Clark nodded. Since Carmen didn't know he was Superman, her reasoning made perfect sense. "Okay. But you have to promise me to be careful."
"You forget that you are speaking to a woman who survived the cocaine wars in Columbia. I think you should assure me that you will be careful."
- Begin Part Seven -
"Next session is ready. Time is two-fifty-eight PM. Subject continues to be disoriented and is increasingly fearful. We will begin with stimulant levels at sixty percent and reduce by five percent for each question answered correctly. We will begin with primer questions, then proceed to urgent questions. We will use all three images this time. Beginning session - now."
*****
Lois awoke to fierce pain throughout her body. Her wrists and ankles now joined the cacophony of pain with an awareness of sharp cuts and throbbing abrasions. Her knees and hips ached and burned in harmony with the waves of pain already crashing over her mind.
Fear grabbed her by the throat and refused to release her. She let go of her determination to resist and wept bitterly. She was convinced that the pain would never stop, that she'd die on this table and never see Clark again, never get the chance to tell him -
She suddenly realized that she hadn't seen or heard from a Clark impersonator. Maybe these clowns didn't know about him. Maybe they just didn't think she was that close to him.
Of course! They'd been using familiar images to undermine her resistance. They'd used Perry and Lucy, and especially Superman, to convince her to cooperate. But they hadn't used Clark! She knew something they didn't! Clark would never tell her to betray the Planet! He was her best friend! He'd always stand beside her! He'd save her if he could!
She desperately grasped the straw her thoughts had dangled in her mind and held on to it for all she was worth. The pain was still there and she cried out again, but the hope that had been creeping away on kitten's paws came galloping back.
Superman loomed out of the mist at the head of her bed once again. "Lois, I'm still here."
She gritted her teeth and snarled. "So what? You're not - ahhh! You're not helping me!"
"I told you, Lois, if I help you - "
"Then others will die! I don't believe you!"
A woman's voice called out from her right. "Lois, he's telling the truth. You have to answer their questions."
"No! Yaagghh! I won't! If I do then p-people could really die!"
She came closer. Lois could see Lucy's profile in the mist. "If you want to live, Lois, you have to answer their questions."
"I won't! Aaaggghh! I'll die first!"
Perry appeared to her left. "Honey, you don't need to do that. Just answer their questions. It's okay, I promise."
Lois arched her back again and her hands locked into the shape of claws. The pain increased and she screamed her throat raw. Lucy and Perry faded away as if they'd never even been there.
Clark. She concentrated on thinking about Clark. The thought of his tall, strong presence calmed her slightly and helped her concentrate.
He had to find her. He had to come. Soon. Very soon. Before it was too late.
The mechanical voice drifted out of the mist. It was level and calm and even, just as it always had been. "Lois, is your sister left-handed or right-handed?"
"Aaaggghh! Right-handed!"
The pain eased slightly and she panted until she caught up on her oxygen debt. The voice asked, "Lois, what color is your everyday purse?"
"Black! It's black!"
The pain eased again. Lois wept with relief.
"Very good. What color underwear do you usually wear on workdays?"
"Uh. Either white or tan."
"Excellent."
The pain slipped further away. She shook herself. "Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what, Lois?"
"Why are you turning the pain down?"
"Do you prefer more pain over less pain?"
She almost panicked. "No! Nonononono! Please! I - I just asked!"
"It's okay, Lois. If you answer truthfully, the pain will ease off. Answer with less than the truth, and, well, I think you know what will happen."
"Y-yes, I know." Fear jumped back onto her chest and gripped her with razor claws. They'd never let her go. They'd get whatever they could from her and then kill her. The only choices she had left was how much pain she'd suffer before she died, and whether or not she was willing to give them what they wanted in exchange for a quick death. And, had someone asked her in that moment which way she'd choose, she didn't know what she'd say.
"Good, Lois. Now, one more quick question. How much mileage is on your Jeep?"
"Uh, uh, I think, about twenty-two thousand. No! Twenty-six! It's twenty-six thousand, I'm sure!"
The pain slipped a little further away. "Very good. That's close enough. Now we come to the interesting questions again."
"Oh."
"Lois, what story are you working on at the Planet?"
The moment of truth had come. She hesitated for a breath, then decided. She refused to buy a peaceful death with betrayal, one that might doom others. "I, I'm working on a water department kickback story." The pain level jumped up again and her heart began beating rapidly, almost fluttering, as if it were running a race all by itself. "Aaaggghhh! It's the truth! You can - you can check my computer at work! My notes are in the f-folder - labeled Water and Sewage! Aaaggghhhchchch!"
