Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Missing Lois: Chapter 3 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (4/10)

Missing Lois - TOC

Author’s Note: I have altered the timeline of the show twice in this chapter. First, by extending the length of Lois’s murder trial (to months instead of days) and secondly, by moving Tempus’s John Doe Presidential election bid to its correct spot - after “Ghosts” and around the time of “Stop the Presses” (i.e. November 1996).

Story Notes: Just a reminder, Lois and Alt. Clark have told Alt. Sam Lane that she is really a Lois Lane from another dimension. She calls her Clark, Kal, to lessen the Clark-confusion. Everyone else in the alternate dimension (with the exception of Moonbeam/Star and now Mayson) thinks she is Lucy El (wife of Kal El), an old college friend of Alt. Clark's.

***

Where we left off in Chapter 3: Part 3...

Lois flagged down a cab and gave them Jaxon’s address. As the cab pulled up down the street from his brownstone, she saw Jaxon jog out the front door and jump into a waiting car. She wondered how he could look so happy. If Superman hadn’t pummeled him, there had to be a good reason. She told the cabbie to follow his convertible. She had a feeling he wasn’t heading out to lunch or a movie.

Chapter 3: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back - Part 4

Jaxon’s car pulled up outside a warehouse.

Lois stopped her cab two warehouses away and hid behind the dumpster on the other side of his car. Jaxon was talking on his cell phone. He seemed annoyed by something and hung up on whomever he had been talking to. She watched him get out of his car and type in the security password and enter the building.

Usually she wouldn’t be able to see someone type in their password, but his was so obvious. Lois almost couldn’t believe it was so easy. Six, two, four, eight, five. She wondered if it was a date: June 24th, 1985 or if he just made a cross pattern. He didn’t even cover up the keypad as any normal, security conscious person would. His overconfidence in himself was sending off alarm bells in her head.

The reporter waited a minute and then listened at the door. She heard nothing except the hum of computers, so she typed in the code. The door unlocked and she went inside.

Lois entered a semi-dark room filled with large main frame computers. Clearly, this was the back room to Jaxon’s VR – Virtual Reality – computer. She got a bad feeling that Clark had agreed to something unwise. She had warned him not to underestimate Jaxon. That on the outside he was your everyday super nerd, but inside his VR, he’d have the advantage, be the superhero -- or super villain in this case – and Clark would just be average Clark.

She followed the ramped concrete floor upwards into a well-lit video arcade. It was empty of customers at the moment. Every whir and beep and computer-generated machine-gun fire made her flinch and duck. Glancing around the room, she searched for another exit or another room. There were a couple of doors at the back near the Arcade Manager’s booth. Luckily, the booth wasn’t manned either. The two doors were marked “Employees Only” and “Security.”

The ‘Security’ room had another password protected keypad. The ‘Employees Only’ room did not. As Lois knelt down next to that door, she heard Jaxon on the telephone, again. She could recognize his voice, but could not hear him clearly. Why couldn’t she hear him? She had super hearing? Was the room lead lined? Strange. Unless someone had planned ahead and knew that Superman would come seeking his VR machine or its creator at some time.

As Lois straightened up, her lower back began to hurt. Great. She rubbed her back. All the sitting in uncomfortable chairs was finally catching up to her. Then the baby kindly kicked her. She had missed lunch and Baby was not happy. She would need to eat something soon or the baby…

Kick!

Oh, Baby had read her mind. One swift kick to the bladder, too. So much for stealthy undercover work.

“Not now, little one,” Lois whispered with a pat to her tummy. She wished she had remembered to go at Clark’s. She noticed another room in the corner of the arcade room. Perhaps it was a restroom. Quietly, she pushed the door open and found – not a restroom – but the hub of the VR machine. And there, strapped into Jaxon’s contraption, was Superman.

Other than being plugged into the machine, he seemed fine. Not tense. Not fighting. Just walking.

Lois rubbed her face. How in the world was she going to get him unplugged from that machine, especially without James’s help?

Ok. First things first.

After Lois returned from the unisex restroom off the back of the room, she checked out the rest of the VR room. It was fairly similar to the room she and her Clark had visited back in her own world. Two console rings for visitors and, behind a glass panel, Jaxon’s main control console.

Her stomach growled and the baby kicked again. How was she ever going to concentrate with these distractions? Lois looked in her purse. Maybe she had a hidden Double Fudge Crunch Bar. No such luck. But someone had added a package of peanut butter crackers. She could almost kiss Clark for remembering her blood sugar.

