From Chapter 21:
Flying high above the clouds so as not to attract attention, Lois carefully explained to her husband that she believed an important piece of information about her past was captured on the recording of her last hypnosis session. Unwittingly, she didn't block the rest of her thoughts and Clark figured out the rest telepathically… Lois *wasn't* pregnant, and she'd been told she had given birth at some time in her life, probably when she was in Brazzaville.
Clark furtively flew them back to the apartment, thankful that he had long ago shielded the walls with lead lining for privacy reasons when he was first "outed" as Superman. He realized that he would have to replace the window glass with lead crystal if he was going to live there. Taking the "head" of the suit off, so they could finish the discussion face to face, Clark stared into Lois' big brown troubled eyes, observing that Lois had tears staining her cheeks, but was trying to keep up a strong front, as usual.
<"Omigod, honey… of course I'll help you. I think it might be better to go to a different doctor than break into Deter's office, though. There are other psychiatrists that can treat amnesia through hypnotic regression other than Deter.">
<"Yes, but if it's *true*, I *did* have a baby, I don't want that information in the hands of Edge Enterprises!">
<"I know, honey, but hopefully Deter will at least respect your privacy – he is under professional oath not to discuss the details of your treatment – he can only advise the employer the *status* of your treatment, not the personal details.">
<"I'm supposed to have another appointment with him on Friday. What if I told him I would only keep the appointment if you were present to listen in?">
<"Yeah…cute…me sitting in a doctor's office wearing this sexy space suit… oh well…for you, honey, I'll do it. Call him back. That's certainly better than breaking into his office. He's going to know who did it, and you don't need any more legal problems.">
<"Yeah, okay, well I'll leave him a message that I'll be there Friday and that you're going to accompany me. In the meantime, we have to go to Perry's house at 7:00 pm!">
Clark looked at the clock on the wall. <"Well that means we have plenty of time for…">
<"We only have one room in this house that doesn't have windows, Clark… the bathroom. Did I ever tell you I find uniforms sexy? They're so much fun to take *off*!">
~~~~
And now, at long last:
Chapter 22
After their very urgent, passionate lovemaking session in the shower (being apart for several days acting as quite an aphrodisiac), Clark and Lois sat down on the edge of the bathtub. They were confined to the bathroom which had no windows, because of the danger to Clark from the Kryptonite rings. Clark gently took Lois' face in his hands and stared into the two brown bottomless reflecting pools, her beautiful eyes.
<"Honey, I can feel your heartbreak knowing that there may be a child of yours out there somewhere. You don't know if the child is alive or dead, or who the father is. Was there *anyone* you were romantically involved with, or do you think the pregnancy was the result of an act of violence against you?">
<"Sweets… I honestly don't remember a relationship with anyone there. All I remember is the violence and the women being raped and the fact that the rebels seemed afraid of me. It is my recollection that they left me alone. If this is true – that I gave birth to a child – I must have buried it very deep in my subconscious as a survival mechanism. Was the child stillborn? Was it taken away from me? Why can't I remember?">
<"Well, there are only a couple of possibilities here. Your subconscious mind knows which one is true. Go by your gut feeling, honey. See if you get a feeling of déjà vu - maybe it will help your subconscious bring this to the surface. Option #1 is that the child died at or shortly after childbirth, causing you so much heartache that you had to block it from your conscious mind. Option #2 is that your child was taken from you and sold on the black market, being at least half-Caucasian. If that's true, then somewhere out there lives a little Lois or a little Louis Lane. I'll search the whole world to find your child if you want me to, Lois.">
<"Clark…what if my child and I were together for a while, and then he or she got sick and died…">
<"Lois, if the child had lived for at least a while and then died, I really believe you would have remembered him or her. I think whatever happened was so quick you had to bury it deep inside your subconscious mind in order to survive in that harsh environment.">
Lois closed her misting eyes. After several minutes, she looked at Clark. <"I have this feeling that I never knew my child. Clark! I carried a child for nine months and then – what? Did I freak out and have a nervous breakdown after losing my child? The OBGYN I went to thinks I have hysterical amnesia. Does this change how you feel about me, Clark? If I was raped and… had my baby stolen from me!">
Clark enveloped Lois in his arms. She was trembling and tears were freely flowing now. <"Honey, *nothing* could make me stop loving you or change my opinion of you. We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise. Remember? We're stronger together than we are apart. We prove that every day that we're together.">
<"I love you so much, Clark, my sweet husband… what would I do without you?">
<"I love you too, honey… and let's hope we never have to find out what life is like being apart from each other, ever again.">
At that moment, their cell phone rang, echoing in the carpet-less bathroom. Lois had left the phone in her jacket pocket, which was lying on the bathroom floor.
