Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 05/32
By Ken Janney
Warning: This story is rated PG-13.
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
Previously:
That evening they were flabbergasted when the evening edition of the Planet was published because front and center, above the fold was a picture of Lori with her bow drawn ready to let fly and the caption:
“New Hero in Town!”
“Even with the supermen and superwomen that protect Metropolis there are cases that they can’t handle alone. A new hero joined them to help with just such a problem. An archer all dressed up in Lincoln green like Robin Hood appeared on the scene. This Emerald Archer with some trick arrows enabled the Supermen to get the upper hand on a robot that for some reason they couldn’t get near. Story continues 2A”
Clark said, “Well, Whaddya know. Lori you made the front page and this time it wasn’t with your byline! This story is *about* you.”
She grabbed the paper as she said, “Let me see that!” Quickly reading the article she got a smug look on her face as she did. Laying the paper down she said, “I’m waiting.”
Realizing that he had lost the point, Clark said, “Okay, you were right. As old as the technology is, bows and arrows do have their place. You did really good with that. You’ll never hear another complaint out of me about your archery.”
“And don’t you forget it.” She couldn’t hold it in any longer and she burst out in peals of laughter.
And now:
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Chapter 4 An Engagement
August 2089
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Now it was 2089 and Lori and Clark had been reporting partners all that time and as a team had already won two Kerth awards.
Over the last three years Lori had had to deal with the memories that the Soul Tracker device had installed in her brain while she slept, every night from the time she was six months old. The integration of the various personalities, Lady Loisette, Lulu Kent, Lois Lane and of course her own predominant among them, had not been the easiest thing she had ever handled but Clark had been very patient and supportive. Knowing the source had enabled them to adapt to the new circumstance.
The largest part of the integration was the memories of Lois and the children that she and Clark had had together. Even though her memories from the Soul Tracker included the birth of each of Lois and Clark’s eight children there were problems. One problem was that the memories stopped short of including all of the members of the family. There was a twenty year gap that needed to be overcome. Clark had been doing his best to fill in that empty chapter in her past. Coupled with that there was the physical reality of dealing with eight separate families and that sometimes overwhelmed her. Only the core of the family had been at their wedding which had made it a little easier to handle. When they all got together at the Wisteria Lane home or on the farm, it was indeed a village. Parts of the families rotated in and out of the original homestead as their individual lives could accommodate it. Nonetheless, there were usually batches of small children about.
By this time all of the first generation children were married and they all had children. They were a very close knit clan.
At this point the family consisted of the following.
Head researcher at STAR Labs and eldest son, Jon, had married Jennifer (Jen) Jenkins, an elementary school teacher. Their children were Bernard, Jacob, Maria, Kathryn, Clayton, George, Kirk, Gabrielle and Kristin Kent.
Lawyer, eldest daughter and first wed was Lara. She had married Michael (Mike) Lee who was also a lawyer in the same firm. Their children were Louise, Gregory, Andrew, Sophia, Robert E., Mary and Dean Lee.
ER Physician and eldest twin, Sean, had married Heather MacLeod an Environmental Engineer. Their children were Maggie, Lauren, Daniel, James, Conner, Leonard, Duncan and Lydia Kent.
Sean’s twin sister and Family Practice physician, Celeste, had married William (Wild Bill) Davidson an MPD Detective. Their children were Jeffrey, Jared, Agnes, Heather, Duncan, Erin and Cassia Davidson.
Jessica, the Ob/Gyn of the family, had married Richard (Rich) Stuart an Anthropo-Archeologist. Their children were Linda, Joseph, Charles Edward (Charlie), Archibald (Arch), Mary Elizabeth and. James E. B. (Jeb) Stuart
The computer whiz of the family, James, had married Margaret (Peg) Dennis who was also a computer whiz. Their children were Erin, Josiah, Kenneth, Donna, David, Marie Louise (Marylu), Tiberius (Ty) and Margo Lane Kent.
Youngest daughter and Child Psychologist, Lucy had married Robert (Rob) Jackson a Biochemist. Their children were Thomas J., Natasha, Andrew, Lance, Teri, Edward, Julia and Reginald (Reggie) Jackson.
