Chicago, IL
gardy720
24 Hours Later:
Lois Lane sat dejectedly on the couch near the makeshift fireplace in the apartment above the Talon. She’d polished off one quart of her favorite ice cream already. “Is that all of it?” She muttered aloud. I swear these containers are getting smaller. She dug into the freezer.
Lois scraped the last bits of ice cream from the bottom of the carton. Her cousin and roommate Chloe Sullivan was out with her young beau, Jimmy Olsen. Since being fired by Lex Luthor from her dream job at the Daily Planet, Chloe had been secretly working for Oliver Queen.
The young millionaire had created a band of misfits, four guys and a gal, with unusual or special abilities. Chloe had been made an unofficial member of the group. Lois hadn’t seen much of her younger cousin at all. This made the nights and weekends much lonelier for her.
At first Lois wished that Oliver had made her part of his mysterious group rather than Chloe. Still, she was glad to be out of that type of relationship. Oliver had gone missing too many times. She’d later discovered that Oliver was secretly known as the infamous Green Arrow.
I need to get some stability in my life, Lois thought wistfully as she tossed the empty ice cream carton into the recycling bin. Ollie would have just dragged me all over the world like a spare set of luggage just like my father, the General, used to do when I was growing up.
I need a guy that would always be there for me, no matter how much trouble I get myself into, Lois mused. He can’t be too boring, dumb as a box of rocks, or too wimpy either. She started to dig through her dirty laundry. She spied a brown and red plaid shirt mixed in with everything else.
This shirt isn’t mine, Lois turned it inside out. It looks like Clark’s. She dropped the shirt back into the laundry pile. She stopped in her tracks. Of course! It’s so obvious! Lois thought excitedly. Who do I know that’s handsome, loyal, and trustworthy? Clark Kent!
With a burst of energy and a renewed sense of purpose, Lois hopped into the shower then threw on her best low cut blouse, denim skirt, and most comfortable shoes. There’s still the matter of Lana, Lois considered as she fluffed up her brownish blonde mane of hair.
He’ll just have to get over her. Lois insisted. Word is that she left him again for Europe. It’ll take some time, but I’ll make him forget about her with some effort…a lot of effort. She grinned lustily as she put on her brightest shade of red lipstick, and grabbed her leather travel bag.
Lois noticed a medium-sized brown envelope that she’d earlier placed on the breakfast bar. It had come in the mail this morning. She’d forgotten to open it. Lois picked it up and examined the return address. “Nelly Blye?” She said aloud. Oh no! This can’t be good news!
Lois and Chloe had agreed to adopt that code in case of an emergency. No one else, aside from Clark, could know what the significance of Nelly Blye was. Chloe was in desperate trouble! “Crap! It’s always something!” Lois opened the envelope, which was addressed to her.
She found two DVD discs wrapped in one of Chloe’s tee shirts. The envelope also contained a handwritten letter from her younger cousin. It read: LO’ We’re in big trouble. You know that I’ve been working for Oliver since Lex axed my job from the Planet. We’re going into deep cover now.
The problem is that Lex’s goons and some Feds from the Department of Homeland Security are trailing us. I’m sending out eight data discs to four separate people we know. Three of them don’t know each other at all. The only common links are Clark and I.
Each set of two discs has a different level of encryption. Your set has the lowest security level. Given that you’re technology challenged most of the time, I’ve written the encryption access codes on a scrap piece of paper and hidden it in Clark’s barn. Nice Chloe! Lois smirked.
I taped it to the underside of Mr. Kent’s upright tool cart. Use these codes to decipher your two discs. The information is paramount. For Clark’s eyes only! Get out now! The Talon is being watched by both Lex’s goons, and the Feds. “Oh gawd!” Lois exclaimed out loud.
Call Clark immediately, the letter continued. Sorry cuz! You’ll have to cohabitate with our favorite farm boy. I know it will be awkward…Hey, at least there’s a good side to this, Lois grinned. All of our lives are at stake, Lo’, not to mention Oliver’s band of merry men.
The Feds are sending Jimmy back with a wire. Do not discuss any of this with him, trust only Clark. It would be nice if you managed to send DHS on some type of wild goose chase as well. Call Clark while the Talon is still open for business. Be careful, and avoid Kara, she may be compromised.
More later on discs…The mysterious letter abruptly ended. “Great! This is a nightmare!” Lois complained out loud. Damn! The Talon may be bugged! She realized. With Lex and the Feds on the prowl I wouldn’t doubt if they’ve placed cameras in the apartment. Creepy!
Lois flipped on her cell phone and speed dialed Clark’s number. “Hello? Smallville! Code red! Get over here to the Talon and pick me up, pronto! Talk to no one and don’t ask any stupid questions!” She said into Clark’s voice mail. She clicked off the phone and began to pack.
