Chapter Nine
Chloe raced through the crowd and pushed aside the yellow tape while ignoring the protest from the officer chasing after her.
When she spots Clark talking to a detective she notices that he was frustrated and deeply worried reminding her of the time when Maggie had wondered off only to be found hiding up in the hayloft reading a book causing Clark to be even more protective of his daughter.
"What happened?" she asks when she gets closer, the cop that was trailing her stopped when the detective motioned that it was okay.
Before Clark could speak the detective cut in with a reply, "It appears that your cousin was following a lead on a story when someone jumped her, she fought back but was eventually rendered unconscious by this" he holds up an evidence bag containing a device that resembled an asthma inhaler, "CSU is gonna take it for testing down at S.T.A.R. Labs but rest assured Ms. Sullivan, we'll find your cousin."
Once the detective left them alone she immediately turned to face him, "What happened? I thought you and Lois were working this story together."
"We're suppose to but…" he pauses rubbing the back of his neck trying to relieve the tension that was building up, "I kind of brought up some stuff from our past and it ended up blowing up in my face. I didn't think she was gonna run off on her own trying to one up me on the story though."
"How did you find out she was missing? I thought you and Jimmy were doing paperwork."
"You remember when Alicia was pregnant and I used my superhearing to listen to the baby's heartbeat." Chloe nods and he continues, "I've been listening to Lois's heartbeat for the past four years." He's familiar with the look on her face and immediately goes into defensive mode, "I know what you're going to say but what was I suppose to do. I couldn't just not worry about her…its Lois, she likes getting into trouble."
"Do you know where she is now?"
Clark tries to zero in but can't hear anything and just shakes his head, "No but I have a pretty good idea who took her but I need to find him first."
"Okay. I'll see what I can find while you just do what you normally do….Go save the day."
When Lois awoke she found herself duct taped to a chair but what sent her into a frenzy was the fact that there was a vest made of C4 strapped to her chest, "Good morning sleepyhead." The large puffy man with curly hair and round glasses said looming over her with a childlike smile on his face, "I'm sorry for my roughness earlier; it's just that you caught me by surprise and I simply reacted."
"When I get out of here I'm gonna make sure you both get a nice padded cell at Belle Reeve where you'll rot away with your toys." Lois responds very determined to get out of her restrictive bindings.
"They already let me out the first time for good behavior, what's stopping them from doing it again." He turns around towards the makeshift workbench that was filled with various toys, "You're something special Ms. Lane. Surviving my little surprise at the warehouse and managing to track me down without even breaking a nail." He holds up the large human sized mask shaped like a dummy's face, "Not many people can say they've cheated death."
"You mean like you did." He stops to look at her as she continues, "I know all about what happened to your mother and I know that it wasn't an accident like the authorities thought." He gives her a smile that would chill anyone but didn't affect her although she was freaked out by it, "There was a story I was assigned to when I was first starting out. There was a tenement fire that matched the one that killed your mother, I didn't realize the connection until recently but I should have. Maybe if I had the people responsible for her death would be behind bars."
Winslow walks towards her this time with a roll of more duct tape, "I took care of them a while back. You could imagine my surprise when I found out that the person responsible was the very man who took me in and showed me the wonderful world of toys."
"Mr. Dobrotka."
"Right again Ms. Lane. He was having an affair with her and when she wanted to end it…" he grips the mask rather tightly in anger, "Let's just say that she wasn't the only one."
"If you got revenge then what were accomplishing by robbing all those places."
"I needed some sort of income for my projects. Its very hard to get a job when you have Belle Reeve stamped on your record but by time this all over I'll quietly slip away to have the life I always wanted…the one that was stolen from me." He pulls the roll of duct tape placing it over her mouth and ripping it to from a nice little gag on the reporter as he followed it by placing the mask over her face, "One final piece to the puzzle. I like to go out with bang." He chuckles and walks off towards the corner where he grabbed two red canisters of gasoline which he laid out around the place to ensure that everything was destroyed.
Clark ran his hands through his hair letting out a frustrated breathe as he paced back and forth around the fortress, "I've done everything you've asked. Sacrificed so many things to be the savior you wanted me to be but I can't stand on the sidelines anymore waiting for my chance to do something when innocent people are getting hurt."
"I understand your urgency but humanity is simply not ready for you. They turn against each other because of their difference and would easily turn against you if given a reason." Jor-El's voice booms around him giving him reason towards his delayed reveal as a hero, "You must have patience my son."
"No! The world needs me now more than ever. If you taught me anything it's to trust my instincts and I know deep down that humanity's ready."
"Very well, I can no longer tell you what to do anymore. If you think humanity is ready…if you're ready then I can not stand in your way."
"Thank You." He walks towards the console and reaches into his pocket to pull out a small green crystal, "I will make you proud father starting with finding Lois and putting Schott back where he belongs." He jams the crystal into the console causing the fortress to get brighter and quake as one of the pillars began to turn revealing the costume he had hidden in the fortress after Maggie was born for when he was ready to wear it.
