PREVIOUSLY...
“So was what you did downstairs... your attempt to negotiate with the press... the idea you wanted to discuss with us?” Lois asked.
“Oh, no. Jonathan and I had intended to discuss this with both you and Clark together, but I suppose it won’t hurt to run this past you first. As you know, my latest art endeavor is what is known as laser sculpture which involves the use of holograms...”AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
Sunday
* * * * * * * * *
Superman’s Parents Arrive In Metropolis
The London Voice
By Jordan Alexander
Superman’s Mom’s Mile-High Chocolate Pie To Die For
(Recipe Inside)
New York Daily Star - Sunday Supplement
Mayson Drake’s Mental Problems?
The Daily Harold
By Carson Martin
Drake Stands By Story
The Metropolis Star
By Toby Raynes
Superman’s Women Make Up After Fight
Dirt Digger
By Samantha Richards* * * * * * * * *
As they arrived back at the apartment Sunday night, Clark reflected that overall, it had been a good day. After Martha’s experiment with the reporters the previous day - giving them her supper recipes in exchange for a little privacy shopping - had worked, they had decided that they would just try ignoring the paparazzi for the day - with admittedly mixed results.
They had started the day with a little antique shopping in one of the quaint areas in downtown Metropolis. Once the paparazzi had realized that no one would answer questions and that the Kent family wasn’t going to try to outrun them, they calmed down, simply following them store to store, snapping pictures. It was annoying and prevented any serious conversation from taking place, but it wasn’t unmanageable.
The crowds were quickly kicked out of any stores they decided to check out. Although the proprietors of such stores were more than pleased to have the paparazzi snapping pictures of ‘Superman and family’ entering their stores.
Clark’s mom had managed to find a ceramic rooster that she declared would be perfect for her flowerbed. And Lois had picked up a pair of candlesticks. In fact, things had been going pretty well until Lois had spotted the day’s copy of the Dirt Digger.
On the front was a picture of Lois and Martha that had been taken through a crack in the curtains of Lois and Clark’s apartment of the two women hugging. Both had been outraged by the headline and completely false story that accompanied it.
Lois and Martha had both wanted to storm out and confront the press immediately and had only been held back by their more level-headed partners.
Lunch at The Roma Café had been nothing short of a disaster, however. Without thinking, they had chosen one of the outdoor tables, wanting to enjoy the fresh invigorating spring air, and had been pounded the entire time by questions, yelled over the small, decorative fence set up around the outdoor tables. Given that Lois and Martha were still fuming about the article, they had not been inclined to be charitable with the reporters.
During the afternoon, they had taken in a small theater production in an old theater located near the apartment. It hadn’t been anything spectacular, but since the paparazzi hadn’t been admitted, it had been quite enjoyable for all participants. Even Clark, who might not have enjoyed the performance as much as the others since he was inhibited by his lack of sight from appreciating a lot of the slapstick humor, had felt himself relax and was soon laughing as much at the sound of enjoyment in the voices of the people he loved as at the performance itself.
They’d ended their day on a high note at Callards for supper which, as always, was delicious. They still had to keep their conversation light and meaningless, realizing that they were a curiosity for the other patrons of the restaurant - and anything overheard would instantly be sold to the press. Still, Callards had been busy - something they had been counting on when they called and made reservations first thing in the morning. And the hostess at Callards, a woman known to both Lois and Clark, had been discrete, setting the foursome up at the table near the fireplace, giving them some measure of privacy. So the paparazzi who had chosen to follow them were stuck outside in their cars or taking pictures through the windows.
After dinner, they’d come straight home. They had some work to do before tomorrow.
Clark’s father had called the Irigs and informed the small band that the paparazzi had not yet found their way back to Smallville. Still, it was only a matter of time before they did. Hopefully, by then, there would be no reason to do so.
“Does anyone mind if we just take a quick look to see what’s going on in the world before we start?” Lois asked.
When no one objected, Lois turned the television on, switching quickly to LNN.
“...unknown if the small crowd demonstrating outside the D.A.’s office was because it is Sunday or if it’s because this is not a popular movement,” correspondent Linda Montoya said.
“So what do they say they’re protesting about?” the anchor asked.
“As you can see by the signs...”Clark suspected that she was gesturing to the signs the protesters were holding, but he couldn’t exactly see them so he hoped the correspondent would continue.
“...they are demanding that Assistant District Attorney Mayson Drake be fired.”
“Do they give a reason?”
“They feel that someone with her mental instability should not be working at such a responsible job. We caught up with Ms. Drake earlier today to ask for her reaction. However, she refused to comment.”“As crazy as this sounds,” Lois said, “I’m almost starting to feel sorry for her.”
“I am, too,” Clark said. “The last couple of days, the paparazzi have been coming down just as hard on her as they have on us. And it isn’t as if she was lying.”
