Ambivalence
Rated T
A/N: Thanks to KenJ for beta-ing this chapter.
**********
The next morning Superman was on the front page of both the Planet and the Star. Clark hadn’t been too surprised to see Lois at the fire. She’d stuck around until almost midnight when things had finally died down enough for Superman to answer questions. Several other journalists were on site and he’d been asked all the questions he’d expected: Where were you? Why did you go? Are you back to stay? Where were you when Lex Luthor died? And on and on. He’d simply told everyone that he’d been called away and detained longer than he’d expected, that he still cared about Metropolis, that all life is valuable and he regretted that he hadn’t been able to save Lex Luthor, but that he’d had to accept early on that he couldn’t be everywhere and save everyone, as much as he might wish that he could. He refused to give out information on where he’d been or what he’d been doing on the basis that it involved other people than just himself. And then he’d excused himself to continue helping the firemen make sure the fire was completely out. It had only taken about another hour or so before he’d finished up at the fire. After that he’d done a quick patrol, and then he’d gone flying. Of all the things he’d missed, he’d missed flying the most. He’d spent hours reacquainting himself with all his favorite haunts and drifting above the clouds. It had been exactly what he’d needed after two grueling days spent with Lois.
Clark glanced down at the papers in hand. The Metropolis Star had written their piece in such a way that Superman looked completely irresponsible. The Planet had, of course, been kinder. Lois had managed to convey the idea that Superman was but one man trying to plug thousands of holes in a dam. He did what he could when he could. Clark read through her article a couple of times, still not sure how he felt about it. Contemplating Lois's obvious sympathy for Superman felt like wiggling a loose tooth. How could the one woman who understood that side of him so well be so horrible to the rest of him?
**********
Lois was already at her desk by the time Clark walked in. He’d done another patrol that morning before coming to work and was running late. It was amazing how quickly he’d gotten rusty at the skills needed to juggle his dual personas.
“Morning,” Lois said as he walked past.
“Morning.”
“Any luck on your search for ACL corporation?” Lois asked.
Clark sat down and began booting up his computer. “None. It’s not listed anywhere. Now Luthor’s lawyer won’t return my phone calls. You?”
She sighed. “Spent three hours at the bureau of vital statistics yesterday. There’s no marriage certificate on Lex in this state or any other.”
Just then Jimmy walked past, laden down with a stack of files.
“Jimmy? Find anything on Luthor’s marriage?” Clark asked.
Jimmy stopped, a huge grin on his face. “You bet I did! Turns out he was married on a ship in the Caribbean.” He dug through the pile of folders he was carrying, and pulled out a paper. “I found this wedding announcement that ran in the Planet ten years ago,” he said, handing the paper to Lois.
Clark walked over and glanced at the paper Lois held.
“No picture. No maiden name,” Lois said.
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, I know, but I’m gonna try to track down that ship’s captain as soon as I deliver these,” he said, shifting the pile of folders.
Just then an older man with thinning hair and wearing a police badge stepped over to where they stood. “Lois Lane?”
Lois turned to face him. “Yeah?”
“Detective Ryder, Metropolis PD. You want to tell me where you were last night around one o’clock?”
“I’m not sure—probably on my way home from covering that fire,” she said with a shrug. “Why?”
The detective frowned. “Can anyone verify that?”
“Which part? That I covered the fire? You can read the Planet’s front page for that.”
“What’s this about detective?” Clark asked.
“At 1 a.m. last night a guard was assaulted outside Lex Luthor’s penthouse by a woman he’s identified as Miss Lane.”
Lois gave Clark a quick glance. They did want to catch the double’s boss, which meant reacting exactly as she would have if she hadn’t known about her double.
“Well, that’s ridiculous,” she protested.
“This picture was taken by a security camera outside the penthouse. As far as we can make out, the only item taken was an engagement ring Mr. Luthor had given Miss Lane worth a half a million dollars.” The detective pulled out handcuffs. “Miss Lane, you’re under arrest.”
