Chapter 13

The moment Clark said the man worked at Isis, Lois went off like a canon, yelling at him to call Oliver and the police, to have the man arrested and tortured. And under all this, Clark was hearing something. He cocked his head to the side, listening to some kind of small pops in rapid succession and then some mechanical screeching, metal on metal friction.

"Lois, shut up for a second, will you?" Clark snapped harshly, trying to listen more closely and to concentrate on what exactly he was hearing. He picked up some crackling, sounding a lot like radio interference.

"What, Clark?" Lois snapped back three seconds later.

Wondering if he was hearing something inside the building, he looked around. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Lois crossed her arms. "I'm trying to have a serious conversation about a serious topic with you and you're off having inner ear issues!"

"Crackling. I'm hearing crackling," Clark described indifferently, abandoning his desk chair and rounding a group of desks, looking and scanning as he walked. He was getting closer to it. A tiny scream filled his ears and he stopped.

"You mean, a crackling like this?" Lois asked as she reached down below her desk and brought out a small, portable black radio.

"Is that a police scanner?"

"Yes," Lois answered haughtily while Clark looked around. There were still noises he was picking up on, but they weren't coming from the scanner.

"I got it just in case Lex was apprehended before Oliver and the team, as you so fondly call them, were back from Russia. How did you hear this? I have it on the lowest setting," Lois finished, bending down and putting her ear to the speaker.

Another scream. The hair on the back of Clark's neck stood up. He focused, trying to pinpoint the direction of the sound.

"Clark. . ." Lois broke in. Clark glanced over at her. She was still leaning down next to the speaker. She met his eyes, her own filled with fear. "There's been some kind of explosion at Isis."

Clark's heart stopped. The screams. . . "Lois, go to Isis and see what's going on. Chloe was supposed to meet me back here after her meeting, but knowing her she might have made a detour. I'm going to call Oliver and tell them they need to come back now."

Lois nodded and had the situation not been so dire, Clark would have been floored that Lois just ran out, on his orders. Instead, all Clark could do was stand in shock for a moment. Another scream pierced his ears, spurring him into action. With purpose, Clark ran into the break room. In effort to save time last night, all he'd done was pull an Oxford shirt and a pair of loose sweatpants on over his costume, which until now, Clark had forgotten all about. Not stopping to think, Clark yanked the clothes off until, once again, he was only clad in the royal blue, stretchy suit of the Tick. He looked to his left, spying Lois' red cloak hung on the coat umbrella beside the door. He grabbed it and swung it around his shoulders to hide the zipper at his back and secured the tie-strings in a tight knot. Finally, he stuffed his feet back into the tall, red boots he'd replaced last night with some sneakers in the Planet break room and opened a window, taking off into the chilly November air.

With as much speed as he could channel, Clark flew to Isis, stopping short as he saw the black smoke billowing out of the windows. The fire department was down below, along with a barrage of police, using street barricades to control the swelling crowd that always appears when tragedy strikes. He hovered inconspicuously along the side, x-raying the building for any signs of human life. In between the tenth and eleventh floor, Clark saw her. Alive and clinging to the elevator cable.

Inside the shaft, Chloe coughed. Smoke was rising up from the mangled car below, mixing with the dust and explosive powder, choking her and making it hard to scream. She was a couple of inches from the detached car roof and still sliding. Blood now coated her wrists and her expensive dress pants were to cut ribbons at the knees from their continued grip on the cable. Chloe felt the tips of her shoes touch the roof. Hesitantly, she lowered a foot and pressed down a little. The roof did not give, but it swayed and groaned softly. Putting more of her weight on her feet, Chloe slowly lowered herself, keeping as firm of a grip as she could on the cable.

"Hello?! Is anyone up there?" She heard a manly yell below her.

"Yes! I'm up here! Please hurry!"

"We're sending someone up now! Just hang tight!"

"What else do you think I'll be doing?" Chloe shrieked around a nervous giggle.

The elevator doors above her were wrenched open and Chloe squinted against the sunlight that filled the shaft. A head peeked inside.

"Clark!" Chloe cried happily when she saw it was him. Forgetting she was still in peril, Chloe let go of the cable, settling the rest of her weight onto the roof. With another groan, the roof snapped from the cable and plummeted toward the ground. Chloe only had enough time for one ear shattering scream as she was plucked off the roof and it hit the ground with a shudder. Chloe's eyes were screwed shut and for a moment, she thought she was dead as she floated up and out into a bright light. Slowly, Chloe opened her eyes to see a brilliant blue and a sheet of red. Angling her head more, Chloe gazed upward. Instead of laying eyes on her Maker, as some part of her expected, she was looking into the thunderous face of Clark Kent.

