Again, many thanks to my diligent BR, Labrat.-
Reflections TOC From Part 9...
Martha and Jonathan walked out the back door, and looked up at the afternoon sky.
“So, Martha, what do you think?”
Still gazing into the sky, she replied, “I think our boy’s head hasn’t caught up with his heart yet.”
“Yep, he’s in trouble, all right.”
They leaned in to hug each other, and continued to look into the sky. Martha then said nonchalantly, “If she breaks my boy’s heart, I’ll have to hurt her.”
“We’ll see dear, we’ll see.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
... and now Part 10
Reflections, Part 10 Clark flew leisurely away from the setting sun, not wanting to damage the tux he held over his arm. Since he wasn’t in a hurry, he enjoyed, what was to him, the slow flight back to Metropolis. He used his enhanced vision to watch the progression of farms, rural areas, suburbs, and large cities move by under him. The patchwork of variety was the hallmark of his adopted land. He often wondered if his home planet had been so diverse. The small glimpse that the globe had given him hadn’t really shown him what life was like on Krypton. Maybe someday, he could figure out how to get the globe to give him more information about his home planet.
As he moved east, the sky grew redder, giving the land a warm, comforting glow. By the time he arrived in Metropolis dusk had fallen in the city. He had about an hour before Lois would be picking him up, so he had plenty of time to drop off his tux, and do a quick patrol of the city.
He lowered himself toward his hotel room, automatically searching the area for any witnesses to his arrival. When Clark’s eyes swept his room, he stopped in mid-air, surprised to see an intruder with a gun lurking in the room. Obviously he was waiting for Clark to enter the room through the door. Well, he was going to give the intruder a little super surprise. Clark flew up to the roof and dropped off his tux before confronting the intruder.
He was about to fly back to his room, but then froze and exclaimed, “Lois!” He immediately shot off to Lois’s apartment, shattering some of the nearby windows from the shock wave he left in his wake. A moment later, he came to a halt in front of Lois' building, and quickly scanned her apartment with his X-ray vision. Just as quickly he turned off his vision, turning a bright shade of red when he caught sight of Lois in a significant state of undress.
‘At least I know she’s safe,’ he thought to himself, embarrassed. ‘Good thing she had her back to me.’ This time, he used his super hearing to discern if there was any danger. Satisfied that she was safe, he flew back to the Apollo to confront the man with the gun.
The man was still waiting for him when he arrived. Slowly, he floated in front of the room’s window and opened it. He put on his best stern superhero look, and loudly cleared his throat, causing the man to turn toward Superman in surprise. After the initial shock wore off, the intruder raised his gun and fire several shots at Superman, which were easily caught by the superhero. He then emptied his gun at Superman, with the same result. Superman floated into the room, held out his hand, and dropped the caught slugs on the floor in front of him. The man just stared at Superman, his mouth agape in shock. Superman nonchalantly took the weapon from him and tossed it on the floor.
“You don’t read the papers much, do you?” Superman asked in a wry voice.
“Um a um a um a um a...”
“I’ll take that as a no. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
Superman disappeared, then reappeared a second later holding a rope. “Thanks for waiting.” He then whirled around the intruder tying up his hands and legs at super speed, and deposited him on the floor.
Superman looked down at him sternly again. “So, how about telling me why you’re waiting around in Mr. Kent’s room with a gun.”
The intruder just stared up at Superman, not saying a word.
“Hmm, cat’s got your tongue, huh? So who are you’re working for?”
The intruder seemed to get his wits back, and was able to get out, “I’m ain’t saying a thing without my lawyer.”
“Figures,” Superman said. It was obvious to Superman that this intruder was not the mastermind behind whatever was going on. “You may want to change your mind about that when the cops get here. Whoever you’re working for isn’t going to care whether or not you rot in jail.”
