From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG0104E" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 06:27:01 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: Dance With Me (1/1) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Very nice way to start Sunday morning, Tracey:) Thank-you. s s - You've recreated the atmosphere at the charity ball quite well. I also liked how you kept to just Lois's point of view although it must have been tempting to stray into Clark's head when you were writing.:) But having Lois second guess his thoughts worked quite well. I like your ending better than the way the ep actually ended. You even gave us a revelation :) although probably the show was right not to do the revelation at this point. Still, this was such a romantic way for Lois to find out. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 07:16:35 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: I got the okay! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks, Nan & Wendy, for mentioning my stories. :) Genevieve wrote: <> What a good suggestion! This is one of my favourite stories -- I still remember reading it for the first time and finding it much more satisfying than the actual episode. That part in TFR where L & C wait before taking the baby to the capsule is one of those fanfic scenes that remain in your mind long after you've read the story. Carol ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 08:59:11 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: New: Dance With Me (1/1) Comments: To: supertlc@gateway.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Enjoyed your story this morning, and was pleasantly surprised to find both of the two R's (romance & revelation) interwoven into one great story. Wanda "What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" ......Langston Hughes ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 07:42:25 -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: I need a little help for a story MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi, To any FoLC who speaks French, I need a good, fairly common French last name. Clark is impersonating a French chef, so can anyone help me? Nan ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 18:59:39 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: REVIEW: TOGOM: The ep that launched a thousand fics ;) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sorry to disappoint all of you who felt your hopes rising, but I'm back. ;) Ooookay. A move of three and a half blocks took several weeks. But now we've got our closets and we're down to only one room full of boxes; my computer is back online and humming happily away; and it's time for a new review. This one is thanks to a certain FoLC who knows who she is! My deepest appreciation for allowing me to see the ep that launched a thousand fics. My first comment is that I can easily understand *why* TOGOM has inspired so many spin-offs and rewrites. No, I do not have any intentions to rush off and write one of my own at the moment. You never know, though. :) But the potential that simmers in almost every scene is incredibly blatant. I don't blame Wendy Richards for her obsession any more! ;) I'm not going to do this one scene by scene, as this particular ep has been rewritten *so* many times that it would be largely pointless. Instead, I'll just hit several high points that seem to deserve comment. Okay, I admit the entire ep deserves comment, but you know what I mean. :) You will note that this review is outrageously long as it is. ~ Jimmy: In my last review (MoSB), I observed that the Jimmy of S1 has a good relationship with Lois, possibly because she is not yet a real friend of Clark's. In this ep, though, set in S2, Jimmy has been relegated to "kid" status (although I note that other than Lois, he's the only one who hugged Clark upon his "resurrection"). Look at the opening teaser: Perry has dragged Jimmy over to his house to do a little auto repair. I think we can safely assume that this is not in Jimmy's job description, although "mechanic" does not seem to have captured fic writers' imagination the way "computer whiz" has. ;) Bonnie and Clyde show up, with nary an explanation of just how the two of them managed to get Perry's home address; I think we can also safely assume that they are not quite proficient at surfing the net for information. The two of them are set to die of monoxide poisoning, and Jimmy managed to get them out, albeit not the way they intended. So what happens? They get back to the DP, Jimmy is understandably hyped, and Perry kicks him out without giving him even half a minute to tell his side of the story. Nice gratitude there, Perry. Lois and Clark act pretty dismissive of him too, and when he provides them with the missing link, they barely acknowledge it. Touching on two Jimmy scenes for further clarification: the one right after Clark's death, and the one in which Jimmy is packing up Clark's desk. He's given the agonizing job of packing Clark's things (or did he volunteer?), and Clark shows up as Superman. There's very little to show that Clark feels much sympathy for Jimmy's feelings at that point, is there? He's ready to tell Lois that Clark is alive "somehow," yet it doesn't even occur to him to offer similar hope to Jimmy. When the scene segues from Jimmy's anguish in Perry's office to Lois' anguish, we suddenly get the heartbreaking background music of "in one lousy moment..." I know the relationships were *very* different, yes; but I thought Jimmy deserved more. Tank obviously won't agree with me. [side note: Looking at the eps from my admittedly twisted CPOV, when Jimmy was trying to pack up Clark's desk, I was strongly reminded of the scene in Pam's "Tryst" when Clark goes to Lois' apartments to pack her things. I felt Jimmy's angst here, just as I felt Clark's sadness there, and it bothers me that no one else in the show seemed to notice.] Perry's platitudes when Jimmy nearly breaks down in his office don't do it for me, sorry. (*Especially* since it sounded like a typical Elvis story and was absolutely nothing like what really happened when Perry first met Clark!) The boy has a surprisingly large supporting role in this ep, most of it emotional. I say "surprisingly," because it's not one that I've seen from all the rewrites. Most people (understandingly) choose to focus on the Lois/Clark aspect of Clark's supposed murder, but Jimmy was hurting too -- and he doesn't seem to get much sympathy or comfort. He saves his and Perry's life; he does crucial research that Lois and Clark would never have considered; he stands up to the gangsters when everyone is frozen with terror ("this is the guy who killed Clark!"); and he lands a knock-out punch "for CK" too, with a distinct tremble in his voice. Yet he's glossed over, and I don't understand this. I'd appreciate your opinons on the matter. I also confess that on the first view of the ep, I was sorely disappointed that Jimmy didn't haul off and punch Superman in the mouth for not rescuing Clark. :) Hm, maybe that's a good angle for a rewrite... ;) ~ Superman using Batman tactics: After my sarky comments in MoSB about in-jokes that detract from a scene, I admit that I enjoyed Clark whistling a few bars of the theme song when he threw Dillinger off the theater roof. Yet that entire scene, despite its entertainment value, disturbed me, because it goes against the grain of the entire Superman mythos. Now, before Zoom comes out with her guns blazing ;) I will hasten to add that I know that the original 1930's Superman did, indeed, threaten people all the time; a favorite tactic was flying in dizzy patterns or hovering right where the bomb was going to go off if the villain didn't confess where he'd planted the detonator. But LnC doesn't follow that pattern, and it disturbed me to see it in action here. I know Clark threatened Tempus that his morals might disappear if Lois was threatened, and Debby Stark once gave us a delightful short rewrite of how Clark might have dealt with Lex in the argh arc (see http://listserv.indiana.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind9903A&L=loiscla-general-l&P=R5228 for further details - yes, it's my weird way of looking at things again). Yet these involved threats to *Lois*. While it's true that Jonathan prodded Clark out of the pit of despondency by reminding him that his friends in Metropolis (and also provided a crucial clue), and while it's also true that Lois *was* being threatened at the time (albeit without Clark's knowledge), it's just not the same here. Was anyone else disturbed to see Superman stooping to what was essentially the same level as Dillinger and Co. -- that is, achieving results through threats of violence? ~ Timing: I watched the first half of the ep with an eye to "might-have-beens" -- slight changes that would have negated the necessity of having Clark "dead." A good example of this was Clark's *ridiculous* posturing in the bank, showing off as bullets bounced off his chest instead of whizzing round to take out the bad guys as he did at the end of the ep at the DP. If he'd used a little superspeed instead of allowing Clyde to take a man hostage, the gangsters would have been taken then and there. Another example: WHY didn't Jimmy calls the cops ASAP instead of waiting on tenterhooks outside Perry's office to tell him it really *was* Capone? Admittedly, that was one of my fav scenes, but still! Why couldn't the cops set up a hotline for people to call in if they saw the car? It's rather distinctive, wouldn't you say? (And to veer off to another line of thinking, what car were they driving in the "throw Clark's body in the street" scene if Capone already gave the car back to Perry?) ~ Mourning: When I reviewed my very first LnC ep (DToSC), some FoLCs (Wendy in particular) felt that there was very little mourning of Lois, as compared to the mourning that took place for Clark in TOGOM. After watching the ep, I have to say I disagree. Yes, there was only a minute's worth of mourning for Lois, possibly even less; BUT there was only two minute's worth of ep when we (and Clark) actually thought Lois was dead. Clark had more time to be mourned, but I don't think the quality was greater. Opinions? Little things, some of which might merit discussion: Why didn't Perry and Jimmy yell, "Help, Superman!" in the teaser? "Superman's hair is a lot shorter." LOL considering how long Clark's hair was during the pilot ep! And in that same scene, "It came with the wallet." I've used that quote in fics. It's nice to actually know its source. :) It's the backwards knowledge thing again, but I was puzzled by a few scenes that seemed to be missing quotes. When the gangsters shoot Superman in the bank, shouldn't he say "You're new to Metropolis, aren't you?" And when Clark runs out to put "money in the car meter," shouldn't Lois say something about their using a taxi in the first place? Mind you, it's entirely possible that these quotes are from other eps entirely! How many people think that Clyde shot Clark not so much because of his desire to protect Lois, but because he was ticked off that Bonnie was hitting on Clark? He didn't like it much when she commented on Jimmy or Superman either. On that note, I was going to observe that Bonnie was astute enough to admire both Clark *and* Superman; but since she also thought that "the kid was kinda cute," we're going to have to put her on the same level as Penny Barnes. I will also point out, in the "might-have-beens" list, that Clark acted needlessly macho in this scene. Lois can take very good care of herself, yet Clark became the big strong protector guy. Here's a challenge: was there *any* instance in all of canon when Clark acted "he-man" and actually improved matters? :) While most of the gangsters seemed (to me) to retain an outdated flavor, the actor that played Clyde seemed a little bit too comfortable with the 90s. Maybe it was his hairstyle, I don't know. :) But he didn't seem dated to me at all. Capone, in particular, was superb. And for those who know a bit more about the gangster scene in me: Did Capone really pronounce his name "Capo-nee"? And if he did, why didn't anyone else use the same pronounciation? Clark brushing off his suit, then looking down at his hands with an expresssion that said, "Why am I doing this when I'll never be able to wear this suit again?" Very poignant. There was something very amusing about Martha's comment that Perry called while Clark "was in the shower." Maybe it's just my weird sense of humor. :) But her other comments seemed rather un-Martha like, at least as I understand Martha. While Jonathan has always been the deep-seated down-to-earth guy, he's also been the practical,realistic one, vs. Martha as the one who understands Clark's great desire to be a regular person and encourages that aspect. Telling him he'll see his friends as Superman just didn't seem right for her. It bothered me a little that Clark spent time studying the notes on DNA. It seemed... out of place somehow. To do it *after* the gangsters were rounded up, yes. But it was a bit too self-serving at a time when there were more urgent matters that demanded attention. Okay, okay, the guy's human. Well, Kryptonian, anyway. :) At any rate, I spose he's entitled to a bit of selfishness. "Someone's trying to contact me. Can I use your phone?" Now *that's* the Lois we know and love. :) :) If anyone tries to tell me that they weren't moved when they watched the scene when Lois says she doesn't care if they used Crazy Glue, I'll call 'em a liar. :) I was still smiling through my tears at the third viewing. And does anyone else find it very telling that Lois knows Clark well enough to recognize him by his walk, even after he's "dead"? And I loved how she wouldn't let him out of her sight so he could go play Superman. Hoist on your own petard, Clark Kent! You deserve it. :p I didn't like the Lois/Bonnie scene. I remember discussing this on IRC: Lois does seem to end up fighting the women in eps -- no doubt to protect Clark's chivalrous feelings -- but this one was just plain stupid. Bonnie deserved a good kick and a punch on the nose, not a face full of cake. Fun facial expressions: Clark's face with suppressed fury as he crushes the bullets. Perry's slow grin as he watches. I loved it. :) "For the first time in over two hundred years, there won't be an edition of the Daily Planet." So says Perry in BatP. Yet the cake clearly proclaims it the DPs 60th anniversary... One final comment: "Or maybe not." This felt very wrong. How did Clark's falling asleep change *anything* that Lois had just finished saying? If she'd conceded, "Just as well," in that she wasn't quite ready to make a formal declaration, I could understand. But to dismiss her self-confession just because Clark had lousy timing? Not only don't I understand it, but I can't accept it either. Any TDOLLs who can help me out here? :) There! That should be long-winded enough to make up for a month AFK, and will hopefully garner some interesting discussion. Next ep to be viewed, hopefully some time this week: Tempus, Anyone? It's about time I saw the ep that I've already rewritten twice. :) :) Hazel ____ "To me, the eps are merely fanfics that are *exactly* in canon." ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 11:20:43 -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: REVIEW: TOGOM: The ep that launched a thousand fics ;) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Welcome back, Hazel, and thanks for this review of an episode which I suppose I could claim to be quite attached to. Again, what a fascinating read! I do like your analyses. Your points about Jimmy are fascinating. You=92re right; I=92ve never really= noticed this myself, but Jimmy=92s feelings *are* pretty much glossed over. = I think I did sort of do something with this in my first TOGOM rewrite, That Super Man of Mine, in which Superman apologised for being dismissive of Jimmy and recognised that he was hurting because of the loss of his friend. Certainly, Jimmy showed more intelligence in this ep than some other characters. Yes, Clark was a little less well-behaved than normal in dealing with Dillinger; I think I tend to treat it as a case of his own personal feelings seeping through. We all know that Superman is first and foremost *Clark*. And Clark is devastated at having lost, as he saw it, almost everything he held precious. In that case, it=92s understandable that he might behave a little less than perfectly. ;) In response to your reference to DTOSC, in TOGOM we see Lois devastated, visibly crying, talking to Perry about what her life would be without Clark, and that she never told him (unspecified) things she should have. In DTOSC, we see Clark bending over a pile of ash, which is supposedly all that remains of Lois, and the camera pulls away as he remains there. That=92= s it; there=92s no conversation with anyone, nothing else. Then the next time we see Clark he=92s on his way to the Lakes=92 house, and when he=92s taken = into the =91zoo=92 and sees Lois there is no suggestion of delight or relief that= she=92s alive, not even an =91I thought you were dead!=92 from Clark. That=92= s why I see that ep as a missed opportunity, even though there are obviously some wonderful moments in it. I like your suggestion that Clyde was jealous of Bonnie=92s interest in Clark! :) You know I dislike the Lois/Bonnie fight scene, very much. It didn=92t suit Lois at all; I felt that it demeaned her to engage in such a cartoon-like cake-fight. In respect of the Planet=92s anniversary, you=92ve hit on one of the series=92= inconsistencies, along with the length of time Martha and Jonathan have been married and the floor on which Lois=92s apartment is located. And finally... yes, Lois=92s =91or maybe not=92 in the car on the way home w= as *so* frustrating, every bit as frustrating as Clark falling asleep! There is no rational explanation for either, as far as I can figure out. The only explanation comes from stepping =91outside=92 the series and blaming TPTB; without that reset, the romantic relationship would have progressed too far. :( Anyway, thank you, Hazel! And since you began this by describing TOGOM as the ep which launched a thousand fics, you=92ve given me the perfect opportunity to announce that I have just completed Yet Another TOGOM Rewrite, which, if listmembers are willing, I=92ll post to this list in a little while. Wendy :) ----------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 09:32:46 -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: I need a little help for a story In-Reply-To: <3AEC2851.A3A61E7C@earthlink.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi Nan, How about: Durocher, Desrosiers, Parizeau or Rochillards? Irene --- Nancy Smith wrote: > Hi, > > To any FoLC who speaks French, I need a good, fairly > common French last > name. Clark is impersonating a French chef, so can > anyone help me? > > Nan ===== www.originalequestrianmusic.bigstep.