A/N: Back to this! Sorry I've made you all wait so long. It's been a long... year. I promise to give you these updates sooner.
As long as it's still winter break.
*****Madness: Chapter Seven*****
"A force as of madness in the hands of reason has done all that was ever done in the world." ---Thomas Carlyle "Help! Superman!"Out on his nightly patrol, Superman swooped down out of the sky as the call rang out in his ears for the third time tonight.
Relatively quiet night, he mused. A mugging. A jewelry store robbery. Now the car jacking.
He'd take anything at this point.
Bernie's earlier statements and the subsequent experiments had really rattled him. The tests Clark had been put through so far-- the green kryptonite to chemically see his reactions, the red kryptonite for comparisons, then the testing of the dosages of the green kryptonite and how to make that better...
They were so close, he and Lois. So close to moving on to the next step-- the tests for fertility. Lois-- lucky, lucky Lois-- was already done with the rest of her testing, to determine if she was virile and, barring any obvious barriers, could produce children. They'd tested several different hormones on her, to see how her biochemical makeup changed with each different injection, and to compare her hormone levels with Clark's.
That is, when and now if they ever got around to testing Clark's hormone levels.
Red Kryptonite.
Clark didn't voice his concerns to the doctor, or even to Lois, but the idea of red kryptonite scared him more than anything else. He'd already gotten a taste of it in the last week or so, and didn't like the experience. It was unpredictable, and therefore it was fearsome. With the green, he knew what to expect. There would be pain, significant or miniscule, and perhaps a temporary loss of powers. And the longer and more he was exposed to, the more likely it was that the pain would increase, and the length of recovery time following that exposure would be more.
The two would be administered in conjunction with one another. The chemical and biological processes were, as far as Bernie was concerned, the same as the tests that came before. But any and all future tests, that regarded the actual fertility examination process, were to be started from scratch, with that wonderful one-two punch of red followed by green. Which would also up the duration of his visits.
Clark sighed heavily as he flew through the air. Bernie had even exposed him to a small amount of red kryptonite today, after their discussion. Just to see how it affected him once more. He had to go back in first thing the next morning, at six am, to get his real testing done before work.
Clark couldn't believe his unbearable luck.
Superman spotted the black sedan and swooped in. He landed on the hood of the car with a thud and he cringed.
Focus, Kent. He hoped he hadn't done too much damage to the car.
"Superman?" The man in the car looked up at the red boots in a mixture of awe and fear-- mostly fear-- and slammed on the brakes of the car. The Man of Steel did not waiver. The man behind the wheel struggled to get out of his hijacked vehicle.
"Going somewhere?" Clark asked in his most formal tone.
"Is-is there a problem, Superman? I don't know what you think this looks like but--"
Superman resisted the urge to roll his eyes and grabbed the perpetrator by the shirt collar. "It looks to me like you're stealing this car."
"I-I-It's not what it looks like--"
Clark lifted him and flew him directly to the police station. Then, in a flash, he had returned and set the stolen vehicle down neatly in a parking space.
A new uniform was on duty outside the Metropolis twelfth precinct police department and stared at the Man of Steel with his mouth agape. "S-Superman?"
"Officer, this man was trying to steal a car. I brought him here straight away. Please take him in for questioning." Without another word, Superman shot off into the sky, and the officer took the loudly protesting offender inside.
*****LnC*****
When Clark entered the bullpen the next morning with his wife, it was engulfed in chaos. More than it's usual morning news chaos, but with the something-big-just-happened kind of chaos. People were running about everywhere, voices raised and words flying around. Clark winced at all of the noise as they made their way over to their respective desks. Deciding it was likely going to be a long day ahead, Clark sighed and set his briefcase down on his desk, settling in for the long haul.
"Kent! Lane!" Perry's voice was not surprisingly still able to boom over everyone else's. "My office, now! And everyone else, keep it to a low roar, please. Great shades of Elvis-- I'm gonna have an aneurysm!"
Clark shared a curious glance with Lois before shrugging it off and following their boss into his office.
"What's going on, Chief?"
"Close the door," he snapped. Clark straightened in surprise and did as he was told. Obviously, Perry White was not having a good day. He looked over his boss carefully as he moved to take a seat next to his wife. Perry looked haggard, like he hadn't gotten much sleep. His jacket was off, shirt sleeves were rolled up, and his clothes in general looked a bit rumpled around the edges, as though he'd simply thrown whatever he could find on this morning. Then there was his face-- and Perry White's expression told Clark that he was definitely not a happy camper.
Perhaps it would be better to let Lois take point on this one.
"Perry," Lois' voice broke in gently as they each situated themselves in their seats. "What's going on? What's the matter?"