"You were supposed to come back to the Planet," Clark growled. "You were supposed to call if anything seemed out of whack. Did you do any of of those things? No! I should have gone to the meeting with you. I should have followed you around all damn day. This is why I came along, to keep you safe! Who gives a friggin' crap about what you want!"

Chloe nestled her head against his chest as she listened to Clark ground out his words. Only when he began squeezing her really tightly did she speak. "Clark, watch the ribs."

Looking down at her dirt streaked face and matted hair, Clark frowned at her. Keeping her locked against him with one arm, Clark brought a hand up and smoothed it down her cheek. Chloe closed her eyes and leaned into his palm.

"Why do you always have to be so damned independent?" Clark muttered.

Chloe opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Because I know you'll be there to catch me if I fall." For a moment there, Chloe really thought she was going to die, but as always, she was snatched back from the Grim Reaper's clutches in the nick of time. Chloe reached up and hugged him tightly. "Now, put me down."

Clark did as she asked. He wanted to kiss her again but knew he shouldn't, especially with the way she shot him down last night. He took her hand instead.

"Ow!" Chloe cried, yanking her hand away.

"Let me see that," Clark said, pulling Chloe more toward the shattered window he'd busted through. He tilted Chloe's hands up in the sunlight, hissing at the sight of her torn up and bleeding hands. "You need to have these looked at."

"I know. They were sending some firefighters up to get me, but they probably believe I'm a pancake right about now. Clark, what are you wearing?" Chloe asked, finally catching sight of the outfit Clark had so carelessly thrown on.

Clark looked down. "I just pulled you out of an elevator shaft and you're focusing on what I'm wearing?"

"You would be, too, if you were. . . normal," Chloe snorted, stepping back to get a better look at him.

"Why? Don't you like it? You know, flying is a lot easier when there is no fabric to get in the way."

"Please tell me you're not about to institute a nude flying policy."

"No! I mean, my shirts and stuff always made flying a little difficult. This didn't get in my way too much," Clark explained, starting to feel sheepish now that Chloe was out of danger.

"And Lois' cape?"

Clark grinned. "I wanted to cover the zipper in the back."

"Yeah, because the zipper is definitely what people are going to remember!" Chloe exclaimed. "Well, come on, fly boy. Take me to the nearest ambulance. The elevator is out of service and I don't feel like hoofin' it down eleven flights of stairs."

Clark made to sweep her up again, but Chloe suddenly pushed away. "Oh no, you can't take me. Not like that."

"Why not? I can get you in real fast, no one will see me," Clark replied, trying to pick her up again.

"No, Clark. You can't just shoot me like a speeding bullet at the nearest paramedic. It will create too much of a scene. And you look too much like Clark Kent to land in the crowd with me. This may be a job for the Red Blue Blur."

"Chloe, I told you. The Red Blue Blur has hung up his colors."

"That's why you chose this particular color scheme then, right?" Chloe pointed out. "Well, I don't know what to do, Clark. We can't have half of Metropolis knowing you're some kind of Superman!"

Chloe stood looking up at Clark. He was too distinctive, too good-looking. Maybe with a little work, they could slide by this time.

"I have an idea. . ." Chloe started.

"No," Lois repeated with force. "You don't understand! My cousin is the CEO of the Isis Foundation. There is a good chance she might be in there!"

"Ma'am, please step behind the yellow tape," Officer Ramirez told Lois for the fourth time. "We have had confirmation from the security guard inside that no one has gone up or down the elevator in at least a good hour and a half. Why don't you call you cousin?"

"I've already tried that. She's not picking up her phone! Would you please send someone to look again? Listen, bud," Lois growled, grabbing the cop by the collar when he made a move to step away from her. She placed her mouth right next to his ear. "Lex Luthor has escaped from prison and is gunning straight for the only family I have left. Now, either you send someone to check again or the family jewels will take a hard hit in depreciation of value. Capiche?"

Officer Ramirez tightened his jaw as he removed Lois' hands from his clothes. "Porter!" He called to a fellow officer. "Have someone check the shaft one more time for any survivors."

"Right away, sir." The young cop ran back inside. A crew of firemen rushed in as Officer Porter returned back outside. "There's someone still up there. Looks like they were hanging from the cable," he told his superior quietly.

"But she's alive?" Lois asked frantically.

Porter looked at Lois and then back to Ramirez. Ramirez nodded. "Yes, she was still alive," Porter answered.

"Did you tell anyone?" Ramirez asked.

"Yes, sir. I told the paramedic who-" Porter's words were lost in a fantastic boom that came out of the building. All the cops ducked and Ramirez even grabbed Lois and pulled her down, shielding her with his body.