Swinging her purse onto her back, Lois sat on the ring surrounding Clark as she nibbled on her cracker and thought about how she was going to get him out of this mess.

***

Clark felt like a fool. He had been walking around inside Jaxon’s VR contraption for what felt like the better part of three hours. At least, it had given him time for his head to cool off.

Superman had arrived at Jaxon’s apartment within five minutes of stepping out of his shower. He hadn’t knocked on the door; he had come in through Jaxon’s open window. He had picked Jaxon up by the scruff of his neck and demanded that he tell him where he could get hold of Junior.

Jaxon had been terrified. “I haven’t done anything,” he had whined.

“Someone told his big nasty brother that Mayson Drake was a friend of mine. Today, her car blew up.”

Jaxon had gone white as a sheet. “It wasn’t me. I swear. Father had Junior locked up for his clumsiness; for shooting me by mistake and wasting… his time.”

“Maybe you should give me your father’s address and I’ll just go double-check that you aren’t lying to me.”

Jaxon swallowed. “You know, Clark, you might as well kill me, because that’s what my father will do to me if he finds out I gave out his private address.”

Clark had drawn back his fist to punch him, when Jason gasped, “You’re really going to kill me, Superman?”

The Man of Steel had just dropped him on the ground and Jaxon had scrambled away from him like the cockroach that he was. “You know, you’re just a big bully. Just like all those jocks I had to deal with at school. If you had just asked, maybe, I would have told you what you wanted to know.” Jaxon held up his hand. “Don’t try asking, now. I won’t tell you anything; how do I know you won’t come back and pound me later?”

“I can give you my word,” Superman had told him. Even to him it seemed like a weak deal.

“What if I say something you don’t like? No, I won’t tell you a thing, unless…” He looked up at Superman, hopefully.

“Unless what?”

“Unless you agree to even the playing field.”

Superman had raised an eyebrow. “How?”

And that’s how he had gotten stuck in Jaxon’s VR machine. Superman had agreed to talk to Jaxon in the VR; what he had forgotten to do was secure his promise to let him out after their discussion. And if he had gotten that, there was no guarantee that Jaxon still would have let him go. He had told Clark that in the VR they could speak as equals, but he had lied. Clark was a regular human in the VR, wearing not his blue suit, but a regular business suit. Jaxon, on the other hand, had made himself into this big burly blonde dude with an “X” tattooed on his chest. And he had programmed him to have Superman’s powers.

Jaxon had even placed a scantily clad “Lucy” character to watch their “discussion” from a Daily Planet window. Jaxon first had picked him up by the scruff of the neck as he had done to Jaxon and then he had thrown – not dropped – him to the ground. He had laughed at Clark and told him that he could never again leave the VR world. Then he had said the one thing that crushed Clark. They really had nothing to do with Mayson’s car bomb. She must have pissed off somebody on her own. He laughed and laughed as he flew up to Lucy’s window, where that big Neanderthal Jaxon kissed her. Then he pulled out a pen to sign an autograph for her and disappeared. Not just into the room, but literally. He had left Clark in the machine alone and unable to leave.

He had gone into The Planet where the virtual Ralph had fired him with a virtual Perry and Mr. Olsen watching and laughing. No matter where he walked in this virtual Metropolis, he could never get home. He kept walking in circles, seeing the same twenty people, including four sets of twins.

He even tried to stop somewhere for lunch, just to do something different, but found virtual Clark had lost his wallet.

So, this was to be his fate, walking circles in Metropolis with no money, home, or friends. And no ability to fly away from it all.

Clark found a bench to ponder how he had gotten himself into this predicament. He thought how Lois would be wondering where he was. Had Mayson survived surgery? He would never know. Here he had gone off to be the hero he had failed to be that morning only to make a bigger botch of it that afternoon. If Jaxon was speaking the truth, Junior had nothing to do with the bomb on Mayson’s car. He had arrogantly thought she had been targeted because of him. He had been closed minded. Of course, she would be a target because of him, but she also held a job, which came with its own set of dangers. He wondered who was really behind the bomb.

It was at that point that a group of elderly people showed up and started giving him nasty looks. Guess he wasn’t allowed to sit too long in Jaxon’s world. Great, back to wandering in circles.

