TOC ~
Part 12
~ - ~
Alt-Metropolis – June 1990
“The News Business”
~ - ~
“So I told him that I couldn’t keep working for a sleazebag with a reputation for third-rate editing at a fourth-rate paper. Then I kneed him in the groin and walked out.”
“Oh, Star! You didn’t! The South Side Gazette isn’t a bad paper for one of the small weeklies. I’m not sure your boss is as bad as you say. You have a tendency to see the worst in men.”
“You weren’t there, Lois. He definitely had it coming. He didn’t just make a pass, he was crude.”
Lois shook her head. This was the third time Star had quit because of sexual harassment issues. Lois didn’t blame her for distrusting men. After Lois had shut down MEPWar, Mr. Turner had placed Star with a foster family. It hadn’t worked out well. Nor had the next placement, or the next. In the foster care system, Star’s opinion of people, especially men, had continued to deteriorate.
When Star turned eighteen, Lois had rented an apartment off-campus and offered to be roommates. Star had moved in and Lois had helped her finally graduate from high school, start college, and get her first real job. It hadn’t been easy, Lois was fiercely independent, but they understood each other in a way no one else could. Star had called them the founding members of Club Weirdo.
“What will you do now? Have you decided to give up on your major? I thought you wanted to work in the news business.”
“I do. What you’ve done over the years, and your friendship, has really inspired me, Lois. I’d love to work with you, but there’s no opening at the Daily Planet in what I really want to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Gossip. I want to work the society pages.”
Star laughed at Lois’s sour expression. “It’s still the news business, Lois. I just don’t have what it takes to claw my way into the good ol’ boys club of investigative journalism.”
“Gossip? Oh, Star. It’d be better to work in Sports or Travel and Leisure. Wouldn’t you rather travel?”
“No way! I love the glitz, the parties, the fake tans, and insincerity. My new friend, Angie Cox, works as a personal assistant for Lex Luthor and she has access to the best gossip about the celebrities and politicians attending some of Luthor’s social events. It sounds like a psychic’s playground.”
Lois gave her friend a stern look. “Star, it’s not right to spy.”
“Are you kidding? It’s totally our job to spy. You do it all the time! You expose the bad guy secrets and I’ll expose juicy tidbits about bad boys.”
Lois rolled her eyes.
“I just applied for a position at the Metropolis Star. Their gossip columnist is getting ready to retire and I’m hoping that my connections here will get me an interview there.”
Star gave her a knowing look and offered her pinky. Lois smiled and they hooked their pinkies together. “Well, I suppose if you can’t work at the Planet, it had better be the Star. I’ll talk to Cat Grant. She and the Star’s gossip columnist have a good report. Psycho Freak Promise.”
Star hugged her friend. “Thanks, Lois. I knew I could count on you.”
~ - ~
Alt-Metropolis – July 10, 1997
~ - ~
The taxi driver pulled up at the address Lois had given him. When the driver saw six police cruisers surrounding the perimeter and a circling helicopter, he glanced back at them. “Is this the right place, lady?”
Lois quickly paid him and got out of the cab, Clark close behind. She took in the scene before her. Most police officers were crouching behind their cars, guns drawn. One officer lay unconscious or dead just outside the front door of the laboratory and another was being treated by a medic for a gunshot wound in his foot.
Lois and Clark shared a glance. “I’ll be right back,” Clark said. “I need to change my clothes.”
Lois nodded and ignoring a junior officer’s warning to stay back, she ducked under the police tape and walked up to Henderson as Superman joined them. “What happened?” she demanded.
“Lane. Superman, I’m glad you’re here. Mensa’s inside, but we can’t get close enough to get inside without endangering the hostages. We think that Detective Monahan is out cold – the door opened in a blur and slammed into him and then mysteriously closed just as fast. Higgins over there swears his gun turned on him and fired by itself. I watched. It was all he could do to force the muzzle away from any vital targets.”
Lois looked at Clark, who said, “Dynonomics?”
Lois nodded and asked, “Can you wrap up his head before he can think to stop you?”
In response, Superman disappeared and reappeared carrying a long roll of heavy-duty foil. He accepted a pair of handcuffs from a bemused Inspector Henderson. “Be right back.”
Two seconds later, Superman opened the front door and ushered a struggling Mensa through. Mensa continued to tussle with Superman, swearing at the top of his lungs while his misshapen head reflected the helicopter searchlight and the flashing blue and red lights like a disco ball. After handing Mensa off to a group of police officers, Superman disappeared back into the building and a team of officers ran in after him. A few minutes later, Superman exited the building again leading a young boy and two teenage girls. An older man followed.
Sam Lane walked up to another police officer and held out his hands. He morosely took in the scene as he allowed himself to be cuffed and when he saw Lois staring at him, dropped his gaze to the ground.
Superman stepped up next to Lois. “He was tied to a chair and gagged in a back room. Apparently, he tried to rescue the children after he learned how Trisha’s mother died.”
