Little did he know. He had barely taken his seat and begun to boot up his computer for the day's work when Perry, who had vanished into his inner sanctum instants before, burst into the newsroom once more, this time clutching a sheet of fax paper in one hand. "Lois! Clark! Robbery and hostage situation at the Metropolis Merchants' Bank! Shake a leg!"
Lois grabbed the fax. "Let's go, Clark ..." She glanced at her boss's attire and did a classic double take. "New suit?"
Perry cleared his throat. "As a matter of fact, yes."
"Special occasion?" Lois asked.
"Not really, no."
"Huh." Lois cast another quick glance over the suit. "You okay?"
"Lois," Perry said.
"Yes?"
"The bank."
"Oh. Right. Come on, Clark." She headed for the stairs, limping slightly.
As they descended the elevator, neither said anything, although Clark suspected that they were both thinking the same thing. Fortunately, Lois had found a parking place near the elevator in the Planet's garage, and minutes later they were pulling out of the parking structure, barely avoiding Ralph Stevenson's bright red sports car as it rounded the turn into the entrance to the lot, on two wheels.
"Idiot!" Lois said warmly. "That's the second time he's nearly hit somebody in the four days since he got that thing. If he's going to drive like he's in the Indy 500 it's not going to last long and neither is he."
"The problem is that he doesn't," Clark said.
"Huh?"
"Drive like he's in the Indy 500," Clark clarified. "He's not that good."
"I'll say!" Lois fell silent and applied her attention to driving.
The Metropolis Merchants' Bank was only a few blocks away and Lois pulled the Cherokee to a stop at the curb half a block from the crowd that clustered around the establishment, cutting the engine as she pulled the parking brake. Clark opened his door and got out, and wasn't surprised that his partner was already hurrying toward the scene before he finished shutting his door. Lois wasn't likely to let a little detail like a cut foot get in the way of a story.
Several police were still keeping a group of spectators back, but it was apparent that the actual crisis was over. Lois hurried up to the nearest police officer, who was writing on a notepad. Clark trailed behind, discreetly lowering his glasses to assess the situation inside. People were milling around, and several police appeared to be speaking to various individuals, but no one seemed to be hurt.
"Lois Lane, Daily Planet," Lois said. "What happened?"
The cop glanced briefly at her. "Tense standoff until Superman got here. He flew in the top floor window, apprehended the perp and freed the hostages." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the paddy wagon.
Clark schooled his expression to neutrality as he followed the other man's gesture. If 'Superman' was here, he wanted to observe his double without the other man being aware of the fact that he was under observation.
Lois turned quickly and approached the colorful figure that was standing beside several police as they loaded their captive into the paddy wagon. "Superman!"
Her attempt to speak to the apparent Superman was interrupted as the captive jerked free of his captors and made a bolt for freedom. Faster than the eye could follow, the double moved to intercept the fleeing man, lifted him and tossed him casually through the rear doors of the vehicle, twenty feet away. There was a ripple of applause from the spectators but Lois stood as if stunned into immobility and Clark winced at the dull sound of a human body impacting the metal floor inside the official van. A young officer closed and locked the door and hurried around to the cab without a pause. The vehicle moved away.
Clark moved quietly to a spot where he could have an unimpeded view of the proceedings and stood silently observing his double. In the light of day, his resemblance to Clark's other identity was even more astounding. Unobtrusively, Clark lowered his glasses and x-rayed the imposter.
No metal, no artificial enhancements. To all appearances, the other Superman was an organic man, made of flesh and bone and muscle. He could see the double's heart beating, and hear it as well. This was undoubtedly a living being who, as Clark had seen seconds ago, possessed Clark's powers. A close examination of the imposter's face revealed no scars, no signs of any sort of plastic surgery, masks or makeup. Whoever he was, his appearance was natural.
Lois seemed to shake off her paralysis and hurried toward the double. Clark stood still, telling himself that she was in no danger. The imposter hadn't done any harm to anyone, at least so far, but he readied himself to move quickly in case the situation changed without warning.
"Superman?" Lois said.
The other Superman turned toward her, his thick brows raised as he saw her, but there was no sign of recognition in his face. "Yes?"
Lois stopped, glanced once at Clark and back to the double. Clark heard her heartbeat speed up. "It's me ... Lois."
The imposter looked her up and down with obvious appreciation, and a knowing smirk twisted his lips. Then he was gone, leaving a clap of sound in his wake. Lois stared after him for a long minute and then turned to look at Clark again.
"Let's get back to the newsroom," she said.
Clark followed her in silence toward the Cherokee.
----------
Lois led the way back to the Jeep, her mind spinning in circles. The Superman to whom she had spoken hadn't recognized her; that much had been obvious. She had met the imposter and she could see what Superman had been trying to tell her last night. The man was a perfect duplicate of Superman, at least superficially, and judging by the demonstration he had put on, he possessed Superman's powers as well.
But the other thing she had seen was almost as mind-boggling.
Clark had been standing a little to one side, silently observing, and she had had a clear view of him as he lowered his glasses, squinting at Superman's double. It was something he often did in the newsroom. Lois had assumed that he had astigmatism, but for obvious reasons she had never seen the gesture when he had been standing near a perfect copy of Superman before.
As the imposter rocketed away, she glanced back at her partner, trying to decide if she was imagining things. Ever since that night in Clark's apartment, when she had been recovering from the effects of Miranda's perfume, she had been struggling to remember something, some event that had escaped her.
It had been the glasses, she remembered suddenly. Wally had broken Clark's glasses and she had reached out to take them. For an instant Clark had frozen and she had been looking at Superman's face. Then he had gone quickly into his room and returned with an older pair of glasses.
She'd been focussed on her pounding headache, she recalled, and besides, she had already noticed earlier that night that Clark looked a great deal like Superman. The event simply hadn't really registered except in her subconscious memory. She hadn't realized just how close Clark's resemblance to Superman really was. Until now. They could have been twins.
Only they weren't twins, of course. There was only one of them -- one of him. She had realized when Superman had told her his history that he had been raised as an ordinary man, and probably lived and worked somewhere in Metropolis. She hadn't known how close to the truth she was.
Her first impulse to say something to him died almost before it was born. Something didn't make sense here, and for just this once she wasn't going to jump in without checking the water level. He couldn't know what she had suddenly realized. Until she figured out exactly what was going on here, it was probably better to say nothing, but once she did, Clark Kent had better have a good explanation, or he was going to be toast.
----------
"That was the imposter," Lois said, glancing sideways at Clark. "He didn't recognize me. He smirked at me. Superman doesn't smirk. He may look like Superman but he sure doesn't act like Superman."
"I know," Clark said. "I mean," he added quickly, "it was obvious. The real Superman always treats women with respect; he doesn't leer at them. Besides, he'd never throw anybody like he did that guy. It could have really injured him."
"He'd taken all those bank employees hostage," Lois said. "He could have killed them." She kept her eyes on the road, but the remark wasn't as casual as it sounded.
"True, but no one was in danger anymore," Clark said firmly. "There was no excuse for using excessive force to recapture him. Superman doesn't need to hurt people to catch them. The guy is like a kid -- someone that hasn't learned any adult restraint."
Lois bit her lip. That was Superman talking, all right. Why had she never before noticed how similar his ethics were to Clark's? Clark was the gentlest person she knew. Now she knew why. "You know, it's like some of the comic books," she said. "Didn't you ever read comics when you were a kid?"
"Sure."
"Well, then you know how the supposedly adult super-heroes were always jumping to conclusions, losing their tempers and getting into fights with each other for stupid things. Comics are designed to appeal to teenage males. Kids. That's what he acts like."
"Someone who hasn't developed mature judgement," Clark agreed, "but he's an adult, physically. Superman looks like he's in his late twenties and so does this guy."
She nodded, skillfully negotiating the always-crowded streets of Metropolis. All kinds of possibilities were circling in her head, but she had the feeling that the difference between the double's physical appearance and his apparent emotional maturity might hold the key. "What if he's not as old as he looks?"
"What do you mean?" Clark asked.
"I'm not sure. There was something I read recently -- some scientist cloned frogs, I think."
"You think this guy is a clone?"
She turned the Jeep into the Planet's parking structure. "I'm not thinking anything, yet. It's just one possibility, but I want to check it out."
"I don't think science is quite that advanced," Clark said. "Besides, cloning an intelligent being is a far cry from cloning a frog. I don't think any reputable scientist would consent to something that unethical."
She pulled into the parking space closest to the elevator. "You feel that way and so do I, but if someone were working on it, Lex would be the one who would try it. For Pete's sake; he was going to use Miranda's pheromone on people to somehow influence their behavior to his benefit; we know that. He even tried to kill you and use the pheromone's effects as an excuse. Would you put any kind of unethical behavior past him if he thought he could get some kind of advantage out of it? I wouldn't."
Clark opened his mouth and then closed it again. "You're right. We shouldn't eliminate any possibility, no matter how unlikely."
"I'm glad you agree," Lois said, cutting the engine. "Let's get busy. Superman is counting on us, and besides, I think Metropolis might have more of a problem than we first thought."
Clark didn't say anything, but he was frowning as he followed her toward the elevator. Looking at him with her new knowledge, she could now pick out Superman's features behind the glasses and the different hairstyle. It was interesting, she thought, how he had come to her for help in spite of the fact that he was a very good investigative journalist in his own right. It meant that Clark really did respect her intelligence and her skills as a reporter. It was nice to know that, but the fact that he had managed to pull the wool over her eyes for all these months was a little humiliating all the same. How had she managed to miss the many similarities between her partner and Superman? Now that she knew what to look for, they were plain as day.
Looking back, all of it was so obvious to her now. He hadn't been affected by Miranda's pheromone in spite of being sprayed, and he'd practically told her the truth the other night -- and yet somehow she'd completely missed all the clues. Some reporter she was! She'd been completely blind; that was all there was to it, and she couldn't quite understand why.
When the elevator arrived, he let her enter first. She glanced at him again, recalling what he had said a short time ago in the Cherokee. Superman always treated women with respect, and for that matter so did Clark. She had never once seen him show disrespect for any woman, even Cat Grant at her most irritating. Even at the beginning of their acquaintance when he had sent her in search of Superman's spaceship at the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Facility, he'd let her get herself into the mess through her own obsession with Superman ...
She could feel the blood draining from her face at the thought and her gut clenched up. Oh god. She had been wondering why he hadn't told her, his friend and partner, about himself. That was almost certainly the main reason. She had demonstrated for him graphically that she would go to any lengths for a story, even to the point of stealing it from a colleague. From him. He had every reason to be afraid that she would betray his secret for that Pulitzer that she had told him was her goal someday. If she had anyone to blame for his failure to tell her the truth, she could probably blame herself. She had given him a good example of why he shouldn't tell her too much, and now it was coming back to haunt her in spades.
But didn't he know that had been an aberration? That wasn't the real Lois Lane; she'd been temporarily insane or something. That was the only reason she could think of now to explain her completely out-of-bounds behavior at the time. Surely he must know that! He'd never mentioned the incident since that day. Could it be that he was still holding it against her?
"Lois, are you all right? You're white as a sheet." Clark's arm was suddenly around her and his voice in her ear sounded very concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she muttered. "I'm all right."
But it wasn't a matter of holding it against her, she thought. Clark didn't hold grudges. He'd told her that he did trust her the night Superman had asked for her help, and maybe he did ... but how far? She had shown him that given enough temptation she would violate her principles, and he had too much to lose -- his privacy, his career, the safety of his parents -- to take the risk of telling her the truth.
The elevator doors opened and Clark steered her out of the elevator to the nearest chair. "Sit down for a minute," he urged. "What happened? Did you hurt your foot?"
"I'm fine," she repeated. "Really; I'm fine."
"You're sure?" She could see the worry in his face. "For a minute it looked like you were going to pass out."
"No, I just jarred my foot," she said, seizing on the excuse he'd unintentionally given her. "It's okay now."
He still looked worried but seemed to accept her explanation. "Okay. Why don't you sit down at your desk and rest it. You don't want to make it worse."
"Clark, I just bumped it a little." His concern was gratifying and annoying at the same time, but then Superman couldn't be hurt. The prospect was completely foreign to him on a personal level, and probably a little scary. "It's already feeling better."
He still seemed doubtful, but released her shoulders. Still, she noticed that he stayed close to her as they made their way down the ramp onto the newsroom floor, and after she was seated at her desk he snatched up her coffee cup and made a direct line for the coffeepot. While his back was turned toward her she let herself take a deep, if somewhat shaky breath. It seemed that she had some bridges to rebuild. Somehow, she had to show Clark that he didn't have to be afraid that she would expose his secret to anyone for any reason. If she could do that, maybe he would tell her the truth of his own accord.
Clark set the mug on a corner of her desk. "Lois, what's wrong? You look upset. Are you sure you're all right?"
She grabbed the mug and took a sip, stalling until she was certain that she had control of her voice. Clark had fixed it just the way she liked it, of course. He always did. "I'm fine, Clark." He didn't look convinced and she groped for some other reason to explain her upset. "Really. It's ... personal. I don't want to talk about it right now. I'll be all right, really."
He cast her a dubious look but didn't push the matter any farther. Lois drank her coffee, trying to regain her calm. Wallowing in guilt wasn't the answer. She had to think this through rationally and she didn't have the time right now. There was too much to do. She needed time to come up with some kind of plan but the first change she had to make was to do as she had decided last night before she had made this incredible discovery; she would stop taking him for granted and start treating him better. Besides, now was her chance to find out more about the man as he really was. It should be an interesting investigation she told herself determinedly, trying to put a new perspective on the thing.
But before she got too involved with that, they still had this situation with the imposter to resolve. She had to solve this thing for Clark. It was the least she could do to prove to him that he could rely on her.
"Jimmy!" she shouted.
----------
"Thanks, Inspector. I appreciate it." Clark hung up the phone and glanced at his jotted notes. The perp from this morning's hostage situation had a long string of petty crimes behind him and a couple of felony arrests in the last couple of years, as well. It was a familiar pattern, but it looked as if he had graduated to the big time with today's attempted bank robbery and subsequent attempt to negotiate his way out of it by taking hostages. It would only take a couple of minutes to write this up as a sidebar to Lois's article on the hostage situation itself.
He glanced at Lois, who was studying a sheet of paper that Jimmy had given her minutes before. He was still worried about her, but the upset expression had disappeared from her face to be replaced with a look of intense concentration, and he gave a sigh of relief. It looked as if she was back to normal, but whatever personal problem was bothering her, she obviously wasn't ready to tell him about it.
He bit his lip. His partner was a fascinating person in every way. Of course, he'd been crazy about her since he'd met her, but she'd told him not to fall for her -- a useless admonition, since it was already an accomplished fact, but of course she didn't know that. The pheromone episode a few months ago had shown him that she wasn't nearly as indifferent to him as she liked to pretend, so he hadn't given up hope -- at least not yet. Of course, she hadn't given up her crush on his alter ego, either, and sometimes he had to fight down the temptation to tell her the truth. If he did, he wouldn't have to compete for her attention. On the other hand, old habits were strong. His father's repeated warnings never to let anyone know what Clark Kent could do were deeply ingrained in him.
