A/N: Wall of Sound was written by John McNamara
The next few weeks went by quickly. The expected rise in crime from the announcement of Superman's presumed death hadn't occurred, no doubt do to the diligence of both the MPD and the NIA. Lois and Clark were assigned stories together and apart. Superman wasn't back yet, but at least Clark was more his old cheerful self again. Soon it was time for the Metropolis Press Club's annual journalism awards announcements and the black tie awards dinner.
Lois and Clark had fallen back into their old habit of walking to work. Parking was scarce near Lois's apartment so she usually left her Cherokee in the parking garage beside the Planet. Neither of them lived all that far from the paper.
As was their habit, Clark had bought coffee for the two of them at one of their favorite street vendors, a fellow named 'Mike' who seemed to have an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what they wanted, almost before they asked for it.
"So, you must be excited," Clark said.
"I don't know, Clark, walking to work with you isn't really the thrill it used to be," Lois glanced at him and he saw a touch of color climb into her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I keep promising I won't bring up the whole…"
"It's okay," Clark said. "Actually, I was talking about the Kerth Awards. They announce the nominees tomorrow."
"Oh, is that tomorrow?" Her tone was mischievous.
"C'mon, Lois, you get nominated every year."
"Not every year," she corrected him. "Just… every year since I've been eligible."
"I bet you get it for the Bolivian drug cartel series."
She grinned. It was a good series. Nobody in the city had come close to breaking a story with as much positive feedback as that one had. "Well, the awards dinner's always fun and it'd be a nice way to break in that new black dress I picked up… You rent your tux yet?"
Clark shook his head. "The dinner's just for nominees."
"And dates. If you want to go..."
"Sure, yeah." He was surprised. It hadn't occurred to him that she might actually want to be seen with him outside of work. Without Superman to fall back on, Clark Kent was just a reporter from the Midwest and certainly not in the same league as the woman who left Lex Luthor at the altar.
"Why don't you go pick out your duds?" They had just passed a formalwear shop. Lois's bank was next door. "I'll run into the bank and meet you back out here in five."
"Sure…"
A few minutes later, Clark had his reservation slip for his tux tucked in his pocket. He stepped onto the sidewalk. Lois wasn't waiting for him in front of the bank. Maybe they're just really busy, but if she didn't hurry, they were going to be late for work. Worried, he walked into the bank to find her only to stop two steps inside.
Not a single person inside the bank was moving. The customers and employees were sprawled on the floor or slumped over their desks or counters. Lois was lying flat on her back in the middle of the floor.
"Lois!"
He ran over to her, and cradled her in his arms. She was still breathing at least. After a few moments, her eyes fluttered open. She tried to sit up then closed her eyes to try to shake the wooziness. All around them the other people were beginning to stir. Clark looked around to find some clue as to what had happened. He didn't smell anything and even without his powers Clark's senses were better than the average human's. The bank vault door was standing open, the inside drawers in disarray.
"Clark...? What happened...?" she asked.
"Somebody made a withdrawal," Clark said, nodding toward the vault.
"Last thing I remember," Lois said. "I was standing here, feeling kind of tired..."
They looked around again. Several people had not yet regained consciousness. In fact, one man in a suit was lying on the floor, snoring.
"Looks like you weren't the only one," Clark commented.
"What could've knocked us all out so fast?" Lois asked.
-o-o-o-
The first day of the investigation hadn't gotten them anywhere. Today Lois had opted to make the calls to police department and her sources while Clark hit the street. Although he had managed to score something of a coup thanks to Henderson, he hoped Lois had come up with something as well. He waited impatiently for the elevator doors to open. He almost ran into the bullpen, clutching the security tape. "Got it!"
"What?" Lois asked as she and Jimmy followed him into the conference room. He put the videotape into the VCR and turned on the monitor above it.
"Video from the bank security cameras," Clark said. "Now maybe we'll find out why the police have such a tight lid on this thing."
"You didn't get anything either?" Lois asked.
He shook his head. "Not from the police. I got this copy from Henderson. He's hoping we spot something his people have missed. But it's strictly off the record."
A picture came on the screen. A high angle shot of the bank lobby. Everything seemed normal. Customers were standing quietly in line, Employees were at their stations. Lois was standing at a teller's window in the foreground. There was quiet chatter in the background, innocuous music.
"I thought security tapes didn't normally have audio," Jimmy commented.
"According to Inspector Henderson, it's an experimental system," Clark said. "There's still some question about how legal it is."
Then, an oddly eerie sound came out of the speakers. Seductive, a not quite melodic siren song. On the screen, both customers and employees began to drop. Clark turned up the volume. Beside him, both Lois and Jimmy both began to yawn. He turned down the volume and they both perked up.
"It's the sound..." Clark said.
"Sound?" Jimmy asked.
"What sound?" Lois looked confused.
"You didn't hear it?" Clark asked. "That weird sound in the bank, the one just that made you guys… uh, that made us all drowsy just… Neither of you heard it?"
Lois shook her head. Jimmy was focusing on the monitor. "Look."
On the screen, four men dressed in black walked into view of the security camera. They wore black motorcycle style helmets with dark visors pulled down to hide their faces and black leather jackets. The men moved with oiled precision, stepping over the sleeping bodies as they headed for the cash drawers and the closed vault.
The image froze.
"Whoa, check it out," Jimmy murmured.
"What?" Clark didn't see anything of significance on the screen.
"That jacket..." Jimmy pointed out. One of the jackets had ornate studding and embroidery across the back. The resolution of the tape made it impossible to make out details. "I wonder where he got it."
"Will you pay attention?" Lois said, giving Jimmy a disapproving look as she started the tape again.
On the screen they saw a guard enter the room from one of the back offices. He spotted the intruders and drew his service revolver. One of the thieves pulled out a small gun-like device from beneath his jacket. He aimed it at the guard who promptly keeled over.
"Wow," Jimmy breathed. "The first sound that can put a whole room to sleep."
"I can see why the police don't want this in the papers until they can figure out what this is," Clark said.
Outside, Perry strode into the bullpen. "All right, people, listen up!" he yelled.
Clark hit pause on the machine the tape and followed Lois and Jimmy into the bullpen. The rest of the staff had already gathered around the editor.
"The nominations for the Kerth Investigative Journalism prize are in and I'm proud to announce that one of our own has received the nod," Perry said with a grin. "So I want a big round of applause for…"
"He always does this, it's so embarrassing..." Lois whispered to Clark.
"…Clark Kent!" Perry said loudly.
Lois was beginning to step forward then stopped, looking back at Clark in open astonishment.
"C'mon, son, don't be shy. Get over here!" Perry urged. Lois stepped back to rejoin the crowd as Clark stepped forward to stand beside Perry. The older man clapped a proud hand on Clark's shoulder.
"I think you've got a real shot at winning. That retirement home scandal you uncovered was…"
"Wait," Lois started in open disbelief. "He got nominated for the retirement home series?"
Perry grinned at her. "Top grade journalism. Emotional wallop."
Lois just stared at them both, open mouthed.
"Lois? Don't you have something to say to Clark?" Perry urged.
"Right, yes. Clark, this is... ah... I'm very..." She stopped.
"Surprised?" Clark suggested.
"Stunned. Shocked. In need of oxygen," Lois corrected.
"Now Lois," Perry chided gently. "You've been nominated every year. You've won three times. Don't go getting petty. The Planet's a team. One success is everybody's success. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Good," Perry said, beaming at her "Back to work everybody."
