TOC

Ch 12

Lois surveyed the newsroom for her absent partner as she headed towards the large conference room for the morning staff meeting. It wasn’t like Clark to miss the meeting, and he hadn’t said anything last night about being late this morning. Lois took a seat at the far end of the table, leaving her a clear line of sight to the elevator. Fifteen minutes into the meeting, he finally stepped out of the elevator and quietly made his way to the conference room.

Having already given her status update to Perry, Lois directed her attention to her partner. He stood just inside the door, leaning up against the window frame. While standing, he looked unusually uncomfortable. The left side of his jaw appeared to have some slight discoloration to it, almost as if he had been punched. Had he been in a fight? She had seen Clark after a fight before. He hadn’t looked as bad after defending himself against Trask as he did at this moment. What had happened to him last night after leaving her apartment? As far as she knew, he was only going to stop by Goldberg’s office and pick up the tape. Did something happen there? Had he fallen off the roof, or ran into a bush? He was known to be clumsy at times.

She looked away from her partner and up at the clock. The hands were not where she hoped they would be. The clock indicated that only five minutes had passed since Clark had arrived. There was still another twenty insufferable minutes to go before she could ask him about what had happened.

****************

Clark was the first one out the door, once the meeting was over and headed straight towards the restroom. He had caught Lois staring at him several times since his arrival and knew that she was going to have questions.

An unusual feeling had greeted him as he awoke. A swollen jaw and dark bruise covering it was nothing he had experienced before and spent the morning trying to do what he could to heal it. Although using his freeze breath had reduced the swelling, nothing but time seemed to diminish the discoloration. It was also a reminder to him of the hole he left in the street last night. He had to deal with that before heading to the Planet.

Having not looked at his face in about an hour, he wanted to take a quick peek in the mirror to check its status before coming up with a plausible excuse. He wasn’t sure what he was going to tell her. He didn’t think she would buy it if he said Superman had sucker punched him, even though that was more or less the truth.

“Clark!” he heard Lois yell across the room before he made it around the corner and out of sight. He paused, knowing that he couldn’t fake not having heard her calling his name, and gave her time to catch up. She walked just past him to give herself room to turn and face him.

Seeing that her eyes were focused on his jaw, he pretended not to know why she would want to talk to him. “What’s up, Lois?” he asked nonchalantly.

She diverted her eyes to his and softened them. “I was worried about you.”

Clark was surprised at her statement. He had expected something more along the lines of ‘What the hell happened to your face?’ than a show of concern. “Worried about me, why?” he asked.

“Well, you come in late, looking a bit off, and I can’t help but notice the mark on your face. What happened after you left last night? Did you get mugged on the way over to Dr. Goldberg’s office? I knew I should have driven you. It was late and at least half hour’s walk over there. Some partner I am letting you get beat up…”

“Lois,” he interjected, “I wasn’t mugged. I got this at Goldberg’s office. I guess I wasn’t paying attention and I got caught off-guard and fell a little ways off the roof. I’m fine though. Just a little sore.”

“You fell ‘a little ways’ off the roof?” she yelled as loud as she could in a whisper, trying not to get the attention of the entire news staff. “Why didn’t you call me? What if you had been more seriously hurt? Did you see a doctor? Is that where you were this morning?”

“No, I’m fine really. I don’t need to see a doctor, and I didn’t call you because I didn’t think it was that big of deal since I’m fine. I went home and went straight to bed.”

“What if you had a concussion? You’re not supposed to be alone if you’ve had a concussion.”

“Lois, I didn’t have any signs of a concussion, no dizziness, to vertigo, no headache. It really wasn’t that bad. I just got caught off-guard. I’ll be more careful next time.” And not underestimate my doppelganger’s temper, he silently added.

“Fine.” She stepped up to softly pat his chest, letting her hand linger there. “But I’m going to keep a close eye on you today, just in case.”

Clark briefly glanced down at the hand on his chest, surprised and delighted to find it still there. When he looked back up, Lois pulled away as if she hadn’t realized she had left her hand sitting there. Clark gave her a reassuring smile. “Okay.”

“Now, let’s get to work, or do you really have to go to the bathroom?”

Lois was calling him out for trying to evade her after the meeting, and he knew he deserved worse than what she was giving him. “No, I don’t. I wanted to see how bad it still was. It’s been fading pretty quickly.”

