Lois's POV
The clinic seemed like my best bet. It would be dangerous, but I didn't know what else to try. I called Jimmy over and told him to get things ready. We'd go back tonight. I stopped by Perry's office to update him and let him know about my plans. He wasn't too happy about it, but he knew me well enough to know that he wasn't going to stop me.
I went back to my desk and made some more calls. I started off looking for more information on Maxwell, but got nothing worthwhile for my efforts. I only managed to confirm what I'd already known. The people who remembered him as anything more than a guy in a uniform who delivered packages described him as a nice enough guy, but lacking in personality and ambition. His buddies, when I managed to track them down, said that he'd recently stopped showing up at their get-togethers. They weren't sure when, exactly. It didn't sound like they'd really missed him.
It just didn't add up. From everything I could tell, Bob was not at all the type to have written anything like the letters I'd been receiving, let alone be involved with Intergang. What had also been nagging at me was that those letters seemed very much like Lex's style. He was also much more likely to be somehow involved with Intergang, maybe even interested in taking them down. Things would make a lot more sense if my "admirer" was Lex, but Lex was dead.
At least, I thought Lex was dead. But I'd thought that before. Against all odds, he'd managed to survive jumping off the top of the Lexcorp building after our failed wedding. What if he'd somehow cheated death again? I had to be sure.
"Hello?"
"Bill? It's Lois. I've got a favor to ask, but it's going to sound strange..."
"Uh-huh. Stranger than, say, asking me to find a voodoo priest who, despite being trapped inside a locked airplane being carried by Superman, managed to disappear into -- pardon the expression -- thin air?"
"Well..."
"Stranger than having to arrest a pro football player, a country music star, and a supermodel because they were all secretly nazi agents who had been frozen for fifty years?"
"Maybe not *that* strange..."
"Stranger than the time you asked for my help tracking down a vigilante ninja with magic powers?"
"Okay, okay," I said, laughing. "You made your point."
"Good. I'm glad I didn't have to go all the way back to the time I watched a six foot bat taking down a three hundred and fifty pound talking crocodile."
"What?"
"One of many reasons I moved out of Gotham."
"Oh."
"So what new strangeness do you have for me?"
"Huh?" I shook my head, trying to clear out the image of a giant talking crocodile. "Oh, right. I wanted to know just how sure you are that it's really Lex Luthor's body in the morgue."
"Oh, don't worry about that. They were very careful. Believe me, they were very surprised when the body came in. They checked and rechecked, and I made sure they checked again. Fingerprints, dental records, blood type, DNA... everything matches. It's really him."
"And the body... it's still there?"
"Yeah, I checked that, too. Put extra security on it, just to be safe. After the problems last time, I made extra sure he wasn't going anywhere."
I blew out a breath. "That's a relief. Thanks, Bill."
"Sure. Anything else I can do for you?"
"No, that's it."
We said our goodbyes, and I sat back, thinking. It had been a good theory, but I was glad it hadn't panned out. Still, there was something up with Bob, and I wanted to know what. I just didn't know how to go about finding out. I sighed and put the issue aside. Instead, I called up Doctor Klein.
"Hello?"
"Doctor Klein? It's Lois Lane."
"Oh, hi. How are you?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"Oh, fine, fine."
"That's good. Listen, I was wondering if you'd found out anything more from those medical records I sent you earlier."
"What? Oh, those. No, I'm afraid not. They don't really list anything about the procedure you mentioned. They just list the tests that were done to see if the patients would be good candidates for it. I guess they must have other records at the lab, wherever that is."
"Oh. Well, is there anything else you can tell from the tests? Maybe the kind of drugs that they might be using?"
"Well, I can figure out some of the generalities, but no, I don't think I can give you anything specific."
"Hmm. Well, thanks anyway."
"Sure. Sorry I can't be of more help."
"You've done a lot already."
"Well, glad I could do that much."
"Thanks. Oh, one more thing?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful when you hang up this time."
"What? Oh, yes. Thank you. I did find the phone off the hook earlier today. I guess I must have been so caught up with... what was it that time? The rocket belt? No, I wasn't on the phone when we were doing that... The fusion generator? No... The --"
"Doctor Klein?"
"Oh, sorry. What were you saying again?"
"Just be careful when you hang up the phone."
"Right. I will. Bye, Lois."
"Goodbye, Doctor Klein."
