Rules of War
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 6
The loud hum from the electricity pulsing through the power lines and drumming to life STAR Labs’ high tech facility filled the hallways. Lois Lane let out a sigh of relief as the bright lights surrounded her and Clark in the long corridor they were in with Dr. Klein. Lois let out a soft mumble beneath her breath, grateful to see the bright white lights and hear the soft ping of computer systems up and running. “That's one problem solved.”
“But we still don't know who caused the blackout.” Clark pointed out as the sliding door to Dr. Klein's lab opened up.
“So, Superman is sure the power was up and running everywhere else?” Dr. Klein inquired.
“Positive,” came Clark's response as they followed Dr. Klein to his desk where the computer was just logging into STAR Labs’ database.
Lois ran a hand through her hair watching as Dr. Klein typed furiously, scanning the long list of code on the monitors. His brow furrowed as he mumbled, “Everything appears to be online.”
“Now it is,” Clark stressed.
“The entire nation was knocked off the power grid for almost a whole day. That’s not coincidental,” Lois’ brow furrowed as she spoke.
“Metropolis was offline for an extra four hours.” Clark added, shaking his head.
“Well, we know the power grid failure was from a virus,” Dr. Klein mused aloud, tapping at his keyboard. “We’ve tracked it down to a small group of cyber criminals well known on the dark web. Unfortunately most of their locations are unknown.”
“But you keep files on them?” Lois pointed at the screen.
“The NIA does.” Dr. Klein explained with a shrug, “but a good number of these guys escaped from Metropolis Prison.”
“And the others?” Clark asked with a frown.
“There are maybe a small handful that are still in custody, but the rest of them are still out there. They live on the dark web, but just haven’t been unlucky enough to be caught.” Dr. Klein explained, typing in his browser to pull up a dark blue and green screen where ads for identities being sold, credit card numbers, bank accounts, and more.
“What is this?” Lois asked with a scowl.
“The dark web.” Dr. Klein explained, pointing out the long list of code on the right hand side of the screen. “STAR Labs is one of the many facilities tasked with monitoring it for the NIA.” Dr. Klein gave a slight shrug, “I’m not as diverse as some of my colleagues but I can find my way around it.”
“Who might be more diverse?” Lois inquired.
***
A man with short brown hair and a camera over his shoulder walked out of the brick building Johnny Corbin had been sitting outside of. The dark haired woman walking with him seemed so familiar. A scowl crossed his face as he watched the young man lean in to kiss her. He couldn’t understand what made him feel such a rush of jealousy from watching the young couple interact with one another but he knew something felt wrong about it.
His jaw tightened as he watched the couple walk toward the bus station. The young man pointed to the whirring transit moving above them. ‘Too close’ he thought to himself, watching as the young man put an arm around the dark haired woman again.
“Hey, Luce, we might be able to catch the train.” he heard the man say.
“Jimmy Olsen, I thought you hated riding the train,” she grinned back at him.
“I do,” he grinned back at her, “but I love spending time with you.”
“Jimmy Olsen,” Corbin breathed out, watching the couple disappear into the crowd.
***
Whisper A’Daire looked around the high tech laboratory she and Dr. Harleen Quinzel were in. She stopped in front of one of the room-length windows, catching sight of her reflection. The short brown hair was not a look she enjoyed but whatever was necessary for the job. A golden hue flashed from her eyes and in place of the short brown hair was long red locks. A smile crossed her face, “Much better,”
“Having fun?” Dr. Quinzel called out to her as she typed at her keyboard.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Whisper asked as she came up behind Dr. Quinzel and looked at the code on the monitor.
Dr. Quinzel’s light blonde hair flipped as she rolled her eyes and looked back at Whisper’s green and blue eyes. “I’ll have all the NIA Agent’s personal files online before you can say…”
“Dr. Quinzel?” the screen blanked out and the face of Dr. Bernard Klein with Lois Lane and Clark Kent standing behind him appeared in its place.
Dr. Quinzel shot a warning look at Whisper before responding in a sickly sweet tone, “Yes, Dr. Klein?”
“This is Lois Lane and Clark Kent from the Daily Planet,” Dr. Klein motioned behind him. “Can we have a moment of your time?”
