Title: The Completely Mental Misadventures of Mr. Mxyzptlk – Story 1: The Iceman Cometh
Author: scifichick774
Rating: PG-13
Category: Supernatural/Humor/Romance/Drama – honestly, it’s got a little bit of everything. The pairings are all over the place, but Chlex fans won’t be disappointed.
Spoilers: Anything through the second season is fair game.
Summary: Mr. Mxyzptlk decides to go back in time to cause mischief in Smallville, since Clark isn’t Superman yet and won’t know how to send him back to the fifth dimension.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no infringement intended, please don’t sue.
Feedback: Yes please.
Archival: Sure – just let me know where.
Author’s Note: I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the Superman fandom outside of Smallville, but Mr. Mxyzptlk is an imp from the fifth dimension’s land of Zrfff. It sounds like I just made that up, but I honestly didn’t. His main purpose in the comics seems to be to play pranks and cause mischief for Superman. Since he is from the fifth dimension, he can basically do anything (which means great fun for me as a writer).
The first story, The Iceman Cometh, has elements from CT’s challenge in it. A kid named Cole who has been affected by the meteorites and has X-Men’s Iceman-like powers. He gets blamed for a series of crimes, and it’s up to Clark and his friends to help him clear his name. On a side note, I’m sorry CT. I know you were probably expecting a more drama/action oriented fic, but this was the best I could do. I hope you like it anyway.
What else should you know? Despite the fact that I dislike Helen, she’s in the first couple of stories. And Lucas has come back to Smallville to stay. Each story in the series will be two to three chapters long. Hope you enjoy this first one!
~*~*~*~*~*~
The fifth dimension – Zrfff
Mr. Mxyzptlk looked at the multi-dimensional viewer screen in front of him. What had ever possessed him to tell Superman about the clause for sending him back to the fifth dimension was beyond him.
“Good idea. Tell him that you’re sent back to Zrfff if he can get you to say or spell your name backwards,” he sarcastically chided himself. “It will make it more sportsman-like that way.” He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “If only there was some way to ---” his monologue trailed off and a wry grin curled the corners of his mouth upward. He glanced back at the screen, its image changed to what he had been thinking about. “Clark Kent in cow town, before he was Superman. And he doesn’t have all of his powers yet, or the knowledge of how to get rid of me.” His grin turned into a wide smile and he leaned his head back on his arms. “I’m so good.”
Smallville – The Talon
“I have to take this,” Helen Bryce said as she looked down at her cell phone. Lex gave her a curt nod of approval and she rose from her seat, clicking the phone on as she walked away from the table. Lucas’s head was leaning heavily onto his arm on the table as he watched her walk away.
“Explain to me why you’re dating her again,” he said. Lex took a sip of coffee and looked at his brother disapprovingly.
Ever since Lucas had come back to live at the castle, he had been giving Lex a hard time about dating Helen – let alone asking her to move in with him. Clark shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He knew that Lex was trying to get him and Lucas to get along, but the forced ‘play dates’ as Chloe called them, only seemed to widen the rift between them.
“I like her,” Clark chimed in. “She’s nicer than some of your other girlfriends, and you know she’s not after you for your money, because she’s a doctor.” Lex grinned at his friend for his sudden show of support. He was about to say something when Lucas started talking again.
“Yeah, but she’s boring,” Lucas argued.
“You’re not the one dating her,” Lex said.
“Thank God,” Lucas said. “I’d have slipped into a coma and dad would have pulled the plug by now.” Clark coughed on the sip of coffee he had taken and he reached for a napkin to wipe his mouth off with. Lucas settled back into his chair, scanned the room with his eyes, and a lustful grin curled his lips upward. “Now that,” he said as he motioned with his head, “is another story altogether.” Clark and Lex followed his gaze to another table, where Lana had stopped her refill rounds to talk to Chloe, Pete, and a boy who Clark only partially recognized from school. Clark looked at Lucas suspiciously.
