Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic TP&S II - The Return of a Superman - lucky 13

TP&S II - chapter 13 - by Tank

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Everything went according to plan at the airport. Perry had driven and had dropped them off at the terminal. It hadn't taken Lois long to pick out their shadow. They had made sure that the fellow kept up with them the whole way to the proper concourse and their eventual debarkation area. They'd made sure that they played up their roles for their audience. Lots of hand holding, hugs, and several quick kisses had been displayed for his benefit. Neither had minded much.

Just before the plane was scheduled to take off, Lois, using her Metropolis police ID, informed the stewardess that there was an emergency back at the station house and they had to get off. With a frown, and a look of definite exasperation, the attendant had escorted them off the plane. Since they had only brought carry on luggage there wasn't a problem with any luggage being left behind. Security did a quick scan of the overheads to make sure nothing was left behind, but Lois' position with the Metro PD allowed them to pull this off where a normal citizen would probably be held for additional background checks due to their questionable behavior. They hadn't seen their shadow anywhere.

Buoyed by the fact that things seemed to be going their way, Lois and Clark made for the rental car lot and picked up the innocuous silver sedan that was waiting for them there. Perry had given them the keys during their trip in, and had told them exactly where the car would be. Lois loved the new express check out systems that allowed one to go directly to their car without all the hassle of a goof behind a counter.

It was now early afternoon, and the two of them found themselves outside the little town of Boynton, parked at the base of the small range of hills, called Camel's Back, that held the old mine site. The old copper mine contained within had enjoyed a short life span. About twenty years ago the site had played out and there'd been no more ore of value to be found. The original company had just abandoned the site and left it for nature to reclaim. A few years ago, fences and gates had sprung up along the dirt roads leading to the front and back entrances to the mine.

Clark, with Lois' sister Lucy's help, found out that the mine had been purchased by Luthor using a shell company supposedly run by Arianna Carlin-Luthor. To this day, she still claimed no knowledge of the ghost company, and that might have been true, but Luthor had definite plans for the out of the way site. Under the cover of an archeological dig, Luthor had built and maintained a research lab there, a lab dedicated to the experimentation of cloning technology. He and Lois had broken the case open, which had led to Luthor's exposure as the criminal that he truly was, and his eventual death at her hands. Clark never wanted to see anyone die, but since, in this case, it was either him or Luthor, he couldn't feel too bad about what Lois had done.

Now they stood at the bottom of the small range of tiny mountains getting ready to investigate the place once again.

They had avoided going through Boynton on their way up to the site. They knew that the FBI had abandoned their examination and surveillance of the place a while back. And since the quakes and landslides of a week ago, they no longer felt any need to keep watch on the place at all. Still, Clark's friend in the bureau had told him that there was still an agent based in town just in case anyone came along expressing any interest in the site. They wanted to avoid him, and anyone St. John might have down there for the same reason.

"So, what's the plan, nature boy?" Lois gave Clark a look of innocence.

Clark rolled his eyes. She knew as well as he what they were planning. They'd gone over it exhaustively in the car, both on the way to the airport, and in the rental vehicle on their way here.

They had managed to find an old side road, hardly more than a dirt path, that led through the thickest patch of forest that surrounded the hillside. It was at a point the farthest from the town, and away from the road that led to the mine entrance. It was also quite a distance from the back entrance of the mine that the two of them had discovered when they'd first come up here together.

"I figure that this route is the least likely to be seen as we make our way back up the hill to get to the top of the mountain." Clark pointed up the hill, straight into a lot of rocky ledge, and overgrown brush. "Good thing we're dressed for the climb."

Lois nodded as she adjusted her pullover sweatshirt and tough denim jeans. Her tennis shoes positively gleamed with newness in the early post noon light.

"I don't suppose you could have gotten any brighter pair of shoes?" Clark asked with a wry smile. "I wouldn't want any overflying planes to miss you walking up the hillside."

She swatted him on the arm as she came up next to him. "Funny, Kent. They'll get dirty soon enough." She glanced up the hillside. "It's going to be more than just a walk in the park, isn't it?"

Clark allowed his gaze to take in the rugged terrain. "Oh yeah."

Lois used her hand to shield her eyes as she looked up the hill. "So, you think those air shafts are up there?"

Clark shrugged. "I certainly hope so. According to the the old plans for the original mine construction I was able to track down, there should be at least two major air shafts poking up through the top of the second hump on Camel's Back."

