Untitled

By Lynn Baldwin (LBALD@aol.com)

Summary: Jack pays a visit to the Daily Planet newsroom, hoping
to snag a Superman interview for the Metropolis Free Press. But
everybody gets a scoop when it becomes apparent that someone has
targeted Lois' friend Allison for murder.

(after rambling for 16 pages, I couldn't think of a title, so
this doesn't have one!)

***

Clark Kent tugged absent-mindedly on the end of his blue and
burgundy polka-dotted tie as he stared blankly at his computer
screen. It had been a slow news day, and he was having trouble
coming up with a fresh angle for his story on the Metropolis
Moped Meet. He stifled a yawn. If the story bored him so much,
how could he expect the readers of the Daily Planet to be
interested?

Clark glanced sideways at Lois Lane, who was seated at a nearby
workstation. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as a smile
slowly crept across her face. Clark recognized that smile - it
meant she was onto something good. But what could she possibly be
working on? He reviewed the day in his mind. They'd been together
the whole time- from the interview with the man who claimed to
have eaten lunch with Elvis, through the two hour wait at the
road commissioner's office, to the false reports of a three-alarm
fire. Where had she found a story?

Clark knew that he shouldn't, but the temptation to peek was too
strong. He lowered his glasses slightly and peered over the
tortoise-shell frames, then zeroed in on Lois' computer screen
with his x-ray vision. The words on her computer screen were as
surprising to him as if Lois had suddenly told him that she was
Wonder Woman. Filled with amazement, he read: "She knew she
shouldn't feel this way about him, but she did. After all, they
were coworkers, partners, a team. But that first memory of his
bare muscled chest still burned in her mind. That, and his
kisses. On the few occasions they had kissed, she'd wanted more,
oh, so much more."

The clickety-clacking of the keyboard paused as Lois stared
dreamily into space. Clark stared dreamily after Lois. He
couldn't believe what he had just seen. He'd known she was
writing a romance novel that she refused to share with anyone.
What he hadn't known was that he, and the relationship he shared
with Lois, played such a pivotal role in the story. But what
*was* their relationship? He knew he loved her, he had since the
first sarcastic comment she'd thrown his way. But he was never
quite sure about her feelings for him. Although lately, things
were looking brighter. Ever since he'd visited her as Superman
and gently nudged her towards the real him - Clark-and away from
the man in blue, red and yellow, she'd been behaving a little
differently. He sensed that she was ready to move their
relationship forward a step, but wasn't sure how to go about it.
He certainly wasn't going to make another move; he'd probably
already crossed the line by involving Superman.

"So, what are you working on, Lois?" Clark asked, curious as to
how she'd respond.

"Um, well, I'm just cleaning up my files a bit. You know,
deleting stuff I don't need anymore," Lois replied with a furtive
glance at her computer screen. The words "she stared at his
chiseled profile" stared back at her, mocking her as she faced
the protagonist of her novel face on.

"Oh, I thought you were working on something big. You seemed to
be really hard at it," Clark said, a slight smirk crossing his
face.

"Nope, nothing big," Lois replied, as she casually closed the
file.

They were relieved of further conversation by the sound of the
elevator opening. A familiar jeans-clad figure bounded into the
newsroom. "Jack!" Lois and Clark exclaimed in unison, as they
rushed towards him.

Jimmy Olsen beat them to their former co-worker. "Jack, buddy,
great to see you," said Jimmy, vigorously shaking Jack's hand.
Jack looked at the shaggy-haired, puppy-faced guy smiling eagerly
at him.

"Jimmy?" he asked.

"Of course it's me. I mean, I know it's been a while, but ...
what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, man," replied Jack, shaking his head in disbelief.
"It's just that you look totally different. I don't think I even
would have recognized you."

"But there's two people I definitely recognize," Jack continued,
directing his comments at Clark and Lois, who were now standing
in front of him. "How're you two doing? Did you finally get
together?" Jack unabashedly asked, as he noticed how the hem of
Lois' skirt brushed up against Clark's knee.

