From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG9711C" ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 10:27:47 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 13 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Swap-Meet: Burbank part 13 of 20 by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com [previous editing notes apply] "So let's give them around an hour, their time, if things work out," Clark summed before Lois could continue. He could understand her fears since he shared them himself. "If the rate of these messages is any indication, it may well be this afternoon before we find out anything." "Well, I can keep you busy," K said, "and Justin will help again. He went home around 11 last night, but he'll be back. I invited him to stay for dinner, which should be about..." she added it up on her fingers and concluded, "two if you're still here then, but I warned him that his mother's meal should be his main course for the day. Other than that, I'm sure he'd like to watch football with you." "Eh..." Lois grimaced. "I forget. Teri likes football, but she used to be a cheerleader. You and I can talk turkey if you'd prefer. I'm about ready to put ours in the oven if you'd like to watch..." Lois tried to brighten up. "Okay." She looked at Clark. "Turkey for me, football for you." K continued, "The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be starting soon, too. I like to have that on in the background." "It sounds like fun," Lois smiled. "It's so... domestic." "And it doesn't bite, not really." "Do you think we could catch up on the news before then? It doesn't matter that it's this world's news, it's just..." K gave her a knowing look--Lois Lane, ever the reporter-- nodded and led her back to the kitchen. Clark was glad for Lois, though it would have been nicer if Lois's own mother had been the teacher, had that woman been interested. Next best would have been his mom, but mom was... He glanced back at the computer screen. Nothing new. On a whim he pinged Metroduo then rose and followed the women into the kitchen, stopping to lean in the doorway to watch. They had turned on a small, cable-equipped TV on a counter top and it was in the midst of a commercial. Clark tuned it out. Lois was carefully watching K shove into the oven a deep blue roasting pan that had an aluminum foil-covered object in it. Lois applauded as the door closed on the production ("I didn't think it would fit!"), and K told her to wash her hands. "Oh, look, it's the CNN news," K said next. She turned up the sound. "'CNN'? We have 'LNN.' They've wanted to change the name for ages but there's money and the government regulations involved, and they don't do a very good job reporting anyhow." The first item was about the aftermath of a 5.7 earthquake that had hit Taipei only hours earlier. There wasn't much damage reported, but people were frightened and the night there was dark... Lois turned from the sink, her hands dripping, and she looked at Clark. She said simply: "Go." "'Go'? I can't 'Go.'" "Sure you can 'go.' It's night over there, isn't it?" "Yes, if time zones work the same way, it's just after midnight tonight there." "And they need someone to see that no buildings fall over." "But-- "And nothing's going to happen here with the Vibro Whammy if it does at all until this afternoon, right? You said so." "But--" "I'll take notes! I'll tell you everything. You'd sense it anyway and be here in a second, I know you will. And one time you told me..." She was distracted by K pulling produce out of the refrigerator. "Oh, can I cut up an onion? I'm really good at that! I hold them under water, you see, and... No onions yet? Okay, later. Clark, when you were younger you felt free to help people as long as it was dark, you told me about that, remember? So it's dark over there and you can help them. Go!" "And there are winter storms all over this country, too," K added. "I don't think they're caused by that machine though. You might check what's happening to people affected by them if you want to dare daylight." He frowned, thinking. "Okay, okay, you've convinced me, but I'm going to wear a disguise. I already have an idea for one." And there was one last important thing: "Do you have a world map?" "Yes, somewhere..." As K looked for that, Clark returned to the bedroom and pulled out and put on the stylishly dark clothing he'd gathered at Cain's home. This included the black bandanna, which he tied around his head like a pirate. K found a world atlas and presented it to him when he came out. "Good idea," Lois said as she looked at his disguise. "Thanks." He thumbed through the atlas at high speed. The world and its cities looked a lot like the one he and Lois knew. He made a quick check but found no "Metropolis" except one in Illinois and another in Nevada, and the populations reported for them were much too tiny. No Smallvilles at all. K looked over his costume now. "I don't know," she frowned, finger to her lips. "There's something missing..." "Don't tell me," Clark said, unable to keep a smile from creeping across his face. "Under your bed you have a box and in it is a blue blanket and a big patch with a red S." "No, but I wish I did! I loved that scene. I have some old Girl Scout patches..." Everyone shook their heads simultaneously. "I didn't think so. How about another black scarf to cover the rest of your face..." She dug through a closet near the front door and found it quickly. "Here it is. It even has a little the S symbol on it in the corner here. I bought it at a Warner Brother's store after I made the show's pilot and we didn't know if we'd be picked up." "Oh, a good luck scarf," Lois smiled. She insisted on tieing it into place. "Thanks," Clark smiled, too, though it was now covered by the extra scarf. "I'll be careful and fly low and fast and do all I can to avoid being detected." "I know you will," Lois said. "But there's not much to worry about because there's nothing here that can stop you. If there was no Krypton to blow up, there's no Kryptonite, either." He paused. "Wow, yeah, I hadn't thought of that..." Maybe there were advantages to being the only one of his kind and particularly in this universe... "Well, if you are seen, try to mention the show, hmm?" K winked. "We can use all the free publicity we can get!" "I'll hum the theme song, too, okay?" "That'll be wonderful." Lois touched his arm. "I think this is what I meant earlier about you not looking deliriously happy. You've been needing to do this." "Yeah..." It felt just right. He pulled the second scarf down and gave her a quick kiss, then without hesitation gave K one, too. She almost blushed. He grinned, retied the scarf into place and tucked the excess down into the turtleneck. Only his eyes showed; he hoped anyone who might glimpse them would see that they were full of compassion and that he was nothing to be afraid of. "My hero!" Lois sighed. "You look great!" "Heh..." He felt a little silly, people shouldn't have to disguise themselves to help others. "I wish I didn't have to dress so darkly. Now all I need is a utility belt and a cowl." "*And* a scowl." "Not me--" "Go on..." He stepped into the backyard, into a patch of early morning sun, took a deep breath, rose a few inches, waved, and flew away, merely "quickly" at first until he got his bearings and could feel the magnetic pulse of the planet. I must be getting used to this place, he thought. Then he geared into top speed and headed north. Yes, this really was what he needed to do. *** K Callan's Home In Some Suburb of Some Alternative Los Angeles Day Two, Thanksgiving Day 10:35 a.m. Justin paced the floor of K's cordially decorated living room, from the front window to the dining room and back again, where he looked out and sighed. His hands were sunk into the pockets of his jeans, and a frown was troubling his face. Clark, standing quietly in the alcove between the sunroom and the living room, had moments before floated in quietly as not disturb anyone. He had also overheard Justin ask K when the heck Clark was coming back. Clark found it fascinating. The young man had been in awe of him at first, had quickly overcome most of that to become a friend, and now was fearful for him. Had there been other powerful helpful people here on this planet in recent times who had met awful fates? Had Lois not mentioned the realization that there was no Kryptonite here? Was the Superman in their TV show careless enough times to make this young man worry so? Clark hadn't sensed anything dangerous to himself during his last several hours' worth of helping, no villains involved, no plots, only accidents and the typical problems humans had with nature. He decided to ease Justin's fears by consciously clearing his throat, which he knew how to fake. Justin turned immediately and gawked at Clark. "You're back!" Clark smiled. "Yes." The young man rushed up to him and grabbed Clark's nearer arm, then obviously thought better of it, thought himself presuming too much maybe, and quickly let go. "Sorry, but I was--well. I mean--" Clark silenced this by giving his new friend a quick hug. Justin smiled, returned it, let go, regained most of his composure and shuffled a bit. "Ah, are you okay?" "Sure. No problems at all." Justin looked him over. He pointed to the black scarves in Clark's right hand. "Did you really wear those?" "Yep." "And these black clothes?" "Yep." "You got sort of... dusty." Clark looked down, noticed Kunlun Mountain dust on one knee, and brushed it off. He also saw grass stains on his shoes from that landing on the shores of the Ucayali River. Easy to clean. "It happens. My regular disguise is tighter than this and doesn't get as dirty." "Oh, that's your aura." "Ah, right." How did they know so much...? "And *nobody* recognized you?" "I don't think anybody really saw me." "Hi, handsome..." He turned and accepted an icy glass of tea from Lois. "Thanks, honey... Um..." "Four sugars." "Just right..." "I guess nobody was looking for you." He looked back at Justin. "That's the other thing. Back home, people sort of expect me to turn up any more." "Or they hope or pray for him," Lois smiled helpfully. Before this could get embarrassing, he gave her a "okay..." nod, to which she twinkled. He sipped more tea; she said nothing; he continued: "If I was spotted, it was dark and they were in a panic anyway. After Taipei, I moved west, staying with the night as much as I could, until I hit the Atlantic Ocean, where it didn't matter. I just went for a quick look in South America next, and then in this country there was a airplane trying to land in the snowstorm over... I think it was Kansas City. It needed some help. That was the one big chance I decided to take in daylight." "You saved a plane full of people?" "Some probably got shaken up." Justin's eyes widened. "Some *probably* didn't get smashed all over the landscape! But you've saved bigger things than that, haven't you?" "A few. I also stopped by Mr. Cain's house and checked on his dogs. They're just fine." "I'm glad you thought of that," K said from the doorway into the dining room. "I let them out to run, fed them and changed their water." Lois looked him up and down, mostly down. "You carried his keys in those tight pants..." Clark just smiled. "Why didn't I notice the bulge?" "Well... you're on vacation?" "No, I'm not, not after..." she said 'last night' only with her eyebrows. "Ah, well, checking on pets... is a good idea. We can visit Teri's pets again after dinner." "Good idea, is it almost ready? I can smell the turkey..." "No, it isn't ready," she informed him. "Good cooking takes time. Go save some more people or sit down and watch football with Justin and leave the kitchen," she glanced at K, "to the experts." Clark refrained from asking, "And to you?" instead nodding and then saying he wanted to change before indulging in football. Justin outlined the day's worth of games and what they had to choose from since K had cable. Clark said, "I'll watch whatever you like." Lois excused herself from this, saying since the kitchen didn't really need her at the moment, she'd prefer to close herself in the guest bedroom, peruse scripts and watch episodes of the show based on her life. Clark said he'd like to keep up with that, too. He had earlier noticed that the computer had powered down and he now asked about the IRC session, only to be told that it had stalled out. His question to his mom had sat there alone and unanswered for so long that K had decided to sign off and let the computer rest a while. Lois said she had agreed with this move, that the longer K was on line, the more she could attract power spikes. Clark said he understood. After changing and cleaning up, he wound up migrating between the games and the episodes and indulging in snacks. No news emergencies broke in to the live football game Justin chose to watch, so Clark didn't have to consider sneaking out again. Some episodes of the Lois and Clark show exasperated Lois and she loved others. The turkey was done early, by one, but it had to sit and "gather its juices," leaving plenty of time to prepare the rest of the meal. K rounded up a quiet Lois, who explained when pressed that while most of the stories and scripts she'd seen or speed-read through so far had been at least... interesting, many of them just didn't seem to... work, to put it politely. Clark decided not to comment; what could he say? The show was apparently a fair success in this country and a better one abroad, so someone was doing something right. Clark's only question was how the various writers had managed to hit so close to his reality so many times--even one time out of a hundred would have been surprising, but so many times... but it looked like that would remain a mystery of the universe, where there was enough time and space for literally anything to happen. Lois helped make gravy and it had hardly any lumps. She didn't spill a drop while pouring it into the gravy boat. She'd chopped the onion for the dressing, she informed Clark; he'd been away or he would have seen the marvelous job she had done on that. Justin, who could stay because his mom's dinner wouldn't be ready until six at the earliest and he promised he wouldn't eat very much here though he was still a growing boy and all... was pulled away from the game, and he and Clark set the table and helped carry food out from the kitchen. K took the seat of honor, said grace, and surprised Clark by handing him the carving knife. "You don't mind, do you? I don't expect it to be tough, but in case it is, at least I know *you* can get through it." The turkey sliced like room-temperature butter and oozed hot, fragrant juices. "It's organic and free range," K confided to Lois, who nodded and said that's what she would buy next time. Clark just licked his lips and Justin's eyes widened eagerly. Lois seemed to realize suddenly, "We're going to have *two* Thanksgivings this year, Clark!" "That's right," he smiled, "but is two enough?" The good days made it easy to overlook all the painful moments this year. "We have so much to be thankful for..." They all talked about this once they settled down to eat. K asked for more details about their real wedding, and Clark was pleased to see Lois become so animated in talking about it. About 45 minutes later, at almost three, K looked over the table. It looked almost like a pack of starving wolves had attacked it. She said, "Wow, we did it with leftovers to spare... Does anyone have room for pumpkin pie?" Clark did, no question. Justin hesitated; he had saved plenty of room, he said, for what his mom was making, but he would try a tiny piece. Lois thought she could wedge in piece of the same size, and K agreed with them both on the size she wanted. "More for me," Clark grinned. K gave him a narrow look that turned into a smile. Then she asked if Lois knew how to whip cream. "Whip?" Lois asked. "You mean like," she made a hand motion and a sound effect. "No, not like Zorro. Come on, I'll show you." "I've gotta see this!" Justin claimed, but Clark held him back with a whispered, "Let's clean off the table first, hmm?" So they were in motion once again, with the kitchen becoming the center of attention. Although K insisted that she could wash dishes later, Clark figured out the routine, rinsed off most of the dinnerware, and put it in the dishwasher, while Justin found plates to set out for the pie. K showed Lois how to insert the blades into her hand-held electric beater, asked Justin to get the small cartons of cream out of the refrigerator, and suggested that Clark, who "didn't have to do the dishes...!" take the pie out of the oven and set it on the table so it could cool a little. He couldn't find hotpads immediately so he did this by hand, which everyone but Lois was amazed by. K began giving Lois her simple recipe, and they tackled the ingredients with the beater, in moments making a merry racket. Justin covered his ears in play and said something about this being one of the best sounds a kitchen could make. Lois began to grin and Clark squeezed her shoulder gently. It was great to see her having fun with the appliance. She leaned toward him briefly, letting him know she relished his touch and support. On the other side of the room, time and space were being ripped wide open and whole universes threatened to heave and change. Clark felt something funny going on behind him. He turned, saw it, and immediately grasped what it could be. A portal between worlds. Or a reasonable imitation of one. Admittedly it was a fairly cheap, discount one, with little in the way of special effects, even so close to the Entertainment Capital of the World (this according to a billboard they had seen while sightseeing). It could not even be called a "portal" but was more a split that caused the air around it to shimmer out of focus. Without taking his eyes off the strange sight, Clark squeezed Lois's shoulder again, this time with some urgency. He heard the beaters clang against the side of the bowl. Lois, maybe less in control than she had been letting on, cursed and demanded, "What!?" K helped her put the thing down--"No, turn it off first!-- Oh, Ah! Don't worry, don't worry, we can clean that up, you just got some on your blouse..." "And my shirt!" Justin laughed. "Umm, but it tastes good." "I nearly wrecked everything! Now it won't get all fluffy!" "Sure it will, dear, it only *looks* delicate. We can rescue it." "Well, I'm *going* to! What *is* it, Clark?" He felt her eyes on him so he nodded. "It's that. I think the Vibro Whammy is doing... something." "Wow!" Justin exclaimed. "I think I saw this on Star Trek once!" "Oh, my!" K said, as curious as she was startled. "It looks like a crack opening up." "Yes, but I think it's static, it's stopped opening." "Maybe it's just a demo model," Justin guessed. "We need more than that, maybe she's just barely touching it," Lois frowned. "It's not making any noise. Something like that should be roaring." "I do hear a slight, high-pitched sound." "You do? High-pitched? I wonder if that was part of my headaches." "I don't hear anything," Justin said, "And why is it just floating there? These things usually make a big entrance--I mean, look at the warp holes on scifi shows. They really cost a lot if the effects people are any good. This is... well, pitiful." "Justin," K whispered, "it's practically a miracle..." Clark put aside these judgements because they were of no immediate help. "I can see through it, just, it's hazy. Two figures... they have to be Ms. Hatcher and Mr. Cain." He decided to approach the quantum anomaly with care, and, thinking positively, to wrap things up as well. He took Cain's wallet and keys out of his pockets and tossed them on the nearest counter, then he turned briefly to K. "Lois and I hate to eat and run, but in case this is our way out, thanks for your hospitality, it's been a wonderful experience." "Oh, I understand, this has been so special..." "Maybe they can take some pie with them." "Yes, of course they can..." Clark noticed that none of the three moved to pack any goodies. They were captured, fascinated, by the unexpected sight. He felt that way, too. "I wonder if the edges are solid," he muttered to himself. "Be careful..." Lois whispered. He nodded. "You bet. Just stay back until I give you the word," if there were one to give. He reached out first with his right hand and touched one of the shimmering sides of narrow crack. There actually was something to touch, and it felt almost alive. He tried the other side and it felt the same. "It's cool and tingly..." This close, he also noticed that the crack was slowly lengthening. This was promising: it was trying to open. Was there enough time for it to do so on its own, if that was the plan? It was best, he thought, to assume it would need some help. He squinted through the shimmer; there were a few centimeters worth of distortion-free space. Beyond this was an artificially lighted room. Even the tantalizing unsteadiness of the edges of the portal failed to liven up what he could see of the standard, boring laboratory colors. "It's S.T.A.R. Labs, okay, yes!" He had feared that moments earlier wishful thinking had prompted him to imagine Hatcher and Cain, that this anomaly could have been something else entirely. Now he could definitely see two people on the other side. They were watching what was happening and had surprised expressions on their faces. The man was wearing glasses--his hornrims--and he looked a lot like him, and the woman did look like Lois. Interesting. Clark glanced over his shoulder at K and smiled. "It's definitely your friends, they've done it somehow. All I need to do is get this thing open a little wider. Lois, get ready to jump." "Okay!" She whipped off her apron, tossed it somewhere, and gave both K and Justin big hugs, which were no doubt meant to include him since his hands were full. This done, she turned back to him. "I'm ready when you are!" He nodded, pushed his hands a little further through the crack, back to back, and began to ease them apart. The hole cooperated with this for the first inch or two--then locked up and refused to budge. Clark, who had hardly put any strength into it at all, smiled to himself, unlocked his knees, flexed his shoulders carefully and increased his efforts slowly, confidently. If somehow the crack was alive, it wouldn't do to (super)manhandle it. The hole gave but by only millimeters, nowhere near enough. Maybe being polite wasn't working. He took a deeper breath and began to put real muscle into it. In a minute or two he was grimacing because the effort began to hurt, to strain every muscle. What he wanted to do was possible--it simply had to be--it was just becoming a greater exertion than he'd ever made in his life. In comparison, picking up that ocean liner had been a breeze and launching the Prometheus, his first really, really big effort, had been child's play. The universes simply would not concede without a royal fight. But in time, Clark had no idea how long--though neither Hatcher nor Cain turned gray in the process so it couldn't have been very long--he forced the portal open a meter wide. This had to be enough; he felt his body trembling slightly and protesting that he could do no more. He dared to glance over his shoulder and catch Lois's eyes. "Now! Move, now!" (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 10:27:53 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: The Evil Henchman's Guide Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I found this on the rec.arts.sf.tv news group (who says there aren't fascinating things there?) - Debby, Debby@swcp.com :) ***** >From John Sat, 08 Nov 1997 17:11:09 -0800 From: John & Linda VanSickle Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies Subject: The Evil Henchman's Guide Recently, the Society of Evil Overlords has noticed a regrettable decline in the availability and quality of fanatical henchmen, devoted worshippers, and loyal infantry. We wish to correct this growing problem by submitting the following general guidelines for Evil Henchmen. This list can be found at http://www.erols.com/vansickl/henchman.htm 1. General tips for henchmen of all varieties: a. Avoid getting sent to rough up the hero(es). Ransacking hotel rooms is probably safe, but going 'round to beat up the good guys is a sure ticket to the bottom of the Thames. b. When the hero or his sidekicks are at your mercy, don't stop to gloat. c. If you can't resist gloating, don't boast about the reward you expect to receive from your master for bringing them in or killing them off. d. If you gloat and boast, don't be surprised if a comrade of the person you have at your mercy jumps you from behind while you're distracted with your boasting. e. If you fail to complete your mission, skip town. Returning to the Evil Overlord to report on your failure will usually get you killed. f. Avoid killing people not actively involved in the rebellion. The Evil Overlord has enough enemies as it is. g. As tempting as it may be, never try to ravish the Evil Overlord's beautiful-but-wicked daughter. She can probably mop the floor with you. h. Learn where the trap door is in the Evil Overlord's audience chamber. Avoid standing there, especially when bad news is brought to the Evil Overlord. i. While the Evil Overlord is gloating over his anticipated success in the venture he is about to launch, it is considered impolite to ask "And if you fail?" You probably won't be flogged, maimed, or killed for your temerity, but why risk it? 2. Guidelines for Legion of Doom troops: a. Before performing guard duty, familiarize yourself with the sound of a tossed pebble, and learn to avoid being distracted by it. b. When performing guard duty, do not stare continuously in one direction, but take a moment now and then to look around. c. When you are fighting intruders, do not fight them quietly, but yell "Intruder!" while you still have breath. d. When issued armor or uniforms that contrast with the service environment, respectfully inquire after more sensibly-colored attire. e. Get plenty of firearms practice. f. Don't attack the hero alone or in pairs. The Evil Overlord hired a million of you for a reason. g. Exercise care in the abuse of oppressed peoples. Many farm implements make effective weapons in the hands of a skilled opponent. Some of those little old men can teach you a thing or two about hand-to-hand, too. 3. Tips for evil cult members: a. Pick one faith and stay with it. Dilettantism is the mark of an amateur. b. Familiarize yourself with the specifications for sacrificial victims, and ensure that unacceptable substitutes cannot be unexpectedly introduced into the ceremony. If the penalty for not- to-specs work is death and/or mutilation, consider working for a more fault-tolerant deity. c. Avoid needless embarrassment. Practice the correct pronunciation of your deity's name in the privacy of your own room before chanting it in public. Flash cards are often helpful. d. Before agreeing to impregnation by a supernatural being, investigate the survival rate of the other women who have undergone the procedure. e. Never invoke anything bigger than your head. f. Eschew deities whose followers are all young; such faith groups usually employ an unpleasant retirement procedure. g. Avoid all cabalistic jewelry over ten pounds in weight--it attracts unwelcome attention from tourists, policemen, various supernatural creatures, and can be downright dangerous during thunderstorms. Its jingling also tends to warn the hero of your approach. h. Citronella candles may not be used in rituals. I cannot stress this enough. Pastel colored candles in the shape of cute animals are like direct sunlight to the Powers of Darkness. i. If the spirit contacted during a seance begins offering financial advice, you're dealing with a con artist, and not a genuine medium. j. Always keep your kit with you: candles, chalk, incense, silver knife, Thuggee cord, service revolver, garlic, Yellow Sign, cab fare, and change. k. Flourescent lighting is very annoying to most netherworldly creatures. l. When the Black Mass goes awry, stay away from the Evil Priest. Enraged demons always go for the pompous. m. Followers who have a speech impediment should be excused from speaking parts in any and all ceremonies. If you want to know why, ask a fellow cult member about the last time the deity's name was mispronounced during a ceremony. n. Plan ahead by selecting ceremonial robes that are easy to run in while still affording ample concealment. o. When a religious artifact begins emitting light, CLOSE YOUR EYES. Thousands of cult members could be saved every year if they followed this simple safety tip. p. When mutilating cattle, avoid the ones with testicles. q. During ritual sacrificing, taking bits home for later is now generally considered "bad form." r. Blood tests are now required for all sacrificial victims before the ritual. The effects of HIV+ offerings on the average malefic deity have never been witnessed by anyone living, or even intact. s. Contrary to historical belief, drugs and invocations do not mix. When the ritual goes awry, it is vitally necessary to be able to discern between the gibbering monstrosity to pump full of silver bullets and the gibbering monstrosity that will fade away after a few hours, some B complex, and a good hot bath. t. Never play strip Tarot. u. Piety and belief are powerful things, and few forces in nature, can stand against one who is true to his faith, his god/goddess, and the deal made in exchange for the soul. However, it is also true that gods tend to side with the heaviest artillery, so be prepared to change sides at the drop of a hat. v. For those situations where a fresh, living, sacrifice is not available, the lower ranks of demons can be fooled by microwaving a previously frozen chunk of ex-victim and cleverly jiggling it. However, a mock victim sculpted from SPAM is right out. The Evil Henchman's Guide is a cooperative effort between myself and Brian McGinty (mcginty@pacifier.com), but suggestions from the rest of you are more than welcome. -- "I 'ave acute 'earing." "We're not interested in your jewelry!" ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 12:56:00 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gary Subject: ListServ Archive? MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Is this list archived somewhere? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= | Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu | | "You decide what you feel heaven is worth" - Deborah Gibson, TWYH | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 13:10:39 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Merckle Subject: Re: Question or two In-Reply-To: <01322619409219@michianatoday.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 14 Nov 1997, Alicia Kelly wrote: > Whatever happened to the Lois and Clark soundtrack, that was supposed to > be out in September? The soundtrack is out. I've been listening to it over and over and over. Fortunately I've been on midnight shifts so I didn't have any complaints from my co-workers for putting it on the office stereo system . I found my copy at Best Buy (which only had one copy at the time!). None of the local regular music stores had any. I'm sure it could be ordered by a local outfit though, and there are places you can order it on the web, however the address escapes me. Let me know if you want more information from the CD for ordering. My only complaint is that *the* cut I wanted to hear was only briefly aluded to in cut #13. (FWIW, the music I wanted was the background to Clark saying goodbye to Lois in the heat wave episode.) But there was so much music in the series to choose from, I can't really complain about that being "missing". All in all it is a good CD, which has me humming some of the music. Hmmm, guess it's time to put it in the home player for a little while . Nancy -------------------------------------------------------------- nancym@clark.net .......... http://www.clark.net/pub/nancym/ -------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 13:21:34 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Farah Meitzen Chisham Subject: LISTSERV WEB INTERFACE Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" If anyone is interested in searching for previous posts, stories that was posted on this list since it was started, you may go to this URL: http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/loiscla-general-l.html again, if anything horrible happens, or you can't read this web page, please let me know. Thanks! farah :) fchisham@indiana.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 20:49:14 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: ClassicFanfic:FORGET ME NOT, REDUX (1/2) Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 For those of you who suffered through Forget Me Not, either = for the first time, or as an encore... Let's assume that in FMN, Lois was only an outpatient at the medical clinic. The A-plot would be essentially unchanged - Lois, while being in treatment, would notice strange things and figure out the bad guy's plot. You've seen it, it's nothing special, I won't recreate it here. The B-plot, however, would go more like this... FORGET ME NOT, REDUX (1/2) by Pam Jernigan (jernigan@compuserve.com) "Lois, are you sure you're okay?" Clark asked anxiously. = Although Lois had mostly recovered from her injuries, and could function in many ways, her personal memories had not yet returned. She'd had a steady stream of visitors over the past two days (her parents, his parents, their boss and others). With pictures and documents, they'd told her about her life. = Clark had been there most of the time, answering her questions, telling her stories of their lives, watching her sleep. He'd ignored the rest of the world; she needed him more, and he needed to be with her. In more ways than one. Mindful that she barely knew him, he'd struggled to act like a brother to her, not showing any hint of his desire for her. He was determined not to make her uncomfortable in any way. Being patient had worked before; it would work this time, too. He had to believe that, because he couldn't face a life without her. "I'm *fine*," Lois insisted testily from behind the privacy screen, struggling into the last of her clothing. She'd been in the hospital for two days now, and she was thoroughly sick of it. All bland, blank walls and cheerfully noncommittal nurses. = She still didn't remember much of her life, but that was no reason to hide from the world. She suspected that she'd never been one to back down from a challenge. "Maybe you should stay here a little while longer," Clark suggested uncertainly. He didn't want to do anything to hamper her full recovery. = "No, I won't, and that's final." Now fully dressed, she stepped around the screen to face him. His eyes were full of a concern that warmed her heart. He was so amazingly kind. She'd been told that as well as being her partner at work, he was her fiance. At first the knowledge of their engagement had caused an odd thrill of fright, but as she'd considered it, and seen his innate gentleness, the fear had melted away. This man could surely be trusted with her life. = And with her body? She couldn't remember if he was her type, or if she even had a type, but she found that she enjoyed watching him. The lock of hair that fell so engagingly over his forehead, the breadth of his shoulders, even his strong, gentle hands... all of these and more were starting to make her shiver in breathless anticipation of his visits, in hopes of his kiss. She could tell he loved her, she reflected in wonderment. It was there in the way he treated her, in the way he looked at her... and there was desire in there, as well, she'd glimpsed it... At the moment, however, he was looking harassed and beleaguered. She hid a smile. Her visitors had all mentioned that she tended to lead their partnership, and based on his reactions, she could believe it. He was resisting now, though, and she supposed he might have a good reason. "Out with it, Clark, what's the problem?" she asked, arms crossed. He looked at her helplessly for a second, then sighed. "Well, you were kidnapped right during the wedding ceremony." A familiar stab of guilt assailed him at the thought, but he steadfastly ignored it. Dwelling on what might have been was too painful. = "Yeah, and...?" Talk of her wedding--a wedding she couldn't even begin to imagine--caused her stomach to flutter, a sensation she preferred to deny at the moment. "Lois... you'd already moved into my apartment, and out of yours. It's been leased to someone else already; I checked." = He watched her anxiously. = "Oh." She sat down on the hospital bed, feeling as if she'd had the wind knocked out of her. So, she had nowhere to live. = Nowhere, unless... she looked up at Clark speculatively, and made up her mind. She took a deep breath and spoke quickly, not giving herself a chance to reconsider. "That's all right. I can stay with you." Clark felt his eyebrows raise in astonishment. She had, in a way, only known him for two days, and she was proposing to move in with him? It had taken him over two years to win that much trust, the first time around, to get through her protective layers. Surely even a memory loss couldn't erase such deeply ingrained barriers. She smiled tremulously at his surprised expression. "If I want to get my memory back, I should stay in familiar surroundings, right? All my things seem to be at your place, and I guess I was probably pretty familiar with it, anyway, wasn't I?" "Yeah..." he admitted reluctantly. "Well, there you go then." She stood again, gathering her courage. This would work out just fine; it had to. "The only other place I could think of to stay would be with my mother, in her hotel room, but just between you and me, I don't think she and I get along very well." He quirked a smile. "No, not really." Lois took a moment to appreciate what a great smile he had, reassuring herself. She smiled back at him. "Then you have no choice, do you? You have to help me; I'm homeless." He sighed once more, looking around the room for guidance that wasn't there. Could she really mean what she was saying, that she trusted him to be that close to her and not try anything? = Could he trust himself? Lois saw the worry written across his face and advanced until she was standing close enough to rest her forearms on his chest, her hands exploring his shoulders. She noted that he automatically opened his arms to receive her. His nearness, his *body* felt good, setting off waves of desire outward from where his hands rested on her hips. "Clark, look at me." He looked down into her intent brown eyes. God, she was beautiful, and he still marveled that he had found her again. He didn't care how long it took her to regain her memory, he could wait months if he had to, as long as she was safe. "Clark," she repeated, all trace of amusement gone. "There are a million things that I don't know about you, that I don't know about me. But I do know this. You are kind, patient, and more considerate than I deserve. And my... previous self... wanted to marry you. How could I not trust you?" How could he resist her? "Okay. Let's get you out of here." It took some time to complete the paperwork, but the hospital staff could no more stand in her way than Clark could. She would be an outpatient at a local memory clinic/sanitarium for the next few weeks, but she was free to stay wherever she chose. *** As Clark drove her Jeep to his apartment, an air of tension rose between them. Lois kept sneaking looks at him, when she thought he wouldn't notice. Who was this man? How well did she know him; how well did he know her? They were engaged (by unspoken agreement, that engagement was on indefinite hold, but she had no urge to break it); had they been... intimate? She felt her cheeks flushing, feeling excited by the prospect. She knew general things about lovemaking, but it was all distant, impersonal. Clark was aware that she was looking at him, darting glances at his face, and at his body. He shifted uncomfortably as he drove. What was the matter with him? She was injured, and barely knew who he was. He shouldn't even be thinking of making love to her. But he was. Under the cover of checking the Jeep's blind spots, he kept an eye on her. She was pale, and thinner than she should be... but she still took his breath away. And he was going to be sharing his apartment with her. = He swallowed hard. "Well, here we are." His tone was determinedly cheerful as he pulled into the parking spot. Lois looked around, hoping for a glimmer of memory, but none came. "Nice place," she offered, to let him know that nothing was coming back. He nodded, not really disappointed. He knew that when he'd lost his memory, two years earlier, it had taken time for familiar people and places to bring him back to himself. He got out of the Jeep and headed for her side to open her door and help her out. He found her standing on the sidewalk, looking around. He smiled despite himself. Some things apparently didn't change. "The entrance is around the side." He touched her elbow to guide her, and she fell in step next to him. Lois felt a jolt of awareness at his touch. It was only his hand on her elbow, for pete's sake. She had to get control of herself. = At least until she had some answers. "Oh, what an unusual entrance!" she exclaimed, enchanted by the wrought-iron porch. He smiled tightly as he fumbled with his lock. Taking a deep breath, he swung the door open. "Welcome home." Lois stood on the threshold, seeing his apartment as if for the first time. It was more or less all one room, decorated with souvenirs of his trips around the world; he'd told her about that sometime yesterday. She noticed a tenseness about him, and suddenly realized how hard this must be for him. He'd expected to bring a bride here, not a virtual stranger. She turned to meet his eyes, surprised to feel a glimmer of tears in her own eyes. "Oh, Clark, this isn't what we planned, is it, for me to not know you..." Clark felt his heart twist at her wistful expression. On its own accord, his left hand reached up to cup her cheek, and she tilted her head into his palm, the way she always did. "No," he admitted hoarsely. "But I'm just... so grateful, that you're safe, that you're here, that you don't hate me." She enjoyed the touch of his hand on her cheek - it was an unusual gesture, and yet it felt so natural. How could a simple touch make her feel so good? "I don't think I could ever hate you," she whispered, running her gaze over his face, focusing on his gorgeous eyes, and his full lips. On impulse, she raised herself on tiptoes and leaned forward to kiss him. It was a quick kiss, a mere brushing of their lips, but it left her breathless and tingling. Clark closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. = "God, Lois, don't do that." I can't control myself if you do that, and I have to control myself. Hurt, she stepped away, and entered the apartment. A few steps later, however, she thought she understood, and she was ashamed of herself. He was determined to treat her like a sister, to not take advantage of her. She shouldn't make things harder for him. Unless, of course, her treacherous inner voice whispered, you want him to take advantage of you. She smiled. A few deep breaths gave Clark back his balance, and he followed his fiancee into the apartment. She was looking around appraisingly, carrying her small bag from the hospital. = Acting as if nothing had happened, he pointed out the apartment's features. "Okay, here's the living room, with the new lamps we bought after the old ones were shot up." The lamps were one of few features they'd purchased together; they had been waiting until after the honeymoon to make decisions on major pieces of furniture. "In the kitchen, we have all the regular kitchen stuff - plus I stocked up on cream soda and chocolate ice cream for you." She followed him, looking around with interest. "I like ice cream?" He chuckled. "You like chocolate." "Ahh, that's good to know." She nodded wisely. "Good thing I have you to tell me all this stuff." "Just ask, and I'll tell you what I know," he promised. "So why were the lamps shot up?" She turned to face him, with an inquiring expression. He grimaced, wishing he hadn't mentioned that detail. "This couple was trying to kill me, and kidnap you..." He really didn't want to tell that story in any detail. The subject of Superman had come up several times in the past two days. So far, he'd always managed to gloss over things, only telling her what was general knowledge. He fully intended to come clean to her again sometime soon, but not yet. Not until they had some other things sorted out. She lifted one eyebrow. "This happens to us a lot, does it?" He shrugged helplessly. "We're reporters," he temporized. = "And we're good at it, especially you, so sometimes people don't appreciate us investigating them." "Good thing we've got Superman to look out for us then, huh." = She could tell that he wasn't telling her everything on that particular topic, but it could wait. One mountain at a time, Lois. She wandered further into the kitchen. "Yeah." Clark let it go at that, glad to escape the topic. = "Okay, behind this wall is the bedroom..." The tension that had leaked away earlier was suddenly back as they stood by the side of the bed. Lois swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. Had she spent much time in that bed? They obviously hadn't been living together, but that didn't mean they hadn't slept together. She looked up at him, wondering if she dared to ask. Clark commanded himself to think of something to say, anything to move the focus away from his bed... the bed he longed to be in, with her a full and willing participant. It's not an option, Clark, he told himself sternly. Behave. You don't want to scare her. He looked around the room, searching for something to say. "Um, no one can see in the windows, so you don't have to worry about that." That was better, he told himself encouragingly. "Over here's the dresser - you've got the top two drawers, and most of the closet." He pulled open the top drawer to demonstrate, and froze when he saw her lacy undergarments lying there. Good one, Clark. He pushed the drawer shut after an endless moment, but it was too late. He could feel his blood rushing southward, bringing him back to the familiar, aching fullness that had begun with her innocent kiss. Lois was too far away to see into the drawer Clark opened, but she could guess the contents by his expression. A blush crept over her cheeks, but more importantly, she thought this was a clue. He wasn't familiar enough with her underthings to be blase about them. That was interesting. Clark moved blindly back towards the living room. He couldn't stay here much longer, not with them both upright. "I'll sleep on the couch." She followed him, feeling curiously elated. She could tell, now, that he was just as affected by her as she was by him, and it was equally clear that he didn't intend to act on his feelings. = This seemed to leave her in control. A familiar, safe feeling, but thrilling at the same time. Just like flying... where had that thought come from? *** The evening passed slowly. Clark was very business-like, drawing on years of painful experience in controlling his feelings around Lois as he told her about their stories and their sources. Her nearness still affected his breathing, though, and he was achingly aware of every move she made. = Using the excuse of getting them dinner, he took a break around eight. He wanted to take time for a quick trip to the Arctic (he somehow didn't think a cold shower would be enough, and besides, in order to take one, he'd have to explain himself to Lois, and he just didn't feel up to that conversation) before heading for their favorite Chinese take-out restaurant. Before he could get far, however, he'd heard the familiar refrain of "help, Superman!" and he'd had to respond - he'd neglected the world for too long already. Left completely alone for the first time in days, Lois wandered around the apartment. She saw many pictures of herself, alone and with Clark. They both looked so happy. She picked up one of the pictures, and wistfully touched Clark's image with a finger. Why couldn't she remember anything about her life? = The more time she spent with Clark, the more she wanted him. = This boldness, inexplicably, surprised her. Had she been previously uninterested in sex? She couldn't see herself as shy, unless perhaps she'd had bad experiences before meeting Clark... With those memories gone, perhaps her true desires were coming out. Whatever the reason, she'd felt herself hungering for him, leaning towards him as he'd spoken about invisible men, cyborgs, and Intergang. None of those topics had been anywhere near as fascinating to her. She decided to sit in the living room to watch the door for his return, but that didn't feel right. A restlessness gnawed at her, so she rose to pace again. Her steps took her into the bedroom. = In the darkness, the bed was even more inviting (and she was tired) but that wasn't quite right, either. A-ha! The window seat, under those wonderful glass panels. She curled into one end of it, arranging pillows around her. She could see a strip of sky from here, and most of the apartment's small balcony. She couldn't explain why, but this felt like the perfect place to wait. (to be continued) = !^NavFont02F35AD0007MGHH|AE6F17 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 20:49:19 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: ClassicFanfic:FORGET ME NOT, REDUX (2/2) Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 FORGET ME NOT, REDUX (2/2) by Pam Jernigan (jernigan@compuserve.com) One small job for Superman had turned into three. Clark was glad to have challenges to expend his energies on, problems he was well able to fix. As soon as he could, however, he hurried back to his apartment. Lois wouldn't know why he'd been gone so long, and he wasn't sure what to tell her. He unlocked the door quietly. She wasn't in the living room, and his heart stopped for a moment before churning into overdrive. A quick x-ray scan located her, to his great relief. = He took a moment to make sure he'd stopped shaking, and walked into the bedroom. She was curled up with her head resting on the glass, fast asleep, and looking very uncomfortable. "Lo-is," he murmured softly, indulgently. He recognized her spot - this was where she used to wait for him to come home. = She must have been very tired. The doctor had said that she could use all the rest she could get, but she couldn't stay there all night. = He gently slipped his arms around her, gathering her to his chest. She turned in her sleep and snuggled into his shoulder, making soft noises. He stood stock still for a moment, revelling in her response despite his frustration, and then turned to carry her to the bed, floating over the floor to avoid the possibility of his footsteps waking her. = Clark gently lowered her to the bed, wishing with all his heart he could join her. She moaned a protest when he withdrew his arms. Unable to resist, he leaned forward to kiss her forehead, then settled back on his heels to watch her. He'd spent many hours in the hospital, watching her sleep. She'd never been so beautiful or so tempting as she was now, in his bed. He could only hope she'd be comfortable sleeping in her clothes, because there was no way he trusted himself to remove them. He tiptoed out of the bedroom and turned off all the lights in the apartment. If he could do nothing else, he could still guard her sleep. = *** Lois woke, confused. Why did she feel like she was lying down? She had been sitting up. She stirred, and opened her eyes. Ah, she was in bed - Clark must have carried her. She glanced around the room, which was dimly illuminated by the neon sign on the adjacent building. Where was Clark, anyway? = She rose up on one elbow. "Clark?" Almost before she'd finished calling his name, he was there, standing in the archway. How did he do that? = "I'm here, Lois. Are you okay?" She thought about it for a moment. "I don't know. I had some really strange dreams." He entered the room cautiously. "About?" "You, me, Superman... all mixed up. Clark, I need to ask you something." She gathered up her courage. "You've told me all about work, now tell me about us." "Us?" He cocked an eyebrow at her. He'd expected a question about Superman. That suddenly seemed like it would have been an easier issue to deal with. "Yeah, you know, us." She was blushing, but her voice was steady. She arranged the pillows so that she was sitting up against the headboard, and held out a hand to him. Slowly, reluctantly, he crossed the floor to sit on the edge of the bed. Clark was terribly nervous. He was afraid that she didn't want him, he was afraid that she did. Mostly, he was afraid of saying the wrong thing, or of losing control and kissing her the way he wanted to. "What do you want to know?" His voice was husky. Now that she had him here, she was unsure how to proceed, but she was determined to clear some things up. "How long have we been engaged? How long had we dated before then?" "We were only engaged a few months. And, well, we didn't really "date" much before then - we knew each other, and worked together, but didn't have many real dates." That was interesting, but didn't really tell her what she wanted to know. "But we were in love, right?" He smiled at a happy memory, his teeth flashing in the semi-darkness of the bedroom. "Yeah, we were. And after a while, we even admitted it to each other." Another clue. They'd had a difficult courtship, apparently. = Maybe there were other reasons that they hadn't moved in together. The next question was the most difficult, but she had to know. "Clark," she almost whispered, "were we lovers?" Clark groaned at the images that word evoked. Images from many passionate evenings danced in front of his eyes. He had trouble making his voice work. "No. We kissed... and things... but we'd both decided to wait until we were married before taking the big step." Lois mulled this over. She wasn't quite surprised, but she still didn't understand. She looked away from Clark, glad for the darkened room. "Why?" she asked softly. "Why did we want to wait?" Clark kneaded his hands on his thighs, keeping himself on a tight leash. He swallowed again. "There were a couple of reasons. You had had some bad experiences, so you were a little unsure." He studied the far wall as if it contained the secrets of the universe. "I'm kind of traditional. And I, ah, well... I've experimented a little, gotten pretty close... but I've never actually made love to anyone." Lois filed the information about her previous experience, but she was blown away by his revelation. Amazed and touched. This gorgeous man had waited - for her? What a precious gift. She had suspected he was a romantic. She reached out to hold his hand. "Well, as far as I can remember, neither have I." Clark looked down at her tiny hand on his, heard her attempt at a joke, and felt his control slipping away. The weeks of alternating highs and lows, of doubt and fear, of needing to be strong, suddenly caught up with him. To his horror, he began to cry. "Oh, god, Lois. I've missed you so much, needed you so much..." = Lois heard the ragged edge of exhaustion in his voice. He must have been worrying, waiting for weeks now; no wonder he was worn out. She swung her legs out of the way and hugged him as best she could. He instantly turned towards her, holding her tight, burying his face in her hair. She soothed him and patted his back as a few sobs escaped. Clark didn't know how long he clung to her, drinking in the feel of her body, the scent of her hair, the sound of her voice murmuring reassurances. She was there, she was safe, everything was okay. When he had recovered enough to stop crying, he pulled back just far enough to see her face. She removed his glasses and gently wiped away his tears, her heart in her eyes. He cupped her face in his hands, and slowly leaned in for a kiss. Lois watched him approach breathlessly. A small part of her brain noted how different he looked without his glasses, but she ignored it as unimportant. He was giving her plenty of time to escape the kiss, a kiss she had no intention of evading, a kiss she had been waiting for as long as she could remember. She closed her eyes and tipped her face up to await his touch. His lips brushed hers gently, then retreated a few millimeters. = She smiled, but quickly wanted more. Her lips parted of their own volition, and she closed the distance between them. = Finding her mouth open, he moaned and set his tongue questing after hers. They met in the middle, dancing passionately. His hands left her face to trail down her sides and across her back, leaving shimmering paths of desire along her skin. She ran one hand through his silky hair, while the other attacked his shirt, working the soft material loose from his waist. The touch of Lois's hand on his bare midriff brought Clark back to his senses. He pulled back from the kiss, far enough to see her face. She was wide-eyed and panting slightly, looking sexier than he'd ever seen her. But if he took advantage of her now, he'd never forgive himself. "Wait." It was the single most difficult word he'd ever said. "Why?" She didn't need her memory to know that she wanted to do this. It was right, more right than anything she'd ever done, she felt it deep inside. Along with an aching hunger for this one special man. He was breathing heavily, too, he noticed in a distant corner of his brain. "Because..." He was having trouble articulating a reason. "Because you don't know what you're doing." She shook her head, dead serious. "Oh yes I do. I loved you before, and I love you now - all I've lost are details." She searched for ways to convince him. "We made it to the church, we had every intention of getting married - it's not our fault that it didn't happen. I don't want to wait anymore." "Well then," he countered, with a flash of dark humor. = "Because *I* don't know what I'm doing, remember?" She laughed huskily, sending shivers down his spine. "Let's learn together," she suggested, then sobered. "Please, Clark, I need you. Please, be my first time..." His good intentions vanished before her obvious sincerity. = More confidently than before, he reached for her, bridging the gap between them. This time, there would be no pulling back. *** Lois woke and stretched languidly, feeling wonderful for no reason that she could recall. She froze when her outstretched hand hit something warm and solid, but then memory of the previous night flooded back, and she opened her eyes with a smile. "Morning, Clark." "Morning, Lois," he replied, grinning from ear to ear, revelling in the sight of her in his bed, in the touch of her hand on his bare chest. How long had he waited for a morning like this? It wouldn't be perfect until she had her memory back, but that should be soon; this Dr. Deter she would be seeing today was supposed to be the best. On impulse, just because he could, he leaned forward and kissed her. She returned the kiss, closing her eyes to devote her senses to it. It had been a spectacular night. Their mood had been changeable, from explosive to sweet, tender to funny, and they hadn't gotten much sleep. She reluctantly opened her eyes again when he pulled back. He propped himself on an elbow, watching her. She noted with amusement that he'd put on a pair of sleeping shorts at some point, and he was already wearing his glasses, too... She glanced down at herself, covered only by a thin sheet, and grinned. "You're overdressed." He felt the blood rushing to his cheeks, and elsewhere, but merely smiled. She was still recovering. "I made breakfast for you. Come on out when you're dressed." She watched him leave, noting from his profile that he wasn't as indifferent as he sounded. "I knew there was a reason I wanted to marry you!" she called after him. Sensitive, sexy, and he cooked... what more could she ask for? *** "Superman!" At the sanitarium, late that afternoon, Lois waved to the superhero that she was starting to remember. During her day there, she'd noted strange happenings, and had stumbled across an assassin for Intergang - apparently reporter's instincts don't have anything to do with memory. Luckily, Superman had arrived in time to save the day. = He detached himself from the newly arrived policemen and walked over to her, the cape waving in the breeze. He looked strangely familiar, but she ignored the feeling of deja-vu; she suspected it would be pretty common for a while. "Yes, Lois?" he asked in what he hoped was an impersonal tone, fighting his body's reaction to her. They'd spent hours last night exploring each other before drifting off to an exhausted sleep, but he still hadn't found the time to explain about Superman. "I'm starting to remember things, Superman!" she announced excitedly. He smoothed his face to a stern expression. What if she remembered her crush on Superman? Well, he'd just explain things to her again, if necessary, but the mere thought that she could fall for someone else after spending the night with Clark made him tense up. "That's good, Lois," he replied belatedly. She smiled brilliantly. "I need you to find Clark for me." Oh really? This was interesting. "I can take you to him," he offered. She nodded, and he scooped her up, trying valiantly to think of her as a sister. At least from this position, she couldn't see how tight his briefs were becoming. He flew her away from the sanitarium, towards Centennial Park, and the fountain where they'd gotten engaged. He wasn't above subtle hints. She looked around blankly when he set her down. That fountain was vaguely familiar, but she didn't take the time to chase down the memory. "Where's Clark?" Superman looked around, and she suddenly was afraid he would leave. "No, wait, I want to talk to you first." He crossed his arms and looked at her, unsure of what to expect. She started pacing, but glanced at him frequently as she talked. "I don't remember a lot, very clearly, but I think I remember that you... that you have romantic feelings for me." Clark had no idea how he should respond to this, but she didn't seem to require any input from him. "I just want to make sure you know that I'm in love with Clark. = And I have been, for a lot longer than I ever told anyone, I think." He blinked in surprise, temporarily speechless. Sometimes it still amazed him that she could love him at all, let alone that she could prefer *Clark* to Superman. She kept proving it to him, though, again and again, and it never failed to awe him. She saw the thunderstruck expression on his face, and winced. = "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you...." He shook his head slowly, and managed to reply. "You haven't hurt me, Lois." He began to smile, feeling happier than he'd ever expected to. In a way, this was even better than last night. Lois saw Superman's smile for the first time, and gasped, her eyes narrowing. This was more than deja-vu... she'd seen that smile, just recently... she searched his face, and the light dawned. "Clark? Is that you?" Clark nodded, his smile broadening. She slowly began to return the smile, and then suddenly she was in his arms. "I remember." = He held her tightly, and rose off the ground. It was time to head for home... *their* home. THE END I can't take credit for this last scene with Superman, this was apparently written by the L&C writers as an ending to FMN - this scene was actually filmed and included in an early director's cut (thanks, Zoomway!). I like it much better than what replaced it, so I've added it back into my version. = !