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 17:31:23 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nicola Baker Subject: Re: New: Dance With Me (1/1) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh, that was beutiful! The ending was amazing. Thankyou for sharing this, you brightened up my day no end! Nic ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 09:51:02 -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: Re: I need a little help for a story MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Perfect, Irene, thanks. Nan Irene D. wrote: > Hi Nan, > > How about: Durocher, Desrosiers, Parizeau or > Rochillards? > > Irene > > --- Nancy Smith wrote: > > Hi, > > > > To any FoLC who speaks French, I need a good, fairly > > common French last > > name. Clark is impersonating a French chef, so can > > anyone help me? > > > > Nan > > ===== > www.originalequestrianmusic.bigstep.com > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices > http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 12:29:39 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: The Case of the Disappearing Clark, 10/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jimmy woke with a start. It took him a minute to orient himself. He finally realized that he was in Perry's office and someone was shaking him. "Jimmy. Jimmy, wake up. Come on, Jimmy, you've got to help us." Jimmy sat up and shook his head to clear the remaining cobwebs from his sleep-addled brain. "Mrs. Kent. Mr. Kent. What're you doing here?" "We're looking for Clark. We haven't heard from him and he's not answering his phone." Jimmy rubbed his eyes. He took a deep breath and plunged in. "Clark is missing." "What?" The exclamation came from both Kents at once. "No one has seen him since Tuesday morning. He and Lois were on a stake out and he just disappearing. We started looking for him on Wednesday when we finally realized that he wasn't just home sleeping or returning a movie or getting a haircut or something. Lois and I went back to the warehouse and found signs of a fight. There was something in the dust. Turns out it was the imprint from a briefcase stolen from Star Labs. It had some stuff in it that could..." Jimmy's voice trailed off. "I'm not really supposed to tell anyone this, but I know that Lois and Clark both trust you. It had something called Kryptonite in it." The startled gasp from Clark's parents made Jimmy look up. "You've heard of it?" Martha answered for both of them. "Clark told us all about it." Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief. "At least I'm not violating anyone's trust then. I would hate to do that." At Martha's annoyed glance, he hurriedly continued. "We went to Star Labs and found a picture of the guy who took it. One of Lois' sources gave us some info on the warehouse where this guy had been seen. We found out all we could, but it wasn't much. That's the last thing I remember. Perry or Lois could tell you more." "They're not here. A guy named Ralph told us they left together right after you fell asleep." Jimmy stood up. "They must have gone to the warehouse." He walked into the newsroom and grabbed his jacket. Jonathan stopped him with a hand on his arm. "We're going with you, son." Jimmy nodded and the three left the room. ***** "OW!" Jonathan rubbed his elbow gently and, seeing the looks he was getting from his two partners, whispered, "Sorry, I'm not very good at this stealthy stuff." Jimmy, Martha and Jonathan moved almost silently through the door Perry had opened before them. "I can't see anything," Jonathan complained in a whisper. "Here." Martha dug through her cavernous purse and pulled out two flashlights, one attached to her key ring. She silenced the rattle by encompassing the keys inside one hand. The three shined the flashlights around the nearly empty warehouse. "Someone's been here," Jimmy quietly told the other two. "How can you tell?" Jonathan asked. "Look here. There's scuff marks and look at this." Jimmy reached down and picked up something up off the concrete. "I think this is one of Clark's ties. Only Clark would wear a tie like this." "They are unique." Martha shook her head. "I can't take credit for his taste in ties." The three continued to probe the warehouse until Jonathan came across the door hidden in the corner. All three exchanged looks and Jimmy slowly opened the door. ***** "Lois?" "Yes, Clark." "We need to talk." "I know." "I mean, really talk." "I know." "There's so much I want to tell you." "There's so much I want to know." "I'll answer any of your questions." "You're right. You will." Clark chuckled. "Somehow, I knew I wouldn't have a chance to get away from my favorite tenacious reporter." "I'm your favorite?" "Well, it wouldn't be right for me to be my own favorite reporter." "That never stopped me." "I know. You've always been your own favorite." "I'd smack you upside the head if you weren't hurt." "Do you want to talk here?" "That's up to you, Clark. You're the one with the secret." "Perry's here." "He's asleep." "He could wake up any time." "So we'll change the subject. Besides, he figured it out first." "Ask me anything, Lois. I'll answer the best I can." "Are you Clark or Superman?" Clark sighed. This was a difficult question to answer. "Both I guess. I like to think that Clark is who I am and Superman is what I can do, but that's not completely accurate. Who I am, all sides of me, make up me. Does that make sense? Would I still be the same Clark if I wasn't Superman - or didn't have his powers anyway? Would I be an effective Superman if I wasn't Clark - if that was all I did? What if someone else had found my spaceship instead of Jonathan and Martha Kent? What if? There are so many what ifs about my life, about everyone's lives. Do you remember my friend from high school, Carol?" "Didn't I meet her at the Corn Festival?" "I think so. I talked to her the other day. She's getting ready to have her first child. Her mom died when she was ten and I remember how hard it was for her and her dad and her sister. She misses her mom more now than ever, with the baby and all. But something she said really hit home. She talked about what her life might have been like if her mom had lived. She said that her life would have been so different. In fact, she's not even sure she would have met her husband and wouldn't be having this baby now. She made me realize that everything happens for a reason. We are the people we are today because of each and every little thing that happens to us shapes us and makes us the people that we become. We won't be the same people five years from now because the events in our lives will change us." "So are you Superman or Clark?" Clark sighed again. "I think that I am more Clark than Superman, I mean as far as my personality and stuff goes - I kind of made up a personality for Superman hoping that no one would connect him with Clark - but I wouldn't be Clark if I wasn't Superman. Does that make sense?" "I think so." Lois sat silently for a few minutes. "Does it bother you to talk about yourself in the third person?" Clark laughed. "That's what my mom worries about the most, but I kinda have to. I mean I can't talk about the things I did that are Superman stuff. I can't just say I was somewhere Superman was, but Clark wasn't. I have to say that I talked to him or else it's all over. I'll never have a private life again if everyone knows that Clark Kent is Superman." "I guess I can understand that." Lois sat silently for another minute. "Are you going to be completely honest with me?" "Yes." "About everything?" "Yes." "Then there's something I have to ask you." "Shoot." Clark shifted painfully so that he was sitting more upright. He could feel Lois' arm moving next to his. "I know what you said, but I have to know the truth, because I really didn't believe you." "Okay." "Why did you tell me you loved me?" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 12:30:13 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: The Case of the Disappearing Clark, 11/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The trio of Jimmy, Jonathan and Martha made their way stealthily down the narrow staircase, guided only by the light shining through the crack at the bottom of the lower door. When they reached the bottom, Jimmy listened carefully at the door. "I don't hear anything," he whispered. "Then open it," the ever-practical Martha whispered back. "Just be careful." Jimmy slowly opened the door, wielding Martha's Mag light as a weapon. He looked carefully around the room. "There's no one here," Jimmy sighed in obvious relief. Clark's parents joined in the sentiment. Martha immediately asked the next thought to cross their minds. "Where's Clark and the others then?" Jimmy pointed to a door across the room. "Let's look in there." Still brandishing the flashlight, he walked into the brightly lit basement, followed closely by the Kents. Jimmy pulled on the heavy door, but was unable to move it. "Mr. Kent, help me with this, would ya?" Jonathan groaned as he helped Jimmy pull on the door. "If we find Clark and the others, I think we'll be past the Mr. Kent business." The door creaked as it swung outward. ***** Clark sat in the darkness, contemplating the question that Lois had asked him. Of all the things he expected from her, upon finding out his secret, that wasn't the one he had been expecting. "Clark? Aren't you going to answer me?" "I am. Really. I was just thinking. It's like this, Lois..." Suddenly, the door to the room opened, bathing them in the light. Clark emitted something resembling a scream as he covered his eyes. Lois closed her own eyes tightly for just a moment and then opened them as she prepared to defend herself and her friends. Perry sat upright, suddenly wide awake as the light hit his closed eyes. Before any of them could react, three familiar forms rushed into the little room. Martha knelt over Clark, making exclamations that only a mother would understand. Jonathan and Jimmy were close behind. Jimmy was worried about Clark, that much was obvious, but he looked to his other friends once he knew Clark was being taken care of. Lois stood. "We've got to get out of here before they get back." She turned quickly into the leader they all knew she could be. "Jonathan, you and Perry carry Clark. Jimmy grab that case. Let's go." She didn't watch to see if her orders were being carried out, but took the flashlight from Jimmy and pulled Martha with her. Clark tried to protest. "Lois, let me go first." "No, Clark," she called over her shoulder. "Now move it. All of you." Perry mumbled good-naturedly under his breath about uppity reporters as he tried to help lift Clark. In seconds, Clark was in an upright position, leaning heavily with his father on his right and his editor on his left. Jimmy helped steady the three men and then picked up the silver case. "Is this what I think it is, Lois?" he asked as he began messing with the clasp. "Yes. Don't even think about opening it. Just move." A new voice entered the conversation. "Well, lookey here. Hey, Joe, they're havin' a party without us." The voice stepped out of the shadows holding a 9 mm handgun. Joe and Larry followed him through the open door. Joe looked around. "I don't like not being invited to a party, Bob." Lois stared at the three men intently. It seemed that only Bob was armed with a handgun of any kind. Who knew what the other two had, but it didn't seem to be guns. She was about to find out. As Lois prepared herself to kick the gun out of Bob's hand, she knew that Clark would be of no help and the two men holding him would be slow to her aid. Jimmy might do some good, but Martha wasn't a spring chicken anymore. She was old enough to be a grandmother, though she wasn't yet. As Lois took a deep breath and stared at the black metal, she saw a leg come into her line of sight. The gun went flying across the room as Martha came in for a second shot at the unsuspecting gunman. This shot hit him in the stomach. "Someone grab that!" She shouted as she continued to fit the larger man. Larry started to come to his partner's rescue, but Lois was ready. She used a kick that her karate instructor would have been proud of, stopping Larry in his tracks. As he turned to her, she was ready. He charged, only to find himself lying on the floor facing the ceiling. Joe was making a dive for the gun lying in the middle of the floor when he came face-to-face with the briefcase he had worked so hard to steal. The blow snapped his head back so that when his forehead finally struck the concrete, he was blessedly unconscious. Within minutes, all three were either out cold or groaning on the floor. Clark, still unable to stand upright on his own looked at his mother in surprise and admiration. "Mom, where'd you learn moves like that?" "I'm taking karate lessons," Martha shrugged as she used her foot to keep Bob on the floor. "I knew they'd come in handy someday." "What about me?" Lois asked. Clark laughed painfully. "I already knew you could take out any man alive, Lois. You do it on a fairly regular basis." "I could probably even take out Superman if I wanted to," her voice and expression left no doubt in Clark's mind that he was going to have to come clean about the incident before the wedding and the retraction as soon as they were all safe. "But right now I'd rather get out of here." Lois and Jimmy used the belts of the trio to tie them up on the floor and the ragtag bunch started up the stairs, more careful this time. Jimmy stood in the room and pulled out his cell phone. "Inspector Henderson, please. Yes, I'll hold, but make it quick. We found Clark Kent." Jimmy barely had time to take a breath before he heard another voice on the line. "Yes, sir. This is James Olsen. I work with Lois and Clark at the Planet. We found him, but we could sure use your help." With that Jimmy gave the location of the warehouse and was glad to hear that a squad car was in the area and would be there in a few moments. Glad he had given the briefcase to Lois in exchange for the weapon he stood guard over the three men, unwilling that they should have any opportunity to escape. ***** Two hours later, all nine of the people from the warehouse were still at the police station. Granted, three of them had less welcoming accommodations than the others, but they were all there. "Is that all, Henderson?" Lois questioned wearily. The surge of adrenaline that had come while fighting Larry had long since worn off. "I'd like to get Clark to his doctor and go home." Henderson sighed. He knew if he kept Lois here much longer the infamous Mad Dog Lane personality was sure to come out. "That's it for now. All of you are free to go, but we may have more questions for you later. I'll give you a call." Lois watched as Jonathan and Perry helped Clark to his feet. His strength was starting to return and he tried to refuse the help. "No, really. I'm feeling better." Clark's words were punctuated by an almost fall against the closest wall. "I'm going to help you, son." Jonathan wouldn't take no for an answer and Clark knew it. Lois looked pleadingly at Perry. "Come on, Jimmy." Perry put his hand on the younger man's back, leading him out of the station. Jimmy started to protest; he wanted in on helping Clark out. He was cut short by the editor. "I can't believe I've been gone so long from the paper. I'm going to need your help to make sure that everything is in top shape. Besides, I want to hear about what happened after Lois and I left. Did I ever tell you about the time that Elvis and the Colonel..." The Kents and Lois smiled at each other as they listened to Perry drone on about one of his endless Elvis stories. "Come on. We can take Clark to Dr. Klein at S.T.A.R. Labs. I need to give him something anyway." After they settled Clark in Lois' Jeep, which one of the Planet employees had been kind enough to drop off, Clark told his parents. "She knows." "Who knows what, Clark?" Martha was tired enough that she didn't catch her son's meaning right away. "She knows, Mom." "Oh." As it sank in for both of his parents, they remained quiet, knowing their son would explain in time. To their surprise, Lois was the one to speak next. "It was Perry who figured it out first. When they stuck us in the room with him, they left the box of Kryptonite in with us. I wanted to leave it open so we could see, even after Clark asked me to shut it. Perry closed it, but I opened it again. Perry realized that when the box was open, Clark's breathing became erratic and that it must be affecting him." Lois tried to keep her voice businesslike, but struggled with her emotions as it all sank in. "I would have let you die, Clark." The tears started to overflow her eyes. "If Perry hadn't been there, I wouldn't have closed the case and you would have died. I almost killed Superman." It was a good thing that they had pulled into a parking spot at the laboratory as the tears were clouding Lois' vision. Clark reached over and took her hand in his. Martha laid one of her hands comfortingly on Lois' shoulder. "It's okay, honey. You would have figured it out soon enough and Clark would have been fine, just like he's going to be." Lois just let her head sink to the steering wheel, her body wracked with sobs. Clark's tortured move to comfort her was stopped by a rap on the glass. Dr. Klein had arrived. The Kents exited the vehicle, but Martha had to help the distraught woman out. She put a supporting arm around Lois as her husband helped her son. ***** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 12:39:14 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: REVIEW: TOGOM: The ep that launched a thousand fics ;) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I enjoyed this ep for the first time this week, but I had a couple of questions too. First - no one noticed that there was no blood on Clark or his shirt or the floor or anywhere. Second - and this doesn't have anything much to do with this ep, but the future since the ep - after Lois discovers CK=S, does she ever give him what-for over this little incident? I never would have thought of it myself, but someone asked me abou the timeline for "Wet, White Shirt" and mentioned that it had to have been before TOGOM or else Lois would have been ticked over that. I have seen the first several eps after she finds out and I don't remember her ever mentioning it. Maybe someone can set me straight on that. Anyway, overall, it was nice to see the ep that lauched a thousand (and one) fanfics, but I was left with a couple of questions, but is there ever an ep that doesn't leave a few?? Many thanks to anyone who can help me out with this! CM ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 14:27:27 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: REVIEW: TOGOM: The ep that launched a thousand fics ;) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable In a message dated 04/29/2001 12:21:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time,=20 wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK writes: << I have just completed Yet Another TOGOM Rewrite, which, if listmembers are willing, I=E2=80=99ll post to this list=20= in a little while. >> what do you mean "willing"? How about "eagerly awaiting"? --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 14:14:33 -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: REVIEW: TOGOM: The ep that launched a thousand fics ;) Carol, you're quite right: Lois never did chew Clark out in the series for pretending to be dead in TOGOM. This is one of the reasons why there are so many rewrites of TOGOM, or revelation stories in which the TOGOM issue plays a part. My first fic was written in part to redress this omission: in Identity Crisis, when Clark tells Lois the truth the main thing she gets upset about is his deceit when she thought he was dead. As for the lack of blood, yes, that was never explained or even mentioned - and that lack has been used as a means of explaining Clark's 'resurrection' in a number of fics, including my own Shattered Illusions. Wendy ----------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 20:22:35 +0100 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: NEW: Only Superman Intro and 1/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NEW STORY: Only Superman (Or; Yet Another TOGOM Rewrite) Author: Wendy Richards Rated: PG Parts: 1 of 3 Feedback: Public or private, very much welcome. ------------- Intro: A few weeks ago, I was foolish enough to comment on this list that I couldn't think of a premise for another rewrite or adaptation of TOGOM. Not long after, Sara Miller posted a suggestion, and I found myself mentally composing a story based on that premise. Sara then very kindly gave me permission to use her idea, and this is the resulting story. Sorry, Kathy, but I couldn't avoid the angst! Thanks, first, to