Lois Lane

Lois knew what it meant when Superman entered that chamber. She had seen it all before. His strength would be gone and his will would break. Then Zod would be the Supreme Being on the planet.

The tears flowed down Lois’ face as she saw the man she loved walk freely into the chamber one more time. Zod was now in full command. No one stood in his way. The woman standing behind her had her iron hand around her throat.

Suddenly something changed. Superman was lit in all white light, but the room around everyone started to glow an ominous red. The sound of roaring wind filled the chambers of the fortress of solitude. A gradual hum grew until it was pulsating all around the five that remained outside the chamber.

The hum died and the lights went back to normal. Superman emerged from the chamber.

“Now,” Zod said, “come and kneel before me.”

Superman walked over to Zod and kneeled.

“Take my hand,” he said, triumphantly.

Superman did as he was told. There was a cracking sound like wood crackling in a fire. An expression of extreme shock came over General Zod’s face. His mouth opened in a silent scream. Superman stood up and picked Zod up with one hand.

The monster of the three from Krypton jumped, his arms outstretched. His eyes went wide open as he fell into a crack in the ice, his grotesque scream fading into the fog. Superman shoved Zod and he flew across the fortress, hit the wall, and then joined the monster in the abyss.

Lois felt the hand around her neck go soft. She turned around to see a dumbstruck woman. She looked at her and said, “You know, you’re a real pain in the neck.”

With that Lois hauled off and hit her square in the face. The right hook was such a shock that the woman lost her footing. With a gut wrenching scream she fell into the crack.

Lex Luthor stood there for a moment trying to process the whole scene.

He started thinking out loud, “He was in there, and everything out here got red. He was safe in there and their powers were taken.”

Superman flew up to Lois and kissed her. He looked at Luther. “I knew you couldn’t resist a chance to turn on me.”

With a nervous laugh Lex said, “Hey, hey; Superman, buddy I was with you the whole time. Did you see how they walked into our trap?”

“Wrong, Luther!” Superman shouted.

Shortly thereafter Superman once again dropped Lex Luther off at the prison with his partner in crime Otis waiting for him.

“Glad to see you back, Mr. Luther,” Otis said with his fat cheeks pinched by his broad smile.

Lex looked at him and said, “Shut up, Otis.”

* * *

Lois saw Clark come into the office. She was a nervous wreck after all that had transpired the last day or two. She had fallen in love with the man she thought was the greatest hero the world had ever known. She saw him give up everything for her and for her selfish desires. He was willing to give up everything just to make her happy. How could she have asked him to do that? Clark was such a gentle soul, and she knew now that under those glasses and that bumbling exterior was that big “S” on his chest.

His eyes caught Lois. How could she even work with him knowing what she knows and doing what they did? How could she love Clark and not just Superman? Could she love both of the same person? Would she be safe if his identity was ever to be discovered?

Clark felt her warm hands going up his back and gently squeeze his neck.

He turned around to see her burning brown eyes looking up at him.

“I don’t want you to give everything up for me. You mean too much to too many people. I don’t want to share you but I can’t take you away from all of them.”

“Lois we need to think this through,” Clark said.

“I love you, Clark, and I don’t give a damn what anyone says.”

“I do,” Clark said, averting Lois’ gaze.

“What?”

Lois did not expect a rejection from a man that had pursued her the entire time they had known each other.

“If we were to get together I know in time people would try to get to you if they couldn’t get to me,” Clark’s blue eyes started to fill with tears. “I saw what would happen if someone tried to use you against me. I can’t risk that again. I love you too much.”

Lois pleaded with Clark, “We won’t let anyone know. Superman is Superman and you are wonderful, dear, mild mannered Clark Kent. The man I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

Clark felt a sharp sting in his chest when he heard her say those words.

“I swear I will not lose you again,” Lois said as she kissed his lips.

Everyone in the newsroom saw them kissing. Some whooped, some applauded, and some wolf whistled. Jimmy Olsen looked at the chief and said, “Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag, huh, chief?”

“Don’t call me chief! Get me some coffee!!”

* * *

Lex Luther was again in the sweat shop beside Otis. He was moving a large cart of laundry from one end of the hall to the other when a giant of a man stood in front of the cart. The big black man stood a good foot above Luther’s head.

“Time to pay,” the big man bellowed.

Many of the inmates knew that this time was coming. Since Luther had made his escape and left Otis and this giant behind, the giant vowed revenge.

“You left me here to wrought, you sum bitch! Now you are going to pay!”

