When Churches Come Crashing Down
Folc4evernaday
Part 7
“Anyone seen Lois or Clark?” Perry asked, looking around the decorated room. There was no sign of the famous duo and Bill Church Jr. would be arriving soon.
“CK assured me he’d talk to Superman,” Jimmy reassured him. “If Superman can make it he’ll be here.”
“Yeah, well, where is he? And where’s Lois? This is supposed to be the biggest event of the year.” Perry remarked bitterly.
“I’m sure they’ll be here,” Jimmy reassured him. He caught sight of a familiar brunette entering the front doors. “I gotta catch you later, Chief. I just spotted someone I need to talk to.”
Perry followed Jimmy’s gaze and laughed. “Go get her kid.”
***
No one noticed when a mist released itself into the air. No one noticed when men in tuxedos approached the coat check and began sifting through the money of all the attendees. No one noticed when the valuables of the hotel were taken. No one noticed.
***
The sign read, “Confidential” but to someone that was used to breaking the law this was a minuscule thing. She had done this countless times before; breaking and entering; accessing information that was not privileged to herself or her employer. She was the best and continued to prove it countless times; over and over again.
“Well, well, Dr. Klein, let’s see what you have to say about our neighborhood alien.”
***
“Help Superman!”
“He’s got a gun!”
“No!”
Cry for help after help reached Clark’s ears. He quickly peeled himself out of his wife’s arms and spun into his suit to answer the cries for help.
***
Lois groggily awoke the next morning with her head pounding and her body aching. She winced as she opened her eyes and groaned as the sunlight streamed into her eyes. Clark was nowhere to be seen.
She slowly got out of bed and began to get dressed. She glanced at the clock on the dresser. She was running late and there was still no sign of Clark. Hopefully, Perry wouldn’t be too mad. She wasn’t sure if she could come up with a good excuse for her husband’s absence this morning.
She raced down the stairs, looking for her keys. The living room was a mess. Clothing was scattered all around the foyer. It was strange. She didn’t really recall what had happened yesterday. She recalled meeting with Dianna Stride….
“I just need some coffee.” She said, grabbing her purse from the floor. She dug out her keys and headed for the Planet.
***
“What did you do?” Dianna hissed, slamming the door behind her.
“I was just pushing things along.” Miranda smiled, filing her nails as she spoke.
“You were supposed to release the fragrance when Superman showed up. Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight off fifteen old men at the same time?”
“Not nearly as hard as it would have been to fight off Superman.” Miranda pointed out.
“We don’t know that the fragrance even works on him. That was the whole point. To test him.”
“The damage has been done. What to do?” Miranda shrugged.
“Don’t you dare just shrug me off, Miranda. We had a deal.”
***
“What in the world?” Lois walked through the newsroom, examining her surroundings in disbelief. It was completely dead. No one outside of the janitors sweeping the floors could be found. “Where is everyone?” Even on a Saturday, the Planet was usually busy.
“Good morning, Ms. Lane.” Willy, the head of security nodded at her as he made his rounds. She nodded in recognition. Something strange was going on. Perry never missed work and neither did Jimmy.
She glanced at her desk and noticed the files she and Clark had been going through the previous morning. She had notes about Dianna Stride and not trusting her. The rest of the day seemed hazy. She made her way towards the conference room. Something had happened in there. What was it?
She glanced at the board and noticed Perry’s notes from the staff meeting. That must be it. They’d had a staff meeting yesterday. That wasn’t it. Something else. She picked up the phone and began to dial. She reached Perry’s voicemail. She hung up the phone and dialed another number and reached Jimmy’s voicemail.
“Weird.” She muttered, sinking down into one of the chairs. A sharp object pricked at the back of her leg and she moved out of the chair. She noticed the edge of the chair was warped in what looked like a hand print.
“What the…?” She gingerly touched the imprint. She knew it had to have been Clark. What could have happened yesterday to have caused him to grab the edge of his chair so fiercely? He seemed to always have control of how much strength he was using with every touch.
<<“Lo-is…” Clark groaned when she pressed her body up against him. “What has gotten….Mmmmm….into you?”
She nibbled at his earlobe, seductively tugging at it with her teeth. “Why? Are you complaining?” She teased, reaching in between their bodies.
“Never…” He rasped out as she tugged at his tie, pulling him closer. “Just wondering….what….Oh, God, Lois…”>>
“Oh, my God…” She shuddered at the memory, burying her head in her hands. She’d been throwing herself at him mercilessly. What had made her act like that? Why was she having such a hard time remembering everything?
“The clothes on the floor…” She recalled. “Now it makes sense.”
<<“Lois, are you sure you’re okay?” He asked as she took a hold of his tie, tugging him towards her.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She purred, popping open his dress shirt one button at a time.
“You’re not usually so aggressive…Oh, God…” He moaned as she tugged on his earlobe with her teeth.
