Clark groaned and tried to remember Lois' home number, then he remembered he didn't have it at all. In everything that had happened this last year, he hadn't once called Lois at home. It felt strange somehow. Even with all the changes, she was still his best friend and...
Clark squeezed his eyes shut as light, bright light assaulted him, not over the treetops. He'd never hated the sun so much.
He suddenly opened his eyes. They were on the east side of the building. He let the light wash over him, hoping they could stay hidden here just a bit longer. Stay until he got his strength or... some help. He opened the phone again.
"Who are you trying to call?" Morgan asked, seeming more alert now.
He shut the phone as it rang endlessly, now on his mother's house. Just someone, anyone... "No one, apparently." No one seemed to be where they should be, unless... It would just suck if every single one of them was at Lex Luthor's mansion right now, interrogating Lex, intent on finding him, while he was somewhere else entirely, weak. With no way to save anyone, not even himself.
Morgan grasped his arm, seeming more alert now. "911? Can't you call 911? They'll..."
"I can't. I would, but not for..." He suddenly shut his mouth, trying not to breathe too loudly. There were voices. He wondered how fast he could pick her up, whether he had the strength to run again. Could she walk herself now? But the voices weren't coming toward him. They were coming from behind him, from inside the building. He leaned his head against the wall and looked up. The same bars he'd grasped, after seeing... what he saw... were right above him. The lab...
"...and what about all these notes?" a male voice asked.
"Leave them. I don't care about them." It was Lizzie. "Just the contents of the fridge."
"No." It was another voice. "I'm not touching that."
"This is part of the job."
"Hey, we were hired to stand-by for transportation. That means passengers and it doesn't include whatever the hell those things..."
"Transportation was never defined and if you expect to get paid at all, you will do what I say," she finished loudly. "Now load up. I have some loose ends to tie up. And make room for another passenger," she finished, her voice fading away.
Morgan shivered beside him.
"It's okay," Clark whispered. "I won't let them take you." And I won't let them take them, either.
"Can you fucking believe her?" It was the first man's voice.
"Let's just do the job," another man said.
"Why? She's not the one paying us."
"For what we're getting paid, we shouldn't take chances."
"Ah, this place gives me the creeps. And that Doctor's the creepiest thing in here. That lady's nuttier than..."
"Shhh!"
"Hey, uh.... Doctor Albright... we're just starting to load up."
"Yes, I can see you've made excellent progress." It was Lizzie again, her voice hard. "Well, one of you will have to come with me. We have a situation. My passenger has escaped."
"Listen, I didn't sign on for no..."
"I have no time for your laziness. We need to find him."
Him? Clark held his breath.
"Caucasian man, brown hair, about six-three, large frame..."
"What? I ain't messing with no giant..."
"He can't have gotten far," she went on impatiently. "He would have a woman with him. She's very ill. And he wasn't faring much better."
"We can't fit two more with all this..."
"No. We leave the woman. I have no time to deal with her properly and... Well, it's a shame, really." Her voice softened so much that Clark had to strain to hear it. "It's not as if I want to. But there really is no other way."
He glanced at Morgan, wondering how much of this she could hear. Her face was even paler than before, so he guessed she'd heard enough.
"Lady, I might rough someone up here and there. But there is no amount of money that will make me..."
"I didn't ask you to do anything except take us where we need to go and keep your mouth shut. Now come on." There was silence. "Did I also mention that there's every chance the authorities have been alerted to our presence and, considering your employment record, they might be very interested in..."
"Alright," the man growled.
"Start with the other rooms," she barked, Clark presumed, to the other man. "I'll be with you shortly."
"While you do what?"
"Deal with my loose ends. Stop questioning me or you'll get us all arrested."
Clark moved away from under the window and stood, feeling stronger now. She meant to take him. Lock him up. Observe. Prod. Experiment.
It was his worst nightmare come true, yet, weak as he was, he could almost resign himself to the possibility, but not... He looked down at Morgan, holding out his hand. "No one's going to hurt you," he whispered. "We need to get you out of sight."
"We can't leave. There are more of us. And Joanne... my wife..."
