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The Prankster's Revenge, part 2
by Tank


Lois Lane was worried, and not about her current problem with Kyle Griffin, though that wasn't far from her thoughts either. No, at present she was worried about her partner. She'd called Clark again last night but there was still no answer. She still got his machine. Where was he? She couldn't help but think that something was seriously wrong. Clark would never have let her go through what she'd had to endure yesterday alone. It just wasn't in him. He was her partner and best friend. Only two reasons why he wouldn't have been with her. He either didn't know about what was happening... or he was physically unable to be there for her.

She'd considered calling his folks in Smallville, just to see if he was there, or if they might know where he was. But she'd decided against that. It wasn't likely that he would have gone home without telling her first, so, in case they didn't know where he was, she didn't want to worry them... yet. He had to be somewhere; she just hadn't figured it out yet.

She was counting on the fact that Clark hadn't really been involved with her run-ins with The Prankster all that much. Griffin blamed her and Superman for his troubles, so it was likely that Clark being missing didn't have anything to do with him. But where was he? Why wasn't he here?

The door of the elevator slid open and Lois stepped out onto the floor of the bullpen. She couldn't help but notice that most of the staffers studiously avoided looking at her. Some suddenly found a reason to be elsewhere, while most just turned away. She had become some sort of object of pity, and it bugged her.

"Hey, Lois," Jimmy caught up with her. "What happened to your hair?"

She didn't look at him. "Most of it's in the trash can under my bathroom sink." Fighting off an urge to reach up run her fingers through her raggedly short cropped locks, she continued on toward her desk.

Jimmy nodded, as if coming to a sudden understanding. "Oh, I suppose that tar didn't come out of your hair in the shower, did it."

She glanced over at him. "No, Jimmy, it didn't." She sat down and turned on her computer. She had a lot of work to do to try and find Superman, and she knew that time was running out, for both her and Superman. "If you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do."

"Sure." He began to back away, then stopped. "Are you okay, Lois? I mean, aside from the hair, were you hurt in any way?"

She turned away from her screen and favored Jimmy with a slight smile. "I've a couple of minor burns from the hot tar, but I'm okay. Thanks for asking."

"Lois!" The deep growl of Perry White cut through her conversation with Jimmy. She looked up at her boss, who was standing just outside his office door. "Could I see you for a few minutes?"

"Sure, Chief." Lois got up and moved up the ramp toward her editor's office.

Once inside she was directed to a chair in front of his desk. "Sit." She sat. Perry leaned against the desk. The worry in his eyes was clear to see. "First off, are you all right?"

Her hand involuntarily went to her head. "Well, except for an extremely bad hair day, I'm fine, Perry."

He frowned. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay." He paused, then took a deep breath. "Are you ready to tell me what this is all about?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, I can't." She looked at her boss. "Have you seen or heard from Clark? I haven't been able to get a hold of him."

Perry looked surprised. "No, I haven't seen him for a couple of days. I just thought he was working with you on whatever this was that you aren't talking about."

She bit her lip. "No, I haven't seen him in since the day before yesterday either. I'm worried."

"Have you called his folks?"

"Not yet. I didn't want to alarm them unnecessarily."

Perry didn't speak immediately. He slowly walked around his desk and sat down. "Look, darling, you know how I feel about you, and you know I trust your abilities and your instincts. But this goes against everything I ever learned in this business. You can't keep a story, what ever it is, to yourself. If, god forbid, anything happened to you, no one would know what was going on." He leaned forward and met her guilty look with a hard stare. "Are you sure you can't tell me what this is all about?"

She shook her head again. "Other than what you already know; that it involves me and Kyle Griffin, I can't say any more. If it was only me at risk here, I'd have no problem sharing this with you."

"So it does concern someone else, someone you are protecting. Is it Clark?"

"No, Clark is not involved... at least not that I'm aware of. Unfortunately, this is The Prankster's game and for now he's making the rules and I have to play by those rules."

"So what are you going to do? Are you just going to continue to follow his mandates?"

"Not exactly. I'll do whatever I have to do, but I'm not completely helpless. I've got some things I'm working on that might provide me with a way out of this, but it's a long shot."

"Well, you get back to it, and if there's anything you need, and I mean anything. You just holler and I'll make sure you get it."

With a sad smile, Lois reached out and patted her editor/mentor's hand. "Thanks, Perry, I know." She rose and exited the office, anxious to get back to her research.

