Superman and The Shadow Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 0.5 20/26
Rated PG-13
/ “text”/ indicates telepathic communication
*text* indicates bold
<text> indicates thoughts
{text} indicates over the telephone
Universal Locator designation Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 – Prime
Universal Locator designation Alpha 025 x Gamma - 086 x Tau 142 Alt 25 Shadow
Previously
In the very Spartan setting of an underground bunker, Hank West, the country singer was absently strumming a guitar. If the guitar seemed out of place in the surroundings, it was made even more so by the way Hank West, the country singer was dressed. He was outfitted in a complete Nazi dress uniform straight out of World War II.
On TV monitors scattered around, tapes of Superman’s exploits were playing, more or less ignored by the principals involved. Hank was busy playing his guitar while Lisa was busy dressing down Steve. In a mocking tone, she repeated what he had said to the interviewer, “Clean their
socks? Clean their
socks?!” To prove that the monitors weren’t being completely ignored, She pointed at on and shouted, “
He is a super man! {b]You[/b] are a super
idiot!
Shamefacedly, he replied, “They barely noticed.”
To add insult to injury, without even looking up, Hank piled on, “He's right. It was just the sportscaster and fifty million other Americans.”
Lisa shook her finger in Steve’s face as she said, “We can’t afford the tiniest slip up!”
In a mocking tone, Hank added, “Maybe you should watch some Sesame Street; get the basics down again.”
Steve was fed up with their teasing, and shouted back, “I know English as well as you do! Besides, in two days we can drop all this stupid pretense, so what does it matter?”
Lisa was exasperated and it came out in her voice as she shouted back, “How can you be so dense?! For two years we've been recruiting new members from all across the country! “
Hank, in a sarcastic tone added, “Some are even college graduates.”
Lisa ignored Hank as she rehearsed their history to Steve, “
Fifty years ago one thousand of the chosen youth were sent here undercover from the Fatherland. Today they're captains of industry! Politicians! TV anchormen! Men and women of power and influence. They have waited five
decades for us to appear and lead them to the New Reich! They have spent
years preparing and planting backgrounds for us; pulling strings and smoothing the way so we could become an overnight success and lead this country to the New Reich! They have made us what we are today.”
In a cynical tone, Hank added, “Celebrity freaks. Next stop, Barbara Walters. Or Oprah”
Lisa turned on Hank West and commanded, in German, “
Sei still!” which translates as “Be quiet.” She turned back to Steve and continued, “And now you want to throw all this away because you can't be bothered to speak correctly? You're a disgrace!”
Defensively, Steve said, “Stockdale was one of the chosen youth, and look how he wound up! An old man who loved this country more than he loved the Fatherland! He was going to tell the world everything until I found out and had him stopped!”
A man in his mid-thirties, dressed in a Nazi uniform entered and dropped off some papers, interrupting the tirade.
Hank broke the stalemate by saying, “Stockdale was found by Lane and Kent, the reporters for the Daily Planet. I'll take Voss and talk to them and see if Stockdale told them anything else.” He put on a fake southern drawl as he finished, “Sometime folks are a lil' more open 'round celebrities.” Then he looked significantly at Steve as he finished, “No more slip-ups. Now smile for the cameras.”
Steve started to give a heated reply, but stopped himself when Hank pressed a button. As the monitors shifted they each held a person of importance to the movement. Steve clicked his heels. And they each gave the stiff arm salute of the Nazi Party. They were all in their mid-to-late sixties: a four-star general, a distinguished TV anchorman, a prosperous woman banker and Senator Black.
Hank greeted them in German, “Guten tag, meine freunde.”
Senator Black replied, “Guten tag, Western Reich Fuhrer Von Hagen.” He didn’t waste any more time and cut right to the chase, “Where are we on the Superman situation?”
With confidence, Hank replied, “Since all reported attempts to kill him in the past have failed, I have decided to go with our alternate plan: Instead of trying to assassinate him, we will simply
banish him. Forever.”
