Winner Takes All
Folc4evernaday
Part 10
***
Clark stood in the kitchen scrubbing at his Superman suit that was covered in black residue. The phone on the wall next to him rang. He put the suit down and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Clark?” His mother’s voice echoed through the phone lines. “We saw the news…”
“Hi, Mom.” Clark rested the phone in between the crook of his neck and shoulder as he continued to scrub at his suit once more.
“Are you all right, son?” Jonathan asked.
“I’m fine…Sorry, I didn’t call you back yesterday. Lois and I have been swamped at work…”
“Oh…” Martha was quiet a moment. “Is there something you would like to tell us?”
“Not really….” Clark sighed, putting the suit down. “Mom, how do you clean spandex?”
“Well, first you need to soak it then work on trying to get the stain out..” Martha said.
“Clark, about Lois…” Jonathan interjected.
“It's not coming out,” Clark said defeated.
“Is it a dirt stain or an oil-based stain?” Martha asked.
“I don’t know, Mom. It’s a …BOMB stain…” Clark said frustrated.
“Oh, honey….” Martha began soothingly, “You sound so sad…”
“Clark, are you sure you’re all right? We saw the explosion on T.V. That was no nickel popper.” Jonathan interrupted.
Clark sighed, “I’m fine, Dad.” He continued scrubbing at the stain on his suit, “Now if I can only get this…”
“The important thing is blot, don’t rub,” Martha suggested.
Clark stopped scrubbing at the stain and looked closer at it. The stain had spread even more. “Great.” He sighed and threw the suit into the sink with frustration.
“Will you two forget about the laundry for a minute?” Jonathan interrupted. “We’ve got a serious problem here.”
“Jonathan, it isn’t certain the explosion was aimed at him,” Martha said.
“Aw, bull. Somebody’s gunnin’ for our boy.” Jonathan muttered.
“Dad, I’m fine.” Clark sighed, “It's not me I’m worried about. It's everyone else in Metropolis...Lois and I have a few leads, but nothing concrete. Now that the hotel room was destroyed…most of the evidence we’ve got is gone too…”
“Your hotel room was destroyed?” Martha asked aghast.
“Yeah, and now an entire weekend of undercover work is gone…down the drain,” Clark muttered in disgust.
“So, you and Lois were…working…undercover?” Jonathan asked hesitantly.
“Well…yeah,” Clark said, still not picking up at what his parents were hinting at. “The Honeymoon Suite was right across the street from where the meetings were being held…Wait a minute, you guys didn’t think that Lois and I…?”
“No, of course not,” Martha said, shaking her head defiantly.
“We trust you, son,” Jonathan added.
“So, you and Lois are getting pretty close, huh?” Martha added conspiratorially, trying to change the subject.
“Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that…” Clark felt the blush creeping up his neck. He wasn’t really comfortable discussing his relationship with Lois with his parents. He was a bit ashamed of himself for letting things get so out of hand on their first date. He had been raised better than that.
Jonathan seemed to sense Clark’s hesitancy in discussing Lois, “So, any ideas on who is behind the explosion?”
“Uh, I’m not really sure. There was something about those suicide attempts….and the explosion… One of the jumpers said something about a test when she was sedated…”
“Test?” Martha asked concerned. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna figure it out…and soon…before any more people get hurt.” Clark said. A knock at his front door caught his attention. He x-rayed the door and smiled, “Uh, Mom, Dad, I’ve gotta go. Lois is here.”
“Goodnight, Clark…have fun,” Martha said with a slight sing-song to her tone.
“Call us,” Jonathan added.
“I will. I promise.” Clark hung up the phone then turned to the sink where his suit was. “Forget it.” He muttered, grabbing the suit and stuffing it into the trash can below his sink.
“Clark?” Lois’ voice echoed from the other side of the door. “Are you home?”
Clark jogged lightly up the steps and opened the door. “Lois, what are you doing here?”
Lois brushed past him, dressed in a white cotton pullover and shorts, loaded down with the files they had been going over earlier, “It’s about time. I thought we could sort through these some more. There has to be something that we’re missing….”
