The Hunt For The Mystic Wolf

Chapter 1 - Lexington

A/N: I am writing this not as a sequel, but as a companion piece for, The Man Of Steel, The Woman Of Mettle. To understand the relationship between Lois and Clark, you can read the mentioned story or accept that they are very close.

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Clark gently landed on a roof top above the alley Lois had told him to meet her at. Listening, he could hear the sounds of flesh meeting flesh, and her voice…

"…Come on, baby… harder… Harder… Is that all you've got?... Who's next?"

Jumping a few rooftops south, to where he could see her, he smiled. She stood in the middle of the alley, surrounded by three men. Well, two men and an unconscious ally.

The two men were circling her, keeping her in the middle, waiting for the opportunity to strike. The one that was behind her at that moment pulled a serrated hunting knife from his belt!

Concentrating, Clark blasted the knife from his hand with a burst of heat vision. As the knife clanked under a dumpster, Lois turned and kicked the man in the gut. As he was bent over, she jumped and landed on the back of his head with an elbow. His body involuntarily jerked up and she crushed his 'jewels' with the toe of her boot.

His partner grabbed her from behind and forgot about his feet. She smashed his toes with her heel, which freed her just enough to pull her arm out and smash her elbow into his sternum. The following fist to his groin missed as he stumbled back and started running only to smash head first into a brick wall, cleverly disguised as Clark Kent.

Breathing hard, Lois Lane glared at him. "It's about time you showed up!"

Looking at the three unconscious men, Clark shook his head. "You needed me?"

"Of course not, Smallville, I just wanted you to see that I can take care of myself."

Walking over to the dumpster, Clark brushed it aside like it was a paper doll and retrieved the knife. Turning to her he smiled, "I never doubted that for a second."

Her hand went to her throat and she felt the crystal locket that he had given her to show how much he loved and trusted her. It was in the shape of a heart, the crystal had a heavy lead content, was DNA coded so that it would only open to her touch, and it contained a sliver of green Kryptonite. That he trusted her with such a deadly object meant more to her than she had ever been able to tell him.

"Where did that come from!?"

"Hood number two. Didn't you hear it when he dropped it?"

"I thought he was just clumsy." She looked at the knife and saw where Clark's heat-vision had hit it. "So you were here."

"Where else would I be?" He leaned over and picked up her first victim as he started to arouse. Giving the man a shake he moved them into the shadows where only silhouettes could be seen.

"Why did you attack this woman?" He demanded, his voice hard and raspy with anger.

When the man didn't answer, Clark held the knife up so the man could see the blade. The man's eyes grew large as the blade started glowing red hot and melted, along with his resolve.

"Tis guy in a bar paid us 50 bucks each to rough her up some and take tha envelope she has."

Clark could hear by the man's heartbeat that he was telling the truth. Already knowing the answer, he asked, "Who was he?"

"Done't know, never saw him before."

Knowing that he would get no more information, Clark tapped him on the head, knocking him out. Searching his pockets, he removed his identification and the 50 dollars, and tossed the man into the dumpster. He repeated the process with the other two.

Looking at their IDs, he saw that they were sailors in town until their ship sailed the next weekend.

Handing the IDs to Lois, he frowned. "They were just hired thugs."

Scanning the IDs for clues, she asked, "Why'd you take the money?"

"I only took the 50 dollars they got to attack you, I left the rest."

"But why did you take it?"

"Nobody profits from trying to hurt you." And with a very dangerous look in his eye, added, "They are lucky!"

Lois was unsure if the goose bumps that ran through her body were a result of fear or something a bit more carnal. "And you plan to do what with the money?"

"It would pay for a nice meal, or go for the expenses of whatever you've gotten into this time."

"Hey!" Lois barked indignantly, "Smallville…" She couldn't finish without Clark's presence.

A second later he reappeared.

"Nice of you to man-up and come back! Where did you go?"

"I dropped the money off at the Children's Hospital."

She sauntered over to him, reached up and grabbed his collar, pulled herself up, and kissed him.

Wrapping his arms around her, he grabbed her belt, and extended the kiss. Smiling he said, "Thank you! What was that for?"

"It's one of my favorite things to do." She sighed, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And you did good."

Clark leaned his forehead to hers and asked, "What do you want?"

Lois kissed him again and pushed away; Clark let her down knowing the BS was over.

"OK. You know that I have been researching my family tree?"

"Yes, you've spent the last week with the General getting family history."

"You're mostly right. The General has the family Bible, but it is only about fifty years old. The records in it date back to the early 1700's. When I asked him about that, he told me that the original Bible is on loan to a museum in Lexington, Kentucky."

"So you went to Lexington?"

"There's no fly's on you, Farm Boy."

"You've been saving that one, haven't you?"

"Nothing but the best for you." She tartly replied.

"What did you find in Lexington?"

"The Bible was there, but all the entries had been transferred to the new Bible, so there was nothing new in the family records. However…" she reached into her pocket and retrieved a folded sheet of paper, "I found writing in the back; I copied it the best I could."

Clark looked at the writing, his eyebrows raised, and he smiled – the page was full of Kryptonese writing.

"I recognized some of the symbols from the Fortress; I just don't know what they mean."

"I'll need to take it to the Fortress for translating. I don't recognize a lot of the nouns."

"This symbol here," she pointed to the end of one line, "is your family's symbol, does it mean we are related?"

A low laugh emitted from Clark.

"It's not funny!"

Pulling her near with one arm, he kissed her on the forehead. "No, sweetheart, were not related. The top line I can make out: The middle son of the house of… I don't recognize the family symbol, has been exiled to the planet earth for a maximum of ten years. The council member that presided over the sentence was an ancestor of mine."

"Goody two shoes!" She laughed at the same time Clark had said,

"Trouble maker!"

"Our families haven't changed much have we?"

"I don't know, you use your criminal tendencies for good now." He teased.

"And you're not completely straight-laced!"

"How did this piece of paper lead you to be in this alley?"

"It didn't. I haven't told you yet, the Bible wasn't the only thing my family loaned to the museum. There was also an unusual Indian necklace called the Mystic Wolf."

"What was unusual about it?"

"It is made of crystals. Unfortunately, it was stolen a few years ago."

"So why were you here?"

"Through contacts I've made while working for the Inquisitor, I met a fence here. He gave me an envelope with the name of a possible connection."

"Do you still have the envelope?"

She reached into her shirt and pulled it out. "You would have found it sooner or later."

Blushing, he stammered a bit before asking, "Whose name is it?"

"Some guy near Dallas, that goes by the handle, 'Old Rip."

"Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"Of course!"

"Where's you cloak?"

"I left it in the loft."

He picked her up in his arms like a baby, and smiled at her discomfort, "We'll take it slow then."

"Put me down you black hearted, chauvinistic, Neanderthal!"

Allowing her to stand, he put an arm around her, and offered her his other hand. When she finally accepted it, he raised it and they lifted off at an easy pace.

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TBC…

A/N: I plan on taking the hunt all over the globe, visiting some myths, legends, and magical places. For this I am appealing to the readers for inspiration, the more unusual and interesting the idea, the more likely I am to use it (and credit the source).