Finally, eh?
Sorry it took me so long... What with the back problems I had last week and the HUGE plot hole I fell face first in this week, it's taken me a while.
I'd like to dedicate this to my grandmother who passed away on Tuesday. I'm quite sure superheroes weren't her thing, but I do know she had loved some of the fairy tales I wrote in the past and she'd be happy to know there's people out there reading and enjoying my stories whatever they are.
Do we need a recap? Nah! I think you'll be fine without one.
This starts on a "meanwhile" -- which is set during the scene where Clark tells Lois...well... everything, really. If you haven't read part 5, go..! it was gooooood! Lol!
Happy reading!
~.~.~.~.~
Part 6 Meanwhile, in the villain's lair...
The Weather Wizard took his wand and made circular motions with it pointing straight in front of him. The glassy globe set at the end of the rod lit up and turned a bright shade of red before emitting a high pitched sound. As soon as he heard it, the Wizard stopped swirling the wand and set it back down on an end table.
It was done. As the sun rose, the temperature would rise a few degrees more than the previous day. Just enough to match the effort Superman had put into stopping the train.
He strongly suspected the Man of Steel would leave Metropolis before morning, but he knew that he needed to keep up appearances. If the temperature didn't go up again, then people might get suspicious. And the last thing he wanted right now was Superman back in the city!
All the Wizard needed to do now was stage an experiment.... Just in case that dreaded Super Boy-Scout had gotten wise and decided to trap whoever it was that had been controlling the weather. The Wizard knew he couldn't risk it. So he had planned a little something that would help prove that Superman was nowhere near Metropolis.
Once he knew for a fact that the whole operation had been a success, he would make the temperature go back down.
There was no need to hurry... with Superman out of the way, he'd have all the time in the world to take over the city. Good things, the Wizard knew, should never be rushed.
~.~.~.~.~
When Jimmy came in the newsroom, several hours later, he found Lois sitting on the floor in a corner of the conference room. She had her arms crossed over both knees and her forehead resting on her arms. Something must have really upset her, he thought, because there was an empty box of Kleenex on a nearby chair and several used tissues littered on the floor.
He kneeled next to her. "Lois," he said, concerned, "is something wrong?"
"Jimmy?" she asked, looking over to him, somewhat confused, "What time is it?"
Lois had obviously been crying; her eyes were red and puffy. Jimmy had never seen her like this before and he didn't quite know what to say to make her feel better. She was always so positive and sure of herself, he had no idea how to be around this version of Lois Lane who looked so depressed and defeated. He'd better not find out that some jerk had hurt her, because he'd hunt him down and... well, something like that.
"It's just about 7:00 AM. Would you... huh... like me to get you some coffee?" he offered.
"Oh, no... No," she answered. Coffee... Clark usually brought her coffee in the morning. But he wouldn't be doing that today, would he? She'd never realized how much she counted on that to help start her day on the right track.
"Lois, what's wrong?" Jimmy asked again.
"Oh... it's just... he's gone," she whispered, fighting back a fresh wave of tears.
"Superman?" Jimmy asked, surprised. She'd been crying over Superman? He knew she had a thing for him, but he hadn't realized how bad it really was.
"Yeah, Superman left during the night," she explained as she got up and set out to dispose of the used Kleenex. "But... ah... actually, Clark's gone too. He went back to Smallville."
Jimmy just stood there, gaping at her, the information not quite registering in his brain.
"Is Perry in already?" she enquired, impatiently.
"He's in his office," Jimmy told her.
Lois mumbled a thank you and left the conference room.
~.~.~.~.~
At the same time, in another villain's lair...
Livewire had been pacing for hours. She wasn't a very patient woman. She'd never been. She liked when things moved along at a fast pace. She liked action! And this... well, this wasn't going anywhere near as fast as she would have wanted it to!
Why wasn't there anything on the news yet, why weren't they confirming that Superman was gone? What was taking so long?!
Surely he had to have left by now! It was morning. He'd had *hours* to get the hell out of Metropolis. And being that the man was so good and straight and... *weak*, then for sure he must be gone by now! He would not have stuck around when the people of Metropolis were organizing rallies to make him leave. He was *weak*, he would *cave*!
So why wasn't it all over the news yet?! Stupid reporters! She hated them! All of them! Especially *her*... Lois *Lame*. How could anyone with half a brain swoon over Superman like that? Worse yet, she was his little pet, wasn't she? Of course she was. He *liked* her! Ah! She was so ridiculous, so vain! Livewire smiled at the thought of Lois being left heartbroken.
She let out a dark, wicked laugh. Bruising other people's egos and hurting their feelings gave her such a wonderful high! She used to get paid to do it before that good for nothing so-called 'hero' had ruined her life and taken away her career. Oh how she would make him pay for it! She'd ruin the one thing he cared most about. Yes! She knew exactly what she was going to do!
