CHAPTER 29:

Slowly coming back to consciousness, Lois started to fight against any enemies before her eyes came into focus and she knew she was alone. She started to panic, but knew it wouldn't help as she had a very short time to get on the track of the men who captured Superman.

Walking unsteadily out of the warehouse to her car, she searched for her phone and finally found it behind her car, smashed to pieces. Her car keys were missing and she decided to stop looking and get as quickly as possible to somewhere she could get hold of the Police.

Four hours later, Lois was finally coming to the realization that they were dealing with professionals. The police had found nothing that could indicate who they were or where they had taken Superman. She wasn't even sure if the Police even believed her story. The soldiers had removed anything that could be used to track them and the entire warehouse was a complete clean sweep.

Lois was running totally out of options and she hadn't even considered what she was going to do. She needed to keep running on passion and anger and she was not going to stop until she had Clark back with her. She was totally scared for him as the coldness in the voice of the agent terrified her. She knew that Clark was in agony and she had no idea what they were going to do to him.

Finally the police sergeant came over and explained that there was nothing more they could do and if they heard or found anything new they would let her know. She nodded at him, she didn't think she could say anything, without totally breaking down and walked away.

Flagging a taxi down she decided to head back to the Daily Planet and start to use its vast resources to help track them down. Walking into the bullpen, her face still ashen from the encounter and feeling sick that Clark was now being held, she was not prepared to face her colleagues. 'How can the world be so calm and everyone unconcerned, don't they know Superman has been arrested, oh Clark, please God don't let him be hurt, if they hurt him I swear I will kill them all,' she thought as she walked into Perry's office without knocking.

"Lois? You ok, you look terrible."

"Chief, they have taken Superman,"

"Who has?"

"Government Agents have arrested Superman,"

"On what charges, Lois focus, talk to me, on what charges?"

Shaking her head Lois replied, "It's classified and they are not saying anything?"

"Who are they?"

"I don't know, they said they are Government agents."

"Did you get any I.D., what branch of the Government are they?"

"I don't know, I don't remember, Perry don't you think I have been wracking my brain, but right from the start they just said Government, I just don't know, I just don't know," Lois replied as she started to cry.

"Lois, it's ok, don't cry, we can find out all we need to know, we will find him I promise. Get Clark and let's start going through all our Government contacts?"

"Clark, um . . . Clark wanted me to tell you that he had to chase down a contact . . . He could be a while."

"Well, this is bigger news, get him back here and lets start finding out what's going on. Why don't you start with your father?"

Walking back to her desk Lois felt numb, numb was bad, she needed the anger back. She sat down at her desk and picked up the phone and dialed her father's number with reluctance. Her history with him was not the best and she didn't want to have a huge lecture right about now but Perry was right, if anyone could find out classified information it would be General Sam Lane.

She decided to use one of the private conference rooms, as she didn't want any of her conversations to be overheard. The last thing they needed was for this information to get out in the public arena just yet.

Her father was pleased to hear from her and for once the conversation seemed to be without rancor. It probably helped that she was so worried about Clark that she wasn't abrasive with him. He agreed to discretely ask around and see if anyone had any information about Superman. He wanted to know why she was so concerned so she had to tell him that the Government agents had used her for bait to lure Superman. That annoyed him and he promised Lois that he would do whatever he could to find out the information she was after. Lois said goodbye and hung up.

She didn't want to make the next call but she knew there was no way she could avoid it. She needed to get the inner workings of the Federal Government to help the search so picking up the phone she dialed.

"Senator Kent's Office, how may I help you?"

"Can I please talk to the Senator, tell her it is Lois Lane."

"Hold a moment please,"

"Lois, what a pleasant surprise, how are you?"

"Mrs Kent, I don't know how to tell you this but Superman has been arrested by Government agents," she said, as she looked out the window and wondered why the sky was so dull.

"WHAT!!! Superman arrested, on what grounds?"

So Lois repeated to Martha everything that had happened since she walked into the warehouse. Martha was angry, yet calm, and had Lois repeat everything so that she could get as many facts as she possible. They both knew that whichever Government agency had arrested Superman then it would need to have official sanction and she was the perfect person to track down the agency. As Lois hung up the phone, the shrill ringing of her mobile jolted her. Looking at the caller ID Lois was surprised to see it was Bruce.

"Bruce, now is not a good time."

"Why hello to you too Lois,"

"Bruce, seriously now is not a good time," she said as she went to hang up.

"Lois, what's wrong?"

Stopping herself from hanging up Lois replied "Bruce its not something that I want the world to know. Someone has been arrested and I need to help him."

"Is it Clark?"

"No"

"Who is it? I can help, I can get a lawyer over right now to help you get your friend out of jail."

"Bruce, thank you for the offer but I am not sure that even your lawyers can help me here."

"Lois, who has been arrested and what are the charges, you can trust me I promise, I wont talk to anyone else about it, but I care for you and I want to help, let me help you?"

"It's Superman, he's been arrested by Government agents," she said.

"What!!!" he spoke with a cold tone. She could almost feel the anger coming down the line from Bruce. He harshly asked her to explain everything, so once again she went through the entire episode again. Bruce's questioning of the facts was insatiable and she was surprised at his single-minded focus on the smallest details. She felt like she was getting an interrogation. It was something she had never heard from Bruce before but it made her realize that she needed to get herself into gear and start to ask the hard questions as well. Getting off the phone she started to organize and plan her investigation.

'I will find you Clark and I will get you out of there if it is the last thing I do in this life' she promised herself.

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From here on in story is going to get dark . . . so be warned.