Author's Notes: I've got less than two weeks to finish Legacy, Metamorphosis and Origins before the new season comes. I don't want my attempt and a creative mind to be tinkered with. Great, I have a deadline to meet. I guess this means my three stories should be completed by Wednesday, September 28th. Argh! Wish me luck.
Origins – Chapter 19
"Can somebody tell me why you and I are in Wayne Manor?" Lois says as she followed Clark and Bruce through his home. They had arrived in front of his steps just a few seconds ago, leaving Lois baffled as to why Clark brought her there of all places.
Bruce's butler and friend, Alfred Pennyworth, appears leaving out of the veranda. "Oh. Hello Miss Lane," greeted Alfred in that serene and welcoming tone he always managed to present.
"Good evening, Alfred," Lois returned with a smile. She then glances at Clark, shrugging her shoulders, waiting for him to explain the plan.
"Bruce is helping us with the Thorne and Desmond case," Clark says.
Lois nods. "Yeah, I recall you mentioning that earlier before the…" she paused, carefully stopping her words before she revealed anything Clark didn't want her to. Lois attempts to make a subtle flying motion with her hands that looked more like a goose flapping its wings than a man flying. "Nevermind," she sighed.
"Alfred, could you get the guest rooms ready?"
"Right away, Master Bruce"
Lois scrunched her nose in consternation. "That's not necessary."
"Please, I insist," Bruce says. "Clark, tell her it's dangerous out there"
Clark shook his head. "You don't know Lois," he simply stated to Bruce.
"I must've missed a page or something." Lois puts herself in between the two men. "Since when are you two the best of friends?" she asks, curiosity getting the best of her.
Bruce and Clark looked at one another; Clark with a deer-caught-on-the-headlights look while Bruce carried that blank emotionless expression that broody men like him normally carry when he's not trying to seduce a woman.
"Well…" Lois waited. "I've got two mentally deranged criminals roaming around Gotham looking for a Lois Lane to play target practice with, and a cousin who's been missing for nearly 48 hours. Communication, people! Not getting a lot of it"
Clark gulped. It's not often that he experiences a woman taking charge, but watching his girlfriend take command of a situation like what they were having is a major turn on. That and she can easily intimidate him too.
"Bruce, why don't you explain," recommended Clark. He's already shared his secret with Lois, he wasn't about to spill the beans on the dark knight. It's not his secret to tell.
Twenty Minutes Later
Bruce finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Secret identity. By definition, it means the practice of hiding a person's identity so the actual identity of the person is not known or suspected. Within a span of a couple of days – no – within is span of a few hours, he has blown his identity to two people.
Two people he seldom really knew.
"Lois, are you okay?" Clark asks in concern. Bruce had just finished telling her and him for the second time about his alternate identity of the cape-fearing bat that protected Gotham City.
Lois looked up. "I don't know." She touched her temples in hopes to alleviate the headache that crept up on her all of the sudden. "Is it possible for information overload?"
"What do you mean by that?" Bruce asks.
Lois's eyes shot up staring directly into Clark's. "He doesn't know?" Clark shook his head.
"Know what?" Bruce says.
Lois kept glaring at her boyfriend. She understood his need for secrecy because Clark is literally not from around her, but everything is so new and overwhelming, she's liable to get an aneurism soon.
"Somebody better start talking," Bruce threatened verbally. There wasn't anything that he could do to make them talk, but he was certainly not going to back down so early in the game. It seems he isn't the only one harboring a secret.
"I'll tell you later"
Bruce sighed and Lois rolled her eyes. "Let's just find Chloe and put those son of a – "
"Your language, Miss Lane," Alfred interrupted, making her and Clark jump a little. The couple hadn't realized that there was an extra person till now.
"Sorry Alfred." Lois suddenly pictured herself sitting in the corner for misbehavior. She shook that thought out of her consciousness.
Bruce though, remained unfazed. "He does that often"
"I bet," Lois says.
Thirty Minutes Later
"Are you sure these are correct?" Lois looked over the blueprints, satellite photos and files and files of paper scattered throughout a big table.
"My informants swore to me they were accurate," Bruce mused.
"Uh-huh," Lois says not quite convinced.
