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

Part 99

Part 100

Cat opened the door of the conference room, looked around, and entered when she saw Lois. “The whole newsroom is buzzing about Superman’s return,” Cat said, slightly miffed that someone had beaten her to the scoop. “What are you doing hiding in here?”

“I’m not hiding; I’m thinking,” Lois replied tartly. “And since I’m the one who saw Superman, I really don’t see the point in getting all worked up about his return.” She seemed almost blasé about the whole thing.

“You saw Superman?” Cat sputtered, wanting to clobber Clark. He was supposed to go directly home to contact the MPD about the dead body in his alley, so he could hurry his cute butt into space. Of course, he couldn’t resist taking a detour to visit his favorite groupie.

“Yes, and you can cut the act. I know you know,” Lois said.

“You know I know what?”

Lois gave her a look that said, ‘do you want me to treat you as if you’re an idiot?’

Wow. That was different. Usually Lois just assumed Cat was stupid and worked from there. Maybe she did know something, but Cat refused to fall for it. She had kept Clark’s secret this whole time, and she wasn’t going to let Lois trick her into revealing it now.

Cat crossed her arms and sat against the conference table. “Clark called me and asked me to tell you that he’d been delayed, and that he’d be here as soon as he could,” she said, relaying the message, or something similar to what Clark had said was the message.

“That’s interesting,” Lois said. “Did he call you before or after he dropped you off?”

Cat shook her head, trying hard to appear innocent. “I haven’t the foggiest….”

“I know! What I want to know is how long you’ve known? And how you figured it out?” Lois demanded.

Cat raised an eyebrow and just stared at her. “After you.” She wasn’t going to reveal anything without corroborating evidence that the person, with whom she was about to discuss this topic, had the same information she did.

Lois glared at her with a most strange expression. True, she looked her usual annoyed self, but mixed with that was ‘impressed’ with a twinge of ‘relief’. “The mole.”

“What mole?” Cat said.

“Clark’s mole, on his lip. The one you mentioned last night. I finally noticed it,” Lois admitted.

Cat smirked. She knew Lois hadn’t really looked at Superman’s face. “Told ya.”

“Now, you,” Lois said, standing up and crossing her arms.

Cat shrugged. “I noticed that Clark had a mole months ago.”

“Specifically.”

“Back when you and he were working on that Messenger explosion story, right after he started working here,” Cat said. She flipped up her hand. “I was trying to convince him to ask me out at the time, but he said he was busy working…” She rolled her eyes. “— with you.”

Lois’s hardened manner faltered a minute as if Cat had stumped her. The expression of respect disappeared from her eyes. “Oh.”

Cat decided that either Lois knew what she herself knew, or Lois should know. They had played this game long enough. Until Cat knew that Lois knew, she would never be able to rub it in the woman’s face how much more observant a journalist she was than Perry’s darling. Cat refused to go back to being treated like an idiot by her co-worker, now that Lois had realized that Cat had other things going for her. “Then the day after the Prometheus launch, I noticed someone else had a mole in the very same place,” Cat said, having lowered her voice. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice, being that you were drooling over the guy.”

“I didn’t drool over Superman,” Lois retorted, confirming Cat’s theory that Lois really did know.

“So, he finally told you. Good, being the only one who knew got old long ago,” Cat said with relief.

“Told me? Ha!” Lois scoffed. “I figured it out.”

“How? The mole?” Cat said, unable to hide the gloating tone from her voice. Was the only reason that Lois had figured out Clark’s secret because Cat had given her the final puzzle piece? Oh, Cat would totally milk that for all it was worth.

“No. Well, yes, partially, but mostly from…” Lois coughed and glanced away, lowering her voice. “His kiss.”

“Who’s kiss?” Cat asked.

“Superman’s.”

“Superman kissed you?” Cat said, shaking her head. She should’ve known better than to send an amnesiac Superman out alone in the world. He must have totally forgotten about his having a secret identity.

Lois stared at her for a moment before answering. “Yeah.”

