Hello, everyone!
It's Monday again. Here's part 10--hope you all like it!
Thanks for the fdk, guys!
TOC From Part 9:
As Mr. Truesdale followed him into the parking lot outside the restaurant, Jack felt like whistling. He could have been walking on a cloud for the way he was feeling.
“I’m guessing we’re taking your car? I’m sure you don’t want to ride the bus.” Jack almost snorted out loud at the thought.
“My car is right over there,” Mr. Truesdale said, pointing to the brand new shiny silver Ferrari that sat in the parking lot. The sun had just set, casting the parking lot into shadows. Jack was tired and hungry, having been following the philanderer around all day. He couldn’t wait to get back to Clark’s apartment and tell them all the good news.
The ordeal was almost over; he could feel it. They were so close to nailing Luthor. Soon Jack’s name would be cleared, and the monster would be put behind bars where he belonged. And this coming Saturday would dawn a bright new day—a day that would bring the promise of a bright future for all of them—a day where there would be no union between Lois Lane and Lex Luthor.
Jack followed Mr. Truesdale over to the shiny car before getting into the passenger seat. Never once did it occur to him that they were being followed.
*****************************
Part 10:
“Perry’s on his way,” Martha told her husband as soon as she hung up the phone.
Jonathon immediately enfolded her in a hug, and Martha closed her eyes, trying to block out reality as she gained strength from her husband’s comforting embrace.
“It’s going to be okay, Martha.”
“We don’t know that,” she choked out. “Our boy never came home last night. How can you say that everything will be okay?”
When Jonathon didn’t answer, his silence only heightened Martha’s anxiety. Clark had been missing for twenty-four hours now. At first, they had assumed that he was out looking for Lois, or hunting down evidence against Luthor. But as time went by without a word from their son, they started to worry. And when he failed to come home the night before, their worry turned into full-fledged panic. The knowledge that kryptonite was out there somewhere, and worse, that he’d been exposed to it only days before, was never far from their thoughts.
“Martha, our boy is strong. Whatever has happened, he’ll get through it. *We’ll* get through it.”
Martha removed herself from her husband’s embrace and headed toward the kitchen. Needing to keep busy while they waited for Perry to arrive, she started washing the few dishes that had gathered in the sink from their breakfast that morning.
“I know that Clark is strong. And the world may believe that our boy is invulnerable—that Superman is invulnerable—but we know better,” Martha said as she finished washing one plate before grabbing another.
Jonathon stood behind his wife and rested his hands on her shoulders. “We’ll find him, Martha,” he said softly.
Martha placed the second plate in the dish drainer before grabbing a coffee mug out of the sink. She realized that Jonathon was only trying to comfort her. But his words, surely meant to offer assurance and support, did nothing to ease the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She suddenly set the mug back into the sink before whirling around to face her husband.
“I *know* that Clark is in trouble. I’m not sure how I know it, but I do. I can feel it,” Martha said, a tear escaping one eye.
“Martha…”
A knock on the front door interrupted them. Martha wiped the tears from her eyes before walking to the door and opening it. “Hi, Perry, please....”
A light flashed in Martha’s eyes and her hands immediately flew up in front of her face.
“Mrs. Kent! Where has Superman gone? He hasn’t been spotted anywhere in the last twenty-four hours. Has he gone into hiding?” Martha winced at the loud voice.
“Have you raised Superman since he was a baby?” another reporter shouted out.
“Get out of here! All of you!” she demanded, trying with difficulty to shield her face against the onslaught of flashing cameras.
“When did Superman come to earth?”
“What’s it like having Superman for a son?”
Martha stood, rooted to the spot. She was too dazed by the sudden appearance of reporters on Clark’s doorstep. So far, the press hadn’t ventured too close to his front door. Just as the mob of reporters pushed its way forward, almost to the point where a few reporters were about to enter Clark’s apartment, Jonathon grabbed his wife before slamming the door shut and locking it.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Martha nodded numbly just as someone started pounding on the door again. She watched as her husband’s expression turned to anger and he stomped over to the door before throwing it open, clearly ready to give the members of the press a piece of his mind. Martha looked on, confused as Jonathon suddenly paused in momentary surprise.