Well, so much for that. I glanced at the clock. Time to get going. I went home, threw together a quick dinner out of random leftovers, changed, tossed some supplies into the Jeep, and headed over to Jimmy's apartment. He was waiting for me, with a battered knapsack, ready to go. I smiled, recognizing his old "goodie bag." It had been a while since I'd seen it, but I was glad he'd come prepared.
"Jack couldn't come," he told me, "but he sent some stuff that should do the trick."
"Great. Let's get to it, then."
He nodded and we headed back out.
I drove to the Slum, and left the Jeep parked across from the warehouse. I gave Jimmy my cell phone and told him to run for it if anything happened. He argued for a while, but eventually agreed. That settled, we got out of the Jeep, and, as carefully as we could, made our way around the outside of the warehouse. Soon, we spotted the back door to the clinic. As I'd expected, it had a security camera. I pulled a Polaroid camera on an extendable pole out of my own "goodie bag," and used it to take a picture of the door from the camera's point of view. I waited for it to develop, then attached it to the camera with a wire coat hanger and some tape. It was a trick I'd seen in more than one movie, but it worked well enough. It was certainly better than unplugging the camera. That was far more likely to alert security. With the camera take care of, I picked the lock on the door, and we slipped inside.
The hallway was dark and quiet. I pulled out a small flashlight and looked around. Nothing interesting. Just another hallway. Good. We moved along, exploring cautiously. There were a few more cameras along the way. These moved back and forth, slowly scanning the length of their respective domains. We timed our movements carefully so that we were never standing anywhere near where they were pointed.
Eventually, we found what we were looking for: a set of double doors with an expensive electronic lock. I took care of the camera focused on it and Jimmy used Jack's equipment to get past the lock. I went for the door, but Jimmy motioned for me to stay. He pulled something else out of his "goodie bag" and traced around the doorframe.
"There's a backup alarm here," he whispered, pointing at a spot about a foot off the floor.
"How can you tell?"
"Jack said there'd probably be something like this, so he gave me a circuit checker. It finds intact wires with magnetic induction. It's cool. Jack says you can also use it to find the broken bulb in a strand of Christmas tree lights."
"Oh. That's great. Can you get past the alarm?"
"Yeah. I should be able to do it, but it'll be tricky. Jack said that an alarm like this would probably be a small button in the door frame. The door holds the button closed. When you open the door, it trips the alarm."
"Okay."
"So, we have to hold the button closed. I've got a bit of hard plastic here from some old packaging. I'd have used a credit card, but that would have had my name on it..."
"Right. So, you'll use that to hold the button down?"
"Exactly. I can't fit it in now, but if you open the door very slowly, I should be able to slip it in before the button pops out far enough to set off the alarm."
"Okay, let's do it."
He nodded and held the bit of plastic at the ready.
I grabbed the doorknob and started to open the door, very gradually, keeping my eye on Jimmy. As soon as the door opened far enough, he pushed the bit of plastic through the crack. I held the door steady as he got the plastic in place. He held it firmly, and nodded to me. Then he handed me a roll of tape. I took it, and went through the door. I glanced around. No cameras on this side. That was a relief. I knelt by the doorframe and taped the plastic down. I stood up and poked my head back out the door to let Jimmy know it was done. He let go of the plastic and followed me through the door. We were in.
We walked down the broad hallway, seeing nothing of interest. As we moved further, though, we started to see more doors and intersections. There were some small rooms that appeared to be chemistry labs, but we decided to leave them for the time being. There wasn't anything obvious to look at or take, and we weren't sure we'd know it if we saw it. Neither of us had enough of a background chemistry or medicine to make it likely.
We also saw some storerooms filled with bottles of drugs and chemicals with obscure names. We took some pictures and moved on. Further along, we started to hear some more noises. Some kind of machinery, and the little beeps associated with medical monitors. We moved on, cautiously. Soon we started to hear distant footsteps. We glanced at each other nervously.
"Jimmy, take what we have and get out of here."
"No, I'm not going to leave you here, Lois."
"Jimmy..."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm just going to go a bit further, see if I can find an office with some files or something. I'll be careful, don't worry."
"Then why are you telling me to go?"
"Because I want to hedge my bets. Look, Jimmy, we don't have time for this. The longer we stay, the further we go, the more chance there is that something will go wrong. Just go. I'll follow in a few minutes."
"But..."
"Go, Jimmy. I'll be fine. How about this? I want you as backup, too, okay? If I'm not back at the Jeep in half an hour, call the number I gave you."
