Lois was lead into a small room, two soldiers following behind with guns at her back. General Slade Wilson stared down at her, the less reserved persona she had met in his office a few days ago now replaced by a cool, implacable mask. It all felt so surreal, and contrary to everything she had grown up believing about the military.
“Under whose orders are you running this little Gitmo?” she suddenly demanded.
Wilson almost gave her a half smile. “Don’t you worry about that, Miss Lane,” he said coolly, though his comment did nothing to allay her fears.
Slade seemed calm. Too calm. And Lois felt her fear brimming to the surface. She wasn’t sure she had any cards to play…
“Does my father know what you’re doing? I highly doubt this is condoned under the US military,” she accused.
Slade almost laughed in response. “No. General Lane simply helped garner the support that we needed to pass the VRA.” He made a sweeping gesture around him. “The VRA will make all of this perfectly legal.”
“How dare you! When I get out of here I will see that your reputation is dragged through the mud!” Lois said, bluffing a bit since she wasn't sure how she
would get out of there.
“Miss Lane, I caution you… Firstly, no one would believe you. And secondly—“ he pointed to the room where Joel was being held. “I have collateral.”
Lois felt trapped, and her spirit bucked against the feeling, angrily. “Let me see my son!” Lois commanded forcefully. She wanted to remain calm, needed to even, but she couldn’t help the fear rising up in her.
“Take me to him,” she tried to say vehemently, but it came out like a choked whisper. “Let me see my son.”
Wilson nodded at the guards behind her, who shoved her to her feet. She noticed for the first time that they weren’t wearing standard US uniforms. These soldiers were part of some rogue militia, under General Wilson, from what she could tell. Part of her hoped her father knew nothing about this, as she couldn’t imagine forgiving him for being a part of this operation. But her practical side, hoped that somehow he did know about it… that perhaps, he could get her out of there.
That is, if Clark couldn’t.
But she knew that Clark had to find her first – buried in this compound, deep in the earth.
~L&C~
General Wilson nodded to his soldiers, indicating to them to have Lois follow him.
“You want to see your son, Miss Lane?” he said, turning to her. “Fine. Enjoy your stay.”
The guards pushed her into the room, slamming and locking the door behind her. Lois knew she was trapped, but for the moment it didn’t matter. She ran over to Joel, picking him up and holding him close. He started crying, shocked perhaps by the sudden contact.
She rocked him gently, making hushing noises to calm him. Lois breathed in the scent of her little boy, relieved tears running down her face. She looked down at him, checking him for injury or any other signs of abuse. He looked healthy and relatively happy. At least they hadn’t hurt him. She didn’t know what she would do if they had hurt him.
“What do you want from us?” Lois cried suddenly to the walls around her, knowing that Wilson was likely watching what was happening from the mirrored wall on her left.
“Miss Lane, I think you already know,” Slade answered from a microphone piped into the room. “You’re just the bait we need.”
~L&C~
AC radioed to the others that he had made it inside.
His task now was to make it up six levels to the side door that they thought was the least likely to be watched, and he had ten minutes to do it. He turned down a corridor, thinking that he had plenty of time.
Suddenly, the walls around him became scorching hot. He felt his strength seep out of him, and he made a turn to head back to dive into the underwater entrance.
Unexpectedly, he was faced on either side with rifles.
“You’re coming with us, fish stick.”
~L&C~
On the outside, Clark and Oliver tried to make contact with AC again. Bart had raced around the building, looking for another way in. It had almost hit the ten minute mark, and they weren’t sure if they would be clear to make their way inside yet.
“That place is crawling with guards,” Oliver commented worriedly.
Clark felt just as anxious. “I’m tired of waiting… Lois is down there, and so is Joel.”
“Clark, I know you want them back. But rushing in there—“ Oliver said, shaking his head. “It could be a trap. Who knows what they know about you. I think we should wait. Maybe AC just got—delayed.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Clark said, suddenly decisive, and then blurred away into the building.
Bart reappeared suddenly in front of Oliver. “Where’s Clark going? I thought we were waiting for AC.”
Oliver shook his head and clapped his hand on Bart’s shoulder. “Come on. There’s been enough foolhardy moves around here for one day. Let’s see if we can do better without risking getting caught.”
~L&C~
The compound was nearly impossible to x-ray, as almost all of the floors and walls were lined with lead. Clark hoped they hadn’t done it because of him. If they knew about that weakness, he feared what else they might know about him.
Clark easily evaded guards, speeding down through the levels. From Oliver’s descriptions, he knew that Lois and Joel had to be somewhere pretty deep down. He found a stairwell and blurred down as far as he could go.
The corridor looked oddly unlike any military facility he had ever seen. In fact, it reminded him of some of Luthorcorp’s old facilities, which just unnerved him more.