“Great. Come on in.” He gestured towards the couch. Lois sunk down on the couch and laid the files on the table in front of her. “So, where do you want to start?” He asked, taking a seat next to her.
“I thought we could take another look at those suicidal attempts. It's too coincidental…and what about that explosion today?” Clark watched her with a smile. She stopped talking; seeming to notice him staring at her. “What?”
“Nothing.”` He said looking away.
Lois looked behind her, curiously then turned back to him, “What?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head, “You’re just…kinda babbling.”
Lois smiled at him. “I don’t babble. I think aloud.”
“You babble,” Clark said, shooting her a smile. Lois gave him a crooked smile back, catching his gaze for a brief moment before turning away.
“Uh, so, I was thinking we should try and figure out what all these incidents have in common. Maybe it’ll help us narrow down what these tests are on…or for…” Lois still wasn’t looking at him. She just stared blankly at the file in front of her. Clark had to suppress a laugh. She was holding the file upside down.
“Okay, well, let’s start with the suicide attempts.” Clark began, hoping once they began bouncing ideas off one another she would loosen up a bit.
“Yes,” Lois nodded, putting the file down on the table; she turned to face him, “both jumpers came to Metropolis at the same time …working for the same company.”
“But before then they’d had nothing to link them together.” Clark pointed out.
“LexCorp is one of the largest companies in the world. They employ over half of Metropolis…It could be just coincidental that they work at the same company.” Lois reasoned.
Clark nodded, “Okay, but they both were on a direct line across town from one another when they performed their suicidal attempts.”
“Yes, Jules Johnson never jumped, but Monique Kahn did.” Lois crinkled her nose. “That’s an inconsistency, isn’t it?”
“Well, if Superman hadn’t have shown up Jules Johnson could have jumped,” Clark added.
“I doubt it,” Lois muttered. She grew thoughtful for a minute then snapped her fingers, “Superman showed up to rescue both of them. That’s another commonality between them.”
“I think that’s everything on the jumpers.” Clark said, “What about the explosion?”
“That was weird, wasn’t it?” Lois mused, “Superman walks in and the building explodes. Henderson said the explosive pieces they’d analyzed weren’t any use; they’d been damaged too much.”
“So, what have we got? Two incidents where Superman showed up to rescue..” Clark sighed, “That still doesn’t explain the test.”
“Maybe they’re testing the police’s response time?” Lois reasoned. “To plan for something bigger…”
Clark’s eyes narrowed, “Or Superman’s.”
“But what’s the point in testing Superman?” Lois asked.
“I don’t know.” Clark shook his head. “We didn’t go into specifics about Superman’s abilities in that article. Maybe someone wants to find Superman’s weaknesses and exploit them?” Clark reasoned. He tried to push the fears he had of someone using Lois to get to him. Little did anyone know; as of right now Lois was his only weakness.
***
Clark seemed upset about something. They seemed to be getting somewhere with the research and then Clark’s tone had gotten very solemn. “Are you okay?” Lois asked, pushing a strand of hair out of his face.
He gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine, Lois. It’s just a bit disconcerting….”
“Disconcerting?” Lois asked quizzically.
“I mean, the guy just wants to help…that’s all; and instead he’s getting attacked….and there’s, even more, problems out there than there were, to begin with.” Lois watched him vent his frustrations with an amused smile. He was so cute when he got worked up about something. “People were hurt today. Thank God, no one was killed, but..” She couldn’t resist. He just looked so darn cute when he was this worked up. She leaned up and kissed him. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done the same thing to her when she got worked up about something.
At first, he seemed too stunned by her actions to respond then slowly she felt him begin to respond. His hand moved to cup her cheek as he continued their kiss. It wasn’t heated or frantic like their kisses over the past few days had been. It was more slow and sensual. She could feel her body temperature slowly begin to rise when Clark pulled away.
Resting his forehead against hers he smiled at her, “What was that for?”
“No reason.” Lois teased, linking her arms around his neck. “You seemed like you needed a distraction.” She reasoned, tracing a seductive finger down his chest. “You were getting pretty worked up there…”
“Oh…” He gave her a sheepish expression, “I didn’t mean to get carried away…”
Lois leaned up to kiss him once more, “I think it’s sweet that you care so much.” She whispered.
