Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HerePart 219Part 220
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Big Boss Man
************Lois entered Perry’s office and held up the note he had left on her desk. “What’s up?”
Her boss waved for her to close his door. Then, before he responded, he looked through his windows and into the bullpen. “Where’s Kent?”
She shrugged. “Covering Superman.”
“Good! Have a seat.”
This didn’t sound good.
“Lex Luthor has asked to see you,” Perry finally said once she had sat down. Before she could say ‘no’, he held up his hand. “Lois, honey, just hear me out.”
“I don’t follow anyone’s commands but my own,” Lois responded.
“Thanks for hearing me out,” Perry said. “You’re the only reporter he wants to talk to.”
“He doesn’t want to give me an interview, Perry. He’s
never wanted to give me an interview,” she admitted. “Lex is probably bored and just wants to jerk my chain for fun.”
“That may be so, but a good reporter can even get a story from a non-interview,” he told her. “And you are a good reporter, aren’t you?”
Low blow, Lois grumbled inside her head. How many times had she tried to interview Luthor only to end up with squat? “The best,” she said aloud instead. “However, since I’m going to be called as a witness against him, don’t you think that the D.A.’s office would want me to decline?”
“I thought you didn’t follow anyone’s commands but your own.”
Touché. “Clark isn’t going to like this,” she said as her understatement of the day.
“Luthor specifically said for you to come alone.”
She raised a brow. “He did, did he? How can a man in jail for murder, conspiracy to commit mass murder, fraud, kidnapping, and numerous other crimes get to dictate the terms of my interview? Especially since one of those crimes includes horrifically murdering a woman he had surgically altered to look like me? Na-uh.” She waved her finger. “If he really wants to see me, he’s going to have to follow
my rules, not vice versa. I, personally, could live a happy life never talking to him ever again.”
“Don’t you want to know
why?” Perry asked, clearly trying to nudge up her curiosity.
“Nope. I know why. He’s a psychotic manipulator. He does things like that because he can.”
The pleading smile disappeared from Perry’s lips. “You’ll do it for the Daily Planet.”
“I’ve already sold my soul for the Daily Planet. She knows I have no more to give,” Lois returned.
“Oh. So, you’re resigning?”
She stood up. “I am most certainly not resigning!”
“Giving up, then? Letting Luthor win?”
Lois hated it when Perry played with her emotions in this manner. “I’m a tad bit biased for this article, don’t you think?”
Perry held up his hand. “You’ve never been biased about other men who’ve killed you in effigy.”
The Chief was on a roll.
“Well, I don’t like it,” she grumbled.
“You never do,” he responded, waving her out of his office as he looked back down at the work on his desk. Without looking at her, he held up a piece of paper. “You’ll need this.”
Lois snatched it, seeing it was the person she needed to contact to arrange the interview parameters. She paused at his door. “And I’m bringing Clark.”
“I never doubted for a second that you’d go in without backup.” Perry winced as soon as the words left his mouth. “I meant without your partner.”
“I don’t
need backup!”
“I know that! Please don’t try to prove it to yourself,” he groaned.
“I don’t have anything to prove, Perry!”
“Good!”
She pinched her lips together. “I’m not keeping this from Clark. We’re done with secrets.”
“Glad to hear it!” His words were dismissive.
As she marched back to her desk, she recalled that Perry had been determined to broach this idea without her partner present. He had successfully passed that burden to her.
Chicken! She was tempted to yell back at his office; however, in her mind, she could also hear his low responding chuckle of triumph, so she kept these thoughts to herself.
***
Clark shifted in his seat, trying to find comfort in this uncomfortable position. “I don’t like this,” he finally said.
Lois gave him a look that told him that it was the sixth time he had repeated this phrase during the last half hour.
“You and me both,” Henderson agreed, leaning across his desk towards them. “Luthor is up to something.”
Clark crossed his arms. “I especially don’t like being left out of the loop.”
