Again, just let me say a big thank you to my beta readers, Suz and Diane. You've both been great!
Thank you for everyone who has posted FDK so far - it's really appreciated!
Table of Contents So without further adieu ---
FROM PART 1:
"No, look! Over here! Watch me! I can fly like Superman!"
His mother finally looked up towards the sound of his voice and promptly screamed. "Matthew! What are you doing? Don't move, honey, we'll get you down from there." Matthew's parents ran over to the base of the fort, trying to figure out a way up.
"How did he get up there?" his mother asked his father. "Where is the ladder?"
Aaron again raised the mike to his lips. "Okay, Matthew, I want you to walk to the edge of the fort and stop. Don't do anything. Just repeat that you are going to fly like Superman." Matthew complied with the command.
"Watch me, watch me! I'm going to fly like Superman!"
"No! No, honey, don't move. Help! Someone help us!" Matthew's mother screamed.
**********
PART TWO:
**********
Lois and Clark had just dropped Laura back at the daycare center of the Daily Planet and were headed towards the elevator when Clark heard the cry.
"I've gotta go. Someone's in trouble," Clark said, turning towards the stairwell.
"Go, Clark. I'll go up and check in with Jimmy. See you back here later," Lois told him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
Clark ran up the stairwell, changing into his *suit* once he was inside, out of sight, and then ran back down and out of the building at super speed, taking to the air once he was outside. He could hear the continued screams and soon located the problem. A small boy was perched at the top of a playground fort, flapping his arms, yelling, "I can fly!" Superman floated down and landed gently next to him.
"No, you can't, but I can. Here, let's get you down from here and back to your parents," Superman said as he lifted the boy up and floated him down into the waiting arms of his mother.
"Oh, Superman, thank God!" she said.
"How can we ever thank you, Superman?" the boy's father asked, holding out his hand.
Superman shook the outstretched hand. "You're welcome. Glad I was in the area and could help, Mr.?"
"Scott. Dale Scott. This is my wife, Trisha, and our son, Matthew."
"What exactly happened?" Superman asked, curious.
"I don't know. One minute he was playing out by the swing sets, and the next minute he was on top the fort yelling that he could fly," Trisha explained. Superman looked down at the boy. He had a puzzled look on his face.
"Well, Matthew, next time you feel the urge to fly, maybe you'd better get your dad to take you for a ride in an airplane instead," Superman said, smiling at the boy. The boy smiled back at him shyly.
"Mama, I'm sorry. A voice *told* me I could fly," Matthew said, confused.
"A voice?" Superman asked. Not a person?
"Uh huh. A voice in my head."
"I'm sorry, Superman," Trisha whispered to Superman where Matthew couldn't hear. "Matthew has imaginary playmates. He probably *imagined* they told him he could fly. I really am sorry."
"It's okay. I'm just glad he's all right. It looks like you should keep a close eye on him from now on. He seems to be quite the climber." Superman smiled at the family and took to flight, never seeing the figure watching him from the shadows.
**********
"I still can't believe that SHARP's leader was paroled!" Clark exclaimed as he stabbed a meatball angrily with his fork. He had hardly touched his dinner.
"I know, me either. You know, I was thinking. Don't you think it's highly suspicious that this kidnapping and renewed hostility towards Superman is happening now? With him getting paroled?" she asked him, taking another bite of salad.
"Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind. The problem is that the kidnapping happened before he was actually paroled. He couldn't have been the one to do it."
Lois took Laura's tiny baby spoon and scooped up a little applesauce, flying it temptingly towards her baby's open mouth. "Yeah. But he could have had help."
"That's true, but we just don't have any proof. Maybe we can go by the prison tomorrow and talk to some of guards. See who's visited him while he was in prison. Even better, maybe we could arrange to visit his prior accomplice, Clarice, at the Metropolis women's prison. I think she's still incarcerated there. Maybe, since he got his ticket out of prison and left her holding the bag, she'll be willing to talk."
