Fireworks! (Super Lana 25)
DJ Dubois
February 2007

[An hour later]

To everyone’s delight, the boiled dinner turned out great, allowing them to sample the ham, corned beef, potatoes, cabbage and carrots along with some homemade oat bread and salad. Pie, coffee and great conversation topped everything off.

“For boiled stuff, that was good,” Clark complimented.

“Thank Dr. Dubois for that. Apparently, it was his grandmother’s recipe,” Martha accepted while clearing the table. “Speaking of him, he was wondering when you both would start training. The summer’s wearing on.”

The super teens rolled their eyes. While they appreciated the offer, their lives were full enough as it was.

“Kids, please make time.” Martha turned her back, looking toward the new orchard. In her mind’s eye, she could still see the darkness of that May night from over twenty years earlier….

….and hear the Protector’s Scream as he clashed with the Mystery Man.

“We will. Mom, what is it?” Lana wondered.

“Your mother and I still remember the fight out back, Lana,” Jonathan informed her grimly. “This time, there are other factors to consider such as April and their children. We’re all going to be relying on you both.”

“We’ll be ready when the time comes,” Clark agreed. “Last thing we want is for any harm to come to anyone.”

“We know that, Clark. All we ask is that you take it into consideration. If what Lex said is true, that Mystery Man said that he’ll be back on the anniversary. That means we have until December 10th,” his mother requested.

“Can we be excused? Clark and I need to go over to the mansion. Maybe we can get some information,” Lana proposed.

“Sure. Just be careful,” Jonathan agreed. As the super teens streaked off, he exchanged looks with his wife.

“They do know how serious this is, Jonathan,” she assured him.

“I hope so. I truly do,” he replied hopefully.





Chapter 2 [Luthor Mansion—five minutes later]

Lex paced about his library sanctum purposefully, trying to sift through recent events. On a positive note, he and Chloe had a wedding date set and had begun to deal with the minutia of the event itself. In addition, the Talon complex raked in profits hand over fist.

However, he also knew that the clock was ticking. Ever since the Mystery Man’s latest appearance six weeks prior, his mind struggled to consider possibilities and defenses against any and all dark threats. At least we have until December. The others have run into him in one form or another. Still, how will we deal with him? He downed a glass of scotch and considered his mother’s portrait hanging above the fireplace.

A sudden breeze and papers shuffling on the desk alerted him to his friends’ presence. “You two have quite a way of entering a room. I should have you show me that sometime.”

Clark shrugged. “Sorry, Lex, alien super speed and all that.”

“Just thought I’d ask,” the billionaire chuckled while motioning to the lemonade pitcher. “I had Jenkins bring that up five minutes ago. Please feel free to help yourselves.” He sauntered back over to his desk. “By the way, Lana, I was reviewing the Talon’s finances for the past two months. You’re doing an excellent job.”

“It can be hectic, Lex, but we try,” she indicated anxiously. “Mrs. Singleton’s a big help in the Emporium especially given Mrs. Dubois’ maternity leave.”

“Another two months and she’ll be ready to come back. At least that’s what she told me today,” Lex told them. “Speaking of the Talon, I have two other things in mind.” He waved a folder in the air in front of them. “First of all, take a look at that both of you.”

The two teens peered into the folder’s contents, recognizing blueprints for the Talon’s café and the empty theater behind it.

“Lex, what is this?” she inquired.

The billionaire got up from behind the desk and strolled over to the lemonade pitcher. Once there, he refilled his glass. “It’s your dream, Lana. Remember when you talked me into investing in the building? You mentioned a renaissance. You also told me your dream was to show films in the old theater.” He smiled warmly. “Granted we’re going to need to talk to Dave, Jasmine and April about this but I want to go ahead with this.”

“Do you think they’d go along with this?” she queried, trying to control her hopefulness.

“They know how important this is to you. Besides we’ve seen the magic of that theater for ourselves.” Lex gazed at his mother’s portrait. “Dr. Dubois delivered a hell of a poetry reading there right after the standoff with his father.”

