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Lois hurriedly packed some clothes, including a new bikini, which held Clark’s interest as he waited for her to finish. The young superhero had been amusing himself by Googling the net, searching for any further info on Marcus Worthington.
"Let’s go Smallville, wheels up in five!" Lois urged as Clark grimaced. "Must you quote Oliver slash Green Arrow?" He protested. "Aw! Don’t whine, Clarkie." Lois purposely pinched his cheek because she knew that it would annoy him.
Superman sighed as he held the door open for her. By the time they reached Clark’s farm, it was close to midnight. Lois yawned and said: "I’m beat Clark. I think I’ll turn in. Remember up and at ‘em by 7 am per Perry White. Do you have to slap the hogs, milk the cows, and feed the chickens before we go?" She teased.
Clark grinned thinly. "Don’t worry, I’ll be ready. Goodnight Lois." She waved and walked upstairs right into his bedroom, closing the door behind her. Couch city, eh? He mentally groused. It’s just as well, he thought, quickly zipping out to the barn to check on the mysterious globe.
It sat right where he’d left it. He noted a slight buzzing sound that only his superior hearing could’ve heard. The object, whatever it was, seemed to still be operational. It yielded no new clues. I guess I’ll just have to leave it be for now, Clark decided, covering it with an old tarp.
The next morning, Lois and Clark headed out to Metropolis International Airport, and their flight wound up sitting on the tarmac. "Typical!" Lois grumbled. "Did you ever notice that the initials for the airport are MIA, as in my flight is missing in action?" She cynically quipped.
Clark laughed, again considering a possible future relationship involvement with his young partner. She is certainly something, he mentally praised. Lois seemed to pick up on his attitude. "Why are you so cheerful, Smallville?" She asked skeptically. "I don’t know…well rested I guess."
"Good for you." Lois playfully griped. "I had dreams about some kind of flying guy with a red cape again. It must have been that apple martini last night. Either way I spent more time tossing and turning than sleeping." Clark chuckled. "You were probably just worried about the interview."
"I hate that you know me so well." Lois gave him a friendly punch in the arm. "Anyway, I’ll do most of the talking to Marcus Moneybags, and you take notes and check his body language. Every billionaire that I’ve ever met always has a secondary agenda."
"Why did Worthington suddenly decide to open up? He hadn’t granted anyone an interview in years?" Lois wondered out loud. "Maybe some kind of public relations stunt or he’s hyping some new pet project?" Clark guessed. Lois smiled. "Very good, Smallville. We’ll make a reporter of you yet."
She gave him a backhanded compliment. Finally their flight took off, two hours late. Lois snoozed peacefully on the three hour flight to Arizona. Once they landed, the cub reporters began their first Daily Planet mission together.
A Worthington Co limo picked them up at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport. Their luggage had been sent ahead to Red Cliff Resort along Lake Havasu. "Wow Smallville, check out the digs!" Lois watched out the window.
The resort was lined with decorative cacti, some flowering, and some reaching skyward for many feet. Guests on horseback dotted the main road leading to the resort hotel. Dozens of young people swam, rode jet skis, and sunbathed along the large man made beach.
Lake Havasu had been created specifically as an entertainment facility, saddled with the secondary responsibility of gathering an emergency water supply for the parched, barren desert surrounding it. Lois rolled down the limo window, and the hot desert air swept in at her.
"Now this is what I’m talking about." She smiled brightly, shading her eyes from the sun, as it hung high in the cloudless blue sky. At midday the temperature had reached 115 degrees. "Hey but it’s a dry heat." Lois quipped as Clark rolled his eyes. He was working on a new plan.
Lois and Clark checked in at the Red Cliff office. "Yes, we’ve received word of your arrival from Mr. Worthington." The tall middle-aged desk clerk confirmed their reservations. "We have you booked into a waterside condo." Lois checked her itinerary. "I thought we’d simply booked a room."