What makes them think that I’d be safer at the farm? Lois wondered silently. She tossed the discs into her travel bag, covering them with her underwear and a sky blue teddy. Lois smirked lustily as she folded her lingerie. For a joke, she threw Clark’s dirty shirt onto the pile as well.
Lois grabbed a suitcase and filled it with her blouses, skirts, shoes, sweats and tees. She shoved her laptop and a spare battery into it as well. Lois gulped as she also added her cousin’s Taser, and a Swiss Army knife with a six inch blade hidden within it. A girl scout, I’m not. She mused.
Clark received Lois’s urgent message and immediately grabbed his red jacket and truck keys. He surveyed the area with his x-ray vision, but saw no one. He drove to the Talon as quickly as he could. Things always manage to go to hell, he mentally groused.
Kara was trapped in the phantom zone, though Brainiac had been supposedly destroyed, and Lana had recovered fully from his infection. She was gone. All that remained was a DVD disc that she’d left to his attention. He‘d just opened it when Lois called.
Lois had specifically asked for him to pick her up. He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was anxious or worried about something. Clark had called Chloe’s phone number to inform her of Lana’s change of condition, but she hadn’t answered the calls. That was never a good sign.
Clark pulled up in front of the Talon and casually walked in like a common customer. The patrons paid him little mind as he headed straight upstairs.
“Lois?” Clark knocked and immediately she opened the door and handed him her suitcase. “Uh, are we moving?” He asked sarcastically.
“Come here, Smallville.” Lois said as she guided him toward the rear window of the apartment. “See those two black SUVs waiting in the alley below? That’s not the Paparazzi looking to cover me for a story.” She remarked facetiously. Her heart beat faster being that close to Clark.
“That unmarked black sedan on the other side of the building, with the two apes in it, isn’t Smallville’s Finest waiting to bust me for unpaid parking tickets. We’re surrounded, Clark.” Lois pointed out worriedly. He shook his head. “We’re going to hide…” He began.
Lois had shoved her free hand over Clark’s mouth. She reached up on her toes and whispered in his ear: “Chloe’s in big trouble, again. We’re to go to your farm and hang out per her instructions.” She padded across the hardwood floor. He nodded and held the door open for her.
Clark easily carried her suitcase down the stairs into the main dining room of the Talon. Lois tossed her travel bag over her shoulder and followed him right out the front door. “Let’s go, Smallville, before our luck runs out.” She urged and quickly dumped her bag into the pick up cab.
Clark put her suitcase in the pick up bed, strapping it down. “Too late!” She added as a large goon in a black three piece suit came up behind Clark, and shoved a gun in his rib cage. “Going somewhere?” He growled. “Just on a romantic weekend vacation.” Lois joked.
A second thug in a gray pinstriped suit was approaching Lois from the opposite side of the street. He’d not displayed any type of weapon yet. “You don’t want to do that.” Clark warned his would be assailant. “Trust me!” He smirked, not in the mood for any games today.
The guy poked Clark in the ribs even harder. “Let’s go, tough guy.” The goon ordered. Clark hesitated briefly. He didn’t really want to attack a member of the Federal Government supposedly just doing his job, yet the gunman hadn’t shown any badge or I D. The creep could’ve been one of Lex’s minions. Clark made a snap decision. He carefully spun away from his abductor.
With blinding speed, Clark dodged the bullet, and tossed the attacker through the front window of the Talon. He’d need some stitches, but would survive. In the same motion, Clark grabbed the bullet before it hit anyone and smashed it into dust on the cement pavement.
The shot ringing out was all the distraction Lois needed as well. She dealt a vicious spin kick into the other thug’s gut, doubling him over. Just for fun she kneed him in the jaw, knocking him backwards and into the street. Cars screeched as the assailant fell limply before them.
Lois hopped into Clark’s truck. “C’mon Smallville! Quit fooling around back there!” She barked, making Clark wince.
Lois shoved past the thug and slipped into the driver’s seat. “I’ll drive!” Clark stared at her. “Uh, Lois…” He started to protest. “Get in!” Lois ordered as she cranked up the engine. He reluctantly climbed into the passenger’s seat.
The black sedan was effectively bottled up in the traffic jam that they’d created. Lois pulled a three point turn and zipped past the Talon. That left the second black SUV unaccounted for. Lois spotted it in the side view mirror. It was moving recklessly half on the sidewalk above the curb.
Pedestrians cursed and jumped out of the way. Lois cut through a small park’s main thoroughfare before heading off in the direction of Clark’s farm. Some people waved their fists in the air watching the pursuit. Others flipped them off. Lois sped off down Route 5.
The black SUV had somehow managed to stay with them. She rumbled down the highway nearly thirty miles per hour over the speed limit. “Uh…Lois…Don’t you think we ought to slow down?” Clark argued. She ignored him. “What have you done this time?” He asked angrily.
