Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Wrong Clark (194/???)

Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Author’s Note: I apologize that my hiatus has gone on much longer than anticipated. I have now rebuilt my cushion to 12 Parts. As I’ve just taken a part-time job, which will cut into my writing time, I wanted to have enough cushion so that parts will keep coming every week. I will try to continue to post once a week in order to keep my cushion at least 10 parts. The last Section of my story (The Investigation, roughly parts 98-193) was much longer and much more dark than I wanted it to be. Be reassured that the Investigation is over and our favorite couple will now be dusting off the debris and getting back to where they had been before Lex Luthor had tried to kill Clark during Nightfall… if they can.

Summary of what was happening when we last saw our heroic duo: The last time I posted a part in this story (Part 193 - October 2014), Lois was offered the chance to be the first reporter in space and visit the Space Station for a week. She accepted this offer for two reasons. Firstly, she discovered that Lex Luthor hadn’t died from a fall / jump from his penthouse (that was his clone) and that he would most likely be using all the power behind his formidable fortune to enact revenge against his former intended (in other words, she took this gig as an alternative to being put up by the MPD in their Safe House). Secondly, Lois learned that Lex had captured Superman during their faux wedding and tortured him with Kryptonite. She told the director of the Space Station program at EPRAD that Superman volunteered to take the supply shuttle she would be traveling on up to the Space Station, but she only told Clark that she wanted him to check out the shuttle to see if anyone had planted any bombs on it. When Clark learned that Lois had promised Superman to assist EPRAD (as the shuttle’s rockets) without his permission, he wasn’t very happy with her. The reason Lois did this was so that Clark would be distracted and wouldn’t show up when Inspector Henderson, the MPD, and the FBI raided Lex Luthor’s bomb shelter. Unfortunately, when she arrived at the Space Station, Lois was forced into a week of quarantine as she a) was recently splattered with blood from Luthor’s clone suicide, and b) did not go into quarantine before she left Earth per protocol. This surprise quarantine messed up not only her one week schedule, but also that of the shuttle’s pilot (Captain Martin) and co-pilot (Captain Angelo), meaning that they might not return to Earth a week later as planned.

Prior to her trip into space (and the public discovery that Lex Luthor was still alive), Lois had received ownership of the Daily Planet building and company from Sheldon Bender (Lex’s attorney). Lex had signed over the ownership of the Planet to Lois prior to their wedding that never happened, per their agreement. As soon as possible after receiving this “gift” from Lex, Lois sold it to Franklin Stern with some very strict conditions. Firstly, that the only payment for the company she would accept would be a yearly donation to the Superman Foundation. Secondly, that Stern had to have the paper back up and running by the end of the summer, and thirdly, that he couldn’t re-sell the company for at least five years without Lois Lane’s permission. Lastly, Lois asked that nobody know about this agreement as she didn't want to tell either Clark or Perry that Lex had given her the newspaper as part of her agreement to marry him.

Unbeknownst to all (except for Cat Grant who figured it out shortly beforehand), Lex’s bunker ark was filled with almost 200 people who were told that Nightfall Minor actually struck Earth and destroyed life as they knew it “Topside” (above-ground). Meanwhile, down in the Luthor Underground Community (L.U.C.) the missing Ob/Gyn Dr. Brenda Muldoon had fallen in love with Lex’s clone, Lexy, thinking that he was actually Lex’s son. When she discovered that Lex brought a woman – Lois’s double – down to the L.U.C., Brenda realized that life hadn’t changed Topside as they had been told. She and Lexy began planning a way to escape from the compound and take over Lex’s empire. Unfortunately, before they could do so, the real Lex Luthor switched places with Lexy and the clone was killed. When the law enforcement raided the compound, Brenda had already changed her red locks to blonde for her new life as Lex Luthor’s (Lexy’s) trophy wife. When Brenda was "rescued", she told everyone (including Cat Grant) that her name was Mindy and that she was Lexy's private nurse, then went on to describe Lex’s horrible deeds down in the L.U.C., including the killing of the woman Asabi had called Luthor’s fiancée. The only person who recognized "Mindy" as Brenda was Lex Luthor and he was under arrest.


