Here's the last part! Thanks once again to Nancy and Carol, and to all you guys as well. Hope you enjoy!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kal was uncomfortable waiting in the shaded alley for Lois’ mysterious source.
For one thing, he was sure that he had stopped no less than three muggings in this specific spot, and he was feeling horrifically conspicuous holding a white paper bag smelling of Chinese food with a grease spot in the bottom corner that was growing bigger by the moment.
But what made him most uncomfortable of all was the knowledge that Lois was still missing, and that he was entirely dependent on what this man might have to say. He was Kal’s last hope.
“He’s late,” Brian remarked, checking his watch for the twelfth time.
“I know,” replied Kal, pacing around in a space a few strides wide.
What a pair they both made. Neither one of them had a clear head at this point, each concerned solely with the fate of the women they…
They what? Brian obviously loved Marli, but what exactly was it that Kal felt towards Lois? Love wasn’t supposed to be an option.
And yet anything less suddenly felt too cheap.
“Hey, are you the guys?” A thin looking man approached Kal and Brian cautiously, as if ready at any moment to turn around and run away from them.
“You’re Bobby?” Brian guessed.
He didn’t answer, and just glanced nervously around. “Look, I just came to tell you guys that things have changed. I don’t have anything to say anymore. And if you were smart, you’d let things drop.”
“You promised you’d help us,” Kal accused, his feelings of betrayal winning over politeness.
“Yeah, well, things change, buddy. I’ve got to look out for myself, okay?”
“Someone spooked you,” Brian guessed.
Bobby’s jaw hardened, but he didn’t speak again.
“This always happens,” Brian explained to Kal. “We get someone willing to come forward, but they suddenly change their mind, and we know that they’ve been convinced otherwise.”
“Look, I have to watch out for myself,” Bobby explained again, taking a step away from them. “I’m sorry but-”
“Lois has been taken,” Kal blurted out. “And we think that you might be able to help us.”
Bobby froze. “Lois is in danger?”
“Yes. And we think my wife is with her,” Brian added.
Bobby hesitated, but then seemed to find some sort of inner resolve. He closed the gap between them and beckoned them to bend in close.
“Okay, so the other night I was hanging out in a certain establishment I often frequent. And this guy sitting at the bar is ordering a lot and making some talk. You know the type.”
Kal wasn’t really sure what Bobby was talking about, but decided to let him continue in hopes it would start to be more specific.
“And he gets into a snit about people not respecting him enough, and it comes out that he used to be a cop but that he had to leave cause he never had enough freedom. He wanted to take justice into his own hands.”
“Miranda? The perfumer?” Brian asked.
“Well, he never really came out and said it directly,” Bobby hedged. “But you could tell that’s what he was implying. Anyway, he said he was working somewhere else now that appreciated his talents.”
“Where?” Kal demanded.
“ACL Shipping,” Bobby replied. “It’s owned by an Arianna Carlin. They’ve got a building by the river. He says he does a lot more for them than just security.”
“Thanks, Bobby.” Brian grabbed the bag of food from Kal and shoved it at the man. “We really owe you for this.”
“Wait, I haven’t told you. Just a couple hours ago this guy’s body was found in a dumpster. Whoever it is you’re dealing with, it’s serious business.”
“We know,” Brian nodded. “Are you going to be safe on your own?” he asked Bobby, remembering his responsibilities as a police officer.
“I’ve got a place where I can lay low for a few days,” Bobby nodded.
“Good. If everything goes right, this should be over in a matter of hours.” Brian led Kal out of the alley and towards his car.
“Uh, Brian,” Kal began hesitatingly. “Even if we do know the place, I still don’t have much of my powers. Not enough to take on whoever’s holding Marli and Lois hostage.”
“That’s okay,” said Brian opening the driver’s door and sliding in. “Thanks to Bobby’s tip, we’ve got them on suspicion of murder. That means we can bring the full force of the Metropolis Police Department.” Grinning at Kal, he reached for his radio.
* * *
The woman standing in the doorway was beautiful, of course, and was dressed in a well cut suit that looked even more expensive than the one Luthor was wearing. She looked tall from Lois’ position, still held to her knees by Newtrich’s meaty hand and his cold gun. She didn’t like the way Carlin looked at her.
“Ex-wife?” Carlin questioned. “Now, that’s not very loving, is it, Lex? And may I remind you that my legal name is still Arianna Carlin *Luthor*. Fitting considering I hold most of the control of your finances. Or *former* finances, I should say.”
“You’re working together?” Lois asked, not really believing it.
“Unfortunately,” Luthor muttered.
“What was that?” Carlin questioned sharply.
“Nothing, my dear,” Luthor recovered quickly.
