Here's part 7, and here's the table of contents:
Table of Contents From Part 6: A stray thought came to him. A rope or maybe a bungee cord? He walked back out onto the platform and looked up at the balcony. Yes, it might just work. Aaron believed in having a back-up plan, too. With a little work, his could be better than Lex's.
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PART 7: **********
Clark slept fitfully that night. There were no emergencies to interrupt his sleep, but he just couldn't get the looks on those parents’ faces out of his mind.
SHARP was involved. He and Lois knew that, now. Clarice had verified their suspicions. But what could they do to stop them? They had no real proof and the kidnapper struck in silence, without even having to break in. How were they going to find him?
Clark finally got out of bed. He'd had enough. He was more tired from fighting sleep than from actually not getting any. It was almost time to get up anyway he thought, looking at the alarm clock by their bed. It read five-thirty. The morning news should be on. Clark figured he should probably watch it. He didn't want to, but there would most likely be a story about Jeffrey.
He crept downstairs quietly, trying not to wake anyone, and turned on the TV. Setting the volume on low, he went into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. As he finished pouring the water in, he heard a voice from the TV that caught his attention. It was the voice of Mrs. Harrell. Clark ran back into the living room to verify it was her. It was and, there standing beside her, was her beautiful daughter, Lydia, apparently unharmed.
"If you are just joining us this morning, we are here live with the parents of Lydia Harrell. Mrs. Harrell, according to police, the girl simply showed up on your doorstep, with no memory of where she had been or what happened to her?" the anchorman asked her.
"Yes, that's right. She doesn't remember where she was or who took her. We are just so glad to have her back safe."
Clark couldn't believe what he was seeing. Why? Why would they kidnap her and hold her for almost three days and return her back in the middle of the night? With no demands or instructions or anything?
He decided he should go check on the girl and her family. It shouldn't take him too long, so he decided to just let Lois sleep. He made a quick change and went to the living room window. He needed to find some answers.
**********
Aaron stood up for a moment, stretching his legs a bit, and then hunkered back down into his hiding spot. He looked at his watch, five forty-five. The story should have aired by now on the morning news. The news vans had left a few minutes ago. Hopefully, Superman watches the news.
Aaron was ready to get this over with. He was tired of sitting here, and he was ready to get back to his lab.
He knew that the Leader felt it was important to document Lydia's reaction, but Aaron didn't feel the necessity of their experiments like he once had. After all, now he had experiments of his own. And his experiments and research were in direct contrast with what the Leader was doing.
That was okay, though. He didn't have his Kryptonite yet, anyway. Hadn't the Leader said that it might be in their *future* plans to kill Superman? Maybe Aaron would be able to get the Leader to make that the more immediate future. He smiled at the thought; a world without Superman.
A cramp began working its way through his leg, and he was about to stand up and stretch again when he saw the figure of Superman touch down in front of the Harrell's apartment building. Finally, he could get this over with, he thought, reaching up to put a pair of headphones on. As long as Superman stayed in the main area of the apartment, the bug he'd left outside their apartment door should be able to pick up any conversation. He turned the receiver on as Superman walked inside the building.
After a few moments, he began receiving feedback. There was the sound of a knock on a door.
"Who could that be? More reporters? Tell them we aren't giving anymore interviews right now," a male voice said. It must be Mr. Harrell, Aaron thought.
"It's Superman. He's standing out in the hallway. What should I do?" the female voice of Mrs. Harrell asked.
There was a pause and a sigh. "Let him in, I guess," Mr. Harrell said. There was a creak of the door opening.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Mr. and Mrs. Harrell, but I saw the news report this morning and I just wanted to come by and check on Lydia," came the voice of Superman.
Then, Aaron heard an ear-piercing scream that almost made him yank the headphones off of his ears. He was going to have a headache later on.
"What's the matter, Lydia!?" Mrs. Harrell said. Lydia screamed again, making Aaron turn the volume down.
"No, make him leave! He's a bad man...! No, don't! Get away!" Lydia screamed.
"Sweetie, let's go to your room. It's okay, he won't hurt you. Come with mommy."
