[CHAPTER 6: Unseen]Lois did her best not to let her eyes glaze over as she tried to understand the abstract of a research paper Faraday recently wrote on light. From what little she could comprehend, she never felt more galactically stupid.
She grabbed the silver ballpoint pen from her suitcase (hastily put together when she left her place) and tried to jot down a note in the margin. Unfortunately, no ink came out.
"Figures," she huffed before tossing it into the metal trash can.
She shifted gears, getting back on her computer and away from the papers by Faraday Jimmy had managed to gather up for her.
Punching the keys and working the limited search engine, she sighed.
"There's just no record of where this guy's been for the past three years," she said, talking to herself. "A brilliant scientist gives up his teaching post, cuts himself off from his family and friends, and disappears. Why would he do that? What was he working on?"
"No luck?" Jimmy asked, coming beside her.
"Ugh, no!"
"Any clue on how that light did what it did?" Jimmy asked.
"No, but maybe I should have taken that officer’s offer and gone to the hospital. . . ."
Jimmy startled. "Are you feeling okay? Headache or anything?"
"I feel fine, but that light must have done something to my brain. Maybe an MRI or whatever will detect something," she reasoned. "Tell Perry I'm okay but getting an MRI or whatever else the doctors want. Until another lead comes up, this is the only one I've got."
"Will do, Lois," Jimmy said, a little reassured.
Lois drove to the hospital after calling her doctor and telling him what had occurred the previous night. He swiftly arranged an MRI for her and an EEG.
Unfortunately, after four hours of prompt testing (her doctor didn't want any more time to pass and was a little annoyed with her that she hadn't called him right away), her results were normal. However, one odd thing occurred. For no reason at all, she quoted the technical method used to form MRI images. She had no clue how she knew it, but she did.
"Well, as much as I don't want to say that was a waste of time, it was a waste of time," she complained to herself as she got out of her car.
The sun was already setting and she had no leads as to why Faraday came to her home and flashed a bizarre light in her eyes before being killed. Trudging back up to the Daily Planet, she didn't acknowledge anyone on her way to her desk.
"Dead-end!" she preemptively declared to Jimmy who paused by her desk, as if about to tell her something.
"Oh. But isn't that sort of good news? I mean, the MRI didn't find anything different."
"That's good for me, but not good for my story," she grumbled as her phone suddenly rang.
"Lois Lane," she said as Jimmy fell quiet and watched. "Who is this?"
"Never mind who I am. If you want to know about Dr. Faraday, come to Metropolitan Park. Come now, and come alone. If you bring anybody with you, you will learn nothing."
Click."Jimmy, I'm going to Metropolitan Park. Someone just called about Faraday," she said, gathering her stuff and throwing it into the briefcase.
"Should someone go with you? Oh! And that PI called while you were gone, he's looking into Faraday too," Jimmy explained. "Was wondering if you'd like to pool resources."
Lois paused. "Oh, yes. If he calls again, let him know I'll call him as soon as I get back from meeting this source, okay?"
"Sure thing, Ms. Lane," Jimmy assured, happy she was suddenly in a much better mood as she rushed back out.
O o O o O
It was colder and darker than she would have expected the park to be, but she had a good heavy wool jacket on and had never been afraid of the dark. However, The lack of seeing anyone else around was a bit eerie.
"Hello? Hello?" she called.
Suddenly, a bright light glared out from the blackness and Lois quickly shielded her eyes.
"I'm Lois Lane," she stated, hoping and assuming this was the person who called her.
"We know who you are, Miss Lane. Where's the device?" the man asked.
"Excuse me?" she asked, suddenly on her guard as she picked up on his odd accent. She maneuvered her free hand into her purse and closed around a canister of pepper spray. She knew her neighbors had said one of the men that entered her apartment after the power was cut had an accent.
"Dr. Faraday's device. Where is it?" the man reiterated.
"If you're talking about the flashlight Faraday shined in my face, I have no idea where it is now. It disappeared. Who are you?"
The man began whispering to a form she could barely make out beside him, and unfortunately she couldn't understand what was being said.
She dared to step closer.
"Come no closer, Miss Lane!" the man warned.
Deciding not to risk it, Lois stopped as he suddenly asked, "Where is Superman?"
"I don't know. You said you'd tell me about Dr. Faraday. If you're not going to tell me anything, I'll just be on my way," she said, turning.
"Tell me this, Miss Lane . . . does Superman always appear when you find yourself in mortal danger?"
"I'm not sure that's a question I want to hear when I'm standing out in the open with a light shining in my face talking to somebody I don't know and can't see," she stated, tightening her grip on the pepper spray.
"Perhaps you'd be good enough to answer it anyway," the man said as a gun appeared beside the light.
