combed, and looked intense. The woman was more distinctive. Shorter than anyone else on the street. Snow white hair pulled into a tight ponytail, and a granite hard expression. She also wore one of those new 'car coats', buttoned from ankle to neck.

Without a word he and Victor got up, and froze when the woman's head snapped around to stare at them. It almost seemed like her eyes glowed before she looked away to scan the rest of the street.

After a minute she started to speak, her voice carrying a strange accent and pitched to carry.

"Jiak kij mala kil-gor ro Raugz ukhard nauk-preukenavaumn avhe rulaumn Kashaul ro krypavon jiak kij katu shal nauk-garduk avo avhe kroloavean preukence auk lat ayh shal violaavion ro avhe inaverference clauuke auk raavifiun afar avhe rimbor accorduk avhiuk planeav iuk proavecavun um lat do noav anukwas avhiuk liwo auavhorize mausan uuke ro pardahun jiak awaiav latr nauk-ukponuke"

Nobody moved. Except for an older Chinese man. He shifted his weight and drew their attention.

"⑄ ∝" The woman shouted in yet another foreign language.

The old man broke into a run, shoving a woman and her child into the road but his escape came to an abrupt end. Without any hint of motion or effort the woman appeared directly in his path. Her hand clenched around his throat and holding him a good three feet off the ground.

"Curuke lat Celeukavial!" The man shouted before opening his mouth wide and emitting a blast of some kind.

The greenish-yellow light engulfed her and the building behind her.

The building crumbled away like a tornado hit it. The woman remained untouched. The only sign the blast had hit her were the few smouldering strips left of her car coat.

Rather than leave her naked, the loss of the coat revealed odd clothes. A two-toned high collared dark armor, with blue sections wrapped around the waist to suggest a belt. On her impressive chest was a silver pentagon bearing what looked like a star.

Several voices cried 'Asura!' and the street turned into pandemonium. After a few minutes only a five of them remained. James, his brother, the two strangers, and the gremlin.

"Wauk avhaav neceukukarausan kroloavean." The woman said before wrenching his head off. Instead of gushing blood there came a series of sparks from now exposed wires. The body went limp and she tossed the head aside before prying open the chest. Her hand disappeared inside before she yanked out a sobbing goblin-like creature. "naru avhaav avhaav iuk ouav ro avhe waausan nalkramal iuk latr ukhip"

"Da avo skator!" the goblin-like creature spat, voice trembling with fear.

"Lat kroloavean ayh zemarpak avhough ukmarav lat graukp exacavpak whaav ij krypavonian saib do uko jiak aukk um lat avhink iav wiuke avo inukulav ni par ij avaukk leav nalt ni avhaav ro avo avhe Raugz ukhard" The woman asked, and despite the language barrier her anger came through loud and clear.

"Parmab avhe weukav coaukav whaav avhe Humans bugd Mussel Rock vhaav'uk gith jiak'll ukaausan um lat wanav ma avhan avrausan agh purukue avhe emiukukionuk" the goblin like creature said after a moment, pointing to the south-west disheartened.

"Avhank lat iav iuk appreciaavun" The woman said, flicking it between the eyes with a finger. She gave a quick shake then nodded dropping it at her feet.

The memory shattered, became a chaotic mass of sight, smells, noise, pain. Puzzle pieces with no reason, connection, or framework. Blood. Explosions. Agony. Desperation. Love. Then it all swirled down, down, down and -

"I apologize in advance as your languages are limited. My name is Seyg-El and this is Mala Kil-Gor, we are not from here and possess vast senses and abilities. One of which allows us to perceive different types of energy. Every species has an energy field, a, a bio-energy? Yes that works. Think of this bio-energy as a kind of radio wave, if that helps. As such each species has a specific broadcast signal and we can see these broadcast signals."

"That explains how you knew about that...what the hell was that thing anyway?" James asked.

Seyg-El and Mala Kil-Gor shared a look, something seeming to pass between them. Then Mala Kil-Gor answered. "That creature is known as a Krolotean. It is not from here either."

James snorted, annoyed. "Still doesn't tell us what it is."

"You get addle-headed when I wasn't looking? I think it's pretty obvious what they mean when they say not from around here. Their like those moon-men in that photoplay."

James stared at his brother, wondering if he had lost it.

