Part 11
By this time, Monica and Lois were at the mall. The press conference did not offer them too much information, in fact as they were leaving Lois was grumbling about political promises and the typical ‘do nothing’ politicians. As they got into her car, Monica finally spoke. “I guess the bright side is you might very well get your ‘exclusive’.” Her words emerged unconvincing, but Lois smiled slightly as she climbed behind the wheel and started the ignition.
“You know, maybe you’ve got something there,” she said as she drove them in the direction of a large shopping center. “So, now that that is done, we can go and get you ready for the rave. It should be a lot of fun, aside from an experience, but whatever you do, don't take anything that those people give you, or else you'll be seeing things like pink elephants and purple rhinos.” She laughed softly but looked at Monica, who carried a strange look on her face.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she offered honestly. “So where are we going?”
“There's a biker store at the mall that I always get my killer clothes at, and I figured that we could go there and outfit you with something, and then we'll head back to the Planet and see if Jimmy and Andrew were able to find out anything else.”
Monica nodded as Lois pulled the car into a parking spot and they got out and walked across the parking lot towards the door leading inside a large shopping mall. As they came inside, a teenage boy suddenly ran past Monica and grabbed a hold of the strap of her purse. When he managed to get it from her, he took off running in the direction of the food court.
Without thinking the two women took off running after him and when they lost him, Lois was fuming. “He got away,” she grumbled, “we'd better go notify mall security.”
Monica nodded, “I will meet you there, there is something I have to do, OK?”
“Monica, that kid just stole your purse,” Lois practically shouted.
“I know,” she said, “I intend to notify security, but I need to do something first.”
“Ah, the ladies room, I see,” Lois said. “I guess we didn’t get a chance to do so since before we left the Planet. OK, I’ll meet you there in about ten minutes.” Lois turned and walked away before Monica could say a word.
Moments later, she knew where the boy had gone, and she started walking in the direction of the food court. What on earth is going on here, she thought to herself. She still had not gotten the incident out of her mind from that morning, but now things were getting way out of hand, something was simply not working right, and the young caseworker was about at her wits end. Father, she prayed softly, what is happening here? Why all this chaos?
When she eventually reached the food court, she could see that the boy who had stolen her purse was sitting at a table out in broad daylight digging through it. When he found nothing, he tossed it to one side and groaned, his disgust quite obvious at not having landed a score in stealing the woman’s purse.
Monica approached slowly, and when she was standing right next to him, she reached out and rested a firm hand on his shoulder, thus causing him to look up. His eyes widened as though in a drugged out stupor when he saw her, and he tried to back up. She increased the pressure on his shoulder but said nothing. The boy did not seem all that willing to offer any explanation either. He just stared blankly at her, his eyes totally without feeling.
“Speak to his spirit,” Tess’ words seemed to echo in her conscience and she nodded as though she finally understood something about him that no other person possibly could.
“Paul,” she spoke, her voice soft as she addressed him, and when he heard his given name spoken by the angel, his eyes widened, and he tried once again to back away from her. “You cannot run from the truth any more than pills can hide the pain you carry inside.”
The boy nodded as though he understood, and when he looked into the eyes of the angel, he shook his head as though he was trying to come out of the stupor the drugs had done to him. In his mind, he could hear the words ‘kill her’ resonating in his conscious, and he reached out with the intention of choking Monica, but when the angel sensed this, she quickly grabbed his hands and squeezed them.
“You cannot kill me, Paul, an angel cannot die,” Monica said evenly, as Andrew appeared next to her, his eyes serene as he looked down at the boy and then back at his angelic friend. “Andrew?”
“He’s dying Monica, I am here to take him Home,” Andrew said softly.
“What is this, he looks so lost?” Monica could feel the tears in her own eyes, and she looked at the Angel of Death.
“He is lost, there are some pills in his pocket, if you want to help Lois stop what is happening here, you need to take them to Star Labs and let Dr. Klein analyze them,” Andrew said softly as the boy started to sink deeper into his hallucinations. Monica watched as he drifted out of consciousness and collapsed to a heap on the floor.
With tears still streaming down her cheeks, Monica collected the contents of her purse and reached into the pocket of the drugged out youth and pulled the small pill bottle out. With trembling hands, she put them inside her purse, and then looked up to Andrew who was still crouched down next to the boy.