^NavFont02F2D410007MGHHt4231A3 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 21:41:17 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mercedes Galvez-Arango Subject: Re: FANFIC: Tommy Crooner, RIP Comments: cc: JERNIGAN@COMPUSERVE.COM MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Pam I LOVED your fanfic!!! Yours and Chris'. That's a CLASSIC! YOU BOTH hit it right on the NOSE. MERCEDES --formerly of compuserve!! Hi again Pam. mgalvez@dhvx20.csudh.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 08:36:11 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 8 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Metropolis, New Troy 3:55 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Thursday S.T.A.R. Labs - Experimental Technology Wing Clive Tisdell had been horrified to realize that his "new" weather machine was causing Lois Lane to have migraine headaches whenever he turned it on. The times of the headaches and his tests seemed to coincide. He normally did the tests first thing after he got into the lab, to try to provide good weather for the rush hour traffic. He only wished he could set it to a timer so he'd get the benefit while he was driving in to work himself, but someone had to be here to supervise the touchy machine and its complicated software. He went on to say he believed Ms. Lane, but wanted some objective confirmation of the phenomenon. As a result they were now in the presence of the VibroWhammy in all its glory. The machine looked very basic, a simple square box with a couple of levers on one side. In fact, Dean thought the turbine-like mock up that FX had created was better looking than the "real" thing, but couldn't knock it since this one, apparently, had actually been a working model. Clive Tisdell was fussing around his monitors as he turned on the peripherals to the VibroWhammy. He explained that the VibroWhammy itself had been left on this morning for the demonstration that Ms. Lane had attended. Teri nodded and tried to look as if she knew what he was talking about and that she'd been there before. As Dr. Tisdell switched on the last of the boxes near the console, Dean could feel a hum through the floor. Abruptly Teri cried out as she clutched her head. "Turn it off! Now!" Dean, realizing this was his cue, glared at Clive and pulled Teri away from the VibroWhammy, holding her gently and making comforting sounds. Teri made it seem so *real*, she was a *great* actress. "I'm sorry, Ms. Lane, I just wanted to be sure." Clive rapidly powered off the peripherals around the machine. "That *hurt*, don't do it again." Dean could feel that Teri was trembling. Now he was worried that she really had felt the pain. "Honey, come over here and sit down. You're shaking like a leaf." Teri whimpered and allowed herself to be guided away. Tisdell looked devastated. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kent, I had no idea that it was causing anyone harm." "That's okay. Lois has always had a 'special' affinity for the VibroWhammy. I think she'll be okay if she rests for a few minutes." Dean tightened his hold on Teri, projecting his concern for "Lois'" pain. "Although I'm sorry the test worked, I am glad to know that the phenomenon was confirmed. Now that I know the VibroWhammy is still causing mental anguish, we'll take a deeper look at the system. I'm sure we'll have the problem licked by early next week." Clive Tisdell was powering off his test boxes, but left the VibroWhammy and its immediate peripherals on, although he explained he usually turned these machines off to conserve power. However, since it was apparently the actual process of powering up the peripherals that was causing Lois' headaches he said he'd leave them on until further tests had been done. "I have to leave now to pick up my kids at day care because my wife's out of town, and I'm already late. I'm supposed to escort you out before I leave." Teri moaned quietly. "We can't leave, not just yet. She's still in pain." Dean supported Teri as she sat on a lab stool. "Dr. Tisdell, I know you have to leave, but could you let us stay for a little while?" Dean used his best imploring look. "I'm sure Dr. Klein would allow us to leave by ourselves under the circumstances. We just need...a few minutes, I'm sure my...wife will feel better by then." Obviously in a quandary, but needing to get to his children pronto, Clive reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay and leave the building on their own. He'd let security know they'd be leaving sometime in the next fifteen minutes. As the door closed on Clive, Teri quickly got up and walked over to the VibroWhammy. Dean, surprised at her quick recovery, followed quickly. "Whew! I thought you were really in pain! You looked awful..." "Thanks for being concerned. It did hurt some, but not as much as I made out. I wonder if Lois Lane and I have more in common than we realized? Come on, we have to do this now before any guards show up to escort us out." Teri found and didn't hesitate to touch the lever that Lois had said was most likely to be the right one for the transfer. Over the VibroWhammy a swirling mass of colour appeared, like a developing FX effect not totally ready yet. There was the sound of stringed musical instruments...banjos? Dean shook his head to clear away the mental picture he had of the banjo-playing kid in Deliverance. As he watched the cloud of colour, Dean saw it float down and coalesce into a fuzzy picture in front of the machine, a picture of what looked incredibly familiar! "Hey, isn't that K's kitchen?" Teri pointed at the fuzzy picture forming a few feet in front of her. "It sure looks like it!" He'd been there a few times for dinner and was pretty sure it was. The four people in the kitchen seemed to have just become aware that the opening was forming. The nearest fuzzy figure looked a lot like himself, at least from the back. He was saying something to the other three that Dean couldn't quite hear, but then the sound cleared and he could hear them gasp at what they were seeing from their side. He could hear someone who sounded a lot like himself, and who must be Clark, say something that sounded like, "I wonder if the edges are solid," and at some comment from one of the others, "You bet. Just stay back until I give you the word." "Dean! It's *Superman*, the *real* Superman!" Teri's eyes were wide with wonder. Dean was having trouble grasping this obvious fact. "...and it looks like he's going to try to open this...this portal thing wider." There was a humming sound as Dean saw Clark Kent--the honest to goodness Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman-- put his hands together back-to-back and slowly draw them apart. By the look on the man's face, it wasn't easy. The part of the picture between Clark's hands became crystal clear and Dean could see K, Justin and someone who had to be Lois standing behind Clark. The sound was a lot clearer now too. "It's definitely your friends, they've done it somehow. All I need to do is get this thing open a little wider. Lois, get ready to jump." "Okay, Teri, it looks like we're going home!" Dean grinned at Teri and turned back to see the action in the portal. There was a lot of confusion in the background and finally Clark Kent said over his shoulder to, presumably, Lois, "Now! Move, now!" followed almost immediately by a command to Teri, "You, ma'am, come through now, *please*..." Dean glanced back at Teri and saw that she now seemed to be rooted to the spot. Her eyes were wide and her mouth formed a silent "o". "Teri, you have to go through!" Dean indicated with a sweeping gesture with his left hand that he wanted her to go first. "Ladies first! This is our only chance." She turned to face him and he saw the terror in her eyes. She was trembling and exhaled the words, "It's not going to work!" with a sob as punctuation. The man holding the portal against the forces of the universe turned to him and said, "*Make* her move, now! Before I..." Dean reassured her. "It's okay, I'll be right behind you." She blinked. "Think of Jon, you'll get to see him again." Dean took her by the arms and helped Teri enter the clear part of the portal. Then Lois tumbled out of the gap in space and fell to the floor in front of him. He bent over her to make sure she was okay and, after giving her Clark's glasses and wallet, turned to enter the gap himself. Just as he was about to enter he heard the sound of feet in the hallway. Someone was coming, he'd have to hurry. Dean was having trouble squeezing through between the "walls" of the gap and Clark. He tried to push the "wall" further away from him and felt his hand brush against Clark's just as a blinding light hit him, throwing him onto the floor. The bright colours of the portal faded and his world turned to black. *********************** Metropolis, New Troy 4:05 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Thursday S.T.A.R. Labs - Experimental Technology Wing His head was throbbing. It seemed like every little noise--and there were a *lot* of them here, wherever here was--went right through it like a knife. He was glad he was lying down. What had happened? The last he remembered was Dr. Tisdell's departure. He groaned. Someone shook his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?" He opened his eyes to see a living skeleton. He cried out in fright. He could see the blood pumping through the body, the bones, the.... He shut his eyes tight...then tried them again a few seconds later. This time when he opened them he saw a woman in a pink sleeveless top and navy slacks. "Teri?" It looked like her still. Damn, the switch back hadn't worked and something had knocked his vision into next week... The woman exclaimed, "You're not Clark! But you're wearing Clark's suit!" She glanced down, "My clothes, they're the ones I was wearing in Burbank! I didn't get *my* clothes back!" She turned and stared at the place where the portal had been. "Omigod, he's still back there." He saw the colour fade from her face and felt her trembling. She let go of him and stood up. He heard keys jingling and looked to his right, where, off in the distance, he saw a guard walking along the hall. He knew he shouldn't have been able to see this, but the wall that had been there just a few minutes ago seemed to have disappeared. Then suddenly the wall was back where it had been before. He shook his head. Big mistake. Now he felt nauseous. This couldn't be happening. He must be unconscious. Dreaming! However, in case there was a guard in the hallway, he'd better warn T--Lois. "There's someone coming, and--ah--I don't feel all that good." Dean tried to get up, he was able to push up his torso, but when he tried to stand his legs wouldn't support him. Whatever had hit him must have hit him hard. "Here, put the glasses back on. We'll say you're ill, and that we'll leave as soon as you can walk without fainting." "Teri and I used that excuse already, except it was Teri--you-- that was supposed to be ill." A guard, in a navy uniform and with a ring of keys in his right hand, opened the door. "Dr. Tisdell said one of you was ill and you'd be leaving soon. We're seeing strange power surges in this wing of the building so I need you out of here now. I need to lock up. Are you ready to go?" Dean groaned. He wasn't sure he could stand, let alone walk yet. His thoughts were in a turmoil. First the Suit nearly kills me, now this machine. Nobody'd believe it if I put this in a script. "Could you help him? He tried to stand a few minutes ago and almost fainted right here on the floor. I'd like to get him home as soon as possible." She placed her hand on Dean's shoulder and said, for the guard's benefit, "Clark, you really should have taken your medication like I told you." Dean closed his eyes and swallowed, trying to gather the strength to stand up. Lois and the guard helped Dean up and supported him to the entrance of the building. As Dean grasped the guard's shoulder for support the guard grunted, "Gee, buddy, for a guy who's sick you sure have a strong grip!" By the time they reached the security desk, Dean was able to walk under his own steam. Once they were in the car, Lois searched through her purse for the car keys. Once she'd found them and put the key in the ignition she stopped, both hands on the steering wheel, and stared morosely at the building in front of her. He thought he heard her whisper something, but didn't quite catch it. It sounded almost like "I'll be back, I promise." Dean took off the glasses, which had become blurry from fingerprints on the lenses, to get a better look at her. Incredible as it seemed, this was *her*--Lois Lane--comic book heroine. Dean found himself drinking in the sight of her. She was--stunning. Even more so than Teri, although they looked very much alike. They both had dark hair, although this Lois had slightly longer hair than Teri. She seemed to be larger than Teri too, but he couldn't say why she gave him this impression. She had a distinct air of confidence and vitality. But there the similarities ended. This woman had a quality about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He couldn't describe it, but he thought the difference was in how this woman made him feel. She was overwhelming. She turned away from staring and the building and looked him up and down, and said, "I should tell you right now I *hate* actors, particularly ones who try to imitate Clark and mess it up." ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 09:13:31 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 14 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Swap-Meet: Burbank part 14 of 20 by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com She looked afraid now and almost frozen in place. She shook her head. "Clark, I... I *can't,* something's wrong about this..." No, the only thing *wrong* was her failure to *move*! That was S.T.A.R. Labs, he was 100 percent certain. Their destinies were awaiting them on the other side of this hole. He turned a pleading look on Justin; that was all he could spare the strength to do. Justin snapped out of gaze, nodded and moved out of sight, presumably to grab Lois. Maybe K helped "encourage" her as well. Clark looked forward, through the hole in time and space, and right at the woman who resembled his wife. She was standing next to that infernal machine and the levers Lois had described. She wasn't touching anything; he wondered vaguely if she had been touching the machine if that would have made things easier for him. She was wearing one of Lois's more business-like outfits, one Lois wore to impress interviewees of the seriousness of her work so she wouldn't have to throttle them for information or beat off romantic come-ons. Well, the woman better see the seriousness of *this.* "You, ma'am, come through now, *please*..." But the woman was speechless and looked small and frightened. The situation merited some fear and careful consideration, true--but *not now.* Clark switched his look to the man, who was almost as paralyzed with awe and surprise. "*Make* her move, now! Before I..." he dared not say it; he simply could not afford to lose his grip before the job was done. To his credit, Cain blinked and shook himself out of his reverie. He quickly approached the woman and took her by her arms, forcing her forward. As he was larger than her and she apparently didn't possess Lois's martial arts skills, Cain had no difficulty. Clark realized though that his watching them, even if he had no choice in his position, could be distracting. He looked down. He noticed that the crack didn't quite reach the ground; they'd have to step over but only a few centimeters. He looked up, which his straining neck didn't appreciate. The crack appeared to reach only about half a meter above his head and here he was bending a bit to put his shoulders into the effort to keep the thing open. All this meant that there was no space for adult-sized bodies to just waltz through, for example, carrying pie. They'd have to crouch and twist and do their part, because he couldn't for the life of him force the crack open any wider and dared not move back out of the way. When he looked forward again, he caught a glimpse of pink slipping under him--Lois! Then Cain was pushing Hatcher forward into the swirl under him. Or Clark thought that was what was happening. He realized he was beginning to lose touch with... reality? What *was* real here? and did it matter? This was so unusual, so immense... In the haze Cain seemed to pause to bend over the pink. Why? Was she hurt? Was she moving now? Clark couldn't be sure of anything; his vision was fading, his hearing was being overwhelmed by the high-pitched sound, and he was beginning to have trouble caring about anything. Cain rose and came forward again, very, very slowly. Clark tried to perk up, though it was clear that something was wrong with time. The edges of the portal seemed... mushy and he was losing contact with his body. Not good signs. Cain reached forward and Clark felt a very slight pressure on the backs of his hands. The fellow must have thought he could be of assistance in holding the universes at bay. That was endearing--and funny. Cain was no doubt strong, but he was otherwise an ordinary human being. Clark almost laughed at himself. To think *I'm* doing this... Then a shock ran through his body and there was a thunderous roar. He felt like he was flying though it wasn't under his own power or direction, and suddenly the world grew dark and peaceful. *** K Callan's Home In Some Suburb of Some Alternative Los Angeles Day Two, Thanksgiving Day 3:23 p.m. "He's gotta be alive! He's gotta!" "He *is* alive, calm down, he's just... I don't know... holding his breath... I hope..." "It's him, isn't it, it's really him." "Yes, it is... Clark?" "Wow, it *is* him... Can I use your phone?" "Ah? Yes, of course, but don't touch it in case--I mean, use my cell phone, it's in the living room on the table next to my rocking chair." "Okay, I'll charge--no, I can't, I don't have my--I'll pay you back. I *have* to talk to Jon..." "At a time like *this*?" "Yes, Justin! I... I don't know what time it *is*! It's the next day, isn't it? He calls every night and I missed it--I missed *Thanksgiving!* Even my turkey's ruined! "No, no, it isn't. You were defrosting it correctly, in the refrigerator, I checked it yesterday. It was still mostly frozen then, it will be fine now." "Yesterday? Oh, good, thanks! He won't be able to share it with me--he'll wonder why I wasn't home--he'll be so worried!--I *have* to talk to him!" "Just don't tell him about *any* of this. Make something up-- tell him we went to a movie last night and forgot about the time." "Okay, I will, that's a great idea, don't worry... Where's your living room again?" "That way... Clark?" "Come on, Clark, wake up, please?" Clark was figuratively floating above all this, not quite part of it. There was something... strange and incomplete about it and the awareness of that made him curious, which in turn caused him to fall into the trap of life as we know it and finally consciousness. He noticed that his ears were ringing painfully but this was rapidly diminishing, allowing him to really hear, not just be aware somehow of the voices. They were voices he hadn't exactly hoped to hear ever again. This prompted him to make a self assessment. He was tingling (something about kissing Lois came to mind) but it was wearing off with the ringing. He realized that K was right, he wasn't breathing. A protective reflex, he thought; that or I died for a minute maybe...? What an odd thought. Whatever, it was probably one reason that someone out there was gripping his shoulders. He decided to get things going again with a tentative exhale. "He's breathing now!" Justin must have been shaking his left shoulder. "Do you think he's hurt? Like he wasn't invulnerable for a while and he broke something? Like his back?" "Oh, God, I don't know, I hope not... Clark? Can you hear me? How do you feel?" He took a deep breath next. It hurt. His muscles protested the strained, but none of the pain was from his spine, and nothing felt broken anyhow. He wasn't sure what broken bones felt like, true, but he guessed that the pain would have been a lot sharper. The ache he felt was confined mostly to his shoulders and upper back. With the buzzing sound and the tingling, did he have a headache? He checked, saw that he didn't have one, and almost smiled at himself for wondering earlier why Lois done the same thing. Now he understood. But Lois... Why was he lying here on his back with two worried people hovering over him when Lois could be lying somewhere hurt, too? No, wait they were concentrating on him. Surely they would have been worried about her if she were hurt, if she were... He forced his mind to delve beyond the dark haziness of the immediate past and he pieced things together quickly. Lois wasn't here. After she had made or been helped to make her move, he thought, something had forced him to let go of the crack. Or maybe the crack had spit him out. Whatever, he hadn't gotten through. "Darn..." He frowned and opened his eyes. Justin broke into a grin. K's relieved smile followed quickly. "Lois?" He focused on K and whispered so that fate wouldn't hear him. "*Did* she get through?" "I think so. We helped her and then jumped back. I'm sure I saw Dean checking to see if she was all right. That was after he pushed Teri through to our side." "Yeah, they passed through at almost the same time. I was surprised there was enough room." They passed through... "I think if she was hurt Dean would have tried to help her," K said, "but I saw her bat at him, pushing him away, so..." "Oh, good, okay, that's just like her, she must be okay then, she knows how to roll, it's a martial arts thing..." He closed his eyes again, feeling secure enough to do so. He couldn't remember if Lois had rolled, but if she was batting, then she was okay. "I'm glad he got through, too, I wasn't sure, I just couldn't see..." "But, ah... he didn't get through." That popped Clark's eyes open again. "You said 'they passed through.'" "Yes, Lois and Teri exchanged places." "Then all hell broke out here," Justin said. "The hole started to shimmer like mad and then it made a sound like breaking glass. It was scary, and there was a lot of electricity in the air, I felt it this time." "At the very same time something caused my egg beater to short circuit and maybe my microwave and some other things, too." Clark stopped looking back and forth at them (it threatened to make him dizzy), settled on in between and frowned again. "Short circuit?" "Yeah," Justin said, "and I think it happened just before that... that hole, well, it was like it punched you except there wasn't a fist. You crashed back into the table really hard, and then the hole closed up and disappeared." He made a sucking sound and slapped his hands together. "Gone. Anyhow, that's why I thought maybe your back was broken." "Oh. It isn't." "Whew! I don't know what happened to Dean, though, I hope it just pushed him back, too." "Lois is there," K said. "She can help him if he was hurt. But for you..." Clark tried to absorb all this and chastised himself for not already having reassured them of his condition. "I'm okay." Then prove you didn't just lie, he ordered himself. He decided it was time to sit up. He made it but the room spun momentarily. He rubbed his face, paused and then just leaned into his hands. The dizziness reinforced the idea that there was too much going on again, like the morning before but much worse. "*Are* you okay, Clark?" He felt K's hand on his other shoulder now. "Is there anything we can get for you?" There were things he wanted, people, one person, but she couldn't be "gotten." He could only shake his head slightly. "You look really weak. Do you... do you still have your powers? Can you test them for a minute?" "Justin, don't push..." "I do feel weak." Clark uncovered his face and tried to look competent. "That took a lot out of me, I didn't expect it." He sighed and eased himself into a momentary float, just an inch or two, enough to confirm that more was probably possible, later. Then he glanced through the nearest wall and into the garden, so his eyes were working fine now. He could hear a woman who wasn't in the room and wasn't shouting; she was trying to speak Spanish "Kee-air-oh hah-blar cone..." It didn't sound like she was getting very far and he wondered how he could help... but that would have to be later, too. "I just need to rest up, to, ah, recharge my batteries, so to speak." "Electricity does have to have something to do with this, doesn't it?" K speculated as she squeezed his shoulder again. "Actually, I'm thinking solar power for me, but you could be right about the electricity, though I don't know how..." There was something else, too, something unsettling about the combination of a massive electric shock, himself, and a human caught in between that he decided not to mention to his friends because they wouldn't understand. Besides, there was no guarantee that Cain had survived the ordeal--that the Vibro Whammy hadn't blown up. That Lois wasn't... He refused to think about that. "There was the electric problem in the studio, the lightning storms over the county, the... well, maybe we had a power surge here and it effected that... that crack or the crack brought it on." Clark nodded but stopped because his neck protested. "Good thinking. The crack might have drawn power or released it, I don't know, and I... I have no idea how to use this idea..." "Gosh, you shouldn't have to think right now, you're tired!" "Yes, Clark, maybe you'd like to lie down." "Later..." He looked at her and tried to smile a little, "in your garden, in the sun." "I have a lawn chair you can use, but it's getting late, soon there won't be much sun." "Then I better get moving." He began by pushing himself to his feet, carefully, taking inventory and comforting what hurt around his body and using efficiently what didn't hurt. Standing at last, using the back of a kitchen chair for some support, he looked over the area quickly. K had a sturdy, centrally located butcher block table to work on and it had been shoved well out of the way. That had to be what he had crashed into. He hip nudged it back into place without trouble. He could detect a touch of ozone and smoke in the air from burnt electrical wiring, but there was no other evidence of danger. "Did you unplug things you suspect were damaged?" She hadn't. She and Justin rushed to unplug the egg beater and the microwave. Clark glanced through the other plugged-in appliances but didn't see any damage and gave K that good news. "I can replace anything that was fried," K said, trying to sound like it didn't really matter. "They were all on their last legs anyway. Now you can lie down--" "No. Please check your computer and try IRCing. Our two times have met. If we can reach Mom, maybe they called her to tell her what happened." "Oh, good idea!" K rushed to do this. Clark didn't feel like rushing suddenly. If the Vibro Whammy, which had cause the crack, also caused it to shut down-- or his straining to open it further had caused the shut down-- though surely it would have backlashed a lot sooner if it hadn't "appreciated" his efforts... there was no telling what else had happened. The machine might have blown up. It might have taken S.T.A.R. Labs with it and maybe parts of Metropolis... His actions might be to blame. Lois might have been right to hesitate... K's computer had been untouched by the events in the kitchen. She logged on to her carrier easily. It required what she said was a typical 30 seconds to reach the Undernet using the same server she had earlier. She began searching for MetroDuo. But, five minutes later, had found nothing. "I'll keep trying. The way I imagine it, they were shaken up but they realize they need to get to a phone. They can't tell anyone why they need one, so they have to bide their time and time being as unusual as it is..." She looked at him, projecting strength and motherliness, "there's time for you to take a little nap in the sun." "I can wait." "You can rest." She stood up to add height to her argument and somehow grew a figurative ten feet in the process. "Clark, we thought you'd been killed and now, frankly, you look just awful." He blinked. "Yeah, Clark, you're sort of pale and you're leaning there..." Clark straightened up. Justin narrowed his eyes somewhat, skeptical. "And that didn't help. You still look like you came out on the bad end of a street fight, except you don't have any knife wounds..." I've lost is what you're saying, Clark thought. I may have lost more than you realize... He closed his eyes. He was, he admitted, in no condition to think depressing thoughts. He needed strength and he just didn't have any at the moment. He sighed and opened his eyes again. "Okay, where is that lawn chair?" "I'll show him, K. You can keep trying to find them, okay?" K smiled confidently at him and nodded. She pointed at a small sofa there in the sunroom. "Take one of those blankets. It could get a little chilly outside..." Chilly... Clark realized he felt chilly, yes... He turned to go, to follow Justin, but paused when he saw Justin raise his eyebrows at something or someone. Ms. Hatcher was in the doorway between the sunroom and the living room. Clark thought she looked small and a little time worn in the Lois-sized tailored business suit. The heel of her (Lois's) right shoe was broken but Hatcher, disoriented, didn't seem to notice. She whispered, her voice breaking. "I couldn't get through..." K went to the woman and embraced her. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear..." "I could get through *a space-time anomaly* but I couldn't get the international operator to *understand*..." "Well, Jon's probably couldn't come to the phone anyway, he's probably busy shooting in the jungle and fending off mosquitos." "And head-hunters," Justin added, then caught himself; Hatcher hardly blinked at the horrible thought. "Or probably *not.* They're probably wrapping up, you know, last-minute things..." "Yeah..." She looked at Clark. Her eyes were brown, like Lois's, and there were other similarities that Clark didn't care to dwell on at the moment. She said, "Ah... you're him? You're Clark? Clark... Kent..." The question-statement hit hard. Having already heard her voice, he told himself that he should have easily withstood the effect, but no. Her voice was almost Lois's, a Lois in a tired, just-past-overwhelmed panic and in need of him. *Really* in need of him now... Or far past need of him. But Hatcher didn't need him, no, not this woman. He steeled himself. "Yes, ma'am." "Superman...?" Oh. Hearing that made things a little easier. She saw him as an icon, a thing. "Sometimes, yes, I am." Justin eased over to her. They were the same height when Lois had been a little taller than the young man. He whispered, "Superman is just what he can do." "Ah, oh, yes..." She took a deep, careful breath, straightened a bit, blinked her eyes clear, and looked right at Clark. "Can you fly me to Venezuela?" Now Clark blinked. She added, "Please?" "Disoriented" didn't quite cover this; even "ditzy" was a reach. "No, ma'am, not right now." Besides the request being presumptive, it was also somehow scary. It didn't matter that her request would eventually be entirely within his power, he just didn't want to do it for some reason. The reason he thought of to say was adequate. "I need to rest and I suggest that you might like to do the same." "Oh, Teri..." K hugged the younger woman again, glanced at Clark with a "she doesn't usually do this kind of thing" expression, then returned her attention to her friend. "When did you last eat?" "I don't know--no, yes, I do, Martha made lunch before we went to S.T.A.R. Labs--we really went to S.T.A.R. Labs!" She grabbed at K, her eyes wide. "We drove through Metropolis, K! It's a *huge* city and it's *real!* It's a *real* place somewhere!" "Yes, dear--" "We met Martha! The real Martha!" "Yes, I know--" "Dean's still trapped there!" "I know." "And the suit nearly *killed* him!" "But he got better..." Hatcher nodded quickly. "Yes, after Martha gave him a bath." K paused but remained on course. "That sounds... nice. Would you like some pie?" "Pie? Pie at a time like *this*? When we have to help Dean?" "Yes." "Ah..." She seemed to review her options. There were either too many or not enough. Her shoulders slumped a bit. "Okay." "Fine. Come in here to the dining room... and sit down..." Assuring herself that Hatcher was seated and would probably stay so, K turned back. "Clark, unless you feel like having a piece of pie, too, you have a date with a lawn chair and a sun beam." Clark took one last glance at Hatcher, decided he preferred to keep his distance from the woman, and chose to cloister himself with the blanket Justin had picked up and that Southern California-style sun beam. *** K Callan's Home In Some Suburb of Some Alternative Los Angeles Day Two, Later "I'm sorry I asked if you would do that, I don't know what came over me..." I'm always opening my eyes to see something weird, Clark thought. He had lain awake for quite a while after Justin had opened up and positioned the lawn chair. The young man had then asked him if he needed anything--a glass of iced tea? a radio? "I could read to you if you want..."--but Clark assured him he was comfortable and Justin had left him alone at last. Feeling chilled, though, Clark had pulled the blanket over himself. It helped a little. He had then unavoidably overheard what went on inside the house. Hatcher gulped down some pie, chattering through it about her adventures, mostly how *real* everything had been. Minutes later she realized the time and that she had to rush home to check on her pets, garden, house and answering machine. She gathered everything that Lois had borrowed and stuffed it in a paper bag K gave her. They were just things. Lois had thought the apparel and accessories interesting, even fun in some cases, but now Lois was gone... Hatcher voiced no upset that Lois had taken with her the blouse, slacks and running shoes. She could easily buy new ones. She said nothing about Lois's business suit other than it was a few sizes too large and she wanted to get *out* of it and be herself again. Justin offered to take her home since he had to leave, too. He had invited his girl friend Stacy to eat dinner at his home, just as he had invited Dean and Teri, and he wanted to greet her at the front door. Hatcher accepted his offer. He instructed K to watch out for Clark because he looked depressed (I *am* depressed, Clark thought... and he didn't know what to do about it). In a matter of minutes both visitors were gone and the house grew quiet. A short time after that, Clark heard K moving around the kitchen, cleaning up. He ordered himself not to move, not to go in to help her... and let the pleasant, purposeful, domestic noise (will Lois be making a noise like that some day? Is there still a Lois?) finally lull him toward sleep. The warm glow of the unhindered late afternoon sun did the rest. The sky was cloudfree, no storms threatened. No Vibro Whammy? The following hour or so was mercifully dream free. Upon waking, he guessed that it was nearing six, given the appearance of sky (still cloudless and some stars visible already) and someone having turned on the light in the sunroom. Ms. Hatcher stood at a discrete distance, watching him. She had changed clothing. She held her hands in front of herself, like she could at any moment begin to wring them nervously, although she could be cold; it felt like it was in the upper 60s. But of all the things he might have said, he said without thinking it through first, "You came back." "Yes. Everything was fine at home, K said you all visited. Thank you. But I couldn't just stay there while you..." she stopped nearly wringing her hands and intertwined her fingers, seeming to express togetherness. "Well, you might need some more help." (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 16:54:41 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Alyssa Mondelli Organization: Brought to you by the legal firm of Deceive, Inveigle, & Obfuscate Subject: Episode 7 now airing at the S5 website Comments: To: loiscla@vm.ege.edu.tr MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Why is Clark receiving mysterious items in the mail? Whatever became of a certain season 1 semi-regular character? And what is this "project" that Lois is so adamant she and Clark devote themselves to? ;-> All these questions and more will be answered in Episode 7: The Prodigal Son (or, The Two Jacks), written by Cindy with contributions from Kathy Brown. You can view it at the newly redesigned Season 5 website; point your browser to: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm or, for the plain-vanilla version: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/s5text.htm Reader reviews of the new story, feedback on the new layout, and pints of Ben & Jerry's Coffee, Coffee, Buzz Buzz Buzz! are currently being accepted. ==Alyssa in St. Paul== (agmondelli@stthomas.edu)(AlyssaM on the IRC) http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/index.htm Web-hostess, Lois & Clark Season 5 - now airing on a monitor near you ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 15:20:39 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: Episode 7 (part 1 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" THE PRODIGAL SON Season 5, Episode 7 by Cindy With contributions by Kathy Brown 348 Hyperion Avenue Lois Lane exited the bathroom, hanging her bathrobe on the doorhook and turning triumphantly to her husband. Clark Kent was already in bed for the night, albeit with his laptop computer perched on his crossed legs. He looked up from his typing as she emerged. "This is it!" she announced, holding up a colorful box in her hand. "This is what?" "According to the test I took this morning, I am about to ovulate." Clark shut off the laptop and put it aside. "Uh, congratulations, honey, but we still don't know if *I* ..." Lois climbed on the bed next to him, putting her finger over his mouth. "Shh, we agreed not to think -- just to *do*, remember?" she whispered seductively. Clark smiled as he slipped the thin strap of her lacy negligee down her shoulder and feathered a butterfly kiss against her exposed skin. "I remember ... I definitely remember." Dark Alley Two figures chased a lone one through the darkness. By silent, practiced signal, they split up, attempting to surround their prey, but he was too quick and slipped by. Running faster than he ever had before, the desperate quarry looked right then left frantically, even as he strained to listen for the footsteps behind him. His pursuers were easily confused by the dark alleyways, but for years these streets had been his home. He knew its winding turns, its deadends, its hiding places. Every time they'd thought they'd had him boxed in, he'd managed to escape. His exhausted muscles and gaunt frame documented the hunted existence he'd been living for the last few days. Finally, he spied his destination and darted across the street. Panting, panicking, he pulled out a small package crudely wrapped with brown paper, addressed to "Clark Kent, c/o The Daily Planet." Scanning the area, hearing the footsteps growing closer, he dropped the package into a nearby mailbox and disappeared into the night. Mere seconds later, his chasers came into view. Frustrated, they paused by the mailbox to catch their breath and then took off again in separate directions. Daily Planet Newsroom Clark was hard at work at his desk while Lois alternated between looking at her watch and staring at him. Slowly becoming aware he was being watched, Clark looked up at her, raised his eyebrows and waited a beat. "Yes?" "Are you almost done?" she whispered conspiratorially. "Lois! Clark! How's that story coming on the body that turned up in the harbor?" Clark frowned at Lois and then turned to answer Perry. "It's kind of strange, Chief -- the police have suddenly stopped giving out information. In fact, it almost seems as though they've stopped investigating. They're not talking at all." "Well, keep at it! There's obviously something there." "Right, Chief." Clark waited until Perry was out of earshot and then leaned over to scold his wife. "Lois, what's the matter with you? I thought you were going to call Henderson and 'demand' ..." "Clark! We have to get home! We have less than two days left to work on our ...." she looked around and hissed, "project." Clark's eyebrows went up. After checking for himself that the coast was clear, he stage whispered back across the aisle to her. "Uh ... isn't that what we did last night?" Lois got up and walked over to his desk so this part of their conversation wouldn't be overheard. "I've been doing some reading. The latest studies show that a woman is most likely to get pregnant in the days leading up to ovulation. Once I ovulate, it might be too late. The studies also said that, assuming a normal sperm count in the man, which we now know you have, we increase the odds of getting pregnant by making love as often as possible during those fertile days." She cast her eyes around the room once more before finishing. "And according the little kits that I've been planning my mornings around, I'm set to ovulate in the next 48 hours." Lois ran a hand over his shoulder and down his lapel. "Which means we have some work to do," she purred. Clark couldn't resist the smile that was slowly creeping onto his face as she talked. "Sounds like a job for ... Clark Kent," he winked. "What do you say we go home for lunch?" "What do you say we go now?" she coaxed. Clark blinked. "Lo-is. It's 10:00 in the morning." Lois looked at her watch again and Clark could see the wheels turning in her head as she slowly grinned at him. "OK ... so we don't actually have to go home ..." Clark's mouth dropped open and he was about to sputter a response when Steve, the mail guy, came by Clark's desk and dropped some mail on top of Clark's notes. Wearing a stereo headset, Steve was in his own world and didn't notice how Lois was still grinning encouragingly at her husband, who desperately dived into his mail as a way of avoiding temptation. Recognizing that Clark wasn't going to be persuaded for the moment, Lois sighed and returned to her computer where her notes were half-heartedly being fashioned into a story. "Oh, well, lunch is good, too ..." Grinning at his wife's exaggerated sigh, Clark began to sort his mail. Soon, however, his attention focused on a small package that looked as though it had been through the wars. It was clearly addressed to him. Clark shook it gently. Hearing nothing, he carefully opened it. Lois had started to work again when she heard Clark's puzzled exclamation. "What's up?" she asked, assuming he was having computer problems. When he didn't answer, she glanced over to see him reading a note, a small opened box on his desk. Getting up and walking over once more, Lois stood behind him, reading the note over his shoulder as he reread it: Clark - *Please* hold onto this for me. I know I can trust you to keep it safe. My life depends on it. - Jack "Jack?" Lois read, puzzled. "Jack who?" "I have no idea," Clark answered, still staring at the note. "I mean, I know a lot of Jacks ..." "Well, what's in the box?" Clark held up a small key, which Lois took from him. "A safe deposit box key?" she asked, confused. Clark nodded and she handed it back to him. "JIMMY!" they shouted in unison. Jimmy ambled over holding a cold coffee cup in his hand. "Hey -- I know it's early, but either of you want to order lunch?" Lois and Clark paused and exchanged a slightly sheepish look. Clark was first to recover. He held up the key. "We need to find out what this key opens. We think its a safe deposit box. Do you think you can find out which bank the box is in?" Jimmy took the key. "Oh, sure -- how many banks could there be in this city? Three, four hundred?" he answered with slightly frazzled humor. "No problem." With a roll of his eyes and a shrug, he headed off. Lois picked up the discarded brown wrapping off Clark's desk and studied the postmark. "It was postmarked yesterday from here in Metropolis," she mused. "I wonder if there's any way to trace which mailbox was used?" She went back to her desk and picked up the phone. Clark meanwhile looked through his rolodex and computer files, and racked his brain, trying to figure out who would have sent him the package. 348 Hyperion Avenue Clark unlocked the front door and held it open for his wife who was still trying to figure out the puzzle. "Well, the post office was no help at all," she fumed, flinging her coat in the direction of the coat rack. Clark caught it in midair and hung it up. "And the guy I was talking to sounded kind of ... *disgruntled*." Clark ignored her own disgruntledness and offered to make her a cup of tea. Lois frowned -- she missed her usual evening glass of wine, but their current goal prevented that. Not that they'd been successful in sneaking away at lunch time anyway. They'd gotten so busy that she'd been lucky to wolf down that half sandwich at her desk in between phone calls. With a sigh, Lois agreed to the hot drink and kicked back on the sofa. Within moments, Clark was back from the kitchen with two cups of tea, and a plate of fruit, cheese and crackers. Her stomach rumbling, Lois accepted the snacks gratefully, and snuggled next to Clark, the black cloud beginning to lift. "Thank you," she said. "Well, we did miss lunch," Clark explained. The twinkle returned to Lois's eye as she fed her husband a grape, then popped a second one into her own mouth. "Give me a minute to eat some of this, then I'll show you a real appetizer." "Mmm, you are so appetizing ..." he murmured as he fed her a cheese cube, then lowered his head to nibble on her ear. "I can't wait to see the main course." Lois dropped her neck to one side as his kisses wandered down her skin. "Keep that up and we may have to have dessert first ..." They were beginning to plan the full menu when the doorbell rang, startling them both. Lois groaned in frustration as Clark stood up. "It's Jimmy," he told her, heading towards the door. "That figures," Lois muttered. Clark opened the door. "Hi, Jimmy." "Hey, CK," Jimmy entered. "Hey, Lois." Lois nodded to him from the couch, opening her mouth to respond as he added, "Oh, great! Food!" "Help yourself," Clark offered as Jimmy already did so. "Hey, listen," Jimmy began, his mouth full. "I found out what bank the key came from." "You did?!" Lois's earlier annoyance was quickly forgotten. "Jimmy, you're a miracle worker. Which one?" Jimmy swallowed his cracker and dug the key out of his pocket, handing it to Clark. "Metropolis Savings and Loan. The 5th and Main branch." "Well, let's go!" Lois jumped up from the couch and made to move for her coat, but Clark's hand on her arm stopped her. He dropped the key into his pocket. "Honey, wait a minute," he urged. "The bank's closed now. Besides, we can't get into a safe deposit box just by having a key. We don't even know whose box it is." "They'd let *Superman* in," Lois said softly. Clark glanced at Jimmy, who had busied himself once again with the hors d'oeuvres and wasn't listening. Turning back to his wife, Clark said, just as softly, "I think we can try some other avenues before we --" He was interrupted as the front door abruptly opened and the three of them were suddenly surrounded by several armed men. "What the--?" he began, taking a protective step towards Lois. Acutely aware of Jimmy's presence, Clark was unable to make any super moves -- at least until he knew what was going on. But keeping his secret didn't mean he couldn't interpose himself between his wife and their uninvited guests. As soon as he moved, however, he was grabbed from behind. Annoyed and wanting to divert any attention away from Lois and Jimmy, Clark started to struggle. Lois froze as a gun was trained on her head. Watching Clark put up a "fight", she held her breath nervously as it looked as though it might get violent. Just then a voice from the doorway cut in, barking an order. "Let him go!" Jack Olsen stepped through the door. He was followed by a shorter, stocky man with reddish hair who brandished a gun. "Dad?!?" Jimmy blurted out, stunned. Lois' mouth dropped open in shock and she turned to Clark who looked just as stunned. "Jack," Clark said, staring at him. "Let him go," Jack repeated to the man holding Clark. The man reluctantly complied, rubbing a hand angrily over his ribs where Clark had elbowed him. As things calmed down, Jimmy found his voice once more. "Dad, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed. "Why ..." his voice trailed off as he seemed to notice for the first time the man standing next to his father. "Uncle Pat?" Jimmy said, confused, looking back and forth. "What's going on?" "No, that's what *I'd* like to know," snapped a very annoyed Clark, indicating the agents in his living room. Jack held up a hand and all the agents dispersed, save Pat and two agents who stationed themselves near the door. "Lois ... Clark ... let me introduce you to my partner, Patrick McDunn." "Yeah, nice to meet you," Lois muttered sarcastically. Clark afforded him a curt nod. Jimmy seemed in shock. "Your partner," he repeated, growing more upset by the moment. "Jimmy," Jack began, looking at Pat. "I know you weren't able to tell me about working for the NIA, Dad. I mean, I understand about that -- but Uncle Pat? Uncle Pat works with you?" Pat looked uncomfortable and dropped his eyes. "You knew Uncle Pat worked with me," Jack reminded his son. "But that was before I knew you worked for the NIA." He shifted his gaze to the other man. "Uncle Pat?" "Jimmy, I'm sorry," Patrick said, speaking for the first time. "It's just the nature of this business ..." "But I'm your godson," Jimmy protested. "Jimmy, you have to understand ..." "Speaking of understanding," Lois broke in, "maybe *someone* would like to explain to *us*", she indicated Clark, "what is going on here?!" Clark looked as though he knew, however. "It was *you*," he said, pointing to Jack. "Jack. It was you." Lois immediately figured out what he meant and nodded. "But why? And why Clark?" "Why Clark what?" Jimmy asked nervously. Jack and Patrick exchanged glances. "So you have it," Jack said to Clark. "Have *what*?" Jimmy demanded. "The key," Clark answered without taking his eyes off Jack. "The key -- that key?" Jimmy exclaimed, dumbfounded. Clark just raised his eyebrows at Jack who stared right back at him. "Are you telling me you know where it is?" Jack demanded. "Of course he knows where it is -- you sent it to him," Lois said, exasperated. Everyone exchanged glances with their respective partners. "Didn't you?" "Why don't we all have a seat," Jack said, indicating the couch. Lois looked over at Clark as they led the way over. Clark cleared away the remnants of their earlier attempt at relaxation and they all sat down. "Start at the beginning," Jack urged. "Tell me everything you know." Lois and Clark looked at him in amazement and then defiance. "Look," Jack said, intensely. "This is an urgent matter of national security, not to mention life and death." "Isn't it always," Lois commented coolly. "We can do this here, or I can take you all in," Jack threatened, his tone indicating he was not only not kidding, but that he wouldn't hesitate to include Jimmy in "you all." "I don't want to, but I'm running out of time here. I need your cooperation -- I need your help." Clark and Lois, in reporter mode now, exchanged glances yet again. Lois shrugged and Clark nodded. "OK," he said. "I received the key this morning in the mail at work." "The mail!" Jack exclaimed. Patrick laughed, a big booming laugh. "Good ol' US Postal Service." Patrick grinned. "They deliver." "Anyway," Clark continued slowly, "It was postmarked having been mailed yesterday from here in Metropolis, and there was a note with it." "Let's have it -- all of it." Jack held out his hand. Clark reluctantly pulled the note and key out of his pocket, and handed them over. Jack's whole body seemed to sag with relief as he read the crumpled paper. "So he's alive," he breathed, to Patrick ostensibly, although it seemed more to himself. "Or at least he was yesterday." "So wait -- you didn't send this?" Lois asked, disconcerted. "Thanks," Jack said, getting up. "We'll be in touch." Patrick rose also and the two headed for the door. "Oh, no, you don't," Clark demanded, moving quickly to block the door. "I think it's time we got an explanation!" "Mr. Kent, we already explained that this is a matter of national security," Patrick reminded him. The two agents near the door seemed ready to draw their weapons and this time Jack made no move to stop them. "We appreciate your help," Jack restated smoothly. "Come on Jim, I'll have someone give you a ride home." "You'll have-- never mind, I can manage," Jimmy muttered, attempting to brush past his father, who placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I'd rather you were escorted," he said firmly. ********* Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC volterra@sd.znet.com http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html *********************************************************************** Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm *********************************************************************** Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 15:22:11 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: Episode 7 (part 3 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Clark stepped out of the holding room, nearly colliding with Lois. "Hey, you're back," he said, kissing her. "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to make sure you were OK," she said, concern in her eyes. "How's Jack?" Clark sighed and filled her in on everything, including what Jack Olsen had confided to him. "The poor kid's confused. He was trying to help; he thought 'hey, maybe this life isn't so bad'. Now he's in trouble. We have to help him, Lois." "Clark," Lois protested. "this is a government matter. National security, remember? I think our hands are kind of tied! This may be one where we can't help." Clark just looked at her, his lips pursed. "Would it help if I mentioned that time is running out on our own little 'project'?" Clark sighed heavily and raked a hand through his hair. "Honey ..." She cut him off. "Never mind ... I know that tone. All right; I'm in. What exactly are you thinking we can do?" "Good question," said an approaching Jack Olsen. "I think you have done quite enough already." "Oh, come on," Clark protested, "you *know* Jack isn't guilty of anything. He's totally innocent in all of this." Olsen looked annoyed, but Clark suddenly thought of something. "Not everyone knows that, though ..." "Oh, good." Lois smiled. "You do have a plan." "Oh, I can't wait to hear this," Olsen grumbled. Clark grinned. "Is there somewhere we can talk?" ********* Jimmy watched as his father escorted Lois and Clark down the hallway. He had taken the elevator down one floor and then simply ridden it back up again. He hadn't expected his father to still be in the hallway, so he kept his head turned away and waited around the corner until they left. Now Jimmy headed for the door that Clark had just exited. Looking both ways, he slipped inside, much to Jack's surprise. "Jimmy," he said, stunned. "Hey, what's up?" Jimmy said, as though he ran into Jack all the time in secret holding rooms at NIA offices. "Oh, I've had better days. I've had better weeks." "I bet." Jimmy pulled up a chair opposite Jack. Jack stared at him. "What are you *doing* here?" "My dad says you're in pretty big trouble," Jimmy replied. "Your dad -- Jack Olsen's your *dad*?" Jimmy nodded. "I told him you were a friend of mine." He paused. "I know it's been a long time since you've been in town, Jack, but we all really want to help you. Everyone says you're in pretty deep." Jack didn't answer, and after an awkward silence, Jimmy got up. "OK, well, I've got to get out of here before they come back," he said, heading for the door. He reached for the knob and turned back. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right." Jack looked at him, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "Typical," he said quietly. "What?" Jack shook his head in disgust. "I left Metropolis to go out and find something I thought I was missing. I wandered around like forever. But I didn't find it until I got back here." Jimmy cocked his head and grinned. "No place like home?" "Home," Jack mused. "I guess I wouldn't know." "Oh, I think you do." ********* "No. No way." "Jack --" "I said *no.*" They were back in the waiting room, which was the only room in which Jack Olsen felt they could talk safely. "Do you realize how shamelessly I have already violated the rules? I've given you highly classified information -- which you then shared with your wife --" Lois looked at Clark who was meeting Jack Olsen's gaze without a trace of guilt. "Yes, and you're holding a young man who has committed no crime." "He's a material witness." "Jack." The older man remained impassive. Clark tried again. "He's your *only* witness. And he doesn't know anything. What are you going to do now? You don't have any leads." "That's not your problem." "You're the only one who questioned him," Lois picked up the thread. "The three of us are the only ones who know that Jack doesn't know what information Terry had." "If you let him go," Clark said slowly, "your double agent will have to go after him. And then you've got him." "I can't put him in that kind of situation. It's too dangerous," Olsen stated. "Shouldn't that be up to him?" "Why, because he's got such great sense when it comes to these things? He's a *kid*!" "And he's all you've got." "Jack," Lois said, "he's in danger as it is. The only way to protect him is to catch the mole. If you've got any better ideas ..." He didn't and they all knew it. Olsen pushed back his chair and sighed. "Let's go talk to the kid. Maybe he'll have better sense than the rest of us and want to stay out of it." ********* They reached the door of the holding room and Olsen suddenly turned to Clark and Lois. "Why don't you two go take a walk?" he said, the implication clear. "Wait a minute," Clark protested, putting his hand on Olsen's chest. "Geez, Kent, you've been here since last night. Wouldn't you like to take your wife and maybe get something to eat?" "I'm not leaving him," Clark said firmly. Olsen looked down pointedly at Clark's arm, and Clark dropped it, backing off slightly. Olsen took a deep breath and continued, placatingly. "Look, we're all on the same side here. We all want what's best for this kid. I need to talk to him -- alone -- to figure out what that is." Clark looked as though he were about to say something he would later regret, so Lois gently pulled on his arm. "Come on," she urged. "I'll buy you a cup of coffee." Clark glared at Olsen. "Fine," he muttered, "but we're not going far." Olsen frowned back as Lois led Clark down the hall. "*You* need to stick to decaf," she said, in an attempt at humor. "Caffeine doesn't affect me," Clark snapped irritably as they made their way down the long corridor. Lois stopped in her tracks and watched, eyes flashing, as it took her husband another few seconds to realize she was no longer beside him. She raised her eyebrows at him defiantly when he turned back in surprise. Clark sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, honey. It's just ..." "What? Tell me, because I'm not getting it," Lois asked, her patience long gone by now. "What does this kid mean to you that's so important? So important that you can't even make time to conceive our own child?" Clark's eyes first flashed in anger at her accusation, but soon showed his contrition. "I'm sorry if I've made you feel that way," he responded quietly. Lois backed down, too, regretting lashing out at him. "Clark, I recognize that you want to help him and he used to be your friend, but it seems like this is going beyond your usual involvement." "You don't understand." "You're right," Lois said, almost pleadingly. "I don't. So explain it to me." Clark dropped his eyes to the ground. "Not now. Not here. Later, I promise." He lifted his head and attempted a smile. "Ok?" She nodded and reluctantly agreed. "Ok." He took her hand and gave it a tender squeeze. Lois just sighed and went with him to the cafeteria. ********* Olsen watched them go for a minute and then entered the holding room. Jack was now lying on the table in the center of the room, his eyes closed. He opened one eye to see who had come in, then closed it again. "I'm no longer receiving visitors," he announced. Olsen ignored him. "Look, kid, it's time for us to talk." He walked over and pushed Jack's legs off the table so he was forced to sit up. "Hey!" Jack protested, grabbing the edge of the table to keep from falling off. "You know, that's a two-way mirror over there. People are witnessing this treatment. "No one's witnessing anything," Olsen sighed. "No one's watching you; no one's looking out for you. Except Kent, and I just sent him downstairs. It's just you and me, buddy, and we're going to talk. "I thought we went through all this last night," Jack muttered, quieter now. "Well, we're going to go back and go through it again," Olsen snapped. "Because it isn't going to be over until we catch this guy." "The guy that killed Terry." "Yes, the guy that killed Terry." Olsen went over and opened the door, holding it open for Jack. "Come on." Jack was puzzled. "Where?" "You don't want a change of scenery?" Jack didn't need to be asked twice. He hopped off the table and followed Olsen out of the room. The two made their way to Olsen's office where Olsen sat Jack down on the sofa and handed him a sandwich and some juice. Jack practically inhaled it. "Better?" Olsen asked as the exhausted boy leaned back on the cushions. "Much." "Good," Olsen said, sitting down across from him, "then listen up. We don't have too many choices here and we're running out of time. Kent came up with an idea which personally I think is nuts, but like I said, our options are limited. He thinks I should release you into his custody, keep an eye on you and wait for this guy to come after you. I mean, it's crazy ...." "How would this guy know where I am?" Jack interrupted, puzzled. Olsen stopped and met his gaze. "He's one of us, Jack. It kills me, but Terry was murdered by an agency man." Jack's eyes widened. "A double agent? So it could be anybody... *here*." He stood up in sudden paranoia. "I've been here for *hours* and anyone here could have thought that I know who they are ..." Olsen went over and put his hands on Jack's shoulders. "Relax. You're in good hands here." "Why," Jack asked slowly," would someone betray their country, the people they work with, the people that have saved their lives?" Olsen was quiet for a moment and then said, "People do things for all kinds of reasons, Jack. In a case like this, it's probably about money. But sometimes ... it's just an agent gone bad. It happens, unfortunately. This life is not for everyone." Jack nodded. He was beginning to see that. It all seemed so glamorous, the tales Terry used to tell him. And he couldn't deny the rush of excitement that coursed through his body when he slipped that small box into his pocket in the bar several days ago -- it was just like in the movies, and he was going to save the day. Only it wasn't like in the movies at all. His friend had been brutally murdered practically right in front of him ... and now the killers were after him as well. "But now," Olsen continued with a cheeriness he didn't feel, "the most important thing is to find whoever it is ... and stop them. So, how do you feel about being bait?" Jack's nervous look betrayed him, his regret at getting involved in the first place clearly written on his face. But he answered with what they both knew was false bravado. "Whatever you need. We'll get this guy." Olsen nodded and put his arm around the young man's shoulders. "Let's go." 348 Hyperion Avenue Jack, Clark, Lois and Olsen entered the townhouse with a great deal of trepidation. "Shouldn't we have waited for it to get dark?" Jack wondered, glancing around the living room. "No, we *want* them to know you're here," Lois reminded him. "We *want* them to come after you." "Oh, yeah, right." Olsen gave the entire house a once over, while Clark surreptitiously X-rayed it, both coming to the same conclusion that no one was lurking on the premises. "You two really need to get yourselves a security system," Olsen commented. "See?" Jack said pointedly. "Uh -- yeah," Clark said with a sidelong glance at his wife, "we're looking into that." Olsen still looked uneasy. "This whole thing is unofficial, and may I remind you, not exactly legitimate. I can't provide you with NIA protection." "We'll be fine," Lois assured him. "Superman is always close by." "We'll get this guy," Clark said confidently. Olsen was unimpressed. "I've got to get back to my office. I will be back, though, as soon as I can. And you know how to reach me." Clark showed him out, locking the door behind him. He then turned to Jack, who was studying the family pictures on the wall. "Why don't you go upstairs and crash for a while, Jack? You must be wiped out." "Nah, I'm fine," Jack insisted. "So, did you have a big wedding?" Lois recognized the attempt at idle small talk. "You need to rest, Jack," she said. Jack would have protested again, but he was interrupted by a huge yawn. Clark walked over and put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "You're safe here. Between us, Jack Olsen and Superman, nothing's going to happen." Jack nodded. "Now," Clark continued, "Lois is right -- you should rest. It could be a while before anything happens. Are you hungry?" "I could make you something to eat," Lois offered helpfully and Clark quickly shook his head at Jack, his eyes wide. "Uh, no thanks, that's OK," Jack answered hastily. "I think I'll go upstairs." With a smile and a wave, he quickly made his way up to the spare bedroom. "Hey," Lois said, making a face at Clark. "I saw that." Clark grinned at her. "Well, as much as I enjoy wearing the same clothes for two days ... I think I'm going to take a shower and try to get some sleep myself." He headed toward the stairs. "Need any help?" Lois offered quietly. Clark turned around and watched his wife watching him. She looked anxious and, with an apologetic look, he went back and put his arms around her. Lois clung to him for the briefest of moments and then pulled him onto the couch with her. "Are you all right?" she asked, brushing a lock of hair >from his eyes. Clark smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'm -- I'm sorry about earlier. It's just -- I feel responsible for him, you know? Ever since I met him, I've felt protective of him. I don't know ... I feel like if I don't look out for him, then no one will ...." His voice trailed off and Lois wrapped her arms more securely around him. "Clark, I understand that. I really do, and I think it's great that you feel that way about him. It just reinforces my belief that you are going to be a great father." Clark pulled back and looked at her, uncertainty in his eyes. Lois was puzzled. "You don't doubt that, do you? I mean, I thought you had gotten past the fear that our child 'wouldn't be able to pick you out of a lineup'." He laughed for a second. "No, it's not that. It's just ... things happen. Jack doesn't even know where his father is. And Jimmy's barely speaking to his." "Well, Clark, look at the situations! You're not planning to abandon your family, are you?" "No, of course not." "Good, so you don't have to worry about our child ending up in Jack's situation. And are you planning to lie to our children about what you do?" Clark looked at her helplessly. Lois held up a hand. "Let me rephrase that. Are you planning to have our children grow up believing you do one thing when you really do something else?" Clark buried his head in his hands and Lois winced. "I'm not helping here, am I?" "No, but the effort is appreciated." "Look, Clark," Lois knelt in front of him, "Jack Olsen lied to his wife, his son, his whole family -- no one knew what he really did, where he really was. And that kind of honesty wrecked his marriage and destroyed his family. *We* are stronger than that. And our children are going to understand, as soon as they are old enough, exactly what kind of man their father is. And they'll be as proud of him as I am." Clark leaned forward slowly, his eyes closing as he touched his lips to hers gently. "I love you, Lois," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her to him. "I'm sorry you thought that I wasn't making time for our own baby." "Shh, it's OK ... I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't pressure you if you're not feeling up to it today ... if you have too much on your mind ...." Clark pulled back so he could look into her eyes. He smiled warmly as he cupped her cheek. "You're on my mind." Lois traced his lips with her fingertips, giving a tiny sigh of satisfaction as he kissed them. "Did someone say something about a shower?" "Did someone say something about helping?" Lois smiled. "I bet if we go upstairs at super-speed we won't wake Jack." ********* Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC volterra@sd.znet.com http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html *********************************************************************** Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm *********************************************************************** Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 15:21:29 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: Episode 7 (part 2 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The five of them left the building together. Jack sent Jimmy off with the two agents, then turned to his partner. "If he's still alive, he's going to come here looking for it." Patrick nodded. "We'll keep an eye on the place." ********** Inside, Lois and Clark stared at each other, suddenly finding themselves alone again in their own home. "What just happened here?" Clark wondered. "What or who were they looking for?" Lois shook her head. "I have no idea," she answered. "I told you we should have gone to check out that safe deposit box." Clark looked at her askance and she grinned at him, softening the criticism. He put his arms around her. "Can we try to make it a new practice that you not get so close to men with guns?" "Me?! I was just sitting in my living room minding my own business! You're the one that made them mad--" She was cut off by her husband's kiss and decided to drop the subject all together. Lois was just thinking that perhaps the evening was not going to be a total loss after all when Clark's head suddenly shot up. Lois murmured in protest, and he gently placed a hand over her mouth and a finger over his own lips. She looked puzzled as he headed for the stairs, pointing at her, indicating that she should stay there. She nodded and Clark was upstairs before she could blink. ********* The hooded intruder had cleanly picked the lock on the window in the darkened spare bedroom and had barely taken a step toward the bedroom door when Clark was on him, gripping him in a headlock. Over the trespasser's protests, Clark pulled the hood back -- and gasped. It was Jack. Not the NIA agent that had just been in his living room, but the young man who, four years ago, Clark had pulled off the streets and gotten into a halfway house, not to mention procuring a job for him at the Daily Planet. Yet after only a few months at that job, Jack had taken off in search of adventure, of bigger and better things. He had sent Clark one Christmas card and a postcard or two, but the two had lost touch before Lois and Clark were even dating. But now here Clark stood, in his own guest room, his arm wrapped securely around the young man's neck. "Jack," he said, stunned, things finally clicking together in his head, things he wished weren't so. He let the boy go and when Jack turned to look at him, Clark could see the exhaustion and desperation in his young eyes. "You could use a good security system," was the only thing Jack said. Clark barely acknowledged the barb, noting only Jack's bedraggled appearance. "I think maybe you need to tell me what's going on," Clark began. Just then Lois came up the stairs, calling for him. "Clark? Clark, what--" she broke off at the sight of her husband and the young man beside him. She flipped on the light switch causing Jack to wince at the brightness. Blinking, she herself struggled to focus as the room came into view. "Lois," Clark was saying wearily, "you remember Jack ..." Lois, surprised at hearing the name, stared at the boy for a moment. "You used to work at the Planet -- you're the one who robbed Clark's apartment." "Geez -- try and get past that; it was four years ago." "Oh, right, sorry; you've come so far since then," Lois answered cynically, indicating the open window. "It's *not* like that!" Jack said, starting towards her, obviously frustrated. "Hey!" Clark pulled Jack back towards him, his grip tightening. "It's time to explain what it *is* like. Let's go downstairs." Lois walked over and relocked the window and followed Jack and Clark down the stairs. Clark paused at the bottom and took Lois aside. "Let's give him a break," he suggested. "I want him to tell us what's going on." "Fine with me," Lois replied, annoyed. "That would be nice for once. I'm getting a little tired of strange people breaking into my house tonight." Clark turned to look at Jack, who met his gaze. "I sent you something," Jack said urgently. Clark nodded. "It *was* you. I got it." "You did? You have it here?" Clark looked at Lois. "Not exactly. Jack--" He was cut short by the front door flying open and Jack Olsen and Patrick McDunn entering. "We'll take it from here," Olsen said, crossing the room and cuffing Jack. Over Clark's objections, they led a loudly protesting Jack from the house, once more leaving Lois and Clark alone in their living room. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Clark threw up his hands in frustration. "Come on," said his wife, her coat already over her arm as she grabbed his elbow and pulled him out the door. NIA, Metropolis Branch By 9:00 the next morning, an exhausted Clark had just about had it. He had been at the local NIA branch office all night and was quickly reaching the end of his rope. He and Lois had been stuck in a waiting room when they got there and despite repeated attempts, had not been allowed to see or talk to Jack or to any of the agents. After attempting a couple of uncomfortable catnaps on the couch, Lois had finally left a few hours ago to go home and change for work. Clark was practically climbing the walls (and was considering doing so literally) by the time Jack Olsen came to find him. He, too, looked exhausted as he handed Clark a cup of coffee and sat down with him. "I can't believe you're still here." "Where's Jack -- is he all right?" Olsen looked around. "Where's your lovely wife?" "She had to go to *work*" Clark replied, annoyed. "She's thinking of writing a story about mistreatment inside the walls of the NIA." Olsen glared at him. "Do I need to explain the phrase 'national security' to you, Kent?" "You need to explain *something* to me, Jack." Jack Olsen sighed. He got up and crossed the room. "That would be a huge violation of procedure." "He doesn't have anyone," Clark said softly. "He's always been alone. I'm the only one who ever gave a damn about him." Olsen hesitated, then punched some numbers into a keypad by the door. After a pause, he sat down across from Clark. "Now we can't be 'overheard'." He looked Clark in the eye. "This is completely off the record." "Oh, please!" said Clark, exasperated. "I didn't wear a hole in your floor for a story, Jack!" "All right, all right." Olsen sighed. "We've got a double agent in our midst." On Clark's shock, he continued, "We had one of our agents on the case. He turned up in the harbor a few nights ago." "He was NIA ... no wonder the cops weren't talking," Clark breathed. Olsen nodded. "Situation like that, we tell them to clean it up and go on. It never happened. But this guy had evidence -- which was in the safe deposit box. At least it was supposed to be." "What do you mean 'supposed to be?'" Clark asked uneasily. "We got access to the box a couple hours ago. It's empty." Clark sighed. "So now what? And how did Jack get involved in this?" Olsen studied him, then got up and motioned for Clark to follow. "Come on. You can ask him yourself." He led Clark to a holding room where Jack had been held since arriving at the NIA. It wasn't much different from the room Clark had been in, except this one had a table and a two-way mirror. Jack looked up miserably when the door opened, but his mouth dropped open when Clark entered. "You're still here? I can't believe you're still here!" "Yeah, that seems to be the consensus." Clark took a seat next to him, waiting until Olsen left and shut the door to speak any further. "Now, you want to tell me what's going on?" "That's all I've been doing all night," Jack groaned, getting up and crossing the room. "Telling the story, over and over --" Past the end of his rope, Clark leapt up and angrily grabbed Jack by the arms, turning the young man sharply to face him. They stood frozen for a moment, each flashing back to a different day, a different crime, another questioning. "OK," Jack said finally, softly. "I'll tell you everything." ********* Jack Olsen walked back into the office he was using, slamming the door behind him. It banged against the door frame, springing open again. Olsen didn't even notice. He was furious -- with himself, with this case. And now he was second-guessing himself ... which in this business, was a dangerous thing. Maybe he shouldn't have given Clark Kent any information, maybe he shouldn't have let the reporter get involved at all. Some secrets were made to be kept ... but others were made to be shared. The difficulty was knowing when to keep quiet and when to speak. But there was one secret he was planning to keep -- his involving Clark Kent. It was something he wouldn't even tell Patrick, and he usually told Patrick everything. Jack Olsen had a lot of leeway in his job. His bosses trusted him -- expected him -- to do whatever was necessary. But involving civilians was a dicey area ... and if this didn't work ... In any case, it was better if no one knew. He trusted Kent. He wouldn't have let him in the door if he didn't. Clark had always been very good to Jimmy, and the reporter also seemed to have a genuine fondness for the kid, Jack. Olsen wished someone had been there to look after him at that age. He wished he himself had been there to look after his own son that way. He opened his wallet and pulled out a relatively recent picture of Jimmy. "Ah, Jim," he sighed, "who knows? It might have saved you a few years in reform school." "Reform school wasn't so bad," came a voice from behind him. Jack Olsen looked up to see his son in the doorway. "You wouldn't believe some of the things I learned there." "Oh, I think I probably would," Olsen contradicted. "What are you doing here? And how did you get in?" "Uncle Pat signed me in." Without waiting to be asked, Jimmy walked into the office and stood opposite his father. "I could have waited for you to come to me, but then we'd both be old and gray, wouldn't we?" Olsen glared at him. "Jimmy, I hardly think that's necessary." When Jimmy met his gaze and didn't answer him, Olsen tried again. "If this is about Patrick --" "It's not about Pat. No, actually it is about Pat. It's about that and all the other things you never told me," Jimmy scowled. "I though we were past this, Jim," Jack Olsen said wearily. "I thought you understood ..." "Understood?! You burst into my friends' home, arrest another friend of mine and I'm supposed to understand?!" Olsen looked up, surprised. "I didn't know Jack was a friend of yours. I didn't even know you knew him." "Yeah, I met him a few years back. He worked at the Planet for a while. What does that have to do with anything?" "How well do you know him?" Olsen persisted. Jimmy looked at him, puzzled. "I haven't talked to him in years, if that's what you mean." He stopped at looked carefully at his father. "Wait a minute. He's in a lot of trouble, isn't he?" "You have no idea," his father muttered. ********* "Since I left Metropolis, I've kind of been bouncing around," Jack began. "The social workers finally found an aunt in California that was willing to take in my little brother, but she didn't want me, and I didn't want to live out there anyway. I hitched around the country, working a job here, a job there ... never found anything I really liked. Eventually, I decided to make my way back here. I didn't have a job or anything -- that's why I didn't get in touch with you. I wanted to be settled first ...." "You should have contacted me ... I could have gotten you something. It's dangerous out there, Jack!" Jack rolled his eyes. "This is exactly why I didn't call you! I'm not a kid anymore -- you don't need to baby-sit me!" "I never--" "Look, do you want to hear this or not?" Clark sat back, contrite. "I'm sorry ... I shouldn't have said anything ..... go on." Jack took a deep breath and continued. "I got back in town a few weeks ago. I went to look up some old friends and I ran into Terry." "Who's Terry?" "He's this guy that hung out at Joe's, you know that dive downtown? I knew him from before -- sometimes, when he'd had too much to drink, he used to tell us stories about being in the NIA. Just -- like old war stories kind of stuff, never too much detail. He made it sound so cool -- traveling the world, working undercover ..." "Always lying about who you are, never letting anyone get to close, learn too much about you ..." "Is that really so bad?" "Jack," Clark said wearily. "That's not any kind of life. Without letting people in -- knowing you, loving you -- you'll always be missing something. You'll always be ... alone." Jack threw up his hands. "The lone hero. Me and Superman." He laughed bitterly Clark looked up and shook his head as Jack began to pace. "Even Superman has loved ones, Jack. People he cares about, people who care about him." Jack stopped pacing, his back to Clark, and stood silently for a long moment. Finally, Clark leaned forward in his chair. "So, tell me more about Terry." Jack shrugged and turned. "We'd been talking at the bar and he told me he was onto something big. He seemed real jumpy -- kept looking over his shoulder. Then, a few nights ago, he handed me this key and told me to keep it safe. Said someone was looking for him and it was important they didn't find it. I put the key in my pocket and we left out the back way. That's when they came after us -- big guys with guns. They killed him, Clark --" his voice broke, finally letting some emotion crack his tough exterior. "These guys sound like professionals, Jack. How in the world did you get away?" Jack smiled, a sad, rueful smile. "The alley was dark ... I think they didn't realize we were together at first. We were heading off in opposite directions. I was almost around the corner when they jumped Terry. I started to run back to help him but then I heard one of them say that they had searched Terry's pockets and he didn't have it. That's when they saw me and recognized that I was with Terry in the bar ... they put two and two together ... and I ran like hell." "What did you do?" "I managed to lose them and I hid for a couple days. But I knew they were closing in on me, so I sent the box to you." "Well, you did the right thing there," Clark sighed. "I never knew what was in the safe deposit box, I swear -- " "I believe you," Clark assured him. "What is in the box? Do you know?" Clark hesitated. "Nothing. It was empty." Jack was horrified. "Empty? Are you sure?" Clark nodded. "They opened it early this morning." Jack was devastated. "Then this was all for nothing?" He sat down, burying his head in his hands. Clark put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Not for nothing." ********* "How well do *you* know Jack, Dad?" Jack Olsen turned to look at his suddenly curious son and sighed. "I *don't* know him -- not really. And yet I know him all too well." "Okay ... what does that mean?" "He stumbled onto something he shouldn't have -- well, two somethings. The first was ... some information. The second was a fascination with 'the life'." Jimmy was still puzzled. "'The life?'" Olsen grinned ruefully. "That's what we call it, being in this business. 'The life.' When you're not in it, it seems glamorous, exciting, dangerous -- fun. Just like the movies. When you're in it, you spend all your time lying or making excuses to people who aren't in it. It isn't all it's cracked up to be, Jim." Jimmy looked up at his father thoughtfully. "I guess the reason I didn't realize about Uncle Pat is that I never really thought about it. I guess there are a lot of things I never really thought about." Olsen smiled. "Don't get me wrong. I love my work. It's important; it helps a lot of people. And this business has treated me pretty well for quite a few years. It's just -- sometimes I wish I did something ordinary, like ... oh, I don't know ..." Jimmy laughed. "Ordinary. You can't even *think* of anything ordinary!" Olsen mock-frowned at him. "Don't make fun of your old man, Jim. It isn't good form." Jimmy just rolled his eyes, and Olsen relented. "Come on, I'll walk you out." He put his arm around Jimmy's shoulders as they walked to the elevators. "I know we didn't really settle this ..." "Hey, you're busy," Jimmy replied quickly. "And I've got to get back to work anyway. Dad?" "Yeah, Jim?" "Jack didn't really do anything wrong, did he? I mean, how long are you going to keep him locked up?" "Not long." Olsen smiled as his son stepped into the elevator. As the doors closed, his smile faded and he muttered to himself, "Just until he realizes that the NIA is no life for him. It's no life for anyone." ********* ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 15:22:55 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: S5: episode 7 (part 4 of 4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Jack, however, was far from asleep. He had tried, but only succeeded in dropping off for a few minutes. Instead, he was now pacing in the confined space of Lois and Clark's spare bedroom. And the caged feeling was making him go out of his mind. "I need air," he muttered going over to the window. He moved to unlock it, but thought better and pulled his hand away. "I just --" he sighed in frustration. "I need to walk around the block to clear my head." He paused, knowing that he shouldn't go out alone. But he was quick with a rationalization. "I'll be back in ten minutes ... before anyone even knows I'm gone." Years of experience at this kind of thing bolstering his confidence, Jack shut off the light in his room, quietly opened the bedroom door and stepped into the hall. The house was dark, the only light coming from underneath Lois and Clark's closed door. He smiled as he heard the low murmur of voices, followed by a feminine giggle and a masculine groan. Then the shower began running and he couldn't hear anything else. 'Nope, they'll never know I'm gone,' he grinned to himself. Jack tiptoed down the stairs, grabbed his jacket and was out the front door in less than a minute. The sense of freedom he felt coming down the front steps was exhilarating. He made it almost to the end of the block before he was grabbed around the neck. "Let's go," the man hissed, and Jack, aware of the knife at his throat, nevertheless gave a desperate cry as he was thrown into the back of a waiting van. ********* Clark was kissing his way down Lois's neck, the hot water pouring down on them when he suddenly stopped. "What?" Lois whispered as he turned to x-ray though the wall. "No, no, no ... oh, Jack," Clark muttered, flinging the shower curtain aside and leaving the room in a blur. By the time Lois grabbed a robe and ran downstairs, calling her husband's name, there was no one to be found. ********* Clark flew over the city three times, but there was no sign of Jack. He realized wherever they had taken him, whatever kind of vehicle he was in, it must have been lined with lead. Frustrated and angry with himself, he turned around to head home. By prior arrangement, Lois had called Jack Olsen, and given him a code to alert him to what had happened. Olsen was already at the house reaming out Lois. Clark listened from the street, hesitating, then made the decision and entered the house as himself. He and Lois were both at fault and Clark knew he had to take his share of the blame. He entered running and Olsen interrupted his tirade to turn on him. "Well?" he demanded. "There was no sign of him -- Superman's still out looking." He felt sick at the lie and Lois's expression didn't help. She was dressed, but her hair was still damp and she stared at him in horror. "What the hell happened?!" Olsen was furious. "I left him with you for less than two hours! Why didn't you keep an eye on him? What were you *thinking*?" Clark opened his mouth to respond, to apologize, but Olsen held up his hand. "Forget it. I'll find him myself." "But--" Lois started, then stopped as Olsen pulled out a small hand-held computer. Clark realized what it was. "You marked him," he said, not knowing whether to be relieved or annoyed. Lois looked shocked and Olsen glared at both of them. "I slipped a marker into his jacket. And it's a good thing I did, don't you think?" Lois opened her mouth to answer sharply, but Clark's look stopped her. The image on the screen came up with an address. "4th and Grant. That's down by the pier." "You go," Clark urged. "I'll get in touch with Superman and meet you there." "Get in touch with him? I thought you said he was out looking. Does he carry a cell phone now?" Clark, caught off guard at the unexpected challenge, was fumbling for an answer when Lois stepped in quickly, indicating the door with her hand. "We're wasting time," she reminded Olsen pointedly. He acquiesced, leaving hurriedly. Clark shot his wife a grateful look. "Stay here," he warned and was gone in a blur. Pier 12, Metropolis Harbor Superman arrived at the warehouse moments later, noting the van parked outside. He confirmed the lead paint that covered it and cursed his one fallibility. He X-rayed the warehouse and was dismayed to find it empty. "Great," he muttered. Scanning the area, he suddenly noticed the sign indicating that the building was a fallout shelter. He tried to look through the floor into the basement, and sure enough, his vision was blocked. He grinned to himself and entered the warehouse. The men below jumped in shock when the ceiling came crashing in on them. They looked up just in time to see the man with the red cape landing in their midst. There were five men in addition to a bound and gagged Jack, and they tried to scatter when they realized what was happening. Unfortunately for them, Superman had them trapped behind several heavy crates before they could take more than three steps. "Are you all right?" Superman asked, freeing Jack. "Yes, I'm -- Superman!! Over there!" Jack pointed to where someone else seemed to be fleeing the room. Superman was on the man in a second, grabbing him and whirling him around. "All right, let's --". He broke off in shock when he saw the man's face. "McDunn!" he exclaimed. Patrick blinked, surprised that Superman knew his name. Superman shook his head. "But why?" "That's what I'd like to know," came a voice from behind them. Jack Olsen emerged from the dusty shadows, followed by backup agents who began the process of rounding up McDunn's team. Out of the corner of his eye, Superman saw Lois enter, tape recorder and notepad in hand. He shot her an annoyed look but she just smiled sweetly and made her way over to young Jack, inquiring if he was OK. As Jack assured her he was fine, Superman approached his wife. "Lois," he began sternly, "didn't Clark --" "Where is Clark?" Jack asked suddenly. "Yes, Superman," Lois wondered coolly, "Where is Clark?" Superman muttered something about having seen Clark outside and confirming with the NIA operatives that the situation was under control, made a quick exit. He appeared seconds later as Clark, making a big fuss asking if Jack was all right and taking the opportunity to scold his wife. Lois, of course, paid no attention to him as she set to work. Jack Olsen heard none of this, his attention completely focused on his partner and best friend's betrayal. "Pat," he said, trying to maintain some dignity as he fought his overwhelming fury, "just tell me why. And then tell me how. After all these years, how could you?? For God's sake -- I trusted you! You're my son's godfather!" "Oh, please!" Patrick practically spit at him. "We trust no one, Jackie ..... that's the way it works for us. Every man for himself ... we lie to our wives, to our children, to our friends ... and get rewarded for doing so." "That's not what the NIA is about--" "Bull! It's what every part of the NIA is about ... oh, but you're not like that ... you're the agent who always puts his family first. How long has it been since you've seen that godson of mine, Jackie boy?" Jack Olsen's eyes narrowed in fury at the bitter sarcasm that spewed from his partner's mouth. "I'm no angel, Patrick, and I've never claimed to be. And I'm the first to admit that the NIA isn't perfect. But we stand for something, something good, something important. And you betrayed us all. Your job, your country, me! Doesn't that mean anything to you? You took an oath! What you did cost people their lives!" Patrick laughed sardonically. "What am I, Superman?" he snapped. "You expect me to just keep playing hero with no regard for myself at all? Get real, Jack! It doesn't work like that! I deserve more than that! I got tired of giving my life to a job that wasn't giving me enough in return. I just found a way to get more in return." "And kill a fellow agent and go after an innocent kid who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Clark looked over at Jack who was glued to the men's confrontation. "No one ever plans to get caught, Jack ... I just did what I had to do. Just like you did what you had to do to catch me." Jack Olsen had had enough. "Get him out of here," he seethed, shoving Patrick towards two waiting agents. "And you," he barked at another agent, "have a doctor look this young man over and make sure he's OK. Now!" The agent took Jack by the arm and led him out of the shelter, the young man too shell-shocked to protest. After taking a moment to compose himself, Jack Olsen turned to Lois and Clark. "Well, I guess we can get out of here, too. My men will sweep the place, take care of things here." He was stopped by a hand on his arm. "Wait a minute," came Lois's voice, sympathetic but firm. "I'm a little confused on something. What was supposed to be in the safe deposit box? What evidence did your agent Terry have?" Jack Olsen just looked at her coolly. "That's classified." Lois raised an eyebrow, stunned. "Oh, *now* you're going to pull that? After we just found you your mole?? I don't think so ..." "Sorry, Lois ... you know all you need to know. But we *do* appreciate your help." Lois was getting angry, but Clark just stood off to one side, shaking his head in amazement, almost smiling. "Our help ... yeah, everything went exactly according to plan, didn't it, Jack?" Jack met Clark's gaze evenly. Lois looked back and forth between them. "I'm missing something ... Clark, what do you mean, 'according to plan'?" Clark was still looking at Jack, however. "I can't believe you guys ... you set it up. Jack, us ... all of it." Clark laughed a humorless laugh. "Don't you see, Lois? There never was any evidence in that box ... there wasn't supposed to be. Patrick just had to think there was so he would come after Terry." Lois's eyes widened, and Olsen's impassive expression gave Clark all the confirmation he needed, and he continued, spelling it out. "It was all a ploy ... a ruse ... you knew the double agent would come after Terry since he thought Terry had evidence to expose him. Only Terry got killed. That wasn't in the plan, was it, Jack?" Jack stared back at Clark unwaveringly. "Terry was a trained agent ... he knew the risks ... but yes, it wasn't supposed to work that way ... they moved sooner than we expected; our back-up wasn't there in time. It's ... regrettable ... to say the least. But it didn't change our goal." "So, all that time we were 'convincing' you to use Jack as bait ... all that stuff about violating policy and it being too dangerous -- you were going to do that all along. You just used us to help convince Jack." Jack looked back and forth between Lois and Clark. "You two have a reputation in the NIA, Clark ... telling you to go away pretty much guarantees you're in for the count, wouldn't you agree?" The female half of Lane and Kent found her voice. "Why you manipulative son of a --" "No one ever said this was a pretty life, Lois -- no one ever said that we are nice people doing nice things. I would think you of all people should know that. We knew the safe deposit box was empty, yes, but we didn't know that Terry was going to pass that key along to Jack ... and if I had known Terry was going to do it, I would have told him not to. But when it did happen, we had to respond in the only way we could. Getting a double agent off the streets is vital to our country's security." "Even if it risks an innocent bystander's life?" Clark fixed Olsen with a piercing stare. Olsen returned it in kind. "The minute Jack accepted that key, he ceased to be an innocent bystander. If I'd had any choice in the matter, he would have never gotten involved. But once he did ... we had no choice. His life was in danger, too! Get off it, Kent. You came up with the same solution, remember? It was the only way." Clark didn't respond. It was true -- it had been the only solution. It was not Jack Olsen's fault that young Jack had gotten involved in the first place. But it still infuriated Clark that he'd been used so easily. Jack Olsen sighed heavily. "Look, Lois, Clark ... It's my business to keep secrets. But this isn't a secret -- everything I did was to protect my country and to protect that young man out there. If nothing else, I think this experience showed Jack that this isn't the life for him ..." Olsen trailed off, looking sadly out the shelter door where he had last seen Patrick. "Hell," he added in a mournful voice, "sometimes I wonder if it's the life for anyone." Daily Planet Newsroom Lois held up the newspaper, bearing the headline, 'NIA Double Agent Caught'." "Good job," Perry commented, coming up behind her. "Thanks, Perry." "Nice touch including an interview with the kid." "I thought it was important for Jack to tell his story in his own words," Lois said, watching Clark with Jack across the room. "He did well. I think he'll do fine around here." "Thanks for giving him his old job back, Perry. I know it means a lot to him -- and to Clark." Perry grinned. "The kid's come a long way. Who knows? Maybe I'll pair him up with Olsen -- see how it works out." He headed back to his office. The sound of Clark's laughter made Lois turn back to watch him. She loved hearing him laugh. It always made her feel like something was right in the world. Jimmy joined Jack and Clark at about the same that Lois felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Jack Olsen standing behind her. "You two really came through for that boy," he said quietly. He looked tired, the strain of the last few days showing on his face. "So, are you all right?" Lois asked, offering him a chair. After discussing it in the car, she and Clark had come to terms with their latest dealings with the NIA and its 'partial truths' and decided that it was best not to hold a grudge against Jack Olsen ... for Jimmy's sake, as well as young Jack's, if nothing else. Olsen sat down and smiled bitterly. "Yeah," he said, a shadow crossing his face. "It's just -- you think you know someone -- you trust them with your life ... and then ..." "Hey Dad." Jimmy had crossed the room and now was standing beside his father. "How are you doing?" "Oh, I'm hanging in there, Jim," Olsen said brightly, obviously trying to make an effort for Jimmy's sake. "So, I guess you're going to be taking off pretty soon?" Jimmy perched on the edge of Lois' desk as Clark and Jack approached. "Actually, Jim, I wanted to talk to you about that," Olsen sighed wearily. "I'm thinking of taking some time off -- I'm due some R&R. Long overdue, actually. What would you say if I hung out in Metropolis for a while?" Jimmy's face lit up. "Really? That would be great!" Olsen got up. "So ... how about treating your old man to breakfast?" "You got it!" As father and son headed toward the elevator, Lois and Clark exchanged glances. Seeing the two Olsens together confirmed that they'd made the right choice. Lois turned her attention to Jack. "So, do you have a place to stay?" "Oh, yeah -- actually, I'm crashing with Jimmy until I find a place. I'm looking at one this afternoon, it --" He was interrupted by Perry exiting his office and bellowing, "Hey kid! Get in here!" Jack rolled his eyes, muttered "Yeah, yeah," and headed to Perry's office. "Honey, it was awfully nice of you to ask him that ..." "But?" "But what if he wanted to stay with us?" Lois looked at him in surprise. "I thought you were feeling all paternalistic towards him? I figured you'd want him to stay with us." Clark smiled warmly. "Actually ... I was hoping we could work on that little 'project' of our own." Lois looked at her watch regretfully. "I think our window of opportunity will be closed by the time we get out of here tonight." Clark considered this, then grinned. "So ... what if we try to take that opportunity sooner, rather than later?" "Clark, we can't leave now. We've got all kinds of follow-ups to do on our story!" Clark shook his head. "I didn't say anything about leaving." Lois' eyes lit up as he took her hand. "Oh, you wouldn't," she challenged him. "Wouldn't I though?" Still grinning, he scanned the room for prying eyes ..... and suddenly they disappeared in a blur of wind and papers. It was fortunate that none of the Daily Planet staffers found it necessary to go into the supply closet for the next half hour, although some did wonder about the muffled laughter that was coming from inside. THE END Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC volterra@sd.znet.com http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html *********************************************************************** Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm *********************************************************************** Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 18:42:35 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carmille Caluag Subject: FTP Question Is there an FTP site that has everything about L&C? Things like sound waves, pics ect. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 22:08:32 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Coreen Csicseri Subject: FoLC Secret Santa Daily Planet Secret Santa! "What is a Secret Santa?" "Secret Santa is..uh...um..where we all put our names in a bowl...and we all pick a name out...and whoever's name you get, you get a Christmas present for. I'm in charge of it." Jimmy had a good idea in Season's Greedings. And this year the Daily Planet would like to extend an invitation for all online FoLCs to participate in the 2nd annual FoLC Secret Santa. The way this works, is everyone who wants to participate will email me. When I receive your e-mail saying you are intereted, I will send you a form to fill out and email back to me. You will be required to give me your age, sex, and mailing address. This info is to help your Secret Santa pick a proper gift. For example, if you are a guy, and refuse to tell me that, and your Secret Santa sends you something with pink flowers on it, then it is your own fault. There will also be a $5-7 limit on the gift, seeing as how you will also have to pay for shipping. (hint- don't buy your Secret Santa something made out of lead, because it will cost a fortune to mail:) Have fun and be inventive with your gift. I know I will probably get a lot of people wanting to participate but saying, "I can't give you my mailing address." Well, I really can't avoid that. There would be no way for your Secret Santa to mail you your gift if they don't know your address. So, to avoid as many problems as possible, no one will be paired up with a FoLC who lives in the same state. Also this invitation is only being published in online FoLC newsletters and clubs, meaning not on public newsgroups or Bulltin Boards. This way, hopefully, only true FoLCs interested in making new friends and having fun will even know about it. Last year, we had exactly 100 FoLCs participate! Let's see how many we can get this year. For more information, email me at FoLCSanta@aol.com. The deadline for entering the Daily Planet Secret Santa is Saturday November 22nd. Merry Christmas FoLCs! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 05:04:26 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 15 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Swap-Meet: Burbank part 15 of 20 by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com [previous editing notes apply] How could she possibly help? She had done a great deal already. She and Cain had found their way to S.T.A.R. Labs without getting into trouble, and she had apparently touched the device in the right way. The results had been beyond anyone's control except his, and he had done what appeared at the time to be the only thing to do, open the crack wider. What more was there for her to do now? Nothing. However, "I appreciate your offer. Did your husband call you last night?" She looked a little surprised by the question. "Oh, yes, it was on my machine." "I see. I know you were worried." "Yes, *too* worried. I mean, I've missed his calls before, though not for the same reason..." she smiled a little. What a reason! "Now I've got my cell phone." Still keeping her fingers intertwined, she aimed her thumbs back toward the house. "It's in my purse. I'm forwarding my calls to it. I guess I was worried I'd never hear his voice again when here I was," she unleashed her hands now, "perfectly all right..." "I understand." She looked at him for a long moment. "You sure do, don't you? I hope you're not thinking what I *think* you're thinking..." Good thing she wasn't psychic, but he raised his eyebrows anyhow, curious. "That you won't hear Lois's voice again, because you *will*. It's just a matter of time, the Vibro Whammy was smoking-- figuratively speaking, of course, because it was just humming and doing whatever it thought it was supposed to do. It didn't look like it was straining at all, but it won't hurt it to... cool off a little bit." He found himself nodding though he didn't agree at all. "So K's egg beater went to that great kitchen in the sky. I'll buy her a new one. Dean will probably insist that Lois rest a little, like you insisted for me, and they'll try again and they'll succeed, I just know it. Look at my case." She indicated herself. "Jon *did* call last night, but even if I had been there, he didn't have time to talk. He said he had one more night shot in the cantina because the monster's make up for the last shot hadn't been right. But he left me one of the *steamiest* messages..." She grinned. "I'm saving the tape." Clark nodded. "I see. But I still can't take you to Venezuela." "Oh, no, you don't have to, I don't know where my passport is anyhow and how would I ever explain it? I couldn't. You and Lois probably do it just fine, but I can't. And you two probably talk steamy all the time, too, we just can't do it on our show." She perched her hands on her hips now, teacher like. "You *did* understand what I said about you and her getting back together, didn't you?" "Yes." "Did I make *any* impression on you?" He nodded. "Yes, you did," hoping he sounded chastened. "Well, just remember that and think positively, *I* am. I *could* be panicking. My co-star's in another universe, and who knows what's happening there, and K's kitchen could have been blown up." My body absorbed most of the force of the potential explosion, Clark thought glumly. There was nothing to absorb it on the Metropolis side... "But, worse, Jon's down in some mosquito-infested swamp filming some god-awful rip-off aliens-landing-in-the-jungle-to- take-over-the-oil-fields movie--like they'd kill for oil in outer space--and he's not sure if his character is going to survive because they're practically writing the script on the fly, but he's working with one of those famous, eccentric directors so you never know what's going to happen, but it could be terrific for his career, and at least they're not using *vampires,* but then I almost used them, even though that was just as a joke on... a friend, to make him laugh..." she paused introspectively. "Did he?" "Huh?" "Did your friend laugh about the vampires?" She smiled a little, self consciously. Lois did this sometimes, in private moments, because she felt free to do so with him... Hatcher said, "Yes, he did, he needed a laugh... Would you like to read what I've written? My latest script? K said you read a few of our scripts, that you're interested in the show..." This was unexpected. "I'd be honored to, and it looks like even thinking positively I'll have time." "Oh, great! It's not done, I'm sort of stumped on some of the A plot but..." She blinked. "Wait a minute--what a coincidence! I'm bringing back the Vibro Whammy in my script, did you know that?" He shook his head slightly, carefully, but it didn't hurt. He added a shrug and that went well, too. It looked like he was recovering nicely from holding two universes at bay, if that's what it had been. It seemed a little like a bad dream now, with only the nightmare of possibly never discovering Lois's fate to deal with. "I had no idea." She rolled her eyes at herself. "Well, of course, you didn't, how could you? *Dean's* read it, not you. You, ah..." She paused, looked at him, caught herself, looked away, at something, at anything, then back at him tentatively. It was as though she wondered if he had seen her hesitation. Lois did have a way of rushing into a challenge and then, if she had time, backing away until she had a better view of what she was tackling. She wasn't in the habit of letting anyone but him see it, and even then she sometimes tried to hide it from him. He wished this woman would stop acting almost but not quite like Lois. Maybe he should try to help her relax. He sat up; the blanket fell away. He folded it rapidly and then motioned at the lawn chair several feet away to his left. "Ms. Hatcher, please sit down, unless you'd like to go inside where it will be warmer and easier for you to see." "Oh, I can see all right and it's not cold out here." She took the chair but perched on the edge. Maybe it was too soon for her to relax, maybe she had some things that had to be said first. "You know? We were never properly introduced, and here we are, all in this together so we shouldn't be formal. I'm Teri." She held her hand out. He took it gently. "Clark." "Pleased to meet you. Maybe I should tell you something right off, too. You don't look like Dean." "I don't?" "No, not really. I mean, to people who aren't as close as he and I are you pass for him just fine, but to me..." she shook her head. "I've *kissed* the man, and you... you're..." "I understand." He did not want to kiss her. "You're bigger. Not a lot but..." she paused, her eyes widening a touch, "and not *that* way, you know, I mean, I wouldn't know *that*, he and I haven't done anything like... that. He and I are close *professionally.