The Immortal

By SkipD

Clark and Lois had just finished their lunch at Ralph's Pagoda
and were on their way back to the Planet when the accident
happened. Lois noticed the impending crash, and when she turned
to her partner to warn him, he had already disappeared. The
whooshing sound that came immediately after did not surprise
her.

A man who looked to be in his thirties had crossed in front of a
Metropolis Transit System bus, and the bus driver had swerved to
try and avoid him. Clark, now in his red and blue Spandex suit,
had to try to save either the busload of people as the bus was
threatening to tip over, or the man who had not been paying
attention. To Lois it seemed there was no real choice, as
Superman flew along the side of the bus and uprighted it. Then
came the sickening thud as the bus hit the pedestrian.

Lois saw what had happened and as soon as Clark had the bus
stopped, she ran out to check on the accident victim. "Superman,
that man is still under the bus. If you lift the bus up, I'll
drag him out."

Clark knew that this was probably the best course of action, and
lifted the front end of the bus before any of the passengers
could get off. Lois grabbed the injured man by the arms and
pulled him out as Clark held the bus aloft.

"OK, Superman, I think he's clear now. You can let the bus
down."

Lois was breathing heavy from the exertion of dragging the body
out from under the bus. Clark immediately scanned the body with
his x-ray vision to see what damage had been done. As he started
his scan, the injured man started to move. "Miss Lane, please see
if you can keep the patient still while I check for internal
injuries."

Lois noticed that Clark's voice appeared strange, and she
couldn't understand why. As Superman was doing his scan, the
crowd that had gathered was parted by the paramedics that had
arrived.

"I don't see any serious internal injuries. You should be able to
move him and get him to the emergency room."

Again Lois noticed a touch of surprise in her husband's voice.
While the paramedics checked their patient and prepared him for
transport, Clark took Lois to the side.

"Lois, there was something funny about the person that was run
over. I don't want to discuss it here, so I'll talk to you back
at the Planet."

Just then one of the EMS techs came up to let Superman know that
they were heading to Metropolis General, and to thank him for his
help.

"You should thank Miss Lane as well. She is the one who pulled
the man from under the bus while I held it up. Lois, I have to
get back to my patrol, but I wanted to thank you for your help."

"Thank you for being there, Superman. I wouldn't have been able
to get to him if you weren't there to lift the bus off him."

With that, Clark turned and lifted off into the sky.

Later, as Lois was sitting at her desk, Clark came up behind her
and put his hands on her shoulders. Lois looked up from her
computer and saw that Clark was in one of his serious moods.

"Lois, come with me. There's something I need to talk to you
about."

Lois knew it had to do with the accident earlier that afternoon,
but she wasn't sure what was on Clark's mind. As they entered the
conference room, Clark closed and locked the door. "So, what
happened out there today?" Lois was waiting for Clark to answer.

"Lois, when I stopped that bus, I tuned my superhearing in to see
if I could detect a heartbeat from the accident victim. No matter
how hard I tried, I couldn't find a heartbeat. Then, after you
pulled him out from under the bus, his heart started beating
again. This guy just came back from the dead."

"Clark, people have been known to have their hearts stop, and
then start again, even after they have been declared legally
dead."

"I know that, Lois. The thing about this one was that not only
did his heart start beating again on its own, but as I was
scanning him with my x-ray vision, I could actually see his body
heal."

Lois knew that Clark wasn't infallible, but she found it hard to
believe that a man's body could heal itself. "Clark, why don't we
go down to Metropolis General and do a follow-up story on the
accident victim. Maybe we can check with the doctors to see if
they can explain what you saw."

Clark knew Lois was on to something, and he quickly agreed that a
trip to the hospital to interview the accident victim was the
first logical step.

When they reached the hospital, Lois walked up to the front desk
and addressed an older lady who was standing there. "Pardon me,
I'm Lois Lane and this is my partner, Clark Kent. We are
reporting on the bus accident from this morning, and we were
wondering if it would be possible to see the victim that was
brought here and to interview him."

The lady behind the desk looked up at Lois and then down at her
terminal, "Do you have the name of the victim?"