The big guy threw the laundry cart over Luther. One hundred pounds of laundry cascaded over Luther’s body. The giant started bashing the laundry with his fists. Then he hit something hard. Not only hard but solid. He thought he had hit the cement floor. A burst of clothing, bed sheets, and other linens flew up from where Lex had been laying. Lex stood like a battering ram. The giant man stepped back five steps.

Lex was looking at his hands. He had a strange look on his face. The giant ran up and punched Lex right in the face. Lex fell to the floor, blood shooting out of his mouth. The giant man looked at his own hand. Where his third knuckle should have been there was a large gash. The white bone under the blood dripping from his hands was splintered and all about the wound. Lex stood up, wiped the blood off his chin and hit the giant. The man flew back twenty feet, his jaw completely dislocated and hanging limp from his face.

The guards quickly took the prisoners down. Lex looked at Otis. He gave him a wink as the prison guards took him away.

* * *

Lois hummed softly to herself as she felt the warm water caress her naked body. Three weeks had gone by since she moved in with Clark. She never thought that having a man in her life could be so comforting. She was always miss independent; never needed a man.

But Clark was so different from all the other men she had ever been with. He was so considerate, nice, and very affectionate. Hardly a night went by that they were not intimate. She smiled as the warm water washed the soap off of her body.

Suddenly she felt a twitch in her stomach.

Well, that is weird, she thought.

“Hey, sweetheart, we best get a move on before we are late,” Clark called from the bedroom.

“Clark, what day is it?”

“It’s Thursday,” he said.

“No, what is the date?”

“The 22nd,” he responded.

Silence.

Clark heard a faint cry for help.

“Someone is calling me!”

“Um, yeah, go ahead. I’ll meet you at the office.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”

There was a shudder of the windows and faint boom of thunder as Superman broke the sound barrier on his way to help someone in need.

Lois came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and walked directly into the living room and looked at the calendar.

“Twenty-second, and I had my last… Oh, when did I have my last…” she thumbed through the calendar.

“We were in Niagara Falls, then the fortress of solitude, and we… Oh, no. It can’t be.”

Lois sat on the ataman next to Clark’s rocking chair. She felt her stomach. She closed her eyes. “Could it be?” she said out loud.

“I feel like I did when Superman took me flying the first time. There is no possible way, is there that I can be- OH MY GOD!!”

Lois looked down and she was seven feet off of the floor. She was hovering above the ataman. Her eyes went wide as she fell. The towel that was wrapped around her chest fell to the floor, exposing her naked body. She looked up just as Superman came into the balcony window.

“My God, Lois, are you okay?”

“I was flying,” Lois stammered, half out of it.

“You were what?”

“Clark; I was flying. I was sitting there thinking about my period, next thing I knew I was bumping my head on the ceiling. I was flying.”

“Why were you thinking about your period?”

Clark realized why she was thinking about her period when his X-ray vision looked into her uterus. Two little masses were developing on the walls of her uterus. He smiled, then reality hit him.

“Oh, my God! You’re pregnant and you can fly!”

“Clark, I haven’t even been to the doctor yet.”

“Um, believe me, you are,” Clark pointed to his eyes.

“Sometimes you can take the fun out of things, you know that Clark?”

* * *

Lex Luther sat at the table with Otis in front of him. He was staring at his fork.

“Mr. Luther, why are you so concentrated on that fork?” Otis said between spoonful’s of a green substance.

“I’m conducting an experiment,” Luther said.

“What kind of- WOW!” Otis shouted as the spoon curled up in a red flame.

Lex Luther leaned back and said, “Success!”

The prison guard ran over when he saw the smoke from the spoon.

“What the hell is going on here?!” he shouted.

Lex stood up.

“I would like you all to know how wonderful you have all been to me and I will recommend this hotel to all my associates, but alack and alas it is time for me to leave.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Luther?” the guard asked as he made his way closer to him. Several other corrections officers took note and headed towards Lex. Otis was still shoveling food down his throat when Lex reached out and grabbed him. In an instant Otis was on his feet beside Lex.

“Adieu, adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow. Well, sorrow for you, but not for me!”

With that Lex leaped into the air. Otis screamed as the ceiling came hurling towards them. Otis closed his eyes as he heard a loud bang. He opened them to see daylight. The top of the prison was getting smaller and smaller as he looked at his boss.

“Wha- wha- how did, what happened, how did-“ Otis stammered.

“We were outside! Ha! Ha! We were outside and when the boy in blue took their powers away he gave them to ME!!”

Otis was dizzy. He looked up at his boss and said, “What are you talking about, Mr. Luther?”