“I thought you and Lana didn’t get along,” he said. Lucas made a disgusted face.
“Not the princess, Smallville,” he protested. “Your other friend, the blonde one.” Clark and Lex shared a look and Lex tilted his head at Lucas.
“Chloe?” He asked. Lucas smiled widely.
“And now I have a name,” he said with a hint of victory to his voice. Lex barely resisted the urge to chuckle, but he did smile.
“Sorry about that,” Helen said as she came back to the table. “I can’t believe they want me to come in tonight. This is my first day off in how long? And they want me to work?” She shook her head lightly. “Unbelievable.”
“Are you going in?” Lex asked. Helen shot him a not quite apologetic look.
“Lex, we’ve been over this, it’s my job,” she explained to him as if he were a child. He was getting really sick of that, but the Talon was far too public a forum to air their personal problems. Lucas, on the other hand, was thrilled. He smiled at her and made a shooing motion with his hand.
“Off you go then, go save some lives,” he said condescendingly. She glared at him, but his smile stayed fixed on his face. She wanted nothing more than to let her anger management classes fall by the wayside while she took a swing at him, but she settled for the scowl that took over her features and the knowledge that one day she really could take a swing at him and not have her job be at stake because of it. She bent down and gave Lex a light kiss on the lips.
“I’ll see you later,” she said before walking away from the table and toward the front doors. Lucas rolled his eyes as she left the building and muttered some expletives under his breath. Lex gave him a warning look, which he promptly shrugged off in favor of looking at Chloe again.
“You can forget about it now,” Lex said. “Miss Sullivan wouldn’t give you the time of day.” Clark nodded in agreement.
“And even if you did get her to go out with you, Chloe can be --- a handful,” he said. Lucas arched a questioning eyebrow at him and Clark shifted in his chair once again. “We’ve been friends a long time,” he explained.
Mr. Mxyzptlk, in an invisible state, watched the entire scene with a great deal of amusement; summing up the situation in his mind. He knew Lex from the future, although his younger self seemed friendlier and less evil. He didn’t know Lucas, but he could already tell that he would have an ally in him if it needed to come to that.
And then there was Clark. He wasn’t used to seeing him out of his blue and red spandex, unless it was as his alter ego dressed in poorly fitting suits and frumpy looking glasses; but he had to admit that the flannel look seemed to work for him. He kept watching, wondering what powers Clark had developed, and looking for the perfect time to begin causing mischief. The opportunity soon presented itself. He saw the three young men looking over at the table where a blonde girl and two boys were sitting, and he decided to find out more.
“No!” Cole said a little too loudly. He looked around the Talon to make sure no one was watching or listening to them, but excused the startled looks coming from Clark’s table. He leaned toward Chloe. “You can’t put me in the paper *or* on your wall of weird. I don’t want anyone to know.” Pete snorted.
“Then you shouldn’t have been using your powers where Chloe could see you,” he said. Cole shot him a frustrated look and then turned his attention back to Chloe. He was just glad that they hadn’t started talking about it when Lana had stopped by the table. He had a small crush on her, but from what he had seen, most of the guys from school did too.
“Cole, try to understand, publicity isn’t always a bad thing,” Chloe said as she tried to persuade him. “With your abilities, you could end up having lots of doors opened to you that you might not have even known existed before.”
“Yeah, like ice sculptor at the winter festival,” Pete said jokingly. Chloe shot him a look and Pete ducked his head, but his smile didn’t fade.
“I was thinking more like secret government operative, you could be a spy or something,” Chloe said. Cole didn’t look convinced.
“Whitney was in the military, and he *died*,” Cole pointed out. Pete had his arms folded across his chest.
“Exactly,” he said. “Exposure isn’t always a good thing Chlo.” Chloe rubbed her temples and gave Pete another look.
“Hey, look Pete. There’s Clark. Why don’t you go talk to him for a little bit?” She suggested. Pete smiled.
