Chapter 25:
Bruce was troubled as he drove back to the airport to return the rental car. Unbeknownst to Lois, he was skilled at reading lips and the ring he had given Lois had two micro-camera eyes on it – one focusing on her, one focusing on Luthor. When Lois rubbed her finger over the ring, she temporarily blocked the light, alerting Bruce that Lois was feeling uncomfortable. The several times that Luthor had grabbed her arm and tried to hold her hands had hindered his view temporarily as well.
The video signal was transmitted at such a high frequency that there was no way that Luthor could detect it. It was a state of the art Wayne Tech gadget. He didn’t want Lois to worry, so he didn’t disclose the true nature of the ring to her.
He was watching their interview on his wrist-vid back in the other restaurant. There was no sound, but he was able to decipher what Luthor had said to her. Bruce had no idea who “Tempus” was, but apparently he was responsible for Lois’ mysterious disappearance five years ago. A man who had such a hatred for Clark and her that he would bring Luthor into the fold as well was indeed a frightening adversary.
As Bruce entered his plane, and taxied down the runway to head back to Gotham City, his mind was whirling. He could feel Lois’ dilemma – on the one hand, she was certain that Luthor would follow through with his threat if she didn’t go out on the date with him. But there was no way he would be done with her afterwards, in spite of his “promise” to the contrary. He would have the Daily Planet’s star reporter in his back pocket, and that would be very handy indeed for him.
Seeing Luthor’s satellite pictures of the three of them in the Kryptonite wheat field didn’t surprise him. And while it would be hurtful for those pictures to be uploaded on the internet, as Batman, he didn’t much care what people thought. He was there to rid Gotham of its underworld, and no matter what the public consensus was, he planned to forge on, regardless.
But Clark – well, he cared about the public’s perception of him – that was the “boy scout” part of him. Bruce had analyzed the differences between him and Clark – Clark lost his parents to a freak car accident, while he had watched his parents gunned down in a vicious, random act of violence. As a teenager, Bruce felt his hatred for the underworld continue to grow and so he sought martial arts and other types of physical training to prepare himself for a lifetime war against criminals.
Clark, on the other hand, started gaining unbelievable abilities as a teenager, and secretly starting saving people and trying to make the world a better place. Clark was sunshine, and Bruce was the darkness. They *both* wanted to save the world, but their motives and methods were completely different. Bruce knew that Clark would never be able to live with the fact that Lois had slept with Lex Luthor. And, even if Luthor didn’t spill the beans, Bruce would bet that eventually Lois’ guilt would make her confess. And Lois would never be the same person if she went through with his conniving scheme.
Bruce was surprised at himself that a small, romantic side of him wanted Lois and Clark to have a happy ending. Somehow, he was going to have to intervene without Lois knowing about it, or he would put her life and the deal she made with Luthor in jeopardy.
~~~~~
“Honey – what’s the matter?” Clark asked, kissing Lois on her forehead. “Have I lost the magic touch with you already? You didn’t make coyotes howl that time.”
“What? No, of course not. I’m just thinking that we need to get that soil sample over to Bernie Klein. And we have my family party on Sunday, remember?”
Clark laughed. “Lois, it’s eleven o’clock back east in Metropolis. Bernie’s a workaholic, but I doubt he’ll be there now. First thing tomorrow morning, we’ll head back to the city. Tonight, I’m all yours. Whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go, name it. You seem really distracted. That interview with Luthor has something to do with it, doesn’t it?”
“No… really, Clark. He was in a big rush, so he put me off until Friday. He handed me the standard bio of him, and when I tried to ask him the tough questions, he just deferred me to ask him again next week. And my ankle is still hurting, that’s all.”
“Lois Lane, don’t lie to me. Whatever it is, you don’t have to carry the burden of it alone. Don’t be stubborn, and don’t try to protect me. My shoulders are broad enough for the both of us.”
Tears started to well up in Lois’ eyes. “Do you have any way to get in touch with Herb?” she asked softly.
“H. G Wells - *that* Herb?” Clark replied, astonished. “Why?”
“I’m going to need his help.” Lois looked down at her swollen ankle, not wanting to meet Clark’s concerned gaze. “To get to the other world again.”
Clark took Lois in his arms and squeezed her. “Honey, what did you get yourself into now?”
Lois started to cry. “Oh, all right! I found out that Tempus contacted Luthor way before you even came to Smallville. The two of them were responsible for my kidnapping. Luthor’s jealous of you. He’s threatening that if I don’t do what he wants me to do that Tempus will take me away from you again, this time for good.”
Clark was incredulous. “Honey, calm down,” he said, enveloping her in a big bear hug. “Those bastards. I’ve never even met Luthor – how it is possible for him to hate me that much? I’m a complete stranger to him.”
