Halloween By Nan Smith A 2006 Fundraiser Story Rated: PG13 Submitted: April, 2006 Disclaimer: The familiar characters and settings in this story are the property of DC Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, et al, and I have no claim on them, nor do I profit by their use. Any new scenes, characters, and the story itself, however, belong to me. This story is in the timeline of the series. Operation Blackout aired on October 30th. Halloween begins the next day. ********** "You're buying Halloween candy *now*?" Clark Kent asked, a slight note of incredulity in his voice. Lois nodded decisively, steering her shopping cart between rows of shelves that held the occasional bag of candy. The place looked as if a horde of rampaging barbarians had nearly stripped it bare. "I always wait until the last minute." "Why?" Clark asked, mystified. "Do you get some kind of discount or something?" "Sort of." Lois fished through the bags of rejected sweets, selecting the best of the leftovers for her cart. "If I buy them too soon, I eat all the chocolate and have to come back and buy more. And then, I have to diet like crazy and increase my gym workouts to lose the extra weight, too. It's easier to do it this way. Besides," she added, gesturing at the stripped shelves, "there's practically no chocolate left by this time, so I'm not as tempted." "Oh," Clark said. Put that way, she had a point. "Okay, I guess I see what you mean...." Lois nodded again as she picked up two bags of bubble gum and added it to the growing pile of candy. "That should do it. I just leave it in a big bowl outside my door. There's normally a little left behind when it's over, so I bring that to the office the next day. Somebody usually eats it." "If you like chocolate, though," Clark added, somewhat unwisely, "why don't you just eat it?" "Because I don't want to weigh five hundred pounds," Lois said. "We've been through this before, Clark. I love chocolate, but I have to watch how much I eat. Just because you don't gain an ounce when you eat all that junk you eat, doesn't mean other people don't." Clark prudently shut up. It was his confirmed opinion that Lois would be beautiful if she weighed twice her current weight, but she wasn't going to believe that, so he shelved the argument as fruitless. "So, you don't answer the door on Halloween?" "Nope. Besides, I'm not going to be home." "Oh? Got a date?" "Not exactly. Perry assigned me to cover the Mayor's shindig tonight. The Metro Halloween Ball." "Ah, I see," Clark said. "Sounds like fun." Lois rolled the cart up to the checkout, and they waited while the checker rang up her purchases. She paid what looked to Clark like a staggering amount of money for a bunch of second-rate candy and they gathered up the bags. "Not for me," Lois said, continuing the previous conversation as they carried the three grocery bags of sweets out of the store. "Perry knows I hate these things, but the only other person free to go to this social embarrassment is Mortie. You're lucky you have the day off." "Mortie?" Clark envisioned the quiet little man. "Maybe he'd enjoy it." "Mortie's an alcoholic. He avoids that sort of event like poison." "Oh. I guess I should mind my own business." "Oh, it's sort of general knowledge, but nobody thinks about it anymore," Lois explained. "He nearly got fired three or four years ago, but then he went on the wagon, and he's got some kind of agreement with Perry not to be sent to any event where they serve alcohol. He's a mean drunk: picks fights with authority figures before he reaches the falling-down stage." "*Mortie?*" Clark kept his voice low, but he was startled for all that. "Yeah, and since he used to be with Army Special Forces in Vietnam, it makes him dangerous. It was a case of dry up or be locked up." Lois shrugged. "I guess he's got enough self-discipline that when he nearly killed somebody in a bar fight, he decided he had to do something drastic. He's really a nice guy when he's sober." "I guess so," Clark said, after a stunned instant. He'd talked with Mortie on the job and sized him up as a shy, mild-mannered person. It just showed how you could misjudge someone, he thought. Still, the man had realized his problem and taken steps to bring it under control, so that spoke well of him. "Well," he said, after a moment. "What *would* you rather be doing besides going to this party?" "Oh, I don't know." Lois started the Jeep's engine. "After everything that happened with Ryan Wylie and Molly, and nearly getting annihilated by the Hawkeye satellite --" She sighed. "I guess I had my Halloween party early." "You didn't take me seriously, did you?" Clark asked, suddenly concerned. "You're a great friend. You have to know I mean that. The Planet wouldn't be nearly the paper that it is without you. I was just poking fun at you." "I know," she said. "It's just that it made me think. How many people do I spend time with? -- other than at work, I mean. How many real friends do I have? Molly and I used to be great friends, but I stopped being her best friend because of Ryan. He was a user and she didn't see it, but he drove me straight up the wall. I guess after he tried to hijack the Hawkeye satellite, yesterday, kill her and me, and blackmail the country into the bargain, she believes me, but if I'd stayed around maybe she would have seen the truth about him without having to go through all that stuff -- but I didn't. And there was Linda -- she didn't think twice about our friendship when it came to a man. She stole my story - well, you know about all that. And then I turned around and did the same to you, and told myself that I was doing it for your own good -- but I really knew better. No wonder people don't think of me as a good friend." "Lois, that was over a year ago, before we knew each other well. You're the best friend I ever had." "I nearly ruined that too, with Lex," Lois said. No one else would have noticed the slightly constricted quality to her voice, but no one else on Earth had his hearing. Lois was holding back tears. "I nearly lost you and Perry and Jimmy; the Planet was blown up -- if it hadn't been for you, I'd be married to Lex, and probably miserable. If I'd actually figured out by now that he was a criminal, the situation might be worse than that." "But none of that happened," Clark pointed out. "Because of you," she said. "I was as blind as a bat. I couldn't -- or *wouldn't* -- see what he was in spite of what you told me. Maybe *because* of what you told me. I was in such an adversarial situation with you, my friend and partner, that I nearly married one of the worst criminals of the modern day. I was so self-centered that I didn't care who I hurt as long as I was right. That's not the behavior of a good friend." "Lois, that isn't true," he contradicted. "There were a lot of reasons for the way you acted. Luthor was very good at manipulating people, and he put a lot of work into manipulating you." Clark had to bite back the temptation to tell her the truth: that his determination to save her in spite of her resistance had sprung from the fact that he loved her and that the thought of what her life would be like, tied to a sociopath like Luthor, had been almost physical agony to him. She didn't want to hear that from him. She was far more comfortable thinking of him as a friend. He could hardly blame her, of course, after what she had been through. He shouldn't have teased her about it yesterday. She hid it well, but the damage Luthor had done couldn't be erased that easily. "I shouldn't have come across like a jealous jerk. You're a terrific friend. I couldn't wish for a better one." "You could," she said, "but I'm glad you don't. I get massively competitive and shut my friends out, and treat them badly because I have to be the best. When you were nominated for the Kerth, I couldn't stand it that you were nominated and I wasn't -- I don't know how you put up with me." "It was a little frustrating at the time, but after we got it straightened out, it was all right," Clark said. "You wouldn't be Lois Lane if you weren't competitive. Cut yourself a little slack. Besides, competing with you has made me sharpen my own reporting skills. It's easy to get lazy if you don't have some stiff competition." She cleared her throat. "You're right," she said with sudden briskness. "You're a Kerth-winning writer, and that makes me work harder to be the best." "Exactly," Clark said. "It's one of the things I l -- like about you. So don't worry about whether or not you're a good friend. You're my best friend, and that's all there is to it." She threw him a slightly watery smile. "All right, I won't. Thanks, Clark." "Don't mention it." He hoped she hadn't noticed his near-slip. "So, what would you rather do tonight?" "It doesn't matter," Lois said briskly. "I have to be at the Halloween ball and that's the end of it. Perry wouldn't take no for an answer, so I'm just going to have to be professional about it and do my job." "If you want me to, I'll do it for you. I can use your pass, and we can always just put your name on the article. You've done it for me a couple of times." She shook her head. "No. I'd just be sticking you with a job I hate, and I'm sure you have other plans for the evening. But you could help me with my costume." She seemed to shake off the unaccustomed mood. "I'll be all right, Clark. You know me. Hide like a rhinoceros. I heard Wally compare me to one the other day." "Wally is full of --" Clark bit off the unflattering metaphor. "Well, anyway, he doesn't know you like I do. What kind of costume is it?" "I'm going as Marie Antoinette," Lois said. "Maybe there'll be so many of us that people will leave me alone. I need some help getting the wig on straight, though." "Okay." He forbore to mention that he had to be at the Halloween ball as well. The ball was a charity event, and men and women bought tickets for the privilege of attending. One of the incentives to lure in guests was a drawing for prizes, and on the earnest solicitation of the Mayor's wife, dinner with Superman was the grand prize for the women's drawing. He did this kind of thing all the time in the name of charity but suddenly he wished that he could accompany Lois tonight instead. His partner seemed to be unusually introspective and somber this evening. Probably it was just the reaction to the whole mess yesterday, he told himself. Lois wasn't nearly as sure of herself as she pretended, which was why she was so compulsive about being the best, no matter what. It was as if she had to repeatedly prove to the world that there was no one better. Or, more likely, prove to her father, and to herself, that the last time wasn't a fluke, wasn't an accident, that Lois Lane really was the best. That competitiveness had cost her friends more than once, and Clark thought that in some ways Lois was more isolated than he was. He followed her into her apartment and waited while she poured the candy into a large, plastic tub and set it outside her door. The trick-or-treaters would be coming around soon, and the festivities started in about an hour and a half. Plenty of time. Lois disappeared into her bedroom. He heard her moving around, and the rustling of cloth. After at least fifteen minutes, she emerged in costume, her hair pinned up, with the wig in her hand. "Clark, can you get this thing on straight? I can't quite seem to manage it." "Sure," he said. He took the wig and examined it, then eased it onto her hair. "How's that?" "I think that'll do," Lois said. "I don't know what it was, but it just wouldn't go on straight when I did it. Okay, let me just pin it on and I'm ready." ********** In the Suit, two hours later, Clark walked up the steps of the convention hall. Music spilled from the doors and windows, and the chatter of voices could be clearly heard by any passersby. He had dropped Lois off here some ten minutes previously and watched as she trudged resignedly up to the entrance, produced her press pass and entered the building. Well, he was here to help raise money for breast cancer research, so he'd better get in there and let himself be seen. "Hold it, buddy." The burly fellow taking the tickets blocked the entrance. "Ticket, please." "I don't have one," he said. "I'm not a guest. I'm a door prize." "Yeah, right. Get lost, pal. Nobody gets in here without a ticket." "I'm Superman," he said. "I'm here for the drawing." The ticket-taker looked him up and down. "Sure you are. Superman's a lot taller than you, buddy. Beat it." Clark sighed, levitated several feet into the air and floated through the door. He didn't look back. Inside, the room was crowded with people in all kinds of costumes from the standard Robin Hood and Maid Marian to the wildly fantastic. He saw at least a dozen Marie Antoinettes and none of the ones in view were Lois. There were several Superman impersonators as well as a number of Batmen and Batwomen, a Luke Skywalker with the inevitable lightsaber and half a dozen Darth Vaders. Princess Leia was also evident in different parts of the room, and a Tin Woodman brandished his aluminum axe as he danced with Tweetie. Slowly but steadily, he wended his way through the crowd toward the back of the room. There was Lois, he saw, in conversation with a man dressed in a metallic tunic with a sword swinging from his belt and sporting a small beard. Clark paused for an instant, trying to dredge up in his mind who the fellow was supposed to be, but nothing came to mind immediately. Well, the committee handling the drawing was probably wondering where he was, so he'd better go check in. ********** Out of the corner of her eye, Lois saw Superman stride through the crowd. He was the real one, she was certain, especially when compared to the other ones here tonight. There was just something about the way he walked and held himself that marked him as the genuine article. One of the women's door prizes this evening was a date with him, as had been announced in the Daily Planet last week, in order to help boost the ticket sales. The ploy had worked, as the number of women here seemed to exceed the number of men by a considerable margin. If she recalled correctly, the best door prize among the ones available for the men was a pair of tickets to the Metropolis Tigers' game against Gotham City next Tuesday. The guy in the metallic shirt was still hanging around. She excused herself in an undertone and hurried after Superman, aware that the bearded man was looking after her with a faint smile. There Superman was, talking to the Mayor's wife where she sat at the table reserved for the people actually putting on this event. The woman was leaning forward to emphasize her decolletage and batting her eyelashes at the hero, who, to his credit, did not appear to notice. He smiled and nodded several times, and got to his feet at last. "Superman!" Lois called. He turned his head and smiled. "Hello, Lois. Are you here for the party or on duty for the Planet?" "The second, I'm afraid," Lois said. "Can I get an interview?" He hesitated and then nodded. "Sure. The drawing isn't until ten." "Maybe I'll stick around," Lois said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but she could see he wasn't fooled even as she spoke. "I've got a ticket, too. Where do you intend to take the winner?" "I was thinking of dinner in Italy," he said. "And then dancing in Brazil." "It sounds nice," Lois said, wondering why the usual enthusiasm wasn't there. Superman was just as handsome as he always was, but somehow she kept thinking of Clark as she had seen him in the Jeep, asking her if she was sure she didn't want him to take her place. He had known how much she hated these things and wanted to help. Clark was probably one of the few real friends she had and certainly the closest. She wished she had been able to spend the evening with him. If he'd been able to come with her, she was sure she'd have enjoyed the party far more than she was going to. Superman smiled in sympathy. "You don't like masquerade balls do you?" "It's not that," she said. "I wish Clark were here with me, that's all." She thought his eyes widened a little. "Clark?" "Yes." She didn't think that needed explaining. "I'm