Winner Takes All
Folc4evernaday
Part 28
***
Monday morning Lucy sat impatiently in the courtroom waiting for the defense counsel to show. She threw Mayson a questioning look. She just shrugged.
Judge Stevens sighed, looking at his watch. “Ms. Drake, does your office have any idea when Mr. Snell will be gracing us with his presence?”
“No, your honor. My office is trying to track him down, but I’ haven’t heard anything thus far.” Mayson said, standing to address the judge.
Judge Stevens seemed to be debating something in his head. “We’ll recess until noon. If Mr. Snell still is missing I’m putting a bench warrant out for his arrest.”
“Understood.” Mayson nodded.
“All rise!” The bailiff called out as Judge Stevens headed towards his chambers, obviously ticked.
“What just happened?” Lucy asked.
“We can’t have the arraignment without Martin Snell present. Nobody’s been able to track him down.” Mayson explained. “I’m gonna drive by his place. See if I can find him. Stay here in case Judge Stevens comes back in.” Mayson instructed.
“Got it.” Lucy nodded, watching Mayson leave.
***
Mayson approached the duplex of Martin Snell with apprehension. Why were all these police cars here? She pulled out her ID and headed towards the police tape where Inspector Henderson stood. “Mayson Drake, Deputy DA. What’s going on here?”
“The DA?” Inspector Henderson asked, skeptically.
“Mr. Snell was supposed to be in court this morning. He never showed. What’s going on?” She noticed the body bag being carried out of the duplex.
“It looks like a crime of passion.” Inspector Henderson replied grimly. “Mr. Snell had to have made somebody pretty mad. The coroner said it appears like he’s been dead at least since Friday night. The neighbors were complaining about the smell and finally called the police. I guess Mr. Snell didn’t have too many friends.”
***
Superman landed in the middle of downtown where an armored car heist was ensuing. “Freeze!” an officer called out as the suspects attempted to get away.
Superman advanced towards the criminals, ripping the door of the car off and tossing it to the ground. He reached in and grabbed the suspects from the vehicle by the collar and hoisted them up.
“HEY!!”
“Put me down!”
Noticing the police van nearby, Superman tossed the suspects into the air where they landed on the van. With that he flew off, leaving a bewildered group of police officers to deal with the aftermath.
***
Lois leaned back as the doctor rolled the Doppler monitor on her small bump and the room filled with the familiar thumping heartbeat of her unborn child. She smiled up at Clark who was beaming back at her happily. “Everything sounds great, Lois,” the doctor said.
“Are you sure?” Lois asked nervously. “I’m still so small…”
“It’s your first pregnancy. Usually, when you’re active and petite you don’t show that much. Why do you think there are so many cases of women not realizing they’re pregnant? You should get a bit bigger once you get more into the third trimester but everything looks great,”
***
“I was wondering how long it was going to take you two to come knocking on my door,” Henderson remarked, dryly.
“We were a bit tied up earlier.” Lois said briskly, “Your office said there was a murder?”
“Yeah, a real gruesome one too. We’re having to match dental records in order to identify him, but we’re pretty sure it’s that missing lawyer, Martin Snell.” Henderson said, shaking his head.
“Martin Snell??” Lois and Clark asked in unison.
“You heard of him?” Henderson asked.
“Yeah. We ran into him at the Press Club Friday night.” Clark explained.
Henderson pulled out a notebook. “Really? Do you know if he was with anyone?”
“Uh, his date was Linda King from the Metropolis Star.” Lois supplied. “We only saw him for a few minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll check with her. Find out what exactly went on during their date.” Henderson nodded, “Thanks for the info.”
***
“Superman!” Lana beamed as she watched the Man of Steel float down at the scene of a bank robbery. She watched as he apprehended the suspects and handed them over to the police. One of the suspects tried to escape and Superman grabbed him and threw him into the awaiting police van. She smiled. What a show of strength. After checking her reflection in her compact she jogged up to the Man of Steel, hoping to grab his attention.
A striking blonde with a tape recorder in hand approached him. “Superman, Linda King, Metropolis STAR. Could I get a statement from you?”
Superman eyed the blonde appreciatively and nodded, walking her away from the crowd of people. Lana followed. What she saw….
Superman was in a clinch with that reporter! This was good. She pulled out her phone and began recording. This would definitely make some money.
***
“So, what do you think this means?” Lois asked. “I mean, could Snell have crossed Intergang and they just took him out?”
“Henderson mentioned a crime of passion,” Clark said. “Maybe he picked up someone?”
“Anything’s possible. As much as I hate to say it; Linda’s capable of a lot of things, but murder isn’t one of them.” Lois said grudgingly.
“Do you think you and your family are safe now?” Clark asked.
“I don’t know.” Lois sighed. “I mean, I really don’t understand any of this. I mean, how are they even able to track where any of us are at? That missile was flying after us like it knew where I was.”