“Clark….” She brushed his shirt off his shoulders and began nipping at his neck seductively. “We went five months without making love. Is it so bad if I’m a little aggressive in making sure we don’t repeat that mistake?” >>
She glanced at the file in her hands. That was the last thing she clearly remembered; leaving to interview Dianna Stride. Could she be connected to her sudden memory lapse? She headed back towards her desk to look for more clues.
The sonic boom she had come to know as Clark’s arrival resonated through the room. She glanced up towards the stairwell and smiled when she saw him open the door to enter the newsroom. “Hi.” He said, walking up to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her on the neck. He looked around, “Where is everyone?”
“Beats me.” She said, shaking her head. “Where’ve you been?”
“Where do I begin?” He asked. “Bank alarm, mugging, attempted rape, another bank alarm, a fire….” He shook his head as he listed off the long list of rescues he’d been busy with this morning. “It’s crazy out there.”
“Well, something’s going on and obviously there’s nothing going on here.” She gestured to the newsroom.
“Have you tried calling Perry?”
“No answer.”
“Jimmy?”
“Nothing.”
Clark had a scowl on his face. “Something is definitely up. It’s like the entire city has gone nuts.” He placed a hand on her shoulders, “I’m sorry I had to leave last night. I know you don’t like waking up alone….”
She smiled reassuringly at him, linking her arms around his neck. “It’s fine. You were needed elsewhere.”
“I know, but after everything, that’s been going on recently….” He stopped as his head tilted up to listen to a cry for help only he could hear. His face grew grim and he glanced at her apologetically, “I’m sorry. I gotta go.”
“It’s okay. We’ll talk later.”
He leaned in to kiss her quickly on the cheek and a second later he was gone.
<<’ Everything that’s been going on recently…’>>
If he knew she couldn’t’ remember yesterday he’d think he’d taken advantage of her. Putting a crimp on their recently revived love life wasn’t something she looked forward to doing. She had done the same thing to him when he hadn’t been himself the other day. The day they’d finally ended the drought in their marriage.
Why couldn’t she remember? Had she been drugged and not known it? Drunk? Nothing made any sense.
“Well, I guess I better get to work.” She muttered, gathering the files on her desk and heading back towards the conference room.
***
48 Hours Later
Clark threw his Superman suit into the waste basket and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. He had been running nonstop for the last seventy-two hours. Everywhere he went; Metropolis seemed to have lost its mind. Bank tellers were throwing themselves at criminals, declaring their love to them by unlocking the vaults to the bank. He had been attacked more than once for trying to stop such an occurrence.
The strangest part was no one seemed to notice the problem. It seemed…normal. At first, he’d been afraid that Lois had fallen victim to whatever had consumed Metropolis, but she insisted she was fine.
He stepped out of the shower and spun into a pair of jeans and button up shirt; then headed downstairs to begin trying to piece together the events of the past few days and get a handle on what they were dealing with. The crime seemed to have slowed down a bit but he knew it was only a matter of time before the sirens would begin once more. They’d been trying to reach Perry and Jimmy over the last few days, but hadn’t succeeded in reaching either of them. He was beginning to grow more and more worried.
“Clark?” Lois walked down the steps, wrapped in her terry cloth robe.
“Hey, honey, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He apologized, pouring a cup of coffee.
“You didn’t come home again last night.” She muttered sleepily.
“I know. I’m sorry.” He handed her a cup of coffee.
“Still bad?” She asked.
“I don’t know what’s going on out there.” He said, shaking his head.
“Still no sign of Perry or Jimmy?”
Clark shook his head, ‘no.’ “Or anyone else at the Planet.”
***
Lucy Lane groggily awoke from her slumber. Her head was pounding. Her body ached and her head was spinning as she lifted it off the pillow. She felt an unfamiliar warm weight on her. She cautiously opened her eyes.
“Oh, my God!”
***
“So, Perry finally called back?” Lois asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. He was exhausted, but he didn’t dare try to sleep right now.
“Yeah, he can’t seem to remember what had happened the last few days. He said he’d meet us at the Planet in a few hours.” Clark said. Lois got an odd look on her face.
“Oh. Well…”
“What?” He pressed.
“Nothing. I just think it’s a bit odd.”
“Odd? I’d say we’re way past odd.” Clark teased. “This whole city’s turned into a nightmare the last few days. I’m not sure what’s going on, but even I need a break.”
“Any word from Jimmy?” Lois asked.
“No. I’ll try him again later.”
***
“What are you doing in my apartment?” Lucy hissed angrily at Jimmy.
“I don’t know. I woke up here just as surprised as you!” Jimmy shot back.
The radio alarm blared, “Good morning, Metropolis! It’s another beautiful Monday morning…”
“Monday?” Lucy and Jimmy echoed to one another in unison. They’d lost three days.
***
TBC...
