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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Part 66

Part 67

Clark felt Lois move and shift beside him. He was still half-sitting, half-lying on his bed with Lois snuggled up against his chest. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. There was just something about Lois that relaxed him.

He could tell that she was awake, but she hadn’t moved away from him nor was she looking at him. She appeared to be gazing upwards.

“Good morning,” he said, kissing the top of her head. He hadn’t meant to; it was more a natural reflex.

She stiffened a moment and then relaxed.

Clark knew he shouldn’t be in bed with Lois. He knew he shouldn’t be anywhere near her, let alone touching her, holding her, cuddling with her, or kissing her. He was only asking for double the heartache coming two months down the road, when he had to give her back to her own Clark. He should move his arm away from her shoulder and slip out of bed with a reasonable excuse, as in he needed to use the bathroom, or they should get ready for work, or make breakfast, or check out that morning’s Daily Planet. They were all logical, perfectly plausible reasons to get out of bed.

The fact of the matter was that Clark didn’t want to move. If he could stay in bed with Lois for the rest of the day, week, next two months, and just hold her the way he was at that very moment, he wouldn’t hesitate in which option he would choose.

“Clark,” Lois asked, completely ignoring his earlier greeting. “What’s upstairs?” She pointed up at the little room at the top of the spiral staircase protruding through the middle of his bedroom.

“A loft,” he replied.

“I can see that,” she said. “But what’s up there?”

“Books mainly, a loveseat, a little table…” Clark said. With a nudge of his free hand, he tilted down his glasses so that he could x-ray through the wall/floor to refresh his memory. Frankly, he spent so little time up there, he could hardly remember. “A throw rug, a lamp, and my stereo.” Hmmm. He had forgotten he had moved his stereo up there after their pasta night.

“Oh,” she said in that tone of voice she used when she didn’t want him to think she was interested in learning more, but she really did. “Is it like your man-cave, your fortress of solitude?”

He chuckled. “I don’t have a man-cave, Lois, and I don’t need a fortress to be alone.”

She was quiet a moment in thought. “How did you get the loveseat and table up that staircase by yourself? Did you say bookcases?”

“The bookcases are built-in, and I happen to know someone with super strength who flies,” he explained. Namely himself.

“Superman helped you move furniture?” she asked, suddenly tossing away her veil of uninterested inquiry.

He shrugged, not wanting to say more and knowing he had already said too much.

“Do you think he’d help me?”

“Are you moving someplace?” he asked, shifting the question off Superman and back onto his favorite subject.

“No. I love my apartment, but…” Lois paused. “I’ve been feeling uncomfortable lately.”

Clark nodded. “Discovering that someone was spying on you can do that. I’m sure Superman would fly by and see if the surveillance has been reinstalled, if you asked him to.” It wasn’t strictly necessary, since he checked for them every time he went to her apartment now. The bugs had yet to make a repeat appearance.

“No, that’s not it,” she said softly. “Well, that was creepy, but…”

There was definitely something on the tip of her tongue that was bothering her, something she was hesitating to tell him. “You can trust me, Lois.”

“I know that, Clark; although why I should when you don’t trust me with your secrets is beyond me,” she snapped.

She was irritated that he had pushed, as she had every right to be.

“I’m sorry. You’re right,” he apologized.

“Geez, Chuck, what is it with you and apologies? Are you afraid I’m going to bite your head off if you don’t apologize for every little error you make in social etiquette?” Lois growled.

Clark had no idea from where he could have possibly gotten that theory. “I guess it’s the difference in the way we were raised. My mom taught me to apologize whenever I made a mistake or hurt someone by accident, either verbally or physically. It’s better to apologize when you’re not at fault than not apologize when you are.”

“You better not go into politics, Clark. It’s in their credo to never apologize unless dragged to the podium to do so kicking and screaming, figuratively speaking, of course.”

“Of course,” he agreed.

She sighed. “In a way, politicians are the opposite of Superman.”

“How so?” Clark asked warily.

“Superman stands for truth, a beacon of honesty,” she said, nudging him. “You could take a page out of his rulebook yourself.”

“Very funny,” he said dryly, not amused. His guilt on the subject was already at full.

“Do I even need to state what politicians are famous for?”

“No.”

“Superman also stands for justice,” Lois continued.

“And politicians don’t?” he asked. “Aren’t many of them the ones who write the laws?”

