Well, folks, it's here. One of the chapters you've been waiting for since the beginning. And since htbthomas was headed for Spiderman 3 tomorrow, you get it early! Just remember, this is only the beginning, as you'll soon see by the end of the chapter. Read on, my dears! I hope you guys like this as much as we loved writing it!
And the truth that you'll find
Will always be
The truth you hide.
So how do you love,
How do you love?
When your angels can't sing,
And your world is still
Lacking of me?
-Collective Soul, How Do You Love?
Lois' hands clenched on the wheel as she drove back to the airport. She and Richard had wisely decided to part ways after their fantastic argument – he and Lana were taking a cab to the airport and would fly the seaplane back to Metropolis.
Clark and Lois were planning to drop the rented car off, then fly back to Metropolis themselves. During breakfast – most uncomfortable meal ever, Lois thought, remembering the pained silence that had made her stuffed French toast taste like ash – her phone had rung. Ms. Mackenzie had come through for them, in spite of having to dodge her boss repeatedly. And as it turned out, Luthor's threat had been sent from Metropolis. The docks, to be specific.
That bastard lead us all on a wild goose chase, Lois had snarled after thanking Ms. Mackenzie and hanging up. The island was a false lead.
Either that or he's talking about the yacht, Lana had replied. It's big enough to be an island. With that thought, the four had finished up the meal quickly and left the restaurant. Lois smiled a bit at the recollection of Richard's guilty glance at Lana; her question had rocked him, and though he couldn't reply coherently, she didn't need him to. The answer was obvious.
The four of them in a car together was a very bad idea at that point, so Lois had left first and let them wait for a cab. Now Richard and Lana were somewhere behind them, and Lois and Clark would soon be in the air – or more correctly, Lois and Superman. And the silence in the car was almost as tense as the silence at the table had been.
Lois felt her stomach churning, breakfast unsettled by her nerves. Seeking for something, anything, to say to the man beside her, the raven-haired reporter muttered, "Right about now I really wish you could home in on their heartbeats like you can mine."
Kal-El smiled sadly. "I wish I could, too. But Lois … I worked with you every day for a couple of years. I got to know the rhythm of your heart very well. The twins… I've only known them a few months. And I don't see them as often. I tried, that first day, but I just can't. I haven't even managed to lock on to their voices."
"Luthor probably has them in a sound-proofed room somewhere," Lois growled, adding a few choices phrases about Lex's ancestry.
"We'll find them," he replied, touching her wrist lightly. Lois glanced at him, and for a moment both of them remembered that he'd accidentally called her honey, remembered why she had allowed it and why she had done as he asked her. Then Lois resolutely turned her eyes back to the road.
Clark sighed. He still couldn't believe he'd slipped into pet names; it had been his delight, those few hours in the Fortress, to lavish all the endearments he could imagine upon this woman who was his darling, his beloved, his dearest heart. She tended to draw the line at anything resembling sugar or sweetheart – honey was as close as he could get, and he cherished that forbearance.
…
Jason and Kala weren't feeling too well. They both had headaches; in fact, everything ached, like that time they had the flu. Kala's ears were ringing, and Jason was seeing spots in front of his eyes. They both felt simply miserable, and had stayed in bed, not even wanting breakfast.
The door to their stateroom opened stealthily. In the control room, Stanford bit his already ragged cuticles as he watched Lex ease into the room. The bald man moved with exaggerated caution, one hand never leaving his right coat pocket.
Kala lifted her head to look toward the door, and then her bleary eyes suddenly cleared. "Jason," she hissed urgently, shaking her brother's shoulder. "Jason, wake up! It's him."
Jason's head felt like it weighed more than the piano – more than ten pianos. He blinked and raised his hand slowly to block out the brighter light from the hall, a low grinding pain suffusing every muscle and joint of his small body. "Go 'way," he muttered, but his voice was fretful, not defiant.
Kala's breath started to whistle in her throat as she realized that whatever illness was overtaking them had affected Jason worse than herself. As terrified as she was – as scared as she had been ever since Brutus covered her mouth with his big hand – she knew that it was her turn to protect her brother now. She wasn't as strong, but maybe the creepy bald bad guy didn't know that…
"Leave us alone!" the girl cried out defiantly, but Lex just smiled, trying to be as charming as possible as he sauntered closer.