“You do?” He asked cautiously against her lips.
“Mmm hmm,” she nodded, lowering her lips to trace along his neckline.
“Oh…” Clark moaned, melting into the couch. She smiled against his skin. She had him exactly where she wanted him. She moved to straddle him as she continued her torture. She nibbled lightly on his ear, “Oh, God, Lois…”
“You know, it wasn’t very nice of you to leave me all alone this morning…” she whispered against his skin. She tugged at the hem of his shirt, slipping her hand upward to trace his perfectly sculpted chest. He squirmed beneath her touch; she smiled against his skin and pushed his shirt up over his head. He disentangled himself from the shirt, giving her the perfect opportunity to move her ministrations downward.
He gasped as she continued her torture. “Oh, yeah…” he moaned in between heavy breaths. She felt his hands slowly moving up the back of her thighs, kneading the flesh as he did so. “I had to grab another…Oh, God, Lois…” He hissed in-between his teeth as she readjusted herself on his lap, pressing her small frame against him, “…Lois…” he rasped out. “…you are killing me…”
“Not yet…” Lois moved back up his chest, leaving a trail of feather light kisses in her wake. Clark’s hands rested on her buttocks, gently kneading the flesh through the cotton shorts she wore. She nibbled at the arc where his shoulder and neck connected, eliciting a moan of pleasure from him.
“Loiss…” He hissed. She moaned against his neck. He pulled her closer, grinding his hips against hers, “Do you have any idea what that does to me?” he murmured before capturing her mouth.
“I have a pretty good idea.” She whispered against his lips. He slipped his hand up her back, gently kneading the flesh beneath his hand. He seemed to be looking for something. At his confused expression, she smiled against his mouth. “Looking for something?”
She gasped in delight at the contact. Clark smiled against her mouth, “No bra…”
“Waste of time.” She murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck as she deepened the kiss.
“Definitely.” He whispered back. He lifted the pullover above her head and helped her disentangle herself from it. She felt his hands move up her chest. “You are so beautiful…” he murmured, placing a kiss along her collarbone. “..and gorgeous…” another kiss at the peak of the valley between her breasts, “..and incredibly sexy…”
“Oh, God, Clark…” she moaned, raking a hand through his hair, “Oh, Clark, yes…” She felt his hand move to the waistband of her shorts, lightly tracing the path from her navel downward. She could feel his body responding to their embrace. “Oh…Oh, God…” she moaned. He slipped his hand beneath the waistband of her shorts. She quickly adjusted her position on his lap to give him better access. He smiled against her skin.
“Lois Lane going commando….” He murmured against her skin with intrigue.
“Like I said, waste of time.” She murmured. He slipped his hand out of her shorts and moved to her inner thighs, caressing them lightly, “..please…” she gasped out.
She gasped in surprise as he stood up with her. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he strode into the kitchen with her and lowered them to the dining table.
“Cla…” she moaned as she felt the cool surface against her back. He stepped away from her for half a second and pulled his hand away. “…please don’t stop..” she pleaded.
“These are in the way.” He murmured, tugging at her cotton shorts. She lifted her buttocks up so as to help remove the shorts. He tugged them off then threw them over his shoulder. H
“Oh, God, yes..” she moaned, lifting her arms up over her head as he lowered himself to the table, brushing his lips against her skin from the navel up, “Clark…Oh, God, please…please don’t stop…” she moaned.
“I’m not.” He whispered against her skin.
“Clark…Oh, God, Clark…too…many …clothes…”
“You are so sexy, Lois Lane…”
She smiled up at him as he leaned over her, caressing her cheek. “Not so bad yourself, farmboy…” she murmured.
“Farmboy?” he asked.
She nodded breathlessly, “It suits you.” He smiled back at her, lowering his mouth to hers once more.
***
The distinct knock at his front door caused them both to look up. “What the…” Clark turned toward the front door, unsure of who could be visiting him at this time of night.
“No, no, no…” Lois murmured, “I’m so close…” she whimpered.
