Back to the Planet
Pat (angelsgmaw) (patup2000@cs.com)
Rated: PG
Submitted: Aug, 2012

This story is based loosely on the Lois and Clark: Adventures of
Superman series. I do not own this series, but have taken what was
portrayed on television and twisted it to my own mold to work this
story. The setting is after “House of Luthor” in the first season.
(The plot takes an abrupt left turn from the wedding. It might
have places that are recognizable, but most of this is new cloth
sewn into an old story.) My story is only for entertainment and
not for any other reason. I will return it to the owners for them
to shake out the excess I added.

The *************** between paragraphs indicates a jump in
the timeline of the story.

*******************
*******************

Lois Lane stood on the sidewalk in her wedding dress, hardly knowing where she was or what she was doing. Perry White, her editor from the now defunct Daily Planet, was gently guiding her away from the train wreck of her wedding. He and Inspector Bill Henderson, along with Jimmy Olsen and Jack Parton, had crashed her wedding with warrants in hand and attempted to arrest her groom, Lex Luthor. The end result of the interruption was that Lois was not married and Lex was not arrested. As Perry and Lois moved away from the building, more a zombie in movement than a graceful young lady, Lois looked up into Perry’s face and asked, “Where’s Clark?”

That was a question that Perry would love to hear the answer for himself. He had not seen Clark in two days even though the group of them had bunked at Clark’s apartment. Perry hesitated because he did not have the answer.

“Here I am, Lois,” came a soft reply. Clark stood in front of them looking very unsteady and uncharacteristically shabby. He had a two day beard and was wearing the clothes she recognized from when they’d had a fight in her car several days earlier.

Lois launched herself at Clark and threw herself into his arms, sobbing. “You were right,Clark,” she said softly. “Henderson wanted to arrest Lex just like you said should happen.” She cried softly into his shoulder, not releasing the death-grip she had on his neck.

Perry watched the interaction between the two and determined he was no longer needed. “I’ll leave her with you, Clark, if you will please see her home.” Perry walked back towards the police congregated at the doorway of the building.

“Come on, Lois, let’s get you home,” murmured Clark. He attempted to pry Lois off him so they could walk together toward the taxi stand in the next block. Just as she began to follow Clark, leaving the Lex Towers Building behind, a commotion occurred. Clark looked skyward along with the rest of the crowd to see Lex Luthor take a nose-dive off the top of his building and plummet toward the earth. Clark tried to take off so he could stop Lex from hitting the ground, but the kryptonite had sapped him of all his strength. He was unable to do anything except take Lois back into his arms and shield her from the view of her groom splatting on the ground.

*******************

Hours later, Lois was starting to look a little bit more like she was still in the land of the living. She was very dazed and unable to focus on what was happening. Clark had taken her back to his apartment where she had taken a bubble bath and put on a pair of his old sweatpants and a tee shirt. Both were soft from much washing and were comfortable. She had curled up in his bed and slept for over four hours. When she awoke, she seemed to be all done crying, but she definitely was not back to normal. Clark had called his parents and told them about her groom being dead, Lois being almost catatonic, and himself being without any powers thanks to kryptonite. He asked how to handle the situation and his mother, in her wisdom, had told him to take it slow and wait for Lois to be ready to talk.

Lois awoke from her nap and went right into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. Then she poured another and another. Clark sat back on his couch and waited to see how Lois was doing. After her third cup of coffee, she looked at Clark and walked into his living room to sit beside him on the sofa. She did look better, but she was still not herself. Clark reached over to grab the remote and turned off the television to await Lois’ conversation.

“Clark, why exactly did Bill Henderson arrest Lex today? I want to know exactly what he was charged with and why.” She obviously was confused about what she had witnessed in the last few hours. She was fuzzy about details and knew that they were important.

“Lois, please. Let’s put this conversation off for a little while. Please?” Clark had been out of touch for two days and did not have all the facts himself. “I’d give you the answer if I had a clue about the answer. Right now neither one of us have anything but questions.“ Clark would love to talk to her about this last few days, but instead of Mad Dog Lane who had to know the facts and definite answers he found himself facing Little Girl Lost Lane who was confused and afraid. “Bill called a little while ago while you were napping and he said that the officers would be bringing your suitcases over from the penthouse. When they get here, maybe you can talk to them about what happened. I know most of Lex’s crimes, but the charges against Lex are based on evidence found. I don’t know what evidence they found. We both want answers, so please, can we wait to tackle that subject later? After someone is able to give us the right answers?”