"Essentially correct." Mala Kil-Gor said. "We are from a world called Krypton. The Kroloteans are from another world called Krolotea."

James stared at the man and then the woman, before shrugging. Right, so aliens. Not the craziest thing he had and Victor had dealt with.

"Great. Now you going to tell us why the hell you kept staring at us?" Victor asked.

"Your bio-energy signal, it marks you as part of the next step in human development. You're appearance falls outside of the standard expectations." Seyg-El said.

James frowned. "And why are we outside your expectations?"

"Every species goes through development phases, adapting to the world around them. In normal circumstances your world would have already gone through this phase, but it has not. But that was expected given the difficulties of your planets early years. Precursors such as yourselves were not expected to appear until much later. You're early development is a deviance we had not anticipated."

"Pst, did you understand any of that?" Victor whispered.

James grunted he had, or at least he got the gist of it. Something happened when they were a bunch of cavemen screwed them all up. But he had bigger things to worry about than what happened back then. Like if their being here had something to do with Raven going missing. "So why are you here?"

"We have our reasons, and they do not concern you." Mala Kil-Gor said. "As for the Kroloteans, Seyg?"

The man frowned, his gaze shifting between James and Victor, eyes glowing. Then his frown grew deeper. "Yes, I believe your earlier hypotheses is correct. It is the fact that humans have started to recover ahead of schedule that drew the Kroloteans."

"Why?" James asked.

"As we said, your species had problems early in your development. It was not a natural occurrence, but rather because an older race decided to experiment. The intent was to first trigger an early evolution and guide it toward their desired result. The experiment ended with them ruining their race and crippling yours in the process."

"They were foolish children that should have known better and the Guardians should still be ashamed for letting it happen." Mala Kil-Gor said, angry.

"Mala." Seyg-El said, placing a soothing hand on her shoulder. The woman relaxed and he turned his attention to them. "As for why your development drew the Kroloteans, they do doubt wish to accomplish a similar task. For now they study you, trying to understand how your race has recovered so quickly. Later they will begin to manipulate it to further their research. What they learn they will then attempt to apply to their own race, in an attempt to advanced their own species evolution. However, since they are barely older than your species the results will be even more catastrophic than what the Chiturai attempted."

Mala Kil-Gor gave a harsh laugh. "Clearly the Guardians no longer consider the affairs of toddlers a priority.

"Toddlers?" Victor asked, voice dropping into a growl.

Seyg-El sighed, before explaining. "From our perspective, it could be seen that way. Our world, as well as the Guardians home world of Oa, are among the first worlds to develop life four hundred thousand years after the universe began. Earth and Krolotea did not form until nine billion years after the universe began."

The memory twisted and tore. It all became random words and concepts, beyond his grasp. All of it too much and too painful. Then it all started to slither back into place -

"Are you certain you two wish to do this?" Seyg-El asked.

"We said we would help so that's what we're going to do." Victor said, giving the Kryptonian a savage grin. "Besides, my goop of a brother has his girl in there."

James shot Victor a look, they would be having words later if they survived. Not that Victor had been wrong, there was every chance that the Kroloteans had taken Raven. But he had not come just because of that. He refused to let these green bastards do whatever they wanted with Earth.

"Then remember your task is only to recover any humans they have abducted." Mala Kil-Gor said. "If there are none, or if none survived, then you leave."

"Give it a rest, we know." Victor growled, rolling his eyes.

"⑀ ≗" Mala Kil-Gor sighed, looking over at Seyg. "⊸⌻⊬ ≠ ╽╿⍢⌻⍚╹╽╿┌ ⋄╽╿⋄╹╽╿⋣⌺ ⍤〡╽╿⍢╹╽╿⊨ ┌╽╿⊸⌺⊨ ⍢⌏∾⌻⍚⑆⋄ ⍚⌻┌⌏⊸╹╽╿┌ ≟"

"╽╿⍚⌻ ⍢⌻⍚ ╽╿⌍∙╽╿⑆ ⌑╽╿⍚⌀ ╹╽╿⍚⌻⌺⑆ ﹌ ╽╿⊸╹╽╿∎╽⌻⍚⍘ ╽╿∎╽ ≈ ≆ ⋣⑇⋄ ╽╿⋄╹╽╿⋣⌺ ⋣╽╿⍤〡╽╿⌻⍚ ⍚⌀╹╽╿ ≗" Seyg-El said, studying the spaceship.

