Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 03/32
By Ken Janney
Warning: This story is rated PG-13.
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
Previously:
Clark had grown up on the farm, but aside from a few cattle they hadn’t really had any livestock. The Langs had had a stable though, so he was no stranger to horses. It was a pleasant trip and the horses, because of how they had been treated, were not skittish when they arrived. They went into side by side stalls. When the rest of the mounts were delivered they saw to their disposition. The quarter horses were raw and would need to be broken before their training could begin. That task fell to Clark. Buck as they might they just couldn’t seem to get rid of their rider and in no time at all they were saddle broken.
A corner of the farm had been landscaped so that there was a twenty foot berm as a backstop for a shooting range. There were benches set up and targets set out at different ranges. There was a partition down the center. One side was for firearms and the other side was for archery. Lori had a selection of firearms, most of which fired sub-caliber ammunition so that the younger members of the family could handle them. For the archery range she had a selection of longbow, semi-recurve, recurve and compound bows to pick from in different weights.
After some months had passed, Lori approached Clark with an idea. “Now that we have everything in place and the kids are working on their riding, archery and shooting, let’s start some contests. It’ll be fun! We can make it a big affair patterned after a medieval tournament! The kids could all dress up in period costume as nobles. The grand kids could dress up also, perhaps as peasants, and we could have archery competitions like the one Robin Hood participated in. I wonder how many of the grand kids could duplicate his feat. We could make it a pot luck picnic.”
Clark started to get into the spirit, “That might be fun. We could also offer prizes. You could be the queen of the tournament and I could be the King. It’s a shame that we are teaching them rodeo riding rather than jousting.”
“No, It’s not! Jousting is just too dangerous. I know, all but the youngest children are invulnerable, but I just couldn’t imagine a couple of guys jousting without armor. Regular people can really get hurt doing that even with full armor. Besides that gives us another activity that we can do that requires skill and not powers; we can hold our own rodeo. We could all dress up as cowboys and cowgirls. Like I said, it’d be fun!”
That had started a couple of annual activities that the entire family participated in.
From then on any particular weekend would find Clark and Lori at the farm. It had literally become their second home. The weekends had become Lori’s favorite time. Usually there were at least four or five of the younger grandchildren there with Lori and Clark and Lori was teaching them to ride and shoot. For this purpose a large corral had been fenced in and some of the girls were learning the Rodeo art of barrel racing while some of the boys were learning calf roping. She was even able to get Clark up on Whistler for some pleasure riding.
All of the grand and great grandchildren liked going to the range with ‘grandma’ Lori. A number of them were showing a considerable talent with firearms as well as the bow. Lori had had a hard time convincing Clark. She said, “I know that firearms are somewhat outmoded nowadays, but I think that this would be beneficial training. It helps to develop discipline; it sharpens the senses and develops a keen eye. This along with the karate training will develop the discipline and control they will need when their powers develop.”
“Okay, you’ve demonstrated how handy a bow can be. As long as they will be safe you have my blessing.”
And now:
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Chapter 2 Green Kryptonite Trouble
Flashback May 2087
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lori and Clark were investigating a break in at STAR Labs. Jon, who was now Chief Researcher, had given them a call. It was particularly important that they be notified.
STAR Labs had been robbed. The “most secure” vault had been opened and a very valuable and dangerous piece of mineral had been removed. Accessing the computer security logs it had been discovered that it had been an inside job. One of the techs that had been with the lab for a period of time and had worked his way up the ladder to a level of responsibility where he had greater access had been the culprit. He had been able to hack the system and elevate his privilege on the system enabling him to access areas that should have been blocked.
They started checking his file and delving into his history and found flaws, indicating that it was a fake. He had been a plant, a sleeper, getting this job and simply being patient until the correct time. He had developed a level of trust and used that trust to access the facility after hours to do his dirty work.
He had stolen a fairly large chunk of crystalline green Kryptonite, the most virulent and dangerous kind. The theft had occurred on a Friday night and it hadn’t been discovered until that following Monday.
The MPD were all over it but really it was going to be up to the supermen and superwomen to find and retrieve the errant mineral. Unfortunately the thief had a sixty hour head start on them which was going to make it very difficult.
Clark called a council of war at the Kent homestead that evening. Once all of the super members of the family groups were there he started, “Well, I guess you all know why we are here. There is a large chunk of Kryptonite that is no longer under our control.”
