InjusticeFolc4evernaday
Chapter 2: Scared to Rock the Boat______________________________________________
Four Years Ago…Congressman Donald Schumer, loosened his tie as he made his way through the double doors leading into his pristine office. He ran a hand through his thinning blonde hair as his dark blue eyes sparkled with excitement. The rush high from the day still hung over him as he moved to his desk, beginning each end of the day routine on auto-pilot. He called out to his assistant, “Lisa?”
He turned his head, looking for the familiar brunette whose desk was just outside his office, but found her desk vacant. A frown crossed his face as he walked toward the door leading back out into the hallway. Sure enough there was no sign of his assistant.
“Good help is so hard to find, isn’t it?” A thick German-accented man’s voice he did not recognize tickled his ear and he jumped, startled by the unknown man standing a few feet from him with a cigarette in between his index and middle finger, waving it in the air as he fumbled with his lighter.
“You can’t smoke in here,” Schumer sniffed, waving the man off.
“Oh?” The man took a long puff from his cigarette after finally getting the nicotine to burn and exhaled with a long drag of white smoke escaping his mouth. He pointed to Schumer’s office and sighed, “I’ve been watching you, Schumer. I like what I see.”
“Well, as flattering as that is, I’m happily married.”
A snort escaped the stranger’s throat and he let out a loud guffaw as he took another drag from his cigarette, narrowing his gaze at Schumer before pointing to his office. “Not from what I hear, Donny.” He grinned behind his gnarled yellow teeth and glared coldly at him. “Let’s talk.”
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Tobias swayed from side to side, watching as Congressman Donald Schumer looked around his office with a paranoid frenzy, searching for just how he had been intruded upon. Tobias let out a yawn, “Do you really feel that I wouldn’t be careful?”
“What do you want?” Schumer stammered out, wide-eyed as he glared back at Tobias.
“Donny, Donny, Donny, one would think you’d be a bit more careful with where you take your hooker…”
“She’s not a …”
“Prostitute?” Tobias offered, unimpressed. “We all know she doesn’t stick by you for the riveting conversation in bed, hmm?”
“Get out.”
“Temper, temper,” Tobias shook his head unimpressed. “Now, I’m here trying to offer you an opportunity.”
“What kind of opportunity?” Schumer asked uneasily.
“You scratch my back. I scratch yours.” Tobias shrugged his shoulders. “You have a problem, Donny. A very big problem.” His eyes twinkled with a chuckle and his eyes danced as he added discreetly, “…or more accurately a smaller than average problem.” He set the glossy 8x10 photos on the desk for Schumer to examine. “For a man who claims to love his wife you certainly don’t mind getting down and dirty, do you?”
“Where did you get these?” Schumer stammered.
“I have a far reach in this community.” He patted Schumer on the shoulder and found the man trembling just before he lunged toward him, grabbing him by the throat. Tobias blinked back at him unamused as he found his voice, “Kill me and every last copy of those negatives makes its way to every publication in this city in the next hour.”
Schumer removed his hand from Tobias’ throat and stammered, “What do you want?”
“Your undying allegiance. Your vote. Your voice. Anything and everything I need to keep business running smoothly.” Tobias reached over to grab Schumer by the throat, “Just so we’re clear, you touch me again and I will hunt down every last relative and friend you have and make their death…ever so painful.” Tobias’ eyes flashed with anger as he hissed out. “Am I clear?”
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The cool breeze from the ceiling fan brushed against Lois Lane’s face as she began to stir. The stagnant summer air had made evenings almost unbearable. She reached her hand out the space beside her and found the cool sheets. Her eyes blinked open and she looked over her large protruding bump, seeing Clark hunched over the side of the bed next to her abdomen.
She let out tired yawn and whispered, “What time is it?”
“It’s three in the morning.” Clark responded, looking up from where he was comfortably nestled next to her bump.
“What are you doing?” she asked sleepily.
“Talking to my boy.” He said with a grin.
“You’re going to teach him bad habits of staying up late and then we’ll never get him to sleep.” She whispered sleepily.
“Why don’t you go back to sleep?”
“Shouldn’t you be taking your own advice?”
