Once again, sincere thanks to my betas, Female Hawk and Darth Michael.
From Part One:
Lois escorted her sister to the newsroom door, while Lucy returned the waves from the staffers she’d met during Clark’s mini-tour. “Lucy, I am going to get that story. No hack from Nowheresville is going to scoop me.”
“I know you will, Lois.” Lucy hugged her sister and left the newsroom.
As she left, Lois realized that she’d never wished her sister good-luck.
*********************************************
The rest of the day went on like that. Nothing went right and Lois was tired and cranky. At the staff meeting, Lois had protested that she should have the follow-up on the Superman story, since she’d gotten the exclusive. Perry had overruled her, saying that the story was too big, Superman was fair game, and it was every reporter for him- or herself.
Clark had observed that Superman might be shy from all the media frenzy. Maybe he didn’t want to be found. Clark was hiding something, Lois knew. That rat probably knew where to find Superman.
Clark had gone on. “He could be anywhere – Mars, the North Pole…”
Lois had promptly wasted the morning calling the radar facility at NORAD and getting no answer.
Around lunchtime, she’d overheard Clark talking on the phone. “What? He’s there now? Really? Don’t let him leave.” From the excitement in his voice, she’d known that Clark had to have a Superman lead.
She’d followed him. And humiliatingly, the whole conversation had been about Clark renting an apartment. “He” wasn’t Superman, “he” was Clark’s landlord. And even more humiliatingly, she’d been caught following Clark.
And then, to add insult to injury, she’d gotten word that Superman was saving suicide jumpers. She’d rushed to different ends of Metropolis, only to find that her cabbie had gotten there too late. She’d missed the story. She tried to make up for it by interviewing witnesses and bystanders, getting a fairly complete picture of what had happened. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been there – and Clark had. The hack from Nowheresville had scooped her!
And Clark, of course, had to rub it in.
“Lois, it was incredible! Superman caught that woman in midair. She’s okay. She left in an ambulance a minute ago.” He gave Lois a smirk. “You should have been here.”
Okay. That was it. She had a headache. She’d missed this lead. Clark was taunting her. The taunting was the last straw.
She plastered a fake smile on her face. “Clark! That’s really great!”
“I better phone it in.” His instincts were sound, no doubt about that.
Lois swooped in for the kill. “Don’t. They’ll just re-write you.” She put on a persuasive tone. “My advice is, get back to the office and start typing. Look, you can have my cab. Go on.”
Clark got into the cab. He smiled at her, trustingly, innocently. “Lois, I appreciate this. I owe you one.”
As the cab sped away, Lois muttered, “No, I owe you one.” An annoying little voice in her head was saying, Hey, wait a minute, but she ignored it. She ran to the pay phone to phone in the story. “Doris? Get me rewrite.”
*********************************************
Lois wasted more time that afternoon, calling everyone she could think of who might have a clue on how to track Superman. No one knew anything.
When Clark stomped toward her, carrying a mock-up of the evening edition, Lois pulled on her armor, ready to defend herself.
“’Superman Averts Double Suicide’, by Lois Lane,” he said bitterly. “First of all…”
“Clark, don’t even start. You got what you deserved.”
“What?!”
“I know it’s tough, but some day you’ll thank me.”
“Thank you!?”
“You’re welcome. Never, never let go of a story. Trust no one. Period.”
“I see,” Clark said grimly.
“Consider it a life lesson. No charge.”
Clark’s mouth opened but no words came out. After a minute, he gave up and left her desk. Lois sighed in relief. That could have been much worse. She ignored the tiny tremor in her conscience. Any Superman story belonged to her. She deserved it. She got back to work. Maybe no one she’d called so far knew anything, but she wasn’t going to give up. She’d find out more about Superman. She’d win that Pulitzer. Except…will you do it honestly? Will you enjoy it once you get it? Will you really earn it, or will you steal it? That mocking voice asked her.
She shrugged off the voice. No sense in brooding. As she’d told Clark, trust no one. Never let go of a story. Engrossed in defending her conduct to herself, she missed Lucy’s return.
A cough at her side brought Lois back to herself. Lucy stood there, smiling triumphantly.
“How did it go?” Lois asked. She already knew the answer.
“You’re looking at the newest production assistant for LNN NewsTime. I start tomorrow morning.”
Jimmy had drifted over by now. “Hey, that’s great!” He beat Lois to it. “So you’re a PA. Congratulations, Lucy!”
“Thanks, Jimmy.” When had Lucy and Jimmy become so friendly? Lois wondered. Lucy had only been in the newsroom for half an hour this morning! And Lucy didn’t seem to be calling him “James” anymore, either.
