My Own Worst Enemy
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 8
***
Sam Lane watched out of the corner of his eye as a tall man in a panche talking to another man on the other side of the room. He hit a button on the device he was working on and plugged an earbud into his ear to allow a better range of his hearing.
“Mr. Snell has made his bed. He shall now lie in it. I do not have to remind you Mr. Vale of what the consequences are for crossing the organization, do I?”
“No, Asabi, I’m perfectly aware of those consequences. Let’s not bring Emmet into this, shall we?”
“All projects Mr. Snell was overseeing will not be under your care. The organization wants Metallo up and running without delay. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Asabi. Crystal.”
Sam noticed the men approaching and quickly disconnected the feed. “Dr. Lane, I see you’re working on a new project?” Asabi frowned looking down at the scans in front of Sam.
“New assignment.” Sam stammered hurriedly.
“That’ll have to go on hold.” The man identified as Vale said, extending his hand to shake his. “I’m Rollie Vale. I’ll be taking over for Mr. Snell.”
“Taking over?” Sam asked.
“Martin Snell has retired from the organization.” Asabi supplied. “Mr. Vale will handle all projects from here on out.”
“I see.” Sam nodded.
“Whatever this is it can wait.” Rollie Vale said pushing the scans to the side. “Metallo needs to be your top priority.”
“Of course.” Sam forced a smile.
***
Martin Snell stared at his phone in dismay as the familiar number appeared on the caller id once more. “Do you need to get that Mr. Snell?” Agent Rollins, a young petite blonde sat across the table from him.
“No, it’s best if I didn’t,” Snell said wringing his hands.
“Shall we begin?” she asked, setting the tape recorder down on the desk in front of her.
“My name is Martin Snell. I have secretly been working for an organization known as Intergang for the past fifteen years and…”
***
Lois, Clark and Mayson Drake sat in the conference room combing through their files and connecting the pieces. “So, Superman stopped showing up to rescues because of Intergang?” Mayson asked, taking a bite of the popcorn in front of her.
Lois sighed, taking a deep breath, “We suspect Intergang stole a genetic tagging system using radioisotope to track its victims to control Superman and keep him out of the Lower East Side.”
“Making it so they can instill fear in its residents.” Mayson nodded. “Smart.”
“We also suspect one of the scientists on the project works for Intergang,” Clark added.
“Most of Intergang’s employees are hired through a shell corporation. No way of tracking the money back to the organization.” Mayson said, sifting through her files. “One of the main ones they tend to work with.” She held up a photo, “Rollie Vale. I can never prove his connection, but he’s always around.”
“That’s one of the scientists that worked on Dr. Klein’s genetic tagging system,” Lois observed.
“The guy’s a real whiz kid. He can do anything with robotics.” Mayson added. “We’ve had people looking for him for the past three months, but no one can agree where he is.”
Lois looked to Clark and noticed a familiar expression on his face. She looked back to Mayson then to Clark as he stood up.
“I-I’ve got to go.” He said simply.
“Where?” Mayson asked.
“I’ll be right back. It won’t take long.” He said, not giving her a chance to press the issue.
“Does he do that a lot?” Mayson asked, looking at Lois with a perplexed expression.
“Constantly.” She said with a shrug, ignoring Mayson’s dubious gaze.
***
Clark moved at super-speed, soaring through the air until he found it. The Federal Building on Tilton Avenue. The entire building was engulfed in flames.
“Everyone move back!”
“Does anyone know where Agent Rollins is?”
“We can’t get the hose up there!”
Chaos was everywhere as federal agents, police, and firefighters scrambled in different directions. Three ambulances approached with roaring sirens. He assessed the building, scanning for any more occupants. Trapped on the top floor were a man and woman. He frowned when he didn’t see any movement from them.
He couldn’t get to them through the window because the oxygen would cause the fire to spread further. He noticed the double doors below that led inside the building. He moved at super-speed, flying up the stairs and dousing any flames that got in his way with his freezing breath. Finally, he arrived on the top floor. He could smell the c-4 and accelerant in the air. This was where it had started. He put out the remainder of the flames with his freezing breath and frowned when he saw what was left.
***
Amidst the chaos and smoke-filled air one man watched the scene unfold with a smile on his face. He moved away from the crowd, pulling out his phone as he began to dial. The phone began to ring. “Mr. Church?” Asabi spoke into his phone as he watched the flames in the Federal Building go out. “Martin Snell won’t be a problem anymore.”
With that, he hung up the phone and headed for the black sedan that awaited him around the corner.
