Chapter Ten: Here We Go Again
As soon as she heard Clark's footsteps disappear Callie opened her eyes and sat up on the couch, tugging at the chain around her neck. There was no way she was going to get to sleep.
"Stupid Doomsday." She whispered to herself.
Throwing the blanket off of her she rubbed her forehead, as if trying to rub away the scenes etched in her brain. It had been a long time since Doomsday had entered her dreams and the creature was still a very unwelcome guest. Seeing the footage of him on the television brought back all the old memories, all the terrified nights, and all the tears that were shed. She could still hear the crying, the faces of everyone she loved that day and the weeks after that, and the brave front they put on just for her. Shaking her head she got up and poured herself a glass of water.
"I'm going to need therapy again." She said before she chugged down the glass.
Glancing at the clock is was 3:30 in the morning. In a few hours she had to put a smile on her face and walk into the Daily Planet. She would have to "oooohh" and "ahhhh" at the all the things she already knew and make it seem like she had never been there a day in her life. She could do it, for sure, but the sheer fact that she would be going there with Lois Lane, the woman who was her mother, scared the crap out of her. What if she messed up and let something slip?
'Like you did a few hours before?' she thought in regards to uttering the word 'mom' after her dream.
Letting out a sad sigh her eyes traveled up the stairs.
'How long will I be able to pull this off before they both realize who I really am?'
Defeated she moved back over to the couch and closed her eyes, hoping maybe somehow she could get some sleep. As soon as she closed them though, she saw two large, red beady eyes staring back at her. Her eyes shot open at lightning speed and she immediately ran up the stairs. Once she made it to Clark's door she stopped.
"What are you doing?" She asked herself. "You're not a kid anymore."
Before she knew it a tear escaped her eye. She quickly wiped it away and willed the water in her eyes to evaporate.
"Just check on him. As long as you know he's there you'll be fine."
Quietly she turned the knob and peeked into his room. She watched him sleep for a few seconds before closing the gap she just made.
"He's fine. You're fine." She chanted to herself.
She stopped by Lois' door and did the same. Satisfied that both were okay she walked back down the stairs to the couch. She plopped herself back on it and just sat herself up against her blue pillow.
Crossing her arms across her chest she pouted as she said in a childish tone, "I need my bunny."
~\~
The sudden sound of the rooster crowing caused Lois to jump up in bed.
"Oh that bird is going to get it." She mumbled in anger.
Climbing out from underneath the covers, she pushed the curtain out of her way and peered out the window looking for the obnoxious bird. Not able to find it, Lois groaned as she realized it was morning already. On one hand she liked being on the Kent farm, but on the other hand it was a pain to get up so early to commute to Metropolis every morning.
Opening the closet she picked out her outfit and put some things aside for Callie. She was actually looking forward to bringing her with her to the Daily Planet. Watching her have that dream reminded her of when Lucy was young. Her motherly instincts, she guessed she had some, kicked into high gear and all she wanted to do was comfort Callie.
'Must have worked, too. Kid called me 'Mom'.' She thought.
As Lois gathered her clothes her eyes traveled to the box of newspaper clippings she had knocked over the other day. She had wanted to say something about it to Clark. She wanted to ask him why he had it, but she chickened out. She wasn't going to hope that he had been looking for her. She wasn't going to let herself feel that way about him. Removing her eyes from the box she focused on her work instead.
Picking up her bag she pulled out a stack of papers and flipped through them. She didn't have to intently look at them, though. She knew exactly what they said, 'A mysterious blur zipping in and out of crime after crime, but no red and blue in sight'. She meant to work some more on it when she had left work early, but when she stumbled on Clark's card and realized he had neglected to acknowledge his birthday she placed her work at the bottom of her to do list. It didn't matter anyway; she had hit a brick wall when it came to her search for the Red-Blue Blur.
"Maybe he really is gone." She said as she placed the papers back in her bag. Determined, she added, "But whatever happened, I'm going to get to the bottom of it."
Walking out of the room the scent of coffee caught her. She needed coffee badly. She hadn't been able to sleep well the past couple nights. Her dreams were all blurry and the voices in them were muffled. It annoyed her because it felt like her mind was trying to tell her something, but it was coming out all jumbled. She had woken up during the night and, in an attempt to try a remedy to fall asleep she had learned a long time ago, she stumbled upon Callie having a nightmare. She stayed with her for a little bit just looking out the window, but eventually convinced her to get back to sleep.
