'Don't make us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.'
Oliver Goldsmith"Lana?" Lois called, as she turned around yet another corner in the seemingly endless labyrinth of alleyways and back streets, her only guiding light the occasional shimmer of pink to lead the way. The stars were veiled behind the thick cloud, but the murky moonlight shone down on everything with a silvery shadow, giving illumination where the streetlights would not reach.
As she turned around another bend the hard sloes of her shoes shot pains of agony into her feet, but Lois' mind was too preoccupied to take heed. She carried on running, until again, her eyes caught the aurora like flicker of pink velvet. "Lana!" She called again. "Lana, wait up. Lana wait –"
"I have nothing to say to you." The other woman snapped as she spun on her heel to face her pursuer, her cheeks still stained with the trace of tears.
"Well, that's a bit harsh." Lois protested. "What the hell did I do anyway?"
"You know full well what you did Lois." Lana said, glaring at Lois.
"Oh, I do, do I?" Lois said curtly back. "Well, let us see, what could I have possibly done to tick Lana off soo much? Let us see. I stood up for her when she was blatantly being subjected to abuse, how terrible of me. I managed to bring to light a rather critical piece of information about the fickle nature of her family members. But, you know, so what. You're absolutely right; I'm the bad gut here and she's a bloody saint."
"She is my aunt. She's taken care of me my entire life. She only has my best interests at heart –"
"Which is peculiar when you consider the fact that she obviously not got one!" Lois shot back. "Just out of idle curiosity, were you even listening to the same conversation as the rest of us, or did you go for a nice short break in your Happy Place? She accused your wedding of being a farce Lana. Now, to me, that doesn't exactly scream of motherly affection."
"And of course you know all about that don't you Lois. I'm sorry we weren't all brought up on a diet of military payrolls and tough guy facades, but some of us actually like our families. And we keep our noses out of other people's business. And we don't go about making such a scene!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I caused a scene?" Lois laughed disbelievingly. "Lana Lang is actually accusing someone else of causing a scene. Oh, that's rich."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Lana said, striding up to stare Lois straight in the face.
"The last time I checked?" Lois answered calmly. "Still Lois. But you? You seem to have morphed into your aunt. Not another possession I hope. We've only jus heard the end of the last one!"
"Tell me, do you have the need to get yourself thrown off skyscrapers to fuel your adrenaline addiction, or to get you five-minutes-of-fame-fix? Or, here's a good one," Lana laughed through her anger. "How about your compulsive desire to always be the damsel in distress!"
"The mouth flaps and the eyes move but Ms. Brain had long since departed. Hasn't she Lana?"
"You think you're so smart."
"Not true." Lois said. "I don't think I'm so smart, I know so. You see hun, you've got your nouns and your verbs all mixed up. I'm not a damsel in distress; I'm a distressing damsel. All part of my charm."
"Yeah." Lana sneered. "Half pain in the ass. Half military whore. All bitch."
"Yep, that sounds about right." Lois said, nodding her head and looking to the sky. "Hey, where're you going now?" She shouted as she looked back down to where Lana had been standing."
"Away from you." The other woman shouted over her shoulder as she stormed around the corner and out of the alley.
"Yeah, cause that's real mature." Lois found herself yelling somewhat hypocritically. "You know, Nell really was wrong; you do make a great role model for Laura." Lois stood expecting some retaliation, but none came. "Fine then," She eventually cried irritably. "F-off! Just leaves more cake for the rest of us………Lana?" She called again but got no answer. Lois picked up her dragging dress and ran down the dark alley and around the bend: "Lana! Lan-"
She stopped dead in her tracks. Lana stood frozen just feet in front of her. And before Lana stood one man and a gun. In his eyes, a confident conviction blazed. He grinned menacingly as he gestured to Lois with the gun over to where Lana was standing. Lois slowly and calmly walked over to her friend and took Lana's hand in her own. "Why's it always a maniac with a gun?" She whispered softly.
"I'd re-think your definition of maniac if I were you Miss Lane." The man said, bring his left hand up to join his right on the gun. "And I'd consider the manner of your address." He grinned. "Otherwise something untoward might happen." He cocked his aim and pulled the trigger. The speeding piece of metal flew past Lois' arm, but no sound of the shot was heard.
