The next morning, they accomplished a lot. Clark had insisted that he could cut his hair while Lois went out and bought him a pair of (good-looking, he hoped) non-prescription glasses. He didn't quite trust her in picking out the glasses on her own, but if she had tried to cut his hair, then she would have made a startling discovery when the scissors snapped in two. Using only a mirror and his heat vision, Clark had the job quickly done, giving himself a much shorter haircut than Lex Luthor had ever permitted him to have. He couldn't help but think that Luthor made him have a longer haircut to make him look a bit scraggly (although not too scraggly) and more intimidating.

When Lois had come back with the glasses, he'd tried them on and was actually quite satisfied with them.

Then they'd both sat down and tried to think of a suitable name. Lois had argued that his first name should be Mark since it sounded like Clark, but Clark had told her that that was just a little too close, but that she had the right idea in having it sound a little like his first name. After a few minutes of discussion, they had finally settled on the name Charles King, both finding it to be satisfactory.

To get to the Daily Planet, they rode in a taxi, which was driven by a man that seemed to like scaring his passengers with his driving. It was with several curses and reluctant and aggravated finality that Lois paid the driver before stepping out.

Clark was wearing an outfit that Lois had bought for him, even though he had protested against her doing so. She had argued that he could pay her back when he got back on his feet, and he'd finally accepted the clothing, not feeling like arguing anymore.

Walking towards the Planet, Lois sighed. "I went to EPRAD this morning, before I woke you up, and I followed the truck that had the Messenger's wreckage inside. They took it into a hangar, and I tried to get in, but Dr. Baines threw me out."

Clark recognized the name Dr. Baines, and he even knew why Lois had been thrown out by the woman. But before he could say anything, a loud commotion was made, and he saw that smoke had started to billow out around what appeared to be a construction area.

"Hey! There's a man down there! Call the fire department!" someone shouted.

Lois rushed over, and the man continued. "We need help!" To the spectators, he ordered, "All right, back off! Back off!"

Clark lowered his new glasses, and saw, via his x-ray vision, a man trapped beneath. The emergency services wouldn't be able to get there in time to save him.

He could sense a lot of fear, feeling an acrid tingling of his senses...And it wasn't just coming from the unfortunate man either.

Yes, the fear was back. Back to haunt him, taunt him...Torture him.

Clark tried to block the fear from his mind. The man would die if he didn't help him! He needed to stop worrying about other people's fear!

With a resigned sigh, he glanced around quickly, lifted up the sewer cover, and disappeared under it.

"People, back! Get back!" the man from earlier continued to shout.

The no-longer trapped man was lifted up by a pair of arms, and he certainly looked worse for the wear. He was coughing and covered in dust and grime.

An official quickly stuttered, as he helped the man out, "Okay, okay, okay, okay. You all right?"

Lois Lane got out her notepad and glanced behind her at Clark, who had noticed the dust covering him just in time and somehow managed to get it all off before silently appearing behind the female reporter just in time to receive her curious gaze.

The unlucky man coughed. "That man!" People looked around to see where he was pointing, a bit confused. "That man saved me!"

"What?" a police officer looked at Clark strangely.

"That man!" the survivor coughed again. "He pulled me out...Pulled me out."

Lois looked at Clark skeptically, as if doubting that he could do anything that required more strength than lifting a toothpick would take.

"He's delirious!" Clark stated incredulously, hoping that he had gotten all of the dust off of himself.

It seemed that he had, for Lois merely looked at the still-coughing man and then back at him. "I can tell."

Clark gave a mental sigh of relief before following her away from the scene.

Lois Lane steered Clark, alias Charles King, around the newsroom, pointing out various desks and giving him a brief summary on their occupants. She paused, scowling, in front of an empty desk. The nameplate on it read: CATHERINE GRANT.

"Cat's probably still out on the prowl with her latest rat," Lois snarled under her breath.

Clark didn't venture to ask about Cat, sensing that, from the look on Lois's face, any questions would be met with harsh replies. But before he could say anything, Lois spied her Chief Editor talking to a slightly balding, middle-aged man. Lois ushered Clark over to the pair.

