Hello everyone! Thanks to all your wonderful fdk, I was inspired to post part 2 early. So here it is. I realize a lot of you are probably out of town today due to the holiday and that it might be a few days before I hear from any of you. But here's part 2 anyway, for those of you who are around. <g>
Thanks again!
Here's the TOC in case you missed part 1:
Table of Contents And here's where we left off with part 1:
Luthor advanced on him in a rush and took an unsteady swipe at Clark’s throat. Clark dodged at the last second, but his attempt to evade cost him his footing and he stumbled backwards down the stairs. In that instant Luthor swung out with the axe. The steel blade penetrated Clark’s vulnerable skin and he felt a red-hot heat rip through his side, sending a searing jolt of pain through him.
Clark let out an anguished cry and Luthor lunged out with the axe punching Clark in the stomach with the flat end of the blade. It knocked Clark off his feet and he fell the last couple of steps. He slammed into the rock wall behind him, hitting his head hard. The room started spinning and he slid slowly down the wall until he came to rest against the landing.
He grit his teeth. The pain from his wound was almost unbearable. He hadn’t thought anything could hurt worse than the Kryptonite. Clark looked down and felt faint from the blood that was seeping into his shirt.
Luthor arrogantly strode down the stairs, smiling at Clark. “So wise so young, they say do never live long.” He chuffed a short laugh. “This axe is special, Mr. Kent. It was going to be the death of Superman. I wanted the satisfaction of personally plunging this through Superman’s heart – watching him suffer as he drew his last breath. You may have taken that from me, but I most certainly will get the satisfaction of killing you with it.”
Clark’s mind was hazy. He couldn’t seem to concentrate on Luthor and the only thought he could hold on to was that he was sorry he had failed Lois. But as he watched Luthor adjust his grip on the axe, Henderson entered through the open door at the top of the stairs. His gun was drawn and aimed at Luthor. “It’s over, Luthor!”
“It’s never over!” Luthor snarled as he raised the axe up to plunge it into Clark’s defenseless body. Henderson didn’t waste any time and fired his weapon, hitting Luthor in the back between his shoulder blades. The axe slipped from Luthor’s hands, clattering noisily down the stairs to the floor below, and he collapsed next to Clark. He looked up at Clark and coughed. Blood began to trickle from his mouth when he opened it. Luthor tried to speak but before he could form any words his eyes closed and his body slumped.
The world was swimming around Clark, colors and images blurring and fading and he fell over. The last thing he heard was Henderson calling his name.
**********
PART TWO
**********
Lois followed one of the officers into yet another room, questioning his retreating form, “What do you mean you can’t tell me what’s going on? Don’t you know? Can you at least tell me if you’ve heard back from Henderson yet?” She was doing her best to remain calm but the officer’s insistence on ignoring her was beginning to aggravate her.
The young officer stopped and turned to face her. To keep from running into him, she stopped so suddenly that the slick soles of her satin shoes slid on the polished surface of the tiled floor. “Listen, Ms. Lane, I realize you’re not the person we came here to arrest today but don’t push me. I might decide that the future Mrs. Luthor is disrupting the peace...”
Lois scowled at him and opened her mouth to flash a retort – how dare he call her that? - but a voice from his walkie-talkie cut her off.
“Johnson? This is Henderson. Call an ambulance. We’ve got a civilian down. I repeat, man down.”
Officer Johnson’s face paled. “Sir, do you require assistance? Have you apprehended Luthor?”
“Luthor’s dead,” Henderson’s voice came back. Lois’s eyes went wide in shock. What had happened? “Now get me that ambulance, Johnson, and tell Perry White that one of his reporters has been wounded. It’s Clark Kent.”
Johnson pulled a cell phone from his belt and began dialing numbers while Lois looked on in shock. Lex was dead and Clark was hurt?
Lois hurried out of the room into the hallway headed towards the elevators. Clark was hurt! She had to find him. How badly was he hurt? Henderson hadn’t said, but if they were calling an ambulance that couldn’t be good. She suddenly felt numb and everything seemed to tilt out of focus. Staggering forward, she reached out for the wall in front of her to steady herself.
Clark was hurt...
Lois felt a pair of arms grab hold of her and she turned dazedly to look into the eyes of her concerned editor. “Perry?”
