CHAPTER 3

Metrópolis, Suicide Slum

Meanwhile...

When Lois arrived at the last floor, she saw the stairs to the rooftop. And because she was already there, she decided to take her chances.

Carefully, she turned the door handle and took a look outside. There wasn't anything to be seen, except the view of the ugly part of Metropolis.

Then, she took a deep breath and went forward.

"Hello? Is there anybody here?" she asked.

Suddenly, something happened so fast she could not avoid it. Somebody came behind her and grabbed her by the neck.

Lois tried to turn her eyes to see something, but she could only see the knife pointed to her jugular vein.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Lois recognized the husky voice from the phone call.

"Wait a minute! We can solve this friendly!" she said, holding his arm with both hands.

"Who are you?" he asked again.

"Has your mother never taught you manners?" she asked as she twisted his arm back and kicked him in the stomach.

Then, Lois was face to face with her agressor and she saw he was using a mask and gloves.

"'Cause I think you really need some lessons" she finished.

He was still holding the knife and Lois didn't think twice. She kicked his hand. But when he dropped the knife, he took out a gun which was hidden in his coat.

"You came really prepared" she said, looking at the gun in his hand and preparing herself for another fight.

"Lois!" somebody called a few floors below.

It was a familiar voice.

It was Clark's.

"Here on the rooftop!" she yelled.

While she was distracted with Clark, the stranger pushed her away, picked up the knife and ran as quickly as he could to the railing. Lois tried to reach him, but it was too late. He jumped into the next building. Shocked, Lois ran over to the railing, and saw something incredible. 'That jump was practically impossible!', she thought.

"Lois!" Clark called, as he ran up to her. "Are you okay?"

He didn't see the stranger.

Surprised with Clark's speed, Lois had just one thing in mind:

"We have to reach him!" she said, pointing to the guy who was now running across the rooftop of the building he had jumped into.

Clark saw him, looked up at the top of the building and calculated the distance for a jump. Then he felt Lois' hand on his arm.

"Are you crazy, Smallville?" she asked. "You don't fly, remember? Let's try the elevator. It's safer!"

"Who's that guy?" Clark asked after closing the elevator's grating.

"I have no idea" she answered, frantically pushing the button to the entryway floor as if by doing that they could arrive faster. "But we can't lose him!"

"I think we should call the cops--" he suggested.

Suddenly, the elevator stopped between the tenth and ninth floors.

"What was that?" she asked, worried.

"I don't know" he answered.

They both looked at the top and saw the hatch above them. And when Clark opened it to climb out, there was a big racket and the elevator shook.

"Wait a minute!" she said, pulling him by his coat as he was climbing through the hatch to the top of the elevator.

Clark came back, and saw Lois pushing all the buttons from the control panel.

"Lois... I'm sorry to tell you this, but there's no one else in the building" he said, imagining that she was trying to find the emergency button.

"There must be a way to make this damn elevator work again!" she said, ignoring his comment.

"It's an old building. I have to try something else" he said, climbing the hatch again.

"Are you crazy, Smallville?" she asked, pulling him back again.

He turned to see her face.

"What?" he asked.

"This thing could crash down at any time!" she said.

"Okay. Do you have a better idea?" he asked.

"Sure. Call Chloe" she suggested.

There was a silence.

"I don't have my cell phone with me" he said, finally.

"What? You come to this end of the world with no cell phone?" she asked, furious.

Clark faced her, thoughtful.

"And how did you find me, by the way?" she asked, curious.

Then, there was another silent moment.

"At least I found you" he answered.

Lois smiled, confused.

"Okay. Let's solve this" she said, climbing the gratings of the elevator door to reach the hatch.

"What are you doing?" Clark asked, confused. It was the same thing he was trying to do before.

"Give me a hand here, Smallville" she asked, while opening the hatch again.

Infuriated, Clark approached and helped her get to the top. But as soon as Lois touched the roof of the elevator, it began to shake violently. Then she fell ungracefully on Clark.

They were face to face and looked at each other's eyes, completely embarrassed with the situation.

Lois stood up as fast as she could.

"What did you do?" she asked, furious.

"I didn't do anything! It's all your fault!" he answered equally furious.

"What did you say?" she asked while Clark was standing up, meeting his eyes with hers.

"You shouldn't be here alone!" he answered.

"C'mon, Smallville! If is somebody's fault, it's all yours!"

Clark faced her again, complety confused. How could she say that she didn't need to be saved?

"I was doing a great job up there! If you hadn't appeared, I'd have found out something about that guy!" she finished.

"Really? I mean, it seemed to me that you could have been shot up there, Lois. 'Cause I don't know if you saw, but that guy was carrying a gun" Clark said. "Or what else do you think a strange guy could be doing on the rooftop of an abandoned building in Suicide Slum?"

Lois crossed her arms, furious.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot--" Clark continued sarcastically "He was also wearing a mask and gloves. I imagine that he wasn't protecting himself from the snow, since we're still in the middle of Summer's heat."

"You're so irritating, Smallville" she said.

Clark rolled his eyes. It was waste of time to argue with Lois.

"At least, we have Chloe. She knows exactly where we are--" she said.

But Lois looked at Clark's face and what she saw wasn't a good expression.

"Wait a minute. She knows where we are, doesn't she?" she asked.

Clark didn't answer. Chloe only knew where Lois' car was. And it was a few blocks from where they were. And Clark only found Lois with his super-hearing.

"This is a nightmare!" Lois said, sitting on elevator's floor.

Clark examined the elevator again. There wasn't anything he could do without his powers. And he couldn't expose himself in front of Lois. There wasn't anything to be done except wait.

TBC