Thanks to Tahu
Usual disclaimers apply.
TOC From Part 10:“Lois, I don’t know, somehow my injury looks a lot better than it did yesterday. Dr. Klein saw no reason to treat me,” Clark replied under his breath.
“Clark, I…”
“I can hardly show you here, can I?” Clark asked and gestured around. There were a few scientists on the corridor of STAR Labs, some of them already watching the fighting couple. “I’m not lying, nor am I trying to win more time. I can’t explain it, but somehow the injury seems to have healed. Here, touch my abdomen, it’s barely even sensitive.”
“But how?” Lois asked, while Clark urged her to go. “I saw it yesterday, it just can’t look so much better today!”
Separate Lives or Till Life Do Us Part
Part 11“Okay, what do we know?” Lois leaned back and looked at Clark, who was sitting next to her. “And don’t you dare tell me that we know it was you pulling that trigger.”
They had occupied a well hidden bench in Centennial Park, figuring that every reporter and policeman in Metropolis would compass either the Daily Planet or Clark’s apartment. Lois didn’t want to risk going to her place, because it wasn’t a secret that the hottest team in town was close.
“Superman and I fought in that alley,” Clark said. “There was a weapon and I’m pretty sure there was a third man.”
“I talked to Superman about one and a half days after I had last seen you,” Lois added.
“What did we do before I vanished and what did Superman do before he visited you?” Clark asked, somehow feeling that particularly that last thing was important.
“We were at the Daily Planet, working on a story - nothing particularly interesting. I think you were working through an interview, while I was researching on some background information. You told me you would meet a source and promised me to be right back. You weren’t.”
“Didn’t you come with me?” Clark asked.
“I wanted to, but you told me that it wasn’t possibly. I was angry at first, but then figured that this was just one of your library books.” He looked at her confused and Lois added. “That’s one of the two excuses you always use with me,” Lois replied, not actually angry, though this was one of the things about Clark that really made her mad. “When you’re not returning a book, it’s a video. It could as well have been a mysterious source, then.”
Clark blushed as he heard the pain in her voice. “I’m sorry,” he said, though he was not sure if he felt guilty for lying to her or if he was actually only sorry for himself, because it was his own fault that Lois couldn’t help him now.
“I guess you had a good reason for not telling me, well, whatever it was that you refused to talk about,” Lois shrugged. “But there was something else we wanted to discuss. You still didn’t tell me anything about that wound of yours,” she changed the topic.
Strangely, Clark had the strong feeling that this was something he wouldn’t normally have spoken about. It was way too weird and way too scary. But Lois was the only person he felt he could confide in.
“It’s almost gone,” Clark said and withdrew his shirt from his trousers, revealing his stomach. To his surprise even the word almost didn’t quite describe it. His abdomen was completely flawless, not the faintest tint of red skin did remind of his injury.
Lois swallowed hard and her eyes searched his skin as if she hoped to find the mask behind which he hid the gash.
“That’s impossible,” Lois said and reached out to feel what she couldn’t belief by only seeing it.
“I know.” It didn’t stun him less, just because he had already seen the gash become a faint mark. He hadn’t expected that it would disappear so completely in so little time. Not that he knew how quickly his injuries usually healed. He couldn’t remember any of them...
“Ouch!” Clark looked at his index finger, shocked and fascinated at the same time. Blood was oozing out of it, slowly at first, but then more and more red blood appeared. “I...I’m bleeding,” he whispered in mere astonishment.
“Haven’t you ever had a paper cut before?” Lois asked him, seeming to be slightly amused by his reaction.
“Not that I remember.”Clark blinked. He had hoped that this memory thing was only temporarily, but obviously he had had problems with that before, hadn’t he?
Pieces of glass were lying on the floor between the end table and his sofa. Clark bent down to pick them up. As he came back up he had a lot of blood on his fingers.
“Ow,” he murmured. “Damn.” He had a close look at his fingers, and then decided to suck away the blood. “Clark, did you hear me?” Lois asked, sounding a bit unnerved. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I think I remembered something,” he replied slowly. His memories rather irritated than thrilled him. He couldn’t have put a finger on what was so particularly strange about them.
“That’s great!” Lois said, straightening her shoulders, full of hope to get through to the bottom of the mystery. “Something about Superman?”
Clark shook his head. “No, sorry. I just remembered that I got a paper cut.”
“Oh, you mean that one back in Smallville when I advised you to suck on your finger, don’t you,” Lois immediately said, but then shook her head about her own stupidity. This first or whatever paper cut had to be one of uncountable others. She was having at least two right now, given the amount of folders she had been flipping through lately.
“You still remember that?” Clark asked, disbelievingly.
