Clark Jerome Kent had come out of the side entrance of the hospital in his street clothes. There were no cabs to be seen so he walked over to the Daily Planet building to meet up with Perry and his Lois. The city was a mess with collapsed buildings and boarded up windows. He hadn’t paid much attention to the damage the night before – everything had appeared under control and he hadn’t detected any life signs in the demolished structures. In the daylight it was obvious the city had been hit by a major earthquake.
The Daily Planet was in slightly better shape than many of the surrounding structures. The building was habitable although many windows were boarded up or covered with tarps, and many of the large decorative sculptures had been damaged. The ornate globe that should have been on top of the structure was missing, no doubt having fallen during the quake.
He paused at the entrance to this version of the newsroom. It wasn't quite the same as the one he’d left the day before, but there was a familial similarity to it. The flat screen monitors overhead, the maze of desks, the beehive busyness of people on the phones. The colors were lighter, more ‘industrial.’ In his own newsroom wood was favored over metal. The differences were simply part of the mystery of tripping the planes.
Jerome heard sirens in the near distance and debated with himself as to whether or not a visiting Superman would be welcome in the skies above Metropolis. It was rarely a problem when there was a close physical resemblance between himself and the resident Superman. It was much more problematical when it was obvious he wasn't the original.
His own world was well aware that Superman wasn't the only survivor of Krypton’s demise. They knew that New Kryptonians occasionally visited Earth with the permission of Kal-El. They also knew that Earth’s military forces were capable of defending them against rogue aliens. That wasn't true here and as much as it bothered him to ignore the cries of help, he needed to keep the illusion alive, for this world at least, that their Superman was the only one.
A young man with a boyish face wearing a sweater vest and bowtie noticed him in the doorway. “Can I help you?”
“I’m waiting for Mister White,” Jerome told him. “I’m Jerome Kent.”
“Oh, I’m James Olsen, but nearly everybody calls me Jimmy,” the young man introduced himself, shaking Jerome’s hand enthusiastically. “Mister White hasn’t come in yet, which is a little strange. Actually neither of them have come in yet…” He stopped and gave Jerome a curious look. “Kent? You wouldn’t be related to CK, would you? Clark Kent? He’s one of our reporters… and he hasn’t come in yet either…”
“We’re related,” Jerome confirmed with a smile.
“Oh, wow,” Jimmy said. “I didn’t know he had any relatives besides his mom.”
Jerome shrugged and smiled noncommittally as he followed the younger man through the newsroom to what had to be the editor’s office.
“I guess you can wait for Mister White in here,” Jimmy said, opening the door to the office.
“Actually, if you have a computer terminal where I could log on as a guest, I have some research I need to get started on for Clark,” Jerome told him.
Jimmy’s face screwed up in thought. “There’s a free terminal in the conference room,” he said finally. “But I don’t know the login or password.”
“I’ll see what I can do until Mister White gets here,” Jerome said, following the young man to the conference room next to the editor’s office
He sat down at the computer in the corner of the room and checked the underside of the key board. Some things never change. A slip of paper with the login and password was taped to the bottom of the keyboard. He logged on and began searching.
* * *
Richard and ‘Joanne’ drove out of the hospital parking garage in Richard’s Passat. Perry was taking his own car to the Planet.
“So, how long have you two been married?” Richard began conversationally.
“Ten years,” Joanne answered. “We have four kids.”
She was interrupted by the sound of sirens as several police cars and a police van sped down the street toward the hospital.
“That was the SWAT team,” Richard said, suddenly worried. “Something big’s going down… Hold on.” He threw the steering wheel over hard, crossing two lanes to turn at the intersection. Other drivers wailed on their horns in protests but he ignored them. Another block and they were heading back, parallel to the route taken by the police team. He pulled the car into the nearest parking garage then headed toward the action at a run, pausing only long enough for Joanne to catch up.
“Richard White, Daily Planet,” he announced himself, holding out his press pass to the officers who had taken position behind their cars. They were watching the main entrance of the hospital. Other Kevlar-vested officers were inside the building. Richard spotted someone he recognized, a hard-looking woman with close cropped auburn hair. “Maggie!” he called out.
The woman saw him and waved him over.
“What’s going on?” Richard asked.
“Hospital security called us,” Maggie Sawyer told him. “Possible hostage situation, possible kidnapping.”
“Do we know anything?” Richard asked.
