TOCIt's short, but it's here.
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Megan had her hand on the door to
Dark Moon Rising when CJ pulled her away, almost knocking her over. At her glare he nodded to the interior of the shop on the other side of the display windows.
Mister ‘Alexander’ could be seen standing over Constance Hunter’s body. In his hand was a large geode that looked like it might have blood on it. His partner, Asabi, was nowhere to be seen.
“Call 9-1-1 right now,” CJ hissed at Megan. Wordlessly, she pulled out her cell phone and tapped in the numbers.
Luthor looked up and started towards them, the weapon still in his hand.
Lois and CJ started running, heading in opposite directions. CJ dragged Megan with him. Luthor headed after Lois, shouting after her. “I did it for you, my darling… They stole you from me…”
“Stay away from me!” Lois screamed back at him. Passersby stopped and stared. Several moved to intercept Luthor but he sidestepped them easily. Lois ran into the moving traffic.
“Lois, don’t,” Luthor shouted. “Our love is eternal, why are you running away? Come back! Come back to me!”
Lois easily slipped between the vehicles, moving at a speed and agility no normal ten-year-old should have managed. Drivers slammed on their brakes as she vaulted over car hoods, in some cases actually running up windshields and hopping from one car roof to another, ignoring the crashing of bumpers as less attentive drivers ran into the stopped cars in front of them.
“Stay away from me!” Lois shouted again. Luthor tried to weave his way through the now stopped cars. Sirens could be heard in the near distance coming closer.
“Stay here,” CJ ordered Megan as he started toward Luthor.
Like Lois, he was moving faster and with more agility that a normal child his age – a lot faster. Megan wasn’t sure his feet were even on the ground.
“Stop, police!” a woman shouted. Luthor ignored the order as he tried to get closer to Lois. She was on the roof of the car and backed away from him. A shot rang out. Megan assumed it was a warning shot since Luthor stayed on his feet.
CJ tackled Luthor, sending him crashing into the hood of a car. The geode bounced off the car as Luthor lost his grip on it.
“She’s mine!” Luthor screamed. “She’s my soul mate, forever...”
“No, she is not,” Asabi stated. Megan hadn’t seen him leave the shop. But now he was standing at arm’s length from Luthor and CJ. Megan moved closer to listen. CJ stepped away from Luthor.
“You told me she was mine,” Luthor shouted at Asabi.
“I did not know that yours was the hand that murdered her,” Asabi said. Megan thought she heard a tremor in his voice. “That was what the keepers of the records did not want found. That you had found a way to bend the laws governing time and space and that it was your hand and no other, that murdered the one you claimed was your beloved.”
“You lie! That alien freak killed her! And I killed him for it!”
“Are you admitting to the murder of Superman?” a police officer asked Luthor.
“He wasn’t a man,” Luthor spat. “He was a monster. Killing a monster isn’t murder.”
“I doubt the courts will agree with you, Mister Luthor,” the officer stated as she started to handcuff him. “You’re under arrest for suspicion of murder. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney...”
“No one makes a mockery of Lex Luthor,” Luthor snarled as pulled away from her, almost knocking her down. “Killing a monster is not murder!” He lunged toward Lois one last time. A zapping sound and the smell of ozone and Luthor went down.
“You’re not committing suicide by cop on my watch,” the officer stated. “And the murder I was talking about wasn’t Superman’s.”
-o-o-o-
“Are you kids okay?” Perry asked when he caught sight of the three entering the newsroom in the company of Commissioner Henderson.
“We’re fine, Grandpa Perry,” CJ assured him. “Mister Luthor tried to grab Lois but she ran really fast.” The boy’s expression turned more solemn. “We didn’t get there fast enough to help Ms. Hunter, though.”
He looked over to Megan who nodded her head. “Luthor never laid a hand on either of them. But Ms. Hunter wasn’t so lucky.”
“So Luthor completely lost it?” Perry asked, turning to Henderson.
“He’s under psychiatric observation at Metropolis General, but he was raving about killing Superman and his business partner claims that Luthor’s the one who murdered Lois Lane, but there’s no evidence to support that,” Henderson said. “I doubt he’ll be found competent to stand trial for Hunter’s death any time soon, if ever. And insisting that a ten-year-old girl is his returned-from-the-dead murdered soul-mate doesn’t say much for his mental stability.”
“So what now?”
Henderson shrugged. “Doctor Sprengler has finally released the corrected report on Lois Lane’s autopsy results. It functionally exonerates Superman from any wrong-doing in her death. She died because she has poisoned.”
“And has Luthor said how he murdered Superman?” Perry asked.
“Red kryptonite poisoning.” Henderson grimaced. “Star Labs confirms that it was found some years ago exactly where Luthor claims it had been placed to do the most damage.”
“You’re saying Commissioner, that after all this time, Superman really was innocent? That he should never have been charged, much less convicted of killing her?” Chuck Blake, the crime beat reporter asked. Perry hadn’t noticed him joining their little group but wasn’t surprised that he had. He was good. Not as good as Lane or Kent, but good.
“He did confess to freezing her and that was incredibly reckless of him,” Henderson stated. “And not letting the police know that he and Kent were dealing with a hostage situation… The police, the FBI, we have people trained to handle these things. Trying to go it alone, no matter how talented or brilliant you are… never a good idea.” He was looking directly at CJ and Lois who squirmed under his gaze.
“Are you going to need anything more from the kids?” Perry asked.
“We have their statements,” Henderson said. “And like I said, it’s unlikely Luthor will ever stand trial.”
“And what about Clemens?” Megan asked. “He prosecuted a man he knew was innocent of the charges against him.”
“The statute of limitations for obstruction of justice in a case like that would be five years,” Henderson said. “I doubt the current D.A. will bother to look into more serious charges. Besides, Clemens still has his conscience to deal with.”
Interlude II“Another interesting solution,” the Archivist said to Wells. “Although hiding material here from seekers of truth was a questionable act at best.”
“I doubt
this incarnation of Asabi Gupta was a true seeker of truth,” Wells commented. “He was deliberately misstating the concept of soul mates and how it works.”
“And you have never done so?” the Archivist asked. Wells thought he detected a chuckle in her (his?) voice.
“I thought I understood the concept,” Wells defended himself. “But, we did need to keep him from discovering the link between Clark Kent and Kal-El of Krypton.”
“Very true,” the Archivist agreed.
Wells paused as he considered his next question. “Are they closer to the path they should have been on?”
“Closer? Yes, closer. But there are still matters left undone. Dangerous matters for their world.”