**************

It had been a long, grueling morning for Lois, but she had some results. She had decided to operate under the assumption that Griffin's henchmen wouldn't have moved Superman from where they'd first presented him to her, even though they said they were going to. First, they had taken too much care in making sure she didn't know where they were going. She'd been blindfolded, and it had been obvious that they'd taken a circuitous route. Also, the construction of the cage had to have involved some significant effort and she doubted that it was highly portable. So, she was fairly confident that Superman was still imprisoned at that abandoned apartment complex.

Still, her search had to cover a lot of territory. She had estimated that the site could have been anywhere within twenty miles of the Planet. Normally, she would have just asked Jimmy to find any possible abandoned housing complex within a twenty mile radius. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that. Her search had to remain a secret. She couldn't risk her reason for the search getting out.

She had a new appreciation for the stuff that Jimmy was able to do for her. It had been an arduous task, but the hours spent yesterday, and this morning had given her some leads to check into.

There had been over two hundred apartment, or housing complexes within her search parameter, but she'd been able to eliminate almost half of them simply by their construction date. It was clear that the building she'd been to was older, quite a bit older.

Then came the painstaking process of locating the ownership of each of the remaining properties to see if they were still viable rental units. After hours of further internet searching, and numerous phone calls, she'd been able to eliminate most of the rest of her initial list. She was left with twenty seven properties that she couldn't prove were still occupied with current tenets.

She rubbed her temples. Her eyes hurt, and her neck was sore. What she needed right then was a Clark Kent neck rub. She bit her lip. Why hadn't he called? Why wasn't he here? She reached over and picked up her phone. Might as well leave another message on his machine. She was just about to dial the number when she was interrupted by the sudden noise of the bullpen's television sound being turned up. It was time for Bill Doyle's show on LNN, and that meant Kyle Griffin part two.

Lois didn't bother to get up from her desk and instead just leaned back in her seat. Most of the rest of the staff gathered around the hanging screen.

"This is Bill Doyle and today we are continuing our interview with The Prankster, Kyle Griffin."

The camera pulled back to show both men sitting in simple chairs adjacent to each other. There were no guards in the shot, but Lois knew they were off to the side just out of camera view.

"Hi, Bill."

"As our viewers know, yesterday, The Prankster had issued a challenge of sorts to the Daily Planet reporter, Lois Lane. He gave her the first of three assignments, as he called them, to complete; implying some sort of dire consequences if she didn't do as he commanded. As we all saw on LNN yesterday afternoon, Ms. Lane was required to endure being publicly tarred and feathered. Which she did." Doyle turned away from the camera and addressed Griffin directly. "Your enmity toward Lois Lane is no secret, so it's not surprising that your 'assignments' would be, shall we say, unpleasant experiences for Ms. Lane. But what compels her to do as you ask? Are you ready to tell us what hold you seem to have over the normally fierce award-winning reporter?"

Griffin gave Doyle a sly smile, then turned to the camera. "No, Bill, I'm not. This is between Lois and me. She's a grown, liberated, woman and only does what she wants to do. Apparently Lois wants to do what I ask."

"I'm sure."

"Which brings us to today's little bit of adventure. As much as we all love hearing you drone on, and on Bill, I'm sure your viewers are anxious to hear what I have in store for our intrepid Ms. Lane today."

"So... tell us."

"Well, today's lesson is about pain and suffering, Bill. I've suffered quite a bit since I was incarcerated; thanks to Ms. Lane. It's time for her to experience a bit of her own." He smiled for the camera. "Lois, I've heard that you have some knowledge of the fight game. That's good, because then I'm confident that your familiar with the name Tiger Bennett."

"You don't mean...?" Doyle burst in.

Griffin nodded. "Oh yeah. The formally undefeated heavy weight boxing champion. The one who retired without a single blemish on his professional record."

"But, he didn't retire. He was thrown out of boxing when he was convicted of assault and battery charges and sent to jail three years ago."

"Semantics. But he will be a part of this next undertaking. At precisely six o clock this evening there will be an exhibition boxing match taking place at Centennial Park. In one corner the former heavy weight champion, Tiger Bennett. In the other... Mad Dog Lane."

"You can't be serious?"

"Oh, I'm as serious as a heart attack." Griffin leaned in, staring directly into the camera. "Oh, and Lois, this is a by the rules boxing match. None of the martial arts funny stuff. If I see those shapely legs lash out even once, or any shots below the belt, I'll have to consider you in default of our deal. Also I expect you to put up a valiant fight. I don't want to see you running away from your opponent all evening either. If I don't see you in there throwing your own punches and trying your best to win, I will consider that an admission of non-compliance with the spirit of the arrangement." Griffin leaned in a bit closer. "And you know what that means."

