There's quite probably only one part left after this, but I didn't want to mark this as being 10/11 because last time I anticipated the end was near, I was off by 4 parts! LOL!
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From Part 9:
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....
[...]
"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.
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Part 10:
"We're grateful for your help," inspector Henderson thanked Superman and Flash. "There's enough in here to put them away for a very long time," he added, showing them the fax that he'd gotten earlier from Lois.
"I hope so," Flash said. "I've had about as much of Mark Mardon as I can take in this lifetime, believe me! And I'm sure Supes here wishes he'd never met the man...."
At the other man's raised eyebrow, Flash quickly corrected himself. "Right... I'm sure *Superman* wishes he'd never met the Weather Wizard. How's that, Mr. Superman, sir? Better?"
Both men smiled at each other, clearly trying to contain their laughter.
Henderson shook his head. The scene was so incongruous, he could barely believe he was witnessing it. Grown men, clad in flashy skin-tight spandex, acting like a couple teenage kids. No doubt they lived in some fantasy world where their only concern was showing up to save the day. "They'd never survive living in the real world, like the rest of us," he thought to himself with a sigh.
"You know," the inspector said finally, "Lois Lane can sometimes be a royal pain in the butt - make that most of the time - but I have to hand it to her, she really came through on this one. Pity she couldn't get her hands on this before, might have prevented that biblical sized deluge out there."
"We'll do everything we can to help clean the mess up," Superman told him.
"In the meantime, I'll get these two transferred to the state prison. Oh, and I'll make sure that nasty little injunction disappears."
"Thank you, inspector," Superman said, obviously relieved.
With that, Henderson went back to his office where a pile of paperwork was waiting for him.
As they left the precinct, Superman instructed Flash to go back on his patrol.
"I've got something to take care of," he explained, "I'll be right back and then we can find Aquaman and figure out way to pump the water out of the streets."
"You have 'something' to take care of? Don't you mean 'someone'?" Flash teased.
"Yeah, I guess that would be one way of putting it," Superman admitted. No point in denying it, he thought, his friend was obviously a lot more perceptive than he'd have liked him to be.
"Is that the same someone you had to rush to before? Because it occurs to me that you must have had one heck of a reason to fly me up and drop me in four feet of water like that... If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably that pretty partner of yours. You know, the one you say keeps finding herself smack in the middle of trouble all the time..."
"What makes you think that?"
"Oh, come on, Supes! You have the hots for her, it's written all over your face!"
"Quit trying to psycho-analyze me, will you! There are more important things to do."
"Yeah, like getting back to your damsel in distress, no doubt!" Flash chuckled. "I knew it!" he added, with an air of self-satisfaction as he noticed his friend's growing embarrassment.
"Oh, drop it, Mr. Know-It-All!" Superman snapped back before he flew off like a rocket.
~.~.~.~.~
"The Wizard and Livewire are in custody," Superman told Lois and Jimmy, once he got back to the sculpture they were still perched on. "We're going to get rid of all this water as soon as we can. In the meantime, I suppose you two would like to get off this... what is that thing supposed to be, anyway?"
"Beats me!" Jimmy replied, standing up. "But I wouldn't mind not seeing it again for a very long time..."
"Me either..." Lois added. She took the hand Jimmy was extending her and got up to her feet as well.
"I'm sorry," Superman said, "I should probably have thought about doing this earlier."
"Doing what?" Jimmy asked, puzzled.
"This..." Superman answered. He seemed to stare at Jimmy's feet for a second and then looked all the way up from his ankles to his head.
Jimmy felt a strange warmth that started at his feet and slowly ran all the way to his head. A short few seconds later, his clothes were completely dry again. "Oh! That? Wow! I didn't know you could do *that*! Thanks!"
Superman turned to Lois with the intention of drying her off as well.
Her eyes grew wide as she remembered that lasers weren't the only things the man could do with those beautiful brown eyes of his... Uh oh!
"Uh... Superman?" she said, waving her hand frantically, hoping he'd understand this meant 'no'. "That's just heat right... I mean... no x-rays or anything?"
"Oh, come on, Lois!" Jimmy said, laughing. "What d'you think? That he's going to sneak a peak at your underwear? I doubt he's interested in knowing what color it is!"
She elbowed him sharply. If she'd felt awkward before, she was now blushing like crazy and wished very hard that she was somewhere else. It was insane, she knew. Superman would never do such a thing, he just wasn't like that! But for some reason Lois couldn't get the idea out of her head. No, Superman would definitely not x-ray through her clothes like that, but... she wasn't entirely certain she trusted *Clark* not to look.