Seemingly satisfied with this response, Senator Black said, Good. Once he's gone, the government and the banks will fall in line; and where the banks go, everyone else follows. Right, Cynthia?”
The woman on the monitor smiled and nodded her agreement.
Outlining the grand plan, the senator continued, “Then Canada and Latin America will be next. They're both weak.”
Steve added, “then Europe!”
The TV Anchorman asked, “What about Russia?”
Senator Black replied, “A joke. We'll crush them like we started to in Forty-Two. Then, we will assume our rightful place as world leader.”
Senator Black, the others on the monitors, Lisa and Steve all smiled, but Hank’s face remained expressionless.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 20 –
1995
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 – Prime
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Clark was disgusted and it was evident as he hung up the phone. He crossed to Lois’s desk and sat in her visitor chair. As he did, he said, “The police have no record of the accident.”
Lois tried to defend the police, “They probably haven't filed yet. They get busy, too, you know. Just like Superman.” Faux Lois then did something that the real Lois wouldn’t think of doing, she crinkled her nose at Clark.
In reflex, he crinkled his nose back at her.
Very close to them they heard, “Ms. Lane? Mr. Kent?” and turned around to see Voss. He had changed out of his Nazi uniform and was wearing a suit such as you would expect a police detective to wear. Next to him stood Hank West, smiling bashfully and wearing his regular western outfit, complete to the ten gallon hat.
Voss introduced them, “I'm Detective Carter. And this is...”
Faux Lois was obviously impressed as she cut him off, “Hank West, the Country Western star.”
Before anything else was said, there was a round of handshaking.
As if feeling the need to explain his presence, Hank West, in his country-western accent, said, “Thank you, m'am. Mr. Kent. Hope you don't mind me taggin' along. Some Hollywood folks have an idea of puttin' me in a dee-tective movie and I'm kinda checkin' things out.”
Clark replied, “No problem at all.”
‘Detective Carter’ asked, “I wonder if I might have a word with both of you about the accident you witnessed this morning?”
Clark replied, “Sure thing. Who was that guy, anyway?”
‘Detective Carter’ consulted a notepad and then said, “His name's William Stockdale. Age 70. I hate to bother you about this, but it's routine, you know? Anytime somebody reports a bomb, we've gotta check out all the angles. Even if there
is no evidence.”
Faux Lois, always willing to help the police said, “Well, ask away.”
“Did Mr. Stockdale mention anything to you besides the location of the alleged bomb? “
Clark replied, “No, he really didn’t say much.”
“What a surprise. Well, back to routine. Did he mention a name? Or an address? Or something that might indicate that someone other than himself was involved?”
Faux Lois, replied, “He just seemed extremely worried. Almost terrified.”
Hoping to keep them off balance and get more information, Hank turned on the charm and directed it at faux Lois, “You know, if I was playing that role in a movie, I might've played it terrified, too. Babbling my head off. Maybe even using a cuss word or two. Then I would've let slip that one, important, vital clue, like they always do. “
Thinking about movies she had seen, faux Lois said, “I
hate it when they do that. But he really didn't say anything else.”
Clark was mystified, “But why would he say there was a bomb in the first place?”
Detective Carter tried to supply an explanation, “Lemme tell ya, you get shot, your mind's in a world of confusion. He could've been talking about anything; a movie, a TV show, maybe a book he was reading last night.”
In an attempt to distract, Hank said, “There're one or two bombs in this movie they want me to do. Seems like just about every other movie these days has got some.
Hank smiled a charming smile which both faux Lois and Clark returned.
The moment was ended when ‘Detective Carter’ snapped his notebook closed and said, “Thanks again for your time; sorry, but we gotta go through the motions, huh?”
Clark said, “No problem.”
As he handed Clark his card, he said, “And if you do remember anything, please call.”
As Hank and the detective started to turn away, Clark stopped them, “Detective Carter… how did Mr. Stockdale get shot?”
