Rules of Battle
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 5
Lucy Lane stared at the images in front of her. Her facial expression was tense as the information Lois and Clark told her sank in. “I don’t understand. I just saw him yesterday.” She looked up at them through her tears. “How can he…?”
Lois took a seat across from Lucy, taking a deep breath as she pulled out the papers she’d kept hidden from earlier. “Lucy, Johnny got himself mixed up with the wrong people. The wrong people that betrayed him for five thousand dollars.” She pushed the mug shots of Johnny Corbin and Angel Romero to her sister.
“Oh, my God!” Lucy gasped in surprise.
“I’m guessing by your reaction you weren’t aware of his past?” Clark guessed hesitantly.
“No,” Lucy wiped the tears from her eyes. “He had a bad childhood. We connected and ….Oh, my God!”
“Luce, your boyfriend’s not only a criminal now.” Lois began carefully. “He’s at large, and he’s dangerous. He’s a….”
“Cyborg,” Lucy repeated tearfully. “Yeah, you said that.”
“Oh, Lucy, I'm... I'm sorry.” Lois apologized, putting a hand on hers.
“So am I,” Lucy said, shaking her head. “You warned me I might be getting in too deep too fast and I didn’t listen.”
“Luce…” Lois tightened her hand over Lucy’s.
“I can't believe my intuition about men can be so far off.” Lucy whimpered in tears.
Lois looked back at Clark who nodded. She sighed in relief, watching as Clark left the conference room. She was grateful she didn’t have to ask him to give her and Lucy a moment. She looked back at Lucy with a sad smile, “I think it’s a family trait.”
“At least Lex Luthor was human.” Lucy cried, dabbing at her eyes. “I just can’t believe someone did this to him.”
“Clark’s talking to Superman about tracking down the guys that did this to him,” Lois explained gently.
“I don’t suppose there’s going to be any way to put him back how he was?” Lucy asked skeptically.
“I, uh,” Lois sighed, “I don’t think so, Lucy.”
“What do you need from me?” Lucy asked.
“Information,” Lois said. “I need to know everything there is to know about Johnny Corbin.”
***
STAR Labs was pristine with the clean white tile floors and blue coated scientists roaming from one end of the building to the other. Clark took a deep breath, steadying himself as he searched the directory for the name he’d been given by Dr. Hamilton. He approached the security desk and smiled, “I’m looking for a Dr. Bernard Klein?”
The security clerk did a double take, obviously not used to having the man of steel in the STAR Labs lobby. “Of course.” He pressed a button beneath the desk and handed Clark a visitor’s badge. “Top floor. First door on your right.”
“Thank you.” Clark smiled, taking the visitor tag with him as he entered the double doors. Hopefully Dr. Klein would be able to help him and Inspector Henderson catch Metallo. One thing that he had going for him was the knowledge that Corbin was made of metal. If they could find the right magnetic frequency it would help render Metallo powerless and give them the opportunity to catch him without any more innocent lives put at risk.
Henderson was planning a raid on Infinity Laboratories but they needed a way to render Corbin powerless and allow the Vale brothers to be taken into custody.
***
Lois walked with Lucy to the parking garage, “So other than this Becca, Johnny doesn’t have any other family?”
Lucy shook her head, approaching the old beamer she’d parked in the Daily Planet parking garage. “No, she was murdered when he was seventeen.” She let out a long sigh, “I thought it was admirable that he’d preserved through such hardships and made a life for himself.” Lucy’s tone grew bitter when she added, “I didn’t realize he preserved by becoming a criminal. I feel so stupid.”
“I know,” Lois said sympathetically, reaching over to hug her sister. “It’s not easy to admit when you’ve been wrong about someone.”
“He just seemed like such a great guy,” Lucy said tearfully. “I don’t get why I keep picking all these jerks!”
“Who says I’m a jerk?” A familiar voice said from behind them.
