Forever and All Eternity I: Fate
by Laura Davies brightfeather1.geo@yahoo.com
Rated: PG-13
Submitted: November 2002
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just
playing with them for a while. G Any resemblance to any
other work of fiction is strictly coincidental.
Authors note: This is a re-write of the New Krypton arc, so
my thanks goes out to the writers of the original New
Krypton Arc. I also need to thank all of the beta readers
who assisted in this project: Erin, Tricia, Helen, Avia,
Breanna, Doug, Wanda, Jenni, Mary, and Missy as well as all
of the readers on Zoom's message boards. I also need to
thank the regulars on #lanekent and #loisclark... Without
ya'll this story would have never been begun, let alone
finished. This is Book I, so I'm afraid you'll have to
read Book II to continue the saga. All Feedback welcome.
****
Clark woke to the sound of his small son sobbing. Beside
him, Lois stirred slightly, beginning to wake up. "I'll
get him, honey," he said softly, "go back to sleep." Clark
climbed out of bed and hurried into the child's room.
"Joseph, sweetie, what's the matter?" He asked as he picked
his son up out of the crib.
"Mon'ter, Daddy!" the little boy sobbed.
"Shhh," Clark said soothingly, "Daddy's here." He patted
Joseph on the back. Slowly the boy's sobs subsided as he
fell asleep in his father's warm encircling arms. Clark
gently laid his son down in the crib.
Just as he began to leave, Joseph's eyes opened. "No go,
Daddy," he demanded. "Daddy 'tay wiv Jo'eph."
Clark sighed a bit as he regarded his two-year-old. He
scooped up the child and headed back to the master bedroom.
He knew that the experts advised against having children
sleep with their parents, but he was simply too tired after
yesterday's hurricane in Hawaii to deal with this right
now. He supposed that he could get Lois, but at four and a
half months pregnant, she needed the sleep more than he
did. He laid the child down on the bed and slid under the
covers, making sure to cover his son up with a blanket.
"Tank you, Daddy," Joseph said sleepily as his thumb found
its way to his mouth and slipped off into dreamland.
Clark smiled as he softly kissed Joseph on the top of his
head and closed his eyes. He was glad Kiley hadn't been
woken up by Joseph's sobs; at four she was likely to
protest and wake her mother. He glanced through the wall
to check on her; just in case. She was sleeping
peacefully, almost the spitting image of her mother at the
same age. Clark closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep;
all was right with the world.
****
Lois cracked open her eyes as the alarm sounded. She
sleepily reached out a hand and smacked the button; turning
off the alarm. Her other hand flopped over the other side
of the bed; searching for Clark. As her hand encountered
empty air rather than her husband's solid form, she
frowned; it had been a long time since she had woken up
alone. Carefully, she used her arms to lever herself up in
bed, only then noticing the form of her small son curled up
beside her. She smiled tenderly as she smoothed back the
rumpled crown of fine dark hair that covered the small
head. Lois dropped a soft kiss on her baby's head; he was
the spitting image of Clark at the same age, but he had
more of her personality. She gently picked the child up and
held him in her lap. "Wake up, sweetheart," she said
softly.
Joseph opened one sleepy chocolate brown eye and grinned.
"Hi Mommy," he said as he threw his little arms around her
for a hug. Joseph kissed Lois's tummy, "Hi baby!" He
looked around the room. "Where Daddy Kiley?" he asked.
Without waiting for an answer, he slid off of Lois's lap
and announced, "I find Daddy Kiley." Joseph made a beeline
for the door and ran straight toward his sister's room.
"Kiley," his little voice called, "wake up!" Joseph
barreled into the room and looked around for his big
sister. A wide, happy grin spread over his little face.
"Daddy!" Joseph yelled as he ran forward and wrapped
himself around Clark's leg.
Clark gave the ponytail holder one more twist to secure the
end of Kiley's braid before gently disengaging Joseph's
arms from around his leg and scooping up his son for a good
morning hug. "Lois?" he called softly, "Are you awake?"
Lois, who had followed Joseph, albeit a little slower,
walked into the room. Kiley bounced up to her and
exclaimed, "Mommy, Daddy braided my hair!" Lois looked at
her daughter and chuckled.
"Sweetie, he only got half done," she said with a smile,
noting her daughter's hair. Clark had parted it down the
middle and begun to braid it in twin pigtails, but he had
only succeeded in finishing one braid before Joseph had
interrupted. "Kiley, I'll finish fixing your hair." Lois
sat down on Kiley's bed and picked up the brush. "Come here
please," Lois said. Kiley came over and stood where Lois
could reach her long dark brown curls.
As Lois began to brush and braid their daughter's hair,
Clark walked over and planted a loving kiss on her lips.
"I'll get Joseph dressed and make breakfast," he said with
a heart-melting smile. Lois nodded, dropped a kiss on the
top of Kiley's head. Kiley jumped up and down excitedly,
"I want Emily to see my braids. Are we going to the park
today Mommy? I want to play in the sandbox and swing on
the swings with Emily. We're going to climb trees and play
princesses in the tower."
"Of course we are punkin'," Lois said as her daughter
hugged her enthusiastically. Lois reached the end of the
braid and twisted a ponytail holder around it to hold the
hair in place. "There you go Kiley," Lois said with a
smile. "I'll meet you downstairs ok?"
"Okay, Mommy!" Kiley exclaimed and bounced out of the room.
Lois smiled as she watched Kiley's enthusiasm. If anyone
had told her ten years ago what she'd be doing now, she
would have insisted on finding them a straightjacket. Lois
went into the master bedroom and began hunting for some
clothes that still fit. It was a chilly late September day
outside, so she settled on one of Clark's old flannel
shirts and a pair of maternity jeans. Lois slipped on socks
and shoes and headed downstairs toward the sound of dishes
clattering in the kitchen. Kiley and Joseph were sitting at
the table, slightly sticky with the syrup from the pancakes
that Clark had fixed them. She walked over to Clark, put
her arms around his waist, and lifted her face for a kiss.
His face had brightened when she entered the room; he
smiled down at her softly before brushing his lips across
hers in a gentle caress. "Morning sweetheart," he said,
joy lighting up his features. His hand caressed her gravid
belly as he leaned down and whispered, "Good morning, baby
Kent." He ushered her over to the table, setting a plate
full of pancakes in front of her. He grabbed Joseph right
before the mischievous little boy grabbed his sister's
braids with his syrup-covered hands and hauled him away to
wash.
A few minutes later, Lois led Kiley into the bathroom and
supervised the removal of syrup from her hands, arms, and
face. As Clark cleaned the kitchen, Lois got the kids into
their coats. Soon they were on their way to the park.
Lois and Clark sat together on a bench by the playground
and watched their children play in the sandbox. It was a
rare occasion that they got to spend the whole day together
like this without interference from the outside world.
When Lois had gotten pregnant with Kiley, Clark had cut
back his Superman activities so he could be there for his
child. Together they had decided that their family came
first; the rest of the world could wait.
****
Lois and Clark walked past the cappuccino stand, where a
man dressed in jeans and a leather jacket sat reading a
paper, and through the Daily Planet lobby. They headed
toward the Planet's daycare center and the elevator. Clark
carried Joseph on one hip, occasionally tickling his ribs
so that his small son would laugh and remove his thumb from
his mouth. "So," Lois said smiling widely, "your mom has
promised to baby-sit; what do you want to do for our
Anniversary next week?" Clark leaned over and whispered
something in her ear. Lois giggled and swatted him gently
on the chest. "You're insatiable, Mr. Kent," she said with
a broad smile. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on
the tip of his nose.
Joseph chose that moment to hold out his arms to her. "Up
Mommy," he said, wearing one of Clark's patented smiles.
Lois took Joseph from Clark and kissed him on the cheek.
"I love you Mommy," Joseph proclaimed as he threw his arms
around her neck and kissed her. Lois smiled tenderly at
her little boy as they resumed walking. Far too soon they
were at the entrance of the Planet's daycare center.
Joseph made his usual Monday morning protest at leaving his
parents' side; he started screaming. "Want Mommy! Want
Daddy!" he yelled over and over before beginning to whine.
Clark glanced through the wall to make sure that Joseph was
okay. Anne, one of the daycare employees, was holding him.
Clark put his arm around Lois's waist as they walked over
to the elevators. This was always the worst part of
Mondays for them; they both hated to see their little ones
cry, but they knew that Joseph would settle down soon
enough.
****
Sarah walked into the elevator, double-checking the armload
of files as she did so. Satisfied that she held the
correct files for Lois's and Clark's story on the proposed
Hobbs Bay Revitalization Project, she pressed the button to
take her up to the newsroom. Sarah grimaced to herself; if
she were to claim what was rightfully hers, a long battle
lay ahead. She hadn't worked at the Planet for very long,
but being near and not able to touch him was exquisite
torture. She considered herself lucky to belong to such a
handsome man; even though he still remained ignorant of the
fact.
The elevator dinged and she walked out, searching for the
husband and wife duo. Finally she saw them in front of
her. Her guts twisted in envy as she watched Clark Kent
turn his wife's hand over and drop a soft kiss in the
center of it. She carefully schooled her face to not
reveal this emotion and walked briskly toward them. She
walked quietly up to Clark and glanced at him shyly through
her long eyelashes before turning to Lois. "Here's the
research you wanted on the Hobbs Bay Revitalization
Project," she said quietly.
"Really?" Lois questioned, "that was fast, I only asked for
it yesterday!"
"I, uh, stayed late," Sarah answered.
"For that, you deserve a donut," Clark said, one of his
patented 100 mega-watt smiles gracing his face.
Sarah looked up at Clark refusal evident in her face. It
only took a few seconds of looking at his brilliant smile
before she answered, "well... um, okay," changing her mind.
Clark reached over and snatched a donut from Jimmy's nearly
empty box as he passed by. Just as Clark was about to hand
the donut over to Sarah, Jimmy spoke up. "Not the banana
cream! The Chief'll kill me!" he exclaimed. Clark dropped
the donut back in the box and licked his sticky fingers as
Jimmy looked at Sarah and froze. She's beautiful, he
thought, looking her up and down. "Here," he said, "take
mine." Jimmy pulled another donut out of the box and handed
it to Sarah.
"*Jimmy*," came the bellow from Perry who was on the other
side of the newsroom.
"Coming Chief," Jimmy said with a sigh. He turned to Lois,
Clark, and Sarah and said, "I've gotta fly!" and ran off
in the direction of Perry's office.
Lois watched Jimmy disappear with an indulgent smile on her
face. He'd come a long way from the gopher and copy boy
that he used to be. After all, Jimmy was now an award-
winning photographer and was shaping up to be a darn good
reporter. His relationship with Perry had also changed
somewhat. His errand-running days were mostly behind him;
but, he still occasionally ran a few errands for the Chief.
He was still a sucker for a pretty face; however, since
Lucy had moved back to Metropolis he had taken to haunting
her doorstep. Lois was waiting for their engagement to be
announced at any time now. Jimmy had been a surrogate
uncle to Kiley and Joseph and the way things were working
out between him and Lucy, soon his relationship with them
would be official. She really wouldn't mind having Jimmy
for a brother-in-law, she reflected. He had been like a
younger brother to her and Clark for quite some time now
anyway. Lois smiled as she began to pull herself back to
reality. She reached out and took Clark's hand in her own
before focusing on what Sarah was saying.
Sarah took a deep breath, trying to come up with the
courage to speak to the incredibly handsome man in front of
her. "Um, I know I'm sort of new here," she began, "I
mean, not that new, I have been here for a month, but... do
you two ever take story ideas from somebody else?"
Lois smiled at the nervous girl encouragingly. From her
demeanor, it was obvious that she was nervous about
something; Lois chalked it up to being scared about her
boldness in suggesting such a thing. "If it's a good idea,"
Lois answered.
"Well, I was thinking; there's always so much bad news,"
Sarah began, "what if you did a series on people who make
personal sacrifices for the good of society? Like
astronauts..."
"Or medical missionaries..." Clark chimed in.
"Or Superman?" Lois said.
"Exactly!" Sarah exclaimed. "What drives him... or people
like him?"
Clark looked as if he were going to reply to this remark.
However, before he got the chance to open his mouth, Perry
rushed out of his office. "Turn up those things *now*!"
Perry yelled. Ray, the newest copy boy, ran over to the
televisions and hurriedly turned up the volume. "The
broadcast about the dedication of the brand new underwater
research center, the Athena," Perry reminded as the entire
newsroom turned towards the monitors. "It's not only the
first of its kind, it's the first such research center to
allow the scientists to bring their children with them."
As the news anchor on the screen up in the newsroom droned
on about the Athena's technological advances, the families,
and the scientists aboard her, the man sitting at the
cappuccino stand pulled a small black device out of the
pocket of his leather jacket. The device itself wasn't
much to look at, but its design somehow conveyed menace and
fear. The man fiddled with it for a few moments as he
listened to the announcer's voice on a nearby radio. As
the researchers began to use the opportunity to say hello
to the world, the man pushed a small, circular button on
the device. He smiled; convinced it would work.
