I looked at my calander and went, hmm, 3 days... time to post! I have no idea why I somehow thought the 31st was tomorrow...
Next part on Tuesday!
Thank you again Nancy (anonpip), Rel and Michael!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both Sides of the CoinPart 22
TOC CJ fidgeted in his chair as he considered the man in front of him. He had no idea why he had been called into a meeting immediately following his lecture but here he was. He was meeting the head of the Cosmology department: his boss. CJ’s multiple degrees had set him apart from many of his colleagues and jump-started his career. Not many cosmologists could also easily discuss the finer points of spacecraft engineering. Nor had many known conclusively that life existed on other planets... intelligent life at that. But at the same time... he was a new hire... and this meeting had been very short notice.
He met the eyes of Dr. Bernard Klein. The man had been a top researcher in his day before he turned academic... and there were rumors that STAR Labs was trying to lure him back into their clutches. CJ liked the guy. How could he not like the absent-minded genius that rode a motorcycle in his spare time? Dr. Klein had been surprisingly adept at keeping the department running despite his reputation as a scatter-brained mad-scientist.
Dr. Klein was, however, occasionally oblivious to the outside world. “Umm... Dr. Klein? You wanted to see me?”
Dr. Klein jumped slightly. “Oh! Yes... Dr. Kent...” The other man looked away from his paper. “I just had a most unusual offer... an exclusive grant from LexLabs for someone from our department to see what they could discover about Superman...”
CJ’s jaw dropped. “Lex Luthor wants us to research Superman?”
“Yes, or more specifically see if we can find out how he got here... And he asked for you specifically!” Dr. Klein smiled. “A very prestigious offer for a man as young as yourself...”
CJ frowned. “I would have thought that he would want to keep that within his own company...”
Dr. Klein shrugged. “They might not want to bid for time at the observatory, but what do you think?”
CJ leaned back in his chair. “I’ll have to think about it... It’s quite a commitment... Mr. Luthor is notoriously demanding...”
Dr. Klein nodded. “True... well... let me know... it’s rather a lot of cash and would help he university... I’d like to have your decision by tomorrow...”
CJ nodded with a stiff smile. ‘Translation: you better get us this cash...’
***************************
Meanwhile, at the Planet, Jimmy rushed over to Lois and Clark as they entered the room after lunch. “Hey Lois! CK!”
Lois paused. “What Jimmy?”
“Did you two see the sky-writing?”
Clark frowned. “Sky-writing?”
Jimmy handed him a photo, Lois peaked over his shoulder at it. “Ugh, not him again...”
Clark sighed. “Might have to actually talk to the guy or something...”
Lois shook her head. “Whatever, I’m going to get some coffee.”
Clark grinned after her before heading over to the television screens. There he saw the current media frenzy. <Lois, come look at the news...>
Lois came over with a fresh cup of coffee, Jimmy trailing behind her.
Jimmy looked up at the screen. “Hey, isn’t that the woman who came here earlier,” Jimmy started.
Clark grimaced. “Yeah, she said she was the Invisible Man’s wife... Now she’s the evening news...”
They watched the woman’s awkward handling of the press buzz. A neighbor had apparently blown the whistle.
Clark sighed. “There’s my nightmare... Right there...”
Jimmy frowned at him. “What do you mean? You go through that all the time...”
Lois winked at Jimmy. “No, *Superman* goes through that all the time... They leave Clark and CJ alone...”
Jimmy’s face cleared. “I getcha... I guess it would be annoying to have that-”
He waved at the screen, “-*all* the time...”
Clark nodded. “And that doesn’t even begin to touch on what people might do if they knew we had family and friends... Think of Trask...”
Jimmy shuddered. “No thanks...”
***************************
That evening Lois and Clark had dinner with CJ and Rachel. They were relaxing after their meal when CJ brought up his meeting.
Clark sat up straight. “Lex Luthor wants you to *what*?”
CJ just raised a brow. “Do I really need to repeat myself? Anyway, it was presented in a ‘you-better-not-turn-this-down’ fashion.”
Clark sighed. “So what will you do?”
CJ grasped his wife’s hand. “What can I do? Can I risk throwing this away and the ramifications it would have for my job, a job that I love and want to excel at?”
Lois suddenly grinned. “And who better to throw Luthor off and control what he learns?”
Both twins stared at her while Rachel started to giggle. “Very true... It’s kind of ironic that he asked *you* to find information on Superman...”
Clark frowned. “Or is it?” The others turned to him in question. “Remember, we suspect that he knows you’re ‘Charlie King’...”
CJ groaned. “And he would undoubtedly *love* to have Charlie King on his payroll...” He let out a loud sigh. “Well, I’ll have to take the grant... and try to stay one step ahead of him...”
Clark smiled in sympathy but both twins’ heads suddenly tilted to the side. “Sirens...” murmured Clark. A few more moments passed as the twins determined the severity of the emergency.
