When Churches Come Crashing Down
Folc4evernaday
Part 27
***
Clark sighed as he bore down at the files in front of him. Sam had been released on bail, but he was still nowhere near being clear of all the charges against him. Leigh-Anne was adamant about pursuing the charges. She wanted him to pay for taking Jesse, but he wasn’t so sure if Sam really had taken him.
Sam Lane’s story was that he had found Jesse. He didn’t buy the story completely, but he still didn’t believe Sam was capable of kidnapping, but he wasn’t sure. Sam had watched as this woman had searched for months for her son. If he’d known where Jesse was and said nothing... That was something that couldn’t be ignored if it turned out Sam was behind Jesse’s kidnapping.
Jimmy walked up to his desk with a stack of files in hand, “So, I’ve been doing some research on that company…”
“ACL Industries?” Clark prompted, “What’d you find out?”
“Not a whole lot. On the surface, they seem legit, but as we all know nothing is as it seems. They are connected with practically everything in Metropolis. A lot of the companies that Luthor lost when he died were bought up by ACL Industries,” Jimmy explained handing a stack of files to Clark.
“Let me guess, the other companies were bought up by Church?” Clark asked.
“Bingo!” Jimmy grinned back at him.
“You think it’s a shell company?” Clark asked, picking up on Jimmy’s skepticism.
“Or another criminal organization,” Jimmy reasoned, “Either way I can find out. Should be a piece of cake,” Jimmy puffed out his chest proudly. “You’re looking at the king of cyberspace. There is no firewall I can’t penetrate. No security code I can’t break. No…”
“That’s great,” Clark interrupted. “Why don’t you get on it?”
Jimmy shook his head, “You really know how to bring a guy down when he’s on a roll.”
“Hey, I gotta bring you down to Earth some time,” Clark said as he watched Jimmy head off to his desk. Jimmy just shot him a smile as he took his seat.
ACL Industries
The name had come up over and over in the last week. All the investigations they’d had into Intergang’s holdings had uncovered this mysterious new company. No one knew where it had come from or what its purpose was.
Suspicions.
That was all they had to go on right now, but that was enough to keep digging.
A hand rested on his left shoulder and he turned around to face his editor in chief. Perry had a grim look on his face, “What’s up, Chief?”
“I, uh, got a call from the DA’s office. You or Lois hear from Mayson Drake last night?”
Clark shook his head, “No, why?”
“She was a no-show at court this morning. No one’s heard from her all morning.” Perry explained, worry written all over his face.
Clark nodded, “I’ll call Lois; see if she has any ideas. We’ll see what we can find out.”
Perry nodded, “Just keep it on the down low. The DA doesn’t want this becoming front page news if he can help it.”
“I’m on it, Chief,”
***
Despite the doctor’s release Lois had worked from home to stay with Jordan. Martha had headed back to Smallville this morning and they still hadn’t decided on a daycare for Jordan. She was still hesitant about placing Jordan in anyone else’s care, but it was something they had to face.
“Sunshine Metropolis Childcare; the best child care facility in Metropolis,” Lois read the brochure skeptically. She smirked, looking down at Jordan who sat in her lap, grabbing the colorful brochure from her hand. “What do you think?”
Jordan just smiled up at her and clapped his hands together, “Ah, la, ma, ba…” He gurgled happily.
“You think so?” She asked.
The prospect of placing Jordan in daycare scared her. Every moment she had with him was precious and she felt uneasy about leaving him with strangers Jordan turned in her arms, reaching up to grab a stray lock of her hair that had fallen across her face, “Ah, mama la, ma…” He gurgled.
She smiled back at him in surprise, “Did you just say what I think you said?” She whispered.
He just laughed.
A knock at the door caught her attention and she carried Jordan with her to answer the door, “Lucy?” She was caught off guard to see her sister visibly shaken on the other side of the door. “Come on in,”
“I can’t find her. I have no idea where she is…” Lucy rambled as she paced in the foyer.
“Lucy calm down. You can’t find who?”
“Mayson. She’s gone. Vanished. No one can find her. You said Clark knew how to contact Superman…maybe we should send out a search party…or…” She stopped when she saw Lois’ amused expression. “Sorry. Hi,” she stopped long enough to give Lois a hug. “I know I haven’t been by much. Hospitals and I don’t agree with each other right now…after last year....”