“Ironic, isn’t it? Justice against the poor, minorities, women, any group that they aren’t a member of or wouldn’t accept them as a member, but – heaven forbid – we go after one of their own, another politician, then they expect leniency or a slap on the wrist for anything short of murder,” she explained. “They think they are above the law.”

He had to admit that Lois was making some good points.

“And the last thing Superman is famous for: the ‘American Way’.”

“Whatever that is,” Clark answered, wishing that tagline had never been attached to Superman’s cape.

“Exactly! Since Superman came on the scene six months or so ago, politicians have jumped on the bandwagon to define ‘American Way’ within their own narrow parameters. You should see some of them. They’re ridiculous!”

“Trust me, Lois, I’ve seen them,” he grumbled. He had seen them all, and not one of them would Superman consider adopting as the true definition of that phrase. He, personally, liked the concept better in the abstract.

“Right, of course, sorry,” she sputtered as if she had forgotten that the man, in whose bed she was laying, was also her partner at the Planet.

Clark didn’t know whether to feel insulted or not; he chose not. “A-ha! You apologized!” he said with un-stifled glee. “See, it isn’t only… me.” He almost said ‘us farm boys from Kansas’ but then thought better of it.

“Fine!” she scowled. “I’ll stop jumping down your throat every time you apologize as long as you don’t do it for every thought and opinion you have.”

“Deal,” he said with a grin. It was a rare win against his partner, and he planned to relish in it, not at the moment, when it would cause Lois to kick him – literally – out of the bed, but later in private. They still hadn’t covered how politicians killed people, the opposite of Superman’s ‘do not kill’ credo, but Clark already had one win under his belt for the moment and was willing to save that win for another time. How had they gotten onto this topic of politicians anyway? He thought back through their conversation. “So you want to ask Superman to help you move furniture? Is it heavy furniture? Because I’m no lightweight myself.”

Lois sighed, giving in to his curiosity. “Last night’s bad dream, and another one I had recently, kind of cemented the idea in my head. It’s long past due.”

“What?”

“It’s time I bought a comfy couch, like yours,” she admitted.

Like his. He liked that his tastes were influencing hers. He wasn’t quite sure what her dreams had to do with her uncomfortable loveseats, but if she wanted to switch to something homier, he was all for it. “Don’t furniture stores deliver?” he asked.

“Well, we’ll see. I haven’t found a sofa I like yet,” she said, sitting forward and wrapping her arms around her bent knees. “Okay, no more of this lollygagging around. We’ve got an investigation on Barbara Trevino to complete. I’m not going to let her ruin my life anymore.”

Clark hadn’t thought the previous few nights as “ruined” in the least.

Lois slapped his chest with the back of her hand. “Chuck, why don’t you get up first, shower, shave, and get dressed? Do you have a robe I could borrow?”

He nodded, understanding now why she wanted him to get up first. She was feeling more modest in the light of day. He could appreciate that. “I’ll make breakfast while you shower,” he suggested.

“You don’t need to do that. We can pick up something on the way to… oh, crap. I don’t have a change of clothes,” she groused.

“Maybe you should start leaving one here,” he said casually, sliding his feet off the bed.

She slapped her forehead. “I do have a change of clothes. The ones I brought here yesterday.”

So much for his suggestion.

He looked at her skeptically. “Your sweats?” He was glad she hadn’t remembered them the night before; otherwise, he wouldn’t have a new favorite nightshirt. “You took those with you when we left yesterday morning.”

“Well, yes, but I had brought more than one change of work clothes. You know, in case I changed my mind. I left it in the car,” she said, and then batted her eyelashes demurely. “Claaaaark?”

Clark laughed. As if, she would ever need to beg him to do anything. “I’ll bring it up after I’m dressed.”

She grinned and clapped her hands together in victory. “Go, shoo, shower.”

He went to his armoire and brought out his schlumpy robe, draping it over the end of the bed for her. He took an extra moment to memorize how Lois looked in his bed, and then padded off to the bathroom.

*

As soon as the bathroom door shut behind Clark, Lois jumped out of bed. She pulled on his robe and started up the spiral staircase. Of course, this was the perfect place for him to hide anything about his past.

The robe caught on the railing and jerked her backwards almost pulling her over. Luckily, she caught herself at the last second. Nothing like making her already racing heart run in triple time.

