A/N: I am SO sorry! I can't believe I missed a posting deadline! Life has gotten a little crazier as of late but that's still no excuse. The new chapter's kind of on the long side though so hopefully that'll make up for it. Please review (if you get a chance and feel so inclined) and remember I'll send you a sneak peek of Chapter 12 if you do!
Chapter 11
Metropolis, Day 2, 12:26 am. Surprisingly enough it was the police who suggested a theory they'd all seemed to overlook; that Jason might have been taken as retribution for something his parents had written about rather then for something his parents were.
"Is that even possible?" Chloe asked in a whisper once all five adults were left alone again. "Wouldn't he have put up a fight?"
"Yes he would have," Clark answered grimly, "But if whoever took Jason really was targeting us then they'd still be ready for Superman. Everyone knows about my close relationship with Lois; even after all these years there's still a new tabloid cover every other week claiming she and Superman are having an affair, and half of them have guessed at the truth of Jason's paternity. If somebody took our son then you can be damn well sure they're prepared for Superman to swoop in and save him."
"And just having Kryptonite hanging around can weaken him like that? I thought you said you found out the kids had to ingest it before it affected them?" Jim wondered aloud.
"If they jabbed him with some it would be more then enough to take him down."
The group was silent for a long moment thinking their own morbid thoughts. "But Son, why would they do that if they didn't know the truth about you?" Martha asked in an unsteady voice. Her body language made it clear she didn't truly want to hear the answer.
"They wouldn't have to know he was my son to do it; simply having the Kryptonite in him would be enough to keep Superman at bay. I wouldn't be able to get within a hundred feet before feeling the full blast of it emanating from his every pore and he wouldn't be able to stand on his own two feet let alone put up much of a fight."
Lois flashed back to images of Clark writhing under the hands of Luthor's goons pinning him to the floor as he struggled and howled with rage—and all the while the mad man approached with his green rock and syringe and a cruel smile on his face.
"NO!" she screamed startling them all. One of the detectives out in the hall ducked his head back in to see what all the commotion was about as Clark wrapped her up in his arms. Remembering that outsiders were nearby Lois stage-whispered frantically into his chest, "We have to find him, Clark, we have to find him now!"
He leaned down until their foreheads touched. "I know."
Metropolis, Day 2, 12:58 am. Ella Lane was so furious with her daughter she could spit tacks. Why hadn't she called her sooner? Did she think her own mother would go all weepy and useless with worry the moment she heard the news? Well Ella had news for that girl and that was that she was a hell of a lot more stalwart then Lois gave her credit for.
But nooo, instead she got a 1 am phone call telling her that her only grandson had been missing for the last thirty-six hours…
THIRTY-SIX HOURS!
Where's her flying hero now? Ella wondered angrily. Wait! I know! He probably found out long before I did and is out looking for Jason right now! Her teeth ground in her head.Oh that girl!
When this was all over she and Lois were going to have a long, long talk, but right now she was willing to set all that aside and do her part to find Jason. The other end of the line began to ring.
"Fort Jenkins, Metropolis, Private Routh speaking."
Ella clutched the phone tighter in her hand. "Private, I need to speak with General Alden immediately."
"Ma'am?"
"Yes?" A brief pause followed on the line and when she realized she wasn't being put through she growled, "What part of 'immediately' do you not understand?"
"Ma'am, you're aware that it's 0100, aren't you? The General won't be back in his office until 0900, just before mid-morning maneuvers. If you like I can put you through to his voicemail…"
She stopped him dead in his tracks. "Son, exactly how many midnight phone calls is the General getting these days?"
He stuttered a second before answering, "Not many, Ma'am."
"Exactly. Now listen up because this isn't a social call. The grandson of General Samuel T. Lane has been missing for over thirty-six hours and if General Alden finds out that I did not involve him immediatelyin the search he is going to be very disappointed. Do I make myself clear?"
Ella listened to the young man gulp on the other end of the line. "Yes Ma'am; right away, Ma'am." The line was put on hold and she let loose a sigh. If only Lois had had the wherewithal to call and tell her sooner...
"Hello?"
Thank goodness. "Walter, it's Ella Lane. I'm sorry to wake you but I need you to call in the cavalry. I've just been told my grandson's been missing since Saturday afternoon. They've gotten the police involved but I was wondering…"
"Lo-Lo's kid's missing? Hang on a minute, El." She heard him turn away from the receiver and pick up a separate phone. "I'm getting the National Guard on the line."
