Lois awoke to Shelby licking her face. She pushed the dog off her, trying so sit up. A sneeze tickled her nose, and before she could stop it, she let out a whopper, stopping Shelby in her tracks. The dog cocked her head humorously to its side and let out a small whine.
Lois gave Shelby a lopsided smile and patted her head as she got up. “I told you, it’s not your fault. But still, you should keep your distance,” Lois admonished playfully.
She noticed her canister of ice cream on the side table from the night before and took it into the kitchen. It was morning, just after eight. She realized she had slept almost eleven hours. She always felt guilty when she overslept, usually not finding enough hours in a normal day to do what she needed to do anyway. But she knew that she had needed the extra sleep, and she did feel revived.
Lois reached into the fridge, searching for something that was passable for breakfast. There was a pitcher of orange juice that she hadn’t noticed the night before. She reached up for a glass to pour some. It would have to do for breakfast.
Lois started gulping down the juice, surprised that it was so fresh. If Clark hadn’t been home in at least a week, where had the juice come from?
Lois’ hand suddenly started shaking uncontrollably, and as the tremors increased throughout her body, the glass slipped from her hand. She tried to rest her hands on the counter to stop the shaking, but it was no use. She fell to her knees in an effort to stabilize herself. Shelby came over and whimpered in concern.
Lois reached for the dog, but before her furry friend could come within grasp, Lois fell to the floor as her world went dark.
~\S/~
Lois was starving, and here was a whole stack of food in front of her.
If only she didn’t have her hands cuffed, it would be much easier to steal at least an apple or---
“Try the truffles. They’re my favorite,” came a snide voice from above her.
Lois reached for some food, anything to take away the dizziness she felt from not eating. But as she reached for a truffle, thinking maybe this guy would allow her to eat that much, he snatched it from her.
“To think, a few of these could mean the difference between life and death for your kind.” He took a bite of the chocolate, and leaned in to taunt and intimidate her. “I’m General Zod and all of this is mine to give if you give me the names of whoever snuck you into the restricted zone.”
Lois refused to feel intimidated, even though she was tired, hungry, and beyond confused.
“My dad’s a general, too,” she replied, hating that her voice shook just a little. But she pressed on, determined not to be seen as weak. “And he still can’t get me to spill how I got an M1 Abrams tank to take me to prom. So I’m definitely not telling you anything.”
She tried to step past him, but he grabbed on to her upper arm, his eyes dark like coal as they bore into hers. “Then you hear this,” he whispered. “No matter how many times you resistance fighters break into the zone, you will never—“ His hand slid into her front jeans pocket, shocking her and scaring her at once. She had stupidly hid the ring there. But his hand reaching to take it almost felt like a grope and Lois felt bile rise up in her throat at the intrusion. “You will never take down my tower…What is this?” he said, waving the ring in her face.
Lois, still shaking at his close proximity, held her ground and refused to answer. Her mind was racing with questions—Tower? What tower?
He suddenly let her go as someone entered the room, and Lois was angry if not surprised to see Tess Mercer dressed in army fatigues, apparently in league with General Zod.
“Tess? You red-headed rat!” Lois hissed in disgust.
“You know her?” Zod asked Tess, with slight disinterest.
“She used to work for me. But she disappeared about a year ago—“Tess said, but seemed unimpressed with Lois’ miraculous reappearance.
Lois tried to swipe at Tess in her shackles, hating how chummy-chummy she sounded with Zod.
“Traitor!” Lois yelled.
Tess looked down her nose at Lois and snapped back, “I’m this planet’s savior! I helped Zod and his people take power to ensure this Earth’s survival.”
Lois wasn’t impressed. “Tess Mercer. The ultimate eco-terrorist!”
"And what are you?" Zod asked. "I understand you were seen talking to Clark Kent. It was only a matter of time before the resistance got to him."
Lois didn’t like being ganged up on, especially not by Tess and this Zod guy. So she did what she always did when scared, she laid on more bravado. “I am going to kick both your asses! And if Clark were here right now, he would back me up."
Zod smiled at her, leeringly, even mockingly. “The only reason Clark is still alive is because I hoped he'd join the Kandorians. To bridge the gap between our people."
"Trust me, Zod," Tess said, her smug friendliness with Zod grating on Lois. "No one has worked as hard as I have to get Clark to see the good that we're doing, but I think we've fooled ourselves long enough. He won't come around."