“I’m just checking on our little guy,” he grinned back at her, resting his hand on her abdomen just as small jab hit exposed flesh where Clark’s hand was. A proud smile crossed Clark’s face, “He’s strong.”
“He’s having a party in there,” Lois giggled, placing her hand over the abdomen.
“Are you dancing in there, little guy?” Clark whispered, running his hand over the smooth bump of her abdomen. “Your mommy and I love you so much, little guy. There are so many things we want to teach you and show you.” He whispered, placing a kiss on her abdomen. He inched his way up to where he was eye-level with her, reaching over to stroke the frame of her face.
She smiled back at Clark, watching him gaze at her with a mesmerized expression. He smiled at her, tracing the frame of her face with his palm. “What?” she asked suddenly self-conscious under his gaze.
“Nothing. Just thinking about how much I love you.” He whispered, leaning in to kiss her. She smiled against his lips, feeling his other hand move to her abdomen. “Both of you.”
“Yeah?” she whispered, moving her hand to cover his.
“Our little boy is so lucky to have you, Lois.”
“Lucky?” Lois asked, looking back at him.
“You’ve been amazing through all of this and just taken everything in stride.” Clark, stroked her cheek with his thumb. His voice was low as he murmured softly, “Luthor’s trial. This pregnancy and all the changes at the Planet. You’ve been incredible with all of it. I know you’re going to be an amazing mother. I love you, Lois.”
“Oh, Clark…” Lois smiled at him. It amazed her how easily Clark could make her melt with just a few words or an expression on his face. He leaned in to capture her lips, cradling her in his arms, showing her just how much she meant to him in the late hours of the morning.
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Present Day…The tram whistle blared in the background as everyone around her called out to her from beyond the tracks where she stood trembling as she realized she had failed yet again at one of her great plans. Everything in her life continued to spiral from the moment she had turned fourteen. Every moment of every second felt like a bad dream she just couldn’t’ wake up from.
Even as she stood here in the middle of the tracks, attempting to put an end to it all she couldn’t even get that right. She cradled her arms around herself, falling to her knees in despair. The siren in the distance could be heard and she felt a panic rise within her, pondering what would happen if Tobias found her. She had put so much at risk and now she was destined to be pulled right back into the nightmarish world of money, drugs and prostitution.
The wind bristled through her hair as she felt a warm trickle run down her cheeks. A man’s voice coming from the edge of the platform reached her ears and she turned her head to look at him. He seemed to be friendly. His eyes were warm and caring, though the blue and red costume was a bit outlandish for her taste.
“Just take my hand…”
A second later, he was next to her and she felt her body go limp as she let out a labored sob, feeling a warmth spread through her as her body trembled. Everything around her began to spin as every bad decision flashed through her mind, reminding her of just how dead inside she had become. The darkness that had been put there by her captors had spread until she had been enveloped by it. She had become the very thing she hated and had been swallowed up by the pain that had slowly killed her inside. All that was left was to finish the job.
“It’s okay.” Another voice spoke and she turned her head to see a familiar looking man on the platform.
“Nein…” she stammered out, feeling her insides tremble as she cradled her body, unable to move at the presence of the familiar man. She knew his voice anywhere. Yusif’s deadbeat friend on the police force. Sergeant Nicholas Moore. Reminders of the sergeant’s underhanded deeds came back to her and she felt stomach churn with apprehension.
“Ingrid…Du kannst nicht rennen!”
// Translation: “Ingrid…You can’t run!”“Geh weg!” she called out to him.
// Translation: “Get away!”The man next to her called out to the officers approaching, pointing to Moore and quickly instructed them, “Hold him! He might be involved in this.” Before she could react the man turned to her and spoke in her native tongue, “Er wird dich nicht mehr verletzen.”
// Translation: “He won’t hurt you anymore!”Before she could respond, he reached his hand out for her to take and whispered, “Let me help you.”
She peered over to see three officers pulling a syringe out of Moore’s pocket and beginning to question him. She looked to the stranger who had inadvertently saved her from a fate she was sure would have been a gruesome torture at the hands of Yusif and let out a heavy breath.