“Perry, hurry, come in,” he said an instant later, hurriedly ushering their guest inside. “Sorry, we just got surprised by the press. They shook up Martha pretty good,” he explained.
“Yeah, I can see that. I had to push my way through.”
“I’m all right, really. They just startled me,” Martha assured the two men in the room.
A moment later, Perry joined Martha and Jonathon as they all took seats at the kitchen table. “So, ah…have you heard from Clark yet?” Perry asked once they were all settled.
“No, in fact, that’s why we asked you to come over. Clark never came home last night,” Martha told him, her eyes betraying just how worried she was.
“Aw, well, I’m sure that boy is fine. He’s probably out there chasin’ leads on Luthor, or searchin’ for Lois. Or maybe he’s been busy with Superman stuff.”
At Perry’s words, Jonathon and Martha exchanged a look. “I think it’s time that we told him,” Jonathon said mysteriously.
Perry’s eyes shifted between them, and Martha could clearly see the look of confusion on his face. “Am I missin’ somethin’ here?”
“We didn’t say anything sooner because the fewer people who know about this, the safer it is for Clark,” Martha explained, realizing after the fact that her explanation had only left Perry even more confused. She looked to Jonathon, hoping that he would fill in Clark’s former boss.
Jonathon nodded at his wife before saying, “It’s about kryptonite. It’s real, and it can harm Clark—possibly even kill him.”
“Great shades of Elvis! I thought the whole story about that rock was nothin’ more than the ravings of a mad man! Next you’re gonna tell me that Luthor’s gotten his slimy hands on it,” Perry exclaimed, clearly alarmed upon hearing the news.
When neither of Clark’s parents said anything, Perry’s eyes grew wide, and Martha could see his concern growing. “We don’t know, Perry. All we know is that *someone* has kryptonite. Clark was briefly exposed three days ago when he went to check out a bank alarm—a false bank alarm.”
Perry was about to respond when there was another loud knock on the door. Martha watched her husband start to get up from the table, a clear look of annoyance on his face, when Perry halted him. “Ah, please, let me handle this. I’ll talk to them, see if I can’t get them to leave.”
Martha sighed as Perry went to answer the door. As each day went by, it seemed that the crowd outside Clark’s apartment grew exponentially. Now they were getting braver, too. That was never a good combination in Martha’s opinion.
A few minutes later, Perry was back, and Martha was surprised to see that someone had followed him in. “Jonathon and Martha Kent, this is Inspector Henderson. Apparently, he’s got some news for us,” Perry announced before gesturing for the Inspector to take a seat at the kitchen table.
Inspector Henderson shook each of the Kents’ hands before taking the offered seat. “I was hoping that Clark would be here. I came by because I have some bad news. Jack was found last night. He’s in critical condition from a gun shot wound in the head.”
At the Inspector’s words, Martha’s heart fell to the ground. “What happened?” she asked softly.
“Jack was riding shotgun with another man—a Simon Truesdale—when they were shot. They were stopped at an intersection. Mr. Truesdale didn’t make it,” Inspector Henderson explained, his voice solemn. “It was a drive by, from the looks of it. The perpetrator was long gone by the time we got there. There are no witnesses.”
“How is Jack? How bad is it?” Perry asked, and Martha couldn’t help but notice the moisture collecting in his eyes. She watched as Perry blinked several times before averting his gaze.
“It’s not looking good.” Inspector Henderson sighed before continuing. “Jack was taken into surgery immediately upon his arrival at Metropolis General last night. He’d lost a lot of blood. The surgery went well, but he’s in a coma now.”
After a moment of unsettling silence, Jonathon asked the question that the rest of them were afraid to ask, “Is he expected to recover?”
“At this point, the doctor’s just don’t know for sure. It really depends on how soon he wakes up—if he ever does,” Henderson explained, then winced, no doubt realizing how harsh those last words sounded. “I’m sorry, and I hate to be the investigator right now, but I really need to speak with Clark. When will you be expecting him back?”