Lois put her hand gently on his chin and turned his face slightly to the right to get a good look at it. “It’s still mottled green, but you’re right, it does look to be fading fast.”

Clark knew he was going to have to check up on it a few more times today. He didn’t want to go out as Superman like this and he especially couldn’t let anyone who had seen him as Clark see him as Superman until the mark went away. As much as he despised the thought, he was going to have to rely on his doppelganger to do rescues today. He prayed that in his absence, it would be a slow rescue day, and if needed, his double wouldn’t hurt anyone or take the law into his own hands.


They walked back into the pit and each went to their respective desks. Lois began by researching Dr. Leek. Jimmy came by Clark’s desk and dropped off all the research Clark had asked for on friends and teammates of Tom McKay. He quickly found photos of the two boys he had seen with Tom in the alley, harassing the two girls. Only one of the boys, Jacob Simms, participated in athletics. He was on the football team in the fall and did track in the spring. Clark made note of his address and a few other kids who had shown remarkable improvement in their stats this year over last year. Some of the increase might have been legitimate, but on the off chance one of these kids was also involved or knew of what was going on, he had to ask.

Clark was about to head over to Lois’s desk to find out where she had gotten with her research when his phone rang. “Clark Kent,” he answered.

“Mr. Kent, Dr. Zeigler here. I’ve got the results on that kid’s blood sample that you dropped off the other day.”

“That’s great. How is it?”

“I can tell you that the sample does match one of the other samples you provided, only this is a blood sample where as the other is a joint fluid sample. It appears as if the concentration of foreign DNA is less prevalent in the blood sample, which is a good thing. It means whatever DNA re-sequencing or whatever they’re trying to do to this kid is not widespread. However, the foreign DNA, specifically the complex DNA that I have yet to identify, is far more degraded in the blood sample.”

“How much more?” Clark asked cautiously, full of concern.

“Without a clear date on when the previous sample was taken, it is hard to know how quickly the degeneration of the DNA is happening,” Ziegler paused for a moment. “But if I had to guess, the cells containing the foreign DNA will begin to die soon, if they already haven’t started.”

“Could it be why this kid blew his knee out so severely on a non-contact shot? From all accounts, all he did was jump, shoot, and then collapse as soon as he landed.”

“If he has been receiving injections targeting his knees, it is possible that the simple act of jumping and more specifically landing would have caused the weakened knee to collapse on itself,” Dr. Ziegler agreed.

Clark cringed at the news, wondering if they were already too late. Had permanent damage to Tom’s knee already been done or possibly worse? “Doctor, if the cells containing the CX in his body begin to break down, is it life threatening to him?”

“From what is in the blood sample, I would say ‘no’. His normal cell count far outweighs the bad ones. If he were to stop receiving injections, he would probably not notice anything at this point because his body is already going through the aftereffects of surgery. Anything he would have noticed had he not injured his knee, pain, weight loss, fatigue, will now just be lumped in with that.”

“And if he does continue to receive CX treatments?” he asked, needing to know the worst-case scenario.

There was a pause from Dr. Zeigler. “It could potentially lead to longer lasting effects.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Without more research, I can’t state what exactly the long-term effects would be.”

“Humm…” Clark began thinking about how they could get one of these kids in to see Dr. Zeigler. They could learn so much more and possibly come up with a treatment to help these kids if the Doctor could see one in person. “Well, thanks for the update, Doctor. I very much appreciate you looking into this for us. It’s been a big help.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Kent.”

After placing the phone back on the receiver, Clark walked over to Lois’s desk to update her on his findings and Dr. Zeigler’s phone call. Lois then informed him of what she had uncovered on Dr. Leek.

“Here’s what I found,” Lois said, handing a printout to Clark. “Not only is Dr. Leek some world famous geneticist, his research focuses on cloning. He even wrote an article printed in ‘Metropolis Science’ magazine about how it’s theoretically possible to clone an entire human.”

“That still doesn’t explain why Dr. Leek would be working with Dr. Goldberg. What would they be cloning to give to these kids?”