She coughed up flecks of blood again. She thought she heard a ghostly voice say something about a vee-tack, but she wasn't sure. She coughed again and the pressure in her chest eased a bit. The pain levels didn't increase, not right away. Maybe they bought it. Maybe Clark was coming.
The voice came back. "That's not the story we meant, Lois. There's another one that's just a little more important. What is it?"
"I - I c-can't tell you! Aaaggghhh! No! NOOOO!"
She screamed and fell into the pit.
*****
"Is she dead, Doc?"
"I don't know - wait, there's a pulse. Wow. I thought she was really gone that time. She's strong."
"Yeah, too strong for your drugs. We need to pop her and get out of here."
"No! One more session and she'll crack! I'm sure of it!"
"You already had your 'one more session' and it didn't work!"
"I've found the combination now, MacGillis, I'm sure of it."
"She's already lasted longer than anyone else has! That football player you tested this setup on would have wet himself twice and fed both his mother and sister into a wood chipper by now! I don't think you can break her!"
"One more session and - "
"We're already past our deadline, Doc! Somebody's gonna get curious and we'll have to shoot our way out or get caught!"
"I'm not going back to prison, MacGillis. I was on Death Row. Two guards were killed when the boss broke me out. They'd sooner shoot me than catch me. I won't go back to prison just to die."
"Fine! Let me kill her now! It'd be merciful, at least!"
"One more session, just one more. If she doesn't talk, I'll kill her myself."
"Doc - "
"One more! You know how much money this information is worth!"
"Just one more?"
"I promise. One more and that's it, win or lose."
"Okay. Just get something out of her this time, will you?"
*****
Carmen guided her craft over a small farmhouse beside a newly cleared field. The field was large enough for a small helicopter to land but way too small for any legitimate farm activity. She pointed down and said, "That is the field."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Where will you land?"
"Do you see that hill ahead of us?" Clark nodded. "We will land on the far side. There is enough clear area there to set down safely. We will then walk back as quickly as the terrain allows."
"Carmen, you don't have to come - "
She reached under the seat and pulled out a webbed pistol belt. "But I insist. I will cover your backside for you."
He grinned. "I think you mean, 'cover my back.'"
She goggled. "Not your backside?"
"No." He pointed to what he was sitting on. "That's a backside."
She smiled. "I see. Then, despite the obvious appeal of covering your very attractive backside, I will instead cover your back."
"Sure I can't talk you out of it?"
"You cannot. Hold on tightly, we are landing now."
The landing was smooth as butter, and Carmen let the rotor windmill down of its own accord. "It will sound to anyone listening in or near the house that we have flown past. We may now proceed."
He watched her buckle the pistol belt around her waist. She looked more than competent, especially when she took the pistol out of the holster, checked the magazine, then jacked a cartridge into the chamber. He shook his head. "Lead on, MacDuff."
She cocked her head to one side as she re-holstered the pistol. "My name is Avanzano, not MacDuff. And we are to call each other by our first names. Do you not recall this?"
He grinned. "Sorry. Lead on, Carmen."
She nodded and set a brisk pace.
They crested the hill and scampered down the far side. She was good in the woods, too. She wasted no motion and made no unnecessary conversation. She paused only to listen and to choose her path. Clark couldn't see the farmhouse because of the uneven ground without his X-ray vision, but he knew where it was and that they were moving quickly towards it while remaining under cover.
Carmen lifted her pistol from the holster again as they walked up a slight incline, then raised her hand. Clark stopped and waited as she peered through the underbrush at the edge of the clearing where the house sat. She turned to look at him and motioned for him to lean closer.
She whispered, "There is only one guard, but he carries an assault rifle. He would surely kill us both if we are discovered. But I have an idea." She handed him the pistol and gun belt. "Here, hold this. Do not use it unless you have no choice."
"What are you doing?"
She tugged her shirt further open at the top and mussed her hair with one hand. "I am a foolish but very attractive woman driver whose car is disabled. I am now lost in the woods. I think he will let me get close enough."
"Close enough for what?"
She grinned and winked. "Watch and see."
She limped out of the brush, groaning as if she'd just run a marathon. The guard snapped his rifle up but held his fire. She lifted her head and smiled, then hunched towards him. Clark was surprised that she somehow managed to appear smaller and less competent than she had been up to that moment. She was good at this.