Lois frowned. "I'm sure Luthor's men made a lot of changes when they built their installation. Do you think that those vents are still there?"

Clark shrugged again. "No reason to believe they wouldn't be. The site would still need air. Even if they didn't have any particular other use for those old shafts, I doubt they wouldn't have done anything more than just ignore them."

The two of them started their climb. "So, supposing we find them. Then what? It's not like you can just fly down one anymore."

"No, I can't." He indicated the coil of rope he had slung around his shoulder. "That's why we have this."

Lois snorted. "Always the boy scout." She gave him a sidelong glance. "What's with you? We are heading into a potentially dangerous situation with little more than a hope and a prayer, but you seem positively giddy over it."

Clark grinned at her. "I don't know. I can't explain it, but I feel good. I'm excited about the investigation. I'm always thrilled to be doing things with you, Lois."

Lois placed a hand on his arm. "Let's not get too carried away here, sport. I like being with you too, but let's focus here." He saw her lip quiver just a bit. He suddenly felt guilty for his own good mood, knowing that for Lois there was a lot more at stake. "I have a good friend, whose life is a mess because of me, who needs rescuing. Add to that, a major bad guy to take down, and that's not even mentioning the bogus superhero that is flying around the city."

"You aren't' to blame, Lois."

She gave him a sad smile. "I know, but that doesn't change my sense of responsibility. Bill is my friend and I have to do whatever I can to help him."

Clark nodded. "I know. I'm sorry if it looks like I'm not taking this seriously."

Lois gave him a little laugh. "Don't feel too bad, Clark. At least it's not raining like it was last time."

"Ah, Lois?"

She turned quickly back to him. "What?"

Clark pointed over his shoulder at the black clouds gathering on the horizon. "I figure we've got about two hours before it gets here."

Lois' shoulders slumped as she sighed in frustration. "Swell."

Suddenly Clark's attention was captured by a faint ringing tone. He glanced over at Lois and noticed she was staring up the hill with a fierce look of determination. "Do you have a cell phone on you?"

She glanced back at him. "What? Oh, yeah... yeah, I do." She apparently had now heard the disturbance from her pocket and was reaching for the small portable. "I got one because I wanted to be able to make and receive calls that Nigel wouldn't be able to listen in on." She gave Clark a strange look as she flipped open the phone. "You heard that ring?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah, you must've been distracted by the picturesque climb we have ahead of us."

Lois rolled her eyes. "Whatever... Hello?"

The two of them began to make their way up the hillside as Lois talked in hushed tones into the tiny phone. He could easily hear her half of the conversation, but it made no sense to him, so he waited for her to finish.

She shoved the cell phone back into her pocket, a look of smug satisfaction was on her face. "Important call?" He asked.

"Oh yeah. You know I told you about the murder case down in the old warehouse district that St. John was having me bury." Clark nodded. "Well, I've been doing a little unofficial digging into the case. That was my contact in the M.E.'s office. It seems that the victims were indeed Johnny Taylor and some of his bully boys that were flash fried."

"Isn't Taylor the guy who owns the Metro Club, and handles most of the illicit goings on down in West River?"

She gave Clark a wink. "Yup. It looks like St. John is beginning to look about to expand his holdings. And he's using that clone Superman to do his dirty work."

Clark mulled over what Lois had just told him for several moments. "That's not good... is it?"

Lois shook her head. "No. Especially when he has someone in the police department to cover up for him." A grim frown wrinkled her brow.

Clark put his arm around her shoulder as they continued up the hill. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to do something about that, won't we."

******************

Henderson lay back in the small, but comfy, bed and amused himself by bouncing a ping pong ball, that he'd recently found left in a drawer, off the far wall and catching it. 'Simple pleasures', he thought to himself with a wry grin.

Bill was bored. There was no denying the seriousness of the situation he found himself in. He was a captive of a man who probably would rather see him dead, and presumably would before too much longer. His life only had value as a tool of coercion. He felt bad about that, but it was out of his control. He was kept locked up, and controlled at any time when he wasn't alone. But for all the danger, and unpleasant ramifications that his captivity represented, he was mostly bored out of his skull.

