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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

You can find Part 176 here.

Author’s Note: Once again, I have another part from the POV of Lex Luthor.
Part 177

Lex had a light skip to his step as he exited the elevator into his private parking garage.

Today was such a beautiful day. The sky was blue. He was seven million dollars richer than yesterday. True, his income was substantially lower than what it was a year ago, before Superman came on the scene, but he and LexCorp were still in the black.

His bride-to-be was gorgeous and half his age, and would shortly be somewhat willing in his bed. Too willing was boring. Nevertheless, too willing was still doable, as Lois’s double proved, but lacking the excitement that really thrilled him. Perhaps he would luck out and Lois would be even slightly unwilling to join their wedding bed.

Lex smirked to himself. That would be nice.

Not that Lois had a choice in the matter. Once they were married, she would never have free will again. He would make sure of that. Not that she would realize it, though. She would be relishing in all that it meant to be a Luthor. Doing everything within her power to please him, so that he could pat her head and tell her what a good wife she was.

Yes, it was a glorious day!

The biggest hurdle to his unhappiness would soon be completely thwarted and dead. He hoped that Superman wasn’t dead yet. Yes, that would be a disappointment. Lex would continue and suffer on without his foe, somehow. He still had many delightful activities for Superman to witness before his demise. Although, once Superman was dead, so would be Lex’s only challenge in the world. Life could become humdrum and easy again. Maybe Lex could just keep Superman around like a zoo animal in a cage until he became tired of tormenting him, just as he had already become bored with his L.U.C. experiment.

Lex opened the door to his wine cellar and the Phantom of the Opera song hit him with a loud blare. He skipped down the stairs and picked up the remote to the stereo, turning off the music. Ten seconds was more than enough of that song. He couldn’t imagine how mind-numbing an entire day of it would be, especially at those decibels for someone with enhanced hearing qualities. He gazed at his nemesis, writhing in pain, and decided that it had resulted in the desired effect.

“Good morning, Superman!” he sang. “It’s a glorious day to be alive, isn’t it?”

Superman groaned from his face down position on the floor of the cage.

“How are we feeling this morning?” Lex asked, opening the door to the cage. “Still feeling a little green around the gills, are we?” He chuckled with glee. “I, on the other hand, am feeling wonderful! ‘She’s beautiful, therefore to be wooed. She is woman, therefore to be won!’” he quoted. “That’s Henry V.”

Superman raised his head for an instant to glare at him, but then dropped it to the ground once more.

Lex’s gaze went up to the video monitor above Superman’s head. Lois’s double, the woman he had Heller make over in Lois’s image, lay on a settee in Lois’s apartment in his ark weeping. “Ah, yes, Lois,” he said, bringing his hand to his heart. “We did have an enjoyable time last night; although, we never did make it out to the play.” He sighed dramatically. It was a half-truth, of course, but Superman needn’t know that.

“It’s a lie,” Superman murmured.

“Is it?” Lex taunted. No, it was the truth. That woman really existed, and Lex had bedded her, more than once, the previous night. “Isn’t that Lois’s apartment? Isn’t that my fiancée, lamenting my absence? How is it a lie?”

The double’s gaze jerked towards the door.

Oh, good. I’ve arrived for my favorite part. “But I found I just couldn’t stay away,” Lex continued, sighing dramatically again for Superman’s benefit. “Once one has tasted the delights which are Lois…”

The double opened the door and wrapped her arms around Lex’s neck, kissing him and practically dragging him into the apartment with need. Yes, need. His second visit to the double, after Lois had rejected him the previous night, had certainly calmed his nerves. This woman had been so willing to please him, so indoctrinated in the ark’s way of life. At least, in the belief that Lex Luthor was her savior from her previous hellish life. To all other aspects of ark life, she was unfamiliar. She had awoken after surgery in Lois’s apartment in the L.U.C. and was told it would be her new home while she recovered. She would never know that she wasn’t ever going to see the light of day again.

The story they had told her was that his limo had accidentally struck her as she crossed the street, causing major damage to her face and requiring a complete facial reconstruction. Unfortunately, her recovery from the surgery took longer than expected. On the plus side, though, the concussion from the accident had given her memory loss of the incident. A common occurrence in such cases. It was for the best, though, that she had not remembered, since she had been targeted for her similarity to Lois’s build and coloring and attacked with a sledgehammer by…some man Nigel had hired.

