The continue of a Super story: Lois, Clark & Sharlynn – Part 14
***
Lois and Clark walked to the Jeep.
“Lucky thing they didn’t understand you are Superman,” Lois commented, opening her door.
“Yeah, thank God,” Clark replied.
“Where are we going now?” she asked.
“I suggest that you should go home, while I’m going to arrest the Black Team.”
“Are you kidding?” Lois asked, astonished. “Without finding out more about Catherine Owen first?”
“You know, if the Black Team is under arrest, they will confess easily and we’ll then know for sure who’s behind all this.”
Lois stared at him, questioningly. “Clark, are you alright? Did anything affect you again? We really shouldn’t count on the fact that the Black Team may confess when under arrest! What if they don’t? Why don’t you go and spy upon Catherine Owen first?” She was getting impatient.
“It’s not about Catherine Owen,” he said. “I just don’t feel so comfortable knowing that the Black Team is free… or, many of them, anyway. They may not be so bright minds, but we’ve both seen what they can do.”
“You’re right,” she admitted. Then, something crossed her mind. “Clark…” she began, worried.
“What?”
“…You know, this whole thing, is a story.”
“So…?”
“We promised the Thorns we wouldn’t say anything to anyone.”
“But we should also write an article about it,” Clark completed her thought.
“Exactly.”
“Well, I guess the Thorns won’t mind if we write an article after the Black Team and Catherine Owen are arrested.”
“But what if they do?” She was still worried.
“Honey, I’m sure they won’t. Here, take Sharlynn, I have to go,” he said, handing her the baby. “Why don’t you go home and relax? This thing is getting on your nerves.”
“I bet it is,” she smiled.
“I’ll be home soon,” he promised, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek. Then, he ran in human-speed behind a building to change clothes.
“OK, baby, now let’s go home,” Lois playfully said to Sharlynn.
She got in the car, left her in the seat beside her and headed home.
***
The first thing Clark did was to go check the usual sewer, to see if the Black Team were still there. Luckily, they were.
<Really intelligent guys,> he thought, and chuckled. <I wonder how they manage to be out of jail for so many years.>
He decided he shouldn’t arrest the Black Team alone – they were too many and someone could escape. So, he went to the police station first and had a talk with Inspector Henderson.
“There’s a gang you must arrest immediately,” he told him. “They’ve committed beating, ravishment, kidnapping and blackmail. At least.”
“Wait a second, Superman,” Henderson said. “Can you become a little clearer here?”
“I’m afraid not,” he said. “It’s urgent. People are in danger.”
“OK, just tell me the story in short, so that I know what are we dealing with.”
Clark tried to think a way to explain the situation, without revealing anything incriminating for the Thorns. This would cause a big waste of time, which wasn’t needed at all at that moment. The Thorns would deal with the law later.
“Well,” he started, “there’s this family, the Thorns. This gang blackmailed them because they wanted the results of research one of them was doing. They also beat some of them and raped one of them to make them talk, and they also kidnapped the baby of the family, who I got back and… gave to the Kents.”
“Why to the Kents?”
“The Thorns left them the baby for a while, to keep her safe.”
“Oh… Well, I guess you can’t keep the Kents off anything weird here in Metropolis! Do you know where they are now?”
“Yes. I want a team of policemen to go there and arrest them, I can’t do it on my own.”
“How many are they?”
“Seven. Their leader, and six more.”
“OK. You’ll have a team of twelve men. They’re enough, I think. You will be there, too.”
“Sure. Thank you, Inspector.”
***
Not much later, Clark led the policemen to the sewer. He x-rayed under his feet, to make sure the Black Team was still there. Indeed, they were in the big room, the one that didn’t have a door, sitting around.
“Listen,” Clark said. “We’re going down. Do not make any noises. I’m going first, take their weapons, and then you come and arrest them.”
The policemen agreed.
They all got down to the sewer. When they arrived just outside the room, Clark rushed in and, in super-speed, took all the arms from the Black Ones before they even realized what was going on. Then, the policemen got in the room.
“You’re under arrest.”
Welson cursed, but made no effort to escape. The policemen got in the room and wore handcuffs to all the men in the room.
Then, they were all driven to the police station.
***
In the police station, the Black Ones were locked in cells, each one waiting for his time to be investigated. Welson was first.
“Inspector,” Clark asked him, “can I be present in his investigation?”
“No problem,” Henderson replied.
“OK. Do you mind if I have a phone call first? I… uh, I’m gonna call the Kents to tell them the news. It’ll just take a minute.”
“Sure, go,” Henderson nodded.
***
Clark couldn’t wait to tell Lois the news. However, he was surrounded by policemen and secretaries, so he had to be careful. He dialed his home number, and soon he was talking to his wife.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Lois, it’s me, Superman,” he said, firmly.