****
The propellers on the underwater research center Athena
came suddenly to life, forcing the once stable research
center into motion toward the Mariana Trench. Inside the
research station, the scientists and their families fell to
the deck, unprepared for the sudden movement of their
temporary home. Each one found something to hold on to and
prayed to survive the experience.
****
In the newsroom of the Daily Planet, the staff watched in
horror as the Athena moved inexorably in a course toward
the deepest pit on Earth. The anchor on LNN had just
announced the problem when Clark quietly excused himself,
saying that he would contact his sources in the Navy, and
left in the direction of the stairwell, loosening his tie
as he ran. Perry began to order his reporters to get
information for the story; desperately trying to insure
that the Planet would not be scooped. Sarah watched Clark
go, a small smile adorning her face, before turning to face
the monitors to watch the drama unfold.
Clark flew up the stairwell of the Daily Planet while
spinning into the supersuit. At superspeed, he dived for
the Athena, grabbed it, and began to pull backwards. Every
muscle in his powerful body strained as he struggled to
prevent the Athena's disastrous dive into the Mariana
Trench. For what seemed like an eternity, Superman was
losing his battle with gravity. Every molecule of his
being struggled to stop the disastrous descent of the
research center. The lives of the scientists and their
families were at stake, for the Athena simply didn't have
the hull strength to stop the tremendous pressure of the
Earth's internal gravity from crushing them to death.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the research station began to
respond. At first its response was infinitesimal. It
crept out of its seemingly unintentional course and, with
Superman's help, began to regain its former position.
Finally the Athena's propellers cut off, letting the
research station resume its position anchored to the ocean
floor. The people aboard released their death grip on the
makeshift handles inside the submerged facility and
gingerly made their way to the nearest porthole. They
waved their thanks to the drenched superhero and resumed
their work.
Superman waved at them before flying tiredly back up to the
surface. He flew toward Metropolis, flexing his aching
muscles as he gratefully let the warm sun play over them.
The sun had done its job of partially re-energizing his
exhausted body before he reached the roof of the Daily
Planet. Summoning one last ounce of speed, he spun himself
dry and into his 'Clark clothes'; his movements too fast
for the human eye to see and walked slowly down the stairs.
He dragged himself into the newsroom, his face screwed up
in a puzzled expression. "Did I miss anything?" Clark
asked Lois doing his best to seem ignorant of the Superman
rescue that had just occurred for the benefit of anyone who
happened to be watching.
Lois stood up when Clark entered the room, joy lighting up
her face; he had saved the oceanographers and come back to
her undamaged. Her eyes caught his, wordlessly telling him
how proud she was of him and of her relief that he was
unscathed. She wanted to kiss him right there to assure
herself that despite the recent adventure, he really was
still with her. "Superman saved the research station," she
replied instead, knowing that kissing him senseless in the
newsroom when a big story was breaking might not be a good
idea.
Jimmy looked at Clark, the awe he felt from what Superman
had done still evident on his face. "Man, he was like a
fly on the windshield except this time the fly stopped the
car! Look at the pictures on LNN! I mean, his handprints
are on the body of the Athena! Whammo!" Jimmy gaped at the
handprints that were still visible on LNN's broadcast. He
was astonished that one man could fight gravity over such a
heavy object and still manage to return victorious.
Perry stood up, walked over to Lois and Clark, and started
issuing commands. "Lois, Clark, I want everything we've
got on this story pronto. I want to know why a multi-
billion dollar research center tried to re-enact the
sinking of the Krusk." Perry turned to look at Sarah and
Jimmy. Sarah was standing nearby, simply staring at Clark
as Jimmy continued to watch the television screens. "Hey,
what is this, a rock garden?" Perry asked as he clapped his
hands together twice. Jimmy muttered something about having
to load some film and hurried off. Sarah, however, stayed
a little bit longer. She looked at Clark longingly before
bidding him goodbye and going off to her corner where
unfinished work stood in slightly unsteady piles.
Perry winked at his favorite reporting team and strode off
to his office, whistling as he went. Now that no eyes
seemed to be trained in his direction; Clark slumped
forward, catching himself on Lois's desk.
"Are you okay?" Lois asked quietly while surreptitiously
checking Clark for hidden damage. Intellectually, she knew
he couldn't be hurt. However, when he took care of an
incident of that magnitude, her head and her heart often
didn't agree.
Clark rotated a shoulder and stretched out his cramping
back muscles before replying. "That was the toughest thing
I've ever done," he said softly, "I almost didn't stop it."
Lois reached over and gently brushed away the lock of hair
that was forever falling forward onto his forehead. "But
you did," she said softly, "And that's the important thing.
So... Star Labs?"
Clark pushed himself off of her desk. "Absolutely," he
said, "And we can check on Joseph on the way." Lois and
Clark turned around to leave. To their great surprise,
they ran smack into Sarah.
Sarah glanced up at Clark from under long, silken lashes.
"Hi. I just wanted to, um, say that if you need any
research for your story, let me know." Sarah shot one more
wistful glance at Clark before hurrying back to her corner.
As Sarah began to busily rearrange her piles of waiting
work, Lois turned to look at Clark and slipped her hand in
his. "I think someone has a bit of a crush on someone,"
she said teasingly as they walked toward the elevator.
"But I'm a married man," Clark said with a small smile
tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"All the more tempting," Lois said as she playfully butted
him with her hip.
"Someone else isn't jealous are they?" Clark looked at Lois
with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Not in the least," Lois said as Clark pressed the elevator
call button. "Because," she said huskily, "You are
irrevocably *mine*." The elevator arrived just as she
finished that statement. Lois and Clark stepped inside.
As Clark reached over to press the call button, Lois
slipped her arms around his neck and pulled his head
closer. She captured his lips in a passionate kiss. After
a few moments, they pulled apart, breathing heavily.
"Staking your claim, Ms. Lane?" Clark asked teasingly.
"You better believe it, flyboy," Lois answered with a happy
smile as she leaned forward and kissed him again.
Lois slipped her hand into Clark's as the elevator
continued in its downward path. Together, they walked out
of the elevator on the ground floor and over to the
Planet's daycare facility. Clark smiled as he remembered
Lois's fight to get the facility in operation when her
pregnancy with Kiley had been discovered. It had been
operating for almost five years now, and the Planet
employees who had children were thankful that it was. The
facility had a picture window near its entrance that
allowed parents to check on their children.
Lois and Clark crept slowly up to the window and peeked in.
Joseph was playing happily with the trucks that lay
scattered around him. Clark smiled as he watched his son
scoot a truck around the floor, making 'vroom, vroom'
sounds in lieu of engine noise. Lois leaned over and
kissed Clark on the cheek gently. "He's fine," she said,
"let's get over to Star Labs" As Clark nodded his
agreement, they slipped away from the window and headed to
the parking garage to retrieve the Jeep.
****
As Dr. Klein began to explain the specifics of the
malfunction aboard the Athena, Lois took the opportunity to
look around the lab. It wasn't often that the two of them
came to Star Labs; after her first pregnancy, there simply
hadn't been much of a reason for it. When she had gotten
pregnant with Kiley, the first order of business had been
to inform Dr. Klein. After all, he was the closest there
was to an expert on Kryptonian physiology, and their
children were the first ever Kryptonian-human hybrids.
They had been uncertain of any problems that might arise.
As a result of this, Dr. Klein was one of the few people
who knew that Superman was, in all actuality, Clark Kent.
Looking at the lab bench in front of her, the first thing
she noticed was a laser beam device that split one beam
into two. She refocused her attention on what Dr. Klein
had to say; ruthlessly yanking her recalcitrant thoughts
away from the fascinating sight in front of her.
"Seconds before the main propellers initiated," Dr. Klein
began, "the research station received a very brief, tight
beam microwave transmission. It sent in a computer code
that overrode the automatic controls and started the
engines."
"Do we know where the transmission came from?" Clark asked
a bit urgently.
Just as Lois was giving in to her insatiable curiosity
about the experiment in front of her by reaching for the
top of the plexi-glass box that enclosed it, her movement
caught Dr. Klein's eye. "Don't touch that!" He said
urgently.
Lois's hand jerked back suddenly. "Sorry," she muttered,
the redness of a blush spreading quickly over her face.
"What is it?" She asked finally.
"I'm measuring the electron flow along the plasma wake as
the laser passes through different gasses." Dr. Klein
said, staring at the laser device meditatively. Suddenly,
he snapped his fingers. "Plasma wake. That's it!" He
exclaimed before hurrying over to the computer and typing
madly.
"Dr. Klein?" Lois looked at the scientist in puzzlement,
what could he be up to?
Dr. Klein didn't answer, his attention was entirely taken
up by his computer. Lois glanced over at Clark, a question
evident in her face. Clark grinned slowly. "Caution," he
whispered, "mad scientist at work."
Finally, Dr. Klein glanced up. "No matter how brief it
was, the microwave beam must have left a trail of agitated
molecules along its path."
"I'd say something was agitated." Lois quipped.
Dr. Klein plowed on, oblivious to Lois's comment.
"Agitation means heat. Therefore, by using the infrared
detectors on some low orbiting satellites, we should be
able to identify and backtrack down the column of heated
molecules to its source. Ha ha gotcha!"
Lois and Clark walked around Dr. Klein to look at the
computer screen; it was covered in sets of seemingly random
numbers that streamed past at an alarming rate of speed.
"I don't see anything," Clark said.
"I'm switching to the NIA spy satellite. We'll get real-
time photos now that I have a lock on the molecules." Dr.
Klein explained.
"A spy satellite?" Lois asked, a skeptical look on her
face. "You can do that?"
"The name is Klein, Bernard Klein," Dr. Klein said in an
appalling imitation of Sean Connery. He smiled suavely and
waited for recognition. Lois and Clark exchanged blank
looks as Dr. Klein deflated. "You know, James Bond?"
"Oh yeah," Clark said. He hadn't really recognized Dr.
Klein's reference. After all, he reflected, he was more a
fan of the Lethal Weapon movies than of 007.
"We were just teasing," Lois said comfortingly, "it really
was very good." Privately, she thought otherwise, but in
the nine years that Clark had been her partner, some of his
tact had rubbed off.
Dr. Klein smiled happily and resumed working with the
computer. Within minutes, the numbers running across the
computer screen had been replaced with a very high altitude
shot of North America. The picture began to slowly zoom
in, first showing a suburb, then a neighborhood, then a
house, and finally a satellite dish in the backyard. The
picture froze on the satellite dish and coordinates popped
up on the screen along with an address.
"Twenty-seven forty-two Creel Drive, Metropolis." Clark
read out loud.
"Of course," Lois grumbled, "where else would it be? Every
villain in the known universe seems to operate out of
Metropolis! For once I wish we could have a villain in
Maui. Or Aspen. Or Monte Carlo."
"How accurate is this?" Clark asked.
"Plus or minus five feet," Dr. Klein answered.
"I'd say that's close enough. Thanks." Clark said before
he and Lois rushed out to follow this interesting
development.
****
Clark parked the Jeep in front of a split-level house in
the suburbs of Metropolis. He got out of the car, walked
around to the other side and helped Lois out of the car.
"Are you okay, honey?" He asked. Clark planted a gentle
kiss on her forehead.
"I'm fine, Clark," Lois said, "My back hurts a bit, but you
can give me one of your special massages later."
Clark nodded his agreement and put his arm around his wife
as they walked up to the door of the house. Lois began to
knock on the door, hoping that someone would answer her
summons. Clark couldn't help but notice the Century 22
'For Sale' sign on the front lawn behind the white picket
fence. He doubted that anyone lived there to answer the
door, but he knew that, to be on the safe side, knocking
was necessary. As Lois continued to knock, he seized the
opportunity to look around.
Recently, they had been discussing the possibility of
looking for a new house to accommodate the needs of their
growing family. The brownstone on Hyperion Avenue had
been a wonderful home, but, with their third child on the
way, and the fact that they had decided upon a large
family, they were fast outgrowing it.
Clark could imagine their children playing in the front
yard... swinging on the tire swing that he would place in
the large tree there. He surveyed the house, using his x-
ray vision to peek inside. He liked what he saw. "Nice
yard," Clark commented.
Lois gave the yard a cursory glance. "Yeah, it's cute,"
she said.
Clark could tell that she wasn't really thinking about the
house-her mind was almost completely focused on the story.
He pressed on anyway. "Nice fence. Good driveway, too.
Lois, can't you just see the kids here? They'd love it!"
"I know. I like the lattice work around the porch," Lois
answered distractedly.
Clark looked at his wife; he was a bit surprised by her
answer. After all, they'd had several disagreements over
this very issue. They both knew they were beginning to
need the extra space, but Lois wasn't too keen on moving
out of their beloved brownstone on Hyperion Avenue. Lois
stood on tiptoe and attempted to look into the house.
"And I've always liked this style of house," Clark said.
"Yeah, it's pretty great," Lois allowed.
"It's definitely the kind of place I could go for," Clark
admitted.
