Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhere we left off on Part 100 ...“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.
***
Part 101********************
… And Consequences********************
Clark pushed against the asteroid with all of his strength. He didn’t trust his powers enough yet to crash into the thing and blow it up as everyone had said he had done with the larger Nightfall asteroid. Anyway, that hadn’t worked out well, had it? As he concentrated on holding the large rock from moving forward, he could feel the burn from exerting his muscles. Had he not healed enough? Would his strength fail him at the last moment, hurtling the asteroid into him and squishing him like a bug?
He counted to sixty seconds and then let go, heading back to Earth and Lois. He hoped that the asteroid’s new slower speed meant that it wouldn’t strike his planet. Although, this wasn’t technically his planet, was it? He was from the planet Krypton, and the Kents had said something weird. Jonathan had said he was from another dimension. What was he doing here then?
Clark followed the curve of the Earth around until he saw the broad outline of North America and headed straight for the brightest set of lights. That must be Metropolis.
It turned out to be New York.
He searched his memories for an image of a map. He must have seen one while at the Daily Planet yesterday. He fixed the picture of the map in his mind and focused on New York. Scanning the outlying areas from New York, he found where Metropolis was in relation to it.
Heading back into the clouds, Superman turned due south and soon came upon a familiar cityscape. He recognized Lex Tower and the Daily Planet from his earlier flights. He chose the latter building for his destination. He couldn’t wait to spin back into his Clark clothes and see Lois again.
Fortunately, Clark didn’t have to wait. He could see Lois waiting on the roof, gazing into the sky. My, she looked beautiful. Her hair, the shade of rich chocolate, moved slightly in the breeze that he made as he drifted down to land next to her. He smiled. How lucky a man he was to have such a woman love him?
Clark had somehow revealed his secret to her, when they talked earlier. He wasn’t sure how. Had he moved too quickly? Had he said or done something as Clark that he normally only did as Superman? It really didn’t matter how he had revealed his secret to her. He knew he could trust Lois, and now that she knew, they could move forward with their relationship with no hurdles blocking their path… well, with the exception of his lack of memories. He still felt bad about making her cry earlier, when he abandoned her, forcing her to walk back to the Daily Planet with a sore ankle.
“How’s your ankle?” he asked, breaking the ice. He wanted to kiss her, but there was something in her expression, which told him that they needed to talk first, so he put his hands on his hips instead of wrapping her in his arms. Talking made sense after hitting her over the head with his secret identity.
Lois was staring at him, not blinking until his question. “Huh?”
“You twisted your ankle earlier,” Clark reminded her, nodding towards her foot.
“Right. Um… It’s fine,” she said, and then she took a deep breath.
He suspected she was about to launch into a big discussion about their relationship, and wondered if he should remind her that not all of his memories had returned.
Before he could form those words, she spoke, “The world wants to know, Superman, where have you been since Friday?”
“What?” Clark sputtered. Did Lois just address him as ‘Superman’? Oh, right the suit. She must be teasing him. He had been so totally focused on her that, for a minute, he’d forgotten what he had just accomplished. The adrenaline rush from his achievement finally caught up with his super speed. “I did it!” he said with a big proud grin on his face. “I stopped the Nightfall asteroid and saved Earth.” He really was Superman.
Lois gazed at him in wonder, almost sadness. “Is that
really the quote you want me to use?”
“Quote?”
“For my article. Perry wants me to bring him something for the front page of the evening paper. It will be a little late, more like an early morning edition, but it will probably have more than one printing,” she said.
“You want to interview me?” Clark asked.
She pressed her lips together in an expression he recognized as annoyance. “I need to interview you for the Daily Planet. Isn’t that why you came here? Were you planning on giving this exclusive to another reporter?” she asked, speaking to him more sharply than he could ever recall.
“No!” he exclaimed. It would have to be with Lois. Anyone else would reveal that Superman wasn’t acting like his normal self. “Uh… I’ve been resting?” he answered hesitantly, not quite sure what she expected him to say or what he would’ve normally said if he were Superman… well, Superman with all his memories intact, since Cat had proved to him without a doubt he definitely was the Man of Steel.
Lois nodded as if this was an acceptable answer and jotted this down in her notebook. “Are you saying that the initial impact with the larger Nightfall asteroid wore you out?”
