I apologize for the delay. The past week has been crazy. There was a ton of work, plus the preparations for my wedding day and the party the evening before. Now, I'm tired but also happily married. 
Hope you guys are going to enjoy this part. Feedback is very much appreciated. From Part 1: Lois’ breath came in panting gasps, but she had not come any closer to catching up to Clark. She was forced to slow down to a light jog. She finally came to a halt, admitting to herself that she was only going to get lost. She bent down, resting her hands on her knees and gulped in air. Sweat trickled down her face and her back and she used her sleeve to wipe it off her brows. Running herself to exhaustion had been a rather pointless exercise.
“Great, Lois. Just great,” she muttered to herself as she had finally managed to slow down her breathing. “The man swallowed a bomb. Who’s to say that he hasn’t got some other tricks up his sleeve?”
Straightening her stance, Lois took in her surroundings. Save for a few trees in the distance, there was mainly grass all around. With the recent torrents of rain it looked fresh and green. Lois bit back a soft curse as she realized that she had no idea where she was. Admittedly, that had been the case ever since she had last been in the shuttle. At least, she now had a fair idea how it was possible that one moment she was inside the Colonist Transport only to find herself moments later on some field. Clark must have used – whatever it was he had used – to get her out of there. But she would not rule out that she had lost consciousness somewhere along that way.
Lois cocked her head as she suddenly heard a low motor sound. She listened more carefully, trying to locate its source. It seemed to come from the line of trees to her right, she had seen most of the time she had been running. They were not that far away. Deciding to take the chance, Lois turned right, walking the short distance. It took a few minutes until she found her suspicion confirmed. There was indeed a road. The traffic was moderate, but still frequent enough that a hitch-hiker would not have to wait all day to catch a ride.
Lois looked over her shoulder, back to where she had come from. She had run a long way. Maybe, if she had been listening more carefully, she would have heard the road much earlier. She had been running parallel to it for quite a while. Though she hated to admit it, it was not true that Clark had dropped her off right in the middle of nowhere. It seemed he had indeed cared about how she got home on her own. Had he planned to vanish all along?
“But if you so clearly didn’t want to tell me what happened in the shuttle, then why did you stay with me in the first place?” Lois muttered, puzzled, as she made her way through the line of trees that separated her from the road behind it.
...I Knew The Truth
Part 2A frown creased Lois’ forehead as she leaned back in her chair to read what she had written so far. What could have been Pulitzer material, only amounted to a lame account of the events in the shuttle. To make things worse there was not a single word in her article that did not sound downright insane. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Lois let out a small sigh. She had typed and erased sentences so many times she had lost count. Still she had only a headline that was at least somewhat presentable.
SHUTTLE LAUNCH – DISASTER AVERTED
The cursor blinked behind the last word, mocking her, like it had done so many times in the past hour. Lois bit her lips. If she planned on writing that story, she would have to sell it to The Inquisitor. It would certainly go well with all those far-fetched stories she usually did not even care to read. With another sigh Lois pressed the Back Space button. The letters vanished, slowly at first, but as Lois pressed more vigorously the article disappeared.
Instantly, Lois felt a pang of regret. Having to give up always left her with a bitter taste. Unable to face the now empty screen much longer, Lois got up from her chair, stretching her stiff limbs. The newsroom was busy as ever, buzzing with the noise of her fellow reporters chasing stories and talking to sources over the phone. Lois had been almost shocked by the sense of normalcy she had encountered upon entering the Daily Planet. Even now it only served to make her feel even more detached and uneasy than she already did.
It seemed impossible that she and Clark had snuck on board the Messenger just this morning. How could an entire world change so completely in a matter of hours, seconds really? Everything was turned upside down and not even writing – the one thing that had always helped her focus and sort her thoughts – did anything to help her.
As soon as her cab had stopped in front of the Daily Planet, Lois had stormed into the newsroom. The article she was going to write had already existed in her mind, polished and ready to be typed into her computer. It was supposed to be a great revelation about a philanthropist who was not what he seemed to be and a young reporter who was more than anyone could have ever imagined. But the carefully phrased article crumbled under her fingertips as she realized that nobody but her had seen Clark swallow the detonator. He had taken the rest of the bomb with him when he had rushed off. Her story would sound even more ridiculous than the headline she had seen on Jimmy´s edition of the Inquisitor the other day.