Lois arranged her face into a picture of shock. “What?”
Detective Ryder proceeded to put the handcuffs on Lois. “For aggravated assault, breaking and entering, and grand theft,” he said, and led her away.
**********
Lois sighed as she waited in the holding cell. She really should have spent the night at Perry’s. It had just been the last straw having Perry call her in and tell her that Clark had tattled to him about Henderson’s need for an alibi. She didn’t need babysat. After all, it wasn’t as though she were completely helpless. Ever since she’d almost married Lex, people had been watching her, waiting for her to make another mistake. And then seeing Superman last night. Not that she’d really seen him that closely. He hadn’t even answered all that many questions before returning to the fire. But just knowing that he was back…. Well, she’d gone home to a hot bath and some cold ice cream. She hadn’t felt up to packing the things she’d need to stay at the White’s. At least Henderson already knew about the double. Hopefully, he’d get her out of here before too much longer.
**********
The police station was full of anti-Superman protestors as Clark and Perry waited for Lois to be released. Clark had called Henderson right away, but they’d still had to get Lois out on bail for now.
Perry looked around in disgust. “This resentment with Superman is getting out of hand! What these people need is a good swift kick in the rear.”
Clark nodded. He had to admit that the resentment had felt bad when he hadn’t been able to be Superman—now that he was having to deal with people’s ire even in the midst of rescues, he wasn’t sure how to handle it. Would it be like the heatwave where the city drummed him out of town?
“Thanks for getting me out so fast,” Lois said, walking up to where Perry and Clark stood. “Another minute and I would have been judging a best tattoo contest. So, what’d Henderson say?”
Clark glowered. “He wanted to know your alibi. I won’t repeat what he said when I told him that I wasn’t sure that you had one.”
“Lois, honey, you ok?” Perry asked.
“Fine.” She sighed. “Let’s just find this woman and whoever’s behind her.”
“You go get ‘em! I need to head back to the Planet. I’ll leave you two to plan your strategy. Oh, uh, we’re keeping this double business between the three of us and Henderson, correct?” Perry asked in an undertone.
“I think that’d be best, Chief, although maybe we should let Jimmy know. You never know what he might be able to dig up,” Clark said, then added, “And if Lois or I run into Superman, I think we should let him know as well. Just in case.”
“Dr. Carlin’s gonna be after you to talk to her, y’know? And if I really believed you were the one doing these things, I’d be ordering you to talk to her in a heartbeat,” Perry said.
Lois rolled her eyes. “I am not going to talk to that woman. I know you two don’t believe me, but there’s something wrong with her. Anyway, I’ll just make sure I’m not in the office today.”
Perry stood up. “Sounds good. Be careful, darlin’.”
“Okay. I have to go sign for my purse,” Lois said, and walked toward the counter.
“Keep an eye on her,” Perry said to Clark.
“I will, Chief.”
“I know you will, son,” Perry said, then left.
It took Lois a few minutes to sign all the necessary paperwork and for the police to find her purse. As they walked out the door to the station, Clark’s jaw was beginning to ache. He couldn’t believe that Lois had once again gone against everything people told her—Henderson, himself, Perry. They’d all tried to make sure that she was safe, that she had an alibi, but no, the great Lois Lane knew better than all of them. It was just like Luthor all over again. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but the words burst out of his lips of their own accord. “I thought you were going to make sure you had an alibi!”
Lois glared at him. “Clark, we just need to find the double. Don’t get so worked up.”
“Lo-is! What if we can’t find the double? What if whoever’s behind her simply kills her and disposes of her body before we can prove that she exists?”
“I know she exists!”
“I get that! What I don’t get is how you think you’ll be able to prove that you didn’t commit these crimes come trial time! You knew someone was after you, and you didn’t do a single thing about it! You aren’t invincible!”
“I know that!”