Surprised, she responded, "Well, yes, he does, or he has so far, but if you want to talk to him, he has his Foundation for a reason. Don't do anything either of us will regr--"
The man pulled the trigger, causing a loud bang and a violent flash from the end of the barrel, but it was suddenly obscured by a form she would know anywhere.
Lois stared, relieved, but was suddenly confused when a glow of purple light followed the shot and seemed to be purposely directed right at Superman's face.
"Superman?!" she shouted as the men rushed around him and toward her.
She yanked out her pepper spray and doused the closest one as Superman suddenly moved.
From what little light there was, Lois strained to see, but she was certain she had never seen Superman handle bad guys as roughly before.
A smack of two metallic things hitting the ground came as both men were hoisted up by their clothing at or near their shoulders, resulting in their feet dangling a foot above the ground.
"Ms. Lane, please call the police and ask for Inspector Henderson to come if possible. Men, do not move," Superman flatly stated, facing away from Lois.
Lois hurried to the nearest payphone.
"911 emergency," the operator stated.
"This is Lois Lane from the Daily Planet. I need the police and Inspector Henderson at Metropolitan Park, south end, as soon as possible. Two men just tried to shoot me and Superman saved me. He's holding them now and asked me to call the police and specifically requested for Henderson to come too," she explained, trying to talk calmly through her adrenaline.
The person on the other end swiftly responded. "Units are on their way. Description of the two men?"
"Uh, white, middle-aged men, and the man who shot the gun has an accent. Greek maybe. I think they may be the two men involved in the murder of Faraday last night. Henderson will know what I'm talking about," she said.
"Thank you, Ms. Lane. Henderson will be told."
Lois turned to look back at Superman and could just make out his form still holding up the men as police sirens approached.
O o O o O
Henderson pulled behind the first police cruiser and parked his car before quickly getting out.
Superman had never asked for anyone specifically to come to an emergency or crime scene before, but considering the involvement of Lois and the likelihood of the two men being involved with last night's incident, this was a sensible approach.
Looking out at the park that their cruises' headlights completely illuminated, Henderson hid his amusement at the sight of two grown men being suspended in midair by a less than amused Superman.
"Thanks, Superman. Just the one weapon?" Henderson asked, indicating the gun in the grass two yards away as the Kryptonian set them down.
"Two things fell into the grass, Inspector, but please make sure they're not carrying anything else," he said, his gaze slipping from Henderson's direction as Lois returned.
"Of course."
The officers accompanying Henderson quickly took the two men into custody, maintaining their professionalism despite being excited about being so close to Superman.
"So which one fired at Ms. Lane?" Henderson asked, motioning the officers on.
"The one I had held to my right. Ms. Lane pepper sprayed him," Superman said as Lois stopped beside him.
Lois was clearly proud about that, and Henderson would have commented on her reflexes, but something about Superman pulled at Henderson's inner alarm system.
Superman wasn't looking at him, just in his direction. He seemed extremely stiff, as if he was on edge or expecting something to jump out at him. Bill had never seen Superman so uneasy.
Quietly, Henderson moved forward, trusting the officers behind him to take care of the suspects.
"Kal?" he asked.
Hearing the concern in his voice and the use of Superman's birth name, Lois frowned and looked up at Superman, but Kal continued to stare out into the parking lot over Henderson's shoulder.
"Inspector, other than the gun, there should be a small, metallic flashlight. Please bring it to the Foundation as soon as you can. I believe I'm going to need it. Lois, please escort me to your car and take me to the Foundation."
"What's wrong?" Lois asked, placing her hand on his forearm.
The strongest man on Earth took a deep breath before softly answering. "I can't see. As soon as I saw that violet light, everything went black. The only reason I got them was because I could still hear them."
Henderson turned back to the officers who were now a fair distance away. "Gray, McCay, don't wait up for me. Take those two in and process them. I'll be in shortly," he called.
"Sure thing," Gray answered.
With the first patrol car pulling out of the parking lot, Henderson retrieved some evidence bags and carefully gathered up the gun, bullet casing, and odd flashlight after taking a few pictures with the criminal investigators who had just arrived.
"This way, Kal-El," Lois said, biting her bottom lip in nervousness as Kal placed his hand on her shoulder and she took his other hand to direct him away.
“Here,” Henderson said, coming up to Lois and handing her the bag with the offending penlight-looking device. “I’ll pick it up later. Shall I call the Foundation ahead of you?”
“Yes, and tell them to get Dr. Klein,” Kal said, looking a little more at ease.
“Alright. I’ll let you know anything I learn after I interrogate those two,” Henderson promised.
“Thank you,” Kal said.