'That's certainly the last time I'll ever wait for Clark Kent to come home.' She thought.
Clark did come home, finally, and she reamed him out, which felt good. She was able to sleep after that, but the stupid bird woke her up.
The scent of coffee yet again tugged at her nose and broke her out of her thoughts. She needed the caffeine like air to breathe.
Heading past Clark's room she couldn't help but peek in. A slight smile crossed her lips as she saw him still sleeping.
'What a rare occurrence—me up before Smallville. Must be a sign of the apocalypse.'
Walking down the stairs she saw Callie at the counter drinking some of the coffee she was craving.
"Hey." Lois called out.
Callie turned to her and smiled. "Hey."
Yawning Lois grabbed a mug and picked up the coffee pot. "You okay after last night?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"Good."
She watched as Callie cupped the mug close to her and stared into space. She looked as if she were thinking intently about something. It was a bit concerning.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked.
Callie blinked a few times and turned to Lois. "Yeah," she nodded.
Lois knew she wasn't. The kid was putting on a brave face but something was bothering her.
'I need to get her out of this house.' She thought once again.
"I have some clothes for you upstairs." She said, hoping to cheer her up somehow.
"Thanks." Callie said, taking another sip from her mug.
Lois could clearly see some type of sadness on Callie's face, but she obviously didn't want to talk about it and she wasn't going to push her.
"I'm just going to take a shower, so check out what I left you." Callie nodded at her. As Lois went for the stairs she turned around once more and added, "And Callie, we're going to have fun today. I promise."
Callie gave her an unconvincing smile and she turned to go back up the stairs desperately hoping that those words were true.
~\~
Clark felt the weight of the bed shift from underneath him as sleep started to fade away.
"Smallville." A voice whispered.
Opening his eyes slowly he could make out the silhouette of a person, but he couldn't see their face. Feeling like he was dreaming he turned his head back into his pillow. He was exhausted. That rarely happened to him, but night after night of crime fighting had caught up with him, plus, going a round with Lois when he got home wiped out the rest of his energy.
"Smallville…" the voice said again.
"Lois?" He asked into his pillow.
"Wake up." She said rocking him. "Wow, this bed is really comfy…" he heard her mumble to herself.
Lifting his head up, he watched as she pressed her hand into the mattress feeling it.
"Seriously, Clark, if you don't get up I might just fall asleep right here because that damn rooster interrupted my beauty sleep and the caffeine I put into my system hasn't kicked in yet."
Groaning, he turned to her and asked, "What do you want, Lois?"
Leaning on her side she balanced the side of her head on her hand as she placed her elbow inches from his face. She said something to him, but he couldn't quite understand her. The beating of his heart echoed in his ears at a rapid pace. Lois was in his bed. His bed. Strange thing was he didn't hate it.
He watched as her eyes narrowed at him. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Huh?"
"Ugh!" She exclaimed as she got up. "You're unbelievable."
Clark rolled off his side of the bed and stood up. He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced at the clock. He'd slept in. He shut his eyes and berated at himself. He never slept in. Opening his eyes back he turned to Lois.
She, of course, fiercely looked at him. She was also silent, which was never good. Shaking her head at him he watched as she began to stalk off, maneuvering her way around the bed, but as she went for the door, her foot got caught on the comforter hanging off his bed. As she tripped forward Clark swiftly moved toward her and caught her.
Clark held his breath as his arms were wrapped around her waist and their eyes met.
"Nice save, Gretzky." She said, gripping his upper arm.
As Clark gazed at her features he noticed how beautiful she looked in the morning. He had lived with her and seen her time and time again, but, in that moment when he really looked at her, he somehow missed how beautiful she looked.
Clark wanted to say something, but the second his mouth opened a knock then came upon the door.
"Hey, Clark, are you awake-oh whoops…" a voice said.
Clark shot his head around to see Callie in the doorway. Clark dropped his hands from Lois' waist and took a step back from her.
"Callie." He said, embarrassed as he felt heat against his cheeks.
"Uh, wow. I didn't know about…huh…okay…I'll just be downstairs." She awkwardly said, pointing behind her and leaving.
"See, if you would have been listening to me before that wouldn't have just happened." Lois said, slapping his chest.
"It's my fault that you tripped and she got the wrong idea?"
"Well, if you had been listening to me then you would have known that she seemed a little distant and probably needed to talk to you."
