Disclaimer: All characters belong to the respective copyright holders, including DC comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions and anyone else with a stake in the Superman franchise. Only any original ideas in here are mine.
AN: Thank you so much for returning. Hope you are ready for some more excitement! Are we getting close to the end of this story? Not yet, muhwahwah! We will see what Lex has planned next.
Previously:
Jimmy had the shorter hallway, and he had just turned the corner when he heard a small thunk and a groan, which unfortunately sounded like Lois. Rushing back to the corner, back flat against the wall, Jimmy peered around the corner and barely contained a gasp as he watched an unconscious Lois being picked up and thrown over a man's shoulder.
Jimmy quickly weighed his options. He never wasn't too sure about this idea to begin with. Not knowing how many more guards there were, and with even Lois being caught off guard, Jimmy questioned his own chance of success. Instead, he figured if he called the police, and being an eyewitness to assault, it would give the police enough evidence to barge in. Feeling like a coward, but convincing himself it was the best odds for all three of them, Jimmy cautiously walked down the hallway, opened the door, and ran to their car. He'd call Henderson from the car, once he had driven some distance away.
Jimmy wasn't sure if it were smarter to just run as fast as he could, without looking back, and hope he got to the car before anyone could catch up with him or keep an eye out for possible pursuers as he ran along. He would bet he hadn't been seen, but…he would've also bet Lois wouldn't have been caught either.
In the few times he did give into temptation and look back, he hadn't seen anyone chasing him. He reached the car, got into it without difficulty, and sat there for a moment for his brain to catch up with his body. It was Lois's car after all. Then he remembered Lois had given him a spare key, which he pulled out of his pants pocket, started the car and slowly rolled it onto the road. He decided he was going to go some distance without headlights just to make sure.
He went down the driveway, and off onto the main road keeping a close eye on the rearview mirror. Without thinking about it, he'd bet he didn't breathe again until he was on the main highway. Then he remembered he was going to call Henderson. Pulling off the highway again, he drove up to a roadside diner and rushed out. Running to the door, he realized he needed to slow down and not show panic. Great idea, difficult to do.
Looking at his watch, Jimmy realized it had only been two hours since Lois had talked to Henderson. Luckily, Henderson was at his desk.
The phone clattered as someone picked it up in a hurry and juggled it between hands. Jimmy thought he heard something fall to the floor and someone swear. "Lane?" Henderson asked, in a slightly breathless voice. Jimmy wondered if he had run to catch the phone.
"No, Olsen. I mean, this is Jimmy Olsen. I went with Lois and I didn't see Clark but I went one way and Lois went another and this guy…."
"Is Lois all right?"
"I think so, but I got out of there to call you right away. He carried her down to the room we think they're holding Clark in, and I didn't know what to do…maybe I should have stayed and rescued them but I…."
"You did just fine, Son. Now give me the address again, and the address of where you're at right now. A squad car will be picking you up soon, and the rest of us will go get Lane and Kent. All right?"
"All right." After giving the addresses, Henderson hung up. Jimmy collapsed against the wall of the phone booth. Closing his eyes, Jimmy hoped they would be in time to rescue his two friends.
~~LnC~~LnC~~LnC~~
"Wakey, wakey, Clark. I got some company for you." Lex's voice cut through Clark's uneasy sleep.
Clark's eyes flew open. Even though every part of his body was sore, Clark forced himself awake because of the word "company". Total awareness occurred the moment he realized Lex was bringing someone into the cell. His heart fell as he recognized the petite brunette form Lex was carrying.
Clark bit his tongue as he watched Lex chain Lois up on the wall perpendicular to him. Too far away to be within reach, as well as not within whispering range either.
Turning to him, Lex gave Clark a particularly annoying smile. "Don't worry, Kent. She's not permanently injured. Yet. Just knocked out. We caught her snooping." He was almost out of the cell, when he turned again to Clark. "You better hope she didn't have a chance to tell anyone where you are. Otherwise, it will not be pleasant. For either of you. But especially for her."
Clark waited for Lex to disappear before attempting to yank on his restraints. Nope, no strength still. But the expenditure of some energy helped relieve some of his helplessness with the situation.
Looking at his unconscious partner, Clark breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't see any injury. No blood, no bruises, and her respirations were even. Not even a cut to her head. Of course, without X-ray vision, he couldn't check for internal injuries. "Lois!" he called in a loud enough voice. "Lois! Can you hear me? Please wake up."
Some groaning answered his plea. Clark waited to see if his partner was waking up. He was anxious to see for himself that she was all right, but he was somewhat dreading what would be coming up next. The very real possibility of her discovering his secret. Only a miracle would prevent her from knowing. Especially without a pair of glasses to hide behind. He girded himself to be ready for her onslaught of outrage which would undoubtedly follow her discovery.