“This may be out there, but I think the key is the unknown DNA. It’s super complex and when given to people, it is temporarily enhancing them. From what we found, the first round of patients all healed exceptionally fast from their injuries.” Lois said, pointing to the data on the printout. “Tom McKay is from the second round. He seems to be a normal healthy kid who has remarkably improved this year over last year in his football and basketball stats. Tom’s the star player and took the team to the state playoffs.”

“And all the stats in Dr. Goldberg’s diary were for either strength or endurance measurements. All show improvement dependent on where they were receiving the treatment.”

“Exactly. So we know what Phase One and Phase Two are; any idea’s on Phase Three or Four?”

“They talked about them on one of the tapes. Let me grab my notes real quick.” Clark scurried to his desk and back. “Here’s where they talk about them,” he said, handing Lois a transcription of the conversation.

Dr. Goldberg: What about those in Phase Three?

Dr. Leek: Tell them to come in for a checkup and administer it as you would anyone else.

Dr. Goldberg: But those guys aren’t expecting to need injections. They got replacements.

Dr. Leek: Then make something up. Tell them you’ve found a risk of bacterial infection from the surgery and this is an antibiotic injection.

Dr. Goldberg: Are you sure this round is going to work?

Dr. Leek: Yes. I’m positive.

Dr. Goldberg: How can you be so sure?

Dr. Leek: Let’s just say that we’ve had a breakthrough.

Dr. Goldberg: A breakthrough? You mean you did it. You’ve successfully completed Phase Four, and this is from him?

“What do you think they mean by they got replacements? Replacement what?” asked Lois, glancing up from the paper.

“The only thing I can think of is they got replacement parts, a liver, kidney, heart, who knows.”

“But from where?”

“I think our answer is the next part. Goldberg asks, ‘You’ve successfully completed Phase Four, and this is from him?’” Clark read aloud, dropping down his hand with a heavy realization. “They’ve cloned someone.”

“Superman,” Lois blurted, thinking out loud.

Clark looked at her skeptically. “Superman?”

“Yes, it makes perfect sense. They’ve cloned Superman, made an exact genetic copy of him. His DNA has to be CX. What else on Earth could they have cloned to make these kids capable of what they’re doing? It’s like the ultimate steroid that no test would be looking for.”

“But how? We’re not that advanced, and where would they get Superman’s DNA?” And if Lois was right, did that make me partly responsible for what was happening to the kids? It could be my DNA making them all sick, he thought.

“I don’t know but that’s got to be it, Clark. We have to find Superman, the real one, and get a sample of his DNA over to Dr. Zeigler for comparison. Afterwards, we should pay a visit to Dr. Leek.”

“Hold on, Lois.” Clark needed a second to mull over the path his partner was headed down. “How’s Superman going to leave a DNA sample? It’s not like he can give blood.”

“Well, then they can get it from somewhere else; skin, hair, that’s for Dr. Zeigler to figure out.”

Clark thought for a second about what she had said. “Hair, Lois. That’s it. Superman donated a lock of hair for a charity auction a few months back. I wonder what happened to it.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard to track down. I’ll work with Jimmy on it. Why don’t you go do whatever it is you do to contact Superman and get him over to STAR Labs? I’ll meet you at Dr. Leek’s office afterwards.”

“Okay, I’ll see you there, partner.” Clark ran back to his desk to grab his blazer off the coat rack before heading towards the elevator.

“Oh and, Clark,” Lois yelled while he was heading up the ramp. “Make sure you get the right one,” she joked.

“Trust me, I will,” he responded and then continued up the ramp.

Once he was down in the lobby, Clark quickly ran into the first floor restroom to check his jaw. To his dismay, there was still an outline of a bruise. Knowing he couldn’t show up at STAR Labs like this, he decided he would have to go as Clark. After leaving the Planet, he went home to retrieve one of the plastic bags that Dr. Zeigler had given him, which was left over from their raid on Dr. Goldberg’s office. Clark then put a piece of hair, fingernail, and what he could get of skin off his finger by zapping it with heat vision in the bag and sealed it. His next stop was STAR Labs.

***********

Lois stood uncomfortably in Dr. Leek’s office as she looked over the frog experiments and everything else littering the room. There were cages, jars, and charts of frogs, dead and alive, covering nearly every surface. She picked up a jar containing a seven-legged frog preserved in formaldehyde and observed it with morbid curiosity. She placed it back down on the counter and began roaming around the room while Dr. Leek spoke.