Perry White was telling the other with patience born from years of practice, "I need evidence before I can print it...Show me the proof!"

"Perry, can I talk to you for a second?" the Daily Planet's top reporter questioned him, but it came out as more of a demand than a question.

"Not right now, Lois. Can't you see that I'm—"

"It's really important," Lois insisted. "In your office." She looked at Clark, who felt uneasy, and whispered, "You can trust him. Believe me." Clark nodded minutely, the last of his doubts trickling away. He had a gut-feeling that the man was probably the most trustworthy of men he would ever meet, and if Lois vouched for him, then he might as well let the editor know a little about him.

Grumbling, Perry led them into his office. Once inside, Clark lowered his glasses and scanned the room quickly. No electronic bugs, surprisingly enough. He wondered if the editor had his place swept every day, or if people just chose to leave him alone due to reasons Clark would probably be best off not knowing.

"What in the Sam Hill is it this time?" Perry was exasperated.

"Perry, this is Clark. Clark, this is Perry White." The two shook hands, Perry a little grudgingly, and Lois added, "But don't call him Clark. Call him Charles King."

The Chief Editor gave Lois Lane a forced calm look, a dozen questions in his eyes. Judging by the look on his face, he always had to be very patient with his top reporter.

Lois began to babble. "Well, Clark works for Lex Luthor, and I met him at the White Orchid Ball. But I didn't know that he was Clark then. See, I was kind of looking through Lex's office, and he sort of caught me red-handed, but that's besides the point since he let me go—I still don't understand why he did—but anyway. Somehow, Clark found out that Luthor's intentions towards me weren't exactly honest, and so he came to warn me. That's when I found out that Luthor had held him in a sort of semi-slavery ever since he got his amnesia. Yeah, can you believe it? He has amnesia. Luthor told him that he had it, but he only told him that his name was Clark and that he didn't know anything about his past history other than his first name. Clark's been working for him for eleven years without pay, but since Clark had no idea that he didn't actually have to do that, he continued to work for him. Clark says that a lot of what Luthor's done is not exactly above board, and that..." It seemed like she was finally winding down and forgetting where in her story she was. "Um..."

Perry stared at Lois, blinked a few times, then asked Clark to excuse them for a minute. Clark complied, going out and waiting in front of the door for a few moments, then he left his spot so that he wouldn't be tempted to use his acute hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Did you hear one word of what I was telling Ralph?"

"Perry—"

"Evidence! Cold. Hard. Facts!" He took a deep breath to control himself. "How do you know that 'Clark' out there isn't a con artist?"

"There is a story here! I know it!" Lois insisted.

Perry gave her a dubious look, and she pleaded, "Give me some time."

"Fine. Three days."

"Three?" Lois squeaked. "What am I supposed to get done in three days? Lex Luthor is the third richest man in the world! He's sure to have covered up his trail pretty well!"

"If you can get me one piece of tangible evidence that points his way, then you can have more time. But only if you do." Perry really didn't expect her to get any evidence in three days; he was only giving her the time so she would get off of his back. He knew that his top reporter had detected a front page story, but at the moment he wasn't able to spare her for long. Besides, doing an exposé on Luthor would be dangerous.

"Fine," Lois muttered with grudging acceptance.

After Clark had left his temporary spot by the Chief Editor's door, he had decided to go sit down at Lois's desk. However, he soon found his path blocked by an auburn-haired woman wearing an outfit that would be described very kindly by the phrase "eye-catching." (There were also a thousand not-so-kind words that he could have used to describe it, though he shoved them all to the back of his mind.)

"Hello, handsome," she purred.

Nervously, Clark's brown eyes twitched from side to side, and he tried to go around her, but she continued to be a barrier on his journey.

"Cat Grant." She held her hand out, but obviously higher than one would for a handshake. "Cat's Corner."