Lois, though, was another story altogether. A few months ago he hadn't been as sure, but he and Lois had become much closer friends since Miranda had intruded on their lives, and now he didn't really have any fear that Lois would betray him, at least intentionally. Accidents were known to happen, of course, and the more people who knew, the more likely it was that someone would accidentally spill the beans, but that wasn't really a factor that worried him.
No, trusting Lois wasn't an issue. Far more importantly, when he did tell her the truth she was definitely going to be mad. He still had to figure out how to accomplish that and avoid annihilation by Mad Dog Lane, but before he even considered telling her, he had to know that she wanted him for him, not for his powers. As long as she was dazzled by Superman, it sometimes seemed hopeless that she would ever notice him that way, but every now and then he found cause for optimism -- to believe that maybe she wasn't as indifferent to him as she acted. Every time he was tempted to give up, his memories of her behavior when she had been affected by the Revenge would give him reason to hope again.
He had come in a full circle again, he reflected wryly. That was the way it always happened when he was thinking about Lois. The woman occupied far too much of his thoughts for comfort. Not that he intended to stop thinking about her. It was a much too pleasant, if frustrating, exercise.
Still, if she didn't feel comfortable confiding in him when something was bothering her then he still had a long way to go. As far back as he could remember, when one of his parents had been upset about something, the first person he or she would go to was the other. Maybe the day would come when that would also be true of Lois and him. At least, he hoped so.
"Lois Lane?"
The sound of an unfamiliar male voice speaking his partner's name brought his attention instantly back to the subject of his frustrated musings. A young man in the uniform of a messenger was standing beside her desk, holding out a sealed envelope.
"Yes," Lois said.
He handed her a clipboard. "I need you to sign for this."
"All right." Lois signed, and took the envelope he handed her. He stood in front of her desk, obviously waiting for something. Lois raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Oh," he said, "I'm supposed to wait for a response."
Clark watched over the rims of his glasses as she tore it open and read it. Her eyebrows climbed and she looked up. "The answer is a definite yes."
The messenger turned and departed. Lois frowned and read the letter a second time, then looked up to meet Clark's eyes. "This is interesting."
"Something I should know about?"
"Probably. Take a look." She held out the paper.
Clark stretched his arm out and took it with the tips of his fingers.
The writing was unfamiliar and oddly awkward but the message was succinct.
"Dear Lois:
Please forgive me for my behavior today. May I see you tonight at nine?
Yours, Superman."
"Superman?" Clark frowned at the paper, not sure what to say. He hadn't sent this letter, but how was he supposed to tell Lois that? Maybe he could make a quick exit and return as Superman.
Lois solved the problem. "Clark, don't you see? Superman didn't send this. He hasn't done anything to apologize to me for. I haven't even seen him today. It has to be the imposter."
He let out his breath. "If you knew that, why did you say yes?"
She looked at him as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "This is my chance to talk to him, of course. Maybe I can find out something useful about him."
"It could be dangerous," he protested feebly.
"I doubt it. He hasn't hurt anyone so far. Much, anyway -- and even if it is a little dangerous, we can't pass up the chance to learn about this guy."
"But ..." He let the objection trail off. What could he say? Lois wouldn't appreciate his attempt to meddle, and would undoubtedly ignore any objections he could pose. It would be better, he decided, to keep an eye on things from a distance, and if it looked like Lois was losing control of the situation, he would intervene.
"You're right," he said.
Lois's eye widened slightly, as if she had expected him to argue more forcefully, then she seemed to recover and nodded briskly. "I'm glad you agree. I guess I'd better phone in an order to Chen Yung's Chinese Restaurant."
----------
Lois stood back, surveying the table setting with the eye of a stage manager. Everything looked just right for an intimate dinner for two. It was a quarter to nine. The double would be here any minute. She swallowed a little nervously, but a glance in the mirror told her that the nervousness didn't show.
It was obvious that the imposter had somehow discovered her identity a short time after their meeting. That was an interesting circumstance in itself, since she had only given him her first name. It didn't prove anything, but it was consistent with what she and Clark suspected.
Clark had been worried about her, she knew, and maybe he had reason, but he hadn't tried to stop her from doing this. At least, he hadn't tried very hard. She gave a little smile at the thought. Poor Clark. It was funny in a mind-boggling way to realize that she was able to wrap the world's strongest man around her finger as easily as she did Clark. Still, if there was anything that she had learned about her partner in the months since he had come to work for the Daily Planet, it was that he was something of a softy. He definitely had a soft spot for her.
Her smile faded as she thought about the implications of that. Clark was Superman. Even after having had several hours to absorb the information, it still seemed unreal. She had run the gamut of anger and hurt that he hadn't told her, to guilt at her treatment of him and embarrassment for several reasons. By now, she had come to the unpalatable conclusion that the reason for Clark's failure to tell her the truth probably lay with her. She was simply going to have to prove to him that she was worthy of his trust.
Clark was strongly attracted to her. That part had been obvious for months but she had chosen to ignore the fact. The trouble was that she liked Clark. She liked him a lot more than was safe for her peace of mind. Superman, on the other hand, was obviously well beyond the reach of a mere mortal woman. It had seemed safe to love him ... only now that was manifestly not true. Her hero was a man like other men in all the important ways. Oh, he still had all the wonderful powers and the ethical code that she admired, but now she knew that he had the flaws as well -- and worse, that he was strongly attracted to her. There were times when she suspected that there was a lot more to it even than that. In any case, he was no longer out of reach. Maybe, she thought, that was why she had refused to see the obvious until her nose was forcibly rubbed in it. If she had admitted to herself that the coworker who was her best friend was also the hero that she dreamed of, she might have had to make choices that she would rather avoid. A mortal man made mistakes. A mortal man could hurt you terribly if you gave him your heart. She had seen how her father had hurt her mother every day for years. She had been foolish enough to give a man her heart once, and he had betrayed her. Risking that again was something she didn't want to do. And yet ...
Behind her there was a gust of air and the sound of booted feet hitting the carpet. She turned.
Superman stood there. He had brought a bouquet of flowers, she saw, and his smile definitely looked nervous. He reminded her suddenly of a puppy that wasn't quite sure if it was going to receive a pat on the head or a kick.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi." Lois smiled warmly at him. "You're early."
"That's okay, isn't it?" He suddenly looked anxious.
"Of course it's okay," she said and found herself rewarded with a brilliant smile.
"I brought these for you." The boy -- she found herself unable to think of him any other way -- held out the bouquet, and she took it.
"They're beautiful," she said. "Why don't you sit down while I put them in a vase?"
Placing the flowers in water took only a minute and when she turned she found that he had seated himself on the sofa. For a crazy instant, she wondered if he would find it as uncomfortable as Clark always claimed he did. "Would you like something to drink?" she asked.
"Well ... I don't need to, but --"
"Nobody needs champagne. That's what makes life interesting," Lois said, wondering briefly if she should actually be giving an alcoholic beverage to him, but she reassured herself that he was physically an adult, and besides, he had Superman's powers. She'd seen the Man of Steel swallow a bomb, for heaven's sake. A little champagne certainly wasn't going to affect him. She picked up the bottle that she had uncorked moments earlier and filled the two goblets sitting on the table.
He was behind her when she turned. She smiled, handing him the glass, and lifted her own. "Cheers."
He drank the beverage in three swallows, never removing his gaze from her. "You look really hot," he said.
"Thank you." Definitely not as old as he looked, she decided. That was not a phrase Superman would use -- or any grown man of her acquaintance who was trying to impress a woman. She set down her glass. "I saw you on television two days ago, when you saved the passenger plane."
"I saved a ship, too."
"I know you did," she said. "I was impressed. Those people owe you their lives."
"It was fun," he said. His gaze strayed to her cleavage in the low-cut gown, and she wished momentarily that she had chosen a dress that showed a little less of her, then his eyes snapped back to her face. "Could we sit on the couch?"
"All right."
He sat beside her, sneaking another glance at her cleavage, and then scooted closer until his leg touched hers. With apparent casualness, he slipped an arm along the back of the sofa, and an instant later it was around her shoulders. "Do you like me?" he asked.
"Well, sure," she said, reminding herself that she was playing a part. "I did wonder about what happened this afternoon, though. You could have hurt that man when you threw him."
"I haven't done anything wrong," he said quickly. "Might is right." His arm tightened ever so slightly. "How about a kiss?"
"Wha ..." The word was barely out of her mouth when she found herself being enthusiastically, if inexpertly, kissed. Instinctively, she tried to push him away, but his arms were like steel. She doubted that he even noticed her resistance.
"Am I interrupting?" For an instant she thought she was imagining Clark's voice, but the arms that held her suddenly slackened, and she pulled free.
"Clark!" she gasped, jumping to her feet.
He crossed the distance between them in two steps and put an arm around her shoulders.
The Superman double also rose, and Lois saw that he was glaring at the intruder. The two were less than three feet apart and there was an expression on Clark's face that nearly caused her heart to turn over. It wasn't the look of a chivalrous man who was simply protecting a woman from an overly aggressive date. It was possessive, challenging -- a man defending his own against an outsider.
"Go away," her guest commanded. "We don't want you here!"
"I think Lois wants me to stay," Clark said.
"Yes! I do!" Lois said.
The imposter's hand shot out toward Clark so fast that she saw only a blur, and as quickly, Clark caught his wrist. She saw the boy's eyes widen, and he wrenched his arm away. They stared at each other for a long second while Lois held her breath.
"I have to go now," the other Superman said, suddenly. Unexpectedly, his face broke into a smile. "It's almost ten." He looked directly at Clark and the smile became mocking. "I'll be seeing you again." He walked casually to the window, jumped out and was gone.
Lois discovered suddenly that she needed to breathe and inhaled deeply. "My god."
"Are you all right?" Clark asked. "Did he hurt you?"
She shook her head, sinking down on the sofa. "Not exactly. He kissed me."
"Kissed you!"
She nodded. "He's a kid, Clark. He was like a fifteen-year-old on his first date. He even kisses like a kid." She glanced at him and rubbed her face. He looked merely concerned, now -- just the usual Clark when he was a little worried about her. Had she really seen what she thought she had seen? "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "I think so."
"I think my theory was right," she said. She took another deep breath. "He said 'Might is right'. Does that sound like anyone we know?"
He didn't answer but his jaw clenched. "I'm beginning to think it isn't as impossible as I thought."
"With Lex Luthor, nothing is impossible," Lois said. "Or at least, not much. This is awful, Clark. He's teaching his own code to this Superman -- to this kid! We've got to do something."
"I wish I knew what," Clark said.
"Well, first we have to find out who he hired to do the work," she said. "And how. He had to have a living cell from Superman to start with. We'll get busy on that first thing in the morning."
He gave a slight smile. "You seem to be taking all this pretty calmly."
She laughed shortly. "I am, aren't I? Don't ask me why. I think it hasn't really hit me yet."
"Maybe I should stay for a while," he said. "In case he comes back."
"I don't think he will," Lois said. "Did you hear what he said? I think he may have a curfew." Still, enough doubt remained that his presence would be reassuring. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone. Besides ... that expression she had seen. Did he really think of her that way? It shouldn't have, but unexpectedly a small thrill coursed its way up her spine. She had never known a man who thought of her as his before. Even if it wasn't something either one of them acknowledged.
She glanced at the Chinese food sitting on the table. "If you'd like, you can help me eat this."
Without a word, Clark walked to the window, closed and locked it. "All right. I haven't eaten yet, actually. What's on the menu?"
"Chinese," she said.
"Ah, the stuff from Chen Yung's." He sniffed. "Smells pretty good."
"Their food isn't bad," she agreed. "I have some champagne here, too, if you'd like some. Let me get you a clean glass." She hurried back into the kitchen with the glass that the double had used and returned a moment later with an unused one.
Clark was standing at the window, looking out into the darkness but he turned when she re-entered the room and smiled at her. Lois set the glass down on the table and filled it with champagne to give herself a few seconds to recover. Clark's smile was the exact duplicate of the double's.
A hundred confused thoughts were running through her mind and she hadn't had a chance to sort them out yet, but one realization had managed to make its way through. Clark wasn't just attracted to her. If what she had seen meant what she thought it did then her partner regarded her as a lot more than a friend and an attractive woman. She wasn't sure how to react now. This was Superman in her living room. What was she supposed to say -- or do? Superman was far more attainable than she had thought, which made the whole situation a lot more dangerous than she had imagined, and that was something she was going to have to think hard about. One thing, however, was clear. She had been associating with the man of her impossible dreams for months, making a lot of cruel, uncalled for comments to him, at least in the beginning ... and yet, he hadn't let the things she said bother him. Or had he? At the very least, she owed him an apology.
"Clark --" she began.
He held her chair for her while she took her seat. "Yes?"
"You know ... back when we first met ... I said some things to you that I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."
He was taking his seat as she spoke and now he glanced at her with obvious surprise. "What brought that on?"
"Oh ..." She busied herself with arranging her napkin just so, keeping her eyes focussed on her plate. "I don't know. The way you stood up for me tonight ... It just suddenly occurred to me that I was pretty nasty to you in the beginning and I never apologized. I was really out of line, and I'd like to set the record straight. I hope you can forgive me."
He reached across the table to lay a hand on top of hers as she started to pick up her chopsticks. "Don't worry about it, okay? It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does," she insisted. "I said some pretty awful things back then -- and did some pretty bad things, too. I want you to know I wish I hadn't."
"Well, I pulled a pretty dirty trick on you, too," he said, and Lois could swear that he looked a little embarrassed. "My mother taught me to treat women better than that, so I think we're even."
"Clark, I deserved every bit of it!" she said. "What I did was totally wrong, and you had every right to do what you did. Actually, it made me respect you," she added in a lower voice. "I suddenly realized that I'd behaved just like Claude. I guess it kind of shocked me back to sanity. Anyhow, I've felt sort of bad about it for a while now. I wanted to apologize."
"Oh. Well, your apology is accepted," he said, giving her a smile. "Let's just forget it, okay? As far as I'm concerned, it never happened."
"I know," she said. "You never hold grudges. I think that makes you a much better person than I am. And by the way -- thanks for showing up tonight. He -- the double -- was getting kind of aggressive."
"I noticed," he said somewhat dryly.
"I don't think he meant any harm," Lois added hastily. "He's a kid."
"Yeah, and his hormoness were in overdrive," Clark said. He smiled, obviously trying to make a joke of the incident. "I can't fault his taste, though. You look really great."
Lois glanced down at her dress. "You like it?"
"Definitely." He reached for the egg rolls. "If I were a teenager, I'd probably be drooling too, even if I wouldn't go to his extreme."
She found herself laughing. "That's a relief. I'd never dare wear it in public."
Clark grinned. "That would be a shame."
Lois could feel her cheeks turning pink. Clark normally didn't say things like that, probably because they were work partners, but maybe tonight had kind of shocked him out of the role. Surprisingly the idea didn't disturb her as much as she had always assumed it would. She was really going to have to take some time to think this over. She was so confused at the moment, she didn't know what she thought.
