Clark picked out his most hideous tie and knotted it with a flourish. Funny, he thought, how a simple thing like a crummy tie drew so much attention from his face. He locked his apartment door behind him and skipped down the steps to find a cab.
- Begin Part Three -
"Subject is nearly awake. Beginning next session at five-fifty-three AM. Will introduce second persona in this session."
"Are you sure she's ready for that? Maybe you should hold off for one more session."
"Who's in charge of this, you or me?"
"I thought we were working together."
"We are working together, MacGillis! But I'm in charge! These are my theories and my techniques! We'll do this my way!"
"Okay, man. You're the doctor."
"That's right and don't you forget it!"
"Sure. Doctor Proctor. Your folks didn't do you any favors with that name."
"Shut up! You're supposed to be on the microphone! Do the talking and leave the thinking to me!"
"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"
*****
Lois awoke to severe pain. There was no injury she could feel, no marks or bruises or broken bones she could detect. The pain seemed to emanate from every cubic centimeter of her being. There was no place in her body where she could focus to relieve the awareness of the pain.
That wasn't natural. Somebody was deliberately doing this to her. But why? What did they want? Why didn't they ask her for something?
She tried to look at her arms, but the strap around her forehead still kept her head down. She tried to roll over, but the belly strap kept her from moving very far.
Was this a hospital bed? Was there a call button she could press? She reached out and up as far as she could with both hands, but she encountered nothing like what she was searching for.
The pain overwhelmed her mind and she screamed, then screamed again. Superman appeared beside her.
"Lois? Lois, can you hear me?"
"Aaahhhh! Yes, Superman, yes! Help me! Get me out of here!"
"I can't, Lois. I can't help you."
She screamed again and thrashed from side to side. "Why? Yaahhh! Why can't you help me?"
"I told you, Lois. If I save you, many others will die."
"No! Get me out of here! Yaaahhh! It hurts! Agghh!"
Perry appeared on the other side of the bed. "Listen to Superman, Lois. He knows what he's talking about."
Her eyes snapped towards him. "Perry! Ahgghh! What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to talk to you, Lois. You should listen to Superman."
"Get me out of this! It hurts! It - yaaaaahhhhh!"
"I can't, Lois. If Superman can't help you, what do you think I can do?"
"Help me! Somebody help me! Help - ahhhhh!"
She screamed her lungs out and slipped back into unconsciousness.
*****
"Subject is still resisting. She still displays coherent alpha patterns, even under extreme duress. She is apparently attempting to deduce the reason for her circumstances and form a plan of action. The next session will begin at sixty-five percent lethal levels and increase to seventy percent as the session progresses."
"You think that's wise, Doc?"
"We've got to push her past the ability to reason and get her to the point of only wanting to stop the pain. She's resisting more effectively than most."
"Maybe that's a good thing."
"Oh? How could that be a good thing?"
"The longer she holds out, the more complete the break. That's what you told - "
"I know what I said! You just get ready for the next treatment!"
*****
Clark skipped down the steps to the news floor, but he was intercepted short of his desk by the managing editor of the paper.
"Kent! Glad you're here early. Where's Lois?"
Clark's eyebrows lifted. "I don't know, Chief."
"When did you talk to her last?"
"About nine last night. Why?"
Perry frowned. "I called her a little after eleven to ask her to come in early but she didn't answer. I was hoping you'd know where she was. She needs to jump on this story about a possible leak in the DA's office. Someone's been giving out plea bargain information at the wrong times to the wrong people."
"I'm sure she'll be here soon, Chief. You want me to take that?"
Perry hesitated, then nodded. "Here's the contact info. We don't have much else yet. If Lois gets here before you get too far into this, you give it back to her. Otherwise, you let me take the heat for reassigning the story."
Clark grinned. "You better believe I will!" He turned to his desk and began to read the notes Perry had given him.
The question of where Lois had been last night at eleven nibbled at his mind, but he told himself she'd let him know as soon as she walked in. She'd probably have a great story already written and ready for publication.
He picked up the phone and began dialing.
"Next session ready to begin at seven-forty-one AM, October ninth. Subject will receive stimulus beginning at sixty-five percent and will increase steadily to seventy percent. Ready, MacGillis?"
"Ready if you are."
*****
Lois awoke to electric pain everywhere. She'd never felt such agony. She'd never known such gripping pain. She almost wished someone would beat her with a club just to give her a different type of pain.