“Lucky you,” Cat snapped. Great. Well, there was the end of her friendship with the Man of Steel. Why would he need Cat any longer, if he had Lois to confide in? Her stomach fell. She was going to miss having Clark as a friend. Now, what was she going to do?

“Yeah,” Lois said softly, looking at her hands. She sounded almost sad.

Cat stared at Lois. She wasn’t looking like someone who was thrilled at learning that the man she loved could leap tall buildings in a single bound. “Hey, if you don’t want him…”

Lois’s head jerked up. “I didn’t say that.”

“Well, then, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Lois insisted in a tone that told Cat something definitely was wrong.

Cat leaned back and waited. “Except…”

Lois didn’t say anything for a minute. “I thought I knew Superman, and I thought I knew Clark, but…” She shook her head. “I don’t really know him at all, do I?”

Clark was Clark, only he could do stuff normal men couldn’t and liked to fly around in body-hugging tights. Sadly, Cat would never get to find out exactly what some other stuff that might include, not that she had ever expected to. She shrugged, unable to have pity for Lois.

“He said that he loved me, but he kept so much hidden from me, and he never trusted me with the truth. In the name of protecting me, he lied about what was real and what wasn’t,” Lois said, glancing up at her. “But he told you. With you, he could talk about things that he couldn’t with me or anyone else. You’ve known who he was from almost the beginning, haven’t you?” She was starting to sound like her normal Mad Dog self again.

“Pretty much,” Cat said with another shrug. She had told Lois that she was Clark’s best friend, and Lois had just proved her case.

“If you could know who he was, why couldn’t he tell me?” Lois demanded.

“You’re asking the wrong person. You should ask Clark that,” Cat told her. Although he still didn’t have a full memory bank last time she saw him.

“Well, I’m not going to,” Lois snapped, starting to pace. “If his secrecy is so important to him, he can have it and I won’t tell him that I know.”

Cat’s eyes widened. Did Clark not know that Lois had discovered his secret? Knowing that big goon, he probably kissed her and flew off. “Lois,” she groaned. “He hasn’t known who he is for the last few days. Give him time to recover fully and get used to you two as a couple again, instead of just as friends. I’m sure he’ll tell you then.”

Lois scowled. “Trust me, Cat. He’s had time.”

Cat contemplated this. “Did you two hook up during ‘Revenge’?”

“No!” Lois adamantly denied, which meant they had or they already had by that point. “I’m not discussing this with you,” she went on.

Too late.

“And I’m not going to let you hurt or punish Clark because your pride was bruised,” Cat said. “Talk to him. You must know that he doesn’t go around telling everyone.”

“Apparently, he only tells gossip columnists.”

“He didn’t tell me. I figured it out, so don’t blame him for me being more observant than you,” Cat fired back, pointing at her.

Lois knocked Cat’s hand away and pointed her finger in Cat’s face. “Well, I’ll have you know…” Her voice faded and her hand fell. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

Cat’s mouth dropped open. Wow. That had never happened before.

“You aren’t going to tell him that I know,” Lois demanded.

“Oh, I’m not?”

Lois pressed her lips together as if debating whether to discuss with Cat what she was thinking or not. When she finally spoke, her voice was quieter and more conspiratorial, “Someone’s trying to kill him, Cat.”

Cat crossed her arms and shifted her weight. “Really?” she said wryly. “I hadn’t noticed.” What did Lois take her for? An airhead?

“That means someone out there, out in Metropolis, has Kryptonite. What I need to figure out is whether or not the person behind this knows that Clark is Su…” Lois went on.

“Shhhh,” Cat interrupted with a hiss, glancing towards the newsroom to make sure she had closed conference room door. “Rule number one: we don’t talk about Clark’s secret identity. Rule number two: Clark doesn’t have a secret identity. Rule number three: we don’t even allude to it, most certainly not here, or anywhere else someone might overhear us.”

“Fine!” Lois grumbled. “Send me the manual. I’m going to investigate the attack on Clark, who might be behind it, and what exactly they know. I need to figure out if whoever is trying to kill him knows about his past.”

