From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG0008C" ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 02:19:27 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lorie Y. Crisp" Subject: fanfic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey Fellow FoLCs! I just read a great story on the archive, and I want to recommend it to y'all if you haven't read it. It's "Triangle Built for Two" by Ann McBride. Read it! You'll like it!! Lorie :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 01:43:58 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Irene D." Subject: Re: fanfic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- "Lorie Y. Crisp" wrote: > Hey Fellow FoLCs! I just read a great story on the > archive, and I want to > recommend it to y'all if you haven't read it. It's > "Triangle Built for Two" > by Ann McBride. Read it! You'll like it!! > > Lorie :) Let me add my recommendation to Lorie's. It's an unbelievably good story by a brand new writer! What's even better is that Ann's sequel is almost complete and is just as good. She's been posting it on Zoom's message boards. Irene ===== sirenegold@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 07:11:36 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lorie Y. Crisp" Subject: Re: fanfic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 08/15/2000 3:39:31 AM Central Daylight Time, sirenegold@YAHOO.COM writes: << Let me add my recommendation to Lorie's. It's an unbelievably good story by a brand new writer! What's even better is that Ann's sequel is almost complete and is just as good. She's been posting it on Zoom's message boards. Irene >> Irene, what's the name of the sequel? I've been trying to find it, to no avail. Maybe I just don't know where to look Lorie ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 07:24:03 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: fanfic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/15/00 7:12:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time, SuperLorie@AOL.COM writes: << Irene, what's the name of the sequel? I've been trying to find it, to no avail. Maybe I just don't know where to look >> Lorie and Irene, First of all, let me thank you for the recommendation. :) I'm so glad you all liked the story. Lorie, the sequel is called Growing Pains. It's over on Zoomway's message boards. I think the URL is: http://www.zoomway.com/boards/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true Go to the Fanfic section. You'll have to go back to the bottom of page 9 to find part one and then work your way forward. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 07:49:02 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: Nitpick question for TA MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Powder blue! Oh no! I agonized over this detail for my last story. And I got it wrong. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 14:24:40 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: fanfic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ann wrote: > Lorie, the sequel is called Growing Pains. It's over on Zoomway's message > boards. > I think the URL is: > http://www.zoomway.com/boards/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true > > Go to the Fanfic section. You'll have to go back to the bottom of page 9 to > find part one and then work your way forward. > Or....you could go direct to the Gfic Index at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/7378/lnc.html where you should find direct links to all parts of the stories to click on and save yourself from floundering around the individual boards in search of each segment. Just search the alphabetical listing for the story title or even use the search engine. After all, that's what it's there for, to save you guys hassle! Oh, and I'd add my praise for both Triangle and Growing Pains - and thanks for the next segment, Ann. Yes, you made my day. ;) LabRat :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 15:34:32 GMT-120 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jacomien Freyer Organization: National Library of South Africa Subject: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable Hi FoLCs! It's the first time that I post an e-mail to this group - a bit scary! I'm from South Africa and the 4th series of Lois and Clark is now shown here. I am taping the series - to show to my baby daughter when she gets older, but I missed the previous episodes. Could anyone tell me whether it's available somewhere? :) =B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7= =B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7= =B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7 =B7 Jacomien Freyer e-pos: Jacomien@nlsa.ac.za Senior Bibliotekaris =B7 Die Nasionale Biblioteek van Suid-Afrika Pretoria Afdeling Tel: +27 12 321-8931 =B7 Posbus 397 Faks: +27 12 325-5984 =B7 Pretoria, 0001 =B7 Suid-Afrika = =B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7= =B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7= =B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7=B7 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 09:58:20 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: fanfic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just want to add my recommendation to Lori, Irene and LabRat's. I read this last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Am looking forward to the sequel. Way to go, Ann! Jude ----- Original Message ----- From: Lorie Y. Crisp To: Sent: Monday, August 14, 2000 11:19 PM Subject: fanfic recommendation > Hey Fellow FoLCs! I just read a great story on the archive, and I want to > recommend it to y'all if you haven't read it. It's "Triangle Built for Two" > by Ann McBride. Read it! You'll like it!! > > Lorie :) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 13:09:43 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Joy Sowell Subject: Re: fanfic recommendation Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm going to add my name to this growing list as well. Ann, where is Part 11? ;) ______________________________________________ FREE Personalized Email at Mail.com Sign up at http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 10:40:03 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: JaT Subject: 7 Days of Superman Parts 20 - 22 Comments: To: 7days FanFic <7DaysFic@egroups.com>, BackStep Fiction , Tad Flowers , Marc Gartin , Dave and Debbie Harrison , Melanie , Backstep Operation , Travel Time , Dad Tull , Danny Tull MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sorry for the delay. Title:Seven Days of Superman Author/pseudonym:Mr. D8A Fandom:Seven Days/Lois & Clark:The New Adventures of Superman Rating:PG-13 Status: PARTs 20 - 22 Archive: Yes E-mail address for feedback:mr_d8a@yahoo.com Series/Sequel: 7 Days/l&c:tTNAOS Crossover Other websites:BACKGROUND INFORMATION.SEVEN DAYS (Details supplied by http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/9329/SevenDays Disclaimers: Lois and Clark and the rest of the show's entourage are the property of DC, Warner, ABC, and Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson. Seven Days is the property of UPN. Summary:Superman fails to stop the nuking of Washington DC and gets some help from Frank B. Parker from Operation Backstep. Previously in 7 Days of Superman Part 19 Frank and Keith chit chatted for about an hour on a variety of things. Frank found Keith to be a wonderful source of information about this universe’s past. Frank couldn’t help think to himself, **Man, what a different world these people lived in. No Vietnam War. Solidarity between the US and the USSR. Tricky Dick Nixon as the Father of Racial Unity. It would really be interesting to have lived here during the last thirty years.** “I’m going to try and catch another forty winks.” “I’ll get you some spare pillows and blankets. I’m afraid that the couch is all that is left.” “It’s a lot better than some places I have slept.” And now... Part 20 +++++++++++++++++++++++ Tuesday, October 5, 1999 6:07am EST Metropolis Hyperion Avenue. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Clark came back after one in the morning but was called away twice more during the night. It had been a quiet night, all things considered. It had given him time to think over what may lie ahead. Tempus had always been a thorn in the side of his family. He'd told Tempus once that his ethics would disappear if he ever threatened Lois or Alexander again. And he'd meant it. He did not believe in killing and went out of his way to ensure the safety of those around him, but he would defend his family no matter what the cost. The thought of Tempus hurting Lois or Alexander made his blood boil. Tempus would rue the day that he threatened either of them again. Frank, on the other hand, had spent a fitful night dreaming. His thoughts had been filled with evil time-travelers and parallel worlds. None of them quite like his own. His last dream was the most vivid. He was trapped underground and the air was becoming increasingly fouler. In the distance he could hear someone calling a name. It wasn't his name, but it sounded vaguely familiar. Frank woke with Mickey on his chest, his nose and the dog's snout just inches from each other. Clark came in with a tray with an assortment of breakfast items. He picked Mickey up by the scruff of his neck and set him on the floor. Clark had his best smile on. “Good morning, sleepy head. Did you get plenty of rest or did Mickey ruin that for you?” The reply was mumbled but after years of living with Lois, he new that ’auee,' was 'coffee.' In a flash, Clark brought back a coffee service. Ignored all the garnishings, Frank deftly poured himself a cup and drank it straight. Putting his hand between Clark and his eyes he grumbled, “Could you tone that thing down. You could blind somebody with those teeth!” Clark pressed his lips together in a cheery smile and thought, **Just like Lois.** “Better. Morning to you too, Mr. Kent.” “Please, call me Clark. Feeling a little more human?” Holding the coffee cup up, Frank nodded, “Yes. This is the best coffee I have ever tasted. What brand is it?” “It’s a blend that I get down in Columbia, South America. It’s not too expensive.” “Especially when you can fly down yourself and avoid all the import taxes.” Clark blushed a little at that. “I still pay the local taxes. It’s not like it’s duty free.” “Still cheaper than picking it up at the local grocery store, though." “True. And it definitely came in handy while Lois was pregnant. She had the *strangest* cravings. Swiss chocolate, Brazilian cashews, and German sauerkraut, together. It was disgusting….” About that time a riot of noise came barreling down the stairs in the form of a dark headed, three year old boy. He leapt into Clark’s arms and gave him a big wet kiss. “Good Morning, Daddy!” “Good Morning, Squirt! We have company this morning. This is…” Clark didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. Alex had turned and was already checking out the stranger. He looked at Frank closely, then looked at the picture on the mantel, then back a Frank. Finally he finished his father’s sentence for him, ”Mr. Carper! What happ’n’d to you! You look young!” Frank was dumbfounded. Clark came to his rescue. “This is Mr. *Parker*, Alexander. You’re right though. He does look like a younger version of Mr. Carper.” As Clark was saying this he walked over to the mantel and took down the picture in question. Crossing back to where Frank was standing he handed the picture to him. “This was taken about five years ago, outside Mom & Dad’s house. The Carper’s have been taking care of the place since Mom made it into Congress. Do you have any relatives in the Kansas area?” Frank took a long look at the picture. It really did look like a picture of him, if you added twenty-five years. In many ways he looked like his father did before he died. Silvery-gray with pure white at the temples and wrinkles gained from years of exposure to the sun. But it was the eyes that really sealed the idea. They looked just like his. The same was true of the woman that stood next to Mr. Carper. He'd seen those eyes a hundred times. He had seen them in the face of the woman he admired most in the world, Dr. Olga Vukavitch. The hair was in a tight perm, but you couldn't mistake the eyes behind the glasses. There was a scar across her left cheek. **I wonder what caused that?** Frank came back to the present and gave his answer, "None that I know of, but I would sure like to meet these people." Clark took the picture up in his hand and thoughtfully looked at it. One time friends had become strangers to the Man of Steel. "So would I. So would I." Part 21 +++++++++++++++++++++++ Tuesday, October 5, 1999 7:37am EST Metropolis Hyperion Avenue. +++++++++++++++++++++++ ”She has the right to know! And not because she's my mother!" "How many people do you really think she will be able to save in less than a day? Ten, maybe twenty thousand? Millions died in the last timeline..." "In *your* universe!" Frank slapped the table with open hands, "*YES,* in *my* universe! We don't even know if Tempus has even targeted DC this time. This is a *whole* new universe with a *whole* new set of rules! Do you want your mother to be branded a fool or worse for evacuating the wrong section of the East Coast?! All we do know, thanks to the Caped Wonder, is that there is a force field around a quarter mile section of the Isla de la Juventud, just off the coast of Cuba. The *same* island and the same area that we found the slagged metal ring in my universe. All that proves is that Tempus is here!" Before Clark had an opportunity to continue his argument, Lois rounded on him, "I'm still not happy that you went, on your own, down to Cuba, without telling any of us! What if it had been a trap! What if Tempus had been ready for you? Sometimes, Clark, I wish you'd be more careful." Lois turned back to the counter and stared at her coffee cup. Clark quickly got up and wrapped his arms around her. "You're right, I should have told you where I was going. Maybe even brought Keith with me, but its not like I got anywhere near the little island. I hovered at about two miles and scanned the area. I picked up the field's thermal signature as it repelled the rain as it struck the field. Besides, all I could see was sand and trees. With a little x-ray vision I noticed some devices around the perimeter of the force field, but they didn’t appear to be projecting the field itself. There’s an industrial sized time window in the middle of the field, which I suspect is also the source of the force field but we can’t be sure until we get a closer look." Clark slowly turned Lois in his arms and looked deep into her eyes. He could still see the worry in them, but he could also see forgiveness as well. Olga paced the floor as she pondered this latest bit of information, and sat down in disgust, "The problem is that we are dealing with a man that has access to far greater technology than we do. The fact that it generates heat at the point of contact does not bode well for an easy entry." Frank was a man of action and all this talk was getting on his nerves, "I think we've sat here long enough. I say we go down to this little islandette and get Tempus before he knows what hit him. We have the jump on him by a day and a half." Lois was in complete agreement, “That’s the spirit! It time to teach that time-traveling travesty a thing or two!” Keith had been standing back, sipping his coffee, watching the whole thing. Leave it to Lois to jump in where angels feared to tread. Even though she had become more careful since Alexander's arrival, she still took chances. Especially since she started gaining Kryptonian abilities. She couldn't catch bullets and she couldn't fly, but she could hold her own at a brawl at Ace 'o Clubs any night. Keith suspected that she was pregnant again, but she hadn't told Clark and probably wouldn't till this was all over. He just shook his head and put his two cents in, "I will stay with Agent Smith to guard Alexander. Additional agents will be stationed throughout the house. I realize that Tempus can come into any room without using a door, but at least that way we should have a chance if he tries something." "In the last time line, Tempus didn't go after Lois or Ivan until after he had killed Superman. Let's just hope that this universe's Tempus is thinking along the same lines." "Amen to that, Frank. Amen to that." +++++++++++++++++++++++ Tuesday, October 5, 1999 8:39 am EST Gulf of Mexico +++++++++++++++++++++++ In October of 1963, Hurricane Flora hit Haiti and Cuba killing thousands and causing major property damage. The USAs sent hundreds of relief workers and supplies to the stricken islands. Many businesses freely gave thousands of dollars of building materials and food to help the effort. Some even went so far as to send representatives along with their supplies to ensure that they got where they were supposed to go. While there, they scoped out the business potential of Cuba. Several resort owners found a new home. Within the following decades, resort after resort was built on the island. Following them were the casinos and other like minded endeavors. By the 90's, Cuba outstripped Las Vegas and Reno as the gambling center of the world. At night, its lights can be seen from the tip of Florida's peninsula. It was nicknamed the Neon Isle that Never Sleeps. The Isla de la Juventud shared a similar fate, though it had larger areas of undeveloped coastline. One place in particular seemed to attract no one. It was in the same quarter mile area that Clark had found to be covered by the force field. That is where the foursome was headed. If anyone had looked up they would have seen a curious sight. Three people flying arm-in-arm through the sky. Superman had Frank under one arm and Olga under the other. What they didn't see was that there was a fourth, Lois, riding on his back with her arms around his neck. The foursome landed just outside the force field area. Shaking her head, Olga had a perplexed look on her face, "Are you sure that this is the right location? I don't see anything and it seems to me that there's nothing to be gained here." Frank was in complete agreement with her, "Yeah, no wonder they never built around this area. The land isn't even fit to build on. It’s a barren wasteland." Clark regarded both of them and then looked at what they were looking at. It appeared to be a perfectly normal beach with some rocky outcroppings and a nice dune. The surf lapped lazily up the immediate coastline. It looked perfect to build a beach house. He turned to Lois and asked her opinion. "I don't know. It's like I'm seeing two different images superimposed over each other. One is of a normal beach, with grass, trees, and sandy beach. The other looks like a wasteland, barren and inhospitable. There's also a curious undertone of a voice, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It seems even below my threshold of hearing." Clark tuned into the sub-harmonic frequencies and discovered that there was messages being broadcast in a continuous loop. And they were in Tempus’ voice. {The land isn’t even fit to build on.} {Are you sure this is the right location?} {It’s a barren wasteland.} {There’s nothing to be gained here.} {You should really leave this place.} “We should really leave this place.” Olga turned and started to walk away, with Frank following closely behind, both somewhat trance like. Clark super sped in front of them and grasped them hard by the arms. “Fight it! These are just subliminal messages! Come on, snap out of it!” The two struggled to fight what they were hearing. The source of the messages were the string of devices around the perimeter of the field that he had spotted earlier. Using his heat vision he zapped as many as he could find. He also checked out the time window. It was strongly anchored in the ground several feet up and angled toward the sky. Tempus was nowhere to be seen. Olga and Frank showed signs of recovering from the subliminal onslaught. “Good work, sweetheart! I don’t hear the undertone anymore, but I can still see two images. Well, one out of two isn’t bad.” “Let’s see what I can do about this force field.” Clark reached out and touched the field. It was warm to the touch and offered some resistance. As he pressed his hand further into the field the temperature at the point of contact became exponentially higher, as well as did the resistance. Soon Olga, Frank and eventually Lois, had to fall back away, the heat became so great. The edges of Clark’s cape started to catch on fire. Clark was exerting enough forward push to move a battleship and yet was not able to get more than a foot into the perimeter. Finally, he backed off. “That is definitely going to be a problem.” Clark started to speed-search the entire area and could find no way in. “Maybe Dr. Klie…” Lois never got a chance to finish her thought. **NANNY!! HELP! DADDYYyyyyyy---!!** The telepathic scream nearly knocked Lois and Clark to their knees. Taking only a fraction of a second to recover, Clark was gone, leaving multiple sonic booms in his wake. But he knew he was too late. Alexander was gone. Part 22 +++++++++++++++++++++++ Tuesday, October 5, 1999 8:08am CST Smallville Kent Farm +++++++++++++++++++++++ Lex Ellison lay writhing in the middle of the room, screaming, his hands grabbing the sides of his head, his eyes wide with the horror of images that only he could see. His mother, Lola, was holding on to him as best as she could. She didn’t know what was happening to her boy, but it was scaring the life out of her. It started with Alexander’s telepathic scream. They had both heard the scream, but it had triggered something in Lex that had sent him into spasms. First, he said his head hurt. Then, he could no longer hold himself up on his crutches. Then, he just kept repeating the word ‘no’ over and over again. The scream had brought Lex memories that had not been there before. Thirty years worth to be exact. Suddenly, everything that had happened to him in his life was in duplicate. The new set was more disturbing and angst-filled than the first set. Something had changed, and it was hitting him like a tidal wave of emotions and images. He remembered it all. Yet, it had just happened. His life had been rewritten. Kevin Anderson watched, unable to do anything. His already heavily scarred face twisted as he agonized over the fate of the young man. He didn’t understand what was going on. He knew something was wrong. He could feel it building in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Then, it struck him. Something must have changed. Lex’s body collapsed in Lola’s arms, his chest heaving as if he had just ran a marathon. His eyes still had that haunted look about them. After several minutes, Lex disentangled himself from his mother’s arms and started to drag his crippled body over to were Kevin was seated. As quickly as his aged and scarred body would allow, Kevin got up and met Lex halfway. They looked into each other’s faces. They had both been there, yet Lex had seen it all, and Kevin could only imagine what it must have been like. Both said the same name in a harsh whisper, “Nanny.” The Carper’s, and even Lola, looked at the two of them. Lola spoke up first, “What about Nanny? She died trying to protect you.” Lex looked up at his mother’s face, tears streaming down his face for the one-time friend, “NO! She wasn’t supposed to die! The jacket had cleared the window the first time, and the explosion never reached the room. She wasn’t supposed to die today. And Kevin, look at your face. How long have you been that badly scarred?” Kevin looked at Lex like he had just slapped him. With effort and a somewhat slurred voice he responded to his longtime young friend, “Thinthe that day that Temputh took you. I wath terribly burned by the plathma grenade. It mutht have been terrible to thee the thingth that you thaw that day. But you thould know all thith.” “That’s my point. Until just moments ago, I didn’t! You didn’t have a scarred face or a lisp.” “Then how come you remember it and the rest of us don’t?” “I know. He must have already been in the time window, Fred. He must have been in contact with the energies of the window just as the change occurred.” “Let’s just hope nothing else changes, or we may never be able to set things straight. We’ll just have to remember to save Nanny, too.” +++++++++++++++++++++++ Tuesday, October 5, 1999 9:04am EST Metropolis Hyperion Avenue. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Agents Jackson and Smith were quietly discussing the different scenarios that Tempus might use to get at Alexander. They had come up with several good counterattacks. Their charge was sitting in the middle of his room playing with his Lex-a-Chu and Tara-Chu action figures when the sound of a hundred angry vacuum cleaners split the air. Alex covered his ears and Keith and Nan stood there taken aback by the sight. Nan had never seen a time window before and Keith had only seen videos. The real thing was a breathtaking experience. Keith recovered first and made a dive for Alexander. He reached him just as Tempus stepped through. “Keith! So good to see you!” Tempus spotted Nan, “*Who* is this ravishing beauty?” “The name’s Smith. Nancy Smith. And I’m about to clean your clock, time-traveler!” Nancy charged at Tempus, fully prepared to knock him back into whatever century he came from. But he was ready for her. Tempus tossed a small object at her. She bobbed and weaved to avoid it, but it still landed on her, attaching itself to her jacket. It emitted an electronic chirp. Then another. Then another. Each one was faster than the one before it. “It’s amazing what you can find at Mercs R Us. That little dandy is a plasma grenade. It has a fifteen second timer. When it goes off, it will incinerate or ignite anything within a thirty foot radius. I expect it will renovate a large portion of this house quite soon.” Without hesitation, Nan ran for the nearest window. The chirping was getting faster. She was trying to remove her jacket as she ran. Finally, she got it off. She balled it up and tossed it at the window. Tempus took this opportunity to snatch Alexander. Hoisting the kid over his shoulder, he made his way to the time window. At the same time Keith made a grab for Alexander’s outstretched hands. Just barely grasping Alexander, Keith was able to pull Tempus off balance, causing him to drop Alexander. Both men had Alexander in their grip, Tempus on one side of the portal, Keith on the other. Alexander was beginning to know what the rope felt like. The jacket had nearly cleared the sill. A random breeze blew the jacket sleeve in just the right manner to allow it to snag on a nail that had worked its way loose after all these years. Nan raced to the window to loosen it. The chirps were almost indistinguishable from one another. Keith was losing the tug-o-war. The chirping had changed to a constant tone. Nan had just freed the sleeve and let go. She was already in the process of turning, when the tone ceased. It was enough to distract Keith, and he lost his grip. It went off. As Alexander was being pulled through the time window, he saw the look on her face as the orange ball of fire consumed her. She only had time to open her mouth, but none to scream. In the blink of an eye, she was gone, incinerated into nothingness. In his mind, he screamed over and over for his father. Keith, on the other hand, missed seeing her go by a couple of heartbeats. Picking himself off the floor, he turned, only to see the fireball heading his way. He leapt through the time window. He had just cleared it when the plasma ball hit. A searing jet of plasma made its way through the closing portal and hit Keith along one side of his body, quickly burning away clothes, hair, and flesh. Out of his good eye, he thought he saw a beach. Then, he blacked out. ~*~ ===== The D8As - AIM id is mrd8astl Matthew 23:37-39, Romans 1:19-32, 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 Work in progress: Seven Days of Superman-Table of contents can be found at http://www.zoomway.com/boards/ubbhtml/Forum5/HTML/003005.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 16:27:19 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: fanfic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks to all who are recommending my story. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 16:35:00 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Alexis W." Subject: "ADITLOM" (RPG) Forty-second Installment, Week #43 (Part 1 of 1) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This is the forty-second installment of my rpg on yahoo called, "A Day in the Life of Metropolis." Go to: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/aditlom Public and private feedback welcomed! =) ===================== Cast List: Bruce Wayne: Sam F. Sam Falcon: Sam F. * * * * WEEK #43 (8/7 to 8/13) Re: Back in the Manor Bruce followed her in and closed the door. "Go to the office first and then take Miss Lane back to the manor, Alfred." "Of course, Sir." He then started driving them to the Wayne Enterprises' home office. >tbc< * * * * Re: Seattle She opened the door and stepped into the room. A woman was lying in the bed with her eyes closed. Sam just stood in front of the door. "Who's there?" "No one important," she replied as she moved further into the room. "How did you know?" "Tom called. Did you expect him not to?" "I wasn't sure you'd come." "I'm not a cold hearted %itch." "I didn't say that." "I bet someone else did." "He doesn't talk about you much." "The feelings mutual." "I'm here for you. Tom promised to try and keep him away. I don't want to run into him, I might say something that I won't regret." "You're here for me? Why?" "I don't hate you like I hate him." "Isn't that a bit harsh?" "When you feel like you can't trust your own . . .I don't have to answer for the way I feel." >tbc< * * * * Look for Week #44 coming to a PC near you! Enjoy! PS, sorry so short! Alexis ;-.) {"ADITLOM" arbitrator} "You're a strange one, Clark Kent." (Lois) "Am I?" (Clark) "Yeah. But I think I've got you figured out." (Lois) "Really?" (Clark) "Uh huh." (Lois) "Didn't take you long." (Clark) "That's my business, looking beyond the external." (Lois) {Lnc, Pilot} ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 17:57:09 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi Jaconian: Welcome to the List! I know very little about the availability of tapes. There has been discussion that formats differ depending on whether you are in the US and Canada, or England, Australia, NZ, or Europe. Many people are on holiday right now, so it may take a while for you to get an answer. I wanted to reply because my daughter spent a year in your beautiful country where she met her husband who was born there. They both live in the U.S. now, but return to visit his parents frequently. My husband and I traveled from Johannesburg via Kruger National Park, Durban, Giant's Castle, Hogsback, Knysna and Montague to visit her in Cape Town. I hope you find the tapes. :) Jude ----- Original Message ----- From: Jacomien Freyer To: Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 8:34 AM Subject: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series Hi FoLCs! It's the first time that I post an e-mail to this group - a bit scary! I'm from South Africa and the 4th series of Lois and Clark is now shown here. I am taping the series - to show to my baby daughter when she gets older, but I missed the previous episodes. Could anyone tell me whether it's available somewhere? :) ······································································ · Jacomien Freyer e-pos: Jacomien@nlsa.ac.za Senior Bibliotekaris · Die Nasionale Biblioteek van Suid-Afrika Pretoria Afdeling Tel: +27 12 321-8931 · Posbus 397 Faks: +27 12 325-5984 · Pretoria, 0001 · Suid-Afrika ······································································ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 22:13:11 CDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jessi Mounts Subject: Re: OT: LAFF Report, part two, long post Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful LAFF reports. Even if you are causing me to turn several shades of green , this really is the next best thing to being there. Looking forward to the day when I can join you in person! Jessi ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 06:29:04 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: OT: Um... hi? This is OT, but I hope you FoLC won't mind... just wanted to take a break from sorting laundry (:P) to say that I'm back from Canada and slowly working my way through email etc. More importantly, to say that I had a great time and really enjoyed meeting Irene and Karen and Kathy at our London (Ontario ) FoLC Fest - hey, it may not be LAFF, but we had fun! And Carol, it was great talking to you too. Pictures may get posted at some point, once my technical advisor has recovered from jet-lag and downloaded them from the camera, and I've vetted them. ;) Thanks especially to Irene (and Doug, Kathleen and Lloyd) for your friendliness and wonderful hospitality; to Kathy for driving up the dreaded 401, and Karen for making a couple of trips across. And congratulations too, on your team winning the Ontario Provincial championships! Yayy!!! Wendy ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 06:51:06 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Irene D." Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- Wendy Richards wrote: > This is OT, but I hope you FoLC won't mind... just > wanted to take a break > from sorting laundry (:P) to say that I'm back from > Canada and slowly > working my way through email etc. More importantly, > to say that I had a > great time and really enjoyed meeting Irene and > Karen and Kathy at our > London (Ontario ) FoLC Fest - hey, it may not be > LAFF, but we had fun! > And Carol, it was great talking to you too. Pictures > may get posted at some > point, once my technical advisor has recovered from > jet-lag and downloaded > them from the camera, and I've vetted them. ;) > > Thanks especially to Irene (and Doug, Kathleen and > Lloyd) for your > friendliness and wonderful hospitality; to Kathy for > driving up the dreaded > 401, and Karen for making a couple of trips across. > And congratulations > too, on your team winning the Ontario Provincial > championships! Yayy!!! > > > Wendy Wendy, I'm glad that you're home safely! I hope that your flight was uneventful. I think I've figured out how Wendy is so prodigious as a writer. She doesn't sleep! Her flight left here at 6 pm our time to arrive at apr. 6 am Wendy's time. She and John calculated that they would arrive home apr. 9 am their time or 4 am our time. The time on this msg was apr. 6 am our time or 11 am their time. She hasn't slept! That's the only explanation for her ability to multi-task. Truly a Superwoman! (g) Wendy, it was a delight to have you visit and to do the 'tourist thing' with you. We had a lot of fun. You and John are welcome in our home anytime. How about next week? (g) It was also lovely to have the opportunity to visit with Kathy B. Kathy, I've wanted to meet you for a long time and you didn't disappoint. You surprised me, but you didn't disappoint. I always thought our list mom, the editor of that fantastic, well-run archive would be older, hair graying, pulled back into a bun - somewhat on the quiet side... Nope! She's young, looks even younger, and is one the bubbliest people I've ever met. It was a treat to visit with you, Kathy. It was also great to talk on the phone with Carol and to have Karen stay for a few days. I've known Karen for about a year and a half, but it was nice to get the opportunity to get to know her better. And congrats for winning the Ontario Provincial Championships Baseball Tournament. We're all keeping our fingers crossed for the Nationals. My only complaint about the last week and a half - it went by far too quickly! Take care, Irene ===== sirenegold@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 12:23:41 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Organization: http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam/ Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Welcome home, Wendy :) I'm delighted that you had such a great trip ... and not a bit surprised that you got along so well with the FOLCs you met. I'm mighty envious that you got to have so much fun without me! So get some sleep, then get back to work... we missed you :) -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ "SF had opened a whole new world to her. A galaxy, a universe of new worlds. While the other little girls had played with Barbie dolls, Sherrine played with Lummox and Poddy and Arkady and Susan Calvin. While they went to the malls, she went to Trantor and the Witch World. While they wondered what Look was in, she wondered about resource depletion and nuclear war and genetic engineering. Escape literature, they called it." --_Fallen Angels_ by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 15:05:41 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carolyn Schnall Subject: Re: OT: LAFF Report, part two, long post In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful LAFF reports. Even if you >are causing me to turn several shades of green , this really is the next >best thing to being there. Looking forward to the day when I can join you >in person! > >Jessi >________________________________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Hi Jessi: So glad you liked the reports:) Carolyn P.S. It's not easy being green! ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 16:32:12 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Ward Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? In-Reply-To: <20000817135106.13494.qmail@web901.mail.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Hey, Everyone! :) It's been a while since I've posted, but I couldn't let these go by without a reply. ;) Okay, I know it's OT, but if you were in my place, could you resist? ;) > > Thanks especially to Irene (and Doug, Kathleen and >> Lloyd) for your >> friendliness and wonderful hospitality; I must second this! :) In case you all didn't know, Irene has got to be one of the most hospitable people I've ever met. Over the past week, she let me spend 3 nights at her house. It was better than the fanciest of hotels, let me tell you! The service was phenomenal, not to mention the accomodations! ;) > > And congratulations >> too, on your team winning the Ontario Provincial > > championships! Yayy!!! Ah shucks, Wendy. Thanks! :) I'm still in shock. ;) And for all those who haven't had the chance to find out for themselves, yes Wendy is as nice as she seems in her email -- even more so, actually (if you can believe that!). Not to mention, she's an absolute blast to hang around with! :) We're certainly going to miss you on this side of the ocean (I'm a bit envious of all you UKer's at the moment ). >Wendy, I'm glad that you're home safely! I hope that >your flight was uneventful. Me too! ;) >Nope! She's young, looks even younger, and is one the >bubbliest people I've ever met. It was a treat to >visit with you, Kathy. LOL! :) I hear ya, Irene. ;) I have to admit, I was also surprised by Kathy (who, in turn, was surprised to find I wasn't a blonde ) -- it was most definitely a pleasant surprise. Meeting our wonderful list mom, and editor-in-chief of the fanfic archive was definitely a highlight of my summer vacation! :) Hopefully, you'll consider visiting our part of Canada again sometime, Kathy! :) >It was also great to talk on the phone with Carol... I must add my agreement here too! :) I know it was only a short conversation, but it was long enough to know that I'd really like to meet you someday, Carol! :) You just *have* to find your way up to our part of the province sometime! :) >I've known Karen >for about a year and a half, but it was nice to get >the opportunity to get to know her better. Thanks, Irene! :D I feel the same way! :) I was sorry to go! >And congrats for winning the Ontario Provincial >Championships Baseball Tournament. We're all keeping >our fingers crossed for the Nationals. Thanks again, Irene! :) I'll take all the finger-crossings I can get. ;) >My only complaint about the last week and a half - it >went by far too quickly! I hear ya! :) Not only am I now deprived of the company of three wonderful FoLCs (four, if you count telephone conversations ), I'm back working full time. Oh well . . . it at least makes me all the more eager for my next FoLCfest. ;) Take care, everyone, and thanks for listening . . . er, reading! :) Karen :) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 21:42:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Ward Subject: Question for a fic! :) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Hey, all! :) Imagine that -- me posting twice in one day! ;) Anyhow, I was working on my latest fic (yes, you did read that right ), and realized I need a question answered. Now, I know I could have looked up the answer easily enough, but I thought I'd offer this chance for an all-expense paid trip into the credits of my story (well, maybe that's not much of a prize . . . what can I say? I'm just lazy ). ;) My question is: How much would a medium to large Siberian tiger weigh? Now, I know that there's at least one aspiring veterinarian on this list . . . perhaps there are some exotic animal buffs as well . . . ? ;) Thanks in advance for any help you can give me! :) Well, it's back the drawing (er . . . writing?) board for me! ;) TTFN, Karen :) -- http://www.geocities.com/kamikaze_karen ward8120@mach1.wlu.ca KamikazeK on IRC ICQ #32238251 "The word genius isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." -Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback and sports analyst ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 21:54:18 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genine Murray Subject: Re: Question for a fic! :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/17/00 9:36:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ward8120@MACH1.WLU.CA writes: > My question is: How much would a medium to large Siberian tiger > weigh? Hi Karen!! :) How are you??? Long time no write! Glad you seem to be doing well from posts I have seen here! Also glad to hear you are working more on that fic, you know I for one can't wait to read it!! ;) Anyway, in response to your question ... from what I know and was able to confirm with a tiny bit of research ... a male Siberian tiger's weight can range from 419 to 675 pounds (180 to 306 kg), and a female Siberian tiger's weight can range from 221 to 368 pounds (100 to 167 kg). Obviously quite a size difference between genders, so the medium or large part of your question would have to be relevant to your own gender preference for the tiger. ;) Also, just in case you are interested in size (legnth) also, a male averages from 106 to 130 inches long, while a female is only 95 to 108 inches ... I'm assuming this is not including the tail. I hope this helps! Drop me an e-mail when you get a chance, it's been way too long! Take care!! :) Genine SuperGem4@aol.com GMurray122@aol.com SuperGEM on IRC ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 19:42:35 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Irene D." Subject: Re: Question for a fic! :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Karen, you're not going to believe it, but I just bought Lloyd a book about wild animals today and he was reading me all the facts! A male Siberian tiger weighs apr. 500 - 600 pounds. Females are in the 300 lb. range. Irene --- Karen Ward wrote: > Hey, all! :) > > Imagine that -- me posting twice in one day! ;) > > Anyhow, I was working on my latest fic (yes, you did > read that right > ), and realized I need a question answered. Now, > I know I could > have looked up the answer easily enough, but I > thought I'd offer this > chance for an all-expense paid trip into the credits > of my story > (well, maybe that's not much of a prize . . . what > can I say? I'm > just lazy ). ;) > > My question is: How much would a medium to large > Siberian tiger > weigh? Now, I know that there's at least one > aspiring veterinarian > on this list . . . perhaps there are some exotic > animal buffs as well > . . . ? ;) > > Thanks in advance for any help you can give me! :) > > Well, it's back the drawing (er . . . writing?) > board for me! ;) > > TTFN, > Karen :) > > -- > http://www.geocities.com/kamikaze_karen > ward8120@mach1.wlu.ca > KamikazeK on IRC > ICQ #32238251 > "The word genius isn't applicable in football. > A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." > -Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback and sports analyst ===== sirenegold@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 22:42:32 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Ward Subject: Re: Question for a fic! :) In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >In a message dated 8/17/00 9:36:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, >ward8120@MACH1.WLU.CA writes: > >> My question is: How much would a medium to large Siberian tiger >> weigh? > >Hi Karen!! :) Genine!!!! :D I had a feeling you'd come through for me on this one . . . ;) >How are you??? Great! :) How about you? Still aspiring to be a veterinarian? :) (BTW, I suggest continuing this particular thread privately ). >Long time no write! I know! And as many people (most of which are on this list) would agree, I've been rather slow on email lately . . . well, okay, I'm several *months* behind. I'm working on it, though. ;) >Glad you seem to be doing well from >posts I have seen here! Also glad to hear you are working more on that fic, >you know I for one can't wait to read it!! ;) Ah shucks . . . . . . thanks! :) >Anyway, in response to your question ... from what I know and was able to >confirm with a tiny bit of research ... a male Siberian tiger's weight can >range from 419 to 675 pounds (180 to 306 kg), and a female Siberian tiger's >weight can range from 221 to 368 pounds (100 to 167 kg). Obviously quite a >size difference between genders, so the medium or large part of your question >would have to be relevant to your own gender preference for the tiger. ;) >Also, just in case you are interested in size (legnth) also, a male averages >from 106 to 130 inches long, while a female is only 95 to 108 inches ... I'm >assuming this is not including the tail. > >I hope this helps! Wow! That helps bunches! :) That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for! Thanks so much!! :) >Drop me an e-mail when you get a chance, it's been way >too long! Take care!! :) Will do! :) Don't be a stranger yourself, eh? ;) Thanks again! :) TTFN, Karen :) -- http://www.geocities.com/kamikaze_karen ward8120@mach1.wlu.ca KamikazeK on IRC ICQ #32238251 "The word genius isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." -Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback and sports analyst ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 22:45:05 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Ward Subject: Re: Question for a fic! :) In-Reply-To: <20000818024235.5340.qmail@web902.mail.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >Karen, you're not going to believe it, but I just >bought Lloyd a book about wild animals today and he >was reading me all the facts! Wow, Irene! Talk about irony! Your timing couldn't have been better! ;) >A male Siberian tiger weighs apr. 500 - 600 pounds. >Females are in the 300 lb. range. Thanks so much! :) Now I can be certain that I'm definitely in the right range! :) Take care, Karen :) -- http://www.geocities.com/kamikaze_karen ward8120@mach1.wlu.ca KamikazeK on IRC ICQ #32238251 "The word genius isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." -Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback and sports analyst ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 18:32:37 +0100 Reply-To: "yconnell@ukf.net" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: yconnell Subject: Re: Question for a fic! :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > My question is: How much would a medium to large Siberian tiger > weigh? Now, I know that there's at least one aspiring veterinarian > on this list . . . perhaps there are some exotic animal buffs as well > . . . ? ;) > LOL! Karen - what a question! I think I know the fic you're asking the question for, and it's very good news to hear you're working on it again :) Oh, sorry I can't give you an answer - I've never weighed a tiger ;) Yvonne (yconnell@ukf.net) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 18:01:13 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Fanfic Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Could someone please tell me the name of the song everyone always sings on New Year's at midnight? For the life of me, I can't remember what it is. THANKS! Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 20:12:26 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Katie Johnson Subject: Re: Fanfic Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Isn't it called Auld Lang Syne? Katie Johnson ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 20:23:22 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Ward Subject: Re: Fanfic Question In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Hey, Erin, et al.! :) >Could someone please tell me the name of the song everyone always sings on New >Year's at midnight? For the life of me, I can't remember what it is. > >THANKS! What do you know? A question I think I actually know the answer to, and I might actually be the first one to answer it! I'm on some kind of role. ;) Dang, I just checked my mail and Katie beat me! I'll just confirm what she said . . . ;) I do believe the song you're referring to is called "Auld Lang Syne". At least, that's the one that comes to my mind. Hope that helps, Erin! :) TTFN, Karen :) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 20:18:52 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Katie Johnson Subject: Re: Fanfic Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Anything to keep her writing, right, Karen? Katie ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 18:15:04 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Fanfic Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Auld Lang Syne? Yes! Thank you, Deb, Katie and Karen!! I was beginning to go insane trying to think of the name of it. Well, that was the very last detail I needed to finish my 'Darkest Hour.' Whew! The mostrosity turned out to be almost a meg. I'll see if I can twist my beta reader's arm to read it this weekend (IF she has time. I don't want to step on anyone's toes ;), and if so, I'll post the rest of it this week. Remind me in the future not to pull an all nighter to rewrite scenes that were probably already fine. I didn't do well today playing mom on only 2 hours worth of sleep. Now, where's my bed... ;) Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 20:28:17 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Ward Subject: Re: Fanfic Question In-Reply-To: <9.98ca80a.26cf2c6c@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >Anything to keep her writing, right, Karen? Absolutely, Katie! Couldn't have said it better myself! ;) TTYL, Karen :) -- http://www.geocities.com/kamikaze_karen ward8120@mach1.wlu.ca KamikazeK on IRC ICQ #32238251 "The word genius isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." -Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback and sports analyst ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 22:10:47 -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: OT: Um... hi? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Wow, what a nice thread to come across as I'm catching up with the listserv. :) I, too, loved meeting Wendy, Irene, and Karen. It was definitely worth the two hour drive from my parents' house to London, ON. And it was so nice to call Carol (CCMalo) on the phone, and all get to chat with her. :) > to Kathy for driving up the dreaded 401 LOL, the funny thing about that is that I had *no* trouble at all! The entire way home, the radio news reports kept saying "the road is *closed"* the entire way from London to Sarnia!!" and I kept looking around saying "no it's not!!" I don't know what road I was on but it got me home just fine. ;) >I always thought our > list mom, the editor of that fantastic, well-run > archive would be older, hair graying, pulled back into > a bun - somewhat on the quiet side... > Nope! She's young, looks even younger, and is one the > bubbliest people I've ever met. Oh, gosh, now I'm blushing. Thanks, Irene. I've *never* been told I look younger than I am, but I was told twice this month -- once at LAFF (thank you, Kristin!! ) and once in Ontario. I'm still not sure it wasn't a plot to butter me up for more fanfic. (And for the record, for those of you who are now picturing me as 19 or something , I'll be 32 in a couple of weeks, but the consensus was 28 ... I'm still shaking me head. ) As for the last line ... gee, that's exactly how I describe Erin Klingler. You should hear us when we get going ... our husbands just shook their heads and commiserated last summer when the four of us got together. >I have to admit, I was also surprised > by Kathy (who, in turn, was surprised to find I wasn't a blonde ) LOL! I confess ... Karen was almost exactly the way I'd pictured her. Tall, athletic, long hair ... long *brown* hair. Darn, so close. All in all, it was a wonderful trip! I'm so glad we got to meet and jabber. :D Kathy (who still hasn't written up a LAFF report, but suffice to say, it was a wonderful trip -- the perfect mix of meeting FoLCs, sightseeing, and slumber partying. :D) -- ______________________ Kathy Brown kathybrown91@home.com kathyb@lcfanfic.com KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 22:17:55 -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: Question for a fic! :) I don't know what amazes me more ... that someone actually asked how much a Siberian tiger weighs ... Or that TWO PEOPLE KNEW!!!!! ROTFL!!! I just love this list!! Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 03:57:14 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wanda McCants Subject: Re: Fanfic Question MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Erin, The song is "Auld Lang Syne" Wanda ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 07:54:49 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? On Fri, 18 Aug 2000 22:10:47 -0500, Kathy Brown wrote: >> to Kathy for driving up the dreaded 401 > >LOL, the funny thing about that is that I had *no* trouble at all! >The entire way home, the radio news reports kept saying "the road is >*closed"* the entire way from London to Sarnia!!" and I kept looking >around saying "no it's not!!" I don't know what road I was on >but it got me home just fine. ;) Aha, well... (this is where the brief visitor to Ontario gets to show off her knowledge), see, the 401 goes from London to Windsor, and then over the bridge to Detroit, and I'm guessing that's the road you were on. The road from London to Sarnia is the 402, and leads to Port Huron up the Michigan coast from Detroit. So, you were close... ;) Wendy (who was gobsmacked when Kathy got out of her car and correctly identified all three of us without needing to be introduced!) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 13:58:40 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Rich & Dawn Subject: Message Board Index update MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folcs! The following stories were updated in the index tables at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/7378/lnc.html this week: BEGINNINGS: NAN SMITH DEAR LOIS: SHAYNET GROWING PAINS: AERM1 (AKA ANN) LOVE WELL WORTH THE WAIT , A: TRACEYLYNN PROFESSIONAL LOYALTIES: LEUCH THE EXODUS: THANATOS TOUCH OF GOLD , A: JAMES BISHOP TV LAND - WORLD WHERE THE CHARACTERS COME ALIVE: ELLIMRAC (AKA CARMILLE CALUAG) UP, UP AND AWAY: MEG4076 W&T3 - MORTIS AMORAE: TANK WILSON And these stories were added to the Archive: Triangle Built for Two Who Am I? Enjoy! The Index Crew ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 12:57:40 -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: OT: Um... hi? On Sat, 19 Aug 2000 07:54:49 -0500, Wendy Richards < wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK> wrote: > >Aha, well... (this is where the brief visitor to Ontario gets to show off >her knowledge), see, the 401 goes from London to Windsor, and then over the >bridge to Detroit, and I'm guessing that's the road you were on. The road >from London to Sarnia is the 402, and leads to Port Huron up the Michigan >coast from Detroit. So, you were close... ;) Nope! I was on the 402 to Sarnia ... traveling through Pt Huron, then on I- 94 to the eastern Detroit suburbs is faster than going through Winsor/ Detroit, so that's how I went. (Actually, I passed right through Mt Clemens, where Dean was born, and I wished I had an out-of-area FoLC with me to point that out to. ) So unless the radio news was wrong, it was the 402 that was supposed to be closed, yet I was on it. >Wendy >(who was gobsmacked when Kathy got out of her car and correctly identified >all three of us without needing to be introduced!) LOL, well, I won't give away my secrets ... let's just say I'm very talented. ;) Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 15:01:39 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi again! I have a couple of questions for you criminally minded ppl out there. What do you call companies that are just a cover for something else? It seems like in the episode 'Ghosts,' the character played by Drew Carey was buying all those townhouses under some fake company names. For the life of me, I can't remember. And what exactly is involved in setting up one of those dummy companies, and how does it work? If a criminal wanted to earn money doing something illegal, and wanted to use one of those companies as an anonymous way to get the money, what would he need to do? I figured I'd ask, since my wonderful, beautiful, talented, and generous beta reader Wendy Richards (Hi Wendy! ) took time out of her busy schedule and actually managed to choke down the rest of 'Darkest Hour' for me, so other than making the few changes she suggested, it's ready to go! Does anyone have any preferences how I post it? Should I post just a few installments each day for the next few days so as not to clog up everyone's email? Or should I just post it all at once? Just thought I'd ask so nobody hates me. Anyway, thanks for your help on the companies question! Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 17:12:51 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Joy Sowell Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Erin, I vote for it all now. I think the companies are called fronts when they launder money. ______________________________________________ FREE Personalized Email at Mail.com Sign up at http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 17:13:40 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/19/00 5:07:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, erink@IDA.NET writes: << Hi again! I have a couple of questions for you criminally minded ppl out there. What do you call companies that are just a cover for something else? It seems like in the episode 'Ghosts,' the character played by Drew Carey was buying all those townhouses under some fake company names. For the life of me, I can't remember.