"Me, too," Lois said, carelessly running a hand through her
hair. She stepped back from the window and began to walk
around the back of the house. "Let's go check around
back." Lois grabbed his hand as they walked. It wasn't
long before they came face-to-face with a large satellite
dish that stood tall and proud in the backyard. Clark
examined it minutely, searching for any sign that it had
been used as the transmitter that had put the deep-sea
research center in danger.
"Okay, we know that this probably sent the signal, but
where is the device the signal came from?" Clark asked.
"Can I help you?" said a voice that came from behind Clark.
Lois and Clark turned around to find a dark haired man
dressed in khakis, a white shirt, a tie, and a Century 22
Realty sports coat behind them. "Oh yes, we were just
looking at the house. We were driving by and saw the sign,
so we thought we'd stop. We've been looking into buying a
bigger house anyway with this little one on the way." Lois
patted her stomach. She had barely started to show, but
the baby-bulge was noticeable enough to attract attention.
The man smiled at the couple and held out his hand for
Clark to shake. "Hi," he began, "I'm George Thomas.
You've found a nice one."
Lois looked the man over and took his measure. "Lois Lane.
This is my husband, Clark Kent."
"We knocked," Clark began, "but..."
"I know, I heard. But I was in the restroom. Is this
house something you'd be interested in?"
Lois looked George over and decided to see if she could
extract some information from him. "We love it," she said
enthusiastically. "It's just what I've always dreamed of!
And we love the neighborhood, but... we drove by here
around nine this morning and thought we saw some..."
"...strange people..." Clark chimed in. He recognized
exactly what his wife was up to. Over the years, both of
them had become adept at gathering information from the
unwary. The more they had done it, the easier uncovering
these windfalls had become.
"...hanging around," Lois continued, "You didn't happen to
notice any, did you?"
"No," Mr. Thomas began, "I haven't seen anyone all morning
except for my clients; they're an older couple in their
sixties. This is, of course, one of the safest
neighborhoods in Metropolis. If you like, I'll give you
the name of the listing agent."
"So you don't handle this house?" Clark asked.
"No. I represent some buyers," Mr. Thomas said. "Betty
Wilson is the agent for the sellers. She had another
showing, so I said I'd close for her. We're old pals. But
I'd be happy to show you some of my listings if you like."
"Thanks, but we're really just starting," Lois replied.
"I understand," he said. "Don't hesitate to call. At
Century 22, we bring your future to you." Mr. Thomas
smiled broadly. A few minutes later, as Lois and Clark
were preparing to leave, a van marked with the emblem of
Star Labs pulled up and equipment-laden people began to
stream out. Lois and Clark thanked the real estate agent
for his time and headed back to the Jeep.
Clark glanced at his watch as he climbed into the Jeep. It
was almost lunchtime and almost time to retrieve Kiley from
preschool. Clark did some quick calculations in his head
and realized that they had just enough time to pick up
Kiley before heading back to the Planet. Kiley usually
spent the afternoons playing with the other kids in the
Planet's daycare facility until they were ready to go home.
Since Kiley was born, they had cut back on their hours at
the Planet considerably. Investigative reporting would
never be a 9-5 job, but between the two of them, they were
determined to make it work for their family.
Clark knew that being able to keep the jobs they loved
simply wouldn't be possible if Ellen, Lucy, and Jimmy
hadn't made themselves available for the now rare occasions
in which they had to go on stakeouts. Crime in Metropolis
was down to a record low due to his Superman activities.
It seemed as if the very threat of Superman made criminals
think twice about trying anything. They still had an
occasional twisted evil genius to fight, but in the past
year, even those were becoming fewer and further between.
Lois looked at her watch as she started the Jeep. She
smiled as she drove the Jeep in the direction of Little
Hands Preschool. Much had changed in the past few years.
Many people, including herself, hadn't seen her as a mother
type, but she had proved everyone wrong. Kiley was one of
the highlights in her busy existence. Despite having
inherited the Lane babble gene, most of the time she acted
like a miniature copy of Clark.
It was strange, she mused, that although Kiley resembled
her, she acted like Clark. Joseph was the same way-he
looked like Clark, but acted like Lois. Lois glanced over
at her husband. From the joyous look he was wearing on his
face, she knew that he, too, was thinking about their
babies. Lois smiled fondly at her love. They hadn't been
married for long when they had mutually discovered that
they had a form of non-verbal communication that allowed
them to know what the other was thinking. It had proved
useful on many occasions, and she hoped that it would
continue to do so.
Before she could continue thinking along that tangent, her
cell phone rang. As she talked to her source, Clark got
out of the Jeep. "I'll be right back, honey," Clark walked
inside the preschool and came out a few minutes later.
Kiley clung to one hand, the remnants of tears still on her
face. In his other hand, he carried his daughter's
backpack and a note from her teacher. Clark opened the
door to the Jeep and helped his daughter in, making sure
that she was fastened securely in her safety seat.
"Daddy," Kiley began in a tremulous voice, "will you kiss
my boo-boo and make it better?" She held out her bandaged
knee to her father, hope warring with tears in her big
brown eyes. She knew what the note from her teacher was
about and that she might possibly get in trouble for what
she had done that day. Her knee really didn't hurt all
that much, but she needed her adored daddy's reassurance
that he still loved her.
"Of course, sweetheart." Clark said, leaning over to kiss
her knee and give her a hug. He saw the uncertainty in his
daughter's eyes and knew that she needed some reassurance
right now. "Kiley, we will always love you," he said
softly and kissed her on the cheek. Kiley suddenly broke
out in a smile. Her tears were temporarily forgotten; she
was once again the cheerful, sunny child whom they loved so
much.
"I love you, Daddy," she said.
Clark simply smiled and kissed her again before closing the
door and climbing in himself. They needed to get back to
the Planet and back to work... the truth about what had
actually happened to the Athena wasn't something that would
get figured out on its own.
Lois continued to talk to her source as they drove back to
the Planet. She peeked into the back, hoping that Kiley
had fallen asleep. She'd seen the tearstains and knew
that, whatever else, Kiley must have had a rough day. Lois
smiled as she saw that her daughter had, indeed, fallen
asleep. She quickly finished her conversation and turned
to Clark. "The U.N. is in an uproar," she said in an
urgent whisper. "They cancelled their science conference to
deal with the research facility. No terrorist group has
claimed responsibility, the NIA thinks it's a lone gunman."
"Great. Just great," Clark replied, "Where is he going to
strike next? The Eiffel Tower? The Parthenon?" Clark
shook his head, remembering the disaster of September
eleventh the previous year. "All it ever takes is one
lunatic to bring the whole world crashing down around our
ears!"
"Not the whole world," Lois said, capturing his hand in
hers as she drove. Clark looked lovingly at his wife.
After all these years, he still wasn't sure how he had
gotten lucky enough to have managed to marry her. "What?
What're you looking at?", Lois said, noticing for the first
time that he was staring at her.
"You." Clark said. "I was thinking how different my life
would have been if we'd never met."
"What if you'd never left Smallville?" Lois asked
thoughtfully.
"Smallville? What if I'd never left," his voice lowered a
bit so as not to wake Kiley, "Krypton?"
Lois squeezed his hand as she pulled the Jeep into the
Planet's parking garage. "Yeah," she said with a grin.
"Your family might have had their hearts set on a daughter-
in-law from Jupiter."
"How'd you know about her?" Clark asked teasingly. Clark
got out of the car, opened the back door, and began to
unfasten Kiley's restraints. "You know, I bet they would
have really liked you and the kids...Jor-El and Lara."
"You think about them much?" Lois asked as she got out of
the Jeep and walked around to the other side.
"Sometimes," Clark said as he picked up Kiley and her
backpack. "But that's behind me now. What's in front of
me is *us* and *our* family." Clark used his free hand to
gently caress her abdomen. Lois moved closer to him and
leaned in as he captured her lips in his. After a few
moments, Lois pulled back, smiled at him and took his hand
in hers as they started walking toward the Planet daycare
center to drop off Kiley.
****
George Thomas sat in a dark, windowless room. A metal
table stood in front of him covered in electronic
components and the beginnings of what looked like an
exotic, star-shaped bomb. He loosened his tie and began to
fiddle with the device in front of him. A few minutes
later, he stopped and looked at his watch. Time to
contact her, he thought with a sigh. He was reluctant to
go along with this whole scheme. After all, if they
succeeded, it would mean tearing a family apart. Thomas
didn't like the idea of invoking the law and sending a man
who was probably clueless about this whole mess into a
situation where he might not be able to come home to his
wife and children. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
Are you alone?
Sarah took a quick glance around her before her eyes
lighted on Clark. He was hunched over his desk, speaking
to someone over the phone. It was as if he didn't want
anyone to overhear the conversation he was having. Sarah
continued in her path towards the bookcase, unable or
unwilling to take her eyes off Clark. I'm alone. Did
they find it? she asked. Her mental voice sounded more
than a trifle annoyed.
No, and it was *super* obvious. A child of two could've
discovered it. Maybe we should borrow their son Joseph and
let *him* find it for them. Perhaps we should have laid
down breadcrumbs, or a neon sign or a large...
*Ching*! Don't start. I know you're not happy with this
mission, but it is necessary. Sarah glanced down and
watched Clark hang up the phone. Lois walked out of the
back hall, returning from the restroom. Clark carefully
slid the legal pad he had been making notes on under a
stack of other papers and stood up to meet his wife. Sarah
continued watching as Jimmy walked by with his camera in
his hand and Clark said something that made the threesome
start laughing. Sarah suppressed a twinge of jealousy as
she watched Clark kiss Lois softly. After all, Kal-El
belonged to her, not some Earth woman.
Do I detect...fondness?? Even a hint of jealousy
there? Ching inquired.
Not at all Sarah retorted. In spite of herself she
looked at Clark's butt as he leaned over the desk.
Wait, I sense... You're attracted to how tight his
clothing is across the muscles of his posterior? Ching's
mental voice conveyed amazement at this new discovery.
No I'm not! I was thinking about... Phase two. Sarah
retorted.
So, is *that* what they call it here? Then we'll
continue as planned. It will be interesting to see if he
can deal with that--it will be interesting to see how he
deals with a situation like this. Ching broke the
connection and returned to working on the bomb in front of
him.
Sarah's face hardened for a minute as she watched Lois and
Clark walk into the conference room. She knew that he
would probably succeed and return with them. He would be
hers permanently after they left; he could not bring the
Earth woman or his half-breed children with him.
****
Lois sat with her feet propped up in the conference room,
watching Clark shoot rubber bands into a coffee mug. "So
we've got the satellite dish but no transmitter..." she
began.
Without thinking, Clark finished her thought. "...and no
suspects. Off the TV." Clark let go of the rubber band.
It sailed through the air, hit the television screen, and
richoted into the mug. Clark grinned in satisfaction. He
was the strongest man in the world, but there was something
strangely satisfying about doing something as simple as
shooting a rubber band into a cup.
"It can't be Lame Brain, the Prankster, the Churches, or
Tempus," Lois said.
"Because they're all in jail. Off the lamp with a twist,"
Clark said as he let go of yet another rubber band. It
sailed through the air, hit the lamp and performed a series
of twisting loops through the air before landing in the
cup.
"And it can't be Lex, Bad Brain, or Cyclops Joe because
they're all dead." Lois stated.
"Also correct. Combo. Off the door, off the VCR, off the
lamp and into the cup with a backwards flip," Clark said as
he let the rubber band fly.
The rubber band hit its targets and as it began to zing
toward the cup, Lois snatched it in mid-air. Lois looked at
her husband with mild exasperation. "You could at least
miss every once in a while," she grumbled.
Ray stuck his head in the door of the Conference room.
"Dr. Klein is on three," he said. Ray could feel his face
turning red as he delivered the message to the Planet's
most famous reporting team. He'd been at the Planet for
the past six months, but he was still shy of the reporting
duo. Just as he was about to leave them in peace, Sarah
crept up beside Ray and entered the room.
Sarah set a stack of files down on the table. "Here's all
I've been able to find on companies involved in microwave
technology."
Lois glanced over at Sarah, surprise written all over her
features. "That was quick."
Sarah blushed and averted her eyes, "I, um, knew it was
important, so I kinda jumped you to the top of the list."
Sarah looked up at Clark adoringly through her eyelashes.
"Thanks," Clark said, barely glancing in her direction.
"Um, y'all," Ray said, gesturing towards the phone. Lois
reached toward the phone as Sarah and Ray left the room.
****
Sarah walked back to her little area and sat down at her
desk. As she glanced back toward the conference room, a
soft smile stole over her face. She had known that her
Kal-El would be handsome. After all, all of the stories
she had heard of him growing up confirmed that fact. They
were lucky that they had been able to find him. Kryptonians
were almost genetically identical to humans; it was only
due to a thousand-year-old tradition that they had been
able to locate him in the vast sea of humanity...
****
Lois punched the button for line three and put the phone in
speaker mode. "Sorry to keep you waiting Dr. Klein."
"I just finished deciphering the computer code that was
sent to the underwater research center. It was very
interesting actually, its an encryption based upon the
multiples of the wavelength of--"
"Dr. Klein?" Clark interrupted.
