MORTAL COIL

 

Prologue:

Her Outcast State

 

 

She was hungry.

 

It was not the kind of hunger that tugged when one missed a lunch or the kind a misguided dieter felt when giving up that one meal to fit into the dress two sizes two small. This was real hunger. The kind that gnawed at your insides, that made you think you could feel the digestive fluids inside your stomach eat away at your flesh, devouring you instead of the food it craved. She could feel it through her bones, with each laboured breath she took.

 

Crouched in the corner of the freight car, she pulled her knees closer to her chin and tried not to think about hunger or cold. Even worse than that, she tried not to think about what awaited her in Metropolis once she arrived there. She had not given any thought to it when she scrambled through the open doors of the freight car. Taking refuge in the darkness, she had prayed the journey would begin before her pursuers thought to look for her there. All she could think of was escape. When the iron wheels of the train finally heaved into motion, with the great engine chugging away in her ears, only then did she know she was safe.

 

For the moment.

 

Of course, the respite allowed her to come off the adrenalin high she had used to carry her far and with that descent, she felt all the fears that held at bay during the last three days of her flight. Doubt began to set in with exhaustion.  Furthermore, the reason to assess her situation and what tomorrow would yield when she reached Metropolis; made her wonder if she had not acted too hastily. At the time, all that mattered was her escape and with all her energy dedicated to that end, there had not been time to consider much else.

 

She knew of course that Hank would be worried when he heard she was gone and when she found him again, he might be angry with her for leaving. The girl shuddered at the thought of his fury but also at the consequences to him when they had discovered what she had done. Hank had given her everything. He had taken care of her and he had loved her. All that he had asked for in return was her cooperation.

 

She had not thought it would be so bad, to submit to a few tests. At first, they were hardly an inconvenience. She provided them with blood for a sample, the occasional physical and later an MRI. These were but tiny indignities she could endure because Hank loved her. However, with each passing day, there seemed to yet another test and the intensity of their scrutiny seemed to escalate until she could bear it no more and begged Hank to make it stop.

 

Yet it was beyond his power and he asked her to endure just a little longer if she loved him. Of course, she could not refuse. All her life all she ever dreamed of was someone to love her for what she was.

 

As a child, she was hidden away by parents who never quite able to love her enough to keep the revulsion from their eyes whenever they looked upon her. They sequestered her away in her room and allowed her to see no one for fear of the reaction. She spent the first eighteen years of life in seclusion, condemned to seeing the world through books and television, never being able to feel the sun against her face, not even once. She accepted this as consequences of her reflection in the mirror but it did not make it any easier to bear. There was so much loneliness and sorrow in knowing that as the years tumbled by, the reality of this isolated existence was all that life had in store for her.

 

Then she met Hank and everything changed.

 

Through her computer, she discovered the fragile friendships formed through an internet connection. Through cyberspace, there was no need to divulge her secret, no need for them to see her as anything but a girl, looking for a friend. However, Hank recognised her pain from the first and tapped into that part of herself that wanted more than just this outcast existence. Soon, he became her entire universe. She lived and breathed for his messages and each word he wrote to her, further unlocked her heart from the cage in which she was trapped for so long.

 

When he asked her to come to him, she did not even think twice.

 

She broke out of prison into a world she had only ever seen by glimpses through the window or on a television screen. Hank had been outside her house waiting for her, in a stretched limousine with a bouquet of roses and open arms. Her fears that he would hate her like everyone else on first sight was fruitless, he drew her into his arms and told her that he had been waiting for her all of his life.  They left Seattle that night, flying across the country in a private jet. She did not know until much later that they had travelled to Gotham City.

 

He took her maidenhead before they landed.

 

Upon arriving in Gotham, Hank told her she would be beautiful and no one would ever look at her with disgust ever again. She believed him and with new operation, with each procedure, another piece of her was discarded for an even more perfect version of herself. When they were done with her, she had looked into the mirror, wondering how she could have been anything else. She was happy to be the woman that Hank deserved although he said often enough that how she looked meant nothing to him. He adored her just the same.

 

Of course, the operations had come at a price.

 

Hank was powerless to stop his benefactors from demanding the tests in exchange for the new persona she was given. He promised her that once they were satisfied with the results, she and Hank would go away together. Some place warm like Tahiti. She believed him and endured the poking and prodding, even when they grew more and more invasive and uncomfortable. When she begged for it to stop, they kept Hank from seeing her, saying that he was been sent to Metropolis.

 

It was the last straw. She broke free of her prison, shocked by the power that allowed her to do so but confident that if she found Hank, the two of them would be free forever. All she had to do was to get to Metropolis.

 

Once Valerie Beaudry found Hank, everything would be all right.

 

Chapter One:
Weddings

 

“Stop fidgeting.” Lois Lane scolded as she adjusted Clark Kent’s tie when she noticed that it slightly crooked against the white of his shirt.

 

“Its fine,” Clark grumbled as his dug his hands deeper into his pockets and proceeded towards the stretch of verdant green grass between the sidewalk and the chapel. Choosing deliberately to fix the fence on the far end of the farm for fear of escaping cow when he should have been getting ready for the wedding, Clark knew he was provoking Lois’ already tenuous temper to boiling point. However, on this particular day he was willing to take his life into his hands. No way was he arriving to this circus on time so he could look awkward when everyone whispered things he was perfectly capable of hearing.

 

“No its not,” Lois retorted and continued to adjust it before she brushed a strand of hair from her face, making sure she looked appropriate herself.  “Look, we’ll just sit through the service and leave straight after alright. We won’t even have to stay for the reception.”

 

“Good,” Clark replied, slightly appeased though no happier by the situation.

 

Even though he was walking through the doors of the chapel with Lois, Clark knew that his presence was going to cause a stir no matter how long they stayed or how late they arrived. The instant he showed his face, most of the wedding guests were going to look over their shoulders and whisper among themselves that Clark Kent, the bride’s ex-boyfriend was present.

 

If given the choice, Clark would have happily stayed away but Lana Lang had made an impassioned plea to Lois for Clark’s presence today. Unfortunately as he had learned from years of experience surrounded by the opposite sex, when women got together with their friends to decide things, men’s fate were sealed.  Lois had more or less told him he was going even though he had stated absolutely that he was not.  However, on the day, he still found himself in his truck, driving to the chapel with Mad Dog Lane in the passenger seat, so pissed at him that he was grateful he was from Krypton.

 

Lois rolled her eyes as they arrived at the front steps of the chapel and noted that they weren’t the only late arrivals. Guests were still arriving, trying to make their way through the barrage of paparazzi that had hidden Smallville in recent days, leading to the blessed event. The town had gained a notorious kind of celebrity as the guest list and A-listers to the reception burgeoned out of control. Clark supposed that he should be grateful for that. With Angelina and Brad showing up with their entourage, not to mention several politicians and other celebrities, no one was really going to pay much attention to Lana Lang’s former love.

 

Despite the guest list however, the wedding service itself was supposedly a simple affair according to Chloe. Clark spied Lana’s aunt Nel paying court to the other arriving guests, seemingly basking in the adulation of being the ‘mother’ of the bride so to speak.

 

“You sure you don’t want to change your mind?” Clark whispered in Lois’ ear as they finally arrived at the red carpet spilling out of the chapel floor into the sidewalk, flanked on either side by security people and velvet ropes to keep the press and gawkers away.

 

“No,” Lois said tautly, her eyes drinking the sight of the paparazzi snapping way at any one who came into their crosshairs. “Let’s just go get this over with.”

 

Clark turned to Lois, noticing her mood. In fact now that he thought of it, she hadn’t been her usual self the last day or so. At first he had attributed it to his behaviour regarding their attendance at this wedding but there seemed to be more to it now and suddenly, Lois Lane’s boyfriend felt somewhat guilty that he had been so full of his own crap that he didn’t realise his girl might be having a problem. “Lois, is everything okay?”

 

She turned to him, caught off guard by the question. “Of course not, why do you ask?”

 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “You seem a little tense. I’m sorry if I’ve been a pain about this. I forgot that this can’t be any less awkward for you, new girlfriend of the ex-boyfriend and all” he replied, sliding an arm over her shoulder.

 

Lois offered him a conciliatory smile. “Yeah Smallville,” she brushed her hair against his cheek. “Pretty awkward that’s for sure. Hey look, it Chloe.” she gestured ahead as she saw Chloe emerge onto the side walk, wearing her bridesmaid dress, trying not to look impatient but to those who knew her it was a futile effort. Nervous she did look even though for once, the tradition of the horrible bride’s maid gown was not some singleton nightmare. The colour of it was ashes of rose which by Clark’s reckoning was some kind of pale lavender. Scooped neck with bare shoulders, Chloe looked a picture of porcelain beauty and elegance all at once as her golden hair was swept off her neck into French twist.

 

Her arrival immediately caused another burst of flashing bulbs in her direction as the photographers identifying her importance in the proceedings began turning their high powered lenses at her. Chloe seemed to be anxious although Clark couldn’t imagine why she would be stepping out of the church to be subject to the glaring media scrutiny. Lois and Clark stepped through the phalanx barring interlopers from intruding the ceremony, offering their invitation as proof of their legitimate status as guests.

 

“Chloe,” Lois called out as she neared her cousin. “Aren’t you supposed to be inside?”

 

Chloe showed her visible relief at seeing familiar faces among the glare of the spotlights around her.   “Thank God you guys are here,” she declared as she tugged them behind the barriers, still in sight of the sidewalk. “It’s insane! Trust Lex to turn his wedding into a five star circus.”

 

“How’s Lana handling all of this?” Clark inquired.

 

“Oh she’s thinking of whether or not eloping is such a bad thing.”  Chloe chuckled. “I don’t blame her; I’d like to run out on this myself.” She glanced anxiously at the photographers surrounding them on either side.

 

“You should be inside,” Lois pointed out. “You’re a bridesmaid, that’s a hot ticket item to these vultures.”

 

“Woah!  Pretty harsh,” Chloe stared at her cousin. “You’re of the tabloid set, remember?” She pointed out, teasing Lois.

 

It should have been funny but instead, Clark felt Lois stiffened ever so slightly before she forced out a laugh. He threw a glance at her, wondering what that was about and decided that now was not the time to call Lois up on what might be bothering her. It was enough that he knew something was.

 

“It’s true though,” Lois recovered barely skipping a beat. “You should be inside away from these guys, holding the bride’s hand and all.”

 

“Actually the bride’s wishing she wasn’t pregnant so she could have a drink.” Chloe quipped. “We’ve got ten minutes yet before the ceremonies slated to start and with all the stars showing up to this thing,” she rolled her eyes, “starting early is not an option.”

 

Suddenly, a car rolled up to the kerb, black and sleek and Clark noticed Chloe’s gaze shifting to it from them, her expression becoming one of anticipation. It was a sentiment shared by the press as Clark noticed the cameras turned in the direction of the new arrival. No doubt another celebrity, Clark thought.  However, when the door swung open and the occupant stepped out of the vehicle, the paparazzi seemed to hush with surprise and then go mad with excitement.

 

Casting her eyes upon him, the storm of hidden emotions broke across Chloe’s features and her smile was like the sunshine through dark clouds when she saw Bruce Wayne step out of the car, amidst a phalanx of flashing cameras.

 

“I thought Bruce wasn’t coming?” Lois exclaimed as she saw the impeccably dressed billionaire leave his car to the ministrations of the valets before looking their way. Lois was aware that Lana had invited Bruce but since he and Chloe had been keeping their romance out of the public spotlight, she assumed he would not be making an appearance.

 

Glad to see a friendly face, at least one that would not be requiring handkerchiefs by the time the ceremony was done, Clark threw Bruce a grin as the man approach them. Of all the would be boyfriends that had graced Chloe’s life in the past few years, Bruce was the only one that Clark felt was deserving of his close confidante’s affection. Furthermore, the manner in which Chloe seemed to light up when she saw Bruce also went a long way to convincing Clark that she had met someone who would make her happy.

 

“Well you know Bruce, always full of surprises,” Chloe said beaming happily as she left them to go meet her boyfriend of almost six weeks.

 

Even though Chloe had her initial reservations about sustaining any relationship with a man who lived in another city and was always seen with a bevy of beautiful women, Bruce had surprised her by his ability to keep his public persona separate from his private life. While the world saw him as the billionaire playboy, Chloe saw him as the boyfriend who made calling her every night a ritual and ensuring that on weekends one of them made the journey to Metropolis or Gotham to spend those days together.  For all that time, they had managed to keep their relationship away from the press, not needing the complication. However, as Bruce told her last night, he was tired of the facade and it was time to do something about it.

 

“Bruce,” Chloe replied as she reached him, her face showing nine kinds of happiness at seeing him.  “You made it.”

 

“That was the plan,” he answered with a smile, ignoring the calls from the reporters who hadn’t expected to see him here today, demanding an explanation for his presence.  Bruce Wayne was not known to be a friend of Lex Luthor’s. “You ready for this?” He asked her seriously.

 

Chloe nodded and Bruce extended his hand towards her. Aware that she would be stepping into the public eye after this, Chloe took it and allowed him to draw her close. Over the last week, they had been talking about their relationship and Bruce confessing his distaste for maintaining his playboy persona, particularly the one involving the supermodels he was expected to date.  Chloe had been happy to play the anonymous girlfriend, having seen what Lana endured as Lex Luthor’s bride to be. However, it was becoming tedious for both to continue pretending that nothing was going on between them, in their private and public lives.

 

Without any words to each other because everything that could be said had been spoken before this moment, Bruce Wayne kissed Chloe Sullivan on the steps of the Smallville chapel. The kiss was chaste, delicate almost but the intimacy in it was undeniable. If anyone had any doubt as to the nature of their relationship, the display answered all questions. The paparazzi seemed to go wild with the revelation and camera bulbs flashed around them like sniper fire as the gossip mongers went into overdrive.

 

“Wow,” Clark exclaimed as he and Lois watched with as much astonishment as the rest of the guests.  “Guess the secrets out.”

 

“Terrific,” Lois let out a visible groan.

 

Clark rolled his eyes in exasperation at her reaction. “Lois, what the hell is wrong with you? I know its not 28 days since you thought me and everything in the world sucked so what is it?”

 

“Oh that’s just like you,” she swatted him on the shoulder and wondered what use it was. The man was invulnerable. “It all comes down to that.”

 

“I was kidding,” he declared, noticing a slightly darker slant to their usual bantering. Ignoring Bruce and Chloe, for that matter, the wedding, he took Lois by the hand and led her around the chapel to the old cemetery behind it.  As there were neither celebrities nor wedding guests there, Clark could be assured of privacy for a few minutes at least.

 

Lois followed him with unusual obedience, perfectly aware her attempt to keep this all bottled inside was not doing her any good. In fact, it was rather making things worse. She was angry, frustrated and no mood to be at the wedding that was the cause of all her problems.  She thought she could manage to keep her composure but seeing Bruce and Chloe outing themselves to the world, only drove home her situation with acuteness that nearly drew blood.

 

“Alright,” Clark said, scanning the immediate area to ensure they weren’t interrupted. “What is it?”

 

“Its nothing,” she shrugged, trying hard to keep it together.

 

“Lois…” he lifted her chin gently, forcing her to look up at him. “Tell me.”

 

Lois blinked and Clark was rather stunned to see her eyes misting over. “I got fired.”

 

“What?” He exclaimed. “From the Inquisitor?”

 

“Yeah,” Lois nodded. “My editor fired me yesterday.”

 

“You’ve known you’ve been fired since yesterday and you didn’t tell me?” Clark didn’t know whether he should be sympathetic or angry. However, the stricken expression on her face helped Clark choose sensibly. “Lois, this is the kind of stuff we’re meant to share you know, like my problem with meteor rocks and other related issues.” 

 

“I didn’t want to share it because I don’t want to think about it!” Lois retorted. “It hurts badly enough that this has happened! I mean for God sake, you know why he fired me?”

 

Clark almost didn’t want to ask. Since Lois had worked at the Inquisitor, her stories were sensationalized to the degree that it made the National Inquirer appear respectable. Lois had struggled to maintain her integrity as a reporter, to get the stories, even if they were obviously too good for the Inquisitor. He couldn’t imagine why her editor would fire the one reporter in his stable who tried to bring in legitimate stories.

 

Lois took Clark’s silence to answer. “Because I refused to take a camera into the wedding ceremony. The asshole wanted me to film Lana’s wedding and reception! Their private wedding reception!”

 

Ouch, Clark winced inwardly.  The Daily Planet had never made such demands of Chloe, largely because the Planet had its own gossip columnists and that newspaper had a reputation for ethics.  Something the Inquisitor was sadly lacking.

 

“Lois,” Clark looked at her. “You did the right thing.”

 

“I know,” she grimaced. “I know I did the right thing but the fact is, I am now unemployed. With your mom in Washington, she doesn’t need me on her staff and I don’t have a job. I can’t go back to…” she couldn’t even bring herself to say it; remembering how it stung the first time Lex had said it, “Muffin peddling.”

 

Even Clark winced at that and he wasn’t aware of the phrase’s origins. Recouping quickly because his girl was hurting, he said to her. “Lois, you’re a great reporter, you’ll get another job in no time.”

 

“No I won’t Clark,” Lois retorted, pushing him away. “I’m barely a journalist in the eyes of most people. The Inquisitor isn’t exactly a shining example of the Fourth Estate.”

 

He couldn’t argue with her there but Clark refused to believe that Lois wasn’t a good reporter. He had seen her pursue stories with an fiery dedication he rarely saw Chloe display even at her inquisitive best, although it was going to take God himself to get him to admit it to either woman. “Lois, something will come up.”

 

“The thing is,” she swallowed, her voice filling with emotion. “I really liked being a reporter. I mean all these years of trying to figure out what to do with my life. This was it. This was the thing and now I feel like a part of me is missing. I know it’s a stupid job at a stupid rag but I was doing what I loved, well sort of, and doing it well.”

 

“Lois,” Clark said firmly. “Okay, you got fired but that doesn’t mean you have to stop writing or trying to be a reporter. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from Chloe all these years is that it takes time and determination. Are you telling me that you, Lois Lane can’t do any of this? Because if you are, then I’m just gonna check the weather to see if hell has really frozen over.”

 

His words made her feel a little better but not much. She was still angry and frustrated not to mentioned worried about where her next paycheque was coming from. That was part she just couldn’t tell Clark. There was only so much humiliation Lois would dare to admit to anyone. Even him. “I suppose there’s some consolation to be had in all this.”

