When Churches Come Crashing Down
Folc4evernaday
Part 8
***
“So, what we’re dealing with is something code named ‘Revenge’… according to this.” Inspector Henderson waved a slightly burnt disk case in front of him. “We were able to salvage most of everything on here. We’ve got the tech guys looking at it; trying to get the last few files off of the disk, but they’re encrypted.”
“Where did you get the disk?” Clark asked curiously.
“You remember that fire from last week? Bibbo Bigowski? He said this disk was inside Red Dixon’s jacket…”
“Maybe Red was trying to tell us something?” Lois asked.
“It’s possible.” Henderson acknowledged. “All I know is the description of what this ‘Revenge’ is supposed to do sound awfully familiar to the mayhem we’ve been experiencing the last three days.”
“What do you mean?” Clark asked.
“No rhyme and reason, people losing their willpower…” Henderson pressed, “It’s been crazy. We’ve had every man out there these past few days. I guess whatever voodoo juice everyone was exposed to, has finally worn off.”
“But what is the point in making everyone lose their inhibitions?” Lois asked, confused. “This makes no sense.”
***
Lana tugged the white sheet securely around her body. She didn’t remember anything of the past few days. She had woken up in bed with a stranger. Well, not exactly a stranger. She had met him a few times. Agent Scardino.
“So, about what happened….” His voice interrupted her thoughts. “I’m sorry. I don’t even remember what happened or how…”
“Me neither.” She admitted shyly.
“I guess we had a bit too many cocktails at that party, huh?”
“I think it’s a bit more than that.”
“Probably. I think whatever this is…” He raked a hand through his hair as he spoke.
“Whatever this is?”
“Whatever we were exposed to probably has a lot to do with….”
“With what happened between us?”
“Yeah.” He smiled weakly. “I’m sorry. I’m not really this type of person. I don’t just…”
“It’s okay.” She reassured him. “Neither of us knew what we were doing.”
***
“Let’s see here. Gets his power from the sun….only known weakness is Kryptonite. A possibility of killing him. Red variation is still under experimentation…” Mrs. Cox read off the report. “Red variation? Have we seen any results from this Red Kryptonite yet?”
“No, I’m growing quite impatient with it, though,” Nigel said. “You’d think a simple test would be so easy for them, but ‘no.’ They have to make everything so complicated.”
“That’s just the price of having others do your dirty work for you.”
“Yes, well, my patience is growing thin.”
***
Six Weeks Later
“Billy wouldn’t do something like that,” Perry argued.
“Perry, everyone on the street knows what a crook he is. Everyone at that party was robbed. Everyone at that party was exposed to this ‘Revenge.’ The same substance that was released during the Planet’s explosion.” Lois argued.
“I’ve known Billy since he was able to spit up on me.”
“So, he can do no wrong?” Lois challenged.
“Lois, drop it,” Perry warned. “You’re missing something, but it’s got nothing to do with Billy.”
Lois met Perry’s gaze and relented. He obviously wasn’t ready to face facts just yet. “Fine, but just remember this. He was in charge of Multiworld Communications when they kidnapped you in order to force the board into selling. Do you really think that’s a coincidence?”
With that she left his office, leaving Perry to contemplate her last words.
***
“Lois, could I have a minute of your time?” Dianna asked, walking up to her as she exited the Daily Planet.
“What do you want?” She asked harshly. She was not in the mood for dealing with Dianna Stride. Ever since her experience with that pheromone…She was sure she had been exposed to it from Dianna. There was no other explanation.
She hadn’t been herself for the last few weeks. Her body was achy and sore and she was exhausted. Dr. Klein was supposed to get back to them on his experiment with ‘Revenge.’ They had found traces of the substance in the air ducts of the Metro Hotel, where Church had held his party a few weeks ago.
The source of this substance seemed to still be a mystery. No one knew who had developed it and/ or why.
“I think I have some information for you, you might find interesting.”
“What’s that?” Lois turned to face Dianna. “You found cross-dressing cousins that you’re related to?”
“Why do you always have to be so snippy?” Dianna asked. “No, I just got wind of a story regarding your friend Superman.”
Lois rolled her eyes, trying to ignore Dianna. “Every story your show has something to do with Superman lately. False invasion stories, alien abductions, experimentation…. How do you sleep at night? I mean, he takes time out of his life helping to save everyone and all you can do is attack him. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Sleaze sells. You should know that.”
“I don’t print sleaze. I print fact.” Lois shot back.
“Well, don’t say I never gave you anything.” Dianna handed her a large manila envelope. “From one reporter to another. It’s already airing on Top Copy as we speak.”
***
“Have you even tried to figure out what they are working on?” Mrs. Cox asked. “It’s been over a month. What have you found out?”
“I haven’t exactly been myself lately.”
“Oh, you haven’t been yourself lately? What’s that; an enabler? Would you prefer an orange jumpsuit and a prison sentence for accomplice after the fact in kidnapping?” Mrs. Cox narrowed her eyes as she spoke. “That’s where you’re headed.”
“I’m not comfortable….I can’t spy on them. I’m not even friends with them.”
“Well, you better figure something out. I’m sure the DA would be interested in this footage…”
“No, please…” She pleaded. “Please don’t.”
