Here's the last part.
From part 8...
Pointing the gun solidly on Lois, Denzler issued a warning. “If you feel the need to be heroic, Ms. Lane, don’t be.”
She tried to stay clam, but was terrified that she wouldn’t be fast enough if she attempted to kick the gun out of his hand with her feet taped together.
She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t defend herself, she couldn’t fight back at all, and the sense of helplessness was eating her inside. She was used to catching scum like Denzler when they made a crucial mistake. They’d let their guard down for a second and she’d kick at just the right moment, in just the right place.
But Denzler had been too careful. He hadn’t made that crucial mistake. He hadn’t looked away or gotten distracted. He hadn’t left her with any options.
Time was running out.* * * * *
**~Part 9~**
Before Clark knew it, Earl was shoving him in the cab and talking to the driver. Clark was too busy trying to figure out how to get away from Earl and get to the mall faster than a speeding bullet to notice that Earl was spending an inordinate amount of time talking to the cabbie. Lois was in danger and he desperately wanted to reach her, but he couldn’t just leave now or Earl would become suspicious. Of course, a good excuse would help, but as always, he came up blank. Where was Lois when he needed her? The irony in that wasn’t lost on Clark.
Clark was aching to rush out the cab, spin in his suit, and fly to the rescue.
Time was running out.
Clark seriously considered sharing his secret with Earl. Friends didn’t have secrets from each other and he figured it couldn’t do much harm.
On the other hand, this decision wasn’t his alone. His parents always told him to be careful; you’d never know what other people wanted from Superman. His father’s words echoed in his head: “They’ll dissect you like a frog.” That was a very valid point. After all, Earl worked as a scientist at Gendell Technologies. And they had only known each other for a very short time, and Clark wasn’t sure about the question of trust yet. Earl knew Gendell personally. What if he told the man? And it was also possible that Earl was involved in the situation too.
He hadn’t considered that option yet. Earl could be in on this. It was very well possible. Why else would all of this trouble have started, right at the moment they had met? Okay, so it could be a coincidence. Earl really seemed nice. And he was just as worried about his wife as Clark was about Lois. And it had started after Juliana met Gendell. Which meant that Juliana was in danger. Surely she would be considered safe as Earl’s wife. So that ruled out Earl.
Back to the real problem now. He still hadn’t figured out how to leave without making Earl suspicious of his alter ego. He already heard Lois telling him all the reasons why his friend should not know. He’d made it so clear to Lois why it was dangerous when other people knew his secret. It could only put them in the line of fire. Lois was a good example of that. And Earl was facing problems even before he knew. No, best thing would be to get out with an excuse and spin into his suit in a nearby alley.
Think, Clark, think. What would Earl believe? Cheese of the Month Club? Used too often. Return a book or DVD? He didn’t even had one with him. Go to the dry cleaner? Too minor for this problem. Meet source? New story broke, this was more important. Forgot something from the play field? He could pick it up later.
How did Lois do that? Her reasoning always seemed so good, and she came up with ideas quickly. There was no other way left now for Clark to wait till they left.
Wait? Why were they still waiting? Surely his musings hadn’t taken only two seconds. Just as Clark looked up, Earl got in the cab. In the front seat!
“Hold on, Clark. I’m driving. I don’t trust the cabby enough to get us there fast and safe,” Earl told him before starting the engine.
* * * * *
“You talk way too much for your own good, Ms. Lane,” Denzler said to Lois while he opened the door for her. “Step out of the car and walk to the trunk. Don’t try anything foolish, I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”
Lois did what he said. It was really hard to walk while your feet were duct taped. Her hands were taped as well, so she couldn’t use them for support. Unfortunately that also meant she couldn’t use her Tae Kwan Do moves. Calling for Superman was also out of the question, breathing took enough trouble with the duct tape covering her mouth. So she hopped to the trunk with the gun in her back.
“Open it.” Denzler shouted at her. “And then get in.”
Cautiously, she opened the trunk. So she had to go into a trunk *again*, no big deal. After about the umpteenth time she was used to it by now. This one looked big enough, she would fit in there and still have some moving space left.
Slowly, she climbed in. It caused her several bruises and a headache. Why did that always happen to her? Clark never had that trouble. It just wasn’t fair. Like she was the one to deal with the nasty situation too. It even was really his story! She finally managed to be completely inside the trunk and the lid closed again.
