Sorry for the delay. Work has gone nutso (I guess I should be grateful I still have a job). So I snuck this writing in between my 12 hour work days. Hopefully Part 21 will take less time. Thanks for your patience...
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Reflections – Part 20
(Reflections TOC) Three hours later, Lois and Clark had finished correlating Clark’s gun-running investigations over the last three years, with lucrative contracts for munitions to governments needing to protect themselves from the people supplied by the gun-runners. Lois was amazed at Clark’s ability to remember every detail from his investigations without the benefit of any written notes. He was definitely going to be able to pull his weight in her investigation.
‘…our investigation. Right, our investigation,’ she corrected herself. She never thought having a partner would feel right, but somehow this seemed to work for her.
“Damn,” she heard Clark exclaim and the pile of research in front of him.
“What?”
“It’s all circumstantial. I can’t get one concrete connection between Luthor and the gun traffickers. Only the pattern. But I can feel that he’s the one running all of this.” Lois saw him run his hand through his hair in frustration.
“Clark, don’t worry. Now that we know, we can start looking for the clues to how he’s connected. We just have to be a little patient.” Boy, did that sound weird for her to be the patient one. But she could see Clark’s face twisting into a ball of frustration as he stared at the research.
Suddenly he shouted, “No!” as he slammed his fist down on the table. “How many more people will die when we’re running around chasing clues? Huh? I can do all of…” He quickly stopped himself from saying anything else, his mouth grimly closed shut.
She moved over near him, and touch his arm as she softly said, “Clark, you can’t do everything. And you can’t prevent all the evil in the world. We need to do this carefully if we’re going to shut Luthor down.
He looked up at her with bleak eyes. “Maybe I should just shut him down right now.”
Lois was taken back a little, but she understood where it came from.
“That won’t bring her back, you know. Beside the fact that it would get you killed in the process.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, composing himself before quietly replying, “No, but it would certainly destroy me.”
Lois looked at him confused, not really sure what he had meant. Another little piece she would put in her puzzle that was Clark Kent. Before she had a chance to say anything further, he got up and declared, “I need a little air to clear my head. How about we meet back here in an hour, and write up our article on the Shuttle for tomorrow’s edition?” Without waiting for her to answer, he got up and headed for the door of the conference room. Before exiting, he paused, he turned and said, “I sorry for losing my control, Lois.”
“It’s okay, Clark. We’re all allowed to blow off a little steam now and then.”
He shook his head and replied, “Not me.”
With that, he quickly left the room, leaving her there wondering what was going on in that head of his. She didn’t know if she was more aggravated or fascinated by him. Right now, a little of both, she decided, as she started to clear up the papers on the conference table. As she picked up the files that had been in front of Clark, she froze. Underneath the papers, the conference table had a fist sized hole in it, with cracks radiating from it. She dropped the papers and touched the edges of the hole with her fingers. She then stared out at the door Clark had just exited. She knew Clark was a big guy, but this… He must have been furious to cause this damage without noticing or being in pain. He seemed to have calmed down before he left, but she hoped he didn’t do anything stupid.
One thing for sure, he didn’t need to have to explain what had happened to the table to anyone. Good thing that Perry took Sundays off. She picked up the phone and ordered a new table to be brought up by the weekend facilities crew. She used the phrase ‘safety hazard’ to motivate them into quick action. Quick action meaning sometime in the next two hours. That done, she cleaned up the rest of the paper work and files, and carried them back out to her filing cabinet in the bullpen. The Sunday afternoon crew was now in full swing, and the weekend editor was sitting at his usual desk.
After putting away her files, she went over to the editor to outline the story she and Clark would be submitting for the Monday morning edition. She could see his eyes grow wide as she discussed some of the details with him. She noted to herself that Perry wouldn’t even flinch at a story like this. When she was done, the editor gave her the deadline for submittal, then immediately went about rearranging the layout for tomorrow’s edition.
Back at her desk, she started typing in the outline for their story. Their story… Funny, how natural that sounded to her now. A month ago she would have called anyone crazy that told her she would like working with someone. She chuckled to herself, and shook her head. ‘And speaking of partner,’ she thought to herself, ‘he better clear his head soon so he can get back here and pull his own weight on this story. Cause if he didn’t get back here soon, he’d find his name left off this byline.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clark sailed leisurely over Hobbs Bay, allowing the wind and the sky help clear his head. The aftermath of the storm had left clear, crisp air for him to soar in. It was his favorite part of having his powers, being able to be up here and sail through the heavens. Today he really needed to clear his head, especially after losing control like that in front of Lois. He could not afford the luxury of allowing his anger get the better of him, or to blow off steam whenever he wanted to. He could do too much damage if he ever allowed himself to lose control like that.