He'd investigated the small dorm-like room from top to bottom, several times, but hadn't found much. A used pair of shoelaces, and the ping pong ball. And, of course, the one unused condom, but he didn't figure St. John would be allowing him any conjugal visits anytime soon. Maybe he should have said that *he* and Lois were engaged, rather than Kent. Nah, not even Nigel would believe that.

Just then the door of the small room opened.

"Speak of the devil." Henderson gave Nigel St. John only the barest of glances, then turned back to his ping pong ball exercises.

Without looking, Bill could see that the number one thug had closed the door and had positioned himself beside it as Nigel moved over to stand next to the desk across from the bed. He snapped the ball out of the air one last time, then folded his hands behind his head and waited.

Nigel frowned, then sighed crossly. "You have greatly disappointed me. I gave you more credit for intelligence. I had hoped that you would know that it would be useless to try and 'put one over on me', as they say." Nigel moved a little closer. "Maybe you just thought I was stupid?"

Bill made a show of mock concentration. "Stupid? An arrogant self-deluding, preening, egomaniacal jackass, perhaps. But not stupid."

True to his carefully maintained unflappable image, St. John didn't rise to the bait. He merely shook his head. "Do you deny that you gave me false information regarding Sergeant Lane?"

Bill was mildly surprised that he was able to stay nonplused in the face of Nigel's accusations. He wasn't sure exactly what the man was referring to but it wouldn't help anyone to admit to anything. "What seems to be your problem?" he asked, affecting his most innocent tone.

"It seems that Lane and Kent decided to skip their trip to visit Kent's parents in Kansas."

Bill shrugged. "Maybe something came up. Kent does have to follow the news you know."

"No, they purchased their tickets, even went so far as to get on the plane. But for some reason they got off the plane at the last minute."

Henderson raised his brow. "You had them followed? Tsk, Tsk, where's the trust, old man?"

Nigel let just a bit of his anger show. "I trust no one except myself. And as it turns out, I was right to mistrust the detective." The barest hint of a smile twitched at the corner of Nigel's lip. "Apparently your safety isn't quite as important to Lane as I was led to believe."

Bill rolled his eyes. He needed to keep St. John feeling that he was unconcerned about the situation. That he didn't care that much for his own safety, which in reality was true. He didn't care that much about what might happen to him, but he did care, a great deal, about what could happen to Lois.

"I can't believe that Lane didn't tumble to your tail. Love must be making her sloppy."

Nigel paced a few steps in front of Henderson's bed. "Oh, I'm sure she did. I was quite explicit in my instructions. One of the surveillance team was to be noticed, but not so obvious as to be recognized as wanting to be noticed."

"Team?"

The dry chuckle that came from St. John was more like dead leaves rustling in a light breeze than an actual human expression of mirth. "If I'm anything, I'm thorough."

Bill shook his head in disgust. "Sounds more like paranoid to me."

"Semantics. Still, it allowed me to know that Lane and Kent went to the Avis lot and left in a rental sedan. Which means that the rental was set up ahead of time." St. John stopped his pacing and stared at Henderson. "That means that they never intended to go to Smallville, had no plans to meet with Kent's parents, and most likely aren't even engaged. If I had to guess, I'd surmise that they are merely dating and that the engagement ruse was as much news to them as it was to me when you mentioned it in your message."

Henderson shrugged. "Pretty clever, huh? I just wanted to give Lois some opportunities to kick back and take it easy once in a while. I knew that you'd be pretty demanding on her, and I just wanted to give her a way to relieve some stress."

"So good of you."

"I thought so." Bill gave Nigel a big grin. "So if Lois and Clark didn't go to Smallville, where did they go?"

Henderson watched the play of emotion, or lack thereof, on St. John's face. "I somehow doubt that you'd be surprised that, at present, the two of them are toiling their way up the hillside. No doubt, intending to effect your rescue."

"You can see why I've always liked that woman." Bill gave Nigel a big grin.

Nigel nodded ominously. "Well, I'm afraid that Sergeant Lane is going to have to learn that when she breaks the rules, there will be penalties to pay."

Henderson snapped upright in bed. "What are you going to do?"

St. John's grin was positively feral. "Something... unpleasant."

*******************

Clark stopped, turned, and smiled at Lois as she slogged up the hill. She had fallen a bit behind so he waited for her to catch up. She came up next to him, trying to catch her breath.

"What's with you today?" She managed to gasp out between deep breaths. "You're practically running up this hill."

