Hi Vicki!
This is in response to the 2021 Kerth Challenge #2, which asked for a character to receive a text with a time, a place, and a warning.
Does sound like a fun one!
CLARK: what’s fun about getting a fan letter telling me to be at the fountain in Centennial Park on Sunday evening at 6 pm or I’ll regret it for the rest of my life?
Clark’s phone buzzed on the night stand, where he’d left it to charge overnight as he and Lois had slept.
Clark Clark Clark, electronic devices do not go in the bedroom at night. Makes for a much better sleep.
LOIS:
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/frech/a050.gif)
He kissed the top of her head, hoping that the simple act would soothe her back to sleep. She sighed softly, then snuggled into him even further. She murmured something inaudible, even to his sensitive ears and stilled her movements.
Aww, he switched her back into standby mode.
LOIS: Why he isn’t allowed to kiss me on the head during the morning meeting. Even when he’s late and brings coffee and a chocolate croissant.
Could it be one of their kids?
JON: Dad, yosad t cal ya wen wer t drnk t fli.
and still preferred to use them mainly to talk to people.
Huh? What do mean “talk to people with them?”
If you want your secret to remain a secret, you’ll need to show up to the top of the South Tower of the Metropolis Bridge at exactly 11pm tonight.
Intrigue!
Then, suddenly, she shot a hand out and grabbed it. She turned the screen back on and, with both of her thumbs flying into action, she began to text.
Yeah, you don’t want to engage in a flame war with an Internet troll. Or a literal flame war with a literal troll.
Lois frowned. “I almost forgot. He’s getting his cast off. I can’t believe you broke his leg,” she teased.
And here I was refraining from suggesting how the blackmailer is putting a awful lot of trust in the fact that Superman wouldn’t just vaporize him like the NK did with the soldiers.
CLARK: I would never. Jimmy just needed a believable excuse for why he missed the date with his fiancée. He couldn’t really tell her that his girlfriend was getting a pregnancy test, now could he?
“Maybe you shouldn’t have distracted me by wearing that shirt I like so much.”
The one she’s almost not wearing?
“You don’t think it might be some previously unknown spawn of Lex, do you?”
Has it already been a year?
Clark stared at her. How could she possibly be hungry when his appetite was nowhere to be found in his panic?
Normal day at the office, huh?
He opened the conference room door, where Lois was already waiting – and pacing – and let Jimmy in first.
Just realized – Jimmy could easily jump to Lois becoming a grandmother given their current state of distress.
“Uh, CK, now you’re really worrying me,” Jimmy quipped, uneasily eying Clark as he worked. His job done, Clark guided Lois to a chair,
“Damn,” he said in disbelief. He looked slightly green.
Jimmy seems a bit guilty.
Absolutely! Don’t worry, guys, I’ll find him…or her…for you.”
Yep, sounds guilty to me. Or in the know.
Clark’s mind was numb. “I forgot they even still made those,”
He needs to get out more l. Or watch TV. Although, at least over here a registration policy was introduced two or three years ago, so you have to have a verified identity to activate your SIM card.
“Why would I do that? It’s not like our mystery texter is going to be like “my name is Joe and I’m standing on the corner of Vine and Hale.”
Hmm maybe not text but how about getting a call from his own unknown number. Dumb criminal might pick up using his name. I mean, he did use an unblocked number. /Isn’t sure about current carrier policies regarding the blocking of one’s own number/
/Checks calendar/ Tuesday.
So, they do have find-my-phone and the kid l-tracking-app loaded onto Lois’s phone, right?
Also, taking Lois could be dangerous. She was once known as a self-rescuing damsel before she became Superman’s girlfriend.
See? Only question is if the kidnapper is still able to procreate in the future.
They knew it was rare for him to be in such a foul mood.
Yes, there’s been a marked drop in lonappings after the first couple of years and several lonappers no longer being able to procreate.
because even a fraction of a second not spent looking for Lois would have been a waste of precious time.
Now, it would be an interesting biomath challenge to figure out if the wet suit drags Superman’s speed down more than the time needed for drying it off would.
“There’s no choice. Lois is depending on me.”
What if the whole thing is a surprise ceremony for Superman and blackmail is the only guaranteed way to make sure nothing more important drags him away?
“I’d never hurt her,” came a deep voice from the shadows.
![[Linked Image]](https://cosgan.de/images/smilie/figuren/g080.gif)
Grunt.
Surprise! “And the kidnapping…” “My idea,” Lois admitted, biting her lower lip as she gauged his reaction.
See? Surprise ceremony.
“Clark, what’s today’s date?” Bruce asked, a smirk upon his face, the only readable thing beneath the cowl of Batman.
Wedding anniversary.
Oops.
“Mad?” Clark echoed. “Mad? Just because I’m gonna kill Bruce doesn’t mean…”
Now now, Clark, we don’t wanna overreact here. The trucker doing 70 below wouldn’t appreciate bits of bat cape splattering his windscreen.
And the number: Was it 04012021? And jimmy noticed?
“Pretending to be an insurance agent for the supposed fire at my house? While I was on my honeymoon. In Bali. And then getting Alfred to pretend he was at the hospital?”
Oh dear. Kitten’s not gonna be happy about that. And Kryptonite is kind of a jewel. And it’s locked away in safes in various impenetrable institutions. Why is he still able to fly around instead of groaning from Kryptonite poisoning.
SELINA: Umm … it’s not because I found it funny. Uh-ugh.
“Oh, and happy April Fool’s, Clark.”
You do realize you did not post this even close to April 1st?
And you sparked an Aprils’ Fools idea
I don’t know if it’s truly workable (read: how much suspension of disbelieve is needed) but there’s Lois, there’s Clark, there’s Superman, and there’s a not-so-fake minister involved.
This was a very unexpected vignette. The title suggested it’s more of a funny, then you started to pile on the suspension and one never knows, Lois’s did get taken to Never-Never Land in vignettes, too. I did have fun!
Michael
Vicki, my sides 