“What loop?” Lois exclaimed. “I told you everything Perry told me and everything I negotiated with the people at the prison regarding this visit.”
“I should be included in the interview with you,” Clark clarified. “We’re partners, after all.” It was a weak argument, he knew, but he was sticking with it.
“It was the one point Lex wouldn’t budge on. That’s why we brought Henderson in,” Lois reiterated.
Clark knew he was being obstinate, but he had hoped that with Luthor in jail their dealings with the man could finally be in the past. Even Jimbo had told him he’d been naïve to think so; optimistic was how Clark described it. He knew that Luthor didn’t want to see Lois for a friendly little chat or some closure to their non-relationship. Luthor was going to try to win Lois back, ruin her life, or wheedle his way back into their lives, so he could make them miserable
before he killed them.
“I’m to come alone or I can’t talk to him at all,” Lois went on.
“I’m okay with that second option,” Clark replied.
“Perry wants the interview, and Lex will only talk to me,” she said. It was her way of saying she didn’t want to see Luthor either and for that Clark was thankful.
“I should at least be allowed to come with you,” Clark said. “I’d even wait in the lobby or the car.”
“You have that interview with…” She swirled her hand in the air. “What’s his name?”
Superman was being honored with a key to a small North Carolina town he had saved from tornados spawned by Hurricane Beryl in August.
“If you had told me about it in advance, I wouldn’t have double-booked this,” Lois continued, glancing at her watch. “Don’t you need to be leaving soon, so you’re not late?”
“I could reschedule,” Clark suggested. No, he couldn’t reschedule a whole town honoring Superman at the last minute without an actual disaster being his excuse. “Better yet,
you could.”
“Setting up this time was headache enough,” Lois reminded him. “You said that you were okay with letting Inspector Henderson both watch and listen in on our conversation.”
Clark shifted in his seat again. “I’ve changed my mind.”
“I even agreed to wear this stupid sonic watch, so that I could contact Superman if Lex somehow abducts me….
from jail! You know how I feel about tracking devices in the form of a watch and I conceeded
that much. The two of you hope that Lex will say something to incriminate himself, but he isn’t that sloppy. I can do this by myself. You’re overreacting, both of you! And I’m starting to feel insulted.”
“Shall I wait outside while you discuss this in private?” Henderson said, motioning towards the door.
“Thank you,” Clark said.
“No, stay,” Lois said, taking Clark’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “We’ve already made our decision.”
“I’ll just get those earpieces and hidden camera we’ll need,” Henderson said, bolting towards the door.
Once he was gone, Lois said, “You’ve made him uncomfortable.”
“Me?”
“Bickering like an old married couple in front of him. If it were anyone else in this building, we’d never be able to work this beat again.” Her tone implied that it being Henderson didn’t let them off the hook either.
Clark ran a hand through her hair, brushing it behind her ear. “I should be there with you,
minha. What if Luthor does something?”
She let go of his hand that she had been holding and crossed her arms. “What if you
were there and he did try something? What would you do? Burst through the walls to rescue me from an inappropriate comment?”
“At least, I could keep an eye and ear on you to make sure you’re okay,” he said.
“Uh-huh. So, you only want to be there to ease your mind?” she asked wryly. “I don’t need a babysitter, Clark! He’s in jail. What can he do?”
“Who are you and what have you done with Lois Lane?” Clark retorted. “He’s Lex Luthor! What
can’t he do from in jail?” He pointed out the door. “Bender has disappeared off the face of the Earth. Asabi is a vegetable. Nigel St. John has been murdered
while in police custody. Mrs. Cox is in witness protection. And those are the people he trusted. No, I don’t have to like this. I don’t want you anywhere near that man!”
“I’ve taken all the precautions; he won’t be able to touch me,” she reassured him.
Not
all. Superman wouldn’t be there to protect her.
“Are you sure that you don’t want to postpone this meeting until Officer Elliot can be there to escort you?” he asked.
