This one ended up a little longer than usual... enjoy! Next post will be Saturday.
Thank you again Nancy (anonpip) and Rel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both Sides of the CoinPart 14
TOC Back at the Planet the partners were tasked to find the agents that no one in the government wanted to claim. Before they left they decided to write up their story on the raid first. As they finished Lois’ phone began to ring. She frowned at it before picking it up. Clark leaned back, giving her space, only to watch as she straightened in her chair. When she hung up she shot to her feet, “Come on Clark, I’ll explain on the way...” They sped out of the room.
They arrived at the office of “George Thompson”. As soon as they exited the taxi Clark extended his hearing.
“...tell you why I’m in Metropolis... the Director himself sent me here...”
Clark frowned and realized he was only hearing half the conversation, so he focused on the voice.
“...to clean up the *mess* you made when you raided the *Daily Planet*!”
“...Lane and Kent had the first meeting with the alien so I thought I would...”
“No! *I* call the shots on Bureau 39, not you!”
“But sir! Not only are they contacts for the alien... Kent’s the *twin* brother of *Charles* Kent!”
“That doesn’t matter... we’ve all been *told* to leave Dr. Kent alone!”
<That’s nice to hear...>
<...it means this guy’s a rogue...>
<...never mind... that’s bad...>
In the meantime Lois had informed a secretary of their presence and the woman buzzed Mr. Thompson, announcing their arrival.
“Send them in...”
“I see you’re busy, sir, I’ll go prepare...”
“No! Stay where you are. I’m coming over as soon as I bury this story with these reporters... you hear me?” A dial tone answered him, “Trask? Trask?!” Clark cut out.
<Jay... find what you can on...>
<Bureau 39... George Thompson... ‘Trask’... anything else?>
<You’ve got it...>
<Fine... this time... ‘know thine enemy’ and all that...”
<Thanks for the help Jay... I can do without the witticisms... and until yesterday I didn’t even *know* you could be a source for secret government operations...>
<I... never mind...>
Lois and Clark were now entering the room. Lois smiled, “Mr. Thompson? Lois Lane.” She shook his hand and moved toward a chair.
Clark copied her, but as he sat he queried, “So... you just flew in from Washington?”
Thompson responded, “I took a train... I’m not much for flying... you?”
<Not in a metal coffin...>
<Do you *ever* stop shadowing me?>
<Yeah... when Rach and I are alone...>
<Jay... I did not need to hear that...>
Clark grimaced as he shook his head.
Lois pulled out a tape recorder and turned it on as Thompson glared at it. “Who *exactly* do you work for?”
“I’m a kind of government ombudsman. I go where the problems are. Right now my job is to get to the bottom of this *incident* at the Planet.”
Lois glanced at Clark, “Well... that’s our job, too. What can you tell us?”
Letting Lois handle the interview, Clark began to scan the room, giving half an ear to the other occupants.
“Not much... the first step in our investigation process is to gather all eyewitness accounts...”
<Lois isn’t going to like that...>
<I’ll bet... nothing public on any of these guys within the last 10 years...>
“*Your* investigation?! What about *our* investigation?!”
<Told ya...>
<Ding on Trask... he was in Project Blue Book...>
<...interesting...>
<...yeah... UFO research...>
“That’s the other reason I’m here... understand that we do not take it lightly when someone passes themselves off as an agent of the US government... can you give us a physical description of any of the people involved?”
<Oh... my...>
<Cal?>
<Look at this file!>
<“Smallville, 1966”... meteor shower... radioactive green rocks...>
<They have our *ship,* Jay...>
<They might find *us,* Cal... it says the ‘S’ was on the ship... no wonder Trask wants to find ‘him’...>
Beside him Lois said calmly, “Let me get this straight...”
<Uh oh...>
<What?>
<We’re about to be evicted...>
<Huh?>
Then she exploded, “You’re here *only* to interview *us*?!”
<...that was impressive...>
<Just wait...>
<I don’t care about waiting... scan quick!>
Clark began to rapidly look around the room.
“Well, yes... but also to advise you to stay out of harm’s way...”
