The first chapter was short and more of a teaser, so here's chapter two.
Chapter 2
“She what?” Lois asked in disbelief.
“She threatened to tickle me if I didn’t give her the code to the bank vault,” said Susan. “You see, I’m the only one who knows it. Hee-hee-hee.”
“You can’t be serious,” Lois replied incredulously. “I can understand giving her the code if she pointed a real gun in your face, but you caved over a feather duster-gun?”
“Of course not,” Susan said snappily. “I refused to tell her the code, and then, she pulled out a needle. Ha-ha. She injected some sort of drug into my arm. Then, she took out a rope and tied me to that chair over there. Ha-ha-ha.”
“And then?” asked Lois.
“She took off my shoes and tickled my feet,” Susan replied. “I swear to you, I never thought being tickled would be enough for me to spill my guts, but I would have told her anything to make it stop. It was like torture.”
While Lois had been taking charge of the interview, Clark had been busy searching the room for clues. Clark thought to himself that it was a good thing that Lois usually got so engaged in the interviews because it gave him the perfect opportunity to lower his glasses and utilize his X-Ray vision. He wouldn’t have that opportunity if Lois was watching him all the time. At first, he hadn’t seen anything of importance, but then, just as Susan was explaining the needle, he saw a syringe lying in the garbage can. Right away, he took off running towards the garbage can and dumped its contents onto the floor.
Lois and Susan both turned to look at Clark. “Exactly what do you think you are doing?” Lois scolded him.
“I thought the bank robber might have left some evidence behind,” explained Clark. “And, I was right.” He wrapped a napkin around his hand to protect any fingerprints on the syringe and then held it up triumphantly.
“Perfect!” Lois shouted excitedly. “And it looks like there’s some of whatever she injected Susan with left in there!”
Clark handed it over to a police officer, who then said, “Good work, Kent. As a reward for finding such a vital clue, I’ll be sure to give you a call and let you know what we find out after we examine the syringe.”
“Gee, thanks,” Clark replied with a big smile on his face.
*****
“So I guess you were right about the feather duster-gun,” Clark congratulated Lois as the two of them walked back to the Daily Planet.
“I keep telling you, Clark, never doubt my reporter’s intuition. I’m always right,” Lois boasted. “So, how long did your friend say it would take to analyze the drug?”
“About 24 hours,” answered Clark. “Before we left the bank, I called Jimmy and told him to research scientific studies based on tickling for us. Maybe he’ll come up with something we can use.”
“Let’s hope so,” replied Lois.
“This has to be the strangest story we’ve ever worked on,” said Clark. “I’m still shocked that we have a bank robber here in Metropolis that uses tickling as a method for getting information out of someone.”
“Pathetic,” Lois said very matter-of-factly.
“Huh?” asked Clark.
“That Susan Thomas from the bank,” Lois clarified. “I think she’s pathetic. If I was running that bank, she’d be fired right now. Giving up the code to the vault just because of a little tickling? Honestly.”
“I think that drug had some sort of effect on her, Lois. I doubt she’d have given in so easily otherwise.”
“Drug or no drug, I think I would have held up a lot better,” Lois bragged. “I used to tickle my sister Lucy for information, and it worked like a charm. One time she tried the same thing on me, and she didn’t get anything. I’m just not ticklish.”
“Lois, everybody is ticklish.”
“I’m not. Not even a little bit.”
A mischievous smile came over Clark’s face. He poked at Lois’ sides. Nothing. Then, he scribbled his hand across her belly. Still no reaction. Finally, he tried poking her in the sides a few more times. She didn’t even crack a grin.
“I told you,” Lois said as she rolled her eyes.
“Well, you’re no fun,” Clark grumbled.
“People who are ticklish just aren’t tough enough,” Lois explained. “It’s a matter of mind over matter. If you will yourself not to be ticklish, you won’t be ticklish.”
