You may want to read the prequel,
\'Light in the Shadows\' , first, but you don't have to. This fic jumps around Seasons 9 & 10 of Smallville.
Disclaimer: Some dialogue taken from episodes 'Savior,''Metallo,' and 'Pandora' which belong to the writers of Smallville. Also, some dialogue taken from the Superman movies. Characters and shows/movies belong to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Written for fun and not for profit.
(Have I covered myself enough? lol)
Rating: PG - 13
Enjoy!
~~~
The ring… somehow it was all tied to that strange ring...
As Lois came to consciousness at Met Gen, her mind focused on the ring she had put on while getting into a knock-down fight with Tess at the Planet over some deranged rant about an alien orb. After slipping it on her finger, all she remembered was a flash of light… She had no idea how long she had been out of it, but she had awoken on one of the high-speed city trains with some mad assassin woman on her tail. Lois had barely had a chance to process that before the train derailed, sending her crashing into the back window of the train. That accident evidently, had landed her here in the hospital.
She was lucky to be alive.
She wondered who had brought her here… a stranger? Her heart thrilled a little at the possibility that it could have been the Blur—she vividly remembered her last conversation with him. He had left a letter for her to print, in case he didn’t make it in his attempt to rescue Chloe. She swallowed the fear that welled up in her if hadn’t made it. It was almost midnight. If the Blur was still alive, she needed to get to that phone booth and---
“Lois! Where have you been? What happened to you?” Chloe said, coming to Lois’ bedside to give her a hug.
Lois took her cousin in her arms, relieved that she was okay. “I don’t know… All I remember was Tess rambling about some alien orb. Then we threw down in the middle of the Daily Planet and wham, I woke up in a monorail car with some ninja chick after me.”
Chloe patted Lois’ arm, and then reached up to brush aside her bangs to reveal a bruise on her forehead. “Alien orb? Lo, I think you just bumped your head in the accident. Where have you been?” Chloe asked again, her brow wrinkled with worry.
Lois brushed aside Chloe’s hand, ignoring her concern for her wounds. “Where have I been? You were the one playing Thelma and Louise with the Creature from the Black Lagoon,” Lois shook her head. “How did you manage to ditch Davis?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly---“ Chloe began nervously.
Lois suddenly figured what must have happened and smiled, “It was the Red-Blue Blur, wasn’t it? I knew it. He promised me he’d save you and he did. That means he’s still alive,” she said, hope shining in her eyes. At the same moment, she realized that she needed to get a move on if she was going to meet him at midnight... Not only had he saved Chloe, but herself as well. “He saved the train, too, didn’t he?” Lois asked, seeking confirmation.
Chloe looked back at her cousin, dumbfounded. “You’ve been talking to the Blur?”
Lois ignored the recrimination in her cousin’s tone, unable to hide her smile or the truth. “Yes, he sort of confides in me,” Lois acknowledged with some amount of pride.
“Of course he does,” Chloe grumbled, rolling her eyes.
Lois overlooked her cousin’s concern over her talking with the Blur as her eyes suddenly flickered past the clock again. “It’s late,” she said, knowing she needed to get a move on if she was going to make her midnight rendezvous with the Blur.
Lois started gathering her things, but Chloe tried to stop her. “Lois you are way beyond late, okay? I kind of need to drop a bomb on you…”
“Chloe, I have to talk to the Blur. He’s the only one who can help me escape the jaws of crouching tigers,” Lois said, slipping her cell phone into her pocket. “I’m sorry, Chloe. Whatever it is, it’s gonna have to wait.”
Chloe shook her head and tried to maneuver Lois back into bed as she said, “Lois, you really should take it easy---“
Lois realized she wasn’t getting out of there with her overly concerned cousin in her way, so she momentarily relented. “Okay, you know what? You’re right. I… I probably just took one on the noggin and now I’m flipping out. I think I could use a sedative,” she said with a placating smile, moving towards getting back into bed.
Chloe turned sympathetic eyes on her. “I’ll get you two.”
Lois waited until Chloe had left the room before she slid out from under the covers. Her head was slamming with a headache, but she couldn’t worry about that. She needed to get to that phone booth.
She left all of her belongings behind, knowing Chloe would come back and take care of things. Besides, she had less than ten minutes to make it five city blocks away. She had no time to lose.
Lois walked out of her hospital room, ruefully acknowledging to herself that she’d been there so many times, she knew exactly where to go to get out of there quickly. She spotted Chloe down at the nurse’s station and turned the other way, sprinting for the front doors.
Lois took off down the street, wondering why her body felt like she had been through boot camp. She was a jogger, rarely missing her morning run, and yet she felt out of shape and bruised. Had Tess really done such a brutal number on her?