Lara asked, “That brings up a point. Why is that stuff still around? Why wasn’t it dispatched into space a long time ago?”
Jon answered, “Sis, you know that I’m trying to find a green Kryptonite antidote. If I don’t have samples to work with, how am I going to determine if I’m on the right track?
Actually, when I first took over this project from Bernie, it looked like it would be easy. With Sean and Cele’s help I thought it would be a piece of cake. That hasn’t been the case though. More and more it looks like there will be none, but I still have a few things to try.”
Lara insisted, “I’ll repeat my original question, why do we need such large pieces of a dangerous mineral lying around?”
Jon replied, “That’s a good question Sis. Aside from the fact that I’d be exposed while trying to acquire a smaller sample … I guess I could have the staff take the samples, but we’ve tried to keep their presence low key. The less they are handled the less chance of pieces walking out the door. "
Celeste butted in, "Well, guess what Bro, it has! If we got rid of it all we wouldn't have to worry about it walking out the door *or* developing an antidote."
"I know Sis, I know, but we are in the situation now and we have to deal with it. There should be no way that anyone outside of our small group should even know of the existence of the green K. Jimmy, I think I need to get your team in to do a check of our systems. I need your forensics team to examine our access logs to see if you can find where the leak occurred.”
Jimmy responded, “I’ll have a team in there first thing in the morning. They will need clearance.”
“They’ll have it. We need to get to the bottom of this. If you can find how the access was accomplished I will need to know the source.”
“If they were smart enough to access your systems they were probably smart enough to bounce off of several servers between here, India and China to cover their trail. We’ll have to use some sophisticated sniffers.”
“Use whatever you need to and check our intrusion detection system. They had to be able to get around that somehow.”
“It had to be a sophisticated operation. They also had to fake the history of that tech.”
Sam, the businessman of the family replied, “Statistically, the odds against being able to dispose of every piece of green Kryptonite that exist are astronomical. There has to be a lot out there that we don’t know about. That being the case we need to continue to pursue the antidote, if there is one, or actually, Jon does; therefore there will be a continued need of samples. At least until such time as he has exhausted all avenues of research."
Jessica added, “So, in view of that, we still need to have some available, but, why so much? A very small quantity should be sufficient.”
Sean, being practical added, “The amount of green Kryptonite kept in the vault at STAR Labs at this point is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that there is a chunk out there that could be a problem for us. Why don’t we concentrate on that fact and getting it back under control?”
Clark said, “Sean is right. Everything but getting this piece back under control isn’t important. We can debate these side issues later. Since the thief has a long head start the trail is pretty cold. At this point I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens. If the purpose of the theft is for an attack on one or all of us we will have to be cautious about being close together when we are on a job.”
Lucy spoke up for the first time and you could hear the worry in her voice, “What about our spouses? We have never really tested to see if they are affected by Kryptonite.”
Lori answered that question, “When I was Lois, there were a number of times I was exposed to green K, before and after my physiology had been changed and I didn’t feel anything. I guess the fact that I started out as an Earth human kept me safe. In view of that I would hope that it would be the same for each of the Earth human spouses, but until we test that theory we can’t be sure.”
Lucy replied, “That’s a relief. I was worried about Rob. The kids would all be in danger though.”
Jon answered, “I’m afraid so. We still need to keep them safe.”
Clark said, “Okay, I guess it’s business as usual. Just be sure to keep an eye out and shout if you need help.”
The kids all returned to their homes and everything was peaceful for two weeks.
* * * * * * *
Lori and Clark were at the Planet when Frank came busting out of his office, and using the remote he had gripped in his hand, turned on the volume of a HV in a corner of the room. In the holoprojection could be seen a larger than life size robot made in the likeness of a man, but lacking anything resembling skin, breaking into an underground vault which contained atomic weapons. The feed was coming from a news helicopter flying over the repository in a remote section of New Troy.
Lori looked at Clark. He gave the flying hand signal and Lori nodded her head. They both got up from their desks and headed for the stairwell.
Their editor, Frank Edwards, stopped them, “Where do you think you’re going?”
As if stating the obvious, Lori threw her hand in the direction of the HV and spoke up, “Frank, that’s a story just waiting to be written and we’re going to write it!”