“It’s your powers and abilities – no matter how much money he has, he wants to be you. He wants to have everything you have….”
“Including *you*. The SOB!” Clark accidentally set the chair adjacent to him on fire just thinking about it.
Clark’s pyrotechnics momentarily lightened the tension between them. “Not so much of a boy scout now, I see,” Lois smiled. “I’m flattered, Smallville. Listen, though! I think I might have a solution. The other Lois told me that her Luthor had cloned her. I need to find out how he did that.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because I’m going to need a clone of me to go out on a date with Lex Luthor on Friday.”
Clark’s eyes widened as he looked into his love’s eyes, realizing that she was dead serious. “Omigod. You cut some type of deal with him, didn’t you? To keep me safe… honey, *never* do that for me. You hear me?” he shouted, holding Lois’ shoulders. “I’m here to protect and save *you*, not the other way around.”
“Clark, this isn’t your decision to make. And I can’t give you all the details – at least, not right now. All you need to do for me is find a way to get in touch with Herb – I need to go to the other world – talk to Lois. She’s the only one that can help me,” Lois choked out, fighting back the tears.
“What did the other Lois tell you about her Lex Luthor and clones?” Clark asked incredulously.”
“Well, we were talking about sex –how her and Clark saved it for their wedding night – and”
~~~~Flashback~~~~~
“There were lots of things that got in the way of our wedding – clones, kidnapping, amnesia, wacko shrinks, and a pyscho wedding destroyer!” Thin-Lois exclaimed.
“Clones? Really?” Larger Lois replied in amazement.
“Yes. Luthor had been conducting illegal research on cloning human beings. Unbeknownst to Clark, just before our first wedding, I was kidnapped and replaced with a clone. The clone actually married Clark, while Luthor held me hostage.”
Larger Lois stared into her thinner-twin’s eyes. “Please tell me that Clark didn’t sleep with the clone?”
“Thankfully, no. She wasn’t attracted to Clark, strangely enough. She told him she had a headache and fell asleep on him. Imagine Clark’s frustration – we had waited until our wedding night, and I - *she* - wasn’t interested in consummating the deal! She was trying to please Luthor – he was like her father, because he created her. And she had to eat frogs in order to stay alive.”
“What? Ewwww,” Larger Lois exclaimed. “So what happened?”
“The cloned Lois started to have a change of heart. She was like a child – she may have been full-grown, but she didn’t have the life experience or maturity of an adult. Plus, Luthor’s technique hadn’t been perfected and her life-span turned out to be very short. She died a hero though, finally trying to make things right.”
“Wow. I don’t know the Lex Luthor of my world. I mean, I’ve heard of him, but he doesn’t seem to be a criminal like the one in your world,” Larger Lois observed.
“Lois, whatever you do, don’t *ever* trust a Lex Luthor. He’s evil, and jealous of Superman. He was in love with me, and I almost married him until the truth about him came out. If I were you, I’d make him my first research project when you get back to your world. He’s a cancer, ready to poison whatever world he’s in.”
“Wow. Okay, you’ve got a deal.”
~~~~~end of flashback ~~~~~
Clark shook his head as Lois finished her recollection of the conversation. “No wonder you put him on your short list of important interviews, Lois. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
“Well, first off, since I’m not as sexy and beautiful as the other world’s Lois Lane, I didn’t think that he would ever come on to me like he did her. And secondly, just because someone is evil in one world doesn’t necessarily make him a bad guy in another.”
Clark reached over to Lois’ face, gently holding her cheeks and pulling her into a kiss.
“Well, first off: WRONG! You are *just* as sexy and beautiful as the other Lois – even sexier, I think,” he said, taking his hand and slowly massaging her ample breasts until they hardened in response to his handiwork. “And, to your second point - don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not like you to give anyone the benefit of the doubt – I have to say I’m surprised.”
Lois kissed Clark sweetly in response to his kind words. “They do say love is blind, Smallville, and when it comes to me, you have a lead blindfold on! You always know exactly the right thing to say, don’t you?”
“When the right thing to say is simply the truth, it’s easy, honey. Stop being down on yourself, will you?”
Lois blushed and looked down again. It was still hard for her to accept a compliment.
“Anyway, once we found LabRat and we discovered the Kryptonite field, I knew that our world’s Lex Luthor had the same flawed character traits as the other world’s,” she continued. “So it was a temporary reprieve – very short-lived.”
“So you want the clone of you to spend the day with Luthor, so he thinks you actually went through with whatever sordid bargain you made with him. Kind of a turnabout of what he did to the other Lois on her wedding day.”
