Superman Movieverse Forum

Chapter Ten

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"Alright, now I'm going up to see your Uncle Perry, okay?" Chloe told Skye as they pulled into the Daily Planet parking lot. She continued without waiting for an answer. "Now your Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Sarah aren't here today so do you think you'll be okay just sitting at you Dad's desk for a while?" Skye nodded but remained silent.

They got out and headed up to the bullpen. They must have been even later than Chloe thought because they had the lift to themselves. Skye watched the numbers change with unusual intensity. Chloe was starting to be worried by the usually energetic girl’s silence, she hoped it was just because she hadn’t gotten much sleep last night and not due to worry. Skye was too young to be burdened with things like that.

There was a ‘ding’ as the doors opened to reveal the chaos of the Daily Planet. It was strange how relaxed Chloe became when she stepped from the quietness of the lift into the loud rush of the bullpen. But there was a familiarity in the raised voices and hurried footsteps, it was comforting to know that life had continued outside the sterile walls and tense atmosphere of the hospital.

“Okay,” Chloe said as they reached Clark’s empty desk, Skye climbed into the seat and Chloe knelt down so she was at the same level, “I’m just going to be in Uncle Perry’s office, come straight in in you need anything. Okay?” She waited for Skye to show that she had heard but her attention was elsewhere.

“Are they waiting for Daddy?” She asked softly. Chloe followed her gaze to one of the TVs on the wall which showed an aerial picture of the crowd outside the hospital.   

She nodded, “They sure are. See how many people are thinking of him and want him to get better?” She smiled reassuringly, “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Skye didn’t look too convinced. “Do they want Jason to get better too?” she asked.

Chloe sighed, “They don’t know about Jason sweetie,” She reminded her, “but I’m sure if they did they’d want him to get better just as much as they want you Dad to get better.” She smiled again, being careful to keep her voice low enough that they weren’t heard by passing reporters. “Now are you going to be okay while I talk to your Uncle Perry?” This time Skye nodded and started to get her Nintendo out of the bag she had bought.

Chloe wasn’t usually too worried about leaving her in the bullpen, Skye, like her brother, had almost grown up in at the Planet and there was barely a person on the staff who didn’t know her. However, today she would have to keep an eye on the news in case something came out about Superman‘s condition that could cause Skye to react in a suspicious way. She was careful but she was still only six and she was already behaving far quieter than usual. Maybe Claire Ivans would bring her twins in shortly and the kids could play together, that would take Skye’s mind off the news.

“Sullivan!” A loud yell interrupted her musings and snapped her back to the present. Perry’s head was stuck out his office door and her was glaring at her, “Are you going to come or not?”

“Coming,” she called, glancing back at the too-quiet Skye one last time before heading into Perry’s office. “Where is he?” she asked in surprise when she saw that Perry was to only one in the office.

“He’s in one of the conference rooms telling everything to Jimmy,” Perry explained, “I didn’t want to have to call him back in but I couldn’t see any other choice. As far as I‘m aware he‘s the only other one who knows everything already.”

“Yeah, he does.” Chloe nodded. “But speaking of knowing things…” she trailed off and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Perry laughed. “I’m insulted,” he said, shaking his head, “I’ve been a reporter for over thirty years, I may be getting older but I’m still sharp enough to know exactly who’s working for me.”

Chloe had to admit he was right, she’d never known the man to be caught by surprise in the five years she had worked there. He hadn’t even raised an eyebrow when Lois had announced they were expecting three babies instead of one. She quickly recovered from her surprise and moved onto the more pressing matter. “So what are we going to do?” she asked, glancing nervously towards the conference room.

“Well, we’re not printing this story, that’s for sure,” Perry told her, “but we need to stop him from taking this story to another paper, especially some rag like the Star. That’s why I called you, Dr. Marlin told me you’d brought Jason straight to him instead of calling an ambulance, I’m assuming you did that because you’ve got something on him and you hoped it’d be enough to guarantee his silence.”

Perry gave her a questioning look and Chloe was slightly relieved to see his seemingly omnipotent powers didn’t stretch to mind reading, although she honestly wasn’t sure she’d be surprised if they did. “He was cheating on his wife,” she explained, “I found out when I was looking into those budget cuts he was working on last year.”

Perry’s head snapped up. “He worked on the hospital’s budget cuts last year?” he asked sharply, with a familiar gleam in his eye. “The same budget cuts that mysteriously lost over one million dollars?”

“Yeah,” Chloe frowned, not quite sure what Perry was getting at, “but he can’t have been involved in that, the police investigation was meticulous and he came out clean.”

“Maybe he wasn’t,” Perry agreed, “but it certainly wouldn’t help his career or his credibility if a very reliable source said he was.”