"We aren't leaving," he said. "Not yet." They would. He had to find a way to get them all out. "We're just finding a better place to hide you." He took hold of her waist and looked up, hoping this would work.
She grasped his neck and squeaked slightly as they rose up.
"Shhh!"
It was slow, but they were rising. If they could just clear the...
Clark jerked to his left and they fell against the edge of the roof. He held her and pulled himself up, using all his strength to pull her, too. They both fell to the tarred roof, panting.
"Well... I thought you looked familiar," she said, closing her eyes.
*********************
"So, here's the thing," Bart said, fumbling slightly against the edge of the hole he'd made. "I'm not exactly Boy Scout. This wall breakage is about all I got in me." He lowered the grappling hook and it's rope slithered after it. "That and, you know, holding on up here." He took deep breaths and gripped the bricks with his other hand. "So lets hope you all did well with the rope climb in gym class."
Lois moved closer to the window. "I have a better idea," Lois said, moving closer to the window. "This door doesn't exactly open from the inside, but..." She was remembering something. Something about Bart... "Weren't you a pickpocket once?"
"Oh, come on! I was just a kid then. Can't a guy redeem himself after countless acts of selfless..."
"Doctor Albright has at least two sets of keys in her pockets," she went on, not in the mood for prattle. "I'm sure you can get them out without her noticing," she said staring hard at him. "I mean, with your skills..."
He smiled, slipping slightly at the hole. "Yeah. I might swing that. While I'm at it, I could maybe clock her right in the..."
"Just the keys and nothing else," she said firmly. "We get them out before we try anything rash." Tempting as it was.
"Oh, alright. Don't exactly like hitting little old ladies, anyway."
"Good luck," she whispered. He could do it. She believed in him. She also believed that Lizzie was distracted, running scared. But she wouldn't run far. Not with Clark. If she had her way, that black helicopter wouldn't come close to kissing the sky. She turned to the others. "Everything is going to be fine," she said, finally believing it.
From the looks on their faces, they weren't exactly converts.
"But how long do we have?" David asked. "You said this gas..."
"Are you sure we should go with her and her little friend?" This from Sue. "I mean, this gas... I think I would remember..."
"We don't have a choice," Jennifer Kern said tiredly. "And I do remember." She shook her head. "Mostly because of how much I don't remember."
"Maybe I want to take my chances in here, rather than get killed out there." Sue folded her arms and stared at Lois. "And what's your angle, anyway?" She turned to the others. "How do we know she is who she says she is?"
Mitzi sighed. "I told y'all. I know her. We are practically best friends, after all."
"So reporters always just rush to the rescue? There has to be something..."
"Damn it, Sue," David suddenly yelled. "Is it just knee-jerk with you now? Do you trust anyone? Do you..." David quieted and touched her arm. "Can you at least trust me?"
She stared at her husband. "I... I trust you."
"Well, I trust her." He turned to Lois. "What's the plan?"
Lois took a deep breath. "Once we get out of here, we need to make a run for the forest. I have someone waiting to..."
"But there's an electric fence, too," David said. "Joanne and I used to take walks so they wouldn't hear and one of the guards said..."
Lois waved a hand. "I know all about that, including where we can get through without all that pesky electrocution. How do you think I got in?"
Sue's eyes widened. "Hmmm. Guess you are good."
Lois smiled slightly. "Well... I have help." Between Bart and Linda, she had the experience born of years with... And that was the thing. With all that had happened, she'd hardly stopped to marvel at the fact that every single one of her closest friends was a damned hero. And she'd just pushed it away, as if it never existed. But they knew. They knew and they never told her. But did they have to tell her? Because she knew, she just... forgot somehow. But how does a person...
A voice suddenly burst from on high. "There is nothing to fear..."
Lois looked up. The speakers. "Don't listen," she shouted, covering her ears.
It was joined by a hissing noise and she looked for the source. The vents. What looked like white smoke was curling from them, sinking downward...
"Let your mind and body drift to a place where..."
"Get down!! On the floor!" She shouted, hoping they'd hear only her. David seemed to, pulling Sue with him. The others seemed to follow, but she wasn't sure how much time they had. Come on, Bart...