Lois and Clark were left looking everywhere but at one another as the rest of the staff went back to their desks and assignments.
Finally, Clark began: "Look, Lois…"
She nodded at the monitor and the tape. "So. What's our next step?"
"Find somebody who can tell us about sound," Clark suggested. "I know somebody over at U of M."
"Really?"
"Might give us a little background…"
-o-o-o-
"So let me get this straight," Lois said. "Every object has its own natural vibration frequency. People have one frequency, this pen has a different one and so would this table. And if you can find the exactly right frequency, you can make anything, or anyone, do whatever you want: blow up, disappear?"
"That's a vast over simplification, Miss Lane," Dr. Arnold said. "But essentially correct. It's the specific vibration frequency that causes one building to be demolished in an earthquake while the one next to it remains standing. The demolished one was vibrating with a related frequency as the ground under it and so took damage." He turned back to the electronic equipment on the table in front of him. Denny Arnold, Ph.D. was the researcher Clark knew at the University of Metropolis. They'd been lucky to find him in his lab.
"Who's close to getting this kind of technology up and running?" Clark asked.
"Hans Schimmel over at the Vienna University of Technology, Minaru Yamamoto at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. Derek Camden was close until he cracked up, and Leonard Stokes."
"Leonard Stokes? As in Lenny Stokes the rock musician?" Lois asked.
Arnold nodded. "Brilliant mind, no discipline. I heard that he and Camden were in business together for a while, but it didn't work out."
Clark reached into his jacket and pulled out the videotape. "We think this tape has a recording of the sound the bank robbers used to knock out everybody at the bank yesterday during that robbery."
Arnold's eyebrows tried to reach his hairline. "I'm astonished the sound could be recorded by standard equipment."
"When I ran it though the TV monitor at work, something started putting people to sleep there, too. They woke up when I turned off the speakers," Clark told him.
"I assume you want me to analyze it?"
"If you could," Clark said.
Arnold took the videotape and put it into a rack-mounted VCR under a stack of sophisticated audio recording and analysis equipment. The equipment was connected to a computer.
After a few moments, a squiggle of overlapping lines appeared on the computer monitor. "That's your mysterious sound," Arnold said. "Just above normal human hearing. The dogs in the area wouldn't have liked it much."
"So, that's what put everybody to sleep?" Lois asked.
"That's the odd part," Arnold told them. "I'm not a neurologist or anything like that, but I don't think the sound alone would do it. I'll analyze it and see if I can detect any patterns. I'll also run it past some people I know over at the medical school. If this is really what put all those people to sleep, they're going to be really interested."
"You'll let us know what you come up with?" Clark said.
"Sure thing," Arnold promised. He ignored them as they headed out of the lab, already intent on his analysis.
"Do you think he'll find anything?" Lois asked as she and Clark started back to the Planet.
"I hope so," Clark said. "In the meantime, we can look into the names he gave us."
-o-o-o-
"Hans Schimmel died of coronary thrombosis four weeks ago," Lois announced, looking up from her computer monitor.
"That counts him out. Minaru Yamamoto has been on a research trip to Antarctica for the last six months," Clark said. "How about Stoke?"
"He put out a couple albums a few years back; great reviews, no sales. Heavy into sonic R and D. Had some bad luck financially – patents stolen, accountants ripping him off."
"Patents?"
"Speaker systems, new types of audio amplifiers, that sort of thing," Lois said. Clark rolled his chair over to her desk to look at her monitor. A photo of Lenny Stokes was on her screen. He looked flashy and devilishly charismatic, smiling at the camera.
"What about Camden?"
Lois brought up an article on Derek Camden. A dour face glared out of the screen at them.
"Cracked up because he tested a new kind of thought-altering process on himself. Got shipped off to the state mental hospital... released six weeks ago," Clark read off her screen. "Hey, look at this." He pointed out a section of text.
Lois skimmed the portion he was pointing out. "Well, Arnold did say that Stoke and Camden were in business together for a while. This says Stoke sued Camden for patent infringement. Camden lost everything he had, including his position at the University. Managed to get private funding for his research into the affect of sound on thought processes, though."
"Who funded it?" Clark asked.
"This doesn't say," Lois said. "You think it's important?"
"The robbers used sound that put people to sleep," Clark reminded her. "Camden was doing research on sound with mind-altering effects. Awfully big coincidence."
"But the whole robbery had a theatrical feel, don't you think?" Lois asked. "Black leather, black helmets… Almost like it was choreographed. And then there's that biker jacket Jimmy was drooling over. That all has more of the feel of somebody like Stoke."
"Let's get Jimmy to look into Camden's funding," Clark said. "Chances are he's looking for that jacket on his own."
Lois checked her watch. "Let's grab some lunch. There's a new place I've heard about near the Diamond District."
-o-o-o-
The restaurant wasn't as good as Lois had said she'd heard, but it wasn't bad. And it was right across the street from the narrow block of gem and jewelry merchants that collectively were called the Diamond District.
"Sounds like we've got two likelies," Clark reminded her as soon as they were done with their meal. They had avoided talking shop over lunch.
"So, who do we go after first?" Lois asked. "Camden or Stoke?"
"Well, actually, there was something I wanted to ask you first..." Clark began. There was an odd shyness in his tone.
"Shoot."
"Since we already went ahead and made plans, I wondered if you wanted to go to the Kerth Awards."
Lois turned and looked at him. "You mean, as your date?"
"I was going to beyours," Clark reminded her.
"You want me to hang on your arm, smile and tell everybody how proud I am of my great big reporter man?" Her eyes narrowed as she regarded him.
"Sounds good to me," Clark said. She glared at him. "Hey. Kidding? I just thought we might have a good time. And you did buy that new dress for the…"
"I did not buy it for the awards!" Lois protested. Co-workers at nearby desks looked up at them. She dropped her voice. "I happened to buy it... around... the time of the awards. It's a coincidence. And the more I think about it, the more I don't even like the stupid thing, so I'm returning it!"
"Lois, are you upset that I got nominated and you didn't?"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I mean, we both did good stories," she stated firmly. "Mine destroyed an international drug network and yours... really told the searing truth about... old people. And... and... I just can't believe it! There's got to be some mistake! They lost my story or their brains were taken over by aliens or…" She stopped, a horrified look coming into her face. "Oh, God, look at me. This is pathetic. I never thought I was this small. I'm sorry."
"At least you didn't accuse me of cheating, using my, you know. So... you want to go with me, or not?"
She looked away. "Clark? Can we talk about this later?"
He shrugged, trying not to show his disappointment. "Sure."
"So who do we track down first? Camden or Stoke?" she asked.
"We could split up and do both," Clark suggested.
"Split up? What are you…?" she started. Then she reconsidered, folding her arms across her chest. "Oh, I get it. You've got some idea, some lead you're not telling me about. You're going to track it down yourself."
"Lo-is, that's not…"
"No, that's fine," she said, walking away from him. "It's fine, Clark."
"You check out Stoke," Clark said. "I'll find Camden. We'll meet back at the Planet, okay?"
"Uh-huh, right, and you've got your next prize all sewn up."
"Lo-is…" Clark looked down the street. He heard a familiar high pitched, almost musical keening and it was growing louder. As he watched, people on the crowded sidewalk began to drop, including Lois. Then the fender benders from drivers falling asleep at the wheels of the cars. Finally, the people inside the shops were down. Clark was the only one left standing. He grabbed Lois and pulled her back into the restaurant, to relative safety.