Clark frowned as he and CJ refocused on their surroundings. “A robbery... of a jewelry store...” CJ started. “But it’s already over... No one called out while it was actually happening...”
Lois raised a brow at Clark. “And?”
“It was done by the ‘Invisible Man,’ which doesn’t fit with what we’ve gathered at all...”
Lois bit her lip. “MOs can change...”
Clark frowned. “Or even worse... what if someone else figured it out? Someone who doesn’t want to play Robin Hood...”
CJ paled. “An army of Invisible Men...”
Clark stood. “Let’s go...”
Rachel held up a hand. “They’re going to be locking the scene to the press until tomorrow...”
Clark sighed. “I guess you’re right, Rach...”
***************************
The next day Lois and Clark met Henderson at the jeweler’s. Henderson was obviously frustrated as he talked to one of his colleagues. “No prints... No leads... No *nothing*!”
Lois jumped into their conversation. “And witnesses won’t do any good. What could they do? Listen to voice tapes?”
Henderson glared. “Who let you in here, Lane?” He sighed and shook his head. “But yeah... we’re looking for Morris, but we don’t know where to begin looking...”
Clark frowned. “However Morris made himself invisible, it’s possible that, with his wife coming forward, someone else got the method...”
Henderson just shook his head. “Who knows, but Morris has some questions to answer regardless...” He walked away.
Lois gazed at her partner. <Clark?>
<We should compare this robbery, invisibility aside, to others... If it *isn’t* Morris... then we have a wild card...>
As they scanned the scene again, another cop grabbed Lois’ attention. “Ms. Lane, note for you...”
Lois took the note. <Clark! You may have had a point... We need to get to Mrs. Morris’ *now*!>
Skipping the taxi, Clark flew them both to the woman’s house.
Once there, Lois rushed to the door. “Mrs. Morris?” She banged on the door.
The door was opened and Clark gaped, the woman eyed them fearfully beneath a wide bandage on her forehead. “What happened?”
Mrs. Morris let them in. “It’s easier if I show you...” She took them down to the basement lab. It had been destroyed. Broken glass and spilled chemicals littered the floor. Clark quickly blocked them off from the mess. “We don’t know what those liquids are... Safer not to touch them...” As he scanned the room he spied a piece of silvery fabric and quickly put it into his pocket.
Lois nodded. “Now, Helene, what happened?”
“A few hours after all those news vans left I heard a noise down here. I thought it might be Alan and came down... He hit me on the head... I haven’t called the police yet...”
Lois frowned. “‘He’? Are you saying it was your husband?”
The woman was emphatic. “No! Alan would *never* hurt me! If there was a fly in the kitchen, he’d spend half an hour catching it and setting it free...”
“We believe you.” Clark said in a soothing voice.
Lois nodded. “And with that robbery last night...”
Mrs. Morris sobbed. “There’re *two* invisible men...”
After calming the woman down enough to have her call the police, Clark took them back to Lois’ apartment.
Lois sighed. “So, how are we going to write this?”
Clark sighed. “The safest bet is to present both sides: Mrs. Morris’ convictions, the fact that the lab was raided and the jewelry robbery... Let the readers make up their own minds...”
Lois nodded, “That sounds good... Remember we’re stuck on that charity thing of Luthor’s tonight...”
Clark frowned. “Yeah... CJ is going to it in the suit...”
Lois raised a brow. “Rachel is ok with her husband attending a bachelor auction?”
Clark grinned at her. “*Superman* is being auctioned, and it’s for an orphanage... Would you rather it was me?”
Lois frowned at him. “Why do I feel like I’m missing something?”
***************************
They arrived at the auction just in time to witness the bidding-war on Lex Luthor.
<Could we not have arrived a couple minutes later?>
Lois smacked Clark’s shoulder. <Think work, Clark...>
“Hey Clark, are we going to see *you* up there?”
Clark grimaced and turned to Cat. “No...”
“Pity...” She ran a hand down his jacket.
After receiving no help from his girlfriend, Clark escaped to the men’s room.
Cat and Lois’ gazes met and both burst into giggles. “He is so *easy*!”
Lois grinned at her one-time nemesis. “Yeah, isn’t he adorable?”
Cat rolled her eyes. “You’re so lost...”
Lois shrugged. “But happy... Who are you going to bid on?”
Cat smiled. “I was thinking Superman, but we’ll see...”
Bidding had closed on Luthor at 10,000 dollars.
The billionaire moved forward to meet the winner, a stiff looking matron.
Moments later, a sound echoed from the balcony. Superman sauntered in, smiling widely to the obvious adoration of most of the women in the audience.
<You are a ham...>
<Thanks, Lois...>
Lois went rigid. <Clark?!>
She saw Superman flinch, luckily just as a spotlight hit him. <CJ got tied up...>
A bidding-war ensued but stalled as Cat bid 9,000 dollars.