Dr. Quinzel’s face looked like it very well could break from the tight grin she kept pasted on her face. “Of course,” she reached over to press the red button on her desk and muttered to herself, “Hopefully this will be quick.” She reached over to press the publish button on her screen and the green arrow blinked ‘Uploading.’
***
Perry White tapped his pen against his desk as he skimmed over the copy for the next edition. He glanced up and saw the IT Manager leaning over Eugene Ladderman’s shoulder, looking at the screen they had pulled up. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about. Something about ‘Trojan’ and ‘Firewall.’
“Hey, Chief,” Jimmy’s voice intruded on Perry’s thoughts and he turned his attention to the young man standing in his doorway. “Looks like the Planet’s back online.”
“Yeah,” Perry forced a smile at Jimmy, “but there seems to be a lot of speculation going on as to what caused the blackout in the first place.”
“I’ll bet,” Jimmy shook his head.
“And how easily everything seemed to come back online,” Perry added, glancing over at the IT Manager and Eugene Ladderman.
“Easy?” Jimmy’s brow furrowed.
Eugene Ladderman looked up from the laptop he and the IT Manager were entranced with and approached Jimmy,“All the hours of trying to track down the source of this polymorphic virus and then poof, firewall comes down and everything magically goes back to normal.”
Jimmy’s brow furrowed, “Viruses don’t just stop. Someone or something has to make it stop...or maybe it was coded to go dormant after a certain amount of time.”
“You know a little something about computer viruses?” Ladderman asked with an impressed look.
“I tinker with computer programming on the side.” Jimmy beamed proudly. “Getting pretty good at it actually.”
“Good enough to lend us a hand?” Eugene asked.
***
The blonde haired woman behind the red trimmed glasses that Dr. Klein introduced to them as Dr. Quinzel appeared to be forthcoming with Lois’ questions, but Clark still felt like something was off. She had been way too quick to jump up from her computer when they had entered and as much as Lois tried to press her they still were nowhere closer to having answers on the cyber attack that had gripped the country.
“I wouldn’t necessarily call myself an expert on the dark web,” Dr. Quinzel replied smoothly, flashing a broad grin across her face as she tapped her fingertips against the desk she was sitting at. “I just help out the NIA with their pet projects.”
“Oh, Dr. Quinzel don’t be modest,” Dr. Klein beamed back at her. Clark caught a scowl on the woman’s face before she covered it with a forced smile. “You’re the NIA expert here at STAR Labs.”
“Well, Bernie, I don’t like to over sell myself. I’m no expert.” Dr. Quinzel shrugged and Clark heard her heart rate pick up as she spoke, hinting that she was indeed lying.
Dr. Quinzel’s lab partner placed a hand on Dr. Klein’s shoulder and interrupted, “I think you were mistaken, Dr. Klein. Dr. Quinzel is not the expert on NIA or the dark web.”
Clark caught a look of disbelief from Lois just before Dr. Klein seemed to immediately change his tune, repeating the lab partners words. “I’m sorry, Lois, Clark, I must have been mistaken. I guess Dr. Quinzel isn’t our expert on the dark web.”
Lois arched an eyebrow and gave Dr. Klein a look of disbelief, “Then who is?”
***
The picketing lines grew larger and larger as news of the complete change of party and representatives made its way to everyone. Many of the reporters that had been holed up in the briefing room for hours with Ron were now shoulder to shoulder with him as they interviewed the protesters for their take on the newest change by the president.
“We elected officials not these criminals!”
“Our voices have to be heard!”
“Re-vote!”
“The president is not speaking for me!”
Ron made his way to the end of the crowd where a small group of girls that couldn’t be older than fourteen held up their picketing signs. Unlike the adults that were surrounding the Capitol Building the girls weren’t shouting about party lines or who was in control. The message on their picket signs read ‘Why should I vote?’
Ron approached them and heard the chants, “No voice. No justice. Your vote doesn’t count.”
“Excuse me,” Ron called out to them.
“Yes?” one of the girls stopped and turned toward him.
“I’m Ron Troupe with the Daily Planet,” Ron flashed a smile at the girls. “I was hoping I could talk to you about your protest here today.”
“Us?” one of the other girls looked back at him questionably.
