Yes, this is the sequel to Jungle Love which was recently uploaded to the Archive. My thanks to LynnM, my GE, and to ShelleY, my BR on this endeavor.
I have repeated sections of Jungle Love in this sequel, so that any reader that hasn't read the original can get the gist of the story from the beginning.
I will probably post three times per week, depending on RL ...I have a buffer right now up to Chapter 11...and the story will probably be fairly long (I'm thinking 25-30 parts - yikes!)
Have I scared you off already? nFIC version will be available at all times as well. Here goes nothing!
1
Prologue
This is the sequel to “Jungle Love”. It is set in the alternate universe of “Tempus, Anyone?” For those who have not yet read Jungle Love, it begins in March of 2003, when the war in Congo has finally ceased. Three and a half years prior to that, in the fall of 1999, H.G. Wells brought Clark an alt-Jonathan-and-Martha-Kent from another parallel universe overrun by rogue Kryptonians. Their own Clark and Lois (and unborn child) were murdered by Lord Nor’s cronies; since there was nothing left for them in their world, Wells brought them to this alt-world to try to ease Alt-Clark’s loneliness. Lana Lang, who is now married to Peter Ross, arranged for them to legally become her Aunt and Uncle, Joe and Mary Lang. Townsfolk believe them to have recently retired to Smallville, Kansas, from California, to be near their relatives. They rent the Kent family farmhouse from Smallville’s most prominent and world-famous citizen, Clark Kent/Superman.
Over time, Clark and his alt-folks have forged real family ties. He refers to them as “Ma and Pa”. They share mutual angst and sorrow. The Kents continue to suffer emotional trauma from the memory of watching the tragic murders of their beloved son, daughter-in-law, and future grandchild; and Clark remains a solitary figure, waiting for “his” Lois to appear one day. In his soul, he believes her to be alive, and at night he communes with her in his sleep.
An e-mail sent to the Daily Planet from Congo, after ten long years, in March 2003, resulted in Clark traveling there to bring “his” Lois home. After five days of continuous togetherness, their soul mate connection surfaced, and they were married in Las Vegas on the very evening of their return to the United States. They have yet to have a real honeymoon.
While in Congo, Lois discovered that the late Lex Luthor had a twin brother who goes by the name “Lenny Thorul”. She has made a deal with him to protect his true identity, unbeknownst to Clark, because he has a large chunk of kryptonite in his possession.
Clark and Lois have recently learned that they have a telepathic connection that was activated by strong emotions… fear, jealousy, love… and Lois is attempting to shield her thoughts so Clark won’t gain the knowledge that Lenny Thorul, VP of Acquisitions, Edge Enterprises, is really Lex’s (fraternal) twin brother.
As the story begins, Clark has just brought Lois into the newsroom and re-introduced her to the staff; most of them didn’t know her since she was overseas for ten long years.
It may be helpful to read “Jungle Love” first. However, I have repeated a few key sections and, through dialogue, restated some of the background information, so that it is not really necessary, although I would love it if you would!
Standard disclaimers apply.
CONCRETE JUNGLE LOVE
PG-13 VERSION
From Jungle Love:
After meeting the remainder of the staff, they headed toward Olson’s office.
James had his head down on the desk. He was crying.
Clark gently knocked on the door and stepped into the office.
“James – Mr. Olson – what’s the matter? How can I help?” asked Clark, putting his hand on James’ back.
“Timmy was just found dead. An apparent suicide,” he said, tears openly flowing down his cheeks.
<*They* didn’t wait long, did they?> "James – Jim – I’m so sorry. What happened?” Lois asked, giving the younger man a hug.
“His mother – my Aunt – found him hanging in the bathroom. He left a suicide note apologizing to me for what he had done, how he was so jealous of me.
“That’s not all. The rumor that the Planet’s computer was compromised has affected the stock price and the circulation numbers. I’m going to have to meet the payroll out of my own pocket this week. Just to keep everyone employed, I may have to accept the offer I received from LNN to buy the Planet. What a rotten day,” he lamented. “What else could possibly go wrong?”
“You got an offer from LNN? But they’re owned by Edge Enterprises,” protested Clark. “I can’t prove it, but I know they’re dirty as Hell.”
“I know. Their slick new VP in charge of acquisitions, a Lenny Thorul, gave a presentation to my board of directors on Monday. LNN is willing to pay double the stock price to acquire the Planet. Perry and my father were going to try to help me fight this. It looks like it might be too late, now.”
Lois turned white when she heard the name “Lenny Thorul”. Clark felt her anxiety immediately and unwittingly picked up parts of her thoughts. It seemed as if Lois had deliberately closed her mind to him, but before she did, he definitely “heard” the name “Luthor”.
