LOIS AND CLARK TWENTY YEARS LATER
The years had been kind to the Kents. Lois and Clark had two children a beautiful home good jobs and all the love a family would ever need. Their daughter Crystal was still in high school and was now working alongside them at the Daily Planet part-time. Clark junior was in pre medical at a good college. This is their story.
Lois looked out of her editorial office at the busy floor below where all the newspeople worked. She thought back to the days of Perry White and when she was brand new at her job. She had been very lucky to find this job and had worked very hard throughout the years.
Now she was the first woman editor and her husband and daughter now worked for her. How ironic she thought. Clark and her marriage had always been one of treating each other equally but she had always been the one that wanted the prestige of being editor and chief.
"Hi hon you ready to go home?" Lois looked up to see her husbands smiling face.
"I am ugh I am very ready and very tired." she told him with a smile.
They no longer had to ride to their home as they now lived within two blocks of the Daily Planet and could easily walk home. They had bought a larger brown stone years back after the two children had gotten bigger and they had also needed a home office.
Crystal had all the determinaton of her mother and was a very talented writer. She had her dad s dark hair and olive skin but few of his powers. She could do a few things that other people could not but did not have her father s strength or his ability to fly. She was very fast though and could run a 60 second mile with ease and could see through objects. Perhaps she just wished too early after all she was half human and only 16.
Clark Junior was as smart as they come. He is kind considerate has many of his dads abilities. He too had decided to use his abilitites to help the sick and so he was off to medical school soon. Although he was a little slower he could fly and was not be injured by mortal weapons.
You see the two children were not only the Kents they were the children of Superman, the man of steel and honor. Because of the dangers they faced their identity was a secret known to noone but them and Clarks parents.
Just as they were to leave Clark heard a yell for help. This was normal an everyday occurance. "I ll be right back" but to his pride there went his son flying faster and faster toward the victim.
Lois and Clark both smiled with great pleasure at the young man who they had raised with all the love and care they could give.
When the family finally got together for their dinner things were very lively. Crystal was a great cook and loved to make dinner whenever she could. It was roast beef with potatoes and summer squash with some homemade bread.
"This dinner is delicious" Clark told his daughter with a big smile.
"Thank you dad. I have a surprise for you. I went to cook the bread and I used my xray vision. Everyday I find that I can do more things. Perhaps I will be able to do everthing that you can some day. After all I am only half kriptonian. Maybe it just will take me a little longer to do all those things."
"Believe me. No matter what your special abilities are we will always be proud of you." Clark said with a grin.
"I saw you Clark flying off to help that man today. It looks like you are flying even faster." Lois said to her son with pride.
"Remember you are only seventeen and I didn t even figure out how to fly until I was 18." Clark said to his son.
"That is why I wonder if I too will fly. I am only sixteen and do new things everyday. I just may take a little longer because of my human half." Crystal said with hope in her voice.
Dinner was just finishing when the phone rang. It was Martha Kent. She wanted to invite the Kent family over to their house for the fall festival that they had in Smallville every year.
CHAPTER 2
Going to Smallville was some of the best times Crystal could remember. Noone had to put on an act. They could all be themselves for there were no secrets at the house of the Kents. Grandma and Grandpa knew everything and had always been her inspiration.
Martha Kent looked out her kitchen door looking and listening for her son and his family to arrive. They would be flying in with two of them doing the flying and carrying the other too. "I wish that Crystal could do more" she said to her husband of fifty years.
"Oh Martha she can do so many things and what a good reporter she has turned out to be. I am proud of all my children and grandchildren" Jonathan told his wife with a smile and a big hug.
"Always" and with that she looked up to see her family arrive. Martha knew that most of the people in Smallville knew or suspected the truth but they never said a word. 'How lucky I am' she said to herself as she gave each and everyone of her family kisses and hugs.
Jonathan would be busy all day cooking at the barb q at the festival. He had been the cook for over twenty years and even though he was now 80 he still loved to do it. This year Clark Jr was going to help him and he couldn t wait.