Clark winced, turning back to Lois, “Tell me about it…” Clark whispered, pulling away from her.
“We can’t just ignore whoever it is?” Lois asked, disappointed, pulling him back into her arms.
“CK? Hey, are you home?” Jimmy’s voice echoed through the room.
“I’m going to kill him,” Clark muttered, looking down at his naked partner still lying on the table, waiting for him to join her. “A slow and painful death…”
Lois groaned, “Now you know why I nicknamed him Interruptus?”
“CK? Hello?” Jimmy’s voice echoed through the door again.
“He’s not going to go away, is he?” Clark muttered, regretfully.
Lois looked up at him, her eyes full of regret. “Not a chance.”
“Don’t move.” He whispered then turned to put his shorts back on and answered the door. “Jimmy, it's…very late.” He partially opened the door; not allowing Jimmy to see behind him; into his apartment.
“Yeah, I know, CK, but I don’t know what to do. I lost Roarke. I can’t figure out where he went. I went into the warehouse and no one was in there. I didn’t see him go anywhere…The Chief’s gonna kill me if he finds out I lost him…” Jimmy whined.
The door swung open from behind him and Lois, dressed back in her sweatshirt and cotton shorts yelled, “What do you mean you, LOST Roarke??”
“Uh, well, I….” Jimmy looked between the two of them with an amused look on his face, “Lois, what are you doing here?”
“Come on in,” Clark gestured for him to enter. It didn’t look like they were going to be picking up his and Lois’ earlier activities anytime soon.
***
“I still don’t get it.” Lois sighed, pacing around the apartment. “How did you lose him?”
“Well, Allison and I…”
“Allison?” Lois asked, raising her eyebrow, “Jimmy…”
“I know. I know.” Jimmy sighed, raking his hand through his hair. “Believe me, I know.”
Clark sighed, “I’m sure it’ll be okay, Jimmy, just, leave a message for Perry and explain what happened. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
Lois nodded, “Just call him. He’ll get mad but he’ll get over it. He’ll understand I promise.”
“Okay,” Jimmy sighed. “I’ll go ahead and give him a call.” He tried to change the subject, looking back and forth between Lois and Clark. He noticed the look between them. “So, you guy’s seem to be getting along better. Chief was right about partnering you up, huh?”
“I …” Clark began at the same time Lois said, “Well, I…”
Jimmy laughed, “Goodnight, guys.” He closed the door behind him. There was something definitely starting between them for sure. At least he thought so.
***
He sighed in relief, closing the door behind Jimmy. He had been ready to push the young man out the door but Lois upon hearing he’d LOST Roarke had had other ideas in mind. Lois. He looked around the living room. She had just been…. Where could she have gone? He walked over toward the kitchen where he had last seen her. He couldn’t find her. “Looking for something?” Lois whispered from behind him. She leaned against his back, pressing her nude body against him.
Clark groaned as he felt her push his shorts back down and he stepped out of them. “I was looking for this gorgeous partner of mine..” he whispered, turning around to face her.
“Is that so?” she teased, raking her hands up and down his chest. He slowly walked them back towards the table, allowing his hands to roam up and down her sides.
“Yes, too bad I don’t have a chance with her. I hear she’s dating her partner…” He teased, kissing her collarbone. She moaned in pleasure as he pressed her against the edge of the table.
“Mmm…He’s pretty gorgeous himself…got a body to die for…and a killer smile…” she whispered in-between raspy breaths. “Oh, God…” she moaned as he pressed her back against the table. “I didn’t think he’d ever leave,”
“Thirty minutes and seventeen seconds,” He lowered his mouth to hers, caressing her cheek lightly. “Where were we?” he murmured against her mouth.
“I think we were right..”
***
“Wow…” Lois laughed against his chest. “We should research like this more often.”
“Definitely redefines the term of ‘pulling an all-nighter,’ doesn’t it?” he teased, kissing her head.
“Mmmm hmmm.” She murmured against his chest. She let out a small yawn.
Clark moved to cup her cheek, “Why don’t you spend the night?”
Lois seemed to contemplate the suggestion for a moment before nodding, “Only if we stay like this all night.” She whispered.