“Because he’s with Lex and Lucas,” Pete said. “*Two* Luthors. Need I say more?” Cole pushed himself away from the table.
“Be right back,” he said, heading toward the restrooms in the back of the building. Chloe flopped her head against her arms on the table.
“You’re not helping Pete. Why aren’t you helping?”
“The guy has a right to some privacy Chloe.”
“I know, but an actual ‘freak of the week’ admitting that they have abilities? Tell me that interview wouldn’t get me a byline on The Ledger.”
“Probably, but still ---”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, sloughing him off with a wave of her hand. “I know.”
Mr. Mxyzptlk suddenly grew interested in the boy that the girl had just been talking about. Someone else from Smallville had powers? ‘But Superman was the only one to come from Krypton,’ he thought to himself. He decided to follow Cole, to find out if he would have another adversary while on his visit there. Cole came out of the restrooms and saw one of the jocks from school coming in his direction.
‘Time for some payback,’ he thought to himself. The athlete gave him a little push as he walked past him, but didn’t look at him as he did it.
Cole concentrated his attentions on the floor in front of the other boy. He held out his hand and suddenly a thin layer of ice was formed on the ground. The jock slipped and fell and Cole walked away as if nothing had happened.
Mr. Mxyzptlk’s eyes darted from the boy on the floor to Cole and a wry grin formed on his lips.
‘Hello scapegoat.’
~*~*~*~
Ch. 2
~*~*~*~
Mr. Mxyzptlk watched Cole say his goodbyes to Chloe and Pete before he zapped himself outside into the alleyway. He promptly changed out of being invisible and made himself look like Cole. His face lit up with a devilish smile as he walked out toward Main Street.
“Let’s see how much you can handle without giving yourself away, *Clark*,” he said to himself, emphasizing the boy’s first name to remind himself that he wasn’t Superman yet.
With a wave of his hand, small patches of ice dotted the streets and the sidewalks. He let out a conceited chuckle as cars crashed into each other and people started falling down. Clark, as expected, ran to the doorway of the Talon to see what was going on. Unfortunately for Mr. Mxyzptlk, he stopped himself in the middle of the frame before he slipped on the ice himself.
Mr. Mxyzptlk watched the emotional dilemma play on Clark’s face. If he used his powers to save the people, then everyone would know his secret; but if he didn’t, then a lot of innocent people would be hurt far worse than they were already. Mr. Mxyzptlk rubbed his hands together in delight. This was going to be so much fun.
Clark spun his head around and looked at Lex, who was on his way over.
“Call an ambulance, I’m going to see what I can do to help,” he said and rushed out the door, speeding over the carefully placed patch of ice in front of it at such a speed as to not be affected. Mr. Mxyzptlk bunched his hands into fists and made a pouty gesture much like a toddler.
Clark helped the people he could, and was thankful that none seemed to be seriously injured. He noticed Cole out of the corner of his eye, but brushed him off, knowing that there was no way that he could have seen him use his heat vision from the place he was standing; and everything else could be explained away by an adrenalin rush. The ice had completely melted by the time the ambulance reached them and they hauled off the more serious cases. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around. Lex gave him a half grin.
“Clark Kent plays the hero again,” he quipped. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were bucking for a medal.” Clark gave him an uneasy expression in return.
“You did just as much as I did. You’re the one who called the ambulance,” he pointed out. Lex arched an eyebrow.
“Holding a piece of plastic up to my ear is hardly the same thing as dragging people from their vehicles, Clark,” Lex said and then gave him a nod of his head. “You should be proud of yourself.” Clark opened his mouth to spout a rebuttal, but Lex cut him off. “I’m going to the hospital, make sure Helen made it there alright.” Clark nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. It would be much easier to investigate what had happened without being the one who the questions were directed toward.
Clark watched Lex leave and then looked around for anything out of the ordinary that might explain the sudden ice patches. He frowned when he saw Chloe taking pictures of the accidents and wondered how long she had her camera out for. She might have evidence of his powers on her camera’s digital memory and not even know about it. He made a mental note to destroy the camera before she could find out.
