Chloe's Dad eventually came to get us, he worked here and was the manager of this place. He was also giving the tour and as much as Chloe loved her Dad, he could be a bit embarrassing. Today was no exception and it lightened the mood a bit.

"Hello, everybody, I'm Gabe Sullivan, plant manager and proud father. Hi sweetheart." he gave a little wave to Chloe.

"Hey Dad." she awkwardly replied back making me giggle. She slapped my arm and gave me a playful glare.

"Welcome to Luthor Corp. 'Where we give a crap'" He joked and Chloe let go only to hide behind me. I couldn't stop giggling i had to cover my mouth.

"Okay, somebody kill me now." Chloe groaned

"Little fertiliser humour there. Okay before we go inside I need you to remove all your cell phones, pagers, jewellery. Anything that jangles, dangles or rings hasn't to go into the plastic trays. Any questions. I removed my necklace as Clark put his hand up. "Yes."

"I heard there was a their level three the plant, is that true?" he questioned making me scowl. It seemed more like he was digging into something rather than being just curious. Mr Sullivan looked sketchy for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah. That's where we do the alien autopsies. I think we better get started. This way everybody." I put my necklace and my phone in the tray and followed the crowd. Clark grabbed my arm and pulled me to the back of the group

"What the hell?" I ask him

"I need to talk to you. And before you kick off it's about Earl." I restraint myself from doing anything rash and listen as we walk along "Dad and I went to see him this morning. He told Dad that when he got a job here, there was a extra level, to the complex, where they were doing off the books research. He told Dad that there was an explosion and he got caught up in it." he explained lowering his voice and walking along.

"Then how is he still alive?" I question

"I don't know, but whatever they were doing it literally got under his skin and has been causing the seizures he's been having. When he asked what had happened, everyone denied all knowledge that Level three existed." I glance up at him

"A entire floor can't just disappear. there would be floor plans, and the like. Clark the guys unwell. The seizures I saw him experience can take their toll on the brain. I doubt what he said is actually true." I voiced finding it a bit of a stretch even for me

"We have to at least try and find out."

"I don't have to do anything. I care for Earl as much as you do, but I'm not gonna jump every time something weird happens. It's Smallville, the town of weird. At some point we're just gonna have to accept the fact that everything changed when we arrived." I pull my arm away and join the rest of the group.

"This is it!" Mr Sullivan declared "The Plants mission control 100,000 tons of animal waste to process here every year. Trust me the results can be pretty explosive. So if any of you had beans for lunch, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." Mr Sullivan made another joke. I chuckled standing with Chloe and Pete.

"Among his peers he's considered witty.," Chloe commented Pete hummed

"Where's Clark." he asked me and I looked around seeing he wasn't there. I rolled my eyes, of course he just had to check this out.

"Beats me." I replied. Another door to the control room started rattling furiously. Mr Sullivan went to check it out but before he could reach the door handle it opened and Earl stepped through with a gun and took mr Sullivan hostage.

"Don't Move." He ordered "Take me to level three now." Oh crap.

--------

Mr Sullivan was forced to a chair and we were all ordered to sit in a various line. Well that was except for me. Earl notice me and pulled up another chair.

"Mia." He pointed to the chair with his gun and I glanced back at my friends apprehensively then took a seat. "I need to keep my eye on you, you were always the sneaky one." he backed up and removed his jacket and tie.

"Never seemed to bother you before." I state making him look at me. "Earl, you're not well. You need help."

"What I need is to get to level three. You take this tie and bind her hands." he ordered Mr Sullivan. You shoelaces and her ankles."

"Earl, seriously." I exclaim

"I watched you grow, I know what you're like." My wrists and ankles were bounded. Of course i could get through them with ease, but I was in a room full of people and a guy with a gun that could fire at me only for it to ricksha onto or into someone else. To add to that he gave off the meteor rocks vibe that messed with me. Right now, I needed to be the normal human. He started questioning Mr Sullivan who couldn't or didn't give him anything.

"I swear I don't know anything about Level three." Mr Sullivan promised as he was pushed forward in the wheeled chair.

"You're lying." Earl declared

"He's not lying!" Clark finally decided to show up "I found these blueprints. There is no level three." Clark came forward and held out the plans. Earl came up to my brother and knocked the plans out of his hand. I saw that being near Earl weakened him and Clark stepped back. Earl then picked up the plans and moved to the other side of the room. While he opened the blue prints, Clark noticed where I was and for a moment his eyes bulged out in surprise.

"Every night, I go down to Level 2 follow the red pipes down the long hallway." Earl declared moving around "Go to the door, I open it and I take the elevator down to Level 3!" he shouted showing it to Pete then he went back over to Clark.

"Just like everybody else! Get over there and sit down! Or I shoot her! " he ordered Clark then swung the gun around on me.