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SECTION III: Grabbing the Gold Ring
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Part 194

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Woman from Outer Space
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Clark watched as Perry entered the Daily Planet conference room. Jimbo slipped in just after him and leaned up against the wall nearby as if he had been there the entire time.

Perry sat down at the end of the conference table next to Clark. “Any news from Bender’s law firm on the whereabouts of their esteemed leader?” he asked.

“No. None,” Clark replied. “There’ve been no ransom demands, no sightings, nor any bodies matching his description found anywhere in Metropolis. Sheldon Bender has simply disappeared. Henderson refused to comment on whether he was presumed dead or in hiding, but he did guarantee me that Bender wasn’t in Witness Protection.”

“Probably in a shallow grave hugging Jimmy Hoffa’s remains,” Valdez mumbled from down the table.

This reference to the long lost union boss reminded Clark of when Lois had asked him that first night after Superman made his appearance, whether Superman was hiding with Jimmy Hoffa and the Easter Bunny. When Clark had mistakenly asked her who he was, meaning Hoffa, Lois had proceeded to sing to him the ‘Here Comes Peter Cottontail’ song, mocking him for not knowing about the Easter Bunny. Clark stifled a chuckle at this thought, before continuing, “Bender’s daughter is holding a press conference this afternoon. It’s assumed she’s going public with the story that her father negotiated with the men who supposedly kidnapped her to trade himself for her safety.”

It was ‘supposedly kidnapped’ because nobody had heard about Shelly’s abduction until after she had returned home, showered, changed, and took herself out for dinner at a nice restaurant. Inspector Henderson had been skeptical about her story, but Clark knew people reacted in different ways to stress.

“Is she going to point fingers?” Perry asked.

“Doubtful, if she believes her father is still alive,” Clark explained. “Anyway, with Luthor kicking up a storm over his missing lawyer, saying ‘it’s a miscarriage of justice’ and that ‘the government is railroading’ him, he’s built up enough reasonable doubt with the public regarding his involvement in Bender’s disappearance. Thankfully, changing lawyers mid-case isn’t grounds for a mistrial, especially at this stage when the trial isn’t near to being heard. The judge refused to release Luthor on that technicality.”

“That and the King’s vocal cords are two things to be thankful for,” Perry replied.

One of the new reporters on the staff, Quentin Morton, raised his finger and then spoke, “Excuse me, Mr. White, sir, but as a newspaper shouldn’t we try to be unbiased? Give Luthor the benefit of the doubt. He may be innocent.”

Clark leaned back. He might be invulnerable, but his sensitive ears didn’t need to hear the Chief’s explosion one inch closer to full blast.

“Sure. Sure, Morton,” Perry said, starting casually. “You can think Luthor is innocent, if you wish. You were working at the L.A. Times, when Luthor had cameras planted here in the newsroom to get a bra’s-eye view of our top reporter’s desk, as well as in every room in her apartment. Not only did Luthor shoot her in the arm, accidentally so he claimed, he also tried to blame the heat wave we experienced here last year on Superman,” he scoffed. “And only shut his responsible LexCorp Nuclear Plant down when she proved it was boiling the aquifer. Then Luthor signed a contract with the woman responsible for drugging most everyone in our newsroom to make and distribute said love drug just hours before the chemist supposedly hung herself. Our top reporter then went undercover as someone interested in dating the billionaire as a way to gather evidence against him for trying to kill Kent, here.” He pointed a thumb towards Clark without taking his eyes off Quentin.

“Twice,” Jimbo interjected.

“Right, twice,” Perry agreed with a nod.

Okay, Clark needed to stop this train before it got derailed. “It was only Lois’s hunch that the runaway car during the Nightfall Eclipse was a deliberate attempt on my life. Nothing was ever proven.” Although, Clark had to admit Luthor had tried to kill Superman as well.