“How can you get there before it’s all over?”
Shading the truth, just a little, Lori replied, “Clark can fly. We’re going to the airport.” She didn’t finish the statement and just allowed Frank to fill in the blanks.
Frank said, “Alright, go!”
Clark said, “We’re on it Chief.”
Frank shouted, “Don’t call me Chief!”
They were at the stairwell door as Lori said, “Anything you say, Chief,” and laughed as they disappeared through the doorway.
As the door was closing behind them they could hear him shouting in frustration, “Don’t call me Chief!” Then with his superhearing Clark heard him mutter, “If they weren’t the best damn reporters …”
As soon as the door was closed Clark picked Lori up and flew her up the stairs. As they exited the roof door, Clark was in uniform. They flew to the scene of the break in.
When they arrived over the area they saw the robot trying to dig through layer after layer of reinforced concrete and steel. Of the military detachment stationed at the site as guards some were scattered around either unconscious or dead while others were using their small arms in an attempt to put the robot out of commission. It had apparently been equipped with a gas of some kind which had knocked some of them out. Since there were still active troops Superman hoped that it was a non-lethal gas and that the breeze had blown the remnants away from the area.
Landing, Clark set Lori on her feet at a safe distance, behind a building, and out of sight and then he started flying toward the robot. When the troops spotted him they stopped shooting and allowed him to handle the robot. He was travelling quickly and it wasn’t until he was too close to slow and change direction that he started feeling the pain of the green Kryptonite. He was almost unconscious when his momentum carried him into the side of the robot causing it to stagger. Clark fell unconscious at its feet.
The head of the robot turned and tilted down so that the video sensors could see what the disturbance had been. After ascertaining that Superman was there at its feet, the robot appeared to contemplate then it actually moved closer, as if to increase his exposure. For a time, it simply stood there over Superman which increased his exposure even more. Peeking around the corner Lori could see that even in his unconscious state Clark was writhing in pain as the robot stood over him. Finally, as if deciding that it had wasted enough time the robot pulled back one foot and kicked Superman sending him sixty feet through the air, landing almost at Lori’s feet.
Fortunately the robot turned away as Lori was about to step out of her concealment. She glanced up and saw the newscopter and knew there was a risk. They hadn’t seen her as yet but as soon as she went to Clark everyone would know of her presence, but she decided that it was more important to help Clark, they’d just deal with the fallout later. She stepped out of her concealment and quickly knelt at his side, grabbed his arm and started dragging him around the corner of the building, away from the robot. Lori was somewhat concerned as she dragged him that she might be aggravating some injuries. If his invulnerability had been cancelled he could have broken ribs and internal injuries from that kick in the side, as it was he was as limp as a rag doll as she tried to move him.
As soon as she had Superman out of the way the troops resumed their shooting.
Knowing that she had to do it but not relishing the prospect, Lori grumbled to herself in frustration as she was dragging him away, “I really wish that the three years were up so that I had my superpowers. Then I wouldn’t have to depend on anyone else and I’d be able to get Clark out of here by myself.”
Once it had kicked Superman away the robot had apparently lost interest and returned to its assault on the bunker. Lori finally got Superman behind the building. She felt further frustration that the three years hadn’t elapsed as yet because she had to rely on electronic means to summon help. It would have been so much easier and quicker if she had telepathy.
Lori tapped her earphone which activated her Reporter’s Assistant and she heard, “Say a command.” Lori had coded her speed dial numbers so that it wouldn’t give anything away so she said, “Dial Superman Foundation 2.” Then she heard a series of beeps. She knew that as soon as the phone on the other end started to ring, the ringtone would tell Jon that the call was from first a family member, second that he should respond as Kam-El if possible and most importantly third it meant trouble. When Jon answered she could hear concern in his tone as he said, “Who needs Kam-El?”
Since there was no one close by to overhear, Lori cut him off, “Jon, help. Your father needs you. We’re at the weapons bunker, west of Metropolis. Stay away from the robot!”