Lois jumped back a few inches. "Wh-what are you talking about?"
she stuttered. Clark smiled good-naturedly, shrugging his
shoulders with a look of "who knows?"

"It's good to see you, Jack. So what brings you back to the
Planet?" Clark asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

"Well, I'm not exactly back. I'm just here on a story."

"A story?" shrieked Lois, "You mean you're a reporter now?" She
eyed Jack with wonder. He couldn't be more than 18, in fact he
was probably more like 16. She, Lois Lane, had started young- but
she had been 22!

"Yeah, I'm working for the Metropolis Free Press now." He reached
in the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out his press
pass, which he proudly displayed for all to see.

"Oh, *that* explains it," Lois said, breathing a sigh of relief.
The brief thought that Jack could be further ahead in his career
than she had been at that age bothered her immensely.

"Explains what?" asked Clark.

"Well, it's not the Daily Planet. It's a weekly!" Lois answered.

"Hey, everyone's got to start somewhere. I think it's great,
Jack." Clark said, with a friendly pat on Jack's back.

"You would think it's great, Clark. You used to work for the
Borneo Gazette. That's not even a paper ..."

Lois glared at Clark competitively as Jimmy interrupted with,
"Some things never change, do they, Jack?"

"Sorry, Jack," Lois apologized as she and Clark looked sheepishly
at each other. "So what's this story you're working on?"

"We're doing a series of profiles of important people. You know,
the man behind the public facade, or in this case, the man behind
the cape. So I figured I'd start here. The Man of Steel seems to
hang around here quite a bit."

"You're doing a profile of Superman?" Lois asked. When he nodded
yes, she added smugly, "It's been done, Jack."

"But not like this. Listen." He pulled a crumpled-up list of
questions out of his jeans pocket and began to read, "What is
your idea of a perfect evening at home? Which do you prefer:
Italian food or Chinese? Who's your favorite football team?"

"The Bills," replied Clark, then laughed to cover up his mistake.
He'd been lost in thought and hadn't even realized he'd responded
aloud. The idea of giving Jack an interview as Superman was
strangely appealing. It would be a great boost to Jack's career,
and would let people see a more human side of Superman. But what
would that possibly accomplish? Or was it that he just wanted
Lois to see a more human side of Superman - the Clark side!

Clark turned his attention back to Jack, who continued eagerly
with his questions. Jimmy looked on with interest, although the
look on Lois' face was hard to categorize. After studying her for
a few minutes, Clark realized that she was jealous. She didn't
think anyone else had the right tointerview Superman!

Jack's voice droned on. "So what do you think Superman does in
his spare time, CK?" Jack asked.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe he writes." Clark answered.

"Well, I'm going to find out." The sudden look of determination
on Jack's face startled Clark. He had grown very good at keeping
his two personalities separate, but almost lazy in protecting his
identity. After all this time, it didn't seem likely that anyone
was going to guess his secret. After all, if Lois hadn't figured
it out with all the clues he'd given her, it didn't seem probable
that anyone else would.

Clark mentally kicked himself for forgetting about Jack and his
suspicions. He thought back to the time they'd all been held
hostage at the Daily Planet by a group of terrorists. Clark had
broken the handcuffs that bound him to Jack and saved the day.
Although he'd been as careful as possible that day, his friends'
lives were in danger and he'd taken a few chances with his
identity that he normally wouldn't. He recalled the comment Jack
had made to them after they were safe, "Nobody would believe me
if I told them, would they?"

*Now*, what was Clark to do? He wasn't 100% positive that Jack
knew his secret, but he definitely was suspicious. Jack was hot
on the trail of his first story, and exposing Superman's
alter-ego would be an enormous scoop. On the other hand, Clark
had basically rescued Jack from living on thestreets and gotten
him started in his journalism career. They'd always beenfriendly,
and Clark knew that Jack looked up to him like a big brother...
Clark's reverie was broken when he picked up faint cries for help
with his super-hearing.

"Earth to Clark. Earth to Clark," Lois repeated, snapping her
fingers in front of his face as if to wake him from a trance.
"We're going to get something to eat. Do you want to come?"