After about his twenty-seventh circle, something changed. He could smell something. Peanut butter. He didn’t think much about it at first, but wherever he went, the smell was still there. He realized it might not be coming from inside the virtual world at all. In the real world, he had super senses; was he picking up something outside this virtual hell?

Clark stopped walking, closed his eyes and tried to listen. He could hear a heartbeat. He was not alone. Probably, it was Jaxon back to gloat on his new prize possession. He took a deep breath and released it. Ok, definitely peanut butter; it was overpowering all other scents. Maybe, it was really close by. He held out his hands as far as he could reach.

“Whoa there, Clark!”

Clark froze as he gasped, “Lois!” He had heard her. Of course, the peanut butter crackers he had put in her purse before their jaunt to Paris that morning. He sighed. What a day!

The big question was whether, when he spoke, she could hear him. “Lois, can you hear me?” he asked.

A VR passer-by looked at him standing on the sidewalk talking to himself as if he were nuts; Clark ignored him.

He waited what seemed like forever, but what was probably closer to a minute. No answer. He could not control his speech. Great. How was he going to let her know that he knew she was there. Clark held out his hands again.

“Clark? I don’t know if you can hear me. Hopefully, your super hearing can penetrate those headphones. I am going to touch you. Gently, now.” She paused. “No, wait!”

Clark froze, again.

“If I touch you and you can’t hear me or know that I’m coming you could swing your arm and bye-bye Lois. So, if you can hear me make your right hand into a fist.”

Good thinking, Lois. He made a fist.

“Oh, Clark!” Lois hugged him. He had never felt anything so wonderful. He closed his eyes and pictured her hugging him, otherwise his vision was telling him he was hugging thin air.

“Not so tight, Clark!”

He opened his arms, but she continued to hold him.

“I was so worried. More on that later. Right fist will mean ‘yes.” Left fist ‘ no.’ Do you understand?”

Clark made a right fist ‘yes.’

“Great! Try speaking out loud to me.”

He tried speaking again, slowly. “Lois, can you hear me?”

Another VR passer-by looked at him as if he were nuts. Actually, it was the same man.

“I didn’t hear anything. Did you speak?”

‘Yes,’ replied Clark’s right fist.

“Darn. Ok, I’ll do the majority of the talking. Gee, I hope that doesn’t put a crimp in our relationship, changing it so drastically like that.”

Clark laughed. Oh, how he had missed her.

“First of all. Where are you in the game? On the street?”

Right fist ‘yes.’

“Get off the street! If you’re hit by a car in VR world, VR Clark could die, which would kill a normal human. I don’t know what it would do to you and I don’t want to find out. Are you on the sidewalk, now?”

Right fist ‘yes.’ He had been standing on the sidewalk the entire time, but he couldn’t explain that to her.

Lois hugged him, again. He breathed in and out. The peanut butter scent was almost gone now, so he could smell her. He closed his eyes. She stepped out of the hug, but kept one hand resting on his chest, so he’d know she was still there.

“Ground rules. I don’t know if Jaxon explained them to you when he tricked you into there, so I’m going to go over them again.”

Right fist ‘yes.’

“I cannot take off your helmet to get you out of the game. It could kill you. If you die in VR land, it could kill your real body, so don’t do that. To get out of the game you need an exit pass. When Kal and I were stuck in the VR world, Jaxon’s ‘LL’ watch was his exit pass out of the game. Did you notice him wearing a watch?”

Left fist ‘no.’

“OK. Don’t worry. It could still be the exit pass. Maybe, you didn’t notice it.”

Clark raised both hands with a shrug.

“OK. You don’t know. Some real world facts you should know. I followed Jaxon into the building, but he’s talking on the phone in another room; it was lead lined, so I couldn’t hear anything. So, if I disappear suddenly or go quiet, take that as a clue that we are no longer alone. Plus, if you talk to me in the VR world, better call me Lucy.”

Good to know. Right fist ‘yes.’

“I know you’re feeling helpless in there and that’s not a feeling you’re used to. Just know, I’ve been there before. Both trapped in the VR and dealing with a blind Superman. Did I ever tell you that story?”

Left fist ‘no.’ He wished that she would just stop yammering and try to get him out of this contraption.

“It’s a doozy, especially since it resulted in Kal standing Mayson up… Oh, Mayson! Clark, you’re probably worried sick.”

Right fist ‘yes.’ Yes, Lois, how was Mayson?