“Yes, you.” he nodded.
“Why us?”
Ron gestured to the group that seemed to be leading the protest with chants about voter oppression and party lines being shouted from the megaphone. Many of the news organizations had cameras centered around them, but Ron’s experience over the years had taught him it was never about who was up front.
“Your message seems more genuine.” Ron explained with a small smile as he pointed to their signs. “You’re not shouting about party control or mudslinging…” He pointed to the first girl that was twirling her blonde hair with her index finger. “You’re not even old enough to vote yet and you’re here protesting.”
“We just want to know when it gets time for us to vote we’ll have our voices heard.” the young girl responded.
“I think I can help with that.” Ron responded.
***
The loud honking of the bus horn turning the corner and the blaring honk from the taxi cab filled the air as Lois and Clark made their way to the parking garage.
Lois silently stewed over the odd behavior Dr. Klein and Dr. Quinzel. Something was up with his sudden change of attitude but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She glanced over at Clark who seemed just as lost in thought as she was. “That was weird, wasn’t it?”
“Which part?” Clark asked, glancing over his shoulder to look at her. “The part where Dr. Quinzel tried to deny all affiliation with the NIA projects Dr. Klein swore she was an expert on or Dr. Klein’s sudden change of tune the second her assistant started talking?”
“Both,” Lois said with a smirk.
“Did you see how quickly Dr. Klein’s attitude changed the minute that assistant started talking to him?” Clark asked, shaking his head.
“Yeah,” Lois frowned, trying to recall the assistant’s name. “What was her name?”
“She didn’t give one,” Clark frowned.
“Maybe we start with Dr. Quinzel and see what we can find on her?” Lois suggested, hooking her arm in his with a conspiratorial grin.
“Are you sure taking on another story is the best idea right now?” Clark asked, threading his fingers through her hair as they came to a stop in front of their Jeep.
“They’re hiding something.” Lois squeezed his hand with hers.
“Yes, but what happens if what they’re hiding has nothing to do with the other three stories we’re juggling?” Clark reminded her with a sigh.
“We delegate,” Lois said confidently.
“Delegate?” Clark looked at her curiously.
***
Bill Henderson took a deep breath, trying not to think about the sweat pouring down his face as he held onto the rickety old ladder the team had found inside the old elevator shaft. It reeked of dust and rust and he was sure there was mold somewhere but he couldn't think about that now. He had to think about getting to freedom. He had to think about getting help.
“How are you doing Bill?” Zymack called out to him from below.
“Still got a ways to go.” Henderson responded, as he coughed out some of the dust he’d inhaled.
Mike Rogers called out to him, “How’s the ladder holding up, Bill?”
“For now it’s holding, Mike, but I wouldn’t trust it holding more than one of us at a time.” Bill responded, eying the rusty metal that was holding his weight. They didn’t dare send anyone up after him. It was all on him to make the treacherous trip up to the surface and get help for the rest of the men trapped below.
***
The soft music played in the background of the Metro Club as Carmine Falcone stared down any would-be assailants. Metropolis was far different from Gotham City where he could make his presence known anywhere and not fear retribution. He had made many enemies over the years and many have navigated to Metropolis and its surrounding cities. Thankfully he had one ally in the city to prevent a premature assassination. As far as he could tell anyway.
For the moment, his alliance with Luthor kept him safe during his stint in Metropolis but whether Luthor would remain safe was still to be determined. Carmine’s thoughts drifted briefly to Alberto, his son locked up in Arkham Asylum. It wasn’t enough to just break him out of the prison he was in. He needed to be free. A life on the run was no life at all. He of all people knew that.
“Carmine, good to see you, old man.” Lex Luthor’s smooth voice reached Carmine Falcone’s ears as he reached the back of the club.
Lex offered him a cigar from the silver pack in his hand and Carmine took it with a nod, “Lex, I thought we weren’t meeting in public until your announcement next week.”
Lex took a long puff from his cigar and nodded, “We’re moving up the timeline.” His brow furrowed, “Things escalated with the botched up job on the virus.”
“Can you afford to move the timeline up?” Carmine asked, taking his seat at the table. “Tensions don’t exactly seem to be in the president’s favor at the moment.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Lex replied darkly. “Are you sure your men are ready?”
