Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 21
By
Jason Richard
Not that door, thought Clark. Not that door...not that door…
But of course Mercy Graves went right for the room Lois Lane was held up in. Clark was about to rush in when Lois heard footsteps right outside the door and pulled something from her purse. Clark wasn't in the habit of looking in women's purses with his X-Ray vision, so he wasn't prepared for the object the Lois pulled out.
As Lois pulled it out, however, her mind immediately flashed briefly to a recent conversation she had with her father.
…
In the hospital, Lois Lane lay back on her bed, channel surfing the television in the corner. Nothing was on, and she was getting bored, but that was preferable to having a conversation with the person who walked through the door.
At the sight of her father, Sam Lane, Lois rolled her eyes, turned off the television, and prepared herself for the inevitable lecture.
"Hey dad," said Lois. "How's it going?"
Same Lane was a stern looking man with thick, perpetually crossed eyebrows and thick grey hair. He was dressed mis highly decorated military uniform, alongside the biggest frown Lois had ever seen on him. She also couldn't help but notice the folder
"I hear you got yourself shot," said her father, getting straight to the point as always. His directness made Lois flinch and want to rub the injury in her ribs she had hidden under the covers.
"Well," said Lois. "I was ruining Chema Corp's illegal weapons trafficking with a well written cover story. I can understand if the CEO was a little ticked off."
Angrily her father said, "Don't you take that tone with…" he caught himself, and sighed, saying in a much gentler voice. "I'm not here to get into an argument. I'n not even here to criticize. I'm here to tell you that I'm impressed. You did a good thing."
"Wow," said Lois. "I'm almost surprised...of course it would surprise me even more if that wasn't an enlistment form in that folder you're carrying."
She could see the veins bulging in his forehead as he struggled to stay calm.
"It was only going to be a suggestion," said Sam Lane.
"That's something I guess," said Lois, shaking her head. 'Seriously dad? You can't even wait until I'm out of the hospital to make your suggestion? And after years of telling you I wasn't interested, you still insist on making your..." she made air quotes. "Suggestion?"
He gave an exasperated sigh and said, "Maybe you're right."
"Wow," said Lois. "You almost admitted you were wrong. I'm almost proud of you."
"What do you want from me?" he said.
"I'd like you to act like a parent for once," said Lois. "Not the drill sergeant you were when my sister and I were kids, and the army recruiter you've been since we graduated. A parent...dad." she added the last word with much disdain.
Despite the vein throbbing in his forehead, he took a deep breath and seemed genuinely upset by her attitude.
"Look, Lois," said her father. "I know you think everything I do is meant to control you, but I only do what I think is best for you. I hope you realize that."
"I'm sure that's how you see it, at least," Lois admitted, looking away.
"Bottom Line," he continued, "I do care about you. Now, I'm going to ask you another question, but please don't see this line of inquiry as another criticism. If you're going to continue in dangerous work, then I want to make certain you're protecting yourself. Now, I did teach you to shoot. Did you have your gun with you when that criminal was shooting at you?"
Lois had a feeling he'd bring this up. The gun. The sixteen year old birthday present she never wanted. She had half a mind to tell him that she left it just to spite him.
But this was one of the first times he expressed any genuine feelings, so she bit her tongue and instead told him, "Yes, I brought it with me. I just...I couldn't go through with it. I couldn't pull the trigger."
What she didn't tell him was that, at the moment in question, part of the reason she couldn't do it was because she could hear his voice in her head, shouting instructions at her at the top of his lungs, telling her it was shoot or be shot, kill or be killed. Not necessarily untrue, but his barking voice in her head made it hard to think.
He shook his head, "All that attitude you give people, and you couldn't even do that, after all I taught you. I don't know whether to laugh or cry."
She glared at him.
"Okay that was uncalled for," said Her father. "So you couldn't kill someone who wanted to kill you. I really don't understand how you resist that survival instinct."
"And I don't understand how you can kill so easily," said Lois. "I'm not going to pretend I don't know what it's like to be a soldier. I grew up on too many army bases…" and got closer to firefights than a child should have, Lois thought bitterly. "I know there are dangerous people out there, and soldiers have to kill or be killed. I get that. I just don't know how you do it."
"Hmm," said her father. "It's ironic. It's the one thing everyone knows we have to do, and the one thing no one likes to talk about...least of all soldiers...and I don't get the stigma, but I seem to be the minority."
He seemed frustrated by that fact, and Lois didn't know what to make of it.
