Chapter 2: Rushing Off

Lutessa Lena Luthor was driving up to the Kent Farm in her convertible, extremely agitated. Bad enough that Kara Kent's stupid dog kept ruining her garden and chasing her cat, but now he'd bitten her leg. She arrived at the driveway and got out as Kara's uncle Jonathan was there.

"Mr. Kent." Tess said to get his attention.

"Tess." Jonathan said offhandedly, due to the fact that he never got along with her father, Lionel, and he didn't much care for Luthor business practices.

"I want to see you and your wife right away about Kara." Tess said in a businesslike way.

"Kara?" Jonathan asked. "What has she done?"

"What has she done?" Tess asked. "I'm all but lame for the bite on my leg."

"She bit you?" Jonathan asked disbelievingly.

"No." Tess said. "Her dog."

"Oh, she bit her dog, eh?" Jonathan asked with a smirk.

"No." Tess huffed.

()()()()()

In the farm, Tess was talking to Jonathan and Martha.

"That dog is a menace to the community." Tess said, stating her case. "I'm personally taking him to Sheriff Adams to make sure he's destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Kara asked in shock. "Krypto? Oh, you can't. You mustn't!"

Kara went pleadingly to her aunt and uncle.

"Aunt Martha, Uncle Jonathan, you won't let her, will you?" Kara said, confident of the answer.

"Of course we won't." Jonathan said. "Will we, Martha?"

Kara then rushed to Martha.

"Please Aunt Martha!" Kara begged. "Krypto didn't mean to. He didn't know he was doing anything wrong. I'm the one who ought to be punished. I let him go into her garden. You can send me to bed without any supper-"

"If you don't hand over that dog, I'll just sue and take your whole farm!" Tess snapped. "There's a law protecting people against dogs that bite."

"If Kara keeps him tied up, he's really gentle." Martha said in the poor puppy's defense. "With gentle people that is."

"Well that's for the sheriff to decide." Tess said as she pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Martha. "Here's the order allowing me to take him, unless you want to go against the law."

Martha overlooked the paper and sighed sadly over the air tight order.

"Well, we can't go against the law, Kara." Martha said with a sad sigh. "I'm afraid poor Krypto will have to go."

"Now you're seeing reason, Mrs. Kent." Tess said as she pulled out a pet carrier. "Here's what I'm taking the mutt in so that he can't attack me again."

"No, no!" Kara said, clutching Krypto like he was her child. "I won't let you take him! You go away, or I'll bite you myself!"

"Kara!" Martha said sternly, snapping Kara to her senses but still refusing to give up Krypto.

"You wicked old witch!" Kara went on before turning back to her aunt and uncle. "Uncle Jonathan, Aunt Martha, don't let her take Krypto, please! Stop her!"

Unfortunately, there was nothing the Kents could do as Kara was forced to let Krypto go as Jonathan picked him up.

"Put him into the carrier, Jonathan." Martha sighed.

Jonathan, reluctantly, put Krypto into the carrier as Tess closed the metal door and turned the small lock.

Kara could only sob at the sight before rushing to her room. At that point, Martha had enough of this. She walked right up to Tess.

"Lutessa Luthor!" Martha said angrily. "Just because your family owns half of this county doesn't mean you own the people in it! Ever since you moved here, I've been dying to tell you what I think of you, and now… Well being a Christian woman, I can't say it!"

Martha walked off with Jonathan.

()()()()()

Tess drove off as Krypto looked at the lock. What no one but the Kents knew was that Krypto was actually a very intelligent dog, and he used his teeth to turn the lock of the carrier, having seen Tess turn it to lock him in. With the carrier opened, Krypto climbs to the edge of the car and jumped out, landing on his feet and rushing all the way back to the Kent Farm. Krypto also heard Kara's cries and hopped through her opened window and licking her face as Kara turned, and her eyes snapped to him as she smiled and hugged Krypto, who licked her.

"Krypto, darling!" Kara said exuberantly. "Oh, you're back! You came back! I'm so glad!"

Krypto panted happily before he noticed Kara's face fall.

"She'll be coming back for you in a minute." Kara said thoughtfully as she grabbed a picnic basket she used for travel. She wasn't about to lose Krypto twice! "We've gotta get away. We've gotta run away."

With that, Kara and Krypto rushed off quickly and quietly.

()()()()()

On the road, a young man with brown hair and blue eyes named Adam Knight was cooking some hot dogs as he rested. He made his living as a traveling magician, having a banner that said, more for theatricality than actual reason that he traveled to the crowned heads of Europe. Adam was humming to himself when a blonde girl in sparkling blue eyes arrived with a pure white puppy.

