I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up but I'll post in the FDK's when it gets decided.
Thank you again Nancy (anonpip) and Rel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both Sides of the CoinPart 13
TOC Perry considered his two reporters for a long moment before saying, “Okay kids... here’s the deal... you have two options... a polygraph...”
“*What*?!” Lois exploded, glaring at her boss as she waited for his answer. Clark only frowned as he considered the options.
Perry sighed, “It would be limited to national security concerns... about Superman...”
Lois cut in again, “A *lie detector*?!”
<I’ll... second that, Cal...>
<Well... considering how little *we* know about ourselves...>
<...I guess...>
Perry’s face took on an ironic light, “...so I told them to stuff it. Not *my* reporters, no thank you...” He watched as Lois relaxed while Clark raised a brow at him. Then he dropped the bomb, “I told them if they’re bound and determined to take your computers and your notes to just get it over with and get the hell out of my office so we can start suing their collective butts off into the next century...”
Lois and Clark shared an arrested look. Lois bites her lip, “Our computers...?”
Clark pinched the bridge of his nose, “...and our notes...”
<Cal... lie detectors...>
<Can be fooled...>
<By making everything look like a lie... yeah... but... will these morons care?>
<They probably wouldn’t but then we’re both very good at bending the truth...>
<Not with physiological recording devices we aren’t...>
<We can control our heart rates, Jay...>
<Whatever, Cal...>
Perry watched them, “You talk, you walk... you don’t, they’re going to confiscate the whole shebang...”
“Perry, can we have a moment?” Lois demanded.
He raised a brow, “You have *one* minute...”
As soon as he left the office Clark started, “We can’t loose our notes on Luthor...”
Lois looked at him for a long moment before nodding, “I agree... I get the feeling they’ll clean out our whole desks...”
Clark sighed, “Even backups if they can find them...”
“So we’re agreed?”
<No we aren’t!>
“Yeah... we take the polygraph...”
<Clark Kent! Are you *insane*?!>
<No...>
<But *we* are Superman...>
<Exactly... I can say in perfect truth that *I* am not Superman... *we* share the role...>
<I... you... you’re playing with words!>
<I’m a writer... it’s my job... you’ll see, I can pass it...>
Lois opened the door, “Perry? We’ll take the test...”
***************************
Lois glared at the man in front of her as he connected the detector to her. The leader stood by the window, watching silently. Lois trained her gaze on him and set her jaw, ‘no matter what, these goons aren’t getting anything out of me about Clark.’
The leader began to pace in front of her, “First, you will answer ‘yes’ to two questions. We use this to calibrate the machine. Let’s begin. Is your name Lois Lane?”
Lois stared at him and glowered, “That’s what my by-line says...” at his glare she stiffened, “...yes.”
The leader sat, “Are you also President of the United States?”
Lois held his gaze, “Yes...” her voice dripped with sarcasm and the machine beeped in reaction.
“Do you have any reason to believe Superman is an agent of a foreign power?”
Lois rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah... and leprechauns are agents of the IRA...”
The leader glowered, “Is Superman from another planet?”
“He didn’t say...” she smiled slyly, “But he sure looked like a man in those tights...” ‘And the towel...’ Lois’ smile turned into a smirk.
The leader looked at her in slight disgust, making her stiffen again, “During the time you were alone, did Superman discuss his mission here on Earth?”
Lois’ brow rose, “Mission? He saved the shuttle... gave Clark and I a lift here... and left... we didn’t talk much...” she scowled, “We didn’t even get an exclusive interview out of it...” ‘Which I am going to collect from those boys... and I almost wish he would actually ask me something I had to *think* about to evade...’
The leader was beginning to look bored, “Did he discuss any powers he might have that he didn’t display? Such as mind control or telepathy?”
“Nope... that would have been embarrassing though...” she decided to imitate the reaction most females were having to the new hero. ‘Another easy one... though telepathy might explain how CJ knew to come to the shuttle...’
The leader’s lip curled, “Have you any romantic attachment to this... ‘Superman’?”
Lois went rigid, but quickly controlled her reaction. ‘That was way too personal, buddy... and weird to think about... after all... I’ve only seen CJ in that costume personally... but I’m dating Clark...’ She forced herself to laugh, “I’m healthy, relatively young and attracted to men... and this gorgeous specimen is waltzing around in tights, what do you think?”
The leader shook his head in contempt and signaled that he was done with her.
***************************
Clark was soon brought in and strapped to the machine.
<Well, Lois had that well in hand...>
<Telepathy, gee whiz, what’s that?>
<Cut the sarcasm, Jay...>
<You sure about this, Cal?>
<It’ll be fine...>
The leader leaned against the door, eying Clark carefully. He watched Clark much more intently than he ever had Lois, “You will answer ‘yes’ to these questions to calibrate the machine... is your name Clark Kent?”
