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From Part 15:“What was it?” she shouted. “You bastard, what did you give me?”
Anger wouldn’t work. Even as she said it, she was kicking herself for giving away how she was feeling. And the self-satisfied grin on Griffin’s face showed her, as if she needed to have it rubbed in, just how stupid yelling at him had been.
But there might be another way...
She gripped the bench more tightly. The last thing right now she wanted was to crumple in an undignified heap to the floor.
“You’ve had your fun. You’ve baffled doctors and scientists across Metropolis. You’ve won. I’m dying.” Maybe, if she bluffed a little, it might work... though, god knew, it wasn’t really a bluff. “It’s already too late. You should know that. There’s less than six hours left. You have to know that it’s already irreversible. Even if we know what it is, it’s too late for an antidote to do its job. You’ve won. So why not show us how clever you are?”
Griffin laughed again. And then a gunshot rang out.
*********
Now read on...The sound reverberated inside the small warehouse. Even before the first echo had started, Clark was swinging around, searching for the gunman.
What was
wrong with him today? Someone had made it to the door and he hadn’t heard a thing?
The man was there. Standing in the doorway, his weapon jerking backwards slightly from the recoil.
Speed. Drop Griffin - Henderson would make sure he didn’t get away. Run - fly -to the door. Grab the gunman. Find out what he was doing here.
The man didn’t even have time to lower his gun before he was held captive. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Superman.” Henderson’s grim tone made him look across, back to where he’d let Griffin fall. The inspector was kneeling beside the toymaker - Lois’s would-be murderer. And he could see a tiny red mark on the man’s forehead. “He’s dead.”
Dead.
Without telling them what he’d given Lois.
Relief - the relief that had been swelling inside him ever since Henderson had agreed with him that Edwin Griffin could be their man - died a cold, instant death. And in its place he was left with the same tearing despair he’d lived with ever since Dr Sutton had told him about the injection. The poison.
Despair which was eating away at him, gnawing at his insides. They had less than six hours. They’d
finally got the one clue that could lead them to a cure. And now...
And now they had nothing. Again. And she only had six hours.
They’d been so close to finding out what she’d been given. Griffin would have told them. One way or another, he’d have revealed it - either because of Lois’s challenge or because he’d have terrified the man into talking. Now he never would. His secret had died with him.
Just as Lois would die, within hours.
He turned back to Griffin’s murderer and with one hand raised the man several feet off the ground, holding him aloft, staring up at him with narrowed eyes. Rage boiled inside him, a fiery, burning fury which threatened to burn out of control. Kill him, instinct screamed. Break his neck - it would take less than a second, one tiny snap, and he would be lying lifeless on the floor. Or burn him. One dart of heat vision would suffice. It was what he deserved - all he deserved. After all, in that single moment, the second it had taken to fire a bullet, this complete stranger had killed all hope of saving Lois’s life.
Lois was dead, as good as if the gunman had killed her himself.
“No, Superman!” Lois’s voice, faint, shaky, filtered through the red mist of rage. He blinked. Why was she...? This guy, whoever he was, had destroyed any chance...
“Let him go, Superman.”
Henderson was beside him. He glanced at the cop; despite the man’s calm tone, the inspector was coldly angry. Henderson understood. He knew what the intruder had done. He had to understand why...
He closed his eyes. Killing this piece of dirt wasn’t the answer.
Slowly, he lowered his arm, letting the man drop to the ground. Henderson grabbed the gun as he did so - somehow, the man didn’t seem to struggle to hold onto it - and then snapped handcuffs on.
“ID?” The word was barked out.
The man said nothing. Clark shook him. “Answer the question.”
“Got none on me.” It was said sulkily.
“Never mind. We’ll just identify him down at the precinct.” Henderson gave Griffin’s murderer a disgusted glare and began to walk away. Then, as if it were an afterthought, he looked back and added, “Why’d you kill him?”
Again, no answer. And again, Clark tightened his grip on the man’s collar and shook him. Still nothing. “You know, I can hold you higher,” Clark said, deliberately keeping his voice light. “Say, right up at the ceiling. I’ve often wondered what happens to humans when they fall from that sort of height.”
