Warning!!!!! This chapter is about the tortures Lois received while she was kidnap. Nothing too graphical, but if it's too much for you just skip it.

Just to not being so confusing, this chapter is a flashback.

Chapter 3

Lois had her notes in her hand while she waited for a cab outside the Planet that evening. She had worked at this article for the better part of the day. She had eaten a sandwich earlier and now she was starving. She decided she was going to order a pizza. Well, maybe a whole pizza was too much, but she could always save a slice or two for breakfast. Of course if Clark were with her she'd be even happier. It has been just a few days into his absence and she already realized just how important Clark was becoming in her life. He had been away almost a week, only two more days and he'd be back again. Good. Of course she was never going to admit that to him, but she felt so happy to be writing as a team, happier than she had felt her whole life.

She asked herself how, that first day in Perry's office, she had been able to avoid noticing him. One thing was for sure, since she had looked into his chocolate-colored eyes her life hadn't been the same.

Lois felt, rather than saw, the two men behind her, but as soon as she realized that, one of them had already caught her and the other was covering her mouth with a cloth. The strong smell emanating from the cloth made her feel suddenly tired. In a few seconds her eyes closed, her papers slipped from her hands, scattering on the ground. The men easily carried her to a waiting van that was parked quite close.

-O-

Lois woke up some hours later, she was lying on the floor, her wrists tied behind her back while her ankles were tied with ropes. She started to wake up before she was able to open her eyes. She remembered that she hadn't come here and this was somewhere she had never been, the noises around her didn't seem familiar, or from any of the places she had ever been.

She was able to hear a voice, a really threatening voice, that scared her more than she was ready to admit.

"We have the reporter, we'll find some way to make her talk, you'll see... she's not so tough... scare her with some well placed blows and you'll see, she will tell us where we can find the alien..." Her brain came to full attention instantly. They wanted SUPERMAN!!!

"I'd say by tomorrow we'll find him... and kill him. NO mercy..." Lois felt her heart explode. NO!!! They wanted to kill her hero, her ideal man, the gentlest man on the planet. WHY?!?!?!

She heard steps approaching. "Oh, our guest has woken up... we'll talk later!"

Lois felt a man's grip on her arms and she was forced to get up. She stared at him and saw him laugh. "Don't look at me with that defiant look, baby... you still don't know who you're dealing with!"

Lois didn't let her gaze drop.

"We know you have quite a relationship with that alien, tell us where he is!"

"The only thing I know that was alien was that sandwich I had for lunch!"

The man slapped her in the face so hard that she fell to the ground, then, as before, he pulled her to her feet.

"Tell us where the alien is! Or we are going to have to convince you!"

"Superman is certainly more human than you!"

Another blow, this time to her stomach.

"People a lot stronger than you have tried to resist... none have been able to do it."

"It's useless! I've never been able to contact Superman!"

"Trask thought you were probably the only one who was able to contact him!"

"Trask was a madman! He threw me out of a plane!" Another blow.

"Just answer the question! If you are able to tell me how you contact Superman it means that his theory wasn't wrong."

Lois wanted so much to call Superman, to be able to get away from this awful place, but the only thing that this man offered as help was the memory of Jason Trask. She turned to look around the room; spread around she saw many areas lighted by a sickly green glow. It could be only one thing: Kryptonite!

Lois told herself that she had to avoid calling Superman at all costs. The world needed him a lot more than it needed her. In that moment she made the hardest decision of her life.

-O-

Her chest, her back, her face, every part of her body was hurting. It had been going on for hours. Lois didn't care about the tears that she was sometimes unable to stop. Her only thought was not to cry out, in order to avoid having Superman hear her.

The man in front of her started to become tired. Then suddenly he stopped her questioning and left. Her exhausted gaze followed him. He wasn't an ugly man. If only he had a better character. He was young and violent. She saw him joined by another man, who had been spying on them through a one-way mirror. It was darker than where Lois was but she knew someone else was there. She had seen the glow of his cigarettes during all her interrogation. And she was also able to hear the young man's angry voice, but it was too hard for her to concentrate on what they were speaking about. She was too tired. Lois felt as if she were going to faint, but she was tied so firmly that there was little chance that she would fall.

She was unable to hear what was being said by the two men. She could see that the guy who was questioning her was quite angry. The other man had to be his superior. Both of them seemed to be a strange mix between gravediggers and FBI agents. Lois needed to delete her fear so she tried to imagine them with funny ties on their dark clothes. Maybe ties with big pink pigs with blue jackets on them. Even Clark would refuse to wear such ties. And this thought made her smile. He had such strange taste in ties. She told herself that if she survived she would have to ask her friend why his choices were so bizarre... Who knew, maybe he was color blind.

'Clark, I don't want it to end this way between us!!! Not this way!!! But I'm sure you'll understand!! Superman is your best friend! You'd do the same thing, wouldn't you?!'

Lois didn't realize that she had fainted until a bucketful of ice water brought her suddenly to her senses.

"Now, again. Where is Superman?"

"I don't know!! I never knew that!! I've never been able to contact him!!!"

"And who has saved you, up until now?"

"It was just luck! HE came at the right moment..."

"Ohhh, Really? And how do you think that happened?"

"He told me once that he had really good hearing..."

"Stop saying that b$&!"

Lois took a deep breath without answering. The pain she was feeling helped her to make it, and she started to cough.

"I want to know how to find him!"

"I don't know!"

"All right, if you don't know, then who does know?!"

'Clark... no... I can't betray him!!!' But the fear in her eyes betrayed her thoughts.