Sara for her idea, and second, to my loyal and efficient beta-readers, Kaethel, Irene, Anne and Yvonne. Your thoughts and encouragement are, as always, hugely appreciated! :) ------------- - Only Superman - Lois sat in the darkness of her apartment, huddled on her sofa as the silent tears flowed slowly down her cheeks. She could still barely believe what had happened in the past hour. In the space of a few seconds, her life, and that of her best friend, had changed utterly. And now, now that she was alone again and able to think about what had happened, she felt as if every certainty, everything of importance to her, had been ripped asunder. Clark. Her best friend, Clark, was gone for ever. It had all happened so fast; she hadn't even been aware of just *what* was happening at the time. One minute she was playing slots while listening out for anything which might lead them to Al Capone and his cohorts. And the next... The next, she'd been staring down the barrel of a gun. She shivered. She'd faced death before; there had been many times in her career that she'd thought she was about to die, although most of those times the sheer adrenalin had prevented her actually assimilating the reality of what was happening. It was usually afterwards, when she was safely out of the situation, that she would tremble in recognition of how close she'd come. More recently, death had been averted for her many times by Metropolis's Super-hero. Superman seemed to be keeping a special watch on Lois Lane. She' d occasionally wondered how it was that he always managed to get there just in time to rescue her from whatever dangerous predicament she was. Now, of course, it all made sense... She swiped angrily at the tears which stubbornly kept flowing. Why she was crying, she simply had no idea. There was a myriad of emotions she could be feeling: anger, loss, disillusionment and relief, to name a few. She shouldn 't be crying. And yet... Yet the tears continued. And there was a stubborn lump in her throat which refused to go no matter how many times she swallowed. He should be here with her. He was her *partner* - he had no right to just... How could he leave her like that? But he had. Clark was gone. The sound of the gunshot reverberated over and over in her head, and the tears continued to flow. ********** She'd whirled in indignation, hurtling from Clark's side across the room to confront the old woman who'd stolen her chips. And at that moment the doors had burst open and the people they'd come looking for had come in. One of them, a man she'd vaguely recognised, had looked her up and down in a manner which made her feel as if he was stripping her naked. Determined to show no fear, she'd glared at him. "Never seen a woman before?" she'd drawled coolly. "Ooh, the doll has claws, Johnny," one of the other men had said, laughing. The man called Johnny had strode over to her and immediately tried to paw her; his hands had gripped her waist and pulled her close to him before one hand had moved up to her breasts. Clark was nowhere to be seen, at first glance; she'd noticed a moment later that he was at the other side of the craps table, but that his path to her was blocked by people, all standing staring. Instinct led her to bring her knee up sharply. Johnny had groaned loudly and sank to the floor. Then he'd drawn his gun. Collective gasps had filled the silence. Then she'd heard the click as he pulled back the hammer, and the look in his eyes told her he was very serious. She was going to pay for the insult to his dignity, with her life. In what seemed to be slow motion, the other members of the gang had urged Johnny not to be so stupid. But with one coarse phrase he'd shut them up. Then he'd fired the gun, and Lois had waited to die... Only she hadn't. Out of the corner of her eye she'd seen what looked like a whirlwind. A blur of grey and black had hurtled towards her. The harsh crack of the gunshot was followed immediately afterwards by something crashing into her, knocking her backwards, but there had been no pain. No pain. There had been silence... and then a hubbub of noise. Then she'd been lifted into strong - *familiar* - arms and hustled out of the speakeasy. Only then, as she clung to Clark, barely able to grasp the fact that she was still alive, had she started to piece things together. The grey and black blur had been Clark, rushing across the room to her. *Clark* had pushed her backwards, had run into the path of the bullet. *Clark* had been shot...? But no, that couldn't be. He was unharmed, wasn't he? He was holding her, carrying her out of the room. She stole a look at his face. It bore a look of grim determination... and resignation. And there was something horribly, wonderfully familiar about that face, suddenly. Clark had come across the room to her at faster than human speed. At *Super*-human speed. Clark had been hit with the bullet - he had to, there was no way he could have avoided it. He'd been hit, and he was unharmed. And his expression... the grim look, the resolute set of his jaw, the concern in his brown eyes as he glanced down at her... "You're Superman!" she accused. A brief nod was his only response. Then she noticed that the air was rushing past then very quickly, and also that it was steadily getting darker... then she looked down and realised that they were flying. She gasped, and clutched more tightly at Clark's clothing. "I won't drop you," he said. Then, grimacing, he added, "The Planet or your apartment?" "Uhh..." She couldn't think straight for a moment. Then she found her voice again. "The Planet. There's a story to write!" "Of course there is," he muttered, sounding miserable; bitter, even. But he nodded then and swooped upwards and across the city; bare seconds later he was drifting downwards again, and he came to rest in an alley. Silently, he lowered her to her feet. Lois stared at this man who was her partner, and was also the Super-hero she 'd admired from afar, sighed over and fallen in love with. He'd been Superman all along; all the times when she'd told Clark how she felt about Superman, he'd listened, and sometimes he'd even got irritated with her for her crush on the hero. He'd never told her, never even hinted, that there was more to his own relationship with Superman than she knew. And he'd rejected her love as Superman just hours after he'd confessed his love to her as Clark. That had been cruel. Just as his deceit, his masquerade, had been cruel. "You *lied* to me!" she exclaimed, before she could stop herself. "I thought you were my *friend*! And now... I never knew you at all, did I?" "I *am* your friend! I'm still Clark..." he protested, looking stunned. But she took a step backwards, warding him off with her hands. "Clark doesn' t exist! Not any more - if he ever did." His eyes widened. "You... you think that...? Is that what you want?" *Was* that what she wanted? She was sensible enough to realise that she was in shock, that now was not the right time to make that kind of decision. And anyway, what she *wanted* was for Clark to come into the Planet with her, to pull a chair up to her desk as was his habit, and for them to write up the story of tonight's events together. There was a story there, she was sure of it; the gangsters' appearance at Georgie Hairdo's club couldn't have been a coincidence. But there was no Clark. Instead, there was Superman. Superman; who had masqueraded as an ordinary man for well over a year, who had become her friend in his 'human' guise, while at the same time keeping her at arm's length as himself. There was no Clark. There was only Superman. She turned away. "I can't deal with you right now, Superman," she told him, shutting her mind to all thoughts of the man, her best friend, *Clark*. There was no Clark. There was only Superman, the Kryptonian, who had deceived her. "I'm Clark..." he repeated, pain throbbing in his voice. "Clark doesn't exist," she repeated aloud, and she began to walk towards the alley's exit. A whooshing sound behind her told her that Superman had gone. *********** "Oh, Clark," she whispered into the darkness of her apartment, remembering how alone she'd felt when he'd gone. Bereft. As if part of her had been ripped away and she'd been left empty, raw and bleeding. And it was true; so much which had been important to her in the past year or more had simply dissipated, evaporated in that moment when she'd realised the truth. Clark didn't exist. Superman wasn't the perfect, magical being she'd thought he was. Instead, he was a deceiver who had been laughing at her behind her back for all that time. an instinct from somewhere deep inside her cried. But she pushed that thought away. He *had* done it. And anyway, there was no Clark. There was only Superman. Only Superman... Lois realised with a sense of bitter irony that not long ago she would never have put those two words together in that precise manner. Superman had been vitally important to her well-being and sense of purpose in life for a long time. She'd cared about him... she'd been *in love* with him. But he'd rejected that love, and he'd shown the contempt in which he held her by carrying on this deceit for all that time. Until tonight, she would have said that there were two people in her life who she could rely on never to hurt her, whose support she could always be sure of. Now, there were none. *********** At the Planet, she'd gone through the motions of writing up the story, but her heart hadn't been in it, and it had showed. To her surprise, Perry had still been there, and he'd taken one look at her face and assumed that something awful had happened. It had, of course, but she had no intention of telling anyone about it. The discovery that Superman had lied to her, that he'd pretended to be an ordinary reporter, was too new, too raw. She couldn' t tell anyone. Somewhere within her not-very-clear thinking had also been the conviction that it was up to Clark - no, *Superman* - to admit what he'd done himself. It wasn't her job to tell Perry and everyone else in the newsroom how they'd been deceived. So she'd simply concentrated on writing up the existence of the gambling den and the presence of the resurrected gangsters. "Inspector Henderson just called. He said someone answering your description was threatened at gunpoint down there tonight," Perry had come over to say. Lois had glanced up, then away almost immediately. "It was nothing," she'd told her editor abruptly. "A fuss over nothing." "Eyewitness reports say they thought you were going to be killed." She'd looked up again to see Perry watching her shrewdly, and she'd seen the concern in his eyes. "I got away." "Wasn't Clark with you?" Perry's tone had grown harsh, and she'd interpreted the question as criticism of Clark for not protecting her. That had angered her; she could look after herself and had been doing so long before Super-Clark had come along. "He had to leave," she'd answered, deliberately making it sound unimportant. She hadn't wanted Perry asking yet more questions about what had happened. Not now. It would all become common knowledge sooner or later, once people starting putting things together about the way Clark had got her out of the speakeasy, but she'd just wanted time to come to terms herself with how easily she'd been taken in, before the whole world found out that Lois Lane, investigative reporter, had worked alongside Superman for over a year and never known. "Henderson needs a statement from you." Perry had persisted, refused to go away, and finally Lois had looked up at him again, her expression stony. "It can wait. I told you, what happened was no big deal." ********** She'd worked beside him all that time and never known, never even guessed. The same man. The only disguise he'd worn was a pair of glasses. How *pathetic*! And how stupid she'd been! Lois dragged herself up from the couch and padded into the bathroom to wash her face. The tears had dried now, leaving her with damp tracks on her cheeks and swollen eyes. How many times had he beaten her to a scoop by unfair use of his powers? How often had he used some feeble excuse to run off and save the day yet again, and come back with an 'exclusive' Superman interview? It was no wonder that he'd beaten her to the first Superman story! And as for his Kerth award... had he gained an unfair advantage there, too, by short-cutting research through use of his abilities? She stared bleakly at her reflection in the mirror. She looked terrible. As if she'd aged ten years in the last hour, she thought. But then, losing your best friend can do that to you, a voice from somewhere inside her pointed out. He was never a friend, not really, she insisted in response. But she knew that wasn't true. Over the past year Clark had insinuated himself into her life, become indispensable to her. Whenever she'd needed a friend, someone to talk to, his had been the first number she called, the first destination she could think of. And who else would welcome her at one in the morning, as if watching old movies and eating pizza was the very thing he'd most like to do at that time of night? Who else would wrap his arms around her and hold her when she cried, rock her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay, and make every hurt she suffered seem unimportant? Who had she run to after her crazy mistake in almost marrying Lex Luthor? Who had she confided in about every disastrous relationship she'd ever had, and convinced her that it wasn't her fault, that she was lovable and that one of these days someone very special would fall crazily in love with her and her with him? Who had watched over her and protected her and saved her life when Sebastian Finn and Barbara Trevino had tried to kill her? Who had remained loyal to her when she'd been suspended? ...and who had come to see her in her apartment to cheer her up on that awful day? Clark. In his other role; his main role. And, as Superman, he'd laughed openly at her when she'd commented that Clark had said the same thing about her. "Clark's a pretty smart guy," he'd said. And he'd been talking about himself. And he'd sounded so smug. Her best friend was gone - no, he'd never existed. But she just couldn't figure out why he'd done it. She left the bathroom and went to lie down on her bed; not to sleep, but to lie awake and brood. *Why* had this Kryptonian made such an effort to insinuate himself into her life? Hadn't he cared about what he was doing to her, that once she found out the truth about him she'd be devastated at his betrayal? Why had he pretended to care for her, when he clearly didn't? None of this made sense. It just didn't add up. Something was very wrong in the equation she was calculating. But she couldn't think about that now. If Clark was here, he could have helped her work it all out; they'd always worked brilliantly together solving mysteries. But Clark didn't exist, and that was the problem. Trying to pretend that the massive great hole which had opened up in her life didn't exist, she closed her eyes and attempted to shut the world out, for an hour or so at least. ********** Clark stood in the centre of his apartment, idly calculating how long it would take him to pack everything up and move it all out. Not that there was a lot of point in keeping his belongings, the sensible part of him knew. After all, what would he do with them? Superman had no use for any of this stuff. Clark Kent had; but then, Clark Kent didn't exist. Lois had told him that. She'd looked at him; stared at him with eyes as cold as an Arctic winter, accusing him of deceiving her and laughing at her and pretending to be something he wasn't. And of course she was right in one respect, although he'd never, ever laughed at her. He *was* pretending to be something he wasn't. All his life, he'd been pretending that he was normal. A regular guy. As ordinary, as *human*, as the guy standing next to him on the subway, in the elevator, on the street. And yet he wasn't. He was an alien, a thing from another planet. Okay, she hadn't thrown that at him, but she'd been thinking it. Of course she had; she'd refused to accept that he was Clark, so there was no other way of looking at it. She'd told him there was no Clark. And she'd turned and walked away. He'd exposed his secret - and in doing so, lost his entire life - to save her life, and she'd turned and walked away. He couldn't be Clark Kent any more; that went without saying. His secret was out, exposed in front of all the people in the casino that evening. Clark Kent had used his powers openly, moving through the room at a speed no human could have managed, standing between Lois and the gun, showing no reaction as the bullet hit him. He'd picked Lois up and left the room at Super-speed, taking off into flight once they were outside. His secret was out. He really should turn on the TV, find out whether the news had reached the media yet - just so he knew what to expect. Did he have until dawn to clear his stuff out of the apartment and ensure his parents' safety, or were reporters about to descend on his doorstep? But he couldn't bear the thought of hearing his life story badly rehashed on LNN, seeing pictures of Clark Kent next to those of Superman while everyone claimed that they'd always wondered about the resemblance. He'd be able to hear the reporters coming, if they came, he told himself. He had time; he could get the essentials away in under ten seconds, if he needed to. And anyway, the chances were that the story wouldn't break until morning. No way was Lois Lane going to deny herself this scoop. This was the story of a lifetime, and she'd be very conscious of that. Oh, sure, if some other news organisation broke the story first, she'd still have plenty of exclusives: My Relationship With Superman; I Was Superman's Partner; How Superman Became My Friend... but that wasn't the same. No-one remembered who had the follow-ups; everyone remembered who broke the story. "See, *this* is why I never told her!" he muttered viciously, kicking at a chair-leg and watching in satisfaction as it splintered into pieces and the chair collapsed. But he knew, even in the depth of pain from Lois's rejection of him, that was unfair. Lois had earned his trust in so many ways over the course of their friendship. Okay, he'd been relieved that he'd never told her the truth when she was getting close to Lex Luthor, and even more so when she accepted his proposal. But she could be trusted, he knew that. She'd suppressed information about Superman before now, most recently when she hadn't written the truth about Kryptonite. If he'd told her his secret himself, she wouldn't have told anyone. He knew that without a shred of doubt. So why was he so sure that she'd expose him now? Because... Because she'd been so angry with him, because she believed that he'd deceived and manipulated her, because she thought that *everything* they'd shared had been a lie. And it wasn't; none of it was, except that two people she'd thought were separate were actually the same person. If only he'd been able to talk to her, to convince her of that... but she'd refused to listen. And right now, no doubt, she was planning with Perry White how to handle the exclusive of the decade. He should go to Smallville. He knew that, even as he wandered into his bedroom and stared out of the large picture window into the dark night. They should be his first concern here. If the world knew that Clark Kent was Superman, then Jonathan and Martha Kent would be at great risk. He needed to work out how to protect them. It was all very well deciding that Clark Kent no longer existed, but that didn't solve the problem. Clark Kent *had* existed, and his parents were very precious to him. It wouldn't take that much ingenuity from some lunatic or villain to use them against him. If Lex Luthor wasn't dead, Clark thought bleakly, he'd have moved against the Kents already by now. Later. He'd go to Smallville