Clark regretted that his strength and speed hadn't come back yet, although his hearing and eyesight were well on their way to being back to 'super'. X-ray and heat vision were still sporadic and unreliable.
He spotted the van as he came out of the restaurant. It was black, with blacked out windows and no license plate on the back. A large antenna, similar to the one seen in the hands of one of the robbers on the video, was mounted to the roof of the van. The antenna was rotating. As near as Clark could tell, it was the source of the eerie, sleep-inducing sound waves.
Suddenly, the side doors of the van opened. Clark ducked back into a doorway as four men in black helmets and leather jumpsuits and jackets jumped out of the van and headed toward the first jewelry store.
The men didn't seem to see him as Clark made his way closer, crouching down to stay out of sight. He watched the gang make their way around the fallen bodies, breaking display cases, emptying out drawers of gems and settings. There was no talking between them. They moved like a military unit, using hand signals.
Then, almost as a replay of what happened in the bank, someone came out of a back room. It wasn't a guard this time, but an older man. He stopped, staring at the looters dumbfounded. Then he ran toward the order counter. Clark assumed he was heading for the alarm switch, although alarms were already wailing all through the ravaged storefronts.
One of the gang members pulled out the pistol-like device and aimed it at the old man. Nothing happened. The man with the 'gun' adjusted a dial on the device and the old man screamed. Clark dove for him, to knock him out of the way.
"Didn't you hear?" the man with a pistol sneered. "Superman is dead."
Clark barely heard the voice, just enough to almost make out the words and the fact that the voice was electronically masked. The noise from the pistol was screaming in his ears, resonating in his brain – not the eerie sound of the sleep-inducer but something louder, harsher, deadlier. The sound got louder and then there was nothing as blackness engulfed him.
-o-o-o-
Lois had regained conscious on the floor of the restaurant and had quickly realized that Clark wasn't anywhere near. Around her, everyone else was also waking up, getting woozily to their feet.
On the street several police cars were parked, their lights still flashing. The officers belonging to the cars were picking themselves off the pavement. From one of the storefronts, a woman screamed. The officers ran toward the sound, Lois right behind them.
She stopped at the sight in front of her. Clark was lying on the floor unconscious, blood trickling from both ears. Beside him was another, older, man with blood drying on his face. An officer with a first aid kit was pulling a jacket over the older man's face. The officer turned back to Clark but Lois was already on her knees beside him.
"Clark? Clark!" After what seemed to be an eternity, Clark's eyes flickered open. Lois heaved a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?"
Clark managed a nod as he struggled to sit up. The first aid officer began to check Clark over until he pushed him away.
"We should get you to the hospital…" the officer told him.
"No hospitals," Clark managed to say.
"Clark, what happened?" Lois asked.
"The thieves, I'm pretty sure it was the same bunch as at the bank, were looting the place when he…" Clark indicated the dead man. "…came in. The sleep-inducer didn't work on him, so the guy with the sound gun changed something. I tried to knock him out of the way. I wasn't fast enough, I guess."
"Can you stand?" Lois asked.
Clark seemed a little wobbly even while trying to sit up. He struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on her.
"How about we get someone to take your statement, then you can get out of here," the officer said. He looked at Lois. "But get him to a doctor. We don't know what the long term effects are of that sound weapon these guys are using."
"I'll get you home as soon as we're done here, okay?" Lois offered.
Clark just nodded.
-o-o-o-
He was painfully late to work and he hoped Lois had covered for him. After getting to his apartment the afternoon before, Lois helped him clean most of the blood off of his face and out of his ears. After she left he managed to crawl into bed and had fallen into an exhausted sleep. When Clark finally woke up, he was already several hours late getting to the Planet. He hadn't heard the alarm clock go off at all and wasn't sure if Lois had turned it off or he had simply slept through it.
Sharp sounds still sent ice picks into his brain and his sense of balance wasn't right. But staying home simply wasn't an option.
The elevator seemed to take forever, creaking and groaning as it made its way to the bullpen floor. The doors opened and he made his way to his desk, hoping no one noticed how wobbly he was.
There was a copy of this morning's edition of the Planet on his desk. He glanced at the headline: THIEVES LOOT DIAMONDS '"Sound Man" and Gang Put Whole Block to Sleep. One Man Dead.'
"Too bad Superman's gone," Jimmy said as Clark dropped into his desk chair. "He'd've taken this guy out."
"Maybe," Clark said.
Perry came out of his office and walked over to Lois's desk. "Are you okay, son? Lois told us what happened."
"I'm still a little rocky, but I'll be okay," Clark assured him. Perry didn't look convinced.
"Preliminary autopsy results on the man killed in the robbery came in and Doctor Arnold called. I told him we'd be over as soon as you came in," Lois said. "Unless you still think it would be better if we divide our efforts…"
"There are still two of us and two of them…" Clark reminded her.
"There something going on between you two I should…?" Perry asked.
"No," they both said.
"Hello, Metropolis," a voice said from nowhere and everywhere. Clark recognized it. It was the same distorted voice that had said: 'Didn't you hear? Superman is dead.' The voice of the killer in the Diamond District.
The voice continued. "For those of you who haven't read the papers, I'm the one who brought the police to their knees and cleared out the gem merchants… In celebration of that momentous event, I'm creating a new tax. A sound tax. The rate: fifty percent of all money in Metropolis banks. Seem like a high price? Then don't pay. And find out what a high price really is."
Lois and Clark exchanged glances. He's already killed once.
"The money will be bagged and waiting outside each branch by nine AM tomorrow. Oh, and one final message... to the cops… Try and stop me."
"Not exactly subtle, is he?" Perry commented.
"Lois, you said Doctor Arnold wanted to see us?" Clark asked.
She nodded. "You can read the autopsy report on the way."
-o-o-o-
The medical examiner's report was a little surprising, but then Clark realized it probably shouldn't have been. It made sense that the one person who hadn't been affected by the sleep-inducer sound had been profoundly deaf. His name was Franz Muller and he was a gem cutter. Death had been caused by his brain being reduced to mush inside his skull.
"You know, you're lucky he didn't kill you too," Lois commented.
"Lucky for me, the Sound Man wasn't gunning for Superman," Clark said. "I have a feeling his weapon could be tuned to hurt me, even if my powers were at full strength."
"You're joking, right?"
"I wish I was. My invulnerability has been back for some time, but that sound weapon knocked me for a loop. You saw that," he said. "My sense of balance still isn't right. I doubt I could fly right now, even if that had come back. I'd end up running into a building or the ground or something."
"That bad, huh?"
Clark nodded then grimaced as the vertigo returned. He took a deep breath to calm the complaints coming from his gut.
"Did Jimmy come up with anything on Camden's funding?"
Lois blew a long breath through her nose. "You're not going to believe it. When Camden lost his position at the University, he went to work for LexLabs. But he walked out on them over some sort of ethics issue. Apparently he was strictly anti-gun, anti-violence and objected when they wanted to test the non-lethal weapon he'd designed for them on animals."
"Sounds like something LexLabs would have done," Clark commented.
"When Camden left, they shelved the project, supposedly," Lois continued. "He had non-compete contract, but then ACL Corporation – you remember them? – started funding him and managed to get him out of the non-compete… I've put in a call to Camden's doctor at the hospital. Hopefully he'll talk to us."
Doctor Arnold was waiting for them in his lab. "Just so you know. I've already passed my findings onto the police. The sound on the bank tape was designed to create delta waves in the hearer. According to my colleagues over in medical, delta waves are associated with deep sleep. But that's not all I found." He turned on the tape recorder on the table. A low musical voice came out of the speakers:'You are tired. You are sleepy. Go to sleep. Go to sleep.' The voice repeated the phrases in several languages.