The nurse had told her when she awoke that not only had Lex paid for her medical care, but that he had felt so guilty that he had visited her every few days to try to make some amends for ruining her life. She was under the belief that Lex had fallen in love with her during those visits.

Unfortunately, though, the double hadn’t been eager enough for film during their trial run a few days previously. Hesitant enough to be confused as Lois, yes, but not participating enough to really drive the knife into Superman’s gut. Her just lying there taking whatever Lex offered wasn’t congruent to Lois’s personality, and Lex figured boring to watch. He had certainly been bored during the act. If only she had been a fighter. It was why he switched off the video feed to the double’s bedroom. Superman’s imagination was probably better at filling in worse details than Lex could supply. In addition, Lex discovered that the marks and scars on the double’s chest and belly from her ‘accident’ were too distinguishing to let the hero see her completely undressed. Pity.

Lex couldn’t chance that the double would act less than enthusiastic in front of Superman, though. She had been made solely for the hero’s benefit. Everything needed to be perfect for Superman’s viewing pleasure. Therefore, the previous morning, Lex had Asabi deliver her a gift of some of Miranda’s perfume, a nightgown, a note telling her Lex was coming to visit that afternoon, and some erotic novels to get her in the mood. It was an elaborate scheme to enact, to be sure, but one well worth that night of torture for the Man of Steel.

The second time he had gone to the double last night, Lex had wanted to punish her for Lois’s rejection of him, but he knew that Superman would never believe that Lex would beat up his bride-to-be the night before their wedding. If Superman had thought Lex had beaten her the night before, it would put a kink in Lex’s carefully laid plan. She needed to appear perfect for their wedding. Superman would never believe that this woman was Lois, should he see that she was bruise-free come their wedding night.

There could be no doubts in Superman’s mind for Lex’s plan to work. Therefore, Lex had to restrain himself merely for his audience’s sake. That and this woman’s willingness to please him had surprised even Lex, taking him there in the living room directly in front of Superman’s camera, with little or no effort on Lex’s part to please her. He had merely needed to show up.

It was how Lois should’ve greeted him when he visited her. It was how Lois would now greet him after they were married. He would make sure of it.

He had told the double when he left that first time that she would never see him again. He had been planning to give her to the Lex-C as a gift, to do with as he pleased, being that the infernal clone – according to Asabi – had become obsessed with his fiancée. It only went to show that good taste must be cell deep.

Lex-C had the audacity to suggest to Lex that he rather than Lex himself should be the one to consummate his marriage to Lois, due to Lois expecting to see a scar from the bullet wound in his shoulder from two months previously. Since Lex didn’t have such a scar, Lois would be sure to question its disappearance.

Lex had to hand it to himself, well… his clone, for thinking of this detail. He had planned merely to tell Lois that he had expert surgeons who were able to remove all scarring. He had even offered to have Dr. Heller remove her scar from her arm, but she refused. She said that she had wanted the reminder of how he had tried to rescue her from Menken.

He loved that Lois had forgiven him so easily for shooting her. It had been an accident, after all. He hadn’t wanted to shoot her that night. Anyway, it had been her fault for stepping into his line of fire.

Superman groaned again, and it pulled Lex’s thoughts and gaze away from the monitor.

Lex smiled down at the fallen hero as he started to circle around him. “I know, it must be tough, seeing me all decked up like this,” he said, pulling a hand mirror from his pocket and examining the bow tie of his tuxedo. “— on my way to marry Lois Lane, while you lie there helplessly and suffer.” He held the mirror down for a moment so that Superman could view his own torment on his face. Then Lex pocketed the mirror again. He couldn’t have Superman breaking the glass and putting himself out of his misery. Lex had more in store for the hero. “And tonight…”

The fallen hero reached out his hand towards Lex’s leg but Lex easily skipped out of his way. “Tonight,” he continued, bursting into song from West Side Story. “And ‘tonight, tonight won’t be just any night.’” He took a deep breath and exhaled with a triumphant smile. “I love Lois. I do, I really do, but she was just a little too independent. Don’t you think?” He didn’t even pause for Superman to respond. “Well, as you see, I’ve taken care of that.”