“She’s out of surgery. She survived, thanks to you. But she’s pissed as hell you weren’t there and left me as your messenger.”

Clark winced. He really screwed up big time. He took Lois’s hand off his chest and kissed it.

“You’re welcome,” she replied. “She does love you, Clark. Let me give you a free piece of advice about women.”

Left fist ‘no.’ If only he could speak to her with more words than in ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ he could remind her that Jaxon was around somewhere. They needed to hurry.

Lois ignored him. “Sometimes the best way to say ‘I love you’ is just to be there for her, especially if you have to wait a long time to see her… And she knows you had to wait. Especially if you would rather be out stepping on worms.”

Clark sighed. Now, she told him. He shook his head. She had been trying to tell him that earlier, only he wasn’t in the mood to listen. He kissed her hand again.

“You’re welcome,” Lois replied. “Oh, by the way, the real bomber is Sean McCarthy, the same guy as before, which you would have known if you had taken the time to listen.

Clark closed his eyes and remembered Mayson on the phone with Henderson that morning.

“Sean McCarthy, really.” Mayson had glanced over her shoulder from the kitchen table at Clark. He had waved. She had waved back. “I thought he had gone underground after killing that DEA agent.”

He hadn’t been listening, because he had lost control with her and that scared him.

“Also, remember the date 6-24-85,” Lois continued. “It’s Jaxon’s security keypad code to the building.”

Good to know.

Lois froze. “What was that?”

Clark listened, too, but could not hear anything.

“Someone is coming,” she whispered, pressing her body flat against his. “If you get a chance, ask him about his stepmother. A name would be good.”

Clark wrinkled his brow. Why did she want to know that? Oh, yeah, the trace back to Junior. Was that why she wanted to talk to Jaxon since the shooting? He had a chance to kiss her cheek before she was gone.

He continued walking down the street, but he wasn’t paying attention to the game, he was listening. A door opened somewhere.

“Well, hello, there Clark. How are you enjoying your walk?” Jaxon chuckled.

Clark stopped and growled.

“I was just talking to dear old Dad. Oh, what’s the fun of this? I’m talking to an empty shell, you can’t hear me or respond.” Jaxon tapped on his helmet. “Maybe, I should tell you face to face. Father said not to underestimate you, but what can you do to me in my world? Nothing.” He laughed again.

Clark realized he was standing in the middle of an intersection and a semi-truck was heading straight for him. He jumped to the curb, barely making it. Ow, his shoulder hurt. He didn’t like that feeling. He would have to be more careful. If he killed himself in the game, then Lois would be denied the chance to tell him she told him so. Smiling, he picked himself up and dusted himself off. He would hate to disappoint her.

Clark started walking again and then suddenly, he was standing in an office. Jaxon was playing with his world. He took a deep breath. OK, a watch with the letters LL on it. He would have to either be quick or sneaky. He didn’t have super speed in this world, so he would have to trick Jaxon.

The VR door opened and in walked Jaxon in a stylish business suit. “Hello, there, Mr. Kent. I understand you are looking for a new job. Have a seat. What makes you think you are qualified to work for Jaxon, Inc.?” Jaxon sat down on the other side of his desk and chuckled. “Just having some fun with you, Clark. How are you liking your new world? Enjoying yourself?”

“Immensely,” Clark responded with sarcasm. “It’s almost like a vacation. No work to do. No one to save. How relaxing.”

“You forgot no one to talk to. No food to eat. No bed to sleep in.” Jaxon grinned.

Clark sneered.

“Glad you are having a good time.” Jaxon leaned back in his chair. “Let’s see, where should I start? I bet you’re wondering about your girlfriend, Mayson.”

Clark glared at him.

“I know you must be worried. I thought I’d check out the news after your little confession earlier about the car bomb. It seems that Superman was too late. Mayson died on the operating table.”

Clark blanched and stumbled back into a chair. Had Lois lied to him? No. She wouldn’t lie to him about that. She had to be telling the truth, especially the part about Mayson being pissed at him. He would believe her over Jaxon any day.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to say good-bye. The whole world is going to miss you, Superman. After Mayson’s death, Superman’s disappearance will seem natural for a man in mourning, don’t you think? I mean, you couldn’t even save your own girlfriend, how will anyone be able to trust you again?”

Clark put his head in his hands. He had to get control of himself. This might be the only chance he had to escape. But Jaxon was playing on his every fear.