"Sounds like a plan," Lois agreed, getting up and walking to the sink. Laura had accidentally hit the spoon and sloshed applesauce on Lois' hands and arms. Clark walked up behind her and put his arms around her, giving her a gentle squeeze. Inhaling between clinched teeth, she made a slight hissing sound.
"What's the matter, honey? Did I squeeze too hard?"
"No, no. I think my breast is still just sore from where Laura bit me last night."
Clark couldn't help but smile a little. "She must not have known her own strength," he joked.
Lois smiled lopsidedly at him. "Already becoming more like her dad."
Clark helped her put the leftovers in the fridge and clean the dishes, and then they both took Laura up to bed. It was time to try skipping the nightly feeding again. So, Clark held Laura and rocked her gently as Lois read a bedtime story to her. It worked. She fell asleep in her daddy's arms. Clark lay her down gently in her crib, kissing her forehead lightly.
"Daddy loves you, Laura," he whispered to her and crept out of the room behind Lois towards their bedroom. Then, he stopped suddenly, hearing a sound that made his heart flutter so fast that he felt giddy.
"Da."
"Did she just say what I thought she said?" Clark asked Lois as he moved back towards Laura's room. They both peaked into the room together to find their daughter had pulled herself up and was standing in her crib, holding on to the bars and staring at the doorway. She had become quite ambitious since she had learned to walk. She seemed to really enjoy the freedom walking afforded her. He just hoped she didn't start trying to climb yet.
"Da. Da, da, da," she repeated, in a loud voice. Clark's heart melted. Laura had been making noises and sounds for a while now, and even sounded like she was trying to talk from time to time with made up, unintelligible words. Or babbling, as Clark liked to tease Lois.
At first, they had been a little concerned that she hadn't started talking yet; but everyone had assured them that all children are different and do some things sooner than others. This was the first time, though, that she had said something they could really understand; and it was for him. She was calling him. Clark felt wetness under his eyes. He couldn't have ever imagined how wonderful this would feel.
"That's right, sweetie. I'm your Daddy. D-a-d-d-y," Clark said to her, picking her up and holding her out in front of him, smiling at her.
"Da," she said again and grinned her mostly toothless grin. Clark clutched her to his body and hugged her. He finally remembered Lois when she came up behind him and put her arms around them both.
"You know, I figured that would be her first word, as much as I've caught you in here repeating *Daddy* to her over and over," Lois told him playfully. He turned in her arms, adjusting Laura to one side, and hugged his wife. He was so glad to have her, to have them both. They could both heal him when he really needed it. He hugged her again, more fiercely.
"Ouch," Lois exclaimed in surprise.
"What's the matter?"
"I don't know. I just had kind of a sharp pain in my left breast. You know, the one Laura bit last night."
"Honey, that can't be from the little bite she gave you," Clark reasoned. "Come on, let's go to our bedroom. I want to take a look at you."
Under different circumstances, what he said could have been viewed as flirtatious, but he wasn't flirting this time. He was genuinely concerned.
He looked down at his baby girl, and she yawned sleepily at him. She'd be out in no time. He lay her back down in her crib and followed Lois to their bedroom.
"Here, lie down and let me take a look." She lay back on the bed, and Clark unbuttoned her nightshirt. Using his fingertips, he felt her breast using circular motions like Lois did when she performed a breast exam on herself.
His breath caught in his throat as his fingertips felt a firm mass, about the size of the end of his thumb, on the outer edge of her left breast. He pressed on it lightly and Lois yelped. She reached up putting her fingers where his were.
"There's," she paused, "there's a lump there," she continued, starting to sit up.
"Lie still. I want to take a look at it." Clark took his glasses off and laid them on the nightstand. He kept them on most of the time, even at home. Now that Laura was getting older, they didn't think it would be good for Clark to go without them in front of her. They thought it was best to make him look and act as different from Superman as he could.
He focused his x-ray vision on her and could see the lump in her breast, the fibrous tissue and fluid that it was composed of. Of course, he didn't really know what he was looking for. For some reason, he had just wanted to look and confirm what he already knew was there. He grimaced.
"Honey, don't worry. Lot's of women get lumps in their breasts," Lois said, squeezing his hand. "They aren't always bad. I've read that sometimes it can just be an inflamed lymph gland or something as simple as that."