“Do you? Have you even considered that the plan might be for her to just kill you and take your place? You never—” Clark forced himself to break off there. He strode ahead a few paces. He couldn’t let her get to him. Worrying about her safety was just another road back to being helplessly in thrall to her. He took several deep breaths and counted backwards from one hundred in Arabic at super-speed a few times. Once he felt calm enough, he waited for Lois to catch up.
“So what do you want to do now?” he asked in an even tone.
Lois threw her hands in the air. “What do I want to do now? I want to talk to my best friend! I want you to stop this nonsense and actually talk to me. Yes, I probably should have gone to the trouble of making sure I had an alibi—which I would have done, if you hadn’t butted in and talked to Perry yourself last night.”
Clark’s eyes widened.
“Yes, I know what you did, buster”—she poked her finger into his chest—“and I didn’t appreciate having Perry call me in and tell me that my ‘partner’ had filled him in on how much danger I was in. Danger, ha! Clark, this woman has just been trying to discredit me. She’s not going to kill me. I wish you would just trust my instincts!”
Clark took off walking down the sidewalk again. He was fairly certain that Lois was just desperate to prove that it had been Luthor at fault rather than her instincts, but that didn’t help how he felt. She wanted him to trust her instincts and completely ignored his. She wanted him to go back to being her best friend—barely an apology from her, no acknowledgment of the hell she’d put him through—just c’mon, Clark, why can’t you just be good old best friend Clark? Well, he couldn’t do it anymore! He couldn’t!
A beeping intruded into his consciousness and he realized that his beeper was going off. He slowed and checked it. Jimmy. A payphone stood a few yards away so he went over and called Jimmy. Lois followed him.
Jimmy’s cheerful voice came through the wire. “Hey CK! Good news! I found the ship’s captain who married the Luthors. He’s at the, uh, Queensland Retirement Home.”
Clark forced his voice to sound cheery back. “That’s great! Thanks, Jimmy!”
“Yeah, anytime. Just put in a good word for me with Perry.”
“Sure thing,” Clark said and hung up the phone.
“Well?” Lois said, tapping a foot.
“Jimmy said he found the captain who married the Luthors. Sounds like our next move is to interview him, unless, of course, your instincts have something else they’d rather do,” he said sardonically.
“No. Talking to the captain is a good next move.”
“I’m so glad you approve,” Clark muttered under his breath.
“Clark, don’t start with me!” Lois said.
Clark swallowed back all of the retorts that sprang to mind, annoyed that he’d let her get to him so far as to forget his politeness. The rest of their trip was made in stony silence.
**********
“Captain Keene?” Lois asked, walking up to the portly gentleman sitting on a park bench the staff had pointed out to her.
The man looked up and smiled broadly. “Yes!”
“Hi, I’m Lois Lane, and this is Clark Kent; we’re from the Daily Planet.”
“Nice to meet you both.”
“Can we talk to you for a minute?”
Captain Keene chuckled. “Hey, I’m retired. You can talk to me for a year! Oh, please, sit down,” he said motioning to the chairs opposite him.
“Captain, it was our understanding that you performed the marriage of Lex Luthor,” Clark began.
Captain Keene nodded. “Yeah, I married him. Some kid called and said you’d be coming by. Course Luthor wasn’t anybody then, but I could tell he was a comer. And that bride of his—she was—”
“Something like me?” Lois broke in.
“No, much prettier. And really built.” He frowned. “Now, what do you suppose would make a fella like that jump off a building? You’d think with all of his money, he’d have come up with a better escape plan. Still don’t understand why Superman didn’t save him.”
Clark cleared his throat. “Captain, do you remember the name of the bride?”
“Sure! Mrs. Luthor!” he said and laughed heartily.
Neither Lois nor Clark laughed.
The captain looked at both of them. “Hey, that’s a joke. I’m retired, I ain’t senile. Kid said you might want to see a wedding picture.” He picked up the photo album sitting on the bench beside him, and began to thumb through it. “I got pictures of everybody I ever married. Oh, ah ha! Here you go!” he said and handed them the album.