 

“There you go,” he said trying to be supportive as he reached for her hand, caressing her knuckles tenderly. “What?” He asked.

 

Lois looked at him with a glum expression. “At least my editor can’t bitch me out for not giving him the scoop about Chloe and Bruce.”

 

*****************

 

Despite Lois’ upset regarding her current state of employment, Clark could at least be grateful for the fact that he was too worried about her to feel anything but mixed emotions at having to sit through the wedding of Lana Lang to Lex Luthor. Bruce had joined him and Lois in one of the middle pews while Chloe took up her position as bridesmaid near the altar. Lex’s best man was his father, probably because no one else volunteered for it Clark thought snidely to himself. Lana looked radiant, even more so with child and she made a beautiful bride.

 

For once, Henry Small, Lana’s biological father had opted to come out of the woodwork long enough to take his daughter down the aisle. The least he could do for her, Clark thought, considering how absent Small had been from her life during the past three years now. After being raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, knowing what his father had endured for him, Clark couldn’t imagine any father giving up his parental rights to make his life less complicated.

 

Nevertheless, Henry played his part well. The ceremony was elegant with the right amount of glamour to suit someone who was leaving the small town life that Smallville offered and was moving up the social ladder to the stratospheric heights inhabited by the Luthors. Clark watched the happiness in Lana’s face as she exchanged wedding vows with Lex and although he once wished that this was the inevitable outcome of their relationship, it only took a glance at Lois to know that he had made a better choice.

 

Feeling him squeeze her hand tight when Lana said ‘I do’, Lois turned to Clark and smiled. Even if she was hurting the loss of a job, knowing that he was there, that he was unafraid of her foul temper and was able to give her comfort when she needed it most, lessened the sting of it considerably.

 

He was right. This wasn’t the end of her journalism career. She was meant to be a writer. Everything inside of her knew it.  Somehow, she had to make sure everyone else knew too.

 

**************

 

When the ceremony had ended and rice was thrown at the departing couple, Clark was personally thrilled when he threw a handful that hit Lex right in the face; the paparazzi had opted to follow the wedding procession to the reception at the Luthor mansion.  Watching the limousine take off along with many of the guests, Clark and Lois lingered behind for the moment to talk to Chloe and Bruce who had opted to wait inside the chapel until the press was gone.

 

“Way to show up the bride Chloe,” Lois teased when everyone else had left the chapel heading for the reception.

 

“Give me a break Lois,” Chloe grumbled. “It wasn’t my idea to announce our relationship to the world, it was Bruce’s.” Her eyes touched his as he curled an arm around her waist.

 

“Interesting show you two put on,” Clark gave Bruce a look. “I thought you liked to keep your private life ‘private’.”

 

Bruce Wayne chuckled, accepting the ribbing with a good-natured smile.  “It was either confess to the press or I’d have to bring another supermodel to this thing and that’s just so tedious. So I settled for Chloe.”

 

“Nice,” she gave him a look and nudged him in the ribs. “You okay Clark?” Chloe asked and Clark knew instantly to what she referred. Chloe had been present for the full gamut of Clark Kent’s feelings for Lana Lang. While she was thrilled that he had moved on with her cousin, not to mention a little sorry as well since she knew Lois all too well, Chloe knew that on this particular day Clark was bound to be feeling a lot residual emotions regarding Lana.

 

“Yeah,” Clark answered without hesitation. “I just hope Lana’s doing the right thing.”

 

“Girl’s a grown up Clark,” Bruce retorted, digging one of his hands into the pocket of his expensive Armani suit. “She’s made her choice, better or for worse.”

 

“Gosh you guys are such romantics,” Lois said sarcastically.  “I suppose we better going to the reception.” She wasn’t looking forward to it either but Lana’s sake she was willing to endure it. Besides, she wasn’t abandoning Chloe either.

 

“Can’t we just skip it?” Clark asked hopefully.

 

“No we can’t,” Lois declared hotly. “Look, it’s Lana’s special day so we’re going to go and eat cake and put a smile on our faces, like she’s married Prince freaking Charming instead of Darth Vader.”

 

“Darth Vader?” Clark stared back at her. “That’s a bit harsh although….” He couldn’t fault her comparison though.

 

“Well they both don’t have a lot of hair,” she explained the analogy.

 

“Jesus,” Bruce laughed. “Should we get the preacher back in here? You two sound like you’re already married. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a two for one deal today.”

 

Lois and Clark, standing at the threshold of the chapel, looked at each other then simultaneously shot Bruce a dark look.

 

“That’s not funny.” Lois snorted.

 

“It’s a little funny,” Chloe laughed, noticing both Lois and Clark turning the same shade of pale.

 

“Chloe!” Lois protested and stepped out from under the threshold. Just to be safe.  People got awfully weird at weddings. Following her cousin down the steps towards the sidewalk, she left Clark with Bruce.

 

Clark hissed in Bruce’s ear once Lois was out of earshot. “So not the day to be making wedding jokes Bruce.”

 

Bruce’s only answer was a satisfied smirk.

 

Chapter Two:
Epiphany

You can do this.

 

If you want it, you’re going to have to do it.

 

Lois Lane chanted these words to herself like a personal mantra, hoping that if she said them long enough, she might actually believe it. Courage was not something that Lois lacked with any degree. It was an aspect of her personality that allowed her push her way through her life; seldom thinking on the consequences until after she had plunged in, neck deep. Indeed, her courage was the driving force through which Lois achieved her goals, the impetus that allowed her to go the distance to accomplish all the demands of her existence. Thanks to her father, the General, Lois had adopted his marital philosophy to life. She refused let fear to slow her down or dictate her limitations. On some level, she knew her balls to the wall attitude to things bordered on reckless but she didn’t care.

 

Fear had no place here other than to hold her back and she would not let it rule her.

 

Unfortunately, fear like Lois Lane, did whatever the hell it wanted anyway.

 

Staring at herself in the mirror over a sink in the ladies room, Lois tried to dispel the gnawing she felt in her gut as she prepared to go face Pauline Kahn, the hard edged Editor in Chief of the Daily Planet.  Chloe had managed to get her an appointment with Kahn but could provide her no more assistance than that. That Chloe had been able to manage that much was something of a boon.

 

Chloe was still living down the stigma of having been given a column at the Planet while still in high school, thanks to a deal with Lionel Luthor to spy on Clark. Unfortunately, when Chloe had turned her back on that agreement, she had found the column rescinded and had also gained the animosity of a number of veteran reporters on staff. These were reporters who had waited years for such an opportunity only to see it given to the inexperienced editor of a high school paper who had obviously been bought by Lionel Luthor.

 

While Lois was thrilled at the chance to face Pauline Kahn, whose reputation as a newswoman was absolutely first rate and everything Lois aspired to, she was also sceptical at whether or not Kahn would take her seriously with her background at the Inquisitor. However, Chloe was convinced that while Kahn was tough, she was also fair. She was interested in talent, not history. If merit alone impressed the woman, then Lois had some reason to hope that she might rate a fair hearing.

 

Washing her face for the second time in the last few minutes, Lois knew she was drawing attention of others in the washroom, who were no doubt wondering who she was and why she was hiding in here like a scared teenager. Taking a deep breath, Lois steadied herself inwardly and fixed her look in the mirror.  Ignoring the puzzled looks thrown stealthily her way, Lois glanced at her watch and noted that it was a good twenty minutes before her appointment with Pauline Kahn. Deciding to take the high road, since it never hurt to be early, Lois finished making herself look appropriate. Dressed in a dark suit and crisp white shirt, she looked every bit the part of professional reporter and not a tabloid hack. When she stepped into the lobby, she was ready as she could ever be.

 

Entering the wide doorway leading into the room beyond, Lois wasn’t certain what she was expecting. However, the minute she crossed the threshold and saw the newsroom of the Daily Planet, Lois Lane had an epiphany.

 

 

With a clarity of mind that she had only ever experienced when she realised irrevocably that she loved Clark Kent, Lois knew that this was where she belonged.

 

Chloe called this the bullpen, Lois thought as she swept past the desks, trying not to gawk at the sight of real reporters working stories that weren’t about sensationalism but about finding the truth. This wasn’t the tired, fabricated, chintzy world of the Inquisitor. It felt charged with a different kind of energy, the kind she experienced whenever she was on a cusp of great story that wasn’t about the sensation but rather the facts. She saw the reporters talking on telephones, chasing down leads, scribbling down information on note pads and staring at computer terminals as they conducted their research through the Oracle of Google.  They were writing stories that added to the world, not exploited it.

 

This was the world Lois wanted to be apart of, not just by the stories she wrote but writing them for the Daily Planet.

 

“Job interview?” a voice asked her as she fixated on the way to Pauline Kahn’s office.

 

Lois stopped short in mid step and turned to the older man seated behind a desk asking her the question. With thinning gold hair that would in time become grey, he regarded with eyes twinkling with bemusement and immediately drew her irritation at being caught looking so obviously supplicant.  Lois guessed he must have been studying her, the instant she stepped onto the newsroom floor.

 

“Could be,” Lois recovered her composure and erected a façade with equal confidence. “What’s it to you?” She volleyed back with a question of her own.

 

“Just interested,” he returned with a smirk. “Good luck.”

 

Refusing to show that she was nervous, even though she knew she must have been if this guy had pegged her for wanting a job, Lois opted for another cocky response. “Luck is what you need if you don’t have talent.” 

 

“Really?” He laughed, a dry sardonic laugh that Lois immediately liked because it reminded her so much of her own. “Well then, I hope you got talent.”

 

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” Lois said confidently, deciding that if she could pull off this bravado act for this guy then maybe, just maybe she might project the same confidence to the Chief Editor.

 

“Good attitude,” he complimented, seeing through the young woman’s attempt with ease but then a newsman with his experience wouldn’t be worth his salt if he couldn’t. Fortunately, for her, the veteran’s ability to see a diamond in the rough was also as sharp as ability to judge character and the girl, despite her insecurity, impressed him. “You got any samples with you?”

 

Lois wondered for a moment if she ought to be wasting her time with this man but the truth was, she had no idea how her work held up to the standard of the Daily Planet. Chloe said she was good but then again, Chloe was her cousin and wouldn’t hurt her feelings if she could avoid it and Clark, well the instant they exchanged bodily fluids, his bias was pretty much a given.  An impartial opinion would be useful since she had no desire to be humiliated before the Chief Editor if she could avoid it. 

 

Going against her more suspicious, Lois decided to take a leap of faith because something in the man’s manner made he trust him and for Lois, such feelings to another person, especially a stranger was rare. Besides, Lois could use all the help she could get to land a job at the Daily Planet.

 

“You any good?” Lois retorted, unable to acquiesce without one last attempt at sass. Still, even as the words left her mouth, Lois was already rifling to the leather case she was carrying to produce one of the few articles she had brought with her, stored in plastic sleeves to hand them over.  It was the piece on Project Ares, the super soldier program which Lois couldn’t attribute to Lex Luthor without the Inquisitor being sued, because of proof.  Instead, the article became one of the sensationalist pieces that the newspaper was infamous for, like the two-headed cow and the woman who saw Elvis taken into space.

 

Blue eyes twinkled with amusement as he took them, “depends on who you ask. Now button up while I read.”

 

Lois was going to retort with something smart but when his eyes fixed on the pages and started reading, her desire to speak vanished.  Instead, she tried to look nonchalant as she waited for him, trying hard to dispel the impatience or the discomfiture she felt, standing before him.  Just to break the silence, she added quickly, “Just try to ignore the fact that the story is written for the Inquisitor.”

 

“Never be ashamed of a story because of where it’s printed,” he answered automatically without lifting his eyes from the article he was perusing. “People will read the back of a chewing gum wrapper if it’s interesting.”

 

There and then, Lois Lane knew she’d adore him. 

 

He read the article given from top to bottom, taking at least five minutes to do it and offering no comment in between the lines. Lois stood there, trying not to fidget, growing more impatient but holding her ground because she suspected he might know his stuff. She searched his desk while he read, trying to see a name plate on his desk. Unfortunately, it was obscured by the stack of folders on his desk, the top one labelled ‘G.G’, hand written scraps of paper, post-it notes, travel vouchers and other elements of his job.

 

“Not bad,” he startled her out of her snooping.

 

Momentarily distracted, she looked up at him. “What?’

 

“I said, not bad. This piece could have been better but it looks like you held back a little. I can see where you’re heading towards a big finish but couldn’t quite make it there. Your style isn’t bad either. It has kick. Start focusing your research skills on more than just circumstantial evidence and be prepared to go the distance, and then you might make a decent reporter.”

 

What Lois was prepared to do was defend her article and her skills, except that he was right on the money about holding back. Her editor at the Inquisitor had ordered to remove all Luthor references and that had gutted the story from something provocative into a paper tiger.  “I am a good reporter,” she said defensively.

 

“Not yet Rookie,” he gave her a wink. “But give it time and you might be. Now get going or you going to be late.”

 

Lois opened her mouth to respond when she realised he was right. Throwing him a scowl, she snatched her article out of his hands and hurried to make her appointment with Pauline Kahn.

 

Grinning, Perry White watched her go.

 

********

 

My God, this could be me in 30 years.

 

It wasn’t an unrealistic possibility, Lois thought as she sat across the desk from Pauline Kahn, a woman who looked as if she chewed up and spat out rookie reporters at her leisure. Lois who boasted drinking generals under the table, thought Pauline would have no trouble fitting into that crowd since she appeared as intimidating as her father. Mention of the woman’s name still sent shudders through Chloe and now that Lois was seated in the woman’s presence, she could well understand why.

 

It wasn’t as if Pauline looked like some battle-axe with stern features and an eternal scowl.  Dressed elegantly in a suit, auburn cut short but stylishly, she wore her age as sign of improving vintage not diminishing quality. Dark eyes studied Lois closely, her fingers holding a cigarette but her nails were short and functional, a tell tale sign that she did her own writing. 

 

“Lois Lane,” Pauline spoke finally, having taken the last few minutes to study the young woman who had earned this audience because not all her headlines on the Inquisitor had been tabloid garbage. “I granted you this meeting because Chloe Sullivan begged me and because I had a cancellation in my appointment calendar. So start talking so I know I’m not wasting my time.”

 

Despite her acerbic statement, Pauline was curious to see how the young woman would react.  Like all editors of note, she paid attention to the other publications, keeping an eye on what stories they were writing, the reporters they had on the payroll and ensuring that the Planet always had its finger on the pulse of the community. However, the gleaning of the rabble to find reporters of note was of especial importance. The charge of every Chief Editor was to populate the newsroom of the Daily Planet with the best reporters in the country and Pauline was no exception to this rule.

 

Deep breath, Lois decided to go for broke. “If I wasn’t worth your time, I wouldn’t be here right now. You don’t strike me as someone who just sees anyone of the street, no matter who asks. You’re an investigator. You would know everything about me before I got here.”

 

Pauline did not show reaction to this but the answer gained Lois Lane another five minutes. “I thought you were working for the National Inquisitor?” Pauline answered instead.

 

Okay, she wasn’t being thrown out of the office.  Lois took this as a good sign. However, there was still too much pride in her to admit that she was fired from the Inquisitor. Thus, Lois chose a more politic response, “I’m looking to expand my options.”

 

“Really?” Pauline retorted, perfectly aware that Lois Lane had been fired from the Inquisitor. The girl was right, she was an investigator and shortly after the appointment was made to see Lois, Pauline telephone the Inquisitor to learn all she could about Miss Lane. “I was under the impression you were fired.”

 

Lois maintained her poise despite her bluff was well and truly called. “I’d call it a disagreement of minds,” Lois replied, after a moment.

 

“What sort of disagreement?” Pauline pressed on, having heard the whole story from Ed Guerin, Lois Lane’s former boss at the National Inquisitor.

 

Lois struggled with how to answer. She wanted to work at the Daily Planet more than anything. When she had embarked upon this meeting this morning, she had thought about nothing more than being a real reporter. However, somewhere between then and walking onto the newsroom floor, something had changed. She just didn’t want to be a reporter at any paper, she wanted to be one at this paper.

 

Unfortunately, compromise left a bitter aftertaste in Lois’ mouth and as she faced down Pauline, trying to decide whether or not to tell all, she knew she couldn’t be the reporter she wished to be if she gave up her principles. “Let’s say I wouldn’t compromise my integrity and leave it at that.” Lois answered finally.

 

“Were you under the impression I was giving you a choice in whether or not you could answer that question?” Pauline shot back.

 

Lois braced herself. “I will not discuss my private conversations with my former editor. If you want to find out why I was fired, I suggest you talk to him.”

 

Pauline’s unreadable expression was infamous for reducing reporters under her rule to quivering wrecks and on Lois, the effect was no less damaging, except that Lois kept her panic hidden beneath an equally impassive mask.  For what seemed like an eternity, both women eyed each other with Lois forcing herself not to blink first.

 

This was a test,  she told herself. It had to be. God…It had  better be.

 

What broke the stalemate was not either of them giving in but the door suddenly swimming open behind them with a frustrated secretary apologizing profusely for the interruption by the man who had barged in right past her.  Lois looked over her shoulder and saw the newsman who had given her the critique of her Project Ares story. He stepped in and leaned against the glass wall through which he had been obviously watching the proceedings.

 

“Perry, what the hell are you doing in here?” Pauline demanded, giving him a look of annoyance since this wasn’t the first time she had put up with this behaviour from him.

 

 “Well I was watching the Mexican standoff from my desk and I was wondering which of you were going to draw first.” He smirked mischievously.

 

Lois winced while Pauline threw him a resigned glare. “Lois Lane,” Pauline sighed aloud as she eased back into her chair, waiving her secretary off with a dismissive hand, “meet Perry White, the Daily Planet’s star reporter and the biggest pain in my ass.”

 

“She loves me,” Perry answered with a straight face, “she really does.”

 

“Not that I don’t relish these moments Perry,” Pauline continued glaring at her star reporter who had dissolved the hard-edged atmosphere she had been playing for Lois’ benefit. “But what do you want?”

 

“Well,” Perry said, throwing a quick glance at Lois before looking at Pauline again. “I’ve read some of Lane’s stuff here and there’s potential. She’s got as much as balls as anyone here on the floor and could be considered a work in progress, given the right training. I mean I’m willing to work with her.”

 

“You?” Pauline eyed him with nothing less than astonishment. “Perry you never want to work with anyone. In fact didn’t you tell me never to come at you with…how did you put it…those snot nosed kids who wouldn’t know a good story if it bit them on the ass? That was you wasn’t it?”