She seemed unconvinced, and slipped closer to him, staring at Lois in a way that made her very uncomfortable. Lois flexed her hands behind her back, but the tight plastic cuffs still held tight.
“Darling,” she murmured into Luthor’s ear, “can we just finish up here quickly? I have another way for us to spend the rest of the day.”
“Not now, Arianna.” Luthor brushed her off his shoulder. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
Carlin was apparently not to be shaken off so easily. “Darling, we’ve worked together well in the past, haven’t we?”
“Yes,” Luthor replied distractedly, never taking his eyes off Lois.
“Fooling Miranda was fun, wasn’t it? And although the space station plan didn’t go as we hoped, this jewelry thing will be perfect, I promise. Just imagine what will happen when everyone is wearing jewelry that incapacitates Superman when he gets close! It’ll be only a matter of time before we can take him out completely.”
“Yes, that will be nice,” Luthor agreed. He patted her hand absently.
“So why can’t we put business aside just this once and enjoy our success?” Carlin pleaded. “You need to have a little fun.” Her hand snaked across his chest and began loosening his tie.
“Not now,” Luthor insisted, taking her hand off him. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“Yes!” Carlin snapped. “I can see that. Just like you’ve been busy ever since we got back together. Always plotting to get revenge on Lois Lane. Always thinking about her! It’s been your obsession! God, it’s like a twisted crush. Why don’t you just skip all of this and marry her already?”
Luthor laughed. “My dear, you can’t possibly be serious. Honestly, Arianna, I thought you were above all this petty feminine jealousy. I can see I was wrong.”
“You think this is petty?” Carlin exploded. “I’ll show you how petty I am!”
She elbowed Newtrich in the chin, snapping his head back until it hit the wall with a dull smack. Before he fell, she grabbed the gun he had been using to hold Lois in place, and fumbled to get the proper grip on it.
Lois squeezed her eyes shut as she heard a deafening bang go off in the room. Marli gasped from her chair and Lois counted out two beats with her eyes still closed.
She didn’t feel any pain.
Cautiously opening one eye, then the next, she saw Carlin’s body lying on the floor on top of Newtrich’s. Luthor stood across the room holding a gun of his own. Marli was still sitting in her chair, struggling to take even breaths and straining against the ropes that held her wrists to the chair.
Luthor had prevented Arianna from killing Lois? Why? Was his obsession really because of some sort of buried attraction? As much as it made her skin crawl to think about it, maybe she could use it to her advantage.
“Don’t think I did that for you, Ms. Lane,” Luthor spoke, putting all hopes of that aside. “I’ve just waited too long to let anyone but myself kill you.” The gun shifted in his hand, and Lois felt her stomach drop.
Scrambling across the cold floor, she managed to pick up Arianna’s dropped gun.
Luthor laughed. “Good luck trying to shoot that with your hands tied behind your back.”
Lois cursed her cuffs has she fumbled to get the proper grip. But even if she did, what good would it do when the gun was stuck behind her back?
“Where should I shoot you first?” Luthor mused. “Somewhere painful, but not instantly fatal, of course. I need you to suffer.”
“Bastard,” Lois spat. Not really the most original of epithets, but her brain was preoccupied.
“Or maybe… Something else will be more painful. You, after all, took away something I cared very deeply about. My money. Maybe I should take away something you care about.”
His gun swung across to point at Marli, and Lois took the only chance she figured she was going to get. Dropping her borrowed gun, she ducked low, and aimed for Luthor’s legs, knocking him off balance with her body. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and her head snapped back.
“Do you think you can beat me that easily?” he panted, squeezing her arm with his other hand. The gun was apparently forgotten, which was exactly what Lois was hoping for.
Being so close, it was easy for her the snap her knee up and hit him exactly where her self-defense instructor had taught her to. He doubled over, blood rushing to his head as veins popped out on his neck. Taking another swing, she aimed for his nose.
But he was ready for her this time, and grabbed hold of her leg. She fell, her imprisoned arms once again being her downfall.
Her head smacked the concrete floor, and her vision swam. Luthor was standing over her. She had lost.
Her eyes closed and she forced them open again sluggishly. She wanted to be conscious until the end. Straining her eyes to focus, she peered at the open doorway in confusion.
People were coming into the room. Wearing black and with letters on their chests.
She couldn’t hear properly. But Luthor seemed surprised. His hands were raised above his head as they were encircled with the strange people.
As hard as she tried, she couldn’t focus enough to make sense of the noises in the room. She wanted nothing more than to just close her eyes…
Then she thought she heard someone. Was it…?
Someone was holding her, and brushing her hair away from her face.
“K…” She didn’t have the strength to speak, but she felt strong arms hold her tightly.