***
“Tonight at approximately seven pm an explosion was heard in the right quadrant of the New Troy Federal Building. The entire top floor was engulfed in flames within minutes. Our people worked tirelessly to evacuate the building, but not everyone made it out. Fifteen witnesses, twenty-three agents, and our chief of security all lost their lives tonight.”
“Unbelievable.” Jimmy breathed, looking at the scene on the television.
“Sure you don’t need to go?” Lucy asked, looking down at her dinner that was now luke-warm.
“It looks like a big story.”
“Nah,” Jimmy shrugged taking a drink of his soda. “I’m sure the Chief’s already got people down there.” He reached over to turn the television off. “Enough of that.” He took her hand in his, “You want to tell me what’s been bothering you?”
“I’m fine,” Lucy said, pasting a smile on her face. “It’s just been an intense few weeks is all.”
“How do you like your new boss? I heard he’s one of the best CSI’s in the country.” Jimmy grinned at her.
“He’s a bit eccentric but smart, and more importantly he knows where the line of right and wrong is.” Lucy smiled back at him.
“I still can’t believe you did that,” Jimmy said with a bitter scowl.
“I thought we were done arguing about this.” Lucy sighed, pulling her hand back.
“No,
you were done.” He said shaking his head. “I don’t get it, Luce. You did something reckless, and you didn’t talk to me about it first.”
“How is it dangerous? I went to two people I would trust with my life. I didn’t go to some random journalist, Jimmy. I went to my sister and my brother-in-law. I’ve known them both a long time. They would never do anything to put me in danger.” Lucy snapped angrily.
“You didn’t tell me!” Jimmy shot back. “You did something incredibly dangerous, and you didn’t tell me. I had to find out the next morning when the story hit the newsstands.”
“I didn’t want you talking me out of it,” Lucy said quietly.
“What happens when someone figures out it was you that leaked the story?” Jimmy asked.
“They won’t,” Lucy argued.
“What if they do? What is your big plan? Lois can’t protect you and herself. Your loyalties are in different places.” Jimmy pressed.
“She’s my
sister!” Lucy snapped angrily. “She would never betray me like that.”
“How can you be so sure?” Jimmy asked. “If push comes to shove and she has to reveal her source…”
“Get out!” Lucy pointed to the door.
“Excuse me?” Jimmy scoffed.
“You heard me. Get out! I’m done with this conversation!” Lucy got up and swung the door open for him to leave only to find Pete Ross standing there with Rachel Harris. “Pete?”
“Hey, Luce!” Pete grinned back at her.
“Oh, my God, Pete!” Lucy grinned, reaching up to hug him happily.
“Too tight. Too tight.” Pete wheezed out jokingly, and she released him and turned to Jimmy. “Jimmy, how ya doing?”
“Luce, you look good.” Rachel said, reaching over to hug her.
Pete frowned when he saw the expression on Jimmy’s face. “Did I catch you guys at a bad time?”
“No, I was just leaving,” Jimmy said, grabbing his coat. “Good to see you.” He patted Pete on the shoulder and left.
“Funny, I thought he’d be more friendly,” Rachel commented, watching Jimmy leave.
“He’s got a story to go cover,” Lucy said, closing the door. She turned to Pete and Rachel, “What brings you two by?”
“Well, it’s our first night in town, and we thought you might be able to recommend a good place to eat. If I remember right, you always knew the best places in town.” Pete said with a grin.
“And we wanted to catch up with you and hopefully Lois and Clark if those two ever answer their phones,” Rachel added.
“They’ve been really swamped with this corruption scandal and our Uncle Mike’s case,” Lucy explained. “You can probably catch them at the Planet.”
“I don’t want to bother them at work. We can try and catch up with them tomorrow.” Rachel said, shaking her head. “How about you? You feel like some company?” She bumped her hip with Lucy.
Lucy stared at the front door that Jimmy had just walked out of and gave Rachel a half-smile, “You know actually that sounds like a great idea.“
“Great. Where are we going?” Pete asked.
“Someplace loud that serves alcohol,” Lucy said grabbing her purse. “Did you drive or take a cab?”
***
Martin Snell was dead.
Martin Snell had come to the feds and sought help from the organization, and now he was dead. The fire inspector on the scene said the deaths had been instantaneous. He said there would have been no way to stop the explosion after the bomb went off.
That should have made him feel a little better, knowing that there was nothing he could have done to stop it; but it didn’t. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he’d heard the explosion. If he’d…
“Ah…” he winced when he heard a sharp whining in his ears. “What is that?”