“Lois, honey, are you all right?”
“Perry! It’s Clark. I have to find Clark.” She started squirming in his arms to get free of his grasp.
“Now hold on,” Perry instructed her, slowly releasing her but keeping one hand on her, “You looked like you were going to pass out on me. We’ll find Clark in a minute. You just need to...”
“No, Perry!” she wailed. “You don’t understand. Clark’s hurt. He’s been wounded somehow. We have to find him.” She took his hand in hers and pulled on him, urging him to come with her down the hallway. They were close to the elevator. She would get on the elevator and...
And do what? Go where? She didn’t even know where he was.
“Honey, what in Elvis’s name is going on?” Perry huffed, refusing to let himself be dragged with her. “How do you know Clark’s hurt? I haven’t even seen Clark in the last two days. What did you...”
Lois whirled on him, feeling too panicked and impatient to explain herself but understanding that she had to. “Because I heard it on the police radio. Henderson said Clark had been wounded and they were calling an ambulance. I have to find him!”
“Okay, just calm down. If they’ve called an ambulance then our best bet is to go downstairs and wait for it outside. All right?”
“Okay, Perry. I just... I need to find him.” Lois swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and bit back tears. He had to be all right. Please let him be okay. She hadn’t even gotten to tell him yet... He didn’t even know...
This time it was Perry who took the lead, taking her hand and escorting her into another room across the hallway. He was going in the wrong direction – the opposite direction of the elevators. “Perry, the elevators are...”
“I know. I have to let Jimmy know where we’re going. Jimmy!” Perry bellowed as they entered the room.
“Yeah, Chief?” Jimmy yelped as he jumped and then jerked his head around to look them.
“Lois and I are going downstairs to check on Clark – don’t ask, I’ll tell you later. If Henderson comes looking for me you tell him Lois and I went to check on Clark. You keep an eye on Jack and I’ll meet up with the two of you later, okay?”
“Sure,” Jimmy said, looking thoroughly confused but knowing better than to question Perry when he was giving orders. Perry nodded at him and then turned on heel, headed back out of the room towards the elevators. Lois followed closely behind him.
They rode the elevator in silence. The ride was taking entirely too long for Lois. She glanced at the digital readout. It was going down in variables of ten and was currently displaying the fiftieth floor – she was over halfway there. Come on, come on, she thought furiously, move faster! With the wedding ceremony taking place here today, Lex had pretty much shut down the rest of the building so hopefully the elevator would have an uninterrupted trip to the ground floor.
She looked at the readout again – fortieth floor – and then began repeating to herself that Clark was going to be okay. He had to be.
But what if he wasn’t? What if she never again got to see that beautiful smile light up his face? She thought back to the night he had held her in his arms when Barbara Trevino had threatened to kill her. Would she ever feel his arms around her like that again? Her mind raced to the kiss they had shared in the honeymoon suite of the Lexor hotel. Would she ever have the opportunity to kiss him like that for real?
She glanced down at her wedding dress and immediately felt tears trying to form but she held them back. She wouldn’t cry, not yet, not until she knew he was okay. Then she could cry tears of relief.
But what had happened to him? All she knew was that he had been badly wounded – bad enough that it had warranted an ambulance. She looked back up at the readout – twentieth floor - and then shut her eyes. She began her mantra again - please be okay, Clark.
She opened her eyes when the bell dinged, alerting them that they had arrived at their destination. When she stepped from the elevator she was off at a run towards the front doors. She could see bright red and white bursts of light coming from the ambulance outside and each flash tore through her. If he wasn’t injured that badly, they wouldn’t be in such a hurry. They wouldn’t still have the lights flashing like that. Would they?
Lois hit the front doors at top speed and shoved through them, not caring that part of her wedding gown had gotten caught in the side of the door and ripped. She could see them lifting a gurney up into the back of the ambulance and she hurried over to it. It was Clark, there was blood on his shirt and an oxygen mask was attached to his face.
“Clark!” she cried in a strangled voice.
“Excuse me, Miss,” one of the paramedics said. He stepped in front of her to halt her progress.
“No, please. That’s my friend. Is he all right? I need to see him,” she begged.
“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t allow you in the ambulance. You’ll need to...”
