Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic A Future Reborn - (Lois' Story III) - part 5

Previously on AFR...

"But..."

"This kind of thing comes with the territory. Let's just get back inside. For all that's happened today, we still don't have any story for tomorrow's edition."

Clark was confused by her attitude, but decided to follow her anyway. "Lois?" he asked. "Who would want to kill you?"

"Would you like the list chronologically, or alphabetically."


And Now...
A Future Reborn - (Lois' Story III) - part 5
by Tank


Lex Luthor stared out the french doors leading to the balcony of his sumptuous penthouse apartment. There had just been another brief partial eclipse. His frown indicated that he was irritated by that. He'd seen the press conference that EPRAD had given, but he also had his own sources which had given him the true story.

It was lucky that he was prepared for the eventuality. He had built his 'Ark Luthor' deep beneath the unsuspecting city of his birth as insurance against an all out nuclear war. It would serve well enough for the catastrophic consequences that could come about with the coming of the Nightfall asteroid. His teams were on stand by and he and his progenitors of the new world order could be buttoned up and safe within 12 hours if need be. He had people monitoring the progress of the giant space rock. He would have plenty of notice to put his plan into action. The 'ark' was ready. It just needed the passengers to arrive.

Lex's attention was pulled back into the main room by the noise created by the arrival of the special elevator. He turned in time to see Nigel step off the conveyance into the room.

Lex gave Nigel a slight nod. "I assume the message has been sent?"

Nigel gave him an answering nod. "Yes, my man took a shot at Ms. Lane just a few minutes ago."

"She wasn't hurt in any way?"

Nigel shook his head. "No, the instructions were quite clear on that." Nigel followed Luthor over to his desk. "Actually, her partner, the young Kent, must have seen our man out of the corner of his eye because he launched himself at Ms. Lane, managing to knock her to the ground as the shot was fired."

Lex allowed himself a small smile. "Excellent. Adds a dash of verisimilitude to the whole affair. Don't you think?"

"Most certainly, sir." Nigel hovered for a few moments more. "Will there be anything else, sir?"

"No, Nigel. That will be all for now. Thank you."

"Yes, sir." The stately aide-de-camp moved quickly to the elevator and in a few more moments was gone, leaving Luthor to himself again.

He didn't know what Lois was playing at but she had been given her only warning. She'd been gone a long time. Maybe it had addled her wits. Lex was willing to wait a bit for Lois to come to her senses, but he wasn't a patient man. He didn't give second warnings.

He was at a loss to figure out her game. The plan had been worked out to the smallest detail possible. He hadn't thought anything could have gone wrong, but when Lois had disappeared, he'd figured that she had messed up somehow and had run afoul of either the local authorities or a rival group. He had been saddened to have lost her. She had potential as a possible companion. She had possessed a desirable combination of beauty and brains that Lex had found intriguing. But he was even more saddened by the loss of their intended prize. It had taken him quite a while to reconcile himself to that.

When Lois Lane had mysteriously reappeared, his hopes had risen. After all this time, that which he had so jealously coveted was again within his reach. He'd been puzzled when months went by and Lois never made any attempt to contact him. At first, he'd just assumed she was being careful. But, eventually, he'd had to bring her in. He'd been extremely disappointed in her flimsy amnesia excuse. While such a thing was within the realm of possibility, Lex had watched her closely. She had been lying. She had lied fairly well, but she'd been lying none the less.

Luthor wasn't sure how Lane thought she was going to get away with what was rightfully his, but he'd give her one chance to wise up and come clean. After all, if the world were going to suffer some nasty times ahead, it would be nice to be able to share the long lonely nights with someone as desirable as Lois Lane. But if she persisted on her present course, she would live only long enough to regret the folly of her actions.

******************

"What do you think you're doing?" Lois asked of her partner as he reached for his phone and began to dial.

"I'm calling Inspector Henderson." He gave her a look that said, 'what else would I be doing?'. "Lois, someone just took a shot at you. We have to call the police."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Hang up the phone, Clark. The guy is long gone and we have no way to connect him to anything. Heck, he could have just been a random nut."

Clark paused in his dialing, but didn't put down the phone. "Lois, someone tried to kill you!"