<"Lois, don’t shut me out here. This is the 'Lenny' from the phone call, isn’t it?">
<"Yes. *Later*, Clark. James needs us now.">
<"You’re right.">
“Jim, let’s get you out of here. You need a change of scenery. Let’s go over to Timmy’s apartment and see what the police have come up with for clues,” Lois suggested.
James looked up, hopeful, but somewhat uncomfortable at their offer to help. “You guys are supposed to be taking the week off. And, what, you don’t think it was a suicide any more than I do, huh?”
“NO!” Clark and Lois replied in unison.
“Then let’s hit the streets. I can learn a lot from my two best investigative reporters, even though you’ve both been pretty inactive lately. But I know from my relatively short time in this business, once it’s in your blood, it’s like riding a bike. You never forget, huh?”
“Never,” said Lois. “Never,” agreed Clark.
And Now,
CONCRETE JUNGLE LOVE
Lois, Clark, and James rode the elevator down to the lobby in silence. James was consumed with guilt and grief over Timmy’s death. Lois and Clark were certain that Edge Enterprises and the mysterious “Lenny” were the culprits.
Since Clark was attempting to regain his position as an investigative reporter, apart from his Superman persona, he hailed a cab to bring them to Timmy’s apartment. Because he wasn’t in the suit, but instead was wearing his casual clothes (since they weren’t supposed to be working today), the cab driver didn’t think a thing of it.
“Where to?”
“516 Grove St, thanks,” replied James, as they climbed into the back seat. “And ASAP.”
“You got it,” the cabby replied, speeding off, lane-weaving and displaying his God-given taxicab driver proficiency in beating red lights, narrowly missing pedestrians along the way.
Clark turned and admired the profile of the lovely lady sitting next to him. <God, how I love being able to call Lois my "wife"! > She had just gotten her formerly waist-length hair styled short, like the “other” Lois, and now, they could be twins. Except that his Lois was more beautiful, somehow. Perhaps it was the love they shared; her gorgeous brown eyes shone brightly. There was so much fire and spunk there.
<“Clark, I love being able to call you my ‘husband’, too!”>
<”Oops!”>
<”Yeah. This stuff is hard to control sometimes.”>
They arrived at Timmy’s apartment; after tipping the driver (for not killing them with his road-rage driving styling), they exited the taxicab. They saw several of Metropolis’ finest, gathered outside of the building. Detective Maggie Sawyer, who was one of the more “Superman-friendly” officers in the MPD, smiled when she spied Clark approaching her.
“Superman – Clark - is this ‘dress-down day’ for super-heroes?” she grinned. “You -getting out of a cab - wearing your civvies? Is your spandex in the wash? What’s the occasion?”
“Just trying to blend in, officer,” he replied, smiling broadly. "I'm on official Daily Planet business. We're investigating the death of Timmy Olson. Oh, and Maggie, I’d like you to meet my wife, Lois Lane. She –“
“Lois, I'm so happy to meet you. The way Bill Henderson has described you has made you appear larger than life – you're a real legend, you know.”
Lois’ face lit up as she shook hands with the detective. “Nice to meet you as well, Maggie. Bill and I go way back. He hated me at first, but then he realized that an investigative reporter *could* be a cop’s best friend, after all.”
“Clark – it’s true, then. You and Lois are married? Must have been quite a whirlwind romance,” Maggie commented.
“Yes, it was quick, but it was very right,” he said, putting his arm around Lois and kissing her on the forehead.
“You both look insanely happy. I can guess why you’re here, though.” She turned to look at their boss. “James - is it true - the victim was your cousin?”
James, who had been half-listening to the playful banter going on around him, snapped to attention. “Yes, Ms. Sawyer, it’s true. Unfortunately, he worked for me at the Daily Planet, and due to his involvement in corporate espionage, I had just fired him.”
“Yes, he mentions that in his letter. Do you want to see the suicide note? He apologizes to you in it… ”
Clark looked at James, and it was quite obvious that he was having a real difficult time – anyone that knew him would see that he was unraveling quickly. He was young, only in his early thirties, and not hardened to life yet. Clark’s heart went out to him. As Superman, he had witnessed countless tragedies. Although he had never quite become callous to death and destruction, he had mastered a coping strategy to help him through the dark times. Ironically, prior to the “real” Lois entering his life, one of his coping mechanisms was talking things over with an “imaginary” Lois. Clark was very thankful that he no longer needed to summon a ghost to make it through the oftentimes-nightmare that was his real life.
