From last time:
The takedown itself was anti-climactic. In the oldest part of Chinatown, the Feds knocked on the door of Johnny Tai’s dingy apartment. He tried to flee down the fire escape. Ultrawoman caught him and frog marched him into the waiting hands of the federal agents.
As Clark Kent jogged over toward the Feds, Lois assumed that his takedown had been just as uneventful. Anne Bradley gave him a few quotes before he turned to interview Ultrawoman. Lois played along for appearance’s sake before excusing herself, claiming she was needed elsewhere.
Soaring high in the sky, she did a barrel roll, immensely relieved to be done with the investigation. The Feds had in custody the highest ranking members of the Triads in the city. The gang’s Metropolis operations had already collapsed and taking down the heads of the local chapter meant that any attempts to resurrect the crime syndicate would take a long time, if it ever happened.
All of that was well and good, but what really interested Lois was the fact that she could finally get her family back together under one roof. Things could go back to normal.
********
New stuff:
“To Lois Lane and Clark Kent,” Perry announced as he raised his champagne glass in the middle of the newsroom. Around him were enlarged mockups of the half dozen banner headline stories they’d filed over the last month on the dizzying fall of the Metropolis chapter of the Triads. “Still the best damn investigators in the business!”
“To Lois and Clark!” came the reply from the rest of their colleagues, gathered around them in the bullpen. For a few brief minutes, the work in the newsroom had come to a halt to celebrate the occasion. Clark smiled at his wife who was leaning against a currently unoccupied desk. This was exactly how it was supposed to be: Superman and Ultrawoman got the bad guys, Lane and Kent got the big story. Metropolis was safer, his family was all happily back at home, and the stories they’d nabbed would probably land them at least nominations for the Merriwethers and Kerths this year.
“I can’t believe you were at the raids,” Ralph said, a note of jealousy in his voice. “I never get tips like that.” He shook his head dejectedly and walked away, unaware of the smirk he’d elicited from Lois.
“You guys did a hell of a job,” Eduardo said with admiration. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“We don’t sleep much,” Lois said with a wink.
“All right, that’s enough lollygagging around. Don’t y’all have work to do?” Perry bellowed.
Grumbling, the reporters dispersed, back to their phones and desks and wherever they went to go talk to sources. The short-lived party came to an abrupt end and the newsroom was once again humming with the sounds of journalism in action.
Lois stood up straight and closed the distance between them. She patted his chest as he wrapped an arm around her waist. “Hey,” he said softly with a smile.
“Hey yourself,” she teased. “Are you going to be ready to go soon?”
“I need another half hour with Layout,” he said. “Meet you at home?”
“Nah, I’ll wait for you,” she said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
********
“Up we go, kiddo!” Clark announced as he lifted Jon onto his shoulders. “Time for a bath.”
“I can take a bath by myself,” Jon said as he reached up toward the ceiling.
Clark started up the steps. “That’s my boy,” he said. “How about I just stay in the bathroom to get the towels ready?”
“Okay, Daddy,” Jon agreed. “Then can we read ‘The Giving Tree?’”
“Sure,” Clark replied. He lowered Jon to the ground and opened the bathroom door.
Jon dashed into the bathroom and took off his socks. “Daddy, do I have school tomorrow?”
“Nope, tomorrow’s Saturday, remember?”
“I want to go to school,” Jon said, his voice muffled by the sweater he’d pulled up over his head.
“Well how about we get up early and watch cartoons?”
Jon grinned as he finally extricated himself from his sweater. “Okay!” he said excitedly. Clark found himself smiling in response, probably as excited as his little boy about getting to spend the day together. He had the entire weekend off and he intended to spend it making sure his son knew how much his parents loved him and wanted him to be happy.
********
“You seem to be in better spirits, Clark,” Dr. Friskin said as she looked up from her notes. Her patient smiled in response.
“Things have been a lot easier since the investigation ended. We’ve been keeping a close watch over Chinatown, but it’s been quiet. No signs of the Triads,” he explained.
