Illusions of Grandeur - Matchmaker Style
Rated PG-13
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Previously:
Since there was no longer anyone to talk to at the Magic Club, Lois, Clark and Jimmy headed back to the Planet arriving after most of the day staff had already left.
As they were walking in, Perry spotted them and inquired, “So, what’ve you got?”
Throwing down her bag, Lois said, “Only a theory,” in a disgusted tone.
The delay in their return to the Planet was explained as Clark told Perry what they had been doing, “After we left the Magic Club I called the box trick manufacturer. There were only two made with that specific moon and stars design and they both belong to Darren Romick.”
Lois floated her proposal, “I think we've got enough for a preliminary article. What do you think ...” She decided to test her theory, hope actually, that the programming that had been done on Perry would also apply to her, “
Chief?”
Realizing immediately what Lois was doing, Clark started watching Perry closely, just as Lois was doing to see what reaction this would have.
Lois was disappointed when there was no reaction, other than a normal Parry reaction, “Absolutely not! All you've got is speculation and you both know it.” He turned away, shaking his head and moved toward his office.
Resignedly, Lois muttered, “Well, so much for that.”
Before Perry had a chance to make it to his office, Jimmy intercepted him and handed him a photograph, saying, “Look at this.”
Perry looked at it and as if stating the obvious, said, “It’s the Pope. So what?”
Pointing at the background, Jimmy said, “Yeah. At a
Madonna concert. Famous people are acting really strange lately. I think there' s a story here. Whaddya say I write it,
Chief?”
Just like the last time, Perry’s hand came up, he double pointed at Jimmy and said, “That’s brilliant, Olsen.” Also, just as last time, Perry was perplexed by this behavior. He couldn’t understand why he was doing that and as he puzzled over the problem turned and finished his trip to the office.
Jimmy watched as Perry closed his door and then turning to Lois and Clark, rubbed his hands together and said, “Putty in my hands.”
Clark challenged, “Jimmy, don't you think what you're doing is a little ... unethical?”
Jimmy smiled and replied, “Hey, it's not like I'm asking him to send me to Tahiti or anything. This is strictly business. Although, a weekend in Florida would be nice ...”
Lois challenged, “Jimmy …”
Coming back to reality, Jimmy said, “Forget I mentioned it.”
Lois looked at her watch and realized that it had been some time since lunch. She asked, “So, who’s hungry? We’ve only got about two hours.”
Jimmy was curious, “Until what?”
Lois enlightened Jimmy, “Moskal meets the kidnapper at midnight. Clark and I plan to be there.”
Clark was planning to be there all right, but as Superman. He couldn’t believe that Lois was inviting Jimmy to go along. In an attempt to discourage this he said, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
Lois was mystified, “Why not?”
Clark couldn’t believe that Lois was being so single minded on this and not picking up on his need to be there as Superman. He said, “It’s dangerous for one thing.”
Lois countered, “When has that ever stopped us?”
Clark wracked his brain for another deterrent, “I don't think we should get in the way. The best thing to do is wait it out and talk to Moskal afterwards.”
Lois finally appeared to be picking up on his hints as she said, “You know, you’re right,” but he was still surprised.
He blurted out, “I am?”
Lois answered, “Yes. We should be adult about this. There's no reason to get in the middle of it. We'll write the story when Rose's son is safely returned home.”
“I’m proud of you, Lois.”
“Thank you, Clark. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. Why don’t you go get us some take out?” She moved over and gave him a hug. While hugging him she whispered, “Use this excuse to be there as Superman. I’m going to bring Jimmy and we are simply going to watch.”
Smiling he donned his coat and headed out.
Once he was out the door, Lois said to Jimmy, “Grab your camera. We’re going to be at that meeting.”
Jimmy asked, “What about Clark?”
“He’ll get over it. We can eat when we get back.”
And Now
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 5
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The location of the drop off of the ransom was The Hobbs Bay Carnival. At this time of the year the carnival closed early so the area was completely deserted and lent an eerie feel to the atmosphere. The weather contributed to the eeriness in that it was dark and cold and a ground fog had developed which limited visibility somewhat.
Lois parked at a distance so that her Jeep wouldn’t be seen and then she and Jimmy walked the rest of the way. They weren’t exactly sure where the drop would be made so they crept between ticket booths and rides looking for a central location that they could watch from without being seen.
Jimmy grumbled, “I'm beginning to appreciate the office. It's freezing out here.”
As they were approaching another ticket booth the fog was lit up by a pair of approaching headlights. They quickly ducked out of sight and peeked around the corner.
Jimmy started to say something and Lois hissed, “Shhhhh. Don’t talk. Just take the pictures, will you?”
