Ghost From the Past
Folc4evernaday
Part 27
***
Present Day…That evening Clark laid awake staring up at the ceiling fan as he listened to the two heartbeats next to him drumming together as one. Lois laid curled up in the bed with the comforter wrapped snugly around her waist. He’d held her while she cried, telling him about what had happened to her. Lex Luthor had arranged for her to be sent a message and Lois had nearly lost her life because of that.
Try as he might he just couldn’t come up with a good enough reason not to confront him. A police detective had come to Lois' apartment and attacked her. She'd said Lucy had saved her life; which meant Lois' life had been at risk. Jamie's life had been at risk. He held her close, brushing a kiss against her forehead.
She kept blaming herself for what had happened to Jamie. He had done what he could to reassure her, but so far they seemed to be empty words to her. It killed him that she carried around this guilt while this man that very well could be responsible for Jamie's death walked around like he was untouchable. No. He had to do something.
***
Lois awoke in the middle of the night to find the right side of the bed empty. “Clark?” She called out, looking around her empty bedroom. She poked her head out into the living room and smiled when she spotted Lucy curled up on the couch with her notes from studying for her finals. “Oh, Luce,”
She grabbed a blanket from the linen closet, and unfolded it, placing it over her sleeping sister, moving her notes from her sleeping hand and setting them on the coffee table. She tucked a pillow behind her sister to give her some support and leaned in to give her sister a peck on the forehead, “Sweet dreams,”
She glanced around the apartment wondering where Clark could have gone. Could he be responding to a rescue? He’d said he was getting calls for help in the middle of the night that he was ignoring. Maybe he’d finally gotten the nerve to respond to one?
***
Inside the surveillance van, Henderson spotted a familiar face enter Lex Luthor’s study. He looked around at the oblivious officers that had given up on watching the screens for the night and switched the tape deck out. Just in case…
“It looks like he’s turning in for the night,” Henderson said, shutting down the monitors. “Why don’t we pack it in boys?”
“But…” One of the rookie officers began to argue but was nudged quietly by his supervisor.
“He knows we’re watching him. He’s not going to do anything.” Henderson sighed, “I’ll stay here and keep watch. Call you if anything happens.”
***
Clark stormed into Lex Luthor’s study and found him sipping his chardonnay in the peace and quiet of his home in front of the fireplace. “No, you can’t go in there!” he heard Asabi call from the hallway.
Lex turned and saw him standing in the doorway with a few of his bodyguards standing on either side of him. “I’m sorry sir, we tried to stop him.” One of them pleaded with him.
Lex waved the guards off, “Mr. Kent, this is a …surprise.” He observed carefully, standing up to approach him.
“You low life sociopathic scumbag…” Clark spat out angrily, advancing toward him.
“I seem to have upset you, Mr. Kent but I have no idea how…Could you enlighten me?” Lex smoothed a grin across his face. It took everything in him not to wipe it off his face
“What you did, you sorry piece of garbage…” Clark spat angrily, grabbing Lex by the collar and pulling him to him so that he was a mere few millimeters away form him. He slammed Lex up against the bookcase with his arm, holding him in place by this throat, “You saw Lois at the MetroClub. Realized she was able to identify you as the boss. Sent one of your goons to attack her….”
“No, that’s not true…I have no…i-id-ea what yo-you’re tal-talking about.” Lex wheezed from beneath Clark’s tight grip.
“So what happened? You decide you couldn’t use her anymore, so you hired someone to kill her?” Clark spat vehemently.
“No, of course not! I would never…”
He tightened his grip on Lex, “I should kill you right here and now for what you did to her. She was pregnant you son of a …”
“I didn’t know. I would never…”
“Would never what? Attack a woman for not going along with your plans?” He spat, “I think we both know that’s not true.” Clark fumed, tightening his grip on Lex. He could kill him. It wouldn’t take very long for him to…
<<“You can NOT afford to lose your temper like that…”>>
<<“You could easily lose control and slip up and then…Metropolis isn’t the Outback, you know. People in the city are always looking to make a quick buck. If they find out about you, they’ll put you in a laboratory, and …”
“ … ‘dissect me like a frog.’”>>His father’s words from long ago rang through his mind, and he released Lex, throwing him to the ground. He seemed visibly shaken but recovered quickly being sure to keep his distance as he brushed himself off, “Accusations are empty, Mr. Kent.” Lex shot back, “You lack a key ingredient in your theory there…evidence.”
