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

Part 85

Part 86

Lois took Perry’s advice, sort of. She went home, showered, and changed her clothes. She stopped by her favorite espresso stand for a mocha with an extra espresso shot and a Danish, and then headed over to Clark’s apartment to search for some sort of clue on who took Clark and why.

Apparently, Wolfe locked up Clark’s apartment after he had briefly looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, besides Clark’s winter coat and scarf discarded outside his wide open door and the message about his safety deposit box on the answering machine. Now, she couldn’t get in. She tried knocking, hoping that Clark had returned between Lois leaving her apartment and arriving here. He hadn’t, either that or he wasn’t answering.

She went down and spoke to Floyd, who recognizing her as “Clark’s girlfriend” and hearing the story about Clark’s abduction, willingly let her inside. Detective Wolfe so disbelieved Lois’s kidnapping theory that he didn’t even check with Clark’s neighbors or landlord. She shook her head. Once again, she would be doing MPD’s job for them.

Lois went around his entire apartment without finding out anything new about Clark or about his possible kidnappers. It was very possible that the kidnappers never entered his apartment and had grabbed him when he was leaving.

She sat down on his bed and exhaled. She was trying hard not to cry. It had just struck her that during her search, she hadn’t found Clark’s lava lamp. It didn’t mean anything, she tried to tell herself. It was probably damaged during the initial break-in, but for some reason it felt like a bad omen. She leaned down and breathed in Clark’s scent from his pillow. Wrapping her arms around it, she closed her eyes and imagined it was Clark lying there in her arms.

The phone rang just as she had started drifting off to sleep. Lois blinked her eyes several times to wake herself up. It didn’t feel right answering Clark’s telephone without his permission, but that wouldn’t stop her from listening to the incoming message.

“Jerome, it’s Martha. We didn’t hear from you last night…” Martha’s voice said over the machine.

Lois’s chest filled with remorse. She hadn’t even thought to call Martha and Jonathan. She picked up the receiver next to Clark’s bed. “Hello, Martha.”

There was a pause, before Martha guessed, “Lois?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Where’s Jerome?” Martha asked, and Lois heard the panic in her voice, which seemed to match hers. It still sounded weird to hear Clark referred to by his middle name.

“Missing. He called me last night and said that he was on the way over, but he never arrived. When I came by here to see what happened to him, the front door was open and his coat and scarf were lying on the ground outside,” Lois said, giving Clark’s relatives the abridged version of events.

Strangely enough, Martha seemed to exhale in relief. “He called you last night?” she asked.

“Yes. I had been trying to reach him all day, but he had been out. He called and left a message on my machine, saying he was coming right over, but I never saw him,” Lois said, clarifying slightly her original statement.

“Jerome never arrived?” Martha echoed again. “That’s odd. He’s looking forward so much to your date. He’s mentioned it to us on several occasions.”

Well, that’s good to hear.

“He must have a good reason,” Martha went on.

“I think he’s been abducted,” Lois informed her. They deserved to know the truth.

Martha paused again before speaking. “I’m sure he’s fine, sweetie. He’s pretty good at taking care of himself.”

This remark also seemed off, because most of the time they had been in Smallville, Clark had not been able to take care of himself in any way, shape, or form. “I hope so, because, frankly, I’m getting concerned,” Lois admitted. “I mean, he disappears all the time, but never for this long, and certainly not without a word.”

“Does he now? Oh, yes, I guess he would. You just need to trust that Jerome can… that he’ll be okay. I’m glad he called you last night, though. That eases my mind,” Martha said.

Lois’s brow furrowed. Why would that ease her mind? It was after he called that he disappeared.

“He was supposed to call us when he got in last night, but he must have forgotten,” Clark’s semi-adoptive mother continued.

“Why don’t you give me your phone number?” Lois suggested, pulling a notebook and pen off Clark’s bedside table. Just like her partner to be ready for all contingencies. “I don’t have it on me. I’ll give you a call once I hear anything.”