Calling to Lois once more, he was rewarded with a mumbled, "Clark, is that you? Where am I?"
Suddenly, Lois sat upright and focused her eyes on Clark. "Clark!" She then pulled on, first, her right wrist then her left wrist. Rattling accompanied her movements. "Oh great, matching bracelets. They don't match my outfit though."
Clark smiled at the small joke. Even when in trouble, Lois could come up with a smart comment. Just one of the many reasons he loved her. As he continued to watch her, he could tell when her quick brain finally put somethings together. Lois turned wide eyes to him and looked him up and down. "Oh my, Clark! What has Lex been doing to you? Hasn't he fed you? It's only been three days. It's not possible, but you looked like you've lost muscle mass."
Clark shrugged. "Not really. Do I look that bad?" He tried to ask with a sense of lightness in his tone, but he could tell by the look on Lois' face he wasn't very successful.
"You look so drawn, and thin…and pale. And all those bruises? And…what are those on your hands? IV hook-ups? Why do you have those in? And so many bruises? And why are you in a hospital gown, of all things? And blood? Is that blood...oh my God, Clark, you have blood stains on your stomach. And, are those bandages under your gown? What happened? How much has Lex hurt you?" And then another thought… "Where are your glasses? Those must have been your glasses in the alley, weren't they? You lied to us…but I suppose, you've been here since Tuesday, haven't you? You were already captured when you called in about the vacation, weren't you?"
Taking a breath, Lois gave him a disgusted look. "Why don't you answer me, Clark?"
Clark sent her a little smile, shaking his head. "Because you haven't stopped talking for two seconds since you started. How am I supposed to answer you?"
"Haven't you learned anything yet? You just have to interrupt me." Lois answered with a shrug of her own. "Sorry. I know you've not been gone too long, but clearly I haven't changed a bit."
"So you've missed me… a little then?"
Lois rolled her eyes. "Yeah, just a little." Turning solemn, she asked, "Seriously, though, what has Lex been doing to you?"
Here it comes. "He's…he's been doing…uh, experiments on me."
"What? You gotta be kidding me, experiments? Why would he…" Cocking her head, Lois looked at Clark, a puzzled look came over her face. He somehow knew she was taking a good look at him for the first time since she woke up. Clark pursed his lips as he waited for the realization to dawn on his partner. "Um, I've always thought…you look a lot like Superman at times, but…um…" Her voice became softer. "Are you…can you be…"
"Yes, you are correct, Lois. He is the alien who's been calling himself Superman." The dreaded voice of their kidnapper interrupted her. Clark watched in trepidation as Lex walked closer to their cell.
Clark attempted to keep his voice light. "Well, actually it was Lois who gave me that nickname. I myself would've preferred something less flashy."
Lois watched as Lex entered the cell. She then looked at Clark, back at Lex. "You're saying…it is true…?"
"Lois, Lois, you still cannot believe your eyes?" Lex walked up to Clark and roughly pushed back Clark's hair up away from his eyes toward the back of his head, causing Clark to look up. "Is that better, Lois? Able to recognize your 'hero' now?" He abruptly pulled his hand away from Clark, causing his head to drop down before Clark could catch it.
"What have you been doing to Clark, Lex? I…I just can't believe you'd do scientific experiments on Clark."
"Not on Clark, dear Lois. On Superman." His tone reminded Clark of a professor instructing an academically challenged student.
Turning, Lois said, with hurt apparent in her eyes, "Why, Clark? Why didn't you tell me?"
Clark was trying to prepare himself for whatever response Lois was going to give him with the discovery of his identity, but hurt wasn't a reaction he'd expected from her. And in his ideal plans for telling her, it certainly didn't include having a supervillain present to hear what he was going to say.
As Clark attempted to compose an answer worthy of Lois, Lex laughed loudly. "This is better than the Mexican novellas I sometimes watch. Oh, Clark, I do believe you are in some trouble now. Too bad I cannot stay. I shall leave you to defend yourself. If you can. Ta-ta for now."
Lois was too distracted to take in Lex's leaving. She was still trying to put together the fact, to accept the fact, she'd been working with Superman for the past six months. Suddenly she realized, as she was quickly recalling things, that the person she'd confide her feelings about Superman was…Clark. She whipped her head up and glared at her partner who she thought she knew as well as she knew the way to the Planet office from her home.
"What the hell, Clark? What. The. Hell. I confided so much of my…so much of my feelings, and fantasies, and hopes. About Superman, about…about everything. And you…" she tried to extend her arm completely out at him, but only could go three-fourths of the way. She shook her arm in angry, the chains rattled, and she let out a small scream of frustration.