She watched as the Angel of Death brushed the back of his hand against the gaunt cheek of the boy, and once the boy stood up and had joined her angelic friend, she turned to go back in the direction of where Lois would be waiting for her at the security stand. Behind her, she could hear other shoppers surrounding the body of the boy. She could feel the emotions getting the better of her and she tried to wipe the tears from her face as she walked slowly away without looking back.
When she got to the security stand, Lois was waiting and she looked at the angel’s tearstained face. “What on earth happened to you? I thought you had to go to the ladies room?”
“I found the boy, Lois,“ Monica began, as fresh tears made their way down her cheek.
“And you’re crying because of that. I’ve heard of bleeding hearts before, but I had no idea that you were one of them.”
“It’s not that, Lois, it's the boy, he’s…the child is dead. I’m guessing he overdosed on these. There’s something in these pills, they somehow seem to control people’s minds, but the affects they have on the person are deadly.” Once she handed the bottle to the reporter, she watched as Lois opened the bottle and stared down at the ecstasy that was inside.
“Tempus,” she whispered. “Clark was right.”
“Excuse me,” Monica asked, the confusion evident in her voice.
Lois shook her head. “Monica, Tempus is someone I would rather have no dealings with at all. He’s hard to explain, but he’s done this kind of thing before, and it looks like he’s using the ecstasy to control the drugged out kids. Come on, we have to get these to Dr. Klein as soon as possible and see if he can find out anything about this. We’ll come back afterwards and get your clothes for tomorrow.”
Monica consented and the two women broke into a run to get out of the mall and back to the car.
*****
Two hours later, Andrew returned to the Planet and discovered that Monica and Lois had not returned. Jimmy was still sitting at his computer trying to find some more leads about the drugged out teenagers. He had finished developing the film for the press conference story and had given it to Perry. Now, he sat as still as a statue and staring off into space.
“Jimmy?” Andrew spoke his name, thus causing him to look up.
“Hey, Andrew, where have you been?” He asked.
“I had something that needed tending,” Andrew offered as he sat down in an empty chair next to the desk where the younger man was working. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I’m trying to figure out where the rave tomorrow night is going to be.”
“Why don't you just call it up on the Internet?” Andrew asked.
“It's not that easy, usually they don’t disclose the location until the day it happens, and now because of all the problems that have been going on since this morning, they are only going to do it in code,” Jimmy said. “They've been posting a key word to the code every hour, and by tonight at 11, they should have the entire code up. That’s why I'm spending so much time online.”
“Did you write down all the clues?”
“Well, there have only been two words and they aren’t all that useful, one is ‘dog’ and the other is ‘cellar’.”
“Dog and cellar?” Andrew looked at him.
“Yeah, your guess on this is about as good as mine, and you know Lois will flip out when she gets back and finds out that I’ve not been able to crack the code,” Jimmy looked down at the table.
“Not everyone is as gifted when it comes to cracking codes,” Andrew offered.
“I know, but you try telling that to someone like Lois,” Jimmy said taking a deep breath. “When Clark was here, I could tell him I failed, and he would say ‘Oh that's OK’, but if I went and told Lois that I failed, then I’d get one of her impatient evil-eyed looks.” He stared at the computer screen as the next code came up. “Great, ‘summer’. Andrew, does this make any sense to you?”
“If you want to know the truth, Jimmy, none of this stuff makes any sense to me,” he said honestly.
“Are you being serious, or are you just saying that?” Jimmy looked into the earnest green eyes of the angel.
“I’m being a hundred percent serious, Jimmy,” Andrew began. “You know, sometimes you really can be hard on yourself. I know that you would like for people to tell you that you do good work here, and that you would like them to acknowledge you for the contributions you make.”
“When? Like when I'm 80,” Jimmy shook his head.
“I’m sure it will be before then,” Andrew said honestly.
Jimmy looked at the angel. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am,” came the simple response, but intertwined in Andrew’s words was an indescribable sense of sadness.
Jimmy noticed this and looked over at the angel, he definitely looked tired, as though he had pulled a 48-hour workday instead of just having come into the office that afternoon. “Are you OK?” He finally asked as he wrote the third word to the code down and looked up at Andrew.
The angel nodded numbly, but looked at the inquisitive younger man. “Jimmy, I’m fine, I’m just concerned, I have been out on the streets today, and I have seen so much chaos that I don’t know what to think or even how to respond to it all.”
“I guess it’s a good thing that I’ve buried myself away here trying to decode this thing,” Jimmy mused as Perry came out of his office and walked over to where they were sitting.