“It’s okay.”
For the first time, she felt like those words weren’t empty.
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Jon let out giggle as he squished his hands in the soft sugary batter as Lois added the softened butter to the mix, instructing him to “keep squishing.” Lois turned her attention to the pan Martha was quietly browning the other half of the butter in and called out to her, “Almost ready?”
“Just about,” Martha cheered happily, running her spoon over the melting butter.
“I love sugar cookies!” Jon squealed as he squished his little hands in the mixture.
“You two got the eggs mixed in?” Martha asked.
Lois smirked, looking over at a few spots in the mixture where some yellow yolk could still be seen. “I think we need to turn the mixer on.”
“Aw, man!” Jon pouted, holding up his gooey hands. “I was having fun.”
“Well, just think of how delicious those cookies will be once they’re all mixed in.” Martha reminded him with a wink.
“Oh!” Jon grinned happily, jumping on the tip of his toes with excitement. “Don’t forget the secret ingredient!”
“Of course!” Martha laughed happily as Jon pulled his hands out of the mixing bowl. “Everyone ready?”
Lois reached over to flip the switch on for the mixer, letting it spin for a few moments before nodding to Martha it was ready.
“Yay!” Jon laughed as the brown butter mixed inside the cookie mixture and clapped his gooey hands. “Cookie time!”
Lois laughed, reaching over with a hand towel to wipe the gooey cookie dough mix off his cheek. Her parents had said their goodbyes an hour after Clark had left, noting the flight they were scheduled for tomorrow morning. Now that her father had extracted himself from the likes of Max Menken and unknowingly Lex Luthor he had gone back to the part of medical treatment he and her mother were both passionate about. Helping the underprivileged parts of the world receive medical care.
It kept them both busy and at the same time had given her father a new lease on life to rediscover why he had become a doctor in the first place. Private practice never had been a passion of his but being out on the field and saving lives – that was where he truly found himself. Over the years she had watched in amazement as the parents she had thought would never speak more than two words to one another had set aside each and every painful deception the other had inflicted on them and began to not only tolerate one another but to begin to rediscover what it was that had brought them together in the first place.
“Mama?” Jon’s little voice reached her and she turned to see Jon handing her a rolled up gooey dough ball. “Is this good?”
“Perfect.” Lois whispered, leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek. “Absolutely perfect.”
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Four Years Ago…Lois gazed over the round bump protruding from her abdomen, then peeked over at her husband as he set the plate down in front of her. She frowned, staring at the portion size, wondering if she would be able to fit the delicious food being offered into the cramped space that was left inside her. She felt as if she was trying to cram a semi into a narrow one way road. She let out a sigh, stirring her chicken around the plate with the spinach salad.
Clark reached his hand over to take her palm in his. “Everything okay?”
“Just tired,” she gave him a weak smile. Though honestly when wasn’t she tired was the better question. She had spent the better part of her third trimester being exhausted. She had read all the books and she and Clark had taken all the classes that were supposed to prepare them for what was to come in a few short weeks but what she hadn’t been prepared for was just how little energy she would have near the end of her pregnancy.
She had her occasional bursts of energy of course. Her mother referred to it as nesting but Lois wasn’t so sure. Procrastination had always been a trait she struggled with over the years and with the pregnancy consuming so much of her mind it felt as if it were one of the side effects of her poor habits. Thankfully they had finally gotten all of the baby’s things unpacked and setup in their bedroom and his nursery. Now all that was left to do was wait until he was ready to make his entrance.
She had been working half-days for the last two weeks, trying to slowly transition into what would be the new normal and give her body and mind a chance to rest in the afternoon when she felt the effects of the pregnancy weigh more heavily on her. She had thought it would be torture to take a step back and watch while everyone – Clark, Perry, Jimmy, and even Alice – continue about their days chasing down leads and continuing with the stories that would appear on the front page of the different news organizations’ headlines the next day. It wasn’t something she welcomed with open arms but once she had found herself a routine she discovered it wasn’t nearly as hard as she had imagined.
