Wanda and Lola
By John Pack Lambert
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not hold the rights to any of the characters.
Wanda Detroit was heading out to take a cigarette. She hoped Clark would not catch her, and maybe she could meet Kent. The likelihood of the latter seemed pretty low. She was trying to picture either of them, but she only was coming up with words. She knew that Clark would run out on her at the most inopportune times, and she knew he was a gas-station and bank robber and had abandoned her to the police. Still, she could not remember what he looked like. Nor could she envision Kent.
As she turned to head back into the bar where she was a singer a short man with a bowler hat approached her.
“Miss Lane, I am so glad I found you, there is a terrible curse on your love for Mr. Kent, and if you consummate your marriage, you will die horribly the next day.”
“What are you talking about sir, I have not married Kent.” Why was this man referring to her as Miss Lane, the name of her arch-enemy who wanted to kill her. Of course, they looked alike. So maybe she could learn something important.
“Well, that is true. However I am sure he wants to, and I am not sure he will hold off once he sees you.”
“Kent is an honorable man, not at all like the gangster who abandoned me to avoid the law recently.”
“Yes, yes, I know” said the bowler-wearing man “Still, I figure we should fix this problem as quick as possible. I have here a soul-tracker which can be used to take you back to your previous self. I figure the curse began when you were with your strongest soul-mate match, and so I have set it to take you to there. You will have to convince Mr. Kent’s incarnation at that time to act to prevent the curse. I will call for Mr. Kent once you leave, and he will make sure nothing ill happens to your body while your soul is in the other time.”
“So wait, you are going to send me to some other body, and then I will have to convince some man to change things to get rid of a curse, and that is the only way I can be with Kent.”
“Yep, that about sums it up. I am not sure what time it will be, but you need to go along.”
Before Wanda could respond, the bowler-wearing man had turned some dials and Wanda found herself transported onto a stage and singing. She could tell what song it was and picked up flawlessly. This was very strange, but with her memory of more than a few days before being so foggy, maybe this was not that strange. As she finished the song she heard a man yell “Brava” and throw her a rose.
She also noticed the bar tender get very angry about this development. Maybe this was her soulmate in this time. She would have to make sure that he realized she had no attraction to that man who had just thrown the flower. A shudder of fear went down her back just looking at him, but she was not sure why.
As she headed back stage the bar tender came up to her “Lois” he said “you need to leave, now”
“Is the man who threw the rose that much of bad news. Do I need to run from him now.”
“Yes, Lois” the bartender said. “You need to get away now.”
Where would she go. She was not sure, and did not recognize anywhere. Her memory was very foggy altogether. Hopefully something good could come out of all of this.
Before she could move a lady approached them and said “Charlie, why are you touching our top singer, Lola.”
“Oh” Wanda said, now she was not sure if she was Lola or Lois. “Charlie and I were just discussing a possible duet.”
“Lola, don’t be silly” the new lady said “we only have female singers here at the Metro Club.”
“Well, I don’t like it here, I’m quitting.” Said Wanda. “Come on Charlie, lets go somewhere where they enjoy our talents.”
Charlie looked from Wanda to the new lady. He seemed to hesitate but then said “Toni, I really do like Lola, so I think I am leaving with her. Be careful of the Toasters.”
“No, Charlie” Toni said “you be careful.” With that she turned and stormed off.
As they left the place he turned to her and said “Lois, let’s take a cab back to your place. I think you need some rest.”
“Charlie,” she said “why do you call me Lois, but Toni called me Lola.”
“Lois” he said “you can stop calling me Charlie now that we are out of the Metro Club, and go back to calling me Clark.”
“Clark” she said, her eyes widening “you aren’t the same Clark who did the robber at Whitman’s Bank the other day. No, no, no, of course not, that probably hasn’t happened yet, it is not 1996.”
“Lois, it’s 1994, and how could you ever think I robbed a bank.”
Well, it could be that awful Clark. She hoped not, this man seemed so nice. But hadn’t Clark, if only she could remember what he looked like.
“So, you don’t run out on me it the middle of our dates when I am telling you my deepest feelings.”
“Lois” Clark said “we have never been on a date, ever, at all. You told me not to fall for you, that you didn’t have time for me. And you said you don’t date co-workers.”
“Well, now that we quit the Metro Club we aren’t co-workers” she said, as a cab finally pulled up.
“Lois, you have really been working too hard, the Metro Club was just a cover.”
With that he pulled her into the cab, and gave direction to an apartment he said was hers. So he was into undercover operations. Maybe this was the same Clark. Maybe the guy with the hat had lied to her about what his gizmo did, or maybe he was just confused.
“So” she said “maybe you have not run off on dates, but you do run off a lot right.”
“Well,” said Clark “true, but I always have good reasons.”
“So why does your running off so often coincide with robberies.”
Clark stared at her with a look of fear. She had discorvered his secret.
“Hey cabbie” Wanda yelled to the driver “this man here, Clark, is a bank robber, so can you stop us by the police precinct.”
“Lois” Clark said “I am not a bank robber, I promise you that.”
“Then what are you” Wanda asked.
“I will tell you, once we get to your place, Lois. Trust me, don’t make us go to the station, please.”
