Chapter 6:

Lois ignored Superman's advice and went back to the Planet: it was a crazy idea to go back to a scene crime but for the sake of the story, she had to. On her way back to the Daily Planet, she called Metropolis P.D.

Lois took a cab and took extra precautions: she didn't if they're still waiting for her and so she told the taxi driver to park a couple of blocks behind. Slowly, she walked to the Planet, always looking at the rooftops, suspicions vehicles: at the corner she peeked and saw the only car unit form the Metropolis P.D. She came to them and together, they went to the floor where everything happened hours earlier.

Once they reached the floor where she worked, the feeling of frustration took over her. The floor was cleaned from anything that could incriminate anybody: no body, no blood and they even looked the security DVD but they found nothing. The police asked questions to the security guard but he claimed to heard nothing. "Whoever they were, they knew what they were doing."- She thought

To make her even more desolated, the police only dispatched one unit: She thought more units would come but the police officer told her the entire department was working on the terrorist attack, demands coming directly from President Luthor who wanted almost immediate results.

Her relation with Metropolis P.D was stormy to say the least and when she realized they didn't believe her, she wasn't arrested because the cops were too busy and meanwhile they received another dispatch.

Alone again, she toured around the floor looking for some evidence but it was useless. There was nothing she could notice, something that could lead her somewhere.

Then she followed Superman's advice and went to the big archive room down, at the Daily Planet basement. The search words were very simple: Thaddeus Killgrave.

So busy, Lois didn't notice time passing by quickly and soon the first rays of light lighten the archive room.

It was an arm on her shoulder that pulled her back to reality and scared her.

"There you are..." - She turned around to see Jimmy looking at her.

"Jimmy! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?..." - Abruptly, she felt the effects of no sleep and she felt her body was heavy and soft.

"You look awfully tired." - Jimmy looked at Lois more carefully and associating her with a research she was doing, whatever it was. - "Wait... You actually stayed here all night?"

"Sort of..." - she declared, recalling the events of last night.

"Whatever it is, it has to be hot stuff..." - he pulled a chair and sat right next to her. - "Well?" - He asked, expectantly.

"Thaddeus Killgrave: a geneticist who worked at Cadmus Lab." – She simply answered.

Jimmy looked at the monitor, curious. - "It says he died a year ago at Stryker's Prison Island. And?"

"I'm not part of the Supernatural gang but last night Thaddeus Killgrave came to me."

Jimmy raised an eyebrow, incredulous. - "What the hell?"

"He was here in the flesh." - She whispered. - "And I can tell you his death certificate is wrong by a year..."

"You mean..."

"He was murdered last night, right in front of me." - She concluded his thought.

He shook his head in a sign of disbelief and immediately Lois insisted. - "Listen Jimmy, last night I was nearly killed by pros who left the floor so clean I could eat from it."

As she continued, she sensed Jimmy was more and more skeptical: maybe he thought she was tired and imagined that entire scenario.

She looked for something which could give her some proof: then she looked at her pulse.

"Here look at this." - She showed her wrist, carrying the watch Superman had given to her the previous night.

Jimmy looked carefully at her watch and compared it to his watch which was given by Superman months earlier.

"Until yesterday the watch was your world exclusive." - She declared.

Jimmy's skepticism began fading away but he still had his doubts. For now he decided to give her the benefit of a doubt. - "Ok, so what did he tell you?"

"Not much..." - she answered, disappointed but she remembered the address Thaddeus Killgrave gave her. - "...but he gave me an address where he kept the proof I need. Superman went there to check it but until now he hasn't showed up." - His mention lead Lois to find weird Superman didn't give her any signal.

She felt tempted to activate the watch's signal but she remembered to use it only in case of emergency.

She stopped thinking about it because Jimmy insisted to hear more details. - "What can you tell more about this Thaddeus guy?"

"Thaddeus Killgrave worked in Cadmus Labs with Dr. Dabney Donovan but they're fired because of some unethical experiments sometime before LuthorCorp bought Cadmus Labs back in 2002."

