G-version
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
(#) footnotes
/ denotes telepathic communication/
For reference purposes the following will hold true throughout.
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Previously -
“Well, we could go out to dinner a few times, maybe to Waikiki or Honolulu. While we are with Luce we could see some of the sights in San Diego. She is living in Torrey Pines now. I understand that there is a rather nice Golf Club there. You could brush up on your game.”
“Oh Clark, this is going to be a vacation for the books. We are already off to a good start with the first thing on the list. When do we get to number three?”
Laughing Clark replied, “I think we need to pack and fly to Smallville. After dinner, if you’re a good girl, it may be time for number three, but number two is getting to Smallville.”
Lois bounced out of bed and started rushing around the room getting out bags and clothes, not bothering to put anything on and Clark simply lay there watching his naked wife as she moved around the room noting the bounce of her breasts and the sway of her hips. He said, “Saucy wench, you know, if you keep that up, number three and number two may have to switch places.”
With an exaggerated sway to her hips putting the point to his comment, she sashayed over to the side of the bed and leaning in claimed his lips in a kiss. She giggled as he pulled her down and rolled them over so that he was on top and deepened the kiss. When they came up for air Lois asked, “What about Smallville?”
“It’ll still be there when we’re done here. We’ll just get there a little later.” With a squeal of delight she opened herself to him. When they finished they simply lay in each other’s arms for a while. Finally Clark said, “Okay, now for the new number three. I guess while you start to pack I’ll call the folks and let them know we’re coming.”
“The packing shouldn’t take much time since I won’t need much. A couple of dresses for when we go out, maybe a swim suit - which shouldn’t get much use at all - and some casual clothes for Smallville and San Diego. Shouldn’t take more than a half an hour or so.”
Clark had taken Lois to this deserted tropical island previously on another vacation. Between then and now, Clark had built a more substantial cabin with kitchen and bath facilities with the idea of having it as a getaway location for just such a time as this. It didn’t have power so there was no air conditioning but in that climate none was really needed. There also was no TV or radio to alert Clark to any emergencies. Clark had notified the authorities that he would be leaving soon on a mission, hinting that it could be related to New Krypton and that he would be unavailable for a couple of weeks.
And Now -
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Chapter 2 – Murphy’s Law
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Lois and Clark packed a couple of bags each and Clark ferried them to the Kent farm and then came back for Lois. When they landed Jonathan and Martha were both on the front porch waiting for them having heard Clark when he was dropping off the luggage.
Martha greeted them with a question, “Clark, Lois, it’s good to see you. How long can you stay?”
Lois, sensing that there was more to it than just a greeting cautiously replied, “Well, Martha, we were planning at least a couple of days. This is the first stop on a much needed two week vacation. It’s our first chance to get away for a while. Is there some particular reason you’re asking?”
Martha replied, somewhat hesitantly, “Well … actually … there is.”
Lois was now getting concerned for her mother-in-law and you could hear the anxiety in her voice as she asked, “What is it Martha? A problem with the farm? Your health?”
With a laugh Martha said, “Oh, No no no. Nothing like that. This weekend is the Corn Festival! I guess you kids just forgot. Also, there have been some strange things happening around Smallville in the last few weeks and we don’t know what to make of it.”
Relieved that it wasn’t what she had feared Lois relaxed somewhat but, like a bloodhound on the scent of its quarry Lois was immediately on the alert. “What kinds of things?”
Martha replied, “Why don’t you kids get settled, then we can talk.”
Clark said, “Okay.” He picked up their bags and took them upstairs to their bedroom at superspeed and was waiting for them to reconvene in the living room before Lois was even inside the door.
Jonathan sat in his favorite easy chair and Martha sat on the couch next to Lois who had settled in next to Clark. After they got settled Martha said, “Jonathan, why don’t you tell the kids what you found out.”
Jonathan turned to Clark and asked, “Clark, do you remember the old Wilson farm, over past Wayne Irig’s place?”
“Sure Dad, it’s been vacant for some time, ever since I was a teen.”
