Hattie and the Main Street Bomber - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C – O
This version is rated PG-13
Description:
Have you ever heard a frustrated parent say to a difficult child, “Just wait, someday you’ll have children and I hope they do to you what you have been doing to me”? Well, Lois is now editor of the Daily Planet and Hattie Kaplin is on the city desk. Enough said.
This story takes place in the Matchmaker Chronicles universe. Hattie Kaplin has had a long standing relationship with Jon Kent and the entire Kent family, in fact she is almost part of the family.
This story is a sequel to Hattie Kaplin - Reporter – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C - N
Hattie and the Main Street Bomber - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C – O
By KenJ <ken.janney@kjanney.com>
This version is rated PG-13
July 2013
Disclaimers: Some of the characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros., except those I created. No copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
The rest are mine.
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
/ denotes telepathic communications./
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Chapter 1 – Hattie
July 2028
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 Canon universe also called – Prime
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The headline of Sunday’s edition of the Daily Planet read:
”10 KILLED 3 INJURED IN MYSTERIOUS BOMB BLASTBy: Hattie Kaplin
In this, the latest in a series of bombings of the downtown precincts, 10 people lost their lives and 3 more were seriously hurt with life threatening injuries.
Emergency responders were on scene within minutes. When the medics arrived they found other pedestrians, uninjured by the blast applying first aid to the injured. One of the medics stated, “If not for the aid rendered by bystanders, we might have lost at least one more. The willingness of others to help, in this case, saved at least one life.” The injured received treatment at the scene and were transported to MetGen.
The Metropolis Police Department is requesting help from the citizenry as they try to solve this case. A reward is being offered to anyone with information leading to an arrest.
To date the number of dead has reached 98 with an additional 40 people injured at various levels of severity.
This is the worst case of serial killings in the history of the city of Metropolis.
In this, the latest bombing, which took place on Saturday night, the explosion, as has all of the others, seems to have originated with a car which was stopped at an intersection. Those pedestrians closest to the car when it exploded were killed along with the car’s occupants.
MPD investigators have identified the vehicle as belonging to a family from New Jersey in Metropolis visiting relatives. All three members of the family, parents and a 5 year old girl, were killed in the blast.
As with the other explosions there has been no discernible pattern to either the timing or the victims. (Story continues 2A)”* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was early Monday morning in the bullpen of the Daily Planet. Lois Lane was in the editor’s office looking at a mock-up of the afternoon edition.
Hattie Kaplin had just arrived and she looked for her new partner, James Olsen, Junior (JJ). Their desks were in the center of the bullpen, metaphorically, the hub of all of the activity in the newsroom, the city desk.
She was surprised to see that his desk was vacant, but then she remembered that he would be out today because he was moving the final items from his apartment in Gotham City to his new apartment in Metropolis. She wouldn’t be seeing him until tomorrow.
Hattie had just finished checking her e-mails. She had gotten a note from one of her snitches. This guy was a bug for secrecy and used a pseudonym – Graham Kerr. Sometimes he jocularly called himself the gassy glutton. This snitch was just like Lois’ favorite snitch, Bobby Bigmouth, there were rumors to the effect that this was in fact his son. The parallels extended even to what he accepted as payment for his information. Food was the payment of choice, usually gourmet and also usually, copious.
His e-mail promised an important lead. The payment requested was two complete lasagna dinners from Travaglini’s. The meet was scheduled for seven that evening on pier 34.
Just as Hattie sent her reply Lois called her to the office.
As soon as Hattie was in the office Lois looked up and smiled at her protégé. She asked, “How’s it going Hattie? Good job on that story. How did you get that quote?”
“I was expecting another explosion and I was only two blocks away when it happened. I was there when the medics arrived.”
Lois interrupted her, “You were two blocks away! That was taking a big chance. That bomb could have been right next to you! You could have been killed!”
“Well, I did hedge my bets. I stayed off Main. I was on ninth.” She started to blush as she continued, “When the medics arrived … I was applying direct pressure to a severed leg … trying to stop the bleeding.”
With a shocked expression and a hushed tone Lois stood and said, “He was talking about you!”
Hattie nodded shyly and modestly said, “All I did was put into practice what I learned in first aid class.”
As she moved out from behind her desk Lois looked at Hattie with a new appreciation. She said, “Yeah, but how many people would actually do that?” while she was thinking, <This girl might not be a Kent, but she has the Kent spirit. That’s the stuff of heroes.> Putting her hands on Hattie’s shoulders she decided that the thought warranted being spoken. She looked Hattie square in the face and said, “Hattie, your last name may not be Kent, but you are one.” She gave her a quick hug and then she asked, “Anything new on the Main Street Bomber since then? Have the police received any tips?”
