A DETAILS for 1998-06

All forms of C&C are welcome

General George Winston III is Arthur Hansen's.

Ultra Revelations

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"Ultrawoman? Ray gun? Red Kryptonite? General Winston what are you talking about?" Calmly sipping her coffee her hands steady in spite of the shivers running down her spine. Keeping the look of confusion firmly in place on her face had become a real challenge. Lois had come to this early mourning interview expecting to be asking questions on military budget over runs, instead General George Winston III was grilling her on the Ultrawoman incident.

The last five minutes of questioning was an experience she didn't want to repeat any time soon, she had to hand it to the General, it wasn't often she and Clark spent days trying to set up their own interrogation. They had both taken the bait hook, line, and sinker, several sources had hinted the General was in Metropolis meeting with highly placed corporate executives and a little research had shown he was the development oversight officer for several major weapons systems. A person known for not giving interviews, it had been a challenge, one Lois now fervently wished she and Clark had failed to win or accept.

Silently Lois cursed the captain who had run his ship a ground off Norway, Clark had to help or it was going to turn into a major oil spill, she wanted his support. It was obvious that General Winston had made some sort of deal with those two women who had used a kryptonite laser on superman a several years back. It also looked like he was trying to use that information to catch a bigger fish.

Lois gathered her thoughts, it would have been nice to have the support of her husband, but she wasn't about to let this General get the better of Lois Lane-Kent. There was no way she would confirm what those two bimbo's had told him and she certainly wasn't going to help him find where superman had put the kryptonite raygun even if she had know.

The General frowned slightly as yet another question was deflected with another useless answer, he had been warned about Lois and to a lesser extent Clark, but he was an experienced interrogator and had twisted useful information out of Russian spies and Chinese extremist. He had thought he was prepared, as with any interrogation preparation was the key and this time his team had the luxury of a large collection of published writing to study. They had spent days studying both reporter's works before he and the staff psychologist had crafted the interrogation script. It was starting to look like Lois's skill and determination was higher than a Russian or Chinese, admittedly his options were limited with Lois especially since he wanted to keep the door open on friendship.

Silently admiring the Reporter's skill General Winston tried to decide how to continue, for the past few minutes he had had an advantage. Lois had shown up expecting to be the hunter and instead she was the hunted. She had been geared for the attack and not prepared for the carefully worded rapid fire questions that she was facing. That was changing in the past couple of minutes Lois had been getting even more evasive and it was obvious she was shifting gears. After a moment General Winston decided his best bet was to try and keep her off balance.

Looking directly at the reporter he said "Ultrawoman, tell me have you tried flying lately?" Watching her carefully and hoping for a reaction General Winston was disappointed when Lois barely twitched and the well practiced look of confusion again filled her face.

Silently the general consoled himself with the thought that at least that handshake had provided confirmation, idly he fingered the specially constructed ring on his right hand feeling the grid of small titanium needles that had been blunted and broken during his brief handshake with Lois, it was starting to look like his test ring was going to be the only success of the interview.

Fifteen minutes! and nothing useful she was running them in circles unaware he had lost his neutral expression the General's admiration was slowly turning to irritation. Lois redirected any question he asked, his attempt's to shake her up weren't working and his frustration was reaching critical pushing him toward a radical tactic. It went against the policies of his superiors and the advice of his advisors, but he felt Lois and through her superman needed to know about Lucille and his projects attempt to copy her powers.

After another dozen meaningless answer General Winston decided it was the best way. Maybe supplying that and other information instead of demanding info would shake Lois up or generate a little trust. He sighed, not much chance of gaining their trust Lois and Clark had good reason not to trust the government or the military. He had been trying to have Trask shut down years before Smallville's sheriff had been forced to shoot the so called rogue agent. Mentally he cursed his surperiors mostly the politicians and beauracrats that had allowed Trask and the other renegades to run free.

Lois grew worried when General Winston started to frown, it was making her nervous as several other emotions started flickering across his features. His sudden and abrupt silence along with the flickering of anger did more to unnerve her again than the last few questions he had been asking.