Clark chuckled. "I think you're exaggerating. I just feel good, that's all. I've been cooped up indoors all week and it feels good to get out in the fresh air. Even the rain decided to stay away." He pointed to the bank of formerly threatening black clouds that had continued to drift off to the north of them. "Besides, you're probably a lot more run down than you're willing to admit." Clark led her to a nearby boulder where the two of them sat. "How much sleep have you been getting anyway?"

Lois had the decency to blush in embarrassment. "Not much... some... enough."

Clark nodded knowingly. "I thought so." He put his arm around her when he saw her shiver slightly. "Let's rest here for a bit. Are you cold?"

She shook her head. "Not really. It is brisk, but you're right, it does feel good. I just think I am a bit tired." She formed her lips into a tight line. "I've got to shake off this lethargy though. I need to be sharp when we get to the top." She glanced up the hillside. "We are close... aren't we?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't be much longer now."

Clark knew that they had at least an hour of the hardest part of the climb left, but Lois didn't need to hear that right now. He gave her shoulders another squeeze. She leaned against his side, letting go with a deep sigh.

"Lois?"

She looked up into his concerned gaze. "I'm just worried. Getting up there is the easy part. We still have to get in, find Bill, and figure out a way to get out of there. But not before we find some sort of evidence that we can use to incriminate St. John, and his cronies." She sighed again. "And that doesn't even begin to answer the question of what we're going to do about that fake superman. It's not like you can face off with him. You don't have your powers anymore."

Her words brought a frown to Clark's face. She was right; he didn't have his powers and in a confrontation with that bogus super hero neither he nor Lois stood any chance.

He felt her stand up, pulling away from him. "Well, sitting here moping isn't going to get us anywhere, so we may as well get moving." She began to trudge up the hill. Shaking his head in amazement, Clark stood and quickly caught up with her.

The rest of the trip to the top of Camel's Back passed in silence, except for the heavy breathing. Clark found that even he had worked up a sweat. The cool breeze would cause a quick shiver on those occasions when they stopped for a few moments and were exposed to the wind.

True to his estimate, they finally reached the top of the small mountain just over an hour after their impromptu rest stop. Knowing that it was possible that this area might be watched, the two of them took care to try and stay out of direct sight as they approached what could obviously be seen as two large vent pipes jutting out of the ground.

Lois and Clark crept quick and quietly up to the pair of large structures. The tubes, or pipes, or whatever you wanted to call them, were a couple of feet across and stuck out of the ground about three feet. The tops were protected from debris and weather by a conical cap that sat above the pipe by a few inches, and a fine screen mesh. The caps seemed to still be in good shape since they'd been fashioned of stainless steel, but the mesh was badly rusted. Clark guessed that the screening was something that had been replaced on a regular maintenance schedule.

Unshouldering the rope, he approached the nearest of the tubes. After a little effort he was able to pry off the conical top and set it aside. Lois came up next to him and, with a single tug, pulled the mesh screen off. Both peered down the pipe into an absolute blackness.

"Do you think we brought enough rope?" Lois squinted as she tried to penetrate the darkness. "How far down do you think it is?"

"Let's find out." Clark began to pick up a few rocks of various sizes, from marble sized to one as big as his fist.

Lois stared at him quizzically. "What are those for?"

Clark stepped up the the pipe. "Well, what we have to do is drop a rock down and time how long it takes to hit the bottom."

Her brow rose nearly to her hairline. "And that helps us how? How are we going to hear it?"

Clark grinned. "That's why I chose a selection. We start small, and move up to larger stones until we get one we can hear."

Lois nodded skeptically. "Why not just the large one right away?"

Clark shrugged. "I figure we would want to make as little noise as possible."

"Okay, then what? We have the time, but what do we do with it? It's not like we know how fast the rock is traveling?" It was Clark's turn to raise a brow. "You're kidding. You know that stuff?"

Clark smiled at Lois' astonishment. "It's just physics, Lois. It's all about terminal velocities and the distance it takes an object to reach it."

Lois frowned. "If you say so. I'll handle the watch. You do the computations."

Clark grinned as he selected a small stone and held it over the tube's opening.

"I'll save you the trouble. It's two hundred and seventy-three feet to the bottom of the shaft."

Clark spun around to see Nigel St. John approaching, a large revolver in hand which was pointed at them. He heard Lois' gasp beside him. Stepping out from behind St. John was a large, thug-like fellow, and a somewhat familiar figure. The bright blue and red of the spandex costume clashed with the greens and browns of the surrounding hillside.