Zod, who didn’t seem to understand the value of personal space, came nose to nose with Lois once more. His intimidating tactics were working, but Lois was hoping that he wouldn’t see it in her eyes. “Neither you nor Clark are any good to me alive, but a double execution will send a strong message to anyone who dare defies me. Take heart, Lois, at least you can enjoy a glorious last meal."
Zod apparently took pleasure in watching others suffer, but what was even more humiliating to Lois was the fact that she was hungry, and she couldn’t help but reach for a piece of fruit. She hated that her eyes darted fearfully over to the general, thinking he’d take it away from her again, just to be spiteful. But he allowed her to eat a peach, and she almost thought the pleased smile he gave her in return was worse than his earlier behavior.
But Lois Lane was a survivor, and she knew that she would need energy to fight against Zod later. So she ate, glaring at Zod with simmering hate the whole time.
‘Where was Clark?’ she wondered. And why had the Kent farm been turn into a prison? Clark seemed to have some pull with these people, which made no sense. He was just a regular farm boy, right? Lois felt something in the pit of her stomach that was more than hunger—an unease settled there as questions began to build in her mind. He had seemed to have some influence over these Kandorians… as even his watch had seemed to be enough to be traded for Lois’ life. But why?
~\S/~
“Lois? Lois! Can you hear me? Lois!”
The voice pulled her back from the void. Lois felt something sticky on her fingers and carefully opened her eyes to see the concerned blue ones of her cousin looking back at her.
“Lois? What happened?” Chloe asked, helping Lois to a sitting position.
“Um, I don’t know…” she answered, her hand not covered in orange juice coming to her head. Those headaches were back again.
“Lo, I think we should get you to the medical center,” Chloe said in alarm.
“I think I’m all right… just—low blood sugar, I think,” Lois said, unsteadily coming to her feet.
Chloe looked doubtful, but got a mop out of the closet. “Take it easy, okay? I’ll clean this up. Why don’t you lie down?”
Lois started towards the living room, but then turned back to Chloe in puzzlement. “Why are you here anyways?”
Chloe looked down at the floor she was cleaning as she answered. “I came to feed Shelby while Clark’s—out of town.”
“Where is Clark, anyway?” Lois asked, before she could stop herself. She had promised herself that she wasn’t concerned about that farm boy, but the question had risen up unbidden anyway.
“I don’t know… visiting… family—somewhere…in Michigan, or something,” Chloe said vaguely.
“Well, I have to get back to the Planet today and make sure my job hasn’t been taken over by some know-nothing intern… I’m going to take a shower, ‘kay?”
“Just, take it easy, Lois. And you really should see a doctor.”
Lois brushed off Chloe’s concern with a vague smile and a nod. She had no intention of going to see a doctor. The answers she needed wouldn’t be found in the four walls of a doctor’s office anyway.
~\S/~
Lois relished the feel of the warm shower; the water pressure was always better in the country, and she enjoyed the pounding of it over her body. It seemed like forever since she had a proper shower—where the hell had she been for three weeks anyway?
Images flashed in her mind—remnants of a dream she had last night and parts of a vision she had this morning… The sun had been red… and the people around her seemed oppressed, defeated. She had seen Chloe, running and then—dead?
Lois swallowed. She needed to know more, yet she was fearful of what else she had seen in her dreams…What had it all meant? She remembered seeing Ollie…and Clark—
Her eyes flashed open as her body was suffused with sudden heat. In her dream last night, she had seen flashes of her and Clark in bed, making love. In the barren world with the red sun, they had found solace in each other’s arms… And yet, as she delved deeper into the dream, she realized it felt more like a memory. Her cheeks flushed redder than the warm water had induced. She remembered what it had felt like to make love with Clark—as if it had already happened…
But that was impossible, right?
Lois shut off the water and leaned against the cool tile walls, trying to calm herself. She closed her eyes, searching her recollections of the dream—or memory?—for more clues…
She herself had been a prisoner—held against her will--
Tess had been there as well… in league with some warlord… What had his name been?
Was Tess responsible for whatever war Lois had witnessed?
Before Lois disappeared Tess had been going on and on about some alien orb.
She remembered the video she had seen of Tess, before she had put on that gold ring --If the Blur kills Davis, would he unleash aliens onto the earth?
It all had something to do with that orb Tess had been ranting about.
What had Tess stumbled upon exactly and did it have something to do with Lois’ strange visions?
Lois stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She may not have the answers about her visions of her and Clark, but she knew she needed to talk to Tess about that orb.