"Just heat, I promise," Superman confirmed.
"Um... Ok, then," Lois said, shutting her eyes as tightly as she could. Oh, she wasn't afraid he'd hurt her - she trusted him completely in that respect - but she didn't think she could stand there watching him work the heat vision on her. He'd be looking, probably in great detail, at every inch of her body and it made her feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. Not that she felt uncomfortable about her body - she rather thought it was in pretty nice shape, actually - but being stared at so intensely, especially by this guy whom she had strong feelings for, *that* was something else!
Lois opened her eyes again once she no longer felt the wave of warmth from the heat vision. Superman was still staring at her, though, she noticed. She looked away, blushing again. "Thank you," she said softly.
He cleared his throat before he spoke again. "I'm not sure I'm able to fly both of you at the same time. If you don't..."
"Take Jimmy back first," Lois interrupted, "I'll wait." This way, she knew, she'd have a few more minutes alone with him. She wasn't really sure what she wanted them for exactly, especially since his being there now was doing strange things to her insides, all she knew is that she wanted those extra minutes alone with him. She wanted them very badly.
"Are you sure, Lois?" Jimmy asked, surprised.
"Yeah, Jimmy, I owe you for dragging you here against your better judgment. I'll wait."
Actually, as long as Lois got her turn to fly with him, it didn't matter to her if Superman first had to transport the entire city of Metropolis all the way to Central City, one person at a time. She'd wait as long as it took.
"I'll be back in just a few minutes," Superman told her before he picked up Jimmy and flew off in the direction of the Daily Planet.
Barely five minutes later, he was back again. He hovered in front of Lois for a second, as if he was trying to decide what to do next. He'd been looking forward to being alone with her - not to mention flying with her - but now that the moment had arrived it made him unusually nervous. Finally, he joined her on the structure.
As she found herself mere inches from him, Lois suddenly felt light-headed. She tried taking a step to her right, to steady her balance, but ended up staggering dangerously close to the edge of the sculpture instead.
"Careful," he said, grabbing her gently by the shoulders so she wouldn't fall off into the water.
"Thank you," she whispered, slightly shaken.
"Ready to go?" he asked. As much as he would have liked to stay there with her and let the rest of the world take care of itself, he couldn't in good conscience let his friends take care of fixing the mess that was now Metropolis all by themselves.
Lois nodded in approval. Superman picked her up in his arms and a second later they were airborne.
Flying with him seemed so strange now, she thought. It used to thrill her to no end, but it wasn't the same anymore. Now that she knew that Clark was Superman, it just felt strange. Like she was in a science-fiction movie, when she would have liked to be in a romance novel instead. She hoped this was just temporary, that once the strangeness of situation had passed, she would once again experience the indescribable mixture of freedom and happiness that always came from flying with Superman.
"Clark? Uh... I can still call you that, right?"
"Yes, of course. Unless I'm wearing the Suit and there's people around, I mean..."
"Oh, right. Of course."
"What is it?" he asked after a moment as he realized that Lois was staring at him as if she'd never seen him before.
"Oh... nothing. This is going to sound so stupid! It's just... Well... You can really, actually fly."
He chuckled. "Lois, you've seen me do it dozens of times already!"
"Well, no, not really... I mean, I've seen Superman fly before. Yes, yes, I know, you *are* Superman. You're him right now to the rest of the world, as a matter of fact, I know. But, it's just... I don't know how to explain it... I never in a million years would have pictured Clark Kent being able to fly! It's *so* strange to think it's you under there, Clark. You have no idea! I mean, I really believed you were a farm boy from Kansas..."
"That's probably because I am a farm boy from Kansas, Lois. I did actually grow up on a farm, you know."
"You did? Oh... I thought... Ah, never mind! It's really hard to wrap my head around the fact that you're more than just that, you know. It's all so very confusing."
"I understand," he told her, reassuringly. "Once all this... madness... is over, we can take some time and talk about all of that, if you like. I said I'd answer any question you could possibly think of and I meant it. So long as you promise you won't print it, I'll tell you everything you ever wanted to know about me."
"Yeah, I'd like that," she said, smiling at the prospect of finding out all his secrets.
"Looks like we're here," he announced.
Superman flew in one of the opened windows, just as he had done a few minutes before with Jimmy. He gently set Lois down.
