Rules of Love
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 2
***
Clark looked over at Lois’ bored expression as they powered through another staff meeting. They’d already given Perry the latest on their investigation into Nigel St. John’s reappearance stateside, and the meeting was now dwindling down focusing on announcements. For the most part, those consisted of budget forecasting and subscription revenue. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the charts and numbers his editor was going over, but rather he had so many other things he could be doing with his time right now.
He had already talked with Perry early this morning about the time off for him and Lois and had made the reservation for two rooms at the hotel. He still needed to pick up Lois’ ring from the jeweler. How he was going to manage to get to the jeweler without tipping Lois off, he wasn’t sure, but he’d figure it out.
He was eager to get started on their investigation into Luthor’s doctor, Gretchen Kelly. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the woman who stole Luthor’s body and Metallo had shown up with his old butler. They were up to something, and he was going to find out what.
“That’s it, folks,” Perry called out as everyone gathered their things and headed toward the exit.
Clark let out a sigh of relief when he heard Perry dismiss the meeting. “So, where do you want to start?” He asked, following Lois to her desk.
“With Sheldon Bender,” Lois said with a grimace.
Clark nodded his agreement. “His office is just around the corner. You want to walk it?”
“Sure.” She nodded. “We could use some fresh air.”
***
Outside the Planet, Lois approached the crosswalk with Clark, waiting for traffic to clear. All morning long she’d felt a sense of dread come over her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. She’d never felt like this before. No matter what the danger was, she was always able to brush it off. So what was different now?
“Lois?” Clark waved a hand in front of her face, and she turned back to him.
“Huh?” She looked back at him, seeing the worry in his eyes.
“You okay?” The lines on his forehead creased.
“Fine. Just a little tired.” She said, forcing a smile. “You were saying?”
“I said, the fact that the FBI is trying to pull away from this is a bit concerning. What could be so big that they pull their agents off a case on an international spy?” He wondered aloud.
“I don’t know.” Lois shook her head, “But maybe we should start talking to the people we know and find out.” Lois said as they crossed the street when the light on the crosswalk changed.
“I’m not sure the Metropolis P.D. or the DA’s office will be much help on his one.” He pointed out as they reached the other side of the street. “This is bigger.”
“It’s a start.” She shrugged, turning the corner where Sheldon Bender’s office was.
The brass sign hung on the awning with green trim. The letters in gold shone brightly from the sign reading, ‘Law Offices of Sheldon Bender.’ Right outside the office was none other than Sheldon Bender, fiddling with his keys to unlock the office door.
“There’s Bender,” Clark nodded in the balding man’s direction.
Lois watched as Bender walked past a group of homeless men who were sifting through the trash can outside the building. His nose was buried in the file he held in his hands, unaware of his surroundings as he bumped into one of the men.
“Typical.” She muttered to herself as they walked toward where Bender was standing at the crosswalk. Just as she was about to shout out his name to get his attention a white construction van pulled up, blocking their view.
“Hey, what are you…?” Bender’s voice could be heard from the other side.
Lois looked to Clark who had already disappeared from behind her. She looked up in the window of the driver’s side and saw it was empty. She frowned, “That’s odd.”
“Lois?” She heard Clark’s voice from the other side of the van. She walked to the other side of the van and saw him standing in front of it in his Superman suit, arms crossed over his chest with a perplexed expression on his face.
“What happened? Where’s Bender?” She asked.
He pointed to the open doors of the van and shook his head, “That’s a good question.” He tapped on the van doors, “Whoever took him knew what they were doing. This van’s been painted in lead paint.”
Lois looked toward the driver’s seat and saw an electronic device blinking on the steering wheel, “What is that?”
Clark reached in to remove it from the steering mechanism. The engine immediately turned off. “Looks like our kidnapper left us a clue.” He held up the device, tapping at the antenna attached to it.
“Seems to be what was driving it.” He looked up at the tall buildings around them. “Unfortunately there’s no telling where it’s being controlled from.”
“Why go to all this trouble to kidnap Bender?” Lois asked, pulling her phone out to dial.
“I don’t know.” He frowned.
The operator’s voice came in on the other end of the phone line, and she turned her attention to her phone, “Hello? Yes, I’d like to report a kidnapping…”
***
Lex stood in the corner, with a pair of sunglasses on and baseball cap to cover his now bald head. Gretchen had assured him the baldness would be temporary. The sound of Sheldon Bender’s whining could be heard from the tunnel as Nigel’s accomplice, Ramin.