Lois and Clark left early to go over to the festival leaving grandma Martha and Crystal time to spend together. It was not often that they got together for a chat.
"Dishes are done Grandma." Crystal told her. She then ran around the house cleaning top to bottom in under a minute.
"I am always amazed at how fast all the work can go with you around Crystal. I swear that you are just as fast as your dad sometimes." Martha said with a smile.
"Grandma can I tell you something that noone else knows?" Crystal asked rather nerviously.
"Hon you can ask me anything or tell me anything and it will stay right here inside of me and no where else." Martha said with another smile.
Crystal stood there for a moment thinking of how she would tell her grandmother. " I want to show you something" she told her.
With that they went outside and with a deep sigh Crystal jumped and to her surprise she even went further this time.
Martha looked up in awe. Crystal wasn t quite flying but she had just jumped over the entire corn field of about 300 acres of land like a normal person would jump five feet. She watched as Crystal jumped back. "Well that was quite a jump young lady. Have you told anybody about this?" she asked.
"I want to practice until I too can fly. I have watched dad and Clark so many times and the urge to fly is just unbelievable. It is time that I join my brother and father." Crystal said with much enthusiasm. "If I practice here on the farm where there is plenty of space the flying will become natural."
"If you keep that up you will be at least hopping from place to place and that sixty second mile will become a ten second mile." Martha told her with a hug and smile. Come on we need to go to the festival."
Lois and Clark had gone to the festival twenty years sooner shortly after they had met. It had been the first time that they had been alone together and was one of their favorite memories. Clark had been hounded by an agent of the government and had been exposed to kriptonite for the first time. The exposure nearly killed him and taught him that there were people in the world that were out to destroy him and his beliefs. Thanks to his parents and Lois everything had turned out all right and here they were again.
Lois looked over to see her son and father in law busy at the barb q pit cooking hamburgers hot dogs and chicken for the people of the small town. Clark had grown into quite a young man and she was very proud of the fact that he would soon be a doctor. She knew that it would be a difficult ten years of schooling but knew in her heart he would do well.
"Hey lady you re holding the line up. What s your pleasure?" Jonathan said to Lois with a smile.
Lois hadn t realized that she was daydreaming and looked up and asked for a hot dog and a hamburger." Clark handed her a diet coke smiled up at her and his dad, and went on to his next costomer.
The people of Smallville were so friendly and knew everything about everyone There were games and actually there was a tester of strength an easy win for the Kents but they pretended that they couldn t win and Lois laughed with them.
The country line dance was so much fun and the whole framily got involved and outdanced everyone in town. They didn t get back until almost midnight. Jonathan had to get up early to tend to the milking so staying out that late was a truly rare occasion.
Clark knew that his father could use the help now but he was stubborn as all get out and not willing to give in. His father had one man to help him out around the 300 acre farm and he still milked over 50 heads of cattle twice a day.
Crystal stood out on the front porch and looked over the field. To herself she made up her mind that she was going to jump the field turn around and get back to the house. All night long she practiced going back and forth without success. She could make it further but turning was a real problem. She just couldn t figure out how to to it.
Clark got up early to help his dad with his farm chores and was proud to find his two children already in the barn fast at work. "Good morning dad" they said almost in unison.
Jonathan Kent stood in the doorway of the barn and looked at everyone with a smile "Thank you so much for coming to my aid. It is a lot of work sometimes." he said with a smile and a bow.
The four of them worked for over an hour feeding and milking the cows plus cleaning the barn. When they were done the whole place shined like brand new.
Just as they started toward the house Clark Sr heard the yell from the farm down the road. Someone was yelling help so off he went to see what could be done.
Clark Junior Crystal and grandpa Kent all headed to the kitchen for breafast that was starting to smell very delicious. Martha had always made a big breakfast for her husband and even a bigger one when her son and family came over. There were bacon and eggs sausages pancakes with home made maple syrup and rolls.
"Something sure smells good grandma" Clark said.
"Sure does Martha. You don t have to cook up such a brunch. I don t want you to get too tired. " Jonathan told her as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Will you stop worrying Jonathan? I may be old but I am far from fragile and unable to care for myself." she told him and she slapped him on the arm with her dish towel. Everyone laughed at the two of them. They had been married for fifty years and they were not only still in love they were best friends.
