A fan fiction story revolving around the world of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures." No infringement of ownership is meant.

Other chapters in the Superman Unbound by myself are located at http://www.geocities.com/supermanunbound/fanfics.html and http://www.fanfiction.net/~arthurhansen

"Do you recognize her, Ultra Woman?" Detective Henderson asked the brightly garbed woman. The were down by the docks where a hobo had found a woman that had died in the waters.

Ultra Woman stared at the bloated face. She looked very familiar, though death had distorted her features. An older woman in her sixties, unenhanced. Caked mud covered her hair had been hastily wiped from her face. A quick scan of X-Ray vision showed a small locket.

Her blood suddenly ran cold. She had seen that locket dozens of times. "No..." she whispered almost inaudibly. Her chest tightened, she couldn't breathe. She turned suddenly and leaped into the air.

Detective Henderson grabbed his hat over his regrowing hair.  "What?" he said just before the sonic boom hit the area from only hundreds of feet away with eardrum splitting force. Clapping his hand over his ear too late, he could only stare where the second most famous superhero disappeared to. Shaking his head, he muttered, "Must have been some emergency to head off to that fast."

'Have-to-get-away-somewhere-anywhere-escape!' Lois mentally screamed silently. 'MOTHER! WHY MOTHER?'

"Be safe you two!" Lois called out to her twins as they headed to high school this morning. Even though they were taking an extremely heavy load of college course already.

"We will, Mom! See you Dad!" Mary called out as she and her twin Jane headed to the little compact car that they had earned with their good behavior and grades last year.

"Bye, Mom! Dad!" Jane called out almost at the same time as she slid into the passenger seat.

"They are growing up so fast!" Clark said as he slipped his arm around his wife. "They aren't exactly our little girls anymore, are they?"

"No, not really. They are already planning on going to college. I don't think they are planning on leaving Metropolis, thank heavens," his wife answered, squeezing his arm comfortingly.

"Has you father called about your mother?" he asked as they walked to Lois's Jeep, lovingly maintained and cared for.

"No, and he still won't tell me something is up. He just says that she has something she needs to tell us. I'm telling you that I'm not imagining things, Clark. She was drunk when she called last night! I mean really drunk. Four sheets to the wind, plastered drunk." Lois started her Jeep and started the drive to the Daily Planet for work. "I can't believe that she would do that."

"Lois, I want to keep on top of Ralph about that information we've got that someone in the government is intervening and selling slots for the Civilian Enhancement Center," Perry White said in a clipped voice, betraying none of his advancing age. While not quite ready to retire, he was beginning to slow down a bit and it took longer for him to crack down on the reporters.

"I'll get on his case, Perry. I think he has a friend on the State Enhancement Commission." Luckily, Lois had been more than willing help out there. While she was technically an assistant editor, she was still one-half of Kent and Lane. Super-speed allowed her to keep up with all of her work, even the super work. The private office she had was a nice perk too. "I think we need to do an expose on the Health Care industry and insurance. With the increasing numbers of people getting enhancements, we should be seeing a decrease in costs and spending there. But a friend I have over at L-Metro Insurance and she's saying that all of the companies are getting ready to increase rates across the board. And they are still trying to block that legislation for the Enhanced Insurance caps."

"That's the insurance statute that would put a cap on health insurance costs for the Enhanced?" her editor asked.

"Right. Everyone knows that after we get enough people with the civilian enhancement package that we aren't going to need to worry about infectious diseases and related health care worries. I mean it's going to be accidents and traumas only, pretty much. A lot of pharmaceutical companies are looking at losing almost all their short term revenue and they aren't adjusting to the child-care only business. A lot of legislation and litigation have been coming out of these companies." Lois fluffed her hair out a bit. "If the Civilian Enhancement wasn't so popular with the people, these might have been a problem."

"Yeah, even I could see the writing on the wall. Most of these companies are set up to foist a lot of medicines on an aging American population. How about we put it side by side with that story that Lauraine dug up about the number of people that are entitled to enhancements that are passing them off to ailing relatives?" he responded.

"Hmm. On the front of the Lifestyles section this Sunday?" Lois asked. "I'll talk to Lauraine about having her wrap that up so we can print it."

"Great. You know, Lois, I envy your luck at getting one of the enhancements way back. Now that Alice just got her own, she's looking forward to a younger and more active lifestyle," Perry said with a smile.  "We still meet up like we always do, but I'm having a harder time keeping up with her."

Lois just smiled. "Just have her pamper you until your own enhancement comes in the mail, Perry. I've got some stories that I've got to work on and I'll be back in a bit." She walked out of his office and over to her own to drop of some paperwork. She gave a bit of encouragement to the younger Lauraine and a prodding to Ralph to get that story working. She was checking her messages, but was not too disappointed when her father hadn't found anything more about where her mother was.