sure he wishes he could be here, too," Superman said. He raised his head as the orchestra began to play a waltz. "Even if I'm not Clark, would you like to dance?" She summoned a smile. This was her dream man, after all. "Sure. But shouldn't you be dancing with somebody important?" "I'm my own man until I get auctioned off," he said with a grin. She found herself laughing. "I notice there are almost twice as many women here tonight as men. Is there an alternate prize for married women?" "I sure hope so!" Superman said, a look of comical dismay on his face. "Actually, I'm pretty sure there is." "That's good," Lois said. "I guess being the world's most eligible bachelor has its downside, huh?" "Actually, I'm really not that eligible," he said, surprising her. "I can't get married, Lois. Any woman I married would be the target of every criminal in the world who wanted to control me. Some of them have already targeted you, just because people know you're a friend of mine. Think how much worse it would be if I had a wife." "I suppose so," she said. "If you ever did marry, I guess you'd have to do it secretly." "At the very least!" he said. They were silent for several minutes, moving in time to the music. Superman was an excellent dancer, Lois found herself thinking. As good as Perry, or Clark. She wondered where he had learned it. "Clark said he learned ballroom dancing from a Nigerian princess," she remarked. "Did he?" "Yes. He told me that once, not long after we first met. I guess it must have been while he was traveling. Where did you learn?" "Here and there," he said, and dipped her deeply. "A friend of mine taught me most of it." Again they were silent. "So," Lois said after a minute, "what are you going to do on this date besides dinner and dancing?" "Probably take her for a night flight above the clouds before I take her home," Superman said. "After all, this is for charity. I owe it to whoever wins to make it a good date, if she was willing to pay money for it." "You always honor the spirit of a deal as well as the letter of it, don't you?" "Of course." The music ended and Superman bowed slightly to her. "Thanks for the dance, Lois." "You're welcome. You're a very good dancer." "Thank you. So are you." He led her from the dance floor. "I guess I need to dance with some of those 'important people' you mentioned. I hope you'll save another one for me before the drawing." "Sure," she said. "Do you see an empty chair anywhere? I might as well sit down for a while." "Right this way," Superman said. "And let me get you something to eat before I take off. It's the least I can do." "Thanks," she said. ********** True to his word, he reappeared for the final dance before the drawing, and Lois had the good fortune of a second dance with Superman in one evening. Then she stood near the front of the crowd and watched as the tickets were drawn and the prizes were awarded. As might be expected, Superman was won by a society debutante barely out of her teens, who had apparently accompanied her parents to the ball. Her sharp squeal of delight when she realized that she had won nearly made Lois drop her notepad. After the drawing, Lois circulated through the crowd, and located the winner for a short interview. Superman, on her arm, maintained a pleasant, polite expression while Lois asked her questions, and answered a few directed at him. At last, her duty completed, Lois headed for the coatroom. Clark had promised to park the Jeep for her and then walk home. It was only a few blocks, he'd assured her, and he had an errand to take care of anyway. When she stepped out into the chilly evening, the first thing she noticed was that it had clouded over, and a brisk breeze was blowing. She headed for the lot, feeling in the pocket of her coat for the keys. At least Halloween was over for another year. A sharp blow to the base of her skull ended that thought and every other one for the time being. She didn't feel it when she hit the ground. *********** "Darling, wake up." The voice was one that she almost recognized. Lois opened her eyes to a raging headache. There was a wet cloth on her forehead, and she was lying in bed in a luxurious room that looked vaguely familiar. The bright light in her eyes made her close them again with a wince. "Turn down the light," the voice said. "Darling, are you all right? What happened?" Slowly, Lois opened one eye, but the brilliant light had faded to a soft, rosy glow. She opened the other one and turned her head to see who was speaking. Lex Luthor was sitting in an armchair beside the bed, a concerned expression on his face, and behind him a woman in the uniform of a nurse hovered nervously. Lois closed her eyes again with a faint moan. Somehow she must have fallen and hit her head. She was having hallucinations. It was the only explanation. "Lie still," Luthor's voice said gently. "Gretchen says you have a mild concussion. This is the result of your refusing an escort. Your independent ways are a constant source of concern to me, you know." A pair of competent hands removed the wet cloth and Lois heard a sloshing of water. The cloth was replaced by another one. She lay still with her eyes closed, listening to Lex Luthor's voice and trying to figure out what was going on. She had to be dreaming, but until now she never remembered feeling this kind of throbbing headache in a dream. She certainly didn't remember the feel of water trickling down her forehead, or recall the scent of lavender that wafted from the sheets, or the smell of the expensive cologne that Lex always wore. Lex's murmuring voice ceased and she felt his hand caress her cheek. "I imagine your head is throbbing," he said. "I'll let you alone to rest. Gretchen says giving you something for pain isn't a wise idea, or I would have insisted that it be done. Rest, my dear. We'll talk when you feel better." "Thank you," she whispered, grateful that his voice had stopped once again. Even the sound made painful sparks shoot through the darkness in front of her closed eyes. She heard the faint tread of feet on thick carpet, and then a door opened and closed. "Mrs. Luthor?" The voice of the nurse broke the silence. "Is there anything I can do for you?" "No," she whispered. It had to be a dream, she thought. A nightmare worthy of Halloween. It was the only explanation. When she woke up, things would be all right, Clark would be here and together they could laugh about her weird dream. But something about the situation kept her quiet. Something about all this was too chillingly solid. If this was a dream it was the most realistic one that she had ever had. What on Earth was going on here? ********** She slept restlessly, with the nurse awakening her every hour, and as a result when morning came, she felt as if she had had no rest at all. Eventually, the nurse disappeared and Lois fell into a deeper sleep. When she woke again the room was still dark, which was understandable once she realized that thick curtains had been pulled across a very large window. Wherever she was, she certainly wasn't in the bed in her apartment. Fumbling in the thick darkness, she found a lamp and switched it on. When her eyes had adjusted to the light, she looked around in shock, and then a sense of déjà vu mixed with growing horror. She knew this room. It was the room that she and Lex Luthor had planned together in the Lex Tower penthouse - just before the disastrous wedding that had culminated in Lex throwing himself from the balcony. This was utterly impossible. The penthouse of Lex Tower had been closed up while the various details of Lex's estate were thrashed out. The break-up of the Luthor business empire was still in progress, but recently it had been announced that William B. Caldwell, the business magnate and multimillionaire, had purchased the penthouse for a fabulous sum. She closed her eyes and opened them again, looking around in the faint hope that the scene would have changed, but it hadn't. She was in the bedroom that she and Lex would have shared if she had not drawn back at the last instant, if Perry, Jimmy and Jack hadn't interrupted her wedding. What the consequences to her might have been if they had not, after she had refused to say "I do", was a question she had always wondered about. Lex had always appeared to love her, but now she knew that Lex Luthor was a sociopath, a monster in a handsome body, who was capable of and guilty of unspeakable evil. What, her mind repeated like a stuck recording, was going on here? Could she still be dreaming? If so, it was the most substantial dream she had ever had. Slowly, she slid her feet to the floor. A satin dressing gown lay neatly folded at the foot of the bed, and two fuzzy bedroom slippers were placed on the thick carpet, slippers made out of chinchilla fur. She slid her feet into them and made her way to the curtained windows. Almost automatically, she located the switch that opened the curtains and pushed it, and watched in a bemused way as they slid silently open. Beyond the window was a wide balcony, and below that she could see the city of Metropolis spread out below her. She knew this view. She was definitely in Lex Tower, all right. If she had not been warned by that very painful awakening the night before, she thought, she might have charged out in her typical fashion and demanded to know what was going on. She'd never thought she could be grateful to a headache, but this time she was. It had probably saved her from a fatal error. If she was dreaming, it was the clearest, most detailed dream she had ever had, and if she wasn't -- well, it was better to keep quiet until she figured out what was really going on. Cautiously, she felt the back of her head and winced as she discovered that it was extremely sore. She certainly hadn't dreamed that part, unless she was dreaming about imagined pain. So what had happened? She had been leaving the Halloween Ball, and something had hit her. And she had awakened here. Wherever here was. Well, whatever was happening, it was evident that Lex, if that had really been him last night, thought that she was his wife. What would he think if she started claiming not to remember marrying him; in fact remembered him jumping from his office balcony to his death on the pavement a hundred-plus stories below? He was bound to think she was seriously crazy, or at the very least that it wasn't safe for her to be wandering around alone. And if she was going to figure this thing out, assuming that it was possible, she suspected she was going to need some time by herself. She had better not inform him of his error until she had had a little time to scope out the lay of the land. It seemed like the most sensible thing that she could do. If she were truly dreaming, then it wouldn't matter, but if by some crazy chance all this was real, it was smarter not to let on to the people around her that she wasn't who they thought she was. Unless she somehow really was, and everything that she remembered was the dream. But that couldn't be, could it? Well, the first thing to do was to find out what day it was and what the situation was out there in Metropolis. And if Clark was still around. She recalled him telling her that Superman had claimed Lex had intended to kill him. If Lex was alive, was Clark dead? Was Superman still here or had Lex finally managed to drive him away? A little quiver of panic began to beat in tune with the tiny throb of pain that remained from last night's adventure and she forced it back. She mustn't act out of fear. She had to keep calm. Taking a deep breath, she turned and made her way to the enormous closet that had been intended to hold her clothing. She opened it and stared at the multitude of outfits, all for her. There was more clothing here than she could wear in a lifetime, she thought, but after some consideration she chose a neat pantsuit. Better that than a dress, she thought. Who knew how much activity she was going to have to engage in, after all? There was a good chance that Lex would have bodyguards following her if she chose to go out today; it was a little surprising that she hadn't been followed last night -- but then maybe she had been. Besides, last night she hadn't been here. She shook her head carefully, mindful of the borderline pain she still felt from the blow on the head that had knocked her out. How on Earth was she supposed to explain the contradictions to herself? Her memories of the last year were of working at the rebuilt Daily Planet beside Clark and Jimmy Olsen, with Perry in charge. If she wasn't completely crazy, and she wasn't dreaming, what had happened? She laid out her clothing on the bed and went into the enormous bathroom to shower. Hopefully none of the maids would show up until she was finished getting dressed. She turned on the water and adjusted the temperature, still thinking. All right, the situation was obviously impossible on the face of it, but she was going to have to act as if it were real until she found out what was actually going on. Another thought occurred to her, only adding to the confusion that she already felt. If she had arrived in this crazy dream world last night, then where was the Lois Lane who was supposed to be here? She must exist. Lex was here, and he obviously remembered a Lois. And she hadn't been here before, had she? If she went back to sleep again, maybe when she woke up, all this craziness would be gone. Maybe she would wake up in a hospital, the victim of a mugging, and the whole insane situation would turn out to be some kind of wild hallucination inspired by the blow that had made the back of her head so sore. Only, going to sleep right now wasn't going to be possible. She was too keyed up and upset by what seemed a literal impossibility. She wasn't a bit sleepy. She dropped her nightgown to the floor and stepped into the shower. She'd better hurry. She had a lot of things to figure out today. ********** By the time she had bathed and dressed, the clock on her nightstand told her it was noon, and she was famished. Lex usually ate on the terrace; at least he had when they had been dating, but she wasn't sure what the protocol would be for a very late breakfast by Mrs. Luthor. On the other hand, she didn't really have to answer to anyone, so if she chose to do something different this morning, why should anyone question her? The breakfast room was empty, but Lois took a seat at the table and rang the little crystal bell sitting in the middle of it. After a moment, a uniformed maid entered the room. She seemed surprised to discover Lois there. "Mrs. Luthor? Can I help you, ma'am?" "Yes," Lois said with an assumption of calm that she didn't feel. "I'd like my breakfast served here this morning -- or afternoon. And if there's a newspaper around, I'd like to see it." "Um...yes, ma'am," the woman said, seeming a little flustered. "Right away, ma'am." Mindful of the possibility of observers, Lois leaned back in the chair, contemplating the view out the wide window that made up one wall of the breakfast room. The buildings of Old Town were visible from here, and she remembered Lex telling her of his plans to revitalize the district by rebuilding the ancient structures with modern replicas of the older, worn and decrepit ones. There would be new restaurants and a bazaar, he told her, and shops where the merchants could sell their wares to the tourists. There would be the street vendors with the sidewalk shows of art and pottery, and exotic little establishments that sold perfume, incense, scented candles and hand-made jewelry to visitors. He had planned, she remembered, to buy out the independent merchants and replace them with franchises that answered ultimately to Lexall Enterprises, which ran similar operations in several large cities across the country. The idea had made her vaguely uneasy even then, although she had refused to listen to the feeble voice of caution that had pricked at the edges of her mind. She had shoved the thought away, telling herself that Lex knew what was best for the city, submerging the instinct of an investigative reporter that told her that something about the plans didn't smell right. She wondered if, in this world, Lex had