Chapter 17
Lex and Lana were searching in the woods for Jonathon. There was a lot of debris strewn about including sinks, beds, toys and farm equipment. Lex stopped to scan the area with his flashlight. Suddenly he felt something drip down onto his head. Lex wiped it off and looked at it. It was type of black liquid. He looked up to see a car impaled on a tree above his head. He figured that it must have been oil that was dripping down on him.
"Do you know who's car that is?" Lana asked noticing Lex shining his flashlight up at the car.
"No," Lex replied. "But I think we can cover more ground if we split up."
"Yeah," Lana agreed. "I'll meet you back here in half hour."
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Jonathon Kent was thankful that he had a lighter in his pocket. There had been many candles in the crypt and they provided sufficient illumination. However Jonathon had not yet been able to discover a way out. Jonathon noticed Nixon searching around blindly in the dim light.
"What are you doing?" Jonathon asked.
"I'm looking for my cell phone," Nixon replied. "It's our only hope."
Jonathon didn't bother helping but went about lighting more candles.
"You've got the only known alien in human history," Nixon said. "And you've kept her secret."
"Lana may be an alien," Jonathon said. "But she is my daughter. And I'm not going to let you sabotage her life while you make yourself famous."
"Is that why you chased me?" Nixon asked angrily. "What were you planning on doing Kent? Were you gonna bludgeon me and bury me in a shallow grave?"
"You were trespassing on my property," Jonathon retorted with equal anger. "And you tried to kill my daughter in that truck."
"You have the most amazing being on earth doing chores on your farm." Nixon said. "Why are you hiding her? Tell the world. Let them see for themselves."
"I think I'll let her decide that when she's older," Jonathon replied.
"And when do you suppose that will be?" Nixon inquired. "Draft age? Drinking age?"
"When she's ready," Jonathon replied lighting another candle.
"Why don't you stop playing the protector and admit the truth?" Nixon asked. "You and your wife kept her because you couldn't have children of your own."
"We protect her because she is our daughter and we love her," Jonathon answered as he gradually became more infuriated with Nixon.
Nixon began to laugh. "She's not your daughter, you deluded hick." Nixon said. "She's not even human."
Jonathon Kent took a few second and then turned around and punched Nixon square across the jaw sending him to the ground.
"You can kill me if you want for saying this," Nixon said backing away from Jonathon. "But you know I'm right. You're just a small man whose daughter's destiny is just too big for you to comprehend."
Jonathon grabbed Nixon and dragged him to his feet and looked him straight in the eye.
"Lana doesn't belong to you," Nixon said to Jonathon's face. "She belongs to the world."
Just then a Nixon's cell phone began to ring. Nixon quickly pushed himself away from Jonathon and scrambled towards the noise. It was on the ground near where he had been trapped under the column. He found it and quickly answered it.
"Hello?" Nixon shouted into the cell phone. "Lex?"
At the very mention of the name Lex, Jonathon grabbed the cell phone and threw it against a wall smashing it to pieces.
"You stupid son of a bitch!" Nixon yelled. "I thought you wanted to get the hell out of here!"
"I did want to get out here," Jonathon Kent retorted in a rage. "Until I realized that you were in bed with Lex Luthor and I would rather rot down here and die than see you ruin my daughter's life!"
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Lex was still on his cell phone. "Nixon? Are you still there?" he asked.
Suddenly he saw Lana approaching.
"Lana," Lex said. "I was just calling the fire department to see if we could get a rescue team out here."
"No you weren't," Lana said grabbing the phone away from Lex. "I heard you were trying to talk to Roger Nixon. My mom said he was snooping around the farm today. He was with my dad when the tornado hit."
"Lana I didn't know Nixon was involved in this," Lex tried to assure her.
"Why should I believe you?" Lana asked. "You already lied about knowing him once."
Lex hesitated as he tried think of a reply.
"That's the second time you've hesitated today Lex," Lana accused. "I'm starting to wonder if what my dad said about you was true."
"Lana wait," Lex called as she began to storm away. "You're tired and upset."
"Don't try and turn this around on me," Lana yelled angrily. "Are you really here to find my dad or to find Nixon?"
"Do you even have to ask?" Lex asked rhetorically.
"I don't have time for this," Lana said grabbing the flashlight away from Lex. "I've gotta find my dad."
"Lana!" Lex called after her, but it was no use.
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The Talon had been organized into a tornado relief centre. Inside Martha Kent was pinning up a picture of her husband on the missing person's board as Lana watched her.
"I'm going to talk to the Red Cross people and see if they have any new information about your father," Martha said.
"Lana," Clark said. "Any luck?"
Lana shook her head. "We looked all night. The search and rescue team combed the farm this morning but they didn't find anything either. I don't know what to do he's been missing for over twelve hours." Lana said on the verge of tears.
"They'll find him Lana, I know it." Clark assured her.
"Thanks," Lana said. "I thought you'd be home, recuperating."
"I wanted to help," Clark said. "A lot of people helped me out after the meteor shower, it meant a lot."
"I'm just glad you're okay," Lana said.
"Um, so how did you find me?" Clark asked.
"Just lucky I guess," Lana said. "The truck was on the road and you were inside it must have been thrown free from the tornado pretty quickly."
"Is that really what happened?" Clark asked.
"Yeah," Lana lied. "Why?"
"I just keep seeing something that doesn't make sense," Clark said. "The truck getting swept up in the Tornado and you just… never mind it must be a dream."
"Lana," Martha interrupted. "No new word."
"I'd better get back to work," Clark said. "You'll find him."
"I'm gonna stay and work the phone banks," Martha said. "If anybody has seen or found him they'll call in. They just discovered an old couple trapped in their garage this morning so there's still hope."
"Dad's missing because of me," Lana said anxiously. "And I brought this upon us."
"You can't blame yourself," Martha said. "You can't change who you are. As long as you live people will try to exploit you. Your father and I have tried to shelter you as long as possible but, one day we won't be there for you. And you're gonna have to carry the burden of your gifts on your own."
"Don't say that mom," Lana said sadly.
"When your day comes," Martha said. "I have no doubt in my heart that you'll make us proud. Now go back out there."
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Please Read Over:
Chapter 2 of Vortex done the rest will only take one or two more chapters and then we get onto some of the good stuff like Heat Vision, someone discovering the spaceship, and red Kryptonite plus my own special storyline which I guarantee everyone will like. (I'm not going the surprise)
Just another one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.