"Maybe I'd better go. I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm upsetting her like this. I just wanted to check on her and see if there was anything I could do to help," Superman told them, apologizing.
"Just go. We don't want your help. She's had enough trauma. We don't need you adding to it," Mr. Harrell said angrily.
Nothing more was said, and Aaron heard the door close shut. He smiled, satisfied. This is exactly what the Leader would want to hear.
**********
Clark glanced up as Lois walked by his desk and gave his shoulder a squeeze. He watched her as she poured herself a cup of coffee, real coffee. This was her second cup of it this afternoon. She hadn't slept well the night before either, and then they'd spent their whole morning running around interviewing the parents of each of the kidnapped children.
No other children had been returned, yet. The other parents hadn't heard so much as a word from the kidnappers. And the Harrells were in the dark with everyone else. Lydia had been returned without any note, demand, or explanation.
Clark looked back down at his computer screen, trying to focus his thoughts on the story in front of him. He and Lois were writing up another piece about the kidnappings for their continuing coverage, but he was having a hard time concentrating on his work today. That morning's incident was about the fifth time Superman had been turned away, his help not wanted. It was really getting old.
The phone at Lois’ desk began ringing, bringing him out of his thoughts. He looked up; she was still at the coffee pot talking to Jimmy about something. Clark got up and ran to her desk, answering her phone.
"Daily Planet."
"Hello? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I was dialing Ms. Lane's extension," a female voice said.
"You did. She's just away at the moment. I'm her partner, Clark Kent."
"Oh, Mr. Kent! This is Lizbeth at Dr. McGrath's office. I was calling your wife about her lab results from yesterday's biopsy. I just got off the phone with the lab."
Clark started to flag Lois down to let her know about the call, and then he stopped. What if it was bad news?
"Good. Can you tell me the results?" he asked her.
"Um, I'm really only supposed to give them to the patient. But, let’s see here, she did sign the release to give you access to her medical records."
"I understand if you can’t. She’ll be back to her desk shortly."
"Well, I’m new here, but I think that since she signed this I can release the results to you."
There was a long pause. Clark didn't like it. "Hello? Are you still there?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm sorry. It's just that...well...the results came back positive."
"Positive? As in positive for...cancer?"
"Yes, Mr. Kent. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Dr. McGrath will be back in the office tomorrow. I will have her call the two of you to discuss this in more detail when she returns. She will need to explain the treatment options that are available."
Clark just stood there, unable to say anything. He didn't think he'd ever felt so weak before, not even from Kryptonite. He could protect Lois from a lot of things, but not her own body. He was really getting tired of having to face problems that he couldn't fight.
"Mr. Kent?"
"Okay, we'll be waiting to hear from her. I appreciate you calling us so quickly with the results," he said softly.
"Tell Ms. Lane that I'm sorry for the bad news. Goodbye, Mr. Kent."
"Goodbye." Clark hung up the phone and walked back over to his desk. He eased down into his chair before his legs could betray him and brought his hands up to his face, hiding his emotion from the rest of the newsroom.
A soft set of fingers gently caressed the back of his hairline. Clark didn't look up. There were tears in his eyes that he didn't want her to see. He knew that breast cancer was treatable and had a good success rate, but he also knew that treatment wasn't pleasant. It was painful and made the patient sick and weak. It also meant they would have to put off having any more children for a while, and he knew how much that would upset Lois.
"Honey, are you okay?" she asked him, placing her hand under his chin, trying to pull his face towards hers.
"Yeah," he whispered, softly. "Let's go to the conference room so we can talk."
He got up, taking Lois by the hand, and led her into the conference room. Once inside, she closed the door behind them.
"What is it? Has there been another kidnapping?" she asked him.
"No," he said, and paused. He looked into her beautiful brown eyes full of concern and steeled himself for what he had to tell her. "I just took a phone call from your doctor’s office," he began.
Lois’ face froze with a panicked look. She blinked her eyes a few times as the reality set in and then those eyes he loved so much began to get glassy. "Oh, no. No, Clark. Please, don't say you brought me in here to tell me that I have..." she trailed off.
He grabbed her and pulled her to him, holding her. She was shaking ever so slightly.