Clark nodded and picked her up, steadying himself for a minute before walking them into the bedroom. He lowered them to the bed and kissed her lightly, “Do you want your pullover? Or you could borrow one of my old shirts…”
Lois shook her head sleepily, curling up with him. “No, this is fine.” Clark pulled the covers over them and held her close. This was like a dream come true; falling asleep together with the woman he loved and waking up with her in the morning. He couldn’t ask for anything more perfect.
“Lois?” He called out her name hesitantly.
“Hmmm?” She asked sleepily. He could tell she was barely conscious. He wanted to say it. He’d been holding back saying it since the night she had bolted out of his arms.
“I love you.” He whispered and kissed her on the forehead.
Her response was barely audible, but he heard it, “I love you too.”
He smiled and kissed her forehead once more. No, nothing more perfect than this.
***
“Is everything all set?” Nigel asked.
“Roarke doesn’t suspect a thing,” Harrington said, puffing at his cigar. He looked at his watch and grimaced, “It’s show time.”
“Don’t forget; if Roarke tries to kidnap you; let him,” Nigel instructed. “We’ll handle Roarke.”
“I better be getting paid extra for this.” Harrington snapped.
“Of course,” Nigel said.
An echo of a shutter from a camera going off caught their attention. “What was that?” Harrington asked. He nodded toward one of his men to investigate. A burly man in his late thirties moved toward the crates on Pier 31, investigating the source of the distraction.
Jimmy Olsen, who had been hiding behind the crates, held his breath, willing the man not to see him. He had only been able to see Harrington. He hadn’t seen who he was talking to. He had thought taking a photograph would help. He could always enhance it to bring out the image of Harrington’s unknown accomplice. Unfortunately, taking that photo had drawn attention to himself.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Jimmy looked up at the burly man apprehensively. This was not good.
***
Lois frowned as she woke up. It was still dark out. Clark wasn’t next to her. Where had he gone? She looked around the room and pouted. Why was he always leaving her to wake up alone?
“You still haven’t heard anything?” Clark’s voice echoed from out in the hallway. Lois smiled to herself. He hadn’t gotten too far away.
She lazily stretched her arms and leaned over to look at the clock. It read five am. She groaned. It was early and she was still tired and sore. Grudgingly she got out of bed and wrapped Clark’s comforter around her. She walked into the living room where Clark stood fully dressed for work, with his back to her on the phone, “Any word about Shockwave?” Clark asked into the phone with his back turned toward her. She walked over to him and gave him a kiss from behind. He didn’t seem to be startled at all. He turned to kiss her back and wrapped an arm around her as he continued his conversation. “Okay, well keep me posted, Chief. Yeah, I will.” He hung up the phone and smiled at her. “Good Morning.” He leaned down to kiss her.
“You’re a spoilsport.” She murmured, eying his body that was fully clothed.
Clark laughed and kissed her once more. “As much as I would love an encore of last night; we need to get going.”
“At five in the morning?” she asked incredulously.
“Well, Shockwave is supposed to begin at dawn. We’ve got ..” he looked at his watch, “…maybe two hours if we’re lucky. We’ve got to stop by your apartment, get you a change of clothes…”
Lois winked at him, “You don’t like what I’m wearing?”
“I never said that. It’s just very distracting.” Clark said. “Then we’ve got to get to the Planet to meet Perry. He just got out of a meeting with his contact in Washington. He said he tried calling Jimmy but got no answer. He’s going to swing by his place and pick him up and meet us at the Planet.”
Lois nodded. “Okay, let’s go.” She headed for the door still wrapped in his comforter.
“Uh, Lois..”
“What?” Lois asked.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He held up her clothes from last night.
Lois blushed then grabbed the items from him. “Oh…almost forgot.”
***
At the Planet, Lois and Clark entered the newsroom to find a distraught Perry and an impatient Cat waiting for them. “It’s about time,” Cat muttered when she saw the duo enter. “Time is money…”
“Cat, it is too early for you to be this perky.” Lois groaned. “What’s going on?”
“Well, for starters Perry lost Jimmy.” Cat explained.
