Mother's Day: 10/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"What are we gonna do?" Wyatt whispered.
'Can you tell us anything that can help us find you?' CJ asked. 'Before she put you in the basement, did you see anything that could help?'
'I could see the park from my room,' the voice said. 'There was this statue of a guy on a horse.'
'You're on the north side of Centennial Park,' Wyatt said, at once. 'I've seen it lots of times.' He looked at CJ. "Maybe we should call your dad."
CJ shook his head. "He'd have to leave Mom. I don't want Mom to be by herself."
"Then what do we do?" Wyatt whispered. "We can't let her kill him!"
CJ got to his feet. "Let's get dressed," he said. "We'll go see if we can find him. If we can't get him out ourselves, then we'll call my dad." He switched to the strange mind speech that had so suddenly become familiar. 'Are you by yourself right now?'
'Yeah.' The boy's 'voice' had a lost quality to it.
'We're going to try to help you,' CJ said. 'Can you sing?'
'A little.'
'Then sing, or hum. Not loud; don't let anybody nearby hear you, but don't stop.'
'Okay,' the voice said.
'What's your name?' Wyatt asked.
'Alex,' the boy's voice said.
'Okay, Alex,' CJ said. 'Sing.'
**********
And now, Part 10:
'You take Marta's bike,' CJ said. 'Good thing she doesn't go for pink.'
Wyatt wheeled out the bicycle. 'She's pretty cool, you know.'
'Yeah, I know,' CJ said. 'Let's go.'
'How are we gonna get Alex out?'
'I don't know yet.' CJ pulled the garage door shut. 'We've got to be careful. If this Mrs. de Los Rios has a super-kid in her basement, she might be mixed up with this whole thing with Coach Pilson. Maybe she's really Mrs. Luthor or something. She might have Kryptonite, like Colonel Cash did.'
'He said he was supposed to have super powers but didn't. How can that be?' Wyatt got onto Marta's bike and together the two boys began to pedal toward Centennial Park.
'He sounded kind of young to me,' CJ said, slowly. 'I didn't start to get my powers until I was about ten, and neither did Marta. Maybe she doesn't know that super-kids don't get their powers right away.'
'Yeah, maybe,' Wyatt said. 'But he said a scientist tried to give him super powers and it didn't work.'
'I dunno,' CJ said. 'He can sure talk the way we do.' He glanced at his best friend with a slight grin, reflecting that Wyatt wouldn't have been able to either, if not for Marta. At least, probably.
'I can talk like this,' Wyatt pointed out, 'and I'm not a super-kid.'
'Yeah, but you hang around with super-kids all the time,' CJ said, unarguably. 'It must make a difference. Anyway, the New Kryptonians could talk like this before they got to Earth, so it's kind of different.'
'Oh,' Wyatt said. 'You mean, they didn't have to wait to grow up before they could use telepathy.'
'Right,' CJ said. They swooped around the corner and Centennial Park came into view. They were on the western side of the park. CJ glanced in both directions and led the way across the street and into the park. The statue that Alex had described was still some distance away. He and Wyatt cut diagonally across the park, dodging various obstacles as they pedaled.
Wyatt stayed close behind him, letting him lead. Both of them knew that CJ's night sight was considerably better than a human's, just as Wyatt had undoubtedly figured out that CJ intended to use his super-hearing to locate the house where Alex was imprisoned.
A quick glance at his wristwatch told him that it was just after four-thirty in the morning. The sun would be rising in another half-hour, and their chance of helping Alex without anyone catching on would likely disappear with the arrival of the dawn. CJ wasn't particularly happy with the whole situation as it was. What they were doing was risky, to say the least, and his mom and dad were bound to be upset with him, but calling his dad meant that his mother would be left alone in the hospital, and CJ didn't want to do that. Deputy Mayor Henderson would have been his next choice, but Mr. Henderson would want to know how he and Wyatt had found out about Alex, and CJ wasn't sure that his dad wanted anyone to know about the telepathy thing -- or about Alex. Sure, Valerie was a half-Kryptonian, but if CJ had learned anything, it was to keep his mouth shut when in doubt. Still, if he and Wyatt ran into trouble, at least they had the telepathy to help bail them out.
There was the statue. CJ brought his bicycle to a halt on the sidewalk. Wyatt stopped beside him and waited. CJ listened.
At first the only thing he could hear was the night-noises, but he did as his father had showed him, slowly filtering out the meaningless noise.
Someone was humming softly, not far away. CJ recognized the tune of an old children's song that his mom had sung to him when he had been much younger. He turned his head, trying to pinpoint the direction.
It was coming from the north and a little to the east. One of the houses across the street from the park, he thought. He lowered the glasses his dad had given him, grimacing a little at the familiarity of the gesture, and began to scan the candidates slowly and carefully.
'He's in the house over there,' CJ said suddenly. 'The one with the blue fence.'
'I can't tell what color the fences are,' Wyatt said candidly. 'It's too dark.'
'Oh; sorry. It's the third house to the left after the corner. There's a little kid in the basement -- looks about nine years old, maybe.'
