Target: Lois Lane

Folc4evernaday | Rated: M | Chapter 2

Lois and Jimmy made their way to Sarah Goodwin's apartment in silence. They were about to knock on the door when a muffled scream sounded from inside.

Jimmy backed away from the door and kicked it in. A man stood above a young woman in her early twenties. The woman was sitting on the couch, screaming; the man was in his late thirties and had a needle in his hand and a strong grasp on the woman's arm.

"Get away from her!" Jimmy cried out.

The mysterious man jumped out the window in an attempt to escape. He was met by

Superman who caught him mid-air. "Going somewhere?"

Lois immediately went to the young woman's aid. "Are you okay?"

"I...I don't know. I woke up and he was standing over me..."

"You gonna start talking?" Superman stepped into the room, keeping a strong grip on the intruder.

The man didn't respond. Sarah stood up and addressed the man, threatening him,

"Listen, Blondie, unless you're a mute I want some answers!"

The man growled back, causing the young woman to jump back.

"Is everyone okay?" Superman asked.

"We're fine. Thank you, Superman," Lois responded.

"I'm going to take him down to the police station. Maybe they'll be able to get something out of him."

"No problem. Thank you, Superman." The young woman extended her hand to introduce herself. "I'm Sarah Goodwin." The sleeve to her shirt was pushed up slightly, revealing the same rash as Jimmy's.

Lois eyed the rash suspiciously. "Jimmy, her arm..."

"Oh, I've had it since I was a kid," Sarah explained.

Jimmy nodded mutely and showed his own arm to her. She was taken aback by the identical rash on his arm.

Clark waited patiently at the Planet for Lois. He wasn't sure what could be taking them so long. He had dropped the blonde mute off at the police station and had made his way back to the Planet. He had taken three calls from Dan Scardino in the past hour and it was getting on his nerves. Ever since the DEA Agent's appearance after Mayson's death, things had been strained between him and Lois. Scardino seemed to show up at the most inopportune times. He did his best to refrain from smart remarks and digs, but sometimes Scardino just got the best of him.

At the moment, his and Lois' relationship was 'undefined.' Neither of them had come out and said they were exclusive. He had no intentions of dating anyone else, but he wasn't sure what her intentions were at the moment. If they did become more serious he knew the day would come when he would be called away by his Superman duties. He still had no idea how he would handle a situation like that or how he would eventually tell her of his secret identity.

He finally spotted Lois and Jimmy exiting the elevator with Sarah in tow. "Clark, you're already here," Lois said as she approached his desk. "You won't believe what happened..."

Clark stood and extended his hand to Sarah. "Hi, I'm Clark Kent."

"Nice to meet you," Sarah replied, eyeing him up and down with a smile.

"We got to Sarah's apartment and this guy was standing over her with this needle in his hand. Luckily, Superman showed up when he did. How did it go with Mallow?" Lois asked.

"He's missing," Clark stated flatly.

"What?" Lois asked.

"The police don't have any leads. Jimmy, you probably shouldn't go home. You can stay at my apartment until we can get this thing settled," Clark said.

"Okay," Jimmy responded.

Lois turned to Sarah. "And you can stay with me."

"Great," Sarah replied.

"Mr. Mallow will demonstrate how Project Valhalla works," Dr. Wilder said, motioning for her mother and her guest, Mr. Neener, the general of the Saudi Army to follow. "As infants, the subjects are injected with a serum undetectable to many of the general pediatrics today. It isn't until they are activated with this - " She held up a long needle filled with what only one could imagine. " - that the subjects are activated and used as trained assassins."

"You've still to prove anything," Mr. Neener sniffed.

"Would you like a test-run?" Dr. Wilder inquired with an arched eyebrow.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked.

Lois wasn't sure about Sarah Goodwin. She knew the girl's life was in danger and she certainly wouldn't want anything to happen to her, but she wasn't too keen on having her stay at her apartment. It had been over a year since Lucy had lived with her. They had clashed over almost everything. Lucy was her sister and she'd tolerated a lot from her. She hardly knew Sarah.

"By the way, Agent Scardino called three times," Clark said, handing her the message slips. "Tell him to quit calling the office number. It's kinda hard to get through to Henderson when he keeps calling." His face spoke volumes. He was not happy about Scardino calling Lois.

Lois recognized the tone in his voice. "Clark..."

Dan Scardino walked up at that point, interrupting her train of thought. "Hey, guys, what's up?"

"You know some people could view this as harassment," Clark muttered under his breath. Jimmy caught the comment and laughed. Lois just shot him a look. He got up from his desk and headed toward the coffee machine. She could tell he was growing more and more irritated with Dan's presence.

"Dan, what are you doing here?" Lois asked.