Perry had gotten Lois' message that she would be visiting him at 7:00 p.m. Since he wasn't sure he would even be home by then, he dug his cell phone out again and called Clark's cell, which he knew Lois had in her possession. When she answered the phone, it was apparent to him that she had been crying and was clearly still upset.
"Lois, honey… it's Perry. Is everything all right?"
"Oh," Lois replied, trying to pull herself together. "Clark and I were just getting ready to come over to your house. Did you hear the news about what I did to Mark?"
"I sure did… from Leonard Thorul himself," Perry said, chuckling. "I don't even need to know what prompted you to kick him in the groin, Lois… I just *know* he deserved it."
"Oh, Perry. *Thorul* called you himself? Yikes," Lois squeaked, a wave of nausea engulfing her. Something about that man would always give her the creeps. Suddenly a vision of the photo on the business card that Ma had showed her of *her* Clark and that world's Lex Luthor popped into her mind. Was it a coincidence that they were identical twins, or just another example of "parallel-worlds-weirdness" that she had to accept, no matter what? "I'm so sorry, Perry, I really am. I tried so hard to stick it out until you got there, but between the therapy sessions, Clark being marooned in space… things just got ugly."
"Honey, stop it. The news made my day! Hey, did you say that Clark was with you? I heard that he was back. That's great," Perry enthused. "Look, I'm going to be working most of the night, trying to wrap up here. Don't worry about Mark. Just come back to the Planet on Monday and you'll report directly to me."
"Really? They're not going to sue me for assault?" Lois exclaimed in disbelief. "I don't know if I can face the rest of the staff, Perry. I shot off my mouth as I was walking out and probably alienated the whole newsroom in the process."
"Thorul wants you there, Lois. *I* want you there. Take the rest of the week of with pay and come see me on Monday morning. I'm going to be there at 7:00 a.m."
"OK… well there's a lot more we wanted to discuss with you, Perry. Can you find some time tomorrow - can we have lunch at least?" Lois implored.
"Actually, I was going to suggest that, Lois. I spoke with a few key people and I may have some interesting information to share with you by lunchtime. Let's meet at the diner near the Planet at noon tomorrow. Can Clark come?"
"No, not in a public place, Perry. He still has to wear his space suit until we find a cure for Kryptonite. He's working with Bernie Klein at Star Labs to come up with something ASAP. Luckily, the apartment is shielded with lead."
"Ok. See you tomorrow at noon, honey. Please say hello to Clark for me. And Lois -get some sleep. We're all in this together."
"Thanks, Perry. You're a lifesaver. I'll see you tomorrow."
Lois felt so much better when she got off the phone, she was actually beaming. Clark smiled at her, having heard the entire conversation with his super-hearing.
<"So – we have two days off to spend together, huh? I say we do some investigating in between my visits to STAR Labs. I think we should fly out to San Diego and get the real skinny on our friend Leonard Thorul, who apparently will stop at nothing to have you work for the Planet.">
<"Ha ha, Clark… you really *did* read my mind,"> Lois thought gleefully. <"There's a certain letter that I wrote that I haven't had a chance to mail yet. A San Diego postmark is just the thing to give it credibility, too!">
<"In the meantime, honey, how do you feel about taking another shower? It's either *that* or I wear the spacesuit!">
<"Propaganda…it never felt so good to be squeaky clean!">
~~~~~
Deter and Boyle met up at the Metro Club at 8:00 p.m. as planned. Mark had arrived earlier. It was obvious he was feeling his oats, both male ego and liquor-wise, by the time Max showed up. He was surrounded by several attractive young women who were apparently captivated by his British accent and boyish good looks.
"Max! Over here!" Boyle called out. "I have a few lovely friends I'd like you to meet," he said, flashing a dazzling smile.
Deter grinned inwardly. He'd heard that Boyle was a legendary womanizer; it sure didn't take him long to get over his crush on Lois Lane-Kent!
An hour or so later, after the young ladies left, having given both men their phone numbers, Max and Mark sat down at a table, ordered some real food (as opposed to bar snacks), and got down to a serious discussion, slightly glazed over by liquor, but serious nonetheless.
"Lane came to see me today. She wants a copy of her hypnosis session," Max began. "Of course, I told her it was only available to her through a court order. She stormed out, and then about an hour later, she left a message on my machine that she would indeed be keeping her appointment on Friday, but her husband would be accompanying her."
"Yes…I heard the big Boy Scout was back, wearing that damn space suit that Klein made for him, which shields him from the Kryptonite rings. If he has to wear that while he's on earth, that puts a damper on their newlywed activities," Boyle remarked sarcastically. "Good. Well, then, Max, your problems are over. Thorul wanted Lane back in therapy, and she's agreed to come back."
"For how long? I still have the monkey on my back. How long have you known Thorul anyway?" Max asked. "That *is* why we're getting together tonight, although meeting those hot ladies seems to have been an added benefit."
