Disclaimer: Remember, I don't own any of these characters.

Dressed in his pajamas, Clark Kent lay on the sofa in his Metropolis apartment, an ice pack to his aching forehead. Martha was taking his temperature, and Jonathan was pouring his son a glass of ginger ale.

"How are you feeling, Clark?" Martha asked.

Clark shrugged. "A little better. I think."

"Hopefully, a few more days at home will help your body immensely," Martha replied, taking the thermometer out of her son's mouth. She held it up to study it. "Good, it's pretty much normal," she remarked. "How's your nausea?"

"It comes and goes," Clark admitted.

"Hang in there, son. You can't expect to get better overnight," Jonathan told Clark as he handed his son some ginger ale. The phone rang.

"I'll get it, honey," Martha said, patting her son's feet through a pile of blankets. She picked up the phone on the coffee table. "Hello?...why, hello, Jimmy!" She paused. "Why aren't I back in Smallville? Oh, Clark still needs help, so I decided to remain in Metropolis with him. Clark's father is nursing Superman back to health on our farm," she fibbed.

Clark listened intently. It was Jimmy Olsen, from the office. What did he want? Was he just checking in to see if Clark was feeling all right?

"Clark's feeling a lot better," Martha told her son's colleague. "He's just had a flu bug that's hit him really hard. He'll be back in the office next week." She paused. "No, I haven't. But let me ask Clark." She covered the receiver with her hand and turned to her son. "Clark, have you heard from Lois lately? Jimmy says nobody at the Planet has heard from her since yesterday afternoon, and they can't get a hold of her."

Clark shook his head. "No, Mom."

"He hasn't, Jimmy, but I'll try to call her and see if she's home," Martha told Jimmy over the phone. She paused again. "All right. Thanks, Clark appreciates it. Goodbye."

Clark lay back on the sofa, ice pack still to his forehead. "Mom, I don't feel so well," he moaned.

"Is your nausea coming back, honey? Do you need me to help you to the bathroom?" Martha asked her son anxiously. "Jonathan, get Clark a bucket."

"No, Mom, it isn't the illness," said Clark quickly. "It's this thing with Lois. Something's wrong—I just know it."

Lois Lane, meanwhile, was being held captive in a sub-basement of LexCorp.

She had been brought to LexCorp just last night, and while Lex prepared her a nice dinner up on the roof, Lois was instructed to wait in his penthouse sitting room. Everything was going fine until two men wearing all black and ski masks came out of nowhere, gagged her, and tied her up. She had tried screaming for Lex, but it was no use. She had been bound tight.

Lois' kidnappers had carried her downstairs and threw her into a corner of the sub-basement. She was under heavy guard and had been given no food. She was starving and weak, and she really needed to go to the bathroom. She didn't know what to do.

Superman, if I ever needed your help, now's the time, Lois thought to herself anxiously as she saw a flash of metal out of the corner of her eye. One of her so-called bodyguards was approaching her with a pistol.

Please help me, Superman, Lois begged. I'm scared, I'm alone, and I don't know what's going on. Help!

So far, Lex's plan was going perfectly. His two assistants had kidnapped Lois, and they were holding her in the basement of LexCorp. One of them had just called up to say that they were all ready to move her downtown.

It was time for phase two. Lex had already placed a call to the police, pretending to be scared out of his mind that his date had been kidnapped. Now, it was time to call the Daily Planet. Above all else, the goal of this plan was to get rid of Superman, but it would be nice to get some money out of the deal.

"Perry White, please," Lex said, disguising his voice as he spoke to the operator.

As soon as Perry White answered the phone, Lex spoke quickly. "You don't know who I am," he told the Planet's editor is a strange, husky voice, "but I have your star reporter, Lois Lane. And unless I get paid $500 million, she's going to die. Soon."

Inspector Henderson was sitting across from Perry White at his desk.

"First of all, do you have the money?" he asked the Planet's editor. White had called him almost instantly after Lois' kidnapper had hung up on him. The kidnapper had given specific demands as to the dropoff location for the money. Superman had to deliver the $500 million to a remote location just outside of Metropolis. If the kidnappers detected any funny business, and Lane would be killed immediately. But White felt that he didn't have a choice; he had to get Henderson involved.

White sighed. "No. This paper isn't even worth $500 million! And even if we did pay it, how do we know that they're going to release Lois?" He paused. "And then there's the business about Superman. This is hopeless, Henderson. Superman's very ill; he can barely move a muscle! How's he going to deliver the money for us, if we had it? He can't even fly, according to what we printed in our morning edition!"

"Well, I suggest you try," Henderson said. "Let's just play along for now, or else they really will kill Lois. Call Clark Kent if you can, and have him get in touch with Superman. And try to round up the money."

"Kent's out sick this week, but he can probably get through to Superman," White confirmed. "It's worth a try."

Clark was sleeping when his mother woke him up, saying that there was a very important phone call for him. His stomach felt awful. It feels like there's still some Kryptonite in my system, he thought weakly as he reached for the phone his mother was handing over. "Hello?" he asked weakly.

"Kent, it's White. How are you feeling?"

"Sick," Clark admitted truthfully.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Kent, but this is an emergency. We need you to contact Superman. Lois is in trouble."

Clark's heart began to pound. "But Chief, Superman's just as sick as I am. He's laid up on a farm in Kansas, recovering from Kryptonite poisoning."

"I know, Kent, but like I said, we have no other choice here. Unless Superman delivers some ransom money to this abandoned building by tomorrow morning, your partner is going to be murdered."

Lois! Clark panicked. He swallowed painfully. "I'll see what I can do," he croaked out.