"The voice is buried in the sound. I've slowed it down and removed the delta wave inducers so it can be made out," Arnold told them. "Between the delta waves and the subliminals, I'd say it was pretty effective. STAR Labs is looking into a way to combat the sound."
"You know the Sound Man killed someone yesterday, don't you?" Clark asked.
Arnold nodded, his mouth settling into a grim line. "I know. And I don't know of any technology we have that can counter it, at least nothing that's portable."
"Thank you, Doctor," Clark said, turning to leave.
"Hey, I just wish I could be more help," Arnold said.
"So, where does that leave us?" Lois asked as soon as they pulled out of the parking lot.
"Pretty much the same place we were before," Clark said. "Camden or Stoke, unless you think Doctor Arnold is involved."
Lois's cell phone chirped and Lois pulled it out. "Lois Lane…Yes, Doctor Green… We'll be right there…" She hit 'end' on her phone and dropped it back into her purse. "Camden's doctor is willing to talk. He's meeting us at the downtown Big Belly."
Lois's phone chirped again. "Lois Lane… Jimmy? Where are you…? You what…? You did…? We'll be right there." She glanced over at Clark. "Jimmy spotted that jacket and the van like the one you described."
"You want to drop me off at Big Belly while you chase down Jimmy?"
Lois sighed. "After everything, including you getting hurt, you want to split up?"
"Lois, that's not it," Clark protested. "We can cover more ground separately right now and you know it. I'll go talk to Camden's doctor while you find out what Jimmy's found."
"Fine," Lois spat. "You go track down Camden. You've been wanting to ever since you heard about him." The jeep screeched to a halt in front of the restaurant.
"We'll meet back at the Planet?" Clark asked.
"Whatever."
"Lo-is."
"Doctor Green is waiting."
-o-o-o-
Lois wasn't sure why she was annoyed with Clark. It made perfectly good sense for them to split up to track down the two leads they had. Was she really afraid he'd bring in the story without her?
No, that wasn't like Clark at all. Claude might have done it to her – hell, he had done it to her, but Clark wouldn't. The Kerth committee chose his series on old people and nursing homes over her series on drugs. That's what it came out to. They hadn't even looked at what it took to get the drug cartel story, how close she had come to losing her life (Superman not withstanding), how hard it had been to get the goods on the cartel members. The committee chose to honor the investigation that had posed no danger in getting the facts, except for being bored to death. One hundred twenty hours of taped interviews, nearly twice that in time for background, off the record interviews and sources that wanted to remain anonymous. Lois had to admit she wouldn't have been able to even begin such an investigation but Clark had simply started and slogged though to the end.
Lois Lane had lost the nomination to Clark Kent. She realized that was what was irking her. She had always strived to be the best, and getting the nod from the Kerth committee these past years was simply validation that she really was the best. Now her still wet-behind-the-ears partner was being considered for that title. There was only one top spot, right? Right.
She spotted Jimmy and his old battered motorcycle in front of City Hall and pulled the jeep in behind where he was parked.
"What have you got?" Lois asked, catching his attention. Jimmy climbed into the passenger seat.
"I spotted a gray van and a bunch of guys planting micro-speakers on buildings and light posts," Jimmy told her. "Got some good shots of them, too, before the cops ran me off."
"And?"
"The guy with that fancy biker jacket is one of them," Jimmy continued. "I traced the jacket to one of the custom embroidery companies."
"And?"
"It was ordered by a fellow named Quinn Gallagher. And guess where he works."
"Jimmy…" Lois warned.
"Stoke Club."
-o-o-o-
Green was waiting at one of the outdoor tables at Big Belly, which was one of the favored haunts of Daily Planet employees, being only two blocks east of the Planet.
"Doctor Green? I'm Clark Kent, Daily Planet," Clark introduced himself. Green looked concerned. "Miss Lane sent me," Clark added. The older man gestured for Clark to take the seat opposite his.
One of the waitresses spotted him and dropped off another menu. "I'll just have coffee with cream, please," Clark said. She sauntered off.
"I assume Miss Lane told you why we're interested in Derek Camden," Clark began.
Green nodded. "You and the police are trying to locate him."
"From our research, he is one of the few people around with the knowledge and skills to design and build the weapons the Sound Man is using," Clark told him.
Green took a deep breath and picked the valise that had been leaning against his leg. He opened the case and pulled out a slim folder. "These files are normally confidential, Mr. Kent, but under the circumstances..." He opened the file and skimmed the top sheet contents as if reacquainting himself with its contents. "Camden was released into the care of a friend. Lenny Stoke."
"Stoke? I heard they hated each other."
Green shrugged. "I spoke to Derek not long after his release. He said he and Stoke had a new business venture in the works. And the last address I had for him was…"
"Let me guess," Clark interrupted. "Stoke's." He sat back in his chair as the waitress brought him his coffee and sat Green's meal on the table.
"Doctor Green, is there anything you can tell me about Camden's condition," Clark asked. "Without violating doctor-patient confidentiality of course, that would help us find him before things get worse for him."
Green's lips drew thin as he considered Clark's question. "Derek was a pacifist, completely against violence. I can't see that he would willingly have had anything to do with these crimes."
"Was there another doctor he was working with at the hospital? Maybe they have some thoughts on this?" Clark asked. It was a long shot. He knew that the New Troy Public Mental Health Hospital frequently had private practice physicians giving time to patients pro bono.
Green seemed to consider Clark's statement for a long time before speaking. "He was in the care of Doctor Arianna Carlin up until the time of her death. Her death set him back quite a bit."
"But he recovered quickly enough to be released six weeks ago, within a week of Carlin's death," Clark pointed out.
"She had already started the paperwork for his release," Green said. "It would have been difficult to keep him under those circumstances, especially when Mister Stoke stepped up and agreed to take care of him."
Clark and Doctor Green chatted a while longer as Green finished his meal. The psychiatrist gave him a list of names, staff members Camden had spent time talking to at the hospital, but warned him it was unlikely any of them could add any more to what Clark already knew.
It was a short walk to the Planet. Lois was nowhere to be seen. Clark wished, not for the first time in recent days, that his x-ray vision had come back. It would make it a little easier to figure out where she had gone. He hoped she wasn't planning on doing something dangerous – Superman wasn't around to pull her fat out of the fire.
"If you're lookin' for Lois," Perry said, seeing him settle at his desk. "She was here for about half an hour then took off lookin' like the cat that swallowed the canary."
"Any idea where she went?" Clark asked.
Perry shook his head. "I'm just the ring master in this here circus."
-o-o-o-
Lois looked around the large, industrial-looking room. The Stoke Club's doors had opened only ten minutes before but the floor was already crowded with young women dressed in very little, and men ogling them.
The ceiling was invisible, hidden in cigarette smoke and darkness. The club was in an old municipal warehouse converted to a dance club not long after Stoke's first album came out – the only commercially successful album the musician had released. The others had been well received by critics, but not by the purchasing public. The club, however, remained a favorite haven for Metropolis's underground rock crowd.
The music was loud, reverberating in her chest as she made her way closer to the stage. Stoke himself was scheduled to play this evening. That was one of the reasons the club was so crowded tonight. Stoke was supposed to be playing tonight.
Someone bumped into her and a man's hand landed on her bare midriff. "Watch it," she warned, slapping the hand away. She turned around and looked up at the man who had bumped her: Clark.
