Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
Here Part 4 Part 5*******
Captive*******
Ten minutes later, Lois and Clark were both tied to the pillar, her with an airplane seatbelt wrapped around both her wrists and neck, and him with a length of chain tripled around his wrists. Jimmy was still knocked out on the floor next to Clark. Dr. Baines and her henchman had gone off somewhere to make some ‘arrangements’, leaving the three reporters alone in the hangar.
Lois growled. “I told Perry I needed a task force. A task force!” She was so angry she could probably tear through this seatbelt if her hands weren’t tied behind her back with Clark leaning against them. “And what did I get? Amateurs.” Neanderthal! Hack from Nowheresville! Mr. Greenjeans! She turned and looked at him over her shoulder, so he could see exactly how royally ticked off she was at him. “We’re going to die, you know.”
“No, we’re not, Lois,” Clark reassured her.
“Yes, we are, and so are all the colonists on the Prometheus. I know we are. I know that if you weren’t here, I’d somehow be able to somehow squirm out of my bonds and run out of the building, just before it explodes,” Lois said, going into one of her full blast ramble modes. “I’ll have tried to bring Jimmy, but he’s too big for me to carry or drag to safety. The blast would’ve killed him instantaneously, and knocked me to the ground. I’ll have woken up three days hence, in the hospital, with a concussion and a broken rib, but too late to save all the colonists whose transport will have exploded upon launch due to the coolant systems still being used.”
“You
know all that?” Clark responded skeptically. “How do you know?”
“That I don’t know, but I do know that if you hadn’t come barreling in here like some five-hundred pound gorilla, I might have had a chance to escape and warn the colonists. If you really thought we were in trouble, why didn’t you bring the police?” Hello?
Duh!Suddenly thinking that very word made her anger double, as if Clark had done something a million times worse than rush into the warehouse without backup. She shook her head. That was an odd thing to think. What else had Clark done that was worse than going all He-Man on her? Nothing. She hardly knew him. Oh, right, now she remembered: he had been
right about Luthor!
“She’s not going to kill us,” he reiterated.
“You know what?” Lois continued before Clark realized he could get another word in edgewise. “You’re just like every other man in Metropolis! You’ve got this testosterone surplus that tells you that you can ‘do it yourself’.” This she said in a doofus tone of voice. “She’s got to kill us now. I don’t know why she hasn’t already.”
“I’m sorry, Lois,” Clark apologized for what seemed like the four hundredth time. A lot of fat good
that did! “Look, I’ve somehow managed to…”
“Mess everything up. No kidding!” she snapped.
“Now, hold on a second. I’m not the one who snuck in here…” Clark retorted.
“What are you saying? Are you saying that this is
my fault?” Lois quizzed him. He couldn’t possibly be saying that! This wasn’t her fault! “At least I have the guts to come in here and… and…” That was right,
she had come in here. This had been
her idea, not Clark’s. It
was her fault.
“Oh, what am I saying,” she mumbled, the anger gone from her voice. “This probably is my fault. Oh, God!” She had done this. She had messed things up, not Kent. Lois was the reason they were all going to die when Dr. Baines came back. They knew too much; Dr. Baines
had to kill them now. “I sometimes do things. You know, like jump into the pool without checking the water level first… but, Clark, it’s the only way I know how to do it, how to get the job done, to get the respect that I want, that I deserve.” Lois took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves, knowing that these could very well be her last minutes. What did people do when they were about to die? They confessed their sins. Did she have any sins worth owning up to? Well, there had been that lie to Clark. “You know my three rules?”
“Uh-huh,” she heard Clark murmur noncommittally from the other side of the pillar.
“Well, I’ve broken every one of them,” she confessed, looking up to the rafters. “I, somehow, always get involved with my stories.”
“You slept with someone at work?” he asked.
Oh, God! He would ask
that question.
“Yeah,” Lois admitted.
“It wasn’t Jimmy, was it?”
Oh, please! “Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffed, shooting a glance over the man they were discussing to see if he was still passed out next to them; he was. Oh, Jimmy! She had done this to him. Another chill, that had nothing to do with the cold concrete she was sitting on, shivered through her body. Jimmy was still going to die. That was a fact. Lois didn’t know
how she knew he would die, she just did. It would be all her fault, only now she and Clark were going to die right along with him. She needed to atone more for her sins. “It was a long time ago, when I first started at the Daily Planet.” She took a deep breath, because for some reason to this day she still couldn’t say his name, she could only breathe it, “Claude.”