With a last stern look, Superman turned and went to the window. He flew through the open window, then doubled back to the roof of the hotel. After he landed, spun back into his regular clothes, and collected his tux, making his way over to the stairway door so he could walk back down to his floor. When he got to his room, he opened the door, being careful not to smack the intruder in the head, and peered around the door.
“So you are here like Superman said. I guess I’m glad here was coming around to ask me about last night.”
Clark deposited his tux on the kitchen table, then went to the pay phone that was hanging on the wall, and called the police station. When they answered, he requested to speak with Inspector Henderson. After waiting on hold for a few minutes, Henderson’s gruff voice came on the phone.
“Now what did Lane do?”
Clark chuckled at the Inspector’s assumption. “Nothing. I had an intruder with a gun waiting for me in my hotel room. Luckily Superman was passing by and caught the intruder before I got here. Could you send someone by to pick him up?”
“Don’t move, I’ll be there in five.”
“Yes sir,” Clark replied in mock seriousness.
“Don’t smart mouth me, Kent, one of you is enough.”
“I’ll be here, Inspector,” Clark replied more seriously.
There was no response except the click of the phone. Clark shrugged, and hung up the phone. He picked it up again and dialed Lois’s number. After a few rings, Lois answered the phone, and shouted into it, “This had better be important!”
“Hello to you too, Lois.”
“Oh, sorry, Clark. I was just getting out of the shower when the phone rang.”
Clark turned red again remembering how he almost had seen a little too much of Lois a few minutes ago. “Sorry. I just thought you'd like to know that I am officially a reporter at the Planet now.”
“OK, I’ll bite, why are you officially a reporter now?”
“Someone with a gun was waiting for me in my room when I got home with my tux.”
“Oh my god, Clark! Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Lucky for me, Superman was passing by to ask me if we had found out anything about our attackers yet. He saw the intruder lurking in my room when he passed by my window.” At least that much was true.
“Oh, well good thing. If he hadn’t been... Wait a minute. How does Superman know where you live?”
‘Oops. Think quick Clark.’
“Um... he doesn’t. He was on patrol, and spotted me on the street. When he was landing, he saw the intruder through my window. He had tied up the guy by the time I got to my room.” Again, it was mostly the truth, leaving out the part where Superman was returning from Kansas with a tux in his arms.
“Wow, that was lucky.” Then after a beat, “Interesting. Superman patrols the city. I wonder if he’s doing that constantly.”
“Beats me.” Clark tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. Lois was really too smart for his own good.
“So did you call the cops?”
“Yeah. Henderson’s on his way over.”
“I’ll be right over,” Lois declared and hung up.
“Sure, Lois,” Clark said to the dial tone. “Come on over. I don’t mind.”
He shook his head, and hung up the phone.
“Hey, buddy. Could you loosen up these ropes a little? That super guy tied them a little too tight.
“It’s *Superman*, not super guy. And, no, he didn’t. Now shut up, so I can go shave in peace.”
Clark went to the bedroom, and shut the door. He tossed the tux on the bed, walked over to the sink, and turned on the water. With the water running, he stared into the wall mirror, activating his heat vision. Within a minute he had trimmed off his stubble. He splashed his face with water and examined himself in the mirror, but scowled at what he saw.
He picked up the hand mirror from the sink counter, and held it behind his head. Aiming carefully, he trimmed the back and sides of his hair. After he was done, he collected all of the hair that had fallen on the ground, held it in his hands, and incinerated it with his heat vision.
He then stripped off his shirt and grabbed a fresh white t-shirt to put on. Just as he pulled the t-shirt over his head, he heard a loud knock on the door. Thinking it must be Henderson, he walk out of the bedroom, and went to open the door. The intruder was still on floor, struggling to get out of his ropes.
Clark opened the door expecting Henderson to be there, but instead Lois stormed in, dressed jeans and a black t-shirt. Her hair was wet, and she was carrying a dress and a small duffel bag. She almost ran into Clark in her rush to get into the room. “So, where is he?” she demanded.