Lois and Clark bent eagerly to look at the photo, then stared at the picture. Neither of them had seen this one coming.
“Lex Luthor and Ari Carlin. Married October 8, 1984,” Captain Keene said.
“Arianna Carlin is Mrs. Luthor!” Lois said triumphantly, relief spreading through her body. It was Lex at fault, not her instincts. “Clark, I hate to say I told you so, but—” she broke off, remembering that Captain Keene apparently liked Dr. Carlin.
“That guy in the alley! He thought he heard ‘Harry.’ It was ‘Ari’!” Clark said.
“We’ve got her!” Lois exclaimed.
Clark stood and offered his hand to Captain Keene. “Thanks a lot, Captain Keene. You’ve been a lot of help.”
Lois stood too. “Yes, you have,” she added.
“No problem at all. Nice chatting with you folks,” the captain replied.
**********
They’d borrowed a phone to call Henderson—who had said that he’d send someone to the Planet and put out an APB on Dr. Carlin if she wasn’t there—and were now headed back to the Planet themselves.
“I told you there was something wrong with that woman,” Lois crowed as they walked out of the retirement home. Clark barely kept from rolling his eyes. “Yes, Lois.”
“You just need to learn to trust my instincts, Farmboy.”
The muscles around his eyes tightened. “Yes, Lois,” he said. Much more of this and he was going to start sending out resumes, he told himself.
**********
As the taxi pulled up to the Daily Planet, they could see smoke billowing out of the newsroom windows and filling the globe. Clark immediately ran into the building, yelling “Somebody call the fire department!” behind him. Lois started to run after him, but caught sight of her double opposite her in the revolving door and instead ran after her.
**********
Clark made his way up to the newsroom floor, changing into the Suit as soon as he could find a secluded spot—he’d noted several potential places in his year of working at the Planet. Upon reaching the newsroom, he realized it was teargas rather than smoke. Fortunately most of the gas was still in the newsroom, rather than dispersed throughout the whole building. The canister must have just been opened. “Everybody get down and remain still!” he commanded. “I’m going to neutralize the gas.” He blew freezing breath through the air, and the gas turned to snow.
Superman walked over and helped Perry up. “What happened?”
Perry glanced around the newsroom. “Have you talked to Lois or Clark?” he said in an undertone, his lips barely moving.
Superman nodded slightly.
“It was Lois! She came in here, and she threw a teargas canister,” Perry said loudly.
Superman gave him an almost imperceptible wink. “Did you see which way she went?”
“Yeah, back down the elevator.”
Clark immediately flew out the window and scanned the street surrounding the Daily Planet. A tan purse in the deserted alley beside the Planet caught his eye. Lois had been carrying this just five minutes before. He picked it up, then changed out of the Suit and headed into the Planet, his heart in his throat. Hopefully, Lois had somehow dropped this on her way in, and he’d find her up in the newsroom.
As he stepped out of the elevator, Perry looked up. “Clark! Where’s Lois?”
So she wasn’t here already. He held up her purse in answer. “I don’t know. Where’s Dr. Carlin?”
“She left before it happened. Why?” Jimmy asked.
Clark grimaced. “Arianna Carlin was married to Lex Luthor.”
Perry stared at him. “I don’t believe it! She was the one who created the double?”
“Yup. And I bet she has Lois now,” he said grimly.
“I can’t believe that woman pulled the wool over my eyes like that,” Perry lamented.
Jimmy put a hand on Perry’s shoulder. “Don’t feel so bad, Chief—she wrote the book on it.”
“What?” Clark asked.
Jimmy picked up a book off his desk, and held it up. “This is her book on subliminal advertising. I was going to ask her to sign a copy to give to my mom for her birthday.”
“That’s it!” Clark exclaimed, and strode into the conference room Dr. Carlin had appropriated as her office. Perry and Jimmy followed him.
Jimmy frowned. “What is it, CK?”
Clark pointed to a stack of papers on Dr. Carlin’s desk. “These are all of Dr. Carlin’s latest columns.”