Clark let out a beaten sigh. Out of all the battles he faced over the years it always seemed liked the ones with Lois were always the ones he lost.
"Now, I have to go and get ready for work, so talk to your cousin. This is supposed to be a nice day for her."
Watching Lois leave the room he walked down the stairs where a smirking Callie stood.
"Sorry about the interruption. You don't have to keep it secret on my account."
"There's nothing going on between me and Lois."
"Right, I mean the puppy dog eyes you were giving her is the definition of nothing."
"They were not puppy dog eyes." He argued.
"I'm sorry, do you want me to strike that and substitute in 'loving stare' instead?"
Clark glared at her then said, "Lois said you might want to talk about something."
"Uh, you know what, I was in a crappy mood, but seeing you two—it was the sunshine that broke through the dark clouds. So, thank you."
"You sure you don't want to talk about it? I mean you did have another nightmare last night."
"It was nothing. It happened then it was over. It wasn't real." She said, affirmatively.
"Are you going to be okay going with Lois today?"
"Yeah, I think she was right. I probably need to get out of this house. Though, I am kind of sad."
"Why?" He asked, perplexed.
"Well, you don't work at the Daily Planet anymore. It would have been nice to see the two of you in action together."
"Yeah, well I'm sure that it will be just as exciting without me there."
"Maybe. I should go get changed."
He nodded as she left. Was she disappointed that he wasn't going to be with her? He and Callie had bonded and she would have to be careful about herself being out in public and with Lois. Tess might even be snooping around. Maybe she would feel more comfortable if he were there. As he glanced outside a smile appeared on his lips as an idea formed.
~\~
Callie looked at the clothes Lois had set away for her. She changed into them, but felt clumsy doing so. As she walked to the mirror she was startled at what she saw.
"Whoa."
She had played dress up with her mother's clothes so many times but to wear them now, as a young adult, she felt like her reflection wasn't her, it was her mom. She smiled at the strange thought and made her way downstairs. Lois was still in the bathroom, the sound of the hair dryer roaring, but by looking at the clock she would have to be done in a few minutes to get to work on time.
"Looks good." She heard a voice say.
She looked up to see Clark in the doorway coming back in from outside.
"Thanks." She said flattening out the blouse and skirt with her hands. "Not sure how I feel about the skirt, though."
Callie moved her legs in the pencil skirt.
'Not much leg room. Enough to walk but not enough to really do much else. Why couldn't it be Casual-Friday or something?'
"Good luck. And -"
"Keep Lois out of trouble. I know." She said, finishing his sentence.
"How did you know I was going to say that?"
'Because you always say that when I'm with mom…'
"Because I can read minds." She teased.
Clark looked at her like she was serious. Callie smiled at his expression.
"I was just kidding. It was just a lucky guess. I know how Lois has a knack for getting into trouble when she's onto a story."
"Okay, Callie let's go!" She heard Lois call as she practically ran down the stairs.
"You stay out of trouble, too." She whispered as she left past him.
She followed Lois as she grabbed all her bags and guided her outside to the car. As they both got in and closed the doors, Lois put the key in the ignition but the car wouldn't start.
"Oh, no you don't. " Lois said as she kept trying to turn the engine over. She placed her head on top of the steering wheel then lifted it back up. Opening the door she turned to Callie and said, "I'll be right back."
~\~
"I need you, Clark." Lois said in a low voice that sent shivers up Clark's spine. His eyes enlarged at the sentence and he turned around to look at her.
"My car won't start." She added with an aggravated looked on her face.
Clark let out the breath he didn't even know he had been holding.
"I need your keys." She said opening her hand out to him.
Clark smirked as he slapped it playing as if he thought she wanted a low five.
"Very funny. Now come on, we'll be late."
"I'll drive you." Clark offered.
"Really? You're going to drive?"
"I have to see Chloe anyway."
"Fine." She said as she turned and walked to the truck. Clark followed in tow and opened the door for her.
"You're coming with us?" Callie asked.
"Looks like."
Callie looked at him funny. "Hmm." She said as she climbed into the backseat.
Getting into the driver's seat he started the car and drove out onto the deserted road past all the crops.
"Can we get some tunes on please?" Lois said.
Obliging her request he turned the radio on. A song came on that had a good beat to it, but quickly both Lois and Callie exclaimed, "Belch!" "Eww, no!" in protest of it.
"Okay…" He whispered as he changed the channel, keeping his eyes on the road. "What about this?"