Because she was checking Clark for injuries, she hadn’t had a chance to even touch her earphone again to hang up before a black and red blur arrived and picked up Clark. Lori threw her arms around his neck from behind and held on as Kam-El lifted off and headed for the Kent homestead.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile back in the newsroom
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The newscopter from an all news network had been broadcasting all of this action and everyone in the newsroom had seen Superman go down. When that had happened a gasp of despair could be heard all over the bullpen. Cries of anger and frustration could be heard as they saw him writhing on the ground, obviously in extreme pain. When they saw the robot kick him there was another gasp. Then when they saw Lori pop out from her concealment behind the building a cheer went up.
Watching the body language of the people in the bullpen it was like everyone was trying to pull with Lori as she tried to get Superman behind the building. Fortunately the newscopter was too far away to pick up sound nor did the watchers see her tap her earphone. They could see her speaking but, she could have been talking to herself as she exerted her muscles to pull Superman away.
Suddenly while they watched Kam-El entered the frame. As he did another cheer went up from the entire crowd. A mass sigh of relief could be heard when he picked up Superman. They saw Lori throw herself on Kam-El’s back and another cheer went up as they all disappeared from view when Kam-El took both of them away from the scene.
In the excitement of the action a fact that obviously had been overlooked by the rest of the staff suddenly hit Frank. Frank thought, <How did she get there so quickly and where is Clark? I guess they’ll have a good explanation when they return.>
They did too. Lori said that they had encountered Superman as he was responding and he had offered to take one of them with him. Since Clark was the one that could fly, Lori had gone with Superman while Clark went to the airport so that he could pick Lori up at the scene.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they landed behind the house on Wisteria Lane, Lori dropped off while Jon carried Clark into the house. Lori said, “Take him into the Sauna.” The Sauna was a special room fitted up with banks of high intensity sun lamps. Jon carried Clark in and placed him on a bed in the middle of the room. After Lori donned protective eyewear she hit the switch turning on the lights so that she could check on her husband before leaving the room. She noticed that as Jon was placing him on the bed, Clark started to stir.
Before Jon exited with Lori he patted Clark’s shoulder and said, “Rest easy Pop.” Then as they were exiting he said to Lori, “That should restore him in less than an hour. I take it he was exposed to Kryptonite. Where was it?”
Lori said, “It must be inside that robot. That’s why I warned you to stay clear of it.”
Jon said, “Thanks for the warning, Mom. How are we going to stop that thing? We can’t get near it.”
Lori snapped her fingers and said, “I’ve got an idea. I’ll need your help. By the time your father is recovered I may be ready. We should have time. It’ll take a while for that thing to get through those reinforced walls. Let’s go.”
Lori led the way to a locked room which held all of her firearms. She picked up a compound bow and a quiver of arrows. She said, “Jon, I need your help to modify some of these arrows. Here’s what I need … “
They were busy for the better part of the hour. While Jon was modifying the arrows to her specifications she went upstairs and pulled out a dress and some other clothing which with the help of a pair of scissors she quickly modified to suit her needs before donning the outfit.
When she made her appearance downstairs Clark was just coming out of the sauna. When he saw her he stopped dead in his tracks and asked, “Just what do you think you are going to do in that outfit?”
She answered, “We have a robot to take out and it has to be done at long range. This is where my training will come in handy.”
Clark chuckled and said, “What are you going to do, sprinkle pixie dust on it? You look like Peter Pan.”
Lori replied, “I was thinking more along the lines of Robin Hood.”
Lori was wearing a pair of green tights under an A-line dress she had cut off so that it was a tunic. She had on a wide black belt that accentuated her narrow waist and black knee high boots. A few seconds later when Jon showed up she added her largest black quiver of arrows on her back. She finished it off with a mask of green cloth, a remnant from the hem of the dress and an old Halloween costume hat that was like what Robin Hood would wear. She picked up her compound bow and said, “Okay boys, let’s go corral a robot.”
Clark was impressed by the size of the quiver. He thought it could easily hold fifty arrows, yet he only saw something like half that number sticking out. He asked, “How do you plan to stop that robot with some arrows?”
With a smirk she replied, “Just you wait and see. Jon modified some of my arrows for me. Let’s go! Time’s a wastin’!”
Clark, bowing to the inevitable said, “Okay, I’d like to see just what you have up your sleeve.”
They took off from the back yard. Clark and Lori had their arms around one another as he took off. He flew her this way so that it wouldn’t look quite so intimate. They landed just as the robot was exiting the bunker with an atomic weapon in its grasp after tearing its way into the underground storage.
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