‘Carter’ repeated the story that they had concocted, “Carjacking attempt. Happened about a mile away while he was stopped at a traffic light. He was probably on his way to the hospital when he crashed.”
Hank tipped his hat and said, “Ma'am. Mr. Kent.”
Faux Lois stopped them this time, “Oh, Mr. West…” Hank West stopped and turned as faux Lois, thinking about Stephanie in accounting, whom she had gotten to know, finished, “I know you probably hear this all the time, but I just had to tell you: I have a friend who was, well, she was sort of depressed. But when she heard your song: 'The First Person You Can Count On... Is Yourself,' well... it really turned her life around. So ... thanks. “
Faux Lois gave an embarrassed smile, but Hank West seemed genuinely touched by the story, while Voss gave a subtly cynical smile.
Hank, said, simply, “You’re welcome,” smiled again and headed for the elevator with ‘Carter.’
Faux Lois muttered, “He’s kina handsome and … taller than I thought.” Turning and looking at Clark she noticed that he was frowning. She asked, “What’s the problem?”
“Well, for one thing he wears lifts in his boots.” At her quizzical look, he simply tapped his glasses to indicate that he had used his supervision. At her nod, he continued, “For another, I don’t know why, but Carter was lying to us. Stockdale wasn’t shot in the back. That's not likely if you're trying to escape a carjacker in your car.”
Faux Lois thought for a second. Carjacking wasn’t such a phenomena in her time, but she suggested, “Maybe he was twisting to get away.” She could tell by Clark’s look that he wasn’t liking her suggestion. “Fine. Let's just ask him.”
She flipped through her roll-a-dex, found the number for MetGen and called. “Hello, yes, I'd like to speak to a Mr. William Stockdale. He was admitted this morning around 9 A.M.” She paused to listen and then replied, “Yes, I'm certain. I saw him put in the ambulance. Okay. Thank you.” Turning to Clark she said, “There's no record of him being admitted.”
Cynically, Clark replied, “I kind of doubt the ambulance guys were too busy to file
him this morning.”
Faux Lois replied, “Unless they took him elsewhere or … he didn’t make it.”
Galvanized into action, Clark said, “You start calling the other hospitals. I’ll take the funeral homes and morgues.”
Faux Lois grabbed the yellow pages and started calling the other hospitals and emergency care facilities.
As they were doing this, Skip ran up and breathlessly asked, “Hey, is Hank West here, I heard he was up here!”
As faux Lois was scanning the pages, she absently replied, “He just left.”
“Man, I wish I'd been here. He is the greatest.”
As Clark was searching for funeral home phone numbers, he replied, “He certainly has a huge following.”
Skip’s passion for the singing star was evident in his voice as he replied, “That's because he tells the truth. He sticks up for the little guy. And he's not afraid to tell it like it is! America used to be great, and he wants to get it back on track.” Following this tirade, Skip looked at both of them oddly and then turned and left.
As he departed faux Lois and Clark exchanged a skeptical look.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sometime later, Steve Law, in his Nazi finery, was in the underground bunker with his feet up on a counter as he leaned back in an office chair. There were several TV monitors each of which was showing a different program. Some were showing sports while others were showing sit-com reruns.
Hank West, now dressed in a Nazi uniform and in an irritable mood, strode in and swept Steve’s feet off the counter.
As Steve replaced them, Hank challenged, “We don’t have time for this!”
Steve had been watching
’Perfect Strangers’ and replied, “I’m studying my English.” He started to mimic Larry as he quoted, “'Balki, what's wrong with your hair?'” Then he imitated Balki, “'I dried it in the microwave, cozzin.'”
His flippant attitude drove Hank over the edge and he shouted, “Do I have to order you?”
As he was shouting this, Lisa entered the room.
Rising to his feet, ready to accept the challenge, Steve said, in a dangerous tone, “You
can't order me.
We were chosen for this. We ... were bred for this.
We ... were
born for this.
We are the masters of the Master Race, the true supermen.