 

“Hey…right here?” Lois spoke up, wondering if either of them remember she was in the room.

 

“Pipe down Rookie,” Perry ordered. “Let the grownups talk.”

 

Astonishingly enough, Lois actually obeyed him.

 

Pauline noted the girl’s response and knew that Perry didn’t take any interest without good reason. Pauline and Perry had history. They had started out as junior reporters at the same time and to this day, Pauline swore she had never encountered a better investigative journalist than Perry White.  Perry had been a trail blazer, winning several Pulitzers before attempting to write an expose on Lionel Luthor’s past. Not the sanitized version produced by his public relations people that Lionel would have the world believe but the real truth of his history. It was a past, Lionel had been so determined to conceal, one that began in Suicide Slum and included the mysterious deaths of his parents in a fire.

 

Unfortunately, Perry had underestimated just how much power Lionel Luthor wielded and it wasn’t long before the award-winning journalist found himself a pariah, forced to eke out a living writing stories for a tabloid show called XStlyes. It wasn’t until Pauline was appointed Chief Editor of the Daily Planet that she was able to offer him a job  and return him to the realm of respectable journalism. With the opportunity that she had given him, Perry returned to the top of the food chain writing stories that made the Daily Planet the most successful paper in the world.

 

If Perry believed there was potential in Lois Lane, Pauline was not about to ignore that endorsement, especially when it was given so infrequently.

 

“I’m not saying you should give the kid a job,” Perry continued speaking. “However, if she  does brings you a good story, it’s worth a look isn’t it?”

 

Pauline ruminated on the possibility. She didn’t have any full time openings for a staff reporter anyway but the Planet did employ numerous freelance journalists.  “Alright Lane, can you bring me a story? Not the usual garbage that the Inquisitor had you writing but a real story. If you can do that, I might just print it.”

 

“You mean like a freelancer?” Lois stared. She wanted a job at the Planet, willing to work at the basement even. However, this wasn’t even that.  “I was hoping for a job…”

 

“You earn a job, Lane,” Pauline responded before Perry could. “This is the Daily Planet. We’re the greatest metropolitan newspaper in the world. Every reporter here starts by paying their dues.  You want to show me that you’re better than the tabloid crap you’ve been writing, bring me a story that will convince me. Until then you’re just another wannabe. Perry here seems to think you’re worth the time. Is he right? Do you have the chops to go the distance or would you be happier trying to chase down Brittany Spears next underwear spread?”

 

Lois stared her down fearlessly. “You want a story? I’ll bring you a front page story, no problem.”

 

Perry and Pauline exchanged a glance before the editor turned an amused eye on Lois. “So get to it Lane.  That story’s not going to get written while you wait around for my office.”

 

Lois burst into a smile, unsure she had a victory or not. However, since she was a glass was half-full kind of girl, she’d go for the positive.  “It sure won’t.”

 

Turning on her heels, she swept out of the office with her head held high, offering a grateful smile to the man who had come out of nowhere to help her realise her dreams. She wouldn’t let him down and she wouldn’t be too proud to seek his help.  Lois was determined to prove that she could pay her dues, that she could get the stories to earn her a full time job in this place.

 

The day she became a reporter working full time for the Daily Planet, would be the happiest day of her life.  

 

************

 

“You sure about this?” Pauline asked once the girl had left the office behind her. They watched her progress through the newsroom doors, her stride forceful and determined like one about to go kick the crap out of the world until she got exactly what she wanted.

 

 “Yeah,” Perry nodded after she had gone from their sight, watching her disappear down the corridor.  “She’s got chutzpah. ”

 

“I know,” Pauline smirked easing into her chair. “I was going to offer her the same deal. Any reporter who’d risk their job for the sake of integrity is the kind of reporter we want at the Planet. Although my gut says, she’s going to be a pain in the ass. Almost as bad as you,” Pauline added sweetly.

 

“Not my problem,” Perry retorted with a smirk, starting to make tracks out of her office himself. “I’m not the Editor in Chief.”

Chapter Three:

Out of the Blue

 

Saying that she was going to get a headline grabbing storyline worthy of the Daily Planet and actually doing it, Lois Lane soon learned, was harder than it looked.

 

Following her meeting with acerbic Pauline Kahn and equally perplexing Perry White who had come out of nowhere, to make her chance at the Planet possible, Lois was determined to prove his faith in her was justified. Self-doubt was another one of those troublesome emotions that Lois had no time for but since her firing from the Inquisitor, she felt it a lot. It didn’t help that the cause of her return to the unemployed state was sprawled across every newspaper and tabloid magazine in the city.

 

The fairy tale wedding of Lex Luthor to Lana Lang made for good copy and the media devoured stories about the couple like ravenous monsters. Everywhere, Lois was treated to images of Lex and Lana’s wedding, then came their honey moon and the pictures that came with that. Each snapshot reminded Lois how close she had been to the story only to walk away from it. To add insult to injury, Chloe’s new romance with Bruce Wayne was also as newsworthy. So if it wasn’t Lana’s face she was seeing everywhere, it was Chloe’s.

 

Despite her chagrin, Lois was starting to learn a great deal about herself and the kind of journalist she wanted to be. She didn’t want to be a tabloid reporter and the stories she wanted to write would not be about what celebrity was doing what. She wanted to write stories of substance, stories that would help change the world, hopefully for the better. It surprised her to discover the existence of this idealistic crusader hidden adroitly beneath the surface of her cynical exterior.

 

Clark was rubbing off on her.

 

***************

 

“So how’s the story coming?” Chloe asked of Lois as they sat across a table in her lunching spot around the corner from the Planet.

 

“I’m working on leads,” Lois said evasively, stirring her coffee for the hundredth time, offering revelation to anyone who knew her that she was exaggerating.

 

“Oh really?” Chloe stared at her with that look of familiarity cultivated over the course of their entire relationship. Scepticism exuded from every word.

 

Lois raised her eyes to her cousin and knew that Chloe was seeing right through her. “Okay so I’ve got nothing so far but I know there’s a story out there? That’s what you always said, right? I’ve just gotta find it.”

 

“Absolutely,” the demure blond nodded with encouragement before her attention was caught by someone standing at the window of the café called the Tivoli. A telephoto lens was aimed in her direction before she saw the flash that could only be her picture taken. Chloe sighed and looked away, so exhausted with trying to avoid the paparazzi that she had resigned her self to their presence.

 

 “God I wish they’d blow.” Chloe complained, eyeing the patterns on the table instead.

 

Lois chuckled, sympathizing with her cousin nevertheless. “Just ignore them,” Lois replied, reversing their roles as being the one to offer support now. “They’ll vanish the minute they discover that you and Bruce are so incredibly average that there’s absolutely nothing to feed the gossip page. That or until Britney has another freak out which lately, could be any day now.” The older cousin smirked.

 

“Thanks,” Chloe nodded, admitting that the prospect was inviting, of being deemed average and left alone that is. The jury was still out on the Britney freak out.  “So how did it go with your dad?”

 

Lois flinched, returning to her present circumstances with a thud so loud, she surprised that no one heard it. “Oh, the General is on manoeuvres at the moment so he won’t be contactable for another two weeks.”

 

“Oh,” Chloe’s expression became downcast. “Lois can you wait that long? I mean I’ve got some money saved up, I could give you a loan…”

 

“No that’s okay,” Lois said hastily. She wasn’t desperate enough to take Chloe’s money yet. It was bad enough that she had try to get in touch with her dad to get a loan from him but taking it from Chloe was more than her pride could tolerate at this point.  “I’ve got some rainy day money, I’ll be fine for a few more days.”

 

“Okay,” Chloe said dubiously, perfectly aware that Lois’ ability to be frugal was like her own ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  “You know,” the blond eyed her cousin slyly, “maybe you should tell Clark that you’re broke.”

 

“No!” Lois exclaimed exasperated. “You know how Clark is! He’ll want to come charging to the rescue and it’s not like running the Kent farm is rolling in the dough. Besides, I’m too embarrassed for that…”

 

“Lois!” Chloe declared exasperated, “This is Clark we’re talking about. He’s your boyfriend right? The only guy whose name I’ve seen you write surrounded by little hearts. To say nothing of the fact that he trusts you with the truth about being from….” She almost said Krypton but stopped short before that sin could be committed since they were in a crowded restaurant and she was on the paparazzi hit list. “From uh…Fresno.”

 

“Fresno?” Lois stared blankly and realising Chloe’s choice of locale was for the benefit of anyone listening in on their conversation. “Well being from…Fresno is a big thing, not something he could hide for long. I mean look what happened with Lana because he didn’t ell her that he’s from …out of state? This is my problem Chloe and not something Clark can fix with his uh…hobbies,” Lois declared, her gaze shifting away from her cousin, “I can take care of myself.”

 

Chloe was not about to let it go, not just yet. She knew where this was coming from. The same place it had come from in the past, from Lois’ stubborn belief she didn’t need anyone to look out for her. Too often the people she needed let her down or expected her to be tougher than anyone should expect another to be and Lois had learnt through experience that it was better to be tough than pitied.  “Lois, no one doubts that you can’t look after yourself but there’s nothing wrong with asking for help.”

 

Lois knew that Chloe was right and to a degree even believed her. She wasn’t afraid to ask Perry White for help to write her story and in moments of emotional crises she wouldn’t be afraid to turn to Clark for help. However, Lois couldn’t admit to him or anyone just yet that she felt pathetic and stupid to be caught in this situation in the first place. She should have had savings, she should have finished college, she should have done a dozen things differently so she wouldn’t be in this situation. However, now that she was here, she wasn’t going to bemoan her fate. She would pick herself up like she always did, without help from anyone. 

 

“Look I can’t keep talking about this,” Lois said draining her coffee cup quickly before standing up. “I’ve got to go chase down some leads on the other side of town.”

 

“Oh alright,” Chloe sighed resignedly, aware that Lois wasn’t going to budge on this point nor did it require her cousin to swear her to secrecy.  Years of being the keeper of everyone’s secrets, it was a foregone conclusion that Chloe would tell Clark nothing of Lois’ dilemma.  “He’s your boyfriend, I’m sure you know how to handle him.”  She threw up her hands in a gesture of surrender.

 

“Damn straight,” Lois perked up, injecting her voice with more cheeriness than she felt. “Besides,” she threw a sidelong glance at the outside of the restaurant where a cameraman could be sighed. “You’ve got problems of your own. Who knows it won’t be long before they’ll be calling you the next Brangelina, nah…something catchier…Bhloe maybe.”

 

“Bhloe!” Chloe almost choked on her latte. “Oh that just sound dirty!”

 

“Okay, okay,” Lois retorted, not about to give up yet. “Chruce, then.”

 

“Just get going already!” Chloe threw a napkin at her, laughing at Lois’ absurdity. Really…Chruce.

 

Lois smirked, deflecting enough to make good her escape. In truth, she didn’t want Chloe to question her too deeply on where she was going. Chloe was the only person that Lois couldn’t fool at all and there were just some things that Lois Lane liked to keep to herself.

 

“See ya,” she said grabbing her handbag and walking briskly out of the café.

 

**********

 

Valerie was exhausted.

 

It was days since her escape and her arrival in Metropolis had not been the answer to her problems as she believed. In fact, being lost in a large, unforgiving city where no one knew you or for that matter, cared; was almost as bad as being locked up in a gilded cage. With only a few dollars left to her name, enough for a sandwich perhaps, Valerie struggled with what to do. The place where Hank had said he’d be didn’t exist and she worried that they might have spirited him away to parts unknown because he wouldn’t let him hurt her and just gave her a fake address to pacify her into submitting to their tests.

 

In retrospect, Valerie knew that she had been so focussed on escape and reaching Hank, she should have given some thought as to what she would do when she arrived upon arriving at her destination. Her whole plan had been flawed to the start and now she was lost, one of the millions of forgotten faces on the streets of Metropolis, with no place to go. Her feet hurt from walking along the pavement and her stomach growled. With hunger gnawing at her and the prospect of sleeping in another shelter not at all welcoming, Valerie considered her options.

 

In desperation, she did the one thing she had been resisting for days, hoping that finding Hank might save her form the action. Looking up the street, she saw the phone booth and hastened her pace to reach it. Glancing furtively over her shoulder every so often, Valerie still couldn’t shake the feeling of someone following her, Hank’s employers might be trying to retrieve her and that made every new face a possible threat.  Reaching the booth, she stepped inside and fished out all the change she had in the pocket of her jeans, putting it on little shelf where the phone book was perched.

 

Lifting the ear set off the hook, Valerie fed the coins into the slot, One by one. When she heard the dial tone, she began to push the numbers and waited for a voice to response. An operator came on the line and immediately put her collect call through to Seattle. Valerie’s breath held, uncertain of what she would say when the call connected. The cold sensation of shame rushed through her as she heard the ring tone and her breath held. She had behaved so badly. Why would they help her?

 

“Hello,” Valerie heard her mother’s voice.

 

Swallowing, she spoke. “Momma,” she said after a pause. “It’s me.”

 

The reaction was immediate. “Oh my God Valerie! Steven! It’s Valerie!” She heard her mother calling for her father. Even in shame, Valerie was stunned by how good it was just to hear their jubilation at her call.

 

“Baby, where are you? We’ve been so worried!”

 

“Momma, I need help,” she squeaked, “I’m in Metropolis.”

 

“Metropolis?” Her mother exclaimed. “What are you doing there?’

 

Valerie didn’t have a chance to answer because she heard the scuffle of sound through the receiver as the phone was handed over.

 

“Valentine,” her father spoke firmly and Valerie blinked, feeling warm tears run down her cheek at how good to hear him using his favourite nickname for her. “Where are you? We’ll come get you right away.”

 

“I’m in Metropolis,” she said quickly, suddenly wanting very much to go home, to be with them as they took care of her. 

 

“Where in Metropolis?” He declared. “We’ll be on the first plane. Just tell us where you are Valentine.”

 

Valerie looked through the glass and saw the street signs in her immediate location. “I’m at a  phone booth at the Eisner and Kane cross streets.” She answered and that saw a diner across the street. “In a diner called the Slice.”

 

“Then you go in there and wait for us baby,” Valerie heard her mother say next to her father. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

 

“Thank you,” Valerie whispered, crying a little harder now because guilt and shame stabbed at her for hurting these people with her selfish departure in the night. “Please come soon.”

 

“We love you Valerie,” her father assured her, “we’ll be there.”

 

 

*************

 

 

Closer than Seattle, someone listened to the conversation between Valerie Beaudry and her parents with interest.

 

“We got her,” the man said coolly. “She called home like we thought.”

 

“Good,” Hank nodded approving.

 

************

 

“You’re late,” the unshaven man, with the beer gut hanging over his apron looked at Lois from over the counter when she arrived at the diner called the Slice twenty minutes after her lunch with Chloe. 

 

Lois glanced around the establishment containing more than six tables and five booths along the walls with a raised brow since only three tables of those tables were occupied and she wasn’t the only waitress in the place.  “Sorry,” she said trying to hide her sarcasm, “didn’t mean to leave you hanging during the rush.”

 

“Very funny,” he snorted, a big bear of a man called Sal who was more bark than bite.

 

When Lois had interviewed for the job, all she had to do was tell him she had worked in a coffee shop for him to hire her. Lois supposed that this place with it’s out of the way location wasn’t exactly the highlight of the Metropolis Restaurant Guide and tips weren’t plentiful. Lois didn’t care, its anonymity was exactly was what she needed. No one (especially Clark and Chloe) had to know that she had been reduced this to supplement her non-existent income.  Besides the wages, though slight were steady, would do until she was able to write her story for the Planet.

 

“Don’t mind him honey, he’s just mad cause his daughter is pregnant again” Flora, the other waitress who’s shift ended when Lois showed up, said with a warm smile. Flora spoke with a thick Southern accent like the stereotypical belle but with more mettle than John Wayne. The mother of two, she had gained Lois’ respect by raising two boys on her own, working this job and still managing to be there for then Sunday dinner.  In an age where children were raised by televisions sets and internet access, Lois was impressed.

 

“Good for nothing bum she’s married can’t support her…” Sal grumbled and continued his ministrations over the fryer.

 

Lois and Flora exchanged bemused expressions as they passed each other on the way to the back room.  Entering the small musty room, Lois sighed as she put on the waitress uniform that Sal insisted they wear. At least it didn’t have her name monogrammed on it. Each time Lois felt the lurch in her stomach telling her that she was better than this job, she reminded herself that this place was a means to and end and like all good reporters, she had to pay her dues. This was one of those dues.

 

Stepping out, Lois brushed down the skirt of her salmon coloured uniform and surveyed the patrons as Flora bade them goodbye and hurried off, heading off to pick up her youngest.  The two people that caught her eyes first were just like most of the patrons she saw in this place, regulars who discovered that Sal made a pretty good steak and they didn’t have to fight for a table when they came in. A trucker, Lois sized up and old man named Harry who came here every day at the same time for lemon meringue pie.

 

The third was sequestered in the back booth, trying to look inconspicuous. A woman a little younger than her. She stood out because despite her somewhat bedraggled looked at present, had luminous features of shiny gold hair and blue eyes. Her eyes revealed a lot on her mind. Unlike the other two who were eating their foot with enthusiasm, the girl seemed content to stare at the cup of coffee above her empty plate.  Picking up the coffee pot, Lois walked over to her.

 

“Can I fill that up for you?” She asked, remembering the lingo from the Talon.

 

The girl looked up, startled, reminding Lois for a minute of a deer caught in the headlights.

 

“Oh sorry,” she said with wide-eyed anxiety. “Yes, sorry, I didn’t hear you…”

 

“Hey its okay,” Lois reassured her. “I just wanted to know if you wanted some coffee.”

 

She considered the request for a moment, “I don’t have any more money…”

 

Boy, Lois thought to herself, did she knew what that felt like. “Its okay, refills are free.”

 

The girl seemed relieved, “oh, yes please.”

 

Lois smiled and poured her a cup. “Are you alright?”  The crusader in Lois had to ask. The girl seemed like she was at her wit’s end as Lois poured coffee into the cup, noticing her shaking hands at the same time.

 

“I’m waiting for someone,” she admitted. “I told them that this was where to find me. I have to wait here.”

 

This didn’t sound good and really none of her business but damn it, Clark Kent had rubbed off on her to much to ignore that seemingly ominous statement. “Well then here you’ll wait,” Lois smiled, hoping to disarm her.  “Whose coming to get you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

 

“My parents,” the girl answered readily enough. “They’re coming from Seattle.”