Perry peered over his shoulder. “Exactly what is it that you’re lookin’ for?”
“Subliminal messages…,” Clark said and began scanning the page. He’d noticed that subliminal messages didn’t have the same effect on him that they did on normal people. A few moments later and the pattern jumped out at him. “I’ve got it! When you link together the first letter of each one of these paragraphs, it spells the message ‘Superman is evil.’”
Perry shook his head. “Well, I’ll be.”
Clark handed the top sheet to Perry, exposing the one underneath it. “Man of steel wicked.” He flipped to the next. “Superman must die.” He turned to look at Perry. “It’s no wonder that twenty percent of Metropolis is suddenly anti-Superman,” he said, warmth spreading through his chest as he realized the dislike had been artificial.
“Yeah, well, the doctor’s got a loyal following.” Perry grabbed the stack of columns. “Let’s see what she’s got planned for tomorrow.”
“Lane murder of Superman good?” Jimmy read. “Is that really what it says?”
Perry’s mouth swung open. “That lunatic’s planning on having Lois's double kill Superman?”
“She’ll tear the city apart over Lois's trial,” Clark said.
“Well, now we know she’s one brick shy of a full load. Nobody can kill Superman,” Perry said.
Just then the phone began to ring, and Jimmy picked it up. The color drained from his face, and after a moment, he squeaked out a “Let me get him.” He hit the hold button, then turned to Clark. “CK! It’s Dr. Carlin. She’s on line two.”
Clark immediately picked up the phone. “Dr. Carlin?” He turned to Jimmy and Perry and grimaced. “Where are you? ... Yes, I see. I’ll do my best to find him.”
Perry and Jimmy waited with ill-concealed impatience for Clark to finish.
“Well?” Perry said as soon as Clark hung up.
“She’s at Luthor’s penthouse, and she has Lois. She says Lois ‘dragged her there and is now threatening to kill herself unless she can speak to Superman.’”
“Sounds like a set-up if I ever heard one,” Perry said. “I wonder what she thinks she can accomplish.”
Clark shrugged. “I don’t know, but I don’t want Lois to get into any more trouble than she’s already in. I better go try to find Superman. I’ll tell him to look things over before he goes in. Jimmy, call Henderson and tell him about Dr. Carlin and where she is.”
With that Clark took off for the stairs, and then super-sped up the empty stairwell to the roof.
**********
Lois glared at Dr. Carlin as the woman replaced the receiver on the phone. Once again she had jumped in without checking the water level. When she’d seen her double leaving the Daily Planet, she hadn’t been able to resist following her. Unfortunately, the double and Dr. Carlin had caught her, held her at gunpoint, and brought her to Lex’s penthouse—which was why she now found herself sitting on a couch in Lex’s office, trussed up like a chicken and gagged.
Dr. Carlin turned to Lois. “Perfect. Clark will testify at your trial that I was only concerned with your well-being. The helpful therapist to the end. Of course, you’ll tearfully insist that you’ve been framed—that it was actually me who brought you here and killed Superman. Classic guilt transference.”
Lois shook her head back and forth until she managed to work the gag down off her mouth. “Why are you doing this?”
Dr. Carlin gave her an extra sweet smile. “Everyone knows how much you love Superman—several of your colleagues confirmed that you and he are very ‘close’ friends”—the smile slid from her face—“and when he dies, you will know the pain I felt when you drove the love of my life to his death.”
Lois shook her head in disbelief. “You’re the one who needs help! Nothing can kill Superman.”
Dr. Carlin held up a green glowing bullet. “You remember Kryptonite? You were the one who named it, and this gun”—she picked up a gun off the desk and showed it to Lois—“that you bought, will kill him with it.”
“I didn’t drive Lex to his death.”
“You’re in a state of denial Lois. Too bad we don’t have more time to explore that.” Dr. Carlin turned slightly to yell into the adjoining room. “Hurry up! He’ll be here in a minute!”
Lois's double walked into the room.
