Someone in another thread mentioned posting stuff just to get it out there, which made me feel really guilty. This one in particular has been sitting on my hard drive since last year and I had almost completely forgotten all about. I should also probably admit that KathyB warned me not to ever post this until I’d “finished” it but since I’m probably never going to have time to add any more to it and, weird soul that I am, I actually kind of like the ending as is, I’m going to go ahead and post it now.
This is also the very first time that I’ve ever posted a story here on the message boards so I’ll apologize in advance for any formatting mistakes I make.
Beverly :-)
http://www.booksanctuary.com ******************************
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
by B. B. Medos
August 2002
AUTHOR’S NOTE: As one might guess, this little vignette owes heavily to the movie of a similar name but takes a detour along the way into other territory. I can’t say where exactly because that would be a spoiler, but you should be able to figure it out. In terms of the L&C timeline, this takes place first season sometime after the episode FOUNDLING and is definitely pre-revelation.
*****
“Lois, your *friend* is back.”
Clark looked up from the files he and Lois were going over in the conference room at Jimmy’s whispered, almost hissed, announcement then glanced briefly at his partner but his mind was still on the spreadsheet in his hand so he really wasn’t paying attention to either of them. Until the extreme grimace of distaste on her face registered in his brain and had his eyes widening behind his glasses, that is. He looked back at her again. “What’s wrong, Lois?”
“What?”
She didn’t even glance his way, however, so he wasn’t sure if she was responding to him or Jimmy. It wasn’t all that unusual for him to be ignored by his new partner, but it was still intriguing enough under the circumstances to arouse his curiosity. Still, seeing there was some kind of silent communication thing going on between her and Jimmy, he almost gave up and went back to trying to make sense of the annual report he’d been studying for the last hour.
“Is he downstairs, Jimmy?”
“Yes, and driving security nuts, as usual.”
“Lord.” She sighed, heavily, and then nodded. “Okay, I guess I’ll have to see him. Tell them to send him up. But, Jimmy, try to keep him quiet this time, will you?”
Her soft muttering and hissing only deepened the mystery enough to interrupt his study of the reports again, and since he wasn’t all that enthusiastic about them anyway, Clark asked the obvious question as Jimmy disappeared out the conference room doorway. “Who?”
Lois turned to stare at him blankly. Then her expression cleared and she half-smiled but it really didn’t look very convincing. “Oh, I forgot, you haven’t met Jerry yet, have you?”
“And he is?”
“Oh, well, I guess you could say he’s one of my informants.” Lois wrinkled her nose rather adorably then grinned, looking around to sheepishly whisper. “But the truth is he’s just a nutcase that comes in occasionally to see me. His visits almost always give Perry a coronary, however, so we try to keep it quiet that he’s here. Which isn’t all that easy to do usually.” At his raised eyebrows, she hurried on. “He’s harmless. Honest.”
Watching her take a deep breath after one of her trademark babbling sessions, he couldn’t help teasing. “Who’s harmless, Perry or Jerry?”
“Ha, ha. Very funny. If you have to ask, both. Most of the time, anyway.” Her brow wrinkled slightly, then she added softly and very persuasively. “So, will you help me out, partner?”
His eyebrows rose. This was big enough for her to play that card, huh? Very intriguing. Still he decided to be cautious just the same. “Oooo – kay. I guess so. How?”
This was said to her back as she hopped up out of her seat, headed to the conference room door and began waving frantically to Jimmy who was just ushering someone out of the elevator. When she was satisfied that Jimmy had seen her, she tossed over her shoulder. “Just make sure Perry stays away from this room for about ten minutes.”
When she then waved for him to leave, Clark frowned, but got up obediently and left the room to head for his own desk just as Jimmy arrived with the mysterious Jerry. Even expecting someone unusual, Jerry was so much more . . . worse, actually, than he’d expected that he almost turned around and marched right back into the conference room with them. The only thing that stopped him was the narrow-eyed glare Lois directed his way as she greeted Jerry.
“Hi, Jerry. What’s up?”
“Hi, Lois. Can we talk somewhere?”
Clark still didn’t move away immediately, even when Jerry looked at him furtively sideways then slunk - there was no other way to describe the movement he made - in behind Lois into the conference room, muttering to himself under his breath the entire time. It might’ve been unprofessional and downright impolite to stare, but Clark suddenly wanted a better look at Jerry. He finally got it when Lois shut the door and moved over to sit on the other side of the table from the man. Jerry chose that moment to glance around nervously and was suddenly staring right at Clark through the glass. They gazed into each other’s eyes for the longest before Jerry’s own eyes widened and he became very agitated. When Lois got up and closed the blinds inside the room all the while glaring at him, Clark decided a strategic retreat was in order.
Once at his desk, he couldn’t resist a little eavesdropping, however, and, after taking a quick look to make sure Perry was still in his own office, he picked up a random paper off his desk and tuned his super hearing into the conference room. What he heard almost had him falling out of his seat.
*“You know he’s an alien, don’t you?”*
*“What? Oh, you mean Superman. Everyone knows he’s an alien.” Lois giggled, then added. “What else could he be?”*
*“Well, yeah, him.”*
*“Jerry, you think everyone is an alien. So, what did you want to see me about today?”*
Clark relaxed a little and checked on Perry again, then shifted in his seat so that he could hear AND see what was happening in that room with Lois. Even though the guy was most definitely a kook, he suddenly had a very strange suspicion Jerry wasn’t as big a kook as everyone, including Lois, seemed to believe. And he wasn’t completely sure Lois thought Jerry was that crazy either.
