Clark and Lois – Two Universes - Matchmaker Chronicle Volume 7 25/32
By Ken Janney
Rating 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.
This particular story takes place after Lois and Clarks.
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
(#) footnotes
/ “denotes telepathic communication”/
[ playback of a recording or TV Commentary]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
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Common name – Alt 2
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Previously:
The Toasters lined up in an arc facing the door and aimed the parabolic dishes of their devices at the door. They started their eerie hum again and then when they hit switches on their devices she heard the ultrasonic tone start. When that new tone was added she could see the wood door start to smoke. She knew it was only a matter of time until they would free themselves. She sent, /”Clark, you need to drop what you are doing and get here, NOW! They are using their firestarters to burn through the door. They’ll be out very quickly.”/
/”I’m on my way. “/
He joined her in the air above the building. She pointed down and he descended to the alley and entered through the open door. He flew up the stairs and positioned himself in front of the door with his arms folded over his chest. While he watched the door panel burst into flame and was quickly consumed. He sent a thought, /”Lois, can you call 911 please?”/
Lois sent, /”My pleasure,”/ pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed 911. This was an untraceable prepaid cell phone and when she was connected she heard, “911 – What is the nature of your emergency?”
Lois replied, “Police are needed at one hundred first and Baylin. Superman has the people that have been starting all of the fires in Hobbs Bay.”
“Who is this?”
“A friend, just a friend. There are three of them so you will need more than one car.”
“Can you put Superman on to confirm this?”
“No, you’ll just have to take my word on it.” As Lois was hanging up she could hear sirens in the distance and approaching. She sent, /”Cavalry is on the way.”/
Once the door had been weakened sufficiently by the flames, they crashed out of the room only to be greeted by Superman.
The leader said, “I was afraid of this. I knew we were pushing our luck starting more than one fire a night. Okay Superman, you’ve got us.” They all put up their hands and the leader started to hum in a high pitched tone. A second later the other two joined in.
Lois sent, /”Watch it, that’s how they power their weapons.”/
Superman could hear an ultrasonic tone coming from the weapons and feel the center of his chest starting to heat up. Since the sound was being converted to heat the range of the sound was limited, which explained why he hadn’t heard it. The heat wasn’t anything that would even cause him any discomfort. He said, “You’re wasting your time. That won’t affect me in the slightest.”
The leader stopped humming and said, “You can’t blame us for trying.”
Superman said, “MPD will be here in a minute. Shall we go out to meet them? Uh, first, turn off those machines, if you don’t want me to smash them that is.”
They all snapped a switch shutting the devices down and filed out of the room. Superman sped into the room and using his supercold breath snuffed out the fires and was back before they even realized he had left.
They trooped downstairs and as they exited the building they saw the reception committee consisting of Metropolis’ finest. Their devices were confiscated and they were all cuffed before having their rights read to them and then they were placed in the back of three black-n-whites to be taken downtown.
Superman flew off and joined Lois high in the sky, above the cloud cover. He said, “Thanks.”
Laughing she said, “Now you owe me one.”
“One what?”
She flew into his arms and with a wicked little grin said, “I’ll let you know when we get home.”
He smiled as he said, “I can’t wait to pay of this debt,” and flew off with her. When they got to Smallville the first stop was the hay loft of the barn.
And Now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter - 23 – Bill
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 – Common name – Alt2
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Lois and Clark had moved to Alt-2 because they were expecting Bill Henderson over for dinner. They were in Smallville in the living room of the Kent farm house with Martha and Jonathan.
Jonathan leaned over and placed his iced tea glass on a coaster and asked, “So, Bill is supposed to tell you how you gave yourselves away. I have to admit, I’m really curious. Do you have any ideas how it happened?”
Just finishing a sip of her own tea, Lois replied, “I have no clue. It was right after the raid on Luthor’s office. Clark pulled the safe door off its hinges, collected the evidence and then collapsed.”
As Clark was putting down his glass, he asked, “Did you show, I don’t know, excess concern for my welfare?”
“I don’t see how, I mean, you are Superman and anyone, especially a friend, would be worried about you when you collapsed like that.”
Looking over the rim of her glass, with mischief in her eyes, Martha added, “It has to be something along that line. It’s hard to be ‘just a friend’ when you see your husband down like that.”
“No, Martha, I was really careful, at least I tried to be. I don’t see how, no, I’m convinced, that can’t be it. I was really, really careful.”