“I get it,” Lois nodded, looking down at Jordan, “I think we can all empathize with that feeling. Clark already called about Mayson. Superman’s looking along with the police and Henderson.”
Lucy visibly sighed. “Oh, God what a morning…” she looked over at Jordan who was smiling at her amused. “He’s getting so big,” Lucy said, taking Jordan’s hand with her finger.
“Almost 8 months old,” Lois said wistfully. She could feel the tears threatening to overflow.
“I can’t believe we missed so much…”
“I know,” Lois sighed, walking towards the living room with Lucy behind her. “I try not to focus on what we lost too much. Just makes me angry.”
Lucy placed a protective hand on her abdomen, “Yeah,”
“Speaking of lost time…” Lois began, pulling something out from the drawer next to the sofa. “I have some news…”
“You’re pregnant?” Lucy joked. Lois looked at her in shock. “Seriously?” Lucy laughed. “I was just teasing. You’re pregnant….Wow…”
Lois pulled out the latest ultrasound. “We were wanting to tell you sooner but me being in the hospital kinda put a damper on that. I’m about 16 and a half weeks.”
Lucy smiled, “19 weeks,” she said shyly. “Well, they’ll grow up together close in age.”
“Yeah,” Lois nodded. “How are you doing?”
“Okay, I guess…Really tired. No morning sickness or anything.”
“I’m jealous. I don’t get it. I wasn’t sick at all with Jordan. With this one, I’m always sick and I feel like it’s NEVER going to end.”
“You’re paying double,” Lucy winked. “I’m sorry, Lois, but I’m so happy you’re going through this with me. We can go shopping together and…” Lois laughed as her sister continued to ramble on about baby showers and nurseries. It was good to be able to laugh with Lucy again. She hadn’t been able to do this in what felt like ages.
***
“The whole place has been destroyed, Dr. Lane, I’m sorry.” Clarence Drane, one of the scientists Same had been working with on several projects at S.T.A.R. Labs followed Sam around the lab.
“Its…its fine,” Sam said, surveying the damage. “I just… I have a lot of rebuilding to work on.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, Dr. Lane.”
Sorry? Sorry didn’t even begin to describe how he felt at the moment. His colleague had no idea what underhanded schemes he’d been working on with Intergang and ‘the boss.’ He still had no idea where the clone had escaped to in his absence, but he knew the clone wouldn’t stay hidden for long. What trouble could he be up to?
***
Anger.
That was the only emotion he felt or understood as he watched the footage of his father being taken away in handcuffs. Why would they do such a thing? His father had done nothing and yet he was being treated like a criminal. He would make them pay. He would rescue his father from this chaos.
***
That evening, Lucy stared at the clock irritably. “This is ridiculous,” She reached for her phone and dialed the familiar number once more.
“Hi, you’ve reached the voicemail of Mayson Drake, Senior. Assistant District Attorney of New Troy. I’m unavailable at the moment but if you leave your name, number and a brief detailed message I’ll get back to you as soon as I…”
She hung up the phone again. “Whatever, I’m surrounded by adolescents.” She muttered under her breath as she reached for the file on her desk, labeled ‘Samuel Lane.’
“This oughta be fun,”
***
The next day, Lois stared at the coverage of her father’s trial. Every channel was covering the same story, and they had no problem reminding the viewers over and over again of the ordeal Leigh-Anne had gone through during Jesse’s kidnapping. It was hard to believe her own father could be connected to something like this. She didn’t believe he had kidnapped Jesse, but she did believe he had knowledge of the kidnapping that he wasn’t sharing. When she’d visited him in lock up he seemed reserved; as if he was holding something back.
The sonic boom, announcing Clark’s arrival broke her from her reverie and she clicked off the television. “I know; it’s been all over the place,” Clark said as he stepped into the living room.
She smiled up at him, “Hi, you’re home early.”
“Yeah,” He took a seat next to her, “I wanted to check in. Still no word on Mayson. No one seems to be able to find her.”