“Well, it was recently rented out and the new tenants moved in a couple of weeks ago. That, in itself, isn’t unusual. They have been purchasing large quantities of ammonia fertilizers. By itself that isn’t unusual either, but, what is unusual is the fact that they don’t have any acreage under tillage and they don’t even have any large farming equipment. Why would they need the fertilizer when they don’t have any crops in?”
As Jonathan had been speaking Lois had slowly been inching forward on the couch. When Jonathan finished she turned to face Clark and they both said at the same time, “Timothy McVeigh,
Clark said, “Murrah Federal Building,”
Lois said, “Oklahoma City,”
They both finished with, “Fertilizer bomb!”
Almost frantic in her enthusiasm Lois almost shouted, “Clark, we *need* to investigate this!”
Clark looked at the smart off-white pant suit that his wife was wearing and said,“We can start tonight. Did you pack any dark clothes? I need to go back for some for myself.”
“No, I didn’t! I wasn’t planning on doing any prowling around on our vacation.” She was almost chortling as she finished up with, “*This* is gonna be *fun*!”
“Dad, do you have any idea as to their ethnic background?”
Jonathan replied, “No, I haven’t seen any of them. I did hear that it was a group of guys, no women.”
Clark looked at Lois, “If they *are* up to something, they will probably have guards, possibly even armed. We’re gonna have to be careful.”
Lois suggested, “Maybe, if one of us caused a diversion, the other could get in and snoop around some.”
Clark offered an alternative, “How about this, we both cause a diversion that will draw them out, and then while they are out we both go in. I can get us in quickly as soon as they leave and if I sense them returning I can get us out, unseen. Besides, I would rather have you with me”
Lois immediately started to bridle and thought <Doesn’t he think I can take care of myself?>.
Then Clark continued, ”Two snooping goes quicker than one.” At which point he saw Lois relax again. Clark thought <Dodged that bullet … just barely.>
After doing some planning, Clark left for Metropolis to get their investigation clothes and to do a quick patrol. He was going to make sure that he would be seen while doing so before returning to Smallville. This would probably be his last patrol for the two weeks they would be away. He just needed to make his presence known with Lois and Clark being away so hopefully it would be an uneventful trip.
As he was approaching Metropolis however, he could see a pall of smoke emanating from the Suicide Slum area. He diverted his course in order to investigate. What he found was an apartment building which was nearly fully engulfed in flames. He landed near the fire chief and said, “Chief, is there anything I can do?”
At the sound of his voice the Chief turned around and saw Superman standing next to him. The Chief was surprised because the first responders had gotten notice that Superman wouldn’t be available. Nonetheless, he was very happy to see Superman there and certainly wouldn’t turn down his help. The Chief replied, “Superman, I’m glad to see you. We were told that you weren’t going to be around.”
Superman replied, “I was preparing to leave but seeing what was happening I decided a few more minutes wouldn’t make that much difference.”
The Chief replied, “In any event I’m glad you’re here. Here’s the situation, I think that all of the tenants have been evacuated and we seem to be getting it under control but please stand by in case something happens”.
As the chief was telling him this, Superman heard himself being called by a nearly hysterical woman in the crowd. He turned and looked at her.
Seeing him looking at her she shouted, “Superman, Superman, my daughter, I can’t find her! I think she’s still in the building!” Clark did a quick scan of the building and he saw not only the child but two of the firefighters who had gotten trapped by the flames. One of the firefighters was down and his partner was trying to drag him out.
Clark did a quick triage. The child had to be first. She was unprotected and didn’t have a source of breathable air. “Excuse me Chief; this is a job for Superman.”
The first thing that Superman did was grab a discarded fireman’s coat. As soon as he had that he took off and headed for the fifth floor center apartment. He went in through the window without bothering to open it first and found the child, a girl about six years of age, unconscious on the floor in a closet. He wrapped her in the fire coat to protect her from the flames which filled the room that he would have to take her through. He was going to depend on the coat, his speed and his aura to protect her from the flames rather than trying to blow out the flames since that would take more time and time was of the essence. Once she was covered he picked her up and flew her out through the window he had used to force his entry. He took her directly to an ambulance and very gently placed her on a stretcher. Once he had, he covered her mouth with his and pinched her nose closed and inhaled. When he got almost to the point of collapsing her lungs he pulled back and allowed her to take a gasping breath and immediately placed an oxygen mask over her face. By doing this he had removed almost all of the particulate matter from the smoke she had inhaled and minimized the impact of the smoke inhalation.
