“Well, the good news is I don't see any differences from when you've been exposed in the past, so there's no reason not to see a full recovery,” Bernard Klein said as he put his materials away.
“And the bad news?” Lois asked.
“Well Clark's recovery time is slower than normal. It may mean that over time repeated exposure so close together could have a harmful effect. At some point, the recovery time could exceed Clark's lifespan.”
“Could that have happened yet?” Lois asked.
“It's not likely,” Bernard answered. “As you saw, Clark's skin is already a bit impervious to needles, so he is repairing. It's just taking longer than normal.”
“But Lois,” Clark reminded her. “There's a lot we don't know about kryptonite. I haven't been exposed to it that much before now.”
Lois continued to look worried, but was distracted by the ringing of her phone. Glancing quickly at the caller ID, she said, “I need to get this,” as she moved slightly away from Bernard and Clark.
“Ab?” she asked as she answered the phone.
“Lois,” came back the relieved reply. “I know this is a stupid question, but have you seen Superman?”
“What?” Lois asked, mostly to stall.
“Look, I think I found some information that could really help our case. I broke into Skagle's campaign headquarters last night,” Abby started.
“You what?” Lois asked, laughter in her voice. “Isn't that usually my job? You're the sensible one.”
“I know,” Abby said, “but I was at work yesterday feeling like we're not getting anywhere on this and thought "I wonder what Lois would do' and I knew I'd need to break in.”
“Oh, Ab,” Lois said, her voice apologetic. “I'm so sorry, I forgot to call you. Clark and I did find out some more information. About Weis anyway. We've actually gotten the Metropolis Police and the FBI involved.”
“Oh, well, you'll need to share. But my news is bigger than yours,” Abby said.
“Really?” Lois said wondering what was bigger than something that would get the FBI involved.
“I found a record of the check Weis made out to Skagle's campaign. And you'll never believe who I bumped into in Skagle's office.”
“You were caught? Abby, is everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah,” Abby said. “I bumped into James Olsen. He's even cuter in person.”
“Jimmy!” Lois said, a bit loudly she realized when Clark glanced over at her.
“Yes, he was breaking into Skagle's computer. That's why I wanted to know if you had seen Superman. He found an email trail with Skagle promising Weis he'd bring down Superman in exchange for the money. I thought kryptonite was a myth, Lois, but Weis claims to have some. And with Superman quiet for so long…”
“I haven't seen him,” Lois finally said. “But he's Superman. Don't count him out just yet.”
“I won't,” Abby said, but she sounded disappointed to hear that Lois had not heard from him. “So what was your news?”
“Oh, Clark heard Weis talking to someone about NASA. He's planning to attack Deucalion,” Lois started.
“Well, that would definitely explain why he wants Superman dead,” Abby supplied. “But what would he gain?”
“Clark thinks he's hoping to be the first to prove Mars habitable,” Lois explained, suddenly realizing that she and Clark should be looking for evidence of this for the story. In her focus on Clark, she had sort of forgotten about the story.
“Ah, like Levittown brought into the twenty-first century. Weistown. On Mars,” Abby said sarcastically.
“Something like that,” Lois said.
“Well, that's good,” Abby said. “This way when the earth is destroyed by a natural disaster that Superman isn't alive to help with, we'll have a place to flee too.”
“Way to look for the silver lining, Ab,” Lois laughed.
“Okay, I'll keep you updated. You do the same,” Abby said.
“Will do. Oh and Abby? Try to remember that Jimmy is married. And so are you!”
“I'm well aware of that,” Abby said. “And I'm quite happy with Bob, thank you very much. But I can look, can't I? Oh, James said to let you and Clark know that his flight gets in tomorrow. He'll give you a call. He'd like you to come over for dinner to meet his family.”
“Thanks for the message,” Lois said as she hung up.
“Abby found proof that Skagle and Weis are linked to your "death',” Lois informed Clark as she walked back over to him. Clark's eyebrows raised in surprise, but his response was not quite what Lois expected.
“That's great. We can talk about it a bit later. Bernard was just about to tell me that he has a possible solution for eliminating the kryptonite dust.”
Lois turned to Bernard, all ears.
“Well, yes,” Bernard said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I'm not sure it's feasible, but it is scientifically possible,” he said. “I had this idea yesterday – I was thinking it would be nice if kryptonite was really iron or something. Then we could get it with a giant magnet. I know,” he said off of Clark's look. “Not very scientific sounding, is it? But it did give me an idea and I did some work this morning. Look,” he said.
He pulled out a paper plate that had some of the kryptonite dust Lois had brought on it. Then he waved a small piece of metal over it. “It's titanium,” Bernard said as Lois and Clark watched the kryptonite dust moving off the plate to attach to the outside of the titanium. “Kryptonite binds with titanium. It works similar to a magnet, so it won't catch large pieces as their weight would overcome the magnetic force, but for the dust, this would work.”
“That's great!” Lois said. “But you said you weren't sure it was feasible?”