"I met him while I was a foreign correspondent for the BBN, working out of Congo-Brazzaville. Or rather, I met an associate of his, Nigel St. John, who was working for Luthor Corp on the side as his PR guy."
"Nigel St. John – Lex Luthor's executive assistant who disappeared after Luthor committed suicide?"
"The very same. St. John was a journalist who, like me, found that taking a few side jobs here and there was a whole lot more lucrative than the newspaper business."
"OK, so you started working on the side for Luthor Corp. How does Thorul tie in with that?"
"Max, this information is sensitive… *more* than sensitive. If you reveal what I'm about to tell you to anyone, you'll be dead within 24 hours; I can guarantee it. I'm only telling you so we can come up with a game plan to get out from under here. Are you on the same page with me?" Boyle asked, with a deadly serious expression on his face.
"Absolutely. You should know that, as a psychiatrist, I'm used to keeping secrets. It's my job. I've got stuff going around in my head that would floor most people."
"This one can cost you your life."
Deter nodded for him to continue.
"Show me your bare chest."
"What?" Deter replied, aghast. So Boyle was not only a womanizer, but bisexual, as well?
"I need to know that you have no recording devices or wiring on you before we proceed."
Deter started laughing at his previous train of thought. Luckily, he had changed out of his business suit before meeting Boyle at the club. "I should ask the same of you, then, as well. How do I know you're not going to be double-timing me with Thorul? That you're not setting me up, here?"
"Fair enough," Boyle replied. "Tit for tat. Let's take a walk to the men's room, then."
~~~~~
Returning to their table, both men were satisfied that their dinner partner was spy-gadget free. Shortly thereafter, the waitress served their meals. Boyle smiled at Deter and said, "All right, I guess we're both 'on the level' as you Americans say. Hope you have a high tolerance for shock."
"I do. I'm a shrink."
"Thorul and Lex Luthor are related."
"Huh? They don't look alike at all."
"Shave their heads, and they could be twins. Trust me on that."
Mark Boyle proceeded to relate a bizarre story to Max Deter. Apparently Thorul, head shaved and claiming to be Lex Luthor, had made *several* trips to Congo-Brazzaville, heading up a Luthor Corp subsidiary, Elf-Aquitaine El El Oil Company. There were many oil company scams going on during the time of civil unrest in Congo, and of course, Luthor Corp wanted to get in on it. The man that Boyle had considered to be Lex Luthor was in actuality Leonard Thorul.
"So, how did you finally determine that they were twin brothers? Did he tell you?"
"No, not outright. But, believe it or not, I *am* a very fine investigative reporter, and one day I was on line at BBN and I read that Lex Luthor had made a public appearance at the grand opening of one of his newest buildings in Metropolis. At the same time, 'Lex Luthor' had been at the Oil Company holding a business meeting. Since he couldn’t possibly have traveled back to the States that quickly, I smelled a rat and I confronted him about it. At the time, I was doing all the PR work for their oil company, and I knew a lot of things that could have blown them out of the water."
"I'm surprised he just didn't have you killed. What a racket – the ability to be in two places at one time. That's a dream come true."
"Yes, I certainly was taking my chances confronting him. But as a well-known foreign correspondent for the BBN, and their right-hand PR man in Brazzaville, he probably assumed that I could be a better friend than an enemy. He admitted that he was Luthor's long-lost fraternal twin brother, and they had forged an agreement several years ago to share in the Luthor family wealth. It seemed that Lex never knew of Lenny's existence until around 1992, when Lenny decided to confront him."
"Wow, he was taking a chance that Lex didn't just kill *him* outright. Why would he want to share in the wealth with a brother he never knew?"
"Thorul persuaded Luthor that they could both benefit from this. No one knew he existed, and financially, it could be lucrative, because they could expand their business horizons by being in two places at the same time."
Max's eyes opened wide. "So, did Lenny kill his brother? To gain control of Luthor Corp, that is?"
"I don't know for sure… but I think it might be the other way around."
"But Lex had brown hair…before his well-publicized bout with prostate cancer."
"Have you heard of wigs? And the prostate cancer… just a bunch of B.S."
"Waitaminute… you're telling me that Leonard Thorul is Lex Luthor?"
"I don't know proof-positive, Max. It's my investigative reporting intuition. But what I *do* know is that when I met Lenny Thorul, portraying himself to be Lex Luthor, he was all business, but not evil. The Lenny Thorul we're dealing with now… is pure evil."
"Yikes. I can't help but feel sorry for the real Thorul, if what you're saying is true. Who else knows that they're related?"
"Nigel St. John, who is soon to make an appearance as my 'brother', Phillip Boyle... Morgan Edge... Will Church, Jr.,... Lois Lane... probably the Boy Scout, her husband...me... and now you."
~~~~~
TBC