"Horrible!"
"Turn it!"
Getting a little annoyed he again turned the station. Excited, Lois and Callie exclaimed, "Yeah!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Listening to the song he automatically realized what he had just stumbled into.
"...cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams…" Lois sang and clapped to the beat.
Callie and Lois began rocking their heads to the music using all parts of the car as percussion instruments, as they both sang, "Here I go again on my own, goin' down the only road I've ever known. Like a drifter I was born to walk alone. And I've made up my mind I ain't wasting no more time… here I go again."
Clark looked to Lois and then in his mirror to Callie in the back seat. He had endured Whitesnake before. He recalled the night of Chloe and Jimmy's engagement party when he brought Lois back to the farm and she serenaded him with every Whitesnake song possible. He had to admit that he did find her little rock concert in the kitchen mildly entertaining that night. The scene that he was looking upon, though, topped that by a long shot. They were smiling and having fun. He couldn't think of any other place he'd rather be in that moment.
Another Whitesnake song and a couple hours later the trio arrived at the Daily Planet. Walking down the stairs and avoiding the traffic of people Lois pushed through all of them as Clark and Callie stayed next to each other.
At the first landing Callie turned to Clark and said, "Nice strategy this morning, by the way."
"What do you mean?"
"Tampering with Lois' car so it wouldn't start. Smooth."
'How did she know?' he asked himself.
Callie was becoming more and more mysterious as the days went on. There were all these things that she knew about him and she seemed to always be a step ahead. Granted she was from the future but he knew there was something more to it than that.
Getting back to the conversation he said with a half smile, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure."
Turning to the hectic bullpen, both watched as Lois made it to her desk only to be met by none other than the man who had taken over his desk, John Corben. Just like Lois complained there he was staring at her.
"Wow Clark, he really did take your job. Though, I guess you supplement at home like you did this morning." She teased.
Clark glared and she just smiled triumphantly. Turning back they both watched Corben's actions carefully.
"I don't like this guy." They said at exactly the same time.
When they realized they did this they both whipped their heads to each other where their eyes met. Callie was the first to break eye contact and stare back into the bullpen.
"Well, thanks for the ride." She said quickly as she powerwalked to Lois' desk.
"Yeah, no problem." He said still bewildered by the enigma that was Callie.
~\~
Walking to Lois' desk Callie was suddenly hit with a sharp pain in her head. Closing her eyes she placed the tips of her fingers into her forehead trying to dull the pain. Then suddenly, the pain disappeared. She knew that feeling. That was a kryptonite feeling.
Looking around she couldn't figure out where it could have come from and why it had left so fast.
"Callie." Lois said, calling her over.
Callie slightly shook her head and made it over to the desk. She could see that her desk was in disarray, which was normal. She wanted to focus on Lois but her eyes darted to each corner of the room. She looked around Lois' desk and to the now unoccupied desk across from her. She looked back to where she had just been standing to see if Clark was still around but he had already left.
"Earth to Callie." She heard Lois' voice say.
"Huh? Oh sorry. This place…it's sooo…busy." She said weakly.
"I know it's a lot to take in at first, but you get used to it. Everyone just gets into their own rhythm."
"Right." Callie said plastering a smile on her face. "So, anything in particular you working on?" She asked, leaning onto the desk.
"Actually," Lois said, lowering her voice, "I'm working on somewhat of a big assignment."
Briefly taking her mind away from the kryptonite, an intrigued Callie moved in closer, "Like what kind of big assignment?"
"Beings that you are going to be living in Metropolis soon for school you should be educated on this city's pros and cons. The biggest con being the crime."
"And the biggest pro?"
Lois pulled out a photo and handed it to Callie.
"Him."
Callie looked down at the photo of a red and blue blur.
"I'm not sure what Clark has told you about Metropolis's own resident hero, if he's told you anything, but I'm working on finding more about him."
"What do you have so far?"
Lois sighed. "Not much. He sort of vanished after the big debacle with the BeastMaster a month ago. The only thing I can come up with are stories of a mysterious black blur that's been saving people in the city. I want to believe it's him, but I don't, this other blur seems different."
"Maybe you need to call him out on it."
"What do you mean?"
"Hypothetically, let's say that this other blur is the same guy. Maybe the whole thing with this Doomsday character messed him up. It messed a lot of people up and just because he's a hero doesn't mean he doesn't think or feel like we do."