 

“Seattle?” Lois raised a brow. “When do you expect them?”

 

“I rang them an hour ago,” Valerie answered, unaware that the years of isolation had caused her to become desperate for contact and incapable of judging who she could trust with personal details.  “They’re coming.”

 

From Seattle? Lois almost balked but could see the girl was frightened enough and had no wish to worsen her anxiety. “They could be a few hours,” Lois finally commented. “Can you wait for them anywhere else?”

 

“No,” the girl shook her head. “I have to wait here. I don’t know anyone else in Metropolis.”

 

Undecided what she would do, Lois was almost grateful when she heard the truck driver catch her attention for a refill of coffee. Lois hurried off to serve him, trying to decide if this was any of her business and unlike Clark, she didn’t have a knack for getting people to trust her the way he did. Must be that farm boy demeanour, she told herself.

 

A family, comprising of two parents and a noisy brood of unruly children entered the diner at that moment and Lois forgot all about the girl and the long wait, as she was inundated with orders and kids trying to put ice cream in the pocket of her apron.

 

**************

 

It was more than an hour when the diner was quiet again and Lois, who didn’t remember the Talon being this much work, took a moment to catch her breath. The trucker had also departed at this point, more than happy to leave the place and escape the little terrors that were perfect illustrations of why children should not be given candy for any reason.  Lois sat down at the counter, helping herself to a drink since the place was empty except for the girl who had not moved from her booth.

 

“Hey, what’s her story?” Sal inquired, his gruff voice held at low whisper.

 

“I think she’s a runaway or something,” Lois hissed back. “She’s waiting for her folks to come get her. I don’t think she had any money for anything else.”

 

“This ain’t no charity,” he grumbled and eyed the girl again, finding it disconcerting that she was no older than his own daughter. “But we can spare some coffee and pie while she waits. We’ll give her folks the tab when they arrive.”

 

Lois threw Sal a smirk, “why you’re just nice guy under all stubble aren’t you.”

 

Sal mumbled something unintelligible and returned to cleaning the grill, leaving Lois chuckling as she stood up and walked towards the booth, prepared to offer the girl a cup of coffee and some meringue pie.

 

However, the girl stood up abruptly.

 

Her face was etched in concern as she stared through the window. Lois followed her gaze and saw that a trio of black SUVs that had come to a screeching at the sidewalk, one after the other next to the pavement. With chrome gleaming under the afternoon sun, Lois pegged them immediately for government vehicles. Whatever they were, the girl was not happy to see them and the look in her eyes, the fear in them, immediately drew Lois’ concern.

 

“Hey is everything okay?” She shifted her gaze between the girl and the cars.

 

Men were exiting the vehicle and as they approached the diner, Lois understood the girl’s alarm. For starters, they were armed and dressed in black camouflage gear, their faces concealed beneath ski masks. The guns they were carrying were military grade. Lois had been on enough army bases in her time to recognise that these were the weapons of choice for mercenaries.

 

“I have to go,” the girl exclaimed. “They’re coming for me!”

 

Lois had guessed that much. She didn’t think that the electric bill she had due warranted this kind of response yet.  Those guys were ruthless. “Who are they?” Lois demanded. “What do they want with you?”

 

”They want to take me back!” She cried out frantically, bringing Sal to the counter window separating the kitchen from the rest of the diner.

 

“What’s going on?” He demanded.

 

“I don’t know,” Lois explained quickly, thinking that she needed her phone to get Clark here.

 

Unfortunately, the men were in the diner before she could finish the thought and even though they were armed, they approached cautiously, Lois noted.

 

“Valerie,” one of them spoke through the ski mask. “You need to come back with us. You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

 

“Little tip pal,” Lois stepped in front of the girl, Valerie, “you might try that approach without the ski mask.”

 

“Stay out of this,” he shot at her. “This doesn’t concern you.”

 

“The hell it doesn’t,” Lois said fearlessly, “she doesn’t look like she wants to go anywhere with you so why don’t you get the hell out of here before we call the cops.”

 

“Valerie,” the man spoke to his quarry, ignoring Lois’ threats. “You don’t want these people to get hurt, come with us now.”

 

“The girl ain’t going nowhere,” Sal appeared from behind the counter, wielding a baseball bat. “Get the hell out of may place.”

 

Suddenly, Lois heard the sound of something like a champagne bottle popping from behind her boss. In what felt like slow motion, she saw Sal tumbling forward, the baseball bat falling from his fingers before clattering against the linoleum floor. His eyes went blank, seeing nothing as he landed hard on his face. Lois uttered a gasp of fright as she saw the blood pooling around his head, like a crimson crown. Standing behind Sal was his killer, the silencer clutched in his hand and smoking from use.

 

“Oh my God!” Lois exclaimed horrified as she saw the assassins close in.

 

“You didn’t have to do that,” Valerie started to weep, seeing them coming to take her. “You didn’t have to hurt him!” She screamed and just when Lois thought that things couldn’t get any worse, everything went to complete hell.

Chapter Four: 
Secrets

 

It was strange how you could size a situation up for one thing and then end up with something totally different.

 

Five seconds after Sal had been shot dead and Lois was gripped with the fear that she might be summarily executed in much the same fashion, everything she expected to happen was turned on its head in a manner no one could have predicted. Only after the fact, was Lois able to piece together what had taken place in any coherent fashion because at the time, the sequence of events didn’t feel linear but rather a jumbled chaos of insanity.  Lois remembered seeing Sal fall, his blood soaking into the linoleum. She remembered her horror and her retreat from the men approaching, who even behind ski masks managed to exude menace.

 

Next to her, the girl was sobbing, begging them to stay away, which of course they would not. Men like these were not to be swayed by any form of entreaty. The fact that they had killed Sal in cold blood was a testament to how determined they were to get what they wanted. The girl shrank away and Lois was momentarily frozen with the thought that she was going to die and poor Clark would never even known why it had happened.

 

Then the girl screamed and suddenly, all bets were off.

 

Her scream wasn’t any high pitch cry of female desperation. It started almost like a whistle and then became a banshee’s wail. Lois who was standing next to her was thrown backwards, halted by the counter. The wannabe reporter for the Daily Planet felt the back of her head slam against the plastic and for a moment, she felt the room spin fast enough for her not to realise what was happening. When Lois was able to focus, she saw everything in front of the girl was gone.

 

The walls were ripped apart, mortar and wood whittled down in seconds to debris. Lois was reminded of those 1950s films depicting the effect of an atomic bomb explosion on buildings. It looked like a great gust of wind had blasted it into oblivion, the walls, the windows and the roof were torn away into the streets. She saw cars flipping onto their sides like they had been swept aside by an angry child. The SVUs parked by the sidewalk rolled along the bitumen like tumbleweeds, becoming more and more pulverized which each turn. Of the men that had been approaching them, Lois saw some clinging to lamp posts that were still rooted to the ground, others had been flung away like dust.

 

Lois herself was holding on for dear life to the railing on the foot of the counter, convinced that if the girl had been screaming in any other direction, she would be sharing the same fate as those men. Even so, the pull of the whirlwind created by the girl’s sonic scream was tremendous and she felt like Helen Hunt in Twister, lifted off the ground and swept towards the path of that powerful sound current. Struggling to hold on, she saw the girl continuing to scream and soon found herself shouting at her to stop. The men who had tried to take her were for now, despatched but it was innocents who were bearing the worst of it.

 

“Hey!” Lois tried to make herself heard. What was her name again? Valerie? “VALERIE! STOP! EASE OFF!”

 

As Valerie saw what she was doing to the street beyond the Slice, her mind was caught somewhere between horror and astonishment. She knew that she had been capable of this but had held back when Hank first showed her she had this ability. Afraid of how much damage she could do, Valerie had resisted the urge to unleash it into its fullest but seeing the murder of the man who had tried to help her had provoked her despair and her outrage.  Through the maelstrom of fury however, she heard the voice of the other person who had tried to help her and returned to some semblance of self.

Abruptly, she stopped screaming.

 

However, the cessation of the screaming did not ease one whit the amount of devastation. The whole front of the Slice was gone. It lay strewn across the main road and the sidewalk as far as the eyes could see. The cars, swept away, by the blast had piled up against the buildings on the opposite end of the street. Lampposts were bent in the middle, trees were uprooted and every glass window in a mile radius was shattered. Car horns were blaring; a hydrant had been ripped from its housing and spraying water across the road. Injured people were struggling to climb out of wrecked cars, cut from flying glass and other such mishaps.

 

Lois landed on the linoleum and winced at the pain from her sudden stop.  Wincing, she sat up to survey the destructive scene before her and then shifted her gaze to the girl who was sobbing over what she had done. Valerie seemed almost as distraught as the victims did out there, over what had happened.

 

“I didn’t mean to do this…” she wailed. “I didn’t mean to hurt everyone!”

 

“Its okay,” Lois returned, limping to her side. “You couldn’t help it,” she patted the girl gently on the back. “It was just inside you and you were provoked.” Half her believed that and half of her thought that Valerie was a powder keg waiting to happen.  Looking outside, she saw the wreckage of SUVs and wondered if those men would send reinforcements after this.  As the possibility entered her head, Lois heard the distant whine of sirens.

 

“Valerie,” Lois said quickly. “We have to get out of here. The police are coming and whomever those guys were that came you will be back even sooner. You can’t explain this to the cops and I don’t recommend you try.”

 

“But I can’t leave!” Valerie stuttered. “How will my parents find me?”  She stared at Lois, frightened enough to take her lead.

 

“We’ll find them Valerie,” Lois assured her, “but you can’t stay here. If the police find you, that’s going to raise all kinds of hell.  We need to get some place safe, away from all this to figure things out.”

 

Valerie wasn’t sure what to do but her unexpected rescuer did and that Valerie had to concede that she was right; she couldn’t be found by the police and if she remained here, she would. She would call her parents from some place safe. “Alright,” she nodded, deciding to take a chance. This woman had seen what she could do and was willing to help her. She had tried to help her even before that. Valerie had to trust someone and this feisty brunette seemed trustworthy so far.

 

“Alright,” she nodded after a moment of hesitation that ended when the siren sounds reached her ears too. “I’ll go with you.”

 

“Good,” Lois sighed with relief. “My car’s parked out back,” she explained as she caught hold of Valerie’s arm to lead her through the back door of the ruined diner. Lois was never grateful as she was then right now for parking her small car in the three-spaced lot behind the diner. It seemed to have been left relatively unscathed from Valerie’s devastating cry. “We’ll get some place safe to figure things out,” she continued to speak as they hurried to the car. The wail of sirens from police cars and ambulances seemed to intensify and Lois knew they had to get out of here while they could.

 

“I’m Lois by the way,” Lois introduced herself upon opening the car door.  “Did I hear that guy say your name was Valerie?”

 

“Yes,” Valerie nodded meekly before getting into the front passenger seat as Lois slid the keys into the ignition and brought the engine to life. “My name is Valerie Beaudry.”

 

“Nice to meet you Valerie,” Lois tossed her a smile. “Don’t worry okay?” She added after seeing the anxiety in the girl’s manner. “We’ll get you to your parents.”

 

**************

 

Clark Kent had waited until he was absolutely certain that he was going to be alone before he sat down to the task that presently waited for him on the kitchen table. Lois was out chasing leads, Chloe was at the Planet and with his mother moved more or less permanently to Washington these days, Clark had the entire house to himself.  Oddly enough, it was being alone at the farm that had precipitated this decision and though he had visitors often enough, lately Clark had found that the hour it took for him to maintain the farm at any given time, was simply leaving too many gaps in his day.

 

Sitting down at the kitchen table after making himself a cup of coffee, Clark Kent faced the collection of papers he had gathered from Central Kansas University a few days ago. He hadn’t told either Lois or Chloe of his plans, certain that he would hear no end of it if he told them that he planned going back to school. Particularly, after the duo heard what his intended major would be. Clark Kent was planning on getting a degree in communications and political science, in other words - journalism.

 

In the beginning, Clark’s foray into journalism had begun when he wrote for the Torch with Chloe. While Chloe was the one with a real nose for a scoop, Clark found that he had some talent as a writer but unfortunately, at the time too busy lamenting his father refusal to let him play football to realise.  Had he paid attention, he might have noticed he was good at it and more surprisingly, how much he enjoyed it. Principal Reynolds had encouraged him to follow that path but shamefully Clark had not heeded the advice. Once he was able to play football, he hadn’t looked back until it was almost too late.

 

With Lana married and a baby on the way, Chloe and Lois actively pursuing their own career goals, Clark had come to realise that he couldn’t stay in Smallville or on the farm forever. Whatever Jor-El’s plan might be for his future, Clark knew that Jonathan Kent had wanted him to live his own life.  More at peace with things than he had been in along time, Clark decided it was time to make some decisions about what he wanted to do, not what had been decided for him. His future included Lois, that much was certain but perhaps a career in journalism as well.

 

Picking up the pen next to the stack of forms before him, Clark lowered the nib to the paper when suddenly the phone rang, drawing a frown of annoyance on his face because he had worked himself into a good resolve to get this done. Rising from his chair, it took but two steps to reach the phone and answer it.

 

“Hello, Kent residence.” Clark greeted.

 

“Hello Clark,” the voice returned and for a moment, Clark had to think to recognise who was speaking.  “It’s General Lane, is Lois there?”

 

For some reason, Clark always stood straighter whenever he spoke to the man. Perhaps, it was because Sam Lane was a four star general and his girlfriend’s father (who owned lots of guns), that Clark felt the need to be on his toes always. “General Lane, good to hear from your. I’m sorry Lois isn’t here. Is everything okay?”

 

“I don’t know,” the man’s brittle toned voice asked. “Is everything alright?”

 

Clark raised a brow, wondering whether he had missed a step in this conversation. “Everything is fine here, as far as I know.” Clark returned somewhat puzzled.

 

“I see,” the man responded and Clark could see his frown even without the aid of enhanced vision. “Lois called me urgently last week to wire her some money, I thought she might be in trouble again.”

 

“Money?” Clark exclaimed. “Lois needs money?” Clark blurted out, genuinely surprised. This had to be a mistake. Why didn’t she tell him?

 

“I assumed that’s why she asked,” the General returned, answering the young man with great patience and wishing this was anyone but his daughter’s boyfriend. You only had to threaten one with a gun just once to know that did not win you any good parenting awards or impress your daughter very much.

 

Lois asked for money from her father? Clark thought to himself. Aware of his girlfriend’s fiercely independent nature (how could you miss it), Clark knew that it was a special kind of desperation that would drive the erstwhile Miss Lane to call her father for assistance and worse yet, why didn’t she want him to know? Lois confided in him about everything, even the stuff that he didn’t want to know, like why women ate chocolate and watched 300, had nothing to do with the Persian War it seemed.

 

“I’m sorry,” Clark returned somewhat stunned. “I can’t help you. I’ll have her call you when I see her next.”  He replied, offering the safest answer for now although Clark had a few questions of his own when he saw Lois next.

 

***************

 

Lois didn’t waste any time getting out of Metropolis once she and Valerie were on the road. Listening avidly to the news as they took the highway out of the city, the news was reporting the incident at the Slice as some kind of freak Midwestern twister, which in reality made a hell of a lot more sense than the truth. As it was Lois was trying to come to grips with what had happened, which was saying something after her experiences with Clark, while at the same time trying to discern if she had not given aid and comfort to a walking time bomb.

 

However, Lois’ experiences with Clark had taught her that even people with great abilities needed help and Valerie was a frightened young woman who appeared as overwhelmed with her powers as the men who had tried to abduct her. In any case, Lois could not bring herself to abandon the girl when she so desperately needed help. Driving towards Smallville, which to Lois mind offered some form of safety from the chaos behind them, she did not press Valerie on her origins.  There was plenty of time for that once they arrived at the Kent farm.

 

Furthermore, if the girl did lose control again, Lois would then be in the company of the one person on this planet equipped to deal with her.

 

Clark could hear the familiar rumble of Lois’ car the instant she turned up the driveway and already his imagination was getting the best of him over why Lois had hidden the fact that she needed money from him. His fears had not been allayed one bit by calling Chloe, who had been cornered into telling him that he would have to get his answers from Lois because she wasn’t getting in the middle of this. Knowing the existence of a ‘this’ to begin with, did not improve Clark’s demeanour when Lois’ hatchback rolled up to the house and he discovered she wasn’t alone.

 

Of course, it took him less than a fraction of second, without using his enhanced vision, to realise they had a situation when he finally saw Lois. 

 

Not only was she dishevelled but there was also a gash on her forehead and signs that she was involved in an accident. Furthermore, she was wearing what appeared to be the uniform of a waitress.  Coming out of the house to greet her, Clark forgot for the moment that she had been keeping secrets, although the salmon coloured uniform raised even more questions, he regarded her with worry.

 

“Lois, my God what happened to you?” He came towards her and was immediately met with a tight embrace.

 

“You wouldn’t believe it,” Lois declared. “Clark, I’d like you meet Valerie Beaudry. Valerie, this is my boyfriend Clark. Its okay you can trust him.” She reassured the girl.

 

Clark regarded the almost elfin like beauty that came out of the car. Blonde and pretty, he was reminded of one of the girls that won the Miss Sweet Corn pageant every year. Lois’ endorsement about his trustworthiness was also not lost upon Clark and certainly, the girl would only look his way after she had heard it. Offering him a shy smile, Valerie’s manner exuded anxiety and hesitation.

 

“Hi there,” Clark greeted, smiling back in an effort to put her at ease before turning back to Lois in question.

 

“Not now, Clark,” Lois said quietly and went towards Valerie, ushering her into the house.

 

 

**************

 

Almost an hour later, Lois left Valerie resting in Clark’s room, after a meal and a shower during which time Lois had filled Clark in on what had taken place at the diner. Once again, they had decided to wait until Valerie was a little more relaxed before plying her with questions about the men in pursuit and how it was she could level a block with just her voice.  

 

In the meantime, Lois grabbed a shower herself before changing into the fresh clothes she left at the farm during the nights she slept over. Emerging down stairs, a little fresher than she was, Lois saw Clark on the porch through the window of the house. He had been pretty quiet since she and Valerie had showed up and Lois wondered what was on his mind. She knew the look when he had troubling thoughts and for a moment, she fleetingly entertained that he might be upset at her for just bringing a stranger to the farm. However, it was discarded almost as soon as it appeared in her head.