'How are we gonna get in?' Wyatt wanted to know.
'I don't know,' CJ said. 'Let's go look.' He hesitated. 'Just a minute.' He raised his mental voice. 'Alex!'
The answer was immediate. 'Yes?'
'Does Ms. de Los Rios have any burglar alarms or anything?'
'No, but there's a couple of big, mean wrestler-type guys that live here. And a dog.'
'A dog?'
'Yeah. This nasty little yap-yap of a dog, about the size of my foot. It barks at me all the time. Ms. de Los Rios says he doesn't like the way I smell.'
'Why not?' Wyatt wanted to know.
'Because I don't smell like a regular person. She says I smell like an alien.'
'Oh,' CJ said, reflecting that that was probably why dogs barked at him a lot, too. On the other hand, Wyatt's family cat, Custer, didn't seem to care. 'If her dog starts barking and she comes to check, can you make her think it's barking at you?'
'Yeah,' Alex's voice said. 'How come you can talk to me?'
'We'll tell you later,' CJ said. 'When we tell you, be ready to help us, okay? We're going to try to get you out.'
A surge of sudden hope. 'Can you? But you gotta be careful. She doesn't like snoopy kids. The last time a kid came around here, selling stuff for his school, Barry told him he'd send the dog after him if he came back.'
'Yeah, well, we're not selling anything,' CJ said. 'You just be ready to move fast; okay?'
'Okay.' Alex sounded nervous but determined.
'Truck coming!' Wyatt interrupted.
CJ lowered his glasses again, scanning the house. There was no light, but that didn't mean everybody was asleep. In fact, the pickup truck that Wyatt had spotted was moving slowly down the street and, as he watched, it pulled into the driveway of the house where Alex was imprisoned. The headlights went off and a moment later two men hopped out. CJ pulled Wyatt back into the deeper shadow of the big oak tree that overhung the street. "Shh," he said.
Silently, they stood watching. CJ strained his ears, trying to pick up any conversation, and an instant later was rewarded by a sentence from the taller figure.
"I don't like this. If anybody figures out who killed the kid, you can bet *she* isn't going to try to save our necks."
"Then we just be sure we don't get caught," the other man said. "Look, he's useless, and if anyone figures out what he is, it's gonna lead straight back to us."
"I still don't like it," the first man said again. "It's an unnecessary risk."
"It's an unnecessary risk to keep him around. Sooner or later, he's going to get away. Come on. The quicker we get this over with, the better."
"Nobody's going to believe the story. He's just a kid, for god's sake."
"Don't go squeamish now," the second man said. He started up the walk toward the house. "You know what she does to people who do."
CJ swallowed. It was evident that the boy hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said his life was in danger. He scanned the basement of the house with his x-ray vision as the two men continued up the walk, and the instant the door closed behind them, he was dashing across the street. Wyatt was right on his heels.
'What's going on?' he panted.
'We have to get him out,' CJ said. 'They're going to kill him! They were talking about it just now!'
'You should call your dad!' Wyatt said.
'Maybe,' CJ said. 'If this is the woman they're trying to find, she's Lex Luthor's wife. She might have Kryptonite around. Mom said Lex Luthor always said Kryptonite is power. I don't want my dad anywhere around it. She already tried to kill him once.'
'When?' Wyatt wanted to know.
'I'll tell you later. Right now, we have to get Alex out. We'll take him home and Dr. Klein can figure out why he was supposed to have Dad's powers.'
'Maybe we should call the police,' Wyatt suggested.
'Sh!' CJ brought them to a halt next to the house. Upstairs he heard the yapping of a small dog, and a quick glance with his x-ray vision confirmed that it was probably the one Alex had mentioned.
There were glass windows almost at ground level, dirty and coated with grime, but they gave onto the basement, just like the ones at his own house did. CJ glanced around, checking the surrounding area for observers.
It was dark and quiet. Somewhere, not far away, he heard the chirp of a bird, awakening a little early. The sky to the east was still dark, so they had a little more time.
Something was tickling at his awareness, a familiar, unpleasant sensation, and after a second he identified it. His muscles had begun to hurt just slightly, and his joints to ache. There was only one thing in the world that could cause that. 'Wyatt, there's Kryptonite somewhere around.' He glanced into the house again, with his x-ray vision. He couldn't see the green-glowing mineral anywhere, but his own physical reactions told him it was there. He had been right to be sure his dad stayed away from this house, but he knew now that he had to call someone for help. These were most likely the people that Inspector St. Cloud was looking for, and he needed to tell someone before they got away.
There wasn't time now, though, he realized. The two men that had entered the house a couple of minutes ago were headed toward the basement door in the kitchen, and behind them, a woman, wearing a thin dressing gown, followed. CJ recognized her with a shock, although he had already more than half-expected it. The woman was Arianna Carlin Luthor, whose picture Inspector St. Cloud had shown them the evening before.
'They're coming,' he said. He seized the window frame, sinking his fingers into the soft wood, gripped it hard and pulled.
Either the wooden frame was rotten or he was stronger than he had expected. The window came loose in his hand, and he shoved it aside. "Alex!" he whispered.