Clark swatted at a fly in his direction. “I don’t know.”
“Careful that sounds like the same bug that bit me. It really hurts.” She said, rubbing her hand at the memory. The fly flew in his face once more and he grabbed it. “Nice get!” Clark lowered his glasses to look at the bug in question. “What is it?” Lois asked.
“Not a bug. I’ll be right back.” He kissed her lightly and then headed towards the stairwell.
Lois sighed and headed towards her desk. “Lois!” Perry hollered across the newsroom. “My office!”
Lois rolled her eyes and headed towards Perry’s office. “What is it, Chief?”
Perry pulled out a copy of the Metropolis STAR. “How in the hell did we get SCOOPED???”
The paper read, “Superman Stops Bank Robbery With Force!”
“What?” Lois grabbed the paper confused. “This doesn’t make any sense.” The article had been written by Linda King and described how earlier that afternoon Superman had thrown a suspect into the police van, knocking him unconscious. “This doesn’t make any sense. He wouldn’t…”
“I don’t care about your opinion on the matter, Lois. What I want to know is why my star reporters weren’t there to grab the scoop. Where have you been all morning?” Perry asked.
“I had something personal to take care of then Clark and I went over to see Henderson. There was a murder Friday night. They think it was that lawyer, Martin Snell.”
Perry’s eyes grew as big as saucers. “Murder?”
“Yes. And why are you reading that rag anyway? All they print is trash!” Lois huffed.
“Well, I do have to keep in mind what the competition is up to, Lois,” Perry said dryly. “As long as you’ve got a better scoop….” He gestured towards the STAR’s front page.
“Superman wouldn’t do that, Perry. That is…it’s’ slander!” Lois fumed. “It wouldn’t be the first time she fabricated a story to get a headline.”
“Are you, uh, speaking from experience?” Perry asked with an amused expression.
“I have to get to work,” Lois said, turning to leave the office.
“Lois?” Perry called after her. “Next time you have a doctor’s appointment just tell me. I HAVE had kids of my own you know.”
“How did you…?”
“Alice figured it out the night of the Charity Ball. Don’t worry. I’m not saying anything until you’re ready. I’m happy for you.” Perry said. Lois nodded apprehensively then left the office.
***
“We keep breaking needles on this guy, Kent.” A technician said. He pressed a few keys on his keyboard. “Now, I can’t get the probe to fly.”
He pressed a few more buttons, “Wait, the prone’s heading this way….but I haven’t called it.”
The concrete wall blasted open and the technicians turned to face a very angry Superman. Superman advanced towards them, showing them the small bug in his hand; giving it a tight squeeze. The ‘bug’ had been reduced to small metal disc the size of a dime. He threw it at the technician.
“So, that’s how your bullets always find their targets…a genetic tag, injected by needle. What is it, a radioisotope?” Superman glared at the technicians who were only able to nod, terrified.
***
Bill Church sat at his desk, on the phone with one of his partners, “Any word on Martin Snell? There’s been no contact for the past seventy-two hours…”
An alarm sounded and Church turned his attention to one of the screens where Superman had broken in. “Stop bugging people!” Superman roared on the screen as he put his fist through the computer monitors.
“I’ll call you back. I’ve got an extermination problem.”
***
“Where’s the gun?” Clark’s face was fierce as he advanced towards the terrified technicians. The technicians pointed towards the shrubs outside with a shaky hand.
***
“Okay, Superman wants to butt heads, here comes a migraine.” Church pulled out a remote control from his pocket. “Let’s see…eenie meenie…minie…mo…Which one should I kill today?” He smiled, hovering his thumb over one of the buttons. “Boom!”
***
The rifles were raised to aim and fire. Clark moved at super-speed, crushing the rifles, but not before one missile had escaped. He flew at super-speed, trying to stop the missile from impacting its target.
Jimmy stepped out onto the crosswalk in front of the Daily Planet. Clark grabbed him at super-speed flying up into the air. “Superman…What?” The missile was close to follow. He wrapped his cape around his young friend, protecting him from the impact. The missile exploded against him. He looked cautiously at Jimmy who seemed unharmed. “Uh, Superman, what just happened?”
“Don’t worry about it, Jimmy. They won’t be bothering you or anyone else again.” He remarked bitterly as he flew them back down to the streets of Metropolis.
***
Lois sat at her desk going over the files she and Clark had been searching through the past few days regarding Intergang, Lex Luthor, and the Metros. Bibbo Bigowski still hadn’t called them about this Red Dixon yet and she was beginning to lose hope of it ever panning out.