Clark didn’t want her to interview him. He wanted to talk with her. What was the phrase Inspector Henderson had used? Off the record. “Lois?” he said, reaching towards her, but she turned away and started pacing. He dropped his arm.
“Why did it take you three days to reappear?” she asked. “Did the smaller asteroid not bother you? Were you not worried? Did you want to get a second opinion, as you hadn’t done with the initial larger asteroid? Or was it simply that you hadn’t heard of the smaller Nightfall piece and the danger it posed?”
The last option fit best with what happened, since Clark had been in the Bay and then the hospital with no real contact with the outside world for at least the first twenty-four hours. Then he had spent another large chunk of time not knowing he was Superman and, during the last bit, he hadn't known how to be Superman.
Clark could tell Lois was angry. He wasn’t sure if she was mad at him specifically, or at herself, or possibly at the situation in general. He wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it with her in this mood. For now, he decided he would play along with this charade and searched for something quotable he could say as Superman, which was also the truth.
“As soon as I was able to assist with removing the danger it posed… I mean, as soon as I discovered the danger and was able to assist in its… and was able to remove the danger it posed to Earth…?” he said, stumbling along with trying to find a suitable quote.
Lois stopped pacing and gazed at him quizzically. “Are you okay?”
He sighed in relief; this inquiry didn’t feel like an interview question. “Not really. This is a bit awkward for me,” Clark admitted with a sheepish smile.
“And you don’t think this isn’t awkward for me?” she snapped.
He guessed interviewing someone you knew as one person but had to pretend was someone else might be outside her comfort zone. The fact that she couldn’t reveal him for who he really was, hiding his other identity from the rest of the world, must have been eating her alive. “Lois,” he whispered, resting his hands on her arms. “I love you. We’ll find a way to make this work.”
Lois looked at him with tortured eyes. “I love you too, Superman, but I’m
in love with Clark.”
Clark’s jaw gaped open in stunned silence.
Huh?“Even though I’ve always been enamored of you...” Lois’s voice cracked, and Clark saw that her eyes were filling with tears. “Even though I always
will be enamored of you, Superman...” she corrected, placing her hand over his. “I
love Clark.” She squeezed his hand. “I love Clark more than anything in the world.”
And?“He needs me,” she whispered.
Yes, and?Clark was still lost at what the problem was. Why was she addressing him, Clark Kent, as Superman? She knew he was Superman, didn’t she? Of course, she knew he was Superman; he was standing in front of her in the blue suit and red cape. He meant, didn’t she now know that Superman was Clark Kent? His eyes widened in realization. Did she? Hadn’t she called him ‘Clark’ while they kissed in the clouds earlier? Who did she think was his true self? Which persona was? Even he didn’t know at this point. He felt more like Clark than Superman, but that was only because he had been introduced to his Clark persona before his Superman persona. He knew he had seen recognition in her eyes when he had set her down on the Daily Planet’s roof before he had flown to take care of that situation at his apartment. On the other hand, maybe her expression had meant something else. He still wasn’t up on everything Lois. He gazed at her in confusion.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you earlier, Superman,” Lois clarified. He could tell now that her voice sounded hoarse as if she had been crying. “That was wrong of me.”
“Oh, Lois, no. Never think that,” he corrected, pulling her into his embrace. If she didn’t know the truth, he would explain the misnomer now. “I love you…”
“And I love you, Superman,” she said, her voice wavering as she interrupted him. “But I’m
in love with Clark. Please know that this has been the hardest decision of my life.”
“But, Lois, I’m…”
Lois placed her fingers over his lips. “When I kissed you earlier, I cheated on the most wonderful man I’ve ever met, and I’ll never forgive myself for that. Never.”
Oh, no! What had he done? No wonder she had been crying. “Lois, please don’t think that,” he pleaded.
“I will treasure that kiss, our one and only kiss for the rest of my life,” she said, caressing his cheek. “But Clark is my life now. That's the way it has to be. There can’t be an 'us'.”
Clark could see the anguish in her eyes. She truly loved both sides of him, which made him love her twice as much as he already did, a feat he hadn’t thought possible. He pressed his lips to hers, unable to keep himself from showing her how much he cared, and trying to let her see that he was really Clark. Lois melted into him, tightening her arms around his neck and joining the kiss with as much fervent desire as he had ever felt for her.