She was growing impatient with the hours and minutes and days that passed. Clark did his best to try and make a habit of stopping by for lunch and the occasional mid-afternoon check-in. The afternoon routine had begun with just naps and shaking off the fatigue but as time had passed she’d ventured into more creative uses of the time. Preparing the nursery and working on meal prep for when the baby did come. Though Clark had quickly shrugged it off, stating he could take care of everything she knew from experience that even he needed to slow down and rest. From what she had heard from the few moms she befriended in their Lamaze class the first few weeks would test both of their patience and choosing to over-prepare rather than under-prepared helped set her mind at ease.
“You want to turn in early?” Clark offered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “I know you haven’t been sleeping that well.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Lois let out a yawn. “This little guy is getting way too comfortable in there. It’s hard for anyone to get any sleep.”
“Well, the doctor said he could come any day now…” Clark reminded her.
“Thirty-seven weeks and two days,” Lois let out a long sigh.
“I’ll get this cleaned up. Why don’t you sit down in the living room and make yourself comfortable?” Clark offered, leaning over to kiss her cheek.
“If that’s even possible,” Lois mumbled, standing up from her feet. She reached her arms over her head to stretch and felt her lower back pop and something else stretch from her abdomen. She looked down uncertainly, feeling a small trickle of liquid run down her leg. Her eyes widened, wondering if she had just… She tried to tighten her inner muscles and found it had zero effect on the liquid trickling out of her.
‘Is that…?’
“What is it?” Clark asked, looking over at her with concern.
“Clark?”
He stopped in front of her. “What is it?”
“I think my water just broke…or is trickling.” She amended, looking down at the pool of liquid that was now soaking her cotton pants.
“Don’t move.” He ordered. A split-second later he had changed into his Superman suit and was carrying her hospital bag and they were in the air on the way to the hospital.
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Ellen Lane paced across the waiting room, nervously glancing toward the double doors leading back into the maternity ward where her daughter and son-in-law had disappeared behind just three hours before. She had barely made it out of the car when she’d run into Martha and Jonathan in the parking garage. After a few quick hugs and tears they had made their way to the waiting room where they had found the nurse just about to take Lois back with Clark.
She was trying to be patient. She knew these things took time. Her labor with Lois had taken nearly nine hours while her delivery with Lucy had been a short four and a half hours. Each had been different in their own way.
“Coffee?” She glanced over to where Sam was standing with a Styrofoam cup held out for her to take. “No cream and three sugars just like how you like it.”
“Thanks, Sam,” Ellen reached out to take the cup, drinking the warm liquid graciously.
“Looks like we’ll be here a while,” Alice spoke up, pulling her phone out. “Would anyone like to order something in?”
“I could go for a pizza,” Jimmy Olsen prompted with a grin.
“Just no bell peppers,” Ellen said on auto-pilot recalling her ex-husband’s aversion to bell pepper on just about anything at the same time Sam voiced his own, “No peppers.”
Sam flashed a nervous smile her way and then shrugged his shoulders. “Uh, here,” he pulled his Visa Credit Card out of his wallet and handed it to Alice. “My treat.”
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Lois fell back against her husband, allowing him to support her as he gently massaged her lower back. Back contractions. Painful, excruciating back contractions. If it weren't for the added heat vision Clark was applying to her back, she would have been in tears hours ago.
From the time her water broke, she’d made it to the hospital and been given an epidural to help control the pain. Though it had done a doozy on her lower extremities she was still feeling the hard-painful contractions along her back. She was in hell. Her back was on fire. She felt like she was being ripped in half. Then finally the pain subsided and was replaced with an unbearable pressure all along her back with every contraction.
“I swear to God if you tell me I’m doing great one more time without being any further along…” Lois muttered irritably.
“Come on, Lois, you’re almost there.” Clark cheered, looping his arms around Lois as she gripped him tightly. Everything faded into the background as she focused on the never-ending pressure that bore down on her insides.
“Okay, we’re ready to push!” The doctor encouraged. “Now.”
“I am pushing!” Lois cried, feeling her muscles tense as she leaned her head against Clark’s shoulder.
“You’re doing great, Lois.” Clark responded, squeezing her shoulder with an encouraging nod.