“All right, Clark. I really don’t have any reason to stay here, I guess. I can call my mother and see if I can stay with her until I am able to get a place to live.” The look on Lois’ face told Clark she really did not want to leave, but she did not want to be a burden to Clark either. “I’ll be out of your hair and let you get back to job hunting as soon as I can. May I stay one night, please? I’ll sleep on the sofa and try to stay out of your way.”


“Lois, I think you misunderstood me. I do not want you to leave here. I really do not know the answers to your questions. If I did, I’d tell you. Please don’t leave. You are welcome to stay as long as you want. In fact, maybe we could look for a two bedroom apartment and share the expenses? Since you no longer have an apartment because you gave it up to move into Lex’s penthouse that is definitely something we need to discuss. But, we will work out the problem of where you will live later. Okay? Until then, I do have a few ideas about what I want to do in the future, and you are part of those plans, if you will let me include you. But we have lots of time to discuss all of this. I don’t have all the answers to your questions, and would rather wait until we know all the facts before I attempt to talk to you about things in the future.” Clark looked into Lois’ eyes.

Lois ducked her head onto Clark’s shoulder. “I just don’t want you to get tired of me,” she said barely above a whisper. “I want us to make plans in the future that include both of us as partners. We can talk about roommates later on. Today, I want just to recover the shock to my system. You have to realize that everything in my life is upset and I do not know what to do.” She gave Clark a weak smile.

Just then, a knock at the door interrupted them. Clark got up and walked up the stairs to open the door. On the other side there was Bill Henderson and two officers carrying four matching pieces of luggage. Clark stood back from the door and allowed them to enter. The officers set the suitcases down at the base of the interior stairs and went back outdoors. Bill, on the other hand, stood there waiting for Clark to come back down the staircase. When he did, he motioned to Bill to take a seat and went back to the sofa to sit beside Lois. Both of them looked at Bill Henderson with questions written on their faces.

“Lois, are you able to answer some questions? We have found a few puzzling things in the Lex Towers, and specifically in the penthouse, that need some explanation. Hopefully you can help me.”

Lois looked over at Clark with a puzzled look on her face, and then she turned back toward Bill. “I’ll help if I can, but I really did not know anything about Lex’s business. This is all a shock to me. I have more questions than answers.” Clark reached over and took her hand in his as she answered.

“When we raided the Lex Towers Building after his suicide, we found that there were dozens of works of art that were museum quality. They were not in the main rooms, but in a room accessible only by a staircase from Lex’s office. Did you know that there was a whole other floor above the penthouse that housed a private gallery of art? Also, there is a basement dungeon in the wine room also accessible only from the elevator in Lex’s office. It had a cage that was painted with some sort of radioactive paint that glowed green. It looked to me like Lex had recently had someone captured in that cage as the door was open with the key in the lock, and a hatchet discarded on the floor of the cage. We are still talking to employees to see if anyone knows about that cage. Since Lex didn’t do the grunt work, we are sure we will find someone in his employ that knows what the cage was meant to house.” Bill sat back and took a deep breath. He waited for the answers to his queries.

Clark griped Lois hand a little tighter. He wanted to hear the answer to these questions, but did not know how to ask them without betraying his secret. That cage, by its very existence, was a threat to his life. It also was the source of his present very powerless state.

“Bill, I don’t know what to say,” started Lois. “This is all news to me. I really do not know anything about artwork or a cage. I barely knew Lex. That is why I called off the wedding just before you stormed into the ceremony. I had decided by that time maybe I was making a huge mistake. Oh, boy, did that turn out to be correct.”

“You called off the wedding?” a shocked Clark asked. “I thought Bill and Perry called off the wedding.”

“No, I did. Can we discuss this later, Clark?” Lois turned back to Bill Henderson with questions in her eyes. “Tell me about the artwork, Bill. You said it was museum quality. Does that mean it was stolen?”

“Very definitely. There were pieces that had not been seen since before the Second World War. Luckily, one of our officers was an art major in college and recognized three of the pieces immediately. She was also able to point us in the right direction so we found the names of artists of this artwork. The world had long given up on ever seeing these masterpieces again. Now that we know that they are not lost, there are a lot more of the old master’s paintings available for the world to view. We will be putting Perry White, Jim Olsen, Jack Parton, and Clark’s names on the reward that was offered for the recovery of these paintings.
They are the ones who pointed us in the direction of being able to arrest Lex Luthor. After we gained entrance to the penthouse, we were able to find this artwork and eventually will be able to return it to
its proper owners.”