“Jimmy, did you find out where that rave thing was going to be tomorrow night?” Perry asked as he stirred a cup of coffee that he held in his hand.
“Not yet, Chief, I’ve been trying all afternoon, but they seem to be giving the parts of the code every hour over the Internet,” Jimmy said.
“I would guess that the police are also sitting in their precinct houses trying to figure out the same thing if they even know about it,” Perry said. “You have any ideas, Andrew?”
“No, I haven't any idea, but Jimmy’s been writing the code words down whenever they would come up,” Andrew said. “I have a feeling that that’s all we can do as of right now.”
“Have Monica and Lois gotten back?” Perry asked.
“I haven’t seen them since the press conference this morning,” Jimmy said.
Perry nodded as he took a sip of his coffee and turned with the intention of going back into his office.
Once the editor was gone, Jimmy took a deep breath as he covered his face with his hands. He didn’t want to say anything to Andrew, but he wished that Clark was there. He looked down at the paper where the three words were written. “Dog, cellar and summer, it doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, you’re right, it doesn’t, but maybe when we get the other pieces to the code you’ll figure it out,“ Andrew said. “Something tells me that you have to really know the city well in order to crack the code. You have been here a pretty long time, right?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy nodded. “I'm one of those people who will probably die here and never leave the city again. I guess Metropolis has that sort of affect on people.”
Andrew smiled. “Well, maybe this is a place that could be affiliated with the three words in the code.”
Jimmy rested his elbows on the desk and began to contemplate the words to the code. After a few moments, his eyes widened and he looked at Andrew. “I think I may have just figured it out. Last year, there was a big scandal that went down and it dealt with dog food. It happened in June, and there was talk of an old warehouse on the outskirts of town where this stuff was manufactured.”
“What happened to the place after the scandal broke?” Andrew asked.
“It was shut down by the health department, something about expired dates and hazardous working conditions. Most people probably don’t think about dog food being processed at hazardous temperatures, but that was pretty much what happened, they had worked under unsafe environmental conditions and there were a number of dogs that died as a result of this contaminated food. Clark did the story about it, and one of the things he did was went out and interviewed the head of the Metropolis Animal Hospital as well as all the area animal shelters.” He took a deep breath and looked over at Andrew. “This has got to be the place, I mean; it's out in the boonies, there is tons of room inside for people to move around, and the building has been condemned since before the story broke and since it is in a secluded part of town, no one would think about going and calling the cops about it.”
Andrew nodded. “Should I go tell Perry?”
Jimmy shook his head, but offered the angel a weak smile. “Let me,” he said and once he brushed past and had reached the door, Andrew had a weak smile on his face.
“He’s right, isn’t he, Tess?” Andrew asked once his supervisor appeared next to him.
“Unfortunately, he is, but now this news is about to lead Lois, Monica and Clark straight into danger.”
Andrew sighed and nodded as the younger man disappeared inside the office. “What now?”
Tess shook her head and looked at her younger charge. “I don't really know, but I think you should probably take the rest of the day off, you looked exhausted.”
Andrew nodded. “That's only the half of it. I ran into Adam this morning, and between him and I, we have had more cases and near misses here in Metropolis since, I don't even know when. Tess, what on earth is going on?”
“Remember what I told you about Tempus?”
“Is he the one responsible for all of this?” Andrew asked.
Tess nodded and disappeared as the elevator doors opened and Monica and Lois returned from their shopping trip. Monica's face was shadowed with relief when she saw Andrew, but he could see that his friend's face looked unusually pale.
“Monica, Lois, is everything OK?” He asked trying to keep the knowingness out of his voice.
“Don’t hover over us, Andrew,” Lois scolded when he came over to them. “It’s just another normal day in Metropolis.”
Monica smiled weakly. “I had to leave a statement at the police, and then we went by Star Labs and talked to Dr. Klein about a pill sample that we had found,” she offered. “That’s why it took so long for us to get back here.”
“Why?” He asked innocently all the while trying to keep his cover.
“Some drugged out kid stole Monica’s purse, and then when she found him, he was totally tripping out and died,” Lois said.
“How horrible,” Andrew said softly as Jimmy came out of the editor's office.
“Hey, Lois, I think I may have found out where the rave will be happening tomorrow night,” Jimmy said proudly as she went over to where she was standing, thus leaving Andrew and Monica standing near the elevator.
