Chapter Six
Glitter on the wet streets, silver over everything
The river's all wet, you're all chrome
Ah, dripping with alchemy, shiver, stop shivering
The glitter's all wet, you're all chrome
Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
***
Lois felt nauseous. She blinked a few times trying to catch her bearings. It was still dark, but she knew she was inside now. She knew this by the feel of the mattress she was on. Her hands felt the fabric of the comforter below her fingertips. Sitting up, Lois knew she had to figure out where she was and get help. She couldn’t scream for Clark or Superman because she had no idea how long it had been since she last saw him. Her wig was missing, which meant maybe Clark would know she was missing. Think. Lois. Take a deep breath and think. She got off the bed and her bare feet hit the cold wooden planks. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could tell she was in one of the rooms. Lois took a few steps toward the table and reached for the phone.
“Darn it,” she snarled, realizing that there was no dial tone. She slammed the phone down and walked over to the door. She tried to open the door to the room, but it wouldn’t open. Lois tried to unlock the door, but it was unlocked and still wouldn’t open. Putting her head against the door, she closed her eyes for a moment. How was she going to get out of here?
“Help me,” a female voice whispered from behind her.
Lois turned her head instantly to the voice. There was someone else in the room with her.
“Who’s there?” Lois asked moving her head around trying to find where the voice came from.
“Help me,” the voice said again. “Save me.”
“Who’s there?” Lois repeated.
Lois moved using her hands to feel around the room. She didn’t find anyone, so she moved to the table trying to find something to open the door. Suddenly she found a folder from the resort at the table. She felt the number, embossing, across the folder and realized what room she was in - 217.
“Clark, where are you?” Lois wondered before she walked back over to the bed and fell upon the mattress.
It had been twenty minutes since Clark had stepped away from Lois. He had gone into the resort and realized what happened to everyone in the room. Now Superman was trying to escort the group outside of the resort. As he led the first group out of the resort Jimmy was running up to them. Jimmy was holding his head when he was knocked unconscious.
“Jimmy, what happened?” Superman asked with sincerity but with a stern voice.
“Lois and I were heading back to her car when I was knocked unconscious,” Jimmy answered as he moved his hand from his head to look for blood. “When I came to, Lois was nowhere to be found?”
Suddenly Superman bit his lip and assumed the worst-case scenario. He looked around the area quickly using his x-ray vision and noticed the blond wig Lois was wearing.
“Jimmy help the guests from inside and I’ll look for Lois,” Superman told him. Jimmy nodded in agreement as Superman flew off.
Jimmy walked toward the entrance of the resort and came upon Perry in the crowd.
“Chief, are you okay?” Jimmy questioned looking over the King. “What happened?”
“I guess the three floors were connected like an elevator, somehow the entire ballroom was sent to the basement. Superman found us and was leading us up the back staircase,” Perry answered as he pulled his wig off.
“How did you realize you were in the basement?” Jimmy wondered, pursing his lips together.
“I don’t know. The floor just moved down one and we didn’t even realize it. The party kept going on as if nothing happened. I’m not even sure how we moved down a floor,” Perry stated as he leaned against one of the white pillars in front of the building.
Superman flew around the resort trying to locate Lois. He checked the exterior electrical box and noticed someone had turned the power off for the entire property. Superman turned the power lever back on and the resort lit back up. Finally, Superman flew through the building trying to locate Lois.
He never noticed the woman on the second floor pounding on the window trying to get his attention. Lois could see the crowd outside coming from the main entrance. She had even caught a glimpse of Superman flying around. She couldn’t get his attention.
“Superman, help,” Lois screamed yet he acted like he couldn’t hear her. Was the room soundproof? Why couldn’t Clark hear her? She stepped over and grabbed a chair and threw it against the window. The chair bounced back at her, so she grabbed the legs of the chair and slammed it against the window a few more times. After the third time, the window finally shattered.
Jimmy stood on the cement driveway when he heard glass shattering. He looked up and noticed a chair falling from the second floor. He could see someone in the window waving at the crowd below. Jimmy looked closer and realized it was Lois. The light inside her room illuminated her figure. Jimmy could see she was yelling something, but couldn’t hear her.
“Superman,” Jimmy shouted, running toward Superman who had landed at the entrance again. “Lois is up there on the second floor. She threw a chair out of the window to break it.”
Superman turned, looked up, and flew off seconds later. He stepped into the room through the window.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he stated as he looked her up and down. He took a few deep breaths trying to calm himself. He had to watch what he did and what he said, he didn’t know what had happened or what was going on. “What happened to you?”
“Someone must have chloroformed me. I woke up in here. The door must be locked from the outside,” Lois babbled. “I kept pounding on the window. I kept screaming for you.”
Lois started tearing up. She was exhausted. Superman went over to her and wrapped his cape around her.
“Do you want me to take you home,” he whispered in her ear.
“What about the party? And our room,” Lois cried, looking into his eyes. “I kept hearing voices in here. Someone kept asking for me to help them.”
Superman looked around and realized they were the only ones in the room. There were no cameras, no listening devices, and no one else except them two.
