Finding Lois Lane
The Daily Planet
Diana first tried the Daily Planet to find Lois Lane. As she walked in, a guy introduced himself to her. "Hi, name is Lombard, Steve Lombard." Steve glanced at her with a slightly raised brow.
"Diana Prince." Diana cracked a smile as just hearing the name Steve reminded her of another Steve she knew and loved a long time ago. Steve had far more ego then brains. He mistook this smile for genuine interest.
"Are you Perry White?" Mr. Howe stepped in and interrupted them.
"No." Steve quickly answered his question then refocused his attention on Diana. "Care to join me for coffee."
"No, I am just looking for Lois Lane," Diana replied.
"Lois Lane? Is she here?" Mr. Howe asked.
"Lois has been out all week, on a personal leave I think, but I am available," Steve told Diana.
"Hey, stop drooling over the ladies and do your job." Mr. Howe shook his finger at Steve.
"Excuse me, who are you?" Steve glared at Mr. Howe.
"My name is Vincent Howe, Lex Luthor's attorney," Mr. Howe answered. The mention of the name Lex caught Diana's attention.
"If you are defending Mr. Luther, Ms. Lane will want nothing to do with you, but I am sure any other reporter would love to interview you," Steve told him.
"No way am I talking to any reporters. Lex is the one who wants the interview." Mr. Howe laughed. "I just hope he doesn't hurt my chances of winning his case."
"Wait, why would Lex want an interview with her?" Diana paused to process that.
"I have no idea," Steve answered Diana first. Then he turned to Mr. Howe. "She is on a personal leave of absence."
"This is Lex Luthor we are talking about. This is the interview of a life time. Any good reporter would be crazy not to jump at this," Mr. Howe declared.
"Men haven't changed. Do you really believe your own lie?" Diana narrowed her eyes at Mr. Howe.
"You are wasting your time! She will NEVER agree to this," Steve told him.
"I agree with you. Honestly, I hope you are right. This could really hurt my case, but I must do as my client asks. Can either of you help me find Perry White or not?" Mr. Howe demanded to know.
"She doesn't work here." Steve pointed to Diana. "But I can help you."
"I think I may have changed my mind about that coffee." Diana raised a brow as she looked at Steve. She followed them to Perry's office.
Once they reached his office, Perry was discussing things with a lady looking to be in her mid-thirties. "Jessica, what brings you here," Mr. Howe asked. He put his hand out expecting her to shake his hand.
"You can call me Ms. Snow." Jessica took a step back from him, crossed her arms and frowned slightly. "I am talking to Mr. White here about protecting my witnesses. Two of my witnesses have already disappeared. I am sure you wouldn't know anything about that. Now would you, Mr. Howe."
"I am sure I don't know what you are talking about." Mr. Howe looked out the window.
"Of course you don't." Jessica nodded her head.
"Lois Lane is one of your witnesses, isn't she?" Mr. Howe turned around and looked at Jessica.
"Mr. Luthor did push her off a building." Jessica nodded.
"What!" Perry, Diana, and Steve all called out at the same time.
"Allegedly," Mr. Howe said.
"When was this? Is she alright?" Perry picked up the phone.
"She is fine. Superman saved her. I really need to get in touch with her." Jessica looked Perry in the eye.
"He won't be doing that anymore," Mr. Howe grinned.
"And what are you going to do when it is you who needs a rescue?" Diana pointed at him.
"I like her." Jessica laughed.
"That makes two of us." Steve turned his attention to Diana. "Now about that coffee."
"I don't have time for it, I really have to go." Diana made a hasty retreat before Steve could say anything.
"I would like to place Miss Lane in witness protection. At least until the trial is over," Jessica told Perry.
"That pretty much answers my question." Mr. Howe left abruptly not even bothering to ask about Lex's request.
Lois's apartment
Next, Diana tried Lois's apartment. She knocked on Lois's door, but there was no answer. Diana was persistent and kept knocking. Diana picked the lock and let herself in. She quickly looked around the entire apartment just to make sure nobody was home, which no one was. Lois's apartment was very clean but also cluttered with photo albums which mostly contained pictures of her life with Clark. Diana looked through them rather quickly.
Diana saw a huge pile of mail. She quickly thumbed through it. Most of it was fliers and the usual advertising. Diana's cell phone rang with the caller id indicating it was Bruce Wayne. So she picked it up right away. "Hey. How did it go with Mrs. Kent?"
"Great, she agreed to contact me, if he contacts her. I even met a beautiful young lady too," Bruce told her.
"Oh!" Diana just rolled her eyes at that. She didn't want to hear about his latest bimbo. "Well, I am not having any luck with Lois. I tried to find her at the Daily Planet. She basically hasn't been there since Superman's death. I am in her apartment now."