That made sense. “Do you have a lead?” Cat asked, leaning forward.

“Let’s just say, I have a hunch, but no proof. I’ll need time to infiltrate the organization, earn their trust, and see what I can find out, which I won’t be able to do if Clark thinks I’m in danger,” Lois told her.

Cat wasn’t sure why Lois was telling her this. Cat was Clark’s best friend; her loyalties lay with him. It couldn’t be the danger, could it? Lois ate danger for breakfast. “I don’t see how you telling him that you know his secret would make him want you to stop investigating this anymore than if he didn’t know,” she said slowly. “Unless you will be in danger.”

“I’ll be in more danger if he’s hovering over me,” Lois replied. “If they know what we know, then I won’t be able to infiltrate the organization if it gets out that Clark and I are an item. He’s already overprotective. As soon as he knows that I know, he’ll stop pussyfooting around and finally get serious. I know he will.”

Cat shook her head. What Lois was telling her still didn’t make sense.

“I need someone with whom I can communicate without raising suspicions,” Lois went on. “I need someone on the outside who knows what I’m doing is just a ruse and that it’s just an undercover operation.”

“Why?”

Lois took a deep breath, and looked down at her hands. “I promised Superman after that roller derby fiasco that I wouldn’t go undercover again without telling anyone,” she explained. “Usually that person is Clark, but now…”

“Did he really do that? He made you promise to tell him every time you went on an investigation?” Cat laughed. Clark’s goose was certainly cooked. No wonder Lois wasn’t telling Clark that she knew. Actually, Cat was a bit surprised that Lois wasn’t angrier.

Lois’s gaze turned sharp. “You thought I was kidding about him being overprotective?”

Cat raised her hands. “I’m just wondering, why me? Why not Perry or Jimmy or Clark?”

“It needs to be someone who knows and, therefore, understands why I have to do this. Clark trusts you, so if you reassure him that everything’s okay, he’ll believe you. I’ll tell Perry, later, when I have more proof. I could be wrong, but if I’m right…” Lois sighed, and Cat could see that this decision was weighing heavily on her shoulders. “I need to do this to protect Clark.”

Okay, Cat got that. Clark needed protecting, and he was stubborn enough not to allow Lois or Cat to do it with his knowledge. There was a bit of old world chauvinism in Clark, not that he’d ever admit to it. Not only was he was the man, he was Superman, therefore it was his job to protect the womenfolk, as well as himself. This time, if he interfered, the person, or persons, who had the Kryptonite might hurt him again or worse. She couldn’t let that happen, and neither, apparently, could Lois. This action ratcheted her up in Cat’s esteem a couple of notches. Lois was willing to look past their differences to ally with Cat and to put herself in possible harm’s way to protect Clark. Lois was okay; not that Cat would ever admit that to anyone, especially Lois.

“What do you want me to do?” Cat asked.

“There might be times when I have to relay messages between Clark and me.”

Cat looked at her skeptically. “Aren’t you like both dating him and his partner?”

“Weren’t you just listening?” Lois snapped. “These people can’t know I’m involved with Clark in case they know what we know.”

Was Lois planning to dump Clark? No, she couldn’t be that stupid. “But don’t they already know that you two are partners here at the Daily Planet?” Cat returned.

Lois waved her hand through the air. “Okay, fine, I’ll let you know, later, on the particulars.”

Suddenly, everything became clear. Lois scored her scoops on pure dumb luck. “You have no idea how or what you’re doing, do you?” Cat guessed. “Lois, even I ain’t stupid enough to have sex with a stranger without protection.”

“You’re my protection,” Lois said.

Lovely. There was an image Cat would have trouble getting out of her head for a long time. What exactly was Cat getting out of this arrangement? She would remain Clark’s best friend, and the only one who knew in Clark’s mind, other than that couple in Kansas. She would also be the one holding his hand when Lois’s plan blew up in her face. Cat could live with that, but it did make her role a passive one. “If I’m going to help you with your investigation, I need you to do something for me.”