succeeded with that scheme as well. The door that led to the hall opened and Nigel St. John entered, bearing a folded newspaper. "You wished to see a newspaper, Madam?" Lois cleared her throat. "Yes, thank you, Nigel." "I trust you are feeling well, Madam. Mr. Luthor was most distressed last night when you were found. He has set inquiries about for information concerning who could have assaulted you." "I'm afraid I don't remember much," Lois said, quite truthfully. "Do you know what happened?" "No, Madam. Only that you were found in the parking lot where you had parked your vehicle. You were wearing your costume, and your engagement and wedding rings were missing." "I suppose that isn't surprising," Lois said. "No, Madam." Nigel laid the folded newspaper neatly on the table. "I'm pleased to see that you are feeling better this morning. Mr. Luthor wished for me to inform you that he will be occupied with business matters for several hours, but that he hopes you will not feel obligated to go to work today, and will take the opportunity to rest and recover from your experience." "I will," Lois said. "I'll inform Mr. Luthor," Nigel said. "I will, of course, be available at once should you require anything." "Thank you," Lois said. Nigel bowed slightly and withdrew. Lois shivered. This whole situation was enough to give anyone the chills. How was she supposed to maintain this pretense? She had to figure out what was happening, or wake up, or something, pronto! The door that led to the kitchen opened and a liveried servant emerged with a covered tray held before him. Lois smiled at him and waited while the man set a plate loaded with more food than she ever ate at any meal in front of her. With silent efficiency, he swiftly set the table, poured coffee, set out low fat creamer and sugar substitute, and poured ice water into the water glass. "Thank you," Lois said automatically. The man smiled fractionally at her and turned to leave. Lois was left alone, but she had the feeling that she was still under observation. Well, no one was going to learn much if she merely ate her breakfast and read the morning paper. She fell to on the oatmeal that obviously had been prepared from scratch by someone who knew what he was doing, and then started in on the bacon and eggs. After last night, she reasoned, she probably needed the fuel to recover. The newspaper, she noted, was the Metropolis Star, and there was an article on the front page that caught her attention at once. "Blackout in Metropolis", by Clark Kent. And beneath it, "Plot to blackmail government uncovered." Her heart jumped into her throat at the sight of her partner's name. Clark was alive and writing for the Star! Slowly, she laid the paper down and poured sugar substitute and creamer into her coffee. She took her time stirring, and lifted it to her lips, careful not to show any reaction to the information. But the newspaper headline had given her hope. If she could somehow get hold of Clark and talk to him, tell him what had happened to her, maybe she had a chance of solving this incredibly confusing situation that she had fallen into. ********** "But Mrs. Luthor, are you certain you should go out? Mr. Luthor said specifically that you should rest." Lois nodded. "Yes, I know, Nigel. I'm not going to work or for any marathon runs. I'm just going for a walk. I get claustrophobia in the penthouse. I promise to simply stroll along, and not exert myself, and you can tell Lex, if he asks, that I'll be back in a couple of hours." The butler looked doubtful but stood aside and she stepped into the private elevator. It bore her to the first floor, and Lois tried to keep an eye out without seeming to as she left the building by the private entrance. With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, she knew that during their engagement, Lex had undoubtedly kept track of her in more ways than one. Certainly,investigators probing into the dealings of LexCorp had discovered briefcases wired for eavesdropping and corporate offices used by his subordinates bugged. Lex hadn't even trusted his partners-in-crime, which probably explained how he had managed to reach the level of crime boss that he had become. She'd thought that she, herself, had been free of such observation until she had taken the gold compact that he had given her as a "token of affection" and, in a burst of temper, thrown it against the wall. That was when she had discovered that he hadn't trusted her any more than the others. Amid the broken pieces, she had discovered a tiny microphone with a transmitter that had been hidden beneath the mirror. The only place that had been free of such devices had been the penthouse itself. Apparently Lex hadn't liked the idea of others, even men in his own employ, spying on him -- which made sense considering how much he had to hide. She made no attempt to avoid location finders or even human observation at this point. The whole exercise was to make Lex think that she really had gone out for nothing more than a walk. She strolled toward Centennial Park, and it took less than ten minutes to locate her tail: a scruffy youth who seemed to have no particular destination in mind except to meander along the opposite sidewalk, a skateboard under one arm and a look of boredom on his features. She hadn't taken a handbag with her, preferring to stuff a handful of loose change into one pocket, and several twenties into her bra, just in case she needed the cash. In fact, she had nothing with her that was likely to be used to conceal a microphone. That was deliberate on her part. She wanted whoever was monitoring her to get used to the idea that she didn't take such things with her if she was just going out for a harmless walk. Lex's spy could report later that all she had done was walk in Centennial Park. Near the park, she stopped at a hot dog stand and purchased a hot dog, which she munched as she strolled along. At another stand she bought a cup of hot coffee and a few moments later was sitting on a wooden bench in the park, sipping it carefully and watching the man who was following her from the corner of her eye. He wasn't likely to be able to tell that she was doing so. Sunglasses had their uses besides protecting her eyes from the sun and hiding her identity from the media. The tail had taken a sudden interest in the ducks in the pond a short way from her, and was tossing them bits of bread from his own hot dog bun. Apparently her idea had seemed like a good one to him, she thought whimsically, before returning to the puzzle that she had come no nearer to solving during her walk. Metropolis looked exactly the same as before. It even smelled the same, and never in her memory had she ever dreamed of smells. If this was a dream it was by far the most detailed one that she had ever had, and she was starting to very much fear that it wasn't a dream. Then how was she to explain her very clear memories of the last several months? Was she completely insane? If she was, then there was no point of going farther with this, because all her memories of what had been discovered about Lex were false. But if she was sure of anything, it was that her mind was sound. If it wasn't, she might as well act as if it was, because just giving in to this situation wasn't something that she could do. Well, there was one way to prove to herself that she wasn't crazy, and that was to do a little investigating and dig up evidence of some of Lex's criminal activities for herself. And if Clark hadn't given up investigating Lex, then he would probably be willing to help her once he realized that she had finally seen the light. Assuming that he was willing to speak to her at all. That thought brought her up sharply. Clark had hated the thought of her marriage to Luthor. He had been angry and she'd thought at the time, jealous, although he had taken back his declaration of love later. She wasn't completely sure that she believed him, but had been content to let the subject lie. Only now, it might have some bearing on any attempt she made to contact him. And if she did, what would Lex do? It was just as well that she hadn't jumped into any course of action without thinking it over, she decided. How long had she been out here? She glanced at her watch, and another thought occurred to her. Lex had bugged her compact. How about her watch? It was a beautiful watch, made of Black Hills gold, with the traditional grapevine pattern, and the band was also made of the same material. She obviously hadn't worn it with her costume last night, since she had found it on her dresser this morning. Lex had given it to her for their three-month anniversary, judging by the engraving on the back. And it could easily contain a tracking device. As a matter of fact, she should suspect any piece of jewelry or any item that she carried with her to have one, if Lex gave it to her. But she could still use that to her advantage. He didn't know she knew, so she could use the fact to establish her complete innocence. It was just past two. Clark wouldn't be home for a while. Lex would be watching her closely today, but maybe tomorrow he would be less alert, especially since she had done nothing today that she hadn't said she would do. All she had done was take a walk to the park. As a matter of fact, strolling around the park, enjoying the fall colors sounded like a good idea. Lex might wonder if she only came here to eat a hot dog and drink coffee. She got up from the bench, pitched her coffee cup into the nearest trash container and began to walk along the nearest path into the park. The fall colors were as breathtaking as she had expected them to be. The hitch was that she didn't care. She made a show of admiring the trees, brilliant in their cloaks of gold, orange and bronze, but her mind was busy turning over plans to gather evidence on her supposed husband. At least some of Lex's criminal activities had come to light over the past months, so she had some idea of where to look. Investigators had located many files in his office, as if he didn't want them anywhere out of his control. Others had turned up in a heavy vault in the basement of Lex Tower. She had managed to be present when the thing was actually opened. It was a combination lock, she recalled, with five numbers. She couldn't open it without the combination -- but Superman could. If she could get him to help her. She would go down there tomorrow and scout out the lay of the land. And she could conveniently "forget" to wear her watch or any other item that might contain a transmitter. It was just as well to see what she was up against. It was as she turned at last onto the path that would lead her back to Lex Tower, that the man passed her. He was an unremarkable fellow, with reddish-brown hair and a short beard, but the sight of him produced a sharp stab of memory. She had seen this man before, and it had been recently, but she couldn't quite place the occasion. She only knew it had been before she had awakened in Lex's penthouse. After a few seconds, she stopped and turned to look after him, but he had already disappeared abound a bend of the path. ********** "I was worried about you, darling," Lex greeted her as she stepped off the elevator. "I only wanted to take a walk in the park," Lois said. "I get claustrophobic in the penthouse. I'm all right, Lex. Nothing but a mild headache from the whole thing. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep -- without somebody waking me up every few minutes." His face relaxed in an indulgent smile. "How were the fall colors?" "It was beautiful," she said, truthfully. "We should both walk there, tomorrow. Tell me, my love, would you prefer to live in a house in the country?" "No," she said with a smile. "I'm a city girl, Lex. The park is enough." "I wish you would take an escort, my dear." "I can't be alone if someone's with me." She smiled at him as guilelessly as she could. "I don't have much privacy anyway as the wife of the world's third-richest man. I have to take it when I can." "Second-richest, Lois." "Sorry," she said. "Habit. Anyway, no one realized who I was." "One day someone will, and you'll have a crowd of media --" "I'm *part* of the media," she pointed out. "I can handle them." "My indomitable Lois," he said. "Very well, we'll shelve the subject for now. What are your plans for this afternoon?" "I thought I'd take a nap," she said. "I didn't get much sleep last night with the nurse waking me up all the time." "Gretchen's orders," he said. "It's standard procedure in case of a concussion." "I know, but it doesn't do much for the patient's sleep. Anyway, I thought I'd make up for it with a couple of hours' nap this afternoon." "An excellent idea. I told Andre to prepare your favorite dishes this evening, so you'll be rested enough to enjoy it, and hopefully the headache will be gone by then. I have a meeting this afternoon -- a videoconference with my offices in Singapore -- so I'm going to be occupied." "All right," Lois said. "Enjoy your business meeting." He brushed a hand across her cheek. "Rest well, my dear." She smiled automatically, but as he walked out of the room she remained frozen with suddenly realized horror. He was her husband in this strange reality, and that enormous bed in the huge bedroom upstairs was meant for both of them. She hoped fervently that tonight he wouldn't expect anything from her, after her assault at the Halloween ball last night. And maybe before tomorrow night, she would have found the way out of this place -- whatever it was. Because if she didn't, she was going to have to think of a way to avoid any of Lois Luthor's wifely duties, and if she knew Lex as well as she thought she did, he wasn't likely to take no for an answer. ********** The realization was enough to prevent her getting any of the sleep that she had intended to get. After tossing and turning fruitlessly for forty minutes, she gave up the attempt and lay staring upward into the dimness of the room. She had been thinking about this situation almost constantly since this morning, and had begun to come to some conclusions. If this wasn't all a hallucination or a dream, then what had happened to her? Common sense said this couldn't be, and yet it was. There was nothing in her knowledge that could explain it but unless she was going to accept the notion that she was completely insane, she was going to have to make a few pretty far-out assumptions. She'd seen a television show recently that had a few ideas that might explain what otherwise couldn't be. Lois laced her fingers behind her head, thinking about it. Suppose the time in her world was like a line on a piece of paper, and suppose there were a lot of parallel lines, like on a sheet of ruled notepaper, all representing other timelines. And suppose she could only walk along one line -- unless something moved her to another one. Was that possible? A world similar to hers, but of alternate chances, alternate choices, where things had worked out a little differently than in her own.... It sounded like wild science fiction, even fantasy, and under ordinary circumstances she wouldn't have given the idea a second's consideration. But three years ago, the idea of a man from an alien planet, who flew around the skies of Metropolis, would have been just as incredible and just as unbelievable. Suppose, then, that someone had found a way to accomplish this weird kind of time travel, and suppose that somebody, or someone who knew what he had found, wanted very much to get rid of Lois Lane without killing her and having the inconvenience of a body to deal with -- and maybe as a cruel joke into the bargain. It might result in what had happened to her. And maybe that somebody would come by occasionally to enjoy the results of his handiwork. It was barely possible. If she accepted this theory, she would have to remember to watch for someone keeping an eye on her besides Lex and his minions -- someone that she remembered from her own world. The man she had seen today at the park came to mind. It was interesting how he had seemed to turn up out of nowhere like that. On the other hand, he might be totally innocent -- or not. But she would be on