Hattie was blushing from the attention and was thrilled at Lois’ statement. She said, “No, nothing new. He seems to only strike on the weekends. I haven’t been able to develop a pattern! There’s just nothing to go on. The last was a family from out of town just here for a visit. If there are targets of the bomber then they were the target, but there were seven others killed as collateral damage.”
Eager to share the rest that she had found out with Lois, Hattie said, “One thing the police have determined is that the bomb is actually rather primitive. It is composed of Nitroglycerine. That is unfortunate in that it can actually be made from components available in most high school chemistry classrooms and is ridiculously simple to make. Aside from that, MPD has recovered some clockwork parts. Not enough to identify the manufacturer. It appears to be a simple mechanical timer like a kitchen oven or egg timer available in most stores from Cost-Mart to exclusive kitchen stores.”
“If the explosive was dynamite, TNT or C-4 there would be a signature and we could look for missing supplies or even legitimate purchases, but this way we are dealing with someone working in their kitchen making the explosive. Until we can find enough to get a trace, we’re dead in the water.”
“I just had a note from Graham Kerr. He promises some info. I hope that’s what he has for me. I’m meeting him tonight.”
While Hattie had been speaking, Lois had returned to her chair behind her desk. She asked, “That’s that guy that’s so much like Bobby, right?”
“Yes, he’s reliable. He’s the best snitch I’ve got.”
Lois laughed and said, “I really need to give Bobby a call and find out if this is his son. It seems like he started just when Bobby retired. Maybe I could ask him in person. I’d like to go with you and meet him. Do you think he would mind?”
“I don’t know. Usually it’s just me or me and JJ. JJ is still in the process of moving his stuff from Gotham. He needed today off to go to his old apartment to pick up the last of it and move it to Metropolis. I wouldn’t mind the company.”
“What time and where?”
“We meet at different locations each time, tonight it’s at pier 34 at 7 pm.”
“My car or yours?”
Hattie started to laugh. “I think it will have to be yours. I haven’t gotten the settlement on mine yet and since it was blown to bits and not just disabled I’m using public transit to get around.”(1)
Lois said, “Let me give you the name of my insurance agent. They’ve been very cooperative whenever I’ve had a problem like that.”
“I’d appreciate it. It’s been weeks. They are trying to decide if it should be classified as vandalism or an act of God and that’s not getting a check into my hand. I mean, it was attempted murder! We caught them, well the evidence I collected put the police onto them. It was the head of MetroStaff that ordered the hit because I was going to blow the lid off of the corporate espionage case. I still can’t believe that he went so far as to try to kill me! What did I ever do to him? His thugs interrupted me before I could get the goods on him in that meeting and then I fell off the roof. Fortunately Kam-El was there to catch me. How is Jon anyhow? I haven’t seen him or Jen since the wedding.”
Lois was sitting back and marveling at this babble. When Hattie ran down she finally said, “Hattie, Hattie, Hattie. Is it too late to adopt you? If I didn’t know better I’d say that you were cast in my mold. Clark has always said that we are like two peas in a pod and I can’t argue with him. You even babble like me. Did you practice that?”
Hattie was surprised by this and said, “No, I uh, well, uh, no, no I didn’t Do I really? Wow.”
Glancing over at Clark’s vacant desk, Lois quipped, “If Clark wasn’t out running an ‘errand’ he’d surely have made a comment by now.”
Hattie smiled. It had been more than ten years ago that she had met Jon Kent on her first day of middle school and she still could not get over her good fortune to be associated with the super family. Lois Lane had been first her hero, then her role model, then her mentor, and now her friend and boss.
She was still kicking herself over the fact that she hadn’t discovered until fairly recently that the Kents were in fact the super family and then only because she had thrown herself at Jon Kent’s superpersona, Kam-El. The night after they had booby trapped her car she had really read the signals wrong and tried to seduce Kam-El. She had been spending the night with Jon and Jen and thought Kam-El was there to check on her and really he was returning home from conferring with his dad, Superman, about the police investigation into her destroyed car. The only thing that kept her from completely giving up as an investigative reporter was the fact that, as Jon put it, they’ve had a lot of practice at hiding who they are. (2)
Fortunately Jen forgave her for that same reason; there was no way she was supposed to know that under the spandex and that mask that it was Jon. After all, it was an honest mistake.(3)
Breaking into her musing, Lois finally answered her question, “Jon and Jen are due back from the honeymoon at the end of the week.” In a more conspiratorial tone she continued, “Since your personal guardian angel is away you’ll have to be satisfied with me looking out for you.”
