Table of Contents Chapter 22 She had been told by Ben Hubbard that based on the low altitude (about 3000 feet) of her jump, she needed to only count to 3 and then pull the rip cord. Ben told her that this type of parachuting was called a “hop and pop”. From the practice sessions with Clark, she knew that opening the chute would make her feel as if she was being stretched upwards. In about 3 minutes, she would near the ground and she would have to attempt to land correctly to avoid breaking any bones.
<One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand>, Lois counted. <Pull!>
Lois felt herself float upwards for a moment, her body elongated. Looking up at her chute, which had thankfully opened, she relaxed a bit. <Focus on your target on the ground now, Lois>. She fixated on the very middle of the field. Using the hand controls, she navigated herself towards her landing spot. <Five points of contact when you land>, Ben’s voice replayed itself in her head. <The balls of your feet, then your calves, then your thighs, then your butt, then your back - diagonally>
It all happened so fast in her mind that it was a complete blur. Flying with Clark had given her the confidence to navigate around in the air. Now it was up to her to be the hero, to save Clark, the man she loved. After all, there could only be one main reason that someone would use Kryptonite in their fertilizer. And it wasn’t just to develop an army of super-dogs.
<Good, getting close, getting close…legs together, Lane, balls of your feet first, then your calves…here we go….oomph!>
The waving wheat fields cushioned her fall somewhat as she attempted to replicate her practice sessions with Clark. Her parachute got tangled in with the growing plants and she found it difficult to move. <Damn!> she swore. Looking up in the sky, she spotted Pete and Ben. They were flying in a wide swath over the plant.
Lois managed to untangle the chute cords from her legs, allowing her to try to stand up. She realized with a start that something didn’t feel right. When she put pressure on her leg, her right ankle screamed in agony. Kneeling down, she crept along, flattening the plants as she went. She got to an end of a row of plants, and reached into her pants pocket for the burlap sack she was going to put her soil sample in. With a large metal spoon that was inside the bag, she dug into the ground and filled ½ of it with the brown dirt. Lois could see the Kryptonite in the soil – the green specks were visible to the naked eye. She ripped one of the wheat plants’ roots out of the ground and placed it on top of the soil sample in the bag, which she stuffed back into her pants pocket. Mission accomplished, she kept crawling towards the edge of the field. Lois knew that she would need to hold onto the side of the factory building in order to stand up. She estimated that she had about 70 more feet to go. Her breathing became labored and Lois suddenly realized that she was allergic to grass pollens, and wheat in the early stages was identical to it. She felt her wind pipe starting to restrict and after dragging herself another ten feet, she collapsed in the field, in the throws of an asthma attack.
Ben and Pete circled the field several times and still couldn’t spot Lois even with the binoculars. “Time to call Clark,” Pete indicated to Ben. “This can’t be good.”
~~~~~
Daily Planet offices – earlier that day James Olsen’s secretary intercomed him to announce that he had a visitor that didn’t have an appointment. When he was told who the person was, he advised his secretary to send him on in.
“Bruce – I thought you’d be back in Gotham today. What do I owe the pleasure of your company to?”
“Well, I wanted to meet with Lois Lane – your receptionist advised me she won’t be in until Monday. Is that right?”
“Yes. She and Clark are working on a big story back in Smallville. Something about Kryptonite – laced fertilizer being used to grown wheat in a Luthor Corp plant.”
“Isn’t that the stuff that can kill Clark? Sounds like a dangerous assignment, James.”
“Oh, I didn’t assign it to *them* – they told *me* about it. I haven’t known my new sister-in-law very long, but her reputation precedes her. She’ll do anything for a big scoop,” James replied, laughing.
“Whereabouts is this plant? Smallville, Kansas – Clark’s home town?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah, Kansas. Good thing I don’t have to pay his travel expenses,” James remarked. “There are some perks to having Superman on the payroll.”
Bruce wore a serious expression on his face. “I’ll call Lois on Monday. Have a good weekend, James.”
“Ok, Bruce. I’ll let her know. We’re having a family gathering on Sunday night.”
