How I Spent My Christmas Vacation: One Year Later -- 13/14
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"I'd suggest a tanning booth," Dr. Klein said. "Ms. Lane might give it a try, too. You never know." He smiled at Lois.
"I guess we could try it after we visit the insurance company," Lois said.
"All right," Clark said. He got to his feet. "Thanks, Dr. Klein."
"Don't mention it," Dr. Klein said. "If, by chance, your powers *should* come back, Ms. Lane, I'd appreciate it if you'd come in and let me run some tests. No drawing blood," he assured her quickly at her warning expression. "Just a few non-invasive tests and readings. I'd like to try to figure out how it's possible -- assuming that it is."
Lois hesitated for several long seconds. "Well -- I guess so," she said, somewhat grudgingly. "If you promise not to draw any blood, then okay."
**********
And now, Part 13:
Two hours later, they had visited the insurance company and dropped the Cherokee off with Joe Pemberton, Lois's mechanic. Joe took it in stride. This was Lois Lane's Jeep, after all, and he'd seen it more often in the last year than most mechanics saw a single car in the vehicle's entire lifetime. It had been vandalized, sabotaged, forced off the road, deliberately rammed by various hirelings of criminal overlords, and once had to have an entirely new engine put in to replace the one burned up by the introduction of a toffee bar, shoved into the gas tank by a disgruntled reporter from the Dirt Digger.
Lois looked at the tiny subcompact that had been supplied to replace her car during the time that the Cherokee would be in mechanical therapy and sighed. "Great."
"Well," Clark said doubtfully, "I guess we could try a different rental company."
Lois shook her head. "Wouldn't do any good. I'm on their 'watch' list. None of the car rental companies in Metropolis will rent me anything else."
"Oh." Clark looked uneasily at the roller skate masquerading as a car and sighed. "Okay, I guess beggars can't be choosers. That's what my father used to say."
"Unfortunately, he was right." Lois opened the driver's door and folded her body into the seat. Clark opened the other door and squeezed himself into the passenger seat. "Man, he added, "I hope my powers come back soon. I don't think I can do this for long."
"Me either, and I'm not even as tall as you." She glanced at her watch. "Okay, we've still got time."
"Time for what?"
"The gym where I take my Tai Kwon Do classes is still open. They've got a tanning bed. We're going to go over and you can soak up some artificial sunlight."
"Okay," Clark said. "How about you?"
"I'll have a session after you," she said. "We *know* we're doing some good with you. We don't with me. I've probably got a non-rechargeable battery when it comes to your powers."
"I'm sorry," Clark said. "It must be pretty disappointing."
Lois started the engine and glanced at him quizzically. "Why?"
"Well -- losing the powers, after you were super-powered for a while. I know what it feels like."
She backed out of the parking space. "Not really. But having them for a little while has made me appreciate what it's like to be you. I didn't really, before, you know." She maneuvered her way through the lot to the exit. "I guess in some ways it must be pretty difficult for you."
"What do you mean?"
"At the accident the other day. For most people it was an inconvenience, but there were several people who were seriously hurt -- or trapped. I had to decide who to help first. That's the kind of decision you have to make practically every day -- and sometimes it's a choice between two or three people who are dying. I don't know how you make a decision like that -- knowing that if you delay they're all going to die and, if you choose, somebody will die because you chose to save somebody else first -- but that if you choose the other person somebody else will die, or they both might. The idiot that caused this accident -- I wasn't too thrilled about pulling him out, but I knew that if I didn't, he stood a good chance of dying -- so I did. I don't know how you handle it."
"The same way you did," Clark said. He smiled a little. "Do you know how often I've had to save some obnoxious guy that got into trouble through his own bad judgment? But that doesn't matter if his life is in danger."
"I know. You even saved Luthor when he jumped off of Lex Tower, and he was a lot worse than an irresponsible driver. But don't think for a minute that I'm going to let that guy in the Volkswagen off easily. I had Jonetta look up his record. He's had more citations for moving violations and reckless driving than I have parking tickets. I'm going to see that lawyer you met after the accident. I'll bet we can get a suit for reckless endangerment or something going against him. Just to give him a reason to change his driving habits."
Clark grinned. "That should be interesting."
"And," Lois said, "if we win anything, any money left over from lawyer's fees is going to go to the Superman Foundation's fund for the victims of disabling injuries. It's the least Mr. Irwin can do to pay for all the trouble he caused."