“So, had you done the big bouncy, bouncy with Mayson?”

Clark looked up with a glare. He wished he had his heat vision.

“What? None of my business? Later, then.” Jaxon kicked his feet up on the desk. “You see, I’m the only person you have to talk to. So, maybe, someday, we’ll be the best of buddies and you will tell me all the juicy details about you and Mayson.”

Clark growled.

“And Lucy.”

“Lucy?” That startled him.

“There has to be a history there, Clark. I mean, I’ve looked for hers.” He shook his head. “Yeah, she’s in your protective custody, isn’t she? Because outside of three months ago, she didn’t exist.”

They really should have done a better job on her back story.

“She’s none of your business.”

“Of course, she is, Clark. You see, you’re missing and Lucy will need someone to comfort her.” He grinned. “Who better than the man who tried to save her from the shooter?”

“Save her? You were behind her.”

“Mrs. Pollcheck, my landlady, said she’s been looking for me.” He grinned. “Guess she wanted to thank me.”

Clark shook his head. He would think that, wouldn’t he?

“That’s two strikes against you, Superman. You couldn’t save Lucy from being shot and, now, you couldn’t save Mayson. Even Lana dumped you. You really are a bad boyfriend.”

Clark’s hand was forming a fist. He really wanted to punch him.

Suddenly, a voice whispered in his ear, it was Lois. He could feel her, pressed against his back. “Remember, Clark. He has all the power in there. I know he must be taunting you. I can see the two of you on the monitor. It doesn’t matter what he says, what matters is the exit pass.”

As usual, Lois was right. He took a deep breath and relaxed his fist. Find the exit pass and keep him talking.

“So, are you going to tell me about your father?”

“My father? Did you hear that?”

Ooops. “Hear what?” Clark glanced around as if Jaxon was referring to a sound in the VR.

“Why do you want to know about my father?” Jaxon was suspicious.

“Just curious of the kind of man who scares you more than Superman.”

“My father doesn’t scare me,” Jaxon stammered. “He’s an important man. Powerful. Rich. Super smart. Bet you’re wishing about now that was one of your super powers.”

Sounded like Lex Luthor. “What a great dad, Jaxon,” Clark added with sarcasm. “I bet he’s really proud of you.”

“He sure is,” Jaxon said with a little more enthusiasm than necessary. He was lying. Lex wasn’t happy. Wonder why?

“Then how did Junior become his favorite son?” Clark asked.

“Junior’s not his favorite.”

“You said, when I interviewed you back in the hospital, that Junior was Dad’s favorite.”

“Well, not anymore.” Jaxon leaned back.

“My mistake. This…” Clark spread out his hands. “…is quite an accomplishment. I’m sure he is proud.”

“I caught Superman where all others have failed.”

“Ah.” Clark nodded. “Other people have been trying to capture me? I never realized that. They must not have been doing a good job. Or maybe no one else was trying. Perhaps, I really am easy to catch. I should work on that.” He grinned.

Jaxon started fiddling with his sleeve, his lips pressed tightly together. Was Clark hitting a nerve? He should move the topic back somewhere safe, so Jaxon wouldn’t leave before he found the exit pass.

Clark leaned back in his chair. “Dad must have been really upset with Junior, hitting on your mom like that?”

“Lola’s not my mom,” Jaxon said jumping to his feet. Ooops. Found another nerve. “She’s just some lounge singer he found in a Berkistan hotel. Junior likes her because she’s hot. She’s not smart like Lucy.”

Bingo. “Strange that someone as smart as your father would be tricked into marrying a dumb lounge singer?” That didn’t sound like Lex Luthor.

“She’s really hot. Legs that never end. Big large brown eyes. Some men are fools for that sort of things. Not like you and me, Clark. We like women who challenge us intellectually.” Jaxon thought he was smarter than his father when it came to women. Interesting.

Clark grinned. “I don’t know. I’m a sucker for a nice pair of legs, myself.”

“Right.” Now Jaxon was using sarcasm.

“I’ve got to have more self-control than most men. It wouldn’t be good for the image.”

Jaxon laughed. Clark actually got him to laugh. Maybe he had made a connection.

“See, Jaxon. I’m not that bad of a guy. Just trying to make my way in the world, just like everyone else. How about you let me out?”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d have me locked up in ten seconds flat.”