Heading up the elevator to the roof, Bruce had an ominous feeling about Lois and Clark’s assignment. Unbeknownst to anyone else, he had been investigating Luthor Corp because of their shady business dealings in Gotham City. He knew that Lois was dying to unmask him as Batman, and his one confrontation with Clark when he was dressed as the “Dark Knight” hadn’t gone all that well. Nonetheless, they were on the same side – fighting criminals – even though their methods were different. He wondered if they could use some assistance in Smallville? It would probably mean that he would have to reveal his secret identity to them, but he was certain that Clark would convince Lois to keep the information confidential, no matter how big a scoop it was. At least, he hoped she would.
Bruce emerged from the elevator on the roof of the Planet. His helicopter was on auto-pilot, waiting for him. He pressed the remote, calling it down to roof level. He wondered how long it would take him to fly to Smallville. Luckily he had a small private plane waiting for him in a hangar at the Elvis Presley International Airport, not far from the Daily Planet. There were definitely perks to being a multi-millionaire, even though losing his parents was a heavy price to pay for it.
~~~~~
Clark and Lana were rummaging around Hubbard’s barn for anything that might be lined with lead when his cell phone rang. Seeing the name on the caller ID, Clark’s anxiety level shot up. “Hello?”
“Yeah, Clark. We can’t spot Lois down there. We’ve been circling the field for 10 minutes, there’s no sign of her. And the worst thing is, there’s another plane approaching fast – if it’s a Luthor Corp plane, we’re in some real trouble. What do you want to do?”
Clark wordlessly spun into the suit and shot into the sky, leaving the cell phone laying on the ground. Lana picked it up. “Pete? Are you okay?”
“Honey, it’s Lois. We can’t spot her down there – where’s Clark?”
“He flew off. I’m sure he’s going to try to save the day.”
“Yep, here he comes. Uh-oh. It looks like whatever’s down there in that field is affecting Clark – he’s losing control and heading straight down towards it at full speed.”
Lana shrieked into the phone. Just like Clark; she never appreciated how selfless he really was. “Omigod, Pete. He always puts other people ahead of his own welfare. Pete, you have to save him, even if it means landing in that field.”
“I know, honey. I have to get off the phone and get a game plan going. I’ll call you back. I love you,” Pete told her.
“Love you too, sweetheart.”
~~~~~
Clark belly-flopped onto the wheat field, making a small crater-shaped hole in the ground. He came to, sweating, and his head felt as if it was going to implode. Groggily, he tried to focus his vision to locate Lois. Just before he passed out, he spotted her lying on the ground, not moving, quite aways away from him.
Pete and Ben were astounded at what they saw next. A black, bat-shaped plane which was adjacent to their air space suddenly ejected a bat-shaped mini-copter. Stunned, they realized that the person controlling it had to be the mysterious vigilante, the Batman.
Bruce spotted both Clark and Lois in the field. He also suspected that Luthor Corp had a surveillance camera attached to the building on each corner. He grabbed a black fogger batarang out of his utility belt and aimed it towards the suspected target. Three more shots and the corners of the field were completely darkened with what looked like black soot hanging in the air.
Inside the plant an alarm went out. The photo-sensitive cameras were programmed to beep when there was no trace of light during the daytime. The security guard on duty hit the key to a pre-programmed number on the phone.
“I’m in the plane, ready to take off. This better be unbelievably important. What’s up?”
“The Smallville field is under attack, Mr. Luthor.”
“Get out there. Whatever you do, make sure it’s on videotape so I can watch it later. Follow protocol procedures.”
“Yes, Mr. Luthor.”
~~~~~
Bruce hovered over Clark, who was barely moving. Hopping off the Bat-copter momentarily, he managed to pick up the densely weighted Kryptonian. He wrapped a Bat-line made of an unbreakable alloy around him and jumped back in his machine. He lifted off, with Superman dangling from it. He wasn’t sure that his machine – which was designed for two persons max - would be able to handle Lois’s weight as well, but he realized, as he saw Luthor Corp’s security team emerging from the building, that he wouldn’t get a second chance.
Lois was close to the middle of the field and about 100 feet from where he had picked Clark up. Sending another smoke-filled batarang towards the security team to slow their approach, he hovered over Lois who was struggling to breathe. Bruce recognized her problem as an allergy attack. He took his portable oxygen mask out of the copter, and placed it over her face. He removed the parachute harness from her, leaving the evidence sprawled on the wheat field. Not the best choice, but lives were at stake here, he reasoned.