With some misgivings, Clark took her hand, but then he lowered it and smiled tentatively at her. "Oh, yeah, I've read your column." In actuality, he couldn't remember doing so, but his instincts told him that that was what she was talking about.

Catherine Grant smiled wider, looking for all the world like the Cheshire Cat. "Ah, so my reputation precedes me."

Clark gave a fake laugh. "Uh, yeah. If you'll excuse me, Ms. Grant—"

"Cat," she told him, a bit seductive-sounding.

"Cat," he repeated, finding the way she clipped her name quite humorous. He hadn't had much contact with women during his time in Luthor's service, and he was finding them rather unpredictable.

"How about dinner tonight? I know a nice little place—"

"I have plans," he told her firmly. He just wanted to be left alone right now.

"Fine. Maybe another time," she purrled. Then she disappeared as quickly as she'd come.

Clark sighed and sank down in Lois's chair. Then, unable to help himself, he grinned and bit out sarcastically, "Cat."

"Three days," Lois said, walking up to Clark, who was still seated at her desk and was studying his surroundings with interest.

"What?" he was baffled.

"We have three days to find some inkling of evidence that points towards Luthor. Can you get me any?"

Clark shifted uncomfortably. "What kind of evidence?"

"Solid evidence."

Trust, Clark reminded himself. You have to trust her. "I can give you the names of some people that Lex has bribed to turn their heads aside."

"What kind of people?"

"Congressmen, policemen...people like that."

Lois had a strange gleam in her eyes. "Could you make me a list on the computer?"

"I guess so...But you won't tell anyone that I'm your source, will you?" Clark looked at her, his fear slowly starting to rise.

"I promise I won't print anything about your involvement," Lois reassured him.

"All right."

Lois booted up her computer, and Clark started to work on the list, carefully making sure that he was typing at human speed. While he did so, after a short inner debate with himself, he quietly stated, "Lex Luthor was the one that had the Messenger sabotaged."

"What?"

"He wanted to get his own spacestation into orbit. It would boost his public image to be the "savior of the space program," and he would incidentally make a lot of money from the vaccines that were produced."

Lois stared at Clark. She was hesitant to automatically believe what he said about Lex, but there had always been a slight coldness to Lex's demeanor that she had noticed, although he was very quick to hide it.

If he had had the Messenger sabotaged...

"It was him," Clark informed her quietly.

"What?" Lois gave him a suspicious look. "What are you, a mind-reader?"

Clark's eyes widened, and he started shaking. It was easily apparent that he was switching back to the child-like mode that he had been in a few times before. Lois regretted her words the minute he began to speak. "Don't hurt me. I promise I won't do it again." Wide-eyed, Clark pleaded, "I promise! Don't bring Element X! It was an accident!" He started sobbing.

Taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, Lois gently placed her hand on his. But he jerked it away quickly, whimpering something about being a good boy.

"It's okay," Lois insisted, trying to make eye contact with him. "No one's going to hurt you anymore."

"You don't know that," he whispered back, fear easily apparent in his eyes. "As long as he has Element X, he is invincible."

"What is Element X?" Lois asked quietly, leaning towards him in an encouraging, but somehow slightly comforting, manner.

"The source of his power. The whole world could easily be in his hands, but he prefers a challenge. That's why he doesn't use it as often as he could," Clark told her hoarsely.

"But what exactly is it?" Lois asked him, her voice having a slight edge to it. She was tired of not knowing.

Frightened eyes were lifted up to her face. "He told me never to tell."

"But Clark," she tried to soothe him, "—you don't have to do what he told you anymore. You're free now. You can say what you want, and do what you want. Well," she cracked a smile, "—not everything that you want."

"But he's still out there. And he's coming for me." There was no doubt at all in Clark's voice.

"That's why we have to bring him down...So that he can't hurt anyone else."

"Do you think we really can? He's covered his tracks well..."

Yes, evidence was likely to be hard to find...And Clark's mental health was too questionable for her to use him as a witness. She would just have to work with him as best as she could to get as much information as possible.

"We have to," she told him quietly.