All my stories are Au based on LC & TASS, so there are some small differences from the og episode and it's a bit more angsty.
Cold metal dug into Lois’ spine. She tried to move but chains fastened her down. They were green and had the acidic stench of kryptonite. She craned her neck, inwardly recoiling when she saw Clark suspended in a glass chamber. His dead eyes stared at her through the green liquid entombing him.
“Clark!” She sobbed.
A sharp pain pricked her stomach. Her cries morphed into screams as blood was drawn out of her womb. “No, please don’t take my baby!” she weakly tried to hug herself but her arms wouldn’t budge. She was powerless to do anything but watch as a scientist plunged a syringe into her.
The harsh, sterile light above her blinded her. It was all she could focus on to blot out the pain. The pain of losing him. Time and time again. The pain of losing their child.
“Subject 11 is stable. Prepare for extraction,” the scientist said, sounding eerily like Lex Luthor. A surgical mask hid the lower half of his face, but there was no mistaking that calculating gaze. “You should be honored,” his oily gloved hand massaged her swollen stomach. “The alien hybrid you carry is humans’ salvation. Your sacrifice will be remembered.”
Lois’ breath hitched as white-hot pain consumed her.
Lois woke with a splitting headache, her mouth tasting like blood. She brushed a hand over her smooth belly, her racing heart gradually slowing. It was just a nightmare. She had been having lots of those lately. She groggily sat upright and wished she hadn’t. The nightmare was bleeding into reality. She stood on a platform a little bigger than a twin bed. That wasn’t what worried her. She was on display in an underground museum.
A sleek black car –she hadn’t seen in years–was parked in the center of the room. It was the original Batmobile. For a brief moment, she hoped the Caped Crusader was here. But the batmobile was just one item in a room full of oddities. To her left was a shelf, with various knickknacks and jars.
The jar closest to her housed a red-violet organism –it would have resembled a poinsettia if it weren’t for the tentacles springing from the center with odd suction cups. She spotted a crown that looked suspiciously like Princess Diana’s diadem. Inside a glass case was ancient, gold goblet. Three batarangs hung on the wall proudly next to a disturbing Van Gogh painting that showed the Gotham skyline from the 1800s.
Her gaze drifted back to the batmobile and she wandered if it were low tech enough for her to hot wire the car. An eclectic shock shoved her back.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tim Lake glided out of the shadows, his blonde trophy wife dangling on his arm. “Sustained contact for longer than three seconds will detonate the 200 pounds of TNT directly beneath your feet.”
“Good,” Lois stalked as close to the edge of the platform as she dared. She looked each of the lovebirds in the eye. “I can take you with me when I go,” she glared at Amber, showing her she meant business. “Talk about an explosive romance,” she smiled icily. “Your love life is about to go up in smoke.”
Tim Lake leisurely sauntered to the edge of the platform and met her glare with a calm smile. “No,” he sighed. “Let’s not pretend you’re willing to take it that far, love,” he combed a finger through his mustache. “You’re reckless, not suicidal.”
She ripped Superman’s heart out and crushed it. Clark couldn’t be near Lois without that self-loathing expression darkening his features. He thought she hated him because of what Darkseid made him do. The rest of the world might hate Kal-El, but Lois Lane never could. The lies she let him swallow were kinder than the truth.
She slammed her hand against the invisible barrier. Searing electricity sizzled up her arm. Still she remained firm, even after flesh burned off her palm. If she died it would allow Clark to move on –settle down with a being like him, who could carry on the legacy of Krypton. He could be the father he was always meant to be. Without her.
Amber Lake rushed to the edge of the platform. “Get back!” she screamed. Lois met Golilocks anger with a challenging smile.
“Mrs. Lane, Step away from the barrier,” Tim Lake said, still eerily composed and calm.
“Or Superman dies,” husband and wife said together, sharing conspicuous smiles.
That lone phrase tore through the haze of pain and choked her. Lois drew her burnt hand back. She didn’t need to see the kryptonite to know it was there. Her hunch had been right. The Lakes were the board members who stole kryptonite from S.T.A.R. Labs. It was somewhere here in the building.
“Why are you doing this?” Lois struggled to hide the fear in her voice. She hated sounding weak.
Amber smiled as if she had won the lottery. “We’re collectors.”
Lois did a quick once over of the room. Besides the strangely shaped flower, she was the only live specimen in the museum. “I’m not worth collecting.”
“No argument there,” Tim Lake said. “We have no need for humans.”
A sinking dread plunged into her stomach. “You’re the honey, honey,” Amanda smirked. “Superman is the bee.”
“You’ve made a mistake,” Lois willed her voice to stay strong. “Superman doesn’t care about me–I’m just a reporter to him.”
Amanda laughed as if Lois were a comedian. “I know true love when I see it,” she smiled adoringly at her husband. “And you two have it in spades.”
“You’re wrong. He won’t come for me.”
“I saw the way he kissed you before Nightfall,” Amber said. “You can’t fake love like that.”
Tim checked his watch. “Wouldn’t be long now, before loverboy puts the pieces together.”
