This is a very good chapter, Terry. For myself, I appreciate that it doesn't make me feel that I have to defend my own position!
His head was angled as if he were listening to something only he could hear. “High-rise apartment fire. Dozens trapped on the upper floors, maybe as many as a couple of hundred.”
“Where?”
“Rio.”
“What? Rio de Janeiro? In Brazil?”
“Yes. It’s a bad one, otherwise LNN wouldn’t be covering it live.”
“But you’re due in court in twelve minutes! This is important!”
“Those lives are important too, Connie. Please! Ask the judge for a recess or a continuance or whatever it was he talked about.”
“But – “
He looked at her pleadingly. “I’m sorry. I have to go. Tell Judge Fields I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
Good. Good. Saving lives is what Superman is all about. That is what he
should be doing. I'm glad he played hooky from the court so that he could save all those people in Brazil.
And this, by the way, is why I feel that Superman
mustn't be prevented from helping out during catastrophes, not unless there is a good reason to suspect that the hero is really unstable, so that he might start killing again.
Fields lifted his hands. “Easy, Jack. I thought this would happen, although I didn’t think we’d have to wait this long. Ms. Hunter, do you have any objection to proceeding with prosecution testimony while we await Superman’s return?”
Aaahh! I like this judge!
“Your Honor! The prosecution protests this cavalier attitude towards the defendant!”
The judge whacked his gavel once. “That’s enough. I’m making a ruling, one which the prosecution may protest in writing to the state judicial ethics board if the DA so desires, but I’m ruling that we move forward with the case instead of waiting Superman to return. If the defendant were a cardiac surgeon called out of court to operate on a dying patient, I think we’d all be inclined to grant him some latitude.”
Good. Good.
“Please tell us in your own words what happened next.”
Lois shifted on the seat and swallowed.
Oh, the fact that Lois swallows... I can feel how nervous she is.
Melanie interrupted. “I’m sorry, Ms. Lane, but why did you give Mr. Kent that map?”
“So he could give it to Superman.”
“But I thought you were closely acquainted with Superman.”
“I am, but Clark is closer. At least, he was closer at that time.”
Ugh. Gaaah.
“Clark and I realized at the same time that Mayson’s car must have been booby-trapped. Clark took off across the street and Laura shot at him. Superman appeared and stopped the bullets, then tried to save Mayson, but he was too late. The bomb – “
Lois’s voice caught in her throat.
Lois's voice catches. This is so hard for her. She has to relive the horrors of that night. She has to remember, very vividly, Clark's love for Mayson, Mayson's death, Clark's desperate fury, Laura Ngyen's almost successful attempt to kill
her, Lois, as well as Laura Ngyen's own death. No wonder this is hard for Lois to talk about - particularly when she has to try to hide the fact that Clark and Superman are one and the same person!
“I took the position that Superman was wrong to do what he did, but that if anyone deserved to die, it was Bill Church. I wrote that vigilantism is against the law for many good reasons, but that Superman’s actions that night were excusable under the circumstances.”
Okay. I don't object
too much here.
The judge slammed his gavel once and waited for the echoes to die away. “Counselors, you will direct your remarks to the bench when an objection is made. Assuming, of course, you have something pertinent to say.” He shifted on the chair and stretched his left arm. “Doggone arthritis. Makes my elbow stiff. Anyway, the objection is sustained. Ms. Hunter, please move on.”
Awww, I almost want to give that Judge Fields a hug.
“Melanie!” he thundered.
She jumped in surprise and hesitated, then found her voice. “D-don’t ask a question you don’t already know the answer to.”
“And you blew that one when you asked her if Superman would know how to find Church without that map! You gave Connie Hunter a pry bar into one of our witnesses!”
“Jack, please, I – “
“And what’s the primary rule for questioning your own witness?”
She sighed deeply. “Don’t surprise them with a question you haven’t gone over in prep.”
“Exactly! And you broke both of those hard and fast rules when you asked about Lane’s editorial! Are you trying to lose this one for us?”
Hmmm. I wonder. What is Melanie up to? Is she, actually, doing whatever she can do to help Superman get acquitted? (Not that I would object....)
“Mel, the main reason you were questioning Lois Lane is so the jury wouldn’t identify me as the only one trying to put Superman behind bars, and to keep them from thinking of the prosecution as a big, bad man who beats up on pretty female witnesses. Those mistakes in there cost us points and handed a big score to the defense on a silver platter.
Hmmmm. Interesting.
He gathered her in a compassionate embrace. “Then remember that your big brother loves you and is watching out for you.”