"Right." Dr. Klein continued. "Okay. To the point. If
Superman hadn't been able to save the research station, the
main engines were programmed to stop and the propellers
would've started anyway and the station would've saved
itself."
"You mean," Lois said slowly, "it was never in danger?"
"Exactly," Dr. Klein answered.
"But why would someone program it to put itself in jeopardy
and then rescue itself?" Clark asked.
"That's the eighty-five billion dollar question," Dr. Klein
answered.
"Thanks Dr. Klein." Lois hung up the phone and exchanged a
glance with Clark. "I think we'd better call that real
estate guy... What was his name again?"
"George Thomas," Clark leaned over and brushed his lips
across Lois's before picking up the phone and dialing the
real estate agency. "Yes," Clark began, speaking into the
phone. "I'd like to speak to George Thomas. Um hm. Yeah,
he's one of your brokers. I saw him at a house today. Ok-
ay, thank you. Bye." Clark replaced the phone in the cradle
and turned to Lois.
"They don't have a broker named George Thomas, do they?"
Lois asked.
"Bingo." Clark answered.
"RAY!" Lois and Clark yelled together.
Ray poked his head around the door and shot the duo a
quizzical look. "Yes, oh great and powerful ones?" he
said, a small smile playing around his lips. He had heard
about Lois Lane's famous temper... He wasn't quite sure if
he could get away with teasing her like this, but some
small perverse part of him insisted that he try.
Clark simply sighed and shook his head. "Call Detective
Henderson and see if we can get some mug shots on guys who
might do real estate scams and/or be an expert in microwave
technology."
"Oh, like those are related," Ray muttered under his breath
as he began to walk over to his research station.
Perry rushed into the Conference room, breathing heavily.
"Clark, Lois," he yelled. "I just got an anonymous phone
call that there's a bomb scheduled to go off across town in
front of the Metropolis Interactive Science Museum. It's
in a messenger bag by the double helix."
Lois quickly turned to Clark. "Clark, you get the car.
Has anybody called the police and the bomb squad?"
"The cops have already been notified." Perry stated before
hurrying out into the bullpen. "Ray, pull me what we've
got on the museum." As Ray hurried off, Perry turned to
face the rest of the newsroom and began furiously shouting
orders. "Jane, yank Plastino off whatever he's doing and
get him up here! Ricky, you and Dwyer head over to the
police station. Come on, people, move move *move*! It's
called 'news' because we get it before anybody else!"
As Lois grabbed her purse, Clark ran towards the stairwell.
Within milliseconds, he had spun into the suit and was on
the way to the Science Museum. He landed outside and began
searching for the messenger bag under the sculpture of the
double helix. He turned to the patrons of the museum,
"There may be a bomb. For your own safety, you all have to
leave." A teacher standing nearby gathered up the children
around her and hustled them off to their waiting school
bus. Superman spared a moment to watch them leave, the
name of the school painted upon the side of the bus,
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Elementary, barely registered in
his brain.
He swept the area with X-ray vision until he located the
messenger bag. He strode over and picked it up and ripped
it open quickly. Instead of a bomb, he found a jumble of
electronic parts and a note. Superman picked up the note
and began to read. 'Superman, if you're reading this, I
assume you got my message. Here's the location of the real
bomb. It's on this micro-CD. Unfortunately, you have to
assemble the player in time to play it. One more minute.
Good luck.'
Sarah hurried out of the museum. She didn't know how she
would explain her presence if asked, after all, she *was*
supposed to be at the Daily Planet. She hoped that the
bomb would prove to be sufficiently distracting so that
Kal-El would not notice that she was there. It was
necessary for both she and Ching to observe Kal-El's
performance... They must know not only if he was worthy,
but also if he would leave his wife and children behind.
"Superman, what's going on?" Sarah asked, feigning
puzzlement.
"A very dangerous riddle," Superman began, "Now if you'll
excuse me, I've got to concentrate." Superman reached into
the bag and began assembling the electronics at superspeed.
He was thankful that he had spent some time fixing the CD
player last week. After all, the components couldn't be
much different. It took three tries, but finally, the
player was together. He slipped in the miniature CD and
hit the play button. "Congratulations," a somewhat
familiar voice began. "Hope it's not too late. Now here's
another puzzle: Why is a raven like a writing desk? Alice
went through it." Superman glanced at Sarah.
"Don't look at me," she began, "I can't even do crossword
puzzles."
"Okay. Now the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk"
came from 'Alice in Wonderland' which was written by Lewis
Carroll. Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Lutwidge
Dodgson. A writing desk means that it's at a school, and
there's an elementary school named after him." Superman
took off and flew as fast as he could over to Charles
Lutwidge Dodgson Elementary school. Time was running out
and he knew that if he didn't hurry and locate the bomb,
the school would blow up along with all of the children. He
paced back and forth in the main entrance of the school,
muttering to himself.
"Alice went through the rabbit hole... But she also went
through a looking glass in Carroll's second book. Now
another word for looking glass is mirror, and since Alice
went through it, it means that it must be in the girl's
bathroom."
Superman zipped into the unoccupied girls' restroom and
began to x-ray the mirrors. Sure enough, one of the
mirrors had a bomb behind it. He removed the mirror,
pulled the bomb off the back, flew out of the school, and
threw the bomb up in the air just as it exploded.
Superman flew in the direction of the Planet building,
thankful that the most recent bedtime story he had been
reading to Kiley was "Alice in Wonderland".
****
Ching sat at a metal table and played with the food on a
plate in front of him. This whole mission had made him
lose his appetite. It wasn't really necessary for him to
eat for several more days anyway. After all, the radiation
from the yellow sun gave him almost all the sustenance he
needed. On his own planet, things were a little
different...
The last thing Ching wanted to do was rip Kal-El away from
his wife and children. Over the past month, he had seen
the level of love and care that existed in the small family
and he had no wish to destroy their lives. Our people can
solve this problem by themselves, he thought. Ching had
been a stubborn opponent to the plan from the first.
Fetching Kal-El to resolve the problem might be the most
expedient way to resolve the current situation, but it was
not the only method available to them. Then there was also
the irrevocable fact that he loved Sarah... and she did not
know he existed.
Sarah paced back and forth in front of the table. Her
dinner sat virtually untouched. Kal-El had to pass the
tests in order to return with her. She knew Ching's wish
that they could leave him there, but it galled her that he
had married an Earth woman. After all, according to law,
it was their destiny to be together. She belonged to him
and he to her. So it had always been in noble families...
Marriage alliances that bound house to house and bound the
people together in unity. From her childhood, she had heard
stories of him.
There was a locator chip inserted under the skin of his
right arm soon after birth that transmitted where he was to
the main database on their new home. There were as many
such records as there were members of the nobility. Usually
these chips were removed when a child reached full
adulthood, but Kal-El had not been close enough for this to
happen. The chips were a tradition from an earlier, more
violent, period of history when the kidnapping of children
from the nobility was a common tactic in the politics of
the council.
Without the chip, they probably would not have been able to
find him among the people of Earth. Other devices in his
ship had monitored him, following him until his tenth
cycle. After that, the transmissions became fuzzier and
patchier until, in his twelfth cycle, the devices finally
stopped transmitting altogether. Until they had spent time
underneath the yellow sun, they had been ignorant of the
state of Kryptonians on this planet.
Sarah broke off her train of thought and turned to face
Ching. "The bomb almost exploded."
"Correction," Ching said dryly, "The bomb did explode, just
not before your friend, with another modest display of
strength, threw it into the upper stratosphere. I still
don't see why this is necessary. We don't need Kal-El to
defeat one man; we can leave him here to raise his
children."
"You forget yourself," Sarah said. She glared at him for a
moment. "We do need him; it is the most expedient solution
to our problems."
"And of course this has nothing to do with the fact that
you've heard about him your entire life and you think that
he belongs with you... And that you think that after he
solves our world's current situation, you can convince him
to completely abandon his family here and stay with you."
Ching said with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"All that the records show is that he was a nice child, and
everything we've observed leads me to the conclusion that
he would never abandon his pregnant wife and their two
small children."
"Ching, you're right about the fact that I've loved Kal-El
for years. But it's also true that once our enemy finds
out that he's alive and has a family, not only will he
destroy our world but he will also destroy this one and
Kal-El's family as well. We both know how ruthless he is.
This may not be the only solution, but it is the best one."
Ching sighed and covered his face with his hands. Sarah
was right. As much as he hated it, it was the only
solution that would enable Kal-El to protect his little
ones. "The testing will continue," he said reluctantly. "
We must discover if he will aid us in our quest."
****
Clark landed in the alley outside the Daily Planet and
walked quickly inside. He peeked in the daycare facility
to check on Kiley and Joseph. It was still early
afternoon, and both children were fast asleep on their
mats. A soft smile stole over his face as he contemplated
the sight of his babies, asleep side-by-side. Kiley's arm
was thrown over Joseph's shoulder in a protective gesture
and their mats had somehow been scooted together so that
Joseph, lying on his tummy, was cuddled up next to his big
sister.
Clark walked away quietly and went to meet Lois at their
Jeep. They had planned to go back to the house on Creel
Drive to see if they could find anything unusual without
the interruption from 'George Thomas'. Just as Clark
walked over to their usual parking space in the Planet's
underground parking garage, Lois arrived. It wasn't long
before she was driving at her usual breakneck speed toward
the house.
****
Clark stood quietly in the backyard of the house on Creel
Drive by the satellite dish. He carefully scanned the area
one more time, hoping to find the device that had somehow
transmitted the signal that almost led to disaster. Clark
heard a car door slam. He turned around as Lois came up
behind him. "How does George Thomas fit into this?" he
wondered out loud.
"Either he's really smart...or a madman." Lois said, "Or
even worse, a really smart madman. So what are we looking
for?"
"Anything unusual, no matter how unimportant it seems,"
Clark answered.
Lois began to prowl around the backyard, looking for
anything that would be out of place. "Okay, let's assume
the worst case scenario: he's a really smart madman. This
has got to be something big. He can out-think the most
brilliant scientists in the nation..."
"...and is willing to risk hundreds of lives," Clark said.
"But why would he do all this? The underwater research
facility was a bluff..." Lois questioned.
"The bomb behind the mirror at the school wasn't a bluff,"
Clark stated.
Lois shrugged as her husband x-rayed the satellite dish
once more. Finding nothing, he slowly shook his head. "El
zippo," Clark glanced at Lois. "It's definitely strange.
For a moment I thought they might've been attempts to get
me out of the way so some other crimes could be committed,
but nothing's happened."
"It's... almost as if... you're being tested..." Lois said.
"Or set up for something bigger," Clark thought for a
moment, " Yeah. Definitely. Something bigger."
Lois looked down at the low wall surrounding the bushes.
"Hey, here's a quarter we can use toward the down payment."
Lois walked over and looked at the coin before handing it
to Clark. "This... isn't a quarter," she said slowly.
Clark looked at the device that Lois was holding. "It's a
micro transmitter."
"Then this is what Dr. Klein homed in on. The satellite
dish was just a decoy," Lois said, understanding dawning on
her face.
"He did say plus or minus five feet. Let me see." Lois
dropped the device into Clark's outstretched hand. The
moment the transmitter made contact with his skin, a
hologram of George Thomas appeared. Lois and Clark
started in surprise at the appearance of the image.
Clark's free arm automatically came up and encircled Lois,
pulling her close to him as the hologram of George Thomas
began to speak.
"Finally, it's about time you found this, Superman. Or
should I say Super-slow-man? Wait, don't answer. I just
wanted to say 'Hello' and tell you that you'll be seeing a
lot more of me soon. The best... and worst... are yet to
come. Farewell."
As the hologram shut down, Lois looked at Clark. "He
doesn't want to do this," she stated quietly. "There's
something in his eyes that doesn't click with what he's
saying."
Clark put the transmitter in his jacket pocket and pulled
her a little closer. "That may be," he began, "But in the
meanwhile, we need to get this to Dr. Klein." Clark
reluctantly let go of Lois and reached for her hand as they
began to walk back to the Jeep.
****
Jonathan and Martha walked out of the shed carrying old
milking cans, long fluorescent tubes, and a spool of
electrical wire. It had been a long day on the farm and
Jonathan was tired. It didn't help that Martha just *had*
to go looking for junk for her latest sculpture. He didn't
mind... not really. After all, if it made his Martha
happy, it was worth it. He looked at her and smiled.
After more than 35 years of marriage, she was still his
reason to get up in the morning. He didn't know what he'd
do without her. Hopefully, he'd never have to find out.
The couple turned as Jonathan locked the door of the shed
behind them.
"These will be perfect for my modern sculpture class,"
Martha said, smiling down at her armful.
"But how are you going to light up both of them?" Jonathan
asked, a puzzled look adorning his face.
Martha looked up at him and smiled. "I haven't figured
that out yet," she said.
As they turned around to start back up to the house, a
figure dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt came out
from around the barn. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent?" he asked.
"Yes?" Jonathan answered.
Their guest smiled and held out his hand for them to shake.
He hated doing this, after all, Kal-El's adopted parents
seemed like really nice people. Momentarily he wondered why
it was that he had to do all of the dirty work...