No matter what he did, the sharp whine persisted. He followed the sound until he was outside one of the abandoned warehouses in Hobb’s Bay. Down below he saw Sam Lane, holding up a small metal object with a concerned look on his face.
“You know
‘Help Superman’ works too.” He said, landing in front of him.
Sam pressed a button on the side of the device. “I needed a less conspicuous way of calling you.”
“Phone?” He suggested, rubbing his ear.
“I didn’t want to leave a trail,” Sam said carefully.
“What is it?” Clark asked.
“I’m being reassigned to another project. They’re changing management. If there were ever a time to make that space craft disappear it’s now.” Sam said, motioning for him to follow him toward the docks.
“Okay, but that would require knowing how to get to it and having a way of getting it out of there.” Clark reminded him.
“His code was
‘5434’ and from what I overheard this afternoon he probably won’t be needing it again,” Sam said wearily.
“Code?” Clark asked.
Sam pointed to the water below the docks. “You see that paddle boat?”
“Yeah?” Clark looked at the old white and yellow paddle boat floating in the water.
He pointed to the docks on the other side of the bay, “Beautiful view here, isn’t it? It is exactly five hundred feet from here to Queensland Bridge. Did you know that?”
“I heard that.” He said cautiously, not sure where Sam was going with this.
“On the bridge, fifteen feet in there is a red and black metal plate that opens up into a hidden elevator that takes you down into a hidden room. On the wall is a keypad that opens to the science lab. You’ll see three doors after the wall opens. Inside the third door is the spacecraft hidden under a brown tarp. At exactly midnight there is a three-minute delay in their security cameras. Three minutes.”
Clark nodded, watching as Sam looked at the time. It was just after nine. He still had a few hours, but he needed to talk to Lois first.
***
“So it looks like Intergang was trying to do what it had done in the past. Take control by force.” Mayson said, looking up from her notes.
“Only difference is Metropolis has Superman to protect them,” Lois added with a bite in her tongue.
“Yeah, but for how long?” Mayson wondered aloud.
“Why can’t you just acknowledge he’s doing a good thing?” Lois asked.
“Because he’s going about it in the wrong way.” Mayson countered, letting out a long sigh. “I don't want to fight with you.”
“How about we stick to the reason you’re here?” Lois said, pushing another stack of folders toward Mayson. “Intergang? Martin Snell?”
“Sounds good to me,” Mayson said, all too eager to grab the stack of files from Lois.
Lois did her best not to react. She knew working with Mayson was the best shot they had at finding the needle in the haystack but working side by side with her was trying on her patience. She didn’t like Superman and constantly made that painfully apparent. The digs at her husband’s alter-ego were hard not to take personally.
“Five different officers were there when Baby Rage was processed, and unfortunately all of them were having money problems,” Mayson said, setting another copy of bank records down on the table.
“Sometimes it’s not about what’s in the bank account but what isn’t there,” Lois said grabbing the stack Mayson had just laid down.
“What do you mean?” Mayson asked, confused.
Lois peered at the records in front of her and smiled, pushing it to Mayson. “Look here. What do you see?”
“Deposits and withdrawals?” Mayson guessed, not following her.
“No checks? No bills?” Lois pressed. “Nothing like what you see on these other three.” She pushed the other officers’ bank records to Mayson to compare.
“This doesn’t prove anything.” Mayson pointed out.
“Maybe not, but it is awfully suspicious, wouldn’t you agree?” She flipped through the records. “Go back two months.”
“Gas bill, electric bill, groceries, rent…” Mayson read off the records. She met Lois’ gaze. “So, Sanders either stopped getting bills or the need for groceries every month or…”
“Or he started paying his bills in cash.” Lois reasoned aloud.
“Who started paying bills in cash?” Clark asked, walking into the conference room with three bags of Korean food.
“Have fun on your errand?” Mayson asked, not looking up from her paperwork.
“I did. I thought everyone would enjoy a working dinner.” Clark said, pulling the containers out of the bags.
Lois’ eyes widened when she saw the familiar bamboo containers being pulled out of the bags. “Is that…?”
“Bibimbap, Japchae and Kimchi.” He said with a smile. “I brought an assortment.”
“Smells great. Thanks Clark.” Mayson flashed him a quick smile, setting her paperwork down. She reached over to grab a plate as Clark took a seat next to Lois.