Martha, Jonathon, and Perry all exchanged a look, a look that did not go unnoticed by the Inspector. “Is something going on that I should know about?” he asked.
“I can vouch for the Inspector; he can be trusted,” Perry assuredly told Clark’s parents.
Jonathon took Martha’s hand before turning to Henderson. “Clark’s gone missing. We woke up yesterday morning and he was gone. Our son didn’t come home last night.”
“Maybe he’s been busy as Superman?” Henderson suggested, clearly not understanding why everyone was so worried.
“Inspector Henderson,” Jonathon started, “There’s something that you need to know about Clark, and once we tell you what that is the information can never leave this room.”
Henderson nodded a moment later, his expression one of curiosity. “You have my word.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of kryptonite?”
“Sure, I remember reading something about it in the Daily Planet a while back.”
“Well, what the public doesn’t know—what we’ve tried to keep secret for Clark’s safety—is that kryptonite is real. Clark loses his powers when he’s exposed to it. It could possibly kill him.”
Henderson was clearly alarmed at Jonathon’s words. “Do you know of anyone who has access to kryptonite?”
“No, but we know that someone has it. Clark answered a false alarm at a bank a few days ago. He said that he felt the effects of kryptonite briefly,” Martha spoke up. “We need your help. Something’s happened to our son and we’re pretty sure that Lex Luthor is behind it.”
“Funny you should bring up Luthor’s name. That’s actually why I wanted to talk to Clark. Hospital personnel removed a small cassette tape from Jack’s person upon his arrival. The tape is a recording of Simon Truesdale’s confession. Apparently, Lex Luthor paid the former board members of the Daily Planet in exchange for their support in selling the paper to him.”
“Yeah, we figured as much,” Perry said. “We’ve been investigating Luthor. We suspect that he’s behind the explosion at the Planet and we’re pretty sure that he’s behind both Lois and Clark disappearin’ too.”
“Wait a minute! Lois is missing too?” The Inspector asked.
“She went missin’ the day before yesterday. Clark went lookin’ for her before he disappeared. Luthor gave him some spiel about how she had needed to get away for a few days before the wedding,” Perry explained.
“That’s another thing I don’t get. If you guys are so certain that Luthor is dirty, why in the world is Lois planning to marry him?”
Martha sighed at the Inspector’s question. It was a question they all wanted answered. “We have our suspicions that he’s threatened her in some way. She turned him down last week before suddenly changing her mind the next day.”
Inspector Henderson stood up. “I’ll see what I can do on the fly to find both Lois and Clark. Since the existence of kryptonite needs to remain a secret, and we don’t want to tip off Luthor that we’re investigating him, I won’t be able to organize a public search. But I’ll see what I can do,” Henderson explained. “Hopefully I’ll get a break before Saturday. Unfortunately, that only gives us three days—four if you count Saturday.”
“What about that taped confession? Isn’t that enough to bring Luthor in?” Martha asked.
“We need more evidence. We want to bring him in on more serious crimes. I’ve been looking into finding John Black’s brother. He mysteriously disappeared from the Juvenile Detention Center. Going on what Jimmy told me the other day when he found John Black’s body, I’m hoping that Pete Black will shed some light on this whole situation.”
“Yeah, Jimmy and I were actually lookin’ into trackin’ down that kid ourselves yesterday. Findin’ John Black’s body sure shook him up,” Perry explained. “That boy is gonna be upset when he hears about Jack.”
“I hope the next time I see you, I’ll have better news. I’d better get going. If you hear anything, give me a call,” Henderson said before handing each of them his card.
Hoping that the Inspector would find out what had happened to her son; Martha fingered the card as she watched Henderson exit the apartment.
*****
Lois stood before him, looking breathtakingly beautiful in her wedding gown.
“Lois?” Clark called out in confusion. Where was she going? He wondered as she entered through the double doors before her.
As the doors opened wide, Clark could see inside the room. The large room was full of well-dressed guests, and at the end of the aisle stood Lex Luthor.
She was going to walk down that aisle and marry another man! He had to stop her!