It had been nearly an hour since Clark had gone to the answer for help and hadn t returned. This made Lois a little nervious. He usually was back in a few minutes unless something happened. She was thinking of the first time they had come for the festival and the federal agents who had tried to kill her husband. 'They re not back I hope' she said to herself./
At the farm things were very quiet and with the two grandchildren there to help with the work everything was done by 10 am. No Clark and now eveyrone was getting worried.
"Mom I m going to go over to the Greggorys and find out what has happened with dad. He should have called or something. I just tried their house and his cell and still no answer." Clark Jr told her.
"We don t like it either keep your cell on and let me know the minute you hear something. Try to stay where noone can see you in case there is something going on that could add to trouble. Remember what we told you the first time that we went here? There were federal agents all over the place." Lois told him.
"I remember and I ll be careful. It s probably nothing. Nathan and I were talking last night and he didn t mention any trouble around here." Clark Jr told her gave her a kiss and was off.
Crystal wanted to go with him but figured it wasn t worth the fight so she decided to go out and practice her short flying feats that she had been practicing. She still hadn t been able to make the turn at the end of the field very well. It was harder than she thought it would be but practice makes perfect she thought.
After eveyrone had settled into the living room to relax Crystal went ouside again. ' I can hear better than anyone, I have xray vision and I m stronger than an oxe but flying ugh.' she thought to herself.
She was just getting ready to turn back to the house when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like a ball of light traveling accross the field. It was there for just a second but she was sure she had seen it. And then a sound something that she had never heard before. 'What is that?' Crystal thought to herslef.
Being the daughter of Lois curiousity was going to get the best of her yet. Her mother was always getting into trouble that was what made her such a good reporter. Her curiosity and her courage had rubbed off on her daughter.
Crystal tried her brothers cell phone and got no answer 'strange he knew we d be calling' she thought to herself.' ' and then the noise and the ball of light what is going on?'
"Mom have you heard anything from dad or Clark? I m getting worried." Crystal asked her mom.
"I have not and now I can t reach either one of the on the phone. The best thing to do is to try to get over there myself. I will sneak in." Lois told her.
"Mom I saw a light in the field and I heard a noise that is unfamiliar to me. Perhaps we should go check. Perhaps it is connected maybe not." Crystal told her mom with a big question mark in her expression.
"We have to do something. Perhaps we could just drive over like we are going for a visit or perhaps we should contact the local police." Crystal said.
"I think the best thing is to give them an hour and then head over ourselves. Perhaps it s just that there is no cell service or something." Lois said in an unconvincing voice.
Just then there came a knock on the door and when Martha opened it she was surprised to see Mr Greggory. He was a mess with several bruises on his face. "OMG what happened?" they all asked.
" I was at work in the barn when I heard a noise. I turned around to see what it was and the next thing that I remember is waking up in my bedroom with a big bruise on the back of my head. I yelled for help because the phone wasnt working and I came here."
"That is a strange story because Clark heard you yell for help and went over to your house over two hours ago. We haven t been able to reach him since so we sent Clark Jr over. He has now disappeared." Lois told him with a worried look.
"What time is it? This all happened early this morning." Mr Greggory told them.
"It s after 12. You are missing several hours of your time. Perhaps you ve been unconscious for some time." Martha said hopefully.
"That wouldn t make any sense Martha. If he was in bed beat up like that Clark and Clark Jr would have found him and called an ambulance." Jonathan said in a worried tone. "Did anything happen in the last few days that made you think something was going on?"
"I did get a call from a realtor who was interested in buying my farm for over 10000 dollars per acre. It sure was a nice offer at 78 years old an offer of over 30 million dollars for a farm that you have to work 14 hour days at is a very tempting offer. But i decided to say no. They have called back several times." their friend told them.
"We need to go back to your house and see what is happening. Perhaps we need to call the police." Martha offered.
