CHAPTER 2: Fire from the sky

"You were there when that volcano suddenly stopped erupting in the Philippines?" Lois said incredulously.

"Yeah I was. I've seen quite a bit of crazy things in the past two years." Clark beamed at Lois. He was enjoying this lunch quite a bit. "The craziest one was seeing Lois Lane as the star reporter of the Daily Planet." to this Lois gave him a dirty look. Clark suddenly heard a loud shout of excitement from behind him and he caught a blur of blonde hair out of his peripheral vision before being enveloped in a bear hug.

"Clark! You're back! You're safe!" Chloe excitedly said.

"Chloe hey. I was going to call you as soon as I could. Theres a lot of things I need to explain."

"I'll say." Lois snapped. Clark could tell she was going to need a little bit more work to get over her anger at him. Chloe sat down at their table.

"So Clark Kent, international man of mystery. I read your article on that avalanche in the Alps that stopped short of that village." Chloe smiled at Clark. She knew she'd get the full story about all of his adventures later when Lois wasn't around.

"Geez Clark did you somehow develop an ability to attract natural disasters?" Lois teased. Then she got a little more serious. "Why did you just pick up one day and decide to see the world?"

Chloe was surprised by Clark's answer. It was mostly the truth and she was even more surprised that Lois didn't follow it up with a game of 20 questions.

"I received a message from my birth father. I had to travel to world to learn about my family history and he didn't want me to have any contact with anybody from my life or he would stop talking to me. I met him once. He died. When I'm ready I'll tell you about it. I promise." Lois smiled at Clark and dug into her plate of $25 gourmet chinese food.

----

The loud buzzing of Clark's apartment doorbell shook Clark out of fond memories of that first lunch with Chloe and Lois. The planet had kept him busy since that day and he found quickly that Lois had changed for the better in a lot of ways. She was still bossy, rude and stuck up but she was also kind, gentle and more beautiful than he remembered.

"Smallville, open the damn door!" Clark smiled at the noise. Lois could be crabby in the morning. He poured a cup of Martha Kent's finest and opened up.

"For you Ms. Lane." He smiled as he handed her the coffee.

"You sure do know the way to my heart Smallville." Lois replied as her mood brightened up as soon as she had a sip of the best coffee in the world. "Now lets go. We have to be to the stadium by 8:30 to help Jimmy get shots of them setting up and then we have to meet with the one and only Johnny Blaze at 9."

"Aye Aye Sailor." Clark said to remind Lois of a moment they had shared in the past. This brought a flash of a smile across her face.

"You first Kent." She said as she watched Clark walk out ahead of her. Her head felt light and it had felt that way a lot since Clark had come back into her life. She had spent two years dating a few losers who didn't care about her and the whole while she wondered what had happened to Clark. She missed him more than she would readily admit to anybody. Before he left she felt that something was going to happen between them that wasn't just friendly. She checked out his ass as he walked out of the apartment. She had to admit he had filled out nicely since he'd been gone as well. 'Okay Lois, you can bring those feelings out of the lock box some other time, right now we need to get the scoop.'

----

Leaves scattered everywhere in the secluded mountain retreat in Georgia as a black helicopter set down. Lex Luthor sauntered out and towards the makeshift cabin they had constructed over a cavernous opening in the earth, dug deep into the roots of the Appalachian mountains. For the past several months Lex could not shake a dream he kept having of a colonial era town being burned to the ground. The name William Luthor came to him more than once in his dream. Lex did some digging into his family's history to discover that a man named William Luthor had been the weatlhy settler of a colony in New England in colonial times. Legend had it that business went bad for Luthor and that one night the entire colony was attacked by native Americans and burned to the ground. Luthor was the sole survivor and after this event his fortune changed and he began the Luthor family fortune that Lex laid claim to today. The legend also said that William Luthor built a sprawling mountain estate that was violently destroyed one autumn night when he was an old man. His servants found him crushed by a pillar of stone and they had him entombed with all of his worldly possessions in a cavern that laid deep in the mountain underneath his home. Lex had become obsessed with finding his ancestors tomb now at last they'd had located a hidden door at the bottom of this enormous cavern. Lex was sure he had found his ancestor.

"Lead the way." Lex said coldly to the man standing guard at the entrance. Grabbing several flashlights Lex and several of his hired men headed into the cavern. Soon they reached an ornate door etched with the Luthor family crest. "Open it." Lex ordered. Several men ran up and laid some small charges on the door. Everyone backed up and took cover. A flash and loud bang followed as the door crumbled to dust. Lex smirked. The sonic detanators were one of the first new toys he had sold to the Military. They had begun what he felt was a wonderfully profitable partnership. As the dust cleared Lex entered the tomb. He was surrounded by artifacts of his family history, this would be a day he would remember. "Pack up everything." He said to the men as he walked to the center and examined the mummified corspe of William Luthor. At his feet lay a worn and ancient journal. Lex picked it up and flipped it open to the last entry.