“Lois! Don’t go. He’ll only hurt you!” Clark cried as he reached for her. But his hands grabbed nothing but thin air. Somehow, Lois had already made it down the aisle and was now standing hand in hand with Lex Luthor.
“No! You can’t do this!” he yelled, desperately trying to get her attention. As loud as his voice had been, he expected everyone to look his way; no doubt flashing him looks of annoyance for rudely interrupting the grand social event of the year.
But not one single person looked his way, Lois included. In fact, they acted as if he wasn’t even there. Clark squared his shoulders, determined to save Lois from the evil standing before them. If she wouldn’t listen to him then he would take her and fly away with her. He’d take her to a place where Lex Luthor would never find her—would never be able to hurt her.
Clark started to walk down the aisle, his stride full of purpose. As he neared the end of the aisle, he reached out for her—and was startled to find himself suddenly back at the beginning. Clark stared in confusion as the aisle loomed before him. His eyes flew to Lois as she said “I do.”
“No! Stop!” he cried, once again walking down the aisle until he was within arm’s reach of her. But every time he reached out to her he found himself standing at the back of the room, the long aisle looming ominously ahead of him again. He watched in horror as the ceremony came to and end and Lex Luthor kissed his new bride. Clark couldn’t hold back his tears as he watched the woman he loved more than life itself in the arms of her new husband.
Suddenly, the room darkened, and all the wedding guests murmured in speculation as Lois started to glow a fiery red. A moment later the room became eerily silent, and Clark found it odd that silence could be so deafening.
Everyone watched in horror as Lois suddenly burst into red hot flames. Clark tried to reach her—tried to blow his cool breath on her—but he was unable to move. The deafening silence was broken as Clark’s terrified screams pierced the room.
Clark awoke with a start, his chest heaving as the images from his nightmare rolled around in his mind. The fiery red from his nightmare vanished and was replaced with the faint green glow of his prison. Still shaking and heart pounding, Clark crashed back into a reality not much better than the nightmare. Suddenly overcome with weakness, he crumbled back to the cold hard cement that made up the floor of his prison. The green glow of the bars was the only light in the room; the overhead lights were only turned on in the cellar when someone “visited.”
Clark took in a shaky breath, trying in vain to calm the pounding of his heart. The nightmare had caused cold, stark terror to run through his veins. Even knowing that it was only a dream did little to calm him. He knew that Lois wouldn’t automatically burst into flames the moment she was married to Luthor. No, reality would be much worse. He knew with absolute certainty that Lois would suffer a fate far worse than death if she went through with the wedding.
As Clark struggled into a semi-sitting position, a groan escaped his throat as white hot pain shot through his head at the movement. Nausea threatened to overtake him. Taking several shallow breaths, he sighed in relief as the urge to vomit abated moments later. He wasn’t even sure how long he’d been locked up down there in that cold and dark wine cellar. Unable to differentiate between night and day, the minutes, hours, and days just bled into one another. Luthor had sent one of his minions down once to check on him. The guy had given him some water and a sandwich, which he’d inhaled immediately. Clark wasn’t sure how long ago that was. His mouth was as dry as the desert and his tongue felt like sand paper.
Even as miserable as he was, he’d let Luthor torture and kill him a thousand times over if it meant that Lois would be safe. He constantly thought about her…dreamt about her. Not all of his dreams were nightmares. During his imprisonment, he’d had a few very vivid dreams involving the two of them, dreams that had jerked him awake, leaving him wishing that he had a cold shower at his disposal. Thinking about her was the only thing that kept him holding on. He couldn’t give up hope. Lois obviously wasn’t marrying Luthor because she loved him; Luthor had admitted that he’d coerced her into marrying him.
And that gave him hope.
It gave him hope that Lois had been lying when she’d told him that she was pregnant. It gave him hope that she wouldn’t go through with the wedding, that she would find a way to bring Luthor down. He knew her better than anyone; she was not the type of person to take threats and demands lying down. Clark hoped more than ever that she’d find the Mad Dog Lane in herself and triumph over Luthor. For as long as he’d known her, she’d always insisted that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. He hoped with all his might that it would prove true, for he knew that he wouldn’t be able to be her hero this time.