“Exactly. We don’t have much time. Less than a week until my day of shadowing him.”
Clark brightened up. “Let’s assume that the Lex Luthor of the other world and our Lex Luthor are *very* similar. So similar, in fact, that perhaps he also has been doing illegal research on cloning?”
“So… since we don’t have a way to get in touch with Herb – we’re going to have to do something about that, I can see – we need to find out whatever other stuff *our* Luthor’s been up to – and quickly!” Lois exclaimed, her face bright with hope and anticipation once again.
“Bruce!” They both shouted his same out simultaneously.
~~~~~
Flying through the night sky towards their sister city of Gotham, Clark whispered to Lois, “I think that’s his plane up ahead.”
Noticing the bat-shaped insignia on the side of it, Lois agreed. “Now that we’ve found him, what’s our game plan?”
Clark smiled. “I’m sure his radar has already picked up that we’re on his tail.”
Flying close to the cockpit, Clark slowed his speed to equal that of Bruce’s Batplane. Lois waited until Bruce turned his head and waved at him. He shook his head and motioned for them to follow him.
About twenty minutes later, Clark and Lois were amazed to see that in the outskirts of Gotham City, Bruce’s plane was headed towards what looked like a lonely country road. Suddenly the ground opened up and seemed to swallow the three of them whole. They were suddenly in an extremely wide tunnel, like a subway, while Bruce slowed the plane and taxied down the runway in what could only be described as a large cavernous underground hangar.
As the cockpit door opened, Lois and Clark saw the Batman emerge in all his dark glory. Bruce lifted up his cowl and said, “Welcome to the Batcave!”
“Wow,” Lois said, looking around. “This is absolutely amazing. Look at all of the equipment you have here. I bet you have NASA beat!”
Clark rose and flew slowly around the perimeter of the Batcave, in awe of the computer and technology that Bruce had at his disposal, as well as all of the exercise equipment installed.
“Hey, Clark, I have to work at staying in shape, unlike you,” Bruce quipped. “What do I owe the honor of seeing you both again so quickly?” he asked, feeling intuitively that Lois must have spilled the beans to Clark about her conversation with Luthor.
“Forget what I said before about Luthor, Bruce,” Lois replied. “Change of plans. We need to find out if he’s conducting any cloning research. Can you help us?”
Bruce’s lightning fast mind started to put the pieces together. “Cloning? Human cloning?” <She wants to send a clone on her date with Luthor. Interesting.>
“Yes. It’s a long story, Bruce, but there are alternate universes – worlds that are almost exactly like ours, with slight differences. I have been to such as world, and so has Clark. The Lex Luthor in the other world was able to make a clone of me and he switched us on our wedding day and kidnapped the real Lois. I need to know if the Lex Luthor of this world is conducting the same research. I don’t want to spend the day with him on Friday if he’s planning the same thing.”
<She didn’t tell Clark everything. Smart lady.> “Sound incredulous, but if you say it’s true, I believe you. My computer can hack into Luthor’s mainframe. You see, I already knew about his Kryptonite field, way before you did. I’ve been tracking him for awhile. I was focusing on his Kryptonite research mainly. I’m sure if he’s conducting illegal research on human cloning, it would be with his R & D division. I’ve been only hacking into his Agricultural division. Let’s give it a try.”
Just at that moment, a British gentleman entered through a secret panel door in the cave. “Master Wayne, would your guests like a spot of tea or coffee?”
“Alfred – meet Clark – Superman – Kent and his partner, Lois Lane. Lois and Clark, this is Alfred, my butler and longtime friend,” Bruce said in introduction.
“Miss Lane, quite a pleasure. I trust the clothes purchased for you were suitable?”
“Actually, Alfred – they were. I have them on right now. You have excellent taste,” Lois said, offering her hand in greeting.
Alfred gently squeezed her proffered hand. Then he turned to Clark, and extended his hand in a firm shake. “Mr. Kent – it’s a pleasure indeed to meet you as well. Master Wayne and I have been following your exploits closely. Master Wayne won’t admit it to your face, but he’s a real fan of yours,” he disclosed, smiling.
“And I’m becoming a real fan of his as well,” Clark replied, winking at Bruce. “We had a rough start the first time we met, but sometimes spending time with the person who is your exact opposite makes you stretch and grow.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “You really *are* a boy scout, aren’t you?”
“Again – Master Wayne, Master Kent, Madame Lane – can I get you a hot beverage?”
“I’ll have my usual Earl Grey – what about you, Clark and Lois?” Bruce asked.
“Coffee sounds good, Alfred. A little cream and one sweet’n’low for me, and a lot of cream and two sugars for Clark,” Lois piped up.