"I thought you might be free for lunch."

"No," Lois replied. "I'm at work." She motioned around the newsroom and then crossed her arms over her chest. "We're in the middle of an investigation."

"I know, but you gotta eat," Dan replied.

"Dan, I appreciate the offer, but..." Lois replied calmly.

"I wasn't sure if Kent was going to give you my messages," Dan began.

"I got the messages." She waved the slips of paper in front of him. "Clark isn't petty. He's a professional, as am I." Lois took a deep breath as she began to speak again, "I told you I'm seeing Clark."

"I know, but I thought you might be interested in having lunch with me. I thought maybe we could pick up our conversation where we left off."

Where they left off? They'd left off with her telling him she was seeing Clark. She really wasn't comfortable with continuing that conversation, but he didn't seem to understand. "Come on, it's not like you're married to the guy." He shrugged his shoulders.

Lois just stared at him. "Dan..."

His beeper went off and he turned to check it. "It's the office," Dan said. "We'll talk about this later. I'll see you around."

"But..." She didn't get a chance to finish. He was already boarding the elevator, leaving her even more confused than before.

Clark approached her from behind. "Is social hour over? We need to get back to work."

"Clark, we need to talk," Lois began.

"No, what you want to do on your own time is your business. I'd just appreciate being told where I stand before you start seeing other people," Clark remarked bitterly.

"Clark, I'm not..." Lois began. Before she could finish, he had walked away again. "Great," she muttered to herself.

"I tried to warn you, Lois," Jimmy said. "Ugly..."

The next morning, Sarah woke up to pounding on the door of Lois' apartment. "I'm coming!" she hollered groggily.

She opened the door and saw Dan Scardino on the other side. "Hi, is Lois home?"

"She's in the shower," Sarah supplied. "Who are you?"

"I'm a friend."

"A friend? A boyfriend? A friend-friend or just a friend?" Sarah asked sarcastically.

"Well, gee, if I knew there was going to be a quiz I would have studied." He moved past her and entered the apartment, making himself at home. "So, how long has she been in the shower?"

"Why?" Sarah asked, taking a bite of her cereal. "Am I not good enough company?"

He just laughed at her comment. "Who are you again?"

"I'm a friend, just a friend." Sarah smiled sweetly. They fell into a comfortable silence before a knock on the door drew Sarah's attention away from Scardino. She wasn't sure what to make of him. He obviously had intentions of pursuing Lois, otherwise he wouldn't be showing up at seven in the morning at her apartment. She could tell there was something going on between Lois and Clark as well. It was hard to tell what Lois wanted in the mix. She had two men pursuing her and neither seemed willing to back down.

Clark was surprised to find Scardino at Lois' apartment. "What are you doing here, Scardino?"

"I came to talk to Lois," Scardino replied.

Clark checked his watch. "At seven in the morning?"

"What are you doing here?" Scardino shot back.

Lois came into the living room, fully dressed and ready for work. "Clark? What are you doing here? It's only seven."

"I got some information on Mallow," Clark replied, then motioned to Scardino. "What's he doing here?"

"Yes, Dan, what are you doing here?" Lois asked, arching her eyebrow at him.

"I had some information for you," Scardino smiled.

"What kind of information?" Lois asked.

"You two are investigating Dr. Goldman's murder, right?"

"Yeah," Clark began slowly, unsure of where Scardino was headed with this.

"Well, I just got assigned to trace the whereabouts of a missing shipment of Ticeon to Metropolis General."

"What does that have to do with Dr. Goldman?" Lois asked.

"Ticeon was a highly regulated drug that was ordered by Dr. Goldman,"

Dan explained.

"What's the connection?" Lois asked.

"His signature was forged on the latest order form," Scardino added smugly.

"Hmm, it's worth looking into," Clark remarked.

"Yeah," Lois said.

"Well, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, but I'll catch you later." Scardino got up and headed for the door. Clark closed it behind him, a look of distaste on his face. His gaze met Lois'. She knew what he was thinking.

Sarah watched the exchange. "You know what you two are doing is classic in psychology. You're both thinking the exact same thing but you're hoping the other will speak first." She was met with a look of death from them. "Uh, I left something in the bathroom. I'll be ready in just a few."

"So, I already dropped Jimmy off at the Planet," Clark began, trying to avoid any conversation pertaining to Dan Scardino.

"How's he doing?" Lois asked.

"Good. His nerves are a bit out of whack. He keeps thinking someone's watching him."

Lois laughed. "This can't be easy for him. So, what'd you find out about Mallow?"

Clark pulled a note from his jacket pocket. "He was born at Fort Truman just like Jimmy and Sarah...where Dr. Goldman was head of for ten years before he retired and started his own practice."

