Vatman - Matchmaker Style
Rated PG-13
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Previously
The next day, Lois and Clark broached an idea to Perry. They wanted to see how well it would be accepted. They went to see Perry in his office.
Lois asked, "Perry, what would you say if I told you that there were two Supermen?"
Perry was incredulous, "Two Supermen?"
Lois tried, "I know it sounds farfetched, but ..."
Perry was less than impressed, he retorted, "Farfetched? Lois, if I told you I saw Elvis last night at the LexSave what would you call it?"
Lois rebutted, "But Chief …"
Perry was poking holes in the story and actually responding in just the way that they had expected, "Look, you say that since this 'clone' appeared, the 'real' Superman hasn't been seen. Think about it. Maybe there aren't two of them, but the real one has gone ... crazy.”
Cat was attracted by Perry's tirade and wandered into the office.
Lois tried to convince Perry, "No. I'm telling you he's a clone. I should know. He showed up at our apartment last night."
Cat asked, "What'd you do, kick Clark out so that you could have a rendezvous with Superman?" Cat schmoozed up to Clark and put her hands on his arms as she finished, "Next time send him to my apartment. I am sure I could entertain him. He might not want to come home."
The look that Lois gave her left no question in her mind as to what Lois thought of her suggestion. She quickly removed her hands from Clark's arm, slunk out of the office and returned to her desk.
Perry watched Cat leave and then turned back to Lois. "Lois, I don't know what to tell you except ... don't even
think about writing this story until you can present me with solid evidence."
Lois and Clark returned to their desks, Lois sighed and said, "So much for testing the waters."
Clark said, "I don't know. I've got a feeling that something's going to happen that will resolve this issue … soon."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jimmy saw Lois and Clark leave Perry's office and he decided that he needed to talk with him. Getting up from his desk, he moved to Perry's office and without knocking, walked in. Without preamble, he asked, "Chief?"
Perry appeared to be slightly annoyed at the interruption as he replied, "I'm in a rush this morning, Jimmy. A lot of things to do before ..."
Jimmy cut him off in mid-sentence, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I have a phone number here ... it's the Metropolis Hot Line. Twenty-four hours. There are counselors there, ready and willing to hear your problems."
Perry was totally mystified with Jimmy's statement, but decided to be polite. He hoped the kid wasn't losing it, "Thanks, Jimmy. I'll keep them in mind."
Jimmy was pleased that Perry hadn't thrown him out on his ear so he pressed his advantage, "Chief, there are people out there who know what you're going through. You don't have to suffer alone."
Perry was more confused than before and was about to ask Jimmy to please tell him what he was talking about when his phone rang. "Hello? Yeah, Alice, hold on a sec." He placed his hand over the mouthpiece and asked, "Anything else?"
Jimmy wasn't sure what to say so as he left he offered, lamely, "Uh, no. I'll be right outside. If you ... need a shoulder to lean on or something."
Jimmy exited and Perry shook his head in bewilderment. He muttered, "What's gotten into him?" and then spoke to Alice. They were planning to have dinner together.
And now:
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Chapter 7
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A little later, Clark went out to once again search for the imposter and Lois went back to working on their other current stories, but she still wanted more information. "Jimmy?"
He happened to be passing her desk when she called him and he stopped, "Yeah, Lois."
Lois noticed his mood and asked, "Something wrong, Jimmy?"
"It's the Chief. Something's going on and I don't know how to help out."
"You know Perry, if he needs help, he'll ask."
"I don't think so, not this time. I think it's something serious."
"Well, I don't know what to say. I've noticed some changes, but hey, so he decided to get a new suit, so what's the matter with that?"
"There's more to it than that. I don't know …"
"Well, anyhow, I need you to find me everything you can on clones and cloning."
"Okay, I'll find what I can."
“I also need you to check on Fabian Leek. I need to know where he's getting his funding and who he works for."
"Anything else?"
"No, that'll do for now. Thanks, Jimmy."
"No problem, Lois." He turned away and headed for his desk.
Just then there was a familiar whooshing sound and Superman appeared in the bullpen. Lois looked up and was surprised to see him standing next to her desk. She looked closely, but still had to ask, "Superman, is it really you?" She couldn't understand why Clark would arrive in costume, but assumed that he must have a good reason.
He replied, somewhat self-deprecatingly, "In the flesh."
She tried a small test, "Where have you been?"
His answer matched with what she basically expected, "Trying to get the low-down on this imposter. Lois, I need your help."
Happy that he was including her, she said, "Anything."
He held out his hand and said, "Come fly with me."
Lois was always eager to fly with Clark. That was one of her favorite perks of being married to Superman, she got to fly with him whenever she wanted to so with eager anticipation, she grabbed her bag and leapt from her chair.
