As promised! This was the quickest thing I have written since Ants at a Picnic!

KenJ did all the cool newspaper articles with just a little tweaking from yours truly!

And now ...


Part Four

The last place Lois expected to be that night was jammed into a phone booth reassuring her Father-in-law that his son was completely recovered from the gunshot wound he had sustained earlier that day. Good Lord what a day it had been! After Abrihet’s lecture they were supposed to be dining at Le Cirque with her and Bernie, instead of sitting in MetroGen’s family waiting area in the facilities new state-of-the-art intensive care unit. She fingered the rich silk fabric of her favorite, elegantly tailored, blue suit which was now rumpled after the long ambulance ride from S.T.A.R Labs.

It was also covered in blood – Clark’s blood. Something not even in her wildest nightmares she would have ever imagined. Yet, only hours before her world had been up ended when her husband lay on the floor bleeding, the result of an assassin’s kryptonite bullet. Now he was in a hospital room, safe and thank God, he was invulnerable again!

“Jonathan, he’s doing better, but Dr. Ross wants him to stay another day to ‘make certain everything is OK’. But for two weeks afterwards he’s going to wear a sling on his left arm for appearance’s sake.”

Through an electronic signal that pulsed across miles of rolling mountains and amber fields of waving, sun ripened grain; Lois could hear her Father-in-law’s shuttered breath – a happy sign of relief. “Thanks Lois, Martha and I were plenty scared when Perry called us. We knew our boy would recover, but what about the secret? If it hadn’t been for Dr. Klein …”

A familiar voice broke in, “Yes dear, please tell Dr. Klein and Pete thank you from both of us!” Martha’s voice was raspy from the effects of a spring flu.

“I will. Talk to you both soon.” After saying a chorus of good-byes, the Kents hung up.

Lois slid open the phone booth, her gaze rested on many other people who were also waiting for news about their family member or dear friend. She carefully schooled her features to match those of a deeply worried spouse. It would not do for these folks to discern her husband was now out of danger. As she exited the waiting area, she appreciated that it was very different from the usual sterile hospital design. Several large chairs were comfortably padded and covered in a combination of warm, golden sand tones, sage green, smoky aqua and misty plum. The walls painted in soothing green and creamy beige were surrounded by rich cherry woods throughout the facility. Lois suspected the colors were selected to reflect the many regional community gardens surrounding the hospital.

The gentle palate of colors had had their desired effect; she was much calmer now than she had been when they had brought Clark in. He had still been very weak from shock and blood loss. But she was worried that if his invulnerability had kicked in too soon they would discover his secret. Thankfully, Pete Ross was waiting in the ER and took care of Clark personally.

She entered the ICU section and walked down a corridor done in glossy white tile, with cheerful artwork placed at precise locations on the walls, so different from the traditional white tiled antiseptic medical facilities she was accustomed to her parents working in. A muscular man, looking more like a professional wrestler than a policeman stood guard outside Clark’s room. He moved his head almost imperceptibly when Lois gave him a gentle smile. “Officer Danes, is anyone inside?”

“Yes, Mrs. Kent, Dr. Ross.”

Thanking him she opened the door, again her eyes were greeted by the warm combination of colors which flowed from the corridor to Clark’s room. They made a stark contrast to the ugly cold steel and arctic white machines arrayed against the wall. In the center of the room sat the bed, no matter how colorful and comfortable the blankets appeared the metal contraption her husband lay in looked horribly out of place. Apparently, Clark felt the same; he was in the middle of a heated discussion with his long time friend Dr. Pete Ross.

“It’s time I got out of here!”

“No, you will not leave this hospital until tomorrow afternoon and that’s final.” Pete Ross shot back.

Lois quickly stepped into the room, the door shut noiselessly behind her and in hushed, anxious tones said, “Will you two lower your voices! Honey, you’re supposed to be recovering from a *gunshot* wound, not bellowing at Pete.”