“Your Mom arranged that?” Clark asked.

Lex nodded. “She wanted to see him at work. Dave just got out of the med center. He was really nervous but he did it. He sat in your loft, Clark, composing for two days before that.” He sipped on his lemonade. “There’s both good and bad magic in that theater. I want to play the good stuff up as much as possible. Speaking of which, that gets me to the second item on my agenda. You know that the town’s asked me to provide the fireworks for the Fourth.”

“Right,” she agreed. “What’s wrong?”

“The shipment’s won’t be able to leave Dallas until the fourth itself. I could get it on the third but I’d have to drive down there and bring it back. If I did that, it’d be a close call. I was hoping that maybe you two could do us a favor?” Lex explained.

“Lex, we can’t expose ourselves!” Clark protested.

“Are you sure you can’t get another truck to do the shipping, Lex?” she inquired. Then she had an idea. “Maybe we can get the Protector to flash us down there and back.”

The two men stared warily at her, not sure of mixing the explosive kid and a room full of incendiary devices.

“That’s the only way we can avoid driving there and back without running the risk of being caught,” she argued. “The other option is the drive there and back.”

Lex sighed in surrender, realizing she was right. “Fine. We’ll ask him. I just hope that nothing sets him off.”

“It shouldn’t,” she assured them both while holding her own questions back in the meantime.




Chapter 3
[Apartment above the Talon]

Even as Clark, Lana and Lex met, Dave rocked in his corner chair while easing Peggy to sleep. After April had fed her and Colin, the aspiring professor wanted to make sure that his daughter was comfortable. “Sleep well, Angel.”

“Papa?” Angie asked hesitantly from the table across the room.

“What’s up, Sunshine?” he asked warmly.

“Sorry….I just love seeing you with them like that. Wish that you’d have held me like that,” she declared.

“I did. You passed away three weeks after your mother died, Angie.” He trembled while recalling that event again.

“Sorry, Papa. I didn’t mean to get you upset….” She bowed her head.

“It’s okay, Kiddo. I was just thinking about your mother,” he replied while walking into the bedroom with Peggy. After setting her down in the left one, he slowly returned to the front room where Angie sulked.

“She asleep?”

“Yeah,” he answered while rubbing her shoulder. “Angie, when your Mom died, you were my great hope. Then when I lost you, it devastated me. Now I have you, Cassie, Miri, the twins and April back. I am so happy that you’re back in my life.” He embraced her. “And you’re all equally as important to me.” He kissed her forehead. “Now I need to check on April. Can I tuck you in?”

“Sure, Papa. Thanks,” she accepted while heading with him toward the bedroom that she shared with her sister.


****


[Ten minutes later]

Dave eased his way under the sheets with a heavy heart. How could I have done more for Angie? He frowned, running through his memories from those days: how he’d taken care of her for those three weeks. He’d watched her get sicker.

The Protector continued to freak out, not understanding why she was ‘broken’.

He felt the renewed thud of his emotions mixing with the Protector’s rage.

He stared at the ceiling, trying to contain his feelings in order to allow his wife to sleep. I need to get my mind off of this. Making sure that his wife and the twins slept peacefully, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Jor-El?

I hear you, David Dubois. Is there any news concerning Kal-El and Lana?

[“No,”] Dave replied. [“I asked the Kents to remind them. Damn it, I wish they’d understand! We saw what happened to our counterparts—and they had prepared!”]

I do not blame you, David Dubois. As with myself, you understand responsibility and the pain of loss, Jor-El reassured him. I will speak with them. They have to prepare themselves.

[“Yeah, I know,”] Dave concurred. [“If you could talk with them, I’d appreciate it. Once my duties start in Dodge City, I’ll have to be there during most of the time. They need to be ready.”]

Remember, David Dubois, you are not alone in this role. Nor are you failing. As I have learned with Kal-El, one cannot teach who are distracted by other things. Sleep well.