Lois and Clark looked at each other. Shock was evident in their faces.

“Bill, when you have a chance, I want to talk to you about what were the charges the police were about to arrest Lex with.? I need to understand what happened under my nose that I missed.” Lois knew she was not up to the explanation right now, but she would be soon.

*******************

A routine started to emerge in the apartment. Mundane living situations emerged and life went on ahead with all the necessary problems being handled. Meals were cooked, housework was done, dirty clothes were washed, groceries were purchased, dishes were washed, and help wanted ads were read each day. There was a faux atmosphere of peace and quiet that replaced the confusion of a few days prior. Lois had taken her clothes out of the suitcases and put them in the dresser and closet with Clark’s help, and they settled into a state where there was no trouble but also no real joy. Both Lois and Clark were happy to be together, but they were taking life very slowly and cautiously. No one wanted to make the other uncomfortable, so they did not talk much or do much other than keep life going. Lois was still so confused about all the events of the past week.

Two weeks later, Perry White called Clark and asked if he could come over to the apartment. He said that Jimmy and Jack would be along also, and they all needed to discuss the reward from the artwork. Clark was glad to invite them to his apartment. He had missed seeing them on a daily basis.

When the guys arrived, there were smiles on all the faces and their voices were a little louder than they had been previously. They were happy to be back together and knew that they had a bond that even a bomb or Lex Luthor could not separate. Everyone settled into Clark’s living room, and after he got coffee for them, he sat down on the couch next to Lois and looked over to Perry to start. He had called the meeting, so it was his agenda.

“We need to discuss what we are going to do with all of this reward money. Bill Henderson called me yesterday with a total from the insurance agencies, and he asked how we wanted to divide it up. Do any of you know how much this reward is worth?” Perry sat there with a cat-that-ate-the canary-look on his face.

Jimmy was the first to venture a guess. “We all get a few thousand dollars each?” he guessed. Perry just shook his head.

Jack looked crest-fallen. “You mean it was less?” Jack croaked out.

“No, I mean it was more! Much, much, MUCH more! “ Perry was very excited and that excitement was rubbing off on the gang.

“Just tell us what is going on,” said Lois. “We aren’t going to play guessing games.”

Perry looked over at her. Then he said, “There were twelve different insurance agencies involved, all offering rewards for the return of these masterpieces. The grand total of the reward came to over $19 million dollars. Yes, you heard me right. Meanwhile, I have done some work investigating the state of affairs of the Daily Planet, and we can purchase it from the estate of Lex Luthor for just under $5 million dollars. Then we can petition for the insurance money to facilitate the repairs of the building. That leaves $14 million dollars to be divided up between the four of us. That is, if you are agreeable to use some of the money to purchase the paper back so we can once again be in the news business.” Perry sat back and waited for the announcement to sink in to the astonished people sitting in front of him.

“What does that come to a person?” croaked out Jack. He had a survival mentality that did not include such amounts of money.

“Unless I am sorely mistaken, that means that we will get $3.5 million and an interest in the Daily Planet, which will mean an income also. Lois, I’m sorry that you aren’t included in this, but I’m sure we can come up with something for you too.” Perry looked over at her with a smile.

“Don’t worry about Lois, Chief. She’ll be okay when this is all said and done.” Clark looked over at her and winked. She blushed a little bit, but said nothing, which shocked Perry. Lois just did not let others make future plans for her usually.

“Are we all in agreement that we will own the Daily Planet and rebuild both the building and the paper to live on in history?” asked Perry. This was very important to him, but he was almost as sure as he could be that it was also important to the members of this group.

“I agree,” said Clark.

“Me too, “ said Jimmy.

Jack only shook his head in a positive fashion. He was completely speechless.

“Then I think we now are in line to own a very run down, bombed out building and the rights to publish the Daily Planet," exclaimed Perry. “After we are able to successfully sue the Luthor estate for the money taken and pocketed by Lex from the insurance policies, we will be ready to rebuild the Planet. Then again, we no longer have a rush to get jobs since we are very wealthy without having to work.” His grin said it all.