He wrapped his arms around her, tightening his grip around her waist for a moment, resting his chin against her shoulder as he let out a long breath. She looked back at him and saw the worry lines on his forehead. Something was wrong. He met her gaze. “I’ll tell you later.” He whispered.
She nodded, reaching for her plate and grabbing a fork to eat.
***
“She’s out of her mind,” Jimmy muttered to himself as he stormed through the doors of his favorite bar.
“Hey kid, what’ll it be?” Bibbo, the bartender asked.
“Beer,” Jimmy said, shaking his head.
Why couldn’t Lucy see how dangerous her situation was? Why couldn’t she have come to him and talked to him before agreeing to be a whistleblower on this corruption scandal? If Lois really cared about her sister she never would have put Lucy in that situation. She would have found another way.
“Here you go, kid.” Bibbo passed him a beer. After a long pause, he looked at him. “You gonna talk or am I gonna have to resort to desperate measures?”
“Talk?” Jimmy looked around, uncertain if Bibbo was talking to him.
“You come in here carrying the cloud of gloom over your head. What gives?” Bibbo asked.
“You don’t want to hear about it,” Jimmy said.
“Try me.” Bibbo pressed.
“Okay, I’ve got this girl.”
“Girlfriend?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy grinned. “Anyway, she did something pretty dumb and reckless and dangerous and …”
“And you got a beef with her about it?”
“You bet I do!” Jimmy snapped. “She should have come to me. I’m her boyfriend. Why couldn’t she come to me?”
“Maybe she didn’t know how you’d react?” Bibbo guessed.
“She went to her sister. She trusted her sister, but not me.” Jimmy said sadly.
“Don’t go sticking your nose in between sisters, ya here?” Bibbo chastised. “Ain’t no man’s place to try and come between sisters.”
“I guess.” Jimmy shrugged. “I just don’t get why she couldn’t trust me? Why couldn’t she come to me?”
“Sometimes the ones we love do things we don’t like,” Bibbo said. “Maybe instead of talking to me about it you should talk to her and ask her.”
“She kicked me out,” Jimmy said matter-of-factly.
“Why?” Bibbo asked.
“I might have said something I shouldn’t have,” Jimmy said weakly.
“Uh-huh,” Bibbo gave him a look. “You ain’t gonna get anywhere by harping on what you think she should have done. Take it from the guy that’s got three ex-wives. It won’t do you any good to focus on the past. You like this girl?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy smiled.
“Good. Then quit your bellyaching and get your butt over there and talk to her.” Bibbo said, pointing to the door. “Beer’s on the house. Get out of here, kid.”
***
Mayson gathered her things, “I’ll have Officer Sanders picked up, and we’ll start questioning him. Hopefully, we can get him to crack.” She flashed Clark a smile as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder. “This was fun. We should do it again sometime.”
Clark looked to Lois who was watching Mayson carefully as she walked toward the door to leave. He still wasn’t sure what Lois’ issue was with Mayson but given everything else he was dealing with tonight he decided not to press it.
“Good night, Mayson.” He called with a polite wave.
Lois nodded and gave a quick wave as she continued to sift through the files in front of her. “Night.”
Clark watched Mayson leave and then turned to Lois. “What have you got there?”
“This Darryl character keeps showing up everywhere.” She said with a frown.
“What do you mean?” He asked, tapping his fingers against the back of her chair.
“I mean there are notes here about a connection to different crimes over the years but nothing solid. Blackmail, collusion, and a few murders…” She handed him the notes she was reading.
His lips tightened when he saw the man’s photo pinned to the case file. This man had shown up to his and Lois’ wedding. Why? Lois said he’d been talking to Sam. Why? Several questions raced through his mind, and he could feel his anxiety levels begin to rise. He let out a long breath, wrapping his arms around her as he spoke. “It’s getting late. We can finish this up tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” her voice faltered slightly as he ran his lips against the nape of her neck. “You’re not playing fair.”
“I never do.” He whispered, nibbling at the sensitive flesh of her throat as she let out a soft moan.
“You’re trying to distract me.” She grinned back at him.
“Impossible. Lois Lane can’t be distracted, remember?” he teased, running his hands through her hair.
“Clark,” she let out a soft sigh as she fought valiantly to stay focused on the conversation.
“Huh?” he murmured in her ear.
“It’s really not fair that you can do that to me.” She breathed softly as he tugged on her earlobe with his teeth.
“Do what?” he asked, moving his attention to her jawline.
“What were we talking about?” she asked, letting out a shuddered breath as he nibbled on her jawline.