“What?” Lois asked suspiciously.

“You dated Lex Luthor last summer, right?”

Lois nodded slowly.

“Tell me about that,” Cat said.

“Why? My personal life isn’t fodder for your column.”

“I hear enough about you through Clark, thank you very much,” Cat informed her. “I’ve been trying to figure out who Lex Luthor is dating. From what you said last night, I know there’s no love lost between the two of you. He’s extremely secretive, like Clark-secretive, about it. When you went out, where did he take you?”

Lois scoffed, “I hardly think that’s important at the…”

“If you don’t want me to spill the beans to Clark about you knowing his dirty little secret…” Cat said, an evil grin spreading across her face, and she received a scolding glare for her efforts.

“What do you want to know?” Lois said tersely.

***

The door to Lex’s office swung open and, without knocking, Mrs. Cox walked quickly inside. “Lex!” She held up a copy of the Daily Planet.

Lex’s brow furrowed at her rude manner, but his eyes were drawn towards the headline of the afternoon edition, Superman to Save the Day! He grabbed the paper out of her hands. “Is LNN reporting this?”

“I’ll check,” she replied.

“Call Nigel and tell him I need to see him immediately,” he ordered.

“Yes, Mr. Luthor,” Mrs. Cox said, hurrying back out of his office and shutting the door behind her.

He skimmed the short article by Lois, and then glanced over at the antique clock on his sideboard. There were less than five hours until Nightfall’s projected impact.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Cox buzzed his intercom. “Mr. Luthor, Mr. St. John is on his way, and I spoke to Dave Robertson, the news director at LNN. He said that they are waiting for confirmation of the story before taking it to air.”

“I’m holding the newspaper in my hands, Mrs. Cox. What more confirmation does he need for an ‘According to the Daily Planet….’ story?” he growled at his assistant.

“I’ll inform him, sir,” she replied, snapping off the intercom.

There was a soft knock on his door, and then Nigel entered. Lex just couldn’t assert enough, how wonderful it was to have someone on his staff who never forgot his or her station.

“Sir?” Nigel asked, and Lex waved him over. Nigel shut the door and walked over to Lex’s desk.

Lex tossed to Nigel the newspaper that Mrs. Cox had brought him.

Nigel glanced at it. “Oh, dear.”

“How many of our guests have already arrived?” Lex asked.

“Most of them, sir, although a few have arrived in the last half hour. Only Miss Lane was told that the doors would be open until an hour before impact. All the others, we had instructed to be here at least six hours in advance,” Nigel reminded him.

“Excellent. Make sure nobody else arrives, who has read the Daily Planet or heard LNN reports. Shut and lock the main doors within a half-hour,” Lex informed him.

“But, sir?” Nigel said, setting down the newspaper to which Lex had referred.

“I have…” Lex paused, glancing at Nigel. “How many guests?”

“One hundred and eighty-six at the moment, sir.”

“One hundred and eighty-six of the most intelligent, young scientific minds in this country under my complete control,” Lex reminded him, stretching his arms up and then behind him to cradle his head. “Why should I give them up merely because the world is no longer in danger from Nightfall?”

“Righto, sir.”

“Under the conditions of their acceptance to our little party invitation, they needed to pledge not to reveal to anyone, topside, where they were headed nor mention my name,” Lex said. “I need you to make sure that condition has been met. If it hasn’t, we need to introduce the vitamin tablet into those people’s diets.”

“Shouldn’t we wait to make sure that Superman does indeed stop the asteroid, sir?” Nigel suggested.

“Do you think he’ll fail?” Lex asked, but didn’t give his man time to answer as he picked up the newspaper again. “I do not and neither, apparently, does Miss Lane.” He threw down the paper. “It appears that the air canisters were unnecessary for his trip into space.”

“Won’t they… our guests, suspect something is amiss, being that neither you nor I have joined them in the ark?” Nigel inquired.