"Um, I'll meet you there," Clark answered. He was in the elevator
loosening his tie before anyone could protest.

"Why does he always dash off like that?" Lois asked to no one in
particular.

"Who knows," Jack replied with a thoughtful look on his face, as
he stared at the door through which Clark had disappeared.

When Clark got outside, the source of the cries for help he'd
heard was immediately apparent. A crowd of people was gathered
outside of the Daily Planet. Every pair of eyes was focused
upwards, on a small commuter airplane which was sputtering and
wobbling as it rapidly fell towards the ground. With a swoosh of
his red cape, Clark shot upwards and grabbed the underside of the
aircraft. Clark could hear the sighs of relief from the
passengers inside as he steadied the plane. Holding on to the
landing gear, he maneuvered the plane around several trees and
onto the grass of a park across the street from the Daily Planet
building.

Lois, Jimmy and Jack had by this time joined the group of
onlookers who were now cheering and clapping. Clark opened the
door of the plane to help the passengers of the plane get out.
Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt, although a young blind woman
was too shaken up to get out of the plane of her own accord.
Clark gently lifted her out of the plane and set her upon the
ground. "Are you okay?" he asked, taking her trembling hand in
his.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Thanks, Superman."

"Superman, hi," Lois said, rushing across the street.

"Hi, Lois."

"Lois Lane!" said the blind woman in surprise, " I was going to
look you up when I landed. Now I guess I don't have to."

Lois had been too caught up in admiring Superman to notice the
woman he had just rescued. "Allison! What are you doing here?"
Smoothing her brown skirt, she sat down besides Allison and
hugged her. "I saw what happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to Superman."

Lois said, " I know what you mean. He's rescued me more times
than I'd like to remember!"

"Personally, I kind of liked it," Allison replied. The two women
let forth a stream of giggles.

Lois glanced up to see Clark walking towards them.

"What's so funny?" he asked, straightening his tie as he
approached the two women.

"Clark, meet an old college friend, Allison Byers. Allison, this
is my partner, Clark Kent."

"Partner? Wow, you must really be something. I don't think Lois
has ever let anyone be her partner before!"

Before Lois could comment, Clark extended his hand to shake
Allison's. "Nice to meet you."

A strange look crossed Allison's face as she grasped Clark's
hand. She held it for a few seconds longer than necessary. "What
strong hands you have," was what she finally said.

"You always were a flirt, Allison." Lois teased.

"I can see you two have some catching up to do. I'm going to get
back to work," commented Clark, slightly worried. What had that
look meant? He'd held her hand as Superman just seconds earlier,
but why would she make the connection? Lois never had. Of course,
he'd always heard that blind people had heightened senses, but
she couldn't possibly know just by holding his hand. He decided
that he was probably just paranoid because of his fears about
Jack.

After Clark left, Allison explained to Lois why she was in town.
She was the public relations manager for Hamburg Hotels, a large
hotel chain that was expanding into Metropolis. Allison was to
give a press conference at the groundbreaking, scheduled for the
next day. As Allison talked, Lois recalled seeing the press
release about the event come across her desk. She'd dismissed it
as non-newsworthy. But now that she knew Allison was involved,
she'd have to attend.

"So where's this hotel going to be?" Lois asked. When Allison
gave her the address, Lois exclaimed, "That's great. That's right
across the street from my Uncle Mike's restaurant."

***

The next day, Lois and Clark joined the group of television and
newspaper reporters gathered outside of the site of the new
Hamburg Hotel. Jimmy and Jack had arrived earlier, and were
seated on plastic fold-out chairs in the front row. "What eager
beavers," commented Lois, pointing towards them.

"The early bird gets the worm," replied Clark evenly.

"I don't think this is going to be a major scoop, Clark," said
Lois, slowing pulling a notebook and a pen out of her oversized
purse. A double crunch bar fell out in the process. She quickly
grabbed it before Clark could spot it and make a comment.