Lois nodded and threaded her way through police and paramedics toward her father. She stopped a few feet from him and waited for him to look up. Sam Lane avoided her gaze and Lois steeled herself for the worst. She had to ask; she needed to know.
“Did you kill them? Did you kill mom and Lucy?”
General Sam Lane’s bloodshot eyes snapped up to meet hers. “No!” he exclaimed. “No. That was Mensa. I had no idea it wasn't an accident until now.”
Lois regarded him and then held out her hand. She knew her father understood her unspoken request. She wanted the truth, but she wouldn’t take it from him by force. Sam didn’t hesitate. He placed his cuffed hands on top of hers and met her gaze. Lois closed her eyes and then nodded.
“What about the celebrity brides? Where are Lolita Dolcheck, Karina Barnhold, and Mary LeBraun?”
“There were no others involved. I don’t know these women. Who are they?”
“Another case I’m working on. I thought they were connected.” Lois released his hands and stepped back and nodded to the arresting officer before looking at her father again.
“I’m sorry, Princess.”
“I know, Daddy.”
Lois wrapped her arms around herself as the officer closed the door. Sam Lane’s eyes never left his daughter’s until the police car pulled away and turned the corner.
“Are you okay, Lois?”
Lois turned and threw her arms around Clark’s shoulders. She held him, shaking for a moment before she could respond. “Yes. He didn’t do it. He was a terrible husband and an even worse father, but he didn’t kill them. He had a horrific way of showing it, but he actually did love us.”
Lois released Clark and looked over at the rescued hostages. “Only the three kids.”
Clark shook his head. “I looked. There were no signs that anyone else had been there. I even speed read through Mensa’s files,” he added in a whisper.
Lois’s eyes widened with interest. “Have I told you how much I love your powers? I wish I could have read through them myself. Can you share with me anything that jumped out at you?”
“A few things. There were copies of his research from MEPWar, files on the members of Dynonomics, files on the girls, Trisha included. He also had a financial file that listed ‘Draden Enterprises’ as his main sponsor, and a file that contained a chemical formula with a one word heading in Greek, ‘Oracle’. Does any of that mean anything to you?”
“Draden Enterprises was Mensa’s original sponsor for MEPWar. It came up again during my Lex Luthor investigation. It turned out to be a shell company associated with several scientific projects, but I never found anyone else associated with it.”
“And ‘Oracle’?”
“‘Oracle’ was a drug that Mensa was working on when I first started investigating him. The drug would allow him to implant instructions along with a trigger word in the subconscious of a psychic’s brain. With it, Mensa could use someone like me do whatever he wanted and all the while, I would be unaware. My guess is that wanted to continue with his criminal aspirations using these girls as his pawns.”
“There were no files on the celebrities, either the murder victims or the missing spouses.”
Lois smiled and shook her head. “No, my father didn’t know anything about the celebrity murders or the missing brides. My instincts have never failed me before and I was so sure that these disappearances were connected somehow. It looks like our engagement is still on.”
Inspector Henderson approached. “You might want to hold off on that engagement, Lane.”
“Why?”
Henderson ignored her question and turned to Clark instead. “Thanks for your help. I’ve been working with the commissioner on starting a unit that would be specially trained to deal with some of this supernatural stuff that Lane attracts, but I haven’t gotten very far yet.”
“Hey!”
“Also, I wanted to give you a heads-up. The Kryptonite from today’s bank robbery has gone missing.”
“What!”
Henderson nodded. “Those little green stones are the greasiest items we’ve ever held.”
Lois placed a hand on Clark’s arm. “I’ll find it,” she vowed. “And when I do, we’re going to wrap it up and send it straight into the sun. Do you have any leads, Henderson?”
“Not yet, but it’s an awful coincidence that it’s the same piece of Kryptonite that keeps showing up. We’ve already suspended three officers from Evidence and Property on corruption charges. Lieutenant Cox discovered it was missing, this time from my office.”
“Luthor’s bullet?” Clark asked weakly.
Henderson nodded. “We’ve got a dirty cop in deep.”
Lois’s eyes glazed over at this information and she started threading things together. <Deep at the precinct. That’s Luthor’s M.O. Did we miss one of Luthor’s lieutenants? How does Luthor still have access to the police and Luthor’s funds? Through Draden Enterprises? How is Luthor orchestrating it? Draden. Kryptonite. Draden Enterprises. Draden…Wait, it was *Angelica* Draden. Angelica. Just like Angelica Cox. Lieutenant Cox… No, it couldn’t be.>
<What, Lois? What is it?>
Lois came out of her ruminations and turned to Henderson. “Watch Lieutenant Cox. He has a connection to Luthor through his wife. Also, we need Warden Myers to move Lex Luthor to solitary and deny him any visitors for the next few days. No mail, either. Check the prison registers to see who’s been visiting Luthor, specifically a tall, dark-complexioned woman. If so, then I think we can catch more than one criminal with this Kryptonite bullet.”
~
TBC