Lois shrugged. "Are you sure? Maybe they were firing at you?"

Clark shook his head. "No, I saw him. That rifle was definitely pointed at you."

"Hey, what's all this commotion?" Perry had come down to see what the furor was about.

"Perry, someone just tried to kill Lois." Clark said, giving Lois a stern look.

Lois, using a wave of her hand to, in essence, dismiss Clark's concerns, turned toward her boss. "It was just some random sniper. Tell him, Chief, it's just part of life in a big city like Metropolis." She shook her head. "Even if he'd been gunning for me specifically, hey, it comes with the territory. You cant write award-worthy stories without ruffling a few feathers."

Perry cocked his brow. "And which award-worthy story would that be, Lois?"

Lois returned Perry's sarcasm with a mock smile. "All my stories are award-worthy."

Perry glanced at Clark. "Hang up the phone, son." He turned to Lois. "And you, young woman, are coming with me." He placed his hand on her elbow and led her up the ramp toward his office.

Lois had a chance to watch Perry's face as he 'escorted' her toward his office. His mouth was drawn in a tight line, and his eyes betrayed a touch of anger. She guessed he didn't totally buy into her cavalier attitude about the shooting. He probably had his own idea as to who was behind it - as did she.

He guided her to the chair in front of his desk, not saying a word until he'd managed to close the door and regain his own seat. Once seated he stared at her for a couple of moments. She couldn't help feeling like a truant high-schooler about to be lectured by the principal.

Perry sighed and shook his head. "We both know who was behind that gunman, don't we, Lois."

Lois shrugged. "I have a suspicion."

"A suspicion, yeah." Perry pinched the bridge of his nose even though he hadn't been wearing his reading glasses. "I told you to be careful with Luthor. I am certain he was responsible for your problems in the Congo and now he is responsible for this latest attempt on your life."

Lois leaned back in her chair. "Maybe, but we have no way to prove it." She shook her head slowly. "Look, Perry, I haven't had any contact with Luthor since I came back from his brunch invitation. I haven't initiated any investigation, nor have I done anything that should make him think I have." Lois shrugged helplessly. "He thinks I know something I don't."

Perry looked sharply at Lois. "He what? You seemed to have forgotten to mention that when we spoke the other day."

Stupid! Lois would have slapped herself in the head if she'd been alone. How could she have let that slip. Now Perry knew that the brunch invitation hadn't been an innocent welcome back. She also knew that Perry would grill her until she told him what actually had happened in Luthor's penthouse. The trouble was - she didn't really know what had happened. She was missing some important details. Like the memories of a decade-long dead reporter.

Lois squirmed under the glare of her boss's stare. "Well, he sort of threatened me."

Perry's frown grew tighter. " *Sort of* threatened you?"

Lois tried to convey an indifference with a casual shrug. "He thinks I either have something of his, or know where it is. He doesn't believe that I still don't remember much from back then."

"So, what you're saying is," Perry began, "That you and Luthor had cooked up some sort of deal. One which, I assume, you planned to use to finally get the goods on our phony philanthropist. Only you don't remember what it was, and now Luthor thinks that you are holding out on him. Does that about cover it?"

Lois smiled meekly. "Yeah, I guess that pretty much covers it."

Letting loose an explosive sigh, Perry leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for several moments before returning his attention back to Lois. "Tarnation, woman, you really stepped into one colossal cowpie this time." He held up his hand to forestall her objection. "Look, I know this wasn't your fault. You have no memory of this past association with Luthor, so you couldn't have known that anything was up when he invited you over. Still, I wish you would have checked with me first. Maybe, together we could have figured out a way to have seen this coming and come up with a way to, at least, stall him for a time." Perry shook his head. "This is bad, Lois. Luthor is not somebody who is going to give up after one missed attempt."

"I think we're losing sight of the more obvious problem here, Chief. With that asteroid about to fall into our lap, I think my personal problems with Lex Luthor can wait until we know whether or not the world will even be here in a week."

"I still see the bigger picture, Lois, but don't underestimate the danger you are in. I had to clean out your locker once. I certainly don't want to have to do it again."