****
by Laura Davies brightfeather1.geo@yahoo.com
Rated: PG-13
Submitted: November 2002
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just
playing with them for a while. G Any resemblance to any
other work of fiction is strictly coincidental.
Authors note: This is a re-write of the New Krypton arc, so
my thanks goes out to the writers of the original New
Krypton Arc. I also need to thank all of the beta readers
who assisted in this project: Erin, Tricia, Helen, Avia,
Breanna, Doug, Wanda, Jenni, Mary, and Missy as well as all
of the readers on Zoom's message boards. I also need to
thank the regulars on #lanekent and #loisclark... Without
ya'll this story would have never been begun, let alone
finished. This is Book I, so I'm afraid you'll have to
read Book II to continue the saga. All Feedback welcome.
****
Clark woke to the sound of his small son sobbing. Beside
him, Lois stirred slightly, beginning to wake up. "I'll
get him, honey," he said softly, "go back to sleep." Clark
climbed out of bed and hurried into the child's room.
"Joseph, sweetie, what's the matter?" He asked as he picked
his son up out of the crib.
"Mon'ter, Daddy!" the little boy sobbed.
"Shhh," Clark said soothingly, "Daddy's here." He patted
Joseph on the back. Slowly the boy's sobs subsided as he
fell asleep in his father's warm encircling arms. Clark
gently laid his son down in the crib.
Just as he began to leave, Joseph's eyes opened. "No go,
Daddy," he demanded. "Daddy 'tay wiv Jo'eph."
Clark sighed a bit as he regarded his two-year-old. He
scooped up the child and headed back to the master bedroom.
He knew that the experts advised against having children
sleep with their parents, but he was simply too tired after
yesterday's hurricane in Hawaii to deal with this right
now. He supposed that he could get Lois, but at four and a
half months pregnant, she needed the sleep more than he
did. He laid the child down on the bed and slid under the
covers, making sure to cover his son up with a blanket.
"Tank you, Daddy," Joseph said sleepily as his thumb found
its way to his mouth and slipped off into dreamland.
Clark smiled as he softly kissed Joseph on the top of his
head and closed his eyes. He was glad Kiley hadn't been
woken up by Joseph's sobs; at four she was likely to
protest and wake her mother. He glanced through the wall
to check on her; just in case. She was sleeping
peacefully, almost the spitting image of her mother at the
same age. Clark closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep;
all was right with the world.
****
Lois cracked open her eyes as the alarm sounded. She
sleepily reached out a hand and smacked the button; turning
off the alarm. Her other hand flopped over the other side
of the bed; searching for Clark. As her hand encountered
empty air rather than her husband's solid form, she
frowned; it had been a long time since she had woken up
alone. Carefully, she used her arms to lever herself up in
bed, only then noticing the form of her small son curled up
beside her. She smiled tenderly as she smoothed back the
rumpled crown of fine dark hair that covered the small
head. Lois dropped a soft kiss on her baby's head; he was
the spitting image of Clark at the same age, but he had
more of her personality. She gently picked the child up and
held him in her lap. "Wake up, sweetheart," she said
softly.
Joseph opened one sleepy chocolate brown eye and grinned.
"Hi Mommy," he said as he threw his little arms around her
for a hug. Joseph kissed Lois's tummy, "Hi baby!" He
looked around the room. "Where Daddy Kiley?" he asked.
Without waiting for an answer, he slid off of Lois's lap
and announced, "I find Daddy Kiley." Joseph made a beeline
for the door and ran straight toward his sister's room.
"Kiley," his little voice called, "wake up!" Joseph
barreled into the room and looked around for his big
sister. A wide, happy grin spread over his little face.
"Daddy!" Joseph yelled as he ran forward and wrapped
himself around Clark's leg.
Clark gave the ponytail holder one more twist to secure the
end of Kiley's braid before gently disengaging Joseph's
arms from around his leg and scooping up his son for a good
morning hug. "Lois?" he called softly, "Are you awake?"
Lois, who had followed Joseph, albeit a little slower,
walked into the room. Kiley bounced up to her and
exclaimed, "Mommy, Daddy braided my hair!" Lois looked at
her daughter and chuckled.
"Sweetie, he only got half done," she said with a smile,
noting her daughter's hair. Clark had parted it down the
middle and begun to braid it in twin pigtails, but he had
only succeeded in finishing one braid before Joseph had
interrupted. "Kiley, I'll finish fixing your hair." Lois
sat down on Kiley's bed and picked up the brush. "Come here
please," Lois said. Kiley came over and stood where Lois
could reach her long dark brown curls.
As Lois began to brush and braid their daughter's hair,
Clark walked over and planted a loving kiss on her lips.
"I'll get Joseph dressed and make breakfast," he said with
a heart-melting smile. Lois nodded, dropped a kiss on the
top of Kiley's head. Kiley jumped up and down excitedly,
"I want Emily to see my braids. Are we going to the park
today Mommy? I want to play in the sandbox and swing on
the swings with Emily. We're going to climb trees and play
princesses in the tower."
"Of course we are punkin'," Lois said as her daughter
hugged her enthusiastically. Lois reached the end of the
braid and twisted a ponytail holder around it to hold the
hair in place. "There you go Kiley," Lois said with a
smile. "I'll meet you downstairs ok?"
"Okay, Mommy!" Kiley exclaimed and bounced out of the room.
Lois smiled as she watched Kiley's enthusiasm. If anyone
had told her ten years ago what she'd be doing now, she
would have insisted on finding them a straightjacket. Lois
went into the master bedroom and began hunting for some
clothes that still fit. It was a chilly late September day
outside, so she settled on one of Clark's old flannel
shirts and a pair of maternity jeans. Lois slipped on socks
and shoes and headed downstairs toward the sound of dishes
clattering in the kitchen. Kiley and Joseph were sitting at
the table, slightly sticky with the syrup from the pancakes
that Clark had fixed them. She walked over to Clark, put
her arms around his waist, and lifted her face for a kiss.
His face had brightened when she entered the room; he
smiled down at her softly before brushing his lips across
hers in a gentle caress. "Morning sweetheart," he said,
joy lighting up his features. His hand caressed her gravid
belly as he leaned down and whispered, "Good morning, baby
Kent." He ushered her over to the table, setting a plate
full of pancakes in front of her. He grabbed Joseph right
before the mischievous little boy grabbed his sister's
braids with his syrup-covered hands and hauled him away to
wash.
A few minutes later, Lois led Kiley into the bathroom and
supervised the removal of syrup from her hands, arms, and
face. As Clark cleaned the kitchen, Lois got the kids into
their coats. Soon they were on their way to the park.
Lois and Clark sat together on a bench by the playground
and watched their children play in the sandbox. It was a
rare occasion that they got to spend the whole day together
like this without interference from the outside world.
When Lois had gotten pregnant with Kiley, Clark had cut
back his Superman activities so he could be there for his
child. Together they had decided that their family came
first; the rest of the world could wait.
****
Lois and Clark walked past the cappuccino stand, where a
man dressed in jeans and a leather jacket sat reading a
paper, and through the Daily Planet lobby. They headed
toward the Planet's daycare center and the elevator. Clark
carried Joseph on one hip, occasionally tickling his ribs
so that his small son would laugh and remove his thumb from
his mouth. "So," Lois said smiling widely, "your mom has
promised to baby-sit; what do you want to do for our
Anniversary next week?" Clark leaned over and whispered
something in her ear. Lois giggled and swatted him gently
on the chest. "You're insatiable, Mr. Kent," she said with
a broad smile. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on
the tip of his nose.
Joseph chose that moment to hold out his arms to her. "Up
Mommy," he said, wearing one of Clark's patented smiles.
Lois took Joseph from Clark and kissed him on the cheek.
"I love you Mommy," Joseph proclaimed as he threw his arms
around her neck and kissed her. Lois smiled tenderly at
her little boy as they resumed walking. Far too soon they
were at the entrance of the Planet's daycare center.
Joseph made his usual Monday morning protest at leaving his
parents' side; he started screaming. "Want Mommy! Want
Daddy!" he yelled over and over before beginning to whine.
Clark glanced through the wall to make sure that Joseph was
okay. Anne, one of the daycare employees, was holding him.
Clark put his arm around Lois's waist as they walked over
to the elevators. This was always the worst part of
Mondays for them; they both hated to see their little ones
cry, but they knew that Joseph would settle down soon
enough.
****
Sarah walked into the elevator, double-checking the armload
of files as she did so. Satisfied that she held the
correct files for Lois's and Clark's story on the proposed
Hobbs Bay Revitalization Project, she pressed the button to
take her up to the newsroom. Sarah grimaced to herself; if
she were to claim what was rightfully hers, a long battle
lay ahead. She hadn't worked at the Planet for very long,
but being near and not able to touch him was exquisite
torture. She considered herself lucky to belong to such a
handsome man; even though he still remained ignorant of the
fact.
The elevator dinged and she walked out, searching for the
husband and wife duo. Finally she saw them in front of
her. Her guts twisted in envy as she watched Clark Kent
turn his wife's hand over and drop a soft kiss in the
center of it. She carefully schooled her face to not
reveal this emotion and walked briskly toward them. She
walked quietly up to Clark and glanced at him shyly through
her long eyelashes before turning to Lois. "Here's the
research you wanted on the Hobbs Bay Revitalization
Project," she said quietly.
"Really?" Lois questioned, "that was fast, I only asked for
it yesterday!"
"I, uh, stayed late," Sarah answered.
"For that, you deserve a donut," Clark said, one of his
patented 100 mega-watt smiles gracing his face.
Sarah looked up at Clark refusal evident in her face. It
only took a few seconds of looking at his brilliant smile
before she answered, "well... um, okay," changing her mind.
Clark reached over and snatched a donut from Jimmy's nearly
empty box as he passed by. Just as Clark was about to hand
the donut over to Sarah, Jimmy spoke up. "Not the banana
cream! The Chief'll kill me!" he exclaimed. Clark dropped
the donut back in the box and licked his sticky fingers as
Jimmy looked at Sarah and froze. She's beautiful, he
thought, looking her up and down. "Here," he said, "take
mine." Jimmy pulled another donut out of the box and handed
it to Sarah.
"*Jimmy*," came the bellow from Perry who was on the other
side of the newsroom.
"Coming Chief," Jimmy said with a sigh. He turned to Lois,
Clark, and Sarah and said, "I've gotta fly!" and ran off
in the direction of Perry's office.
Lois watched Jimmy disappear with an indulgent smile on her
face. He'd come a long way from the gopher and copy boy
that he used to be. After all, Jimmy was now an award-
winning photographer and was shaping up to be a darn good
reporter. His relationship with Perry had also changed
somewhat. His errand-running days were mostly behind him;
but, he still occasionally ran a few errands for the Chief.
He was still a sucker for a pretty face; however, since
Lucy had moved back to Metropolis he had taken to haunting
her doorstep. Lois was waiting for their engagement to be
announced at any time now. Jimmy had been a surrogate
uncle to Kiley and Joseph and the way things were working
out between him and Lucy, soon his relationship with them
would be official. She really wouldn't mind having Jimmy
for a brother-in-law, she reflected. He had been like a
younger brother to her and Clark for quite some time now
anyway. Lois smiled as she began to pull herself back to
reality. She reached out and took Clark's hand in her own
before focusing on what Sarah was saying.
Sarah took a deep breath, trying to come up with the
courage to speak to the incredibly handsome man in front of
her. "Um, I know I'm sort of new here," she began, "I
mean, not that new, I have been here for a month, but... do
you two ever take story ideas from somebody else?"
Lois smiled at the nervous girl encouragingly. From her
demeanor, it was obvious that she was nervous about
something; Lois chalked it up to being scared about her
boldness in suggesting such a thing. "If it's a good idea,"
Lois answered.
"Well, I was thinking; there's always so much bad news,"
Sarah began, "what if you did a series on people who make
personal sacrifices for the good of society? Like
astronauts..."
"Or medical missionaries..." Clark chimed in.
"Or Superman?" Lois said.
"Exactly!" Sarah exclaimed. "What drives him... or people
like him?"
Clark looked as if he were going to reply to this remark.
However, before he got the chance to open his mouth, Perry
rushed out of his office. "Turn up those things *now*!"
Perry yelled. Ray, the newest copy boy, ran over to the
televisions and hurriedly turned up the volume. "The
broadcast about the dedication of the brand new underwater
research center, the Athena," Perry reminded as the entire
newsroom turned towards the monitors. "It's not only the
first of its kind, it's the first such research center to
allow the scientists to bring their children with them."
As the news anchor on the screen up in the newsroom droned
on about the Athena's technological advances, the families,
and the scientists aboard her, the man sitting at the
cappuccino stand pulled a small black device out of the
pocket of his leather jacket. The device itself wasn't
much to look at, but its design somehow conveyed menace and
fear. The man fiddled with it for a few moments as he
listened to the announcer's voice on a nearby radio. As
the researchers began to use the opportunity to say hello
to the world, the man pushed a small, circular button on
the device. He smiled; convinced it would work.