“Let me see if I can get this through your puny little mind. When Superman had the three outlaws from Krypton at the fortress, I was outside the chamber and was exposed to the red sun beams from Krypton. It must have rendered the fugitives helpless while I got the powers!!”

“What about Lois Lane?”

Lex looked down at Otis.

“She must have them too,” Lex said.

“So where are we going, Mr. Luther?”

“I’m going to get revenge on Superman. And you’re going right here.”

“Where? AHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Lex let go of Otis.

Otis hit the ground with a thud.

Thirty minutes later, he woke up with a cow licking him in the face. Both his legs were broken and he had a terrible headache. A farmer was standing on the other side of the fence with a gun pointed at him.

Otis looked at the farmer and asked, “Could I trouble you for some Tylenol?”

He passed out.

* * *

Lex Luther had somehow hid from the authorities for a year, planning his attack on Superman. He knew the time was close. He had most of the powers of Superman, but he did not have his x-ray vision or complete invulnerability of bullets. They still penetrated his skin, but only a centimeter. He still bled. His strength was not as sustained as Superman’s was either. He could lift a car, but he still could not lift the wrought iron steel locomotive frame. He was using his powers, honing them for a fight that he knew was coming.

Lex could not hear as well as Superman either, but he could hear the cries from people needing help. He would fly to see what Superman would do.

He watched as Superman saved a bus of kids from a collapsing bridge. He watched him lift the bridge back and welded the iron with his eyes. He saw him rescue hostages from a terrorist bent on bombing the Empire State Building, as well as saving a man jumping from the John Hancock tower in Gotham.

“Achilles had a heel. I must find Superman’s. And then Superman will fall,” Lex said as he stood on the top of the freedom tower in Metropolis. “Superman will fall.”

* * *

“CLARK!!”

Lois’ time to have the babies was here. Clark broke the sound barrier as he ran across town to be at Lois’ side.

She shouted for Clark as the pain in her stomach grew. The babies felt like they were ripping her apart. What was she going to do? This was her first child and she was having twins. Twins that are half human and half alien. What were they going to be like? What was it going to be like if the children had their powers? Would they become just like Clark, or would they use their powers for evil.

All these thoughts were running through her mind as she walked into the hospital with Clark beside her. The nurses took her into the room. The OB nurse tried to put an IV in Lois’ arm. She looked up at the other nurse as the needle bent against her arm. It was like piercing porcelain.

Lois took a deep breath and focused on her arm. The needle slipped right in.

Clark was in the waiting room on the phone with his mother in Kansas.

“Mom, are you coming to see your grandbabies? I really wish you were here.”

“Clark, I would love to be with you. Has she had the babies yet?”

“No. I could come and pick you up. You want me to?”

“Oh, Clark. You need to be there with Lois.”

Martha turned around and Clark was standing behind her.

“Mom,” Clark said, “I want you to be with me. Come and see Lois and the babies.”

“Okay, just take it easy with me. You know I have arthritis.”

“And you know I could help you with that if you want me to.”

Two minutes later they were in Metropolis Health Center beside Lois. Lois was getting tired. She looked at Clark and said, “Is this how long it usually takes?”

He smiled and looked at Lois. “I don’t know; I’ve never seen a delivery.”

Lois felt the pains coming again. She pushed and as she did the bars on the side of the bed started to bend under her grip. A loud scream later and the first baby was born. It was a girl. She had dark hair just like Clark.

Twenty minutes later baby number two was born. Another girl. She had fine blond hair. Clark held both of his baby girls. They were the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He held them close as Lois slept.

Only a moment passed and the nurses took the babies to the nursery. Clark scooted his chair up next to Lois’ bed. He softly stroked her hair as she slept. He knew that there was a lot to be done with these babies. He thought about those who would try to hurt them if they knew they were Superman’s children. He loved this country, but he knew that the government would love to get their hands on him or on one of his kids.

Lois had developed several powers, but she did not have them all. The exposure to the red sun beams from Krypton that took away Zod’s powers must have given her some Kryptonian powers. He held her hand and kissed it. His mind started to wander back to that dreadful day he had to confront Zod.

His mind fixed on one particular moment in the fortress of solitude: Lex Luther. Lex Luther had escaped prison and was not heard from since. That was unusual for Luther. He was so driven by accolade and news coverage. Now he was a recluse. No one knew where he was.

Clark thought about Lois’ powers. What if Lex had those powers? He would be unstoppable. He shivered with the thought. After he took his mom to his house, he came back to Lois’ side. He laid his head on Lois’ chest and drifted off to sleep.