"No, we only know that the paramedics said they were bringing him
here. It was about 1:45 this afternoon."

Clark added, "He appeared to be in his 30's and around 6 feet
tall. He would probably have been suffering from internal
injuries."

After a moment of checking her computer screen the attendant
looked up. "Well, we did receive a case this afternoon in the ER
at around the time you said he had been brought here, but the
patient was released."

Lois glanced at Clark, and he gave her an "I told you so" look.
"Well," Lois asked, "Do you have a name and address for this
patient?"

A stern look crossed the face of the attendant "I'm sorry, Miss
Lane, but that is confidential information, and we are not at
liberty to give it out, to anyone." Just then, a nurse came over
with a clipboard and spoke to the attendant. As she momentarily
turned her back to them, Clark used his super speed to go around
the counter and look at the patient information that was on the
terminal. By the time the nurse and attendant were done, she
turned around to see Lois and Clark walking out the lobby door.

Once outside, Lois grabbed Clark's elbow and pulled him to the
side. "So, what were you able to find out?"

"I got a name and address," Clark reported, "but I don't know how
much good it will do us."

"Well, what are we waiting for. If you know where this guy lives,
let's go check him out." Lois was starting to move, but she
stopped when she realized Clark had more to tell her.

"Lois, the patient's name is John Smith, and his address is 123
W. Clinton Street."

Lois' face lit up, "That's right down the street from your old
apartment."

Clark tried to quell her enthusiasm. "Lois, 123 is an empty lot.
I used to go past it every day on the way to work, before we
bought the house."

"So we're at a dead end." Lois was obviously frustrated.

"Well, I did get one thing from the hospital that may be able to
help us. Part of their records for the patients is their Social
Security numbers. If we get Jimmy to go online, we may just be
able to at least put a name with this mystery man."

***

"Lois, CK, you're not going to believe this." Jimmy had obviously
gotten a hit on the Social Security number that they had given
him. "I was able to check some public records against this SS
number, and it shows that it is issued to a Mr. John Smith."

Lois grabbed the printout Jimmy was holding. "Does this show an
address for Mr. Smith?"

Jimmy came around to look at the printout over Lois' left
shoulder, as Clark did the same over her right shoulder. "No,"
Jimmy answered, "but if you notice, this number was issued by the
Social Security office right here in Metropolis."

Lois exchanged a look with Clark. "Clark, maybe you better go
check that lead we got this morning, and I'll go down to the
Social Security office and see what I can find out."

Clark headed for the elevator, but as Lois was getting her purse
and getting ready to follow him, Jimmy put his hand on her
shoulder. "Lois, the information in the Social Security files is
confidential. They won't let you look at it."

Lois turned to Jimmy. "You mean there's no way we can get any
more information about this guy?"

With that Jimmy's face brightened. "If you mean through legal
channels, no. But I'm pretty sure I can hack around a little if
you let me know what info you need."

Lois motioned Jimmy into her chair and in front of her computer.
"Just see if you can get a birth date and possibly a current
address. If you can get anything else about him, I would really
appreciate it."

"Lois, this really isn't ethical, and it's just barely legal."

Lois wasn't going to let Jimmy's morals stand in her way,
especially when she knew that he did a lot of hacking from his
home computer. "I'll tell you what, Jimmy. If you can get me the
information I need on this guy, not only will I set you up with
that cute new intern in copywriting, but I'll pay for dinner."
Jimmy didn't even bother to answer. His fingers just started
flying over the keyboard. If Jimmy didn't have his heart set on
being a reporter, he could probably make a small fortune working
in the computer industry, Lois thought. She wandered over to the
coffee pot wondering how her super husband was making out at 123
W. Clinton Street.

Clark had just arrived at that address and found exactly what he
thought he would find. There stood an empty lot, but there was
something that still bothered him about it. He couldn't quite put
his finger on it for some reason. He noticed the diamond-shaped
path that had been worn down by neighborhood kids playing sandlot
baseball. All of a sudden it hit him. He had lived in this
neighborhood for over three years, and he could not remember ever
seeing a sandlot game being played here. For the paths to be as
well worn as they were, there would have had to have been quite a
few games played. The grass was worn away where the kids would
have been running the bases.