"LuthorCorp?" - Jimmy frowned.

"The thing is, both doctors were rehired to Cadmus Labs by Lionel Luthor shortly after LuthorCorp's buy of Cadmus Labs. Then two years later, they're fired by Lex Luthor after Lionel Luthor's arrest." - Then Lois smiled at a strange fact. - "There is only news about them when they're arrested along with Bruno Mannheim. In other words: Intergang."

"Your FrontPage story the Daily Planet published a year and half ago."- Jimmy stated, remembering that day which was the same day when Clark began working at the Daily Planet. He remembered his friend who tragically lost his life year and half ago.

Filing that thought for later, Jimmy continued his questioning. - "But they were arrested at a maximum security prison...how did they get out?"

"They did: in a body bag..." - Lois answered, flatly, pointing to the monitor. Jimmy looked at the monitor and read the article.

"Last night, an attempt prison break took place at Stryker's Island but the fugitives who tried to escape were killed: among the fugitives were Dr. Thaddeus Killgrave and Dr. Dabney Donovan, renamed scientists who were arrested..."

Reading the news article, Jimmy looked at Lois, somewhat baffled which made Lois raise an eyebrow in sign of suspicion about the whole situation.

"Now you've started seeing the ghosts I saw..."

"No Kidding!" - Jimmy replied, stunned.

"All I need now is to find the missing link of the chain..." - again she looked at her watch, expecting Clark's return but until that moment she heard nothing about him and the proof.

Again her thoughts were interrupted by Jimmy.

"Lois...Lois..."

"What?" – She asked still thinking about Clark.

"Is this why we were running from those chasing cars? It's because some people came to me and asked questions about you, when you went to Washington."

"Yes" – She replied, unequivocally. – "Right now, I'm going to make a copy of my research and I'm going to handle over to you. If I'm going to bite the dust then you have to continue it and handle it to Superman."

Jimmy didn't like Lois's conversation as she began doing her copy of her research while she picked some of her belongings. The copy was made right away and immediately she grabbed the copy and handled it to Jimmy.

"Keep it safe." – She looked at him, seriously: Slowly, Jimmy grabbed it, noticing Lois's complete seriousness from her face and knew right away, more than ever, how serious and dangerous the situation even if he knew what he knew was just the top of the iceberg.

"Where are you going?" – Jimmy asked, slightly confused, watching Lois putting some things into her purse.

"Didn't you say the President was coming today to Metropolis? Well, we're going to meet the devil face to face."

The trip to the airport was silent on both sides: while Lois's affirmations were hammering Jimmy's mind, Lois's mind was elsewhere too. Superman hadn't given her any sort of explication since last night and there wasn't any news about him from which she heard about.

The whole situation was driving her nuts: if Clark and she were expecting a sort of war declaration, knowing about the Superman protocols, a complete set of procedures of what to do in case of Superman going rogue, this sudden terrorist attack was clearly changing the scenario. Luthor was apparently no longer interested in Superman, but to know who was responsible for the attack of his old company.

Fears and doubts were clouding her judgment and the certain of the past was then a mist of fog and vagueness of the future: no longer she could anticipate the scenario and she was just as clueless as anyone else.

Their trip to the airport was rapid but once they arrived at the airport, the tight security forced them to wait at the airport entrance: they could see dozens of police officers among military as if the airport itself had become an army headquarters in time of war. They tried to know the president's schedule through their sources but no one was able to tell: either they didn't know or they were too afraid to tell anything.

So, they've waited for the President: after an hour of waiting, the Air force One landed at the Metropolis Airport and the hype began immediately. The large battalion of journalists approached the circle of security people whose cordon was large enough for the President. Lois and Jimmy were at the front from where they spotted Lex Luthor. Pacing, Lex just waved at the crowd and when he was about to enter the limo, he noticed Lois: they stared at each other for few moments before he finally entered the limo.