----------
Clark walked slowly up the steps to his apartment and fumbled with the lock for a second before opening the door and reaching inside to switch on the light. Slowly, he closed the door behind him and turned the lock.
His apparent preoccupation with small details wasn't as pointless as it might seem. His landlord was a snoopy sort, and he was aware that the man tended to come by the apartment house at odd hours to check up on "his" tenants. Old Floyd was parked halfway down the block at the moment with a pair of binoculars aimed directly at Clark's front porch.
It was a relatively minor annoyance, but it was one that he had to take seriously. The last thing he needed was to have his slightly paranoid landlord find anything at all that might increase the normal suspicion that he felt about his tenants in general to anything specific about Clark Kent. He liked his apartment and didn't want to have to move.
He moved slowly around inside the living room, tidying up in the full view of the man, aware that the binoculars were now trained on him through the glass of the door. At last, he yawned ostentatiously, stretched and ambled off toward his bedroom, switching off the light behind him. Once out of sight, he pulled off his glasses and checked.
Floyd had now turned his attention to the window of the apartment above Clark's. The tenants above him were an elderly spinster, her great-niece and a Russian wolfhound that probably out-massed both women put together. Since his super-hearing told him that all three occupants of the place were sound asleep, he didn't think that Floyd was likely to see much.
He snapped on his bedside lamp and moved around, getting ready for bed at normal speed for once. His actions were routine as he brushed his teeth and changed into his night gear. The mundane activity gave him time to think and to try to organize the thoughts that were whirling around in his head in complete confusion, which, he had to acknowledge, was often his state of mind when it came to figuring out his volatile partner.
Lois had been in an odd mood tonight. First there had been her relief at his not-exactly-unplanned arrival at her place in time to rescue her from the imposter. He had known it at once when she had lost control of the situation and acted immediately, before things could go farther. He didn't think his double had actually intended to harm Lois, but as he well knew, teenage males sometimes let their emotions get out of hand and a super-powered one might not realize that his companion was putting up objections.
Facing down a super-powered rival was a new experience, of course, and he'd tried to do it without an overt display of his super-powers. He hadn't quite succeeded, but Lois hadn't picked up on it, fortunately. He'd been surprised at himself, in a way. The primitive instincts that roiled under the surface when he had challenged his opponent had shaken him a little. He hadn't realized that he would feel quite so strongly that his double was intruding on his territory, and he had even been a little ashamed of himself. Lois certainly wouldn't have appreciated it if she had known.
He got into bed and turned out the light, carefully punched his pillow into a comfortable shape, and then lay staring up into the dark, still thinking about the events of the evening.
After the boy had left -- to his surprise he found that now, like Lois, he had also begun to think of the other Superman that way -- Lois had invited him to stay for dinner, and then there had been that out-of-the-blue apology. That had left his mind reeling.
In all the months that he had known her, he had never once known Mad Dog Lane to apologize to anybody, even when she, as well as everyone else, knew that she was in the wrong. It just wasn't in her nature, and he had felt for a moment as if someone had knocked the breath out of him.
True, she was undeniably his best friend, and he was hers. If she was going to make an exception for anyone, he guessed it would be him. Still, he'd been somewhat stunned. She had also brought him coffee this afternoon at work, he recalled now. It had been much too sweet, even for him, and there had been considerably more cream than coffee in it, but those had been minor considerations. He wouldn't have hurt her feelings for anything, and had swallowed the concoction without a wince.
And during dinner, she had been ... different. She'd had three or four glasses of champagne, which he figured was probably to steady her nerves after the encounter with the double, and it must have lowered her inhibitions just a little. At least that was the only reason that he could come up with to explain her behavior. If it had been anyone but Lois Lane he'd have suspected that she was flirting lightly with him. He'd responded, although he'd kept a tight check on his behavior, and when he'd said good night, she'd given him another thank-you for rescuing her, and the lightest of pecks on the cheek. Something was definitely different, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe their relationship was beginning to move onto a different level. He hoped so, but Lois's change in attitude had the effect of thoroughly confusing him. Of course, lots of her behavior confused him anyway, so he guessed in retrospect that it wasn't that unusual. Still ...
----------
Lois finished brushing her teeth and snapped off the bathroom light. Ignoring her bedroom slippers, she crossed the room slowly to look out the window. The night sky was nearly cloudless, but she couldn't see the stars. The haze of the city lights blotted out all but the moon and one or two of the brightest stars, but the street below her fifth floor apartment was relatively dark.
A short time ago she had stood at the living room window, following Clark's progress as he walked briskly along the sidewalk on his way home, and had watched as he looked carefully around and then stepped into the alley, partway down the street, and disappeared. A moment later, she had seen Superman's silhouette shoot upward and vanish in the direction of Clark's apartment. The whole incident had happened so quickly and quietly that if she hadn't been half-expecting something of the sort, she would have missed it.
Now she moved slowly to her bed and sank down on the foot of it, thinking of what she had seen.
She hadn't been in any doubt of it, really. Not after all the evidence that had been thrown in her face since this morning. Still, it reinforced emotionally what she already knew intellectually: Clark Kent was Superman. And, after this evening, it was no longer possible to doubt that he was interested in her. She had known for quite a while that Clark had a crush on her. Now it had begun to seriously dawn on her that it was considerably more than a crush.
It had taken a little Dutch courage to bring herself to flirt with him, and he'd responded, and with a certain enjoyment if she read the signs correctly. And when she had kissed his cheek, his arms had tightened around her for one long second.
She had stored that memory away with a few others, to relive now and then at special times. Clark might very well have done what she had warned him against in the beginning.
"Don't fall for me, farmboy. I don't have time for it." She'd told him that the night that they had been working on Dr. Platt's scattered report. The dazzled look in his eyes had warned her all too clearly that he was in danger of forming a crush on her, and Lois Lane, career woman, had had no time for a country boy like him.
Only that country boy had turned out to be like no one she had ever known. And it was beginning to look like he had completely disregarded her warning. It was a little scary. The most powerful man in the world was her reporting partner, and might even be in love with her -- or at least well on his way to it. What was she supposed to do about that?
A glance at her alarm clock told her that it was only a minute or two to midnight. She crawled under the covers, pulled them up to her chin, and lay still, staring up into the darkness.
When she had first met Superman it had been in a very tight spot. He had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and saved her life, as well as the space program, by swallowing the detonator of an explosive meant to destroy the rocket bearing the colonists to the orbiting space station. She had been dazzled. Not only was he a hero, he was also by far the most handsome man she had ever met, with a build that was literally out of this world, and he seemed the embodiment of every woman's fantasy. She had fallen hard for him, while at the same time ignoring the very human man who worked beside her at the Daily Planet. As time had gone by, she learned more about the incredible super man from Krypton and everything she had learned simply reinforced her starry-eyed crush. And then he had come to her asking for her help and she had learned more in one evening than she had in all the months since he had appeared.
She had learned that he was the last of his kind. Suddenly, she sat up straight. This wasn't just Superman that she was thinking about. This was her best friend, Clark! Clark was that same orphan from Krypton. Clark had been sent from a dying world across millions of miles of space to Earth where he could blend with the native population. Clark's ship had landed in Kansas and somehow he had been found by Martha and Jonathan Kent, who had raised him to be the man she knew. Martha and Jonathan had raised him to be the hero that flew around the skies of Metropolis and saved crashing planes and propped up the Golden Gate Bridge, and seemed to make a habit of rescuing Lois Lane from the jaws of disaster on a regular basis. What had she been thinking? She'd known since this morning that they were one and the same, but she hadn't known it on a gut level. Clark was her hero and her guardian angel and always had been. He had saved her life countless times. She just hadn't realized it.
Oh man, what was she going to do? Relationships with men -- successful ones, anyway -- just didn't seem to be exactly her specialty. Lex Luthor had been interested in her since they had met, but Clark-Superman-Kent had told her Lex was a criminal several months ago, and she had seen enough since to know that he was right, even if she hadn't believed him in the beginning. Clark had been extremely jealous of Lex, but he didn't lie about things like that. In fact, he'd only lied in one way that she could see -- to protect himself and his family. And if she knew Mr. "Almost-pathologically-honest" Clark Kent, he probably didn't enjoy that, either.
But Clark had been jealous. That part had been painfully obvious. And tonight she had seen his possessive streak when he had faced down the imposter to protect her. There was no question that he wanted her. Her -- Lois Lane -- who was obviously a neurotic fool for having this conversation with herself. Any other woman would have grabbed him and held on tight, no questions asked.
So, what was she going to do until she made up her mind where to go with this whole thing? Given that he really did want some kind of relationship with her, did she want one with him? Did she dare to believe that he would be different from Claude, or, for that matter, from her father, who had cheated on her mother over and over, and in the end destroyed his family?
Wait a minute. The realization brought her up short. If she didn't know Clark Kent by now, then she didn't know anything about anybody. She'd learned everything important about him the day she had awakened in his bedroom two days after Miranda had sprayed her with the Revenge; she just hadn't connected it before.
Clark cared about her, and equally important, he respected her. That was something she couldn't say about any of her previous relationships. She couldn't even say that about her own father, who had wanted a son, and had been bitterly disappointed because he "only" had daughters to show for his marriage. Would any other man climb out of a warm bed at midnight to help his friend and partner turn a mattress, for god's sake?
Would taking the risk of a relationship with him be worth it? He could so easily break her heart.
But the woman who had Clark's heart could do the same to him, and she suspected that his could be broken as easily as hers. Maybe more easily. Clark was someone who cared deeply for others. No man who didn't care would do the things Superman did every day, or go to the lengths to which she had seen Clark go in order to help his fellows. If she couldn't trust her heart to Clark then she couldn't trust anyone, and she would go through life alone. She could so easily end up like her mother, whose constant companion until a year ago had been a bottle of vodka, or her father, whose relationships with a string of women young enough to be his daughters were legendary.
She hadn't wanted marriage or any of the complications that went with it. She'd run as fast and as far from her family as she could. But that had been before Clark Kent walked into the Daily Planet, and now, if he were to walk away, she would miss him for the rest of her life.
In a way, it looked as if the decision had already been made and she was only just noticing.
She lay back down again and wiped at the tears that were slowly leaking down her cheeks.
She wouldn't tell him that she had figured out his secret, she decided. At least not yet. She would wait until he told her. But in the meantime, she was going to do everything under the sun to show him that he could trust her. And maybe she should let him know, a little at a time, that she did care about him as well. Not Superman, but Clark Kent: the man behind Superman. Everything that the hero was, he was because of Clark: Clark's beliefs, Clark's morals, Clark's desire to help those in need. And if that didn't tell her everything worth knowing about the man, then she deserved to lose him and let one of the numerous women at the Planet, who had apparently noticed him before she had, take her place.
And that just wasn't going to happen.
----------
Clark Kent walked into the lobby of the Daily Planet, only to have Lois charge through the doors after him and nearly knock him down from behind. He staggered, regained his balance and caught her arm in time to keep her from taking a tumble onto the newly mopped tile.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." She sounded breathless, as if she had been running. "Clark, I found something. Look!" She waved a dog-eared magazine at him.
"Hold on," he said, grinning at her excitement. "Why don't you take a few seconds to catch your breath so you can talk."
Unexpectedly, she stopped and took several breaths. "There!" she said. "Happy?"
"Of course." He continued on toward the elevator. "What did you find?"
"The article I was talking about. I saved it, but I'd stuck it in my magazine rack at home. 'Metropolis Science Magazine'," she added, waving it at him again.
"And?" he said, signaling for the elevator.
"The scientist who wrote the article is a Dr. Fabian Leek," she said, as the doors opened and they stepped inside. She lowered her voice. "I wonder if Lex has any connections with this guy. I'm going to have Jimmy do a little hunting for any kind of financial transactions between them. And, of course, with any other scientist studying cloning. There can't be that many of them, can there?"
"I have no idea," Clark said. "Good work, though. And after that?"
She waited until the doors slid shut before she answered. "After that, if it pans out, we'll do whatever we have to do. You know, I feel kind of sorry for that kid if I'm right. Can you imagine growing up with Lex as your father? But it could turn out to be a serious situation for all of us. I mean, think about it for a minute -- Lex Luthor with a Superman of his own under his control? I can't see him leaving anyone else to teach a super-powered clone what he wants him to know."
"Scary thought," Clark said.
"Very scary. But you know, if Lex teaches him his own morals, that situation might not last long, either. Superman is a good, ethical guy, who wants to help people, but a Superman that Lex raised would think the same way Lex does. He's already thinking that way, at least some. Last night he told me 'Might is right'. That sounds like Lex might have to watch out for his own skin before long. You know, I wonder if Lex has thought this through."
"Probably," Clark said. "He strikes me as the kind of guy that thinks ahead."
"Lex schemes," Lois said. "But if he wants to get rid of Superman so badly, I think he might take the risk that he can control his own Superman. He might have miscalculated." She shook her head. "I'm babbling again, aren't I? But I've been thinking about this since about five this morning."
"Five?"
She shrugged a little uncomfortably and cast him a sideways glance. "I didn't sleep very well. I kept waking up. When I woke up about four-thirty, I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and started hunting for the article."
"Oh." Clark didn't belabor the subject. He was well aware that his fiercely independent partner didn't like it when he hovered over her. "Well, if Jimmy finds any connection between Luthor and Leek, I guess we could go interview him as a first step."
"If he finds a connection, the last thing I want to do is alert Lex that we've added up two and two," Lois said. "What I want to do is get together enough evidence that something shady is going on to implicate Lex. It will be one more thing to add to my file on him."
"Your 'file'?" he asked sharply.
"Uh ... yeah. After the pheromone, I started looking for connections between Lex and -- you know -- things that weren't quite right, and documenting it as thoroughly as I could. I'm trying to collect enough evidence to bring him down, but it's a long process."
"Lois, why didn't you tell me? Investigating Luthor alone is a dangerous business!"
"I know. But after the Revenge, it was kind of personal. Besides, he tried to shoot you, Clark. No thanks to him that he didn't. I was worried about you. I didn't want to wake up one day and find out he'd managed to have you killed." She hesitated. "That's why I've done everything I can lately to convince him that I don't find you attractive. Other than physically, that is."
He stared at her, both appalled and shocked that Lois had embarked on such a crusade without telling him -- because she wanted to protect him. And had she just said that she found him attractive, both physically and otherwise? "Do you mind if I get in on this -- at least as backup? If he figures out what you're up to, I can see him trying to kill you, too. Luthor didn't get where he is by being soft."
"I know. I just ... I was afraid for you, Clark. I don't want to lose you. I've ..." She hesitated and added, "I've kind of gotten used to having you around."
"You're not going to lose me. In fact ..." He bit off what he was going to say. Jumping ahead too fast would be guaranteed to scare her off.
She didn't seem to notice. "If we can connect this to him it will be useful, but I also want to try to ... I don't know ... try to help the other Superman, somehow. We can't let Lex turn him into some kind of super weapon. Superman would be the only thing we had to defend us against him, and both of them could get hurt or killed. I don't want that to happen, either."