Clark surveyed the area. Several construction workers in
hard-hats stood by idly. Allison was in position behind a podium
in front of several trailers bearing the name and slogan of the
construction company, "Church Construction - We Build on Faith."
Everyone looked calm, everything was ready, but why did Clark
sense something ominous in the air? He figured it was just nerves
- he was still a little shaken up by Allison and Jack's comments
yesterday.

"Your friend Allison looks nice," Clark commented to Lois. As
soon as it escaped his lips, the comment sounded strange to
Clark. Why had he said it?

Lois turned and faced Clark. "Do you think she's attractive?"

"Well, yes, but... not as attractive as..." Clark stopped in
mid-sentence; he suddenly realized what was wrong with the scene.
He lowered his glasses to get a better look. The trailer behind
Allison was almost completely empty: it contained no tools, no
wood, bricks or steel, none of the things needed for a
construction project. The only object in the trailer was a small
wooden crate. Clark's fears were confirmed as his x-ray vision
revealed a ticking bomb inside of the box. Zeroing in on the red
numbers of the timer, Clark realized with horror that it was set
to go off in ten seconds.

He looked at Lois, who was still waiting expectantly for the rest
of his sentence. "You," he said, as he dashed towards the
trailer. "Be right back."

In a flash of red and blue he landed behind the trailer, then
burst through the double-locked door. The timer showed four
seconds to explosion. Clark leapt on top of the table and
smothered the bomb. His body shook as it absorbed the force of
the explosion.

Cries of panic and shouts of "What's going on?" rippled through
the crowd of reporters who had left their seats and were gathered
closely around the podium. Clark picked out Lois' voice calling
for him. He quickly left the remnants of the trailer and
approached the podium.

"It's okay, everybody," he said into the microphone. "There was a
bomb in the trailer, but it's been taken care of. I've scanned
the area, and I don't see anything else of danger."

"Are you okay?" he asked, turning to Allison.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but we've really got to stop meeting like
this!"

With a chuckle, Clark leapt into the air. "Superman, wait,"
screamed Lois, "Have you seen Clark? Is he okay?"

"He's okay Lois. I spotted him behind the trailer." He again
tried to take his leave.

"Superman, wait." This time it was the voice of Jack, although it
contained a nervous quiver. Clark hovered in the air, his red
boots two feet above Jack's eye level. "Um, Superman, I was
wondering if I could interview you. I'm working for the
Metropolis Free Press and we're doing a series on influential
people, and I thought, maybe...."

Clark interrupted the rush of words spewing from Jack's mouth.
"I'm sorry. Somebody is looking for me right now. Maybe some
other time." With that, he disappeared.

Seconds later, Clark was at Lois' side. "Where have you been?"
asked Lois, her voice a mixture of concern and anger.

"Well, when you gotta go, you gotta go." Clark replied.

"You, you have to stop disappearing like that," Lois insisted,
grabbing Clark squarely by both shoulders and shaking him.

"Why did you do that?" Clark demanded.

Lois released her grip on Clark's shoulders and slid her hands
down his arms until they met his hands. She looked into his eyes.
"I was worried. I was afraid that something had happened to
you."

"No, I'm sorry ... I" The look in Lois' brown eyes rendered him
speechless. He tentatively shifted his body so that he brushed up
against her. Lois squeezed his hands more tightly in
encouragement and raised her face towards him.

"Oh, Lois," Clark muttered as their lips met. Lois pulled Clark
even closer, unaware of the crowd around them.

They would have remained lost to the world for hours if not for
the arrival of Jimmy and Jack. "I told you they'd get together,
man. You owe me five bucks." Jack said to Jimmy.

Clark and Lois looked up in embarrassed silence as Jimmy fished
around in his pocket for the money. "I'm gonna need this money,"
continued Jack. "If I don't get this Superman profile, the Free
Press is going to fire me."

"What are you talking about, Jack?" demanded Lois, quickly
regaining her composure and slipping into 'seasoned reporter
mode.' "You just witnessed the day's biggest story - now get
writing. Maybe Jimmy will be nice enough to let you use one of
his pictures to go with it."