“Jerome has the number, but I’ll give it to you, just… well, here it is,” Martha said, giving her the number. “Have Jerome call us when he gets in, and I’ll yell at him for disappearing without word. He really should treat you better than that.”

Lois couldn’t help but smile. She preferred Martha’s form of parenting to her mother’s. “Okay, Martha. I’ll tell Jer… er… Clark that you called, and I’ll yell at him for treating you so poorly.”

Martha chuckled. “I’m glad he has you. It will even out the sexes for the next holiday.”

Lois felt much better after having spoken to Martha. She buried her nose one last time in Clark’s pillow before setting the phone on the nightstand. She sat up, tore the sheet off the top of the notepad before returning the pad and pen next to the phone.

As she stared at the Kents’ number, Lois wondered if she was over-reacting. Everyone else seemed to think that Clark could take care of himself. Everyone else thought it was too soon to panic. Not everyone else was standing next to Clark when Trask had shot him. No one else… with the exception of Martha… saw that bullet wound on his chest. Granted, it was just a scratch, but it served to remind her how vulnerable Clark really was. No one else had felt her heart seize with fear when she heard that the Lexor Hotel’s honeymoon suite had been bombed, and Clark had been right outside the door. If it hadn’t been for Superman…

The paper slipped from her fingers and landed onto the floor next to the bed. When she bent over to retrieve it, she saw some curved scratches, or drag marks, on the painted cement. They were faint, but were still there. She wondered what caused them. Her fingers followed the scratch marks away from the bed and towards Clark’s armoire. Her brow furrowed. Had someone moved the armoire? She stood up and tried to move the heavy piece of furniture herself and wasn’t able to budge it a millimeter. That was strange. The scratches lined up perfectly with the armoire. She shook her head. She must have been imagining it. She was grasping at non-existent straws of hope that something, anything, would shine light on where Clark was or who had taken him.

***

It was barely 9:30 a.m., when Lois sat back down at her desk, and she hoped Perry wouldn’t notice and chew her out. She had done what he requested. She had gone home. Check. She had showered and changed her clothes. Check. She had gotten something to eat without chocolate in it. Her mental pen hovered slightly over her imaginary checklist. Technically, she did drink a mocha coffee. She shrugged. The Danish had been raspberry and had no chocolate in it whatsoever. Check. She looked presentable, more mentally stable, and was ready to take on a new day of searching for her partner.

Perry walked out of his office. “Oh, good, Lois, you’re here.”

So much for ‘don’t return until after 10 a.m.’.

“Something’s up at EPRAD. You feel up to doing a news conference?” he asked.

“Of course! Perhaps they have news on Superman. I’m on it, Chief,” she said, picking up her briefcase again.

He lowered his voice, and asked, “Have you heard from Kent?”

Lois shook her head. “Not yet.”

“I’m sure he’ll be in at any time,” Perry reassured her with a bit less confidence than he had at six that morning.

“I hope you’re right,” she said, and headed for the elevators.

***

Lex watched on television as Professor Daitch stood at the podium, addressing Lois and the other reporters.

“Superman’s impact on the Nightfall asteroid was substantial. It was not, however, decisive,” Daitch said.

It would have been more decisive, if he hadn’t impacted it at all, Lex mentally grumbled. However, what were a few million lives if it meant that tights-wearing menace didn’t plague Lex any longer?

Frank Madison, the reporter from his Luthor News Network, opened his mouth to speak, “How much of the…”

Lois stepped in front of him, interrupting, “Are you telling us that there’s still something out there?”

Lex was proud of Lois. She had no problem with butting Madison out of the way to be heard. Her question went straight to the point anyway. He could use someone like her on his team.