later. Once he knew what exactly he could say to his parents, to those very dear, loving people who had given him a home, brought him up and helped him to hide his secret for all these years. He thought it was unlikely that he'd be locked up in a laboratory and experimented on, as his father had always feared. But the issue was not his own safety. How could he best protect his parents? And how could he tell them that he'd been so careless, that in one thoughtless second he'd thrown away everything they'd all tried so hard to hide? And yet it hadn't been thoughtless. Clark sighed heavily, tracing patterns on the window as he relived those few terrible, heart-stopping seconds when he'd thought his world was about to fall apart. Lois. She'd run across the room after some woman who'd taken her nickels. A bucket of lousy nickels! And so they'd been separated, but he hadn't really considered that a problem; he could always get to her if he needed to, and anyway, nothing was happening. And yet it had. They'd burst in, and one of them had noticed Lois. Not surprisingly, since she was the most attractive woman in the room by far. Not blowsy or overdressed or over-obvious, like the woman behind the bar and the resurrected Bonnie; she was beautiful, exuding elegance and understated style, as always. The man had eyed her up, and foolishly she'd reacted sarcastically, so he'd felt provoked and had taken it further. Clark had felt fury building up inside him as the man he'd recognised as John Dillinger had started groping Lois. But he hadn't been able to get to her; his path had been blocked, and short of shoving people out of the way and attracting more attention to what was going on, there'd been nothing he could do. He hadn't wanted to rush in like a jealous boyfriend, in case that provoked Dillinger one step further. And then Lois had kneed him. Dillinger, full of wounded pride and aching body, had drawn a gun and pulled back the hammer. And in that instant Clark had known that he had only one choice. He could stay where he was and watch Lois be shot - possibly killed - or he could rescue her. And he had no intention of letting her be shot. It hadn't been a choice at all. He'd pushed and shoved his way through the onlookers at Super-speed, knowing that he had under a second to get to her, knowing that no-one could accept that a normal man could have done what he did; and knowing that he had to stop the bullet somehow, which could only have been done by someone invulnerable. The bullet had hit him; in the shoulder, he thought, though he hadn't paid attention. He'd been too focused on grabbing Lois and getting her out of there. He'd saved her life again, though he hadn't done it to get her thanks. All the same, he hadn't expected her hatred. Lois despised him. And his life as Clark Kent was over. Clark turned away from the window and began to pack his things. ********* Continued in Part 2 Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com wendy@kingsmeadowcr.freeserve.co.uk ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 20:22:53 +0100 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: New: Only Superman 3/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NEW STORY: Only Superman (Or; Yet Another TOGOM Rewrite) Author: Wendy Richards Rated: PG Parts: 3 of 3 Feedback: Public or private, very much welcome. ------------- Continued from Part 2: An hour. What was she going to do in the next hour to make Clark stay? It had been a shot in the dark, a last-ditch effort to buy herself some more time, to prevent Clark from walking out of her life permanently - because she knew he'd meant it. Oh, he would come if she was in trouble, but she also knew that if she called him for any other reason - for instance, just because she wanted to see him - he would be furious. How could she convince him that even if everyone knew he was Superman, she'd be prepared to take the risk of being with him? But then, she couldn't do that. She'd seen the look of determination in his eyes, on his face, and she knew that Clark, in his stubbornness, wasn't going to change his mind about that. Could she convince him that it wouldn't be a disaster if he stayed in Metropolis anyway? He'd obviously been near-paranoid all his life about keeping his true self hidden, but what if the reality wasn't as bad as he feared? How did he know that people wouldn't simply accept that Clark Kent was Superman and be glad about it, and leave him alone to live a normal life? Come on, Lois, you're a reporter! she told herself sardonically. She knew better than to assume that the media would react like that. This was a big story; Clark would be a big story for the rest of his life. So he couldn't stay as himself. The thought occurred to her briefly that she could try again to use what was between them to hold him to her. She could try seducing him. She had no doubt that he wanted her - and more, that, despite what he'd said a few months ago, that he loved her. But Clark was also very noble and very determined. If she tried to seduce him, the chances were that she wouldn't succeed. No, she had to think of something else. She thought back to what had happened earlier, and, for the first time, she began to ask herself exactly what anyone else would have seen - and what would have been reported to the police and the media. It wouldn't do for Lois Lane of the Daily Planet to start calling around competitors, but there was something she could do, something she should have done before if she hadn't been so caught up in her own selfish misery. She stepped away from the door and touched Clark on the arm. "Come on, Kent - I've got someone to see, and you're coming with me." ********** Confused, Clark followed Lois from the apartment. He had absolutely no idea where she was going, nor why he was supposed to come with her; but, on the other hand, he'd promised her an hour and he had to keep his word. "Lois, where are we going?" he asked wearily as she unlocked the Jeep and gestured for him to get in the passenger side. "I need to find out just what I'm up against," she replied enigmatically. "Come on, get in!" Clark obeyed, and Lois drove off at a speed which made him look around warily for any watching police or other road users. He should be used to Lois's driving by now, he thought ironically, but her assertiveness behind the wheel still left him clutching the door-handle in a reflexive reaction much of the time. Thankfully, the roads were fairly empty at this time of night. She was heading towards the centre of Metropolis, which made Clark wonder if she was taking him to the Planet. If so, then he had no intention of going in with her. He'd made up his mind, and no emotional blackmail from Lois was going to make him change it. But she turned off before the road which would have taken them to the Planet building, and instead took the turning which led to a police precinct. Henderson's precinct. Before Clark could ask what they were doing there, Lois took one hand off the wheel and covered his with it. The warmth of her grip almost melted his resolve to leave. He loved Lois so much, and now, tonight, after everything that had happened, it finally looked as if she might have feelings for him... and it was too late. "Lois, I cant - " he began as she drew the Jeep to a halt close to the precinct. "Hush." She brought her finger to his lips, and he had to restrain himself from opening his mouth and sucking the tip inside. "I have to go and talk to Henderson," she told him. "You don't have to come in with me - in fact, it's probably better if you don't. But I want you to listen in - you can do that, can't you?" He breathed in sharply at this casual reference to his abilities. "Well, I can't from here - there's too many distractions. But I could..." He pointed his index finger upwards." "Go, then." Unable to resist, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, ma'am!" The streets were silent, and as far as Clark could see no-one was looking out of any windows. He put on a burst of Super-speed and exited the car, shooting upwards faster than the human eye could detect. He heard Lois's gasp of amazement, and grinned for the first time that night. ********** That time there hadn't even been a blur to see, Lois realised, amazed. She wondered why Clark hadn't moved that fast earlier, because then no-one would have seen what had happened, or been able to identify the swiftly-moving figure with Clark Kent. Then she realised that he'd no doubt had to restrain himself because the casino had been full. But she shook herself and got out of the Jeep. The hour Clark had given her was running out fast; it had taken fifteen minutes to get here, even driving as quickly as she had. She hurried into the station building and asked for Henderson. He should have been off-duty some time ago, she was told, and her heart sank. "Can anyone else help?" the bored officer at the front desk asked. Lois shook her head. Apart from the fact that she knew Henderson had been called to the scene, and she had no idea who else had been there, she trusted Henderson. On the point of digging out her cellphone and calling him at home, she noticed that someone else was trying to attract her attention. "You're looking for Inspector Henderson?" "That's right." Lois focused her attention on the officer who was coming over to her, a black woman in her forties. "Do you know when he left?" "Uh-uh, he's still here," the woman told her. "I think he's interviewing someone." "Can you tell him Lois Lane is here?" she said quickly. "Well, I can try to catch him when he comes out of his interview," the officer offered. "No, this is important," Lois insisted. "Look, he called a couple of hours ago, said he wanted to talk to me urgently." Seeing that the officer still wasn't changing her position, Lois added, "The shooting in the casino - I was a witness, and he wanted to interview me about it." The woman's eyebrows rose. "Oh - hey, are you the one who got away?" "Something like that," Lois replied, and deliberately looked past the woman to the offices in the back. She took the hint and went off. The wait seemed interminable, even though Lois realised that it had only been a couple of minutes. All the same, the first half-hour of the time Clark had promised her was almost up... Then Henderson appeared, looking tired but cynical. "Lane! So you finally decided to come down and do your civic duty, huh?" "Sorry, Henderson," she said unapologetically. "I was tied up earlier." "Oh yeah? Making sure you got an exclusive even from the police?" He grimaced, then indicated that she should follow him. "You are here to give a statement, right?" he asked as they walked into the back of the building. "Only if it can be done quickly." At Henderson's frown, she added, "Look, I' m not trying to get out of it, or cover anything up. I just only have a few minutes right now." "So what are you doing here?" he asked, leading her into an untidy office and shutting the door. "Looking for a lead for your story?" "Something like that. But it works both ways - I think maybe I can help you too," she said. She was taking a chance, but she was still hoping that her guess was right. If it was... "Okay, Lois, so what happened?" Henderson asked wearily. "All I know is that this guy Dillinger - or Dillinger's clone or whatever the hell he is - decided that he was going to kill you." Lois succinctly summarised the events leading up to the moment when she saw the gun pointed at her, carefully leaving out any mention of Clark. "So what exactly happened then?" Henderson asked. "That's the bit I'm having a problem with." Lois almost held her breath; it was beginning to look as if she might be right. "What have people been telling you?" "That something... *someone* - came across the room like lightning and got between you and the bullet. And then he - whoever he was - near-flew out of the room with you so fast no-one could see what was happening properly. The gun was definitely fired; we know that." He paused, scratching his head. "Our people found the bullet - it's as flat as a penny, but there's no sign that anyone was hit with it. So how can you explain that? And this guy who seems like some kind of cousin of Superman's?" "Did anyone tell you what he looked like?" Lois asked, as if from idle curiosity. Henderson shrugged. "We got a couple of descriptions from people who'd been standing near him before he moved. Grey suit, tie, about six feet tall, dark hair, glasses. Nothing very much. But, you know, Lois, if I didn't know better I'd say that sounds like that partner of yours." He paused, then asked, "Where was Kent tonight?" "Clark?" Lois shrugged carelessly. "Night off." "Well, sure sounded like him. And I showed someone a picture of him, and they said it looked like the guy in the casino." She could do this. Lois smiled. "Clark? Bounce bullets off himself and fly? You have to be kidding! Come on, this is the guy I saw making a big deal out of a paper cut!" "So who was it, then?" Henderson asked sharply. "He took you out of there with him, so don't tell me you have no idea. I know you better than that, Lois, and I know you know more than you're saying." "Sure I do." She grinned at him. "Sorry - I just wanted to find out how well the disguise worked. Superman will be very pleased." "Superman?!" Henderson asked incredulously. "The guy in the business suit was Superman?" "Sure was." Lois smiled expansively. "See, I knew this could be dangerous. And Superman offered to help - we thought about having him floating above the casino, but he said he couldn't guarantee to get in there quickly enough if something happened. So we came up with the idea of disguising him. You know it's not the first time he's done it. Actually, this time he was wearing one of Clark's suits - you ask your witnesses, they'll probably tell you it looked kind of tight on him. He's more muscular than Clark, after all. And he borrowed a spare pair of glasses from Clark too, just to add to the disguise. Anyway, when Dillinger tried to shoot me, Superman just had to get me out of there." Henderson was regarding her with some scepticism. "So why didn't Superman come back to talk to the police, like he usually does?" Lois shrugged. "Who knows? He probably had an emergency somewhere else to go to. You'll see, he'll probably come in here some time today to talk to you." As Henderson continued to watch her without saying anything, Lois added, "Hey, don't look at me like that! I haven't seen Superman since he dropped me at the Planet after saving me!" That was true, she reflected. She'd insisted then that Clark was no more than Superman; now, she'd accepted that he was first and foremost *Clark*, and it was Clark she'd been with for most of the past hour. Henderson sighed, then yawned. "Okay, Lois, as long as Superman comes in to tell me that he was at that casino in disguise, I'll accept your story. But I still need a statement from you." "Sure," she agreed. "But can it wait until later? I'm exhausted, and I can see you are too." Henderson was silent for several seconds, then he nodded. "Okay. I could do without going through yet another formal interview tonight. But tomorrow, without fail, okay? Otherwise I'll have you picked up and brought down here." Lois got to her feet. "I'll be here," she insisted, and walked to the door; before leaving, though, she turned and grinned at Henderson. "Watch out for clones!" Ecstatic, she left the precinct. She'd done it! Clark Kent's identity was safe. Even if someone did try to go to another news organisation claiming that it had been Clark in the club, they could insist that it had been Superman all the time and that Clark had been nowhere near the place. Clark could stay after all. And... and now, there was hope for them, for their relationship. If he still wanted her, after the way she'd behaved after he'd saved her - although Lois hoped that what she'd just pulled off would help persuade him to forgive her. Outside, the Jeep was empty, but there was a note on the driver's seat. 'See you back at your place - C.' Disappointed, Lois started the engine and began to drive; she'd really wanted to share her triumph with Clark, to see the look on his face as he realised that he did have a life still. But that could wait. She'd see him soon. ********** He probably should have waited for Lois, but he'd just been overcome with the desire to fly; to soar up above the city and do loop-the-loops from sheer relief. He was safe. His identity as Clark Kent was secure. And Lois had given him back that security. He didn't have to give up his job. Or his apartment. Or his life here in Metropolis. He could still go to ball games with Jimmy. He could carry on being Lois's best friend, eating takeout and watching movies with her. He could even... ask her out on a date. Assuming that she was okay with the whole Superman thing, of course. And they needed to talk properly about that. They hadn't earlier, even though she'd said she wanted to; there hadn't really seemed to be a point, since he wasn't staying. But now he was. Coming down from his last triple somersault, he set his course for Lois's apartment. *********** Lois had only just closed the door when she heard the whoosh outside the window. She hurried to open it; it was Clark, but in his Superman suit. As soon as he came in, though, he spun on the spot and, to her amazement, stood in front of her a moment later dressed as himself. Before she could say a word, he'd stepped up to her and enfolded her in his arms for a heartfelt hug. "You are completely brilliant!" he told her, his voice muffled since his face was buried in her hair. "I've always told you that," she said teasingly, but she was still touched by his reaction. He released her, and she thought she could see moisture glittering in his eyes. "Thank you, Lois," he said softly; then he grinned. "That was ingenious!" "Well, I thought so." She grinned back at him. "You better go to see Henderson as soon as you can, though - I'm not sure he really wanted to believe me. But he'll believe Superman." "I guess. I'm sure I can make it convincing without stretching the truth too much, thanks to you," he answered. "It looks like no-one really recognised me. I was sure someone there would have ID'd me, or been able to identify me from a picture or something... guess I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." Lois shrugged. "I should have checked that out ages ago. I could have seen Henderson hours ago and found out what he knew." Clark gave an awkward shrug. "I guess you had other things on your mind." That made Lois feel guilty, reminding her as it did of how she'd reacted to finding out that he was Superman. She gave him a sober look. "I'm sorry, Clark. Really sorry." He nodded. "I know. But... I can't lie to you, Lois. The way you reacted... It hurt. It was like you were... rubbing out all of the last fifteen months, Lois, rejecting our friendship as if it meant nothing." Lois grimaced. She'd known that she'd hurt him; the fact that she'd also felt the loss of their friendship was irrelevant here, because if she hadn't reacted the way she had, they wouldn't have almost lost everything. But Clark was speaking again. "I know it's partly my fault, Lois. If I had told you the truth myself, not let you find out the way you did... it wouldn 't have been such a shock, for a start. And I guess by telling you myself you'd have had proof that I trust you." She stilled. Yes, that was one thing which still galled her: that he hadn't trusted her enough to tell her who he was, where he went to when he ran off all the time, and why he - as Superman - had to keep his distance from her. "Yeah, I wish you had," she said softly. "But I'll forgive you for that if you forgive me for being such a bitch earlier, when I found out." Clark smiled suddenly. "I forgave you earlier, Lois. I knew you meant it when you said you were sorry. And how could I stay mad at you?" Lois