"No we will head over there now. Crystal and I will go together. That would be better. Two might do better and if you don t here soon then call the police.
Crystal and her mom got in the car and started to drive over. As they got closer Crystal started to feel very strange it was as if she didn t care what happened to her father and brother 'strange' she thought and shook it off. As they pulled into the driveway she nearly started laughing at the thought that they were mssing. 'Something was affecting her in a bad way."
"Mom I am feeling very strange like I don t care. This doesn t make any sense." Crystal told her.
"Can you tell where the feelings are coming from?" Lois asked her.
Just then they turned the corner and came accross some men standing in the road blocking their entrance. They had the look of government agents and Lois knew then that that was the problem and that her son and husband were in danger.
"I m sorry you cannot come here in the land this now belongs to the United States government it has been taken by eminent domain." a man in a blue tee shirt told her. Lois looked over and saw that they all had weapons and meant business.
" This is my daughter Crystal and I am Lois Clark we are here to visit the Greggory farm. Noone had told us that it had been sold." Lois told the man in a sweet voice.
"Oh yes he sold the farm last week and moved on to Florida. We made him a good offer and he just couldn t resist. He was quite elderly and was working so many long hours that the temptation was too great." the man told them.
They turned the car around then and knew that they had to find out what was goin on. These men were definately from the government and they had some reason to be back on the same farm that they had gone to some twenty years before.
Crystal was starting to feel like herself as they drove away and headed back to her grandparents. She just couldn t shake the feeling that everything wasn t worth it. She felt as though she should just go and have fun.
Just then the phone rang and it was Martha. "Lois you need to come over to our house right away. Something bad has happened.
CHAPTER 3
As they pulled the car into the driveway Crystal and Lois were met by Jonathan and Martha and Mr. Gregory. They rushed them into the house to see something on the television.
It was then that they saw what was worrying the Kents. There on the television were Clark and Clark Junior dressed in their superman uniform at Disney World and not being good. They were going to the front of the line on every ride and taking anything and everything that they wanted without paying.
Lois turned to hear Clark Junior saying: "We do all that macho work trying to save people and sometimes we don t even get a thank you. I think it s high time that we get something. From now on we will charge for any of our services."
You could have cut the silence in the room with a knife. What had just happened? Their sons and grandson and brother were taking a vacation and charging for their services? Now they all knew the government was out to get them. But how?
Lois thought back to many years ago when Clark had been exposed to red kriptonite and how he didn t care about anything for a few days. But that had worn off quickly and this was not. What could be the cause?
She looked over at Crystal and thought of what she had said about having a deep sense of not caring and how it happened as she came near to the Greggory farm. "Crystal hon, how do you feel now? Are your feelings back to normal?" Lois asked her daughter.
"The feelings almost completely disappeared after we left those men. Why, do you think that there is something at the farm that made dad and Clark act like that?" Crystal told her.
"That settles it. I think that they have been exposed to a stronger form of red kriptonite. I need to call Star Labs right away. They have an anecdote for this."
Lois talked to the lady at Star Labs and told them about what had happened. The lab was more than willing to give her the anecdote but they were sure that if they didn t find the source her husband and son and daughter could be exposed again. She also wasn t sure how they were continually being exposed.
"I must get to that farm and find out what is going on. I know that it is a lot to ask of you Crystal but I need you to come with me and see if we can find the red kriptonite. We will wait for the anecdote and go over." Lois told her.
" I am willing to do anything to help my dad and brother and this doesn t seem to harm anyone it just seems to make them carefree." Crystal told her with a worried look on her face. "Perhaps I will be under more control because of my age and my half breed stance."
The men from Star Labs came around three hours later and Crystal and Lois headed toward the Greggory farm but this time in secret.
As they approached the farm Crystal started to get the same feelings but knew that to save her dad and brother she needed to keep her head and headed toward the spot that was making her feel that way.
Just as they got to the barn Crystal knew this is where the red kriptonite was. It was very difficult not to stop and go to Disney World but she held on and with lightning speed she busted into the barn and threw a pile of hay on the red kriptonite and lit it on fire.