Jack stifled a laugh as he retorted, "It was a nice kiss and all,
but I don't think it was a big story. I mean, everyone knew it
was coming."

Clark and Lois, still holding hands, laughed as Jimmy and Jack
headed back to work.

***

Although their hearts were tempted to continue what they'd
started, their investigative minds led Lois and Clark back to the
Planet. Perry White met them as soon as they entered the
newsroom. "Jimmy told me what happened. Do you kids have any
leads?" he asked in his usual gruff manner.

"Not yet, chief," Lois replied, "But I've got a theory. I think
that someone's targeting Allison."

"But why?" Perry asked.

Clark joined in the conversation. "I'm ... we're not sure yet.
But it does make sense. First the airplane crash, then the bomb.
Even Lois doesn't get into that much trouble!"

Perry braced himself for one of Lois' famous sarcastic tirades.
Instead, he watched in amazement as she merely smiled at her
partner and giggled. "Great shades of Elvis," Perry muttered to
himself as he headed back towards his office, "I think they've
finally come to their senses!"

Clark and Lois sat down at their respective desks to map out a
plan of investigation. But try as she could to concentrate on the
story, Lois could think of nothing but Clark. She glanced his way
and was happy to find that he seemed to have the same problem.
His computer wasn't even turned on. Lois watched as Clark
suddenly looked up as if he'd heard something. She followed his
gaze to the elevator. Twenty seconds later, Allison got off.

"Hi, how's it going?" Allison inquired, as she folded up her
walking stick and took a seat between Lois and Clark.

"Allison, the question is: how are you?" Lois asked.

Clark added, "I'm sorry, Allison. We didn't even check on you
before we left. I guess we were, uh, caught up in something," .

"So I heard," Allison replied.

"What?" Lois and Clark asked in unison.

"Come on, you two, you were in the middle of a group of
reporters. News travels fast."

Clark said, " It wasn't actually news."

"Well, no," Allison admitted, "Not compared to the Superman
thing. By the way Clark, did anyone ever tell you that you talk
like him?"

Clark didn't have time to think of an answer before Lois butted
in with, "You've got to be kidding, Allison. Superman doesn't
have that Smallville twang." Lois smiled playfully at Clark. She
walked over to his desk and pulled the end of his tie, "Not that
I don't like it or anything. But you do have a twang."

"Do not."

"Do to."

"Okay, kids," interrupted Allison, "I didn't come to referee a
lover's spat. I've got news. Somebody told me that the name on
the construction truck that blew up was Church Construction."

"Right, " agreed Clark, "We Build on Faith."

Allison continued, "That's not the construction company hired by
Hamburg Hotels. Nobody there has ever heard of them."

Lois picked up the thread, "And since you were the only
representative of the hotel there, you didn't, shall we say,
notice the difference."

"Exactly."

"Wait a minute," Clark mused. He thought for a moment, then
booted up his computer with a burst of energy. He pressed a few
buttons, then watched as pages of information scrolled across his
screen." Lois observed over his shoulder.

"Will you look at that," exclaimed Lois, "Church Construction is
owned by Bill Church!"

"Church? I can't believe that scumbag got off last time."

"He won't get off this time. This has Intergang written all over
it," added Lois, stomping her foot for emphasis.

"Yep, and this time we'll prove that he's the head of it."

"Those idiots weren't content to leave well enough alone. They
must still be after the land by Uncle Mike's restaurant,"
surmised Lois.

"Yeah, but why?"

Allison listened patiently to the verbal volley. "I see why you
two are partners, but will somebody please tell me what's going
on?"

"It's a long story," Clark explained, "but we've got some work to
do."

"Okay, good luck. I'll leave you to it." Allison got up and
started to leave.

"No, wait. I think you'd better stick with us. You'll be safer
that way," Clark suggested.

"Safer?" Lois and Allison asked in stereo.

"Well, Hamburg Hotels is obviously being targeted by Intergang.
And that makes Allison a target." Clark knew that Lois wouldn't
consider having Allison in the middle of an investigation "safe,"
but he'd feel better if he could keep an eye on her.