Since he was at the ambulance he grabbed an extrication kit. Early on in his career as Superman, Clark had realized that there would be times that he would be required to remove victims from dangerous environments and that sometimes they would already be injured. That being the case he had taken a course in emergency medicine so that he would be able to act in these circumstances without aggravating the already existing injuries. He then reentered the building through the same window. He used this entry to avoid giving the fire an additional source of air from yet another opening. It was bad enough that he couldn’t have avoided breaking that window as it was. He went through the apartment door and closed it after himself. Then he proceeded to the third floor, where he had seen the firefighters trapped. The one was still unconscious, of course it had only been a minute or so since he had first spotted them. His partner was still trying to drag him out of the building.
They were both wearing SCBA units and full Nomex™ bunker gear. Their walkie-talkies were evidently both out of commission and as a result the chief was unaware of their distress. When the firefighter saw Superman arrive she realized that she could stop pulling and allowed her partner to settle to the floor gently. Superman then quickly x-rayed the downed man and asked, “How was your partner injured?”
“This floor was almost fully involved.” She told him. “A section of the ceiling was weakened by the flames and it gave way, allowing a piece of furniture from the floor above to fall through. Charlie was not directly underneath, but he was clipped by it as it fell.” While she told him the story he prepared the materials in the extrication kit.
Fortunately, the injured fireman was wearing a Metro style helmet rather than the traditional leather or metal Philadelphia helmet (1). Its construction being that of high density polymers, its advanced suspension system had absorbed the impact better than an old style helmet would have. Based upon the mechanism of injury there was a strong possibility of a neck injury so the first thing Superman did was apply a rigid cervical collar. He did this even though his x-ray vision had not detected a fracture to be more on the ‘I’d rather be safe than sorry’ side.
He then took out a cravat and tied it into a loop which he then applied like sliding a ring on a finger to the left arm, sliding it all the way to the shoulder. He then took another cravat and wrapped it around the right shoulder once so that both loose ends were at the back. He then passed the ends under the SCBA and threaded one end through the loop on the left shoulder and tied it off. Pulling it tight put tension on both shoulders pulling them back. This is commonly called a ‘Cuban Hitch’. He had applied this because with his x-ray vision he had determined that the downed man had a broken collarbone on the right as a result of the impact.
Now that his injuries were stabilized they were ready to move. He turned to the uninjured firefighter handed her the extrication kit and said, “Okay, let’s go. I’ll lead the way but stay close to me.”
She replied, “You don’t need to tell me twice, I’m going to stick to you like glue.” And she grabbed hold of his cape.
“Here we go.” Superman used his x-ray vision again. This time he checked the structural integrity of the stairs to make sure they would hold up under their weight. Once assured of this, Superman picked up the downed fireman and carried him and also assisted his partner down the stairs using his super cold breath to extinguish the flames in the area that they had to pass through as they moved.
Once outside the uninjured firefighter stayed with Superman as he took her partner over to another ambulance. In fire school one of the first things ingrained into firefighters during their training is that you *never* leave your partner. As soon as they were out of the building she had released her hold on Superman’s cape, removed her helmet and ripped off her mask. She followed as Superman carried her partner to the ambulance and after Superman had removed his breathing apparatus placed him on a stretcher. His partner knelt next to the stretcher and she held the unconscious man’s hand. The Senior Medic immediately took charge and seeing the Cuban addressing Superman asked, “Okay Superman, what do we have?”
Superman explained, “I put the collar on as a precaution. He was hit by a piece of furniture that fell from the floor above. I didn’t detect any cervical injury, but I might have missed something and by the mechanism of injury it was likely. I x-rayed the shoulder area and found the right clavicle was fractured so I applied a Cuban Hitch to stabilize the collar bone.”