Mala Kil-Gor laughed. "╽╿⌍∙ ⌑╽╿⍚⌀ ⋄╽╿⊸ ╽╿⋄╹╽╿⋣⌺ ﹌ ╽∎⌺⋄╽╿ ⌠⌾⌡ ⌻⍚╽╿⌏╽╿╽∎⌺⑆ ⌡⌽⌠ ⍤〡╽╿⌏┌⊬ ⌺┌ ⍚⌀╽╿⋄╽╿⍘ ⌌ ⋩ ≗"

That said, she floated up and forward, slamming a powerful fist into the metal door.

The reverberation was deafening as the metal buckle. Grinning she grabbed the sides of the warped metal and tugged. The metal tore with a deafening squeal. Shifting her grip Mala Kil-Gor heaved again, widening the opening. Without a word Mala floated through the opening.

James started to follow, as did Victor, only to have Seyg-El place a hand on their shoulders. "Give her a moment."

"I've had just about-" Victor snarled only to have a thunderous noise, like the mother of all cannons, cut him off.

A heavy brass thrum came next, before an explosion rocked the rock they were standing on. Strong enough that it knocked James and Victor off their feet. They got up only for a wave of heat like from a blast furnace to come snarling out of the opening Mala Kil-Gor had made.

Not too long after that a horrible wailing filled the air before dying out seconds later.

"Now we may proceed." Seyg-El said, floating past them.

James shared a look with his brother. Victor offered a tight smile before they followed the Kryptonian inside. They stepped into the middle of devastation. Steaming puddles of something oil-thick and copper-colored covered the ground. In the middle of the floor sat a large melted heap of metal that could only have been the cannon. The walls bowed, covered with holes, with parts melting to slag. Across from where the entrance a roughly man sized opening with melting edges waited.

Stepping through, James entered a hall with dark yellow lighting and Seyg-El. The man seemed to be studying his surroundings with a detached calm.

"Mala should have their security occupied." Seyg-El said and as if to confirm this, a high pitched whine drifted from further down the corridor. The entire ship shuddered.

Reaching out Seyg-El pressed a small object against a blank space next to a nearby door which slid open. Turning he handed James an octagonal disc with strange symbols engraved on the edges. "Place this upon any space as you saw me do and it will open the door or bio-chamber. Follow this hallway, do not take any of the branching halls, and the the research labs will be at the end."

"You sure?" James asked, eyeing the man.

"This is not a permanent research station, but a support craft repurposed for their cursory inquiry into your species. When adapting a ship there are few options for subject storage, and they have long since standardized the layout for their ships in such cases. You should hurry, if they can offload their research or subjects they will return with a more permanent, and far more secure, research station. After which the mass cultivating of your world would begin."

"Right." Victor cheered, clapping James on the shoulder as he passed. "Come along little brother, we have some little green men to say hi to."

Authors Notes:

First, please a moment of silence for the passing of Stan Lee. He will be missed, but not forgotten.

Second, I don't own anything here. As stated by my countless other disclaimers. I was tempted to not add one, but decided to live dangerously by posting it at the end here.

Third this takes place during the last chapter of Smallville: X-men during Clark's Date and Evan's showdown with Pietro. Why I didn't include it was simple: It threw the flow of the chapter off and took focus away from Clark and Evan. Still, I did need to share it, so here we are. It also starts filling in some of the background details for my wider universal lore, some of it is hidden within the Krolotean speech...so have fun with that.

Hint: In comics the Krolotean language is German, which I tried first. But I didn't like it, so I tried the screeching that they used on Young Justice, but there's just no way to portray that well in a written format. So I decided to cheat and use the Black Speech from LOTR. There are some nice translators out there and some Easter eggs sprinkled in the dialogue. It was also brought to my attention by DarkghostX that I should list where I translated my Black Speech from - this was my bad as I thought given it was a LOTR langauge that all translators would be the same.

That said, I used lingojam,com/BlackSpeechTranslator , and angelfire,com/ia/orcishnations/orcishphrases,html to fill in a few missing words

The next and last chapter for this side story will be out in December (if all goes well).