the watch for him if he should show up again. Surprisingly, now that she had come up with at least a partial theory for the impossible situation in which she had landed, she found that fatigue was creeping over her and she was glad to close her eyes. Lois turned on her side and drifted off to sleep. ********** She awakened some time later to the sound of someone knocking on the door. A woman's voice called, "Mrs. Luthor?" She pushed herself slowly upright, glancing at the clock on the nightstand. It was just after six. Lex always preferred cocktails at six-thirty and dinner at seven, she recalled. It gave her about twenty minutes to get dressed. The knock came again. "Mrs. Luthor?" "I'm awake," Lois called. "I'll be there in twenty minutes!" "Yes, ma'am," the voice said. "Dinner will be served in the study tonight, ma'am." Lois turned on the lamp and stood up, yawning. She felt better, although the back of her head was still extremely tender. She went to the closet and began to examine her choice of clothing. She had no idea what Lex expected her to wear except that it would have to be dressy, and she knew he preferred her to be clothed elegantly, so finally she decided on the simple little black dress and a string of milky pearls. She hunted around in the enormous shoetree to locate the shoes that went with the dress, and hurried into the bathroom to refresh her makeup before dressing. It was as she was struggling to zip the dress, and peering in the mirror to see herself from every angle, that she noticed the elegant, black shoulder bag made of leather hanging neatly from the antique wooden coat tree in one corner of the room, obviously placed there deliberately by human hands. The real Lois Luthor's purse, if the LL embroidered on the leather was any clue. It certainly wasn't likely to be Lex's. She finished zipping the dress, ran the brush through her hair and crossed to the coat tree. The bag was moderately heavy, as she expected it to be. She had always had a tendency to load her purses to the breaking point, and apparently the elegant Mrs. Luthor had continued with the habit. Quickly, Lois rummaged through the purse and emerged with an expensive leather wallet, tastefully tooled for a lady and, flipping it open, she found herself looking at Lois Luthor's driver's license, her press pass, her membership card for the National Organization of Woman Journalists, and half a dozen credit cards. Apparently her counterpart hadn't taken the bag with her when she had gone to the Halloween ball. Lois frowned. She hadn't either, of course, but she had taken a small, satin purse, with her wallet, lipstick, compact and car keys in it. There were no keys here, but the gold compact that she had broken in her world, only to find the eavesdropping device, was in a side pocket. This was definitely strange. A glance at her watch told her that it was almost time for her to join Lex in the study for dinner. Quickly, she replaced the wallet and closed the bag, noting without surprise that a cellular phone was clipped to an inner pocket of the purse. Lois Luthor had apparently failed to take her cellular phone with her last night as well. That was pretty odd, too. She would have to think about this later, but keeping Lex waiting probably wasn't a good idea. Taking a last, quick glance at her image in the mirror, she gathered her courage and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Lex was waiting beside the elevator when the doors opened on the lower level and when he saw her he smiled the very familiar smile that she remembered. "You look beautiful tonight, my dear." "And you look handsome, as always," Lois countered. He offered her his elbow, and they entered the study. The little table where she had eaten with him many times before, when they had been dating, was already set and waiting. He held her chair with perfect courtesy and after she was seated, he took the place across from her. Lex never neglected such small details, she recalled, which was one of the things that had charmed her about him in the beginning. Within a few seconds, as if it was timed -- and it probably was, she thought -- Asabi approached to set a bottle of what Lois assumed to be wine on the table, but Lex surprised her. "Gretchen says it would be inadvisable for you to drink alcohol so soon after a concussion," he said. "Tonight we're having non-alcoholic wine. I trust that will be satisfactory." She nodded, and he picked up the bottle to pour for both of them. A second servant approached with bowls of soup, and the dinner began. Lex kept up a light conversation during the dinner, and she responded appropriately, thinking all the while that she had never noticed while he was courting her how superficial their relationship really was. Lex was an astute businessman, and apparently didn't feel it necessary for his wife to be informed about his business -- something that she had wondered a little about before, but hadn't understood why. Lex apparently loved her, but considered her, like everyone else, his intellectual inferior. His trophy wife, she thought. "You seem a little quiet tonight," he remarked. She smiled dutifully. "I have a little of the headache left, and the back of my head is awfully sore," she said. "I hope it will be better tomorrow." "I'm sure it will if you take care of yourself tonight," Lex said. "My prescription for you would be to go to bed soon after dinner and to sleep late tomorrow." "I intend to," Lois said. "The nap this afternoon seemed to help." He nodded. "As I was sure it would. I don't suppose I can convince you to allow me to send an escort in my place when you attend these charity things, my dear. I know I'd certainly feel better about your safety. Last night could have as easily turned out to be fatal." "I'll remember to be more cautious the next time," Lois said. "Lex, I'm so sorry about the rings." He shrugged. "They can be replaced. Both were covered with insurance." "Still, --" "Don't fret about them, Lois," he said. "I regard them as a small loss. Next time it could be your life." "You knew when we married that my job was sometimes dangerous," she said. "Just because I'm your wife doesn't mean that there aren't some people out there who might still want revenge -- or realize that I might be wearing expensive jewelry. I won't get complacent again. I promise." "If I find out who was behind it, he's going to regret it," Lex said. "I've put inquiries around in certain circles. People are looking for any sign of your rings. If we find them, they should lead us to the thief." "I imagine you have pretty efficient investigators on your staff," she said. "I'm surprised anyone actually dared to assault me, actually." "So was I, a little; however, there are always fools in any group. This fool is going to regret his action." Lois nodded and decided that a change of subject would be in order. "So, how did your business meeting go?" she asked. "Very well," he replied. "LexCorp acquired a controlling share of Belco Petroleum, so I'm very pleased with the whole endeavor." "Another triumph to add to a formidable list of them," Lois said, laying her fork down. "Congratulations." "Thank you." He appeared to accept her praise as his due. Asabi materialized silently to remove the plates and a moment later reappeared with dessert. Lois ate half of hers and laid down her fork. "It's delicious as usual, but if I eat all this I'll be paying the consequences in extra treadmill time for a week at least." Lex smiled indulgently. "I doubt it. You have a beautiful figure, Lois, and it will take a lot more than Andre's chocolate cream pie to ruin it." "Only because I work to keep it that way. I want you to be proud of me," she added. "Then you've succeeded, my dear. I'm very proud of you. But now --" He glanced at his watch. "Gretchen specifically ordered that you be in bed by nine tonight. Hopefully that will clear up any lingering effects of your ordeal, and our lives will get back to normal." He stood up. "Would you mind if I escorted you upstairs again?" "Of course not," Lois said. "I'd be hurt if you didn't." She watched as he preened slightly at her compliment, and pushed back her chair. He escorted her to the bedroom and kissed her knuckles lightly. "I have a few more business details to take care of, but I'll be up in an hour or so. Sweet dreams, my dear. Don't wait up for me." After he had gone, Lois changed slowly out of her dinner dress. She'd had a reprieve tonight, but that was all it was. If she didn't come up with some sort of results by tomorrow night, she was going to be in the soup. Pulling on the satin nightgown that she found laid out for her on her pillow, she found herself wondering, not for the first time, where the Lois whose place she was taking was. It was obvious that something had happened, since she wasn't here, exposing Lois as a fraud, but where was she? Apparently she had gone to the Metro Halloween Ball and disappeared. For the first time, she wondered if the watch, lying on the dresser, and the elegant shoulder bag hanging from the coat tree might have been left there by design. Could her disappearance have been planned by Lois Luthor, herself? If Lois was right, her counterpart had left behind everything that could possibly be a tracking device. The watch, the compact, the cell phone and who knew what else? The thought was a new one, and she tried to consider it dispassionately. Was it possible that Lex Luthor's wife had discovered something about her husband, and as a consequence had decided to disappear? What could she have discovered? Put that way, the field was wide open. Assuming that this Lex Luthor was as deeply involved in crime as the one in her world had been, and that the other Lois's tendency to snoop hadn't disappeared with her marriage to Lex, just about anything was possible. But if Lois Luthor had discovered something that had made her run, it might be very important that Lois Lane find out, too. Lois glanced at the clock on her nightstand. She had been here for fifteen minutes, and Lex had been extremely agreeable, even insistent, about her going to bed by nine. Maybe it was because of concern for her welfare, but maybe it wasn't. The thought occurred to her and, a second later, she had translated the thought into action. If it should happen that Lex was simply finishing a bit of business that he hadn't had time to take care of before dinner, that was okay. She would explain that she felt lonely in the big room, all by herself. On the other hand, if something else was going on, she wanted to know. She slipped her feet into the furry bedroom slippers and hastily shoved her arms into the sleeves of Lois Luthor's dressing gown. A moment later, she was striding down the hallway toward the stairs that led to the lower level of the penthouse. The servants had apparently finished cleaning up in the study and were back in the kitchen or servants' quarters, or something, for she saw no one when she arrived at the lower level and peeked cautiously around the corner. The hall was dim, lit only by the nightlights that glowed in every electric socket. Quietly, she moved down the hallway, striving to look casual and unhurried, toward the door of Lex's office. She could see a faint line of brighter light along the bottom of the door that suggested that her supposed husband was in there. Outside the door, she paused, listening. There was movement in there and, as her ears adjusted, the sound of voices leaking faintly through the closed door became evident. She identified Lex's distinctive voice, and an instant later, the voice of Mrs. Cox, Lex's personal assistant. She stood still, straining her ears to catch the words. "...Under no circumstances are you to allow Lois to become suspicious," Lex's voice was saying. "Kent is a thorn in my side. His series on the gunrunning operation was much too close to the truth for comfort. I want him removed." Gunrunning operation? Lois stood still, barely breathing. And Clark. Lex was after Clark. She had to warn him as soon as possible. "Of course, Lex," Mrs. Cox's voice said. "Secondly, Superman." Lex's voice hadn't changed its inflection at all. He was talking about killing a man, she thought, and it was as if he were discussing any ordinary business. But that was what he was doing, she thought. Discussing business. "He'll have to be immobilized. He somehow escaped the cage at the wedding, so the next time he'll have to be chained." "He'll simply break the chains unless --" "You underestimate me, Mrs. Cox. I still have the cage. If he's chained, he won't have the mobility to escape from it again. It's that simple. Now all I have to do is provide an irresistible lure. I think my dear Lois will serve, once more. Of course, she is to know absolutely nothing about it." "Naturally," Mrs. Cox said. "Have there been any results concerning the rings yet?" "None," Mrs. Cox's voice said. "Whoever took them is apparently lying low. He may have realized by now that the woman he assaulted was your wife. The rings could be at the bottom of Hobbs Bay." "I doubt it," Lex's voice said. "The diamond is worth half a million as is. Cut, it's worth almost as much. I trust the gem cutters who do work of that sort are under observation?" "Yes, Lex." "Then that concludes our business for the evening," Lex said, pleasantly. "Now, as my wife is still recovering from her concussion, I'll need a substitute tonight." "Of course," Mrs. Cox's voice said. There was silence for several seconds. Then Mrs. Cox's voice, sounding almost breathless. "It's been too long, Lex." Her voice trailed off into a faint moan. Lois turned and walked away in disgust. For a short time she had wondered if perhaps the Lex of this strange world might be a better person than the Lex of her memories, but in the space of five minutes that small hope had been killed and buried. Lex was the same criminal here that he had been in her own world. What had that business about a cage meant? And chaining Superman up? But a cage wouldn't hold Superman unless there had been Kryptonite somewhere nearby to prevent him from simply bursting the bars. But in her world, Superman had told Clark, and Clark had told her how, the day before her wedding, Lex had imprisoned him in a cage, the bars of which were coated with Kryptonite. He had intended to let Superman die in that cage, and it had only been the Man of Steel's determination, combined with Lex's arrogance, and sheer dumb luck, that had allowed him to free himself. If that had happened here, and he still possessed the cage, it sounded to her as if Lex was planning not only Clark's killing, but the cold-blooded murder of Superman as well. If Lois Luthor had discovered that, that might have been the reason that she had disappeared. At a measured rate that showed no sign of the agitation she felt, Lois climbed the steps back toward the upper level. One of the maids was coming down the stairs and looked at her in surprise. "Mrs. Luthor?" "Do you know where my husband is?" Lois asked, keeping her voice level. "I was looking for him." "I believe he's in his office, ma'am." "At *this* hour? I swear, the man thinks of nothing but business. All right; I don't want to interrupt him if he's working. I guess it can wait until morning." She continued past the maid and up the steps, keeping her expression blank. Three steps farther up, she turned. "Would you please tell whoever is in the kitchen right now that I'd like a cup of hot chocolate in my room? Since I'm not allowed to take anything for sleep, the hot chocolate will have to do." "At once, Mrs. Luthor," the maid said. "Thank you," Lois said. She continued on up the steps. Ten minutes later, in the master bedroom, she found herself pacing back and forth, trying to decide what to do with the information she had acquired. Somehow she had to get a message to Clark, but a phone call from here was bound to be monitored, and the cell phone in Lois Luthor's purse most likely was, as well. Somehow she had to figure out how to get out of here to warn him that Lex had ordered him killed, and was after Superman as well. There was a soft rapping on the door and Nigel St John's voice said, "Mrs. Luthor?" Her heart