“Which hospital are they taking him to?” Perry’s voice cut the paramedic off. He walked up behind Lois and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“Metropolis Regional South.” With that the paramedic left them standing there as he climbed inside the back of the ambulance and shut the doors.
“Oh, Perry,” she sniffled as she watched the ambulance drive off, sirens blaring.
“Come on, honey. I’ll get you there. My car’s parked just over there.” He gestured across the street. “I pity the person who gets in our way.”
**********
Lois walked through the automatic doors into the emergency room waiting area. Perry had dropped her off at the front door and was parking the car. She walked up to the check-in desk and tried to steady her voice as she spoke to the woman sitting there, “Can you tell me where I can find a patient who was just brought in?”
The woman was typing on her computer and didn’t look up or acknowledge Lois for a few seconds. Lois was about to get impatient when the woman finally looked up at her with tired eyes and simply said, “Name?”
It must have been a busy day. Lois finally realized that the waiting room area was overflowing with people. “Clark Kent.”
The woman flipped through some charts on her desk before nodding slightly. “He’s in an exam room right now.”
“Is he all right? Do you know how long he’ll...”
“No, ma’am. I’m sorry. If you want to have a seat, I can check again for you a little later.”
Lois felt her shoulders sag. She desperately wanted to see Clark, to touch him and tell him that she was here. But it wouldn’t do her any good to press the woman further. It would probably just irritate her. “Thank you.”
She turned around to see Perry come walking through the doors. “Did you find out anything?” he asked.
She shook her head. “The only thing they could tell me was that he’s in an exam room.”
Perry nodded at her. “It could be a while before we can see him.” He let out a long sigh. “Listen, Lois, I can sit here and wait if you want to run home and change your clothes or...”
Lois was shaking her head. “No. I can’t leave, Perry. What if something happens? Or something goes wrong? We don’t even know how badly he’s hurt. I have to be here.” She looked down at the wedding dress she had on and fingered the tear that had been ripped into the side of it. Between her attire, her swollen eyelids and her tear-stained cheeks, she was sure she was quite a sight. But she wasn’t leaving. Not until she got to see Clark and she knew that he was okay.
Perry nodded softly at her in understanding. They looked around for a place to sit but there simply wasn’t any. Lois felt like her legs were going to give out and considered just sitting down on the floor, wedding dress and all. Instead she leaned against one wall and tipped her head back to rest against it, closing her eyes.
She felt Perry’s hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes to look at him. “Come on, let’s go, kiddo.”
He turned and headed for the front doors and Lois followed behind him voicing her objection, “No, I told you, I can’t leave.”
“I’m not asking you to, darlin’, there’s a bench just outside.” He pointed out the window. “You look like you could use a place to sit.”
Lois frowned, not really happy with leaving the emergency room itself. But maybe she could sit for just a little while and then she could go back inside to check on Clark.
She sank onto the bench Perry had led them to with a grateful sigh. It was a pretty spring day. The air was warm and the sun was shining. And yet, something seemed wrong with that. How could the sun be shining while Clark lay inside a cold exam room in pain?
A sob tried to rise in the back of her throat. This was her fault. Clark was here and was hurt because of her. She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but if Luthor was dead and Clark was injured...
Why hadn’t she listened to him? Why hadn’t she believed him? If he died without ever knowing... thinking that she...
Tears began to slip past her closed eyelids and her breath caught as she tried to hold them back. She felt Perry’s arm slide around her shoulders and he gave her a gentle squeeze. He didn’t say anything, just comforted her as she let the anxiety of the day finally wash over her.
The tangled mass of her emotions was almost too much to endure and Lois was glad when she heard the sound of a car pulling up to the curb in front of them. It gave her a needed distraction. She was a little surprised to see it was a police car and even more amazed when she saw Henderson get out, followed by Jimmy and Jack.
“White.” Henderson nodded his head at Perry and then turned to look at her, “Lois.” Henderson rarely used her first name and for some reason the way he had said it so softly made her want to cry. But she wasn’t going to cry in front of Henderson so she bit back the tears that were threatening to begin anew.
“Thanks for dropping the boys off,” Perry told him, extending his hand.
Henderson took the hand and shook it. “No problem. Listen I’ve gotta get down to the precinct and get some paperwork filled out, but I need to speak to Kent just as soon as he feels capable of talking.”