*" "You are a happily married woman in real life and you also play one on television." "Yes, exactly! Jon's just... gone so much, he might as well be on..." she waved a hand, "New Krypton or somewhere." She shook her head. "*Venezuela...*" "New Krypton?" He hadn't noticed that place name in the atlas. "Oh, it's a planet we dreamed up for the cliffhanger last year. It didn't go over well with the fans and there wasn't much suspense, but..." It was her turn to shrug. "A rocket ship load of Kryptonese survived the planet blowing up and they found their own planet. Some came to Earth to convince Clark to be their new Lord, and he went with them at the end of last season." "He went? He left Earth?" "It was that or they'd have a civil war and kill each other and an evil Lord would rule the survivors, and Clark couldn't have that. They were his people and practically family." He frowned. "That's just the way it was written," she added quickly. "As far as I know, there are no other surviving Kryptonians. It would be great if there were more, but it's been thirty years and..." no communications, no hints, nothing... and certainly nothing in this universe. "I'm the last one..." "I'm sorry... but, you know, it was just for the show..." "So the Kryptonians would kill each other if they didn't have a ruler?" "I don't know, yes, I guess so, that was the premise, but don't let it bother you, they probably won't come back. We never saw their planet because we could only afford the fX for the mother ship and the black suit Dean had to wear. Oh, and I got to wear this wild concubine outfit. The evil Lord and his friends snuck on to Earth and killed people and played golf and threatened to take over, and he and Clark fought in the end. Then the Army used Kryptonite gas to kill the bad guys, but Superman, who beat them and then tried to save the bad guys, was the only survivor of the gas." She said that so matter-of-factly... "Oh." Clark reminded himself of how surprised he had been when the pilot and some of the first-season scripts came startlingly close to what he knew as reality. When they deviated and wildly at that, he told himself, he should have been happy. "Good." "The New Kryptonians decided they could live with a woman ruler, which if they'd had half a brain among them they would have realized a lot earlier, but then we wouldn't have had a plot. They all went away, and Lois and Clark got married in the next episode." She sat back and nodded, the story wrapping up nicely, apparently, at least for her, her employers and the viewers. "I'm glad to hear that," because if everyone here was happy, he might as well be happy for them. "So... you're not really like him. You're a little... heavier." "His clothes, the ones I was wearing on the set, were somewhat tight." "Well, they would be, that's because you're..." she opened her hands, releasing the fact, "him." That him. "Yes." "Superman." He simply nodded. "Just so you know." "Thank you." "Are those clothes too tight?" "No." "Oh, good." Apparently satisfied that he knew who he was and he was comfortable, she relaxed and looked around the garden. He had no idea what she could see since most of the immediate area was now lit only by the ceiling lamp in the sunroof more than 20 feet away and by the ambient light of the Los Angeles basin reflected by the stratosphere. "It's pretty out here. It smells so nice. We've been having more rain than usual... Ah, where was I... Oh. I'm not as... adventurous as Lois is, obviously. What we did in Metropolis wasn't very dangerous and we didn't see any villains. We did meet Jimmy Olsen and Perry White, they were real people!" Oh, that might cause trouble later... "Did your... stay at the Daily Planet go well?" "We didn't stay, we got out as quickly as we could. Perry, who looks a lot like Lane, that fooled us at first... Perry and Jimmy thought I was, I mean, Lois was having amnesia again because we were acting strangely, me the most, I guess. What had happened, I thought it was a big practical joke, and I was already a little angry because Jon can't come home for Thanksgiving, so I *wasn't* in the mood. I could help pull a joke on Dean, but nobody better pull one on *me*..." she admitted, but she sounded a little sheepish, too. "Perry was mad about some meeting you and Lois were supposed to attend but when he thought I had amnesia, he told Dean, who he thought was you, to take me home. We found a map in the car and your address. Then your mother turned up just as we were trying to figure out the IRC because we recognized Zoomway's name and... you know the rest." "You made it to S.T.A.R. Labs." "Yes. It took about, oh, 20 minutes. I've driven in worse traffic around here, so that wasn't any problem. We got in okay, but that Dr. Tisdell was late and he once he got talking we couldn't think of a way to shut him up and get rid of him--I bet that happens to you in investigations, huh?" Clark nodded. "Consistently." "He tested it on me--I faked having a horrible headache--and then it turned out he had to leave soon anyway--and he wanted us to go, too. Of course we wanted to stay, do I faked still feeling faint and Dean faked feeling concerned, so Tisdell let us stay there alone until I," she marked quotations in the air with the fingers of both hands, "'felt better.' As soon as he left we rushed over and touched that lever. A big, colorful... *crack* appeared out of nowhere in the air above the main body of the machine! It was even *musical*, it sounded like windchimes and... banjos--like Deliverance, you know?" "Ah..." "The movie," she laughed, "not heaven--though who knows? It could have been, except it didn't have a stairway. It floated down to floor level, and we didn't know what to do but stare at it--until we saw you. That was a big relief. You opened it up further and Dean practically picked me up and tossed me through. I'm sorry I froze, I was frightened... and, well, you know the rest. I suspect the anomaly was unstable, but now the machine has practice, the next one will be stronger. I wish there had been time to get a better look at it, to hack the program and see how it matrixed its algorithms..." She looked thoughtfully into the dark distance. "Pardon?" "We didn't really *do* anything other than touch that lever, and anthropomorphizing the machine--thinking of it as having some purpose in life--doesn't give us any answers, so I'm sure it's in the program somewhere. Maybe a... a virus gives it the *desire* to... explore the universe." "Ah, I see..." "You do?" "Ah... no. It sounds like you're anthropomorphizing." "Um, I am, aren't I? Well, we can blame the machine for that, too," she grinned. "It switched us and then opened a hole in time and space that maybe shouldn't have been open as long as it was, but thanks to you we could take advantage of it, or Lois and I did, until destablized. Who knows what else it's doing...? But it's over there, in Metropolis, a comic-book city and..." She glanced at him. "I know it's real for you, and it is real in that universe, but it's more fantastic than anything here, so maybe it *does* have a plan..." "If it's more fantastic than anything here, how come your guesses sound so plausible?" "Ha! Maybe keeping up with math journals when I have time helps. I was going to be a teacher before the acting bug bit me. This whole thing looks like a mix of quantum physics, unusual computer programming, and... and magic." "Ah, I see..." "Do you say that a lot?" "Well..." "It's comforting, actually, and we do have hope: the program will probably figure out a way to make a more stable hole next. That may be its goal in life, a program glitch that S.T.A.R. Labs doesn't realize." "So, anthropomorphically speaking, its focus on Lois could be because of it somehow sensed she reacted differently than anyone else did when Johnson used it..." "And you, you're part of this, I'm sure it hasn't forgotten you. Maybe the program looked for... ways to go exploring and it found you two. That would naturally happen on our show. For here and now though, until we find out what it decides to do next, I can help you have some fun here in Southern California. I mean, I... I know my way around the Valley, you might need someone with that knowledge." "Yes, I might, though I understand that we can't be seen together." The thought of being alone with this unusual woman... frightened him a little. She was as overwhelming in her way as Lois was. "Um, Dean and I don't do much together..." She sounded lonely... And, having talked to her now, it seemed like the last thing she would do was disrobe at the slightest provocation. "K and Justin have offered to chaperon us." "They did? Oh, okay," she smiled again, a nice thing to see, "that's a good idea, and you deserve all the help you can get anyhow. You're a hero, and..." she hesitated, then continued carefully, "well, you can't be very happy here now..." "No, it's been surprising and I've met some fascinating people..." She was watching him closely. He could see a faint outline of himself reflected in her brown eyes. She didn't appear to be hanging on his every word or in awe but... concerned. He decided to add, "...and, no, I'm not very happy." "Well, just remember: we'll help you get back together with Lois again, and we'll save Dean, too." It was Lois and her confidence all over again. He wished he could feel her state of well being; he had always been able to before this... There was no reason to burden this woman with his fears. "Then I'll try to make the best of my... vacation here." "Good! There, see? I knew there was a reason you're here, to have a vacation. So... do you have any plans? Is there anything you'd like to see? Disneyland? Hollywood? We'd blend right into the crowds, I always do. I go out in disguise." "We did disguise ourselves and that seemed to work, but I can plan better if K can contact them again on the IRC. Maybe you could.... apply quantum physics and magic to that, hmm?" "Maybe!" she laughed, this time at herself. "Do you know what? We'd barely get a message typed and sent when your reply would pop right up. We thought *you* were typing because of the speed." "I did type the instructions Lois gave you, but at only about 75 words a minute. Otherwise, there is definitely a time distortion between universes." "Oh, thus your quantum physics joke, okay, yes..." She paused to speculate. Lois would hardly have done this; she didn't have time for heavy-duty science unless it was directly involved in a story, and then she usually let him try to make heads or tails of it. Lois... "We'll have to figure out how that IRC program is connected to all this, if it is, unless the angel we used for the wedding is helping on the Metropolis side, too... Did an angel help in your wedding by any chance?" Magic and now angels... "No, nothing like that." He decided it was time to get moving. "I'm going to see if K's had any success. If she hasn't, I think it's *her* turn to get some rest." Teri nodded. "She looked tired." K was typing, but not on IRC. She explained that she had switched to a word processing program and was working on her latest book. She had set up her IRC program to beep her if MetroDuo showed again, and she was checking back periodically anyhow to make sure she remained on line. Clark and Teri told her of their speculation about quantum physics, with Teri throwing in lots of theories that K absorbed with a polite expression on her face. Finally during a pause, the woman said, "What are you *really* trying to tell me?" "That it's, ah, just this side of magic," Teri admitted. Clark said, "And that it may be hours again before we hear anything." "I wish we had taken a cell phone with us to the labs," Teri said, "but didn't occur to us. Even if you can get a message through that the switch back worked half way, it might arrive in Metropolis before it happened, and Martha might try to warn them, us, but we didn't *get* any warnings. Personally, I don't like tickling the space-time continuum if I can help it..." She looked inwardly a moment. "I can't believe I just said that... Anyhow, Lois and Dean will probably call her, or just head back to rest and do some more planning. They obviously didn't stay to try again or they might have been able to open another hole." Clark saw a chance to lay some ground work in case they didn't hear from Metropolis again. "It probably blew a few circuits at the Labs, too," or worse, much worse... "and the guards," if any survived... "came to see what happened and ushered them out." "If Lois is one of the triggers for this, maybe that unusual program... funny, the word 'shareware' just popped into my head. We're sharing each other's worlds here, huh?" Clark nodded. "That's a clever observation." "Anyhow, it's going to take a long time and, K, we think you should take advantage of it and get some rest." "I don't plan to stay tonight," Clark said. "So you don't have to watch after me, either." "I noticed you're looking better than you were, your color's better," she patted his arm. "So I'm not worried about that now. Just what were you planning on doing then?" He smiled despite himself. "I think I should put in some time at Mr. Cain's house to keep up appearances and keep his dogs company, at least until midnight. I noticed he has a computer, so he may have access to the internet and thus the IRC. If I can figure that out, I'll take over the watch." "I hadn't thought of that," K said. (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 22:28:51 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bobbett Jascor Subject: Re: FoLC Secret Santa I'd like to participate. I'm new to FoLC, but I LOVE L&C, so I think I qualify. Please tell me, should the gift by L&C related? Bobbett Jascor Age 34 Female Address: 533 Buchanan Street, Hillside NJ 07205 Thank you! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 18:03:18 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 9 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dean wasn't precisely sure what he'd expected from Lois Lane but the last thing he'd expected as the first thing out of her mouth was a critique of his work on the show. "Mess it up? What are you talking about?" Dean felt defensive. "Everyone says my 'Clark Kent' is the best portrayal yet!" Why was this woman attacking him? He already felt awful because his eyesight was acting up, not to mention that he was starting to feel nauseous again. "My husband would never have even *thought* of sleeping with a clone and *never*, *ever* have let me go with Lex Luthor!" "That was just the script. I act, I follow the script." Dean was annoyed. He didn't need this right now, wasn't it bad enough the fans had creamed those episodes, did he have to go through it all again now? "You could have fought it. It was stupid!" Lois was seething mad, he could tell. "We were under a lot of pressure from the network, February is sweeps month. When we filmed most of it we didn't even know what the final cut was going to be. I played a character who thought he was married to the love of his life. He wanted to consummate that relationship. What's wrong with that?" Dean closed his eyes to stop the world around him from making the constant changes. "You mean to tell me that you were willing to play a man who couldn't tell the *love of his life* from a FROG-EATING CLONE!" Lois' strident voice felt like a knife through his head. "How was he supposed to know that's what she was? He's not clairvoyant, she was identical in every way until her programming started to fail. It was his *wedding* night, for crying out loud! What was he supposed to do? Take blood samples?" "No! Clark's got special senses that would never allow him to be fooled like that." "So, you can't keep *any* secrets from him at all? Is that what you're saying?" Suddenly Lois looked like a ghost of herself, he could almost see right through her. Dean wiped his hand across his eyes hoping they'd get back to normal *soon*. "Doesn't sound very pleasant." Lois looked startled. "Well, some. Clark's a little naive in some ways, and he was brought up to be polite and not pry into private places." "So you're criticizing me because I played him as polite, naive, inexperienced, and romantic? I thought I did it quite well." Dean was getting really peeved. Why were they sitting here discussing the show, weren't there larger issues to worry about? "But he would have *known*!" "I can't help that. Real life isn't TV life. TV takes reality and magnifies it to create drama. If there weren't dumb mistakes being made by the characters, half the programs on television wouldn't have anything to show. Now can we discuss the *real* problem here?" Lois narrowed her eyes, and through gritted teeth said, "Fine, let's get back home so I can talk to Clark on IRC." She turned the key in the ignition and started the car. Dean forced himself to relax. She was probably upset that her husband hadn't made it here with her. He should be patient. He wondered if her tangent about the show was an example of her usual inter-personal style, or a product of stress. The strange things that had started happening to him inside the lab, continued. Every once in a while the Victorian and Georgian facades of the houses and the brick walls of the buildings they passed would disappear and he'd be able to see what was inside. The constant changes were making him feel more than a bit nauseous. He lowered his face onto his arms to cover his eyes, hoping to prevent the phenomena from happening again. Eventually, he felt the car stop and heard Lois exit. A few seconds later her hand was on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" She sounded genuinely concerned. "You fell back out of the portal pretty hard. Did you hit your head?" He carefully removed his hands from over his eyes. Everything looked normal. Lois was scrutinizing him. "I...I don't think I hit my head. Nothing hurts." Lois held the car door open and, taking his right arm, was ready to assist him out of the car if he needed it. Everything seemed to be working fine at the moment so he said, "I'm fine, really. I...It's just that... odd things keep happening. They make me feel...sick." "Odd things? What kind of odd things?" Just as Dean stood upright the nearby surfaces did another one of their strange shifts and he stumbled on the pavement that wasn't where he expected it to be. Lois grabbed his upper arm, "No, don't answer now, wait until we get inside. You can lie down then until you feel better." "Thanks, I'm fine now--I think I can get inside by myself." While Lois fumbled for her house keys and muttered about "that woman" disturbing the normal disorganization in her purse, Dean stared at her, trying to figure out what it was about her that was so mesmerizing. She was beautiful, but he was used to being with beautiful women so it wasn't just that. There was something almost hypnotic about her, like a flame attracting a moth. How the heck did Clark Kent get anything done with this woman working next to him all day? She noticed his stare and frowned. "Will you please stop looking at me like that?" Dean tried to look at something else, anything else, without much success. He gave up and looked back at her, "Like what?" "Like I'm naked or something. It's unnerving." In response to his questioning look, "Look, are you sure you didn't hurt yourself falling out of the portal? You seem more than a little disoriented." "I'm sure. It's just that there's something about you that's... different--I mean, from what I expected Lois Lane to be. I was just trying to figure out exactly what it is." "Well, I'm not a 'ditzy reporter', if that's who you were expecting." Lois impatiently opened the door and signaled Dean to enter first as her guest and potential invalid. Since his upbringing dictated that ladies should go first, he gestured for her to enter. She said "After you". He said "No. No. After you." They went through this routine for a couple of rounds until Lois finally threw up her hands and entered first. "Lois! Clark! You're back." Martha rushed up to Lois and gave her a big hug. Turning to Dean, she suddenly stopped. "Where's Clark?" Lois tugged at Martha's arm. "He didn't make the transfer. Teri and I got through but he--Dean--was thrown back out of the VibroWhammy portal just as Clark was coming through. I...I don't know if Clark's okay. There was some kind of electrical surge. I think it must have short-circuited the equipment. We lost the portal to Burbank." Lois headed towards the office. "I have to talk to Clark!" "Oh my, I don't think you can." Lois stopped in mid-stride at Martha's exclamation. "I haven't heard from K in about 20 minutes. I thought it was just slow lines but that would be about the time the electrical surge happened, wouldn't it?" Lois whirled and ran into the office. Dean could hear her cursing as she discovered that, yes, indeed, the connection to Burbank was dead. Martha followed Lois into the office and Dean joined them. Lois was sitting staring at the screen, pale and distraught. "I can't reach him! What am I going to do?" Martha hurried over to her and wrapped her in a supportive hug. "Maybe it's only temporary. If the short-circuit is fixed, you'll be able to get through again." Dean was starting to realize the implications of what this might mean. Up to now, he'd been too busy worrying about his wacky eyesight to bother about it. Now he didn't want to even *think* about the possibility that he might not be able to go home again. "It *has* to get fixed!" Lois exclaimed, "The VibroWhammy isn't burnt out, it was still humming normally when we left the lab. It's just that the portal slammed shut just as Clark and Dean were passing through. Dean will get back and so will Clark. They just *have* to!" "But if Clark and Dean were thrown from the portal, maybe Clark is hurt." Martha sounded more than a little upset. "Clark has to be okay, he's much stronger than Dean and Dean is okay...well, mostly okay." Martha looked at Dean with a concerned look on her face. "What do you mean, *mostly* okay?" Before Dean could respond, Lois jumped in with her answer. "Dean seems to be having vertigo problems." Lois sounded impatient with such weakness. Dean felt thoroughly discouraged. Lois didn't seem to have much of an opinion of him. He wasn't sure how long he could take her attitude and although his vision problems seemed to be going away, they were still acting up occasionally. What if the VibroWhammy was broken, how was he going to get back? What if it couldn't be fixed? He didn't want to stay here, everyone he wanted to be with was on the other side, in Burbank. Wearily he leaned up against the bookcase to his right, only to find it falling under this slight pressure. He quickly grabbed it and reset it back to its upright position. Then he realized the bookcase was solid teak and full of books, it couldn't possibly.... Hearing two gasps behind, him he turned to find both Martha and Lois gaping at him. "You...you used superpowers!" exclaimed Martha. "I did? But I'm not Superman. I just play him on TV. You must be imagining it, it's not possible!" Yet the act hadn't seemed any different, or more difficult, than stopping a pen from falling off a desk. Lois got up and walked over to Dean, standing on tiptoes she stared directly into his eyes. "Dean...you said 'odd things' were happening to you. What kind of 'odd things'?" Once she had his attention she lowered her heels, and stood squarely in front of him. She wasn't going to budge until he gave her an answer. He swallowed and walked around her and over to the sofa, both to get away from her stare and to sit down. "Things keep changing. One minute a wall is there and then it just isn't. Sometimes noises are so loud it's painful and then they're not. The changes happen so fast it makes me feel dizzy. It looks like I'm stuck here. And I...I'm sc...scared." He hated to confess this. He always hated showing weakness, even though in almost every interview he'd ever given he always ended up confessing about his height phobia, though to be honest he saw this as a way of distancing himself from the part he played. This was different, he wasn't trying to distance himself from the part, he was terrified because it looked like he was *becoming* the part. Lois came over and sat beside him. "Dean, look at me!" and when he turned to face her she continued, "I got Clark's powers once too. I know what you're going through. It's not so bad once you get a handle on them. It's sort of like...acting, I guess. First, we have to figure out exactly which powers you have and to what extent. Then, I can show you how to control them." "But how could he get Clark's powers? Clark isn't even here." Martha was perplexed. "I think I touched Clark inside the VibroWhammy opening, just before the blinding light hit me." "That must be it. During the electrical surge you and Clark were in contact and some of his powers must have transferred to you." Lois sounded almost happy as if, because this had happened, things were getting back to normal. Things must be even wackier here than he thought if she considered this "normal". "But that's not..." Dean had been about to say "logical" and then reality hit--he was saying this to two comic-book based characters in a fictitious city. Logic had nothing to do with it. Everything looked so normal he kept forgetting that this was "fiction". Perhaps this kind of thing happened so often here, they would think it *was* normal. "Possible? Of course it's possible! Look at *me*, Waldeker, Lucille Newtrich, that little boy whose mother claimed he was the son of Superman, and on and on. It happens so often I'm surprised we *all* aren't imbued with his powers." Lois sounded serious but also had an amused gleam in her eye. "Welcome to Metropolis, home of Superman. Only city on the planet with a man who flies." With this remark, it seemed as if Lois was accepting him as part of her team. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. Dean took a deep breath. "So it seems I have some of his powers! Now what do I do?" His conflicting emotions left him feeling totally confused and not a little apprehensive. "We've got to get you comfortable with them. Let's drive you up to the old quarry park. It's in the middle of nowhere and isn't used much now. We can test the extent of your powers in privacy there." "Good idea." Martha said, "I'll stay here and watch the PC. We won't know when Clark will be able to try getting through to us from Burbank again, although you said it was only a few hours the first time." "It's Thursday still, right?" "Yes. You've only been gone since 10:30 this morning." "Good!" Lois strode to the front door, picking up the car keys as she passed the front hall table. "Come on Dean, we might as well get going. The sooner we start getting your new powers under control, the sooner we'll be finished." "Slow down, Lois. I need to catch up with all of this. I'm not so sure this is such a good idea." Dean felt like he was being dragged down a path he didn't want to take. Was she expecting him to fly? Be Superman? What? He wasn't sure if he was ready for this, not at all! "Of course, it's a good idea. We might need your Super powers to get you back to Burbank. Now stop being a stick-in-the-mud and let's get moving!" Lois was tapping the keys against the inside of her palm. He opened his mouth to argue again, but recognizing that this was futile, used the only other delaying tactic he could think of, "Let me change. I don't want to wreck Clark's suit while I'm experimenting." Dean went into the bedroom and changed out of the suit he'd put on to visit Dr. Tisdell and into jeans and a tank top. Remembering to put on Clark's glasses, he reluctantly followed Lois out the front door. ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 18:15:38 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carmille Caluag Subject: Re: FoLC Secret Santa I'd like to participate to the Daily Planet Secret Santa. Carmille Caluag Age: 16. I can't give you my address but you can send the mail to this address: 2864 Henry Street Lake Station, Indiana 46405 It's my cousin's and he doesn't mind. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 20:00:46 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Private Email [was Re: FoLC Secret Santa] In-Reply-To: <971117180812_87149142@mrin54.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" A quick note to remind people to please reply *privately* to the FoLC Secret Santa coordinator and other such polls. When you do a 'reply' to a listserv post, the 'reply to' address is usually the listserv address, not the individual email address of the person who sent the post. Remember to check this before you respond to any post to be sure you know where your email is going. Be careful about sending out your home addresses and other personal information to the entire listserv (any listserv). You never know what kind of degenerates lurk on these things. Kathy ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@toolcity.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 19:03:14 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Light of Linda :) Comments: To: TUFSReview@aol.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I've just finished reading TUFF's "Light of Dey" by Linda (TVVMWombat@aol.com) and have decided to review it as I read it :) I found it an easy read. It flowed right along and was a pleasure to picture in my mind [though my mind camera tended to blur the bloody parts ;)]. It thus read like one of the better TV episodes, and with more depth. I liked "seeing" Henderson. I liked the little details (CK, chewing on the pencil, for example).=20 Gad, S.T.A.R. labs will analyze *anything*, won't it? :) (I wonder if that ever gets them into trouble... if it's a corporate thing or it's because they're so big, physically and financially...) Used to be, when the show gave the hint of "She couldn't wait until Clark returned from patrol to tell him of her discovery," we know she *wouldn't* wait but be out investigating on her own, getting in trouble and maybe getting out of it on her own, too. Is Lois getting... older? ;)=20 addendum: Later in the story Lois does revert to her old style and gets in= =20 trouble. Which is better... and is there a middle ground? There was one jump in the conversation that threw me (from CK' mention of "Trask and Mxyzptlk" to Lois's mention of "artificial insemination"; their didn't seem to be a link). It needed a phrase from CK like "Something could happen to me, leaving you alone, but if we had a child..." The first one to throw me, about the Goodwill Exchange, I could chalk down to something the characters would naturally think about that we simply didn't know yet (i.e., it was something that didn't need to be explained to us; we'd think: oh, there must be some kind of cultural exchange in the news in the Big City). I think Jimmy deserves a raise - get him out of that small, roach-infested apartment into a larger, roach-infested apartment :) How about a fanfic on CK's "six months in the Ukraine"? Then again, what= could=20 have done there that would be fascinating... dodge bullets maybe, learn to be faster on his feet so he *can* dodge them instead of being seen as invulnerable to them... I wish AOL had a bcc function, so I wouldn't get all those names... or I wish one of them were *Dean's* address and only *I* knew about it :) "...or he may just be cocky enough to think he's above impunity, and go ahead and seek another victim..." Evil Genius rule #5: when I realize The Hero suspects me of the foul deeds, I'll lay low until he has no more justification for those thoughts... ;) (or I'll just kill him) Lois's insistence that the bad person wasn't what all the clues led Clark to proclaim looked a bit odd after she herself had been possessed more than once by a ghost, and especially after CK's being attacked by Baron Sunday...= :\ CK said: "I have a feeling Dey isn't going to stop when he's batting a thousand." Talk about cocky...! ;) it's endearlingly cute though :) Lois "fought off a series of sneezes from the cloud of sawdust particles stirred up by her presence." I understand this is one way to stop a potential attacker. Sneeze noisily and as they approach, hold out your damp hand at them and make congested sounds and blink as though another sneeze is on the way... gives them pause at the very least... ;) Right before this phrase "Cold dread froze Superman where he stood at the sudden change of events." I found things a bit confusing. One minute Superman and the villain are circling each other and the next the villain has Lois by the neck... Maybe Supes should have sneezed :) "...until a mask of the blackest evil stared back at him..." but the guy already had proved that he wasn't evil... (again I'm commenting on this as I read, BTW :) "...Slowly, finally, he got to his feet, dusting himself off. Without approaching the pile of dark wool, he flew away to let the police discover for themselves what had happened in the nearly demolished construction site" "Well, Inspector, we have this pile of wool and buttons and=20 the place is really torn up, but other than that..." "Give the wool to Goodwill, they can make clothes out of it.=20 We'll get the health department on that site and fine the owner and=20 make some money for the city." "Works for me." ;) "Unfortunately, Dey got away before Superman could find out what that mission was." Knowing that, we might have had a lot more sympathy for the villain and CK might not have been so noble in his vows to stop the man... however, not every A plot has to be explained every time... sometimes mysteries are best left mysterious :) "At his wife's pleading insistence, they went with the latter." Why? Probably because there was no proof and only Superman's explanation... Tabloid fodder? =A0 =A0 =A0"Well, it's the damndest thing I ever read. Man comes from= another country on a diplomatic visit, kills some of the toughest, meanest, ornriest no-goodniks this city had to offer, and then just disappears into thin= air. Henderson called a few minutes ago to let me know that Interpol has its= men stationed at every airport and road leading back into the country. If= this Deyawhatshisface guy shows even a hair on his head, they'll get him."= =20 What proof was there of his guilt other than the wool clothes which could have been stolen from his home? He might have been wearing them in his den when some antiCommunist group broke in to kidnap him... "I'm still left with more questions than answers. Like, how else could= =20 you explain that guy's incredible strength? He tore right through my= suit=20 and dug furrows in my shoulders."=20 Clearly, stereotypical vampires are "antisun" yet they must get their powers from somewhere (and it isn't alfalfa sprouts...). I suggest they *do* get them from the sun (and blood of course), indirectly, from the earth in way, and Dey was thus like Kryptonite... This could be expanded upon probably (later) ;) It's nice how the story makes me *think* :) Many of the TV episodes were just too silly... Debby :) Debby@swcp.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 04:34:18 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 16 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Swap-Meet: Burbank part 16 of 20 by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com [earlier editing warnings apply] "You've been busy. If it doesn't work, if I can't get into his computer, I may put on his black clothes again and go flying until morning." "That does sound more interesting than..." He could say it for her. "Moping round here? Yes, it does." "Oh, Clark..." She stood up and gave him a tight hug. It was almost too hard to take; he had to ease her away. "Thanks, but don't, you're... you're too much like Mom and I'll just get depressed... again." Teri reached to comfort him but held back at the last moment. He smiled apologetically at her, too. "I'm sorry, I'm not good at being depressed. If I can keep busy, start thinking about reasons and solutions, and even use the computer, who knows? There's always the chance I may find something that will help everyone." *** Teri offered him a ride "home," but as Clark gathered Cain's wallet and keys, he assured her that he thought it was dark enough for him to fly there without any trouble. He'd already done this in broad daylight, admittedly at nearly the speed of light, and there had been no repercussions. The trip was easy; even the Tupperware container full of pumpkin pie made it just fine. Cain's home was as Clark had left it. The first thing he did was attend to the dogs, who knew the routine. They went out and romped around a bit then came in and stared at a kitchen closet door, behind which Clark discovered a big bag of dry dog food. He made them happy by topping off their bowls and putting down more fresh water. Next on the agenda was exploring Cain's home more thoroughly than he had before but, he hoped, without getting too personal about it. Some time, maybe soon, a thorough investigation this might be necessary, but it wasn't that time quite yet. He confined himself tonight to what he figured was the man's den. This room held the computer as well as file cabinets, stuffed book cases, a TV, VCR and dozens of tapes. Everything was neat and clean except the man's immediate work space. The potential for doing a little research began to stir Clark's creative juices. He sat down at the computer, opened the container with the pie, dug in with a fork, and looked over the messy desk as he enjoyed his much-delayed dessert. The desk was littered with computer disks, some labeled; bits of paper with notes jotted on them; pens and pencils; and pictures (snapshots, magazines clippings, and print-outs probably from the color printer off to Clark's right). To Clark's left was a stack of file folders. The folders were labeled and the top one was "Ideas - AIDS". Clark tingled (aidswalk?), blinked, frowned, put down the pie, and picked up the file. It contained newspaper clippings and tear-outs from magazines about a physical ailment Clark had never heard of. The file's information gave him a good idea though. The next-to-the- most-recent addition to the file was a press release about the Walk that Teri and Justin were going to participate in. It was to raise money for research. On top of all the information was a print out dated only two days earlier from an internet news group called "alt.conspiracy". It detailed a theory about right-wing political groups striking out at politically progressive activists, specifically those who marched to support their causes. Clark had only flipped through the file initially. Now he scanned the entire contents with care and moved on to the remaining folders. They covered other topics and reminded Clark of his own idea files at the office, but in this case Cain must have been collecting ideas for scripts or novels. He returned to the first folder. This AIDS thing was odd, particularly in connection with the Walk his new friends would be in. Why had Cain connected the Walk with the unusual (if it was unusual) newsgroup item? Was it merely for a story or had he thought there was some potential danger? Had he been invited but declined because of this? That didn't sound right, not from Clark's indirect knowledge of the man. Cain would have warned his friends; he couldn't be a coward and play *me*, Clark mused. Then he made a "Well..." face at himself; there's cowardice and there's discretion. He may have suspected something could go wrong at the Walk and was gathering information. Perhaps he planned to warn his friends and the authorities when he had enough proof. He had simply been interrupted in his research, and look where the poor man was now, if he was even alive... Clark sighed and eased that idea back out of the way. If the man's legacy was to unintentionally give Clark Kent an puzzle to work on, the least a good reporter could do was follow up on his tingle about it. He reconsidered the computer, the closest thing he had to a library at the moment. He got into it without trouble. There were no artificial barriers to his entry, no passwords or traps. The programs were unfamiliar but easy to figure out. A little exploration through the wordprocessing and database documents gave him no new information on the AIDS idea file, so Clark turned next to the internet. Within a quarter hour of turning on the powerful computer, Clark had logged on to Cain's internet provider (the man's password was built in to the log-on program) and activated the IRC program. He checked to make sure his identity was hidden, changed the nick to CKent just for the heck of it, reconfigured the setup for the server K was using, and he sat back to wait for the program to gain entry. This took about ninety seconds. He /whois'd MetroDuo but without luck. He wasn't surprised. Doing the same for K's nick was successful; he found her lurking in several rooms and sent her a message, but got nothing. He re-nicked himself to MetroDuo and messaged her again with: "I'm on. You're supposed to be resting!" She replied in a DCC chat, "I'm about to turn in :) Good thing you changed your nick" Clark changed it back to CKent. "What are you about to turn into?" "Heeheehee :) Anything I want. It will be quieter tonight!!!" Whoa... Lois, you are... were... so good to me... Clark chuckled to himself, melancholy, and typed, "Yes, it will!" "Teri stopped chatting and went home. Call me if you have any luck at all. Did you get my cell phone number? Dean has one too." "I have your number and I know where his phone is." "Dogs okay?" He turned and looked back. Yep. He typed, "They're observing me. They may be friendly. You stop being friendly. Go to bed." "Coming from you, I better take that seriously! :D 'night." "Nite." Clark figured out how to instruct the program to beep him if the elusive real MetroDuo logged on again, then he changed screens and pulled up Cain's web browser. He spent the next almost three hours surfing the world and discovering both scientific and theoretical information about AIDS. He also tracked down conspiracy theories about its origin, spread and future effects, and the reaction people had to it. The more he read, the less Cain's having grabbed that particular alt.conspiracy article seemed to be a fluke but a genuine inspiration. (Despite his trust of his IRC warning system, he checked it at nearly five-minute intervals. Nothing.) While he was waiting for pages of information to download, he noted a shelf full of scripts for "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of...", determined what order they were in, began reading through them from the beginning. Midnight neared and his not having heard any beeps and perhaps reading too many scripts in one sitting began to take their toll. Clark reacted by trying to focus his energies elsewhere, away from looming depression and the craziness of television. Even his tingle about the Walk and a possible conspiracy to disrupt it was becoming upsetting. He told himself he needed a break. The last thing he did on line that night was to ferret out a WWW site devoted to the Saturday event. He noted it had taken several hundred hits since its creation two weeks earlier but had no way to find out the origins of the hits. That didn't bother Clark much; the vast majority of the queries were no doubt totally innocent. The site gave detailed information about the cause, the purpose of this particular rally, who was expected to attend (thousands of members of the public and hundreds of celebrities by the looks of it), and where it would be, someplace called the Universal City Walk, a large, neon-lighted shopping mall according to two pictures of it on the site. The Walk route was for the most part around this mall. People then weren't walking distances to gain dollars per miles, and the celebrities were mostly showing up to give speeches and pitch their strongly held beliefs. Members of the public were expected to both donate and learn. Okay, Clark thought, he'd seen this kind of rally before. He had also seen people who held diametrically opposite beliefs making attempts to interfere with such gatherings. Disruptions could come in many forms. To tingle like this did, though, must mean the form would not be a pleasant one. He memorized the map of the City Walk and environs offered by the site, then sat back and sighed. Not that I have any *proof* that anything's going to happen, he told himself, imagining Perry was looking him straight in the eye. He knew he would have blinked and shuffled and promised to get proof immediately... Perry encouraged his reporters to have and cultivate tingles, but before one word ever hit print, there had to be irrefutable proof for something as big as this. Clark exited the web browser and checked on the IRC. Nothing. Even K was gone. He joined #loiscla for a few minutes and the inhabitants, about half of them Australians, were polite, laughed at his nick, then ignored him when he failed to participate. It might have been easier to do so, considering all the scripts he had just read, if he could have thought of something thrilling to say about either Dean Cain's or Teri Hatcher's bodies. But that explained the channel's nickname, "The Aussie Gutter". With an "I'm sorry, Lois..." he logged off the internet, turned off the screen, powered down the computer, and rose from the chair, stretching long and hard. "Well, boys, you're own your own again," he told the dogs. They followed him into the front room and watched him unpack the brown bag he had brought along from K's and pull out the carefully folded black clothing. He put it, wishing Lois were here to help, petted the lead dog, turned off the lights, slipped out of the house, locking it securely behind him, and headed into the sky. He zipped up and half way around the world, finding morning and a full charge of sunlight, which helped alleviate some of his depression. Then he returned to the Los Angeles area, flying low now, looking for Universal City. He returned to Cain's home hours later, just before dawn, showered, rinsed out the clothing, looked through Cain's refrigerator and grabbed an apple, and sat down at the computer. A quick log on to the internet and the IRC was still unproductive. He logged off, opened up Cain's most used wordprocessing program, and began to compose his thoughts. *** K Callan's Home In Some Suburb of Some Alternative Los Angeles Day Three, Friday Morning "If I'm here on Saturday," Clark told Justin and Teri over a 9 a.m. breakfast at K's home, "I'd like to go on the AIDS Walk with you." "Wow, great!" "You can go as Dean," Teri agreed, then told herself loud, "Well, duh, who else? But are you sure you want to?" "Yes. I have an odd feeling about it." He gave them an idea of what he'd found in Cain's den, for now keeping to himself most of the graphic, conspiracy-oriented details. "It may be nothing, there may be threats like this all the time and the police are ready for them, but I'd appreciate it if you'd humor me..." "'Humor' you?" K asked in the midst of adding milk to her granola. "You're a great investigator, you must be on to something. Of course, now *I* want to go, too..." she smiled. "That's perfect!" Teri said. "We're supposed to bring everyone we can possibly get, the more famous the better. We'll have all kinds of coverage, too. We're going to bring the house down." Clark began to wonder if he should have given them more of the more gory details. The last thing he wanted was to see *anything* brought down... He told them that he'd looked over Universal City Walk from the air shortly after midnight was surprised to see the crowds there so late on a holiday night. "I guess that means there's room for trouble," Justin said. "I never thought about that..." "Not necessarily," Clark said. "It means it's a popular place." He asked them a few leading questions, trying to ease out of them what they might not realize they knew, but his friends added little more to his previous knowledge about the event, the disease they were campaigning against, and the political atmosphere surrounding it. The three in turn tried to pry out of him why he was worried, but he adroitly sidestepped every one of their well- meaning amateur attempts. Living and working with Lois had taught him a great deal. He'd always be grateful... "So if someone's planning something to disrupt the Walk, who?" Justin asked. "I don't know, I don't know the criminal element here." Though he suspected a group whose name had come up several times in his web surf: Dark December. Stories of sinister groups came and went, no doubt the bulk of them the creation of feverish imaginations trying out story plot lines. But there were some that stood out, that lasted, that lurked, and Dark December had been lurking, as far as Clark had been able to gather, for more than a year. What was worse, it seemed to be connected with a smaller even more murky group called November Storm... "It's more clear cut in Metropolis, though it could be my perspective. We've got everything from street gangs to evil scientists--they usually come in twos like they seem to in your scripts--to immense, dangerous organizations. Also," he shrugged but felt free to admit, "Lois was better at keeping track of all of them than I am--" "Was?" K raised an eyebrow. "*Is*." They were watching at him. "Think *positive,*" Teri insisted. "I'm trying. She... She's cultivated a lot of contacts over the years, when I only got started about three years ago. So," Clark continued, "you all know more about crime here than I do. I've only heard one television news broadcast. Mr. Cain had a week-old newspaper in his kitchen; it was under the dogs' water bowl. I'd like you to tell me what's been happening here in California lately, but we can do it the car, anyone's car, while we're driving around the Universal City area." K nodded and stood up. "After I do the--" "No, you don't," Clark said as he rose just as quickly. "It's my turn to do the dishes." "But you did them yesterday--." He held up a single finger that hushed her. "No buts. I do this all the time at home..." home... "and this place is beginning to feel like home." She gave in with a smile. "Do you do windows, too?" He smiled and nodded. Teri eased in with, "What does *Lois* do?" Justin snickered. Teri elbowed him. Clark raised his eyebrows. "I'm... taking notes." Teri admitted. "Notes?" "Well... mental notes." "We decided yesterday afternoon, when I drove her home, that we should try to make our version of Lois and Clark the best possible, so..." "So you're taking notes." "But I haven't really taken any until now." "I'm sure Dean is taking them about *Lois*," Justin said, "*I* did..." Clark didn't know what to say. He told himself he should have expected this. Justin continued, "It's all right, isn't it?" Teri bit her lower lip then said, "You're so quiet..." Quiet? Oh, yes. "It's... all right, I'm just surprised." "Embarrassed, too, hmm?" K guessed. "A little. I don't mind being watched when I'm... Superman, but..." "So these budding investigative journalists have surprised you out of cleaning up my kitchen, hmm..." Now the two looked embarrassed. "*We'll* do it then." "Yeah!" Their contrite insistence eased the situation considerably. Clark found it easy to forgive them. "No, I'll do it..." He looked toward the kitchen again--and cleaned it up at superspeed, for once enjoying seeing jaws dropping en masse. There wasn't much to do, but it was helpful. In about two minutes he was drying his hands on a hand towel and smiling at K. "Can you think of anything else?" "Wow...!" "I would have been faster but I realized half way through the right way to stack this many dishes in the washer so I had to restack them." "All I saw was a blur!" "And I didn't answer your question about what Lois... does, around the house, did I..." "No..." "She does anything she wants. Mostly, she directs." Teri smiled and nodded. "That sounds like *my* Lois." "And does your Clark clean up?" "Well, we haven't explored that very much. They washed dishes together once before they were married, and he dried them with heat vision." "Ah-ha..." "You don't do that?" "No, not if they can air dry." K said, "I think Dean would have Clark ordering out for Italian and eating on paper plates anyway." The actors agreed on this and that they'd have to clue Dean in when he got back. Clark wanted to get away from this. He reminded them of his desire to see Universal City Walk. They decided to use K's nondescript car to reconnoiter the area. This meant a return to the Burbank and more talk about the studio and the various rivalries within the entertainment industry. Clark slipped in a question here and there, encouraging this chatter for a few minutes until he determined that the gossip they related had nothing to do with November Storm, Dark December or anything else that might threaten the Walk unless someone named Elizabeth Taylor was mobbed by admirers. Lois probably could have taken these little bits of information and made a mountain out of them... As they approached the City Walk, Clark decided he wanted to know the exact locations of the police and fire stations nearest the big mall. K got out her map of the valley and one of the phone books they had brought along, looked them the installations, and then drove by them. Clark checked them off a mental list, then suggested they drive onto the Universal City Walk grounds and inspect the huge parking structure. This turned out to be as weak and insecure an area as Clark had determined it to be from the air and he wasn't surprised. They parked, he and Teri donned their disguises, and they headed for the elevators up to ground level to see the big mall first hand. As expected, it was crowded with tourists and local people. The colorful, noisy mall lead to the Universal Studios and more places for the visitor to spend money and have fun. Justin explained that the Studios did double duty as backlot sets for the movie company and a complex theme park with rides and shows. Indeed, the Lois and Clark cast and crew had even shot some scenes for their own show on sets here, but studios did that for each other, sharing what each had. Clark said he thought that was generous of them. They paused to watch children play in a fountain built into one of the mall junctions. Water bounced out and kids splashed through it, many of them barefoot despite warning signs. "The tour is okay," Justin confided. Clark had noticed quite a few people had recognized his friend but not had the courage to approach him. "I've been on it a couple of times, I've taken some relatives on it, but if you were into this kind of thing, I'd recommend the new Superman ride at Six Flags." Clark looked at him. "I don't think so." "No, I don't mean just for that, it's a good ride. Dean helped inaugurate it. You go straight up like 40 stories in about 7 seconds and then you experience free fall and then you head down again at a hundred miles per hour!" "And Mr. Cain is... wary of heights?" "Well, he didn't get sick or anything..." "Ironically," Teri added, "the ride is called 'Superman - the escape.'" "Well, if I'm still here on Sunday..." "You'll eat dinner at my place, won't you? So you can... clean up?" "Ah, yes, if I can bring my..." he glanced at K and Justin, "chaperons." Teri shrugged, smiled and nodded. "Have you noticed?" Justin asked the other two confidentially. "People stare at me and you, K, but they *really* stare at you, Teri. I'm surprised you were only asked once for your autograph." "That's right..." she frowned, looking around and trying to look as though she weren't looking around. "But no one has asked 'Dean' for anything." "They sort of like don't see him..." "I'm not Dean," Clark reminded them. (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 17:57:04 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 10 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Metropolis, New Troy 5:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Thursday Luthor Memorial Breach Park, North Metropolis As they entered the park, Dean noticed the faded sign that said "Luthor Memorial Breach Park". "They dedicated a park to Lex Luthor's memory?" Lois looked a little uncomfortable, but sounded calm as she said, "No, his first wife, Arianna Carlin, set it up so she'd have more control over his estate. She expected it to be a great investment. It's a lovely hiking and back-to-nature type park but rarely gets used now." They were now driving up a rough dirt track. "Why is that?" "Well, partly because it's named after Lex, but mostly because there's a rumour that it was built over a toxic landfill site." "Is it?" "Probably not. Jimmy insists *I* started the rumour. I have no idea where he got that notion." She winked at him as she drove the car into a clearing and parked. Over the next hour or so, Lois put him through a battery of tests. As a result, they established that Dean had: x-ray vision that he was slowly getting control of, heat vision if he *really* concentrated, super speed if he didn't try too hard to think about moving fast first, and the strength to bench press the Jeep. He still couldn't float or fly, but Lois told him that it was the same as the super speed, just do it and try not to think about the process beforehand. During these attempts he'd managed to decimate a small grove of trees with his heat vision and felled three large maples by the simple expedient of karate chopping them near the base. After all this evidence demonstrating his other super abilities, Lois was adamant that, if he just put his mind to it, he'd be able to fly. "I don't know Lois, I don't seem to have the knack. Maybe I just didn't get that power." Dean hoped he sounded distraught, even though he was relieved. He wasn't keen on the idea of flying anyway. "Of course you got it, you got everything else." She picked up a large branch and whacked him across the abdominals as hard as she could. Dean was astounded. Not just that she had the nerve to haul off and hit him, but that it hadn't hurt at all! "See, you're even the 'Man of Steel'. Now let's go someplace where we can practice flying." Lois headed towards the Jeep. Dean was getting really annoyed. Just who did she think she was ordering around? First she treated him like an outcast 'cause he wasn't Clark, now she wanted him to be like Clark and fly. Why should he want to fly anyway? He followed her to the car muttering, "What's with this *we*, kimosabi?" She ignored his snide comment and drove them further into the park, to Breach Quarry. They got out of the car to inspect the site. "Come on Dean. This is perfect. If you don't fly right the first time it's okay because the bottom of the quarry has water in it. You won't even hit the ground hard." "Thanks. How thoughtful." Dean was hanged if he was going to jump of the edge of a high cliff into shallow dirty water. Lois tugged on his arm and insisted he stand uncomfortably close to the edge of the quarry. "Now just think about flying and you will." Dean rolled his eyes. Who did she think he was? Peter Pan? "Don't I need pixie dust or something?" "Don't be silly. Now just stand and think about floating *up*." Dean stood, and thought really hard about flying. Mostly what he saw in his mind's eye was the harness and the green screen. Nothing happened. "Close your eyes, it'll make it easier to concentrate." Dean followed the instruction and then the next thing he knew the fiendish woman known as Lois Lane had pushed him in the middle of his back and he was rapidly plummeting into the water below. The splash was resounding. Now he was mad! Just who the heck did she think she was pushing him like that? He'd teach *her*. Dean pulled himself out of the water and was suddenly face-to-face with Lois. She was standing on the edge of the cliff, he was standing in mid-air. He almost fell back down into the water when he realized where he was, but other than a slight wobble he managed to stay in front of her. He frowned at her, careful not to activate the heat vision gizmo, although he was tempted. "What the heck was *that* for? I could have been killed! Or got some vicious virus from the water down there. Don't *do* that ever again!" Lois was grinning. "I told you, you could fly. You should have seen yourself zooming straight out of the water." Dean glared at her, "walked" onto the cliff edge and spun himself dry. "Hey, watch it! You're spraying me with that dirty water!" "Tough! Serves you right!" Dean stalked over to the Jeep. "Come on, let's get out of here. You made your point." Lois still had a smirk on her face when she got into the car and drove them home. On the way back Dean thought again about how real everything seemed. Somehow he'd thought a comic book world would seem two dimensional, but it didn't. All the buildings looked very real, the people too. In fact some were all too familiar, like those types hanging around on the street corners of the less than upscale areas of Los Angeles. They were stopped at a red light when he saw the mugger. The man was holding a gun on a young couple at the entrance to an alley. He smiled as he found a practical use for one of his new powers he'd been practicing and grinned as the mugger yelped and dropped the gun when a burst of heat vision heat burned his hand. The young man of the couple saw his chance and started beating up on the mugger. The light changed and they continued on their way. He didn't think Lois had even noticed the incident until she gave him a sly smile and said, "Good work!" Metropolis, New Troy 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Thursday 348 Hyperion Ave., West Metropolis Dean was watching a Buffalo Bills football game, floating in mid-air. Lois had insisted he practice his floating/flying capabilities and this seemed like the most enjoyable, and least threatening way to do it. After they got back, and discovered to Lois' dismay that the IRC program was still nonresponsive, they'd ordered in Chinese and discussed what the next step should be. They realized that unless they planned to break into S.T.A.R. Labs they couldn't revisit the VibroWhammy tonight. Lois had been gung ho to try, but since Dean didn't feel all that confident with his powers just yet, he and Martha had convinced her that a legal visit to the labs first thing in the morning would work just as well. Martha had clinched the argument with the rationale that the VibroWhammy was likely to be broken, and if it was they wouldn't be able to use it that night anyway. If they visited during working hours, and it *was* broken, they'd have access to experts to fix it. Experts that probably worked 9 to 5. Lois had muttered something about clock watchers, but seemed resigned to having to wait until the next morning. In the meantime, except for waiting on a possible contact with K and Clark, none of them had been able to come up with a clear objective to aim towards for the rest of the evening. Martha had suggested Dean rest after his ordeals with the Suit and the VibroWhammy that day. Lois had urged him to practice, so he'd be ready the next time she wanted him to do something super. He'd left the discussion to watch TV in the den, relax a little, get his mind off his problems, and "practice" his floating. He wasn't particularly focused on the game in front of him. The Bills' players weren't anyone he recognized and he'd never heard of the other team. The game rules were pretty much the same, although they seemed to have a different number of downs and the field was longer and wider for some reason. On the other hand, the players were dressed in the familiar style of uniform and therefore reassuring. He could hear Lois and Martha still talking about Lois' experiences in Burbank, in quiet voices. He wasn't listening to what they were saying, although he found he could if he tried to, but it was comforting to hear the chatter in the background. The den had a nice peaceful, almost familiar atmosphere. The walls were paneled and the room contained big comfy chairs and dark red Persian rugs. He figured this was mostly Clark's domain. The book shelves held statues and masks from all over the world. Many of the books were in languages he couldn't even recognize, let alone read. Overall, it had a masculine quality to it. It was half time and he started channel surfing until he happened across the LNN news channel. He was relieved to find out that the pilot who'd been in trouble earlier had made the landing the next time around. This started him thinking: What would he do if he had to *be* Superman? Now that he had the powers he knew he wouldn't be able to resist helping once he felt confident in using them. Earlier he hadn't even been able to wear the Suit for more than a few hours. With all these changes, he wondered if he'd have that problem now. Probably not. He'd better try getting in and out of the Suit fast just to be sure he knew how, in case they all decided that Superman was really needed for something. He floated over to the living room. He stood in front of the open hidden closet, staring at the outfits for a couple of minutes, until he got up the nerve to take one down from its hanger. These weren't just costumes, *these* were the real thing! Once in one of these he would *be* Superman. He laid out the different parts of the suit on the sofa. He always had assistance getting into the costume on the set. Now he had to figure out how to get into this thing, by himself, and *fast*. It took a couple of tries before he finally got it right. The cape gave him the most trouble. Once he had the technique down, he started working on speeding up the process. The Suit wasn't as hard to wear as it had been before he'd gotten super powers. Now it felt comfortable and natural. He didn't have any problems breathing at all. When he finally had the change routine down to what he figured was "instant" change speed, he went into the kitchen to demonstrate to Lois and Martha. "So what have you been up to?" Lois had that investigative look in her eye and a mothering tone in her voice. "I thought you agreed to practice your skills. You sounded like you were doing jumping jacks, or something." Dean hesitated now that he was in front of Lois and Martha. He suddenly felt a little embarrassed at the idea of stripping and changing in front of these two women, even though he knew they wouldn't really see the details. Thinking, what the heck, he said, "I've been practicing the Suit change, want to see?" Martha must have seen his hesitancy because she said, "Sure, if you feel that's what you want to do." Dean took a deep breath and spun to rapidly change into the Suit. When he stopped spinning he had to laugh at the awed looks on their faces. He felt completely exhilarated. That was really a lot of fun! And no FX were needed to join the beginning and end of the spin. "So did I get it right?" "Oh, *yes*!" they said simultaneously. "But why did you spin? Clark never does that." Lois raised her eyebrows quizzically. "Sorry, force of habit. That's how we do it in the show to allow for the FX guys to morph the Clark costume to the Superman costume. I guess that's not really necessary now, is it?" He grinned at them. Looking at the littered clothes, he continued, "Also, in the show I don't have to worry about storage. What the heck does Clark do with his regular clothes?" "He compresses them and hides them, here I think." Martha walked over to Dean and lifting the cape out of the way, indicated a tiny pocket behind the belt in the middle of his back. "Doesn't that cause wrinkles in his office clothes? And, what about the shoes?" "I don't know, all I can suggest is that you try it and see if it works." Martha gathered up the clothes that had barely missed her and Lois in Dean's rush to change, and handed them to him, shoes on top. Dean folded the clothes around the shoes and compressed everything to a small package about the size of the pocket. He found that when he added the glasses, the whole thing exactly fitted the hollow of his back. "Okay, now how do I get them back?" Martha shrugged. "Lois, did he tell you?" "Not exactly. He showed me how he does the change--at my speed--once." Lois blushed at the memory of Clark's provocative striptease. Dean raised his eyebrows. Martha coughed politely and smiled. "He just kind of pulled the clothes apart and they were fine." Just as Dean was reaching back to retrieve the glasses and package of clothes, a piercing scream forced him to put his hands over his ears. "Dean, what's wrong?" Martha exclaimed. "I heard screaming. Someone's in trouble! " Dean felt butterflies in his stomach. Now he was going to have to *be* Superman. Lois walked over to him. "I'd better come along and help. Let's go. This is a job for..." "Yes, I know...Superman." ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 22:37:29 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Tricia A. Geil" Subject: books Although I have not read any of the Superman books mentioned so far, I did read The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern. This was definitely more related to the comic books than the show, but I read it while L&C was on and I could see the TV show characters in the book. It was something I would have liked to see on L&C, although it would have been a really long story arc. Has anyone else read it? Tricia ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 20:23:43 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Brittan Webtv Subject: Re: Fanfic: MILLION MILES AWAY (3/3) Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT MIME-Version: 1.0 (WebTV) Teri Hatcher, 32, and Jon Tenney, 35, had a 7-pound, 12-ounce girl named Emerson Rose, Nov. 10, in L.A. As you all know, it's their first child. Isn't that just cool?! ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 04:53:44 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 17 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Swap-Meet: Burbank part 17 of 20 by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com [earlier editing warnings apply] "But you'd fool practically *any*body..." he whispered. "Still, I'm not Mr. Cain." "And that's it," K decided. "You're not projecting any... Dean-ness, you're projecting, oh, mild mannered maybe." "Boring," Justin translated. "And I suspect," Teri said, "that *Superman* can really project..." "Yes. I bet he could do it with cameras, too..." The three looked at him speculatively. Clark tried to ignore them, but thinking about the mall instead wasn't fun: the place would be impossible to protect. It wasn't easy to access by auto, true, at least by the entrance they had used, but nothing would stop people from bringing in weapons on foot, an attack from the air would be incredibly easy, and who knew what could be or even had been set up right here ahead of time? He had seen the occasional security guard, bored men who appeared to be nearing retirement age or were probably working here as a second job. He doubted they experienced much trouble with the tourists or fairly upscale locals visiting here. And this could only get worse tomorrow with far more people even if there was improved security. He wished he didn't feel this way. As they stood looking at a window full of animated animals made of common kitchen utensils, he whispered to Teri (it seemed a natural thing to do), "We need to go somewhere to talk..." Teri suggested they have a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant off Olive Avenue. As they drove over, she explained to Clark that they had all eaten here before, it was frequented by people who worked nearby at Warners. The interior was dark, and they were shown to a small wing near the fire exit. She thought no one would bother them, so no disguises were necessary. This turned out to be true. However, Clark didn't feel like talking about a serious subject here. He didn't feel hungry, either. He wanted desperately to be eating lunch with his wife, not these well-meaning strangers. But, stuck and not wanting to worry them, he asked for the house special and then ordered himself to eat it and not pick at it like he had gotten away with doing at breakfast. The food was excellent. Pleasantly surprised, Clark offered to chip in to pay for it using Cain's money, but his friends refused to take any, pooling their funds, daring him to eat habanero peppers while they counted it out, then begging him to stop because of how scary it was to observe the ease with which he slowly relished the very hot peppers. Lois would have threatened to throw ice water at him to put him out... Lois... Teri rolled her eyes at him and reached for his wrist to keep him from eating another of the little green delicacies. She paused. A distant expression came into her eyes. She looked at Clark for a long, bewildered moment. Lois... he felt, he *felt* her all around! He smiled and took her hand, a tremendous relieved feeling overcoming his heart and threatening to do the same to his tear ducts. Then Teri shook her head for a moment and blinked. "Oh..." "Wow," Justin said. "Too much salsa, huh?" "No, it was Lois..." Clark heard himself whisper. Teri was looking at the way he was holding her hand. He realized what he was doing and let her go gently. She didn't seem to want to retrieve it right away. "What did you just feel?" he asked. "Oh..." Now she took her hand back so she could cover her cheeks and think a moment. "Like I was here... but not here... standing back... watching... This happened before..." She thought about it for a moment; no one gave her any clues. "On the set..." "Was it painful?" "No, not at all. It was like I was standing at a window and some one came up and took a look out the same window, someone I know..." "Lois," K said. Teri nodded. "Yes..." K looked at Clark, who sat back and gave her the complete go-ahead to explain what Lois had said on Wednesday about being on the set but not really being there, seeing through what turned out to be Teri's eyes. "Wow... See," Teri whispered, smiling at Clark now, "I told you she's alive and well." Clark had had time to digest this. "Yes. I thought..." Tears threatened again. He picked out another habanero to play with. "If a breakdown of the Vibro Whammy caused the hole to blow out... I absorbed most of the shock on this side but on that side..." "And with no IRC, well, naturally, anyone would worry about that..." "Yeah..." But something else occurred to him, or re-occurred, the idea of that combination of a massive electric shock, himself, and a human caught in between... He sighed, shook his head, and found himself smiling now. He sat forward again, swallowed the habanero whole, faked a burp, which had the desired effect of shocking his friends... and he said, "I have the feeling those two are having some very interesting adventures." *** They talked about one aspect of this on the way back to K's home. Their mutual conclusion was that Dean and Lois had returned to the Kent home, done some planning and resting, and tackled S.T.A.R. Labs once more, at which time Lois had touched the machine and seen through Teri's eyes. It was odd how when Teri touched it she hadn't seen anything. "But we did get that portal right away," Teri said as they settled in around K's dining room table. "I don't know how the time lag is working but it seems to me that if they formed a portal after that, we should have seen it by now. "I prefer to think that they had no trouble forming one but we missed it--maybe it was... outside the restaurant, though I didn't hear anything." "Or someone came in and distracted them," Justin guessed. "Yes, there's always that. It doesn't look like they've had a chance to try again immediately, but I bet they will, Lois will insist." "We have written her as being very persistent," Teri said, note taking. "Persistence is her middle name. But because of that, it may mean I could go home any time now..." He tried to keep from smiling broadly, instead thinking of what they had been doing earlier in the day. "So, since I may not be able to follow up, you deserve a good explanation for this chase I led you on this morning. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have a 'good explanation.' Despite all we saw, I can't be sure of anything. At work when we get wind of something about to happen, we talk to our police contacts and Bobby Bigmouth and everyone else we can think of. If that doesn't help, I put on my suit and put in appearance." "Which the bad guys would expect," Teri pointed out. "True, criminals sometimes hope I'll show up so they can try new weapons out on me." They blinked collectively, worried. He hastened to add, "But the weapons rarely work. Even if they do, since they're concentrating on me, they're usually distracted and don't harm innocent bystanders. You see, it works out okay." "Well, not for *you*..." "It has so far... but that's not important here. Here, I have no connections to check other than the internet, and I can't hover. On the other hand, if I'm right that there will be trouble, nobody is going to be gunning for someone like me." "Clark, what *exactly* do you mean by trouble? I think we have a right to know." He agreed. If he could save only three people... It took him ten minutes to explain what had been in Cain's file, how he had made his search through the internet, and what he had found. He had been careful, conservative... and appalled. "An event like this is perfect for a group like that to attack." "The name alone is scary." Justin shuddered. "November Storm..." "From what you describe, they're ultra right wing," Teri frowned. "They would naturally see people gathering to support people with AIDS as being liberals, communists, gays, whatever, anything that represents what they love to hate. Act-Up, one of the most active groups, is going to be there, too." "If the Walk fails for any reason," K said, "it will be seen as victory for their cause." "A storm in November leading to a Dark December..." Justin whispered. "You know, I hope you're not right." "I agree, because any attack could be lethal," Clark sighed. "Surely the police know about all this, or at least suspect it..." "I hope they do, but I didn't see much evidence of that at the mall. Security wasn't tight, people were coming and going freely--which is how it should be. That open area in front of the Hard Rock Cafe where everyone is supposed to give their speeches? It's visible from lots of places." "But it has to be, so they can be seen..." "Yes." "Okay, okay," Justin said, frowning at his hands, which he had placed flat on the table. "If you say it's dangerous, even if you don't have any proof, even if we hope it isn't, it probably is. After all, you're, well, you're..." He looked up, "you, and I trust you. But what do we do? Not go?" Clark shook his head. "I can't tell you not to go, I might be wrong." "You're sure the police don't know?" Teri asked. Clark could only shrug. "Could you email them all the information you gathered?" "Yes, but they might trace it back and Mr. Cain doesn't need the trouble." "Then you could print it out, couldn't you?" Teri said. "Dean has a good printer. You could use regular typing paper that anyone can get, then wrap it up and drop it off late tonight." She flew her hand just above eye level. "From overhead." "Maybe not 'late,'" K said, "in case Lois is successful." "Then I should probably fly to Mr. Cain's house and start now." He stood up. He glanced around the room, this wonderful, safe place, and decided he didn't want to go on a low note. "Could I take another piece of pie with me?" K smiled. "Certainly." He next glanced through the doors into the quiet sunroom. "Let's try the IRC again, too." Justin got on, /whois'd Metroduo and received notice that they were idle. "That's great! It means they're on!" He pinged them next and sat back, smiling, and waited... and waited... "I guess they're still lagged..." "Well, keep an eye on it and time it." "We'll do that," K told him. "Take this pie and go. Be careful." "Yes, ma'am." His trip was uneventful. Readying the documents for print and then printing three copies took an hour. Clark used the waiting time to care for the dogs, and, since they seemed to be feeling lonely and allowed it now, he played with them. He hoped this would be the last time they'd have to indulge him, that Lois would find out how the Vibro Whammy worked, even if it meant bringing Dr. Klein in, and convince it to make another hole. Add to that, here in California, he hoped the authorities wouldn't ignore the packages he would plant here and there. That wasn't much to ask. On the way back to K's home, he spotted a police car, its driver stopped to deal with a minor traffic accident. The officer had left her squad car's door open, inviting Clark to zip down and leave on the front seat one of his packages, wrapped in a finger-print free, clear, plastic bag and labeled URGENT! Dusk, hindered by storm clouds building up, was falling over the Los Angeles basin as he landed in K's garden. He walked into the kitchen and saw Teri first. She was just closing the refrigerator door. She smiled. "I wish I could go flying with you. We make it look like so much fun on the show...." "It is fun, but..." "I know, you're a married man and it's dangerous..." "That and it's difficult to carry along a chaperon." He put the second of the print outs on the table. "Look through this, see what you think." "Oh, good, I like a mystery even more than flying." She opened the can of soda she had gotten and poured the contents into a glass. "Want one?" "Yes, but I can get it. You read, okay?" She nodded, picked up the package, and took it into the dining room, which was beginning now to look like a command center. Justin was reading comic books and he looked up from one. "No answer to the ping, weird. Everybody else we try answers, and I could get into channels when I needed to, so..." Clark frowned and nodded, going in to check the computer for himself. He noticed that Justin's pings reported various reasonable lag times; he pinged one himself and got a "4 secs". He then /whois'd MetroDuo and this time examined the results with more care. He scrolled back up the status log and looked at what Justin had been doing, then looked over the handwritten notes. "See something?" K asked as she paused in the door. "Yes, something odd... No, not odd for what's happening, I guess, and I don't have enough information. Back when Justin pinged, their sign-on time was 13:15 Friday, so their her local time when they tried to IRC again was 8:15. See this...." He pointed out the whois Justin had done before Clark had left to print out his results MetroDuo ~test@LocOrISComLinAcc.Metropolis.nt.us * MetroDuo MetroDuo #loiscla MetroDuo Metropolis.nt.us.universalnet.edu [101.010.101.01] Universal Online Services/"Over The Rainbow" MetroDuo 2 minutes idle, Friday August 16 13:15:15 signon time MetroDuo End of /WHOIS list. "Hmm... They'd only been idle 2 minutes but we can't get a ping back..." "Right. Now look at this..." He scrolled down. "This is my last whois..." MetroDuo ~test@LocOrISComLinAcc.Metropolis.nt.us * MetroDuo MetroDuo #loiscla MetroDuo Metropolis.nt.us.universalnet.edu [101.010.101.01] Universal Online Services/"Over The Rainbow" MetroDuo 34 minutes idle, Friday August 16 13:15:15 signon time MetroDuo End of /WHOIS list. "That's... interesting." "It could be more than that. First, it's Friday morning there but Friday evening here. The appearance of time... running slower in Metropolis has changed somehow. It's still slow, they're still behind us, it's only been 32 minutes for them between whois's but almost two hours here..." "Which means...?" He sighed. "I have no idea. The time though is interesting. Friday morning. After the... partial success they had on their Thursday afternoon, they must have gone back again on their Friday morning." "Okay..." "I saw Lois through Teri, sort of." "Right." "And... And I don't know where I'm going with this." "That's okay. There's something that's keeping them from IRCing but we can see they're there. Maybe if Lois and Dean return, they'll try it again and..." Clark nodded; yes, that was it. "Be successful. We got on the Lois and Clark channel when Lois was at the keyboard, but we lost contact with them when it was just Mom." "If they're at the Labs and she's the only one there now, maybe the connection is improving a little." "Maybe they can get on when they come back." There was the sound of distant thunder. Clark sat back and looked west, through the wall. The clouds had arrived. "Darn..." "Well..." "No, we can't risk it." He turned off the computer himself. "We can wait." Teri and Justin had been listening in quietly. "Another crack could open up practically any time now and give you your chance to go home." "Be sure to *grab* Dean and yank him through!" Justin advised, smiling. Clark nodded. "Oh, I think he may be flying..." Teri touched his arm. "Those papers are beginning to convince me. I'll make sure they get delivered to the right people if you're not here to do it." She was right, this could be it. He smiled at her for that reason and for the assurance in her voice. "Thanks. I won't worry then." There was suddenly a crack of lightening--outside the home-- followed almost instantly by a WHAM! of thunder and nearly everyone in the house cried out, startled. The lights dimmed, the VCR in the living room recycled, the refrigerator burped. With the next flash only moments later, they lost power altogether, leaving them only the dim light of a surly, stormy evening. K found candles, but no matches. Clark took the candles, lit them for her and helped set them in holders on the dining room table. By the time this alternate lighting arrangement had been set up, the lightning-accented part of the weather had eased and it was followed by a hard rain. Trying to ignore the scary weather, his friends dug into the printout he had given Teri. Farthest away from the light to give the bulk of it to his friends, Clark settled down with some of the comic books Justin had brought. The first one was thick and had a white cover with an S shield embossed in it. He read at a leisurely pace, enjoying "The Wedding Album" even though none of it related to anything he knew of as real. The art was fine for the most part, the story interesting, the whole thing cleverly done to give tribute not only to the characters but to their creators. Interesting idea. Perhaps this had all happened in yet another universe... After being assured by Justin that this blue-haired Superman would regain his powers in another issue or two, Clark switched over to the evening paper. In a column dedicated to odd happenings around the world, he found a brief note about an Angelito Negro with compassionate brown eyes saving a truck full of people trapped in the rapids of the Ucayali River in Peru. Compassionate, that was good. He'd been worried about what the black clothing would say to the people he'd rescued since he'd been unable to hide from them. When his friends were finished reading the printouts, he answered all their questions to the best of his ability. Again, he refused to advise them about what to do since he had no idea if he would be able to go with them. The storm passed, the rain eased to a gentle shower, the electrical service returned to normal, and K agreed it was probably okay to try the computer again, maybe she could get on and chat, drawing the elusive MetroDuo. Her computer had no trouble booting up, though it took time for them to reaccess the IRC. Eventually she could /whois MetroDuo and discovered them to be still idle as far as Burbank was concerned, and another 40 minutes had passed. "About the same time amount of time as here, we're beginning to parallel." Trying to indicate this, Teri held her hands together. "August," the left, and "November," the right. "As long as one of us doesn't drift irreversibly..." she eased November away, "then I think if they can get another portal going, it should be more stable. Otherwise..." Justin reached over, took her hands lightly and eased them parallel again. "Hey, I want Clark to go on the Walk with us, that would be neat--and maybe we'd save the day and everything, but I want him to go home, too, and Dean to come back. So let's not drift irreversibly, okay?" "Not if I can help it, not that I've been *asked*..." She put her hands together and held them safe before herself. She added a nod full of the assurance of inborn woman's intuition. "But everything will be okay." "Pie, anyone?" *** Some 45 minutes later... Session Start: Friday, August 17 13:29:46 1996 DCC Chat session - "Their time it's... 9:29." Client: MetroDuo (000.0.00.00) - Acknowledging chat request... DCC Chat connection established - CLARK!!! O thank god you're okay! And K? And Justin? > They're fine, they were surprised when the crack closed but they weren't hurt. How are you? I've been so worried. Clark? Were fine. We tried to get on but we couldn't ping you. We'v been busy, having lots of fun. I now you'v been having fun with Teri. "Huh? Fun? Tell her you won't even take me flying." Clark looked up at her, confused first by what Lois was typing and now by Teri's comment. "Pardon?" "I'm joking. Can't she... type?" "Ah..." He looked back at the screen and reread his wife's words. "She's excited, that's all," and something else that made him feel uncomfortable for some reason. He shouldn't be feeling this way. > I've been keeping myself busy traking down a mystery. I wish you were here to help me with it, but I'm glad you're okay. I'm always fine. Dean wants to talk to you. "If he can type," Justin smiled, "he's okay." "Well, honestly, I don't want to talk to *him*, but..." "I'll talk to him," Teri offered. Clark immediately gave up his seat. She sat down and typed, Hi, Dean here:) > So you weren't hurt by the power surge? No, I wasn't hurt, but I did have a few problems adjusting to the super powers. "Oh my god!" She looked at Justin; his jaw had dropped. She placed trembling fingers back on the keys. > *Super* powers? She glanced up at Clark. "How...?" (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 10:30:18 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Look! The chocolate-covered finger of a man named Clark! Subject: Re: books << Although I have not read any of the Superman books mentioned so far, I did << read The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern. << Has anyone else read it? I've read The Death and Life of Superman and loved it (even though it wasn't very relationship-oriented). I've also read the MJ Friedman books and thought they pretty much geared towards adolescents. For anyone interested, I found a lot of great non-fiction books about Superman by searching my library's computer card catalog-type thing under Superman as a subject. Two of my favorites were "The Further Adventures of Superman," edited by Martin H Greenberg (which is fiction). It is a collection of several different authors' fictional stories (some more action-oriented than others) and is pretty good, on the whole. If I'm remembering correctly, one of the stories is a lot like the evil clone arc. Another good one (this time non-fiction) is "Superman at Fifty: The Persistence of a Legend," edited by Dennis Dooley and Gary Engle. I'm not sure if this one is available everywhere, because it's really Cleveland-centered and was published in Cleveland, and I'm from Cleveland, so I don't know if it was just sold locally or is available nationally. It's a little old (doesn't even mention "Lois and Clark" as a current TV show) but has a lot of good stuff about the history behind Superman (like about possible meanings behind the names "Clark Kent," "Lois," and "Kal-El") and Siegel and Shuster (thus the Cleveland connection). Happy reading. -Christy kubitc@kenyon.edu ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 18:37:57 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: B Pike Subject: Re: Light of Linda :) >I wish AOL had a bcc function, so I wouldn't get all those names... or I >wish one of them were *Dean's* address and only *I* knew about it :) AOL can bcc, you have to put the names in the CC box, only in parentheses. Brian ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 17:28:34 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 11 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dean picked Lois up and flew out of the back door towards the sound of the screams. He landed in the alley nearest to where the sound was coming from. He set Lois on her feet, confirming their earlier agreement to meet back at "home" if he lost track of her. Taking a deep breath, and reaching inside himself for the persona he used when playing Superman, he jumped out of the alleyway, up and out to the street where two thugs were standing over the prostrate form of a young woman. He landed, dropping between the victim and her attackers. Grabbing both attackers by the scruffs of their necks, he lifted them about a foot off the ground, amazed that he was able to hold them aloft without the aid of any step boxes, or harnesses, or other devices used in the show. Just then a police car drew up and two officers jumped out, took in the situation, cuffed the two assailants and bundled them into the squad car. Turning to the victim, Dean found Lois bent over her, wiping the blood from the girl's face with a tissue. Lois looked up. "Good work, D...Superman, she needs to get to a hospital. Now!" Lois stood up. Observing the police car pulling away from the curb she continued, "I'll meet you there, it's only two blocks that way." Dean picked up the limp form of the girl and flew off in the direction Lois indicated. He saw lights and the blue-lit hospital sign almost immediately. Landing in front of the Emergency entrance, he handed the girl over to the medics who had rushed out at his appearance. He wasn't sure what he should do now, usually the scene cut at this point. Fortunately, Lois jogged into view and pushed her way through the small crowd that had gathered to see Superman. "Superman, the police arrested Snide and his sidekick, Bubba. This is the third snatch they've tried to pull this week and the police are very grateful to you for helping them catch the perps." "I'm glad to hear that, L...Ms. Lane." "How's the victim?" "I am just now going in to find out how she is." Dean wasn't too happy with his ad libbed lines. He sounded so *stiff*. However, the people around them didn't seem to think anything of it. In fact they seemed to be staring at him as if he were some kind of action-hero movie star. Lois and he walked into the Emergency room and asked at the desk about the girl he'd just brought in. She was still being examined. The desk staff wouldn't know for some time. Dean wasn't sure what the next move was, but Lois was right in there getting the story. It was obvious she had no intention of leaving right away so Dean took off in the direction of the house, intending to wait for her, as they'd agreed. Metropolis, New Troy 10:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Thursday Over Metropolis Dean felt completely giddy. He was flying at least 20,000 feet above the Metropolis skyline and he was happy. Completely, giddily happy. It felt like Christmas morning, and his seventh birthday and surfing all rolled into one. He laughed as he dived toward the ground, braked in time to prevent damage to the parking lot below, then headed skyward again. This was *fantastic*! It was like nothing he'd ever experienced before. Why couldn't they capture this joy in flying on the show? The show. Memory of the show sobered his enthusiasm. He *hated* the flying scenes in the show. They were *nothing* like what he was experiencing now. But, of course, that was because he wore that blasted harness to fly for the show and *here* he was completely free. He punched his fist through the clouds, as he flew even higher than before. Free! That was what this felt like, like he was completely and totally free. Free from deadlines, and harnesses, and fear of heights, and... Fear of heights. That was the other reason he hated the flying scenes at the studio. He, Dean George Cain, was afraid of heights. But now, he wasn't, now he reveled in the idea of going higher and higher. He should accept this new lack of fear, but somehow it didn't feel quite right. It *wasn't* right. He landed just outside the back door, entered the house and changed into the regular clothes he removed from the pocket in the hollow of his back and pulled apart. They weren't even wrinkled! He walked from the kitchen to the living room to be greeted with, "Just where the heck have you been!" Lois was absolutely furious. "You left, didn't let me know where you were going, and it's been at least an hour since I saw you at the hospital!" She was almost spitting she was so mad. "I was...flying." He knew this wasn't the greatest excuse, but it *was* the truth. Lois glared at him. "Flying! Couldn't you have told me what you were going to be doing. I was worried sick!" "I'm sorry, I didn't *know* that's what I'd be doing. I didn't think. Please forgive me." He walked over to her and stroked her cheek. He didn't want her to be so upset. He hadn't meant to hurt her. Lois looked at him skeptically but didn't draw away from his touch. "You were just flying?" Dean nodded, "It was phenomenal! Absolutely amazing! I've *never* felt like that before!" Dean glowed with the memory of how it had been. "I thought you didn't like flying." She sounded perplexed. "That's just it. I don't. But tonight, it was really special. I felt so *free*! It was like...I don't know...like all the absolutely *best* things that have ever happened to me. I couldn't stop. It was too special." In an effort to calm her, he sat down on the sofa in the living room and continued with his explanation to her of how it had been for him, how special it had felt to be flying--free. What it was like to *be* Superman. He could see her visibly losing her exasperation as he talked. Lois moved closer and sat down next to him on the sofa. "I think I know how you felt. It's like nothing else on Earth." She stared down at her nails. "Clark loves to fly, and I love flying with him. It *is* special." She looked up from her hands and smiled at him. His heart melted. "I called the Planet and let them know the story. I called the hospital after I got back. The girl is fine. She only had superficial wounds. Her external injuries have been cleaned and bandaged. Her internal injuries aren't serious." "But they looked so bad." Lois nodded, "I know, but apparently none of it is life threatening. After I called in the story, and let me tell you I had to really pressure the story editor about the wording of the headline, I walked out of the hospital and grabbed a cab back to the house--expecting to find *you* here." "I'm glad she's okay and I'm sorry I made you worry. I guess I got carried away." Lois acknowledged his apology with a radiant smile as Martha came down the stairs and into the living room. She'd been upstairs washing her hair when Dean got back. The three of them tried to plan strategy in the uncertain time frame available to them. Finally, they decided that if they didn't get contact with Burbank before 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, Lois and Dean would pay a visit to S.T.A.R. Labs and try to get to within touching distance of the VibroWhammy. Lois revealed, while she was waiting for Dean to return, she had also spoken to Perry on the phone and explained that the VibroWhammy was impacting her again--hence the bizarre behaviour at the Planet earlier in the day. After his previous experience with that "gall-blasted" machine, Perry had absolutely no difficulty believing Lois' explanation. Lois told him she didn't plan on taking any extra time off and that she'd be sure to be in the newsroom Monday morning. Dean and the Kents agreed on sleeping arrangements. Lois would get the master bedroom, and Martha the guest bedroom, while Dean slept on the couch in the den--ready to act as if he'd just come down from the bedroom if someone came to the door. With his new powers he'd have no problem instantaneously putting away the bedding, if required. Martha fixed hot cocoa for a nightcap while Dean, and then Lois, prepared for bed. Dean was sitting in the living room when he saw Lois come down from the bathroom, he forgot his anger at her forcing him off the cliff, his irritation at her pushiness, his feelings of inadequacy as Superman. Instead, his earlier feelings of admiration overwhelmed him. Here she was in what on the show she called her schlumpy robe and she was mesmerizing. He felt a sudden urge to pick her up and carry her off to bed. "Dean, I think you've practiced floating enough for one day." Martha handed him a mug of hot cocoa. Dean bumped back down onto the sofa. He felt himself blushing. Lois was married to another man--to Superman--he had to get a grip! He had trouble keeping his eyes off her all during the time they sipped their cocoa. When she said goodnight and left to go to bed he had to will himself to keep his hands away from her and to tell himself that he did *not* want to kiss her. As he turned to go to the kitchen sink to rinse out his dirty mug he caught Martha's knowing look. "Clark used to float above the clouds at moments like this. He said it helped him...relax." She took the mug out of his hand and waved in the direction of the door. Dean changed into the Suit and flew out of the kitchen door. Heading almost straight up, he didn't stop until all the wispy clouds were far below him. The view was fantastic and that, in conjunction with the change in temperature at this altitude, actually did produce the effect that Martha had predicted. Once again, he realized he wasn't afraid of the height. Was it the feeling of being in control? Or was it part of the powers passed to him by Clark? He wasn't sure, but he *was* grateful. Now that he was calmer, he began to wonder about his reaction to Lois. Yes, she was beautiful and charismatic, but why did he have this overwhelming attraction to her? He heard a cry for help. By slowly spinning around, and looking down he was able to pinpoint the location of the cry and saw a tiny old lady looking up into a tree in the park far below. He dove down towards her and braked a few hundred feet up so that he could float down to the ground noiselessly. "Can I help you, Ma'am?" The woman didn't act surprised at seeing a man in red and blue floating towards her. She only said, "Yes, please. Muffin was in a fight and he's up there and he's too scared to come down. Can you get him for me?" "Sure." Dean smiled and cautiously approached the cat. After coaxing it into his arms he floated down with it and gave it to the woman. "Thanks, Superman! I don't know what I would have done. It seemed awful late to call the fire department." "No trouble. I was glad to help." Dean waved good-bye as he floated away from her. He went back to the stratosphere to think. Helping had felt really good, it wasn't much as super feats went, he knew, but it still felt good. He thought some more about what he would do if he couldn't get back to Burbank. Maybe, if he could help people like this, it wouldn't be so bad here after all. He slowly floated down and finally returned to the house to find that both Martha and Lois were asleep. He changed clothes, made up the couch and went to sleep. ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 17:31:28 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: Re: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 17 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 04:53 AM 19/11/97 -0700, you wrote: >Swap-Meet: Burbank part 17 of 20 >by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com I thought this wasn't coming out until Friday? (so our timelines could coincide again;) TTYL Margaret ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 17:27:57 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: The Death & Life of Superman; mead; Tim *L*inear I *loved* that book...but be careful, after beginning to watch L&C on tv, and given my childhood adoration of Superman/Supergirl, it was just too much. I started collecting the comics, again, and set a goal of acquiring *all* the Supes comics since the Byrne revamp (1986) and then found several other series from pre-Byrne that I just *had* to find all 12 issues, etc...and it gets expensive (but it's so much fun!) It's a great way to catch up on the whole Doomsday, death of Supes, pseudo-Supes {cyborg, Superboy, Steel, Eradicator} and return of Supes stroyline, without having to buy a million comics. I always thought the ditzy (is that a word?) historian from WIEAK said, "mead"...never struck me any other way...and the people who type this stuff don't always know what the heck they're talking about...Anyone who watches La Femme Nikita knows that the intro to the show lists Section 1 as "the most covert anti-terrorist group on the planet" and I've seen it printed "the most covered..." (duh!) I got to reminisce about Clark's snorkle and really enjoyed those gutter thoughts after It's a Small World...the other night. I'm still amazed that TH's wig bothers me so much in the conclusion of the New Krypton arc (I had to rewatch those 2 eps last night...couldn't wait for them to air after that good-by in BGDF...) I wish she had left it dyed red (cinnamon is a much nicer description) and cut very short (from Dogwater?...I don't remember)...it would've made Lois' rant about your wife cuts her hair really short, dyes it red, etc (don't remember the ep...early in L&C) mean something more and shown continuity. I thought the reference to the astronaut in TAG,D said, "Tim Linear" but I thought that might've been a joke/nudge, anyway, to that darned nice writer. I've prattled long enough, Regina rash@dnet.net Name: WINMAIL.DAT WINMAIL.DAT Type: Ohne Angabe (application/octet-stream) Encoding: x-uuencode ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 18:30:59 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Becky Lewis Subject: Looking for a fanfic Hello everyone: I've been poking around in the archive trying to find a story I remember reading a couple of years ago, a revelation story that had Lois and Clark stranded on a deserted island. I can't remember the title or the author, so I haven't had any luck. Can anyone help me out? Thanks! Becky blewispar3@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 19:50:50 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adrienne Perez Subject: Re: Looking for a fanfic In-Reply-To: <971119183059_-555937124@mrin54.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 06:30 PM 11/19/97 -0500, Becky Lewis wrote: >Hello everyone: > >I've been poking around in the archive trying to find a story I remember >reading a couple of years ago, a revelation story that had Lois and Clark >stranded on a deserted island. I can't remember the title or the author, so I >haven't had any luck. Can anyone help me out? Hmmm. I seem to remember an nfanfic that had L&C sort of hiding out on an island but it wasn't a revelation story. I think it was called Sanctuary. There may have been a PG version released to the general group. I bet Kathy will know for sure Adrienne perezas@xtrabox.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 21:20:04 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Looking for a fanfic In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.16.19971119194726.2a37e32a@pop.xtrabox.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 7:50 PM -0500 11/19/97, Adrienne Perez wrote: >At 06:30 PM 11/19/97 -0500, Becky Lewis wrote: >>Hello everyone: >> >>I've been poking around in the archive trying to find a story I remember >>reading a couple of years ago, a revelation story that had Lois and Clark >>stranded on a deserted island. I can't remember the title or the author, so I >>haven't had any luck. Can anyone help me out? > >Hmmm. I seem to remember an nfanfic that had L&C sort of hiding out on an >island but it wasn't a revelation story. I think it was called Sanctuary. >There may have been a PG version released to the general group. > >I bet Kathy will know for sure LOL!! How do I get dragged into these things? Actually, this is the only "deserted island" story that I can think of, too. I don't believe there is a PG version on the Archive, but I'm not positive. I do know that the author is in the process of taking the "Sanctuary" story/universe and expanding it into a much longer series of stories. I believe this will be a PG series, but since it's not finished yet, I can't say for sure. If anyone can think of another story with this theme, I'd be interested in reading it. Kathy ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@toolcity.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2017 15:53:30 +1200 Reply-To: gay.devlin@ait.ac.nz Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gay Devlin Organization: Auckland Institute of Technology Subject: Re: Looking for a fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit There is a fanfic called 'Shipwrecked' written by Laura - don't have a surname. Lois and Clark go off into the South Pacific following an oil company doing some drilling in protected waters. After getting caught in bad weather/a hurricane they end up marooned on a tropical island. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 19:49:17 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Re: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 17 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 05:31 PM 11/19/97 -0500, you wrote: >At 04:53 AM 19/11/97 -0700, you wrote: >>Swap-Meet: Burbank part 17 of 20 >>by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com >I thought this wasn't coming out until Friday? >(so our timelines could coincide again;) >Margaret Dear fanfic fans :) I just throw them out into the world, I don't explain 'em. I suspect people who want to read them all at once have downloaded them and others are collecting and waiting. Debby Debby@swcp.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 19:49:18 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: The True Love List Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" [found in a newsgroup...] >From John Mon, 10 Nov 1997 21:57:43 -0800 From: John & Linda VanSickle Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv,rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies Subject: The True Love List There is a distressing tendancy in adventure fiction for the Hero's True Love to be nothing more than a trophy. She gives the hero something to aspire for, and gives the Evil Overlord someone to use as a hostage, but that's it. In the typical story she spends most of her time waiting around for the Hero to rescue her. If she had some kind of useful skill, she might be able to avoid capture, or effect her own escape in a way that does not depend on womanly wiles. DISCLAIMER: The use of masculine/feminine pronouns and assignment of gender roles is not intended to preclude a reversal of gender roles. It is, however, intended to offend those who think that the English language should be restructured to accord with their gender politics. Nyah. 1. I will never take a vow to marry only someone who can defeat me. *I* will decided when and who I marry, thank you very much. 2. I will not freeze in terror in the presence of monsters or servants of the Evil Overlord. 3. If I have a friend who nevers seems to be around when the Hero shows up and clobbers the Bad Guys, I will draw the appropraite conclusions. 4. If I am captured by the Evil Overlord and escape, I will assume that he is tracking me in some manner. If I am going to the hidden rebel base, I shall first go to an alternate location, change clothing, equipment and means of transportation, and then go to the hidden rebel base. 5. If I have a copy of the Evil Overlord's plans and my capture is imminent, I will not send the only copy of those plans away with a cute little sidekick. I will make many copies of the plans and send them away with many cute little sidekicks. 6. I will obtain skill in unarmed combat, so that I can kick Bad Guys between the legs, and put my elbow into the Evil Overlord's solar plexus when he uses me as a human shield. 7. I will obtain skill in armed combat, so that when the Evil Overlord and the Hero are engaged in mortal combat, I can grab some dead henchman's weapons and help tilt the odds in the Hero's favor. 8. If the Evil Overlord tries to force me into marriage, I will insist on a ceremony so expsensive that it will debiliate his industrial capacity. 9. My own sidekicks will be picked for brains, not looks. 10. Since liberated women are still allowed to have it both ways, I will not rule out using my womanly wiles to defeat the Evil Overlord. Even if it only works on Stupid Bad Guys, it never hurts to try. 11. After being forced into a compromising situation, I will not grab a weapon from the Bad Guy and toss it to the Hero when he walks in; I will instead grab a weapon from the Bad Guy and use it on him myself. 12. Likewise, if I catch the Hero in a compromising situation with another woman, I will give the Hero the benefit of whatever doubt might reasonably exist. 13. When the Evil Overlord forces me to help betray the Hero, I will make a show of resistance and then feign capitualtion. I will then use whatever is placed at my disposal to screw the Evil Overlord (in a metaphorical sense, of course). 