"Yes, however a representative from Worthington Co, a Miss Symone Cartier, insisted on an upgrade per Mr. Worthington’s Office of Public Relations. They’re picking up the extended cost."
"Wow! This guy doesn’t fool around." Lois remarked as Clark silently agreed. "Thank you." He politely accepted the high tech key card for the condo. The clerk handed them a map. "You’re in Unit 4 Southwest. Your bags have just arrived, and will be waiting for you."
Lois tried to tip the desk clerk from her P Card, but he shook his head, stating that Mr. Worthington had also covered any gratuities, excluding a bar tab. "Okay. Thanks." Lois started for the office door with Clark at her heel. "I don’t know about you, Smallville, but I’m parched."
"Let’s check out the facility before we head for the condo." Clark suggested. A single red-haired, bikini clad young woman watched their every move like a hawk. She grabbed her beach towel and followed Lois and Clark at a short distance. "I’m roasting, Clark. Maybe we should change."
"Okay." He agreed and Lois checked the map and followed the directions to the beachside condo. "Here it is." She shaded her eyes and pointed to a good-sized rose colored condo building with Native American Indian hand painted designs along its entire façade.
"Snazzy." Lois praised. Their shadow girl kept watch on them from the other side of the condo row. Lois and Clark headed up the cool wooden walkway toward the condo. "Can you believe this?" Lois asked. "There’s a beachside bar right across from our condo. This is top shelf."
"Yeah, it seems too good to be true." Clark commented drily. "You think that Worthington is trying to soften us up?" Lois wondered as she slipped the keycard into its lock. The device beeped and she opened the door. Clark followed her in. "That would be my guess."
Lois whistled. "Nice! There’s a kitchenette, not that I’d be doing any cooking." She commented as Clark smirked. "Uh oh! Smallville, there’s only one bed, though it’s a double bed." She made it a point to taunt Clark. "That’s okay Lois, we’ll flip for it." He deadpanned.
Lois sighed. Lance Romance he was not. She thought sourly. "I’ll hit the shower first." She offered. "Want me to scrub your back?" Clark returned the tease. Lois laughed. "Nice try, Clark!" He sat down comfortably on the living room sofa bed. Lois unpacked her luggage.
Clark received a text message from Oliver. It read: "Found Chloe, can’t release her. Plan B." As soon as Lois got ready for the shower, he yelled through the bathroom doorway: "Lois, I’m going to try and scare up some food, and look for a gift shop!"
His super hearing heard Lois’s clothes drop to the floor. "Swell, Clark!" She retorted. "After this I’m heading for the bar and the beach!"
He locked up the condo and sped to a secluded part of the lower half of Red Cliff Mountain. The girl observing them was able to follow Clark’s run to a certain point, before losing sight of him completely. "That was interesting." She murmured as she sat on the corner stool of the beachside bar.
Clark called Oliver’s cell. "Boy Scout. Can you talk?" He asked. "Green Arrow. Yeah for a few minutes before my next meeting. Scout, we were unable to secure Oracle. The Feds traded her to a company in Nevada called Candle Brook Outpatient Services. Guess what? Surprise, surprise, Candle Brook is partnered with LuthorCorp."
Clark nearly spat. "I’m going up there. What’s the location?" Oliver was silent, back in Star City, as he waited for another executive to pass him by. "Texting it now. Need backup?" Clark read the last known address of Candle Brook. "No, I’ll try and get her out the front door, if not, she’s coming with me regardless." Clark replied. Oliver grinned.
"That sounds slightly illegal. Scout, we’re a bad influence on you." Oliver quipped. "My guess is that Candle Brook is another 33.1 facility. I’ll have a look around." Clark added. "I’m on assignment from the Daily Planet." Oliver’s eyes widened. "Really? Lo’ with you?"
"Affirmative." Clark tried to sound more official than usual. "We need a code name for her." Oliver said. "How about Parrot?" Dinah Lance joked. She’d been next to Oliver, disguised as his secretary. "Funny!" Oliver remarked.