And not just you.
Stepping between them, Lisa turned to Hank and demanded, “Stop it! What happened with Lane and Kent?”
Somewhat calmed, he replied, “They know nothing. But they're inquisitive. As are all good reporters.”
Steve offered, “We should kill them. Why take the chance?”
His building anger at Steve was evident as he challenged, “And draw more attention to us? Why don't we just take out an ad?”
“To put an end to their investigation,” was Steve’s heated response.
With a derogatory tone, Hank replied, “Others will investigate. We don’t have
time for this.”
Steve reposted, “What would you have us do?! Forget about our plan to eliminate Superman?! Dismantle the organization?! Settle down like good Americans and get a mortgage and cable TV?” His tone turned dangerous as he finished, “You actually believe those stupid songs you sing!”
Hank was just as angry as he replied, “Not everything here is worth destroying!”
Steve countered, “There’s nothing worth saving!”
Hank jumped on the flaw in his statement, “If we destroy everything, what're we going to rule, genius?!”
Steve continued to disparage Americans, “America is morally and culturally bankrupt! They care more about their favorite soap opera than they do about the homeless! No wonder you have millions of fans, they're all idiots!”
Hank shouted back, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Steve countered, “Oh, I don't?! Ha! You've gone over, just like Stockdale!”
Again, Lisa intervened, “Shut up. Both of you. We're here to fight the Americans,
not each other.”
Feeling that he had perhaps revealed too much, Hank returned to the pervious topic. “If we're going to kill them, we should blame the deaths of Lane and Kent on someone else. Say, one of those middle-eastern terrorist cells.”
Steve suggested, “Why waste an opportunity?! Why not the National Intelligence Agency? They must hate Lane and Kent for their last series of articles. We'll kill three birds with one stone.” He turned toward Hank and asked in a sarcastic tone, “Oh. Did I say that right?”
Again, Lisa played peacemaker, “Steve,” then she turned to Hank and said, “He's right, though. They need to be eliminated; and since you two seem to enjoy bickering so much, I'll take care of it myself.”
Hank was suffering from mixed emotions, but he couldn’t let on so he snapped the Nazi salute and said, “Death to everything then. To the Reich.”
Steve and Lisa both snapped salutes and replied in kind, “To the Reich!”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Faux Lois and Clark had just made it back to Lois’s apartment after a very frustrating day. Lois was finishing a comment as she opened the door, “But a seventy year old man with a gunshot wound can't just disappear into thin air! That’s the Shadow’s trick and he wasn’t The Shadow. But, that does bring up a point. The Shadow doesn’t go to a hospital when he is injured, he had a private physician. Maybe that’s what happened, he went to his own doctor. We might never find him.”
“Or he could have been admitted under another name.”
In her frustration, faux Lois threw down her purse and bag as she exclaimed, “God, this makes me
so mad.”
Clark tried to mollify her, “Look, tomorrow we'll call the hospitals again, and ask for –“
She cut him off, “No, not that. Our wedding; it's a disaster!”
“Don’t you mean, Lois’s and mine?”
“Yeah, that, but I feel that I have this responsibility and if this isn’t corrected, what are we supposed to do? How long do we have to wait before we give up? Do we just
stay engaged
forever? I don’t think so! It’s beginning to look like this is never going to be straightened out. I think we need to start planning
our life together.”
“You may be right, but I still think we need to give it some more time. About the wedding, don't worry, Lois, it'll all work out.”
“But how? Are you going to help?”
“Of course.”
Reaching into her purse, faux Lois found the notepad she had been making notes on. She flipped through till she found what she was looking for and ripped out a page. As she handed it to Clark, she said, “Good, because here's a list of all the things that have to be done. Here, you take this page and I'll take the other.”
As he looked it over, he asked, “Is any of this applicable to you and Lamont when you get back? To me this looks a bit ostentatious, more like a coronation than a wedding.”
“My father is a wealthy surgeon. Are you back peddling?”
