Three Rules
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 10
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Professor Daitch scowled as he examined the latest report on his desk. He had run the tests at least a dozen times, but he had to be sure. He reached over to type in the coordinates once more, watching the screen as the simulation ran again.
The screen showed the meteor’s diameter to be 22.2 kilometers as the trajectory moved directly into Earth’s orbit. He stared at the preliminary timeline of the imminent doomsday clock that blinked back at him in red digital letters.
A heavy sigh escaped the back of his throat as he reached over to dial the number for the Pentagon.
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Lois cradled her head in her hands, looking up at the blinking clock in front of her. She vaguely recalled climbing under the covers a few hours ago. Her hand reached over to brush it against the bruise on her arm from where her IV had been. Her lips separated, peeling away from one another after the long rest as she cleared her throat, trying to find her voice.
<<“I don’t think that’s how you say ‘You were right, Lois.’ You can say it.”
“Say what?”
“Repeat after me, ‘You’re right, Lois.’ Come on. You know you want to.”>>
<<"Introducing Lola Dane...">>
<<“Ms. Lane, you really should look into a career in show business. That’s quite a set of pipes you have. Not that it’ll do you any good.”>>She reached her hand up to cradle her head as she sat upright on the edge of the bed, recalling the chaos at the Metro Club and the narrow escape she had made from the clutches of Toni Taylor. Despite her better judgment, she’d run right back into danger. She couldn’t rationalize it any more than she could explain why Superman could fly.
Why?
Superman.
Her cheeks turned a crimson red, recalling the way she’d thrown herself at Clark. Her lips tingled, recalling the sensation of Clark’s lips caressing hers. Flashes from the previous day trickled to the forefront of her mind.
<<“I think ….we need…to slow down.”
“Why would we want to do that, Clarkie?”>>
<<"Lois, you’re not yourself. Something has changed, and…”
“I don’t need to be myself… I love you.”>>She reached for the bottle of Aspirin, twisting the top off and taking a capsule from the bottle, and tossing it to the back of her throat. She reached for the bottle of water and took a swig to help swallow the aspirin go down.
She let out a heavy sigh, recalling the events from yesterday. She clamped her eyes closed, processing the memories one by one and calming her nerves as she fought back the tidal wave of emotions.
<<“I love you.”>>A shudder rippled through her as those three words echoed in her mind, forcing her to reflect on how she truly felt about Clark Kent.
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The atmosphere was tense within the war room as General Zeitlin looked across the table to the president, awaiting a response. The chiefs of staff surrounding the president stared at the footage, silently taking everything in as the simulation played on the large screen for them all.
The president cleared this throat, tapping his hand across the table before finally breaking the unnerving silence. "How many people know about this?"
"Everyone in this room and the scientist that found the irregularity. Dr. Daitch." General Zeitlin responded calmly, trying to read the president's pregnant pause as his attention moved back to the simulation once more.
"Bring him to the pentagon and see that this doesn't get out. No sense in initiating a worldwide panic until we have all the facts."
"Yes, Mr. President."
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Clark hung the phone up and turned his attention to the empty page open on the screen, blinking expectantly for him to put to words the events over the last several days. He rested his chin into the crook of his palm, contemplating if he should check on Lois or wait for her to reach out. S.T.A.R. Labs' evaluation had left more questions than answers for him, and the more he dug, the more questions that arose.
"Hey, C.K.," Jimmy walked up, waving the handful of files trying to get his attention. "You okay?"
"Fine, Jimmy," Clark fibbed, biting his lower lip as he turned back toward his screen. "Just fine..." he trailed off, feeling the weight of the word 'fine' press down on him. He was anything but fine at the moment but explaining all the events that had transpired over the last few days to Jimmy would take more time than he had to spare.
Jimmy pointed to the screen where the police had taken another group of lovesick victims into custody. "The world's crazy, huh?"
"Yeah," Clark nodded, feeling the burning of his ears at the memory of how close he'd come to making an irreversible mistake. Thanks to his inability to discern the fact that Lois had been drugged, he would forever be taunted with the fact that he had nearly...
He shook his head in dismay, pushing the memory away. Looking back, it was obvious, but in the moment, he had been clueless. How many others had been exposed to this drug? How many others would wake up with no recollection of what had happened?