*******************

Life settled into a routine, Superman returned to the skies, and there were four additional millionaires in Metropolis. Lois often tried to tell Clark it was time for her to move on and get her own place, but Clark prevailed on her to stay. He had moved onto the sofa weeks ago and turned the bedroom over to Lois as her room. Neither tried to get any closer to each other, because they were afraid of the delicate balance being upset. Every once in a while, Clark would ask Lois if she wanted to do something over-the-top like go out to eat or take a trip somewhere, but mostly they lived life not much different than they did before the reward money. It was a very quiet existence.

Clark seemed to disappear sometimes when Lois could not imagine where he’d gone but she did not ask him about it. He was mildly affectionate with her and hugged her regularly, but did not press her to any degree. Both of them were happy with the state of their new relationship, but knew in their heart of hearts that they wanted more from the other one. Neither was willing to push the point, so roommates and partners was all that they had become. Even Lois was amazed at the quiet life style that the two of them enjoyed. Her thrill-junkie self seemed to be gone.

The Sunrise Building that housed the Daily Planet still had major structural damages that needed to be addressed. The lawsuit against Lex Luthor’s estate for the insurance money of the building housing the Daily Planet was filed, and it would be another few months before they would be able to reopen the newspaper. Because of the reward money that they had received, no one was overly worried about the delays. Clark sensed that Lois was recovered enough that she needed to have a purpose in life so that he would not lose her to another paper. She had taken up the cause of finding answers to the questions she had and was still digging into Lex’s finances and holdings. She had found a few shell companies that Bill Henderson did not know about, but was very glad to hear the information. She helped to find out some of the secrets of deserted warehouses that were not deserted at all. She had located one such place near Hobbs Bay where a ship had offloaded large crates of submachine guns bound for war-torn Africa. In another warehouse, unseen to the naked eye, she found a sub-sub-basement with a drug manufacturing lab. It was not in use at the time, but was fully operational for anyone who knew where to locate it.

Just as Lois wound down her investigations, Clark had a natural disaster happen in California for Superman. He was needed to dig out Clover Lake City that had been hit by a powerful earthquake. As he would have
to be gone for a few days, it seemed that the timing was right to tell Lois his secret. Lois’ emotional mood had finally popped its head out of the funk she had been in for so long. She could finally handle his secret becoming her secret too. Or he sure hoped she could.

“Lois, come over here. I need to have a very serious talk with you. Please?” Clark waited for her to settle herself on the sofa, and he got up and paced around. He was more nervous than he thought was possible.

“Lois, I need to leave you for a while. Because of this emergency, I need to tell you a secret and I want you to think about it while I’m gone. OK?” He stopped his pacing and looked at her. She definitely looked hurt. Leaving was something she did not do well. He decided that he would get her to pack a suitcase and take her to his parent’s house while he was in California. But first he needed to tell her why he must leave soon. There just was not any more time to wait for Lois to completely heal before he shared Superman with her.

“Lois, I do not have time to answer your questions because I am needed in California. There was a huge earthquake that needs Superman to help shore up buildings and dig for survivors. Since I am Superman (he
paused and then spun into his suit), and I cannot take you with me, I want you to go to my parents’ house and they will help you understand what I just told you. It is time for us to really get to know each other, and
this earthquake is just the incentive I needed to tell you my secret. Will you please go and pack a suitcase for a short visit so I can take you to Mom and Dad’s place?”

Lois walked toward him, picked up his glasses from the table, and touched him on the chest. “Do that spin thingy again, please. I am not sure I saw what I think I saw.”

He did the spin back into his clothes, minus the glasses and then back into Superman’s suit. Lois looked at him and then moved toward the bedroom to pack.

Oh, dear, thought Clark. Cat’s out of the bag and I’m committed now.

A short time later, Clark/Superman picked her up in his arms, grabbed her suitcase and walked to the balcony of his apartment. He took off toward the west but Lois did not take her eyes off him the whole time. Usually she would watch the scenery as they flew, but this time she watched Clark’s face. He landed in the back of his parent’s house and walked into the kitchen leading Lois. He did not stop to change back into Clark, so his mother was cautious in addressing him. He explained the earthquake, the fact that Lois now knew his origins, but would need some questions answered, and that he would be back in a day or two.
He kissed his Mom on the cheek, squeezed Lois’ hand, and flew off into the western sky. Lois looked around, still dazed. Martha smiled at her and helped her take a seat at the table just as her legs gave out.