"I hate military investigations. You never get anywhere," Lois muttered.

"Well, we're in luck. Perry's old fishing buddy, Admiral Whalen, is in town. Maybe he can shed a little light on this case for us."

"You mean 'Sailin Whalen?'" Lois asked.

"That's the one."

Lois sat across from 'Sailin Whalen,' playing Battleship. "D three," he challenged.

"Miss." Lois smiled back at him.

Sailin Whalen looked down at his board. There were several ships with red pegs on them. He looked up at her questionably. "You sure I didn't hit something?"

"Sorry." Lois shrugged her shoulders.

"Admiral, about the hospital at Fort Truman," Clark prodded.

"Right, right, well, I heard about something back in the 70's, something called the Valhalla Project."

"What was it?" Lois asked curiously.

The Admiral arched his eyebrows at her from across the board. "You play; I'll talk."

"G nine," Lois responded.

He grimaced. "That sinks my cruiser, damnit. According to the rumors, some rogue doctors were trying to tinker with the brains of babies, fix it so they could control their minds. The idea was to turn them into assassins when they grew up. F five," Lois just shook her head and Whalen grimaced in defeat.

"How far did they get in their testing?" Clark asked.

"Don't know. The whole thing was scuttled when the Pentagon found out about it. The General in charge kept his commission but his career went nowhere after that. Your turn."

"Uh, B three," Lois responded.

"Hit." He winced at the loss he took, then muttered, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had X-ray vision."

Clark smiled at the comment. "Admiral, do you know where we can find that General?"

"Wilder? No, he died a few years back, survived by his wife, Claudette. They had a kid, real smart - a girl. She grew up to be some kind of doctor herself." He looked at her expectantly. "Your turn."

"Huh? Oh, uh, C three."

"Hit and game. Guess it's a good thing I was never in combat. How are you at Stratego?" he asked.

Jimmy listened to Lois and Clark intently with Sarah on the edge of Lois' desk.

"Mind control?" he asked, baffled.

"It's just a rumor, we haven't confirmed anything yet," Clark added.

"But if it's true and we were tested on - are you saying someone can control our minds?" Sarah asked.

"It's a possibility," Lois said.

"Man and my mom kept telling me that playing video games would fry my brain," Jimmy muttered.

Perry stepped out of his office and hollered across the newsroom, "Jimmy, you promised me you'd have those photo sheets on my desk half an hour ago!"

Jimmy stood up and started towards his desk. "I'm on it, Chief!" He watched Perry go back into his office then muttered to Sarah, "Who needs drugs to control people when you can use fear?"

Brian from research approached them, irritation written all over his face. "Lois, you had three messages from a guy named Scardino while you were out." He handed her the message slips and turned away.

"Three calls? What, is he a bit insecure? Afraid you won't call him back?" Clark asked, taking the messages from her.

"Well, maybe it's something important," Lois argued half-heartedly. Truth be told, she knew he was calling to try and ask her out again.

Clark's expression was grim as he sifted through the message slips one by one. She hated it when he got like this. "Let's see. 'How about Dinner Tonight? Dinner tomorrow? Lunch?' That's real important." He handed the slips back to her.

She could tell he was angry. He tried to cover it up with sarcasm, but he couldn't hide the bitter tone in his voice. Dan's presence continued to drive a rift between them. She hated that she'd allowed things to go on as long as she had. She knew she had to put a stop to Dan's interference once and for all.

"Clark..." Lois began.

"But maybe it IS important to you," he snipped.

She could feel her own anger flaring as she turned to face him. "Clark, I don't know what..."

She was interrupted by Perry. "Lois, can I see you in my office for a minute?"

"I'll be there in a minute, Chief." Lois headed for his office. She could feel her temper flaring with each step she took. She knew Clark was angry, but embarrassing her in front of her co-workers was uncalled for. He had no right to read her phone messages aloud like that.

Clark headed back to his desk and started going through the files there. He knew he had been out of line but he couldn't help it. Daniel Scardino just brought out the worst in him. Lois didn't even seem to be bothered by the fact that the guy was deliberately interfering with their relationship. He raked a hand through his hair. They were supposed to go out tonight, and here he was acting like an ass.

Jimmy approached the forlorn-looking Clark hesitantly. "CK, you okay?"

"I don't know, Jimmy," Clark muttered.

"Let me guess. Scardino?" Jimmy asked.

"How did you know?" Clark asked. "I just, I don't know. I don't understand how she can be so afraid of a relationship, yet she's letting this guy just..."

"Have you talked to her?"

"Jimmy, she knows how I feel. I thought I knew how she felt." He looked across the newsroom into Perry's office, where Perry was talking to Lois.

"I don't know, CK. Maybe you should try and tell her again. Lois has never been easy to read."