“For what, showing me your VR game? I don’t have any evidence that you kidnapped me; just my word,” Clark said. “But the longer you keep me here the more the evidence will build up.”

Jaxon smiled, patting his jacket pocket. “That is, if anyone finds you before you get killed or die of boredom.”

Clark leaned forward. “I could put a good word in with Lucy for you.”

“You could. But you won’t. She’s a porcelain doll that you have placed high on a shelf so no one else can play with her. There’s something there between you two; I don’t know what. But you wouldn’t chance her liking me.”

“True. If she didn’t fall for Superman’s strength or Mr. Olsen’s wealth, what makes you think she’d have anything to do with you?”

“Olsen’s been trying to tap that?” This seemed to annoy Jaxon.

Clark was happy that Lois couldn’t hear this conversation or she’d be tempted to put on the VR headset and punch his lights out. “She turned him down flat. But they’ve become quite close over the last couple of months.” Sorry, Mr. Olsen.

“What?!” Jaxon put his elbows on the desk and started to wring his hands. Clark could not see a watch. If it wasn’t the watch, what else would be the exit pass?

“He’s been helping her do computer research.” Clark smiled. “We’ve been short a researcher and he’s jumped in to help.”

“Do you mean, if I hadn’t been shot, I could be her best buddy now?” Jealousy and doubt entered Jaxon’s expression.

Lois breathed down his neck and made him shiver. “Where’s the watch?”

Clark shrugged. Luckily, it answered both of their questions.

“Maybe, I should go into the VR and talk to him?” Lois whispered. “He’d tell me.”

Clark closed his left fist.

“Do you want to be stuck in there forever?”

He opened his left fist and closed it again.

“Well, I can’t let Olsen to take Lucy away from me,” Jaxon mumbled.

“He can’t take away something that doesn’t want to go with him. She told him ‘no’.”

“Yeah, Olsen’s a decent guy. He wouldn’t do that.” Jaxon grinned. “Me, not so much.”

Clark leaned forward, his fist clenching again.

“What is he saying to you, Clark? You look pissed.”

“I wonder if she likes computer games?” Jaxon smiled.

“Oh, you’d bring me a friend. How nice of you.” Clark leaned back, again in control. “Unfortunately, Lucy prefers the real world.”

“Ok. If it isn’t the watch, what other item would he use as his exit pass? It would have to be something he had on him the last time you met with him.”

“I bet you do too, Clark, but here you are.”

“Did he pretend to be some big blonde gorilla? For some reason, he thought I’d prefer him that way. Yuck.”

Clark closed his right hand. “But if you brought her here, I’d learn to adapt.” He smiled. “I’ve learned she doesn’t like the brute force type. Maybe, she’d prefer me as simple Clark Kent, average guy.”

“Your girlfriend has been dead an hour, Clark. An hour! Forgive me, if I don’t take dating advice from you.” Jaxon chuckled with a shake of his head. “And to think you almost killed me because of her. Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?”

Clark looked down, honestly chagrined. He had forgotten about Mayson. He was a lousy boyfriend. One discussion about Lois and poof, there went Mayson from his brain. “You’re right,” Clark admitted to him. “She deserves better. What made me think I could have a normal life?”

“Clark! You’re going to pieces again. I can see it in your eyes. He’s trying to drive out of you the will to survive. Don’t let him get to you. I know you’re vulnerable right now, but don’t give up. I need you. Mayson needs you. Please, Clark, hold on.”

“Wow, Clark. That’s quite a confession.” Jaxon grinned, patting his jacket breast pocket. “Well, I better be going now.”

“It’s the pen, Clark!”

Clark looked up and saw Jaxon standing at the desk with a pen in his hand.

“Can I write her a note good-bye?” He held out his hand for the pen.

“Well, why not?” Jaxon almost handed Clark the pen from his pocket, but then put it back. “That one’s special. Dad gave it to me when I graduated from MIT.”

He pulled out a yellow legal pad and an ordinary ball point pen.

“You’ve got to get that pen, Clark. It’s either you or him.”

Clark pretended to scribble for a moment and tossed the pen into the trash. “It didn’t work.” He leaned over and tried to grab the pen from Jaxon’s hand. “It’s not every day that a man writes the woman he loves a note good-bye.”

Jaxon seized Clark’s wrist and twisted it.

“Ow. Ow. Ow.”

“How does it feel to have a broken wrist, there, Clark? Ever have one of those before? I doubt it.”