****
The propellers on the underwater research center Athena
came suddenly to life, forcing the once stable research
center into motion toward the Mariana Trench. Inside the
research station, the scientists and their families fell to
the deck, unprepared for the sudden movement of their
temporary home. Each one found something to hold on to and
prayed to survive the experience.
****
In the newsroom of the Daily Planet, the staff watched in
horror as the Athena moved inexorably in a course toward
the deepest pit on Earth. The anchor on LNN had just
announced the problem when Clark quietly excused himself,
saying that he would contact his sources in the Navy, and
left in the direction of the stairwell, loosening his tie
as he ran. Perry began to order his reporters to get
information for the story; desperately trying to insure
that the Planet would not be scooped. Sarah watched Clark
go, a small smile adorning her face, before turning to face
the monitors to watch the drama unfold.
Clark flew up the stairwell of the Daily Planet while
spinning into the supersuit. At superspeed, he dived for
the Athena, grabbed it, and began to pull backwards. Every
muscle in his powerful body strained as he struggled to
prevent the Athena's disastrous dive into the Mariana
Trench. For what seemed like an eternity, Superman was
losing his battle with gravity. Every molecule of his
being struggled to stop the disastrous descent of the
research center. The lives of the scientists and their
families were at stake, for the Athena simply didn't have
the hull strength to stop the tremendous pressure of the
Earth's internal gravity from crushing them to death.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the research station began to
respond. At first its response was infinitesimal. It
crept out of its seemingly unintentional course and, with
Superman's help, began to regain its former position.
Finally the Athena's propellers cut off, letting the
research station resume its position anchored to the ocean
floor. The people aboard released their death grip on the
makeshift handles inside the submerged facility and
gingerly made their way to the nearest porthole. They
waved their thanks to the drenched superhero and resumed
their work.
Superman waved at them before flying tiredly back up to the
surface. He flew toward Metropolis, flexing his aching
muscles as he gratefully let the warm sun play over them.
The sun had done its job of partially re-energizing his
exhausted body before he reached the roof of the Daily
Planet. Summoning one last ounce of speed, he spun himself
dry and into his 'Clark clothes'; his movements too fast
for the human eye to see and walked slowly down the stairs.
He dragged himself into the newsroom, his face screwed up
in a puzzled expression. "Did I miss anything?" Clark
asked Lois doing his best to seem ignorant of the Superman
rescue that had just occurred for the benefit of anyone who
happened to be watching.
Lois stood up when Clark entered the room, joy lighting up
her face; he had saved the oceanographers and come back to
her undamaged. Her eyes caught his, wordlessly telling him
how proud she was of him and of her relief that he was
unscathed. She wanted to kiss him right there to assure
herself that despite the recent adventure, he really was
still with her. "Superman saved the research station," she
replied instead, knowing that kissing him senseless in the
newsroom when a big story was breaking might not be a good
idea.
Jimmy looked at Clark, the awe he felt from what Superman
had done still evident on his face. "Man, he was like a
fly on the windshield except this time the fly stopped the
car! Look at the pictures on LNN! I mean, his handprints
are on the body of the Athena! Whammo!" Jimmy gaped at the
handprints that were still visible on LNN's broadcast. He
was astonished that one man could fight gravity over such a
heavy object and still manage to return victorious.
Perry stood up, walked over to Lois and Clark, and started
issuing commands. "Lois, Clark, I want everything we've
got on this story pronto. I want to know why a multi-
billion dollar research center tried to re-enact the
sinking of the Krusk." Perry turned to look at Sarah and
Jimmy. Sarah was standing nearby, simply staring at Clark
as Jimmy continued to watch the television screens. "Hey,
what is this, a rock garden?" Perry asked as he clapped his
hands together twice. Jimmy muttered something about having
to load some film and hurried off. Sarah, however, stayed
a little bit longer. She looked at Clark longingly before
bidding him goodbye and going off to her corner where
unfinished work stood in slightly unsteady piles.
Perry winked at his favorite reporting team and strode off
to his office, whistling as he went. Now that no eyes
seemed to be trained in his direction; Clark slumped
forward, catching himself on Lois's desk.
"Are you okay?" Lois asked quietly while surreptitiously
checking Clark for hidden damage. Intellectually, she knew
he couldn't be hurt. However, when he took care of an
incident of that magnitude, her head and her heart often
didn't agree.
Clark rotated a shoulder and stretched out his cramping
back muscles before replying. "That was the toughest thing
I've ever done," he said softly, "I almost didn't stop it."
Lois reached over and gently brushed away the lock of hair
that was forever falling forward onto his forehead. "But
you did," she said softly, "And that's the important thing.
So... Star Labs?"
Clark pushed himself off of her desk. "Absolutely," he
said, "And we can check on Joseph on the way." Lois and
Clark turned around to leave. To their great surprise,
they ran smack into Sarah.
Sarah glanced up at Clark from under long, silken lashes.
"Hi. I just wanted to, um, say that if you need any
research for your story, let me know." Sarah shot one more
wistful glance at Clark before hurrying back to her corner.
As Sarah began to busily rearrange her piles of waiting
work, Lois turned to look at Clark and slipped her hand in
his. "I think someone has a bit of a crush on someone,"
she said teasingly as they walked toward the elevator.
"But I'm a married man," Clark said with a small smile
tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"All the more tempting," Lois said as she playfully butted
him with her hip.
"Someone else isn't jealous are they?" Clark looked at Lois
with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Not in the least," Lois said as Clark pressed the elevator
call button. "Because," she said huskily, "You are
irrevocably *mine*." The elevator arrived just as she
finished that statement. Lois and Clark stepped inside.
As Clark reached over to press the call button, Lois
slipped her arms around his neck and pulled his head
closer. She captured his lips in a passionate kiss. After
a few moments, they pulled apart, breathing heavily.
"Staking your claim, Ms. Lane?" Clark asked teasingly.
"You better believe it, flyboy," Lois answered with a happy
smile as she leaned forward and kissed him again.
Lois slipped her hand into Clark's as the elevator
continued in its downward path. Together, they walked out
of the elevator on the ground floor and over to the
Planet's daycare facility. Clark smiled as he remembered
Lois's fight to get the facility in operation when her
pregnancy with Kiley had been discovered. It had been
operating for almost five years now, and the Planet
employees who had children were thankful that it was. The
facility had a picture window near its entrance that
allowed parents to check on their children.
Lois and Clark crept slowly up to the window and peeked in.
Joseph was playing happily with the trucks that lay
scattered around him. Clark smiled as he watched his son
scoot a truck around the floor, making 'vroom, vroom'
sounds in lieu of engine noise. Lois leaned over and
kissed Clark on the cheek gently. "He's fine," she said,
"let's get over to Star Labs" As Clark nodded his
agreement, they slipped away from the window and headed to
the parking garage to retrieve the Jeep.
****
As Dr. Klein began to explain the specifics of the
malfunction aboard the Athena, Lois took the opportunity to
look around the lab. It wasn't often that the two of them
came to Star Labs; after her first pregnancy, there simply
hadn't been much of a reason for it. When she had gotten
pregnant with Kiley, the first order of business had been
to inform Dr. Klein. After all, he was the closest there
was to an expert on Kryptonian physiology, and their
children were the first ever Kryptonian-human hybrids.
They had been uncertain of any problems that might arise.
As a result of this, Dr. Klein was one of the few people
who knew that Superman was, in all actuality, Clark Kent.
Looking at the lab bench in front of her, the first thing
she noticed was a laser beam device that split one beam
into two. She refocused her attention on what Dr. Klein
had to say; ruthlessly yanking her recalcitrant thoughts
away from the fascinating sight in front of her.
"Seconds before the main propellers initiated," Dr. Klein
began, "the research station received a very brief, tight
beam microwave transmission. It sent in a computer code
that overrode the automatic controls and started the
engines."
"Do we know where the transmission came from?" Clark asked
a bit urgently.
Just as Lois was giving in to her insatiable curiosity
about the experiment in front of her by reaching for the
top of the plexi-glass box that enclosed it, her movement
caught Dr. Klein's eye. "Don't touch that!" He said
urgently.
Lois's hand jerked back suddenly. "Sorry," she muttered,
the redness of a blush spreading quickly over her face.
"What is it?" She asked finally.
"I'm measuring the electron flow along the plasma wake as
the laser passes through different gasses." Dr. Klein
said, staring at the laser device meditatively. Suddenly,
he snapped his fingers. "Plasma wake. That's it!" He
exclaimed before hurrying over to the computer and typing
madly.
"Dr. Klein?" Lois looked at the scientist in puzzlement,
what could he be up to?
Dr. Klein didn't answer, his attention was entirely taken
up by his computer. Lois glanced over at Clark, a question
evident in her face. Clark grinned slowly. "Caution," he
whispered, "mad scientist at work."
Finally, Dr. Klein glanced up. "No matter how brief it
was, the microwave beam must have left a trail of agitated
molecules along its path."
"I'd say something was agitated." Lois quipped.
Dr. Klein plowed on, oblivious to Lois's comment.
"Agitation means heat. Therefore, by using the infrared
detectors on some low orbiting satellites, we should be
able to identify and backtrack down the column of heated
molecules to its source. Ha ha gotcha!"
Lois and Clark walked around Dr. Klein to look at the
computer screen; it was covered in sets of seemingly random
numbers that streamed past at an alarming rate of speed.
"I don't see anything," Clark said.
"I'm switching to the NIA spy satellite. We'll get real-
time photos now that I have a lock on the molecules." Dr.
Klein explained.
"A spy satellite?" Lois asked, a skeptical look on her
face. "You can do that?"
"The name is Klein, Bernard Klein," Dr. Klein said in an
appalling imitation of Sean Connery. He smiled suavely and
waited for recognition. Lois and Clark exchanged blank
looks as Dr. Klein deflated. "You know, James Bond?"
"Oh yeah," Clark said. He hadn't really recognized Dr.
Klein's reference. After all, he reflected, he was more a
fan of the Lethal Weapon movies than of 007.
"We were just teasing," Lois said comfortingly, "it really
was very good." Privately, she thought otherwise, but in
the nine years that Clark had been her partner, some of his
tact had rubbed off.
Dr. Klein smiled happily and resumed working with the
computer. Within minutes, the numbers running across the
computer screen had been replaced with a very high altitude
shot of North America. The picture began to slowly zoom
in, first showing a suburb, then a neighborhood, then a
house, and finally a satellite dish in the backyard. The
picture froze on the satellite dish and coordinates popped
up on the screen along with an address.
"Twenty-seven forty-two Creel Drive, Metropolis." Clark
read out loud.
"Of course," Lois grumbled, "where else would it be? Every
villain in the known universe seems to operate out of
Metropolis! For once I wish we could have a villain in
Maui. Or Aspen. Or Monte Carlo."
"How accurate is this?" Clark asked.
"Plus or minus five feet," Dr. Klein answered.
"I'd say that's close enough. Thanks." Clark said before
he and Lois rushed out to follow this interesting
development.
****
Clark parked the Jeep in front of a split-level house in
the suburbs of Metropolis. He got out of the car, walked
around to the other side and helped Lois out of the car.
"Are you okay, honey?" He asked. Clark planted a gentle
kiss on her forehead.
"I'm fine, Clark," Lois said, "My back hurts a bit, but you
can give me one of your special massages later."
Clark nodded his agreement and put his arm around his wife
as they walked up to the door of the house. Lois began to
knock on the door, hoping that someone would answer her
summons. Clark couldn't help but notice the Century 22
'For Sale' sign on the front lawn behind the white picket
fence. He doubted that anyone lived there to answer the
door, but he knew that, to be on the safe side, knocking
was necessary. As Lois continued to knock, he seized the
opportunity to look around.
Recently, they had been discussing the possibility of
looking for a new house to accommodate the needs of their
growing family. The brownstone on Hyperion Avenue had
been a wonderful home, but, with their third child on the
way, and the fact that they had decided upon a large
family, they were fast outgrowing it.
Clark could imagine their children playing in the front
yard... swinging on the tire swing that he would place in
the large tree there. He surveyed the house, using his x-
ray vision to peek inside. He liked what he saw. "Nice
yard," Clark commented.
Lois gave the yard a cursory glance. "Yeah, it's cute,"
she said.
Clark could tell that she wasn't really thinking about the
house-her mind was almost completely focused on the story.
He pressed on anyway. "Nice fence. Good driveway, too.
Lois, can't you just see the kids here? They'd love it!"
"I know. I like the lattice work around the porch," Lois
answered distractedly.
Clark looked at his wife; he was a bit surprised by her
answer. After all, they'd had several disagreements over
this very issue. They both knew they were beginning to
need the extra space, but Lois wasn't too keen on moving
out of their beloved brownstone on Hyperion Avenue. Lois
stood on tiptoe and attempted to look into the house.
"And I've always liked this style of house," Clark said.
"Yeah, it's pretty great," Lois allowed.
"It's definitely the kind of place I could go for," Clark
admitted.