“Not after I’m done with you…” Clark snapped, “You stay the hell away from my family or so help me…”
Lex laughed, “Your family? Mr. Kent, you surprise me. It’s been five years. Are you sure she’s still YOUR family?”
Infuriated by Lex’s accusations he took a step toward Lex just as he darted out of his grasp. Remembering his father’s words, his jaw tightened and he grabbed Lex by the collar, threatening him in a menacing tone, “Come near Lois again, and I swear I will make you regret the day you were ever born.”
“Did I hit a nerve?” Lex challenged, “Go ahead, show me what you’re made of…”
<<“You can NOT afford to lose your temper like that…”>>“You can’t do it, can you?” Lex smiled in victory as he loosened his grip on him. “Such a waste…” He stepped away from him, rubbing his neck where Clark had had him pinned against the wall by his forearm.
“You stay the hell away from her or I promise you next time you won’t’ be so lucky…” Clark spat before turning to leave.
“Till next time?” Lex called after him.
***
Lois heard the door open, and she began to stir, glancing at the clock as she took in her surroundings. Lucy had woken up and taken herself to bed hours ago. She’d waited up for Clark but fallen asleep from the late hour. A pair of familiar arms wrapped around her as Clark leaned in to kiss her. “Hey, what are you doing up?”
“Couldn’t sleep without you…” She mumbled incoherently.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” He whispered, scooping her up off the couch and carrying her back to the bedroom.
She smiled against his chest as he laid her down on the bed, rolling onto his side as he did so, “My hero..” She whispered incoherently before drifting off to sleep.
***
“Ah, a beautiful morning,” Lex crooned looking out his balcony the next morning.
Asabi stood nearby ready to read off the updates that had been happening in the organization. “Southside District B was most profitable by the tenants this quarter…”
“Excellent news,” Lex took a deep breath as he smiled, “Any news on Dr. Baines’ car bombing?”
Asabi fumbled through his notes, “Everything is under investigation.” Asabi explained.
“Such a tragedy, wouldn’t you agree, Asabi?”
“Yes sir,” Asabi said solemnly.
“We should send flowers to the service.” Lex said, “After all Dr. Baines’ hard work and she won’t be here to see the fruit of her labor. Such a tragedy…”
“Indeed, sir,” Asabi nodded, making a note in his notebook. “Any word from Mr. St. John?” He asked. “He never checked in last night.”
Lex frowned, “No, nothing yet.”
***
“Help! Somebody, please help! My baby…”
A call for help reached Clark’s ears, and he shot up. Lois gasped in surprise when he took the covers with him, sitting up with a start.
“What is it?” Lois asked in confusion, not quite awake.
“Someone’s in trouble.” He stated, getting up.
“And you want to help?” Lois prompted with a smile.
He smiled back at her, “Yeah.”
She leaned in to kiss him, “Go help. I’ll be here when you get back.” He nodded, standing up as he stared at his feet for a moment. “What is it?” She asked.
“I just want to try something…” He explained before disappearing into a red and blue blur before reappearing fully dressed in his Superman disguise sans the gelled back hair.
Lois smiled up at him, “Close, but you’re missing one thing.”
He nodded, moving at super-speed to fix his hair then reappearing before her eyes, “Better?”
She nodded, “Yeah, go be a hero, Superman,” She whispered leaning in to kiss him once more before he disappeared out her window at super-speed.
He could make out the faint whisper of “Be careful” as he approached the Metropolis bridge where a large SUV had turned over, and the mother stood outside the passenger window, holding her young child’s hand. He grimaced, examining the scene before him. If he moved the little girl the wrong way he could risk paralyzing her but if he didn’t move the SUV soon the damage to the vehicle could cause it to burst into flames.
‘This is all part of the job,’ he reminded himself as he came into land.
***
Nigel St. John sat across from General Newcomb, “Everything is going according to plan. EPRAD will be Mr. Luthor’s downfall, and then Metropolis will be ripe for takeover.”
Newcomb took a puff from his cigar, “Excellent, keep me updated on his coming and goings. We don’t want Mr. Luthor getting wind of any of our plans.”
“No, sir,” Nigel said with a smile.
***
“It was amazing…” Clark gasped, pacing in front of Lois in the living room as he recounted the rescue to her. “No one recognized me as Clark Kent. The little girl called me ‘Superman, ’ and she’s going to be fine. I haven’t felt this…free.” He stopped pacing and looked back at her, taking her hand in his, “Thank you,”
“For what?” She asked, uncertain how he’d gone from celebrating his first Superman rescue to thanking her.
