from Chapter 33...
Smallville, Kansas
Jonathan and Martha looked around the house that had been their "home away from home" for almost 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.
and now,
Chapter Thirty-Four
The four travelers materialized in front of the Kent farmhouse, or rather, what was left of it. Martha and Jonathan took a long, haunting, look at the home they never expected to see again. It looked as if it had taken a direct hit from a tornado.
"Oh, my…" Martha sighed. "We put so much work into it… and it's in ruins."
Jonathan was internalizing his rage. He had spent decades maintaining and improving his property and the farmhouse. Finally he looked at Hank. "Those bastards did this to our home?"
"The New-K-ers, you mean? Yes, Mr. Kent. When you both disappeared, a team of them came looking here for you. When they couldn't find a trace of either one of you, they trashed the house. We didn't know until later that you were safe and sound on the other earth," he explained. "I know this is painful. Let's get over to the Foundation."
Herb removed a device, similar to a PDA, from his pants pocket and keyed in several numbers. Almost immediately, his time machine became visible. He directed the trio to enter it so they could teleport to Metropolis, where the Luthor Foundation for Scientific Research ("LFSR") was located.
Hank was the Acting Director of the Foundation while Lex Luthor served out his second term as President of the United States. He had spent many years, with Luthor's blessing and funding, researching the possibility of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms in the universe as well as the feasibility of time travel. He was truly a chip off of his other-dimensional grandfather's block. Suitably impressed by Herb's various gadgets, Hank had wondered why there was nothing in his own world's present technology that could rival it. Why hadn't the great inventions of his direct ancestor, H.G. Wells, been shared with the world? Surely the two "Herbs" shared the same passions and inventiveness.
Hank's in-depth research into his great-grandfather's life had disappointed him greatly. H.G. Wells as time traveler, part-time Lane-Kent-Trask vs. Utopia meddler, and self-styled inventor, only existed on the Alpha-earth. The H.G. Wells of the other two earths were both well-known science fiction writers, but that was the extent of their notoriety. When the decision was made to send Lois Lane to visit Hank's great-great grandfather, there was a modicum of good faith involved. Lois would personally determine if *this* H.G. Wells possessed an open mind regarding time and dimensional travel. The fate of two worlds hinged on it!
Several queasy moments later, an alleyway adjacent to LFSR came into focus. Herb set the cloaking device to render the machine invisible, and the four headed towards the entrance of the large research facility in downtown Metropolis.
Martha's chest was pounding furiously. She was torn between guilt over leaving her new son and daughter-in-law at their time of need and the loyalty and love that still burned inside of her for her "other" son and daughter-in-law. She and Jonathan had raised "their" Clark since he was two years old. When his abilities started to surface, she prayed *a lot* to the powers that be that she would have the strength of spirit to guide her other-worldly son to use his abilities to help others. She worried needlessly when he met went away to college that he would be lonely, not having anyone to share his secret with. Fate decreed that Clark would meet "his" Lois early in his freshman year of college and Martha watched the two of them fall madly in love. She was ecstatic to have Lois Lane, head nurse of the Emergency Room at Metropolis General Hospital, for a daughter in law. She couldn’t have been more thrilled when they visited her and Jon in Smallville to tell them they were going to be grandparents. And, she had watched with horror as the man she thought was her only son, Clark, slowly turn green of Kryptonite poisoning and then watched the woman she naturally assumed was her daughter-in-law Lois, shot with Kryptonite bullets in her first trimester of pregnancy.
To find out now that Lex had saved the real Lois and Clark by sequestering them in a Phantom Zone of sorts was nothing short of a miracle. Martha placated herself by reasoning that if she and Jonathan had stayed and not left with Herb when they did, they may have been killed if Lex couldn’t get them to safety in time.
The elevator door rang to acknowledge their arrival on the fifteenth floor, which held the highest security rating. Hank pressed his fingers against the bio-keypad which validated his identity, and the double doors opened, revealing a large laboratory which was nothing shy of a science-fiction movie: plasma monitors, test tubes, computer keyboards, and watery-filled "coffins" housing naked beings of various ages and sizes.