“Clark Kent knows where I am,” Superman said through a strangled voice.

“Well, yes, I’ll have to kill him too. Thanks for reminding me,” Lex said.

He already had it planned out. Cat Grant would be the prime suspect in Kent’s death for abandoning her to raise their child on their own. Lois’s protestations of Kent’s innocence in that matter had never changed Lex’s initial opinion. Kent had cheated on Lois with Cat during Nightfall, when Lex had brought Lois to visit his ark. Lois had all but confessed that she had caught them. When she had originally mentioned with tears in her eyes that she and Kent were through romantically, apologizing for not taking Lex up on his offer, she had said that she had left him and went to Kent’s apartment only to find Cat and Kent together. Later on, she changed the story to that ludicrous idea that Kent had become sterile because of his dip in the Bay. Kent had lied to her about that, just as he had lied to her about everything else in his past. It took a good liar to recognize the trait in his fellow man. Next to himself, Kent had to be one of the best Lex had ever met.

Lex held up two cummerbunds in front of Superman, and then paused, lowering them. “No. No, he doesn’t know where you are, Superman. Nobody does. You left the Luthor House yesterday morning, and then flew straight into my trap. Not even you knew you would be coming here.” He wagged a finger at the so-called hero. “Nuh-uh. Thou shall not lie.” He grinned and held up the cummerbunds again. “So, Superman, which one? The red or the white? The red is for ‘passion’ and the white for ‘purity’.”

Superman lifted his head but the pain seemed too much for him to respond properly.

Lex glanced up at the monitor. The Lois double was climbing onto his lap for the ultimate lap dance. “Definitely the red.” He placed the white around Superman’s neck and tightened it to an uncomfortable level. He patted the man’s cheek. The white was more befitting of Superman anyway. “No dying yet, Superman.”

“Luthor,” Superman grunted, but Lex took it as a plea for mercy.

“Oh, yes. I cannot leave you without your entertainment,” Lex said, returning his gaze to the monitor. He stepped out of the cage, locking the door behind him, and walked over to the wine barrel where he had left the stereo remote. He dropped the key onto the barrel and picked up the remote. “But I think you cannot appreciate this scene without hearing it for yourself.” He pushed a couple of buttons. Suddenly, the double’s sultry tones emerged from the loudspeakers.

“Oh. Oh. Oh, Lex!” the double moaned in delight. “Yes!”

Lex smirked as Superman pulled himself into a tight ball, trying to cover his ears. Therefore, Lex increased the volume until the bottles in his cellar started rattling against one another. The repeated and enthusiastic moans of the double, echoing off the walls, doubling and tripling in intensity as if there were more than one of her having sex with Lex. When she threw her head back and screamed in pleasure, Lex freeze-framed the image, allowing the room to fall into eerie silence once more.

He switched to the speakers to catch the refrain of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Wedding March playing in the ballroom above them and lowered it down to reasonable volume. It was queued to preamble Wagner’s Wedding March upon which Lois would enter. Lex dropped the remote next to the key on top of the wine barrel, before jogging up the stairs. “It sounds as if they are playing my song. Don’t worry, Superman, I’ll find time, when it’s over, to take you to your new…” He touched the fireman’s ax on the wall at the top of the stairs. It was sharp enough to nick his finger. “— abode. You’ll be the guest of honor later for tonight’s festivities.” He smiled down at the man still curled up in a fetal position on the floor. “Perhaps I’ll even let you say goodbye to Lois, personally, before you die.”

Lex danced out of the room singing ‘Tonight’ from West Side Story.

***

Half an hour earlier…

Cat watched as the gates to Lex’s private garage opened and admitted the limousine carrying Lois inside. She ducked under the gate and slipped into the shadows until the gate was fully down and the limousine out of sight.

She had arrived at Lex Tower early that morning. She needed to speak to Lois. Clark had never shown up the previous day. Neither Jimmy, Perry, Bill, nor those teenagers had seen hide or hair of Clark after Superman had told those boys he would meet them at his apartment. Clark wouldn’t miss either the culmination of a year’s investigation against Lex Luthor nor the opportunity to rescue Lois from the billionaire’s clutches. Yet, his absence seem to be a red flag warning only for Cat.

