Red Like Kryptonite
Folc4evernaday
Pt. 1
Notes: This is the sequel to Target: Lois Lane.
You can watch the trailer
here.
***
<<“Oh, Clark,” She moaned, reaching beneath the waistband of his jeans. She gasped as he rained a trail of featherlight kisses between the valley of her breasts.
” Oh, God, Lois…” he murmured.
“Oh, Clark, right there.” She whispered as he raised himself to her collarbone, massaging it with his tongue.>>Just as quickly as he had appeared, he vanished.
“Clark?”
***
Lois sat up in bed, confused as she reached out for her clock to check the time. She looked around the room, assuring herself she was indeed alone. For the last week, she’d spent the entire week dreaming of that night with Clark. Every time, it ended the same. He would disappear from her arms, and she would call out for him with no answer.
She grimaced when she saw the time, 2:21AM.
“It’s going to be a long night,” she muttered. She buried her head beneath the comforter as she repositioned herself against the pillow, willing sleep to overtake her once again.
***
Bill Church Jr. took a puff from his cigar as he leaned back into the leather chair, folding his hands in front of him as he read over the scientific reports. He glanced up at the balding man in front of him who fidgeted nervously. “So, this Nirvana, how much are you wanting Intergang to front you?”
“We’re looking at about 100 K, give or take, but the return will be worth the investment,” Charles Knox urged.
“That’s what they all say,” Bill Church muttered, “I fronted the Wilders over 100K and look at all the good that did me. Wasn’t Valhalla your idea, Knox?”
“Valhalla was fool-proof and it would have worked if Superman hadn’t,” Mr. Knox apologized.
“Yeah, I heard.” Church shook his head.
“We have a deal with the FDA to push Nirvana through afterward, allowing us to profit from its effects,” Knox explained.
“It’s your head if this falls through, Knox,” Church warned.
“I understand,” Knox nodded nervously.
“I’ll get you your money by the end of the week,” he added.
“Thank you, sir.”
***
In the dark, a flashlight shone the way for a group of men dressed in black. The trees acted as a shield as they began to dig. “Hey, I think I found something.” A red glow could be seen through the soil as they continued to dig.
A large piece of the red glowing rock was excavated and a man in his mid-forties pulled it out. “Well, boys, I think we’ve struck gold…or in this instance, Kryptonite.”
***
Clark watched as Lois stepped into the newsroom, carrying her briefcase, engrossed in the fax she was reading. He uncomfortably shifted in place as he watched her chew the inside of her lip. The small gesture that she had done countless times before was now yet another thing that quietly drove him crazy. She glanced over at him, smiling.
Did she know what she was doing to him? Probably not.
He watched entranced as she turned to take a seat at her desk, adjusting herself as she first crossed, then uncrossed her legs a couple of times. She was trying to kill him.
“CK?” Jimmy waved a hand in front of him, trying to get his attention.
Clark shook his head, turning his attention to the young man in front of him. “Jimmy, you’re back.”
Jimmy nodded, “Yeah. The doc gave me a clean bill of health,”
“That’s great,” Clark nodded. “We really missed you around here.”
“Yeah, I kinda missed the Planet too,” Jimmy acknowledged. “Just don’t tell the Chief that.”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” Clark promised.
“Hey, Jimmy, it’s good to see you,” Lois said, walking up mid-conversation. “How are you feeling?”
Jimmy laughed, “Don’t worry, Lois. I won’t be pulling any guns on you guys anytime soon. The doc gave me a clean bill of health. He said the Ticeon seems to have worked its way out of my system.”
“That’s good.” Lois seemed visibly relieved.
“What about you guys, anything exciting happen while I was gone?”
“No,” Lois said hurriedly at the same time as Clark, “Not a thing.”
Jimmy furrowed an eyebrow at them for a moment, confused. He seemed not to want to push the issue, though. “So, I read that piece you guys wrote on the Wilders. Good stuff.”
Lois seemed to relax visibly at Jimmy’s change of the subject. “Thanks. I’m just glad it had a happy ending.”
“I know. Can you imagine what would have happened if they’d succeeded with ‘Valhalla?’” Clark added.
“They were seriously trying to sell this stuff as a weapon?” Jimmy shook his head. “That still freaks me out, knowing someone else was controlling me like that.”
Lois patted his arm. “You weren’t yourself,”
“I pulled a gun on you guys.” Jimmy shook his head, “I still can’t believe I did that.”
“Everything turned out all right,” Lois reassured him.
“But I shot at you,” Jimmy agonized. “I’d been trained to shoot a gun since I was nine. I’m surprised and grateful I missed.”