She froze and glanced over at the bathroom. She had gasped with a slight squeak when she had almost fallen, but surely, Clark hadn’t heard her. She listened for the running water of the shower and exhaled with relief when she heard it. He wouldn’t be coming out. He was in the shower.

Her mind flashed back to how Clark had looked in that skimpy towel from the Hotel Apollo. Gripping the railing, she craned her neck over to look at the bathroom door again. No matter how hard she focused on it, she still couldn’t see through it. She blushed, straightening. Lois Lane! she scolded herself. What are you doing? She bit her bottom lip. If only she had Superman’s x-ray vision.

Lois tried to shake the fantasy image of a wet and nude Clark out of her mind. Damn G-rated imagination. No matter how much she tried to picture Clark naked her mind would only bring up pictures of his bare chest, shoulders, legs, head, and feet. It was probably for the best. If she could picture more, she bet she would never be able to look him in the eye without blushing again.

She turned and stepped onto the loft, but thoughts of Clark still distracted her. When she had called to him the night before, after her nightmare, she had forgotten that he was there in the next room.

It had been a strange dream, all around. It was the first time that she could recall where she thought of Clark saving her instead of Superman. She had never considered Clark as the heroic type, even if he did see himself as her ‘great protector’. She wondered what had changed. Was it because he had jumped between her and the bullet that Trask was shooting at him? Or because he scared off Mr. Make-Up yesterday morning with his presence? In her dream, Clark hadn’t been there, and Finn almost killed her, but then Clark arrived to save the day, just like Superman.

What was she thinking? Nothing like Superman.

Superman wouldn’t have tried to talk Mr. Make-Up into letting her go; he would have… well, she wasn’t sure what he would’ve done, but she was certain it would include a full body cast for Sebastian Finn. She grinned, liking this image of Superman breaking his code of conduct in regards to her, as if that would ever happen. Maybe it was for the best she had dreamed of Clark instead.

Clark! Right. She had limited time to find all of Clark’s hidden secrets up in his loft. She started with his bookcase. She studied the books that were there. There weren’t that many, and the ones that she did see were in other languages. Her jaw dropped. She knew that he spoke many languages, but he could read in them as well? She shook her head. Unless… they were just decoys. Maybe they weren’t really books, but had stuff hidden inside. She picked up a book and flipped through it.

Harrumph. It was a book.

Seven books later, she was beginning to sense a pattern. She would never discount Clark’s intelligence again. She gave up looking through the books and concentrated on the other items in the loft. There was a tourist figurine and a clay pot, but all that told her was that he traveled and she already knew that.

Fine! She would focus on his desk. Technically, Clark was right. It wasn’t a desk but a small writing table. There was a notebook, his laptop, some pencils in a cup, and… her brow furrowed… his lava lamp. What was that doing up there?

Clark had implied when he gave her hers that they would use them when they made love. Had he changed his mind? On the other hand, was this proof that he thought he had lost Lois forever? Well, he hadn’t. If he would just tell her… she scoffed. She wouldn’t be holding her breath for that moment.

True, she hadn’t opened her lamp either. She was afraid if she put up the lamp, it would be an indication to either Clark or herself that she was ready to jump to that next step, which she wasn’t. If she had the lamp up in her bedroom, she was sure it would taunt her to forgive Clark just by its presence.

If you forgive Clark, then he can come over and hold you, kiss you, touch you, and pamper you as you dream he does.

She refused to give a lamp such power over her decisions and her life. Therefore, it was still in its box, sitting just inside her closet. She ran her fingers over Clark’s lamp. Was that why Clark had his up in his loft, so it wouldn’t remind him that if he only told Lois the truth, they could be making love under its soft glow at this very moment?

Lois heard a sound and her eyes widened as she realized it was the opening of the bathroom door.

“Lois? I’m…” Clark paused. “Lois?”

She tiptoed over to the edge of the loft and looked down at an emerald green towel clad Clark. She had hoped that his hair would be wet and rumpled, but he had already styled it. He hadn’t taken long in the bathroom at all.

“Don’t you think you should be wearing more clothing there, Kent?” she called down to him.

He glanced up at her and smiled. “You stole my robe,” he reminded her.

“Do you want it back?” she teased, as if she would give it back. Better him underdressed than her.

His smile turned naughty. “Are you offering?”

“No,” she retorted.

“Well, the bathroom is free, and I’m going to start changing, so unless you want to stand there and watch…”

He wouldn’t dare! She crossed her arms and called his bluff.

