I hope this makes up for the fact it took ages between parts 7 and 8. smile

Again... this is quite A-plot intensive, there's not much "fluff" in here. You will get to see Superman and Flash kick some villain butt, though. Yeah!!

~.~.~.~.~

From Part 8:

"Leave that to me," Superman said, nodding. "You get back to what you were doing," he added, pointing to Flash. Then, pointing to Aquaman, he continued, "And you help him out. I'll find the Wizard."
[...]
She {Livewire} jumped right into the billboard she was hiding under and disappeared in a blinding blue flash of lightning.
[...]
"No, seriously. If the rain keeps up, we'll be trapped here real quick," he explained. "This was a bad idea, Lois. We're not going to see anything from here. I don't know what I was thinking. We should go back."

"Over my dead body! We came out here for the exclusive and I'm not leaving until we have it!" she told him, defiantly.

[...]
White rage pulsed through the Wizard's veins. She had no right to speak of his brother! Despite himself, he plunged towards the end table on which his wand lay. He would make her take back her words if it was the last thing he did! As he grabbed the metallic object, he heard a sharp whipping sound and found himself surrounded by blue light before everything finally went black.

~.~.~.~.~

Part 9:

When he'd seen the blue lightning bolt, an alarm had gone off in Superman's head.

"Livewire?" he wondered out loud. "It's a good thing I've got friends around if she's involved in this, too..."

Lois had told him about the Weather Wizard and he seemed to remember that she'd hinted to the fact that there was something more about this story than simply one man controlling the weather, but he wasn't quite sure anymore. He'd been so busy trying to make her repeat what she'd told his mother that he hadn't bothered much with the rest of the information. He should have asked, he should have tried to get as much details as he could, but all he really wanted was to hear Lois tell him that she'd missed him. And then of course he couldn't stand to wait a single second before he saw her again.

He sighed. Did she have any idea just how much the simple fact that she'd missed having him around had affected him? Before he left, when they were in the conference room, he'd known there was hope that their relationship might evolve into something more than just friendship. But he hadn't really, truly believed it until he'd seen her just a few minutes ago outside the storage room. Seeing Lois and hearing her admitting that she'd really meant what she'd said about missing him had sent his brains and most of his insides into a mad whirlwind.

He shook his head, unsure how he had gone from worrying over Livewire to daydreaming about Lois. She'd had the ability to do that to him in person before, but now it seemed she no longer had to be there to distract him completely and make him lose track of what he was supposed to be doing.

Superman looked closely at the billboard where the flash of light had appeared to come from. There was nothing. He'd lost track of her now, he knew. If he'd paid more attention, he might have been able to follow Livewire as she traveled from the electronic billboard to whatever her destination was. This whole thing with Lois could turn him into a very useless super powered individual if he wasn't careful!

From high above the skyscrapers, Superman took a long detailed look at the city and its surrounding suburbs, in the hopes of noticing something - anything - that might help. He'd definitely need to go by S.T.A.R. Labs to find the Wizard, he knew. Scanning for polaron emissions wasn't exactly something he could do himself. He had no idea what those would even look like to begin with. As he headed towards S.T.A.R. Labs, he caught sight of what looked like a building being engulfed in blue light.

He flew over as close as he needed to be able to use his x-ray vision and peer into the building. Looking inside he saw a woman whom he instantly knew was Livewire, as she was juggling with balls of lightning, and a man whom he supposed had to be the Weather Wizard.

"There you are," he said with a sly smile. He dove down towards the building and once there, quickly cut off all the power lines leading to it. This way, he knew, Livewire would have only one way out: through the door, like normal people. Hopefully this would prevent her from leaving long enough for him to return with The Flash. He'd promised he'd get him once he'd located the Wizard and that's precisely what he was going to do.

Superman flew back towards the city as fast as he could. Thanks to his enhanced visual abilities, he was able to find his friend in a matter of seconds. He caught up with The Flash as he'd stopped to prevent some small-time criminal from breaking into a jewelry store.

~.~.~.~.~

"I'm sorry, Jimmy," Lois apologized. She patted him on the back hoping this would reinforce the sincerity of her words.