"Alright Lois, look," he said. "I know you and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but I know you aren't going to let something like getting shot keep you from taking down more corruption. With that in mind I do want to keep you safe, so if you can't take lethal action against people, I can give you an alternative."
He pulled out of his pocket what looked like an ordinary gun and held it up for her to see.
"This," said her father. "Was originally developed for the military, but recently received legal approval for sale to the public. It won't be for sale for a month or two, but I have...connections, and got you one early."
He showed it up for her to see, and she seemed unimpressed.
"It may look like an ordinary pistol," he said. "But the shots it fires only penetrate a single layer of skin for non life threatening damage, incapacitating the target with a single electric shock from a micro battery. Each projectile also has sensors to determine the target's mass, delivering only the voltage necessary to render the victim unconscious."
"It's a taser," said Lois, not entirely impressed.
"In essence," he admitted. "But it has more than one round and much better range. Hold's up pretty well in a firefight actually. The only caveat is that it body armor renders it useless. A bullet will at least stun someone wearing that."
"I could just aim for the head," said Lois, taking the weapon from him and examining it. "This...could be useful." she admitted.
"Hope so," said her father. "Like I said, I really do want to keep you safe. That's why I push you so much Lois. The best way to make certain someone is safe is to build them up and make certain they're strong as far as I'm concerned. That's all I want for you."
Lois didn't answer. She just looked at the weapon in her hand thoughtfully, deciding whether or not to accept it.
...
Mercy Graves opened the door to find herself face to face with Lois Lane, aiming some sort of gun in her face. She didn't recognize the type, but it didn't matter. Mercy hadn't gotten to her own gun in time, giving Lois the advantage.
"Put your gun on the ground and tell the men behind you to do the same," said Lois, keeping Mercy between Lois and the armed guards outside. Fortunately with Mercy in the doorway, none of them had a clear shot at Lois.
Mercy ordered her men to comply, and then said, as she slowly put her gun on the floor, "You've just made a huge mistake."
Clark, in the meantime, watched from the room he was hiding in, realizing with his X-Ray vision that this was no ordinary gun. Comparing it to the weapons the Lexcorp goons were using it used a projectile system other than gunpowder, and the projectiles themselves were a bit more sophisticated than a lump of metal.
What kind of weapon was that?
"Worse than going to work for Lex Luthor?" said Lois, smirking.
"Worse than eavesdropping on him," said Mercy, also smirking.
"I thought that was the alleged mistake," said Lois.
"One of them," said Mercy. "But I was talking about pointing a gun in my face. That really is a huge mistake."
The smirked at each other for a few more moments, until lois said, "Back up."
Mercy backed up and Lois stepped out. The guards, hands in the air, backed up as well.
"Now," said Lois, stepping aside. "All of you, get inside."
Reluctantly the grew stepped inside the room. Mercy, shaking her head, took one look at Lois and said, "I won't forget this."
"Hope not," said Lois, before shutting the door and shooting it with her taser weapon. The small bolt shorted out the electronic lock, disabling it. Lois, not wasting any time, high tailed it outta there. By the time Mercy tried the lock, figured out it was broken, shot it off with a spare gun she kept in her sleeve, and stepped back into the hallway, Lois was gone.
"Oh Lovely," said Mercy sarcastically, rolling her eyes and ordering her men to pursue.
Clark, meanwhile, watched the whole exchange and then sped out when Lois fled. He quickly put back the key card he had stolen back, quickly confusing the scientist who found it in a pocket he had already looked for it in, and made it out of the building, keeping an eye on Lois as she fled as well. The Lexcorp Goons, however, were always one step behind.
He was actually rather impressed that his presence hadn't been required after all. It seemed Lois could handle herself in dangerous situations after all. Once he was certain she would be safe, he turned his attention to the Rudy figure who had been calling his name. Clark realized that maybe this Rudy character he had been watching might need saving after all. Clark couldn't believe it, but the guy in the trench coat was still hanging out on that drain pipe. Better see what he wants with me, thought clark...who at that moment took a closer look at realized the guy was kind of purple. Was he in a fight or something?
Lois, meanwhile, found the scientists she had stolen a key card from. The man was searching his pockets desperately for his access card when Lois walked up and said, "Here, I found this on the floor," and handed him the card.
"Why thank you," said the older man. "So nice to see an honest person about."
Lois smirked as she walked off, making it out of the building before the hired guns could find her. All in all, she felt really good about what she had managed to record on her phone. Quickly she turned it off so Lexcorp couldn't hack it, and immediately made her way to the Daily Planet.