From the last call that Lois had from Ellen, she was almost positive that the older woman had just wandered out and gotten plastered at some bar and then gotten a room at some hotel so she didn't have to deal with any flack from Lois, Lucy or Sam. That woman could be so infuriating!  That had been why they had gotten into another argument barely into the conversation last night. She pushed that to the back as she started to type on her computer.

Off in the distance, a young woman screamed out, "Help! Ultra Woman! Superman! Help!"

With practiced nonchalance, she exited the newsroom and checked the stairwell for anyone with a quick flash of X-Ray vision. As soon as the door close her form blurred and rocketed up the stairs to the roof. The brightly colored form of Ultra Woman zoomed off at barely subsonic speeds.  This job was up to her, as Superman busy helping with a Metropolis to Paris express sub-orbital plane that had nearly crashed on descent.

She spotted the young girl that was being assaulted by a gang.  They were taunting her and one had clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Shouldn't have gone and done that after wandering into Suicide Slum, bitch!" the lead ruffian said. "Now I might have to hurt you a lot more than I was planning to for that purse of yours."

Ultra Woman was about to zoom in and deal with with it when a bolt of lightning hit the thug with the knife. Everyone's attention was riveted with the arrival of a young man at the entrance of the alley. A young man, wearing a leather jacket and a ski mask with a lightning bolt emblazoned across the face, was already there. Lois could only clap her forehead in aggravation. Not Greg again.

"Let that woman go!" Zap (or was it Kid Static this week?) shouted.

A second thug, with a red headband, suddenly whipped out a handgun from his bulky jacket. The new .50 Desert Eagle had been marketed to the police departments as an anti-enhanced weapon, but was really just too dangerous for that police work. With high velocity rounds and armor piercing bullets, it was guaranteed to stop any civilian enhanced criminal. The police that had tried it didn't seem to like it and after a few criminals had been found with it; the public outcry had been fierce. Now it was only produced overseas.

And with that, the thug shot Zap three times, knocking him over.  The other six bullets bounced harmlessly off of Ultra Woman's shapely chest.  In a blur of motion, she subdued the thugs. All of them were enhanced, so she had to hit them a bit harder than normal. She turned towards the alleyway entrance. "Zap?"

"I'm fine! It just hurts a bit!" the young man said. "Ow! That could have killed me if I was less invulnerable!"

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Ultra Woman asked Zap as she helped the victim to her feet. With an encouraging smile to the girl and a gentle nod she said, "Please stay here a moment until I get a policeman, all right?" With a woosh, she zoomed around for about thirty seconds finding a police car and directing them to the mugging. She watched from overhead as the police took the thugs into custody.

With a shake of her head, she realized that Zap had taken off on her. She started flying higher while scanning for a very fast runner heading towards his inner city high school. She spotted him just as he came to a halt in another alleyway. She waited a moment for him to finish removing his 'super' uniform before she zipped down to sit on the dumpster next to him.

"Playing hooky again?" she asked pointedly.

"Ack!" Greg Stevens said as he whirled around. "Don't do that! I'm trying to- Er, I mean- Yeah, I was just so bored at school." He hung his head down.

Ultra Woman laughed softly. "Yeah, it can be, can't it? You aren't running into any problems at school are you?"

"Don't tell me that you skipped school?" Greg stated in absolute disbelief. His handsome Hispanic features clearly showed his confusion.

"Well, maybe not as often as you seem to and not to go off super-heroing, but even I thought school was boring sometimes too." Lois had to smile at the earnest young man. "Greg, you should take the time to enjoy being a kid. It's great you want to help, but don't forget to live, too," Ultra Woman said while putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Ultra Woman. I'll see you around," he yelled out as he ran off back to class.

With that, the mightiest woman in the world zoomed into the air.  She decided to do a quick, five minute patrol over the docks and warfs.

Jane sighed, hearing her twin sister Mary sighing simultaneous. With dual frowns, they consciously started doing two different little tasks during their math class.

Mary doodled while Jane pulled out a romance novel. Anything to strengthen their individuality. Like their arguments they always got into. They both knew each side of it before it started, but it made them feel a bit better that they were different. That they weren't sliding into insanity; two people sharing one mind.

"Jane, could you answer problem 16a?" Mrs. Simons, their math teacher, asked.

Jane flipped her page over to start to explain how she/they solved the problem when something... extraordinary happened.