“Me taking you home so we can celebrate our first joint Kerth nomination properly.” He whispered with a grin.
“Wait, no you were gonna tell me something earlier.” She shook her head as he let out a soft groan.
“I’d much rather do this.” He whispered, leaning in to kiss her lips.
“I know you would, but…” she let out a soft moan. “Stop trying to distract me.”
“Why? It’s fun.” He grinned at her, pulling back.
“What happened?” she pressed, placing a hand on his chest.
He sighed, hanging his head momentarily before looking back up at her. He moved his hand to cup her cheek as he forced himself to find the words. “There was a fire tonight. A bombing really. Martin Snell was killed in the explosion.”
“What?!” Lois’ eyes widened as he continued.
“It was at the Federal building. He was trying to turn on the organization is my guess.” He let out a long breath, leaning in to kiss her. “I didn’t get there in time. I didn’t even hear it until it was too late.”
“Oh, Clark,” she whispered, fingering his jawline. “This is not your fault.”
“I know that in my head, but I still can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I’d heard the blast sooner. If I’d…”
“Look at me.” She tilted his head, forcing him to meet her eyes. “You can’t be everywhere at once. You help where you can when you can. Isn’t that what you said when you started this?”
“Knowing it and believing it are two completely different things.” He whispered. “Lois, I saw the bodies. They were burned alive. That entire floor had been covered in an accelerant. It was a deliberate attack on him, and three different agents lost their lives tonight because of it.”
She leaned into him, resting her head beneath his chin and running her hands up and down his chest as he spoke. She’d done it countless times before, held him while he vented about a bad day or rescue, calming him with her gentle touch. He let out a slow breath, listening to the dual heartbeats of his wife and son as he held her in his arms.
“I love you,” He whispered, pressing his lips to her temple.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this.” She said, tapping her hand on his shoulder. “We’ve got the information Jimmy found, Mayson’s files, and the stuff daddy was able to copy to that flash drive…”
“And the ship.” He said with a frown.
“What?” she looked up at him with a questioning gaze.
“There’s apparently been some shift in power inside the organization. Your dad called me with a really annoying device and told me how to get to the ship.” He said, looking at where his hands rested on her abdomen. “The only thing is I don’t know how much I should trust him. Going in there and stealing the ship back…”
“They stole it first. You’re reclaiming it.” Lois corrected.
“Where am I going to put it? I can’t take it to Smallville. That’d be the first place they’d look.” He pointed out.
“What about STAR Labs?” Lois suggested.
“Taking it from one laboratory to another doesn’t bode a lot of confidence from me. Plus, I don’t know Dr. Klein all that well.” He pointed out.
“He’s trustworthy,” Lois said, leaning in to kiss him. “Where did you plan on putting it? Our already crowded Living Room?”
“Maybe,” He shrugged.
“You can’t be serious.” She looked back at him in disbelief.
He glanced at the clock. “I’ve got an hour before I need to go if we’re going to do this.”
“Do you want to?” She asked.
“That ship is my only link to where I came from. I don’t want that in anyone’s hands but yours and mine.” He said, running his hand over the small bump on her abdomen where their child was growing.
“We’re going to have to start looking for a bigger place.” Lois sighed. “So, how are you going to do this? You can’t go in there as Superman.”
“I know that.” He nodded. “I figured I could just go in disguise then fly it out of there.”
“So then they can send thugs after Clark Kent?” Lois scoffed. “I don’t think so.”
“Not me, Clark Kent. Just me. Without the glasses.” He smirked at her. “You said yourself I look very different without the glasses. So, no Superman suit and no glasses.”
“What if something happens?” she asked, running a hand across his cheek.
“If I tell you where I’m going you have to promise you won’t follow me in.” He said, running his hand through her hair.
“I’m not sending you into the lion’s den without a backup plan.” She argued.
“I don’t want anything happening to you.” He said. “Promise me. You can send your sister, or you can call Henderson, but I don’t want you anywhere near this place.”
“Clark,” she gave him an irritated glare.
“Promise me,” He repeated.
“What about daddy?” she asked.
He smirked, noting how she was avoiding the request by changing the subject. “I still don’t know how much we can trust him.” He said carefully, “And don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to change the subject.”
“Fine.” She blew at the stray strand of hair that fell in her face. “I won’t come in after you, but I will send someone if I think you’re in trouble.”
“It should only take three minutes, but I’d guess it’ll take me about twenty to get there and back.” He said cautiously.
He let out a soft groan as she pulled herself into his lap and whispered, “You start to feel any of those effects from that meteorite you get out of there.”