pulled a face. "I seem to be able to stay mad at people easily enough!" "But you're not mad at me now?" he asked. She shook her head. "Good, because, you know, I was kind of hoping..." "Hoping what?" "Hoping that you might let me repeat what happened earlier..." he said in a husky whisper, moving closer to her. "What?" she whispered, knowing full well what he meant. "This." He stepped closer still and reached for her, framing her face between his hands. His head lowered, and his lips covered hers, and her senses swam. The kiss seemed to last an eternity, and yet when Clark stepped back it was far too soon. Lois gazed up at him through passion-dazed eyes; he seemed to be having trouble standing up straight. "Lois, I... did you mean what you said earlier, about admitting to yourself how much I mean to you?" he asked unsteadily. Her breath caught. "You mean that I finally admitted to myself that I love you? You, Clark, not some mythical hero in a flashy suit?" she asked him shakily. "Yeah, that." His eyes had widened at her words. "You mean it?" Now he sounded incredulous. "Just tell me one thing, Clark." She watched him carefully; this was suddenly very important. "When did you lie to me last summer? When you told me you loved me, or when you told me you didn't?" He flushed. "I crossed my fingers," he said in a small voice. "When I told you I'd lied, and that I didn't love you after all." He hesitated, then added, "I'm sorry about the lead-lined robe thing." Lois pulled a face. "I think maybe I deserved that." But he shook his head in denial. "There were so many other things I could have said to you at that point." Shaking his head again, this time regretfully, he added, "But we can talk about that another time. Right now, I want to know... will you go out with me? On a date?" She grinned in relief. "You need to ask, after that kiss?" His laugh was unsteady. "Oh, I needed to ask." "Of course I'll go out with you," she told him. "And after that date, will you go out with me for another one?" "I am all yours..." he promised huskily. She reached for him, pulling him into another kiss. - The End - -------------------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com wendy@kingsmeadowcr.freeserve.co.uk ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 20:23:07 +0100 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: NEW: Only Superman 2/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NEW STORY: Only Superman (Or; Yet Another TOGOM Rewrite) Author: Wendy Richards Rated: PG Parts: 2 of 3 Feedback: Public or private, very much welcome. ------------- Continued from Part 2: Unsurprisingly, Lois wasn't able to sleep. She hadn't long closed her eyes when she found herself transported back, in her mind, to the casino and those few seconds when she'd stared death in the face. The gun had been pointed straight at her. She'd heard the click as the hammer had been pulled back. She'd looked up into the face of the man called Johnny and seen murderous intent. He was coldly furious, having no intention of letting her assault pass unavenged. He was going to kill her. Unconnected thoughts had gone through her mind... who would tell her parents, Perry would be devastated, Clark would never forgive himself for not being able to protect her, she'd never get to win that Pulitzer... and she'd never told Clark that she loved him. And then Clark had saved her. No, *Superman* had saved her. She sat up suddenly, breathing heavily, as the one thing which she'd somehow forgotten in all of this struck home. *Clark had saved her life!* she told herself silently, coldly. It was what he did as *Superman*, saner counsel pointed out. Not as Clark. But he clearly could do Super things when he wasn't in the Suit, Lois pointed out logically. He'd proven it when he saved her. But he didn't do them as Clark because that would have told the world that Clark Kent was Superman, her rational self objected. As Clark, he was far more careful. As Clark, he was just an ordinary guy, a reporter, a football fan and a devoted son. He was a pleasant, amiable colleague and a great best friend. As Clark, he wasn't a Super-hero. And yet, to save her life and get her out of trouble, he'd blown his own cover. He had run to save her, knowing that he was revealing himself as Superman. He'd as good as killed Clark Kent in doing so - and he'd done it to save her life. Lois caught her breath as that realisation sank in, and she cursed herself for having been so self-absorbed that she hadn't seen it before. He hadn't even thought about other options. No running away and coming back as Superman - he'd clearly known it would be too late. He'd just come for her, as Clark, regardless of the consequences. He had to have understood what he was doing; he had to have known that he was giving up any hope of a normal life. A normal life... a lump filled Lois's throat as she realised that *that* had to be why Superman had pretended to be Clark Kent and come to work as a reporter. He obviously felt so much an outsider; he'd wanted to belong, and that must have seemed the only way. It was a theory, and there were many more questions she needed answers to before it would fully explain why he'd done what he did. But that wasn't the important point here. The important point was that he had given up everything he'd achieved in terms of his normal life, to save *her* life. And, instead of being grateful, she'd hurled abuse at him, accused him of lying to her, and she'd rejected him. Tears began to flow afresh as she recognised the enormity of the cruel thing she'd done. "Oh, Clark!" she choked, and fell back onto the bed, curling up in a heap. ********** He'd packed those items he considered essential, and then reluctantly booted up his laptop because he had a letter to write. First, though, he checked a news website... ...but there was nothing about him being Superman. Lois must have managed to suppress the news somehow, keeping the exclusive for the Planet's morning edition. He had no doubt that she was writing the story; after all, she'd said as much to him on the flight back. She'd *asked* to be taken to the Daily Planet building. Well, he would be long gone from Metropolis by morning. He'd written a letter of resignation for Perry, not that the editor would need it. He'd know very well why one of his top reporters was quitting; the answer would be due to appear on the front page of his newspaper. But it was best to do these things properly. Another letter had been written to his landlord, which Clark would post before he left the apartment. The letter to Perry, though... Part of him wanted to hand-deliver it, but he couldn't bear the thought of walking, or even flying, into the newsroom with everyone knowing the truth. He could go to Perry's house and put it through the letterbox, but he wasn't sure about that course of action either. he admitted at last. He did want to see Lois. Apart from anything else, he wanted to check with her just what she'd written: had she, for example, identified his parents by name and given their location? Okay, even if she hadn't it wouldn't take a decent reporter more than a couple of minutes to get that information, but it might still slow everyone else down. His parents wouldn't find the farm besieged before they'd even had breakfast. If his parents had a bit of breathing space, he could try to do something to protect them. He could give a press conference at which he would answer questions about himself, and he could take the opportunity to distance himself publicly from his parents. Not that he *wanted* to do that, but if anyone with villainy in mind thought about using his parents as leverage, he could try to persuade them that he wasn't really close to the Kents any more. Maybe that would work. It was worth a try, anyway. So he dressed quickly in casual chinos and a sweatshirt, pulling on a leather jacket over the sweatshirt, and headed out of the apartment on foot rather than flying. He wasn't sure why he wasn't flying, but he had a vague notion that it had something to do with proving that Clark Kent did exist. Superman was *not* all there was to him. He'd been Clark Kent his entire life, since being found by his parents at the approximate age of three months. He'd only been Superman a little over a year. Therefore he was going to see Lois, as Clark. He didn't expect that they would have a lengthy conversation, though that wasn't the point. She'd told him that Clark Kent didn't exist; well, he was going to make her see that he *did*. She was going to have to talk to Clark, not Superman. ********** Clark hesitated at the foot of the steps leading up to Lois's apartment, realising for the first time that it was after one in the morning. Lois could well be asleep, he thought resignedly. Perhaps he shouldn't knock at her apartment after all. But then he reminded himself of all the times when she'd arrived on his doorstep at all hours of the day or night, simply assuming that he'd make her welcome. And he reminded himself forcefully that he had saved her life - again - a mere couple of hours ago, and sacrificed almost everything he held dear about life as a result. He had every right to call on her, and to demand that she would let him in. Not that he would demand, he acknowledged as he climbed the single flight of stairs. Demanding anything wasn't in his nature, though he'd become accustomed to behaving commandingly sometimes when he was Superman. He would simply ask her, appeal to any sense of obligation she might feel towards him - he had saved her life, after all! Seconds later, he was standing outside the door of her apartment. Hesitating again before knocking, he dipped his glasses and looked through the door. The place was in near-darkness, just one small table-lamp lighting the living-room. Lois was nowhere in sight. She was in bed, after all, he thought, disappointed. The right thing to do now would be to go home and leave her alone. He could always just push the envelope under her door, after all - she'd recognise his writing, and she'd bring the letter to Perry for him. He was taking the letter out of his jacket pocket when he heard a very faint noise. It sounded like a sniff or a sob... Lois was crying, he realised, and his heart twisted. He could never resist Lois Lane in tears. All her harsh words to him forgotten, he tapped loudly on the door. ********** The knock at the door made Lois jump. She sat up on the bed and checked the clock on her nightstand; almost one-thirty. Who on earth would be calling at her apartment at that hour? Unless it was... But no, he wouldn't come here. Not after what she'd said to him. Not after she'd been so cruel, rejecting not just Clark himself and what he'd done for her, but their friendship and all it had meant to both of them. No matter how betrayed she had felt, she knew that had been very harsh. Then she remembered Perry saying that Henderson wanted a statement from her. Maybe he'd decided it was urgent after all, maybe those gangsters had gone and shot someone else, and he'd sent someone around to get the statement now. She dragged herself off the bed and out into the living-room, making her way over to the door. Pausing before undoing the locks, she looked cautiously through the spy-hole, then stopped what she was doing, her hands shaking. It was Clark. *Superman*, she reminded herself bitterly. But still, she'd admitted that she was being unfair to him to see it like that... She opened the door. "Come in, Clark," she said quietly. Some part of her recognised that he was wearing his glasses still, and that puzzled her; Superman didn't wear glasses, and clearly didn't need them. Clark seemed to do a double-take at her words, and she wondered momentarily whether it was a reaction to her calling him Clark. After all, the last time she'd spoken to him she'd told him repeatedly that Clark didn't exist. Silently, she stood back and let him in. He looked tired, she thought, and very preoccupied; very different from the normal appearance of the man she worked with. And very different, too, from the public face of the Super-hero, Superman. At once, she recognised that, while Superman might be from another planet, the man who stood in front of her was a vulnerable person with real feelings, someone as capable of being hurt as she was, even if he couldn't be wounded in the physical sense. And, whether she thought of him as Clark or Superman, he was still someone she cared about. The anguish in his eyes tugged at her heartstrings, and she found the bitterness in her heart melting once again. "I need to ask you a couple of things, Lois, then I'll be out of your life for good," he said abruptly, in a tone she'd never heard from Clark or Superman before. It was... brittle, harsh, nothing like the soft tones he normally used in conversation with her. And... *out of her life*? He really hated her that much? She'd been cruel, she knew, but the Clark she'd known would always have given her a chance to apologise, to make up. Had she been right, then? Had this all really been a pretence? "Ask away," she said tonelessly. "And... I have some questions for you, too." He flinched. "You need more information for your article?" "What?" She stared at him. "What article?" "It doesn't matter," he said dismissively. "You're free to write what you like. But I need to ask you - please keep my parents out of it. They don't need that kind of publicity." "Clark...?" She continued to stare at him. "I don't know what you're talking about. What article? What has this to do with your parents?" He looked bemused for a moment, an uncertain expression flitting over his face. "Your article on who Superman really is. How Clark Kent fooled the whole of Metropolis for over a year into believing that he was just an ordinary reporter." Clark's tone grew harsh as he finished. Lois shook her head in instant denial. "I didn't write that! I wouldn't!" He raised a sceptical eyebrow. "You were anxious enough to get back to the Planet to write up your big story!" "The *gangster* story!" Lois almost shouted in return. "As you'd have seen if you'd come in with me," she added, her tone impatient. Clark rolled his eyes. "Come in with you? After you'd just made it obvious that you'd be happiest if I just disappeared off the face of the earth?!" Lois looked away, feeling ashamed of herself again. She *had* done exactly that, and it was obvious that she'd hurt him in doing so. Quickly, before he could say anything else, she said, "I'm sorry, Clark." "Sorry?" He gave her a direct, harsh look. "What for?" "For everything." She moved towards him, wondering if he'd reject her if she placed her hand on his arm. He was holding himself so stiffly, his entire posture screaming hurt and injured pride. He remained perfectly still as she approached, and she could see a tiny muscle twitching in his jaw. So, despite his rigid control, he was under stress. "I am sorry, Clark," she told him. "Really sorry. Will you let me apologise?" He inhaled deeply. "Why are you calling me Clark?" he asked abruptly. "You told me only a couple of hours ago that Clark didn't exist." "I know. I'm sorry," she said softly. "I... I was upset. And before you say anything, I know I didn't have any real right to be. I... I was blowing up without thinking yet again, like you're always telling me I need to stop doing." Lois bit her lip, noticing that Clark still wasn't showing any sign of relaxing or being interested in what she was saying. "I'm truly sorry. I... I'd like us to talk - I'd like to hear about you and Superman. The full story." Only as she finished did she realise the implication of what she'd just said. "No, Clark!" she added quickly as he raised a sardonic eyebrow. "*I* want to know - for me, not because I'm planning on writing it for the Planet!" He continued to watch her, but she thought that his expression had altered; subtly softened, perhaps. "Clark, please," she repeated. "I made a mistake - a huge mistake, but don't I get a chance to make up for it?" Clark's mouth turned down at the corners then, and he nodded. "I guess you do. You want to talk?" "Yeah. You want some coffee?" He shrugged. "I guess... yeah, that'd be good." Glad of something to distract her and break up the tension in the atmosphere, Lois went into the kitchen and began to pour coffee-grounds into the filter machine. But her hands were still shaking and grounds spilled out over the counter. Suddenly large hands were covering hers, and a weary, but faintly amused, voice said from behind, "Let me do it, Lois - you're making a mess here." She stepped away, leaving Clark plenty of room, and in a few seconds he had very efficiently filled the machine with grounds and water and switched it on. He didn't look at her when he'd finished, however; he simply stood in silence watching the coffee brew. She'd been very unfair to him, and it was about time that she started making amends. Oh, she was still upset that he hadn't *told* her he was Superman; they were best friends, after all, or at least they had been. But that could wait. Right now, Clark was hurting because of her. And there was one very basic thing she hadn't said... "I... I should have thanked you. I feel terrible that I didn't even thank you for saving my life." Awkwardly, without looking at him because his stance was making her nervous, she stammered the words. She sensed rather than saw him look at her. "I couldn't just do nothing. You have to know that!" He sounded appalled that she could think he wouldn't have helped her if he could. She did know, of course. But this was different. This time, as she'd realised a short time earlier, he'd done rather more than simply save her life using the powers he'd been given. Lois raised her head to face Clark. He was turned partly away from her, concentrating on watching the coffee filter through into the jug. His jaw was tense, and he was paler than she'd ever seen him. She hadn't known that it was possible for Superman to look pale. "You sacrificed everything for me," she whispered. "I'm only just beginning to realise that... You revealed yourself as Superman. You pretended there were two of you so that you could be just a normal guy as Clark, right?" "Right." His voice was harsh, but the twitching muscle in his jaw told her that it was from tension, not anger at her. "And now... now you don't have that any more. Because I was stupid, and you had to rescue me." Feeling ashamed, both at having got Clark into that situation in the first place, and also at her behaviour after the event, she swallowed and looked away again. He was silent for several moments. Then, quietly, almost tonelessly, he said, "I wondered if you'd realise that." "You mean you were angry with me because I didn't," Lois said instantly; she knew Clark well enough to understand what he wasn't saying. "I guess," he acknowledged. "Yeah, I was." Was he still angry about it? she wondered. It wouldn't be surprising if he was; just as she was still upset that he hadn't told her about himself. She was - had been - his best friend, after all. "I was too caught up in my own stupid pride, the realisation that I'd been working next to Superman all this time and never knew, to figure out what all this cost you," she said miserably. "I figured you'd think about that," he said softly. "I know you so well, Lois - all those awards you've won, your reputation... you *are* the best investigative reporter in Metropolis. And yet you didn't know who your partner was - I knew that whenever you found out, whether I told you or you worked it out for yourself, that would be hard to take," he added wryly. He was looking at her now; he still looked drawn and tired, and the only word she could think of to describe his expression was defeated. She'd never seen Clark look like that before - even that day in Centennial Park when she 'd told him that she didn't love him, he hadn't looked like this. Then, he'd flinched and looked utterly dejected; but even