Chapter Nine
It was already the weekend, Clark took a night walk. Superman hadn’t had much work these last days, however Clark did. Having to avoid Lois was hard and the previous night, when he saw her with Luthor, devastated him. Lois’ look had been angry. They had played with fire and were already burned. He was walking through the streets thinking how lonely he was among so many people. He had no one, not a friend, just Jimmy as his co-worker.
Clark was looking down when he bumped into someone. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s OK.” Both of them looked up; it was Lois.
“You?” she said when she saw him.
“Hi Lois. I apologize again.” Clark started walking but she stopped him.
“Don’t you have enough interfering with my professional life? Why do you have to interfere with my personal life too?” she asked, upset.
“I’m not interfering with anything,” Clark replied calmly.
“Oh sure and what about last night with Lex? Who you are to have said that to him?” asked Lois.
“I told him the truth, but you can’t see it--you don’t know him,” Clark said, trying to stay calm.
“Of course, I know him--he’s a man who loves me and wants to make me happy. You’re the one I don’t know.” Lois turned around to leave.
“You don’t know me because you don’t want to.” Clark said.
“Exactly, and I don’t want to know you because I can’t stand you.” She had walked no more than three steps before three men grabbed her.
“Let go of me!” she yelled.
“Be quiet, give us all you have” said one of them.
Clark heard her scream y ran to her without changing into the suit. “Let her go” he said.
“What if we don’t?” the second man taunted.
“You’ll let her go and deal with me,” he told them solemnly.
They let her go. Lois fell into the ground and saw Clark walk towards the men. Clark evaded their attempts to hit him, trying not to use his extraordinary strength. He was fighting against two of the men when the other man approached him from behind with an iron pipe.
“Clark, watch out!” Lois screamed, scared.
Clark got hit in the head. Logically, it didn’t really hurt him but had to pretend, so he fell to the ground moaning.
Lois was still on the ground and she turned around to avoid seeing as one of the men approached to hit Clark again. However Clark kicked him and stood up again. He pushed the second man against some near barrels and pulled up the third by his shirt.
“Don’t you dare get anywhere near her, otherwise you’ll have to deal with me.” Clark let go and the man fell to the floor. He didn’t think twice before he started running away.
Clark knelt besides Lois. “Are you all right, did they hurt you?” he asked, worried.
“I--I’m fine and you? They hit you,” she caressed the nape of his neck where Clark was hit.
“I’m not hurt, come on I’ll walk you home,” he said softly and stood up, extending his hand to help her stand. She was trembling.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” he asked her.
“Yeah, yeah, they just scared me.” Lois nodded.
They walked in silence all they way to back to her place. Clark was worried about her. Lois, meanwhile, replayed what had happened. They were a block away and he knew she wasn’t arguing with him because she was still scared.
Lois still didn’t know what to think. They finally arrived to the entrance of Lois’s building and she started walking up the stairs to her apartment. When she looked back he was still standing there in at the foot of the stairs.
“Good night Lois.” As soon as he said those words he left, walking down the street.
Lois stayed there watching him go. When he was out of sight, she entered her apartment, took a bath and went directly to bed.
”No, no, don’t kill him, please, no!” she screamed and tears ran down her face.
The sound of gunfire aimed at him made her wake up startled. It had been a nightmare. She had dreamt of the assault of the previous night. The dream had been totally different from reality, she had still been on the floor but Clark had been beaten badly and bleeding. One of the men had pulled out a gun and directed it at Clark. She had screamed and cried, she didn’t want Clark to be killed, but no one could hear her.
In the end, the man had shot Clark and she had screamed “No!” like she had never screamed before, still crying. Lois couldn’t sleep again that night so she stayed up to write until it was Sunday morning.
TBC....