He nodded. It figured, he thought. Once Lois got involved in something, she went at it with everything she had. He just hoped that she hadn't bitten off more than both of them could chew this time.
The elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the Daily Planet's newsroom.
----------
"That was a great guess," Jimmy said. "Look at this. Over the last six months, there have been six monthly million-dollar donations to Fabian Leek's genetic research project. And look where it came from."
"The Luthor Foundation for the Advancement of Human Science," Lois read aloud. "That's it. There's our connection."
"Only now we have to prove it," Clark said. "Nobody's going to believe it without solid evidence. This part could get kind of sticky."
"Prove what?" Perry's voice asked. Clark turned to find their editor standing behind them.
"Something pretty wild," Lois said. "I don't want to talk about it in public. Can we get back to you on it?"
"In my office," Perry said. "If you're going to do something dangerous, I'd at least like to know why."
Lois and Clark looked at each other, then Lois turned to Jimmy. "Keep looking for that other stuff. If Leek did what we think he did, they had to have had some genetic material to start with. Come on, Clark."
When the office door had closed behind them, Perry gestured to seats. "Sit. I want to know what all this intensive research is about. And don't forget that warning last month from the guys upstairs, Lois."
"Chief, have I ever steered you wrong?" she demanded. "Yes, sometimes it looked like it," she added hastily, "but it always worked out in the end, didn't it?"
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm goin' prematurely grey just worryin' about you getting' yourself killed one of these days, honey," he said. "I'll back you up; you know that, but I'd like to know what I'm backin' you up about. Tell me it's not gonna get us into another lawsuit ... or get one of my star reporters killed or somethin'."
Clark winced. When Perry's Southern accent became this pronounced it meant that he was genuinely worried. He'd known his boss had been dealing with a number of problems with the paper recently, ranging from advertisers bailing on him to one of the Planet's reporters winding up in the hospital two weeks before because of a gang beating down at the docks. Somehow, the Armani suit and the hairpiece weren't so funny this morning. "I think we'd better tell him, Lois," he said.
She shrugged. "Okay. Just remember what our source said."
"Source?" Perry asked.
"Superman," Clark said. "I don't think he'll mind, Lois. Chief, Superman came to Lois a couple of days ago and asked us to help him. We can't tell you everything he said because some of it was in confidence, but he said we could print anything we like if we left out that part."
Lois nodded. "Remember that plane rescue the other day?"
"Yeah. What about it? Was there some sort of sabotage to the plane or something?"
"Not that I know of," Lois said, "but the problem was that Superman didn't rescue the plane. Somebody else did. There's a Superman imposter out there, and Superman needs to find out who he is and what he's up to."
"An imposter?" Perry's eyes widened. "How can that be? He flew!"
"I know. He has Superman's powers, and even looks like him, but he isn't him, if you get my drift."
"You got any proof?"
"Not solid proof yet," Clark said. "Superman met him, and so did we, last night. He's definitely not Superman, even if he looks like him, but we don't have any evidence in hand. We have a working theory, but we'd rather not talk about it yet, if you don't mind."
Perry regarded them without expression for the good part of a minute. "Okay," he said at last. "Go to it, then. Maybe the story will help boost circulation. Just do me one favor."
"Sure," Lois said.
"Try not to get yourselves killed, and try not to get us sued. The Planet can't afford either one."
"We'll do our best," Clark said. He hesitated. "Chief, is everything all right? I know the paper is having problems. Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Not unless you can figure out why so many of our advertisers are dropping us," Perry said, heavily. "It started about two months ago and seems to be gettin' worse. The suits upstairs are breathin' down my neck over it."
"Oh," Lois said. She looked at Clark. "I didn't realize it was that bad."
"Well, now you know. Go ahead, kids. Help Superman, but bring me back a good story too."
"We'll do our best," Clark said.
----------
Jimmy was waiting for them with barely suppressed excitement when they exited the Editor's office. "I found it!" he announced, waving a sheet of printer paper at them. "Take a look!"
Lois snatched it from his fingers. "'Superman donates a lock of hair for Charity Auction ...' But hair isn't living."
"Look farther down. Superman individually pulled about thirty strands of hair because his hair won't cut," Jimmy said. "It had the roots attached."
"We've got it," Clark said. "Does it say who bought it?"
"A Mrs. Doyle Alexander," Jimmy said. "I already called her. She said there was a break-in at her house the day after the auction. The lock of hair was stolen. They never found out who took it and never got it back."
"Bingo," Lois said. "It all fits. It's even consistent. Good work, Jimmy."
"I guess you have an idea who took it," Jimmy said.
"Let's say we have our suspicions," Clark said. He hesitated. "Jim, I wonder if you could do me another favor."
"Sure, CK. What is it?"
"I'd like you to check into the advertisers who have dropped the Planet in the last two or three months and see where they went after they left us."
"Sure. Any particular reason?"
"Just sort of a feeling. Maybe it isn't anything. Could you do that for me?"
Jimmy nodded. "Sure. No problem."
"Thanks," Clark said. "I appreciate it."
As they headed for their desks, Lois glanced back at Jimmy, who had just seated himself in front of his computer. "Got a hunch, partner?"
"Sort of."
"Care to share?"
He shrugged. "It just strikes me as funny that all of a sudden a bunch of advertisers decided to drop the Planet. We're the biggest newspaper in the city and one of the most respected in the world. Why go to something less prestigious when you can have the best? It's not as if the rates are unreasonable."
"Sometimes the suits make a business decision."
"One or two, maybe, but not a whole bunch like that, unless there's something going on. I'd like to see what it is."
"You wouldn't be thinking corporate takeover, would you?"
"Actually, yes. It's been done before."
"Yeah, it has." She looked worried. "The last thing we need is something like that."
"Definitely. Anyhow, I'd like to have some sort of heads-up if it's in the works. Now, until Jimmy comes back with the information, we need to decide what to do next."
"We're going to visit Dr. Leek."
"I thought you said you didn't want to alert him that --"
"I didn't say we were going to interview him. How good are you at impersonating a sanitation engineer?"
"A janitor? I can handle a mop with the best of them."
They grinned at each other momentarily.
"Good," Lois said. "I just happen to know where we can borrow some coveralls ..."
----------
Fabian Leek was probably in his forties, a man of medium height with thinning, blond hair, and probably carrying around at least fifty pounds that he didn't need, Lois thought. The scientist was leafing through a sheaf of papers when she and Clark trundled their cart with the pails of soapy water and mops into the corridor outside his office.
They began their task, industriously setting up warning cones about the hallway to allow passersby to proceed past their spot of endeavors, and began to mop while Lois scanned the area, taking in the layout. She glanced at Clark and hid a smile. He had applied the same ratty beard and mustache that he had used the first night she had gone to spy on Toni Taylor, and looked tired and bored, a man doing a dull, uninteresting job, but she saw him glance toward Fabian Leek's office and lower his glasses.
She had seen him do that hundreds of times in the past months, but now the gesture had more significance. Superman was checking out the lay of the land, peeking over Dr. Leek's shoulder, as it were, to see what he was doing. Even if she didn't let him know that she knew, having Superman as a partner was going to have significant advantages, she thought. Never again would she inadvertently sabotage him when he was sneaking a look at something of interest.
Instead, she concentrated on other points of interest. While she worked, she popped a chunk of chewing gum into her mouth, then a second and a third. This was one of her preferred methods for preparing the way for a return visit later tonight. The heavy door to Leek's office and the small side door that gave access to the building were almost certainly rigged to alarms, but if she could prevent the locks from engaging in the first place, she would have one less difficulty to deal with later. It was too bad that she couldn't just ask Clark to zap the alarms, as, she suspected, he had probably done on other black bag jobs of theirs, but she intended to remain in official ignorance of that aspect of her partner for some time to come.
She'd made the decision to let him know about her "Luthor file" after several hours of dithering the night before. She hadn't told him about it in the beginning because she had known that he would worry about her, but she had begun it shortly after the pheromone incident. It had been something she felt that she had to do for her own personal satisfaction and, to be honest, peace-of-mind. Lex Luthor had tried to kill Clark and, somewhere under the surface that had left her both shaken and angry. Lex was going to pay, not only for the fact that he was a scum-sucking criminal, but for the fact that he had tried to harm her best friend. Her personal crusade wasn't something that she had been prepared to admit to Clark at first, although recently she had been contemplating letting him in on the deal, but that had certainly been the main driving force behind the project in the first place.
Now she knew that Lex couldn't hurt Clark, but the fact didn't make a significant difference. The intent had been there, and that was all that mattered. Nobody tried to hurt her friends with impunity. Lex Luthor was going down sooner or later, and she was going to be the one who brought him to it.
But now it had seemed like a good idea to let him know what she was up to. With Superman's resources behind her, it seemed likely that they would make faster progress. Like now. For instance, unless that file cabinet in the back of Leek's office was lead-lined, Clark would know whether there was anything in it worth bothering with. And if it was, then he would know that there was a good chance that Leek had something in there that he didn't want Superman to find out about by accident.
Clark pushed his glasses up his nose and applied himself to his task. Lois scrubbed vigorously at the floor of a hall alcove, keeping her face down as footsteps sounded in the adjoining hallway.
The footsteps rounded the corner. She glanced sideways at the expensive designer shoes and the slacks of the expensive understated suit and lowered her face again, turning her back to the visitor, all her nerve-ends tingling.
Lex. Lex Luthor had come to see Fabian Leek. If that wasn't suspicious, she didn't know what was.
----------
Clark heard the approaching footsteps. There was something extremely familiar about the way the man -- he could tell it was a man -- walked. Then he caught the whiff of cigar smoke and recognized it as the expensive Cuban cigars that Lex Luthor smoked. They were, of course, illegally imported for the crime lord's pleasure, but he was quite certain that even if proof could be found, that such a case would never make it through the maze of attorneys and legal wrangles that Luthor could bring to bear. And even if, by some miracle, it did, at worst the result would be a fine. No, when he and Lois nailed Luthor, he wanted it to be for something significant.
Luthor rounded the corner with a confident stride as Clark made himself inconspicuous at his job of mopping the floor. Luthor wasn't actually smoking a cigar, of course, but the odor clung to his clothing. The scent of Cuban tobacco wouldn't be detectable by an ordinary human nose, but he could smell it clearly.
The billionaire strode past, never glancing at either of them. A quick glance at Lois showed that she had her back turned as she applied herself industriously to her supposed job.
Luthor strode into Leek's office and shut the door behind him. Clark winced. How was he going to overhear what they said? Lois was bound to come up with some kind of wild scheme to try to ...
"Clark!" Lois whispered.
"Huh?" Here it came.
"Your hearing is better than mine, farmboy! Get over by the door and listen! I'll block off the hallway and give you cover!" He saw her moving as she spoke, collecting the orange warning cones. She hurried to place a line of the cones at the corner and immediately rushed to do the same at some distance in the opposite direction. Then, with a move calculated make his hair stand on end, she calmly picked up her bucket of water and sloshed it across the linoleum by the cones, flooding the area. "Move, Kent!" she commanded, still in a whisper. "I want to know what they say."
Boy, Lois was really hyper today, he thought. Or else she smelled a hot story in the offing and was willing to pull out all the stops for it.
Cautiously, he moved closer to the door, mopping industriously at the edge of the spreading puddle. Lois moved to his bucket and calmly treated the other end of the hall to the same measures, then methodically started to mop at the mess she had made.
"I need you to come by the penthouse this evening." That was Luthor's voice. "I want you to examine the specimen. He's exhibiting certain symptoms that disturb me."
"Remember, sir, I warned you that there could be difficulties." The oily voice somehow matched his impression of Fabian Leek, even though he didn't know why. "He's the prototype -- first specimen to reach adulthood. We really need to study the process longer to determine exactly why the frogs died."
"That's what I pay you for," Luthor said, disdainfully. "In any case, that isn't the problem. You assured me that an alien would have no interest in human females. That the chemical sexual cues, whatever they are, would preclude any interest in mating with humans. The specimen is showing an interest in a human woman."
"That's impossible," Leek said. "He's not human." He paused for a long moment. "Of course, I haven't actually studied Kryptonian DNA in depth. On the surface it looks quite similar to human DNA, but then so does a chimpanzee's. I'll have to do that, but the analysis is long and difficult. The actual cloning process is much simpler -- simply place the nucleus of the cell in the envelope of a human ovum -- well, you don't want a blow by blow account. If you like, I can do an actual DNA analysis, but it will take some time."
"I don't care what you have to do," Luthor ground out. "I want his interest in the woman in question stopped now! When you come by, you can also give me a status report on his health. I'm nearing my goal, and need to know exactly how much time we have left before he goes the way of the frogs. Be there at ten."
"Of course," Leek murmured. "I'm not sure what I can do if he does indeed have an interest in human women, though. The urge to mate is instinctive."
"Then find a way to short-circuit it," Luthor snapped.
"I'll do my best," the scientist's voice said.
"Do that."
It seemed that Luthor was on the verge of leaving. Clark moved away from the door. "Lois!"
"What?"
"He's coming out. Step into the restroom there. He's bound to notice you with all this water all over the place!"
"What about you?"
"I'll hide. Go!"
Surprisingly, she didn't argue further. As she disappeared through the door of the restroom, Clark lowered his glasses and trained his heat vision on the section of floor in a direct path toward the exit.
There was a savage hiss and the corridor filled with water vapor as the liquid burst instantly into steam. Clark cleared the air with a quick blast of breath and with a burst of speed rearranged the cones to give Luthor a clear path toward the building's exit. That done, he busied himself with slowly moving the mop back and forth, soaking up the puddles in the still-wet section. Behind him the door opened and he heard Luthor's footsteps diminishing as he made his way down the hall the way he had come.
----------
"He's going to be at Luthor's penthouse tonight," Clark said. "Apparently there's been some problem with the clones. Luthor wants to know how much time he has left before his Superman clone 'goes the way of the frogs'."
"He expects him to die?"
Clark nodded tightly. "Looks like it."
"Clark, we have to do something." Lois slammed the door of the Jeep and stuck the key in the ignition with unnecessary force. "I can't believe I ever thought that sleazeball was attractive."
Clark bit his lip, thinking back to the conversation he had heard. "There may not be anything we can do."
"Maybe not, but we have to try," Lois said.
"Oh, I agree," Clark said. "I'm open to suggestions."
Lois frowned at the dashboard of the Cherokee. "He said the cloned frogs died?"
"That's what he said," Clark said.
"We have to find out why."
"Why what?"
"Why the frogs died. There has to be a reason."
"How do you intend to do that?"
"Look, Leek hasn't even tried to find out, if what you said is right. We need some of the frogs. We can take them over to STAR Labs. Jimmy has a friend there -- a Dr. Klein. He says the guy's kind of an absent-minded professor, but he's really brilliant. He's a physicist, but from what I understand, he also has a degree in medicine and a master's in biochemistry. He'll help us if we tell him what's going on."
"Well, I suppose," Clark said doubtfully. "But --"
"Clark, if the Superman clone is going to die without help, we need to find out if there's anything we can do to help him!" She pulled sharply out of the parking space, causing the driver of a car waiting for the space to give a faint scream and blow his horn. Clark said nothing.