“Great,” Lois said enthusiastically. “So, what did you find out? Where is this place?”
As Jimmy reported his findings, Andrew noticed the shopping bag in Monica's hand and looked at his friend. “So, what’s in the bag?” He asked.
“You don't want to know,” Monica whispered. “The definition that Lois seems to have is ‘Killer Clothes’. She said that I will have to wear them tomorrow night when we go to the rave.”
Andrew sighed deeply. “Are you sure you want to do this?” He whispered.
“You know I have to, it’s part of the assignment,” Monica said softly. “If I could get out of wearing a black mini dress and spiked boots, then don't you think I would?”
“Is that what you got in there?” He asked.
“Andrew,” she cried out, her voice a cross between annoyance and a whine.
He responded by holding his hands up in negation and looked at Monica. “Listen, I don’t want to worry you, but Tess was just here, and this is not looking good. There's going to be trouble, but I can’t even determine how or from where.”
“What do you mean?” Monica asked.
“Tess said that if you and Lois go to that rave tomorrow night, then there will not only be danger for you and her, but also for Clark. Something is happening, there's something dark and evil at work here. Adam and I have been working overtime since this morning. This was why I was late getting here today.”
“Adam’s here?” Monica asked.
“…And Henry, and a bunch of other Angels of Death,” Andrew whispered as Lois and Jimmy came back over to them.
“Jimmy found it, Monica, tomorrow night we’re set,” Lois said happily and she looked at Andrew. “You know, maybe you should get home, Andrew, you look like death warmed over.” Ignoring the look that crossed his face, Lois and Jimmy returned to the databanks, but before she could type something in, she looked at Monica pointedly. “You coming?”
Once Monica went back over to the computers, Andrew was back on call and instead of going to get some rest, he had been once more sent to the other side of town to a case of a man named Lenny Smyth.
*****
At this precise instant, Andrew’s assignment, Lenny Smyth and Tempus were at the warehouse out next to the Metropolis Shipping yards. This particular area looked to be abandoned. A gray colored warehouse stood not too far away from where the two men were, and Andrew appeared and began to take in what the two men were saying. The Angel of Death could see the confusion that seemed to shadow the drug lord’s face, but inching closer, he stood and listened as the two men conversed, Smyth appearing to be somewhat on the angry side because Tempus had appeared behind him completely unexpected. “What are you doing out here?” He finally asked his cohort, but looked around the area nervously. “I have some business here that doesn’t involve you.”
“Everything involves me, and what you have in mind is a part of that,” Tempus looked at him. "Lenny, in all of your experiences on the outs with the law, have you ever heard the term ‘casualty of war’?”
Smyth bit off the end of his cigar and spit the butt onto the ground. “Yeah,” he snorted, “what about it?” He asked as he looked at the man from the future.
“Well, maybe I can put it into language that one of your miniscule intelligence can understand. The life of every person on this measly planet are like figures in a chess game,” Tempus said sneering. “Each piece steps into danger depending on their overall lot in life. Now, you are the pawn, do you know what that means?”
Lenny grunted, but shook his head as he pulled a cigar out of his shirt pocket, bit off the end and callously spit in onto the ground as Tempus continued speaking.
“A pawn is the most useless piece on the Chess board. It can be maneuvered to the liking of the queen, who is the most powerful piece the game. Now, in terms of our ‘working’ relationship, you are that pawn and I am that queen.”
“Why not the king?” Lenny asked, still not getting the implied meaning behind Tempus’ words.
“The king is a casualty too,” Tempus explained, clearly bored with this whole exchange. “But, now that we have cleared that up, you must know that I have everything I could possibly want from you, I don’t need you anymore.”
“Excuse me? Is that it? I thought we were friends,” Smyth said as he greedily puffed on his cigar.
“You know, Lenny, you really should give up smoking, it could kill you one day,” Tempus said evenly, his voice void of emotion and his eyes gleaming with murderous intent as he regarded the man through gleaming eyes.
“So you followed me out here to terminate our partnership and give me my loot, right?” Smyth smiled broadly, thinking for a split second that he was there for payment.
Before Tempus could say anything, another voice emerged and the drug lord turned around to see Andrew standing some three feet from him, the angel dressed in a beige suit and was glowing. “Lenny, this man is no one’s friend, he is only here to create chaos and you have helped him do so.”
