Hi, remember me ... ?
Anyway, RL has gotten in the way big time in the past couple of weeks (in fact, the only reason this is being posted tonight is that I have to move out of my room in five days and had to stay in tonight to pack ... and so I'm once again procrastinating).
And, just because, I'd like to thank those of you who were involved in the challenge with Tank involving short hair ... I got seven inches of my hair cut off last week and I think that little challenge got the ball rolling ...
Anyway, enough about me ... onto Part 9.
From Part 8:
Clark, impatient to see Luthor's reaction, fast-forwarded past the first two individuals and Lex's instantaneous reaction as Clark stopped on the third finally quieted the lingering doubts in his head.
"Wanda?!" Lex stopped for a moment and looked at the card under the woman, realization dawning. "There is no Wanda, is there?" Lex stood suddenly, his face twisted in anger. "Just some undercover reporter trying to find dirt to use as an expose on the evils of missionaries. So typical of society today. This is how people who try and help are repaid."
"Lex, up until I found that picture, it was thought Lois Lane was dead. I don't know why she was in Senegal, but it most likely was not to dig up any dirt."
"Well, she wouldn't find any," Lex replied sharply, still wary of this admission. "My wife and I are honest people."
"I know," Clark said, using the skills he had honed over the years as a reporter to hopefully help Lex get past the anger and start talking again. "But are you sure that is the same person?"
Luthor watched the tape carefully, taking in each nuance that was Lois. "Absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind that she is Wanda. I don't know who lied to you, but Lois Lane is not dead."
~
Part 9:
But where was she?
Anyone who met Superman that night was somewhat put off by his distracted demeanor. Physically, it was Superman as normal - the strongest man alive, performing incredible feats. But conversation was much briefer than usual and even then, it was easy to notice that his mind was elsewhere.
Two years ago, she had still been in Africa. Assuming she was still on the continent, though, hardly made Clark's job easier. Even an extraordinary man would be hard-pressed to find a missing woman everyone believed dead, who was using at least one alias and had managed to escape notice until now. The fact it was only by some strange twist of fate that Clark had even managed to determine her existence did not help matters either.
In short, she could be anywhere. Looking for her now would be folly. Clark needed more to go on, more recent sightings of her before he could even attempt to try and find her. Despite everything the Luthors had done for him, he was still at square one. He had to find another lead.
There was one other thing that bothered him, though. He had gone over everything he had been able to find about Lois's last story, talked to Planet staffers who were even remotely familiar with what Lois had been doing and yet, while the assignment had been dangerous, it appeared to have been a straight-forward investigation. Clark could not figure out what could have happened to cause such a drastic turn of events to take place. If things had gone wrong, how had Lois managed to escape alive? He somehow doubted the excuse Lois and H.G. Wells used was the reality of the situation: Lois was not lying in a coma somewhere or an amnesiac who had been walking around for four years with no idea of who she was.
More than that, though, was one final question. What had happened that the FBI, the CIA and a private investigation team had been unable to discover?
~
"Clark, sit down. How was the rescue?"
The Planet's superhero shook his head. "Not good. Three people had already died by the time I got there."
Cat was silent for a moment. "Have they been identified?"
"Not specifically. They were three clients, though."
"There's a way to go for you. Dying while fooling around with a prostitute. My uncle would say that's what you get for having intimate relations outside of marriage," Cat commented.
Common ground. Clark took it thankfully, glad to turn attention away from what the fire department was referring to as the brothel fire. Cat's uncle had presided over the church Clark had attended growing up for a few years, and every once in a while, when Cat was in a mellow mood, they would discuss the man, an extremely eccentric individual who was loved and well-respected because, despite his quirks, was someone upon which people could depend.
"How is your uncle?"
Cat grinned. "Retired, supposedly. That's not going very well. Apparently two weeks ago, he attended a service given by some kid just out of divinity school, and he was so upset by the sermon he got up and walked out halfway through."
"He sounds as..."
"Difficult as always? Yes. But we can get back to him in a moment. You were right."
"About?"