A small, satisfied smile crossed Ella's lips.
Lois isn't the only one with friends in high places.
Metropolis, Day 2, 2019, 1:04 am. He wasn't entirely unused to midnight phone calls—in fact when he was a reporter Perry used to make quite a lot of them to his editor—but that didn't mean he liked losing sleep to some zealous young employee with only a half-decent lead. Some things were better left 'til morning when he had at least one cup of coffee in his system.
And then he heard Lois' voice.
"Chief?"
Her question nearly broke into a sob and he instantly sat up in bed. Clearly this wasn't about any old story. "What's wrong?"
There was silence on the other end for half a second before he got his response. "Clark's with the police, they…" Kent? Police? The man wouldn't hurt a fly, what's he doing with the police? He tuned back in to the conversation "…and they're going to look over the files, get some ideas."
"Ideas? Ideas for what? What's Clark gotten himself into, Lois?"
She sighed and repeated, "They're going to look at whatever hate mail has come in for us recently. Jason's vanished and the police are looking into whether or not he was taken because of something we wrote up."
"Oh my God." He paused for a moment to process the information before asking, "How long has he been gone?"
"Almost thirty-six hours."
Perry was family—or at least up until now he'd considered himself to be family. Lois and Clark were like his own children, along with Jim, and he loved Jason and Haley like no other on earth…which was why he was so confused as to why she'd kept news of this magnitude from him for so long. "A day and a half? Jason disappears for a day and a half and you don't even call to tell me? Just what in the hell is going on over there?"
The extended silence on the line gave him a second to cool off and really listen to what Lois was—and wasn't—saying. She was rattled and scared and his outburst only made everything that much worse.
He'd also never heard her sound so meek. "We thought he'd be home by now."
Metropolis, Day 2, 3:37 am. She ducked out around the corner to the all-night convenience store under the pretense of needing some fresh air, but what Lois really needed was a smoke. Clutching the pack in her hand she raced back to the house and escaped to the roof for a puff and a place to just think.
It was dark, cold and quiet up there—much like how she now felt on the inside. Pulling the plastic wrap off with fumbling fingers she reached for a cigarette and the moment it was in her grasp she felt all her old bad habits come flooding back. Pocketing the pack she reached for the lighter and in one swift motion had the cigarette lit between her lips before she was even aware it was all said and done.
Clark would know in an instant that she was smoking again—he probably already heard the lighter—but she needed the release and didn't care how she got it.
It'd been over ten years since her last puff but now she took a deep, long drag and let the nicotine flood her bloodstream. A few more followed in rapid succession, and although she felt a little heady as the tobacco worked it's way through her system she found she was still too jittery and on-edge to get the relief she so desperately craved…but she wouldn't find that until Jason was home again.
Lois stared out at the starry early-morning sky. Just where was her baby? And why had he gone?
Metropolis, Day 2, 2019, 6:22 am. The 'leads' he and the police had gotten—if you could even call them that—were only half-decent and Clark knew they wouldn't pan out to much. The cops might make a few collars in the process but in the end they'd be no closer to finding Jason then he'd been over the last twenty-four hours; the news was discouraging to say the least.
Clark also couldn't help but feel resentful toward the detectives assigned to the case. More then once he caught them griping about how 'teens will be teens' and that Jason 'would return on his own if he wanted to' whenever they thought he was out of earshot. He wasn't supposed to be hearing any of this at all and so rather then react all Clark could do was just stand there and take it, grinding his teeth at their indifference. If they weren't taking his son's case seriously then who would?
He made it back up to the apartment in one piece and was startled to find Lois sitting alone in the dark, waiting for him.
"Did they find anything?" she asked before he could shimmy out of his coat.
"Not really; the police have a few names but they won't come to much, I can guarantee it. Anything here?"
She shook her head. "No. Mom and Perry are both upset that we kept them out of the loop for so long though."
"Well these are extenuating circumstances and if they knew…"
"I know that!" she spat back.
They stood in silence on opposite sides of the room staring at each other forlornly. "So what do we do now?"
Lois began rattling off a list of places. "Did you check Paris?"
"Yes."
"Sao Paolo?"
"Yes."
"Tokyo?"
"Lois, I've checked all of those places and then some and he wasn't in any of them."
