A/N - Wow. This has been a long time coming. I'm sorry it took me so long to get this up. I got a new position at my job and now have been working 40-50+ hours a week, so I have had a heck of a time finding time to write. Thank you to everyone who emailed me and msged me to make sure I was alive and kicking, this chapter is dedicated to you. And regarding this chapter.. it's busy. Very busy, a lot is going on. As Gandalf said in The Lord of the Rings, "The board is set, the pieces are moving..." that's what is happening right now in my story ;) I hope you enjoy it, and that it's not too much of a let down... be forgiving, after all I'm out of writing practice since its been more than 3 months since I last updated!

Special thanks to Cathy (as usual), Satiet, LostSchitzophrenic, and most especially, to my SO, without whom the Jason/Lois scene would have been impossible to conceptualize.

Here we go again!

“I’m going to check it out,” Clark announced, getting to his feet and tossing the file folder onto his desk.

Trish wasn’t surprised. It was the best lead they’d had since the abduction. In fact, it was the only lead, really. Standing, she reached out to catch his attention before he ran off, “Wait, what about Richard? Jimmy said he’d wait for Richard to call him back.” The girl paused, abruptly realizing something. “Hey, you’re not just going to leave me here, are you?”

A hint of a smile touched Clark’s lips as he quietly pointed out, “I can’t exactly take you with me, the way I’ll be traveling, can I?”

Blinking, Trish sheepishly laughed at herself. “Oh. Right, yeah I guess that wouldn’t work too well.”

“So, listen,” Clark pushed his glasses up on his nose, an odd expression on his face. “I guess you should go ahead and call Richard… but wait until after I leave, ok? Tell him, ah, tell him I went to do some research on Genetixx and that I’ll be in touch.”

Trish studied his face for a moment and then laughed with understanding, “Not used to explaining yourself, are you, before you head off to do… well whatever it is that you do.”

He shook his head with a smile in response, “Not really, no.” Clark hesitated before he confessed, “It’s kind of nice, actually. Having someone who cares enough to worry about me. Me Clark, that is.” A slight shrug lifted one shoulder, and in a dry voice, he added, “I doubt anyone worries about Superman. Well, unless he’s unconscious in the hospital. Or gone for years.”

“That’s what friends are for, right?” Trish grinned up at him, but her smile began to fade as she considered his words. Superman’s last run-in with Lex Luthor had not turned out well at all for the Man of Steel, and now there was a good chance that he’d be facing off with his arch enemy again. The girl was suddenly filled with deep sense of foreboding. Teary-eyed, impulsively she threw her arms around Clark in a hug.

Clark was shocked enough that he didn’t react at first. However after a moment he awkwardly returned the hug, patting her on the back before detaching himself with a nervous laugh. “Hey, part of my working here is not drawing attention to myself,” he reminded her gently.

“I know, I know,” Trish replied, her voice breaking and wiped away a tear that had spilled from her eyes. “It’s just… please be careful. Lex Luthor is evil, and he hates…” she caught herself just before she said ‘you’. “He hates Superman. Promise me you’ll be careful,” she demanded.

“I promise to try,” Clark solemnly vowed before heading toward the elevators.

Trish brushed the remaining tears from her damp cheeks as she watched him walk away, and slowly sank down into his chair. When she felt she had her emotions under control, she picked up the phone and dialed Richard White’s number. It rang two times before being picked up.

“Hello?” Richard’s voice was somewhat groggy sounding, as though he had just woken up.

“Mr. White?” Trish began, and then corrected herself, “Richard? This is Trish… Listen, uh, Jimmy called a few minutes ago and Lex Luthor and Kitty Kowalski finally left that house.”

There was a rustling, and Richard sounded far more awake when he spoke again. “Where’d they go?” he asked immediately.

“To a place called Genetixx Laboratories. At 3848 Webster Road, here in Metropolis,” Trish answered.

Richard was silent for a moment before he said slowly, “Genetixx Laboratories? Hang on, let me write it down.” It sounded like he put the receiver down, but it was only a few minutes before he picked it up and spoke again, “It’s on Webster road?”

The girl nodded, even though he couldn’t see her gesture, and repeated the address, “Yes. 3848 Webster road. One of Clark’s sources had actually just given us some information that pointed to the same place, actually. Hang on a sec…” Trish picked up the folder Bruce Wayne had brought by and flipped it open, skimming through the pages. “They deal with genetic research and development, gene manipulation, splicing, that kind of thing. The Vanderworth Foundation purchased it through a dummy corporation about 3 weeks ago.”