He could tell she was trying to be brave for him, to reassure him. But he knew she was probably just as worried as he was.
"Promise me you'll get in to see the doctor as soon as you can. Don't put it off. Tomorrow, if possible."
"Don't worry. I actually already have an appointment two days from now. All that talk about having another baby and the *practicing* we did made me realize it was probably time for me to get a check up. I figured I should make sure everything was in tiptop shape before we got more serious about having another baby. I'll show this to my doctor at my appointment."
That made Clark feel a little better. He lay down in bed next to her. Draping his arm around her, he pulled her close to him. He lay this way as he drifted off to sleep, holding her in his arms.
**********
Aaron had just finished eating his rather late dinner when he heard the knock on his apartment door. After setting his dirty dishes in the sink, he went to the door and looked out the peephole. *He* was here. Aaron slid the chain over and off the lock, and he opened the door.
"Great Leader," he acknowledged, with a slight nod of his head.
"So good to see you on the outside my friend," the Leader responded, extending his hand. Aaron took his hand, shaking it firmly and stepping aside so his Leader could come in. They spent the next hour sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, discussing the Harrell kidnapping and the incident with Matthew earlier that day at the park.
"Everything seems to be progressing just as we had planned, assuming that your little errand later tonight goes well," the Leader said, seeming pleased.
"I don't anticipate any problems. I followed the Scott family home after they left the park and cased the place out. There's a great spot I can use as cover."
"Good. Then, I should get going and leave you to your task at hand. I need to proceed on to the bunker and begin working with our first test subject. I've got a lot to do if I'm going to be done in our three-day time span. I look forward to seeing you later this evening when you bring me our next subject," the Leader said, as he rose and began walking towards the door.
Aaron's thoughts turned briefly to the bunker. The bunker that Lex Luthor had so generously given them access to after Superman had discovered their previous location. Lex had expressed his shared distaste of Superman and his desire to help with their cause. He had taken Aaron down below his corporate headquarters to a private bunker that he'd had built. Lex had shared many interesting revelations with Aaron that day.
Aaron walked with the Leader to his front door and shook the man's hand in parting. He had a question that he needed his Great Leader to answer and decided this would be a good time to ask him.
"Before you leave, may I ask you one question?"
The Great Leader nodded his head at him, looking like he might know what Aaron was about to ask. Their leader was one of the smartest and most brilliant tacticians that Aaron had ever known. Aaron trusted his judgment. But he didn't always understand it. One thing troubled him.
"Can you explain to me why we don't just simply kill Superman?" Aaron asked him. "When Lex Luthor took me down and showed me his bunker, he also divulged his knowledge of Kryptonite to me. I think that he probably had a piece of it in his possession, or, if not, knew how to get some. With the technology we possess and the network of people we have connections with, couldn't we locate a piece of Kryptonite and just *kill* Superman? We could be done with him once and for all."
The Great Leader smiled at him with a knowing look. "Yes, Aaron, I have no doubt that we could do just that. But, tell me, what do you think would happen if we simply killed Superman? Just ripped him away from his loyal cohorts, fans, and friends? They would build memorials for him, write books in his honor and hold him up as an example, as a god. They would mourn him, miss him. They certainly would not see him for the threat he was to our planet and our way of life. We would effectively turn him into a martyr, and that is exactly what I don't want."
The Leader had a strange fire in his eyes. He continued, "Yes, we could kill Superman and that may be in our plans for the future. But, first, I want to destroy his credibility, his ability to help people. I want people to fear him, fear what his presence here on our planet may be doing to the environment or what his true agenda really is. Most people don't give any of that a second thought. But if we can get them to fear him in another way. If we can get them to realize that he can be used to inflict pain on them, just as any other weapon can be used against people when in the wrong hands; then we can begin to bend them to our cause. We will make them see the truth. Our power will lie in being able to change people's opinions through persuasion. If we can destroy people's faith in Superman, their reliance on him, then, and only then, can we successfully remove him from the picture. Because, then, they won't miss him when he's gone."
