Chapter 14:
"It's been a while..." – Lana was slightly surprised to receive a call from Lois and apparently, it had to be serious.
"I know and I wish I had to call you under different reasons but I'm calling you because I need a favor." - Her voice was tense and Lana knew how severe the situation was.
"This has to do with Clark, doesn't it?" - The question was almost rhetorical but she needed to hear from Lois.
"Call Lex. You're the only one who can still reach him: make him stop this man hunt." - Lois's voice was the voice of desperation, revealing how badly she wanted the nightmare to end. For Lana, it was evident the situation was a lot worse than she thought: even f she was on the side of the Atlantic, the words, the rumors weren't on Clark's side.
"I'll call him but I don't know if he'll listen to me." – There was no reassurance: only the hope to stop a more than certain tragedy.
"Please just try..."
"Clark Kent is Superman..."
"Clark Kent is Superman..."
"Clark Kent is Superman..."
The affirmation echoed in his mind sounding absurd to him. However the situation was telling him otherwise: Loving someone and that someone being threatened was more than sufficient for that man to undo anything or betray even his best friend.
Lex saw Pete approaching Chloe, desperate and concerned about her as she was still yelling in pain. - "Chloe? Chloe?"
He didn't care because his gold was accomplished and he knew what he had to do. -"Give her medical attention she needs. I still need her alive." - He stated to the agent next to him and after that he exited the room and went to his office.
The office itself was modest, far from the luxury of Oval office but it had sufficient to work with.
He sat in his desk and looked at a photo of Clark Kent from the related Superman file his staff would always bring: It was one thing to think Clark was an ally to Superman but it was completely different to know Clark Kent was in fact Superman. He felt deceived by a simple farm boy but the recent revelation offered the answers for the questions he had been doing for years ever since the big accident at the bridge: It felt like an eternity when they first met years ago and he would never guess how opposite side they would take in incoming years.
He heard a knock. - "Come in."
Mercy entered and came to him. -"Do we have confirmation?"
"No." - Her answer crushed his hopes. -"The satellite images indicate he escaped the blast: however his home is completely destroyed and anyone doesn't have a chance to get inside that complex at least for the next 50 years."
"That's not good enough: I want to bring him to his knees. Unless there's a body, he's still alive." - The bitterness and the coldness of his affirmation scared her. She had been working for Lex for years and for the first time, she was frightened.
"You can leave." - He stated, flatly. As Mercy was about to exit his room, he called her. –"Mercy…Call General Lane: I have a task for him." - After her exit, while he waited for the General, his thoughts were again focused on the one time best friend, now mortal enemy, Clark Kent who was worldwide known under a different name, a different persona: Superman. However his thoughts on Clark Kent were interrupted shortly after, the general was on the com link waiting for the President's order.
"Mr. President..."
"General Lane...There's a top priority assignment for you."
Then Lex gave the general, the order which left the three star general stunned. -"Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent and Lois Lane: I found recent evidence which indicates these three helping Superman I want them here, alive, by the end of the day."– Luthor's orders were simple but the General's silence was telling him otherwise. – "General Lane, I know this is your daughter we're talking about but I have no pleasure in doing this but this has to be done: This is treason, General. There's no way to play it around."
After some consideration, the General finally spoke. - "I know Mr. President. I'll bring them to justice."
Just like that, the communication ended: Immediately after, Lex heard the knock and Mercy came in.
"Mr. President, there's a call for you."
The call made him wonder who ever he/she could be. - "Who is it? Russian's President? Chinese's Prime Minister?"
"No Sir, Lana Lang..." - It surprised him to hear Lana wanted to talk with him but somehow he was suspicious about Lana's timing.
He knew her friendship with Clark had always been tempestuous especially when it involved stronger feelings than friendship. He and Lana continued their friendship, helping her and tried a deeper, stronger relationship beyond friendship but Lana always said she could only offer him a friendship, nothing more.
"I'll take it." - Mercy left the room and his desk's phone transmitted the incoming call. Reluctantly he grabbed it. - "Lana, it's good to hear your voice again."
"Lex..." - He noticed how tense her voice was: clearly something was troubling her.
"I'm a little busy right now but we can talk later; I'm sure we've got a lot to catch up and..."
