CHAPTER 9
"What a great night, huh?" Lois asked Clark with a big smile on her face while they walked down the street to the next corner to wait for Chloe.
Clark answered her with a little smile.
He didn't know what to say.
He was still too impressed with her.
Despite all the disagreements and discussions they had in the past, she wasn't exactly what he imagined.
Instead, she was a great person… a woman capable of risking her own life in search for the truth.
He didn't want to admit it, but he really liked the real Lois Lane.
"Lois, I'd like to say sorry for earlier, I was very--" he started to say, but before he could finish it, Lois interrupted him:
"Wait" she said, staring at something in the other side of the street.
Clark turned his head in the direction where Lois was looking at and saw someone disappearing around the next corner.
"It's our guy!" Lois said, running away.
"What--?" Clark asked, confused.
But it was too late to stop her.
"Lois!" he called her, in vain. "What about Chloe?"
"C'mon Smallville! We can catch him!" she yelled, looking back at him over her shoulder.
Clark sighed deeply. He could solve all that by himself. But, with Lois involved, he didn't have many options, except to follow her and see what would happen next.
Next to The Ace O'Clubs, Lois and Clark stopped, shocked.
"I can't believe we came all the way back here!" Clark said, after they saw the stranger enter into the club.
Lois didn't say anything, and when they went inside the club too, they saw the place wasn't so bad. There were a few people and two security guards.
"Can you see him?" Lois asked.
Clark used his x-ray vision and saw someone wearing a long coat, washing his hands in the men's bathroom.
"I think he's in the bathroom", Clark said.
Lois glanced at him, surprised with his supposition and gave him a push:
"So, what are you waiting for? Get in there and check it out!"
Surprised, he looked at her, and she said:
"What's up, Smallville? I obviously can't do that!"
Clark rolled his eyes and did what she asked.
"Do you wanna drink something?" the barman asked Lois.
Lois faced him. In other circumstances, it would have been a good idea.
"Hey, are you Bibbo Bibbowski? The pugilist?" Lois asked him, remembering his face from somewhere.
"In another lifetime!" he answered, with a big smile, happy for being recognized by the young lady.
"It's not every day that we can find a weight-heavy champion!" she said, impressed.
"Those days are over" he said, cleaning a glass.
Lois smiled and sat in front of him, watching the movement of people. Although it was in Suicide Slum, The Ace O'Clubs wasn't a bad place.
"Where are you from?" he asked.
"What?" she asked back.
"You're not from around here, right?"
"It's that obvious, huh?"
"I hope you're not looking for trouble," he warned her, with a little smile.
"No. I hope not, too" she answered, looking in the direction of the restrooms.
Clark opened the door of the bathroom and a man was in front of the mirror. He realized he hadn't seen his face, so he couldn't know for sure if he was the guy who attacked Lois. Judging from his coat, which seemed to be same as the one that her aggressor was wearing, he guessed that this was the man they were looking for.
Suddenly, the man saw Clark staring at him, and turned around to leave. But Clark blocked his way.
"You're the guy who was on the rooftop of that abandoned building, right?" he asked, taking his chances.
The man took a gun from his coat and pointed it at Clark, who stepped back.
"You could have killed my friend" he said.
"Yeah. I could've. But I didn't" he replied, with his husky voice.
"You attacked her" Clark said.
"She shouldn't have been there in first place"
"So, you expected to hurt my other friend, Chloe Sullivan?" Clark asked.
The man kept the gun raised, and looked Clark in the eyes.
"Do you know her?"
"What do you want?" Clark asked back.
"So, I guess I don't have any other choice" the man said, putting the gun down and taking something from his pocket.
"What are doing?" Clark asked, worried.
But the man showed him a brown envelope.
"I want you give this to her"
Distrustful, Clark took the envelope.
"What is this?"
The man gave a little smile, which then changed to a look of deep sadness.
"The truth" he answered.
"What is the reason for all of this?"
"I don't have enough time to explain. She has courage. And she will know what to do with this" he answered, looking at the envelope in Clark's hand.
Clark faced him. There was something strange about this man. He had a tired looking face, but he didn't seem to be tired.
"Who are you?" he asked, finally.
"A shadow" the man answered, with a sad smile.
"Clark!" yelled Lois, beating on the door.
Clark turned to look at the door, and when he looked back again at the man, he was escaping out the window.
"Wait! If you're in trouble, we can go to he police!" Clark said, grabbing hold of his arm. But the man was stronger than Clark expected and he just shoved him back against the wall, breaking it.
"No one can help me!" the man said before running away.
"Who was that?" Lois asked, opening the door abruptly.
"Take this" Clark said to Lois, giving her the envelope and running past her. "I have to try to catch him!" and he kept running.
Scared, Lois caught the envelope and ran after him.
TBC