Immediately, Lois and Jimmy headed for the car, running to be the first ones to follow the president: traveling with Jimmy's motorcycle, they managed to follow the presidential caravan to Metropolis where the first stop was the hotel where the President was staying for the night.

The President and its staff stayed at the hotel for sometime and patiently Lois and Jimmy waited at the other side of the street. However Lois wasn't known for her patience and as the rest of the journalists arrived at the hotel, she tried to get inside the hotel.

"Where are you going?" – Jimmy asked, seeing Lois walking away.

"Finding a way to get in…" – she replied, walking away but she stopped at half way from the hotel as she noticed a sudden disorder around the hotel's entrance and immediately she understood something big was about to happen. The rapid commotion around the security team and in the middle of fuss, Lex Luthor came out and headed to the presidential limo which was still standing in front of the hotel.

She turned around and yelled. – "Jimmy!"

He didn't think twice and he turned the bike's ignition on and as the presidential caravan began driving towards its next stop: LexCorp's Tower. They didn't waste anytime following the caravan. As they arrived to their spot, Lois tried to come close to Lex Luthor as possible but she was prevented right away by the security team to get any closer to Lex, stepping at Lois's front.

"All right!... All right!..." – she affirmed, lifting her arms, barricaded by three men: she stepped back but she kept searching for the President in middle of the semi-chaos and while walking around the safety perimeter, she found him already looking at her, fixatedly. The look on Lex's eyes gave her chills down her spine and she couldn't consider it as a good feeling.

Both she and Jimmy tried walking around the safety perimeter but the formation of the safety perimeter didn't allow them to get any closer to the President while he walked inside the LexCorp building. He and his staff were inside the building for almost an hour as Lois and Jimmy and rest of the press waited outside, in the streets along the crowd who were also expectant to see the President.

The hour passed and soon enough, the President walked out of the building, walking towards the section were most of press was eagerly waiting for him, ready to assault the president with questions, regarding the terrorist attack but suddenly all attention shifted towards the opposite direction.

"LUTHOR!" – Everyone looked the other way seeing Superman holding a car and immediately he tossed the car in Lex's direction: the car hit the ground violently and Lex barely escaped. Instantaneously, panic and fear installed among the crowd while the police and part of the President security formed the first line of defense, attacking Superman while the other part rapidly evacuated the president.

Lost in the middle of the chaos was Lois, who temporarily lost contact with Jimmy and couldn't believe what she was seeing: Superman who was the super-hero everyone loved was now killing one by one with his heat vision, each person who was attacking him, burning them to death.

Watching the horror and unable to comprehend his actions, Lois ran in his direction stopping right in front of him: he looked at her with his glowing red eyes ready to burn anyone but he stopped. He grabbed her and threw her, to his side, several meters away and continued his pursuit, walking.

Dizzy form the fall, Lois still had strength to get up and denying what she was seeing, she pressed the button of her new watch which Superman had given her the previous night, in hope he would come to his senses. Her hope grew as he stopped and looked at her: then he ran at super-speed in her direction grabbing her by her arm.

"This…bothers…me." – He declared and ripped her watch and again he threw her, this time against a wall. It would be the last thing she would remember before she fainted.

She woke up with bright lights in her direction which clouded her vision but slowly it returned to normal, seeing two old friends staying at her side.

"Damnit Lane, you never learned!..." – she smiled, seeing her old chief, Perry White angry, speaking loudly at her but she knew him too well to see he was happy to see she was still alive. – "…if you're going to keep up like this you'll never hit the thirties."

"Perry, I feel like my head is going to grow until it explodes…please, spare me the lecture…" - Seeing how futile his speech was, Perry took a deep breath while Lois, lay down, grabbed the command of the bed and pressed the button so that she could in a more comfortable position to talk to Perry and Jimmy who was at Perry's side.

"What happened?" – She asked, looking to Jimmy at same time she tried to remember her last memories.

"Don't you remember?" – Jimmy asked doubtfully but seeing a blank reaction coming from Lois, he answered her question. - "There was an attempt on Luthor's life". – Jimmy's response caught Lois's full attention but Jimmy was hesitant to continue with more detail, fearing Lois's reaction.