Lois chuckled at what a naïve twerp she had been. “I must have been in love with him or thought I was, anyway…” She shook her head.
No, she knew she hadn’t been in love with Claude. She had been in lust with him. Everything about Claude screamed sex-appeal, from the smell of his cologne, to his sharp clothes, to his styled hair, and his French accent, especially the accent. Had she had more experience with such men, she would have known it wasn’t real attraction, not like she felt when she had seen Clark wearing just that towel. Oh, why had that thought come to the forefront of her mind? Those abs, that chest, she still craved to run her fingers down Clark’s… Her fingers brushed against his jacket, sending a tingling feeling throughout her body.
What in the world was she thinking? Lois had been talking about Claude, hadn’t she? Of course, between the two men, there was no comparison. Clark won, hands down, in the sex appeal category: those muscles, that charm, his sweetness... Oh, no, she was doing it again. She was falling in lust with another co-worker. This wasn’t good. Clark would probably end up doing to her what Claude had, so she should warn him that she knew that game and that he better not to try it with her.
“One night, I had told him about my story, and the next morning when I woke up, he was gone. So was my story,” she groused. Okay, she sounded bitter, but why shouldn’t she be bitter? She had worked her butt off for that story. “He won an award for that! He didn’t even thank me for my ‘input’.”
The strange thing was that Claude had used her to get her story, or had he? He must have respected her as a journalist on some level to steal her work, didn’t he? So the sex…? The sex had just been to hammer one last nail into the coffin of her disgrace. That was just like Claude. Lois had discovered too late that to him, sex was a game, not the kind of challenge game of pleasure it was with Cat – how many notches could be put on her bedpost, but a game of control and humiliation. He had been in control and she had been his victim. Never again! Lois had made a vow the morning that she had seen
her headline with
Claude’s byline; she wasn’t going to sleep with another man until her wedding night, and certainly not with a co-worker. She wouldn’t lose her head over another man and let sex steal her soul again.
“When you’re in love with somebody, it doesn’t matter how smart you are or how many rules you set for yourself, you’re still vulnerable,” replied Clark with a sigh that made it sound like he knew what he was talking about. Wait a minute. Had
he ever been in love?
“We’re only human,” Lois agreed with him. The futility of their circumstances seemed to hit her full force with those words. “What difference is it going to make anyway, we’re just going to die.”
They were going to die, and the most loving relationship she had ever been in was with a man who used her and stole from her. It wasn’t like her parents had been there for her, at least not since she was four. There was Lucy, of course, but… Oh, how was Lucy going to survive without her? Tears pooled in Lois’ eyes. She’d die without knowing what it felt like to have a man love, respect, and care for her. Those were just pipedreams anyway, weren’t they? Stuff promoted by romance novels and Hollywood to sell the idea of marriage to today’s love-hungry masses. She let the tears fall with a sob. Yet, she still wanted it.
Well, she had wanted sex with Claude, and what a disappointment
that had been. Not for him, he seemed to have a good time, but Lois, well, she was left wanting… more.
“Lois, you know what you said about respect? Well, I just want you to know that everybody at the Planet,
everyone, thinks that you’re the best reporter they’ve ever met,” Clark said. “Perry told me that the day of my interview.”
Her heart lifted at Clark’s words. Perry respected her? “He did?”
“Not that it really means anything coming from a Mr. Chuck Greenjeans, but I think you’re pretty terrific too,” he continued.
Lois started to cry in earnest. Not only did she discover that Perry actually respected her work enough to brag to an interviewee about her, but that she had finally met a sweet man with a killer bod, who thought she was terrific. Just like her luck, for both of these things to happen right before she was about to die. Correction: a sweet man with a killer body, whom she had treated like scum.
“Oh, Clark,” she said through her tears. “I’m sorry, about everything. I know it’s too late for apologies, but I never meant…” Her voice faded away as she saw Dr. Baines approach.
“Well, I hope you can forgive the accommodations,” Dr. Baines said, walking up next to them. “Then again, I never was much of a hostess.”