Oct 23rd

I know now what has been following me since that day at the colony and I say soon it will discover my home here and try to rob me of my legacy. I will not let KALE win. The Luthor family will live on into the future and they will enjoy the legacy that I have started. I have sent my only son away with strict orders not to ever return here or to record where this place is. The explosives have been placed and I will certainly not last the night. Kale would see me suffer, see me watch my son die as he had to watch her die but I will have the last laugh. I will burn this house and perish within it, robbing that fiend of the revenge he has sought for so long. William Luthor will prevail in the end. farewell Alexander. Do not let the Luthor family name go to waste.

Lex shut the book. His family history was proving to be very interesting. Lex scanned the walls of the tomb with his flashlight. He stopped when it shined on a painting of a William Luthor sitting with a beautiful woman. In the background stood a rough but handsome man. The bottom of the painting said "William and Miriam Luthor and their faithful servant Noble Kale." "Noble Kale..." Lex whispered. Suddenly all of the lights in the flashlights went out and a gust of wind began to fill the chamber. The men around Lex began to exclaim panicked words. Lex took a step back and kept his back to the wall. He began to hear a ragged voice speaking.

"Luthor... Luthor... Luthor... I last I have found you. I swore to you so many years ago I would have revenge and I swear that I will. My ancestor still lives as does yours. One shall pay for the blood price that your fortune cost." The men around Lex began to scream. The body of William Luthor caught fire and by the light of this horrific flames Lex saw the faces of the other men in the tomb catch fire as well. One by one they dropped to the ground in agony. As their screams went quiet the wind calmed and the flames died out. Lex heard faintly in his ear. "The rider will find you Lex." Suddenly the flashlight in his hand turned back on and everything was as it was before the supernatural events. Lex turned in shock to see the painting of William Luthor had changed. In the background the head of Noble Kale was now a flaming skull. Lex grabbed the journal of William Luthor and sprinted out of the tomb. He jumped on the helicopter and screamed at the pilot.

"GO! Now! Go!" The pilot took off in a hurry as Lex saw the cavern entrance cave in on itself beneath him. 'What the hell just happened.' Lex thought as he pulled out his phone he was going to need extra security at the mansion.

---

The Metropolis stadium was packed with people setting up for the event later in the evening. World renowned daredevil Johnny Blaze would be attempting to jump his motorbike the entire 100 yards of the football field. "Lois! Clark! Over here!" Jimmy Olson ran up to the two reporters as they walked onto the field.
"Hey Jimmy" said Clark. Clark had met Jimmy a few years earlier, right after he had faced General Zod for the first time. They grew to be good friends and Jimmy was the only person who really hadn't asked Clark where he disappeared to over the last 2 years.

"Well Jimmy what do you know?" Lois asked.

"Mr. Blaze is arriving by helicopter for the press conference in 10 minutes. I've already got some pre-liminary shots and I'm meeting with his manager in a bit so that we can get some personal shots of him."

"Good work Jimmy, Lets go get some good seats for the conference Smallville." Clark waved bye to Jimmy and followed after Lois to where the press conference was being held. Clark recognized several reporters from competing newspapers who shot dirty looks at Lois who had developed a reputation for getting the big story before anybody else. Suddenly a strong wind began to swirl within the stadium and the sky began to grow dark.

"Hey Lois is it supposed to rain today?" Clark asked.

"No 80 degrees and sunny all day." Lois said as she eyed the darkening sky suspiciously. Clark started to feel very on edge. He could feel a strong energy coming from the dark clouds, an energy that he hadn't felt since Lana was possessed by the witch Isobel.

"I have a bad feeling Lois." Clark said as he drew closer to her. If something was going to happen he would make sure Lois stayed safe.

"Geez Smallville its probably just a storm. Since when could anybody actually predict the weather anyways?" Lois jabbed at Clark, though she secretly liked how protective Clark always was of her. Even though in her opinion she didn't need anybody to take care of her. From out of the distance Clark heard the beating of some helicopter rotors. A man climbed up onto stage.

"Hello folks and welcome. Welcome to Metropolis stadium! In just a few short hours home to the longest motorcycle jump in history." The man eyed the clouds and saw that Johnny Blaze's helicopter was now heading over the stadium at a fast rate of speed. "I hope you all brought umbrellas! I heard it was supposed to be partly cloudy with a chance of falling Blaze's!" Everybody looked up at the helicopter that swooped low over them before pulling up and banking. They saw Johnny Blaze standing in the doorway, it looked like he wasn't planning on landing but on jumping out of the helicopter. As the helicopter began to approach them again Clark saw clouds take on an orange glow.