“Jim, let’s go upstairs and read that suicide note that Maggie mentioned," Clark said, placing his arm on his back for moral support. James was like a younger brother to him. He was “cool”, in the regard that after Clark had been “outed” as Superman, James still treated him like an ordinary guy. And, because Clark received no special favoritism from him, just because he was Superman, the rest of the newsroom had followed his lead. Not that he was there that often, anyway; but the Daily Planet was the one place that felt like “home” for him. Besides Ma and Pa’s in Smallville, that is.
Lois was already in the building when he looked up. Clark grinned. <I will learn a lot about investigative reporting from my “Type-A” wife!>
<“Watch it, Mr. Propaganda, or it’ll be my by-line *only* on the story!”>
<“Stop listening!”>
<“You started it!”>
Timmy’s apartment was a typical bachelor’s pad: no food in the refrigerator, clothes lying around, and rug in need of vacuuming. The bathroom, where he had supposedly hung himself, was closed off as a possible crime scene. Maggie handed the alleged suicide note to James; it was encased in plastic so as not to disturb any possible fingerprints that might be revealed when it was brought to the lab.
James,
I’m so sorry for what I did to you and the Daily Planet. I let my jealousy of you get the better of me. Everyone hates me now, and no one will hire me. I can’t face you and the rest of the world. Forgive me for being so spineless. Give my love to Mom too.
Sorry again,
Timmy
James handed the note back to Maggie. “It’s a forgery, all right,” he said decidedly.
Maggie’s eyes opened wide. “Why? How do you know that?”
“Timmy always called me ‘Jimmy’. You know, ‘Timmy’… ‘Jimmy’. We grew up together; it was a kid’s nickname that stuck like glue with both of us. Even though I go by ‘James’ in the business world, so I would be taken more seriously, he never, ever, called me ‘James’. I’m sure I have some of his cursive writing hanging around at the Planet. Have a handwriting expert analyze it. You’ll see. This was a murder, I’m sure of it. Those bastards at Edge Enterprises that hired him to spy on us did it. I’d bet what’s left of my bank account on it!”
James walked away, needing to regroup and regain his composure. Maggie, Clark, and Lois observed a moment of silence to respect the emotional pain that was traumatizing him.
“Maggie, can you show us the bathroom?” Lois asked, breaking the reverie. “Clark may be able to perceive something that the rest of us can’t,” she suggested.
“Sure. Please put these plastic gloves on, however, so as not to disturb anything.”
“No problem. And thank you.”
There was a rope hanging from the ceiling in the bathroom. Clark X-rayed the room, looking for signs of a struggle, blood, anything that might smack of an intruder entering the building. Nothing. It was clean – too clean.
“I’m sorry, Jim, I don’t see any evidence that would reveal that it wasn’t a suicide. That doesn’t mean that I believe that it was, however,” he assured him. "The crime scene is a little *too* immaculate."
“Maggie, I assume you’re testing for fingerprints and will have forensics up here to investigate more thoroughly?” Clark asked.
“Yes. Check with me after the weekend, and we should some of the test results ready by then,” she replied.
Maggie pulled James aside. “I know how hard this is. I know you suspect Edge – believe me, we will interview him and a few of his business associates to determine if there is any connection to this. We will check Timmy’s phone records for the last month and I will personally head up the investigation. I won’t rule his death an official suicide unless I am forced to by Bill Henderson personally,” she promised him.
“Thanks, Ms. Sawyer, I appreciate your help with this,” said James earnestly.
Clark, Lois, and James gathered curbside waiting to hail another cab. “Where to, now, my investigative heroes?” James asked, trying to lighten the moment a bit.
“How about Chinese?” suggested Lois. “I’m too hungry to plan our next move.”
Clark looked at James and they both cracked up. “How did we ever survive without Lois Lane in our lives?” asked Clark.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure glad you’re with us now, Lois,” replied James. “If Chinese helps you think better, I’m all for it.”
Suddenly Clark’s expression changed to one of alarm. All the symptoms … the tilted head, scrunched up forehead – that meant that he was aware of a situation requiring his super-services.
“Oh, no! I know that look already,” exclaimed Lois. “Go! Go! Just bring back food from my favorite Chinese restaurant and meet us in Jim’s office!”
Clark kissed his wife passionately, albeit briefly, and said, “You got it!” He spun into the suit and lifted off. There was a fire ten blocks away.
“Bring us back the exclusive, Clark,” yelled James. “The paper needs it badly.”
“No problem, boss,” Clark shouted back, before he was out of hearing range.