Lois didn’t seem slightly fazed in the least that her lover, Kent, was missing. Missing and, thankfully, dead. Had she even noticed Kent was missing? Missing would be all that Lois would learn in this time of panic and riots; who had time to investigate a pesky little murder? She’d probably think that he ran off. Needless to say, Lex was happy not to see that smug bespectacled face of his, next to his partner in the crowd. The connection between them must not have been as strong as Lex had presumed. Perhaps she had just been using her partner for pleasure, but didn’t have any emotional bond. Lex knew that Lois was in love with Superman, and Superman was in love with her. He also knew that Superman refused to move their romance into the realm of intimacy that a woman of her spirit clearly craved.

“A rather large portion, approximately three miles across, remains on a collision course with Earth,” Daitch clarified.

“When?” Madison asked.

“About fifty-five hours from now,” replied Daitch.

Lex turned to his majordomo. “Stock my ark, and start issuing invitations to the people on my list. They can start moving in forty hours from now as long as they have brought the agreed-upon fee. The doors will be sealed one hour before impact.”

Each person Lex had invited to join him in his underground bomb shelter / ark was a specialist in his/her field. Each person was single with no children, and was required to bring something for life either in the ark or afterward in the new world. Paper money meant nothing in such a world. It was all about commodities and barter. They were to bring food, clothing, supplies, toiletries, equipment: farm or computer, wood and tools for rebuilding, medical supplies, or anything else Lex might need to create a new civilization.

“Call LexLabs and find that…” Lex paused as he snapped his fingers, unable to remember that scientist’s name. “Astronomer fellow and find out how accurate EPRAD’s current data is.”

“Already done, sir,” Nigel replied. He must have anticipated this contingency. “Dr. Martin Solsvig said he would have the data for you within the hour.”

“Good work, Nigel,” Lex said. “See to it that Miss Lane is invited to our little party, and let’s make sure that she has all the comforts of home.”

“Yes, sir,” Nigel said, bowing his head and leaving to go issue the order.

*

“Is that why we haven’t heard from Superman?” Lois asked Professor Daitch, knowing that Superman would never have left her in the dark about his wellbeing. If there had been a way to contact her, he would have, unless when he checked in at EPRAD yesterday, they asked him not to. She was holding out hope for this contingency, but not much. “Is he working on a return mission?”

Professor Daitch stepped away from the podium, and let Secretary Cosgrove speak, “Uh, we have not yet heard from Superman, although we expect to soon.”

Lois could feel the terror rise in her fellow reporters. She already had processed her alarm during the night, and had moved on.

“There is no need to panic,” Cosgrove reassured the reporters to no avail.

Uh-huh. Personally, Lois thought there was a damn good reason to panic.

“Even without Superman’s help, we are confident we can handle this latest challenge with existing resources,” Cosgrove said, starting to sound a bit like Lois did when she blew steam.

General Zeitlin must have realized this too, because he took Secretary Cosgrove's position at the mic. “We have several delivery systems. The most notable is the Asgard booster, which we are in the process of reprogramming. At the same time, we’re currently attaching nuclear payloads and, if we can deliver them, we’ll finish the job Superman started.”

‘If we can deliver them’? That didn’t sound promising. Lois wondered if they expected Superman ever to return. She fought the lightheadedness that overtook her.

“Are you looking for Superman?” Clark’s voice rang out clear as a bell next to her.

Lois turned to face him and saw that he wasn’t there.

Cosgrove returned to the mic and continued his message for “the general populace not to panic”, but Lois didn’t hear a word he said.

Apparently, nobody had heard Clark, but her. A chill went down her spine as she realized he was supposed to be there. She turned away from the podium and pushed her way out of the press conference towards the street.

She didn’t care what Perry said. She didn’t care what anyone said. She wasn’t going to let that section of the asteroid hit Earth without having found her partner first. She had less than fifty-five hours, and she needed to start right this instant.