It was amazing how quickly Lois how grounded him after his outburst. She knew what he had been thinking, and how harmful it could have been if he went down that path. Sure, he couldn’t be hurt physically, but the wrong actions could destroy what he had built up as Superman. People needed to know that someone with as much power as him, held himself up to a higher standard. They needed to trust him… trust that he wouldn’t become a vigilante and set himself up judge and jury over humankind.
Moving up a little higher, he started to do a little ‘sightseeing’, trying to spot marine life and watching the pattern of cruise and cargo ships entering the harbor. It was interesting to see the organized pattern that the harbor authority had setup for all the incoming traffic from overseas.
But then he looked closer, and noticed one ship, a small freighter, seeming to come in from a different direction, but moving in to merge with the others in the established sea lanes. From his vantage point, it really stuck out as an anomaly, arousing his curiosity. Though he didn’t normally do this sort of thing, he took a quick peak into the hold of the freighter to see what they were bringing into port. The top deck had a lot of empty crates, filled with packing material. He then went further down into the lower hold and saw more boxes. Inside the boxes were automatic type rifles of various kinds, with designs originating from several countries.
His first inclination was to swoop down and pluck the ship out of the water, but he knew that would do more harm than good. He needed the proper authorities to catch them as they entered the harbor.
He needed Henderson…
A few minutes later he was in the Hobbs Bay Harbor at a pay phone in his street clothes. He dialed the number of Henderson’s station, then covered the mouthpiece with a piece of paper from his notebook. Disguising his voice, he told the officer that answered the phone that he had a hot tip for Detective Henderson on a stash of illegal guns. A couple of minutes later, Henderson’s gravelly voice answered the phone.
“Henderson.”
“A ship is coming into the Harbor in a couple of hours, and there’s a stash of illegal guns hidden beneath the main hold.”
“I see…,” Clark could hear him say skeptically. “And just how do you know about this alleged stash?”
“My buddy helped them load the ship. He didn’t want to, but they forced him. He was able to slip away, and let me know where and when the ship was coming in.”
“And the name of this ship?”
“The Belgian Star.”
“I assume you wouldn’t want to volunteer your name.”
“No way. Listen, I got to go. Don’t let those guns get into Metropolis.”
Clark quickly hung up the phone, and for added measure wiped it clean of any fingerprints. He then took off at a brisk jog toward a deserted part of the Harbor. When he reached a section of closely spaced warehouses, he ducked between two of the buildings. As soon as he was out of sight, he took to the air in a blur, spinning into his suit as he headed toward the Daily Planet. A minute later he landed in the alley near the newspaper building, already in his street clothes as his feet touched the ground.
At normal speed he walked around the corner, and entered the building through the revolving doors. As he rode the elevator up to the bullpen, he took out his pager, and set the built-in alarm to go off in two hours. He shoved it back into his pocket just as the doors parted at his stop.
As he got off the elevator he could see Lois staring at her screen, deep in concentration. He made his over to her desk, grabbing a chair along the way. Just as he was about to set the chair down beside her, without looking away from the screen, she said, “Nice of you to make it back.”
“Sorry, I hope I wasn’t gone too long. Just needed to get…”
“… a little fresh air. Yeah, I know.” She looked up from her screen, and with a smile said, “Lucky for you getting an exclusive on a conspiracy to destroy the Space Program always puts me in a good mood. Now sit down, and help me write this article. We have less than a couple of hours to get this in.” Even though her mock scolding tone, Clark could tell that she understood that he needed that break.
Clark sat down in the chair he had set next to Lois’s as he replied, “Sorry, I didn’t mean for you to have to do the work by yourself. Thanks for understanding. I’ll make it up to you later.”
She shrugged and turned her attention back to her screen. “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something. Maybe I’ll just have you make me breakfast some morning.”
A second after she said that, her eyes got wide and Clark could see her blush a little. She turned her head to look at Clark, embarrassment etched on her face.
“Oh, I didn’t mean… You know… I just meant… Not that… I, um…”
Clark chuckled softly, and said reassuringly to her, “It’s okay Lois, I know what you meant. Tell you what. After I get a real apartment, you can come by one morning on your way to work, and I’ll make you a deluxe Kansas breakfast. How does that sound?”
She visibly relaxed, and replied, “Yes, that would be great Clark. Thanks.”