"Why don't we just call the police, Clark?" Lois asked. She
tapped her pen against the top of his chair in exasperation.

"And show them what evidence?" Clark questioned.

"I suppose you've got a point," Lois admitted, sliding the pen
into her purse.

"Are you up for this, Allison?"

"Well," she said, grabbing her bag and walking stick, "I always
did want to be Nancy Drew."

"And you went into P. R.?" Lois asked as the threesome approached
the elevator.

***

A few minutes later, Lois' silver Cherokee pulled into the
parking lot of Church Industries, Inc. Lois and Clark threw
jackets with the words "LMB Copier Service" over their clothes.
They hadn't had time to come up with a good plan of attack, so
they'd decided to rely on the copier repair person disguise
again. It worked last time, Lois had reminded a reluctant Clark.
He'd suggested spending some time developing a strategy, but Lois
wanted to jump right in and start snooping. After all, that was
what she did best. Somehow, she had won out.

"Um, guys, what about me?" Allison asked from the back seat, "I
don't think there are too many blind copier technicians out
there."

"Good point, Allison, " Clark said, directing his comment at
Lois, "I told you this wasn't a good idea."

"Nonsense, it's a big building," Lois said, observing the
ten-story structure, "I'm sure you can pass for an employee. Just
follow my lead."

The trio left the vehicle and approached the front door. Once
inside, the first person Lois and Clark spotted was a janitor.
His back was to them as he slowly mopped the floor in a
figure-eight motion. Clark was trying to figure out why the
janitor looked vaguely familiar when he sensed that Allison was
slipping.

Clark swiftly grabbed her arm and steadied her before she could
fall. "Are you okay?"

Allison answered, "It seems like someone is always asking me that
these days. I'm fine. Thanks, Supe ... I mean, Clark."

A startled Lois looked at her friend, then at Clark. Clark looked
terrified, but before Lois had a chance to comment, she gasped in
surprise. The janitor had turned around, and Lois and Clark saw
that it was Jack!

"What are you doing here?" Lois whispered. Jack motioned for
quiet, then pointed to the left. Clark, Allison and Lois followed
Jack into a small hallway, then into a dark supply room. He shut
the door behind him.

"I'm working on my story," Jack replied.

"*You* figured out the Church-Intergang connection?" Lois asked,
not even trying to conceal her amazement.

"Yeah," Jack replied, as he stuck his hands deep into the pockets
of his overalls.

"Way to go!" Lois said with admiration. Jack smiled at her
praise.

"So, what have you found out?" Clark asked.

"That's the problem, " Jack said, shrugging, "I don't quite know
what to do from here."

"Aha," Lois gloated, "this is were experience comes into play.
Now, we'll split up. Clark, you stay here with Allison, and Jack
and I will go to Church's office."

Jack hesitated before answering, "Um, well, you two go ahead.
I'll stay here with Allison."

Lois shrugged, then adjusted her jacket. "Come on, partner," she
said, motioning for Clark to follow.

***

Jack and Allison made themselves as comfortable as possible in
the small room, sitting side by side on the tiled floor. "So
you're a reporter, too?" Allison asked.

"Well, trying to be. I was supposed to write a story on Superman,
but he doesn't seem to have time for an interview. I suppose he's
a busy guy."

"Either that, or ... or he has something to hide," responded
Allison, to Jack's amazement.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I have this theory. I think that Superman has another
identity, a human identity," she started. She explained how she'd
noticed several similarities between Clark and Superman. "I know
it sounds crazy, but when Clark stopped me from falling today, I
thought he was Superman for a minute. I mean, I never confuse
voices. And every person has a distinct feel, a distinct touch.
And Clark's hand sure felt like Superman's."

Jack thanked his lucky stars that Allison couldn't see his
expression - it would have given too much away. He was literally
stunned into silence. The same thought had crossed his mind. In
fact, he'd been thinking about it for a while - ever since the
night they'd been taken hostage in the newsroom. On one hand, it
made sense. On the other, it was too crazy to even talk about.
And if it was true, Jack wasn't sure if he wanted Allison to know
that he suspected the same thing.