“Clark!” Lois yelled. Clark hoped she wasn’t yelling too loud. “What happened? Did you arrest them?”
“Yes, Lois, I arrested them. I’m here in the police station now, they’re going to investigate them.”
“Will you stay there?”
“Yes. I was wondering if you could call the Thorns.”
“Yes, I’ll call them, give me the number.”
“Yes, Lois,” he said as firmly as before, “I do have the number. Are you writing down?”
“Yeah, wait a second…” She took a paper an a pen. “Tell me.”
“It’s 217-8946.”
“OK, I’ll call them right now. I love you.”
“All right.” Clark was thinking he should have blushed like a rose. “Ehm… say hi to Clark. Bye.”
Lois hang up the phone, chuckling.
Clark, at the same time, went to the investigation room.
“Oh, here you are, Superman,” Henderson said. “We can start.”
“Of course,” he replied. He noticed that Welson was angrily staring at him.
“Well…” Henderson began, but he stopped. He turned to Clark. “You know, Superman, I don’t know what to ask him. Will you investigate him?”
Clark hesitated. “Well… I’ve never investigated before, but… well…” He cleared his throat. “So,” he turned to Welson, “your name is Thomas Welson?”
“Yes,” Welson replied, looking not pleased at all.
“Ahm… OK… And what is your relationship with the Black Team?”
“I am their leader.”
“Since when?”
“Since it was founded.”
“That means…?”
“Since 1992.”
“And what is your activity?”
“We protect people,” he naturally replied.
‘Yeah, right,’ Clark thought. “What do you mean by ‘protect’?” he asked.
“I mean, protect.”
“Who is the one you were trying to protect before you were arrested?”
“John Thorn and the baby.”
“And how were you planning to protect them?”
“We had information that Sharlynn Thorn and Jane Jackson were experimenting on illegal mixtures and were planning to experiment on John Thorn and the baby. So, we would keep them with us, until Sharlynn Thorn and Jane Jackson were arrested.”
Hundreds of questions were overflowing Clark’s mind. “Who had given you this information?”
Welson tried to appear cool, but Clark could tell he wasn’t. “We found it ourselves.”
Clark wanted to shout ‘You liar!’ but didn’t. Instead, he asked him something else. “If you wanted Sharlynn Thorn and Jane Jackson arrested, why didn’t you call the police?”
“We had no evidence, just information.”
‘The nerve of this man!’ Clark thought, very angry. “Then why did you kidnap John Thorn and the baby?” he exclaimed, trying to appear calm.
“Just making sure they wouldn’t be hurt.”
Clark stared at the ceiling, wishing for God to help him not to attack Welson. “The Thorns say you and your team beat them badly several times. Jane Jackson is still hurt.”
“This was just a way to protect John Thorn and the baby. If Sharlynn Thorn and Jane Jackson were hurt, they wouldn’t be able to hurt them.”
“But you beat John Thorn too!”
Welson didn’t look so calm now. However, he instantly tried to look normal again. “He was standing in the way, hiding Jane.”
“The same Jane you raped?” Clark gave him his angriest look. “Is this a way to protect someone?”
“She is my wife!” Welson exploded.
“This doesn’t mean you are allowed to rape her!”
“I didn’t ‘rape’ her! We made love!”
“That’s not what she says,” Clark ironically commented.
“Maybe not,” Welson replied at the same tone. “But she left our children at an orphanage and ran away from me! She’s not trustworthy! Why would you believe her?”
“Because, Mr. Welson, if she left you, she must had her reasons to do it!”
“No! We were doing very well, and one day, all of a sudden, she disappeared!”
Clark leaned on the table, taking deep breaths. Henderson, noticing that he was pretty angry, approached her.
“Let me do the rest, Superman,” he said, in a low voice.
“OK, Inspector. I don’t seem to be helping a lot anyway.”
“OK…” He turned to Welson, but Clark had an idea.
“Inspector…”
“Yes?”
“I have reasons to believe he and his team were hired by William Larren and Catherine Owen,” he whispered. “Do you think you could make him confess?”
“Let me see…” Henderson whispered and turned to Welson. “So, Mr. Welson, you claim you found the information about the Thorn’s experiments by yourselves?”
“Yes.”
“Nobody told you anything?”
“No.”
“And nobody paid you in order to steal the research’s results?”
“We were not going to steal them.”
“Do you think I should believe you?
“I think you have no reason to doubt me.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t believe you anyway. You know,” he added, stepping closer to him, “even if you were just trying to protect these people, you committed very serious crimes, and there are trustworthy citizens to confirm it. You and your team will be in jail for many years.” He bent near Welson’s ear. “But, if you have someone to put the blame on, if you say that someone hired you to do all these things, the judge and the jury will be much more merciful with you. You may end up with only a couple of years in jail, instead of ten, or even twenty. So, what do you think?”
***