With a shrug, Clark bent down and straightened the comforter covering his bed. Next, he went to his side table, removed a pair of briefs and some socks, and tossed them on the bed. Then he went to his armoire and removed a suit, shirt, and tie. She watched as he gave her one last glance, before he went to unfasten his towel from around his hips.

“Wait!” she caved with a flush, and started walking down the staircase. If she saw Clark undressed, her imagination would be uncontrollable.

“Find anything?” he asked, when she reached the bottom.

Lois pressed her lips together in annoyance. Had he known she was seeking clues on his past? “Are you planning on making love up there?”

He cleared his throat. “No, I wasn’t planning on it. Are you suggesting I should?”

“The rug looks woolen and scratchy, and the loveseat much too short to be comfortable for reclining, so no,” she said. “You have quite the book collection.”

“I like to read,” he replied.

“Apparently, you’re quite the linguist, too,” she said.

He shrugged nonchalantly, not denying it, not admitting it either.

She would have to work on getting Clark to talk. She turned towards the bathroom. “Leave my bag outside the bathroom, and I’ll get dressed in there,” she called to him.

“Yes, milady,” he replied, and she bet he did so with the bow.

***

As Lois’s phone rang, Clark looked up from his notes, which he was looking over for the five-hundredth time hoping to figure out Barbara Trevino’s next move.

Lois pushed the button for speakerphone. “Lois Lane,” she said without paying much heed to what she was doing.

“Lois, Lex here,” drawled Luthor’s annoying voice.

Clark pinched his lips together as Lois scrambled to pick up the line with a quick glance at her partner.

Oh, yes, don’t worry, Lois, I heard.

“Hi, Lex,” she said. “Are you finally ready to schedule that interview about your newest redevelopment plans for the Hobs River District?”

Yeah, right, scoffed Clark to himself. He stood up. He wasn’t getting anywhere here at the office and didn’t know if he could tune out his super hearing, so he wouldn’t have to hear Lois gush her reply when Luthor asked her out on another date. He knew that Lois wasn’t as shallow as Marilyn Monroe’s character from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but a man with money somehow always made a woman’s knees weak. He had seen it repeatedly in his dimension. Anyway, it was time for some super assistance to look for Barbara Trevino. He pulled on his overcoat and scarf.

“New Year’s Eve?” Lois repeated back into the phone, much to Clark’s chagrin.

He crossed over to her desk.

“Hold on, Lex,” she said into the phone and she covered up the mouthpiece to speak to Clark. “You heading home?”

“I’m going out to search for Barbara Trevino,” he told her.

“What makes you think you can find a woman everyone else is looking for and no one can find?” she asked wryly.

“I have my ways,” Clark replied.

“Say ‘hi’ to Superman for me,” she teased with a wave of her fingers.

He wanted to groan, so he did. “Lo-is.” Just tell Luthor that Clark had a personal relationship with the hero, why didn’t she? “Thanks for the vote of confidence in my investigative skills,” he said, more because she had hit the nail on the head. “Now, do you promise you won’t leave?”

Lois rolled her eyes. “Do you want it in blood? I’ve got more work to do.”

“Okay, good,” Clark said, and took two steps towards the exit before changing his mind. “But I don’t want you staying here alone.”

“You don’t, do you? Who died and put you in charge of my life?” she groused. “I’m at the Daily Planet; I’ll be fine. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’ll stick around,” Jimmy volunteered, making Clark feel better about going out to search for this woman terrorizing Lois. “Really, I don’t mind.”

“Thanks, Jimmy,” Clark said, nodding to the two of them and heading for the stairs again.

“I can take you home, Lois,” Clark heard Luthor say to her over the telephone, causing him to turn back around to Lois.

“Thanks, Lex…” Lois replied. “Hold on, my overprotective bodyguard is back. What now, Chuck?”

“I’ll be back to pick you up in a little while,” he told her, giving her the universal gesture for ‘hold on’. The last thing he wanted was Lois to start dating Luthor again during his final two months with her, just because he hadn’t been in the office to stop it. “Stay!”

Lois snarled at him “Go!” and flicked him away with her hand.

“Okay,” Clark said, finally leaving.

“I’m sorry about that, Lex. Thanks for the offer, but I don’t need another protector at the moment. I’m fine. As for New Year’s Eve, everyone at the City Desk is helping cover New Year’s parties,” Clark heard Lois explain to Luthor, and felt better about heading out.

