"No. Do you?" Kal-El replied.
"No. I think it was some sort of practical joke but we should give it 10 more minutes to be sure."
"I don't like being so close to Shrinkwater Lake. What if we fall in?"
"Then we shrink to the size of ants," she saw that he really did look nervous, "relax. We're at least 20 feet away from the water."
There was a tense silence, as 5 minutes passed by.
"Look, Lois. I think I see someone coming out of the trees."
"You're right. It looks like a man, a very ugly man."
As he got closer, they saw that he was green and looked like he had some sort of robotic suit. He was an alien. There was a bottle in his hand with very tiny objects in it.
"Who are you?" Kal-El asked.
"What's the big story?" Lois demanded.
"My name is Brainiac," he held the bottle up, "this is the story. I'm sure you all are familiar with the mysterious disappearance of Kandor, Krypton's capital. It happened before you all were born and Kryptonopolis, where you two live now, became the replacement capital."
"This is old news, buddy," Lois said with her arms folded.
"Patience, my dear, I'm not finished," he said with an evil grin.
"Are you saying that you know what happened to Kandor?" Kal-El asked.
Brainiac tossed the bottle in the air and caught it. He said, "Scientists on my planet like to observe people on other planets in our labs. I happen to be one of these scientists. We had this marvelous little shrinking ray that could shrink a whole city but unfortunately, it was destroyed and we haven't been able to make another. Even though you are an Earth woman, I don't suppose you ever heard of The Lost Colony of Roanoke Island? The people of Earth never did find out what happened to it much like Kryptonians never found out what happened to Kandor. A scientist of my planet shrunk the colony and took it. He left the word Croatoan to cast the blame away from aliens and onto Indians. It's too bad the colony didn't survive or you wouldn't be the last Earth person. However getting back on topic, I'm the one that took Kandor," he tossed and caught the bottle again, "and it's in here."
"Why would you reveal your crime to us?" Lois asked.
"I want to add to my collection. I figured an eager, young journalist would come rushing out here without taking proper precautions. You see, Kandor's population is beginning to dwindle and I plan on adding more people in one at a time using the water. I'm especially excited about adding an Earth person to the collection."
He stepped closer and they stepped back.
Kal-El whispered loudly, "run, Lois!"
"I can't. I have too much gravity," she said.
Kal-El moved in front of her and Brainiac knocked him to the ground with a Kryptonite blast that was part of his suit. Brainiac was getting ready to pick him up and throw him into the water. Lois lifted her foot to kick him. She couldn't do it very fast but Brainiac had his back to her and didn't see it coming. It was a very powerful kick due to all her added gravity and it threw him into the water. Kal-El got up and caught the bottle, as it fell from Brainiac's hand.
"Kal, are you okay?" Lois asked with worry.
"I'm fine. We better go see where he went."
They moved to the edge of the water and were just in time to see an ant-sized Brainiac making his way out of the water.
"Do you have anything we can put him in?" Kal-El asked, as he picked him up.
Lois took out her pocketbook and got out a tube of lipstick. She scooped the lipstick out and said, "here. It's got a crack in it for him to breath but it's not big enough for him to climb out. You can keep the bottle and lipstick tube safe and I'll drive. I can get us back a whole lot faster."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Kal-El grimaced but he gave the key to her Jor-El back and they left.
---
"And then we took Brainiac and the bottled city to the Supreme Council. They'll sentence him and try to figure out how to restore Kandor to its proper size," said Kal-El and Lois nodded to confirm it.
"That's great. I had no idea you'd make such a great investigative reporter, Kal-El," said his boss. He had light brown hair and was around 60 but looked more like 20 because of anti-aging technology. "I'm going to remove you from delivering the news and put you into investigating."
"Thank you, sir but I couldn't have done it without Lois. We make a great team," he said, giving her a smile.
"Wonderful. Then you're partners. I want the two of you to get some thought-discs and copy your memories of it for the 6:00 news. I also need you to write your entries into the Kryptonaid, the Kryptonian history book, for future references."
"Excuse me but I don't work here," Lois said.
"You do now. Unless you don't want to?" he asked gruffly.
"I wouldn't mind it at all but don't you have to spend 3 days downloading professional information into your head for this kind of career? My alien brain can't handle it."
"I offered you a job. You have a natural talent for this field with or without the 3 days. Now do you want it or not?"
"I want it."
"Then get busy," and he stormed out of Kal-El's office or Kal-El and Lois's office, since they had become partners.
TBC