Lois looked up briefly and recognized her savior as the man described as Batman. <Wow, both of my scoops are going to happen the same day>, she thought before she passed out again.
Lois was certainly lighter to pick up than Clark was, Bruce thought. He decided he would just carry her to the Bat-copter and so he placed her on the bench next to him. He barely managed to get fully airborne just as Luthor Corp’s men started firing away at them.
As the trio approached the Bat-plane which was circling the field on auto-pilot, the belly of the aircraft opened to accept the mini-copter and the two additional guests. Killing the motor of the copter, he pulled the still-dangling Clark into the plane and dragged him away from the airlock. Securing the opening, he quickly took over the controls, heading towards the Smallville Airport to land. He noticed the crop-dusting plane was following him, and he realized the occupants were probably friends of the couple. Strangely, Clark was still writhing in agony, even as the plane traveled away from the Kryptonite-laced field. Bruce left the controls and found that Lois was starting to breathe more normally. He removed her oxygen mask and gently stroked her face to see if she would come to.
“You’re the Bat-guy, aren’t you?” Lois asked. “I have a lot of questions to ask you, but first off – thanks for saving us. How -?”
“Why isn’t he feeling better?” Bruce asked, nodding towards Clark, cutting off Lois’ inevitable questions. “We’re away from the field now.”
Lois realized she had the burlap bag in her pocket and that’s why Clark was still in agony. She handed it to the Batman. “Do you have anything lined with lead? This is a soil sample and I have to get it to Bernie Klein ASAP. It’s got Kryptonite in it. Lead shielding protects Clark from its effects.”
Bruce realized with a jolt that the only thing he had with lead shielding was his cowl. If he took that off, he would have to reveal himself to be Batman. If he didn’t, the world’s greatest savior might perish, right there in his Bat-plane. The choice was obvious.
“I’ll take care of it.” He walked towards the cockpit, pulling the two small curtains across to block Lois’ view, and removed his cowl. He placed the bag inside the mask and burrowed it in the furthest corner of the aircraft.
Lois, watching his movements through a small opening where the curtains met, was stunned to see Batman unmask himself. <That’s right, Clark told me he lined his cowl with lead. Hmmm… from what I can make out, the back of his head looks very familiar,> she thought. She was distracted from her suspicions by Clark’s stirring.
“Honey… are you all right? Pete told me that they couldn’t see you,” he croaked.
“And you… you put your life in danger to save me, Smallville. Are you crazy?” Lois said, sobbing. She crawled over to him and found his lips. “I just hurt my ankle and had an asthma attack. Other than that, I was fine,” she joked. “If not for Batman here, we’d both be goners.”
Clark managed to stand up and he felt his strength returning. “What happened to that soil sample?”
Bruce spoke without turning around towards them. “It’s safe – it’s right here, lined in lead.”
Clark looked towards Bruce with his returning X-ray vision, and realized with a start that his suspicions about Batman were indeed correct. He stood up and walked towards the cockpit, parting the curtains briefly. He sat down next to Bruce, on the co-pilot’s seat, leaving Lois laying down in the back of the plane.
“It *is* you, Bruce. I was right about you,” Clark said, speaking softly.
“I figured it would be hard to keep secrets from someone like you,” Bruce replied, with a grim smile on his face. “What gave me away, anyway?”
“When I heard that you lost your parents at an early age, I just knew. Only someone that had suffered a loss like that at the hands of criminals would use their inherited fortune to fight crime. Our methods may be different, Bruce, but today you proved to me that your heart’s in the right place. How can I ever repay you?”
Bruce nodded toward where Lois lay. “Can she keep a secret? I know I’m on her short list of future scoops,” he replied. “If she can’t be trusted, I’m going to have to ask you to blindfold her until we can secure this sample in a lead box and I can put my cowl back on.”
Clark reviewed the options. “Can we compromise? Can she get an interview from you as Batman?” Clark asked.
Bruce considered the request thoughtfully.
“She can ask me five questions, which I’m going to approve ahead of time. And she must respect my privacy and not reveal my double identity to the world.”
“OK, let me go back and talk to her about it right now,” Clark replied. “I’m pretty sure she’ll be thrilled.”
Lois was trying to stand up when Clark came back to her. He picked her up and sat down on one of the passenger benches, facing her away from the cockpit.