"But, Prankster, surely you realize that Ms. Lane could be badly beaten by entering into the ring with an animal like Tiger Bennett."

Griffin stood. "Oh, I'm counting on it." He waved at the camera. "Say goodbye Billy."

Someone turned off the screen, but Lois had stopped seeing it anyway. Perry came over and laid his hand on her shoulder. "You aren't really going to go to Centennial Park to fight Tiger Bennett, are you?"

She looked down at the pile of notes she had scattered across her desk. There wasn't time enough to check out more than one or two of the addresses she had come up with before six. Unless she got miraculously lucky, what choice did she have? "I guess we'll find out at six." She rose, grabbing the large stack of papers as she did so. "You'll have to excuse me, Perry. I've got a lot to try and get done in the next few hours."

"But what are you going to do?"

"What ever I have to, Chief."

**************************************

Clark propped himself up the best he could as he saw the goon who was charged with guarding him pull a chair up in front of the television set. He looked back at Superman and gave him a gap-toothed grin.

"Hey, Supes, can you see all right? I'm not blocking the screen am I?" He chuckled. It was a throaty, sadistic sound. "Boss wants you to be able to watch this. Says you'll get a kick out of it."

Clark's throat burned just like the rest of him, but he managed to croak out a few words. "Why? What's going on now?"

"Seems the boss has set up a little exhibition boxing match for the citizens of Metropolis. Your girlie friend is going to go 15 rounds with the former champ Tiger Bennett."

"No!"

Clark slumped down to a nearly prone position, but then fought his way back to a semi-seated state. Griffin can't be serious. Lois had always been able to handle herself, and her self-defense skills were such that she could deal with most of the common street scum she came into contact with. But Tiger Bennett was a professional fighter. One of the best. She could be badly hurt. Her only hope was to use her martial arts training to get in several of her best shots before he had a chance to land any punch. Even if she managed that, it was very likely that she still wouldn't have the ability to hurt a man like Tiger Bennett enough to incapacitate him. She might just make him mad.

Clark tried to shunt his pain to the back of his consciousness and focus on the screen a few yards away. His jailer reached over and turned up the sound. It was starting. There was some sort of out of tune fanfare played by a few tone deaf individuals. Then a skinny, rat-faced fellow, who Clark recognized as Lenny stepped into the center of the temporary ring, microphone in hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Metropolis, it is my distinct pleasure, through the beneficence of Mr. Kyle Griffin, to present to you a spectacle the likes of which you have never seen before. Tonight for your viewing pleasure we present the ultimate in David versus Goliath combat. A boxing match that will go down in the annals of sporting history."

Lenny walked about the ring, letting his hyperbole sink in before continuing. Raising the microphone to his lips he pointed toward one corner. "In the white corner, we have the former heavy weight champion of the world. A man who held the title an unprecedented three full years... Tiger Bennett!" He paused allowing the crowd to react. There were a few cheers, but mostly boos and catcalls greeted the former champ.

Clark was dismayed to see that even after years in prison, Bennett had kept in shape. He looked every bit the rock hard athlete he'd been in his prime, and he was enjoying the negative response he was getting from the crowd.

"And in the black corner, a woman known to many as the Daily Planet's top snoop. A woman who makes it her business to stick her nose into everybody else's business... Lois Lane!" Cheers and wolf whistles greeted the grim faced woman who reluctantly stepped into the center of the ring.

Clark gasped when he saw Lois. What had happened to her? His captor turned at Clark's gasp and grinned.

"I guess your girlie had some trouble getting cleaned up after yesterday's little demonstration."

"What?"

"I'll bet those feathers were a bitch to get out." He clicked his tongue and chuckled. "Don't think the tar and Lane's hair got along too well, either. Not a good look for her, wouldn't you agree?" He leaned back and roared with laughter.

Clark turned his attention back to the screen, and Lois. He had immediately noticed the short, cropped mess that her hair was, but now he could also see pink patches on parts of her exposed skin. They looked like burns. His anger at her treatment had almost made him forget his own pain as he watched the match begin to unfold.

The referee had just finished his explanation of the rules and had motioned them to their opposite corners. Clark noticed that Inspector Henderson was stationed at Lois' corner. The Inspector leaned over and whispered something into Lois' ear. She nodded. The bell was rung, and the fight was on.