“I know.” He leaned in to kiss her.
“I don’t like this.” She murmured against his lips.
“I know.” He sighed, resting his forehead against hers. “But leaving the ship in their possession isn’t an option.”
“I know.” She gave him a weak smile. “I don’t have to like it though.”
***
Lucy let out a long breath as she set her drink down. “So when did you two start seeing one another?”
Pete looked surprised, and Rachel grinned, bumping his hip. “I told you we wouldn’t be able to keep it under wraps long.”
Pete grinned back at Lucy “A few weeks ago. I needed someone to go with me to the opening at one of my shows and Rachel offered to be my date for the night. Then one thing led to another, and the rest is history.” He shared a look with Rachel.
“I’m happy for you.” Lucy smiled, looking around the crowded room. “You know Lois and I were taking bets a few years ago on when you would finally take the plunge and ask Rachel out.” Pete and Rachel looked back at her in surprise, and she shrugged. “It was pretty obvious that you liked her.”
“It was not!” Pete shook his head.
“Aw, look he’s turning red.” Lucy teased giving him a playful shove.
Rachel giggled, “Oh come on, let her have some fun Pete.”
“At my expense?” Pete asked.
“Oh, poor baby.” Rachel leaned in to kiss him.
“Lieutenant Harris,” a voice behind them spoke.
Lucy turned to see a tall man in a black polo shirt and jeans with a military-style haircut and glasses standing behind them. He was attractive. More than attractive. “Captain Daniel Raymond.” He extended his hand to Rachel, and she took it with a smile.
“Yes, Captain Raymond.” Rachel nodded. “Lucy, Pete, this is one of the new recruits.” She pointed to Pete, “My, uh…Pete.”
“Her boyfriend.” Lucy supplied for her.
Daniel chuckled. “And you are?”
“Just a friend.” Lucy grinned.
“She thinks she’s funny.” Rachel gave her a smirk. “What can I do for you Captain?”
“I just wanted to introduce myself. Seems we’ll be working the Special Crimes unit together. Orders just came down.” He gave her a shrug. “Anyway, I thought it’d be polite to reintroduce ourselves away from the press.”
“That’s very…” Rachel seemed to be searching for the right word.
“Polite.” Pete suppled for her.
“I think it’s nice. Shows good character.” Lucy cheered with a grin.
“You certainly do have a lot of opinions, Ms. Just a Friend Lucy.” He flashed her a smile. “Do you have a last name?”
Lucy shook her head, “I don’t know you well enough.”
“Maybe you should dance with me and change that.” He suggested, pointing to the dance floor.
Lucy met his dark hazel eyes for a moment then turned away, seeing where Rachel and Pete had already disappeared on the dance floor together oblivious to her current predicament. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” She let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know you well enough to dance with you.”
“Okay, what do you want to know?” He asked, pulling up a stool and perching himself on the edge and pivoting himself toward her. “I’d
really like to dance with you.”
“I have a boyfriend.” She said, turning away.
“Lucky guy.” He grinned, staring back at her intently. “Now about that dance...”
“You’re impossible.” She rolled her eyes at him.
“Hey, I’m just a nice guy looking to have one dance with you. I’m not trying to ask you out or propose. Just one dance.” He gave her megawatt smile. “What do you say?”
“I don’t think so.” She said softly, getting up and heading to where Rachel and Pete were walking back toward her. “It was nice to meet you Daniel.”
“Please, call me Danny.” He winked at her.
***
Dressed in all black with a plain black baseball cap used to cover his face, Clark walked to the middle of Queensland Bridge where he found the door as described by Sam Lane. “So far so good.” He muttered t himself. On the door was a keypad. He typed in the code he’d been given and took a deep breath when he saw the elevator doors open.
“Here goes nothing.” He stepped on the elevator and glanced at the watch on his arm as he stared down at the ground, careful to avoid detection by any cameras.
***
Across the room, in the crowded club, he knew Lucy always went to when she was upset Jimmy watched as Pete and Rachel laughed with his girlfriend. He felt a nauseating feeling wash over him as he watched a mysterious man approach them. The man seemed to have taken an immediate interest in Lucy.
He scowled when he watched the man lean towards Lucy. She wasn’t encouraging the behavior, but she wasn’t rebuffing them either. He’d seen enough. He got up and left. Obviously, he’d done more damage to his relationship with Lucy than he originally thought.