The boy was directly below him, reaching upward. CJ snaked an arm downward through the aperture. 'They're coming!' he said. 'Jump! Hurry!'
Alex bent his knees, crouched and jumped as hard as he could. CJ caught his hand and dragged him upward. Wyatt reached past him, gripped Alex's wrist, and helped to pull. Alex came out of the window like a Jack-in-the-box, and as he did so, CJ heard the sound of the basement door opening.
'Here they come!' he said. He scrambled to his feet, hauling Alex with him.
'We've got to hide!' Alex said. From the quick glimpse CJ had of him, he was a slender boy of about nine with curly light brown hair and dark eyes. CJ looked around, and an idea hit him.
'This way!' he ordered.
The pickup truck still sat in the driveway, a sheet of canvas stretched taut across its bed. CJ lifted the canvas for the other two. 'Get in, quick! And don't make any noise! I'll get them to follow me, and then you get out and head home!'
Leaving Wyatt and Alex hiding in the bed of the pickup, CJ ran across the street to a spot not far from the place where he and Wyatt had left the bicycles. His super-hearing told him that the three persons in the house were pelting toward the front door as fast as they could move and as he paused on the sidewalk in the dim illumination of the street light halfway down the block, the front door burst open and the two men charged out.
'Marta!' He blasted the mental call to his sister. 'Marta, wake up!'
No answer. An idea hit him as he turned and darted away into the dimness of the park. Marta was probably Wyatt's soulmate, just as his mother and father were -- and Linda Lennox was his. He ducked between a pair of close-growing trees, making sure he was just an instant too late to prevent his pursuers from seeing him. 'Linda!' he called to her. 'Linda, I need help!'
For a second, he thought it hadn't worked, and then Linda's voice said in his mind, 'CJ?'
**********
William Henderson started awake at the sound of his cell phone playing its usual incongruously cheerful melody. For an instant he had to remind himself why he shouldn't hurl the device across the room, but then common sense reasserted itself and he picked it up. "Henderson."
"Mr. Henderson!" The young, female voice at the other end of the phone was unfamiliar for a minute and then he recognized it as the voice of Linda Lennox. "We need help!"
Henderson grabbed his bathrobe one-handed and made a quick exit into the hall, closing the door behind him so as not to disturb his wife. "What's the matter, Linda?"
"CJ called me! He's found Arianna Luthor and he's being chased by two of her men!"
That was enough to bring him to full alertness. "*What*? How did -- no; never mind. Where are you?"
"I'm at home, but CJ's in Centennial Park. He told me to tell you that Arianna Luthor is at 1651 Parkside Villa Street. He and Wyatt found her, but she caught on and now they're after him!"
It sounded to Henderson as if the girl was leaving out a heck of a lot of details, but considering who he was talking to, he was willing to take the story seriously. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Wait -- where are his parents?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Kent are at the hospital," Linda's voice said. "CJ said to keep Superman away. There's Kryptonite! Please, Mr. Henderson; hurry!"
It figured, Henderson thought. Arianna Luthor was making her move and Lois had naturally decided that now was the perfect time to have her triplets -- and of course, CJ didn't want to pull his father away from his mother at such a critical juncture. The boy was becoming more and more like Clark Kent every day -- which only figured, he thought -- except for the fact that there was a disturbing streak of Lois Lane in him. Clark, Lois and he were going to have to come up with some way of convincing people that the Superman clone was long gone; that was for sure. CJ didn't need to have that suspicion hanging over his head for the rest of his life. He might be his father's genetic twin, but he tended to think like his mother; at least in certain circumstances. In any case, Henderson thought as he was yanking his pants on over his pajamas, he was going to have to somehow keep St. Cloud and Pilson from realizing that CJ was that clone. One thing was for certain: life had certainly become a lot more exciting since he had discovered Clark Kent's secret -- but he wouldn't willingly give up the knowledge, or the responsibility that came with it. It wasn't exactly being on the police force, but it was certainly just as important for society at large.
Well, the first thing to do was to notify St. Cloud of the location of Arianna Luthor. He had no doubt that the boy was correct in his identification of his father's enemy. He and St. Cloud had shown the children a picture of the woman the evening before. Henderson had reasoned that it would help them to recognize her if they saw her, and also help them to avoid her. He should have realized that CJ would probably use it to track her down. Clark and Lois were definitely going to need to talk to him about this tendency to involve himself in things best left to adults, but Henderson had to admire the boy's initiative. If he managed to survive to adulthood, the world would definitely benefit from a superhero with the drive and investigative instincts of Lois Lane. However, if it hadn't been probably a useless endeavor, he would have been strongly tempted to tan the boy's hide. Of course, he'd also been of the opinion that Lois might have benefited equally from the same treatment when she had been a child. On the other hand, he thought, as he headed for his car, with Lois, it might not have made any difference, either. It took all of her husband's super powers to keep up with her. How could mere human parents have managed?
Once in the car, he dialed St. Cloud's number with one hand while steering expertly as he backed out of his parking spot and pulled out onto the street. Single-mindedly, he headed for Centennial Park.
**********
tbc