Clark shifted nervously in his seat. Jimmy hadn’t missed. He’d been right on target, and Clark had gotten to the bullet before it had hit them. There was no way he could tell his young friend that. He glanced over at Lois, who seemed just as nervous about Jimmy’s comments as he was.
“Well, what’s in the past is past,” Lois said hurriedly.
“Right,” Clark added. “Nothing to worry about,”
“Exactly.”
Jimmy looked at them curiously for a moment then shrugged it off. “Well, I’d better check in with the Chief before he starts.”
“OLSEN!!” Perry bellowed across the newsroom.
“Speaking of,” Lois smiled at Jimmy. “We’ll catch up later.”
Jimmy sighed, “Duty calls.”
Lois and Clark watched as Jimmy raced across the newsroom to the Editor-in-Chief’s office. “Well, I guess things are getting back to normal,” Lois commented.
Clark laughed, watching Jimmy’s frantic hand gestures as he spoke to Perry. “Yeah, normal for the Planet anyway,”
Lois smiled, “True.”
He caught her gaze for a moment. He could feel the anxiety resonating from her. “So, what have you got?” He motioned to the fax in her hand.
“What?” She took a moment to realize what he was referring to. “Oh, uh, Perry wants us to do a follow-up on the Wilders.” She pushed back a strand of hair behind her ear. “I was going to meet with Bobby Bigmouth, try and find out what we could about this drug they were trying to push. It’s just a bit hard to believe that a widow and daughter thought up this plan by themselves.”
“You thinking Intergang?” Clark asked.
“Maybe,” she shrugged.
He nodded, “Sounds good.” She was still nervous around him. He wanted more than anything for things to go back to the way they had been before. “Lois…”
At the same time, she said, “Clark…”
“You go first,” they both said in unison.
Lois smiled back at him, “Sorry; what did you want to say?”
“I just — “ he began.
“Hey, guys, guess what?” Excited, Jimmy bounded up to them, unaware he was interrupting a long-awaited conversation.
“What’s up, Jimmy?” Lois asked with a forced smile. She seemed mildly miffed as she spoke.
“You’re looking at the Planet’s newest Photo Journalist!” Jimmy showed them the form Perry had given him to get his new press badge.
“Congratulations, Jimmy,” Clark said. “That’s great,”
“Yeah, I’m really proud of you,” Lois added.
“Thanks, I still can’t believe it,” Jimmy beamed proudly.
“That’s really great, Jimmy,” Lois continued. “You’d better go ahead and get your ID made. You never know when that big story is gonna show up,”
“Right,” Jimmy nodded, taking the hint. He headed towards the elevator.
Lois watched him, shaking her head, “I swear. That boy should come with a bell around his neck.”
“He doesn’t do it on purpose,” Clark defended.
“That’s what’s bad about it,” She shot back.
“So, what have we got on the capture of the Wilders?” Clark asked, changing the subject.
“Oh.” Lois glanced back at her desk. There was a twinge of something in her tone. Disappointment?
He followed her back to her desk where she pulled out the file they had on the Wilders. “Well, Katherine and her mother were captured. Henderson is questioning the man who was with them, Mr. Neener. He thinks he may have been a potential buyer of this drug.” Lois rolled her shoulders forwards, moving her neck from side to side as she spoke.
“You okay?” Clark asked, placing a hesitant hand on her shoulders.
“Fine,” she said hurriedly.
He figured it was best to stay on topic. “So, the Wilders were trying to make a sale of this drug, and we have a potential buyer. Anything else?”
“Um,” Lois turned her chair to face him. He removed his hand from her shoulder, and she showed him her notes. “I’m looking at a possible connection to, uh, Intergang.”
“You mentioned them before, but are you sure they’re still in business? Bill Church retired,” he reminded her.
“Well, Bill Church Sr. may be out of action, but his son’s not.”
“Lois, just because his dad was a criminal doesn’t mean…” Clark was cut off when Lois glared at him.
“If something looks like a duck, quacks like a duck.” Lois began.
“…chances are it is a duck,” Clark finished. “Fine, let’s see what Bobby Bigmouth has to say,”
***
“What do you mean you don’t know anything, Bobby?” Lois pulled the sandwich out of his mouth.
“HEY!” Bobby looked at her in shock.
“Lois!” Clark admonished.
“I’m not feeding you for nothing,” Lois shot back in disgust.
“I didn’t say I had nothing.” Bobby eyed the sandwich in her hand appreciatively. “Taking food from a hungry man? You have no heart.”