Maggie gave him a look he couldn’t quite identify, part worry, and part something else. “All we know so far is four people came into the building from the roof,” she told him, keeping her gruff voice low. “One of the reception people is missing and so are two kids and their parents. The kids were taken from intensive care. One from pediatrics, the other from the newborn nursery.”
Richard felt his blood go cold and his stomach started doing flip-flops in his belly. “You’re sure?” he asked, hoping against all odds she wouldn’t confirm his worst fears.
“Jason White and his mother, Esperanza Kent and her father,” Maggie told him. It was as if the world had stopped as the cold wave of fear washed over him. “Witnesses say they were taken at gunpoint.” Maggie looked over at Richard and this time he recognized the look – pity. “We’re doing everything humanly possible,” she assured him. “Pity the Boy Scout hasn’t shown up. He could probably take care of the problem without breaking into a sweat.”
“Not if the perps are working for who we think they are,” Joanne commented.
Maggie gave her a curious look. “And who is that?”
“Lex Luthor. We have reason to believe he’s in Metropolis, and he’s after Lois and Jason,” Richard told her. “If we’re right, then this is part of a plan to take out Superman.”
There was the sound of the helicopter overhead and all three of them looked up to see what was happening. Richard had excellent eyesight and spotted a white helicopter with a red cross on the side, but no other markings that he could see.
Maggie started swearing. “That damned thing was supposed to have been secured!” The radio that was secured to the front of her vest squawked and she pressed the receive button on its face. “Yes?”
“We found the receptionist, Captain,” a man’s voice reported. “She’s dead.”
Maggie turned to Richard. “Tell me everything you know about this.”
* * *
Perry strode across the newsroom, ignoring Jimmy and several others as they tried to catch his attention. He spotted Jerome in the conference room and veered off to go there instead of his office.
Jerome looked up at him from the computer as Perry closed the conference door behind him. “I just got a call from Richard. Those sirens belonged to the Special Crimes Unit responding to a kidnapping and murder at Metropolis General. Somebody grabbed Lois, Clark and the two kids at gunpoint, and killed one of the reception people. The police are chasing the helicopter they were supposedly taken off in.”
“Oh, this just keeps getting better,” Jerome commented sarcastically. “I just got off the phone with Wells. His contacts with the Peace Keepers finally tracked down some of the information we needed.”
“And?” Perry prompted.
Jerome took a deep breath before continuing. “According to what they’ve found – and apparently this comes from the time-line just adjacent to this one which should be very similar to this one – the skew began when your Lois and Clark disappeared for three days. Originally, they didn’t disappear and Richard White stayed in Metropolis. In fact, he and Lois ended up getting married. Your Superman was injured or poisoned at the refinery fire and was missing for nearly three months. But Clark Kent was at work during that time. In fact he won a Pulitzer for his investigation into government malfeasance in regards to their response following the near destruction of Metropolis at the hands of Lex Luthor.”
“So, what happened to change things so much?” Perry asked.
“As near as I can tell, the fact that Lois and Clark were gone allowed Luthor a couple extra days to put together whatever he had planned,” Jerome said. “Originally, Luthor and the woman with him were caught by Superman two days before the refinery fire. Superman handed Luthor over to the government of Ghana and he died there.”
“So, how does it get put back the way it’s supposed to be?” Perry asked.
“It doesn’t,” Jerome answered. “In my time-line, I was originally out of the game for several months as well, following an assassination attempt. My youngest daughter was murdered that same night by someone who wanted my entire family out of the way. Believe me Mister White I will do anything to protect my family.”
Jimmy knocked on the door to the conference room, then stuck his head in. “Uh, Chief, it’s all over the WGBS that the chopper the cops were chasing was forced down.”
“And?” Perry demanded.
“And the only people on the chopper were the pilot and a woman the police are identifying as Katherine Kowalski,” Jimmy reported. “She’s the one Lois said was working with Luthor.”
“So where are Lois and Clark and the kids?” Perry wondered aloud.
“Rats hide in holes,” Jerome commented. “And this one doesn’t want Superman to find him.” He turned to Jimmy still standing in the doorway. “We need a list of the bomb shelters, places Luthor has been known to hide out, sewers, subway side tunnels, places like that, within Metropolis.”
“Okay, I’ll get research on it,” Jimmy promised, heading back to the newsroom.
“And then what?” Perry asked.
“And then we figure out how to neutralize this version of Luthor and get your people back safely.”