“I’m a patient woman, Ms. Lang. I can wait. In the meantime, I have some errands for you. These cases need to be buried. Files removed, evidence gone. Are we clear?”
“Yes.” Lana looked at the case numbers Mrs. Cox had written down. They seemed very familiar, but she did her best not to dwell on that. The quicker she got out of here the better.
***
‘Leigh-Ann Stipanovic, Age 33. Mother of 6-month old boy, Jesse Stipanovic. Jesse possesses gifts only known to one person: Superman. The woman claims to have had a relationship with him last year. She has produced love letters and a photo of herself with the man of steel. The original investigation of this case was conducted by Linda King of the Metropolis S.T.A.R..’
Lois stopped reading. She couldn’t read it anymore. ‘It’s a lie.’ She told herself. ‘Tabloid trash. It came from Linda. That should tell you something.’ She pulled out the photo in question and looked at it closely. It was outside of a hotel, but something about the photo seemed off.’
“Hey, honey, sorry that took so long.” Clark took a seat next to her. She quickly stuffed the photograph and files back in the manila envelope. He glanced curiously at her but continued, “ Dr. Klein said he thinks he’s got everything he needs from that disk. It looks like the lab reports this ‘Revenge’ came from were of Lex Labs.”
“Lex Labs? As in Lex Luthor?”
“This may have been one of the many underhanded experiments Luthor was working on…” Clark reasoned, “What’s that?” He asked, pointing at the envelope on her desk.”
“Oh, just …. Garbage.” She shrugged it off. “Dianna Stride has another bogus story on Top Copy and is trying to rub my face in it. It’s nothing.”
“Let me see it.”
“No.” She took the file and put it behind her back. “It’s nothing, really, Clark.”
“Lois…” He reached for the file but missed and she quickly took it over towards the shredder, hoping to get rid of the file before he saw it. She wasn’t quick enough. He grabbed the file from her before she was able to put it in the shredder. “What is so…?”
“I told you. It’s nothing.” She said, walking away.
“It’s not ‘nothing.’” He said bitterly, reaching for her arm. “You know I would never…”
“I know.” She said. She hoped he believed it anyway. She’d learned the hard way last year to trust her initial instincts. When the Superman clone had gone on a rampage last year she had thought it to be Clark. “I need to sit down.” She said, taking a seat at her desk.
“Are you okay?” He asked in concern.
“I’m fine. I just…I need to sit down. It’s a lot to take in. I’m tired.” She could hear the weariness in her voice. She was exhausted. “Perry doesn’t want to listen to anything I find about his golden child, Bill Church Jr. Dianna Stride shoves this in my face…and I’m tired.”
“You mentioned that.” He said, raking a hand through his hair. “Well, you said you weren’t exposed to that stuff; so why are you so tired all the time.”
“I don’t know. It’s just been a very long couple of months….”
“I know.” He said.
“I’m going to go take this photo to Jimmy and see what he can find. There’s something just off about it….” She got up to head towards the ‘Research Department’ only to be hit with a wave of dizziness. “Whoa…”
“You okay?” Clark asked in concern.
“I’m fine. I just…” Her knees buckled from behind her and she collapsed against his solid form. The dizziness persisted.
“You’re not fine.” He said, lowering himself to the floor with her.
***
“What are you doing with all these files?” Lucy asked.
“I’m just trying to verify everything on the archives.” Lana replied sweetly.
“Do you need some help?”
“No, I’m fine.” Lana replied sweetly.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“That stuff we were all exposed to ….Did you…. Have you been feeling…. Well, kinda blah…?”
“Run-down?” Lana asked. “The first few days.”
“Yeah, I’m just now starting to feel like myself again. I don’t understand it. I mean, a lot of people were exposed to this stuff before….”
“A lot of people were injured too.” Lana reminded her.
“I guess.”
“Kinda weird, huh?”
“Yeah,” Lucy said bitterly.
***
“Well, it’s not a lot, but it does look like you were exposed to this new ‘Revenge’ drug.” Dr. Klein said, looking over the blood work.
“That’s impossible. We weren’t anywhere near where that drug was.” Lois shook her head adamantly.
“Well, somehow it got into your system.”
“What about the dizzy spells?” Clark asked.
“It could be a side effect from this ‘Revenge.’” Dr. Klein acknowledged. “I’m testing everything to make sure it isn’t anything serious, but ….” He stopped when his phone rang, “Just a minute.”
Clark glanced at her in concern, “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.” She said, slightly annoyed. He really was a mother hen. “I’ll be even better when whatever this is…gets out of my system.”
“I’m sorry.” He whispered, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “I thought there was something off, but I ignored it…”
“How were you supposed to know there was something wrong? I didn’t even know it.” She tried to reason. She hated it when he blamed himself.
“Lois…” His head shot up in that familiar faraway look.
“Go.” She said.
“But..”
“I’ll be fine. Go.” She instructed.
He nodded and quickly spun into his suit and ricocheted into the sky to answer the cry for help only he could hear.
“Well, that was the lab.” Dr. Klein said, turning to face her.
“And?” Lois pressed.
TBC...
