Author's Note: Well, here's Chapter 11. I hope that all of you enjoy it, and I hope to have 12 up in the next couple of days. Check out the end for more info and a sneak-peek at the next chapter.





"Why, Miss Lane. It's wonderful to see you again." Dick Grayson greeted Lois as she stepped off the elevator just outside Bruce's office. "Especially under less stressful circumstances. Mr. Luthor said you would be here soon, and he told me to give him a call when you arrived. Bruce is waiting in his office for you, and I will go give Lex a call."

"Thank you very much. It's good to see you again too." Lois shook the young man's hand before heading for Bruce's office. When she opened the door, she found Bruce seated behind his desk, facing the away from her, looking out the window.

"What can I help you with, Miss Lane?" He still hadn't turned around as Lois approached his desk. "Can I have Gladys bring you anything, orange juice, bottled water, coffee?"

"No thank you, Mr. Wayne." She sat down in one of the chairs opposite of Bruce as he finally turned around.

"Please, call me Bruce." He offered her his hand, but he didn't smile.

"Only if you call me Lois." She smiled and shook his hand.

"I believe that I can do that, Lois." He shifted some of the papers on his otherwise immaculate desk. "Once again, what bring you all the way to Gotham?"

"Well, I came to ask you how far your company has come in its animal cloning projects." She presented the topic as if it was fruit for everyday conversation.

"Well, Lois, I'm glad to see that it's nothing to controversial." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his hands in his lap. "As I'm sure you're well aware, Wayne Enterprises discontinued its animal cloning projects late last year following protests by various groups and several rather disheartening experiences."

"That's very well, Bruce, but what I want to know is if those projects ever dealt with either direct human cloning, or with technology that could be specifically applicable to human cloning." Lois was now in full reporter mode.

"Well, Lois, the basic technology could all be used for human cloning, but what I assume you are asking is whether there was any work in primate cloning specifically." He leaned across the desk to look directly at her. "To answer that, no we did not. If you don't mind me asking, why are you interested in cloning?"

"Well, Bruce there seems to be some connection between the men who held Dick, Lex, Lana and I hostage last week and a secret project attempting to clone human beings." Lois was reluctant to let Bruce in on what was going on.

"I assume you mean the project that Superman and Batman uncovered late yesterday?" Bruce knew that this comment would surprise Lois.

"How did you…Batman." Lois was slightly exasperated for a couple of seconds.

"Yes, he came to see me earlier today. I'm afraid that I have to tell you the same thing I told him. We have nothing to do with this project and I've already started an internal investigation into all my employees who worked on the cloning projects. If one of them is contributing to this horrible crime, then we will discover them." Bruce leaned back in his chair again. "If that's all, I believe that you have a date to get too."

Lois, quite uncharacteristically, blushed before responding. "Yes, that's all that I needed. It was good talking with you, and I'll probably see you the next time you're in Gotham."

"Oh, I have a feeling we'll see each other before then." He stood up to shake her hand. "Dick will walk you out to the limo Lex has waiting for you downstairs."

Lois was confused to say the least, but she shook Bruce's hand anyway. "Thank you."

As Lois exited the office, she found Dick waiting for her at the elevator. "Have you ever been to Coast City?"

"No, this is my first trip." Lois was beginning to wonder if Lex had announced their date to the world.

"it's a great town, you'll love it." Dick handed her coat to her as the elevator door opened on the ground floor. Then the two made their way out the door to the waiting limousine.

"Thank you. I'll see you later." She climbed into the car as Dick shut the door and walked back into the building.

"Mr. Luthor will be meeting you at the airport, Miss Lane. He left a dress for you. I can raise the divider if you would like to change." As the driver was saying this, Lois noticed the beautiful black gown hanging across from her.

"That would be fine."



Clark was about to walk out the door to Lana and Lex's penthouse when the phone rang. "Hello."

"Yeah, Lana, I'm calling to let you know that I probably won't be in until late. I didn't want you to worry since I originally told you we'd talk about things when I got home." Lex's voice greeted Lana on the other end.

"Where are you now, Clark was on his way over to see you. He's still here if you'd like to talk to him." She motioned for Clark to come over to the phone. "What are you going to be doing, by the way?"

"If you feel you must know, I'm taking Lois to Coast City dinner." She could tell that he was excited, something rare concerning Lex and the women he dated. "Let me talk to Clark."

Lana handed him the phone. "Yeah, Lex, I gather that you're not going to be around this evening for me to talk to?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I have a hot date. Lois and I are going to Coast City for dinner." Clark detected a rare touch of happiness in his friends voice.

"Things seem to be going well for the two of you." Clark smiled, happy that Lex had found someone who made him happy. "I hope that you have fun tonight. I'll stop by the office to see you in the morning. It won't take long."

"Ok, I'll see you then. Lois just got here, so I need to go. Tell Lana that I love her and I'll see her in the morning." Lex's voice sped up and Clarks smile grew even larger.