"You're a hard woman to please," Bruce says.
Clark eyes him. "Do you mind?"
"What?" Bruce shrugs.
Lois leaned on the table and grabbed his collar, pulling him in. "Relax." She gives him a long lingering kiss on the lips to assure her boyfriend where she stands. "I'm yours remember"
"I needed a reminder," Clark grinned.
"Do you two need a room or something, I've got plenty rooms to spare?" Bruce half quipped and half serious.
Clark shied away, embarrassed leaving Lois amused that despite him being one of the most powerful beings on Earth basically, a single comment like the one Bruce made can make him so shy.
"Let's get this over with, I have a cousin who's gonna kick my proverbial ass if we take too long"
Lois speaks of Chloe Sullivan so adoringly that it leaves Bruce questioning what she's like in person. It won't be long though until he meets her.
"Ready?" Bruce looks between Lois and Clark.
They both nodded.
Bruce walked towards a fish tank, rolled up his sleeves and sunk it beneath the water. Lois and Clark exchange curious glances at his odd display until they noticed the book armored knight open up, leading to a separate room. An elevator space.
Clark's eyes go wide at how intricate Bruce made things to be.
Lois just looked through it, her mouth agape. "Now that's cool," she comments.
"I can still fly," Clark leaned in to her, whispering it by her ear.
"But you're cooler, Smallville," she whispered in return.
"Come on, my contact says that Thorne is meeting up with a couple of brothers in less that half an hour. We're to assume they're the Desmonds. We got to make some head way if we're going to catch them on time"
"What about the police?" Clark asks just for the sake of asking the question.
"Now there's a lost cause," Lois comments, but Bruce takes a little offense to that.
"There are some cops that actually care"
"Name one"
"Lieutenant Gordon"
"Name another"
"Uh…" Bruce is stumped. She got him there and Clark chuckled because of it. Annoyed, Bruce pushed the button of the elevator and they descended.
Upon exiting, Lois took it the surroundings. "Okay. I'm now officially impressed"
"It's about time," Bruce mumbled under his breath. Lois didn't hear him but Clark certainly did.
Bruce made his way through the large open expanse of his cave and approached a tall cylindrical case that stood 8 feet high with a diameter of six feet. As Bruce approached, the sensors kick up and the interior illuminated, making the contents within the casing light up.
Lois and Clark stand amazed. Lois speaks up first.
"That's…"
"Yeah"
"It's…"
"I know"
Once he was suited up, another section of the cave turned on and revealed his vehicle. Lois couldn't contain her excitement.
"Whoa. That thing's real," Lois pointed. She quickly moves towards Clark and whispers, "Maybe you could put on a costume too"
His eyes go wide. "Are you insane?"
"No, but I could be reality impaired," she answers but she didn't let the topic slide. "Come on! Why not give it a try?"
"I'm not wearing a costume"
"How about tights?"
Clark scoffs at the idea. "Especially not tights"
Lois sighed. "Just a thought"
"Why are you asking me anyway?" he wonders.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "It's apparent you spend half your time helping people; maybe it's about time you actually do something about it. I don't want you slipping one of these days and suffer because of it," she tells him sincerely.
The thought got Clark thinking. "We'll talk about this later"
"You're actually considering it"
"I don't want to be like Bruce," Clark says.
"Maybe not exactly like Bruce," Lois says, going over the possibilities of him appearing before the world without a mask. A man of his power shouldn't hide behind a mask; it'll scare people from believing that he helps without an agenda.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nevermind," she waved off.
"This conversation isn't over," Clark deemed. He wants to know where she's getting at with this idea.
"You two ready?" Bruce asks deck from top to bottom as Batman. He looked like an entirely different person with the outfit on.
Clark went inside to sit first as Lois sat on top of him, his arms circling around her. She whispers again, "You know, with a costume, we wouldn't have to share shotgun"
"Lois!"
"Just saying." Lois's eyes were diverted to the cool accessories inside the vehicle. "Nice!" she says loudly, playing with the stereo.
"Do you mind?" Batman says.
"Sorry. I forgot they were your toys"
"Kent, keep an eye on your girl," he ordered. This is why he worked alone.
"You got it," Clark replied with a smirk towards Lois.
To be continued…