"Well hello there." Adam said. "House guests, huh? And who might you be?"

"Oh no, no, no." Adam said quickly. "Now don't tell me. You're… You're uh… You're traveling in disguise. No wait, that's not right. Er… Uh… You're going on a visit. No wait, I'm wrong. Um…"

Adam glanced at the basket in the girl's arm and saw that while there was a moderate supply of food in there, there was no blanket or the like for a picnic, so he decided to take one more stab at the girl's intentions as well as seeing a little name tag on the edge of the basket that read Kara Kent.

"You're… Running away." Adam finished up.

"How did you guess?" Kara asked.

"The great Adam Knight never guesses." Adam said with a chuckle. "He knows. Now why are you running away? No, no, no, don't tell me. They don't understand you at home. They don't appreciate you. You wanna see other lands. Big cities, big mountains, big oceans."

"Why it's just like you could read what was inside of me." Kara said gaping.

Just then, Kara's dog began eating one of the hot dogs.

"Oh, Krypto, that's not polite." Kara gently scolded the puppy. "We haven't been asked yet."

"Oh, he's perfectly welcomed." Adam said with a chuckle. "That's one dog to another, huh?"

"Now let's see." Adam wondered. "Where were we? Um…"

"Please Mr. Knight, why can't we go with you and see all the crowned heads of Europe?" Kara asked.

"You know any?" Adam asked before he remembered his banner. "Oh, you mean that thing. Well I uh… Never do anything without consulting my crystal first. Just come inside dear. We'll uh…. I'll show you."

Adam went to a tent he pitched for all his stops as it was filled with various tapestries from all over, giving the place a mystical feel, and on a table was a large crystal ball.

"That's right." Adam said. "Here. Just sit right down, here. That's it. This is the same genuine magic crystal used by the priests of Isis and Osiris in the days of the pharaohs in Egypt! In which, Cleopatra first saw the approach of Julius Ceaser, Mark Anthony, and so on. Now, you better close your eyes dear, for a moment, to be better in tune with the infinite."

Kara did so as Adam quickly went through the girl's belongings and found a picture of herself with a red haired woman, a brown haired man, and a black haired man all standing in front of a decent sized farm house with a picket fence before quickly setting them back, and getting ready to use his skills to set the girl on the right track.

"We can't do these things without reaching out into the infinite." Adam said as he put everything back the way it was and sat opposite Kara. "Alright, you can open them. You can open them. We'll gaze into the crystal."

Adam looked at the crystal and quickly recalled that photo Kara had.

"What's this I see?" Adam asked dramatically. "A house with a picket fence. With a red barn, cattle, and the like."

"That's our farm." Kara said as her eyes widened.

"There's a woman." Adam went on. "She has red hair and is dressed in a blue denim jacket and black pants. Her face is careworn"

"That's my Aunt Martha." Kara remarked.

"Yes, Martha Kent, I presume." Adam said.

"That's right." Kara said, obviously assuming he saw her name on the basket. "What's she doing?"

"Well uh…" Adam said, getting ready to give the performance of his life. "I can't quite see. Why she's crying. Someone has hurt her. Someone has just about broken her heart."

"Me?" Kara said a look of worry and guilt in her eyes.

"Well it's someone she loves very much." Adam explained. "Someone she's been very kind to. Someone she's taken care of in sickness."

"I had the measles once." Kara remarked sadly, but she stayed right by me every minute. "What's she doing now?"

"Well she's…" Adam said, deciding to drive the young girl back to the home she belonged to as quickly as possible. "What's this?! She's… She's putting her hand on her heart. She's dropping down on the bed. That's all. The crystal's gone dark."

"Oh, you don't really suppose she's sick, do you?!" Kara asked urgently, which was just the response Adam was hoping for. "Oh! Oh I've gotta go home right away!"

"What's this?" Adam asked. "I thought you wanted to go with me?"

"Oh no, no!" Kara went on. "I have to get to her right away! Come on, Krypto! Come on!"

Kara rushed off with Krypto as the wind began picking up, which for anyone who spent a good deal of time in Kansas, meant that a storm was coming.

"Bye Mr. Knight, and thanks a lot!" Kara called back as she went on.

"I better find a place to head to myself." Adam said to himself as the wind continued to pick up. "There's a regular whopper of a storm coming up."

He then looked where Kara was as he put his hand to the door of his car.

"Poor kid, I hope she gets home alright." Adam remarked as he pulled the tent into the back seat haphazardly and drove off for the town of Smallville.

Uh-oh. We all know what this means.