Aaron could do nothing but stand there, looking at the Leader in awe. His original estimation of the man had been grossly understated. The man was a visionary.
After parting ways, Aaron's mind began to drift back to Lex Luthor. Lex had been a lot of things, many of them unpleasant, but at least he was a *man*, which was more than he could say for Superman. The one perfect thing Lex had been was Superman's greatest adversary.
But, now, he was dead. The thought made his blood run cold. He couldn't prove it, but he just knew Superman had played a part in Lex's death. Or, if nothing else, he could have at least prevented it if he had wanted to. One of Aaron's associates had informed him that Superman was present the day Lex Luthor was murdered, just a few short months ago, but Superman hadn't stopped him from being killed. His death had been a great loss to the organization.
At first, Aaron hadn't believed their luck when Lex had approached him about a possible new meeting location for SHARP. His secret underground bunker. He told Aaron that he'd originally had the bunker built as an escape against a nuclear attack. It was five-hundred meters below street level and was reinforced with steel and concrete. Lex had later added a coating of lead to the bunker to prevent Superman from seeing into it with his x-ray vision. The bunker had almost been put into use a few years ago when the Nightfall asteroid had come so close to impacting with Earth.
The thought of the asteroid caused Aaron to pause in his reflection. Oh, why couldn't that asteroid have killed Superman? But, no, of course, Superman had been able to stop the asteroid and save the day without any negative consequences to himself. He had become an even bigger hero in the eyes of the world after that.
How could people be so blind? Couldn't they understand? Superman was an alien threat. He didn't belong here! Who knew what kind of damage his presence could be causing to the Earth's ecology? And what about who he really was? No one knew for sure what Superman was really there for, or what he was up to. No one could be as good as Superman pretended to be. Aaron didn't trust him. But his day was coming soon. They were going to bring him down, and then who knew what would happen?
For now though, they were safe to work and plan and to do what needed to be done. Lex's bunker was top secret. Very few people knew of the existence of the bunker. Even when the Nightfall asteroid had threatened the Earth, Lex hadn't wanted to publish the existence of the bunker. He hadn't wanted to create a panic of people trying to find a way into it. Of those who knew of its existence, even fewer knew how to access it.
It was connected to the LexCorp building via a secret passageway. The passageway was a private elevator that only had two other destinations. One was a room he'd never been in, and the other was the penthouse suite at the top of LexCorp. The elevator door doubled as large painting that opened out into the suite.
The bunker also had its own separate, secret opening into the city's aquifer system below ground. That was the entrance he normally used to get in or out of the bunker. Only when he needed to speak with Lex privately had he taken the elevator to the penthouse.
The penthouse and the *other* room, that got Aaron thinking. Maybe now was a good time to go ahead and start researching that little Kryptonite project. Yes, Lex had given him a great deal of knowledge to make a start with. It was always good to be prepared. But, first, he'd better take care of his immediate task for the evening. He grabbed his coat and headed out the door.
**********
Jimmy walked off the elevator towards his desk at the Daily Planet with a bounce in his step. The bounce had been in his step for the past several months, ever since he had finally found the courage to ask Penny to marry him. Him, Jimmy Olsen. He guessed he was still a little amazed that she had said yes. She was so beautiful and had so much to offer. But she had told him that he was the only one for her. He was her one and only hero, which was funny considering the montage devoted to Superman she used to have on her desk. If Jimmy was her hero, it was only because she made him one. She brought out the best in him.
Jimmy sat down at his desk to start checking his inbox for requests people had left for him. He felt a pair of hands cover his eyes.
"Guess who?" the sweet voice of his fiancé asked him.
"Hmm, I don't know. Could it be the woman I love?" he asked, turning in his chair to look up at her. "What are you doing here this morning? Not that I'm complaining or anything."
"Oh, I put in for one of those several personal days I've had stored up for a while. I wanted to do a little wedding preparation and some shopping. In the last few months I've saved up a nice little nest egg," she replied proudly.
"Well, just don't use too many of those days up. We're going to need them for our honeymoon," he told her, grabbing her and pulling her down on his lap.