Clark spotted a large glass wall and as he approached it, he saw Lois behind it, holding Joel, with two armed guards behind her.
“Clark! Leave! It’s a trap!” he heard her cry through the glass.
“Lois! You found him!” he cried, overwhelmed for a moment at seeing his son again. Lois nodded sadly, turning Joel in her lap so Clark could see him.
“You have to go,” she whispered, though he still heard her.
He was about to punch through the glass when Slade Wilson appeared in the corridor, a pistol pointed at Clark’s chest. “Man of steel or just a man? You can’t be both.” He fired several rounds at Clark, bullets pinging harmlessly off his chest. “So it is you,” Wilson murmured, impressed despite himself. “This whole building was built for the express purpose of containing your kind,” he said, gesturing to the glass wall where Lois was staring at the scene.
Slade continued to approach Clark, eyeing him carefully. “Your secret was the hardest to learn.” He suddenly hit a switch on the wall, shutting Clark into a barred cage that glowed green.
“Clark!” Lois cried through the glass, seeing Clark falter from the Kryptonite.
Slade simply walked closer to Clark, observing him as if he were watching an animal. “You are the real prize…”
“Let them go! If it’s me you want – well, you’ve got me,” Clark said, his eyes meeting Lois'. She shook her head, obviously having understood him, if not actually hearing him.
“No! Clark!” she called through the glass. “Let him out of there!”
Joel began to cry in her arms. She glanced down at him distractedly, and realized that he might be reacting to the nearness of the green Kryptonite. The blue Kryptonite bracelet was still on the table, some five feet away from the glass wall. Lois carefully stepped back, not wanting Slade or the guards to realize that Joel was also affected by the meteor rock. She calmly reached for the bracelet, bouncing Joel in her arms to soothe him.
“What’s wrong with that baby?” Slade suddenly asked.
“He’s probably hungry,” Lois suggested, thinking rapidly on a way to get them out of there. “You can’t keep a small baby in a room like this forever and not expect him to cry.”
Lois forced herself to focus on looking at Slade, on wearing him down. She couldn’t bear to glance in Clark’s direction, knowing the pain he was in. She thought if she could calm herself down enough, she could think of a way to get them all out of there.
“Come on, General. He’s just a baby,” she said, settling Joel on her hip.
“Sir, we have the Blur,” one of the soldiers commented. “None of the tests on the child have been conclusive.”
Slade nodded, approaching the glass. “I can’t prove that baby is a danger – but I will. Fine. Release Miss Lane and her son… we have what we need," he said, glancing at Clark. "Oh, and Miss Lane?” Slade said, turning towards Lois. “You better make your goodbyes. The Blur won’t be where you can find him…”
On that ominous note, the soldiers walked Lois out, who was clutching Joel. He held onto her blue kryptonite bracelet, and she hoped that it would protect him as she neared the cage where they held Clark.
“Clark?” she said, reaching her hand out to him.
He was sweating with the pain of the green kryptonite, and she whipped her head back around to look at Slade Wilson. “You’ll kill him if you keep him here!” Joel whimpered in her arms, and she knew that she couldn’t stay near the poisonous cage for very long.
“I’m well aware of that, Miss Lane. Don’t worry. It is only temporary, to keep him in check. We intend to discover all the Blur’s secrets.”
“Lois, it’s all right,” Clark said weakly, capturing her attention. “Just get Joel out of here.”
“I won’t leave you, Clark. Not like this!”
“Lois – you have to go,” he said, his eyes shifting towards Joel who was beginning to look restless. “He can’t stay here much longer,” Clark whispered.
Lois nodded, tears in her eyes. “I’ll find you, Clark. Whatever happens – I’ll get you out of here. I promise.”
Clark nodded in return, trying to look strong, though Lois could see the Kryptonite was painful. Clark’s face was contorted pain, and it broke her heart to see him suffer so. She turned to Slade once more. “Please. Stop the meteor rock… I have to know that he’ll be okay.”
Slade moved towards a dial on the wall, turning it ever so slightly so the Kryptonite glow faded just a bit. Clark looked marginally better, but still weak. “I’ll be all right, Lois. Just get Joel to safety,” he said in measured tones, and she knew he was trying to appear stronger than he was.
Lois nodded, but then knelt by the cage to reach for Clark’s hand. “I love you,” she whispered.
His eyes met hers, searing her heart. “Always, Lois…”
Tears streamed down her face as the guards walked behind her, past where Slade had captured Clark. She tried to think through a scenario where she could rush on Slade or reach the panel that controlled the cage… but she feared putting Joel in danger. And Slade’s hand rested on the control for the green Kryptonite. One false move, and he would turn it back up to full power.
“I’ll find you,” Lois mouthed to Clark, looking over her shoulder one last time. The guards put her in the elevator, sending her back up to the surface.