“Look, I...” The man wriggled, trying to free himself, though he was wasting his time. Clark raised his arm a few inches, and suddenly his captive was dancing on air again. “I was paid, okay?” he shouted, terror in every syllable.
“Who by?” Henderson approached again, his expression harsh.
“I... it was through a friend of a friend, right? I don’t even know who put up the money. Doesn’t matter to me as long as I get paid.”
“Not good enough,” Clark said, and he floated upwards a few feet. “Try harder.”
“I’m telling you the truth! All I know is someone wanted this guy out of the picture. Look, I think it was revenge or something. Seems this guy messed with a friend of... of the guy who wanted him seen to. That’s all I know!”
Someone had hired him... someone who wanted revenge for something done to a friend... It couldn’t be, surely?
But this scum wasn’t important right now. Lois was. Clark let his captive fall to the ground, uncaring that the man tumbled into a heap.
She was still leaning against the bench where he’d left her. Her face was so pale, and her eyes...
The bleakness in them told her that she knew as well as he did that there was no hope. Griffin had been their last chance, and he was dead.
“Lois.” His voice broke on the word, and he gathered her into his arms.
“It’s hopeless.” The words were choked against his shoulder. “Clark, it’s all over...”
No.
No!
It wasn’t over. It couldn’t be. Not while she was still alive... Not while there was breath in her body, they weren’t giving up.
If he had to turn this place - and Griffin’s home - upside down, he would do it. There had to be something. A clue. Some tiny, insignificant piece of information that would tell them what she’d been poisoned with. And he was going to find it.
Had to find it.
He’d let her down too many times today already - and that was stopping right now.
He couldn’t lose her. Couldn’t... it’d be like losing a piece of himself.
So. Deep breath. They’d lost Griffin. But he still had places to search.
First, though, Lois needed him. She was still clinging to him, still sobbing.
“Lois.” He released her and cupped her face between his hands. “We’re not giving up yet. Okay?”
She took a shuddering breath and looked at him. She was pale. Her cheeks were streaked with tears. She trembled beneath his palms. But the strength, the determination, were returning. And, with it, his own. “Okay.”
About to release her, he hesitated for a moment, then brushed his lips lightly across hers. “That’s my Lois. Okay, let’s see what I can find.”
**********
Once again, she’d just given up. Once again, he’d had to remind her that Lois Lane
never just gave up.
Okay, so Griffin was dead - and why had that happened, anyway? Who would have wanted him dead? It didn’t seem to make sense. Or maybe Griffin wasn’t the person behind it all after all. Maybe he was just part of the plot, and he’d been killed to prevent him revealing it all?
Whatever. Okay, he was dead, so he couldn’t help them. What about the guy who’d killed him?
Leaning against the counter, she made her way to where Henderson was busy searching the gunman. “Who is he?”
“No idea. He said he hasn’t any ID, and he was telling the truth.” Henderson glanced up at her. “I don’t think he’s going to be any use to us. Someone paid him to kill Griffin and he’s claiming he doesn’t know who.”
“To stop Griffin telling us who he was working for?”
Henderson frowned. “Now there’s a thought that hadn’t occurred to me. I’m not sure, though. Guess we can’t assume he was working alone.”
So there still could be someone who knew what she’d been poisoned with. There was still hope.
Clark was turning the warehouse upside down. All she could see was a blur, but the blur was moving things, shoving them aside, piling them up on the floor, going through drawers and cabinets. If there was anything here to find, he’d find it.
She moved, and her foot kicked against something. She looked down. A trash can. Which seemed to have ash in it. She bent - slowly - to get a better look.
“Something’s been burnt in here.”
Henderson came to her side. “I’ll get Forensic to look at that.”
“Smells like plastic to me.” That was Clark. Only a second earlier, he’d been at the other side of the room. “It’s too far burned for me to recognise anything else, though. Either by sight or smell.”
“What’s this?” There was something behind the bin. She’d moved back to rest against the counter and it had caught her eye.
“Don’t touch!” Clark was blocking the area with his body. “Got an evidence bag or something like that, Bill?”