***

Cat stood in the elevator; her shoulders hunched forward in a manner so unlike her usual erect self. It could have been from exhaustion, but she knew the truth. She was still in shock that Phil was married. She had been fantasizing about him non-stop for weeks, only to have reality hit her in the face. She had had sex with a married man. How could he have done this to her? She had even started building plans. Her! It was stupid, she knew that. Cat didn’t fall in love. Cat didn’t make plans. Cat lived on the edge. Now, she remembered why.

What had doubled her hurt was that Clark still hadn’t called. Sure, Cat knew he was busy saving the planet from a giant asteroid, but would it have killed him to lift up the phone and ask Cat how her meeting with Phil had gone? To show her that he still cared?

According to the cab radio that morning on the way to the Planet, Superman still hadn’t checked in with EPRAD Control, which meant when Clark got back the night before he had gone straight to Lois’s apartment. Big surprise. He must have stayed the night, because he hadn’t picked up the couple of times she had called. Well, wasn’t that a twist of fate. As soon as Clark gets some, Cat no longer felt that familiar itch.

Did Clark have to be so selfish? Cat knew he had been waiting to drop his red trunks for Lois since he set his eyes on her, but couldn’t he have first reassured everyone else on Earth that life, as they knew it, wasn’t going to be destroyed in three days? Was that too much to ask? And if not the world, at least her? His best friend. Ha!

People in love were annoying as hell, which was why she usually avoided them. Of all the people her best friend would be obsessed with, it would have to be Miss Smarty Pants Lane. Actually, despite still being mostly a pill, Cat had grown to like Lois. Okay, maybe not like like, more tolerate. She figured that there must be something redeeming about the woman if Clark liked her so much. Although, maybe not, as Clark was a man after all and men never thought with their heads in matters of love, no matter what planet they originated from, apparently.

Both she and Lois loved Clark, in their own way. Cat loved him as her one and only true friend, the person she went to when she needed someone to listen or talk to. Lucky Lois was able to love him in the good way. Cat was getting used to them always being together. If she and Clark were going to remain friends, it was something Cat would have to accept as inevitable. She refused to give up her one close friendship, with Superman yet, because of Lois Lane.

Lois had changed so much, matured, since becoming friends with Clark that Cat was starting to have hopes that he might actually succeed in making Lois human. It would only take the undying love of a Kryptonian to accomplish that Herculean feat.

In the past week, Clark had started wearing that besotted expression on his face again, the one that had given him away as Superman. This time, though, an underlying sadness tinged this expression. At least, he had finally learned to retract the expression whenever Lois looked his way.

Cat felt bad for Clark. Being the one who loved more was a hard position to play. She knew that. It was one of the reasons that she never let herself become attached to anyone, current heartache aside. She had fun and she moved on. Cat had never wanted to have her heart broken again, like she had ten years earlier when she discovered her college sweetheart, her fiancé no less, had not only been two-timing her, but four-timing her.

“What did you expect?” Owen had told her. “You won’t put out for me, so I had to get it somewhere. Don’t worry, kitten, they didn’t mean anything to me.”

They might not have meant anything to Owen, but they had meant something to Cat. So, she had thrown that cheap dime store ring in his face and went on a crusade to sleep with as many eligible, single, men in Metropolis, while at the same time, using as many different positions as possible. Being that Owen worked for the governor’s charitable works division, it was almost as if she had given him ringside seats to see just how many men his ex-fiancée had left more than satisfied over the years. At first, she had relished rubbing it in his face that all these men would have sex with her, when he never would. After a while, she decided she loved the thrill of the hunt, stalking her prey, capturing him, and then letting him go again after she had gotten from him what she wanted.

Anyway, Cat had a good life now and she had no complaints. As soon as she was over her little crush on Phil, she was sure she’d be living the good life again. Only for now, Cat had caught Clark’s depression and Clark had been introduced to the good life. How ironic.

After Lois and Clark had returned from Kansas, Clark had become increasingly depressed. It had been so obvious that he and Lois must have been off-again, once more. Cat had noticed his melancholy state as soon as he arrived in Paris to pick her up from fashion week, but he hadn’t wanted to talk about it right away.