"Lois? What... what are you...? Why are you dressed like that?" he managed to stammer.
"You're just too much competition, Clark, so I'm chucking my career and becoming a groupie," she said, swaying to the music. Clark just stood there, looking overdressed and out of place in his suit and tie.
"Look, I've got a lead on Camden. He was staying here and…"
"That's great, Clark, I'm really happy for you. I'm on a lead of my own, so what else is there to say but... see you at the finish line?" With that she danced away from him. As much as she wanted to hear about his lead on Camden, she wasn't about to let him blow her chance at getting to Stoke. She had done her homework. She was dressed and made-up just like his last three conquests, complete with nose ring even though he did like them younger than she was. She had a plan. She even had a bugging device with her, courtesy of Jimmy.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time," a voice announced over the public address system. "In his first appearance on his own or any other stage in over two years... The Recluse of Rock, the Duke of Decadence... the one, the only... Lenny Stoke!"
The lights on the dance floor dimmed as the stage lights blazed to life. Lenny Stoke, devilish, debonair, was on stage, wearing black leather from head-to-toe leather. He was sporting a pair of metallic elbow-length gloves as he grabbed one of the microphones, shrieking into it as the three other leather-clad members of his band began their set.
Lois waved back at Clark, watching him long enough to make sure he was leaving. She smiled to herself as he plugged his ears with his fingers and shoved his way out of the club. Then she turned her attention back to Lenny Stoke. The crowd was enthralled, entranced, especially the tightly-packed groupies closest to the stage. They almost seemed drugged.
She tried to push her way to the front row, but the girls already in position shoved her back. Then the latex and spandex amazons the Stoke Club used as 'security' dragged her to the back of the room and dropped her there without saying a word.
Lois glared at the three as they went back to their stations, watching the crowd. She stopped five big men with beards and beer guts. They weren't dancing, but they were watching the girls who were. After a moment, Lois pulled a wad of bills from her purse and waved it at them.
Within moments Lois was in front of the stage with her new body guards. The groupies who had shoved her out of the way were glaring at her from the sidelines. Thanks to some well spent cash, Lois had a space of floor all to herself. She could see that she had caught Stoke's attention. He was grinning appreciatively as she gyrated seductively in front of him. Step one completed.
-o-o-o-
The Stoke's Club bartender had been surprisingly helpful, pointing out the room at the back of the building, telling Clark what little he knew about Camden: "Camden was living in one of the rooms in back. Weird little guy… Jumpy. Gave me the creeps but Stoke said the guy was an old buddy of his who was goin' though some bad times."
"So, when did he leave?" Clark had asked.
"About a week ago," the bartender said. "Just up and disappeared. Stoke wasn't real happy about it. But hey, it's a free country."
"You wouldn't happen to know where he went, would you?" Clark asked, passing the bartender the tab and a sizable tip for the pint of beer he'd been handed.
The bartender shrugged. "Can't help ya there, sorry."
Clark had given the man his thanks and had gone to check out Camden's room. It was small, without windows. An unmade bed, a dresser, a night stand and a desk. Clark had checked the desk, keeping an ear out for intruders. Empty. There wasn't even a writing pad in the desk. Clark spotted a blotch of ink on the wall near where a phone had obviously been mounted at one time. He had just been able to make out the name and number that had been written on the wall then scribbled over using felt-tipped marker.
That was when one of Stoke's security people found him and forcibly escorted him out of the room. Luckily for him, he was invulnerable, although that hadn't helped when he found Lois in the club, dressed like a hooker or a groupie, chasing him away from her.
A quick call to the Daily Planet research department got him an address for the phone number. It was in Suicide Slum. He found the building easily enough, several blocks from the club. It was a boarding house that had seen far better days. He knocked on the door and when a sullen looking boy answered the door, he asked for Ms. Valdez. The boy disappeared inside and a few moments later a frightened-looking woman with dark hair and swarthy skin came to the door.
"Ms. Valdes? I'm Clark Kent, from the Daily Planet? I'm looking for Derek Camden," Clark said. "Your phone number was on the wall of his room."
She didn't seem to understand him.
"No ingles?" Clark asked. She shook her head. He switched to Spanish, hoping his accent wasn't too execrable. "Senorita Valdes, mi nombre es Clark Kent, yo soy un reportero..."
-o-o-o-
Clark hurried back to the Daily Planet and arrived in about the middle of Mayor Sharp's televised press conference. Perry was still in the newsroom, watching the news conference on the television in his office.
'Neither this city nor its financial institutions will cooperate with such outrageous blackmail. Furthermore...' Sharp was saying. 'The Metropolis Police in conjunction with state and federal authorities are following a number of strong leads and we expect to have this individual identified and apprehended in a very short time. Citizens are urged to remain calm...'
"Do you think he can do it?" Perry asked Clark.
"Can the Sound Man bring down a building like he says?" Clark asked in return. "Yeah, I think he can."
"Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down…" Perry quoted softly to himself. The news conference on the screen ended with a flurry of frantic activity after one of the mayor's aides whispered something to her. "Interesting…" Perry muttered, turning his attention back to Clark.
"Yeah, something's going down," Clark said. "And it can't be good."
A few minutes later the phone on Clark's desk rang.
"The Sound Man just took out that abandoned building on Ninth and Grandview," Jimmy's voice announced without preamble. "And according to the cops I talked to, he's threatening to take out the rest of the block unless the city gives in to his demands."
"Jimmy, maybe you should get back here and let the police handle this?" Clark suggested.
"CK, I'm with the cops and they're checking out the buildings in case there are people inside. It'll make a great story and I've got some good shots," Jimmy said. "Besides, I've got a good idea how he's doing it."
"Jimmy, be careful, okay?"
"Sure, CK," Jimmy promised and hung up.
"Well?" Perry prompted.
"The Sound Man took down a building on Ninth and Grandview and is threatening to take out the block," Clark told him. "Jimmy's on the scene."
"And Lois?"
Clark shook his head. "Last I saw, she was at the Stoke Club."
"The Stoke Club?"
Clark nodded. "She was following a lead there."
"And you?" Perry prompted.
Clark grinned at him as he got up from his desk chair and headed for stairs to the 'library' – a collection of overcrowded bookshelves filled with atlases and phonebooks, as well as other frequently used references. "I have my own lead."
-o-o-o-
Lois waited impatiently for the elevator doors to open. She pulled her trench coat collar closer around her neck with one hand, rubbing her right temple with the other. Except for reinforcing her belief that Lenny Stoke was involved with 'the Sound Man' her visit to the Stoke Club had been a bust. She had managed to get Stoke's attention. She had even got him alone at a table for a drink, although she was sure that if looks could kill, the looks she got from the security women and the groupies would have put her in the hospital at the very least.
Stoke had lived down to his reputation as a ladies' man. She had told him her name was Linda but he couldn't remember it, spouting off nonsense about fated meetings and instant connections and uncontrollable desire while peering down the front of her halter-top. She had pretended not to notice – the airhead she was portraying wouldn't have noticed. She had even gotten close enough to him to plant the 'bug' she'd gotten from Jimmy.
Then Stoke was called away by one of the security people, a tall muscular woman with bleached blonde hair, a hard expression, and 'Security' tattooed down her arm. Stoke had asked her to stay, but as soon as he was out of the room, his security people ordered everyone out of the building.
"You too, honey," one of the Amazon women had told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her from her seat when Lois didn't move from her table.
"Lenny asked me to wait," Lois had protested.