“No problem. So, how about that article?”
Lois regained her focus and attacked that keyboard with flourish. “Yes! Let’s knock this puppy out, Smallville.”
They spent the next couple of hours building the story together, each taking turns typing in parts of the article. Clark couldn’t help to mentally pause every so often to marvel at the tornado of a partner that he had ended up with. He could see the intensity in her face reflected off the screen of her computer as they put the words together, creating the narrative of Baines conspiracy. It was such a contrast to the embarrassed woman who could stumble over her unintentional suggestion to him. He was slowly coming to realize that he not only enjoyed working with Lois, but he actually enjoyed just being with her. Which meant for the first time since donning the suit, he had to figure out how to balance having a friend with his life as Superman.
“There, done,” Lois exclaimed triumphantly. “We need to add anything else?”
“Huh?” Clark muttered, breaking out of his thoughts. “I mean, um, let me check.” After a minute of proof reading, he realized that they should add what he had found out from Platt’s widow, to let the world know how brave he had been. He retrieved his sidebar write-up from the server, then inserted it in an appropriate place near the end of the story. As he worked, he could feel Lois near him, her breath tickling the side of neck as he typed. It was very distracting, and he had to employ super human will to focus on the story. After a few corrections to make the new part flow with the rest of the story, he turned to her to get her approval. Since she had been reading over his shoulder, her face was only a couple of inches from his. She was still looking at the screen, intently reading what he had added. He stared at the lines of her face and the curves of her neck, wanting to lean in and…
He suddenly and forcibly pushed himself away from the desk and quickly stood up. Lois looked over at him in surprise, clearly wondering why he had so abruptly stood up.
“I’m going to get some for coffee for myself, you want some too?” he got out rapidly.
“No, I’m good,” she said slowly, with an amused expression. “But maybe you should cut down on the caffeine a little.”
“Yeah… um, maybe so. I’ll just grab a cup of water, and be right back.” He walked quickly to the water cooler, needing to get some space between himself and Lois. He downed a couple of cups of water as he tried to get a handle on his feelings. He had purposely kept himself away from close relationships with other people, especially since going public with his abilities. He didn’t think it was fair to burden anyone with his life… with his secret. But despite his resolve, he had just been inexplicably felt himself drawn to Lois. Almost as if he was attracted to her.
Well, he would not do that to himself again. It was dangerous enough starting a friendship with her. Attempting a romantic relationship with her could be disastrous. He didn’t believe that Lois would act as Lena had, but he couldn’t offer her a normal life, or the possibility of starting a family someday. Not the mention the danger of being close to him, considering the number of enemies he was starting to accumulate.
Filling his cup with water again, he made his way back to her desk. As he sat down, she asked with a grin, “So, all better now?”
“Um… sure… yeah. Just a little thirsty. So you think the story is ready to send?”
“Already done. I guess we’re free to…” Lois was interrupted by Clark’s pager going off with a loud beep. He indicated for her to wait a moment, as he dug it out of his pocket. He pretended to read a message off the pager, and told her, “I’ve got to call this number, give me a minute.”
She shrugged as she replied, “Sure, we’re done here for now.”
He gave her a small smile, and walk over to his temporary desk. Picking up the phone, he punched in the number for the correct time. As he listened to the recorded voice he muttered ‘uh huh’ and ‘okay’ a few times for effect. After an appropriate amount of time, he hung up the phone and walked back to Lois.
“So, you want to watch the police bust some gun runners?”
“What? Are you kidding? You have to ask? Who was that on the phone?”
“That was one of my sources in my gun investigations.”
She scowled at him as she asked, “You have sources in Metropolis already?”
“I told you I came here following leads I had found. So you want to come or not?”
She got up quickly and grabbed her purse as she headed to the elevator. “Try and stop me Smallville. Let’s hit it.” Clark shook his head, and jogged to catch up.
“So where are we going?”
“Dock 39, Hobbs Bay. You know where that is?”
“I can get us there. Good thing I’m here to help you out, huh?”
“Yeah, good thing,” he answered sarcastically.
“Watch it, Kent, or you’ll find yourself walking there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So fill me in, what’s going on?”
They reached the parking garage, and as they exited the elevator, Clark gave her the same story that he had given Henderson over the phone. They got into the Jeep, and fifteen minutes later they were pulling up to the area of docks. After parking in a secluded area, they quietly made their way to Dock 39 on foot. They were a hundred yards from the dock area, when they were stopped by a couple of police officers. Lois immediately pulled her ‘I know Henderson’ card as the police officers guided them away from the dock.