“We shall still make our daily appearances, of course, using the private elevator in my suite, as so not to arouse their suspicions. Please, inform Asabi that he will be residing down there from now on as my formal liaison with our guests,” Lex instructed.

Nigel nodded his head.

“Any word yet on Kent’s current condition?” Lex asked.

Lex was most distressed to learn from that morning’s paper that the uniform Superman had used for his mission had been found at the apartment of a friend of the hero. That meant either Miss Lane, who didn’t seem to know that her hero had returned when he had spoken with her the night before, or Mr. Kent.

Had she known of Kent’s ordeal at sea and subsequent survival? He deduced that indeed she had, despite her failing to mention to Lex any word of it. Otherwise, why would she have rejected Lex’s invitation? He had instructed Nigel to have his men finish the job that they were supposed to complete during Superman’s absence, and then to take care of them for botching it the first time.

“I was just coming to see you when I received Mrs. Cox’s page,” Nigel said, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “Our informant in the MPD has learned that a dead body was found in the alley behind Mr. Kent’s apartment, and it was the young man himself who reported the crime.”

“Mr. Kent has killed our man?” Lex asked with hope. Prison would be an acceptable place for Lois’s lover to disappear into and never return.

“Inspector William Henderson, who has taken charge of this case, despite not being in the homicide division, is under the impression that our associate…” Nigel cleared his throat. “Jumped.”

Lex’s eyebrows rose. “Jumped?”

“Apparently, Superman appeared on the scene and saved Mr. Kent from our associate,” Nigel explained. “Fearing for his life, the man jumped to his death.”

“Fearing Superman?” Lex asked with some astonishment.

“I’m afraid not, sir. Fearing retribution from you,” Nigel said with a nod of his head.

“Me?” Lex said tersely.

“Pardon. Not you, by name, sir, but you… as in your position,” Nigel corrected. “According to the informant in the MPD, our associate jumped out of fear after failing ‘his boss’.”

Lex nodded. “Well, at least the man did one thing correctly.” He brought his fingertips together. “So, Kent is still around.”

“Oh, and there was another juicy tidbit from our informant at the MPD. Apparently, Mr. Kent has no memories of the event at sea. He was pulled out of Hob’s Bay three nights ago with hypothermia, a concussion, and amnesia.”

Lex applauded. “Thank heaven for small miracles. Has he recovered?”

“Only some of his memories, but not all, and none of the event itself,” Nigel informed him. “Ms. Lane brought him to work with her yesterday morning, after picking him up at the hospital.”

Lex pressed his lips together. That was indeed a bothersome piece of news. He really needed to find a new spy inside the Daily Planet to monitor Lois. He could not put faith in his subordinates to carry out even the simplest of orders. If one wanted to have something done right, one must do it oneself, it seemed. He would make sure such holes in his plan to humiliate and smash the heart of Superman by bedding Lois Lane were filled immediately.

“So, she did know of his accident. Has it brought them closer together?” Lex asked.

“Ms. Lane was not at Mr. Kent’s flat at the time of this morning’s incident. He reported in his statement that he had been alone at the time, having sent Ms. Lane and Ms. Grant home the evening before, against Inspector Henderson’s orders that he not be left alone,” Nigel went on.

So, Lois had gone from Lex’s bunker straight into the arms of her lover, only to find that Kent wasn’t alone. He wondered how Lois felt about that rejection.

“What would you like me to do with Mr. Kent?” his majordomo asked.

“I was interviewed by an Inspector Henderson after the incident with Ms. Lane. Is this the same man?” Lex wondered aloud.

“I can check, sir.”

Lex recalled the man who interviewed him after he had shot Lois. He didn’t seem properly in awe of a man with Lex’s influence, which led Lex to believe he was either an honest or skeptical fellow. “Let’s back off Kent for the moment, Nigel,” he ordered. “Perhaps Inspector Henderson will think that we are no longer interested in Kent or that he’s found their culprit in our dead associate. Make sure that there isn’t anything that will tie that man to us. Also, find me someone at the Daily Planet who will report to us about Ms. Lane and Mr. Kent, especially Mr. Kent’s mental health. I would like to be informed, before the MPD, should he recover those memories of when our men abducted him.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I would also like a full write-up on this Inspector Henderson. I’m curious why he’s involved being that he’s not in Homicide. Find out which division he is with,” Lex went on.