“Clark, I …” She let out an exasperated cry as the pressure continued to build.
“You can do this, Lois...” “Here we go!”
A soft cry filled the room. “You hear that?” The doctor asked. “Just one more push to get him out.”
Lois listened to their son continue to cry. She tightened her grip on Clark as she put all her energy into the last push. Another cry from her son. She wasn’t sure if she should be worried or relieved. She had never experienced so many emotions all at once. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry, laugh, or scream.
A sudden movement came from where the doctor was and then she felt a warmth across her chest. She looked over to the side, feeling her insides melt as she stared back into the dark brown eyes squinting through the light around him, reaching out for her.
“Congratulations,” The doctor cheered, “A beautiful baby boy. Time of birth is 9:30pm.”
Lois shivered involuntarily; Clark held her close, running his hands up and down her arms to help keep her warm. She looked over at the little boy who quietly fussed as he squirmed across her chest, making an “oh” with his mouth. “Hey, there sweetheart,” she felt the tears glisten from her eyes as she stared back into those gorgeous dark eyes that reminded her so much of her husband.
Lois watched in amazement as Clark followed the directions from the nurse to cut the cord. Their son’s eyes were still closed. He moved his head from side to side, whimpering as Lois reached out to hold her hand. She stared back into their son’s eyes, wrestling with the overpowering emotions that took over.
“He’s so perfect,” Lois whispered in amazement as she reached over to stroke her son’s cheek. “He’s gorgeous.”
Clark wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead, “You are amazing,” He whispered, “I love you so much.”
The nurse reached out for the baby. “We need to check his vitals…”
The nurses began looking their son over, and Lois turned back to Clark with a pained plea, “Stay with him.” She fell back on the hospital bed, completely spent from delivering their son. She craned her neck to watch as Clark stood a few feet away from the small table the nurses were examining Jon on.
Her son’s soft cries were like music to her ears as she watched the team of nurses gather their little boy up into a warm blanket and wrap him up as they cleaned him up after his exam. Clark reached his hand out and whispered reassurances to him.
“He recognizes your voice.” One of the nurses told him.
“Hey, little guy,” Clark let out a hoarse whisper.
Lois reached her hand up to wipe the tears from her eyes. He was here. He was finally here. They had read all the books. They had gone to all the classes—but nothing had prepared her for that moment of looking into his son’s eyes for the first time.
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Present Day…Clark soared through the sky, cradling the young girl he had rescued in his arms. He had never seen anything like it before. The dead zone gaze she had given him had chilled him to the bone. Fifth Street Mission had a close relationship with the Police Department and had helped save thousands of lives over the years. They had been the model he had used for the Superman Foundation to build their own safe havens in hopes of helping rescue runaways and families in need from the street. He reached the small blue and white multi-story building and set the young girl down on her feet.
“Are you okay to stand?”
She didn’t respond, but she seemed to be able to keep her balance on the landing in front of the dark blue door. He sighed, reaching over to gently knock on the front door and turned back to the young girl. “You’ll be safe here.”
The door opened and they both turned to see a dark-haired woman standing in the doorway with a warm smile, “Superman, so good of you to stop by.”
“Tracy,” Superman smiled, happy to see a welcoming face. “I wanted to introduce you to someone….”
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Four Years Ago…Victor Talley took a large gulp from the semi-warm mug of coffee from his desk, taking a glimpse at the late hour of the evening. He set the mug back down and turned back to the file in front of him, grimacing when he saw the notes on the sidebar from an interview FBI Agent, Jack Davenport had with one of the lead agents on the case nearly nine months ago.
He bit his lower-lip, reviewing the notes Davenport had filed meticulously inside the file. He looked over at the yellow file folder of cases that had yet to be assigned out to his agents. On the top was the open yellow file with the gruesome photos of Agent Blake’s unsolved murder. It had taken the DEA three months to gather everything prior to transferring the case to the FBI. Yet, he had an active agent in contact with an interested party from the DEA – and who was never able to get past the red tape. He let out a long breath. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed to put a fresh set of eyes on this case.