The silence in the room was rudely broken as the door of the
closet swung open. The menacing face of a beefy security guard
glared at the two trespassers. "Come with me, " he commanded.

***

In the meantime, Clark and Lois were faring a little better on
the tenth floor. They'd managed to sweet-talk their way around a
reluctant receptionist and were outside of Bill Church's corner
office. Clark lowered his glasses a fraction and looked into the
office. He spotted an office cluttered with file folders, pop
cans and pens. The floor was strewn with golf balls and the trash
can was overflowing. They were in luck there was no sign of
Church. "What a slob," Clark muttered.

"What," Lois asked, as she put her ear against the door, trying
to determine if anybody was inside. "I said, 'what a job,' Clark
said.

"Somebody's got to do it." Lois and Clark cautiously entered the
office, then shut the door behind them. They looked around at the
mess, unsure of where to begin. Lois prided herself on her
investigative prowess, but this time they really didn't have much
to go on. Fortunately, sometimes luck is more important, and as
luck would have it, she decided to try Church's computer. Lois
pushed the entry key to clear the screen saver - tiny flying
Supermen -and gasped when she saw what she'd stumbled upon. The
open file was a map of the south side of Metropolis. It was
divided into green parcels of land, each one captioned with a
price. The monochromatic picture was broken by two blocks in red,
with a bulls-eye superimposed on top of each one. From their
position on the map, Lois recognized the two sites as her Uncle
Mike's restaurant and the proposed site of the Hamburg Hotel.

"Clark, look at this," Lois said, her voice rising in
excitement.

"Well, today's our lucky day," Clark answered, studying the
screen over her shoulder. "Future Site of the Church Casino,"
Clark continued, reading the 16-point bold letters above the
map.

"So, that's what they're up to," Lois said, pushing up the
sleeves of her jacket. "They've bought all the land on the south
side except for Uncle Mike's and the hotel. I'll bet their
planning on laundering Intergang money through a casino."

"That makes sense," Clark nodded in agreement. He gently squeezed
Lois' shoulder, "Now all we've got to do is prove that Church is
the head of Intergang."

Lois jumped from the chair at the sound of the door opening. "And
how do you propose to do that?" boomed the voice of Bill Church
as he swaggered into his office. Three armed guards followed him,
nudging Jack and Allison into the office with the barrels of
their guns.

Clark lifted his hands in a sign of surrender and motioned for
Lois to do the same. Instead she approached Church, " You *are*
the head of Intergang, aren't you?"

"I suppose it doesn't matter if you know now, " he replied with a
grin. "In fact, if you 'd dug a little deeper, you would have
found some more incriminating documents in there." He indicated
the computer. "But alas, you've dug yourself into a hole this
time, Ms. Lane."

He casually picked a putter off the floor and lined up a golf
ball. "I've got work to do" He turned to face the three uniformed
guards. " Boys, take care of them." With that, one of the guards
raised his gun and prepared to fire.

Clark instinctively jumped in front of Lois, putting his body
between hers and the bullet. Church nodded his head in disgust.
"Not here, you idiot. I'd never get the blood stains out of the
carpeting." He studied the shiny tip of his wing tip shoes for a
moment. "I've got an idea. Why don't you make them sweat it out
for awhile? Take them upstairs!"

"Right boss," replied the largest of the three guards. They
gathered their prisoners into a group and hustled them out of the
office and into the elevator. Clark wasn't ready for what he saw
when they stepped off of the elevator on the tenth floor- they
were in a huge fitness center filled with rows of stationary
bikes, stair climbers and every imaginable type of weight
machine. Strangely, the room was deserted.

"Hope you're ready to sweat," one of the guards said with a
smirk, fingering the barrel of his gun. Clark debated his next
move. He could try to take them out now, but it would be a little
risky, and he'd definitely have to reveal his identity. He
decided to wait for a better opportunity. He only hoped that Lois
didn't try anything stupid.