When the car pulled to a halt they could see that it was a luxury sedan. It had to be Moskal. Confirming Lois’s supposition, Mr. Moskal opened the door and stepped out. He leaned back into the car and when he stood up again he had a small suitcase in his hand. He closed the car door and looked at his watch.
Mr. Moskal wasn’t sure just how the exchange would be made so, as if to announce his presence he shouted, “I'm here. Alone. Where's the boy?”
Suddenly, as if in response to his shout, the lights came on and the music began to play as the carousel nearby started up. As it moved in a circle, Mr. Moskal spotted Nick, riding one of the horses, however there was an ephemeral quality to his appearance which fit right in with the general atmosphere.
Lois nudged Jimmy and whispered, “Are you getting this?”
As if in response to her query she heard the camera shutter. She decided that Jimmy must have thought ahead and loaded Infrared film because there was no flash.
Spotting the boy, Mr. Moskal shouted, “Nicky!”
Suddenly the blue and red clad superhero swooped in and attempted to grab Nicky. His confidence was displayed when he announced, “I’ve got him.” Unfortunately, just as he would have grabbed the boy, he vanished and Superman’s hands passed through thin air. When Nicky vanished the carousel stopped.
Lois and Jimmy both stared in disbelief at what they had seen. Lois nudged Jimmy and said, “Keep shooting!”
She heard the shutter flying again.
With a bewildered expression on his face, Superman was standing on the carousel, looking around when Mr. Moskal ran up and shouted, “What have you done? Where’s the boy?”
Superman came to the realization that it had all been a trick, started using his super vision to examine the area and said, “He was never here.” He stopped examining the immediate confines of the carousel and broadened his search finally spotting a dark car at a distance.
Superman set off in that direction and seeing his approach the driver’s door opened and a figure in a dark cloak and hood emerged. When he was close the hooded figure pulled out a gold pocket watch and started to twirl it.
In a throaty whisper the figure said, “See the watch, only the watch. Hear my voice, only my voice. Your mind is clear, your will is gone. You will obey my commands any time you hear this phrase: 'The moon and the stars.' Wrong will seem right to you. And you will not remember.”
Superman simply stood there, apparently staring at the watch while the hooded figure talked.
Because of where they were, Lois and Jimmy were straining to see what was going on. Hoping that Jimmy’s eyes were better than hers, Lois asked, “What’s going on?”
She was disappointed when Jimmy said, “I don’t know.”
Just then a breeze blew up and cleared the fog, temporarily and Lois was able to see into the car. What she saw sent a cold chill down her spine. Nick was sitting in the passenger seat and he was staring straight ahead with no emotions on his face at all.
Lois shouted, “Superman, it’s Nick.”
Superman remained rooted to the spot. At Lois’s shout both Jimmy and Mr. Moskal started running in the direction of the car.
The hooded figure jumped in and drove off. As the car left, Superman took off and disappeared into the night sky.
Jimmy was surprised and said, “What the ???”
Lois summed it up by saying, “It's like Superman's been hypnotized.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When Lois and Jimmy returned to the Planet, Clark was there waiting for them. Lois was a little surprised to see him.
He asked “And where have you two been?”
Jimmy was all a fluster, “You should have been there, CK. The kidnapper was there and it looks like Superman has been hypnotized and they got away with the money and the kid.”
“Lois, I thought we had agreed to wait.”
Lois said, “Yeah, well, we decided that we could be there to watch and not interfere.”
“Well, I think it’s about time we went home.”
Lois gave him a wary eye as she said, “Okay, let’s go.”
Jimmy watched as together they entered the elevator to go home.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they arrive at the apartment, Lois dropped her bag and confronted Clark, “What happened out there? Why didn’t you rescue Nicky? Were you hypnotized?”
He laughed and said, “Whoa, one thing at a time. What happened? The vision of Nicky on the carousel was done with mirrors. I found them when I examined the structure after the image disappeared.”
“Okay, that explains that part. Why didn’t you rescue him from the car when you had the chance?”
“I saw Nicky and it looked like he had been drugged or else was under a post-hypnotic suggestion. He wasn’t responding to external stimuli. I felt that it would be best to allow the kidnapper to take care of him since they know which it is. By removing him I could have been putting him in jeopardy.”
“Oh, yeah, I can see that. What about the hypnotism thing?”
“I had to play along with that for Nicky’s sake. Also we need to find out who all is behind this and what the ultimate goal is. I couldn’t necessarily do that by just grabbing that hooded figure. That could have been a stooge.”
“So, where do we go from here?”
“I have to make the person in the hood think that they succeeded in hypnotizing me by playing along.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they arrived at the Planet the next morning they found Jimmy asleep on his desk still wearing the same clothes as he’s had on the previous night. Next to his head on the desk was the explanation of why he had spent the night at the office. Lois spotted prints of the pictures he had taken the night before.