"Will do." He hung up the phone just as he heard Lois's voice on the other end.

"Well, what are you doing for the next couple of hours? It looks like I've got some time to kill before I meet Chloe for dinner." Just as he said this, his cell phone rang. "Clark Kent."

"Hey, sweetie, it's me. I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make it to dinner tonight. I've got a meeting with one of Pete's law school buddies to talk about possible government involvement in our little mystery." It was Chloe.

"That's fine, honey." Clark smiled from ear to ear as Lana cringed behind him. "I'll just see you when you get home tonight. I love you."

"I love you too." After that, they both hung up and Clark turned to Lana.

"Well, what do you say to dinner?"

"Sounds like fun. Do you think we could visit your parents? I haven't talked to your mom in a long time." Lana crossed the room to get her coat.

"I think we could manage that." Clark smiled and walked toward the door. "Just give me a couple seconds and I'll be at your window to pick you up."

"Sounds good." Lana returned Clark's smile and walked over to the window to wait for him as he walked out the door. Just a few seconds later, Superman was floating outside the window. "Well, hello."

"Ready to go?" He held his hand out to Lana and she took it.

"By all means." The two were off and quickly on their way to Smallville for dinner.



Chloe had just gotten off the phone with Clark when Pete called her to give her the details on her meeting with his friend. He told her that the guy happened to be in town and was willing to meet with her, but only if it could be anonymous. To guarantee that anonymity, he had arranged to meet her at an old abandoned warehouse near suicide slum. At first Chloe had wanted to forgo the meeting and just talk to the guy on the phone sometime, but she though better of it when Pete told her that there was no way he would do a phone interview. So, that was how Chloe ended up outside an old warehouse, alone, just before dusk.

"Boy do I wish I'd asked Clark to come with me." Chloe had just put her hand on the door when she heard some police sirens off in the distance. Slowly, she opened the door and looked in to the dark room, the only light was what managed to peek in through the painted-over windows. "Is anyone here?"

A voice answered her from the dark, "Yes, Miss Sullivan, I've been expecting you."

"Why don't you come out here so I can look at you?" Chloe made her way into the dark room, her hand in her purse, poised on her stun-gun.

"Anonymous, remember?" The voice was fluctuating between deep and high, so much so that Chloe couldn't tell which was real.

"That's right. Well, I might as well cut to the chase. Do you know anything about a secret government project to clone a human being?" Chloe took a step back towards the door, just in time for it to slam shut.

The source of the voice moved before any reply was issued. When he finally spoke again, Chloe could tell that he had moved to the other side of the room. "Actually, there have been whispers for a long time in different parts of the intelligence community, tale of a secret project involving a private donor and a black-ops division of the CIA. The Code- Name for the project is Cadmus. I can't tell you who the private donor is, but I can tell you that he lives here in Metropolis."

This new bit of information had Chloe freshly intrigued. "But the first lab was discovered in Gotham. Why were they working out of there?"

"I'm not sure, but it probably has something to do with the progress of the project. There's something they need to complete their work here in Metropolis. What it is, I can't tell you, nor where they plan to acquire it." There was movement across the room and Chloe thought she could make out a tall figure in the shadows.

"Is there anything else?" Chloe moved towards the motion, hoping to catch a glimpse of her informant.

As she was waiting for an answer, she heard a door slam shut. When she look over at the source of the sound, she realized that she was the only one still in the warehouse. Quickly, she made her way back to her jeep and drove back to the office. She had some calls to make.



"Sir, I think that a reporter for the Daily Planet is getting a little too close to finding out the truth about our project." A young man in a lab-coat stood across from a man shrouded in shadow sitting behind a table. Suddenly, the man's fist came crashing down on the table, followed by two very powerful coughs.

"What does she know?" The man's voice was very labored as he posed his question.

"I'm not entirely sure, sir, but the transmitter we placed in her purse just picked up a conversation with an informant, someone who knew a little too much for comfort about our operation here. He told her that this is a government project, in tandem with a private investor and that the private investor is from Metropolis." The young man backed away from the table, sure that another outburst from the man behind the table was imminent. "What would you like us to do sir?"

"For the time being, keep an eye on her. Keep me appraised of what she knows. She may be able to lead us to LuthorCorp's lab. But, if she gets too close to us before then, we'll simply have to eliminate the problem." The man removed his hands from the desk and folded them in the shadows. The young man nodded his head and left the room.

***Well, that's it for now. I hope to have more up soon. I'm in the process of writing two pieces of completely original fiction for a class in the fall, and possibly one other. Hopefully I'll be able to devote more time to this from now until the end of the summer. With any luck, I'll finish it, just in time to start the sequal. :-)

Next up, Chloe makes another interesting discovery, Lana and Clark reminisce about lost love, and Lex and Lois get Cozy in Coast City. Oh yeah, a few surprises too, maybe even a guest appearance or two.