Clark instinctively lowered his glasses, and after checking to
make sure that he didn't have an audience, he scanned the lot
with his super vision. He checked the entire field looking for a
possible clue. Even though he knew he was on to something, he
couldn't find anything. He then thought that maybe the answer
wasn't where you would think to look. Again he lowered his
glasses, but this time instead of looking at the top of the lot,
he focused his x-ray vision down below the surface. There he saw
below the ground, a complete living quarters. He scanned and saw
that if this was John Smith's residence, he was not there right
now. Clark thought about spinning into the suit and crashing down
into the underground home, but he realized that John Smith hadn't
broken any laws, and Superman didn't have any reason to break
into his house.

As Clark walked back into the bullpen, he saw Lois hunched over
Jimmy's shoulder as Jimmy was pounding away at Lois' keyboard.
Clark strolled over and put his hand on his wife's waist. "So
what were you able to find out at the Social Security office?"

Lois looked up into those chocolate brown eyes that always made
her melt. "Jimmy mentioned that the files at Social Security are
classified, and that we probably wouldn't get anywhere by going
down there. Jimmy's been hacking away since then, and it looks
like he might have something."

At that point Jimmy stopped typing and looked. "Oh, hi, CK." He
obviously hadn't heard Clark return. "I was able to track down
this John Smith of yours. According to the records that I was
able to access, he was born in 1943. His permanent address is 123
W. Clinton Street, here in Metropolis." Lois and Clark exchanged
a look that Jimmy didn't see because he was looking at Lois'
monitor.

"Thanks, Jimmy, that ought to help quite a bit." Lois went to sit
back in her chair as Jimmy reminded her of her promise.

"See if Jennifer is free for dinner Saturday."

"Only if you promise not to take her any place too swanky." Jimmy
had a large smile on his face as he headed for the darkroom,
before Perry could find him.

As Lois sat down Clark gave her a quick kiss on her neck. "What
was that all about?"

"Well, I now have to talk that new intern, Jennifer, into going
out with Jimmy this weekend. I told Jimmy that if he helped me
get that information on John Smith, I would set him up and pay
for dinner."

"Good luck. Every single guy in the building has been trying to
score with her. I have to admit she is cute," Clark said with a
slight grin.

"Just don't forget that you're married, buster." Lois slapped at
him.

"How could I forget. I was the lucky guy that married the most
intelligent and beautiful woman I know."

"And don't forget it," Lois joked. "So what did you find over at
123 Clinton."

Clark reached over and moved her mouse to start shutting down her
workstation. "Let's go home, and I'll make some linguini with
clam sauce, and we'll talk about it over dinner."

Lois grabbed her coat and purse (she was always a sucker for her
husband's cooking).

***

While Clark put the fresh clams he had just diced into the sauce
pan to simmer, Lois changed into her 'lounge around the house'
clothes. This included a pair of baggy sweat pants and an
extra-large sweatshirt bearing the University of Metropolis logo.
Even in these clothes that hid Lois' trim figure, Clark still
thought that she was the sexiest woman he had ever laid eyes on.

"So, what did you discover when you went out." Lois had her arms
wrapped around Clark's lean, muscular waist.

"It was like I remembered. There was just an empty lot. What made
me curious was that there were signs that kids played baseball
there pretty regularly, but I don't remember ever seeing even a
small pickup game being held there."

Lois knew that if there had been a game, Clark in all likelihood
would have joined in.

"Anyway, I used my enhanced vision to scan for anything out of
the ordinary, but I still was drawing a blank. Then I thought if
I wanted to be unnoticed, where would I go? When I used my x-ray
vision, I found a fully furnished and used living area --
underground. It appears that Mr. John Smith doesn't like
company."

"Maybe it's just his way of avoiding door-to-door salesmen." Lois
dipped a spoon into the sauce that Clark was making and let out a
moan when she tasted it. Clark spun around and put his arms
around Lois.