'Mother!' they heard mentally, recognizing the tone of their mother's anguish. Startled, both Jane and Mary looked out the window just a moment before minute before a very loud, but familiar, sounding sonic boom drifted across the city.

"Was that Superman or Ultra Woman?" the football jock Joe Diggins asked. The class quickly went to the window. "That sounded like they were in a hurry for some big emergency?"

Billy Taylor was an avowed 'super' geek, even carrying a PDA that he kept track of Superman and Ultra Woman sightings. "That's odd.  Superman is dealing with a situation in Holland. But there's nothing about another major disaster yet." He used the little plastic pen to scroll and update his news.

'Mom's in trouble, Mary!' Jane sent telepathically.

'I heard it too! I don't think I've ever heard her so loudly or in so much pain. We need to get to her!' Mary sent right back. The psychic waves of pain and loss were making it hard for them to think clearly

Mary watched behind them as Jane peeked out the door. They silently exited their class. Shifting to super-speed, they were outside the school in just moments. They closed their eyes, feeling for her. Tense minutes of waiting ensued.

'The Moon!' they thought. In one motion, they took off into the sky with their own sonic booms that rattled the windows of their high school.

"What is that?" Lex Luthor snapped to Asabi. They had been going over their latest plans to rid Earth of Superman. Totally through intermediaries and in such a way that couldn't be traced back. Of course.

Asabi closed his eyes, reaching for his contemplative powers. "A powerful psychic is broadcasting immense pain and loss. I think someone has just lost her mother."

"Rubbish then. Ignore it!" Lex said with a snarl. The emotions this telepathic broadcast had dredged up were angering him. He didn't want to remember his own losses.

Superman looked up from the child that he was x-raying that he was about to see if he could pull from a train wreck. "Lois?" he whispered.  The groan of pain from the child drew him back to the present. His wife was strong. Strong enough to hold out through anything while he dealt with the current emergency.

"General Winston, we have an anomaly. Superman is in Europe and we just tracked Ultra Woman heading to the Moon at incredible speeds," a RADAR operator in the secret headquarters of the Ultrahuman Logistics of the United States Airforce, OZ.

"What's anomalous about that?" the general asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It is the two targets we are tracking on a course towards the Moon. General..." The operator wasn't sure what to say. "They have to be Kryptonians. I am reading them as 100% of Superman's speed."

"100%? I was under the impression that Kryptonian's that were not raised on Earth from infancy were fractionally weaker than Superman." General Winston put on a intense look of interest. What was going on?

"Yes, sir. From our records of the New Kryptonian invasion, we were able to gage that they were only about 95% of Superman's abilities, with a mere fraction of his energy endurance reserves. But these... they could be Superman. I really can't tell the difference. They are already at the Moon."

"I want that information on my desk in twenty minutes. For my eyes only!" the general snapped out. What had caused those girls to use their full abilities? How was he supposed to keep their existence secret if they did stunts like that?

"Yes, sir!"

 Ultra Woman curled up on the surface on the Moon. Jagged peaks surrounded her in the crater she had come to a rest in. Waves of pain and loss radiated from her. She suddenly screamed silently. She snatched a huge boulder up as easily as anyone else might grab a vase and smashed it into the crater wall.

Her eyes wild with her emotions, she suddenly brought down her fists on the floor with explosive force.

Hundreds of miles away at EDEN Argo Station, everyone of the scientists and technicians looked up as hanging plants swayed.

"Moon quake?" one of them asked.

A female scientist went to a computer. "Something seismic is happening. But the pattern is all wrong. It's from several areas to the west of us. But it's too random and then has too much of a pattern. This doesn't make any sense."

"Di? Can you tap into one of the overhead satellites?" the base commander asked.

"Sure..." She fiddled and typed for a minute. "My god... It's Ultra Woman. What is she doing?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say she's gone hysterical!" Everyone gaped at the strange image of Ultra Woman until she collapsed into a curled up ball. "Can we help her?" another technician asked.

"I don't think we even want to get close to her. She's lashing out one moment and then just curled up. Wait! What's that? She looks like she's choking or..."

"She's run out of air!"

Ultra Woman grabbed her throat. She hadn't taken a deep breath when she left the air. She could hold her breath for almost twenty minutes, like Superman. But only if she tried! She turned to look at the Earth, so very far away. She would never make it, but she had to try!

'Mother!' a single, harmonious voice intruded telepathically.  Suddenly her daughters were there, hugging her tight.

They both hugged her tightly, while sending out calming, soothing thoughts.

'No air!' she sent back. She was beginning to become lightheaded.

Jane suddenly grabbed her and seemingly kissed her, but Ultra Woman tasted life-giving air and the darkness retreated. 'Let's go home, Mom!'