Perry conceded Clark that point. “Before Nightfall, Luthor had started a campaign of terror among the Daily Planet advertisers causing them to abandon the paper one by one even though Lane and Kent brought in more Superman exclusives than any other paper in town!” He slammed his hand down on the table. “Not to mention that Luthor bribed the Daily Planet Board of Directors to sell him the paper at a quarter of its true worth,” he said, nodding to Jimbo whom had obtained that signed confession. “Then he had his secretary plant a bomb in our print department, killing two people and injuring countless others, and framing Olsen here for the bombing!” Perry pointed towards Jimbo.

Jimbo shrugged modestly, mostly because it had been his cousin Jimmy who had gone to jail for him.

“On top of infiltrating Luthor’s camp to undercover his dirty dealings, Lois was also investigating a mysterious computer virus that had made all of EPRAD’s computers believe that a completely harmless asteroid was going to knock the Earth off its axis. The Nightfall Virus has now been linked directly back to Lex Luthor, a man caught red-handed having duped almost two hundred people into believing that Nightfall had actually struck and that he would be their savior.” By this time, Perry had stood up and his voice was booming across the table at the new staff member.

Then there were all the crimes Luthor had perpetrated for which they had no evidence, even though they knew he was guilty. Even without any proof due to her face being too badly damaged, Cat believed the dead woman in the ark was the body double of Lois as seen on the video played for Superman while he was trapped in Luthor’s Kryptonite cage. The evidence in the double’s apartment was contradictory. Some of Brenda Muldoon’s belongings, such as her tooth and hair brushes, were found in there, implying that the dead woman was the missing doctor. Yet, the body’s height was two inches shorter than the doctor’s was. Blonde and dyed brunette hairs from another woman were also found in the apartment, as well as multiple fingerprints belonging to both Brenda Muldoon and some unknown other.

The Luckies, as the people held hostage in Luthor’s Underground Community called themselves, told conflicting stories regarding the missing Dr. Muldoon as well. Some called her headstrong and opinionated. Some called her a champion for the Luckies’ rights, unafraid to stand up to their leader. Some called her shy and reserved, polite and well mannered. Some even claimed to have never met the woman.

As the apartment where the woman’s body had been found had also been used as the place the Luckies went to get ‘lucky’ it had not been too surprising multiple fingerprints were found there. One main set of fingerprints still hadn’t been matched to anyone held in the bunker, but with the knowledge of one confirmed death – the physicist – who knew how many others Luthor or Nigel had killed and whose bodies were then tossed in the incinerator? The FBI’s forensic lab was still piecing together bones found within the ashes.

When Clark had finally reached Luthor’s private parking garage late on the afternoon of the raid, after finding Lois’s signed confession on his bed, Cat informed him of the discovery of a dead woman, who had been living in Lois’s copy-cat apartment in the bunker. Someone had reportedly heard St. John call the woman Luthor’s fiancée and whom Luthor, himself, had admitted to loving.

Clark knew it hadn’t been Lois in the videos Luthor had shown a captive Superman, so he tended to believe Cat’s theory. Cat believed that the woman wasn’t Brenda Muldoon, but some woman who had facial reconstruction surgery Topside to look like Lois. Then Luthor had brought her down to the bunker later. Dr. Heller, the plastic surgeon to whom Luthor had taken Lois after being injured during the abduction attempt back in April, disappeared a week before Lois and Luthor’s wedding was supposed to have taken place. It was too much of a coincidence in Clark’s books.

Against Cat’s wishes, Clark had wanted to see the woman’s body. Even though he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Lois was floating in space, Clark had wanted to verify that it wasn’t her. Henderson had also stopped him from entering the wine cellar by informing him that the woman’s remains had already been removed to the FBI Lab at Quantico. Although, Clark knew in his heart that the dead body wasn’t Lois, he requested that the ankle of the body be double-checked for the healed fracture Superman had noticed after saving Clark’s partner from the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Facility. No such fracture was discovered.

The viciousness Luthor had shown in beating the woman to death after sexually assaulting her, and then setting her body on fire to further hinder identification of the remains was more than enough justification for Clark to agree with Henderson’s safe-house plan for Lois. The only question Clark had was why Luthor had set the fire in Lois’s duplicate apartment instead of tossing the body in the incinerator as had been done with Kirk Devlin, the physicist whom Nigel St. John had allegedly shot.

