Chapter 7: An Alley Awakens
Lex arrived at the hospital he had just received news that his father had woken up from his coma, "Lionel Luthor" please he asked the nurse in charge
"Third door to the right" the nurse told him pointing
Lex walked into Lionel's room and looked at his father who was still pretty weak having just woken up but was more or less his typical self
"Glad to see your awake dad" he said
"Uh Lex I wasn't so sure that I would be receiving a visit from you, I'm touched son"
"Don't flatter yourself dad, I'm only here since I happen to be picking up the cost, you are a valued member of my staff after all"
"I'm touched that you were go through so much trouble for one of your employees son"
"I would do the same for any valued employee"
"I highly doubt that" Lionel said with a smirk, just then Lionel looked to see Lex wasn't the only visitor he had
"Clark" Lionel said
Lex turned around to be face to face with his friend turned foe
"Clark I should have expected that you would come to visit my father, though I had to admit that I didn't expect you so soon"
"I've been coming to check up on your father for a while now Lex"
"Well nice to see you haven't lost your good natured tendecies" Lex said as he left the room leaving Clark and Lionel alone
"How you feeling?" Clark asked Lionel
"I've been better son, what happened?"
"Well I managed to defeat the final phantom, but then things got worse"
"Worse?" Lionel asked
"All of the experiments have escaped, everyone who was locked in 33.1 is on a full rampage and terrorizing Metropolis"
"Everyone?" Lionel asked looking worried
"Yes everyone" Clark said back "including those mutant like creatures and a man of made of metal calling himself Metallo" Clark said
"The Metallo project" Lionel said "Meant to bring someone back from death and use them as weapons, soldiers perferably"
"And the Underworlders" Clark asked
"If those are the mutant like creatures you were referring to those use to soldiers all of whom were wounded in battle, Lex offered them all a way to keep serving their country and was experimenting by injecting them with alien DNA"
"Alien DNA?"
"Yes found from an alien by the name of Titan"
"Titan" Clark said turning around "he was from the Phantom Zone, I killed him in an underground fight club"
"Why didn't you tell me that Lex had his body?" Clark asked
"I was trying to protect you son" Lionel said
"Protect me?" Clark asked "and that is also what you were doing when you threatened to kill me if Lana didn't marry Lex?"
"Clark do you know what the consequences would have been if Lana had left Lex at the alter?" Lionel said "You had enough to deal with already"
"And you had no business using Lana or getting her involved without telling me, I was the one battling the Phantoms whatever information that you were gathering up should have come directly to me and you should have told me what was really going on, I had a right to know Lionel considering that it was all about me and you, Lana and Chloe had no right to keep me out of it"
"We were trying to protect you Clark, just like you were trying to protect others"
"There's a difference" Clark said
"And what is that?" Lionel asked
"I was protecting everyone from what had to do with me, everything from Jor-El to Milton Fine was centered around me and my secret" Clark said
"The same thing goes with the Phantoms it all had to do with me and I was the one taking the risk with them, you wanted to help, fine, then you help, you do not go around beyond my back withholding information I might need and you do not get anyone else involved without telling me first."
"Not to mention that everyone seems to forget one important thing, that it's my secret, not yours, not Lana's, not anyone's but mine and I have a right to know who knows it and who doesn't
Lionel looked at Clark completely surprised and he had admit he was impressed, Clark has certainly learned to stand up for himself during their time apart
"Your right Clark and I'm sorry, it won't happen again"
"I hope not" Clark said "Just one more thing, Lana isn't dead"
Lionel looked up at Clark completely surprised "you know she's alive?"
"I can see that you do to" Clark said "I take it that was something else you were never going to tell me?"
"I assisted her in her disappearance yes and she wasn't suppose to come back here either"
"Well she did and she wants to help out" Clark said
"You don't trust her?" Lionel asked
"She hasn't earned it yet" Clark responded
"Clark she kept your secret while married to Lex"
"And she learned it after she locked Chloe in a wine cellar" Clark retorted back
Lionel once again looked up at Clark with another look of complete shock, "she told you this?" Lionel asked
"I might be a little slow every now and then Lionel, that doesn't make me stupid, all I had to do was put two and two together"
"you remember that next time you think you have to protect me" Clark said as he headed out of Lionel's room
Meanwhile Lana had taken Kara to the Talon, the two had been out shopping all day since Kara was going to be starting school soon with a little help from Chloe, they walked into the Talon and saw that Chloe was sitting with some guy who Kara had never met before, they turned around when they saw Lana and Kara approaching
"You must be Kara" the guy said "Chloe told me about you, I'm Henry James Olsen, but everyone calls me Jimmy"
"Can I call you Jimmy?" Kara asked with a smile
"Sure everybody else does" Jimmy said looking at Chloe
"Jimmy is my boyfriend and he just returned from taking pictures in China" Chloe said
"Yep Chloe told me about you that you are staying with your cousin while your mom is sick or something" Jimmy said
"Yeah Clark is taking her under his wing for now" Lana said "I'm also helping as much as I can"
"Yeah I heard things didn't work out between you and Lex, sorry" Jimmy said
"Don't be I'm not" Lana said "I'm just thankful that Clark is letting me stay with him and in return I'm showing Kara here around town and helping her get ready for school"
"Awesome" Jimmy said picking up his camera "Well I got get back to the planet, I'll call you later" he said giving Chloe a kiss goodbye
"Jimmy are you sure that you don't want to stay with me" Chloe asked "Metropolis isn't the safest place anymore"
"I'll be fine" Jimmy said "Trust me" he left The Talon and Chloe walked him to his car
"He's cute" Kara said
"He's Chloe's boyfriend" Lana reminded her "And I think he's a little to old for you"
Just as Jimmy's car was driving back to the city Clark super sped right in front of Chloe
"Clark you scared me" Chloe said
"Sorry" Clark said "I just came back from the hospital, Lionel is awake"
"Did you tell him everything that was going on?" Chloe asked
"I told him everything he needed to know" Clark replied
"Anything with The Underworlders?" Chloe asked
"I've been listening in to the city, there hasn't been much, actually things have become pretty quiet and I have no way of knowing when these power surges are going to happen"
"What power surges?" Kara asked as she and Lana came outside
"Maybe we would start keeping them more in the loop" Chloe said looking at her friends
"You think there ready?" Clark asked standing next to Chloe
"I think your never going to know if you don't give us a chance" Lana said "and I think after everything I deserve it"
"All right but just so you know we are going to have our work cut out for us" Clark said, he then looked down at Kara "and I hope that you have been learning something"
"I've been teaching her" Lana said "she's been picking up real fast"
"Well let's get back to the barn and you can show me what you've learned" Clark said
To Be Continued