“Honey… Batman has saved our lives. In order to protect me, he’s taken off his mask which was lined with lead,” Clark pointed out. "That's a big leap of faith on his part."
“I know. The back of his head… his hair especially… looks so familiar… oh! You already know who he is. You were sitting up there with him, weren’t you?” Lois said with a start.
“Yes. He’s willing to give you a limited interview in exchange for your silence about his secret identity. Otherwise, I’m going to have to blindfold you,” Clark informed her.
“How limited?” Lois squeaked.
“Five questions, all approved by him ahead of time,” Clark replied.
Lois reflected on the options presented to her. Clark already knew, and obviously respected, who Batman was. He had saved their lives. He was… “Bruce Wayne!” she yelled. “It’s Bruce!”
Clark shook his head. “How do you do it, honey? Do you have ESP or something?”
“I’m right, aren’t I? So no blindfold, I already know. Ha – ha,” she said, gloating gleefully.
“Lois… please consider the good he does as Batman. If you reveal who he is...” Clark began.
“Smallville, I thought you knew me better than that by now. The man’s donating a small fortune to improve the lives of children overseas and I’m going to betray him? No way! Bring me up there, right now,” Lois implored.
Clark held Lois in his arms and walked up to the cockpit again. “Bruce, too late, she already figured it out,” he said to him quietly. “This *is* Lois Lane, after all.”
Lois leaned over to kiss Bruce on the cheek. “Who would have thought that the Batman was such a man of great compassion, underneath the dark suit?” she remarked. “So let’s get working on those five questions. Can each question have a sub-section to it?” she joked.
The three of them laughed heartily as Bruce began to converse with the Smallville Airport’s air traffic controllers.
~~~~~
Behind them, Ben and Pete followed the Batplane. Seeing that they were heading towards the Smallville Airport, they decided to head back to the house, because Lana was probably freaking out there by herself, pregnant and all. Ben spoke into the plane’s radio to inform the Bat-shaped plane’s occupants that they were going home.
“Attn bat-plane, attn bat-plane. Crop duster 1 calling. Heading back to starting point. Over.”
Clark grabbed the radio’s microphone. “Attn Crop duster 1, this is bat-plane. We copy. We’ll see you there in a while. Over and out.”
Pete called Lana, assuring her that help had arrived in the shape of a Bat and that they were on their way back and that Clark was all right, as was Lois.
The Luthor Corp security team was covered in soot as they trudged their way back into the plant. The irrigation machines were still running, and they were all a wet, black mess!
~~~~~
Clark was amazed that Bruce had merely to hit a button, and the Bat-shaped plane turned into a high-tech private plane. After all, he couldn’t have the Bat-plane landing at a public airport! He routinely took off under the Wayne Industries private plane guise, and then in mid-air, flicked a button to change both the shape and the color of the plane. He received authorization to land from the tower, and began to circle the field. He changed into his street clothes, placing his Bat-suit underneath the pilot’s seat.
“Do you two want to be here when I land?” Bruce asked. “I’m sure Luthor Corp is going to be all over this … incident. We don’t want to raise any red flags,” Bruce said. “Clark, are you strong enough to fly you and Lois out of here?”
“The soil sample…” Lois began. “We have to get it to Bernie Klein. And without your lead-lined cowl Clark won’t be able to fly it there. And I have an interview with Lex Luthor right here at the airport in… one hour,” she exclaimed. “This is turning out to be an awesome reporting day!”
Bruce and Clark shook their heads and smiled. Lois Lane was fearless, and a bit crazy!
“You know, I have a lead-lined box back at the farm, in the barn,” Clark announced. “Lois, when we land, you stay here with Bruce and I’ll go get it. Bruce, if you can just stall getting out of the plane, I’ll be right back to make the exchange. Then I’ll fly to Ben Hubbard’s place with the box for safe keeping. Lois, when you are done with your interview with Luthor, call me and I’ll come pick you up and we’ll fly back to Metropolis. How’s that?”
“Smallville – where’s that cell phone?” Lois asked. “You had it last.”
Clark remembered that he had dropped it on the ground when he took off to try to save Lois. “Oh, yeah, it must be back there with Lana. That’s right.”
