Thanks to my beta reader LaraMoon. The next part might come up with some delay.
Please enjoy!
From Part 11:
“Smallville again,” Lois muttered. “And what did Superman say…robur viridis? Do you know what this means, Clark?”
“I can look it up,” Clark replied, blushing. He had completely forgotten about it this morning. “Maybe you can call the Smithsonian Institute and make an appointment with Hugh Danes. I’m pretty sure that he will be able to tell us more about this.”
Serendipitous Infinity
Part 12:
Lois glanced towards the elevators. This wasn’t happening! Clark had left again, without even bothering to tell her where he went. She was dying to tell him what she had found, but he was gone again and God only knew when he would return. Lois wondered what it was this time. Had he forgotten to return a book to the library? When she thought of his private library at home it was strange anyway that there were still books he didn’t own. Lois decided to get herself a cup of coffee and maybe she could tell Perry about this in the meantime. It served Clark right if he was the last one to hear about it.
She strolled over to Perry’s office and knocked at the door. A grumpy voice invited her in. A moment later, Lois stood in front of Perry. He looked up from his work. Lois could tell form the expression on his face that he wasn’t keen on another conversation with her. Perry hadn’t been happy about the interview. It’s mere existence, though some kind of miracle, hadn’t been enough for him. Perry would have liked to learn more, he wasn’t content when he got only the second best. Superman had agreed to the interview, but he had barely told her anything. He had left far too early and Perry was right to be upset that the interview had only been a pale image of what it might have been. It was better than nothing, but that was pretty much all you could say about it.
Lois couldn’t change it anymore. She knew that Perry was mad just for the sake of being mad. He wouldn’t have become the great editor he was by being easily satisfied. He challenged his reporters in order to awaken their latent skills.
“What is it, Lois?” Perry asked.
“I think we’ve got a valuable hint for the arsonist story, Perry,” Lois said.
“Are you sure?” Perry sounded impatient, stressed. The glance he shot Lois hurried her to explain things a little faster. She did. She told Perry about the evidence leading to Smallville, including the newest bit; the part she hadn’t been able to tell Clark about. Hugh Danes, Director of the Geological section at the Smithsonian Institute of Metropolis was on his way to a congress in Wichita, Kansas. Perry wasn’t convinced. “Great shades of Elvis, Lois. Don’t you think that this could be a just a fluke?”
“No, Perry. All this is linked to Smallville and the institute. I don’t know how, but I’m sure we will find out. Clark and I will spend a few days in Smallville and investigate this. I promise you that we’ll be the next on the list of Pulitzer winning journalists.” Lois replied, excitedly.
Perry only raised an eyebrow, as if to say that a Pulitzer Prize was a big promise, too big to keep.
“What does Kent have to say about it?” Perry wanted to know. Lois was surprised for a moment; Clark was still a greenhorn, though talented. But then it dawned on her that Perry was interested in his opinion, because he wasn’t personally involved in this story, unlike Lois.
“I haven’t told him about Hugh Danes, yet. But I know that he wants to investigate in Smallville,” Lois said. She watched Perry, wishing that she could read his mind. All she could see was the musing expression on his face. He was silent for a while. For Lois, it seemed like an eternity.
“Okay. If you can convince Clark to go with you, the two of you can go to Smallville. But you better return with a good story.” Perry grumbled and then showed Lois out of his office.
As Lois returned to her desk, her phone was ringing again. There was still no sign of Clark and Lois couldn’t help but feel annoyed. Why was he leaving so often? And why wasn’t he telling her where he went? She still didn’t know anything about his mysterious appointment. She had forgotten to ask him about it yesterday, but that didn’t mean that Clark wouldn’t have to explain sooner or later.
Lois picked up the receiver. Angela was at the other end of the line. A jolt of excitement rushed through Lois. She would hear more now. Lois sat down, eagerly listening to her friend.
“Hi Lois, it’s Angela. I’ve got the file on your partner in my hands.”
“That’s great, Angela. Tell me,” Lois replied. She was dying of curiosity.
“It’s interesting, really. You told me that Clark Kent has problems with Child Services. Well, that’s not exactly true.” Angela paused dramatically.
“You mean he lied?” Lois held her breath without even noticing it.
“I don’t think so. I doubt that he would be able to tell the difference between Child Services and his real enemy.” Angela explained. “We only had brief contact with him. When the mother of his child died, our people in Smallville ran an initial check on him. There were no reasons why the child couldn’t stay with him. But he had been moving quite frequently, although he was only 22. Reportedly, there were rumors that he wasn’t the child’s biological father. I also read her that there was an incident with the police. Thus, he was asked to leave his current address with Child Services. He always did that.”
“So who is actually visiting him, Angela?” Lois asked.
“Well, your partner must have pissed someone off, maybe Margaret Donovan in person. She was responsible for his case back in Smallville. I’m pretty sure that whatever they did back there was all Child Services could legally do to get Rebecca Kent away from her dad. But that was to no avail, because there was no proof that he was harming his child in any way. If you ask me, Margaret Donovan used her connections with all kinds of powerful people to give Mr. Kent a hard time ever since. I’ve spoken with a few people in agencies in other places of the USA. Mrs. Donovan starts calling the agencies as soon as she hears that Clark Kent has moved again. After a rush of twenty phone calls every day in two weeks, you can easily convince people to just have a look at the guy. Most of these visits happened unofficially. Nobody ever found any hints that Mr. Kent was cruel to his daughter.”
“But someone called your agency, because they were afraid that Rebecca was being abused by her father.” Lois mentioned.
“Yes, I see that note. But the girl was healthy and there was no sign of abuse. However, after this incident, Mrs. Donovan seems to have started telephone terror. She would convince her former co-workers to check on your partner again and again. I guess you can call that an obsession.” Angela said.
For a moment there was silence between Angela and Lois. Both waited for the other to say something. Lois needed time for the news to settle down. This story was hardly believable and she wondered what Clark might have done to make such a powerful enemy.
“Thanks, Angela. I can’t tell you how much learning this meant to me. I’ll call you soon. Bye.”
“Good bye, Lois.” Angela replied and hung up.
to be continued...