"The rules don’t apply, here." Clark said with conviction.
"Now that’s what I like to hear, Boy Scout." Oliver praised. "Operation ‘Free Oracle’, will be fully funded by Queen Industries", he told Clark.
"Try not to do too much damage to the place. I mean why should you have all the fun?" Oliver said, sarcastically. "If it is 33.1 we’ll be coming in with guns blazing as soon as you’ve secured Oracle."
"Got it. I’ll let you know. Boy Scout out." Clark flipped off the phone, and zipped back into the condo. Lois was still in the shower. He heard the water running. Clark checked Lois’s Raspberry for an exact location of the Candle Brook facility. He then sped off.
Their shadow girl watched intensely as Clark shot off into the desert. "Recording." She said as she saw Clark disappear into the distance. "Security risk high." She muttered. A few minutes later, Superman showed up at the Candle Brook’s front desk.
"Can I speak with Chloe Sullivan?" He asked politely. The receptionist glanced up from her Cosmo Magazine. "Are you a relative?" She responded automatically. "No, just a friend." Clark replied hopefully. The desk jockey played around with her computer screen for a moment.
"I’m sorry, there’s no such person registered here." The clerk informed him. "Are you sure? She would be a recent transfer." Clark tried to be charming with little effect. "No, I’m sorry sir." She gazed past him towards the door. "Thank you." He pretended to give up, and examine the room’s art work, walking slowly in the direction of the exit.
Immediately, thinking Clark was out of earshot, the clerk called a number. "Front desk. Some guy was just here looking for Transfer 211. I didn’t get his name." She reported to her supervisor. Of course, Clark heard her, and listened to the reply on the other end of the line.
"Maybe we should transfer 211 to lower level 5 B just to be safe. E Mail the order." The male voice at the other end of the conversation said. "Will do, boss." The receptionist confirmed. Clark opened the door to the outdoors and then zipped into hyper speed to glance at the secretary’s screen.
She felt a stiff breeze as Superman passed her and headed to where they were currently holding Chloe. It was a generic looking whitewashed corridor which led to cells about the size of a single room occupancy hotel room. Chloe reclined on a couch. He thought she looked different.
Chloe’s blonde hair was long and straggly, her face was slightly gaunt, and she’d lost some weight. Clark ripped open the cell door, and stepped in. "Time to go, Chloe!"
He directed as alarms went off all over the area. "Oh Clark! Thank God!" Chloe wanted to embrace him, but didn’t seem to have enough strength. She limped a few feet in his direction. He picked her up.
"Clark express to the rescue!" She joked. He carried her at half speed through the winding nondescript corridors. The other cells were populated by ‘patients’ as well. "I’m sorry I took so long to get here. Oliver was trying to go through the proper channels. This is a Level 33.1 facility?"
"Yes." Chloe answered weakly. "Oliver and the boys will want to tear it up." She added. They were suddenly surrounded by guards. They would have been no challenge for Clark to knock over. He readied his path. "I got it, Clark!" Chloe said angrily. She slapped one hand against the wall.
A sizeable bolt of electricity zigzagged along the wall starting minor electrical fires in the wall, and the bolt continued on to the floor, instantly shocking the guards with a moderate electrical charge. They would be all right, other than some low level burns on their feet and hands from the guns and nightsticks that they were holding.
"Whoa!" Clark gaped. "I take it we have something to discuss." Chloe nodded, though the efforts nearly made her lose consciousness. Clark made a quick right turn, literally tearing through the walls of the building. Daylight forced Chloe to close her eyes. "Not much for subtlety." She joked.
"Where are we off to?" Chloe asked, though her voice was hoarse. "Arizona." Clark said simply, as he dashed towards the border past Las Vegas, Lake Mead, and the Hoover Dam.