He reached over to pick up the handset from the phone on his desk and dialed the extension he knew by hear, “Jack? You mind coming in here?” He then set the phone back down and dialed the other extension to call out to another agent, “Elena? New case. Come to my office.”
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The screen flickered and Dr. Albert Schiller straightened his tie as he stared at the image before him. A balding man appeared on the screen and Schiller straightened up, preparing mentally to give his presentation.
“Dr. Schiller, I presume?”
“Has the package arrived in an acceptable condition, Tobias?”
Tobias Berg held up the small vial of clear liquid, examining it as he spoke. “The dosage is unclear on this Betäubenal.”
“The full five milliliters will suffice.” Dr. Schiller let out a sinister laugh as he went on to explain the beauty of his newly crafted drug. “Succinylcholine was a preferred drug of use but the nausea side effects that came with it were nasty and a hinderance to many of the clients I worked with. Betäubenal has the same paralytic effect with no nausea. As quickly as it enters the blood stream it disappears making it untraceable.”
“If this drug proves to do what you say it will…I’ll need to arrange regular shipments.” Tobias remarked carefully.
“I will call you, Tobias. Not the other way around.” Schiller instructed harshly. “I will not have the misdeeds of your unsavory hobbies landing on my doorstep. I provide you with a miracle drug and that is it.”
“But the shipments…”
“Will be arranged.” Schiller replied coldly. “Just keep the deposits coming and you’ll get your shipments. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Tobias replied before Schiller disconnected from the call.
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Clark let out a heavy sigh, listening to the soft hum coming from Jon’s plastic bassinet as his six pound and five ounce son quietly slept next to his mother’s hospital bed. He glanced over at Lois who was sleeping quietly with a peaceful smile across her face. He felt a grin threaten to break the corners of his mouth as he reached up to wipe the tears of joy that had escaped the corners of his eyes. Never in his life had he experienced such an exhilarating high as he had watching Lois give birth to their son. The moment his beautiful voice reached his ears Clark felt the entire world around him disappear. The only thing that mattered was Lois and Jon.
He reached his hand over the plastic bassinet, brushing his index finger against the soft skin of Jon’s cheek, feeling the intoxicating high continue to tease his brain as he stared at this beautiful boy that was absolutely perfect in every way.
“You really know how to make an entrance,” Clark grinned at him in a soft monotone voice. He glanced toward Lois’ bed, careful to keep his voice quiet so as not to wake Lois. “Your mommy and I love you so much, Jon. The world is a crazy mixed up place sometimes but it’s a wonderful and exciting place to be. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll protect you and your mom with my last dying breath if I have to, but you will never know how cruel this world can be if I have anything to say about it.”
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Present Day…David Zymack wrestled with the pen and notepad in hand as he entered the room inside Fifth Street Mission where he saw a young girl that couldn’t be older than his daughter, Gabrielle in the corner with her arms wrapped around her. The lines across her face and the dark circles beneath her eyes sent a chill down his spine.
He stole a glance toward the woman standing by the table who appeared to work here at the Mission. He pulled out his badge and called out, “I, uh, the department got a call from Superman…” He felt his voice waiver as he introduced himself. “David Zymack with the Metropolis P.D.”
“I, uh,” the woman’s face grew stern as she stared him down uncertainly. “I told Superman I would take care of the call to the police.” She pointed at the young girl. “She’s been through enough as it is.”
“I understand, ma’am,” Zymack let out a labored breath. “But as painful as this is it is important, we go ahead and get her statement so we can stop the people behind this.”
A weary expression crossed her face and she finally nodded, “Ingrid, I’ll be down the hall if you need me.”
Zymack watched her leave and turned back to the young girl who was still silently rocking herself in the chair she was seated in. “Tough crowd, huh?” he attempted to joke with her but got no reaction. He nodded, taking a seat at the table and pulling out his tape recorder. “This is Sergeant Zymack with the Metropolis P.D. Interviewing …” He glanced at the young girl, “Can you state your name for the record?”
“Ingrid.” She responded with a labored breath.
“Do you have a last name, Ingrid?” Zymack asked.
“I don’t remember,” she said with a pained expression.