 

Clark Kent was incapable of turning anyone away who was in need.

 

“Valerie’s resting,” Lois announced herself as she stepped onto the porch and joined Clark where he was standing. His back was facing her as he stared into the green fields on the horizon, his brow furrowed in deep thought. “I think the poor thing has been on the run for quite some time. I think we’ll get her to open up once she trusts us a little more. I think she’s scared silly by what she did. Hell, I don’t blame her, she scared me too.” Lois confessed.

 

“Lois what’s going on?” Clark whirled around, ignoring the subject of Valerie Beaudry for the moment because he wanted to speak about what had been on his mind since Lois arrived at the farm.

              

Startled by the abrupt question, not to mention the clear annoyance on his face, Lois struggled to keep up. “What do you mean?”

 

“Why did you need to borrow money from your dad?” He demanded, staring at her hard.

 

Damn. Damn. Damn. Lois cursed inwardly, wondering how the hell he found out. Chloe? No, impossible, Chloe wouldn’t tell Clark anything. “How did you know I needed to borrow money?” She asked instead, trying to stall him by answering his question with one of her own.

 

“Your dad rang,” he answered shortly, familiar with the tactic after months of dating her.  “He couldn’t reach you at your apartment and thought you might be here. Lois, what’s going on? Why do you need money?”

 

“Its nothing,” Lois shrugged, making a strategic retreat by trying to go back into the house. Unfortunately, this was a moot point when Clark could move faster than she could form the thought. 

 

“Lois,” his hand caught her arm, “please tell me what’s going on?” He implored, causing Lois to look over her shoulder to be met with blue eyes that didn’t need heat vision to melt her resolve.

 

Lois blinked, feeling the humiliation she had choked down the last few weeks bubble to the surface despite her best efforts to control it. “I’m broke. I can’t pay the rent at the Talon,”  Lois finally confessed, giving into her tears at last. She hated showing weakness but admitting the truth to him had released something inside her Lois couldn’t stop. In some ways, it almost felt liberating to surrender to it, to give up the deception.

 

“I…I… I know Lana could probably fix it if I called her but she’s on her honeymoon! How can I call her and ask her to help me! Its not like I’m Lex’s favourite person,” she paused a moment, sniffling a bit more, “what with the number of times I’ve got into his business! I couldn’t do that to Lana! And...and...dad probably called here because I couldn’t pay the phone, the Daily Planet won’t give me a job until I bring in a story and…and…I’ve been working at a diner!”

 

“Oh for crying out loud,” Clark groaned, rolling his eyes in exasperation at this frustratingly independent woman he adored. Pulling her to him, Clark wrapped her up in his arms because he could see the dam about to burst beneath her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“Because…it’s so pathetic!” She wailed, burying her face in his shoulder as she gave in to her despair for once.

 

“After everything we’ve been through,” Clark whispered into her hair, “you think I would have cared? ” He asked her gently.

 

“No but I do!” She exclaimed and Clark could feel more warm tears against her chest. “I feel like I’ve made such a total mess out of everything! Too dumb to stay in college, too dumb to write for anything but a tabloid or keep any rainy day money. I’m used to being on my own, calling the shots for my own life…everything that’s happened since I got fired just seems like I have no control over anything, like I’m a total screw up!”

 

“Yeah but you’re my screw up,” Clark replied, teasing a little, wanting to see some of that fighting spirit because that’s what Lois needed to feel right now.

 

“Smallville!” She burst out, swatting him and drying her eyes at the same time.  “It’s not funny!”

 

”No it’s not funny,” he had to agree, looking at her soberly. “In fact, I ought to kick your butt for not telling me, Lane.” Clark said firmly. “I love you Lois and you can tell me anything. God knows I’ve told you everything there is to know about me and you not being able to pay your phone bill is a lot less worse than me telling you I’m from…”

 

“Fresno?” Lois smiled faintly, listening to him make her feel better, thinking that it was so odd to know that words from him, his arms around her could do so much for her wounded self esteem. Sometimes, even an indomitable will needed a little tender loving care. Why hadn’t she just come clean and told him?

 

“Fresno?” He raised a brow.

 

“Nevermind,” Lois replied resting her head back on his shoulder because it felt good.

 

“Whatever,” he shook his head and continued, still holding her. It was best never to think too much on Lois’ thought processes. It was very female and usually on a realm of understanding beyond mortal men. “The fact is you needed help and while I may not be Lex Luthor with my trust fund but together we’d figure something out.”

 

“Okay Smallville,” Lois nodded, not admitting that just confessing and feeling him hold her was doing a world of good. “Point taken. I am a dumb ass.”

 

“No kidding,” he smirked, thinking on her current situation, the solution to which seemed perfectly logical, to him anyway. “Why don’t you move in with me?”

 

Lois pulled back and stared at him. “What?”

 

“Move in with me, here on the farm.” He repeated himself.

 

“Are you serious?” Lois exclaimed. “You really want me to move in here?”

 

The idea wasn’t exactly unattractive to Lois as she instinctively swept her gaze across the Kent homestead.  She spent most of her time here anyway and she did consider the farm to be her home already but this wasn’t like before when she would crash here at the behest of the Kents while annoying Clarkie by stealing his bedroom.  This would be as Clark’s girlfriend and if she stayed here, his live-in girlfriend. No matter how simply he put it, this was a major step in their relationship.

 

“This isn’t because of Lana’s wedding right?”

 

“No!” Clark exclaimed. “I want you to move in with me! We spend most of the time together anyway, you should stay here. You wouldn’t have to live under Lex’s anything. Besides, this place is too big without mom and dad anyway. I want you to and Shelby would like it.” He grinned.

 

“Shelby huh?” Lois stared at him. “And what about the sleeping arrangements Mr. Kent?” She eyed him suspiciously.

 

“Lois,” Clark gave her a look of pure innocence. “You know I’m perfect gentlemen.”

 

“Yeah,” she gave him a smirk. “We’ll have to work on that.”

 

 

************

 

Inside the Kent home, Valerie left her hosts to themselves as they spoke on the porch. She didn’t intrude upon their conversation but took the opportunity to ring her parents again. As anticipated, they had already left their Seattle home to come to her in Metropolis. Fortunately, they had left instructions for her to leave a message if Valerie could not make their meeting at the appointed place. With relief, Valerie left them a brief message that she was staying with good people at the Kent farm in Smallville and that she would wait for them to come get her.

 

Unfortunately, her parents were not the only ones listening.

 

OOC: Sorry for the long delay folks – Had a couple of crises at work which just sucked up all my time. Things are sort of getting back to normal now so writing shall resume on this story and Trinity.

 

Chapter Five:

Valerie’s Story

 

The reflection of the full moon bounced off the dark finish of the black SUV upon halting on the shoulder of the quiet road. Giving the lead to the vehicle behind it to do the same, Jon Corben slid back the door and stepped out into the night air. Thick-soled army boots crunched gravel underfoot as he surveyed the terrain. Immediately assaulted by the faint scent of wheat chaff and fertilizer, he sniffled once, reminded once again why he disliked the country.

 

“Kill the lights,” he ordered abruptly.

 

The lights of both SUV dimmed, one after the other, the second car following instructions without Jon needing to issue the order twice. They were professionals. Learning to anticipate problems was what made them good. 

 

The only source of illumination he could see after they killed the lights came from the distance. Lifting the night vision binoculars to his eyes, he skimmed across the fields of corn and the farming equipment to focus on the house.

 

“F**k,” Corben snorted. “It’s Norman Rockwell’s farm house.”

 

“The bird’s there?” His second in command, Benton, a former SAS man inquired as he came up along side of Corben.

 

Corben did not answer immediately, searching through the windows for any sign of their quarry. The yellow country house came with numerous windows but unfortunately, curtains kept him from giving a decent visual. “I can’t tell,” he answered finally. “Infra-red says there are three of them there so we can assume that she’s one of them.”

 

“We should move in then,” Benton declared, looking over his shoulder at the rest of the extraction team who had left the vehicles and getting prepared in silence.

 

“I want this done as quietly as possible,” Jon retorted. “No repeats of that f**king circus in Metropolis. If those guys hadn’t been killed in that mess, Mr. Canto would have done it himself.”

 

Talk of their employer made Benton shudder.  Mr. Canto was not a forgiving man. The stories Benton had heard since becoming a company employee, told him that he did not want to be on the receiving end of that wrath.

 

“We’ll go in quiet,” Benton nodded, drawing from his experience to know what kind of approach was necessary. “No attempt to engage until we have a visual and a clear shot.”

 

“As soon as you put her down, we’ll come in and retrieve you all.” Corben concluded. “We’ll keep her sedated until we can get her back on the jet, back to the facility. Hank will meet us there. He should be able to deal with her once they get back in a controlled environment.

 

“What about the others in there?” Benton indicated the bystanders who had been foolish enough to offer Valerie Beaudry shelter.

 

Corben turned just enough to catch Benton’s eyes and said firmly, “we don’t leave loose ends.”

 

 

****************

 

Valerie Beaudry was clearly traumatized by the circumstances had brought her to the diner this afternoon.

 

While Lois was burning with curiosity to ask Valerie about her origins, Clark stayed her journalistic zeal. He reminded Lois that behind Valerie’s story was a person and the person needed to catch her breath after everything that had happened to her. Thus, Lois held back her questions begrudgingly and focused instead on trying to contact Valerie’s parents. Meanwhile, Clark adopted the famous Kent trait of making all comers welcome in his home, just like his ma and pa had done.

 

He fixed dinner because he wasn’t prepared to let Valerie to suffer the additional horror of Lois’ cooking as well. After dinner and another attempt by Lois to contact Valerie’s parents, Clark judged that Valerie was finally ready to talk.

 

“Still no luck?” Clark asked Lois as she came back to the dining table.

 

“No,” Lois answered, hiding her concern from Valerie because the girl had enough issues but knew Clark would be able to see through her façade. It seemed she was incapable of hiding anything from him lately. Well for very long anyway, she thought with a slight shrug.  “But Seattle is a long way and let’s face it, if I were your folks and looking for you? Finding that diner all messed up like it was? If I know parents at all, they’re probably at the police station trying to find out what happened and haven’t had a chance to check their messages yet.”

 

Her excuse was to allay Valerie’s fears but the truth was Lois was feeling a growing apprehension at their silence. If it were her child missing, she’d be sitting on that phone like vulture over an open grave.

 

“I’m sure that’s it,” Valerie nodded, picking at her food. “Thank you for all your help,” she added after a moment. “You didn’t have to help me the way you have.”

 

“Don’t think twice about it Valerie,” Clark said, patting her shoulder reassuringly. “You’re welcome here as long as you need a place to figure things out.”

 

Valerie’s eyes misted over with emotion as she stared at the two new faces in her life that had just entered her life and offered her friendship so unexpectedly. “Thank you so much,” she answered gratefully. “I feel so stupid. I walked into this mess without thinking twice about what I was doing?”

 

“What exactly happened Valerie?” Lois asked, unable to keep herself from asking and almost kicked Clark under the table when she saw him roll his eyes slightly.

 

“I was so naive,” Valerie shook her head, feeling embarrassed to tell the tale but recognizing that these people were risking their lives for her. They deserved the truth, most of it anyway.

 

Exhaling away her anxieties and drawing another deep breath to brace herself, Valerie raised her eyes to Lois and then Clark before speaking.

 

“I’ve been sick since the day I was born,” she began thinking back to her life behind four walls. Locked away from the world and forgotten by anyone who remembered that she had been born even. Except for her parents, everyone had been content to forget that she existed. “My mother had been exposed to radiation, she never knew how, but when I was born, I wasn’t …” Valerie couldn’t bring herself to tell these two what she had been and immediately found an alternative to the truth, “I wasn’t able to live outside. I had to live in a controlled environment. My parents were the only people I ever met.”

 

“Chris that harsh,” Lois winced, wondering how anyone could stand such isolation. It would have surely driven her mad.

 

Clark on the other hand, knew exactly what Valerie had experienced and immediately felt a sense of empathy with her. How many times had his parents faced such a dilemma when he had been growing up, without any ability to control his powers?  “Go on,” he said quietly.

 

“It was hard but my parents tried very hard to make sure I didn’t feel alone,” Valerie replied, feeling a deep sense of regret at how she had left them, especially when she thought of everything they had tried to do for her and her situation. It made her feel a little ashamed.  “And at first it wasn’t so bad. When you’re little, your parents are all you ever want anyway. If I stayed a little girl, maybe it would have been so bad but when you grow up, you ask questions, you look out the window and wonder why you can’t go to school like other kids. Why you can’t make friends or do any of the things that are normal?”

 

“I know what you mean,” Clark replied. “Even when you know there are good reasons for why things are that way, accepting them is another thing entirely.”

 

“Yes,” Valerie nodded, not questioning how he could appreciate her feelings but continued nonetheless. “I did make friends though, when I was older. I had pen pals and when I got my computer, I got to talk to people. That’s how I met Hank.”

 

Oh crap, Lois thought inwardly, I’ll bet this doesn’t end well.  

 

“Hank?” Lois asked, maintaining her expression of journalistic objectivity even though the mention of Hank and the manner, in which Valerie said his name, bode not well for the rest of the story.

 

“Yes, Hank Cobb,” she explained. “He lived in Gotham City and he understood me so well. He knew I was sick and he didn’t care. You should have read some of his emails Lois,” Valerie sighed in the typical rendition of lovesick girl, “it was so beautiful.”

 

Clark wondered why he hadn’t tried wooing Lana with poetry when he saw Valerie’s reaction. He might have gotten a little further with his first love if he had managed to do something that corny. Of course, with Lois, a totally different approach was required. Lois had no use for poetry. Her idea of a love token was for him to not let her get killed every other week.  Actually, Clark was sort of grateful for that. He really sucked at poetry.

 

“Oh some men sure know how to lay on the beautiful poetry,” Lois retorted, trying not to sound sarcastic even though it was exuding from every word. “So what happened next?”

 

“Hank said he knew a cure of what was wrong with me,” Valerie declared, her eyes all lit up with clear adoration for the mysterious Hank Cobb.

 

Even after everything she had been through, Lois could see that Valerie still loved Hank.

 

“He said, he’d take me to his company, they had a cure for my problem and we could get married and be together.”

 

Lois shifted her gaze at Clark long enough for him to gauge what she thought of Hank in a single glance. Clark too, knew that Valerie had been used by someone who knew the right things to say to a young woman, desperate for an end to her loneliness.

 

“So you left home?” Lois asked, having heard the story all too many times. Only in those cases, the young women usually ended up on a slab in the county morgue. The world was unkind place to the innocent and while Valerie’s experience did not seem pleasant, at least she was alive.

 

“Yes,” Valerie nodded. “He came in a limousine and brought me to Gotham. His company made me better so I could go outside. Things were so good then. I was so happy and Hank said we would get married but first I had to do a few tests. His company arranged it. At first, I didn’t mind it, not at all.  They had to monitor my progress so it made sense to let them examine me.”

 

“But it didn’t stop there,” Clark replied. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that this sounded like something cooked up by Lex’s Section 33.1.

 

“No,” she shook her head, her expression became downcast, and “the procedures became more and more invasive, until there was pain. I didn’t realise until a few days ago what they had done to me. I didn’t know I could do some damage. Hank told me it had to do with the radiation that had made me sick. It made me sick but could also make me do those things.”

 

Well that explained why Hank sought out Valerie. Chances were good that he had been waiting for the opportunity to grab her.

 

“So he made you go through those procedures?” Lois countered, unable to stop herself from asking. This guy was a sleaze, she thought.

 

“Oh no,” Valerie protested. “It wasn’t his fault. When he knew they were hurting me, they wouldn’t let him see me and he was sent away to Metropolis. I thought I could find here but then they sent men with guns to come after me, you saw.” She reminded Lois.

 

“These guys were serious,” Lois pointed out meeting Clark’s eyes.

 

“Right now,” Valerie said exhaustedly, “I just want to go home. Maybe if I go back to Seattle, they’ll stop looking for me.”

 

Yeah right, Lois thought sardonically.

 

“Maybe…” Clark heard Lois say when something else caught his attention. The window shattered and in slow motion, he saw the tranquilizer dart moving through the kitchen, dragging glass behind it as it was propelled forward. It moved past him heading straight for Valerie. Clark’s delayed reaction cost him only a few microseconds as he soon reached out and caught the dart in his hand before it could strike her.

 

“Oh my God!” Lois exclaimed as she stumbled back in her chair and Valerie let out a cry. “Clark they’re here!”

 

“Get Valerie upstairs,” Clark ordered, having no need for the girl to see him using his powers.

 

Lois nodded and quickly ushered Valerie out of the chair. “Come on!”

 

“But..but…” Valerie protested, “he’ll be hurt…”

 

“Trust me,” Lois threw Clark a look, “he can take care of himself. Right?”

 

“Right.” Clark said hastily. “Now Lois!” He snapped, “get upstairs!”

 

“Oh I love you when you get all caveman on me,” Lois threw him wink before doing as she was told.

***********

 

“What the hell was that?” Benton exclaimed with shock, having pulled the trigger of the tranquilizer rifle on what was a perfectly sweet shot only to have it thwarted by the young man next to the target. Not only had he kept Valerie from getting caught, the kid had caught it in his hand.

 

“Jon we got a problem!” Benton shouted into his headset.

 

There was a sudden rush of wind and Benton found him facing the young man who was now in front of him. Somehow, the boy had managed to get within a foot of him from the kitchen in less than a blink of an eye.

 

“I say you got more than one,” Clark returned and tossed him through the air before Benton could utter another word.

 

Seeing their leader manhandled, the rest of the extraction team opened fire, riddling the farm boy from Kansas with enough lead to put down a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Clark saw his favourite blue t-shirt ripped to shreds and reacted by knocking down every man before they knew what had happened. Collecting all their guns at super speed, he tossed the ordinance aside.

 

Meanwhile Benton had regained enough of his senses after being tossed into the bushes like a rag doll to call for help.

 

“Jon, we need immediate extraction!”

 

Clark heard the call for help and immediately scanned the area for whomever Benton was talking to. It didn’t take him long to find it, one of two SUVs were on the main road, a short distance from the turn off leading to the Kent homestead. The first was parked but the other was speeding across the cornfields, undoubtedly to retrieve their comrades.  Wanting information and surmising the one giving the orders most likely had them, Clark ignored the SUV for the moment and raced towards the one that was still parked. If he had to, he wouldn’t have any trouble catching up to it.