“What?” Lois asked.
“He called me last night; said he had lost Roarke. I told him I’d meet up with him this morning and now I can’t find him…He’s not at his apartment, his car’s missing, and his cell is off.” Perry explained.
“What time was that?” Clark asked, apprehensively. He thought he’d been able to get through to him last night but he was concerned Jimmy had done something stupid … Like try to solve the case by himself…The same thing Lois would have done.
“That was about two hours ago…” Perry explained. “I just…Well, I hope he’s all right. I know I’ve been giving him a hard time lately, but I’m trying to get him ready for the real world of journalism….That’ boy’s kinda become like a son to me.”
“We’ll find him, Chief,” Lois said.
“I’m starved.” Cat interrupted.
“What about Washington?” Lois asked.
Perry sighed, “I called everyone I know in Washington. No one’s interested. And as far as the Navy’s concerned, there is no test.”
“It’s the military, Chief. They’re not going to go broadcasting their business to anyone; especially reporters.” Lois said. Clark shook his head and moved towards his desk. He picked up his phone and began to dial. “Who are you calling?” Lois asked.
Clark held up his index finger, signaling for her to wait. He then spoke into the phone, “Yes, hello. This is Clark Kent of the Daily Planet. I’d like to speak to Lex Luthor.”
Lois gasped, “Clark, hang up that phone right now! Are you out of your mind? We do NOT need his help! He’s probably involved in this!”
Clark ignored, her, “Yes, it's important.”
***
“Well, this is a surprise,” Roarke said, watching Bart tie Jimmy up to the pole on the Pier. “I would have expected much better from the Daily Planet.”
“You’re not going to get away with this,” Jimmy said.
“I already have,” Roarke said. “It’s been a pleasure, but I have a plane to catch. I hope you enjoy the show.” He laughed then turned to leave.
“Enjoy the show?” Jimmy asked in disbelief. “What does that mean?”
***
“Jimmy doesn’t know what he’s doing as a reporter.” Lois said sadly, “What if he did something stupid?” At Clark’s look of disapproval towards her, she got defensive. “I’m not that bad..”
“Not that bad?” Clark echoed. “You are always jumping in without checking the water level first.”
“I’d describe you as impetuous,” Perry added with his own look of disapproval.
“Headstrong,” Clark added.
“And you’re always getting yourself into dangerous situations.” Perry and Clark finished in unison.
“And to make matters worse that boy’s been learning the ropes from you,” Perry added.
“Is anyone else hungry?” Cat asked.
“No, thank you.” Lex Luthor said, walking down the steps into the newsroom.
Perry looked over at Luthor, “Lex, what are you doing here?”
Lex Luthor nodded at Perry, “Mr. White,” He turned to Lois and Clark whom were standing near their desks, “Mr. Kent, Ms. Lane,” He gave a smile in their direction, but neither seemed moved, “Luthor Technologies has approximately a billion dollars in research and development tied up in a project code named ‘Shock Wave’; even the name is top secret. Yet, Mr. Kent, you call me to tell me not only do you know of the project, but you suspect Thadeus Roarke, a man with whom I’ve had previous unsatisfactory dealings is intent on sabotaging the impending test. Under the circumstances, I might have elected to stay home and watch reruns of Flipper on the all night cable channel. Instead, I decided to come here. What is going on?”
Clark was hesitant a moment but then decided to just bite the bullet, “We’ve had Roarke and Congressman Ian Harrington under surveillance. Roarke is positive your system will fail it’s test, leaving the door open for his system to be adopted instead.”
Clark watched Luthor’s facial expression. He seemed a bit rehearsed. “Roarke and Harrington. I should have known. You say Roarke is positive?” Clark nodded. “That would imply sabotage. No one ever described Thaddeus Roarke as an incurable optimist.”
Cat had pulled out a phone book and was looking for places to eat at, “What about some Danishes?”
“Is sabotage even possible with your system?” Lois asked.
“So far as I know it can’t.” Luthor gave her a warm smile. Clark noticed Lois step closer to him.
“But Roarke is a weapon system expert.” Clark pointed out.