<”Jim is really a mess, Lois. Take good care of him. I know you don’t know him well, but he’s really a sweet, caring kind of guy and in a little bit over his head.”>
Clark’s thoughts filled Lois’ head and she glowed in response. <”No problem, sweets. I know just how to handle him. Now remember, General Tso Chicken, pork fried rice, a poo-poo platter, and whatever you want! Oh, and be careful!”>
Clark grinned ear to ear. <“You got it, honey! Love you.”>
<“Love you too!”>
~~~~~
An hour later, Clark gingerly landed on the roof of the Daily Planet building, adjacent to the ever-spinning globe. He morphed into his Clark clothes; then, armed with a variety of Chinese containers, he took the stairs down to the bullpen. He left the food in James’ empty office. Lois’ purse was in there, so he assumed that they would be returning shortly. Perhaps they had gone downstairs to the morgue to research a lead.
He went over to his desk and turned on his computer. Instead of the normal Daily Planet sign-on screen, the monitor instead displayed a bright blue screen with an ominous message. He assumed it was a faulty boot-up; but when he powered the computer down, and then turned it on again, the result was the same. <Uh-oh, this can’t be good. More computer problems!>
Clark looked around the room, and spotted Linda King. “Linda, is it just my computer, or is there a problem?”
“Oh, Clark. I didn’t see you come in. Yes, James went down to the computer room with Lois to see if he could find out why the network won’t boot up. We’re all having the same problem. Just happened about fifteen minutes ago,” she informed him.
“By the way, Clark,” she continued, “between you and me, I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that you would actually prefer Lois over me. I realize that she may not be the same person I knew years ago, but… she was quite a selfish bitch in those days. I hope for your sake, she’s changed.”
“I’m going to ignore your comments, Linda, and pretend I didn’t hear them. Lois is my wife, and by insulting her, you're insulting me as well,” he replied, as sardonically as he could. “I’m going down to the computer room to see what’s up. By the way, jealousy is not an attractive quality in a woman. I would have thought you had a little more class than to make that kind of remark to me.”
Linda turned red and walked away silently, somewhat surprised at Clark's sudden assertiveness.
<It’s about time I put her in her place; after all these years, I finally gave her a piece of my mind. Lois must be rubbing off on me in a positive way. Speaking of Lois…>
<“Lois! Where are you?”>
<“Clark, you’re back. Thank God. We have a real problem here. James- Jim - is as close to a nervous breakdown as I’ve seen him… it looks like the entire server has been shut down, attacked by some type of virus that deleted everything!”>
In a flash, Clark was by her side. “Hi honey,” he whispered, kissing and licking her earlobe as furtively as possible. Lois felt a shiver from the contact.
“Jim, what happened?” Clark inquired, dreading the answer.
Lois was right. He had a completely blank stare on his face. He needed some kind of tranquilizer ASAP. He was totally freaked out.
“Everything is gone, Clark! It’s gone. The entire database has been wiped out! This is unbelievable. How did they get past my firewall?”
Clark and Lois shared a knowing look. Timmy. Was this his one last act of corporate espionage before James had fired him? Maybe he did commit suicide, knowing how ruinous this would be for the Daily Planet.
“Jim, you have all of this backed up in storage, right?”
“Yes, Clark, but it will take at least one week to fully restore all this. The Daily Planet will not be able to publish a newspaper tomorrow for the first time in its history! They win! Damn Edge Enterprises! They win. Game over, I guess. Dad was right. I *was* in way over my head, trying to run a newspaper. I should have stuck to what I was best at – computers. Focusing my energy on running a newspaper allowed this to happen. I’m going to sue Edge Enterprises’ pants off, but in the meantime… how can we publish a newspaper with no computers? We can’t.”
Lois rubbed James’ back and shoulders. “Let’s go upstairs and make some calls, Jim. Clark, did you bring the Chinese?”
“Of course I did, Lois, but I doubt Jim is in the mood to eat right now.”
“Food always makes *me* feel better when I’m depressed,” she replied, with a wink.
The three of them rode the elevator back to the bullpen, and, as they emerged, they observed a tall man, with curly red hair, standing in James’ office, holding an oversized leather attaché case. It was apparent that he was anxiously awaiting their return.
“Time to sell, Mr. Olson,” he said, as the trio entered the office, spoken in a tone so icy cold that it sent chills down Lois’ spine. It was the voice of Lenny Thorul - the man on the phone. She was careful to shield her thoughts from Clark; unbeknownst to Lois, Clark immediately felt Lois’ anxiety and “heard” the name of the man he was about to be introduced to.
James resignedly turned to Lois and Clark, and said, “Mr. Thorul, please meet my best reporters, Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane. Clark and Lois, this man looks to be the new owner of the Daily Planet: Leonard Thorul, VP Acquisitions, Edge Enterprises.”
TBC
