I wanted to get one more post in on this story before I go on vacation. I'll be gone for the next week or so - no new posts till I get back. Enjoy!
Table of Contents From Part 4: "Hah. I'd be worried about my own kid if I were you," she said, caustically.
Clark was instantly angry. He rose out of his chair and loomed over her menacingly.
"What do you mean?" he asked her sharply. This change in behavior caught Clarice by surprise and cowed her slightly.
"Look, *I'm* not going to hurt her, if that's what you're thinking. I don't even know for sure what they've got planned. Listen, I love kids as much as the next person, and I don't agree with what the Leader is doing. You have to believe me when I say that I'm not involved. I cut my ties with him after he used me and let me take the fall with him for SHARP's criminal activities," she explained.
Clark looked at her doubtfully, and she continued. "We've kept in touch through a guy that works for him, Aaron, oh what's his last name...? Henderson? But Aaron didn't have much use for me after I told him I didn't want to be any part of kidnapping kids. Which is why the *Great Leader*," she said the title sarcastically, "is out, and I'm still in here. That's all I know and all I would tell you anyway, so don't ask for more."
Clark felt a wash of feelings come over him: relief, anger, fear. So SHARP was involved in the kidnappings like Lois had suspected. But what was their plan? What were they going to do with the kids, and, more importantly, were they going to try and kidnap Laura?
PART 5: **********
Lois sat impatiently in one of the chairs at the doctor's office. Her doctor had been called away on an emergency C-section before Lois had arrived. Dr. McGrath was due back any moment, but Lois couldn't help feeling antsy. She had been waiting for forty-five minutes already, and she was ready to get this over with. They had called her back briefly to do the preliminary stuff: blood pressure, weight, temperature, etc. So that part was taken care of at least.
She picked up one of the magazines for the tenth time and tried skimming through it. She set it back down almost immediately and looked at her watch again.
"Ms. Lane," a voice behind her said. Lois turned around to look at the woman. She was a young, pretty blonde. Her nametag said Lizbeth.
"Yes?" Lois asked.
"Dr. McGrath is on her way back up from the delivery room and will be with you shortly. Please follow me back to the examination room," Lizbeth instructed her.
They walked back to a room, and the assistant led her inside and handed her a gown. "I'm going to update your chart for Dr. McGrath. Can I ask what the purpose of your visit is today?"
"I basically wanted to get a check-up. My husband and I are thinking about having another baby," Lois replied.
"I see. Have you been having any specific problems or concerns with regards to trying to conceive?" the assistant questioned her.
"No."
"Okay, any other concerns I should mention to the doctor?" Lizbeth asked, probing further.
Lois paused, trying to figure out why she felt hesitant to talk to this woman. Lizbeth said she was just updating the chart, but something made Lois uncomfortable about all the detailed questions she was asking. Wasn’t this the doctor’s job? Lois shook off the feeling. She was being silly.
"Yes, actually, I found a small lump in my left breast that I wanted the doctor to look at."
"Oh, I see. I'll make a note for her about that. Okay, please undress completely and put the gown on. There is also a sheet on the examination bed that you can lay across your lap. The doctor will be in shortly."
Lois waited until Lizbeth had left the room, and then she got undressed. She donned the unattractive, drafty gown, wishing that she had made one more trip to the restroom. Oh well, it could wait. She climbed up on the examination bed and waited. She didn't have to wait more than a few minutes. There was a soft knock at the door.
"Are we all ready in there?"
"Ready, Dr. McGrath," Lois confirmed.
"Hi, Lois," Dr. McGrath said as she walked in the room, looking at Lois’ chart. She frowned slightly. "Your chart says you found a lump?"
"Yes, actually Clark found it. I had been having some pains in my left breast and, when we examined it, we found a lump. It's probably nothing, but Clark felt I should have it checked out. I had already made an appointment with you because, well, we are thinking about having another baby, and I just felt it would be good to have a check-up first."
"Yes, that's a good idea, and Clark is right, anytime you find a lump like that you need to get it checked out. They usually turn out to be nothing, but better safe than sorry. Why don't you lie back on the bed for me, and I'll start by examining the lump you found." Lois lay back as instructed and Dr. McGrath began to examine her.
"So, you're thinking about having another baby? How old is Laura now, fourteen months?"
"Yes. Almost fifteen months. We were just thinking that we'd like Laura to have a sibling close to her age."