"You missed." Said Lois. Besides her, she could feel Lana shaking, and squeezed her hand a little harder, letting go of some of her own fears at the same time.
"Perhaps you would like me to stand a bit closer next time." He said, re-aiming the gun.
"Lois, for the love of God don't say yes." Lana hissed desperately.
"Alright. Why not?" Lois smiled to their assailant.
"What?"
"Brave, but, foolish Miss Lane." He grinned as he stepped towards the two women. "You should just be grateful I've been given orders not to kill you."
"Well, isn't that funny." Lois shot back. "I've been given orders not to kill you. Pity, when you're so eager to close the proximity. That was, brave, but, foolish."
Like a flash, Lois pushed Lana back, spun round and kicked the gun from the man's hand, coming to a halt facing him, her eyes fixed, she grinned haughtily. Incensed, he lunged at her snarling like a beast. Lois swapped her footing and spun around once more, the force of her rotating body smashing in the attacker's stomach through her leg. Winded, he fell in a heap to the floor. He glared up at Lois with murderous eyes, when suddenly he fell faint under the power of the blow that had just struck his head.
Lana stood back, an old drain pipe in her hand; relieved she smiled up at Lois. "You think he's dead?"
"Don't know." Lois sighed thankful. "Sure as Hell don't care."
"We need to get back." Lana said, throwing aside the pipe as she headed back to the alleyway.
"You're telling m-AH!" Lois screamed as she crumbled to the floor, her hands shaking as she pulled out the knife that was impaled in her leg. As she looked up a forceful fist hit the side of her face, knocking her unconscious.
"Lois!" Lana screamed as her friend fell limb to the ground. The man looked up and pounced towards her, but Lana skilfully evaded his grasp and set off down the alley with all the speed she could muster. Adrenaline soared through her veins as she sprinted down the dark streets, her only goal to get back to the restaurant.
All of a sudden, she felt herself jerk forward and tumble to the ground, the man clutching to the hem of her dress. He forced himself on top of her, pinning her down between his legs. In all the madness, a name suddenly popped in Lana's panicked head. She took a deep breath and screamed: "Clar-" His hands had smothered her mouth and nose. As her brain struggled for air, she heard him say. "Trust me when I tell you, this is for your own good Miss Lang." She fell into darkness.
The ceaseless ringing in Lana's head slowly brought her back to consciousness. Instinctively, she leaned over to smash the alarm clock, but instead, rolled straight off the bed and on to the cold, hard floor. Memories flooded back to her and she leapt horrified to her feet. Where am I?
She looked around. The room she was in couldn't have been more than two and a half meters in length, and one and a half in width. Pushed against the two side walls were the sort of beds Lana had only seen in military camps, or civil war movies. The walls were grey concrete, hard and bumpy, without a single window. The only light came from a bare lamp bulb hanging from the ceiling, which reflected off the dark steel door. Lana shivered and rubbed her bare arms as she looked down to the other occupant of the room. Lois lay, slumped on the other bed; the murky white sheets stained with blood from the still gapping cut in her leg.
Softly Lana sat down by her head and stroked the hair off her friend's face. "Lois." She whispered. "Lois, are you awake?"
"Mmm…" Her friend said sleepily, rolling over on her side.
"Lois, please wake up."
Lazily Lois batted her eyes open, groaned, and slowly sat up with her hands to her head. "Urg," She muttered. "My head feels like there's a Thanagarian living in it. Ah!" She reached down to her wounded leg, delicately feeling the sodden flesh. "What happened?" She asked.
"Don't you remember?"
"Lana, I'm having trouble remembering my own name. How much did we drink last night?"
"Well, we – I didn't drink anything." Lana said. "Lois, I think we've been kidnapped."
"Either that or this is a really crappy hotel room." Lois said, slowly standing up. She flinched at the pain, but continued to stand firm. "How long have we been here?"
"I, I don't know. I, I…" Lana let of a sudden sob and broke down in stream of tears, her hands cupping her sorry head. "Oh Lois, this is all wrong. I'm not meant to be here. I'm meant to be getting married, and instead…" She sobbed again. "God, I hope Laura's okay. And what about Pete? What will he be thinking? What if they don't know what's happened? We have to get out of here. We have to, have to…"
"I don't think that's an option." Lois muttered as she hobbled over to the other side of the cell.