With a smile and a knowing look, Martha said, “I guess we’ll see.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was a little later that evening when Bill Henderson made his appearance at 348 Hyperion Ave. Before he even had a chance to knock on the door it opened to disclose both Lois and Clark standing in the vestibule. Clark said, “Welcome, Bill. Glad you could make it.”
“Thanks for the invite. I hope I’m not too late.”
Lois laughed and said, “No, Bill, you’re right on time. We could practically set our clocks by your arrival.”
Clark said, “I hope you are hungry. We’re having pasta. Would you like a glass of Chianti?”
“Let’s save that for when we sit down to eat.”
Lois asked, “Coffee then?”
“Coffee would be good.”
“Why don’t you and Lois settle in the living room while I get the coffee?”
“This way Bill.” Lois led the way into the living room and they both took seats.
Bill was still looking around at the décor when only a few seconds later Clark brought in the tray with the coffee urn, cups, sugar, honey and creamer.
Bill chuckled and said, “One of the perks of the super powers?”
Clark replied, “Yeah, heat vision shortens the prep time, considerably.”
“I can see that. Okay, I guess there’s no sense in beating around the bush. What’s the complete story? How long have you been super? Lois didn’t appear to be super before Superwoman suddenly showed up. Superman took a vacation and then when he returned we had two superheroes.”
Clark shook his head and said, “You believe in getting right to the heart of the matter, don’t you?”
“Comes with being a detective.”
“Well, where to begin. I guess first I need you to simply try to suspend your disbelief for a while. We’re going to be telling you some things that are going to be, more than a little, hard to believe. I guess the first thing to tell you is that I’m not the Clark Kent you used to know.”
“Right, somehow you acquired superpowers.”
“That’s actually, not what I was going to say. I’m not the Clark Kent you knew. I’m another Clark Kent.”
“Wait a minute. Another Clark Kent? How can you be another Clark Kent? Oh, wait a minute. Are you saying that you’re a clone?”
“Well, no, I’m not saying that either. Here’s where it really gets strange. Remember the bomb in Clark’s apartment?”
At Bill’s nod Clark continued, “The Clark Kent that you knew … died in that explosion.”
“What???? How did I not know about that?”
Lois said, “I found Clark dead. I had been dealing with an earthquake in California. By the time I got back, it was too late. I removed his body before the police arrived.”
Clark picked up the narrative, “I arrived just then and assumed his identity.”
“Okay, let’s see,” he looked at Lois, “interfering in the process of an investigation and concealing a crime,” he shifted his gaze to Clark, “identity theft, what else?”
Lois was shocked, “Bill, you’re not going to charge us, are you?”
With his normal deadpan expression he replied, “No, I’m just keeping score.”
Relieved Lois continued, “I took Clark’s body away because I was afraid of what an autopsy would show. When Clark, this Clark showed up later it was a surprise. I know, it’s confusing.”
Bill turned to Clark and asked, “If you aren’t Clark, who are you?”
Clark gave a wry smile and said, “Actually, believe it or not, I *am* Clark Kent.”
“Wait a minute, you tell me that you’re not a clone then you tell me that you aren’t the Clark Kent I knew … Clark Kent …I … knew. Okay, you’re Clark Kent, just not the one I knew?”
“Right the first time. I *am* Clark Kent, I’m just not from here.”
Mystified, Bill asked, “If you’re not from here, just where are you from, I mean, other than Krypton?”
Clark asked, “Bill, have you read much science fiction?”
“Sure, in school I was really into it. I read most of the classics, ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’, ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’, ‘From Earth to the Moon’, ‘The Time Machine’ …”
Clark interrupted him at this point and said, “Okay, so you are familiar with Jules Vern and H. G. Wells.”
“Who isn’t?”
“What would you think if I told you that I am not only familiar with H. G. Wells, but he is one of my best friends?”
“I’d say that this story just became seriously unbelievable. I’m thinking I need to call for a straightjacket.”
“Come on, Bill. You know that nothing like that would hold me.”
“Not for you, for me, for believing all of this.” Bill replied with his normal deadpan expression.
“Okay, you told me you would suspend your unbelief, now I really believe you are. There’s more, go with me on this.”
“Okay, I’ll try. Go ahead with your story.”