Then, again, she was the only one who knew Clark well enough to know where to start looking.

The previous night, after she gave Bill and Perry all the data she had collected on Lex, Cat had returned to her apartment to wait for Clark. She had asked Jimbo to telephone her as soon as he heard word from her best friend. When she still hadn’t heard anything by eleven thirty, she went down to Lois’s apartment to talk to the woman directly. Unfortunately, it was too late. She wasn’t there. Had Clark taken Lois earlier than planned to start her escape from Lex?

Cat had returned home and tried in vain to get some sleep. Between being worried about Clark and missing Phil, who wasn’t supposed to return from his camping trip with her brothers until Sunday, she hadn’t been able to get a wink of sleep. She began to suspect that Lex had found out about Lois’s part in the investigation and done something to her. It would explain the disappearance of both Lois and Clark.

By five that morning, Cat had given up trying to sleep. She was down at Clark’s apartment by six to find out if they had heard word from the man. Nothing from Clark, but Lois had called the previous night, also looking for Clark, and with information to pass along to Henderson and to let Clark know that she was spending the night at the Bristol Hotel. Lex had apparently told her that her missing mother would make an appearance prior to the wedding, therefore, Lois told Jimbo that she was going to continue on with the wedding up until the ‘I Do’s’, until Luthor was arrested, or until her mother showed, whichever came first.

Nice of the guys to let Cat know about this new development, she had grumbled to herself. It would have saved her a trip down to Lois’s apartment the night before. It was clear that they didn’t consider Cat part of the team. That was okay, because she worked better alone anyway.

By eight o’clock that morning, Cat had ridden her moped down to Lex Tower and was told by Lex’s security team, in no uncertain terms, that she would not be admitted. Not only was Cat not on the guest list, neither she nor any other member of the gossip trade would be allowed inside the building where the wedding would be held. Neither Mr. Luthor nor Miss Lane would be giving any interviews. Cat felt like punching the security guard in the jaw in frustration. Apparently, having worked with Lois wasn’t reason enough to let her into the building.

Okay, Cat decided. This wasn’t unheard of in her business. She was a professional journalist and knew what to do. Instead of standing around and arguing with the man, and possibly catching the attention of someone who would leak word to Lex about her being there, Cat would figure out another way to sneak into the venue. It wasn’t as if she wanted to attend the ceremony anyway, merely speak to the bride.

Thankful that she had switched into her sneakers, Cat hurried down the tunnel that led into Lex’s garage for his fancy billion-dollar collection of cars. She hoped to catch Lois before she entered the elevator to go upstairs. Just as Cat reached the corner though, she realized that it wasn’t Lois emerging from the limousine, but some man in white robes and a tall hat.

Cat tilted her head to the side as she studied him. Was that Metropolis’s Archbishop? She shook her head. Her mother wouldn’t be pleased and would be sure to write a strongly worded letter to the archdiocese about the Church selling favors to the highest bidder.

Ducking behind one of Lex’s fancy cars, Cat waited for the now empty limousine to make a circle and exit the parking garage. Thankfully, the car alarm on this car that cost more than her, Lois, Clark, and Perry’s combined salaries at the Daily Planet didn’t activate at her touch.

Was Cat too late? Had Lois already arrived at Lex Tower? It made sense. She needed to get dressed in her gown in order not to raise suspicions with Lex or any of his staff. Cat wondered how far Lois would go before she called the wedding off.

Once Cat was alone in the parking garage once more, she headed directly to the elevator. Maybe she could just bypass security altogether… She grimaced. The elevator required a key card to operate.

Damn! Now, she was locked in the parking garage with no way out or up. She could only hope someone else arrived and she could sneak out while the gate was up. Maybe Lex would have Lois’s mother delivered through this private entrance, too. If she wasn’t being held in Lex Tower somewhere.

Cat glanced around, looking for another door. Wouldn’t building code require a stairwell to this level? She scoffed at this thought. Building codes. Ha! What did those matter to a man such as Lex? He merely had to make some huge campaign donation and voila! His building plans would pass whatever inspector they were assigned to. She bet this second underground garage had never made it to the Lex Tower blueprint either.