The opponents circled each other for several moments. Tiger had a big, evil grin on his face. Lois' look was grim. Suddenly she darted in and gave Bennett a shot to his stomach. The champ just laughed.

"No, Lois, stay away." Clark felt so helpless. His unwanted companion turned toward him.

"She can't just run away. If she does, she defaults and you go bye-bye. Same goes if she tries and of that fancy martial arts stuff. This has to be strictly a by the rules boxing match."

"But Lois can't possibly win under those circumstances. They're too unevenly matched."

"She don't have to win; just fight."

Clark clenched his fists in frustration. Lois was going to get herself hurt badly, and it was all just to try and protect him. His guilt was like a crushing weight bearing down on him. Why was she doing this? She had to know that Griffin would never keep his word to free him, even if she did everything he asked. But then, this really wasn't about him. This was about Lois.

It was the same conclusion he'd come up with yesterday after watching her public humiliation. Griffin hated Lois; this whole farce was just to get back at her. He didn't really care that much about Superman, or Clark. Superman was just the leverage to get Lois to do his bidding. Griffin knew, as well as Clark did, that Lois would do anything to try to secure Superman's release. Even if she didn't trust the man, she would play along; either in the hopes that he'd keep his word, or that she would be able to figure out a way to engineer his escape another way.

Clark watched, his horror growing as Tiger Bennett began to trap Lois in a corner. He lashed out with a swift left jab. Lois' head snapped back and her nose began to bleed. Clark wouldn't have been surprised if the blow hadn't broken her nose. Bennett followed up with a right hand that knocked Lois to the matt.

"Stay down, Lois. Stay down." Clark's entreaty wasn't heard, nor was the message followed. He knew it wouldn't be. She was Lois Lane, and surrendering, even in the face of unbeatable odds, just wasn't done. She'd win, or she'd lose... but she would never quit.

It was torture for Clark to watch the spectacle that The Prankster had arranged, but he couldn't turn away. The fight, such as it was, lasted nearly an hour and a half. In that time Lois suffered a brutal pounding at the massive fists of the former champion. That wasn't to say that it was a totally one sided contest. Lois, being much younger than Bennett, was also quicker, and at times was able to use that quickness to slip inside the champ's much longer reach and get in a few shots of her own. Clark couldn't help a slight smile from turning up his mouth when Lois managed to bloody Tiger's lip. Still, the reality was that Lois was terribly overmatched and the outcome was a forgone conclusion.

During the match Lois had been continually knocked down, but she always got back up. Until that last time. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity to Clark, Tiger Bennett had landed a savage right cross that actually lifted Lois off her feet. She didn't get back up. After being counted out by the referee Lois had been taken off by some attending medics amidst the jeers and booing that followed Bennett's upraised hand.

Clark continued to stare at the television screen long after it had been turned off. Tears rolled down his cheeks as the awful memory of Lois being carried out of the boxing ring was burned into his brain. His hands were shaking so bad that he had to clench them into fists to stop it.

For the time that he'd spent watching the sham of a contest his own pain had been forgotten. Instead he was living hers. That she would endure such a thing for him was paradoxically both exhilarating and devastating. To know that her love and concern for him was such that she would willingly put her own welfare at risk was an incredible thing, but at the same time, the crushing guilt he felt for the situation Lois was forced into because of him was nearly paralyzing.

Would Lois ever be able to forgive him? How could she? Could he ever forgive himself?

Head bowed, the words were again whispered into his chest. "Lois, I'm so sorry."

**************************

It was late when Lois got back to her apartment. The doctor that treated her at the hospital had wanted her to stay overnight, 'for observation', but she decided that she could lay about feeling crappy in her own bed as well as the one in Metropolis General. Since none of her injuries were life threatening, nor needed any continued treatment, the doctor agreed to let her leave. Not that he could have stopped her any way.

Dumping her bag, and jacket on a chair, she noticed the light on her answering machine was blinking. She rushed over and hit the button, hoping that it was Clark.

"Hello, Lois, this is Martha Kent. We saw that terrible fight on the television and had to call to see if you were all right. Please give us a call to let us know how you are. We’re worried about you, honey."

A sad smile crept onto Lois face. It was so typical of Jon and Martha. They were more concerned about her well being than her own parents were. Her smile quickly faded. If they were calling her that meant that they hadn't heard from Clark either. It also meant that Clark wasn't in Smallville or he would have been the one calling. She began to feel a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature.