>> I think they are called either "dummy" corporations, or "shell" corporations or companies. Occasionally, you hear the term "money laundering operation," but I'm pretty sure that this refers to a legitimate business owned by a criminal through which he funnels money so it can't be traced to his criminal activity. << And what exactly is involved in setting up one of those dummy companies, and how does it work? If a criminal wanted to earn money doing something illegal, and wanted to use one of those companies as an anonymous way to get the money, what would he need to do? .. Not positive, but I would imagine that he would file whatever papers are involved in creating a corporation, such as requests for a tax number, papers of incorporation with the SEC and the IRS, etc. << I figured I'd ask, since my wonderful, beautiful, talented, and generous beta reader Wendy Richards (Hi Wendy! ) took time out of her busy schedule and actually managed to choke down the rest of 'Darkest Hour' for me, so other than making the few changes she suggested, it's ready to go! Does anyone have any preferences how I post it? Should I post just a few installments each day for the next few days so as not to clog up everyone's email? Or should I just post it all at once? Just thought I'd ask so nobody hates me. >> My preference is all together, now, sooner, you get the picture,. Ann Anyway, thanks for your help on the companies question! Erin :) __________________ >> ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 17:13:53 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Joy Sowell Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit restaurants are good fronts, btw. ______________________________________________ FREE Personalized Email at Mail.com Sign up at http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 14:21:00 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Melisma Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' In-Reply-To: <383846880.966719571730.JavaMail.root@web304-mc.mail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I think they call such companies a shell corporation but there may be several names they use too. If you want, I can call some of my former work associates at Revenue Canada - I know we used to deal with them all the time :) Melisma (ducking shyly back under her rock) Visit my rock at http://www.intergate.ca/personal/melisma/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 18:13:11 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 08/19/2000 5:07:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, erink@IDA.NET writes: << Does anyone have any preferences how I post it? Should I post just a few installments each day for the next few days so as not to clog up everyone's email? Or should I just post it all at once? Just thought I'd ask so nobody hates me. >> All at once, please. I've been dying to read it and have been holding off till I see the part that says "final" or "the end" on it! --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 19:29:30 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' Hey Erin! Ann's already answered your question in the way I would have, so I won't! ;) Glad you got my comments back... > > I figured I'd ask, since my wonderful, beautiful, talented, and generous > beta reader Wendy Richards (Hi Wendy! ) took time out of her busy > schedule and actually managed to choke down the rest of 'Darkest Hour' > for me, so other than making the few changes she suggested, it's ready to > go! It sure is!! But, you know, (she says, blushing), you might want to reconsider a few of those adjectives there. I mean, you've seen a photo of me, apart from anything else. And I'd dispute at least two others! > Just thought I'd ask so nobody hates me. Oh, they won't... yet... ;) Wendy :)) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 18:42:53 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy wrote: >It sure is!! But, you know, (she says, blushing), you might want to >reconsider a few of those adjectives there. I mean, you've seen a photo of >me, apart from anything else. And I'd dispute at least two others! LOL! No disputing allowed. > >> Just thought I'd ask so nobody hates me. > >Oh, they won't... yet... ;) Wendy, HUSH! Not even a hint of a spoiler! But you're right. I'd better install a cyber tomatoes firewall on my computer. Erin (Now back to readying the rest of DH to post within a couple of hours. Yes, that means tonight! ;) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 20:49:47 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 08/19/2000 8:48:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time, erink@IDA.NET writes: << Erin (Now back to readying the rest of DH to post within a couple of hours. Yes, that means tonight! ;) >> YES!!! -Laurie (anticipating reading and not getting any work done) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 17:54:27 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Erin: > What do you call companies that are just a cover for something else? -----Shell companies are used as fronts for illegal activities. > And what exactly is involved in setting up one of those dummy companies, and > how does it work? If a criminal wanted to earn money doing something illegal, > and wanted to use one of those companies as an anonymous way to get the money, > what would he need to do? -----File the necessary papers to create a dummy corporation in whatever state you choose--Delaware, and North Dakota seem to be current favorites--that provides an 'easy' climate for corporations, get a creative accountant and go into business selling imaginary whatsits for mucho bucks and incur incredible expenses doing so, paying out mucho bucks to whossis in the Cayman Islands. The key is your creative accountant. >? Or should I just post it all at once? -----All at once, ASAP, please. I hate reading things in pieces and have been waiting forever for you to finish. Just how long is it, anyway? Hope I've answered your questions. Jude > __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:40:19 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Laurie Dunn Subject: Re: Yet another fanfic question, and 'DH' MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit All right, Erin. Now you've got many of us hanging around, online, waiting for the end of DH. Please, please soon. LaurieD ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:08:40 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 35 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay, here it is! It's not midnight my time yet, so I'm still fulfilling my promise to at least some of you regarding this going out tonight. ;) I had nightmares last night about the rest of this not living up to everybody's high expectations, so I hope this doesn't disappoint. And as always, comments and feedback *always* welcomed. **************************************** Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 35 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! ***** When Lois and Clark stepped out of the elevator and onto the newsroom floor, their eyes widened at the chaos that had overtaken the place. "What's going on?" Two men in suits and overcoats rushed past them into the elevator, shouldering Lois and sending her stumbling, crutches and all, into Clark, who quickly caught her before she could fall. "Hey, watch it!" Lois yelled, grabbing onto Clark for balance. "Yeah, guys! Slow it down, would you?" Clark added with a scowl. But the two men barely mumbled something resembling an apology before the elevator doors closed. When the men were gone, Clark helped Lois situate herself on her crutches. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?" "No," Lois grumbled, "but so much for the crutches getting me any special treatment." "Lois, Clark!" a deep, familiar voice bellowed. They turned to see Perry crossing the crowded newsroom floor and heading in their direction. When he reached them, they could see his expression was a mixture of concern and relief. "Are you two okay? I tried reaching you at the hospital, but they told me you'd already left." He looked at Lois, taking in the crutches, her sagging shoulders and the dark circles under her eyes, and immediately the protective instincts he had for Lois kicked in. "Honey, are you sure you should be here? You look like you've been to Hell and back." "Gee, thanks, Perry," Lois drawled, rolling her eyes at him. "But I'm fine, really. Like I keep telling Clark, there are more important things for me to do than sit in a hospital bed all day twiddling my thumbs." She paused and looked around the busy newsroom. "Have they found the virus yet?" Perry shook his head. "You'd think with all the manpower the FBI sent over that they would've found something by now, but all they've pretty much done is turned this place into a three ring circus." "Well, maybe we can do something to help," she told him hopefully. "Where's Jimmy?" Perry jabbed a thumb in the direction of Jimmy's desk, where they saw him staring intently at his computer screen. "That boy's been unbelievable," Perry boasted proudly. "He's hardly left that computer in three days. He says he knows the Planet's computer system better than anybody, and he's convinced he can find the virus before the FBI does." Perry shook his head and smiled. "And I believe him. That boy sure knows his stuff. I couldn't be prouder if he were my own son." Clark smiled. "That's great. Well, I guess we'll talk to you later, Chief. We'll go and see what we can do to help Jimmy." Perry waved them on, and Clark kept a careful hand on the small of Lois' back as she made her way on her crutches down the steeply sloping ramp to the newsroom floor. He breathed an unconscious sigh of relief when she made it in one piece, and Lois gave him a quick glance, indicating she'd overheard. "Clark, quit worrying, would you? I'm fine." But she gave him a quick smile to show him that she did care that was concerned for her before turning her attention to Jimmy. He looked up as they approached. "Lois, Clark!" he exclaimed, obviously relieved to see them alive and well. "I heard what happened. Are you guys okay?" "Yeah, we're fine, just a little shaken up," Lois admitted as she propped her crutches against the desk and sat down in the chair that Clark quickly wheeled up for her. "Perry said you guys haven't found the virus yet." "No, not yet," Jimmy sighed. "I've been in and out of several of the Planet's main systems searching executables, java applets...anything that might be hiding the virus, but there are so many of them that it could be impossible to search them all in time. Without knowing where the virus is or what to look for, it could take weeks to find and deactivate it." "Manny said it was going to be transmitted through the New Year's on-line issue, so wouldn't that give you some clue where to look?" Lois asked. Jimmy shook his head. "Just because it's involved with the on-line issue doesn't tell us where to look. We have multiple servers that'll be serving the website. It could be sitting anywhere on the network and activated in any number of ways: it could be set to go off at a certain time, or when a certain thing happens, like certain key combinations struck on a keyboard, certain request from a network, or it could even be transmitted through the java scripts or executables on the website itself. There are just too many places it could be." "What about Manny?" Clark asked, sitting on the corner of Jimmy's desk. "Has there been any sign of him?" Jimmy shook his head. "No, and I doubt there will be. The FBI's been searching high and low for him, so I'm sure by now he knows he's been discovered. He'd be stupid to come out from wherever he's hiding." "Well, I'm hoping that what we heard while Trask had us in his own little jail cell might help," Lois said hopefully. Jimmy looked confused. "Trask? What does he have to do with the virus?" "Manny made an appearance while we were there, and we overheard him talking to a man named Garrison, who we think is Trask's second hand man, about the virus," Clark told him. "Manny told him he'd gotten the virus installed, but said that when he was returning to his desk, he found people at his computer talking about the virus, so he ran off." Jimmy listened intently, nodding when Clark finished. "So that's how he found out we were onto him. I still can't believe he was behind all of this. I mean, I knew he was into the computer scene because we'd traded stories about hacking jobs we'd done, but I never would've thought he'd be capable of something like this." "Yeah, sometimes you think you know a person, but then when you really get to know them, they turn out to be completely different," Lois said, not realizing the significance of her words until she felt Clark shift uncomfortably next to her. Quickly she looked up to meet his concerned gaze and gave him a little smile to put him at ease. Oblivious to Clark's discomfort and then the unspoken communication between his two friends, Jimmy nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyway, it sounds like Manny and Garrison are in this whole thing together, all right. They would've needed to get a job at the Planet in order to plant the virus, since they'd need to be inside the Firewall to be in and out of the Planet's systems without suspicion." Jimmy paused. "Do you know who this Garrison guy is?" Lois shook her head. "Not yet. But that's one of the reasons we're here. I'm going to do some research and find out all I can about him. Maybe something we find will help you in your search for this virus." "It's worth a shot," Jimmy agreed. "Maybe knowing something about him or his MO would give us a better idea of where to look." Jimmy looked thoughtful for a minute. "When you overheard him and Manny talking, did they say anything else about the virus itself? Anything about where he'd installed it or how it worked?" Clark shook his head. "No, nothing. Just that it was supposed to activate when the Planet's on-line issue goes out on midnight on New Year's." They were all silent for a minute, but then Lois' face brightened. "Hey, I just thought of something!" she exclaimed, instantly drawing Clark and Jimmy's full attention. "When Garrison asked Manny what loose ends he'd left, Manny said he'd left some files on his hard drive." "Hey, that's right!" Clark replied excitedly. "But wait. Didn't he say that they were encrypted or something? How hard would it be to decrypt a file?" He turned to Jimmy for an answer. "Extremely difficult, even for an expert hacker," Jimmy admitted. "The FBI's already been through Manny's hard drive, and I haven't heard them say anything about finding any encrypted files. But that doesn't mean they're not there. It'll just take some more searching. They did find a couple of programs, though, one being an encryption program that he probably used to encrypt the virus. It's a good thing it was there, because it would've been nearly impossible to decrypt the virus without knowing what program he used to do it." "What about any files he'd used and then deleted?" Lois asked. "Is there a way out if he'd gotten rid of something that might give us some more clues?" "Actually, it is possible," Jimmy said thoughtfully. "If Manny had files on his computer and later erased it off his hard drive, then it's possible to run a recovery utility to try to recover the deleted files." Lois stared at him blankly. "I have no idea what you just said." Jimmy laughed. "That's okay. Half the time I don't know what you and Clark are talking about, either, when you're brainstorming leads." Clark laughed, too. "I guess we're even then. But back to what you were saying. Has the FBI been trying to recover any of his deleted files?" "I don't know. Probably not," Jimmy snorted in disgust. "For people in such a prestigious job, they sure do seem like a bunch of morons." Clark laughed. "I doubt they'd know more about computers than you, anyway." Jimmy laughed, too, knowing it wasn't really true, but enjoying the ego boost anyway. "So what are you suggesting that I do?" "Well, why don't you just do a little looking of your own?" Lois chimed in. "Not a bad idea, but the FBI won't let anyone anywhere *near* Manny's computer," Jimmy frowned. Lois glanced around to make sure they weren't being listened to, then leaned in closer to Jimmy. "Sure, Jimmy, but you're a hacker. Couldn't you just break into his computer from here?" "Well, sure," Jimmy replied easily. "It'd be a piece of cake. Besides, it's not like I'm having any luck finding anything where I'm looking." "That's the spirit," Clark exclaimed, standing up and clapping Jimmy on the shoulder. "Just let us know if we can do anything to help." "Will do. Right now, though," Jimmy said with a mischievous grin as he deliberately stretched his hands out in front of him and cracked his knuckles, "I've got a little hacking to do." "We'll leave you to it, then. Besides, I really should call my folks to let them know I'm okay, and warn them to keep their eyes open for Trask and his men. I wouldn't put it past Trask to head down there for a repeat of his last Smallville incident." "I wouldn't either," Lois said seriously. "While you do that, I'll get started on digging up what I can on Garrison." Clark gave her a quick warning look, but she just rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Clark, relax. I already told you I wouldn't overdo it." "Make sure you don't," Clark insisted sternly before he walked away, giving her a look she recognized as the one he used when staring down a criminal as Superman. Lois stared as he walked away, too surprised to react. How was it that she'd never before realized how much Clark and Superman had in common? Even if she'd been able to ignore the physical similarities--his broad shoulders and muscular physique, his dark hair and olive-colored skin--how could she have not picked up on the many similarities in characteristics that were present in both men? In Superman, she should've recognized Clark's compassion, his kind, gentle eyes, the way he looked at her in exasperation as she'd once again put herself in the path of danger. And in Clark, she should've been able to see the sense of fearlessness that came from invulnerability, the strong sense of ethics inherent to Superman, and the almost overwhelming urge to protect her, as well as others. But most of all, she knew she should've been able to look past the glasses--or lack thereof--into his eyes and see into the depths of his soul, recognizing him for who--and what--he really was: the only man she'd ever truly loved. Shaking her head in disgust, she adjusted her crutches under her arms and headed over to her desk. *You can focus on how blind you've been later,* she told herself. *Right now you have work to do.* ***** "Have you found anything yet?" Jimmy asked, coming over to see how she was coming on her research. Lois leaned back in her desk chair and stretched her arms tiredly out in front of her. "Not yet," she admitted, noticing how tired her voice sounded even to her own ears. "How about you?" "Well, I did find the encryption program that Manny used by running that recovery utility," Jimmy told her. "That's great!" she exclaimed happily. "Well, don't get too excited," he warned. "By finding the encryption program, that just confirms my suspicions that the virus itself is encrypted. So even if we do find the virus, there's still the matter of decrypting it. And if we can't figure out what code phrase Manny used to encrypt it, we're not going to be able to get into the virus to make an antidote for it." "An antidote?" Lois asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, you know, to deactivate the virus. Most virus programmers will make one to counteract the virus, therefore keeping their own systems safe from the virus' effects." "Makes sense," Lois agreed. "Can you make your own antidote?" "Yeah, you can, but it could take days. And that's only *if* we're able to decrypt it. It would be much easier just to find the antidote that was already created for the virus." "Great," Lois mumbled. "This whole virus thing is turning out to be even more complicated than I thought. I just figured you could find it and delete it." Jimmy grinned. "Unfortunately, it's not that easy. And from the looks of it, Garrison and Manny have covered their tracks well. It may take a miracle to find everything we need to get rid of it." "I'm not above wishing for one," Lois admitted with a heavy sigh. Jimmy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me neither. Anyway, I decided that if I didn't take a break soon, my brain was going to explode." "I know what you mean. I'm having a tough time finding out much about Garrison, or how he and Trask tie in together. It may take a while longer before I dig up anything that might be helpful to us. But," she said, reaching for one of the papers piled beneath a stack of disks and research material. "I was able to pull up Manny's personnel file and his address is on here. He only lives a few blocks away. I think we should check it out." Clark overheard this last part as he wandered over from where he'd been pouring himself and Lois a cup of coffee. He set her mug down on her desk and gave her a stern look. "Sorry, Lois, but you're not going to be checking out *anything* today." Before she could reply, Jimmy asked dubiously, "You don't honestly think he'll be there, do you?" Lois glared at Clark for thinking he could tell her what to do, then answered Jimmy. "No, I'm sure he *won't* be there. But that doesn't mean we can't do a little investigating ourselves, if you know what I mean. Surely he has some disks or papers lying around that might give us a clue about where the virus is." Clark shook his head. "Lois, I'm sure the police and FBI have already been through his apartment days ago with a fine tooth comb. If there was anything to find, I'm sure they would've found it." "Yeah, and they could've found the virus here at the Planet, but they haven't," Lois pointed out. "What's the harm in going over and checking it out? Maybe we'll find something the authorities overlooked the first time around." "Yeah, maybe," Clark agreed. "But why don't you let Jimmy and me do that, Lois. The doctor told you to stay off that leg for a few days, and we don't want you overdoing things. Besides, Jimmy knows more about computer stuff than we do. Maybe he'll find something that we would've overlooked as being insignificant." Jimmy raised his eyebrows hopefully. "I'm game. I could sure use a break from here anyway." Lois opened her mouth to respond, but Clark quickly cut in. "Great, then let's go, Jimmy. Lois, you stay here while Jimmy and I check it out. We'll let you know if we find anything." "But why can't I go with you?" she argued. "It was *my* idea." He gave her his best Superman 'I don't think so' look. "Lois, you *know* why. Dr. Meyers told you that you're supposed to stay off that leg as much as possible, and no, crutches don't count," he interrupted, knowing exactly what she was opening her mouth to say. Then he glanced at Jimmy and rolled his eyes as if to say, 'I can't believe what she tries to get away with.' Jimmy grinned in amusement. Lois had obviously met her match in Clark. He looked over at Lois to see her pouting, but backing down. "Fine," she grumbled. "You go and have all the fun while I stay here and do more research." She spit out the word as if it were poison. "Call me if you find anything." Clark shook his head at her dramatics, then grabbed Jimmy's arm and pulled him after him. "Come on, Jimmy. I have a feeling that if we don't get out of here now, we might regret it later." Jimmy looked on in amusement as Clark simply grinned at the look of daggers shot at him by his partner, and headed for the elevator. ***** Lois leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, then reached up to rub her temples tiredly. It had only been an hour or so since Clark and Jimmy had left, but in that time, she'd hunted for and researched any and all information she'd been able to find on Garrison, and she felt positively worn out. The strain on her eyes was causing a dull ache in her head, and her leg was starting to hurt again. She glanced at her watch and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was time to take one of her pills. Opening her desk drawer, she pulled out the bottle of prescription pain killers she'd picked up at the hospital pharmacy before checking out and struggled with the lid before finally opening it. Then she shook one of the pills out into her hand and popped it into her mouth, and finally chased it down with what little coffee remained in her mug. She made a face. There was nothing worse than cold coffee. Just as she'd leaned forward and started rummaging through her pile of research again, her phone rang. Halfheartedly, she picked up the receiver and mumbled, "Lois Lane." "Lois, it's Dr. Klein." Instantly Lois sat up straighter in her seat, grimacing as her stiff and achy body punished her for doing so. "Dr. Klein! What can I do for you?" Lois listened carefully as Dr. Klein explained he was trying to get a message to Superman, and could she and Clark tell him to get to STAR Labs as soon as possible? "You bet I'll tell him," she told him. "He'll be there as soon as I can contact him." As soon as she hung up, she dialed Clark's cell phone number. Moments later, his voice came across the line. "Clark, it's me," she said in a rush. He picked up immediately on the urgency in her voice and quickly mistook it for trouble. "Lois? What is it? What's wrong?" he demanded, his voice filled with concern. "Oh, no, everything's fine," she told him, quickly putting him at ease. "I'm just calling to let you know that Dr. Klein just called--" Clark breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Lois, don't scare me like that," he scolded. "I thought something was wrong." He turned and looked for Jimmy, relieved when he saw that he was in the next room looking through Manny's computer disks, safely out of earshot. "So what did Dr. Klein say?" "He asked if we could get a message to Superman. He said he needed to see him right away, and that he'd know what it was about. But he did sound excited, which to me means he has to have good news." "I hope so," Clark breathed. "I'll head over there in a few minutes. We're still here at Manny's apartment." "So what's going on over there?" Lois asked. "We got a little flak from the police guarding the apartment, but we tracked down Henderson and got him to green light us checking out the place. But unfortunately we haven't found anything yet that looks like it'll be helpful." "Figures," Lois mumbled. "When you talked to Henderson, did he have any news on Garrison, Trask, or his men?" "Not yet," Clark admitted. "But they are still searching the mountains. Something's bound to turn up soon." "Let's hope so." Lois tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder and stretched tiredly, wishing the pain medication would hurry up and kick in. The ache in her back was getting harder and harder to ignore. Clark picked up on the pause in their conversation. "How are you holding up, Lois? Are you tired? Do you need to go get some rest?" "No, I'm okay," she said, trying to keep the weariness out of her voice, though not being entirely successful. "I'm just trudging on with the Garrison research. I'll just keep working on it and wait to hear from you. Be sure to call me the second you're done at STAR Labs. I want to know everything that Dr. Klein says." "I will. And Lois?" "Yeah?" "I love you." A warm feeling started in her heart and spread outward from there, making her tingle all over. "I love you, too, Clark," she said with a soft smile. "I'll see you in a while." After they exchanged goodbyes, Lois reached forward to hang up the phone, and then sat back again in her chair, unable to keep the smile from spreading across her face. Suddenly she didn't feel as weary as she had before talking to Clark. Maybe the medication was just kicking in, she rationalized, or maybe it was Clark's public declaration of love for her that made her feel so wonderful. She picked up one of the papers on her desk, trying to force herself to get back to work, but somehow she couldn't get her mind back on task. Realizing how uncharacteristic she was being, she smiled again and shook her head. If someone had told her that she, Lois Lane, could ever be so affected by those three little words, she wouldn't have believed them. She'd have told them that they were meaningful only in movies, or in a romance novel where life is so drastically different, but not in real life. But right now, she knew those three little words would never seem so insignificant again. **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:09:00 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 36 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 36 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** When Jimmy stepped off the elevator a short time later, he spotted Lois at her desk with a rather large stack of papers and binders in front of her. He noticed she'd rolled a nearby chair over to her desk and had her leg propped up on it, and was leaning back in her chair, reading through a packet of stapled papers. He couldn't help noticing how exhausted she looked. Deciding she'd probably appreciate some coffee, he stopped at the coffee machine and poured her a steaming cup before heading over to her desk. She looked up in surprise when he set it down on the desk in front of her. "Hey, Jimmy. Thanks," she said, gesturing to the cup of coffee. "You looked like you could use it," he offered with a smile. She smiled gratefully and took a sip. "Did you and Clark find anything over at Manny's?" "Nothing to help us with the virus," Jimmy admitted. "He had a ton of computer equipment, but most of it had already been taken by the FBI. It didn't leave us many places to look for clues." Lois put the mug down. "Well, I'll keep digging and see if I can find out more information on Garrison that might tell us more about where to look." "Do you want me to do some of that research for you, Lois?" Jimmy offered sincerely. "You don't look like you're holding up to well, having to do all of this by yourself. Better yet, why don't you go home and get some sleep? I could tell Clark when he comes back where you went." "No, that's okay, Jimmy, but thanks. I'm just going to stick it out here and wait for Clark. Besides, you have enough to do trying to track down that virus. Keep at it. I'm sure you're getting close." "I hope so," Jimmy said with a sigh. "Just hang in there. We're all tired and discouraged, but something's bound to turn up sooner or later." Jimmy nodded. "Hopefully sooner rather than later. "Well, I guess I'll get back to it. Let me know what you find." Letting Lois get back to her research, Jimmy headed back to his own desk and sat down in front of his computer. *There has to be something here on Manny's hard drive that could give me a clue about the virus,* Jimmy thought stubbornly. *I just have to think like Manny to find out where it is. If I were hiding some files, where would I hide them?* Trying to remember what he and Manny had talked about when they'd swapped hacking stories, he sat up straighter in his chair and once again began to comb through Manny's hard drive. ***** "Manny, where are you?!" Garrison exclaimed when he heard Manny's voice on the other end of the line. "Not at my apartment, that's for sure," Manny said, peering around the corner of the building to see that police cars were surrounding it and officers were busy going in and out of the building with his computer equipment and interviewing neighbors. "If I go in there, I'm as good as dead." "Well, you'll be as good as dead if Project Y2K falls through! I just got word from a reliable source that the FBI has managed to recover several files from your computer at the Planet! You'd better hope and pray those files aren't important ones!" Manny's mouth dropped open, but no sounds came out. Finally he found his voice. "Well, so they found some old files. Anything of importance was encrypted, so we're still home free." "Are you sure about that?" Garrison growled. "If they found those, what's to say they haven't found out where you installed the virus? Or how to decrypt it, for that matter? Remember when you had the antidote with you at the Planet? Could there be a copy of it on your hard drive, or even floating around somewhere on their system? Think!" Manny racked his brain furiously, sweat beads starting to form on his brow. "I...I don't think so. I don't know how." "What about when you got the disks switched? Could someone have a copy of it on their hard drive?" Manny's face paled. It was possible, he realized. Garrison caught his hesitation and yelled into the phone, "You'd better get over to the Planet and find out! Since you fouled up once before, I'm going to give you just one more chance to redeem yourself. Do whatever it takes to make sure that virus goes out as planned!" "But...how am I supposed to do that?" Manny stammered. "The place is swarming with FBI." "I don't care *how* you do it, just do it!" Garrison yelled. Manny gulped. "Okay, okay. I'll see what I can do." A sudden pounding on his door broke into their conversation, and Garrison looked over at the door angrily. "Just a minute!" he hollered, annoyed at the interruption "Garrison!" Trask's voice yelled. "Get out here!" Garrison rolled his eyes. "Don't go anywhere, Manny, I'm not done with you yet," he grumbled into the phone. Pushing his chair back from his desk, he got to his feet and flung open the door. "What?!" "I just got a radio from Metropolis. My men have spotted Lane and Kent, and they're back at the Planet," Trask told him, his jaw tightening in anger. "I'm sending my men in to take care of them once and for all." Garrison laughed sarcastically. "*Your* men? Right. They're the ones who let them get away in the first place. Forget it. Lane and Kent are *mine.*" Trask studied Garrison's steely, determined expression and then nodded. "Fine by me. But keep in touch. I want a blow by blow account." Garrison nodded, then shut the door and put the phone back to his ear. "Manny? Forget it. I'm coming to Metropolis myself." Thankful to be off the hook, Manny said a hasty goodbye. Garrison quickly shrugged into his coat and shoved the cell phone into his coat pocket. He was sick and tired of people who couldn't accomplish what they'd set out to do. First, Manny blowing his cover, then Trask's men losing Lane and Kent, and now they'd let them slip back into Metropolis. *How *did* they get past Trask's men?