"Did you order the launch of the nukes, Lex?" - Her question caught him off guard, wondering how she knew about the attack.
"I'm hearing CNN reporting unconfirmed reports of a nuclear strike somewhere in the North Pole." – She ended all his doubts and quickly the tension escalated.
"Yes it's true." - He thought denying the rumors but he knew sooner or later, someone would confirm the news.
"What are you trying to prove, Lex?"
Her question was the bottom line of his entire endeavor. - "I'm proving to everyone how an alien race has come to destroy us, to rule us. Did you remember when I found you years ago at the middle of the road, in shock?"
She remembered like if it was yesterday: she had witnessed an atrocious attack where everyone was killed and she was the only survivor. - "How can I forget?!"
"You saw the evidence I showed..."
She interrupted him, knowing exactly where the conversation was heading to. - "Superman has done nothing but to help people, to fight crime and corruption. You just can't link him to whatever came out of that ship."
"I can and I did." – Lex pointed out, bluntly.
"You're starting World War III just to prove a point."
He thought about her sudden call, her arguments and then he put it all together. - "You know who he is..."
Her silence confirmed his suspicion. - "You lived most of your life with an alien surrounding your doorsteps..."
"The same alien who saved your life in that car accident 15 years ago." – She tried to make a point, trying to make Lex see the wrong of his doings but clearly there was the turning point for Lex was long gone.
"So you stand at his side. I'll never forget this act of betrayal." - He disconnected the call abruptly: the wound she made in his heart was deeper than he thought. Lex gained another reason to kill his enemy.
He woke up, lay down on the white field and look to his front: kilometers ahead of him, his heritage was gone.
Still slightly dizzy, he got up and slowly he walked towards the fortress but soon he stopped: feeling more capable, he leaped and floated, rising until he was able to see the destruction the bombs had done. Whatever was above the surface, it was wiped out but the lower floors of the Fortress were still although were severely damaged. It didn't matter: the radiation mixed with the kryptonite made impossible for anyone to get close, even him.
He had lost his heritage, the last memory of his home world.
He was always careful: always looking over the shoulder, seeking any suspicious movements but he had a single gold: revenge. It was revenge against the Man of Steel and revenge against the man who made him like he was right then.
He came inside a coffee shop and everyone had their attention to the TV. Curious, he also looked at the TV.
"...For now the White House hasn't confirmed if there was a nuclear strike. However there have been reports of bright greenish tones in far horizon of population in far regions of Greenland. Speculation of President's Luthor ordering the strike because of Superman who's currently whereabouts is unknown...wait this is just in our newsroom: Superman has just been seen in Houston, Texas, creating havoc in downtown. We expect at any minute live footage..."
The people around him were shocked, worried about their future but he was less than worried: in fact, he was thrilled about finally finding him. John Corben had a destination where could finally have his vengeance: Houston, Texas.
"Time for round two." - He stepped back and jumped as high as he could to arrive at his destination the fastest he could.
The waiting was killing her: neither Clark nor Lana had given any news and soon everyone became more unease with the unconfirmed news broadcast on TV about a nuclear strike somewhere in the North.
"Jonathan..." - Jonathan looked at his troubled wife and like her, he was lost, unaware of what to do. The only thing he could do was holding his wife and hold on to the hope his son was stronger than all the warfare.
On the other hand, Lois looked like a beast inside a cage, impatiently, walking around the room: knowing she had to do something, she grabbed her cell phone and called Jimmy.
"Jimmy?"
Jimmy could barely believe he was hearing Lois's voice. - "Lois? Thank God! Are you ok?"
"I wish I was...Have you heard the news?"
"Yeah..." - the sadness and the uneasiness filled his voice.
"Can you somehow confirm it?"
"I'll try..." - her cell phone began ringing: incoming call from Lana.
"Jimmy I have to go. I'm glad you're ok." - Immediately she took Lana's call.
"Lana? Please tell me something good." - Lana didn't know how to tell Lois the bad news, confronted with Lois's desperate hope but her silence made Lois understood something was wrong.
"Lana..."