"Oh! Sir! Please you would help me! In these trees I am lost! My car, she is broken and I cannot run her! I require for you to help me, please!"
Clark lifted his eyebrow at her accent, which was suddenly much thicker. The man looked at her wonderingly, then hungrily, as she limped closer and leaned forward to show him her cleavage.
"Please help me, sir! My car, she does not run. I do not know about them. I have walk many hour to come here. I am - so tired - "
She wavered as if near fainting, and he obligingly reached out to catch her with his left hand. The moment he came close enough, she rammed her knee into his crotch, and as he folded up she whipped her interlocked hands down on the back of his neck. He dropped the rifle as he fell and didn't move once he hit the ground.
Carmen moved the rifle out of his reach and waved to Clark. As he approached, she quickly searched the guard's pockets and came up with another magazine of ammunition and a shiny metal key. She put them aside, then reached down and grabbed the man's head between her hands.
Clark suddenly realized she meant to break the guard's neck. He dropped the pistol and gun belt and grabbed her wrists just in time to stop her. "Carmen! No! You can't do that!"
She glared at him and whispered fiercely, "Why do you stop me? He may recover and call for others! We cannot leave him alive!"
"I won't let you kill him! We're here to rescue Lois, not avenge her!"
She stared at him for several long moments, then released the man's head. "You are a fool, but she is your Lois. Come, we must make hastiness." She picked up the AK-47 and stood.
Clark frowned. "You know how to use that thing?"
"Of course. One learns many useful skills in Columbia."
She checked the rifle's magazine and chamber as competently as she had the pistol, then slid the key into the brand new lock above the doorknob and slowly turned it. The bolt slid quietly back from the door frame. Carmen slowly twisted the door handle and gently pushed the door open. Clark picked up the pistol and belt, then followed her.
*****
"Final session. Subject is on the verge of total systemic collapse and cannot survive any additional sessions. We will begin with thirty-five percent lethal levels and progress to the subject's death. We will extract whatever information we can before terminating the experiment."
"Terminate the subject, you mean."
"That's a given. We're past our deadline now. Whatever we get now will be all we'll get. It's time to cut our losses and move forward."
"You're cold-blooded, Doc, you know that?"
"So I've been told. Final session, MacGillis. Are you ready?"
"Yeah. Let's get this over with."
*****
Carmen slipped silently into the single-story farmhouse and turned right to clear the room. Clark already knew that the only possible place for anyone to be was in the lead-lined basement, but he followed Carmen and stepped to the left, all the while holding the pistol pointing down with his finger off the trigger. They cleared the few ground floor rooms quickly, then Carmen pointed at the door in the middle of the main room which led down into the basement. They made eye contact and Clark nodded.
*****
The pain was less intense this time, but Lois was past caring. If Clark was coming, he was too late. It didn't matter what happened to her now. She only wanted the torture to stop, even if it took dying.
"Lois? Lois, wake up. You have to answer their questions."
"Uhhh. Go away."
"Lois, it's Superman."
She groaned again. "No. You're - you're not Superman. You're just - aaahhh! - you're here to help them get answers from me."
The pain intensified slightly and she jerked against her restraints. She thought she felt blood on her wrists and hands.
Superman knelt down beside her and put his face next to hers. "I can't help you, Lois. You have to answer their questions or they'll kill you."
She panted and refused to look at him. Tears flowed down into her ears. "They -they're going to kill me anyway! Aaaggghh! Let them! I can't t-take any more!"
"Lois, you need to answer their questions."
The pain leaped in intensity and every muscle in her body jerked. "Ahhh! Kill me! Either g-get me out of here or kill me! I can't take it any more!" Her scream faded to a blubbery sob. "P-please let me die! Please! Gaaahhh! It hurts! It hurts so much!"
"I can't help you, Lois. You'll have to answer their questions."
Superman faded from her sight. The mechanical voice appeared again. "Once more, Lois. What story are you working on right now?"
She groaned and spluttered a bitter laugh. "My obituary!"
To her surprise, the pain didn't increase. "Are you certain of that, Lois?"
"Yes! Yaaggghh! Yes, I'm sure! You - you won't let me out of here! You can't let me live! Aaaggghhh! Just let me die! Yaaahhh! Kill me! Please! Just k-kill me!"
The pain jumped another level and she screamed again.
"Are you ready to answer - what's that - look out!"
Lois didn't respond. She wept tears of bitter inevitability and waited for the final fade to black.
- End Part Seven -
