I hope this chapter doesn't seem to end at too awkward a place. I just could not find a good place to end it, so found something that sort of worked and went with it.
Clark awoke a few hours later to the sound of Lois typing in the next room. The additional sleep had done him good and he was feeling over the deleterious effects of the kryptonite that Weis had had.
Knowing that Lois was busy and would prefer not to be disturbed while she was typing, Clark took the rare opportunity to lay in bed a moment longer. Not having super-hearing meant he was not picking up sounds of people in distress and as much as he wished he could be out helping people, there was something refreshing about waking up without using sounds of despair as an alarm clock.
He reached over for the television remote control so that he could check on the wildfires, but he never turned the television on. How could they have been so stupid? Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Clark made a beeline for Lois.
“You're up,” she commented when she saw him.
“Lois, we need to go find out where Weis is,” Clark said, panic clear in his voice.
“Calm down, Clark. I've been listening to the news. Nothing yet,” Lois said.
“But he must be…”
“I know. Obviously he was going somewhere with that kryptonite. But you are in no position to follow him and I'm not really sure we can,” Lois stood up from where she had been typing and walked over to Clark.
Placing a hand on his arm, she gently led him to the couch. Sitting beside him, she took his hand in hers and turned his face towards her. “Clark, I know this is going to be hard to hear. But it is likely something is going to happen that you can't help with. You're going to just have to deal with that. If you try to go, you'll likely get yourself killed and think of all the people in the future that will be hurt because of that.”
“But…” Clark started and then stopped at a loss for words.
“I know, Clark,” Lois said. “Really, I do. You are even more a person of action than I am. But sometimes you need to hold back. I think your life being in danger is a good reason to adopt that approach.”
Clark shook his head. “I'm sorry. I thought I was talking to Lois Lane here. What did you do with her?”
“Very funny, Clark,” Lois said, her tone as sarcastic as his had been. “I've gotten older and wiser with time. Sometimes you can get more done by taking your time. And quite frankly I think we'll be in a better position to stop Weis once you can stay awake for more than an hour at a time, let alone be able to see through things. It's probably more prudent to wait for that than to continually expose you to kryptonite.”
Clark smiled at her slightly and ran a hand along her cheek, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Why are you here, Lois?” he asked. “Why aren't you…”
“I thought about it,” Lois admitted, cutting him off. “I thought maybe while you were sleeping. But then I realized I'd never get back before you woke up and you'd come after me and then you'd be exposed again. It just didn't seem worth it. Besides, it's not like I've been sitting here idle,” she told him.
“Of course, not. So what have you been doing?” Clark asked her.
Lois stood up to make herself more comfortable on the couch, tucking her legs beneath her. “Well, I spent the last several hours doing some digging around aircraft records around southcentral Australia, Belize, and San Diego. It took some real digging into small airport records, but luckily airports are required to keep logs of scheduled flights, even local ones.”
“When did you learn how to do computer research?” Clark asked, amusement in his voice.
“I work for the Union-Tribune now, not the Planet. We have fewer researchers. And frankly none of them are half as good with a computer as Jimmy is. Learning how to do my own research is something of a necessity. Anyway,” Lois said, her tone clearly indicating that she did not appreciate the interruption, “all three areas had two interesting things in their air travel patterns. Weis' private jet made a trip to Perth a month ago. And his private helicopter made trips to Belize City and Tijuana in the past week.”
Clark's eyebrows raised in approval, but Lois ignored him for now. “I did some more digging,” she told him, “and it seems like Weis might have had some legitimate business in Perth, he's looking at buying a laboratory there that would help take some of the workload off of LexLabs. But, still a nice coincidence, don't you think?”
Clark nodded, thoughtfully. “So, Weis had a way to drop off the kryptonite dust to these areas. And given what Bernard told us earlier, he's causing the disasters himself. But how is he getting the kryptonite over the areas?”
“Crop dusters,” Lois speculated. “Remember Miranda and the pheromone? Isn't that how she was going to spray it over Metropolis? And it would be easy to hire someone to do it for you in those areas. That was the other interesting thing in the records. There were records of local, low flying aircraft taking off from them shortly after Weis' aircraft landed. It didn't specify what they were, but then I remembered Miranda.”
“Okay, makes sense,” Clark conceded. “So, where is the next disaster going to be?”
“No idea,” Lois admitted. “His jet and helicopters make trips all the time, all over the world. It would be impossible to try to figure out which trips were legitimate and which weren't.”
“Okay,” Clark said, “but this one he likely isn't planning on causing. Just utilizing.”
“How do you know that?” Lois asked.
“I don't. I'm just guessing. When we were in his office he asked whoever was on the phone if they were sure. And he made a comment about this stuff not growing on trees. I'm guessing he was talking about kryptonite. So he's worried about using it for something that might not work or happen. He's too meticulous for him to plan a natural disaster with a good chance of failure, so he's likely planning to use something already happening.”
Lois turned the television on and flipped to find the Weather Channel. “Well, let's see then,” she said as she settled onto the couch with Clark.
It didn't take long for the Weather Channel to cover the typhoon fast approaching Indonesia. “Can typhoons be predicted?” Clark asked and Lois immediately got back up to grab her laptop.
Sitting back down beside Clark, Lois typed furiously for a few moments. “Yes, it looks like there are ways to fairly accurately predict typhoons.”
When Clark did not immediately reply, Lois turned to look at him. “Clark?” she asked.
“Why would he drop kryptonite dust at the sight of a typhoon? Wouldn't the rain just wash it away?” he asked.