Lois was touched by Perry's concern. It was nice to know that someone actually cared about her. Even if he thought she was someone else. It showed her that the relationship they had managed to form was one that included real feelings for each other's welfare. But she really didn't have the time to give to the Luthor problem right now. With Nightfall coming so soon, she had a lot of work to do getting Clark ready for the task she had hoped to spare him, but knew he was going to have to tackle.

She and her own dear Clark hadn't talked about it much, but she knew that he'd really put himself on the line taking on such a huge assignment. That he'd only suffered from a temporary amnesia had been fortunate. What if he had been more seriously hurt? Or, if he had missed coming back to earth at all? Lois' blood ran a little colder anytime she thought about the possibility that Clark might not have made it back to earth at all. Now, it looked like she was going to have to ask another fledgling hero to risk it all for the sake of a world who didn't even know he existed.

Turning her attention back to Perry, she tried to allay his fears with a confident smile. "Look, I know that Lex is dangerous. And believe me, I am being careful, but..." She stopped. "What did you say about my locker?" An idea had suddenly sprung into Lois' mind.

Perry seemed a bit startled by the quick turn about. "I, ah, I said that I had to clean out your locker once. I don't want to have to do it again."

Lois' mind was working furiously. Could it be possible? "What ever happened to that stuff?"

Perry shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It was boxed up and stored down in the basement until someone came to pick it up."

Lois bit her lip. "Do you know if anyone ever came to pick it up?"

He spread his hands in a gesture of ignorance. "I couldn't say. I'll admit that after a few weeks I completely forgot about it. I was more focused on missing you than on your whether your personal effects had ever been claimed. I can say that I never heard of anyone stopping by to pick them up."

Lois crossed her fingers in her lap. "What are the chances that they'd still be down there somewhere? Or do you think that they would have been thrown out after all this time?"

Perry shrugged again. "Only one way to find out, Lois. Go on down and check."

****************

Lois drummed her fingers on the fake wood paneling that made up the walls of the elevator. Why was this darn thing going so slow? With her luck, the blasted thing would probably break down, stranding her between floors till the Nightfall asteroid hit.

Finally the doors slid open to reveal the concrete and tile of the sub-basement of the Daily Planet. She stepped out into the cavernous hallway, not really sure which way to go. This was below the parking garage, and locker room level, so Lois hadn't found many reasons to come down here. Not even in her own world. She knew that the presses were housed in one half of the floor, so it followed that materials storage would be in the other half. She calmed herself to listen. There was definitely the noise of machinery coming from her left, so she turned right.

After walking for quite a stretch, Lois finally came to the end of the hallway. She was faced with an imposing pair of large double doors, which were closed. A smaller door on the right, also closed. And a small office on the left. Through a dirty window she could see an old man sitting in a ratty old chair at a beat up metal desk. He appeared to be listening to a small radio, or he was napping. She knocked once on the metal door and stepped into the office.

Lois cleared her throat. "Excuse me." The old man started, then turned to face her. "Marty?"

A warm smile creased the lined face. "Hello, Miss Lane. I heard you were back. I'm glad you are well."

Lois couldn't believe it. Marty Simmons had been the head of custodial maintenance since long before she had ever joined the Planet. It seems the same was true here. And he was still here. She gave the kindly old man a quick once over. He had to be at least seventy.

She couldn't stop the smile that spread over her face, nor would she have wanted to. "Marty, it's good to see you. I'm happy that you are still here."

The old man shrugged as he stood. "Where would I go?" He gave her a wink. "It's been a long time since you were down here. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was talking to Mr. White - Perry, and he said that when I disappeared all those years ago that he had been the one to clean out my old locker." Lois felt just a little foolish to be asking about this after all this time, but it was a long shot that needed to be played. "He didn't think that anyone ever came to pick the stuff up. Is there any chance that it's still lying around somewhere? I realize that it was probably thrown out a long time ago, but I thought I'd check."

Marty had listened to her patiently, never interrupting. Once she was finished he gave her a smile. "Well I know I didn't throw it out. Let's go see if it's still around, shall we?"

Lois watched as the old man grabbed a huge ring of keys from a hook on the wall and moved toward the door. She followed.