***
Present Day…Lois watched as Clark left to check the city for any sign of Lex Luthor. Perry had cleared their current schedules to put them both on the Luthor story and figure out what the mayor planned to do if Superman didn’t show. They both knew that wasn’t an option or a possibility, but it would be good to cover.
"Figures." Jimmy snorted, turning back to his desk as he watched Clark head for the elevator. "Never around when you need him."
Lois' ears perked up and turned toward Jimmy. “Hey, Jimmy?” Lois called the young man over to her desk.
“What’s up?” Jimmy asked, walking toward her. He took a second glance to Clark’s empty desk then back at Lois.
“Is something going on with you and Clark I should know about?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Nope.” He shook his head, not meeting her gaze.
“Okay, let me rephrase,” she leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “What is up with you and Clark?”
“Nothing. I just realized that he’s not the person I thought he was. End of story.” He said, still avoiding eye contact with her.
“Excuse me?” she practically spat out. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, you may not know him as well as you think you do.” He snapped irritably. “Now is there another reason you dragged me over here or is this just a grill session?”
“Yeah,” She handed him her notes. “I want you to find out everything you can on LexCorp’s financials after they went bankrupt last year.”
“Anything else?” Jimmy asked.
“Yeah, lose the attitude. I get enough from my three-month-old. I don’t need it from you too.” She snapped irritably.
“Sorry.” Jimmy apologized. Part of her thought he was almost genuine.
***
“What are you doing?” Corbin asked as Bill Church Jr. replaced the glowing stone inside him with a green glowing rock.
“We’re taking safety precautions this time to make sure our investment gets the return we’re hoping for.” Bill Jr. said.
“What about Superman?” Corbin asked, his eyes glowed a neon green as he spoke.
“This is going to help with that, John. But you’ve got to trust me.” Bill Jr. said with a satisfied smile. “You can’t go around tearing the city apart looking for him. You’ve got to be smart. Cold. Calculating.” He looked to Corbin. “Can you do that, John?”
“As long as I have my revenge and you don’t pull any funny business,” Corbin warned.
***
“What do you want Luthor?” His voice boomed as he landed on the roof of the Luthor Towers. It had been almost a year since he’d last faced Luthor. He hadn’t been in control that night. He’d almost killed him due to the subliminal suggestions that were plaguing his mind.
This time would be different.
This time he was in control.
He looked around but saw no sign of the man. He had to be around here somewhere.
***
Seven Months Ago… Once Clark arrived on the main level, he moved at super-speed toward the room Sam Lane had said the ship was. He didn’t waste any time. Once he was inside, he grabbed the ship still covered in the tarp and got out of there as fast as he could. Surprisingly he wasn’t’ forced to re-enter the code upon exiting. The elevator moved at an excruciatingly slow pace compared to the speed with which he’d been moving below ground. Finally, he arrived on the bridge. As soon as the doors opened wide enough, he plunged himself and the ship into the sky, flying as high as he could to avoid detection.
He was carrying his ship. The ship he’d arrived on Earth in. The ship his parents had found him in. The ship that would hopefully hold some answers for him about who he was and why he’d been sent here.
***
Lois took a deep breath, running her hands over the heavy red fabric of Clark’s Superman cape she had wrapped around her. After he’d left, she couldn’t seem to push the panic out of her mind. Needing to feel him close to her after her shower she’d opted to wait for him in the cape he’d wrapped her in countless times before when trying to keep her warm.
She looked around the space she and Clark had cleared in the living room. The idea was to cover the ship in boxes and keep it camouflaged while they looked for another place. Hopefully, they could find a place with a large enough basement to house the spaceship. What if it didn’t’ fit in the apartment? How big could a spacecraft that carried an infant be?
She glanced at the clock on the wall as she rolled on her side, staring at his side of the bed and mentally counted down the seconds. She remembered every direction with precision, praying she wouldn’t have to use them.
‘Twenty minutes.’“He’s fine.” She told herself. “He’s
fine.”
The turning of the locks on the front door reached her ears. She sat up and heard a loud thud and a gust of wind through the living room.
“Hey,” she heard him whisper behind her.
She turned to see him in his sleeping shorts as he climbed into bed with her. “Hey,” she gave him a watery smile.
“Interesting choice of attire.” He grinned, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her to him. “You know mom only made three of those.”
“So you’ve got two others.” She teased, rolling on her side to face him.
“Uh-huh,” He leaned in to kiss her, running his hands through her hair.
“Are you okay?” she asked, running a hand across his cheek.