Lois thought for a moment. “Yes, but maybe that's even better from his perspective. If he can drop it close enough to when you arrive, it will not only be in the land, but in the sea as well.”
“But to be doing that, he'd have to be…” Clark trailed off as Lois began typing again.
“Weis' plane left for Malaysia shortly after our meeting with him yesterday. So far, no mention of a return,” she reported.
“So, he's waiting for me,” Clark said.
“Yes, and he's going to be waiting a long time,” Lois said.
“How does he know I'm going to show?” Clark asked. “I never went to the wildfires. Unless,” Clark thought out loud. “He thinks I might be dead and he's waiting for me in case he's wrong.”
“Well he's going to be waiting a long time,” Lois repeated, “as you are clearly in no position to fly to Malaysia.”
Lois leaned over to grab the phone. Clark started to ask who she was calling, but then thought better of it. After a moment, he had his answer anyway. “Hi, I'm looking for Detective… umm… well, Bill Henderson. This is Lois Lane,” Lois said into the phone.
“He's a lieutenant now,” Clark whispered.
“Henderson,” the lieutenant answered the phone, clearly not having been told who it was.
“Henderson, I hear you are a lieutenant now. Congratulations,” Lois said.
“Thanks,” came back the sardonic reply. “Who is this?”
“Lois Lane.”
There was a pause before Henderson replied, “Lois! Good to hear from you. I think. What is it you want?”
“I'm sitting here with Clark Kent,” Lois started.
“Clark?” Henderson interrupted.
“Yes, well surely you knew he was in the Witness Protection Program?” Lois said, wondering whether or not Henderson would buy the story. “But now that Barrows is dead, he's free to be Clark Kent again.”
There was another pause before Henderson said, “Tell Clark I'll make sure there is a record of him being in the Witness Protection Program in case anyone checks this story.”
Lois could not decide whether to laugh at the casualness of Henderson's reply or get upset. Did everyone but her know? But then she remembered why she had called. “Thanks, Bill. I'm sure he will appreciate that.”
“No problem. Clark's a good kid. He deserves it,” Henderson said and this time Lois did have to fight the urge to laugh. At thirty-seven, Clark hardly qualified as a kid anymore.
“So, what can I do for you?” Henderson said.
“I'm not sure, now that you're a fancy lieutenant and all,” Lois said.
“Cut the bull, Lane,” Henderson replied, although Lois could hear the hint of laughter in his voice.
“It's about Mickey Weis. We've been…”
“Where are you?” Henderson interrupted.
“Perry White's place. Why?”
“Taking down Weis is proving as tricky as taking down Lex Luthor. I want to hear everything you know. I'm on my way now. White lives on Osteria Dr, right?”
“Uh huh,” Lois replied, feeling somewhat surprised by Henderson's eagerness to talk to her.
“See you in about five minutes,” Henderson said just before he hung up the phone.
Lois put down the phone herself a moment later, looking up at Clark in wonder. “He's coming over.”
“He's onto Weis?” Clark asked.
“Yes,” Lois replied before Clark's words reminded her, “Oh, and he's on to you, too. Did everyone but me know you were Superman?”
Clark had the grace to blush slightly. “It's complicated, but Henderson has known since before I died.”
“You told Bill Henderson but you didn't tell me!” Lois demanded feeling all of the anger she thought she had put behind her come to the fore.
Clark looked at the floor sheepishly. “I didn't really tell Bill. He sort of figured it out.”
Lois got up off the couch as her breathing got ragged. “So, Henderson, who barely knew you, figured out that you were Superman while I, who worked beside you day after day, had no clue.”
“It's more complicated than that, Lois,” Clark said not sure if she was angry at him or herself, but thinking it was likely a combination of both.
“Complicated how?” Lois demanded.
“Henderson was the cop that found me in Luthor's kryptonite cage,” Clark started to explain and the words seemed to have an immediate calming effect on Lois.
She sat down on the couch again, although on the very edge as if she would get up instantaneously if he said the wrong thing. “You mentioned the cage the other day. What was it? When was it?”
Clark took a deep breath. “I don't know how to explain it except as a kryptonite cage. It was a standard cage made large enough to fit a person, namely me, inside. The bars were coated with kryptonite. Luthor had it built at some point and then because… well, honestly, because I was careless, he managed to get me inside shortly before your wedding.”
“You were in the cage during the wedding?” Lois asked, moving further back on the couch.
“I guess. My memory of what happened is hazy. I managed to get out, so I guess I was simplifying things by saying that Henderson found me in there. Luthor had left a key outside the cage right before he went upstairs to the chapel. I got out, but had been in the cage for so long I barely had the strength to hold myself up. So I crawled behind some wine caskets. Oh right, the cage was in the wine cellar. Anyway, I passed out. I heard Luthor come back down at some point, but I was too weak to confront him and luckily he didn't see me. The next thing I knew, Bill was leaning over me.”
“And how did he know that you were Clark?”
“I think half of the disguise is the fact that it seems ludicrous that clumsy Clark Kent could be the same thing as invincible Superman. But when I'm clearly not invincible, it's easier to see. Plus, my hair was a mess and probably in more of a "Clark' style. Anyway, we never talked about it. He called me Clark when I woke up and that's the only way I knew.”
“That's why you weren't at the wedding,” Lois said, tears gathering in her eyes.
Clark moved toward her, wrapping his arms around her awkwardly. “Lois, I'm okay now,” he whispered.
Lois moved away. Giving a slight sniffle and an even slighter laugh, she replied, “Says the completely non-super-powered man beside me.”
Clark laughed a bit in response. “Okay, but overall, I am okay. And I will be fine.”