After twenty minutes of waiting in informal custody near the center of a large police task force temporary command center, Henderson showed up, looking unhappy, once again.
“What is with you two? I’m beginning to think you actually instigate this stuff yourself. Just how did you end up here?” He was addressing both of them, but he was staring straight at Lois.
She crossed her arms, and replied, “Just for your information, WE are here because of a source that CLARK has. He started this investigation, I just joined recently.”
Henderson turned his glare on Clark, making him think that the police detective might actually be able to emit a form of death ray from his eyes.
“Really? So just when did you start this investigation, Kent?”
“I’ve been following this trail for almost three years now. I’ve been trying to find out who is running this show, since the first two stories I uncovered in France.
“You think that the person in charge is in Metropolis?” Henderson asked, now with keen interest.
“So far the trail points back to here. I received a tip that the police were going to raid a ship suspected of carrying illegal weapons into the country, here at Dock 39.”
“Hmmm… Probably the same ‘friend’ that gave me a call. I wonder why he asked for me?”
Clark shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you have a reputation for being honest.”
“Humph. I bet. Anyway, since you’re here, if you promise not to interfere, you can stay. But you and I are having a little talk later, Kent.” He turned, and gave Lois a suffering look. “I thought one of you was bad enough.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he stormed off in the direction of the dock.
She turned and grinned at Clark. “Welcome to the club.”
Clark just looked out at the receding form of Detective Henderson. “I’m not really sure that’s a good thing,” he sighed. He tilted his head to look over the top of his glasses, and extended his vision into the dock area. He picked up several law enforcement officers, together with customs agents, located in key hiding places in the area. Sweeping out toward the ocean, he could see the tugboat leading the Belgian Star into the dock.
“What the heck are you staring at?”
Clark quickly pushed up his glasses up as he said, “Oh, you know…” He point vaguely in the general direction where Henderson had walked. He could see her scowling at him, but she didn’t comment any further.
He knew that he had to sit this one out, but it was hard. The police needed to make this arrest so that courts could discount evidence gathered by him in his super guise. Still, he started to get the feeling that he should be ready to fly in if things got out of hand.
“So you want to go around and ask these guys here what they know?” he asked Lois. “I’m getting kind of anxious just standing here doing nothing.”
“You know, I was just thinking the same thing,” she replied. “You try those guys over there,” she indicated with a quick tip of her head, “and I’ll try the ones on the other side.” Without saying anything further, she walked off toward her designated group.
Clark wandered off toward the far corner of the area, asking token questions here and there, while extending his senses to cover what was going on as the ship made dock. He was able to follow the police and custom agents as they got into position, then as they made their move to search the ship. Luckily, the crew had been caught unawares, and gave no real resistance to the law enforcement officers. Within thirty minutes of boarding the ship, the weapons had been discovered, and process of arresting the crew had begun.
Suddenly he heard a scream from Lois. He turned quickly, scanning the area for her, ready to jump into action. Within a few seconds he caught sight of her being dragged back into command center area by a couple of the police officers. Clark grinned as he realized that she had tried to sneak off to the ship and had got caught. Shaking his head in amusement, and knowing that the police and customs had things well in hand, he started making his way over to rejoin Lois. With a little patience, Henderson should give them enough to put together a good story for the afternoon edition. Now he, or rather they, just had to decide how much they would share with Henderson about what they suspected about Luthor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nigel set his binoculars down on the seat next to him and pulled out his mobile phone. He knew that this was going to be an unpleasant call.
“Hello, sir. I’m afraid I have bad news. Somehow the local authorities discovered our incoming shipment, and the whole consignment is forfeit.” The unhappy tones confirmed that he had indeed been correct about the mood of this call.
“Sir, you may be interested to know that there were two reporters from the Planet with the police… Yes sir, one of them was Miss Lane... Yes sir, I find that interesting also, especially after that incident last year in the Congo. We never did find out how our agents were captured. But there is another fact you may find interesting, sir. It seems that her new partner, Mr. Kent, is the same one that has been causing the problems with our operations over the last three years… Yes, I find that an amazing coincidence also, sir. Anything you wish me to do with Mr. Kent and Miss Lane? …Very well sir, we will discuss it on my return. I will be back shortly.”
Nigel hung up the phone, then slowly drove away from the spot where he had been observing the police. Obviously Mr. Luthor must have something very special in mind for those reporters, as he never let such people get in the way of plans. Though Nigel was interested in finding out how they had been getting information… before they were killed, of course.
End Part 20