14. My attire will always be appropriate for the occasion, and will always hide as large an assortment of personal weaponry as is practical. As I am confident that my loyalty and wit are enough to maintain the Hero's love, the harem girl outfit is right out. In public, anyway. 15. I will not hesitate to lie about the Secret Location of the Rebel Base. The Things I Will Do if I Am Ever the True Love is a group effort. The following people are to be congratulated on their contributory efforts. If I were the Hero, I'd offer them the chance to be my True Love, but my wife would crack my skull if she caught me foolin' around. However, I will grant them a waiver from whatever sexist stereotyping might plague society at that time: Mel the Redcap Jean Lamb Got a suggestion? Send it to me at vansickl@erols.com Regards, John -- "It wasn't my fault--in a way I haven't totally figured out yet." http://www.erols.com/vansickl ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 19:49:27 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Re: Light of Linda :) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 06:37 PM 11/18/97 EST, you wrote: >>I wish AOL had a bcc function, so I wouldn't get all those names... or I >>wish one of them were *Dean's* address and only *I* knew about it :) > >AOL can bcc, you have to put the names in the CC box, only in >parentheses. >Brian Craig wrote me and said they were having some difficulty with this but he was working on it :) For Nfic I have broken the names into 11 (so far) nicknames and I put them in the bcc function. I use Eudora, version 2.2. Debby :) Debby@swcp.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 22:07:16 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Looking for a fanfic In-Reply-To: <5A1251BA.59B3@ait.ac.nz> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 3:53 PM +1200 11/20/17, Gay Devlin wrote: >There is a fanfic called 'Shipwrecked' written by Laura - don't have a >surname. Lois and Clark go off into the South Pacific following an oil >company doing some drilling in protected waters. After getting caught >in bad weather/a hurricane they end up marooned on a tropical island. Ah, yes ... that was a Metropolis Club fanfic. Was never released to the Archive, I believe. You may want to check out the Metropolis Place URL (don't know it offhand). You may be able to find it on one of their Compendiums. Kathy ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@toolcity.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 03:11:17 +0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Corrine Welsh Subject: Re: Looking for a fanfic In-Reply-To: <971119183059_-555937124@mrin54.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I Think the piece you are looking for is called "shipwrecked" you will find it in the archives fanfic of Metropolis Place (formerly Club) May 95 Vol 7 At 18:30 19/11/97 -0500, you wrote: >Hello everyone: > >I've been poking around in the archive trying to find a story I remember >reading a couple of years ago, a revelation story that had Lois and Clark >stranded on a deserted island. I can't remember the title or the author, so I >haven't had any luck. Can anyone help me out? > >Thanks! > >Becky >blewispar3@aol.com > > ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 23:56:13 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Looking for a fanfic Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 >> I've been poking around in the archive trying to find a story I rememb= er reading a couple of years ago, a revelation story that had Lois and Clark= stranded on a deserted island. I can't remember the title or the author, = so I haven't had any luck. Can anyone help me out? << Becky, I think I may know which one you mean - I first saw it when I was just discovering fanfic, so I read any half-decent stories over and over and over... The one I'm thinking of was in an L&C Metropolis Club Compendium, so it may not be in the archive. I know you can find all the= Compendiums on the L&CMC's webpage, but I don't have the URL handy, sorry= ! = (They're on one of the webrings, that's how I found it) Good luck and happy hunting... PJ !^NavFont02F024B000FMGJHGDEMGE0HI4CE777 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan, 19-Nov-1997 jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ Unreformed, unrepentent, sometimes unproductive but never uninteresting fanfic writer = Visit Sarah & Pam's Shrine o'Fanfic at: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/2501 ~~~~~ Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm ~~~~~ "The first thing she said to me was 'Herbie, get me to the Planet.' Naturally, I wondered which planet..." "Ah, Constable, you've returned. Upon reflection, I imagine this pleases= me." <-- Due South is back! :-) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 01:03:54 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Ron Langman Subject: Re: The Death & Life of Superman; mead; Tim *L*inear Can someone please tell me how I can read this file Thanks Ronnie ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 02:31:46 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Peace Everett Subject: Re: The Death & Life of Superman; mead; Tim *L*inear Regina, I would be very interested in reading whatever it was you sent to the list. Unfortunately, it came only as this little attached file: > File: WINMAIL.DAT (2620 bytes) > DL Time (14400 bps): < 1 minute which I have no idea how to open or read -- my wordprocessor won't open it. The digest for the Loiscla discussion list sometimes comes this way too, and I don't know why. Anyway, care to re-post for those of us who can't handle whatever file format this is? Peace ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 04:32:23 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 18 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Swap-Meet: Burbank part 18 of 20 by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com [previous editing notes apply] "The normal way. I suspected it might happen, assuming he survived the blast, if there was a blast on that side when the crack closed. Your show covered this in three separate scripts. 'Bolt from the Blue' was the most like what Lois and I actually experienced. Under certain very specific conditions, a regular human being can acquire a copy of my powers. I don't like the idea at all, it doesn't really make sense to me since I'm not human... but I make every effort to avoid those conditions. Yesterday... I won't ask you to talk quantum physics to explain it." "Thanks. In our show, each time it involved a terrific blast of energy. Twice it was lightning." "The short circuit could have been like that," K said, "though it wasn't a 'terrific blast' or I think the electric company would have come out to check. But if most of the short circuit was on that side, and, Clark, if you thought that machine had blown up...." "I sure did. I guess nothing happened over there. I'm glad. I was afraid maybe even Metropolis had blown up..." Yes, flying is *wonderful*. "Is this the Dean we know?" "It could be, *I* like flying..." "Then maybe you better take over. Dean with super powers *and* liking to fly? I don't know, maybe it's an imposter. If it isn't, I'll need time to think up some extra clever pranks to pull on him..." Clark took the chair again and changed the nick to DannyCK. "I'll use my brilliant investigative skills to track down this mystery..." > Hi, Dean, Clark here. You say you got some of my powers? During the power surge? Yes. We figure it was when I touched you, just before the portal slammed shut. Lois seemed to think this was almost a regular occurance around here "I think that means he's genuine. Maybe you can work his new powers into your show." "The publicity will be great!" Justin smiled. "Yes, but," K shook her head, "he won't get hazardous duty pay for harness work any more..." The two sides continued to chat, exchanging information quickly, learning what had happened on Lois and Dean's recent revisit to S.T.A.R. Labs and how her touching the machine had allowed her to see through Teri's eyes. Clark nodded at this. "I knew it..." "My eyes weren't 'glazed over.'" "It's just a metaphor..." "Yeah, right..." Cain had also had a brief encounter with Kryptonite and was now entertaining a theory about the Vibro Whammy's secret agenda. "He's creative," K said, "but now he sounds like a scientist!" Dean and Lois were going to try to sneak into the Labs again that night--before the machine was destroyed, Dr. Klein's latest edict. Thus, this IRC warning was critical, Clark should be on the alert. "I will be..." Clark told the screen as Cain signed off. "That's about all I can be, alert..." "It looks like we're at least 12 hours ahead of them, maybe more. If they go at midnight their time, it will be about... oh, two tomorrow? "Could be," Justin said, "so it may be after the Walk. We can all be standing around alert." Clark, we have to talk, Den's gon. Are you alone? Justin was whisper-reading and he read this, then thought about it and straightened up. "Oh..." "Come help me order pizza, you two..." Teri nodded. "Good idea." K shepherded them out of the room quickly. > I'm alone now. Are you really okay? Please tell me the truth. I'm perfectly fine. I landed a little hard and then the crack thingy closed on you and I kickd and yelled at machine but that didnt help. A guard came to take us out. We pretended Dean was sick and the gard guard helped him walk. Dean was shakey but hes just marvelous now. He's such a nice man. He's learning fast, too. That was a switch in attitude. He smiled. Of course she'd face the facts when it counted. > I'm glad you're getting along with him. I'm sure he appreciates your help. I could see your geting along with Teri. What were you and her doing in thta dark Mexican restarant ??? He almost laughed. > I was showing everyone how to really eat habaneros. That's all you were doing???? > Other than wishing you had been there, then glad to see that you were for a minute? You would have been drinking salsa by the gallon and we could have sung toreador songs for them. Remember that little restaurant outside the Plaza Mexico? I remember you not being sure who to root for, the bull or the bull fighter. > We have to do that again. I want to see you so bad. > I can be so bad :D He grinned as close to lasciviously as he could muster at the memory of her without her t-shirt pajamas on. LIkely sotry. I can see you laughing. You'r making me laugh, stop it ! > I've got a million of 'em. You have about tthree and you dont tell them very well. You need me. > Yes, I do. In more ways than one, countless more ways... > I need a coach, coach. You willing? She was almost always willing. Thursday morning it had been touch and go, true--they'd touched and *gone*, but then Thursday evening...! He waited, watching the screen. Three minutes later, he pinged. No such nick. He waited another three minutes but she didn't or couldn't sign back on. He cursed under his breath, "Darn...!" He had the feeling there was no use waiting. The universe was going to allow them to have only so much fun apart, it seemed. He signed off the IRC, logged off the provider and backed out to the C:\ prompt. Be careful, Lois... He decided he was too pepped up to be hungry and so didn't wait around for the pizza to arrive. He excused himself, saying that all was well in Metropolis (his wife was hungry for him but he didn't mention that). No, he had no new information about how Dean was doing with super powers, but he suspected the man was doing fine, what with the... coach he had inherited. In the meantime, he had to use his own original version of the powers to deliver his last package. *** In and Over the Suburbs of Some Alternative Los Angeles Day Three Late Evening The delivery went smoothly. He chose the station closest to Universal City Walk and left the package under the nose of a police dog whose officer was busy sorting out keys to his squad car. The dog accepted this as normal apparently, for he made no comment on what Clark did. Clark hovered overhead then, beyond the reach of the parking lot lights. The officer turned to indicate the dog should get in (the dog hadn't moved), saw the package, picked it up, "What's this?" The dog didn't say. "Wasn't there a minute ago, was it, Buddy..." The officer relocked the squad car and the dog led him back into the building. Clark removed the scarves, pocketed them, and dropped into the nearest convenience store. He wasn't openly recognized as Cain or anyone else. He purchased a newspaper and stood out of the way, reading it and listening to the store's radio. No news alerts, and nothing of particular interest in the paper. He folded it back up and returned it to the bin for resale. Then he left the store, rounded the nearest corner into darkness, and took off. The night turned into a general repeat of the one before. He flew here and there, letting intuition draw him, helping people, recharging himself when he was on the light side of the world, and refusing to feel sleepy, for he might dream of Lois and how much he missed her. He had warned K that he would be eating breakfast at Cain's and he did so at around five. He wasn't due at her home until 9, when she would take care of the driving. Justin and Teri had decided to accept K's offer that they go together to this event, carpooling being politically correct and more efficient. Clark wondered if this would be noted by the paparazzi, but he seemed to be the only one who was curious about that. Weren't Hollywood stars supposed to arrive at events in limousines? Maybe not, and big cars would make the traffic worse anyhow. During and after breakfast, he read the rest of the scripts, watched several episodes to see how they differed from what he had read, and added more thoughts to the notes and observations he was leaving--or hoped he was leaving behind for Cain. Perhaps the man would find them useful; perhaps he would delete them. Maybe living with Lois in Metropolis for a while as well as having the powers would show the actor what things were really like in the universe Clark knew. Then again, he thought as he perused his writing, if I'm stuck here and somehow find myself playing him, I can insist on some of these changes myself... *** Some Alternative Universal City Walk Day Four, Saturday About 10 a.m. Universal City Walk was a mad house. They took a back entry but it was packed, too. As K crept them along toward the special parking, Clark suggested they park on the outer edges if possible, to be able to get away faster. It meant a longer walk into the mall, true, but... "Well, we all brought our walking shoes," K said. She turned down the first aisle there in the big parking structure and found an empty slot easily. "The exit's right over there, too. Do you think we'll have to make a fast one?" "I don't know, but if we have to, I can make sure we all get back to the car okay." He realized that wasn't much help, but there was nothing more to go on than what he and Cain had gathered. Perhaps, if the universes were still running roughly parallel (MetroDuo hadn't been whois'able this morning), Lois and Cain were approaching STAR Labs even now. There were overt signs of more security, particularly private security officers looking unamused and "unimpressed by all the star power," as Justin put it in a whisper. He mocked taking a picture of them with his SLR when they weren't looking. They should have been impressed by Teri, Clark thought. She was wearing a tight black t-shirt with a silver super S emblem placed so it accented and was accented by her small but shapely figure. She wore a visor cap, too, but it in no way disguised her. "You look fetching," he told her, hoping she wasn't expecting to look sexy. His comment made her grin. "Thank you!" She had called that morning and left a message on Cain's machine. Fortunately, Clark had been there to listen to it; he had decided not to answer any calls as not to interfere any more than he had to with Cain's life. She had strongly suggested that he find something to wear, among Cain's closet full of clothes, that reflected her show. He had found and rejected a white shirt with a red and yellow S on it, but approved of a baseball cap with the same symbol as well as the show's name. Teri said that it was a fine choice, and then pinned a folded red ribbon to his black T-shirt, there on his left. "Dean looks good in black, too." She patted the ribbon, an emblem that both reminded the viewer of those who had seccumbed to AIDS and designated the wearer as a warrior in the fight. "Just remember to smile a lot," and she showed him how, beaming at him. She must really enjoy events like this, Clark thought, as she was smiling so much at everyone. "He did fine on the set when we met some fans," Justin told her. He was wearing an over-sized plaid shirt that he had said fans would recognize as "Ned." He held up his camera and said he had lots of film. If they wanted him to take any pictures, he'd be glad to. "Hey," he said, "it's part of my Jimmy disguise, see?" K tied a scarf decorated with Super S's fashionably around her neck. "If some one sticks a microphone in your face, just smile big--Dean always does--and say you're having fun and it's a great cause. That will be enough, they just want sound bites." "You'll get used to it," Teri assured him. "I'm sure I can do it," Clark said, "but I may not be paying complete attention." "So maybe you won't get noticed then," Justin speculated. "Like yesterday." There were so many other celebrities in attendance that Justin could be right by default, Clark thought as he began to recognize television and movie stars who were the same in this world as in his. They had hardly reached the elevators before Teri began whispering which ones she knew and was sure Dean knew, too. Fortunately, with the press of the VIP crowd and the media (who were invited, calmer than paparazzi and on their best behavior), Clark mostly needed only to grin and nod and let his friends make most of the comments. He hoped Cain wasn't very verbal at events like this, and that Cain tended to "glow" and "look like he'd really been working out." Clark credited being "pleased with the show." This was always accepted and camera-wielding reporters moved on to be replaced by nearly identical people. The quartet finally broke out into the open, a stretch of pavement between the parking structure and the main mall area. It was a bright morning, the sun a globe through the fog, which someone commented was taking forever to burn off. There were also clouds on the western horizon. Clark wondered if the distant weather was more fog and not a little message from Lois... When he wasn't distracted by thoughts like this and by having to be Cain, Clark watched the crowd. There was less of an obvious police presence here, but, cheating a bit and following the dictates of his intuition, Clark glanced just under some people's clothing and saw holstered guns... and communication devices, badges and other police paraphernalia. The more such people Clark detected ambling among the crowd, trying to blend in, the more relieved he felt. They were ready and perhaps had been before his warnings. This boded well. He mentioned it in a whisper to his friends--"There are a lot of undercover police here..."--and they smiled. The main gathering was in the large open area which was dominated by the Hard Rock Cafe, a major sponsor of the event, and surrounded by a cineplex and a colorful theme restaurant. On other days, that architectural layout funneled people into the mall toward the studio and park rides. A stage had been set up and musicians were performing rousing music. This lasted until 11 a.m., when they stepped down and representatives of the event's sponsors made short speeches. They gave some history of AIDS, outlined the purpose of this particular march, rallied the crowd into cheers, reminded them of the importance of donations, and sent them off on their "march", which consisted of walking once through the mall, then out and around it and back to this meeting place. More for appearances, Clark thought, than for exercise. Also, not every celebrity walked: he noted that many of the older, perhaps less exercise-oriented ones remained in the main area and chatted with the press. That was probably equally glamorous and beneficial to the cause. Many of the marchers were regular members of the public. Justin told Clark that these people had paid a fee, received a t-shirt, and could tell their friends they had walked with stars. The stars were expected to donate not only their time but money as well; Justin said he thought Dean had already done so, he had just not planned to come. Clark could imagine the thrill the spectators were feeling, for he had been in the presence of venerated stage actors, presidents and kings numerous times, both interviewing them and while in the suit. But personally this didn't feel the same. He was in an awkward position: he was Clark Kent pretending to be Dean Cain who pretended to be Superman who was Clark Kent's disguise to express his unique abilities while trying to live a normal, meaningful life, which didn't often include participating in marches. Clark not only had to appear to be enjoying all this (which wasn't difficult), but he could use few of his unique abilities as they marched along the route lined with spectators and the enhanced potential for danger among the poorly policed, cheering crowds. What's more, Lois made an unexpected visit: One moment Teri was laughing and waving at a clutch of fans who held a placard that declared in small letters "No more frogs!" and in large ones "More Steam!" and the next she had paused to gaze at her surroundings uncertainly. Lois! He wanted to grasp her... but didn't. He touched her elbow and she turned to look at him. She blinked. "It happened again..." "Yes..." "It's early." "Not necessarily..." "A portal better not open here." "I think we're okay, things don't..." he paused and nodded at a group of preteen girls shouting "DEAN!" "things don't feel... right yet." "Do you go with your feelings a lot?" "Sometimes that's all we have..." He noticed a landmark ahead. "I think we're almost to the end of the march. Maybe we'll have time to leave before a portal shows up." He noticed a teenager towing a red wagon and an ice chest full of cold cans of soda, so he pulled out Cain's wallet and used a ten to purchase four cans. The seller smiled and assured him the profit would go to the cause. As the entered the mall again, Clark passed the drinks to K, Teri and Justin. "I think our absent friend can afford this." "And it's clouding up, so it should be shady and cooler soon," K observed. Clark wondered if she had seen Teri's momentary transformation. "Clouds could mean a storm..." Teri whispered thoughtfully. Clark nodded. "Oh, a portal!" Justin said, barely containing himself. Then his eyes widened. "We can't let it happen here... except the publicity for the show would be great. Dean could come back, you fly around, Lois Lane could wave through the hole..." K took his shoulder. "Shh..." "Oh, yeah..." A fan shoved an autograph book at him and he signed automatically. "That's okay," Clark assured them the next time they had a free moment. "I haven't seen anything suspicious." He glanced around, smiling at onlookers, saying quietly and projecting it to include K and Justin, "I'd prefer to watch from the edge of the crowd, but you don't have to if you'd rather stand closer..." "But on the edge we'll be closer to where we parked, in case of rain," Justin pointed out. Also, Clark thought, they didn't want to leave his side, probably more curious than fearful. They eased through the crowds in the direction of the Hard Rock Cafe and the parking garage, being stopped only once by a camera-wielding man. The reporter with him held a microphone, said into it, "How does it feel to represent *truth, justice and the American way,*" he emphasized those words, then nearly snarled out, "among these..." disgustedly: "so-called *activists*?" He held it to Clark for his reaction. Clark wondered about the man's statement of the question, but maybe he had... hemorrhoids and they were acting up (he didn't check), so a gentle response was called for. "I see it as supporting a good cause that's more important than a television show, sir." "And what's more American than *that*?" Teri inquired pointedly, apparently without concern for the reporter's physical condition. The reporter looked as though he thought this typical, ignored her in a superior manner, said no more, and led his cameraman into the crowd. "Jerks..." Teri frowned. "Geesh, why are they even here if they're so unhappy?" "They must be freelancers from some religious station," K guessed, "though I didn't see any station or network emblems on that camera." Clark frowned in the direction the two had gone, but they were already buried in among the crowd and impossible to scope out. "I should have paid better attention to them..." "There are always troublemakers, don't let it bother you." But it did. They found a relatively quiet place at a corner of the Hard Rock Cafe from which they could watch the stage and Clark could observe the crowd. The countless conversations and the musical entertainment quieted as speakers began to approach the podium and address the crowd. Nearly everyone's attention was riveted on the stage as music, television and movie stars as well as progressive politicians rose to say a few words and lead the crowd in cheers. What no one seemed to notice, though, was that the disgruntled reporter and his cameraman slipped out the exit toward the parking structure. Clark noticed. He elbowed Justin and nodded. Justin turned, saw, and said "Wow..." "Stay here with the ladies." "Okay, like, protect them?" "Yes, like that." Justin touched Clark's arm to hold him back. "You're going after those two? Do you need help?" "No. I think since they're leaving it means something more important is going to happen here. According to the schedule, there are still a lot of speakers to go, but... "They're leaving." Justin's eyes widened a bit and he whispered conspiratorially: "I see...!" Clark just nodded. He glanced at Teri and K. They were watching him, not someone called Bill Belamy, "MTV Host," who had just told a joke that was causing a ripple of laughter through the crowd. Teri said flatly, "I'm coming with you." "No, you're not, not unless you have at least a black belt in some hard martial art--and not even then." "We're not going," K said just as flatly. "We're staying out of the way." "Yeah, *I'll* protect you." Teri rolled her eyes. The action gave Clark the chance to slip away quickly at no more than fast human speed. He walked along the edge of the crowd, toward the cineplex and the back of the stage. He could imagine well-armed commandos attempting to raid the stage and doing so from the back would be the easiest way. Perhaps the police thought so, too, for he spotted two jump- suited undercover officers at the right-side end of the stage, both of them watching Belamy leave the podium, high-fiving Melissa Ethridge, who was taking his place. The officers failed to notice two business-suited, middle- aged, Anglo men slip into the dark alcove provided by the cineplex entry. Perhaps they were there to tell commandos hidden inside that their time was drawing near. An x-ray peek into the big lobby, though, showed it was uninhabited. Still, the two overly-dressed men had plans, for they wore hidden under their out-of-place suit jackets what looked too much like automatic weapons. Ethridge began to cite government funding figures and the crowd reacted with great concern. A calm approach to the gunmen was called for; Clark didn't want to attract attention any more than they did. He was glad he had the innocent can of soda as cover. The two men were scanning the area, no doubt preparing to take out their guns, when they spotted Clark sauntering at a leisurely pace in their general direction. They redeposited their guns and tried to look like they weren't there. Clark made a show of noticing them. "Hey, fellows, have you seen any restrooms around here?" Ethridge introduced Dustin Hoffman. The closer man frowned at Clark, "No," then a trace of recognition crossed his face. "Wait, aren't you..." Within five feet of the first man, Clark tripped over a conveniently placed pebble, fell into him, reached into his coat at lightning speed, touched and pinched the barrel of the gun, and crushed it with thumb and forefinger. He recovered quickly. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry!" He turned to the man's companion, full of apologies. "Hey, did I get any soda on you...?" He brushed at the second man's suit, reaching inside it and disabling his weapon at the same speed and in the same manner as he had the first one. The man, who hadn't been touched by the soda, pushed him away, cursing at him under his breath. Clark bounced back, "Whoa, *sorry*!..." The men glared at him. The first one muttered, "Degenerate" and the second said, "I won't let my kids watch your show," and he spat out something that sounded like "Touching Angels." Clark shook his head, tried to look embarrassed, and turned to wander away, apparently still searching for the restrooms. Hoffman thanked the crowd and introduced Sting. Moments later Clark heard the men curse again; they had discovered his parting gifts but didn't connect them with him. This was working out just fine! If all the terrorist were this clumsy and obvious... His pleased self congratulations were cut short by a curtly spoken: "Mr. Cain..." He looked to his left and saw that he was being addressed by a small Asian woman dressed in a security guard uniform. She looked legitimate; others were wearing the same uniform and he'd seen two such people talking to a group of police officers at the entry to the parking building. "Yes, ma'am?" "I recognize you. My kids love your show." Her frown deepened. "I like it, too." (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 07:00:24 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 12 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Metropolis, New Troy 6:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Friday 348 Hyperion Ave., West Metropolis "Clark!" Dean woke at the sound of Lois' cry. They were in different rooms, on different floors, but with his new sensitive hearing he had no difficulty catching the sob in Lois' voice. It was getting light out and birds were chirping outside the window. He tried to ignore the urge to go and comfort her because, after last night, he was pretty sure he'd do something stupid that it might lead to something else...and almost guaranteed humiliation. He could hear the longing in Lois' voice and he heard Martha patter across to Lois' bedroom and make soothing noises in an attempt to help Lois get back to sleep. He tried to go back to sleep himself. He turned over, punched the pillow...carefully...and buried his nose in it. He pulled the blankets over his head, pulled his knees up close to his chest and tried to not hear the sounds of distress from upstairs. He had just about convinced himself to fall asleep again when he felt a hand on the top of his head. His heart leaped, but quieted almost immediately as he realized it wasn't Lois. "Dean, are you okay?" Martha sounded troubled. He turned over and looked at her. "Sure, I'm fine..." Martha stroked the side of his face. "Are you? You were all tied up in those blankets. It made me think that you might be feeling badly about something..." As Dean raised his eyebrows she explained. "When Clark was a little boy, and felt really badly about something, he tied himself up in the blankets just like you just did. It made me wonder if you were feeling okay." "I..." He sat up. "I...I'm a little confused. Ever since I got zapped, and got Clark's powers, I've felt...different." Martha made soothing sounds and sat on the sofa beside him, pushing the crumpled blankets out of her way, and putting a sympathetic arm around his shoulders. "Well with all the new powers, I'm not surprised." Martha looked at him a little more closely, "...Or is it something else? What exactly do you mean by 'different'?" "It's kind of hard to explain. Like the way I feel about flying. I'm not afraid. Me..." Dean stabbed himself in the chest with his thumb, "I'm *petrified* of heights. I loathe filming the scenes when I'm hauled up in the harness." At Martha's raised eyebrows he explained further. "They film me hanging in the harness against a green screen then, with computers, they merge my image with whatever background they want, like city scapes or space, or whatever. But now, when I'm flying way higher than I've ever been in a harness, or even in a plane, I'm not scared at all. In fact, I love it." "And this is a problem?" "Well...not really, but it's not normal...for me. And the other thing is the way I feel about Lois." Dean stopped and contemplated the carpet. "What about the way you feel about Lois?" "It's like I'm...mesmerized by her. I mean, Teri and I work together and we're friends, kind of, but I've *never* felt anything remotely like what I'm feeling for Lois. She and Teri look almost exactly alike, but...I don't know...and I'm afraid about how I'm feeling." "Of your feelings for Lois?" "Sort of, but mostly I'm afraid that I'm slowly becoming...not *me* any more." "That's not what you were going to say. What are you really afraid of?" Dean felt a lump rise in his throat. This was Clark's *Mom*, how could he explain his fear to her without hurting her? "I...I think I'm...becoming..." he had to swallow twice before he could get out the final word "...Clark!" There, he'd said it. He jumped to his feet and hurried into the kitchen and started meticulously fixing coffee just to keep busy so he wouldn't have to look at Martha's face. Martha followed him and putting her arms around him, said, "Dean, I'm sure you're not *becoming* Clark. Although, I'd say that a little more than his super powers got transferred by that machine." "How can you be so sure I'm not? I feel things that I've never felt before!" She forced him to stop fussing with the coffee and turn around to face her. "Look, Dean, Lois and Clark have had this bond between them ever since they met. Clark, with his extra senses, was aware of it immediately. It took Lois a little longer." Turning away and sounding more confidential, Martha got mugs out of the cupboard and put them on the counter. "Although personally I think she too felt it from the first moment they met, but tried to hide from it. Anyway, to get to the point, if you were *becoming* Clark, Lois would know it. She most definitely does not. She knows that Clark is *not* in this house and *isn't* just gone on some brief rescue mission. Why do you think she woke up crying?" "I hadn't thought of that. But then why do *I* feel...fearless about flying and the...the bond?" "I think copies of the essential parts of Clark got transferred by that machine. His powers *and* how he feels about the things he loves most--Lois and flying." Dean felt like someone had lifted a great weight from his shoulders. "So I'm not really becoming Clark, I'm just using a couple of his other talents, in addition to his powers?" Martha nodded. He laughed with relief. Martha patted his back and then started pouring the coffee into the mugs. "Now doesn't that feel better now that you've talked it through?" "Uh-huh." Dean nodded and turned to take the coffee mug out of her hand. He sipped at the coffee, "Thanks...'Mom'," he grinned lopsidedly. After he finished drinking the coffee, he returned to the den to tidy up, ready to face the day. Metropolis, New Troy 8:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Friday 348 Hyperion Ave., West Metropolis Lois and Dean were finishing breakfast at the kitchen table. They'd talked about more general topics and were now discussing their proposed trip to S.T.A.R. Labs. "But, I don't understand why we can't just tell Dr. Klein about the transfer. From what you've said, it would be just the kind of thing he'd be thrilled to work on." Dean took another sip from his coffee mug. "Look, Dr. Klein is great. He's been helping Superman for years, but he doesn't know that Clark and Superman are the same person, and we don't want him to. He could get killed if the criminal element found out he knew who Superman really was." "But this has nothing to do with Clark being Superman, just with me being in the wrong dimension." "And just how do you plan on explaining your superpowers to him without dragging Clark's alter ego into the equation?" "Oh, right! Gotcha." Dean cradled his mug. "We couldn't just not tell him about the super power thing, huh?" Lois rolled her eyes, "Look, if it turns out there's no other option, we'll confide in Dr. Klein, but for now I think we should just keep this among the few of us who already know. Agreed?" "Agreed." Dean took another sip. "You were really great last night, understanding what it felt like to fly. I really appreciate that." "You're welcome." Lois' smile was dazzling. "Later, after you went to bed, I saved a cat from a tree." At Lois' expression, he added, "I know that's not exactly a Super feat, but it *did* feel good. If that's what it feels like to be a super hero, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I did get stuck here, after all." Lois sighed. "Dean, being a super hero isn't like that. It's mostly hard work and heartache and regret. Saving cats, or little kids, or damsels in distress is the *fun* side of the job. You're too soft-hearted, you wouldn't survive more than a day at the job." Dean started to protest, then realizing she was probably right, said "So Clark isn't soft-hearted?" "Clark? He's the biggest softie of all time!" Lois grinned. "However, he was born with those capabilities and over the years he's learned how to use them wisely. He's learned to accept that he can't be everywhere at once, and he's learned that not everyone can be saved. But he tries to do his best, and that's all anyone can ask of him." Dean nodded. "Do you ever regret linking up with a super hero?" Lois stared at a faded burn mark on the wall pensively for a few seconds and then said, "No, I don't think I do. Oh, I complain and whine and generally sound like a real pain, but deep down I think it's what *I* was really born to do." Dean smiled at her. "Yes, I think you're right." "Okay, enough chit-chat, I guess Clark hasn't figured out how to get K's IRC working again yet. Let's get dressed and out of here, I want to see Dr. Klein the second he walks into his office." Dean followed her to the bedroom to get some work clothes and then took a shower and changed. Metropolis, New Troy 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Friday S.T.A.R. Labs - Experimental Technology Wing "Dr. Klein, I'd like to ask for permission to see the Vibro--er-- Storm Tamer machine." Lois was nothing if not direct and to the point. "It's been affecting me and I really want to see the problem resolved." "Clive Tisdell has taken every precaution, but his report on your headaches is very disturbing. I can't let you near that machine! I don't want to put you in any further danger." Dean was surprised that Dr. Klein was nothing like the actor in the show. Everyone else he'd met so far had been exactly like their acting counterpart. This Dr. Klein was short and chubby and probably played Santa at the lab's Christmas party. Nevertheless, he obviously took his job seriously. "Is it affecting anyone else?" Dean decided he shouldn't let Lois take the total burden of this conversation. He continued when Dr. Klein shook his head. "So without Lois, you can't really pin down where the problem with the equipment is, can you?" Lois gave Dean an admiring glance, which boosted his spirits tremendously. Dr. Klein on the other hand looked less than pleased. "Well, I guess you're right. Unfortunately, Dr. Tisdell took today off because they're fixing the plumbing in the lab. He won't be back until Monday. I wouldn't like to step into his project without talking it over with him first." "Dr. Klein, I *really* want this resolved!" Lois said testily, "It's affecting my work, and I can't wait until you get your professional protocol ducks in order." This last part was said in an increasingly rising note, that could have been mistaken for hysteria if it had been anyone else but Lois Lane. "You just want to *see it*?" Klein sounded skeptical. "Yes, I just want to see if it has any effect on me if I'm just in its presence." This seemed to lock into Dr. Klein's basic interest in science and convinced him to do some observations. "Okay, I'll record any reactions, and leave them for Dr. Tisdell to analyze when he gets in on Monday." Dr. Klein pulled a key ring from his file cabinet and led them out of his office. Dean remembered the corridors from his previous visit. They looked just as real as they'd looked the first time. He had to force himself to remember that for him this was a comic book world. Inside the lab, Dr. Klein checked the VibroWhammy, confirmed that it was indeed active and asked Lois to tell him what she was feeling. Lois shrugged, "I feel normal." Dean coughed politely. "I think Dr. Tisdell turned on some of those smaller machines over there when Lois got the headache the last time." "Very well, Mr. Kent. I'll try that next, but first, could you touch the lever that Ms. Lane says affected her on her last visit here? I want to do some comparison tests." ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 07:02:50 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Georgia E. Walden" Subject: Re: Looking for a fanfic In a message dated 97-11-20 02:42:58 EST, Kathy writes: At 3:53 PM +1200 11/20/17, Gay Devlin wrote: >There is a fanfic called 'Shipwrecked' written by Laura - don't have a >surname. Lois and Clark go off into the South Pacific following an oil >company doing some drilling in protected waters. After getting caught >in bad weather/a hurricane they end up marooned on a tropical island. > Ah, yes ... that was a Metropolis Club fanfic. Was never released to the >Archive, I believe. >You may want to check out the Metropolis Place URL (don't know it offhand). >You may be able to find it on one of their Compendiums. Someone may already have posted this, but to save time (there are a *lot* of Compendiums at the Metropolis URL) it's in Volume 7 - May, 1995. Georgia (No, I don't have total recall, I indexed the Compendiums (compendia?) in my earlier fanfic-crazy days ) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 13:11:20 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: The Death & Life of Superman; mead; Tim *L*inear Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Ron Langman wrote> = >> Can someone please tell me how I can read this file << Get off AOL and get a *real* Internet connection. No, seriously, I've run into this problem before; sometimes AOL doesn't receive e-mail properly and says it's a file, when it's not. Onl= y thing to do is to ask the sender to re-send it, and then cross your fingers. PJ !^NavFont02F012F0014MGHHGlMGnHG50MG52HHw3A48 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 19:33:48 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: ClassicFic: WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (2/2) Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (2/2) by Pam Jernigan (75540.2554@compuserve.com) Early the next morning, Lois bounced into the kitchen, surprising Martha and Jonathan with her energy. "Isn't it a wonderful morning?" "Well, the storm's gone through, if that's what you mean," Jonathan replied dryly. Lois certainly had gone through some mood swings this week! But she'd had a battle to fight, one against self-pity and despair, and it seemed as if she'd won it. "Good dreams last night, Lois?" Martha asked with a twinkle in her eye. "Very," Lois replied, smiling broadly as she started making herself some eggs. "I don't remember any details, and," she winked at Jonathan, "I wouldn't tell them if I could remember them, but somehow, I have the feeling that everything's going to be fine." *** "Are you all packed, Lois?" It was Sunday afternoon, and Lois had to return to Metropolis. She felt much stronger than she had the week before, able to once more face her coworkers, perhaps even to reverse their low opinion of Clark - she planned to tell them she'd been visiting him. "Sure am, Jonathan. I mean, I only brought enough for a weekend, so I've been wearing Clark's old clothes all week, if you hadn't noticed." He chuckled. "I knew there was a reason you seemed like a member of the family." She smiled mistly up at him, and surprised both of them by planting a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. Thanks for letting me stay here, I feel so much better now, it's amazing." "Well, of course you can stay here anytime, Lois," Martha interjected, coming in from the kitchen with a small ice chest held in front of her. "You're family now, and you always will be. Now here, you need to take this." She set the chest down next to Lois's sole suitcase. "That's got enough frozen roasts and casseroles to last you another week or two." Lois felt tears welling up again, even though she could have sworn she'd cried herself dry, but these were tears of gratitude, not grief. She hugged Martha with a fierce strength. "Why are you guys so good to me?" "Because that's what parents do - or at least that's what they tell me." A new voice, a familiar voice, came from the porch. = Lois froze, then turned around slowly. "Clark!" After a second of utter disbelief, she nearly tore the screen door off its hinges to get to him. He held his arms open and held her close, a look of pure bliss on his face. A long moment later, they released each other, and Lois let him greet his happy parents... but she stayed close at all times, and as soon as he was done hugging his mother, she found herself back in the crook of his arm. "Clark, what happened?" Martha asked, laughing and crying at the same time. "And how did you get back here?" "Same way I left, Mom; Zara and Ching brought me. I had to get myself exiled from Kryptonian society." He looked sad for a moment, glancing upwards, but then he looked down at Lois, and his smile blossomed. "But it was worth it." = "Did you go to Metropolis first?" Jonathan asked, herding them all inside the living room to sit down. "No." Clark sat near one end of the sofa, arranging Lois with infinite tenderness - she was now seated with her back against the end of the sofa, her legs draped over his lap. "I had them drop me off in one of your fields. Superman's not back yet - I'll have to wait for my powers to build up under this yellow sun." Martha quirked an eyebrow at that. Lois didn't yet seem recovered enough to ask the obvious questions, so she did. = "You came here, to us, rather than going to Lois in Metropolis? = Not that I'm not glad you love us, but..." He smiled at that. "Well, I had to be practical. A spaceship is a lot easier to miss out here. And besides," he paused, frowning thoughtfully at his fiancee. "I just had a feeling she'd be here." "Lucky for you, then," Jonathan smiled. "But come on, boy, tell us what happened on your trip!" Lois listened to Clark relate the events of his stay on New Krypton with a curious disinterest. She preferred just to let her eyes feast on the curve of his cheek, the way his hair waved over his forehead, the gleam in his eye every time he glanced her way. She hoped he'd be done with his tale soon; surely Martha would help them get some time alone soon, before they both exploded. "...so then it all came down to one open battle. And we could have lost; there was a traitor on our side, very high up in the government - Lord Grahm. But I had my doubts, so--" "Ha!" Lois interrupted smugly. "You fell for his act, and you know it. I'm the one who told you--" "You didn't like his *voice*, Lois; I had to get something more to go on than that--" They stopped, realizing what they were saying, and Lois felt her eyes grow wide. "Ohmigod." Clark turned pale. "I thought that was a dream..." "Only it wasn't, was it?" They stared at each other, almost in fear, until Jonathan broke the mood with a perplexed question. "What are you two talking about?" Lois wrenched her gaze away from Clark and had to remind herself to breathe. "Well, remember I told you I'd been having some dreams?" Martha nodded, and took the step the younger pair were frightened of. "They were really telepathy, weren't they? You told us, Clark, that Kryptonians were telepathic when they wanted to be." "And there wasn't anything I wanted more than to talk to Lois," Clark admitted, his hands tightening along her shoulder and her legs. = Lois grinned. "Oh yes there was," she stage-whispered, "but don't tell your father." They grinned at each other, and even Jonathan laughed, too pleased at having his boy back to take umbrage at their teasing. "So, telepathy..." Martha brought them back to the subject at hand. "That could come in handy - can you tell what each other is thinking right now?" "I don't think so, but I hadn't thought about it." Lois shrugged and looked at Clark. They stared at each other for a moment, and identical blushes crept up their cheeks. After a moment more, Lois began giggling, and broke eye contact, while Clark grinned from ear to ear. "Well, is it working? Lois, can you tell what he's thinking?" "Yes," she gasped out between giggles. "But I don't think telepathy was involved!" "We should maybe test it out later," Clark agreed, trying to sound detached. "It may be an emergency thing," Martha suggested, "or somehow you were boosted by all the other Kryptonians around." "That's possible," Jonathan agreed, "and it may come back if you need it..." "...but I wouldn't count on it happening again," Martha concluded. "And now, Jonathan, I think you and I need to go into town." "We do?" "Yes, we do," she replied firmly, standing up. "We need supplies for guests for another week and I'd like to talk to Father Thomas, to see how soon we can arrange a wedding." = She hustled her confused husband out the door, then turned around with a smile. "We'll be gone for at least a few hours." Once they were gone, Lois turned to her heart-husband and smiled. "Welcome home." *** EPILOGUE Two days later, they were back in Metropolis. It had taken two days because, to Lois's great amusement, a powerless Clark had refused to take an airplane ("I've helped out with too many plane wrecks, Lois!"). So, they'd taken a train ("Oh, so I suppose trains never have accidents?" "...That's different."), and enjoyed the privacy en route. Following their long separation, they both felt the need to be physically near one another, even when in the public dining car, even if it was only the touch of a hand. = After a stop at their apartments to shower and change into fresh clothing, they had headed straight to the Daily Planet. The entire newspaper staff had been astonished to see Clark walk in holding hands with Lois, but the couple hadn't answered any questions, heading directly to the chief editor's office. Jimmy was privileged to be in on the meeting, but everyone else would need to wait. "So let me get this straight." Perry looked them both over with a skeptical eye. "Clark's old friend from college, excuse me, his old girlfriend, called up and said she had an emergency?" Clark nodded. "So he rushed to her side, and Lois, you overreacted?" Lois winced. They'd worked on this cover story over the last two days. They hadn't seen a way to both come out of it in good shape, but the idea of a lover's spat ought to keep people from probing their story too deeply. And since Lois was better at lying, she took the harder role. "I did, Perry." She kept her eyes fixed on her shoes, carefully avoiding her editor's eye. "I was a little insecure, I guess. But then last week, I went to Kansas, and then Clark was there... and we've patched it all up." "Uh-huh." Perry was clearly unconvinced. "I'll say!" Jimmy interjected eagerly. "Those are wedding rings, aren't they? Clark, my man!" "We've learned a lot, Chief," Clark responded, trying to project all the sincerity he could muster. "I don't ever want to leave Lois again. And yes, we're married now. My parents set it up back in Smallville." = They smiled at each other then, and the emotions displayed there chased away Perry's doubts. Something about their story rang as false as an Elvis autograph in a Memphis dime store, but after all, they'd had their share of problems before, so maybe they were telling the truth. Or something close to it, at least, which was as much as he expected whenever Lois was involved. As long as his two star reporters were happy, he was happy. Not that he'd ever let them know that. "Well, alright then, get back to work! I don't run a dating service here; this is a newspaper!" Jimmy grinned, and headed off, no doubt to relay his news to everyone in the break room. Lois and Clark followed more sedately, ending at her desk. "So, Farmboy," she sat on the edge of her desk, glancing around with an arch expression. "No x-rays, no super-eavesdropping... now we get to see how good at this investigation stuff you really are!" Clark stood facing her, as close as he dared get in full view of everyone, smiling ruefully down at his bride. "Sure, make fun of me." = "I'm not making fun of you... well, maybe a little.. mostly I'm just enjoying it." She leaned in close to whisper to him. "I've got some time alone with you now, and I don't have to share with that boring do-gooder Superman!" Clark had to grin at her wicked smile. "He'll be back, you know." He looked around the newsroom, but everyone seemed to be in the break room getting the scoop from Jimmy. "I just hope my hearing comes back last - I'd hate to hear calls for help I can't do anything about!" She smiled sympathetically. "You'll do fine - so far everything's been coming back at about the same rate. You'll probably be up to speed by the end of the week, worse luck!" "Maybe." He put his hands on her shoulders and slid them down to her waist. "So, do you think Superman should give another press conference, or just start back to work?" "Oh, a press conference, definitely. Unless..." she ran a finger down his tie, "you think he could give me an exclusive?" Clark licked his lips and caught her finger before it dipped too low. "I don't know what your husband would think about that..." "Oh, I can get around him, no problem," she assured him with a sultry smile. "But not here," Clark pointed out firmly, stepping back. "Tell you what. You work on it, for the rest of the week, and we'll see." She laughed, hopping down from the desk. "I suppose, if I have to... And then, we'll be all back to normal, I hope..." They shared a smile for a moment, until Lois noticed Perry looking their way. "Speaking of back to normal, we'd better get to work!" Clark grinned. "Yeah, I'd hate to have come all this way back just to get myself fired..." THE END = !