Here it comes, the cliffhanger answer you've all been waiting for...
Dead or Alive pt 4
Lois stepped forward and dropped the small bit of red kryptonite she’d found in the coffin to bury with him, not noticing the green kryptonite that had landed on the far side of her Superhero. She couldn’t think of any other place for the red kryptonite, and perhaps giving him a shot of fun loving freedom in death was okay.
Just as the light faded and the lid was closed tightly, the kryptonite ripped at Clark’s insides. As the red kryptonite’s effect hit him, it moderated the green’s effect, so he couldn’t feel the pain. But his superpowers were dimming quickly. He tried to scoot away from it, but it wasn’t working.
He couldn’t give up. He reached up to where the bullet had landed beside him. It scorched his hand. He moved the red piece over to lay beside the green one. Maybe it would lessen the effect somehow.
Perry White stood beside Lois until the funeral was over. “You take her outta here, Jimmy.” I’m going to hang around for awhile.
Martha and Jonathan Kent had also come to the funeral. Martha put her hand up to her mouth and muttered, “Clark Jerome Kent, you’d better not plan on being buried alive or I’m going to kill you!” She knew he could hear her while nobody else could. Neither his parents nor Perry had seen the kryptonite land in the coffin with Clark aka Superman.
Lex Luthor had also stayed behind. He wanted to see for himself that the coffin was buried. He had arranged for around the clock guards to make sure the coffin wasn’t dug up, either.
In the distance, other nare-do-wells had decided to linger until the bitter end, when they could unleash all their evil on Metropolis.
There were too many people around for Clark to get out yet, Martha was sure of that. Certainly he’d wait until the coast was all clear. More likely, he’d wait until the coffin was buried before he got himself out. Leave it to superman to find a way to do the impossible.
The cemetery workers had been instructed not to complete the burial until all the guests had left the area. They sat in the earth moving equipment in the distance waiting until all the cars had left. Three still remained close to the grave, while several others were parked elsewhere in the cemetery.
Slowly, the desire to get out of the coffin left Clark. He liked the red kryptonite. Enclosed with it, he was feeling quite mellow. He couldn’t tell how the green one was affecting him, but the sounds he’d heard before had subsided. Perhaps it was just quiet outside. But he wasn’t hearing any cries for help, either.
Since there wasn’t much air in the coffin, he thought it would be best to continue as if he were dead. Hibernation was a much better way to make sure he didn’t need any air. It also ensured that the green kryptonite had the least effect on him possible. He was glad he wasn’t in pain. That wouldn’t have been too good, that was for sure.
He did realize, in spite of the mellowing effect of the red stone, that his life depended on removing that green kryptonite from his nest. He’d have to do it soon, too. Did he dare try to open the lid? Could he even move a muscle to try? What if someone was watching him?
Everyone would have gone home by now, surely. Who’d care this much about him, anyway? A nagging voice told him that Perry and his parents would probably still be nearby. They knew just who was in the casket, afterall, and that he wasn’t dead. Did they know he had green kryptonite in there with him?
It occurred to Clark that Luthor, Church and several others would be quite interested in making sure he didn’t get out alive. Ever. One of them had obviously taken great pains to make sure the bullet had landed in at the very last moment.
Lois was back at her apartment eating from a tub of ice cream, when it occurred to her that maybe Superman could return from the dead. He could do everything else, why not that? She poked at the brown clump in the tub and remembered the red kryptonite she’d put in the coffin with him. That hadn’t been very nice, really. What if he weren’t dead? Good grief. He couldn’t be dead! What had killed him? If she knew anything at all, it was that only green kryptonite could kill Superman. There’d been none of that when he’d landed on the sidewalk outside her window. She knew he could imitate death. That wasn’t hard to figure out. Why hadn’t she thought of that before?
She put the ice cream down on the coffee table and pulled her feet out from under herself. What if he weren’t dead? No way were they going to put him in the ground.
She wished she had his superpowers as she raced around her apartment getting herself dressed enough to go back to the cemetery. She chose black.
A cab stopped nearly immediately when she flagged it down. “Metropolis Cemetery”“ she stated, poking around in her pocket for the bills she’d stuffed in there a few minutes before. The cab pulled up outside the cemetery and she got out, paying the driver.
Not wanting to be seen by the nare-do-wells she’d seen about earlier, Lois crept around in the dark, until she arrived close to the coffin. The night air was damp. She didn’t see anyone around, so she sidled up beside the shiny brown box and pushed the lid up. A green light flowed out from under the lid as she raised it. She gasped in horror, reached in and grabbed the piece of kryptonite. She looked around for the red one, but it wasn’t where she’d put it, somehow it had gotten to the other side of him and he was now clutching it tightly in his fist.
“Superman! I didn’t think you were dead!” she hissed quietly through clenched teeth as she pried the second rock away from him. “Give me that back!”
“Just hold it right there!” came a voice from the darkness. She sensed danger and snapped the lid closed and darted away from the coffin as a bullet ricocheted off the outside of it, just missing her.
“What’s going on here?“ The equipment driver yelled, turning on the lights. Lois was safely hiding out of sight behind a tall tombstone.
Martha, Jonathan and Perry had been standing off to the side, waiting for something to happen. Although this wasn’t what they’d expected, it was definitely something. They were all shocked to see the green light that meant Clark was sharing his coffin with the deadly stone. Perry snapped out his cell phone and dialed the police, who’d suspected foul play might ensue. They were on the scene in moments, bright lights shining all around the area. A car started up in the distance and the backup police car tailed them, finally apprehending Luther’s hit men before they made it too far away. The gun with green kryptonite bullets was found in a quick vehicle search.
When things had settled down, the equipment operators went to either end of the coffin and began to wind the turn arms that would let the coffin down into the hole. Martha sniffed as she watched her boy being lowered into the earth. She never thought she’d ever experience this moment in her lifetime, in spite of all the green kryptonite Clark had dealt with over the years. The coffin disappeared from sight. The men then moved over to the green carpet beside the hole and pulled it off the pile of dirt that it hid.
“Okay, she’s all yours!” One man said while the other started the back hoe and moved it forward, lifting the cement lid for the box that would encase the casket for eternity. The other man leaned over the hole with a stick, poking the self-sealing cement lid into place as it was lowered into the hole. The back hoe operator turned the machine around and drove into the pile of dirt. The first clods banged as they fell on Superman’s casket.
“You gona just let them bury him, Jonathan?“ Perry whispered to Jonathan.
“We’ve got to. There’s no other way. Clark’s a smart boy, he’ll get himself out. I’m just glad Lois showed up and took that kryptonite out. It may take him a few days to regain his powers enough to get out of there, but he’ll do it. Actually it may take longer than that in the dark.”
“How’d Lois know there was kryptonite in there? I didn’t know it, did you?”
“No.” Jonathan and Martha were in agreement.
“That Lois Lane, she’s one smart cookie.” Perry shook his head in admiration.
The dirt fell loudly as it filled the hole. The driver packed the soil down, then waited while his partner draped the piece of carpet over the bucket and got in for a ride. Silence fell as the earth mover rumbled away.
Jonathan had his arm around Martha. Perry stood with his hands in his pockets. They were hidden from sight by the mausoleum they stood beside. From what they could tell, the cemetery was empty, except for Lois who was lurking somewhere in the shadows. It was going to be a long wait.
