- - - Chapter Sixteen

It was really hot. Really, really hot. But it didn't really bother Jason, just made him wonder why it was so warm. Usually, his curiosity would have moved him to explore his rather large prison by now, but he didn't really feel like moving. Wherever Luthor had gone, it wasn't far. The bald man kept the kryptonite with him at all times, keeping it close enough to Jason that he couldn't help but feel sick. Add that to the heat and it made him miserable. So instead of exploring the room, Jason sat in the chair his mom had sat in last time they were on the Gertrude, and waited for something to happen.

It had been only a few hours since he'd been taken from his classroom, but it felt like much longer. He had no idea how he had gotten here, or how many people were outside guarding him, and he was terrified. He had tried to sleep after he had eaten the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Luthor had brought him. Under normal circumstances he would never have accepted food from that man, but he was really hungry and Luthor hadn't been threatening him when he handed over the sandwich. It had been a few hours and he still felt fine, at least so far as the sandwich was concerned.

Jason fell into a restless sleep, waking up and calling for his dad a number of times only to be greeted by a hot, dark room and silence.

- - -

Lois was asleep on the couch in Perry's office and Clark was out flying over the city again. They had made no breaks in their search, having exhausted all the information they had and themselves. Clark had checked everything they'd come up with multiple times, coming up empty and more desperate. He hadn't been flying around saving people like he usually would and the police station had called Lois's cell phone at one point, asking her where she was. She'd only cleared her throat, told them she wasn't in contact with him, and hung up.

Perry had sent Jimmy home, seeing that the young man was completely useless. Perry himself was pacing the main aisle of the bullpen wishing he hadn't given up smoking his cigars indoors. The elevator dinged and revealing an exhausted-looking Clark. He was wearing his usual three piece suit, but his glasses were tucked in a pocket and Superman's spit curl was still in place.

"Nothing?" Perry asked, dropping into the nearest chair.

"Nothing," Clark said, sounding just as depressed as he looked. He plopped down at Lois's desk, glancing through the office equipment to see her asleep on the couch. She looked almost peaceful. He tapped a few buttons on the computer and was surprised to see that she had a new message, the time stamp showing that it was less than an hour old. "Who would send her an email at this time of night?" He wondered out loud, opening her inbox.

The message was short, including a web address and instructions to go to it within the hour or her son would die, and it was signed L.L.

Clark went to the web page, sending Perry to wake Lois.

"Clark?" She asked, running over to him a little unsteadily after just waking up. He glanced up with worried eyes.

"Lex Luthor," he said, getting out of the chair to let her sit in front of the screen. The page was simple. A black background with two pictures on it. One was a webcam connection waiting for her to activate her own before it would engage, the second was a still shot of Jason sitting on a piano bench looking terrified.

"That's the Gertrude," Lois said softly, staring at her son.

"It was taken before?" Clark asked, not remembering Lois saying anything about being photographed.

"No," she looked bewildered.

Clark was gone in seconds, opening Perry's office window and leaping into the air before his clothes could even settle onto the couch Lois had just vacated.

Clark flew to the spot where he had dropped the larger half of the Gertrude into the ocean, a spot too close for comfort to where New Krypton had been. He peered into the depths, looking for any sign of the ship or his son but found nothing. He was about to give up when a strange quality of part of the sea bed caught his eye. When he looked directly at it or tried to x-ray it, it seemed completely normal, but when he wasn't really looking at it, it seemed to be glowing. Like something was hidden beneath a rock but casting light around the edges. But there was no way the remains of a ship could be hidden under a rock, and he could see straight through the spot so it couldn't be hidden by lead. Almost reluctantly, Clark descended towards the ocean surface. Could this be it?

He was about to sink beneath the water when his cell phone rang. It was Lois.

"Lois?"

"Superman," she said, sounding odd.

"Lois?" He asked again, she never called him Superman anymore. When they were in public she called him Kal-El; it had something to do with not liking to call him something she had come up with for an article when she knew him so much better than that.