Lois wasn’t interested in Lex Luthor, he told himself. Lois hadn’t gone to Luthor’s in her hour of need the night before. Lois didn’t flirt with Luthor the night before and again this morning. Lois didn’t sleep cuddled up against Luthor’s chest after her nightmare. It wasn’t Luthor who saved her in her dreams, but Clark Kent. On the other hand, Lois also wasn’t on a one-woman investigation of Luthor either.

Clark shook his head, remembering how he had watched Lois through the bathroom ceiling, while he took his shower. He ended up taking a much longer shower because of it. Then he had to check up on her in able to retrieve his uniform, from its secret compartment behind his armoire, without her observing him. It wasn’t an ogle. It had been more of a peek to make sure she wasn’t faking a shower to sneak a look out the bathroom door, while he changed. He swallowed, feeling guilty for this action.

It was only fair; he tried to convince himself and failed. She had stared at the bathroom while he was in it. True, he was the only one of the two of them with x-ray vision but, in principle, he was right. Moreover, he hadn’t taken more than a two second… well, more like a seven second… gander before remembering he needed to get dressed. As soon as she had dropped the robe and started to remove the nightshirt, he had looked away. If he had seen her naked, he was certain he wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye without blushing. As she often reminded him, he already acted enough like a lunkhead.

He spun into his uniform and pushed open the door to the roof, zooming into the air.

He had enjoyed their little game of one-up-manship that morning, and the fact that he had won. He was glad she caved. He would have stepped out of view before taking off his towel and putting on his briefs, but the last thing he wanted was to reveal to her that he was Superman by catching her falling from his loft because she had to crane to see him naked. It probably wouldn’t have been a good idea of holding or touching her while he was just in the towel anyway, or needing to catch her falling while in the process of putting on his briefs. Thank goodness that there was a railing, enclosing the loft from his bedroom.

Clark knew he was playing with a fire that would surely burn him. He liked that it seemed as if Lois was getting closer to forgiving him for withholding his past and the truth from her, but no matter what happened, whether he told her the truth or whether he kept it to himself, in two months time he would have to say good-bye forever. Superman would save her true Clark, and she would no longer remember him, this other Clark, but he would always remember her.

He didn’t want to give her up. He didn’t want to return her to her Clark, but he knew he could never truly be happy, knowing he had kept them apart. After starting a relationship with this Lois, he knew that he could never return to his dimension and save the life of his dimension’s Lois by bringing her forward in time. Actually, he could, but the same problems existed. Due to his life’s circumstances there, they could never have a relationship more than friendship. He sighed. Moreover, it wasn’t fair to that Lois. Clark was in love with this Lois, he wanted this Lois, and he knew he would only see her when he looked at the Lois from his dimension. That Lois deserved better. Clark didn’t know if a second chance at life with a moonstruck Superman, who would probably end up stalking her for her resemblance to this Lois, was really the best option of a happy life for her. He couldn’t imagine it making his nightmare life back in his home dimension any easier.

One thing traveling to this dimension had taught him was that Lois Lane wasn’t interchangeable with any other Lois Lane. Their core personality traits might be the same, but in general, they were very different. They were each individuals, with different likes and dislikes, just as he wasn’t interchangeable with other Clarks.

He grabbed his head as these thoughts pounded away at him, making him feel as if his mind would explode. It seemed as if he wasn’t destined to live happily ever after. That Clark from the other dimension got it, and this Lois’s true Clark would too, but it didn’t appear that it would be in the cards for Clark. If only he were given a sign, a non-Herb Wells generated sign, from the universe at large that would point him the right direction.

Clark tried to shake all thoughts of this dilemma from his head. He flew to Lois’s apartment to do a scan for booby traps, bombs, and surveillance equipment. She was more than welcome to stay at his apartment until the end of time, but he knew that wasn’t likely or wise. It would be more difficult to say good-bye if they resumed dating and kissing as before Smallville, and near impossible if they made love. Moreover, he would feel as if he were using this Lois, which he didn’t want to do. She wouldn’t remember him when her timeline reverted to the way it was supposed to be, and it wouldn’t be fair to her.

After checking Lois’s apartment and her Jeep, Clark flew around to various places Barbara Trevino had been seen since she came to Metropolis a few days ago to accept the job at the Rainforest Consortium.