The loud voice of the LNN newscaster interrupted her thoughts, “Superman’s activities have come into question these past few days. He’s been seen roughly interacting with criminals. Earlier today he was seen throwing a criminal in the air and knocking the man out cold. We have also found footage of Superman acting precariously. Here in the footage, you can see he is being interviewed by this reporter. Then you see him grabbing her and kissing her. We are unsure of the relationship between the Man of Steel and this reporter thus far.”
Lois stared in horror as she watched the scene unfold. The footage showed Clark dressed as Superman kissing Linda King. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. She told herself. There is no reason for this to affect you. You have no relationship with Superman.
“How could he do something like that?” Lois was steamed. She scanned around the newsroom, looking for any signs of Clark. Nothing.
A stack of papers was laid in front of her. The letterhead read from the Kerth Award Board of Administration. A familiar voice hissed in her ear, “So, Cherie, I’m thinking I didn’t make myself clear enough three years ago, no?”
She held her breath as she scanned the paper before her. “Dear Mr. Claude Cluny, It has come to our attention that the article submitted under your by-line was the result of forgery and it is this office’s position to conduct a full investigation into the matter. You will be required to submit all notes, witnesses, contacts, and prove to this board that your article on the gun-runners was, in fact, your writing. Thank you for your cooperation. You will be contacted by our legal office at the earliest convenience.”
“Oh, my God,” Lois muttered breathlessly. When? How? Clark. That was the only way she knew of. She hadn’t told anyone else about Claude stealing her story.
“Did you think I wouldn’t come and protect my good name? You didn’t get enough embarrassment before?” Claude asked, turning to face her, grabbing her forcefully by the wrist. She winced in pain, trying to free her wrist of his grasp.
“Let go of me…” She said between gritted teeth as she fought to free her wrist.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Jimmy asked, approaching Claude from behind. “Leave her alone.”
“This is none of your business, you copy boy. Go..” Claude tried to wave him off.
Jimmy stepped into Claude’s face. “When you start messing with my friends; it is my business.”
Claude laughed, turning to face him. ”You are so naive.” He waved a finger in Jimmy’s face. “Do you really want to threaten me?” He grabbed Jimmy by the collar.
“Leave him alone!” Lois argued.
“I am simply teaching some manners to this…”
***
“Get your hands off my wife or so help me God I will mop the floor with you.” Clark, who had walked in when Jimmy had gotten into the man’s face after he had grabbed Lois. He wasn’t exactly sure who this man was, but he didn’t like what he saw.
“And who are you to…?” Claude stopped short when he saw the firm look in Clark’s eyes. Claude released his grip on Lois and Jimmy. “This copy boy was giving Ms. Lane a hard time. I was simply helping diffuse the situation.”
Clark noticed the red hand marks around Lois’ wrist. “Lois, are you all right?” She nodded and he then turned his attention to the man in front of him, “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you just stepped over the line…” His eyes narrowed as he advanced towards the cowering man.
“What in the Sam Hill is going on out here??” Perry’s voice boomed across the newsroom.
Clark glared at the man in front of him, “Yes, what IS going on?”
“Claude?” Perry wrinkled his nose when he recognized the man standing before Clark.
Clark’s eyes narrowed in a look of determination. Claude seemed to recognize the recognition in Clark’s eyes. “So, you’ve heard of me, no?”
“Oh, I’ve heard of you,” Clark said grimly. “You owe Lois an apology. Now.”
“I believe that is the other way around,” Claude said, handing the paper from the Kerth Administration to Clark. “I believe this is what you call, slander?”
Clark scanned the paper with a smile. “No, it’s called justice.” He glared at Claude. This man had taken so much from Lois there was no way he would let him continue.
Perry interrupted, “Claude, why don’t you come with me into my office?”
“Very well.” Claude harrumphed, following Perry into the editor’s office.
“Are you okay?’ Clark asked, kneeling down in front of Lois to examine her reddened wrist.
“I’m fine.” She said, roughly pulling her wrist from Clark’s grasp. Clark looked at her questionably, but she seemed to be avoiding his gaze.
“I, uh, found out how they were tracking everyone.” He said.
“Fine,” Lois muttered emotionless.
“They were injecting people with a genetic tag….radioisotope. The bugs that have been flying around haven’t been bugs.” He explained.
“Uh-huh,” Lois said, still no emotion.
“Lois, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m FINE.” She said exasperatedly. With that, she got up and headed for the ladies room. Clark shook his head, unsure of what to do. He turned back to his desk and took a seat, beginning to go through his files on Luthor. She was obviously NOT fine.
***
What the hell was going on here? Why was Clark kissing Linda King of all people? Heck, why the hell was he throwing criminals into police vans? She wiped at the tears that had escaped from the corners of her eyes.
‘Clark wouldn’t cheat on me.’ She told herself.
What about that footage? That left little room for arguing…
<<”I love you.”>>
“What now?” She muttered to herself, resting her hand on the growing bulge in her abdomen.
***
TBC...
