Chapter 5: Amnesty

Lois had one condition, to which Kal conceded: no flying. They would take conventional transportation to the Kent Farm, no matter how much longer it would take.

She was returned to her room before they departed, and presently a nameless employee knocked on the door and handed her a neat pile of clothing: jeans, a sweater and casual shoes to replace her rumpled suit and uncomfortable heels. She considered the likely possibility that she was being monitored, shrugged, and gratefully changed her clothes. The new ones more or less fit.

All the while she puzzled over the recording that Kal had played. It seemed a practical joke, an inexplicable fraud, but Kal believed its veracity. Someone had sent a message to Lillian Luthor long ago, and this machine told the tale. Like the cave paintings that held its stories of the past or the future, Kal believed it. Lois needed convincing.

When they were young, they had pored over the cave paintings and interpretations, trying to unravel the message. They had found the thrill of the chase together, Lois following her budding journalistic instincts, and Kal following Lois — and his own conviction that these legends held the key to his own origins.

Now here they were again. And even as Lois never forgot that she was a prisoner, that she couldn't trust the word of Kal-El, she was drawn irresistibly to unravel the mystery. It was one worthy of her cousin's Wall of Weird back in the old days.

Perry White would have loved it, she mused, even if she was working with the man who had killed him. Maybe Perry would have loved the irony, too.

"Kid," he would say, "you do what you gotta do to get the story."

Her guard returned, and she was escorted to the front entrance of what indeed was the familiar high-rise of the Luthor penthouse. A large black vehicle pulled up, with Kal himself driving. "Let's go."

The streets of Metropolis seemed remarkably empty, and when they sped off into the eerily quiet countryside, Lois realized that Kal probably had the power to clear the roads before him. She didn't know how often he drove, but he handled the vehicle with ease at a velocity which nearly match his flying speed. They would make the journey in under half the time Lois would have imagined.

The day was gray, and rain occasionally spattered the windshield. They spoke very little. Whether Kal found it comfortable silence or awkward, Lois didn't really care. Her mind was occupied with what she had heard.

And what she thought she had heard. At the end — was that ...? It was impossible, yet Lois couldn't help but smile at the thought of it.

As they reached the outskirts of Smallville, Kal placed a call on his cell phone. "Where are they?" After a pause, he said, "I'll be there in a few minutes. Clear out now. Surveillance is no longer required, and I want everyone gone." He terminated the call and shortly thereafter he turned to drive under the weathered sign that still said "Kent Farm."

Kal parked the vehicle on the gravel drive near the picket fence surrounding the front of the farmhouse and stepped out. As Lois did the same, there was a commotion on the porch. She heard shouting indoors as an unfamiliar middle-aged man flung open the front door, scrambled down the stairs and dashed off to his right, away from where Lois and Kal stood. He clumsily scaled the picket fence and headed for the fields.

Kal vanished in a blur and reappeared across the yard in front of his target. With steely efficiency, he snapped the man's neck.

For a moment, Lois couldn't breathe.

She saw Lex and Martha had run out to the porch. Lex moved in front of his mother, his right hand behind his back, gesturing for her to go inside. However, she did not move, but continued to stare, horror-struck, over Lex's shoulder at Kal and the dead man crumpled at his feet.

Shaking, Lois opened the gate and walked into the yard while Lex glanced from Lois to Kal, who crossed the fence and walked at normal speed toward them.

"Don't worry," Lois said between her teeth, barely containing her fury. "He's not here to hurt us."

Lex nodded slightly and turned to Kal, who said to Lois as he approached, "I told you what would happen to Dolman if I found him." Lois did not reply, and Kal took a step up to the porch. "Lois agreed to come with me. We need —"

Lex's right hand flew out from behind his back and threw a punch to Kal's neck. It should have been a futile and perilous gesture, but instead it sent Kal reeling backwards onto the ground. Lex followed him down, never breaking contact, and Lois saw crackling green veins spread out from where Lex held his fist.

"I have it on good authority that this will kill you," Lex hissed. "How long will it take?"

She remembered the ring. She had never actually seen Kryptonite's effects before.

"Lois," Kal managed to croak.

She moved forward, leaned over him, and pulled the device from the inside pocket of Kal's jacket. Clutching it to her, she wordlessly backed away.

It was Martha who intervened. "Lex," she said, "I do not want to watch you become a killer in front of my eyes."

"It can all end right here. The nightmare will end."

"Find another way to end it."

Lex did not respond. Kal seemed to have lost awareness of anything except excruciating pain. Then Lois saw a strange change come over her husband's face: bewilderment, then almost wondering recognition.

He took his hand away and stood up, stumbling back a little as he did so.

Still on the ground and choking slightly, Kal squinted at Lex's hand. Lex, who was regaining his composure, looked at the ring himself. "It was a gift from my wife," he told Kal.

The look of hurt and betrayal Kal gave her only served to infuriate Lois more. "I can't believe I let you drag me into this —" she said.

"I told you what Dolman was in for," Kal rasped. "And he was escaping." Lex had not moved any farther away; the effect of the ring appeared to be enough to keep Kal weakened.

"And you had to deal with it this very instant. Do you have any sense? Do you expect people to trust you after what you just did? Do you expect me to vouch for you in any way?"

Kal glanced at the device that she held. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

Lois marched up the porch steps. "I am going inside and I'll explain to my family why I am here. Whether you are allowed in is up to the woman of the house."

Martha regarded Kal. "Can you be in the house if the ring is too?" she asked.

"If I keep my distance," he said, and struggled to rise.

Martha nodded. "Then keep your distance." She turned and entered the house.

Lex backed up the porch, opened the door, and with a gesture that prominently placed the ring between Lois and Kal, guided her inside. As the screen door slapped shut, Lois stopped and looked back to see Kal finally stand and unsteadily climb the steps. He waited at the door until Lex had moved out of sight, and for the first time, he entered the home of the Kent family.

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Author's Note: Thanks to XmarisolX for your review! I like those kinds of stories, too (which is why I enjoy yours so much), but if you make it to the end, my hope is that there will be some emotional resonance to my story amid all the sci-fi goings-on. That's what I'm aiming for, anyhow; we'll see if I succeed.