The first thing Lisa noticed was the complete and utter silence. It was as though the entire world had been banished into a void, leaving not even the sounds of the wind, the insects or the creatures of the earth.
It was like she was trapped in space, where there was no sound, only at least there she should have heard the sounds of machinery.
She felt a hand on her forehead and she started to relax. It had all been a bad dream. She was at home with her mother and everything was going to be all right.
Her head hurt and her body ached, and she didn’t remember ever feeling like that before, but as long as her mother was with her, she would be content.
She didn’t hear her mother though. She didn’t smell her, or feel her, or any of the hundreds of things she’d come to notice since her senses had become so sharp they were painful.
Reluctantly she opened her eyes. The world swam into focus, and Lisa stiffened as she saw the blond woman above her, stroking her forehead.
Her mouth felt dry, and Lisa tried to moisten her lips.
“Wha…?”
There was something wrong with the world. The colors were so dull and flat. Although she was no longer wearing her glasses, it was as though Lisa was looking through a thick, murky lens at a world she could barely see.
The woman handed her a cup with a straw, and Lisa drank thirstily.
“Don’t try to talk,” she said. “You had a nasty fall.”
That wasn’t how Lisa remembered it. She’d pushed the door off its hinges, and then she’d just sort of collapsed.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “With the world?”
It was hard to gather her thoughts enough to express what was bothering her. The world had been vibrant and amazing, filled with colors her friends hadn’t seemed able to see, with textures and hues so vivid it sometimes made her want to cry.
She’d been able to see twelve different shades of black, and more shades of other colors. Even without trying she’d been able to see the fine details on wood, the texture and weave of cloth and the details of people’s faces.
Now the world looked gray to her. Everything was dull and blurred and she couldn’t see the detail on anything that wasn’t a few inches away from her face.
“It would take a long time to go over everything that’s wrong with the world,” the woman said. She laughed slightly. “Suffice it to say that things are going to get a lot better.”
She caressed Lisa’s forehead, and Lisa felt too weak to push her hand away. Her head hurt, and for the first time she realized just how heavy she felt.
It was as though gravity was a huge vise that was crushing her. Whereas before she’d hardly ever gotten tired, she felt exhausted now, even though she hadn’t done anything all day but lay in the sun. Usually that made her feel better, not worse.
It was ironic that she’d spent so much time cursing her abilities, and now that they were gone, she missed them.
It felt as though a part of herself was missing.
The woman continued speaking. “We got off on the wrong foot. My name is Lana, and I’m your father’s wife.”
Ex-wife. Lisa knew the difference.
“I guess that makes me your step-mother…but not the wicked kind.”
You couldn’t be a stepmother unless you were married. Lisa frowned, and Lana caressed her forehead again.
“Where?”
“We’re at a little house in the mountains,” Lana said. “Your father and I are getting back together and he thought it might be a good idea for you to get to know me.”
That was clearly a lie. Lisa’s mother and father had gone on a date. You didn’t do that when you were planning on going back to your old wife.
Lisa gestured weakly and Lana handed her more water.
Lisa didn’t know what Lana was planning, but if she thought she was fooling anyone, she didn’t know whose daughter Lisa was.
She’d just have to wait for her chance to escape.
“You remind me of my own daughter,” Lana said, “The one I always dreamed of having. Of course, I always thought she was a blonde, but that’s easily taken care of.”
She ran a hand through Lisa’s dark hair, and for the first time Lisa’s flesh began to crawl.
**************
Clark’s expression as he entered the room caused Lois’s heart to sink.
“I’ve been over every place I could think of,” he said. “Even back in Metropolis. Lex had some hiding places that Lana knew about.”
“We’ve got every agent in a four state area looking for her,” Joshua said. “If need be, we’ll hire more people.”
Clark turned to Lois and said, “I’m sorry about all of this. I never thought she’d actually…”
Lois grimaced and looked away for a moment. It had been obvious to anyone with eyes in their head that Lana had been unstable. That she had millions of dollars meant that she had the resources to hide Lisa just about anywhere, although it would be hard for her to not leave some sort of financial trail.
Their only hope was to find a lead in the case and to get there before something horrible happened to their daughter.
Hesitantly, Clark raised a hand and put it on her shoulder.
Lois fell into the hug blindly, no longer trying to hide her tears. After a moment she felt Clark’s other arm wrap around her, and for what seemed like an eternity hey just held each other.
**********
Lisa stared sullenly at the television. She was still too weak to even get out of bed, and somehow Lana had failed to leave her a remote.
She’d never cared for adult soap operas. They bored her silly, even if her mother did sometimes watch “The Ivory tower” when she thought no one was looking.