DIVINE INTERVENTION – I WAS SAVED BY AN ANGEL
Lois started as the events of that day returned to her mind. The article had been about the poor guy who had been dragged from the man-hole, semi-conscious. She had thought that Clark’s suit had been ruined from the dust of the explosion. Not for one minute had she stopped to wonder why her own clothes had been perfectly fine. Burying her face in her hands, Lois tried to fight the onslaught of confusing images. Could it be that Clark had been the “angel” mentioned in that article? He had certainly saved her.
The notion led her back to their last moments in the shuttle. Lois had seen the fear in Clark’s eyes; it had matched her own. Her heart started to pound in reminiscence of the moment. It played out before her mind’s eye, as if she was there once again.
Clark had lowered his glasses, staring at the bomb intensely. All the while he had muttered under his breath ‘No…no…no,’ most likely unaware of what he was doing. His movements as he had picked a wire had been frantic, desperate - and Lois had seen her life ticking down. Forty seconds had not been enough to run, certainly not enough to cry for help. Picking a wire had been like grasping at straws to keep from drowning. Lois remembered that she had closed her eyes and prayed, for what must have been the first time in years. Lois still did not quite trust what her eyes had seen, then. Maybe the bomb had been a fake, maybe…
Lois lowered her hands again, resting them on her desk. She stared at the empty screen in front of her. There was just no way she could describe the strangest and most amazing thing that had ever happened to her. Nobody was going to believe what she had witnessed. How could they, if she hardly believed it herself?
“Lois?” Perry’s voice resounded in the newsroom, somewhat quieter than his usual bark. “My office,” he added as Lois looked up and held her gaze just a little longer than he normally would, certainly trying to make sure she had actually heard him. At Lois’s nod of agreement, he retreated back into his office, leaving the door ajar.
She got up stiffly, still experiencing this strange feeling of detachment, as if her body did not belong to her, as if nothing around her was real. All her colleagues seemed to belong to another life, another plane of existence that had nothing to do with hers. Lois crossed the short distance to Perry’s office, opened the door and closed it behind her, effectively shutting out all the noise and the bustling activity that usually felt so familiar.
Inside the editor’s office, Lois drew a shaky breath, inhaling the faint scent of sweat and ink, mixed with Perry’s eau de cologne. She blinked, suddenly feeling a whole lot more grounded than she had in hours. Perry was sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair, his gaze never leaving her. The photograph of Elvis looked down on her, a second pair of eyes that studied her intensely. Lois took a few more steps before she collapsed into Perry’s tartan patterned wing chair, shrinking under the scrutiny of Perry and his idol.
“I take it you didn’t find what you were looking for?” Perry asked matter-of-factly.
Lois opened her mouth to disagree, but just like before, she just could not find the words. Instead, she shook her head, realizing that in fact she was telling Perry the truth. She absolute could not have expected to find a man who swallowed explosives. Strangely enough, the more often she relived that memory, the less unsettling it became. Like she was actually adjusting to the thought.
“How do you know?” Lois asked, feeling that her more rational side was finally taking over again.
“I found this,” Perry replied, handing her a sheet of paper that until this very moment had been lying right in front of him.
Lois took it from him. Her eyes caught on the first line that read ‘letter of resignation’. Quickly perusing the rest of the text, she stopped as she recognized Clark’s signature. Blinking, her gaze darted back to the beginning of the letter, where she found today’s date. Lois’ mind reeled as she gave Perry the letter back, wordlessly.
“Before coming to Metropolis, Clark mostly worked as a freelancer. He never stayed anywhere for long.” Perry added by way of explanation. “I can’t say that I know him very well and given his record this might have been expected…” his voice trailed off as he smoothed out the letter. His gaze suddenly darted towards Lois, focusing on her. “You wouldn’t know anything about this, now would you?”
It was the second time Lois shook her head no, an automatic response rather than a conscious decision. Lois was not even sure she was actually lying. It absolutely baffled her to see Clark’s resignation.
“He was so certain that Luthor was behind this sabotage. For years he’s been trying to prove that the man is a criminal,” Lois muttered, thinking that they had almost succeeded at doing just that. “Why would he give up?” she asked, despite the fact that the answer already dawned on her.
“Tell me something, Lois. Do you really believe there is a story? Or is this all just a conjecture of a troubled mind?” Perry asked.
