from Part Thirty-Two:
Lois and Clark took the elevator to Bernie's office at STAR Labs. They had continued to argue all of the way there about what Lois would do with the information, should the DNA test confirm that she was Lena's mother. They were effectively at a stalemate now, not talking to each other.
As they walked through the door, Bernie turned around with a broad smile. "Lois, congratulations. Whoever's hair that was, he or she is definitely cut from the same cloth as you!"
Lois turned to look at Clark and was surprised by the expression he wore on his face. and now,
Chapter Thirty–Three "Clark? Are you upset? I can't tell what you're thinking, for once," Lois exclaimed.
"I just realized that I'm a step-father, sort of," Clark replied. "I hadn't thought of it that way before. Wow."
"So… you've changed your mind? You agree with my approach now?" Lois asked.
Bernie, completely confused, interrupted their banter. "Lois? Are you going to use this information to tell the child you're the biological parent?"
"Well, yes, Bernie, that *was* the whole point of the DNA test. And also to nail the biological father for rape."
"Well, unless you give me some hair follicles, skin, or blood – I can't determine who that is, you know. Somehow, I'm thinking that the father's not Clark. Someone almost as high-profile, though," Klein speculated. "Who do you think it is?"
"None other than Leonard Thorul," Clark disclosed. "There's a lot more to Lois' life as a refugee in Brazzaville than meets the eye, Bernie. Unfortunately."
"Ah. Now it all makes some sense. Oh, Lois. He raped you over there? My word."
"Like I would sleep with him voluntarily!" she shot back. "Well, it's payback time now, Bernie. We'll find a way to get you what you need," Lois promised. "Do you have any good news for Clark's problem?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Bernie said, smiling ear-to-ear. "My instruments indicate that the Kryptonite dust cloud is dissipating. While you won't be as good as new, Clark, your powers should gradually start to return in two-three days. We're going to eliminate those weekly red-sun injections, and hope that the timing works out perfectly. You might feel a little worse before it gets better, I'm warning you."
"Superman's coming back!" Clark exclaimed. "And to think, most of my life I looked at my abilities as a curse."
<Sure, now his telepathy will come back too. He *can't* know about this third-world stuff. It will kill him>, Lois thought resignedly. <Maybe it will be the last power to surface. Maybe it won't come back at all. Bernie did say he wouldn't be "as good as new">.
Her thought babble subsiding, Lois turned to her husband with an attempt at genuine enthusiasm. "That's great news, Clark. We'll nail Edge Enterprises, give the Planet back to James, and put Thorul in jail – no sweat!"
"What's our next move, honey?" Clark asked.
"We need to break into Thorul's new office and get some DNA for the good Dr. Klein," Lois replied with enthusiasm.
"I didn't hear that," Bernie replied. "I'm no accomplice here."
"Unfortunately, super-hearing is one of my remaining powers, and I definitely heard it," Clark said, a twinkle in his eye evident as he looked over at his type-A wife.
Grabbing her husband's arm, she urged, "Let's go. We don't have much time left!" They exited Bernie's lab and headed towards the elevator lobby.
"Maybe we should wait until the majority of my powers come back, Lois. What's the rush? And what did you mean, 'we don't have much time left'?"
<Damn! What was I thinking?> Lois thought when she realized what she had spit out of her mouth spontaneously.
The sound of the bell of the waiting elevator stifled Lois' response for the moment, and upon entering the car, there were several other passengers riding with them. After pressing the "down" key, the couple stared at each other in silence for the remainder of the short trip.
Exiting the elevator in the lobby of STAR Labs, the conversation continued without missing a beat.
"Every day that goes by that Lenny Thorul is on the loose is one day too many, Propaganda!" <Please buy that?> "He's a psychopath and a rapist, and a really bad person all the way around. He needs to be in a jail cell, and we're the only ones that can put him there."
"I guess you're right, honey… it's just the way you said it… like you're dying or something. When's your next appointment with Deter? I think you're suffering from manic-depression from the trauma of all of this."
By this time, they had reached the sidewalk at street level. "Are you an armchair psychiatrist, now?" Lois asked. "You think I'm a schizo or something?" <Got to act really offended by his comments to get him off track here>.
Clark replied by enthusiastically kissing Lois on the lips. "No, no. I can't imagine what it's been like to walk in your shoes, honey. Lead the way."
<Whew!> "That's much better, Propaganda!" Spotting a Metro Cab, she flagged down the driver and as the couple entered, Lois asserted, "Edge Enterprises' headquarters, and step on it!"
"You got it, Ms. Lane!" the cabbie replied. "Hey, great job with those terrorists, by the way!"
Lois glowed, noting that the driver had recognized her, as she replied, "Thanks! I appreciate that!"
Clark, feeling like the invisible man, was starting to realize that in their life together, he was destined to be overshadowed by his very charismatic, high-energy wife, with or without his special abilities.