"Maybe he just needs a little reminder." Lois said turning to her keyboard.
"Absolutely."
"I must say you have quite the knack for this. Keep it up and you might just have a job here someday."
"Hopefully." Callie grinned, turning to look at the giant Daily Planet sign hanging on the wall.
000
After doing some errands around the Planet for Lois, Callie was starting to enjoy herself. She placed the fluke of the morning headache behind her and instead focused on where she was. The Daily Planet was her home away from home in the future and for a millisecond she almost thought she was back in her time. She especially enjoyed the juicy details she heard around the building. The one that most intrigued her was the rumor that her parents were an item already. Judging by what she walked in on this morning, as innocent as that was, she couldn't figure out why they just hadn't gotten together yet.
Walking back over in the direction of Lois' desk Callie started to feel a familiar sickness creep up in her body again. A raging headache attacked her head and caused her to gasp out in pain.
'What the hell?'
Letting out shallow breaths she backed up from the desks in the basement and stepped up the stairs to the first landing. The pain disappeared almost instantly. Callie looked all around her trying to pinpoint where the kryptonite could be. She couldn't understand it. She had just been by Lois' desk twenty minutes before and she had been fine. She returns and is overwhelmed by pain. Using her x-ray vision she scoured the basement looking for the little green demon rock, but came up with nothing.
"Callie!" Lois said, running up to her.
"Yeah?" She asked, shaking the last remnants of pain away.
"I called Chloe so she's going to meet us for lunch, but I want to get out of here quickly before John comes back."
"John?"
"Yeah, that guy that took Clark's desk."
"Right."
"He keeps leaving and coming back and leaving and coming back, so I want to leave before he comes back. So quick get your stuff, go, go, go, go." She said shooing her in the direction of the bullpen.
Callie tensed as she got closer and waited for the pain to hit her like a ton of bricks, only it didn't. Callie looked around dumbfounded. She walked closer to Lois' desk and still there was nothing. Picking up the bag Lois had lent her she walked back to the stairs.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Okay. Come on."
Callie followed Lois up and down the streets of Metropolis until they stopped at a little café where Chloe was sitting outside waiting for them. She smiled and waved as she saw them approach.
"Hey, guys!"
"Hey, Chlo."
"So, how is Callie's first day at the Daily Planet?" Chloe asked.
"Great. She even helped me get out of my writer's block and start my new editorial." Lois said.
"Editorial? What about?"
"I'll let you peek later." Lois whispered.
"Oooh." Chloe said and smiled.
As they sat down Callie was still uneasy about what had occurred. If she were having lunch with Chloe and Lois the day before she would have been more at ease and actually in tune to what they were saying, but since once again being hit with krypto-pain and finding that it wasn't a fluke was bothering her immensely.
"Hey, you okay?" Chloe whispered as she took a seat next to her.
"Not really." Callie whispered back.
Chloe flashed a concerned look. Before Chloe could say anything else a waitress came to the table to take everyone's order.
"I'll have the Caesar salad." Chloe said looking at her menu.
"I'll have the same." Lois said.
The waitress looked to Callie.
"You know what, I'm not that hungry right now." Callie said, pushing the menu to the front of the table.
"Are you sure that you're feeling okay?" Lois asked.
"Yeah." Callie nodded.
Lois stared at her a bit and then turned to the waitress. "Bring her some chicken noodle soup."
"Lois, really I'm fine." Callie protested.
The waitress looked from Callie to Lois not really sure what to do. Lois looked to her and said, "Bring it," as she gave her back the menus.
The waitress nodded then left.
"You'll thank me later." Lois said.
'She always does that.' Callie thought.
Even though she loved the moment that just occurred nothing seemed to be able to break her out of her funk. Rubbing her forehead she stared at the table and tried to come up with reasons as to why it was happening.
"Headache?" Chloe asked.
"I had one before. Kind of like those migraines Clark gets sometimes…" Callie said, trying not to be too obvious.
She needed help and Chloe was the only one there who could submit some ideas into the mix. However, Chloe looked at her confused, not understanding what she was secretly trying to say.
"The migraines Clark gets?" Chloe asked.
"I didn't know Clark got migraines." Lois said.
"Yeah, you know he sometimes reacts to… MSG when it's around. It gets painful for him."
She watched as Chloe mouthed MSG to herself trying to decipher the apparent code.