"Lois look at the clouds. I think they're on fire!" Lois looked up and saw that the black clouds were now burning. The other reporters around them began to murmur nervously. Was this part of the show? The helicopter was moving dangerously fast and flying low when suddenly from out of the clouds a bolt of fire blasted it, instantly consuming it in flames and sending it on a crash course right for the assembled reporters. Clark only had moments to react as it crashed just short of the reporters and began to slide right at them, pieces of the rotors being flung right at the reporters. As Clark took action time seemed to stand still, using his heat vision Clark blasted all of the pieces of the rotors away, then he sped towards the careening wreck of the helicopter and stopped it with his hand. Clark winced in pain as he touched the flaming wreck and brought it to a stop. Then before anybody could register what he had done he sped back to Lois' side and covered her with his body just in time as a piece of the wreck that was about to impale Lois bounced off of his back. From all around him Clark heard people shouting and screaming. He stood there with his arms wrapped around Lois looking around to make sure everyone was alright.

"Smalville! hey Smallville! Clark!" Clark looked at Lois who was shouting at him. "I'm ok you can let me go now." Clark immediately let go, embarrassed that he was still holding her. He could still smell her sweet scent on him. "Clark are you okay. Your hand is burnt. Let me see that." Lois grabbed Clark's hand with great concern. Clark looked at it too. "Clark how did you burn your hand?"

"It must have been heat from the explosion." It was the best excuse Clark could come up with. "Lois look, the clouds are gone." Lois and Clark looked up to see that the sky was shining brightly like it was when they had arrived and the wreck of the helicopter had no sign of ever being on fire.

"Somebody help!!" A man nearby shouted. Clark and Lois ran over to help right away.

"Whats wrong Sir?" Clark asked.

"Its Johnny Blaze! He must have fallen out of the helicopter when it got hit." In front of them laying in an awkward position on the ground was Johnny Blaze. Even without using his abilities to check, Clark knew he was dead.

"Clark! Lois! Thank god you're okay!" Jimmy came running up. "You will not believe the pictures I got of this! Whoah is he okay?" he asked as he saw Johnny Blaze.

"No Jimmy he's dead." said Clark.

"Oh bummer." said Jimmy.

"You said it Jimmy." said Lois. "Clark we should probably get some quotes from witnesses and try to piece together what happened. Jimmy did you get photos of everything."

"Yeah all of it. It was so weird. That helicopter was careening right at everybody and then all of the sudden it just stopped." Jimmy pulled out his camera and pulled up an image on it. "Check this out, this is right when it stopped." In front of the helicopter a blurry red and blue image was frozen. "Hey C.K. are you okay? It looks like something hit you in the back." Clark realized that the debris that he shielded Lois from must have ripped open his jacket.

"Yeah I'm fine. I don't know what happened."

"Well whatever happened to Smallville here I'm glad he's not skewered on the football field. Jimmy lets go over your photos. Clark start getting some information about what people saw." Jimmy walked off and Lois started to follow. Then she stopped and turned to Clark. "Whatever just happened Clark I'm glad you're okay. Get that hand looked at."

"I will Lois. Hey be careful, that wreckage doesn't look too stable." Lois smiled at him and walked off.

Clark looked down at his hand and frowned. The sun was already doing its work and healing it up but Clark knew he'd better go get some bandages for it or Lois would ask some uncomfortable questions. Clark looked up at the cloudless sky and then at path of destruction on the football field. An ambulance was loading the black bag with Johnny Blaze inside of it into the back end. Clark looked at his hand one more time. The fire had gone just a quickly as it came. Clark wanted to know where it came from and why it could burn him. He had a feeling that whatever caused it was just beginning.

----

The cold lights of the Metropolis morgue shone down on the two men working in the preparation room.

"What do we got here Tom?"

"Dardevil Johnny Blaze. There was a freak accident at the stadium. Poor bastard got lit on fire and then fell from a helicopter."

"Daredevil. Huh? The dead will rise before you'll see me jump from a helicopter." The lights around the morgue went out.

"What the hell?" The two men backed away from the table. The dead body laying there sat up and the face began to glow. The men watched in horror as the skin burnt off of his face revealing a flaming skull.

"Mr. Blaze?" was the only thing one of the men managed to get out.

"No... My name is Noble Kale!" The skull said as the body jumped off of the table and disappeared into a fissure in the ground that closed as quickly as it opened. The two men looked at each other.

"I think we need to go grab a beer."