Sleep well, he says. Dave took a deep breath and shook his head.

A loud cry and then another shattered the dark stillness.

“Duty calls,” he muttered while starting to get up.

“Dave?” April whispered.

“Diaper call,” he replied. “I can change them. Sleep. Okay?’

“It’s okay as long as we do this together,” she noted while slipping on her robe. “Let’s get them into the bathroom.”

They brought the twins into the bathroom, cleaning and changing them there. As they did so, the two parents shared some insights and chuckles for each other. For the next hour, they sat with the babies, singing lullabies to them.

When Colin and Peggy had fallen back to sleep, Dave and April put them back in their cribs.

After they got back into bed, April expressed, “Thanks.”

“For what?”

She kissed his cheek. “For working with me. I appreciate it.” She turned over and drifted off to sleep.

“Maybe it can work,” he told himself before relaxing himself.



Chapter 4 [July 3rd]
[Kent Farm]

Clark and Lana sat in the Loft, waiting for the Protector’s appearance. While the latter had been difficult to talk to, he agreed to help since it was for Smallville.

“What’s keeping him?” he asked impatiently.

“With him, who knows?” she replied, hoping that the Dark One wouldn’t decide to blow them off.

“Ah don’ do tha’ crap!” the Protector snapped tersely after appearing in a flash of dark light. “Ya ready?”

“Let’s do this. Did Lex tell you where we need to go?” she asked.

“Ah let Big Bro deal w’ guy in suit. We git crap back ‘ere,” he retorted impatiently. “Lexie says put hats on face!” He dropped a pair of masks in front of them.

“Masks?” Clark asked.

“Yeah. Big Bro don’t want ya’ll gittin’ in trouble.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Lana relented before putting her mask on.

When Clark had done so as well, the Protector teleported them away in a flash of dark light.


****


[Dallas—Fireworks factory warehouse]

The trio appeared around the corner from the main office. Despite the proximity to the big day, the complex remained strangely quiet.

“I would think that they’d be sending fireworks out,” Clark presumed.

“This isn’t right,” she agreed.

The Protector snorted. “Ain’t right cuz a’ trouble!” Reaching out with his senses, he picked up on a group of people in the far building against the rear wall of the complex. “Dammit!” He pointed to the rear building. “In there! Git!”

The super teens ran at super speed over to the grey cinder block building. Once there, they inspected the outside and found nobody waiting there.

“Where are they?” Clark wondered.

Lana used her x-ray vision to peer inside of the building to see the developing scene. “Clark, they’re in there!”

He did the same and discovered that the factory’s staff—some thirty men and women—were being held at gunpoint by seven figures in coveralls and ski masks. “We’ve got to do something.”

“Exposure, remember?” she asked.

“We’ve still got a job to do,” he countered.

She nodded, kicking herself for hesitating. “Sure.” She scanned the facility’s inside again. “They’ve got the staff against the wall. It’s dark and cool in there. Maybe we can get in and out before they see us.” She broke the lock in her hand. “Come on.”

Clark looked around to make sure nobody was coming especially with kryptonite.

“Clark?”

“Coming,” he agreed, following her into the area. [“Now what?”]

[“Remember what happened that night in the Talon with Miri? You take the ones on the right. I’ll take the one on the left,”] she instructed before checking her mask and streaking to the left.

Some plan. He rushed off around the right side, hoping to head off a disaster.



Chapter 5
[Warehouse 2]

Even as the super teens moved in on the felons, ten of the latter’s associates had begun to load a white moving truck with Lex’s fireworks.

“Lucky we got here when we did. This stuff would be gone in the next hour,” one burly Asian declared.

“It will be,” a blonde female agreed as she slid a box into the truck. “Let’s load it. Someone will want to fence this stuff tonight.” She looked at the others with them and snapped her fingers impatiently. “Move it!”

As the group picked up the pace, the lights went out and the loading door slammed shut.