"Hey, relax," he said quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you – what would be the point of that, hmm?"
Both twins sat up, watching him warily. "What d'you want?" Kala demanded, her gaze flickering around the room, seeking something to throw.
"I just want to ask you some questions," Lex replied. His unblinking stare was nearly mesmerizing, his low voice hypnotic. Oh, the little girl looked so much like Lois, that distrustful sullen look he knew so well… "Do you know who I am?"
"You're a bad man," Kala replied spitefully. Those hazel eyes watched him with an almost hawk-like intensity unusual for one so young. "And my Mommy doesn't like you at all."
Lex chuckled. "Oh, it's not like that at all. True, she wrote a lot of very mean things about me, back in the day. She made up for that by writing my favorite article ever, 'Why the World Doesn't Need Superman'. I really need to thank her for it – that editorial brightened many a dark day."
The twins looked at him skeptically. They both felt miserable, and this scary man was only making it worse. Even when he tried to be charming, he seemed dangerous. "Liar," Jason rasped.
"Oh, no," Lex replied. "Your Mom and I have more in common than she thinks. We just need to talk about some things, like your father. She's going to be here today, I hope. And then we can all set sail together, like good friends."
His cheerful tone was utterly wasted on the twins. Kala gave him her best Lane frosty glare, and said threateningly, "If you hurt us or Mommy, my daddy will kick your butt."
Lex came closer to the bed, and in spite of her bravado, Kala shrunk back as he leaned toward her. Now he chose to drop the act, and his eyes were cold and merciless on those hazel ones so like her mother's. "He'll try … I'm counting on it. But I have a surprise for him if he does, little girl. Want to see the present I'm going to give Superman?"
She would've said No, if she could've spoken, but Kala's voice had dried up in horror. She shook her head sharply instead, curls flying.
Lex took his hand out of his pocket anyway. The kryptonite shiv glittered prettily as he reached toward Kala with it…
…
If the drive to the airport had been uncomfortable, the flight from there, his arm around her waist as they skimmed above the waves, was intolerable. They had never been so quiet for so long, at least not this tense and prickly silence. On other flights long ago their stillness had been filled with echoes of warm words of love and adoration. Unspoken for so long, but the weight of them filled those hours in the air nonetheless…
To be silent now seemed cold, especially since last night. The curve of her waist under his hand… Trying to draw her out again, and hoping to think of something other than what might have been, Kal-El said quietly, "I barely know Jason and Kala…"
"You know them well enough to order their dinner," Lois replied swiftly, eyes firmly on the skyline, knowing he could see her face clearly with her hair tied back.
"Well, Lois, that's the first thing anybody learns about the twins," he soothed. "The first thing anyone who meets them hears is what not to let them eat. Sure, I know that, and I know Kala likes to call that lizard Gazeera just to irritate Jason. I know a few things, but I don't know them." And given the parts of your argument with Richard that I couldn't help overhearing, he thought painfully, I feel like I should know them better than I do.
Lois sighed sharply, sliding back an errant curl that had slipped loose behind her ear. This was not easy … she'd meant last night to tell him the full truth today, but after that fight with Richard… God, he'd had to have heard that. She snuck a glance at him, wondering what he thought of everything they had said. Wondering and dreading.
But Kal-El was looking away, perhaps scanning the coast, perhaps too shy to catch her gaze, and Lois was left to wonder. Slowly, she began to speak, working her way backward through the twins' lives. "Jason loves science," Lois said softly, with more than a touch of motherly pride. "He's always asking 'Why?' Their teacher gives him extra projects sometimes… Kala could be doing better. They're only in kindergarten, and she gets bored easily. And when she's bored she acts up. Loves attention. They can both read already – not War and Peace, but you know, they read better than most kids their age."
Sighing, Lois closed her eyes. That made it easier to lose herself in memories. Kal-El kept quiet, his silence a well into which her recollections could pour. "When Jason's interested in something, he has to learn everything about it. He won't quit until he knows more than most adults. And you can't fob him off with 'because I said so' or 'that's the way it is'. He has to know. And with games – Jason won't stop until he figures out how to play them. Same thing with puzzles. Once he starts one, he'll finish it, even if it's one of Richard's thousand-piece brain-busters. One that was just a picture of a bunch of different beads, it took him three months to get that puzzle done. But he just doesn't know the meaning of 'quit'."