"What did she say," Bruce asked.
"She isn't here," Diana said.
"So, you broke into her place," Bruce questioned with a slight bit of an accusing tone.
"I let myself in. You would have done the same thing." Diana was not about to take any judgmental crap from him.
"I did take a quick look around. I don't think she is moving on well. She didn't clear out his closet. She has photo albums out, mostly of her and Clark. Looks like mostly vacation photos and office party pictures. The mail is mostly just flyers, some sympathy cards, something addressed to Clark Kent from the Metropolis Auction House." Diana shuffled through some envelopes as she spoke.
"What does that one say?" Bruce asked.
"I don't know. It isn't even opened," Diana said.
"Well, open it," Bruce told her.
"No. You are not my boss. I don't want her realizing anyone was here," Diana stated her reservation about this. "Somebody is coming." She dropped the auction house envelope on top of the pile and quickly hid in the closet.
Lois came in talking on her cell phone. "Bruce Wayne, what did he want?... You are kidding? Are you sure?…Absolutely, if I hear from him, I will definitely let you know. ….. Yes, No, I don't know. If he comes back to me, I think Clark and I are going to need to have a very serious talk. Is it really worth it for us to stay together? … Of course I want to marry him… The problem is his life was put in danger purely because of me…. Because it is true." Bruce was still on Diana's cell phone and heard every word. Then Diana heard a door close as Lois went into the bathroom. Diana took that opportunity to sneak out again.
"Are you still there?" Diana started to talk on the phone again as she walked down the hall of the apartment building.
"Of course I am," Bruce answered.
"Looks like neither of us need to talk to her. Martha took care of that for us. Unfortunately, I don't think she is going to help us." Diana made her way outside. "It sounds like they might be breaking up anyway."
"I know. I heard the whole thing. I can't believe I was actually worried she would somehow blame me. She blames herself. That is totally absurd. We both should talk to her. Those two breaking up is probably one of the worst things that could possibly happen," Bruce insisted as he remembered that cryptic message saying something about Lois Lane being the 'key'. "Go back and knock. Pretend like you just got there. I am going to be there in about two minutes."
"Change your tone. I am not one of your employees. You can't order me around," Diana warned him.
"You are right." He hung up the phone because now she was in view. "Let's go together." He then begrudgingly added a word he rarely had to say. "Please."
"Alright," Diana agreed. They knocked on the door.
Lois answered. "Oh, I will call you back. Mr. Wayne is here now." She ended the call.
"Come on in," Lois said. "Please excuse the mess. I wasn't expecting any company." She started to pick up her photo albums and putting them away. "I think I know what this is about. Martha already told me. But I want details. Where did you see him? When did you see him?" Lois began putting her photo albums away.
"You are a reporter! Of course you want details." Bruce smiled.
"Yes, but I will not be reporting this. I am not going to make the same mistake twice." Lois nodded. "I will not put Clark in any danger again."
"You put him in danger. I don't buy that!" Bruce shook his head no.
"If he stayed completely out of the lime-light, like he wanted to, none of this ever would have happened. He would have been safe if he stayed away from me." Lois bowed her head down.
"No, it wasn't your fault." Diana gently patted Lois on the back.
"I wish that were actually true." Lois looked down at her answering machine. "But it isn't." She walked over to her answer machine and pushed the play button.
Lex's voice came on in a very saccharine sweet tone. "Lois, this is your old buddy Lex. My condolence on your recent loss. But I really had to thank you. You made it so easy for me to find him. All I had to do was keep tabs on the reporter who knew who he was. You lead me right to him. I know if it weren't for you, I never would have found him. I never would have found out who he really was. It was all possible because of you. For that I sincerely thank you. Have a good night." The sweet tone of Lex's voice suddenly changed to blood curling and vindictive as he concluded his message. "Sweet dreams."
"That son of bitch! Don't listen to Lex. He is lying. I really doubt he was spying on you, besides how would he even know you would know who he was?" Bruce tried to reason with her.
"You mean other than it being flat out said on national news?" Lois shook her head.
"I didn't see that, but then I am not from around here," Diana said.
"Neither did I, thankfully. If I had, I probably would have had spies watching your every move too," Bruce responded a bit too honestly.
"What?" Lois spun around and glared at him. She dropped the book she was putting away.
"What the.." Diana too glared at Bruce. Diana put her hands in the air with open palms facing up as her jaw dropped.
"Like I said, I am glad I didn't do that," Bruce told Lois.
"Whatever!" Lois said as she continued to put away photo albums.
"When was this anyway?" Bruce asked.