"Shhhh," he whispered to her. "It's going to be okay. We'll get through this together, remember? I'll be there with you every step of the way." His heart ached profusely. What more could he say to her? What more could he *do* to make this better?
Lois didn't say anything, she just nodded her head against his chest, and they held each other for a while. Then, she pulled away from him, sniffing and wiping under her eyes. She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears.
"How do I look? Do I look like I've been crying?" she asked him.
"No, you look beautiful, sweetheart. Do you want me to talk to Perry? I'm sure he'd let us off early..."
"No," she said, cutting him off. "I don't want anyone to know about this...at least not yet. They'd all start treating me like something was wrong. It would make everyone uncomfortable. And no, I don't want to go home, Clark. What would I do at home? Sit and wallow in self-pity? No, I want to go back in there and finish our story. And then, I want to go out to dinner with Jimmy and Penny. That's what Jimmy was talking about with me when I went to get coffee," she told him.
Clark smiled fondly at his wife. She'd had her brief moment of emotion, and now she was back in charge. She wasn't about to let a *little* thing like this keep her down. He'd never known anyone like her in his entire life and didn't figure he ever would again. He pulled her forward again, hugging her, and kissing the top of her head.
"Okay, come on then, partner, let's go finish our story," he told her.
**********
Jimmy was so excited. Tonight was the night. He hoped Penny wouldn't be upset that he had invited Lois and Clark to dinner with them. He knew some girls wanted complete privacy and intimacy when they were being proposed to, but he'd actually already proposed to her. And she had already accepted. This was more of a formality. Formality? No, it was a celebration.
It had already been decided that they wanted Clark to be Jimmy's best man and they had one other request as well. So, what better time for them to ask their friends than after the proposal? Lois had assured Jimmy that she and Clark would love to join them for dinner.
Jimmy reached into his pants pocket, fingering the ring box for about the hundredth time. Dinner couldn't get here fast enough as far as he was concerned.
A phone ringing startled him out of his thoughts. The ring was coming from Perry's office, but Perry wasn't in there. He had gone upstairs to argue with the publishers about a story they wanted to pull, so Jimmy ran into his office and answered his phone.
"Daily Planet. Perry White's office."
“Is this Mr. Perry White?” a man’s voice said.
“Um, no, this is Jimmy Olsen. Mr. White is unavailable at the moment. Can I help you?”
“Jimmy Olsen? Yes, Jimmy. Yes, you can help me.”
**********
Aaron stood close by the Daily Planet, pretending to read a copy of that morning's edition.
“I’m standing right outside the building, if you come to the window and look down, you’ll see me,” Aaron said into his cell phone. He looked up and watched the windows above him. If he could get his target to come to the windows, he should be within the fifty-foot radius of the subliminator. He saw a young man approach the windows and look down. Bingo.
“Jimmy Olsen. I want you to listen to me very carefully. I’m going to give you a set of instructions to carry out on the command ‘execute’. On that command you will go to the fire alarm and pull it. Jimmy, you will then begin yelling and screaming that there is a bomb in the building and that everyone needs to get out now. The bomb will go off any minute. Make sure you create as much of a panic as possible. We need a lot of shouting for help if we’re going to get Superman to come. In fact, Jimmy, why don’t you give a shout out to Superman while you’re at it. Say ‘Superman! Help! There’s a bomb!’ Now Jimmy, execute.”
Aaron waited for a few minutes, scanning the page of the paper he was looking at and watching the front of the building out of the corner of his eye. He watched as people began filing out of the building in droves. Then, the person he specifically was waiting to see came out holding a little baby girl in her arms.
Now, if Superman would cooperate, the plan would...his thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the alien. Aaron watched as Superman flew inside the building, presumably looking for the bomb. Aaron smiled to himself. Superman would find a *bomb*.
Pillars of smoke began to billow out the front doors of the building enveloping everyone standing close by. Aaron could hear police sirens off in the distance, getting closer by the second. So they had taken his anonymous tip seriously. They were no doubt sending in a bomb squad to have a look. Good. Not necessary, of course, but it helped to heighten the emotional experience for the people involved.
He watched as Lois Lane began moving farther away from the building, covering her daughter's face with her jacket trying to shield her from the smoke.
