This is part of a much longer story, but at the moment it is very plot holey so I'm tossing up whether to actually finish it or just post what I have as connected one shots.
Anyway... hope this fic is intriguing in a non-making sense way. Set sometime before The Pilot episode in the ALT-World (or my version of it).
Thanks CalliopeWayne for the look over.
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"Lex, we've been waiting for forty-five minutes. I have a plane to catch."
Lex smiled at her, full of confidence. "Trask assured me it was authentic. It will be worth the wait. You'll see."
"We've heard that before," Lois reminded him with a smirk.
Lex gave her another placating smile. "Okay, look, we'll give him ten more minutes. If he doesn't show up, we'll go for breakfast—my treat. And I will get you to the airport in time for your flight," he promised.
"Fine," Lois grunted, tucking her hands into her coat pockets to warm them. She felt like they had been standing outside the dilapidated warehouse in the middle of nowhere for hours. The rain and wind picked up, and she considered running for the jeep. She could blast the heater and read today's edition of the Daily Planet while waiting for Lex's secret government agent to show up.
Checking her watch for at least the tenth time, she sighed loudly for Lex's benefit. He turned away from her to peer into the dusty warehouse window.
"I think I see something," he said. "Someone's moving around in there."
Lois exhaled. "Finally."
The warehouse door rolled open, and Lex and Trask greeted each other with firm handshakes.
Trask looked past Lex to narrow his eyes at Lois. "Lex, I thought we agreed you were coming alone?"
Lex tugged her forward. "Lois is a reporter," he said with pride.
Trask crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You brought a reporter here? What tabloid are you from, honey?"
Lois scowled at the man, who was clearly trying to intimidate her. "I'm from The Daily Planet. Do you want to see my ID?" She pressed her lips together in annoyance as she dug into her purse for her ID. "Here." She thrust it forward for Trask to inspect.
Trask shot her a look of disdain and waved her off. "Fine. If Lex vouches for you…" he shrugged dismissively.
Lex stepped in front of her. "You want the people to know the truth, don't you? She's an award-winning journalist. If she writes a story about this, people will listen."
After a moment of consideration, Trask nodded. "Fine. Follow me."
Lois exchanged a glance with Lex, who nodded his head and smiled reassuringly at her. His hand on the small of her back, they followed Trask through the empty warehouse and down a corridor into another smaller warehouse. This one was also empty, aside from the sheet-covered object that sat on a table in the middle of the room.
"That's it?" Lois nudged Lex. "It's kind of small to be a spaceship."
"Big enough for an infant." Trask turned to face them.
"An infant?" Lois questioned.
"Yes." He tugged the sheet away to reveal the small blue craft.
Lois scoffed. "You think aliens sent their baby here? In that?" She exchanged a skeptical glance with Lex, annoyed that he convinced her to go on another pointless goose chase.
As far as spaceships went, it was hardly impressive, it reminded her of something an overzealous fanboy might build in their garage.
Not that she had actually ever seen a spaceship before. Neither had Lex, despite all his efforts.
Trask nodded. "Yes. I found it in government storage a month ago. It was first found in Kansas in the sixties."
"Smallville, right? Wasn't there a big meteor shower around that time?" Lex asked.
"1966, yes," Trask confirmed.
Lois laughed loudly. "Smallville? I couldn't make that name up!" When neither man laughed in return, she cleared her throat, feeling self-conscious. "Okay, so… that's when you think the spaceship…what? Landed?"
"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Lex said.
"Does it, though? It would have been a tiny baby. How would it even survive?" Lois stepped closer to the craft, circling it curiously. Up close, it was more impressive, she noted. Odd symbols were carved into the outer rim of the ship, and the red S emblem stood out against the blue ship. Twin indented geometric panels sat around the nose of the ship that she suddenly itched to touch.
Trask shrugged dismissively. "We can only hope it didn't."
Lois felt uncomfortable at the implication. Trask would wish death on a tiny, helpless child? Even an alien child? She needed to get out of there. Something about this man did not sit right with her. "Lex?"
Lex came up beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Lois, don't think of it as being a baby. We don't know what was in there."
Lois shrugged him away from her. "I'm not saying I believe any of this, but what if it was just a helpless child in there?"
Lex didn't answer her, and Trask gave her another look of contempt.
Turning away from them both, Lois moved even closer to the ship. Feeling inexplicably drawn to it, she reached out a hand to place it on one of the indented panels.
The panel began to glow, and her palm grew warm against it. Unable to pull her hand away, the warmth spread over her entire body. Her vision grew hazy, and a glowing white light engulfed her. She swayed as she became desperate to pull away.
"Lex…" she tried to call for help, her voice sounding like an echo in her mind.
The light intensified, and Lois felt her eyes roll back in her head as her mind was flooded with information.
"Kal El," she whimpered as her knees gave out.
Hitting the ground hard, she heard Lex scream her name.
Then there was nothing.