<Only the brief case is his... and it just had that one file... Lois is going to explode any second.>
Lois reached a new level of rage, “I don’t need your *protection*... come on Clark... let’s go...” she stalked out.
<You’ve gotten awfully good at reading her...>
Clark nodded to the shocked Thompson and followed her out.
<Whatever, Jay, do you have time to go ask Mom and Dad everything they can remember about finding us?>
<...yeah... will you be shadowing me?>
<Some... I’m also going to try to find out more here...>
<Ok... keep me updated...>
<You too...>
Once outside the building Clark touched Lois’ arm, “What do you think of following him?”
Lois forced herself to calm down, “Yeah... I was thinking the same thing...”
They quickly crossed the street and reserved a taxi. Soon they saw Thompson exit the building and move to a car. Lois opened her mouth to instruct the driver only to be interrupted by a sonic boom.
<...I see you...>
<...cute, Jay...>
Lois looked to the sky, “Be careful up there...” she whispered, before ordering the cabby to follow Thompson.
<Aww... I’m touched...>
<Good for you, Jay...>
<Jealous?>
<...want me to tell Rach you asked that?>
<No!>
***************************
Thompson led them to a warehouse in one of the seedier parts of town. Clark quickly tuned eyes and ears into the building. He frowned as his eyes fail to penetrate the building, but his ears picked up the sound of voices.
“...identify alien threats to the security of this country.”
“Superman?!”
“The advance guard... if we don’t resist him, they send in others. After all these years... waiting... and now they’re *here*!”
“So that’s your plan? You’re going to capture Superman? And what... dissect him?”
<Wow... Dad was right...>
<Quiet, Jay...>
“I don’t want to *study* him... I want to *kill* him... before he kills us!”
<...or not...>
<Jay!>
<Ok, ok!>
“Trask... your reckless freelancing is jeopardizing the integrity of the entire Bureau 39 operation...”
“You don’t know *anything* about Bureau 39! You sit with the gutless paper pushers in Washington who are too stupid to know we’re even at war! Never mind how to *fight* it...”
“That’s just more of your *insane* *paranoia*!”
“Open your eyes! They’re coming after us! A few people will die in the struggle, yes, but we either draw the line here or we capitulate... *I* will never submit!”
There was a pause, then, “This orders you to turn over command and control of all your men to civilian authority... me.”
“You can’t shut me down!”
“I can and I have... the authority is mine.”
The sound of flesh striking flesh made Clark tense.
“Clark?” Clark jumped, hurriedly controlling his hearing. “You ok?” Lois pressed a hand to his face, “You kind of spaced out...”
Clark impulsively grasped her hand and placed a kiss in her palm, “I’m fine Lois... thanks.”
Lois smiled at him, for once not analyzing his oddities, “Let’s go grab some dinner... I don’t think we’ll get anywhere else on this tonight...”
Clark smiled, “Sure... lets go...”
Lois took him to a small deli near her apartment. There they eat quietly, neither pressing the moment. Clark reluctantly balanced his attention between Lois and his twin’s conversation with their parents. The story of the ship was unchanged... but Jonathan revealed a new tale... of suspicious men who had inundated Smallville days after the arrival of the twins. Both twins were reminded of their luck in finding the Kents as their parents related their efforts to protect their new sons. Jonathan shakily told of planning to burn the twins’ ship, but he hesitantly revealed that he hadn’t been able do it. CJ took over then and told his parents of Clark’s adventures with the strange government men at the Planet.
Lois tried to gage where Clark was... he obviously wasn’t totally with her. She was reminded of when he zoned out while they were waiting to sneak onto the Messenger. She sighed inwardly, an open dining area probably wasn’t the best place for her to drop hints anyway.
Once dinner was over the couple left the restaurant and headed for Lois’ apartment. Clark looped an arm over Lois’ shoulders and she leaned into him. Lois smiled to herself, her apartment was probably the best place to have this out... she knew Clark was still living with his brother. At her door, though, she could hear Lucy inside... ranting about how badly her own date had gone. Lois winced, definitely not the atmosphere to let Clark know that she knew one of his... or probably *the* most important secrets of his life. Clark smiled down at her and brushed a hand against her cheek before he placed a soft kiss on her lips and bid her good night. Lois watched him walk away wistfully.