He'd been right, Clark thought, when he'd surmised that the driver of the Volkswagen was going to regret the day he'd damaged Lois's Jeep, but he couldn't really find it in him to protest. Maybe Lois would teach the guy a lesson that he might not otherwise learn. He'd noticed that hitting people in the pocketbook often made more of an impression than a hospital stay. "Well, I wish you luck. One less reckless driver in Metropolis is always a good thing, and that may do more good in the long run than I could as Superman."
"That's what I figure." She turned out on the street. "Have you noticed anyone paying any attention to us? I haven't."
He shook his head. "No -- and I've been watching."
"So have I. I don't get these people. Well, one thing at a time. Let's go take care of helping your powers to come back before they try something else. The weather report is for more snow later this afternoon. I don't see any sign of it yet, but you never know. Let's run past the apartment for a couple of sets of gym clothes and we'll head over to the gym."
**********
The sun was still shining brightly when they pulled up to the Metro Ironworks Gymnasium, forty minutes later. It was just past one in the afternoon and the sky was a cloudless blue. The mild thaw caused by a slight warming the day before had refrozen during the night and produced a thin crust of ice atop the snow, from which the sun reflected in sparks of rainbow fire. A row of crystal-clear icicles hung from the narrow ledge that ran around the building a couple of feet above the main doors. The sidewalk, however, was wet and slippery with the muddy slush left by the feet of countless pedestrians. An employee of the gym was using a wide broom to clean the walk of snow and mud in front of the business.
Lois parked the little car in a spot where it could be seen from the front window of the gym and cut the engine. "Okay. I've got a couple of passes for guests. They hand them out in hopes of attracting new customers. Let's see if there's an empty tanning booth." She opened the door and got out, stepping carefully so as not to slip in the crusts of muddy snow that coated the asphalt. "I really like these boots you bought me," she added. "They're reasonably stylish and I don't think I've ever worn boots this comfortable. I wonder if I can find any like them in Metropolis."
"If not, you can probably order them from the company," Clark said. "What's the temperature?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"I was wondering." Lois saw him lift his face to the sunlight and close his eyes. "It doesn't seem very cold. I was trying to decide if it was me or if the temperature was coming up a bit."
"Maybe both," Lois said. "It doesn't seem that uncomfortable to me, either. Of course, I'm so used to freezing by now that any rise in the temperature would feel warm. There might be a thermometer inside. Come on."
He followed her into the gym.
When they entered, Lois could hear the sounds of treadmills running, accompanied by the pound of feet. A television situated on the upper level where the treadmills and elliptical trainers were located gave forth the sounds and pounding beat of some kind of musical performance. Probably it was tuned to the Music Video station again, or maybe the Fitness Channel. In the room to her left, a television was playing the same program and a number of patrons of the establishment were working on the exercise machines. Farther back, in the same room, several men and women sweated over the free weights. From somewhere beyond, in the mat room, she could hear the distinctive sounds of a Tai Kwon Do class in session.
To their right, she knew, was the physical therapy section - the massage room, the whirlpool baths, the steam room and the tanning room for those that wished to acquire the bronze of a summer tan in the middle of winter. Lois normally avoided the tanning room. Her father had warned her many times as a youngster that the so-called "healthy" tan was a sign that her skin had been damaged and was trying to protect itself by producing pigment. It was one of the few things that she'd retained from Dr. Lane's teachings, but he'd warned her of wrinkles, prematurely aged skin and skin cancer as the result of too much sun, and she had listened.
Now, however, she had a different purpose in mind. She stepped up to the desk and signed in, producing one of her guest passes as she laid down the pen. "I brought along a friend to look the place over," she told the bored man sitting behind the desk. "Do you mind if I show him around?"
"Nope. Go ahead." He glanced at Clark. "You look like you work out a lot."
"He does," Lois said. "He hasn't had much of a chance to work out this week, though. I suggested he try our gym. Come on," she told Clark. "This way."
**********
Sitting by the front window of the gym, Lois held a copy of Metropolis Fitness magazine in her lap but in actuality she wasn't reading. It had been nearly an hour and she had kept her attention divided between their rental car and the clock. They had decided that initially Clark would spend an hour soaking up artificial sunlight and then she would take a turn, although she had little faith that it would do her any good. Still, after spending a large part of the day running around in the cold, sitting in the warm sunlight coming through the window was pleasant, although she half-suspected that any minute someone would show up to attempt to sabotage the vehicle. Still, if the mysterious organization that was after them was aware that her current companion was Superman, they might decide that trying to blow up her car was a useless effort.