 

***********

 

 

Corben had been monitoring the team’s progress and could pin point the exact moment when the mission had gone south. It was they moment they discovered something at the Kent farm that was even more dangerous than Valerie Beaudry.

 

Ordering his team to immediately begin recording, Corben knew that this would interest Mr. Canto tremendously. However, to get back to make any kind of report, Jon Corben needed to hedge his bets for a clean get away.  He watched the boy disarm his men after taking nearly fifty rounds at point blank range and only requiring a new change of clothing, since he suffered no other injury.

 

“Get ready,” Jon ordered the other man in the van with him. “The kid looks fast. ”

 

Indeed, in a matter of seconds, he saw a cloud of dust leading up to the van and Jon wasted no time with any tired attempts at subterfuge. Throwing open the door to greet the young man when he arrived, Jon was the picture of confident calm. Breaking into applause, he was actually smiling when his quarry arrived.

 

”Bravo!” Corben exclaimed. “I’ve seen some meteor freaks in my time but you take the care. Super fast and invulnerable. What else you got?”

 

Clark came to a screeching halt, his boots creating enough friction against the gravel road to heat up somewhat. The man was dressed up like the rest of his friends, in heavy camo gear, like they were black ops guys or something. Were they government? The possibility that the government would be seizing people and doing experiments on them was enough to provoke every paranoid fear Clark had in the past.

 

“Who do you work for?” Clark wasted no time, grabbing the man and lifting off his feed.

 

“Strong too,” Corben smirked. “What I’m going to get as a finder’s fee for you will buy me a small frigging island.”

 

”I won’t ask again!” Clark demanded, feeling exposed by this man’s attitude.

 

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Corben said confidently. “Now put me down.”

 

“Put you down?” He stared at the man incredulously. “Why would I do that?”

 

“Because,” Corben replied. “you’ve got better things to deal with than me, right now.”

 

“What?” Clark stared at him when suddenly, he heard something that sounded like an explosion. Dropping Corben immediately, Clark sought out the source of the explosion and discovered it was not an eruption but the discharge of a rocket launcher. With his enhanced vision, it didn’t take long for Clark to see where the rocket launched was heading.

 

Home.

 

“How fast can you run?” Corben asked smugly.

 

Clark could afford no more than an outraged glare of fury before he was running to catch the projectile that had now crossed the field between the road and the Kent house. He heard Corben calling after him.

 

“Until next time!”

 

Clark tore after the projectile, moving so fast that he was not only creating a whirlwind of dirt and vegetation behind him. The rocket was closing in on the Kent home and deciding he had no choice but to use his powers, Clark leapt into the air to intercept it. Catching the rocket seconds before it could impact against the house and take with it Lois and Valerie, Clark kept gaining altitude, leaving the farm beneath him.

 

He soared into the air, disappearing into the clouds and then above it to emerge into the night sky. Coming to a stop only when Smallville became indistinguishable from the rest of Kansas, Clark hurled the missile into stratosphere. He watched its progress, hurtling heaven bound until its collision with the atmospheric shield caused it to explode, lighting up the sky briefly with a brilliant flare. It could almost be considered beautiful like a shooting star if he did not remember what damage it could have done to the woman he loved.

 

Flying back to the farm, Clark returned to find Lois and Valerie safely hiding upstairs but Corben and his men were gone.

 

************

Several hours later, Jon Corben presented the footage he had acquired at the Kent farm to his employer, one Ian Canto at his new premises, somewhere in Metropolis.  They had been based out of Gotham for the last few years but the competition in that town was too tough without a bloodbath. Canto, who preferred to maintain a low profile, decided to relocate to Metropolis.  

 

Easing back into the plush leather chair, he studied the footage on the monitor in silence.

 

“I mean I’ve seen numerous variations of the meteor infected,” Corben continued his enthusiastic commentary. “But nothing like this. We couldn’t stay long, especially not after we launched the rocket so that Benton and the others could get away but he also flew. I mean if we could duplicate his powers…”

 

“You can’t duplicate his powers,” Canto said firmly, swivelling around in his chair to regard Corben.

 

“Why not?” Corben stared at him puzzled. “We’ve done so before.”

 

“True,” Canto nodded, “but you’re not looking at someone who is meteor infected. Find out everything you can about who he is. We have to do this very carefully. I want him alive and completely neutralized.”

 

“Well it’ll take some figuring out,” Corben remarked thinking about the subject as if he were  on safari about to coral a particularly exotic specimen.

 

“Actually it won’t,” Canto remarked, stroking the goatee on his thirty something face. “However, our labs do have what you need. Ask them for everything under the codename ‘Rao’ and report back to me.”

 

More curious than ever, Corben nodded. “Rao it is.”

Chapter Six:
Blue

 

A few days after the attack on the farm and the aborted attempt to kidnap Valerie, Lois hung up the phone and stared across the kitchen of Kent home with a look of ashen horror.  Clark, who had been reluctant to leave either woman after the failed abduction, caught the expression and knew immediately something terrible had happened.

 

Rising up from his chair at the kitchen table where he was trying once again (unsuccessfully) to fill in those college applications, Clark looked at Lois and asked, “what is it?”

 

Lois shifted her gaze to the window at the sight of Valerie returning from her walk around the farm with Shelby. The girl had never owned a pet before and had been delighted by the dog and Shelby was equally happy to be paid so much attention. She stared for a few seconds at Valerie before looking to Clark again.

              

“That was a friend of my dad’s, whose now a cop at Seattle PD,” she spoke, her voice strained, provoking Clark’s anxiety even more. “They have two bodies in their morgue, a man and a woman who were murdered on their way to the airport. Their bodies were set on fire and dumped in an empty field outside of town. There was no ID on them so it took a few days for the cops to get a positive identification through dental records.” Lois blinked, her eyes misting over. “It’s Valerie’s parents.”

 

“Jesus,” Clark whispered and crossed the floor to Lois, taking her in his arms for an embrace. Like her, he felt a deep sense of loss for these people he had never even met Yet he felt like he  knew through their daughter’s description of them as wonderful people whose only crime seemed to be caring too much for her welfare.

 

“They were shot first,” Lois continued, grateful for his touch. “Execution style, one shot to back of the head. God, Clark, how are we going to tell her?”

 

“I don’t know,” he answered and that was the truth.  Valerie would be devastated. She already blamed herself for letting these people into her life and now theirs. How was she going to stand the news that her parents were murdered because of this as well?

 

“But,” he said pulling away from Lois so that she would look at him and know how adamant he was on this point, “you two need to get out of here,”

 

“No way!” Lois declared with characteristic vehemence. “Those guys saw what you can do Clark, you’re as much of a target for them as Valerie! I’m not going anywhere without you.”

 

“Lois, you know what these people are capable of. If they’re willing to kill Valerie’s parents, they’re not going to have any trouble doing the same to you.”

 

“Clark these people are professional hitters,” Lois continued to protest, “They knew how to find us, where do you think that we could hide that we’d be safe for long? The safest place right now is here with you.”

 

Clark wasn’t so sure. The man who launched a goddamn rocket launcher at his house was hardly fazed by what Clark could do and had been well prepared to deal with him that night. Clark feared that the guy might get the upper hand again and this time he’d lose more than just the house but Lois and maybe his own life. They knew what he could do and were practically salivating at the thought of ‘acquiring’ him like they wanted Valerie. It stabbed at Clark’s worst fears to be trapped like some lab specimen but he had to protect Lois and Valerie.

 

“No it isn’t Lois,” Clark declared. “I won’t let what happened to Valerie’s parents’ happen to you! You said it yourself these guys are professionals, they won’t quit and they know how to find us. I’ve got to get you both somewhere safe before anything else happens.”

 

Lois opened her mouth to protest when she stopped short at the sight of Valerie standing at the door. They had been so busy arguing that they didn’t notice her enter the house.

 

“What happened to my parents?”  The girl asked, hand still on the door knob, her eyes round with dreaded expectation.

 

“I’m so sorry Valerie,” Lois spoke softly, unable to lie and felt the girl’s pain more closely than she would like. “They’re dead.”

 

Valerie uttered a short cry of anguish before turning on her heels, running out the way she came. Clark was about to go after her when Lois stopped him, “I’ll go.” She whispered before hurrying after the distraught girl.

 

Valerie didn’t run far. She got only as far as the field beyond the barn. Dropping to her knees, the girl let out a furious, tortured wail. Of course, screams by Valerie were never that simple. Once again that thunderous roar filled Lois’ ears, making her stumble backward, like a small bomb had gone off. The tractor parked in the field ahead of Valerie, was tossed through the air like it weighed nothing. Trees rustled their leaves violently and corn stalks bent at an angle in the face of face of the sonic blast.

 

Clark rushed out at the sound of her cry and saw his father’s tractor in flight.  “Woah.” He said shocked, having not seen Valerie’s ability until now. Racing across the field after the piece of equipment he frankly could not afford to replace, Clark left Lois to deal with Valerie who had not maintained her sonic assault beyond that one outburst.

 

Lois got to her feet and approached Valerie who had crumbed to the ground, sobbing in tormented anguish. She was crying hard when Lois found her , shuddering on her hands and knees. Lois felt a wave of helpless because there was nothing she could do to assuage the girl’s pain.

 

“It’s my fault,” Valerie sobbed hysterically. “If I didn’t run away from home, if I didn’t call them, they’d be alive! Momma, daddy,” she cried, “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!”  She buried her face in her hands, gasping in loud, heaving sobs.

 

Lois wrapped an arm around Valerie’s shoulder, having come to care for this lonely young woman she met only a few days ago. “It’s not your fault,” Lois found that she was too was crying a little because the pain before her was so great, so deep. “Don’t ever think that Valerie. Those bastard did this to them, not you. Nothing in the world would have stopped your parents from trying to find you, those animals knew that.”

 

The words were strong and true but they were meaningless to Valerie who was already convinced that she had brought this menace down on herself and now her parents. Seeing Valerie’s sorrow stabbed at the heart of Lois Lane and her own tears were not of anguish but of rage. Too many times since coming to Smallville had seen powerful men escape unscathed for their crimes. Their wealth and resources ensured they were unaccountable to anyone, free to destroy lives with their chequebooks.

 

Lois swore to herself that the men who had destroyed Valerie’s life, including Hank Cobb wherever he was, would pay for this. They wouldn’t get away this, she wouldn’t let them. Those rock spiders weren’t going to go to ground so they could do this someone else. Of this Lois promised herself and Valerie, silently.

 

Clark had wanted to approach but held back because he had no idea what to say to Valerie. Leaving Lois to deal with the grief stricken young woman, Clark walked slowly back to the house, his mind a storm of thoughts.  This was too much for him. He didn’t know how to fight an enemy like this and he didn’t have time to learn. Stumbling about like an amateur, as was painfully evidence when they fired a scud at his home, he was going to stop neither Lois nor Valerie from getting killed.

 

Grabbing his cell phone off the coffee table, Clark flipped it open and sought out the number he needed before holding the phone to his ear.  It only rang twice before the person on the other end picked up.

 

“Bruce,” Clark announced himself as he stared at Lois continuing to hold Valerie in her arms as the girl sobbed into her shoulder, “I need your help.”

 

************

 

The small jet landed in Smallville sometime before dark.

 

The private airstrip belonged to a local crop duster who had preferred keeping his plane, the source of his livelihood, where he could keep an eye on it. For the use of the airstrip for this evening, he would be able to take his wife on that cruise to the Caribbean that she had always wanted but could never afford. By the time the Lear landed at the Windgate property, Virgil and Audra were already on their way to Metropolis to rendezvous with the Princess Star for two weeks of tropical fun.

 

Jon Corben had spent most of the flight re-reading the file that had been provided to him by his employer, still coming to grips with what he had learned. He had made peace with the fact that the world was nowhere as black and white as it appeared that amazing things happened. In his line of work, hunting down meteor freaks, the bizarre was more or less a given and yet, even he had been astonished by what the file had revealed 

 

Aliens walked among them.

 

They looked just like everyone else, lived mundane lives, had families and grew old. However, the façade didn’t hide what they were, powerful beings who could destroy humanity if they felt like it. The beings from the planet Krypton were such menaces, capable of powers Corben couldn’t even begin to imagine. The boy that he had encountered at the farm was one such specimen. Corben had seen him fly, had seen him move fast enough to catch a missile launched from a rocket launcher, strong enough to stop it in its tracks. He wasn’t even a man yet.

 

What else might he be able to do?

 

Corben had no idea how his employer Mr. Canto had acquired the information provided for he capture of the young man they now knew to be Clark Kent of a Smallville, an orphan adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent, some eighteen years ago.  However, wherever the information came from, it did tell Corben how to deal with a youth who was invulnerable, capable of flight, stronger than a hundred men and moved faster than the speed of sound.

 

He was careful however, not to reveal the truth to his men about Mr. Kent’s extra-terrestrial origins. There was no need for it and frankly, he wasn’t certain how they were going to react. It was one thing to mine home-grown freaks but quite another to deal with an alien. Corben wanted to get the job done without complications. As far his men were concerned, they were bringing in just another meteor freak.

 

There was no reason for them to think any differently.

 

“So we’re taking both of them?” Benton asked, having sufficiently recovered from his encounter with Kent as they strode away from the plane after disembarking.

 

“Yeah,” Corben nodded; having received clear warnings from Hank Cobb, that ‘f**king up the retrieval of that flaky bitch’ would end in termination of his contract. Corben understood this had nothing to do with receiving a pink slip.  “Management wants them both although I get the impression that the boy is the higher priority.”

 

“No shit,” Benton snorted, remembering what it felt like to be tossed like a rag doll. Benton was almost six five and the kid had swatted him aside as if he weighed nothing.  “How we going to do it?”

 

“We’re not going to approach like before,” Corben replied as he reached the SUVs that were waiting for them. His men had started loading the equipment in the back of the dark vehicle.  “He can hear us coming, probably how he managed to stop the tranq dart before it took out Beaudry.”

 

Benton nodded, realising that too made sense. They had given no warning of their presence when he pulled the trigger that night and still the young man had heard him. “So we hit him at sniper range,” he stated. “Although I don’t know how much good that will do. We empty a full magazine into him that night and he didn’t have a scratch on him.”

 

Corben smiled reassuringly, “don’t worry, he can be hurt. You just need to know what kind of bullets to use.”

 

Reaching into the folds of his dark jacket, he produced what looked like a cigarette case with a dark metal finish.

 

“What’s that?” Benton asked with curiosity as Corben flipped the case open and presented.

 

The taller man paused a moment and stared at Corben in puzzlement. “Seriously?” He asked, reaching into the case to pick up one of the bullets. “This looks like is made from some kind of crystal. Its going to shatter the minute it hits him.”

 

“I’ve been told that it won’t,” Corben replied confidently.

 

Benton looked at the dozen projectiles in the case somewhat dubiously before asking again, “what’s with the blue?”

 

**********

 

Bruce arrived at the Kent farm a few hours after Clark’s call.

 

He had been in Metropolis at the time but Clark's explanation of the situation was enough to cause Bruce to drive immediately to the small Kansas town.  Calling Chloe to tell her where he would be when she returned home from Metropolis that evening, Bruce wasted no time driving to the Kent farm.  Clark’s telephone call had only been long enough to provide a summary of his situation but it told Bruce volumes. It wasn’t often that Clark asked for help or for that matter needed it, yet something in his voice put Bruce on guard immediately.

 

If he didn’t know better, he’d almost thought that Clark was afraid.

 

What could frighten an invulnerable Kryptonian caused Bruce enough concern to leave Gotham immediately and come to his friend’s assistance. Since South America, Bruce Wayne’s priorities had shifted somewhat. Although he was still determined to embark on the great crusade of his life, he had to confess, he was somewhat surprised that he would not be entering it alone. Bruce had yet to unveil this part of his future to Chloe but he sensed that when he did, she would not object.

 

Like Chloe, Clark Kent had become the best friend he thought was beyond his reach. Despite the difference in their manner, day and night,  Chloe called it; they shared a common ground in their sense of right and wrong. While Bruce found Clark a little naïve at times, he also envied the younger man for his ability to see the good in humanity when all Bruce could see was the evil.  In addition, Bruce found a friend with whom he could be himself with, that didn’t require him playing the part of the billionaire playboy, which could be tiresome after awhile.

 

“How is she?” Bruce asked as he sat across Clark at the Kent’s kitchen table, nursing a freshly made cup of coffee.

 

“Crushed,” Clark answered simply before glancing upwards, “Lois is upstairs with her.”

 

Bruce empathized with the young woman even if he had yet to meet her. Clark had filled him in on the loss of the girl’s parents and that particular wound was something Bruce was very familiar with. “Good idea,’ Bruce commented. “Anguish and guilt is not a good combination right now.”

 

Clark could agree with that. “Did you get anything on that name I gave you?”

 

Bruce nodded, “Hank Cobb, or rather Henry Cobb works for a bio-technical company known as Cadmus that is part of the DeSaad Corporation.” He recited. “There isn’t much on DeSaad. The company keeps its information very close to the breast. There’s an address in Gotham and it’s only recently relocated its office to Metropolis. I’ve asked Lucius to make some inquiries into DeSaad, men talk more on the golf course than they do in stock reports.” He concluded as a matter of factly.

 

“Bio-technical?” Clark mused, aware that some of Lex Luthor’s companies acted as front to his more elicit projects, like Section 33.1. Perhaps this Cadmus operated in much the same way. “It would make sense I suppose.”

 

“Acquiring specimens to improve the profit share of a health based company?” Bruce nodded in agreement, “I think it’s a definite possibility. You and I should probably take a trip to Metropolis and check out their facility, after we get Lois and Valerie out of here.”

 

Clark paused a moment, hearing the wheels of a car in the distance, “someone’s here,” he tensed and immediately stood up from his chair.

 

“Who?” Bruce asked following suit.

 

Clark saw a silver Yaris turning up the road and relaxed a little, dropping his enhanced vision to look at Bruce. “It’s Chloe.” He declared.

 

Bruce felt that familiar sensation of warmth whenever Chloe was near and immediately rebuked himself for getting distracted from the situation ahead.  “Have you spoke to Lois about your plan?”

 

“Not yet,” Clark answered quietly, not wishing to be overheard just yet. “She thinks I called you over to figure things out.”

 

“Well that would make sense in any case,” Bruce added with a hint of smug teasing as he saw Chloe’s vehicle appear down dirt track leading to the house.  “You realise she’s not going to go quietly.”