Thoughts of all the times they had kissed flooded his mind.
Their first kiss on Trask’s plane.
The soft tender kiss goodbye he gave her when she said she couldn’t be with a man who didn’t eat sweets.
The kiss they shared on her bed after Lex shot her.
The kisses down his neck while she sat in his lap after Superman had dumped her.
The kisses from the Metro Club’s supply closet.
The kiss on her birthday.
The kiss after the Kerth Award banquet.
The kisses from when they read the newspaper together the next morning after the Kerth Awards.
The stolen kiss from under the mistletoe hanging in her window.
The kisses and other things they had shared while she was drunk on Revenge.
The kiss on the bed at the Lexor honeymoon suite.
The kiss after she broke into the Apocalypse Consulting office.
Every kiss for the next week after that, ending with the kiss before she entered the press area of EPRAD the day Superman left on his original Nightfall mission.
Despite that, it was only a moment later when she stepped away.
They were both breathless, her from the kiss, he guessed, and him from breaking his most sacred Superman rule: never kiss Lois while he wore the super suit.
“Please stop,” she insisted in a manner that had him doubting her words. “Remember, this is why you didn’t want to have a relationship with me in the first place. If anyone ever saw us…”
“Lois, please, listen to me…” Superman said, hating himself for having hurt her.
“I can’t do this… the interview, Superman, not right now. Give your exclusive to Clark. He deserves it after what we’ve done to him. He must still be at his apartment. Cat said he had been delayed by something, but he still hasn’t arrived here at the Planet, and it’s been hours. I’m afraid he showed up and saw us, when we kissed before and...” Lois said, falling into a now once-again familiar ramble.
“Someone broke into Clark’s apartment this morning and made another attempt on his life,” Superman told her, taking a step backwards to maintain proper distance between them. “The attacker died.”
Huh. He couldn’t believe how wrong he had been. She hadn’t been angry earlier.
This was Lois’s mad face.
“How?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“The man jumped off Clark’s patio so that he wouldn’t be taken in to MPD headquarters,” Superman replied. “Clark reported the incident to MPD and Inspector Henderson.”
Lois nodded. “Is Clark okay?” she asked, but he could see the tension in her jaw. “Has Henderson taken him back into protective custody?”
He realized the anger might not be aimed at him, but at herself for kissing Superman at a time when Clark had clearly needed her.
“I’ve got to go,” she added before he could answer, turning toward the rooftop door.
“Lois, wait!” Superman called. He hadn’t yet told her the truth. He shifted to bolt into super speed mode to go after her, only to be interrupted by a call for help. “Not now,” he grumbled, before snapping to attention to get the bearings of where the victim was located.
Lois didn’t wait; she threw open the door and ran down the steps.
With an exhale of frustration, he burst into air and back into action.
***
Lois stomped out of the elevators and over to Cat’s desk. The gossip columnist glanced up from her computer in time to be jerked to her feet as Lois took hold of handful of her long hair and dragged her towards the conference room.
“Geez, Lois. You could have asked nicely,” Cat said, slapping Lois’s hand away.
Lois shut the door and turned back to Cat, a finger pointed in her face. “What happened this morning?”
“You lose your memories or something?” Cat cracked. “Did Clark erase your mind with a kiss?”
“Superman just told me that Clark was attacked at his apartment. Did that happen while you were there? Why didn’t you tell me?” Lois growled.
Cat placed an embarrassed smile on her face and took a few steps backwards. “So, you know about that.”
“Yes, I know. Hello, Metropolis’ hottest investigative rep…”
“You really don’t own that title right now, missy,” Cat retorted.
“Whatever. Tell me what happened,” Lois insisted.
“Where should I start?”
“When did this attack happen? Before Clark went into the alley?” Lois guessed. That would explain why he hadn’t wanted her to look in the alley. There was a dead body lying amongst the trash.
“Wait. You saw Clark in the alley?” Cat asked and slapped herself in the forehead. “Of course! That’s why he jumped off the patio. He must have heard you coming and didn’t want you to know about me being in his apartment. He must have thought you’d jump to the wrong conclusions. Was that when you figured out that he was… you know? Because the forgetful lug kissed you outside Clark’s apartment?”