Forensics experts trying to determine her identity were still piecing the jigsaw puzzle of the woman’s face back together. Unfortunately, due to extensive prior damage and healing on top of the damage incurred by Luthor, identifying her from facial reconstruction would be tricky.

Perry placed his fingers to his throat as if checking his heart rate and sank into his seat, his voice was much calmer when he spoke again, “But feel free to continue to be unbiased about Luthor’s guilt, Morton. Some of us have already had it proven without a shadow of a doubt that he’s a – to put it nicely – liar, cheater, swindler, and corrupt psychopath.” He turned back to Clark. “Tell me, Kent, that you have heard when my top reporter will be released from the MPD safe-house.”

Clark cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “I’m sorry, sir, but I cannot…”

“It’s been eight weeks!” Perry roared.

“Yes, sir.”

“Tomorrow we’re publishing our very first issue of the Daily Planet newspaper in over three months. I need my reporter back!” the Chief said, leaning towards Clark. “Luthor is in jail, awaiting trial…”

Clark gave his boss a loaded look. “As I’ve said before, Lex Luthor being in jail won’t remove his influence outside of it.”

“I’m no idiot!” Perry said, lifting his hands off the table and tossing them over his head in frustration. “But Lois isn’t one to live her life in fear.”

Clark’s boss wasn’t the only one frustrated by the endless delays. He was, too, but if remaining in space kept Lois safe from Luthor, Clark was more than willing to bear the sacrifice. He didn’t even want to think of the time in early July when Lois turned off the video feed from the Space Station after Clark had informed her that he refused to ask Superman to bring her back, and that she would have to wait for the next available transport.

It might not have been Lois’s fault that Captain Martin, captain of the returning shuttle, had jammed the door of her space quarters, so that she couldn’t make it to his shuttle the day it departed for Earth, stranding her on the Space Station, but that didn’t make it Superman’s problem either. When they spoke the previous week, Lois still wasn’t willing to listen to Clark when he tried to explain that her lack of patience to return to Earth wasn’t worth risking her life nor had she been pleased that Captain Martin only received a censure for his behavior.

Clark hadn’t informed Perry or anyone else of Lois’s current whereabouts. He had made Lois a promise to keep her location private and with Luthor still up to his old games, Clark wasn’t about to break it. Perry hadn’t been keen to learn that Clark knew Lois’s location, but refused to inform him. Fortunately, the Chief had dropped the matter upon hearing that Clark was also allowed one weekly phone call with Lois to make sure, as their boss delicately put it, “she hadn’t killed anyone.” The lead lining of the Space Station, to protect the colonists from solar flares and other cosmic radiation, made it difficult for Superman to check on Lois’s sanity as well.

Actually, when he went to EPRAD the previous morning for their weekly video phone call, Lois had informed Clark that she would be returning to Earth with the Japanese shuttle that had arrived at the Space Station the week before. Clark was sure that Lois wasn’t the only one on the Space Station excited about her upcoming departure. He loved her, but knew that one often needed invulnerable skin to spend hours, let alone days or weeks, with an irritated Lois.

“Inspector Henderson reassured me that as soon as Lois was released from the safe-house that he would make sure her first phone call was to you,” Clark said. “And she promised me that she had a series of articles already written on her laptop.”

Perry eyed him warily, and then nodded. “Fine. Any more word on the missing blonde woman from Luthor’s ark?”

Clark shook his head. “Rumor has it that Henderson did ask Luthor about the blonde woman Cat described in her article as denouncing Luthor so publicly before he was hauled off to jail. Apparently, Luthor had said that it was she… um… the blonde woman, who murdered the other woman. When asked what her identity was, though, Luthor merely clammed up and refused to say anything further, exclaiming that he wouldn’t do the MPD’s job for them.”

“Rumor?” the Chief tsk’d-tsk’d.

“A third person accounting of what happened, sir. Sorry,” Clark said with a frown. “That was the best I could get.”

Perry grumbled and turned to Eduardo Friaz, their science correspondent, to see what had been found at LexLabs’ unauthorized laboratories.