"Superman, that's what's the matter!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.
Husband and wife shared a discreet glance before Lois continued in confusion. "Superman, Chief?"
"Yes, Superman!"
Did someone know something about him? Was there a threat floating around? Wait-- already he was being threatened. Did that mean that someone else knew that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same? Or did that same person release some potentially destructive information to the public? What the heck was going on? Clark's thoughts spun on chaotically, and he prayed that his boss would clarify his statement. He couldn't bear it any longer. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm a bit confused. What happened to Superman?" Clark asked, fear gnawing at him.
"He screwed up, that's what!"
"What?" Lois blurted. Clark felt himself going pale. How? When? He hadn't done anything that was wrong-- not that he'd remembered. What was Perry on about?
"Perry, Superman does not screw up," Lois, always defensive of her hero, spoke up.
"Well, last night he did. Apparently, he hauled in some guy for a car jacking. The police took him in, questioned him, investigated why Superman might have seen anything suspicious in him, and came up empty."
"But, surely, if it was a car jacking then--"
"The man owned the car, Kent." Perry cut him off before he could get any farther, his eyes boring into the younger man's with a stronger intensity than Clark had ever received from his boss. "Not only that, but he had a clean driving record, wasn't even going over the speed limit when he'd been caught, apparently. Superman grabbed the wrong guy."
The weight of their boss' words sunk in slowly. Clark knew he was pale as a sheet, knew he couldn't hide the horror and surprise on his face. How had he grabbed the wrong guy? They were wrong. They had to be wrong. He's just hearing wrong because he went to that stupid appointment this morning. He's missing information. Yeah. That's it.
Neither he nor Lois could find any words.
Perry continued, ignoring their looks of surprise. "Now, the two of you are the closest to Superman out of everybody I know. I want you to try to get ahold of him. Talk to him. Right now, Superman is your number one story, top priority. Understand? All other stories can be put on hold until we figure this out."
"Uh, Chief," Clark finally jumped in. Lois was already bristling and he tried to put her mind a little bit at ease. "What makes you think Superman will even want to talk about this? I mean, likely it's just an honest mistake. Perhaps he feels too embarrassed to open up about it. I mean, we are his friends, but we're reporters, too. He knows that."
"Kent," Perry barked sharply.
Clark straightened. "Yes, sir?"
"You're on this story. As of now. No negotiations."
His shoulders slumped once again in defeat. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Now get going!"
They walked out of Perry White's office quickly, Clark looking forlorn and Lois looking as though she could spontaneously combust at any given moment. She spoke quietly through gritted teeth. "Clark, honey, could I have a word with you in the conference room?"
Clark swallowed and nodded imperceptibly. He was dead. He was so dead. Today was the day that fate had decided Clark Kent should die, at the hands of his wife, no less. There would be no escape.
He followed his wife into the conference room slowly, making sure the door was closed firmly behind him before turning to face her.
"What the hell? What is he talking about? When-- What-- How could you possibly make a mistake like that?!"
"I don't know, Lois! I really believed-- I mean, I never thought-- the guy was guilty!"
"Maybe you should start double checking!"
"Lo--"
"I don't understand how you made that kind of mistake, Clark! Superman can't afford to make mistakes."
Clark released a long sigh and ran a hand through his hair. His wife, as always, was right on that count. He knew better than anybody how important it was for Superman's reputation to remain squeaky clean. "I know, honey."
"I mean, was there even a car jacking? Did you just grab the wrong car?" Lois was searching his eyes for something, anything that might clue her in as to why he made this mistake. He wasn't giving her anything to work with here. Instead his chocolate brown eyes were only swimming with fear and growing apprehension. She recognized that he was about to start obsessing with this, as much as if not more than she was currently.
The fact that he was scared by his mistake is what scared her more than anything.
Lois swallowed thickly and licked her lips as she thought about what she could say or do to bring him back down. "Clark--"
"I mean, I really don't know what went wrong! I don't know! I seriously thought there was... something..."
"Clark--" Lois broke off when she saw the faraway expression enter into his eyes. She sighed, knowing whatever she tried to impress upon him now would be entirely lost when he was listening so intently. "What is it?"
"Five alarm fire down in the Suicide Slums." His posture stiffened as he turned around and headed towards the locked conference room door.
The words escaped her before she could stop them. "You sure about that?"
Clark tossed her back a scathing look before opening the door and storming off towards the stairwell with intent. Lois slumped. So that had been a low blow. She huffed before making her own way out of the conference room, giving off the Mad-Dog-on-the-warpath vibe to anyone who crossed her on the short trek to her desk.