Lois ignored the horn, slammed the Jeep into forward and nearly peeled out of the parking lot. She was really upset, Clark thought. He didn't blame her a bit. Up until now he had regarded the clone as a complication at best and a danger at the worst, but now it looked as if he was simply one more unfortunate pawn in Luthor's ongoing campaign to attack Superman.
"And we need to find out what's going on at that meeting tonight." Lois continued as if there had been no interruptions. "Do you think Superman would be willing to listen in?"
"Since this involves him, probably," Clark said.
"Good. I want to know what's going on, before we go after some of the frogs. I'd like you to get hold of Superman and ask him to hang around LexTower tonight at ten, and eavesdrop. I want to know what those sleazebags are up to. After that, you and I are going to come back here -- about midnight, I think. By that time, the only people we'll have to look out for will be the security guards. We're going to collect some specimens." Lois passed a slow-moving truck, barely avoided an oncoming car, and cut back into her lane inches ahead of a city bus. Clark winced.
"Uhh ... Lois? Do you think you could concentrate on your driving? If you get us both killed we won't be around to help the clone."
She opened her mouth and then closed it again. "Sorry. You're right. It just makes me so angry ...!"
"It makes me angry, too," Clark said. "He's been alive just long enough to get a taste of life, and now he's going to die unless there's something we can do. Cloning a frog is one thing. Cloning a man is something else altogether."
"I'm going to put that ... that louse away for a thousand years," Lois said, although now she at least appeared to be paying closer attention to her driving. "Philanthropist my a ..." She broke off, glanced at Clark and then blew her horn savagely at a bicyclist who had had the poor judgement to try to cross the street in front of her, with nothing but a green light for permission. "He's going down, no matter what we have to do or how long it takes. And Leek, too. The guy doesn't deserve the title of 'human being'. He's created a little boy, turned him into a grown man, and now he's going to let him die without doing anything to try to stop it. Well, we're going to. And Leek's going to wish he'd never been born!"
Clark didn't doubt it for an instant.
----------
Lois Lane glanced at her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes. It was after eleven. Surely the meeting in the penthouse of LexTower was over by this time. Where was Superman? A gentle tapping on her window brought her around so fast she nearly fell over her own feet. Superman stood beyond the pane and she hurried to open it for him.
For an instant, she wondered if this was really Superman, but he put her doubts at rest at once.
"I kind of exceeded your instructions," Superman said, stepping lightly down into her living room. He handed her a recording cassette.
"What's this?"
"After I talked to Clark, I decided that we'll need all the hard evidence we could collect, so I borrowed some equipment and made a recording for you," Superman said. "I'm acquainted with Dr. Klein, so I went over to STAR Labs, explained the problem, and he loaned me a directional microphone and a recorder. It was a good thing I did, considering what I overheard tonight. And Dr. Klein is anxious to help if he can. He was pretty upset when he heard what was being done." He smiled mechanically. "I think his medical ethics are offended, as well as his human ones. He said to tell you that he'll be waiting tonight, and to bring the samples directly to him. He'll take it from there."
Lois felt her eyes widen. Evidently her influence was rubbing off on her partner, or possibly, she amended, he was simply so outraged by what they had discovered that he was willing to let Superman stretch some of his self-imposed rules for the sake of justice -- and to try to save a life. If anything would push Superman to such extremes, that would be it, she knew.
"You don't need to listen to the whole thing now," he added. "Basically, the clone's vitals and brain activity are within acceptable limits for now, but they're beginning to fluctuate somewhat. Leek estimates that he has another week, maybe two, before he starts to lose his powers. Plenty of time, in Luthor's own words, for him to kill me. There's plenty on there to incriminate both of them." He hesitated. "There's something else, too."
"What?"
"They're talking about making another clone from the sample of my hair. Apparently there were four before this one, but they only survived to childhood. Not long enough to develop super powers."
Lois nodded mutely. She shouldn't have been surprised, she knew. Lex had proven to her beyond any doubt by now that he was capable of any depravity while in pursuit of a goal, but the information was unexpectedly shocking anyway.
"Lois, are you all right?" Superman asked.
"Yeah." She cleared her throat. "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks, Superman. This should help a lot."
"You're welcome. Lois --" He hesitated for an instant. "If you need any more help, don't hesitate to ask. This has to be stopped. Not just for me. They're killing -- well, children, actually. Children who are my brothers."
"I know," she said. "I'll make a copy of this, and when we've got everything we need, I'll take it to Henderson -- along with my file on Lex. In the meantime, we need to get every bit of evidence we can."
"If you need my help," he said again, "just ask. You'll have it. And be careful tonight."
"We will," she said.
----------
Clark brought a camera and plenty of film, and a single-minded determination that what Luthor and Leek were doing had to be stopped, whatever it took. Lois might wonder about Superman's whole-hearted cooperation, but the information that he had seen in Leek's file cabinet had been enough to make him realize that what Luthor and the scientist were doing was nothing more or less than murder. That was where he had seen the documentation, and the entire history, of the experiments with the previous four clones, and that was when he had decided to get a record of the meeting in Luthor's penthouse this evening.
There was one thing that he hadn't told Lois about the time that he had spent floating silently above the penthouse. He had listened to the conversation between Lex Luthor and Fabian Leek with growing fury as they discussed the health of their clone. The clone, himself, was to all appearances asleep in a kind of clear chamber to one side of the semi-laboratory in which they had installed monitoring equipment and an armchair, where earlier he had watched and listened to Luthor as he told his "son" a bedtime story.
The two men had discussed the clone's life expectancy, and the intention to make another clone, now that they had managed to create a successful prototype. Well, somewhat, anyway. A clone who had made it to adulthood. The cold-blooded, clinical detachment of the two men had made him angrier than ever. The Superman clone wasn't just some specimen, as Leek referred to him. He was an intelligent creature with the mind and experience of a child. He wasn't a frog or even a dog or cat. He deserved to be treated as such, and certainly not used as a vehicle to commit murder, and then discarded like so much garbage.
It was in the midst of his anger that he had become aware of another presence. There was no other word for it. Another set of thoughts that were not his own. It had left him momentarily disconcerted to feel a series of childlike thoughts and emotions that didn't belong to him, of a mind that was not yet aware of him, but definitely aware of Luthor and Leek and what they said.
There was confusion; a lack of understanding of much of what was said, but two things had been clear: anger and fear. The mind was afraid of dying, and afraid to ask what was in store for him, but he knew it wasn't good. Maybe if he pleased his father, his father would love him enough to help. The emotions had been very distinct, and it was then that Clark had realized that somehow he was picking up the thoughts and feelings of the clone, himself.
He had often wondered if he might possess some sort of ESP. He had always seemed to have a kind of awareness of others' feelings. Nothing clear; nothing more than a sense or hunch about their mental processes. He had wondered if it sprang from some sort of Kryptonian mental talent and if it would be stronger with others of his own kind, but this was the first time that he had actually had any real evidence of it. Even now, he wasn't sure whether it was because the clone was, like him, a Kryptonian, or whether it was because their brains were as close to identical as it was possible to get.
But he had known it the instant that the clone had become aware of him and waited, expecting his twin to betray him.
But he hadn't. He hadn't said a word.
----------
The laboratory loomed like a blot of darkness against the pale illumination of the Metropolis skyline. Clark's senses were tuned to their highest peak of alertness. He knew to the inch where each security guard was, where the alarm systems were, and what to do about them if necessary. He had marked out in his mind the quickest escape route, and had already settled in his own mind that if it came down to it that he would fly away rather than be caught, taking Lois with him. It was that important that they not be discovered here if they were to have the slightest chance of saving the life of the other Superman, and if they were not to alert Leek and Luthor that their game had been discovered.
He had decided after his venture in surveillance that he wasn't going to call the other Superman a clone anymore. That was to relegate him to a status less than that of a person. His twin was a child in the body of a man, but no less a person, for all that, and he deserved the acknowledgement that it was so.
"See anything?" Lois whispered.
"Not yet. Let's go."
Silently, they moved across the lawn in front of the laboratory, and flitted around to the side.
A security guard was coming through the parking lot that was situated beside the left wing of the building, and Clark and Lois ducked into the shadow of the hedge until the man went on by and rounded the corner of the lab into the front and out of sight.
Lois took the lead then, tracing a circuitous route that kept them concealed as much as possible, through the flowerbeds, stepping only on the decorative stones and then across the patch of grass between them and their goal: the side door that opened into the hallway outside of Leek's office. Clark had seen her sabotage the lock with a wad of chewing gum during their earlier foray, and wasn't in the least surprised that the door came open without the slightest fuss.
Lois peeked through the door, counting, and then ducked through and hugged the wall under the lens of the slowly swiveling videocamera. Clark was right on her heels. Backs tight against the wall to keep themselves out of its range, they waited until the camera turned to cover the opposite end of the hallway and then ran swiftly and silently in their rubber-soled shoes until they reached the corner and rounded it. A few feet further down was the door of Fabian Leek's office.
She had used gum to block the locking of the door here, too, and it had been equally successful, Clark saw. He had to admire his partner's expertise in the field of breaking and entering. It was just as well, he thought, as she carefully removed the evidence of her sabotage and tossed it into the trash receptacle that stood in the hall behind them, that she had chosen to become an investigative reporter instead of a jewel thief or something. The Metropolis PD would have been hopelessly outmatched. The barriers removed, they crept quietly into the scientist's office.
----------
Lois watched her partner's reactions as they crept through the short hallway to Leek's office. Clark's glasses were resting on his nose, and it was obvious to her that he was scanning the immediate area closely. Superman, it seemed, was making a very determined effort not to get caught.
Inside the office, Clark made a beeline for the file cabinet. "I'll search this; why don't you take the desk."
She nodded, content to let him find whatever it was that he had pinpointed earlier. The office had no windows, situated as it was away from the outer wall of the building. Probably a security measure, she thought. Without a pause, she turned the door's lock, threw her coat on the floor to cover the crack beneath the door and switched on the light. Then, she turned her attention to the scientist's desk.
The drawers were locked, but undoing the locks was only the work of a moment. Quickly and efficiently, she sorted through the various notes and folders that were apparently Leek's ongoing projects, carefully replacing them in the exact order in which she had found them and locking the drawer when she had assured herself that the papers she was checking had nothing to do with the clone.
It was in the bottom left drawer: a complete record of the creation of the Superman clone. Quickly and efficiently, she photographed each page, replaced the notes in the folder and returned the folder to the drawer.
Clark was standing beside her when she turned, a satisfied look on his face.
"Find anything?" she asked.
"Yeah. Tell you about it later." He reached out to switch off the light and Lois retrieved her coat. He gestured to the door that opened off the side of Leek's office. "According to the floor plan, this is his private lab."
She nodded. "I couldn't sabotage this one; I'm going to have to pick it," she told him in a whisper. "Keep an ear out, would you? If the security guard comes by and decides to check the office, I want plenty of warning."
He grinned, his teeth gleaming in the dimness. "Got your bag for frog collecting?"
"Right here. Go on!"
"Right," he replied softly. "Hurry."
Somehow, it was a lot easier to do the job now that she knew that it was Superman protecting her back. He would have more than enough warning for them to hide if anyone decided to intrude. She dealt summarily with the lock and pushed the door carefully open. The hinges squeaked a little, and the sound was like a siren to her ears, but in reality it couldn't have been heard outside the room.
Clark crossed the room to her so quietly that she could have sworn his feet hadn't touched the floor. "Guard coming," he whispered.
Together they slipped through the door and closed it softly after them. ----------
They stood in complete darkness, except for the tiny and wholly inadequate wall light, for several seconds, but at last she felt Clark relax and straighten up beside her. "He checked the office and went on," he whispered. "Let's not waste time, though."
Lois had removed the mini-mag from her pocket and now twisted it on.
The laboratory looked no different to her than any other lab she had seen in her career as a reporter. As a matter of fact, the single year of high school chemistry that she had taken had included a lab as well, and this looked like that one too. It was cluttered with equipment, the most of which meant nothing to her. A second door in the opposite wall stood slightly ajar, and from the room beyond, she could hear a faint beeping sound. She flashed her light around the room, looking for the frogs, but it was Clark who found what they were looking for in the very back of the room.
"Over here, Lois!" She wondered for a second how he had managed to find the frogs so quickly and then reprimanded herself sharply. Of course he would know where they were! If he didn't simply hear them, he had probably spotted them in the dark with his incredible eyesight. Could Superman see in the dark? Well, he hadn't been able to see the invisible men some months ago, but he had said that he needed visible light. He just hadn't said how much. Her flashlight had supplied a little, and that might be all he required. He had certainly reached the frogs quickly and unerringly enough.
She threaded her way quickly past the tables, lab equipment and a battered desk bearing a computer and a pile of folders and charts, and paused before Clark's discovery.
The table against the rear wall held several specimen boxes containing dead frogs, next to a terrarium where several frogs hopped listlessly about. A second one, labeled "1st Generation" beside it also contained several frogs, two of which were dead, several obviously in the last stages of life and six still moving about. One of the living frogs had five legs, and Lois grimaced.
It was the matter of a moment to transfer one of the dead frogs into a plastic bag brought for the purpose. She handed it to Clark.
"Take this. I'm going to take a couple of the live ones and --" she couldn't help a grimace -- "a couple of the sick ones. Dr. Klein is going to need plenty of samples."
"What if he misses them?"
"Put a few of the ones from the live tank in with the others. He'll never know the difference."
Clark shrugged and obeyed as she transferred her choices to a paper sack. "Okay, let's get out of here."
"Someone's coming," Clark whispered. "Under the desk, quick!"
She obeyed at once. "Where are you going to hide?"
"Shh!" He shoved the chair in front of her, and disappeared.
----------
Lois huddled back under the desk and held perfectly still. Footsteps crossed the floor, headed toward the back of the room, and she heard various rattles and clinks as some sort of equipment was disturbed. She tried to breathe softly, and hoped that the frantic thrumming of her heart couldn't be heard by whoever had entered the laboratory.
More footsteps, and the unidentified intruder approached the desk. A pair of feet clad in brown leather shoes paused in front of her. If he found her now, Clark wouldn't be able to help her. She held her breath, praying that whoever it was would find what he wanted and go away.
A hand came within her range of vision, and an arm in a brown sleeve. The hand pulled a drawer open and removed a folder. Lois closed her eyes.
The unknown man -- it was a man, she was sure -- was muttering to himself.
Carefully, she took a breath, trying to make no sound at all. Above her on the desk top she could hear papers rustling, and then the hand reached down to open the drawer again. It deposited the folder back into the drawer and closed it with a click.
The feet turned away and disappeared from her range of vision, but she could still hear him moving around. Something creaked softly, and a pale, bluish light became visible. The faint beeping of which she had been aware, coming from the other room, grew louder. The footsteps retreated, but she could still hear movement. She breathed softly, not daring to peek out of her hiding place to see what was going on.