“So --- anything?” Clark asked as he walked over to her. Mr. Mxyzptlk changed back into his invisible form to watch Clark and Chloe’s interaction. Chloe looked up at Clark with a somewhat disturbed expression on her face.
“I don’t understand why Cole would do this,” she said to herself aloud and then went back to taking pictures. Clark creased his brow.
“What?” He asked in confusion. Chloe looked up at him again.
“I mean, there are better ways to tell me to back off from a story, don’t you think?” She scanned the area with her eyes and shook her head. “He’s lucky that nobody got really hurt.”
Mr. Mxyzptlk rolled his eyes.
‘Another reporter. He’s probably in love with her too,’ he thought. An impish smile played at his lips. ‘Of course, that makes my next move easy to figure out.’
“You’re talking about the guy who was sitting with you and Pete?” Clark asked. Chloe nodded. “What makes you think he’s responsible?”
“Well, I don’t know anyone else with the ability to form ice out of nowhere, do you?” She quipped. Clark’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
“He’s ---”
“Material for my ‘wall of weird’, but apparently not for my paper, since he refused to go public with his abilities,” Chloe said disdainfully. “But he’s a nice guy; I just can’t believe that he’d do this, even if it was to make a point. Maybe I’m wrong and someone else has the same powers he has. It’s happened before with Kyle Tippett and ---”
“He was by the alley,” Clark interrupted. Chloe gave him a confused look and Clark elaborated. “Cole. I saw him standing by the alley when I was helping those people out of their cars.” Chloe’s face fell.
“I was hoping I was wrong,” she admitted. Clark nodded knowingly and saw the new sheriff heading toward him out of the corner of his eye.
“Mr. Kent,” Sheriff Matthews greeted. “After all the briefing I’ve had on this town’s history, why am I not surprised to see you at another crime scene?”
“It’s a crime scene? I thought it was just an accident,” Clark said, as he played dumb. Chloe had to hand it to him, he pulled it off well.
‘Years of practice,’ she thought jokingly to herself. She flashed a smile at the sheriff, who was thankfully *much* younger and cuter than Ethan Miller had been, and then looked at Clark. “I’m going to get some shots from a different angle.” Her pointed look tipped Clark off and he immediately knew that she was going to go look around in the alley. He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“I’ll see what I can find out from Sheriff Matthews,” he said. Chloe just about burst out laughing at the expression that crossed the sheriff’s face, but she managed to hold it in and make her way to the alley.
“And here I was going to ask *you* what happened,” Sheriff Matthews said. Clark shrugged.
“I didn’t see anything. I was in the Talon with my friends and all of a sudden we heard cars crashing into each other,” he said. The sheriff made notes in his small notebook and gave him a look to indicate that he should continue speaking. “I came out to see what happened and told Lex to call an ambulance when I saw the cars in the road.”
“The O’Connells said that you pulled them from them from their car,” the sheriff said with an arched eyebrow. Both of their eyes darted to the mangled car and Clark got a sinking feeling in his gut. He hadn’t even noticed the condition of the car because he was concentrating on getting the couple out, and seeing it now led him to believe that adrenaline might not be a viable excuse.
“Uh – yeah,” Clark said hesitantly.
“Care to explain how you did that?”
“Adrenalin I guess. I don’t really know.”
“Mmm,” Sheriff Matthews said disbelievingly with his tongue resting in the corner of his mouth; but then, anyone he had gotten to speak to who was actually involved in the accidents couldn’t remember seeing Clark until after the fact. “Okay. That’s all for now, but don’t leave town in case more questions come up.”
“Yes sir,” Clark said obligingly. Chloe walked back over to them and forced a smile on her face. There was still a small patch of black ice in the alley that hadn’t melted yet, indicating that her and Clark’s suspicions about Cole were probably true. The sheriff grinned at her and motioned to her camera with his head.
