PART ELEVEN
“Jimmy what are you doing here? Didn’t we ask you to go see Dr Hamilton?” Okay, maybe that was a bit of a stupid question, but it had been a massive shock to see her coworker magically drop from the sky and Lois was still adjusting. Jimmy looked a little offended.
“Relax Lois, I did go see him okay? Once I was there, I decided that maybe it wasn’t such a smart idea for you two to run on in without some backup, so I came over here.”
“Oh, were the police too busy or something?”
“Lois,” Clark said gently.
“And you didn’t need to do anything; we were managing fine without you!”
“Lois, we’re locked in a room in a building full of armed radicals. I hardly think we were ‘managing fine’ before.” He was right. Why was she behaving so irrationally?
“Okay, fine! We weren’t doing fine. We were actually doing very badly. Does that make everyone feel better now that I’ve admitted it?”
Jimmy glanced at Clark, ignoring Lois’ outburst. “I guess you two are stuck here huh? No super-powers CK?”
“No. You were right Jimmy; they had been experimenting with kryptonite. To make a long story short, I have none of my normal abilities.” Jimmy grinned.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I brought these.” Jimmy gestured to a black duffle bag that had fallen from the ventilation system with him.
“What’s in there?” Jimmy smiled smugly, unzipped the bag and brought out a midsized gas canister and three gas masks.
“Dr Hamilton gave it to me. It’s some kind of highly potent knock-out gas. These masks protect us, but anyone else will be rendered instantly unconscious. Pretty cool eh?”
“Yeah it is, but how are we going to get close enough to use it?” Clark asked. “If any of the Guardians catch of glimpse of us they’ll shoot and I can’t protect us from bullets right now.” Jimmy slumped.
“I didn’t think of that. Maybe we could steal some LexChem coveralls and fool them long enough to get close or…” Lois wasn’t paying attention. Furiously thinking, she gazed around the room. There had to be something they could do. There always was… Then her glance caught the air vent that Jimmy had popped out of.
“That’s it!” she whispered.
“What?”
“Diana Stride!” she exclaimed. Jimmy and Clark still looked confused. Giving an exasperated sigh, she explained further.
“At the hospital, Diana pumped some kind of gas into the ventilation system that knocked everyone out. If we release the gas into the air vent then the Guardians will be knocked out without them even knowing what happened!” Clark looked suitably impressed.
“I knew there was a good reason I loved you Lois.”
“What, only for my ability to pull crazy plans out of a hat? I would have thought it would have at least something to do with my incredible charm and generous personality.” She slowly sauntered over to him. Clark’s grin stretched.
“Well, there is that.” He bent down and kissed her. “And there’s also-” Jimmy cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Uh, guys? Can we concentrate on getting out of here please?”
“Oh. Right.” Lois watched Clark shake his head slightly to clear it as he bent down over Jimmy’s arsenal. He picked up a gas mask and handed it to Lois. She easily slipped it over her face and Jimmy did the same. Clark looked at his confusedly.
“Haven’t you ever worn one of these before?” The Daily Planet had a biannual drill that required employees to be familiar with these masks in case of terrorist attacks.
“Umm, no. Gas usually doesn’t affect me so I always just loosely pulled it on and pretended to breathe through it. I don’t like the smell of rubber.” He explained sheepishly. Tsking slightly, Lois helped Clark into his mask, pulling the straps tight and making sure it was secure. Inside each mask was a radio headset that allowed Lois, Jimmy, and Clark to talk to each other without the mask interfering.
“Alright Clark,” Lois said, hefting the canister up in her arms. “You’ll need to give me a boost so I can get up to the air vents.”
“When did we decide that you would be the one to do it?”
“Clark, the vent is too high up for any of us to reach it alone, and unless you can fly up there, one of us will have to stand on the other’s shoulders.” Clark grumbled. “I’m the smallest so it makes sense that I’m the one on top.”
“You always did like to be on top.” Lois smiled in acknowledgement of the old joke.
“That’s right Kent, so get ready to hoist me to the roof.” Jimmy gave Lois a leg up and she sat on top of Clark’s shoulders. Clark swayed under the additional weight.
“Lois, you’re *heavy*!” Jimmy winced visibly
“Ooo! CK, not smooth!”
“Watch it Kent! Just because you love me that doesn’t mean you can criticize my weight!” She grinned wickedly. If Lois had been able to see Clark’s face right now, she was sure it would’ve been bright red.
“I didn’t mean… i-it was just a shock because I’m not used to lifting heavy things…Not that you’re heavy Lois, but you’re heavier than I’m used to and…” And he said she babbled!