Lois stared at her. “What?”
“That’s when you saw Superman, right? In the alley behind Clark’s apartment.”
“No, I saw him… fifteen, twenty minutes later when I was walking back to the Planet. I saw
Clark come out of the alley behind his apartment,” Lois said.
“But he was… Oh.” Cat nodded. “He did the spin thing.”
“The
what?” Lois said, getting even more annoyed. She hated that Cat knew more about Clark and Superman than she did.
“Where he changes his clothes so fast while spinning that all you see is a blur,” Cat explained, lowering her voice. “It’s like having an all-access pass to a peep show with no peep.”
“But Clark still had amnesia when I met him in the alley,” Lois corrected.
“Oh, I know, but I told him about the spin thing. He still didn’t have his brain back when he stopped that brute who attacked me while Clark was in the alley,” Cat continued to whisper. “Well, he had remembered
how to be Superman…”
“Trust me, Cat. He doesn’t remember that either,” Lois said, shaking her head. “He couldn’t even give me a basic comment about Nightfall. Let’s hope he doesn’t talk to any other reporters.”
“Where is he?” Cat asked, glancing through the windows and into the newsroom.
“Rescue,” Lois replied, to which Cat nodded. “Now, tell me about this brute.”
“Someone knocked on the door after Clark went to the alley, apparently to talk to you, and I thought it was him, only it was some big guy. You know the type, a stereotypical ‘made man’, big, greasy, smelled, badly dressed, like Ralph only with a gluttony problem. Anyway, he pushed me into the apartment and started pawing me,” Cat said, pushing up her long sleeve to show Lois a bandage. “Superman appeared then and stopped him.”
“Superman?” Lois echoed. Clark had said he remembered how to ‘access’ Superman, not ‘contact’ Superman, access him. She shook her head. Therefore, Clark recalled how to access Superman’s powers, but not how to
be him. She didn’t know if her plan would work while Clark still had amnesia. It felt excessively cruel to enact it when he had no memories of deceiving her, even if it was for his own good. “He said the thug died.”
Cat nodded. “Yeah. After the guy realized that Superman being back meant that the asteroid wasn’t going to hit, he said that his ‘boss’ would kill him for failing to knock off Clark. So, while Superman was tending to me, the guy jumped off the patio to his death,” Cat said, lowering her sleeve.
“Did the man say anything else? Anything helpful? Like who this ‘boss’ guy could be?” Lois probed.
“I wish. He said he had never met ‘the boss’ personally, but the guy wasn’t exactly what you’d call a reliable source,” Cat said. “He said that ‘the boss’ hadn’t wanted them to kill Clark, merely rough him up, scare him, and dump him on the docks. Then he went on to say that it was Clark himself, who jumped off the boat into Hob’s Bay, and that this guy and his partner had searched for Clark, but couldn’t find him in the water.”
Lois thought about that for a minute. “What boat?”
“He didn’t say, and Clark doesn’t remember. We tried to get the guy to tell us the boat’s name, registry, or where it was docked, but he pled ignorance,” Cat scoffed.
Lois started to pace. “So, he didn’t mention anything about Kryptonite?”
Cat shook her head.
“Where was he taking Clark in the boat? Out to the middle of Hob’s Bay or somewhere else? So, Clark wasn’t dumped off the pier where that other body was found back at Christmas…” Lois pursed her lips as she thought. “Did he brag about knowing Superman’s secret?”
Cat’s eyes widened with excitement and she pointed at Lois. “No! He specifically asked
us where Kent was.”
“So, he didn’t know,” Lois repeated, continuing to pace as she thought. “It sounds like this man kidnapped Clark and planned on getting rid of
him, but not because of who he is.”
Lois’s brow furrowed. More likely, it was because of what Clark meant to her. How had Lex discovered that? She and Clark had been so discreet, hadn’t they? Lex had seemed extremely jealous about her and Clark spending those nights undercover at the Lexor together, despite all of Lois’s denials of anything having happened. Yet, somehow, Lex knew. Was he just being overly cautious? Was he just getting rid of the competition
before they hooked up, or did Lex really know about her and Clark? She shivered.