"Lex has been funding cloning research for years," Hank remarked, as the four walked by several growing specimens.
"Do you know that in the other earth, Hank, cloning is illegal?" Jonathan piped up.
"Really?" replied Hank. "It's been legal here for the last ten years. There was quite a hot debate about it, and actually, it's the reason Lex got into politics, you know, Jonathan. After this cloning facility was built, there was a bill pending in Congress that would have shut it down. Lex used his financial muscle to spread the word about the positives, including stem–cell research, etc. He was approached by his party to run for office. Who knew that Lex could be a successful politician as well?"
Martha smiled. "I've known that boy since he was a teenager and Clark was in elementary school. He can accomplish *anything* he sets out to do. Why, he talked Clark into going into business with him with the ambulance company. That was the *last* thing I expected Clark to do, after he graduated with a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering," she remarked. "But it gave Clark the opportunity to help in emergencies, and it didn't hurt that that Lois was the head nurse in the ER at Met General, either!"
"He's been a great friend to Clark, all of these years, for sure. It turned out he knew Clark was Superman for about four years before he finally confronted him with the knowledge. There isn't anyone more trustworthy than Lex," Jonathan agreed.
Hank unlocked a room with an ominous sign posted on it: "High Level Personnel Only: Restricted Area" and beckoned his visitors to join him in there.
"I should have told you this earlier, Mr. and Mrs. Kent, but the only way you can really talk to your son and his family is to join them in the Phantom Zone. If our experiment with Lois is successful, in one week, you will not remember any of this; you will open your eyes as if it's just another normal day on the farm in Smallville."
Martha's eyes widened. "I thought there was some type of TV-type device that we could communicate with them! You misled us, Hank!"
"I apologize for that, Martha. But back on the other world, Lois doesn't want Clark to know about any of this. I really can't have you both go back there and take the chance that Clark would visit you and know something's up," Hank explained.
"Herb, did you know about this deception?" an angry Jonathan spit out.
"Yes…and no," he replied carefully. "I knew you would have to join them in the Zone; as far as I know, though, if you really want to go back to the other earth, I can take you… right, Hank?" Wells glared at his alt-descendant, his glasses seemingly magnifying his bulging eyeballs.
Hank sighed. "Yes, yes. It's against my better judgment, though. Why don't you spend some time with your family, and if you would like to go back to the other earth, press this button," he said, handing Jonathan a device similar to a pager. "It will return you to this room, which will automatically alert me, wherever I am, that you are here."
"Fair enough," agreed Martha.
"Step in front of the projector," Hank instructed. "You really won't feel anything, I promise."
Grudgingly, the Kents followed instructions.
"Say hi to Clark, Lois and the baby for me," Hank said. "Enjoy your time with them."
No sooner had Hank shone a bright light on the duo, they disappeared from the room.
~~~~~
At approximately 8:00pm, twilight time in Metropolis, Lois and Clark emerged yet again from a Metro cab. Crossing the street, they headed towards the left side of the Edge Enterprises skyscraper. They were dressed all in black and Lois carried a small laser gun in her purse that they had "borrowed" from STAR Labs.
"Ok, Propaganda, let's do this," Lois said as they spotted the emergency exit door which indicated where the building stairwell was.
Clark picked up his slim wife, who had still not returned to her normal weight after her ordeal in Africa. Silently the duo floated to the second floor stairwell and as Clark valiantly attempted to hover, Lois cut a 4 foot square in the window with the laser device. Removing two suction cups attached by a handle from her bag, she pressed them to the glass. As Clark floated them backwards just a bit, Lois held on to the handle, and swiftly she was holding onto a square of perfectly cut window glass. Gently Clark floated to the ground where they hid the incriminating evidence behind a large bush of the perfectly landscaped grounds.
"Lois, you're a little too good at this," Clark teased. "That was picture perfect, pardon the pun!"
"I didn't get to be a prize-winning reporter without breaking more than my share of rules, Clark. Now let's get back up there and do this!"
Clark felt his floating ability starting to wane as he again levitated to the second story. He and Lois made it through their self-made entrance but nearly crashed down on the landing of the stairwell.