“Clark, if you don’t stop babbling and help me get up here, I’m going to end up sticking my shoe in your eye and trust me, that will *hurt* a lot more than you’re used to.”
“Okay Lois,” Clark replied sheepishly.
“Alright. So I’m going to stand on your shoulders now. You’ll need to brace me so I don’t fall, okay?”
“Okay,” he repeated. Lois slowly shifted her weight and rose up to a standing position on top of Clark’s shoulders. Strong hands clasped her ankles, steadying her balance. She stuck her head through the hole of the air vent and forced her jittering stomach to calm down. Although Lois was used to doing anything to get a story, this kind of acrobatics was still nerve wracking, especially with a man who just recently discovered what ‘working up a sweat’ really meant.
“We are never doing this again,” she muttered into her headset. “As soon as you can fly again Clark, you’re going to be the one crawling into air vents.”
“Lois, if I could fly I would also be able to round up every one of these people without any gas or air vents.”
“Right.” Lois twisted the valve of the canister and set it inside the vent. A sharp hiss was the only clue that the gas was being released. It was completely colorless so the Guardians would not be able to suspect anything until it was too late. The container slowly emptied and Clark brought Lois down to the ground.
“Jimmy, do you know how long the gas will take to make its way through the building?” Clark asked.
“Well Dr Hamilton said the gas dispersed quickly and that only a small concentration was needed, but I don’t really know how long it will take to knock everyone out.”
“Okay, here’s the plan,” Clark began. “We pick the lock on the door. Whatever guards they may have stationed there are probably out by now. Then we make our way *carefully* throughout the whole plant. We’ll need to do a complete sweep so-”
“Actually CK, we won’t need to search the entire building. Most of it is boarded off. That’s how I got in. I broke into one of the quarantined areas and then followed the vents. But the Guardians will only have people in a few of the rooms.” Jimmy searched in his bag once again, pulling out a coil of rope.
“We can tie them up with this until we can get the police in here.” Lois walked over to the door and pulled out her lock picks which had luckily been untouched by the Guardians. She struggled for a moment, then let out a triumphant “Ha!” as the lock popped. Carefully opening the door, she peered out into the hallway.
The two guards who had burst into the room earlier were lying sprawled across the floor unconscious. Lois bent down and pulled one of the guard’s guns from his hip. Spotting a little metal box, she grabbed it too and passed it to Clark.
“For safekeeping,” she explained. He took the kryptonite from her with a nod of acknowledgement. “Did you want a gun?” she asked.
“Lois! You’re not seriously going go charging through the building with a loaded gun are you?”
“Of course not Clark.” She expertly emptied the clip. “I’ll just use it for show. So did you want one?” Clark gave a small laugh.
“Lois I barely know which way to point that thing. I doubt I’d make a very convincing show.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to rely on me to protect you.” She grinned
“I guess I will.”
The trio made their way down the hallway, peering into rooms. It was as if the building had been deserted. There was evidence of dormitories, a kitchen, even a couple small labs, but they found nobody until they returned to the same room where Lois and Clark were ambushed. Unconscious bodies lay sprawled across the room. Lois, Clark, and Jimmy walked amongst them separately, tying the prisoners with Jimmy’s rope. Once it was certain that every group member was securely restrained, they opened as many doors and windows as they could to ventilate the room.
Lois looked around as they were waiting for the gas to dissipate. She had never gotten a good look at what appeared to be the central room. There were long tables covered with scientific apparatus that was probably used for the group’s kryptonite experiments No kryptonite was visible though and judging by the ease in which Clark was moving about, it had all been put away in lead lined containers or something.
The room was purely utilitarian with no scrap of the grotesque signage in the entrance room. It was probably used for research and planning only. This made it all the more odd that there was a TV set up in the far corner of the room. Pulling her mask off, Lois made her way over to the TV. It was tuned to LNN. A reporter stood in front of a mass of rubble making a live report of some sort. As she neared the TV she was able to pick up on what the reporter was saying.
“…this scene of untold destruction. As you can see behind me, the building has been completely destroyed by the blast. There are still many believed to be trapped in the rubble.” Something about that shot was familiar to Lois. She could only see part of the surrounding buildings, but there was something… “Emergency workers are trying to find as many people as possible, but the window of opportunity is steadily narrowing.” Clark and Jimmy were starting to walk towards the TV as well. Lois searched through her memory to find what building it was that the reporter was standing in front of. Oh no. It couldn’t be… “Although no one has taken responsibility for the attack, officials suspect it to be the work of terrorists after a well publicized vendetta was issued in the form of a videotape yesterday afternoon.” It wasn’t… “However all this is purely speculation. The cause of the explosion is still unconfirmed at-” It was! “the Daily Planet.”
The Daily Planet!