"My cousin called me last night. He's a detective down in Cincinnati. Seems some of his colleagues in the department are suspicious about the correlation between CostMart opening in their region and the crime rate then spiking within days."
"Cat, you know I think there's something going on, but - "
"But how did the police department make that jump? My cousin's a smart guy and as wary of people as his father trusts them. Other than that, no idea. This is even a little too conspiracy theory for him. What I do know is I now have two people I trust saying CostMart is up to something. That's enough for me."
"Cat, you can't just - "
"Send you to Cincinnati outright. I know. Which is why something else my cousin told me is going to work in our favor. Seems my uncle has played a big role in helping raise money for the zoo renovation. And since Superman and Minister Grant go way back, I think Superman should decide to attend the grand reopening of the Cincinnati Zoo as a favor to an old friend."
"Cat, I - "
"I already told my uncle you'd be there, so there's no point fighting it. And since, wonderfully enough, one of my top reporters happens to go everywhere Superman goes, he can do a piece about family recreation in cities and how something like this ties into increasing civic pride. I trust you to find a better angle than that. Add your usual flair for telling the human side of the story, and we'll be in business."
"Cat - "
"Clark, I know, this doesn't seem like your kind of story. But it is actually the perfect follow-up to your series of articles about the responsibility of all citizens to make sure the public has the cultural resources available to them at reasonable prices. It's perfect."
"I just think - "
"Clark, you're doing this assignment."
"I have an assignment," Clark replied.
"An assignment that hasn't gone anywhere since you deliberately went against me two weeks ago and told Lex Luthor Wanda's real identity," Cat said, her words covered in ice.
"It was the only way I could be sure it was her."
Cat shook her head. "Both Perry and I confirmed that for you. There was no need to involve him in this. He had served his purpose."
"I needed to know. Why are you suddenly questioning my judgment? I've gone against your recommendations before, and it's never been an issue."
"I'm questioning your motives because this whole investigation is becoming too personal for you. Listen to yourself, Clark. You are driving yourself crazy over this. Your first lead came out of the blue, and my guess is you could work nonstop and finding that next piece of evidence would still be a matter of luck. You're one of my best reporters. I need you to work on things other than making yourself insane," Cat explained, her voice keeping the same monotone quality throughout.
~
Clark Kent needed to learn how to argue with women. Attempts with Lana had been futile, and Cat was continually proving her theory that Clark was incapable of shedding the 'Super Boy Scout Man' image she joked he had adopted in the past year. If he could have gotten a word in edgewise earlier in the conversation, he never would had to take any time off his investigation into Lois's whereabouts.
Though he was loath to admit it, Cat did have a point. In two weeks, he had turned up nothing. No one had heard of a Wanda Detroit or any of the other names Lois had used for undercover assignments. The investigation had reached a standstill.
He never would have let this happen with any other investigation. After two days of finding nothing but dead ends, he would have taken a break and focused on something else. One thing he had learned in his time as a reporter was that getting away from a story was sometimes the best way to get past the roadblocks. As Cat had said, the first lead in the story had come about by accident, and Clark could only hope he would stumble upon another clue, though hopefully sooner rather than later.
That was what he needed to do: take a step back and focus on other projects, including the upcoming trip to Cincinnati. Hopefully his childhood love of animals would help him enjoy the zoo and his appearance at its reopening.
~
Walking through the Cincinnati CostMart store, Clark Kent discreetly x-rayed wherever possible in hopes of finding something amiss. Forty-five minutes into his search, no luck. Of course, no one had recognized him either, so it was a nice change of pace. No one expected to see Superman dressed in a baseball hat with stubble walking through a new CostMart in the Midwest. People did not expect to see a superhero doing boring, human things, and he used that perception to his advantage frequently. One other thing helped him in this part of the country, though: to the majority of people, he was a figure on TV and in photographs, no more real than Mickey Mouse.
To avoid suspicion, Clark had picked up a couple of items during his saunter through the store and finally, knowing nothing was going to turn up, had made his way to the check out line. Despite the fact that there were 30 stations, only four were manned, none of which were for the 10 items or under customers. While such an occurrence usually did not faze Clark, the fruitlessness of this stroll through the discount store coupled with his lack of need for any of the items in his hands made him more impatient than usual. He had debated putting the items down and leaving, but decided to continue his charade of innocent shopper to avoid attention.