“In my car. But since you didn’t give me time to get it...” The inspector shrugged.
Clark reached inside his cape, producing a handkerchief. Lois blinked. Just where did he keep things like that? Then he bent to pick up whatever it was she’d seen.
“What is it?” Impatient, she couldn’t wait until he showed her.
“A vial.” He raised his head and turned to look at her. Excitement glowed from his face. “This could be it, Lois! Why else would a toymaker have a vial? It had to have had the poison in it.”
“Makes sense.” Henderson straightened, a smile lightening his dour features. “Good job, Lois.”
She stared at the tiny glass container Clark was holding so carefully, the handkerchief wrapped around it. Could this really be it? The big breakthrough?
Her heart almost stopped beating, and she couldn’t take her eyes off it. Did she dare to hope? She’d already had hopes dashed so many times before. Could she afford to be optimistic one more time?
“I’m taking this straight to the hospital.” Clark was already walking towards the door, his cape swishing behind him. “Lois, I’ll be back for you in a few minutes. Bill...”
“I’ll take care of her. And that sounds like my back-up team coming now, anyway.” Sirens were definitely audible in the distance, along with the sonic boom of Clark’s take-off.
Lois glared at Henderson. “I don’t need taking care of.”
“Yeah, right, Lois.” He gave her a smile before turning away to meet the swarm of cops entering the warehouse. For once, though, the smile had been completely without mockery or sarcasm.
She shook her head. Henderson was definitely going soft in his old age.
**********
The vial delivered, Clark flew back to the warehouse. Lois would be waiting for him.
Lois, who was going to live after all, now that they’d found Griffin’s vial. The break they’d been waiting, praying for.
She’d be as excited as he was. He’d grab her, spin her around, hug her tightly and tell her how glad he was that she was going to be okay. How happy, how relieved he felt that he wasn’t going to lose her after all.
Well, maybe he wouldn’t spin her around. She was still having dizzy spells, after all. And it wasn’t that long since she’d been sick.
She was going to
live.
After the crushing despair of seeing Griffin killed before he could tell her what he’d used - assuming he actually would have told them - now there was new hope. Concrete hope, at last.
Tomorrow, or in a couple of days’ time, once the effects of the poison had worn off and she was well again, everything would be back to normal.
She’d be back to normal.
Though maybe not everything would be as it was before. After all, some things had changed. Lois knew who he was, for starters. And they’d got closer today - much closer. Even if she did try to retreat again, she couldn’t deny everything they’d been to each other today. She couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t leaned on him the way she had, or that they hadn’t both revealed that they cared.
Today, they’d been much more than partners. Much more than friends.
And he’d discovered just how far he’d be prepared to go for the woman he loved. Just what he’d be prepared to do to anyone who hurt the woman he loved...
Wait a second...
Revenge... this guy messed with a friend of his...Could it
possibly be...?
That was something for later. The warehouse was below now, surrounded by police cruisers, their lights flashing, and an ambulance. He dropped to the ground and hurried inside.
Griffin was gone, a white chalk outline remaining where his body had been. And his murderer, the gunman, was also missing. They weren’t important. Lois was.
It took only a second to pinpoint her heartbeat. And there she was, sitting on a chair near the rear of the warehouse. Looking tired, still, but for the first time since they’d figured out that there was a second poison he could see hope in her eyes.
“Lois.” In an instant, he was by her side.
“C - Superman!” She smiled up at him. Good. She remembered that he needed to be Superman in the Suit.
“The vial’s with Dr Sutton. He said he’d rush it to the lab. So, can I take you back to the Planet?”
She stood up; he held out his hand to help her - and just to hold her, really. “Is Clark coming back too?” Her gaze held his.
“Very soon. We just have something to do first.” He glanced around, looking for Henderson. The detective was outside, apparently giving instructions to his colleagues. It didn’t look like he was going anywhere soon. So there was time to take Lois back first.
“Come on.” He bent and scooped her up. “Though I’m not sure I shouldn’t be taking you home. Let you get some rest.”
She snuggled against him, winding her arms around his neck. “I’d rather be in the newsroom. I want to wait for Clark, anyway.”