“You see...ah, my dear, Miss Lane. It’s child’s play to clone individual cells. It’s as simple and as natural as the reproductive act itself.”

“But you wrote an article claiming that it was possible to clone an entire human being, if you have the proper genetic material available.”

“Yes, well, you see, I was young and unfortunately overly optimistic. It’s been much more difficult than I assumed. We’re years away from applying the technique to human beings. Why, it’s taken me thirty years to clone a simple frog.”

Lois picked up another jar containing a preserved mutant frog specimen. “That process isn’t exactly fool proof now is it, Doctor?”

“Ah, no,” Dr. Leek plucked the jar out of Lois’s hand. “Miss Lane, you are correct. I’m so sorry I couldn’t have been greater assistance.”

“Well, thank you.”

“I would, however, be honored to take you to dinner, Miss Lane, where we could discuss the miracles of life in perhaps, shall we say, more tangible terms?”

She laughed at him. “You know, I have a better idea.” She grabbed the slide ruler out of his lab coat pocket. “Why don’t you go home, change into something more comfortable, pack an overnight bag, bring it back here,” she teased, leading him on. “And then…” She looked around the room at the cages before shoving his slide ruler back into his pocket. “You could release all those poor frogs to the nearest lily pond.” She pushed her finger off his chest, and then let herself out.

On the way to her Jeep, Lois wondered where Clark was. STAR Labs shouldn’t have taken very long and he had a knack of getting a hold of Superman quickly. Where could he be? She stopped by a payphone to dial the Planet.

“Clark Kent’s desk,” a male voice answered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right one.

“Jimmy?”

“Oh, hey, Lois,” Jimmy greeted her enthusiastically.

“Is Clark there?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since he left almost two hours ago.”

“Okay.”

“Wait, don’t hang up. I got a call back from Ramirez.”

“Who?” Lois asked.

“One of the kids on the list who received early treatment from Dr. Goldberg.”

“Right. What did he say?”

“He’s willing to talk, but not at his house. He’s going to be at a grocery store in an hour,” Jimmy explained. “You’re to meet him there and pretend you’re shopping. You’ll find him down the baking aisle wearing a MetU baseball hat.”

“Can you give me the address?” Lois pulled her notepad out and jotted down the address.

Lois had some extra time to kill on her way over to the grocery store, so she stopped to grab a quick sandwich to eat in the car in the parking lot. She thought about the delicious ones Clark had brought on their last stakeout and wondered if that place was nearby. She would get that name out of him somehow. She never understood how a man, who hadn’t lived in the city very long and who could cook, could know more about the restaurants here than she did. He had the uncanny ability to bring her some of the best food she had ever tasted, and yet never told her from where he got it. She shook her head in wonder on how he did it.

Having finished her lunch, she walked into the store and grabbed a shopping cart. She was five minutes early as she needed to stock up on some chocolate necessities first. She perused the candy aisle, selecting only the finest dark chocolate and Double Fudge Crunch bars, and then headed for the baking aisle.

“Mr. Ramirez?” Lois whispered to the young man in the MetU baseball hat, who was intently looking at the shelves full of sugar.

He turned to her. “Miss Lane?”

“Yes.”

“I know this was probably inconvenient for you,” the young man said. “But thanks for meeting me here. My dad only lets me out of the house to run quick errands.”

“It’s no trouble, Mr. Ramirez. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for weeks.”

“Please call me ‘Sergio’. I know I initially declined talking to you, but now I need to tell someone. You see, the treatment I’ve been receiving, I had to sign both a waiver and a contract that I understood what I was getting, and would not to talk about it.”

“With Dr. Goldberg?”

“Yes.”

“And you received some sort of injection,” Lois confirmed more than asked.

“It was more like an IV. Dr. Goldberg would tell me to come in dehydrated so that my body could take it faster and speed up the session. He likened it to steroids, but said that I would pass any drug screening out there. It also was supposed to help the healing process, and it did. I’m sure you already know, but I had cracked ribs a few months ago and they healed in no time. But then I started to have side effects.”

“The splotching on the skin?” she inquired, going off what she had learned from her interview with Gage Hager.