then something had remained of Clark's essential buoyancy of spirit. Not now. But then, she reminded herself, the Clark she knew didn't exist any more, because he'd given up that identity for her. So he didn't have to put on an act any more, whatever that act consisted of. No, that was stupid. And unfair, she told herself. Clark had told her, a couple of times, that he was *Clark*, and that Superman was the invention, the disguise. So why couldn't she accept that the persona he'd shown her was real? That the man she'd known, worked with, come to care for, was real? Because he wasn't. The Clark she'd known didn't have Super-powers; couldn't see through walls or set things on fire with his eyes. The Clark she'd known couldn't fly. But... She hesitated. Did the Lois Lane Clark knew have a novel more than half-finished on her hard drive? Yes, she wrote in secret; as far as she knew, no-one at the Planet was aware that the novel even existed. And Clark probably didn't even remember that she'd once mentioned a different novel she'd been writing. So hadn't she had secrets from him, too? But this wasn't the same, she argued with herself. Writing a novel in secret was hardly on a par with moonlighting as a Super-hero! But did it really matter? she asked herself wearily. All she had to do was look at Clark, think about how his life had been ruined, destroyed, in the space of a split second, to know that he'd paid dearly for his deceit. It was her fault that Superman's secret identity had been blown; that Clark had had to give up everything to save her life. And so it was up to her to try to do something about it; to see whether anything could be salvaged from this mess. "Clark," she said suddenly, accepting the coffee he passed her, "couldn't you carry on as you are, even now? I mean, you don't have to be Superman all the time. You could still be Clark, the reporter, can't you?" He grimaced. "I could, in theory. But think about it, Lois! No-one would leave me alone. Everyone would want something from me - save this, help me do that, give me your autograph, let me have my picture taken beside you... And then there'd be the criminals who'd love to have the opportunity to control Superman. If I tried to carry on as Clark Kent, then they'd have the whole of the Planet staff as potential hostages. Not to mention my parents - and you, probably. It's well known that we were... close. Good friends, I mean." Were close. Lois flinched at his use of past tense. "But won't that be the same even if you don't try to carry on your normal life, Clark?" she objected, ruthlessly suppressing the hurt. After all, he was only reflecting her instant response when she'd found out who he was; she'd insisted then that they were no longer friends. "I mean, if everyone knows that Clark Kent is Superman, then they'll know who your friends are - or were - anyway. And what would stop anyone trying to use Perry, or Jimmy, or me against you?" She hesitated for a moment, then added, "After all, it's not as if no-one's tried to use me against Superman before now, even when they didn't know the truth." "True," Clark said slowly. "But I'm not sure I want to take that risk." She looked at him thoughtfully, and concluded that one of the things which was bothering him was the probable reactions of others, at the Planet and elsewhere. She'd often thought that Superman was uncomfortable with being the object of public attention and adulation; she knew that Clark would hate it. And, knowing Clark so well, she could guess what his next move was going to be. "You've packed up your things already, haven't you? To leave Metropolis, I mean," she said, confident that she was right. He inhaled deeply and looked away, and Lois knew that she had her answer. "Clark... would it make a difference if I said I didn't want you to leave?" she asked, almost holding her breath for the answer. Once upon a time, she was pretty sure that Clark could have refused her nothing. But that had been before tonight - before the firm ground of their friendship had turned to quicksand; before she'd discovered that her best friend was something she'd never imagined, and before he'd had to reveal everything about himself for her sake. And before she'd been unforgivably cruel to him in the aftermath. Had she lost all power to inspire loyalty in him now? He bit his lip and turned to her; his expression was saddened. "Lois, up to a couple of hours ago you saying something like that would have meant such a lot to me - you'll never know how much. But I can't stay. Not now. You have to see that." "I don't see anything of the kind!" she protested, now desperate not to lose Clark. Earlier, she'd convinced herself that he was lost to her for ever anyway, simply because she'd found out that he wasn't what he'd pretended. But now she understood that she'd been wrong to conclude that Clark didn't exist. Instead, what her discovery meant was that Clark was so much *more* than she'd imagined him to be. And so was Superman. And both of them were present in this complex, special man who was her best friend. And who was hurting, more than she'd ever seen him hurt before. Maybe trying to resolve their relationship wasn't the most effective way of helping Clark right now, she decided. If she wanted Clark to stay, then she was going to have to find a way to make it possible for him to have a life again. ********* He didn't know why he was still there, in Lois's apartment. There was no point in being there - he'd found out what he'd come for. Lois hadn't written an article about him, which meant that there wasn't something waiting to appear on the front page of the Daily Planet in a couple of hours ' time. Not that it made much difference, all the same. The news would get out soon enough - people who'd been at the club were bound to tell someone what they' d seen. He'd lay odds that someone would have been on the phone to the Metropolis Star within minutes of leaving the building. And even if that person hadn't recognised Clark Kent as the man who'd done Super things, the connection would be made sooner or later. Someone would have produced a photofit, perhaps, or an artist's impression. He'd been wearing his glasses, as normal, and now there would be a link between someone wearing spectacles and Superman. His secret would be out within hours, if not minutes, of the Star hitting the streets. It was some comfort to know that Lois would not be the one to expose him, although for the life of him he couldn't understand why she hadn't done it. Okay, maybe he could understand: it was clear, despite her earlier anger, that she still saw him as her friend. And Lois was loyal to her friends. To write that story about her best friend would probably have seemed like betrayal, to her. If that had been the reason... He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether a sense of betrayal *had* in fact been her reason, but from a different perspective. Lois had felt betrayed by *him*, and that had obviously hurt. Hurt so much that she'd been unable to write the story which would have publicised that betrayal? He didn't know. Although her behaviour now seemed to suggest that the first possibility was more likely. But she knew, now, that he was expecting his identity to be revealed to the world one way or another. So there was really no reason why she shouldn't hurry into the Planet and write up a story for the late edition, was there? And maybe if he got out of her way, she could do just that. After all, if the story was going to appear anyway, maybe he would prefer it if Lois broke it, or at least followed up the breaking of it very quickly with a less sensational approach. And he needed to go, anyway. He wanted to be out of Metropolis by the time the story broke; to have his things out of his apartment, and to have had time to break the news to his parents. And he wouldn't get any of that done hanging around in Lois's apartment indulging himself in nostalgic regret. Yes, they had been best friends. Yes, he loved her. But he had to accept that that part of his life was over. Regardless of the fact that she wanted him to stay - and that, as he'd told her, he would have given anything to hear her say that, before - he had no choice but to leave, and to leave their friendship and what might have become of it behind him. Sure, he could probably carry on seeing her; he could visit her from time to time, but if he did so it would have to be in secret. He couldn't take the chance that Lois might end up at risk from someone wanting a hold over Superman. And he didn't want to make her the butt of tabloid gossip. And anyway, he couldn't get out of his mind the nagging doubt about whether it was really *him* she wanted, or Superman. Now that she knew the truth, was she asking him to stay because she saw the chance of getting what she'd always wanted? - becoming Superman's girlfriend? But part of him was insisting that he was wrong about that. She'd been calling him Clark, not Superman, ever since he'd arrived, and her behaviour earlier still hadn't been particularly friendly towards Superman - in fact, she'd turned hostile to his alter ego. And he was pretty sure that, whatever Lois's recent feelings towards Superman had been, she did care for Clark. Not that any of that changed a thing... Setting down his cup firmly on the worktop, he turned to Lois. "I have to go. Please - " He reached inside the pocket of the jacket he was wearing. "Give this to Perry." She looked taken aback, although she hadn't said anything for the last minute or so and he'd come to the conclusion that, despite her plea for him not to leave Metropolis, she was finding this as awkward as he was. "Clark, I - " she began, but he overrode her. "I'm leaving. I... guess we won't meet again, but you know that if you're ever in trouble all you have to do is yell," he said quietly, turning away, and leaving the envelope on the counter as he did so, since she hadn't taken it from him. "Clark, wait!" she exclaimed, tugging at his arm. He turned to glance at her, trying not to let himself be affected by the urgency in her voice, the way she was looking at him, which was so familiar to him... "Lois, there's no point. It's over - Clark Kent is gone. We both know that. There's nothing to stay for," he told her bleakly. "You're wrong!" she flung at him. Then, before he could react, she reached for him, tugging his head down, and to his shock, she strained upwards and covered his mouth with hers. For an instant, he stood as if frozen; then his arms came around her as if from their own volition and he kissed her back, devouring her lips as if this was his last, his only opportunity... which of course it was. He knew, as she returned his kiss with equal fervour, that this kiss would have to last him a lifetime. But it didn't, couldn't change anything, and it would only make it harder to leave... He pulled away from her, breathing heavily. She stared at him, looking flushed. "That's what there is to stay for," she told him huskily. "You know it and I know it. This... it's been there between us for ages, but we were both too scared and too stupid to take a chance on it. And now... I'm not going to let you just walk out of my life when I've finally been able to admit to myself just how much you mean to me!" "Oh, Lois..." His voice was ragged, and he forced himself to turn away from her again. "It's too late for that. You know that as well as I do. What's happened... *happened* and I have to live with it, and that means that you' re right - Clark Kent is *gone*. We have to accept that." "I *won't* accept it!" Lois exclaimed, emotion now thickening her voice as well. "Clark, you have to give us a chance!" "I won't put you in danger. And I won't let you tie yourself to someone like me, who's not normal, who doesn't even have a normal life, who's - " "Stop it, Clark!" she shouted at him. "Don't you think I have a right to a say in this?" He shrugged. "If I still had a life as Clark Kent, sure. I'd have wanted to tell you everything about me if we'd got... any closer. But before... one of the reasons I didn't tell you is that this isn't just a dangerous secret, it 's a lonely one. You couldn't ever have talked to anyone about who I really am. And that's an unfair position to put anyone in..." He trailed off; that reasoning was irrelevant now, and he wasn't sure why he'd told her that anyway. Inhaling deeply, he added, "Lois, Clark Kent can' t coexist openly with Superman. I don't even want to try. And that's why... why I have to walk out of here right now and never see you again." She brushed past him and walked to the door, standing flat against the wood. "Okay, but you're going to have to go through me." He sighed and shook his head. "Lois, don't be silly. You know I can just fly out the window if I don't want to push you out of the way." "Don't." Her eyes widened and she stared up at him, pleading. "Clark, I... at least wait a while. Talk some more." "There's no point." His voice was flat. "Lois, I don't want to be rude, but apart from not wanting to prolong this any more than necessary, I need to get my things and get out of Metropolis before daybreak. I don't want to be here when the story breaks." That silenced her, and he thought she was going to let him go. Then a determined look came over her face and she said, "Give me an hour, Clark. Okay? And if you still want to leave then, I won't try to stop you. For the sake of our friendship - and for the sake of what we could have had - give me an hour?" An hour? He stared at her, baffled, wondering what she wanted of him. A cynical part of him suggested that she was going to ask for the one thing he thought she'd always wanted of Superman and which he'd never given her - his body. Oh, he'd kissed her as Superman a couple of times, but although she'd hinted, in gesture as well as word, that he could have taken it further, he never had. And never would. But maybe he was misjudging her; just as he'd misjudged her over the article he'd assumed she would have written. He took a deep breath, then nodded. "Okay, Lois, you've got it. An hour." ********** Concluded in Part 3 Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com wendy@kingsmeadowcr.freeserve.co.uk ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 14:39:44 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: NEW: Only Superman Intro and 1/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry - had to let it out! You call that a good place to end a segment?! First I need to thank you for addressing my comments in regards to TOGOM. I am thoroughly enjoying this! And I should probably put some spoiler space in here - . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Okay - I think I know what the problem with Lois' equation is - It's Superman that doesn't really exist, not Clark, but she'll have to figure that out on her own. As for Clark - he may be overreacting just a bit! What are the odds that someone in the place actually noticed who the streak was? If he was moving that fast, no one would have a chance to see who it was and everyone's attention was focused on John and Lois so they may not have noticed Clark's sudden disappearance. Anyway - I guess I'll have to wait for more to find out if my hunches are correct! CM Off to see if more Green Card is up yet! ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 15:00:53 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: New: Only Superman 3/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay - had no clue that the other two parts were out there waiting for me! Somehow, I picked up my mail in between the times that you sent 1 and 2. There were tears in my eyes as I read. Leave it to Lois to find a way out! Thanks for a wonderful story! Even if it is 1001! CM NOW off to check for more Green Card ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 16:44:30 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: New: Only Superman 3/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy Richards strikes again!! Great story Wendy!! I loved it!! Lorie ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 18:04:14 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: REVIEW: TOGOM: The ep that launched a thousand fics ;) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > In respect of the Planet’s anniversary, you’ve hit on one of the > series’ > inconsistencies, along with the length of time Martha and Jonathan > have > been married and the floor on which Lois’s apartment is located. > > Wendy :) I just wanted to point out that this is something that happens consistently in many series - inconsistencies that is. I was watching "Boy Meets World" and noticed some in the ep today from other eps I've seen. Anybody remember the youngest daughter on "Family Matters"? She disappeared after a couple of seasons. Or the fact that Sandra, the oldest daughter on "Cosby" didn't exist the first season. I watched a special on "Eight is Enough" (not sure why - I think my hubby was watching and I was working on "First Night" or something) and they mentioned dozens of inconsistencies. And we don't even need to mention "Saved by the Bell" - there's enough there for a novel. (Trust me - we used to have big discussions abou this a few years ago when I was working at Chick-fil-A and we were bored.) And of course there's always Soap Operas, but that goes without saying! It's kind of a pet peeve of mine - maybe I should be someone's continuity editor! It happens in books too. As far as my favorite series go - Tom Clancy is pretty good about it, but one of my fav. authors, Janette Oke had a series about a family that lasted like 10 books and 45 years or something. She started a second series about one of the grandkids that was 15 years later and when she talked about the family, it was completely inconsistent, from the number of kids/grandkids/greatgrandkids (ones missing, not added) to other details about life in the small town. It grates. My point is that Lois and Clark and television aren't the only places that this happens! Given time - I could probably come up with more! CM ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 20:04:50 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jacalyn Sue Newman Subject: OT- fanfic- Washington Post Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" There was an article in the Washington Post about fanfic today. While Lois and Clark was not mentioned by name, you may enjoy reading the article. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9680-2001Apr27.html Jackie -- Jacalyn S. Newman jacalynsue@earthlink.net ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 00:18:08 -0400 Reply-To: msafrans@ix.netcom.com Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mark Safransky Subject: Re: New: Only Superman 3/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy, I bow to your greatness!! Another wonderful tale!! I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy! Mark msafrans@ix.netcom.