Revenge.
That was the name the police had given it. A drug used to remove inhibitions was how S.T.A.R. labs had classified it during Lois' evaluation. He still had so many questions, but it appeared those would have to wait.
The elevator doors pinged open, revealing Lois Lane with the usual crowd of reporters shuffling in from the morning commute.
"Here goes nothing..."
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The faint hint of freshly cut grass hung in the air with a clean, fresh scent that was like nothing one would experience in Metropolis. It wasn’t the first trip outside the city and certainly wouldn’t be the last for Lex, but the small-town setting felt different from other places he’d visited. There was no rich culture to cater to as he tried to barter his way through the town’s inner politics but rather a homey small town richness that felt quaint.
Looking across the fields, he could see the clear skies for miles, and with it, he could feel the heat from the sun that bore down on him. A fact he was growing more apparent of by the second as the sweat dripped down the back of his neck.
“So, Smallville,” Lex mused to himself, taking in the homey atmosphere as he entered the quaint hotel that claimed to be the best of Smallville. The linens and quilts on display felt like a play to an old country-western song than an elegant hotel his assistant had claimed it to be when booking the room for him.
Lex fidgeted with the keys in his hand as he allowed himself to be escorted to the executive suite. He bit his tongue from vocalizing his thoughts on the décor, nodding quietly to the woman – Maisie – who was setting him up with a key and refreshments. The chatter was of nonsensical musings over a festival of wheat or corn coming and so many rooms being unavailable. He mildly nodded, unable to tell if she was making up excuses or actually convinced this was how to carry on a conversation with him. When he didn’t respond, she quietly nodded and pointed him toward the bathroom where towels were laid out.
He nodded his thanks and offered a tip for the trouble, letting out a heavy sigh of relief when he found himself finally alone. He still wasn’t sure where to begin in his search for Jason Trask but he had to start somewhere.
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Jason Trask reached up to wipe his brow, examining the ground below him as he walked through Schuster’s field. He stopped in front of the large oak that according to the sitemap from 1967 was in the middle of the estimated crash site. He placed a marker on the tree and turned over his shoulder to where the crew he had with him stood waiting.
“Tear it down.”
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“Miranda Thatcher has brought in for questioning in the Toasters arson ring and the drug ring that was unveiled during the investigation. Miranda Thatcher was recently seen with Lex Luthor at a charity event but has yet to confirm or deny the couple’s relationship status…”
Lois stared at the image of Miranda being escorted into the police station, shaking her head in dismay. She had spent most of the morning doing what she could to avoid the reminders of just how much of the day had disappeared amid her exposure to the drug the police had dubbed, Revenge.
The footage changed from the scene outside the police station to a breaking news alert with a red ticker. Curious she walked toward the screen, reading the update that ran across the footer of the screen. ‘Breaking News: Bob Fences Files Lawsuit Against LexCorp’
“Bob Fences, founder of Nanosoft, has filed suit against LexCorp claiming the latest medical advancements LexCorp announced this past weekend. Nanosoft’s claim concludes the technology was stolen in a recent fire that broke out in the lab from the Toasters arson attacks ...”
“Well, this just got more interesting,” Lois commented, tapping her finger on her chin. She vaguely recalled the suspicions that had been raised when the fire at Nanosoft had broken out. All suspicions over the fire’s timing diminished as each fire ignited by the Toasters was seen as a random attack.
“What got more interesting?”
She turned, craning her neck to see Clark standing behind her. A flush of pink tingled in her cheeks as she felt the heat of embarrassment flood through her, suddenly face to face with him for the first time since her exposure to Miranda’s Revenge potion.
“Clark, hi, um…”
She bit her lower lip, letting a lull fall between them for longer than necessary. Breaking the silence felt impossible as she ran a nervous hand through her hair, fingering the silky strands.
‘Say something.’“Uh, hi,” Clark pointed to the television screen showing Bob Fences at a podium addressing the reporters in front of City Hall. “I guess the Toasters weren’t the only ones starting fires.”
“Or the other fires were a diversion to cover up the true target,” Lois said with a nervous chuckle.
Clark’s brow furrowed, raising on his forehead for a brief moment before prompting her with a question, “You think?”