But first... first she was going to go out and paint the town red. Or rather... electric blue! Damned if she was going to wait all day for the news! She already knew that Superman was gone, she could *feel* it. And she more than definitely deserved a little celebration. A real celebration!
~.~.~.~.~
Lois walked into the editor's office, closed the door behind her and let herself drop on the leather sofa.
"Well, he's gone," she said, sadly.
"Yeah, I know," Perry answered, lifting up Clark's resignation letter from his desk. "You Ok, there, Lois? Because... well... If you need a little bit of time off to adjust? I mean, now's not the best time considering there's so many people MIA already, but if you need it... you know I'd be more than happy to give you all the time off you like. Or a new partner, even, if you want one?"
Lois frowned. "Huh... I meant Superman," she clarified. Why did Perry think she would take losing her partner so hard? Of course she was taking it rather hard, especially given what she now knew about Clark, but Perry wasn't aware of that.
"Oh... yes, of course, Superman," Perry acquiesced, " I thought you knew that... well, huh... Clark resigned."
"Yeah, I know... big city wasn't for him, I guess. It was just a matter of time before he went back to Smallville. I told you he wouldn't last very long," she said, trying to sound as emotionless as she could. She thought it best to keep up the appearance that she didn't care for him much or people would start wondering why Lois Lane had suddenly taken a liking to the 'hack from nowheresville' she kept putting down. She wasn't prepared to explain it to them, not when she was barely coming to terms with it herself.
"Lois... darlin', you know you can't fool me that easy," Perry told her in his best fatherly tone. "Anyone else, perhaps... but this ol' hound dog ain't as gullible as the rest of the pack."
"Ok, Ok! So I care. It's just, you know... I hadn't realized before... there's a lot of things about him... that I never noticed... and now he's gone and... Oh, Perry, what am I going to do without him?"
In the blink of an eye, Lois had lost perhaps the most important person in her life. She had barely just *found* him and now he was gone. Things felt incredibly pointless now...
"I'm real sorry, honey. Kent was a good reporter - and a good man. And he'll be missed a great deal. But, you know, something tells me he'll come back eventually. When things... cool down a bit, I suppose?"
Lois looked at the editor, puzzled. What did he mean, 'when things cool down'? It almost sounded like.... Nah! She had to be reading too much into his comment. Perry didn't know. He couldn't have known! Clark hadn't told *her* until last night and she was his partner, surely he wouldn't have told anyone else either. Of course not!
"Maybe... I mean, I hope so..." she admitted. She would do a lot more than just hope, though; in fact she'd do absolutely everything she could in order for him to come back! "I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Anyway... huh... I hope you weren't planning on having me write something about Superman today, because the thing is... I don't think I can. I... huh...."
"I know, honey. You don't have to worry about that. We've got a great exclusive already, Superman's farewell to Metropolis, courtesy of you know who."
"Yeah, I should have known." Lois shook her head as she realized the irony... He was saying goodbye by saying goodbye. If she hadn't been so downhearted, she might have found it amusing.
"You should go on home and get some shut eye," Perry suggested, "I don't imagine you've gotten a lot of rest the last few days... And like I said, if you think you need a day or two... you just say the word."
"No, no... I can't take time off... still need to figure this out. Someone's behind this heat wave and I'll be damned if they're going to get away with it that easily!"
Jimmy stormed into Perry's office. "Hey, you gotta see this!" he said, excitedly. "On TV," he added before rushing back out of the office.
Lois got up and walked out, closely followed by Perry. They got over to the TV set in the center of the newsroom and gasped in shock at the images they saw on the screen. Apparently, all the electronic billboards around the city were displaying the same message repeatedly: Superman's 'S' being torn in 2 halves.
Suddenly, the billboards all went black. Bright sparks of lightning brought them back to life a few seconds later. This time, instead of the big red 'S', they bore a message that read: "Goodbye Superman! We'll miss you!" It was replaced after a moment by the word "NOT" in huge electric blue lettering.
"Who?" Jimmy asked, mystified.
"Oh, I know who that is all right," Lois said through clenched teeth. "Leslie Willis. This little stunt has her name written all over it! She got her get out of jail card a few weeks ago. But how did she...? Perry? The article... it's not been printed yet, has it?"
"No, it got in well after the deadline last night. As far as I know, I'm the only one who's read it yet. Unless she can get into our network and access it?"
"Oh, she most definitely can," Lois confirmed. "But if she had, she would have left some sort of calling card. This girl thrives for the spotlight, if she was going to do anything, it would be grandiose - like the billboards. We'd definitely know if she'd infiltrated our computer network. No.... I think she knew already."
"Maybe she just happened to see Superman leaving?" Jimmy suggested.
"Not likely," Lois told him. "No one outside of us three - and Clark - could possibly know that he's gone already. So unless it's just a lucky guess, and my gut feeling is that it's not, then that means she knows. And if she *knows*, then it means she's got something to do with all this!"