New Director of the Superman Foundation and the youngest of the first generation, Sam had married Alice. Alice was the only other fully Kryptonian member of the family, at least at this time, because she was from New Krypton Their children were Franklin, Margaret, Jeremy, Karen, Anne, Donald, Loraine and Julie Kent.
Because of their extended life expectancy all of the families were taking a break from having children while they pretended to age. The pendants that all of the spouses wore guaranteed the same long life and superpowers as their Kent family spouses. It was important that they appear to age to keep the family secret. They would all, eventually, assume new identities and start a new generation.
There are now a number of superheroes in the family that have not adopted Kryptonian names and need a superhero name. At this point we have four females and four males that need names. Please make your suggestions
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Knowing that it took about three years for the changes to occur in her physiology and that they were nearing that time Lori had taken to wearing the pendant all the time. Gradually, Lori’s powers had started to manifest, so slowly that at first she hadn’t noticed.
Gradually her hearing became more and more acute. It really didn’t hit her until she suddenly realized that the background thump, thump that she was hearing all the time was actually Clark’s heartbeat.
The next thing she noticed was that it was taking her less and less time in the morning to get ready for work. One morning while she was in the shower, realizing that she had overslept and had to rush if she was going to be ready on time, she started to hurry and unexpectedly it was like the water from the showerhead stopped in mid air. She was startled and stopped to look at this phenomenon and when she did the water started moving again. She started to hurry again and the water stopped again. She soaped herself quickly stopped to allow the water to flow again and rinse her off. She reached over and turned the water off and then grabbed her towel and started drying off. When the towel started to smoke she stopped and looked at it in amazement.
She let out a whoop and without stopping to put any clothes on ran out of the bathroom and spotting Clark in their bedroom barreled into him knocking him onto the bed. Using her new found superspeed she took his clothes off of him and lying on top of him started kissing him.
When he realized just what was happening he rolled her over on her back. This started a period of marital intimacy.
He said, “Wow, my little speed demon! What got into you this morning?”
She laughed and with a sly grin said, “Oh, something special.”
It wasn’t until she responded that he had really realized just what he had said and he started laughing as well. He said, “Well, your powers are obviously coming on. What do you have?”
“Well, let’s see, so far I have superhearing, and,” she had a broad smile as she said, “superspeed.” She chose that second to demonstrate this by spinning into her work clothes and then finished, “I think my strength is coming on but I don’t know about the vision thingies yet.”
Clark spun back into his clothes and laughed as he said, “Vision thingies, huh? Let’s try something.” He walked over and picked up a safety pin off the dresser. He opened it and said, “Hold out your hand.”
She did and he brought the open pin in and gave her finger a little prick. It didn’t break the skin so he tried a little harder. Still nothing. He said, “I think that your invulnerability is kicking in as well. It shouldn’t be too long until,” he started to chuckle, “the vision thingies kick in and then shortly after that you’ll be able to fly. Have you decided on a costume yet?”
“I really haven’t given that much thought. I don’t think I’ll use the old one. That pink just wasn’t my color. Actually, none of the girls have used your color scheme and most of the spouses have decided to use the same colors schemes within families. Jon and Jen both use black, red and yellow. Lucy and Rob both use white. Jessie and Rich both wear hazel and red. Celeste and Bill use red and green. It looks like I should use your red, blue and yellow for mine. I like the length of Angel’s cape; it only comes down to her waist. I don’t think I want a two piece like she wears though. I’m thinking something like a Speedo with a pleated miniskirt; calf high boots a waist length cape, elbow high gloves and a mask.” As she was describing her new uniform they headed downstairs for breakfast.
Once they were in the kitchen and making breakfast, Clark offered, “You could start working on it this weekend, in the evenings. I think Jessie and Rich, Jimmy and Peg are going to be at the farm with the kids. Do you think I should pick up your sister Liz for the weekend?” Clark put the coffee on to drip.
Surprised, Lori asked, “Is it that obvious?” Lori started making some toast.
