Okay, don't jump all over me just yet, but I have this idea for a story. It's looking to be a long one, with some angst/tension and a complex A-plot (the details of which, unfortunately, are still being worked out). Trying to think things through, though, I've realized that I'm going to need some help.
Unfortunately, in order to get that help, I'm going to have to give you a good expanation of the premise. It'll take a little while, and, since I'm still in the brainstorming stage, it may not entirely make sense. If you get confused or something, don't worry. Just keep reading to the end and see what you make of things.
When the story starts out, Lois is about three months pregnant. Unfortunately, much as Clark is able to charge his powers while clothed or, to some degree, even while indoors, the baby is developing powers while still in the womb.
For one thing, its kicks are super strong. That's not as bad as it could be, though, because, due to the aura effect, Lois's womb is now invulnerable. The downside of that, however, is that the uterine walls are pressing unforgivingly on her colon.
She goes to see Dr. Klein, but he's not really an OB. Lois is going to have to be hospitalized. Bernie gets her admitted to a small semi-private facility staffed by people he knows and trusts. He gives them some technobabble explanation of why her tissue is "abnormally hardened" (I'll have to work on that somehow...) and gets her set up as best he can.
That's not the end of the problems, though, because the doctors have a lot of trouble monitoring the baby. They can't do an amneo because of the invulnerable placenta, and they can't do a sonogram because, with the baby's superhearing, it causes the kid a lot of pain.
In the meantime, Superman gets attacked, and, well, let's just say he's feeling rather green around the gills. He has to be hospitalized, too.
Between his semi-conscious babbling, Lois's more than ordinary distress, and the odd nature of the baby, rumors start up again about an affair.
While all that's going on, Superman's absence means a sharp rise in the Metropolis crime rate. That is, until rumors of ever more frequent bat sightings start to have an impact.
Lois is now really torn. On the one hand, there's a huge story out there (the bat sightings plus the whole A-plot thing that I haven't really gotten into very much). On the other hand, Clark's really sick. (But if she goes to see him, it'll only fuel the rumors of an affair.) She doesn't know what to do, but what makes it worse is that she really shouldn't leave the hospital. That's frustrating her to no end.
So, that's the set-up. Now, my question is this:
How many of you reading up to this point have already caught on to the significance of the fact that I'm posting all this on April 1st?
Paul
