Author's Notes: Here's another chapter and we will continue with the idea that Lois has suspicions about Clark but put it aside for now. As I said before, Lex will play an important part in this update. He wants to find out who Superman is and where he truly came from. Also in this update, Clark is doing his thing helping the police, but they do not need or want his help. Keep reading and please comment. Thank you.

~o~o~

Chapter 3: Connection

Echo Park, a Division of LexCorp:

Lex stepped off his helicopter, minutes after landing outside of Denver, Colorado, and approached the supervisor. Surprised to see him arrive unannounced, she assumed something must be important and urgent. She hurried to meet him. With her hair blowing from the chopper propellers, she spoke to him.

"Mr. Luthor, Sir; what a pleasant surprise. If you had called ahead, we would have sent for lunch."

With a lot on his mind, not in the mood, he walked inside the former airplane hangar redesigned to his specifications and looked around. It held more staff of scientists employed to watch the skies meaning outer space.

"Skip the pleasantries, Dr. Chun. I spent the ride in reviewing last month's data. You followed up on the narrow-band spike of October 14th?"

"Yes, Sir, and the Supernova in Sky sector J172, nothing more," she replied.

"And the multiple signals on the 29th?"

"Atmospheric interference that's all. Mr. Luthor, please be assured that every scientist in this observatory shares your passion for extraterrestrial intelligence." He didn't say anything which did not bode well for their research, but she continued. "The research breakthroughs you made when you were just a boy are still the foundation of our efforts, and we are grateful for your funding. But scanning the skies for errant messages is about faith as much as it is about math, Sir. It's a very long-term investment." She paused thinking the worst. "If you've come here to shut us down just because we're not 'producing'…"

He interrupted. "Put your worries to rest, Doctor. I want you to keep watching the stars. I have faith. And you never know when concrete affirmation of alien life might present itself. Still, tell your team to switch to emergency generators. There's about to be a brief power outage… I'll take the elevator down." After reaching the lower level, he called his assistant in Metropolis. "Marcy, clear my appointments for tomorrow. Tell Mr. Kent I would like to see him."

~o~o~

Back in Metropolis:

It's early morning and Clark is busy with his efforts to help the police, but they are not receptive to his efforts and they may not trust an alien who can fly to help them. The police and news teams are at the scene of a shooting spree.

A reporter at the scene gives an update. "Reporting live from St. Martin's Junior High just outside Metropolis… where moments ago, two students carrying a gym bag full of firearms wounded a security guard and stormed inside on a reported shooting spree."

"Terrified cell phone messages from inside report no fatalities as of yet, but hostage negotiations have been complicated by the arrival of a mysterious figure known so far as… Superman… who seconds ago, ignoring police barricades, flew into the school and…"

Stunned she hollered, "Oh my God! Tom, get down! Ladies and gentlemen, school windows are exploding in a hail of gunfire? Guns are flying out the window, landing on the ground, broken in half and still smoking red burning smoke and of no use."

The police are confused wondering what happened inside the school, but it is assumed that Superman took the guns, broke them in half and threw them out the window. Watching the window, Superman is coming with the two young men in his arms held from behind. He dropped them in front of the barricades stunning the police and the news reporters.

"Tom, Tom, get a shot of this! I remind viewers we're live on the scene where Superman has brought the teenage shooters into custody in a matter of moments."

Without saying a word, Superman flew away.

"Superman, can we have a word with… you?" But he is gone.

~o~o~

Meanwhile, in another part of town:

Superman enters a gun shop while the proprietor is lying back in a comfortable chair watching the news update about the shooting at the school. Superman went inside and stops the gunmen by removing the weapons and handing the two young men over to the police.

Clark has words for him, as he noted a Confederate flag hanging on the wall; It did not help his mood. "The boys said they bought those weapons from you."

Stunned and upset, he stammered. "What, where did you? I don't sell to kids. That's an illegal market. I don't know what you're talking about."

Clark frowned. "I can hear your heartbeat. You're lying."

Upset to be called a liar, he tried to stand but Clark is done with him. He came closer and smashed the gun cabinet holding AR-15s. "One minute ago, I saw a little girl screaming because she was staring down the barrel of a gun. She was nine, and she will remember it for the rest of her life." He pulled out an unloaded handgun from the gun display and pointed it to the proprietor. "Now you will too."

Minutes later, Clark left him in the shop, the proprietor is tied up with damaged guns hanging from the wall and he is terrified and unable to move.

Minutes later, the police arrived. "Freeze, dirtbag, raise your hands." Another officer said, "I don't think he can, Sir." Now further inside the shop, he whispered "What the?"

~o~o~

Back at the Planet:

The headline read: 'Faster Than A Speeding Bullet,' by Clark Kent. Another Superman story is splashed across the headline 'Government, Local Authorities Disavow Knowledge Of 'Superman.' Then another headline. 'Superman: Hero Or Vigilante? Where do you stand? Vote! The choices: Yes, he's proven himself or No, I don't trust him'.

Clark is at his computer reading the headlines on the website, then he noticed the poll. "Vote?" He shook his head and asked a co-worker over the desk divider. "Anybody know where Lois is?"