All the way back from the hospital the only thing that kept going through her mind had been Clark. She was beginning to get scared. Clark was her partner, and her best friend, and she hadn't seen him since before the whole debacle with Griffin had started. The only way the Clark wouldn’t have been there for her was if he couldn't. The call from Martha proved that even in Kansas people knew what was going on, so it was highly unlikely that he wouldn't know what had been happening if he'd just been out of town.
No, something was very wrong.

Lois slowly moved over toward her couch as she examined the situation. She knew Clark. He was always trying to protect her from herself. Again she figured that the only reasons Clark wouldn't be by her side during a time like this were; either he was unaware of what was happening, or he physically was unable to be there.

Since he wasn't at his folks, and he wouldn't be out trying to dig up some story without her, she had to figure that he wasn't around because he wasn't able to be. It was the only logical conclusion, and it scared her. What could have happened? Did Griffin kidnap Clark too, like he had Superman? If so... why? And if he had Clark, why hadn't he used him as leverage against her also?

The more she dwelled on it the more it became clear that Griffin didn't have Clark. He knew well enough how close she and Clark were. That they were partners and friends. If he had kidnapped Clark there would have been no reason to go after Superman. After all, Superman was a much more risky prisoner to take, even if you did have a kryptonite cage. But the fact still remained; Clark wasn't around and that meant he most likely was being held somewhere against his will, just like Superman.

Just... like... Superman.

Lois thought she was going to have a stroke. Her head suddenly seemed like it was going to explode. Could that really be the answer? Her mind unspooled memories of countless lame excuses followed by a disappearing act which just happened to precede an appearance by Superman somewhere. Then he'd come back with an equally lame story of how he 'just happened' to run into Superman who gave him the all the details of his latest endeavor.

How could she have been so blind?

Just then the phone rang. Startled by the sudden ringing, Lois rose and went to the phone. Who would be calling her at this hour? She picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Oh, Lois, thank god you're home. This is Martha Kent, are you all right?"

Lois felt a tangible feeling of warmth at the sound of motherly concern in Martha's voice. "Hi, Martha. I'm a little worse for wear, but overall I'm okay."

"I'm sorry to be calling so late, but we just talked to Mr. White and he told us that you'd left the hospital and were going home. We just had to call to see if you were all right. Jon and I watched that horrible fight on the television and were very worried about you. It looked like you took a terrible beating."

"Well, I've got a broken nose, bruised ribs, a split lip, a slight concussion, and a whole lot of cuts and scraps, but nothing that won't heal."

"I can't believe you agreed to do that, and what's more I can't believe Clark let you."

"Clark doesn't run my life, Martha."

"I didn't mean to say he did. But you have to admit that you facing that Tiger Bennett fellow just doesn't make any sense."

"I had my reasons. I take it, then, that you haven't heard from Clark lately?"

"No." Suddenly the voice on the other end of the phone sounded wary.

"Well, I haven't either. I haven't seen Clark since before this whole thing with The Prankster started." Lois paused for Martha to answer but she was met with silence. "Martha, do you know where Clark is?"

"Ah, no, dear, I don't."

Lois frowned. "Well, I think I do."

"Obviously you know some things that you aren't telling us, Lois. Would you like to share that knowledge?"

"I wish I could, Martha. It would be great to have someone to talk to about this, but I can't."

"Is he alright?"

"Not entirely, but he's safe for the time being."

Lois could almost hear the wheels turning in Martha Kent's brain. "Should Jonathan and I come to Metropolis?"

Lois bit her lip and shook her head, then realizing what she'd done, she sighed. "No, not yet. Give me a little time to work on some leads that I have. We'll make some time after all this is over to discuss various 'revelations'; if you get my drift."

"I think I do. We'll wait to hear from you." There was a pause. "Oh, and Lois?"

"Yes?"

"Never forget that he loves you."

For the first time in days Lois found herself with a smile on her face. "I know."

Lois hung up and began chewing on her lower lip as she pondered her next moves. It was clear that she wasn't going to get any help in this matter from Clark. It was more important than ever that she find out where Superman was being held. She'd been doing as Griffin asked because Superman was her friend, and in the bigger picture, the world needed him. But with what she had worked out tonight, it had just gotten personal. Clark was her partner, her best friend, and... the man she loved.

No matter how tired she was, or how much her body ached, sleep wouldn't come easy tonight.