She truly was sorry for dragging him along. They'd gotten a few pictures, although most would probably come out as blurry red streaks over barely focused images of unidentifiable buildings... They had nothing else to show for the long minutes they'd spent on top of the structure, getting soaked to the bone. And now they were stuck here, just as he'd said they would be. Lois estimated there were about four feet of water on the ground now. Even if they tried to get back down, the water level was rising so dangerously fast that they were likely to drown before they made it back to the Daily Planet.

Jimmy turned to look at her, frustration so obvious on his face he needed no words to convey all that he felt right at this second.

"Go ahead, say it... tell me that you'd told me so. This might be the only chance you ever get of doing it, you know," she told him in a feeble attempt at humor.

There was absolutely nothing funny about their current situation, but it was worth a try. If anything, perhaps it would prevent Jimmy from hating her until the dawns of time, she thought. Not that he would, of course; he never usually held grudges.... But someday, she knew, he'd get so fed up with her ordering him around and dragging him along on suicidal 'missions' that he would start resenting her. This was the only way she knew of doing her job, this was why she was at the top of her profession, because she went out there and got the story, even if it meant walking into a little bit of danger every once in a while. She could not bare the thought of Jimmy hating her for it.

He raised an eyebrow in doubt. Was she really acknowledging the fact that he'd been right? The great Lois Lane, admitting defeat? To *him*? If they got out of this, he'd have to mark his calendar, because this was something that was most unlikely to ever happen again.

She'd asked him to let her have it, hadn't she? Well, he couldn't possibly pass that up, now could he? He broke into a wide grin. "I told you so," he shouted, his head tilted up towards the sky. If he was going to say it, then the whole world would hear it!

~.~.~.~.~

"I've found them," Superman told Flash, once they'd made sure the jewelry store wasn't going to be robbed for now.

"The Wizard and his henchmen?" Flash asked.

"One of them, anyway. How many more are there supposed to be?" Superman asked, immediately regretting having admitted to being a bit on the clueless side. He knew all too well that Flash would jump on the opportunity to tease him. He hardly ever missed one.

"Didn't your partner tell you anything? Oh, wait, let me guess," he said, waiving his index in the air a few of times as if to indicate he was trying to figure things out, "you were so happy to hear the sound of her voice, you completely forgot to listen to whatever she was telling you at the time. Did I get it right?"

Superman rolled his eyes. Flash had jumped on the opportunity all right. "It's not like that," he said. "She really didn't tell me anything. Besides, what does it matter? I know where to find the Weather Wizard. He's outside of town, in the basement of an old building. He's got Livewire with him. You ever heard of her?"

"Of course I have," Flash confirmed, "my partner always tells *me* the important stuff." He smirked at the other man's growing embarrassment.

"Don't rub it in."

Just then, Superman's super-hearing picked up on something and he reflexively cocked his head to the side, the uneasy expression on his face quickly replaced by a vacant stare. "Shhh," he whispered before Flash could ask him what was going on.

"Ah, damn it!" Superman mumbled.(*) Then, grabbing Flash by the waist in one super fast motion, he flew up in the air.

"Woa! Would you please not do that? I like having my feet on the ground, thank you very much," Flash complained.

Ignoring his friend's protests Superman stopped his ascent and then pointed in the direction of the building where he'd spotted the Wizard and said "See that building, way over there? The grayish one? That's where they are. You go ahead and I'll be there before you can call for backup."

With that, he flew back down, dropped Flash unceremoniously right into the water and disappeared with a loud "swoosh!" sound.

Flash shrugged. He'd just have to ask about it later....

"Hey, what do you know!" he exclaimed, suddenly realizing that it was no longer raining. "I hope that's a good sign..." he muttered as he headed towards the direction of the building Superman had shown him.

A fraction of a second later, he was standing right in front of it.

~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, inside the aforementioned edifice...

It took a few seconds before the Wizard realized that everything had turned to black because the lights had gone out. He thought he'd been hit by lightning and lost consciousness for a while, but apparently that wasn't it at all. He couldn't tell where Livewire's energy bolt had struck, but he was definitely unharmed.