Minutes later a red blue blur streaked out of the fortress zooming off towards the sky.
Chloe knew from the familiar cold breeze that Clark had just sped in but when she turned around she couldn't help but laugh at his costume choice, "At least they won't be looking at your face." He gives her a look that causes her to turn around back towards her computer, "If you tell Perry that I hacked into Metropolis Police records then you better help me find my next job because last time he caught me, I ended up in his office for five hours with a very red Perry White."
"So you found something?"
"Schott's good at staying under the radar. He pays cash and only uses a credit card under his mother's maiden name but after researching the device that was used to knock Lois out I found this…" she clicks open a window revealing files from LuthorCorp.
"We already know that Winslow use to work for Lex's company."
"But did you know that he practically invented this device and every other explosive grade weapon LuthorCorp has ever produced. After he was fired all his projects were halted all except for one the same one that he used on my cousin."
Clark looks at the address, "He's gonna try to blow up Cadmus Labs and take Lois down with it." He immediately disappears leaving Chloe smirking at her desk just as Jimmy appeared in the doorway.
The red timer began to tick away with each beep sending her into a frenzy of panic as she struggled with her biddings which were now chaffing her skin causing redness and signs of bleeding, "Come on Lane." She thought out of motivation and let out a small sigh with one of the pieces snapped but she was still taped down making painstakingly difficult for her escape, "Where's my Swiss army knife when I need it."
She struggles for a few more minutes as the time kept ticking until the main door was ripped open shining the brightness of the sun inside causing her head to turn away, "Hello!" an almost familiar voice calls out followed by the sound of boots making there way.
The only thing she could see through the mask was a man dressed in red and blue walking towards her but what really caught her eye was the large \S/ on the man's chest but something kept the man back as the green wires on her vest began to glow.
Clark pushed through the weak feeling from the kryptonite and reached out to pull the mask from Lois's face, "It's gonna be alright now. This might hurt a little bit." He pulls the duct bindings away making sure to keep an eye on the timer before ripping away the gag from her mouth causing both to wince, "That wasn't so hard now was it." He states trying to ease the situation.
She stares at the man as if she knows him but couldn't quite place her finger on it as she felt his hands examining the explosive vest, "Would you mind watching where you put your hands."
"Sorry" he scans he device with his x-ray vision and notices that the wire leading to the trigger was several kryptonite encased wires, "I'm gonna try to take off the vest."
"What! Are you crazy? This thing could have a trigger on it if I remove it."
He places a hand on her arm and looks her dead straight in the eye, "Trust me."
Lois immediately flashed back to Clark using the same exact phrase four years ago, "Oh my god" she says in a low whisper as she looks at her would be savior with a new set of eyes.
Oblivious to what was going on inside Lois's head, he tried to dismantle the wires but the kryptonite prevented him so instead he froze the timer with his super breath and shattered it.
Not willing to risk her life he looked back up and said, "When the vest comes off I want you to run as fast as you can and don't look back." Lois nods as they carefully removed the vest allowing her to rise up from the chair and run towards the exit.
Once he was sure Lois was in the clear, Clark began shifting through Schott's makeshift lab looking for something he could use to permanently deactivate the device in case there was another timer hidden somewhere.
He immediately stopped when he heard the sound of something ticking down at an accelerated length and ripped the back padded of the vest to see another timer just like they thought.
Disappearing in a red blue blur, Clark appeared hovering above a vast ocean and clutched the device close to his chest and dived into the water where seconds later a spray of water shot up from the sea.
There was no sign of him for several minutes until he burst through the water allowing the sun to erase whatever damage the kryptonite wires had done to his body allowing him to fly off back to Metropolis.
Lois tried telling the medics that she was fine but they wouldn't listen and ended up driving her all the way to the last place she wanted to be…Metro Gen.
After given the all clear and a heated conversation with Perry, she was ready to go home to a hot bath and tub of Rocky Road when she noticed Clark walking towards her adjusting his tie and glasses.
"There's no way it was Clark." Her brain tries to reassure her hoping to make sense towards the mystery man's identity, "He's a boy scout not a vigilante like Green Arrow or Batman."
"Chloe was stuck with a computer emergency so she sent me instead." Inside he breathes a sigh of relief to see that she's okay, "We were worried about you but now that you're okay…" he suddenly wraps her into a tight hug which surprises her.
"I'm fine Clark." She pulls away putting some space between them, "Thanks to my guardian angel." She notices a hidden twitch with his hand and a bob of his Adam's apple, "I've covered a lot of heroes but this one was different."
"Really. How so?"
"I don't know. There was something about him…something familiar." She was about to sling her bag over her shoulder when Clark intercepted it while they headed towards the exit, "He reminded me of you."
Clark tried to hide his surprise at the comment and just cleared his throat nervously another thing she picked up on, "Well whoever this guy was, I'm just glad that you're okay."
"You and me both Smallville." This time she didn't wince instead she just smiled, "He's definitely hiding something and I'm gonna find out what."
TBC
