TOC The Amazon had closed the door to Stoke’s ‘music room’ behind her, hiding them both from Stoke’s observation. She pulled him into the main room. The emergency lighting cast eerie shadows on the dance floor. Clark could hear activity outside and a quick look with x-ray vision confirmed that the police were surrounding the building. They had no idea they were now facing a hostage situation.
One of the other Amazon’s appeared, this one carrying a gun. “Take care of him,” the first woman ordered, shoving him in the direction of her subordinate.
“You know he’s not going to get away with this,” Clark began.
The lead Amazon chuckled. “And who’s gonna stop him? You, pretty boy?”
“Why not?” Clark asked. Both women started laughing.
The vast cavern of the main room went dark and he moved. Both women were unconscious on the ground before it could even register that he was no longer between them. Then he sped to the door of Stoke’s control center. He could see the heat of Stoke’s body, the odd pattern of energy coming off his gloves.
Lois was out of sight and Clark assumed she was behind the console. Stoke had his hands out as if searching for something. The gun was nowhere to be seen.
“Do you really think a little power outage will stop me?” Stoke yelled. The air in front of him still shivered. “You can’t stop me!”
“Give it up, Stoke,” Clark ordered. He had dropped his voice to Superman’s lower registers, even though he wasn’t wearing the ‘suit’.
“Superman?” Stoke gasped. “You’re dead!” Then Stoke screamed as Lois kicked him in the knee and grabbed at one of the gloves. The shimmer seemed to flicker a moment, then Stoke managed to shove Lois away from him. She bounced off the wall of sound and disappeared under the console again. The shimmer stabilized.
He could hear Lois breathing and she didn’t sound hurt, but there was no way to say how long it would take for Stoke to find her. Clark knew he wasn’t going to be able to simple power his way through the wall of sound. But…
I can see him and if I can see him…Within seconds Stokes screamed again. Sparks flew from the metallic gloves and Stoke tore them off. The shimmer in the air died.
“Miss Lane, are you all right?” Clark asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lois said, coming out from under the console. Stoke tried to grab her but Clark sped between them, staying out of reach of Stoke while guiding Lois away from him. Then Clark brought both fists down on the console. It shattered with a satisfying crack.
“Like I was saying,” Lois said conversationally in the darkness. “They never found his body.” Clark could see her grin, even if Stoke couldn’t.
“But how…?” Stoke sputtered. “The wall…?”
“Simple,” Clark said, still using Superman’s voice. “Maybe matter couldn’t get through your wall of sound, but light certainly could, and did.”
“You should know… I get air sick.”
Clark and Lois were already out the door as police officers with flashlights fanned out through the building.
“Look on the bright side,” a familiar voice said – Inspector Bill Henderson, MPD. He had a flashlight in one hand, a gun in the other as he entered the ruin of Stoke’s control room followed by two other officers.
“You won't be worrying about that for a very long time, Mister Stoke,” Henderson added. “Did I forget to mention? You’re under arrest… You have the right to remain silent…”
-o-o-o-
“Son, I'm as proud as a papa,” Perry said as Lois and Clark came out of the press club building. Clark had won the coveted Metropolis Press Club’s Kerth award for investigative journalism. Perry was beaming as he shook the younger man’s hand.
“Not as proud as I am,” Lois told their editor. She looked up at Clark, handsome in his tuxedo. “Your speech was great.”
Perry gave her a surprised look. “Well, that's a nice little attitude adjustment. What brought that on?”
“I'm just... glad I have such a good partner,” Lois told them. She grabbed Clark’s arm as Alice White called her husband’s name.
“Comin', honey!” he yelled back. He gave Lois a wink. “Every time Alice sees me in a monkey suit, she can't wait to get me home and tear it off. 'Night, you two.” He hurried off to the limousine where his wife was waiting.
“I really am glad I have such a good partner,” Lois said. “Especially one who does such a mean impersonation of Superman. You know Stoke is still swearing it was Superman who broke through his wall of sound.”
“Well, it really helped that you let Henderson know what we found and Met Power cut the power to that section of the grid. And it certainly didn’t hurt that you managed to disarm him,” Clark reminded her. “I don’t know what we would have done if Stoke had gotten the power back.”
“Luckily, we didn’t have to find out,” Lois said. “So how did I rate as a date?”
“A-plus,” Clark replied. He hefted the cut crystal sculpture in his hand and she knew he was wondering where she was leading.
“I hung on your arm decoratively?” she asked coyly.
“You did.”
“Fawned appropriately?”
“Absolutely,” he agreed.
“And then just faded into the background during your big moment.”
He started to chuckle. “You were beautiful, yet invisible.”
Lois flashed him her brightest smile. “Make me go through another night like this and I'll rip out your spleen.”
“Fair enough,” Clark agreed. He studied his prize. “It's smaller than I thought.”
“And not quite as shiny close up,” she said. She shrugged. “You win a few of these, you find out they don't mean much. A quick rush, a few pats on the back, then you're back on the beat, only as good as your next story.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Clark said. They were approaching her car. “But at least the dinner wasn’t too bad.”
“Very true,” Lois said. “They did a better job than usual. And the dancing wasn’t bad either.”
She watched as a mischievous grin lit Clark’s face. He looked around then took her in his arms, dancing to a tune only he could hear. “That wasn’t dancing, Lois,” he said softly. “
This is dancing.” She looked away from his face and realized they were no longer on the ground. They were flying.
“Superman is back.”