“They’ve been briefed and know what’s coming,” Carmine replied coolly. “Just don’t forget your part of the bargain, Lex.”
“Alberto’s case will be the first matter of business President Garner handles once I’m in office.” Lex promised happily.
“How soon can you have the vote on the Senate floor?” Carmine asked.
“The public is distracted with the massive sweep of the house and senate. The president has already submitted my name for confirmation and no one has even noticed.” Lex smiled slyly.
“And what happens if they do?” Carmine asked with a concerned expression. “I’ve invested a lot of men and resources into this project.”
“As have I, Carmine,” Lex soothed with a broad grin. “Trust me, everything is going according to plan.”
“It better.” Carmine warned darkly.
***
Johnny Denetto held the large lead box in his hands as he made his way through the dark halls of Bill Church Jrs contact. He wasn't sure how trustworthy this Doctor was but he was the only one Church trusted to test the specimen Denetto had retrieved and beggars couldn't be choosers.
“You must be Denetto.” a voice from behind him spoke up and he turned to see a bald man with yellow tinted glasses in a lab coat.
“You the doc?” Denetto eyes him warily.
“Dr. Hugo Strange,” he held out a hand to introduce himself.
Denetto nodded recognition. “I've heard of you.” He set the box down on the table in front of him and exclaimed, “You're supposed to be the expert on weird, right?”
“Rare and unique individuals have come my way yes.”
“How about this?” Denetto popped open the lid and the red glow covered Hugo's face as he stared at the contents.
“Fascinating...”
***
“Doctor who?”
Clark stood by Jimmy’s desk and let out a deep sigh catching the quizzical expression on Jimmy’s face at the name he had provided. “Harleen Quinzel. She’s a scientist at STAR Labs.”
Jimmy’s face took on a concerned expression at the mention of STAR Labs and he asked, “Can’t you just ask Dr. Klein?”
“He wasn’t much help,” Clark remarked begrudgingly.
“STAR Labs isn’t exactly the friendliest with providing information to the press.” Jimmy reminded him. He then amended his statement, “Well aside from Dr. Klein.”
“Normally he I’d agree, but Dr. Klein seemed...not himself when it came to Dr. Quinzel.” Clark explained carefully, recalling the scientist’s behavior earlier.
Jimmy opened his mouth to respond when Lois interrupted, walking up to them and waving a file in her hand, “I’ve got it.”
“Got what?” Clark asked, turning his attention away from Jimmy.
“Hamilton’s research.” Lois explained, slapping the file in Clark’s hands. He set the file on Jimmy’s desk, watching with amusement as Lois went into full babble mode, sharing her latest piece of information with her arms flailing through the air with excitement. “Jim Burrows, Bill’s friend in the new Special Crimes Unit they created last month?” she prompted excitedly. “Since Bill Henderson isn’t any help for obvious reasons I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask about the investigation the police did at the time of Capone’s arrest.” A huge grin covered Lois’ face as she gloated the news of the obvious break she’d gotten in their investigation.
Clark crossed his arms over his chest, looking back at her with amusement, “No, no, don’t tell me. Only a select few people knew Hamilton’s cloning research was being housed at STAR Labs.”
“And you’ll never guess who the lead contact at STAR Labs was.” Lois finished happily.
Jimmy waved his hand in the air to interrupt, holding up the file Clark had laid on his desk. “Dr. Harleen Quinzel.”
***
Whisper A'Daire smiled gleefully as she peeked over Harleen Quinzel's shoulder and whispered, “Is the transfer complete?”
“All personnel files have been sent over,” Dr. Quinzel said with a yawn.
Whisper looked around the lab warily, “Good, let's get out of here before that Klein fellow shows back up.”
“What do you care, Whisper?” Quinzel teased. “A bat of your eyelashes and he’s putty in your hands.”
“Don't remind me,” Whisper cringed.
A loud bang came from the wall where a square metal panel was. They both jumped and looked toward the panel that was now opening. A man's hand poked through as the metal folds separated.
“Harley,”
“Whisper,”
The man's head poked through covered in dust and grime. A frown crossed Whispers face as he fell through the now open metal entryway and into the lab.
