Chapter 18
Down beneath the trailer home, Roger Nixon and Jonathon Kent were still trapped.
"These old foundations, they mixed lead in with the cement for stability," Jonathon commented as he prodded away at the wall with a pole.
"What are you afraid we're gonna die of lead poisoning?" Roger Nixon asked sarcastically.
"Lana can't see through lead," Jonathon replied.
Nixon turned around surprised. "She can see through solid objects? Unbelievable, what else can she do?" he asked. "Do you have any idea what I would do with her abilities? The wealth, the power she could amass it's unimaginable."
"You are exactly the reason why I keep her abilities a secret," Jonathon replied.
"If it wasn't me it would have been someone else." Nixon said. "It was just a matter of time before the story got out."
"Yeah," Jonathon agreed with his own sarcasm.
"The people have a right to know!" Roger Nixon declared.
"With out any regard to the consequences to my daughter," Jonathon interrupted.
"Mister Kent, since the beginning of time people, have been looking up at the stars and wonder, what's out there? Lana is the answer that they have been waiting for." Nixon said.
"I think I know a way out of here," Jonathon said abruptly changing the topic.
"You gonna tell me what that is?" Nixon asked.
"You give me the tape of the ship and I will," Jonathon replied.
"That's not gonna happen." Nixon said stubbornly.
"It's your life, or your story," Jonathon said offering Nixon a choice. "You've gotta decide which is more important to you. I have."
It didn't take long for Nixon to crack. He reached into his jacket and pulled the tape out and handed it to Jonathon. Jonathon began pulling the eight millimetre magnetic strip out and ruining the tape, breaking it a few times for good measure. Nixon watched rather upset that the proof that he had searched for all his life was being destroyed.
"Are you gonna share your plan with me?" Nixon asked fearing that Kent might have been double crossing him.
Jonathon led Nixon to a spot in the wall. "Feel that," Jonathon said.
"The mortar is weaker here," Nixon said.
"Yep," Jonathon agreed. "If we can get through here I'm sure that we can tunnel up to the surface."
The two of them began working on prying the cement blocks free of the wall.
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Back at the farm Lana saw Lex waiting for her outside the barn.
"Lana," Lex called when he saw her.
"What do you want?" Lana asked.
"I should have come out and told you the truth right away," Lex admitted as Lana continued walking past him to the house. "I do know Roger Nixon I was just trying to protect you."
"Protect me from what?" Lana asked turning around to face Lex.
"Before the tornado Nixon approached me," Lex said. "He offered to sell me information about your family."
"What kind of information?" Lana inquired curiously.
"It doesn't matter now Clark," Lex replied. "The man's a nutcase. He'll do anything to prove that there are aliens on earth. I warned him to stay away from your family. When I saw his car I realized he might have had something to do with your father's disappearance."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Lana demanded angrily.
"I didn't want to alarm you unless I knew for sure," Lex replied.
"You know Lex, I don't know what to believe anymore." Lana said.
"Believe that I'm your friend," Lex replied. "I got something to show you."
Lex went to his car and pulled out a large roll of paper.
"What's that?" Lana asked.
"It's a map. A cellular frequency grid to be exact. I had my people look into it." Lex replied. "Only one cell tower survived the storm meaning Nixon and possibly your father had to be within a one mile radius of where we were last night. I don't know if it will help but it's worth a shot."
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Lana had managed to recruit Pete and Chloe into helping her search for her father. They were using the map that Lex had provided. Lex had to deal with issues back at the hospital concerning his own father.
"Well this is the edge of the grid," Chloe said.
"Yeah there's no structures left marked on the map," Pete agreed. "Sorry Lana."
"Wait," Chloe said. "What's that?"
Lana and Pete looked in the same direction. They saw a trailer home that while heavily damaged was still mostly intact.
"The twister must have dropped it here," Pete said.
Lana began scanning the area with her X-ray vision while Chloe and Pete looked elsewhere. However her scan didn't turn up anything.
"They're not in here," Lana said.
"Lana what are you a blood hound?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah how do you know?" Pete added.
Pete began searching the area anyway as did Lana. Meanwhile Chloe noticed a camera laying on the ground it was broken as if it had been dropped.
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Down below Roger Nixon and Jonathon Kent were in the process of tunnelling out when they heard the calls of Lana and Pete from up above.
"Did you hear that?" Nixon asked.
"It sounded like the kids," Jonathon said.
They both began yelling for help.
"They can't hear us," Roger cried. "They can't hear us!"
"Roger take it easy," Jonathon warned.
It was too late. The tunnel began to collapse down on Nixon. Jonathon barely managed to pull Nixon out in time.
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Up above Chloe thought she heard something.
"Did any of you hear that?" Chloe asked.
Lana used her X-ray vision to check again but she still couldn't see anything.
"Come on," Lana suggested. "Let's start again."
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Down below both Jonathon Kent and Roger Nixon lay on the ground, not from unconsciousness due to the cave in, but just from sheer exhaustion from their ordeal. Little did they know that the cave in had cause several meteor rock to become unburied and they now lay exposed on the ground around them.
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Please Read Over:
The rest of vortex should only take 1 more chapter. After that get ready for the story to get interesting as Lana is likely to try and start a relationship with Clark. But how will Chloe react?
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.