Clark just stood there, looking at Lois with his arms crossed. He purposely made sure that his expression wasn’t too stern and Superman like. “Come on in, Lois. Make yourself at home.”
“Stop fooling around, Clark.” She looked down at the intruder, who wasn’t looking too happy at the moment. “So that’s him, huh? Did Superman truss him up like that?”
“Yep.”
“Hmm, pretty thorough, huh? I wonder where he got the rope? Maybe he carries it on the side of his belt like Batman.”
I don’t think so. And Batman is not real, he’s a comic book character.”
“Yeah, well Superman does a good imitation of one.”
“He does not,” Clark said in an exasperated tone.
Lois looked amused at his comment. “What? Are you suddenly a superhero expert?”
Clark didn’t know how to answer her, so he changed the subject. “Just why are you here, Lois?”
“Are you kidding? This guy must be connected to this case. We need to interrogate him. Did you find out who he works for yet?” She threw her dress and bag on the kitchen table and turned back to face Clark.
“No, not yet. I was just about to break out the rubber hose, when you came pounding on my door,” Clark answered sarcastically.
“Well then, hurry up and get it. Henderson will be here any minute. I don’t want him catching us again like last time. Good thing that last guy finally recovered.” Lois looked directly at Clark and winked at him.
Catching on, Clark answered, “OK, but I’ll do it this time. You get carried away.”
Clark took three steps towards the bedroom, when the man suddenly shouted out, “Baines. I work for Baines. She didn’t pay me enough to take a beating.”
Clark turned and smiled at Lois. “Not exactly a rocket scientist, is he?”
“They never are. I say we trade that tidbit with Henderson for an exclusive.”
“Sounds like a plan. But there’s one problem you’ve overlooked.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“This guy doesn’t have an English accent.”
Lois scowled for a moment and then declared, “There’s another player.”
“And what’s the motive?” Clark asked. “Why sabotage the space station? What’s the gain for Baines?”
“I have no idea. It doesn’t make any sense.” She looked over the man on the floor who was glaring at the both of them. “You wouldn’t know, would you?”
“Go to...”
“Hey, watch the language,” Clark said, interrupting the intruder.
Lois crossed her arms and looked at the intruder with a resigned expression on her face. “I guess we can’t pull that trick on him twice. Maybe Henderson can scare it out of him.”
A loud knock startled Lois. “Open up, Kent. It’s Henderson.”
Clark grinned at Lois and said, “How did you do that?”
Lois just rolled her eyes and opened the door for Henderson. Henderson barreled into the room, followed by a couple of uniform policemen. “Come on in, Bill,” Lois got out as they entered the room. “The guy’s down there on the floor.” She pointed to the man, as if he would be hard to find in the small room.
“Thanks for the help, Lois. I don’t know how I’d do my job without you,” Henderson said as he looked down at the man on the floor and the gun lying next to him. “What is it with you two? Is it national ‘Tie Up Guys with Guns’ week? At this rate, I’m going to run out of room in city lockup before the end of the week. So what is it this time?”
“Same case,” Lois answered. “He let it slip out who he was working for, but we want the exclusive.”
“They tricked me!” the man shouted. “I want my lawyer.”
“Shut up,” Lois and Henderson said in unison, looking at the man.
Turning back to look at Lois, Henderson said, “OK, Lane, the usual deal. Spill it.”
“He works for Dr. Antoinette Baines.”
Henderson mulled this over for over for a moment, then asked, “The NASA engineer?”
“The same.”
“So I have a rogue *rocket scientist* trying to sabotage the space station and kill you two. And the motive for all of this is...?”
“We don’t know,” Clark replied with a shrug.
“Great. How about chuckles over there, is he willing to shed any light on the subject?”
“He’s not real happy with us right now,” Lois replied.
“Don’t tell me. You pulled the rubber hose gag again, didn’t you.”