Either Lois knew that Clark was depressed and refused to do anything to relieve his suffering, or she was blind. Sure, it was possible that Clark had hidden his depression from his true love, but Cat saw all the signs. Clark hadn’t smiled as often or as freely as he had after the Kerths, and more often than not; he wouldn’t even remark at some of Cat’s more delicious flirtations. According to Clark, Lois had found out that he didn’t have a past from before he arrived in Metropolis. Well, duh, Clark! His past was the planet Krypton, which no longer existed. The records kind of were destroyed with the planet.

Apparently, when he arrived on Earth, Superman had stolen the identity of a dead infant from the late 1960s in Kansas, who would now be roughly the same age, or the age that Clark appeared, which was where the name “Clark Kent” had come from. While in Smallville, Lois had stumbled across the grave, put two chocolate bars and two chocolate bars together, and realized Clark Kent wasn’t the real Clark Kent. Instead of telling Lois the truth, Clark had lied to her and lied badly, if she knew her friend. That man would never learn. He was such an idiot when it came to women. He wasn’t bad, actually, to women in general, just Lois; most other women he dealt with just fine. It was with Lois, especially, where Clark seemed to trip up. Poor man.

Lois was stupid when it came to men, given, but Cat just hadn’t realized how much so. Why would Lois have given up a promising relationship with a hotty, like Clark, who thought she was the end-all be-all of women, just because of one… maybe two… white lies?

For months after returning from Kansas, Lois had reverted to her normal moody self. That woman was perpetually living with PMS. Cat had decreed that Lois needed good sex, and lots of it, and she needed it badly. Obviously, she wanted it from Clark. Had Clark listened to Cat? Ha!

“It’s more complicated than that,” he had told her.

Well, if there was one good outcome from Nightfall that, at least, would be it.

It must have been kismet that the mother of the dead infant whose identity he stole, would end up calling the Daily Planet, looking for a way to contact Superman.

‘The universe was trying to tell him something,’ Clark had said. He thought it meant that he should become friends with the childless couple.

Cat had thought it meant he should tell Lois the truth. True, it would have been nice if it had been a sign from the universe that he needed to bed his best friend with auburn hair, but Cat had given up on that pipedream, months before. Still, it would have been nice, probably more than nice as he was Superman after all. She certainly wouldn’t have said ‘no’, but Clark had tunnel vision when it came to Lois. It was Lois or nobody.

When Cat had suggested to Clark that he should tell Lois about his long underwear, he merely shook his head with sad eyes and told her that he couldn’t chance losing Lois as his friend, even for a moment, for every moment with Lois was precious. What a load of crap! That man needed to take a chill pill, and have lots of good sex, she had told him. It really was the best cure for everything.

Cat doubted he would get the latter from Lois… but, at least, he was getting something now. He would probably think that it was good, delusional fool that he was, but did Lois really deserve sex with Superman after everything she had put him through? Cat thought not. She wondered what a calm, relaxed, smiling, and happy Clark would look like. Pretty, damn sexy, she supposed with her luck. Then she realized that the world might get the added benefit of a calm, relaxed, smiling, and happy Lois.

Oh, God! Nightfall would bring about the end of the world.

Clark had informed Cat that parts of his destroyed planet had followed him to Earth. These fragments were a glowing green crystal, which he called Kryptonite. Kryptonite, not only caused him pain and temporarily took away his abilities, but also was the one thing out there that could kill him.

“Besides Lois,” Clark had added. He had been joking, of course, but Cat wasn’t sure that he didn’t actually believe it. Watching him with Lois later on, Cat was sure that he did. Lois had been slowly killing Clark by breaking his heart since she had met him. Who knew it only took the unrequited love of one bitter woman to bring the Man of Steel to his knees?