“What happened?” Lois finally blurted out. She wasn’t going to let him leave without an explanation.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened,” Henderson admitted, shaking his head. “That’s why I need to talk to Kent. But if you mean how did he get injured? Luthor attacked him with an axe.”
Lois gasped. “Where? Where did he...?”
“Through the side of his abdomen. The wound didn’t look deep – just a flesh wound - but I’m not a doctor. Clark had passed out on me by the time it was all over. I didn’t get to ask him anything.”
Lois’s heart clenched painfully inside of her chest. It was her fault! All her fault. She had broke off the wedding with Lex and he had deduced that she was in love with Clark and he had... tried to kill him! But how had Clark found Luthor? Where had Clark been all that time? Perry said he hadn’t seen him in almost two days. What had happened?
“Where did you find him?” she asked softly.
Henderson frowned. “They were down in the wine cellar...”
“Wine cellar?” Perry exclaimed. “Great shades of Elvis. What does a man have a wine cellar at his corporate headquarters for?”
“Because he lived there,” Lois murmured. She realized that Lex was beyond eccentric. He was downright strange sometimes. What had she seen in him? “What were they doing down there?”
“You got me.” Henderson shrugged. “Although, come to think of it, maybe you could help me out with something else.” He stepped away and opened the door to his car. He pulled out a box and brought it over to her. “You and Superman seem to be pretty close. At least you write an awful lot of exclusives about him.” He handed her the box. “Have you seen him in the past couple of days?”
Lois looked down into the box. It contained the pieces of Superman’s uniform. What in the heck?
“Hey! Those are Superman’s! Where did you get those?” Jimmy piped up before Lois could say anything. Jack reached inside and fingered the material of the cape, his expression darkening.
“Under the staircase in the wine cellar. When I went down to retrieve the axe I found them.” Henderson furrowed his eyebrows. “There was a very strange cage with metal bars in the middle of the room.”
“What was strange about it?” Lois asked, realizing that it was strange enough that Lex had a cage in a wine cellar to begin with...
“It was glowing. It had this strange greenish hue coming off of it. We’re not really sure what it was for. But we were more than a little alarmed to have found Superman’s uniform down there.”
“I’d say,” Jimmy spoke up. “Luthor wouldn’t have these unless...” he broke off, looking a little pale.
Lois’s heart lurched in her chest. “No. No, he couldn’t kill Superman,” she stammered. “Superman’s invulnerable. There has to be some kind of logical explanation.”
“Does there?” Henderson asked her, frowning. “I’d sure like to know what it is. I’d like to know what Superman’s uniform was doing down in that cellar.”
“Well maybe he just has some morbid fascination with Superman and it’s a knock off, a copy of the suit,” she suggested lamely. The idea even sounded ridiculous to her.
“Maybe,” Henderson graciously conceded. “But then why did Luthor head down to that wine cellar when we came to arrest him? And why did he and Clark get into a fight? He would have killed Clark if I hadn’t been there to stop him.”
That’s when Lois realized what had happened. Lex was dead because Henderson had killed him. Henderson had saved her partner’s life. She looked up at him through misty eyes and whispered, “Thank you.”
Henderson didn’t look like he knew how to respond. “Yeah, well you just make sure that partner of yours returns the favor. I’m going to have a lot to answer for over this. I’m going to need Kent to give a statement about what happened down there.”
Lois nodded at him. “We’ll call you just as soon as we know something,” she promised.
Henderson nodded at her and took the box back from her. “I’ve got to get back to the precinct. I’ll be waiting for your call.”
She watched him walk away and get back into his car. He set the box down in the seat beside him and Lois felt a shiver run through her. Superman wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead.
But why else would Lex have had his suit? And why hadn’t anyone seen him the past couple of days? The last time Lois had talked to him personally was the night that he had come to her apartment at her request. The night he had told her that there couldn’t be anything between them.
The night she had gotten in bed with the devil, so to speak. That’s the way Clark had termed it, and now she knew why.
She should have listened to him. He was lying in there in pain and Superman was missing and it was all because of her. “It’s my fault,” she muttered softly.
Perry had been chatting with the two boys and he turned to look at her when he heard her voice. “What is?” he asked stiffly.