It was then Lois noticed the empty platform across from her. “No,” she shook her head fervently. Clark was claustrophobic, being in such close quarters wouldn’t be healthy.
“Yes,” Amber beamed. “Such a fine specimen – the last of its kind.”
“He’s a human being,” Lois argued. “You can’t keep him locked up like some animal in a zoo!”
“That’s exactly what he is,” Tim said. “An alien specimen that belongs in a museum,” he waved his arm at their impressive collection. “And shall he refuse cooperate we have a plan B,” his gaze rested on the strange flower near Lois.
Lois studied the flower in the glass jar. She tried to remember any time Clark might have mentioned an alien flower. There was Starro and then the black mercy. “It can’t be.”
“Was quite difficult to come by,” Tim tilted his head regarding her. “But Mongul was quite happy to be rid of it.”
“But that will kill Superman!” Lois protested. The black mercy fed on its host’s body. “Your prize would be worthless if he’s dead.”
“Fear not, love,” Tim said. “It shouldn’t come to that.”
“He will make the right choice,” Amber said, closing the door behind her.
Lois wasn’t going to let Superman end like this. She had ten minutes to form an escape plan. Maybe less. She paced the platform, making lists in her head. The Lakes were kind enough to provide her with a meager cot, but she did her best thinking while walking. There were plenty of weapons to use against the Lakes, but no way to get to them. If she had Batman’s remote she could have turned the Batmobile on. Oh. What’s the point? All of Batman’s toys were voice activated –or so Clark says. Unleashing the black mercy on Amber Lake would be sweet justice indeed.
But still no way to get out of this cage.
The door slid open, a patch of sunlight leaking through. She heard Clark’s muffled voice on the other side of the wall. No. The idiot. “But are you in the mood for this?” Amber glided into the room. She waved at Lois. Superman shoved Tim into the room and released him when his eyes landed on Lois. The gut wrenching-kicked puppy look on his face undid Lois. The tears she had held at bay for months poured out at full force. “Smallville,” she whispered.
“Lois!” Clark sped to the platform, desperation etched in each crevice. He tried to reach for her and pushed back with a jolt of electricity.
“So near, and yet so far,” Tim taunted.
“It’s trap!” Lois shrieked. “They have kryptonite,” and so much more. She glanced sidelong at the black mercy. She racked her brain trying to remember the kryptonese word for flower. “Bahshki!”
“I don’t care,” Clark hovered over the floor. His eyes bore into her and she forgot their situation for a second.
A beep interrupted her thoughts. “You have thirty seconds,” Tim said. “You mess with the timer she dies. You break the light field she dies,” he explained. “You try to disarm the bomb and clean our clocks, she also dies,” he said. “The only way to save her is to become part of our collection,” Time smiled as if he knew he had already won. The color drained from Clark’s face as he saw the small platform.
“Don’t do it!” Lois sobbed. “You can’t live like this!”
“A life without Lois Lane is not worth living,” Clark said.
“Damn you, Kal,” Lois bit on her lower lip. “The world needs Superman!”
“And I need you.”
No he didn’t! The idiot. He was thriving before he met her. He still had friends, counting on him . . . Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash. They all needed him to be strong and make the ultimate sacrifice so the world could be safe.
“Ten seconds and counting,” Tim said.
“You’ll be trapped . . . caged unable to move or breathe, the bars sealing you in a coffin with no air,” she painted an ugly picture for Clark hoping his claustrophobia was stronger than his love for her.
“At least we’ll be together,” Clark said.
“Two seconds,” Amber smirked.
“This isn’t . . .” Her argument died on her lips as she watched Superman dutifully fly into the cage. “You idiot!” Lois cried. At the same time Amber turned on the light barrier on his cell.
“Lift off,” Tim clapped a hand on his knee.
“We did it!” Amber embraced her husband gleefully. “The Kryptonian is ours!”
Superman had belonged to Lois Lane once. It killed her to be so close and unable to touch him. Amber and Tim’s embrace turned into a passionate kiss– not unlike the way Clark once kissed her on the roof of the Daily Planet. Her knees gave out and she collapsed onto the cot. Her lips were cold and chapped. She didn’t want to go on living.
Tim’s next words barely registered. “Now, the floor is a minefield anyone tries to rescue–well, you get the idea.” Tim said something about a feeding schedule, but she couldn’t possibly hold any food down. She couldn’t see Clark through the haze of tears. “Oh, and one last thing,” Tim paused at the exit. He ripped Superman’s calf in half, and Lois covered her mouth to stifle the scream.
“With the two of you dead, no one will come looking for you,” Amber jeered.
“And since Bad Brain Johnson did it, nobody will be looking for us,” her husband added.
“Oh, isn’t he fantastic,” Amber purred. “Welcome to Forever,” she blew a kiss to Clark as they left, leaving Lois alone with her nightmare.
Lois hadn’t been truly alone with Clark since he proposed. And she ripped his heart out. Clark gave up everything in his life, friends, family . . . the world. And for what? An earth woman who was a failure in every sense of the word. She avoided meeting his eyes.