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 00:23:31 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Marilyn L. Puett" Subject: Re: REVIEW: TOGOM: The ep that launched a thousand fics ;) Hazel wrote: "Here's a challenge: was there *any* instance in all of canon when Clark acted "he-man" and actually improved matters? :)" In "Witness," Clark is walking Lois to her apartment when a disguised Finn shows up in a wheelchair with a gun. Clark shoves Lois to the ground and catches the bullets, and then blows the wheelchair into a fast turn. Finn disappears, Lois fusses at him for knocking her down over a car backfire, and then asks why he has his hands behind his back. After pulverizing the bullets, he shows her that he has "nothing" in his hands. Would this count as acting "he-man?" He did improve matters because Finn failed to shoot her. And there's a dim memory somewhere of Clark shoving Lois out from in front of a moving car. OH!! Wasn't that earlier in the same episode when the guy on the skateboard pushed her out into the street? Would rushing out into traffic be considered "he-man?" If so, then again he improved matters because she didn't get flattened on the pavement! :) The only other Clark "he-man" instance I can think of right now was when he took on the clone in "Vatman" -- the scene in Lois's apartment when the clone was getting fresh with her and Clark burst into the room. Of course we won't go into how Lois should have suspected something funny at that point! As for improving the situation, I suppose we could say it may have saved Lois from being manhandled by a very amorous clone. ;) Clawing, biting, and/or kneeing him in the groin would not have had the same effect as on a normal male. So if the clone had been hell-bent on getting into Lois Lane's drawers, he probably could have done it had Clark not showed up. As for your review -- WONDERFUL!!! You brought up a lot of good points. I've always thought the scene of Jimmy in Perry's office commenting tearfully that you don't "just check out in your thirties" was quite touching. And Perry was a bit flip about Jimmy saving them. And you're right -- why didn't they just yell "Help Superman?" Why didn't I think of that before?? DUH!!!! A scene I always get a laugh out of is Barry, the Superman impersonator. His gum-chewing comment to Lois about "Don't ask me to fly out of no window, lady" always reminds me of Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta's role in "Welcome Back, Kotter"). Dean was quite good with voices -- Barry and his Desi Arnaz impersonation in DToSC are two that come to mind. It's late, and I'm tired and sunburned, so I'll quit. Thanks for sharing, Hazel, and I hope your boxes all get sorted out soon. Marilyn AKA Supermom ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 10:10:28 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Phillip Atcliffe Subject: Re: New: Only Superman 3/3 In-Reply-To: <005201c0d0e2$6a3ddf80$0100a8c0@cat> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Curses! There goes the rework of TOGoM that _I_ was going to do, some year or other... Not that I would have done it exactly that way -- for I start, the episode's A-plot would have been wound up then and there -- but Wendy's come up with the same idea that I had to protect Clark's secret... except that I'd've had _Clark_ think of it in the casino, not Lois later. Oh, well... I have enough other stories to work on at present... Phil ------------------------------------------------------------ "I think... I think I am! | I think _I_ am: Therefore I am... I think?" | Phil Atcliffe -- The Moody Blues | (Phillip.Atcliffe@uwe.ac.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 05:51:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Universal Union Book3/Part16 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Title: Universal Union Book3/Part 16 Author: Jenni Debbage Rating: PG-13 Comments: Now for my weekly posting of Universal Union 3. I know that this story is heavily into A-plot but it seems that this is just the way = I write. I'm hoping that in amongst the intrigue readers are able to watch= the maturing of both Lois and Kal as they find their way through the political machinations, and how they're learning to find comfort and support in their love for each other. As always I'd love to hear your comments. ~~~~~ Chapter Eight The Bitter-Sweet Smell of . . . Revenge? An agonising day crawled by in a welter of strained nerves and anxio= us starts. Kal-El and Lois attended an awards function for Young Musician o= f the Year' at Elvar's prodigious 'Rochelle Institute' -- the tragic late-First Lady had been a great lover of music and children and had amalgamated both her interests in the opening of this renowned school. = Every year the pupils gave a matinee concert which was attended by the royal couple and afterwards an award ceremony would take place where the most talented youths would be rewarded for their efforts by the First Lor= d and his Lady. = It was hard to sit still and listen to the lovely music while your thoughts and fears were far across the galaxy with colleagues and friend= s as they faced a dangerous battle with an enemy of undetermined force. Lo= is fidgeted in her chair as she gave Kal a sideways glance and a quiver of irritated annoyance swept over her. How could he remain so calm when she= was a squirming mass of twittering nerves? And yet as she watched she sa= w the telltale muscle twitch along his jaw and occasionally his hand smooth= ed through his hair -- a sure sign that he was just as jittery. Lois ordered herself with silent determination. = But Kal had obviously heard her thoughts as the muscle in his jaw tightened again, only this time in amusement, and his hand reached out an= d covered her own, giving a steadying squeeze and reminding her not to let her thoughts leak. She still hadn't perfected the art of control over which thoughts she wanted to project and she found the practise even more= difficult when she was suffering from stress. Kal's reminder was urgent,= though his gaze never strayed from the youthful prodigy giving of his bes= t on the packed stage. Lois settled down once more and diverted her attention to the musici= an -- the boy was really very good. He was playing something that was remarkably reminiscent of a cello; another sign that Krypton and Earth we= re so very similar. The agitated First Lady let the smooth, mellow sounds o= f the instrument overwhelm her as the musician displayed his considerable talents. = Lois thought as another question rose to assault her. But tha= t, at least, wasn't her problem -- she just had to present the prizes, and s= o she allowed herself to be diverted by the haunting strains. The afternoon wore on and thankfully the First Lady was distracted from her worrying as they met and mingled with the enthusiastic pupils after the award ceremony. Lois had never really had much contact with children and she was amazed at how much she was enjoying the experience. = Could it be the fact that she was again hopeful that she and Kal had created a new life? It was very early days -- she was only a few days la= te -- not even enough to tell Kal, and yet she had caught him watching her a= time or two with a bemused and concerned look in his eye. Perhaps he already suspected and, like her, was too scared to voice his thought; afraid that to do so might tempt fate into dashing their hopes once more.= Besides, Lois was feeling very ambivalent about her 'might be' condition. On one hand, she was exceedingly happy that she and Kal had created this new little person out of the love they shared -- but she was= also well aware that Lois-El could very well be lost to the mother of the= future heir and just as she was beginning to be appreciated by the counci= l and the people. Perhaps she was fretting needlessly; after all, she wasn= 't sure that she was pregnant. For now it was much better to concentrate on= more urgent matters -- the foiling of Jen Mai's plan and the downfall of Rad-Nor. ***** The couple had returned from the music college and had dined in private. The Lady of El was still feeling anxious and now, after the exertions of the day, she was content to relax with her husband in their apartment. Not wishing to return to the discussion of what might be happening in deep space, they had mutually picked up on their reading material while soft Earth love songs played quietly in the background. = Kal had given instructions not to be disturbed unless under conditio= ns of extreme urgency and the couple were enjoying the shared tranquillity. = So it was that both were surprised when Zara came knocking at their door = -- surprised but not unduly irritated. The directive didn't apply to family= . = Kal telegraphed an order and the door slid open. "Zara, what is it?" It didn't take a psychiatrist to deduce that hi= s sister was suffering from mental stress. "Have you news of Ching?" "Oh no, Kal! Not news exactly! I'm sure that you'd be the first to= hear any definite news!" The troubled young woman frowned, not knowing quite how to explain what had prompted her to make this visit. "And Chin= g would never try to contact me -- he understands the need for secrecy . . = . ." "But you do know something, Zara?" Kal asked, his voice urgent yet gentle, not wanting to further upset his sister. "I have this . . . feeling . . . this dread that he's in danger . . = . that he might be hurt." Zara stood in the centre of the living room with= her heartache pooling in her eyes. "Have there been any messages? Maybe= you're too afraid to tell me that he's . . . ." "No! Zara no! The communications blackout still exists and it won'= t be broken until they've anything definitive to report. As far as we know= , Ching is still safe," the concerned brother sought to reassure. "You must think I'm crazy coming here like this . . . burdening you with my terrors . . . ." "That's not so, Zara," Lois spoke out as she tried to halt Zara fretfully wringing her hands. "Come sit down and never think that we don= 't understand. It's the bond that you share with Ching because of your love= for each other. Kal and I feel it too and it's not like the telepathy thing . . . it's more than that . . . it's an awareness of each others' being and you feel it with your heart and not your mind." "Then I'm not just imagining things?" "Definitely not! I can feel things about Kal too! When I was locked= up before the trial, I could feel his worry." "But if this feeling is real then it means that Ching is really in jeopardy!" "Well . . . yes!" Lois' mouth fell open as she realised that her attempt to sooth had only made matters worse. "Lois! We don't know that!" Kal shot his wife a warning glance. = "Zara, this whole business is risky and your feelings of unease might jus= t be a reflection of that. We don't know that anything specific is happeni= ng . . . . " The words tailed away as Kal's eyes shut automatically and both= girls were aware that he was listening to some telepathic communication. Lois was the first to lose her patience and she shook her husband's arm. "What is it?! What are you hearing?" "Shssh! I can't hear if you keep interrupting!" The conversation continued for some moments -- an earnest exchange evidently taking place between Kal and his contact, till finally he turne= d an anguished stare on his younger sibling. "Zara, you were right! There's been a battle! The pirates attacked= the decoy and they put up quite a fight." He bit down on his lip and the= tic along his jaw jumped, a clear sign that he was agitated. A tug on hi= s arm from a curious and anxious wife moved him along. "That was Jace; he's= heard from Dax-Ver . . . ." "And!" = Another stronger tug on his arm prompted Kal into action. "And we better get down to the communications room. I need to speak to Dax." "But what about Ching?" Lois was almost afraid to ask, but felt she= must for the sake of her sister who looked as if she might faint away. A worried frown creased Kal's clear forehead and he looked as if he was about to deny any knowledge of Ching's condition, however, he quickly= discarded that option and plunged on with a quick explanation. "Ching's been wounded . . . ." Zara blanched at his words so he hurriedly added. = " . . . and I'm afraid that's all I know for now. So let's get out of here= and down to Jace's quarters -- we'll find out more there." tbc in part 17 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 05:51:50 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Universal Union Book3/Part17 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Title: Universal Union Book3/Part 17 Author: Jenni Debbage Rating: PG-13 ~~~~~~~~~~ At his words, Kal swept his women down through the corridors to the elevators; the passageway lights brightening and dimming as they went and= the few palace guards who were on duty snapping to attention while their First Lord and his party hurried past. Tonight the lift seemed too slow,= as three alarmed gazes watched the flickering of indicator lights count o= ff each floor, until finally, they reached the basement. Almost at a run th= ey entered Commander Jace's private sanctum. There, in the bank of holoscreens, they saw a view of the bridge of Lord Dax-Ver's flagship with a somewhat dishevelled and bruised Commander= of the Fleet in the foreground. No-one spoke as the newcomers took in th= e considerable damage to the structure and instrumentation and the more distressing sight of the wounded personnel. = "Lord Dax, I'm relieved to see you safe," Kal managed to enunciate, clearly upset by the sight of the injured, yet he forced his attention ba= ck to his duty, there would be time for compassion soon. "Jace, I take it this channel is still secure?" "Yes, my Lord!" "Good! And it must remain so until we've apprehended the Mais. If they hear of this there's a chance that they'll try to bolt." "Or they might try to brazen it out," Lois suggested with a wry grimace. "After all, judging by the way they've been acting like the couple who broke the 'Bank at Monte Carlo' for the past few days, they ha= ve no idea we suspect them. They might just think that Lord Dax and his men= got lucky." = "You could be right, Lois," his eyes opened wide at another of her strange quotations. "Nevertheless, we can't take the chance of having them elude us." That said, Kal turned his attention back to the man in t= he hologram. "Your mission was successful, Dax?" "Yes, sire!" = A rakish grin split the older man's face and coupled with the steril= e dressing that covered one eye, the commander reminded Lois of a buccaneer= from the old days back on Earth -- or, at least, Holywood's interpretatio= n of such an age-old hero . . . . But Ver was continuing and Lois returne= d her attention back to the conversation. "Everything went as planned, Lord Kal. The enemy fleet took the bai= t. They had no idea it was a set up. Yet for all that, they put up quite = a fight! Once they'd discovered that the merchant ship carried no contraba= nd their smaller attack craft engaged our fighters while the battle cruisers= concentrated on my flagship, hence the considerable damage that you see."= = Dax's hands swept around the ravaged bridge, the camera following his pat= h. "They even managed to board us and the hand-to-hand combat was the fiercest I've witnessed in many long years. Thankfully we overcame them = in the end but not without some loss of life and a large number of casualties." At this revelation, the Commander-in-Chief's gaze fell away= . = He hated to lose good men, and in this instance he'd come closer to losin= g his own life than ever before. Ver tentatively touched his bandaged eye.= = If it hadn't been for brave Captain Ching . . . . "I'm saddened to hear that, Dax." A wave of regret assailed Kal bu= t he forced himself to address the man on the bridge of the crippled ship. = "I expect a list of the dead and injured. I'll visit all the casualties when you return, but, in the meantime, could you pass on my commendation and thanks to all of your men, especially those who were hurt in my service." As he spoke, more vidscreens flickered into life, revealing stark scenes of twisted metal bulkheads and wounded troopers. This fight might= have been a victory but it had been hard won. The dim light from the far-off vistas of deep space flickered over Kal's shocked face and he cou= ld no longer divert his thoughts from the images of destruction. Slowly he forced his intentions past a mouth grim set. "And I'll attend to the families of the dead . . . let them know . . . take care of . . . arrangements." The young leader's voice broke off as he floundered in feelings of grief and guilt for all those who had given their life to do his bidding.= = This was what he most abhorred about his role of First Lord -- having to send his people into danger while he stayed safe at home. He should have= been with them, sharing in the risk of injury and death. "This isn't your fault, Kal," came the soft voice by his ear and Loi= s' warm hand slid inside his own clenched fist. She recognised his pain; sh= e shared his revulsion, but he was not responsible. "You didn't ask for th= is to happen . . . and we had to fight back." Yet in his present state of mind, Kal wasn't prepared to let Lois in= . How could she understand how it felt, knowing that because of him men had= died while he'd remained well out of the firing line? Kal was isolated i= n a sea of self-flagellation. = "My Lord! You will do your duty, just as my men did theirs," came Dax's distant voice, taking on the note of an exacting yet sympathetic mentor. The experienced warrior recognised that this young man who had s= o recently ascended the throne, had been traumatised by his first unpalatab= le taste of whole-scale death in his service. "It's a hard pill to swallow,= knowing that people died fighting under your command. But these men are soldiers, trained to fight to protect their home planet; they knew the risks and yet they willingly went into battle -- willing to die to prote= ct their families and their way of life. You too have a responsibility to protect Krypton and the Kryptonian people, but you fight in a different battleground . . . yet it is not a less worthy battleground. You are needed, Lord Kal- El. You are a symbol of all our hopes and a promise th= at while you are our First Lord we all will survive in peace and prosperity.= = Never forget that, Kal, my boy." The latter statement was addressed not = to that symbol but to the boy whom Dax had known since childhood and who now= had to find the strength to lead his people through this testing time. = In the quiet of the communications centre a young beleaguered leader= stood with his eyes filling with unshed tears as he tried to swallow the lump that formed in his throat. His was the ultimate responsibility and = he prayed that he could live up to all expectations. Yet with support from people such as Dax-Ver and his troops, how could he fail? He wouldn't le= t their sacrifice go for nought. Kal would bring down the psychotic megalomaniac who had set in motion this evil plan as the means to attain his own grandiose ends. And Kal had to succeed. The alternative was too= horrifying to contemplate -- Rad-Nor let loose to terrorise Krypton and a= ll the worlds beyond. Somehow the First Lord seemed to grow in stature as determination straightened his spine. = A telepathic thank you winged its way across the galaxy as Lois sent= Dax-Ver her appreciation of what he'd done for her husband. Far away Dax= acknowledge the message and his eyes slid over the slight figure of the First Lady, standing stalwartly at her husband's side. He'd met the youn= g Earthling last summer and, though the circumstances had been tragic, he'd= been impressed by the audacity and will that had prompted Lois to escape from her Taurean captors and nothing that he'd learnt since then had diminished his admiration. Dax firmly believed that with this couple on the throne the safety of his home planet was secure. Another watcher was horrified at the scenes that were displayed in a= ll their gory detail before them. Zara's hand stole to her mouth as she tri= ed valiantly to suppress the cry that was bubbling to her lips. Her relationship with Ching was a secret and she couldn't risk giving it away= by showing more concern than common compassion would decree. Yet it was = so hard . . . she knew he was hurt . . . but was he still alive? The bond still held so perhaps he was but she was still left with the problem of h= ow to find that out. Dax-Ver was continuing with his report on the battle; the number of casualties and the now broken state of the enemy. The youn= g sister of the First Lord couldn't just dive in with a question -- it wouldn't be considered 'correct' behaviour. Lady Lois-El on the other-ha= nd would not allow herself to be so intimidated. = "Excuse me, my Lord Dax-Ver, for interrupting, but Lord Kal-El and I= have a personal enquiry to make and one which is most important to us . .