Hattie was surprised and smiled, “Really? Jon’s my personal guardian angel?”(4)
“Yep, the same way his father was mine. He’s married to Jen now, but you are probably his closest friend outside of the family. If he didn’t look out for you, I’d be really disappointed in him. We take care of other family members and our friends. Actually, with you, it’s more like family than friend. You’re like another daughter.”
Hattie was beaming with pride at Lois’ statements. She had hero worshipped Lois Lane for a long time as a preteen and teenager. It had been a shock to find out that her new friend Jon Kent was the son of Lois Lane and Clark Kent. She had rapidly been accepted by the Kent family and her respect for Lois Lane had been undiminished, if anything it had been enhanced by seeing the family together and being accepted by them so completely. Jon was like the brother she had never had and his sister Lara was her best girlfriend. Lois had become like another mother, not that she didn’t like her parents, she loved her parents. She had a very pleasant childhood. Her parents weren’t overly strict or demanding and by the same token Hattie hadn’t been a difficult child. Actually, there were times when her parents were concerned about how driven Hattie was. They were a little concerned about her striving to follow in the footsteps of Lois Lane, until they actually met Lois, Clark and the Kent clan. As soon as that happened, Hattie’s parents lost all concern. They decided that the relationship that had developed could only be beneficial to Hattie and they thereafter encouraged it.(5)
Hattie was blushing as she replied, “I have to say that if I didn’t have the mom I have, I’d want you to be her. I mean, I’d want you to be my mom, if she wasn’t around, like she is.” She finished weakly.
Lois smiled and said, “I know Hattie. I love you too.”
Hattie smiled in return.
Lois said, “Well, we have page space to fill and it isn’t getting filled by you being in my office. Back to work.” Lois smiled to take any sting out of her words.
Still smiling Hattie nodded and left the office. When she reached her desk she picked up her phone and called Inspector Cardona at the MPD.
When she was finally connected she said, “Inspector, Hattie Kaplin. How are things?”
“Kaplin, are you going to be a thorn in my side like all of the others on the Main Street Bomber?”
“Inspector, you’ve read my stuff. I report hard news, but I report factually and fairly and you know it.”
‘Yeah, I’ll give you that much. I saw your article on Saturday’s incident. By the way, I heard what you did. Congratulations. From what I heard, you probably saved his life. Okay, what can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you had anything new on the bomber that you could give me.”
“I wish I did. We have hit a brick wall. We’ve got nothin’ to go on.”
“Have you been able to get a better handle on the explosive used?”
“No, it looks like a home lab produced nitro. Whatever container it was packed in, in each case, is completely destroyed. If it was a pipe bomb there would be metal shrapnel. If it was an anti-personnel bomb it would use metal pieces, nails, nuts and bolts, ball bearings, something like that to cause additional injury, but there’s been none of that. The bomb has simply destroyed the car carrying it, killing the occupants and people in the immediate vicinity. In the case of the guy you saved, his leg was cut by a piece of the car.”
“Have you been able to determine any links between the victims?”
“No, as we said the last time, the victims appear to be chosen at random.”
Hattie mused out loud, “There has to be some connection, there just has to be.”
“Well, if you find one, I’d appreciate it if you would let me know what it is. At this point I’ll listen to any theory you may come up with.”
“If I come up with anything, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Thanks, Kaplin. We’re grasping at straws here.”
“If the victims are truly random, perhaps there is still something common.”
“How do you figure that there could be something common to a random selection of victims?”
“Doesn’t sound too logical, does it? The way I see it, there has to be a pattern, even to the randomness. We just have to figure out what the actual pattern is. It would make it so much easier if there was an apparent motive. What is this guy after?”
“It looks like we are dealing with someone that is simply insane, choosing victims at random. There isn’t a discernible pattern.”
“Maybe we’re just not looking at it the right way.”
“What other way is there?”
“I don’t know, just yet. I have to think about it for a while. I’ll get back to you, Inspector, when I have this figured out.”
“I hope you can. So far we’ve had almost one hundred fatalities in just under three weeks. I’d like to catch this guy before he kills any more people.”
“I’ll do my best Inspector.” She hung up her phone.
comments go here TBC
(1) “Hattie Kaplin – Reporter - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C – N”
(2) Idem
(3) Idem
(4) Idem
(5) “After Summer Camp – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1CA”