“It was... uh... kind of memorable,” Lois replied. She couldn’t ask all the questions that were on her mind now. There were too many of them and besides, Clark suddenly covering his ears with his hands was kind of distracting her.
“Ow”, he complained and looked at her, as if to ask her for advice. His expression turned utterly startled. “Lois, how can you bear this terrible noise?” he shouted, trying to drown out the what he seemed to be hearing. The park was perfectly quiet except for the distant sound of traffic.
“There is no noise, Clark,” Lois replied, irritated.
It couldn’t be because she was deaf, that she didn’t her anything, could it? She heard Clark just fine, so the noise could only be in his head. But she had never heard of any illness, mental or otherwise, where there was noise inside ones head. Schizophrenic people tended to hear voices, but they couldn’t be so loud that they hurt, or could they?
“Don’t you hear all that traffic? Sounds of trains and trucks, people screaming. Even you are shouting,” Clark named it.
“I’m not shouting,” Lois said, her voice this time even lower than previously. “And there maybe some traffic, but that is far away. Look, Clark, there are trees everywhere around us. There are no people here to scream and the next train station is at least two blocks away.” She eyed him, more and more worried about his strange behaviour.
“Then why do I hear all these different sounds?” Clark asked. “Lois, I swear I’m not making this up. It sounds as if I’m right in the middle of a crash.”
His eyes begged her to believe him. Seeing that his hands were still protecting his ears and that his brows were furrowed as if he was in some kind of pain, Lois felt that he was telling the truth. It didn’t seem like he was becoming delusional. But that didn’t help her understand what was happening to him.
Clark wasn’t so sure that he was in his right mind. Lois obviously wasn’t suffering from the noises as he was. And all of the sudden the sounds died down and Clark relaxed, taking his hands back down and resting them in his lap. With a sigh of relief, he turned his attention back to Lois. She looked at him, closely and thoughtfully. He could almost see her think – hard. Lois appeared to be far less clueless than he was. She murmured, raising one finger of her right hand.
“Quick healing...” she whispered. “Okay, let’s assume that the noise means... extraordinary good hearing.” She moved her second finger. “And thinking of the car...for the lack of another explanation... heat vision.” She carefully eyed Clark and a third finger joined the others. Some conclusion had obviously struck her and she turned to Clark. “I... I’m not sure about this, but it seems that somehow...” she swallowed. “I think Superman has transferred his powers to you!”
“He... what?” Clark said eloquently. He sat there frozen, thunderstruck.
“Yes, this must be it.” Lois said with a smile. The idea obviously excited her immensely. “Some month ago that happened by accident. His powers were transferred to someone called William Wallace Webster Waldecker. He became Resplendent Man when he and Superman were both struck by lightning.” She stopped talking, as if to think about an issue, but then – even more cheerfully she added. “There was a thunderstorm yesterday.”
An enthusiastic smile lit her face. She looked more beautiful then ever. It was infecting, although Clark didn’t feel he could share her joy. He had a fair idea that these news meant the world to Lois, but he was clueless what the man with the many W’s had to do with him.
“That’s the proof that you didn’t kill him. He trusted you. You couldn’t have done it.” Lois exclaimed excitedly. The smile on her lips became even broader and she visibly relaxed. “I knew I couldn’t be so wrong.”
“But why would he…?” Clark asked confused and far from convinced.
“Because you’re his friend, because he trusted you. Superman must have realized that there was something wrong with him. Perhaps this had been something he knew he wouldn’t be able to fight off. He considered his powers too precious a gift to let the world be without them. Thus he made you his heir,” Lois said. “It explains everything. Why you’re healing so fast, why you set the head rest on fire. And it sure explains why you heard this noise that for me was nothing more than distant sound. It just fits.”
Lois’ explanation was reasonable, simple. She frantically pushed the thought away that maybe she just desperately needed to belief in her hero. She wanted to know that someone had forced him to be cruel if this couldn’t prove to be a nightmare after all. A small nagging voice dimmed her joy though. Why had Superman chosen Clark and not her? Why hadn’t he told her what was happening to him? And why had Clark been gone for so long? Had he talked to Superman during that time? Had they agreed upon this step or had Superman forced his powers onto Clark? Could this have been the reason for their fighting?
“It just fits,” Clark repeated, his voice croaking. His mouth had certainly never felt that dry before. For him it certainly didn’t fit, it didn’t feel right. “Then why did he attack me? From what I remember he tried to kill me.” It sounded ridiculous as he said that. Why would the strongest man in the world want to kill a reporter and why would he try to give him his powers?
“Maybe he just couldn’t stop himself,” Lois muttered and realized how stupid this sounded. “But that’s not the important thing. He wanted you to be the world’s new hero. You’ve got to learn how to control these powers now, Clark. You have to be him!”