Lois nodded sharply. “Positive. I want this over and done with.” She caressed his cheek. “I’ll be fine.” Her lip curled up into a smile. “Anyway, it probably isn’t a good idea to impersonate an officer within the Metropolis jail.”
“I don’t know. It sounds like just the kind of challenge you’d want to attempt,” he teased.
“Nah... That was the old Lois.” She grinned. “New Lois has better methods to spy inside prison walls.”
He lowered his voice to a soft whisper. “Superman is not a method for invading a person’s privacy.”
“There is no privacy within a prison, Chuck. Them’s the rules.” She took his hand again. “Trust me, Clark. I’ll be fine.”
“I do trust you, Lois. It’s him I don’t trust,” he returned. “Just don’t believe a word he says. He has the ability to sell water to a drowning man and make him pay through the nose for the privilege.”
“Really?” she gasped in faux shock. “You’re acting as if I’ve never met the man before, Clark. Don’t forget, I was engaged to him.”
“Don’t remind me,” he grumbled.
She kissed his cheek and whispered into his ear, “Stop acting like a sore winner, Chuck. You have my love. He never has nor ever will.”
Clark wrapped his arm around her waist and stood up, bringing her with him. He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her with more passion than he would normally do in such a public place, only coming up for air when he heard Henderson clear his throat outside the door. As he stepped back, Lois blinked her eyes in a dazed fashion.
“To be continued later,” he whispered, brushing her lips with one last soft kiss.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said, running her hand over her hair as if she suspected he had mussed it up.
Perhaps he had.
A little.
He reached the door of Henderson’s office just as the Inspector opened it. “If he harms one hair on her head…” Clark started, paused, and then continued with a pointed finger at the policeman, “—I’m holding you personally responsible.”
Henderson patted Clark’s arm with the file folder in his hand. “I’ll be sure to borrow the pope-mobile for our visit to the city jail.”
“A bulletproof vest and a gas mask should suffice,” Clark returned.
“Boys, I’m sitting right here.” Lois shook her head. “It’s just a stupid interview, not the Gunfight at the OK Corral!”
Clark glanced at her with a reassuring smile that he hoped told her that he trusted her, and then shut the door behind himself. He was not going to enjoy this key ceremony as much as he would if he didn’t know Lois could be in imminent danger several states away. This was one of those times leading a double life backfired on him. He bet that Luthor picked this time knowing that Superman would be otherwise engaged. Luthor wanted neither of the two men who loved Lois most, Superman and Clark Kent, there to stop him, whatever he had planned.
“Just out of curiosity, what did Kent mean by ‘holding me personally responsible’?” he heard Henderson ask Lois.
“Let’s just say, you don’t want to see Clark when he’s really mad,” she replied.
Henderson lowered his voice, “Have you ever seen him mad?”
“Often,” Lois scoffed. “Furious, only once, though.” She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “That once was enough.”
As he walked through the station and back out to the street, Clark thought about the one time he had been so mad he had lost control. A man almost died.
That man was Lex Luthor.
Lois had stopped Superman from killing him by saying, ‘Because you’re better than that.’ She was Clark’s conscience.
He’d hate to see what he was capable of if anyone, especially Luthor, killed his conscience.
***
Lois Lane sat down on the hard wooden chair with metal brackets at the thick wooden desk with the Plexiglas wall down the center. Lex Luthor sat in the identical chair on the opposite side of the desk.
“You’re late,” Luthor stated, clearly displeased.
Five holes smaller in circumference than a child’s pinky finger each had been drilled into the Plexiglas to let sound filter through.
“Oh. Did you have something better to do?” Lane retorted, leaning back in her chair.
From his position on the other side of the visitor room door, Bill Henderson had difficulty seeing Luthor’s facial expressions well. At least, the hidden microphone was working.
Luthor reached out and touched the barrier between them with his palm, setting off an alarm that brought a guard near until he moved his hand away. He appeared annoyed by this predicament.
“No touching,” Lane reminded him.