Clark reached over with his left hand and clicked the pen. As both of them were holding on to it, they both came out of the VR game at the same time.

***

Lois pushed the helmet off Superman’s head and helped him with his gloves.

“My wrist,” he mumbled.

“Let’s get you into the sunlight,” she suggested.

Jaxon walked into the VR room from his office. “Lucy! How did you…”

“I’m good, huh?” She grinned, pulling off Superman’s other glove and unhooked his VR belt.

“You lied to me?” Jaxon’s face fell, staring at Superman. “You weren’t really going to tell her good-bye.”

Superman gave one last glance at Jaxon and scooped Lois into his arms and went out the door.

“You’re just going to leave him there?” she asked, once they were airborne. “Aren’t you going to take him to the police?”

“There’s only my word against his that I was ever held against my will. Not really a story I want out in the press anyway.”

“What am I, chopped liver?”

“I don’t want you involved in this, Lois. We’ve worked too hard to keep you out of the spotlight. I just want to forget this ever happened.”

Lois hugged him. “Are you ok?”

“My wrist feels better. It feels good to breathe fresh air again. Thank you, Lois.”

“It looked like he was messing with your mind.”

He swallowed. “I’ll survive.”

“Clark, do you need some time before you go to see Mayson?” Lois asked quietly. “Once you tell her what happened, she’ll understand.”

“No. Best if I do it now,” he said with determination.

“I ask, because you’re heading away from the hospital.”

“You and the baby need more than peanut butter crackers. I’m taking you home.”

“I can eat at the hospital, Clark. If you want… company.”

“No, thank you, Lois. I’ll go alone.”

“Clark, I don’t think you should be alone,” she whispered.

He pushed open the doors of her large living room window and set her down inside. “I’ll always be alone, Lois.” She hoped never to see the expression on his face on her own Clark’s face. He was drawn and exhausted, like he did not have a friend in the world and didn’t deserve one.

Sam came rushing into the room and Superman turned to him. “Don’t let her leave before she’s eaten.” Then he turned and took off through the window again.

She ran to the window. “Clark, no!” But he was gone.

Lois embraced Sam. “Clark’s broken, Daddy. His spirit has been crushed. And I can’t help him.”

Sam led her to the sofa, where she burst into tears. She tried to speak, but could not form the words.

“Give yourself a minute, Sweetie.”

Lois took a couple of deep breaths. “I’ve got to go after him.”

“What have you eaten recently?” Sam asked.

“Don’t listen to him, Daddy. He’s trying to stop me from helping him. He’s going to break Mayson’s heart. I can’t let him do that.”

“Isn’t that his decision? Isn’t it his life?”

“But he’s doing it for all the wrong reasons. He blames himself for not being one second faster.” She wiped her nose with her knuckles. “He blames himself for her accident.”

“It’s his life, Lucy. He doesn’t need you to live it for him.”

“But he’s making the wrong choice,” Lois tried to explain. “It’s going to make him miserable. It’s already making him miserable.”

“That it might. But only he has the right to make those decisions, not you.”

“But I’m his… his…” she sobbed. She wasn’t anything to him, technically. That realization made her cry harder.

“Lois. You’re Kal’s wife. You get to make life’s choices with him,” Sam said heading into the kitchen and returning with a box of tissue. “Clark alone gets to make his own mistakes. It’s how he will learn to make better decisions, the next time around.”

“But he thinks there’s never going to be a next time, Daddy.” Lois blew her nose.

“We both know he’ll get another chance.”

“When I see Clark in pain, it’s as if my Clark were in pain. When he’s in pain, I need to do everything I can to stop it.”

Sam hugged her. “You will be such a good mother, Sweetie. You have such a capacity to love. One of the hardest lessons to learn as a parent is when you can help and when you need to stand back and let them fight their own battles.”

Lois looked at him for a minute before answering. “Daddy, Clark isn’t a child. He’s a grown man.”

“Then how about you start treating him like one?” Sam patted her knee and went into the kitchen. A minute later he returned with half a roast beef with Swiss sandwich and a glass of juice. “I went out and bought it special for you after you called. I knew today would be a hard one for you.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” She took a sip of juice. “I wish there was something I could do to stop the train wreck before me from happening.”

“We can’t all be super heroes, Sweetie.”

“If anyone needed a superhero right about now it would be Clark…” She sighed. “…to save him from himself.”

***

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Chapter 3: Part 5