"Superman, I need you to come to the Daily Planet," she said, her voice was tense, like she was forcing it to sound calm and, to his ears, failing miserably.

"Am I on speakerphone?" He asked.

"No," she said and he could practically see her pulling a confused face just by the tone of her voice.

"Okay, I think I found where Luthor is hiding Jason," he could hear her breathing pick up on the other end. "Do you still want me to come back to the Planet?"

"Yes," she said after a moment.

"Stop answering his questions!" He heard an oddly muted voice that was vaguely familiar. "He comes to you now or I kill your son!"

"Superman," she said, her voice catching in her throat.

"Can I have five minutes?" He asked carefully. "I want to look at what I found… he might be here Lois, right underneath me… if I can get to him before he can do anything you won't have to worry about me showing up at the Planet."

"Five minutes?" She asked, seeming to ask the muted voice more than him.

"The bastard's son is in danger and he wants five minutes?" Luthor's voice asked, then laughed. "See how much he cares for you, Miss Lane? See how much the alien cares for the boy who is supposed to be his son?"

"Be here in five minutes," she told him, her voice filled with pain.

"I love you, Lois," he said confidently. "I promise I'll get Jason back. If this doesn't work I'll be there before the time is up. Call me if anything changes."

"Goodbye, Superman," she said as emotionlessly as she could. He imagined her playing the part of jilted lover for Luthor's sake. She had obviously triggered the webcam and come in contact with the man. He didn't want to think about the images she was seeing, the images that were probably being transmitted from below him.

The water was strangely warm, and it only got warmer the closer he got to the anomalous spot on the ocean floor. As he got closer, the image got sharper. It was some sort of force shield. It rippled and flashed, looking like an energized form of water. Clark inspected it, finally able to see through the surface now that he was so close.

The Gertrude sat in the center of the sphere, sitting flat on the ocean floor, bottom half of the hull sunk into the ocean floor. The rock around it was red hot, explaining the heat that was leaking away from the spot, and probably powering the force shield. Strange sounds flowed away from the ship, distorted by water and force shield. He could hear four different heart beats, but they all ran together, impossible to distinguish between them or recognize a specific one. There was the crackling of a speaker, probably Luthor listening to one of his operas, but it was just static below the rest of the noises. He could hear voices but couldn't hear the words. If he kept listening like this he was going the right way for a headache, something he hadn't dealt with since his hearing had been developing.

The Gertrude was whole again, everything back to where it had been, both halves reunited, and everything inside back in place. There was air around the ship, as though it were sailing on the heated rocks in its own bubble. The lead pod that the Linirans who called themselves the Kings had arrived in rested on the ocean floor next to the boat. It looked innocent, much less noticeable than the ship itself; just another lumpy rock on the bottom of the ocean. There was a crack in it, showing that the Kings had gotten themselves out.

Remembering his time limit, Clark flew through the force shield and landed on the ocean floor. It sent a shiver up his back but nothing more. Once inside everything was crisp and much clearer, if incredibly warm. The water that had soaked through his hair and clothes evaporated after a few seconds due to his body heat and the heat around him, making him worry about his son trapped in such a place.

The sounds that had been distorted were suddenly clear; he could hear Jason's heartbeat as well as Luthor's, and two that he didn't know. Jason was breathing fast, frightened. Luthor's music was playing loudly in a room separate from the one Jason was in. Luthor had Jason in the main section of the ship, a laptop with a webcam perched on top of the piano as the pair of them sat there, Luthor threatening Jason for Lois's 'entertainment.' The two Kings that were left, both bald, were having an argument of some kind in the room Luthor's opera was playing from. One seemed to get particularly irked and pulled out his glass gun, shooting the stereo and stopping the music. Both seemed calmer after that, though still upset about something.

Silently, Clark lifted off again, flying to the door and entering silently.

So sorry this is kind of a cliffhanger thing- - - I'm not going to be able to update until Monday the 19th, it's spring break and my laptop won't have internet. I'll be writing (hopefully) so I should have a nice long chapter ready to go up, but it'll be a long wait. I'm sorry! Enjoy your week.