'Mom? What happened?' Mary asked.

'It's my mother... She's de-ead...' Ultra Woman managed to telepath back to them. She let them carry her away, back towards the Earth.  'And I'm such a horrid daughter... We had an argument. I told her to just go away... To quit bothering me if she wasn't going to tell me what her problem was.'

'You are not horrible! You are kind and caring!' Mary sent back. She touched lips with her mother to give her a breath of life.

'Even when you do ground us!' her other daughter sent with a hint of laughter.

Lois tried to laugh, but it turned hysterical. 'She's dead!'

'She loved you, Mom. Even if she couldn't say it right. And you loved her. You care so much about all of your family. Dad, Grandpa. Us. Aunt Lucy and Uncle Jim. Even our bratty cousins!' the twins telepathed in one voice.

'I should have listened. If we hadn't argued, she'd be alive!  She wouldn't have gotten drunk and drowned!' their mother responded with anguish.

'You don't know that!' Jane and Mary shared a quick glance. 'You need the facts.'

'I don't know that I could bear finding out,' Lois responded.

Clark's mental voice joined in quietly, 'We will be there with you, always.'

'Oh, Clark!' Ultra Woman hugged her daughters tightly. 'I love you all so much. I don't know what I would do without any of you.'

Jane grinned impudently. 'Probably eat several gallons of chocolate ice cream.'

Lois gaped at her daughter before starting to chuckle. Tears still streamed down her cheeks, but now they didn't threaten to drown her in sorrow.

"Lucy?" Clark said over the phone later to his sister-in-law. "I just got off the phone with the police. Something has come up with your mother."

"Oh, not again. Did she fall off the wagon again? I don't know that I can handle that today, Clark! The kids are really acting up and Jimmy is at his place and-" Lucy said as she started to go off into a tirade.

"Lucy! It's not.. that. I think you need to sit down for this.  Are you sitting?" Clark waited a moment. "They want us to come down and identify a body."

There was a very long stretch of silence. "What?" Lucy responded finally.

"They... think they found her. But it looks like she drowned.  They want her family to be there." He waited a moment. "I've already called your father. He'll meet us at the Precinct 15."

"It can't be!" she suddenly shouted. "She was fine just yesterday! She was just in one of her moods!"

"Lucy... Ultra Woman thinks it might be her." Clark closed his eyes as he looked over at his distraught wife that was trying to not cry on the couch.

"Really? I guess... I'll have to get a babysitter and a cab and finish supper and-"

"Lucy, call Jimmy. He'd be more than happy to watch the kids.  And they are going to need their father today, too." The Man of Steel pursed his lips. The relationship between Lucy and Jimmy was difficult at the best of times. But they really tried. They really did love each other, even if they drove each other insane sometimes.

"You're right, Clark. Thanks."

Samuel Lane looked as if he'd aged a decade in just the last hour as he led his family into the Kent's home. Lois, Clark, their daughters and Lucy all trailed in after him to sit around on the couch.

He finally found his voice. "She waited too long."

"What?" Lois asked, confused and still very distraught.

"She knew that she had cancer, but thought she would get an Enhancement and it would cure her. She was so sure, she didn't even talk to her doctor about it. And her doctor had thought that she'd gone to another physician for a second opinion." Sam wilted. "She knew she only had months to live. But she held out hope that it would cure her, even though she knew that cancer cases almost never show improvement. And she dreaded chemotherapy. And when she finally did go talk to her doctor, they told her it was too late."

"Weren't they going to even try?" Lucy asked, aghast and shocked.

Sam nodded. "She was supposed to go in tomorrow. She... was trying to work herself up to telling you two," he said to his daughters.  "But you know Ellen. She was never very good when she was under a lot of stress."

"I should have- I should have listened!" Lois snapped out, pain written all over her face.

"She didn't know how to talk to you anymore, Lois. You two have been at odds over her grandchildren since they were born. She could never get over the fact that you wanted them born at the Kent farm, and not here in Metropolis. It ate at her."

"It didn't have anything to do with her," Lois responded with a ghostly whisper. It had everything to do with not having her super-babies in a hospital were certain irregularities would have been noted. Like the fact that Lois couldn't be put on an IV or had her blood taken to be tested.

"I know that. It was just what you wanted. But she couldn't deal with that. And it put a distance between you that she could never bring herself to bridge." Sam sighed. "I'm going home. Lucy, I believe you were named to be in charge of her estate in this situation."

The funeral was the most heartbreaking moment in Lois Lane-Kent's life. Never had it been driven so hard into her consciousness that she could not save everyone. Sometimes you could not even save those you loved.

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