"Well, I'll take a look at you and make sure everything is a go for pregnancy. But, first, I need to talk to you about this lump," the doctor said, pulling Lois’ robe closed and making some notes on her chart.
"It's okay, isn't it? Nothing to worry about?" Lois asked, hopeful.
"That would be my preliminary reaction, yes. But because of your age, and because you're thinking about having another child soon, I think it would be best if we have a biopsy done on this lump just to be sure."
"Don’t worry," the doctor continued, off of Lois’ concerned look. "The biopsy won’t be too terribly invasive, no cutting. The area will be numbed first and then some fluid will be extracted through a syringe.
"Oh, okay," Lois said, a little uneasy. "If something comes back *unusual*, how would this effect us having another baby?" she continued.
The doctor paused slightly, a concerned look in her eyes. "Lois, I know you like me to be straight with you. So that's what I'm going to do. If you have been trying to get pregnant, I think you should hold off for right now. I really don't think this will turn out to be anything, but we'll do a biopsy and send the test to the lab. Normally, it takes about three or four days to get a call with the results, but, if they aren’t backed up right now, we could get the results back in as little as twenty-four hours. No promises, but I’ll see what I can do. I'm going to be out of town tomorrow, but I can have our office assistant, Lizbeth, check with the lab tomorrow and call you with the results if they’re ready. I normally don't do this, but I can see how anxious you are about planning another baby. Please, use protection for now until we find out the results for sure."
"I will, Dr. McGrath," Lois promised.
She could tell her doctor had more she wanted to say but seemed hesitant. "If there's more, I might as well hear it."
"Again, I'm merely telling you this as a precaution. But you understand that *if* the tests come back positive for cancer," the doctor paused briefly, "there is a possibility that we may have to do radiation, chemotherapy, or even surgery. If we do any of those, it will be a while before you can try to get pregnant. That's why it's so important that you use protection for now. If you were to get pregnant, we would have to suspend treatment so as not to harm the baby. There are other treatment options available, but pregnancy would severely limit your options."
"I understand, and we'll be careful," she assured the doctor. But she didn't feel the strength she heard in her voice. She wanted Clark. She almost wished she'd told him to come when he'd offered earlier.
Lois, you're over-reacting, she told herself. It would have only panicked Clark more if he had been here, and he didn't need that right now. She would find a way to talk to him about it later tonight.
"Okay, let's proceed with the rest of the examination, and then we'll send you down to the lab for the biopsy," the doctor told her, adjusting the sheet on Lois’ lap.
Lois lay back on the bed again. Everything will be fine, she told herself, willing it to be true.
**********
Aaron had a few hours to kill before his next assignment and had decided to embark on that little errand he'd wanted to do since yesterday. He felt certain that Lex either had Kryptonite in his possession before he died or had information on how to obtain some.
He boarded the private elevator and looked at the buttons for the only other two floors the elevator could reach; a button marked penthouse, and a button marked laboratory.
Lex had been very insistent that Aaron, or any other member of the group, was never to stop at the laboratory for any reason. He had his own surveillance on the bunker and elevator, and if they had ever breached the agreement, he would have banned them from ever setting foot inside the bunker again. They had honored that agreement, never invading his private space. In fact, it had been a rare occasion that they had even made use of the elevator to visit the penthouse. Usually, they only did that if Lex called them and asked them to meet with him.
But things were different now. Lex was dead. No one knew they were down here, and he was betting no one knew about the laboratory either. He had decided that he wanted to take a look around.
Aaron pressed the button labeled 'laboratory' and waited the long ride it took to get from the bunker to the near top of the LexCorp building. The elevator was fast, but it had a long way to travel.
The elevator slowed to a stop, and the door opened. Aaron peered out cautiously at the room in front of him. It wasn't a large room, but they had made use of every inch available.
There were tables that held items ranging from microscopes and beakers to knives, dissection tools, and a lot of equipment that Aaron didn't even recognize. There was a computer and monitor on a table in the center of the room. Aaron was willing to bet that it was a stand-alone and not networked to the LexCorp system. There were several wires going out of it to other machinery and monitoring equipment in the room, but he didn’t see any network cables running to it. That might come in handy. If it wasn't connected to a network, no one would know if he turned it on and took a peek.
There were no windows in this room. However, Aaron noticed that where the windows could have been were two wall-high pieces of metal instead. They came together to form a seam.