Chloe was breathing heavily as Clark sped through the canyons of the desert southwest. He spotted a leftover snow patch high atop a mountain peak in the Rockies. Superman slowed to a normal pace, as Chloe’s head bounced limply against his chest. "Hey, Chlo’ stay with me here."
Clark awakened the exhausted girl. "You’re not the only one with something new to show off." He teased as he brushed Chloe’s frazzled hair from her eyes. She forced a grin. "Observe!" Clark said as he leapt skyward, clumsily soaring toward the snowcapped mountain.
Superman landed in the center of the cool clear ridge within the snow pack. "Nice, Clark!" Chloe praised. "At least you’ve been practicing." Clark put her down and she wobbly stood next to him. Chloe reached for a handful of fresh clean snow and wiped her forehead with it.
"That’s better." Chloe leaned against Kal’s shoulder. "What’re you doing out west again?" She probed. "Lois and I are working on a story for the Daily Planet." He replied, adding: "You don’t mind, do you?" Chloe shrugged. "I think you’ll do great. I’m just surprised Lois talked you into it."
"We felt like we were robbing you of your dream job. I mean Lois was really depressed about you. I certainly missed all of our adventures." Clark held Chloe up. She put her hand on his chest. "I had a lot of time to think about everything while they were poking and prodding me at 33.1"
"Clark, we can’t let LuthorCorp succeed in building an army of meteor powered mutants." Chloe began, taking a deep breath of the clean fresh air. "I’ve decided to join Oliver and the crew full time. He’ll fund our Isis Foundation as well, since Lana has effectively deserted us."
"If that’s your choice." Clark said noncommittally. "Yes it is, Clark." Chloe confirmed. "Okay, I’ll tell Lois that I’ll quit the Planet. Our mission is much more important than a journalism job." Superman offered. "Well, why? That’s the perfect place for you and my well meaning cousin to be. Think about it. You have access to the Planet’s database. I’ll crack the encryptions for you."
"You really don’t mind that Lois and I are stealing your glory?" Clark asked worriedly. "No. Seriously Clark, there’s a whole world out there to explore. I’ll help the meteor freak community, and stay close to home. I also made another choice. I want to settle down and live my life normally."
"Normality is overrated." Clark teased his good friend. "I realize that, now." Chloe chuckled. "Isn’t that ironic? I always wanted to be super powered, and you always wanted to be normal, whatever that means." Clark held her close. "We’ll be two different people." He added.
"Can you just see it?" Chloe smiled brightly, though her eyelids were half closed. "Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter by day, and super hero by night?" Superman nodded. "It will be tough. Yet Oliver’s doing it, and without any special supernatural abilities."
"Chloe Sullivan, champion of the oppressed, and high voltage meteor freak." She made light of her own situation. "Ready to go?" Clark offered. "Remember, Lois and I are still on assignment for the Planet. Do you want me to hyper speed you home?" Chloe shook her head.
"No, let’s get you back to Arizona. If I know my cousin, Lois is probably knocking on every surfer dude’s door looking for you." Clark picked her up, and Chloe wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Are you sure you can control this whole flying thing?" She asked warily.
Clark smirked. "If Kara could do it…" He launched himself off the mountaintop ravine and soared over the edge and sloped downward barely a few dozen feet above the green foliage, cacti and sagebrush. Superman flew much slower than Kara unsure of how a conscious Chloe would react.
Nearer to the mountain range base, sparsely populated ranch homes began to crop up. Clark stopped in midair with a jaw rattling jolt and sank softly into the desert sand. "Whoa! What a rush!" Chloe said as she caught her breath. "I still have to work the bugs out of my landings." Kal admitted.
"Not bad for a flight novice." Chloe praised, already in good spirits. "On to Lake Havasu then?" Clark nodded. "How’re we going to explain your appearance to Lois?" Chloe readied herself, lost in thought as Clark hit hyper speed and dashed across the Northern Arizona Desert.