"How can I ever trust you again?"
Clark kept reminding himself Lois' reaction was exactly what he'd expected. This was his Lois…fiery, independent, impatient, quick temper. But also…loving, understanding…forgiving. He hoped he'd soon see that side of Lois as well.
"This wasn't how I imagined you finding out."
"I presume not," Lois replied. Clark almost shivered from the amount of cold accompanying her response. "When were you going to tell me?"
Clark took a deep swallow. He figured he probably had nothing else to lose. "Before I told you I loved you."
As she was about to say the next thing on her mind, what Clark said made impact in Lois' brain, rendering her speechless for a moment. She could only look him, slack-jawed, eyes wide. Just as suddenly, she shook her head and found her voice once again.
"So you think that will change my mind about this?"
"Not immediately. I know it'll take time….:
"You're damn right it's going to take some time." Clark could tell Lois was wishing she could pace away some of her agitation, for she was about to stand up. However, the rattling of her chains stopped her, and she sat down. Sighing, with her head shaking, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Only with my luck do I find out something like this while being held prisoner by a lunatic villain."
"Oh good, you now consider him both a lunatic and a villain."
Lois looked up at him, a blank look on her face. "Really Clark? You're choosing to go there at this moment?"
Clark looked shame-faced, but his tone was strong and sure. "Well, actually, yes…yes, I wanted to say it. You never really would take my word for distrusting Lex, and you were so determined to get to know him better…so, yeah, I'm glad you realize he's not all he's rumored to be."
Holding up her arms, showing the chains holding her prisoner, Lois said, "Really, Clark? I think this could be my first clue."
Clark closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his right hand. The headache he'd been trying to fight suddenly appeared in full force. "Perhaps we should be quiet for a while so neither of us says something we'll regret."
Lois gave him her infamous death glare. "Well, if you feel that way about it, I suppose so." She turned her body as far away from him as possible given the chains and made sure her head was turned away as well.
Clark pursed his lips. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to have said, but had selfishly decided for once he needed some peace and quiet to gather his thoughts. He quickly fell asleep despite his intentions to stay awake.
~~LnC~~LnC~~LnC~~
It didn't take long for Lois to find the position she forced herself into becoming very uncomfortable due to its unnatural placement of her head. She slowly shifted her weight and turned her head back to look at her partner. She shouldn't have been surprised he'd fallen asleep, due to the condition he was in, but she was surprised any way.
He must really be tired. And worn out. And in terrible pain, but he didn't complain about it, did he? That's so like him. He does look so pale. I sure hope Jimmy can get Henderson here and we can get Clark out of here.
But…suddenly a thought occurred to her on how to protect Clark when they were rescued (she was purposely not thinking of the alternative). She was sure anyone would recognize Superman in Clark if they saw him without his glasses. Wondering if her purse was in here, Lois quietly looked around here. Seeing something blue in the corner farthest away from both them and the door, Lois breathed a sigh of relief seeing it was indeed her purse. She remembered putting Clark's glasses, or what she was sure were his glasses at the time, in her purse. Despite what Clark had said. Yet again, she thanked her lucky stars she had followed her instincts rather than supposed facts.
Okay, one possible landmine hopefully avoided. While Clark slept, she would think about others. And maybe, just maybe, avenues of escape should they become necessary. Not much else she could do in the meantime. A traitorous thought crossed her mind that it was better to think of such things rather than how much she had missed Clark, and about whether she should tell him her feelings had changed for him while he was missing…definitely not the time to think about that, she reminded herself as she again tried to push those thoughts away.
Suddenly, Lois realized what she was doing. Wasn't she supposed to be mad at the man? He did lie to her, constantly, under two personas, even. The gall of the man. Just...the gall of the man. Looking at his face, Clark looked so…vulnerable. And…despite her anger, despite the lies, despite the danger he found himself in, and the pain he was certainly in, it appeared he was mainly concerned about her. How could she remain angry with such a man? Well, she certainly could, as her Lane anger flared up again thinking about it all.
However, for her to have a chance to yell at him, they would have to get out of here first. And, most likely, with his secret identity intact as much as possible. Before her mind went down that road, as to how would they be able to handle it if Lex told the world Clark Kent was Superman, Lois shut it off. First things first. They needed to get out of there first. She needed Clark intact. And alive. Then she'll tear him apart himself for lying to her.
AN: Yep, that time again, and yep, another cliffie. Well, kind of one, I suppose. Unfortunately, we do have to break the story up into chapters, don't we? (insert innocent look here).