Her forehead hit his shoulder. “Jack – I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay. I know you, you won’t do that again.”
“I won’t! I promise!”
“It’s okay, Sis, it’s okay. We’ll work around it.”
She hugged him back and wept on his shoulder for several moments. Then she leaned back. “I – your jacket’s all wet.”
He grinned and lifted her chin with one finger. “It’ll dry.” He looked at her more closely. “You ready to go back now?”
This is really sweet. It is hard not to like Jack Reisman.
Melanie pursed her lips and exhaled through her nose. “Ms. Lane, how did you overcome the assassin?”
Lois tilted her head. “I’m a black belt in Tai-Kwondo. When Superman blocked the bullets she’d fired at Clark, she was distracted for a moment. I kicked the gun out of her hand and we wrestled for it. The gun went off and killed her.”
“Did you set out to shoot her?”
“What? No! I was trying to stop her from shooting me!”
“Why wasn’t Superman helping you?”
Uh-oh! Uh-oh!
Lois narrowed her eyes. “He was a little busy at the moment.”
“Too busy to help you when you were in mortal danger?”
“Someone else was in mortal danger that night, or have you forgotten?”
Hmmmm....
Connie spoke quickly. “Ms. Lane, where was Superman when you were fighting for your own life?”
“He was trying to save Mayson Drake’s life.”
“I see.” Connie crossed her arms. “How does it make you feel?”
“How does what make me feel?”
“Superman tried to save another person’s life and left you in mortal danger. How does that make you feel?”
Lois glanced at Superman, but he was staring at the table. She shook her head. “He didn’t just run off and leave me in danger, he tried to save someone else. I can usually take care of myself. As it turned out – I survived.” She took a breath. “Mayson died.”
Should Connie ask this of Lois? How, indeed, did it make Lois feel that Superman was trying to save Mayson's life while her own life was in mortal danger? Maybe she didn't think much about it at the time. Well, how does she feel about it now? How does it feel to be reminded of it?
“Do you think Superman made his decision based on personal feelings or on the situation as he saw it?”
“On the situation. I had a gun pointed in my general direction, but Mayson was sitting on a bomb.”
“I see. So you don’t blame Superman for his choice?”
“No. I think that if I’d been in his position, I would’ve made the same choice.”
Connie nodded and stepped closer. “Where was Clark Kent?”
“He was next to Mayson’s car. When I looked over, he was cradling her in his arms. She – “ Lois hesitated, then went on. “She was already dead.”
Ugh. I hate how Connie is asking Lois where Clark was at a time when Superman was supposed to have been at the scene at the same time.
Connie nodded and continued. “What about Superman? Did he behave as if her were insane at that moment?”
Like a Melanie-in-a-box, the ADA quickly stood again. “Objection! The witness is not a medical professional!”
A Melanie-in-a-box - that's too funny!
“Have you ever broken the law?”
Lois’s eyes flashed and her evil side took control for a moment. “Well, there was this parking ticket at the Mayor’s inaugural ceremony a couple of years ago, but other than that – “
Yeah, right! Like that's the only time Lois Lane has broken the law!
Lois’s gaze flicked to Superman again, expecting a tiny smile or a wink or something.
He didn’t even look at her.
Uh-oh! Uh-oh!
Lois stepped down and made her way back to the gallery. As she passed the defense table, she whispered, “I love you, Clark,” at a volume she knew only Superman could hear.
He didn’t move a muscle.
Why? Is this his jealousy speaking? Is he telling Lois that she can't profess to love him and see Ron Dombrowski at the same time?
“Jim, this is Lois. How’s everything?”
He sighed. “I think you need to get back here as soon as you can. We have a conflict brewing among the staff.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Uh-uh. You need to be here, Lois. This is an editorial decision and I’m not the editor.”
Gaaah. Ugh. Just what Lois needs right now.
Why had Superman not acknowledged her message? Was he that concerned with others hearing her? And why hadn’t he looked at her while she testified?
Jealousy, perhaps? That green-eyed monster.
She certainly could’ve used the support. She needed to see his eyes, to feel his love for her, to know that he was there for her.
Ahh, Lois, I wonder. Does he still love you? Or does he resent you more than he loves you?
Because she was there for him, no matter what.
Oh, I love this. I get all teary-eyed.
Well, there are six chapters left, Terry. So many tense and agonizing things can happen in them.
Brilliantly written, as always.
Ann
Clark scream in desperation and hurt. Clark seems to love Mayson more than Lois.