"Smooth, Propaganda, real smooth!" Lois joked. "Do you see any alarms around?
"Hard to tell until my vision powers return," Clark admitted. "We're just going to have to chance it."
"Ok, now we have to walk up to the top floor to get to Thorul's office. That's like 100 flights of stairs. Do we dare try to take the elevator instead?" Lois wondered aloud.
"I think I can just float us up there, Lois. As long as I don't have to hover ten feet or more up in the air, I think I can handle it. It'll be a lot quieter, in case they have a night security guard on duty," Clark reasoned.
Soon they reached the last floor of the building just prior to the roof entrance. Staring at the fire doors leading to the hallway of the executives' office, they looked at each other for reassurance. This was fairly new territory for Clark. He had grown somewhat accustomed in the recent weeks to not having his powers, but for him and Lois to deliberately put themselves in jeopardy without knowing what lay ahead gave him some anxiety.
"What if there's an alarm on this door? Clark, float up and check it out!" Lois urged.
Clark, as instructed, examined the hinges of the doors for any kind of wiring device. "Lois, really, maybe we just should have waited for my powers to return. This is risky. I see several wires here. Do you have scissors in your purse?"
"What kind of investigative reporter would I be without the proper tools?" At that, Lois removed a pair of wire cutters from her bag and as Clark floated back down to ground level, he again picked her up so she could inspect the area herself.
"Yep, definitely an alarm system on these doors. Let's hope I'm cutting the right wires here," she remarked as she impulsively snipped away as Clark held her, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Honey, you are truly amazing," Clark told his wife. "I think you are the one that should have blessed with special abilities. I can't believe I managed to survive so long without you in my life."
"That's so sweet, Clark," Lois returned sincerely. Switching gears almost instantly, she continued with, "Let's do it. If it doesn't work, we'll just bail out the nearest window and hope that your invulnerability is back!"
Grabbing Clark's hand, she opened the door, and seeing no one, proceeded down the hallway towards the executive wing of Edge Enterprises. Pulling a lock pick out of her bag of tricks, she pried open the door labeled "Leonard Thorul, VP, Acquisitions" while Clark continued to shake his head. It occurred to him that he had never really seen "Mad Dog Lane" in action before. This woman was everything he had heard about from the others at the Daily Planet – impulsive, a little crazy, single-minded – and she had married *him*! He still couldn’t believe what a lucky man he was.
The emergency light overhead dimly lit the office. Lois took a small flashlight out and began rummaging through what desk drawers weren't locked to try to locate a comb or some other type of DNA evidence. She nearly shrieked when she found a picture of herself, the other Lois, and H.G. Wells checking into the Hotel Del Coronado back in 1973. It was of poor quality and obviously taken from a surveillance camera.
"Clark! Look at this! He knows I was there! He must have put this all together!"
"Wow, Lois, this is giving me the creeps. This guy is really fixated on you-"
"Omigod! Clark, here it is. The article from the Smallville Press that your mother wrote! He has that too!" Pulling out a microscopic camera from her purse, she took pictures of the two items, before returning them to his drawer. Spotting a bathroom in the office, she hastened over there to see if perhaps there were hairs in the sink or a comb in the medicine cabinet.
"Pay dirt, Clark! Here's a comb with red hair on it. Let's go!"
"Thank God!" Clark said. Suddenly his super-hearing kicked in and he heard voices with accompanying footsteps approaching the offices.
"Are you sure there's someone in there? None of the entrances were breached."
"The alarms on the fire doors were cut. I don't know how they got in here, but there's definitely someone there."
"Lois! Quick! Out on the balcony! We're going to have to exit from here!"
"Clark! We're 100 stories high! We'll be committing suicide!"
"Lois, they know we're here, and my super-hearing is back. And what happened to 'if this doesn't work we'll just bail out the nearest window...?' We're just going to have to take our chances that the rest of my powers are following suit!"
<Well maybe the end of the world will be right now> Lois thought to herself as she let Clark pick her up and together they leaped off the executive patio just as the door to Thorul's office opened.
TBC