^NavFont02F25580007MGHHl590F63 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 19:33:43 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: ClassicFic: WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (1/2) Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 At the risk of turning this list into the "Pam Jernigan Vanity Press" = I wanted to send out my alternate conclusion to the New Krypton arc... Alright, I know there are approximately 30 zillion of these post-BGDF, "get us through the summer" LCWS stories out there, but I just had to write this one, and I hope you like it. = Words in describe emotions/actions in Lois' dream state. (Laraine, this one's for you! ) (Graham, you'll know I was thinking of you ) (Oh, and my interpretation of the "fluttering curtain" scene in BGDF was largely influenced by my good friend Sarah Wood, but the rest of the "relationship theory" as presented here is all mine...) WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (1/2) by Pam Jernigan (75540.2554@compuserve.com) "I just don't know how much longer I can do this!" It had been a month since Superman's departure for New Krypton. Lois had told everyone that Clark had needed to tend to a "family emergency", which was true enough in a bitterly ironic way, but no one had believed her. She hadn't been able to hide her grief, so they'd assumed that he'd left her. Also true, but not in the way they thought. So they tiptoed around her, and muttered dark things about Clark when she wasn't listening - they'd tried to do it in front of her, but after she'd demolished a few of his detractors, that had stopped. It hadn't really changed anything, though, except giving her a reputation for being foolishly loyal to a skunk. The irony of it all made her teeth ache. After the fourth draining week, Lois had finally been driven to her last refuge: Kansas. Martha and Jonathan had welcomed her with open arms, just as she'd known they would. She'd been on the edge of tears for the whole flight (just the fact that she'd had to take an airplane had depressed her) and Martha's comforting hug had opened the floodgates. The bout of crying had made her feel better for a while, but now, after dinner, she could feel her tension creeping back. "I'm not used to working on my own anymore, and my apartment is so empty. I find myself driving down Clinton Street, sort of automatically going to Clark's apartment, and when I realize he's not there, it hits me all over again." "I know." Martha commiserated, reaching for the younger woman's hand. "Every time the phone rings, or a gust of wind blows up..." "...I look around, hoping it's him." Lois laughed in recognition, if not in amusement. "But the rest of the time, I'm such a zombie. You know what I did last weekend? I played solitaire, on my kitchen table. Over and over and over. I have no idea whether I won or lost, or even followed the rules, I just had to do *something*." = Martha nodded understanding. She was having a hard time herself, but she and Jonathan had been able to support each other. Now it was their turn to help Lois, as much as they could. "At work, I'm okay," Lois continued, "although I know I'm not writing or investigating as well as I used to. Perry gave me a flower show to cover, and I could barely finish that - well, okay, that was because it bored me senseless, but you get the idea." "But the worst part," she lowered her voice to a near whisper. = "is the dreams. I had the first one a week after he left, and since then I've been having them more often. I miss him so much... I don't know, maybe this is how my brain copes with him not being there." She fell silent for a moment, staring at her hands, unseeing. "What do you dream about?" Martha asked hesitantly. She recognized the other signs of grief that Lois had mentioned, but this was different. "Just Clark. Always Clark... We're in a room, I think. The room is indistinct, fuzzy, but I can see him, and sometimes it seems like there's furniture there, too, but not always. I think we talk about things, sometimes, but I can never remember what. And then we're kissing, and then our clothes disappear, and..." she trailed off, realizing who she was speaking to. Jonathan was looking off into the living room, a little red faced, but Martha was smiling tearily. "Those sound like nice dreams, Lois..." Lois stared down at the table top. "They are... that's the problem. I don't want to wake up from them, and that scares me. Once," she confessed in a low voice, "I took some sleeping pills, so that I'd sleep longer, but then I didn't have the dream at all. But when I do have it, just in those few moments before I really wake up, it's like I can feel him there next to me, and I just want to stay there forever..." she began crying again, softly. "It's like losing him all over again, every morning." Martha rubbed her arm comfortingly. "I know you miss him." "It's just not fair! We had so little time together." She was crying angry tears now, finally able to express what she'd been bottling up for weeks. "We had just gotten things straight between us, after me being stupid for so long, and him being noble, and that whole clone and amnesia thing that I will *never* forgive - and now this! Why did he have to go? = Why?" Martha and Jonathan had no answers she hadn't already heard. = But what they could offer, they did: the sort of loving care her own parents had never provided. "Martha, this poor girl is all tuckered out." Jonathan was, as always, the practical one. Martha agreed, and between them, they eased Lois into Clark's bedroom for the night. "You get some good rest, dear, dreams or not, and we'll talk about it again in the morning." *** That night, she had the dream again. Perhaps it was inevitable. = Sleeping in his room, in his bed, had made her feel closer to him than she'd felt in weeks, and in her weakness she'd welcomed that illusion. The truth could wait. So decided, she'd snuggled down, closed her eyes, and did her best to pretend Clark was there next to her, just out of reach. She knew the dream had started when she felt him pull her close. Her pajamas had somehow disappeared, so she could tell he was equally unclothed, and it was easy for her to open up to him, easy for him to slide gently into her secret depths. Easy, and yet supremely satisfying. Afterwards, they lay tangled together until the languor of the moment passed. Oh Clark, I miss you. I miss you too, Lois. = His answer wasn't conveyed in words, precisely, but in waves of emotion, and that strange state of sudden knowledge that comes with dreams. It's been hard working by myself. Everyone at work thinks you're a louse to have left me. Do you blame them? Sometimes _I_ think I am, too. Lois felt his weariness and discouragement as if it were her own. And even in her dreams, she couldn't bear to see him like that. No, Clark, you had to go - I don't blame you for it. He looked at her with such tenderness that she wanted to cry. Lois, I love you so much - and I will find a way to return to you. I swear it. *** Perhaps the conversation continued past that point, but when she woke, the most that she could remember was the sense that he would return. That certainty lingered with her as the rest of the dream faded, as strong dream-emotions often will. Martha noticed the improvement when Lois arrived in the kitchen for breakfast. "You look better, dear - I told you a nice long sleep would help." Lois smiled. "I had the dream again. But this time, it didn't feel so much like losing him. More like..." she shook her head, searching for words. "Like it was the end of a visit, but that there'd be another one; that I would see him again. I guess I'm really going crazy now, letting my own wild imagination console me." Martha listened as she got out the pancake batter left over from Jonathan's breakfast earlier, added more milk, and poured the batter into the skillet. "The human mind is a tricky thing, Lois. = And if these dreams can help you cope with things... why fight it?" Lois settled down in the kitchen chair, pondering that advice. = "Maybe you're right, Martha... oh, it's so good to be here... I wish I could stay for a week." "Well, why don't you? We've got the room." = That cheerfully practical suggestion caught Lois off-guard, clearly showing her how lax she'd let her brain become, wallowing in her grief. She needed to recover, as fully as she could, without the strain of pretending... Four beautifully done pancakes were placed before her, only to be ignored. Martha read her silence, and tried to anticipate any possible objections. "Even if Clark does come back this week, he'll come here sooner or later - you can leave a message on his machine if you like." "That's a good idea, Martha..." She felt more energized than she had in weeks, as if by sharing her grief and worries she'd lessened their hold on her. A week here would surely do her good. "I'll call Perry right now, if I can use your phone?" Martha nodded assent and began washing the skillet. = "Hi, Perry? Yeah, it's Lois..." While she washed dishes, Martha mentally added to her shopping list and sketched out a plan of action for the week. = "Perry, would you mind if I took a week off? I know I'm not giving you any notice, but I haven't been much use lately anyway..." Cooking, canning, gardening... Martha ticked the chores off in her head; Lois could help with all of those. "Where am I? Well... let's just say it's someplace quiet, I should be getting lots of rest." Maybe Lois could help Jonathan with the animals, too... She needed to be kept busy, and there were always things to do on a farm. "Thanks, Perry! I'll be back next Monday." *** That week, while they worked together, they talked. Or rather, Lois talked, and Martha listened. She had heard much of it before, of course, but from a different perspective. "I never wanted a partner, you know," Lois confessed while peeling potatoes. "When Perry teamed us up, I really resented it. I mean, I knew he had talent, but something inside me wouldn't let me admit it, so I kept putting him down." Her hands slowed as her eyes looked unseeing into the distance. = After a moment, though, she collected herself and continued working. "And the Superman thing... we were both kind of dumb about that, but I guess I can see why. There I was, throwing myself at him... but Superman wasn't a threat to me, you know? Not the way Clark was. With Clark there was always the possibility of something serious, something permanent - and that scared me. Superman was magical to me, and magic can't let you down, can't disappoint you... You can't really have it, but that means you can't really lose it, either. But with Clark... Well, everytime I'd made myself vulnerable in the past, something came along and kicked me in the face. It was hard to get past that," she finished in a whisper. She set down the potato she'd not quite completely peeled. "And when you did, something came along and kicked you in the face," Martha replied quietly, holding Lois' hand. The younger woman nodded and sniffed valiantly, fighting tears. = "But you're not alone this time, Lois, and you'll make it through this." Lois smiled weakly at that, finally subduing the urge to bawl on Martha's shoulder. She used the back of her hand to awkwardly wipe her eyes, to take care of any stray leaks. "Go ahead and cry if you want to," Martha offered, in a carefully nonchalant tone. "That way we won't have to add as much salt to the casserole." Lois hiccupped a laugh and smiled more broadly, past the crisis now. "I'm all right." "Yes, you are." *** She dreamed of Clark again that night. When the dream began, they were sitting at a table, and she could see him clearly, more clearly than usual. Her joy in seeing him again, however, was stilled as she took in his condition. He looked worried, and deathly tired, and more than that, she could feel his anxiety, his desperate indescision. How are you, Clark? I'm fine... you look great. I'm staying with your parents, and they're taking good care of me. I feel better, a lot better. But what's worrying you? = I can't get anything past you, can I? Not anymore you can't. Spill it. He shrugged acknowledgement and began recounting the events of the day. The names and terms he used were foreign to her, but as he spoke, she felt dream-knowledge flooding her, instantly teaching her what he meant. It didn't occur to her to question it. ...and it seems as if no matter what we do, Lord Nor has a counter for it, whether it's changing the law about birth-marriages, or getting Ching set up as my proxy for this marriage to Zara... = You never expected the law to go through anyway, and they all think you're crazy to try to get out of that marriage. You need to get rid of Nor instead. Don't you think we've tried? The civil war is starting, even with me here. So far he's been too well protected. = But you think that will change... maybe. And that's what you're so worried about; there's a battle shaping up, and you think you have an advantage. Maybe. We've been planning a lot. Clark rose from the table and began to pace. As he spoke of their planning, he seemed almost to forget she was there, his attention fixed on his memories of the day, re-weighing and analyzing the options. He spoke in particular of a Lord Grahm, and as he described the man, Lois could almost see him - heavy set, with thick white brows and an arrogant sneer. She shivered. I don't trust him, Clark. What? Why not? His eyes, his voice... I don't know. But Lois, he's of high rank, everyone trusts him... You're of high rank too, m'lord Kal - and you're far too trusting. You always have been. That's my cynical Lois... He knelt beside her chair, regarding her as if she were the most precious thing in the universe. She smiled shakily. I'm realistic, Clark. And you need to be, too. Yes dear. = His gently mischevious answer firmly closed the door on that topic, and then he reached for her, and the time for words was past. *** "I'm worried, Martha." The announcement was unnecessary; Lois had been visibly uneasy all day. It was Friday evening. After a week of careful tending, her nerves had become much steadier, and her brain much clearer. = She still mourned Clark's absence, but not to the exclusion of all other thought. This day, however, had brought nameless anxieties, and she was unable to sit still. "Why are you so jumpy, dear?" Martha was working on a quilt. Lois had been quite good at helping with a variety of chores during the week, but this morning it had been clear that they wouldn't get any work out of her, so Martha had worked on things that didn't require assistance. "I don't know," Lois confessed unhappily, looking out the window at the approaching clouds. "Maybe it's this storm that's coming up. But I feel like something big is going to happen, something enormously important, something I can't do anything about." Thunder rumbled in the distance, and she started. "Relax, Lois, it's just a storm." Jonathan traipsed into the living room in stockinged feet, having left his boots just inside the door as always. "The animals are settled down for the night, and this old farmhouse has come through worse than this." She smiled shakily. "Yes, I know. I'm being silly. Nothing could go wrong." She'd almost convinced herself of that when the power went out. Involuntarily, she yelped, but she relaxed when she heard Jonathan's chuckle. "I've been wondering when that would happen. Power cuts in and out during a storm this big, it's nothing to worry about. I'll get the generator started." In the dim light from the windows, he carefully made his way back out of the room, and Martha set her quilt aside. A moment later, a light flared up. "Battery-operated lantern," Martha explained, setting it on the table beside her. "Clark got it for us, in case we didn't want to go to the trouble of starting up the generator." "That's nice..." "Yes," Martha agreed gently, searching for a topic to distract Lois from her unease. "Have you had more dreams this week?" "Yeah," Lois assented, then furrowed her brows in thought. = "At least I think so. I don't remember much from them, except sometimes the lovemaking..." Her face was tender with happy memories, and since Jonathan would likely take a while in wrestling with their stubborn generator, Martha couldn't resist prying, just a little. "Lois, you don't have to answer me, but before he left, had you and Clark...?" Lois nodded, blushing a little. "We really had wanted to wait for the wedding, or at least Clark had..." "That's Jonathan's influence," Martha concurred. "And I agreed," Lois added hastily, searching her would-be mother-in-law's face for any hint of censure. Martha smiled. "I only wanted Clark to find the right woman, and be able to tell her everything. Clark's always taken those sorts of things very seriously. The words 'casual' and 'sex' just never went together for him." Reassured by this oblique answer, Lois continued. "Well, the wedding was so messed up that after we got it straightened out, and I got my memory back... I just didn't want to wait anymore. So we had a few weeks together, at least." "I'm glad," Martha replied quietly. "You two deserved a little happiness. I know you spent the night together before he left..." "Yes, but not the way you think." Lois smiled, with tears in her eyes. "He just held me, all night. We talked, we cried, we held on to each other. I fell asleep for a while, but I don't think he ever did. When I woke up, he was just looking at me, with the saddest expression on his face... I have never loved anyone as much as I love Clark - and I know he feels the same about me. If it hadn't been for that, I might not have survived at all." = She drifted off into a haze of bittersweet memories, and Martha left her to it. At least she was no longer worried about the storm... or whatever it was that had gotten her so worked up. *** (to be continued) = !^NavFont02F396B0008MGHH396CCF76 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 18:47:47 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: winmail.dat stuff Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 02:31 AM 11/20/97 -0500, Peace wrote: >...which I have no idea how to open or read -- my wordprocessor won't open it. > The digest for the Loiscla discussion list sometimes comes this way too, and >I don't know why. > >Anyway, care to re-post for those of us who can't handle whatever file format >this is? I use Eudora 2.2 and when one of these attachments comes to me, my program asks if I want to leave it on my server, delete it, or download it as text. I choose the 'download' option. I get a message, then appended to it, junk. I'm of the feeling that my program converts the information to text, which becomes the body of the letter and is readable, then it attaches to the end of that routing junk or perhaps the text itself as it first appeared ("Here, see? This is what I translated for you; aren't you glad you bough me?"--so says Eudora). i.e., I don't think I'm missing anything, just getting a lot of extra junk. Since the sender can remedy this when he/she realizes it's happening, and we still get messages, this strenthens my "feeling" for me :) Debby Debby@swcp.com glad she doesn't use netscape or any browser for mail... ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 21:17:34 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: Re: winmail.dat stuff Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 06:47 PM 20/11/97 -0700, Debby wrote: >I use Eudora 2.2 and when one of these attachments comes to me, my program asks >if I want to leave it on my server, delete it, or download it as text. I use Eudora 3.0 and always tell it to just junk the attachment. I still get the mail message. I always assumed the attachment was the code telling the text to bold, underline, etc. which doesn't coincide with Eudora's code, so it doesn't make any difference, I still get the text message >i.e., I don't think I'm missing anything, just getting a lot of extra junk. You said it I also have the "Delete all attachments when emptying trash" feature turned on so that the any miscellaneous attachments that do get through without asking, get trashed when I trash the message. Now that you know more than you ever wanted to know about how to get rid of those pesky attachments...I'll sign off TTYL Margaret ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 22:03:17 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 13 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dean hesitated. The last time, when Teri had touched the lever, the portal to Burbank had opened. Oh well, if Dr. Klein saw it, it would definitely give him something to report. Dean smiled and touched the lever. Nothing happened! No swirling mass of colour. No vision of another world. Nothing! Dr. Klein didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, he just noted the non-result in his notebook. "Ms. Lane, now you." Again nothing happened. Dr. Klein wrote a line in his notebook. Dean was dismayed. Did this confirm that he was trapped here? Dr. Klein then powered up the same peripherals that Tisdell had the day before. Lois sat on a lab stool waiting for the machine to be fully operational. She looked a little nervous, probably anticipating the impending headache. While he was waiting for the peripherals to activate, Dr. Klein turned to Dean and said "Mr. Kent, do you think you could contact Superman? I have something for him." Dean watched as Dr. Klein pulled a grey metal box from the safe in the wall. When the box was open there was the most beautiful gem quality stone in the box. Green and shining. Dean heard an "Oh," and turned to look at Lois. She looked uncomfortable and pale. The equipment must be giving her another headache. The machines were all powered up, "Mr. Kent, please go over and touch the lever." Dean followed the instructions, but again there was no reaction. Dean was starting to feel a little panicky. It was beginning to look like the machine *was* broken! Dr. Klein noted the non-reaction and then said, "Ms. Lane, could you go over and touch the lever now please." As Lois got up slowly to walk to the machine, Dean felt drawn to the gemstone and picked it up. There was a pleasant tingle under his touch. "Clark!" Dean whirled around at the sound of Lois' cry. She was holding the lever on the VibroWhammy. Her face was sheet white and her eyes wide. She looked like she might be going to faint. "Honey, what is it?" Dean dropped the gem back into its box and hurried to her side holding her gently with one hand as he pulled a lab stool behind her with the other. "I think you'd better sit down. You look really pale." Lois whispered, "I'm fine, just make some excuse. We need to *talk*" "Ms. Lane, what happened?" Lois murmured, "I...I saw people...I...." She put trembling fingers to her forehead, and closing her eyes swayed against Dean who supported her to prevent her from falling off the lab stool. "Dr. Klein, could you get a glass of water please." Dean turned back to Lois. The doctor picked up a clean beaker and went to the nearest sink, then muttered something about plumbing and Friday mornings and rushed from the room. As soon as the doctor closed the door behind him Dean turned to Lois. "Are you sure you're okay? You don't look well." "I'm fine, it just feel a little weak, that's all. I guess it was the shock of seeing...." "What did you see?" "I saw a lot of people in a restaurant. It was one of those dark, romantic Mexican restaurants." Lois swallowed a couple of times. "I think I was looking through Teri's eyes again, and...and I s-saw Clark gazing longingly into them." She sounded distraught. "So you saw through Teri's eyes, just like you did before?" Lois nodded as he continued. "But why did you call Clark's name? What made you go so pale? You had me really worried." "I wanted Clark to know I was there, and...you...you picked up the Kryptonite." Dean stared at the box holding the green gemstone. "That's Kryptonite? It's beautiful." "Didn't it hurt?" "No. It just kind of tickled." "Tickled? It doesn't hurt you? Even *I* felt it a little bit!" Lois sounded perplexed. He shook his head. "This could be good. I guess." Dean looked at the box for a few more moments and then turned back to Lois. "Anyway, back to the problem at hand. Why, when I touched the VibroWhammy did nothing happen, but when you did, you saw Burbank?" Lois shrugged. "Are you sure you touched the right lever?" "Yes, I touched this one." Dean reached over and touched the lever again, this time a coloured swirl started to form over the VibroWhammy, but before they could see what it was about to show, it collapsed. Lois whimpered. "Clark's never coming back! That woman is going to use her wiles on him and..." She covered her face with her hands. It tore at Dean's heart to see her so upset. "It's going to work, we just have to figure out how!" "But what if Clark doesn't *want* to come back? I've seen those photos, that woman will mesmerize him and how can I compete with that?" Lois was getting pretty close to real hysteria now. Dean moved to her side and with a protective arm around her said, "Now, aren't you the one that told *me* that Clark wouldn't fall for just a look-a-like? I think you're just afraid that this isn't going to work and you're feeling insecure because of it." "You're only trying to make me feel better." Lois sounded skeptical. He stood away from her and grasped her by both shoulders, "Look, Lois, I've worked with Teri 12 and 15 hours a day for five days a week, ten months of the year for the last three and a half years. I *know* Teri. We're like brother and sister. She's *completely* in love with Jon and would *never* do anything to hurt him, least of all fool around with another woman's husband. Now, stop acting like someone out of a soap opera, and let's get working on getting me out of here and Clark back!" He lifted her chin so she was looking into his eyes. "Okay?" "Okay." She gave him a watery smile "Thanks, Dean. I really appreciate what you're doing for me." He drew her closer and put a comforting arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder. Dean raised his hand to gently stroke Lois' hair just as Dr. Klein hurried in with a glass of water. "I'm sorry I took so long, but the plumbing in this part of the building is off while the lab sinks get serviced. I hurried as fast as I could." "That's okay." Dean took the glass and keeping his arm around Lois' shoulder held it to her lips. "Take tiny sips. It's better if you take tiny sips." "Ms. Lane, I think we're going to have to dismantle this machine. It's obviously doing serious damage to you! I'll get on it tomorrow." "I thought Dr. Tisdell wasn't back until Monday?" "He's not, but he proposed dismantling the machine if it proved to be still causing problems, and I agree with him." "Why not wait until Monday? It only seems to be a problem if it's being turned on, or I touch it." "Who knows how many other people are being affected. We have to destroy this menace! Unfortunately, the technicians I need to do the job are busy until tomorrow. Otherwise I'd do it today." Dean was unnerved. Once this thing was dismantled he would never be able to get through the portal again. "No, no, Dr. Klein, tomorrow is fine!" "Ms. Lane, I'm truly sorry about all the problems this has caused. We had no idea that it was doing this type of thing. We ran all the tests we could." Lois smiled wanly. Dean assisted her to her feet. "Mr. Kent, don't forget about contacting Superman. I need for him to know about this newly found source of Kryptonite." Dr. Klein closed the lid over the Kryptonite and put the box back in the safe. Dean nodded and said, "I won't forget." Dean conspicuously supported Lois while they walked to the security entrance. On the way he noted a couple of windows and doors that might prove useful later. Once they were in the privacy of the Jeep, Lois summarized what he'd already concluded. "Dean, we have to break into S.T.A.R. Labs tonight!" "I know!" Dean started thinking aloud, "I wonder why we didn't see the portal opening the first time when I touched the lever but did the second? And why do you see only images, but Teri and I start a portal opening? And why did the portal collapse? We have to figure this out before tonight or we still might not be able to do the transfer." "I hope we can get in touch with Clark and Teri before then. Maybe they can help figure this out. And, I need to know that Clark's okay." Lois started the car and drove them home. Metropolis, New Troy 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Friday 348 Hyperion Ave., West Metropolis They were met at the door by a very excited Martha. "They're online!" All three rushed into the den to the computer, Lois ahead of the pack. K was chatting with the crowd on the channel as if she didn't have a care in the world. Lois quickly started a DCC connection and got almost instantaneous acceptance. She looked ecstatic when she heard that Clark was fine, and the group in Burbank were relieved to know that Dean hadn't been hurt by the power surge. This made him feel good. He'd been feeling a little like the uninvited guest at a party so he was happy to know that he was missed in Burbank. However, when Dean asked Lois to send a message to Teri, Lois stopped keying, her expression becoming neutral. She seemed to be in a trance. Dean was worried, she'd been really ill at the lab. "You okay, Lois?" He gently touched her upper arm. She came out her daze and responded, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just trying to figure out how to ask Clark what he thought he was doing in the Mexican restaurant." "Okay, you keep thinking and I'll talk." Hi, Dean here:) So you weren't hurt by the power surge? No, I wasn't hurt, but I did have a few problems adjusting to the super powers. *Super* powers? Yes, flying is *wonderful*. Burbank did a nick change to DannyCK Hi, Dean, Clark here. You say you got some of my powers? During the power surge? Yes. We figure it was when I touched you, just before the portal slammed shut. Lois seemed to think this was almost a regular occurance around here She would:) What happened at S.T.A.R. Labs? We saw the VibroWhammy, Lois didn't react. Dr. Klein had us both touch it independently, still nothing. He turned on the peripherals, then Lois saw through Teri's eyes at the Mexican restaurant. "Ask him what he thinks he was doing gazing longingly into Teri's eyes." Lois had come out of her reverie and now sounded impatient. That explains it. I noticed that Teri's eyes glazed over for a few seconds while we were in the restaurant. "Trust Clark to have an explanation without even being asked for it." Lois crossed her arms and glared at the screen. "Why are you upset?" Lois raised her eyebrows, sighed and said, "Because he's right, Mr. Always Right." "And you want him to be Mr. Wrong?" Dean gave her his best innocent look. Lois gave him a crooked smile and said "No!" "Then you should be glad that Clark was thinking about you after all." Dean grinned at her and ducked to avoid the playful hit she aimed at his head. I was trying to determine if the VW was involved, looks like it was. :) Then we got side-tracked by the fact that I don't seem to be affected by Kryptonite So you have my powers, but not my "allergy" to Kryptonite. Lucky you! Then I touched the lever and a portal started to form. It collapsed before it hardly started though:( Just before the IRC came back I felt a faint echo of the same kind of electrical charge I felt when the portal formed in K's kitchen. Lois sighed impatiently, "But that doesn't tell us how to get the portal to stick around long enough for you and Clark to change places!" ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 20:39:49 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: request :) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I want to help people join this list, but the instructions I have saved date back to when Farrah was in command. What are the new instructions I can pass along, particularly for those who can't surf over to the www site? Probably send email to: (some address) with "subscribe" (name?) in the text. Can someone clue me/us in so we can invite more people to join? Debby :) Debby@swcp.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 20:11:39 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: Re: request :) In-Reply-To: <2.2.16.19971120204524.2377b9a6@swcp.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >I want to help people join this list, but the instructions I have saved date >back to when Farrah was in command. What are the new instructions I can pass >along, particularly for those who can't surf over to the www site? > >Probably send email to: (some address) > >with "subscribe" (name?) in the text. > >Can someone clue me/us in so we can invite more people to join? > Shorthand answer --because I can never remember these things off the top of my head either, but I can remember where to find them. In the Links section of S5 on fortunecity (see URL in sig, I don't have to remember that either) -- if it deigns to be up for you ... we have a section on how to subscribe to this list :) It's kind of a FAQ for S5 :) Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC volterra@sd.znet.com http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html *********************************************************************** Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm *********************************************************************** Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 20:18:48 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: Fanfic editoring help wanted Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I have a fanfic that I've read so many times I can't see the grammar errors or plotholes in it anymore -- and I *know* they're in there. Would some brave editor who has some time please help me out? You gotta be brave because it involves a certain second season character. Well, the other one, whose namesake (more or less) I married is in it too. Game? Email me and I'll send you a copy. It's fairly long, about 18 pages, which is, in retrospect, nowhere near as long as the episodes I've been writing recently. Hmm. Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC volterra@sd.znet.com http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html *********************************************************************** Lois and Clark Season 5 Fanfic: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/mothership/60/season5.htm *********************************************************************** Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 03:42:10 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Peace Everett Subject: ClassicFic: SURVIVE (1/1) In a message dated 97-11-21 02:31:29 EST, Pam Jernigan writes: > At the risk of turning this list into the "Pam Jernigan Vanity Press" Well, now we can't have that, can we?!!? Here's my little take on the New Krypton arc -- well, the one I can post to this list, anyway... ;) ******************** from August 1996 Funny sometimes how things work out -- I was driving home from work, listening to a song on the radio, and thinking it would make an interesting basis for a story, got home and started reading through the Gorn's stories which I had downloaded earlier, and found she had used that same song in one of her stories. But her take on it is totally different from mine, so I decided to go ahead and write the story. The usual disclaimers -- the characters belong to December 3rd and Warner Bros. -- and I'm sure the song belongs to somebody too, although I've no idea who. So only the situation is mine. ****************************************************************** Survive by Peace "Patience, my Lord Kal-- *Clark*," admonished Zara in an amused tone. "We will be there soon enough." Clark drummed his fingers against the console in front of him. He felt like getting out and pushing. Forget that! He wanted to get out and fly. But they weren't quite close enough yet, and despite his impatience, the ship was actually going several times faster than he could fly on his own. Besides, after three months away from the yellow sun that gave him his powers, he could barely levitate a foot off the ground, let alone go anywhere. He stared out the viewport at the tiny blue-green ball that was their destination. /Home!/ he thought. /I'm going home!/ And then he was there. He walked up the steps to Lois' apartment, and rang the bell. No answer. Well, it was early in the evening, she must be out running errands or something. He dug around in his pockets, found the key she had given him, and let himself in. He wandered around the apartment, looking at all the familiar things in all their right places. He heard a key in the lock, and rushed over to the sofa, intending to look casually at home when she walked in. The door opened, and in walked Dan Scardino. The two men faced each other a moment, then Dan put down the sack of groceries he was holding and turned back to the door. "Honey, we've got company." At that instant, Lois walked in the door. At least he thought it was Lois. For a moment he almost didn't recognize her. Her hair was dyed red, and cut in an extremely short, spiky hairdo. She stared at him a moment, then went to the kitchen to put down the shopping bag she had carried in. Clark rushed to help her with it. Dan headed out the door, calling, "I'll get the rest of the stuff out of the car." As soon as the shopping bag was down, Clark enveloped Lois in an embrace. There was music playing, but he didn't know where it was coming from. The tune was familiar, but he couldn't place it. It didn't matter. He was home, Lois was in his arms and all was right-- Lois pushed away from him, and began emptying the grocery sack. "So. You're back." She picked up an armload of cans and carried them into the pantry. "Why did you come back?" Her voice was flat, emotionless. "You knew I would come back..." Clark couldn't believe his ears. "Lois, I love you." "Yeah, and you left." Lois gathered up another armload of cans to take to the pantry. Scardino walked in with another grocery sack, and set it on the table. He patted Clark on the shoulder. "Sorry, old man," he grinned, obviously unrepentant. "You snooze, you lose." He headed toward the door. "I'll get the rest of the stuff out of the car." Lois emerged from the pantry and began emptying another grocery sack. "What was I supposed to do, Clark? Sit around and twiddle my thumbs while you went off playing Lord Kal-El, ruler of New Krypton? Crumble into little pieces, maybe? Lay down and die? I don't think so." She gathered up another armload of cans to take to the pantry. Clark put his hand on her arm. "Would you stop with the groceries already? We need to talk about this!" Scardino walked in with another grocery sack, and set it on the table. He patted Clark on the shoulder. "Sorry, old man," he grinned, obviously unrepentant. "You snooze, you lose." He headed toward the door. "I'll get the rest of the stuff out of the car." "What is *up* with him?" Clark asked, as Lois headed into the pantry. "He sounds like a broken record! What's he doing here, anyway?" Scardino walked in with another grocery sack, and set it on the table. He patted Clark on the shoulder. "Sorry, old man," he grinned, obviously unrepentant. "You snooze, you lose." He headed toward the door. "I'll get the rest of the stuff out of the car." Scardino walked in with another grocery sack, and set it on the table. He patted Clark on the shoulder. "Sorry, old man," he grinned, obviously unrepentant. "You snooze, you lose." He headed toward the door. "I'll get the rest of the stuff out of the car." And suddenly Clark woke up. He sat up so abruptly that he fell out of his hammock onto the floor. /I've got to get home! I've got to get home *right* *now*!!/ The song he had been hearing in his dream suddenly flooded into his mind. "At first, I was afraid...I was petrified Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side But then I spent so many nights just thinking how you did me wrong And I grew strong I learned how to get along And so you're back! From Outer Space I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face I should have changed that stupid lock, I should have made you leave your key If I'd have known for just one second you'd be back to bother me So, now go! Walk out the door! Just turn around now, 'cause you're not welcome anymore Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye? Did you think I'd crumble? Did you think I'd lay down and die? Oh no, not I! I will Survive Oh, as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive And I've got all my life to live, and I've got all my love to give And I'll Survive......I will Survive.... fade to black ************************************************************* Well, Gorn, it's a vignette after all -- but thanks again for helping me with the lyrics to the song! Peace ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 05:15:56 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 19 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Swap-Meet: Burbank part 19 of 20 by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com [previous editing notes apply] Huh? Praise yet dissatisfaction? It looked like being a TV star was harder than the average viewer might think. "Ah, I see." "Why did you accost those two men?" she nodded at them. They didn't notice. They had moved deeper into the shadows of the alcove and were discussing their situation in heated terms. Clark again overheard no reference to himself; they were on the verge of blaming each other. Typical. He looked back at her, all innocence. "Accost them, Officer..." she was wearing a badge, "Huang?" "They're very dangerous. We've been watching them and their friends for days now." Days?--*days*? Wow! Great! Ah... "They have friends? They didn't seem very friendly at all. They could use courses in..." She was not amused. He decided he could do worse than to ask, "How many friends *do* they have?" "Even if you were Superman," she said, her eyes narrowing, "I wouldn't tell you." "Well..." "Yes, there are rumors going around that there could be trouble here." Her slightly Chinese accented voice and soft but serious tone gave her statement a penetrating tone that even one with as thick a hide as his, he admitted, couldn't miss. She continued: "I think some of the trouble could be caused by people who are trying to help." "Ma'am, *I'm* just trying to find the restrooms." "Good, you find them, that way," she pointed. In the direction he had been going. "And you remember," she raised her thin eyebrows, "I'm watching you, too..." "Oh, I'm glad, I don't want to get into any trouble..." This time he tried to look like an innocent citizen simply searching for relief. He hoped he was enough of an actor to pull that off. Sting's heart-felt rendition of a popular labor movement song came to an end and he introduced the Mayor of Los Angeles. Dean found the restrooms, a line of white structures, portable toilets which he had glimpsed earlier, during the walk. They were hidden back to the side of the cineplex, away from the crowd. They were also full, with people lined up waiting. The Mayor told some politely received jokes and introduced Denzel Washington. Clark ambled on, drawn again by intuition. Behind the second row of structures, he spotted a medium-sized grocery bag, its top folded over--and stapled shut. Very odd. He looked back for the Officer Huang but didn't see her. Perhaps her attention had been drawn elsewhere. No one seemed to be noticing him at all, which was fine as all he wanted to be at the moment was a mild-mannered reporter. He walked over to the bag, casually picked it up and strolled away with it to a parking area behind the cineplex. A quick check told him that he was alone here for the moment. The bag contained a crude but no doubt effective incendiary device that careful carrying had not upset. He determined its weight and how much force he'd have to use, and then he launched it in the general direction of Comet Hale-Bopp, which happened to be heading behind the sun. Washington explained dramatically how everyone's money, even the smallest amount, would assist the cause, and then he introduced Pamela Sue Anderson. Clark came across three other such devices in his peregrinations, including one of them snatched out of its carrier's hands when the man sneezed due to a sudden puff of dust. Clark also relieved the bomber of his wallet, not sure what he'd do with it but something would probably occur to him. Anderson read some somber statistics, expressed anger about them, and then welcomed Richard Gere on to the stage. Clark got rid of two of the bombs the same way he had the first one: throwing them toward the comet. Gere told of his travels in India in search of world peace and introduced the Dalai Lama. As Clark spied the next bag bomb, he also spied Officer Huang, who had at last caught up with him. When she looked away for a second to see the speaker, Clark planted the wallet he'd lifted under the bag and returned to where he'd been standing out of the way, all in about half a second. He then wondered aloud about the odd sight of an sealed-up and abandoned grocery bag near the entry to the Suncoast Sound store. She immediately warned him to stay away from it and pulled out her radio to call in the suspicious bag's location. She also decided at this time to say by his side. "You are not Superman," she informed him, "but you're a big man with sense of curiosity and I do not think you can stay out of trouble." "Me?" "Don't worry, I will now keep you out of trouble," and that was all she would say on the topic. He found himself not really minding having the companionship. Her accent was endearing, protection was after all her job, and she might know some useful form of martial art. Her presence and that of her fast-moving colleagues proved that while he'd been right to be worried, it had been out of proportion. Maybe he'd been conditioned to worry by the unfortunate observation that sometimes every police officer in Metropolis seemed to be either on strike or on vacation at once. Here they seemed to be more efficient and on the ball. It was beginning to look like this world didn't need him nearly as much as his own did. I really have to get home, he sighed. The Dalai Lama spoke with gentle compassion and introduced Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Officer Huang's presence, however, did not exactly shackle Clark. He still watched for lurking terrorists and, as they reached the three-quarters point of their walk around the crowd, his vigilance was rewarded: a tall, well-dressed unemotional man watching the stage muttered, "They drag children into their perversions..." and discretely pulled out a hand gun. Clark immediately warmed it with a shot of heat vision, and, just as JTT introduced Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, the would-be gunman yelped and dropped his weapon. Officer Huang zeroed in on the sound of the gun bouncing, saw who had dropped it, and she rushed to subdue and take him into custody. People in the immediate area shied away and tried not to notice. She quickly, quietly called for back up, which equally quickly and quietly appeared to help her and not disturb any more of the activists. The wind began to rise a little as Moore and Willis spoke of their commitment to the cause and introduce Madonna, who brought along a band and guest dancer John Travolta. The well-received duo proceeded to belt out a crusading song of love and respect for children. Despite this riotous music and the boisterous crowd, Clark heard something out of place. It was a creaking, straining, dangerous sound that within moments Clark isolated to the three- to four-story high, neon-light-covered, stylized guitar attached to the front of the Hard Rock Cafe. A deeper look told him that some of the bolts, tie downs and other devices holding upper part of the structure into place had been severed, sabotaged. He could easily imagine what would happen. With the rising wind, which any observant terrorists must feel lucky to have (God was on their side...), the heavy decoration would begin to fall. The crowd, captivated by the singers' flamboyant performances, wouldn't notice until too late. Too late, that is, unless he did something first, something right out in the open. He hadn't brought along his disguise, but he doubted he could get away with being a black angel here anyhow, not since he had come here representing Cain and a show about a flying man. Nonetheless, the fastest and as far as he could see only way to stop a giant falling guitar was to fly up to it, grab it, take it up into the air again, put it somewhere, and return to explain himself, all in the plain sight of maybe thousands of people and almost as many still and video cameras. The guitar trembled, seeking release... Clark knew, though, that if he acted, Cain's life, if he ever made it back to this world, would be pretty much totally destroyed. So would the lives of K, Justin and Teri. Then again, if his friends and their families and all the people who knew them could ever cobble back together the pieces of their lives and somehow resume their work, their show might soar in the ratings. If Cain didn't make it back, almost all the same things would happen anyway, and Clark would have something to do here after all. Be Superman. It beat acting though. Probably. He hoped. The guitar strained at its moorings. "We did not expect the wind," Officer Huang said. This took a moment to soak in and then Clark, on the verge of deciding to throw caution and himself to that very wind, wasn't sure he had heard it. He looked down at her. She was watching the giant guitar, a calm expression on her round face. It looked like this could be the way she approached most death-defying situations, didn't it? He asked, "Pardon?" "During this last week, they came in here disguised as construction workers and they loosened many things," she said as though she saw this every day. Maybe she did. She continued, her soft voice ignoring many of the "r"s in her words. "We took pictures of them. They will go to jail soon. We fixed almost everything this morning." "Almost?" Like the bolts atop the giant guitar? "The important parts. The rest will be fixed later. King Kong down there..." back into the mall, where more giant neon- outlined structures hovered over the broad walk ways, "almost fell as we fixed it." She looked back. "But they will not fall now unless we have a hurricane. Maybe two hurricanes at once." Madonna ended her song to a roar of approval, kissed Travolta, and at the first sign of the applause easing, they introduced the final speaker, Elizabeth Taylor. Clark, trying to regain his bearings, realized that the threat of his being forced to be Superman had diminished to what it had been before he'd seen the file on Cain's desk. He sighed and smiled at the officer. He only had one problem now and Lois was working to solve that. The wind rose another notch. He looked up. The sky was overcast and darkening a bit. Hurricane? Lois's storm. Why am I thinking of it like that? he wondered. Storm, lightning... Lois through Teri's eyes... problem solved... crack--door. Here? Uh-oh. "Officer, this has been enlightening but I must be going." "Ah, so. If you need help on show, let me know." She quickly opened a breast pocket, pulled out a card and presented it to him. He glanced at it, nodded, pulled out Cain's wallet, wished he had a card to give her, and stuck her card in among the bills. She said, "You may need an advisor." "Yes, I think you're right. I'll mention it to the producers." She smiled, a radiant expression. He returned it and nodded goodbye. The breeze that had eased for a moment came up again as he approached his friends. "Nothing happened here," Justin informed them. "Except Teri decided she wanted some pictures..." He looked around for her and pointed. "And that she had to go to the restroom, but that was almost half an hour ago..." The restrooms were not in the direction Justin had pointed. "She really wanted to follow you." Clark thought, I have the feeling she did... otherwise, why take Justin's camera to the restroom? She covered like a pro (like Lois). "How am I going to do you justice if I can't see you in action?" she asked, exasperated. "Use your imagination," and the pictures... Oh, well, no harm done really. He looked to K. "Another storm. I think it's due to you-know-who and I don't think we should be here." "Back to my place then?" "No, your kitchen doesn't need to host another universe- violating event. I want to try someplace that should get a lot of lightning, someplace high." They eased away from the crowd and into the parking structure, where they could pick up their pace. When they reached the car, Teri insisted on sitting in back with Clark and demanded he tell her what he'd been thinking as he did what he had done. He relented and gave her the details and Officer Huang's business card. "Okay, if you think she's good, I'll see what I can do. Now, about you and Lois's relationship..." Clark couldn't escape this, even sitting back. But... he didn't want to. It didn't matter. He had the thrilling feeling in his stomach--butterflies?