NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27: The Fallout
October 24, 2002
The rising sun cast its soft glow across the Kent farm, painting the cornfields in shades of gold and green, but the warmth of the new day did little to ease the cold weight in my chest. I sat on the back porch, my bruised hands clasped tightly together. My body was still recovering from the fight in the vault, every muscle aching, the Kryptonite burns on my chest and back still raw beneath my shirt.
I couldn't stop thinking about what Va-Ra had said. About Krytos. About Earth.
Krytos was gone. The vault had collapsed. But that didn't mean the danger was over. Va-Ra had made it clear—there were more Kryptonian artifacts hidden across the Earth. Each one potentially more dangerous than the last.
And then there was Lex. For all his help in shutting down the vault, I knew he wouldn't let this go. The ambition in his eyes when he saw that core, the way he talked about what Kryptonian technology could do—it was like seeing the first flicker of a fire that could burn the whole world down.
I clenched my fists. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let anyone, not even Lex, misuse the remnants of my homeworld.
Lex sat alone in his study, the room dimly lit by the flickering light of the fireplace. His desk was a chaotic mess of files, notes, and scattered diagrams, the scanner from the vault still glowing faintly as it processed the data he'd collected.
He leaned back in his chair, sipping from a glass of scotch, his sharp eyes fixed on the holographic reconstruction of the core displayed on his laptop. The intricate design was unlike anything he'd ever seen—elegant, precise, and terrifyingly powerful.
Krytos, he thought, rolling the word over in his mind. A weapon capable of reshaping worlds. The possibilities were endless.
Clark's voice echoed in his memory: This isn't about power. It's about control.
Lex scoffed softly, swirling the liquid in his glass. "Power is control," he muttered to himself. "And someone has to wield it."
He glanced at the scattered notes on his desk, his focus landing on a specific line he'd written down from Va-Ra's explanation: The core was not unique.
That was the key. The vault might have been destroyed, but Va-Ra had made it clear—there were more Kryptonian artifacts hidden across the Earth. And if Lex could find them, if he could unlock their potential…
His thoughts were interrupted by the soft beep of his laptop. A new set of coordinates appeared on the screen, highlighted in faint red. Lex's eyes narrowed, his lips curving into a faint smile.
"Let's see what else Krypton left behind," he murmured.
The quiet hum of the farm was broken by the sound of the barn door creaking open. I stepped inside, the familiar scent of hay and oil filling the air. Normally, the barn was a place of comfort—a space where I could lose myself in chores or the simple rhythm of farm life. But today, it felt different.
I walked to the far corner, where an old tarp covered a pile of unused tools and spare lumber. I pulled it aside, revealing a rusted hatch embedded in the floor—a storm shelter my dad had built years ago but had never finished.
I crouched down, my fingers brushing against the metal. The hatch led to a small, unfinished room beneath the barn—just a dirt hole in the ground, barely large enough to stand in. But with some work, it could be something more.
Krypton's legacy isn't safe here, I thought. Not in the open. Not with Lex out there, and not with Va-Ra on the move.
The memories of the vault flashed through my mind: the core, the creatures, the sheer devastation Kryptonian technology was capable of. If I was going to protect the people I cared about—and the world—I needed a secure place to work. A place where I could study my homeworld's technology without fear of it falling into the wrong hands.
A bunker.
By the time Dad found me, I'd already started clearing out the space. The old tools and spare lumber had been stacked neatly against the barn wall, and the hatch was wide open, the faint smell of damp earth rising from the unfinished shelter below.
"Clark?" Dad's voice was curious but cautious as he stepped into the barn. "What are you doing?"
I looked up from the hatch, wiping the sweat from my brow. "I'm making something," I said simply. "A secure space. Something… private."
Dad frowned, crossing his arms. "Why? What's going on?"
I hesitated, debating how much to tell him. I hated keeping secrets from my parents, but this was bigger than anything they'd dealt with before. The vault, Krytos, Va-Ra—it was all tied to Krypton, and I didn't want to drag them into it.
"Dad," I said finally, standing to face him. "There's… stuff from Krypton. Things buried here on Earth. Dangerous things. I need a place where I can study them. Where I can figure out how to keep them safe."
Dad's frown deepened. "Clark, if it's dangerous, why bring it here? Why not just destroy it?"
"Because destroying it isn't enough," I said, my voice firm. "There's more out there. And if I don't learn how to handle it, someone else will. Someone like Lex."
Dad's expression softened, but the concern in his eyes didn't fade. "You've got a good heart, Clark," he said quietly. "But be careful. When you start digging into things like this, it's easy to lose sight of why you're doing it."
"I won't," I promised.
He nodded slowly, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "If this is what you need to do, you've got my support. But if you need help, you ask. Don't try to do this alone."
The next few days were a blur of activity. By day, I worked on the farm, tending to the fields and repairing fences. But by night, I was in the barn, transforming the old storm shelter into something more.
I used my strength to dig deeper into the earth, carving out a larger space beneath the barn. The walls and floor were reinforced with steel plates I salvaged from an old construction site, and I rigged up a ventilation system to keep the air clean.
For the power supply, I used components from Kryptonian technology I'd salvaged from Jor-El's teachings—small, self-sustaining energy cells that could power the bunker indefinitely without drawing attention.
The centerpiece of the bunker was a reinforced workbench where I could analyze Kryptonian artifacts. Above it, I installed a holographic interface linked to the Kryptonian orb, allowing me to access Jor-El's database and cross-reference any new discoveries.
It wasn't perfect, but it was a start.
The wind howled across the barren desert, whipping up clouds of sand as Va-Ra stepped out of the shadows. His silver eyes scanned the horizon, the faint glow of a distant city barely visible against the darkening sky.
In his hand, he held the same Kryptonian device he'd used to locate the vault. The holographic map flickered to life, highlighting a new location—a buried structure deep beneath the desert sands.
Va-Ra's lips curved into a faint smile as he deactivated the device and tucked it into his robes. The artifacts of Krypton were scattered across this planet, each one a piece of a larger puzzle. And with each discovery, his vision of a new world came closer to fruition.
He turned toward the horizon, his voice low but resolute. "Earth will learn what it means to be ruled. And Kal-El will understand the cost of defying Krypton."