More clinking. Whoever had entered the room seemed to be at some distance from her now, but he was still present. Her nose began to itch, and a spot on one shoulder blade. She didn't dare try to reach it for fear she would make a sound and alert the man to her presence. She gritted her teeth and tried to concentrate on counting backward from a thousand.
The footsteps were approaching again. Lois held perfectly still, holding her breath as they stopped in front of the desk once more. A spot on top of her head had begun to itch as well, and the sensation spread until she could have sworn her entire scalp was crawling with insects.
The footsteps retreated once more. The door to Leek's office opened and closed with a decisive click.
Lois let out her breath softly and reached up to scratch her scalp thoroughly, but she didn't move from her hiding place just yet. The last thing she needed was for him to decide that he had forgotten something and return just in time to catch her.
The chair in front of her hiding place was moved quietly away, and Clark's voice said, "He's gone."
She scooted out from under the desk and stood up, scratched her nose thoroughly and then reached futilely over her shoulder in an attempt to reach the spot on her shoulder blade. Clark observed her attempt and then extended a hand to scratch the offending itchy spot.
She gave a faint sigh of relief. "Thanks. Did you see who it was?"
He nodded. "Leek."
"What was he doing here?"
"Good question." He opened the drawer that Leek had opened minutes before and withdrew the folder. Lois adjusted her mini-mag to illuminate the page.
"Hmmm ..." Clark rapidly scanned the pages. "Looks like an autopsy report. 'Subject Alpha'."
"On one of the other clones?"
"Looks like it." His mouth looked grim. "The others are here, too. And ..." His eyebrows flew up. "This is interesting."
"What?"
"Looks like a very detailed report on Luthor's involvement." He withdrew a Manila envelope and shook several mini-cassettes and several photographs into his hand. "Look at this. 'Conversation with Luthor 1, Conversation with Luthor 2, Conversation with Luthor; Disposal of Clone 1' ...There's a bunch of them. 'Conversation with Luthor, Penthouse' ... and today's date."
"Looks like Dr. Leek doesn't trust his partner in crime," Lois said. "He may be a sleazebag, but he's not a fool."
"I'd say," Clark said. "I'd guess he's trying to protect himself just in case. I'm going to make copies of these papers. Turn on the table light there, would you?"
Lois obeyed. "While you're doing that, I want to see what's in the other room."
"Go ahead."
Lois turned away, hearing the faint clicking of the camera behind her, and hurried to open the second door. It swung open at her push, and she found herself looking at a small room filled with unidentified equipment. In the center, however, was a large cylinder, perhaps seven feet long, made of some kind of plastic and filled with a clear, pale blue fluid.
"Clark," she called softly.
He tucked the Manila envelope under his jacket, giving her a sharp look at the same time. "What's the matter?"
"Come here. I think I've found something."
He crossed the room quickly and stopped still, staring at the scene. "What do you suppose that is?"
"Could it be the thing they grew the clones in? I've never seen anything like it before."
"Maybe." He was looking at the scene with narrowed eyes.
Lois glanced uneasily over her shoulder. "It looks like something out of Frankenstein. Let's get out of this place, Clark. I want to get the frogs to Dr. Klein as fast as we can."
"All right. Just a minute, though."
"What?"
"I'm going to get some photographs."
----------
When Clark Kent returned to his apartment, it was almost four A.M. After dropping the frogs off with Dr. Klein, he had seen Lois home and then made a trip by the Daily Planet to make use of their duplicating equipment. A short time later, Superman had made a second foray into Fabian Leek's laboratory to return the pilfered items. He had no intention of alerting the scientist that someone was aware of his game in time for him to escape before the long arm of the law swooped down.
He had struggled with his conscience for some time after their discoveries in Leek's cloning lab, but he and his partner had finally decided that if they were to notify the police immediately, they would undoubtedly descend on Leek, and give Luthor enough warning to cover his tracks. They wanted to have all their evidence in hand before they involved the minions of the law and that, among a few other things, involved Dr. Klein's results.
He dropped into bed, more tired than he had ever been. This had been an emotionally exhausting night. He definitely needed a couple of hours' sleep before he went in to work this morning.
----------
"Here's the photos you wanted, Lois." Jimmy presented her with a thick envelope of photographs. "What is this stuff, anyway? Some sort of horror movie preview? This is pretty grisly."
"Tell me about it," she said. "Some of it is evidence. Some of it is information. Thanks." She took the photographs, glancing up at the monitors. They were showing a train derailment in New Jersey, and she could see the red and blue form of Superman whisking back and forth almost faster than the eye could follow as he assisted the emergency personnel. Quickly, she sorted through the photos, separating out the copies of Leek's notes. "I need you to fax these to Dr. Klein over at STAR Labs right away. Let him know that they're the notes that go with the samples we gave him last night. Got it?"
"Your wish is my command." Jimmy took the proffered notes. "What samples?"
"Never mind. Just get that stuff to Dr. Klein as fast as you can. He's waiting for the information."
"You got it," Jimmy said. He glanced at the monitors, where the cameras had zoomed in on Superman. "That kind of boggles my mind, y'know."
"What does?"
"Him." Jimmy pointed at the screen with a thumb. "A year ago nobody'd heard of him. Today everybody on Earth owes him his life. How many times has he just dropped out of nowhere and saved our lives? He pulled me out from in front of a truck last November." He was silent for a moment, studying the man on the screen. "We're lucky he's here, but why do you suppose he decided to live here in Metropolis? What's so special about it?"
"I don't know," she said. "But something must be. Maybe I should ask him that when I talk to him again." She turned away from the screens, which had shifted to downtown Metropolis, and now showed images of picketing employees at one of the new Cost Mart stores that were due to open soon in Metropolis. Lois had seen Cost Mart stores in places like New York but it hadn't been until recently that the international chain had moved into Metropolis. The grand opening was scheduled something like five or six months down the road but it looked as if they were already having labor troubles.
The door of the editor's office opened. Perry exited and headed across the office toward the exit.
"Hold down the fort," he said as he passed them. "I'm headed for lunch. Gonna try some of that blowfish sushi."
Jimmy's eyes widened. "The kind that can kill you?"
"Sayonara." Perry slung his jacket over one shoulder and breezed toward the elevator.
Jimmy stared after him. "I'm really worried about the Chief," he said, finally.
"Perry has a lot worrying him right now," Lois said.
"Yeah, but this ..." Jimmy watched as his boss disappeared into the elevator. "I mean, white water rafting, Death Valley hikes, blowfish sushi -- it's like he's trying to kill himself or something. Yesterday he said something about living on the edge."
"'Living on the edge'?"
"I heard him!"
Lois shook her head. "Perry's not going to kill himself," she said, "but he's getting a lot of pressure from upstairs over our advertisers dropping us. That's one of the reasons Clark wanted that information. He's trying to figure out what's going on."
Jimmy didn't look convinced. "I don't know. I think it might be something else."
"Well, if you find out what it is, let me know," Lois said, "but speaking of risk to life and limb, unless you want to risk yours, go fax that stuff to Dr. Klein. He needs it."
"Oh yeah. Sorry." Jimmy cast a last look at the elevators and departed.
----------
The sonic boom that rattled the windows in Smallville, Kansas, at the hour of seven A.M., announced the arrival of Clark Kent at his parents' farm.
Martha Kent looked up when the front door opened as her son, clad neatly in slacks and a smart sports jacket, stepped inside. "Clark! This is a surprise. Is everything all right?"
"Hi, Mom." He glanced around the living room. "You got new slip covers for the living room set."
"The old ones were ready for the rag bag." Martha recognized the tactic. Clark had always had difficulty saying so when something was bothering him, but the very fact that he was here so unexpectedly told her that that was the case. "Come on in the kitchen and have some tea."
That was also the old pattern. She would make him tea and let him figure out how to explain the problem to her, and they would talk. He followed her willingly into the kitchen and Martha went to get him a mug. "How are things at work?"
"So-so." Clark took a seat at the kitchen table. "Perry's worried because a bunch of our advertisers have suddenly dropped us. I'm trying to figure out why."
"Did you ever find out anything about the imposter?" she asked, setting the mug of water in the microwave.
"Yeah. I guess that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Where's Dad?"
"He went to buy feed. What's happened?" Casually she set a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of him and watched in satisfaction as he automatically took one and bit into it.
"These are great," he remarked. "Well, after I talked to you, I thought it over and decided to ask Lois to help me -- as Superman." He finished the cookie and his hand went instantly back to the plate for a second one. "She's the best investigative reporter I've ever known, Mom. I figured that if anybody could help me, it would be her."
"And did she?"
He nodded. "Yeah. But it's turned into something else, now."
"What's happened?" The microwave beeped and she turned to take out the mug of hot water. "Here you go. Is Oolong all right?"
"It's fine," he said, taking the mug and the tea bag. Martha pushed the sugar container over next to him. "I had to tell her a little more about Superman's real history -- where I came from and how I got here. I trust her, Mom," he added. "She's not going to publish it or anything. Anyway, the next morning ..." The whole story came out. When he finished, Martha found herself staring at him with a sensation close to horror. "That poor boy!"
"I know. Dr. Klein is trying to find out if there's anything he can do to help him. Lois is determined to do everything she can, and so am I. I mean, he may look like an adult, and his super powers must have let him learn a lot of stuff pretty fast, but inside, he's just a little kid."
"This Lex Luthor is a monster," Martha said unequivocally. "And Leek isn't any better. They're murderers. They deserve to be sent to prison for the rest of their lives."
"Yeah, I know. We're doing our best. I wish I knew what to do." He swallowed scalding tea without a wince. "Do you know what Lois did, Mom? After that thing with the pheromone perfume last year, when she found out about Luthor, she's been investigating him. She was trying to protect me. She's been afraid he would try to kill me."
"It sounds to me like she cares a lot more for you than you realized," Martha said.
He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm starting to think maybe she does," he admitted, "but taking on Luthor single-handed! It scares the daylights out of me!"
"Then I guess you need to make sure that you help her," Martha said. "If you can get enough evidence to put him in prison, he won't be a danger to her anymore."
"That's what I'm trying to do," he said. "I have to admit, she's been more reasonable about that than I expected. When we broke into Leek's lab last night it worked really well, and we found a lot of information. We found photos, and a whole written record of what's been done so far. Equally important, Leek has been keeping a kind of journal of everything Luthor has had him do, how much he was paid, everything. There were even tape recordings of Leek's conversations with Luthor. Once we have Dr. Klein's report, it may be enough to take to Henderson."
"Are recordings admissible as evidence?" Martha asked. "I didn't think they allowed them."
"It depends on the state," Clark said. "They're admissible in New Troy as long as they're not the sole evidence against a defendant. There's the stuff that Lois has collected since November, and I think Leek will back us up against Luthor, when it comes to saving his own skin. Henderson could probably get an arrest warrant for Leek on the basis of Superman's recording, but we don't want to warn Luthor and give him the chance to make Leek's evidence disappear. He went to a lot of trouble to document everything. I think he's afraid Luthor's going to leave him holding the bag if anything goes wrong. He's right, too."
"It sounds that way," Martha agreed. "Of course, if this Luthor is as amoral as you think he is, Leek's life could be in danger once he's of no more use to him. This man didn't get to be as powerful as he is by leaving witnesses around. Or have I been reading too many spy thrillers?"
Clark smiled slightly. "No, I think you're absolutely right. I suspect Dr. Leek knows it, too. He's going to need to be protected."
"Clark, have you thought about what's going to happen to the clone if you do manage to save him?" Martha asked suddenly.
Clark shrugged. "Kind of. Of course, we're not sure yet if we can. If Dr. Klein can figure out what's going wrong, and if there's anything he can do about it, I guess we'll have to find some way to take care of -- of him and teach him how to behave. I'm not sure how yet, but ..."
"He needs to be around someone who will teach him right from wrong," Martha said quietly. "If he's only a few months old, I doubt what he's been taught has really had time to become permanent, no matter how fast he absorbs information -- but you can't allow someone with your powers not to understand the difference."
"I know, and that's been worrying me, too. He's not bad, but he is a child. He wants to please his 'father'." Clark made a face. "A 'father' that doesn't care about him at all, except for how he can use him."
"I know." Martha bit her lip. The mere thought of Clark's twin in the hands of Lex Luthor not only frightened her, it broke her heart. A child needed love while he was growing up and learning what the world was about. This child, for that was what he really was, had a man in the place of his parent who, she thought, wasn't really capable of love. "If we can help, you know we will," she said.
"I know." He finished the tea with a single swallow, and glanced at his watch. "I need to go. They'll be expecting me back in the office in a few minutes. I'll call you and let you know what happens. And don't be surprised if I ask for advice," he added with a little smile. "Somehow, things are always at least a little clearer after I've talked to you and Dad."
----------
Lois glanced up as the elevator opened and Clark stepped out. It had been a good hour since she had seen him on television, and with his help the passengers had been long since freed and taken to various hospitals. Of course, if Clark were an ordinary person, she wouldn't wonder at all what had held him up from the meeting with his "source". Still, she thought, he had to allow for normal travel time.
He hurried down the ramp with his usual bouncy step. Lois had to work not to smile as she watched him. He was so good at being un-Supermanish that it was really amazing.
"What's so funny?" he asked, as he arrived at his desk.
"Nothing, really. Jimmy got our film developed and he sent the stuff on the clones to Dr. Klein."
"Good. How did the copies of Leek's evidence come out?"
"Nice and clear." She handed him the envelope containing the pictures and he examined them closely.
"This should give us the leverage we need," he said.
She nodded. "Now we have to be sure Leek stays alive long enough to hand the originals over to Henderson."
He slipped the photos back into the envelope. "Leek is safe as long as Luthor needs him," he said, "and not a minute longer. I imagine he figured that out pretty quickly, or he wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to document all these things."
"He may be pond scum," Lois said, "but he's not completely stupid. I just hope he was careful. Anyway, as soon as Dr. Klein has his answers, Lane and Kent are going to have to have to talk with the good Dr. Leek."
----------
When Clark returned to his desk, he found a neat stack of printer paper with a post-it note from Jimmy. He scanned the first page quickly as he took his seat and leafed through the subsequent pages, frowning. It seemed as if one day the advertisers had simply decided to drop the Daily Planet and start advertising in the Star, the Gazette, the Herald, and even the National Whisper -- anything but the Daily Planet.
"Anything?" Lois asked. She set his mug on the corner of his desk, nearly slopping hot coffee on its surface. "Oops, sorry."
"No problem." Clark unobtrusively steadied the cup. "The only common factor seems to be that they left the Planet without any complaint or warning." He sounded frustrated, even to himself. "What's the connection?"
"The lack of warning is the connection," Lois said. "They left ... and others are leaving us ... without warning. That means that there's something besides dissatisfaction with the Planet behind it. You were thinking corporate takeover, and you could be right. Remember what I said the other day? When something weird happens, my first suspect is ..."
"Luthor," Clark said.