They crossed the hallway to the single locked door that Lois had seen earlier. Marty found the key almost immediately and had the door open in a couple of moments. After swinging open the door he flipped on the light switch.

"If it's still where I put it, it should be over in the corner, up on that last shelf." He spoke as they both walked toward where he had pointed.

They came upon the shelf in question and Marty pulled a severely dusty cardboard box down from the self. It wasn't much to look at. A typical box, like the kind you'd see at a grocery store. He handed it to her. It didn't weigh much.

"I'll just leave you to your things, Miss Lane. Just turn out the lights and close the door behind you when you leave. It'll lock automatically."

She gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Marty, you're still the best."

The old man chuckled, then winked. "That's why I'm still here."

Once Marty had left, Lois took the box over to a small bench and set it down. Sitting down next to it, she stared at it for several moments. What if there was nothing in there? She knew there was something in the box, but she had to prepare herself for disappointment. The odds that this box contained anything of value, let alone that laptop, was astronomical at best. Taking a deep breath, she ripped the tape off the box and pulled back the flap.

The first thing that met her eye was a garish red woolen scarf. She pulled it out. Not the height of fashion, but it looked warm. There were a few other articles of clothing. A hat, some mittens, and a small zippered bag that held an emergency make-up kit. Another, slightly larger zippered bag contained some under garments. A plain beige sweater, and a pair of black jeans occupied the bottom of the box. She couldn't hold back a sigh of disappointment.

Tossing the scarf, mittens, and hat back in, she closed the lid on the box then lifted it in preparation to her leaving. She felt an unusual weight shift as she moved the box. She immediately put it back down and ripped the flap open again. She thrust her hands deep into the box, under the jeans which she had thought were at the bottom. Her fingers came into contact with hard smooth plastic. Holding her breath, she pulled out the object. In her hands was a technologically ancient laptop computer.

***********************

Lois hurriedly closed the door to the apartment, and rushed to her bedroom. She'd had a hard time getting through the rest of the day, waiting to be alone so she could take a crack at the old computer she had tucked under her arm.

After quickly changing into something a bit more casual, she brought out the batteries the guy at the computer store assured her would work for this machine. She knew that she was expected over at Clark's later, but for now all her thoughts were focused on the little gray laptop.

It took a few frustrating minutes and several choice epitaphs to finally get the batteries in place and the machine booted up. Now came the hard part. She opened a few menus and finally found a file listing that looked promising. It was labeled Lexnotes. A grimace and a soft cry of disappointment escaped from her lips as the request for a password came flashing onto the small screen. She'd been afraid of this. It was going to be difficult to get into the file. She was going to have to try and think like the woman who had encrypted this file ten long years ago. One would think that being a Lois Lane herself should be an advantage, but everything she'd been finding out about her counterpart on this world showed her that she knew very little about the way that woman thought. The only advantage that she had was that the password was only five characters long. She frowned. That meant there were probably only several million possible combinations.

She tried several obvious choices; like Lois1, or Lane1. She tried other newspaper terms like, scoop and print. She ran through variations of family names, and places she remembered from her past. There was no guarantee that this Lois was familiar with all those places, but she had to try. After many fruitless minutes, Lois sat back and just stared at the machine. She was lucky that the machine was an obvious early model and the makers had not seen fit to add an automatic lock out after a number of failed attempts at a password, as was true with most computers now. She closed her eyes and attempted to picture the woman who had used this computer all those years ago. Who was she? What was she going through back then?

Lois' eyes snapped open, on a whim she typed in 'Perry'. Password acknowledged, she was in. Words filled the screen. It took Lois only a few moments to realize that the file was in the form of a diary, or more accurately, a journal. Dated headings started off each entry. Lois took a couple of minutes to fetch herself a cold soda, then sat down with the little machine for some serious reading.

"April 17th
I hocked the diamond necklace that Lex bought me to buy this computer. I've gone out with the slime three times now and he thinks that I'm enamored with him. What an egotist. I knew, ever since I broached the subject with Perry, that Luthor was just too good to be for real. It's nice to know that my instincts are still solid. This guy is as dirty as they come. He's just smart, and very careful. If I'm to get what I need to blow this guy out of the water, I'm going to have to be very careful. I don't think he'd hesitate to have me killed if it suited his purposes. Poor Perry, he's really worried about me. It's really sweet, but he's wrong. I know what I'm doing and I can handle Lex Luthor. Up to this point, everything has just been gut feelings and intuition. But I'm sure I'll be able to convince Luthor that I can be trusted, and he'll let slip something I can really use.