They were in the air now, away from anyone in hearing distance. “I won’t be long. I just need to talk to Henderson again.”
Under normal circumstances, there was no way that Lois would have let him get away with excluding her. Or not explaining exactly what it was he wanted to discuss with Henderson - though he’d tell her anyway later. That she did neither was yet another sign - as if it was needed - of how sick she was feeling.
He wrapped his arms more tightly around her, and dipped his head to drop a kiss on her forehead. “When you’re feeling better, how about we ask Perry for a couple of days off? I’ll take you anywhere in the world you’d like to go for a vacation,” he promised.
She shifted a little, tilting her face towards his. “That sounds... great.” She sighed slightly, then brushed her lips against his chin. “You’re such a wonderful friend, Clark...”
So was she. And she was exhausted, far too weary and sick to be up and about, working. But she didn’t want to go to her apartment and it was more than his life was worth to suggest that she go back to the hospital until Sutton called with the good news.
“Here we are.” Landing on the roof of the Planet, he lowered her to the ground, but kept his arm firmly around her waist. “Come on - I’ll walk you down to the newsroom.”
She leaned in to him, sliding her arm around him underneath his cape. “If I had the energy, I’d tell you just to go and do what you have to do. But...” She trailed off with a half-cough, then continued, “I don’t think I can make it down on my own.”
“That’s okay.” He hugged her against him. “Come on, partner.”
Down in the still-busy newsroom, Perry hurried over, looking anxious. “Superman! Is Lois all right?”
“She’s just tired.” Clark allowed his boss to take Lois from him. It was a good reminder that he had to keep up the act. Two people finding out his secret was more than enough for one day. “Clark will be back soon. Lois, if there’s anything else I can do, you know how to get hold of me.”
Leaning against Perry and breathing shallowly, Lois nodded faintly. “Thanks, Superman.”
The vial. Just keep thinking about the vial. She’d be cured soon. And then he wouldn’t have to see her like this ever again. He wouldn’t torture himself with the knowledge that he could do nothing to help her.
He had things to do. The sooner he got back to the warehouse, the sooner he’d be able to go back to Lois.
Henderson was still there, looking tired now but still missing nothing as he directed officers, barked out orders and seemed to keep every inch of the area, now marked as a crime scene, under his surveillance. A faint twitch of one eyebrow was the only sign he gave that he noticed Clark’s return, though several nearby cops did double-takes or gave him respectful glances.
“Inspector? Do you have a minute?”
Henderson strode away from his officers and came over. Clark turned so that they were facing away from everyone else on the scene.
“I didn’t expect to see you back here,” the inspector murmured. “Thought you’d be... busy... elsewhere.”
“She’s at the Planet - Perry’s looking after her. There’s nothing we can do until the hospital calls again.” He sighed, and pushed aside the image of Lois’s tired, sick face. She was going to be fine. Once the residue in that vial got analysed and they knew what else she’d been poisoned with...
“One of my guys found a set of keys - Yale and mortice locks. We’ll have them checked out, but my guess is they’re for Lois’s apartment.”
“So that’s how he got in.” Anger gripped him again. And how had Griffin managed to get hold of Lois’s keys to copy them?
“Looks like it. Though how he got the keys is another question. I’ll have people talk to Lois’s building super - see whether he could have got copies that way. Course, Lois could just have left her purse unattended somewhere, like at work or in a restaurant - that happens. Women seem to think that as long as it’s under their chair or on the seat next to them it’s perfectly safe.” The detective rolled his eyes.
Possibly - though Lois usually was very careful with her belongings. “Did the guy who killed Griffin say anything useful?”
Henderson shook his head. “Not yet. He’s insisting he doesn’t know who hired him. We’ll interrogate him down at the precinct, but if he’s telling the truth...” He raised one shoulder in a faint shrug.
“I think I might know who hired him.”
“Oh? There something you’ve not been telling me?”
Yes, but how did he start to explain it now? “It’s probably easier if... Come with me. Unless there’s anything urgent you have to finish up here?”
“Nah, it’s under control.” The detective’s expression was wary. “Do I
have to fly with you again?”