"Did that come from inside? Did that come from inside?" Lois screamed, clutching the Officer's starched shirt as more police ran inside, guns drawn.

"We need S.W.A.T. now!" Ramirez yelled to no one in particular.

"The roof of the elevator collapsed!" Porter cried into Ramirez's ear. "Whoever was in there-"

"Don't you say that! Don't you dare say that!" Lois yelled at the young cop. She broke away from Ramirez grip and made a run for the debris filled lobby of Isis. "Chloe! Chloe!"

"Grab her!" Another officer cried. Two uniforms headed off Lois, each taking an arm as she continued to shriek. They carried her to an ambulance that was set off to the side.

"You need to sedate her!" One cried at a female paramedic.

"What is that?" Someone yelled.

"Look! Up in the sky!" Another person cried.

People began looking, their heads turned upwards, hands shielding their eyes from the sun. Both cops that held Lois released her, staring up in awe. All three paramedics craned their necks up as well. Lois intrigued by their open-mouthed gazes looked up as well. A figure was streaking across the sky, a blur of red and blue. She watched it dive suddenly and the closer it got, she could make out it was a person, cradling something in it's arms.

"Is it a bird?" She heard someone ask.

"No, I don't think so. Is it a plane?" Someone responded.

It was a man. And he was holding Chloe. The tall, muscular figure landed gracefully a couple of hundred yards away from the cluster of crime officials and the nearest group of rubber-neckers. Lois watched as Chloe unwound her arms from the man's neck and stood steadily on her own two feet. All the anxiety in her body was draining, making Lois feel as if she were about to faint. That and seeing a man flying without the advantage of wings or pixie dust.

The man shot back up into air as soon as Chloe released him, causing the crowd that had fallen silent to gasp collectively. Breaking out of her shock first, Lois ran to Chloe, who was still looking upwards to the amazing stranger.

"Chloe? Are you okay, honey?" Lois asked, running her hands over her cousin's shoulders.

Chloe glanced over at Lois. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Um, what's that?" Lois questioned, gesturing up above them where the man still hovered.

Chloe looked back up and waved. The man, who had a shock of black hair slicked back away from his face, which Lois could barely make out, waved himself before flying up higher and disappearing into the clouds.

"That is the man who saved my life," Chloe answered with a proud smile.

After watching from a safe distance Lois escort Chloe to the ambulance, Clark flew quickly back to the Planet. He grabbed the discarded clothes where he'd left them on the floor of the break room and made for the restroom. Stripping out of the Tick suit and the red cape, he zipped into the others. Stuffing the costume behind a toilet until he could come back for the suit and the boots, he replaced Lois' cloak back on the coat umbrella before returning seconds later back to the bathroom.

He looked at himself in the mirror. With his heat vision, he'd activated the sprinkler system on the floor he and Chloe had been on. Wetting his hair, Chloe finger combed it until most of it lay slicked back on his skull. For that moment, Chloe hoped it would be enough to disguise him.

"When you get back to the Planet, dry it and make sure it's a mess when you come back here. Pull it down in your face if you have to," Chloe said while she combed the hair away from his temples. Looking the mirror, Clark didn't think he looked that different, which is why Chloe demanded he land as far away as he could and then make a speedy exit.

At super-speed, Clark raked his hands through his hair, effectively drying what hadn't been dried in the flight over. He did as he was told and made sure he looked as if he had a bad case of bed head. With a shrug, he zoomed off and appeared on the corner of Lady Scots, pushing his way to the head of the crowd until he could see Chloe and Lois standing outside of an ambulance.

"Clark!" Lois called, thankfully seeing him standing patiently behind the barricade. "Let him in!" She ordered a cop. Officer Ramirez nodded and moved the barricade slightly so Clark could squeeze in. He loped over to the ambulance.

"Chloe, are you okay?" He asked, trying to sound shocked enough, as if it were his first time to see her. She was sitting on a gurney just outside the vehicle, Lois leaning a hip right next to her, ignoring the appreciative glances coming her way from the other two male paramedics caused by her long, tan legs coming out of short, pleated black skirt.

"Yeah," Chloe replied with a grimace as a paramedic cleaned out her cuts.

"Did you get a hold of Oliver? Is he coming home?" Lois asked him, rubbing Chloe's shoulder.

"What? Oh, no. I'll try again, though. As soon as we get home," Clark answered. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I went to Collin Parker's office but no one was there. So I came to Isis to get his secretary's number to call her. There was never any meeting. Somehow Lex knew about my grant and lured me out of the house with it. How did they know I would even go to Isis after I found out?" Chloe wondered.

