I'm back. Hope you enjoyed part 5. Here's part 6:
I saw someone else do this and thought it was a good idea - here's the table of contents for this story in case you missed a part or want to make a comment. Thanks!
Table of Contents From Part 5: "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.
**********
Part 6: **********
Aaron had taken Jeffrey back to the bunker as quickly as he could. He wanted to get to the Kent home as soon after the kidnapping as possible. Melinda was sure to wake up any time now, realize Jeffrey was missing, and no doubt begin her hysterics.
At least, he hoped so. That would help to ensure that Superman wasn't hanging around the Kent home when Aaron came calling. Aaron wasn't sure just how close Superman and the Kent’s were, but he didn't want to take any chances that he might be in the neighborhood.
As if in answer to his question, he saw a red and blue object streaking by in the moonlit sky. Superman. He'd bet money the alien was on his way to Melinda's house. Aaron smiled to himself and continued on down the street to the Kent home.
Once at their house, he found a good hiding spot and settled in to talk to Laura. He had come by the house several times in the past couple of days observing and taking note of whose room was where. He was prepared for this; he had to be. It was going to get tricky.
"Laura Kent. Can you hear me? I’m your friend Laura. I won’t hurt you. Laura, I want you to stay in your crib and close your eyes. Keep your eyes closed. I’m going to come to your room. Don’t be scared. It’s okay. Be quiet," Aaron said to her, trying to use words that she would understand.
The SHARP group had met together the previous evening and had discussed the plans for tonight. He’d been given several suggestions on what to say and how to say it. No one had agreed for sure that this was going to work, but everyone had agreed that it should be done.
Aaron reached into his pocket putting on his rubber gloves. He walked cautiously up to the front door, pulling out his lock pick. After a few precious seconds, he had the door open. He walked inside stopping to listen for any signs that he had been heard. Nothing. He was met with silence. He shut the door behind him, relocking it.
He made his way quietly upstairs into to the hallway between the Kent’s bedroom and Laura’s room. He wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans. None of the other children had been this difficult. He hadn’t even had to go inside the house, but with the other children his goal had been to kidnap them, with Laura it was not. They didn’t have the means or desire to take care of an infant back at the bunker.
It hadn’t even really been necessary to kidnap the other children to program them. Oh with Lydia it had been because they had needed her to be the guinea pig, to see what had worked and what hadn’t. But once they’d had those answers, they could have programmed the other kids in their homes.
The kidnappings, though, provided the incentive needed for people to fear Superman’s assistance. Lois Lane and Clark Kent would not be so easy to manipulate. But the leader had mainly wanted to program Laura out of revenge for what those reporters had done to him and the organization.
Aaron looked down at the object in his hand. The subliminator was designed primarily to work on one person at a time. However, if the subjects were in close proximity to one another and were being given the same instructions, it was possible to program two people at once.
He stopped several feet back from the Kent’s bedroom door and began calibrating the machine. He didn’t want to risk getting any closer to their bedroom, no sense taking any chances of being caught if they were awake. Besides, he was within the fifty-foot range of the machine.
"Clark Kent. Lois Lane. If you are not in bed, I want you to lie down in your bed and fall asleep. You will stay asleep until you are told to wake up. If you hear any noises, you will disregard them. Stay in your bed and stay asleep," he told his unseen subjects.
Aaron turned around and walked inside Laura’s room closing the door. The Kent’s should be sleeping peacefully now, but he didn’t want to push his luck. He turned on the light and walked to Laura’s crib.
"Laura, it’s okay, open your eyes now. I’m here to help you."
**********
Clark had been in the middle of canvassing the area for Jeffrey, or his kidnapper, when he heard it.
"Clark!" A scream shot through the night sky reaching his ears. It was Lois.
All ideas of trying to find Jeffrey left his mind as he raced back home, as fast as he could fly. He flew in their open bedroom window and not seeing Lois, continued on to Laura’s room.
Lois was standing there cradling their child, kissing her face and whispering to her.
"What is it? What’s wrong?"
"I don’t know. It was so weird. I didn’t even realize I had gone to sleep, but I woke up suddenly and heard Laura crying. Clark it was awful. I’ve never heard her cry like that. It was pitiful and panicky sounding. I was afraid that..." she broke off.
"You were afraid that someone was trying to take her, so you screamed for me," he finished for her. She nodded her head at him. "Did you see anyone?" he asked her.
"No. I didn’t see or hear anyone and she seems to be fine now. I think maybe I over-reacted a little. She probably just had a bad dream, that's all."
Clark relaxed when she told him that. He reached out to stroke his little girl’s cheek, and, at that moment, she turned her face to look up at him. To his surprise, she promptly began crying. Clark reached out to her to take her from Lois but this only caused her to cry even louder, pushing against him and kicking her little legs.
"Why don’t you go *change*," Lois said, pointing at his apparel. "She probably had a bad dream and *Superman* doesn't seem to be helping."