“H. G. Wells didn’t only write about a time machine, he actually created one. Now, have you read any stories about parallel dimensions?”
“Yeah, a few.”
“Okay, well, Herb not only moves through time, he also crosses the dimensional barriers. He brought me here from one of those parallel dimensions. I’m the Clark Kent from a parallel dimension or as we chose to call them ‘universe’. So you see, I’m Clark Kent, just not the one that you knew, although I do know the Bill Henderson in my universe as well. In my home universe, Lois Lane died. That’s why I came here, so that we could be together. We can go back and forth between the two universes at will.”
When Bill failed to respond to this revelation Clark asked, “Is there a problem?”
“Is he a good cop?”
“Just like you.”
“Does he know?”
“Well, you see Bill, that’s the thing. In my home universe everybody already knows that I’m Superman. It’s like an open secret. I was exposed by another time traveler … a guy named Tempus. So you see to him it is not a mystery.”
“That’s a relief.”
“A relief?”
“Yeah, I’d really hate for you to have told me that he figured it out a couple of years ago.”
Both Clark and Lois burst out in laughter.
“Promise me that if he figures out that Lois is super you won’t tell him how much sooner I figured it out. I know how I’d feel and I don’t want him to go through that.”
Still laughing Lois said, “We have been keeping Superwoman’s presence a secret, but if I do come out into the open, we promise.” Shyly Lois asked, “What gave us away?”
Bill had a thoughtful expression as he said, “Well, it was blindingly obvious to anyone with eyes, trained observer’s eyes anyhow. That day, in Luthor’s office, when Clark pulled the vault door off its hinges exposing the Kryptonite you winced in pain and stepped back out of the way. Then when Clark collapsed your reaction wasn’t that of a fan of the superhero it was that of a lover. You shouted to us to drag him out of the doorway, away from the Kryptonite, but you didn’t move any closer yourself. I would have expected you to be there at his side if you could have been, but because of the Kryptonite you couldn’t.”
Lois and Clark exchanged a look and Clark said, “I don’t know how that could have been avoided. If you hadn’t been there it would have prolonged my exposure. If it had been now, even that brief exposure could have knocked you out as well.”
Bill picked up on that and asked, “Why? What is different now?”
Clark started to smile and said, “We’re expecting. Lois’ condition has made her more susceptible to the effects of Kryptonite.”
Smiling, Bill said, “Congratulations. When?”
“That’s the thing, we don’t know, and we don’t want Luthor to know, so I’m going to stay in hiding.”
“Ahh, I understand. I agree, He’s the last one that you want to know about that. How can I help?”
“We are going to work the investigation, but Lois is going to be staying with my folks in Kansas while I work from here.”
“Probably a good idea.”
“Have you been able to trace him at all?”
“Apparently he not only had access to a chopper with stealth technology but also a jet. We found the chopper at a small airfield. It had been destroyed so that the military couldn’t benefit from the technology. There was evidence of the presence of an exec jet size plane, configuration unknown, that had been hangered there. We checked with ATC in the area and the radar didn’t pick up any aircraft for the time period of his pick up by the chopper until our finding the destroyed chopper. Dead end. There’s no telling just how far he could have gotten. The possibility exists that he could have flown overseas to a non-extradition treaty country. With his resources he could have had places to land for refueling, if not mid-air refueling capability. Who knows with him? Bottom line – he could be anywhere in the world by this time.”
Lois said, “Or, he could be right here in Metropolis, after having laid a false trail.”
Clark added, “That’s where I’d put my money. He is obsessed with possessing Lois. I don’t think he will get too far away, until he has accomplished that objective.”
Bill asked, “Does Luthor have any clue that Lois is Superwoman?”
“I don’t think so. When he first met her she didn’t have any super powers.”
Bill picked up on that statement and asked a follow-up question, “Just how long have you been super, Lois?”
Lois asked, “Do you remember the Wishing Well incident?” At Bill’s nod, she continued, “When Clark was hit with that laser his Kryptonian physiology was transferred to me and my Earth human physiology to him. That’s why he died in that bombing. He was normal, not super.”
“I see, so since that time you have been, what, no longer human, Kryptonian?”
Clark clarified, “Kryptonians are human, Bill. We can interbreed with Earth humans after we have been together for a period of time. I have friends, other Lois and Clark, couples in other universes that have children. Their Lois Lanes are, well, modified Earth human.”