She looked up and saw a pair of glasses, and behind them, concerned eyes that made her feel completely safe.
Everything was okay. He had found her.
* * *
Her mouth tasted like pod scum. Dehydrated pond scum. She swallowed automatically and grimaced at her dry throat.
She needed water. But more than that, she needed something to take away her massive headache. Everything felt heavy and stiff. Her eyes opened a crack, and she slammed them shut in response to the bright lights. She groaned.
A chair near to her creaked. “Lois?”
“Kal?” she whispered, her hoarse voice cracking.
“Yes, it’s me. Do you need some water?”
“Yeah.” With great care, she pushed herself higher up on the bed, still keeping her eyes closed.
Kal placed a cup near her lips and she sipped gratefully.
“Can you dim the lights at all?” she asked, her normal voice somewhat restored.
She felt the light breeze of Kal moving around the room and cautiously opened her eyes when the glow against her eyelids decreased.
“We’re in the hospital,” she observed, glancing at her IV, and the bed she was in.
“You have a concussion,” Kal told her. “How much do you remember?”
“The last thing I remember is you holding me. Wait, how’s Marli?”
“At home with Brian and Adam,” Kal replied. “She’s shaken up, but she and the baby are still healthy. Newtrich is in this same hospital, actually, but he’s handcuffed to the bed and isn’t going to get very far out of here.”
“Luthor?” She was almost afraid to ask.
“In police custody,” Kal told her. “On suspicion of a lot of crimes which we won’t let him get away with this time.”
“He killed Arianna!” Lois remembered. “And I can witness to that. That’s one thing for sure he won’t get away with. Combine that with everything else, and we’ll make sure that he’s in prison for the rest of his life.”
“More than he deserves,” Kal grumbled.
“Kal!” Lois exclaimed, shocked at his behavior. He had never said something like that about anyone before.
“I’m sorry,” he shook his head. “But seeing what Luthor did to you… It brought out all sorts of feelings that I- I’m not used to feeling.”
Lois watched him curiously. Something about the way he was acting seemed… Different. He was holding her hand, she realized. He hadn’t ever done that before.
“Kal, what’s going on?” she asked him.
“Lois, when you were kidnapped, I was forced to imagine what my life would be like without you. And it was…”
“Sad?” Lois guessed.
“Unbearable.”
“Oh.” Her brain had frozen. Could he really be going where she thought he was going?
“Today, I realized just how much you mean to me, Lois. And it’s so much more than I thought. Lois, I love you.”
“Really?” she asked, hardly daring to believe. “You *love* love me? Not like a friend would or a brother would?”
“I love you like a soul mate would,” Kal told her softly, brushing his hand against her cheek. “And I was wondering… If you would go on a date with me.”
Lois blinked. Then before she could stop herself, she burst out laughing.
Kal pulled his hand away, and although she immediately missed it, it didn’t stop her from shaking the bed with barely restrained laughter. Her headache was forgotten for the time being.
“Lois?” Kal didn’t look hurt, which was a relief. Just confused.
“You’re asking me out on a date?” Lois choked out.
“Yes,” Kal replied warily.
“So that’s it?” she asked. “You just say ‘I love you, let’s go watch a movie together’?”
“I though that was the accepted norm.”
“Kal, since when has our relationship even been normal?” Lois asked him, finding his hand again and bringing it back to her cheek.
“Never,” he admitted, smiling.
“Look, I’m not saying you fly us off to Vegas right away so we can get married,” Lois explained to him. “But I think we can skip some of the first date formalities.”
“That sounds fair,” Kal agreed. “So no dinner and movie?”
“Well, I’m not saying we couldn’t do something like that,” Lois told him. “Maybe with an exotic locale thrown in. Assuming that your powers are back, of course.”
“Back in full force. I guess I just needed time to heal.”
“Yeah, you did,” Lois agreed. “Just like you needed time to heal emotionally from what happened on Krypton.”
“Yes,” Kal agreed. “And I’m not saying I’m completely healed from that, Lois. I’m far from forgetting the loss of my home.”
“No one’s expecting you to,” Lois told him. “That’s always going to be a part of you. All I’m asking is that you’re willing to make a new home here with me.”
“I can certainly do that,” Kal replied. “There’s always been some instinct inside me to be with you, and now I’ve finally learned that there’s no use in fighting it.”
“Nope,” Lois shook her head. “We’re destined for each other, and there’s no fighting against that.”
“No,” Kal, spoke, leaning in close, his breath tickling her nose. “Absolutely not.”
“Now stop talking,” Lois commanded, “and kiss me.”
Out of all the things Kal had learned when he came to Earth, the most important was to never disobey Lois Lane.
So he did just as she said.