"Tell me about it," Clark muttered.

"Good luck. Here's that fax you wanted from the medical association."

Jimmy handed him the fax then headed towards his desk. "Thanks, Jimmy," Clark said gratefully, taking the paper from him.

Lois sat across from Perry in his office, impatiently listening as he began his 'Papa Bear' lecture. Most of his famous speeches consisted of Elvis stories. Just when she thought she'd heard them all he surprised her with a new one.

"Lois, what in the Sam Hill are you doing?"

Lois looked up at him in surprise. "What are you talking about, Perry?" No Elvis story this time.

"'What am I talking about?' A month ago you burst into my office declaring you wanted a new partner after your and Clark's first date. If I remember right, you had no idea what to do next. A month later, you've got this DEA Agent chasing you and Clark's pushed to the side. What in the name of Elvis is going on?"

"Dan is just a friend," Lois argued.

"Oh, really? Then why does he keep showing up here trying to take you to lunch or dinner, or whatever..." She tried to cover up her look of surprise but wasn't quick enough. "Don't look at me like that. I know what's going on everywhere," Perry snapped.

"Perry, it's not like that. I already told Dan I was seeing Clark," Lois argued.

"Well, apparently he didn't get the message, did he? Lois, you need to make up your mind and you need to do it fast. I don't want my newsroom going to hell because of this. Are we clear?"

"Completely." Lois' eyes narrowed. She hated being told what to do.

The conversation between Lois and Perry seemed tense, but he needed to share his findings with both of them. Clark knocked lightly on the office door as he opened it. "Am I interrupting?"

Lois was quick to her feet, crossing the room to meet him. "Uh, no, what's up?"

Clark showed her the fax. "The medical association came through on Katherine Wilder." He pointed to the picture. "Look familiar?"

"She was at the hospital when we were trying to escape from the clutches of Nurse Berkley."

"She's on staff," Clark added.

"Coincidence?" Lois asked.

Before he could respond, the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the room. He pushed Lois to the ground. "Get down!" He covered her body with his own as he felt the bullets ricochet off his back. Perry flattened himself underneath his desk.

Clark started to get up to investigate the source of the gunfire when Lois grabbed him. "No, don't! Let Superman and the police handle it!"

"Lois..." He tried to argue but stopped when he saw the look on her face.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to take a look." He released himself from her grasp and got up. He inched out of Perry's office and changed into Superman.

Clark landed outside the Daily Planet and came face to face with the source of the disturbance. A man with a rifle stood in the middle of the street, shooting randomly at the windows of the Daily Planet and various other buildings.

"That's enough," Clark said firmly.

The expression on the man's face was blank. He smiled as he turned to face Clark. He held up the rifle, hands in the air. For a brief moment, Clark thought he was going to give himself up. An array of bullets rained against his chest; one even lodged itself in between his teeth. He spat it out and advanced towards the assailant.

The man fell to the ground, rifle in hand. Clark knelt down to check his pulse as the Metropolis Police surrounded him. He found no sign of a pulse or breathing. He caught a glimpse of the man's forearm. He had the same rash as Jimmy and Sarah.

Police began to swarm the scene. He stepped back and allowed them to take control. His super-hearing picked up the sound of Perry's voice.

"Somebody, get down there right now! I want an exclusive! Olsen, grab your camera!" He smiled to himself; even in a situation like this Perry was still worried about his front page story.

Lois and Perry watched as the maintenance crew began the process of putting Perry's office back together. Perry tried to remain cool, but she could tell he was just as shaken up about the attack as anyone else. She glanced out in the newsroom, scanning for any sign of Clark. She still couldn't believe he'd left her like that. Flashbacks of his shooting a few months ago came to her mind.

"In one lousy second, I lost my partner and my best friend."

Clark stepped into the office cautiously. "Everyone all right?" he asked.

"Clark!" Lois threw her arms around his neck for a moment, reveling in the relief she felt that he was all right. Then her anger took over and she pushed him away, "Are you crazy? What the hell were you thinking? You could have been shot! What?! Getting killed once wasn't enough? You wanted to go for a record?"

She was angry, but mostly she had been scared. She had lost him once and she didn't want to lose him again.

"I'm fine. See? One piece." He held his hands up for her to inspect. She relented a moment. His tone softened as he cupped her cheek. "I'm fine really. Are you okay?" He placed an arm around her shoulders and she rested her head against his solid frame for a brief moment. She knew he probably thought she was over-reacting, but reliving the pain of losing her best friend was not something she cared for.

"Yeah, I'm just a little shaky," she said. She held onto him a little longer than necessary. "What happened?"

"GE Mallow." He gestured toward the streets. "He's dead."

TBC...