This is the final story in my accidentally epic “Road” trilogy. The first story, "The Road Taken," portrays what Clark’s life might have been like had Lana been a human being instead of whatever she was in the series and they married.
The marriage was a happy but brief one, as after almost a year of wedded bliss and combat Lana became embroiled in one of Lois’ stories and was taken captive (along with Lois) and killed when a bomb Lana herself set up as a deterrent to the bad guys blew up and sank the ship she was on. Lois, the sole survivor, was rescued by Superman moments before the explosion.
The second story, "Further On Down the Road," lays out the immediate aftermath of that tragedy. Independent of each other, Clark and Lois begin healing from Lana’s death and become friends. When Nigel St. John tries to kill them, he inadvertently copies Superman’s powers to Lois and she eventually decides to become Ultra Woman. As all this is taking place, Lois begins a relationship with Lex Luthor (who, while not a hero, isn’t the bad guy in this story) and Clark begins a relationship with LexCorp’s head receptionist Rebecca Connors, who has become Lois’ friend in the course of Lois’ investigation into Lex Luthor. The four of them go on an extended Memorial Day weekend sailing holiday where Nigel finds them, immobilizes Clark and suppresses Lois’ powers with a chunk of Kryptonite his mysterious boss has given him, and he disables the boat and shoots Rebecca. As he turns from telling Rebecca not to bleed on his shoes, Lex kills him with a pistol he’d hidden as Nigel had boarded the boat. The story closes with Lois, her powers weakened, flies Rebecca to Metropolis for emergency medical treatment, while Lex and Clark take Nigel’s boat back to the harbor.
This story picks up at that point. Should you wish to read the previous stories, please feel free to do so, but you’ll need the following background information, presented in no particular order.
Perry knows about Clark being Superman and Lois being Ultra Woman.
Cat Grant has also become a close friend to Lois, but she’s also being blackmailed to report tidbits of information to the Boss (who Nigel revealed to be Arianna Carlin just before Lex shot him). She’s really a triple agent, because Cat is also reporting everything that happens between herself and Carlin to Perry, who is giving it to the District Attorney’s office.
Like everyone else in the Planet’s newsroom, Jimmy doesn’t know about Cat’s link to Perry. He has been recording her side of the phone conversations she’s been having with Carlin and reporting them to Perry, and Perry has been using that as a control to verify what Cat has been giving him.
At the end of the second story, Lois has changed her costume from the one we saw in the show to something that looks like a dark sky with stars twinkling over it. She’s also ditched the cape.
Despite their public relationships with others, both Clark and Lois feel a powerful attraction to each other, but neither will admit to anyone – including their own inner selves – that the attraction exists. Of course, others can see it, even if they can’t.
Clark and Lois have a mental link which enables them to sense each other’s moods and exchange thoughts. This link will not transmit anything but the truth, so they don’t use it when they’re communicating on a personal level.
Clark’s globe is larger and more advanced than the one shown in the series. It is an artificial intelligence which can and does communicate with the main characters. Before Lana’s marriage to Clark, she named the globe “Bob” for no apparent reason. Bob sits on a wooden rack in a basement below the Kent family barn and has links to worldwide media, communications, and financial institutions.
I had no intention of waiting four years to post this part of the tale, but real life jumped on me with all four feet and started kicking. And those useless muses just stood back and watched! I think they even offered advice to RL. But I survived, Polly and Trope eventually came through, and I made it!
I want to give a shout-out to three terrific betas: IolantheAlias, Shallowford, and Darth Michael, listed in no particular order. If you find something you like in here, odds are at least one of them stuck in a keyboard to make it better. And if you don't like it, that's probably because I declined to accept their wise and noble counsel.
I think that about does it. The first chapter of the final installment is on the boards. Enjoy!