“So, what do you have to do as a production assistant?” Lois asked, deliberately breaking up the heated glances between Jimmy and Lucy.
“Well, right now, I’m kind of the lowest of the low - just a gofer and a helper behind the camera. But Mr. Botsford says that any of the PA’s have a chance to move in front of the lights. It’s all up to the person. You’ve got to be go-getting, and come up with story ideas, and do some legwork on them.”
Cat and Clark joined them. What was it with Lucy, Lois thought. How does she attract people like this?
“So I guess you’ll be asking me for advice, then?” Lois asked.
Lucy shuffled her feet. “Well, maybe about how to chase down a story....” She looked at the small crowd around her. “You all got any ideas?”
Cat laughed. “Well, Lucy, you seem like a nice kid.” She critically appraised the gray suit Lucy wore. “Although I can’t say much for your outfit.”
“Hey!” Lois snapped. “That’s my suit that Lucy borrowed!”
Cat sneered. “Exactly.”
“You know, Cat, you’re not one to talk,” Lois said evenly. “You look like someone poured you into your outfit and you forgot to say ‘when’. At least I wore more than a gownless evening strap to the last Planet event.”
“A strap that was better than the nun’s habit that you wore.” Being satisfied that she’d dueled Lois into momentary silence (or at least a fuming rage that kept Lois speechless), Cat turned to Lucy and totally changed her tone. “Lucy, when I was a rookie, another reporter gave me a tip.”
“Yeah, back in the Pleistocene,” Lois muttered, restraining herself from clawing Cat’s eyes out. Was Clark actually hiding a smile?
“That tip got me started. And, all through my career, I’ve tried to pay that forward. Lois’s eyes widened in surprise, despite her best efforts to keep a poker face. She’d never known that about Cat. Of course, they hardly worked the same schedule. Cat was always slithering into the newsroom at one or two o’clock in the afternoon, after her late nights on the society beat. So why should she have known that about Cat? Lois asked herself. Maybe because you’ve worked in the same newsroom with her for eight years? her annoying inner voice replied. She was here when you were an intern just out of high school, and she’s been here since – have you ever really tried to get to know her?
“We women in the news business have to stick together. And so,” Cat continued loudly, “even though Lois is your sister, I’m not going to hold that against you. Come over to my desk – “ she cast a jaundiced eye at the crowd, lingering most on Lois. “ - when you’re done and I’ll give you a tip. What you do with it is up to you.”
“Is it about Superman?” Lucy asked wistfully.
“You know, I had an idea for a way to track down Superman,” Jimmy interrupted.
Lucy turned to him, excitement in her gaze. “Really?”
Jimmy fumbled with the strap of his camera. “Really. I just thought, if Superman is an alien, and came here from another planet, he’d have some kind of spaceship. Track down the spaceship and find Superman.”
“Wow, that’s a really good idea, Jimmy!” Lucy leaned closer to Jimmy. “How would you go about tracking the spaceship?”
“I don’t know….you got any ideas?”
“I bet Superman hid his spaceship so no one could find it,” Clark said dismissively. “If he even had a spaceship. How do you know he didn’t get here via intergalactic teleportation or a black hole or something?”
Lois’s scathing reply was interrupted by Perry storming over. “This is a newsroom, not a social club! I don’t want to see you standing around, I want stories! You got that, folks? Stories! Our publisher called me last night, wondering why we don’t have the full scoop on Superman! And we should, considering he flew you in here yesterday, Lois!”
Lois thought about reminding Perry she’d just called in a Superman story, but with Clark looming over her, she didn’t quite have the guts. She took refuge in distraction. “Perry, this is my sister Lucy. She just aced her interview and she’ll be starting with LNN NewsTime tomorrow.”
Perry calmed down so suddenly it was like he’d undergone a personality transplant. “Well, congratulations, Miss Lane. Any sister of Lois’s is welcome here. And welcome to the news business. Of course, I’d prefer if you were in print journalism, but even so…”
“Thank you, Mr. White,” Lucy said, blushing.
“Now you be sure to take Lois’s advice and learn what she’ll teach you. She isn’t the best investigative reporter at the Planet for nothing.” Perry nodded firmly and headed to the coffee station.
Lois made a show of looking at her watch. “Well, Lucy, I’ll be working later tonight, so do you want to go out for dinner now to celebrate your new job?”