Superman came out of the building seconds later holding the remains of the *bomb* Aaron had left behind.
"It's okay. It was just a smoke bomb," Superman told the concerned crowd. He disposed of the remains in the nearest trash receptacle and began walking towards Lois Lane. Aaron was watching avidly, in anticipation.
"Are you both okay?" Superman asked her.
"Yeah. We're fine. Is everyone else okay?"
"They seem to be. A few people are coughing and having a little trouble breathing, but I think they'll be fine after some fresh air."
Aaron continued to watch as Laura pulled her mother's jacket back and looked up at Superman. Her face crinkled up, and her mouth opened letting a loud cry escape. Her mother looked down at her in surprise, and Superman had a stunned look of disbelief on his face as well. Laura continued crying, kicking her legs, and squirming, and Superman seemed to take his cue. He backed up, turned around, and flew off.
Perfect, Aaron thought. The Leader would be most pleased to hear about these results, but Aaron himself was even more pleased. The results would further his own plans as well.
**********
Jimmy sat, nervously shifting back and forth in his seat. He had been looking forward to this dinner all day. After the bomb threat that afternoon, he was afraid everyone would want to cancel the dinner. But everything had turned out okay, and it was decided that they would still go to dinner.
Now that it was actually here, though, Jimmy was so nervous that he had managed to drop his napkin on the floor, knock the bread basket over, and almost spill his water on Penny. Okay, calm down, he told himself. After all, she'd already said yes.
The restaurant decor was beautiful. The lighting was soft and low, and there was romantic music playing in the background. He looked around the table. Lois and Clark were engaged in a discussion over the finer points of pasta, and Penny was busy dipping a piece of bread into a plate of olive oil. He took a deep breath and reached into his pocket, pulling out the ring box.
"Penny. I have something I want to ask you," he said, taking her hands in his. He got out of his chair and knelt down on one knee beside her. He could see Lois and Clark gawking at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Penny, I've loved you from the first moment I saw you, even before that, before I ever knew you. You are the missing piece of my life. I never knew I could love someone as much as I love you right now. And I know that love will only continue to grow as we spend our lives together. I'm ready to begin sharing that life with you. Penny, will you marry me?" Jimmy asked her, opening the ring box. He watched her face in expectation.
Her eyes grew large, and her mouth opened slightly, a soft breath escaping between her lips. She took the ring box from him and her eyes began to fill with tears.
"Oh, it's perfect, Jimmy! Thank you so much! Yes! Yes, I will marry you," she said, bending forward, kissing him deeply on the lips. He rose up slightly, putting his arms around her and kissing her back.
After a few moments, he finally remembered Lois and Clark sitting at their table and looked over at them. They were holding hands and smiling affectionately at Jimmy and Penny.
"Congratulations you two," Clark told them.
"Yeah, it's about time," Lois said teasingly.
Jimmy blushed. "Well, actually, I asked Penny to marry me the day of the bombing at the planet about three months ago, but I didn't have a ring to give her. So, we decided not to tell anyone and do it officially once we had a ring."
Jimmy recalled the day in his mind. It hadn’t exactly been a bomb, but some kind of strange weapon that Lex had used to strike at the Daily Planet building. He could have died that day, and he’d realized how fragile life was. He’d known, in that instant, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Penny.
"Well, I'm glad you were able to do it today," Lois said, smiling. "There's been a bomb both times you've proposed. We wouldn't have wanted you to have to put it off to another day."
Everyone laughed at the joke and Jimmy looked at Penny, giving her a nod. "Penny and I have already discussed a bunch of our wedding plans, she's actually already done some shopping, and we decided who we want to be in our wedding. CK, I'd like you to be my best man."
"I'd be honored," Clark said.
"And, if it's all right with you, if you think she's old enough, we'd like Laura to be our flower girl. The wedding won't be for at least another six months. So, she'll be almost two by then," Jimmy told them.
"We'd love for her to be your flower girl!" Lois exclaimed happily. "I don't know how well a two year old will cooperate for you, but I'm sure it will be memorable."
The two couples smiled at each other. At this particular moment Jimmy felt that all was right in the world.
