“Jimmy, are you okay?” Lois asked. She’d just gotten out of her cab and spotted Jimmy crossing the street to the main entrance of the Planet Building.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jimmy told her as they both crossed to the entrance doors. “But Capone’s planning a raid on Perry’s party and I don’t think the cops believed me when I told them.”
“Capone’s coming here?” Lois stopped and stared at the young man. Jimmy nodded. She gave him a speculative look. “How do you know?”
“It’s a long story and I’m not sure even I believe it,” Jimmy explained. “Let’s just say I spent most of the afternoon experiencing the worst roads in Metropolis from the trunk of a car. I told the cops I was heading straight home otherwise I don’t they would have let me go.”
Lois chuckled. “I owe Maggie the minder a stiff drink and an apology. The cops don’t want me here either and I managed to lock my guard in my bathroom.”
The elevator doors opened and Lois reached in and pressed a button before the ornate brass doors closed. “Let’s take the service elevator,” she announced.
* * *
Perry raised his glass and tapped it with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. “Ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention please? I'd like to propose a toast... Clark Kent. A man who has been an inspiration to us all and one of the best damn reporters ever to have a byline on the Daily Planet. Here’s to his rapid recovery.”
Everyone in the room raised their glasses, including the police officers who Perry knew were drinking tea or soda.
The elevator doors opened and Perry looked up to see Capone and his little group of thugs step out into the elevator lobby. One man didn’t seem to fit in with the gangsters – a tall, distinguished looking man with a neatly trimmed goatee. The face clicked into place – Nigel St. John, one of Luthor’s henchmen.
Luthor’s been dead for months and still his legacy of evil lives on. Perry noted that St. John stayed well in back of the others.
Capone stopped and looked around at the crowd, cradling his tommy gun against his chest and puffing on his cigar. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen!” he announced loudly. The crowd quieted and Perry saw the plainclothes officers getting themselves into position. “My name is Al Capone. And we'd appreciate it if all of you would just line up.”
Parker, Barrow and the other thug moved down the ramp, swinging their guns threateningly as they went. Jacque had turned red in the face and ran up the ramp towards them. Perry tired to grab him, but Jacque pulled out of his grasp.
“What are you doing!? This party is bad enough without you! Get out!” Jacque was screaming. Barrow grabbed his bow tie and began twisting it. Jacque’s eyes started to bug out. “Or perhaps you'd like to stay and have some hors d'ouvres,” he continued meekly. Barrow shoved him back down the ramp. Parker snorted as Jacque fell, landing on his behind.
Watching in stunned silence, the party goers shuffled toward the wall. The fourth thug started grabbing some of the men, pulling them aside, away from the others. Then Perry realized the ones being pulled out were the police officers. Parker went over to them, swinging her tommy gun from side to side as the thug searched the men, finding their weapons and radios.
“Not very polite, bringing guns to a swanky shindig like this,” Parker commented.
* * *
Leocadio swore to herself. “Our guys’ve been made,” she announced into her headset.
“How?” Louie responded.
“Good question,” Leocadio said. “But Capone’s people have separated out our guys and disarmed them. Plus I think I saw Lane and the Olsen kid enter the building.”
Louie swore. “What else can go wrong?”
“Don’t ask,” Leocadio warned.
* * *
Lois and Jimmy peered around the corner into the newsroom. Capone was standing on the upper level, watching his thugs as they watched the crowd that was lined up against the wall. They held their guns easily, carelessly.
“Capone, this isn't nineteen forty. The police are probably already in the lobby. Don't make things worse for yourself,” Perry was saying.
“The only person things are about to get worse for is you... Chief,” Capone sneered. “Unless of course, that flying freak shows up.” Capone made a show of looking around. “Where is he anyway? I was sure he’d show up.” After a moment’s thought he went to the edge of the landing and leaned over, holding out his hand. He nodded to the radios on the floor. The thug picked one up and handed it to his boss.
Capone pressed the transmit key as he held the transmitter to his mouth. “This is Al Capone. Just letting you guys know. If Superman isn’t in front of me in five minutes, we’re going to start shooting hostages. Starting with Metropolis’s finest.”
“So, what do we do now?” Jimmy whispered.