<No, its Charlie King.>
<Jay...>
“Yes.”
The tech frowned and tapped the machine, “I got some odd readings, sir...”
The leader pinned him with a look, “A lie?”
“No... just... not normal...”
<Jay! Shut up!>
<...will do...>
“I’ll ask you again: is your name Clark Kent?”
“Yes.”
The tech sighed, “It must have been on the fritz again...”
The leader rolled his eyes, “Are you also Superman?”
“Yes.” Beeps answered him.
The leader sat across from Clark leaning on the table, trying to crowd him, “Have you ever met Superman?”
Clark raised a brow, “Yes... Lois and I ‘discovered’ him...”
The leader’s eyes took on a fanatical gleam, “Is he from Earth?”
Clark frowned and answered in total truth, “I don’t know.”
“Can you take us to Superman right now?”
Clark frowned, “I could try... why don’t we go look at the television monitors?”
He received a glare, “Can you contact Superman?”
“Now? No... if you let me go to the window I could try to yell for him...” he qualified, trying to conceal the truth without telling an actual lie... after all, CJ was supposed to have cut off their connection.
The leader suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Clark’s tie, “I know who you are Kent... your brother, ‘Charlie King’, made some powerful enemies... and the good “Dr. Charles Kent” has done some... intriguing research... you might not know anything about Superman... but I’ll still be watching you...”
An agent opened the door, “Sir! The perimeter’s been penetrated.”
The leader shoved Clark away, “We’ll meet again... Mr. Kent...” He left the room. Clark quickly freed himself from the abandoned polygraph machine.
<Who would have thought... ‘Charlie King’ was higher on his list than ‘Superman’...>
<Yeah... we need to have a talk about exactly what kind of trouble ‘Charlie King’ got in to...>
<Erm... I should go do a patrol. Later, Cal!>
<Jay!> But the connection was severed and Clark found himself blocked from his twin’s mind.
By the time Clark escaped the conference room the agents were filing out in unison with their leader.
Perry stalked after them, “What’s going on? I want an explanation!”
Cat pouted at Perry, “It was horrible the way they treated us... that agent frisked me... *twice*!”
Perry stared at her for a moment before barking out a few orders. Eduardo scrambled off to the legal department and Jimmy was dispatched to research the warrant. Finally Perry turned to Lois and Clark, “You two write your story up and then hand them off to Valdes... she’ll write it up.”
Perry started to walk off but Lois dove after him, “But... Perry... this is *our* story!”
Perry whirled to her, “Lois! Right now you two *are* the story... I need you two to get out of here ASAP! I don’t want those goons to be able to serve subpoenas to you... leave your beepers on... we’ll call you when you can come back.”
Lois stopped and Clark put a hand on her shoulder, “I know somewhere we can go...” as Perry walked off he dropped his voice, “CJ and Rachel aren’t listed as the official residents of their house yet...”
Lois looked at him, “Oh? That sounds perfect. Let me go write up my side...”
As she left Cat cornered Clark, “Clark... if you need a place to hide... this is the perfect time for you to have that dinner with me...”
Clark sighed, “Cat... they’re going to look for co-workers after they check our homes... besides... I have a place to go...”
Clark escaped and wrote up his version of the events. Sending them off he went over to Lois, “Ready?”
She looked up and nodded, “Do you think we can go by my place and get some clothes?”
Clark frowned, “We’ll still be in town... if it runs that long we can pick up clothes then...”
Lois nodded slowly, “Let’s go then...”
Lois headed for the street and snagged them a taxi, Clark rattled off his brother’s address and they were on their way. Lois sighed and leaned on his shoulder, “I called Lucy and warned her... so everyone’s covered on my end...”
“...your dad?”
“I haven’t talked to him in years...”
“Oh... well... we’re going to CJ and Rachel’s so that covers me... and if Jay’s home... he’s got some questions to answer for us...”
“Us?”
“Yeah... have you ever heard of Charlie King?”
“Charlie King?!” Lois stared at him, “The man who managed to hack through all the government’s most secure networks?!”
Clark stared at her, “He... *what*?!”
Lois held his gaze, “Charlie King was the name of the hacker that was leaked to the press... it was a huge scare a few years ago... he got access to *everything*... social security numbers, the federal banks... you name it... you had to be in some really backwater place to have missed it...”
Clark sighed, “I most likely was... there were times when I had almost no contact with the outside world...”
Lois placed a hand on his shoulder, “Clark? How could you know his name... but not know his story? And why are you bringing it up now?”
Clark sighed, and motioned to the cab driver, before replying, “The leader of those agents mentioned him...”
They soon arrived at the house. Once they exited the cab, Clark walked to the door, pulled out his key and opened the door. Lois stopped behind him and watched as the door opened. Inside they found Rachel sitting on the couch, relaxing.