“For believing in me. For pushing me to do this.” He pulled her into his arms, cupping her cheek as he gazed into her eyes, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He leaned in to kiss her, running his hands through her shoulder length locks as he fingered the strands of hair gingerly. “I love you, Lois,” He whispered against her lips.
“I love you too.” She murmured back, looking up at him, “I’m glad you were able to help…without any qualms.”
He smiled back, “I’ll admit I was a little nervous when I first arrived on the scene but once I got in the action and everything it all just kinda clicked.” His smile broadened, and he tightened his arms around her, “Marry me.”
She smiled back at him, “I already asked that question.” She teased, fingering the lapels of his jacket as she looked up at him, waving the ring he’d given her in the air.
He smiled back at her, “That’s not what I mean, Lois. It’s just….” He seemed to be struggling to find the words, “It's been five years. I don’t want to wait any longer.” He cupped her cheek, “I want us to start our life together.”
“I want that too” She whispered, brushing away a stray lock that had fallen across his face, “more than anything.”
“So maybe after we get everything settled with Platt and EPRAD we can talk about setting a date…” He prompted cautiously.
She leaned in to kiss him, “I think that’s a wonderful idea. Something small. Family and friends.”
“Yeah,” He smiled at her, “Whatever you want. All I care about is us finally becoming husband and wife...” He placed a hand on her growing abdomen, “…and making sure this little one is safe.”
She placed her hand over his, “Me too,” She leaned in to kiss him. “So, I guess we should go ahead and do that interview. Perry’s gonna be chomping at the bit when we get in…”
***
Bill Henderson stared at the image on the video in front of him. It was Kent. Clark Kent was storming into Lex Luthor’s penthouse. He had stopped the recording before he’d done anything but he knew if this ever got out….
He grabbed his coat. He needed to have a talk with Lane and Kent and make sure they understood they couldn’t be interfering in his undercover assignments like that again. Everything on this tape now had to be scrapped because of one minute and six seconds of Clark Kent’s face appearing on tape. Whether it would have ever amounted to anything he didn’t know, but he did know he couldn’t afford to keep tossing tapes.
***
Lois stared at the elevator doors as she and Clark rode up the elevator, unable to wipe the grin off her face, “You sure you don’t want any credit on this? I mean technically it is your story.”
He shook his head, “No, Superman came to you and gave you the interview. The more distance I put between Clark Kent and Superman the better.” He gave her a soft smile, “Besides this way we get Perry off our backs and the world will stop asking questions…”
“They’re not going to stop asking questions,” Lois argued.
“Then I guess you’ll have to be there with your pen and pad ready for a way to answer them.” He smiled back at her as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, “Just think of it as an early wedding present.”
She laughed, leaning back in his arms to kiss him, “Mr. Kent, I believe you already gave me that present.” She moved his hands to cover her abdomen where their child was growing as the bell to the elevator dinged, announcing their arrival to the newsroom floor.
“All right everyone!” Perry bellowed across the newsroom, “I want exclusives. I want pictures. I want THE interview. THE story of the year is here! Who is Superman?”
“You ready?” Clark asked, taking her hand in his as they stepped out of the elevator.
“As I’ll ever be.” She smiled back at him.
“Lois, Clark!” Perry barked in their direction, “Where have you been all morning? We’re getting
SCOOPED while you two are acting like you’re on a permanent honeymoon…”
“Calm down, Perry, don’t forget what the doctor said about your blood pressure,” Lois tried to soothe him.
Perry nodded motioning for Jimmy to come to him, “Jimmy grab my blood pressure monitor, would you?” Jimmy nodded and headed toward Perry’s office as Perry held his hand against his neck, staring at his watch as he tried to calm himself down. “Where the Sam Hill have you two been?”
“Oh, I’m sorry you don’t want the one-on-one interview I nabbed with Superman?” Lois asked sarcastically, “I’m sure I can check out other…”
“Now hold on just one minute….” Perry interrupted, trying to calm his nerves, “Superman interview? One-on-one?”
He glanced at Clark who shrugged. “She was just at the right place and the right time, Chief.”
A broad smile spread across Perry’s face as he did an air fist, “Yeeessss!” He pointed at the duo, “Get it written up and ready for copy. Olsen! See if you can get any of the footage from LNN and we’ll try and get some screen captures….”