“Pray that Superman’s smart enough not to show up and that the cops are,” Lois responded.
* * *
Doctor Bryant nodded cheerfully as he removed the gauze bandages from Clark’s hands. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.”
Except for the faintest tracing of red across his palms, Clark’s hands were healed. One of the nurses had already pulled out the IV lines and Bryant had supervised the removal of the various catheters. Even the oxygen had been removed. Only the cardiac monitor remained, cheerily beeping along.
Bryant tapped the monitor. “We want to keep an eye on this, though. I ran the printout past one of my colleagues. He said it does indicate some heart damage. He suggests you take it easy for a while, nothing too strenuous. Remember, we had to do a graft.” Bryant tucked his clipboard under his arm. “Now, how are you feeling?”
“A lot better than this morning,” Clark told him.
“And your special talents?”
Clark froze, staring at him wide eyed.
Bryant didn’t need to read minds to know what was going on in his patient’s head. “STAR Labs confirmed my suspicions. Doctor Klein even sent over special full spectrum lighting for you, which I had installed while you were undergoing the scans this morning. I have to tell you, he was disappointed I wouldn’t let him come over and examine you personally. He’s a big fan.”
“I’ll thank him later,” Clark promised. “It sometimes takes a while for everything to come back. Then again, sometimes it doesn’t take very long at all. I’m not sure why that is.”
“Maybe that’s something Klein can look into for you,” Bryant suggested. “At the rate you’re healing, I should be able to release you tomorrow. Normally I’d have you transferred to the surgical ward, but that might raise questions, doing it so soon. Of course, if you were able to leave under your own power, I wouldn’t be able to stop you now, would I?”
“Probably not,” Clark admitted. Suddenly he winced, raising a hand to one ear.
“What’s wrong?” Bryant asked. Clark shook his head. The privacy curtain hid the bed from the door, but Bryant heard the door open and footsteps approaching. Mrs. Kent put her head around the edge of the curtain. She looked worried.
“Clark, there’s a problem at the Planet,” she said.
“I heard,” Clark admitted. “A hostage situation at the Planet.”
“Wasn’t Perry throwing that big party tonight?” she asked.
“Yeah, he was. And Lois was going to it,” Clark told her. “And I’m betting that it’s Capone.”
“I packed your suit in the suitcase,” she said. “Clark, be careful.”
“Thanks Mom,” he said. “And I’ll be as careful as I need to be.”
With that he was gone. Bryant looked down at the bed and saw the cardiac sensors lying on the sheet. The monitor was flat-lined. Bryant reached over and turned it off.
* * *
Capone checked the time on the clock above the elevator. “Time’s almost up,” he announced. “I guess your buddy Superman isn’t going to show.” He nodded to the thug watching the police. “Pick one.”
“I guess Superman didn’t hear,” Jimmy said quietly. “So I guess it’s up to us.”
“Jimmy, they’re armed and we’re not,” Lois pointed out. “This isn’t some movie thriller where the good guys can outrun a bullet.”
“I can,” a deep voice said from behind them. Lois and Jimmy both whirled to see a figure clad in blue spandex and sporting a red cape standing behind them. “How much time is left?” Superman asked.
Lois just stared at him a moment. “About thirty seconds,” she said once she found her voice.
Superman nodded and floated up to the ceiling. Lois watched as he peered around the corner at the gangsters. The cape hid his shoulders, but Lois could see the tension in his jaw, in his clenched fists.
The stairwell door opened behind Lois and she turned to see Lupe Leocadio and several other SCU team members in full gear come into the hallway, semi-automatic rifles ready as they surveyed the area and the situation.
“How long has the big guy been here?” Leocadio asked.
“A few seconds before you got here,” Lois told her.
“He knows it’s a trap?”
“I hope so.”
Suddenly there was shouting from the newsroom and Lois stuck her head out to see the thug, Parker, and Capone swearing and blowing on their hands. Their weapons had been dropped and Lois could see the heat rising off of them. The thug dove for one of the police pistols, but he was tackled before he could reach them.
Parker took off for the elevators at a dead run, but Superman was there ahead of her. Parker backed away from him but Perry and several other members of the Planet staff started up the ramp after her.