It took a few seconds for Lana to reply. - "I've just talk to Lex and it was helpless. I don't know if you heard the news but Lex has confirmed me a nuclear attack. I'm sorry. Lois?" - The silence was nothing else than the shock of the revelation: perhaps for the first time Lois realized it was no longer just a witch hunt, it had become a war.
"Lois? He knows..."
"Thanks..." - Lois hung up and looked at the Kent couple who immediately understood the situation: Martha hugged Jonathan, squeezing him as strong as she could. - "Jonathan..."
"We've got to have faith, Martha, faith in our boy..." - He said it to give Martha some hope but also to Lois to whom he looked.
"I have to go." - She got up, grabbed her jacket and walked to exit, knowing that staying in the farm wouldn't help resolving the situation.
"Where are you going?" - Martha asked worried.
"I'm heading back to Metropolis: I've to find something to bring Luthor down, anything, even a parking ticket. I'll try to give some news any soon as I can."
"Good luck." - Jonathan declared.
"Thanks, we all need it." - She opened the front door and saw three black vans coming to the front. She looked at the Kents. - "Are you expecting any visits?"
The Kent couple looked at each other. - "No" - Both replied flatly.
The "déjà vu" feeling hit her and immediately she entered the house and closed the door. - "We're coming for us!"
Jonathan walked to the window where he saw the vans parking in front of his house. - "She's right. Let's get out by the back door." - Quickly they ran to the backdoor and exited the house: they ran as fast as they could, running across the farm but rapidly they stopped, resting for a few seconds as they entered. The Kent vitality was then just a shadow of what it was years ago.
"We've got keep running." - Lois's affirmation was both encouraging and warning.
"You go: we're just slowing you." - Jonathan understood Lois's affirmation but he didn't want to feel responsible for her possible capture.
"I'm not leaving you behind." – She stated flatly.
Jonathan put his hands on Lois's shoulders. - "Lois, me and my wife are no longer young people: I've got heart problems and if you stay with us, you're going to get caught with us. You're more useful if you find something about Luthor's personal vendetta."
The logic dictated she would follow Jonathan's advice however deep in her heart, she couldn't leave them behind. Martha noticed Lois's hesitation. - "Do it for us, do it for our boy."
Martha's words were decisive for her decision: no words were spoken, just a simple nod. She turned around and ran as she fast as she could, hating herself for leaving them behind but hating even more Lex into forcing her to make such decision.
Running for a half a hour, she finally stopped for a quick rest. While resting, she thought about everything and decided to continue her investigation where it was left: the Metropolis General Hospital, the morgue section but for that, she had to contact the only person she could trust, Jimmy Olsen.
Walking for hours, she arrived at Smallville and waited for the next morning to catch a bus to Metropolis: always looking around to see any suspicious movements but fortunately or rather unable, she didn't detect anything suspicious.
After a three hour trip she arrived at Metropolis and headed straight to the first cyber coffee shop she could find: If Lex knew the truth about Clark Kent/Superman then everyone close to him would be in danger. Grabbing the first available computer and went to a forum of the Internet dedicated to Superman where she and Jimmy were users. She sent him a personal message...
"Up, Up and Away."
...and waited for a reply. Phone calls or personal visits without any confirmation of being watched were out of the question. Using the Internet was the least risky situation. Hours passed and both coffee and patience were disappearing until she finally got a reply.
"The never-ending battle continues."
The message crushed her hopes: Jimmy had been caught and she was all alone. Immediately she terminated the connection and left the coffee shop but she stopped as she stepped out of it. Momentarily she was lost, unaware of what to do: the world was falling apart like a fragile castle of cards being easily destroyed by the wind.
Nevertheless, Time was a luxury she couldn't afford to: She took the nearest taxicab and headed to Perry White's house and while heading there she called to his cell phone but he never answered her calls, leading always to voice mail. She gave Perry the benefit of the doubt and hoped he was either sleeping like a rock or he was too drunk in some random bar and answer her call.
Finally, she arrived at Perry's place, paid the taxi and headed to Perry's apartment: she took the stairs until she was finally at apartment's door. She pressed the door bell hoping for Perry to open the door. Finally, after a few seconds the door opened but Perry wasn't who opened the door. Once she saw who was, she stepped back, disappointed almost feeling defeated.
"Dad…"
To be continued…