Had Lex bugged her apartment again? No, Clark walked her home after his apartment had been robbed and, knowing how paranoid Superman was about her safety, probably checked her place for surveillance equipment. If the guys who took Clark didn’t know… “Then what made Clark sick?”
Cat shrugged. “I only know of the one thing.” She looked at Lois knowingly.
“The Kents said they had destroyed the sample they had, so I never got to see it. I thought Trask was off his rocker, until…” Lois swallowed, not wanting to think about Superman being in the hospital room with an IV in his arm. Oh, my. Clark was Superman, and she and Clark had… Lois blushed, pushing that thought out of her mind and returned to the topic at hand. “You never happened to see it, did you?”
“It’s not exactly the kind of thing Clark would keep around his place, now is it?” Cat scoffed.
“No, I guess not. Did he tell you about it, specifically? Or do you only know from my article about Trask?” Lois asked.
“He said it was a green crystal and it glows,” Cat said. Apparently, Cat didn’t read the newspaper where she worked. Big surprise there.
“Glows?” Lois repeated. Nobody had mentioned that aspect before.
“That’s what he said,” Cat replied. “Well, at least, we know what to keep a lookout for.”
Lois nodded. Something nibbled at the edge of her brain. Green glowing crystal. That seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn’t remember where or when she had seen something like that.
“Is that all? I’ve got to finish typing up my column,” Cat said.
“Yeah,” Lois replied. “Wait. How did you get home to change? MPD take you?”
“Superman express. He thought it best if the guys coming after Clark didn’t know how close our relationship was, in case they went after me too or for payback for being there when their buddy died. So he flew me home before Clark called MPD,” Cat explained, heading towards the door. “So, officially, I don’t know anything I just told you.”
It seemed like a contagious virus sweeping through the Daily Planet today.
“Oh, you want to hear something funny?” Cat asked. “When I talked to Lex Luthor about what his plans for the impact had been, he said he was going to helicopter out to his country house to spend his last hour with his dog, a golden lab-Rottweiler mix named Xerxes. How is that for a load of crock?” She laughed. “I was tempted to ask him about the bunker, but you said that was off the record.” She waved a hand at Lois and headed back to her desk.
Lois stared at Cat in bewilderment. Lex had a country house? Where was it? Strange that he had never mentioned it. He had a dog? She just couldn’t see a man like that with a dog. Poor Xerxes.
Since Clark was busy saving everyone in Metropolis, Lois decided to check in with MPD to see if Homicide had found out anything about the assailant at Clark’s apartment.
***
Clark landed in the alley behind the Daily Planet. He started spinning into his Clark clothes, only to realize that he had been wearing jeans and a t-shirt when he had met Lois in the alley. His whole bout with amnesia had screwed up his life.
The worst thing about it was that the memories from when he was abducted were simply not there. The last thing he could distinctly remember was arriving back to Metropolis after cleaning up the debris left from exploding Nightfall. He assumed he had gone home because he not only had been found in a business suit and tie, without his uniform, but the Suit, which had fallen out of his armoire and into Jimmy’s hands, was the same one he wore to deal with Nightfall. Clark didn’t remember how he first met the man who had jumped off his patio, the boat, how he had ended up in the bay, or how he had been exposed to Kryptonite. It was just a great big hole.
His memories began again from when he was pulled out of the water, but they were weak, blurry, and patchy. They were weaker than the memories from Smallville when he and Lois went to deal with Trask, and even more paper-thin than those three days after that other Lois left him to return to her dimension, and he was left outed, infamous, and alone. No matter how much he tried to focus them with his mental abilities they remained as diluted as they were when he experienced them.
Clark spun back into his uniform and flew home… only to discover home was still a crime scene. He could either land as Superman, and answer a bunch of questions he really didn’t want to answer
again at the moment about how that man had died on his watch, or he could go to the Daily Planet and hope Perry didn’t chew Clark a new one for the way he was dressed. He opted for the Daily Planet, mostly because Lois was there, and he wanted to set the record straight with her about her kiss… kisses with Superman. He needed shoes though. Clark swept quickly over his apartment building. He stealthily removed the pair of shoes, which he had tossed onto the roof before leaving to battle Nightfall this second time.