“Sure!” Lucy stared uncertainly. “If I can just talk with Cat first…”
“Come over here, I’ll get you started,” Cat replied. She surprised Lois. Had the other woman ever been this friendly to her? Of course, have you ever been friendly to her? If you really think about it, you’ve always shrugged off all her overtures. She never gave you a tip, but did she try, and did you listen? That annoying inner voice kept on making the most uncomfortable comments. Well, no matter now. She was Lois Lane, top reporter at the Planet. She’d gotten there and she was going to stay there by getting the big stories. Like Superman. In fact, Jimmy had a good idea there….
Clark and Jimmy both wished Lucy “Congratulations” and drifted away after an awkward moment of silence between them and Lois. Lois looked over at Lucy – she was seated next to Cat’s desk, laughing at something Cat had said. It looked like she might take awhile. Lois smiled inwardly in satisfaction.
She punched some numbers on her phone. “Information, get me the number for the EPRAD satellite tracking station in Fairbanks, Alaska….”
She sensed rather than saw Clark frowning out of the corner of her eye. He muttered something under his breath that she didn’t quite catch – something about “now Jimmy’s idea….” Then Perry materialized from the coffee station.
“Kent! Third and Walnut. Drive-by shooting. Get there now!”
Clark sighed and left.
Lucy came back to Lois’s desk. When Lois got the phone number she wanted, she hung up. “Ready to go out?”
“All set.”
***********************************************
“And you have to defend your position,” Lois said. “That’s important.”
“Lois, you said that already.” Lucy impatiently took another bite of tiramisu. Lois had splurged, taking them to Angelina’s. They had the best pasta in Metropolis, and the desserts were to die for.
“Well, it’s true,” Lois defended herself. “You’re a woman. It’s still a man’s world. Maybe it’s better in TV work, but being an investigative reporter…you have to be twice as good to get half the awards.”
“I guess I’ll just have to see,” Lucy said wearily. Lois had been throwing advice at her all night. Was her sister really this driven, cheerless, semi-paranoid androphobe?
“Maybe I do have a chip on my shoulder,” Lois said defensively, “but this is the only way I know how to do it. To get the job done. To get the respect that I want. That I deserve.”
“Lois, you’re the best reporter I know,” Lucy said. “I only hope that I can be just like you.”
*****************************************
Lucy noticed that Lois remained silent as she paid the check and they left the restaurant.
“Do you want to go home from here?” Lois asked. “There’s a Metro stop a block away. You take the Brown Line, get off at Maple, and go two blocks north to the apartment. I’ve got to go back to the Planet.”
“I left my paperwork on your desk,” Lucy said sheepishly. “I need it for tomorrow.”
“Okay, it’s back to the Planet for both of us.”
They walked quietly through the autumn night, Lucy considering Lois’s tips. She wanted to succeed – she wanted to be like her big sister. And she needed to succeed – sure, she’d gotten the job at LNN NewsTime, but Lucy knew the stats – production assistants were a dime a dozen, here today and gone tomorrow. The only way to get ahead was to get stories. Lois was right about that. You couldn’t depend on someone giving you tips (although Lois had carefully cultivated a network of sources over the years) – you had to go out and find stuff yourself. And take that stuff and build it into a story. Lois could write it up; Lucy would have to edit it into a two-minute video clip. But the first need was still the story. Get the story. Always get the story.
Lucy wrapped her jacket a little more tightly, warding off the chill. She’d always looked up to Lois, the sister who, although only three years older, had already won three Kerth Awards. She admired her older sister, who’d basically raised her when their father had walked out and their mother had spent her afternoons in an alcoholic stupor. Lois was an award-winning investigative reporter. Everyone knew she was the best in Metropolis. Heck, even Superman had talked to Lois first!
Lucy often felt like a failure when she compared herself with Lois. She knew she shouldn’t make comparisons, but it was hard not to. Lucy – well, she was a twenty-four year old woman who’d bounced from job to job, who’d had a series of loser boyfriends. She was no competition for Lois in any respect.
What was she thinking, Lucy asked herself, trying to compete with Lois? But, she reminded herself the umpteenth time, she wasn’t trying to compete. No. They were in different branches. Lois was in print. She was in broadcast. There would be no competition.
And, on the other hand, Lucy could make the most of things. She had an opportunity many of her co-workers would kill for – she had full access to Lois Lane. And Lois would talk to her. And Lois would give her advice. Lois had already given Lucy tips on snooping out a story, or building a piece that would stand up in print (or in broadcast) - tips that Lucy recognized as having been hard-earned.