~~~~~
The three tireless investigators were transfixed over Bruce’s computer console for hours. At long last, Bruce was able to break into Luthor’s R & D mainframe computer.
“Woo-hoo!” Lois exclaimed. “Now to find a project that has something to do with cloning experiments.”
“Lois, I’m sure it’s not going to be quite that obvious. From my previous research, he has a strange sense of humor and he names his projects using biblical references.”
“Okay, then maybe this one is it: ‘Genesis.6’. What I remember of the bible is that God created man in his own image on the sixth day. Since Luthor likes to play God, this is probably it,” Lois asserted.
“Ok, we’re going in,” Bruce said. Sure enough, a screen full of research on cloning popped up, along with an address for a laboratory. It was located in New Mexico, in an extremely remote area at the foot of the mountains.
“From what I can see here, Luthor’s been conducting genetic research experiments for at least five years,” Bruce disclosed, quickly analyzing the data. “He started with animals, but it looks like – omigod – he has determined that Kryptonite particles infused in DNA can create super-strong human beings. He’s looking to build an army of super-clones. How bizarre!”
“This is illegal, isn’t it? Can’t we just bust this story wide open?” Lois asked.
Clark cleared his throat. “Lois – what *we’re* doing is illegal.”
“Good point, Smallville. How long does it take to clone someone, does it say?”
“Several months, Lois. So there’s no way we can ‘grow’ a Lois-clone by Friday. Unless -“ Bruce stopped in mid-stream. “There might already be one of you. I see a sub-file here entitled ‘Utopia’. That guy that kidnapped you – Tempus – he may have also given Luthor a DNA sample of yours way back then.”
“Open it, open it!” exclaimed Lois. “Omigod! What if I’m the clone and the real me has been a prisoner of Luthor’s all this time?”
“Honey, stop it. Didn’t you tell me that this clone of yours that the Luthor in the other universe created was childlike and immature? A clone might be your genetic match, but it’s not going to have your memories and life experience. You’re getting paranoid, sweetheart,” Clark said, chuckling, kissing Lois on the forehead.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But if one of the reasons Tempus kidnapped me was to make a clone of me? He’s in cahoots with Luthor. Knowing what I know now… ugh…” Lois stopped, not wanting to continue with her train of thought.
“Hey Bruce,” Clark said, suddenly realizing something didn’t fit. “How did you know about Tempus and his fixation with ‘Utopia’, anyway? I don’t think we ever discussed it with you.”
“Busted,” Bruce replied. “Lois, I was able to follow your conversation with Luthor with the ring I gave you to wear. I was reading lips, but I got the gist of it.”
Lois and Bruce locked gazes for a moment. At that moment Lois realized that Bruce knew exactly what she was up against.
“Let’s just check out that research facility in New Mexico,” Clark suggested.
“Clark – according to the schematic diagrams of the facility, it’s lined with lead – and there is probably Kryptonite somewhere inside. If Luthor is conducting genetic research fusing DNA with Kryptonite, my guess is that this cloning factory might be deadly to you.”
“This is a job for Batman and Batwoman,” Lois crowed. “Clark, you bring the soil sample to Bernie Klein, and Bruce and I will snoop around the cloning factory.”
“Batwoman?” Bruce said, aghast. “Might I remind you that your ankle is still double its normal size from trying to parachute into a wheat field?”
“Just an expression, Batman, don’t get your tights in an uproar,” Lois joked. “Besides, my ankle will be back to normal by tomorrow. A little ice pack wrap on it, and I’ll be brand new.”
“Honey, we have to go to a party tomorrow night. We need to do a little more research before we go breaking into a Luthor Corp research facility,” Clark argued.
Bruce, knowing how important this clone might be to Lois, intervened. “Clark – Lois – this is the kind of stuff I do best. You guys go back to Metropolis and I’ll keep investigating. I’ll call you by Monday at the Daily Planet under the ruse of Brazzaville Foundation business – don’t worry. If there is a clone of you, I’ll find it.”
Lois and Clark looked at each other and nodded in agreement. “Ok, Bruce. With all of this equipment, you’ve got to be the world’s best detective!”
“That I am, trust me,” Bruce agreed. “Listen, you two, go back home, have fun at the family reunion tomorrow, and trust me to do this for you.”
Lois gave Bruce a hug. “Batman, you’re the greatest!”
Clark held out his hand and the two men shook on it. “Talk to you on Monday, Bruce. If you need anything, call.”
“Will do, Clark.”
“Say good-bye to Alfred for us,” Lois added. “He’s wonderful.”
“That he is,” Bruce said in agreement.
~~~~~
TBC ...FYI, this may go to 30 chapters...best laid plans, etc....