Maybe the weather forecast had been right after all, she thought, looking out the window for the third time in as many minutes. The sun was still high in the cloudless blue sky but to the north she could see heavy thunderheads beginning to gather. There would probably be snow by this evening.
The sounds of the treadmills rumbling and the heavy beat of the music in the exercise room were the only noises she could hear. The bored young stud behind the desk had vanished, probably to get himself a vitamin drink or something, she thought absently. Another five minutes passed without incident and a few minutes after that, Clark emerged from the tanning room, clad only in a pair gym shorts, and carrying his shoes and T-shirt in one hand. Lois felt her eyes widen just a little at the sight of the expanse of smooth, olive skin and rippling muscle thus exposed. She had seen him shirtless once or twice before and the sight invariably made it difficult to form a coherent sentence.
"All done," he told her. "You're next." He paused to slip the shirt over his head. Lois took a second to breathe deeply and told herself to calm down. It wasn't as if she had never seen a shirtless man before, after all.
"I'm going to make it short," she said, after a pause. "If things don't work out I don't want a bad burn."
"That's probably smart," Clark said. "I'll just sit here and wait."
"Did the tanning booth have any effect?" she asked, after a short pause. That shirt, she thought, was just way too tight for her peace of mind.
"Yeah, I think so. My hearing is definitely better," he said.
He could probably hear her heart racing, she thought. Which brought to mind something else. "Uh -- you know, earlier, about our bet?"
"Lois, you know I'd never hold you to a bet that makes you uncomfortable," he said quickly.
"No, that wasn't what I --" She broke off as the door to the street opened and two women stepped inside. In an instant, Lois recognized the tall, thin blond woman that she had seen in the picture, and her dowdy sister. Lucille Newtrich moved aside and Cornelia stepped up beside her, a camcorder in her hands.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Kent," Lucille said, smiling unpleasantly. "We have something here for you."
Clark took a step forward, and Cornelia pressed the camcorder's switch.
The beam that shot out of the device this time wasn't red. It was green -- the exact shade of the Kryptonite crystals that she and Clark had found and disposed of in Smallville. For Lois, the scene slipped abruptly into slow motion. She saw Clark stumble back. His collapse to the thin carpet of the gymnasium lobby seemed to take forever. Pain washed over her as well, although much less severe than it must be for Clark and she knew that she had to do something fast. She started toward the woman with the camcorder, and as suddenly the blond woman was holding a small but serviceable handgun aimed directly at her midriff.
"Oh no, Miss Lane," she said, and her voice sounded to Lois like a recording played too slowly. "You'll stay right there until we've finished our business with your super-powered friend."
Clark was on the floor, huddled into a ball, and the dark-haired woman moved leisurely forward, so that the lens of the camcorder was barely two feet from Clark. Lois looked back into the mocking face of Lucille Newtrich, still with that dreamlike sensation of slow motion. If she didn't do something, Clark would never be able to ask his question and all the dreams they had had about their future together would be over before they had a chance.
Lois lunged directly for Lucille Newtrich.
Lucille's response seemed oddly slow. Lois saw her finger begin to contract on the trigger, gradually, ever so gradually, and then she barreled into the other woman, one hand shoving the handgun upward. The gun fired, the sound curiously attenuated, and she saw the bullet spinning through the air before it embedded itself in the ceiling. Lois thrust Lucille Newtrich sideways, directly into her sister. Both women catapulted with unbelievable slowness against the desk and fell to the floor, half-stunned. The camcorder landed on the floor and the beam shut off.
The world jumped back into normal speed. Lois kicked the gun and camcorder across the room. Both women were moving feebly, attempting to get to their feet and people were crowding through the doors from the exercise and therapy rooms to see what was going on.
"Stay where you are!" Lois barked, and such was the force of her command that the rubberneckers stopped in their tracks. "Don't anybody come in here! You!" she pointed to one of men, whom she recognized as one of the instructors. "Call the police! Now!" She turned to Cornelia Newtrich, who had made it to her hands and knees. "Don't move! If I have to hit you again, you won't get up!"
Clark was pushing himself shakily to a sitting position and Lois knelt beside him, never taking her eyes off the Newtrich sisters. "Are you all right?"
He nodded shakily. "I think so. Lois, you --"
"We'll talk about it later," she said. "Can you stand up?"
**********
tbc