"He's your son," Kal-El whispered. His eyes meeting hers were as warm as his body beside her, and for a heartbeat she couldn't speak. What she wouldn't give to have had him beside her when these memories were made…
If she started thinking like that, she'd never get around to saying what she'd meant to tell him since last night. Lois bit her lip and glanced down, feeling the wind against her hair as much as she felt the long-harbored secret in her heart. "Yes, well, Kala's got a lot of me in her, too. Has to be the center of attention, has to stand out from the crowd. One time she climbed an old oak tree behind the school during recess. The fire department had to get her down – she was fifty feet in the air. All because some dumb boy said girls weren't as good at climbing as boys." She couldn't help chuckling. "Scared the hell out of me. One of those 'Mommy moments' I never expected to have."
"You're an incredible mother," he told her. The sincerity in his voice made her look up again, and at her surprised expression, he tightened his arm around her slightly. "You are, Lois. Look at all the challenges you've had raising the twins. You've overcome every one. Not to mention you managed to keep up your career and raise two children."
"I never expected to be a mom, had never really even considered it at all," she replied, her voice growing softer as the past seemed to rise up around her. "I'd been in Paris for a while. I was having … flashbacks, I don't know. Little bits of memories, of Non and Ursa trying to tear me in half. Luthor pointing me out to Zod. Seeing the Fortress collapse. That kind of stuff. I'd been treated in the 'states, diagnosed with amnesia due to post traumatic stress disorder. I went to this specialist in France…"
Dr. Arnaud seen her in his office, Lois sitting on an overstuffed chair while the doctor took her vital signs and asked about her symptoms. None of the sterile white treatment rooms she was used to in America, just shelves full of books and a discreet cabinet of medical instruments and supplies. This doctor – even in memory Lois loathed to call him a psychiatrist, thanks to Elliot – had wanted to start her on some medication, but first he wanted to do some bloodwork…
"I came back a week later, and the results were in. He told me he was putting me on a couple of things and some vitamin supplements, and I thought that was kind of odd, and then he says, 'But I cannot start with the major course of medication, Ms. Lane, until after your delivery.' And I was just nodding along, and then it hit me what he'd said, and like a moron I go, 'Delivery?' Of course he looks at me like he's thinking Stupid American, and he says, 'Yes, Ms. Lane, these drugs are not safe for the unborn child. We must wait until after you deliver.' So I stared at him like he'd grown another head."
In spite of the fear she'd felt then, she chuckled now, and got a smile from Kal-El as well. "So that's how I found out I was two months pregnant. I'd never guessed – I was always religious about the pill. And I was utterly shocked by the news. I think I used some creative language to express my feelings… Anyway, I figured out who the father was pretty quickly. Didn't help much, though. I was still alone, in what was pretty much a strange city, and though a part of me was terrified of having these kids – eventually I found out it was twins, which just made me all the more thrilled – anyway, I was scared of becoming a mom, but the biggest part of me wouldn't let me … do anything … about it. I had a strong feeling that the twins were precious, that I had to protect them and cherish them. It was really weird, because I also felt like I shouldn't talk about them to anyone…"
For a long moment she fell silent, and Kal-El picked up speed as they passed a busy port, wanting to remain unseen. He was still tuned to her, waiting patiently for her to resume the story, lightly squeezing her side again to let her know he was still listening intently. Lois' voice was too low for any ears but his when she continued, "I used to stand on the roof and wonder why all of this was happening to me, wonder what the fragments of memories I was getting back meant. Hate myself for ruining my career and my nicely-ordered life with this crazy decision to keep the twins, even though their father was out of my life. I lived across an alley from this club, and they'd play a lot of American music. 70's and 80's stuff, mostly, and one night when I was standing there staring up at the sky, they played this old Moody Blues song, In Your Wildest Dreams. And it just seemed to sum up all the sentimental memories, and all the wild hopes I had, and the sadness too. Everything I felt about the whole situation, missing the twins' father, being alone in Paris, all of it."
"I started singing it, to myself, to the twins. They loved it; the fact of being pregnant just didn't feel real somehow, until I started singing it to them one night and they … I guess they were making an attempt at dancing in there, they kicked like I was going to have mules instead of a pair of babies. They still love it – it's their favorite lullaby. And every time I sing it to them I can't help remembering how I felt then, how badly I wished you were there, in spite of myself."