"Me, too," Lois said, carelessly running a hand through her
hair. She stepped back from the window and began to walk
around the back of the house. "Let's go check around
back." Lois grabbed his hand as they walked. It wasn't
long before they came face-to-face with a large satellite
dish that stood tall and proud in the backyard. Clark
examined it minutely, searching for any sign that it had
been used as the transmitter that had put the deep-sea
research center in danger.
"Okay, we know that this probably sent the signal, but
where is the device the signal came from?" Clark asked.
"Can I help you?" said a voice that came from behind Clark.
Lois and Clark turned around to find a dark haired man
dressed in khakis, a white shirt, a tie, and a Century 22
Realty sports coat behind them. "Oh yes, we were just
looking at the house. We were driving by and saw the sign,
so we thought we'd stop. We've been looking into buying a
bigger house anyway with this little one on the way." Lois
patted her stomach. She had barely started to show, but
the baby-bulge was noticeable enough to attract attention.
The man smiled at the couple and held out his hand for
Clark to shake. "Hi," he began, "I'm George Thomas.
You've found a nice one."
Lois looked the man over and took his measure. "Lois Lane.
This is my husband, Clark Kent."
"We knocked," Clark began, "but..."
"I know, I heard. But I was in the restroom. Is this
house something you'd be interested in?"
Lois looked George over and decided to see if she could
extract some information from him. "We love it," she said
enthusiastically. "It's just what I've always dreamed of!
And we love the neighborhood, but... we drove by here
around nine this morning and thought we saw some..."
"...strange people..." Clark chimed in. He recognized
exactly what his wife was up to. Over the years, both of
them had become adept at gathering information from the
unwary. The more they had done it, the easier uncovering
these windfalls had become.
"...hanging around," Lois continued, "You didn't happen to
notice any, did you?"
"No," Mr. Thomas began, "I haven't seen anyone all morning
except for my clients; they're an older couple in their
sixties. This is, of course, one of the safest
neighborhoods in Metropolis. If you like, I'll give you
the name of the listing agent."
"So you don't handle this house?" Clark asked.
"No. I represent some buyers," Mr. Thomas said. "Betty
Wilson is the agent for the sellers. She had another
showing, so I said I'd close for her. We're old pals. But
I'd be happy to show you some of my listings if you like."
"Thanks, but we're really just starting," Lois replied.
"I understand," he said. "Don't hesitate to call. At
Century 22, we bring your future to you." Mr. Thomas
smiled broadly. A few minutes later, as Lois and Clark
were preparing to leave, a van marked with the emblem of
Star Labs pulled up and equipment-laden people began to
stream out. Lois and Clark thanked the real estate agent
for his time and headed back to the Jeep.
Clark glanced at his watch as he climbed into the Jeep. It
was almost lunchtime and almost time to retrieve Kiley from
preschool. Clark did some quick calculations in his head
and realized that they had just enough time to pick up
Kiley before heading back to the Planet. Kiley usually
spent the afternoons playing with the other kids in the
Planet's daycare facility until they were ready to go home.
Since Kiley was born, they had cut back on their hours at
the Planet considerably. Investigative reporting would
never be a 9-5 job, but between the two of them, they were
determined to make it work for their family.
Clark knew that being able to keep the jobs they loved
simply wouldn't be possible if Ellen, Lucy, and Jimmy
hadn't made themselves available for the now rare occasions
in which they had to go on stakeouts. Crime in Metropolis
was down to a record low due to his Superman activities.
It seemed as if the very threat of Superman made criminals
think twice about trying anything. They still had an
occasional twisted evil genius to fight, but in the past
year, even those were becoming fewer and further between.
Lois looked at her watch as she started the Jeep. She
smiled as she drove the Jeep in the direction of Little
Hands Preschool. Much had changed in the past few years.
Many people, including herself, hadn't seen her as a mother
type, but she had proved everyone wrong. Kiley was one of
the highlights in her busy existence. Despite having
inherited the Lane babble gene, most of the time she acted
like a miniature copy of Clark.
It was strange, she mused, that although Kiley resembled
her, she acted like Clark. Joseph was the same way-he
looked like Clark, but acted like Lois. Lois glanced over
at her husband. From the joyous look he was wearing on his
face, she knew that he, too, was thinking about their
babies. Lois smiled fondly at her love. They hadn't been
married for long when they had mutually discovered that
they had a form of non-verbal communication that allowed
them to know what the other was thinking. It had proved
useful on many occasions, and she hoped that it would
continue to do so.
Before she could continue thinking along that tangent, her
cell phone rang. As she talked to her source, Clark got
out of the Jeep. "I'll be right back, honey," Clark walked
inside the preschool and came out a few minutes later.
Kiley clung to one hand, the remnants of tears still on her
face. In his other hand, he carried his daughter's
backpack and a note from her teacher. Clark opened the
door to the Jeep and helped his daughter in, making sure
that she was fastened securely in her safety seat.
"Daddy," Kiley began in a tremulous voice, "will you kiss
my boo-boo and make it better?" She held out her bandaged
knee to her father, hope warring with tears in her big
brown eyes. She knew what the note from her teacher was
about and that she might possibly get in trouble for what
she had done that day. Her knee really didn't hurt all
that much, but she needed her adored daddy's reassurance
that he still loved her.
"Of course, sweetheart." Clark said, leaning over to kiss
her knee and give her a hug. He saw the uncertainty in his
daughter's eyes and knew that she needed some reassurance
right now. "Kiley, we will always love you," he said
softly and kissed her on the cheek. Kiley suddenly broke
out in a smile. Her tears were temporarily forgotten; she
was once again the cheerful, sunny child whom they loved so
much.
"I love you, Daddy," she said.
Clark simply smiled and kissed her again before closing the
door and climbing in himself. They needed to get back to
the Planet and back to work... the truth about what had
actually happened to the Athena wasn't something that would
get figured out on its own.
Lois continued to talk to her source as they drove back to
the Planet. She peeked into the back, hoping that Kiley
had fallen asleep. She'd seen the tearstains and knew
that, whatever else, Kiley must have had a rough day. Lois
smiled as she saw that her daughter had, indeed, fallen
asleep. She quickly finished her conversation and turned
to Clark. "The U.N. is in an uproar," she said in an
urgent whisper. "They cancelled their science conference to
deal with the research facility. No terrorist group has
claimed responsibility, the NIA thinks it's a lone gunman."
"Great. Just great," Clark replied, "Where is he going to
strike next? The Eiffel Tower? The Parthenon?" Clark
shook his head, remembering the disaster of September
eleventh the previous year. "All it ever takes is one
lunatic to bring the whole world crashing down around our
ears!"
"Not the whole world," Lois said, capturing his hand in
hers as she drove. Clark looked lovingly at his wife.
After all these years, he still wasn't sure how he had
gotten lucky enough to have managed to marry her. "What?
What're you looking at?", Lois said, noticing for the first
time that he was staring at her.
"You." Clark said. "I was thinking how different my life
would have been if we'd never met."
"What if you'd never left Smallville?" Lois asked
thoughtfully.
"Smallville? What if I'd never left," his voice lowered a
bit so as not to wake Kiley, "Krypton?"
Lois squeezed his hand as she pulled the Jeep into the
Planet's parking garage. "Yeah," she said with a grin.
"Your family might have had their hearts set on a daughter-
in-law from Jupiter."
"How'd you know about her?" Clark asked teasingly. Clark
got out of the car, opened the back door, and began to
unfasten Kiley's restraints. "You know, I bet they would
have really liked you and the kids...Jor-El and Lara."
"You think about them much?" Lois asked as she got out of
the Jeep and walked around to the other side.
"Sometimes," Clark said as he picked up Kiley and her
backpack. "But that's behind me now. What's in front of
me is *us* and *our* family." Clark used his free hand to
gently caress her abdomen. Lois moved closer to him and
leaned in as he captured her lips in his. After a few
moments, Lois pulled back, smiled at him and took his hand
in hers as they started walking toward the Planet daycare
center to drop off Kiley.
****
George Thomas sat in a dark, windowless room. A metal
table stood in front of him covered in electronic
components and the beginnings of what looked like an
exotic, star-shaped bomb. He loosened his tie and began to
fiddle with the device in front of him. A few minutes
later, he stopped and looked at his watch. Time to
contact her, he thought with a sigh. He was reluctant to
go along with this whole scheme. After all, if they
succeeded, it would mean tearing a family apart. Thomas
didn't like the idea of invoking the law and sending a man
who was probably clueless about this whole mess into a
situation where he might not be able to come home to his
wife and children. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
Are you alone?
Sarah took a quick glance around her before her eyes
lighted on Clark. He was hunched over his desk, speaking
to someone over the phone. It was as if he didn't want
anyone to overhear the conversation he was having. Sarah
continued in her path towards the bookcase, unable or
unwilling to take her eyes off Clark. I'm alone. Did
they find it? she asked. Her mental voice sounded more
than a trifle annoyed.
No, and it was *super* obvious. A child of two could've
discovered it. Maybe we should borrow their son Joseph and
let *him* find it for them. Perhaps we should have laid
down breadcrumbs, or a neon sign or a large...
*Ching*! Don't start. I know you're not happy with this
mission, but it is necessary. Sarah glanced down and
watched Clark hang up the phone. Lois walked out of the
back hall, returning from the restroom. Clark carefully
slid the legal pad he had been making notes on under a
stack of other papers and stood up to meet his wife. Sarah
continued watching as Jimmy walked by with his camera in
his hand and Clark said something that made the threesome
start laughing. Sarah suppressed a twinge of jealousy as
she watched Clark kiss Lois softly. After all, Kal-El
belonged to her, not some Earth woman.
Do I detect...fondness?? Even a hint of jealousy
there? Ching inquired.
Not at all Sarah retorted. In spite of herself she
looked at Clark's butt as he leaned over the desk.
Wait, I sense... You're attracted to how tight his
clothing is across the muscles of his posterior? Ching's
mental voice conveyed amazement at this new discovery.
No I'm not! I was thinking about... Phase two. Sarah
retorted.
So, is *that* what they call it here? Then we'll
continue as planned. It will be interesting to see if he
can deal with that--it will be interesting to see how he
deals with a situation like this. Ching broke the
connection and returned to working on the bomb in front of
him.
Sarah's face hardened for a minute as she watched Lois and
Clark walk into the conference room. She knew that he
would probably succeed and return with them. He would be
hers permanently after they left; he could not bring the
Earth woman or his half-breed children with him.
****
Lois sat with her feet propped up in the conference room,
watching Clark shoot rubber bands into a coffee mug. "So
we've got the satellite dish but no transmitter..." she
began.
Without thinking, Clark finished her thought. "...and no
suspects. Off the TV." Clark let go of the rubber band.
It sailed through the air, hit the television screen, and
richoted into the mug. Clark grinned in satisfaction. He
was the strongest man in the world, but there was something
strangely satisfying about doing something as simple as
shooting a rubber band into a cup.
"It can't be Lame Brain, the Prankster, the Churches, or
Tempus," Lois said.
"Because they're all in jail. Off the lamp with a twist,"
Clark said as he let go of yet another rubber band. It
sailed through the air, hit the lamp and performed a series
of twisting loops through the air before landing in the
cup.
"And it can't be Lex, Bad Brain, or Cyclops Joe because
they're all dead." Lois stated.
"Also correct. Combo. Off the door, off the VCR, off the
lamp and into the cup with a backwards flip," Clark said as
he let the rubber band fly.
The rubber band hit its targets and as it began to zing
toward the cup, Lois snatched it in mid-air. Lois looked at
her husband with mild exasperation. "You could at least
miss every once in a while," she grumbled.
Ray stuck his head in the door of the Conference room.
"Dr. Klein is on three," he said. Ray could feel his face
turning red as he delivered the message to the Planet's
most famous reporting team. He'd been at the Planet for
the past six months, but he was still shy of the reporting
duo. Just as he was about to leave them in peace, Sarah
crept up beside Ray and entered the room.
Sarah set a stack of files down on the table. "Here's all
I've been able to find on companies involved in microwave
technology."
Lois glanced over at Sarah, surprise written all over her
features. "That was quick."
Sarah blushed and averted her eyes, "I, um, knew it was
important, so I kinda jumped you to the top of the list."
Sarah looked up at Clark adoringly through her eyelashes.
"Thanks," Clark said, barely glancing in her direction.
"Um, y'all," Ray said, gesturing towards the phone. Lois
reached toward the phone as Sarah and Ray left the room.
****
Sarah walked back to her little area and sat down at her
desk. As she glanced back toward the conference room, a
soft smile stole over her face. She had known that her
Kal-El would be handsome. After all, all of the stories
she had heard of him growing up confirmed that fact. They
were lucky that they had been able to find him. Kryptonians
were almost genetically identical to humans; it was only
due to a thousand-year-old tradition that they had been
able to locate him in the vast sea of humanity...
****
Lois punched the button for line three and put the phone in
speaker mode. "Sorry to keep you waiting Dr. Klein."
"I just finished deciphering the computer code that was
sent to the underwater research center. It was very
interesting actually, its an encryption based upon the
multiples of the wavelength of--"
"Dr. Klein?" Clark interrupted.