“So what do you want to do?” Lois asked. “Tell the world that she hasn’t lost her mind - that she’s right about you being Superman?”
“No, of course not. I just wish I knew this wasn’t going to cause a backlash for her.”
“It’s her own fault,” Martha said pragmatically. “It’s too bad that she’s under fire, but she was wrong to betray your friendship the way she did. She must have known how this was going to affect your life. Yet she went ahead with it anyway.”
“Yeah, but...” Clark hesitated slightly. “...after tomorrow, if this plan of ours works, things are going to get really tough for her.”
“It will pass, Clark,” Lois said. “It might get a bit rocky for her for a while, but it will eventually blow over. If we don’t do this... It will never be over for us.”
Clark nodded. “You’re right. I know that. I just... feel bad for her. No matter what happens, we have each other. She’s all alone. Still... my primary obligation is to protect the three of you.” A soft whimper coming from near his feet caused Clark to revise his comment. “The four of you. It’s just unfortunate if she’s the one this comes back on, but there’s nothing I can do about that.”
* * * * * * * * *
Monday
* * * * * * * * *The demonstration in front of the D.A.’s office demanding that Mayson Drake be fired was quite a bit bigger the next day as the Kent family noticed when they drove past the building on their way to the Daily Planet. Once they arrived in the newsroom, the entire group went to see Perry. Lois and Clark left first, leaving the elder Kents to talk to Perry for a while longer. A short time later, Martha and Jonathan, too, came out of Perry’s office before disappearing into the elevator.
Lois went immediately to the photocopy room where she ran off copies of a brief statement before corralling Jimmy and asking him if he would mind taking them to the reporters out front. Jimmy glanced at the paper in front of him before looking back at Lois.
“Clark’s going to give a press conference?” he asked.
Lois nodded. “We want this to end and hope we might be able to do that at a press conference.”
Jimmy nodded and immediately took off to play his part in this morning’s drama.
Perry came out of his office and signaled to Lois. She nodded and picked up her attache case and then grabbed Clark as the two of them joined their boss in the conference room, Shadow trailing them in. As soon as the door was closed, Perry turned on the television.
“...District Attorney Clemmons has just issued a statement that Assistant District Attorney, Mayson Drake, has been put on administrative leave until further notice,” Linda Montoya was saying into the cameras.Clark cringed.
“When asked...” Montoya continued.
“I’m going to have to interrupt you, Linda,” the anchor said. “Breaking news at the Daily Planet. We take you now to Jake Killian standing outside the Daily Planet.”
“Thanks, Bob,” Killian said. “Just a few moments ago, a junior staffer from the Daily Planet came out to give us notice that Clark Kent will be holding a press conference outside the Planet at eleven o’clock this morning.”
“Even now you can see behind me workmen setting up a stage in front of the Daily Planet where I presume Mr. Kent will appear to address the crowd.”
“Is there any indication whether Mr. Kent will confirm that he is Superman?”
“No word as of yet, although that is one of the options being speculated about among reporters here.”
“Will he be taking questions?”
“Again, no word. But since his last statement to the press was given by simply stepping outside the Daily Planet, the announcement that a press conference will be given today leads us to believe that he has something more than a just brief statement planned for us.” “I hope you know what you’re doing, son,” Perry said, looking back at Clark.
“So do we, Perry,” Clark responded.
Lois locked the conference room door when Perry left and then returned to the table, picking up her attache case. Reaching in, she removed a small bag.
“Okay, let’s have your hand,” Lois said.
When he laid his hand on the table, she opened the bag and pulled out a few carefully prepared items. She’d practiced this a few times last night, under Martha’s competent tutelage, but there was no more time for mistakes. This time she had to do it perfectly.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois sat down at her desk before getting up again. So much was riding on this press conference. If they blew this, no one would ever give up the idea that Clark was Superman.
She glanced at the clock. Ten fifteen. Why did time have to move so slowly?
Had she done the work to Clark’s hand too early? Maybe it would have been better if she waited longer. Why hadn’t she discussed time lines with Martha? But she’d wanted to give everything enough time to dry properly.
She looked over at Clark. He seemed to be calm as he sat at his desk reading this morning’s copy of The Daily Planet in Braille. Maybe she should try to find something to do, too. She pulled open her desk drawer, looking for something, anything to distract her.
Spotting her tape recorder, it occurred to her that she hadn’t listened to the last tape from Bill Church Senior’s hospital room. Not that it particularly mattered. After all, they already had the story. Still... It might help to pass the time.
She stuck the earphones in her ears and turned on the tape. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and began to listen.
A few minutes later, she sat upright in her chair, her attention completely captivated by what she heard coming over the earphones.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark reached over and picked up the phone on his desk.