“Oh?” Lois pulled out her digital camera from her purse, “I have some shots here. He was nice enough to pose for a few shots before he had to, um….fly off.”
“Olsen!!!” Perry bellowed, looking at Lois in disbelief.
“Right here, Chief…” Jimmy said, rushing into the newsroom with Perry’s blood pressure monitor.
“What are you doing?” Perry handed him the SD card from Lois’ camera. Get these printed and ready for copy…”
“But Chief, you said….”
“I don’t care what I said. We’re putting out a special edition. Get crackin’!” He bellowed. Jimmy nodded, heading for his desk with the sd card to send the photos over to Photo and Development.
***
“According to my sources, Mr. Luthor sent over another request to have Luthor Space Station replace Prometheus in this launch. He’s gotten desperate, Mr. President.” Shepard Wilson explained.
“So it would seem.” Thompson said with a sigh, “I don’t suppose we have any concrete facts to back up the claims against him?”
“There never are, Mr. President,” Wilson sighed, “You can’t afford to be seen swaying to his side. Garner is gaining support. The primaries are just…”
“I know. I know.” Thompson said, cutting him off. “Make the call.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Wilson nodded, stepping out of the room.
***
Lois sat in the conference room with Clark smiling as she read over her front page story
‘Superman: Hero to the World’ “I still think it would have looked better with both our names on it.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, “Maybe later. For now, we put a little distance between me and the local superhero.” He placed a peck on her cheek.
She grinned back at him. “Jimmy said he was going to head over to STAR Labs to check out Dr. Klein’s progress after our morning meeting. Hopefully, he’ll have some good news.”
“We’ll see,” He sighed, looking at her in concern, “How are you feeling?”
“Little nauseous but it comes with the territory.” She sighed, looking back at him. “I took the anti-nausea medicine and have my Ginger Ale. That’s all I can do.”
“Okay,” He whispered, giving her a peck on the cheek, “Just let me know if you need anything.”
The door to the conference room opened, and Perry along with the rest of the staff began piling in for their weekly staff meeting. Regrettably, the couple separated, trying to portray a more professional manner in the office as their colleagues slowly filled the seats at the conference table.
“Sorry about the early hour, boys and girls…” Perry apologized as everyone took their seats.
“Where’s the coffee?” Ralph complained when he looked around the empty coffee bar in the back.
“Why don’t you make some?” Cat suggested.
“Why don’t you?” Ralph shot back.
“Can it, both of you!” Eduardo snapped. “Like working with five-year-olds…” He muttered under his breath.
“Can we get back to business now?” Perry asked, irritated.
“Yes, sorry, Chief,” Cat responded, glaring at Ralph.
“Now, Friez, you’ve got the piece on the Presidential Medal of Honor. That’s not far from the launch. After the press conference, I want you on the streets getting everyone’s reactions on EPRAD’s launch for a companion piece to go along with the Prometheus launch piece.”
“You got it,” Eduardo nodded, taking notes.
“Lois, Clark, any word from that Dr. Klein on Platt’s report?” Perry asked.
Lois was about to answer but felt a dizzy spell starting to come on. Clark noticed the expression on her face and interjected, “Uh, we’re following up with him this morning. Should know something after this meeting.”
“Good.” Perry nodded. “Keep me in the loop. I’ll check with my sources at Ground Control and see if we can convince them to do another sweep ...” Perry sighed, looking down at the list.
“Cat I want you on every government official’s door asking the hard questions. How do they view Superman? Do they trust him?”
“What??” Lois gasped out in a shaky breath, “Perry, you can’t be serious! Of course, we can trust him…”
Perry looked at her in surprise, “I’m sorry, Lois, something you’d like to add?” He asked sarcastically.
“He just saved us all from annihilation. We can’t …” She looked around the room noticing the looks she was getting and stopped, “Don’t we owe him a little….
gratitude?”
“What makes you think we’re not grateful?” Cat interjected, “And stop trying to hijack my story. Some of us don’t have a Pulitzer prize winning story land in our laps…”
“It did not
LAND in my lap…” Lois shot back.
“I bet I know what she’s
‘grateful’ for…” Ralph snickered. Lois saw Ralph lean towards Myers and whisper, pointing toward her and Clark as he laughed. Clark’s arm tightened around her slightly, but he kept his cool, choosing to ignore the behavior.
“Oh,
shut up Ralph!” Cat snapped.
“Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!” Perry bellowed holding a time-out sign up as he looked around the room at his misbehaving reporters, “I’m still driving this ship.” He looked at Lois and sighed, “Now, Lois, we’re not saying we aren’t grateful. What we’re saying is there are some people in the world that will have forgotten what he’s done and focus on the dangers. It’s our
job to report that.” Perry explained dryly, “But if you’d like to add your two cents on the matter you’re more than welcome to visit the editorial department…”
“Calm down,” Clark whispered in her ear, tightening his arm around her.
“Fine.” She snipped. “Maybe I will.”
“Ralph, I’ll see you in my office after this meeting…” Perry said. Lois did her best to suppress a chuckle and noticed Cat was having the same problem.
“But Chief…,” Ralph argued.
“I don’t want to hear it.” Perry cut him off. “Now Myers…”
***
Later that morning, Jimmy watched in awe as Dr. Klein set up a 4D Hologram display illustrating the affects the cold cooling devices would have on the Prometheus Messenger if it were to go into space. “Going over Dr. Platt’s reports I was able to replicate the information and put it together for presentation to EPRAD this morning….”
The 4D Hologram showed an explosion in left quadrant; the same place where the explosion had taken place on the test launch that killed Ladderman and his crew and the same place where Dr. Platt had claimed to have found cooling devices.
“Totally rad!” Jimmy said in awe as he watched the display.
***
“Mr. President?” Shepard Wilson called into the Oval office, “we’re ready when you are…”
George Thompson smiled back at Shepard Wilson and nodded, “The first space shuttle to be a living breathing laboratory in outer space can’t go up without a christening from the President,”
“No, sir,” Beane nodded, walking with him. “Air Force One is ready. Dr. Liet will be waiting for your arrival along with Mr. Luthor.”
“Luthor?” Thompson snapped irritably, “he has nothing to do with this. What’s he doing there?”
“I’m not sure Mr. President,” Beane responded shakily before speaking into his radio, “rogue is on the move. Repeat rogue is on the move,”
***
After the staff meeting, Jimmy met up with Lois and Clark and went over what he’d learned from STAR Labs, “So Dr. Klein re-created the launch in this 4D hologram…It was really cool…” At Lois’ exasperated look he pushed through, “Anyway, they concluded that Platt’s theory was right. There was deliberate sabotage. The transport explosion was no accident. Congrats.”
“Yes!” Lois cheered happily, wrapping Clark into a big hug. “We did it.” Clark smiled back at her, leaning in to kiss her when Jimmy cleared his throat, reminding them of their audience. Unashamed she turned back to Jimmy, “Have you told Perry yet?”
“What about the launch? Has Dr. Klein sent this over to EPRAD?” Clark asked.
Jimmy opened his mouth to respond but was cut off when Perry opened the door, “Just got off the phone with ground control over at EPRAD. After Dr. Klein’s pitch this morning they went back over the colonist launch vehicle with a fine tooth comb. Discovered the same coolant problem in the left quadrant’s band and fixed it. The launch is all set.” He pulled out two badges from his pocket. “Messenger just dropped these off. You’ll be in the gallery watching the launch with Dr. Platt.”
“Dr. Platt?” Lois asked surprised.
“He just woke up this morning.” Perry smiled back at them. “He can’t join Amy and Mrs. Platt on this launch but the next one he’ll be able to join them on.”
“That’s great news,” Clark said happily.
A knock at the door behind Perry caught their attention, and they saw Bill Henderson standing in the doorway looking miffed, “Glad someone has some good news. Because I don’t.”
“What do you mean?” Lois asked confused.
Henderson looked at Clark then back at Perry and Lois, “Kent, there somewhere we can talk…without any prying ears?”
“You’re in a newsroom, Bill, spill it,” Lois said irritably.
“Now, Lois, I’m sure we can accommodate the Inspector’s request…” Perry began.
Bill looked at Clark with raised eyebrows, and he cleared his throat, “I can meet you downstairs in a minute.”
Henderson nodded, “That would be wise.” He turned on his heel and headed toward the elevator, leaving Lois and Perry looking at Clark curiously.
Lois looked at him expectantly, and he leaned in to whisper, “I’ll be right back.” He gave her a quick peck then headed out the door.
“Be right back? What is going on??” Lois asked exasperatedly as she realized she was yelling at a closed door.
“Now Lois I’m sure if it’s important Clark will let you know…” Perry reasoned.
“Uh-huh,” Lois said, grabbing her things to follow Clark downstairs. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was going to find out.
***
TBC...
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