Lois stayed stubbornly silent, trying her best not to glare at her boyfriend.
“50,000 dollars,” said a quiet voice from the back.
Lois stared as Rachel Kent moved forward into the light.
The gathering went still in shock. Clark walked over to his sister-in-law and gallantly kissed her hand. They talked quietly for a moment before Superman departed with a wave to the crowd. Rachel caught Lois’ gaze and winked.
Cat looked at Rachel as the woman quietly withdrew. “I wonder who she was...”
Lois just smiled. “Someone who wanted to make a point, I think...”
Cat smiled. “I’m going to go get some reactions...”
Lois smiled, for once at ease with the other woman. “I hope you get some good stuff for your column...”
Cat stilled. “Thanks Lois...” She moved off.
Lois scanned the room for a non-alcoholic drink. Finding none, she resigned herself to sipping on a glass of wine.
A hand took hers and she raised a surprised gaze to meet the eyes of Lex Luthor. “A pleasure to see you again, Lois...” He oozed charm. “Pity we haven’t been able to reschedule that interview...”
Lois smiled winningly and put aside her glass. “Well... the headlines have been pretty full of Superman lately...”
Luthor leaned towards her. “Care to reschedule?”
Lois gulped. “Mr. Luthor-” She noticed his look. “-err, Lex, you should know...”
Luthor just smiled as he cut her off. “I’ll call you, Lois.” Mimicking Clark’s earlier move, he kissed her hand and moved off.
A flurry of sound drew Lois’ attention. She turned to see Murray Brown and inwardly groaned. Spotting her, he quickly moved closer. “Is Superman still here?”
Lois rolled her eyes. “He barely stayed past the finalizing of the bid...”
“Drat!” Murray stalked off.
Moments later Lois choked back a squeal as she was picked up from behind. <Easy, am I?> Clark whirled her around, drawing attention from the entire room. As he finally slowed and let her down, Lois looked dizzily around the room. Most people were looking on in amused indulgence, but Cat was laughing uncontrollably.
Then her gaze met Luthor’s. She instinctively turned and buried her head against Clark’s shoulder. <Lois? Are you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you...>
<Look at Luthor...>
Clark peaked and stilled. Luthor’s expression was momentarily unguarded. His lips were curled in a snarl of rage while contempt shone in his eyes. From one instant to the next the expression was gone and Luthor’s face mirrored the amusement of his companions.
<I saw him, you ok?>
<Yeah, but... why? I mean... I haven’t even seen him since that ‘interview’...>
<I don’t know, Lois...> Clark gently kissed her forehead.
“Why, Clark! I wouldn’t have thought you had it in you!” Cat had rejoined them.
Lois grinned. “I think he heard your easy comment and decided to pay *me* back for it... We have to go file this story and one on a recent robbery, wanna hop a cab with us?”
Cat smiled. “Sure, Lois, thanks...”
Clark looked between the two women in shock over their newfound accord. <What in the world did I miss?!>
***************************
After turning in both their stories, Clark walked Lois home. Once they reached Lois’ apartment, she invited Clark inside. Lucy was out on a date with Jimmy for the evening so they had the place to themselves for a while.
They settled on one of the loveseats and Lois turned to Clark. “I could have killed you when I realized it was you walking up on that stage...”
Clark sighed, “I know... And truly, it was supposed to be CJ... but one of his superiors called him into the observatory at the last minute on that Luthor grant... I didn’t even know until after I, well, after Cat...”
Lois grinned. “After you stormed off to escape Cat’s ribbing?”
Clark frowned. “I guess... Anyway, I knew Rach would be there...”
Lois cut in. “Can she and CJ afford that, by the way?”
Clark grinned. “Do you have any idea how much CJ got paid by the government for his Charlie King stunt? First, for the actual work he did and then even more to keep him from retaliating after they turned on him...”
“I don’t think I *want* to know...”
“Probably not... I don’t know it all... After all, he let me in on that secret pretty recently...”
Lois nibbled her lip. “Clark?”
Clark grasped her hands and ran his thumbs over the backs. “Yeah, Honey?”
Lois dropped her gaze to her lap before she whispered, “Luthor scared me tonight...”
Clark gathered her in his arms and held her tightly. “Me too, Lois... I didn’t like the look he was giving us at all.” He nuzzled her temple and she relaxed into him. “We need to be careful of him... I love you too much to let anything happen to you...”
Lois jerked away from him in shock. “*What* did you just say?”
Clark smiled at her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I love you, Lois Lane.”
Lois’ eyes filled with wonder. “Clark...”
Clark kissed her softly. “I just need you to know that, Lois... That you’re important to me... If you aren’t there yet, that’s ok... Remember, I...”
Lois placed a finger to his lips. “I love you, too, Clark...”
Clark’s eyes glowed and he pulled her back into his arms. The couple cuddled for a long time.
tbc....