"But Lois," Jimmy started, shaking his head, "all she can control is lightning and electricity. You can't generate enough heat through those to cause a heat wave like this!"
"She's probably not working alone, Jimmy," Perry offered.
"That's what I'm thinking," Lois said. "Jimmy, can you find out who her cellmates were when she was inside? We need to know who she's working with!"
Jimmy nodded and scurried over to his desk.
"Perry, I think we need to run Clark's piece as soon as we can. It's exactly what they're waiting for: confirmation. And once they have it, they're bound to get a lot more careless. As long as they think he might still be around, they'll hide. Well, ok, *she* won't," Lois pointed at the TV which showed images of the dazzling light show that was still going on, "but whoever it is she's working with probably will. They must have had a reason for wanting to drive Superman away, so I'm thinking once they find out their plan worked, they're going to want to come out of the shade and... well I don't even want to think about what might happen next!"
"My thoughts entirely," the editor agreed. "Lois, I know if anybody can find a way to save Superman, it's you." He patted her gently on the arm.
Lois nodded and smiled. She hoped she'd found a thread that would lead her right to whoever was doing this. And... oh, when she got her hands on them, she'd give them a piece of her mind!
With that, she walked over to her desk and started digging into Leslie Willis' past and acquaintances.
~.~.~.~.~
A few hours later, back at the Wizard's hideout...
"She's going to *ruin* everything!" The Wizard raged. "That nasty little b.... is going to ruin it!"
He kicked himself for not keeping a shorter leash on the woman. And for being so stupid as to fall asleep right when he knew that things would start moving along. So much for the experiment he'd spent all night planning for, he thought. Better act now.
He picked up his wand and swirled it in wide circular motions above his head. When the glassy globe turned a bright shade of blue, he pointed it towards the floor in one sharp motion. The globe became completely transparent for a second and then emitted a high-pitched sound. The Wizard placed the wand back on the end table.
"Let's see just how slippery you are when you're wet!" he said, bursting out in maniacal laughter.
~.~.~.~.~
Running Clark's Superman exclusive on the front page of a special edition of the Daily Planet had brought out every single criminal that wasn't currently residing in the pen. Petty thugs and all manner of felons had literally started crawling out of the woodwork. The police had their hands full trying to keep everything under control and it seemed prisons were starting to put up 'no vacancy' signs.
And of course, the temperature had risen again and people were so convinced that Superman was guilty of it by now, that they'd probably scream bloody murder if he were to show his face anywhere near or around the city. Lois knew this would never have happened if she'd only been able to figure out who was responsible for all this mess... She'd lost her edge, she thought. Maybe she should reconsider her career choice?
Suddenly, an enormous black cloud formed over the city. By the time people started noticing its presence, it was already raining over downtown Metropolis. It wasn't just a pleasant little spring shower, either; this was a downpour of cataclysmic proportions.
"Great shades of Elvis," Perry muttered, looking out his window, astounded.
"Lois, Jimmy," he yelled, "get in here, *now*!"
Startled, Lois jumped out of her chair and ran to the editor's office as fast as she could, with Jimmy following in stride.
"I sure hope you guys have some idea who's doing this," Perry told them. "'cause if this keeps up, streets are going to become rivers and turn Metropolis into a modern Venice!"
~.~.~.~.~
Meanwhile, somewhere in Central City...
"Hey, honey, have you seen the news?" Iris asked her husband. As soon as she'd seen what was going on in Metropolis, she'd called him at the forensics lab where he worked.
"No, not since this morning. Why? What's up?" he asked. Her enquiring whether he was aware of something going on could only mean one thing...
"Turn on channel four, you won't believe what's going on in Metropolis!"
"Metropolis?" he wondered, switching the TV on.
"Yeah, you know how I told you they were having a heat wave there, of all things! I just knew it looked suspicious... And the worst part is they thought it was Superman doing that. I hear they drove him right out of the city. Of course, they couldn't have known... but... I wish I'd put two and two together sooner!"
"Holy..." he mumbled, in disbelief as he saw images of the torrential rains that were pouring over the city.
"No kidding!" Iris remarked. "You know what that means, right?"
"I'm off to see the Wizard?" he quipped.
Iris couldn't help but smile. He could make even the worst things sound so amusing...
"I'll call..." she started to say, but he interrupted her immediately.
"He won't be there, Iris."
"I wish you'd quit trying to think faster than I do, it's the only race you'll never win..." she told him, teasingly. "I know *he* won't be there, but he does have a partner at the Daily Planet, right? I'll just talk to her. She must know how to get a hold of the guy! Besides, I can fax her my notes on Mardon, I'm sure they'll come in handy. You... you just need to go and help out!"
"Ok, well I'll be in Metropolis in a flash," he chuckled. "Just make sure they get Supes back there, pronto. See if you can't get A.C. as well, maybe? Cause I'm going to need all the super friends I can get if we're going to put things right. I sure can't do all this on my own."
~.~.~.~.~
To Be Continued