* he grumbled. *I know they're all a bunch of morons, but they'd been all over the mountain, combing through the brush and turning over every rock. How'd they manage to slip past unnoticed?* Garrison suddenly froze. What if Kent had gotten his powers back? That would certainly explain how they'd managed to get down off the mountain unseen. But if that were the case, and Kent *did* have his powers back, that would definitely make things a whole lot more complicated. As quickly as the thought occurred to him, however, he dismissed it just as fast. *That's impossible,* he thought. *If he'd gotten his powers back, he and Lane would've been out of there long before they had, and Superman would've been back with the authorities. But there'd been no sight of him, so that could mean only one thing. Kent was still powerless. Opening his desk drawer, Garrison reached in and pulled out his gun. He didn't know how they'd managed to escape, but one thing was certain. They had to be taken care of. They already knew too much. Garrison smiled as he slid his gun into the waistband of his jeans and headed out the door. It looked like he was going to be able to pull this whole thing off after all. ***** "Come on, Clark, where are you?" Lois complained under her breath as she leaned back in her chair and sighed wearily. She glanced at her watch and somehow wasn't surprised to see that it read six o'clock. It had already been a long day. She was tired and hungry, and more than anything, she wanted to go home and go to bed. Since Jimmy had been so busy searching for the virus, she'd done all of the research on Garrison herself, and the man was turning out to have quite a history. From all that she was learning about him, she wondered if even Trask knew everything there was to know about him. She had no doubt that going through all the papers she'd printed out about him was going to take some time. Looking again at her watch as if to confirm she'd read it correctly, she wondered what could be taking Clark so long. She couldn't help thinking that something had gone wrong at STAR Labs with Dr. Klein since Clark had already been gone a couple of hours. She thought about calling over there to see if everything was okay, but then decided against it. *If I haven't heard from Clark, it must mean he's still busy with Dr. Klein. He promised he'd let me know what was going on as soon as he could, and he will. But in the meantime, make the best use of this time to work on finding out everything you can about Garrison. It's not like there's anything else you could be doing but waiting anyway.* Turning back to the stack of papers on her desk, she heaved a weary sigh and forced herself to focus on finding out everything she could about Garrison. The Planet's livelihood depended on it. ***** A short time later, she heard the elevator bell and, just as she had done every time it rang during the last hour, she looked up to see who the arriving person was. Each time it hadn't been the person she'd been hoping to see, but this time a familiar set of eyes met her own anxious ones. "Clark!" she breathed with a sigh of relief. She couldn't help noticing the tired but happy expression on his face as he walked down the ramp. *That has to mean he has good news,* she thought hopefully. When he reached her desk, she raised her eyebrows at him expectantly. "So? How did it go at STAR Labs?" Clark sat down on the corner of her desk and smiled happily. "Great, actually." He looked around to make sure they weren't being listened to, then leaned toward her and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Dr. Klein and his colleagues were able to isolate how exactly Kryptonite affects my system, and they came up with a vaccine that they feel confident will counteract the effect and return my system to normal. There are still so many factors and things that he hasn't determined, but he kept me there for a while to monitor me. That's what took so long. But he kept testing the reaction of the vaccine and my body signs, and it seems that it's already starting to work!" "Clark, that's wonderful!" Lois exclaimed with as much energy as she could muster in her exhausted state. "I'm so glad to hear you're going to be okay." "It seems like I will be, yeah. My powers will probably come back gradually over the next few days, so even though I'm already starting to feel a little stronger, I'll still have to take it a little easy until I'm back to full strength. But it's definitely a relief to know that they *will* be back. And the really great news is that since this looks like it's working, Dr. Klein should be able to come up with a permanent vaccine for Kryptonite." Lois nodded, realizing what a big deal that was. "No more worrying about what a criminal might be hiding in his pocket..." "Exactly." Clark grinned. Then his smile faded and he studied Lois for a minute. "So how are you doing, Lois? You look tired. You haven't been working too hard, have you?" "No, I'm okay," Lois lied. "A little tired and hungry, but otherwise I'm holding up. Guess what I found while you were gone?" she asked, changing the subject. "What?" he asked eagerly. Lois rummaged through the stack of papers covering her desk and finally extracted the one she was looking for. Then with a flourish, she handed it to Clark. "Richard Garrison," she announced. "A computer genius who worked for the government as a computer tech in the early eighties. He had a long history of not working well with others, and had received dozens of reprimands for practical jokes, as well as the irritating but not dangerous viruses he'd created and installed on coworkers' machines. Then in the late eighties, he apparently got tired of the rat race and went out on his own. Though nothing's been proven, he's suspected of hacking into some of the toughest computer systems in the world, as well as hiring out his computer skills to anyone who needs shady work done. The only thing anyone has ever been able to prove was his involvement in an investments fraud scheme in South America in the eighties, but he got out of that on a technicality." "He sounds like our man," Clark agreed as he studied the picture for a moment, then handed the paper back to her. "But what would he be doing in Trask's outfit? That doesn't make any sense. What would a computer hacker be doing in a group like Bureau 39?" "I don't know," Lois admitted truthfully. "Trask's sole mission in life seems to be killing Superman. But Garrison is more of a high-tech espionage type. Putting the two together in a group like Bureau 39 just doesn't make sense. Unless..." Clark raised his eyebrows at her. "Unless?" "Well, let's suppose this "boss" we heard Garrison mention has ties in the government, and has been planning this virus scheme for a long time. He'd have had a lot time to pick and chose the men he wanted to run his scam, as well as pay off the government officials to see everything through. And what better insurance can you get for making sure your plan succeeds than by killing off the superhero who has been known to stop computer viruses in the past?" Clark nodded, finally catching on to what she was saying. "So you're saying that this "boss" saw to it that Garrison got planted in Trask's group to see to it that Superman was eliminated?" "What other explanation could there be?" Lois asked, keeping her voice to a whisper. "It's no secret that Trask wants you dead. So what better place to plant someone with the same agenda to oversee the death of the superhero who stands between him and his plan's success?" "Makes sense," Clark nodded again. "So what's our next move?" "Well," Lois began, forcing herself to think. "The police are still trying to find Trask's cabin from what little description and location we had. Maybe when they find it, they'll find Trask and Garrison, and we can find out if we're right about all of this." "But in the meantime..." "Yeah, in the meantime, it's going to take Jimmy and the others every bit of their skills to try to find and deactivate the virus, and I hate having to sit here knowing there's nothing I can do to help." "I know what you mean," Clark agreed solemnly. They were quiet for a long minute as they contemplated the work involved in finding and deactivating the virus. Lois glanced down at her watch. There wasn't much time. If they didn't find a way to get rid of the virus, there was no telling what kind of destruction was to follow. The Daily Planet--as well as millions of other large, computer-dependant companies around the world--could be ruined. Her head started to throb again, and she realized it was all just too much for her to deal with right now. Trying to ward off the approaching headache, she leaned forward to rest her elbows on her desk and dropped her head into her hands, rubbing her temples tiredly with her fingers. Clark's eyebrows furrowed as he watched Lois drop her head into her hands, and his chest tightened in concern. Reaching out, he pressed his hand to her cheek, then to her forehead and realized how hot she was getting again. Immediately he got to his feet. "Okay, Lois, that's it. You're going home," he told her firmly as he pulled her chair away from her desk. When Lois started to protest, he cut her off. "Lois, you're exhausted, you're fever is going back up, and you need to get some sleep. We're leaving. Now." But when he handed her crutches to her, Lois shook her head, but quickly regretted it as it made the pounding in her head increase. "Clark, I can't go," she said tearfully. "There's got to be something in all this research I got on Garrison that could help them with the virus. We don't know what the virus does, but I can imagine it's something pretty serious if he's gone to as much trouble as he has. And are you really willing to let that happen? And since Superman isn't..." she looked around her and then lowered her voice, "...you know, back to full strength, it's up to *us.* Compared to all that, a fever doesn't seem all that important." Clark squatted down beside her chair so their faces were even, and he reached for her hand, desperate to convince her. "Lois, how can you say that?" he pleaded. "You are very important to me, and *your health* is very important to me. I can't let you keep going on like this when it's so obvious you're hurting. The authorities are on top of this, and so is Jimmy. And then there are all the others around here that are going full steam to make all this right. With everybody working together, we'll find a way to stop this. But you're not going to be much help--to us or yourself--if you don't take care of yourself. Just a night's sleep, Lois. That's all I'm asking of you to do. If anything happens, somebody will call us and let us know." Lois stared into Clark's pleading eyes for what seemed like forever before Clark saw the look of resignation pass through hers. "Okay," she conceded. Clark breathed an inward sigh of relief. "Good. Thank you, Lois." He helped her to her feet, then held her coat for her. As she adjusted it on her shoulders, she turned to Clark, and he could see the concern in her eyes. "I hope you won't think any less of me for saying this," she began, "but I'm afraid to go back to my place...to be left alone. What happens if Trask and his men come looking for us? Our apartments are going to be the first place they'll look." "That won't be a problem," he assured her. "Henderson's already arranged to have a couple of officers standing guard outside my apartment, so we're both going to stay there tonight. And the officers on duty downstairs will be escorting us everywhere we need to go, so we don't have to worry about that either. Let's just concentrate on getting you better, okay?" Lois breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. Obviously Clark had thought of everything, so at least she didn't have to worry about Garrison, Trask, or his men. As Lois turned away from her desk, she adjusted the crutches under her arms, painfully aware of how sore the crutches were making her arms feel. Trying to ignore the soreness, she carefully maneuvered through the thinning crowds on the newsroom floor, and was relieved when they finally reached the elevator where she could lean wearily against the elevator wall. When the elevator doors opened, she readjusted the crutches under her sore arms and let Clark help guide her to the elevator and through the downstairs lobby where the officers were waiting to escort them to Clark's apartment. When they got into the waiting squad car, Clark slipped his arm gently around her shoulders and pulled her close. Lois sighed contentedly as she laid her hand on his chest and nestled her face against his shoulder, welcoming the chance to close her eyes and rest her head on his shoulder. In the darkness behind her closed eyelids, she forced herself to forget about the virus, about Trask and Garrison, and about everything they'd put them through the past few days, and instead focus on how right it felt to be going home with Clark, to have his arm draped lovingly around her, to feel his lips pressing gentle kisses into her hair. Unbuttoning a couple of the buttons near his chest, she slipped her hand beneath his shirt and fingered the smooth, silky fabric of the Suit he was still wearing underneath. For some reason, it comforted her. Right then, more than anything, she just wanted, to have all the bad things go away, to have things back to normal so she could allow herself to really get to know Clark, to enjoy being with him and learning all that there still was to learn about him. And most of all, she wanted to revel in the feelings of exhilaration that came from being in love. But it was too soon. There were too many things still to worry about. With a sigh of resignation, Lois relaxed as Clark began to stroke her hair. She could focus on the things that still needed done tomorrow. Right then she just wanted to forget it all and go to sleep. With Lois' eyes closed and Clark's attention on Lois as the squad car pulled a way from the curb, neither of them noticed the black car with dark, tinted windows pulling out onto the darkened street behind them. **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:09:24 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 37 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 37 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** When they reached Clark's apartment, Clark glanced down at Lois hesitantly. Her head was slumped against his shoulder, her eyes were closed and she was snoring lightly. He smiled. He hated to wake her, but they couldn't stay in the car all night, either. After a moment of deliberation, Clark finally decided the best course of action would be to just carry her in and put her in his bed for the night. Clark climbed out his side, then hurried around to Lois' and leaned in. Doing his best not to wake her, he slid his arms around her and lifted her out of the car, then carefully made his way up his apartment steps, where a waiting officer took Clark's key from him and unlocked the door. "We'll be right outside all night," the officer whispered. "If you need anything, just holler." "Thanks," Clark whispered back. Then he carried Lois inside and let the officer shut the door behind them. Surprised that Lois hadn't woken up from the activity, he hurried into his bedroom and gently laid her down on the bed. He thought only for an instant about waking her to have her change into one of his T-shirts to sleep in, but decided against it. It wouldn't hurt her to sleep in her clothes for a night. Besides, he wasn't sure he could handle undressing her. It would undoubtedly arouse a whole new jumble of emotions that he didn't think he was ready to deal with just yet. He walked over to his closet and took out one of his mom's crocheted afghans and covered Lois with it, being careful not to wake her. He straightened up and looked at her, lying so peacefully on his bed, and seeing her lying there sent a rush of warmth and love for her flowing through him. He didn't know what he would've done if he'd lost her during their ordeal. He used to long for the time when he found the woman of his dreams, and now that he'd finally found her, he didn't think he'd be able to go on living if she didn't. He felt whole when he was around her, and that was a feeling he'd never in his life experienced before he met her. True, his parents had showered him with love and were always there for him to make his life as perfect as they could. But no amount of love or effort on their part could've filled him with the joy he felt when he was with Lois. She was the woman he'd been hoping for and dreaming about all his life, and now that they were together, he was going to dedicate himself to making sure nothing ever tore them apart. With love for her filling his heart, he leaned down and kissed her forehead gently. She stirred, but didn't wake up. With a tender smile, he backed away. The next few weeks were going to be wonderful. He hadn't wanted her to find out about him the way she had, but now that it was out in the open between them, he felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. He knew the truth was going to make them even closer, and their relationship was going to go in wonderful directions. He could hardly wait to finally be totally and completely comfortable around her, no longer having to worry about making excuses before rushing off, or hiding the truth about himself from her. There was going to be so much more they could share and talk about, and the prospect of this new level of their relationship was enough to make him feel like he could fly, with or without his powers. With one last glance her direction, he crossed over to his dresser and pulled out a T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts before leaving the room. He slipped out of his clothes and into the new ones, then walked over to the couch and reached for the cordless phone. His parents were surely worried about him after hearing that he was without powers and his captors still on the loose, so he wanted to call them to let them know he was okay. ***** Lois stirred, then rolled over, surprised to discover she was lying in a bed and covered with a soft afghan. She sat up slightly and looked around. She blinked hard a couple of times to get her tired eyes to focus, then realized she was in Clark's bedroom. *But where's Clark?* she wondered sleepily. She quieted her breathing and strained her ears to listen, and a moment later she picked up the sound of his voice. It sounded like he was talking to somebody on the phone. Able to relax now that she knew everything was okay, she lay back on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to fall back to sleep. But as tired as she was, her mind had had enough time to wake up, and now she couldn't shut it off. She kept thinking about everything she and Clark had been through since being set up at the cabin and being captured by Trask and his men. Even though their ordeal had only lasted a few days, it felt like a lifetime, and it surprised her how much she felt like she'd grown during that time. She'd learned a lot about herself and about Clark, and about what they'd been able to accomplish by working together, and most of all, by sticking together and by being there for each other. Looking back at all they'd been through, she couldn't help noticing that Clark had an amazing amount of strength. But it wasn't the physical kind she was thinking about, though he clearly had that in abundance when his powers were intact. It was his inner strength that had clearly shined through, that had helped them fight through each and every obstacle that had presented itself. He'd willingly put his own failing health aside to be there for her, to watch over her and protect her through the tough times they'd suffered through. But she was sure he'd suffered as much as she had. It had to have been hard for him, knowing that his powers were gone, and not knowing whether or not they would ever return. He was so used to using his powers to help people in trouble, yet when they'd been faced with their own life-threatening situation, he hadn't been able to rely on those powers to help. He'd had to rely on other things, like his courage and inner strength to get them to safety, and he had. But now that they were safe, it wouldn't be long before things were back to normal between them, and she wasn't sure what 'normal' was going to be. Before the incident, she was certain she knew who Clark was. But ever since she'd found out the truth about his identity, she'd run through the gamut of emotions: anger, hurt, frustration, then finally reluctant acceptance. But even though she was no longer mad, she was still having a difficult time trying to piece the two men together in her mind. Superman was so different from Clark. And Clark was so different from Superman. That's why he'd been so successful at hiding his true identity from her, from everyone. But were they really that different? She just didn't know what to think. The one thing she'd learned first and foremost, though, through everything they'd been through these past few days was that he loved her. He'd shown her through his actions as well as his words that he loved her so totally and completely that he was willing to put her well being above his own, that she mattered more to him than anything else. And she couldn't help feeling a little overwhelmed by that. She groaned softly and covered her face with her arms. Everything in their relationship was suddenly new all over again. How was she possibly going to figure it all out? After a couple more minutes, Lois gave up. She was just too awake now to sleep. Maybe she and Clark could talk, and help her put her mind at ease. ***** "Yeah, mom, we're fine. Lois is sleeping here tonight, and we have guards posted outside. We'll be perfectly safe. I'm just glad to hear you guys haven't had any trouble from Trask or his men. I was worried that they might show up like last time." Movement out of the corner of his eye made Clark start, and he quickly looked over to see Lois coming out of the bedroom on her crutches. Surprised to see her up, he turned his attention briefly back to his conversation. "Mom, Dad, I gotta go. Lois just woke up. Be sure to let me know if anything happens. Okay. I will. Love you, too. Bye." Clark clicked the phone off, then set it down on the coffee table. "Lois, what are you doing up? You've only been asleep for about a half hour." "I know," Lois said sheepishly, hobbling over to him and tucking her good leg up underneath her as she sat down next to him. "I woke up and then my brain started working, and now I've just got too much on my mind." She nodded at the phone. "Are your parents doing okay?" Clark nodded. "Yeah, they're fine. They said to say hello. They've been really worried about you, so I was letting them know how you were doing." "No sign of Trask or his men?" "Nope. Thank goodness." Lois stared at him for a moment, realizing there was something different about him. Then it dawned on her that he wasn't wearing his glasses. He looked so different, yet so much the same. Why had she let herself be fooled by a pair of glasses for so long? When she saw that Clark had noticed her staring, she grinned softly. "You look different without your glasses on." A smile played around the corners of his mouth. "I guess that's a good thing. Otherwise my disguise would be blown." She laughed softly, but Clark saw that her laughter didn't reach into her eyes. With a look of concern, Clark slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Lois sank gratefully against him, letting her head fall tiredly against his shoulder, and her hand rest on the T-shirt covering his firm, muscled stomach. Clark reached out to tuck a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear tenderly. "So what's on your mind?" She glanced up into his warm eyes without lifting her head from his shoulder. "I keep thinking about you and me, and what's going to happen to our relationship now that I know about...you know." He nodded. "What about us?" he prompted gently. Lois sighed heavily and looked away. After a minute, she looked back up into Clark's tender brown eyes, seeing that he was waiting patiently for her to continue. "I'm not mad anymore about you not telling me what you've been hiding," she began. "I think the fact that I was distracted by our situation had a lot to do with it. But the fact remains that I still feel like I'm not sure who you really are, whether you're the partner that I fell in love with, or the superhero I used to be infatuated with. How do I figure that out?" "Lois, *this* is who I am," he assured her, opening his arms wide for inspection. "I'm just a regular guy who works during the day, likes to kick back in the evening, do some cooking, go to ball games with his friends, and wants to someday get married and have a family. Other than the fact that I came to Earth in a spaceship and developed super powers doesn't change the fact that I'm just a normal guy wanting to lead some semblance of a normal life. I think you'll find that I'm really not any different than the Clark you've known over the past couple of years." "But the superpowers..." "Yes, they're a special gift," Clark agreed. "And I definitely want to use them to help people in any way I can. But they don't change who I am. Not really. I guess you could kind of relate it to being a doctor. A doctor works during the day, but are then on call during certain times to help people in need. That's a lot like what I do." "But doctors don't change into tights and fly around the city facing down criminals and being invincible," Lois pointed out with a wry smile. "True," Clark laughed softly. "I guess the invincibility is an added bonus, and so is the flying. And since you seem to enjoy that so much, I'd say that's a perk you won't mind." Lois smiled. That much was true. There was something incredible about flying high up over the city in the arms of such an incredible man. And now that she knew the superhero was the one and only love of her life, she was sure it would just be that much more special. But their talk about flying only served to remind her how much things were different in her new perspectives of Clark, and of the superhero, who she had thought were completely different men. Sensing her hesitation, Clark reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. "Lois, let me tell you something. Remember that day just after I'd started working at the Planet when you asked me to go with Lex's ball with you? It was 'strictly business,' as you put it. Well, that night I flew home to have dinner with my folks, and they asked me all about you. I don't think I did a very good job of hiding how I felt about you, even back then. They saw right through me when I told them it was 'business.' They knew I had fallen for you even before I'd realized it completely myself." He smiled at the memory. "But after dinner when I was going to head back to the city, my dad walked me outside, and we talked about things. I remember him saying that he was glad that I'd finally found my niche, glad that I was happy in Metropolis. And I remember telling him how I still felt like I didn't fit in...no matter what I did, because I was different. More than anything, I wanted to have a normal life: a family, kids, someone to love. But I really didn't think it would be possible. But then over the past two years, I could feel the bond between us growing, and I knew that *you* were that person I wanted to love, and who I wanted to be loved by. I knew that you were the only one there would ever be for me, and I guess that's why, when you were so obsessed with me as Superman, I was thrilled by your attention, and even encouraged it. But as we grew closer, I realized you were just dazzled by the superhero in tights, and not really in love with me, as a person. So I slowly started phasing out the attention I gave you while in the Suit." "If you wanted me to know who you really were, then why didn't you just come out and tell me who you were earlier?" Lois asked seriously. Clark looked away, unable to meet her probing gaze. "I guess because I was afraid that things would change between us if you found out the truth. And I also wanted to be loved for who I really am. Not just some guy in tights who flies around the world saving people with his superpowers. I mean, look at how you acted when you thought Superman was someone else. You fell all over him, and completely ignored me! I didn't want a relationship with someone who couldn't love me for me, for who I really was deep down inside." Seeing how much the way she'd treated him had hurt, Lois felt horrible. "Clark, I'm sorry I made you feel like that," Lois said, her eyes glimmering with tears. "I never meant to. I guess I was just dazzled by the man in the suit with the superpowers. But if it's any consolation, the more I got to know you as a person, the more I realized you were what I wanted. You were kind, patient, loving, and stable. You're good for me, Clark. Everyone knows it, and it just took me a little longer to figure that out, I guess." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm glad I finally came around when I did, though, or I would've missed the best thing that's ever happened to me." Touched by her words, Clark smiled softly and leaned forward to kiss her lightly. Lois closed her eyes and returned his kiss, enjoying the sensation of his lips on hers. When they pulled apart, Clark lifted his hand to stroke her cheek. "Lois, I know you have a lot of adjusting to do, so I *want* you to ask me questions, to get to know the things about me you don't yet know," he told her. "But as you figure those things out, I think you'll discover that you already know pretty much everything there is to know about me. I'm basically just the same old Clark you've always known." Lois smiled slowly. "I guess I would like to know what you were doing all those times you ran out on me, or how you managed to get out of tight spots--as Superman *and* Clark. There must've been times you felt panicked, trying to be two people." "I can't argue with that," Clark chuckled softly. "But I've grown accustomed to it over the past two years, and I've learned to deal with things as they come, and not worry so much about things. Except you of course," he grinned. "You seem to have a knack for putting yourself in danger." "I guess that's one of the reasons it took me so long to see that your feelings for me were sincere," Lois admitted shyly. "I've never really thought of myself as the type of girl a guy would want to fall in love with." Clark's eyes widened. "Why on Earth would you say that?" "Come on, Clark, you can't be serious!" she scoffed. "Most men looking for romance avoid me like the plague. They're threatened by me! I pick cell locks, kick at knives in men's hands in an attempt to escape, and take risks that no other woman would..." Clark let his breath out in a rush, giving an exasperated eye roll before reaching out to take her hands in his. "But Lois, don't you see? That's what I love most about you! Yes, you're independent, strong-willed and pig-headed," he grinned at her before continuing, "but that's what makes you so special, what makes you *you*! You're a beautiful, spirited, intelligent woman who has *so* much to offer. I don't know why you can't see that. You won my heart without even trying, by just being yourself, and you have me so completely wrapped around your finger that I would gladly jump off the nearest bridge if it meant proving my love to you." "Even though you'd probably bounce," she joked. He grinned. "Well, not today," he said truthfully. "But any other time when I have my powers, yeah, I probably would. But the point is, Lois, I love you. *You* are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, the one I saved myself for." Clark paused. He seemed hesitant to continue, but he finally forced himself to. "Remember our talk at the cabin about my...sexual inexperience?" Lois nodded, though it seemed like it had happened ages ago. She waited patiently for Clark to continue. When he did, his eyes met hers and he spoke with an intensity that surprised her. "My other identity is the main reason I've never been with anybody," Clark told her quietly, seriously. "I wanted to make sure the woman I finally shared *everything* with knew the truth about me, about who I am. I wanted that person to love me, totally and completely, for who I was. I just couldn't have that kind of relationship with anyone without them knowing the truth about who I was. But I know you're that person, Lois, and I just didn't feel comfortable with being completely intimate with you until you knew the truth about me." He paused to let his words sink in. Looking down at their joined hands, he gently traced the back of her hand with his thumb. Finally he looked up into her eyes. "But now that you do know the truth, that doesn't mean I'm going to rush you into anything, Lois. If making you feel comfortable with this new aspect of our relationship means taking things slow, I'm fine with that. I just want you to know that I'll wait as long as it takes." No longer able to hold back her happy tears, Lois started to cry and reached out to wrap her arms around Clark's neck and buried her head in the hollow of his throat. "Thank you, Clark, for loving me that much. And I want you to know that I love you, too, even if I do tend to freak out from time to time." Clark's soft laugh rumbled in her ears. "I know you do." Lois remained still in his arms for several minutes, enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped securely around her. She sighed happily. "You make me feel safe and loved like no one ever has. I can't believe we were lucky enough to find each other." Clark smiled. "I feel the same way." Tightening his arms around her, he nestled his face in her hair and breathed in her scent deeply. He hoped he would always be lucky enough to have this woman in his arms for him to love, and to be loved by. He was indeed a lucky man. Reluctantly, Clark pulled out of their embrace and smiled at her gently. "As much as I hate to, I'm going to send you back to bed. We have a big day tomorrow, and I want to make sure you get the sleep you need." "Now that you mention it, I am pretty tired," she admitted, trying to stifle a yawn. "I know you are. You'd have to be after everything that happened today. Now come on," he urged, helping her stand up, "let's get you in bed." ***** Garrison watched eagerly from his vantage point two buildings away as the lights flicked off in Clark's apartment. He glanced down at his watch. It was late. He looked back up at the two police officers outside the apartment building, and was frustrated to see that they looking surprisingly alert. "What ever happened to dozing off on the job?" he muttered to himself. He'd been hoping they'd slack off on their assignment as the evening wore on, but so far, no such luck. He sighed. There was no way he was going to get to Lane and Kent while they were at his apartment. They were just too well guarded. *I'll just have to wait until tomorrow,* he thought. Surely an opportunity would present itself. And when it did, he would be there. Still unnoticed by the officers, Garrison put his car into gear and drove off silently into the night. **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:09:39 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 38 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 38 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** Garrison watched eagerly from his vantage point two buildings away as the lights flicked off in Clark's apartment. He glanced down at his watch. It was late. He looked back up at the two police officers outside the apartment building, and was frustrated to see that they looking surprisingly alert. "What ever happened to dozing off on the job?" he muttered to himself. He'd been hoping they'd slack off on their assignment as the evening wore on, but so far, no such luck. He sighed. There was no way he was going to get to Lane and Kent while they were at his apartment. They were just too well guarded. *I'll just have to wait until tomorrow,* he thought. Surely an opportunity would present itself. And when it did, he would be there. Still unnoticed by the officers, Garrison put his car into gear and drove off silently into the night. ***** The next morning, the sun streamed in through the window and fell across Lois' face, causing her eyelids fluttered open. Feeling disoriented, she blinked a couple of times in the brightness, trying to make her eyes adjust to the light. When they did, it took her a few moments to realize that she was safe, and in Clark's bedroom. Alone. It was strange. For years she'd waken up alone, but after the past few days of waking up and finding Clark either beside her or very nearby, it felt oddly unfamiliar not to have him next to her. Lois rolled her eyes at her uncharacteristic feelings of dependence and stretched her arms slowly above her head. Hearing a noise out in the living room, she sat up, but grimaced when the movement sent a jolt of pain radiating through her leg. It had gotten stiff and sore during the night, and the sudden rush of blood flow to it made it ache and throb. She closed her eyes against the pain and waited for several moments until the throbbing dissipated. When it finally did, she carefully slid off the edge of the bed and stood up, careful not to put any weight on it as she reached for her crutches. She adjusted the padded armrests under her arms and winced as they rubbed against the sore muscles there. She had no idea she'd be so sore from the crutches after only one day. Trying to ignore her aches and pains, she tugged down the hem of the old T-shirt of Clark's she'd worn as pajamas the night before and hobbled out of the bedroom. As she maneuvered around the corner into the living room, she saw that Clark was lying on the couch, propped up on one elbow, and only a corner of his blanket covering his legs while the rest lay puddled on the floor beside the couch. He looked up when he saw her, and his smile lit up his face. "Hey," he greeted softly, his voice still sounding gravelly from sleep. He quickly sat up and kicked the rest of the blanket off him onto the floor, then patted the now cleared spot on the couch beside him, inviting her to join him. "How'd you sleep?" "Pretty good," she admitted, turning sideways on her crutches so she could side step her way between the couch and the coffee table to sit down next to him. As soon as she did, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a gentle hug. "I'm glad to hear it," he said, pressing a kiss into her hair as she let her head fall onto his shoulder. She sighed contentedly as she snuggled into his side and let her hand rest on his chest, comforted by the steady, rhythmic beating of his heart beneath her palm. A minute later, she looked up to meet his gaze. "How about you? Did you sleep at all out here on this old couch?" He smiled. "It may be old, but it's still pretty comfortable. I did fine." Leaning back his head, he quickly lifted his hand to cover his yawn. "Besides, I can't complain. It was definitely better than sleeping on Trask's cement floor in that cell, or on the ground in the cave." "I can't argue with that," Lois agreed. Enjoying their closeness, Clark let his head rest against Lois'. He closed his eyes and soaked in the stillness of the morning as he tightened his arm around Lois' shoulders and pulled her even closer. There had been many times over the past few days when he'd wondered if he'd ever again have this luxury of just sitting and holding Lois in his arms, of having her near and breathing in the scent of the woman he loved. And now that he had that chance, he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass without savoring it to its fullest. If he'd only learned one thing from their ordeal, it was that life was too short, and too precious to taken for granted. "It's so nice to just sit and relax, isn't it?" Lois nodded, but then glanced up at the clock and sighed. "It is, but I guess we should get going." Clark lifted his head from hers and looked at her suspiciously. "Going where?" "The Planet," Lois told him as she straightened up reluctantly and reached for her crutches. "Since we haven't heard otherwise, the virus is still out there, and I'd like to be around to help in anyway I can. Maybe if I do some more digging, I can find out some things about Garrison that'll help us find and deactivate the virus." "I don't know, Lois," he objected as she pushed herself up awkwardly off the couch. "Jimmy's already said there's not much we can do. I really think it would be better if you stayed here and got some rest. One good night's sleep isn't going to miraculously make your health better." Lois sighed. "Clark, I don't want to go through all this again. We both know I'd win this argument anyway." She flashed him a quick smile over her shoulder as she headed for the bathroom. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to wash up and get dressed, and I'll be ready to go in about a half hour." And with that, she left the room, effectively bringing an end to their conversation. True to her word, Lois was dressed and ready to leave for the Planet in a half hour, despite Clark's repeated attempts to convince her to stay there and rest. The best he'd been able to do was persuade her to sit down at the table for a quick piece of toast with jam and a glass of orange juice to chase down her pain medication. As she finished the last bite of her toast and then wiped her hands on her napkin, she refused to even respond as he gave his argument one last ditch effort, leaving him to simply roll his eyes at her retreating back in frustration as she headed for the front door. The cab ride only took a few minutes, and when they arrived at the Planet and stepped off the elevator into the newsroom, they were greeted with an eerie silence. There was only a half staff scheduled for New Year's Eve, but it wasn't the lack of usual hustling bodies that made the newsroom seem so strange. It was the silence with which everyone worked that Lois and Clark noticed the most. Obviously the virus hadn't yet been found, and the tension inside the Planet was mounting. Just a little more than twelve hours remained until the virus was set to go off, and still no one knew what havoc the virus was ready to unleash. As they walked down the ramp to the newsroom floor, Lois could see Perry pacing furiously in his office. "I'd say we avoid Perry like the plague today," she told Clark only half-jokingly. Clark nodded in agreement. "He's going to be on a rampage, and it's only going to get worse if they don't find the virus soon." So, being careful to avoid their editor, they went to their desks as discreetly as possible. They'd just reached Lois' desk when they heard Jimmy's voice behind them. "Hey, guys. I didn't expect to see you two here today." "Yeah, like I could stop her from coming in," Clark protested, but the sparkle in his eye relayed that he was impressed, as always, by her spirit. Lois reached out to give him a good-natured smack on his arm, and he playfully ducked out of the way. Smiling, he turned back to Jimmy. Instantly, though, his smile turned into a concerned frown when he noticed the dark shadows under Jimmy's eyes. "Hey, are you okay, Jimmy? You look like you haven't slept all night." "I haven't," Jimmy admitted tiredly. "Not much, anyway. I was here all night helping the FBI guys go through files that are date stamped on or around the day that I overheard Manny on the phone saying he'd installed the virus." Lois tucked the crutch back under her arm and then cocked an eyebrow at Jimmy. "What's a date stamp?" "Every file has a date stamp that tells when it was created or modified," Jimmy explained patiently. "So the guys with the FBI are checking all those files uploaded to the system within that time frame, figuring that one of those has to be the virus. But if you ask me, it's a total and complete waste of time." "How come?" "Well, since the virus could be anywhere on the network, there could be *millions* of files to check." "Which could take forever," Clark commiserated. Jimmy nodded. "Exactly." "Isn't there some other way to track down the virus?" Lois asked. "Something that wouldn't take as long?" Jimmy was about to shake his head, but then he stopped. As an idea came to him, and was about to tell her how many different places it could be, when it suddenly hit him. "Hey," he exclaimed slowly, then more enthusiastically, "*Hey!*" Lois and Clark stared at him. "What?" "The FTP log on Manny's hard drive!" Lois and Clark looked confused. "What about it?" "That's our answer! Don't you see? The FBI's going about this the wrong way! Instead of going through all those files by date stamps, they could significantly narrow down the amount of files to search if they had a log file that showed all of the files that were uploaded from his computer to the network." "And there is one?" Lois asked, still uncertain about where Jimmy was going with this. Jimmy nodded vigorously. "Of course! His FTP log! I could kick myself for not thinking of it before!" Seeing that Lois and Clark were only beginning to understand, he rushed on to explain further. "You see, if Manny had managed to get the password for the web server, he would've used FTP to dump the virus onto the Unix server. The FTP log on Manny's computer would tell us what files he dumped over to the Unix servers with FTP, on what date, where they went, and what the file names were!" Feeling rejuvenated, Jimmy turned and rushed for his desk. Lois and Clark followed and watched over his shoulder as he sat down and started to type on his keyboard. "This could take a little time," he explained as he worked. "I'll need to do a search for a list of log files, and see if any of those are FTPs." With a few more keystrokes and a click of his mouse, the computer started to search, and Jimmy leaned back in his chair to waited. Lois and Clark continued to stare at the screen anxiously, waiting to see what would happen next. After what seemed like an eternity, the computer finished searching, and Jimmy immediately leaned in for a closer look. "There are a lot of logs here, but only a couple of FTPs," Jimmy said, more to himself than to Lois and Clark. He reached for his mouse and clicked on them one by one, searching each of the file's contents carefully. When he opened yet another, he suddenly straightened in his seat, and his eyes widened. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "What? What is it?" Lois asked eagerly. "I think this is it!" Jimmy studied the file on the screen before him, then nodded. "Yeah, do you see this?" he asked, pointing to the information in the file. "This says he uploaded a file named 'Rabbit1' from an encrypted directory on his hard drive to the Planet's primary web server on December seventeenth. 'Rabbit1' was his hacker name! This has to be it!" "Wait, wait," Clark interrupted. "An encrypted directory? What encrypted directory? I thought you said the FBI hadn't found any encrypted files on his computer." "Well, maybe they weren't looking hard enough," Jimmy offered, "or maybe he deleted them after he transferred this file." "No, he couldn't have, because when we heard him talking to Garrison, he said he'd left some encrypted files on his hard drive, didn't he, Clark?" Lois turned to look at Clark for confirmation, and he nodded. "We can look into that later," Jimmy told them. "But for now, let's see if we can track down this file he transferred, and see what it is." Lois and Clark watched as Jimmy minimized the FTP log and started to link up with the Unix server. Once he logged on, he started a new search for the file name 'Rabbit1.' Almost immediately, the computer found the file. They all stared at the monitor in nervous anticipation for a moment, almost afraid to proceed for fear that they were wrong, that they hadn't found anything related to the virus, and that their new-found hopes would be dashed. A minute later, though, Jimmy looked up at Clark, then Lois. "Well, here goes nothing." He reached for the mouse and clicked on the file. They all waited with bated breaths as the computer opened the file. Then, in a heart stopping moment, a new window opened on the screen, and line after line of code suddenly filled the screen. "YES!" he hollered, causing nearly the entire newsroom to look his direction. "What?" Lois asked, too stunned to react. "Is this it? Is this the virus?" "Yeah, I think it is!" he cried, jumping up from his chair and racing over to Perry's office, where he flung open the door and shouted for Perry. Perry quickly followed him out of the office, and joined them at Jimmy's desk. People started filing over, and in a matter of seconds, Jimmy and his desk were surrounded by bodies. Jimmy excitedly explained how he found the file to the crowd, his voice growing more animated by the second. "Then when the FTP log told us what file name to look for, I just typed it in, and voila! Here it is!" "Good thinking, Jimmy!" Perry exclaimed, thumping him on the shoulder enthusiastically. "I always knew you had it in you." "You did?" Jimmy asked, looking at his boss in surprise. "Of course I did! Those FBI guys have been here working on this thing for days, but it was *you* who finally managed to track this virus down. I'm so proud of you I can't see straight! I think this calls for a nice big bonus in your next paycheck, son." Completely stunned, Jimmy looked up at Perry's expression to see if he was serious, and was shocked when he realized that he was. He glanced over at Lois, raising his eyebrows excitedly. "Wow," Lois mouthed at him in response, giving him a quick wink. "So now that you've found it, can we just delete it?" Perry asked. Jimmy's smile faded. "Unfortunately not. Now we have to see if we can create an antidote for it. But we're running out of time. It's set to go off at midnight tonight, so that only gives us--" he glanced down at his watch, "--less than twelve hours. If we don't..." "Let's not think about that," Lois said gravely. "Right," Perry agreed. "Let's think positive." "So what can Clark and I do to help?" Lois asked. "There's really not much you can do. We'll just have to comb through this and see if we can create an antidote." "Well, then, get to it, Jimmy!" Perry said encouragingly, once again thumping the young man on the shoulder. Then the editor turned to the crowd around him. "And what are you all people standing around for?" he bellowed, sending staffers scattering back to their places. "Somebody get that Robinson guy down here, pronto! I want this virus checked out, and I mean now!" When the crowd dispersed, Lois smiled proudly at Jimmy. "Nice work, Jimmy. That was some great thinking. I think there's an investigative reporter in you yet." "You think?" Jimmy asked, still smiling ear to ear from his boss'--and now Lois'--praise. He lowered his voice and did his best Perry imitation, "'There's going to be a big bonus in your next paycheck, son.' Not only did he offer to shell out some money--in front of witnesses, I might add--but he also called me 'son.' Can you believe it?" "That's when you know you've hit the big time," Lois agreed with a smile. Then she turned to Clark. "Well, should we get to work? I'm sure we can find out more about Garrison, and how he could've gotten connected to Trask." Clark nodded. "I'm sure we can find out if we dig deep enough." They went to their desks to get started on their research, leaving Jimmy alone at his. But it wasn't long before a swarm of FBI agents swarmed into the newsroom and surrounded Jimmy, listening to a recap of how he'd found the virus. Then he was whisked off to their command center to help them get started on an antidote. The morning wore on, and before Lois realized it, it was two o'clock, and her stomach was grumbling. Clark volunteered to go out to grab them something to eat and bring it back so Lois wouldn't have to go anywhere, and she gladly agreed. Just the idea of walking somewhere for lunch, aided by her crutches, made her body ache. Before leaving, Clark asked Perry if he wanted him to get him anything, but their editor shook his head. He looked slightly green, and insisted he was too worried to eat. Clark nodded sympathetically and got into the elevator. As he punched the lobby button, he couldn't help feeling sorry for Perry. The Planet was everything to him. He remembered how unhappy the older man had been when he'd retired when the Planet was destroyed. He couldn't imagine how Perry was feeling, knowing that the Planet's--and his own--future was uncertain. He brought sandwiches from a small deli down the street, then hurried back and ate lunch with Lois at her desk, pleased to see that the food seemed to reenergize her, and brought the sparkle back into her eyes. He noticed that her cheeks even had a bit more of a healthy hue to them than they'd had yesterday, and it made his own spirits soar to see that her health was improving. She was on her way back to her old self, and nothing could make him happier--except to have the virus threat eliminated, and to *finally* have their lives returned to normal. After lunch, Lois and Clark went back to their research. But it was slow going, and Clark discovered that his heart really wasn't in it. He was too concerned about the virus, and unable to stop wondering if they were having any luck creating an antidote. By mid afternoon, the atmosphere around the Daily Planet was strained, and the people working on an antidote for the virus were becoming frantic as evening--and ultimately midnight--approached. Clark could tell the strain was taking its toll on Lois. Her jaw muscles were clenched, and he saw her start to rub her temples more and more frequently. But when he saw her reach into her purse for her pain medication, he knew that was the last straw. Pushing his chair back from his desk, he stood up and walked over to her. "Come on, Lois. There's nothing we can do for them right now, so let me take you back to my apartment. I'll make you some dinner, and you can get some rest." "Clark, I can't leave," Lois told him, too tired to even try to keep the weariness out of her voice. "I know we can't do anything to help right now, but at least I know what's going on. If we're not here, we won't know." Clark smiled patiently and pulled her chair--with her in it--away from her desk. "Don't worry. I'll tell Perry to keep us posted." Lois stared hesitantly at the hand he held out to her. But after a moment, she realized it wouldn't do any good to argue. When Clark got his mind set on something, especially when it came down to her well being, he wasn't going to back down. Besides, she did feel pretty tired, and one of Clark's home cooked meals and a nice warm bed did sound pretty nice, she had to admit. Finally she nodded. "Okay. But only if we can come back before too long. I want to be here in case there's anything I can do to help." Clark nodded diplomatically. "It's a deal." Just then his phone rang, and he looked at it, then back at her. "Give me two seconds," he said, holding up two fingers as he hurried to answer his phone. "Clark Kent," he answered it. Then his eyes widened and he looked over at her. "Oh, Dr. Klein...sure, I can get in touch with Superman. Is there a problem?" **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:09:54 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 39 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 39 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** Lois was instantly on alert. 'What's the matter?' she mouthed at him. He signaled for her to wait, then listened for another minute. "He'll be right over as soon as I can contact him. Okay...thanks. Bye." "What did he say?" Lois asked the second Clark hung up the phone. Clark walked back over to her and quickly looked around him to make sure they were alone. When he was sure they were, he lowered his voice and said, "Dr. Klein says that their original dosage of the antidote they gave me was a little off. They underestimated the strength of Trask's serum, and they need to give me another injection before it's strong enough to get rid of all the Kryptonite left in my system. Even then, it may be a couple of days before I'm...you know, back to normal," he finished in a low whisper. Lois nodded. "Okay, then you go on ahead. I'll just hang out here until you get back." Clark suddenly remembered that he'd been about to take Lois back to his apartment, and he frowned. "No, I don't want you to stay here and wear yourself out. You need to get some rest." He thought for a minute. "Okay, here's what we'll do. I'm going to call Henderson and have him send an escort right over to go back with you to my apartment, and stay with you until I get there. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" In a matter of minutes, it was all arranged with Inspector Henderson, who assured them one of his men would be right over to escort Lois back to Clark's apartment. "It should only be a few minutes," Clark told her as he hung up the phone. "I'll just wait here with you until he gets here." "Oh, Clark, don't be silly," Lois protested. "I'm in the Planet, surrounded by people. I'll be perfectly safe until he arrives. You go on ahead. I'll be just fine." But still Clark hesitated. He was clearly torn. But Lois insisted again, and he finally gave in. "Well, if you're sure..." "Clark, I'm *sure,*" she groaned, rolling her eyes slightly. "There's a building full of people, not to mention several security guards downstairs. I'll be fine. Just go already." "Okay. But *promise* me you won't go anywhere without an officer with you." He gave her his best stern Superman look. "I promise!" she echoed in frustration. Then she grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her so she could give him a quick kiss, which he returned with feeling. "Now go," she said when they pulled apart. "I'll see you at your apartment in a little while." Giving her one last kiss, Clark straightened up and headed for the elevator. Lois watched him go, then turned off her monitor and straightened the piles of paper on her desk. When everything was straightened up, she glanced at her watch. Five minutes. She sat back in her chair with a sigh. She hated waiting. To keep herself from being bored, she decided to finish organizing the papers in her pile. When they were in order, she put them carefully into a manilla folder and slid them into her desk drawer. She glanced at her watch again. Ten minutes. Deciding to go wait down in the lobby, she stood up stiffly, grateful that she'd taken her pain medication not too long ago, and struggled to put her coat on. Then she reached for her crutches and hobbled to the elevator. When she stepped out into the main floor lobby, she again glanced at her watch. It had been fifteen minutes, and still there was no sign of her police escort. Growing impatient, she went over to the newsstand and started to thumb through several of the magazines. When she didn't think she could stand it any longer, she pulled back her coat sleeve and saw that almost half an hour had passed. *Forget this,* she grumbled to herself. *I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. Besides, all I have to do is hail a cab and ask him to wait until I get safely into Clark's apartment. How hard is that? And when the cop comes and realizes I've left, he'll just go over to Clark's, knowing that's where I'll be.* With her mind made up, she shoved the magazine she was holding back into its rack and headed for the door. She knew Clark wouldn't be happy with her for forging out on her own, but by then, she didn't really care. She was sick of waiting. Going out into the cold evening air, she looked down the darkening street in search of a cab. When she spotted one a block away, she raised her arm to try to grab the driver's attention, but nearly lost one of her crutches. She grabbed at it irritably, then grew even angrier when the cab driver went right past her. "Hey!" she hollered after it. "Thanks for nothing!" Turning to look for another, she spotted a crowd of people coming down the sidewalk toward her, and she had to do some fancy maneuvering to keep from being trampled. She pressed herself against the wall of the Planet, grumbling about inconsiderate people, when suddenly she felt a hand slip over her mouth and a viselike grip close around her upper arm. Before she could do anything, she was dragged, crutches and all, around the corner of the building and pulled into an alley behind the Planet. When she'd regained her bearings, she looked over at her capture and her eyes widened. It was Garrison. "Well, Ms. Lane, isn't this a coincidence. You're here, I'm here...the only one missing from this little party is that Super boyfriend of yours." Trying to suppress the fear bubbling up within her, she jutted out her chin and looked at him coldly. "The authorities are already onto you and Trask, Garrison. You might as well give yourself up." But Garrison just threw his head back and laughed. "Give myself up? You've gotta be kidding. I stand to make seven digits on this deal, and I'm not about to give that up. The only thing that stands between me and my money is the fact that you and Kent know too much." "Too much about what?" "Don't try to play dumb with me, Ms. Lane. It won't work. I know that someone is trying to deactivate my virus even as we speak. No doubt you and Kent had something to do with that. Would you like to share?" Lois met his steely gaze with one of her own. "There's nothing to share, Garrison. We didn't have anything to do with that." "Why don't I believe you? It just seems awfully coincidental that they didn't even find the virus until you and Kent showed back up. I think you overheard Manny and me talking, and gave them some little piece of information about the virus that helped them find it. What was it? The virus file name? The decryption code for the antidote? What?" Lois' eyes widened. "There's an antidote?" Garrison laughed condescendingly. "My dear Ms. Lane. For such a talented reporter, you're sure clueless when it comes to computers. Yes, there's an antidote. How else would I protect my own systems? I wouldn't be caught dead getting hurt by my own creation. That wouldn't be very smart now, would it?" "So you and Trask have been in on this all along?" "Trask?" Garrison scoffed, the mere notion repulsing him. "He's just a delusional man who shares my goal of offing your super boyfriend. He wants to kill Kent because of some crazy idea that Superman is a front man for some alien invasion. Me, I just want him dead so he can't interfere with my plans. Besides, let's just say that the little nest egg I stand to make off of this will give me enough to buy my own little island and retire from such brainless work, somewhere where the government will never find me. The only loose ends I have are you and Kent." He sneered as he leveled the gun at her. Lois forced herself to remain calm, but she couldn't stop her knees from shaking. She swallowed. "What makes you think we know anything that would be worth killing us for? We don't know anything, other than that you and Trask kidnapped us, and put us through three days of hell. There's nothing I'd like to see more than for your little virus fail, and then watch you rot in prison." He grinned, but there was no humor it in. "Very funny, Ms. Lane. But enough of the pleasantries. Tell me what you know. Do they have the antidote?" "If they had the antidote, don't you think they would've used it by now?" Lois reasoned. "Oh, so smug," Garrison snarled. "But you're still not telling me what I want to know, Ms. Lane. What is it you're hiding? If you know what's good for you, you'd tell me what I want to know. *Or else.