Superman was standing at her feet. From her position, all she could see was the outline of his head and shoulders. Her voice squeaked.
"Help - me. Please - help. Help! Aaaaggghhh!"
The shout escaped as the pain somehow escalated. She emptied her lungs with the effort, then panted hard while groaning. She felt as if white-hot needles were being thrust into and through every point on her skin. She felt as if knives made of the coldest glacial ice were scraping her bones away from the inside out.
And Superman made no move to help, said nothing, did nothing. She cried out again.
"Help! Help me! Please! I beg you - aaagghhh! - p-please help me! Yaaahhh! Aaaggghhh! No more! Please! No more! Yaahhhh!"
He leaned over her feet. "I can't help you, Lois. I can't make it stop. You're going to have to do what they want."
"Ahhhh! What do they want? Yaahhh! Noooo! Tell me! Aaaaggghhh! Tell me what to do - eeeyyyaaahhh!"
She toppled over into blackness again.
"Subject is nearly ready. Alpha patterns are becoming increasingly disorganized. Next session will introduce another familiar entity. Stimulus levels will begin at fifty-five percent and increase in five percent increments to seventy-five percent."
"She's gonna tear herself apart, Proctor."
"No she won't. Not yet, at any rate. She will make a conscious decision to answer our questions truthfully and fully."
"And after we get our answers we kill her?"
"Of course. She won't be much good to anybody by then anyway."
*****
Clark glanced at the clock. Almost nine-thirty, and no Lois yet. He saved his notes in a file and sent them to Perry, along with a preliminary draft. He had the beginnings of a solid story, but he needed more facts and more information. He needed Lois's contacts. She'd give him more numbers to call.
Just as he closed the e-mail message, Perry popped out of his office and glared at Lois's empty desk. Almost any other reporter would have been looking for another job, but Clark knew that Perry's glare revealed worry for her and not anger at her.
Something was seriously wrong.
Perry called out, "Has anyone heard from Lois Lane today?"
Jimmy prairie-dogged up out of his mini-cubicle. "Ah, Chief, there's a message on her desk."
"You take it?"
"No. I saw it there earlier."
Perry picked up the message blank and frowned more deeply. Clark walked over and asked, "What's the matter, Chief?"
Perry slapped the paper against his other hand. "This is a message for Lois to meet some source at eight-fifteen under the statue in the park. But she would have had to be here before seven to pick it up, and I've been here since before six. She never got this."
Clark's frown matched Perry's. "Chief, you're sure she didn't slip in and out without you seeing her?"
"Positive. My door was open and I was listening for her. I had this assignment for her, remember?"
"Right, right. Maybe - "
"Chief!"
Perry turned towards Jimmy's shout. "Not now!"
"Yes now!"
Clark and Perry both turned towards him. "What is it, Olsen?"
"Inspector Henderson's on the phone, line three!"
"Tell him I'll call him back."
"No! You have to talk to him now!" Both Perry and Clark stared in amazement; Jimmy had never spoken to Perry so forcefully before.
Clark held his hand up in front of Perry. "Hold on, Perry. Jimmy, what's so important about this call?"
Jimmy stared bleakly at them. "The inspector wants to tell Lois that they found her Jeep."
Clark and Perry stared at each other for half a second, then reached the same conclusion at the same instant. Perry never understood how Clark beat him to the phone. "Inspector, this is Clark Kent. Tell me all about this. Uh-huh. Really? Oh, boy. No, no message. No idea where she is or what she's doing. She hasn't been here at all today. Got it. I'll be right there."
He hung up the phone and turned to Perry. "Henderson says a woman claiming to be Lois Lane called in a car theft about two this morning. Whoever it was had all the right information. The officer who took the call doesn't remember anything special about the woman's voice or the call itself."
"So where's her Jeep?"
"Beside an abandoned warehouse near Hobb's Bay. I'm going out there to check it out."
Jimmy reached for his jacket. "Hey, CK, can I come?"
Clark shook his head as he scampered up the steps. "Sorry, Jimmy, not this time. You stay here and monitor the phones. Call Lois's cell phone and pager and try to get a radio trace on either one. And have the police check Lois's apartment for anything weird."
Clark considered flying to the site, but instead decided to take a cab. No sense waiting for Henderson, and no sense giving him food for thought by showing up impossibly soon.
- End Part Three -
