Computer Whiz's Genius by DSDragon

Submitted: July 2006

Author's Notes: This is the fifth and final story in a collection of vignettes based on the same theme--a theme that I have never seen in any of the Lois & Clark fic I've read—-well, at least not very often, and definitely not the first time through the fanfic archive.

It's a good thing I got my third season DVD set last Wednesday, or I would've probably had to set this vignette somewhere else in continuity. Ironically enough, the DVD set (which I'd pre-ordered from Amazon 3 months before it was released) arrived at my door on the exact same day as SUPERMAN RETURNS came out in theaters. How's that for great karma?

This fifth--and final!--vignette is set in the third season, during "Virtually Destroyed.”

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the settings in this fanfic. I only own the idea. The rest belongs to Warner Brothers.

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"Superman, I can't create an exit window for us, so unless we can find X's escape window, and steal it, we'll be trapped inside. Maybe forever," Jimmy sounded worried, as well he should have. As often as Lois got in trouble, it still harried her friends, who just could not sit still until she'd been rescued.

Before Superman could answer, the two frenzied males were interrupted.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?"

Superman glanced toward the origin of the voice, and then looked back as Jimmy scoffed without looking up from the monitor, "Not unless you know your way around a virtual reality system."

The woman who had spoken before had red hair, Superman noticed, and almost-familiar features.

"Do I--" he began before she walked right past him and to Jimmy's side.

"May I?" she asked, indicating the keyboard.

Finally, Jimmy looked up at the woman, and seeing she was serious, he lifted his hands from the keyboard and pushed his chair back before standing and offering it to her. "Be my guest."

Just then, Perry walked by and noticed that Jimmy was away from the computer. "Everything okay, son?" he asked. "Lois back yet?"

The young man did not get a chance to reply, however, since all three men were startled as the woman's fingers blurred across the keyboard.

Perry's eyes widened, but he was the first to recover from the shock. He turned to Superman. "Relative of yours?"

Superman shook his head in bewilderment. "I--I'm pretty sure that's impossible. As far as I know, all the other Kryptonians were killed when the planet exploded."

"Not all," the woman interjected, still typing. "A select few were able to leave the planet just after your ship broke from Krypton's gravitational pull. You were not informed of this, because no one was certain that they would be able to make it, and they had not had time to refit the larger ship for faster-than-light travel."

Superman just stared. Jimmy gawked, mouth open, at the woman's explanation. "Cool."

Perry, taking pity on the superhero's dumbstruck expression and adding a bit of his own southern manners, felt it would be good to get some introductions out of the way. "Well then, I'm Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet, the newspaper which is based in this building here. And you are?"

Somewhat distracted with the woman's typing—-especially after the keyboard started to smoke ("Such primitive technology!") and Superman fixed it with his freezing breath--Perry was confused, and at least a little surprised, when Superman—-literally—-fainted as she said simply, "Lara."

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Author's Notes: In case you haven't figured it out yet, this collection of vignettes is based on the theme, "What if Jor-El (or even Jor-El and Lara) HAD survived the explosion of Krypton, but had to use a slower ship than Clark's?"

In this particular story (as I think will be the case for the other stories), I have left room for continuation, or a sequel. I may or may not do this myself, although I do have a few different branch-off ideas with which I can continue--I just have trouble deciding which ones I want to go with.

Actually, my idea for this vignette changed slightly from conception to typing. Originally, either Jor-El or Lara was going to land in Perry's office (because they'd seen Superman with the El shield on the front page of a recent edition of the Daily Planet), asking where he or she could find Superman (he or she would've called him Kal-El, of course, probably confusing Perry, after which he or she would show Perry the paper).

Perry would have then called Clark into his office to ask him if he could "contact" Superman, and then Clark would have told Lois (this would've been sometime in 3rd or 4th season) that he figured it was time to tell Perry the secret. But then, I thought of this idea, and liked it better, so the original idea went by the wayside, never to be written in full.

Anyone who wishes is welcome to write their own stories based on any of the beginnings I have or will have written for this vignette collection.