“If you want to eat, you have to talk. That’s the deal. Got it?” Lois retorted.
“I said I don’t know anything concrete. There’s a difference. Now can I PLEASE have my sandwich back?”
“Lo-is,” Clark warned.
“Fine, start talking,” She shoved the sandwich back into Bobby’s mouth, forcing him to gag slightly.
Bobby took another bite of his food. “Remember, you didn’t hear this from me.”
“We never do,” Clark reassured him.
“Bill Church Jr. is running Intergang.”
“I knew it!” Lois congratulated herself.
“Things are a lot more cutthroat than when Bill Sr. was running it. Nobody is talking, but everyone knows who the boss man is. He’s looking at a drug — Nirvana, I think is what it’s called.”
“Does this drug have anything to do with the Ticeon the Wilders were using with the Valhalla Project?” Clark asked curiously.
“I’m not sure, but I do know their buyer was connected to Intergang.” Bobby took a swig of his soda, “But I don’t know how long he’ll be connected now that he’s being questioned by the police — if you catch my drift.” He finished the rest of his sandwich in one bite then got up.
“That’s all I know for now. I’ll be in touch.”
***
INTERGANG CONNECTED TO VALHALLA!!!
Headlines soared off the newsstands. Every channel had something to say about the latest news piece. Theories and speculations were debated on every channel. Finally having enough, Bill Church Jr. clicked the television off as he paced around his office angrily. “One of these days I’m gonna get you, Perry.” He muttered. “Then we’ll see who’s smiling.”
***
Lois stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself as she wiped the fog off the mirror. It had been a long day. It was exhausting working with Clark, knowing he was lying to her when he came up with lame excuses to leave, only to return hours later. Pretending to be in the dark was hard, but she needed him to tell her the truth. She needed him to be honest with her.
She couldn’t believe that she was wrong about Clark. He had always been honest with her about everything else. He was genuine and open-hearted, completely opposite of every other man she’d had any relationship with. He was her best friend and the possibility of losing that friendship was too much for her to bear. He had to tell her. There was no other option.
The only way they would make it was if he was honest with her.
***
“I thought Kryptonite was supposed to be green. This is red.” Bill Church Jr. eyed the substance before him critically.
Gene Newtrich pulled out a report, “Three different laboratories have assured me it’s Kryptonite. It has all the same properties, but it has a different color.”
“Will it kill Superman?”
“We don’t know,”
“We don’t know? Well, then what we need is a field test. Of course, that means we have to send someone expendable. Someone we at Intergang won’t miss if they wind up in jail.” He turned to Gene, “How about you, Gene?”
“My pleasure, Mr. Church,” Gene replied.
***
The next morning, Lois and Clark walked to the Planet together. “Clark, can we talk?” Lois began.
“Sure. What’s on your mind?”
“I wanted to talk about what happened last week,”
“Oh.” An awkward silence fell between the two of them.
Lois noticed the way he seemed to be concentrating on looking at the ground as they walked. She was going to just have to do it. She had to have this conversation with him, or they were going to remain in this awkward limbo. “Clark…”
A gunshot interrupted her speech. Lois and Clark looked towards an armored truck that was parked in front of the Planet. “Lois, isn’t that the truck that delivers our checks?”
“Oh, my God! It’s always something,”
“I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go call the police.” Before she could argue he was gone.
“Somebody stop them!” Lois yelled as she crossed the street to advance toward the criminals. “They’re robbing the truck!”
“Don’t worry, Lois, they’ll be in jail before you can say, ‘Cappuccino.’” Superman landed beside her.
Lois did a double take. She still couldn’t believe she had been so blind. The witty comments, the way he joked with her, was all Clark.
She watched as Clark approached the armored car. “I’m afraid you’ll have to take a rain check on those checks, boys.”
The men wore ski masks. One of them looked up at him with a smile, “Really? What if we don’t want to?” He reached inside the armored car for something.
Clark shook his head then looked back at the men. His whole demeanor seemed to have changed. “Well, I don’t know. Maybe nothing. I mean, they’ll just have to reissue the checks. So, what do I care?”
“Uh, right.” The man turned to his henchmen, “Come on!” They disappeared in their getaway car, and Clark just watched, not doing a thing.
“Cla-Superman! You let them get away!” Lois caught herself at the last minute. She was used to thinking of him as Clark. She had almost slipped up.
He didn’t seem to notice. “It’s not that big a deal, Lois. Most criminals are repeat offenders. I’ll probably just catch them again later.” He began to fly off, “And if I don’t, who cares?”
“Hey, get back here!” she hollered as he disappeared in the sky.
***
TBC...