Henderson wished he could say she sounded smug, but she merely sounded bored.
“That’s…been… rule,” Luthor muttered under his breath, not distinctly enough for Henderson to hear all of it. “You’re looking good, Lois,” he went on more loudly, pointing towards her head. “Your hair is finally starting to grow out.”
She ran a hand over her hair. “I was just thinking earlier that it was time for a trim.”
“Kent did seem to prefer you looking more like a boy than a girl, if I recall correctly,” Luthor replied.
Lane shifted away from Luthor so that she was facing Henderson more, and Luthor less, as she leaned her elbow against the back of the chair and broadened her mouth into a full smile, chuckling. Bill wondered if she had asked for the barrier more for Luthor’s protection than her own. Knowing Lane, she probably had.
“Clark prefers me happy; no matter how I look.”
Bill bought that answer. Most sane men preferred Lane happy. Wait. Most men in Metropolis had never seen Lane anything other than mad or determined until Kent had showed up. He had been good for this city in more ways than one.
“In fact, he was saying just last night how much he liked me naked,” Lane went on. “But you didn’t ask me here today to talk about Clark.”
Bill grimaced.
I prefer her clothed! Thank you very much, he thought. He didn’t need the visible description of Kent and Lane… Ugh. Now, he couldn’t stop himself from picturing it.
Great, Lane. Thanks. How was he going to get that image out of his head?
He closed his eyes and tried to think of that double-homicide from the day before.
Oh, terrific. It didn’t work. He didn’t want to know what Superman looked like out of his blue suit or what they might do in bed. Please, Lane! Why did she have to…?
Right. She was pushing Luthor’s buttons with that imagery, too. Still, it was a bit much for his tastes. A bit… un-Lane like. Bill stared at her. Was she lying? Was their relationship more innocent than that? He doubted it, but it made him feel better to think so.
“Actually, I did,” Luthor corrected her. However, he waved off the topic with a flick of his hand as if it were unimportant. “— but we can talk about him later. How are you doing? I read that you spent the summer in space.”
“Oh, you know me. If it hasn’t been covered by the Daily Planet, I want to write about it.”
Luthor gazed at her with open admiration. “Well, I’m glad you had the opportunity. You should have seen what I had planned for Space Station Luthor. It would’ve been huge. Twice the size of Prometheus!” He spread out his hands as if he were showing it to her on a large screen between them.
Lane scoffed. “Size isn’t everything, Lex. Bigger isn’t always better.”
“Oh. Is that why you claim to like Kent, then?” Luthor tossed back. “Because he’s more of a small town boy than a big city man?”
“I didn’t come here to discuss Clark, Lex. What do you want?” Lane’s cool demeanor cracked.
Luthor’s mouth curled upward as a snake’s. “I wanted to apologize for all the trouble my clone caused you, Lois. I know we haven’t always gotten along well, but I enjoy your company and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and allow us to remain friends.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “I only met your clone once, when you sent him on
our date to the opera. That night we ended up being held captive at the Daily Planet instead.”
“That’s not exactly accurate. I did give him a taste of freedom at the beginning of February. I’ve realized recently that he must have been exposed to Miranda’s pheromone perfume and may have come on a little too strongly to you during that boring weapons manufacturing luncheon I sent him to. He fell in love with you at first sight, he admitted that much. I’m afraid it was the perfume that caused his obsession, not genetics. It made him teeter over the edge of sanity; I fear she may have used some of that one hundred proof on him. As soon as I suspected that he had killed poor Miranda, he locked me up in the bunker with the others during Nightfall. He and he alone had the key to our freedom. I was merely a prisoner along with the rest of them.”
Bill rubbed his chin with his index finger. So, that was Luthor’s motive for calling this interview. He wanted to convince Lane that he had been locked up in the bunker since early February; therefore, exonerating himself from many of his crimes: the destruction of the Daily Planet, the death of Miranda, the kidnapping and holding hostage many young scientists and artists under false pretenses, just to name a few.