Clark grinned and walked over to her, ruffling her hair, “Hey, Rach!”
Rachel swatted his hand away, “Hello, Clark... and nice to see you again, Lois. But what are y’all doing here?”
“There was a problem at work... we need to hide out for a bit...”
Rachel instantly nodded, “This place is perfect then... it’s still on record as belonging to CJ’s predecessor...”
Lois smiled at her, “Hello, Rachel... how come you’re here not at work?”
Rachel blinked but before she could reply CJ walked into the room, “Rach? Sweetie? Was that the...” he froze at the sight of Lois and Clark, “...uh... hi... Clark...”
Clark smiled almost ferally at him, “Hello, Dr. Charles Kent...”
Lois looked between the two with a raised brow.
Clark closed in on his brother, “Oh... and CJ... I need to talk to you about one Charlie King...”
CJ swallowed, “Now Clark...”
“Let me quote what I was told today, ‘I know who you are Kent... your brother, ‘Charlie King’, made some powerful enemies... and the good ‘Dr. Charles Kent’ has done some... intriguing research’... care to comment?”
Lois’ eyes widened in shock, she leveled a finger at CJ, “*You* are Charlie King?!”
CJ glared at his brother, “You’re just spilling that out?!”
Clark glared back at him, “I also had an enlightening conversation with Lois about ‘Charlie King’s’ activities...”
CJ groaned, “They bungled it... the government *hired* me to test their systems... and some... *moron* freaked and leaked my name... I’m only happy that he leaked the alias I always used online and not my real name...”
<...they *hired* you?>
<...yeah... and then tried to blackball me for it...>
<So it wasn’t a just a ‘moron’s’ mistake?>
<No... they set me up... it was deliberate...>
Clark suddenly frowned, “Lois...”
Lois was still looking at CJ dazedly, “Yeah...?”
“Remember when Luthor reacted to my name and neither of us could figure out why?”
Lois’ eyes widened, “He knows...”
“...maybe...”
CJ raised a brow, “What are you two talking about?”
Clark looked back at his twin, “When Luthor and I were introduced he did a double-take at my name and muttered something about ‘C. Kent’...”
CJ’s eyes widened, “Holy...”
Rachel was looking worriedly at her husband. “That almost makes me glad the MPD ‘isn’t hiring’ at the moment...”
Clark frowned at her, “Yeah... CJ told me they turned you down but you didn’t bring it up so I figured I would let it sit...”
Lois’ eyes widened, “They didn’t hire you?!”
Rachel sighed, “No... Bill Henderson recommended that they hire me... but they didn’t...” she grimaced, “...though now... I’m not sure I want to start up at the PD right now...”
Clark frowned at her, “Why not? You were a great at the Sherriff’s office in Smallville while CJ was in school... and you worked hard to get your qualifications...”
Rachel smiled shyly, “Clark... I’m pregnant...”
Clark stared at her in shock.
<...seriously?!>
<...yeah... we weren’t even trying... we just assumed we couldn’t...>
<You’re both happy?>
<Ecstatic!>
Rachel walked over to hug her husband, “Speechless, Clark?”
CJ grinned at him, “He better not make a habit of that...”
Clark shook his head, “Have you told Mom and Dad yet?”
“No... we want to do that in person... next time we’re all home...”
<Now that Rach and I are moved in we’ll start going home on Fridays again...>
<Duly noted...>
Clark jumped as he felt an arm wrap around his waist, “Congratulations...” Lois whispered. Clark put his arm around her and she leaned her head onto his shoulder.
“Thank you, Lois,” Rachel beamed at the other couple.
A beep shattered the mood, Clark drew out his beeper and turned to Lois, “It’s the office...”
Lois frowned, “That was quick... may I borrow your phone?”
CJ nodded and Rachel led her to the appliance.
The twins were left alone for the moment and they shared ruefully dazed looks.
<So... it’s possible...>
<Yeah...>
<We really belong... we’re really... human...>
<Yeah...>
Clark grinned at his twin, <Jay? You’re worse than me...>
CJ glared back, <Bite me, Cal...>
<No thanks... *Charlie*.>
Lois rushed in, fury in her eyes, “Clark! The warrant was *phony*!”
Clark’s eyes widened, “Phony?!”
<Phony?!>
<That’s what she said, Jay...>
<All that... for nothing...>
<I got something out of it... *Charlie*!>
<Shut up, Cal!>
Lois was nearly vibrating with rage, “Yeah... Perry wants us back to the office... yesterday...”
Clark looked at his family, “Jay... Rach... sorry to run out on you but...”
Rachel smiled, “See you later, Clark, nice seeing you again, Lois...”
CJ grinned, “Bye Cal, Lois...”
Lois and Clark exited and Lois whistled for a taxi.
<What was *that*?!>
<Lois...>
<...that *hurt*!>
<...I’m closer to her...>
tbc....