“Yes, all over,” he admitted, sounding almost relieved that she already knew the symptoms. He glanced around nervously before lowering his voice. “Now, it’s spread to my organs. It’s why my dad doesn’t like me to go out these days. He’s afraid that something’s going to fail while I’m out and nobody will be around to rush me to the hospital.”

“Does it worry you?” she asked sincerely concerned.

“Some, but I can’t just stayed locked up in the house. Dammit! I just turned twenty. It’s not supposed to be like this.”

Lois couldn’t imagine what it was like to be in his shoes. She wasn’t much older than he was, and although life and death situations were something that she seem to face on a semi-regular basis, it was not the same as dealing with a potentially deadly disease. “Sergio, did Dr. Goldberg ever tell you what exactly you were receiving?”

He shook his head. “Not in great detail. He said it would replace my damaged cells with stronger better ones and that, after I healed, I would be better than before.”

“Do you know how many people received the treatment?”

Sergio shrugged his shoulders. “We didn’t talk about it. I suspect at least one more person on the soccer team, who was badly injured during the season. I don’t know about the other sports at MetU. I didn’t interact with many other athletes.” He gazed down the aisle with a forlorn look before refocusing his attention back on Lois. “However, I’m worried about my brother.”

Lois took a step closer to him. “Why is that?”

“He’s on the swim team at his high school. He was worried about tearing up his shoulder like a couple of his friends last year, so I recommended he see Dr. Goldberg. He’s on some other version of the program where he gets a direct injection to his shoulders. It’s done wonders for him.”

Lois cringed on the inside about where this could be headed, but kept a calm, concerned demeanor, hoping there was still time to help him. “Has he starting having any problems?” she asked.

“Not that he’s said, but I don’t feel right about it. I tried to tell him to stop going, but he’s doing so well, he doesn’t want to stop.”

“Sergio, your brother needs to stop,” she said definitively. “We know of a kid that is receiving the same treatment, but we’re guessing in his knees. He just had surgery on his right one that he blew out in a basketball game last week. We know the treatment he is getting was the cause.”

He nodded his head in agreement with her. “I will try. Thanks for the warning. I should get going now. My dad worries about me.”

“Sergio, what’s your brother’s name? Is he on this list?” Lois held out a list of names that Clark had handed her earlier.

“That’s him,” he pointed to the third one down. “Luis Ramirez.”

“I’ve got one more question, and you don’t have to do this. Would you mind heading down to STAR Labs and giving a Dr. Zeigler a blood sample?”

Sergio gave a disappointed look and shook his head. “I don’t think so, Miss Lane. There would be no way I could get down there.”

Lois was disappointed but understood. “Could your brother make it?” she asked.

“Possibly,” he shrugged. “I won’t guarantee anything, though.”

“Well, thank you for your time.”

Sergio grabbed a five-pound bag of white sugar off the shelf and placed it in his cart. He began to push his cart down the aisle, when he paused and slightly turned towards Lois. “Miss Lane,” he asked hesitantly. “Is this doctor at STAR Labs working on a way to fix this?”

“Yes, he’s a long way off though. We were only able to provide him with some very small samples to work with.”

“I’ll see about getting my brother down there.” With that, he pushed his cart down the aisle and turned down the next one.

Lois went to the checkout, paid for her chocolate, and decided to head back to the Planet. She was still curious where Clark had been. She told him that she was going to keep an eye on him today, just to make sure he didn’t have a concussion, and yet she let him just run off without her to find Superman. What a great partner she had been. If he wasn’t at the Planet, she would try his apartment later this evening. Until she found him though, she was going to worry about him.

********

After leaving the bag with Superman’s DNA samples with Dr. Zeigler, Clark flew off to Dr. Leek’s office. Unlike Dr. Goldberg’s office, this was in a tall commercial office building in a much nicer part of town. Clark scanned the building from above to locate his partner. He saw Lois in Dr. Leek’s office talking to him. She didn’t appear to be impressed by what he had to say.

As Clark was about to make his decent, his x-ray vision caught sight of something in the room next door, large empty tanks connected to hoses and lots of other high-tech equipment. Past that was a door that led down a set of stairs to another large door that he couldn’t see into. Lead lined? Why did a doctor need a lead lined room? The hairs on the back of his neck tickled him with ominous foreboding. Something had to be down there. Something that he knew Lois would also want to see. They would have to come back later tonight.