= . ." Lois hesitated momentarily but didn't await permission before continuing. "We were anxious about the state of your aide-de-comp Captai= n Ching. As you know, he was Kal's personal bodyguard since boyhood and my= Lord has a special interest in his welfare." = At this reminder Kal shot a somewhat apologetic glance to the women = by his side . . . how could he have forgotten one of the prime reasons for their panicked flight to the communications section? "Yes, Lord Dax, I would be grateful if you could give me an update o= n Captain Ching's status," Kal added with dread as he watched the military= commander grimace at his words. = Dax's one good eye refused to meet the gaze of his First Lord and hi= s hand returned to worry the bandage. "My Lord, Captain Ching is sorely injured. Indeed, I owe my life to him. We had sustained some damage to our systems and the enemy took us unawares when they boarded us . . . the= y managed to inflict a number of casualties and make their way to the bridg= e . . . if it hadn't been for Ching's brave intervention, I would have been= killed." While Dax-Ver recounted Ching's part in the battle, Zara could feel her grip on reality fading and she clasped with shaking hands to her brother's arm. Kal laid a comforting hand over the fingers that dug into= his flesh and sent an urgent thought to the distressed girl. Kal wished he could say more but, even knowing that i= n Jace's lair thought messages would not be monitored, he dared not take th= e risk. Yet he was also aware that Zara's torment was evident to both Commanders. "Excuse me, Dax, my sister has a caring heart and the sight of the carnage around you has affected her sensitive soul. Jace, perhaps a chai= r could be found for the Lady Zara and, Lois, will you take care of her?" = It wasn't really a question and everyone hurried to do his bidding, though Lois did send him a disapproving glance. She understood very well= that Kal was attempting to deflect curiosity from the almost fainting gir= l but she had no wish to be relegated to the background. Nevertheless, she= stayed with her sister-in-law in a corner of the room -- well away from prying eyes -- but with her attention still firmly glued to the holoscreens. Meanwhile, Kal was continuing his conversation with Dax. "You were about to tell us about Ching . . . ." Dax's interest returned from the small incident in the control room = to his leader's face; the Kryptonian girl was too softhearted but he noted, with approval, that the First Lady was not so squeamish.. = "Yes, My Lord, your bodyguard is at present in the sickbay being treated by the medical staff and, be assured, he will receive the best of= attention. I'll see to it myself. As I said before, that young man save= d my life. The alien attackers had breached our shields -- they must be equipped with state of the art equipment -- they most certainly have acquired powerful weapons. But I digress. They latched onto our disposal hatch, cut the controls and got inside while we were concentrati= ng on fighting off their attack ships and avoiding their laser cannon. They= reached the bridge almost before we realised we'd been boarded. You were= correct in your suspicions that the pirates were a polyglot group of the most vicious fighters in the universe and lead by Taureans -- we almost succumbed to their strength. During the fighting their leader fired a laser blast at me and Ching pushed me aside and took the hit himself. A very foolish but courageous deed for which I'm extremely grateful." = Subconsciously, Dax, once again, fingered his bandaged eye. "I'm prayin= g that the young man will not pay for his valour with his life." An uncomfortable silence settled over the two distant groups -- the one in a room in the depths of the castle, where the quiet sobbing of a fearful girl invaded the stillness, and the other on the bridge of the flagship where the crew quietly went about replacing chaos with order. = Aware of the awkwardness that was building in the prevailing silence= , Kal spoke up. "Thank you, Dax, for your report and for all your efforts = in bringing down our attackers. I entrust the care of Captain Ching to you.= = Please see that he gets the very best of treatment. Ching is my friend .= . . ." "As he is now mine, and I'll have our physicians update you on his condition as soon as they have anything to report." Dax related with a small smile, then setting personal matters aside, the dutiful soldier too= k over. "I also have good news to impart . . . we managed to capture a couple of enemy ships and some of the men who boarded us; most importantl= y the leader of the platoon. He's a Taurean and, though they're usually ha= rd nuts to crack, he doesn't seem particularly thrilled with the thought of spending the rest of his natural existence as a de-integrated mass of molecules. It's my belief that we can do a deal with him -- a little clemency for information regarding who he's working for." "You think he can incriminate Rad-Nor!" Immediately, Kal was on the= alert. "I have a gut feeling that this . . . goon, wasn't just the leader o= f the boarding party. His men defended him well. I think he might have be= en the commander of the renegade fleet and, as such, he might know . . . ." "Commander Ver, I bring important information!" Behind Lord Dax-Ver, a tall gangling Major had erupted onto the brid= ge -- a now somewhat uncomfortable officer who had just realised that his commanding officer was in communication with the First Lord. "Excuse me,= sir, I shouldn't have intruded . . . had I known who you were talking to = . . . . I should have waited for permission." "No, please go on!" The request came from the bowels of Elvar. "I'= m very interested to know what has you so excited! But first, I'd like to know whom I'm talking to." The major gulped. He'd never encountered Lord Kal-El personally before. Some of his fellow officers had worked with Kal-El but mostly wh= en he'd been only the heir and yet, from all reports, the young lord was ver= y approachable. Squaring his shoulders, the officer addressed his First Lord. "Major Klei, my Lord! Scientific advisor to Commander Dax-Ver, reporting, sire!" Shuffling to attention and bobbing his head in salute= as he intoned. "I headed up a detail that's been inspecting the captured= ships and I discovered something interesting . . . ." Major Klei's narrative tailed off slightly as he realised the importance of what he wa= s about to infer. "Major Klei," that from his commander who stood impatiently waiting = by his side. "What have you found out?" "Well, I would need to make further investigations, of course, but I= would say that, barring a few alterations for installation into an alien vessel . . . . the dimensions are totally different, you see . . . ." "Klei! Get to the point!" "Yes, sir," the major stammered. He was really more of a scientist than a military man. "I'd say that the laser cannon that was employed against us was one of our very own." That caught Kal's attention. "Part of an earlier shipment which the= pirates have stolen from us?" "No, sire! This is one of our latest weapons! And I'm fairly certa= in that this model has never reached past the testing stage! I'm interested= in weapons technology, sire, and I like to keep abreast of the latest issues, so I think I'm correct in saying that this particular gun has nev= er been shipped off Krypton." "Then how did it get on board a pirate ship?!" "I'd say that our test centre has acquired an udercover arms-dealer!= " = Lois had moved forward into the light and was the only one present who wa= s prepared to utter the unthinkable. "Nor has spies everywhere else, why n= ot in the weapons' test area too?" Another resigned sigh broke from Kal-El. "Yes, Lois, that would see= m a distinct possibility, and now that we know we can start our own investigation. Gentlemen, and ladies," Kal pointedly chose to include hi= s wife and his sister, "I doubt if I have to remind you that all this must remain classified until such time as we can confront the suspects. This treason is obviously more widespread than we first anticipated and I inte= nd to dig up every last root of every nasty weed that Nor has planted." The= First Lord closed his eyes as he contemplated the steps that Rad- Nor wou= ld take to defend himself. The man wouldn't be prepared to go down quietly= -- that much was evident. Kal could only hope that there would be enough= of Krypton left to enjoy the subsequent peace. But that was for the future. "Lord Dax, Major Klei, all your efforts are much appreciated but= now you must come home. Unfortunately, I cannot, for the present, promis= e you a hero's welcome but I do offer you my thanks from the bottom of my heart." The communication channel was soon closed down and sealed. No one would eavesdrop or monitor this connection; Commander Jace would protect = it with all his skill and his life if need be. = "You know that my feelings of indebtedness also include you, Jace." = And at a solemn nod from the man sitting before the console Kal continued= . = "Contact Commander Medi and instruct him to bring the Mais in for questioning and get together the surveillance tapes; I'd be interested to= hear what explanation Jen-Mai has for their actions over the last few days." As quickly as they had descended to the dungeons of Elvar, Kal-El an= d Lois bore a now deathly silent girl back to the privacy of their apartmen= t. The force-shield which Kal had promised Lois was now in place and there Zara could give way freely to her anxieties. Before activating the shiel= d on their sanctum Kal contacted his parents who, for the sake of convenience, had been inhabiting their suite in the royal dwelling place and very quickly they sped to the aid of their youngest daughter. There,= they were brought up to speed on Dax's victory and of the high price it h= ad extracted -- yet thankfully, at present, not the life of the latest addition to the family. Both parents sympathised with their poor child and with much cluckin= g and fussing, Lara tried to persuade Zara to swallow a calming-draught and= lie down in the one guest chamber that the small condo had to offer. But= Zara, surprisingly, was not about to give into the 'vapours'. Now that t= he shock of hearing of her loved one's injury was wearing off, she was adama= nt that she remain compos mentis while the rest of the plot played out aroun= d her. To the relief of all the company's stressed out nerves, word soon ca= me from Commander Medi that he had, in accordance with orders, apprehended Lord Jen-Mai at his home and taken him into custody. It seemed that the noble Lord was both indignant and angered at the security detail's = presumption . . . he had also been a trifle embarrassed. Lord Jen-Mai wa= s entertaining -- not, as one would expect, acquaintances from his own nobl= e classes but a number of nubile young females who might fall into the category of 'professional ladies'. Certainly, Lady Minerva-Mai wasn't present at this little shindig, which, although understandable (one could= hardly expect a wife to attend such parties) was regrettable. However, t= he Security Chief assured his lord that his men were now scouring the city, covertly, of course, for the Lady and it would only be a matter of time before she was taken into custody. It was ungrateful to worry that this one, undeniably small, loose canon was still out there when so much of their plot had gone according t= o plan but, nevertheless, all the inhabitants in the apartment looked worriedly askance. "She's only one woman, and not a very well liked woman at that. Wha= t damage could she do?" Jor-El was the first to enquire. "You're probably right, Father, but I just don't like not being able= to tie up all the loose ends." Kal worried his lip again, proving that h= e was more upset than he cared to admit. "She's probably just out visiting friends and when she comes home, Commander Medi's men will be waiting for her," Lara suggested helpfully. = "She'll be locked up alongside her husband by morning." = "Let's hope that's so, Mother!" "If she does escape, she could warn Rad-Nor!" Lois hated to be the voice of doom but neither did she believe in underestimating their opponents. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of, sweetheart! I have a very bad feeling about this!" ***** tbc in Part 18 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:30:07 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: Re: New: Only Superman 3/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Great story, Wendy. Very waffy :) -Crys- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 13:45:47 +0100 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: Universal Union Book3/Part17 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jenni, I never know with you whether the plot's thickening further, or on the way to being resolved! You're certainly keeping us guessing! And... s p o i l e r Dr Klein on New Krypton (in the shape of Major Klei)?!!! ROFL!!! Wendy -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 09:23:57 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Universal Union Book3/Part17 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey - there! Just wanted to let you know that I am enjoying this and was very excited to see it in my box this morning! More soon please! CM ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 15:38:23 +0100 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: Only Superman 3/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Phil wrote: > Curses! There goes the rework of TOGoM that _I_ was going to do, some > year or other... [snip] Ouch! Sorry, Phil! /me genuflects apologetically Actually, this *doesn't* have to mean that your idea is no longer possible, and I'm sure list-members will agree with me! Your story sounds completely different - and even as regards the similarity, I'd love to see Clark announce, in the casino, that he's Superman in disguise! Lois's reaction would be a real treat... So let's quit with the excuses; you can just go and write it anyway! ;) Thanks to those who've commented; I'm glad you liked this little story. As Tank commented when I mentioned to him that I was writing this, "that's right, you haven't done one for 2001 yet!" Wendy -------------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 09:46:06 -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: New: Only Superman 3/3 In-Reply-To: <026701c0d183$3561d9a0$916105a0@hrm.keele.ac.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Very enjoyable story, Wendy! Becky rbain@qwest.net "I do not like to form in my mind an idea that I don't have any proof of." - Rosa Parks, from her autobiography Stride Toward Freedom ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 16:40:00 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: I need a little help for a story MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit If you want a really common French last name, you can go with Didier. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 16:47:29 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Tessena, Kelly" Subject: Remember when I asked for a beta reader? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Somehow, I managed to accidentally delete some of the e-mails from people who agreed to help me out, so I don't have their e-mail addresses. Can everybody who said they'd help me w/ my story please e-mail me again. Sorry about that. Kelly ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 19:43:16 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jacalyn Sue Newman Subject: Re: I got the okay! In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Another thing you might consider is comparing two fanfics and the canon. One example that comes to mind is TOGOM, but there are others. It might allow you to explore issues from more angles, since you'd have multiple, often different views of how a particular scene/issue should/could have been handled. Not to mention giving you even more fanfic to read..... :-) Jackie -- Jacalyn S. Newman jacalynsue@earthlink.net ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 21:14:56 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: Slightly ( or perhaps a lot ) Off-Topic-- Published fanfic? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This may be of no interest to anyone, but I thought I'd share anyway. A colleague and friend of mine has written a novel which is being published this year, first in the UK and then later in the US. I think it would qualify as fanfiction, although not Lois and Clark. It is based on the story of one of the witches in MacBeth. Given the two articles that we saw the last couple of days, I thought this appropriate. Fanfiction for Shakespeare -- and no one is suing for copyright infringement. If anyone is interested in more information about the novel, it is on Amazon's uk site: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/034077116X/qid=988679300/sr=1-1/026-8 858282-9514002 Erin will know whom I'm talking about, I think. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 19:41:13 -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: Re: Slightly ( or perhaps a lot ) Off-Topic-- Published fanfic? In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ann wrote: > Fanfiction for Shakespeare > -- and no one is suing for copyright infringement. > > If anyone is interested in more information about the novel, it is on > Amazon's uk site: > http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/034077116X/qid=988679300/ > sr=1-1/026-8 > > 858282-9514002 > > Erin will know whom I'm talking about, I think. I sure do. :) Definitely offer her my congrats! As for her story content...no fair! I'd love to write something fanfic-ish and get paid for it. :) Thanks for the link, Ann! I'm gonna check it out. It sounds intriguing! :) Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com 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: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 22:41:07 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: Only Superman 3/3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wendy, I loved this! It may be your best TOGOM rewrite to date! Can't wait to read the next one. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 23:04:05 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Kraz Man Subject: Re: Remember when I asked for a beta reader? In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was one! - The Kraz Man "A 'person' is smart. *People* are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody *knew* the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody *knew* the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you *knew* that people were alone on this planet." -----Original Message----- From: Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic [mailto:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU]On Behalf Of Tessena, Kelly Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 4:47 PM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Remember when I asked for a beta reader? Somehow, I managed to accidentally delete some of the e-mails from people who agreed to help me out, so I don't have their e-mail addresses. Can everybody who said they'd help me w/ my story please e-mail me again. Sorry about that. Kelly ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 23:11:41 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Norman Mayes Subject: The Ghost of Superman Future - An Untold Tale of Lois & Clark MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://www.fortress.am/Maggin/lnc/ Oh, Boy!!! I found an online script by Eliot Maggin, a well known Superman comic = book/novel writer, featuring a script he wrote on spec for LNCTNAOS at = the above link. Budmayes