*Chapter Thirteen*

POV: Lois Lane

After I entered the hidden part of the Steelworks, I wished I had never come. After Natasha had gone through the necessary safety precautions, she had goaded me into the huge area. The room had high arching rooms and spacious floors. "Welcome to the Steelworks." Natasha gestured around with a flourish. Scraps of metals and piles of wires littered the floor everywhere and half-finished projects covered every available space. "Have I been here before?" I asked Natasha in shock.

She just laughed. "NO. Uncle John was interviewed at the Planet." I nodded; I couldn't imagine forgetting a place like this. "Do you have a phone I could use?" I asked Natasha. She held up a finger while she rummaged through her small bag. "Here you go." She handed me some new technology laden phone. I managed to dial the phone number Lucy had wrote on my arm and waited while it rang. Eventually I heard a click and Lucy's voice flooded out. "Hello?" She seemed anxious. "Luce! You answered." I exclaimed.

I heard her groan. "Lois Joanne Lane, I am going to KILL you." Lucy exclaimed. I gulped. She's only sixteen. I reminded myself. "Lucy," I began before she cut me off. "No. No. No. NO! You cannot just wander off as you please!" I held the phone away from my ear and cringed. "Lucy Lane, I am perfectly fine. I'm better than fine actually." She sighed. "And why is this?" I smiled to myself, pleased that she had stopped screaming. "I'm at the Steelworks to meet with John Henry Irons. His niece, Natasha thinks he can help me." I paused and waited for Lucy to respond. "Well, I guess I'm eating Chinese alone then." Lucy said.

I couldn't help but think that her tone sounded slightly hurt. "Well, have fun." Before I could respond, the line went dead and I lowered the phone in bewilderment. "Is everything alright?" Natasha raised a dark eyebrow. I nodded. "I think." She smiled. "Good, then let's find Uncle John!"

Natasha began picking around the rubble, gracefully skipping over sharp edges and over abandoned nails. With my injuries I was not half as graceful though. I tripped over a wood plank and nearly impaled myself on a rusty saw. Natasha flicked her raven colored hair over her shoulder as she looked back. "How are you holding up?"

I flashed a smile and Natasha went back to her intricate dance around the random piles. When I finally got to the metal door Natasha was already opening it. She paused with it cracked open and rapped on it. "Uncle John?" She called. There was scuffling and the door opened. A massive African- American man filled the entire entry way and practically towered above me. His shaved head was large and gleaming in the stark lighting and his chocolate muscles bulged out from under his thermal and lab coat. He rubbed his abnormally large hands together.

"Natasha." He growled. "What is Miss Lane doing in our top secret hideout?" He growled. For someone his size, his voice was exceptionally smooth and deep, like a baritone floating around the room and filling my ears. I tried to stutter an answer while Natasha pulled a lab coat off of a peg outside of the office door and slipped it on.

"She has memory lost." Natasha explained. "And I was thinking we could try out the new invention on her to make her memory come back!" John Henry rubbed his face with dark hands and sighed. "It's not stable Natasha. You know this." She sighed. "It IS stable though. I tested it." Natasha moaned. John disapprovingly clucked his tongue. "Did you now, after I had deliberately told you to wait?" Natasha opened her mouth to protest but John held up a meaty finger to silence her. "Not in front of Miss Lane." He ordered. She nodded.

I tried to find my voice. "Lois will do." I suggested. John Henry Irons looked down his nose at me. "Yes Miss Lane, I know your name." I nodded and ducked my head like a scared animal. He gave a rumbling laugh from his chest. "What happened to the iron willed reporter to be?" He chuckled. I looked up, accepting the challenge. "She hit her head and forgot her life." John smiled. His teeth were as white as Natasha's. "Well then, are you actually willing to try Natasha's crazy invention, Lois?" I gave a small laugh. "I guess."

John's eyebrows arched. "You will?" He asked incredulously at the same time that Natasha squealed "You will!" I nodded, a little less certain of my choice. She ran over and pulled over on a lab coat that was identical to John's. Meanwhile, John went over to a cluttered workspace and began rummaging through the various inventions. Finally, he pulled out a small circle and a cord. "Come sit down." He instructed. I hopped onto the stool, my feet swinging of the ground like a little kids would. John applied a thick cream to my forehead and attached the small circle to my forehead.

"Basically, we are going to deliver an electric shock that's going to open your brain's whole capacity for a moment before opening the specific part that I set the dial to." He fidgeted with some knobs. I gulped, suddenly a lot less sure of my choice. "Did you say electric shock?" I squeaked. John chuckled. "Yes I did. Would you like to not go through with it? It's okay if it's too much." I tried to raise my voice to its normal timbre.

"No, go on ahead. I'm ready for anything." I smiled with as much confidence as I could muster. John turned back to the machine. "Okay, hold still and take a deep breath." He instructed. I complied, feeling my hands shake gently. "Now I'm going to go in 1….2…..3!"

John pushed the lever and my entire body went numb as electricity flowed through me.