*****
The next morning at the Daily Planet, Jimmy brought Lois and Clark all of the research on tickling studies he could find. It took them half the day to go through everything he’d found. Unfortunately, most of it was useless for their purposes. There were studies on why people are ticklish. There were studies on why a person can’t tickle himself or herself. There were even studies on whether or not animals are ticklish. Unfortunately, none of that research seemed very useful. Then, around lunchtime, Clark received a call from the police department. He was told that the tests on the drug were inconclusive. Even worse, no fingerprints were found. After all this bad luck, Lois and Clark were about ready to give up when Lois finally stumbled onto something.
“This says that Dr. Joseph Banks has been doing research into tickling for the past five years,” Lois said as she looked up from one of the files. “Specifically, he’s been researching how tickling can be used as a weapon.”
“A weapon? That kind of sounds like our bank robber,” said Clark.
“From his profile, it looks like he’s been trying to create a drug that will make people ultrasensitive and therefore more susceptible to tickling,” Lois explained. “According to this, his hope is to use it for CIA or military purposes.”
“I guess it’s better than conventional means of torture,” Clark replied. “I mean, it wouldn’t leave a mark on anyone or permanently harm them in any way.”
“I think we need to have a chat with Dr. Banks,” Lois said as she picked up the phone.
*****
Lois and Clark entered Dr. Banks’ laboratory and immediately observed that the place looked like a mess. The counters were covered in papers. There were birds of all types in cages around the room, and there were feathers lying all over the ground. At the center of the room, Dr. Banks sat eating a sandwich.
Dr. Banks was 55-years-old, fairly tall, and overweight. He had gray hair and gray eyes, and he wore glasses and a white lab coat.
“Excuse the mess,” he said politely. “My lab assistant quit her job recently. That’s why everything’s out of order. She was very helpful when she worked here, but I’m pretty sure she stole some of the things I’ve been working on when she left. Is that why you’re here? Are you investigating my former lab assistant?”
“Doctor, do you have a picture of your lab assistant?” asked Clark. “We have reason to suspect that she might be behind more than robbing just you. We suspect she used your technology to pull off a few bank robberies.”
“Right here,” he said as he pulled a photo out of a desk drawer. The woman in the picture matched the description of the suspect perfectly.
“I think we have our bank robber right there,” Lois said to Clark.
“What’s her name?” Clark asked.
“Her name is Sarah Carter,” Dr. Banks replied. “She always seemed like such a good lab assistant. I never would have suspected she would do something like this.”
Suddenly, the phone rang. Dr. Banks picked it up.
“It’s for you,” he said after talking to the person on the other end of the line for a few seconds. “Some guy named Jimmy. Says there’s been another bank robbery by Sarah. Here, I’ll write the address down for you.”
“If we have any more questions, we’ll call you,” Lois said as she snatched the paper out of Dr. Banks’ hand and headed for the door.
*****
Just as Lois and Clark reached the outside of the bank, Clark heard someone scream, “Help Superman!” Never one to leave a cry for help unanswered, Clark hurriedly thought up an excuse to leave.
“Lois, why don’t you handle this interview.”
“Why?” Lois asked, sounding somewhat suspicious.
“I’m hungry,” Clark explained. “I’m going to go get a cheeseburger.”
As Clark took off running, Lois called out, “You aren’t even going to ask me if I want one? Thanks a lot, Clark!”
As she shook her head in disbelief, she entered the bank. This time rather than going straight for the interview, she decided to look around for clues for a second. That had worked for them last time when Clark found the syringe, after all. Lois soon noticed that there, on the floor, was a sheet of paper. She picked it up and examined it. On the paper, several bank names were listed.
Savage Banking Group
Queen Investments
Bank of Metropolis
Washington Savings
Wayne Financial
All of them but one was a bank Sarah Carter had already hit. Lois deduced that this meant her next target was the last bank on the list. That meant Lois’ next step was to head to Wayne Financial.
*****
Later that day, Lois entered Wayne Financial with a sheet of paper in her hand. She walked up to the front desk and handed it to the man at the desk.
“Here’s my application for the janitor position,” Lois said with a smile.
“When can you start?” the man asked.
“Immediately,” replied Lois.
To be continued...