“Are you insane, Lois?” Clark asked. “Everyone believes that I killed Superman. Let’s assume you are right and he transferred his powers to me. How do you think I should take his place? Do you expect me to escape jail each night to moonlight as a Superhero? Or shall I go on living like I used to live and we tell the world that I didn’t kill him because he trusted in me? Heavens, even I don’t believe in that.”
Clark felt a sudden rush of rage. He balled his hands into fists without really noticing it. His nails were pressed into his palms, but he didn’t feel any pain nor did he wonder about that. Why did he have to be another man, when all he wanted was to find out who *he* really was? How could she ask him to become someone he could never hold a candle to? Clark turned away from her, not sure if it was her or himself he was protecting. She didn’t want him, Clark - whoever that was. Not as long as there was a hero to admire, even a fake one. For some reason that felt strangely familiar.
“I can’t do that” Clark replied, almost angrily. “Whatever you say about having powers or whatever it is that’s happening to me. That does not make me him.”
“Sure it doesn’t,” Lois conceded. “But you can learn to use those powers to help people. It won’t be easy, but I’ll help you, Clark.”
“That’s not the point,” Clark argued helplessly.
Surely, she didn’t understand what he was talking about. She didn’t even consider she might hurt his feelings. But then he wondered what was actually supposed to be the point. Wasn’t it selfish to be just Clark when he was able to make a difference? If Superman had actually chosen him to be his heir, shouldn’t he be doing his very best to fulfill his last wish?
“Clark, I know, this has to be confusing. I mean, you’re situation is really difficult as it is,” Lois said soothingly and laid her hand on his arm, trying to calm him.
“Right! How am I supposed to be someone I don’t even know? How could I replace the man I might have killed? Lois, I simply can’t be Superman!” Clark turned away from her and frantically searched for a way to escape this situation. He wanted nothing more than to run away as fast as he could. Nobody would be able to stop him… but Lois.
“Didn’t we talk about this, Clark? I tell you, you did not kill him. Superman was behaving strangely for some reason we know nothing about. I didn’t realize it at first, but it was totally unlike him to be jealous because of you. He so often told me how kind you are and how lucky I was to have someone like you.” Lois reached for his hand.
He felt her fingers on his, the soft touch of her thumb. Clark didn’t want to leave anymore, although it seemed to be anything but reasonable. Lois had an influence on him that was short of scary. And though he vowed not to give in so easily, he knew that he had already lost this fight. That became even more obvious as Lois drew a little closer and embraced him. He could no longer resist her.
Ages seemed to have passed since the morning, but as soon as Lois’ lips touched his the magic was back as if had never been gone. His objections were blown away by the sensation her hot lips caused in him as she softly placed one small peck after the other on his mouth, wandering from the upper lip to the lower and back again.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered as she pulled away. “I didn’t mean to scare you. It would just be so good to know that there is someone there who helps people unconditionally, who we can look up to, and who makes the world a better place.” He could feel that she was sincere about this and his jealousy subsided, brought to rest by the realization that this hadn’t just been about making him the hero she so desperately missed.
“I wouldn’t be the man people could look up to, Lois.” Clark said quietly.
“Yes, you would,” Lois replied. “Clark, you are honest, well – most of the time... You are kind and good. I just can’t imagine you having such powers without using them to help people. That is something the Clark Kent I know wouldn’t be able to do, just like I’m certain you haven’t killed Superman. Not on purpose anyway.”
Lois suddenly got up and ushered Clark to follow her. After the slightly frustrating conversation with Dr. Klein, Lois was again full of energy. Finally everything seemed to be possible, knowing that Superman wasn’t completely gone and that Clark was slowly coming back.
“Lois, where are we going now?” Clark asked.
“Well, what do you think? Find out what happened in that alley, of course. You said there was a third man, we’re going to find him!” Lois said as if this was the simplest task imaginable.
“But how? I can’t even describe him. And what are you planning to do about my...” he harrumphed uneasily. “...powers?”
Lois stopped pacing though the park for a moment to look at Clark. That was indeed a problem. If Clark was actually developing powers, it would be unpredictable what was going to happen next. But although Lois had promised him to help him deal with those abilities, she didn’t exactly know how. And however they were going to practice, doing it in bright daylight surely wasn’t a good idea.
“First Bobby Bigmouth, then your powers,” Lois decided.
She could tell by his expression that he would rather have it the other way round. Or would he? His emotions seemed to be a turmoil, irritating and confusing her. First he had been uncomfortable with her decision, then again he almost seemed to be relieved. Lois didn’t understand him at all and so she just walked on, dragging Clark with her.
to be continued...