“I believe we have a problem,” Harley said narrowing her eyes at the intruder.
***
Power Outage Leaves Country in Ruins!
By Ron Troupe
STAR Labs Scientist on the Run!
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent
Power Virus Linked to Metallo Theft!
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent
Congress to Vote on New VP!
By Ralph Simms
Wayne Tech Moves to Metropolis
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent
Perry White beamed proudly at the stack of headlines on his desk. The week had been littered with questions and stories that had taken hold of the nation as everyone watched with bated breath for the news of the new Vice President that would be named any day now. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives remained behind closed doors as the president’s nominee was currently being interviewed by Congress. Ron Troupe remained at Capitol Hill ready to report the first glimmer of news as it was announced. Jimmy was leading the research into each new member of Congress and his best team of reporters was promised the inside scoop on Metropolis’ newest philanthropist, Bruce Wayne. All in all it had been a successful week for the Daily Planet and his team of reporters had proven once again why they were the best of the best.
A large folder dropped on his desk, intruding his thoughts and Perry looked at the top page taped to the manilla folder on his desk. ‘DNA Manipulation and Human Cloning?’
Perry looked up in disbelief, uncertain where or who this folder had come from. His forehead creased as he met the gaze of Jimmy Olsen who was looking at him expectantly. “Jimmy, what in tarnation is this?”
“Chief, just hear me out…” Jimmy began holding his hands up as he took a seat across from Perry. “Hamilton was able to create clones from those gangsters a few months ago with DNA manipulation.”
“Uh-huh,” Perry looked at Jimmy uncertainly.
“It sounds unbelievable but it is a proven scientific…”
Perry sighed, shaking his head, “Jimmy, we have enough stories to juggle right now without completely killing our reputation with stories like this.”
“But Chief…”
“I don’t want to hear another word about it.” Perry shook his head. “There was a reason we didn’t print everything we knew about Hamilton’s experiments.” He picked up the latest edition of the Planet and pointed at the headlines. “Political unrest. Billionaires moving to Metropolis. Computer Viruses wiping out a nation.” Perry waved his arms in the air. “These are the stories people want to read about and expect from the Daily Planet.”
“If I can prove it…” Jimmy pleaded half-heartedly.
“We need more than just one scientist’s theories on cloning.” Perry explained with a heavy sigh. “Hard facts. Capone, Dillinger, and the rest of those goons are gone. All you have left on this theory is scientific theory and nothing concrete to back it up with.”
“What if I have more?” Jimmy asked.
“What do you mean?” Perry asked.
“I think some of the Metropolis P.D. has been cloned.” Jimmy stated bluntly.
Perry saw a familiar spark of determination in the young man’s eyes and did his best to coax him in the right direction, “Prove it and we’ll talk.”
***
Lois patted her wrist with a drop of perfume as she examined her reflection in the mirror. The curled locks and elegant gown reminded her briefly of a time not so long ago where she’d been pulled into a world she never felt one with and yet was entranced with for the longest time. Though the invitation from Bruce Wayne was for work and had nothing to do with her past with Lex Luthor she still felt uneasy and out of her depth attending the Russian Ballet on the billionaire’s dime.
“You look gorgeous,” her husband’s voice intruded her thoughts as his hands rested on her bare shoulders before he leaned in to kiss her. “You about ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she murmured aloud, glancing at the reflection of him in his tuxedo. A smile curled across her lips as she stared back at him, admiring how perfectly he seemed to fit into everything. “You sure we absolutely have to go to this thing?”
“Given Perry’s expecting a full report in the morning I’m not sure bailing is an option if we want to continue reporting news.” Clark reminded her, leaning in to kiss her. “Dog shows aren’t really your forté.”
“It would be hard to explain Superman rescues when we’re supposed to be covering Lulu’s dog show pageant.” Lois giggled, running her hands up and down his chest and teasing his crooked bowtie.
“Who knows we might even enjoy ourselves,” Clark whispered in her ear.
“Says the man who can’t stand the person we’re supposed to be interviewing all evening.” Lois smirked back at him.
“I have a hard time trusting someone that greets me with crippling pain.” Clark shrugged.
“Most people do.” Lois agreed, grabbing her purse from the dresser. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
***
TBC...
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