“Clark Kent,” he said into it.
“Hi, Kent. It’s Dan Scardino here.”
“Hi, Dan. How can I help you?”
“Actually, I’m hoping I can help you,” Scardino said. “I did some checking around about that drug you and Lois were asking about - Nirvana.”
“Does the DEA know something about it?”
“Actually, no. But it’s just been approved by the FDA as a pain medication. Notification should go out in the next few days.”
Clark sat up straighter in his chair. “Is there any way to delay that?”
“Why?”
“We have reason to believe it has mind-altering properties. Might make people susceptible to suggestion.”
“I’m sure the FDA would have discovered that during their testing.”
“Unless someone in the FDA got paid off.”
There was a pause. “Where are you getting your information about the properties of Nirvana?”
“A Dr. Bernard Klein at Star Labs.”
“Let me check into it - get back to you,” Scardino said before hanging up the phone.
“Clark, there’s something you need to hear,” Lois said, coming over to Clark’s desk.
His hand went to his watch, checking the time. “I guess we have a few minutes left. Can we do this here or should we go to the conference room?”
Once they were settled again in the conference room, Lois turned on the tape recorder.
“Hi, Bill.”Clark recognized Mayson’s voice immediately. “She went to see Church the morning of his operation?”
Lois nodded.
“Hi, honey,” Senior responded.
“Sorry I couldn’t get here earlier.”
“You came by the morning after I had the attack,” Bill said. “Even though you’d almost been killed yourself. I don’t expect you to come by every day. Why don’t you take a seat? You look tired.”
“I am. The last few days have been tough.”
“Are you having second thoughts about your decision to tell the world that Kent is Superman?”
“Maybe a bit.”
There was a brief period of silence on the tape before Mayson sighed. “I know we talked it all out before I did it, but still...” Her voice trailed off.
“Are you getting a headache?”Clark could almost see her rubbing the bridge of her nose, the way she always did when she was getting one of her headaches.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I have some those pills that you say are so good for your migraines. They are over here on the bed stand. And there’s some water. I haven’t touched it. Why don’t you take a pill? I’ll wait.”
Some scuffling and then the sound of water.
“These are the best thing I’ve ever found for treating my migraines. What are they called again?” Mayson finally asked.
“Nirvana.”Clark’s eyebrows rose.
“Wait. It gets better,” Lois said. On the tape there was a click, indicating that for a period of time Senior and Mayson had sat quietly together - allowing for the medication to take effect.
“Now... isn’t that so much better?” Senior asked.
“It is. When are these going to be available on the market?”
“Any day now... So I’m told. Anyway, getting back to the Superman issue. We talked about this on the day you came to see me after my heart attack and we worked it through. Superman is a very dangerous vigilante. You are law enforcement. It is imperative that you stop him - no matter what you have to do. And given the way he treated you, deceived you into believing that there might be something more between you, you know he can’t be trusted. You have to stay strong. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Thanks,” Mayson said, sounding much more relaxed. “I knew you’d help me to see things more clearly.”
“You know I think of you as a daughter. I’m only too glad to help.”“So you were right,” Clark said as Lois turned off the tape recorder. “Bill Church really was behind this whole thing. But... Now I’m going to go out there and destroy Mayson’s credibility when it really wasn’t her fault. How do I reconcile that?”
“As soon as this is over, we’ll write the story,” Lois said. “We’ll make it clear that she was being manipulated by a criminal kingpin and blame the drug.”
Clark nodded.
“One thing I don’t understand, though,” Clark said. “If Church could persuade her to reveal Superman’s secret to the press, why did he feel he had to kill her to keep her quiet about Resurrection?”
“Well, Dr. Klein did say that the drug couldn’t completely change a person’s predisposition. And we know that Mayson never trusted Superman, and in particular, never trusted the fact that he was so cagy about who he was and where he lived...”
“...so convincing her to reveal Superman’s secret wasn’t exactly a hard sell. While convincing her to keep from reporting that people were using a drug to escape from prison went against her natural disposition,” Clark completed for her.
“Exactly. Now... Let me take one final look at your hand.” She studied his hand for a moment before pronouncing him ready to go.
* * * * * * * * *
“It was nice of Perry to lend us his car to sneak out of the Daily Planet,” Martha said as she and Jonathan worked to set up the equipment they’d brought to the roof of a building across the street.
“I still can’t understand why he did it without asking any questions about why we needed to leave just before Clark was going to give a press conference,” Jonathan said as he plugged the extension cord into an outlet just inside the door to the roof.
“Because he knows, honey.”
“Knows? You mean he knows that Clark is Superman?”