Her husband’s voice although lower was uncharacteristically peevishly, “I hate hospitals! I keep wondering if someone is going to put me to sleep and start dissecting me like a frog. What if some nurse barges in and tries to change my dressing?”
Lois rolled her eyes in equal parts amusement and frustration. <Steady girl,> she thought, <at least he is here for you to be amused. Jonathan has said that so much he *really* believes it!>

Pete shot back, “As the ‘victim’ of an assassination attempt Inspector Henderson has issued orders that only Lois, Dr. Klein, Jimmy, Perry or myself are allowed in this room. Nursing staff are *not* included.” He stopped for a moment and then continued, “Look buddy, I’m trying to protect the secret. By tomorrow afternoon I will release you from the hospital’s care. Until then, stay put! Man, I forgot what a lousy patient you were when we were kids! If keeping the secret under wraps wasn’t so important, I’d kick you out now!”

Lois joined in, “Not to mention Pete had to bend several rules to keep the nurses away. He even lied and told them you were an acquaintance and not an old friend. He can get into a lot of trouble for that!”

The expression on Clark’s handsome face changed to one of consternation, “I know honey. But whoever is responsible for this is running around loose. Everyone I care about with the exception of my parents, lives in Metropolis.” They are all in grave danger. If they could get to me, they can get to them!”

“Lois is staying here under the watchful eye of the MPD and Jimmy contacted his Dad, who sent over a couple of his best agents to keep an eye on your parents’ place. Personally knowing the folks of Smallville and how they are about strangers, I’m a little concerned about the agents!” Pete said with a chuckle

“Yeah, Maisie can swing a mean skillet.” Clark responded with a touch of dry humor. Changing subjects for a moment, he asked, “Where are Bernie and Abrihet?”

A genuine glint of humor danced mischievously in Lois’ brown eyes. “They waited around for a couple of hours and then Bernie decided to take Abrihet out for a quiet dinner. I don’t imagine we will be seeing much of them for a few days. After all, she will be leaving this Saturday … if she doesn’t change her ticket.”

He cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at the pleased expression on Lois’ face. “Oh, I see. Bernie’s fallen pretty hard ...fast. Abrihet is a fascinating and highly intelligent woman. She is bound to keep him on his toes. I can’t believe something as simple as my smile gave me away. I’ll have to be more careful about that in the future.”

At this point, Lois had made herself comfortable in a chair by the bed, the stress of the past few hours seeped into her voice. “Yeah flyboy, speaking of being careful you need to follow doctor’s orders.”

Before Clark or Pete could reply, a quiet knock on the door was immediately followed by a familiar voice. “Hey guys, it’s me, Jimmy, can I come in?”

Clark immediately slid down under the covers, looking like a wounded man on the mend. Once he was settled Lois cried out, “Come in!”

Jimmy entered the room with a rolled up copy of the Daily Planet stuck under his arm. He approached the bed cautiously, as if heavy footfalls would somehow harm his friend, he spoke in hushed, even tones, “Hey CK, how’s it going?”

“Good. With Lois here how could anything be wrong?” Clark made his voice sound strained and tried. He hated acting like a sick man, but it was for Jimmy’s safety and everyone else he cared about.

Lois said, “Jim, is that the late edition? Could you let me see it? We have both been cut off from the world in here.”
The younger man looked sheepishly at the newspaper and tentatively held it out for Lois to read, “Oh, actually, this isn’t the late edition, I wanted you guys to see tomorrow’s headlines. Perry thought that since the first article went over well he gave me the go-ahead to write another story.
There was a stock photo of Lex Luthor that was taken at the Man-of-the-Year ceremony and under it was the story.

“MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF BILLIONAIRE PHILANTHROPIST LEX LUTHOR”
Evening Edition - Wednesday, April 13th
By James B. Olsen
“Lex Luthor, the third wealthiest man in the world, disappeared without a trace Wednesday night. There is no evidence of foul play although a pile of charred plastic was found on his desk. It was so badly damaged that reconstruction was impossible, but from the shape and weight it appears to have been a video cassette.” Story continues A2.


After she put down the paper, Lois brown eyes gazed at her friend with a puzzled expression. All traces of exhaustion had been neatly pushed aside, Mad Dog Lane was on the hunt. “Lex has disappeared? Why? How?” What about the guy who shot Clark? According to this article *he’s* being held in protective custody.”

“Why is the shooter under wraps? Something doesn’t sound right, this man – Eli Snow - who shot Clark. Did he give a reason?” Pete asked.

Before Jimmy could answer Lois scanned the paper again. “No. None. He hasn’t said a word. The police want to know who broke his arm and gave his location to them. But he refused to say. I’ll bet all my Kerth awards this entire situation has Luthor’s neat fingerprints all over it. He’s probably behind Clark’s shooting.”