"The same place she is every morning at 8:45," he replied.

Clark knows where she is… Perry's office.

Perry is listening to Lois ramble on about the staff and their work. Lois answers him with another jab at another reporter's work. "And Troupe's story, you let him get by with secondhand sources again Chief. You're a better editor than that." Lois continued to ramble on while Perry is fuming inside and ready to fire her writing down pros and cons on that thought… Keep her? Fire her?

Jim knocked and entered. "Chief, receptionist says you have a call on line three…"

"Don't Call Me Chief!" He yelled.

He picked up the line and Lex Luthor wants to meet with Clark Kent sometime today. Perry could not believe it. An invitation harder to come by than well anything. "Kent, get in here!"

Clark is listening at the door. "Uh-Oh," he muttered and came inside. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Kent, why haven't you gone to meet with Luthor? I heard you postponed more than once. Is that true?"

"The dock strike story," he replied, but that wasn't urgent.

"That can wait." He glanced at Lois. "Take Kent over to LexCorp and show him how this is done, NOW!" He instructed.

Lois sighed. "Sure Chief."

At the elevator, he said. "You can tell Perry I know the ropes by now. You're sick of 'babysitting' me."

"True, but the value-add is that I get to spar with Lex, which gives me an outlet for my rage, so I'll deal."

Clark is still jealous. "I saw him kiss you weeks ago after your date with him."

She stared at him. "It was one date but it's over."

He perked up. "Oh, I see."

In the elevator, she explained. "I've been following this story longer than anyone, right? If there is an authority on Superman, it's me, not Perry, not anyone else at the Planet."

He understood what she meant. In his rant against her, Galloway mentioned her travels all over the world looking for me. Then an idea came to him; she could have seen me without glasses years ago, and that would explain why he looked familiar to her, he wondered.

~o~o~

LexCorp Tower minutes later:

At the lobby entrance, Lois had more to say about Superman and why he's here. "I would stake my reputation on my objective opinion: He is here to help. And we can trust him."

At the reception area, Lois showed her press pass. "Lane and Kent to see the big man, thanks."

"Do you have an appointment?" One of the receptionists overheard what she said. "And he's hot." She added.

Lois is distracted. "And he's hot, I mean, that's not… Oh, just buzz us in already."

Clark hid a grin behind her.

Lois and Clark both entered his office. Lex did not expect Ms. Lane but decided to be civil.

"Mr. Kent, thank you for coming. Ms. Lane, it's good to see you again. Please take a seat. Would you like something to drink?"

"This is not a social call." Clark got right to the point. "What do you want, Mr. Luthor?"

"I wanted to show you something and Ms. Lane is welcome to join us."

"I wouldn't miss it," Lois said.

"Follow me," Lex instructed and exited his office.

"Stay behind me," Clark instructed.

Lois rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

They entered an elevator which headed down to lower levels, and several minutes later, they exited into a corridor, dimly lit with armed guards on both sides of a massive metal door.

Clark frowned and watched as Lex swiped his finger across an access panel then a green light opened, and Lex placed his right eye over it.

Lois and Clark glanced at each other then rolled their eyes, getting impatiently with him.

"What is this place and why are we here?" Clark asked, not in the mood for all this secrecy.

Clark is still suspicious then he introduced himself, but he supposed that was pointless. But he needed to know the truth and held out his hand. "Hello Lex, it's been a long time since… Smallville."

Lex ignored his handshake, but he needed to clear this up. "Mr. Kent, I'm not familiar with 'Smallville.' If you're claiming that you and I have met before; that is the second time you've lied about me this week."

Clark is confused. "When did I lie?" He asked and stood up straighter; Lex knew the truth.

"Look, I asked you here for two reasons. First, to let you know how displeased I was with your story about the helicopter attack on Metropolis. You accused me of being somehow responsible."

"No, I simply pointed out the connection between LexCorp and…"

He interrupted him. "I read the piece, Kent, your insinuation was quite clear and not at all amusing."

"I appreciate your anger but…"

"Not anger, disappointment that White would hire such an amateur. My being unaware of every time action of LexCorp's vast staff is, if not desirable, eminently understandable. Your concentration on trivial pursuits, however, in the face of a much larger truth that threatens the entire world, is unforgivable."

"Translation?" Lois asked confused by their entire conversation.

"You're missing the big story." He sighed. "Allow me to spell it out for you; I have this morning's data input."

The door slowly opened, and they walked inside a massive space and they appeared to be inside a simulation encompassing a huge landscape.

The images looked familiar to Clark and then it hit him. They were many alien creatures from his home planet. It was amazing but how did Lex do this? He wondered.

Utterly fascinated by the images, Clark blinked several times, afraid he might imagine it. "What is that?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Lois glanced at Clark and wondered about his expression. Only she could see that he was intrigued.

"Ever since I was a little boy, I've been utterly obsessed with extra-terrestrials," Lex responded. He pushed several buttons on a pedestal and the images shifted, and there were individuals dressed as Kryptonians from the images that his Father Jor-El had shown him. "With my wormhole technology, I was the only one who was able to track the alien and where he had come from."