“Everything. If I had listened to Clark none of this would have ha...happened,” her voice broke and she cleared it. “If I had seen past Luthor’s facade and seen who he really was...”
“Don’t, Lois, don’t do this...”
“No, Perry! It’s the truth. How could I have let him deceive me like that? I pride myself on being able to read people...”
Perry wrapped one arm around her and gave her a soft squeeze. “He fooled us all, honey.”
“Not me,” Jack piped up. “I never trusted the guy.”
“Me either,” Jimmy quickly agreed.
Perry flashed them both a warning glance and their faces fell, looking chagrined. “You can’t blame yourself. This was Luthor’s doing all the way. This was his fault.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she hesitantly agreed, feeling sullen.
“Hey,” Perry said, turning her to look at him. “No maybes. The blame falls squarely on Luthor’s shoulders, including what he did to you. You hear me?”
She nodded at him, feeling a lump beginning in her throat. But would Clark feel the same way?
“Okay, then,” Perry continued, “Don’t forget it.”
Perry gave her another squeeze before releasing her. He started to turn back towards the two boys when Lois spoke again, “Perry? What happened? What things did you guys find out about Luthor?”
Perry turned back to her and sighed softly. Where did he begin?
**********
As Lois walked towards the admissions desk to check on Clark again, she glanced back through the front glass at where Perry and the boys were still sitting. She felt like she was in shock from hearing about all of the things they had uncovered on Luthor with Clark’s help.
Clark had been right. She had been about to get in bed with the devil. It scared her that she had known Lex so little. He had hidden so much from her.
Not like Clark. Lois knew Clark better than she probably knew any man; her father included. And she cared so much for him. Hopefully it wasn’t too late to show him.
The lady saw her approaching and gave her a short nod. “Clark Kent, right?”
“Yes. Is he okay?”
“He had to have several stitches but they’ve moved him into a recovery room now. He sustained a concussion and he might still be a little groggy from that and from the pain meds.”
“So I can see him?” Lois rang her hands in nervous tension. She *had* to see him.
“Yes, they’ve got him settled in now.” The woman checked something on the clipboard in front of her and then looked back up at Lois. “Room R14. Go through the doors to my right and down the hallway. The room will be on your left.”
“Thank you.” Lois entered through the set of doors and began walking down the hallway glancing at room numbers on her left before stopping at the one Clark was in. She opened the door hesitantly and peeked inside. Taking a deep breath, she walked in and closed the door behind her.
The room was dark but not because it was getting dark outside yet – far from it. Someone had pulled the blinds to cover the windows. A small wall lamp above the sink in the room provided the only lighting. It had a fluorescent bulb, which cast a cold white sterile glow to the room.
Lois felt her heart race as she walked towards her partner lying motionless in the small bed. She was relieved to see, at least, that there weren’t a lot of wires and tubes and things attached to his body. She didn’t know if she could have handled seeing all of that. He just had one IV connected to his left hand and he had a finger cuff connected to his right middle finger – probably taking his pulse or blood pressure or something. Lois wasn’t that familiar with hospitals. They weren’t a place that she enjoyed visiting.
She walked up next to the bed and laid one hand softly on his arm. “Clark?” she whispered. He didn’t respond. Groggy nothing, those pain meds had knocked him out. “I’m sorry,” she continued, rubbing her fingertips gently up his forearm. “I’m so sorry.”
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized that he had some bruises on his right arm. The white light made his skin look pale and the sight of the purple flesh made her eyes tear again. “So sorry,” she murmured again. “You were right. You were so right and I was so wrong. When you wake up I’m going to tell you that. So you have to wake up, okay? You want to hear Lois Lane admit that she was wrong, don’t you?” She laughed half-heartedly at her own joke but there was no response from Clark.
If it hadn’t been for the slow rise and fall of his chest she would have felt alarmed by the sight of him. Clark was a strong, healthy looking man – very healthy looking – despite what his diet might say otherwise. She should know; she had seen him before in nothing but a towel. But she had never seen him like this. He looked so... frail. It frightened her and she averted her probing gaze from his body. As she did, the telephone on the table next to his bed caught her attention.
Had anyone phoned his parents yet? Her heart sank with the thought. She needed to call them.
**********
To Be Continued...