"And I'm sure he meant it at the time," the woman told her with a sneer. "It happens, sweet-face."
Then things went from bad to worse. She had planted the listening device on Stoke. It was small enough that it was unlikely he'd find it unless he was looking for it and she knew it had been working before she'd gone into the club. But it wasn't working now – all she was getting was static.
The elevator doors opened onto the newsroom and Lois stalked to her desk. Her head was throbbing and she grabbed a bottle of aspirin from her desk drawer before heading to the water cooler.
"Nice nose ring," Perry said from behind her. She hadn't realized he was still in the newsroom. He chuckled as she plucked the ring from her nostril and dropped it into her coat pocket. He was still chuckling as she watched him head for the elevators.
She headed back to her desk only to see Clark hurrying down the stairs from the library. He had an open road guide in his hands.
"Oh, hi," he said, noticing her.
"Hi." She fell into step with him as they both headed to their desks.
"How's the Stoke lead going?" he asked.
"I was so close," she said. "Then I rammed myself right into a dead end." She flopped into her chair and unbuttoned her coat. She was still wearing the short black leather halter and short shorts. Stoke had stared down her front, making her feel dirty. Clark was studiously watching her face.
"Clark, I've lost something..." she began.
"Your fashion sense?" Clark responded with a brief nod to her outfit.
"My edge," she corrected. "When did it happen? Is it gone forever, like socks that go the dryer but never come out?
"Lois, you're babbling."
"I know," she told him. "See? I never babble."
"Are you kidding?" Clark responded. He sounded amused. "You're a brook. But that's not the point – the point is you're the same reporter you've always been: dedicated, hard working, a little over the top sometimes... you could use a few more vacations, maybe a hobby, I don't know, even a life…"
She glared at him. Everything he was saying was true, but he didn't have to look so happy about it. "Is this leading anywhere?"
"You're the best reporter in the city, Lois," he said. He wasn't smiling now "You always have been and you always will be."
Clark always knew exactly what she needed. "Awww. Thanks. You really are a good friend. I'm sorry I got so wound up over a stupid award."
'Not even an award, just a nomination," Clark reminded her.
"Exactly. How ridiculous," she agreed. Then: "So, how's the Camden search going?"
He nodded to the open road guide on his desk. "I think I know where he is."
"We do?"
"We?" he repeated. He was watching her as she moved over to his desk to peer at the map.
"Echo Canyon, interesting..."
"What is this 'we' stuff?"
"Didn't you just say I was the best?" she asked putting on her most innocent expression.
"Well, yeah…" he admitted.
"And who do you want for a partner, the worst?"
"Well, no, but..."
Lois buttoned up her coat and grabbed her purse. "Look, do you want to sit here and quibble or get out there and tackle our story?"
The elevator doors opened and Jimmy walked in. His head was down and he looked upset but his expression cleared a little as he caught sight of her and Clark.
"How'd the bug work out?" he asked.
"All I got was static," she told him. Jimmy gave her a puzzled look.
"What kind of static?" he asked. "A schschsch noise or a whiney sort of noise?"
"A buzzing sort of whiney noise," she said.
A thoughtful look came into Jimmy's face. "AC hum? The receiver isn't supposed to sensitive to AC hum."
"But that's all I got," Lois told him. She shrugged and turned to head for the elevators.
"Uh, CK? Can I use your computer?" Jimmy asked.
"Sure, why?" Clark said. Lois stopped to listen.
"I wanted to write a few paragraphs up for Perry about that building coming down," Jimmy explained. "The cops and the fire department got the other buildings evacuated."
"Weren't the buildings supposed to be empty?" Lois asked.
"You know how it is. They were supposed to be, but they weren't. Some homeless people were living there," Jimmy said. "And it looks like there was at least one family living in the basement of the building the Sound Man took down. According to the people I talked to, they had a couple little kids." Jimmy's eyes were bright with tears and his lower lip was trembling. "Guys? What sort of monster would bring down a building on top of little kids?"
"Just like you said, Jimmy," Clark said quietly. "A monster."
-o-o-o-
Two hours north of Metropolis lay the Kirby Mountains, a rough spur of the Adirondacks that stretched north through New England and into Canada. The Kirby Mountains were known for their wealth in coal as well as more precious minerals.
With Lois behind the wheel of her Cherokee, they had made the trip in under 90 minutes. They had turned off the highway half an hour ago and were now wending their way over rutted and unimproved paths that barely warranted the tern 'road' despite what the map said.
"Camden had a friend from the hospital, Noami Valdez; she didn't speak English too well but she told me about a place he liked to go..." Clark explained. "Canyon Del Sonido..."
"Canyon of Sound?"
"Very good," Clark commented while mentally reminding himself that grabbing the door handle wasn't going to help against either Lois's driving or the condition of the road. "Anyway, Echo Canyon's famous for the way sound can bounce and carry for miles. It's a state park, no houses, no camping, but there's an old ranger station up here..."
Clark checked the map again. There were about a mile from where the map indicated the ranger's station was. Lois stopped the Jeep. The road ahead was impassable.
"I guess we're walking the rest of the way," Clark commented as he climbed out of the jeep. He ignored the dark look Lois shot him.
He also ignored her muttered imprecations as she stumbled through the underbrush behind him. She had refused to stop at her apartment to change clothes, wanting to get on the road as quickly as possible. Clark was reasonably certain she was now regretting that decision.
"Ow," she muttered as she stumbled against him once again. Clark stopped suddenly as he caught sight of the crumbling shack that must have been the abandoned ranger station.
"Shhhh."
"Sorry, does my ankle shattering annoy you?" Lois muttered.
"Not me, him."
A man in ragged clothes and a wild-eyed look in his face had stepped out from the trees behind Lois.
"Who?"
"The guy with the gun," Clark said.
She whirled, stumbling back against Clark's chest, one flailing hand knocking his glasses awry. A gasp escaped as Lois caught sight of the gun the man had aimed at them.
"Are you my appointment in Samarra?" the man asked.
"What?" Lois asked, straightening up and moving away from Clark.
"Are you death come to visit me?"
"No, we're reporters," Clark said, keeping his voice low and calm. "And you're Doctor Camden, right?"
"You work for him," Camden announced. "You're his assassins."
"Oh, for God's sake, if we were assassins, would we be this clumsy?" Lois asked sharply.
"She's got a point," Clark said, straightening his glasses. "Do you think we could go inside and talk?"
The inside of the shack was as dilapidated as the outside. There were signs on the walls and floor of roof leaks. The glass in the small windows had disappeared long ago. The only furnishings were a table with two chairs and a sleeping bag. A camp stove sat by the front door.
Clark took a moment to tell Camden about the attacks in the Metropolis. The man became more and more agitated as Clark spoke. Camden began pacing the floor, waving his gun around.
"He stole them," Camden was muttering. "Doctor Carlin said he would and she was right and he killed her. He stole from her too, all her dreams, her ideas."
"But Doctor Camden…" Lois began. Clark grabbed her hand to catch her attention. He shook his head at her. Camden was in no condition to hear the truth about Arianna Carlin.
"So those sounds that put people to sleep and blow things up…?" Clark prompted.
"Here, all fromhere..." Camden said, pointing to his own head with the hand with the gun in it.
"Doctor, be careful..." Lois said, taking a step toward him, hand out to take the gun.
Camden whirled on her, aiming the gun in her direction. "Don't touch me."
Lois backed off. "Don't worry."
"Calm down," Clark said, stepping between Lois and Camden. "We're your friends."