“Well, this small piece works over the paper plate, but you're going to need something much larger to catch it from further way. It seems to me that the best way to do this would be with a large piece hanging off of a plane and I'm not sure how to do that.”
“We'll think of something,” Lois said. “This is already a huge help. Just having a way to get it all is really a breakthrough.”
Bernard blushed a bit at the compliment.
“So, that's it. You are free to go,” he told Clark.
“Great,” Clark said, relief in his voice. Lois smiled. Who would have thought Superman was afraid of the doctor?
Clark put his jacket on, but flinched slightly when Bernard said, “Don't forget to come back tomorrow, Clark. I want to keep watch on your recovery.”
“Will do,” he replied, but then grabbing Lois' hand, he hurried out.
“You okay, Clark?” Lois asked, straining to keep her laughter hard to hear.
“I'm fine,” Clark said stiffly. Just sick of being a pin cushion. “I so hope my invulnerability has recovered by tomorrow.”
“Well, I think we should go home and rest. That will help. I have an activity planned for tonight.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” Clark asked, his eyes dancing.
“Yes. We need to break into Weis' office.”
“What?” Clark asked.
“Listen. Abby and Jimmy broke into Skagle's office and found an email trail where Skagle offered to kill you in exchange for campaign funds and a record of the funds being received. We need to work on proving that Weis is planning to attack Deucalion,” Lois explained.
“Abby and Jimmy?” Clark asked.
Lois laughed lightly. “I know. Apparently, they went separately, but bumped into each other there. Oh, and Jimmy is heading back here tomorrow. He wants us to come over and meet Pam and the boys.”
“Well, then, breaking into Weis' will have to be tonight, won't it?” Clark asked.
“Yes. It seems like Weis carries the kryptonite with him, right?” Lois asked.
“Uh huh, why?”
“I just want to make sure there's little chance of exposing you anymore,” she explained.
“You want to take a nap first?” Clark asked as they entered Perry's house.
“Yes,” Lois replied. “But first I want some more eggplant.”
“In the refrigerator,” Clark said. “I'm going to grab a shower. Being poked and prodded made me feel dirty.”
**********************************************************************
A few hours later, after a snack and a nap, the two made their way to Weis' office. “Any ideas, partner?” Clark asked.
Lois thought. It would seem as if she had an advantage here. Weis' office was in the old LexTower and she had spent a fair amount of time here once upon a time. But Lex had been obsessive about security and as far as she knew there were no entries with weak security. “Any chance Weis is a bit more careless than Lex was?” she asked Clark.
“I doubt it,” Clark said.
“You know, some superpowers would really come in handy now,” Lois smiled.
Clark smiled at her. “Well, if you know where to get some, please let me know.”
The two walked around the tower, looking for a door that may be easy to break into. “There,” Clark said, his voice soft.
“Where?” Lois asked, looking around.
“Up one floor. There's a window that's been left open a crack. I won't be able to fit through there, but you can.”
Lois looked up and saw the window he was pointing to. It was surprisingly easy to get to, with the fire escape leading right to it. She pointed to the door they were passing. “I'll come down and open this door for you. We'll hope the alarm only sounds if it's opened from the outside.”
Clark nodded, feeling anxious as he watched Lois climb the fire escape. His nervousness only strengthened when Lois made her way through the window and was no longer visible. He knew he was not currently able to do anything super, but he still felt better about his ability to help Lois when she was within eye sight.
But in less than a couple of minutes, Lois had the door open and he was inside beside her. The two stood in the doorway for a moment, listening, but if there was an alarm, it was silent. Finally deciding that it was silly to just stand there, they made their way to Weis' office.
“So, where should we look?” Clark asked. “He's not likely to have left the information somewhere where it would be easy to find.”
“No,” Lois agreed. “A locked filing cabinet? Someplace else all together?”
The two moved around Weis office in silence for a few moments, not completely sure what they were looking for. “Lois, look at this,” Clark whispered.
Lois moved over to his side to see what he was looking at. “Blueprints?” she asked.
“For this building. It's full of secret rooms – not too surprising really.”
“You think the information is in one of those?” Lois asked.
Clark nodded, “But it could take all night to even find them all, let alone search them.”
“What are these?” Lois asked, pointing to lines that were drawn between some rooms. All the rooms would have electricity, don't you think?”
“Yes,” Clark said, studying the blueprint. “But they wouldn't all have ISDN lines.”
“ISDN lines?” Lois asked.
“High speed internet lines. For a computer. And one of the hidden rooms that does is right next to this one.”
“But how do you get between them? Not one of those silly things where you move a book and the wall moves?” she asked jokingly as she pulled a book out of the bookcase. But Clark did not answer at first and then laughed when the wall did move, nearly knocking Lois off her feet. Clark reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward him and away from the moving wall. “How cheesy,” she grumbled as they moved into the other room.
Note: The idea for "magnetic" kryptonite came from both my husband and Ann. Thank you both for the brilliant idea!