"Yeah, about that, Jimmy. When are we going to tell everyone?" she asked him, fingering her empty ring finger.
Jimmy grimaced. He hadn't given her an actual engagement ring yet. He had told her it was because he wanted to save up and get her just the right ring. That wasn't entirely true. Yes, it had taken him awhile to save the money for the ring, but he had the money now. He just hadn't been sure what kind of ring to get for her. He knew that, whatever he got for her, he wanted it to be unique and special. Something she would really cherish.
They had initially gone ring-browsing together, but Penny hadn't seemed overly enthused at any of the rings they had looked at. He had tried observing her whenever they had looked at rings. Finally, he had realized something. Penny didn't seem to get too excited about diamonds. The jewelry she normally wore was very different.
One of her favorite pieces of jewelry to wear when they went out for an evening together was a necklace that her grandmother had given her. The necklace was comprised of a delicate white gold chain that came down to a rectangular setting with a large piece of mother of pearl set into it. Dangling down from the necklace were three large, perfectly-formed, and delicately colored pearls. The pearl in the middle was bigger and hung down further from the other two. It was very unique and exquisite. Of course anything looked beautiful on Penny, he thought. She was what made it beautiful.
He had finally decided to have a ring made for her. One that would match the necklace that she loved so much. He had drawn up a design and taken it to Mazik's jewelers to create. The ring would be made out of white gold. It had a wide band with pieces of mother of pearl set into the band. In the middle of the ring there were three pearls, the one in the middle being the biggest.
When he gave the ring to her, he planned to tell her that the three pearls stood for his love for her. His love for her before he even knew her, his love for her now, and his love for her that would grow even *bigger* over time. He couldn't help feeling a little proud of himself for what he'd come up with.
But he didn't have the ring yet; it wasn't finished. He would have it soon, though. Actually, in just a few days. They had both decided they wouldn't tell anyone about the engagement until she had her ring. So he knew why she was feeling anxious.
"Penny, just give me one more week. I promise. I'm almost there. You know I want to tell everyone as much as you do, but it would be nice if you had your ring to be able to show off to everyone. I've been told that means a lot to a girl," he said, flashing her one of his boyish grins.
"Yeah, I guess so. I'm just so excited that it's hard to contain myself. I want to be able to tell everyone."
"You'll get to real soon. It'll be special," he promised her. Just then, Perry stuck his head out of his office and started barking commands.
"Jimmy! Are we a running a world-class newspaper here or a dating service? If you think you can disengage yourself, I need to see you in my office."
At the mention of disengage, Jimmy and Penny giggled at each other softly and she got up off his lap.
"Yeah, Chief, I'm coming," Jimmy hollered to Perry as he was walking back into his office. "Well, gotta go. Duty calls. Don't have too much fun without me today. Leave me a few things to go shopping for."
"I'll do my best, but no promises," she said teasingly. He gave her a quick kiss goodbye and headed off into Perry's office.
"Sorry, Chief. Penny took the day off today and just came by to say hello."
"Ah, heck, son, that's fine. You know I was just ribbin' ya a little. Have you seen Lois and Clark come in yet?"
"No, I haven't. They're probably just downstairs saying goodbye to Laura at daycare."
"Keep an eye out for them and send them in to my office stat when you see them," Perry said, sitting down and turning his attention to a piece of paper lying in front of him.
"Will do," Jimmy assured him. The Chief had a worried look in his eye that Jimmy didn't like, but he didn't press him about it further. He would know what it was about sooner or later.
Jimmy was headed back to his desk when the elevator door opened, revealing his two friends' familiar faces. He ran up the ramp to meet them.
"Lois! Clark!" he called to them.
"Morning, Jimmy," they both replied, walking towards him.
"Don't get settled in yet. The Chief needs to see you right away. He didn't say what it was about, but I didn't like the look on his face."
Lois and Clark didn't look like they liked the sound of that much either. "Thanks, Jimmy," Clark said as they moved off towards Perry's office.
He watched them as they went inside. Perry motioned for them to shut the door. No, something was definitely wrong.
**********
To be continued...