***********************
Morgan was shivering. It was December now and she was in only a nightgown. He moved closer to her. "It'll be okay. We'll all get out of here. I can..."
What? Fly for ten seconds? Speed for just a moment?
He gathered her close, wishing he'd thought to steal a blanket. He could use his heat vision, just to help... or to burn her to a crisp. He hadn't felt this out of control since he was a kid. He still felt the weight of the crystal in his pocket. He could have been depleted worse, but he suspected Helen had took the worst of it. He felt stronger every moment the sun beat down. He hardly felt the cold. He could regain his power. But would it be too late?
**********************
"...In peaceful slumber, we find solace. There is no fear, no pain. Just the sweet emptiness that comes with knowing that everything will be fine. Just fine..."
She could dimly hear the words, even with her hands over her ears, crouching on the floor. She pressed harder. The gas was still above them, sinking and curling ever downward. If she breathed, if she heard...
"Everyone get the hell down!" she screamed. "Don't breathe it." A few bodies dropped. She was too distracted to see which, but one shot upward and past her. She turned. It was Janice, moving to the window. To the rope. Lois followed. Taking her hands off her ears to pull her down.
"Don't go higher," she yelled, trying to block out the voice.
These things are shadows. All of it, nothing more than...
"No. I know this," Janice was muttering. "Not again. No..."
"You will get out," Lois screamed over the voice, trying only to hear her own. "He's coming back. Just hold on." She pulled Janice away and jumped as two arms shot out, pulling her to the floor. "Keep her down, George. He's coming!" Bart's coming. He has to come. Because I can't lose anymore of me... Not now.
She dropped to the floor herself, holding her ears, looking up as the gas billowed and curled closer. She held her breath and closed her eyes. Just a little longer. Just a little longer and...
She felt a hand on her arm, tight and painful. She looked up, gasping as daylight surrounded the figure that was dragging her. She pulled away and crawled to her knees, finally seeing Bart as he pulled her arm again.
Lois took Janice by the arm and pushed him, trying to get out. That sweet smell... she knew it. Somewhere inside, she'd tasted it. She pushed Janet away from the door and turned back. "All of you! Come on!"
David came first, pulling Sue along, then finally picking her up.
Next came George, coughing and sputtering.
Mitzie and Bob rushed out together. "Well, isn't that just the darnedest..."
"I know," Mitzi agreed. "I feel like I fell right out of an episode of..."
"Jennifer," Lois yelled. "You need to get out." The smoke was rushing to the floor.
Jennifer Kern was pulling at her husband, still staring ahead of him on a sofa.
Lois moved forward, but was pushed back as David Terry rushed ahead of her, pulling Allen upward, dragging him out as his wife took the other side.
Lois stared as they passed, looking through the growing haze at Joanne, still perched on the ottoman, looking around her with frightened eyes.
"Joanne!" She stepped, but tripped, falling to the ground. She stumbled her way up, grasping at what had tripped her. The mask.
"Lois!" It was Bart. "Don't..."
She shook him off and put the mask on, barreling forward and pulling the woman up by the arms. She dragged her backwards, trying to get her away from the voice.
"...as we drift away from all we know to a shimmering world, new and glorious. No pain. No fear. Just..."
Lois fell backwards, giving on last pull and Joanne landed on top of her in the dirt. She pulled out from underneath and moved in front of her. "Joanne?" She pulled the mask off. "You okay there?"
"Just fine," Joanne said, her eyes unfocused. "I'm just..."
"Fine. I know." She shook her head and stood, disgusted that this had happened at all. She bent over her legs, coughing, hoping it wasn't inside her. She felt a hand pounding on her back.
"Easy, Lolita. We're all done. You did good."
She turned to Bart. "What took you so long?"
"That lady doesn't stay still. Her and some goon are running all over looking for your boyfriend."
"He's not my..."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Tell me again why I couldn't clock her? I don't wail on old ladies as a rule, but..."
"I don't want her to know they're gone," she said, straightening. "Not until they actually are. I don't want her coming after us." But Clark... Lizzie said he was weak. If he got away, if they were looking for him, then where was he? She looked up, hoping he'd rush out of the sky and save them, hoping someone would.