**********
All was right in the world, at least for tonight. Aaron stared inside the open safe in front of him. With help from the information and files on the lab computer, he had been able to open the safe. Everything seemed to be going his way.
The safe was bigger than it looked. It went back into the wall as far as he could reach. He began pulling stuff out of it to examine. There were various documents, some of them looked like they referenced financial accounts. Maybe a second set of books? There were a few stacks of money in different denominations and from different countries. There were what appeared to be counterfeit passports and travel documents. Lex did like to have back up plans, didn't he?
He kept pulling out more items: jewels, artifacts, and other trinkets. Finally, he got to one last item buried deep in the back of the safe at the bottom. It was a simple wooden box. There was a lock on the box, and he didn't see a key for it anywhere; but it should be easy enough to break into.
After a few minutes with a paperclip, he had picked the lock. He started raising the lid and an eerie green glow began to emanate from the box. Inside, there was a sealed note sitting on top of an object wrapped in a cloth. A tear in the cloth was where the muted green aura was coming from. Aaron read the note.
"Lex - I cannot accept the offering that I’m returning to you inside this box. I look forward to many more profitable years in your employ. But, this needs to stay with you. In your line of work you never know when you might need it. I'm sure you can put it to far better use than I can. - Mrs. Cox."
Aaron licked his lips in anticipation and lifted the cloth off the object. As he beheld Lex's most precious possession, a triumphant smile spread across his face.
He was putting the object and note back into the box when a sound caught his attention. A sound that almost made his heart stop beating. The elevator was moving.
Oh, no, he thought, scrambling to put everything back where it was and moving into a corner of the room, hiding, to watch the elevator door.
The door opened and the Great Leader emerged looking around, curiously.
"Aaron?" he called. "Are you in here?"
No, he thought, I'm so close. He wasn't supposed to find this place, not yet. But he had, and he was his leader, so Aaron stepped out into the room where the Leader could see him.
"Yes, Great Leader, I'm here," he answered him.
"What is this place? And why haven't you shown it to me yet?"
"When Lex first gave me access to the bunker, he made me promise never to come into this room. Only just a few days ago, did I finally decide it was time to see what was in here. Lex is dead and virtually no one else knows about the secret bunker or private elevator. So, I figured it was safe to explore it."
The Leader listened to him as he moved around the room examining objects and nodding his head.
"And did you find what you were looking for?" the Leader asked him expectantly.
"I...I don't know what you mean," Aaron lied.
"Yes, you do. Of course you do, and, by what you just said, I would venture a guess that you've found it."
Aaron squirmed uncomfortably under the Leader's harsh gaze.
"I told you that in time we might include plans to kill Superman. *In time*," the Leader reminded him. "That time is not now. We are not done yet with our main objective, discrediting Superman. I will not have you risk everything we've accomplished this far by making rash plans to eliminate him. You underestimate both him and his loyal followers."
"But, my Leader, if you would listen to the plan I have come up with..."
"No!" the Leader said sharply. Then, his face seemed to soften. "No, the time is not right. Later, we will discuss this further. Right now, I need you to come with me. It is time to deliver Matthew and Jeffrey back to their parents. Then, we can begin phase two of our plan."
Aaron felt his face flush with anger. He deeply respected the Leader but did not appreciate being thrust aside like a subordinate child. The Leader was not even willing to hear him out, was refusing to admit that someone else might possibly have a plan superior to his own. As much as it pained him to realize, he was going to have to do this on his own. This man was his respected Leader, but Aaron was a man of action and could wait no longer to act. It was time; it had to be now, while Laura was still under his influence. He needed to find a way to incapacitate the Leader long enough to put his plan into action. An idea came to his mind.
"Of course, my Leader. I don't know what I was thinking. I was being rash and foolish. We must continue with our plan, you're right. Let me take Matthew and Jeffrey back to their homes. Then, perhaps you will join me for a drink and allow me the opportunity to tell you my idea for our future plans."
"I admire your ambition, Aaron. Yes, I think that would be nice. We can discuss your ideas and also begin our planning to put phase two into effect."
Aaron smiled cordially at the Leader following him back onto the elevator, even as he plotted his next step.
**********
To Be Continued...