“No, I'm not! It's just, you know, I can't always be around to
do stuff.
“You know, Lamont seems to have more free time than you do. How does she put up with it?”
“Love.”
“Clark...”
She was interrupted by a knock on the door and Jimmy’s voice announcing, “Lois, it’s me, Jimmy>”
Faux Lois looked at Clark and said, “We’ll finish this later.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
As Jimmy was knocking on Lois’s door a non-descript van pulled up in the street outside from which the strains of a Hank West, country-western song ‘
This Ol’ Country’could be heard:
"Now this ol' country's great,
But before it gets too late,
We gotta put our differences aside and stand together.
Sure we've got our faults,
our do's and should's and ought's,
But we can work it out and last forever.
Yeah, we can work it out and last forever."
As she turned off the radio, Lisa frowned and muttered, “Steve's right. You've gone over.”
Earlier in the day, she had scouted the area and knew which window was that of Lois Lane. She looked up and saw more than two figures in the room. Seeing that she knew that she needed to bide her time. She decided to prepare so she moved between the front seats to the back of the van.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
As soon as Jimmy was in the door, he handed a stack of papers to faux Lois as he said, “These are all the bomb threats the cops got in the last couple of years.” Then he placed a larger stack on top of that one as he said, “And these are all the other strange things or robberies that have been reported.”
Clark quipped, “Looks like fun reading.”
Faux Lois asked, Jimmy, “Anything weird?”
Grinning, Jimmy replied, “It’s all weird, we live in Metropolis.”
On that note, faux Lois decided to end the conversation, “Goodnight, Jimmy.”
Still grinning, Jimmy said, “See ya,” as he headed out the door, closing it behind himself.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Lisa had been watching and when she saw Jimmy leave the building, she saw her chance. She opened the side sliding door of the van, just enough to allow her to aim the Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher she held.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
After Jimmy closed the door, faux Lois held up the pile of papers that Jimmy had deposited in her hands. She asked, “Bomb threats or other stuff?”
Making a joke about one of the game shows that faux Lois had gotten addicted to, he said, “I'll take 'other stuff' for fifty.”
She smiled and handed him the larger stack, knowing that with his abilities, he would still be finished before her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Outside in the van, Lisa could still see two silhouettes in the room so she pulled the trigger on the RPG. A she did, the rocket fired and the grenade streaked toward the window.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Clark’s super-hearing picked up the firing of the rocket and as it punched through the glass, he was ready, catching it in mid-air, before it could hit anything and detonate.
Faux Lois heard the breaking of the glass, but by the time she was able to look up, Clark was holding the RPG in his hand. She exclaimed, “What the…”
He shrugged, said, “Later,” spun into his Suit and zoomed out the window, landing in the street, in front of the van. Lisa had just managed to get it into gear and start to drive away when the van was stopped by Superman’s out stretched hand. She saw that in the other he held the RPG. He lifted it and wiggled it to make sure she saw it.
He asked, “Lose something?”
Superman smiled confidently and then noticed just who was driving. He also heard Hank West playing softly on the radio. In startled recognition, he blurted out, “Miss Rockford?”
Lisa glanced at Superman, then clinched her jaw. Superman walked around to her door and pulled it open. A second later faux Lois ran up. As she did, Lisa's head lolled back against the seat and her eyes closed.
Not realizing that there was anything amiss, Superman said, “Would you mind stepping out of the van, please, Miss Rockford?”
When she didn’t move to comply, Superman was puzzled. He leaned in close and his super sense of smell picked up an odd odor - bitter almonds. Concerned, he reached for and felt for a pulse at the side of her neck. Not finding a pulse, he straightened up and said, “She’s dead.”
Mystified, faux Lois asked, “But how?”
“The scent of bitter almonds - cyanide.”
Faux Lois stood there in shocked amazement staring at the dead super model. She blurted out, “She tried to kill us and then killed herself when she was caught. Why?”
comments go here TBC