Once Lex was under lock and key at the Metropolis jail, Cat hoped Lois and Clark did their due diligence going back through every major business transaction between LexCorp and Lex Luthor and the city of Metropolis to find the discrepancies. Thankfully, after this summer, Lex Luthor and Metropolis would no longer be Cat’s concern.

The elevator dinged announcing its return to the private garage and Cat knew she didn’t have time to run behind a car. The door to Lex’s wine cellar was closest. Luckily, from her visit several months earlier, Cat knew that Lex left it unlocked. She pushed the door open and slid behind it to peer out to see who was coming. She would hide there until whoever it was went back upstairs.

A man from Lex’s security detail exited the elevator. Had they seen her on the security video? Crap! She had forgotten that Lex was Mr. Voyeur.

As she continued to watch the security guard, she realized that the man didn’t seem to be looking for anybody, but merely standing outside the elevator as if waiting for someone or just guarding that entrance into the building.

Great. That meant she was now stuck inside Lex’s wine cellar and she wasn’t able to drink.

She shut the door and groaned in frustration as she leaned up against it. With the outside door closed, Cat realized she could hear music coming from the other side of the door leading down into the wine cellar proper. Her brow furrowed. That was weird. Why would someone be playing music in the wine cellar unless some event was happening there? Were the musicians Lex hired to play at the reception down there warming up? She slowly opened that second door to the cellar to peer inside and was suddenly knocked backwards by organ music. Not just any organ music, but The Phantom of the Opera at levels that even her unborn child could hear.

Something wasn’t right here.

Hesitantly, Cat inched around the corner and peered down into the cellar. Her hand rose to her mouth in a silent gasp.

Prone on the cement floor with a green glowing cage surrounding him, laid Superman.

Well, that certainly answered that question.

Without a second thought regarding her safety or video surveillance of any kind, Cat hurried down the stairs to the cage.

“Cl… Superman!” she exclaimed, catching herself at the last second.

He didn’t move.

Maybe he didn’t hear her. The music was quite loud.

She waited for a musical interlude and then repeated more loudly, “Superman!”

Still no reaction.

Cat tried to open the door of the cage, but it was locked. No surprise there. Why would Lex capture Superman, and then leave the door unlocked?

She moved to the other side of the cage, reached through the bars, and nudged him.

Nothing.

She poked him harder. “Superman, please! I need your help,” Cat said, grabbing hold of his cape and tugging on it.

His eyes fluttered open, and she exhaled with relief. She didn’t know if he heard or saw her, because his eyes closed again.

She grabbed a large section of his cape and yanked hard. “Clark needs you!” she yelled.

Superman groaned and his arm moved slightly away from his body. His eyes opened again. He squeezed them shut and then opened them once more as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Cat? What… what are you doing here?”

“Rescuing your butt, apparently, Superman,” she replied with a roll of her eyes.

His gaze narrowed as if his eyes hurt, and then he shook his head. “Huh?” He pointed to his ear. “I… I can’t hear you,” he said at the same time the music stopped.

The silence was both golden and bone-chilling.

“Superman, I’m here to rescue you!” she repeated the obvious. “Come on! Bust down the bars, and let’s get you out of there.”

“I can’t,” he said. “Kryptonite.”

“Well, the cage door is locked. Lex didn’t happen to leave the key lying about, did he?” she asked, glancing around.

He gazed at her incredulously.

Yeah, right. Ask a stupid question…

“You need to get out of here,” he said, his voice sounding weak. “The radiation from the Kryptonite… it can’t be good for the baby.”

“Well, it doesn’t look to be doing you any good either, big fellow,” she retorted. “I’m not leaving without you.”

He cowered as if expecting a blow and it came in the form of the thunderous boom of the organ as the music started up again. Clark covered his ears and pulled his knees up to his face in pain. She couldn’t blame him. It was a good song, but not at this level and not on infinite repeat. Poor fellow. How long had he been suffering this torture? She would never underestimate Lex again.

“I’m going to look for…” Cat didn’t bother to finish her sentence. He couldn’t hear her anyway. She could hardly hear herself.