 

“Like I’m not use to that,” Clark snorted as he heard Chloe pull her car to a stop and started towards the front door to greet her. Bruce did the same, his own brooding demeanour thawing just enough to let him feel eagerness to see his girl.

 

Clark had swung open the door when suddenly, his enhanced hearing heard an explosion of sound in the distance. It took his brain a fraction of a second to realise that it was a gunshot but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from, nor had he had any time to do the same before the bullet met its mark. They had to be shooting at Chloe, he thought to himself and sped forward without second thought, determined to reach the blonde reporter before the bullet intended for her, did.

 

“Chloe get down!” Clark shouted a warning.

 

Chloe was directly in its path and Clark wasted no time, getting in front of it, expecting the projectile to bounce off his chest.

 

Except that it didn’t.

 

There was a moment of exquisite pain where Clark Kent felt the wind knocked out of him. He staggered back a step or two, uncertain what had happened, until he looked down and saw the centre of his white t-shirt beginning to bloom from a tiny stain of crimson. With morbid fascination, he watched the red tide spread across his chest and thought distantly, I think I’ve been shot.

 

“CLARK!” Chloe screamed as she saw him going down.

 

Bruce was already on the move, bolting forward at lightning speed. “Get in the house!” He ordered straight away as Clark collapsed into the dirt.

 

“Oh my God,” Chloe stuttered in shock, frozen to the spot.

 

“NOW!” He barked and sent her scurrying as he skidded to the ground next to his friend.

 

Blinded by fear and horror, Chloe stumbled through the door of the Kent house and was immediately greeted by Lois tearing down the stairs.

 

“What’s happened?” She demanded. “I heard a gunshot!”

 

Lois shifted her gaze to the front lawn and froze when she saw Bruce kneeling over Clark’s form. “Smallville,” she whispered with a strained gasp before descending into panic.  “SMALLVILLE!”

 

“Lois don’t go out there!” Chloe grabbed her arm as Lois made for the door. “It’s not safe!”

 

“I DON”T CARE!” She fairly roared. “Clark!” Lois yanked her arm free and raced out the front door.

 

Meanwhile Bruce was trying to examine the extent of Clark’s injuries to determine if he could be moved. With snipers out there somewhere, Bruce realised he might not have a choice in the matter.  Clark was drifting in and out of consciousness and Bruce could tell from the amount of blood loss that Clark had been hit in the anterior chest. If Clark hadn’t run right in front of it, Bruce suspected the shot would be disabling not fatal. However, his attempt to save Chloe had ensured that it could well be that.

 

“Clark can you hear me?” Bruce tried to determine how much blood loss there was.

 

Clark blinked twice and Bruce could tell immediately that he had trouble focusing by the dilation of his pupils. He was going into shock, Bruce realised.

 

“I think I got shot,” Clark manage to mutter somewhat incoherently..

 

“Always a genius,” Bruce answered quickly as he decided he had to risk moving Clark. The men who had done this would soon be here and Bruce had a better chance of protecting Clark and the others, if they were inside.  “Come on big guy, I think we’ve had enough daylight today.”  Hauling Clark to his feet, Bruce supported his frame by putting Clark’s arm around his shoulder and lifting. His friend was almost a dead weight with size 14 boots dragging across the ground as Bruce took him inside.

 

“Clark!” Lois burst out of the doorway and ran towards them both. “Oh Jesus baby,” she cried at seeing the front of Clark’s white t-shirt almost completely soiled with blood.

 

“Lois, get in the house!” Bruce ordered. “They haven’t fired second shot because they’re coming to collect  him.”

 

“Oh God,” Lois raised her eyes to the distance, “those bastard!” She screamed in outrage before regaining her senses. This wasn’t helping. She had to be calm. She was no good to Clark if she wasn’t calm.  Wiping her eyes with the back of her forearm she took Clark’s dangling own and put it around her shoulder, helping Bruce move him into the house. 

 

Once past the doorway, Chloe slammed the door shut behind them. “I’ve called the sheriff.”

 

“They’ll be gone before he gets here,” Bruce said shortly. “Clear the kitchen table!”.

 

Chloe nodded blindly and hurried to the table, yanking the table cloth and everything with like a clumsy magician’s trick. No sooner than it was emptied, Bruce and Lois lay Clark down flat on his back. The back of Clark’s head hit the wooden surface with a thud as he stared at the ceiling, his eyes were no longer focussing.

 

“Clark, stay with me!” Lois demanded as she clutched his hand by his side and leaned over him while Bruce examined the extent of his wound. However, Clark wasn’t in any condition to listen, reacting to her voice only on a instinctual level. “Smallville, you listen to my voice okay? I’m right here baby, I’m not going anywhere,” her voice was cracking as she saw the love of her life before her, his life’s blood all over his hands.  “So don’t you dare leave me.”

 

The damage was as bad as Bruce feared. He was no doctor but his extracurricular activities gave him more than a working knowledge of anatomy. The position of the bullet hole in the anterior meant that Clark’s pericardium was probably penetrated and thus spurting blood with every beat of his heart.  The diagnosis was not good.

 

“He’s going to into shock,” Bruce said grimly. “If we don’t get him to a hospital now, he’s going to die.”

Authors Note: Sorry folks, works been a real bear.

 

 

Chapter Seven:

Disconnected

 

It was her fault.

 

Casting her gaze back to the sequence of events that led to this moment, like a fisherman casting his net to the sea, Valerie Beaudry found herself facing the irrefutable truth that would not be denied. Try as she might to heed the words of Lois Lane and Clark Kent, spoken out of kindness and pity, Valerie knew that she and she alone was responsible for the wretched place she now found herself, the wretched place she had consigned her parents with one act of rebellion.

 

While she had never imagined the consequences of her flight from home could amount to this, Valerie had suspected the nature of the men she was dealing with; the men who were so determined to reacquire her. She had not thought of the danger to her family. All she had thought about was finding Hank and escaping her tormentors. Not once did she think that the price of her freedom was the sacrifice of her parents.

 

After learning of their fates, Valerie had shut down mentally.

 

It was the only way to receive such news. She had cried and wailed, sobbed in anguish but despair and none of these things had been able to make the truth any easier to bear. In the end, she took the only course left to her; she disconnected herself from it. She sent the pain somewhere far and distant, enclosing it with high walls of indifference until she could feel nothing.  Behind those walls, the pain was manageable and her sin not so overwhelming.

 

Hiding herself away in Clark Kent’s room the way she had been isolated for the first two decades of her life, Valerie half listened to Lois Lane’s attempt to assuage her guilt. Even though the wounds were too fresh for Lois’ words of comfort to affect her anguish significantly, Valerie was grateful for the effort. In the face of so much danger, the duo had taken a step forward to protect her, for no other reason than she needed help.

 

She had been in the room when she heard the gunshots. Even through her grief and self-pity, the crack of a high-powered rifle had sliced through the air, alerting both Valerie and Lois to its presence. Lois had stood up while Valerie lifted her face from the pillow she had been sobbing into, looking at each other with apprehension at the knowledge that the men who had tried to take her a few days before, were  back.

 

However, the exchange was brief because then there was a new voice. A scream of fear calling Clark’s name and Lois’ face drained of colour. Since meeting the woman, Valerie had come to believe there was nothing that could obliterate the veneer of unflappable spirit that Lois Lane seem to wear around herself like armour. Seeing it shatter like glass when an unfamiliar voice screamed Clark’s name, shook Valerie to the core.

 

Lois had bolted out of the room, without looking back to Valerie, leaving the younger woman stunned in her wake. Valerie swung her feet over the edge of the bed and dried her eyes. Outside, the sound of the rifle and the scream that followed it had dissipated into a cacophony of chattering, frantic voices. Valerie was suddenly gripped with the fear that she had visited the same doom on her new friends as she had on her parents.

 

Descending the stairs, Valerie saw her worst fears realized when she saw Lois, along with two new faces she did not recognise in the kitchen. The petite blond was talking on the phone rather excitedly while the man was standing over Clark Kent who was lying across the kitchen table, bloody and terribly wounded. Lois held Clark’s hand as she hunched over him, her fingers and her clothes smeared with blood.

 

“Come on Smallville,” Lois was crying out frantically. “Stay with me! Listen to my voice! Do you hear me? Listen to my voice! BRUCE….he’s losing consciousness!” Lois wailed helplessly. Her panic was all consuming and on a woman like Lois, it was also quite unnerving.

 

The kind of help that Clark needed was beyond Bruce Wayne. He did what he could for Clark but knew it wasn’t enough. Basic or even advanced first aid was not going to be of any help in this instance. Clark needed surgery, the kind of surgery that could repair major organ and arterial damage. To say nothing of the fact that while Clark looked human, he was not and there were aspects to Kryptonian physiology that Bruce simply did not have the knowledge to attend. 

 

“I’ve got 911!” Chloe declared to all who were present.  She managed a brief glance at Valerie before returning her attention to the phone. “Yes, at the Kent Farm,” she spoke to the operator. “There’s been a shooting! We need someone out here right away!”

 

Valerie turned away unable to look anymore. Instead, she drifted to the doorway feeling a bubble of rage grow inside her, needing expression, wanting vengeance.

 

************

 

“WHAT THE f**k WAS THAT?” John Corben bellowed at the sniper who had taken the shot at Clark Kent.

 

“He heard it coming,” the man said coldly, not about to explain himself as John stood over him, hunched over the rifle he had used to deliver the blue projectile to Clark’s Kent’s body.

 

“Of course he heard it coming!” John exclaimed. “I gave you the files! Did you read them or did you use them to wipe your ass?”

 

“He threw himself in front of the bullet!” The sniper growled, standing up to face down Corben.  “I was aiming to wing him but the stupid bastard moved!”

 

“You f**king moron!” John barked almost ready to beat the shit out of the man for this blunder. Mr. Canto was not going to be happy at this turn of events. They were meant to bring back the Kryptonian, not kill him.

 

“John! John! Calm down!” Benton stepped between the two men, creating a barricade with his large frame. “We’ve got a mission to complete.”

 

John pulled away seething, as did his would be opponent as Benton continued speaking. “It was bad luck John. He heard the bullet and must have thought we were targeting the girl since they can’t hurt him.”

 

John listened to Benton’s explanation and knew that his trusted lieutenant was correct in the assessment of the facts. Even with his great speed, Clark Kent would not have time to recognise that the bullet was made of the same substance as his planet of origin. He would not have guessed the danger until it was too late.

 

“Okay,” John said calming down, “you’re right, we still have a mission to complete. We go in and get the both of them. The situation isn’t totally screwed. My intelligence tells me if you remove the bullet, his body will heal.”

 

“He’ll be pretty pissed,” Benton pointed out.

 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” John retorted.

 

************

 

“Bruce,” Chloe stepped forward hanging up the phone. “We have to take the bullet out.”

 

“We can’t,” Bruce stated, looking at Chloe. “It’s not just a matter of taking the bullet out; it’s pierced through his organs. He needs a surgeon.”

 

“I know,” Chloe nodded, looking at Clark and convinced that this was the only course of action left to them.  “The bullet is kryptonite Bruce,” she looked at him imploringly, certain that because of Clark’s condition, the thought had not occurred to Lois yet. “The longer it stays inside of him, the worse he’s going to be. He won’t survive long enough for the paramedics to get here.”

 

Bruce stared at her for a moment and then considered what he knew of the substance that Clark was so vulnerable to. Kryptonite, as long as it was in close proximity, Clark was in danger. Once the bullet was out, his natural healing abilities would kick into place. If they got him outside, into the sunlight, where Clark had once said his powers drew their strength, it might even aid the process.

 

Possibilities aside, Bruce knew they didn’t have a choice. Chloe was right, if they didn’t take it out now, he’d die of Kryptonite poisoning anyway. Right now, they really had nothing to lose by trying.

 

“Alright,” he said quickly, “go find some alcohol. See if Mrs. Kent has some kind of a First Aid kit lying around. We need something to sterilize the wound.”

 

“Can you do this?” Lois raised her eyes to Bruce, finally gaining enough awareness of the conversation to respond.  Clark was no longer coherent and the grip he had on her hand was barely registering, serving to heighten Lois’ fears even more.

 

“I don’t know,” Bruce answered, feeling helpless because he couldn’t give her a surer response than that. For a man accustomed to being in control of his situation, this was territory he had no wish to revisit.  He had no desire to see another person he cared about dying because of a bullet. 

 

No, that wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t let it. “He’s not going to die,” Bruce said firmly,  as much for her as it was for him. “Not if I can help it.”

 

Bruce started searching the drawers in the Kent kitchen, looking for the tools he would need to do this. As it was, he was mindful that they would soon have company. The men who had done this to Clark would soon be coming for him. His best hope was to get Clark on his feet before that happened. If they arrived here before the Kryptonite bullet was removed, it was more than likely the bastards would leave it in there just to make sure Clark was manageable until they place him in a controlled environment.

 

In one of the drawers, he found a set of needle nosed pliers, most likely used for odd jobs around the house. It looked relatively clean but Bruce took the precaution of holding it under the tap, letting the hot water sterilize it somewhat.

 

Chloe came hurrying back into the room a moment later, carrying a small white box with a red cross. “I found this in the bathroom,” she announced, putting the first aid kit down and flipping over the lid. “Its has iodine in it. Guess Mrs. Kent got used to mending a lot of injuries over the years.”

 

That had to be an understatement of the century, Lois thought as she considered all the things she had seen in this house since she arrived here.

 

“Clark,” Lois spoke to him, desperate to have him hear her, not to slip away into some darkness where she would never find him again. “We’re going to help you okay?” She held his hand against her cheek, “please hang on for me Smallville, please.” Her voice was breaking again and she was trying not to feel so pathetically helpless. The man she loved was dying before her eyes and her inability to do anything to stop it was almost as bad as seeing him in this state.

 

Bruce returned to the table with Chloe and regarded them both seriously, “I’m going to need your help holding him down. If I have to do this, it has to be fast and its going to hurt. Being invulnerable as he has been, he probably has a low pain threshold. For the record, its a bad idea trying removing this bullet without the right skills or the tools but we don’t have a choice it seems.  Those men will be coming back; we can’t let them take Clark with this bullet inside of him.”

 

“Then stop talking and let’s do it,” Lois said firmly, straightening up and wiping her eyes. Time to gain control of her emotions, she told herself. Clark needed her together, not this desperate wreck. “Chloe, you want to get his other side?” She asked quietly.

 

Chloe gave her cousin a look of admiration. “I’m on it,” she smiled and rounded the table to hold down Clark’s shoulder and arm.  Chloe kept her eyes fixed on Bruce because looking at Clark was too hard. The playboy billionaire with the hidden depths had yielded an unexpected bonus, the strength that could bolster even her formidable spirit. She could lean on Bruce, the way she was never able to lean on Clark. Right now, she relied on Bruce to keep her strong.

 

Bruce drew in a breath and upon exhaling, moved quickly. Tearing Clark’s blood stained shirt apart, he used the fabric to clean away the blood that had caked around the entry wound. By now, Clark was completely unconscious despite Lois’ attempt to keep him lucid. He did not offer any protest when Bruce dragged fabric over his ruined flesh.

 

“Oh my God…” Lois gasped seeing the bullet wound and its proximity to Clark’s heart.  Her face melted into an expression of horror  and panic.

 

“Come on Lane,” Chloe snapped her out of it with a sharp rebuke. “Hold together here.”

 

Lois snapped to with a nod, looking away from it and into her lover’s face. Unconscious, he looked almost as if he was sleeping and Lois was grateful that he could not see what was happening to him. 

 

“Okay,” Bruce looked at the ragged hole, not large than quarter against Clark’s skin. “Hold him.” He ordered and without wasting any time, inserted the length of the long nose pliers into the wound, careful to follow the bullet’s path into Clark’s chest without causing any further damage.

 

Unconscious or not, the pain registered and Clark came back to life suddenly, eyes snapping open as he uttered a sharp groan of pain. He attempted to move which only cause Chloe and Lois to hold him down harder.

 

“KEEP HIM STILL!” Bruce snapped, yet to feel the fragment that was causing so much damage as he probed deeper.

 

“Stay still Smallville,” Lois whispered in his ear, even if Clark was beyond hearing. “You need to stay down.”  It was killing her to make him go through this but like Chloe, she knew it was the only way. They had to get that thing out of him!.

 

“Bruce can you find it?” Chloe asked frantically, trying not to let her own panic run with her.

 

Bruce Wayne’s hands were covered in blood, as the wound pulsed out fresh blood with the intrusion of metal. It splattered across his shirt, with spots on his face and yet he was determined. After a moment, he felt the pliers brush against something hard, something not bone or flesh. Fingers moving with a surgeon’s precision, he probed a little more before realising he had what he sought. Wasting no time, he clamped onto the projectile with the pliers and extracted it out gently, struggling against Clark’s writhing reaction to the pain.

 

After what felt like an eternity, the bullet that may yet kill Clark Kent, made its appearance into the light of day but instead of a piece of green meteor rock, Bruce found himself staring at something completely unexpected.

 

“What is that?” Chloe asked first. Clark stopped struggling after the bullet was removed, lapsing into unconsciousness with an exhausted groan.

 

“I don’t know,” Bruce confessed staring at the small fragment for a moment, his mind making several leaps as he analysed everything that had happened since Clark was hit and maybe a few events before that. Those men had seen what Clark could do and needed a way to neutralize them. Bruce had made a few preliminaries studies into kryptonite since meeting Clark. He knew that save this curious fragments of a dead planet, nothing else on Earth was able to harm Clark Kent.

 

Occam's razor said that ‘All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best’ and it certainly was true now, Bruce thought. This fragment was kryptonite but it was of a kind that Clark Kent had never seen before.

 

 

**************

 

With everything that was taking place in the kitchen, it was perfectly understandable that no one noticed Valerie Beaudry stepping unto the porch of the Kent home. She could hear everything that was going inside but made no move to intervene. They didn’t need her there. Where they needed her was out here, keeping watch for the men who had done this to Clark. She kept herself hidden in the corner of the porch, obscured by a rose bush that provided just enough cover to ensure she would not be seen by any comers.

 

Inside, she felt strangely clear. She knew was she needed to do now, what steps she had to protect her friends. They would not suffer the same fate as her parents, of this Valerie was determined.  She waited patiently for the enemy to arrive, certain that it wouldn’t be long since they wouldn’t give up their blood hound search for her.  A minute passed and then another, until ten had ticked by without Valerie making a move. She ignored the stiffness in her limbs as she crouched down low, waiting.