“Lucy is going to have a conniption fit. She’s supposed to be heading up the case against Amanda too. How could she just vanish?”
“I’m not sure. Perry wants us to make this our number one priority. Apparently, everyone in the DA’s office has made calls to everyone trying to call in favors…” Clark added.
Lois shook her head fearfully, “If Mayson’s not there to prosecute Amanda….”
“Then worst case scenario Ryan Knox will prosecute,” Clark finished for her. He gently squeezed her shoulder, “They’re not gonna drop the ball on this.”
“Ryan Knox is too busy practicing his smile for the camera and brown nosing the mayor and every other official in this city. He doesn’t know the case. He doesn’t know the background. How is he going to keep her from getting out on bail? How is he going to make sure she never comes near Jordan again? I may not like Mayson that much, but at least she did her homework. I don’t want this case being handled like a publicity stunt waiting to blow up in everyone’s faces and another thing….”
Clark leaned in to kiss her, stopping her rambling that was headed into full Lane babble mode. “Shh, “ He whispered, “You’re getting yourself worked up over all these what-ifs.”
“I’m fine,” Lois said sternly, pushing away from him. She stood up from the couch and he followed her to the kitchen where several files lay on the counter tops. She picked up the brochure she had been looking at earlier. She handed it to him.
“What’s this?”
“I thought maybe we could check it out. They seem like a great school on the outside. I figured we could take a tour and take it from there.” Lois explained quietly.
“Sunshine Metropolis?” Clark read the name of the school skeptically. She smiled back at him, “How long’s Jordan been down for his nap?”
She thought for a minute, “About thirty minutes or so,”
A sharp knock at the door interrupted her train of thought. Clark sighed, raking a hand through his hair, “Always something. I’ll get the door while you get Jordan up. We’ll head over to this Sunshine Metropolis in a few.”
Jordan was already beginning to wake up when she entered his room. He was sitting up in his crib, playing with the plush bunny he always slept with. She picked him up, tickling his tummy for a quick laugh from him. He squealed in delight. After checking his diaper and changing him, she headed back downstairs only to find her father standing in the living room with Clark.
“I know what that judge said, but no one has the right to tell me not to be a part of my grandson’s life. I have every right to see him.” Sam argued.
“You need to leave,” Clark said firmly.
“What’s going on here?” Lois asked.
“Princess,” Sam smiled soothingly, “Perhaps, you can help talk some sense into your husband. All I want is to visit with my grandson. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
“No, it's not,” Lois replied coolly, “as long as you’re not ordered to stay away from children. Clark’s right, daddy, you need to leave.”
“No,” Sam shook his head.
“Excuse me?” Lois scoffed.
“This mess has destroyed everything else in my life. I refuse to allow myself to be deprived of being a grandfather.”
“You do realize you’re going to force Lois and I to call the police on you, don’t you?” Clark asked.
“Do what you must,” Sam said sternly. “I just wanted to see my grandson,”
Clark looked pleadingly at Lois. She knew he was looking at her for confirmation. Did she want him to call the police on her dad? No. Was she going to have to do so? It looked that way. Why would he do this? Why would he purposefully violate the conditions of his bail like this?
“Daddy, please don’t make me do this,” Lois pleaded, reaching for the phone.
Sam just stared blankly at the wall.
***
“It has come to the attention of this station that our friend, our protector, Superman is nothing but a liar. He has hidden among us, lying to us every day about who he really is.” The footage of the Superman suits being revealed in the secret compartment in the townhome flashed on the screen as Barry continued, “Superman is in reality…”
Perry clicked the stop button once more and rewound the tape for the tenth time. Why would Barry Dunning allow himself to be cut off the air like that with no rebuttal? What was he up to? It had been over a month since the famous newscast had aired. There had been debate after debate on why the station had not finished the story and supposed exclusive. Many believed the story had been proven false and the station wanted to protect themselves from a lawsuit, but Perry wasn’t so sure.
He reached for the phone, dialing a number he knew by heart, “Yes, I’ll hold,” He spoke gruffly into the phone as he waited to be connected, “Congressman, …. Yes, it’s Perry White….. I know, I know. I just haven’t had the time. Listen, there’s something I need to look into and I need your help….”
***
TBC...