"It was good hunch," Lois responded.

"Anyway, I spoke to Doug on my way in, but I never saw-"

"Doug?" Lois and Clark exclaimed.

Chloe jumped and then yelped.

"Would you two mind? You're supposed to be keeping her calm while I do this," the female paramedic griped before resuming digging out more grit and grime from Chloe's wounds.

"Yes, Doug Weimar," Chloe said. "He works nights mostly and the odd weekend shift. He was working today when I came in. . . Clark, where are you going? Where is he going?"

Clark could hear Lois explaining as he walked off, scanning the mass of people and the inside for this Doug Weimar.

"Sir? Can I help you?" It was Officer Ramirez again. He'd seen Clark walking away from the two women and jogged to catch up with his long strides.

"Where is the security guard that was on duty today?" Clark questioned harshly.

"I'm not sure. Why don't you return to your friends and I'll see if I can find him for you. You're not allowed inside the building. S.W.A.T. is still sweeping for more explosives," Ramirez answered.

"That security guard knows who did this. He was also in on Lex Luthor's escape from prison, so I suggest you find him quickly," Clark said quietly. He knew charging into a crime scene would only call attention to him and he couldn't afford to tip Doug off that someone knew he was working with Lex and Mickler. Lex couldn't know someone was onto him.

"How do you and your two girlie friends over there all know about Lex Luthor? As far I knew, that was classified information the news papers weren't even allowing to be printed." Ramirez crossed his arms. He, himself, was already suspicious of that guard. Doug Weimar had told him no one had come in when the company's CEO was indeed found hanging from the cable inside the elevator shaft before her true blue science fiction rescue. But now he'd met these three people who threw the name Lex around like spare change and seemed to think the man was somehow connected to this bombing. "What all do you know?"

"I'm a reporter at the Daily Planet. It's my job to know what's going on. Just because we're not allowed to put anything in print doesn't mean we stop investigating," Clark replied. "All I know, that man is dangerous. He needs to be found. Find him and you might find Lex Luthor."

Clark went back to the ambulance as Ramirez gathered some of his men and sent them in search of Doug Weimar. After Chloe was treated and released, refusing a visit to Met Gen, Clark herded her and Lois along the sidewalk toward the Planet.

"Clark, come on! This is the opportunity of a lifetime! I'm giving you the chance to be in on a story that will make both our careers!" Lois exclaimed as she skipped along ahead of Clark and a lethargic Chloe. Not being able to hold her hand, Clark guided his hand to the small of her back.

"I thought the story about Lex was 'the story of a lifetime'," Clark pointed out with a roll of his eyes in Chloe's direction. Chloe smiled patiently before grimacing as she tried to scratch her shoulder. Clark lifted his hand and did it for her.

"Well, Lex can't fly can he? Or snatch my favorite cousin from the roof of an elevator in a third of a second!"

"Lois, all I want to do is get Chloe home, okay?" Clark wasn't so hot on the idea about doing a story about, well, himself. It felt almost like an out of body experience.

"It will take thirty minutes to an hour tops! I already have the headline," Lois crowed, her concern for her cousin dampened by the prospect of going down in journalism history. "We just have to come up with a catchy moniker!" Lois cried, panning her hands around an invisible headline in the air. "You don't mind, do you, 'cuz?" Lois asked, finally turning to Chloe.

"Not at all," Chloe relented at the sight of Lois' pleading face.

With a glad cry, Lois resumed skipping happily ahead of them.

"You just had to give in to her, didn't you?" Clark groaned from beside Chloe.

"Awww, she's not so bad, Clark," Chloe replied softly.

Clark saw the corners of Chloe's mouth turn down. "We can go home. I never said I would help. Lois can write this on her own."

"It's not that," Chloe told him, patting his hand that had remained on her shoulder awkwardly with her own gauze bundled one. "It's just that. . . I always thought when you did finally show yourself to the whole of Metropolis, it would be. . . me who wrote about your coming out party."

"Chloe-"

"It's okay, Clark," Chloe stopped, turning to face him. "I'm fine, it's just sometimes I miss the old days. Running around, chasing the lead. Things were just much simpler then. I sat on the biggest story for years and it's going to be hard to watch Lois get the pay off."

Clark had an idea. "Hey, Lois!" Clark called up ahead, smiling down at Chloe. Chloe furrowed her brow and looked over her shoulder. Lois almost half a block ahead but she still heard him and turned.

"What?" She yelled back.

Chloe turned back to him. Clark spoke to Lois while looking down into Chloe's eyes. "Chloe's thought up a name. How about Superman?"