Then, before the holidays hit, Clark’s sadness had taken a turn for the worst. It was as if he had given up all his remaining cheer. He had stared longingly at Lois during the staff meetings, while in the bullpen, and whenever else Lois’s attention was otherwise engaged. It was as if he were trying to memorize every detail about her. It was amazing, or Cat should say ‘because he was super’, that he got any work accomplished at all.

Cat had tried to cheer him up, forced him to watch some of her favorite comedies, but to no avail. The man had centered his life around his partner and without even a morsel of love from her, had decided to give up hope entirely. Depression was a hard thing to live with, especially when it was with one’s best and only friend.

Something must have happened between Lois and Clark during Christmas, because Lois stopped being so nasty… well, at least to Clark, and he seemed to bask in every little smile. Cat hoped entrapping them in a mistletoe kiss at her family’s Christmas Eve party had been partially to blame.

True, by the time Clark had returned from capturing those jewelry store thieves, Lois was more than halfway to being plastered. Perhaps Cat should have warned her not to eat the fruit in the punch, since it had soaked in alcohol since the previous night, and would make her drunk four times as fast as the punch itself. Of course, Clark wouldn’t kiss Lois on the lips with her smelling like summer break on the Jersey shore. At least, Cat had tried.

Something must have happened, or not happened, after they left the party, because Lois’s icy façade had started to melt in Clark’s warmth. It surprised Cat little that when sprayed with the love perfume Lois had gone after Clark. Hell, Cat was surprised more women didn’t.

Clark had tried to tell Cat that he and Lois would only, could only, be good friends after what happened between them because of Revenge. Cat didn’t buy it. Clark retorted that Cat hadn’t heard and seen the hurt in Lois’s face when he had told her what had occurred while his partner had not been herself. Of course, he didn’t share those juicy details with Cat.

“Some things are private,” Clark had said.

Oh, please!

Lois had been hurt, because she had fallen head over heels in love with her partner. Was it Cat’s curse always to see what everyone else couldn’t? Even before she was sprayed, Lois was giving Clark the ‘I want to be more than friends’ vibe. Come on. It had been obvious to Cat. “Clarkie” clearly needed a new prescription for those glasses of his. The undercover assignment at the Lexor Hotel was just what those two needed finally to cut through the sexual tension.

The elevator dinged bringing Cat out of her reverie. She straightened her shoulders, placed a plastic smile on her face, and stepped out into the news floor. The first thing she saw was that Lois and Clark’s desks were still empty. Yep, they wouldn’t be in for a while.

She took off her fluffy white coat, set it on the coat rack, and sat down at her desk to check her messages. Before Cat had even finished, she heard Lois grumbling at her fellow reporters. Cat glanced over at her and realized that Lois didn’t look like someone who had Earth shattering, pardon the pun, sex. Lois looked like someone whose world was falling apart around her. Worse yet, Clark wasn’t with her.

If Clark wasn’t with Lois, where was he?

*

Lois pushed her way past Eduardo, Vargas, and Schwartz to get to her desk. Maybe Clark’s disappearance had to do with a story he had been working on without her. She dropped her coat on her chair and her briefcase on her desk and turned towards Clark’s desk, when Cat’s voice broke through her tunnel vision.

“Lois, what did you learn about Superman at the press conference?” Cat asked.

“Nothing. Have you heard from Clark?” Lois replied, shifting her focus onto the woman whose desk was opposite hers and almost didn’t recognize her. “Cat?”

Cat appeared as if she had gotten little to no sleep, and no amount of make-up could hide her dark circles under her eyes. “No, not one word. Have you?”

“Not since last night,” Lois said, plopping herself back into her seat. “I had hoped that maybe, maybe he had gone over to your place, when he couldn’t find me at mine, but...”

“Clark called you last night?” Cat repeated back to her, before her jaw fell open with surprise. “Really? Truly? He made it back?”

“What?” Lois sputtered. Back from where? Like her, Cat seemed more concerned about Clark than Superman. “Um… yeah. I mean, I hope so. When I got home at…” She shook her head. “— around ten, I found a message on my machine from around seven, saying he was on the way to my place, but nobody’s seen or heard from him.”