Ten minutes later, Clark had reached the promised land of the checkout line. The girl in front of him, wearing a red jumper and a name badge that said either Diane or Diana underneath several stickers, gave him a forced smile.
"We don't get much of your type around here."
Caught and so close to the end. "Well, I was in the area."
"I mean, especially given the Superbowl last year and everything, that's pretty ballsy of you. Of course, you're a big guy and all so you could probably hold your own in a fight," the cashier commented.
What did the Superbowl have to do with Superman? Then it clicked. Clark had inadvertently put on his hat that proclaimed Metropolis the 1997 Superbowl champs over the Cincinnati Bengals. The game had been an ugly spectacle all around, as it had gone down to the wire and been decided by a controversial play. Riots had ensued in both cities.
And he had actually worn his hat onto enemy territory. No, he didn't stand out at all. Unsure what else to say, Clark remained silent while she finished his purchase before paying cash and bolting out of the store.
He took to the air almost immediately, sped by his apartment to drop off his purchases, shave and change. He even managed to do a quick rescue before being a few minutes early to a one o'clock meeting with Perry's advisors regarding an upcoming Superman appearance. An hour and a half after that, he was in Cincinnati for his 2:30 meeting with the zoo's PR people and then onto talk with the programming director.
Two rescues later, Clark was home in time to make dinner, write up the first part of the story on the Cincinnati Zoo and watch the basketball game. That was, at least until a cry for help sounded with 30 seconds left on the clock in a tied game.
~
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the amazingly new Cincinnati Zoo! This is a place for everyone, whether you are 7 or 97. The only thing you need to be is an animal lover. But then again, after one day within our walls, even those who are not crazy about fur, feathers and fins will be converted!"
Polite laughter rang through the large crowd. True to the director's word, the crowd was a mix of age, backgrounds and classes. It seemed as if all of Cincinnati had turned out for the re-opening ceremonies, though Clark could hardly blame them. For the past few days, the buzz had been that rain was expected for the event. Since the sunrise had heralded the beginnings of a warm, sunny day, many more people than the zoo had projected had come to see the metropolitan area's newest gem.
The director said a few more words and thanked the necessary individuals before wrapping up.
"But, I am sure none of you are here to listen to me. Actually, given who I have standing next to me, I don't want to hear myself speak either. So, if I may present ... the mayor of Cincinnati!"
The mayor laughed as she approached the mike.
"Despite Mr. Robinson's kind words, I know I hardly have the ability to draw such large crowds. I'll make sure to make my comments brief, so we can get to today's truly special visitor."
A spattering of claps and cheers could be heard from some of the younger members of the audience.
"Seeing as how my term as mayor has covered only the tail end of this renovation project, I feel I am speaking to you as a fellow citizen rather than a politician. When I heard of this project years ago, it was quite exciting to me, a life-long resident of this fair city, to know our zoo would be receiving a much-needed facelift. Today, we have a zoo that is the envy of every other city in America, somewhere that can be used not only as an educational resource for our children and a place of a leisure for all, but also as a research institute dedicated to studying life on this planet in hopes of helping everyone. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible. You have made the city of Cincinnati proud."
Clapping rang throughout the assembled. As it died, the mayor's expression changed.
"And now, may I have the pleasure to announce the real reason many of you are here, Superman!"
The crowd broke into raucous applause. A smattering of Superman signs appeared, though security quickly removed them, to ensure no one's view was blocked. The crowd condensed, as everyone seemed to take a step towards the stage to get a bit closer to the superhero. One woman screamed "Marry me Superman!" while a little boy towards the back told his mother he wanted to be Superman when he grew up. Super hearing had always been an advantage in a crowd like this.
And it was while surveying the crowd as he waited for the noise to die down that he first saw Lois.
Fin - TBC
Note:
Since they will probably never be good in this universe, I felt the least I could do was make the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals a decent team somewhere else.
Unfortunately. 