“Me?” Lois gave him her best innocent look. “The short version is that Chloe and your green leather clad pal have managed to piss off the Feds and Lex Luthor. Whatever scheme Oliver dragged Chloe into must’ve backfired on them.” She continued to haul butt between the wheat fields.
“I’m sorry Lois.” Clark apologized as back road after back road whizzed by them. “I didn’t mean to get you involved in all this.” Lois grinned brightly. “You know me, Smallville, trouble always seems to find me anyway.” Her eyes sparkled as her heart raced.
The black SUV was still trailing them and gaining ground quickly. “Hold on to your lunch, Smallville!” Lois yelled as she put the pick up into a skid and pulled a one eighty in the middle of a deserted intersection. She faced the late model truck back the way they’d come.
She stopped and revved up the engine. The large eight-cylinder growled as she juiced up the RPMs. “Lois? What are you doing?” Clark could guess, but hoped that he was wrong. “What’s the matter, Clarkie, you’ve never played ‘chicken’ before?” Lois smirked, on a major adrenaline surge.
“Relax, Smallville. I used to do it all the time back on the Army bases with the jeeps and Humvees.” Lois shamelessly boasted. “I never lost!” She continued to rev the engine. “Though this one time a corporal trashed a jeep, and my father, the General had him on KP for a month. He was not a happy soldier.” Lois rambled, filled with excitement.
The black SUV was just coming over the minor hill. “We can’t let them follow us, Clark. Showtime!” Lois said, revving up the truck one final time. “Lois!” Clark reached across her slim waist and pulled her seatbelt closer, clicking it in. “Buckle up!” He insisted.
Lois grinned lustily. “You buckle up! I’d hate to see that pretty boy face of yours kissing the pavement!” Especially when it should be kissing me, she thought. Clark complied, though he knew that it wasn’t likely that he’d get hurt. He was more worried about Lois being killed or injured.
The creeps in the SUV could’ve been Feds or Lex’s cronies, yet he didn’t want them killed or injured either. Clark wrestled with using his powers in front of Lois. Maybe I should just tell her the truth, he considered. His gut told him that it would be the right decision, yet not right now.
Lois punched the accelerator and the truck spun tires, kicking up a cloud of smoke, and leaving two large black burn marks in the pavement. She headed straight for the SUV.
Lois sent the truck barreling down the two lane highway, which was surrounded by ditches and cornfields.
Clark held on tight, ready to grab Lois if the stunt went awry. Lois thought that her life flashed before her eyes. A series of images invaded her mind. They attempted to distract her from the task at hand. She saw a man in a blue suit bracketed by a red cape, a dark tunnel leading to a bright light, and her in a white wedding dress.
A guy in a black suit with dark hair stood next to her, putting a ring on one finger. “Clark?” Lois muttered, just as the SUV swerved to avoid the onrushing pick up. She’d successfully called the goons’ bluff. Their SUV slid into a ditch, eventually landing in an irrigated cornfield.
Lois quickly turned Clark’s truck onto an access road that was perpendicular to the main highway of Route 5. Just for good measure, Clark had rolled down the window and used his heat vision to blow out both of the SUV’s rear tires.
That takes care of them for the moment, but they’ll be back, Clark thought silently as Lois continued on towards the farm. “Well done, Lois.” He said warily. “I’d rather not do it again!” She shrugged. “Hey Smallville, a little excitement is good for you. Gets the blood pumping!”
Soon they pulled up alongside the pristine ranch house. Clark searched the area including the house, with his x-ray vision, looking for any unwelcome visitors finding none. He then grabbed Lois’s suitcase and led her inside.
The laptop with Lana’s DVD message stood undisturbed where he’d left it. Lois immediately headed upstairs. She poked her head over the railing.“No one’s home, Clark?” She guessed.
“No.” He replied distractedly, opting to continue Lana’s message. It was far worse than he’d imagined. Lana had left him for good this time. Clark was glad that she’d recovered, but now he had to face a new reality. Lana wasn’t coming back.
Lois had hurriedly tossed her things into Clark’s room, returning downstairs with Chloe’s discs just in time to view Lana’s goodbye video. Her heart ached along with him. She’d known how much he’d loved her. She ran to a tearful Clark, hugging him for a long time. (Smv 7.20“Arctic”)
This was not the way Lois had wanted to win Clark’s attentions. She’d preferred a type of competition with Lana, illustrating why she’d be a better match for him in the end.
I warned him that first day that Lana was way too much for him to handle, yet at least he tried. That said a lot, Lois considered as she finally let go of Clark. “I’m so sorry.” Was all she could say, it wasn’t enough.
link to chapter 2: Weapon X
Chicago, IL
gardy720