She really needed to talk to Chloe, but there was no way to do it with Lois being there. Like her prayer had been answered, Lois got up from the table and said, "I'll be right back."
Chloe then quickly turned to Callie, "MSG? I know we're not talking about food products here."
"Sorry, I just couldn't come out and say it with Lois here and all."
"And it stands for…."
"Oh, I was going for meteorites shaded green."
"Meteorites shaded green? You mean kryptonite?"
Callie nodded.
"You encountered kryptonite at the Daily Planet?"
"Yes, but the problem is that it wasn't in one place that I could find it. It was moving. I would be in one place and get a massive splitting headache and then in the next instant it was gone and then it would happen someplace else."
"So, it must be on someone there." Chloe concluded.
"I just don't know who has it and if it's meant for someone else."
"You mean Clark?"
"But if it were they would have to know that he doesn't work there anymore, right?"
"Possibly."
"Do you think we should call him?" Callie asked.
"Might be hard. I gave him a lead on the whole Zod front. I just hope he's in the calling area." She said scrolling down to find his number in her phone. As she placed it her ear Callie could tell that it went directly to voicemail.
"Clark, it's Chloe. Call me as soon as you get this."
"Great." Callie said, rolling her eyes.
"I think maybe you should call it a day at the Planet."
"What? No way. I need to figure this out. It could be nothing, right? Who knows, I could be jumping to conclusions. I mean maybe someone just happens to be wearing jewelry that has it in it. I remember my dad telling me a story about some guy he came up against who had a kryptonite watch on." Callie said, taking a sip of her water.
"I still think you should be careful. Kryptonite is dangerous, you should know that."
"I'm fully aware of what kryptonite does." Callie said, a little annoyed.
Hearing the annoyance in her voice, Chloe seemed to back down a little.
"MSG, huh? That's a clever acronym."
"Came off the top of this brain." Callie said pointing to her head, a small smile forming.
"Wish I would have thought of it myself." Chloe said, a little jealous. "I might steal it from you if I'm ever in a jam."
"You have my permission."
"Hey, so what are we talking about?" Lois said as she sat back down.
"Nothing important." Callie said, glancing at Chloe harboring their private conversation.
~\~
After lunch the girls walked up some of the streets of Metropolis. Chloe watched in delight as Callie would stop in front of some of the windows and point out all the clothes and shoes she desired to have.
'She certainly has Lois' taste' she thought.
"Hey, Chlo, look at this." Lois said pointing to a street sign.
Chloe looked up as she saw they had stumbled upon Sullivan Lane.
"How cool is that we have a street named after us." Lois smiled.
"Very." She said as she locked arms with her cousin.
"And look at this." She exclaimed as they came to a construction site.
"Luxury apartments, nice." Chloe commented.
Chloe looked back to see where Callie was. She spotted her just staring at the site and silent. Callie looked from the bottom of the site and then straight into the air where nothing yet was erected.
'She knows this place.' Chloe thought.
"From the pictures here it looks like this will be pretty nice place to live. Wrap around balconies, tennis courts, and a swimming pool. We should save our pennies Chlo, maybe we could both move in."
"Sorry, Lo, I'm happy where I am."
She was at the Watchtower. Jimmy had bought it for her and it was perfect. At times it was hard, but she took every day one day at a time. She wasn't going to let Jimmy die in vain. Her role as Watchtower was a vital part in the Justice League machine.
'That is if we can get the machine working again.'
Nevertheless, she was helping people and Clark was talking to her again. He was slowly, but surely, coming back to humanity and she was grateful for that. For weeks she had been alone with her thoughts, her sadness, and her guilt. Now, Lois was home, Clark was getting better, and she had a new mission in getting Callie home to the future.
"How about you Callie, you want to move in with me and be my roommate? It's close to school…" Lois joked.
Chloe saw as Callie tensed a bit at the comment and then smiled. "Sure, just tell me where to sign."
Suddenly the Def Leppard song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" began to play from Lois' bag. Lois pulled out her cell phone and grimaced.
"Hello?" Lois said as she answered it.
She rolled her eyes as she mouthed 'John' and walked away to get some privacy. Chloe turned around to see that Callie had gravitated to the field across the street and seemed to be watching a Little League baseball game.
Chloe jogged across the street and stood next to her.
"You like baseball?" She asked.
"Somewhat." She replied sadly.
"What is it, Callie?"
"There are times here when I feel like I'm at home and then there are these gigantic reminders that I'm not."