~~~~~
Emerging from the swift ride to "One Lexor Court", which was also the address of the former Luthor Corp headquarters, Lois and Clark looked skyward to view the "EE" letters resting at the pinnacle of the building. It was a tribute to a man's massive ego, if nothing else.
"It's Saturday. They're probably still there. Do you think they work on Sunday? Maybe we should come back tomorrow," Lois thought aloud.
Clark attempted to X-ray the building to no avail. No sign of his vision powers returning as of yet. "Let’s get inside the building, look at the directory, and then sneak up the stairs. I still have my strength, and my super-hearing."
A receptionist stopped them cold as soon as they entered the foyer of the magnificent, gold/marble-lined building. "May I help you?" she asked.
"Lane and Kent of the Daily Planet," Clark said, flashing his press pass. "We have an appointment to interview Mr. Thorul. We understand he recently transferred here from San Diego. Is that true?" Clark asked, while Lois scoped out the layout of the lobby, looking for the stairwell.
"Yes, it's true. I'll intercom him, but I don't think he's in today. You do know that it's Saturday?"
"Yes, of course we do," Lois snapped back at her. "He's too busy for an interview during the regular workweek."
Several minutes later, the receptionist replied, "There is no answer to his page."
Lois winked at Clark for him to play along. "Do you think he meant for us to come to his townhouse instead? Could you give us that address, just in case?"
"I don't have that information available," she said curtly. "Perhaps you need to get your information straight, and then come back."
"Can you call him then at least?" Clark piped up. "If we tell him that we were late for the interview because his receptionist wasn't all that cooperative, well, that just won't look good."
"Oh, all right," she said. "I'll call him, but I’m not giving you his address. If it's legitimate, than I'll put one of you on the phone, and *he* can give you the address."
"Fair enough," said Lois. She had located the stairwell in the meantime.
Luckily, he was not at home. Clark, however, was able to focus on the receiving end of the ringing phone with his super-hearing. He recognized some of the "sound landmarks" of the area – a nearby subway station, a chiming Grandfather's clock, and the sound of horse hooves, indicating that the townhouse was located close to Metro Park, the affluent section of the city.
"Mr. Kent and Ms. Lane – I'm afraid there is no answer. I suggest you call Mr. Thorul on Monday and make a legitimate appointment," she informed the duo sarcastically.
"Is the building open tomorrow?" Clark asked.
"No, it's not. Only to officers of Edge Enterprises."
"Fine. Thank you," Lois said snippily.
Back out on the sidewalk, Lois said, "C'mon, Clark, I found the stairwell, which means it's probably that door over there on the left. Damn, I wish you still had X-ray vision!"
"Me too, Lois. Are you sure you don't want to try this tomorrow? Maybe I'll have some of my powers back by then."
"No time like the present, Propaganda. Nothing like a little breaking and entering for entertainment value!"
Knowing he couldn’t possibly win an argument with Lois, Clark followed Lois around the enormous building to the site of a metal door with no handle.
"I'm sure there's an alarm on this, Lois," Clark warned.
"You can still float, right?"
"You know I can, after this morning…"
"Yeah, right," Lois said. "Ok. Here's my idea. There's probably only an alarm on the door leading to the outside, right?"
"Probably," Clark agreed.
"So you float us up to the next window of the stairwell, on the first floor of the building. We'll get a laser glass cutter and before you know it - we're in!"
"So we're coming back later, then, when it's dark, right?
"That's right, you're not speedy right now. They'll see us if we do this in broad daylight. Ok, we'll come back tonight close to midnight," Lois agreed.
"Maybe we should talk to Bill Henderson and tell him what we've found out," Clark suggested. "He wants to get Edge and Thorul just as much as we do."
"Spoken like a true farm boy," Lois teased. "It's called breaking and entering because it's illegal. You can't put Henderson in that position, Clark. If we get away with this, and end up nailing the whole bunch of them, we'll be heroes and no one will prosecute us."
"I hope not, Lois. I wouldn't want people to think that Superman breaks the law. It took me a long time to get the public to trust me!"
"Let's go have lunch, Propaganda," Lois said, scanning the area for a decent place to eat. "Then we're going back to STAR Labs to get our hands on their best laser technology."
Clark rolled his eyes, briefly focusing on his life pre-Lois Lane and his crazy life now. His crazy life now won, hands down.
~~~~~
Smallville, KansasJonathan and Martha looked around the house that had been their "home away from home" for four years. "We're ready, gentlemen," Jonathan announced.
"Are you sure we can't say good-bye to Clark and Lois, in case we don't make it back?" Martha asked.
"Absolutely not," Hank asserted. "Lois already knows what's going on, and she doesn't want Clark knowing about it. She wants to enjoy her last days with him, in case they don't end up together … later."
"This is frightening stuff," Martha said. "If I hadn't had Clark for a son, and seen two different universes for myself, I'd say you're all crazy."
Hank motioned them over to the front yard. "For this to work, we all need to hold hands."
The three men and one woman stood in a circle, held hands, and then vanished into thin air.
TBC