"But... Oh, fine. I'll go, but you be careful."
"I will. Thanks, Jimmy."
He waved, frustrated but resigned, and left.
I passed a room with a complex-looking operating table and a lot of equipment. I took a few snapshots then moved on. The next door looked promising. It seemed to be an office of some kind. I slipped inside and looked around. There was a filing cabinet against one of the walls. Perfect. I deftly picked the lock and started searching through the folders. It was a gold mine of information. I flipped pages and took pictures as quickly as I could.
"I don't know who you are, but this is my office, and I'm pretty sure you're not the cleaning lady."
I froze, cursing myself. I'd been so intent on what I'd been doing that I'd missed the sound of the door opening. I looked up, slowly. The man facing me was wearing a lab coat, with appropriate accessories. That was good. Much better than a guard or something. He was also pointing a gun at me. That was bad. I raised my hands over my head and walked slowly towards the door, coincidentally bringing me closer to the man who'd caught me.
"That's good," he said, "just walk slowly this way and out the door."
I nodded and kept moving. When I got close, however, I suddenly darted forwards -- towards him, but a little to the side. He had good reflexes. The gun fired. Fortunately, he hadn't anticipated the direction of my movements; he'd been prepared for me to rush directly at him. The shot went wide. I spun and kicked the gun out of his hand, then followed that up with a few quick strikes. He fell to the floor, gasping. I dashed back to the desk, grabbed my camera, and ran out the door.
I raced down the hallway at top speed, desperately hoping that if anyone had heard the shot, they'd be at the wrong end of the corridor. A flicker of motion dashed that hope. I had just enough time to recognize the butt of a large rifle before it hit and blackness took me.
******
Feb 5, 1996
Clark's POV
When I woke up, I felt strong. Not super strong, by a long shot, but better than I had been. Strong enough that my muscles no longer ached. Strong enough that I forgot my hunger. Strong enough that I felt ready to test my bonds. I had only just started to stretch them, though, when I heard the distant sound of an elevator. I tried harder, hoping to free myself before my captors returned. I managed to loosen the ropes, which was a relief, but no more. All too soon, the approaching footsteps were dangerously close. I gave up my frantic efforts and sagged bag, feigning weakness and exhaustion.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Mindy greeted me when my three usual visitors were all inside the room. Her voice sounded odd. There was a note of forced cheer undermining her usual carefree perkiness.
I considered several possible responses, but ultimately decided to ignore her. Best not to play her games.
"Aww. Little Supey-doll all tired out? Well, I've got some news that should get you going."
I refused to rise to the bait.
"It's about your little friend, Lois Lane," she said, walking towards me. Again, I noticed a twinge of something in her voice. There was a bitter twist to her sweet tones.
The mention of Lois had me worried, but I didn't give her the satisfaction of seeing that.
She was behind me now, running her fingers over my bound arms. "Little Lois bumped her head," she murmured, "but don't you worry, Supey-doll. Nurse Mindy has some good people to take care of her. Soon she won't hurt any more."
"No!" The word erupted out of the depths of my soul. I couldn't help it. It almost made me miss the softer echoing cry from the other side of the room.
"What, you don't want us to take care of her? Fix her boo-boo? That's not very nice of you, Supey-woopy. Well, whatever you say, I'll take care of her, just the same. I have to, after what she did." There was a definite hard edge to those last words. I wondered what Lois had managed to do. I knew better than to ask, though.
"Don't hurt her. Please." I knew it was futile, but that I had to try.
"Don't hurt her? Don't hurt her?? What do you think of me, asking Nurse Mindy not to hurt a patient?"
I said nothing. I'd already said more than I should have.
"Hmph. Well, let's put that behind us. We have other things to talk about. You know, Supey-doll, things were supposed to be so nice while we took care of you here. We were supposed to be able to play however we wanted. Instead, I lost my ship, and now I lost my lab, and my board is getting all grumpy and growly. I don't like that. I am not a happy camper." She paused for a moment, then, and I tried to figure out what she was talking about. Then she continued, suddenly perky again. Not a good sign. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, though; I know how to make it all better!"
The pain came again, harsh and relentless. I pretended to pass out, but it still didn't stop. Instead, it got worse. I gasped, and she laughed. I felt something sharp press against my chest, and the burning pain came with it. Had it ever been this bad? I couldn't remember, couldn't think. There was only the pain. This must be the end, I thought, and then there was nothing.