"Like the building where you live that hasn't been built yet?"
Callie's eyes snapped to hers.
"Yeah, it's that obvious." Chloe said.
"Guess I need to work my poker face better, huh? I'm starting to slack off."
"Or, I'm just very perceptive, which is why I'm wondering why you're looking so sad at a baseball game."
"I promised someone I care about that I would make it to his game. It's really important to him. I never want to let him down but since I'm here, it looks like I will."
"I'm still trying to track down Zatanna."
"I know. Thank you."
Chloe placed her hand on Callie's left shoulder and pulled her closer to her. She watched as one little boy got up to the plate and hit a home run. She smiled and looked down at Callie who had a somber look on her face.
"So is this someone a special someone?"
Callie smiled wide. "He's very special to me."
"Well, whoever he is, he's lucky to have you."
Callie nodded and brushed her hand across her face.
"We should probably get back to Lois." Callie said, obviously wanting to now put as much distance between herself and that field.
"Right." Chloe said.
She wished that Callie would open up a little more to her, but she wouldn't pry. Callie would open up in time…at least she hoped.
~\~
After Lois received an annoying call from John at work, Callie said goodbye to Chloe and she and Lois went back to the Planet. Lois had handed her some papers to get copied and she obliged to do it. After temporarily escaping the kryptonite drama, she was dealt with seeing her nonexisting residence and Chloe asking her questions that she didn't want to answer. At the Planet, she wanted nothing more than to figure out the kryptonite mystery. Away from Lois she could investigate.
As she rounded the corner she could hear a woman's voice saying, "You see John Corben today? Frea-ky!"
"I know," another woman said. "He's been acting really weird. I saw him on the phone this morning getting all angry at someone. Can you say anger management?"
'John Corben. John Corben. I know that name from somewhere in the future. I've heard it before. How?'
Hopping over to an empty computer called sat at it and tried to figure out how to use it. She wasn't exactly used to this kind of technology let alone the programs to use on it. She wanted to figure out more about John Corben and his past.
Looking up she saw a guy eyeing her from one of the other desks. Biting her lower lip she got an idea.
'Time to use feminine charm, like Mom says,' she thought as she got up from the desk.
Walking over to him she batted her eyelashes.
"Hi." He said nervously.
"Hi." Callie smiled as she twirled a piece of her hair with her index finger. "I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"Sure." He said, slightly squirming in his seat.
Callie smiled wide. 'Piece of cake.'
~\~
Lois looked at the empty seat across from her. She had sent Callie to copy some things a while ago, but she hadn't returned. Staring at the empty space again she was starting to get suspicious of John's behavior. He kept going missing and he seemed strange each time he did so. Tapping her fingers on her desk she suddenly had the urge to find out a little more about the guy who occupied the desk. Typing his name into a police program Chloe had installed for her, she decided to see what skeletons were in John Corben's closet.
As the page loaded her eyes widened by the content.
"Well, Mr. Corben, you've certainly been a busy little beaver haven't you. HR is certainly slacking."
Scrolling down she read as he was arrested in the past for attempted robberies a decade earlier. As she scrolled down further a name caught her eye.
Jerry Ronson.
She knew that name from somewhere. Looking through all the papers spread across her desk she pulled out her notepad and flipped back to her notes on the bank robbery.
"There it is, Jerry Ronson." She said.
How could she be so stupid? If she had just stuck to the story she would have pieced this together a lot quicker.
"Nice investigative reporting, Lane. The guy sits right across from you and you can't see he's living a double life?"
Scrolling down the page further she jotted down another name. Dr. Emmett Vale. According to a police report John Corben's car had been in an accident a few nights before and a witness caught the license plate of a car that went to help, and it belonged to a Dr. Emmett Vale.
Bringing up another tab on the internet browser she typed in Dr. Vale's name and came up with a few pages dedicated to his scientific discovery in a new alloy called 'metallo'.
Hearing footsteps coming from behind her she quickly minimized her browser.
"I'm going to call it a night." She heard John say.
"Oh, okay." She said, hoping that her voice didn't give away anything suspicious.
"Night." She smiled and nodded at him. Once she saw him leave the building she quickly went back to her computer and printed out a few of the pages she had just found.
"Lois, you'll never guess what I just found out." Callie said, coming around the corner.
"More gossip from the tenth floor?"
"More like vital information." She said as she dropped papers in from Lois.
Lois flipped through them and saw that much of it was the same information she had just come across.