Martha nodded as she bent down to line up the lasers. “Isn’t it obvious? But he also doesn’t want to know officially. That’s why he didn’t ask any questions. Sort of like the way we’ve often wondered if Wayne and Nellie know. Now... Did you find a plug in for the power?”
“Not out here. But there is an outlet just inside the door to the stairwell.”
“Is the extension cord long enough?” Martha asked concerned.
“Should be.”
“Good. Then plug it in. I want to be sure the telemetry is lined up before we start. We don’t want to have any blips in the hologram of Superman when he shows up.”
* * * * * * * * *
Perry, Lois and Jimmy all accompanied Clark as he took the elevator down to the lobby of the Daily Planet. Shadow sat by his side, looking as tense as the humans.
“You coming out to watch the press conference, Chief?” Lois asked.
Perry nodded. “Want to be there to see the death of this craziness.”
Lois could only hope he was right. She went over things in her mind once again. She didn’t think they’d left anything to chance. So... this really should go smoothly, right?
She felt Clark give her arm a squeeze, as if he’d picked up on her questions.
Clark stopped inside the Daily Planet doors and took a deep breath.
“You ready,” Lois asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” Clark responded.
Taking that as permission, Lois pushed open the door and led him outside. When he’d given his last statement to the press, all he’d had to do was to step outside. This time he had to negotiate his way up onto the platform that had been set up - so she would go with him.
Reporters still yelled questions. Cameras still snapped endlessly. But this time the crowds parted, allowing them to pass as Lois, Clark and Shadow walked together to the dais, climbing the stairs carefully. Lois led him to the lectern, placing his hand on it so that he could know exactly where it was before stepping around him to take control of Shadow. Once she had the dog, she stepped back, but didn’t leave the stage. They stood or fell together.
* * * * * * * * *
Mayson Drake hid beneath a ball cap, looking around at the large crowd that was gathered for Superman’s press conference. She’d not slept at all in the past forty-eight hours. First, the arrest of Bill Church Senior had resulted in her being called in to D.A. Clemmon’s office to explain her relationship with the man. Then, just when she thought she might have skated past that problem, the press had turned on her - accusing her of having mental problems just because she’d had the audacity to reveal that Clark Kent was Superman.
Between those two events, coming back to back, she’d been pulled into Clemmon’s office again this morning, only to find herself collecting her personal items less than half an hour later and being escorted from the premises. Reporters had been as thick as flees on a dog’s back as she’d made that humiliating walk to her rental car carrying a box containing her personal belongings. Their questions had been constant and relentless, only fading into the distance when she’d finally driven away.
And now... the press conference. Clark and Lois were definitely up to something - something that would make her position so much worse. But what? Another simple denial that he was Superman wouldn’t work. It had to be something more. Something that, given what she knew about him, had to be fake. Some detail he and Lois had dug up about her past, maybe? Something that might discredit her even more? Still, wouldn’t he be better off leaking such information to the press rather than dirtying his own hands with it?
She looked carefully around. The crowd was blocking off the street and police officers were directing traffic around it. Cameras were everywhere and in the air was a feeling of expectancy. Her eyes roamed the surrounding buildings, noticing the number of people watching through open windows. Her gaze continued to rise when she spotted movement on a roof across from the Daily Planet.
She squinted. Why did those people look so familiar?
She almost gasped when it hit her. Martha and Jonathan Kent. Whatever Clark and Lois were up to, it had something to do with them.
Moving quickly, she slid along the side of the buildings until she came to the door of the appropriate building. Clark Kent was not going to be able to squirm out of this. Not with everything it had cost her. No bloody way.
* * * * * * * * *
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Clark began, “almost a week ago now, Mayson Drake made the claim that I was Superman. Since that time, Lois and I have been hounded, lied about and judged.
“We’ve had people going through our garbage and breaking into our apartment. We’ve watched our friends get hassled and had our work compromised. I tried ignoring it. And I tried giving you a statement denying that I was Superman. Yet even after a colleague of mine wrote a story discrediting Ms. Drake’s claims, the harassment has continued.
“So I’ve decided to put to end the speculation that I’m Superman once and for all.”
* * * * * * * * *
Mayson Drake peeked through the crack in the door to the roof caused by an electric cord running out onto the roof. She could see Martha and Jonathan fiddling with some device and was about to step through the door to confront them when her eyes came to rest again on the electric cord. The cord was connected to the device they were working with.
Her eyes went from the cord to the door. The door locked from the inside.
A slow smile made its way across her face. This was easy.
Quickly pulling the electric cord out of the socket, she tossed it outside and pulled the door shut.
“We lost power,” Martha gasped. “Check on it quick, Jonathan. We’re on in a moment.”
Mayson smiled before turning to jog back down the stairs. First problem solved. Now... stage two. Prove that Clark Kent is Superman.
TO BE CONTINUED...
ML