She could hear more movement outside. What was Denzler doing? Shouting at Juliana it appeared. Lois couldn’t hear what it was about, but it could never be any good.
Suddenly the lid opened again and Juliana climbed into the trunk as well. So much for the freedom to move around a bit. The trunk was barely big enough to hold the two of them. Soon they would run out of air if the lid closed again. If only she could call for Superman, then all would be fine in a minute.
“We’re gonna take a ride and then I’ll see what I’m gonna do with you. Just prepare for your deaths, I’ll see to that,” Denzler explained the two ladies before he closed the lid. Now was a good time to start panicking, Lois thought. Maybe if she could get Juliana to work with her and they could talk. She’d seen the traces of fresh tears on the other woman’s cheeks.
Lois turned her face to where she supposed Juliana should be. There was no way of telling for sure, it was too dark in the trunk. And more movement only hurt more.
Suddenly the car started to move and Lois fell into Juliana, before rolling back to the other side. She hit her head pretty hard, but the only sound she made was a muffled “mwwwww.”
Just as soon as the car had started moving, it stopped too. Were they in front of a traffic light? No, then the engine wouldn’t stop too. What was going on?
* * * * *
“What do you mean, Earl? Faster? Cabbies are pretty fast. The only person I know that’s faster in this city is Superman,” Clark explained his doubts to Earl.
“Yeah, whatever. Look, we’re on our way, can we worry about Juliana and Lois now? I’d hate to see anything happen to them.”
“Alright,” Clark reluctantly agreed. “So tell me what you know.”
Earl quickly told Clark everything he knew. From the wish of Gendell to come back into the world, the interview of Lois that should help with that, to the meetings and Eric’s strange behavior.
“So I think that what’s happening is that Eric wants Gendell’s power and money. He’s murdering everyone who met Gendell so far. That’s why he wants to kill Juliana now. And Lois is in danger because she is with Juliana and also because of the interview. And I don’t know what Eric will do, he’s capable of everything. He seems like a complete lunatic to me, I don’t know what Gendell ever saw in him.”
Clark had listened to the story. They had crossed half the city now and were almost at the mall. But there was one thing that had him worried. “If he’s killing everyone who met Gendell, then you are in danger too, Earl.”
“You could think that, but I don’t have to anything to worry about.”
Clark couldn’t believe what he heard. Was Earl really that stupid? He glanced to the man sitting next to him and was surprised to see the expression on the man’s face. It almost looked like… no, it couldn’t be. Earl couldn’t really be ‘evil’ and have something to do with this? Then why would he have such a huge grin and a twinkle of delight in his eyes? “Earl, what’s going on?” Clark asked his supposed friend. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Gee, I wonder what that could be, Superman!” The sarcasm dripped from his voice.
The words hit Clark like thunder; surely Earl didn’t know his secret. He stared at the man, not knowing what to say.
“Oh come on, it’s so obvious. And I can’t believe you haven’t figured out what’s going on yet.” And with that said, he opened a box next to him.
Suddenly Clark felt a terrible pain washing through his entire body. Kryptonite. So Earl was in on the plan and he and Lois were obviously in danger. He had to get out of the car, but the green rock had already drowned out most of his powers. Jumping out of the driving car suddenly didn’t seem like a good option anymore. In the back of his mind he could hear Earl talking, so he forced himself to listen to the creep. He might hear something useful.
“… Eric and I have big plans for this world. We’ll use the network of Gendell and get all the power in the world we want. There was just one problem and that’s you. But I found out things about you, so the problem is taken care of. We’ll need to dispose of your wife as well, but Eric will see to that. Look, he’s waiting for us in that car already.”
Clark followed Earl’s finger and saw a large parked car. He couldn’t just let them win. A thought suddenly popped into his head and he took a good look at the car. No, the women were nowhere in sight, his plan might just work. Fighting off the headache, he closed his eyes for a moment and sat up straight. With one movement, he reached for the wheel and gave it a huge swing.
The sudden movement surprised Earl and the cab headed straight for the Lincoln. Earl tried to regain control over the car while hitting the brakes hard. But it was no use, the cab hit the other car with a great deal of speed and they slammed right into the trunk.
Eric had seen the car swaying and had run away from the scene, unsure of what was going on but still looking for a cover. When he saw where the Lincoln was hit, he could only cheer. That should have killed both women! There just was no way they could have survived the impact of the cab.