Cat shuffled around their desks until she was sitting next to Lois’s. “What do you mean ‘nobody has seen or heard from him’?”

“He’s missing. When I went to his apartment to see if he was there, I found his front door open and his winter coat and scarf on those steps up to the landing by his front door,” Lois explained. “That’s not like Clark.”

“No, that’s not like Clark,” Cat parroted in agreement.

Lois lowered her voice. “I know this sounds crazy, but what if someone abducted him?”

Cat gazed at her skeptically. “You’re right. That does sound crazy.”

Lois pinched her lips in annoyance. Why did she have to share this theory with Cat?

“Wait a minute,” Cat said, standing up with anger. “Clark phoned you last night and then disappeared, and you didn’t even think to call me? His best friend! I told you I needed to talk with him. I was worried sick, wondering why he wasn’t calling me. I had nightmares about what could have happened to him.”

What was with all these people worrying about Clark before they knew he had vanished?

Spite rose up and emerged from Lois’s mouth, “You look it.”

Cat threw her a nasty, scoffing grin. “You, too, Mary Sunshine. Get any sleep last night?”

“No,” Lois admitted. “And by the looks of it, neither did you. At least, I used my insomnia to check every hospital in the city and call every snitch I know, not trying to get one last bang in before the end of the world. You may not trust Superman to save us, but I do.”

“I trust Superman,” Cat returned. “And I’ll have you know I haven’t been with a man for over a week!”

The office quieted as every head turned their direction.

“It’s been by choice!” Cat informed them.

“What’s the matter, Cat? Got the clap?” said one man.

“Chlamydia?” suggested another.

“Crabs?” tossed out a third.

“Genital warts?” asked a fourth.

“Nah, it’s just PMS,” Ralph called across the room with a knowing nod.

“One more word out of any of you, and you’ll be spending your last moments on Earth in a sexual harassment seminar,” roared Perry, coming out of his office. “Capiche?”

Lois’s jaw fell open. She had seen her co-workers come after her at the drop of a hat, but never Cat. The newsroom was still very much a men’s club. “Those guys are jerks,” she reassured Cat.

However, it appeared as if the comments didn’t faze Cat as she sat back down. “Those guys are resentful that I wouldn’t sleep with them even if it were the end of the world.”

“What is with everyone?” Lois demanded, slamming her fist down on her desk. “Superman will save us. He has never let us down yet; he won’t now. He broke up the first asteroid, and when he learns about this new one, he’ll have no trouble dealing with it.”

“You were at the conference, Lois,” retorted Schwartz. “He’s disappeared, leaving us with a mess.”

Lois ignored Schwartz and focused on Cat, returning the conversation to between the two of them. “Superman’s vanished. Clark runs off from his apartment, leaving his front door open and leaving his winter clothes behind.” She gasped. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? It was so obvious. “Do you think Clark could be with Superman? Maybe Superman needed Clark to do something with him, or he’s injured… no, Superman can’t be hurt.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find Clark with Superman,” Cat said, reassuring her. She shook her head. “What about the Kansas Kents? Maybe he… they flew out there.”

“No, I spoke to Martha Kent this morning. She hadn’t heard from Clark either. Apparently, he was supposed to call her last night and didn’t,” Lois explained.

“Well, aren’t you the lucky one?” Cat mumbled snidely, under her breath. She thought for a moment. “Clark’s not with you. He’s not with me, and he didn’t go to that couple he’s adopted like parents. Are there any major disasters, natural disasters, we haven’t heard about? Superman would have thought that takes priority over checking in with EPRAD Control.”

They both turned their heads towards the monitors, quietly playing LNN in the background. The talking heads still seemed to dissecting the EPRAD press conference.

***End of Part 86***

Part 87

Cagney and Lacey are now on the case. Thoughts? Comments