"What do you mean"? Lana sniffed.
"You see any windows?" Lois gestured. "No, I didn't think so. And the hinges on the door must be on the other side. The concrete on the walls looks quite thin, but it's not that cold, so I'm guessing the walls are fortified somehow. And, come to think of it, that thing you smell; earth. My guess is, we're under it."
"So you're saying we're stuck."
"For the time being, yes, we are."
"Oh God." Lana sighed as fresh tears escaped her eyes. "What am I going to do?"
"Well," Lois said, sitting down on the other bed. "It's Valentine's Day right? I suggest we recount boyfriend horror stories. Like, there was the one time, at band camp and… What?" Lois asked as Lana glared contemptuously at her. "Just trying to lighten the mood." She muttered.
"Well, you have to excuse me for not feeling very lighten at the moment." Lana sneered. "In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the most appropriate time."
"I beg to differ." Lois said. "See, the way I see it, it's times like these you have to be the most light-hearted, otherwise it's kinda like telling them," She nodded to the door. "They've already beaten you."
"This isn't some sort of twisted game of strategies Lois!"
"Well it's not exactly the Miss World beauty pageant either is it?"
"What are you saying?"
"What I'm sayin' is that sittin' here cryin' and feeling sorry for yourself ain't gonna make the whole experience any chirpier."
"So I should just pretend that I'm not upset that I'm missing the happiest day of my life!" Lana cried.
"No, what I'm is, you're not helping yourself by showing that it bothers you so much." Lois said.
"This is great." Lana sneered. "I'm getting emotional counselling off the emotional retard. Tell me Lois, when was the last time you told someone what you were really feeling."
"I-" Lois started defiantly, when the words lost her. Her mind brought up a memory she'd long been trying to suppress.
She stood shivering on the roof of her apartment building. The vicious wind blew the icy rain all over her frozen body. Her voice cracked, she wished it hadn't: "You know, all the powers, all the risks, it's all just superficial. Deep down I'm just a girl, staring in front of a boy, asking him to love her."
"Lois, I'm –""-Sorry" She breathed, back in the cell.
"Sorry about what?" Lana scoffed. "You know Lois, I misjudged you; it's not that you can't talk about your emotions, it that you don't have any in the first place." She looked over to Lois' sad and distant face and woefully misinterpreted it. "What's this? Don't tell me I've managed to silence to infamous wit of Lois Lane. Oh, this is great." She laughed. "If I'd have known how, I would have done it years ago. Perhaps we'll finally now be able to have a conversation without the sarcastic gibes, or the snide remarks. What do you think about that Lo?"
"I'm sorry." Lois reiterated quietly.
"Pardon."
"I'm sorry." She said again. "I'm sorry I ever considered being civil to you, you self-obsessed little tart! I'm sorry you feel that just because your mommy and your daddy died it gives you a get out of jail free card to other's suffering! And I'm sorry you're a blind-eyed, vanity stroon, inharmonious, enigma!"
"You know, I'd be angry with you if I didn't feel so sorry for you." Lana said with a calm anger. "How does it feel knowing that you'll never really be loved?"
"'I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.'" Lois said with a passing quote.
"You know what Lois." Said Lana. "I just don't care anymore. I might not be as clever or confident or cocky as you, but I know one thing you don't. I know that when I die I won't be alone. And I know when a man loves m-"
Lana was cut short at the sound of keys in a lock. Both woman stood and turned to face the door. "I wouldn't be so sure of that first pearl of wisdom." Lois muttered, as the door swung open, to reveal two military clad men, both heavily armed. "I'm guessing you're not room service." Lois said hopefully. The two men glared at er and then proceeded to herd her and Lana out of the small room and into a stark white hall way. "I didn't think so." Lois muttered.
A/N: Lana had something of a bad press in this chapter; it's just a convention of mine. She's had a hard time, I promise that soon, you'll all like her a lot more. Also, I have coursework, homework, essays and Christmas to content with, so if I'm a bit slow updating, it's only because I want to put out a high standard of story. T'is better to wait than to rush.
Disclaimer: Come to think of it, I do own the character of Laura Lang Ross, but if anyone for some bizarre reason would like to use her, feel free.