"Admit it, you only married me for my culinary expertise."

"Yeah, farmboy, that's it. Your good looks, great bod, or the
fact that you can leap tall buildings in a single bound didn't
have a thing to do with my decision."

"Lois, I don't know what we're going to do about this John Smith.
I know what I saw. I mean face it, you pulled him out from under
that bus. Did he look like he was going to walk away from it?"
Lois thought for a second.

"Now that you mention it, that bus hit him pretty hard, and he
was dead weight when I pulled him out from under the bus."

"The problem," Clark continued, "is that he hasn't broken any
laws. I can't just bust into his home and ask him how he was able
to recover from that accident so fast." As Clark stirred the clam
sauce, and put the linguini into a pot of boiling water, Lois
continued to concentrate on John Smith.

"OK, we can't break into his home, so what if we happen to run
into him out on the street. We know that he goes out during the
day, and with you x-ray vision, we should be able to determine
where he enters and exits his humble abode."

"Well, I already saw that he accesses his home from a doorway in
a side tunnel of the Metropolis Rapid Transit System."

"So, all we have to do is stake out the subway entrance nearest
the door, and wait for Mr. Smith to show." Lois appeared to be
proud of her plan.

After they spent the rest of the evening going over the details
of how they would find and confront John Smith, they retired to
their bedroom. Lois was wearing 'Clark's Birthday Suit'. The name
came when on Clark's last birthday, Lois handed him the last box
for him to open. Inside was a very flimsy negligee. As Clark held
it up to inspect it he'd turned to his wife and said, "Lois, I
don't think this is my size."

With a twinkle in her eye Lois had snatched the nightie away from
Clark and said, "Silly me, this is the wrapper. I need to put the
gift in it." She went into the bedroom and came out again wearing
Clark's present, and a very large smile.

"That, honey, is the best present I ever received for my
birthday." Clark couldn't take his eyes off his sexy wife as she
came over, sat in his lap and started unbuttoning his shirt,
showing that he wasn't wearing his 'other suit'.

Tonight, Clark again gently removed the garment from her as he
kissed his way down Lois' neck. She knew that Clark was one of
the most patient men in the world when it came to lovemaking, and
he would do everything he knew how to make sure that his wife was
fulfilled. As Clark's kisses moved down her body, interrupted
only by gentle flicks of his tongue, and those hands, that could
bend steel, caressed her, Lois let out low, soft moans of
pleasure. Finally she couldn't take it any more, "Oh, Clark,
please, now." With his wife's urging, Clark stopped what he was
doing and moved up her body. Lois wrapped her legs around his
firm torso, pulling him closer, as if she would never let him
go.

Later as they lay next to each other, holding on as if they would
die if they let go, Lois started to give Clark the same treatment
that he had given her earlier. She was amazed at how a man who
could bounce bullets off of his chest, could become so aroused by
the gentle kisses she stung across his firm chest. As she
continued, Clark put his arms around her and pulled her on top of
him.

***

Lois woke up before the alarm went off. It was amazing, she
thought, how she always felt so full of energy after a night like
last night. You would think that getting to sleep later and using
all of that energy would leave me drained. She could hear the
shower running and knew that Clark was already up without even
opening her eyes. She got up out of bed and went into the
bathroom. She decided to give her husband a "good morning" he'd
remember all day long.

After they had finished their shower, Clark made breakfast while
Lois prepared for her stakeout. They had decided that Lois would
sit on a bench at the station closest to the entrance Clark had
found. Clark would stay above ground. That way he could tune his
hearing to Lois' voice and keep track of where Mr. Smith was
heading. If he decided to take one of the trains that ran through
that station, Clark could follow using his x-ray vision, while
Lois tailed him. Lois had already called in and told Perry that
she and Clark would be out following up on a story and would be
back in the office later that day.