“Any good shots?” He asked. Chloe returned his grin and shrugged.
“I won’t know until I can upload them to my computer,” she answered. He nodded.
“Forward them to me if you come across anything interesting,” he said as his eyes quickly shot to Clark and then back to her. The pleasant surprise was written all over Chloe’s face as she practically beamed.
“Oh. Okay,” she said cheerfully. Sheriff Matthews took a card out of his pocket that had all of his contact information on it and handed it to Chloe. “Thanks.” He nodded once at her and then gave Clark an almost warning look before turning and walking away. Chloe sighed after the sheriff left.
“Cole’s probably home by now. I guess I should go talk to him; let him know that his ‘message’ was received so no one else gets hurt.”
“Chloe, you can’t go over there by yourself,” Clark protested. “He’s dangerous.”
“Don’t tell me you’re actually concerned for my well being,” Chloe said with a small teasing smile. When the serious expression on Clark’s face didn’t change, Chloe’s smile turned into a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry Clark, he’s not dangerous – not generally anyway. I’ll be fine.”
Mr. Mxyzptlk got a mischievous smile on his face. He had been a little down about Clark not realizing that he was behind it, and had to constantly remind himself that Clark didn’t even know he existed yet. But now – the pretty blonde girl was giving him the perfect chance to introduce himself. He morphed into the form of the other boy he had seen her talking to.
“Just take someone with you,” Clark urged. He had a feeling that Chloe wouldn’t let him come with her and his mind immediately went to her other best friend, who, as luck would have it, seemed to appear out of nowhere behind them. Clark smiled in relief. “Take Pete. He knows Cole and maybe Cole won’t feel as threatened as he would if someone else went with you.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at Clark’s protective behavior, but she had to agree with his logic. She smiled at the boy she thought was Pete.
“So, what d’ya say Pete? Up for a visit to Cole’s house?” She asked. Mr. Mxyzptlk smiled back at her and offered her his arm.
“Anything for you sweetheart,” he said jokingly. Chloe laughed and looped her arm through his as they left Clark and started walking to her car. Mr. Mxyzptlk partially frowned as she opened the driver’s side door.
“You’re not going to let me drive?” He asked. Chloe gave him a ‘yeah, right’ look.
“No way! You and Clark end up wrecking more cars than Lex, and that’s *really* saying something,” she said. Mr. Mxyzptlk opened the passenger’s side door and got into the car. He flashed her a bright smile.
“Are you sure? Because we could have lots of fun,” he said in a sing-song voice. Chloe laughed and started her car.
“I’m completely sure,” she answered. Clark watched them drive off, feeling secure in the fact that Pete would protect Chloe – at least until the real Pete came walking up behind him.
“Hey,” Pete greeted. Clark swung around and gave him a baffled look. “I kept everybody inside the Talon for as long as I could. Figured it was probably safe to come out now though.” Pete tilted his head at him as Clark looked back and forth between him and the road Chloe had just driven down. “Uh-oh. I know that look. What’s wrong?”
“I think Chloe’s in trouble.”
~*~*~*~*~
Ch. 3
~*~*~*~*~
He knew Helen was safe the second he spotted her car in the hospital parking lot, but Lex figured as long as he was there he should go inside to see her. That was a mistake. The ER was overflowing with minor emergency cases from the mischief Mr. Mxyzptlk had caused earlier and Helen was frazzled and angry from having to deal with so many people at once. Lex caught her eye and flashed her a smile as he walked over to her. She glared at him almost accusingly and then just lost whatever sanity she had left.
“What are you doing here?!” She snapped. Lex arched an eyebrow as his smile fell into a confused expression.
“I was worried about you,” he said. “There were some accidents and I wanted to make sure you got here alright.”
“I *know* there were accidents, Lex.” She waved her hands in the air. “Look around! You don’t think I know there were accidents?”