***

CK appeared far away in his mind as he hung up his phone, Jimbo thought as he headed from the copier to his desk. CK started tapping his fingers on his desk and then called, “Jimmy!” as Jimbo passed close.

“Yo!” Jimbo halted in midstride. “What’s up, CK?”

His cuz had told him that he would develop a sixth sense about Lois and CK and know when they would ask him to drop everything to research something. He just didn’t think it would happen within a week of the Daily Planet offices reopening.

“Could you check on something for me?” CK asked softly. He seemed hesitant and unsure.

Jimbo shrugged. That’s why I’m here.

“The Japanese shuttle currently docked at the Space Station, when and where does it return to Earth?” CK continued.

O…kay. Jimbo looked at him skeptically. That request came out of left field. He hadn’t known that CK was covering the Japanese space program. “Sure, CK. Um… Give me five minutes,” Jimbo said, moving over to his desk and starting to type into his computer. He hated how slow the Internet connection was at home, so he happily used any excuse to dive online at work.

CK certainly had been acting funny since Lois checked into the MPD safe-house, which according to the Chief was stranger than strangeness itself, especially since it had happened on the same day as the raid on Luthor’s bunker and the billionaire’s arrest. CK had been unusually serious. One might even hazard a description of quiet or contemplative.

Jimbo knew that CK brought out the best in Lois, both Lucy and Jimmy had often mentioned it, but there was something to be said about her positive influence on him, too. Jimbo had noticed that whenever CK spoke about Lois or retold one of their adventures when he came over for pizza to the new apartment he, Jack, and Denny shared, CK’s eyes would light up and his whole face brighten. Just thinking about Lois seemed to relax the man. Jimmy had said it was because CK was head-over-heels in love with Lois. That dolt should know.

Jimmy had disappeared from Metropolis several weeks ago, only to send them each a postcard from Vegas announcing that he and Jenny had tied the knot. Apparently, the only heads-up they received that he was leaving was a quick phone call from the airport asking CK to feed Lois’s fish. Jimbo was still T-ed that he hadn’t received an invite to the wedding, but evidently, it was a spur of the moment decision.

Jimbo should have known something was up when his cousin declined to move out of Lois’s apartment and in with him and the Miner brothers. Jack had received some kind of stipend through a charity for homeless kids that CK knew that paid their share of the rent automatically, as long as Denny went to school and Jack worked on his GED, got a part-time job, and stayed out of trouble. Mr. White had gotten him a job down in the Daily Planet mailroom. It was the least they could do for the guy who was the star witness against Mrs. Cox.

CK had a tendency to disappear for hours on end, too, especially after any new discovery about crimes linked to Lex Luthor, but at least he came back... unlike his cousin. Jimmy had once told Jimbo it was because CK was worried about Lois, always worried about Lois, obsessively worried. Of course, with her track record for getting into trouble, fearing for Lois’s safety made total sense.

After two minutes of staring at him and twiddling his thumbs from several desks away, CK wandered over to Jimbo’s desk and tried – and failed – to look nonchalant. Mr. White had given Jimbo a desk between Lois and CK’s, which meant he worked directly for the two of them and acted unofficially as their buffer. He was thrilled by the vote of confidence Mr. White had given him by letting him have Jimmy’s old job. He would do everything in his power not to let any of them down.

Jimbo’s fingers slowed as he glanced up at CK and stopped completely the second time he looked up at his co-worker, still standing there waiting somewhat uncharacteristically impatiently for Jimbo to finish. He was even rocking back and forth on his heels.

“Are you writing a story on the space program, CK?” Jimbo inquired.

“No,” CK replied, and then nodded at Jimbo’s screen. “Got anything?”

Jimbo dragged his gaze away from CK and back to the computer. “Um… Yeah… There isn’t a Japanese shuttle up at the Space Station.”

CK blanched, and Jimbo noticed his hands tighten into fists. “What?” CK said between pressed lips.

“It already left and…” Jimbo continued to type quickly. “ – landed this morning at an airstrip in…”

“Australia?” CK probed.

Jimbo stopped and stared at him. “Yeah. If you already knew…”

“Wild guess,” CK interrupted. “Can you give me a more precise location?”