“That’s okay,” Zymack said calmly, jotting down the name on his notepad. “Ingrid, I’m here to help. I know some very bad people have done some awful things to you, but that’s over now.”
“You don’t know that,” Ingrid responded coldly, flashing a distraught expression toward him. “You take me to some halfway house and think he won’t come after me?”
“Who?”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Ingrid brushed him off. “Nothing matters.”
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Numb.
Every fiber of his being felt numb when Clark returned home, feeling the emotional toll after his rescue of the young girl he had found trembling from her own shadow in the middle of the Metro Tram tracks, holding all traffic up from coming and going. After ensuring she was safely checked into the Fifth Street Mission he had returned home and quickly made a call to Bill Henderson in hopes of speeding up the process of finding out just what had happened to the young girl. She had been traumatized by something - someone, his mind quickly amended – and until that person was behind bars there was no way to truly end the fear that consumed that poor girl.
“Hey,” Lois placed a hand on his shoulder, and he looked over at her with a weak smile, unwilling to voice the turbulent thoughts that consumed him. “Bad rescue?”
He gave her an apologetic frown, “I know I missed the clean-up and bedtime story for Jon. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Lois said softly, taking a seat in his lap and cradling him against her as he let out a labored breath. She rested her forehead against his, reaching over to stroke his cheek. “Jon had a blast making cookies with his grandma and crashed from a sugar high early.” She gave him a weak smile.
“Still,” Clark frowned, disappointed with himself. “It was his birthday.”
“You didn’t miss his birthday, Clark. You were here to decorate. You were here with the pizza and the cake and watching him get into mischief with his friends.” Lois replied softly, leaning in to kiss him. “You want to talk about it?”
Clark looked down at his lap where Lois was seated snugly against him before letting out a soft grunt. “Fifteen…” he shook his head, correcting himself, “Maybe even sixteen-year-old jumped on the tracks of the Metropolis Transit.”
“Oh, my God!” Lois gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. “Is…?”
“Thankfully, the engineer stopped the train before it could hit her and shut the place down,” Clark said shakily. “She was a kid, Lois. A kid.”
“Even as a teenager life can seem pretty horrific,” Lois remarked gently, reaching her hand over to squeeze his hand in hers.
“This is more than that, Lois,” Clark shook his head, recalling the cold dark expression from the young girl. “It was like staring into a …a corpse. This dark nothingness in such a young girl.”
“Oh, Clark,” Lois threaded her fingers with his, tightening her grasp on him as he let out a labored breath.
“I’ve seen that look before. Usually from people on the street near Hobb’s Bay that are just indifferent to everything and so much older…” Clark frowned, staring down at his hand perfectly connected with Lois’ as he spoke. “I took her over to Fifth Street Mission, but I don’t know what Tracy and them can do.”
“You helped a young girl and hopefully put her on the right track to getting the help she needed.” She leaned in to capture his lips as she stroked his cheek. “You can’t be everywhere at once, Superman. Even if you want to.”
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Tracy Hartford felt her hand tremble as she poured the hot tea into the cup on the tray in front of her. Her voice trembled as she looked over to the middle-aged man with dark hair and sun-dried callouses that covered his face and hands from old scars from the years of abuse. She felt a hard lump pulsate in the back of her throat as she set the tea kettle down.
She gave a forced man toward the man, feeling a sinking feeling continue to quiver from within the pit of her stomach. She let out a heavy sigh and nodded to him, “I, uh, put her in the back room so she’d be out of sight from the others.”
“Smart,” came his response with a thick accent she couldn’t quite place.
They reached the end of the hallway and she knocked lightly on the door, “Ingrid?”
A gruff exhale came from behind her and she looked back at the man waiting patiently for her delivery of Ingrid.
“Ingrid?”
Nothing.
“I, uh….”
“I don’t appreciate being jerked around…” the threat from him was clear.
Tracy reached over to unlock the door with the keys from her pocket, letting out a nervous laugh, “I’m sure she’s just…”
Her heart lurched in her chest when she saw the empty room and the window with the curtains billowing in the wind from the open window.
“Missing.” The man corrected for her.
________________________________________
TBC...
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