"It was about two years ago. Biggest mistake I ever made. I went to Glen Woodburn, an internet blogger with a story my editor refused to print. He betrayed me, basically telling the whole world I knew who the guy was General Zod was looking for. Lex obviously was watching." Lois remembered that moment when she first heard that broadcast.
"In all the files from Lex's computer, did Lex have any files on Superman? If Lex was really spying on them that long, you would think there would be," Diana asked.
"No, there was nothing on him," Bruce responded. "That is a very good point."
"So, he erased them," Lois suggested.
"To do that, Lex would have had to know his files were about to be compromised," Diana reasoned.
"That would explain why Lex's security team did nothing about me being there. He knew I wouldn't learn anything he didn't want me to," Bruce began to realize.
"Wouldn't surprise me one bit if that were true," Lois agreed.
"If you hear from Clark, would you have him give us a call," Diana requested.
"I will pass the message on." Lois averted her eyes to them. No way am I setting the love of my life up for another trap, she thought to herself.
"Perfect, that is all we can ask," Bruce said. "If we find him before you do, we will let you know."
"There is no chance that is going to happen," Diana reminded Bruce.
"What? You wouldn't tell me if you found him," Lois glared at Diana.
"Oh no, that isn't what I meant." Diana assured her. "I am saying there is no chance we will find him first."
"There is a long shot, and her name is Lana Lang," Bruce told Diana. "He met her last night. There is a chance he will look for her again."
"Who?" Diana questioned.
"Lana Lang! Oh, no!" Lois sank down into a chair.
"Somebody you know?" Diana asked.
"I never met her, but Clark mentioned her once or twice. His High School crush," Lois said.
"I will do my best to keep her interests away from him," Bruce smirked.
"What would Clark think of you dating Lana," Diana looked out the window.
"Once he has Lois back, I doubt he would care," Bruce answered her.
Lois's cell phone rang. She glanced at it realizing it was from work. "It is my boss, I have to take this." She swiped the screen to accept the call. "Hi Perry!" Lois listened to something Perry Said. "You have got to be kidding. There is no way I am doing that." Lois raised her voice.
Diana nodded as she watched Lois believing she knew what that was about. Bruce looked between Diana and Lois feeling a bit out of the loop.
"Seriously, the timing really couldn't be worse. Absolutely not." Lois listened for a response.
"What does timing have to do with it?" Diana asked quietly as she was no longer so sure she knew what this was about.
"I can't even do that. Ok, I will stay away from the Daily Planet. Bye." Lois ended the call.
"Why would you have to stay away from the Daily Planet," Diana asked.
"Don't worry about it. It isn't your problem." Lois went around closing all the shades and curtains. "I am not giving in to them." Lois began going through her mail.
"What?" Diana and Bruce both exclaimed as they looked at each other and then back at Lois.
"Is this about Lex?" Diana asked.
"Yes, I will be testifying in the court case against Lex Luthor. Many others were supposed to testify, two were found murdered. A district attorney visited the Daily Planet and gave an order that I am not to return to work until the trial is over. They want me in witness protection. No way in hell. If Clark comes back looking for me, I need him to be able to find me," Lois whipped several old flyers into the waste basket.
"You are going to risk your life just to be with him," Bruce questioned.
"Wouldn't be the first time." Lois slammed more flyers in the trash.
"What if he comes back here and finds you dead? Then what?" Diana asked.
"Bad news for the world," Bruce declared as he remembered his nightmare.
"I don't like what you are implying." Lois glared at Bruce.
"All I am saying is he needs to find you alive and well. I got an idea. What if we set up security cameras and a silent alarm here and you stay at my place. That way you are safe from intruders and if he shows up, you can call him," Bruce pointed to the answering machine.
"Now that is a good idea," Diana smiled at Bruce.
"Seriously? Why would you do that," Lois asked. She saved out the auction house letter and organized her bills so she could pay them latter.
"I want to find him almost as badly as you do," Bruce told her.
"Why do you want to find him?" Lois asked.
"Just start packing. I am not taking no for an answer," Bruce pulled out his cell phone and began making some phone calls. Diana rolled her eyes at Bruce.
"I really think this is in your own best interest." Diana tried to reassure Lois.
Lois opened the Metropolis Auction house letter. She quickly read the letter and then pulled a check. Her jaw dropped as she looked at the amount. She quickly stuffed the contents back into the envelope and put that in her pocket book. Lois packed a few things before leaving with Bruce. Diana stayed behind to set up the security system.
a/n
I greatly appreciate the review again La Vik. Your story actually inspired a small part of this one. Particularly the comment Bruce made that pissed off both Lois and Diana. I appreciate those who have chosen to follow this story too. Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Again, I would love to know what you thought. What did you think of the message Lex left on Lois's answering machine? Or Bruce's claim that he would have spied on her too if he knew she knew who Superman was?