The lead medic replied, “Thanks Superman, we’ll take it from here.” He turned to the female firefighter and asked, “What’s your partner’s name?” as following standard protocol he prepped the patient and started an IV.
Still holding his hand she replied, “His name’s Dilks, Charlie Dilks with Station 4.”
The medic had noted the hand holding and asked, “What’s your name?”
Somewhat distractedly she replied, “Sharon, Sharon Wils ... Uh, Dilks, Sharon *Dilks*. We were married a week ago. We just got back from our honeymoon.”
The lead medic said, “You don’t have anything to worry about. Superman did everything by the book. I couldn’t have done any better myself; in fact I may not have handled it as well. He’s gonna be just fine.”
She gave him a sad smile.
As they were preparing to load him aboard to transported him to MetGen the medic asked, “Do you want to go with him?”
She looked back at the structure and shook her head as she said, “No, I’m not the one hurt. Once we’re done here, I’ll come to the hospital to see him.”
She turned to Superman and said, “Thanks Superman. You don’t know what this means to me. I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost him and if you hadn’t been there I might have.”
Superman gave her a smile and said, “I’m just glad that I was here to help. I hope he recovers quickly.”
Her mask dangling from her hand she turned back to the scene of the action and with renewed vigor, knowing that her new husband was not seriously injured and in good hands she returned to her truck.
The lead medic watched her go and as the injured man was being loaded aboard he turned to Superman and asked, “You want to check on your other rescue? She’s regained consciousness.”
Superman nodded his thanks and went over to the other ambulance. The mother of the little girl had seen her rescued and was at the ambulance when he got there.
The little girl was awake and alert and as he approached her eyes, metaphorically, got as big as saucers. Superman was *impressive*!
Clark knelt next to the stretcher and took her hand in one of his and with the other he smoothed the hair from her forehead. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead before asking, “How are you feeling little one?”
Her only response was, “Wow.” Her mother had told her that Superman had been the one that had rescued her. She felt like she was in love. “Mommy, he kissed me!”
Clark chuckled and said, “I guess you’re feeling okay.”
The mother grabbed his hand and said, “I really don’t know how to thank you. You saved my little girl.”
Clark said, “You really don’t need to thank me. Just seeing her alive and well is thanks enough.” Turning back to the little girl he said, “You be good for your Mommy, okay?”
She nodded to let him know that she would.
The medics then loaded the little girl and her mother into the back of the ambulance and headed off to MetGen.
Seeing that the fire was basically under control, Clark went over once more and reported to the chief filling him in on his firefighters and the injuries received by the one. The chief thanked him, “Superman, sometimes I don’t know how we got along without you. Because of you there are sure a lot of people walking around alive and well that wouldn’t have been. I want to thank you on the behalf of the department and the city for your efforts in general and particularly for your efforts for the little girl and my injured man.” The Chief looked aside for a moment, and then stated, “We had gotten word you would be gone for several weeks. Let me just say I’m glad you hadn’t left yet.”
Smiling, Superman shrugged, “You know the saying, ‘Stuff happens’, Murphy’s Law even effects me. My departure was slightly delayed and that enabled me to be here to assist.”
“Well, we were certainly lucky today. Thanks for your help.” The Chief, who had interacted with Superman on a number of occasions, extended his hand.
Superman shook it gladly. “I’ll always do whatever I can to help,” He turned to lift off.
As Superman had been speaking, the Chief got a call over his radio with a report of an accident on the interstate. As Superman was turning away he shouted, “Superman! A call just came in. There’s a PI 10-10, multiple vehicles, with injuries on the interstate. Can you give them a hand?”
He replied, “It sure looks like Murphy is working overtime today. Since everything is under control here, I’ll go there immediately.” <This is really delaying me but in the suit I don’t have my cell phone to call Lois. Oh, well. I’m sure she’ll understand.>
comments go here To be continued in Chapter 3 – The Investigation
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighter%27s_helmet