Otherwise why would the Planet’s ace reporter even be talking to the man?
No, this most definitely warranted closer attention.
Of course, he immediately had to find something else to pretend to be working on when he was finally able to focus on the conference room only to find Jerry peeping back at him through the blinds.
*“He’s watching and listening to us right now, you know.”*
Clark blinked and suddenly felt like doing some muttering himself until he heard Lois’ response.
*“Who, Superman? Well, surely not. I mean why would he be listening. Oh, you mean he’s spying on ME?”*
Clark shook his head in disbelief at what he was hearing. Only his partner would imagine the world revolved around her. And he didn’t even want to think about the fact that right at that moment Superman WAS technically spying on her. Ethical or not, he had a secret to protect.
*“Seriously, Lois, there’s a lot you don’t know about him.”*
*“What things, Jer?”*
*“I can’t tell you here. Could you come with me . . . away from h . . . everyone?”*
*“Well, I don’t know. Oh, okay, why not?”*
Oh, yeah. Right. Like that’s gonna happen. Clark was already out of his seat as the conference room door opened and easily met them at the elevator even without using super-speed. “Where’re you going, Lois?”
At his soft question, Lois jumped and spun around. “Clark! Ah, just going to . . . check something.”
Clark could almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she tried to think up an excuse so he decided to stop that before it happened. “Okay, I’ll go too.”
“Ah, no. No. Not a good idea.” Lois glanced at Jerry, who was starting to get agitated again, and shook her head. “Jerry, why don’t you go on down and wait for me in the lobby. No, make that on the sidewalk outside the Planet.”
Jerry started to shake his head no, then seemed to change his mind and nodded. “Okay. But hurry. They’re always watching, you know.”
With a final furtive look in Clark’s direction, Jerry stepped into the elevator and the door closed. Lois immediately grabbed Clark’s arm and dragged him towards the stairs. “If you must know, Jerry has some information for me and I have to go alone.”
“That doesn’t sound wise, Lois. I mean you yourself admit the man’s crazy.”
“But harmless.” At his skeptical expression, she sighed but kept right on marching down the steps with him on her heels. “Okay, okay. I appreciate your concern, but, Clark, he really IS harmless. And strangely enough, for all his craziness, he has actually given me some good leads over the years. They’re not always exactly on the money, but they’re usually in the right direction. More or less. Although . . . okay, that one last year was really strange, but it even panned out. Sort of. So, you see I have to go. You’d go. Wouldn’t you? And he’ll only go with me, so don’t even think about tagging along.”
Clark was about to argue some more when they stepped out onto the sidewalk where Jerry was pacing in a small circle. Jerry saw them, or rather Lois, and had taken a step in their direction, when the world went red.
Clark blinked.
And blinked again.
And still couldn’t see.
What in the world . . . ?
Slowly, things began to come back into focus. Little by little, he could make out first shapes and then colors. He tried to turn his head to ask Lois what had happened but could only move his eyes. Even so, he realized she was standing with her hand upraised still waving at Jerry.
Completely unmoving.
And Jerry was no longer there.
“How did you find me so fast?”
Clark turned his eyes towards where the question originated just in time to see two men hustling Jerry into the back seat of a black sedan. Clark opened his mouth to shout at them but nothing came out. He could only stare in amazement as the older of the two men patted Jerry on the back.
“Now, Jer, we knew you arrived yesterday, but we had more important problems to deal with then.”
“Oh, gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. Nice to know where I stand.”
“What can I say, somebody trying to destroy the world tends to take precedence over friendly crackpots.”
“Crackpot! Humph. See if you get a Christmas card this year.”
Clark cleared his throat and tried once again. “HEY! What are you doing with him?” He was finally able to turn his head enough to take a good look at a still frozen Lois. “And, what have you done to her?” Now that he could move, he turned all the way around then yelled the question yet again because it wasn’t just Lois that was frozen. “What have you done to EVERYONE?”
“Damn. I told you it wouldn’t work on him.” That came from the one dressed in black. Although, now that he could focus again completely, Clark realized they were both in black suits. And sunglasses. Very dark, almost black sunglasses.
“Well, it did stun him for a minute or so.”
“More like a couple of seconds. And a fat of help that was. Now what do we do?”
“HEY. Who are you?” Clark was so upset he didn’t even realize he’d used super speed until he found himself standing in front of them.
“Would you believe us if we said friends?” When Clark raised his eyebrows at them in disbelief and simply waited, the tall, dark-skinned one grinned. “Guess not, huh?” He glanced at his partner, who simply rolled his eyes, then looked back at Clark. “Well, we ARE friends. Otherwise we wouldn’t be getting this character away from your girlfriend, now would we?”
“Girlfriend?”
“Oops, forgot who I was talking to there.” His grin grew larger and he whispered confidentially. “Maybe you should take the glasses off now and then and let her see the real you.”
“What ARE you talking about?”
Shaking his head, the older of the two finally spoke up. “What my friend here is trying to say in his roundabout way is that we’re on your side . . . Superman.”
THE END