They slipped sideways in the air for a moment, then Kal-El corrected them back to level flight and turned to look at her, those amazing eyes so wide. "Lois?" he asked in a strengthless, pleading voice.
Oh, please, God, Lois thought, but she'd come too far to turn back. Hope flared brightly in her at the sound of his voice, almost as if he really… She'd been alternately hoping for and dreading this moment since he had torn the door off that 777 jet and looked right into her again. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she whispered with a small nod, "Yes, Kal-El. You. Jason and Kala are yours."
…
Lana wasn't even sure why they'd bothered putting headsets on if they weren't going to speak. All four of them had felt the strain of old ties breaking and new ones being made that morning, especially after the apocalyptic argument outside IHOP, which had fortunately broken up without her intervention. And what would I have said, anyway? 'As the dubious occupant of the moral high ground, I demand that you two act your age!'
The redhead shook her head slightly in bewilderment. How on earth had they gotten themselves mixed up like this? No matter what she did or said, it seemed wrong. If she tried to mediate between Lois and Richard, not only would she be highly unwelcome, but she'd also be prolonging what looked like an inevitable breakup and thus increasing their turmoil. On the other hand, it was never right to pursue someone else's fiancé. And it didn't help at all that she could still taste Richard's mouth on hers…
"Do you regret it?" Her own voice startled her; Lana hadn't meant to speak aloud.
Richard glanced at her thoughtfully. "No," his voice crackled in her earphones. "Do you?"
"No, I don't," Lana sighed. "I regret that I don't regret it, God help me."
He looked a little puzzled by that, or perhaps he was just focusing on flying the seaplane. After a few moments, though, Richard asked cautiously, "You wish you did regret it?"
"Yes," Lana replied. "Because then I could still tell myself I'm a good Midwestern girl, and not a potential home-wrecker."
His laugh was brief and mirthless. "Trust me, at this point our home couldn't be any more wrecked if a herd of wild horses stampeded through it. And not because of you – because of us. Lois and I were doomed from word one."
…
It had worked better than he'd dreamed, and Kal-El listened raptly as Lois' voice delved into the years he'd missed. He could almost see it: Jason methodically working the puzzle, Kala perched in the tree like a queen on her throne… The image that branded itself on his mind, however, was Lois turning her face to the sky and drowning in loneliness. How he wished he could have been there for her, in either guise … or as his true self, if he had been a little wiser, a little less eager to spare her pain.
His heart aching from those thoughts, Kal-El wasn't prepared for Lois' next words. And every time I sing it to them I can't help remembering how I felt then, how badly I wished you were there, in spite of myself. The realization – she'd spoken of missing the twins' father only a moment before – struck sharply enough that he momentarily forgot to keep them aloft. Quickly correcting their flight, he turned to her, his voice choked. "Lois?" The sound of her name embodied everything he'd hoped and feared, prayed for and dreaded, since the moment he'd seen her again.
Lois smiled even though her eyes brimmed with tears, and nodded slightly as she whispered back, "Yes, Kal-El. You. Jason and Kala are yours." And the look of absolute relief on her face surprised him as much as her words. As if she hadn't expected his reaction.
His heart seemed to swell in his chest. Suspicion, even being so nearly certain as he'd been for the past few days, was nothing compared to absolute confirmation. Kal-El found it hard to breathe, a shiver of finality running through him. Mine. Lois' kids are mine … ours. Our twins. My God. I'm not alone – and a part of her will always be mine. Her words to him from so long ago, her voice full of wonder even as the gunshot echoed around the room – I must have known that for the longest time.
"Lois, I…" All of a sudden, Kal-El remembered the times he'd seen her before leaving this planet for good, or so he thought. She was pregnant then. If I had just looked… The thought wouldn't have crossed my mind. But oh, if I had just glanced at her lungs and seen a bit more, I could've known then. I could've stopped all this…
"Kal-El?" Lois' voice trembled, too, and he realized how distraught he must look, thinking on the past. It was clear that she was as shaken by the confession she had made as he was to hear it. Please, please, God. Please let him say something, anything, good.