The situation seemed safe enough again, and Eric walked back to see who had survived and what had happened. Just as he came close again, Earl got out of the cab.
“Big entrance, huh?” Eric greeted Earl.
“Unfortunately, yes. I’ve got Superman in the cab, nearly unconscious. The impact hurt him tremendously in his vulnerable state. But he was strong enough to surprise me before that by pulling on the wheel and making the car uncontrollable. One shot should be enough to finish him off.”
“No big deal, I’ll see to that in a minute. There’s something else I need to find out first.”
“And what is that?” Earl wondered.
“I’m just curious about the conditions of Lois and Juliana,” Eric explained.
“Ah, right. Where are they?”
“They were in the trunk of the car. I don’t think they survived your newest way of parking a car.”
The men walked to the back of the car and looked at the mess. The steel was completely wrangled, and it looked like they wouldn’t be able to open the lid. Eric tried first, but with all his strength and will power he couldn’t get the lid to move, not even the slightest bit. The result was the same for Eric. Even together the situation seemed hopeless.
“Let’s try the back seats. If we can get them out we can see what’s inside of the trunk.” Eric just had one of his good ideas. He glanced quickly in the cab. Superman still lay there, unconscious.
The seats were easily removed and both men stared into the trunk. In the dark they spotted two bodies and a lot of blood, but it was hard to tell if they were still alive. Eric started pulling on the first body, and suddenly, Lois rolled into sight.
She looked horrible. The top of the lid had really made the trunk a lot smaller and pushed the woman to death. Some of her skin was completely removed, lots of bruises were visible and it looked like many bones were broken. And Lois was definitely not breathing anymore.
The same was to be said of Juliana. Eric looked at Earl and was surprised to see how cool he looked.
“Okay, they’re both dead, let’s get out of here,” Eric said.
“The car can’t be traced back to us, can it?” Eric asked while he got out of the car.
“No, I took care of that.”
“Good. And don’t forget to shoot Superman.”
Eric walked back to the cab, grabbed his Magnum and aimed for Superman’s chest. The bulled penetrated the skin, and blood became visible. He waited for a few seconds and then checked the pulse. No more pulse, and no more breathing. They had succeeded.
A look of joy crossed his face. “Taken care of, let’s go now,” he shouted at Earl.
The two men turned their backs to the scene and walked away. They remained silent for quite some time.
Earl was the first to brake the silence. “Good thing no one saw us.”
“Yeah,” Eric replied, “I used a quiet street. No shopping people in their right minds come in that street.”
The silence continued again. Eric opened his mouth again. There was just something he needed to know.
“Are you okay? I mean, you just saw your wife, dead. Surely you must be emotional now.”
“I’m okay. There was no connection between us, we didn’t love each other. The marriage was just a convenience to show an image to the world. No one suspected what I was doing now.” Earl tried to explain how his life used to be. “Besides, this is for the better. Now I can commit to the person I do love.”
“Anyone I know?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, I think you know that human being.”
“And who might that be?”
Earl hesitated for a moment before replying. “It’s you,” he whispered. He firmly kept his eyes on the ground.
Those weren’t the words Eric had expected. He never saw Earl as a gay type. Not that he complained, he had been in love with him for a very long time now. This suited him very well. He put a hand on Earl’s arm and forced him to a halt.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but I love you too,” Eric admitted.
All Earl could do was stare at the man standing in front of him. “You… what?”
Eric couldn’t bring himself to repeat his words. Actions would show better how he really felt. So he brought his mouth close to Earl’s. When their lips finally touched he felt a sparkle go through his body. Apparently, Earl felt it too, he was kissing him back. Earl even took the initiative to deepen the kiss.
After a few moments the men parted, breathing heavily.
“Wow!” was all Earl managed to say.
“That was incredible,” Eric said with a dreamy look in his eyes.
They stood there for a while, simply staring at each other, enjoying the moment. Both hoped they hadn’t dreamt what had just happened.
Eric was the first to regain control again. “We’re really unstoppable now. After we get rid of Gendell, we’re gonna take over the world. I feel fantastic!”
“Let’s go make my day better than. I’ve got the hang of killing now.”
Without Lois, Juliana and Clark to stop them, the world soon was in the hands of Eric and Earl. They were far worse than Lex Luthor had ever been, and every single living creature on earth feared them.
The End
By
Saskia