Henderson nodded even though Kal couldn’t see and watched in silent concern as Lois guided him to her vehicle’s passenger side.
O o O o O
Lois buckled herself in, glancing over at Kal whose gaze remained unfocused.
“Does it hurt at all?” she asked.
“No, I just can’t see,” he said gently.
“Thanks for saving me again,” she said, starting the Jeep. “And I’m sorry. I should have been more careful.”
“You can’t control what other people do.”
“Sure, but that doesn’t mean I should be stupid,” she countered, growing upset with herself.
Because of her, Kal had been blinded. Was this permanent? Oh Lord, what if it was?!
“Lois, try not to worry. Dr. Klein is pretty smart. He’ll figure this out. Besides, the bad guys affected my hearing last month, it makes sense they'd target my sight next,” he assured good-naturedly before continuing more softly, "And, you weren't stupid. You told Jimmy Olsen where you were going and he told Kent who happened to tell me."
“Shouldn’t I be the one helping you feel better right now?”
He shrugged. “I just can’t help hearing the change in your heart rate,” Kal said apologetically.
Lois frowned, suddenly remembering a previous conversation they had had about him being able to identify anyone he was familiar with by their heartbeat alone.
She was sure her heart was fluttering even more now, and not merely because she was upset.
“Okay, let’s get you to Dr. Klein,” she said, refocusing.
She drove them to the Foundation, stopping behind the building where two security guards and another man were already waiting for them. No one else was on the street and it was a relief to know no news stations would be covering this any time soon.
“Dr. Klein is already upstairs, Kal,” Mav said as a guard opened the passenger door.
“Thanks,” Kal said.
"Ms. Lane, if you would go in with them, I will park your car," the other guard said, holding out his hand.
"Oh, okay," she said as he helped her out.
Following Kal and the others in, Lois tried to look calm and collected. She even held herself back when Mav and the first security guard led Kal ahead of her. Which was just as well when he clipped and damaged a table halfway to the stairwell.
He really couldn't see where he was going at all.
She remained silent as they finally made it to the third floor where she saw all of Superman's medical equipment and a door to what she assumed was his bedroom. The mess after Nightfall had certainly enticed them to take precautions for every possible injury or event, however unlikely.
"Kal-El, I was told something blinded you. Could you tell me everything that happened?" a man Lois quickly identified as Dr. Klein asked as Mav stepped back once Superman was seated on the bench.
Lois stood awkwardly beside Mav, wishing she knew what to do as Superman gave a pretty accurate summation of what had occurred. As he explained, Klein used his otoscope to examine his eyes. First the right and then the left.
"A violet light?" Klein asked, finished with the initial eye exam.
"Yes, from this," Lois put in, quickly holding out the evidence bag with the harmless looking metal rod.
"And these people wanted something of Faraday's?" Klein asked her.
"Yeah, I think they wanted whatever Faraday had used on me," Lois clarified.
"Used on you?" Klein asked, bewildered.
Lois nodded and quickly told them what had happened the previous night.
"My, that is frightening, as well as enlightening, despite the horrid circumstances. I have read a little of Faraday's research and he had a theory involving information and light. Ultimately, he theorized that if carried on the correct wavelength, one would be able to transfer knowledge directly into a person's mind. Perhaps that is the device they were looking for," Klein stated while handling the evidence bag. "May I?" he asked, indicating the unused seal.
"Of course, Henderson will need it for his case later though," Lois said.
Klein removed the device and aimed it at the floor as he pressed a small switch he found on the side. A violet beam of light poured out.
"Hm," he said, turning the pen over in his hand and flipping an opposing toggle.
A red cone took the place of the violet.
"Kal-El, I think I have a solution. After looking at your eyes, your lenses have turned opaque, I think because of the concentrated ray of ultraviolet light. If I'm right, this equally strong beam of infra-red light should counter it,” he said.
“Great!” Kal said, overjoyed. "Can we try it now?"
“I have no reason to believe it will make things worse, so go ahead and look this way. I’m going to try your right eye first,” Klein said.
Lois held her breath and watched as Klein delicately shined the red light, passing it back and forth twice before Superman flinched back and quickly began rubbing his eye.
“Are you okay?” Klein asked, concerned.
Superman put his hand down and blinked several times. “Yeah! It worked!”
Beaming, Klein grabbed his otoscope again and checked Kal’s eye with it. “Excellent! The lens is clear again. Okay, let’s get the left now.”
Lois breathed a huge sigh of relief when Superman looked at them all unwaveringly a moment later, clearly just as thrilled as they were.
"Well, here you are, Ms. Lane," Klein said exuberantly, handing her the troublesome penlight back in the evidence bag.
O o O o O
It was the strangest dinner Lois had had in a long time, perhaps ever, but it was definitely going to go down as one of her favorite evenings.