Squeezing her hand gently, he sought for words that would explain. "I had hoped… Lois, I've wanted them to be mine so badly for so long. That was one of my first thoughts on seeing you with them. But I couldn't imagine, couldn't let myself hope… You don't … well, I guess you do know how much this means to me."
Lois bit her lip, looking startled and unable to meet his eyes for a moment. For a moment, that beloved face worked with emotion before she stopped. Tentatively, she asked in a near-whisper, "Kal-El, you're not … angry, are you? I … I thought it was best … if…"
She glanced back up in time to catch his puzzled look. "Angry? Because you kept them a secret? No – but I wish I knew why you did that."
"I was afraid," and her voice was tiny, those three words he'd never expected to her from the lips of Fearless Reporter Lois Lane. "I thought … you'd see them as a mistake. The way you saw our time in the Fortress as a mistake."
"Lois, no," Kal-El said with quiet urgency. "Trying to give up my duty for my own desires: that was a mistake. I should've found a way to balance both … a career and my life with you. But loving you never was anything but a blessing. And our children…" The simple little phrase stopped him in mid-sentence, and then Lois saw him grin broadly with delight. "Our children. It's not just that I'm a father, not just that I'm not the last son of Krypton any more. It's that I'm the father of Lois Lane's twins."
Thank God. The weight of the secret, the fear of his rejection, fell away, and Lois started to blush as she heard the reverent tone he gave her name. That and the slightly goofy smile echoed her own reactions to him so long ago; as silly and romantic as she had been over Superman, he felt the same about her.
The full realization of how very groundless her fears had been made her drop her head against his shoulder, a sob caught in her throat. She'd been so frightened over this for so long, so alone with this knowledge. "I'm so sorry," Lois murmured brokenly. "I was scared … I was scared you'd be so ashamed of them that … after everything Jor-El said…"
"Lois … as far as I'm concerned, it's a miracle," he told her gently. "I could never be ashamed of Jason and Kala. I'm too busy being amazed by them."
Lois had no immediate reply to that, other than to press her cheek against his shoulder. Now they were over Metropolis, Kal-El increasing his altitude slightly to avoid undue attention, and in a few moments he set her down gently a block from the Audi dealership. "I'll meet you in a minute," he said, letting the tenderness in his expression speak for all the things they'd left unsaid.
Nodding, still not trusting herself to speak, Lois headed for the dealership's service entrance. Clark arrived in time to open the door for her, and in a few moments Lois was back in the driver's seat of her beloved Audi. The mechanic had confirmed her suspicions: someone had deliberately tampered with the engine. But now the powerful little car ran smoothly again, and Lois rubbed her thumb over the leather-covered steering wheel with a smile. At last, she finally had control over one aspect of her life.
"So, we're headed to the docks?" Clark asked, buckling his seatbelt and casually bracing his arm on the windowsill.
"Precisely," Lois said, revving the engine slightly. Ah, she'd missed that purr. Being on her own turf again made her bold enough to look him in the eye and grin. "Let's go get our kids back."
…
The life raft was better designed than Stanford had ever dreamed. Even now, it still bobbed at the surface, though it was mostly deflated. The metal canister with the kryptonite inside rolled near the edge as a wave tossed the tiny craft around.
The outcome was inevitable. As more air leaked from the raft, water slipped in, splashing around the outside of the metal. Some of it gradually worked its way through the cracks in the metal.
At last, when Grant was docking the yacht just outside of Metropolis, the first drop of seawater touched the clear Kryptonian crystal within…
…and the silent pulse of electromagnetic energy swept outward in an invisible ring, growing ever larger. Heading toward Metropolis…
…
Richard banked the plane over Hob's Bay, most of his mind focused on the tasks ahead. When Lois got to the city, she would be picking up her Audi and heading for the docks on the eastern side of the river. He and Lana would be picking his Saab from the airport parking lot and checking in with Perry at the Planet first, then taking over the search of the western side. If they were very lucky, they'd find Luthor's yacht docked somewhere. Barring that, perhaps they'd find someone who'd seen it…
The cabin suddenly fell quiet, and Richard had a horrified moment of total recall. The jet's engines cutting out, coasting barely a hundred feet off the ground… But this was different. He hadn't just lost the engines, Richard realized with a cold cramp of fear. The instrument panel had gone haywire, too. Every light was off, and his compass currently claimed he was heading south by southeast, when he was actually flying northwest. "Oh, shit," he muttered, thankful for one other difference: he had several thousand feet of altitude under him at the moment.