Superman swept her up in his arms and that was the first clue she had that this was the imposter. It just didn't feel right. The way he was holding her was a little awkward. She almost fought against him, but she realized that making a scene there in the bullpen could be counterproductive and he
was much stronger than her so she decided she needed to pretend that she didn't know the difference and go along with it. Besides, she wanted to find out why he was doing this.
As Superman swept Lois up, Cat stood by her desk and watched with envy. Shaking her head, she muttered under her breath, "I still can't believe it. She's married to a gorgeous hunk and she still gets to fly around with a demigod in a cape. Why can't I be so lucky?"
A few minutes after Superman flew off with Lois, Cat saw Clark exit the stairwell and head for his desk.
As he was passing Lois's desk, he noted that she was missing and spotting Cat asked, "Cat, have you seen Lois?"
With a wistful expression, she replied, "Uh huh. She left a few minutes ago .... with Superman."
His startled expression caught Cat's attention, "What?"
With a sly expression, Cat said, "Yeah. They flew out that window ... is something wrong ... I hope? You know, if she throws you over for Superman, I'm still available."
Cat wasn't even finished her statement when Clark turned around and charged for the stairwell.
Shaking her head, Cat muttered, "I don't know what he expects to do against Superman."
Seconds later, Superman, the real one, was in the air above Metropolis. He was searching for any signs of the imposter and Lois.
He had been at it for about twenty minutes when he suddenly heard her scream. Pinpointing her location he zoomed down and landed. They were in a historic recreation area where old buildings had been imported and restored the way they had been in the previous century. There were dirt roads, wooden sidewalks and hitching posts. The re-enactors were apparently on break because the streets were empty.
There was an open jitney style bus with tourists coming through and the driver was describing what they were looking at. "The re-enactors are on break right now. If you look closely, you will see cameras. This area is occasionally used as a location for movies, but I think they are currently filming a documentary of the historic area. This street is supposed to be Metropolis in the early days of settlement when it was still a frontier area. The next street over is like it was fifty years later on."
After the jitney had passed on, Superman landed and looked around. Finally he spotted Lois. She was tied to a post under the sign ‘Village Blacksmith'. The imposter stood there, brandishing a red hot iron menacingly in front of her. Lois struggled against her ropes in a vain attempt to break free. The imposter laughed and then ...
Superman said, in a threatening tone, "Let her go!"
The imposter put the red hot iron down and then turned to face Lois. In a gentle tone, he said, "I never would have hurt you, Lois. But the only way I could guarantee Superman would fight me was to make him think your life was in danger."
After saying his piece, the imposter stepped back, allowing Superman to free Lois. When he finished untying Lois he turned around only to see that the imposter was not in sight.
Lois was rubbing her chafed wrists as he turned and asked, "Did you see where he went?"
Lois pointed across the street and said, "Those saloon doors are swinging. They shouldn't be."
"Okay. Look, Lois, there's no way to know what is going to happen. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself. Stay here, please."
Superman entered the saloon and looked around. The imposter was sitting on the far end of the bar. Grabbing the bar, Superman pulled it forward. The imposter was now face to face with Superman. Jumping down off the bar the imposter lifted Superman up and threw him across the length of the bar, through the glasses and bottles, and straight through the window to the outside. A second later, Superman flew back in. Just then, unexpectedly, Lois entered through the swinging doors. Superman saw her, turned to the imposter and said, "This town isn't big enough for the two of us. Let's take this fight outside." The imposter smirked at him and leered at Lois before he moved outside. Exasperated, Clark turned to Lois and said, "Stay here."
Lois pouted and said, "I want to help."
"You'll help by staying here and out of trouble." He turned and stalked out.
Apparently the workers were starting to return to work because there was a painter starting his work. He heard the creak of the hinges from the doors of the saloon and looked up. When he did, he saw Superman exit. Then he saw a feminine face in the window. When he looked around he saw a second Superman in the street. He looked back and saw the woman gesturing for him to leave. He looked back and forth between the two Supermen and saw hostility. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor he heeded the woman's admonition and dropping his painting supplies ducked into the apothecary. A second later the window shade was yanked down and the words "
CLOSED" could be read on the shade.
Superman stepped into the street. When he did, he was facing the imposter. Slowly they approached one another. In the dusty street it looked like a western movie where there was to be a shootout at high noon. Once they were about twenty feet apart they stopped and glared at each other. Superman was glaring at the imposter because he had threatened Lois's well being.