She held Joel close to her…Lois’ heart felt torn out of her chest. She had her son back, but to lose Clark… She tried to calm herself, to tell herself it was only temporary. They would get him back… Just like she got Joel.
The guards shoved her out of the elevator and then through another door. They led her through a steel corridor, and then pushed her and Joel out into the cold. The heavy metal door slammed shut with finality.
Lois unzipped her parka, to tuck Joel inside for warmth. He only had on a onesie, though it wasn’t one she recognized. She wondered who had taken care of him since his capture – and how the humanity that had seen fit to keep Joel happy and alive could be so cruel as to then torture Clark.
The blue Kryptonite bracelet winked in the sunlight. Lois breathed a sigh of relief as she tucked the bracelet into her pocket…
She had feared what blue K would do to Joel… that it would make him less like Clark. But that fact had likely saved him just now…
Whatever tests they had tried on him had failed. He had appeared like a normal human…
What had broken Lois’ heart before had been Joel’s salvation. Tears spilled down her cheeks at the bitter irony…
“Clark…” she keened, holding Joel closer to her. “Oh, Clark…”
She couldn’t shake the mental image of Clark in that cage, suffering. She didn’t know what else they would do to him, but she knew they had to find a way to rescue him.
But first, she had to get Joel somewhere safe and warm.
Lois dug into her coat pocket, relieved to find her phone. There wasn’t much battery left, but she hoped it would be enough.
She wondered if she should try to call Oliver. But she had no way of knowing if he had been recaptured… No, better to reach out to Chloe…
“Chloe? It’s Lois… look, I don’t have much battery—“
“Lois! Where are you? The Team has mostly gone MIA… Is Clark with you?”
Again, the image of Clark trapped in the Kryptonite cage sprung to Lois’ mind, and she shook her head. “No… but I have Joel. Chloe? Can you locate us using my phone? Is there anyone that can get us out of here?”
Suddenly, Lois heard the whipping sound of a helicopter overhead. She felt the need to run and hide, recalling instances when her father had appeared on one, and she had no desire to deal with him at the moment – even if it meant getting out of Alaska.
She glanced up, and almost smiled when she saw “Queen” scrawled on the underbelly of the chopper. Oliver leaned out and called down at her, “Someone need a lift?”
~L&C~
Lois watched the building become smaller below them… Part of her wanted to leave Joel with Oliver and go back in after Clark.
But she knew she couldn’t rescue him on her own…
And she couldn’t do it with Joel.
Slade Wilson had made it sound like they were going to take Clark somewhere else… that meant another needle in a haystack search. The team needed to keep an eye on this place, to know where Wilson was taking Clark.
The chopper was too loud to enable her to speak to Oliver directly, and Oliver hadn’t bothered giving her the communique headphones. She thought of writing him a text message, but he might not look at his phone. Besides, her battery was now just about dead…
It would have to wait until they got back to Metropolis. Lois just hoped that it wouldn’t be too late. If they took Clark out of this facility, who knows where they would take him or what they would do with him…
Lois closed her eyes, fighting the tears that threatened.
No matter what, she was going to somehow make her family whole.
One way or another, Lois would find a way to rescue Clark.
~L&C~
They left him there… like an animal in a cage.
The corridor was dark now, except for the eerie glow of green meteor rock.
At least Slade had turned down the intensity. As long as Clark stayed in the middle of the cage, he could breathe, and the pain wasn’t too inexorable. But his legs were growing tired… he couldn’t stand like this forever…
What did they want with him anyway?
Clark closed his eyes, thinking of his son and Lois.
At least they were now safe. He had sacrificed his freedom so that they might be all right.
And he knew Lois. She wouldn’t leave him here. She would work tirelessly to find a way to get him out… he just hoped that she wouldn’t get herself hurt in the process.
That was what he couldn’t bear – her pain.
Clark breathed in deeply, feeling the slight burn of the Kryptonite. Physical pain was rare for him, but he could tolerate it for a while. Even emotional pain… he had certainly had enough of it in his life.
But Lois had always been a balm to that pain, and Clark drew on that strength now. As he breathed in, he pictured Lois’ smile, her buoyant spirit. Even in this cold, dark cell, Clark could imagine light.
And that was what was going to get him through… thinking of Lois and their son.
Suddenly, a door opened down the corridor. A figure stepped out, the light seeming impossibly bright to him. As the figure stepped forward, Clark could see it was General Slade Wilson.
Because the light made it harder to see, Clark looked a little closer – a shaky, weakened version of his x-ray vision kicked in, trying to compensate for the bright light. What he saw chilled him to the bone…
An omega symbol was burned into Slade Wilson’s skull… like some sort of Mark of the Beast.
Chloe had been right. There was something darker going on here.
But Clark was determined that whatever it was would not win.
“So, Blur? Let’s see what you’re really made of…”
--
Come worry with us about how Clark's going to get out of this one over
here.