Lois fought the urge to start fidgeting during the extended period of silence the general had been staring at her, but somehow she was certain it wasn't her he was seeing. It had taken all her experience to feign ignorance during the past twenty minutes and she didn't want to lose it to simple silence. The General's line of questioning had shaken her and she had nearly lost it when he called her Ultrawoman their was no doubt in the general's voice or eyes he knew she was Ultrawoman and more than that he knew she now had superpowers she could hear the certainty in the beat of his heart. Fighting the urge to fill the silence with her own voice Lois remembered several occasions when Clark had told her in extreme exasperation that "she didn't know when to stop talking". Lois attempted to follow her husband's advice, almost smiling at what his reaction would have been. Lois forced herself to keep silent and instead started to mentally reviewing the questions he had asked her.

Just what did the military know? What did those two thieves know or suspect and what had they told the General? Getting deeper into her mental review she started to build a picture of what she thought the General knew. Lois was barely able to hide her relief as she realized from the wording and manner of questioning that Clark's secret was probably safe, her role as Ultrawoman might be known, but they had no idea who superman was. Suppressing a cheer at the thought that her husband's secret might be safe Lois nearly relaxed the General was only feeling her out probably not sure about anything those two bimbo convicts had been claiming.

After a short delay to order his thoughts General Winston decided to discard his carefully prepared interrogation script and follow his instincts. Tapping the table lightly with his ring he caught Lois's attention and taking a deep breath started doing what he had felt was the proper approach five minutes into the interrogation. He was going to try and turn this into a give and take session, a trading information for information.

It couldn't be true, it was a ploy, it couldn't be true. Lois desperately tried to figure out General Winston's new angle, why would he claim Lucilles powers were returning. Did he think it would get him the red kryptonite ray gun? After a moment Lois calmed down unaware her face had almost betrayed the turmoil the Generals revelation had caused, she had finally found a flaw in the General's story. He claimed Lucille could fly and Lois knew she couldn't fly which meant that it was a con job. If Lucille powers had actually been returning she wouldn't be able to fly, the man and the military were guessing. They had probably stumbled into a few discrete observations, that confirmed Lois abilities and were trying to use that knowledge to get the raygun or Clark's secret.

After several seconds of silently studying her reaction General Winston decided to continue, Lois's well crafted facade seemed to have suddenly gone brittle. He spoke suddenly saying" They are gone you know, he took his sister and vanished into the night sky about three months ago." Lois jerked slightly and blinked as a real emotion replaced her mask.

General Winston silently congratulated himself as Lois's mask broke and a look of real confusion replaced the carefully crafted illusion and after a few seconds of shock Lois said "What? Who are... what are you talking about?"

The General smiled and said "William Wallace Webster Waldeker AKA Splendeferousman, our operatives arrived a few days after someone else tried to recruit him. Apparently the man and woman didn't want no for an answer and Mr. Waldeker had to convince them that trying to change his decision was not a good idea. We think they were part of the same group trying to kidnap his sister. They probably planned using her as a hostage, she disappeared at about the same time taken from a nursing home by a flying man. Security Video shows that it was Waldeker. He broke up the attempt and flew off with his sister.

Lois felt chilled as she heard the name and doubt about the General's bluff started to nibble at the edge of her certainty. Maybe the return of her kryptonian abilities might not come from being married to Clark. She had been assuming her abilities were a side effect of having a Kryptonian husband. Silently Lois tried to convince herself the General was wrong, he was just fishing hoping she could be tricked into giving more information. Her powers were different, she was a lot weaker, she couldn't fly, didn't have the heat vision, and all it took to stop her x-ray vision was a single layer of lead based paint.

Lois's worry was growing, if what the General was implying was true and not just a ploy then she had made a stupid mistake. Desperate to test what the General was saying she focused on what he had said about Lucille and tried to will herself into the air, she knew it wouldn't work she had tried less than a month before to...

Only allowing one eyebrow to rise General Winston watched as the reporter sitting across from him suddenly rose a couple of inches into the air, an expression of surprise and shock crossing her face before she dropped back into the seat with a soft thump. The look of shock was not leaving Lois's face, it was obvious by her reaction to the unexpected flight that she hadn't realized her flight ability had returned.

After dropping back into her seat Lois lost all control over her facade and a wide range of emotions played across her face. The reporter seemed to have suddenly made several mental connections and was now unknowingly mouthing words such as "it could be all of them."