"We could say that Oliver dropped me off?" Chloe suggested as they neared the resort area. "I guess." Clark said hesitantly. "You’re not too keen on lying to Lois, are you?" As usual, Chloe’s observations had hit their mark. "True." Clark admitted. "It seemed easier lying to Lana."
Chloe beamed. "Interesting." Superman shrugged as they walked through the front entrance to the resort village. "I’ll call Oliver, fill him in on our jailbreak, and have him back up our story in case Lois calls him." Chloe added. "Then, I’m taking a long cool shower, and a long nap."
"We still need to cover your new abilities." He reminded her. "Later, Clark, I’ve no intention of going anywhere, any time soon." Clark guided her toward the condo rental section. "How’d you acquire these new powers?" Chloe sighed. "I guess we’d better deal with that first. I’ll spare you the gory details, but our pal BRAINIAC wired me up."
"After I recovered from the tin can’s power hook up, I landed in a secret government facility you’ve likely heard of, Area 51. It doesn’t officially exist anywhere. Yet there I was in lovely deserted Nevada, home of the first atom bomb experiments."
"The Feds kept me locked up somewhere below the surface. Before I knew it, some official Gov Types walked me to a helicopter, blindfolded, I might add. The chopper went up and came down in a matter of moments. One of the Feds jabbed me with a knockout sedative."
"When I awoke, I was in my new digs, where you found me. They were testing me all the time. I didn’t find out it was a 33.1 facility until yesterday. The electro-girl power amp up was partially due to BRAINIAC and also due to the Luthorcorp electrolyses treatment."
Clark shook his head. "I’m sorry, Chloe." She dismissed him with a wave. "Don’t be. Now I have a meteor freak ability that I can use for defense. I won’t be led like a lamb to slaughter anymore." Clark spied Lois gazing out into the lake, presumably looking for him. He’d been gone about a half hour total.
Clark handed Chloe his phone, and she left a coded message for Oliver, before returning it. "What was he calling me? Oracle?" She asked Clark. "Yes. I didn’t get to pick my own cute nickname either." He quipped. "An oracle is…" Chloe finished for him: "A source of wisdom."
"I guess that’ll do." Chloe grinned smugly as Clark rolled his eyes. "I guess we should get this over with." He led Chloe to Lois who was still craning her neck, looking over the beach. "Hey Lois! Guess who I found?" Clark waved, and flashed his most innocent farm boy smile at her.
Lois gaped at them over her new sunglasses. "Chlo!" The young reporter nearly fell out of her beach chair getting up. "I like the new look." Lois teased her cousin. "It says ‘early 90’s grunge girl." Chloe and Lois hugged as Clark sported a lopsided grin. "How?" Lois asked as she unclenched.
"One word…Oliver!" Chloe despised lying to Lois, but it was a hard habit to break. "I see. The green bean comes through!" Lois snickered. "He hasn’t totally outgrown his usefulness." Clark stood by, much more relaxed, now that Chloe was safe.
The redhead was still following the scene, this time, from a safe distance in the water. "Added: One more target to observe, interacts with Lane and Kent." She murmured. "Identification, Sullivan Chloe. Status, fugitive. Contact not recommended."
"So, you and Clark are working for the Daily Planet, on a story, no doubt." Chloe began conversationally. The girls walked along ahead of Clark, who was busily taking in the beach panorama. Things could be worse, he mused. I’ll take a stuffy billionaire over BRAINIAC any day.
"Yeah, I felt so bad, Chlo’, I mean here we are on a gravy assignment while you were suffering at the hands of our wonderful government." Lois put her arm around her younger cousin. Chloe filled her in on the experience, minus a few meteor freak related items.
"Crap! Luthorcorp strikes again!" Lois hissed. "I swear Chloe, I will bring down that poor excuse for a silver spoon swallowing egomaniac!" Clark enjoyed seeing Lois worked up about this. He considered for a moment that it probably wouldn’t be long before Lois knew everything.