jumped before she remembered that she had sent for hot chocolate. This was probably it. Quickly she pulled off her dressing gown, kicked off her slippers and scrambled into bed. "Come in!" she called. The door opened, revealing Nigel St. John with a silver tray, on which reposed her hot chocolate. The butler entered the room and set the tray neatly on the bed, across her lap. It was, she realized, a tray designed for just this purpose. "Is there anything else you need, Madam?" he inquired. "No, thank you," Lois said. "Is Lex still working? I was hoping he wouldn't stay up too late tonight." "I believe so, Madame." If Nigel knew what was occupying Lex at this point, he didn't let on by word, expression or gesture. "Oh," Lois said, striving to sound disappointed. "Well, thank you, Nigel." When the butler had gone, she picked up the cup of chocolate and tasted it carefully. It was hot but not too hot, and she sipped it, thinking. Lex was bound to be busy tomorrow, at least part of the day. Going straight to Clark after the maid had seen her on the stairs a little while ago might not be a good idea, but there were probably others who had worked at the Planet still in town, working for other publications, or in other jobs. If she looked them up, maybe she could get hold of one of the ones that she trusted to carry a message to Clark. It was worth a shot. And then, maybe, if she could get hold of some kind of evidence against Lex, Clark could take it to some of the authorities that weren't on Lex's payroll, and perhaps bring the House of Luthor down, once and for all. It was the only chance she had. And maybe, somewhere in all this, she could figure out how this switch had been made, and how she had wound up here. If she did, there might be a very slight chance that she could get home. ********** Lois woke at six a.m., and became aware within seconds that she was not alone in the bed. She could hear the breathing of another person and turning her head, she saw, without surprise, that Lex was sleeping beside her. No one had knocked on the door to awaken him, so she assumed that his habit was to sleep until seven or eight, but knowing Lex it was more likely to be seven. Quietly, she got out of bed and went into their huge bathroom to shower and dress. The bright green jogging suit lay folded on top of the towels in the towel cupboard. She dressed quickly in the outfit, pulled on athletic socks and white jogging shoes and was ready to go. She was quite sure that the emerald green suit had been selected to make it easy for Lex's employee to spot her, so she would use it to avoid him this morning -- when she chose to do so. Again she tucked money into her bra and stuffed a handful of loose change into her pocket. Ready at last, she pinned the note, which she had written carefully last night in preparation for a quick exit, to her pillow, and left the room. She descended to the ground floor by way of the private elevator and left the building through the private entrance, aware that this morning a different man had replaced the youthful skateboarder of yesterday. This guy looked pretty fit, she acknowledged, and he was wearing jogging gear, so she had to assume that Lois Luthor often made a habit of running early in the morning. Fortunately, so did Lois Lane. She started out at an easy clip, headed for Centennial Park. The morning was cool, but running was bound to warm her up pretty fast, so she kept the same pace until she reached the park. The vendors were already there, setting up their stands for the business of the day. Lois stopped at the coffee stand to buy a cup of coffee and a sweet roll. A glance at the gold watch told her that it was seven o'clock. Lex was probably getting up about now, and would find her note telling him that she had gone for a morning run and intended to stop at the library before coming back. The bench near the stands was empty again this morning, and she sank down to eat the breakfast that she'd skipped at the penthouse. She ate slowly, looking around at early morning Metropolis. The man assigned to follow her had somehow acquired a cup of what was probably coffee and was sitting on a bench some distance away, drinking the contents and apparently reading the early edition of the Star. Lois killed twenty minutes sitting on the bench, and then swallowed the last of her coffee, finished the final bite of sweet roll and stood up. She tossed the paper cup and napkin into a wire trash container and started down the path at a run, not looking back. Assuming Speedy back there was on his toes, she'd got a few seconds' start on him. She ran, pacing herself. It wasn't her intention to look as if she was trying to escape -- merely to gain a little distance on him. She ran down the path, keeping her gait even and steady. It was chilly in the shade. She kept running, following the winding path through the trees and the children's playground, careful never to deliberately look back. It was his job to keep up with her, not hers to watch him, after all. She had covered two miles when she saw another bench and stopped to sink down on it to rest. A casual survey of the park landscape informed her that her tail had kept up with her. He was some distance away, sitting on another bench. His grey jogging suit was completely unremarkable, and she would have had difficulty identifying him but for the blond ponytail. She glanced at her watch. Seven-forty-five. The library opened at nine. She had an hour and fifteen minutes to kill. Part of that time would be occupied at Broadhurst's Department Store, of course, but she doubted it would take up more than half an hour of her time, if that. Time to give Speedy a rest and establish herself as completely harmless and unaware of any observation. She looked around again. There was a children's playground a short distance away, and she strolled toward it. Glancing around, as if to assure herself that she was unobserved, she sat down in one of the swings and began swinging. Speedy was observing her from the shelter of a large oak tree. He leaned against the trunk, arms folded, apparently indifferent to her peculiar behavior. Lois swung higher and higher, singing softly to herself, a little children's song that her father had taught her when she had been small. "How I do like to go up in a swing, Up in the air, so blue, Oh, I do think it's the pleasantest thing, Oh, I do think it's the pleasantest thing, Ever a child can do, Ever a child can do! "Up in the air and over the wall, 'Til I can see so wide, Rivers and trees and cattle and all, Rivers and trees and cattle and all, Over the countryside, Over the countryside. "'Til I look down on the garden green, Down on the roofs so brown, Up in the air I go flying again, Up in the air I go flying again, Up in the air and down, Up in the air and down!" It was an old-fashioned song, but it had always been one of her favorites, although she'd never considered the reason. Now she wondered if it wasn't the song's association of swinging with flying. As a child, she had worried her mother and various observers by swinging as high as it was possible to swing. The exhilaration of soaring through the air, free of the bonds of gravity for a few seconds had been a lure that young Lois Lane had found impossible to resist. In a way, it might be one of the reasons that Superman had dazzled her so thoroughly. Not the only one, of course, but certainly one of the most astounding. That first flight with him, soaring through the air without the help of a plane or helicopter, nothing around her except the powerful arms that held her -- certainly a reason to be dazzled, all right. Speedy's attention was wandering, she noted. She continued to swing, looking around for other observers as she did so. To her satisfaction, she could see no one, and gradually she allowed the swing to slow, swinging in lower and lower arcs until she put a foot down to stop herself. A quick glance at her watch told her that she had managed to kill another fifteen minutes. She stood up and walked through the damp grass to the path once more. Presumably Speedy was still following her. She began to jog, not running all out, but enough to make him put some effort into keeping up. She reached a spot where the path branched and took the left-hand fork. A twist in the path around a large tree allowed her to catch, for a second, a glimpse of her tail. From the little that she could see, he had a grim set to his jaw, and he was jogging doggedly along after her. She ignored him and kept moving. There was a water fountain up ahead and to the right. She slowed to a walk and paused to get a long drink. Finished at last, she returned to the path glancing at her watch, and began to jog again. Her tail followed. After another ten minutes, she slowed to a walk, giving herself time to get her breath for the next long run. It was time to head for her next goal -- the department store two blocks from the city library. By the time she got there, she figured she would have covered a good five miles, allowing for the stops to rest and to kill time. She increased the jog to a run along the meandering paths, aiming ultimately for the western side of Centennial Park, where it bordered on the business district. Metropolis City Library was located there, and it was her ultimate destination. She was breathing hard now, and drops of sweat ran down her face as she pounded along. Her tail had fallen back a little, she noted once, when the path nearly doubled back on itself. At last she was approaching the edge of the park that bordered on the street that was her goal. She slowed as she reached the sidewalk once more and set a steady pace toward Broadhurst's. The store was just opening its doors as she arrived. She slowed to a walk and strolled through the entrance, smiling at the woman who had just unlocked the doors. Speedy was half a block behind, and she needed to be out of sight before he arrived. She moved at a brisk pace toward the escalator that led to the second floor where the women's clothing was located. Once there, she made her selections quickly, glancing over her shoulder frequently to see if Speedy had arrived yet. However, the clerk was handing her the sales slip and the large plastic bag that held her purchases before Speedy arrived at the top of the escalator. Lois thanked the woman cheerfully, and glanced at her watch. Time to head for the library. She breezed past Speedy without a glance and stepped onto the down escalator. She could have sworn she heard the man growl faintly as he followed. ********** Even this early, the library had patrons, although not as many as would be present later in the day. She went up the stairs to the main entrance without glancing back and once inside, stopped at the paperback bookrack near the checkout desk to scan the selections available, all the while keeping an eye out for Speedy. There he was. He came up the steps of the library and peered through the doors. Lois kept her face turned away, apparently focusing on the romance novel in her hand, but she could see his image reflected in the shiny metal side of a book cart parked nearby with a load of returned books waiting to be checked in. Apparently satisfied that she was safely corralled for the time being, he turned and walked deliberately to one of the stone benches near the front of the building and took a seat. He was probably glad to get some rest, Lois surmised, and he must think that all he had to do was to watch the entrance to see her when she left. Fortunately, he apparently didn't know that Lois had used this dodge some years ago. There was a little-known exit from the rear of the library, a locked door through which she could exit in a pinch. Once she was certain that Lex's man was settled in one spot, Lois strolled back into the main body of the library. There was a room off to one side with a sofa and two overstuffed chairs as well as a table with four straight-backed wooden chairs surrounding it. There was no one here yet, and Lois made quick work of changing into the outfit that she had purchased at Broadhurst's -- a much less noticeable ensemble consisting of a pair of ordinary jeans, a tan, long-sleeved shirt, and black tennis shoes. She fastened her hair back with a hair tie, slipped on a pair of sunglasses and regarded herself in the glass of a decorative mirror that adorned the wall. Not bad. She sure didn't look like the woman who had come in here ten minutes ago. Now for the next part. She removed the watch that was almost certainly a tracking device and dropped it behind the cushions of the sofa, then rolled up the jogging suit and stuffed it into the bag that had held her purchases. Wadding it up, she tucked it under her arm and, crossing her fingers for luck, Lois exited into the main body of the library again and made her way to the rear of the building. Technically, she wasn't supposed to be in this part of the building, but such facts had never bothered her before, and a short time later she exited from the door that had been her goal. Hopefully, Lex's man wouldn't feel it necessary to check on her for a while. In any event, to cover her tracks, she intended to tell Lex, when she got back to the penthouse, that during her jog this morning she had noticed a pony-tailed man following her, and after the event at the Halloween ball, had been concerned enough that she had taken measures to escape him. Lex might not know whether to believe the story, but he would have to accept it, at least on the surface. In any case, this little subterfuge was absolutely necessary because she needed help and she needed it badly. She couldn't let this Lex hurt Clark, no matter which world he came from, and Clark could pass along her warning to Superman. And equally important, she needed some kind of help to try to figure out how this had happened to her and how she could get home. That last might not be possible, but Lois Lane didn't give up without a fight. She had a hunch that the bearded man that she had seen twice now -- once at the party and once at the park -- might be involved in the mess, but she had nothing solid to base the feeling on. Still, she would keep an eye out for him. She had thought this out carefully. Making a phone call from the penthouse was asking for someone to listen in on her, and trying to make one while out jogging was going to be reported. The only way for her to be able to do so unobserved was to shake the man assigned to follow her, which she was pretty sure she had done. There was a restaurant a short distance away, where she was sure to find a phone. A few minutes later, she entered Diego's Family Restaurant and a few seconds after that was dialing a cell phone number. She waited while the phone rang, crossing her fingers that the Mortie Engelman of this world had the same cell phone number as the Mortie of her world, and that he hadn't changed it since the destruction of the Daily Planet. A lot of this was depending on luck, of course, but with only a tiny amount of that luck, this Mortie, like his counterpart, was a decent guy, who had decided that alcoholism was more trouble than it was worth.... "Engelman," a familiar voice said. She gave a faint gasp of relief. "Mortie, it's Lois Lane -- Lois Luthor. I'm in trouble." "Lois?" The surprise in Mortie's voice was quickly submerged by concern. "Are you all right?" "For the moment, I am. I've found out some things that I need to tell Clark. Can you get a message to him for me?" "Sure," Mortie said. "He's out of the office at the moment, but he should be back soon. What's wrong?" "I might not have a lot of time. My minder thinks I'm in the library right now. I want you to tell him this word for word." "'Minder'?" "Yes," Lois said. "Tell Clark that everything he said to me about Lex was right. And tell him to warn Superman that Lex is about to try what he tried on my wedding day, again. To both Clark and Superman. Got it?" "Got it," Mortie said. "I have to go," Lois said. "I'll try to call back when I can." She hung up. ********** A few minutes later, Lois was hurrying back toward the library. It had occurred to her while she was talking to Mortie that if Lex knew she had escaped his observer, he would most likely saddle her with someone who was less easy for her to spot, which would definitely be a handicap. If she could get back inside and leave openly, it might leave her freer to operate the next time she needed to leave the penthouse. If only Speedy was still where he was supposed to be. A few moments later, she breathed a long sigh of relief. There he was, sitting on the bench within sight of the library entrance, looking bored. Lois took a breath, and then a second one, and striving for a casual pace, hurried up the steps of the building and pushed through the wide, glass doors. Speedy didn't even turn his head. The restroom was empty, she discovered a few moments later, and she made quick work of changing back into the green jogging suit. She was almost ready to leave when she remembered the watch. If it was where she had left it, she should probably retrieve it. An older man, who was sitting with his back to the sofa, now occupied the reading room. On the table before him, several thick books were stacked, and his nose was buried in another one. Lois caught sight of one of the titles as she crossed to the sofa and found herself wondering how anyone could find that many books about collecting stamps. But, with an opponent like Lex, covering all her bases seemed to be a good idea. If anything, in her world he had been shown to be a dangerous and extremely clever man. If he had his people check on her whereabouts, after her trip to the library -- and he very well might -- she wanted her story to hold up. "Excuse me," she said politely. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I seem to have lost my watch. Have you seen a gold watch in here, anywhere?" The man looked up. "I'm afraid not," he said. "I was sitting on the sofa," Lois continued. "It was Black Hills gold, and --" "I haven't seen it," he said, a little more sharply. "Why don't you check under the cushions? If the band broke, it might have slipped between them." "Thank you," Lois said. Well, he wasn't very nice, but he was bound to remember her now, if any of Lex's people came around to check on her story. She crossed to the sofa and began to search between the cushions. After a moment, the watch came to light, exactly where she had left it. "Oh, here it is! Thank heavens!" The reader didn't look up. Satisfied that she had made her point, Lois slipped the watch into a pocket of the green jogging suit and left the room. ********** She could have called the penthouse for a car, but Lois chose to take a cab instead, and she left Speedy looking frantically around for one as she stepped into the vehicle. "Where to?" the driver asked. "Lex Tower," she said, and leaned back in the seat, breathing a sigh of relief as the taxi sped away. In her lap, she balanced three books, two of them torrid romances and one a spine-chilling suspense novel, all designed to reinforce the impression of her trip to the library in the minds of the servants and, of course, Lex. Lois Luthor might now be the wife of the world's second-richest man, but she doubted that she would give up her independence that easily. Lex might scorn a visit to the public library, but she would continue to use it. The cab rolled through the streets of Metropolis, and Lois glanced at the retrieved watch, noting that it was twenty minutes to eleven. A lot had happened since she had left the penthouse, and it seemed as if a good deal more time had passed than actually had. She glanced at the books again, noting the picture on the front cover of the one on top. It showed a storm-tossed night sky, a full moon half-covered with clouds, a graveyard with some of the headstones fallen in the grass, and, of course, the heroine crouching behind one while a shadowy figure, gripping a knife, loomed in the background. It was just the sort of melodramatic nonsense that she had read in her late teens. The Lois Luthor who was Lex's real wife had probably read them, too. Again, the question of the real Lois Luthor's whereabouts crossed her mind. She suspected strongly that her counterpart's disappearance had not been accidental -- that the other her had vanished deliberately. She had gone to the Halloween ball dressed in such a way as to blend with many others in similar outfits, and thereby make it easier for her to escape her tail. She wouldn't have done so unless she had known exactly where she was going, Lois thought -- at least, *she* wouldn't, and she believed that Lois Luthor would also have planned ahead. She must have left behind every means by which Lex could have tracked her, which meant that she probably had discovered the surveillance net with which she had been surrounded. In her place, Lois wouldn't have gone to Clark or anyone else with whom she had any connection, because Lex would be looking for her as soon as he realized that she had deliberately vanished. She probably wouldn't have run, either, unless there was an urgent reason to do so. She would have stayed and investigated -- which meant that Lois Luthor might very well have the evidence that she needed to bring Lex down. She would certainly be hiding now, wondering why Lex wasn't searching for her. She couldn't know, of course, that another Lois had taken her place. Which, again, brought to mind the question of how she had gotten here. Was there any chance that she could get back where she belonged? It might be, she thought, that if she went to Clark, if he was even still speaking to her, that he and Superman could help her. A lot of this situation was going to have to be played by ear, she knew. She hadn't seen any sign of the bearded man since yesterday, so maybe his involvement was a false lead. The cab pulled up in front of Lex Tower and the driver turned in the seat. His face was vaguely familiar, and Lois blinked at him in confusion for several seconds. "That'll be twenty-three ninety-five," the man said. Lois turned away from him and fished briefly in her bra for the roll of twenties that she had stuffed there, and after an instant withdrew two of them. She turned back to hand him the bills. "Keep the change," she said. "Thanks, ma'am," the man said, accepting the bills. Lois was aware that the taxi remained at the curb for several minutes as she made her way through the main doors of the building. Once inside, she turned in time to see the vehicle pull away. Where had she seen that driver before? Could he have been a cab driver in her own Metropolis, who had driven her somewhere, at some time? She didn't think so. And then it hit her. The face was more familiar than that. It had been the bearded man, only this time he was without his beard. This was the second time that she had seen him here -- and with that realization, her first encounter with him was suddenly clear in her mind. It had been at the Metro Halloween Ball. He had been the man with the sword who had spoken to her for a few minutes not long after she had first arrived. *That* was where she had seen him before, and now he had turned up driving a cab and minus the beard. This was definitely more than a coincidence. She was going to watch for him more closely from now on, she thought. He could very well be the reason she was here, and if he was, he might be her only way to get home. ********** When Lois stepped off the elevator in the penthouse, Mrs. Cox was just passing by and gave her a disapproving look. "You're back late, Mrs. Luthor. L...Mr. Luthor was concerned. And you know; it's not necessary to take a taxi. One of the chauffeurs is always available for your convenience." Lois glanced at her with one eyebrow up. "How did you know I took a cab?" she inquired sweetly. "And whether I use one of our cars or a taxi is no business of the hired help." Mrs. Cox's mouth fell open, and Lois walked away without a backward glance. Once out of sight of Lex's personal assistant -- more personal than she had realized in her own world, she reflected cynically -- she stepped into the room that had been intended to be her office in her world. The up-to-date computer was almost certainly monitored, she thought, which made it unsuitable for any research that she might want to do concerning Lois Luthor's current whereabouts, but maybe, if she used it to throw Lex completely off the scent, it could be useful in another way. She set her books down on a corner of the wide desk and took a seat before the device. It was too bad, she was thinking a moment later, as the computer ran through its start sequence, that she didn't have Jimmy's skill with a computer. Where was Jimmy in this world, she wondered, not to mention Jack. As irritating as the teenager had been, the knowledge that Lex had intended to have him killed had been one more point of horror in the huge campaign of fraud, deceit and violence that Lex had waged. Had Lex killed him here, or had he managed to escape as he had in her world? Had Lex left Jimmy and Perry alone? He still intended to remove Clark and Superman, as she had learned last night, so how many of her other friends had he also targeted for death? What had Lois Luthor discovered that had caused her to run? "Hello, darling," Lex's voice said. "I understand you and Mrs. Cox had a small contretemps a few minutes ago." Lois had heard the door open, so his voice hadn't come as a surprise. She swiveled the chair around to face her "husband." "Mrs. Cox has no business prying into what I do or don't do, Lex. And if I choose to take a taxi instead of one of our cars, she has no right to question me. I won't put up with it." Lex's face relaxed into an indulgent smile. "She was only concerned for your welfare, Lois." "Uh huh. Well, I grew up a long time ago, and I don't need Mrs. Cox to nursemaid me," she said firmly. "I'd appreciate it if you'd tell her to butt out of my business." Lex chuckled. "You've always had a streak of independence that I suspect Mrs. Cox doesn't understand, my dear. If it will make you happy, I'll tell her not to offer you help unless you ask for it. Will that do?" Lois made herself smile. "That will do very well," she said. "Thank you." "I came by actually in order to have a chance to see you before I leave for Zurich this afternoon," he said. "I probably won't be back until after midnight our time." "Business?" Lois asked. "I'm afraid so," Lex said. "I'll be leaving in a few minutes." "Oh, dear," Lois said. "I probably shouldn't have stayed at the library for so long, but I didn't realize...." "No, you should do exactly as you choose," Lex said with a smile. "I thought that this Sunday we should go to the ballet. Will that suit you, or would you prefer something else?" "That would be perfect," Lois said, smiling brightly at him. "I'll be looking forward to it. You know how I always enjoy the ballet with you." He leaned down to kiss her on the lips, and she forced herself to respond appropriately. "Then until tomorrow, my dear." "Goodbye, darling," she said. "I'll miss you." But a few moments later, she had turned back to her computer and pulled up a list of stories that she had researched before the destruction of the Planet. Judging by everything she had seen, Lois Luthor's mind worked like hers, so maybe she could use that similarity to figure out where the other Lois might have gone. Her counterpart's stories were very similar to the ones she recalled working on and she ran down the list quickly, careful not to open any of the files. One of them caught her eye, and a light bulb seemed to flash in her brain. Quickly she finished scanning down the list, closed it and opened another folder. She scanned several more folders and closed them, well aware that someone would probably be checking over her computer activity later. Finally, in the fourth folder, she opened a file as divorced in subject matter as she could think of from the one that had given her that sudden flash of insight. The story about Preston Carpenter certainly had nothing to do with the research about the Hobbs Women's Shelter and hopefully would throw Lex's hounds off the scent, especially since she had never actually written the story in question. After a time, she closed the article and switched to a folder where she -- or her counterpart -- had archived information about the current stories being run by LNN. Some of them were similar to the ones presently being followed in her own Metropolis, but there were differences as well. With her knowledge of Lex's influence on the news reported by his network, she could see where he had subtly altered the kind of reporting done by LNN in the same way that he had done to the Daily Planet in her own reality. Looking at it now, she found it amazing that she hadn't noticed it back during the whole wedding fiasco. Talk about having been willfully blind. Lex was like a spider, spinning his web everywhere to enhance his own power and hide his nature from those around him. Only he hadn't fooled Clark, and with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, she wasn't going to be fooled by this Lex, either, this time. And Lois Luthor might also have caught on, if a little late, just as she probably would have, eventually. Whether that would have been in time to save Clark and Superman was an open question, but she thankfully hadn't had to face that possibility. Maybe she could help Lois Luthor head it off, too. ********** She spent another hour browsing through Lois Luthor's files, largely as a way of discovering what was the same and what was different in the two similar worlds, but also as a way of leaving as convoluted a trail as possible to whoever it was that was monitoring her computer. That it was being monitored she had no doubt at all. She made a point of opening a number of files that were related to LNN's current stories, as well as several older ones, browsed to a number of websites in the name of research, and that above all, had nothing to do with the file, the presence of which she had almost forgotten, containing her research on the Hobbs Women's Shelter. She had researched the subject three years ago, but then decided against writing the story after speaking to a young mother who pleaded with her not to bring the place to the attention of Metropolis's residents. The woman's husband had made threats against her life and the lives of their two children if she dared to leave him. She had left anyway, because staying would have been as much a danger to all three as fleeing. The man was subsequently arrested when he held the woman's mother hostage in order to force her return, but Lois had decided to kill the story anyway, at least for the present. But Lois Luthor would have had to go somewhere. If Lex were to search for her, one of the first places he would be bound to try would be Clark and his family, as she had thought before, followed by Lois's other friends. Lois Luthor would know that, and very probably wouldn't go to any of them -- but she might take refuge in the obscure women's shelter, at least in the beginning. Until she could contact someone that she trusted. She had to have acquired some kind of evidence, Lois thought. In her place, once she realized that Lex was a criminal of staggering proportions, Lois would have stayed, no matter what the danger, until she had the proof she needed. She had to think that her counterpart would do the same. But what kind of evidence would it be? Something pretty damning, she thought. Nothing of a minor nature would be sufficient to bring down Lex Luthor. Half the judges and a good percentage of the Metropolitan cops were on his payroll, as she had found out after her disastrous wedding. The computer chimed musically, informing her that she had an incoming email, and after an instant of hesitation, she opened it. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but this wasn't it. "Hi, Lois, (the email said) "Enjoying yourself? This is what you missed the first time around, courtesy of your do-gooder friend. Don't worry, though, because now you can catch it on the replay! This is so much better than television. No mistakes allowed, or it's curtains for you and your muscular pal -- and no commercial breaks, either. Irony: I love it! A Secret Admirer" ********** Whoever her "Secret Admirer" was, she was thinking sometime later as she left her office, he had to be the one behind this mess; and ten to one he was the bearded guy from the Halloween ball, aka the guy in the park, aka the taxi driver. It looked to her as if this person had some kind of grudge against her, and was enjoying watching her struggle to figure out what had happened, and, as an added bonus, to deal with Lex. She had to admit that he'd stuck her in a bad spot, but that didn't mean she couldn't get out of it. She had been in some pretty bad spots before and had somehow always managed. For an instant she thought wistfully that if she would just wake up and find out that this mess had all been a bad dream it would sure be a lot easier, but wishes were fruitless things in the face of reality. She wasn't going to solve the problem by wishing; that was for sure. Somehow she had to get hold of Clark, or Superman, without Lex -- or her Secret Admirer -- finding out about it, and get some help. At least, with Lex headed for Zurich, she wouldn't have to come up with any excuses tonight. She glanced at her watch. It was already past two. Well, there was no law that Mrs. Luthor couldn't drop by LNN's offices at two in the afternoon and look around, was there? She would only be doing what Lois Luthor probably did as often as she felt like it. Figuratively, she shook her head. The job she supposedly had was about as useless as it was possible for her to imagine. In her own world, Lex had intended to undermine her independence in order to bring her that much more under his control. He had already been well on the way to his goal when, at the altar, she had suddenly and clearly realized that she couldn't marry him because she didn't love him, and because she would lose her best friend in the process. Evidently, Lois Luthor hadn't quite had the nerve to back out. But she knew the kind of man Clark was. If she went to him and asked for his help he would help her, even if it took him a while to get past his anger. Clark was completely incapable of refusing help to someone who really needed it. If he was the same man in this world as he was in her own, he would help. But it was getting to him that was going to be the real trick. Well, if Mortie had passed along her warning, maybe Clark would realize that she had at last seen the light. But would he believe her wild story? Considering that she hardly believed it herself, how could she expect him to? The only way to prove it was going to be if she could find Lois Luthor and show him. ********** LNN's offices were just as she remembered them from her world. They were located on the fourteenth floor of Lex Tower, and for several moments after her arrival no one even noticed that she had entered the premises. A security guard started toward her, apparently to be certain that she actually had clearance to be here, but one of the passing secretaries caught his arm and spoke to him quickly. The man glanced oddly at her, smirked faintly and turned away. Lois continued on to her office. The guy was probably new, but his reaction had been interesting. She could guess what the staff thought of Lois Luthor: the boss's wife, who, under the orders of her husband, was to be humored and treated as if she were respected, but her job didn't really matter. She had started to feel that way back when she first worked for LNN. They might change their minds later, if Lois Luthor managed to bring Lex down, but that was certainly what they believed now. Figuratively, she shrugged. She was simply here to convince those whose job it was to keep track of her that she suspected nothing and was going about her normal routine. She opened the door of her office, glancing at -- what was her name? -- Sonja Meehan, that was it. Her so-called executive assistant. Sonja was a minor player, if she remembered correctly. That information had come to her attention almost by accident during the weeks following the fall of the House of Luthor. Lois had been following the myriad ongoing investigations of LexCorps and the separation of its parts into individual companies. LNN was strong enough to stand on its own, and Lois had learned somewhere that Sonja had acquired her job of executive assistant as a sort of payoff from Lex; a pat on the head from the great man after he tired of her as a mistress. Sonja had possessed more common sense than most of Lex's women. She'd accepted the inevitable and asked sweetly for a position in his company where she could continue to serve him. What was it with women and Lex, Lois wondered abstractedly. He used them, discarded them and treated them like dirt and they groveled at his feet and declared undying love. Hopefully, he would expect her to follow the pattern as well, until it was too late. "Sorry to leave you in the lurch yesterday," she told Sonja. "I don't know if Lex told you I was mugged at the Halloween ball and had to take a little while off to recover." She watched Sonja's eyebrows rise at the matter-of-fact recital. "I'd like to see a summary of the stories you're airing on the evening news." "Certainly, Mrs. Luthor." Sonja smiled in the usual smarmy way that Lois had come to know in the short time she'd worked for LNN. "It's really too late to change any of them, though. Are you sure you want to bother?" She fixed the woman with her most intimidating stare. "That would be immediately, Sonja. It's my responsibility if a story is inaccurate or opens us up to a lawsuit. I want to check the content before it airs." Sonja's eyes widened slightly and after a second she dropped her gaze to the desk in front of her. "I'll see to it immediately." "Good. I'll be in my office." Lois closed the door and leaned back against it, listening. After a moment she heard Sonja's voice. "That bitch! She really thinks she's in charge around here!" "What happened?" a second voice, this one male, asked. "Mrs. *Luthor* wants to see the stuff we're airing tonight! She comes around here when she feels like it, tosses orders around and pretends like she's working! Lex said we have to follow her orders to keep her happy, but I wish she'd just fall down a manhole or something!" "My, my," the second voice said, "we wouldn't be jealous now, would we?" There was an indistinct mumble from Sonja. Then: "You don't have to put up with her!" "Nope, but if you don't hurry and get the stuff, I'm betting the boss'll be on your case when he finds out. You know what he told you last time." "Yeah, yeah." Sonja sounded thoroughly sullen. "Don't upset her. If she runs crying to him again, he'll be annoyed. I don't give a fig if she's upset." "No, but you won't like it a bit if *he* is." There was a distinct laugh in the male voice. "Face it, baby, you're old news. Just do what he told you and you'll stay out of trouble." Another mumble from Sonja. Lois pulled her ear away from the door and went to her desk. Lex wouldn't be a bit happy if he knew she'd heard Sonja's little dialogue with the other employee. Of course, Sonja probably wasn't aware of Lois Luthor's tendency to snoop, either. It could have been something as simple as that last exchange that had finally clued her in that something wasn't right. As a matter of fact, this might be just what she needed.... Some ten minutes later there was a knock on the door and Sonja entered with several folders in her hands. "Here's the information you asked for, Mrs. Luthor." "Thank you," Lois said coolly. She said nothing as the woman laid the items on her desk. Sonja turned and started to leave, but Lois spoke up. "Ms. Meehan." The woman turned. "I may be only the boss's wife, but I'm still your superior. If I were to tell him about that last conversation, I'm sure he'd be very unhappy with you." She watched as the color drained from Sonja's face. "Conversation?" "Yes, the one you had after I closed the door." Lois watched the other woman's expression change to one of complete dismay. "Is there any reason I shouldn't report it to him?" Sonja opened her mouth but no sound came out. Lois didn't smile. Finally the woman gave a little gasp. "Mrs. Luthor, I'm sorry! Don't tell L -- Mr. Luthor! I need this job!" "Really?" Lois raised a supercilious eyebrow. "Explain to me why I should care?" Sonja's expression collapsed and she began to cry. "I'll be fired!" "Yes?" Lois said. "And?" "Please, Mrs. Luthor --" Lois got to her feet and rather deliberately crossed the room to push the door shut. "You and I need to talk, Ms. Meehan." Sonja gulped. Lois eyed her thoughtfully. "I might be persuaded to let this slide. Assuming you cooperate." She thrust a box of tissues into her assistant's hands. Sonja's eyes widened and she looked faintly hopeful. "What do you want me to do? I can't do anything against the rules." "I'm not asking you to do anything against the rules," Lois said. "You might recall that before I married, I was an investigative reporter for the Daily Planet. I've had some suspicion for a while that someone in my husband's employ may be spying for a rival company. That may have been the reason I was assaulted night before last. I don't want to falsely accuse anyone; you know that my husband can be a very tough businessman, so I don't want to say anything until I'm sure. It wouldn't be fair for someone to lose his job over a simple suspicion, but Lex is my husband, and I want to support him as much as I can. I want you to help me do that." Sonja wiped her eyes and nose. "How can I help?" "I want a LexCorp employee badge. I need to be able to move around in the building without everyone instantly knowing that I'm the boss's wife. If I ask for one, people will want to know why and I won't be able to find out what I need to know. Can you get me one?" Sonja hesitated. "I guess so. But if I do --" "If you do, I won't say anything about what I overheard. If you don't, you'll be job-hunting by tomorrow morning. Do you understand?" Sonja nodded vigorously. "And if you tell Lex before I'm ready to let him know what I've found, I guarantee you'll be out of a job just as fast. Is that clear?" "Yes," Sonja said. "I'm very sorry, ma'am." "That's irrelevant. Help me to help my husband and we'll say no more about it." ********** The employee badge looked like all the others, Lois thought, examining it carefully some time later. There was the employee's name, the date of employment, a serial number and a bar code. The only thing that didn't match was the picture of the blond female. Back in the suite that Lois Luthor shared with her husband, Lois carefully slit the plastic covering in the back where it didn't show and removed the photograph. A picture from the wedding scrapbook, taken after the other Lois had apparently changed out of her wedding gown, supplied the replacement photo. Lois removed it, rearranged the pictures to cover the empty spot and replaced the album neatly on the shelf. After a short hunt, she located a pair of nail scissors and carefully trimmed the photo of Lois Luthor to fit the badge. Disposing of the mutilated photo and the one of the blond woman was a matter of snipping them both to shreds and flushing them down the toilet. Lois slipped the photo of her counterpart into the little plastic envelope and closed the slit in the back with a drop of clear nail polish. There. She had a badge: her ticket to freedom. A glance at her watch told her that it was nearly six. Time to get moving. She picked up the in-house phone and called the kitchen. After a moment, someone answered and Lois ordered dinner in her room, and then waited an endless time for the dinner to arrive. When it did so, she took the tray from Annette. "I'll leave the tray in the hall when I've finished," she said. "I don't wish to be disturbed tonight. I'm going to bed early." "Yes, madam," the maid said. Satisfied, Lois closed the door and locked it. Quickly, she gulped down the dinner and utilized the rest of the time that she might be expected to take eating her meal by removing all pieces of jewelry that might possibly contain a homing device. She dressed simply in a business suit and a light jacket against the chill of the November night and tucked the badge into its pocket. She tucked the roll of bills into the other pocket and put a handful of small change in with the badge. The outfit that she had bought that morning at Broadhurst's was still folded up neatly in the bag, which she rolled up and stuffed under her coat. Ready, she surveyed herself critically in the mirror. Her hairstyle was a giveaway. Quickly, she found a couple of hair clips and an elastic band and shoved them in a pocket. Once away from the penthouse, she would find a place to change her hairstyle. Carefully, she listened. There was no sound beyond the door. Hastily, she shoved the tray out, stepped over it and, closing the door behind her, hurried to the stairwell a short distance down the hall from Lex's private elevator. Once safely inside, she removed the stylish heels and nearly ran down the steps in her bare feet, careful not to make any sounds that might alert the staff that someone was in the stairwell. The Luthor residence had two floors, and the steps ended at the first floor of the penthouse. To get to the business offices on the floors below them, it was necessary to leave the stairwell and take one of three choices down at least one floor: the fire escape, which sounded an alarm when any access door below the penthouse was opened, the Luthors' private elevator, or the servants' elevator. She would have taken the private elevator directly, but she didn't wish a passing servant to notice that the elevator was occupied and in use, because, besides Nigel St. John, the only person that would be using it tonight would be Mrs. Luthor. Taking the stairs to the bottom floor and then using the private elevator, although more indirect, cut that risk somewhat. Now the trick was to get into it. Lois opened the door to the stairs a tiny crack and peeked out, straining her ears to hear. A murmur sounded from the direction of the servants' wing, but she could hear no one closer. Deciding that boldness was probably the best course, Lois slipped her shoes on, opened the door and stepped into the hall. No one was visible. In a few strides, she was at the elevator and pressing the call button. The doors opened almost instantly with a muted chime that made her hair stand on end. Lois stepped within and pressed the button for the next floor down and then held her breath as the doors closed and the car went into motion. In seconds, the elevator slid to a halt and the doors opened. She had chosen this hour because a large number of employees had left, but enough remained not to make her departure at all unusual. Crossing her fingers that no one on the floor above had noticed anything, Lois stepped out into an empty hallway. With a glance around, she reached back inside and pushed the button for the top floor of the penthouse. That would at least help confuse things a bit. Quickly, she slipped a hand into her pocket, bringing out the forged badge, pinned it to her lapel and strode hurriedly down the hallway toward the main elevators. ********** Leaving the building hadn't been all that difficult after the initial hurdle was surmounted. She had boarded the elevator a few minutes later with only two other people: a secretary, who had apparently stayed late to finish her work, and a maintenance man. The car made several stops on the way down the hundred-plus story structure and at last came to a stop. Many of the people who had collected in it during its trip flooded outward and past the security man standing by the doors. Lois exited with the crowd and a moment later was standing on the sidewalk outside Lex Tower. The sun had long since set, but the streets were well lit in this section of town. Lois walked briskly away from the Tower. When Lex's people discovered that she was gone -- and that might not be until morning -- she didn't want them to be able to discover which taxi she had taken, where she had gone, or when. The buses were still running. Ahead of her, a bus drew up at a corner bus stop and for a moment she considered the wisdom of boarding it but ultimately decided against it. She looked too much like Lois Luthor right now. She needed a