He walked up to the metal and examined it more closely. He couldn't be sure without a way to test it, but it appeared that they were doors. They looked like they should be able to slide apart. But to what? A fifteen-hundred-foot fall? Aaron pondered that thought. There must be something on the other side of this wall. He needed to find a way to open these doors, but first he continued with his exploration of the room.
On one wall there was a small door at eye level with a knob in the middle of it. He looked more closely. It was some kind of wall safe. Hmm, he was going to need to find a way into that safe as well.
A reflection of light in the corner of the room caught his eye. It appeared to be a glass cage. Upon closer inspection he realized it was not glass. Of course it wasn't. If this really was a cage, glass would be far too easy to break out of. The walls were, instead, made out of amazingly clear, incredibly thick, plastic. He figured that the thickness had something to do with wanting to keep the room soundproof.
Peering into the room, he could see it had its own ventilation system. There was a bed, toilet, and a shower. What could this have possibly been used for, he wondered? A prison? But for whom?
Well, first things first. Aaron was willing to bet that, before he could figure anything else out, he was going to need access to the information on that computer.
He proceeded back to the middle of the room where the computer was set up and sat down at the station, booting it up. The computer hummed to life as well as the large monitor in front of him.
Aaron had to admit that he was slightly surprised that the computer hadn't asked for a login or password. But, then again, this was supposed to be a secret room that no one knew about.
Once the computer finished booting up, he looked around at some of the icons on the screen. There was a file folder labeled 'personal projects' that he thought might be promising. He clicked on it. Ah, herein lay the security measures. The *folder* was password protected. So, Lex had allowed general access to the computer, maybe for keeping logs on whatever experiments they were doing, but he had password protected this particular file. Yes, definitely promising. Now, how was he going to figure this out?
He knew a few contacts that could probably break into any file or system he wanted them to, but, at this point, he really hated to let anyone else in on the existence of this room. He hadn't even told the Leader about it, yet. Since the Leader had only recently been paroled and had been spending all his time with his *subjects*, he hadn't even seen the elevator yet, no less had a chance to wonder what the laboratory was.
No, best to try and figure this one out himself. For the next ten or fifteen minutes he sat thinking and trying some of the password combinations he came up with. None of them worked. At least the file didn't have a lock-out on it; he could keep trying passwords until he figured it out.
"Okay, Lex," he said out loud to himself. "What password would I have used if I were you?"
He sat there thinking a little longer and suddenly a smile spread across his face. What was probably the most precious thing Lex could have owned? Lois Lane? Aaron sneered at the thought. Maybe, but he was betting on something else. He put his hands back on the keyboard and began typing: K-R-Y-P-T-O-N-I-T-E. He hit enter and to his relief, and excitement, the file opened. He'd done it!
He spent the next half-an-hour pouring over some of the more interesting documents and notes that he found in both the 'personal projects' file and the computer's database before looking down at his watch. He grimaced. He didn't have any more time. The Leader would be looking for him any minute now to proceed on with the delivery of Lydia.
He reluctantly shut the computer system down and glanced around the room again. I'll be back soon to examine you more thoroughly, he thought. He found himself excited, bordering on ecstatic, at what he had found here today.
Aaron was on his way back to the private elevator when his cell phone began ringing. Who could that be? Perhaps the Leader looking for him? He looked at the caller ID and recognized the number. It was the women's clinic. Lizbeth?
"Hello?" he answered the phone.
"Hello, Aaron, this is Lizbeth. I have some news that I think you and the Leader will find very interesting."
**********
Jimmy checked his desk one last time before turning his lamp off. He had about a half-an-hour left before Mazik’s jewelry store would be closing up for the night. They had called him earlier in the day to let him know that Penny’s ring was done. He still hadn’t come up with a plan of exactly when to give it to her, so he didn’t actually need to pick it up yet. He was ready to see it, though, and he was too excited to wait until tomorrow.
He was on his way up the ramp to the elevator when his phone rang. Aw, man, he thought, not now. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t. He ran back down to his desk and grabbed the phone.
"Daily Planet. This is Jimmy," he said.
"Jimmy? Jimmy Olsen? It's Inspector Henderson, down at the precinct."
"Oh, hi. Do you have some information on the kidnappings that Lois and CK have been working on?"
"Yes. A break-through, actually. Is one of them there?"