“You’re hurt,” Clark said. She had completely forgot about her burned hand.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
The burn is nothing compared to the pain of losing their child. Lois dug her hand in her pocket, hiding the rash. She curled on the cot and tried not to think about the baby. Even before the Lakes there had been a wall separating them. A wall she put there to protect Clark. She was damaged, an embarrassment to the Lane name. A failure of the human race –not worth Kal-El’s time.
“You should have left when you had the chance,” Lois bit out.
“Without you, it wouldn’t have been a life worth living.”
“That’s not true,” Lois hugged her knees. “You have friends . . . family who cares about you. Teammates who depend on you,” Lois looked meaningfully at the batmobile.
“You’re my family,” Clark said predictably.
“No, I’m not,” Lois said, fighting to keep her voice steady. “You deserve so much more than me.”
“Is that what all this is about?” he gestured between the two of them–in a sweeping gesture summarizing their broken relationship. “You don’t think Lois Lane is worthy of my love.”
“Yes!” Finally the lunkhead was understanding her. “You belong with Wonder Woman.”
“You keep saying that, but I don’t love her,” Clark’s jaw worked in frustration. “I love you.”
“And a lot of good that did you!” Lois snapped. “You’re trapped because of me!” If she had stayed in Smallville like Superman told her to, none of this would have happened. She was the bait and she fell right into the Lakes trap. “Wonder Woman would have never let herself get captured!”
Clark’s cheeks colored with frustration. He tried to hide it, but she knew he agreed with her. “Nobody puts baby in a corner,” Clark said, shifting his voice so he sounded like Patrick Swayze. “Or Lois Lane.”
“Seriously, Smallville!” Lois would smack him if she could. “That’s not funny.”
“Made you smile,” Clark arched an eyebrow at her. She hadn’t even realized what she was doing. She dropped her smile. “I missed that,” Clark said seriously. “I haven’t seen you smile in a while.”
There was not much to smile about. If she weren’t human . . . there could be a needy three month old at home. Clark would’ve bought a house and painted a nursery. Mama K. would have sewn a Superman onesie for her grandson. She turned her back on him so he wouldn’t see her cry. What was wrong with her? She never wanted children before. She was happy to be childless before Clark.
“Talk to me, Lois,” Clark implored. “We’re going to be here for a long time. You might as well tell me what I did wrong.”
Lois sighed heavily. “You’ve done nothing wrong. You’re perfect,” Lois said. “It’s not you . . .”
“It’s me,” Clark finished, having heard this countless times. “I can help . . .”
“You can’t fix us, Clark,” Lois rolled over on the cot to face him. Clark curled in the corner, face white as a sheet. “Smallville?”
Lois jumped off the cot and ran to the edge of the platform. Clark sat with his legs pulled to his chest, hugging his knees.His breathing was labored, eyes glued on her face. There was no kryptonite, but he was sweating buckets. “It’s okay, honey,” Lois soothed. “There’s no kryptonite,” Lois’voice hitched at the end, as she recalled the kryptonite cage Superman was sealed in all those years back. He was no doubt reliving the last time he was caged. “I wish I could touch you,” Lois lamented. Even for just a second.
“You can touch me with your words,” Clark said tightly.
Her heart ached for him, leaving her in physical pain. Without thinking her hand rested on her belly, to remind herself why pulling Clark into her lap was a bad idea. As much as she wanted to embrace him she couldn’t. But it was killing her seeing him so uncomfortable. All she could do was wrap him in a blanket weaved with empty words. But it was better than leaving him to suffer in silence.
“Ever since I met you,” Lois started tentatively. “No, ever since I took time to listen –really see you,” Lois wiped at her damp eyes. “Something about you always made sense to me,” she said. “Even when a huge part of you didn’t make sense,” Lois smiled wistfully, recalling the time she jumped into Niagra Falls to prove Clark was Superman. “There was a part deep down that made sense,” Lois croaked. “That’s the part I’d always hold onto.”
She didn’t know it then, but she loved Clark Kent from the moment he spilled champagne on his baggy suit. Possibly even longer. She was too scared to admit her feelings then. Not much had changed and everything had. She was scared still, but it was a different kind of fear, afraid of disappointing Clark – afraid of coming face to face with the agony she saw in Superman after his battle with the Black Mercy. Only this time it was so much worse. Van had been as real as her love for him. He was buried alongside her mother.
Hadn’t she already hurt Clark enough?
“Lois,” Clark breathed barely over a whisper. She saw the war raging within him. He longed to question her, ridicule her for her decision to break up the hottest reporting team in town. She didn’t have the strength to argue anymore.
“You gave me a reason to keep on living after Nightfall,” Clark said. Lois winced, that word sending shards of ice down her spine. She had come so close to losing him. Still could. The kryptonite was likely in the next room.
“You believed in me even when I stopped believing in myself,” Clark said. “I still believe in us. We’re stronger together,” he said. “I’m here for you.”
When you’re ready to talk, I’m here for you . . . was left unspoken between them. She would never be ready to face that music. Lois pretended to sleep, and ignored Clark.
TBC
Last edited by CalliopeWayne; 01/11/25 11:00 PM.