Before she had a chance, one of the guards grabbed Lois with one
hand and Allison with the other. "You girls seem to like to get
yourselves into hot spots. Let's see how long you can stand the
heat." Clark felt helpless as he watched the guard push them
across the room and into an enclosed steam room. He threw the
door shut behind them, then slid a metal deadbolt into place.

"It's two hundred degrees and rising in there. How long do you
boys think they can stand it?" Jack took an angry step towards
his sarcastic captor. Clark contained his anger by holding his
breath, then slowly releasing it to the count of ten. "Hey, hey,"
guffawed the guard, clearly relishing his job, "You boys seem a
little stressed. I think a workout will do you good."

He pointed to two bench press machines, located side by side.
They were not set up like normal weight machines. The weights
were suspended by a cable directly over the vertical bench,
rather than in a column behind it. Clark looked at Jack to see if
he noticed this irregularity. The look of confusion in his eyes
said that he had. At the guards' command, Clark and Jack
positioned themselves on their backs on the benches.

"Okay wimpo, " the guard jeered at Jack, "Let's see what you've
got. " He inserted the pin at the 150 pound mark. With a grunt,
Jack pressed the bar upwards. He bent his elbows to release the
weight. "Not so fast, sonny. Hold it there." Jack complied,
straining to hold his arms straight.

"You look like a strong one," the guard said to Clark. He set the
weight at 200, which Clark easily lifted. "A little too easy for
you, huh? Try this." He added a few more metal plates, upping the
total weight to 250. Clark realized he had little idea of what a
normal man would or wouldn't be able to press. He groaned and
exhaled sharply this time to appear that he was making an
effort.

"What is the purpose of this?" he angrily asked the
still-smirking guard, who hovered nearby with his two cohorts. In
answer, two of the guards simultaneously snapped handcuffs on
Clark and Jack, connecting them to the bars of the machine. They
then unhooked the cable from the weights, so that they were not
attached to anything. Clark noticed Jack's arms starting to
quiver as he realized their fate - if their arms gave out, the
weights would come crashing down on them. Grinning mercilessly,
the three guards backed out of the room, pointing their guns at
Clark and Jack until they exited. They slammed the door, then
locked it behind them.

"Oh, God," Jack whimpered, "We're gonna die." He looked to Clark
for encouragement.

"Jack, I ..." Clark started.

"You know," Jack interrupted, between gasps of air, "I had this
crazy, crazy idea that you were Superman."

Clark's brown eyes opened wide at Jack's confession.

"You don't know how much I wish you were."

"And if I was?" Clark tentatively asked, turning his face to read
Jack's expression. It was the face of a drowning man who had just
spotted a life preserver.

"Nobody else would ever know. I swear on my life."

Clark believed him - he had to. With a snap of his wrists, he was
free of the handcuffs. He jumped out from under the weights,
catching them in one hand before they fell.

"Jack, I'm sorry I didn't get you out of this sooner," he started
to say as he released Jack, "I just couldn't ..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Clark ... I mean, Superman," Jack replied,
as he noticed that Clark had somehow changed into the familiar
blue and red costume.

As he was freeing Jack, Clark caught snippets of the conversation
between Lois and Allison with his super-hearing:

"Lois, there's something I have to tell you," Allison said as she
fought back tears.

"I think Clark is super..."

"Superman!" Lois exclaimed, as Clark burst through the sauna
wall, leaving a cut-out of his shape in the wall.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked, running into the steam room
behind the red cape.

"We're fine," Lois answered in response to Jack's voice. "I can't
see a thing with all this steam! Where's Clark? Is he okay? "

"He's fine, Lois. He's right behind me."

"He's right behind you?" Allison echoed.

"Yep," said Clark, striding into the room as the steam began to
dissipate. He rushed to Lois and held her tightly in his arms.

"I guess my theory about Superman was all wrong, huh, Jack?"
Allison asked.

"I guess so," Jack answered, smiling at Clark.

Lois leaned against Clark as she said "I don't know what your
theory was, Allison. But you were right about one thing. Clark
*is* a super man."

THE END

(untitled.txt)