*" Lois steeled herself and forced herself to meet his gaze. "And if I don't?" His face hardened and his expression turned cold. "Then I'll just have to kill you." Lois stared into his eyes, and her knees started to shake. She could tell from his cold, hardened expression that he meant it. She struggled to control the shake that moved from her knees and started to spread through the rest of her, threatening to give away her cool appearance. "If I tell you, you'd just kill me anyway." Garrison feigned surprise. "Ms. Lane, I'm insulted! What makes you think I'd do a thing like that?" "Because you're as insane as Trask in getting what you want, and you'd kill anyone who stood in your way," she told him with more bravado than she felt. "You know what, Ms. Lane? You're right." He pressed the gun threateningly to her temples and cocked it. Sensing it was now or never, Lois steeled herself to the pain she knew it would cause and acted quickly. Shifting her hips to the left, she slammed her elbow into Garrison's stomach, causing him to double over in pain. Then before he could recover, she quickly reached for the gun and tried to wrestle it from his grip. But Garrison was too strong for her, and he grabbed her by the shoulder, and threw her up against the alley's brick wall. Enraged, Garrison leveled the gun at her and took aim. "You're going to wish you'd never done that!" What happened next seemed to pass in slow motion. Lois watched in horror as his finger squeezed the trigger, and the sound of the bullet being fired thundered through the alley. In that instant, Lois knew it was over. There was nothing more she could do but wait for the bullet to end her life. But suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a figure rushing at her, trying to move into the path of the bullet. At almost the same time, she felt the heavy impact of the person's body crashing into hers, knocking her off her feet and out of the bullet's path. She hit the ground hard, her head striking the frozen ground and making her mind go fuzzy. She struggled to remain conscious as she heard retreating footsteps, shouts coming from the nearby street, and finally an approaching police siren. Knowing he'd failed to accomplish his task, Garrison looked around in a panic, then quickly turned and fled down the alley. Lois heard the sound of Garrison's retreating footsteps, and said a quick prayer of thanks that she was still alive. But as she struggled to regain her bearings and tried to figure out just what had happened, she suddenly realized her chest felt heaving, and it was all she could do to draw in one shallow breath after another. In a panic, she wondered if she'd been hit, in spite of the person's attempts to push her out of the bullet's path. That's when she remembered she wasn't alone. Turning to look to her right, she saw a man crouched over a short distance from her, and watched as he slowly sat up, holding his arm painfully across his chest. When she caught a glimpse of his face, she gasped. It was Clark! "Clark!" she gasped as she struggled for air. "What...how..." He grimaced as he straightened up, then half crawled, half lurched over to where she was lying. "Shhh, Lois, don't try to talk," he told her as he quickly moved his hands across her limbs and torso to make sure the bullet hadn't penetrated. When he realized she hadn't been hit, he closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh of relief. He managed to avert disaster. Barely. "You're going to be okay, Lois, just lie still," he told her. "I think you just got the wind knocked out of you." She nodded slowly and tried to breath slowly and deeply. Moments later, she heard voices shouting and the sound of footsteps running toward her. Faces started to appear above her, and a policeman and several passersby were leaning over her, making sure she was okay. With all the strangers suddenly surrounding her, she felt a feeling of panic start to edge in. "Clark?" she whispered, her voice starting to gain force. Instantly his face was in her line of vision, and she saw him start to wave off the growing crowd. "Everyone back off!" he said, scowling and using his best Superhero voice. "She's okay, she just needs some air!" Miraculously people started to back away, and he kneeled beside her, taking her hand firmly in his. "Lois, can you sit up?" She nodded again, then felt his strong arm slide beneath her back as he helped her to a sitting position. When she was sitting, he wrapped his arms protectively around her and drew her close. Lois closed her eyes and pressed her face into Clark's chest, clenching his shirt in her hands. "You're okay, Lois. You're okay," he murmured soothingly as he stroked her back. She tried to fight off the tears that were threatening to overcome her, not wanting to cry in front of the gathering crowd. Through the dull roar in her head, she heard the policeman next to her speak. "Miss, can you tell me what happened?" Shakily, she lifted her head from Clark's chest, barely checked tears brimming in her eyes, and started to give the officer the details. ***** A short time later, Lois sat on the leather couch in Perry's office and looked up to see Clark holding out a cup of hot tea. "Here. This will help calm your nerves." Trying to make her hands stop shaking, Lois took the mug with both hands and sipped the hot liquid slowly. Clark sat down beside her and put his hand gently on her back. "How are you feeling?" "Still a little shaky," she admitted. "Thanks for coming when you did." He gave her a gentle smile and rubbed her shoulder lightly. "No problem." She took another sip of her tea, then turned to look at him, a hint of fire returning to her eyes. "What in the *world* possessed you to throw yourself in front of that bullet when you didn't even know if you'd be killed by it?" Clark reached up to gently brush her hair back from her forehead. "I knew my powers were starting to come back because I instantly picked up on Garrison's voice, so I figured I'd be okay. And even if I weren't, I couldn't have stood by and let something happen to you. Not after all we've been through." Lois smiled softly at Clark, then looked at Clark's chest and gently rested her hand on his ribs. "So are you okay?" she asked quietly. "Where did the bullet hit you?" "Just below my ribs," he told her. "Luckily I had enough of my powers back. It bounced off, but I'll probably have a good bruise to show for it." He looked behind him through the windows along Perry's office wall to make sure no one was looking, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the flattened bullet. "What a little souvenir? Lois smiled and shook her head. "No, I don't think so." She was quiet for a moment, then she sighed heavily and leaned her head against Clark's shoulder. "Is this the way it's always going to be with us? One brush with death after another?" "I hope not," Clark replied. Then a grin started to tug at the corners of his mouth. "But I have to admit, you do seem to have a certain flair for living dangerously." Lois laughed a little, even though it still sounded shaky to her own ears. "I don't mean to. I guess danger just seems to find me." She lifted her head and took another sip of her tea. "You know, Clark, something about what Garrison said got me thinking. He seemed sure that we had access to the antidote. Why would he think that?" Clark looked surprised. "I don't know. Is that what he wanted?" Lois nodded. "He kept asking how much you and I knew, and if we'd told the FBI some little piece of information that led them to find the virus. But I kept telling him we didn't know anything, but obviously he didn't believe me." "Obviously not." After another minute of silence, Lois asked, "Did they catch him?" Clark sighed and shook his head. "He was long gone by the time the police arrived. But don't worry," he smiled slightly. "Now that Superman's almost back to full strength, he won't rest until he finds him." "That's good to know." A new voice entered the conversation. "Hey, Lois. Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Lois looked up and smiled at Jimmy. "Thanks, Jimmy, but I'll be fine. I guess I'm getting used to this kind of thing." "I'm not surprised, with how often it happens to you," Jimmy joked, drawing an agreeing chuckle out of Clark. "Well, I guess I'll leave you two alone." He started to leave the office, but Lois sat up and called him back. "Jimmy, are you sure there aren't any other files on Manny's computer that could be the antidote? Garrison seemed awfully persistent about wanting to know if we had it. Why would he be so persistent if he was certain we didn't?" "That's a good point, Lois. I don't know." Lois nodded, and he left the office. Clark reached out to stroke her hair. "If you're feeling up to it, why don't we head back to my apartment? If you didn't need to rest before, you definitely need to now. After what just happened, I think some sleep is mandatory. I'll even make you some special tea that'll calm your nerves." Lois smiled gratefully and gave his hand a squeeze. "That sounds nice." Clark stood up, then helped Lois to her feet and handed her her crutches. As Lois hobbled through the newsroom, glad Clark was letting her take it slow since her knees where still shaking like crazy, she stopped and looked around. "Do you think we should stay? Maybe there's something we can do to help." "Lois, Jimmy's already told you several times. Unless you're a computer expert, there's nothing we can do. Now let's just worry about you getting a little rest, and we'll come back here before midnight. Okay?" Lois nodded and followed him out to the waiting squad car, which would escort them back to Clark's apartment. But even after Clark had made her some tea to help soothe her ragged nerves, had cooked her a light dinner, and then forced her to go rest on his bed, she still wasn't able to relax. She kept looking up at the clock on Clark's wall, watching the time pass. Nine o'clock. Nine-oh-five. Nine-ten. Nine-fifteen. She sighed. It was going to be a long night. **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:10:07 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 40 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 40 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** Garrison careened around the sharp corner in the mountain road, his car tires sending a spray of rocks and dirt into the air. His headlights flashed around the compound as he sped in, revealing a handful of men scrambling to get out of his way as he slammed the car to a stop in front of the cabin. "Hey!" "What's going on?" Several angry shouts came as he jumped out of the car and raced into the cabin in a rage, ignoring the men in the compound. But he was in no mood to be harassed. His plan to kill Lane and Kent had failed, and his didn't believe Lane when she'd told him they didn't have the virus antidote. An odd sense of doom loomed over him as he thought about how much his intricately devised plan was hanging by a thread. He rushed into his computer room at the back of the cabin and started putting things in boxes. Now that the authorities were onto him, and Lane and Kent were alive and remained witnesses to so many crimes, he knew he couldn't stick around. He had to cut his losses. He remained optimistic that the virus could still go off as planned, but he wasn't about to wait around to find out. The authorities were getting close to zeroing in on their position, and he planned to completely disappear within the hour. Pulling the plugs on his computer equipment, he quickly started gathering everything up to take out to his car, but then he realized he'd better get the virus antidote and keep it on him. Hopefully the virus would still activate as planned, and if it did, he wanted to make sure his own systems were safeguarded. He hit the 'eject' button on his floppy drive, but nothing came out. He brow furrowed. *I know it was in there before I left,* he thought. Confused, he lifted the keyboard to look under it, then bent down to look on the floor around his desk. "It has to be here *somewhere*!" he said irritably as he opened the desk drawer and moved some papers. He became more frantic as he search of the other desk drawers turned up nothing. "Where *is* it?!" Just then a voice sounded from the doorway. "Looking for this?" Garrison's head jerked up and he saw Trask standing in the doorway, looking smug and holding up a computer disk up for Garrison to see. Garrison blinked in surprise. "How did you get that?" Trask smiled victoriously as he sauntered into the office and waved the disk around, clearly enjoying toying with Garrison. "You accuse me of being paranoid, delusional, Mr. Garrison. Fine. I can accept that. Not everyone sees eye to eye on what they believe. But you...you clearly underestimate me." Clearly not in the mood for Trask's arrogance, Garrison took two hasty steps toward Trask and attempted to snatch the disk out of the man's hand. But Trask pulled it quickly away out of his reach. "Uh-uh, not so fast," he chided smugly. "See, you didn't think I was capable of figuring out what you were up to. But when you know something is up, it's really not that hard to do some research and get to the bottom of things. "For example," he continued, pulling the disk away once again when Garrison made another grab for it. "I found out that this disk contains the antidote to a virus that is capable of crashing the entire world's computer systems within a matter of minutes. Plant that little virus into a computer network such as the Daily Planet's where it could be uploaded onto a website accessed by millions of people, and within minutes it's spreading through computers all around the world, crashing systems and bringing multi-million dollar corporations to their knees." "Trask, give me the disk," Garrison glowered. But his barely contained anger only amused Trask further. "Oh, but there's more," Trask went on, obviously enjoying toying with Garrison. "Suddenly, when all those multi-million dollar corporations are in ruins, you and your dummy company ride in on your proverbial white horse with this handy little antidote to save the day, making millions of dollars in the process since you could ask whatever price you wanted for its sale. Brilliant, Garrison. Positively brilliant. But there's one more thing." Garrison's eyes gleamed with anger. "And what's that?" Trask's smile faded and his eyes locked with Garrison's. "I'm not letting you get away with it. Not without including me in a piece of the action." Garrison stared at Trask in disbelief. "You can't be serious." "Oh, but I am, Mr. Garrison," Trask assured him, swaggering as he turned and walked toward the computer. He studied the computer system for a moment before turning back to Garrison. "I want in, or I go public with the information and tell everyone what you and your little friends have planned." Garrison laughed sarcastically. "Letting you in on the action would definitely not be wise. Just look at what you've done to your own beloved Bureau 39? You can't even kill Superman, your primary purpose. Your own men don't trust you to follow through with what you start. What does that tell me?" He shook his head and snorted in contempt. "Forget it, Trask." "Okay. I can see you're a businessman," Trask said, knowing he was going to have to play his other hand. "How would you feel about a little blackmail?" Garrison's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?" Trask's arrogance returned, knowing he suddenly had the man's attention. He smiled and walked into the center of the room, then stopped and turned to face Garrison. Their eyes met in a silent battle of wills, and it was a good minute before Trask spoke. Slowly and carefully, he pulled another disk out of his coat pocket. "What would a certain team of reporters at the Daily Planet--who you failed to eliminate, by the way--say about getting a disk containing information telling how you'd created the virus, and then orchestrated a plan to install it on the Daily Planet's computer system and send it out over their first ever on-line issue, with the intent to cripple the world's computer systems? It also contains dozens of email exchanges between you and someone in the Metropolis State Penitentiary, giving a blow by blow account of how your plan was devised and carried out, naming an elite group of programmers, businessmen, and government officials who are behind a little thing called 'Project Y2K,' and telling how you all stand to make millions by selling the antidote. And even though this person at the State Pen wasn't named specifically, I bet it wouldn't take a genius to prove, with the right amount of digging, that Lex Luthor was masterminding the whole scheme in an attempt to rebuild his financial empire." He paused and smiled smugly at Garrison. "All that would be of utmost interest to someone like Lane and Kent, don't you think?" Garrison's face grew ashen. "You wouldn't." Trask smirked back. "I would." He paused. "*Unless* you agree to cut me in on the deal." Garrison studied Trask for a minute, trying to decide how much of a threat the man really was. He decided to find out. Reaching into the waistband of his jeans, he pulled out his gun and leveled it at Trask. "I'll tell you what, Trask. We can fix all this with a really simple deal. I won't let you in on the action, but I just might let you live if you hand over that disk." Trask grinned confidently. "And let me go tell everyone what I know? Now that hardly sounds wise." Garrison looked honestly worried for a moment, but then his confidence returned. "You can go blab to the press and authorities all you want," Garrison assured him as he waved his gun casually in the air. "Without proof, your claims are worth nothing. And there's no way anybody is going to find any trace of what we're doing. This goes much, much deeper than even you think it does. You'd never be able to stop us." "Don't be so sure about that," Trask challenged, stepping closer in spite of the gun leveled at him. Garrison threw his head back, and the sound of his loud laughter filled the room. "You're good, Trask. Very good. But not good enough to fool me into believing that you wouldn't be a liability to the project. Nice try, though." He took a step closer, pointing the gun menacingly at Trask and cocking it. "Now give me both of those disks. It sounds like I'm going to have to destroy whatever information you've dug up." But Trask held his ground, jutting out his chin and meeting Garrison's gaze steadily. The two men squared off, and the silence seemed to echo in the room. Garrison's grip on his gun didn't waver, and he fingered the trigger, waiting for the delusional man in front of him to back down. But when it became evident that he wasn't going to, Garrison could hear Luthor's voice echoing in his mind. The words were something Luthor had ingrained in him from the very first day they'd began working together, and he could hear Luthor uttering those words as clearly as if he were standing there next to him. Never leave a witness. In that instant, Garrison's decision had been made for him. Staring back into Trask's steely gaze, Garrison leveled the gun at Trask and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the bullet firing shattered the stillness, and Trask's face suddenly contorted in a look of both shock and pain. Garrison watched as the man slowly dropped to his knees, then slumped to the floor. Unfeelingly, Garrison reached down for the disks still clenched in Trask's hand and pulled them away. "You should know, Trask, that I'll stop at nothing to get what I want. Nothing." Trask blinked. Then, with lowering lids and shallowing breath, he whispered, "You'll never find the copy of the information disk." Garrison's body stiffened. "Copy? What copy?" Trask smirked weakly. "Like I said, you underestimate me." Then his lids lowered and his body went limp. Realizing that Trask was dead, Garrison leapt to his feet. "Damnit!" he shouted, his voice resounding through the small room. The sound of running footsteps approaching made him regain his composure, and he quickly started to gather up only what was absolutely necessary to keep himself from being discovered. Then he shoved the disks into his coat pocket, grabbed his equipment, and pushed his way past Trask's gaping men out into the hall. **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:10:19 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 41 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 41 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** By ten-forty five, Lois couldn't stand the wait any longer. She'd been lying around for what seemed like forever, and she hated feeling so useless. There was only one place she had to be right then, and that place was the Planet. Getting off the bed, she headed into the living room where Clark was quietly watching TV and tapping his foot impatiently on the carpet. "Couldn't relax either, huh?" she asked. He looked at her and smiled sheepishly. "Unfortunately not. It's getting late. Should we head down to the Planet?" She breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you'd never ask." Pulling on shoes and coats, they were out the door in a matter of minutes and had no problem hailing a cab during the New Year's Eve rush of traffic. When they arrived at the Planet a few minutes later, they immediately spotted Jimmy. He was sitting solemnly at his desk, staring at his computer screen. "I take it they haven't been successful in making an antidote," Clark commiserated as they reached the young man's desk. Jimmy shook his head. "Nope. And there's less than an hour until midnight." Clark studied Jimmy staring intently at the list of Manny's files on the screen in front of him. "What are you doing?" Jimmy sat back in his chair and shook his head. "I've just been thinking about what you said, Lois. Garrison wouldn't have been so concerned if he was certain we didn't have the virus antidote. Why would he think that unless Manny had it here at one time? So if we do, and it's lurking somewhere here on his computer, where would it be?" "The antidote would be on a disk, right?" Lois asked. "Yeah," Jimmy nodded. "At least initially. But if Garrison was smart, he would've encrypted it, which would mean we'd need to find the password to decrypt it. But I don't think I have that much energy left." "What would the file look like?" "Well, without decrypting it, it would just be a bunch...of...jumbled characters..." His voice trailed off and then his eyes grew wide. Suddenly he jumped to his feet and ran over to Lois' desk, crashing down in her chair and switching on her computer. Startled, Lois and Clark followed him. "What are you doing?" Lois asked as she watched Jimmy shift impatiently in her chair as he waited for her screen to come on. "The disk!" Jimmy exclaimed, looking over at her with his eyes shining with excitement. "The disk Manny gave you that had all the funny characters on it! Remember how we thought the file was corrupted? Well, now it makes perfect sense! It wasn't a corrupted file. It was an encrypted one!" Lois stared at Jimmy in amazement. "You mean Manny switched disks on me without realizing it?" "And gave you the virus antidote instead of the jewelry theft information!" A crowd started to form around Jimmy as the newsroom staffers could see that the three of them were onto something. Even Perry drifted over from where he'd been talking to Agent Robison over by the elevators. Clark started to catch on. "Then that would explain that guy coming and stealing something from Lois' desk. I bet he was stealing back the disk!" "I bet you're right," Lois agreed. "Didn't you say he took it from my desk drawer? That *is* where I keep my disks. But if he took the disk, aren't we out of luck?" "We would be, except..." Jimmy paused as he reached for the mouse and clicked on a file, "I saved a copy of the file onto your desktop." As the file opened to a series of jumbled characters, he leaned back cockily and gestured victoriously at the screen. "Alright Jimmy!" Clark exclaimed, followed by a roomful of resounding cheers and people reaching out to thump him on the shoulder. "But wait!" Lois spoke up, interrupting the cheering crowd. "The file's encrypted, right? So how are you going to *decrypt* it?" Smiles started to fade. "Good point," Clark mused. Jimmy turned back to the screen and stared thoughtfully at the characters. "There's got to be a password or key or something," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. "Try 'Rabbit1,'" Perry interjected from where he'd come to stand beside Lois' desk. "It worked before. Maybe it'll work again." Jimmy nodded and leaned forward to type it in. But the words, 'access denied' appeared on the screen. He typed in a couple of other code names he knew Manny had talked about using in the past, but those didn't work either. Jimmy sighed. "Great. This is all I need. I've got to break a password for a file that we *hope* is the antidote, and we only have..." he glanced at his watch, "less than ten minutes." Agent Robison stepped forward. "Enough of this!" he exclaimed. "There's not enough time. We have to shut down the Planet's systems before it's too late!" "Now, just hold on a cotton pickin' minute!" Perry argued. "If the Planet's livelihood is on the line, at least give this young man a chance! Two minutes. Just two minutes!" All eyes were on the FBI agent as he deliberated. Under the pressure of an entire newsroom of people staring at him, he finally caved. "Fine. *Two* minutes. But if you don't have this resolved in two minutes, I'm pulling the plug." "Okay, good," Jimmy nodded, turning back to the computer. "With only two minutes, I guess I'd better hurry." As Jimmy's fingers paused over the keys, Clark suddenly spoke up. "What if the password was Garrison's choice this time, instead of Manny's? After all, wouldn't it make sense that it would be Garrison's choice, since he designed and created the virus?" Lois nodded. "That makes sense. But what?" "You did the research on Garrison," Jimmy looked pointedly at Lois. "Was there anything in his MO that might tell us what password he might use?" Lois shook her head. "I didn't pick up on anything, but then I'm not a computer person. I could easily have overlooked something. What would it be, some kind of alphanumeric code?" "It could be anything," Jimmy said quickly. "A word, a phrase, whatever. You guys were with Garrison a bit over the past few days. Did he say *anything* that would indicate what code he might use? Come on guys, think!" The mood in the newsroom started to turn solemn. But then it suddenly dawned on Lois. "Guys! Project Y2K!" she exclaimed excitedly. Jimmy and Clark both turned to look at her blankly. "What?" "Project Y2K," she repeated, her words coming fast. "Didn't he and Manny call it 'Project Y2K' when we heard them talking?" Clark's heart started to pound. "You're right, Lois, they did!" "Try it, Jimmy," Perry demanded, gesturing to the keyboard. "We've only got a minute left. What have we got to lose?" Jimmy leaned forward eagerly and typed in the phrase. He hit 'enter,' and they all waited anxiously to see what would happen. A few seconds later, the file blanked out, and then string after string of code appeared in its place. Everyone let out a loud cheer. Jimmy smiled, but he knew they weren't finished. "Okay. Okay, yeah, that was it. It decrypted it. But now let's see if it actually deactivates the virus." Under everyone's watchful eyes, Jimmy logged onto the server with trembling fingers, opened the virus file, and applied the antidote. With his heart pounding, he watched anxiously for what seemed like an eternity. Then suddenly the words 'file deactivated' appeared on the screen. Lois' eyes widened. "You did it! It worked!" A loud roar went up in the newsroom, and Jimmy jumped up from his chair, his arms raised high and victoriously above his head. "Alright! Let's hear it, everyone! The virus is gone!" The people around him began jumping up and down and cheering and hugging each other, thankful that they weren't threatened with the looming fear of unemployment any longer, and Jimmy was suddenly engulfed by people, everyone wanting to thump him on the shoulder or high five him. Perry's cheers could be heard over everyone's. "I think this calls for a celebration!" Perry bellowed. "What does everyone say to a round of champagne?" An answering cheer went up from the people around him, and he quickly sent someone to his office for the bottles he'd initially been keeping for the New Year's Eve party they'd been planning before all this had happened. Within seconds, the sounds of corks popping and excited chatter filled the air as glasses of champagne were passed around. "Jimmy, you are going to be splattered all over the pages of this newspaper tomorrow morning!" Perry told him, a huge grin nearly splitting his face as he clapped the young man's shoulder. "The morning edition is already set to go, but let's hurry up and slap an article together for the front page so everyone who has heard rumors about the virus will know that our on-line issue is no longer a threat. Everyone's going to know that you're the hero!" Out of the corner of his eye, Jimmy saw Agent Robison scowl at Perry, then turn and stalk to the elevators. *Good riddance,* Jimmy thought as he watched him go. Then he turned his attention back to the celebration. Caught up in the moment, Lois jumped a little when she felt strong arms slip around her waist, and she turned to see Clark standing behind her, beaming broadly. He then leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Jimmy may be the hero, but he couldn't have done it without your quick thinking. Nice job, Ms. Lane." She smiled back at him. "Well, thank you, Mr. Kent." She clutched her crutches to her to avoid them being knocked away from her by the celebrating crowd, then turned in his arms. "But don't give me all the credit," she told him, tilting her face up to his. "We *are* a team, remember?" His smile softened, and the love her had for her shined clearly in his eyes. "How could I ever forget?" he asked, his voice husky. "Hey, everyone!" someone in the crowd shouted. "We have twenty seconds until midnight!" Instantly everyone turned and glanced up at the clock on the newsroom wall, and loudly counted off the seconds as the second hand ticked down. Lois slid her arm around Clark's waist and smiled happily as she counted out loud with the rest of the crowd. The room rocked with the shouts of, "Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" The cheers that went up were deafening, but Lois grinned happily and started to sing along as the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" filled the air. Clark pulled her close, and they sang together, laughing as they ended up mouthing the words to the song that they didn't know. But they cheered along with the rest of the crowd when the song ended, and everyone started kissing and hugging. Clark's arm tightened around her, and she turned to smile up into his warm, brown eyes. "Happy New Year, Lois." "Happy New Year to you, too, Clark," she replied, feeling breathless as he looked down at her lips, then back up into her eyes. As they continued to gaze into each other's eyes, the cheering, rowdy crowd around them seemed to fade into the background, and suddenly just the two of them existed. Slowly, their faces moved closer together and their lips met in a gentle, sweet kiss that reflected a love that had grown through the days of life-altering experiences, experiences that hadn't succeeded in tearing them apart, but instead had brought them closer together than they ever could've imagined. Lois pulled back and looked into Clark's eyes. Without hesitation, she whispered, "I love you." Clark's eyes filled with happy tears, and he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He'd never imagined those words would sound so good. With his cheek pressed against hers, she felt, rather than saw, him smile. His voice filled with emotion, he whispered back, "I love you, too. Now what do you say we head back to my apartment? I can't think of anything I'd like better than to go home, climb into bed, and fall asleep in your arms." Lois grinned. "A quiet, uneventful evening, huh? That would be a switch after all we've been through, wouldn't it?" A wicked gleam appeared in Clark's eyes. "Who said anything about the night being uneventful?" ***** The phone ringing early the next morning woke Clark from his deep contented sleep, and he rolled over in bed, trying to force himself awake enough to find the phone in the darkness. His movement caused Lois to stir next to him, and he glanced down at her peacefully sleeping form, and suddenly a rush of almost overwhelming emotions encompassed him. The night had been magical. When they'd gotten back to his apartment in the early hours of the morning, exhausted and eager to just go in and fall asleep, he'd made Lois a quick cup of tea before she turned in. But then they'd started talking, and being in the quiet seclusion of his apartment, their closeness transferred from their conversation to several sweet interludes of loving kisses. One thing had led to the next, and almost before they knew what was happening, they were lying next to each other in bed, wrapped in each other's arms as they reveled in their passionate lovemaking that had taken place. Reaching out to brush back the cascade of hair curtaining Lois' face, his heart felt as if it were about to burst clear through his chest. Never had he thought making love to a woman could be so wonderful. He'd waited all his life for this occasion, and now that it had finally come, he knew he would treasure its memory for the rest of his life. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he reached over Lois and felt for the phone on the nightstand. After a couple of clumsy attempts, he managed to pick up the receiver and hold it to his ear. "Hello?" his sleep-filled voice inquired. Lois was pulled from her sleep, and she turned to looked sleepily at Clark. He suddenly seemed wide awake as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. "Who is it?" she whispered. He gestured for her to wait, then said into the phone, "Okay, thanks. We'll be ready to go in five minutes." He quickly reached over her and hung up the phone, causing her look of concern to deepen. "What's wrong?" Clark kicked his covers off and climbed out of bed. Lois couldn't help noticing how absolutely his muscled body looked shining in the dim moonlight streaming in through the window. But she forced herself to push those thoughts aside as she watched him reach for a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. "That was Inspector Henderson," he explained as he quickly pulled his clothes on. "He says he'd just been contacted by the State Police, telling him they found Trask's cabin and have arrested several of his men. They want us to go with them right away and identify the men we saw." Lois was instantly awake. She scrambled out of bed and reached for her own clothes. "Did they find Trask or Garrison?" "They didn't say. But a state trooper will be by in five minutes to pick us up and drive us up there." **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:10:29 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 42 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 42 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** It was a traumatic drive to the mountains, and Lois did her best to doze a little in the back seat of the trooper's car, but the whole scene brought back a flood of horrific memories she wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with. But Clark seemed to sense what she was going through, and he kept an arm around her during the lengthy drive. It was still dark when they finally turned onto an all-too-familiar dirt road, Lois couldn't help the panic welling up inside her at being back at Trask's cabin. Clark's hand tightened on hers as they came to a stop in the compound, and they looked around at the chaos in the woods. A dozen police cars and several unmarked vehicles with their headlights helping to illuminate the compound were parked around lamp-lit cabin, and uniformed officers with flashlights were in the process of handcuffing and leading several of Trask's men to waiting police cars. Detectives in suits wandered about, taking pictures and inspecting the cabin and its surrounding area. As the trooper came around and opened Lois' door for her, she forced herself to push her feelings of panic deep down into the recesses of her soul, and somehow was able to keep her expression devoid of emotion as she got out of the car. She stood, staring up at Trask's cabin for what seemed like an eternity, battling the conflicting emotions inside her. Suddenly she was aware of Clark at her side. He gently slipped his arm around her shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, knowing better than anyone the nightmarish memories she was sure to be relieving at that moment. She straightened up and clutched her crutches tightly. Not trusting her voice, she merely nodded silently, then followed the officer into the cabin. Most of the rooms upstairs were unfamiliar to her, and she and Clark went down the hall where the room at the end seemed to be swarming with people. When Lois looked in, she gasped loudly. The room was practically empty of furniture, which only succeeded in amplifying the scene of Trask's body lying in a crumpled heap in the middle of the floor. She found herself feeling a strange mixture of repulsion and relief as she continued to stare at his lifeless body. She had a complete lack of compassion toward Trask after all he'd put she and Clark through, but she never wished for anybody's demise, either. Seeing how shaken she looked, Clark ignored his own tightening gut and turned away from the scene, focusing his attention on her. With his returning powers, he was able to hear the rapid increase in her heartbeat and her shallow breathing, and he knew this wasn't what she needed right now. He slipped his arm around her and pulled her close, then gently led her away from the scene. They went back through the house, obediently following the officer to an all-too-familiar set of stairs, and when they started down them, Lois had to battle harder than ever to keep the memories of events from invading her mind. But the nightmarish flashes started to appear regardless: she saw herself kicking at the knife in the man's hand, only to feel the searing pain as the steel blade bit into her thigh; Clark's bruised and beaten body tied to the column in the middle of the basement room, unable to reach her to comfort her; the cold, hard floor her only ally against her throbbing, aching head... Reaching the bottom of the stairs and going through the metal door leading into the basement room with its cell only made things worse. She felt her world start to slip and slide around her, and the many people in the room seemed to merge with her horrific images until she couldn't be certain what was real and what was a memory. She heard the officers trying to ask her questions about the room and what they'd been through, but it was all she could do not to let the panic that was threatening to overtake her as she saw the images flash through her mind over and over again. She thought she was tough enough to deal with the reality of what had happened to them, but she suddenly felt as if everything was happening all over again, and she couldn't stay there a moment longer. The officer jotting down the details seemed to notice her panic, and he paused in mid sentence, his pen hovering above his notepad. "Are you okay, Ms. Lane?" His words shook Lois out of her reverie, but even the fact that she was standing in a room surrounded by law enforcement didn't stop her panic. She glanced quickly around the room, then muttered a quick, "Excuse me, but I think I need to get some fresh air" before turning and bolting for the stairs the best she could with her crutches. As she did, she caught Clark's startled look and knew he could sense her need to escape. Without pausing to consider how her fleeing up the stairs might look, Lois clumped awkwardly up the stairs and pushed her way through the crowd of officers roaming about, not even caring that her hasty actions were causing them all to look at her strangely as she rushed past. She finally made it to the cabin's front room, and she immediately threw open the front door and hurried out into the cold dawn air. Before she knew it, she'd crossed the compound and had moved even deeper into the woods fringing the property. But after several more years, she had to stop. Her leg was burning, her arms hurt from her crutches, and she was having difficulty catching her breath. She reached up to touch her cheeks, and was surprised when her fingers touched the wetness there. She couldn't even remember when she'd started crying. Taking a couple of deep, shaky breaths, she tried to force herself to calm down. *Come on, Lois, what's gotten into you?* she scolded herself angrily. *What ever happened to 'Mad Dog Lane'? You're usually so tough, objective, able to handle anything. But instead of being strong, you make a scene and run out of there like the building was on fire.* Trying to compose herself, she continued on, more slowly this time, until her breathing had slowed and she felt a little more calm. Seeing a large fallen tree off to her right, she hobbled over to it and sat down, content to sit in the early morning peace and prove to herself that she no longer had anything to run or hide from. She was safe now. But she knew that it was going to take her a while to get over the feeling of dread. Staring off into the woods, she couldn't help thinking about how she and Clark had been prisoners in these woods only a few days ago, and what a horrible feeling it had been to wonder if they were ever going to see the light of day again. But through it all, there had been one stabilizing force, one factor that had been there throughout, keeping her from giving up hope. Clark. She shook her head in silent amazement. She couldn't believe how great he'd been through the whole ordeal, always putting her needs before his own, even though he'd been hurting and surely having doubts and fears of his own. But as much he'd been through, he'd been there for her unconditionally. He'd held her when she was struggling physically as well as emotionally, he'd assured her that everything would be okay, and most of all, he hadn't let her give up, even when she wanted to. He was definitely one in a million. But she knew that things were going to be very different from now on. Even though they'd just spent a wonderful, magical, memorable night together, she knew there was still so much she didn't know about him, so much she didn't understand--about him, about his background. And there were other things to consider. What would their relationship be like? Would they ever be able to have children? He'd said he wanted to marry her. Did she love him that much? But it only took her heart an instant to give its answer in a resounding 'yes'! But even when her stomach tied up in knots at the fear of the unknown as it was doing now, she knew she'd just have to take one look into Clark's warm, caring eyes, and she'd see all the love that he had for her gleaming brightly, clearly in them. No hiding, no reservations, no doubts. He loved her. She knew that now, more than ever, and despite the nagging thoughts going around in her head about all she didn't know about him, she knew his love for her would never change. He'd proven that through everything they'd been through...not only in the past few days, but through everything they'd been through together in the past couple of years. He was a one in a million person, and she knew she'd be crazy to let that slip by. "There you are." The voice behind her startled her, and she quickly spun around. But when she saw that it was Clark walking up to her, she relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Clark told her as he walked over to her and sat down on the log next to her. He lifted his hand to her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Are you okay?" he asked, his serious, concerned eyes searching hers. Lois nodded and turned back to stare off into the distance. "I just couldn't stand to be in there any longer with everything that's happened. It just brought back too many painful memories, and I don't think I'm really ready to face them right now, you know?" "Yeah, I know," Clark said softly, sliding his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "It's all still a little too fresh in my mind, too." He was quiet for a minute. "Oh, I almost forgot. I just heard that the FBI figured out that when the virus was activated at midnight, that the millions of computers accessing the site would've been infected with the virus and their systems would've crash. Systems could've been crashing all over the world. Then they think Garrison was planning to sell the antidote through a shell company to everyone around the world and make millions." "So that's what he was up to," Lois replied. "Well, at least that's one mystery solved. But something else is still bothering me." "What's that?" "Garrison's disappearance. Besides the fact that he should be in prison for what he did, doesn't it scare you to know that he knows your secret and is still out there somewhere, not knowing where or when he might strike next?" Clark sighed. "Yeah, it does. But if I lived my life worrying about what each and every criminal around the world was up to and what he was planning, I wouldn't have time to lead any kind of a normal life. I have to just enjoy each day, and take things as they come." "Carpe diem, hmm?" Clark smiled. "Exactly." Lois looked thoughtful again. "What about those encrypted files Manny said he'd left on his hard drive. What do you think they were?" Clark shrugged. "We'll have to see if Jimmy can track them down and find out what they contain. Maybe they'll even tell us who Garrison's "boss" is, and who's really behind all of this." "Maybe. I think it's definitely worth pursuing." "Sounds good to me. But the important thing is, we're safe now, and now that all this is over with, everything can get back to normal." Lois sighed. "Back to normal. Yeah." Clark's brow furrowed. "What's wrong?" Lois debated about telling Clark what was on her mind. After a moment of deliberation, she finally decided to confide in him. "It's just...how can you think that everything's going to be "back to normal" after everything that's happened? You're not the same Clark Kent I thought I knew. And to tell you the truth, it's probably going to take me a while to adjust to that. There's still so much about you that I don't know." "So just ask me when you want to know something," Clark insisted emphatically. "We can do this, Lois. We can make it work. I *want* you to talk to me, to tell me what's on your mind, and talk to me about anything that's bothering you. If we really love each other, and are committed to making this work, we can deal with anything that comes along. And I promise, no more secrets." Lois smiled and reached out for his hand. "Promise?" "I promise," Clark smiled back softly, eagerly entwining his fingers with hers. As he tightened his fingers through hers, his heart began to race. Being with Lois, touching her, talking with her so openly...it was all more than he could have ever hoped for, more than he'd ever thought would be possible when he considered his chances at having that special person in his life. And he knew Lois was that person, the one he knew he would eventually spend the rest of his life with. Giving in to the urge to kiss her, he leaned toward her and touched his lips to hers. But soon their kiss deepened into a soul-shattering kiss, and Lois closed her eyes, savoring the taste of his lips on hers, the feel of his hand on the back of her head, entwining in her hair as he pulled her even more deeply into their kiss. When they finally pulled apart, Clark smiled tenderly into her eyes. The mood was interrupted, though, when the sound of car doors slamming in the distance brought them back to the present. With a wry smile, Clark leaned back on his hands and looked around them. "Hey, didn't we talk about spending New Year's together in the mountains?" Lois laughed. "Sure, but this wasn't exactly how I pictured it." "Oh yeah?" Clark grinned mischievously. "So tell me. How exactly *did* you picture it?" "Oh, I don't know," Lois hedged, a mysterious smile creeping across her face. "A cozy fire, a nice soft rug on the floor in front of it, a little music and moonlight..." "Mmmm," Clark murmured dreamily, his lips nearing hers. "That sounds perfect." Lois closed her eyes as he kissed her again, reveling in the moment. Finally they pulled apart. "So how are you feeling?" Lois asked, studying Clark's face intently. Clark let out his breath. "Better," he admitted. "My powers aren't all back, but Dr. Klein's antidote seems to be working. He thinks in a few days I'll be completely back to normal." "*A few days*?" Lois smiled wryly. "It takes you 'a few days' to go from no powers to full powers, but it'll take me several days for me just to get rid of these crutches. It's not fair." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "It doesn't seem fair, does it?" he replied seriously, his heart going out to her. "But it does give me a good reason to make sure you take it easy, and give you a little extra pampering and one-on-one attention." Lois smiled coyly. "You never need an excuse to pamper me. I'll let you do it any time you want." "Really?" he asked, surprised. He'd never thought of her as 'wanting pampering' type. "Really." "Well then I'll have to take you up on that." "Mmmm," Lois murmured, leaning closer to him. "See that you do. Maybe we could even, I don't know...do a little flying?" The corners of Clark's mouth curved into a secretive smile. "I think that can be arranged." Lois giggled, and slipped her arm around Clark's neck, no longer afraid. No longer afraid of her relationship with Clark, of their surroundings, of what they'd been through. She knew that together, they could get through anything, and that was all she needed to know. Tilting her head back, she parted her lips, inviting Clark to kiss her, and he gladly obliged. They forgot all about where they were, about what they were there for, and just decided to live in the moment. Unnoticed by them, the sun began to rise in the distance, showering everything below with its peaceful morning glow and creating a new day, and a new millennium, for the world to enjoy. The darkness began to fade, and dawn slowly started to take its place. **************************************** Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 23:13:57 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Title: The Darkest Hour (Before the Dawn) part 43 by Erin Klingler erink@ida.net Rated: PG-13 Feedback always welcomed, public or private! **************************************** The pre-dawn streets of Metropolis were quiet as Garrison walked along the darkened sidewalk, wearing an overcoat and sunglasses in spite of the fact that the sun hadn't yet risen. But after everything that had happened, he knew he had to be careful. He was a wanted man. But he was a wanted man who would soon be counting his seven figure income while sailing on his boat around the world. He smiled. Life was a beautiful thing. The sound of a truck approaching startled him, and he moved off to the side and ducked into an alley as he waited for it to pass. His heart beat more quickly as the truck slowed and neared his position. But just as he was about to flee, he saw that it was a Daily Planet newspaper delivery truck, and it was just slowing to deposit a bundle of papers on the sidewalk. Relaxing, Garrison waited for the delivery person to complete his task, then watched as the truck sped away. Garrison looked up and down the street to make sure he was alone, then stepped out from the alley and hurried over to the bundle of newspapers. Pulling out his pocketknife, he quickly slit the plastic strips holding the bundle together and took one of the papers. After all, he wanted a momento of his accomplishment. He lifted his paper, preparing to bask in his glory by reading the headlines that told of the worldwide destruction his virus had caused. But instead, his smile quickly faded when he saw the headlines. "Noooo!" he yelled in a mixture of rage and dismay as he studied the front page, his voice echoing through the empty, darkened street around. "No, this can't be happening! I can't believe this!" He closed his eyes, in the hope that he'd been having a nightmare, then reopened them, hoping to see what he wanted to see. But still the words on the page remained the same. As bold as day, the headline leaped up at him: Daily Planet Photographer Destroys Computer Virus Underneath the headline was a picture of a young man, whose name was listed as Jimmy Olsen. Garrison's grip tightened on the paper as he quickly scanned the article, his eyes widening in disbelief as he read about the young man's miraculous efforts to locate the virus, and then deactivate it by finding a copy of the antidote the programmer had mistakenly left behind. A small picture of himself stared up at him from the lower corner of the page, and he groaned in disgust. It wasn't even one of his better shots. Unable to contain the anger boiling up inside of him, he clenched his jaw shut tightly and crumpled the newspaper in his hand, then threw it in disgust onto the sidewalk. Turning on his heel, he hurried down the street and around the corner of an old deserted office building. Making sure no one was watching, he ducked inside and took the back stairs two at a time until he reached the top floor. Then he hurried down the hall and into a room near the back where a cot, a single burner stove, and a wall full of computer equipment graced the room. Sitting down in the chair in front of his computer, he quickly dialed up an internet connection and opened a blank email. Entering the email address he knew by heart, he then started to type in the body of the email: "Project Y2K failed. Lane and Kent behind downfall. But second virus still pending, so all is not lost. Will be in contact soon." He quickly clicked on 'send,' then sat back in his chair, staring dismally at his computer screen. A short time later, he slowly pushed his chair back from his desk and walked over to the dirty, broken window overlooking the street. Looking out at the darkened street below, he clenched his fists in anger. Lane and Kent were going to pay for his losing the seven digit sum he'd worked so hard for. He'd see to that if it was the last thing he ever did. ***** A week later: The streets of Metropolis were bustling with morning commuters tromping their way through the blanket of new snow that had fallen the night before, and the air was filled with the familiar sounds of cab horns honking, people shouting, and newspaper vendors calling out the day's headlines in an effort to sell their morning papers. As Lois walked down the street with Clark on their way to the Planet, she felt happier than she'd felt in months. Everything in her life seemed in sync. Work at the Planet no longer felt repetitious and mundane, stories were coming together, she and Clark were nominated for a prestigious journalism award, and best of all, she was in love with a wonderful man who, miraculously, was just as much in love with her. Ever since New Year's, they'd made an effort to spend a lot of time together away from the Planet, where Clark encouraged Lois to ask him questions about himself, and prove to her that this new aspect of their relationship--his other identity--wasn't anything they couldn't deal with. And it seemed to be just what Lois had needed, for every day Clark noticed her awkwardness around him whenever he was in the suit start to diminish until finally she seemed totally at ease. With the tension gone, their relationship flourished, and Clark couldn't have been happier. He'd dreamed about being in a committed relationship ever since he was young, and it was finally happening. To him, his life couldn't have been more perfect. So when Perry had forced them both to take a week off after the virus scare on New Year's Eve, Clark happily agreed, and was surprised when even Lois didn't put up a fuss. They spent almost every waking minute of their week off together, with Clark taking Lois up on her offer to let him pamper her, and her health--and her spirits--improved rapidly. But as Lois told Clark, how could they not? Now that there were no secrets between them, things were wonderful between them. They hadn't gone anywhere--unless you counted the occasional trip to Italy or China for some incredible take out--but rather spent their days talking and laughing and just hanging out together. In that short amount of time, Lois felt like she'd really gotten to know the real Clark Kent, who turned out to be a satisfying combination of the partner and friend she'd grown to love, and the fascinating superhero she'd been infatuated with. She now felt completely comfortable in their relationship, and she loved waking up every day in love, knowing that somebody in return loved her. It made her life absolutely perfect. "It's seems strange to be going back to work after a whole week off, doesn't it?" Lois sighed wistfully. "I'm going to miss how we spent our days just hanging out together, doing nothing but sitting around and talking." Clark smiled. "That was great, wasn't it? Perry was right. We needed that time off to recover from our ordeal." "I can't help but wonder if he didn't have some other ulterior motives in mind, though," Lois told him. When Clark looked puzzled, she continued. "Us, Clark! You may not know it, but Perry's really a romantic at heart. I think he's been trying to pair us up together since you started working here. I think our ailing health was just a convenient means to an end for him to get us together." Clark chuckled. "If he knew we'd be perfect for each other, why didn't he jus say so a long time ago? We could've saved ourselves a lot of trouble." "But then what fun would there have been in that?" Lois asked flirtatiously. "I see your point." Clark pulled his hand from his overcoat pocket and reached for her mittened one. There was a comfortable silence as they slowly rounded the corner of the Daily Planet building and headed for the front doors. Lois was glad he didn't mind walking slowly, since that's all she seemed to be able to do since she'd retired her crutches only two days ago. She still walked with a slight limp, a reminder of everything that had happened two weeks ago. But Dr. Meyers had assured her that the limp would go away in time as her leg healed, so she put up with it for the time being. Besides, she knew things could've been a whole lot worse, so she was definitely counting her blessings. Clark noticed her glancing down at her leg, and he gave her hand a squeeze. "Your leg doesn't seem to be bothering you as much today. Is it feeling better?" "Yeah, actually, it is," Lois admitted. Then she smiled. "Though a week of pampering and being forced to take things easy surely helped." "I'm happy to boss you around any time you'd like," Clark told her with an easy grin. "You just say the word." Then Clark lowered his voice so he couldn't be overhead, and told her, "I know what you mean, though, about a week making a difference. The injections Dr. Klein gave me really did the trick. Thanks to him, I feel completely back to my normal self." "I'm glad to hear that," Lois said, removing her hand from his and sliding her arm around his waist. "And speaking of which...you still haven't followed through with your promise." He raised an eyebrow at her. "What promise is that?" "You know...the one to take me--" she broke off and made a flying gesture with her hand. He laughed. "Oh yes, that's right. You're not going to let me forget about that, are you?" he teased, his eyes alight with mischief. She shook her head vigorously. "Not on your life! Besides, if I'm going to have to get to know everything about you, doesn't it make sense that I should get to experience some of the high points of your...other identity." Clark smiled broadly. "I can't argue with that logic." Then he lowered his voice to a whisper again and leaned closer to her. "Though it sounds to me like just a convenient excuse to get me to take you flying." "You know me too well." She grinned up at him. "So what do you say about, hmmm, maybe later tonight?" Clark hedged. "I guess we could do that. Unless we're busy with, you know...other things." It took her a moment to pick up on what he was implying since such a comment seemed so out of character for him. When she finally realized what he meant, Lois' jaw dropped open and she fought to control the blush she felt spreading across her cheeks. Then she started to laugh. "Clark, I can't believe you said that!" she scolded. "What would your mother think of you saying such a thing to a lady?" "A lady? Where?" Clark asked, pretending to look around. "Oh, you're going to pay for that!" Thinking quickly, she bent over and grabbed a handful of snow and proceeded to try to stuff it down the collar of his suit jacket. He laughed and dodged out of the way, his disguised super-quickness no match for her gimpy gait. She continued to pursue him with her handful of snow, and they weaved in and out of the crowds on the sidewalk, shouting and laughing like a couple of grade school kids. People near them gave them sidelong glances of disapproval for behaving in such a fashion, but their looks were lost on the young couple as they continued to dart around in the snow on the way to the Daily Planet's front doors, before both managed to pelt each other with hastily made snowballs. With the amount of traffic on