"Great minds must think alike." Lois said holding up the papers that just came out of her printer. "Good job, Callie."
"So, what are we going to do about it? I mean from what I dug up he's most likely connected to that robbery at the bank a couple days ago."
"I know. I'm going to fax this to my contact at the police department. I'll be right back."
"Should I call Clark?"
"For what?"
"Um, to pick us up. It's pretty late. Everyone else has gone home."
"No, let him sweat a bit more. He knows how I like to burn the midnight oil."
Lois rounded the corner and into the copy room. She placed her papers into the fax machine and punched in the number of her contact.
The door suddenly closed and she saw something green glowing in the corner.
"Can I help you?" Lois asked as her hand clenched into a fist.
"I guess the cat is out of the bag now, huh?" The voice said.
"Excuse me?"
The person walked out of the shadows and she could clearly see that it was John Corben.
"You think I don't know that you've been looking into me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Someone on the upper floor told me that your little helper today was looking into my past. I can only guess she was doing it for you." He said as he came closer to her.
"She has nothing to do with this. I looked into your past on my own. Pretty sketchy if you ask me. I mean attempted robberies, you know the guy at the bank heist, and then you're in a bad car accident a few nights ago and you come back without a scratch on you. What did Dr. Vale do to you?" She said eyeing the pulsating green light from under his shirt.
"Oh this?" He asked, ripping open his shirt. "This keeps me alive, but at what cost?" he exclaimed violently. "Do you know how hard it is to live life not being able to smell, or taste, or feel? All I know is if that freak blur hadn't messed up that bank robbery I would have been out of Metropolis and I wouldn't have had this done to me!" He screamed.
Moving over a few steps, Lois gripped her hands on a metal board on top of the filing cabinets. Using all her strength she hit him with it, but as the piece hit the floor he seemed unfazed by it.
"What are you?"
"Me? Well, after my car accident I woke up in a lab with this in my chest." He said pointing to the green glowing circular bubble on his chest. "I was told that my body had been so badly damaged it needed something so special just to keep me alive. A virtual indestructible alloy to take the place of my bones."
"Metallo." She breathed out.
"I see you've done your research well, Lane."
"So Dr. Vale just happened to be driving by and scooped you up to be his latest science experiment?"
"I took my revenge on what he did to me."
"You killed him?"
"Precisely. Now, tell me where to find the Red-Blue Blur."
"I don't know where he is. He might not even be alive."
"Oh, he's alive. And he always seems to be pretty keen on saving you, Miss Lane..."
~\~
Callie twisted in Lois' chair waiting for her. She glanced at her watch.
"This is taking too long."
Getting up from the chair she headed towards the copy room. She was getting a gut feeling something was wrong and Lois could be in trouble. As she tried to rush there her skirt wouldn't allow her to.
"Of course today I wear a skirt."
Taking the slit on the side in her hands she ripped it up so she could move easier. As she edged closer to the room a sudden pain hit her temples. Pushing the pain away from her mind she focused on the voices coming from the room.
"Tell me where to find the Blur!"
"I told you I don't know!"
Motivating herself to get into the room she saw the back of John Corben. In a bold move she tapped Corben on his shoulder. When he turned around she put all her strength into her clenched fist and punched him on the left side of his face. His head moved slightly to the right, but he was virtually unfazed.
Callie pulled her throbbing hand to her chest. As she looked down at it she pulled off a part of skin that was stuck to her knuckles. As she got a full view of him she could see that his face now partially revealed gray metal that dominated his skin color. Her eyes traveled down to his chest where she could visibly see the green kryptonite glowing intensely.
'Metallo. Of course, John Corben is Metallo. Great that I realize that now.' She thought.
"Like what you see?"
Before she could even react he got a hold of her. Her teeth clenched in pain as she felt him pull her toward him, the kryptonite radiating in her back. Taking her ponytail into his hand he smashed her face first into the desk beside him.
"Callie!" Lois screamed in horror.
Callie felt herself fall to the floor and saw droplets of blood fall beneath her. She wanted to get up, but she couldn't.
Weak and disoriented she heard as Metallo grabbed Lois. She could hear her struggling to get out of his grip. It was killing Callie to hear this and not be able to do anything. The pain was becoming too intense for her.
Fighting the pain she tried to pull herself up, but she was too weak. She collapsed back down to the ground. The last thing she heard was Lois scream her name and then she blacked out.