“I am now.” He whispered, brushing his lips against hers. She sighed against him as his arms tightened around her waist. He moved his attention to her jaw and throat as his hands began a blind exploration up her legs. “How do you take something so boring like a cape and turn it into something so
sexy?”
“You like it when I wear your cape?” she asked breathlessly, letting out a soft moan as he inched his way to her collarbone as he tugged at the knot she’d tied on the front of her chest with his cape.
“I like what you’ve got on underneath even more.” He said, running his palm up and down the smoothness of her legs as he nibbled at the sensitive skin on her throat.
“I’m not wearing anything underneath.” She whispered.
“I know.” He growled rolling them over, so she was hovering over him.
“I love you,” She whimpered against him
“I love you, Lois,” He whispered leaning up to capture her mouth with his.
***
Present Day…‘Fight it.’ It hurt. He felt like his insides were being torn in two. His mind was attacking itself just as it had during his fight with Metallo.
<<“Alien. Destroy. Alien.”>>
‘No!’Images of the green glowing needle plagued his mind as he pushed through the pain.
“Ah, Superman, tsk tsk tsk you arrived a bit early.” Luthor’s voice echoed in the back of his mind.
He felt a hard rage flow through his body as Luthor taunted him.
<<“Destroy.”>>“Luthor.” He snarled angrily, trying to gain control of his mind as he fought against the suggestions.
“You can fight it all you want Superman, but we both know you’re going to give in.” Luthor hissed in his ear.
“Go to hell!” he growled, fisting the concrete below him.
<<“Destroy Metropolis.”>>
‘No!’ he fought against the messages.
“How long do you think you can resist that animal rage that’s boiling inside you? How long do you think you can keep up the façade that you are one of them? Their protector?” Luthor hissed in his ear. “You’re nothing! An alien!”
The black glowing stone flashed in his eyes once more, and everything went dark.
***
Clark reentered the newsroom after searching high and low for Luthor. Nothing. No sign of him anywhere. He’d finally given up and headed back to the Planet. He took a few minutes to stop by the daycare and check on Jon who was sleeping soundly with Ms. Rachel.
He knew it was hard for Lois to transition to not having Jon with her all day but he couldn’t help but be thrilled at having Jon here at the Planet with him. He loved having the luxury of being able to stop in and check on him. Just seeing his face helped brighten his day. Today was definitely a day he needed to see him.
He scanned the newsroom for Lois and sighed when he saw Lois in the conference room with Jimmy. He shook his head, unsure which version of the young man he’d be dealing with. The happy-go-lucky young man he’d come to know or the cold and hostile one that seemed to enjoy making his workday hell.
“Hey,” He flashed Lois a smile as he closed the conference room door behind him.
“Hey,” She smiled back at him. “Were you able to find Superman?”
“Eventually,” He looked to Jimmy who seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him at the moment. ‘Cold and hostile. Great.’ He pulled up a chair next to Lois, choosing to ignore Jimmy’s silent treatment for the moment. He still had no idea what the young man’s problem was, but he was growing tired of it. “I spoke with Superman briefly. He’s scanned the old LexCorp building but can’t find anything that would explain why he wants him there. He’s also scanned the city looking for Luthor and came up empty.”
“I’m going to go check on those prints,” Jimmy said, getting up. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
Clark watched the young man leave and shook his head. “You know I really wish he’d tell me what supposed offense I’ve done to warrant this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act from him.”
Lois twisted her face, looking back at him. “Yeah, he doesn’t seem himself.” She shook her head, “How long has he been acting like that?”
He frowned, “I guess the first time I noticed it was a few weeks before you had Jon.” A scowl crossed her face, and he added. “I know. It doesn’t make sense.”
“You didn’t get into a fight or argument? He just started acting like this for no reason.” She seemed to be trying to wrap her mind around what he’d told her.
“I don’t know. I have tried talking with him and come up with even more hostility, so I just avoid him. He’ll have his moments when he’s the same old Jimmy then the next he’s ignoring me again.” Clark sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Lois said, getting up from her seat.
“Nope.” Clark sighed, reaching for the papers she’d been reading earlier. “What’s this?”
“Research LexLabs was involved in. I thought we could compare it with the stuff we have on the organizations' tests on that meteorite.”
“Luthor had access to the meteorite?” Clark asked in shock.
“Apparently they did some testing on both a green and red variation and came up with something new,” Lois said with a frown as she paced in front of him.
“What?” He asked.
“Black.” She whispered.
“Like Metallo?” Clark asked, standing to his feet.
TBC…
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