Lane raised a skeptical eyebrow. Apparently, she bought this load of malarkey as much as Bill did. “If he locked you and the others up before Nightfall, how come none of you were around when you gave me the grand tour?”
“Oh, Lois.” He looked at her with pity in his eyes. “He tried to lure you into the bunker. When you wouldn’t come willingly, he set the Nightfall contingency into effect.”
How could it have slipped Bill’s mind that Luthor had also orchestrated the whole Nightfall scare?
“That doesn’t make any sense, Lex,” Lane replied, sitting up. “He…
You showed me the bunker only
after Nightfall’s imminent impact had been announced.”
Luthor’s self-satisfied sneer seemed more pronounced after Lane’s slip. He thought he was getting through to her and easily at that.
“I only meant that after he had heard that you and Kent shared the honeymoon suite at the Lexor, he took it upon himself to ensure that the two of you would be separated,” Luthor explained.
“So, what you’re saying is that I’m to blame for all these horrible things that have been done by you this year?” she retorted.
“Of course not, darling. My clone was to blame! You’re an innocent victim in all of this. We both are!”
‘
The last thing Lois Lane ever could be was innocent,’ Bill thought.
“So, you’re admitting that you hired men to kill my partner?” Lane inquired.
Luthor’s smile froze for a split-second. “Of course not. I understand Kent was abducted during Nightfall, but I had nothing to do with it. I cannot speak for any actions taken by my clone.”
Lane scoffed and crossed her arms.
Bill, too, was not surprised by Luthor’s unwillingness to confess. Bill watched as they stared at one another for a minute without speaking.
Lane caved first. “Enjoying your solitary confinement?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.”
“Would you like to elaborate?” Lane asked.
“Which do you think I would prefer, Lois? Twenty-three hours alone in my room with only my books to keep me company, or sharing not only my cell but six to twelve hours a day with only the worst of Metropolis’ scum, walking around in a cement yard?”
“When you say the worst of Metropolis’ scum, do you mean ‘the worst’ criminals as ‘the best’, the smelliest, the most violent, or just the ones stupid enough to get caught?”
Bill wondered how Lane would do as a district attorney. Her question was loaded with gunpowder. Thankfully, Bill reminded himself that he would interact with her less if she stayed at the Daily Planet.
The other side of Luthor’s mouth curled upward. “Yes.” He flicked his index finger. “Except for that first one. As for the second one, regular showers are actively encouraged in general population.” He leaned close to the Plexiglas. “Another perk of solitary. Private showers.”
“If only stupid and violent criminals are caught, how do you explain your current state of incarceration?”
“A mistake,” Luthor replied. “That will soon be remedied.”
“Why do you say that it was Miranda’s perfume and not his genetics that caused your clone’s obsession with me?” Lane probed.
Luthor shifted his position. “No offense, Ms. Lane, but while you’re a beautiful and intelligent woman, we hardly know each other well enough for me to have proposed when the clone had. The only conclusion I could fathom is that the clone must have been exposed to Miranda’s perfume and, therefore, could not act rationally.”
Bill could hear the echoing reverberations of that metaphorical slap across Lois Lane’s cheek, and wondered if he would be quick enough to get into the room before she dove over the partition and strangled Luthor to death.
Yet, her only reaction was to pinch her lips together. “Uh-huh.” Then her mouth broadened into a smile. “Therefore, any man who falls in love with me has either been drugged or is irrational? No sane man would ever wish to marry me?” She burst into chuckles. “I might have to agree with you on that one, Lex.”
“That’s not what I…” Luthor stopped himself. He appeared annoyed that she had taken his insult and hurtled it back to him in this manner.
“I have enough pithy comments to make an article, now,” she said, standing up. “It’s been…” She shook her head. “— pretty much just as I expected, Lex.”
“Must you leave so soon?” Luthor asked. “We’ve only just started talking.”