“Like I said, I ---”
“You just wanted to make sure I was alright,” she interrupted. “You could have just called and one of the nurses could have told you. There was no need to come down here and take my time away from my patients – whose numbers have increased tenfold in the last hour.” Helen started walking away from him, grabbing a chart off the wall as she did so. Lex stared blankly at her as he watched her enter a room and glare at him before closing the door.
‘Why are you going out with her again?’
His brother’s words rang in his ears and Lex frowned. He didn’t want to start thinking that way. Like Clark pointed out, Helen Bryce was the first woman he had dated who was with him for his money. It felt nice to be with someone who wanted to be with him for him and not because of his financial status. There was the rub though. More and more, it hadn’t felt nice. It felt like she was walking all over him and there was nothing he could do to stop her.
Helen came out of the room and the surprise registered on her face at still seeing Lex there. She came over to him and placed a hand on his chest as she gave him an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Things have been crazy around here. I’ve had to call a psych consult down here five times already.”
“Why?” Lex asked. A humorless chuckle escaped from Helen’s lips as she took a step back from him.
“People are blaming the accidents on patches of ice that just suddenly popped up on the roads. Like that could ever actually happen.” She rolled her eyes and then continued. “I mean, geez! Take some responsibility for your actions.” Lex nodded once to placate her, but only because Helen hadn’t lived there long enough to believe in the impossible. Lex had seen enough to know that the patients’ accounts of what happened were a very real possibility in Smallville, and many of the strange events ended up having Clark Kent caught up in the middle of them.
“I should go,” he said, pressing a light kiss to her forehead. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She nodded and gave him a small emotionless wave as she started to walk the other way to tend to another patient. Lex turned around and headed back out toward the main doors. He needed to have a talk with Clark.
Despite the traffic congestion due to the accidents, Lex’s trip back to the Talon was pretty fast. He briefly noticed that Pete’s truck and Chloe’s car were no longer parked out front though, and had a suspicion that Clark was no longer there, having left with one of his other friends. He spotted Lucas through the glass door. It looked like Lana was trying to get him to sit like a normal person instead of having his chair leaned back and his feet comfortably propped up on the table. Lex grinned and opened the door, giving a nod to his brother as he stepped into the building.
“Comfortable?” Lex asked as he walked over to Lucas. Lana shot him an exasperated look and placed her hands on her hips. Lex looked at her knowingly. “I’ll take care of it.” She grinned and nodded, and then quickly scurried away from them.
“You’ll take care of it?” Lucas asked in a mocking voice.
“Get your feet off the table,” he replied. Lucas rolled his eyes, but did as requested.
“So, how’s the ice queen?” Lucas asked with no real interest in his voice.
“*Helen* is fine,” Lex said.
“Sorry to hear that,” Lucas said callously, a smile playing on his lips. Lex squared his jaw and sat down across the table from his brother.
“Clark left?” Lex asked, changing the topic to the reason he came back to the Talon in the first place.
“Yup.” Lucas frowned slightly and leaned forward. “How come you never told me that Pete guy has a twin?” Lex’s face flashed with surprise, but he quickly covered it.
“He doesn’t.”
“A clone then,” Lucas said wryly. Lex picked an invisible piece of lint off his jacket and then looked at his brother.
“What is this about, Lucas?” He asked. Lucas sat back in his chair.
“Chloe left with the Pete clone and when Clark realized that he wasn’t the *real* Pete, he freaked out and he and the real Pete took off in a hurry,” he explained without making a lot of sense. Lex’s suspicious nature kicked into overdrive. He had no doubt that it had something to do with the mysterious ice patches appearing on the road, although he couldn’t connect in his mind how the two would be related.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” Lex asked. Lucas looked at him and grinned.
“Chloe?” He replied. Lex’s pointed look answered his question and Lucas shrugged. “Why would I? I didn’t know anything was wrong.”
“You saw the girl you like leave with someone who looks like Pete, but who you knew wasn’t Pete, and you didn’t think anything was wrong?” Lex asked in disbelief. Lucas chuckled in amusement.