Half a block away from the meeting point, she realized she was already late. She glanced at the city clock, which read two minutes after midnight. But she had to try, had to talk to him…
Out of breath, Lois reached the phone booth and grabbed the handset. “Hello?” she said into the phone, trying to catch her breath. When there was no answer, she refused to panic, refused to believe that he hadn’t called. “Maybe you’re not answering—because you are here,” she said hopefully, half to herself.
“Hello?” she called out to the empty street, looking around her for any sign that the Blur was nearby. “I know what you did for Chloe. At least let me thank you,” she called out.
When she didn’t get any response, she started to worry that being late had been an unforgivable mistake. “Look, I’m sorry I’m late. I promise you can trust me!” she called out with some desperation. Maybe it was the headache or her confusion, but she suddenly felt anxious to make contact with him. She may have been a few minutes late, but the Blur wouldn’t abandon her now, would he? “Please, I know you’re out there somewhere,” she said, almost frantic, spinning around, looking for a shadow or anything to hint that he was nearby. But all she saw was a lonely streetlight and buildings around her. “Where are you?” she whispered to the night sky.
Suddenly, it was too much for her. As her head throbbed with pain, she dropped to her knees on the pavement. She felt nauseated and the sense that she had lost something, or missed something vital overwhelmed her. Tears sprang to her eyes, yet she wiped them fiercely away.
Why did she suddenly feel so abandoned?
~\S/~
Lois realized she must have blacked out. When she awoke, she was still at 4th and Main, just a few feet from the phone booth where the Blur was supposed to have called her. Her head was still pounding, but she managed to stagger to her feet.
Just in time, too. There was a bum making his way over to her, mumbling something about spare change, with a leering look in his eye.
Normally, she might feel a bit more charitable and at least pass a guy like him a few coins, but she had left most of her things back at the hospital. Besides, she was in no mood to be fending off wayward hobos.
She glanced at the large clock tower that loomed over Metropolis, where Oliver used to live, and noticed it was almost 4 in the morning. She wasn’t far from his penthouse, and she figured his place would be her best bet for a place to crash at this time of night.
The front desk immediately recognized her, but told her Oliver Queen wasn’t home. When she asked where he was, they brushed her away, saying they couldn’t give out personal information.
Lois pulled out her cell phone as she left the building, exhausted and her head filled with questions. She tried Ollie’s cell, though all she got was his answering service. With frustration, she left a message: "I don't know where you've disappeared to, but I'm already low on one superhero today and I have some she-ninja after me.” She clicked the phone closed, debating. Who else could she call at 4 in the morning? She didn’t want to hear Chloe rant about her sneaking out of the hospital or put her in danger if this assassin chick showed again, so calling her was out. And Clark…Lois didn’t think he would come to her rescue this time. He had seemed so closed off and wrapped up in his own enigmas the other night, that she wasn’t sure he’d even talk to her. Besides, she wasn’t sure what Clark could even do about her ninja stalker, especially if he was tucked into bed in Smallville. Regardless, Lois didn’t want to face him like this: dirty, disoriented, and disheartened.
Lois wandered woefully around the city, wondering why the Blur hadn’t been at their meeting point like he promised. She was certain he had survived fighting that creature that had taken Chloe—her cousin’s hospital visit and her own survival of the train wreck had proven that…
So, why hadn’t he met her?
Lois found herself back at the site of the train accident. She stepped inside to look for clues. The morning rays were starting to lighten the skies of Metropolis. She could head to the Planet in another hour or two and get a change of clothes at least.
Lois scoured the wreckage, uncertain what she was even looking for. Perhaps the ring? When had she lost it? Was it here?
She picked up a scrap of black cloth, recognizing it as having been worn by her ninja assassin. But that seemed to be her only clue. Lois spotted a newspaper nearby with the Daily Planet masthead, but she didn’t recognize the headlines from the last edition. She picked it up and looked closer at the date. “September 24, 2009?” she said incredulously to herself. The last date she remembered was September 4th… “Just how long was I out of it?” she said, realizing too that the Blur hadn’t forgotten about her—it was she who had been MIA. She had missed the rendezvous time by three weeks! But that fact only made her more concerned about how she would find the Blur again.
Tossing the paper aside, yet pocketing the ninja mask, Lois looked around for more clues. She paused in front of a strange stylized ‘S’ symbol burned into the glass. It seemed like it should be familiar to her somehow… but where would she have seen it?
A sudden flash of memory burned between her eyes, causing another stabbing headache. A red sun… and a tattered cloth hanging above her with that symbol…
She rubbed her temples, knowing she was probably just exhausted. Where should she go from here? That assassin was still out there somewhere, and for whatever reason, she was after Lois.