“Who are you?” Lois asked the woman.
The double grimaced. “Let’s just say I was an accident victim in the right place at the right time.”
Dr. Carlin picked up a syringe and a bottle. “Lois, you look a little stressed,” she said, her voice dripping with mock concern. “As your doctor, I’m going to prescribe a light sedative.” She walked over and with the double’s help, injected the drug into a struggling Lois.
**********
Once he got to LexCorp, Clark carefully x-rayed the penthouse. Lois lay on a couch in front of a fish tank, tied up and apparently unconscious. Dr. Carlin stood in the adjoining room, talking to Lois's double. He surveyed the place. No lead boxes. No sign of the cage Lex had made—although he trusted that Henderson had taken care of it. Dr. Carlin held a gun, but surely she wasn’t naïve enough to think guns worked on him. He made another sweep of the place, and, still finding nothing, he cautiously moved closer, alert for any hint that the ex-Mrs. Luthor had acquired some of her husband’s Kryptonite. Nothing. He landed on Luthor’s balcony and strode in to where Lois lay. He x-rayed her bones, trying to make sure it was safe to move her.
“Superman, we’ve been expecting you,” Dr. Carlin said, walking into the room. “Don’t worry about Lois. I’d much rather have her suffer for the rest of her life. I never wanted to kill her.”
Superman automatically crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “No, just frame her for my murder. I really thought you were smarter than this.”
Dr. Carlin smiled at him and raised her gun. “I really am,” she said, and then shot him.
Superman didn’t even flinch—until he saw that the bullet was Kryptonite. He couldn’t completely avoid it, but he managed to shift so that it hit his left shoulder instead of his heart. Even so, the pain was incredible. He fell to the ground and lay there, trying to breathe in spite of it. Having the Kryptonite actually inside of him was so much worse than the cage had been.
Dr. Carlin walked over to him. “I can imagine what’s running through your head right now: shock, confusion, outrage.” Her voice hardened. “The same emotions I felt when you let Lex die.”
She moved to place the gun in Lois's limp hand, saying, “You’ll wake up in a few minutes, although I’m sure you’ll wish you hadn’t.” And then she and Lois's double left.
Clark forced himself to think. He couldn’t dig the bullet out himself, which meant that he needed Lois. “Lois! Lois! Can you hear me?”
Lois remained limp on the couch. Clark just hoped that Dr. Carlin had been telling the truth when she’d said the sedative would wear off shortly. He tried to roll over, so that he could crawl towards Lois, but it was no use: the Kryptonite inside had rendered him practically immobile. He looked back over at Lois. Why hadn’t she just stayed right behind him when he’d run into the Planet? Or waited in the lobby? She knew people were after her! He gritted his teeth—partly in pain and partly to keep from gnashing them in frustration.
“Lois!” he tried again. If only he had some water or something to wake her with. Wait a minute! The fish tank! He focused the flickering bits of his remaining heat vision at the fish tank behind Lois and managed to make a hole in it. Water spurted out onto her face. She stirred.
“Lois!”
Lois sat up and looked around her. Horror spread over her face as she took in Superman on the floor. Dr. Carlin had been right about the Kryptonite. “Superman?” She walked towards him, then clutched her middle as she saw the bullet hole in his shoulder. “Superman! I’ll call an ambulance!” She began walking towards the desk, still feeling a bit unsteady from the sedative.
“No! Too long!” Superman said, gasping in between words. He groaned. “It has to come out. Now.”
“I know it has to come out, but I’m just not sure I’m the best person to do it,” she said, keeping a tight grip on the terror trying to find its way into her voice.
“Please, Lois, please.”
Lois nodded resolutely, then looked around for something to use as a lever. A dagger-shaped letter opener caught her eye. She grabbed it and knelt beside Superman. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, but she tried to still them, at least long enough to dig the bullet out. Carefully, she inserted the dagger and felt around for the bullet, trying to avoid breaking any of it off in the wound. Superman writhed as she moved the dagger around in his wound, but Lois forced herself to look only at the bullet hole. She could feel the bullet. She managed to slide the dagger underneath it and pushed up. The bullet, following the course of least resistance, popped back out of the hole. She grabbed it and held it away from Superman. Her eyes widened as Superman’s shoulder immediately healed up.