He kicked around the idea of telling her the whole sordid story from the very beginning. Clark still had reservations. Could Lois resist the story of a lifetime, meaning him? Could she keep his secret? It had proven exceedingly difficult for him to keep a lid on things by himself.
Pete, Chloe, and now Lana had suffered because of him and his vaunted secret identity. His Earth father Jonathan, Lionel, Patricia Swann, and who knew how many others had lost their lives protecting him. No, this was unacceptable! He was mentally filled with angst.
"Hello? Smallville?" Lois was suddenly beside Clark. "Have you been out in the sun too long? I asked you a simple question." Chloe was beginning to slide away from them. "I’m sorry Lois, what?" Superman had missed something. Clearly, super hearing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
"I asked you if you were hungry or needed to hit the showers." Lois repeated. "Chloe’s going to get cleaned up and join us at the restaurant near the Tiki Bar across from the entrance. How in the world have you managed not to be hot, sweaty, and disgusting in one hundred degree heat?"
"I guess that I’m just in good shape." Clark replied lamely. "No, that’s not it! Oh, did I say that out loud?" Lois continued to tease. Chloe chuckled before waving them off. She’d gotten the electronic key card to their condo from Lois earlier. "Nice!" Superman took her joke in stride.
Lois and Clark walked along the beach, under the watchful eyes of mystery girl. The young woman slowly made her way out of the lake and came up behind them. She kept her distance, all the while muttering something under her breath.
"Clark?" Lois took a deep breath, "Can I ask you something?" Clark steeled himself for a tease, joke, or criticism from the young journalist. "Why do you always seem to get involved in things?" This question caught Clark off guard. "Such as?" He tried to play it off.
"I mean all that Lex did to you, to Lana, and too many other people to mention, you still have insisted on coming to his rescue." Lois was practicing for a hard hitting interview, yet was Marcus Worthington truly her subject? Clark was momentarily silent.
"I guess the best way to answer that is that I hate to give up on people." Superman surprised himself with his candor. "However, Lex has used up all of his favors with me. From now on, we’ll be mortal enemies." Lois gulped, considering the magnitude of his statement.
"Whatever he’s up to, we have to stop him." Lois agreed. "Now what are on all these discs that Chloe created? I mean, I’m sure most of it is none of my business…" Clark hadn’t expected that question either. "You’d have to ask Chloe, honestly, I’m not sure of all the content."
"All I know is that she divided up her entire database on eight DVD discs. I have two, you have two, Oliver has two, and the other two went to someone that only you and she knew." Lois recalled, expertly. "What could be so important, that those precautions needed to be taken?"
Chloe also bribed Marcus Worthington with the info discs to buy his silence, Clark remembered, but decided not to share that with Lois. "As far as I know, some of the information was what Oliver needed to go after Lex’s Level 33.1 and some of it was background on meteor freaks."
Lois appreciated the information sharing, but in her mind, it created more questions than answers. There’s a big story here, she thought, and Clark is very sheepish about it. "You’re not going to tell me who the mystery person is that got the last two discs, are you?"
"I’m sorry Lois, but we need to protect that person." Clark replied evasively. "It’s Kara, isn’t it?" Lois guessed. "No, I can say for certain that it’s not. I can say that she’s underage, and must be protected at all costs. Now, that’s all that I can share." Lois finally gave up. "Fair enough."
Clark was reluctant to admit that the recipient of the last two discs was Laura Lake, a seventeen year old girl with amazing abilities that he and Chloe had met last year. Once Laura turned eighteen, she was a legal citizen, and the government wouldn’t be able to take her away from her parents or guardian legally. It was the same fear that Jonathan and Martha had about Clark.
"How about some R and R before we eat and head out to Worthington’s place?" Lois offered playfully. "Such as?" Clark smirked. "Race you to the water. Last one in buys dinner. One, two, three…" Lois dashed straight for the lake. Clark stripped off his shirt and followed her in.
link to chapter 5: Symone
Chicago, IL
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