Lois could only smile sheepishly at the accusation. Henderson shook his head in response, and walked over to the intruder, grabbed the man by the ropes, and yanked him to his feet. He put his face an inch from his, and growled at him, “Just so you know, I don’t know how to bluff like Miss Lane. So it wouldn’t be healthy for you to try holding out on me.” He then tossed him in the direction of the uniformed officers.
“Read him his rights, and put him in isolation. No paperwork for twenty-four hours, and tell Nelson to start the arrest warrants for Baines.”
The officers nodded their understanding and took the prisoner from the room. Henderson turned around, about to say something, but stopped himself to look over at the kitchen table. He turned and looked at both Lois and Clark, examining them for a moment.
“Are you two...?” He made a vague hand gesture in their direction.
They both appeared confused at his question, and then simultaneously understood what he was asking.
“No!” they both said at the same time.
“I just hurried...”
“She just came over...”
They both stopped to let the other one speak. Then Clark indicated for Lois to explain.
“Clark called me, *at home*, to tell me what happened. I grabbed my stuff and came over here. Clark and I are going... covering the White Orchid Ball tonight for the Planet.”
“Of course, my mistake. So just how did you beat me here, then?”
“Oh, I just grabbed my dress and my pre-packed overnight bag and jumped in the car.”
“You have a pre-packed bag?” Clark asked, surprised.
“Of course. A reporter always has to be ready on a moment’s notice.”
Henderson shook his head, and turned to leave through the doorway. As he was closing the door, he said, “You kids have fun.”
Lois got indignant and shouted after him, “We’re not *going* to have fun!”
“Gee, thanks, Lois.”
Lois spun around, looking embarrassed. “Oh, I didn’t mean... I mean that it’s...”
Clark grinned at her embarrassment. “I was just teasing, Lois. I know what you meant. Its just business. You go take the bedroom, and I’ll get dressed out here.”
Lois quickly went from embarrassment to mock indignation. “You better watch out who you’re trying to tease, Smallville. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.” She gave him an evil grin, and went to collect her belongings. As she walked to the table, he muttered under his breath, “Neither do you.”
After she got her dress and bag, he followed her into the bedroom. She stopped and glared at him. “Just where do you think you’re going, farmboy?”
“To get my clothes. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Very well, but be quick about it. I need to make myself beautiful.”
As Clark bent over to gather his clothes, he absent-mindedly said, “Don’t need to do anything for that.”
Realizing that he had said that aloud, he straightened up and looked at Lois, not knowing what to say.
Lois’s expression had softened as she said in a gentle voice, “Thanks, Clark.”
“Um, sure. Well, I’ll just get out of your way.” He then hurried out of the room to get dressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Thanks, Clark,” she said gently to him. It was all she could think of to say. She watched him hurry out of the room. Lois knew that he had said his remark unconsciously, which had made it all the sweeter. He was so hard to figure out sometimes. One moment, they were exchanging playful banter, and the next minute he withdrew into whatever solitary fortress he had created for himself. She wished she could find out why he had to hide behind his self-erected walls.
It wasn’t fair. Beneath the sadness, there was a sweet, decent man. In some ways, he was a man out of synch with modern times. Like a knight of old, willing to stand watch over her when he thought she was vulnerable to some kind of danger. She went to her bag and got out her makeup, brushes, hair dryer, and curling iron, and placed them around the sink. She plugged in the dryer, picked up a brush, and started to fix her hair.
After a minute, she stopped and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She pondered the events in her life that had led her to this moment -- standing in the bedroom of a man she’d only known for a couple of days. In a little while, he’d be escorting her to the social event of the year, covering the event with her, as fellow reporters for the Daily Planet. She looked directly into the eyes of the woman in the mirror, searching for answers to the feelings welling within her.
“You don’t believe in love at first sight, do you? That would be kind of silly, wouldn’t it?”
She sighed, and turned on the hair dryer again. Two minutes later, she turned it off again, and looked in the direction of the bedroom door. She turned backed back to the mirror and once again asked her reflection to speak the truth of her heart. “You wish this *was* a real date, don’t you?”