“Answer one question,” Lois demanded. “Why?”
“It’s simple, Lois,” Dr. Baines said, leaning down towards Lois to emphasize the fact that she was talking down to her. “Profit. Outer space is no different from any other new frontier. It’ll belong to those who get there first and seize the high ground. Sorry, you won’t be around to enjoy the rest of the evening, but accidents do happen.”
“Accidents?”
“Yes, you see when dismantling the orbital maneuvering system…” the crazy blonde said, crossing the room to a couple of barrels of what Lois could only assume was some highly toxic stuff. Dr. Baines continued explaining how she was going to kill them by making the building explode, as she turned the spigots of both barrels, letting the liquid leak upon the hangar floor, but Lois couldn’t hear her over the sound of blood rushing through her head.
“Unfortunately, the blast killed three noisy reporters,” Dr. Baines finished, returning to her captives. “Who didn’t bother to read the sign.”
Explosion? Dr. Baines was actually going to blow up her, Clark, Jimmy, and the actual Messenger wreckage, and there was nothing Lois could do to stop her. What a high note to end her career on.
From over her shoulder, Lois could see Dr. Baines tilt Clark’s head back and lightly kiss his lips. Oh, please! That woman had just proven Lois’s theory correct that she had slept her way to her position; did she also need to rub it in their faces that Clark had been too blinded by the blonde scientist’s attractiveness to see her true colors? Why would Dr. Baines kiss Clark? Had something happened between the two of them? The cold chill permeating through her body turned to steam as her red hot fury grew.
She heard Clark mumble something that sounded like “Say ‘hi’ to Luthor for us,” but that didn’t make any sense. Why would Dr. Baines be seeing Lex Luthor? Lois’s brow furrowed. She couldn’t believe she had apologized to Chuck! Was he still so jealous of her date with Luthor that he now thought that the billionaire philanthropist was also the root of all evil in Metropolis? Had everyone gone insane?
Let it go already, Kent! We’re about to die.While Lois was inwardly venting at Clark, Dr. Baines and her henchman had left the building. Convenient.
Suddenly, Clark was on his feet breaking her free from her bonds.
“Clark, how did you…?” she sputtered as he pulled her to her feet.
“Missing link. Come on,” he said, pushing her towards the exit. He stopped to pick up Jimmy and threw him fireman style over his shoulder.
Lois could hear the sizzling and bubbling of chemicals behind her as the hangar quickly filled with smoke. They had just reached the doorway when the first blast occurred. Clark wrapped a protective arm around her waist, propelling her forward. Another explosion went off just after they passed through the open doorway. She could feel the blast pick them up off the ground and throw them across the alley and into a large puddle of mud as series of explosions blew up what was left of the Messenger wreckage and the hangar.
She picked herself up and turned back to the now decimated warehouse. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Clark admitted, glancing between her and the burning building. “I guess the force from the explosion must have carried us here.”
Lois knew that, but why was Clark looking at her like he wondered if she believed his theory? Well, she was the
lead reporter. She saw a helicopter fly above what was left of the building. “Look!”
Even though it was a good twenty-five to fifty feet above the flames, the helicopter exploded with enough force that Lois buried her head in Clark’s shoulder. She heard Jimmy gasp from the other side of Clark, and she lifted her head. Jimmy was staring at where the helicopter had just been. He was okay. He wasn’t dead! Lois pushed Clark out of her way and wrapped her arms around her junior underling. “Jimmy! You’re alive!”
Jimmy patted her on the back with a chuckle. “In shock there, Lois?”
Lois nudged him playfully away. “I… uh… I thought…” She glanced at Clark, wondering how she could have ever revealed her private pain and fears to this man. Her secrets would surely be around the newsroom by morning.
Clark smiled reassuringly at her before turning to Jimmy. “We both thought we were goners there for a minute.”
That wasn’t true. Only she had thought they would die. Clark somehow knew they would make it. Damn! It was that missing link. He knew the whole time that he would be able to get them free. Why hadn’t he told her?! She had rambled on with all her most private story and he had just let her. Ooooh. She was right, she did
hate him.
Jimmy nodded. “I’m okay, Lois.”