 

Eventually they did come as she expected, a dozen of them.

 

Valerie peered through the bushes, watching them approach with their rifles and their restraints. The anger surface inside of her again, remembering the tests, the agonies she endured every day, the parents they had stolen from her and finally the friends wanted to help. Allowing them to close in, she became the spider in the web, waiting for her prey. When they were almost to the porch, Valerie stood up suddenly.

 

She gave them just enough time to react to her presence before she opened her mouth and screamed.

 

Behind her, the window blinds shuddered violently as glass shattered in places. The vibration of her cry shook the house perilously and Valerie moved off the porch, maintaining the deafening pitch while descending the steps leading to the grass. For once, she was using her abilities instead of allowing them to rule her, directing the pitch of it with deadly precision.

 

The men who attempted to fire their tranquilisers at her were swatted away by the sonic burst. Thrown so far into the air she knew that when they landed, they would not get up again. Not easily anyway. Every thing that was not bolted down, tractors, farm machinery, fence posts and mailboxes, were swept away with the tidal wave of that cry. She screamed until they stopped coming, until they were gone entirely from her sight. 

 

She stopped screaming when they were all gone, when all that was left was the wreckage that might have easily been mistaken for a tornado’s destructive trail.  Valerie collapsed onto the ground, exhausted but content that for the moment, the people who had tried to harm her and her friends, were gone.

 

*************

 

 

“What in the hell was that?” Chloe asked after she had picked herself up from the floor. The Kent kitchen was a mess. The mysterious tremors that had shaken the house to its foundations had  finally ceased. It had come out of nowhere and caught them all by surprised, making a situation that was already rife with insanity even worse.  Dusting herself off, she looked around the Kent home and winced.  The floor was strewn with objects that had shattered against the floor, books had fallen from their shelves an the house looked like someone had picked it up and shook it like a baby’s rattle.

 

Lois, who was ordered to get down low during the commotion, stood up similarly shaken, still clutching Clark’s hand. “It’s Valerie.” She explained breathlessly. “She must slipped out while we were trying to help Clark.”

 

At the mention of his name, Lois turned hastily to her lover to update herself on his condition. Fortunately, his unconscious state allowed him to remain oblivious to what had happened. Bruce had shielded Clark with his upper body when the tremors had started, protecting him from any falling debris. For now, the only thing threatening Clark’s life was the damage done by the bullet.

 

Her answer coincided with Valerie’s return to the house.  The young woman was sedate, frighteningly so and her expression sent a shudder through Lois. She dreaded to think what sight would greet them when they stepped outside.

 

“They’ve gone now,” Valerie explained quietly. “I made them go away.”

 

Chloe went to the window and peered through the curtains. What she saw was the aftermath of what looked like a hurricane. There were no sign of the men who had shot Clark. Judging by the mess outside, tractors had tipped over, farm machinery had been blow away, she wouldn’t be surprised if those men were in the next county by now.

 

She hoped they broke every damn bone in their body, Chloe thought with a surge of anger.

 

Bruce however, was not about to assume they were safe from anything. Those men still knew where to find Clark and even if they didn’t get him now, they’d come back in force. The best plan right now, was to not be here when that happened.

 

Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved his car keys and tossed them at Lois, “get my car started,” he instructed as he prepared to move Clark. “We’re leaving. Chloe, pack a small bag for Clark and then you and Valerie can follow me and Lois in your car to the hospital.”

 

“Pack a bag?” Chloe stared at him.

 

“Clark’s not coming back,” Bruce said lifting Clark’s arm, “Not until I deal with those sons of bitches. They’ve hurt my friend and pissed me off in the process. Believe me,” he spoke with an expression of ice that was almost as frightening as what Valerie had done outside, “that is not a good thing to do.... ever.”

 

Chapter Nine

Helpless

 

It was hard to imagine that there was ever happiness in Wayne Manor.

 

No matter how many times Chloe visited, she could never shake the sense that it would do Bruce a world of good to walk out of this place and never look back. While this thought could never be more than wishful thinking on her part, Chloe could not help but think that Wayne Manor was also a monument to the grief he was unable to let go, the grief he had evolved into his great crusade.

 

Even when she walked through its palatial hallways and studied the fine art that adorned the walls, the dead eyes of Wayne’s past scrutinized from their portraits just as deeply as she did them.  Wayne Manor was haunted by ghosts, not just of Bruce’s ancestors but also by his parents, Thomas and Mary Wayne.  To some degree it was also haunted by the eight year old boy who died the same night of his parents. His death was not a physical one but he had died just the same. Sometimes, Chloe was convinced if you listened hard enough, you could hear them still.

 

A week had passed since Chloe had arrived at the Manor with Clark, Lois and Valerie, escaping the abduction attempt at the farm. Chloe had been unable to go into work at the Planet since then, convinced by Bruce that if someone was trying to get to Clark, they would almost certainly use her as bait.  Citing her current problems with tabloids as a reason to take early vacation, Chloe had thus remained at the Manor keeping Lois company while Clark recovered from the near fatal shooting he had suffered.

 

She also helped Bruce with their search to uncover the truth about their abductors and learn the truth behind Hank Cobb and the DeSaad Corporation for whom he worked. Unsurprisingly, there was very little on record that did not depict the company as anything more than what it claimed to be; a leader in biomedical equipment. However, Bruce was convinced there was more to it and though he wanted to go investigate the company himself, Chloe managed to talk him out of this course for awhile.

 

Particularly since Clark’s powers had not returned.

 

It had been a week since the strange blue projectile was removed from Clark Kent’s body. Bruce’s studies of the material, compared to samples of green meteor rock, confirmed the truth he suspected in Smallville. Apart from minor differences in its chemical composition that caused variety in colour, the blue crystal was indeed kryptonite. Their enemy not only knew Clark’s weakness but they also knew he was from Krypton.  While green kryptonite could severely irradiate and kill Clark, it appeared blue kryptonite might be to render him powerless.

 

Although he had removed most traces of the crystal from Clark’s body during the ‘surgery’ performed on the kitchen table of the Kent farm, Bruce was unconvinced that he had removed all of it. The composition of crystal was far different from lead. It fragmented more easily and used as a projectile, there could be shards throughout the Kryptonian’s body. Bruce believed that they were small enough to be broken down by the body’s natural processes but that could take time.

 

And Clark powerless when there were people out there who knew his secrets made him extremely vulnerable.

 

*************

 

“Interesting,” Bruce remarked as he was hunched over the eyepiece of the near-field scanning optical microscope inside the large cavern beneath the manor which Chloe secretly called Bruce’s Peter Pan cave.

 

“What?” She looked up from the computer screen, pushing her steel rimmed glasses further along her nose, waiting for him to respond.

 

“I think I understand why these rocks affect Clark the way they do,” he said blinking to adjust his focus after staring through the eyepiece for so long.

 

“How so?” Chloe asked. Her curiosity piqued. “I mean we always knew that they were pieces of Krypton but why would they affect him in that way? Wouldn’t it mean all Kryptonians would be sick when it was part of the planet?”

 

“Not necessarily,” Bruce faced her. “The specific level of a radioactivity probably came about during the planet’s explosion. Clark said that the entire solar system was destroyed. If that’s the case, the sun would have also been destroyed and anything in its path would have been hit with an unbelievable amount of radiation.  To you and me, its just rock but to anyone from Krypton, this will kill him. “

 

“So you actually have to be born on Krypton for it to work,” Chloe nodded in understanding. 

 

“Exactly,” he answered.  “It wouldn’t affect a Kryptonian born on Earth.”

 

“There’s a frightening thought,” she retorted, thinking of how many Kryptonians they had encountered over the years that weren’t friendly. “Oh wait so when Zod showed up, that’s why it wouldn’t work on him.”

 

“Right, Zod’s body was from Earth not Krypton.”

 

“So how does that help Clark?” She asked, impressed by Bruce’s analysis but they needed to help Clark regain his powers.

 

“I’m not sure,” Bruce shrugged. “The chemical bonds of blue kryptonite seem to break down faster than green. If he has any of it in his system, he might be able to purge it from his system so he can return to normal.”

 

“You know we got the red kryptonite out of him by a Kryptonian device we got from the fortress. Clark returned it there after we were finished with Zod. Maybe we should try and get it.”

 

“Let’s give it a few more days to see if he comes out of it on his own.” He replied. “these people knew enough about him to get the kryptonite. Let’s not risk an ambush if they know about the fortress too.” He pointed out.

 

“Great,” Chloe sighed before jumping at the screech of something overhead. Looking up, she could see the slight flutter of wings in the shadows and immediately felt her skin crawl. The computer system that Bruce had at his disposal was unlike anything she had ever seen. Utilising a quantum computer that massively sped up searches and optimisation calculations, it was guaranteed to make the current computer systems obsolete in a matter of years. She hadn’t seen anything like this outside of a government facility or MIT. It was a dream to use, however, Bruce’s choice of where to keep it left a lot to be desired.

 

“Why can’t you get a dog like everyone else?” she asked, trying to hide her fear of the bats she couldn’t quite make see, clinging to the stalactite ridden ceiling.

 

“If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you,” he said nonchalantly as he removed the samples and returned them to the sample container on his work bench a few feet away.

 

Chloe frowned and returned her attention to the screen, “I can’t find anything on this DeSaad Corporation and even less on Cadmus,” she announced. “Everything down to their memos are legitimate. Doesn’t look like they’re up to no good, everything’s a matter of public record.”

 

Bruce shrugged as he returned to her side.  “They’re trying pretty hard to be normal which makes me wonder what they’re hiding.”

 

“They might not be hiding anything,” she said, playing devil’s advocate.

 

“Oh they’re hiding something, when someone tries that hard to look normal, it usually means they have more secrets than anybody. “

 

No kidding, Chloe thought.

 

 

 

**************

 

Clark had gone without powers before and depending on the situation, he had been both pleased and unhappy without it.

 

During that period when Jor-El’s punishment for his disobedience had resulted in a loss of powers, Clark had been dating Lana Lang and it was the only time in their relationship, he could honestly be himself around her. Thus, he hadn’t minded so much. He had even settled down to a conventional life until it became apparent that the world needed his powers more than Lana needed a normal boyfriend. 

 

Later on such episodes only proved further how much his powers were needed to protect his loved ones and sometimes, the danger they found themselves in had little to do with him. Like the situation that had been wrought upon him because of Valerie Beaudry.  Clark didn’t blame her of course, nor did he blame Lois for bringing Valerie to the farm. However, it did drive home how helpless he was to help them now that he had lost his powers.

 

Although his wounds from the gunshot had completely healed, Clark felt weak. Worse than that, he felt helpless. Although he was grateful to Bruce for opening his home to all of them, Clark longed for the farm, hated the possibility that his secret in the wrong hands could prevent him from going home again and even more daunting, was the fact he was unable to do a thing about it. 

 

Although it was contrary to everything Jonathan Kent had taught him, Clark felt himself slipping deeper and deeper into a fit of depression and like everything else in his life of late, he was powerless to stop it.

 

******************

 

Lois entered their room in Wayne Manor to find Clark exactly where she left him, in front of the television set looking more depressed than she had ever seen him.  There was an irrefutable order to their relationship – he was the eternal optimist while she was the hard nosed cynic. They worked so well together because of this and watching him with this growing resentment in his eyes frightened her.

 

“Come on Smallville,” she said standing in front of the TV while he was stretched out across the bed. “Let’s get out of here.   You’ve been cooped up all day, let’s take a walk around the manor, and see what kind of Wayne dirt we can scoop out?” She teased.

 

“I thought you weren’t doing the tabloid thing anymore,” he grumbled.

 

Lois flashed him a withering look. “You’re funny.” She retorted and tugged at his foot when she sat at the edge of the bed. “Come on, move your ass. I’m not letting you lie around all day, moping.  While, Chloe and Bruce are busy trying to figure out what DeSaad Corporation has to do with those creeps trying to grab you and Valerie, I thought we’d hit the streets. They have a branch office here in Gotham.”

 

“I’m not moping,” Clark said defensively as he rolled off the bed, trying to escape the argument. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea that it’s a good idea for us to try and confront these people, not in the state I’m in. Right now, all I am to you is a liability. If they spot me while I’m with you, God only knows what they’re willing to do to get to me. I won’t let that be the reason that you get hurt Lois.”

 

“Oh give me a break!” Lois exclaimed, not about to buy into his self-pitying nonsense. “I’ve been getting into trouble on my own long before I met you Smallville.” She said with no small amount of exasperation. Getting off the bed, Lois crossed the distance between them and took his hand.

 

His love for Lois defied logic, defied description. He hadn’t known he could ever be happy until he admitted he loved her.  The idea of any harm coming to her, because of him, was a possibility that Clark Kent only entertained in his worst nightmares. Those men had almost killed him and they had murdered Valerie’s parents without a second thought. He had no illusions as to what they would do to Lois if she got in their way.

 

“Maybe so Lois,” Clark said quietly, “but this time I won’t be able to get you out of it.”

 

With that, he brushed past her and left the room before she had a chance to convince him otherwise.

*************

 

“Self pity doesn’t become you Clark,” Bruce commented when Clark finally emerged from the guest room in the hallway outside. 

 

Bruce hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. He had come to find Clark in order to report the results of his analysis of the blue kryptonite. Upon approaching their door however, Bruce’s acute hearing picked up snippets of conversation that told it was an inopportune time to intrude. He had stepped away when Clark’s abrupt departure caught him out.

 

“I thought I’m the one with the great hearing,” Clark remarked, feeling immediately guilty that his despondence had a witness other than Lois

 

“Or was.” He added with more than a hint of bitterness.

 

“So that’s it?” Bruce looked at him, “your entire worth is based on your ability to bend steel bars? There’s nothing more to Clark Kent than that?”

 

Clark frowned and started walking down the hall, away from Lois and hopefully Bruce. However, no such luck, the master of Wayne Manor followed. “Of course not,” he answered after a moment, “but I am being realistic. I don’t have your training and the way those guys want me, all I’m going to do if Lois is seen with me is to make her a target. I won’t let her get hurt.”

 

“So don’t,” Bruce retorted firmly, understanding Clark’s fears but not about to encourage it either.  “If you don’t want to be helpless then don’t be.” He challenged the younger man.

 

Clark paused and stared at Bruce, “How do you suggest I do that?”

 

Bruce grinned, “By learning to not be helpless.”

 

 

**************

This was all her fault.

 

Lois had brought Valerie home to the farm when she should have taken the girl immediately to cops when news of her parents’ death became known. Instead, Lois had held on to Valerie, partly to help her and another part, much to her shame, for more selfish reasons.  Valerie’s story had dangled in front of her like a carrot and Lois had seen the opportunity for the story Pauline Kahn had challenged her to write.

 

As a result, they were now fugitives from their lives, not just her and Clark but Chloe too. Not only was there the chance he could be crippled permanently but Clark’s secret was known to men who were willing to exploit it for their own ends.  She had almost lost the love of her life and Lois wished she had considered the consequences of her actions before it was too late. Perhaps she might not have done things differently, it wasn’t in her or Clark’s nature to turn away anyone in need but they might have been more careful about it.

 

Her guilt wasn’t rational, she knew it. It was borne out of the anguish of seeing Clark in so much pain and self-doubt.  He was the one who was always making her feel better when things were at their darkest. It wasn’t that long ago that Clark had told her she could do anything and Lois hated it because she couldn’t offer him the same hope.  She had to fix this. She had to find the men who had killed Valerie’s family and tried to kidnap Clark so they could reclaim their lives again.

 

Getting dressed, Lois made a discreet departure from the Manor, using one of the many cars Bruce had in his garage and headed to Gotham. If nothing else, she was going to find out what DeSaad Corporation was all about and maybe even find a clue that would lead her to Cadmus.

 

***********

 

“This is your answer?” Clark complained as he stared at Bruce across the padded floor of the Manor’s fully equipped gymnasium. 

 

The boxing helmet on his head felt uncomfortable and made Clark feel as if his field of vision was severely limited. Of course, he soon realised that this was largely because he was accustomed to having telescopic and x-ray vision at his disposal.

 

“Its one answer,” Bruce remarked, also wearing the same helmet with his hands taped up for protective. “You’re accustomed to your strength and your speed getting you out of trouble. Since you don’t have those powers to rely on anymore, you’re going to have to do things the old fashioned way.”

 

“I know how to fight,” Clark said defensively and then had to admit secretly that the number of times that he had encountered an opponent who matched him for strength, he hadn’t exactly kicked ass. In fact, a lot of the time, he was often the one on the receiving end of a serious beat down.

 

“Really?” Bruce smirked, “then throw a punch at me.”

 

“I’m not going to hit you Bruce,” Clark protested, glaring at the man as if he was crazy. “This is stupid and a waste of time.”

 

“Is it?” Bruce retaliated, not about to let Clark off the hook so easily. “You’re so used to having these powers, you don’t even think about the possibility of being hurt.  You could have handled that bullet a dozen ways other than throwing yourself in front of it and still saved Chloe in the process. Only you didn’t and that Clark is more dangerous than you not having powers.”

 

“Chloe was in the path of that bullet,” Clark returned, feeling somewhat foolish now that Bruce had put things that way. “I wasn’t going to let her get hurt.”

 

“I know that,” Bruce answered. “I respect you for trying to save her life but you don’t think – you react and that makes you predictable. You need to learn patience, to study the situation and realise the best way to get something done isn’t necessarily the fastest. How many rooms have you run into over the years with meteor rock because you didn’t take five seconds out to see inside before barging into it? How many times has Chloe or Lois had to come save you because of that?”

 

More times than he’d like to admit, Clark thought. “You’re making me feel like dumb ass.” He pointed out.

 

“I’m only trying to show you that it doesn’t take unusual powers to keep a person from being helpless.”  Bruce explained sympathetically. “Power enhances a person Clark, it doesn’t make them. You’re one of the best people I know and yes, not being able to do the things you can, must be terrible but you have to get past thinking that’s all you are. Otherwise you’ll be no good to Lois or yourself.”

 

Clark absorbed Bruce’s words because they were good words and not unlike something Jonathan Kent might tell him if he were here right now. Clark missed his father very much at that moment but he was also grateful to the friend who dared to make him listen, even when he didn’t want to.

 

“I think I’m ready to hit you now,” Clark retorted with a smile.

 

“Dream on, farm boy.”  Bruce grinned.

 

TO BE CONTINUED