“Stranger things have happened.” Her eyes met his briefly, and a flash of white heat crossed over her. She felt a hard lump in her throat, keeping the racing thoughts from being vocalized.
“I guess so,” Clark nodded, clearing his throat as he took a step closer to her, “How’s your head?”
“I’ll live,” Lois shrugged it off. “It’s not the first run-in with a gun-wielding gangster and probably won’t be the last.” She grinned as she let out a soft chuckle. “I could have done without the …I’m fine.” She finally answered, unable to finish her sentence.
“Are you?” Clark asked with his eyebrow cocked, staring at her as if he was looking right through her. He probably could. Though the part she desperately wanted to hide wasn’t something he could see on an x-ray or scan. She felt frozen in place as the crippling fear of revealing feelings she didn’t even know existed washed over her. She struggled to move as she tried to quickly cover up the panic that rose inside her over the last twenty-four hours.
“Yeah, of course,” she brushed his concern off, flashing him a quick smile. She tucked her lower lip inside her mouth and held his gaze for what felt like an eternity. Unable to hold off the dread any longer, she finally bit the bullet and vocalized her concern over what had transpired between them. “Listen, I’m sorry about …I, uh, thanks for taking me to STAR Labs.” She finished weakly.
Clark shrugged, waving it off, “I’m glad they were able to help. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure out something was wrong.”
“Yeah, about that…” Lois began at the same time Clark added, “At least we know it was just the drug that Miranda concocted, right?”
“Right,” Lois smiled weakly, feeling a chill run through her spine as reality settled in. It was an out—a perfect out for the both of them. Blame her behavior on the drug and not face the feelings that had risen up in her, but that wasn’t the whole story. She felt something, really felt something that scared her.
Could she shrug it off as just losing her inhibitions to a drug?
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Bill Henderson held a clipboard in his hand, whistling as he walked down the long corridor to where the holding cells were. He counted each door silently until he found himself outside the door to Toni Taylor’s holding cell. He had kept her isolated from the other prisoners and stopped her transfer to the general population until he could get an official statement. If even half of what she’d told him was true it would be enough to bring the crime lord that operated in Metropolis to its knees.
He just had to get her in front of a jury.
He fished out the key to the door and slipped it with ease inside the metal lock and turned it, pulling the door open as he stepped inside the doorway. His face flushed white with panic as he looked across the empty room turning to the guard standing outside.
“What happened to the prisoner?”
“She was released. Bailed out an hour ago.”
“Bailed out? She had no bail…” Henderson argued, struggling to follow.
The guard pulled out the paperwork and pointed to the status on the page with a hundred-thousand-dollar bond listed. “Says her bond was approved right here by Judge Winkler.”
Henderson shook his head in disgust. “Who bailed her out?”
“Name on the check is hard to make out, but it’s on a LexCorp check….”
“Of course, it is.”
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A dark sedan pulled up to the Metropolis train station, hanging back from the cars in front as the trains whistled by. The clerk at the ticket booth watched as a woman with blonde hair and dark shades stepped out and walk toward his booth. He grinned as he spotted the smile on the woman’s face, seemingly to be walking purposefully toward him.
He tugged at his collar, straightening up in his chair as she reached the booth and waved her ticket in hand. He grinned as a hint of crimson red crossed his face, and she handed him her ticket.
“Traveling alone?” he asked.
“For the moment,” she grinned back at him.
He caught sight of the name on the identification he was presented with and stamped the ticket, handing it back to her. “Well, have a safe trip, Ms. Taylor.”
“Please, call me, Toni,” she flashed him a flirtatious grin as she walked past him.
“Toni.” He repeated the name. It certainly had a nice ring to it.
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Jason Trask eyed the glimmer of green beneath the soil and dirt that had been kicked up from the tree removal outside Schuster’s field. He had of course, paid off the team to dissect the tree and ship its remnants to LexLabs in Metropolis, where he hoped to find an ally that would be willing to listen to his side of things. He reached for the large rock beneath the soil, brushing the years of dirt and mulch away to reveal the glowing stone that called out to him.
“Eureka.”