He landed back in the same spot in the alley behind the Daily Planet that he had vacated only a minute before. He spun back into his jeans and t-shirt, and walked to the front entrance of the building. Making a detour through the locker room, Clark picked up his black leather jacket, which he had left there after catching a Metropolis Nets game with Jimmy the previous week before Nightfall. His spare business suit had been in the black bag Henderson brought to him in the hospital. Unfortunately, this was it until MPD allowed him to return home.
Clark started slowly up the stairs, thinking about all that had happened… might have happened since Friday evening. He couldn’t believe what he had almost done with Lois. That without his memories, he still fell in love with Lois was reassuring, but not a big surprise. That he wanted to spend his last night on Earth being physically intimate with Lois, the world be damned, was completely predictable, and would only have been shocking if he hadn’t wanted her. Had Cat not been her usual pushy self and folded under Lois’s pressure, the results could have been disastrous. He set his hand on the stairwell wall and winced at the pain that mere thought brought him. If he and Lois had done what he thought Chuck and Meena had done in the hospital, what it certainly felt like they had done in his dream, she would have died. Unless… Clark’s heart started racing with excitement and hope… unless they
had actually done what Herb said was next to impossible.
Surely, Herb wouldn’t have come to him and told him not to consummate his relationship with Lois without concrete proof. He brushed that thought aside. Of course, Herb wouldn’t. Then again, Herb did want him to return to his home dimension and take up the cape again there. Clark shook his head. No, Herb was his friend. He wouldn’t sabotage his relationship with Lois without proof. He exhaled the very idea out of his head and continued up the stairs.
Clark paused on the next landing as he thought about the possibility of pinning his hopes on Herb finding the correct answer out there somewhere. Perhaps he should ask Lois directly what had happened at the hospital, so that he knew for sure, just in case. Oh,
that would be a fun conversation. He chuckled with eager dread.
Although, contemplating a possible future with Lois would be for naught, at least for the time being. He knew what he had to do. If there was someone out there who knew that he was Superman – and that was a strong possibility, being that he had been exposed to Kryptonite shortly after being abducted – Clark would need to distance himself from Lois for her own safety. As Cat had said, if anyone knew his secret, Lois could be in danger from that person wanting Clark to do his bidding. Clark just couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk Lois.
He walked into the buzzing newsroom. There seemed to be a large crowd of people in Perry’s office, so he directed his feet in that direction. He peeked in, looking for Lois.
“Clark!” Perry called, waving him inside. As Clark approached, Perry eyed him curiously. “Did I miss a memo about casual Monday?”
Before Clark could explain about his apartment being a crime scene, Cat looped her arm through his. “Looking hot, Clark. How come you never wear leather with me?”
“Hi, Cat, and I believe that answer is self-evident,” Clark replied with a knowing glance.
“You can’t blame a girl for trying. Welcome back, Clark,” she said. At Perry’s odd almost shocked expression, she laughed. “You’ve gotten your memories back, I see.”
Perry nodded with understanding.
“Are you just getting to work? Did Henderson think you had anything to do with that guy’s death?” Cat asked, kindly establishing his alibi with Perry.
“Whoa! Back up there, Kent,” their boss said, holding up his hand. “Who died, and why isn’t there a story about it on my desk, along with the Superman exclusive Lois said you would get us?”
Great. Two stories he needed to write up. “Apparently, the man who was hired to kill me, heard that he had failed the first time and came to try again. From what Superman and I could get out of him before he jumped off my patio, he had been hired by some unknown boss to give me a warning that I was getting too close on some story,” Clark explained as the Chief handed him a glass of champagne. Clark made it clear from his expression and tone what he thought of the man’s fairytale.
“What story?” Perry inquired. Where there were threats for a reporter to back away, there was usually a Kerth-worthy story buried underneath.
“He didn’t know. He said that he had been told to grab me, rough me up a little, and dump me on the docks. The only reason, according to him, that I ended up in the Bay was because I jumped off the boat.”
Perry’s brow furrowed. “What boat?”
Clark shrugged. “I don’t know, and he wouldn’t say.”
“Were you on a boat?” Perry grilled, falling back into interview mode.
Clark glanced over at Cat, who had thankfully remained mum during his explanation. “I don’t know. Everything has come back except for Friday evening through when I was fished out of Hob’s Bay early Saturday morning,” he said. He hated to be out of control, and to have no memory of how he became out of control, no leads, nothing, frustrated Clark to no end.
