Chapter 10: Release

The late afternoon sun finally broke through the clouds; the humid air seemed saturated with its yellow light, almost making the desolate landscape beautiful again. Smallville's deserted fields and derelict buildings once again were flying past Lois's sight out the window of Kal's vehicle. They were on their way to Level Three.

Lex had sat in the back seat, and Lois, in the front, could catch him in her peripheral vision, but more than that, she could feel his presence, meditative, watching the land go by. He had prepared everything before they left: Lillian's number, Perry's number, and their places in time were set. Dolman's code had been entered, awaiting only the power and the final commands to activate it. Kal would provide access to Level Three and Lex would take care of the rest.

But like hell was Lois being left behind. "You need a back-up. And maybe someone to deal with Perry, too," she had insisted as Lex had tucked Dolman's device away in the inner pocket of his jacket.

She knew he had asked Martha to stay, so she had been prepared to combat his objections, but he had simply replied with a smile, "I thought you wouldn't miss this for the world."

And so Lois had said her goodbye to Martha. If this was it, she certainly could have done worse for a mother-in-law. Lex had said nothing to his mother as they left, but took her hand once. They seemed to have reached a kind of wordless understanding.

To Kal, Martha had said, "Thanks for helping out today."

"Anytime." His voice had been still unsure, diffident — but he finally had been able to meet her eyes.

Martha had stood outside watching as they drove off, but soon the trees had obscured her from view, and they left the Kent Farm behind.

Only once did Kal break the silence in the fifteen or twenty minutes it took to get to the LuthorCorp factory. He gestured toward a side road as they drove past, and said to Lois, "The caves are off that way, remember? I haven't been there in such a long time. I would have liked to have gone again, one more time."

"Your life isn't over, Kal," Lois said. "You may yet go back."

Kal's words apparently broke into Lex's preoccupied reflection. "The Kawatche caves? Haven't they been under Luthor control — first Lionel's, then yours — for decades? What's stopping you?"

Kal looked sidelong at Lois, and said, "Time, I suppose. You get busy, forget to go back. The caves fascinated me when I was young. Lois helped me research them — the drawings on the walls, the legend they were supposed to tell."

"About what?"

"A hero who is to be the world's protector ... and another one, who was like a brother ..." He trailed off thoughtfully as he pulled into the LuthorCorp lot. "We're here," he said, and added, "If Lois says I may get another chance at this ... I'll tell you about it later. It's an interesting story."

"I look forward to hearing it," Lex said.

The plant was not making fertilizer anymore — they had been unsure of its use for years now — but workers dotted the lot in front of the main building. Kal drove past them, leaving them behind to scramble in alarm as they recognized the vehicle. "There's another entrance that will take us nearer to Level Three," he told his passengers.

The area where he finally stopped was less populated — just two impassive guards whom Kal ignored as he strode past with Lois and Lex in tow. Once inside, they were greeted by the rapid and fearful approach of a hard-hatted man whose eyes widened in shock when he saw the two people standing behind his boss.

"You are to leave me completely undisturbed," Kal said before the man could utter a word. "For all you are to know or do, I am not here. Come on," he abruptly ordered his companions.

Lois saw the employee's expression change to one of distress when he was no longer in Kal's purview, as he watched the President and First Lady pass him by. What does he think Kal-El has in store for us? Lois wondered. And a fleeting question followed: How big of idiots are we being, following the lion right into his den? But she did not turn back. She looked at her husband, who seemed to have retreated into himself again, but his eyes were watchful. Lois knew that he was tracing their route, scanning the long hallway for landmarks, until Kal took them through a nondescript door. Beyond that was an elevator.

Its doors opened with a groan; inside, it looked years out of date.

"There's no Level Three," Lois said, looking at the buttons. But when Kal pressed what looked like an empty spot on the panel, it lit up, and they lurched downward.

The elevator opened on to a metal walkway that looked over a cavernous warehouse. Their footsteps clattered on steel as Kal led them to a far end where stairs took them to ground.

"So it does exist," Lex said, taking a few steps into the vast, empty room.

"What?" Kal asked.

"Level Three. We had a farmhand who left us to come to work here at the factory. Then he got sick, and started ranting to people about the secret experiments that made him ill, in a place called Level Three. Lionel Luthor denied it existed. We all thought Earl was delusional. But he was right."

"I think I remember that," Kal said. "Didn't he kill someone?"

"He told my dad it was an accident. He died before it even went to trial."

"I'm sorry."

Lex turned back to Kal, looking mildly surprised. He said reasonably, "In this case, it wasn't your doing."

"I suppose not. That one, Lionel can take the blame for."

"Where do we go now?" Lois asked.

Kal walked to a pair of steel doors opposite the stairs and, after determining they were locked, he wrenched them open. Lois peered into the darkness beyond as Kal said, "The room is straight ahead, down a staircase. It's unlocked, I hope. I can't go any farther."

He had scarcely finished speaking when a thunderous boom assaulted their ears, rattling the catwalks above them, loosening ghostly particles of dust in the eerie light.

"What the hell?" Even as Lois spoke, she knew what had happened.

Lex replied with one whispered word: "Pete."

How long had they been missing? Almost twelve hours now? Witnesses had seen who was responsible for her kidnapping, at least. Pete had waited, but had eventually taken the next step.