Nearly forty-five minutes had passed since he had left the Daily Planet, and he was beginning to suspect that he should just return to Lois and guard her as he had been for the last few days, as Clark.

“Shots fired at the Daily Planet. Any available unit in the area respond,” crackled a passing police radio.

Clark didn’t even take a moment to think, bursting through the unlocked storage room window of the Daily Planet. The room was empty. He zipped into the bullpen to find Jimmy wrapping, in packaging tape, the wrists of the cleaning woman as she sat in an office chair. Lois stood nearby holding a gun on the woman, who on second glance was a heavily made-up Barbara Trevino.

“Nice of you to join us, Superman, but Jimmy and I have this under control,” Lois said somewhat breathlessly.

“Are you all right?” he asked dumbly. It was his fault Lois had been attacked. If he had only stayed…

“I am,” she reassured him. “Hobs Mining is about to start clear cutting thousands of acres of Brazilian rainforest.”

Superman nodded, and went to take Barbara Trevino, chair and all, to the Twelfth Precinct. “Let me first deposit this…”

“Ms. Trevino here told me it was happening ‘as we speak’, so there’s no time to lose,” Lois clarified.

He didn’t like that Lois was ordering him about, telling Superman what to do, but perhaps he should defer to her this one time to save the rainforests and all. “Police are on their way,” he said with another curt nod, before turning to leave.

“Superman, wait!” Lois called, tossing the gun to Jimmy and chasing after Superman. She set a hand on his arm, stopping him outside the storage room door. “Could you do me a favor and not tell Clark?”

Superman raised a brow. That would be difficult promise to keep. Instead he spoke his thoughts aloud, “Clark should have…”

Lois rolled her eyes with a scowl. “What is it with you two? He blames you when you’re not fast enough. You blame him, if he leaves me alone for two seconds. Yet, you’re the best of friends. I’m fine,” she said emphatically, holding out her arms as if daring him to x-ray her. “Neither Jimmy nor I have super powers or telepathic abilities, and we captured Trevino all on our own.”

Unable to stop himself, he ran his fingers down the red marks on her throat. He had cut it excessively close. “Clark doesn’t have telepathic abilities,” Superman said softly.

“Well, whatever it is that he has that enables him to contact you on my behalf,” she said, stepping closer to him instead of away. “Clark worries about me. If he knew how close Trevino had gotten, he’d never forgive himself for leaving nor give me a moment’s peace again.”

Truer words were never spoken. “Does he bother you?” Superman inquired, hating himself for asking, but knowing he needed to know.

“Well, Clark did go a bit overboard with this whole bodyguarding job,” Lois said with a slight shrug. “But no; on average, his attention is sweet. I like that he cares… that someone cares.”

“I care,” he whispered. Realizing that he had gone once again too far, Clark cleared his throat and stepped away. “I better…”

“Yes, but… No, you’re right. You better go save the rainforest,” she said.

He stared at her a moment, dying to know what had been after that ‘but’. Recognizing that the Brazilian rainforest wouldn’t save itself from Hobs Mining, Clark gave her another one of Superman’s patented nods and disappeared back through the storage room window.

It took him but seconds to travel to Brazil. After a few minutes of searching, he found the bulldozers and workers gathered around to start clear-cutting the rainforest; only something was wrong. The men were yelling at each other. Clark landed a few yards away from them on top of the wire that ran to the explosives.

“Superman!” the foreman exclaimed, continuing in Portuguese. “The Jaguar is in the forest. He has sabotaged our equipment. We aren’t able to continue our job. You must capture him. He is a pest that has bothered us since we have arrived.”

Clark wondered how one wildcat could sabotage such a large operation. Glancing around, he indeed saw that the bulldozer’s engine was smoking instead of running. Another one had its bucket tilted as if it had been unfastened. “You don’t have permission from the Rainforest Consortium or the Brazilian government to clear cut or mine here,” he called to the men in Portuguese. To emphasize his point, he bent down and pulled apart the wire on which he stood. “Clean up your operation and head home.”

“Go! After him!” the foreman ordered some men who ran into the forest with guns drawn. Turning back to Superman, he said, “I don’t take my orders from you.”