She would tell him tomorrow she promised herself.
***************************
The next morning Clark sat by Lois’ desk as she made some calls, looking over some notes. A movement next to him caused him to look up. One of his coworkers was standing there, his jaw slack, staring at the elevators. Clark frowned at him, “Um... are you ok?”
Lois also looked over at them, “Eduardo?”
<Hey, Cal!>
Clark quickly followed Eduardo’s gaze and sighed as CJ walked up to them with Jimmy. “Eduardo... this is CJ... my twin.”
Eduardo nodded almost absently, looking back and forth between the twins.
Jimmy grinned, “Don’t worry Eduardo... I was the same way when I met CJ last week...”
Eduardo blinked and snapped himself back to the present, “Hi... I’m Eduardo Friez...”
CJ smiled, “I’m Dr. Charles Kent... CJ...”
Eduardo raised a brown, “Dr.?”
“Professor actually... in astronomy...”
“Oh...” Eduardo lost interest and headed off.
Jimmy grinned at them, “Well... I’m going to go see if the Chief needs anything...”
Clark waved Jimmy off before considering his twin, “What do you need, CJ?”
“Well... *you* asked for my help yesterday...”
“And...”
“Here’s what I found...” he dropped a stack of papers in front of his twin.
Clark raised a brow, “And these are...?”
“Well... well... well... what do we have *here*?” Cat had noticed the newsroom’s visitor. “There are *two* of you!”
Lois bit her lip as the twins simultaneously drew back and wary expressions formed on their faces. “Clark, CJ... let’s take this to the conference room...” They turned identical relieved expressions on her as they escaped a pouting Cat. Once inside Lois let her laughter loose.
“What?” CJ began indignantly.
“You two... it was as if there was a mirror up between your faces...”
Clark grinned at her and shook his head. “So, CJ, what did you find?”
<Clark... how do we explain Trask and Bureau 39?>
<Just wing it, Jay...>
“Well... I called up what I could on Thompson...”
“Jimmy got us a little...”
“Did he find Bureau 39?”
Lois frowned at him, “No... what’s that?”
“Remember Project Blue Book?”
“Yeah... a government plan to discount UFOs... what about it?”
“Well... Thompson runs a more covert version of good old Blue Book... he’s the civilian PR guy in Washington... the military end is a man named Jason Trask,” he pulled out a photo and held it out to Lois, “Look familiar?”
“Yeah... he was the leader of the raid...”
CJ grinned, “He was originally in Blue Book... but when that folded... he moved into the Bureau...” he sobered, “apparently he’s totally paranoid... seeing alien invasions everywhere...”
“So now he’s fixated on Superman and come out into the open...”
“Exactly... oh... and by the way... you don’t have *any* of these files, ok?”
Lois stared at him, “Do I want to know where they came from?”
“...the government never *did* implement my recommendations...”
<And even if they did... being able to read and type at super speed helps...>
<For coding... sure... for hacking? Not so much... now having an eidetic memory on the other hand...>
<I bet...>
Lois just stared at CJ.
CJ grinned again, “OK... well, I’m off! I have a class on stellar evolution to teach in an hour!”
Lois watched him leave, “Clark?” He looked at her, “how did I ever find *you* strange...”
Clark couldn’t hold back his laughter.
<...not funny...>
<Science nerd...>
<Lib. Art dork...>
***************************
After hours pouring through CJ’s information on Bureau 39, Clark finally found a useful piece of information: one man who lived in Metropolis. “Lois...” she looked up from her own stack of papers, “General Burton Newcomb... retired... lives here...”
She grinned, “A lead... let’s go!”
They left to gather their things. Clark stashed the sensitive papers in his desk and locked them in. As he straightened he felt fingers running through his hair and turned to face Cat.
“Clark, Clark, *Clark*... you were holding out on me... a *twin*!” She licked her lips.