“Other than more claims of your innocence, Lex, do you have anything else to add?”
“Come now, Lois, we’ve always been friends.” He held out his hand to indicate that she should return to her seat.
“Have we now?” she replied, gripping the back of her chair. “Friends don’t generally videotape and record each other in their apartments.”
“I have no idea…”
“Don’t act naïve with me, Lex! We both know that your clone wasn’t intelligent enough to have orchestrated everything you claim he did. He wasn’t behind Clark’s kidnapping and attempted murder; you were!
You, not him, caused Miranda’s death in retribution for her spraying you with her love potion.
You imprisoned those two-hundred people in your bunker.
You implied that you had kidnapped my mother and secreted her away from me in order to use that information to force me to marry you.
You took over the Daily Planet and blew it up, so that we couldn’t reveal the truth about you. You’ve never been a victim, Lex, so stop trying to act like one!”
Luthor gazed at Lane with sadness, as if she were prejudging him unfairly. “I understand your anger, Lois.” He nodded. “My clone treated you horribly, and I can comprehend that you might not ever find it in your heart to forgive me for creating him. Alas, like Frankenstein, I did not understand the errors of my ways until it was too late.”
Lane scoffed and shook her head. “And what you didn’t grasp from reading that story is that the creature wasn’t the monster; Frankenstein was.”
Luthor set his hands down on the desk and leaned towards the partition. “But his intentions were honorable!”
“No, Lex. His motives were selfish, and so were yours.”
He sat back down. “Then let me impart with you some selfless advice. I care for you as a friend, even if you don’t reciprocate. Do not trust Clark Kent.”
“You’ve already told me this.”
“He’s getting better at hiding his tracks,” Luthor went on as if she hadn’t interrupted, partially covering her words with his own. “But he’s
still lying to you!”
Lane’s jaw dropped slightly as she stared at the soon-to-be-former billionaire. She leaned over the back of the chair and towards Luthor, hissing, “About what?”
“About everything.”
She laughed in disbelief at Luthor’s gall. “And you know this…
how?”
He shrugged. “It takes a con man to recognize another con man.”
Bill balled his fist in triumph! Luthor had just admitted that he was a con man. Okay, Bill knew that it was inadmissible in court, as Luthor could easily have been talking metaphorically as a businessman, but still it was a thrill to hear.
“Your theory has a flaw, Lex,” she informed him. “I’ve always heard that the best way to lie is to be ninety-nine percent honest. Therefore, Clark couldn’t be lying to me about everything, otherwise I would see through his lies easily. Just as I saw through your lies.”
Luthor digested this. “All right. Not everything, then. Kent is lying to you about who he is.”
Lane looked up to the ceiling with a slight shake of her head. “Who is he, then?”
He paused, staring at Lane as if debating with himself on whether to tell her the truth. Finally, Luthor admitted, “I don’t know. I never could figure that out.” He tapped the desk. “I just don’t like the idea of you being involved with a ghost.”
“Clark’s not a ghost, Lex. I can touch him just fine,” she purred.
“Kent has another agenda that he’s not telling you about,” he said as she walked towards the door. As she didn’t look back, he started to yell, “Don’t trust him! He’s lying to you! You deserve better!”
Lane opened the door, shutting it firmly behind her. “Good thing it was only the clone who was obsessed with me,” she said bitterly to Bill. “I’d hate to have that man interfering with my personal life.”
They walked down the passageway in silence through the first set of gates.
“Clark grew up in Smallville, Kansas, adopted son to a Martha and Jonathan Kent. He went to Smallville High, and then to MidWestern University,” Bill informed her. “In case you were wondering.”
“I know,” Lane replied, glancing over at him from of the corner of her eye. “That’s what I found out when I visited Smallville last year.”
“Just thought you’d like to know that I know.”
As Lane nodded to him, Bill wondered if she also knew that he knew that information was a lie.
They were all keeping secrets.
They’d both been in on the super con for a while now.
***End of Part 220***Comments