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A hard crunch of the dry grass beneath Rachel Harris’ boot followed by the hard slam of the patrol car as she shone a light through the tall grass of Schuster’s field. She footed the toe of her left boot against the gravel walkway leading into the open field – or what had been an open field. In its place was a large pit and tracks leading out of the field through a broken fence to the roadway covered in red dirt tracks.
Red and blue lights flashed in the background as she turned back to where her deputy had just pulled up.
“Sherrif? What have we got here?”
“Looks like someone’s been searching for something…” Rachel pointed to the large crater in the middle of the field. She let out a low whistle. “Seems like they found it.”
“You want me to set up a perimeter?”
Rachel nodded, “Call it in. I’ll have to make my rounds and see what I can find out. Don’t let anyone in here until we’ve confirmed what happened here.”
“You got it, Sherrif.”
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Clark shoved his hands in his pockets, following Lois through the maze that was the Daily Planet’s parking garage where she had arranged to meet a source from the Police Department. The lights in the corner dimly flickered in the already darkened setting as the sun slowly began to set in the distance.
A heavy sigh escaped his throat as he followed Lois to the roof of the parking garage. Lois had remained evasive over who the source was within the police department but agreed to let him tag along to meet with him on what promised to be a huge break in the EPRAD arson story they were still following up on. With the recent string of fires and the lead on Nanosoft’s suit against LexCorp the puzzle pieces appeared to slowly be coming together.
“I thought I told you to come alone,” a sharp voice growled as they turned the corner and Clark spotted Bill Henderson standing by the edge of the rooftop, looking down on the city.
“That’s your source? The lead detective at the Metropolis P.D.?” Clark asked, surprised to see the detective at the end of the chaotic maze Lois had sent him through.
“Anonymity, Kent,” Lois reminded him. “Right now, he’s just an anonymous source for the Planet.”
“Obviously, that means nothing to you, Lane,” Henderson spouted, shaking his head.
“He’s not going to say anything, Bill,” Lois reassured him, waving her hand at Clark as if to show how little of a threat his presence was. “You said you had some news on the EPRAD case.”
“There’s a lot of whispers around town about how that fire that killed Dr. Baines wasn’t an accident. You and Kent brought up your own theories and compound that with losing a witness willing to name the quote-on-quote ‘boss of Metropolis’….” Henderson let out a long breath. “We have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“An I-don’t-know-who-to-trust kind of problem,” Henderson responded, shaking his head.
“But you trust me?” Lois inquired.
“Something tells me we want the same thing,” Henderson replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
“You said you think Baines’ helicopter crash wasn’t an accident?” Lois arched her eyebrow curiously.
“I have a confession that says it wasn’t, but he’s holding out for a deal before he’ll put pen to paper on it,” Henderson said grimly.
“Do you have a name?” Clark asked.
“Goes by Bermuda. Or the Handyman as he’s more commonly referred to as.” Henderson answered.
“The Handyman?” Lois echoed, thrown back.
“I guess we look into the Handyman and see how he connects with Baines,” Lois contemplated aloud.
“Be careful. These guys are dangerous.” Henderson advised.
“We will,” Clark reassured, walking with Lois toward the exit. “Thank you,” he called out to Henderson. The detective nodded in his direction and headed toward the stairs on the other end of the roof. He looked to Lois with a prompting smile, “I guess we’re following two leads?”
“I guess so,” Lois shrugged her shoulders. “Certainly makes things exciting.”
He nodded to agree with her when a chirp came from his coat pocket. He looked down to see the mobile phone in his pocket ringing. He reached out to answer it and was surprised to hear Rachel from Smallville’s voice on the other end.
“Hey, Rachel, everything okay?”
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“I don’t think so,” Rachel looked around the field she was standing in, wiping her brow as she kicked the dirt up from the large crater that had been dug up. Whatever had been there, having been completely removed from the surface and left the land in aching need of repair.
“We got a call about someone poking around Wayne Irig’s property earlier and checked it out, but it seems we got here too late. Old Irig’s tree is completely gone along with everything planted around it.”
“Gone?” Clark’s voice cracked over the phone line, and Rachel bit her lower lip, uncertain how to explain what she was seeing.
“I think it’s something you’ll just have to see for yourself, Clark. I’ll survey everything and send you the photos, but you may want to see this for yourself.”
TBC....
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