“Why would Luthor take them there…?” The man fell silent.

Trish and Richard both came to the conclusion simultaneously. “Jason.” If Luthor knew Jason was Superman’s son, there was no telling what kind of genetic experiments the child would be subjected to at his behest.

Breathless all of a sudden, Richard stated, “I’ve got to get down there… where’re Clark and Jimmy?” Dresser drawers opened and shut in the background.

“Well Clark left a few minutes ago,” Trish replied, suddenly a bit nervous as she related Clark’s message. “He said that he was going to do a little more research on Genetixx, and that he’d be in touch. Jimmy’s waiting to hear back from you on what to do next. I think he’s still hanging around outside the lab.”

“Call Jimmy and tell him I’ll be there as fast as I can...” Richard started to say, then changed his mind. “No wait, I’ll call him myself. He’s got his camera, right?”

“Jimmy never goes anywhere without his camera,” Trish said with a grin. There were few certainties in life, but that was one of them. “When will you be by to pick me up?”

Richard hesitated before answering, “I won’t be by. Trish, this could get dangerous, and there’s no way I’m going to bring you into a situation where you could get hurt, or worse. Hell, I shouldn’t even be asking Jimmy to come along.”

The girl immediately protested, “But Richard, come on, you can’t just leave me behind. I want to know what happens, are Lois and Jason there, is that really where Lex Luthor has been this whole time…”

“Well you’re just going to have to wait to find out,” Richard interrupted, his voice firm.

Trish bit her lip, instinctively realizing that nothing she said would change his mind. The phone receiver was beginning to hurt her ear, she had it pressed so closely against the side of her head.

Richard took a deep breath and said in a softer tone, “Trish, I know you are trying to help. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I’m sorry.” He hung up before she could say anything else.

Slowly, deliberately, Trish put the phone back on the receiver and stared at it. Even though she knew Richard was right, that it could get dangerous, she couldn’t stifle the eternal teen lament that was resounding in her head. It’s just wasn’t fair. It wasn’t ok for Trish to go, but Jimmy got to go. And he was only a few years older than she was.

The girl gave into the urge to sulk, crossing her arms and rocking back in Clark’s chair, rotating it around and glaring at nothing in particular. Her angry stare fell on Lois Lane’s desk, and her scowl deepened. She was willing to bet that Richard had never once tried to tell Lois what she could or couldn’t do. Like it would have done him any good if he had. If I were Lois Lane, Trish thought to herself, nothing in the world would stop me from getting a story.

Thoughtful now, she rotated the chair back around to face Clark’s desk. Both Lois and Jason probably thought she was dead. That was the worst part of not being able to go, that she wouldn’t be there to see Lois, and especially Jason, when Superman saved them.

Trish took a deep breath and reached out to pick up the phone again, this time to call a cab.

It’d been almost a month since the Newhart Federal Bank had been robbed by four men armed not just with automatic weapons, but the helicopter-mounted Gatling gun. Repairs were still being made to the building’s façade, but the interior was finished at least, and from Monday to Friday, it was business as usual. Today was Saturday afternoon though, and the bank was closed for the weekend. Even the street around the bank was fairly quiet, though the occasional cab or car passed by behind them.

A sleek white Mustang Shelby GT500 with black stripes on the hood pulled up in front of the bank and parked the Handicapped zone. The driver’s side door opened, and a short and heavily tattooed Hispanic man got out of the vehicle and looked up at the front of the bank. “Buenos noches, mi senorita…” Diego drawled out.

Cedric’s flashed a smile as he got out of the Ford, shutting the car’s door with a casual swing. The door frame buckled in and the window shattered, spilling safety glass out onto the ground. “Dammit!” He paused for a moment, meeting Diego’s accusing stare. “Sorry man… but it ain’t like you won’t be able to get you ‘nother one in a few minutes,” the black man pointed out, gesturing at the bank.

Diego’s face twisted with anger for a moment, but then he grinned suddenly, tugging on his eyebrow piercing. “You know what? You’re right… Who cares, anyway… ain’t like I’m going to be driving from here on out anyway, is it?”

“That’s for damn sure,” Cedric growled out, walking toward the bank. When he got to the foot of the stone steps, he leapt to the top of the stairs, vaulting over all fifteen of them in one easy jump. “I’ve always heard flying is safer than driving anyway.” Glancing over his shoulder at Diego, his eyebrows raised as he noticed Diego still standing by the Shelby. “Hey man, you coming?”