"Well then, you tell me who he is and we'll invite him to this fun little party! Tell us who he is and we'll let you go."

"I don't know anyone able to contact Superman!!!!" Lois had a few seconds of not being able to draw a breath. The man had hit her with such force she thought her body wasn't going to be able to resist. She wondered how much more of this she could take.

The man threw another bucket of ice water on her. All this water. She almost groaned when she felt all the water rolling down her body. It was a double torture. Cold and thirst. She was tempted to beg the man in front of her to let her drink. But it would be useless and this would put her in a worse situation. She knew this man would use this need against her. But now the cold was becoming even worse that the thirst. Trying to avoid shivering was impossible, and her wet clothes and the ropes were affecting her more then the water itself. Lois had the temptation to suck the water from her jacket, but the way she was tied impeded that.

"You know, for a while there I believed you! Instead, now I'm starting to think you are covering for someone! And it's not only the alien!"

"But what has he done to you?"

"He's an invader! He's the advance guard... but the others are going to arrive!"

"His race is extinct!"

"That's what he says!"

"He's never lied!"

"Really? Then where is he hiding?"

"I don't know!"

"Then he lied to you."

"NO!"

"Then you know where he is?"

"No... but... "

"If you don't know where the alien is then that means he's not honest with you... so he lied to you!"

"He would never hurt us!"

The man hit her once again "Sucker!"

"You don't know him!! He's so HUMAN!! He loves this planet!"

Another blow, this time it was so violent that it made her faint.

-O-

Lois awoke hours later. She noticed that the light in her room had changed. She was cold and hungry.

She eventually realized that she was alone and tried to free herself, but the more she tried to loosen the ropes, the tighter they became around her wrists.

She heard the door open with a bang.

"Oh, our guest is awake! Did you sleep well?!" Lois shot him a glance full of hate.

"You'd better be careful with that look; you could kill someone!" he said mockingly.

"If only I could do it!" She saw the man approach the column she was tied against. He was now in front of her, with a knife in his hands.

"Do you want to do this the hard way?" There was no response from Lois. "OK, as you prefer."

Lois felt the cold of the blade against the skin of her neck, then felt the knife tip slide along her chest above her clothes. She held her breath when the cold blade touched her skin at the end of her shirt. She felt its iced tip run over her belly.

The man now made it move under her clothes.

Lois wasn't wasn't able to avoid trembling.

Then the last button of her shirt flew away under the pressure of the knife. The man's hand was raising her shirt. He had a funny smile on his face.

The blade's touch became harder and she felt the pain that the tip made on her abdomen where it scratched her. That man wasn't stabbing her, he was trying to scare her, to make her talk.

Lois moaned but she did not speak. The man in front of her turned to look at someone she was unable to see from her position. Angry, he brought the knife up near her throat again.

"If you don't talk... I swear I'll really hurt you... so much that you can't even imagine!"

Lois heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He must be the same man that she'd seen before, the one who had been hidden in the darkness. He, again, had a cigarette between his lips.

"You have to understand, Miss Lane, that we are just trying to save the Earth. This alien has to be eliminated!"

"This alien is the only positive thing that has happened to our planet!"

"And what if he, for some unknown reason, became crazy? If he became power hungry, who could stop him?"

"It won't happen. He doesn't want the power!"

"You are so naive!"

"I'm a realist! You two are the crazy ones!"

"Miss Lane, it's not safe to talk like that, our friend could become angry."

"This one isn't a friend of mine!"

"You are quite strong, Miss Lane, and a good reporter too, but you can play around too much!"

"You're as crazy as Trask was before you."

"A real pity to lose Jason in that way..."

"Well... I didn't cry very much! He wanted to kill a friend of mine! In fact, he wanted to kill his whole family!"

"Maybe Trask was a bit overzealous!"

"Why don't you kill me now and we can stop this stupid fooling around? I'd never tell you how to contact Superman, even if I did know it!"

"For me, it's enough that you can cry, Miss Lane... and then your friend will come anyway."

Lois couldn't avoid staring at him. Her head was firmly tied to the column. The man made a gesture toward the younger one, who after a minute, returned with a bucket. he pulled from the bucket what looked like a leather strip, very similar to a wide belt, then he looked at Lois with an amused expression he picked up the bucket and slowly poured the ice water over Lois' head.

Lois held her breath at the sudden freezing contact. She was able to feel the ice cubes rolling down her body. "It certainly seems a pity to waste all this water, doesn't it?"

Lois almost cried seeing all the water create a puddle under her feet. Ironic, she was completely wet and her mouth was almost completely dry.

Well then, Miss Lane, would you kindly call Superman?"

"No, even if it was the last thing in the world I could do!" she said firmly, without moving her eyes.

At the older man's gesture, the younger one approached Lois and the leather strip was tied tightly around her head. It was so cold, as if it wasn't enough that the water already made her feel cold. After he finished tightening it around her head he tied a rope around her head, to prevent any other movement. Lois could feel the iced water drip on her face.

"We'll see... do you know what's happening to you? In a while, you'll think you've gone crazy. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about... Well, if you decide to collaborate with us in order to save the world, all you have to do is call us, or at least call your friend."

Lois couldn't move her head. She was scared like she had never been in all her life. She knew these men were not joking. She heard the door slam as they went out. She was trembling, as much from the cold as from fear. She could hear the noise of her teeth chattering, but she was unable to stop herself. It was so cold!

She wondered again, how much more of this she could resist. She wondered how she was going to resist if she was hit as much tomorrow as she had been that day. She wondered if she was going to die soon. She wondered how much longer she could survive without putting Superman in danger, or worse, Clark.

To Be Continued