“I know it’s early, but we could order a late dinner. How about Italian? Oooh! Or Mexican?” Cat asked.
“What about power failure?” Perry asked.
Luthor shook his head, “Too many backups.”
“Roarke hinted at something more simple than a simple breakdown. Something…bigger.” Clark said.
They all seemed at a loss. “Oh, I know. How about some sushi? Japanese would really hit the spot. Hey, how about some ‘tsunami’?” Cat said.
Realization dawned on Clark. “Tsunami. A giant wave caused by an undersea tremor.”
“Shockwave.” Luthor murmured.
“Apocalypse Consulting has a warehouse on Pier 31.” Perry said with realization, “Great shades of Elvis!” Without a second thought, Clark headed for the stairwell, “Where are you going?” Perry hollered.
“To try and find Superman!” Clark hollered at him.
Lois went after him, “Clark, why are you taking the stairwell? The elevator’s faster?” By the time she had reached the stairwell he was gone. “Great.” She turned on her heel toward the elevator and pressed the call button.
Neither noticed Lex watching them with a smug smile on his face.
***
Lois hadn’t found Clark when she had reached the lobby. She shrugged it off and headed for Pier 31 to try and find Jimmy. Knowing he might have tried to do something stupid. She approached the warehouse Jimmy had told them about the day before. Seeing no sign of danger she cautiously entered. “Jimmy?” she whispered. “Jimmy?”
Her leg bumped into something. She looked down. “Oh, my God!” Lois screamed. She was staring at Congressman Ian Harrington’s dead body.
“Lois?” Jimmy’s voice echoed from the other room.
Lois tried to calm her breathing down a bit. “Just get a grip.” She muttered to herself. “Jimmy?” She opened the door and found she was now outside on the deck of the Pier.
“Lois!” Jimmy gave a lopsided grin, happy to see her. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”
Lois immediately went to his aid. “How in the world did you get yourself into this mess?” She asked, pulling out her Swiss Army knife. She began to cut the ropes frantically.
“Need a hand?” a familiar voice asked.
“Superman!” Jimmy’s voice rang in admiration.
The man of steel landed before them and with one swift flick of the wrist broke the rope into shreds. “Uh, thanks.” Lois said, “I guess Clark was able to find you?”
“Yes, you both need to get out of here….before..” Clark looked up at the waves in the water that were beginning to form. “Get out of here, now!” With that, he dove into the water.
Lois stared in shock as the water rose up into a gigantic Tidal Wave that appeared to be headed for them. Her mind was telling her to move, but her body couldn’t seem to respond.
“Totally cool!” Jimmy said, flicking photo after photo.
She was sure they were going to die. The wave was too high. There was no way Superman could stop it in time; could he? Why hadn’t the wave dropped yet? It was already higher than all the buildings. It was almost touching the sky. Or was it? It …It was getting smaller. She watched in admiration as the wave began to shrink. Superman was shrinking the wave? How was that possible? She squinted her eyes. It appeared that Superman had created an undersea trench. She watched in rapt attention as the wave began to fold itself until it was merely a shadow of it’s former self.
“That was awesome!” Jimmy said enthusiastically.
Lois gave him a weak smile and nodded. “Yeah. Jimmy, did you see Superman come out of the water?”
“Uh, no.” Jimmy said, “but he’s pretty fast. I’m sure he’s okay.”
“I hope so,” Lois said.
***
“Impressive.” Lex Luthor said, folding up his paper and laying it on his desk. “Who would have thought Superman would be able to defeat Mother Nature at it’s finest?” He turned toward his window and found him facing his subject of discussion. He pressed a button on his desk to open the window, “Superman, what do I owe this pleasure?”
Clark stared him down coldly. He looked around the room and grabbed Lex’s prized sword of Alexander the Great, “You want to know how strong I am, Luthor?” He bent the sword in half. “You want to know how fast I am?” He pulled out a pistol from the case on Luthor’s desk, loaded a single bullet inside the chamber and aimed it directly at Luthor. A momentary look of shock and genuine fear crossed Luthor’s face. He fired the gun, but before the bullet reached Luthor’s chest, he grabbed the bullet at the last minute. Luthor visibly sighed in relief. He crushed the bullet in between his forefinger and thumb then placed it in Luthor’s hand, causing him to wince in pain. He strode over to the window and gave a warning glare in Luthor’s direction.