"Superman tried to kill Lex Luthor." – Perry stated categorically.

The statement came as shock to Lois but as she started to remember those moments right before she fainted, she knew Perry wasn't lying or making false presumptions.

Already she began taking all kind of conclusions since conspiracy to the simple conclusion of Superman going rogue following the idea "the best defense is offense.", but her mind was going overload and her headache wouldn't allow her to continue any further, her assumptions.

"Lois?…Lois?…" – Jimmy asked concerned seeing Lois slightly dizzy.

" Yeah, Jimmy, I'm fine." – She quickly assured both Perry and Jimmy but one small detail kept bugged her. – "How did get I here?"

"According to the medical staff, Superman took you and handled you to this hospital." – Perry declared.

"Where is he?" - She asked, curious.

"Nobody knows." – Jimmy replied, clueless but their conversation ended when a nurse entered Lois's room.

"Visit hour is over." – The nurse declared.

Both Perry and Jimmy exited the room, saying goodbye to Lois. She was left alone in that room and only T.V was her companion but after some zapping she turned off the T.V: even she didn't want to think about him, it was too strong for her to ignore.

The idea of having a Superman seeking revenge by killing his worst enemy didn't make sense because she knew him too well for him to behave like but she couldn't ignore facts, the present reality she was seeing with her own eyes. She witnessed people dying instantly and she was in the hospital, injured by the man she loved.

Every scenario that she could think of, didn't allow her to put the pieces together because something was missing or it didn't make sense. Few hours later, she was then, too tired to think anything and she decided to sleep but with the room's door opening, someone interrupted her intentions.

"I hope I didn't past your bedtime…" – there was no red cape or blue tights but instead there was a suit and the glasses and an uncomfortable and shy smile but her reaction was less than warm.

"How are you?" – He asked, concerned.

"I wished I could say that I was in cloud number nine but I'm here at bed fourteen. If you tried a little harder, I might have been in seventh heaven." – Her tone voice was cold, bitter and harsh but apparently he wasn't surprised, almost expecting it.

"I know you're every reason to get mad at me and even afraid of me…" – he tried to explain to her but she interrupted him.

"Congratulations! You read me like a book!" – She remarked sarcastically.

"But please hear me out…" – Clark pleaded and Lois persisted.

"Why did you do that? Where were you?..."

"Please Lois listen to me…" – he insisted but once again she interrupted him.

"You almost kill me…" – she stated, with tears ready to scroll down her cheeks, letting the emotions out.

"I wasn't there at first…" – he lowered his head shameful, not because he knew he didn't injure her but because he wasn't present when it happened. –"I was at the Fortress when…"

"Fortress?" – She raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

"It's a construction my biological father left for me at the North Pole…"

"That's just great! You have an igloo at the North Pole you have never talked about…" – By the moment, she was convinced that she knew less and less about him.

"Lois…" – he pleaded but she was more distant by the second and then she diverted her face from him, with tears scrolling down her cheeks.

"I heard your watch and I came right away: I saw a man just like me flying in the opposite direction." – He continued. – "But from the sky I saw you laying down, unconscious and I took you to this hospital and after that, when I tried to follow that man, he was already gone." – He took some photos from his jacket and put them on her bed. – "Here, it's footage from the attack on LexCorp. It was the same man but it wasn't me." – He paused for a moment hoping she would look at him again but it didn't happen.

"I don't want to kill Lex and I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you." – He assured her but she didn't know what to believe in anymore: he saw her still distant but he couldn't blame her. Perhaps someone was making a villain out of him and that someone was giving Lex a reason to use whatever were those Superman protocols based upon LexCorp tower terrorist attack.

"I'm going now…" – he stated, sensing he couldn't nothing more than to wait for her to see his side. – "…I just hope you'll see this before it's too late. You're smarter than this."

He went to the door but before he left the room, he stated, looking at her. – "I love you. Don't ever forget…"

To be continued…