STEEL THY HEART
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
A/N: The doppleganger's partner make things tough for Clark. Jimmy tries to help, but gets in over his head.
Again, thanks for all of the reviews and alerts, as well as marking this story a favorite. They are the best encouragement any writer can hope for!
XXXXXXXXXXX
"C'mon…c'mon!" Jimmy muttered as he waited for someone to pick up the phone. He'd taken a snapshot of the car as it pulled away with Lois so that he would be able to give the license plate number to the police. He wished that he could give the number to Superman.
On what seemed like the twelfth ring, Jimmy heard the sound of someone answering.
Thank God! He thought.
"Metropolis Police," the female voice said tiredly.
"I want to report a kidnapping," Jimmy said frantically.
"One moment," the voice said. After about five minutes, another voice answered.
"Missing persons," another voice, this one male, said.
"I want to report a kidnapping," Jimmy repeated, hoping that he sounded urgent enough.
"You need to contact abductions, sir," the voice responded. "MPD doesn't handle kidnappings in this department."
Jimmy covered the receiver and huffed at having been given the runaround. He forced himself to remain calm; getting upset wouldn't help Lois.
"I need to speak to Maggie Sawyer," the red haired photographer said.
"Ms. Sawyer is on a Code Five and can't be disturbed, sir," the male voice responded.
Jimmy knew enough police lingo to realize that meant that Maggie was on a stakeout.
"Well, send someone else! This is about Lois Lane and an abduction!" He shouted, hoping that someone would respond.
"Did you see the person who abducted her, sir?" The voice asked.
"Yeah," Jimmy told them, "and I got a picture of the license plate as they drove away."
"Okay, we'll follow up on it," the voice told Jimmy. "Give us any details on the license plate and a description of the felons."
Jimmy gave the voice all the information he had before asking, "How long will it take for you to get here?"
When the voice replied that it would take at least an hour, Jimmy cried, "That's not good enough! Anybody who meant Ms. Lane harm would kill her in that time! Can't you respond sooner?"
"Look, sir," the voice tried to project a calming tone that was instead patronizing, "there are several homicides, burglaries, kidnappings and other emergencies that are just as important, if not more. We will try to be there to help, or you can come down and go through the mug shots to identify whoever took your girlfriend. But that's the best we can do for now. If you think of anything else, call, but try to be patient."
Patient! Jimmy thought, ending the call on his cell phone. In a pig's eye! He tried to buzz Superman once more, but when he failed to come, Jimmy's mind seized on the only plan he could.
If Superman couldn't come and the police wouldn't come until much later, Jimmy would follow the trail and do the best he could. He went to where his motorcycle was parked, dressed in a hurry in his protective gear and rode down the street.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Clark saw the buildings whiz by as the car sped toward its destination. He toyed with the idea of knocking the men unconscious before one of the men chained his wrists to the door handle.
"Wh-where are you taking me?" Clark inquired, his mask of timidity in place.
"Just hang loose, Mr. Kent," one man, a distinguished looking dark skinned person, instructed. Before Clark could make a move, the man told him, "And by the way, if you do anything heroic, it will be the last hurrah for your friends."
Clark knew that the men meant business; besides, he reasoned, the journalist in him wanted to know just who was behind the shenanigans. Obviously, Clark reasoned, they wanted him and the others pretty bad or they wouldn't have gone through all this trouble.
He wondered if his old "pal" Lex was behind this but then quickly threw that notion aside. Clark had no doubt that the bald billionaire could have come up with this ruse, but Lex tended to want to grab the spotlight every step of the way, and the shy reporter couldn't imagine him keeping a low profile without identifying himself. Lex's ego wouldn't permit that.
It could have been the Parasite, Clark thought, since he'd read that the criminal was let out on parole recently.
But the Parasite would have wanted to grab his intended meal from the beginning since he loved draining people so that he would wind up being energized by their strength.
So, strike two for Clark's ruminations. He focused on looking out of his window to see where he was, but suddenly he heard the sound of a mist being deployed.
"Uh, uh, uh, Mr. Kent," the man who had spoken to Clark said, shaking his Ebony colored finger back and forth.