“Who are you?” Lenny shouted as he turned around and faced the Angel of Death who was now standing behind him, the angel went unseen by the man from the future, but Lenny Smyth could see him quite well through the ringlet of smoke that encircled his head.
“My name is Andrew, and I’m an angel sent by God to tell you that you still have a chance to make peace with your Creator before you die,” Andrew said evenly as the color faded from the face of the drug lord and he turned around to face the man from the future.
“You ain’t gonna pay me, are you, Mr. Tempus?” Smyth shouted out as the realization of Andrew’s words hit him like a cold-water shower. All the words about casualties of war, and chess matches seemed to hit home with Lenny and he turned with the intention of getting away from Tempus.
The man from the future had other thoughts in mind; he simply offered the drug lord a sideways smirk as he nodded. “Now, you're catching on, you brainless dweeb,” he said smugly as he quickly pulled a gun from his overcoat, aimed it at Smyth and squeezed the trigger. A loud explosion erupted the stillness of the area as Smyth was hit by the bullet and literally catapulted to the ground, his hand resting over the spot on his chest where the bullet went in, and he lay dying in a puddle of blood on the ground. “Thanks for your help,” the man from the future said snidely as he backed away from the drug lord’s body and disappeared in the distance as police sirens erupted the stillness.
By this time, Andrew had reached the man's side, the drug lord lying on the wooden peer at the Metropolis harbor. As he lay dying, Smyth could sense that someone was now standing over him and he tried to focus on whom it was, and whether this man who called himself Andrew and said that he was an angel had actually remained. Without saying anything, the injured man’s eyes closed as the angel spoke.
“Lenny, can you hear me?”
“W-what happened?” The man mumbled, his words a collection of inaudible syllables and he seemed to only concentrate on the pain that was throbbing in his chest from where the bullet had entered. “Where am I?”
“You're dying, Lenny,” Andrew said softly. “The Father is calling you home, but it will be entirely up to you if you accept this and journey with me.”
“Dying?” the man uttered, his voice etched in denial, but a surge of pain engulfed him and he looked at Andrew. “Who are you?” He asked as though Andrew’s earlier words had only been in his imagination and nothing more than a flight into the fantasy.
“I’m an angel, Lenny, my name is Andrew,” he said softly. “You have a choice to make and God and I are waiting for you to make it.”
“A-a choice?”
“Yes, you have made a number of mistakes in your life, but God wants you to know that He loves you and will welcome you Home without question if you seek His assurances and love. It will entirely be your choice as to whether or not you come with me, or if you distance yourself from His love and mercy,” Andrew said softly, but he could see that the man was not thinking so much about God as he was about what had just transpired.
“Who is Tempus, Andrew?” Lenny eventually asked. “He’s not like you, is he?”
“No, he’s mortal, but is a man from the future, Lenny, and he was using your influence to destroy the peace here in Metropolis so that he may destroy the peace in Utopia, the place from which he comes. You helped him in many ways, to do it, today; many of the city’s addicted youth are overdosing on these drugs that you have supplied them with. Today, you must face these things you have done.”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s too late for me,” Lenny coughed and closed his eyes.
“Leonard, it’s not ever too late,” Andrew said using the man's given name, but when he could no longer detect that the man was alive, he laid his head back down on the ground and stood there helplessly watching as the man died in darkness.
Sighing deeply, Andrew backed away from Leonard Smyth, and when he looked up, he could see that Clark had landed at the other end of the peer and was walking closer to where he was standing. “What happened?” Clark finally asked him.
“Tempus shot this man, and he’s dead,” Andrew said softly.
“As if you didn’t have anything to do with that,” Clark said gruffly. “What are you doing here? I mean; you do know that this is one of the most notorious drug lords in the city, don't you?”
Andrew nodded. “Yes, I know, I was sent here to help him.”
“To help him? You should concern yourself with helping to put him out of business,” Clark said angrily. “Well, from the look of things, you didn’t help him at all, I would say that you probably sent him to where he belonged,” Clark said snidely.
“I did not murder this man,” Andrew said matter-of-factly, “I was here and saw him get shot, and then he died.”
Clark shook his head. “I don’t believe it, why would you show up saying that you would help him, if all you are going to do is watch this man die?”
“I help in a different way,” Andrew tried to explain without telling the man of steel who he really was, but seeing the disbelief on the other man’s face, he took a deep breath and released it slowly as Clark spoke.