“You wanted to see me, Mister Capone?” Superman asked, turning to Capone.
“Yeah,” Capone said, all bluster. “Yeah I did. I want you outta my town.”
“Metropolis isn’t your town, Mister Capone,” Superman said quietly. “It was never your town. And I’m pretty sure Chicago doesn’t want you back either.”
“I don’t see Barrow or St. John,” Lois said quietly to Leocadio as they both came out from behind the corner. Leocadio gave instructions to her team who disappeared down the hallway.
In the raised elevator lobby, Parker was backing away from Superman and Capone. She turned and ran, heading for the stairway behind Lois.
“Not so fast,” Lois snarled, grabbing Parker’s arm and spinning her around. Parker aimed a kick at Lois’s legs, but Lois evaded her, throwing one arm around the other woman’s neck and snaking a leg out to trip her.
“Hey! That ain't very lady like!” Parker complained, trying to dislodge Lois from her back.
“I'm a woman of the nineties, and
you're not much of a lady!” Lois shot back, holding on. Angry didn’t describe Lois’s emotional state at the moment. Furious was only halfway there. Their momentum carried them over the railing, onto the dessert table and into the five-foot cake. Lois’s hold on Parker finally broken, she picked up a slab of white cake and slammed Parker in the face with it. “That’s for setting up my partner to be shot!”
Capone turned and ran, away from the newsroom, away from Superman. Lois stifled a smile at Capone’s look of astonishment at finding himself a foot off the ground, held up by the back of his collar.
“Hey! What's going on?” Capone fumed. Superman turned him around and looked him in the face. Capone’s cigar dropped from his mouth.
“Alcatraz is closed, Mister Capone,” Superman said. “But I'm sure they'll find something nice for you.”
Two of the plainclothesmen came up and pulled Parker off the table, handcuffing her as they helped her to her feet and read her her rights. A third helped Lois to her feet. Another had taken custody of Capone.
Lois looked around the room. Still no sign of Barrow and St. John. Superman was standing in front of the center elevator door, arms crossed over his chest in his traditional stance.
How did I ever miss it? How did I miss that he really is Clark?“Superman, are you okay?” Lois asked quietly, walking up to him. He nodded but Lois could see, probably better than most, the strain in his face, in his posture. A grimace flickered across his face, almost too fast for her to see.
The center elevator door opened and Superman and Lois stepped aside to let the occupant out. Barrow! He had his tommy gun ready, finger on the trigger. Lois heard a gasp beside her as she lashed out at Barrow with one foot. His shots went wild, dislodging plaster from the high ceiling. Another shot rang out and Barrow suddenly looked astonished at the blood turning his shirt and vest red.
His eyes rolled up as he hit the floor. Lois looked over to the source of the shot to see Leocadio in a wide legged stance, holding a standard issue automatic pointed in the direction of the elevators. Leocadio straightened up and put her gun back in its holster. She nodded to something behind Lois.
“How is he?”
Lois whirled to see Superman sprawled on the floor, eyes closed, deathly pale. Lois thought she was imagining it, but there seemed to be a green cast to his skin. She checked his pulse at his throat. Weak, but present. But he didn’t seem to be breathing. She looked around, spotting Barrow’s gun beside his body. She shoved it away from Superman with her foot.
He gasped, and grabbed his left arm, hugging it to his side. Lois could see the muscles in his jaw clench as he tried to keep from moaning.
“Try to relax,” Lois instructed. “I don’t think he managed to hit you, but there’s kryptonite around here, somewhere.” She looked up to see Leocadio standing over them. The policewoman nodded to one of her people, who pulled out a dark blanket and placed it over Superman’s body. On closer inspection, Lois realized it was a cape with a hood. Lois felt the fabric – it was far heavier than it looked. Superman’s color started to improve and he was breathing more easily.
“Kevlar woven with lead,” Leocadio explained. “Courtesy of STAR Labs.”
Superman started to sit up and both Lois and Leocadio pushed him back down to the floor.
“Have you found St. John, yet?” Superman asked.
“Have you any idea what a maze this building is?” Leocadio asked.
“Point taken,” Superman replied.
TOC