With a serious expression, Clark replied, “You would have to be blind not to see it. I’m sure it’s mutual. To see the two of them together, it’s like watching Jon when he first met Jen. I’m glad we brought Liz in on the family secret. At least she knows what she is getting into.”
Lori asked, “Remember our first day? When we walked in and Liz got a look at you she asked if you had any brothers. How was I to know that she would be attracted to one of our grandsons? She and Jeb make a cute couple though. I wonder how long it’s going to be before he gets up the nerve to propose. Liz is in her early twenties and Jeb is twenty-seven. He started working for the Superman Foundation as Sam’s assistant almost as soon as Sam became Director, a few months ago.” Lori started buttering the toast that had just popped up.
“I hope they don’t make us wait too long. As entertaining as it is to watch them as they court, I’d like to see them together.” He took the piece of toast she offered and started drizzling honey on it.
Lori replied, “You and me both. Maybe I need to have a talk with my little sister.”
Still smiling, Clark replied, “You do that and Gramps will have a talk with Jeb. After all, Liz is my sister-in-law. Wow, do you realize just how complicated this is going to be? Your sister may marry your grandson so she will be your granddaughter-in-law as well as your sister.” He considered this for a second before continuing, “Maybe we should discourage this match. It’s going to strain my super memory keeping our relations straight.” Clark raised a teasing eyebrow at Lori and then poured two mugs of coffee and handed one to her.
Not realizing that he was kidding while Lori added her sweetener and non-dairy creamer she thought about his statement before saying, “Nah, I don’t think we need to interfere. Let them be happy.”
Clark said, “I was just kidding about discouraging them! I want them to be happy too. Let’s let nature take its course. Okay, why don’t you give Liz a call and invite her to the farm for the weekend. Actually, she probably already knows that he’s going to be there.”
After a few seconds Clark continued, “There is one nice thing about this. You won’t have to suffer the loss of your sister the way Lois did with Lucy. You won’t be outliving all of your family this time.” Because of her association with Clark, Lois had lived longer than her sister even though she was the older sibling.
Lori thought about this and then said, “You know, I hadn’t thought about that. It will be nice to have Liz around for a long time.” She took a sip of her coffee.
As if on cue the phone rang. Lori looked at the caller ID and said, “Right on schedule.” She had her coffee mug in one hand and with her free hand picked up the phone and said, “Hi Liz, we were just talking about you. Uh huh. Sure he is. Friday? Clark can pick you up. Five thirty Pacific, got it. See ya Friday, Sis.” She hung up the phone and started laughing.
She said, “You have an appointment Friday to pick up your sister-in-law to bring her to the farm.”
“I suppose if I don’t she’ll call Jessie and beg her for a lift.” He thought for a couple of seconds and then said, “Actually, Jeb has had his powers for a little while now and he will soon be joining the rest of the family in the family business. He could pick her up. Hmmmm, you know, that’s not a bad idea.” Setting down his coffee mug, Clark picked up the phone and dialed Jeb’s number. When the phone was answered he said, “Hi Jeb it’s Gramps. Oh we’re doing fine, looking forward to the weekend at the farm. You’re planning on being there aren’t you? That’s what I thought. You know, I’m not as young as I used to be, could you do me a favor? No, nothing serious. I need you to do taxi duty. Yeah, well you see it’s this way, there’s somebody on the west coast that needs a ride to the farm. Yeah, that’s right. Would you mind doing your old Gramps a favor and doing the taxi duty for me? You will earn my undying gratitude. You will? Thanks. I know that I’m really putting you out. I’ll repay you sometime. Oh, this is the repayment? Okay, if you say so. She wants to be picked up at five thirty Pacific time. You’ll be there, good. See you guys at the farm.” He started laughing as he hung the phone up.
Lori was already laughing as she said, “Talk about matchmaking! ‘Do your old Gramps a favor.’ ‘Not as young as I used to be.’ Hah, I might believe that if we didn’t have so much fun in bed.”
“Okay, well we won’t need to worry about Liz getting in the way in the costume making and I don’t think we’ll have to worry about keeping Jeb occupied. I think Peg, Jessie and the girls would all love to help make it. Jimmy, Rich and I can keep the guys busy.”