“Yeah.” Jimbo turned back to his monitor. “The Japanese space program actually teamed up with the Aussies several years ago, and is called the JAAXaR, short for Japanese-Australian Aerospace Exploration and Research. They blast off from Japan, but land their relaunchable shuttles in…” He hit a few more keystrokes. “— a field near something called Ayers Rock. The nearest city is…”

“Alice Springs. Thanks, Jimmy,” CK said, turning back to his desk to retrieve his jacket.

“Why all the sudden interest in JAAXaR?” Jimmy asked.

“Inspector Henderson just went on vacation to Alice Springs,” CK replied as if that explained anything.

“And he’s a big space buff?” Jimbo said skeptically. Nothing about that policeman seemed to make sense.

CK paused before a hint of a smile broadened across his lips. “Let’s just say, he’s recently become one.”

***

Lois watched as the pilot and co-pilot of the JAAXaR shuttle flipped switches to park the shuttle in the hangar at the end of the runway. She felt oddly heavy and unable to move. She didn’t know if that had more to do with gravity or the cumbersome suit they made her wear for the long voyage home.

Captain Elena Angelo had warned her before they departed without her on EPRAD’s shuttle that returning to gravity would be a more difficult transition than becoming weightless had been. First of all, they had to fluid binge before the flight due to needing to replenish blood. Apparently, one didn’t need as much blood flowing around one’s body in space. It was also one of the reasons Lois had been trapped in the restroom in the guest quarters. Captain Martin had advised Lois to start drinking extra liquids twenty-four hours earlier than necessary to prepare for her trip back to Earth. Therefore, she needed to empty her bladder all the more urgently before dressing in the space suit, which was how Captain Martin was able to jimmy the door to the space toilet shut with her in it.

All visitors to the Space Station stayed in the guest wing where Lois and Captain Angelo had been quarantined, so the colonists didn’t notice that Lois was still in there until they came to clean it several hours after the EPRAD shuttle had departed.

Lois didn’t know whether to be pleased or insulted that Commander Juan Norton had been about as thrilled by Lois’s abandonment on his Space Station as she was. He certainly didn’t appreciate having to feed, water, clothe, and house her for an extra seven weeks on his limited supplies. Despite EPRAD only having slapped Captain Martin’s wrist for what they called his practical joke, Commander Norton lodged a formal complaint barring Captain Martin from ever visiting the Space Station in the future. Lois considered it only a minor victory as she would have much rather returned to Earth and the Daily Planet.

Thankfully, Commander Norton and most of the rest of the colonists on the Space Station treated her as a welcome addition to their small community. The extra time also allowed Lois to finish her series of articles for Perry on her Luthor investigation and write enough articles about living in space to fill up a book. She would discuss the possibilities with Perry once she was back in Metropolis.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being trapped in space was the lack of news from Metropolis. All she knew was from the little that Clark had reported during their short weekly video conferences and what she had gleaned from the other colonists’ conversations with family back home. Sadly, the only politics and gossip most of them were interested in happened aboard the Space Station.

Despite his initial anger at Lois for forcing him to launch EPRAD’s shuttle into space without his consent, Superman delayed accepting his Key to the Space Station award until she was out of quarantine during her second week and could cover it for the Daily Planet. Saying that Lois had been outraged that he had flown off on her, instead of sharing with her first few minutes of seeing Earth from up above, would have been an understatement. Her anger had lasted only until she discovered that he had tucked a Superman figurine sculpted out of chocolate into her duffle bag as a going away gift.

It had given her no end of pleasure to bite off Superman’s head and break his legs in her frustration and anger. Lois had even shared some of the cape with Captain Angelo, being that the red and yellow parts of Superman’s uniform had been made with dyed white chocolate. Since Clark wasn’t a chocolate aficionado or even someone who liked sweets, Lois would have to inform him that white chocolate wasn’t really counted as chocolate by die-hard connoisseurs. At least his hair and the blue of his uniform had been done in dark chocolate. She had decided to save Superman’s shorts to stuff in his mouth the next time he did something lunkheaded, such as volunteer her to be the first reporter in space.