The imposter was there because he had been told by his ‘father' that his foe needed to be eliminated, but the things he had heard the night before were going round and round in his mind. Things that Superman had said had also been going round and round. He was confused and trying to sort out the truth. He was weighing what he had been told by Superman against what he had been told, all of his existence, by his ‘father' and the weight of truth seemed, more and more to be falling on Superman's side of the balance, yet he had been given a chore to do and he knew that he must not disobey his father. His father knew best, or did he?
They stood there facing one another with their hands at their sides. You could almost imagine them wearing gun belts with their fingers itching to grab the gun butts draw and fire.
Suddenly they were interrupted by the tour jitney passing through on the way back. The driver was saying, "This representation of ‘old' Metropolis has the flavor of an old west town …" She saw the two Supermen in the street and pressed down harder on the pedal, "They must be filming something. I don't understand … two Supermen."
As the spectators watched, the imposter unleashed a blast of heat vision. Fortunately, Superman had been expecting an attack of some sort and was prepared. His Infra-red vision had picked up the heat buildup in his opponents eyes and he was able to counter with a similar beam. There was a visible coruscation of power where the invisible beams intersected. They each held their positions as they each increased the power of the beams.
As the confrontation had started, Lois felt like she had to do something to help so she left her hiding place in the saloon and carefully made her way out the door and along the sidewalk until she was off to one side. She found a post with a barrel next to it and crouched behind it.
Unfortunately, Lois made a noise which distracted both the imposter and Superman and they reflexively looked in her direction. The heat vision beams followed and when the combined beams hit the beam next to where Lois was crouched the wooden beam almost exploded. As that happened, Lois jumped back.
Seeing what was happening, the tour leader's foot came down on the pedal and as quickly as the jitney would move, they left the area.
Seeing what had nearly happened to Lois had frightened Clark. He knew that in order to keep Lois safe he had to end this conflict as quickly as possible. With renewed vigor he shot his heat-vision at his antagonist again. The imposter countered with his heat-vision and they returned to a stalemate.
Even while he was straining to overcome the imposter, he tried to convince him of the futility of the fight, "Don't you understand? This in a fight neither of us can win!"
Almost imperceptivity the spot where the invisible heat beams became a visible coruscation of energy moved toward the imposter as his energy drained from him.
The rate at which the spot of intersection was moving toward the imposter accelerated until it reached a spot two feet in front of him and then suddenly, his energy gave out and his beam collapsed allowing Superman's beam through. It hit him in the chest with the effect of a physical blow, knocking him backward. As he fell there was a distinct look of pain on his face.
Full of compassion, Superman stopped his attack and sped to the imposter. As he knelt next to him, he seemed to recover, slightly, but the strain was apparent in the lines in his face and the sweat on his brow.
In a shaky voice he said, "Go ahead. Finish me off. Might is right. Only the strong survive."
With a tone of compassion in his voice, Superman said, "I don't want to hurt you, I never did. You and I ... we have so much in common. We're linked. We're closer than ... brothers. They made you from a lock of my hair. You are a duplicate of me."
He was in a quandary over his statements and asked, "I don't understand. Why wouldn't you want to rule alone?"
Superman tried to explain, "I don't
want to rule. I want to be respected, yes. But you earn that respect by caring for others, not overpowering them."
The clone had a very thoughtful look as he tried to assimilate this idea. It was completely contrary to what he had been taught by his ‘father' that it was almost unbelievable. Suddenly he was hit with a wracking pain. He grabbed his chest and grunted.
Concerned by what he could see happening, but not understanding why, Superman asked, "Are you all right?"
The truth of what he had overheard the previous night hit him like a blow. He stated matter-of-factly, "I'm … dying." He thought for a second before he continued, "Maybe it's for the best. If I'm not real, if I was created from your DNA just to do my father's bidding ... to kill you, then there's nothing left to live for anyway. I no longer want to kill you, no matter what my father says."
Seeing that the conflict appeared to be over, Lois finally came out from her concealed location and approached. Standing next to Superman she had heard the tail end of his statement.
The clone looked at Lois and then back at Superman. He said, "You're a lucky man," he nodded in Lois's direction, "she loves you very much. She must have known I wasn't you, but she went with me anyhow to try and keep you safe." He turned back to her and said, "I meant what I said, earlier. I never would have harmed you."
Shakily and with Superman's assistance, the clone rose to his feet. He looked at Superman and said, "I have something to do. Will you wait here for me?"
Superman and Lois both nodded and the clone took off.
Lois asked, "Where's he going?"
Still watching the sky where the clone had gone, he replied, "I don't know. Come on, let's get you out of here."
Lois crossed her arms indicating that she was going to be stubborn and said, "I'd rather stay. I want to see this through to the end."
Seeing her posture, he realized how useless it would be to argue with her so he just smiled and nodded.
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