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That weekend, at the farm the girls and guys split up. The girls spent most of their time on the horses. Raven, daughter of Josiah Kent and the youngest granddaughter of James and Margaret Kent, was showing a lot of talent in the barrel race, consistently beating her older sisters, Leslie and Emerson as well as her cousins, Susan, Angela and Rachel by several seconds.
Raven, like a few of her cousins had become a very enthusiastic and serious rider. Jimmy and Peg had given in to her pleadings and finally bought her a horse of her own. She had a gray quarterhorse that she called Smokey. Smokey was stabled at the farm along with the rest of the mounts. Slowly but surely the stalls were being filled and it wouldn’t be long until another stable would be needed.
On a daily basis the horses were pastured or sent into a corral for exercise. On the weekends the owners of each of the mounts mucked their stalls. They might technically be children of privilege, but that would not keep them from fulfilling their responsibilities. This was one of the fundamental qualities that Lois and Clark and now Lori and Clark and all of the kids tried to instill in all of the children and grand children. A fundamental work ethic, a respect for life, loyalty and a desire to help wherever they could were their guiding principles. The good, solid mid-western principles that Jonathan and Martha had lived out and modeled for young Clark still stayed with him to this day.
Under the supervision of ‘Gramps’ the guys were working on their calf roping and this was where Kenneth Junior really excelled. Kenneth Junior was another one with his own horse, a palomino quarterhorse he called Hunter. Hunter was the best calf roping horse in the stable and Kenneth on Hunter became an unbeatable pair.
The guys were all working diligently to get ready for their rodeo later in the summer.
That night Peg, Jessie and the girls adjourned to the hobby room with Lori and got out the sewing machines, fabrics and patterns. The hobby room had now expanded to a very large space with a big worktable and bolts of spandex cloth in a rainbow of colors displayed along one wall. All of the girls contributed to the design and Peg, who was a skilled seamstress, went to work on the big serger. It wasn’t too long before Lori was modeling the results of her work. The girls all agreed that the suit was becoming and that her identity would probably be safe.
While the girls were busy in the hobby room the guys were in the great room playing board games.
While the cousins played, Clark, Jimmy and Rich talked.
Clark asked, “Jimmy, how are things with the business?”
Jimmy replied, “The computer forensics business is booming, but I just got an offer for a position that is going to be hard to turn down. I’m seriously considering it.”
Rich asked, “Oh, what kind of offer could you get that would pull you away from your business?”
Jim started to smile as he replied, “Sam has asked me to bring my entire staff with me and take over the Foundation’s network. There have been a number of attempts to disrupt the Foundation’s business. It should be a seamless move since the Foundation was one of our principle clients anyhow. This way the Foundation will be able to start offering computer network security services. It will broaden the business. It’s a tremendous opportunity and besides, I won’t have the headache of all that paperwork and government forms. For me it’s a win – win.”
Clark was pleased with this comment because Jimmy was just the latest family member to start working for the Foundation. Clark was aware of the way things were going. Slowly Sam had been recruiting family members, moving the foundation in the direction of a family owned and operated business. Clark turned to Rich and asked, “Well, we can see that things are looking up for Jimmy. How are things with you? Has Sam offered you a position yet?”
Rich laughed and replied, “No, not yet, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if he did in the near future. Actually, I don’t see how we could. How could we justify moving Jessie’s practice to The Foundation? I don’t think OB/GYN services would fit too well.”
“I don’t know about that. A free OB clinic sponsored by The Foundation could do some important work. Look at Celeste and her Foundation sponsored clinic in Metropolis. They are doing a lot of good.”
“You might be right at that. Jessie and I will have to talk about it, if he asks us.”
Clark smiled and said, “I think you can count on it. Sam’s a shrewd businessman. He can see the advantage of having the family all working together and what better place than the Foundation where they can do the most good?
Just look at what he did with the old Luthor Tower when he renamed it The Foundation. Remodeling the old underground shelter and turning it into a shopping mall was a stroke of genius. It’s become a tourist attraction. Slowly, as businesses move out, he has been expanding the Foundation’s office space. Eventually the whole building could be exclusively Foundation offices.”