"Exactly. And," she continued, "from the research I've done on him since November, this fits the LexCorp pattern. A company starts having sudden financial trouble -- nothing that can ever be traced to anyone, though. If it still manages to struggle along, acts of god intervene, and other things start happening to it. Employees strikes, vandalism ... sometimes even some deaths. And then, when the company is on its last legs, LexCorp moves in with an offer ridiculously below what the company was worth a few months before. Right after that, all the bad luck stops and within a little while, it's thriving again. There's never any one thing that can be pinned on anyone, but the whole routine stinks."
"I need to read that folder of yours," Clark said.
"I makes interesting reading," Lois said. "Of course the Planet's troubles could be unrelated, but it fits."
"Yeah, it does, but why the Daily Planet?"
"It's a very prestigious newspaper," Lois said, unarguably. "Wouldn't he benefit to be able to control a news outlet like us? Besides, we're a thorn in his side. How many of his schemes do you think we've busted up in the last few months?"
Clark had to admit she was right. "Probably at least a dozen."
"Or more."
That, of course, was a telling argument. "Okay, how do you think we should check it out?"
"That's another question. I'd guess that there could have been some bribery involved. Who makes the decisions over where these companies advertise?"
"Hmm ..." Clark glanced at the list again. "Let's see if we can dig up lists of the company officers. If we could take a look at their finances ..."
"Jimmy!" Lois called.
----------
Lois was closing down her computer and tidying her desk for the day when her phone rang. She paused in the act of wiping off her computer screen and picked up the receiver. "Lois Lane."
"Oh, Ms. Lane!" The agitated voice at the other end was familiar, and in a few seconds she identified it. "I was afraid I'd missed you!"
"Dr. Klein?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, yes. I need you and Mr. Kent to come by the lab as soon as possible."
"Have you found anything?"
"Yes, but I don't want to talk about it over the phone. When is the soonest you can come by?"
"We're just getting ready to leave," Lois said. "We'll stop by on the way home."
"Wonderful!" Bernard Klein's voice had an excited edge bordering on hysteria. "This is an incredible scientific discovery, Ms. Lane. I'll tell Security to expect you."
"Who was that?" Clark asked as she hung up.
"Dr. Klein. He wants us to stop by on the way home. He says he's found something."
"That was fast."
"Well, he didn't say he had the answer. He just said he'd found something and didn't want to talk about it over the phone. Let's go," she added.
Clark followed her willingly toward the exit. "Lois, if you do any more investigations of Luthor before we solve this thing, you're going to let me help you, right?"
She glanced over her shoulder. "Sure. You're my partner, aren't you? We work together. Why?"
"Well, yeah, we're partners. It just scared me that you'd gone after Luthor without me to help."
"I promise I'll let you be my backup," she said. "Geez, Clark! Didn't anyone ever tell you that you obsess over silly things?"
"Yeah. You."
"Well, I was right." She punched the call button and waited, watching Clark fidget. "I know you think I was taking a risk, but it wasn't as bad as you think."
"Lois, we're talking Luthor here."
"I know. But he's putting on his best face for me and I've been careful to let him think I'm completely taken in." She put a hand on his arm. "Clark, he was threatening you. Do you know how much that scared me?" That was no lie. She hadn't wanted to admit to herself how much the threat to Clark had frightened her. Now she understood it; back then it had simply left her with a hard, cold knot of fear in her gut.
Had she really been that attached to him all those months ago? It seemed that despite all her resolutions, Mad Dog Lane hadn't been immune to a handsome face, a nice body and a charming personality after all.
But that wasn't quite true. She'd known a number of good-looking, charming men, many of whom had made plays for her at one time or another. Most of the time they didn't faze her in the slightest. It wasn't just any man who had worked his way through her defenses. It was whatever made him uniquely Clark. And that held true whether he was Clark or Superman. After all, she'd fallen for both of him, hadn't she?
"Lois?" Clark's voice snapped her out of her abstraction. "Are you okay?"
"Huh? Sure. Why?"
He was looking at her oddly. "You kind of zoned out on me."
"I was thinking," she said, somewhat inadequately. "Anyway, I promise to tell you if I plan on doing any more snooping on Lex. Besides, it will be easier with two of us to do the work. I have a date with him tomorrow night, by the way. He's taking me to the ballet." The elevator doors opened and they stepped in. "I won't do anything to make him suspicious, Clark. That's a promise."
He didn't speak immediately. The doors of the elevator closed.
"Did it really scare you that much?" he asked in a low voice. "Enough to take that kind of a risk?"
"Huh? You mean when Lex tried to kill you? Clark, if he'd succeeded, I'd have lost you. Do you have any idea what that would have done to me? Just because I sometimes don't treat you as well as I should doesn't mean you aren't important to me. Yes, it scared me. After I'd had time to think about it, it scared me a lot. I decided that I wasn't going to let him hurt you, whatever it took, and that meant I had to bring him down. It's only common sense."
"Right. Common sense." He rubbed the bridge of his nose and pushed his glasses more firmly into place. Lois glanced away to keep him from seeing that she was trying to hide a smile.
----------
The STAR Labs parking lot was largely deserted at this hour, although there were a few vehicles left. Five middle-aged sedans, one flashy sports car, a battered pickup truck and a motorcycle, all chrome and glossy black paint, still occupied the lot. Lois pulled her Cherokee up beside the motorcycle and cut the engine. "Wonder who works here that would ride a motorcycle," she wondered aloud.
"I believe that belongs to Dr. Klein," Clark said.
"How do you know?"
"Jimmy mentioned it," Clark said. "He says Dr. Klein isn't your ordinary absent-minded professor."
"From what I saw of him last night, that's a good description," Lois said. "At least he's not a mad scientist out to take over the world."
Clark grinned but said nothing.
The security guard at the entrance to the main building checked their identification, supplied them with passes and let them through. Lois was completely lost almost at once, but Clark never hesitated and within a couple of minutes he was knocking on the door of an office with the name "Bernard Klein" on a small, eye-level, metal plate.
The scientist answered the door at once and beckoned them inside. Lois had only met Dr. Klein in person twice, although she had spoken to him on the phone several times. He was a middle-aged man, chubby, balding and surprisingly tall -- and obviously chomping at the bit to explain his discovery. He closed and locked the door behind them and turned.
"This way," he said, "I want to show you something."
Lois and Clark looked at each other and followed Dr. Klein through his cluttered office and into the adjoining laboratory.
Lois saw Clark lift his head slightly as they entered the lab, but he said nothing as Dr. Klein threaded his way across the room to the terrarium located in the very back, where three frogs hopped about. He paused, looking very pleased with himself.
"These are the frogs you brought me, Ms. Lane," he said, gesturing at the amphibians. "One of the two sick ones died. I used it for my research. I used the other one as a test subject. It's one of these, and the other two are the reasonably healthy ones you included. Can you tell which one it is?"
Lois shook her head. They all looked the same to her.
"This one." Klein picked up one of the hoppers and exhibited it proudly before her. "What do you think?"
"It looks like an ordinary frog," Lois said.
"It does," Dr. Klein said, "but it's anything but an ordinary frog. When you brought it to me it was dying. Now it's healthy."
"You know what was killing it?" Clark asked and Lois could hear the suppressed excitement in his voice.
"I do." Bernard Klein grinned, waving the frog with triumphant exuberance. "The cloning process actually validates several theories on the subject." He held up the squirming amphibian. "This looks like your ordinary spring peeper, but it's anything but. An extra DNA chain was added to its DNA structure -- also from a frog, but not a spring peeper. It supplies an enzyme that produces the accelerated growth ..."
"But why did the frogs die?" Lois interrupted.
"I'm getting to that. The enzyme itself is the culprit. You see, the accelerated growth enzyme comes from an exotic South American frog -- the doppel-buffo. They grow with amazing speed. When the enzyme-producing DNA is incorporated into the DNA of another creature, it induces the accelerated growth that is needed to create an adult clone -- like the Superman clone. But in its original owner, when the frog reaches its adult size, there's another enzyme that the frog's body produces to shut down the growth enzyme. That chemical cue isn't present in other creatures, and when they reach adult size the enzyme doesn't shut off. It progressively produces metabolic imbalances that eventually kill the clone." He grinned triumphantly at them. "I suspected something of the sort as soon as I read the records you sent me, and I was able to identify the enzyme from the molecular receptors ..." He broke off. "Well, that's pretty technical. Anyway, doppel-buffos are commonly found in pet stores in the United States, so it was easy to buy a couple of them to isolate the enzyme. I tried it on the dying frog, and ..." Again he gestured with the frog. "Voila! It worked!"
Lois stared at the wiggling creature as the grinning scientist placed it back with its brothers. "Can you use the same method to save the Superman clone?"
Klein nodded. "I don't see why not. It will have to be done once he loses his invulnerability, however, because the enzyme has to be delivered directly into the bloodstream. In any case, it would be best if Superman can bring the clone here as soon as possible because I'd like to run some tests first."
"Dr. Klein, this is wonderful," Lois said. "Jimmy said you were smart, but I think he underestimated you."
Klein gave an embarrassed grin. "Well, if I can't be hip, I guess that's the next best thing. I'm ready to go home early for once. Care to walk out to my motorcycle with me?"
"That really is your motorcycle?" Lois asked.
He nodded, reaching up to retrieve a leather jacket and helmet from the coat rack. Lois read the logo on the back of the jacket and raised her eyebrows. "Lab Rats?"
"Do you think it's too much?" Dr. Klein asked, pausing in the act of pushing a hand into the sleeve.
"Actually," Lois said, "it's creative. I kind of like it."
"It was my idea," Dr. Klein said. He opened the door to the hall and stood back to let them precede him, then closed and locked it behind him.
Ten minutes later, they watched as the scientist roared out of the lot on the black and silver motorcycle, popped a wheelie, and sped away down the road.
"Jimmy was right," Lois said, after a pause. "Dr. Klein is definitely not ordinary."
----------
The night breeze was brisk and chilly, although Superman was perfectly comfortable as he floated silently above the city, scanning the darkness with his super-senses. He had been there for over two hours, waiting for a sign of his double, and so far he had seen no trace of him. It might be that the other Superman wasn't abroad tonight, but sooner or later they were bound to meet again, and the sooner the better.
At last he heard the swish of air that announced the passage of his twin, and an instant later he sighted the blue and red of the Superman uniform. Instantly, he followed.
His twin was aware almost at once that he had company. Clark could feel that in the ghostly sensation that was the other Superman's mental processes. He was also aware of Clark's mind. That much was also clear. Within seconds, original confronted duplicate in mid air. Before the other man could speak, Clark broke the silence.
"I need to talk to you. You said before when we talked that you were as old as I was."
"That's right."
"Think for a minute," Clark said. "Do you have any memories of your life? Do you remember growing up? Do you have friends? Do you remember being a child?"
The mental touch changed. Clark sensed confusion and a touch of anger.
"You don't have any memories like that, do you?" Clark said.
"So what if I don't?" The reply was tinged with defiance.
"You can't remember those things because they didn't happen," Clark said. "Your 'father' made you from a part of me. You didn't exist until a short time ago."
The anger in the mental touch became more prominent. "That's a lie. You're a liar. You're not even really Superman. You're Clark Kent."
"Have you told anyone that?" Clark asked.
"Not yet," the other man said, "but I might."
"Please don't," Clark said.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Because someone's been lying to you, but it isn't me," Clark said. "You heard what Dr. Leek and your father said last night. I could 'hear' you listening to them, and you knew I was there too. As a matter of fact, you can 'hear' my thoughts now, can't you."
The other Superman shifted uneasily. "What if I can?"
"Then you can tell if I'm lying to you. You were grown from a part of me, and you're not going to live much longer unless someone can help you."
"That isn't true!"
"Just think about this for a minute," Clark said. "You're my twin -- my brother. I don't want you to die. Dr. Leek doesn't know what to do about it, but I know someone who does. I can help you, if you'll let me. Remember that, all right?"
The confusion in his twin's mind increased, and then, without a word, the other Superman rocketed away and Clark let him go. He had done all that he could for the moment. Now it was up to his "brother" to decide.
----------
The morning was unseasonably warm and sunny as Lois Lane approached the Daily Planet the next morning; more like a day in July. She glanced automatically up into the sky, searching for a glimpse of her partner, but there was no sign of Superman anywhere. She saw Jimmy Olsen turn his battered fixer-upper into the Planet's underground lot; then the roar of an engine and the screech of tires announced Ralph as the bright red sports car rounded the corner into the parking lot. Brakes squealed agonizingly as Ralph realized that his path was impeded by Jimmy's ancient vehicle. She winced in anticipation, then she heard the hair-raising crunch of metal against metal as the front of Ralph's car impacted the rear of Jimmy's.
She ran toward the scene of the collision. Other people were converging on the accident as well, and then the red and blue of Superman's uniform appeared out of nowhere as the Man of Steel came in to a fast landing beside the two cars.
Ralph had hit the older car hard. Lois pushed her way through gawking onlookers to reach the accident only seconds after Superman. The badly crumpled nose of the sports car was buried in the rear of Jimmy's vehicle, and appeared to have rammed the trunk up into the back seat. Ralph jumped from the driver's seat, a trickle of blood running down his forehead, and ran forward to his co-worker, who was leaning forward in the seat, his head resting on the steering wheel. Superman opened the door of Jimmy's car.
"Jimmy, are you all right?" he asked.
Jimmy put a hand on his neck. "Ow," he said faintly.
Ralph pushed forward, wiping at the blood dripping off his nose and grabbed Jimmy by the shoulder. "Look what you made me do!" he said. "My car's ruined!"
Superman removed Ralph's hand. "Later," he said. "Jimmy, don't move. I'm going to x-ray your neck."
Lois inserted her own body between Ralph and Jimmy. "Jimmy, are you hurt?"
Superman interrupted. "I'm pretty sure you have a whiplash, and you've chipped one of your vertebrae," he said. "I don't think it's serious, but I'm going to take you to the emergency room, just to be on the safe side."
"What are you going to do about my car?" Ralph demanded.
"Nothing," Superman said. "The police will be here in a minute." He leaned forward and lifted Jimmy carefully from the seat. With equal care, he rose into the air and an instant later, he and his passenger were out of sight.
Several of the Planet's security guards had appeared on the scene, and one of them spoke. "What happened?"
"He stopped his car without warning!" Ralph said loudly. "I couldn't stop in time!"
"I saw the accident," Lois said. "That's not quite how it happened."
----------
As a result, Lois was nearly an hour late to work. Perry met her as she arrived at her desk, with an agitated question. "Eduardo just told me there was an accident downstairs. How bad is Jimmy hurt?"
"Superman took him to the emergency room," Lois said. "The paramedics arrived while I was still talking to the cops and took Ralph, too. He had a little cut over one eyebrow."
"Somebody said Jimmy broke his neck," Perry said. "I didn't figure it was that bad, but ..."
"Superman said he had a whiplash and a chipped vertebra," Lois reassured him. "He didn't think it was serious, but he flew Jimmy to the hospital just in case."
Perry let out his breath. "Thank Memphis," he said. "It kind of scared me for a minute. What happened?"
"Ralph tail-ended him," Lois said.
"Him and that fancy car of his," Perry said, shaking his head. "The way he was drivin' it, I had a feelin' it wasn't gonna last long."