She was well enough to at least look around the room with her new, almost blind vision.
The walls were covered with severed heads of game animals…Elk, bear, mountain lion…all staring at her with horrible glass eyes, their expressions curled into snarls of anger and rage.
As connected as Lisa had once felt to the natural world, this felt like a violation. No real mother would leave her child alone in a place like this.
Lisa found herself sullenly missing her mother and wishing that she had the energy to get up and change the channel.
As the five o’clock news flickered onto the screen she gritted her teeth and tried to roll on the couch. She grimaced in effort, but finally managed to find a more comfortable position.
“Clark Kent, multimillionaire mining magnate died today.”
The sound was turned down low, and now Lisa had to strain to hear anything. Despite her previous weakness she managed to push herself into a sitting position.
They were showing old pictures of her father, lists of his accomplishments. Scenes of Superman Foundation charity work and then a picture of a burning limousine.
She heard the sound of shattering glass, and she turned slightly to see Lana staring at the screen.
Ignoring the broken glass, she strode forward and turned the sound on the television up.
“Sources say he was killed by rivals as revenge for a business deal gone wrong. Unidentified as of this moment is his female companion who was also in the vehicle at the time. He is survived by his wife Lana.”
The familiar newscaster’s face looked solemn. “Clark Kent…dead at age thirty.”
“He’s not dead,” Lisa said. Her voice was shaky, but she was strong. “You know he’s not. My father was…special.”
Lana grimaced and shook her head. “He was supposed to be picking up a shipment of the green poison for disposal. If he’d survived, he’d have pretended that Superman saved him.”
Lisa felt uncomfortable as the woman flung herself at her and held her tightly. “I’m sorry, baby,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
As Lisa rocked back and forth in the woman’s arms, she began to feel a numbness growing in her chest, an emptiness and a void that would never be filled again.
She was all alone in the world, crippled and no longer special. Who would take care of her?
If this is what her father had felt when he’d seen his own parents die, she didn’t know how he’d managed to survive.
*************
Lana scraped the broken glass carefully into the trash. Everything was going according to plan. As long as Lisa believed that her parents were alive, there was a danger that she would try to escape.
There were advantages to owning a media empire. Most television companies pre-recorded tributes to celebrities and as majority owner of several local television stations, it had been a simple thing to get a copy of Clark’s. As head of the Superman Foundation, he was enough of a celebrity to warrant his own tribute.
By mixing footage from that with long cherished footage of Lex’s tribute and news reports of his death, she’d come up with something quite convincing, especially for a child.
Children tended to believe anything they saw on television.
Without her parents, it was only a matter of time before Lisa latched onto Lana as a parental figure. Children craved authority, needed to believe they were safe. All it was going to take was time.
Her plan for Clark and his little floozy was coming along quite well as well. Even if they’d thought to report a kidnapping, which they wouldn’t, given Clark’s obsessive need for secrecy, they’d be unable to give any evidence that Lana was the one responsible.
In the meantime the rest of her plan would be moving along quite nicely.
She began to prepare a new batch of tea, and as she did, she stirred a pinch of green powder into the mix. It glowed slightly in the darkness of the kitchen, and then faded as Lana brought it into the light.
She wanted a normal child, and that’s what Lisa would remain, even if she had to take her medicine for years.
With any luck, she’d burn the alien contagion right out of her.
******************
Lois stared dully at the various reports, none of which had found anything. Lana had worked hard at covering her tracks, using the still extensive resources of the Luthor financial empire. No one had no idea where she might have taken Lisa.
It was frustrating to feel so helpless. She’d made a promise to Lisa when she was just a baby that she would always be there to protect her. It was tearing her up inside to think what might be happening to her even now.
The telephone rang and Joshua picked it up. There was something in his expression that alerted Lois and she immediately leaned forward.
She felt Clark’s hand tighten in hers and she glanced over at him. Since all this had happened, they’d clung to one another. Touching him had not been a matter of romance or love, but of simple reassurance.
He’d been there when she needed him, and she was going to remember all that, whatever happened.
She noticed that for the first time, his face was losing that tense, drawn expression. He almost smiled.
Of course, he could hear whatever was on the other end of Joshua’s conversation.
“We’ve got a lead,” Joshua said. “Bruno just turned himself into a hospital down in Pueblo with a set of broken ribs. He filed on the company insurance plan.”
Clark started to rise, but Lois didn’t let go of his hand.
“I’m going with you,” she said.
For a moment he looked as though he’d protest, but then he relaxed and acquiesced.
They were going to have a word with Bruno about what had happened to their little girl, and they weren’t going to stop until they got some answers. They were going to do this together, and together they were going to bring Lisa home.