Camden eyed him. "He used that word, too. What does that word mean? Friends? I used to know..."
"Stoke lied to you," Clark said. "He said he was your friend just to get you out of the hospital, then stole all your inventions, right?"
"No, my dreams! He stole my dreams and hers!" Camden shouted. "He wants to end my body and keep my dreams!"
"But Stoke is the Sound Man?" Lois asked.
"Thief, killer, destroyer..." he muttered, almost in tears. Clark doubted Camden even remembered that he and Lois were in the room with him.
"I'll take that as a yes. Ha! I knew it! I was right!" Lois exulted.
"We were both right," Clark reminded her, keeping his voice low.
"Doctor Camden, what about that frequency that kills people? Was that your dream, too?" Lois asked, more quietly this time.
Camden was shaking his head. "Never wanted to hurt, no hurting... theories, play, circles in the air... but not Lenny. Lenny has the power."
"What power?" Clark asked.
"The power, the power... it's all about power... doesn't work without power, where's he getting the power? I never found the power. But Lenny... he found the power. He stole the power," Camden said, his words coming in disjointed gasps as he crouched in the corner of the room. "And he's coming... for me, for you, for everybody... and nothing can stop him. Not even Superman."
-o-o-o-
Lois was tired, annoyed, and her ankle hurt as she drove her jeep through the dawn streets of Metropolis. They had managed to get away from Camden. Hopefully he wouldn't do anything to hurt himself.
The news had announced that the Sound Man had made another extortion call to the mayor and had made more threats. He seemed to be laughing at them.
Clark wanted to call the police with what they had. She wanted more information.
"I agree," Lois was saying. "A tactical police team could infiltrate Stoke's place and pull his plug but come on, do we really have enough evidence to go to them?"
"Camden said…" Clark began. He was being obtuse.
"The Nutty Professor?" Lois scoffed. "Come on."
Clark sat back in the passenger seat. He looked as tired as she felt. "All right, what do you have in mind? Something reckless, dangerous? The kind of fly by the seat of your pants plan guaranteed to get you killed? Superman's not going to be flying in to the rescue, remember?"
"I remember," she assured him she stopped the car across the street from Stoke's club. "But, since Jimmy's gizmo didn't work… how's your hearing these days?"
"Okay," Clark admitted. "But are you sure Jimmy's gizmo wasn't working?"
"All there was was static," she reminded him.
"Turn it on anyway," Clark suggested. He was eyeing the club across the street and she followed his look. In the morning light, the concrete building looked dark, foreboding even ominous.
She pulled the tiny receiver out of her coat pocket and turned the miniature knob on the front to turn it on. Then she fitted the ear piece into her ear.
"Hang on, I'm getting something..." she murmured in surprise.
"Are the speakers set?" Stokes was saying.
"Two more minutes..." another voice said. "... and City Hall will be ready to fall."
"Clark, what do we do...?" Lois asked. Things were spinning out of control. Maybe I should have let Clark call the police. At that moment, the tiny speaker in her ear began to screech. She jerked it away.
"That's AC hum," Clark commented.
"It means something?"
Clark nodded. "Camden said 'He stole the power.'" Lois watched as Clark lowered his glasses and his eyes went unfocussed – or rather he was focussing on something she couldn't see. "Stoke's people have tapped into the city's main power lines. They're accessing the vault from the building's basement."
"So if we could cut his power…"
"Exactly. We have to get into the club."
"But no Superman?" Lois asked as they climbed out of the car.
"No Superman."
"Pity," Lois commented. "This kinda' looks like a job for Superman."
"Tell me about it."
Lois couldn't help put notice the glum note in his voice.
She tested the front door to the club. It was locked, naturally. Only fools, criminals, and farmers were up this early. She started pounding on the door with her fist while Clark stood out of sight.
After a long moment, the three female security guards appeared at the door. Lois had forgotten exactly how huge they were. The shortest one was six feet tall without heels.
"Hi. I just thought I'd give you girls a tip," Lois began chattily. "Lenny told me he really likes his women to be... well... how should I put this? Smaller than your average milk cow? So if I were you, I'd either drop some poundage, or graze someplace else."
The three women glared at her.
"I'm sorry, should I be using smaller words...?" Lois continued brightly.
-o-o-o-
Clark watched in silent amazement as the first Amazon lunged at Lois who sidestepped, grabbed the woman's wrist and flipped her onto her back without breaking stride. He'd watched Lois practicing her Tae Kwon Do moves before, but it had never occurred to him exactly how proficient she really was.
The other two women came at her. She blocked, kicked and retreated, luring them away from the open door. He saw his chance and took it, slipping inside the building while the guards were otherwise occupied.
Clark hadn't tested his super-speed for several days. He tried it now and found that although he wasn't as fast as he had been before, he was much faster than a normal human. He sped through the backstage door and down the stairs into the basement.
The two men he'd seen with his x-ray vision were still standing over the power conduits, watching dials on the control console they had set up in the junction vault. The two men looked up as he stopped behind them then. There wasn't time for niceties. He grabbed them and banged their heads together. He let go and they dropped to the floor, unconscious.
After a moment's consideration, he grabbed the cables feeding the console and yanked. They came free with a shower of sparks.
Overhead, he could hear Stoke swearing at the loss of power.
Clark took a quick look around and found a spool of electrical tape. He used it to secure the two men before heading back upstairs to see what was happening with Lois.
She was waiting just outside the door to Stoke's music room. There was a triumphant gleam in her eyes. "I called Inspector Henderson."
"Shall we?" Clark took hold of the door handle – it too was locked, but a quick twist of the handle opened the door. Clark slammed it open.
"Rude not to knock," Stoke said. He was sitting behind a complex console, the emergency lights casting eerie highlights into his face. He glared at Lois. "I guess the girls were right to not trust you."
"You're the one who needs to learn some manners," Lois told him.
"Do I?"
Suddenly, the lights on the console came back on. Stoke grinned. "No, I think you're the one with a bit to learn. For instance, if you rely on power, always have a backup generator," Stoke told them. He indicated a tall cylindrical device set in the corner by the door. Lights played across gauges on the top.
"You're obviously not my usual fans," Stoke stated conversationally. "Who are you?"
"Lane and Kent, Daily Planet," Lois answered, hands on her hips. Clark stepped away from her, toward the generator.
The head Amazon ran into the room gun in hand. The woman took only a moment to assess the situation, turning her gun on Lois and gesturing for Clark to move away from the generator. Clark chose not to comply. The woman grimaced, taking her attention off of Lois for a fraction of a second.
That was enough for the smaller woman. A spin-kick knocked the gun out of the Amazon's hand, sending it flying. The Amazon reached for Lois, but Clark was there first. She tripped and went down hard as Lois and Stoke both dove for the gun.
Lois managed to get there first. She had the gun, rolling away from Stoke as she aimed for the generator. Four shots rang out and four neat holes appeared in the generator's control console. The room went dark again except for the emergency lighting.
Stoke charged at Lois, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards his body. Despite her attempts to break free, he twisted the gun out of her hand and put it to her head.
Clark stepped forward. Lois shook her head, a slight move that someone else might have missed in the near-dark. Her heart was racing.
Clark considered their options – his speed was nearly back and x-ray vision was finally back as well. He had a suspicion that heat vision had returned but he hadn't had a chance to test it. He still felt heavy – no levitation, no flying, at least not yet.
He hoped Lois wasn't planning on doing something foolish. She wasn't invulnerable.