place to change her clothing and hairstyle before she risked walking into a closed environment such as a bus. There was a gas station four blocks away, at the edge of the business district. She started determinedly toward it. Walking four blocks in heels wasn't comfortable, but she was pretty much inured to it. She was limping slightly by the time she got there, but once at her destination, headed directly for the ladies' room. The door was locked. Well, that had never stopped her before, and the same objection to getting on a bus applied to talking to the station attendant. She removed the hair clips from the pocket of her jacket and proceeded to pick the lock. Fortunately, the restrooms were on one side of the building in a darkened area, so no one was likely to notice her presence. And they didn't. Lois slipped inside. Ten minutes later, an entirely different woman emerged from the restroom. This one was dressed in jeans, black tennis shoes and a tan, long-sleeved shirt with the light jacket, worn open, over it. Her dark hair was done up in a swinging ponytail with the sunglasses perched on top of her head, and she wore almost no makeup. The business suit now occupied the bag. Leaving it around for Lex's people to find wasn't part of her plan. This time when she found a bus stop, she waited, seated on the bench, until the downtown bus rumbled up to the curb, and then boarded with two other people. There were, as might be expected, no seats, so she stood, hanging onto a strap until they reached an area near a middle-class residential neighborhood. Lois left the bus and glanced around. The neighborhood was mostly quiet except for a car with a pizza delivery sign atop its roof, advertising the Pizza Cabin, that was pulled up by the curb a short distance away, the motor still running. The delivery boy was just headed up a sidewalk toward a lighted front porch, several large, flat boxes in his hands. Lois hurried to the car, reached inside the driver's open window and unlocked the back door. An instant later, she was huddled on the floor behind the driver's seat, making herself as small as she could. Hopefully with her dark jeans, dark hair and the dark jacket, she wouldn't be noticed. Silence. Lois stayed where she was, trying to breathe quietly. The driver's door opened, the car lurched as the driver jumped into his seat and the door slammed. The car squealed away from the curb. Lois closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as the vehicle made a U-turn in the middle of the street, swaying wildly. The shocks must be pretty bad off, she thought, from the way the car bounded as it went over a depression in the street. She dared to reach up to grasp the safety handle and hung on. The engine rumbled unevenly; Lois thought the muffler probably needed to be replaced. She stayed hunkered down, clenching her jaw to keep from crying out as they swung around a corner and the driver slammed on his brakes. The door opened and the driver jumped out. Lois raised her head far enough to peek through the glass to see the man trotting up the walk toward an apartment complex, a stack of pizza boxes in his hands and a couple of bottles of soda tucked under one arm. A pair of headlights was coming toward her, and Lois caught the glint of the streetlights off the lights, now unlit, across the roof of the car. She ducked down, hoping that the police officers in the squad car hadn't seen her. Several minutes passed and the driver's door opened again. The delivery driver dropped into the seat and once more the door slammed. Lois held her breath as the car pulled away from the curb and rocketed forward again, the body of the vehicle swaying precariously as it rounded the corner fast enough to make the tires squeal in distress. Twice more the car stopped and the driver repeated his routine. Then there was a long period of time with no stops, and at last the car pulled into a parking space. The engine died. Lois didn't move, scrunched into a ball on the car floor, waiting. The door opened, the driver got out and the door slammed. Lois heard the click of a key in the lock. And then, nothing. After counting silently to five hundred, she cautiously unfolded her body from its scrunch on the floor and peeked through the window. The car was parked in a dimly lit lot behind a brick building. With trembling hands, she pushed up the door lock, opened the door and got out. The smell of pizza filled the air around her. This must be the local Pizza Cabin, where the delivery driver had come from. Lois walked away from the car, keeping to the more dimly lit areas of the lot until she reached the sidewalk; then she took a deep breath, straightened up and stepped boldly out onto the walk. A crowd of giggling teenagers was entering the glass doors on one side of the building, and above the door a lighted sign announced "Pizza Cabin." Lois made her way past them to the corner. The street sign informed her that she was at the corner of Flag and Piccolo. She felt a wave of relief. Clinton Street was only two blocks away. Without hesitation, now, she turned south and began to walk. With luck, Clark was home, and right now she would put up with any amount of anger, however misplaced, just to see his face and get some help. The trip to Clinton Street was uneventful, but as she approached the short, narrow street where her partner -- at least in her own world -- lived, she slowed her steps, looking cautiously around. The conversation she had heard last night while she stood outside Lex's office came to mind. Lex could very well have someone watching Clark if he intended to have him killed. With a carefully unconcerned manner, she strolled down the walk in front of Clark's place, glancing around as she reached the steps that led up to his apartment. She didn't see anyone, but the sensation that someone was watching wouldn't quite go away. An investigative reporter tended to trust her instincts, so Lois continued on past the apartment building, turned the corner and walked steadily until she had passed into the shelter of another of the old buildings that lined these streets. Once out of the sight of anyone that might be keeping an eye on Clark's apartment, she hurried to the building and flattened herself against it. Slowly and cautiously, she peeked one eye around the corner. A single street light illuminated the sidewalk in front of Clark's place. What she expected to see she wasn't sure, but Lois waited with the patience that she was able to employ as an investigative reporter, although it was entirely foreign to her in her personal life. If someone was watching Clark's apartment besides her, anyway, sooner or later she would spot him. What was that across the street? The building that faced Clark's door was mostly a blank, windowless wall on this side, but there was a narrow alley that opened between that structure and a second one very close to it. The street seemed quiet. Now and then a single figure would cut down the short, narrow street that styled itself Clinton Avenue, but otherwise the area was deserted. If she hadn't been looking, she wouldn't have caught the flare of a match in the dark alleyway. It was only visible for a second, quickly shielded by someone's hand, but for an instant she caught the glimpse of a man's face as he held the match close to light his cigarette. The match went out, but now that she was watching, she could see the faint glow from the tip of the cigarette as the man in the alley smoked it. She watched, hoping that her imagination was working overtime and that the guy was simply a passerby who had stopped to light his cigarette. Or maybe, she thought, the place was an apartment house, and the man had only stepped outside to smoke. Maybe he had a wife that wouldn't let him smoke in the house. After a time, there was a tiny shower of sparks and the cigarette was dropped to the ground. A moment later she saw the muted flare of another match. The movement of the cigarette tip resumed. Well, that pretty much was that. The guy was stationed across the street watching Clark's apartment. *Now* what was she going to do? A familiar figure was coming down the walk. She could have recognized that tall, muscular silhouette and jaunty walk anywhere, even before the single streetlight glinted off the lenses of a pair of glasses, and then revealed the brilliant swirls of red, gold and black on what Clark Kent fancifully called a tie. Lois stifled the urge to call out a warning that would have revealed to the watcher that Lois Luthor was here to see her partner. Two dark shapes detached themselves from the dark of the alley and darted across the street toward Clark. She almost cried out when she saw the knives in their hands, and then she was running toward her partner, unable to stop herself, as he turned to confront the two men. The two assailants were coming at him from the right and the left, and Clark crouched, obviously ready to defend himself, but what were the odds that he could handle two armed men with his bare hands? The first man was coming at him with the knife held at waist level, slashing for Clark's midriff. Her partner dodged it in a motion so swift that Lois almost couldn't believe what she had seen. Either the Clark of this world had studied fighting techniques on his own, or Clark hadn't told her everything about himself. Then there was no more time to think as Lois catapulted past Clark, head-on into the second attacker. At the last second the man saw her coming and tried to dodge, but it was too late. They crashed to the sidewalk and Lois hit the ground, rolled sideways and came to her feet again, all in one motion. Marginally, she was aware of Clark and the first assailant jockeying for position behind and to her left, but her attention was now on the man scrambling ungracefully to his feet. Letting him get his bearings probably wasn't a good idea. Lois kicked him in the face, feeling the hot-ice slash of the knife against her ankle as she did so. The attacker went down again and she kicked him in the side with all her strength. Blood spattered, and the breath went out of her opponent with a whoosh. Then, somehow, Clark was bending over the second knife-wielder and removing the weapon from his grasp. The first man was on the ground, and now Clark glanced at Lois. "You're hurt!" he said. "They're going to get away," Lois managed, her voice no more than a breathy whisper. The two assailants were staggering to their feet. Clark turned back to the men. "Get out of here," he said. He didn't have to speak twice. The two men ran. Her ankle hurt. Only now did the fact really register, and Lois looked down to see that the knife had caught her across the side of her ankle and that the cut was bleeding freely. "Ouch," she said faintly. Clark was hustling her up the steps of his apartment and before she realized it she was seated on his sofa, the cut ankle resting on the old leather ottoman. Clark had disappeared, but an instant later he was back, a towel in his hands. He folded it expertly and pressed it to the cut. "Just a minute," he said. "Can you put pressure on this?" Numbly, she nodded. He had disappeared again, she thought, and then she realized that he was pulling curtains across the window that led to the balcony. Then he returned again and took the towel from her hands, moving it aside to examine the cut. "Clark," she began. He shook his head. "Lie down a minute," he said. "On your face. I'm going to get my first aid kit and take care of that. Then we can talk." "Clark," she whispered. "Lex tried to have you killed." "I know," he said. "Mortie gave me your message." Her stomach was definitely feeling uneasy. She rested her forehead on her arm, aware of movement behind her. Then Clark's fingers touched her ankle. "It's kind of deep. This is going to sting a little." "It's not that mixture you used on Lex that night at the Planet, is it?" "No." She was almost certain that she could hear a smile in his voice. "I'm afraid I made that sting a little more than necessary. Hold still, now." If Lex's wound had stung more than necessary, then Clark had been more vindictive that she'd thought he was capable of being, she was thinking a minute later. Then suddenly a sensation of cold enveloped the wound and the pain abated. She tried to twist around to see what he was doing. "No, hold still. I'm bandaging it up," Clark's voice said. She was aware of his fingers touching her ankle very gently. "Almost done. There." Clark laid her ankle down on the couch. "You can sit up now." She rolled carefully over and pushed herself into a sitting position. Clark was putting a roll of gauze and another of adhesive tape back into a small, canvas case. "Where did you get that?" Lois asked. "This?" Clark snapped the case closed. "I bought it from some Boy Scouts a few months ago." He laid the little case aside. "When Mortie told me you'd called this afternoon, I could hardly believe it. I haven't seen you since the day of your wedding." "I can't stay," she said. "Not here, anyway. As soon as they realize I've left the penthouse, they're going to be looking for me and the first place they'll look is here. Clark, everything you said about Lex was true, and I'm so sorry I didn't listen." "How did you find out?" Lois shrugged. "That's another story -- a pretty unbelievable one. Something crazy has happened, and I need help." "What kind of help?" "I need to find someone. There's a good chance she has the evidence that will incriminate Lex. If not, I can at least tell you where to look for evidence." "Who is she?" Clark asked. Lois found that she was clasping her hands tightly in her lap. "You'll never believe me. I almost don't believe it myself. Can you trust me enough not to ask -- and if I find her, I can tell you the whole story, and have the evidence to prove it. And then I'll need more help." "If you betray Luthor, he'll be after you," Clark said. "You'll be a target." "I know," Lois said quietly. "On the other hand, if I don't, he'll have destroyed everything I cared about, without having to pay a nickel." She hesitated. "What happened to Jimmy, Clark? Is he still alive?" Clark hesitated. "Yes," he said finally. "There was an attempt on his life a few weeks ago and Superman helped him leave the country. To relocate without leaving any tracks." "How about Perry?" "As far as I know, he's living retired in Florida. I think he's safe enough as long as he doesn't try to contact you." "Jack?" "He escaped from the juvenile facility when --" "When he found out someone had been sent there to kill him," Lois said. "Thank god. I was afraid that this time Lex might have succeeded." "This time?" Clark asked. "I'll explain later. Have you warned Superman? Lex was talking to that assistant of his last night -- Mrs. Cox. He still has the Kryptonite cage and he plans to use me to lure Superman in. He intends to chain him in the cage so he can't get away this time. He has to stay away from Lex, no matter what kind of excuse Lex uses to get him to --" "Lois," Clark said slowly. "How did you know about the Kryptonite cage? Superman never told anyone about it." Lois closed her lips tightly together. "I can't tell you," she said. "You wouldn't believe me, and you'd think I'm crazy. The only way I can prove to you that my story is true is if I can find this...person." "Why can't you tell me?" he asked. "We used to trust each other." She bit her lip, feeling the tears that she had refused to shed up until now begin to leak from her eyes. "It's not a matter of trust, Clark. If there's anybody I trust in the whole world, it's you -- you and Superman. He was so completely right that night -- the night I asked you to get in touch with him for me. I know why he was angry with me, now. He knew what Lex was, just like you did. If only I'd believed you --" She clenched her hands together tightly. "If I'd listened to you, none of this would have happened. I was so scared when I found out, last night, what he planned. He has people watching me every minute when I leave the penthouse. My jewelry is bugged, he monitors my computer -- I was so afraid he'd manage to kill you before I could warn you about it." "But you managed." "Yes, but