“It’ll be better this time,” Clark promised with a grin. “Last time I had two of you, and I had to be careful of Lois...”
“So I didn’t matter. I get it.” Henderson’s eyebrows crawled up to his hairline.
“Did I say that?” Superman did not roll his eyes. Clark stopped himself just in time. “Come on.” In one smooth movement, he’d scooped the detective up, holding him securely as he began to drift upwards.
“Mind telling me where we’re going this time?”
“You mean you don’t like surprises, Inspector? Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“They train it out of us at police academy.” Henderson’s tone was so dry Clark had to glance at him to work out how serious he was.
“I think I know who set up the hit, but it’s not going to be easy to get proof. I need to try an experiment, and it’d help if you were around in case it works.”
Henderson didn’t question him any more, which was surprising. Though maybe not; he probably would have insisted on knowing what Clark Kent had in mind, but the detective had generally trusted Superman. In fact, he’d been one of the few police officers in Metropolis who hadn’t turned against Superman during the heatwave incident. He hadn’t seen much of Henderson during that time. Someone had told him afterwards that the detective had been a vociferous opponent of the injunction against Superman, and had actually refused a direct order to be part of the arrest squad.
“We’re here,” he said a few moments later.
Henderson did a double-take. “Lex Towers?”
“Yes. I’m going to leave you out on the penthouse balcony, okay? Sorry, I know it’s going to be cold out here, but I need you within earshot.”
“This isn’t cold. Cold is when you’re called out to a street killing in the Slum at three am in February when it’s twenty below freezing.”
“Right.” A grin tugged at his lips. It was probably the first time he’d felt like laughing today. Under cover of darkness, Clark set the Inspector down at the edge of the balcony. “Okay, just listen. And knock a couple of times if you want me to bring you in.”
He strode to the glass door and rapped hard on it. Luthor was inside, alone in the large office; he’d already seen that as they’d approached. A second or two later, the man himself appeared in front of the window. He stared at his visitor for a moment, then reached for the control. The window slid open.
“Superman. You have news?”
“The tip you gave me.”
“Yes? You found him? The man who tried to kill her?” Luthor’s expression changed suddenly, from bland concern to barely-suppressed excitement.
“I think you did.” Without even trying, his tone had become icy. Steely. “I think you decided to deal with him yourself.”
Luthor frowned. “I’m not sure that I know what you’re talking about, Superman.”
He kept his gaze fixed on Luthor. “I think you do. You sent a hitman after him.”
Luthor laughed. “What strange ideas you get. I merely passed on some information to you that might help to identify the person who tried to kill Lois. Now you think I - what? Worked out who this Griffin person was and sent a hitman after him? Why would I want the man dead if he’s the only person who knows what Lois was poisoned with?”
“Too late. He is dead.”
“What?” Luthor paled. He even took a step backwards. “That can’t be. He wasn’t supposed to...”
“Who?” Clark pounced. “Not supposed to do what? Kill Griffin?”
Luthor ran a hand through his immaculately-groomed hair, dishevelling it. “I just wanted him found. Lois clearly wasn’t up to the job, and I didn’t have a lot of faith in Kent or in the competence of the police. So I set someone onto the task of finding the man. He was supposed to bring him to me.”
“Bring him to you? Not take the information to the police? So that we could find out what Lois was poisoned with and cure her?”
“Well, of course that was my aim! I was going to get LexLabs to come up with an antidote once the old man told me what he used.”
So that Luthor himself would get the credit for saving Lois’s life. Typical. “You hired a hitman. What did you think he was going to do?”
“The speciality I hired was the ability to piece together clues and come up with a name. An individual. And then to find that individual and bring him to me.”
“And so you caused his death. And probably made sure of Lois’s.” Clark looked at Luthor again, a hard stare of utter contempt, before turning towards the balcony in response to the sound he’d just heard. “Heard enough, Inspector?”
The lean figure of Inspector Henderson strolled in from the balcony. “Yes, I have. Lex Luthor, I’m arresting you for procuring a murder and attempting to conceal a crime.”
**********
...tbc
