By Clint Chan Tack <cchan_tack@hotmail.com>
Rated PG
Submitted August 1998
Summary: Ultra Woman's adventures weren't limited to what we saw on the screen. This story tells us more.
Author's note: I based this on the episode where Superman's powers were transferred from Lois to Clark. What if the roles were reversed for a while? Of course, Clark eventually gets his powers back.
***
The day began like any other in Metropolis in the offices of the Daily Planet. Lois Lane and Clark Kent entered the newsroom together as they always did.
"Coffee Lois?" Clark asked as he set down his briefcase at the foot of his desk.
"Sure. Decaf," Lois said with a smile.
Lois was just about to switch on her computer when a news bulletin flashed across the newsroom's main monitor. Perry White insisted on it being kept on 24 hours a day. He liked to get the early jump on a breaking story. In this case, a cruise ship in the Mediterranean was hijacked by Arab terrorists off the coast of Algeria.
Lois and Clark briefly exchanged glances.
"I'll cover for you," Clark said.
"You're the best!" Lois replied as she planted a kiss on her fiance's lips and hustled out of the newsroom. Within minutes, a purple-blue streak was heading east across the Atlantic at phenomenal speed. This was none other than the masked maiden of might, Ultra Woman, and secretly ace reporter, Lois Lane.
Lois felt guilty that Clark had lost his powers and STAR Labs still had no way of transferring them from her back to him. Clark was strong and it was his strength of heart which allowed Lois to carry out the work he used to do as Superman.
Using her x-ray vision, Lois was able to locate the terrorists. There were six. Four holding the passengers hostage in the ballroom while two others held the captain hostage on the bridge.
Ultra Woman alighted to the deck and knocked down the door to the bridge. "The cruise is over for you!" she declared, placing her hands on her well-defined waist.
The terrorists cursed her in Arabic. They raised their weapons to fire but the heroine's heat vision made the guns too hot to handle.
"Ultra Woman … Thank God!" the captain gasped as the masked maiden removed his bonds.
"Thank me later," Ultra Woman said and, in a flash, was gone.
Half an hour later, Lois Lane joined Clark Kent in time for the staff meeting at the Daily Planet. The terrorists were now safely in the hands of the Algerian authorities.
That evening, at Lois' apartment, Lois and Clark sat in each other's embrace on the sofa.
"You should have seen me today, Clark, I was great! " Lois chirped.
"You always are, Lois. That's why I love you," Clark replied and they kissed.
A romantic mood was suddenly interrupted by a call for help which Lois' super-hearing detected.
"Clark … " Lois began.
"I know," Clark replied, placing his finger on her lips.
Getting off the sofa, Lois spun around and her bathrobe was replaced by her Ultra Woman outfit. "Be back in a flash!" she quipped and whizzed out the open window.
Flying over the night skyline of Metropolis, Ultra Woman tracked the source of the distress to a warehouse on the waterfront. Ultra Woman raced inside the darkened warehouse. She used her x-ray vision to locate the distress call.
Something, however, was blocking her super sight. There seemed to be an unusually high amount of lead surfaces here. Lois didn't realise what was happening until it was too late. Without warning, the warehouse doors slammed shut. Then came the sound of mortars firing. Gas canisters exploding from all directions. Ultra Woman had no time to react as she was caught completely off guard.
The gas overwhelmed her, and the masked maiden dropped to the floor. Through her increasingly hazy vision, Lois saw men in gas masks approaching her. She was too weak to offer resistance or retreat. "Clark . .. " she gasped before a wave of unconsciousness hit her.
***
After what seemed an eternity of darkness, Ultra Woman's senses slowly returned.
Though she had Clark's powers, Lois lacked the superhero experience. Her impulsive nature, which earned her reporter's reputation and got her into trouble simultaneously, often landed her into trouble. This was one of those times and Superman wouldn't be coming to the rescue.
As her vision cleared, she saw a bearded man standing in front of her with others in the background. "Uhhh … What happened?" Ultra Woman sighed as she came to.
"Good Morning Ultra Woman. I have long awaited to meet you," the bearded man said.
"Charmed," Lois quipped weakly.
"I am Abdul Rifaat, Leader of the New World Army. You did well against my men in Algeria. Your reputation precedes you," he said.
"The cruise ship? That was a test?" Ultra Woman asked. The wheels turning inside the analytical mind of Lois Lane were beginning to make sense of this situation.
"Yes, Female. I needed to see you in action. Now that I have, you will be the perfect weapon to launch my intifadeh on the Americans. Metropolis will be the first," Rifaat boasted.
The other terrorists laughed raucously in response.
Lois bided her time until the effects of the sleeping gas cleared. Now she felt her strength returning. With a simple flex of her arms, the ropes binding them behind her back snapped like twigs.
"I think not!" Ultra Woman said as she stood up.
Rifaat and his men reached for their guns. A blast of Ultra Woman's super breath sent Rifaat and his six cohorts flying clear across the warehouse and hard against a wall.
"You boys should stick to hijacking camels! That stuff isn't going to happen here in Metropolis!" Ultra Woman declared. With incredible speed, Ultra Woman wrenched a lead pipe off the wall and used it to bind the seven terrorists.
The following morning, Perry White was on cloud nine. "'Ultra Woman Nabs Terrorists In Midnight Bust'," he said, reading the headline of the morning edition of the Daily Planet. "You two have done it again," he added to Lois and Clark, seated before him.
"You know us Perry,"Clark said modestly.
"This Ultra Woman is something. I bet Superman will be glad when he gets back that she's kept up the good work for him," Perry noted.
"I think he already is," Clark replied as he looked into the eyes of a beaming Lois Lane.
THE END