Stoke grinned at him. "Darling, please," Stoke murmured to Lois as he pulled back the hammer on the pistol. She froze, eyes wide with fear. Stoke pulled his free hand away from her and held it up, gloved palm outward. Clark hadn't had a chance to look at the gloves before. They were made of a chain-mail-like material and the gauntlets reached half-way up Stoke's forearm. Clark couldn't see what was hidden in the gloves – there was lead in the mesh.
Stoke flexed his fingers and a strange, high-pitched warbling filled the room. The air around Lois and Stoke seemed to shiver like the air above a flame but there was no heat.
Clark reached out a hand to touch the air. He could see through it, but it felt solid.
"Surprise," Stoke said. He pushed Lois into the chair at the console. She sat down hard, glaring at Stoke. "As you can see, these gloves aren't just an affectation," Stoke continued. "Little something I dreamed up called the Wall of Sound. A sonic barrier so dense nothing can get through it, not even Superman. Pity he's dead. I'd love to have seen his face when he fell on his face trying. And there's no plug to pull – independent power supply."
The Amazon had managed to climb to her feet.
"Get him out of here my dear," Stoke ordered. "Then get downstairs and hook us back into the city main…"
Clark didn't budge, even though the Amazon had grabbed his arm.
"You've got five seconds," Stoke warned. "Five, four, three, two…"
Clark allowed his shoulders to slump as the Amazon pulled him out of the room. Behind him, he could hear Lois murmuring "No…"
-o-o-o-
"I know, darling, but really, you'll see," Stoke said as his chief security woman led Clark out. "I'm much more fun than your fuddy-duddy partner."
"Look, Lenny, this is…" Lois began.
"Oh, come on, you're not going to say something tiresome like, 'You can't possibly get away with this,' are you?"
"Well..." Lois admitted.
"Just keep those happy little greeting card thoughts to yourself, hmm?" Stoke ordered. He cracked his knuckles as he began pacing the area around the chair. The 'wall' moved with him but he stayed close enough to her that she stayed inside the barrier.
"You know, they never did find his body," Lois said with a calmness she didn't feel.
"What?" Stoke asked, giving her a puzzled look.
"Superman… They never found his body."
"Darling, your Pollyanna attitude is really getting quite tiresome."
Then even the emergency lights went out.
-o-o-o-
The Amazon had closed the door to Stoke's 'music room' behind her, hiding them both from Stoke's observation. She pulled him into the main room. The emergency lighting cast eerie shadows on the dance floor. Clark could hear activity outside and a quick look with x-ray vision confirmed that the police were surrounding the building. They had no idea they were now facing a hostage situation.
One of the other Amazon's appeared, this one carrying a gun. "Take care of him," the first woman ordered, shoving him in the direction of her subordinate.
"You know he's not going to get away with this," Clark began.
The lead Amazon chuckled. "And who's gonna stop him? You, pretty boy?"
"Why not?" Clark asked. Both women started laughing.
The vast cavern of the main room went dark and he moved. Both women were unconscious on the ground before it could even register that he was no longer between them. Then he sped to the door of Stoke's control center. He could see the heat of Stoke's body, the odd pattern of energy coming off his gloves.
Lois was out of sight and Clark assumed she was behind the console. Stoke had his hands out as if searching for something. The gun was nowhere to be seen.
"Do you really think a little power outage will stop me?" Stoke yelled. The air in front of him still shivered. "You can't stop me!"
"Give it up, Stoke," Clark ordered. He had dropped his voice to Superman's lower registers, even though he wasn't wearing the 'suit'.
"Superman?" Stoke gasped. "You're dead!" Then Stoke screamed as Lois kicked him in the knee and grabbed at one of the gloves. The shimmer seemed to flicker a moment, then Stoke managed to shove Lois away from him. She bounced off the wall of sound and disappeared under the console again. The shimmer stabilized.
He could hear Lois breathing and she didn't sound hurt, but there was no way to say how long it would take for Stoke to find her. Clark knew he wasn't going to be able to simple power his way through the wall of sound. But… I can see him and if I can see him…
Within seconds Stokes screamed again. Sparks flew from the metallic gloves and Stoke tore them off. The shimmer in the air died.
"Miss Lane, are you all right?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Lois said, coming out from under the console. Stoke tried to grab her but Clark sped between them, staying out of reach of Stoke while guiding Lois away from him. Then Clark brought both fists down on the console. It shattered with a satisfying crack.
"Like I was saying," Lois said conversationally in the darkness. "They never found his body." Clark could see her grin, even if Stoke couldn't.
"But how…?" Stoke sputtered. "The wall…?"
"Simple," Clark said, still using Superman's voice. "Maybe matter couldn't get through your wall of sound, but light certainly could, and did."
"You should know… I get air sick."
Clark and Lois were already out the door as police officers with flashlights fanned out through the building.
"Look on the bright side," a familiar voice said – Inspector Bill Henderson, MPD. He had a flashlight in one hand, a gun in the other as he entered the ruin of Stoke's control room followed by two other officers.
"You won't be worrying about that for a very long time, Mister Stoke," Henderson added. "Did I forget to mention? You're under arrest… You have the right to remain silent…"
-o-o-o-
"Son, I'm as proud as a papa," Perry said as Lois and Clark came out of the press club building. Clark had won the coveted Metropolis Press Club's Kerth award for investigative journalism. Perry was beaming as he shook the younger man's hand.
"Not as proud as I am," Lois told their editor. She looked up at Clark, handsome in his tuxedo. "Your speech was great."
Perry gave her a surprised look. "Well, that's a nice little attitude adjustment. What brought that on?"
"I'm just... glad I have such a good partner," Lois told them. She grabbed Clark's arm as Alice White called her husband's name.
"Comin', honey!" he yelled back. He gave Lois a wink. "Every time Alice sees me in a monkey suit, she can't wait to get me home and tear it off. 'Night, you two." He hurried off to the limousine where his wife was waiting.
"I really am glad I have such a good partner," Lois said. "Especially one who does such a mean impersonation of Superman. You know Stoke is still swearing it was Superman who broke through his wall of sound."
"Well, it really helped that you let Henderson know what we found and Met Power cut the power to that section of the grid. And it certainly didn't hurt that you managed to disarm him," Clark reminded her. "I don't know what we would have done if Stoke had gotten the power back."
"Luckily, we didn't have to find out," Lois said. "So how did I rate as a date?"
"A-plus," Clark replied. He hefted the cut crystal sculpture in his hand and she knew he was wondering where she was leading.
"I hung on your arm decoratively?" she asked coyly.
"You did."
"Fawned appropriately?"
"Absolutely," he agreed.
"And then just faded into the background during your big moment."
He started to chuckle. "You were beautiful, yet invisible."
Lois flashed him her brightest smile. "Make me go through another night like this and I'll rip out your spleen."
"Fair enough," Clark agreed. He studied his prize. "It's smaller than I thought."
"And not quite as shiny close up," she said. She shrugged. "You win a few of these, you find out they don't mean much. A quick rush, a few pats on the back, then you're back on the beat, only as good as your next story."
"I suppose that's true," Clark said. They were approaching her car. "But at least the dinner wasn't too bad."
"Very true," Lois said. "They did a better job than usual. And the dancing wasn't bad either."
She watched as a mischievous grin lit Clark's face. He looked around then took her in his arms, dancing to a tune only he could hear. "That wasn't dancing, Lois," he said softly. "This is dancing." She looked away from his face and realized they were no longer on the ground. They were flying.
"Superman is back."