Lois couldn’t believe that Jimmy was fine. She had been so sure that he was going to die that her whole world seemed to tilt off its axis with him still alive and with her well enough to warn the colonists. “Come on!” she said, climbing to her feet. “We’ve got a story to write.”
**************
The Celebration**************
Clark couldn’t believe it. Actually, he could believe it. Luthor probably thought it was good business sense to literally blow up the competition, even if said competition was hundreds of innocent colonists. Heaven forbid anyone come between Luthor and his profit, his ‘higher ground’. When Clark had heard Antoinette Baines use the same phrase that Luthor had, while the man was showing or possibly threatening him with his supposed Alexander the Great sword at his White Orchid Ball, Clark had known instantly from where she had picked it up.
He had tried to extract a reaction from Dr. Baines by mentioning the billionaire, but her only indication that he had struck a nerve was a slight pause as she stood up after kissing him. He had almost been able to hear Lois rolling her eyes behind him. All the progress they had made – with her opening herself up to him, confessing her vulnerabilities, and apologizing – seemed to have melted away with that one kiss. A kiss, he might as well add, that he didn’t initiate or have any way to stop. Thank you very much, Dr. Baines.
Had Lois known that he could feel every touch from her fingers as she caressed the back of his jacket? How he had wished Baines had chained his hands behind him, so that he could have held her fingers in his and comforted her somewhat.
Clark was glad Lois had opened up to him. He felt bad that Lois had such a horrid experience with that Claude fellow. He now understood her distrust of other reporters, especially other male reporters. He would have his work cut out proving to her that he wasn’t like other men. He would have to be patient. He could do that.
It wasn’t like his experience with Lana had been a bed of roses either, but they had been engaged by that point – not that the proposal had been his decision either – so he figured there wasn’t much he could do about their lack of chemistry. He had been resigned to his fate. Actually, withholding sex was one of Lana’s favorite ways of controlling him, of getting him to do what she wanted, or so she had thought. His parents probably would have considered it unkind if he had informed her that she was doing him a favor, so he kept that information to himself.
Sex with Lana felt more like a punishment than the reward she thought it was. She had hated it when he floated, so he had to exert extra effort to stay completely in control. She seemed to tense, instead of relax, when he touched her. He had wanted to give her pleasure, share, and grow their love; she had wanted it to be over with as soon as possible. If he and Rachel hadn’t experimented that summer after her senior year, prior to her heading off to U. of K. – before Lana had decided that Clark would make a better deterrent to other men as her boyfriend, instead of just her bodyguard, and agreed to date him junior year in college – he never would have known how pleasurable the experience of making love could be. Well, Rachel, and hearsay, rumor, gossip, and propagation of the species, aside.
When that other Lois had walked into his newsroom a year before and pressed her lips to his, for the first time in his life he had regretted sharing his body with anyone else. The fire she had ignited in him had been all-consuming, burning out any and all love and tenderness that had remained within him for Lana. He knew in that instant what he had missing in his life. When Lois had told him of her other dimension, of her Clark, of how she not only accepted her fiancé for who and what he was, but how who he was made her love him, Clark knew in that instant where he belonged, where his home truly was. She had been both his salvation and his curse all at the same time. If it took this new Lois until the end of time to love him, he would wait. As long as she didn’t shut him out completely, as long as there was still hope, he would be here for her.
So, it didn’t surprise Clark in the least – okay, it surprised him more than he had hoped – when the walls they had torn down while being held hostage at EPRAD had been reconstructed by the next morning. During the celebration of their exclusive story of Dr. Antoinette Baines’ death and the reason behind the Messenger explosion, Lois made a point to take him off to the side.
“Um… Clark, I just… well, I wanted to thank you for all of your help getting us out of there,” Lois said with none of her usual animosity. He should have known it was all for show, but he was a fool in love.
Clark smiled, relishing in her gratitude. “I’m glad it all worked out.”
“And, one other thing,” she murmured, siddling up to him so that her chest almost brushed against his, her eyes focusing deeply into his, with a large seductive smile gracing her lips. “If you ever breathe a word of anything I told you in there, I will deny it and I’ll…”
“You can trust me, Lois,” he reassured her. So much for hope.