“What are you doing here?” hollered an angry man in blue, gravitating down to Clark.

“None of your business,” stated Clark.

“This city is mine. It doesn’t need you anymore. I have everything under control.”

“Why are you so hostile to me?” Clark asked calmly. He didn’t want to engage his double’s fury. “I haven’t done anything to you.”

“Your existence bothers me. I’m the rightful Superman. As long as you’re alive, everyone thinks I’m you.”

“And who told you to be me?”

“My father. He taught me everything,” the imposter replied haughtily.

“You never went to school?” questioned Clark.

“No.”

“Do you have any friends? Do you remember growing up or being a kid?”

“So… so what if I can’t remember,” the doppelganger said, his voice wavering. “It’s not important.”

“It is important because you’re not real,” Clark said softly. “You were made. Your father built you from a part of me. You only exist because I do, and therefore are as old as I am. ”

“That’s a lie. You’re a liar,” he spat back.

“No, it’s the truth,” Clark said sternly. “If you weren’t an exact copy of me, there would be subtle differences. There’s not.”

“You’re just saying all that, so that I won’t kill you. It’s not going to work. I will take your place when it’s time.”

“And when will that be?”

“Why would I tell you and spoil the fun? Just know it will happen. Your days are numbered,” the clone threatened and flew off.

Clark took off after him. An hour later, tired of circumventing the world at super speed in pursuit, Clark gave up and returned to the Planet.

*******

“Clark,” Lois called the second she saw him enter the newsroom and hurried to meet him. She gave him a quick hug before looking him over. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried.”

“Worried?” Clark said in surprise.

“Yes, worried. You never showed up. I thought maybe that concussion finally settled in and something happened to you.”

Clark picked up her hands and cradled them in his, trying to reassure her. “I’m sorry you worried, I’m fine.”

She looked at him closely. “Your face does seem better, but the rest of you still looks worse for wear.” She pulled her hands away and stepped back. “So, where have you been? Did something happen at STAR Labs?”

“Not at STAR Labs. I was running late from there to meet you, so I had Superman drop me off at Dr. Leek’s office. Only, he found something. He x-rayed the building and there’s a hidden room next to Leek’s office and also a room below it that he couldn’t see into.”

“Why couldn’t he see into the room?” she asked perplexed.

“Its lead lined. He can’t see through lead.”

“Oh,” she said, surprised that Superman had never mentioned such a limitation.

“I was thinking we should check those rooms out tonight. You up for it?” he teased, knowing she would never turn down a B & E opportunity.

Lois didn’t think she needed to dignify his teasing with a response. She knew he knew full well that she was going, so she gave him an amused look and moved on. “If Superman dropped you off, why didn’t you come in?”

“I was going to, but we were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the other Superman.”

“What did he say?” she asked, concerned for both of them but more so her vulnerable human partner.

“He wants to take over as Superman, and as long as the old Superman, as he calls Superman, is around, that’s never going to happen,” he stated reassuringly.

“So what does he want Superman to do?”

“Stay away for the meantime, and later, he wants to kill the old Superman to take his place.”

“Kill Superman!” she choked. “What does the old Superman think of that? Can the clone kill him?”

“Probably not, but I’m sure he would try. I get the sense that the clone was ingrained with the need to kill Superman. But they’re both invulnerable and in a fight, they could cause a lot of damage not just to each other to their surroundings. Superman is trying to avoid a confrontation and is thinking of lying low for the time being.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Clark. The world needs Superman. This imposter has shown no morals. He could easily kill someone.”

“I know, it’s just…Superman doesn’t want a public confrontation with this guy to get out of hand. The imposter has made it clear what his intentions are. Superman needs to come up with a way of reasoning with him or to get him to see that he’s not a threat. Otherwise, there’s a very good chance that the next time Superman is on a rescue, the other one is going to show up and potentially try to kill him and consequentially many other people, if they get in the way.”

“Clark, I understand all that, but if Superman heeds his threat, then the clone’s won.”

“Maybe you’re right,” he conceded. “I’ll just suggest to him be cautious and try to avoid the imposter if he can.”

“That sounds like a plan. Now, let’s grab a conference room and let me catch you up on my eventful afternoon.” Lois took Clark’s hand and led the way.