Chloe felt her jaw drop, “Chief, you can’t be thinking what I think your thinking,” she said in disbelief.

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“Well, I don’t know what the cause for concern is,” Dr. Heath said, looking at the ultrasound image, “but all I see are three perfectly healthy babies.”

“Oh, thank God.” Lois leaned back and closed her eyes, sighing with relief. She felt Richard relax beside her as well.

Dr. Heath smiled and started putting away the equipment, “So,” she began, “where’s Clark? He hasn’t missed a single one of these appointments.” She laughed, “sometimes I think he’s more excited about this than most of the mothers I get in here.”

It was an innocent enough question but Lois’s heart still gave a jump in her chest, “Oh,” she said, trying to sound natural, “he’s just feeling a bit under the weather lately, he’s decided to keep his distance for a while.”

“Oh, is that what you’re worried about? You think Clark could somehow make the babies ill?” Dr. Heath seemed surprised. “Well, I can tell you that there is almost no chance of that happening, even if you got sick it would have to be very bad to affect the triplets, I’ve seen women come in here with all sorts of flus and viruses, convinced that their baby is somehow going to catch it too but believe me, it almost never happens.”

“Almost?” Lois asked nervously, “So it could happen?”

“It won’t,” Richard told her before Dr. Heath could reply, “Lois, look the kids are fine now and you’ve been around Clark a lot more than Jason lately.”

“Oh, is Jason sick too?” Dr. Heath asked. She had developed a soft spot for the boy during Lois’s pregnancy with Skye and enjoyed seeing how excited the future big brother had been. “Well, I have another appointment now but you tell both of them I hope they get better real soon, okay?”

“Well, she kicked us out of there quickly,” Lois commented as they took the elevator back up to where Clark and Jason were.

“Well, you can’t blame her, we were the ones that rescheduled, not her,” Richard reasoned. “And it’s pretty hectic in here right now, the police are doing security checks on everyone that goes in or out.”

“She still could’ve been nicer about it,” Lois snapped, clearly determined to be annoyed. “Have you heard anything from Chloe?”

“Not since I talked to her last night, I’ll go out and check my cell after we’ve checked in with Dr. Higgins.”

“So you haven’t heard anything from him either?” Lois asked, twisting around in her wheelchair to look at him.

“I was just with you and I can’t have my cell on, why would I know more than you do?” Richard replied, raising his eyebrows.

“Because you weren’t asleep in the on-call room for the last eight hours.” She turned again to glare at him.

"Actually," he corrected her, "I was alseep in the on-call room for seven of those hours, I helped you to bed- and don't glare at me, you were practically asleep already- then I went to bed in the bunk above you before getting up to talk to Dr. Higgins an hour before you did."

"So you did talk to him," Lois stated triumphantly.

Richard sighed. "I did, and we need to talk about something but I think it'll be better and make a lot more sense if he tells you."

“What’s it about?” she asked, fear curling around her chest, “Did something happen to Clark and Jason?”

“Not exactly.” He frowned, “They’re fine for the moment, it actually has to do with Skye- I mean she's fine too,” he added hastily as Lois started turned around again, looking shocked. “I think it’s better if he told you though, he can answer your questions better.”

“Why are we getting off here?” Lois asked as the lift stopped at a different floor from the one Clark and Jason were on.

“Dr. Higgins has moved his notes down here,” Richard explained, keeping his voice low as they passed several other people, “they’ve increased the security on Clark’s floor and it‘s easy enough to explain one visit as getting a story and our extended stay in the hospital can be attributed to your risky pregnancy, we can always make up something about how they wanted to keep you under observation. But people are going to start ask questions if you keep returning to see him, especially when your husband is supposedly ill as well. I know Dr. Higgins trusts all the doctors and nurses he assigned to keep their mouths shut but there‘s still the security personnel to worry about. And not to mention the possible danger to the triplets, they may be perfectly fine now but why risk it?”

Lois didn’t reply, as much as she wanted to argue and be as close to her husband and son as possible she could see that Richard had several valid points.

“So what’s all this about Skye, then?” she asked, changing the subject. Lois could put up with being pushed around a hospital like an old woman by her ex, but she hated to admit someone else was right.

“Dr Higgins thinks he might need her to help find the nanites,” Richard told her as he pushed the wheelchair into the Chief’s temporary office.

“Where is he?” Richard asked no one in particular as he looked around the empty office, “he said he was going to be… here,” he finished just as the man in question walked in, closing the door firmly behind him.

Lois could tell the man had gotten little sleep last night, his hair was unbrushed, his eyes had bags under them and his face had lines that hadn’t been there yesterday. He was also wearing the same clothes as the previous day but Lois could talk- both her and Richard we the same.