"St. John." Lois hissed out the name like a curse.

"Ah, Detective Sergeant Lane." Nigel inclined his head in a mock bow of acknowledgement. "I have to say I'm quite disappointed in you."

Clark watched as Lois took a step forward. It was all he could do to not grab her and force her behind him. Unfortunately, he knew that this was her show now. If they were to have any chance of getting out of this it would depend on Lois' ability to use her value to St. John, and her wits, to talk her way out of this mess.

"I guess I won't be able to sleep tonight, Nigel, knowing that you're disappointed in me." Lois tone was beyond sarcasm.

"How droll, my dear. But then I was under the impression that we had an understanding. This is quite contrary to our arrangement." He brought the gun up level with her chest. "And here I thought you were a woman of your word."

It was obvious to Clark, seeing Lois' indifference to St. John's revolver, that she'd had guns pointed at her before. "I haven't broken our agreement. I've kept you informed of the cases you've asked about, and I've stalled the investigation of the warehouse murders just as you requested." Lois cocked her head to one side. "So, tell me, what do you want with a small-timer like Johnny Taylor's operations anyway. The West River area is little more than a blight on that side of town."

Nigel raise his brow and nodded in grudging admiration. "So you found out who the victims were anyway. Tell me, Detective, were you also aware of Luthor's plans for a massive redevelopment of the West River area? No? Well, it really doesn't matter. Let's just say that there's a great deal of money to be made once the proper acquisitions are completed."

"I see." She shrugged. "Still that doesn't change this. It's not my fault that you decided to interrupt my fiance's and my nature walk. We were feeling kind of nostalgic. This is the place where we had our first kiss, you know."

Clark was surprised by Lois' revelation. Not that he didn't know she was just trying to talk her way out of their predicament, but that she would remember that they had indeed had their first kiss on this small mountain. Though it was actually part way around, and down the hillside.

"Oh please, Miss Lane. You surely don't think I'm that gullible, do you?" Nigel's tone bordered on disgust. "The two of you were scheduled to fly to Kansas this morning. You actually got on the plane, but then got back off because you were suddenly seized by the need to revisit the site of your first kiss?"

Lois spread her hands. "What can I say? I'm just a hopeless romantic."

"Try again."

Clark was getting more uncomfortable with the situation as each moment passed. It was obvious that St. John had known they were coming and had been waiting for them. He didn't have any idea what to expect from the former British agent, but he was sure it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Look, St. John. Why Clark and I were here is irrelevant. The bottom line is, you still need me on the inside of the Metropolis Police Department. So you can't kill me. Neither can you threaten to hurt Henderson because then I wouldn't cooperate with you anymore."

Nigel actually chuckled. "That's it? I still need what you can provide so I just let this *indiscretion* slide? It's not that easy, Detective. You broke the rules and there must be a penalty paid."

Clark watched the by play between the two of them, a sinking feeling in his gut growing larger as the seconds passed. Lois stepped forward, glaring at St. John. Typical reaction for her... attack.

"So what? You're going to shoot me?"

"No, you are absolutely correct. I still need you... and Henderson as the leverage against you."

Clark's eyes got wide as he saw the revolver swivel in his direction. He thought he heard someone shouting 'No!' off in the distance somewhere, but his senses had all focused on the barrel of Nigel's gun as he heard it bark loudly twice. Instantaneously he felt the hot shock of two impacts hitting him in the chest. It was as if someone hit him with a large hammer. He staggered back several steps.

Quickly, Lois was next to him, her hands clutching at his suddenly sodden shirt. He could see that her hands were all bloody. Had she been hurt? No, not her, him. It was his blood.

The silent thug grabbed Lois and pulled her away from him as, Clark, in his confusion stared uncomprehendingly at the tableau that was unfolding. His eyes locked with the bogus Superman as the phony hero stepped forward. There was cruelty in his eyes, but also something passed between them. There was a recognition. The clone knew!

The voice that he heard laughing was his own, but it wasn't him. "Hey, Kent, you're no longer wanted around here, so why don't you just... blow."

Clark saw the clone's cheeks puff out, then he felt the impact of a hurricane of cold wind slam into him as he was lifted off his feet and flung off the side of the small mountain. He heard someone scream his name just before he blacked out.