“Being apart from your son was difficult, wasn’t it?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Jon didn’t understand why he and his grandparents had to leave the city and we didn’t want to scare him. All he knew was that his parents weren’t around and I know he’s afraid of that. When we were gone around Christmas, it upset him. I hated feeling like being Superman was putting him at risk. But it was Lane and Kent, not Superman or Ultrawoman who brought the Triad’s attention to our family. We did what we had to in order to stop some of the worst crime in the city and we had trust that we could keep the people we love safe.”
“It doesn’t sound that different from what you had to do on New Krypton,” she ventured.
He grunted. “Believe me, it’s a hell of a lot easier with superpowers.”
“So would you say you’re comfortable with being Superman?”
Clark frowned and chewed his lip. “I guess so,” he answered. “It’s still strange, sometimes. I still wonder if being Superman will ever be as natural as it was before I left. But it is like instinct again. It’s something I have to do. And I have to find the way to make it work.”
She could hear the determination in his voice. It was good to hear him so dedicated to finding the balance in his life and pursuing the things he was passionate about. If there was one thing she’d learned from working with him, it was that Clark Kent needed to help others. His crisis of confidence in his ability to do good had been nothing less than an assault on who he was as a person.
He glanced at his watch. “We’ve gone longer than an hour,” he said.
“And you said you had plans with Jon this evening?”
The comment elicited a smile from her patient. “I promised him we’d go to the bookstore. They’re having a “Sword in the Stone” puppet show.”
Dr. Friskin smiled in response. “That sounds like fun.” The change from just a week ago was striking. His spirits were much higher and he even seemed relaxed. He’d been back on Earth for just over a year and he’d made such tremendous progress in that time, but especially since the end of this investigation. And even though the last month had been difficult for him, he’d been handling it admirably. She didn’t worry that he was going to be overwhelmed or that stress was more than he could handle. He’d shown that even in a high pressure situation, he was able to do what needed to be done.
When he’d first come to see her, so terrified of the way that war had changed him, it had been hard for her to imagine him making this much progress in just a year. In less than nine months, he’d returned to the very top of his field professionally. Not just that, from the way he described handling his new responsibilities, he was actually using the good experiences he’d had on New Krypton to make him a better editor. Despite his initial panic over striking Lois in his sleep and his inability to talk to her for months about what New Krypton had been like, his marriage was strong and he had a family that supported him. He’d gone back to his superhero duties and of course, the world was better for it.
“I’ve been thinking,” he began. “I think maybe I’m ready to cut back from weekly sessions. Maybe we can meet every other week instead?”
“I was just about to suggest the very same thing,” she replied.
*********
Lois opened the door to the bedroom to find Clark in bed, reviewing a story, as had been his habit lately. He often brought work home with him and turned back to it after his final patrol of the evening. It gave him the flexibility to leave the Planet early enough to have dinner with his family most nights, even though he often checked back into the Planet over the VPN to approve any last minute changes to the paper’s layout before it was put to bed.
They took turns patrolling the city and he usually used the time after Jon had gone to bed while she was out to get a head start on the morning’s work. He’d always been hardworking before, but since returning to full time work at the Planet, he’d displayed a disciplined efficiency that was impressive, even for a Superman. It fit in rather well with the less carefree Clark Kent who’d returned from New Krypton more than a year ago. But though she wouldn’t have wished for the changes in his temperament or habits, she’d learned to incorporate them into what she knew and what she loved about her husband.
He wasn’t the same man that she’d married. But that didn’t mean she loved him any less.
She somehow loved him even more.
She loved him because despite all of the brutality and viciousness that world had visited upon him, despite everything it had stolen from him, despite the story of cruelty that it had written into his flesh, he was at his core, still as caring and compassionate as he had ever been. His enemies on New Krypton had tried to strip him of everything that made him a good man. They had failed. He was Clark Kent. And so long as he was alive, so long as there was breath in his body, he would be the very definition of humanity and decency.
“What’s up?” he asked with a smile, letting her know that he’d caught her staring.
“Nothing,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “Everything was quiet.”
He put his work on the nightstand and turned down the blankets on her side of the bed. She climbed in beside him, letting him draw her into his arms. As she placed her head on his chest, she felt him kiss the crown of her hair. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you,” she replied.