"Dammit!" she cursed and swung her fist down upon the armrest. "Just…just DAMMIT!"
He took a step forward to comfort her. "Honey, calm down…"
"Calm down? It's been TWO DAYS, Clark, TWO DAYS that he hasn't spent under our roof and we have no idea where he is! Who knows what's happening to him or if he's hurt or if he's…" she couldn't bring herself to utter the last possibility aloud, "And you want me to calm down? I won't have another minute's peace until he's back right here where he belongs! We have to find him!" Lois bit down hard on her trembling lip.
Clark stepped up and wrapped his arms around her as she fell into his embrace without having any strength to return the gesture. He knew exactly how scared she was because he was just as scared too.
"I know, Lo, and we will find him; I promise you we will."
Metropolis, Day 2, 10:35 am. The press conference had been arranged by Perry and the police and was slated to take place just outside the Daily Planet building. It was the only reason why Lois was at work at all otherwise she would have still been home with Al, Chloe and Jim organizing a much broader search for her son.
She took another look at herself in the bathroom mirror and splashed some cold water on her face to keep the nausea at bay. She was exhausted, physically and mentally, but sleep was the farthest thing from her mind. Lois was speaking the truth earlier when she said she wouldn't have another easy minute until Jason was back with them where he belonged; every moment she spent unconscious in slumber was another moment he was getting further and further away.
Stepping out into the hall she found Clark leaning against the opposite wall in his signature ill-fitting suit and glasses, waiting for her. They shared an uncomfortable glance before beginning the long walk through the lobby toward the front doors; neither of them was relishing the press conference to come but they'd do whatever was necessary and then some to get Jason back. Glancing up quickly she saw the journalists and news anchors on the other side of the revolving doors jockeying for position and clamoring for a sound byte.
Shameless, they were all shameless.
The other difficulty in holding this press conference lay in the fact that they both knew how little actual good would come of it. A tip line would be instated, calls would come flooding in, but how many of those leads would suit Jason's case? Worse still, the officers taking the calls didn't know about her son's gifts, so how would they know that a potential sighting in Peru might actually be a sighting of Jason in Peru? If it weren't for all the years of practice with the intricate layers of secrecy surrounding her family's lives and her son's case in particular Lois might've been driven mad.
Before she could contemplate the matter further the flashing bulbs of the photographers and screaming cries of the journalists temporarily blinded her and knocked her off guard. How many times had she stood on the other side of the platform jockeying for a prime spot and shouting out to other couples in exactly the same position she was in now? And she knew better then most mothers of missing children that the majority of those cases never did see the kids come home again.
The detectives motioned for her and her husband to keep moving and she pushed through it all with Clark right beside her.
"Any reason to believe this is a kidnapping?"
"Have any ransom demands been made?"
"Why did you wait so long to report your son missing?"
"Do you know where your son was headed that afternoon before he disappeared?"
"Was he fleeing from a dysfunctional, unhappy home?"
Jane Cho flashed a mean grin at her rival as she watched Lois' face fall at the Messenger's barb. Lois was shocked speechless for several seconds and only just found her voice (and her right hand clenched in a mean fist) when Clark spoke up.
"Jason was not running away from an unhappy home," he intoned. "Of that much we're certain. There were no problems in the family that he would have needed to run away from; however, he was—is—a happy-go-lucky kid who was looking forward to going to prom, finishing up his senior year of high school and attending college in the fall.
"As for your other questions…we don't know where our son was going that day or what happened while he was out, all we know is what he told his sister and that was that he was going to run some errands. He told her he'd be right back but that obviously never happened. Whether he was kidnapped or…or…" He swallowed hard and wiped his face with his hand to try and steady himself. "Or the victim or foul play we don't know and that's why we're appealing to the public to help us find him."
Clark fished around in his jacket pocket and produced a well-worn senior class photo of their son with his trademark glasses and sly, charming grin. Simply the act of looking at the picture broke Lois' heart when she thought she might never see that smiling face again. She turned her head to hide her tears and that was when Clark reached down to take her hand firmly in his. "Please," he pleaded, "Help us find him."
Metropolis, Day 2, 11:10 am. The office door was closed and the blinds were drawn; still, he could feel the eyes of the entire subdued floor bearing down upon them from beyond the glass. Perry and his senior reporter had retreated there after the press conference with Lois returning home with Martha, Chloe, and Jim. According to their friend Henrickson calls were already flooding the phone lines and now all they could do was wait for the police to sort through the tips and see what fruits might be borne of their efforts. Why Clark alone opted to remain at the Planet Perry couldn't say.