Wanda thought about this. This guy did not seem to be bad like Clark must be.
“I have a better solution, we stop off in front of the police station, and then you tell me what is going on, and if I believe you, we won’t go inside.”
“OK, Lois, we will do that.”
Once they were in front of the station, Clark looked around to make sure no one was about. Since it was fairly late at night, they were all alone.
“Lois” he said “I really did not want to tell you this, I am not sure what got into you.”
“Well, after you left me one too many times at a crucial time, and it just happened to correspond with a bank robbery, what else would I think.”
“Um” Clark said “Well, I am not sure which time you are referring to, but since all the bank robbers were put in jail, shouldn’t that make it obvious I was not the bank robber.”
“Um, maybe they arrested the wrong guys. Maybe you left your accomplices to get caught and snuck away yourself.”
“Lois, look at me, who do you see.” Clark said as he pulled off his glasses and smoothed down his hair.
“I don’t know, Clark still, I guess.”
“OK, now who do you see.” Clark said as he spun really fast and ended up in a bright, flashy blue-spandex suit.
“Well, with that speed, of course you get away with robbing banks.”
“Lois” Clark said “have you lost your mind. Do you seriously think Superman goes around robbing banks.”
“Superman, hah, you are more self-centered than I thought. Clark, I was beginning to think you were a nice guy but you call yourself ‘Superman’.”
“Lois” Clark cut in “you named me Superman, just this summer when I first showed up. What happened to your memory, Lois.”
With that Clark shot straight up in the air, holding Lois in his arms. Then he shot off to a nice deserted island in the Caribbean and set Lois down on the beach.
“Lois” Clark said “I know you don’t like me all that much, but you love Superman. What has come over you.”
“So you really aren’t a bank robber, you really are a good guy.”
“Lois, If I wanted money, why would I rob banks. I could just go to an abandoned coal mine and squeeze coal into diamonds, and get more money that I could ever get robbing banks. However, it just seems wrong to use Superman skills to get money. OK, I use superspeed to write articles once in a while, but that is only because the Superman duties keep me out of work so much. I want to just be a normal person and do normal thinks. You have always trusted Superman, what has happened to you.”
“OK, Clark, I’m really not Lois. I dealt with some guy named Clark who robbed banks and gas stations, and he looks a lot like you, I think. He would always run out on our dates when I was about to tell him I loved him.”
“Wanda” Clark said “is it alright if I call you that.”
“Yes, that works.”
“OK, your story does not make any sense. You say you think this Clark looked a lot like me, if you were dating him can’t you remember.”
“Not really, all I see is words. I am getting one or two fuzzy images. Then there was Kent, the man of my dreams who totally ignores you.”
“This is really odd, really odd.”
“What, me having a man of my dreams.”
“No, you see my name is Clark Kent. It just seems odd. Tell me though, if you say that you were transported from a different body, how did you look different as Wanda.”
“I don’t know, maybe if you took me someplace with a mirror it would help.”
Clark/Superman then took her back to her apartment. She went into her bathroom and when she came out she thought she had an answer. “Well, I think my hair is a little longer now, but other than that, I look exactly like I did as Wanda. There is another thing thought. The guy who sent me hear made it sound like I would meet Kent’s soul in a pervious life. Oddly enough he called me Miss Lane, which seemed odd at the time, and referred to Mr. Kent. It seemed odd to call him Mr. Kent, when Kent was his first name.”
Clark had gone home and changed into some blue jeans and a tea-shirt while Wanda was in the bathroom. However he was back in her living room by the time she came out. He was sitting there looking like he was thinking very hard.
“You say you don’t remember really what this Clark fellow looked like.” He said.
“Not really, I really only remember back about a day, and before that it is all a blur.”
“Well, between changing and coming back here I snuck into the Daily Planet, where Lois and I work.”
“So Lois is a journalist” said Wanda, “I saw a Daily Planet on the rack outside the place I was singing at last. So I am still in Metropolis.”
“Yep. Now get this. I did a search for the name Wanda Detroit. I did not come up with anything on most of my searches, but I did come up with the very beginnings of a story on Lois’ computer. No more than two sentences, but it was in her fiction file.”
“What are you saying?” Wanda asked.
“Well, you don’t really remember anything more than a few days old, right.”
“Ture” said Wanda “but maybe I blocked it out due to stress.”
“Well, I am not sure, but I think you really are Lois.”
“What, hah.”
“You said it was 1996 when you were, and now it is 1993. What month was it.”
“Febuary I think”.
“Well, I think for some reason you were not remembering who you really were, but whoever transported you here knew you were Lois. I am not sure what we should do about this though.”
Before they could think of anything else there was a knock on the door. Clark opened it to find a man wearing a bowler hat.
“Clark” the man said “Is Wanda here.”
“You mean, Lois who thinks she is Wanda.”
“Oh no, you figured it out, I will have to do some really funky time change things to make this all right.”
“Why” asked Clark.
“Because too much has been changed.” The man responded. He then turned the nob and Clark found himself back in the Metro Club listening to Lois sing, while Wanda found herself back at the bar she sang at with no memory of having been moved back in time.