"Uh, no, I'm sorry. Lois had an appointment this afternoon, and CK had an interview. Lois came back briefly to get their daughter, but they've both gone home to work on the case. You could try calling them there."
"No, that's okay. I don't want to bother them at home. Can you take a message for me, Jimmy?"
"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Jimmy asked, glancing at his watch again.
"We've compared the fingerprints found on the kidnapper's notes from both the Harrell and the Scott home, and we've made an interesting discovery. All sets of fingerprints have been accounted for. Several of the sets matched up to the parents. But, get this, on each note a set of fingerprints matched up with the kids."
"The kids? As in the kids who were kidnapped? Why would their prints be on the note?"
"I don't know. Lydia's prints were on file from a safety seminar at the Metropolis mall last year where Mrs. Harrell had her fingerprints taken. We didn't have Matthew's prints on file, but we were able to lift several sets of prints from various items that belonged to him and match them to the note. So, all prints were accounted for. No kidnapper's prints. Would you let Lane and Kent know that for me? Oh, and I wasn't able to get a hold of Jeffrey's mother, either."
"Jeffrey's mother?" Jimmy asked.
"Yeah, she's the mother from the little car incident today. They wanted me to warn her. They think Jeffrey might be the next child to be kidnapped. Unfortunately, she only gave the daycare center her work phone number and work address, and she's not listed in the phone book. Who knows if she even has a home phone? She's a single mother, so there's no one else we can contact. I just wanted them to know I tried."
"Got it," Jimmy told him. "Anything else?"
"Nope, but I'll keep in touch."
"Thanks, Inspector." Jimmy hung up the phone and stuffed the message in his pocket. Should he bother Lois and Clark at home with this? Or wait until the morning? It didn't seem like anything vital. After all, if Henderson couldn't locate the mother, they wouldn't be able to either. Jimmy glanced down at his watch. Yikes, he had to get going. This could at least wait until after he'd been to Mazik's.
**********
Aaron squatted down into his hiding place, adjusting the settings on the submliminator. Lydia should now be back at her parents’ house, safe and sound. Lydia had been given her instructions. She had known she would be dropped at the corner of her street. She had been told to go straight to her apartment building and knock on the door. When her parents asked where she had been, she would reply that she couldn't remember and didn't know.
It would be like she had awakened from a dream. The details would be sketchy to her. There would be no unpleasant memories. All that remained behind would be a healthy fear and hatred for Superman.
He was sure the parents would contact the police right away to alert them of their daughter's safe return. But it would be late enough that the parents wouldn't contact the media, and even if they did, the story wouldn't make it on the news until the next morning. That would give him time to rest and get set up outside their apartment building to watch for Superman the next day.
Aaron was now waiting outside Melinda and Jeffrey's apartment. She was a very concerned mother, even going as far as to sleep with Jeffrey tonight. He was going to have to wait for the mother to fall asleep before he made his move. But how long to wait? That was the question. Finally, after waiting for almost an hour and not really wanting to wait much longer, an idea came to him.
"Jeffrey Nelson. Wake up but don't move. I want you to lie still in bed until you are sure your mother is asleep. Once you're sure that your mother is asleep, I want you to come to the front door of your apartment. I'll meet you there to give you something," Aaron instructed the boy.
This apartment building did not have a locked front entrance, which made it possible for him to meet the boy at his door instead of the boy having to come all the way outside the building to Aaron. Aaron crept quietly up the stairs of the apartment building and to the door of their apartment. Within a few minutes, he was rewarded by the door opening. Jeffrey stood there in front of him, a blank waiting expression on his face.
"Good boy, Jeffrey. Here. I want you to take this note in to your bedroom and leave it next to your mommy on the bed. Be careful not to wake her up," Aaron said, handing the note to him. "Then, I want you to come back here to the front door. We're going to go for a ride." Aaron watched and waited as Jeffrey left the room and returned just moments later.
"Okay, Jeffrey, turn the lock on the door and shut the door behind you." He did what he was told, and then Aaron grabbed him by the hand and led him downstairs and out to his car.
This method of kidnapping was so much easier and less traumatic than he imagined a regular kidnapping to be. The children wouldn't even really remember what happened. It would just seem like a bad dream, except for their unexplained fear of Superman.