“It’s a *Pete* clone. How dangerous could he be?” He joked. Lex scowled at him and Lucas stopped laughing. “She’s a big girl Lex; she can take care of herself.”
“And if she can’t?” Lex countered. Lucas shrugged.
“If she can’t, then Kent will save her. Isn’t that what he does?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
As Pete was pulling his truck into Cole’s driveway, he and Clark could see Chloe and the ‘other Pete’ having an animated discussion with Cole through the front window.
“It’s true,” Pete said in shock. “I can’t believe we have another Tina on our hands.”
“Like one wasn’t bad enough,” Clark agreed.
They ran up to the front door and rang the bell. Cole sighed and walked over to answer it. At least visitors would mean a temporary reprieve from having accusations hurled at him about something he knew nothing about. When he opened the door, his mouth dropped open in shock.
“What the ---?”
Clark and Pete pushed past him and Clark quickly wrapped his arms around Chloe and gave her a hug.
“Are you okay?” He asked as he pulled away. Chloe, not having seen Pete yet because of Clark’s hug blocking her view, gave Clark a strange look.
“I’m fine, Clark. That’s why you sent Pete with me. Remember?” Her eyes darted over to Cole and then a look of surprise and partial fear crossed her face. “Oh my God.” Pete was standing next to him, but then he was also standing next to Chloe. Mr. Mxyzptlk grinned.
“Finally,” he said, morphing back into his true self. His small form floated in the air so he would be at Clark’s eye level. “I was beginning to think that you’d never figure out it was me.” Clark’s face held a shocked and baffled expression.
“W-who are you?” Clark asked.
“*What* are you?” Chloe asked. Mr. Mxyzptlk ignored Chloe’s question and smiled at Clark.
“I keep forgetting that you don’t know me already,” he said and then tipped his hat as he continued to speak. “Mr. Mxyzptlk.” Clark, Chloe, Pete, and Cole all exchanged strange looks.
“I ---” Clark trailed off as he shook his head. Mr. Mxyzptlk laughed at the boy’s expression.
“You’re the one,” Cole said, interrupting the confusing moment. Clark glanced back and forth between Cole and Mr. Mxyzptlk and Cole looked directly at Chloe. “He must be the one who did the ice thing on the streets. Not me,” he said. Clark frowned at the little floating man.
“Why would you do that?” He asked. Mr. Mxyzptlk waved his hand and Chloe, Pete, and Cole all froze in their spots.
“For fun,” Mr. Mxyzptlk answered. “I wanted to see how many people you could help without giving yourself away.”
“Giving myself away?” Clark asked hesitantly.
“You don’t have your alter ego to fall back on here. It adds a new aspect to our game, don’t you think?”
“*Our* game? But I’ve never even met you,” Clark said. He had a bad feeling about this, suspecting that the imp in front of him knew everything there was to know about his powers.
“And now you have,” Mr. Mxyzptlk said cheerfully.
“I still don’t understand,” Clark said.
“Because you’re stupid,” Mr. Mxyzptlk said gleefully with a broad smile. He was having a great time. “I know you from the future,” he explained.
“O-kay,” Clark said apprehensively.
“Consider this a challenge.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your life is about to get a lot more interesting, *Clark*,” Mr. Mxyzptlk said. The next second, he disappeared into thin air and Chloe, Pete, and Cole were all back to normal.
“Where did he go?” Chloe asked as she looked around the room.
“I don’t know,” Clark said, pretending that he hadn’t just seen the man disappear right in front of him. Chloe sighed and ran a hand over the back of her neck in frustration and embarrassment. She looked at Cole and gave him a small smile.
“Sorry about ---”
“It’s okay,” he interrupted. “There was *no* way you could have known – you know?” Chloe nodded and turned to her friends.
“So, what now?”
“Now we find out who that guy was and what he’s doing here,” Clark answered.
Mr. Mxyzptlk smiled devilishly.
“Let the games begin.”
The End
(Of Story #1)
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