“OK, Andrew, as if that’s your real name, let’s put our cards on the table, shall we? Who are you?”
“I already told you, Superman, my name is Andrew, I don’t work for Tempus, I work for God, I am an…” His words died on his lips as the sound of an explosion resonated the area and before Andrew could finish what he was going to say, Clark had flown away, and Andrew sighed deeply as the last word emerged to the stillness. “…Angel.” As his word emerged, he shook his head sadly. “Should he know, Father?” He asked the stillness. His last word emerged in the emptiness of the area and he realized that he needed to tell Clark the truth and he wondered if he would ever have the chance to do so.
Sighing deeply he glanced back over at Smyth’s body, and then looked around to see that Adam had come up the peer in his direction and he took a deep breath and went to join the other Angel of Death.
Adam had witnessed the entire scene and he could see the look of dejection on his friend’s face. “Did you take Leonard Home?” The silence was broken as Adam spoke to his fellow Angel of Death.
Andrew shook his head. “He didn’t even want to call out to the Father, Adam, he was preoccupied with thoughts of getting a lot of money.”
“You know that you really couldn’t have done anything to help him,” Adam said softly as he rested his hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “Human beings face this every day, they face dying, but they don’t seem to grasp that love is the gift, not how much one possesses. You know as well as I do that one cannot take the money and the power with them.”
“You’re right, it’s true, but every time I try to help the people here, I end up getting into another confrontation with Clark Kent about it. He seems so convinced that I work with Tempus, and when I try to tell him that I have nothing to do with this man, he scoffs of off and seems to think because he’s Superman, that he is knowledgeable of everything. I just now tried to tell him the truth, but he got sidetracked by an explosion and left. The worst thing is now he thinks I’m trying to come on to Lois, and you know I cannot get into any sort of relationship with her,” Andrew shook his head sadly. “The problem is, he is making all these assumptions about me, but every last one of them is completely inaccurate and he won’t stick around and listen to reason.”
“You know the truth, buddy,” Adam said smiling at his friend. “I know that it is hard, but believe me, you are doing everything you can, just try to keep in mind that you’re pulling a double shift simply because you're on here as a caseworker as well as an Angel of Death.”
“It’s almost like I have…a secret identity, too,” Andrew said softly as he nodded. “I think I understand now why I’m here in the first place.”
Adam nodded. “Clark Kent and you have a lot more in common than either of you believe or realize at this particular moment, my friend.”
Andrew shrugged his shoulders as he looked down at the ground. “Something tells me that this isn’t going to matter too much after tomorrow night, because if an angel can’t reach Lois or Clark by then, then he and Lois are both going to die at that rave.”
“Excuse me?” Adam asked.
“Lois is trying to get the information about a rave that is taking place tomorrow night and based on what Jimmy and I were able to find out, she knows where it is and she’s going to take Monica with her.”
Adam cracked a smile. “Monica at a rave? I don’t believe it.”
“I didn’t want to, but it looks as though Monica is going to dress in a very tight leather mini-skirt and will go undercover with Lois. Lois calls the outfit that Monica bought ‘killer clothes’ if that gives you any sort of idea as to what we should expect.”
“Did you try to talk them out of it?” Adam asked.
“Yes, countless times even, but you don’t know how stubborn Lois is. Even though she thinks that Superman will always come to her aid and save her from danger, this time it is uncertain. It simply looks as though she is overestimating what may take place tomorrow night and what kind of danger the two of them could be walking straight into.”
“What are you going to do?” Adam asked.
“I’m going back to the Daily Planet, I can only hope there’s going to be a chance that I can talk Lois out of going to this rave, but any time someone tries to look out for her, she gets a chip on her shoulder,” Andrew said softly.
“Maybe because Clark has hovered over her since they have ‘fallen in love’,” Adam offered. “Sometimes, people misinterpret love for that guise of an ‘overprotective bodyguard’.”
“Yes, and that seems to be what is happening with Lois whenever I try to look out for her,“ Andrew said softly as he looked at his friend and noticed that Adam looked almost lost in space. “What about you? What are you going to do?” He asked, thus snapping his friend back to reality.
“I have a tentative appointment back on the eastside in five minutes,” Adam said as he pulled his watch out of his pocket, checked it, and returned it to his suit pocket.
Andrew nodded and once Adam was gone, he sighed deeply as he walked unseen by the human eye back up the peer towards the large warehouse that was adjacent to the pier.
TBC