"We've got to get below," Lex said as Kal-El stared in shock at the ceiling. Lois still stood by the mangled steel doors, braced against the frame, waiting for the end of this moment of foreboding calm. Lex grabbed Kal's arm, pulling him toward the door.

"I can't go down there," Kal said.

But Lex knew as well as Lois that soon above would be no safer for Kal than below. "You have to —"

The next hit came. Lois heard herself scream out Lex's name as the entire ceiling seemed to come down in front of her. Before she could act on her instinct to rush out to him, to put herself in harm's way, Kal had thrown Lex to the ground and covered him, taking the blow of a chunk of masonry. It shattered off Kal's back, leaving Lex unharmed.

But Kal was not. The entire ceiling had not, in fact, come down, but enough had. The Kryptonite bomb had punched threw, and while steel and concrete could not crush Kal, the bomb's shrapnel brought him down. He rolled off to the side, writhing in pain.

"Lois!" Lex called to her, but she was already there. "You've got to get him home. Get him back to the farm."

"How? I can't drag him back to the car."

"With this." He held out a small cylindrical object. "It's how Dolman got me to Smallville."

"The transporter."

"Yes. Grab hold of him, press this button, and it should take you to the storm cellar. I told Mom to wait for us there, and it's the safest place on the farm now anyway. I asked her to have a first aid kit on hand. Do what you can for him."

She took the cylinder from him, and paused just long enough to meet his eyes and say, "I love you." Then she quickly moved to Kal, knelt beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We're going now," she said in his ear. She poised her finger over the button, and before she pressed it, the last thing she saw was Lex staring at her intently, until he vanished from her sight, along with the ruins of Level Three.

Lois found herself, indeed, on the floor of the Kent's storm cellar, with Kal stretched out beside her, apparently insensible.

"Lois?" Martha spoke from behind her. "My God, what happened? Where's Lex?"

"He's fine; he went on alone. The factory was bombed, but Kal was the only one hurt. It's Kryptonite. We've got to get it out of his skin."

If Martha questioned the wisdom of reviving this man, she did not show it. She reached in a pocket and handed the ring to Lois. "Get rid of this," she said. Lois scrambled up the stairs, opened the door and unceremoniously flung the ring into the grass. Even in the twilight, she could see smoke rising on the horizon, but for now there was no noise to indicate more bombs were hitting the LuthorCorp plant. She knew of no other targets in Smallville. Trying not to think of Lex lying under the factory's rubble, she descended again.

Martha was kneeling beside Kal, a first aid kit by her side, and was trying to both quickly and carefully remove his jacket. Lois crouched down to assist her. "Kal," she said, lifting him as gingerly as she could, "you've got to cooperate a little here." At that, he painfully opened his eyes for the first time since they had returned, and seemed to attempt to help. Once the jacket was off, Martha made short work of his shirt with scissors from the first aid kit. Her eyes widened at the extent of the wounds on his back.

"Lois, I don't think we can —"

"Try. We just have to get the Kryptonite fragments out, and then his body can heal itself."

"All right. Just hold him still," Martha said. And so she tried, wincing as she used her crude instruments — a knife, tweezers — and murmuring soothing, meaningless words to her patient, who slipped between near-unconsciousness and involuntary resistance. "Almost over now, Kal," she lied.

Miraculously, a faint smile crossed his face. "Clark," he whispered, his voice cracked and fading. "Don't ... you can't ... Wait for Lex to end this ..."

Martha stopped working and said quietly to her daughter-in-law, "This is causing more pain and I will not be able to get all this out of him." She leaned over Kal and gently called him by name. "Clark? Do you want me to stop?"

He closed his eyes briefly in assent and then with an effort met her eyes. "Thank you."

Damn it. They were both giving up. Everything in Lois rebelled against it, but she felt suddenly powerless to fight them, as Kal almost seemed to relax in her arms and Martha, her bloodied hands slightly shaking, packed up the first aid kit.

"Lois." Kal seemed to will himself to consciousness. "You were ..." He struggled to speak, to find the words, then finally said, "It was the only time I felt part of this world."

"Don't you —" She wanted to order him to stop, not to surrender, but found she could barely speak herself, her voice choked, alien to her own ears.

"Your picture on the wall," he continued faintly. "For 500 years. Maybe Clark will know ... if Lex makes it right."

If Lex didn't succeed, hers would be the last words he heard.

"I know," she said, and kissed his cold lips.

If she offered poor solace, it no long mattered. He was gone.

She sat back, laying Kal's head on the ground, and put her face in her hands — then drew them away, foolishly startled to find they were wet, and dirty. Tears and dust and blood.

When Lois raised her eyes to meet Martha's. The older woman was dry-eyed, but she smoothed the hair off Kal's forehead and said, "I don't remember that he was mine."

Lois could not respond; she felt bereft of words. A muted, distant rumbling could be heard anew. There was nothing left to do but wait, as bombs shook the world above them.

Author's Note: Thanks ever so much for the kind words from my latest reviewers, purplemonky, MRP1, and most especially to becs1 — the "rambling" is welcome any time! With the time that it took to hammer out this plot, dream up all the (mostly untold) backstory, and then write this, my little alternate timeline has become quite real to me, so it thrills me to pieces to think that a reader might feel the same way. Only two more chapters to go, and it's going to be sad for me to leave it behind.