~\S/~
Lois found Tess at the former Luthor manor, working on her sparring skills. On the way over, Lois had again gone over the fragments of her dream, trying to piece together what it all meant. She knew Tess dabbled in some strange things, and she wouldn’t put it past her to try mind games on Lois. Had Tess abducted Lois? Held her prisoner for three weeks? Were the images in Lois’ mind real or had they somehow been planted there? And why would Tess want to plant images in her mind of her and Clark taking a tumble in the sheets?
Somehow Lois knew that the orb Tess had been ranting about had something to do with her strange dreams. Though she knew she wouldn’t get direct answers from her temperamental boss, she would at least try and find out if Tess knew what had happened to her during those three weeks she had been out of it.
Lois put on her tough face, as she always did when facing the inscrutable redhead. "Seriously, what is it with you and physical violence?" Lois said with a smirk at Tess’ choice of workout.
"Things did get a little ... physical last time I saw you, didn't they?" Tess teased, seemingly enjoying the fact that she had pretty much gotten the better of Lois in that confrontation.
Lois wasn’t into comparing sparring notes though. She was there for answers. “What happened that night, Tess? I’ve apparently been gone for three weeks!”
Tess smiled elusively, making Lois wonder what Tess knew that she didn’t. "You don't remember?"
“You know, a three-week concussion can do that to a person. What did you do? Have your goons lock me up somewhere?” Lois asked belligerently. Her head was starting to hurt again, and she had forgotten to raid the Kent medicine cabinet for Advil.
"Held you?" Tess asked in surprise, still beating up a punching bag with a sparring stick. "That's wishful thinking, Lane.”
“Then what happened?” Lois pressed.
"Look, you were already gone when I came to…” Tess whomped the punching bag again and gave Lois a challenging smile. “We never did get to finish what we started, though. Little rematch?"
Lois crossed her arms, not interested in Tess’ games. “I didn’t come here to fight, Tess. I just came to tell you that I'm not leaving the Daily Planet."
"You were never leaving, Lois. I fired you," Tess corrected.
That took Lois aback a moment, though she held her ground. She couldn’t let Tess fire her--"Well, I'm not going to get into the whole she said ... she said thing with you, but I do have friends at the Inquisitor and they would just love to run a story about LuthorCorp's CEO and her plans to launch a hostile alien takeover of the world." Lois was going on some spying she had done before and the flashes of the dream she’d been having. She hadn’t been sure that’s what Tess had been up to then, but based on her reaction, Lois knew she was pretty close.
Tess covered it up quickly and laughed derisively, “No one would ever believe you, Lane.”
Lois shrugged, trying for nonchalance. "Maybe, maybe not, but do you really want the attention?"
Tess stopped her punching bag routine long enough to wipe her brow and nod to Lois. “Fine. See you Monday… just don’t be late.”
~\S/~
Lois sat at her desk at the Planet late Monday afternoon. She was writing up the story on the train derailment, leaving out her mysterious return from wherever she had disappeared to. She gave all of the credit of the save to the Blur. Even if he was using different tactics these days, she still believed he deserved to get the credit for this save. She certainly wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t for him.
Speaking of the Blur, she pulled out the letter he had given her before her disappearance. She reread it, realizing he had really meant to say good-bye forever that night. What had happened, she wondered, to make him stay? He had seemed convinced that rescuing Chloe would be his last mission, yet there is proof all over the city that he is still around.
Lois looked up from her musings, suddenly staring at Clark’s empty chair. She was already missing him and their playful banter. Had he missed her as well? Dare she think that he had left because it had been hard working here without her?
“Get a grip, Lane,” she grumbled to herself, knowing she was getting into dangerous territory.
Suddenly, her phone started buzzing. The caller was listed as ‘unknown’. It was either a bill collector—or it could be—
“Hello?” she answered, the hope that it could be the Blur overriding any good sense she had about wanting to avoid bill collectors or telemarketers.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” said the deep male voice on the phone. Lois closed her eyes in relief. It was him.
“I was afraid you had disappeared for good, but--,” she began, looking down at a few of the articles scattered on her desk that told of the exploits of the Blur.
“I should have—I’m supposed to… but I can’t,” he confessed, puzzling her further. Why was he supposed to leave Metropolis, and by extension, her? “Promise this will be just between us?”
“I promise,” Lois breathed, barely able to contain her relief. The Blur was here for now—and he was calling her at last!