Without disturbing Jimmy, Lois and Clark went through the photos and decided which ones to use and then wrote up the story. One of the pictures to be used was of Superman staring at the watch. They wanted to give the impression that the hypnosis had succeeded.
One disturbing fact was the angle from which Jimmy had been taking the pictures. You could see the watch and the hand on the chain, but not the hooded figure.
Seeing this picture, Lois snickered. Clark had explained that he had actually been looking through the watch using his x-ray vision and not at it the way the supposed hypnotist had thought.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The afternoon edition featured the picture of Superman and the headline: “SUPER-PSYCHE."
Lois said to Jimmy, “You did it, Jimmy, you're on the front page again.”
“Yeah. I just wish it didn't make Superman look so bad.”
Clark walked up just then and overhearing Jimmy said, “Don’t worry, Jimmy. It’ll all come out in the wash.”
Turning to Lois, Jimmy asked, “Are you sure Superman was hypnotized last night?”
Lois replied, “I can't think of any other explanation for what he did.”
Jimmy said, “But he just let the kidnapper drive away with the kid!”
Lois nodded and said, “I’m sure he had his reasons, Jimmy.”
“I’m really worried about him, though.”
Reassuringly, Clark said, “Don’t worry, Jim. He’ll be okay.”
Perry exited his office and approached the trio. “I just got off the phone with the Chief of Police. There was no evidence left on the scene and nothing in your photographs that pointed to anybody but Superman.”
Lois blurted out, “What about that hooded figure? We all saw it, even Moskal!”
Perry interrupted her tirade, “And he’s not talking. Now I'm not telling you to drop this story 'cause I believe you saw what you said you did. We just need something concrete, that's all.”
Jimmy offered, “Great. We'll just get a signed confession from the kidnapper and hand it over to the police chief.” A second after the word was out of his mouth, Jimmy realized what he had said, but it was too late.
Right on cue, Perry raised his hand, two finger pointed at Jimmy and said, “That’s brilliant, Olsen.” Again, Perry was mystified as to just why that had happened he patted Jimmy on the back and shaking his head in consternation, turned and headed back to his office.
Watching Perry’s retreating back, Jimmy said, to no one in particular, “This is really starting to bug me.”
Just then Lois’s phone rang so she reached to answer it. “Lois Lane. Great, we’ll be right there.” She hung up the phone and turned to Clark, “That was Constance. We're going to find out more about the Magnificent Romick. Come on, let's go.”
Clark said, “You go ahead. I’ve got someone else I want to talk to.”
Lois nodded her understanding she said, “Come on, Jimmy. Let’s go,” and grabbing her bag, headed out.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Half an hour later, Lois and Jimmy were at the magic club and meeting with Constance.
Constance was speaking, “You can understand, can't you? He can be very ... difficult sometimes.”
Lois promised, “Completely off the record. You’re an anonymous source.”
Before speaking, Constance looked around as if to assure herself that they wouldn’t be overheard. “Darren went through a real bad period about a year ago. He had run up a lot of debt and at the same time he lost his big contract in Vegas.”
Lois offered, “Gambling problem?”
Nodding in agreement, Constance said, “Big one, but not in the way you would think. The casino owner found out Darren disguised himself and used his skills to cheat at the tables. He had been doing it for years. Anyway, after that Darren was black listed and wiped out financially. No one would hire him. At least he didn't go to jail.”
“Wow, you’re right. Not what I expected. But he’s back on top now.”
Nodding again, Constance continued, “About three months ago things started to change. He was rich again. I thought he might be back to gambling but he told me it was all from an anonymous benefactor.”
Lois suggested, “Or a series of kidnappings.”
Apparently shocked at the suggestion, Constance said, “You don’t think Darren …”
Lois stated, “That’s exactly what I think. What about hypnosis? Does Darren know how to do that?”
Another nod, “Yes, we’ve used it in our act. Look, you don't know anything for sure. I mean, you have no proof, do you?”
Lois shook her head and said, “Not yet. But if it's him, I'll find some sooner or later.”
Unseen by Lois and Constance, Darren Romick was hidden around the corner and heard every word spoken.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Almost as soon as Lois and Jimmy left, Dr. Novak arrived. He had come at Clark’s request. Clark conducted him into the conference room and had a long discussion with him regarding hypnosis as they waited for their other guests to arrive.
After a short time a group of people arrived. Clark greeted them and a group at a time were brought into the conference room. The final visitor was a young girl. Like all of the others, she was one of the children that had been kidnapped and the last of several whose parents had finally been persuaded to allow them to be talked to.
While her parents watched, Dr. Novak placed her under hypnosis and asked her some questions. The girl’s parents were very surprised at what they heard. At the conclusion of the session Dr. Novak said, “When I snap my fingers you will awaken, feeling happy and safe. Five, four, three, two, one.” (Snap!)