“What the Hell?” Blondie snapped as they drew their guns. “Make sure you don’t hit those crates!”

“Hehehehehe,” the Protector sniggered loudly before screaming at them. Then he stepped into view. “Dum’asses! Them’re MINE!”

“KILL HIM!” Blondie ordered.

The others opened fire with their pistols and machine guns, sending a hail of lead in the Dark One’s direction.

Unfortunately for them, the lead bounced off of the force field in front of their target.

“MAH TURN!” The Protector focused on his attackers.

The ten criminals floated into the air and telekinetically flew into the walls, effectively knocking them all out.

“Stoopids! Ah told ya! Les hope kiddies’re ‘kay,” the Protector assessed before vanishing from the scene.


****

[Cinder Block Building]

Inside of the main building, the hostage standoff continued. Even as Clark and Lana entered the facility, the felons sweated out the passing time, knowing that eventually someone would take notice of the facility being empty in the middle of the day.

Finally one of them spoke up, “Butcher! You didn’t say we’d be doing this!”

Butcher, a lanky man in a blue ski mask, glared at the heavy man behind him. “You can’t make pancakes without breaking a few eggs. We gotta do this!” He released the safety on his 45. “Soon as we hear from the others, I’ll start us some fireworks!”

The captive employees huddled in his sights, not wanting to die but too scared to move either.

Then one of them saw something move in the darkness surrounding them.

“What?” Butcher surveyed his surroundings but saw nothing. “Hoping for rescue? Ain’t gonna happen! I’m not going back to jail!”

At that moment, Clark and Lana sped in and out of the shadows, methodically taking out and securing the other six gunmen before they could alert Butcher.

“Say good bye!” Butcher yelled, aiming for his hostages and pulling the trigger.

Timing the bullets, the super teens ran back and forth, shielding the hostages.

“WHAT THE HELL?” Butcher’s eyes went wide as he saw the two masked saviors stop in front of him.

Before he could do anything else, Clark and Lana disarmed and secured him as well.

“You should be okay,” Lana assured the hostages. “We won’t hurt you.”

“There are ten others with them. They’re stealing a load of fireworks as we speak!” a heavy set balding man exclaimed.

“Call the police and then get out of here,” Clark instructed. Seeing the Protector stalking toward them out of the darkness, he asked, “What about the stuff?”

“Ah whupped stoopids! Stuff’s there!” the Dark One growled. “Hate po—lice!”

“You three are heroes,” a slender red haired woman assured him. “We won’t tell them about you.” She turned to her co-workers. “Will we?”

The others shook their heads in agreement.

“Thanks,” Lana expressed.

“T’anks, Kiddies. Ya might wanna git,” the Protector instructed.

The super teens zipped away from the fireworks complex at super speed. Within a half hour, they had cleared the state line, heading north into Oklahoma toward home.


****


Meantime, the Protector labored not to frighten the employees further. He felt their fear as it irritated and scraped away at him. “Wanna take order!”

“It’s evidence. The police are going to want to...” one of the other hostages pointed out.

“It wasn’t stolen, Andrews,” the balding man who apparently was in charge. “Besides Lex Luthor sent him to pick it up. I say let him take the crates and get out of here.”

For once, the Protector was shocked at a group who was actually helpful. “T’anks.” He stalked out of the cinder block structure and around the corner. Once out of sight, he teleported himself back to Warehouse 2.

Eyeing the truck, he telekinetically lifted the remaining six crates one by one into the vehicle.

As he finished, the sirens had reached the front gate.

“Don’ screw w’ me!” he growled low before he and the truck disappeared in an ebony flash from the scene.



****

Barely ten seconds later, Heloise appeared in a puff of mist. She heard the sirens and knew she only had a brief time to act. Taking out a little leather pouch, she sampled a pinch of orange powder and threw it into the air.

The mist wafted on the breeze, spreading across the complex.

That will make sure nobody remembers Dubois or the children. She disappeared into a mist column, leaving no trace of herself for the police or anyone else.