“I can take you to my place,” he stated, putting his hand on her cheek. “Just stay there until I figure out what is going on here.”
Lois didn’t hesitate. She couldn’t be left alone. She wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Don’t leave me,” she cried, pulling him closer. “This place is haunted.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts.”
“I didn’t believe in aliens until you flew into my life,” she responded with a huff. She let go of him and turned away. “I’m not crazy. I mean I know you think I must be. But there was someone else in this room. She kept asking for help. Kept saying ‘help me’.”
“I don’t think you are crazy. A little overzealous at times, but not crazy,” he told her, turning her around to look at him.
“Whatever you want to do, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. She did this on purpose,” Lois stated, wiping her tears away. “This is Mindy.”
Lois stepped into the restroom to clean off her makeup from crying. She turned on the light and turned on the water. The water came out thick and blood-red.
“Superman,” she shouted before the lights in the restroom flickered. Lois looked up in the mirror and saw a woman behind her in a white Victorian dress. The woman had similar features with long auburn hair, a small figure, and brown eyes. She looked ashy, her dress was ripped in places and bloody tears were coming down her face. “Ahhhhhh!”
Superman ran to Lois, but the door slammed shut before he could reach her.
“Help me,” the female said behind Lois.
“Superman, help me,” Lois screamed as she turned toward the door pounding on it.
“Lois, stand back,” he shouted before he crashed through the door. The lights were still flicking when he came into the room.
“What happened?”
“Look,” she said, pointing to the water that was still coming out red, but not as thick as before. “This is not normal.”
“Bad pipes?” he wondered as he turned the water off. “The building is old, maybe it’s rust.”
“The flickering lights and I saw someone in the mirror. Didn’t you hear her?”
“I just heard you screaming,” he answered, “and the lights could be from the wiring.”
“I’m not crazy. This place is haunted,” Lois scoffed in anger. “I need to get out of here.”
Lois pushed past Superman and went back into the room. She was beyond scared and this wasn’t like her. She had been through a lot in her twenty-eight years, but this was insane.
“We need to find Mindy Church and see what she did to this room,” Superman said to himself then he went into the room.
“Lois, I think I'll take you outside with Perry and Jimmy.”
Lois looked up at him. The hair on her arm was standing up and she wrapped her arms around her body. She was so frightened that she couldn’t get warm. This outfit did nothing for her. She stood there. Her hair was slicked back her mascara smeared on her face and barefoot. Lois didn’t want to be here. Looking up at Superman, she shook her head in agreement.
Superman went over to her lifting her up in his arms and swooped out of the window. They landed outside near her Jeep. He knew she had a change of clothes in the Jeep. She opened the back of the Jeep and sat on the trunk to put on a pair of socks and her tennis shoes. Then she grabbed a sweatshirt she had in her bag and put it on.
A few minutes later she closed the gate and looked up at Superman, “I’m ready. Let’s go find Mindy Church.”
“I’m going to go locate Mindy and have you stay with Perry and Jimmy until I find her. Then I’ll come back for ya and we will interrogate her together,” Superman told Lois as he put his hands on her arms to warm her up.
“I’m going to walk over to Perry and Jimmy. I see them from here,” Lois explained, turning her head to the right and noticing Perry and Jimmy about thirty feet away.
“Are you sure? I can walk you over there,” Superman suggested also looking over to Perry and Jimmy.
“I’ll be okay,” she responded looking up into his eyes.
“After we interrogate Mindy, I will take you away from here and make you forget all about tonight,” he promised, reaching for her hand. He didn’t want anyone to notice that they were holding hands. Sometimes his love for Lois was difficult to hide from the rest of the world especially when he was dressed as Superman.
“I’ll hold you to that,” she mumbled with a slight smile. She looked down at their joining hands and realized she couldn’t live without him.
Letting go of his hand, she gave him one more smile and then walked toward Perry. He watched her for a moment until she was close enough for Perry to notice her and he flew away. Superman needed to find Mindy and find out what she knew about the events of the night.
Within ten minutes, he located Mindy in the back of the resort near the body they had found earlier in the night. He landed and strode over to Mindy and a few of her employees.
“Mrs. Church,” Superman stated crossing his arms. “What do you know about the body?”
“I had nothing to do with it. I think it’s the young teenager who went missing in the 60s,” Mindy explained in her unique voice.
“What do you know about the events in the ballroom tonight,” Superman wondered. “The doors locked everyone inside and the room lowered down a floor.”
“I did know about that. We thought it would be a neat trick for those that wanted a good scare tonight. We maneuvered the doors to lock for five minutes while the floor moved so no one would get hurt,” Mindy explained looking at her employees.
“But the electricity wasn’t supposed to go out.”
“Do you know anything about Miss Lane being kidnapped and locked in Room 217,” Superman asked sternly?
“I don’t know anything about that,” Mindy informed him.
“Somehow I don’t believe you,” Superman told her as he stepped closer to her.
The men that worked for Mindy stepped closer to Superman.
“Guys, I think it’s a horrible idea,” Superman stated while still looking at Mindy.