The Hispanic man bent down and in one quick movement, effortlessly lifted the Shelby above his head and threw it toward bank’s glass doors. Cedric ducked as the car sailed over him and crashed into lobby of the bank. Immediately, multiple alarms begin to blare from both inside and outside the bank. Incredulously, the black man looked at Diego, who was now standing beside him and dusting his hands off.

“Never did like that color anyway,” Diego commented with a wicked grin, and strolled into the bank. “Red’s more my style.”

“I heard that!” Cedric smirked in response, pausing in the lobby to pry a mangled piece of metal from the door frame with his hands, and rested it on his shoulders as though it were a baseball bat. “Let’s get it on!”

Meanwhile on the opposite side of Metropolis, Lois Lane yawned with boredom as she lounged in the recliner in front of the television in her quarters at Genetixx Laboratories, a remote control held loosely in her hand. Jason quietly colored with a red crayon at the coffee table, looking up now and again at the TV screen, where the Backyardigans were off on another imaginary adventure, singing and dancing their way through the ‘Heart of the Jungle’.

It had been more than two days since Lex Luthor had seen fit to grace them with his presence, but Lois knew better than to view that as a good sign. In fact, she and Jason had been left almost completely alone in that same time period. Not even Dr. Avaira or the Battleaxe had been by, which surprised her to no end. She had fully expected that the geneticist would attempt numerous experiments on Jason as it seemed that they were aware of the boy’s unique heritage, but she had seen little of the scientists since the day the DNA samples were taken.

The only times the door had opened in the past two days was when their meals and snacks were delivered. And it was always the same one of Lex’s thugs who brought them their meals. The grim-faced man known as Galloway had flat merciless stare that would have done a mako shark justice. He never spoke to them as he carried in the trays of food and set them on the coffee table, but his attention was invariably fixed upon Jason. What puzzled her about that was how Galloway’s expression and mannerisms around the boy could be described no other way than respectful, almost to the point of reverence.

Galloway terrified her in a completely different way than Brutus from The Gertrude had, Brutus, who had watched Jason with a predatory gleam in his hungry blue eyes. And so whenever she heard the doorknob turn, Lois immediately gathered Jason into her arms and held him tightly on her lap, her face tense and wary. Luckily Galloway was rarely in the room for more than a minute or two, but even so…

On the television, the children’s show finally came to a happy ending, cutting to a commercial. As the screen began to fill with the latest ‘Spiderman 3’ teaser, Jason found it interesting enough that he completely stopped coloring so he could watch it.

Another yawn escaped Lois and she adjusted her seat, stretching briefly before tucking her legs up under her and resting an elbow on the arm rest. “Honey, Mommy needs a break from Nickelodeon for a bit, so I’m going to watch the news, okay?” The boy didn’t respond, his attention still fixated on the Spiderman trailer. When it ended, Lois flicked the remote, changing the channel to one of the major news networks, as Jason carefully moved his latest drawing to the side and picked out a clean sheet of paper and began a new drawing.

A few minutes passed, during which Lois was caught up on the day’s news. There was no mention of her kidnapping. Instead, there was news about a tornado that had hit in Missouri, oil prices on the rise again, another congressional scandal… the same old, same old, in other words.

“Mommy?” Jason spoke without looking up from his coloring as he exchanged a brick red crayon for midnight blue. The plain red and blue crayons had been worn down to little more than nubs of wax the day before from overuse.

Lois responded absently, “Yes, honey?” flipping the station to different news channel. A slight grimace appearing on her face as she considered again how many great news scoops she’d likely missed out on since being taken captive.

“Did I get bitten by a spider?”

It took a moment for his question to sink in, and Lois straightened in her easy chair, lowering the remote control before facing Jason. “Did you get bitten by a spider?” she repeated, not quite sure she had heard him correctly.

Guileless blue eyes met hers as Jason nodded, holding up his latest drawing. Not of Superman, this one, but of Spiderman, the blue spider design clearly visible on the red costume. “Yeah, you know. Like Spiderman. That’s how he got to be Spiderman, remember?” he explained. “The spider bit him and then he got stronger than everyone else. Did a spider bite me, and that’s why I can be so strong?”

Lois found herself truly at a loss for words, which was quite a unique experience for her, since she was someone who was a quick thinker, always ready with a response or a question. It’s part of what made her such a good reporter. Her mouth opened, closed, and after a long pause, she managed to answer, “No, sweetie.”