The three men shared incredulous glances, but it was Clark, who mumbled from the depths of his blankets and put those thoughts into words. “Honey, isn’t that quite a leap …even for *your* intuition?”

With a shrug of her slim shoulders she said, “This is Lex Luthor we are talking about, *nothing* is impossible.”

Making a show of clearing his throat and then bouncing on his toes the young man spoke up, “Speaking of impossible, ah …there’s more to that article than what I wrote up.”

Lois arched an eyebrow, stood up from the chair, took Clark’s hand and said, “Since when do you hold out on your friends and the Daily Planet’s readers, Jimmy?”

The young man shook his head in disagreement, “It wasn’t my idea, and Inspector Henderson told me ‘off the record’ that Eli Snow is singing like a canary. He says Luthor paid him $500,000.00 to kill Clark. He was paid via a Swiss bank account, half now and half when the job was done.”

A low sweet whistle escaped Pete’s lips and “That is a lot of money for a hit. This Snow guy must be one of the best.”

Jimmy pressed on, “He may be one of the best in the business, but he’s not afraid of Luthor which is odd, because word on the street says, Luthor is not someone to be crossed.”

“All of this doesn’t make any sense,” Pete chimed in again,

“Luthor is a hardnosed businessman, not a mob boss.”

A empathic look passed between Clark and Lois, they knew the Luthor behind the flashy suits and broad smile. “No disrespect Pete, but the worlds that Lois, Jimmy and I have to occasionally enter is incredibly different from MetroGen.” Clark said while struggling to remain prone under the covers.
Jimmy continued, “Yeah well there’s more to the story; apparently some dude in a trench coat and black boots attacked him before he could escape. Eli said the man was extremely strong and lightening fast with a weird accent and eyes with the color blue he had never seen before. He’s scared to death of him.”

The hospital room went quiet after Jimmy finished his story. Pete, Lois and Clark exchanged glances. Who was this stranger?

***

The following afternoon Clark was placed in a wheelchair, as policy dictated, and moved to the lobby before he and Lois departed from the hospital. With Bill Henderson personally supervising the discreet escort of police protection they returned to their brownstone on Hyperion Avenue.

When friends stopped by to visit during the day, Clark wore pajamas and a very classy navy and burgundy robe given to him by Martha and kept his left arm in a sling. It was all for appearances sake. He continued to make his evening patrols as Superman in order to keep the criminal element in line. The serendipity of this struck both Lois and Clark. Clark Kent had been shot and had his arm in a sling, while Superman was out on patrol. How could they be one and the same? It only helped protect the secret.

He and Lois also spent the next few days working from home to ferret out additional information as to the disappearance of their nemesis. Now that Luthor was missing, people started to talk with them, providing enough evidence to keep at least two grand juries working for six months. Late one evening an employer of LexCorp who refused to reveal his name said the executive offices of LexCorp were filled with frightened people who had no idea what had befallen the owner and CEO of the company.

The stockholders planned on holding an emergency meeting to elect a new CEO.

Finally after much research, fact checking and discussions with Bobby Bigmouth and sharp dressing Wall Street analyst, Eugenia ‘Legs’ Diamond, they wrote a story that shook Metropolis to its heart.

There was a picture of a male silhouette with the features erased and a large question mark. Under this picture was a caption ‘The Boss’. Then there was an equal sign and then finally a picture of Lex Luthor.

“ELUSIVE UNDERWORLD BOSS IDENTIFIED”
Morning Edition – Monday, April 25th
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent

“While the MPD investigated the disappearance of Lex Luthor documents and other evidence linking Luthor to numerous crimes in and around Metropolis as well as internationally have been uncovered. This evidence indicates that Lex Luthor was the mysterious ‘Boss’ of the underworld here in Metropolis. Warrants have been issued for known associates, Nigel St. John and Dominique Cox. Both were apprehended at Larson Airport. It is believed that St. John and Cox will give testimony in order to escape prosecution. The investigation continues. Additional arrests are anticipated.” Story continues A2


TBC

Last edited by Morgana; 08/25/14 08:55 PM.

Morgana

A writer's job is to think of new plots and create characters who stay with you long after the final page has been read. If that mission is accomplished than we have done what we set out to do, which is to entertain and hopefully educate.