Ch. 16 Pt. 1
Lana pulled out blue-prints of the warehouse from her bag and laid them out on an old crate along the side of the warehouse. The others gathered around him to wait for instructions. "Okay so, here is the blueprints of the first floor of then warehouse, it seems that nothing unusual is being kept on this floor, but through this maze of halls," she said running her fingers down an intricate pathway, "there is an elevator. According to Oliver's research the floor of the first floor, ceiling of the basement, it is made out of lead, perfect for keeping the radiation of meteorites inside. So here's what we are going to do…" she said her voice sounding more official, "Lois and Oliver will take the top floor, looking around, just in case Kylie is up there. Also, if Clark and I are in trouble, you will make a distraction so we can get out as fast as possible…"
Clark was amazed at the strong women before her, never before had she taken a strong leadership position like she was taking now.
"Chloe and Jimmy will be on the outside, as our tech guys, handling the cameras, codes on doors, etc…I know you two would probably like to do something more hands on but we need you two to handle this." 'Besides it will give you guys some alone time.' Lana thought, rolling her eyes as the couple kept gazing longingly at each other. 'Must have been how Clark and I used to look at each other,' she thought chancing a glance at her ex.
"I thought these might come in handy," Lois said after Lana finished, throwing a bag of guns on the table. "Relax, they are stun guns," she assured, after seeing the looks on the faces of her friends.
Lana shrugged, picking up her gun putting it into her pocket. "Alright, let's do this.
--
The group, now diminished to Lois, Lana, Clark and Oliver entered through the ventilation system of the warehouse. The cameras were now looped as they hopped down into an intersection of halls. Clark and Lana looked to Oliver and Lois who had been bickering about a mysterious bag, Oliver had been carrying this entire time.
"What's in it," asked Lois for the hundredth time.
"Nothing," lied Oliver for the hundredth time.
Lois was about to argue some more when Lana cut her off, "Okay this is where we split up, you guys go down that hall to stay on the floor, we'll go down this one to get to the basement floor." Oliver and Lois quieted and nodded, "Good luck," Oliver called after them as they went off down the hall opposite to Lana and Clark. Clark and Lana watched them until the faded from site, Lana looked to Clark, "Ready?" Lana asked looking down their dark hallway.
Clark nodded, "Let's go get Kylie," he said, determination in his voice as he started off down the hall. Lana looked after Clark before following, "he really likes her," she said quietly to herself.
--
Clark and Lana had been walking down halls for several minutes when they heard squeaky footsteps ahead of them, "Shhh…" Lana whispered, crouching low to the ground, gun cocked and ready to fire. Clark mimicked her actions when they saw the guard that was creating the noise with his shoes. Unfortunately, there was no where to hide as he turned around to face them. "Hey!" The guard yelled pointing his gun, his real gun, at them. Clark, instinctively, got in front of Lana and started toward the guard, getting ready to throw him against a wall. Instead, he heard something wiz by his ear and saw at the tranquilizer dot hit the guard in the neck and he fell to the ground. "Nice shot," he said giving Lana a surprised smile. Lana returned the smile weakly, then stepped over the guard, picking up an ID scanner card of his person, "we might need this," she said and pocketed it, then continued down the hall. Clark gave the guard one last look before following Lana.
--
Finally, they had reached there destination. Well, partly. They had made it too the basement floor thanks to the ID card. What they found was like something out of a horror movie. Different rooms carried different cages or cells, each with the sounds of moaning, or crying people out of it. Others were labs which were apparently used in experimenting on the prisoners. Clark watched as Lana's face went from horrified to sickened to angry as they passed by these different rooms. "You were right," she said, her head down in shame, "Lex is not a good man. He did this. He did this to all these people. Clark saw a tear roll down her cheek, was about to say something to comfort her, but they reached the end of the hall. In front of them was a large metal door, accompanied by many locks and a security code. Clark could have easily ripped it open but with Lana he couldn't do anything. "I wonder where Kylie is," Lana said almost sarcastically. She then started trying many different passwords. It was a five letter password made up of only letters. Her name and other words that Lex might use did not seem to open the locks. Then an idea came to Clark. "Remember the aliens who first came here. Who started Lex's obsession with aliens. Remember who they were looking for…He moved Lana out of the way, typing one of the few five letter words Lex and he knew. K-A-L-E-L….
The door swung open, a bright, blinding light automatically coming on, not allowing them to see inside the room. Clark and Lana exchanged a look and then entered. Each gasped at what they saw…