“Okay, so you are both Kryptonian human and you’re going to have a Kryptonian human child. I guess that is to be expected. Now, about Luthor. If your theory is correct, then we could possibly be able to lure him out of hiding if we were able to make him think that he could have another chance at Lois.”
“I don’t want to take that kind of chance, Bill. Especially with Lois’ enhanced susceptibility to Kryptonite it would be far too dangerous.”
“But, why would he expose her to Kryptonite?”
“He doesn’t know that I’m Superman so there would be no reason for him to expose me to it, but he did. He gave it to his men so that Superman and Superwoman wouldn’t interfere with the mugging.”
“There was Kryptonite involved in that? Why wasn’t that reported?”
“We mentioned it to the patrolman that responded. Apparently it just didn’t make an impression and never made it into his report. We were just as happy that it didn’t. The less Kryptonite is mentioned the better.”
“I’ll go along with that. Okay, so we can’t use Lois as bait. That’s going to make it tougher.”
Lois said, “What if I just show myself, occasionally, just tease him into thinking I’m around? I could write a story occasionally. Clark can feed me the details.” She started to snicker as she continued, “Or I could just hover out of sight and watch so that I can give an eyewitness account. Something like that should drive him nuts.”
Clark was smiling as he replied, “Yeah, as long as you stayed out of sight, but wrote up eyewitness reports he couldn’t help but wonder just where you were and try to find out.”
Bill said, “That just might work. You could even give a deposition or two about crimes you have witnessed to lend credibility to your being around. He probably has moles in the department and he’d find out about them.”
After they made their plans and had dinner, Bill returned home and Lois and Clark returned to the other universe.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 - Local designation – Alt 1
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In the underground office that was now their home, Smythe and Luckabee were both in the lounge area. As was his wont Luckabee was behind the bar. Now he wasn’t drinking out of boredom. Now there was purpose in it. He was making sure he had the poison antidote in his system in adequate quantities.
Smythe was relaxing in a chair while the strains of the overture to Othello by Rossini played in the background.
Finally, the lack of communication got to Luckabee and he asked, “What lurk is in the wind now?”
“I was notified that work is progressing on the Quantum Disruptor and it could be ready for testing within a couple of weeks. That woman is amazing.”
“Yes, Lois Lane is amazing.”
“No, you idiot! Not Lois Lane, Nell Newtrich. I might just change my mind about getting rid of her. She could be too valuable to dispose of too quickly. Do you know what she has done?”
Dryly he replied, “No, but I imagine you will tell me.”
“She built a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. This is a very novel application of this device. I didn’t know that RTGs were being used anywhere other than EPRAD nor that they would generate the kind of power this device will need, but by an equally novel application of capacitors she is able to produce the power needed for the device. The best part is that the radioisotope she is using is that green rock. It could add an extra little punch.”
“Once the weapon has been created we will have to lure Superman into the trap. My cyber snoopers have accessed the computer system at STAR Labs. They have documented much of what Superman can do. Did you know that he is faster than a speeding bullet? Can leap tall buildings in a single bound? Can bend steel in his bare hands? Can see through solid objects? Some of those seem somewhat farfetched, but who am I to question the integrity of STAR Labs. There was one interesting piece of data. It would appear that Superman’s powers are derived from and replenished by sunlight. Therefore, if we can diminish his powers and get him into an environment where there is no sun he should not recover his powers.” At this point he spread his hands wide as if to indicate their accommodations.
Luckabee swallowed loudly before he choked out his reply, “You mean to bring him here?”
“Can you think of a better place? We need to lure the fly into the spider’s web. We will need some bait.”
“What kind of bait would you use to bring Superman down here?”
“We may have to lure him to us at a different location and then, after knocking him out, bring him here.”
“Again, what can you use as bait to bring Superman into a trap?”
“What do you have, mush for brains? I feel certain that Lois Lane would be just what the doctor ordered as far as bait is concerned. There could be additional advantages to using her. We could offer some terms …”
“What kind of terms could you offer Superman that he would accept?”
“Who said anything about offering Superman terms? I may make Lois Lane, to coin a phrase, an offer she couldn’t refuse.”
“What kind of offer would that be?”
“Superman’s life for her hand.”
Luckabee started laughing uncontrollably. "You’re a nutjob if you think she’d go along with that.”
“You never can tell what a woman will do when presented with such an alternative. We’ll see.”
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