She walked around the main room of the cellar, checking out every surface where there might be a remote of any kind to turn off the music. Finally, she found it on a nearby table with bottles of wine and glasses. She hit the pause button and the room fell into silence once more.

“Okay, Superman, what do we need to do to get you out of there?” she asked.

He didn’t answer. While he seemed to relax as soon as she switched off the music, he still appeared to lack the energy to move.

“What if you twisted the bars?” she suggested. “Or spread them apart?”

“They’re welded together,” he murmured. “And they’re full of Kryptonite gas. If they break it will expose me to the Kryptonite directly.”

Well, Lex had sure thought of everything.

“Can you lift up the cage from the floor high enough for you to crawl underneath?” Cat asked.

Clark shook his head. “I can hardly hold my head up,” he said. “The Kryptonite… it makes me weaker than if I had never had powers.”

“Well, that sucks,” Cat said, starting to pace. She certainly couldn’t lift up the cage.

“Luthor… he hit some sort of button to activate the gas,” he said with a vague motion towards the large wine barrel. Actually, it wasn’t just large; it was monstrous. How much wine did that man drink?

She walked around the barrel until she found a large industrial remote. She held it up. “Is this it?”

Clark didn’t answer. He was staring up. She followed his gaze and saw that he was fixated on a television screen hanging on the wall above the table with the wine glasses.

On the monitor, Lois lay crying on her sofa.

How did Lex Luthor know about Superman and Lois?

Who was she kidding? How couldn’t he know? Everyone knew about it. The only person it seemed who hadn’t realized how much Superman, i.e. Clark, loved her was Lois. It was Clark’s greatest fear that someone would use Lois against Superman. It was why he insisted that Lois fall for his Clark side, so it would draw people’s attention away from her relationship with Superman. Although, why he hadn’t just told Lois that Clark was Superman and vice versa was beyond Cat’s comprehension. Sometimes, that man just made his life more difficult than it had to be.

The strange thing here was that Luthor wasn’t threatening Lois and asking Superman to do something for him. He was merely showing Clark a feed from Lois’s apartment. And an old feed at that. “That’s not live, you know,” Cat told him.

“I know,” he replied. Every word seemed to zap him of energy. “It’s the third time it’s repeated.”

“Why is she crying?” Cat asked.

He didn’t reply.

“Which button do I press to turn off the gas?”

“Oh, Lois,” he whispered. “Please, show me the truth.”

Cat rolled her eyes. This man was pathetic. He couldn’t even save himself. “Well, let’s get you out of here so you can go see her and stop this wedding thing, okay?”

That pulled his attention away from the monitor. “The… the wedding is still on?” he sputtered. “She didn’t… didn’t leave?”

Cat ignored his questions. “I’m pushing the top button. Is that right?”

He lay back down on the floor, whatever energy he had muscled to sit up now spent.

She pinched her lips together and pressed the button. Nothing seemed to happen. The bars of the cage still glowed green. “Did it work?” she asked.

Clark didn’t respond, his breathing labored, but not more so than before.

Cat put down the industrial remote where she had found it and returned to the cage. “Hey, now. She couldn’t leave without you, now could she?”

His eyes fluttered open and he stared at her. She could see the indecision there. He wanted to believe her. There must have been more to this torture than the Kryptonite and the loud music. Something which crushed Clark’s soul. Cat figured that there was more to the video of Lois.

“She’s stalling him, keeping him occupied, so that we could find you and her mother,” Cat explained, knelling down next to him.

He nodded, setting his head down. She didn’t know if he bought her excuse.

“I’m going to look for some tools,” she said, standing up.

“Hide!” he gasped. “Someone’s coming.”

She looked around for somewhere to hide. Seeing no good area in this room, she ran towards the other room only to remember the music. Quickly, she turned around.

“Go!” Superman hissed. “Leave me!”

She glared at him, picked up the stereo remote, and pushed play. Phantom of the Opera blared to life again. She dropped the remote on the wine barrel next to the stairs and ran into the other room of Lex’s cellar.

***End of Part 177***

Part 178

Comments

“Tonight” is from the musical West Side Story. Music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Wedding March. This version is performed by the Russian Philharmonic.

The Bridal Chorus from Richard Wagner’s Wedding March. This version is performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.