“I’ll get right on that, sir,” Nigel said with his patient deference. “Is there anything else?”

Lex thought about everything that he and Nigel discussed. “Yes, contact Dr. Arianna Carlin, and invite her to dine with me tonight. She’s on the board for the projected Luthor House for the Mentally Unstable. I believe she’d be interested in our little, below-ground science experiment on human behavior.”

Nigel nodded and backed towards the door.

Lex had been optimistic that Lois would change her mind at the last minute and join his ark. That really was the only reason he had let her go the night before. Her coming to him willingly would have been minor compensation for Lex not being able to witness Superman’s death first hand. It was better this way. Lex could now up his ante and ensure that Lois was wooed by his charms. This time, Superman would have a front row seat to his beloved’s betrayal, forced if need be. Although, the sweeter victory would still be if she came willingly, calling out Lex’s name in ecstasy for Superman to hear.

***

“This is EPRAD Ground Control. We’re two hours thirty minutes and counting from the impact of the Nightfall asteroid,” the voice said over the television screens in the Daily Planet newsroom. LNN listened in to EPRAD Control every half hour to hear an update from Mission Control.

The Daily Planet reporters were milling about, watching the coverage and wondering if they would have an evening edition. Or would the afternoon edition, announcing Superman’s return, be its last great hurrah?

“Since the Daily Planet announced two and a half hours ago that Superman was back to save us from the Nightfall asteroid,” said Sandra Ellis, news anchor at LNN. “EPRAD Control has yet been able to find him on any of their...”

“Mission trackers are reporting an anomaly,” interrupted the male voice from EPRAD Control.

“What’s that?” Sandra said, placing a hand to her earpiece. “It looks like we have breaking news from EPRAD Mission Control.”

“Switching to backup computers for corroboration,” continued the EPRAD Control spokesman. “Roger! Confirmation. The asteroid’s velocity is decreasing.”

Cat turned and smiled at Lois, who nodded.

Lois turned and grinned at Perry, whose eyes were widening at this news. It wasn’t as if he was stunned, but Lois was sure a part of him was still in shock that it could be Clark up there slowing down the asteroid. Her racing heart would belie Lois if she claimed that she wasn’t thinking about that as well.

“It’s a great day to be in the news business!” Perry cheered.

Lois had to agree with him, exhaling in relief that her vision of them watching and waiting until the impact was supposed to have occurred hadn’t come true.

“Decreasing?” said Sandra, LNN’s news anchor in surprise, turning to her scientific expert. “Shouldn’t Superman collide with it as he had done with the larger Nightfall asteroid?”

“Well, Ms. Ellis, since both the asteroid and the Earth are moving objects, all Superman really needs to do is slow Nightfall down, and then we’ll just pass each other by,” replied the expert, demonstrating the effect with his hands.

“All right! Go, Superman!” Jimmy exclaimed from beside Lois.

“Champagne! My office!” said Perry. “After you all file your stories!”

“That’s my cue to pull out my rolodex and start making celebrity calls,” Cat said with a roll of her eyes. “Back to the grindstone.”

Lois glanced back at LNN. Sandra was discussing with her co-anchor about where Superman could have been hiding out these last few days and why he had waited until the last minute to do anything about the smaller Nightfall asteroid, when he had acted within a day of learning about the larger one.

Clark… correction, Superman would be back to the Planet soon. After their kiss a few hours before, he would most likely be expecting Lois to be waiting for him on the roof for that ‘talk’. She took a deep breath and exhaled as she turned towards the elevators. Well, here went everything. She wondered if she would be able to pull it off.

***End of Part 100***

Part 101

Comments always appreciated.