She listened as he explained about him being the one who had taken care of the assassin, and that Lois had nothing more to worry about in that regard.
“But Lois, you need to be more careful,” he said, and even through the voice modulator he used, she could hear his concern.
“Do you---do you know anything about what happened to me when I disappeared three weeks ago? I—I keep having these visions---“
“What visions?” the Blur interrupted.
Lois felt silly when she tried putting them into words, but she also felt the anonymity of the Blur was as good an ear as any to unburden herself to. “Well, it’s strange… I keep having these flashes of people I know and care about—getting hurt. The visions are always under a red tinge, as if the sun itself is red---and—“ she stopped herself, thinking about her visions with Clark.
“And?” he prodded.
“I—“ she cleared her throat, deciding that no matter how anonymous these calls were, discretion was probably the better part of valor in regard to her steamy visions in Clark’s embrace. “Well, I just keep having these very real images that make no sense---and yet I was out of it for three weeks. I wonder if someone, I don’t know—implanted these images in my head for some reason. But that’s ridiculous, right? … I wish I could talk to Clark,” she finished absently, thinking about how good they were together with putting together mysterious stories like this one. She was certain he would have some idea about how to figure out what happened or who had done this to her.
“Clark?”came the voice on the other line, sounding a bit surprised.
She nodded her head. “Yeah, my um, intern—well, partner. Occasionally.... And friend… he’s just been visiting family lately,” she said, hearing in her voice just how much she actually missed her farm boy partner.
“Anyway,” she said, shaking herself out of the confusing morass that was Clark Kent. “Is there anything I can help you with? I could use a good story to distract me—“
“No, nothing for now, Lois. But—I’ll call you in a few days, okay?”
~\S/~
“Clark?”
“What is it, Chloe? I told you not to call unless it was an emergency,” Clark chided, but then immediately bit his tongue. His sometimes sidekick really didn’t deserve the brunt of his frustrations.
“Ouch.”
He sighed, “I’m sorry, Chloe. It’s just---well, what’s going on?”
“It’s Lois. I’m worried about her.”
“Lois? Why?”
Chloe let out a heavy sigh of her own. “I don’t know. You and I know that she has spent some time in the future, thanks to the Legion ring… but what we don’t know is what lasting effects she may have from her trip down the rabbit hole.”
“Lasting effects? What do you mean?”
“I mean, Lois has been passing out lately, accompanied by mild tremors. I found her on the floor of your kitchen Friday… Clark, she was mumbling something about Zod— When she came to, she thought she might have low sugar or something… but I got the feeling this wasn’t the first time she blacked out.”
“Did you take her to the hospital?”
“This is Lois we’re talking about. She only goes to the hospital if she’s already unconscious and doesn’t have a choice… I don’t know… I’m worried about her… but since I have you on the phone—since when have you been calling her as the Blur?” Chloe couldn’t help asking.
“Chloe—“
“I know, you want me to stay out of it. It’s just, Clark, if you’re supposed to be training to become the hero your father wants you to become, aren’t you just setting up Lois to get hurt?”
“I’ve been careful… and besides, it’s just—I don’t know—easy to talk to Lois these days. But I’m worried about these visions she’s been having.”
“Wait,” Chloe cut in. “You knew, didn’t you? She told the Blur about what has been going on, didn’t she?”
Clark shrugged, even though Chloe couldn’t see him. “Yes—but I didn’t know she was blacking out when she was having them… Chloe, that’s dangerous---“
“I think you need to find out exactly what she knows. Maybe she can shed some light on what Zod really wants… Meanwhile, I’ll do some research into repressed memories and… blackouts, I guess.”
Clark said good-bye and snapped his phone shut. He stood on top of the Daily Planet building, a favorite hangout for him lately, a way to be a part of the action yet remain hidden. He was honestly worried about Lois. Why were these memories causing her to blackout? And what if she remembered more than she needed to know? Would she figure out he was the Blur? And what did Zod have to do with the future?
Jor-El wanted him to continue his training, but Clark didn’t know if he could with all of these unanswered questions. Lois knew something about the future, and she could be the key to figuring out how to stop becoming whatever it was the assassin had told him he would become. What would bring him to a future where he was the threat to the world?
So, despite his better judgment and indulging in his secret desire to be back in the bullpen, Clark whirred out of his Blur clothes and into a pressed shirt and pants.
He would come back to the Planet—if only to find a few answers.
Last edited by mozartmaid; 08/21/14 03:57 PM.