--that this adventure was coming to a close. Maybe because this was his final chance to escape, there was some rule that it had to feel like a close thing. It had to end favorably, too, because the alternative was unthinkable. Lois would do her part, he didn't doubt that. It was his job to be where he could best take advantage of this one last shot to rescue himself and Cain, someplace high and full of power. The mountain that Griffith Observatory sat on filled the bill, it had to. As K entered the Park, it began to sprinkle. Teri asked a string of questions, Justin turned in his seat to join her, and even K thought up a few. Clark answered them as best he could as long as they weren't too personal, and only a few strayed into that territory... but he answered them, too. These people cared about him and about their show, he had no doubt about it. If Cain got back okay and if he had learned anything in his adventures, these four would be a powerful force in influencing Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of... Superman. On their way up through the park toward the observatory, they passed car loads of tourists coming down. This wasn't surprising: it was beginning to rain heavily and the clouds were thick and dark. Upon arrival in the parking area, which was several lanes of spaces on either side of a large stretch of well-maintained grass, they found they were alone. Clark told them that here were staff people inside the Observatory, but that none of them were watching out the few windows their direction, toward the mountain peak. Those he noticed observing the weather were looking out over the valley to the south and west. As they pulled up to park, Clark emptied his pockets and pressed the contents into Teri's hands to give her something to do. "I want you all to stay in the car. Maybe nothing will happen, but if it does, you don't need to be out in the rain imitating lightning rods. K," he reached forward and touched and squeezed her arm, which she had draped across the back of Justin's seat. "You've been great. I wrote up a letter of recommendation for you at Mr. Cain's house. It's silly, and I know you don't need one, but it's the only thing I could think to do other than offer to... repaint your house very, very quickly." She grinned. "Oh, I think it's sweet!" "Well, you can consider it a souvenir if you want. I've put it and some other things in a folder called 'Clark.' He'll find it on his desk and in his computer. Justin." The young man, turned in his seat completely now, smiling, excited. "Do I get a souvenir, too? I mean, not like you're a... I mean..." "I know what you mean. You have the pictures you and Teri took." "Huh? Oh, yeah, and we won't use them, we'll just... cherish them." "That's okay." Clark smiled and patted him on his shoulder. "I hope you realize that I don't think I could have survived with my sanity intact without your help." "Wow..." he blinked. "Oh, it was nothing..." "No, it was great. Teri--" "I know what I want for a souvenir." She dropped Cain's things on the floor at her feet, sat forward and slipped her arms around Clark's neck. As she was targeting his lips for a kiss, he moved just a little faster, turning his face, receiving that kiss on his check and brushing her's with a diplomatic kiss of his own. "Oh," she said, a little disappointed. "At least it wasn't on my forehead..." There was a crack of lightning nearby; it felt full of messages for him. He eased her arms off gently but quickly. "I'm a happily married man, and while you're a wonderful, helpful woman--you're not Lois." "I know that," she smiled, and she didn't look giddy at all. "I know who I am, and I think I understand you better now, too. I'm glad I got to meet you." "No more than I am. I *must* get out there. Watch for Mr. Cain, he may need help." He slipped out of the car quickly and into the pouring rain. It was chilly and the breeze whipped the rain in several directions. None of this mattered. He moved away from the car and into the grassy area. Here I am, he thought, now what? I want to go home. He wondered if he should tap his heels together and if the effect would be the same with athletic shoes as it had been over Kansas with ruby slippers... He closed his eyes and stood still. Lois, Lois, Lois... He put aside awareness of the storm and concentrated on that one goal. Until he felt the crack again. It shimmered into being about five feet in front of him. He smiled at it, walked up to it through the rain, and, as he had before but without hesitation now, touched it and worked his hands into it. The sparkley, rainbow-colored anomaly was easier to work with this time. I could have been doing this in the middle of the crowd at the AIDS Walk, he thought, relieved as he used only a little pressure to begin to open it. The top and bottom of the crack merrily split the air further in agreement with his idea. He would have been stuck in the mall trying to explain things and protect Cain while the Lois's storm came up and his chance disappeared again. He preferred things happening this way. The crack continued to open easily and the air cleared enough so that he could look through, and, then, without hesitation, step foot into S.T.A.R. Labs and Metropolis, home. *** Some Alternative Griffith Observatory Day Four about 1 p.m. Dean was surprised to find himself rolling out of his dive to his feet in squishing wet grass, in a pouring rain that soaked through his--*Clark Kent's* clothes immediately. However, it wasn't at all cold when he realized he should have been freezing. As much as he had been of two minds about having the powers, there were a lot of benefits to being invulnerable. He looked around and to his right noticed the observatory. Griffith Park. Clever. This was one true lightning rod of a place. It had never occurred to him to take advantage of that. Perfect. Brilliant. "Dean, if you can hear me, I need help." Huh? He turned. The portal was still there, standing open unassisted now, not snapping shut again like an elephant trap. Weird. It shouldn't have done... then again, the thing didn't seem to know shoulds and shouldn't haves. Clark was trying to close it and he was right to be doing so. If the thing liked being open, it might like being open wider. The ramifications were serious: an open hole in time and space meant that the two universes would collide in every way possible: ecologically and biologically, as well as with human ideas, actions and dangers passing freely unless at least one Superman guarded it, and only a Superman could do that if it kept growing... "Please, Dean," Clark said, grimacing, his voice distorted through the portal and the rain on the Burbank side, "help me push the portal closed." Dean nodded. *Two* Supermen would be needed to guard any open hole when there were better things to be doing with life. He licked his lips, stepped forward, and touched the opposite side of the portal, finding that it felt rounded and yet there was a roughness to it that allowed him to think he could get enough traction to push it closed again. He saw Lois watching Clark, worried for him, cheering him on. He felt a momentary pang of jealousy... but it wore off quickly as the job began to demand his full attention. The portal stopped opening and began to ease back toward closing again. It somehow didn't seem to feel very happy about the idea though. Dean planted his feet in the wet grass and began to apply more pressure. He looked up to see that Clark had also taken a firm stance and was also beginning to grimace with the effort, much as he had in opening the portal originally. Dean wished he had a clear view of the other side: he'd fry that stupid machine with a blast of heat vision... The center, pushed edges of the portal touched at last. Lightning struck, at the very same time thunder boomed incredibly, deafening, and the entire portal closed with a snap and simply was no longer there. Dean pitched through the vacant space but managed to turn it into something like another roll into the cushioning grass carpet. He staggered to his feet, surprised and a little disoriented by the suddenness of it all. One moment he had been straining with all his might to save his universe--and the next, he was straining against nothing at all, his ears were ringing and he was trembling with fatigue. He wasn't even sure where he was any more. It looked familiar though, a building in the distance through the haze of the heavy rain and a nondescript car pulling up beside the grassy area. People were dashing toward him, people he thought he recognized. He felt a great sense of relief wash over him... and then he felt the world spin as his conscious abandoned him and he dropped forward into darkness. *** (continued) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 11:34:20 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: ClassicFic: After the Battle (1/1) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I couldn't resist the chance to repost this -- the only fanfic I've ever finished. Having three kids does cut seriously into one's computer time, especially when the oldest one has just discovered a computer game called "Chip's Challenge." ----------------------------------------------------------------- AFTER THE BATTLE: (A few missing scenes from Battlefield Earth) by Genevieve Clemens (NightSky@erols.com) The sun was setting as Lois Lane walked towards the Daily Planet building. She paused for a minute, as she looked at the street, where, earlier that afternoon, five prone bodies had lain. Four of those bodies had been corpses; the fifth... Lois bit at the inside of her cheek as the anger threatened to overcome her once again. A few deep breaths had her back under control. She straightened her back, squared her shoulders, and continued her walk into the Daily Planet. There was a story to be written, and she, Lois Lane, was going to be the one to write it. She entered the city room, and walked towards her desk. The room was quiet; the reporters working quietly at their terminals, trying to get their stories finished and accepted so they could go home to their families. As she powered up her computer, she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She looked up and saw Perry and Jimmy approaching. She tensed in anger again as she saw a uniformed figure following them. "Lois?" Perry asked. "I'm surprised to see you here. How's Superman?" Lois could see Colonel Cash hanging on her words. "He's still alive, if that's what you mean." She answered. She looked directly at the Colonel. "The other four are dead." "Good!" exclaimed Perry, while Jimmy, eavesdropping quietly in the corner breathed a sigh of relief. "That is good news," said the Colonel. "I'm sorry, Miss Lane," he continued, "but it had to be done. Superman was losing. The consequences if he had been killed, and the other aliens were allowed to continue their rampage on Earth were unthinkable." "So you would kill someone who has never hurt anyone, who has always tried to help?" she exploded. The Colonel took a deep breath. "Kill him, Miss Lane? You bet." He threw some papers down on her desk. "These are the casualty reports. In addition to the men under my command, they killed eight people in Smallville, and another thirty-five in Metropolis. Why don't you look at those papers? Maybe you knew some of them. If I had to kill Superman to stop them from killing any more, I would. Hell, I'd have killed everyone in Smallville to stop them, if that's what it had taken. I'm glad it didn't. But I'll bet Superman would have told me to go ahead." Lois just looked at him. It was Perry who broke the silence. "Yes, I think he would have," he said quietly. As Lois shot a disbelieving stare at him, he repeated himself. "Nor had to be stopped, Lois. Whatever the cost. Superman knew that. And I think you do too, deep down." She wasn't finished yet. "That doesn't excuse them stealing the Kryptonite," she said. "Or building the gas grenade. They had to start that before Nor ever came to Earth. Or the quantum disrupter that Lex purchased. That was another weapon they built to use against Superman." "Yes we did," Cash responded. "Superman is too powerful, virtually unstoppable. True, he's helped so far. But people change. He could go crazy. Maybe he could be brainwashed, or hypnotized. We have to protect the American people, Miss Lane. That is our responsibility." Memories of Superman knocking over parking meters, and returning a child to a kidnapper's car, came back to Lois. But she wasn't about to give in. "Superman would have found another way, "she said defiantly. "He would never have justified taking a life." She turned back to her computer. "I have a story to write," she said, dismissing them. "And if I'm going to get it in the early editions, I need to get started." As she began typing, she was aware of Jimmy and the Colonel leaving. But Perry remained, looking at her, and leaning over her desk. With an annoyed look, she stopped work and turned back to face him. "Lois, honey," he said softly. "How is Superman, really?" "Not good." She relented. "He's in a lot of pain, he's having trouble breathing on his own. He came to for a few minutes, and seemed to know us. But..." "But he's OK?" "They can't figure out why he's still alive, when the other are dead," Lois answered. "The medics on the ship have come up with a number of theories. The autopsies have shown a higher concentration of Kryptonite in the other men's tissues than in his. Maybe because they were closer to the explosion, they absorbed the gas. Or perhaps, the fact that Superman has lived on Earth longer than any of them meant his invulnerability was stronger. Or his many exposures to Kryptonite in the past have given him some immunity. They keep arguing about it and wondering." "I'm surprised you left him," Perry said. "You seemed ... *very* concerned for him earlier. And what's this concubine stuff Jimmy was telling me earlier?." "Oh, that was just the easiest way I could think of to get on that ship," Lois said airily. Then she looked up and decided she didn't like the look of growing suspicion and concern on his face. She knew how fond he was of Clark. She decided it was time for a bit of misdirection. "They gave me a communicator," she said, "and promised to call if there was any change. And I didn't leave him alone. Clark is with him. And Zara is there. She's his wife, you know." Perry's eyebrows shot up at that piece of new. "His wife! He's married? I didn't know that." "He's been married all along, apparently," Lois said, wondering how big a story to spin. "Guess I made quite a fool of myself there a few years ago, huh?" She continued without waiting for an answer. "Actually, I think I really embarrassed him back then. I didn't even begin to know him, not really, until after Clark and I got engaged. He and Clark have been friends, *really* good friends, for longer than I ever imagined." She stopped, and looked down at her desk. A name on a piece of paper caught her eye. "Oh, God," she exclaimed, as she picked up the papers Colonel Cash had thrown down on her desk. "What is it?" Perry asked, diverted from his thoughts of Superman. Lois pointed to a name on the paper, listed under the heading SMALLVILLE, KANSAS - CASUALTY LIST. "I knew him. The first time I ever went to Smallville, Clark took me to a dance. Clark introduced us. They went to high school together. His wife was expecting their first child; I mean, it was like any day; and I danced with him because she didn't feel up to it. And now he's dead. Incinerated by Nor." Perry saw the tears welling up in Lois' eyes. He knew how to stop that. "Lois, do you think you could get me that story by 9:00 tonight? We have a lot going in tomorrow's edition and it'll really help if you could get it in before deadline." Lois nodded, and turned to her computer. When Perry looked up five minute later, all he could see was a straight back and fingers flying over a keyboard. ************* Four days later, Lois let herself back into her apartment after a hectic day at work. Perry had assigned her to interview "the public," determining how they felt about aliens, now that Earth had been invaded by a hostile force. She missed Clark. This was his kind of story. He would have been able to draw the people out with a sympathetic question or an inquiring look. Before she'd been teamed up with him she avoided this kind of story like the plague; afterwards, it was watching him write this kind of "mood" piece that had brought about her first grudging admiration for his skills as a reporter. The story would have been so much easier to write with him there. As she looked around the empty apartment, she knew she missed him for so much more than just help with a story. Either Ching or Zara had contacted her daily, keeping her appraised of his progress, but no one had suggested that she go back aboard the Kryptonian ship. Two days ago, Clark had developed pneumonia, a result of the gas he had breathed into his lungs, and Ching had told her that the medics couldn't decide whether to take the ship out of the solar system, away from the yellow sun so that their drugs and medical devices might work, or whether they should take the ship in closer to the sun, so that the light might increase his invulnerability and cause him to heal faster. She didn't know what they had decided, but there had been no news yesterday, and all day today, the communicator had remained ominously silent. She trusted Ching and Zara that they wouldn't go back to New Krypton without letting her know. She *thought* she trusted them, but there was this nagging worry at the back of her mind. This terrible fear that she would never see him again. That he would either die, or leave, or be taken away. She was putting the kettle on for tea, when she heard a sound at the window. She whirled, and Ching floated into her apartment. "Kal-el told me to knock," he said with a grin. "Ching, is he? Is he..." Lois couldn't get the words out. "He's much, much better," Ching said, still grinning. "You'll see." "Did you take the ship in close to the sun, or out away?" Lois asked. "Both," he replied. "Come. He wants to see you." Lois held back as Ching pulled her towards the window. "Ching," she said. "Should I go? Those things they said at the trial - terrible things... I don't want to make things more difficult for him. " "You won't," said Ching. "You can't. Trust me." And he gently pulled Lois towards him and the window. On the ship, Ching led Lois towards Kal-El's bed chamber. As the doors opened silently, Zara stood up from where she had been sitting by his bedside. "He just dozed off," she whispered to Lois. Then she and Ching left the room. Lois walked slowly towards the bed. The man sleeping on it was wearing the familiar red and blue suit, so different from the hospital gown he had been wearing the last time she saw him. His lips were red, not blue, and his skin was clear, without the terrible green tint it had had before. Her eyes moved down his body, checking out his hands (Yup! All ten fingers) , ending up at his boots. "Do I pass muster?" came a quiet voice, and Lois looked back up at his face. His eyes, open now, and looking at her, were so clear. He reached out and took her hand in his, pulling her towards him on the bed. Lois took a breath to answer him, and felt her control break. The tension, the fear of the last few days overcame her, and she found herself crying, sobbing as though her heart would break. Clark reached out and pulled her towards him, holding her, stroking her hair, and let her cry herself out. Lois had never cried like this before - not in anger, not in grief, not in remorse, but with relief. When it was over, she looked at him, her eyes still wet. "I'm sorry," she said, "I don't - I was so afraid I'd never see you again. First you were going to New Krypton, then you were dying, then you were here..." "Shhh," he said, holding her close. "Lois, I'm never going to leave you again. I promise." Lois tried to dry her face with her hands. "There is a bathroom over there, if you want to wash your face." Lois got up and managed to splash some cold water on her face. She found a blue bottle, and filled it with cold water, and carried it back to the bed, where Clark still lay. "No, I haven't seen a glass, either," he said with a wry smile. "A large goblet once, but mostly just bottles." Lois took a drink, and carried the bottle over to a table against the wall. "How are you, Clark?" she asked then. "Really?" "Well, Superman is taking a leave of absence. My powers are all gone. Temporarily, I'm sure. Just like the first time I was exposed to Kryptonite." He closed his eyes briefly, and continued. "And I'm tired. Very tired. I get dizzy spells, but not as many as yesterday, and they aren't real bad. Anyway. I promised Zara I'd lie down as much as possible today, but that hasn't been very much. We've been very busy with ... politics." Lois lay down on the bed next to him, snuggling in close, and his arms went around her. She didn't speak, waiting for him to continue. "I went before the Council of Elders this morning," he said. "Not the Tribunal, but the whole council. And I admitted to everything that Nor accused me of at the trial. I wasn't fit to be a Kryptonian Lord; I didn't know the customs or the language (although I'm getting pretty good at it by now), and what was more, I didn't want to be a Kryptonian Lord. I wore the red and blue to make my point. I may be Kryptonian by birth, but I was raised and nurtured on Earth, and it is Earth's values I have embraced, and Earth people that I love. I am staying here. "The House of El and the House of Nor are both leaderless. I asked the council that Ching take over the duties of the Lord of El; he was like a brother to me. The House of Nor will find someone more trustworthy, I think. The Council has learned a hard lesson. And Trey is shattered; he wasn't even there this morning. He can't believe how close he came to disaster or how blind he was to Nor's true intentions." "What did the Council say about Ching?" Lois asked. "Nothing yet. I think they are running a background check." Lois raised her head at the familiar tone in his voice and saw a familiar grin. "Hey, that was your Clark voice." "Clark has to come back. That's who I am. I don't like Kal-El much; he's too much like Superman." Lois felt Clark's arms tighten around her and felt his lips on her hair. "And to be honest, I don't care who the Council picks to lead the House of El, but it would make Ching an eligible suitor for Zara. They deserve that much." As if on cue, the door's opened, and Ching and Zara entered. Lois jumped to her feet guiltily, and Clark started to rise, but changed his mind on seeing Zara's stern look, and settled back down on the pillows with a sigh. "Kal-El," said Zara, "the Council has approved your choice of Ching to lead the House of El. They are readying the papers for you to sign now. But are you sure?" "Well," said Clark, looking at Ching. "I know that Ching is honest, wise, dedicated, and willing to put his life on the line for things he believes in. You told me that the people on New Krypton trust him. Do *you* approve my choice, Zara?" Zara looked at Clark for a second, then turned to where Ching was standing silently by her side. "Oh, yes," she said, her face breaking into a large smile. "Yes, I do. It's just that it seems too good to be true. Nor defeated, and Ching..." she trailed off in confusion. Ching came to her rescue. "That kryptonite was very effective," he said to Clark and Lois. "It is clearly a powerful weapon. Perhaps we should learn more about it." "When we tell people about it," Zara said. "I think we can exaggerate enough that no one from New Krypton comes to Earth again." "Kryptonite generally exists as a rock," Clark spoke up from the bed. "Coming into contact with it is ... not pleasant. And it saps one's strength. But that gas... That was truly effective." "I hate it!" Lois exclaimed. "Well, I do," she said, as three pairs of eyes turned to look at her. "Kryptonite gas, and that, that *thing* that Lex bought... The army is deliberately making weapons to use against you, did you know that? And I hate the thought that these things exist that can kill you. I hate it! I haven't forgotten about Trask. Have you? There are others like him around you know. More now, probably, than before. People are scared of creatures from outer space right now." "Lois," came a quiet voice from the bed. "Do you know that they estimate that there are around 40,000 handguns in Metropolis? Legal ones?" "What does that have to do with it?" Lois demanded. "Guns can't hurt you." "No," Clark said. "But they can hurt *you*. I don't like knowing that there are 40,000 guns in the city that can kill you; that any Tom, Dick or Harry with a grudge and a few dollars can buy one, and take pot-shots at you. Given that knowledge, the fact that there are a few weapons available, and that very well-organized, very rich crackpots can try to hurt me is a fact that I can live with." "Well, when you put it that way..." Lois picked up the water bottle and offered it to him. Clark took a drink, and pulled Lois down beside him on the bed. "And besides," he said, "the army was right, Lois. Nor had to be stopped. My death would not have been too large a price to pay." "You'll never get me to agree to that," Lois said angrily. "Never, never, never. And I never want to see that coward of a Colonel again as long as I live." Clark lifted his had and touched her cheek. "I love you, too," he whispered. The doors slid open, and Trey walked in. He started to raise his hand to cover his eyes, but Lois hopped off the bed. "Lord Kal-El," Trey said, "These are the papers you need to sign to authorize Ching to assume the leadership of the house of El." Clark slid awkwardly off the bed, took the papers and began to read and sign them. "Lord Kal-El," Trey said, "I feel I should offer my resignation from the Council of Elders. I cannot believe how easily I was duped by Nor, and what a grave mistake I made in siding with him against you. I do not trust myself to make such decisions anymore." "Trey," Clark said, putting down the signed papers, and walking over to him. "I suspected you might feel this way, especially when you were not present at the Council of Elders this morning. But you are wrong. You *are* trustworthy. You have learned from this encounter." "But..." "Trust Zara. She has the instincts to see a person's motivations. If you listen to her, you will not go wrong. Ching has the integrity and the dedication. But you -- Trey, you have the experience of years. They are both young, and they will need you to guide them for a few more years yet." "If you truly feel that way, Kal-El, I will try," said Trey. "I do. You will do well, Trey. And now..." He handed Trey the papers. "Is there anything else I need to do before I -- *we* can go home?" "No," said Trey. Then he bowed and said something in Kryptonian. Clark bowed back, and Trey left the room. Clark turned and looked at Zara and Ching. They stood silently for a minute, staring at each other, and then Clark turned and offered Lois his arm. As they left the bed chamber, and began moving through the maze of corridors on the ship, Lois asked Clark if he was sure he knew where they were going. He smiled. "I haven't figured it all out yet," he said, "but if I get lost, I just ask Ching. And I *do* know my way to the exit chamber. It's right over there." He pointed to a doorway set into the wall further down the corridor. As they approached the exit chamber, Clark leaned towards Lois. "I'm starving," he said. "How about Chinese for dinner?" Everything is back to normal, Lois thought. "Chinese is fine," she answered. "As long as it's take-out. I want you to myself tonight." Clark smiled, meeting her eyes. "Take-out, it is," he said, as he opened the door and led her towards the device that would transport them away from the Kryptonian palace, and back to Metropolis. The End -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve (NightSky@erols.com) ; To find out anything you want to know about Superman (in comics, cartoons, television, or movies, from Bud Collyer to Dean Cain) -- check out THE SUPERMAN HOMEPAGE ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 06:32:13 +1100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jenny Stosser Subject: Re: ClassicFic: After the Battle (1/1) In-Reply-To: <199711211633.LAA23073@smtp2.erols.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:34 AM 21/11/97 -0500, Genevieve wrote: >I couldn't resist the chance to repost this -- the only fanfic I've ever >finished. Having three kids does cut seriously into one's computer time, >especially when the oldest one has just discovered a computer game called >"Chip's Challenge." I can't get past level 18 on that! I keep running out of time! -- Jenny Stosser -*- jenerate@ozramp.net.au -*- (Jenerator or MoiAussie on IRC) This message is umop ap!sdn -*- David is 5 and Megan is 2! Photos on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.ozramp.net.au/~jenerate Please Visit! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 06:44:28 +1100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jenny Stosser Subject: And the Rhythm of Life Has a Powerful Beat! (Was:Re: ClassicFic: After the Battle (1/1)) In-Reply-To: <199711211633.LAA23073@smtp2.erols.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:34 AM 21/11/97 -0500, Genevieve wrote: > "Lord Kal-El," Trey said, "These are the papers you >need to sign to authorize Ching to assume the leadership of the >house of El." Clark slid awkwardly off the bed, took the >papers and began to read and sign them. "Puts a Ching-El in your fingers and a Ching-El in your feet!" (Ok, I'll stop singing now ) -- Jenny Stosser -*- jenerate@ozramp.net.au -*- (Jenerator or MoiAussie on IRC) This message is umop ap!sdn -*- David is 5 and Megan is 2! Photos on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.ozramp.net.au/~jenerate Please Visit! ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 14:54:30 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Robin Harris Subject: Re: Swap-Meet: Burbank part 19 of 20 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I didn't get all of this--about a half page. Could you repost, please? >Swap-Meet: Burbank part 19 of 20 >by Debby Stark, Debby@swcp.com > >[previous editing notes apply] > > Huh? Praise yet dissatisfaction? It looked like being a TV >star was harder than the average viewer might think. "Ah, I see." > "Why did you accost those two men?" she nodded at them. > They didn't notice. They had moved deeper into the shadows >of the alcove and were discussing their situation in heated terms. >Clark again overheard no reference to himself; they were on the >verge of blaming each other. Typical. > He looked back at her, all innocence. "Accost them, >Officer..." she was wearing a badge, "Huang?" > "They're very dangerous. We've been watching them and their >friends for days now." > Days?--*days*? Wow! Great! > Ah... "They have friends? They didn't seem very friendly at >all. They could use courses in..." > She was not amused. > He decided he could do worse than to ask, "How many friends >*do* they have?" > "Even if you were Superman," she said, her eyes narrowing, >"I wouldn't tell you." > "Well..." > "Yes, there are rumors going around that there could be >trouble here." Her slightly Chinese accented voice and soft but >serious tone gave her statement a penetrating tone that even one >with as thick a hide as his, he admitted, couldn't miss. She >continued: "I think some of the trouble could be caused by people >who are trying to help." > "Ma'am, *I'm* just trying to find the restrooms." > "Good, you find them, that way," she pointed. In the >direction he had been going. "And you remember," she raised her >thin eyebrows, "I'm watching you, too..." > "Oh, I'm glad, I don't want to get into any trouble..." > This time he tried to look like an innocent citizen simply >searching for relief. He hoped he was enough of an actor to pull >that off. > Sting's heart-felt rendition of a popular labor movement >song came to an end and he introduced the Mayor of Los Angeles. > Dean found the restrooms, a line of white structures, >portable toilets which he had glimpsed earlier, during th ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 17:13:23 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 14 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" "We'll figure it out. Just be patient." Dean scrolled back the screen to read the last message. And, do you have any idea why we're back online again? I was wondering if the almost portal had something to do with it. Of course:) Why didn't I think of that? Well you've never seen the Storm Tamer in action True:) But do I want to? Well I wouldn't make it *my* first choice on a tour of Metropolis I was wondering if that's where the electrical surge comes in. Where? The portal. I was wondering if the VW needs high doses of electricity in both Metropolis and Burbank to open the portal. Sounds reasonable. If Lois touches the VW, and then you, and at the same time we have high levels of electricity both here and there it might just work. This could get tricky. I'll say. How are we going to get the times right? I had a thought about that. We didn't have to get the times right the first time. It just happened. So if Lois and I get to S.T.A.R. Labs tonight, power up the peripherals, have Lois touch the lever and then me. And maybe kiss like the first time? We should make contact? I hope so. There are no guarantees. Dean felt Lois tense at this last statement. "Easy for *him* to say." Lois had her arms crossed. "He doesn't have to get the headache." The headaches really hurt Lois. Try it first without the kissing. Dean pointed to the latest message. "See Clark is concerned about *you*. Probably doesn't trust 'the actor'" He crooked his fingers for visual quotes and grinned up at her. When she visibly relaxed he returned his attention to the screen. You might have to turn off the VibroWhammy altogether and start it from scratch, to get the power surge we need on your end. Got it! Plus I'll have to stay alert for any indication that the portal is starting so it doesn't appear in the middle of a crowd. Sounds like a plan:) Unfortunately, if it doesn't work this time, I'm not sure what we can do. The machine is scheduled for destruction. If necessary, fill Dr. Klein in on the whole story. He's a friend of Superman's, I think he can be trusted. But only as a last resort. You can't let him destroy the machine before we succeed. We'll do our best:) TTYL Lois had been reading over his shoulder through this last exchange. "I think it will work. Don't you?" She was smiling again. "It's going to have to." Dean pushed himself and the chair away from the desk. Lois stepped out of his way, ready to take the chair as soon as he stood up. "Get up, I need to talk to Clark." Dean got out of the chair, and let Lois have access to the laptop so she could get her anxiety out of her system talking to Clark. He went into the kitchen to talk to Martha. Martha made sandwiches and soup for lunch and had it laid out on the table by the time Lois stopped typing and was ready to eat. "We got cut off again, but Clark's fine. Really fine!" Lois was smiling and relaxed. "I'm so glad, honey." Martha gestured to Lois to sit down at the kitchen table. "Now eat. You need to keep up your strength if you're going to have to deal with that machine tonight." When they were finished eating, Lois remarked, "Dr. Klein wanted to see Superman. I think he should now, don't you? You can check out likely places to break in while you're finding out about the Kryptonite." "What if he opens the box? Won't he get suspicious when Superman doesn't feel the Kryptonite?" "You'll have to pretend it does. You *are* an actor." Lois grinned at him. She seemed really buoyant now that she'd talked to Clark and knew he might be back tonight. Dean was fascinated at the change in her mood. Did true love do that? Could it cross time and space to bring comfort? It would be interesting to find out for himself. Anyway, enough contemplation of obscure conundrums, back to the problem at hand. "So how exactly does Clark react when he's in contact with Kryptonite? This is how I do it on the show." Dean clutched his temples and doubled over as if in pain. "You ham!" Lois giggled. "That is *so* over the top." "So what *does* he do?" "Sort of like this." Lois pressed her right hand to her right temple and let the other arm reach as if for support. She shook her head and then put her free hand on the back of a chair before slowly sitting in it. "It's kind of like someone slugged him and he's a little dizzy. You have the right idea, it's just not so dramatic. If there's nothing around for him to use as support he lowers himself to the ground. If he's kind of expecting it, he fights the weakness and flies away the best he can." "Since Superman has been forewarned this time, he'll be fighting it." Dean grinned. "I won't have to act hardly at all." He did a quick change into the Suit and flew off in the direction of S.T.A.R. Labs. Now that he'd been there twice he had no real difficulty finding Dr. Klein's office and flying through the open sliding glass door of his office landed in front of the scientist's desk. "Clark Kent said you wanted to see me. Something about Kryptonite?" "Oh, yes, Superman. We got a new quantity of Kryptonite today. It's different somehow than all the other samples I've seen. I think it might be manufactured artificially. I knew you'd want to know about it. It was found at the Luthor Memorial Breach Park." Oh good, a place he'd actually heard of. "Whereabouts in the park?" "In the quarry. The Department of the Environment has been exploring the park to determine if those rumours of toxic landfill are true. When they dredged the water in the quarry they came up with about a cubic foot of Kryptonite, all in small pieces." "That much?" Good thing it hadn't been the real Clark Kent falling into the quarry's dirty water. This would have killed him! "Yes, I don't think I realized there was that much Kryptonite in existence. That's part of the reason I suspect it's manufactured." "Do you have any idea how it got there?" "I'm afraid not. But now that the area has been cleaned of it, we were wondering if you could check it for clues?" "You're sure that there's none left?" "We had them use that Kryptonite Geiger counter I developed last month. We're pretty sure. Unfortunately, you'll be the final control test." "Oh!" "I need to have you look at the Kryptonite sample I have in the vault in the M.A.D. lab, so you can feel the difference and be able to tell if there's any more in the quarry. I know this is going to be painful for you, but are you willing to help?" Dean hesitated. How was he going to be able to tell if there was any Kryptonite in the quarry? He couldn't feel it the same way that Clark Kent could. "I think so." "Good, then we'll go down to the lab and you can see the sample." Dean followed Dr. Klein to the lab he'd been in earlier when they came to see the VibroWhammy. He saw Dr. Klein retrieve the sample of Kryptonite from the safe and waited until the box was opened before reacting. He put a hand to one temple. He couldn't feel the stone at all. However, using his special vision he was able to see the basic structure of the Kryptonite. He sat down on a lab stool to give the impression that he needed support. "That's fine Dr. Klein, I think I'll recognize it if I come in contact with it." Dr. Klein snapped the lid of the box closed and hastily replaced it in the safe. "I'm sorry, Superman, but I had to let you know what it was like." "Sure, it's no problem." Dean was using his "weakness" to assess the room. He saw that the VibroWhammy was still active and that there were sliding glass doors opening onto a patio at the far end of the room. Dean wanted to know what kind of security they had in this part of the building. "I see you have glass doors over there. How safe is the...Kryptonite from being stolen?" "It's not a problem. There are fifteen foot walls all around this part of the building. There's barbed wire on top of the walls and there are electronic beams covering the inner courtyard after dark to ensure that no-one gets near the building. Only someone who could fly could break into this building." Dr. Klein grinned shrewdly. "Sounds good." Dean got up off the stool. Dean bade Dr. Klein farewell, promised to investigate the quarry and flew out of the sliding glass doors in the lab, ensuring that the door wasn't locked as he left. He flew over the quarry and used his newly found special vision to survey the bottom of the quarry, underneath the water. He didn't find any more Kryptonite. However, he did see signs that the Kryptonite had been planted only recently. In fact he could see the heat impressions of three people in caves just to the left of the quarry. He decided to investigate. It would be best if he could get rid of this trouble before the real Clark Kent returned. After all, without vulnerability to Kryptonite, he was in a *much* better position to deal with the problem. As he floated into the entrance of one of the caves he could hear the culprits talking. "Hey, boss, what you want we should do with Superman when we have him where we want him?" Dean glided just above the surface of the cave floor to avoid making any noise. He could see three people crouched over a fire in the first cavern. He decided to force the action, "Why don't you ask me?" "Superman!" One of the men pulled a large piece of green rock from a box near the fire. "You shouldn't have come here." Dean walked to the man, took the rock from his hand and inspected it. He knew from his memory of his analysis of Dr. Klein's sample that this was from the same batch of Kryptonite. "Why not?" The three men cringed in terror. "Luthor, you said this was the genuine article." The shortest man jumped at and knocked down a tall bald-headed man on the far side of the fire. Luthor looked a bit more like Gene Hackman than John Shea, but not really like any of the actors that had portrayed him. Dean thought quickly to help Clark Kent. "It *is* the genuine article! I'm immune to it now." He dropped the stone onto the fire so none of the three men could retrieve it. "It's amazing what can be done with antihistamines these days." He rounded up the three men and tied them together with pieces of rope he found at the rear of the cave. After he'd delivered Luthor and his cohorts to the nearest police station, he returned to the cave and rounded up all the outstanding samples of Kryptonite, enclosing them in a lead lined box left by the criminals. He flew the box to Dr. Klein at S.T.A.R. Labs, telling him that fortunately, the box was already full and closed when he found it. Then he returned to the Kent house. ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:42:14 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 15 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Lois was really pleased to see him. He basked in her praise of his handling of the quarry situation. He then filled Lois and Martha in on the security situation at S.T.A.R. Labs The three of them decided that Lois and Dean would dress completely in black to help avoid detection, leaving Lois and Clark's wallets and identification at home, and that Dean would carry Lois and float in through the sliding glass doors of the lab containing the VibroWhammy. As they were going out of the door Martha grabbed Dean by the arm. "I just want you to know that it's felt good to have you as an 'almost' son." Martha smiled and hugged him. "Goodbye, and good luck." Feeling choked up Dean returned her hug. Then planting a quick kiss on Martha's cheek, followed Lois out of the door. Metropolis, New Troy 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Friday S.T.A.R. Labs - Experimental Technology Wing They followed through with their plan. Unfortunately, someone had locked the sliding glass doors. Since the lock on these doors was below the security beams, Dean floated up and over the building to Dr. Klein's office on the public access side of the building. Here, without being hindered by security beams, he unlocked the doors to Dr. Klein's office and was able to get the two of them in without alerting any security personnel. There were two white lab coats hanging behind Dr. Klein's office door. They put them on over their black outfits, hoping to disguise themselves as bona fide employees while they walked to the VibroWhammy lab. Dean grabbed Dr. Klein's key ring from its holding place in the filing cabinet before they exited into the hallway. There were very few people in the halls. As Dean sighted someone coming along, they ducked into doorways and offices along the way. They didn't have proper security badges, and didn't want to get questioned before they got to the right lab. Just as they were turning into the hallway containing the lab with the VibroWhammy, someone else came along, whistling slightly out of tune. Dean picked the lock of the nearest door and they found themselves in a file room. There were file cabinets covering all the free wall space and a table and chairs in the centre for ease of reviewing the files. They stood behind the door waiting for the whistler to pass. Unfortunately, this particular room seemed to be the whistler's destination. Dean heard the man slip a key into the lock. He glanced hurriedly around the room. There weren't any hiding places at all. His heart skipped a beat. He had to do something, now! They didn't have much time. "Lois," he whispered, "I'm going to pretend we're here for personal reasons. Trust me." He saw Lois mouth an "o" as her eyes widened and her heart rate increased. He had only seconds to set up the scene! And, he didn't have the advantage of the false eye of the camera lens. He was going to have to use this person's preconceptions to convince him of what was going on. With a quick intake of breath, he pulled Lois around so his own back was to the door and she had her back to the table. He bent over her as she leaned against the table and, using his best on-camera kissing technique, set the scene for the audience walking through the now unlocked door. Sound effects would go a long way to convincing this guy that he'd walked in on two co-workers having a passionate moment in the file room. His heart beating against his ribs, Dean gave it all the acting skill he had. Lois followed his lead, tracing her hands across his back. They both pretended to be fully occupied until the person behind him muttered "Sorry! and quickly closed the door. Dean could hear Lois breathing rapidly. Suddenly he wanted for this to be *real*. Up until now his concern with the optics had obliterated the knowledge that this was *Lois* he was kissing. He wanted to kiss her as a woman, not a participant in a role. But before he could readjust his lips to match hers she was pushing him away. "Is he gone?" Lois straightened her clothes. "I was sure he'd demand to know what we were doing here." "I think he figured out *what* we were doing here and was too embarrassed to ask for details." Dean smiled at her. She was amazingly beautiful. Lois seemed to realize that he wasn't ready to cease the scene just yet. "Dean, the scene is *over*. I'm a married woman! Do you understand?" He swallowed the hurt he felt. He knew what he felt for Lois wasn't real, but this second-hand bond thing was really messing him up. "Yes, I understand." "Is the coast clear now?" Dean raised his glasses, looked into the corridor and couldn't see anyone coming in either direction. "Yes." They made it into the VibroWhammy's lab without further incident. "Do you think we have to turn this off?" Lois was looking at all the buttons and switches on the front of the machine. "I'm sorry. I know it's going to hurt, but, yes, I think we should restart it to give it all the juice we can. The last time, when the machine was already on, it only made a partial portal. Hopefully, turning it off and on will initiate the electrical surge we need!" Dean walked behind the machine and pulled the plug. Seeing the look of surprise on Lois' face he said, "Well, I decided to use the simple approach." The VibroWhammy wound down with a whine. "This is how we did it on the show." "You'd better sit down somewhere comfortable. When I plug this back in you are going to get one doozy of a headache." Dean looked around for a chair with back support and pulled it over for Lois to sit in. Then he plugged the VibroWhammy back in and powered up the peripherals. Lois whimpered. He came and held her head to his shoulder while he saw the VibroWhammy activate itself. She was trembling and clutched at the lapels of the lab coat he was wearing as if her life depended on it. Once the lights on the front of the machine steadied he could hear Lois breathe more deeply and she relaxed her grip on him. "Are you okay?" He so desperately wanted to kiss all the pain away. "Yes, fine." Lois pulled herself upright. "If we're going to do this, I'd better touch the machine." She was pale as she walked slowly to the machine and put out her hand to touch the right lever. Dean followed her and as soon as she let go of the lever, pulled her back to sit on the chair. "Are you sure you're okay?" Dean could feel her trembling. "Yes, and strangely enough I don't feel weak this time." "What did you see?" "I saw a lot of people walking. There were people at the side of the street yelling 'Hello, Dean! Hi, Teri!' I think I was seeing it through Teri's eyes again. I couldn't see Clark." "Sounds like the AIDS walk Teri was going to go on." Dean took off Clark's glasses and the lab coat, walked over to the VibroWhammy and touched the same lever. This time there was a coloured swirl over the machine, slowly coalescing in front of the VibroWhammy." "I'm going to miss you, Lois." He walked over to her side, "I'd like to kiss you goodbye before I go through the portal, is that okay?" Lois nodded her assent and Dean pulled her up out of the chair and clasped her by the waist, bending to press his lips to hers. Lois, mesmerizing, fascinating Lois. Finally, he was kissing her the way he wanted to. Her kiss was intoxicating, dizzying. He felt light-headed and completely, totally happy. Then she was pushing him away. "Enough already! You're a nice guy, Dean," she gave him an apologetic smile, "but you're not Clark." Dean heard a voice say, "Pardon me!" He was still holding Lois by the waist when they both turned to face the portal. Dean was face to face with his almost mirror image. Except that the face in front of him was frowning at him. "Now if you wouldn't mind unhanding my wife, I think you need to get going! I can only hold this open for so long." Dean knew he was gaping at the man. This was *him*, the *real* Superman! There couldn't possibly be any mistake about it. He'd thought Lois had a strong personal quality, but this guy was *phenomenal*. He now knew how Clark Kent was able to work next to Lois and get things done. His forceful personality was more than a match for hers! He must have been standing there with his mouth open for too long, because Clark sounded impatient when he said "I think you should move fast before this thing stops cooperating!" Clark was leaning with his back against one side of the portal, his left arm straight out to the side as if he were holding an elevator door open for someone. Dean dropped his hands to his sides, away from Lois. "I'm sorry...I... No, I'm not! I liked kissing Lois. You're a lucky man." Dean smiled at the memory of her kiss. Clark grinned. "I know. Now if you don't mind..." He used his other hand to indicate the way out. "Oh, right!" Dean grinned in return, his euphoria from kissing Lois and meeting the *real* Superman clearing. Lois gave him a quick goodbye hug. Clark stood away from the open part of the portal, so there would be no chance of them touching this time. Dean grinned and yelling "Goodbye!" over his shoulder dove into the portal. ********************** Metropolis, New Troy 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Friday S.T.A.R. Labs - Experimental Technology Wing Lois saw Clark pull his arm away from the sides of the portal quickly to avoid the snap of the closing edges. However, speed obviously didn't matter because nothing happened. Lois ran towards him to hug him, but when he didn't return her hug asked, "What's wrong, Clark?" Was he upset about her kissing Dean? Clark stared at the portal, "It's not closing!" He walked back to the portal and with all his strength pushed the sides together. Still the portal stubbornly stayed open. The centre of the opening had misted over, but the portal was still there. Clark called out, "Dean, if you can hear me, I need help." There was no sound. "Please, Dean, help me push the portal closed." Then she could see the portal moving closer together under his hands. Putting all his strength into it he pressed the two edges together. Once the sides touched the portal faded and disappeared. Lois ran to him and this time kissed him passionately. She had missed him *so* much! Then to give herself time to get her emotions in check, she walked over to the counter and picked up the glasses and lab coat that Dean had discarded. She turned and handed them to Clark who put them on. "You okay?" Lois was still worried that he might think that she and Dean.... "I'm fine. How about you? Do you still have a headache?" She shook her head and stepped towards him giving him another hug. This one he returned ardently. Under her direction, Clark put the equipment back to the way she and Dean had found it, to the best of her recollection. Then they walked to Dr. Klein's office to return his keys and the lab coats and Clark flew them home. Martha was ecstatic to see them both, but especially Clark. She'd been terrified that something had gone seriously wrong despite the fact that the IRC connection hadn't failed again until after she'd heard from K that Dean had returned safely, about 10 minutes ago. Then the system had gone into a General Protection Fault. Lois tried rebooting the laptop to get rid of the Fault, but to no avail. The Locally Originating InterStellar Communications Link was no more. ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 23:13:20 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: SwapMeet: Metropolis Part 14 of 16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" [97-11-21 The first send of this seems to have gone into cyberspace if you get 14 of 16 twice...mea culpa - MB] "We'll figure it out. Just be patient." Dean scrolled back the screen to read the last message. And, do you have any idea why we're back online again? I was wondering if the almost portal had something to do with it. Of course:) Why didn't I think of that? Well you've never seen the Storm Tamer in action True:) But do I want to? Well I wouldn't make it *my* first choice on a tour of Metropolis I was wondering if that's where the electrical surge comes in. Where? The portal. I was wondering if the VW needs high doses of electricity in both Metropolis and Burbank to open the portal. Sounds reasonable. If Lois touches the VW, and then you, and at the same time we have high levels of electricity both here and there it might just work. This could get tricky. I'll say. How are we going to get the times right? I had a thought about that. We didn't have to get the times right the first time. It just happened. So if Lois and I get to S.T.A.R. Labs tonight, power up the peripherals, have Lois touch the lever and then me. And maybe kiss like the first time? We should make contact? I hope so. There are no guarantees. Dean felt Lois tense at this last statement. "Easy for *him* to say." Lois had her arms crossed. "He doesn't have to get the headache." The headaches really hurt Lois. Try it first without the kissing. Dean pointed to the latest message. "See Clark is concerned about *you*. Probably doesn't trust 'the actor'" He crooked his fingers for visual quotes and grinned up at her. When she visibly relaxed he returned his attention to the screen. You might have to turn off the VibroWhammy altogether and start it from scratch, to get the power surge we need on your end. Got it! Plus I'll have to stay alert for any indication that the portal is starting so it doesn't appear in the middle of a crowd. Sounds like a plan:) Unfortunately, if it doesn't work this time, I'm not sure what we can do. The machine is scheduled for destruction. If necessary, fill Dr. Klein in on the whole story. He's a friend of Superman's, I think he can be trusted. But only as a last resort. You can't let him destroy the machine before we succeed. We'll do our best:) TTYL Lois had been reading over his shoulder through this last exchange. "I think it will work. Don't you?" She was smiling again. "It's going to have to." Dean pushed himself and the chair away from the desk. Lois stepped out of his way, ready to take the chair as soon as he stood up. "Get up, I need to talk to Clark." Dean got out of the chair, and let Lois have access to the laptop so she could get her anxiety out of her system talking to Clark. He went into the kitchen to talk to Martha. Martha made sandwiches and soup for lunch and had it laid out on the table by the time Lois stopped typing and was ready to eat. "We got cut off again, but Clark's fine. Really fine!" Lois was smiling and relaxed. "I'm so glad, honey." Martha gestured to Lois to sit down at the kitchen table. "Now eat. You need to keep up your strength if you're going to have to deal with that machine tonight." When they were finished eating, Lois remarked, "Dr. Klein wanted to see Superman. I think he should now, don't you? You can check out likely places to break in while you're finding out about the Kryptonite." "What if he opens the box? Won't he get suspicious when Superman doesn't feel the Kryptonite?" "You'll have to pretend it does. You *are* an actor." Lois grinned at him. She seemed really buoyant now that she'd talked to Clark and knew he might be back tonight. Dean was fascinated at the change in her mood. Did true love do that? Could it cross time and space to bring comfort? It would be interesting to find out for himself. Anyway, enough contemplation of obscure conundrums, back to the problem at hand. "So how exactly does Clark react when he's in contact with Kryptonite? This is how I do it on the show." Dean clutched his temples and doubled over as if in pain. "You ham!" Lois giggled. "That is *so* over the top." "So what *does* he do?" "Sort of like this." Lois pressed her right hand to her right temple and let the other arm reach as if for support. She shook her head and then put her free hand on the back of a chair before slowly sitting in it. "It's kind of like someone slugged him and he's a little dizzy. You have the right idea, it's just not so dramatic. If there's nothing around for him to use as support he lowers himself to the ground. If he's kind of expecting it, he fights the weakness and flies away the best he can." "Since Superman has been forewarned this time, he'll be fighting it." Dean grinned. "I won't have to act hardly at all." He did a quick change into the Suit and flew off in the direction of S.T.A.R. Labs. Now that he'd been there twice he had no real difficulty finding Dr. Klein's office and flying through the open sliding glass door of his office landed in front of the scientist's desk. "Clark Kent said you wanted to see me. Something about Kryptonite?" "Oh, yes, Superman. We got a new quantity of Kryptonite today. It's different somehow than all the other samples I've seen. I think it might be manufactured artificially. I knew you'd want to know about it. It was found at the Luthor Memorial Breach Park." Oh good, a place he'd actually heard of. "Whereabouts in the park?" "In the quarry. The Department of the Environment has been exploring the park to determine if those rumours of toxic landfill are true. When they dredged the water in the quarry they came up with about a cubic foot of Kryptonite, all in small pieces." "That much?" Good thing it hadn't been the real Clark Kent falling into the quarry's dirty water. This would have killed him! "Yes, I don't think I realized there was that much Kryptonite in existence. That's part of the reason I suspect it's manufactured." "Do you have any idea how it got there?" "I'm afraid not. But now that the area has been cleaned of it, we were wondering if you could check it for clues?" "You're sure that there's none left?" "We had them use that Kryptonite Geiger counter I developed last month. We're pretty sure. Unfortunately, you'll be the final control test." "Oh!" "I need to have you look at the Kryptonite sample I have in the vault in the M.A.D. lab, so you can feel the difference and be able to tell if there's any more in the quarry. I know this is going to be painful for you, but are you willing to help?" Dean hesitated. How was he going to be able to tell if there was any Kryptonite in the quarry? He couldn't feel it the same way that Clark Kent could. "I think so." "Good, then we'll go down to the lab and you can see the sample." Dean followed Dr. Klein to the lab he'd been in earlier when they came to see the VibroWhammy. He saw Dr. Klein retrieve the sample of Kryptonite from the safe and waited until the box was opened before reacting. He put a hand to one temple. He couldn't feel the stone at all. However, using his special vision he was able to see the basic structure of the Kryptonite. He sat down on a lab stool to give the impression that he needed support. "That's fine Dr. Klein, I think I'll recognize it if I come in contact with it." Dr. Klein snapped the lid of the box closed and hastily replaced it in the safe. "I'm sorry, Superman, but I had to let you know what it was like." "Sure, it's no problem." Dean was using his "weakness" to assess the room. He saw that the VibroWhammy was still active and that there were sliding glass doors opening onto a patio at the far end of the room. Dean wanted to know what kind of security they had in this part of the building. "I see you have glass doors over there. How safe is the...Kryptonite from being stolen?" "It's not a problem. There are fifteen foot walls all around this part of the building. There's barbed wire on top of the walls and there are electronic beams covering the inner courtyard after dark to ensure that no-one gets near the building. Only someone who could fly could break into this building." Dr. Klein grinned shrewdly. "Sounds good." Dean got up off the stool. Dean bade Dr. Klein farewell, promised to investigate the quarry and flew out of the sliding glass doors in the lab, ensuring that the door wasn't locked as he left. He flew over the quarry and used his newly found special vision to survey the bottom of the quarry, underneath the water. He didn't find any more Kryptonite. However, he did see signs that the Kryptonite had been planted only recently. In fact he could see the heat impressions of three people in caves just to the left of the quarry. He decided to investigate. It would be best if he could get rid of this trouble before the real Clark Kent returned. After all, without vulnerability to Kryptonite, he was in a *much* better position to deal with the problem. As he floated into the entrance of one of the caves he could hear the culprits talking. "Hey, boss, what you want we should do with Superman when we have him where we want him?" Dean glided just above the surface of the cave floor to avoid making any noise. He could see three people crouched over a fire in the first cavern. He decided to force the action, "Why don't you ask me?" "Superman!" One of the men pulled a large piece of green rock from a box near the fire. "You shouldn't have come here." Dean walked to the man, took the rock from his hand and inspected it. He knew from his memory of his analysis of Dr. Klein's sample that this was from the same batch of Kryptonite. "Why not?" The three men cringed in terror. "Luthor, you said this was the genuine article." The shortest man jumped at and knocked down a tall bald-headed man on the far side of the fire. Luthor looked a bit more like Gene Hackman than John Shea, but not really like any of the actors that had portrayed him. Dean thought quickly to help Clark Kent. "It *is* the genuine article! I'm immune to it now." He dropped the stone onto the fire so none of the three men could retrieve it. "It's amazing what can be done with antihistamines these days." He rounded up the three men and tied them together with pieces of rope he found at the rear of the cave. After he'd delivered Luthor and his cohorts to the nearest police station, he returned to the cave and rounded up all the outstanding samples of Kryptonite, enclosing them in a lead lined box left by the criminals. He flew the box to Dr. Klein at S.T.A.R. Labs, telling him that fortunately, the box was already full and closed when he found it. Then he returned to the Kent house. ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ******************************