April 23
I finally let Lex seduce me last night. It wasn't a very pleasant experience, but it had the desired effect. I'm pretty sure he trusts me now. He hinted around at some dealings he had coming up down in the Congo, and that perhaps I might be interested in participating. Seems that he's running into some sort of scheduling conflict. He needs to be in two places at the same time. I think he plans to use me as his representative down there. At least that's the signal I'm getting from him. Why me instead of one of his other flunkies I can't say - yet. Hopefully I'll find out soon. If I have to sleep with him many more times I'm not sure I'll be able to stay convincing. He's such a selfish lover. But then, all men are. Well, not all men. Perry's not. I can't ever let Perry know that I've slept with Lex. It would hurt him badly."

Lois' attention was jerked away from the computer by the sound of the front door being opened. She left the little computer lying on her bed and went out to see if Cat was home.

"Hey roommie, what's up?" Cat tossed her bag and wrap into the chair by the front door.

Lois couldn't stop the grin from forming on her face. "I've found the laptop."

Cat's eyes got big. "You did? Great!" She gave the main room a quick once over. "Where is it, and where was it?"

Lois shook her head. "Would you believe it, Lois' things from her Daily Planet locker were still in storage down in the basement. The laptop was with some old clothes that were boxed up after she'd been gone long enough for people to have given up on her. Nobody tossed them out."

Cat shrugged. "They probably forgot they were even there."

"Marty knew."

Cat patted Lois on the cheek. "He always did like you for some reason. I think he thought of you as a surrogate daughter."

"Catherine?" Lois knew she hated to be called that. "It wasn't me. Remember? I'm the Lois Lane from another world."

Cat waved off Lois' good natured admonition. "This world, that world. I don't know one dimension from another. All I know is that you are Lois Lane and you are my friend."

Lois smiled. "Thanks."

Suddenly Cat's look became conspiratorial. "So, where's this mystery laptop, and is there any juicy stuff in it?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "You never stop, do you?" She didn't wait for a response. "It's in the bedroom, but I've only just begun to read her file on Luthor. It looks like she was definitely trying to find a way to prove Luthor was dirty... Omigosh!" Lois had glanced at the clock over the fireplace. "Is it that late already? I've got to go. I'm supposed to meet with Clark and Jenny tonight."

"Really?" Cat practically purred. "I didn't know you went in for such things, Lois."

At first Lois was confused by Cat's words, then once it dawned on her what she had been alluding to, Lois could only shake her head at the grinning woman.

Cat followed Lois into her bedroom as she searched for her bag and a jacket. Cat spied the laptop on the bed. She strolled over and sat down glancing at the screen.

Lois came over and shut down the machine. "I guess I took more time than I thought breaking the password in order to get into the file."

Cat nodded in apparent appreciation of the effort. "I'm surprised you were able to come up with it. There must be millions of possibilities."

Lois gave her a modest grin. "I guess I'm just brilliant."

Cat snorted. "Yeah, right. I bet I could have come up with the password before you did. After all, I knew Lois pretty well."

"I don't think so." Lois chuckled. "It was just a hunch that gave me the password. It actually went against what you had told me about her." Lois furrowed her brow. "Actually, I'm beginning to put together a picture of Lois that doesn't quite match what a lot of people have been telling me."

Cat gave Lois a challenging look. "Do tell?"

Lois shrugged. "Hey, who would have thought that Lois would have used Perry's name as her password."

Lois was rewarded with a genuine look of surprise on Cat's face. "Who indeed?" Cat shot a glance at the innocent looking unit, still lying in the middle of Lois' bed.

"Bye," Lois said as she moved toward the door. "Don't wait up. I don't know how long I'll be."

Cat waved at Lois, not looking at her. Her eyes were still riveted on the small computer. "Don't worry about me... I'll find something to occupy my time."