Aaron whistled lightly to himself as he put Jeffrey in the car, fastening his seatbelt. Tonight was going to be a good night. One more quick errand at the Kent home, and then he could get back to the laboratory. His thoughts had been on it all evening. He couldn't wait to get back. Sleep was beckoning to him, but he was sure he could spare at least an hour or two.
**********
"Clark, relax. There's nothing more you can do tonight," Lois said soothingly. She hated to see him like this.
Jimmy had called them to let them know Henderson couldn't get a hold of Jeffrey's mother. They had no way to get in touch with her to warn her, and they didn't know where she lived.
"I have to do something? Don't I? You know as well as I do that her child will end up being kidnapped tonight. I would bet my super powers on it," Clark said, pacing back and forth in their bedroom. "There's something wrong with the kids’ fingerprints being on those notes. They wouldn't be on them unless the kids had touched them. Why would they have touched them? Why don't the parents hear the intruder? Why doesn't the child make any noise? We're missing a piece of the puzzle," he said, sounding frustrated.
He stopped pacing and turned to look at her. "I'm going to go out and patrol the city for awhile. Maybe I’ll see something."
"Clark," Lois tried again, "it's not going to do you any good to fly around for hours looking for a needle in a haystack."
"I *have* to," Clark replied, his voice laced with tension.
Lois understood, but *she* needed him, too. She hadn't found her voice yet to tell him about the doctor appointment, and he hadn't asked about it because he'd been too preoccupied with the kidnappings. She felt guilty because she knew if she told him now that he would decide to stay home with her, but he needed to know.
"Okay, but, before you go, I need to talk to you about my doctor appointment."
That stopped Clark dead in his tracks. He looked at her and blinked as if coming out of a trance.
"I'm sorry, honey. I completely forgot after everything that's happened today. How did it go?" he asked her.
Okay, thought Lois, how do I say this?
"Well, the examination went well. I'll get the results from my pap in a couple of weeks..." she paused, trying to find the right words. Clark picked up on her hesitation.
"What...? It's not good, is it?" he asked her. "Tell me," he said gently, coming back over to the bed and sitting down beside her. He stroked her shoulders lightly with one hand and then began rubbing her back. He placed his other hand on top of hers and waited for her to go on.
Lois looked up into his dark concerned eyes, his handsome loving face, and lost the wall she had tried to build in her heart.
"My doctor is concerned about the lump. I had to have a biopsy done on my breast. She said we need to be sure it is benign before we try to have another baby. If the lab results come back...," Lois broke off. She felt like all the breath had left her lungs.
Clark put his arms around her, holding her tightly. She felt a few tears trickle down her cheeks. This was ridiculous. Hadn't the doctor told her she didn't expect any problems? Her brain tried to make her heart understand that, but, for some reason, sitting there in Clark's loving arms, she just needed to cry.
She sat there for a few minutes with her face pressed against his shoulder, letting the emotion ebb out of her. Okay, Lois, let's try this again, she thought, trying to pull herself together. She pulled away from Clark, wiping her eyes.
"If the results come back positive for cancer, there are several different treatment options to consider, but not if I'm pregnant. They wouldn't be able to do chemo or radiation therapy, or even surgery if I was pregnant. And, if I have to have either one of those therapies done it will be a while before I can try to get pregnant," Lois said, then continued on before Clark could say anything. "But I hadn't told you yet because I didn't want you to worry. The doctor said she didn't expect any problems; she was just doing the biopsy as a precaution. I'm sorry, I don't know why I broke down like that."
"It couldn't be because of all of the stress we've been under the last few days," he said, smiling gently at her. "Honey, you should have told me sooner. Please don't ever feel like you need to shelter me by keeping something from me. I love you, and I want to know everything that's happening to you. That's more important to me than anything else we might have going on in our lives."
Lois felt tears trying to well up again and simply nodded at him. Clark pulled her towards him and kissed her, passionately, deeply. She felt a yearning deep inside her. She needed him. They needed each other tonight. She kissed him back, pushing him back on the bed. She began unbuttoning his shirt but stopped when she felt his body tense and saw the look of fear in his eyes.
"What is it?" she asked, concerned.
"Jeffrey. He's just been kidnapped. I can hear his mother screaming his name. I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, go, maybe you can catch them in the act."
She watched him wistfully as he spun into his suit and opened the window, taking to flight. "I love you. Be careful," she whispered after him.
**********
To be continued...