the streets, no one noticed the black luxury car with its darkly tinted windows parked across the street from the Daily Planet, its occupant shaking his head in disgust as he watched the behavior of the two reporters through his rolled down window. "You'd think they could behave more professionally," he grumbled disdainfully. "What was that, sir?" Garrison turned to see that his driver was glancing inquisitively in the rearview mirror at him. "Nothing," he said dismissively as he leaned back in his seat. Giving the reporters one last glowering look, he saw that they were laughing and trying to shake the snow off themselves as they headed through the Planet's revolving door. With a flick of his finger, Garrison rolled up his tinted window, making him all but invisible from the people outside. He turned to the driver. "Since the boss sent you to pick me up, we'd better not keep him waiting. I can deal with those two reporters on my own time. Let's go." And with that, the dark sedan pulled out into traffic and discreetly disappeared down the street. The End. ;) ...but stay tuned for part two ~~ The Darkest Hour (Beyond Tomorrow) ;) **************************************** Okay, there you go! ;) I hope everyone liked this, and that the rest of this wasn't a disappointment after reading along with this for...geez, almost a year. A *million* thanks to all of you for the feedback, words of encouragement, and for all your emails asking for more. Without you, I may never haved finished this. So THANK YOU!! FoLCs are just the best. ;) Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 15:32:13 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: -= LuC =- Subject: Re: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hi Jacomien! Welcome to the list :) I was lucky enough to begin taping L&C at the end of season 2 in australia (they aired a long time ago now)- so i had seasons 3 and 4 on tape- and much to my surprise i actually found L&C tapes at an online UK store and bought them! :) the address is: www.blackstar.co.uk when you do a search for the videos make sure you type "the new adventures of superman", as in the UK it was not called Lois & Clark. They have tapes of all of season 1 and until S2.07 ... i was delighted :) and of course i managed to find a very kind lady on this list who i met up with and taped for me the ones i did not have.. so see if you can find someone.. but in the meantime visit that site! Good luck, -Luc. >From: Jacomien Freyer >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU >Subject: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series >Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 15:34:32 GMT-120 > >Hi FoLCs! > >It's the first time that I post an e-mail to this group - a bit >scary! > >I'm from South Africa and the 4th series of Lois and Clark is now >shown here. I am taping the series - to show to my baby daughter when >she gets older, but I missed the previous episodes. > >Could anyone tell me whether it's available somewhere? > >:) > > > > >······································································ >· Jacomien Freyer e-pos: Jacomien@nlsa.ac.za > Senior Bibliotekaris >· Die Nasionale Biblioteek > van Suid-Afrika > Pretoria Afdeling Tel: +27 12 321-8931 >· Posbus 397 Faks: +27 12 325-5984 >· Pretoria, 0001 >· Suid-Afrika >······································································ ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 16:48:27 +0930 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jill Kaye Subject: Re: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hey, this sounds like me! Except I didn't really start taping until season 3 when it came back on here recently. I have all the eps now too, also thanks to a nice person on another list. Now I have to get all of Dean's movies. I have two and am getting one more. ~Larissa~ Hi Jacomien! Welcome to the list :) > >I was lucky enough to begin taping L&C at the end of season 2 in australia >(they aired a long time ago now)- so i had seasons 3 and 4 on tape- > >and much to my surprise i actually found L&C tapes at an online UK store an= d >bought them! :) > >the address is: > >www.blackstar.co.uk > >when you do a search for the videos make sure you type "the new adventures >of superman", as in the UK it was not called Lois & Clark. >They have tapes of all of season 1 and until S2.07 ... >i was delighted :) > >and of course i managed to find a very kind lady on this list who i met up >with and taped for me the ones i did not have.. so see if you can find >someone.. but in the meantime visit that site! > >Good luck, >-Luc. > >>From: Jacomien Freyer >>Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" >> >>To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU >>Subject: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series >>Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 15:34:32 GMT-120 >> >>Hi FoLCs! >> >>It's the first time that I post an e-mail to this group - a bit >>scary! >> >>I'm from South Africa and the 4th series of Lois and Clark is now >>shown here. I am taping the series - to show to my baby daughter when >>she gets older, but I missed the previous episodes. >> >>Could anyone tell me whether it's available somewhere? >> >>:) >> >> >> >> >>=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85= =85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85= =85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85 >>=85 Jacomien Freyer e-pos: Jacomien@nlsa.ac.za >> Senior Bibliotekaris >>=85 Die Nasionale Biblioteek >> van Suid-Afrika >> Pretoria Afdeling Tel: +27 12 321-8931 >>=85 Posbus 397 Faks: +27 12 325-5984 >>=85 Pretoria, 0001 >>=85 Suid-Afrika >>=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85= =85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85= =85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85 > >________________________________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 11:44:42 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Petra Steudle Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 35 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wow, Erin, I'm impressed! I just woke up and checked my mail only to find that you saved my day. Nine parts of DH! I haven't read a line yet but I'll start right after breakfast. And I'm sure that I'm going to enjoy it a lot. Hmm, maybe I'll skip breakfast and start right away... Thank you :-) Now I'm off. Reading. Bye Petra aka KiwiPit on IRC "Here comes the summer's son he burns my skin I ache again I'm over you" mail to: ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 05:38:17 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Irene D." Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > ...but stay tuned for part two ~~ The Darkest Hour > (Beyond Tomorrow) ;) When?? Ack! Erin, how can you do this to us? This was so wonderful and, yes, this story is complete in itself but... Please tell us that you've started writing part 2. > > > **************************************** > > Okay, there you go! ;) I hope everyone liked this, > and that the rest of this > wasn't a disappointment after reading along with > this for...geez, almost a > year. Disappointed? Are you crazy? There is no way that anyone could be disappointed in this story. I was so impressed that you didn't write a quick and easy tidy-up but instead took the time to deal with the A-plot in a detailed manner. And of course, that gave the B-plot more time to be explored also which is definitely not a bad thing. We'll be waiting - some of us, patiently, some of us, impatiently - for part 2. Keep writing! Irene ===== sirenegold@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 08:06:20 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 Erin wrote, at the end of her monster fic: > ...but stay tuned for part two ~~ The Darkest Hour > (Beyond Tomorrow) ;) And Irene replied: > When?? Ack! Erin, how can you do this to us? Well, I did warn you that they didn't hate you yet, Erin... ;) And yes, I was equally gobsmacked. I've been beta-reading this all along, and I had no idea Erin was planning to do the dirty on us like this. Erin, you rat... fink... mean... (just kidding!). Seriously, this has been one heck of a rollercoaster ride, Erin: thrilling, exciting, being lulled into a false sense of security before being swooped up and over the crest of the next hidden drop. And in between, you gave us plenty of WAFFs, as well as some wonderful angsty relationship moments. Much of your detail is so realistic, I could even believe you were drawing from (someone's ) personal experience... I could feel Lois's pain and frustration using those crutches. I also want to say publicly that I was very flattered and honoured to be asked to beta-read this story: I admire Erin's writing very much (like most FoLCs, I imagine!), and this is certainly one of her best stories. I'm awed by the complexity and ingenuity of the A-plot, and I'm convinced that Part 2 of this story will be just as thrilling and captivating as Part 1. (Just please don't take a year to write it, Erin! ) Wendy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 08:14:39 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series Since LuC mentioned blackstar, I just wanted to add that they do not charge for postage and packing to anywhere in the world (shipping and handling as you call it in the US ), so the price you see is the price you will pay, in pounds sterling. I've used them several times, and they are very reliable; their packaging is also the best I've seen from an online supplier. So if your VCR can play PAL tapes, www.blackstar.co.uk is the best place to get the WB official videos of all of S1 and S2 up until Season's Greedings (though watch for the odd mistake on the cover of the videos, such as the one which labels that ep 'Season's Greetings'!). Blackstar also offers a service of converting PAL tapes to NTSC, though I have no idea how much that costs and how good the quality is. (And no, I'm not on commission!) Wendy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 09:45:50 -0500 Reply-To: truitt22@flash.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: timothy truitt Organization: tnt technical services Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Erin I'm so glad you finished this. Now I have some serious reading to do. I'll email when done. thanks merry ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 11:54:29 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lorie Y. Crisp" Subject: fic recommendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm big on recommending fanfics that I like.......and I'm not even halfway through the one i'm recommending! It's the sequel to Dawn of Discovery, called How I Spent My Summer Vacation. It's excellent! Read it. You'll like it! Lorie :) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 11:14:06 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Another fanfic recommendation Last year, Becky Bain posted Timeless, a wonderful crossover fic which was rightly nominated for a Kerth. Today, her second L&C fic, Ad Astra Per Aspera, has been uploaded to the Archive, and I recommend it as strongly as I did Timeless. A word of warning: s p a c e for minor s p o i l e r I know, as does Becky, that this story won't be to everyone's taste. It's *not* a deathfic, but it doesn't have the traditional happy ending many readers expect. If you can cope with that, then don't waste a second - run and read this powerful, emotional story. But keep some tissues handy! I edited it, so I'd already read it a couple of times, but when I read it again just now I couldn't stop myself crying again. Becky, you are a fantastic writer - I can't wait for your next story. Wendy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 12:27:45 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/20/00 1:20:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time, erink@IDA.NET writes: << ...but stay tuned for part two ~~ The Darkest Hour (Beyond Tomorrow) ;) >> Erin! How can you do this to us? Seriously, this was worth the wait. I'm sure it was tempting to just "end" it with a quick fix. I'm glad that you took the time to tie everything up so well. And like everyone else, I will be awaiting the sequel. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 13:42:47 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Marnie Rowe Subject: Re: fanfic recomendation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit i just finished reading Becky Bain's new story that was posted to the archive, and I have to admit to having tears in my eyes. This was a very powerful story and it was real, more real than most Superman fics, it dealt with emotions and the reality behind life.. and I have no idea what i am trying to say except that Becky did one heck of a job writing again, i will be looking for her next fic avidly. Marnie ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 12:53:49 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Marginally OT/A Lois and Clark Fan is looking for Season 3 and 4 Episodes. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi, everyone, I was wondering is someone in France or near France could help me. An LnC fan got my name from an LnC site and is looking for someone who can help her acquire season 3 and 4 episodes of LnC. She is willing to pay costs, but since she lives in France and I live in Claifornia, shipping tapes to her is going to be terribly expensive. She gave me permission to ask about this on the list for her. Can anyone in the area help her? Nan Smith ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 15:04:26 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Chris Carr Subject: Re: Another fanfic recommendation Just want to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Wendy here. Becky's story is absolutely wonderful! not exactly a s p o i l e r s p a c e If you enjoy reading till the print blurs in front of your and your tissues are all sodden, then this is the story for you. Despite all the tears I shed, though, I don't actually think that this is a sad story. Yes, plenty of sad things happen, but they are balanced with plenty of love and hope. What else can I say about this story? It's moving, it's bittersweet, it's wonderfully well-written, it's original and it's compulsive reading. I loved it. Thanks, Becky, for writing this! Chris ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 21:57:11 +0100 Reply-To: "yconnell@ukf.net" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: yconnell Subject: Re: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wow, Erin. I just saw my mailbox fill up with all these parts of DH and nearly fell off my chair! Talk about a bonanza day . Haven't read any of it yet, but I had to express my 'wow' :) Yvonne (yconnell@ukf.net) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 21:59:13 +0100 Reply-To: "yconnell@ukf.net" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: yconnell Subject: Question for a fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Gosh, haven't posted one of these for a while... Here in the UK, we have the expression 'he topped himself', meaning he committed suicide. Is there an equivalent expression in the US, or do you in fact use the same one as us? Yvonne (yconnell@ukf.net) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 17:20:27 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Roseann Buonadies Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/19/2000 8:55:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK writes: << (who was gobsmacked when Kathy got out of her car and correctly identified all three of us without needing to be introduced!) >> Okay, Wendy... I have to ask (and you have to translate)... what's "gobsmacked", other than the obvious smacking of a gob.... :-) Roseann ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 18:33:24 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Alexis W." Subject: OT: Leaving on an airplane... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just in case if any of you want to email me this week, I probably won't see it. See, I'm going to Vegas tomorrow and I have an opportunity of a life time...well at least for me since I'm a journalism student. I've been talking with Roger Cain and he's agreed to do an interview with me. ;) Keep your fingers crossed that everything will go well because I'm very nervous to say the least! For those of you who are keeping track of the RPG I will resume editing/posting when I get back. ;) Anyway I should be back next Monday! See ya later! Alexis ;-.) "Don't fall for me farmboy, I don't have time for it." (Lois) {"Pilot", LnC} ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 16:41:19 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Becky Bain Subject: Re: Another fanfic recommendation In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Thank you, Wendy and Marnie and Chris. not quite a s p o i l e r s p a c e As Wendy pointed out, it's not a story that's for everyone, but I have to say that all the feedback I've received so far has been very positive. (I wasn't entirely sure that'd be the case. ) Chris said: >Despite all the tears I >shed, though, I don't actually think that this is a sad story. Yes, plenty >of sad things happen, but they are balanced with plenty of love and hope. You don't know how pleased I am to see you say that. That's exactly the way =I= feel about it, and what I was trying to convey. >Thanks, Becky, for writing this! Thanks for reading it. Becky rbain@uswest.net "It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well." - Rene' Descartes ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 17:48:59 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? On Sun, 20 Aug 2000 17:20:27 EDT, Roseann Buonadies wrote: >Okay, Wendy... I have to ask (and you have to translate)... what's >"gobsmacked", other than the obvious smacking of a gob.... :-) Yes, very English slang, that... Think of the sensation of being smacked *in* the gob (slang for mouth), and all will become clear! In other words, you are speechless, stunned and unable to think clearly! Wendy :) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 18:54:54 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Roseann Buonadies Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/20/2000 6:49:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK writes: << Yes, very English slang, that... Think of the sensation of being smacked *in* the gob (slang for mouth), and all will become clear! In other words, you are speechless, stunned and unable to think clearly! >> Ah... all is clear now! Thanks for the translation! Roseann ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 19:01:52 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kate Crane Subject: On the Run MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit If any of you were still wondering, Plan9 posted to Zoom's boards with an explanation of her long absence..... Kate ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 01:18:15 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Marginally OT/A Lois and Clark Fan is looking for Season 3 and 4 Episodes. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Hi, everyone, I was wondering is someone in France or near France could > help me. An LnC fan got my name from an LnC site and is looking for > someone who can help her acquire season 3 and 4 episodes of LnC. She is > willing to pay costs, but since she lives in France and I live in > Claifornia, shipping tapes to her is going to be terribly expensive. > She gave me permission to ask about this on the list for her. Can > anyone in the area help her? Well, the problem is that most of my tapes for 3rd and 4th are already third generation copies, so copying them again wouldn't be worth it, the image would just be blurry. :-/ But there are probably other fellow FoLCs in France or in Europe who'd have good quality copies? Helene :) ------------------------------------------------------ Kaethel on irc / Kaethel79 on AIM kaethel@club-internet.fr ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 17:36:45 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 In-Reply-To: <20000820123817.6345.qmail@web903.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Irene wrote: >> ...but stay tuned for part two ~~ The Darkest Hour >> (Beyond Tomorrow) ;) > >When?? Ack! Erin, how can you do this to us? This >was so wonderful and, yes, this story is complete in >itself but... Please tell us that you've started >writing part 2. and then Wendy chimed in with: >Well, I did warn you that they didn't hate you yet, Erin... ;) And yes, I >was equally gobsmacked. I've been beta-reading this all along, and I had no >idea Erin was planning to do the dirty on us like this. Erin, you rat... >fink... mean... (just kidding!). LOL! Go ahead...call me whatever names you want. I guess I deserve it. But I can't help admitting that I'm tickled that I gave you a shock, Wendy. I thought for sure you would see that coming. And Irene, I'm glad to hear I was able to end this story in such a way that I made you crazy! ;) As for the sequel...I've jotted down a bunch of notes and ideas, but that's as far as I've gotten. But I hope that when inspiration hits, it won't take me a year to write it. Wendy also wrote: >Seriously, this has been one heck of a rollercoaster ride, Erin: thrilling, >exciting, being lulled into a false sense of security before being swooped >up and over the crest of the next hidden drop. And in between, you gave us >plenty of WAFFs, as well as some wonderful angsty relationship moments. >I also want to say publicly that I was very flattered and honoured to be >asked to beta-read this story: I admire Erin's writing very much (like most >FoLCs, I imagine!), and this is certainly one of her best stories. Wow!! Thank you Wendy! (blushing furiously) That means a whole lot coming from someone whose writing I admire as much as yours. ;) You have no idea how great it is to hear that the story put you on such an emotional rollercoaster ride, and that all my work on this wasn't in vain. But thank yourself, too, because I couldn't have done it without all your beta reading help and wonderful suggestions. ;) >I'm awed by the complexity and ingenuity of the A-plot, and I'm convinced >that Part 2 of this story will be just as thrilling and captivating as Part 1. >(Just please don't take a year to write it, Erin! ) LOL! Well, like I said, all I have right now is an idea in the back of my head and a bunch of jotted down notes. As soon as I can find my muse again, I can do something more productive. But for now, I'm actually looking forward to wearing out my printer by printing off all those fics I've been dying to read, but hadn't found time since I was working on my own story. Thanks, you guys, for letting me know you enjoyed it!! It makes me feel like all those writing hours weren't in vain. ;) Now, maybe I should go put out a classified ad looking for my lost muse, who I can't seem to locate at the moment. Erin :) __________________ erink@ida.net Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 20:20:08 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kate Crane Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ok, Erin, Exactly how long have we been reading this masterpiece? Many thanks for the time and hard work and wonderful story. . . . .Makes me love L&C all over again. s p a c e * * Just glad to have more to look forward to. Consider me gobsmacked as well :) Kate ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 20:58:41 CDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jessi Mounts Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed > > >Okay, Wendy... I have to ask (and you have to translate)... what's > >"gobsmacked", other than the obvious smacking of a gob.... :-) > > >Yes, very English slang, that... Think of the sensation of being smacked >*in* the gob (slang for mouth), and all will become clear! In other words, >you are speechless, stunned and unable to think clearly! > All right, that's it, this has completely de-Americanized me. ;-) I've read "gobsmacked" so many times, it didn't even occur to me it wouldn't be an American term. Jessi jessi914@hotmail.com ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 20:25:24 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: My computer/OT MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I don't know what is happening with this stupid machine. I did a reply this time, and it *told* me that the right address was at the top, and then it wound up at the wrong place again. sorry about that. This time I'm going to type it in myself instead of doing a "reply". Just ignore the previous posts, everyone. They aren't important to anyone except one person. Nan ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 02:12:07 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: StarKitty Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ok, Erin, you know The Darkest Hour rocks, right? I can't wait for the sequel! Tara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Erin Klingler" To: Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 10:13 PM Subject: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 07:06:02 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: OT: Um... hi? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/20/00 9:59:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jessi914@HOTMAIL.COM writes: << All right, that's it, this has completely de-Americanized me. ;-) I've read "gobsmacked" so many times, it didn't even occur to me it wouldn't be an American term. >> Good for you, Jessi. I knew you were an intelligent girl! Ann ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 22:29:24 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: -= LuC =- Subject: Re: Dean's movies- was "Video tapes of Lois & Clark series" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Strangely enough- and this might be 'kill me' material- i have not watched ANY of Dean Cain's movies and only about one or two of Teri Hatcher... (BTW- isnt it ace having all the eps? makes one feel so good hhehehe :) Hey by the way what is Teri up to these days.. anyone know? -Luc. >From: Jill Kaye >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU >Subject: Re: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series >Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 16:48:27 +0930 > >Hey, this sounds like me! Except I didn't really start taping until season >3 when it came back on here recently. I have all the eps now too, also >thanks to a nice person on another list. Now I have to get all of Dean's >movies. I have two and am getting one more. >~Larissa~ > >Hi Jacomien! Welcome to the list :) > > > >I was lucky enough to begin taping L&C at the end of season 2 in >australia > >(they aired a long time ago now)- so i had seasons 3 and 4 on tape- > > > >and much to my surprise i actually found L&C tapes at an online UK store >and > >bought them! :) > > > >the address is: > > > >www.blackstar.co.uk > > > >when you do a search for the videos make sure you type "the new >adventures > >of superman", as in the UK it was not called Lois & Clark. > >They have tapes of all of season 1 and until S2.07 ... > >i was delighted :) > > > >and of course i managed to find a very kind lady on this list who i met >up > >with and taped for me the ones i did not have.. so see if you can find > >someone.. but in the meantime visit that site! > > > >Good luck, > >-Luc. > > > >>From: Jacomien Freyer > >>Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > >> > >>To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU > >>Subject: Video tapes of Lois & Clark series > >>Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 15:34:32 GMT-120 > >> > >>Hi FoLCs! > >> > >>It's the first time that I post an e-mail to this group - a bit > >>scary! > >> > >>I'm from South Africa and the 4th series of Lois and Clark is now > >>shown here. I am taping the series - to show to my baby daughter when > >>she gets older, but I missed the previous episodes. > >> > >>Could anyone tell me whether it's available somewhere? > >> > >>:) > >> > >> > >> > >> > >>………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… > >>… Jacomien Freyer e-pos: Jacomien@nlsa.ac.za > >> Senior Bibliotekaris > >>… Die Nasionale Biblioteek > >> van Suid-Afrika > >> Pretoria Afdeling Tel: +27 12 321-8931 > >>… Posbus 397 Faks: +27 12 325-5984 > >>… Pretoria, 0001 > >>… Suid-Afrika > >>………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… > > > >________________________________________________________________________ > >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 08:47:55 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wonderful, Erin. Such a wonderful (I've used the word twice, I know, but nothing else seems appropriate) journey through all the twists and turns of your story. I was a bit surprised by the ending and then I recalled something you'd written in an e-mail last fall about the sedan. I'm very much looking forward to part 2 -- but let your muse relax now and play around with ideas. And thanks for all the pleasure that your story has given. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 13:42:26 -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: Question for a fanfic I think the slang you're looking for might be "he offed himself" (pronounced as in turn yourself 'off'). There are also all sorts of "funny" idioms ... "kicked the bucket", "bought the farm", "gone to the big office building in the sky" (or farmhouse, or baseball diamond or whatever the person is into). Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 19:01:16 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Petra Steudle Subject: Re: NEW: The Darkest Hour part 43 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Erin, this was just wonderful! Thank you for giving us the last parts of this enthralling story. You did a great job with The Darkest Hour and I enjoyed reading every part of it. Even if you did not really put an end to the story with part 43 S P O I L E R S P A C E I couldn't quite believe it that you let Garrison get away after getting rid of Trask! It was so good to have Lois & Clark savely back at home, starting to enjoy their new relationship and thinking that the police or FBI would take care of the bad guys. But now you leave your readers worrying about that second virus and about Lex and Garrison. How cruel of you! ;-) I hope you'll find some time to continue with part 2, soon. Thanks again for this brilliant story that will make it to my "Kerth 2001" folder imediately :-) bye Petra aka KiwiPit on IRC "Here comes the summer's son he burns my skin I ache again I'm over you" mail to: ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 21:26:00 +0100 Reply-To: "yconnell@ukf.net" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: yconnell Subject: Re: Question for a fanfic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I think the slang you're looking for might be "he offed himself" (pronounced > as in turn yourself 'off'). Thanks, Kathy - and thanks to everyone else who replied to my question. As you might have noticed, a lot of your replies came straight to my email address and not to the list - there's something weird which seems to make that happen to my posts. Anyway, thanks again, and I can now fix the expression in FoD3 :) Yvonne (yconnell@ukf.net)