"So where do we go from here?"
He rarely asked for direction—as Editor-in-Chief he was, after all, used to running the show—but given the situation Perry was at an utter loss as to how to proceed.
"I want to draft an appeal to the public and put it in tomorrow's Planet. Half page would be good but I want to take a full page out near the headlines; Lois and I will pay for whatever space you can give us no matter the cost. I don't give a damn if it's a conflict of interest and if you or the Board have a problem with it then I'll go straight over to the Messenger, don't think I won't. I want to spread the word as much as possible."
"Easy there, Kent." Perry steepled his hands before him on the desk and gave Clark a good once over. The man was putting on a pretty good show but it was clear he was hurting just as much as Lois and the Chief was worried for both of them, not to mention the health and safety of his young nephew too.
Never in a million years would Perry have thought Jason could land into a scrape like this—even if he was his mother's son.
"I'll write the article," the Chief continued, "And to hell with the Board. If they don't like it they can take it up with me."
"Perry, I can't put you…"
"You nothing; I'm using the full power of the press on this one. Besides, if I can't show a little favoritism toward you and your family now then when can I?"
"Thanks, Chief." Clark got up to leave. "I'm going to re-check the archives, see if there's anything the police might have missed." With a wry frown he added, "Lois and I have racked up a lot of ill-will over the years."
Once he was gone Perry let loose a loud sigh and sank his head in his hands. Jason, my boy, just what on earth happened to you? His nephew was a fine young man with a promising future and he didn't want to have to picture a world without Jason in it.
Daily Planet, Metropolis, April 12, 2018. "Mr. White?"
Perry looked up to see Barbara standing in the open doorway with a large pile of paperwork in her hands. He groaned inwardly before acknowledging her then turned back to the article he was proofing.
She wore a small no-nonsense scowl on her face at his dismissal. "You said you'd set aside some time this afternoon and look at the summer internship candidates—we need to get the letters out by the end of the month. Here's the final group that you and the Board decided on; all you have to do is whittle it down."
"Thanks for reminding me. Just set them down right there and I'll get to them as soon as I can."
"But Mr. White…" One gray eyebrow shot up into his forehead as he glanced at her over his paperwork. "Yes Sir."
And he did get to them just as he promised—two days later. He read through the articles submitted by each of the candidates again, separating the ones he selected for further study into piles by grade. Perry was allowed six college and four high school students for eight weeks during the summer months; applications came from all four corners of the globe vying for the coveted spots. The whole business reminded him of the college admissions process only in the end the kids came away with a heck of a lot of experience and the potential for employment with one of the foremost news publications in the country.
That is if he saw fit to hire them.
Three of the college slots were already filled by previous interns as well as one of the high school ones leaving Perry with six positions still vacant. Several hours later he was still hard at work while the bullpen quieted down and he dug into his take-out steak with renewed vigor. Without looking up from his plate he placed another candidate in the 'Accept' pile. Three down, three to go…
Placing the fork down he picked up the next application and immediately noticed a discrepancy between it and the others he'd been reading. First, the applicant hadn't submitted a picture; every other entry Perry had seen that evening had the same wallet-sized photo of a freshly-scrubbed, bright-eyed, smiling young man or woman stapled to the front while this one was conspicuously blank. Second, the entrant was a local student from Jack Larson High School; not that he hadn't received at least 50 entries from that school in particular but the fact that it made it so far through the admissions' process as to reach his desk was pretty astounding.
The address listed was also an impersonal P.O Box giving him no easy way to indulge his curiosity and learn more about the applicant other then from the sheets in his hand.
Taking another look at Jonathan Streete's application he quickly turned the page to review the required writing sample. It was a piece outlining the pros and cons of iPod use as an effective teaching tool in the classroom. The subject itself was rather de rigueur for a high school publication these days but it was still an intelligent piece nonetheless; none of the usual biases in a young person's article were present here and the author sounded extremely mature. Perry read through the article once, twice, then flipped back to check the applicant's date of birth: October 1, 2001. The kid was only 16 years old.
Perry recognized the raw talent immediately and Jonathan Streete's application was instantly placed on the top of the 'Accept' pile to round out the Planet's high school quota.
The Chief thought little more about the summer interns until three weeks later when his nephew came knocking on his door.