Perry's southern accent was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, she thought, which meant her boss was more upset than he was letting on. "Well, it's a mess," she said. "He bashed in the whole front of the car, and the rear of Jimmy's, but I don't think anyone was seriously hurt."
"I'll give the hospital a call," Perry said. "Maybe they'll let me talk to him."
Lois nodded. "Let me know what you find out, would you?"
Perry nodded and headed for his office. Lois dropped her purse on the floor and shoved it under her desk with one foot. Clark hadn't returned yet, and the thought worried her just a little, but surely, if Jimmy were hurt worse than he had thought, Clark would have let them know.
A gust of air blew a paper off her desk and a pair of red boots landed on the floor next to her.
"Superman!" she said. "Is anything wrong?"
He shook his head. "Everything's fine. Could I ask you to come with me for a few minutes? I want to talk to you in private."
Maybe Jimmy was hurt worse than they had believed, she thought. "All right. Is Jimmy okay?" she asked.
"Jimmy's fine. I just need to talk to you about something." He reached out his arms. "Come. Fly with me."
----------
"Who's Jimmy?" Superman asked as they rose over the city. "A boyfriend?"
Lois's breath caught in her throat. She should have been on her guard, but her concern for Jimmy had distracted her. In shock, she stared into the familiar face that didn't belong to Clark at all. "You're not Superman!"
"I'm Superman," the clone replied. "Soon I'll be the only Superman." He looked soberly at her. "He likes you. If I threaten you, he'll have to fight me. I have to kill him."
Lois swallowed. 'Keep calm,' she told herself. She was talking to a child here, no matter that he looked like a man. If she did this right, she might be able to talk her way out of it. "Why do you have to kill him?" she asked.
"He's my father's enemy," the clone said, as if that explained everything. "Superman has outlived his usefulness. Might is right, and the old must be replaced by the new."
"Your father told you that," Lois said. "Why does your 'father' want to kill him? Superman is a good man. He's done nothing but good in the time he's been here."
"My father calls him his enemy," the clone said.
"Do you know why?" Lois asked quietly. "Why would someone want you to kill a man who helps so many people? Why would you want to kill him? He's your brother."
The familiar face was close to hers, and she could see him frowning. "I must do what my father tells me," he said.
"Why?" Lois said again. ""Your father wants you to hurt a good man. That's wrong."
"'Might is right'," he said.
"No," Lois said. "Might is not right. Just because you're stronger than someone, doesn't make it right to hurt him." She put a hand on his arm. "I know who your 'father' is," she said. "His name is Lex Luthor. He uses people like things and when he has no more use for them he throws them away. He's Superman's enemy because Superman has stopped him from hurting other people. You mustn't do this. It's wrong!"
"I have to." The clone looked suddenly like a child about to cry. "If I do what he wants, maybe he won't throw me away. Maybe he'll help me."
Lois shook her head. "He won't," she said quietly. "Lex doesn't care about anyone but himself. He had you created for the purpose of killing his greatest enemy: Superman. After you've done that, he won't need you anymore."
"No," the clone said, almost desperately. "My father loves me."
"If he loves you, why does he want you to do things that are wrong?" Lois said. "Please listen. Superman and I have been trying to find a way to help you. We know a scientist who discovered why the frogs died -- why you will die if someone doesn't help you"
"Why would you help me?" the clone asked, almost in a whisper. "Why would he want to help me? I'm his enemy."
"Only if you want to be his enemy," Lois said. "He wants you to be his friend. You're his brother! Superman never had a brother, before. He wants you to live."
A streak of red and blue appeared suddenly in the sky, and a split instant later, Superman was hanging in the air, fifty feet away.
Lois cast a single, warning glance at him and turned back to the Superman who carried her. "Talk to him," she said. "You'll see. He isn't your enemy. He doesn't want to fight you."
The clone looked at his double, hanging motionless in the air, and then back at Lois. Slowly, he began to descend until his feet touched the pavement and he set Lois on her feet, but kept a grip on her upper arm. Superman kept pace with them, making no effort to come closer.
Lois took the clone's hand. "He's not your enemy," she said again. "I'm not your enemy, either. We care what happens to you. Please; don't do this."
Clark didn't say a word, and Lois could see the tenseness in his body. Her partner was afraid to try to rescue her, and with some reason. It was up to her to do it herself.
"Please," she said softly, resting her free hand against the clone's chest. "Talk to him. Let him talk to you. Give us a chance to help you."
The clone released her arm. "Why don't you want to fight me?" he asked, clearly speaking to Clark. "I'm your enemy and might is right."
"Might isn't right," Clark said. "My mother and father always taught me that it's the duty of the strong to protect people who can't protect themselves. Being stronger than someone doesn't make it right to harm him."
The clone cast a glance at Lois and then back at Clark, and Lois could see tears glimmering in his eyes. Clark took a short step toward them. "I don't want to fight you," he said quietly. "If I do, one of us, maybe both of us, would be hurt or killed, and I don't want that to happen. Do you remember what Luthor and Leek said two nights ago? In a few days you're going to start to lose your powers, and you'll die soon after that. It's already starting to happen." He took another step toward the clone. "We don't have much time to stop it," he said. "I told you the truth last night. You're my brother. I don't want you to die. I want to help you."
All at once, the fight seemed to drain out of the clone and Lois saw that tears were leaking from his eyes. Superman was suddenly beside them, and Lois found herself with his solid body between her and the clone. As she watched, her partner put his arm around the other Superman's shoulders.
"It's all right," he said. "You're not alone, and you don't have to be afraid anymore."
The clone wiped at his face with the back of his hand and sniffled, looking more like a little boy than ever, Lois thought. She reached past Superman and patted him on the arm. "Don't cry," she said, somewhat uncomfortably, at least to her own ears. "It's going to be all right."
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The knot in Clark's stomach was slowly unwinding for the first time since he had discovered that his twin had taken Lois with him under false pretenses. When he had found them, he had heard her talking and realized what she was doing, so he had waited. Trying to rescue her as such would have put her in more danger than letting her try to talk her way out, and from what he could feel in his twin's mind, Luthor's Superman didn't really want to fight him. He was confused and scared, and didn't know what to do, but had felt that he didn't have a choice but to fight. He desperately wanted to live, and hoped that if he did his 'father's' bidding, the man might see fit to save him. And then, Lois had offered him real hope.
His brother was only a frightened little boy, in spite of his adult appearance, Clark thought. He desperately wanted someone to care about him and for him. Lex Luthor might have raised him, but he had only cared what his creation could do for him. Any child needed more than that.
"Come on," he said, keeping his arm around his twin's shoulders. "The sooner we get you to our friend, the sooner he can help you."
"We need to get him some other clothes first," Lois interrupted. "That costume is pretty noticeable. Lex is going to be expecting him back."
"He'll be angry," Clark's twin said. "I was supposed to kill you today -- I guess he wanted me to do it before I lost my powers."
"Well, now you don't have to kill anyone," Clark said. "Lois is right, though. We need to get you something else to wear." He paused. "What should we call you? We can't call you Superman, and calling you just 'brother' doesn't seem right."
"My father called me Superman," his twin said.
"Superman's not a name," Lois said. "Superman is a description. Wouldn't you rather have a real name?"
Clark turned to look at her in surprise, but she was regarding his twin thoughtfully. "How would you like to choose a name of your own?"
The other Superman wiped away tears with the heel of his hand. "I don't know any names."
"How about Brian? You kind of look like a Brian," Lois said. "What do you think, Superman?"
"I think it's up to him," Clark said. He looked at his twin. "What do you think?"
"Do you like it?"
"Yes, I do," he said with a smile, "and I think it would be good to be able to call you by your own name."
His brother nodded. "All right. I think I like it, too."
"Then it's official," Lois said. "Your name is Brian. Now, we need to get you some other clothes. Superman, do you think Clark would be willing to loan him an outfit? He's about the same size."
Brian opened his mouth, and Clark spoke quickly. "That's a good idea. Why don't I drop you off at the Planet? I'll take care of getting Brian something to wear and take him to Dr. Klein. We need to get started as soon as we can."
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It somehow seemed a lot longer than it had actually been when Lois walked into the newsroom a short time later -- probably, she thought, because of all that had happened in the relatively short time. Ralph gave her a dirty look as she passed him on the way to her desk. He had developed a spectacular black eye -- apparently a souvenir of the earlier accident -- and a piece of adhesive tape adorned the spot above his eyebrow where she had seen the half-inch cut some hours before.
Perry was in his office, and through the blinds she could see Jimmy sitting on the office couch. The young photographer/researcher/gofer was wearing a neck brace and speaking earnestly to the editor.
"Nice going, Lane," Ralph said, sourly. "After you gave the police that story about the accident, my insurance agent says the company's probably going to raise my rates. You could have kept your mouth shut."
Lois raised an eyebrow. "And let you blame Jimmy for the accident? I don't think so." She pulled out her desk chair and sat down, opening the drawer where she kept the pouch of documents that was her "Lex file". If she gave all this stuff to Henderson, he could probably get a warrant to search Fabian Leek's laboratory, and possibly Luthor's penthouse, but the last thing she and Clark needed was for the authorities to get hold of the hair that Leek had used to create his Superman clones. The cloning techniques were bound to get out eventually, but she had no wish for anyone to be able to produce yet another super-powered clone. She hoped Clark wouldn't take too long with Brian and Dr. Klein. She needed to talk to him about what to do next.
The phone on her desk chose that moment to ring and she picked it up. "Lois Lane."
"Lois, my dear!" It was Lex. "I just wanted to remind you of our dinner date tonight."
"I haven't forgotten," she said. "I'm looking forward to it."
"I'm looking forward to it as well. I'll send a car to pick you up at seven. We'll have dinner in the penthouse and then go on to the ballet. Will that be satisfactory?"
"That will be perfect," she assured him.
"Excellent. Until tonight, then."
After she had hung up, Lois's gaze went back to the thick document folder in her lap. Where was Lex likely to keep something as critical to his plans as the lock of Superman's hair? It would have to be in some place that he felt was safely under his control, and it would have to be preserved in such a way that the cells of the hair roots stayed alive, which probably meant some kind of cryogenic facility. The most likely location was almost certainly the penthouse itself. Lex was highly unlikely to trust such a precious possession to anyone else. And she was going to be there this evening.
In the distance, she heard a sonic boom that caused the newsroom's windows to shake slightly, and an instant later the door to the stairs opened and Clark stepped into the office. Lois closed the flap of the Lex file and got to her feet. This was going to take some planning.
Clark crossed the Pit to her desk with his usual businesslike stride with its understated bounce that left her trying not to smile. Her partner was really good at that -- and it was good thing he was, considering how dreadful his excuses to get away and be Superman were. It was amazing to her that he could be such a convincing actor and at the same time such an incredibly bad liar. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he didn't like to lie, so he had never developed any skill at it, she reflected. Well, that wasn't such a bad thing, was it? Claude had obviously developed great skill at lying. With Clark she would very likely never have to worry. She would be willing to bet that he didn't like even the necessary misdirection that kept his secret intact.
"Conference room," she said, as Clark arrived at her desk.
He blinked. "Okay." He followed her obediently to the conference room and waited as she turned the lock. "What's going on?"
"Clark, I've been thinking," she said. "Before we do anything about bringing the authorities into this, we need to get hold of that lock of Superman's hair."
"I know. I've been thinking about it," Clark said. "One way or another, the cloning technology isn't going to disappear. Even if the authorities hush it up for now, it will be developed independently somewhere, eventually. We don't want Superman's DNA available for anyone to create another clone of him."
"Exactly. And Lex has the lock of hair. He's certainly keeping it under his control somewhere. My guess is the penthouse. He's probably got it in liquid nitrogen, or something, there. Well, I'm having dinner with him at the penthouse, tonight."
"Lois, you can't go snooping around in Luthor's penthouse."
"No, but I can make sure the French windows to his study are unlocked!"
"Are you saying that Superman should break in and take it?" Clark asked.
"It won't really be breaking in if the doors are unlocked," Lois said. "Well, maybe technically, but can you think of any other way to get our hands on it?"
He opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it again. "You're right. I just don't like the idea of you taking a risk like that."
"Clark, it's necessary. We can't let anyone else create another clone. If Dr. Klein manages to save Brian, we're going to have to figure out what to do with him. The last thing we need is for there to be more around. Can you see what would happen if some power-hungry would-be dictator somewhere gets hold of the technology and Superman's DNA?"
"Yeah. He'd have an army of supermen under his control." He looked unusually grim, and she could see the unmistakable "Superman" expression flash across his face. "There's one thing we can do now, though."
"What's that?"
"Superman should fly over LexTower and see if he can spot any place that something like that could be hidden. That way he'll have a better idea where to look, tonight."
She nodded. "That's a very good idea. Can you pass that along to him for me? If he agrees, I'll find a way to unlock the French windows, and after we've left, Superman can come in and get the lock of hair. Just tell him to be sure he doesn't leave any traces."
"I think he can probably manage that," Clark said. He looked at her oddly. "Lois, are you feeling all right?"
"Sure," she said. "Why?"
"It's just that ... I don't know; you've been so agreeable recently, I've sort of wondered if anything was wrong."
Oops! She would have to remember that in the future. "You mean, if I'm not biting your head off there must be something wrong with me?" she said, raising a challenging eyebrow.
"No," he said, backtracking hastily. "It's just that -- well -- um ..."
Lois enjoyed watching him flounder for several seconds before she decided to let him off the hook. "Take it easy, partner. I know what you meant. It's just too much fun to watch you when you stick your foot in your mouth and can't figure out how to get it out. No, nothing's wrong -- except this whole situation, I guess." She leaned back against the conference room table. "I didn't think even Lex could sink to something like this -- not that this situation ever would have occurred to me in a million years. I should have listened to you the first time you tried to tell me about him. I should have known that no matter how much you disliked someone, you'd never lie about him. I'm just sorry I misjudged you so badly back then. You're the best friend I've ever had -- the one person I can always count on."
She could see his neck turning red. Clark looked suddenly uncomfortable. She had been right, she thought. He wasn't happy deceiving her about his dual identity, which meant that he was extremely unlikely to lie to her about anything of lesser importance.
"What's the matter?" she asked. "You look like something's bothering you."
He looked at the toes of his shoes. "Nothing important. I think you and I need to go someplace private and talk; at least we should after things have quieted down some. In the meantime, I guess we'd better get moving. What time is Luthor picking you up tonight?"
"Seven," Lois said, checking her watch. "That gives us six hours."
"Okay. I need to go out for a bit. Can you cover for me?"
"Sure," Lois said. "If anyone asks, you've gone to meet a source. When you get a chance, you should take a look at this." She held out the folder containing the evidence that it had taken her months to acquire. "It's my information on Lex. You need to know what I've dug up on him."
He took the folder. "I'll read it the first chance I get. You might look at the top folder in my right bottom drawer while I'm gone. That's the stuff that Superman and I have managed to document on him. There isn't much, but it might be useful."
"I will," she promised. "And if Jimmy's feeling better, I'll ask him if he's managed to get that stuff on the Planet's advertisers for us. It could be very interesting reading."
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