********
He exhaled deeply as he tuned out the rest of the world. Shutting down his senses was even harder with powers than it had been on New Krypton. The sights, sounds, and even smells of Metropolis were always there, even if they were in the background. It all blended together in the crazy, cacophony that made the city, the city - the distant sounds of horns blaring on Fifth Avenue, the drip of a neighbor’s leaky faucet, the flapping of pigeon wings in the park. Down the hall, Jon was sleeping soundly. The television in his parents’ apartment downstairs was turned to the news. The smell of hot dogs and pretzels from a street vendor and the exhaust of an idling delivery truck mixed together and wafted through an open window somewhere in the house. But the room surrounding him and the wider city somehow managed to slip away as he sank deeper and deeper into his meditative state. Soon, the only sound he could hear was his own heartbeat, slow and steady.
His entire body relaxed and the stress and tension leached out of his tired muscles. The rescue had gone as well as possible, but it had still been tough. It was still always so hard on him to deal with the youngest victims. The attending physician at MetroGen had assured him that the little boy would be recover, despite the horrifying injuries the car accident had caused. Now, he had to concentrate on pushing all of that from his mind. He had to center himself. A wave of calm seemed to wash slowly over him as his mind cleared.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when the sound of the door opening startled him out of his meditative state. Clark always made sure not to fall too deeply into meditation – the deeper forms of meditation provided additional benefits, but they also meant that he would be completely disconnected from the world and from the people who might need him. That wasn’t a tradeoff he was willing to make.
“Hey,” he said quietly, his eyes still closed. He would have known her heartbeat anywhere.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she said softly.
Clark opened his eyes and smiled up at her from where he was sitting on the floor of the bedroom. “You’re not disturbing me,” he assured her. “Come here.”
She crossed the room, kicking off her heels, and took his hand. Lois sat down to face him. “Close your eyes,” he instructed. “Just relax.”
“I’m not really the meditating type,” Lois protested gently.
“Trust me,” he said. He held both of her hands in his and listened as she breathed deeply and slowly. In and out. In and out. Her heart slowed down, just like his. Soon, their pulses were beating in rhythm. He let himself slide back into a light meditative state, aware of nothing except their joined hands, the sounds of her heartbeat and her breathing. His world shrank down to nothing except Lois. He was content. He was at peace.
They had never done this together before. He had never shared it with her. He wondered why.
Clark finally allowed himself to return to the waking world. Lois’s eyes were still closed, her expression totally open and unguarded. Without opening her eyes, she smiled at him. She’d probably noticed the change in his breathing and heart rate. He gave her hands a gentle squeeze.
“You learned that from the Kryptonians?” she asked as she opened her eyes.
“Yeah,” he said. “It took a long time, but after I finally got the hang of it, it helped a lot. Dr. Friskin recommended I keep doing it. It helps me focus, especially when I’m feeling stressed out.”
“Rough day?” she asked.
“Tough rescue,” he confirmed. “The kid’s going to be okay, but the accident was awful.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He shrugged. “It happens,” he said with a calm acceptance that he didn’t actually feel.
“Doesn’t make it any easier,” she said.
“No, it doesn’t,” he replied.
“Anything I can do to help?” she asked.
Clark smiled at her. “You already have.” He leaned forward and kissed his wife. The kiss started off softly, but he couldn’t help but deepen it. His tongue sought entry to her mouth as he leaned forward. Moaning, she framed his face with her hands and he pulled her into his arms.
“I love you,” she whispered breathlessly.
“I love you,” he replied. He stood up, bringing her with him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her hands through his hair. Gasping, he broke off the kiss and fumbled to get rid of her suit jacket. She grasped the front of his shirt, pulling the sides apart and causing at least a few of the buttons to pop off his shirt and fly in various directions.
He laughed as he kissed her again. “I really like this shirt, you know,” he said as he stumbled backward toward the bed.
“I’ll sew the buttons back on later,” she murmured against his lips as she grabbed the edges of the shirt and pushed them down over his shoulders.
He let the shirt fall to the floor and looked back over his shoulder at where it landed in a formless puddle. “You? Sew?”
She seized the soft lobe of his ear between her lips and sucked gently, causing him to inhale sharply. “Fine, you’ll sew them on later,” she said. “Now shut up and kiss me.”