“You don’t have any idea who this ‘boss’ might be?” Perry asked.
“Sadly, no. I mean, I have my hunches…” Clark said, letting his voice trail off with a meaningful glance at his boss.
“Mmmmm,” Perry considered this. “So, do you have any idea how Superman’s uniform ended up at your apartment?”
Clark darted his eyes to Cat. “Nothing from memory, Chief, sorry. I hated to bother Superman about it. He’s been busy putting out fires, literally, since he got back from space. It seems that this near-death experience has made people do things that they wouldn’t have done otherwise.”
“Tell me about it,” Cat said, swiping a glass of champagne off a tray. “I heard a rumor that even Lisa Marie Presley accepted a marriage proposal from Michael Jackson. I mean, how desperate does a woman have to be for that to happen?”
“Great shades of Elvis, Cat! Please tell me you’re kidding,” Perry demanded, the color draining out of his face. “The Princess of Rock n’Roll married to a… a…
pop star?” Their boss’s tone left no room for doubt what he considered of that music genre.
Cat shrugged, sipping her champagne. “Unsubstantiated rumors, Chief.”
Perry let out a breath of relief. “The best kind.”
Clark’s brow furrowed. Really? Lisa Marie was dating Michael Jackson? He had gotten into the habit of ignoring grocery story tabloids…er… rags, since Tempus had outed him as Superman. He shook his head. Strange universe. Back in his dimension, Lisa Marie was a happily married to a Congressman from Tennessee, and last he had heard, she was expecting Elvis’s first grandchild. The former president couldn’t be prouder.
“Anyway,” Clark said, redirecting the conversation back to its original topic. “Superman had only a few minutes to talk before heading off to his next emergency. He said that he would address reporters en masse tomorrow at EPRAD.”
“Uh-huh,” Perry looked about as thrilled with Clark’s less-than-candid exclusive as he had with Lisa Marie’s engagement.
“Perry, sir, have you seen Lois?” Clark asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
“She came in, downed a cup of champagne in one gulp, and said she had to go meet a source and would be in tomorrow,” Perry replied. “I don’t think the girl has slept more than two winks since Superman announced his mission to her Thursday night.”
“MPD,” Jimmy said, joining their group and picking up a glass of champagne. “Lois went to talk to Inspector Henderson about your case, CK, and said she would be in contact and that if you needed help writing your Superman article to give her a call at her apartment.”
Clark nodded. At least she had left him a message. He probably shouldn’t be surprised that she had gone to speak to Henderson about Clark’s safety after “failing” to protect him as she had promised. After Superman had told her about the incident, she also probably went to find out all he knew. He set down his empty glass of champagne. “Well, I better get started on those articles,” he said. “Thanks for the champagne, Chief.”
“I better see if I can get someone to go on the record regarding Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson,” Cat said before following Clark out into the fairly empty newsroom and over to his desk.
Clark gave her brief hug and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Cat, for everything. I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said.
“Tell that to Lois,” she insisted, turning towards her desk.
He set a hand on her arm to stop her. “No, Cat, thank
you.”
Clark saw her bottom lip quiver for a moment, before she responded, “That’s two you owe me, Chuck,” she teased, holding up two fingers. “I’ll toss Lois in free of charge, due to the fact that she’s entertainment enough.”
He shook his head. “Please, don’t call me that.”
“Oh?” Cat cooed. “Is that so?”
“I owe you one dinner to talk about Phil. How about you come over tomorrow night, I’m sure my apartment will have stopped being a crime scene by then, and I’ll cook you up something special?” Clark suggested, pulling out his agenda and flipping it open. “That’s March 1…” His voice faded as he stared at the calendar.
“What?” she asked, glancing over his shoulder at the book. He knew she saw what he had seen. The previous page, today’s page, was marked:
My Birthday. “It’s your birthday?” She slapped him on the back. “Well, happy birthday, Clark. How old are you?”
“I forget,” he mumbled.
Cat laughed and headed back to her desk.
Clark continued to stare at the words. It was his birthday, and he needed to break up with Lois. Some birthday gift.
***End of Part 101*** Part 102 Comments always welcome.