The thought saddened him beyond belief. Before now he’d always been there for her, either as Clark or as Superman. Now he could barely pick himself up off the floor.
The pain in his head sharpened as the overhead lights were suddenly switched on, causing his eyelids to close automatically against the harsh brightness. Hearing footsteps nearby, Clark forced his eyes open, blinking repeatedly as they slowly adjusted to the sudden light.
“How is our guest doing today?”
Finding the person to whom the absurdly cheerful voice belonged, Clark’s eyes settled on Lex. “Water? Can I have…water?” Clark croaked out between dry lips, barely recognizing his own voice.
“I do suppose it’s been a while since you’ve had anything to eat or drink. Since I have no plans to kill you as of yet, I’ll send someone down soon with what you need.”
Clark, unable to remain upright any longer, fell to the floor before turning his back to Lex. He had nothing to say to the monster, nor did he want to look at him. He was so unbelievably weak and tired. He was certain that had he been exposed to the full power of kryptonite he would have been dead long ago.
“Not a man of many words these days, I see.” Lex’s words pierced the silence, and Clark closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to block out the psychopath’s voice.
“From what I hear, our dear Lois is quite the opposite. Apparently, she’s had much to say about her forced isolation in my windowless fortress. I imagine she’s going a little stir crazy about now. She’ll no doubt see coming back to marry me as a blessing.”
Clark fought the urge to say anything. He wouldn’t give Luthor the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him.
“Just think, the day after tomorrow I will have what you desire most. Lois Lane will be *my* wife, and she’ll be in *my* bed. I’ve waited a long time to have her writhing underneath me.” It was impossible for Clark to miss the meaning of his words.
<I’ve waited a long time…>
Clark squeezed his eyes shut, willing away the images that Lex’s words caused to form in his mind. At least now he knew that Lois had been lying about being pregnant. Obviously, Luthor hadn’t yet been so intimate with her. Clark felt relief flood his soul at the thought. However, that could very well change in only two days.
Clark now knew that he’d been trapped down there in that cellar a total of four days. Four days of cold darkness, illuminated by the sickly color of green, four days of being so weak and helpless that it was all he could do to sit up, four days of knowing that Saturday was approaching, and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop it—to stop her from marrying the worst form of evil he’d ever met.
Luthor must have grown bored with his continued silence, for Clark heard his footsteps walking away and up the stairs a moment later.
Clark sighed as the lights went out again and green was the only thing left for him to see.
*****
“Oh, don’t worry about me! I had nothing to say! I’ve only been locked up in this windowless *prison* for six days now with only myself to talk to!” Lois yelled after the man who had just left her room, having only come in briefly to wordlessly set a breakfast tray down on the table.
Lois picked up a glass of orange juice from the tray and threw it at the door. The glass shattered, leaving behind a puddle of broken glass and sticky orange liquid covering the floor. She hoped that one of Lex’s goons would cut his feet on the glass the next time one of them entered to bring in her next meal. After spending six long, boring days in that windowless room, after spending *hours* pacing around every inch of her confined space, she was about to lose her mind. She had tried several times to overtake her *caretakers,* as they liked to call themselves, but they were always one step ahead of her. They were somehow able to anticipate her moves every time.
Taking a moment to calm the anger raging inside, Lois grudgingly sat down at the table and began picking at her breakfast. She *was* kind of hungry. As Lois started in on the pancakes, her mind drifted. She’d woken up in her windowless prison six days ago, a headache the size of Texas pounding at her temples. The first few hours had been spent exploring every inch of the room and bathroom, trying in vain to find a way to escape.
Lex hadn’t been kidding, though. There wasn’t a single window in the place, and the only door to the outside world didn’t have a handle on the inside. She later found out that Lex’s minions had to push a button on a small device to open the door and leave her room.