Lois could feel a tug in her heart at the thought of Clark Kent. “Damn.”
She sighed, and got back to the job of getting ready for her date... her night out.
She purposely pushed away any thoughts of Clark Kent to concentrate on finishing her hair and makeup. Since she had dashed over to Clark’s in such a hurry, all she had time for was a simple upswept hairdo. Not quite as fancy as she planned, but it would have to do. She repacked her toiletries, and made her way to the table where her dress was lying. She picked it up, and accidentally knocked a picture that had been sticking out of a book, onto the floor.
She bent down to pick up the picture to put it back from where it had fallen. As she lifted it from the floor, she looked at the image, and stopped in mid-motion, her attention caught by the faces looking at her from the picture. It was a photograph of Clark standing next to a beautiful woman. They had their arms around each other, and they looked very happy. She turned the photo over, and saw that it was taken a little over three years ago.
She couldn’t help to think that perhaps this person was the source of Clark’s sadness. But, was he sad because it just didn’t work out, or did she break his heart? Somehow, she didn’t see Clark mooning over someone who didn’t love him. She must have broken his heart somehow.
She hated the woman already.
Though if she hadn’t broken his heart, Lois may have never met Clark. Lois shook her head. She hated moral dilemmas. She carefully replaced the pictured, and went to change into her dress. When she was finally satisfied that she was ready, she slipped on her high heels, and opened the door a crack. “Are you decent, Clark?”
“That’s a matter of opinion, but I am completely dressed.”
She smiled at his modest comment, and opened the door. As she stepped out she began to say, “I hope you you're presentable Small...” She stopped speaking as soon as she saw him. He was wearing a classic black tux, which looked custom fitted to his body. Not only did it show off his physique very well, but it also gave him a very sophisticated look. She noticed that he had even managed to trim his hair. It was almost as if he was a different person.
That last thought tickled the back of her mind for some reason, but she couldn’t figure out why.
She could see that he was looking at her too. Not just looking at her - he was appreciating her. For some reason, with Clark’s eyes upon her, she felt special.
‘Oh, Clark,’ she thought. ‘I wish I could tell you how you make me feel, but I don’t want to scare you off.’
Clark finally found his voice. “You look great, Lois. Shall we go?” He walked up to her, and offered his arm.
She was about take it, but then said, “Don’t move.” She dashed off to the bedroom, gathered her evening clutch, and the keys for her car from the duffel bag. She hurried back to Clark’s side.
“OK, ask me that again.”
Clark smiled warmly at her. “Shall we go?” Once again he offered her his arm.
This time she took it and followed him out the door. As they walked to the exit, she thought how she might be a little distracted tonight. And for a change, it didn’t really bother her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nigel placed the binoculars back down on the car seat, after watching Lane and Kent drive away in a jeep. They looked like they were on the way to the ball, so Luthor needed to know right away. He opened his cell phone, and punched the speed dial.
“It’s Nigel..... Yes, I did, it was the same two we believe had Dr. Platt’s notes..... No, her lackey failed, and the police took him away a little while ago..... Yes, I agree, sir, Dr. Baines should be taken care of tonight..... Not a problem, I have contacts at the city jail..... Very good, sir, I shall take care of both personally. By the way, those reporters are headed your way..... I believe they will be attending the ball in an official capacity tonight. I can take care of them before they arrive..... No? Very well, sir..... Yes, as soon as both of them are taken care of, you shall be informed...... Yes, sir, you're welcome. Enjoy your evening.”
Nigel put away the phone and started the car. He pulled out and headed toward the NASA offices, where Dr. Baines would be waiting for her payment, which she had demanded tonight.
‘Poor girl, not much common sense for one who is supposed to be so bright,’ Nigel thought to himself. ‘Though I do wonder what Mr. Luthor’s plans are for those reporters. It should be... creative, as it always is when he takes a personal hand. Yes, it shall be interesting, indeed.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
... to be continued