Suddenly, Clark saw that the clear windows were now enveloped in darkness. There was only a sliver of light from the reporter's end which was up front where the driver steered. Clark had to hand it to these men: whoever pulled their strings was intelligent and crafty. The reporter pretended that he couldn't see. In actuality, Clark could tell that they were headed toward the marina.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Jimmy cut the motor to his cycle after pulling up near the marina to follow the trail the men had taken. He recognized the license plate and put the number through his cell phone which tied into the Daily Planet's data base.
The information that came up was no big surprise. Stolen! The cub reporter thought when he saw the report that had been filed three days ago.
Jimmy tried to send a message—this one a texted one—but like some other police stations around the country, the Metropolis Police data base had trouble processing text messages.
"For crying out loud!" Jimmy shouted to no one in particular, or so he thought.
"What are you doing here?" A voice belonging to a woman asked from behind.
The photographer had to think fast. "Me?" he asked, hoping that he didn't sound too afraid.
Then Jimmy's eyes caught his motorcycle. He turned to regard the woman; a platinum blonde several inches taller than he. She wore dark aviator glasses and a black leather jacket that was a wrap around with silver studs and had matching pants. Her hands were covered with gloves. The rest of the leather looked like it had been sewn on her; other than that, she had no identifying marks on her.
"Well, I made plans to meet my girlfriend, but the bimbo stood me up!" Jimmy shouted, pretending to be angry. "Then my motorcycle conked out and I was trying to fix it! Ain't that the luck?"
The girl looked him up and down, and, though he didn't look like he was staring at her, Jimmy took in any peculiarities he could note, particularly since his hackles went up the minute she'd spoken to him. It seemed that since she was as out of place as he was, she had to be working with the men who'd taken Lois.
From behind her sunglasses she studied Jimmy. She didn't think he was a plant, but who could tell? Before she could rule in on her musings, the girl's phone sounded. She pressed a button and walked away from the red headed photographer.
"Yeah?" she asked into the receiver. "Okay, I'll be there….no, some kid who was looking for his girl….okay. Bye."
The girl hung up the receiver as Jimmy wished he had Superman's super hearing just then. He could have heard whether Lois was nearby if he had that! Jimmy also could have repelled bullets off of his chest as he saw the girl pull out a gun.
"Nothin' personal, kid," she said, cocking it and preparing to fire.
Jimmy put up his hands and cried, "Hey, look, I was just trying to hook up with my girl! It was the 'bimbo' line, right? Sorry for that one."
He started backing up until he couldn't anymore as he found that he was against a metal door. Jimmy inwardly prayed that the door was partly open so that he could get away from the shooter. He slowly put his hand in back to see if it met air and was glad it did.
When the girl squeezed the trigger, Jimmy fell back into the darkness behind the massive door.
"Hey!" the girl shouted, ducking into the blackness. She fired several shots into it, hoping that the lack of light would give her an advantage and allow her to hit him.
His eyes adjusting to the dark, Jimmy felt her hand and he grabbed her from behind, delivering a chop to her neck. When he heard her slump to the ground, Jimmy risked pulling the tiny digital camera that was in his pocket and putting on its light that he used for night shots.
Jimmy didn't see the other attacker sneak up from behind him as he lost consciousness a moment later.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Clark was gagged and blindfolded, and his handcuffs removed, as the men put shackles on his wrists. He allowed one moment of defiance, lifting his head as he regarded his captors with his x ray vision, his desire to deal with them as Superman growing.
The men were unaware of his inner struggle as they led him to another, smaller room without any windows, save for the one that was too small for any person to crawl through. It was on the side of the room and had bars. When the thugs removed his blindfold and gag and pressed him closer to both Lois and Selina, who were also bound in the same manner, Clark asked, "What's going on? Why do you need all of us? What's this all about?"
From out of the darkness, a man with a thick salt-and-pepper beard and a finely cut grey suit said, "Why, revenge, Mr. Kent, or should I say, 'Superman'?"
Selina and Lois had the same reaction: pure shock. The man smiled a triumphant grin of superiority, and Clark's mind raced as he considered the best way to talk his nemesis, Igor Shardov, out of his declaration.