Three men came running in and tried to stop Crystal but she was way too fast and strong and they were tied up and safe outside in a nano second. She had thought to cover her face so they didn t even know who she was.
As the kriptonite burned the feelings started waining and Crystal knew at that point that she would be ok. But where did they get the kriptonite? Was there anymore around? She needed to protect her family from more exposure.
Crystal and Lois were quick and on the computer they found information. Crystal read about how they were running out of the kriptonite so they had made it into a powder. With this powder they had sprayed her father and brother causing them to be exposed constantly.
Lois wondered if the regular anecdote would work as this was on her son and husbands skin. Perhaps they would need to be exposed to some kind of shower. She needed to get to Star Labs right away.
Airplanes are fast but not as fast as she was hoping. How could they get there without Clark to take her? Crystal couldn t fly and short hops would be as slow or slower than an airplane.
"I will go to Star Labs mom." I will go as fast as I can and you take the plane. Whoever gets there first can talk to them about the trouble. The problem is that we still have to get to Disney World." Crystal told her mother.
With determination that she had never had Crystal jumped from the Kents porch and just kept going. Wow she was flying and she wasn t going to stop until she hit Metropolis. Crystal flew and flew but just 100 miles short of her destination she just couldn t fly anymore.
'Great' Crystal said to herself. She sat down and took a short rest. She needed sleep but she knew her father and brother needed her more. So up she got and off she went ten minutes later she was at Star Labs. The fly home would take her dad about ten minutes and her brother about 15 she had made it in 20 minutes, a little slow but not bad for a first time she thought to herself.
"What we need is a shower of some sort with the anecdote in it. They may not be willing participants so let me think. You say they are at Dinsney World. Let me make a call." the doctor told Crystal.
While on the phone Crystal could hear both sides of the conversation and she liked what she heard. Apparantly a new feature at the Disney World theme park was due to open that day, a new water bucket. What would happen is that this bucket would slowly fill and then drop water on the body. It also had a shower attatched.
"What a great idea. When does it open?" Crystal asked her.
"It opens in one hour. They can delay it for a while but someone needs to get this anecdote to Florida fast." the doctor told her.
"I m on my way. It will take me awhile. I m not as fast as superman." Crystal said and with that she was off.
Again she tried her brother and father with no answer on their cells. She hoped that they would be picking up their texts so she texted them that she was coming to the opening of the water park. 'If they re that selfish and determined to do what they want they ll be there' she thought.
Twenty five minutes later she was landing at Disney World. There must have been ten thousand people there but there were the two supermen both at the front of the line.
Crystal hurried over careful not to be noticed and put the anecdote in the bucket water. "Hey guys " she said as she came over to her dad and brother.
"Hey this is going to be great and we re going to be the first to try out the new bucket." her dad told her with a big smile. "They can t stop us anyways so they d just better let us."
Crystal now knew that they were getting worse and the last thing she needed was them losing their kind and concerned ways.
The water park opened and sure enough there her father and brother were right under the bucket when to her horror she saw some men running toward them. Crystal knew who they were. They were government agents there to stop her.
"Halt" the men yelled and they showed their badges.
Without any warning the water was shut down but too late the bucket spilled. The effect was almost instantaneous and she had both Clarks back to normal.
"Thank you so much Crystal. How did you get here so fast? You called me over Smallville not an hour ago." Clark asked her.
"Yes please tell." her brother said.
"I flew." and they all gave each other a big hug.
They needed to get back to Smallville right away so their dad took off at his fastest speed. Although Clark Jr and Crystal were fast they landed about twenty minutes after their father had left.
When they got back to the Kent farm Mr Gregory was talking to the news media about what had happened and all about the government intervention. They would leave him alone now. Lois was there covering the story just like she knew nothing about the secret identities.
Clark Jr and Sr explained what had happened and that things would be back to normal. "We apologize for our actions and guarentee that there will be no fee for our services. We are proud to serve people from all over the world anytime it is possible." they told the reporters.
That night they all sat down to a big dinner homemade by Martha and chatted with much happiness. They knew that all was well and a new chapter had just begun.