Lana took her headset off, able to hear better without them now. "Richard, what just happened?" she asked worriedly.
"Buckle up and pray," he replied shortly, working the ailerons gently to bring them back to level flight. Their altitude was dropping steadily, but for the moment they had more than enough forward thrust left
The redhead had been buckled in the entire flight, but she checked anyway. Her voice took on a fretful sharpness as she asked, "What's going on?"
"Lost all the power," Richard retorted. "This is a glider, now." He looked out the window at the bay below; the water was choppy, but not too choppy. I hope. God, I really hope it's just smooth enough. Not like I have much choice at the moment.
Lana paused for a moment, just staring at him, and he honestly expected her to panic. But she said very levelly, "What are you going to do?"
"Land without power," Richard said, giving her a brief appreciative glance. Few people could be that calm in such unexpected circumstances. "I've done it before, and water landings in a seaplane are a little more forgiving, but it could get a bit bumpy."
She nodded, and touched the back of his hand briefly. "You handle the landing, I'll handle the praying."
It was enough to make Richard chuckle, when he desperately needed something positive.
…
Lois had nearly reached the docks, Clark flinching at the way she wove through traffic, when the engine suddenly sputtered and died. Fortunately they were the only ones on the road at the moment, so the car could coast to a stop. Lois slammed her palm against the steering wheel and swore comprehensively. "Luthor! I'll wring his goddamn neck when I get hold of him! Those bastards at the service center said she was frikkin' fixed! Sorry sons of…"
Clark caught her hand and squeezed gently until she stopped and looked at him. A chill swept through her at the expression on his face, and it was only intensified by his low voice. "It's not the car … it's everything. The whole city… It's another blackout, Lois. Worse, this time."
"My God…" Thanks to Superman's miraculous reappearance, the aftereffects of the first blackout had not been too severe. But now… "Do you think it's Luthor?"
"Has to be," he replied grimly. "Lois, I have to go."
"Then go," she said, trying to keep the quaver out of her voice. With their current situation still unsettle, it was all she could do to say those words. To not plead, Don't go. Not being understanding of his mission is what doomed them the first time. "Be careful. And come back to me in one piece."
He smiled, stroking her cheek softly. "I will… Wait for me right here, Lois. And you be careful."
Lois put her hand atop his and leaned her cheek against his hand fondly. In spite of everything, a small mischievous smile started to curl her lips. "Aren't I always?"
Unbuckling his seatbelt, Kal-El laughed softly at her. "More like never. Don't do anything rash – I mean it. We have too much to talk about when I get back."
"Isn't talking what got us into trouble in the first place?"
That little self-deprecating chuckle she knew so well, that warm delighted smile she so loved to see… There was so much else to say, and no time in which to say it. Kal-El leaned in to kiss her once, gently, but a lovers' kiss nonetheless. Lois slipped her hand around the back of his neck, holding him for one heartbeat longer. Then they both pulled back, the inside of the car thrumming with words unsaid. "Wait for me, Lois. Be safe," Kal-El murmured.
"I love you," Lois said simply, her voice low.
"I love you, too." And then he was gone, so fast that he was only a speck in the sky as Lois got out of the car and looked after him.
"You swoony romantic moron," Lois sighed, shaking her head at her own actions, but unable to stop smiling. Knowing that he still loved her, that he loved their children – their children, what a phrase – couldn't make everything better like the wave of a magic wand, but it came pretty damn close.
The car started beeping to let her know she'd opened the door with the keys in the ignition, and at the same moment her cell phone began to ring. Apparently the EMP had passed – Lois got back in the Audi and pulled her phone out of her purse. It was about time Richard or Perry called…
…
This electromagnetic pulse lasted longer than the previous one, but fortunately, most devices started working again as soon as the pulse passed. Superman flew around the city, rapidly taking care of those that didn't. A metro train's brakes failed, leaving it coasting toward the end of the track. He stopped it, and moved on to help another jumbo jet stay aloft until its engines powered back up. Faster than any human eye could follow, Superman found each problem, fixed it, and moved on to the next. The entire time, in the back of his mind lurked the thought of Lois.
We really do have so much to talk about… First we have to get the twins back. Our twins. God, the mere thought is still too much to process.