The place wasn’t lacking in luxury, though. In typical Lex Luthor fashion, her prison was lavishly decorated in hues of brown, red, and hunter green and equipped with two of the plushest couches Lois had ever seen. The king size bed sat at one end of the room, slightly elevated on a platform and the couches sat in the middle, facing a top-notch entertainment center with a movie collection rivaling Blockbuster. The other end of the room was reserved for the kitchenette and the table where Lois now sat.
Finishing her breakfast, Lois got up from the table and walked across the room before plopping down on the bed. She’d long ago given up trying to find anything interesting on television. There were over nine hundred channels and nothing on. Whoever said that satellite television was overrated was absolutely right. She’d been keeping the television tuned into the news stations in hopes of finding out what Clark had been up to, but the only news about Superman that graced the networks was about that videotape that Lex had leaked to the media. There had been all kinds of speculation about Superman, about Clark Kent, about her, and about Perry and Clark’s parents…
The latest speculation was that Clark had gone into hiding. The skies had been void of the famous red and blue streak for the past few days. Lois didn’t believe it for one second. She knew him too well. He was obviously keeping a low profile and no doubt in search of evidence to bring down Luthor. Clark would never go into hiding; it just wasn’t his style.
Lois was startled out of her thoughts as the door suddenly opened. Her eyes widened as Lex Luthor stepped inside. His shoes crunched on the glass that littered the floor and he looked at her questioningly. “Hello, my dear. I see you had a little mishap. You should be more careful,” he scolded, his tone way too cheery for Lois’s liking. What right did he have to be cheerful?
Lois didn’t say anything, choosing to glare at him instead. At her silence he continued, “I imagine you must be getting rather bored by now. You’ll be happy to know that I’ve come to bring you home.”
“Doing your own dirty work now, huh, Lex?”
“I do love your feisty spirit, my love. The truth is I missed you.”
Lois fought the urge to roll her eyes. “I missed you too, Lex…with a two-by-four. Maybe my aim will be better next time.”
“I’d hoped that your time here would have taught you something. It isn’t wise to get cute with me,” he warned, and Lois refused to back down from his cold gaze.
“I’m sorry, maybe you sent the memo out to the wrong address?” she asked sweetly. “Or it could be that I just missed the mailman. It is kind of difficult to watch for him when there are no windows.”
Lex sighed, clearly frustrated. “Come, we must be leaving now. You and I are going to be married tomorrow whether you like it or not. I will not let anything ruin this for me, Lois. Not even your negative attitude.”
“I tend to get very negative when someone messes with my freedom.”
Lex stepped closer to her, bringing his hands up to frame her face. “I wouldn’t have to take your freedom away if you would just cooperate.” His thumbs started to caress her cheeks. Lois gritted her teeth, wanting nothing more than to back away, but knowing from previous experience that if she did it would only anger him. Lex took her negative attitude far better than he did her negative responses to his advances.
His lips crashed down onto hers a moment later without warning. His hands left her face only to encircle her waist. Lois felt hysteria rise in her at the realization that they were completely alone—locked away in a windowless fortress.
Lex broke the kiss a moment later and his eyes found hers. “You don’t need to fear me, Lois. I will be gentle. I know you don’t believe it, but I love you. I really do.”
“Then love me enough to wait for our wedding night,” Lois pleaded, hoping that a miracle would make him choke on his caviar so that he’d drop dead before the following night.
“I will wait, my love, but only because I want our first time together to be memorable. It should be unrushed. You deserve the best, Lois; you deserve to be treated to candlelight, rose petals, and champagne.”
In spite of the disgust sitting in the pit of her stomach, Lois fought the urge to roll her eyes again. How much more cliched could the man get?
Lex took her hand and raised it to his mouth, his lips softly caressing her skin. “We must be going now. My jet is waiting,” he said before taking her hand in his and leading her to the door.
Lois sighed in relief as they left the room that had been her prison. They boarded his private jet, but her relief was short-lived as reality once again weighed heavily on her mind. She was leaving one temporary prison—a windowless fortress that offered nothing more than solitude—to become eternally imprisoned as his wife the very next day.
As the jet took off and they began their journey back to the States, she couldn’t help but wonder which prison was worse.
TBC...