Flying Officer Dick Fraser, the co-pilot of the JAAXaR shuttle, came over and unbuckled Lois from her harness. It seemed a bit more awkward this time, because of the bulky space suit required for re-entry. “Back on planet Earth, Miss Lane,” he said with a pat on her shoulder. “You wait here until the ground crew arrives to carry you out to the van to medical for a once over to make sure you’re tip top.”

“Can’t I walk?” she asked, once more. The idea that she should have to be carried off the JAAXaR shuttle was more than a bit humiliating, especially since the Japanese and Australian crew was walking.

“How long were you on the Station?” Fraser asked.

“Two months, give or take,” Lois replied.

“Captain Ozawa and I can walk, because we’ve only been up there two weeks or so, Miss. We still have all our calluses and such; even so, we’re a bit wobbly on our feet. You haven’t walked in two months and I bet the bottoms of your feet are soft as a baby’s bum. You try and walk in that suit and you’ll have blisters before you make it to hospital, then the doctor will…”

Lois raised her hand, and only her hand, briefly to stop him. “You convinced me at blisters.”

“Plus our re-entry suits weigh about fifty kilos and you not being used to gravity and all,” Fraser continued. “Don’t worry, in a few hours your blood will be back where it should be and you can practice walking again.”

Lois was feeling ever more grateful that she hadn’t told Clark when or where the JAAXaR shuttle would be returning to Earth. The last thing she needed to see was Superman outside, his red cape flapping in the wind, when it took all her effort just to raise her arm.

Fraser patted her shoulder again. “Should be a nice day. Ground control says it’s only to reach 22.”

Twenty-two was a nice day? Right. Celsius. She wondered if he knew what that translated into in Fahrenheit. Probably not.

Soon a team of four men came in to carry her off the shuttle.

“Really? Four of you?” she scoffed. “You really know how to make a woman feel welcome.” Not to mention dainty, she thought sarcastically to herself.

In the end, she rode cradled in two airmen’s arms out the door of the shuttle into the bright sunshine. There was a warm breeze, much warmer than she expected. Wasn’t it supposed to be winter in Australia when it was dead of summer in Metropolis? If this was winter, what did summers feel like here?

The men set her down in a chair next to Flying Officer Fraser who sat in a nearby chair, and grinned at her. “A bit chilly, don’t you think, Miss Lane?” he said.

Ha ha. Lois was able to raise her arm, this time to shade her eyes from the sun. While much closer to it out in space, with the lack of the windows she might as well have been underground the whole time… well, except for the weightlessness, which she was really starting to miss. It felt as if every joint in her body hurt. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, closing her eyes to feel the sun caress her face with its warmth for the first time in two months.

She had wondered why they had put them in these chairs out in the sunshine and didn’t take them straight to the hospital to get their once over to make sure their bodies were functioning as they ought. Then she realized that it was for their mental well-being. They had been cooped up in tin can for at least two weeks – her, two months. It felt good to breathe the fresh air and sense that there were hundreds of feet of nothing surrounding her. No walls. No ceiling. Just wide, open space without actually being in space.

Lois had gone on a spacewalk… or a space stroll, actually. Clark had shared that with her. She wasn’t qualified to do anything outside the Space Station, such as touch anything but the safety bars. However, because Superman had volunteered to fly her around the Space Station from the outside, to give her a Superman’s-eye-view, they allowed her to suit up and step out into the void. All she had to do was not get lost. Superman was even set up with a mic so that they could communicate. It wasn’t private, though, as the scientists on board the Station had monitored their conversation.

Everything had been monitored while on the Space Station, just as Lex Luthor had monitored everything in her life before she had left. Lois had no idea what privacy felt like anymore.

She opened her eyes and saw standing in the crowd of well-wishers a tall, thin man with salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a grey business suit, and small John Lennon style sunglasses. He held a Daily Planet newspaper and beamed at her.

Inspector Henderson, her jailer, had come to fetch her.

So much for privacy.

***End of Part 194***

How long did you think I would force Lois to stay in space? Was I close? Comments

Part 195