They were talking for a little over an hour when they were called for the unveiling.
When Lori modeled her new uniform for Clark, she did a slow pirouette and his first response was a wolf whistle and then with a glint in his eye he said, “Well, the eyes are certainly drawn away from the face.”
The top of the suit was designed like a tank top with medium wide straps and a deeply scooped neckline in Clark’s dark blue spandex material which continued down and finished off like a swim suit. Over this was a pleated miniskirt in red which came down barely far enough to cover her derriere. Just below the neckline, centered on her chest was the El family crest in a size slightly smaller than Clark’s. There was a yellow belt with a hollow buckle within which she placed the pendant. Attached to the shoulder straps was her cape which fell to her waist just to the level where the skirt started. The cape was a little fuller or wider than Clark’s was in relation to their sizes and if she chose to she could bring the sides around and cover her arms and most of her upper body. The mask was little more than a half mask which in effect was a wide band which covered her face from the hairline to a point just below her eyes and allowed her hair to flow freely except for where it circled her head and was made of the same blue material. Boots that came up to mid-calf and gloves which came up almost to her elbows, both in red finished off the ensemble.
A few minutes later Liz and Jeb came in and Liz didn’t recognize her sister.
Jeb said, “Like the new Suit, Grams!”
Aghast, Liz burst out, “*Lori*?!? Why are you wearing that?”
Lori started to laugh, “This is my new uniform. I’m going to be helping out. I thought you knew that all of the spouses have powers too.”
Liz was speechless for a minute then she looked at Jeb and said, “I hope you don’t expect me to dress up in something like that.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth Liz clamped her hands over it and she flushed bright red.
Jeb looked like he had just been thrown to the lions or into a Kryptonite cage. With an embarrassed smile he turned to the family and said, “Mom and Dad, Grams and Gramps, I guess the secret is out now, I asked Liz to marry me while we were out on our walk.”
Chagrined Liz said, “I didn’t mean to say that ...” She stopped because all those gathered around burst out in laughter at their discomfiture.
Lori stepped over and put her arm around her sister’s shoulder and pulled her into a hug as she said, “Sis, we knew it would happen, sooner or later and frankly we had been *hoping* for sooner.” She turned to Jeb and asked, “What took you so long?”
Jeb said to Liz, “I guess you can show them.” As Liz reached into her pocket and pulled out an engagement ring and put it on he continued, “I just started at the Foundation and I wanted to make sure Liz would be willing to relocate to Metropolis. As soon as she let me know it would be okay, I went out and got the ring for her before I asked.” Liz held her hand up for inspection. All of the girls gathered around as Liz showed off her engagement ring oohhing and aahhing as they did so.
Rich walked over and put a fatherly arm around his son’s shoulders and turning to Liz, said, “Welcome to the family. This guy takes after his grandfather in a lot of ways, so, if this lunkhead gives you any problems, you call me, okay?”
Liz laughed and looking into Jeb’s eyes said, “I think I can handle him.”
Jessica laughed and said, “If you’re anything like your sister, I can believe that.”
Lori and Clark both laughed at that and then Lori asked, “When do you plan to tell Mom and Dad?”
Jeb replied, “We were planning to tell them when I flew her home tomorrow.”
Clark asked, “I have a suggestion, don’t tell them. Ask them. Ask if you can marry their daughter, that’s the proper way to do it. Once that’s done, when do you plan to have the ceremony?”
Jeb looked at Liz and asked, “How soon?”
Liz replied, “I don’t want to wait any longer than necessary. Sis got married the same day as she and Clark met.”
Lori jumped in and said, “Whoa, hold on a minute there, Sis. That is a horse of an entirely different color. We had memories of being together for a long time.”
Liz retorted, “Jeb and I have known each other for almost three years now. How much longer do we need to wait?”
Clark said to Lori, “She’s got you there, Honey. How long do they have to wait?”
Lori gave in, “Alright, why don’t you let Mother and Daddy decide. Go on, get out of here and go tell them. You can let us know what the decision is when you get back.”
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