Clark left the room and spun into his pajama pants. He re-entered the room and walked up to his two girls. Laura looked up at her daddy and began to stop crying. After a few more sniffles, she reached out for him.
"Da," she said in a shaky little voice.
Clark scooped her up and hugged her to him tightly. She seemed to be okay now, but he just couldn't seem to shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. Why had she reacted that way? She'd seen Superman lots of times and hadn't ever reacted like that. Maybe Lois was right; maybe it had just been a bad dream.
"You didn't find Jeffrey did you," Lois said. It wasn't a question.
"No, there's no way of telling how long ago he was even taken. It was scary. His mom had slept with him in his room. She had been so shaken up by what had happened earlier today and the kidnappings that she hadn't wanted to leave him alone. And yet, she had woken up to find him gone. No sign of a break in, nothing disturbed. He was just gone," Clark said, frustrated. "It was awful. She started yelling at me when I got there, telling me what had happened. Then, she pushed the kidnapper's note in my hand and ordered me to leave and not come back. I flew around trying to locate Jeffrey and looking for anything that might be a clue. Then, I heard you scream. I raced straight home, afraid I was too late, that someone had taken Laura, too."
"I know. I've been so afraid that someone might try something while Superman was out making rescues and I was here alone. My heart was in my throat when I heard her crying."
"That isn’t going to happen because Superman is going to be grounded for awhile, at least during the night. I couldn’t live with myself if Laura was taken while I was out."
They both stood there quietly for a few minutes, just watching Laura. Lois finally broke the silence.
"So Jeffrey's mother just woke up, and he was gone? She didn't hear or see anything?"
"No, nothing. All she saw was this note," he said, pulling it out and handing it to her. "It was lying next to her on the bed." Lois took the note from him, and, after a moment’s hesitation, she began reading it out loud.
"You were warned, Ms. Nelson. You saw the news reports and read the articles in the paper. You knew what the consequences would be for anyone accepting help from Superman. But you ignored the warning. Now, your son will suffer the consequences. Make sure Superman sees this note and make sure you tell him you want nothing more to do with him if you ever want to see your son again," Lois finished reading the letter, the anger apparent on her face.
Clark could tell what she was about to do and took the note away from her before she could rip it into a thousand pieces.
"No, let me have it!" she said loudly. "It's trash and needs to be dealt with like trash."
"We can't just rip it up. As much as I would love to see you do that very thing, it's evidence, and I have to give it to the police," he told her, holding the note out of her reach and trying to be rational.
She clenched her fists and threw her hands down in an exasperated gesture. "We’ve got to figure this out!" she exclaimed as she began to pace in front of him. "Okay, what do we know so far?" she asked him. It was obvious that she had worked herself up, and there would be no sleep for anyone until they had talked this out.
Clark sighed. "Well, we know a subliminal device was stolen from the base," he began.
"Yes, and we suspect the accidents that have been happening are being staged by someone with the subliminal device. The children keep hearing a voice in their head," she continued.
"Right. We also know that the kidnapper is most likely someone connected to the SHARP group, after my conversation with Clarice."
"And let’s not forget that you think the person who’s staging the accidents is also the kidnapper, which would explain how they knew about the accidents and where to find the children," she added. Lois raised her head up and looked at Clark. She had a glint in her eyes, like she did when an idea came to her.
"I think I know how the kidnapper is getting the kids!" she told him excitedly.
"How?"
"Okay, follow me here. If the person staging the accidents is the one with the subliminator and he and the kidnapper are one and the same..."
"Then the kidnapper has the subliminator," he finished for her.
"Yes, and we also know that the police can’t figure out how the kidnapper is getting the kids. There is no evidence of a break-in. You said Jeffrey was taken with his mother sleeping in the same room," she paused as if to let everything come together for him. "The kidnapper is using the subliminator to take them. Think about it, why risk breaking into someone's house to steal the kid, when you can just convince the kid to come to you!"
"You're right! He could simply wait for everyone to fall asleep and then talk to the child, telling him or her to come out to him. In fact, that might explain why the child's fingerprints are on the kidnapper's notes. He could have the child take the note back in and leave it. Lois, honey, you're brilliant."
"I know," she said, smiling at him. "That's one of the many reasons you love me," she teased him.
Clark put his arm around her and hugged her to him, remembering to be careful of her tender spot, which reminded him of something he needed to ask her.
"Speaking of loving you," Clark said, getting serious again. "When will you find out your results..." he trailed off.
"Oh...hopefully tomorrow. Dr. McGrath is going to be out of town tomorrow, but said she'd try to put a rush on it. If the results come back, she was going to ask the office assistant call me with them."
Clark set Laura down in her crib. She had drifted back off to sleep. He put his arms around Lois’, clutching his hands behind her back. He held her, swaying back and forth, just content to feel the warmth of her breath against his body.
"Are we dancing?" came her soft inquiry.
"This isn't dancing," he said to her, repeating the words he had said so long ago. He gently lifted her off the floor just slightly, and they floated there, softly swaying to an unheard music.