"What's going on?" he risked asking. He could not see anything; it was pitch black down there. He didn't even know whether or not Livewire was still there.

"Well, duh. What do you *think* is going on. The power's been cut," she replied, acidly. Talk about having to state the obvious, she thought. How really actually stupid could this man be?

"Can't you do anything about it?" he asked. "You are a walking generator after all, aren't you?"

"Keep your pants on, will you!" she retorted. "I need a second to be able to make out the equipment in here before I can transfer energy into it."

She didn't sound half as annoyed as she had a few seconds ago, the Wizard noted. He wasn't really sure why, but he had a sinking feeling that this wasn't exactly a good thing.

As Livewire sent a small burst of energy onto the neon affixed to the ceiling, the lights came back up. Immediately, the Wizard found the answer to his question: she'd calmed down because she knew he wasn't a threat to her anymore... His wand lay on the floor, its globe shattered into several big blackened chunks of glass.

He was just Mark Mardon again; the Weather Wizard was no more.

~.~.~.~.~

"Well you didn't have to scream," Lois told Jimmy, feigning to be wounded by his actions.

He turned to look at her. "I'm sorry," he said, "It's just, you know... if this is the only chance I ever get of saying it, I wanted to have witnesses. Otherwise I know no one's going to believe me when I tell them."

"You look awful, by the way," she told him, trying to refrain from giggling.

"Yeah, no kidding! We look like a couple of wet cats!"

They took a good look at each other and burst out laughing. A second later, they noticed that the rain had stopped.

"Finally!" Jimmy said.

"Yeah, finally!" Lois echoed.

"We're still stuck here for now, though, you realize..."

"Not for long," they heard a familiar voice say, from somewhere above them.

Jimmy looked up, and broke into a wide smile. He hadn't been so happy to see anyone in a very long time!

"Jimmy. Miss Lane," Superman greeted them, lowering himself slowly in front of them.

Lois looked at her feet, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red. He can't see me like this, she thought, I look like a mess! No, no, no! Perhaps he wouldn't notice how absolutely awful she looked if she managed not turn her face in his direction? Lois forced herself to keep looking down.

Jimmy elbowed her gently. Why wasn't she saying anything, he wondered. Superman was there. They were saved. Shouldn't she be all excited or something?

"Lois?" he whispered, "it's *Superman*."

"I know," she whispered back, still not looking up.

Jimmy sighed, exasperated. If someone ever came up with a manual on how to understand women, he'd be the first one to buy it, he thought, because he had *no* clue.

"You do know that I can hear you, don't you, Miss Lane? Is something wrong?" Superman asked, frowning. What was the matter with her?

"No, no," she lied, "everything is fine. Isn't it, Jimmy? We're OK, aren't we? I mean, we're soaking wet and probably on the verge of catching one nasty head cold, but we're perfectly fine otherwise. Right Jimmy?"

"Huh... Yeah, I guess," Jimmy answered, confused.

"So you see, there's no need to worry about us, we're fine!" Lois continued, still staring intensely at her feet.

"Well, I would hate to leave you here," Superman told them, "but if you're positive that you're fine, there's a wizard and a woman with an electric personality that need to be taken care of rather urgently... You will stay here until I get back, won't you, Miss Lane?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lois spat at him, looking up for the first time. How dare he take that condescending tone with her! She realized of course that he'd be seeing just how ghastly she looked, but she no longer cared. "I'll have you know that I could very well get back to the office on my own, *if* I wanted to!"

"Lois!" Jimmy interjected. Had she completely lost her mind? She'd been known to snap at Clark like that - pretty much on a daily basis, actually - but geez... this was Superman she was throwing a hissy fit at. Superman! She seriously needed her head examined!

"I'm... sorry," Superman apologized, his eyebrows raised in confusion. Obviously he'd stuck his foot in his mouth, he thought, but he wasn't entirely certain what he'd done wrong. He'd done nothing that he wouldn't normally have done when he wore the Suit. Unless that was the issue? Perhaps it hadn't occurred to her that he would still always behave as two different people unless they happened to be alone together....