Lois looked behind her and jumped in surprise when she saw Johnny Corbin dressed to the nine in a sports jacket, trousers and button-down shirt. “Johnny!” Lucy gasped in surprise as Lois took a protective step in front of her.
“You need to get out of here,” Lois warned.
“I’m not going anywhere until I have a chat with my girl.” Corbin said, pushing Lois to the side with ease. Lois winced as her face came in contact with the concrete floor.
“Let me go!” she heard Lucy scream.
Lois rolled over, reaching her leg up to try and kick Corbin off balance but found him unmoving and her shin pulsing from the pain after making contact with his metal leg. “Let her go!” She ordered.
“Help!” Lucy screamed, struggling in Corbin’s grasp.
“I don’t think so.” Corbin snapped, dragging Lucy with him into a waiting van. “See ya around.” He called after her.
‘Please be ready.’ Lois thought to herself before letting out a loud, “Help Superman!”
***
Dr. Klein placed a blue metal disc on his desk. “It’s a magnetic field. You set this where you want your man of metal to stick.” He handed Clark a small remote with a blue remote and antenna on the end of the blue box-shaped device. “Hit the button on the top.”
He did as instructed and there was a loud humming noise. Dr. Klein’s box of paper clips and stapler moved across the table and onto the table. “Will this be powerful enough to hold him?”
“Oh, yes,” Dr. Klein adjusted the frequency on the side, and more of the devices in the room began to move toward the table. He hit another button and it stopped. “Just be careful with the setting. You might get more than you bargained for.”
“Thank you for your help, Dr. Klein,” Clark said, pressing the button to release the magnetic hold on the table and Dr. Klein’s metal objects that had stuck to the table during the test. “Hopefully we can use this to catch…” He stopped when he heard a familiar voice calling for him.
“Help Superman!”
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.” He said, disappearing in a red and blue blur.
***
“Let go of me!” Lucy shouted, fighting Corbin as he tried to force her into the van.
“Quit fighting me, babe. You know I don’t want to hurt you.” Corbin warned, tightening his grasp on her.
“You’re hurting me!” She yelled angrily.
“Let her go, Corbin!” Clark’s voice boomed from the other side of the garage. Lois sighed in relief when she saw Clark standing at the end of the aisle in his famous Superman pose.
Corbin grinned, tossing Lucy to the side as he approached Clark. “You got that right, pretty boy.” He moved his neck from side to side. “Let’s see what you got.”
Clark blew a burst of freezing breath in Corbin’s direction to throw him back against the van. “I hope you don’t think I'm anti-social, but I’ll keep my distance this time.”
“Scared?” Corbin taunted.
“Lucy?” Lois helped her sister to her feet. “Are you all right?”
“I will be.” Lucy said, looking toward Clark as he threw another blast of freezing breath to Corbin. “Is he going to be able to take him?”
“I hope so,” Lois said, pulling her sister with her toward the exit. “Come on, we need to call Henderson and let him know what’s going on.”
***
“Scared?” Clark heard Corbin taunt him, challenging him to make a move.
“No, but you oughta be.” Clark shot back, watching as Lois led Lucy out of the parking garage. He slid the blue disc toward Corbin, watching as a look of confusion crossed his nemesis face. He hit the blue button on the remote and watched as Corbin froze in place.
“What’s ….hap...pening?” He stammered out.
The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance and Clark wore a smug grin. “I think I’ll let the police explain the rest to you.”
***
Vale Arrested! Metallo UnPlugged!
By Lois Lane and Clark KentLois stared at the front page of the Daily Planet with a smile, reading the article she and Clark had written yesterday afternoon. Jimmy’s photo of Clark holding both Vale brothers by the collar and the photo of the frozen in place Johnny Corbin made their way to the front page. Something she was sure would help Jimmy’s case for trying to get a raise. She felt a pair of familiar lips press against her cheek and she turned to see Clark hovering over her with a cup of coffee. “Admiring your handiwork?” He teased.