“No, you take your orders from Barbara Trevino, who has just been arrested for murder and assault in Metropolis, as well as abuse of her power with the Rainforest Consortium,” Clark explained, continuing in Portuguese. “You will be receiving a Cease and Desist order to stop mining from both the Rainforest Consortium and the Brazilian government by morning. I recommend, for your sake and the sake of this precious natural resource, that you stop all actions now!”

“And if I don’t?” the foreman retorted.

“I can do much more damage to your equipment than some wildcat,” Clark replied, folding his arms across his chest. “Do not test me, senhor.”

The foreman laughed. “What do you know, Superman? The Jaguar is no cat. He is a man, a vigilante in these parts.”

The other workers started talking all at once. From what Clark could gather, this ‘Jaguar’ person was a mixture of myth and rumor. Like the Robin Hood, he stole from the greedy and gave to the poor. He protected the young, and those who could not protect themselves. Apparently, he dressed in a Jaguar print mask and suit. Half the workers believed that the Jaguar wasn’t a man, but a ghost, a shaman embodying the soul of a cat to do his good deeds. This Jaguar person seemed like another natural resource of the rainforest that needed protecting.

Clark heard shots in the woods and scanned the tree line. The men, who had raced into the forest a minute earlier, seemed to be chasing something. His brow furrowed. Whatever it was they were chasing it wasn’t the Jaguar.

On the edge of the forest, Clark could see, with his enhanced night vision, an outline of man, hiding in the shadows. Even with his vision, the man blended in with his surroundings. A mask covered his face from the base of his nose upwards and he was hunched down on all fours, like a cat. He was observing Superman and the Hobs Mining workers, ready to pounce or dart should the need arise.

Clark zipped into the forest and gathered up the workers’ guns, ushering the men back to the worksite. He informed them, still in Portuguese, that this jobsite had been shut down and that they needed to help load up the equipment to leave. After the men had returned to the site, Clark stood at the edge of the forest, pressed their guns into a ball, and dropped it to the ground.

“You are littering,” a voice from the forest informed him in English with the lilting accent of a man who had learned the language in school.

With a swift motion, Clark retrieved the offending object and hurled it into space.

“You are still littering. Now space and not Terra… uh… Eartha… Earth,” the voice continued.

“Clearly, I still have much to learn,” Clark responded in Portuguese. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“You are the man they call ‘Superman’,” the voice said more than asked.

“Yes, and you are?” Clark asked, already knowing he spoke to the man called Jaguar.

The man was quiet; if Clark had not been able to hear his heart beating, he would have assumed he had left. “I am a friend.”

“As am I,” said Clark.

“Ah, sim, but I was born here. I have much more to lose if I am discovered,” replied the man.

Clark turned to gaze in the direction of the voice for the first time. “You have no cause to fear me in that regard. I, too, understand the need for discretion.” His eyes searched out for the man, quickly finding him in roughly the same place and position as he had first spotted him.

“They say that you are a great advocate of justice, punishing all those who break the rules. To protect the people of my… forest, I cannot always work within the rules… laws,” explained the Jaguar.

If Superman brought to justice all those who trespassed against the law, Lois and himself would already have had plenty of charges brought upon them by the city of Metropolis. “As long as you aim to not harm anyone, you will have no quarrel with me.”

“I am here to help people, senhor. I live by a code, which I cannot break.”

“As do I,” Clark told him. For the most part.

“There are those that I know who worry that you are a demon, because of what you can do. They are afraid that you will try to make yourself into a god, make man bow down before you, and pray to you,” the Jaguar said.

“Yes, I’ve heard these things also,” Clark replied softly, still speaking in Portuguese. “I am no god nor would I want to be one. I am merely a man, trying to live his life as best he can. I would only accept prayers ‘for me’, not ‘to me’.”

“I am glad to hear that, Superman. Thank you for coming to the rescue of my forest,” the man said.

“De nada,” Clark replied, bowing his head. “You did the hard work, Jaguar.”

“God bless you, senhor,” Jaguar said, turning his head towards Clark for an instant before disappearing into the forest.

Stunned, Clark couldn’t do more than watch the man speed through the forest silently. When he had x-rayed through the Jaguar’s mask, he had seen his own face, looking back at him.

***End of Part 67***

Part 68

Many thanks to Ultra Woman for her Portuguese translation and Brazilian culture assistance. Here are a list of Portuguese words used in this part and their meaning:

Senhor = sir
Terra = Earth (the planet)
Sim = yes
De nada = You’re welcome

Feel free to air your thoughts and comments, here.