Kawatche Caves
From Smallville Wiki
The Kawatche Caves are a series of underground caverns that was once inhabited by the Kawatche First Nation. They are located in an area near Miller's Bend, in Smallville, Kansas.
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[edit] History
Five hundred years ago, the Kawatches were visited by a Kryptonian. This visitor made an impression on the Kawatche and became a major part of their tribal heritage. The Kawatche painted glyphs on the cave walls to commemorate their encounter with the man from the stars. This being was depicted of a story about a strange visitor from another planet, as well as prophesies of another visitor called Naman and his sworn enemy Sageeth, who was once like a brother to Naman.
Somewhere along the way, the Kawatche Caves came to contain an intricate high-tech storage system containing Kryptonian knowledge. At the time of the meteor shower of 1989, Lindsey Harrison was found by the artificial entity programmed as Jor-El, and taken into a pocket dimension of the Phantom Zone to be reprogrammed as "Kara of Krypton."
[edit] Discovery and Study
In 2002, while motorcrossing with Pete Ross, Clark Kent's bike broke through apparently weak earth, and he tumbled hundreds of feet down into what turned out to be an unknown area of the Kawatche Caves. Kyla Willowbrook, who happened to be in the caves doing research for her grandfather Joseph, heard the commotion Clark caused and came over to tend to his injuries. After she realized he was unharmed, Kyla and Clark looked at the cave walls together. The walls were adorned with paintings and strange symbols that Clark recognized to be Kryptonian, although Clark was unaware of how to read the alien language at the time.
However, shortly afterward, Clark learned that the area above the caves, Miller's Bend had recently been purchased by LuthorCorp and was set to be excavated and turned into an office park. Clark petitioned Lex Luthor to override LuthorCorp with his fledgling company LexCorp to preserve the area. In light of the petition drive to save the cave led by Clark, Lana Lang and Henry Small, the state was depicted to exercise the Historic Artifacts Amendment and buy LuthorCorp out at 30 cents on the dollar. Lex secured the contract for the preservation for the entire area surrounding the caves.
Once he secured jurisdiction over the caves, Lex then commissioned Dr. Frederick Walden to study the cave paintings. Clark Kent also continued to study the etchings, because he was convinced that it held clues to his unknown heritage. Clark began to have dreams in which he placed the octagonal key into the cave wall and decided to do so. By inserting the key into the hole, Clark learned how to read Kryptonian symbols. Shortly afterward, his heritage was somewhat explained by Dr. Virgil Swann, and it was confirmed that the Kawatche Caves were an important part of Clark's Kryptonian heritage. After this discovery and with Lex's permission, Clark began to extensively study the cave paintings.
However, Lionel Luthor successfully overtook Lex's company and as a result, gained jurisdiction over the caves. He became convinced that the caves contained the secret to curing his terminal liver disease and prevented Clark from entering or studying it. Lionel also contacted Dr. Swann about finding the cure to his disease. Swann agreed to help him, but did not tell him what he knew about Clark. Through this interaction, Dr. Swann obtained the key. Lionel was then sent to prison, and while there, cured of his disease, and he lost interest in the caves.
Upon her return from Paris, Lana Lang discovered that one of the cave paintings was identical to her mysterious tattoo and also researched the caves in an attempt to find answers.
In 2008 Jimmy Olsen began interested in the Kawatche Caves and began to study them.
[edit] Parasites
The parasites secrete a substance that causes excessive adrenaline and enlarging of the adrenal glands in its host, causing the host to behave impulsively and act on any latent desires or aspirations. Exposure to the parasites made Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan do outrageous things. In all but those two cases, the final result was death by suicide.
Although the parasites' nest was destroyed with liquid nitrogen by Dr. Frederick Walden and his staff, several parasites survived. Lex Luthor then ordered these remaining specimens to be sent to Cadmus Labs in Metropolis.
[edit] Kryptonian Portal
One of the walls in the cave had an octagonal keyhole for the Key. The keyhole was surrounded by a pattern of Kryptonian symbols; this pattern of symbols was later changed by Dr. Walden so that it now reads: "The day is coming when the last son will begin his quest to rule the third planet."
Jonathan Kent later used the key to establish contact with Jor-El. A few months later, the infamous Starblade was discovered in the Kawatche Caves.
Later, the cave walls opened to bring Clark into Jor-El's pocket dimension so that Clark could be reprogrammed as Kal-El and begin searching for the Stones of Power. Inside a secret chamber in the caves was a stone altar on which the stones were placed to be hidden from intruders. Later, to converse with Jor-El, Clark would place the Key into the altar and find himself in a blue stream of energy with Jor-El.
The altar now stands as a teleportation portal to the Fortress of Solitude. It is one of the last few remaining examples of Kryptonian teleportation technology; according to Lara-El, such portals once existed between Krypton and Earth until they were sealed by the Kryptonian Council during their war against General Zod.