“Oh, my.” Dr. Higgins shook his head as he sat down. “I was just downstairs- it’s absolute chaos out there. I had to give them information to give to the press and because of the crowds outside we’re having to divert all by the most urgent cases to St. Mary’s or Bakerline Central. And the police are searching everyone who goes in or out. Most of the on call rooms were full with people who thought it was too much trouble to go through to get to or from work.”

“You made a press release?” Lois pounced on the first part of Dr. Higgin’s ramble.. “What did you say?” she asked, narrowing her eyes almost unnoticeably but enough to convey her meaning.

“Miss Lane, I meant what I said about your son,” he assured her, “very few people know he’s here and the ones that do only about three know why. And I’m the only one that knows who his father is.”

Lois relaxed slightly, satisfied that he was telling the truth. Richard slid into a seat next to her and repeated her question, “So what did you tell them then?”

“I told them the truth- that Superman was in a serious condition but we had a good idea on what had caused it and were working towards, well, making him better.”

“Making him better?” Lois asked, surprised at hearing a phrase like that from the usually wordy man.

He shrugged. “It’s easier for the general public to understand,” he said with just a hint of superiority.

Lois and Richard shared an amused look before Lois cut straight to her questions. “What this Richard was telling me about Skye being able to help?”

“Ah, yes,” Dr. Higgins shuffled a few papers but it seemed to be more something for his hands to do as he didn’t pull out anything before he folded his hands and continued. “I need a sample of Skye’s blood, I believe it may help us more accurately pin-point exactly where in Clark and Jason’s bodies the nanites are.”

“How?” Lois asked, “and try and speak English this time,” she warned, tired of the medical babble.

“Well,” Dr Higgins started, frowning as he tried to put it in words Lois and Richard could understand. “I suppose the simplest way to say it is, while we know the nanites are there and we can detect them, we can’t find them.”

“Okay, maybe a little more information then,” Lois conceded, “What do you mean you can’t find them and what does that have to do with Skye? She hasn‘t been sick.”

“Exactly.” Dr Higgins nodded. “From her we can get a completely clean sample of Kryptonian blood. Well, half human, half Kryptonian blood but it’s the only choice we have.”

“What good will that do?” Lois asked, glancing nervously from Dr. Higgins to Richard and back again.

“It will help us figure out what parts of Clark and Jason’s blood samples are normal for Kryptonians and which parts are not, i.e. which parts contain the nanites.”

“Can’t you find them under a microscope? Just look for the little machines that are slowly killing them,” Lois suggested.

“It’s not that easy, Lois,” Richard said, drawing her attention. “These nanites are just small or even microscopic they’re… they’re…” He frowned. “Nanoscopic,” he explained.

“That’s not a word,” Lois muttered, narrowing her eyes.

“Well it should be,” Dr Higgins said, coming to Richard’s defence. “The nanites are far to small to be seen by any instruments we have on Earth. To be sure we know exactly where these nanites are in their bodies we need an untainted sample of blood to compare it to. Clearly we can‘t get untainted Kryptonian blood but Kryptonian/human blood will help with Jason and it may be good enough for Clark as well.”

“May be good enough?” Lois asked sceptically. “And besides, Skye’s invulnerable now, how do you expect to be able to draw blood?” the men’s silence gave her the answer. “Oh, no.” She shook her head. “There is no way you are exposing her to kryptonite. She’s six,” Lois cried, looking at Richard and Dr. Higgins like they were crazy.

“Lois,” Richard was the one who spoke this time, “I reacted like that when Dr. Higgins first told me but it may be our only chance. It would only be a very small amount for a very short time.”

Lois was silent for a very long time. She was torn, on one hand if this could save the lives of her husband and son was saving her daughter a little bit of pain worth what she was denying them. On the other hand Clark had once described Kryptonite as being the most awful thing he’d ever felt.

“How bad are they?” she asked finally, “Clark and Jason, how much worse did they get overnight?” Richard and Dr. Higgins shared another look, confirming Lois’ suspicions that Richard had been lying to her earlier. “Tell me the truth,” she demanded.

Dr. Higgins pretended to find a particular spot on the wall behind her very interesting as he explained, “Clark stopped breathing around 2.28am, he had to be put on a respirator. We’ve also been detecting more arrhythmias in both of them, we have no idea what they mean or why they’re happening but they’re still identical times apart from the moment they fell ill.”

“How long before Jason needs a respirator?”

“Soon,” Richard took over again, Lois knew he thought it would be easier to hear if it came from him but she didn’t think anything could make this easier.

She nodded, closing her eyes and silently hoping her little girl would understand. “Call Chloe,” she told Richard, “tell her to bring Skye here.”
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