“Right!” she scoffed, placing her party hat back on her head. “I’ve heard that one before.” She turned to stomp off and bumped into Perry.
“I just spoke to Ground Control over at EPRAD,” the Chief announced. “They went back over the colonists’ launch vehicle with a fine tooth comb, found the same coolant problem in the protected bands, and fixed it. Launch is now all set for tomorrow morning.”
The room burst into applause. Clark was happy to see the anger from her distrust in him disappear from her eyes as she glowed in her success. He watched as Perry took her arm and drew her off to the side. “It’s a no-go for you, Lois. No reporters allowed.”
“Imagine the Daily Planet getting an exclusive personal account of being on the colonist transport,” Lois coaxed.
“No can do, Lois,” Perry reiterated.
“All right,” Lois replied with a little more aplomb than Clark expected. He doubted she was the type to take ‘no’ for an answer. Of course, it was EPRAD who had said ‘no’. She’d have to accept it.
“Now, Clark,” Perry said to him. “You’ll be pleased to hear that Platt’s widow and his daughter are back on board.”
“Thank you very much. I appreciate that,” Clark told his boss as he watched Lois disappear through the crowd.
Lois seemed like a bask-in-the-glory gal but not one to stick around a party after all the cheering and congratulations had finished. Clark felt the same way; after the congratulations had been handed out, he was ready to move on. He and Lois were peas in a pod in that respect. You’re only as good as your
next story. Now that they had closed the Messenger conspiracy, he wondered what would be up next for the two of them. He knew what he wanted. He wanted to do an exposé of Lex Luthor.
He caught her by the elevators. “Lois!”
She turned around slowly with pursed lips. He could see her annoyed tongue glossing over her teeth. “What are you doing, Clark? Go enjoy your little celebration,” she said, waving him off and hitting the down button three more times.
“I wanted to talk to you about our follow-up on Antoinette Baines’ death,” he suggested.
Her brow furrowed. “Follow-up? Clark, she’s dead,” Lois reminded him, stepping into the elevator. “If you want to show up to her funeral, that’s up to you. The two of you were closer than she and I were.”
Clark caught the doors before they closed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Lois shook her head, but didn’t answer. Obviously, it was clear to her.
“I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me!” he defended himself.
“Like I care? We’re not partners, Clark, and we’re certainly not dating. You are free to touch your lips to any skank you like,” Lois retorted, flicking his hand to get him to let go of the elevator.
“We’re not partners?” he sputtered, moving his hand.
“Nooooo!” Lois explained. “This was a one time deal, and time’s up!”
The door closed in his face. Damn! He hadn’t even had a chance to tell her about Dr. Baines’ echoing Luthor’s remark. He turned to run down the stairs to catch her in the lobby, only to find his way blocked by Cat Grant.
Cat grabbed his tie and bit her bottom lip demurely. “Hi, Clark. What’s this about kissing other women? I guess my turn has finally come.” With a sharp tug on his tie, she pulled him up to her and pressed her lips to his.
Clark took hold of her shoulders as gently as he could and set her aside. “Cat! I’m not interested. I don’t do casual sex. Can I make myself any more clear?” he snapped.
At her astonished expression, she let go of him and held up her hands. “Meow, there, tomcat. Just having a little fun.”
Instantly, Clark felt chastised. “Look, I’m sorry, Cat. Lois and I were… I need to…” He tried to step around the tall woman.
“Oh, Lois still, huh? I was beginning to think you didn’t swing my way. Well, I guess if you’re not into fun and games, she’d be a good partner for you,” Cat said with a knowing grin that developed into a chuckle.
Clark rolled his eyes and refrained from continuing this conversation. He rushed down the stairs as fast as humanly possible. Because of the others in the stairwell he couldn’t go any faster. By the time he reached the lobby, the elevator was already filling up with the next batch of riders, and Lois was nowhere to be seen.
He threw his hands up into the air and let them drop, exhaling in frustration.
***
Late that afternoon, Clark sat in Perry’s office, watching as his boss leaned back in his chair, his fingertips together. “Kent, I appreciate your initiative, but you’re claiming a reconciliation between Elvis and Priscilla without proof.”
“They divorced?” Clark sputtered and then at Perry’s shocked expression, he quickly shot him a sheepish grin as if he had been joking.