Bruce intervened. “Here, I have about 10 of these,” Bruce said, opening a drawer and taking two black cell phones out of it. “Take two of them, on me. They use a special frequency which no one else can tap into. It will enable the three of us to have a conversation without anyone picking it up by mistake.”
“Mr. Wayne, you are truly an amazing man,” Lois gushed. Clark swallowed hard. He had to agree, Bruce Wayne was quite the hero, having no special powers, just muscular physicality, brains, and a lot of cool toys. Lois obviously thought he was attractive, too. He felt waves of jealousy overcome him again for the second time in two days.
“Lois, I don’t feel good about you going to this interview alone,” Bruce said. “Clark, why aren’t you going to be with her? Aren’t you two reporting partners?”
“Stipulation of the interview, Bruce,” Lois replied. “Hey, you know what that’s like. You just gave me stipulations: ‘five questions only’, remember? Luthor said no recorders- audio or video – of any kind. No cameras, only a note pad. Clark can’t be lurking in the shadows or the interview’s off. We’re meeting in the bar of the restaurant – I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Well, he didn’t say anything about a certain millionaire businessman who’s setting up a charity foundation for you being around did he?” Bruce asked, smiling, which he did rarely.
“No, no he didn’t. But if you’re going to be there, Bruce, please be sitting at a table, and it would probably be better if you had one of those dumb blondes hanging around you,” Lois snarked. “You know the type I’m talking about.”
“Just a cover for my playboy image, Lois. In real life, I’m attracted to women with brains and guts; someone more like you.”
Lois blushed and looked over at Clark who was clearly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking. “OK, Clark, now you know how I feel when Lana’s there,” she reminded him. “She’s way more beautiful than me, and even though she’s pregnant now, I can tell that she had an awesome figure.”
“That’s not even the same,” Clark argued. “She’s married and we broke up. And you’re more beautiful.”
Bruce smiled. “Clark, don’t worry. I have my eyes on someone who’s kind of in the same line of work I’m in. And she also has a secret identity. I just have to convince her to play on the same team I’m on,” he said somewhat regretfully.
“What do you mean, Bruce? I thought you said she *was* in the same line of work,” Clark asked.
“Well, she’s more of the 'rob the rich and give to the poor' type", Bruce explained. “A female Robin Hood. She calls herself the ‘Catwoman’, but I know who she really is,” Bruce explained. “And *no*, Lois, I’m not going to reveal to you who she is.”
“Touche,” Lois said, smiling. “Clark – see? You have nothing to worry about. Bruce is in love, and so are we. Someday, we’ll double date with Bruce and his friend. Right, Bruce?”
“Probably not, Lois. The two of us like to operate at night, in the streets of Gotham City. Anyway, get your seatbelts on. Even you, Clark. Pretend you’re human. Humor me,” Bruce ordered.
Clark was amazed at how smooth the landing was, in a relatively small plane. Clearly, Bruce Wayne was a man of many facets. Did he really trust him with Lois?
Kissing Lois, he told her, “Honey, I’ll be right back with the box. And I’m going to get something for your ankle. I X-rayed it, and it’s not broken, just sprained.”
“Thanks, Smallville,” Lois replied. “I’ll be right here.”
“He’s quite a guy, Clark, isn’t he?” Bruce said. “Just a big blue Boy Scout.”
“He looks to see the best in everyone, Bruce. I get the feeling that you’re more the suspicious type,” Lois replied. “When do you want to do the interview, anyway?”
“No time like the present, Lois. And one other thing – I’m picking the five questions. No photos, either.”
Lois started to object – and then she stopped herself. “Promise me you won’t be giving any other interviews to anyone else – even Vicki Vale?”
“Absolutely *not* Vicki Vale,” Bruce asserted. “She doesn’t know I’m Batman, and she’s been vocal to me about her disapproval of his – my – methods. She only likes to hang out with me because of my money. She's a bt too shallow for the *real* Bruce Wayne,” he admitted. “But she’s good for my image as playboy Bruce Wayne.”
Lois chuckled. “Sometimes I wish that Clark could have his secret identity back. It’s funny – I’m part of the media, but I *hate* the paparazzi. I know they’re just doing their job, but I wish they would just leave us alone.”
“Well, get your notepad, Miss Lane. Your Batman interview is about to begin,” Bruce told her.
TBC