As Lois sat on the bench, holding a copy of The Daily Planet, she
kept scanning her eyes in the direction of the door that John
Smith would be leaving by. As Lois finished admiring another of
Jimmy's heartwarming shots, this one of a fireman carrying a
little girl away from an apartment blaze yesterday, she spotted
the man she was looking for. "OK, Clark, it looks like Mr. Smith
is going up to the street level. I'll start tailing him when he
starts up the stairs."

Clark became alert when he heard Lois' voice. He was sitting in a
small coffee shop next to the entrance to the subway station. He
quickly got up, left money for his coffee, plus a tip, and went
outside to wait for their prey. Clark spotted him right away, and
decided that they should follow him to see where he went. John
Smith in all likelihood had a job to support himself, and was
probably heading there.

As Clark walked behind Mr. Smith, he felt Lois come up beside him
and slip her arm into the crook of his. They played
follow-the-leader for about fifteen minutes, until they arrived
at the place where John Smith worked. To both Lois and Clark's
amazement, they were standing outside The Daily Planet building.
They walked up to Jake, the security guard, who always seemed to
be at the front desk.

"Jake, do you know the man that came in just before us?" Lois
asked.

"Oh, good morning, Miss Lane, Mr. Kent. That was John. He works
in maintenance down in the press room. He works on the big
presses, keeps 'em up and running."

"Do you know how long he's worked here at the Planet?" Now it was
Clark doing the questioning.

"Gosh, Mr. Kent, John's been here as long as I have."

"Thanks, Jake, you've been a great help." Lois flashed him her
warmest smile, and it melted the old timer's heart.

As they walked to the elevator, Clark leaned in toward Lois.
"Lois, I've heard that Jake was here as a security guard when
Perry was still a reporter. Our Mr. John Smith can't be any older
than 35. I have a feeling that there's more to this than we can
even imagine."

"OK" Lois replied. "So how do we get John Smith alone so we can
question him. Clark thought for a minute as he pressed the
elevator button for the press room floor. By the time they
reached their floor, Clark and Lois had a plan in place.

"I don't know why they sent me up to this damned conference room
to fix a stupid projector. They could have sent one of the
youngsters. I was planning on doing maintenance on Press 3." John
Smith was obviously upset about having to leave his presses. As
he walked into the conference room, he could see that a lady was
bent over checking out the broken projector as if she knew what
was wrong, and could fix it. Before John could ask her what was
wrong, the door to the conference room shut behind him, and Lois
stood up and turned to face him. John turned to see what had
caused the door to close, and saw Clark Kent standing in front of
the doorway.

"What the heck is going on here? What do you want? If you think I
have money, you're wrong." John Smith obviously didn't recognize
the paper's star reporters. Lois stepped over to him and held out
her hand.

"Mr. Smith, I'm Lois Lane, and behind you is my partner and
husband, Clark Kent. We're both reporters here at The Planet, and
we would like to ask you a couple of questions." John reached out
and took Lois' hand.

"I've heard a lot about the two of you. There's always someone
talking about your column down in the press room. I'm pleased to
meet you."

"John," this time it was Clark speaking, "yesterday, Lois and I
were on our way back from lunch when we witnessed an accident. A
bus hit a pedestrian, and Lois and I both got a good look at the
victim. It was you that was hit by that bus yesterday, wasn't it,
John?"

Look, I don't know what ... " John realized that he had been
found out. "How did you know.?"

"John, Superman is a very good friend of Clark and mine, and he
was the one that picked the bus up so that I could drag you out
from underneath it." Lois was holding John's hands in hers, and
she could feel the tension in him. "John, Superman scanned your
body with his x-ray vision, looking for any possible internal
injuries. He said that as he watched, he saw your body heal
itself. He also told us that you had stopped breathing, and your
heart had stopped beating. You were dead, John, and then you came
back to life without anyone doing anything. John, we just want to
know what it is that happened yesterday."

"Miss Lane, Mr. Kent, I'm sure that you're nice people, but if I
tell you my secret, and it gets into the paper, my life will be a
living hell." John was clearly distraught at the thought of his
secret becoming public. Clark immediately empathized with him.

"John, we give you our word that nothing that you tell us will
leave this room." John still seemed reluctant, until he looked
into Lois' eyes, and she squeezed his hand, reassuringly.