Perry laughed. “You got me there, Kent. I almost believed you didn’t…” He shook his head.
Clark exhaled, and decided to swing by the library to pick up an Elvis biography on his way home.
“Look, son, two things. First, Lois has been trying to interview Luthor for at least six months now. She’ll not like you homing in on her territory.”
Didn’t Perry know that Lois had already been on the Luthor “interview”? No, perhaps not; it had only happened the night before last, and they had been working nonstop on the Messenger story. Clark was a little surprised she hadn’t mentioned her coup to their boss. “I tried to discuss partnering up with me, but she said something about a onetime deal.”
“I didn’t hire you to be her partner and keep her in line,” Perry scoffed. “As if that were possible.”
Clark blanched. Lois had said something about jumping in without checking the water level. According to Perry, this was a frequent occurrence. He was beginning to realize this Lois was a much different Lois Lane than the one who had made him Superman. This Lois must be more like his Lois; his old editor was always telling wild stories about her.
There was a pause as his boss got a thoughtful expression on his face. Clark wondered if he was waiting for his reporter to respond, when the Chief moved his expression to Clark. Perry stared at him for a moment before he murmured, “Nah, she’d kill him.”
Clark shifted in his chair. “You mentioned that there were two things.”
“Oh, right,” Perry remembered, leaning forward. “Lex Luthor is a pillar of this community. He has done a lot of good for Metropolis. He has lots of high powered friends and allies, and deep pockets, very deep pockets. He employs over a million people in this city alone. If not handled correctly, an exposé of this magnitude could ruin a reporter’s career, not to mention do irreparable harm to this newspaper. Before we were ever to print a single word of such article we would need facts, lots of them, hard ones, not just hard around the edges and squishy in the middle, solid ones through and through, and proof – concrete proof, preferably a conviction or at least an arrest. Now, what is it that you think you have on the man?”
“A hunch.”
Perry leaned back in his chair. “A hunch. Just a hunch?”
“Both Luthor and Dr. Baines quoted the same phrase from Alexander the Great to me,” explained Clark.
“Uh-huh.” His boss nodded, but his eyes showed his disbelief. “And you want to check to see if there was any connection between the two because of one similarly used phrase? They could have both attended the same lecture, or seen the same movie.”
“Well, Luthor was planning on building his own privately owned space laboratory if Prometheus got canceled. Dr. Baines ran the Prometheus program and was caught trying to sabotage it ‘for profit’ as she told us,” said Clark, realizing his hunch was sounding more and more like a coincidence. “They both mentioned wanting to ‘seize higher ground’.”
Perry pinched his lips together in thought. “Okay. I don’t like it,” his boss said, lowering his voice. “But I’m not going to stop you. Keep digging for information, quiet like, very quiet. You know about this, and I know about this. Don’t talk openly to anyone else about your suspicions, not Lois, not Jimmy, and especially not to any of your sources. They sometimes pass information both ways.” Perry made a back-n-forth gesture with his hands. “Should you come across something more concrete, come back to me and we’ll consider bringing Lois in. Until then you work on this on your free time. It’s not your main story; it isn’t even your second or fifth story. So far it’s just a hunch, but Woodward and Bernstein had a hunch once too and it paid off for them.”
Clark nodded in agreement, although the names his boss had rattled off sounded familiar, something to do with the toppling of a government, they weren’t ringing any loud bells. He added their names to his mental checklist of things that needed further research.
*******************
The Prometheus Rises*******************
Lois shook hands with Mrs. Platt. “Thank you so much for letting me interview you as you and your daughter prepared for your voyage.”
“Thank you for clearing Samuel’s name. It was because of you that Amy and I are back on the Prometheus transport tomorrow morning. We’re supposed to check in at EPRAD…” Mrs. Platt glanced at her watch. “Oh! Within the hour.”
“Would you like a lift?” Lois volunteered. “I could drive you.”
“That’s so kind of you, Ms. Lane. Thank you,” said Mrs. Platt with an appreciative smile. “Amy, honey, we’ve got to go check in at EPRAD. Grab your bag, and let’s go!”
A Cheshire Cat sized grin slipped onto Lois’ lips. Step one complete.
***End of Part 5*** Part 6 Comments