"Jason, my boy, come on in!" Perry half-rose up out of his chair and pointed to the empty seat opposite him. "It's been awhile since you've been in the bullpen; your mother says you've been pretty busy at school."
The young man squirmed a little in his chair looking every inch his father—from the glasses, to the stuttering speech, to the endlessly long legs hidden beneath his baggy jeans. "Yeah, I'm um, I'm on t-the student council and we've been trying to get everything squared away for Junior Prom."
"Good for you! It's always good to stay active, never forget that. Now tell me…" he leaned forward conspiratorially and Jason moved in to better hear him, "Is there anyone special you're taking to this dance of yours?" The older man watched in amusement as his nephew's cheeks turned a deep red and he ran a hand through his hair.
"I…that is, she…you see…"
"Don't worry, I think that's answer enough." He grinned and took a sip of his coffee still watching the boy struggle to find the right words for whatever was on his mind.
"Uncle Perry, I don't know how to ask this…"
"Well the best way to ask something is by starting with an actual question," the Editor-in-Chief retorted.
Jason smiled that sly grin of his as he looked his Uncle in the eye and dropped the stutter. "If I asked you for a spot as an intern here at the Planet would you give it to me?"
Perry nearly choked on his drink. When he stopped coughing he smoothed down the front of his tie giving him a chance to further steel his resolve. He loved Jason but playing favorites like that went against everything he'd worked to uphold his entire career. "Son, the thing is I'd be thrilled to give you a chance to intern here but I can't just have you coming in and asking for a spot outright like this. We've already chosen our interns for this summer; it's a very long and involved process and there are only a limited number of spots so they have to be approved of by the Board, then by me, then they go back to the Board for review…not to mention that with your parents being who they are and with your relationship to me being what it is…
"Jason, what I'm trying to tell you is that were I to take you on I'd open myself up to accusations of nepotism and that simply isn't fair to everyone else who applied and was denied a spot. Do you understand?"
The young man nodded. "I thought that'd be the case," he said glumly. He reached down into his backpack to fishing out an envelope and returned smiling, saying, "That's why I applied under an assumed name." He extended the missive with the Daily Planet letterhead over to Perry who eagerly read the stock message.
Dear Jonathan Streete,
Congratulations! You have been selected as one of the Daily Planet's four high school interns for the 2018 year. Below are the terms of your seasonal employment…
"Jonathan Streete?" the Editor-in-Chief asked, looking up from the paper in shock and staring at the clever boy across from him. "That was you with the iPod article?"
Jason's eyes went wide behind his glasses as he pushed them back up the bridge of his nose. "You remember it? But you must've read hundreds!"
Perry was already ignoring him and looking at the acceptance letter once more. "Do your parents know? Were they the ones who suggested you pull this little stunt?"
"No, they don't have a clue. I wanted to see if I could get by on my own merits first and I knew I needed a pen name if I even had a chance of getting my application near your desk; plus you know how Mom is, if I told her I was applying she'd try and drop you some not so subtle hints to clue you in."
"Hints?" He looked at the letter again until the clue smacked him in the face. "Well I'll be damned, I don't know why I didn't pick up on that the first time! Streete, ha!" he muttered, still gob-smacked by the news.
"People only see what you want them to see, Uncle Perry," Jason added quietly, still smirking from his triumph.
"So why tell me now?"
"Because I knew I couldn't get away with walking through those doors with the rest of the interns next month and not be recognized by the staff here; because I knew you'd come under scrutiny for hiring me and I wanted to give you a chance to talk to the higher-ups and clear yourself so that you weren't accused of favoritism; and because I wanted to see if you would have hired Jason Kent over Jonathan Streete without checking my credentials just because I'm your nephew and son of two of your star reporters."
It was all he could do just to smile and shake his head in disbelief, sliding the letter back over to Jason who folded it up and placed it back in his backpack. "Something tells me you're not planning on telling your folks about this, either…am I right?"
The young man smiled and turned his head away, his cheeks turning red in slight embarrassment. It was enough of an answer for him. He'd let his nephew keep his secret—it would only be for a few weeks more anyway.
Perry smiled at the memory and the ensuing tumult that erupted on the floor between him and his mother on his first day at work. It wasn't long before he began wondering if the boy's seat with the other interns would remain vacant next summer and a deep frown tugged down hard at the corners of his lips.