“You know Superman, I don’t give up very easily,” Mindy retorted as she looked over toward her men. “I have ways of getting what I want.”
“The police are here. You might need to explain that to them,” Superman said as he heard the sirens from the police vehicles pulling up the long driveway of the resort.
Superman flew away and went to the police vehicles. After telling the officers where the body was discovered, he returned to Lois standing next to Perry.
“Perry, can I speak to Lois?” Superman wondered, putting his arm on her shoulder.
Lois looked over at Perry then at Superman. She knew it couldn’t be good. And once they stepped away from the crowd, he let her know exactly what was going on.
“She admitted about the ballroom escapades but didn’t admit about your kidnapping,” Superman confessed.
Doctor Klein rushed up to them. His eyes did sidelong glances without moving his head. He didn’t want anyone to hear this information that didn’t need to know.
“I got a call from Star Labs,” Dr. Klein stated as he pulled his wig off, “the kryptonite has been stolen.”
“What,” Lois wondered with a furrowed brow. “Why did Star Labs have kryptonite?”
“Dr. Klein was working on radiation therapy for me. Like a vaccine. If we can find a way to counteract its effects, then it won’t be a problem any longer,” Superman explained as he pulled Lois aside.
“If he can find a vaccine…Clark!”
“Superman,” he told her looking around.
“I can’t believe you’d even let that stuff around you. Why didn’t you just get rid of it? Throw it in the sun or something. Now you can’t because someone stole it. What if it was Mindy? Or what if whoever stole it has it aimed at you, right now,” Lois rambled in anger. Her pulse was racing and she had her hands clenched.
“Dr. Klein, is there any clue on who stole the kryptonite?,” Superman asked looking over at the science nerd.
“Oh, yeah. My lab assistant told me the burglars were dressed as zombies,” Dr. Klein admitted, putting his hands on his hips and bending over. “This is all too much for me. I’m going back to the lab to see if there is anything I can do. I knew taking a night off was a bad idea.”
Lois and Superman watched as Dr. Klein walked away. Then, she turned at Superman with her hands on her hips. She wasn’t sure what she was more upset about - the woman in the mirror trying to scare her, Mindy Church, or Clark not telling her about the kryptonite.
“I know you're angry. I just wanted to try and find a cure and not worry you,” he whispered to her. They stood next to each other leaning on the car behind them. His arms were crossed and so were hers.
“I just thought that two people that thought about getting married are supposed to tell each other everything,” Lois stated looking up at him.
“I know and I’m sorry. You’re right, I really should have told you. I just didn’t want you to worry about me,” he admitted leaning over toward her a little bit. “Now what do we do?”
“We find out how Mindy found out about the kryptonite - because it has to be her- and bring her down for good,” Lois disclosed with a smile, “First, I think we need to call it a night and get out of these darn costumes.”
“Sounds good to me,” Superman said with a smile.
“You know what I mean,” Lois laughed shaking her head.
“Okay, do you want me to take you to your place or mine,” he wondered, turning to her more.
“Stay here for a bit and find out about the body. I’m going to take the Jeep home and I’ll meet you at your place in a couple of hours.”
“Are you sure?” Superman questioned.
“Yeah, just give me some time to decompress from tonight’s events,” Lois said as she turned away from him. “Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.”
With that said, Lois walked over to her Jeep and drove off. She wanted this night over. She needed to get out of the tight clothes and she was hungry. Lois craved ice cream or at least chocolate. First, she needed a long soak in her bathtub. Maybe the night could end on a better note.
Superman watched her drive away and once he knew she was safely on her way, he flew back to Mindy and the police. He needed to figure out about the body and even get a few clues on Mindy’s henchmen. Did Mindy have anything to do with the theft at Star Labs? Was she behind Lois’ kidnapping?
It was three hours before Clark got back to his apartment. Between the police, the Raven Resort charade, the skeleton of the boy, and Star Labs, all Clark wanted to do is curl up next to Lois and relax. When he arrived at his apartment, he noticed it was dark and Lois was nowhere to be found. After a quick shower, he flew off to China and got Lois’ favorite dumplings, then went to her place. The window was closed, so he let himself into her apartment with the key she had given him. He found Lois asleep on her couch. Her hair was still wet from her bath. He picked her up and started walking her to bed.
“Urrgh,” Lois mumbled, nuzzling closer to Clark. He was in jeans and a t-shirt that he had spun into before entering Lois’ apartment building. He didn’t want to show up at the door in the Superman outfit using a key.
He put her down on her bed and wrapped her up with a blanket. Clark knew she must have been exhausted if she had fallen asleep on the couch. He was also tired from the night's events. He left her a note leaving it on her bedside table. Clark knew he would see her tomorrow. Maybe he would just show up with a chocolate croissant and coffee for her in the morning. So he left her apartment and did a quick flyover Metropolis to see if he was needed. Within an hour he was back at his own apartment and in his bed. Now that the month of October was over, what would come next? Would Mindy be caught? Would Lois learn to appreciate the holidays? All he knew was the devil was in disguise tonight and he was glad it was over.