The General watched and Listened carefully and mulled over what he seemed to be seeing, she had thought her returning powers were unique. It was odd that Lois Lane-Kent star reporter hadn't thought of the possibility of the kryptonian powers returning to others, odd blind spot indeed.

Lucille's abilities and powers had been slowly building for months and presumably so had Lois's, why hadn't it crossed the reporters mind before now? Thanks to a incident in a prison knife fight Lucille had noticed her returning powers while they were at a very early stage and when she had been questioned about the Ultrawoman incident had used her minor abilities to get an early release into his custody.

Obviously something had blinded Lois to the possibility, perhaps some other more immediate cause or explanation had blinded her to the possibility that a three year old exposure to the red kryptonite transfer effect was the cause.

General Winston mulled this over as he continued watching "Ultrawoman" regain her composer, it looked like his instincts had been right, he had just learned that Lois probably knew exactly how many people had been exposed to kryptonian powers and from her muttering it had to be more than just the boy and the other's he had mentioned.

General Winston eye's suddenly widened as he watched and listened to Lois recover. He had let his mind wander and for some reason he remembered an argument with Lucille about superman having a secret identity. Lucille had come up with a wild theory that Clark Kent was Superman, and despite the dozens of pictures showing Clark with Superman she still insisted the reporter had to be Superman.

Lucille's theory, if true, would provide a neat explanation for Lois's blind spot if the woman was living with superman then that would provide a far more likely reason for gaining kryptonian abilities than a incident from years before.

It also could be something as simple as Lois stepping out on her husband, a few years back they had been tabloids full of stories putting Lois and Superman's together in wild flings, maybe they had a kernel of truth.

The General turned his attention back to Lois at the sound of a soft tap. Her eyes had grown wide and a worried expression was flickering across her features. One hand was resting on her stomach in exactly the same fashion his sister hand did when she was thinking or talking about the baby she was currently carrying.

Looking at the General Lois said "Someone tried to kidnap Waldeker's sister? What about the boy! Did someone? Did you... Have you given the boy protection yet?" General Winston smiled and said "Assuming your talking about the Stepovich kid he hasn't redeveloped any kryptonian powers, but to be on the safe side we convinced his mom to work near one of our high security bases and they live in the outer ring of it's security, the boy is being protected."

The General silently added "And carefully studied." General Winston knew better than to mention that last part out loud, Lois probably already thought it or would think it soon. He didn't feel guilty, the boy was in good hands, it had cost him a large number of political favors, but he had been allowed to hand picked the security and medical researchers given access to the young man. Parents all, the researchers weren't the best available in their varied fields, but all had one critical thing in common. All had been successful in raising their children to be stable, happy, and successful adults.

If that boy ever developed superhuman abilities Winston was confident he had done his best to make sure it was an stable ethical person who had them.

Speaking Loudly Winston looked Lois in the eyes and asked"How many are there Lois? Do you know? Lois! How many have been exposed to the red kryptonite transfer effect? The men and woman that fought with Waldeker and were trying to kidnap his sister were superhuman, they may have lacked flight ability, but eyewitness accounts and on site evidence indicates some level of enhancement."

"Gretchen!" Lois involuntary spoke the name aloud the irritation evident in her voice after a moments silence Lois sheepishly looked at the General's expectant face the unasked question evident, after a few seconds silent thought Lois reluctantly asked "How much do you know of the incident with Waldeker?"

General Winston spoke quickly allowing no sign of hesitancy to show, Lois listened and realized he was fairly close to what had actually happened except for two key parts. The General was assuming Waldeker had received a partial transfer of superman's powers through some version of a red kryptonite raygun. He was also assuming it was accidental, he knew nothing of Gretchen's envolvment or her high voltage machine.

Idly Lois wondered if the tabloids had been right about that rat she had seen several stories describing a flying rodent punching holes in grain bins all around Metropolis, superman had tried to find it, but if the tabloids were right it was a off duty marine armed with a borrowed 0.50 caliber sniper rifle and armour piercing rounds that had killed it. After a moments thought Lois decided the rat must have been slowly losing it's enhancement 0.50 caliber rounds hadn't even managed to wrinkle her suit, when she had been Ultrawoman.

After running down the General was looking at her expectantly and when Lois hesitated he said "Please! Lois tell me how many more are out there. Ultrawoman and Superman have proved themselves and Lucille is on her way to doing that, but what of the others, what are they going to do with their superhuman abilities?"