"We better get moving. Because that helicopter's still there and we know it's not our gang."
"What about them? Aren't they coming?" Was anyone coming?
"Linda was still trying when I went back for the rope." He shook his head. "I don't know."
Despite they're coming out here alone, she never thought they'd leave that way. The others were supposed to come, supposed to make it better, supposed to... "We have to make do, then. We have to move quickly and quietly."
"The guards!"
Lois whipped her head around, ready to shush whoever it was. if there were guards coming... But it was David Terry. And he was pointing inside.
"They're still in there."
"So what?" George grumbled. "They should be...."
"No." Lois shook her head. "No one should be." She bent to the mask and moved forward, a hand on the door.
Bart stopped her, grabbing her arm. "There's no time. We have to get them into the woods before she knows. Right?" He nodded to the other building. "It's rescue the evil henchmen or rescue the innocent people?" Bart backed away, nodding to the woods. "I think you know where I stand."
She stared back into the room, backing away as the gas kissed the daylight before her. It wasn't just about saving them. They had answers for her. They knew everything and more. If she left them, she left their answers with them.
"...Nothing. Only the sweet emptiness of..."
Ignorance, her mind finished. These people with their selective memories, their half-truths. She wanted the whole truth. She wanted the story.
"We have to run for it," Bart hissed. "All of us."
She nodded and turned back. "No speeding. They've had enough shocks."
He nodded and moved away. "Okay, people. Not walking, here. We're running. For the trees."
She looked back at the swinging door and rushed with the others, already following Bart.
So they had to save themselves. There were no heroes today.
****************************
Clark felt impotent. There was a shivering woman in his lap, a man packing up the evidence to be preserved below him, and the rest of them were God only knew where. And him? He was meant to save them and he could do nothing but hide on a roof.
"It was my idea, you know."
Clark pulled Morgan closer. "What was?"
"Moving here," she said, shaking. "Joanne wanted to stay in Vermont. Joanne was happy there. But I was bored. Vermont..." She laughed suddenly. "Nothing happened there. Nothing to do. Nothing to be. Had a job as a bank teller. I could do much more than that. It was all so boring... and... God, I'd give anything to go back."
"You can."
"Really? Because, the way I see it, I'm a dead woman. Either the Doc gets me or I freeze on this rooftop." She laughed bitterly, then coughed. "Guess I have my pick."
"You can choose to live."
"I know you want to help, but you're, apparently, not all they said you... Oh!"
His right hand shook and he hit the roof, pleasantly surprised as it shook the building. He breathed deep and brought it down again, satisfied as it sunk in with a deep crunch.
"What the..."
He glanced to his right and pulled his fist out, leaning toward the hole he'd made and the voice he heard.
"What's...."
"Shhh!" He gently moved Morgan to the side, putting a finger to his lips and leaned down, peering into the gap. He saw a man, probably one of the voices he heard, peering up. He was holding a box of jars and staring up, his mouth wide open.
Clark drew his fist back again and widened the hole coming back up with a fistful of shirt and a coughing, sputtering man. There was a crash as he pulled him up further. "You're not taking them," he growled. "This ends here."
The man stared at him, shaking. "I... Listen, I... I'm just doing my job."
"Job? is this a job to you? Don't you see what they've done?"
"I... I don't know nothing. I get told to pick up the Doc and there's this stuff, but I swear..."
"Told by who?" Clark's hand started to shake with the effort. "Who do you work for? Is it Luthor?"
"Luthor?" The man looked confused. "Isn't he that bald guy? I don't..."
"Who do you..." Clark could feel his strength giving out and he breathed deep, trying to hold on, trying to... But even his own hand betrayed him, letting go as the man fell through the gap, crashing to the floor. He fell over the hole himself, staring through it. "No..." He looked down, trying to hear... But he heard a heartbeat, even as the man lay still, his eyes closed.
He fell back, panting, depleted. "Useless... Just so useless."
He turned as he heard Morgan's teeth chattering. He gathered her up again, trying to shield her from the cold wind that countered the sun. "Just hold on. I'll get you out.... Everyone... I swear..."