“It never gets old.” She grinned back at him. “You’re late.” She pointed out, looking toward the clock.
“Yeah, Superman had to return the magnetic field device and Corbin to STAR Labs this morning. They wanted to make sure there weren’t any hiccups with the transfer.”
“Do you think he’ll be in good hands at STAR Labs?” Lois asked.
“Now that they know the Kryptonite is his powersource they’ve removed it and are keeping him powered by a cord and battery pack to keep him from escaping.” Clark explained with a sigh of relief.
“That’s good.” Lois reasoned. “I’m glad Dr. Klein was able to help. Sounds like he’ll make a good source for the weird and strange things that pop up in Metropolis.”
“Yeah, he seems like a trustworthy guy.” Clark acknowledged. “I’m just glad we were able to catch Corbin without another Kryptonite exposure.”
“Me too.” Lois smiled. She noticed Clark look away and prodded, “What?”
He took her hand in his, perching himself on the edge of the desk. “Lois, I’m really sorry for the way I reacted the other day. I’m not used to needing saving.” He shared a small smile with her. “You saved my life. I want you to know I’ll never forget that.”
Lois smiled, leaning in to kiss him. “I figure I owed you a few.”
“Aw, hells bells can’t you two keep that mushy stuff out of my newsroom?” Perry teased, walking up to them as he wagged a rolled up copy of the Planet at them.
“Morning, Chief,” Lois said, unfazed as she pulled away from Clark.
“Morning?” Perry echoed with the roll of his eyes. “I thought I told you two to take some time off.”
Lois and Clark exchanged a smile before Clark offered, “I know, Chief, but I guess this place is habit forming.”
“You’re starting to sound like someone else I know.” Perry gave a knowing look toward Lois.
“I had a lead to follow up on.” Lois shrugged. “So sue me.”
“What kind of lead?” Perry asked.
“Well for starters where did Emmet Vale get his hands on Kryptonite in the first place?” Lois pointed out.
“You thinking there’s more to this than meets the eye?” Perry asked with a knowing expression.
“It is awfully suspicious that a former LexLabs employee with little means has in his possession a meteorite that’s value is over a million dollars when he can barely pay to keep the doors to his lab open.” Clark pointed out.
“Stay on it.” Perry ordered.
“Chief!” Jimmy called, walking up to them with a smile on his face. “I see you ran my photo. I guess you liked my work yesterday.”
Perry nodded, “Yeah, Jimmy, I like it a lot.”
Jimmy seemed to hold back for a moment, glancing back toward Lois and Clark where they were seated at her desk. She and Clark both nodded their encouragement and Jimmy cleared his throat, “Well... I think in light of this good work, I uh... well... deserve a raise... sir.”
Poor Jimmy looked like he was about to faint as his eyes looked pleadingly to Perry. The Chief gave a pensive expression, running his hand against his chin before adding, “I think you’re long overdue for a raise.”
“You do?” Jimmy’s eyes lit up. “Then why haven't I gotten one?”
Perry shrugged, “You never asked.” With that he walked off, leaving a dumbfounded Jimmy who glanced back to both Lois and Clark. Lois suppressed a giggle and Clark chuckled.
***
A young blonde woman in a blue uniform held a clipboard as she approached the security desk of STAR Labs. “Can I help you, miss?” the clerk asked.
“Yes, I’m looking for a Dr. Klein?” the woman said, looking at her clipboard. “I’m supposed to assist in the transport of Metallo.”
“Metallo?” the guard frowned. “I’m not showing him cleared for transport yet.”
“It was a last minute change.” She said, holding a gun up. “Open the door.”
The guard nodded frantically and pressed the button to clear the intruder into the secure area of STAR Labs and to the unsuspecting Dr. Bernard Klein’s laboratory. She pressed the trigger and a white haze released from her gun, knocking the guard unconscious.
“You’ll have a killer hangover in the morning.” She muttered to herself, making her way down the long hallway.
~The End
Read “Rules of Family”
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