After Klein had carried out a complete eye exam on Superman (verifying all of his visual powers were intact), Mav insisted on celebrating by picking up pizza from the nearby pizzeria for all of them. So Superman, Dr. Klein, two of the four security guards, Mav, and Lois gathered around the large table on the second floor with several two liters of root beer.
"I didn't take you for a pineapple kind of person," Lois couldn't help but comment as Superman took another slice of Hawaiian pizza.
"I'm a pizza kind of person," Kal said. "I've only found a few pizzas I don't like and that's because of the type of cheese on them."
"Cheese?" Klein asked curiously.
"Bleu cheese, for example. I think it's my sense of smell. It’s just not appetizing,” Superman explained. "There's an aspect of it that tastes extremely medical to me, if that makes any sense."
"Bleu cheese on pizza?" Lois asked, horrified.
"I don't like feta either," he added.
“Fascinating. Do you have a favorite food?” Klein asked, mentally considering a study.
“Single dish, ingredient, or a meal?” Superman asked.
“Ingredient.”
“Hm. Well, for a single ingredient, tomato is up there because the range of flavor is huge, but for the depth an ingredient can add to a dish, I'd have to go with olive oil."
"Olive oil?" Lois asked, surprised.
"If I take my time tasting, I can tell you where they were grown and what time of year they were harvested. Granted, the finer the grade, the easier it is to tell. Basic olive oil from your average grocery store stored in a plastic bottle isn't as easy to determine."
"Do you like to cook?" Klein asked, taking a pepperoni slice.
"Occasionally," Kal admitted. "But I'm little more than a novice."
"Have you considered hosting a cook off or a bake sale? I bet you'd make a ton from everyone wanting a super cookie or whatever you make," Lois suggested.
"A super cookie?" Kal asked, amused.
"Well, yeah. What else would you call it?" she countered.
"That's not a bad idea, Kal-El," Mav said, quickly warming up to the idea. "Shall I get Julie on it?"
Kal laughed. "Sure, why not? We can partner up with one of the hospitals or school districts."
Lois inwardly smiled, suddenly wondering what Perry would say if she brought him a story entitled 'Superman Holds Bake Sale.' He had told her she needed to do some more puff pieces. . . .
Dinner concluded with some more banter and what Superman would sell at a now scheduled bake sale. Would there just be cookies, or would pies and cakes be included? And what about bread?
"Kneading is important. If you want a good loaf, you can't just slap the ingredients together, let it rest, and then throw it in the oven," Kal said. "The yeast needs to be stretched and encouraged."
"Can you smell when the dough is ready?" Klein asked, unashamedly taking notes over his half eaten pizza.
"It's more a touch thing, but I can smell it too, though I probably would be better off looking at the yeast directly if I really wanted to be sure."
"Like microscopically?" Lois asked, once again reminded how different Kal could view the world.
"Yeah, though I don't really like to do it while cooking. It feels like I'm cheating."
"You're using your natural abilities. Why would that be cheating? You can be sure I don't hesitate to use every advantage I have to do everything I do - not that that really helps me in the kitchen," Lois said.
"Hm, I suppose when you put it that way . . ." Kal said thoughtfully.
Dinner concluded not long after, and after Dr. Klein and Mav had taken their leave, Kal was walking her to her car.
“I’m really glad you’re okay,” Lois said half way through the parking lot. “I don’t know what I would have done if you had been. . . .” She trailed off with a deep breath.
“Well, it all turned out alright, and I’ll drop off the penlight to Henderson soon. I’m really glad he let us take it the way he had,” he said.
"Me too," she said as they made it to her car.
"Well, now that it's just us," Kal said, subtly glancing around to make sure no one could hear them. "I wanted to ask a favor of sorts. Could you come by this address tomorrow at 7:00 pm if you're not busy?"
He handed her a small sheet of paper with a hand written address on it.
"Sure, I shouldn't be busy tomorrow. Is this important? I mean, I imagine it's important, otherwise you wouldn't be asking, but if something comes up . . . I suppose I'm wondering how critical this is, like if Perry puts me on assignment," she began, a little frazzled by the sudden and frankly mysterious request.
"No, it's not like that, and I suppose if I'm at a rescue we'll have to reschedule. I just want to talk to you about something."
"Oh, okay," she said, both relieved and worried at the same time.
"It's nothing bad. Or at least I don't think it's bad," he tried to reassure, but he himself began to look a little nervous. "Anyway, it's just something I'd like you to know."
"Oh, alright. I'll see you tomorrow then," she said, trying not to let her imagination run too wild. She failed.
"Goodnight, Lois," he said.
"Goodnight, Kal."
O o O o O
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