********************************
"I swear on my life. Okay?" Bart turned to the others under the trees. "You can walk through. So just come on..."
"You first," Sue Terry said, her eyes narrowed.
"Fine." He walked through and turned back. "See? Now come on." Bart rolled his eyes as they stood still. "What is with you people?"
Lois knew, in a way. They were scared to leave. Outside, there was a world they were no longer sure of. Here, bad as it was, there was something they knew. They all seemed to be looking at her, as if for instructions. "It's perfectly safe," she said. She moved straight toward the jacket, stepping over it carefully at Bart's agonized gasp. "Just walk straight after me. We don't have much time." Before she realizes they're gone. Before she and whatever new cronies she has come after.
She watched as David stepped through. He was hesitant, but through.
"Easy now. Straight to the jacket," she said, moving back, holding out her hand, feeling like she was coaxing a cat from under a car.
"And don't step on it," Bart added.
She grasped his arm, staring at the red jacket, still on the ground, still undisturbed. "Where are they?"
Bart paused, tapping at his headset. "Hold on... Linda? You there?"
Lois wanted to ask herself, but nothing was coming from her earpiece.
"Yes, I have her... She's fine. Linda, I just said she was fine. Now listen," Bart barked. "We've got the hostages, but..." He seemed to be listening. "They're still five miles south. Linda's not sure she can bring it in much closer with the trees... I'll leave the rest of the ranting to your imagination... Oh, I'm kidding," he said into his headset. "I'm not kidding," he mouthed.
Lois clenched her fists, trying to keep her face neutral and encouraging for the people still stepping through the gap. "Where are they?"
"I told you, they're still five miles..."
"Not them. You know who I mean." She couldn't say much more, not in front of the others. "I didn't think they wouldn't show."
"No. I know them. Theyll show. Maybe they seem to be taking their sweet time." Bart yelled into his headset as Lois coaxed Sue Terry through. "Linda? Did you get them?"
There was a crackle in Lois ear as she stepped back, as Janice stepped through. She heard a voice, tinny, but there. "...I only got him on cell and then he just hung up and said they'd be here and I don't know why they're not here yet. These headsets are old and I have no way to keep in touch with them directly and... I'm kind of freaking out. What if they're here, but Ollie's in grave danger? I mean, I know we had a fight, but..."
"Linda, calm the hell down," Lois shouted.
"Lois? Is that you? Oh, my God. I am so glad to hear your voice. Bart said you were fine, but you know Bart and..."
"They aren't in grave danger, but they also aren't here yet and we're just going to have to make do. I need you to bring the Bell in closer," she said, not having time for reassurances. She turned to Bart. "Can you walk them straight south?"
"Of course I can, but..."
"Good." Lois stepped backward.
Bart looked at the others, then back at her. "Lois, what are you doing?"
"Going back."
"Going back?" It was Linda. "Are you nuts? I won't let..."
She took another step and Linda's voice faded into crackles. "As far as we know, Clark's still in there."
"Fine," Bart said from the other side. "We can get them there and then come back for Clark..."
"And Morgan? What about her?"
"Morgan?"
She turned to Joanne. She was staring at her, stopped.
"She's... She'll be f..." Joanne started shaking, rooted to the spot.
"Fine, I know." She moved forward and patted her shoulder. "Can someone get this woman walking, please?"
David Terry stepped to her. "Come on, Jo. Remember our walks? It's just another one."
"Due south," Lois said. "Bart, you keep them on track and keep in touch with Linda."
The others started ahead, but Bart stayed still. "Lois, I can't let you go back in there alone. We can take them and come back or... we can wait for the others, but..."
"How long, Bart? Till after Clark's gone? She wants to take him. You think I can just let that happen?"
"No, but... Just let me go back in. You lead them and I'll go back for Clark and Morgan..."
"And what about answers?" She stepped back through the gap. "No offense, Bart. But this is my story."
She rushed off, back to the buildings, knowing he wouldn't leave them alone. But this was her story and she'd be damned if she'd step aside and let someone else see it unfold.
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Chapter Forty-One
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