Luthor seemed to have regained his wit’s, “Does that conclude your demonstration?”
“The tests stop…now,” Clark warned.
“That would be nice, but what if they don’t?” Luthor asked menacingly.
“If I were you…” Clark began.
“Me?” Luthor scoffed. “I admit nothing, however, let's assume that these tests continue. You can’t be everywhere at once Superman. As long as you stay in Metropolis, innocent people will die.” The gauntlet had been thrown. Clark narrowed his eyes, understanding Luthor’s veiled threat. “Are you willing to accept that responsibility? If I were you I’d think about it.”
“Think about this, Luthor. I can’t be everywhere at once. If someone happened to throw you off a building? I may or may not be able to catch you in time.” They were staring one another down, millimeters from one another.
“Why, Superman, is that a threat?” Luthor asked mockingly.
“I’m just pointing out the obvious.” Clark narrowed his eyes. “Like I said before. I know who you are and I will bring you down. Don’t get too comfortable.” He moved past him towards the window once more. “And another thing, don’t make threats when you have so much to lose.” He gestured towards the now destroyed sword of Alexander the Great. With that he was gone, leaving a smiling Lex Luthor in his wake.
“Round one…” Luthor murmured, taking a puff of his cigar.
***
The approaching police cars echoed in the background. Lois stared blankly at the waters. She and Jimmy still hadn’t seen Superman emerge from the water. She wasn’t sure what to do. Should she say something? Try and yell for help to try and get his attention? There was something off about this whole thing. The water hadn’t begun to turn until Superman had shown up; just like the explosion from yesterday. Could this test have been another way of testing Superman?
“Lois? Lois, are you all right?” Someone was calling her name. She looked toward the source of the voice and smiled. It was Clark. “Lois?” Clark knelt down beside her and put an arm around her.
“I don’t think that test was all Lex made it out to be…” she murmured quietly.
“I ..I know.” He said, helping her to her feet.
“Kent, I told you to stay back and let my men survey the…” Henderson stopped when he saw Lois. “I should have known…” Henderson smiled at Lois, “You just can’t stay out of trouble, can you, Lois?”
Lois just glared at him, “Henderson, you have more important things to worry about than me and Clark. There’s a dead body in the warehouse.”
“What?” Clark asked aghast.
“It's Harrington,” Lois said grimly.
“He’s dead?” Jimmy asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, I tripped over the body,” Lois explained.
“Stay back.” Henderson wagged a finger at them then turned back towards the warehouse. “I want to talk to you two before you leave.”
Lois sighed and leaned her head against Clark’s shoulder. “Here. Let’s go sit down.” Clark guided her over toward one of the benches on the pier. Lois nodded and sat down next to him. She sighed in relief at his touch.
Someone was testing Superman. Someone was putting people’s lives in danger just to test Superman. Who? Lex? Trask? Who would do such a thing? “Clark, he never came out of the water…” Lois said solemnly.
“Who?” Clark asked.
“Superman…” she turned to face him, tears falling from her face.
***
Clark wasn’t sure what to do. Lex Luthor had made his intentions clear. If Superman stayed in Metropolis innocent people would get hurt; killed even. He hadn’t known what to say to Lois when she had asked about Superman’s disappearance. Should he just let the world think Superman died trying to stop the Tsunami wave? Maybe if he just kept a low profile for a few days he’d be able to think more clearly.
He wasn’t sure where his and Lois’ relationship was headed right now. He loved her more than life itself and he had heard her repeat the declaration of love to him last night, but she hadn’t mentioned it again. He wasn’t sure if he should bring it up again or wait for her to say something. How had his life gotten so complicated? He knew he needed to tell her about himself, but first, he needed to talk to his parents about it. Before he did that though he needed to know she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. Once he was sure of that he would work on letting his parents get to know her and hopefully warm them up to the idea of sharing his secret with her. After all, it was their secret too.
***
TBC...
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