His brain wrapped in a gauzy haze of passion, he did as commanded, trying to rid her of her blouse as they fumbled toward the bed. His knees buckled slightly as he backed into the mattress. Letting gravity do its work, he fell on to the bed, taking Lois with him.
Clark couldn’t help himself. Using superspeed, he got rid of the rest of their clothing. “Cheater,” Lois teased.
He kissed his way down the soft skin of her neck. “I promise, we won’t do everything that fast,” he replied with a grin. One of the greatest things about superpowers, he mused idly to himself, was the fact that they could spend the entire night making love.
So they did.
********
Lois yawned as she stretched lazily in her husband’s arms. “Sleepy?” he teased her gently.
“You wore me out,” she replied.
“Me?” he asked, a note of mock surprise in his voice.
“Yes, you,” she said as she traced her fingers in absent patterns across the skin of his chest.
“As I recall, you’re the one who wore me out,” her husband insisted as he held her securely against his body. He tilted her chin up and captured her lips with his. This kiss, too, quickly turned passionate.
“Don’t tell me you’re not satisfied,” Lois said breathlessly as she broke off the kiss.
“Oh, I’m very satisfied,” he replied. Clark lifted her hand where it lay against his chest and interlaced their fingers. “I love you, Lois Lane.”
“I love you, Clark Kent,” she said as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
He stroked her hair as he looked up at the ceiling. “There’s something we haven’t really talked about in a while,” he began. She wondered what was bothering him.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“No,” he assured her. “Everything’s wonderful. And we kept saying that when things were more settled, when we were ready, we’d talk about…”
She smiled to herself. “Having another baby?” she finished for him.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think we’re ready. Or at least, we’re ready to start thinking about it. I mean, I am, if you are.”
They’d had perfectly good reasons not to think about having a baby for the last year. But their work and their lives had settled down considerably. Superman was back in the sky. Clark Kent was back on the Planet’s masthead. Jon was in nursery school and their family was happily under one roof in their dream house. “I am,” she agreed.
“So, should we talk about it?” he ventured hopefully.
“Actually, I don’t think talking is the most productive thing we can be doing about this,” she said as she caressed his cheek and kissed his lips.
He sighed in satisfaction as he pulled her into his arms. She could feel him smile against her lips. Her heart started to pound in a rapid, uneven staccato. The thought of not just making love, but making life with Clark, sent shivers through her body. She loved this man with everything she was. And she wanted nothing more than to bring another child into the world with him.
********
Jiang Jai He stepped off his plane and walked across the tarmac toward the airport’s international terminal from the private runway. Despite the fact that it was almost one in the morning, he still wore his sunglasses and his hand-stitched suit looked freshly pressed. It was windy, but not terribly cold for early October in this part of the world. His three bodyguards formed a protective barrier around him as they walked into the building.
The customs area was practically deserted. Under the sickly, yellow, fluorescent lights, only one customs booth was open. Jiang gingerly removed his sunglasses and handed his passport over to the bored looking customs official.
“What is the purpose of your visit, sir?” the disinterested woman asked him flatly.
“Business,” Jiang replied.
“How long will you be in the United States?”
“Not long.” Jiang smiled to himself. “Perhaps two weeks. Perhaps a little longer.”
The customs agent obviously didn’t care about his answers. “Enjoy your stay in America,” she said without any enthusiasm. She stamped his passport with a bit too much force and pushed it back toward him.
Jiang took the passport and replaced it in his jacket pocket. One of his bodyguards peeled off from the others to collect his bags. Jiang walked through the deserted terminal to where a limousine was waiting for him. Another mute bodyguard held the door open as Jiang climbed in.
His associate was already waiting inside. Hsiao Chen sat with his hands folded serenely on one knee. “Welcome to Metropolis, Mr. Jiang,” he said. Hsiao was Jiang’s advance man. An indispensible sort of character, but though Hsiao certainly knew that, he certainly didn’t act that way. He was quiet, calm, and effective. He was also brutally efficient.
“I take it you’ve acquired what we came here for?” Jiang asked impatiently.
“Metropolis Central Bus Depot. Locker number 643,” Hsiao said with a placid smile. “One of my men picked it up yesterday.”
Jiang said nothing in response. He would consider this phase of the operation complete when he could hold the item in question. Examine it for himself.