Clark stared at her, wide-eyed, “Umm... CJ is married...”
Cat pouted, “Pity... but *you* are still free...”
“Clark! I just got a message... excuse us, Cat...” Lois grabbed his arm and dragged him off. “I keep pulling her off you...” she muttered, “Anyway... Clark... they found Thompson...”
Clark frowned, “*found* him?”
“Yeah... in Metropolis Harbor...”
Clark was floored.
<Cal?>
<I was *right* there... that slap... I thought it was Thompson doing the hitting but...>
<Clark! You *didn’t* know!>
<But I was right outside...>
<No buts... you did what you could...>
“Clark,” Lois said softly, “remember Platt?” he nodded slowly, “we need to finish the story... get justice for Thompson... ok?” he closed his eyes and nodded once more, “now... lets see if we can get in to see Newcomb...”
***************************
An hour later Lois and Clark were seated in a private den. Across a desk sat a weathered man who was systematically cracking walnuts. Clark solemnly brought up Thompson’s arrival and death.
“Regrettable... what’s that got to do with me?”
<I don’t know... could you stop cracking nuts?>
<...Jay, I don’t need babysitting...>
<I’m just... assisting your assessments...>
<No... you’re making sure I’m not wallowing in guilt...>
<So I’m multitasking...>
<Jay...>
Lois glared at the general, “We have some questions about Jason Trask and Bureau 39.”
<You two aren’t supposed to know about that!>
<He doesn’t know that...>
Newcomb’s eyes narrowed and he rose and looked out a window, “Have either of you ever had to keep a secret? A huge secret?”
<Buddy... that’s our *lives*...>
Clark raised a brow, “Sure...”
Lois poked him, “Like what?”
Clark grinned back, “Sources... childhood pranks...” she rolled her eyes at him.
Newcomb continued as if they had never spoken, “Keeping a secret eats at you... just a nibble at a time, but it adds up... one day you wake up and realize it’s consumed everything inside you...”
<...I hope that isn’t prophetic...>
<...me too...>
Newcomb picked up the tape recorder Lois had placed on his desk and removed the tape while still talking, “We were just a small group when we started, but we all took special oaths on the same day.” He placed the cassette in his nutcracker and depressed it, destroying the tape. “August the second, nineteen-forty-seven.” He locked eyes with Clark.
<He’s telling you something... remember that date...>
<Jay... I kinda caught that already...>
“I was about your age.”
Lois glared at the remains of her tape, “You didn't take an oath to protect people like Trask, did you?”
Newcomb walked across the room, “You don’t need me to find Trask... he’ll be hiding in plain sight...”
Clark ventured, “Like a warehouse... on Bessolo Boulevard?”
Newcomb removed his glasses and again locked eyes with Clark.
<Clue 2...>
<...wonder why he’s being so careful...>
<Bugs maybe?>
<I don’t hear any... but after Thompson he has a right to be paranoid...>
“Getting to him, that’s another matter...” he reached into his back pocket, “A man like Trask would no doubt be well protected...” he removed a set of keys and unlocked a desk drawer, “...some... impenetrable security system.”
Lois chimed in, “Every system has a flaw...”
Newcomb glared at her, “Not this one... I designed it.” He removed something from the drawer, “You need someone on the inside... or someone who had been on the inside... to help you.” He moved around his desk again, “Now... assuming you could find such a person... you’d have to hope that said person found a man like Trask so... *repugnant*... his methods so... *un-American*... that he would choose to help you.” He placed a gold card bearing the numbers “3 – 9” on its surface, “That’s a tall order...” Newcomb then moved to a rifle cabinet, “I’m going to count to three...” he withdrew a gun.
<Holy...>
Clark swiped the card and pulled Lois up and they started to back away.
“When I turn around, I expect you to be gone... one...”
Clark handed Lois the card as they reached the door.
“Two...”
They finally turned around and quickly left, Clark tuned his ears to the room behind them, “Three...” there was a pause, “Good luck...” the room fell silent and Clark tuned out.
tbc....