"Well, I better be going back," he told her in apology.
"Superman? We'll see you again, won't we?" Lois asked, mostly for herself, but taking care of formulating her question in a way that anyone else might think she was trying to get a quote for an article.
"I'll be around," he promised, then he turned back towards the window and flew off.
~.~.~.~.~
Several hours later, in Perry White's office...
Lois stepped into the editor's office, then closed the door behind her and sat down on the leather couch. "Perry? I wanted to as you a favor..."
"Have you decided you wanted some time off after all?" he inquired.
"No, no, I don't want time off. I.. uh... I wanted to ask if... uh... you remember you said that if I wanted a partner again, you'd give me one? Well, I was wondering if... I could get to chose? I mean, for instance, if I asked for someone in particular, do you think there's any way you could make that happen?"
Perry smiled warmly. He'd hoped that Clark might want to come back to the Planet... He was more than prepared to shred his letter of resignation to pieces - he'd very much like to be able to pretend the thing had never existed in the first place, in fact. He had not, however, expected Lois to come begging for her partner to be reinstated. There may be hope for these two after all, he thought.
"Why, of course! When you see him, just tell him to get his butt back here as soon as he can."
See him? Who did Perry think she meant? For all anyone knew, Clark was in Smallville at the moment...
"Um... Chief? I don't think we're talking about the same person, here," Lois told him. Whoever it was that the editor thought she was talking about, she didn't want *them* as her partner! She wanted Clark back!
"I think we are," he said, with a sly smile. "Unless you've actually got someone new in mind?"
"Someone... new? Oh, no, no! I don't want anyone *new*!"
"Then like I said, when you see him, tell him to get his butt back in the newsroom before I change my mind."
He couldn't have known, could he? Really? Lois suddenly found herself connecting dots in her head for the second time in as many days. This sure would explain the comment Perry had made about Clark possibly coming back when things 'cooled down', though, wouldn't it?
"Perry? You mean... you... know?" she asked careful to be as vague as possible. Just in case it was just a coincidence and he really didn't know, then at least Clark's secret would still be safe.
"What? That he's..." Perry traced an 'S' in the air with his index, "Of course I know."
Lois jumped to her feet, her cheeks reddening with anger. "Well isn't that just great! I suppose everybody knows and I was the only one left that was completely clueless? Ooooh! Wait 'til I get my hands on him... that... that... lying slimeball! You know what? I think I *do* want a new partner!"
She stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind her. How could he have told Perry already? Friends who also happened to have super powers, well she could understand *that*, but that he'd let his editor in on his secret before he told his own *partner*? There she'd been thinking that she was special because he'd entrusted her with a precious secret, only to realize that in fact he'd trusted several others with it, just not herself. Did he know anything about her at all? She'd kept information from the public that could have been used to harm him before, wasn't that proof enough that she was loyal to him? Oh how she would make him regret this!
Lois started to walk towards her desk to pick up her briefcase and leave the newsroom. She hadn't taken two steps away from the editor's office, however, when she found herself face to face with her sheepish looking *ex*-partner. She looked up at him, her eyes narrow with anger.
"Slimeball!" she threw at him, before she walked away.
"Lois?" Clark called out, utterly confused.
He'd noticed how agitated she was a second ago, in Perry's office, but out of respect for both her and the editor, he hadn't tried to listen in on the conversation. He had absolutely no idea what he possibly could have done to incur the wrath of Lois Lane, this time. She seemed fine a few hours ago when he'd seen her last...
"Oh, drop dead!" she spat back, causing him to cringe.
Whatever it was that Lois was angry with him for, Clark hoped that he'd be able to fix it. He'd gotten a quick glimpse at what his life would be without her in it and the last thing he wanted was to actually live it! He'd go over and talk to her a little later. Maybe if he gave her a bit of time, she'd calm down enough to listen to him. Right now, though, he needed to talk to Perry and see whether there was any possible way he would consider re-hiring him. Otherwise, he might really have to leave Metropolis for good and the prospect of that sounded no more appealing than being without Lois. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the editor's door before going inside the office.
Having picked up her things from her desk, Lois rushed towards the elevator, almost running straight into a pair of very tired looking guys who didn't seem to know their way around. Whoever they were, they should have had the good sense to get out of her way, she thought.
"Hey, watch it, will you!" she said, then got on the elevator and left the newsroom.
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To Be Continued...