Lois began to kiss his chest and moved up to the base of his throat. He dipped her back, just slightly, and leaned in to her, kissing her exposed neck. As he pulled her back up, he moved his kisses up her neck to her mouth. He covered her mouth with his and kissed her deeply. As she began kissing him back, her breathing becoming more urgent, he floated them down the hallway to their bedroom.
**********
The errand at the Kent home had proven to be even more dangerous than he’d originally thought. If Superman hadn't been so preoccupied with checking on Laura, he might have noticed Aaron hiding close by. He had seen Superman come streaking through the sky and into the house right after he’d commanded the Kent’s to wake up and Laura to cry.
Yes, that had answered his question. Close friends, indeed. He hadn't believed his luck when Superman hadn't immediately come back out of the house to search the area. Aaron had hesitated for just a few seconds, wishing there was someway to have seen what Laura's reaction had been to Superman's presence, but he’d decided he couldn’t risk it. Besides, they would be performing a little test on that later tomorrow.
Aaron let out a sigh of relief. He was finally done for the evening. A rational person would have gone to bed and tried to get some rest, but Aaron was just too keyed up. He needed to do some more research on the laboratory room, first.
He looked around the room, again marveling at all of the treasures it contained, before going to sit at the computer station. When he'd been up here earlier, he had just started to read through some of the files stored on the computer's hard drive. Then, of course, there had been that one other *folder*. He had found a list of people's names that Lex had used to impersonate him from time to time, reports of experiments that Lex had done with clones, and those were just the tip of the iceberg.
Aaron opened the 'personal projects' folder again. Now that he had more time to explore, a document labeled 'escape' caught his eye. That sounded interesting. He opened it and scanned the document. It contained detailed notes about the construction of the bunker and this laboratory. Hmm, fascinating, he thought, there seemed to be some kind of hidden extendable platform in this room.
He paused in his scanning to read this part in more detail. The notes explained to him how to open the metal doors in the room; the ones along the outer wall. Apparently, that was where the platform extended out. So, that explained what the doors opened to. Not a fifteen-hundred-foot fall, but a platform. A platform for what?
Aaron walked over to a panel on the wall and accessed the controls. He entered the combination to open the doors. As the doors slid open, the platform simultaneously began extending itself out away from the building.
Aaron stepped down onto the flat platform and walked out to the edge, being careful not to lose his balance. There was plenty of room to walk around on the platform without needing to get too close to the edges. He could see the underside of the penthouse balcony above him. What could Lex have possibly used this for? Could it have been used as an emergency escape? After all, that was the name on the file.
He walked back to the computer and began scanning the 'personal projects' file yet again. The documents were arranged in date order. Towards the bottom of the folder there was a document entitled 'Series K' – the last thing Lex had worked on. Aaron opened the document and scanned it. It appeared to be some sort of diary kept by Lex. There were pages and pages of entries about an experiment called Series K. What was Series K? Aaron was not a patient reader; he skipped to the last entry.
"The time for me to destroy Superman has finally come to fruition. The construction on the Kryptonite cage is finished. After substantial testing on the Kryptonite, it was found that, when harnessed correctly, it was a limitless power source."
Kryptonite was a power source? Oh, yes, he seemed to remember reading something about a cyborg being powered by Kryptonite, also.
"Once a way was found to harness that power, a circuit bridge was created to carry the power through the bars of the steel cage. This effectively created a cage powered by Kryptonite. The cage will prove less powerful than direct exposure to Kryptonite. However, since I plan to finish the job myself, I only need the cage to weaken him, keep him contained."
Interesting. Aaron wondered what other ways Kryptonite had been altered into new forms.
"If the research holds true, and the cage works correctly; it should prove to be an impenetrable barrier for Superman. However, should the plan fail or some unforeseen problem happen, the back up plan is also ready. The replacement we have imprisoned here in the lab will take my place."
Replacement? Aaron looked over at the enclosed area with the bed. So that's what that room was for.
"In the event that I need to make a quick escape, there is a secondary set of platform controls wired into the desk in the penthouse. Nigel will be waiting here with my replacement should we need him. A fall from the balcony to the platform would be dangerous, if not deadly, and so will be used as a last resort. However, if it does occur, Nigel will be ready to push the replacement out as I land, to maintain the illusion. The body will then need to disappear from the morgue before they can run any tests on it. I will succeed. I have planned thoroughly. After all, if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail."
Aaron sat back in his chair, absorbing what he had just read. It was a brilliant escape plan. Lex had been right about the *dangerous* part, though. This explained how Lex could have lived through a fall from the top of LexCorp...He didn't. He lived through a fall to his platform several feet down. Though, from what he understood, Lex had been in a coma for months after his fall.
A stray thought came to him. A rope or maybe a bungee cord? He walked back out onto the platform and looked up at the balcony. Yes, it might just work. Aaron believed in having a back-up plan, too. With a little work, his could be better than Lex's.
**********