When he snapped his fingers, she opened her eyes and looked at him, questioningly and then at her parents. She asked, “Is it over?”
Dr. Novak answered, “Yes. You did very well, my dear. You may go to your mother now.”
Standing up, she took her mother’s hand and the family left.
Once they were alone in the conference room, Dr. Novak said, “Definitely hypnosis. I don’t think that drugs were involved, although I can’t say for certain. They were each given a powerful suggestion to forget everything that happened to them while they were kidnapped, so powerful, in fact, that I cannot reverse it, only identify it.”
Clark said, “There's got to be something that can help us.”
As if musing to himself, Dr. Novak said, “The only image that a few of them kept remembering was the night sky, specifically the moon and the stars.”
Clark’s expression changed slightly when he heard that and asked, “What did you say?”
Repeating it for Clark’s benefit, he said, “The moon and stars.”
Clark nodded his head and said, “I have one more favor to ask of you …”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A few minutes after Dr. Novak left, Cat approached Clark, “Hey, Clark, Perry couldn’t find Jimmy so he asked me to tell you that there's a rogue general in the Persian Gulf about to launch a missile against the President's order. Perry wants you on it right away.”
Clark headed for the stairwell saying over his shoulder, “I’m on it.”
Almost as soon as Clark hit the stairwell he heard over the radio that the subordinates in the missile control center had overcome the general and averted the crisis. Spinning into Superman he exited the stairwell onto the roof and took off. His actions had some urgency to them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A short time later, Lois and Jimmy exited a cab in front of the Daily Planet after her interview with Constance. As they stepped to the sidewalk they heard a metallic ripping crunching noise and looking in that direction saw Superman approaching. What Lois saw startled her. As Superman was walking down the street he was ripping up the parking meters lining the street.
Surprised at this behavior, Lois shouted, “Superman!”
Jimmy, had been startled by what was happening for a second, but then coming out of his stupor brought up his camera and started snapping pictures.
Superman appeared to ignore them as he strode by continuing his path of destruction. She heard him muttering, over and over, “Wrong is right. Wrong is right.”
After he passed her he took to the air and flew away.
Lois was flabbergasted. She stared after him in open-mouthed wonder and worry.
Grabbing Jimmy she said, “Come on. We need to tell the Chief.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A few minutes later Clark landed in the back yard in Smallville and spun into his work clothes.
Jonathan had heard him arrive and came out of the barn just as Martha came out of the kitchen.
Jonathan asked, “What brings you here in the middle of the day?”
Smiling he said, “I wanted to let you know that you don’t have to worry about what you may read in the paper. You see, I’ve gone undercover as Superman. There may be some stories that could cause you to worry and I wanted to let you know that you don’t need to.”
Martha said, “We saw that picture of someone trying to hypnotize you. What’s up?”
“Well, that’s it. In order to get to the bottom of this, I have to play along … allow the kidnappers to think they succeeded. That way I should be able to lure them out into the open and prevent any more harm being done.”
“Okay, we’ll ignore the stories. You be careful, you hear me?”
“Yes, Mom. I hear you. I need to get back. Lois is going to be wondering what happened to me.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A few minutes later, Superman landed on the roof of the Daily Planet and a couple of minutes after that Clark Kent exited the stairwell into the newsroom. Looking around he spotted Lois at her desk and headed in her direction.
Sensing his approach, Lois looked up at him with worry in her eyes.
He smiled in reply and reached for her hand. Taking it he guided her to the conference room.
As soon as the door was closed she rounded on him and challenged, “All right, what’s the story? What’s going on? Why were you acting that way?”
“I can’t explain just yet, but I need you to write up the incident just as you observed it. Make sure that one of Jimmy’s photos accompanies the story, okay?”
Lois was still worried, “Why can’t you tell me? I’m so worried about you. Damaging public property that way.”
Clark pulled her into his arms and said, “Things aren’t always what they appear to be. Trust me on this. There’s a good explanation. You just have to wait for it. Lois, Superman is undercover. I can’t even tell you why because I don’t want you to give it away.” He gave her a kiss to calm her fears.”
“When will you be able to tell me?”
“Probably not until we wrap up this case.”
“What case?”
“The kidnapped youngsters.”
“Is it important that this story run?”
“Yes, it is. The kidnappers need to believe that Superman has been hypnotized.”
A look of dawning comprehension came over Lois’s features. “I was going to ask Perry to squash it. You want them to think you are under their control so that they might make a mistake.”
“That is essentially it. With your help we may be able to break this case. Look, I can’t stick around. I have some more things that need to be done. I’ll meet you at the Magic Club this evening.”
“Why there?”
“We may be getting near the end of the story.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That afternoon there was a story about how Superman was seen destroying parking meters in the downtown area and quoting what he was saying, “Wrong is right.”
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