Lois spoke up. "Why are you showing this to us?"

"Ms. Lane, haven't you figured it out yet?" He pointed to the images. "I'm the only one who can save the human race," he answered. Lex placed his hand on it again, then suddenly images appeared of Clark in the suit flying all over Metropolis doing what he was born to do, help people.

"Oh, no," Lois whispered, stunned by the images before them. "How did you do that?"

Clark could feel his eyes begin to burn hot behind him. He closed his eyes tightly.

Lex continued. "He truly is a remarkable specimen. I've been watching and calibrating the natural abilities that he's proven thus far. The flying of course; the inhuman hearing abilities; x-ray vision; his muscles; and his strength are unreadable at this level, but it's all superficial right now." He turned to them. "Now where do you suppose someone like him came from?"

"Lex, don't you read newspapers or the Internet? It's all in my article," Lois said but refrained from rolling her eyes.

"Don't you see?" Lex asked surprised they couldn't figure out where he was going with this. The next shocking image appeared a scene of Clark on a slab dead but not dead but writhing in pain, dissected like a frog, and blood is everywhere. "There's so much more to learn."

Lois gasped and turned her head then she pulled Clark's arm. He was stiff as a board and Lois was afraid he would lunge for him, but she had to ask Lex a few questions to distract him. "What has Superman ever done to you, Lex? Why would you want to hurt him?"

He stared at them as if they'd both lost their minds. "He's an alien. Who's to say that there is more of them and they could come here and destroy us all?"

"Lex, he saves us every day for hours and never asks for anything in return. I must wonder what people would say if they knew what you were planning." Lois was angry and totally sickened by him, to have this much power and to use it for this madness.

She is shaking; she was so angry.

Clark closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of the images but it was difficult. He placed his arm around Lois' shoulder to comfort her, and without thinking, she leaned into him. "Did you think we would be on your side with this insanity?"

"It's not insanity. We must protect ourselves. Who's to say there aren't more of them, and this," he pointed to the alien about to die, "this is the only way." Lex explained it to them.

Lois shook her head at him. He refused to see the truth. "Superman is on our side. Surely, you know that." She was sure of this.

"You're living in a dream world. The police agree, or should I say your Father agrees," Lex taunted her.

Lois gasped. "My Father is only concerned about me, and I'll explain it to him. You are the one that should be stopped, not Superman. Come on, Clark, we have a story to write."

Lex stopped them with his next words. "I know you Kent; you think you know me, but you don't. Tell me you are not investigating me and my holdings."

Clark wasn't intimidated. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Have an enjoyable day." They left him staring after them.

Once in the elevator, Clark knew the truth now. Lex didn't remember him or he could be lying about it, but then he couldn't get those sickening images out of his mind, one is now burned into his consciousness, and it would take a long time to forget it if he ever would.

Lois knew what he was thinking. "We will stop him, Clark, we will."

He put his arm around her shoulder again; she did not pull away, determined to stop Lex. "Count on it."

~o~o~

In a coffee shop minutes later:

They ordered coffee and sat down to talk about all of it.

"Do you think Luthor is right?" He asked needing her reassurance.

She sipped her coffee. "I don't know."

"Would it matter?" He needed to know.

She watched him closely. "I don't know."

He told her the truth. "A long time ago, he doesn't seem to remember which is its own mystery, though; to be honest, I was kind of hoping he wouldn't remember me."

Lois has questions for him. "When we first walked in, you acted like you and Lex were old… friends. Why did you mention… Smallville? I thought you could shed some light on his motives. Why the big obsession with finding extraterrestrials?"

"That is the town where I grew up, but looking back, Lois, he was obsessed. As a teenager, he was bullied for being a nerd about books and learning. He couldn't seem to fit in. Outer space and aliens fascinated him if they existed. I suppose he's still learning." He paused. "I think he just wanted someone to talk to."

Lois noticed something. "You and he were friends back then or were you?"

"No, we were not," he replied sadly. He ran his fingers through his hair.

"Let's head back; we have research and a story to write," she said.

They finished their coffee, but on the way back, while walking, she took his hand.

Surprise and delight lit up his face. He squeezed her hand, then the quiet contact with stares and looks. Their connection is there and Clark had a feeling about it.

~o~o~

Back at the Planet:

In the elevator, with silent glances and stares, but this feeling would not go away. He told himself that he should wait to tell her the truth, but her reactions to Luthor's insane ideas about killing him, and other things, he felt she should know, and took her hand.

"Lois, I have a confession to make."

Confused she asked. "What is it?"

"The man you were searching for all over the world… it's me."

At that stunning confession, she stared at his face and put the pieces together in her mind and it all made a crazy kind of sense, then, "I knew it."

TBC!

~o~o~

Song Inspiration: Lost Then Found, Leona Lewis.

A/N: In the context of this AU, Clark's confession seemed like the right time. But Lex is always scheming and hoping to get the upper hand against Superman. He knows the truth about Clark and he wants to destroy him. I hope you enjoyed this although the Tower scene was sad and upsetting. Look for an update coming soon.