Jimmy was just as confused.... First Lois had started acting like Superman was just an ordinary guy she could push around and now Superman was apologizing to her? What the heck for? What was going on around here? Had everyone completely lost their minds?

"Oh, God... I didn't mean that! I'm so sorry!" Lois' eyes grew wide and she slapped her hand over her mouth as she realized her faux pas. He wasn't being condescending, he was just being Superman. This is how he always acted when he wore the Suit. Of course he behaved differently depending which side of himself he was supposed to be at the time. This would definitely take some getting used to, she thought.

"We'll be fine," she added. "Right, Jimmy? You have more important things to worry about than us crazy folk sitting on top of a modern-art sculpture. We'll be OK as long as it doesn't start raining again."

"I'll come back for you as soon as I can," Superman promised before he flew off.

For a second, Jimmy wondered if he should ask Lois why she'd freaked out, but then decided against it. Perhaps it was just that time of the month. Besides, they were sitting on a very small surface and the last thing he wanted was to be sharing the space with Mad Dog Lane for... well, who knew how long it would take before Superman got back?

~.~.~.~.~

"Why didn't you go inside already?" Superman asked Flash once he got to the Wizard's hideout.

"Oh, uh... I dunno," Flash answered, somewhat nervously. "I figured maybe it would be best if we got in there together. Not that I... uh... I'm not afraid of him or anything, you know, but... ah... he nearly killed me last time and now there are two of them and... I guess I thought it would be best to stay on the safe side. You know, being as though I'm not invulnerable..."

Superman smiled and nodded. "Wise idea. Now let's go crash their party! You take the front door, I'll take the back."

"You're on!"

Both men sprinted towards the entrance they'd agreed upon. They broke down the doors and entered the building, heading to the basement at super speed.

There was a loud noise as the doors were torn off their hinges. Livewire jerked her head towards the front of the room, knowing it wouldn't be long before she saw someone appear there. Before she had time to say anything, however, Superman and Flash were already in the room with them.

"I... I surrender," Mardon announced, slowly raising his hands above his head, "I'm no longer able to control the weather, my wand's been destroyed. I... uh... I can't harm you."

Flash grabbed an electric cable and quickly bound the former Weather Wizard's hands together. "I don't trust you anyway," he told the man.

Meanwhile, Livewire had sent a few bolts of lightning in the direction of Superman. The last one had hit him square in the chest and he'd been thrown clear across the room, crashing into a wall. He shook his head sharply, trying to recover from the stunning effect that this had had on him. He sent a long burst of super breath in her direction. This wasn't nearly as effective as water, he knew, but it had proven useful against her before.

Knowing he was even more vulnerable to her attacks than his friend was, Flash shot out of the room as fast as he could. Hopefully Superman would be able to fend her off by himself for a moment.

Flash had noticed a garden hose lying in the grass, outside the building. He was aware of the fact that water would slow Livewire down considerably. He went out and connected the hose to the water line, then turned the faucet. Thankfully, the building still had running water. He broke one of the basement windows and aimed the nozzle gun towards Livewire before releasing the trigger, thereby sending a powerful jet of water directly at the woman.

"Aaargh!" she screamed. A minute later, she sank to the floor, as most of her life force had escaped her.

"Turn it off! Flash! Turn the water off or you'll kill her!" Superman shouted. He ran over to Livewire and picked her up from the puddle of water she was lying in.

Flash turned the water off as instructed and ran back into the basement.

"I'm going to fly her to the police precinct," Superman explained. "Bring him along," he added, pointing to Mardon, "I'm sure inspector Henderson will be glad to get his hands on these two."

With that, he made it out of the building and headed back towards downtown Metropolis. Flash grabbed Mardon, threw him over his shoulder and ran out in the same direction.

~.~.~.~.~

To Be Continued...

(*)changed from original version


Superman: Why is it that good villains never die?
Batman: Clark, what the hell are good villains?
=> Superman/Batman: Public Enemies