There was no getting around it. Lucy wanted to impress her big sister. Heck, Lois had had a meteoric rise in her Planet career. Lucy wanted to rise just as quickly at LNN NewsTime. She found herself mulling over Lois’s advice. She would keep her eyes open, always on the lookout for the lead that might land a big story. She wanted to be ready when that tip dropped into her lap. She wanted to be prepared to create the story, to build it up, to run with it. She was going to make her name at LNN NewsTime, and the “Lane” name in Metropolis wouldn’t just be “Lois Lane” anymore.
She needed a big story. Something to make her name, right from the start. The obvious story to concentrate on was….
“Superman,” Lucy mumbled.
“Where?” Lois spun around.
“Oh. Not here. I was just thinking that Superman would be a great story.”
A peculiar expression crossed Lois’s face. “He’s my story.”
“Yeah, for print! This is TV! Besides, Lois, he’s big! You can’t keep him all to yourself!”
“Watch me try.” The determination in her sister’s voice almost scared Lucy.
Lucy only shrugged. If she got a Superman tip, she was going to chase it. Superman wasn’t only for Lois.
When they reached the Planet, Lois stopped at the ladies room while Lucy went into the bullpen to pick up her paperwork from Lois’s desk. Lucy picked up her file folder. Lois was taking a long time. Lucy looked idly at Lois’s desk – gee, why did Lois keep a dead plant? And that coffee cup – eew! Did she ever wash it out?
She idly scanned the papers – memos from Human Resources about sick days and the change in insurance coverage, the latest issue of Journalism Review, lots of “While You Were Out” message forms (most impaled on a wickedly sharp spike), and...wow, Lois was sure taking a long time. Lucy sat at the desk and started seriously rummaging through the paper that blanketed Lois’s desk.
A file of clippings regarding Atlas Industries. A dry-cleaning receipt – Lois should have picked up her “skirt suit, 2-pc” last Tuesday. A scrawled sheet which seemed to be an attempt to document Jimmy Olsen’s time spent on research of Lois Lane’s stories. Envelopes – all had been opened. So it’s OK if I look, Lucy thought. Lois certainly did. She’d heard the stories about it at dinner. Open envelopes were fair game, according to Lois. Actually, Lucy wasn’t even steaming the envelopes open. Lois had, according to her tales of “what you have to do to be a reporter”.
The first envelope -- Lucy, curious, pulled out the paper inside and grimaced when she found it was a late notice for the yearly dues of the Women In Journalism Association. Another envelope revealed a credit card bill in the name of “Wanda Detroit” – was this some sort of alias that Lois used? A third envelope marked “Expense Account” and full of receipts – from cabs, restaurants, a hotel. Another non-sealed envelope addressed with only Lois’s name, no mention of the Planet – hmm, what was this?
Lucy pulled out a single sheet of paper. One side had only the words “Lois Lane” written clearly. Someone wanted to make sure Lois would get this paper even if it were removed from the envelope. On the other side, a hand-drawn map. Streets and turnings were clearly marked and the “X” was…
“Superman’s spaceship?” Lucy muttered. “Superman’s spaceship?” The envelope fell, unheeded, into the wastebasket.
This was big. This was really big. Of course Lois had gotten this information – she’d made it clear. She was the Superman conduit. At dinner, she’d told Lucy how she’d spent the day calling all her contacts, and asking them to send any information to the Planet if they couldn’t call her directly. That explained Lois’s intensity. Lucy was only surprised that Lois had taken her out to dinner instead of chasing this lead. For a minute, Lucy wondered if Lois actually had seen the map.
The levers clicked and the gears meshed. This would be her story. She’d take this map. She’d go to the spot marked “X”, find Superman’s spaceship and report on it for LNN NewsTime. Lucy shoved down her misgivings. Of course Lois already had the tip – heck, it was on her desk, she must know about it – she was probably waiting for tomorrow so that she had daylight for the search – that was it! And Lois would write about it for the Planet. Lucy would make sure that Lois’s story came out first, ahead of the NewsTime piece…well, maybe the stories could come out simultaneously.
But she wasn’t going to discuss it with Lois, not till she got to the spaceship and got her video. Lois was creepily intense about Superman, really weird. Yep, it would be better to get the story safely in the can, then coordinate with Lois.
How hard could it be, anyway? She had a map. All she had to do was go there with her video camera. She’d better not tell anyone at NewsTime, though. Lois’s numerous anecdotes of stories being stolen had definitely resonated with Lucy. No, she had to do this on her own. She’d make a great story. Her older sister would be proud of her.
Tomorrow morning. That’s the plan, thought Lucy. I’ll find Superman’s spaceship and make a great story out of it. Tomorrow I’ll start my award-winning career.