Jason considered her response, lowering the Spiderman drawing, smoothing his fingers over the waxy feel of crayon on paper. “Do I turn green when I get mad then, like the Incredible Hulk?” His expression cleared as he spoke as if a puzzle piece had just fallen into place. “I bet I do! The Hulk is only strong when he gets really mad, or scared. Like me. All the other times he’s just a person.” His gaze fell back down to the crayons spread out on the table, and small fingers riffled through them in search of the perfect shade of Hulk green.

Taking a deep breath, Lois closed her eyes briefly before she opened them again and rose to her feet. She walked over to kneel behind Jason and wrapped her arms around him from behind, giving him a hug as she spoke hoarsely, “No sweetie. You don’t turn green when you get mad.”

The small frame in her arms slumped in dejection before he set down the ‘Screaming Green’ crayon he had selected and turned to face her, drawing back slightly. Jason’s face was worried now as he asked, “Am I going to turn into a big rock like the Thing?” Barely had that question been asked before it was followed by another, and then another, each one coming faster than the one before. “Will I grow metal skin like the metal man in X-men? Or grow long claws like Wolverine? Or turn blue and furry? Will I have wings? Can I make it rain when I want? Or walk through walls? Or turn myself invisible, or be a boy on fire, but who never gets burned?” He was breathless by the time he stopped, looking up at her expectantly.

Tears burned behind Lois’ eyes at the rush of words and she bit her lip, trying to keep her composure in the face of Jason’s confusion and uncertainty. She could do little more than shake her head ‘No’ to all of his questions. She didn’t know how else to react. It was impossible to comprehend the best way to explain to her five year old son the reason for his superhuman strength was because the only father he had ever known wasn’t really his father. Jason was a very bright boy, but even so, was he really old enough, ready enough to know the truth surrounding his parentage?

Jason’s lower lip quivered and his own eyes filled with tears of disappointment. “Why?”

Why indeed. The ‘Why?’ question was Jason had asked virtually every single day since he’d been old enough to talk. And yet, never before had Lois Lane felt more incapable of answering that question in a way she was sure he would understand.

Finally, raising her hands to cup around his small face, Lois smiled tenderly as she explained, “Because… you’re different from them. You’re special.” She hesitated before continuing, “Spiderman, Hulk, Wolverine…. They’re not real.” Lovingly, her fingers brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead, “You are.”

Jason’s blue eyes were bright with emotion as he nodded solemnly, mustering the barest hint of a smile before he threw his arms around his mother’s neck in a hug she gladly returned, kissing the top of his head.

The door rattled a fraction of a second before flying open, and Lex Luthor strolled in, followed moments later by Kitty and Galloway, who closed the door behind them.

“Why Lois Lane, I’m completely shocked,” Lex’s smile was sly and knowing as he looked between the reporter and her son. “Have you been keeping secrets from your own son?”

Lois drew in a quick breath and her eyes darted up to one of the cameras in the room. It was pointed directly at her and Jason. Usually she was hyper-aware of the cameras, but with so much of her attention focused on Jason and his questions, she’d completely forgotten about them. As she got to her feet, the little boy disentangled himself from her arms and took her hand in his much smaller one, quietly looking up at the bald man. “What do you want?” she asked tightly.

Lex made a tsking sound, giving a rueful shake of his head. “Lois, Lois… you disappoint me so! A Pulitzer prize winning reporter like yourself being so selfish with information that you aren’t even willing to let your son in on what is probably one of the biggest news stories in the world.” That scheming grin reappeared on his face as he added, “I’d say the truth about his parentage would be THE biggest news story, but I will be the one taking that honor here shortly.”

That sounded ominous, Lois thought, her grip on Jason’s hand tightening. What could possibly be a bigger story than the world finding out Superman had a son? “What are you up to now?” she demanded, glaring at Lex.

“Me?” Lex was the picture of innocence as he lightly touched his hand to his chest, “Why Ms. Lane, I’m just doing what I always do. Planning ahead for the future. MY future.” That calculating smirk returned, and he gestured at the television screen, “However, if you find yourself wondering what that entails, all you have to do is watch the news. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Kitty squirmed, adjusting the ridiculous broad brimmed hat she wore as Lex spoke. Shifting Pommy from her right arm to her left as she wandered around the couch to get a closer look at some of Jason’s drawings. She bent down, moving some of the papers aside to view more of them. Sure, there were pictures of Superman, but there just as many pictures of ‘Mommy, Daddy and Me’. The slender woman picked up one of the latter and looked from it to Jason, and then quietly said to Lois, “He really doesn’t know, does he?”

Lois’ gaze slid from Lex over to Kitty, but she had carefully schooled her expression and it remained blank at the question.