John released a sigh. "Looking at me, how old would you say I
am?" Lois seemed surprised by the question.

"I don't know, maybe mid-thirties, 35 or 36." John looked
straight into Lois' eyes.

"Well, near as I have been able to figure, I am two thousand five
hundred years old. Now I may be off by a decade or two."

Clark was the first to recover from his shock. "Are you saying
that you were over five hundred years old when Christ was born?"

"As I said, Mr. Kent, that's as near as I can tell. They didn't
have calendars back then, but I do remember some of the events
that history has recorded."

"Oh, my God." Lois was shocked. "This is so hard to comprehend."

"Any harder than believing that a man can fly?" John asked. This
snapped Lois out of her shock. "Look, I could sit here for hours,
telling you about everything that I've seen, and all of the
changes that have occurred in my lifetime. But the truth is, I
really have tried to learn to live each day separately. It's the
only way I can keep my sanity."

Lois spoke up once again. "But why do you need to keep this such
a secret."

"Miss Lane, you said that Superman told you he had seen me come
back from the dead, and that my body had healed itself. Can you
imagine what would happen if anyone found out about that? People
would be asking me to raise their loved ones from the dead, there
would even be greedy people that would try to cash in on me.
Possibly they would keep me as a living organ donor. They would
be able to remove an organ from my body, knowing that a new one
would grow back to keep me alive."

Lois went ashen, picturing in her mind what could happen to this
poor man.

"I don't know why I am able to do what I do, but I know that I do
want to keep on living. I took a job here at the Planet about
fifteen years ago as a maintenance apprentice. I probably should
have moved on long before now, but I really enjoy what I do. Now
that the two of you know, I will have to find a new home and a
new identity."

Lois was near tears. "John, Clark and I would never betray your
secret. We happen to know how valuable keeping confidences is."

"Oh, Miss Lane, it's not that I wouldn't trust you and Mr. Kent,
it's just that if you were able to figure out my secret, then
sooner or later, other people will too."

Lois and Clark both thought about what could happen to John if
someone like Lex Luthor ever learned about him.

"Listen, John, like Lois said earlier, Superman is a very good
friend of ours. I know if we asked him to, he would be willing to
take you anywhere you wanted to go."

"Thanks very much for the offer, Mr. Kent, but it is probably
better if I just disappear on my own. Having been around as long
as I have, I've been able to save quite a bit. Please don't worry
about me, I'll be all right."

Lois again squeezed John's hand, letting him know that he would
always have friends. She then slipped him a card. "Here, if you
ever get in trouble and you need help, just call. We will always
be there."

"Thanks. Mr. Kent, Miss Lane, I'm kind of glad you found my
secret. I had started getting careless. You helped me to remember
that for all of the good people there are in the world, like you
two, there are still people who would take advantage of me."

Lois leaned in and gave John a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good
luck, John."

Clark grasped his hand and shook it, knowing what John was
feeling. "Just remember, we're only a phone call away, even if
you just need someone to talk to."

With that John Smith stepped past Clark and walked out the door.
Lois came over to her husband and wrapped her arms around his
waist. "God, can you imagine how lonely he must be? Any friends
he has ever made have died and are buried. He didn't even say if
he had family." Clark pulled his wife tighter to him.

"I guess the loneliness that I used to feel before I met you is
nothing compared to what he must be going through."

Clark went over and closed the door to the conference room. "You
know, Lois, that could just as easily be me. If it hadn't been
for people like my parents, and you, I could be the one who was
always on the move, afraid someone would learn my secret. I could
be the one worrying what would happen if they were able to keep
me prisoner just to find out how I work."

Lois put her arms around her husband's shoulders, realizing that,
for all of his might, he was still very vulnerable. She looked up
into Clark's eyes. "Do you think we'll ever hear from John Smith
again?"

Clark gently squeezed his wife's hands in his, knowing how lucky
he was to have her. "I don't know, honey, but at least now he may
have two people he can trust and call friend."

Clark led Lois out of the conference room, closing the door
behind them.

THE END