"Right." Dr. Klein continued. "Okay. To the point. If
Superman hadn't been able to save the research station, the
main engines were programmed to stop and the propellers
would've started anyway and the station would've saved
itself."
"You mean," Lois said slowly, "it was never in danger?"
"Exactly," Dr. Klein answered.
"But why would someone program it to put itself in jeopardy
and then rescue itself?" Clark asked.
"That's the eighty-five billion dollar question," Dr. Klein
answered.
"Thanks Dr. Klein." Lois hung up the phone and exchanged a
glance with Clark. "I think we'd better call that real
estate guy... What was his name again?"
"George Thomas," Clark leaned over and brushed his lips
across Lois's before picking up the phone and dialing the
real estate agency. "Yes," Clark began, speaking into the
phone. "I'd like to speak to George Thomas. Um hm. Yeah,
he's one of your brokers. I saw him at a house today. Ok-
ay, thank you. Bye." Clark replaced the phone in the cradle
and turned to Lois.
"They don't have a broker named George Thomas, do they?"
Lois asked.
"Bingo." Clark answered.
"RAY!" Lois and Clark yelled together.
Ray poked his head around the door and shot the duo a
quizzical look. "Yes, oh great and powerful ones?" he
said, a small smile playing around his lips. He had heard
about Lois Lane's famous temper... He wasn't quite sure if
he could get away with teasing her like this, but some
small perverse part of him insisted that he try.
Clark simply sighed and shook his head. "Call Detective
Henderson and see if we can get some mug shots on guys who
might do real estate scams and/or be an expert in microwave
technology."
"Oh, like those are related," Ray muttered under his breath
as he began to walk over to his research station.
Perry rushed into the Conference room, breathing heavily.
"Clark, Lois," he yelled. "I just got an anonymous phone
call that there's a bomb scheduled to go off across town in
front of the Metropolis Interactive Science Museum. It's
in a messenger bag by the double helix."
Lois quickly turned to Clark. "Clark, you get the car.
Has anybody called the police and the bomb squad?"
"The cops have already been notified." Perry stated before
hurrying out into the bullpen. "Ray, pull me what we've
got on the museum." As Ray hurried off, Perry turned to
face the rest of the newsroom and began furiously shouting
orders. "Jane, yank Plastino off whatever he's doing and
get him up here! Ricky, you and Dwyer head over to the
police station. Come on, people, move move *move*! It's
called 'news' because we get it before anybody else!"
As Lois grabbed her purse, Clark ran towards the stairwell.
Within milliseconds, he had spun into the suit and was on
the way to the Science Museum. He landed outside and began
searching for the messenger bag under the sculpture of the
double helix. He turned to the patrons of the museum,
"There may be a bomb. For your own safety, you all have to
leave." A teacher standing nearby gathered up the children
around her and hustled them off to their waiting school
bus. Superman spared a moment to watch them leave, the
name of the school painted upon the side of the bus,
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Elementary, barely registered in
his brain.
He swept the area with X-ray vision until he located the
messenger bag. He strode over and picked it up and ripped
it open quickly. Instead of a bomb, he found a jumble of
electronic parts and a note. Superman picked up the note
and began to read. 'Superman, if you're reading this, I
assume you got my message. Here's the location of the real
bomb. It's on this micro-CD. Unfortunately, you have to
assemble the player in time to play it. One more minute.
Good luck.'
Sarah hurried out of the museum. She didn't know how she
would explain her presence if asked, after all, she *was*
supposed to be at the Daily Planet. She hoped that the
bomb would prove to be sufficiently distracting so that
Kal-El would not notice that she was there. It was
necessary for both she and Ching to observe Kal-El's
performance... They must know not only if he was worthy,
but also if he would leave his wife and children behind.
"Superman, what's going on?" Sarah asked, feigning
puzzlement.
"A very dangerous riddle," Superman began, "Now if you'll
excuse me, I've got to concentrate." Superman reached into
the bag and began assembling the electronics at superspeed.
He was thankful that he had spent some time fixing the CD
player last week. After all, the components couldn't be
much different. It took three tries, but finally, the
player was together. He slipped in the miniature CD and
hit the play button. "Congratulations," a somewhat
familiar voice began. "Hope it's not too late. Now here's
another puzzle: Why is a raven like a writing desk? Alice
went through it." Superman glanced at Sarah.
"Don't look at me," she began, "I can't even do crossword
puzzles."
"Okay. Now the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk"
came from 'Alice in Wonderland' which was written by Lewis
Carroll. Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Lutwidge
Dodgson. A writing desk means that it's at a school, and
there's an elementary school named after him." Superman
took off and flew as fast as he could over to Charles
Lutwidge Dodgson Elementary school. Time was running out
and he knew that if he didn't hurry and locate the bomb,
the school would blow up along with all of the children. He
paced back and forth in the main entrance of the school,
muttering to himself.
"Alice went through the rabbit hole... But she also went
through a looking glass in Carroll's second book. Now
another word for looking glass is mirror, and since Alice
went through it, it means that it must be in the girl's
bathroom."
Superman zipped into the unoccupied girls' restroom and
began to x-ray the mirrors. Sure enough, one of the
mirrors had a bomb behind it. He removed the mirror,
pulled the bomb off the back, flew out of the school, and
threw the bomb up in the air just as it exploded.
Superman flew in the direction of the Planet building,
thankful that the most recent bedtime story he had been
reading to Kiley was "Alice in Wonderland".
****
Ching sat at a metal table and played with the food on a
plate in front of him. This whole mission had made him
lose his appetite. It wasn't really necessary for him to
eat for several more days anyway. After all, the radiation
from the yellow sun gave him almost all the sustenance he
needed. On his own planet, things were a little
different...
The last thing Ching wanted to do was rip Kal-El away from
his wife and children. Over the past month, he had seen
the level of love and care that existed in the small family
and he had no wish to destroy their lives. Our people can
solve this problem by themselves, he thought. Ching had
been a stubborn opponent to the plan from the first.
Fetching Kal-El to resolve the problem might be the most
expedient way to resolve the current situation, but it was
not the only method available to them. Then there was also
the irrevocable fact that he loved Sarah... and she did not
know he existed.
Sarah paced back and forth in front of the table. Her
dinner sat virtually untouched. Kal-El had to pass the
tests in order to return with her. She knew Ching's wish
that they could leave him there, but it galled her that he
had married an Earth woman. After all, according to law,
it was their destiny to be together. She belonged to him
and he to her. So it had always been in noble families...
Marriage alliances that bound house to house and bound the
people together in unity. From her childhood, she had heard
stories of him.
There was a locator chip inserted under the skin of his
right arm soon after birth that transmitted where he was to
the main database on their new home. There were as many
such records as there were members of the nobility. Usually
these chips were removed when a child reached full
adulthood, but Kal-El had not been close enough for this to
happen. The chips were a tradition from an earlier, more
violent, period of history when the kidnapping of children
from the nobility was a common tactic in the politics of
the council.
Without the chip, they probably would not have been able to
find him among the people of Earth. Other devices in his
ship had monitored him, following him until his tenth
cycle. After that, the transmissions became fuzzier and
patchier until, in his twelfth cycle, the devices finally
stopped transmitting altogether. Until they had spent time
underneath the yellow sun, they had been ignorant of the
state of Kryptonians on this planet.
Sarah broke off her train of thought and turned to face
Ching. "The bomb almost exploded."
"Correction," Ching said dryly, "The bomb did explode, just
not before your friend, with another modest display of
strength, threw it into the upper stratosphere. I still
don't see why this is necessary. We don't need Kal-El to
defeat one man; we can leave him here to raise his
children."
"You forget yourself," Sarah said. She glared at him for a
moment. "We do need him; it is the most expedient solution
to our problems."
"And of course this has nothing to do with the fact that
you've heard about him your entire life and you think that
he belongs with you... And that you think that after he
solves our world's current situation, you can convince him
to completely abandon his family here and stay with you."
Ching said with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"All that the records show is that he was a nice child, and
everything we've observed leads me to the conclusion that
he would never abandon his pregnant wife and their two
small children."
"Ching, you're right about the fact that I've loved Kal-El
for years. But it's also true that once our enemy finds
out that he's alive and has a family, not only will he
destroy our world but he will also destroy this one and
Kal-El's family as well. We both know how ruthless he is.
This may not be the only solution, but it is the best one."
Ching sighed and covered his face with his hands. Sarah
was right. As much as he hated it, it was the only
solution that would enable Kal-El to protect his little
ones. "The testing will continue," he said reluctantly. "
We must discover if he will aid us in our quest."
****
Clark landed in the alley outside the Daily Planet and
walked quickly inside. He peeked in the daycare facility
to check on Kiley and Joseph. It was still early
afternoon, and both children were fast asleep on their
mats. A soft smile stole over his face as he contemplated
the sight of his babies, asleep side-by-side. Kiley's arm
was thrown over Joseph's shoulder in a protective gesture
and their mats had somehow been scooted together so that
Joseph, lying on his tummy, was cuddled up next to his big
sister.
Clark walked away quietly and went to meet Lois at their
Jeep. They had planned to go back to the house on Creel
Drive to see if they could find anything unusual without
the interruption from 'George Thomas'. Just as Clark
walked over to their usual parking space in the Planet's
underground parking garage, Lois arrived. It wasn't long
before she was driving at her usual breakneck speed toward
the house.
****
Clark stood quietly in the backyard of the house on Creel
Drive by the satellite dish. He carefully scanned the area
one more time, hoping to find the device that had somehow
transmitted the signal that almost led to disaster. Clark
heard a car door slam. He turned around as Lois came up
behind him. "How does George Thomas fit into this?" he
wondered out loud.
"Either he's really smart...or a madman." Lois said, "Or
even worse, a really smart madman. So what are we looking
for?"
"Anything unusual, no matter how unimportant it seems,"
Clark answered.
Lois began to prowl around the backyard, looking for
anything that would be out of place. "Okay, let's assume
the worst case scenario: he's a really smart madman. This
has got to be something big. He can out-think the most
brilliant scientists in the nation..."
"...and is willing to risk hundreds of lives," Clark said.
"But why would he do all this? The underwater research
facility was a bluff..." Lois questioned.
"The bomb behind the mirror at the school wasn't a bluff,"
Clark stated.
Lois shrugged as her husband x-rayed the satellite dish
once more. Finding nothing, he slowly shook his head. "El
zippo," Clark glanced at Lois. "It's definitely strange.
For a moment I thought they might've been attempts to get
me out of the way so some other crimes could be committed,
but nothing's happened."
"It's... almost as if... you're being tested..." Lois said.
"Or set up for something bigger," Clark thought for a
moment, " Yeah. Definitely. Something bigger."
Lois looked down at the low wall surrounding the bushes.
"Hey, here's a quarter we can use toward the down payment."
Lois walked over and looked at the coin before handing it
to Clark. "This... isn't a quarter," she said slowly.
Clark looked at the device that Lois was holding. "It's a
micro transmitter."
"Then this is what Dr. Klein homed in on. The satellite
dish was just a decoy," Lois said, understanding dawning on
her face.
"He did say plus or minus five feet. Let me see." Lois
dropped the device into Clark's outstretched hand. The
moment the transmitter made contact with his skin, a
hologram of George Thomas appeared. Lois and Clark
started in surprise at the appearance of the image.
Clark's free arm automatically came up and encircled Lois,
pulling her close to him as the hologram of George Thomas
began to speak.
"Finally, it's about time you found this, Superman. Or
should I say Super-slow-man? Wait, don't answer. I just
wanted to say 'Hello' and tell you that you'll be seeing a
lot more of me soon. The best... and worst... are yet to
come. Farewell."
As the hologram shut down, Lois looked at Clark. "He
doesn't want to do this," she stated quietly. "There's
something in his eyes that doesn't click with what he's
saying."
Clark put the transmitter in his jacket pocket and pulled
her a little closer. "That may be," he began, "But in the
meanwhile, we need to get this to Dr. Klein." Clark
reluctantly let go of Lois and reached for her hand as they
began to walk back to the Jeep.
****
Jonathan and Martha walked out of the shed carrying old
milking cans, long fluorescent tubes, and a spool of
electrical wire. It had been a long day on the farm and
Jonathan was tired. It didn't help that Martha just *had*
to go looking for junk for her latest sculpture. He didn't
mind... not really. After all, if it made his Martha
happy, it was worth it. He looked at her and smiled.
After more than 35 years of marriage, she was still his
reason to get up in the morning. He didn't know what he'd
do without her. Hopefully, he'd never have to find out.
The couple turned as Jonathan locked the door of the shed
behind them.
"These will be perfect for my modern sculpture class,"
Martha said, smiling down at her armful.
"But how are you going to light up both of them?" Jonathan
asked, a puzzled look adorning his face.
Martha looked up at him and smiled. "I haven't figured
that out yet," she said.
As they turned around to start back up to the house, a
figure dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt came out
from around the barn. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent?" he asked.
"Yes?" Jonathan answered.
Their guest smiled and held out his hand for them to shake.
He hated doing this, after all, Kal-El's adopted parents
seemed like really nice people. Momentarily he wondered why
it was that he had to do all of the dirty work...
****