He rose above the city, taking a final glance around… Out on Hob's Bay, was that…? Superman felt his stomach lurch at the thought of Lana and Richard crashing, but he soon realized that the plane's engines had fired back up, and Richard was pulling it out of the glide even as he watched. They're safe. I'd better get back to Lois.
…
Lex hung up the phone, smiling lazily, and gazed with sleepy satisfaction at the sophisticated recording equipment in front of him. He didn't even notice Stanford taking another swig of warm Mylanta.
The bald man leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk. The monitors before him presently showed only stillness and silence in the stateroom where moments ago there had been screams.
"D'ya think she'll come?" Grant asked from the doorway.
Lex rolled his eyes toward the shorter man. "Of course she will. Lois Lane will come running – and so will he."
The warm, chalky liquid made Stanford cough, and he turned a tortured look on Lex. "Was that really necessary? We already knew it affected them. Did you have to expose them to the stuff until it knocked them out?"
Cold eyes narrowed, and Stanford knew he was treading awfully close to the fine line between useful and dead. At this point, he didn't care. Hearing Kala scream for her mother was like a knife between his ribs. Maybe Kitty was right, maybe all of this was just too wrong for words…
"Relax, Stanford," Lex said levelly. "Their powers of recuperation will astound you, I'm sure. Especially since we removed the sample from the air vent. But to answer your question, yes, it was necessary. Every hunter knows the best lure is the distress call of the young."
…
Just when he thought the city was safe, for the time being, Superman heard a greedy roar. An abandoned warehouse – the very one that Lois had searched only two days ago – had gone up in sudden flames. He put it out with his freezing breath, using precious time, and discovering in the process the body of a man surrounded by ten remote ignition devices similar to those he'd found at other arson sites. So this was the arsonist, slain by his own works; evidently the timers had all reset unexpectedly when the electromagnetic pulse passed by. But his relief that there would be no more fires couldn't compete with his growing feeling of unease.
Hurrying, not sure why, Kal-El headed back toward the docks. His intuition proved correct. Lois wasn't where he'd left her, where she'd promised to stay. And he wasn't entirely surprised by that.
She also wasn't anywhere along the riverside where they were supposed to be checking the docks. No. Oh, God, no. Lois, where the hell are you? On the verge of panic, he forced himself to stop and listen for her heartbeat…
There. South of the city. He rocketed toward the sound, passing out of Metropolis proper and down the coast, along the waterfront industrial complexes… Lois' heartbeat cut off suddenly, but not as though something had happened to her. It sounded more like she'd been forced into a soundproof room… Kal-El's own heart raced in terror. No. Lex can't have her, she wouldn't walk into a trap, it must be something else, it has to be…
He checked his hasty flight. Her car was below, parked alongside an alley. This was barely a twenty-minute drive from where she'd been, though it hadn't been on their route. No one was nearby, and Kal-El landed beside it.
The driver's side door was unlocked. Looking within, frantic now, he saw her cell phone on the floorboards, her purse upended in the passenger's seat. Of its contents, only the gun was unaccounted for, so this was no mere robbery. The jacket she'd left in the back seat was also gone, and Kal-El had a sinking feeling he knew what had happened.
She took the gun and her shoulder holster, took the jacket to hide the gun, and she left. But where? Kal-El stood up, looking around, but this area was full of factories and shipyards, endless confusing tangles of metal and concrete to his x-ray vision. Perhaps he'd get a better idea from her cell phone…
He flipped it open, and after looking over the series of buttons, found the one marked Voicemail. Fortunately, Lois didn't keep a password on her voicemail, so playback started immediately.
A digitized voice said, "Good evening, Ms. Lane. Since you seem to be having some trouble, I'll tell you precisely how to locate me. But first, a little musical interlude…"
The voice faded, and Kal-El's keen hearing detected the faint crackle of static. He was playing something back on a hi-fi stereo system…
Kal-El's eyes went wide with horror, his facing paling. He heard Jason crying weakly, heard Kala whimpering, "Leave us alone!" A moment later, one of the kids retched, and then Kala's voice, breaking with terror, "No! No! Get away! Mommmeeeee!"
Before he could stop himself, his hand on the phone clenched reflexively, and the sounds mercifully cut off as plastic and silicon chips ground to dust.