“A boy should know who his father is,” Galloway rasped without warning, his grey eyes fiery with emotion, instead of being the flat dull shade Lois had grown accustomed to.

Jason frowned at Galloway, “I do know who my daddy is. His name is Richard. Richard White.”

Lex snickered at that and said in the familiar children’s sing-song taunt, “I know something you don’t know, I know something you don’t know….”

Lois tensed, her eyes pleading with Lex to say nothing further, for all the good it would probably do.

The red Pomeranian in Kitty’s arms wiggled once, and that was enough for him to drop to the floor. Panting happily, he trotted across the room to Lois and Jason, sniffing first the woman and then the boy. Child and dog locked eyes for a brief moment, and then the dog reared up, prancing around on his feet and waving his paws furiously in a bid to get attention. Jason hesitated before extending his hand toward the dog.

Lex Luthor fell silent as the dog left Kitty’s arms and he actually backed a half a step away from the furry little animal.

“Don’t touch it, Jason,” Lois immediately ordered.

The boy’s hand froze and he tilted his head to look up at her. “Why?”

“Because he…” Lois pursed her lips, trying to think of a more reasonable excuse than ‘because he’s Lex’s girlfriend’s dog’. “… because you’re allergic to dogs,” she finally replied. “Remember how the last time you tried to pet a dog, you had an asthma attack?”

Jason scowled at that, “Am not. I’m not allergic to anything anymore. And I don’t have asthma either.” Defiantly, he reached out to pat Pommy gently on the head, and earned some licks from the little animal in response. He giggled suddenly, tugging his other hand free from his mother’s to scratch at his palm. “His tongue tickles.” A hint of wonder on his face, Jason scratched the dog under the chin. “He likes me.”

Lex had lost any semblance of humor during this interchange, his eyes darting warily between the little dog and the boy. “Kitty…” he spoke slowly, his tone carrying a note of warning. And uneasiness.

Kitty, who had been standing there open mouthed watching, started as he spoke her name. She knelt down and made kissing sounds, “Pommy, come here, boy…” trying to persuade the dog to return to her.

The door abruptly burst open, and a nervous and sweaty Dr. Elias Avaira poked his head in. The geneticist hastily closed the door to the soundproof room behind him before blurting out, “He’s here!”

Dog immediately forgotten, Lex focused all of his attention on Dr. Avaira, and Galloway stiffened almost imperceptibly. “He’s here? What do you mean by ‘here’? Like here, in the building?”

Avaira’s mouth gaped open and then snapped shut as he shook his head, “No… not yet. External cameras have caught sight of him flying around the building though… do you think… I mean….” His eyes darted toward Lois and Jason, “Do you think he knows they’re here?”

Lois knew they could only be talking about one person. Superman had finally found them, and it was about time. She couldn’t stop a broad smile from appearing on her face and bent down to take Jason’s hand again. “It won’t be much longer before we get to go home,” she whispered to him.

The boy gave the little Pomeranian a final pat before grinning up at his mother. “See, I told you so…”

Pommy gaily trotted back to Kitty and allowed himself to be picked up and tucked under her arm again.

Ignoring Lois, Lex waved a hand dismissively as he said to Dr. Avaira, “He suspects it, but he doesn’t know it for certain. If he knew for sure, he’d rip this building apart to find her and the boy.” The bald man winked at the geneticist, “If I know anything, it’s that Superman is not going to break the law by breaking and entering unless he knows for sure they are here.” He glanced at the Rolex on his wrist, “Besides, it’s just a matter of time, now.”

“A matter of time? Until what? Until Superman pulls this place down around your ears?” Lois lifted her chin in challenge, and Jason moved around to stand in front of her, staring up at Luthor.

As if on cue, a cell phone rang, and Lex beamed. “For that.” He flicked open the phone and spoke into the receiver, “What?!” He paused, looking around the room as whoever was on the other end spoke, “It’s about time, he’s here…” Irritation flickered across the bald man’s face, “Well he was here… Look I don’t care, just keep him busy.” He snapped the phone shut, ending the conversation.

Suddenly their rescue didn’t seem quite so eminent, and Lois put her hands on Jason’s shoulders reassuringly as she informed Lex, “If you’ve set some kind of trap for Superman, he’ll never fall for it. There’s no way I’m going to let you use us as bait…”

A sharp laugh escaped Lex Luthor, and he waved his finger at her chidingly, “Ms. Lane, Ms. Lane.…As always, you still underestimate me. However, unlike you, I see the big picture.” He sauntered over to the door, pulling it open before he turned back to give her that smirk she had grown to hate, “And Superman will not be in it for much longer.”