For a moment, Lois considered mentioning the bomb. She knew Perry would take her word for it. But the absolute lack of evidence would lead to questions she had no answers for. All things considered, Perry was more likely to launch an investigation of Clark than of Luthor. And perhaps he would be right to do so. But Clark had saved her life and she felt that she owed to him to give him the benefit of doubt.
“There is a story,” Lois replied, instead. “It’s what my instinct tells me.”
“Yeah, mine, too.” Perry agreed and thoughtfully rubbed his chin. “Tell you what, I’m going to pretend I didn’t see this letter,” he said, stuffing Clark’s resignation under a pile of paper on his desk. “It’s going to take me a while to work through all that stuff.” A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. “Now, go find me some news,” he added in his usual gruff manner, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.
Lois left Perry’s office deeply in thought. If possible, she was even more confused than ever before. Mere days ago, Clark had been on his own private vendetta against Lex Luthor and now he was simply giving up. For some reason, he even covered for Luthor, which probably was the strangest thing of all. Thinking of the last words he had said to her, maybe he hoped that he could hand the investigation over to her. Still, why did he no longer want to be a part of the one thing his life had apparently consisted of for the past couple of years, judging from the box of evidence he had collected? It just didn’t make sense. Moreover, why didn’t he use – whatever it was that he could do - to his advantage? And what exactly made him able to swallow bombs?
Maybe she was not able to write a story of the events in the shuttle, because she had no idea what kind of story that was supposed to be. It all seemed like some drug induced fantasy that first and foremost made her question her own sanity. Though she knew what she had seen, though Clark had admitted that it had really happened, Lois felt the need to prove it to herself that she had not completely lost her mind. Strolling back to her desk, Lois pondered how she was going to play things. Her gut instinct was telling her that unravelling the mystery that surrounded Lex Luthor and Clark Kent was finally going to win her the long desired Pulitzer. But at the same time, she had never had less faith in her own instincts.
When she had first met Clark Kent, she had thought she had already figured him out. The same had been true for Lex Luthor. In both cases, she couldn’t have been more wrong, apparently.
Taking a deep breath, Lois sat back down on her chair and reached for the cup of coffee that had been sitting beside her half-dead plant for the past hour. She took a large sip of the stale, cold beverage. Normally, by now she would have used it to water the plant, bringing it a bit closer to its ultimate demise. This time, however, she felt that gulping down that last bit of coffee seemed to do the trick. She felt more grounded, more back at her usual game. As she sat down the cup, she knew what she was going to do.
“Jimmy!” she yelled as soon as she had spotted her younger colleague.
He flinched, looking up from whatever he was doing. A frown crept onto Jimmy’s face and he tentatively put down the screw-driver, which was a dead give-away that his current assignment was repairing something for Perry. Nevertheless, he got up, his expression a mixture of both hope and dread. He did not seem entirely sure who of the two he feared most – Perry or Lois. His curiosity won, however and Lois smiled to herself as she watched Jimmy approach.
“Do you want to do something that remotely resembles the work of a reporter?” she asked.
Jimmy nodded eagerly. “Anything you want.”
“Good. You remember the article you read the other day? The one about the mysterious rescue during the incident down in the manhole right in front of the Planet?” Lois continued.
“You told me not to read stuff like that,” Jimmy replied.
“Yeah, well, I changed my mind.” As he raised his brows incredulously, she went on. “Not about ‘The Inquisitor’, mind you, that’s still a rag,” Lois said dismissively. “But I’ve got a feeling they might be onto something, though I’m pretty sure they have no idea it could become a real story. What I need to know is, if there are more rumors about mysterious rescues.” Lois got up from her chair, picked up her bag and withdrew her wallet. She fumbled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to Jimmy. “I want you to buy any tabloid you can get your hands on. Read them carefully and try to find any story that even remotely resembles what allegedly happened down the manhole”, she ordered. Another thought suddenly crossed her mind. “Oh, and Jimmy, can you find out if there investigation concerning the explosion of Dr. Baines helicopter has already turned up any results?”
Jimmy’s face lit up as she named his second assignment. “Consider it done,” he beamed.
“Don’t you dare forget about those tabloid papers,” she warned him, before she turned her attention at her computer screen again, trying to decide whether she was going to hint at the almost-sabotage of the Colonist Transport or whether she was going to omit that part for the time being.
to be continued...