Her decision made Lois didn't hesitate she told him who Gretchen Kelly was and her current employment by Luthor corp. It was no accident she was CEO of all of Luthor's research departments. Her climb to power following the return of Lex Luthor and the so called revelation he had been kidnapped and replaced by a clone years before lex's crimes had started.

Lois said nothing of the lightning strike and while she couldn't bring herself to out right lie, an aquired fault which she blamed on the bad influence of her husband, she did manage to imply that it could have been Gretchen testing her machine that had transferred the powers to Waldeker. She was relieved when the General's own assumptions supplied red kryptonite for Gretchens machine.

General Winston was not happy when Lois told him about Gretchen's machine and he was clearly worried when Lois admitted that Gretchen had managed to use her machine to transfer power from Waldeker, he knew better than Lois that it probably meant Gretchen's abilities were returning. Given Gretchens current resources the only thing preventing her from rebuilding and using her machine was a lack of a donors, a problem that in all probability had solved itselfs within the last two years.

*******

Lois frowned as she looked at the stars even the sky had changed she had hoped that one of Clark's favorite places to think would help.

Instead it was only enhancing the feelings of alienation, making her feel like a stranger in a strange land, the few constellations she knew were lost in a night sky so full of star's it was white to her enhanced eyes.

Turning from the alien sky Lois looked toward the distant town, it's light a glow easily made close with only a slight focusing. Sitting on Clark's favorite tree limb she sighed as she catalogued the days events, she wasn't sure she wanted Superman's abilities back. Her few days as Ultrawoman had been an eye opener and gave her an understanding of her husband, there was nothing like flying a mile in your partners shoes. Sure she had missed the superhuman abilities, but the responsibility and heart break was something she wasn't sure she could handle. It was nearly three years since she had last worn the Ultrawoman costume and yet her memories were crystal clear, full of sadness and joy.

Leaning back against the trunk of the tree Lois looked toward distant Smallville and wished Clark was holding her even as she dreaded his return from Norway, she had several secrets to tell him and little excuse for not telling him of one much sooner.

How was she going to break the news to him? and which news did she break to him first? Her presence twenty miles from the Kent farm thirty feet up in his favorite old Oak was pretty much a decision to tell him of her returning powers first and then drop the other bomb shells once he had calmed down.

She hadn't meant to keep it a secret this long, at first it had been out of slight fear, if being near Clark was effecting her it might be "contaminating" her she knew he would leave just to be on the safe side. Silently she apologized to Clark she hadn't let him forget the "mistake" he had made in keeping his secret from her for so long and now she was guilty. In a strange way her success at hiding her returning kryptonian powers made her feel better, she wasn't the only one who could miss the obvious, even Superman could miss it.

Looking toward the Kent farm she could hear DNN doing live coverage of the massive oil spill off Norway, both were probably glued to the set watching their boy clean it up. Lois knew which secret she would reveal first to Martha. Lois had been hopeful for the past two months, but the negative test and lack of children for the last two years had made her more fearful of it being a problem caused from living with an alien than a natural progression in a marriage.

The morning's surprise interrogation had shown Lois she couldn't push it under the rug, she had to face her fears and worries or they would get worse quick. Right after the interview she had performed a test and then wearing her old and rather more snug Ultrawoman costume had pulled a surprise visit on a certain medical scientist at Star Labs.

He had been happy to perform an high resolution ultrasound and quickly confirmed that she was pregnant about three months and quite normal at least in comparison to a human.

Lois paused as the DNN report suddenly seemed louder she sighed as she realized it was a reporter interviewing "Superman" if he had time for that then he would be home soon. Floating off the limb Lois headed for the Kent farm, from the sound of it she probably had between forty-five minutes and an hour before Clark found her note telling him to head to his parents home. It was probably just long enough for her to tell the Kents the good news, the bad news, and the scary news.

Most people didn't know it, and even for Lois it hadn't sunk in yet, but the world had changed superman was unleashed both the American military and Lex corp had or would soon have the ability to enhance humans and nothing was going to change that.

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Howard Melton
hmeltonATdaviscomp.com

Other material for this shared universe can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/supermanunbound/index.html
and
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/LoisandClark_SUW/