“Get that away from me, please,” he said, still gasping for breath.
She backed to the far side of the room, and Superman grabbed onto a chair and pulled himself to his feet. “Thanks, Lois. If you don’t mind putting it in a lead box, I’ll come by later tonight to pick it up. I’d better go collect Dr. Carlin and your double now. Clark said he called Henderson, so I imagine the police should be here shortly. Will you be all right?”
Lois nodded.
“See you later,” he said and flew out the window.
**********
Clark barely had the strength to fly, but he wasn’t about to let Dr. Carlin get away. Who knew what else she had up her sleeve? But this time, he was going to go about it the smart way. He x-rayed the cars and managed to figure out which vehicle she was in. Then he welded the doors shut from 1,000 feet up, just in case she had any more Kryptonite on her. And finally, he blew out the tires to make sure she wouldn’t be going anywhere. Flying closer, he realized he couldn’t feel any Kryptonite, so either she didn’t have any more with her, or it was shielded. He zipped back home and changed Suits—no point in giving anyone else ideas about Kryptonite bullets—then returned for the car and flew it back to LexCorp and the waiting police.
As soon as he set the car down, Superman told Henderson that Dr. Carlin and Lois's double were in the car and asked for a private word. When he agreed, Superman flew him to the top of a nearby building. It was the first time Clark had ever seen the inspector look surprised.
Clark assumed his hero pose, then asked, “Inspector Henderson, did Clark fill you in on Dr. Carlin?”
“Well, actually Jimmy did, but yeah, I know about her.”
“She had Kryptonite.”
Henderson shook his head. “Those Luthors. We didn’t find any more than just the cage, by the way.”
“Thanks. I appreciate you taking care of the cage and keeping an eye open. I’ve already taken care of the piece she used on me just now, but she may have more. I’d prefer not to get publicly exposed to it, that’s why I just brought her car to you. The doors are welded shut, so she shouldn’t be escaping any time soon.”
“I see. Would you mind opening at least one of them before you go? It’d save us quite a bit of time.”
Clark hesitated. If Dr. Carlin did have Kryptonite with her…. “I’ll try it, but if I feel Kryptonite, I’ll have to excuse myself.”
Henderson nodded once. “Fair enough.”
**********
Fortunately, Dr. Carlin didn’t have any more Kryptonite, so Superman was able to free her into the waiting hands of the police. Lois carefully kept far away from him—a fact that Clark was very, very grateful for on many levels. He hadn’t thought he could get more conflicted, but now he knew he’d been wrong. Lois had saved his life. He’d seen how scared she was of digging the bullet out, and she’d done it anyway—done it because she loved Superman. It was yet another instance where in one fell swoop she’d managed to be absolutely wonderful to him and yet break his heart. Fortunately, Clark hadn’t been at LexCorp at all, and since Lois was carrying Kryptonite around, there was no way he was going to show up there as himself. So, he’d have at least a couple of hours before he’d have to talk to her.
Superman left, and Clark went back to the Planet. He didn’t plan on staying long in case Lois showed up with the Kryptonite. Happily, by the time he’d gotten back, Lois had called in the story and told Perry she’d be out of the office for the rest of the day—something about needing to run errands. Clark was guessing that meant she was out looking for a lead box. He definitely needed to get that Kryptonite away from her. If she ever found out that he was Superman, he didn’t want her to have any access to Kryptonite. Clark looked over their story, and then sent it on to Perry. Sometimes he hated doing stories this way—having to act like he was clueless about the resolution of their investigation and letting Lois tell her side and her side alone. But that was the reality of his double life. And, after living without Superman for two months, he found himself much more willing to put up with those difficulties. He finished up his stories for the day and headed home.