Conclusion [Smallville—next day]

Lex walked into the Talon on the following day with a copy of the Daily Planet under his arm. He had hoped to speak with Lana and Dave about a certain article in the paper concerning the Dallas situation.

As luck had it, he found Dave reading The Three Musketeers in the corner. “Interesting reading there.”

“Hi, Lex. Take a seat,” Dave invited.

“Thanks. Interesting trip you had,” the billionaire assessed.

“Really? The people were nice enough to deal with,” the professor replied, arching his eyebrow curiously at his friend. “Something else happen?”

Lex unfolded the paper and flipped to the back page. “Seems that there was trouble at that very place. According to reports, three unidentified individuals rescued the help from seventeen armed individuals. The Protector, I assume, led Clark and Lana in there?”

“They were masked up from what he says,” Dave responded. “Beyond that, I don’t know anything. You got the fireworks in one piece, right?”

“Along with an unidentified truck. Everything’s in order and I’ve arranged for the vehicle to be taken back to Dallas. We’ll shoot the fireworks off tonight. Hope that you and April can make it.”

The medievalist sighed. “With two babies, we’ll need to stay here and watch it from the window. Thanks though, Lex. You want something?”

Lex made eye contact with a waitress and ordered his usual cappuccino. “I’ve got it and yours. How’s the family?”

“For once, everyone’s doing great. With no threats at least for now, I feel secure. Maybe we have some time to prepare. Meantime, I talked to the folks at the community college,” Dave indicated.

“And?”

Dave shrugged. “I’ve got three classes to teach. They want me to try some things so I’m working on class syllabi. It should be some fall semester.”

“As I recall, you should wow them in the classroom, Dave. I did give a nudge to Clark and Lana about working with you over the next couple of months,” Lex noted. “I hope they take you up on it.”

“I hope so too. Make hay while the sun shines and all that good stuff, you know?” Dave supposed.

“Experience has showed us as much, hasn’t it?” Lex asked as he got up. “Thanks again, Dave, for helping to get that stuff back.”

“It was our pleasure,” Dave agreed. “If the Protector and I can help out, we’re happy to do it.” With that, he went back to his book.

Lex nodded while walking out of the café. Team work will be key before the end.


****


[That night—Loft]

Clark set a blanket on the lip of the Loft’s upper level door, hoping for a great scene within the next hour. Despite only having a few chores to deal with, he and Lana had the usual concerned talks with his parents, Lex and Jor-El.

Jonathan and Martha had joined them for a picnic by Crater Lake where they all relaxed and enjoyed a crystal clear blue sky and a gentle breeze.

After that, Clark and Lana raced to Denver and back for a change of pace. After enjoying the mountain highlights, they found a coffee shop on the outskirts and enjoyed their drinks and each other’s company.

We could use a good show. He eyed the blanket and the lemonade pitcher over by the couch.

“Relax, Clark, it looks great,” Lana reassured him from the top of the stairs. She carried a plate of cookies. “Oatmeal raisin. Mom says they’re great for watching the fireworks.”

“She would know,” he quipped, smiling warmly at her. “Then again, you’re good company for watching them too.” He sat down on the blanket and patted the space beside himself. “Join me?”

“Of course,” she agreed while doing so. “Our first Fourth as a married couple. We helped to get the entertainment back here.”

“And we were a great team in dealing with the issues in the process,” he noted while kissing her. “We’re a great team.”

“Just remember that, Mr. Kent,” she teased while returning the favor even as the first flash of color exploded in the night sky. “That could be our cue.”

“Think so?” He smirked at her as he hugged her shoulders and turned his attention to the sky.

One by one, the fireworks released a rainbow of color across the ebony backdrop. In town, people oohed and awed at the sight.

But for two Kryptonians on a farm, they could admire a quiet moment to themselves and the achievement they had helped to achieve…a moment worth its weight in gold.


THE END (for now)

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