“Hey! Watch the suit.” Bender squealed. “Who are you, people? Do you know who I am?”
“Shut up.” Nigel sneered, shoving Bender forward.
“If you’re with Intergang…”
“What’s Intergang?” Lex asked, stepping out from the shadows.
“A new crime organization in Metropolis,” Gretchen answered, stepping out of the shadows with him.
“Just a group of thugs,” Nigel responded unimpressed. “All substance and no style.”
“Well, it didn't take long for the jackals to move in.” Lex mused.
Bender narrowed his eyes at him, “Look whoever you are, you can’t…”
Lex removed the glasses and baseball cap, staying out of the shadows to face Bender. He smiled to himself when he saw the recognition on Bender’s face. “Oh, yes I can!”
“I...
Lex?” Bender gasped in shock.
“Luthor.” He finished for him. “Your worst nightmare.”
***
Detective Ryder walked through the station, escorting them back to his office. “Remote control you and Superman found only had a two hundred mile radius according to our lab, which isn’t very far. Guys in the lab think it could have come from any spyware shop or online store.”
“Well, there goes that idea,” Lois sighed, glancing back at Clark. Her face was tense with concern.
It had been a long afternoon. They’d given their statements on Bender’s kidnapping and filed the story with Perry. Then made their rounds back to the police station to see if there had been any new information in the case. He wasn’t sure, but he had a nagging feeling that Bender’s kidnapping was related to Nigel St. John and Gretchen Kelly’s meeting last week.
“Someone had to have grabbed Bender.” Clark pointed out. “How did they get out of there so fast?”
“Trap door,” Ryder said, taking a bite from an apple as he took a seat behind his desk.
“Pardon?” Lois asked, not sure what he was referring to through the mouthful of apple the detective was eating.
“There was a trap door in the bottom of the van. Pulled right over a manhole cover.” Ryder explained. “We’re sending a team to check it out, but I don’t think we’ll find ‘em. Metropolis Sewer System is nothing but tunnels and wrong turns. No one knows for sure what’s down there. Used to be used to smuggle in alcohol during the Prohibition. Not exactly the place you want to get lost in if you know what I mean.”
“Seems to be a lot of trouble to go through to kidnap a lawyer,” Clark said, running a hand through his hair. “Do you have any suspects?”
“The usual suspects I’m afraid,” Ryder said, leaning back in his chair. “He wasn’t exactly beloved by his clients. Seems he enjoyed ripping people off. Not uncommon for a lawyer but it doesn’t exactly make you Mr. Popularity.”
“So, no suspects?” Lois gathered, “Great.”
“We’re trying to track down where the signal was coming from on this thing.” He pointed to the radio controller that was in an evidence bag on his desk, “But right now we’re stumped.”
“Were you able to get a list of his current clients from his office?” Clark asked, treading carefully with his line of questioning. He wanted to ask him point blank if Bender was involved with Nigel, but he couldn’t do that without something pointing him in that direction first. He’d promised Roger he’d keep the information he’d been given confidentially.
“Yeah,” Ryder nodded. “A bunch of big wigs. Not really anyone you want to mess with though. I can get you a copy if you’d like.”
“Please,” Clark nodded firmly.
“I’ll have Marge make you a copy on your way out,” Ryder said, standing to his feet. He sifted through the file on his desk, pulling out a six-page list from the file. “Here we are.” He motioned for them to follow him to the cubicle outside his office.
***
Lex held Bender over a large pit with rats scampering about. Nigel sat on one end of the pit tossing a meaty bone inside. The rats scurried toward the meat to devour it. “Lex, please!” Bender cried out.
“A billion dollars, Mr. Bender. Where is it?” Lex fumed angrily.
“I-It's tied up.” Bender stammered panicked. “Real estate, foreign investments. I could give you a few thousand now, but…”
“Wrong answer!” Lex hissed angrily, pushing Bender further into the pit.
“Look, I know people in Intergang.” Bender stammered, “Maybe I can talk them into bringing you in…”
“Oh, sorry. Wrong answer again Mr. Bender.” Nigel interjected, tossing another rib into the pit for the rats to devour.
“You know these rats have a voracious appetite.” Luthor hissed at Bender.
“But will they eat one of their own?” Gretchen asked in mock concern for Bender’s well-being.
Bender pleaded with him, “Please, Lex, I’ll get it back. Every cent. I promise you.”
Lex looked to Nigel then to Gretchen, “What say you?”
“A rat’s feast is too good for him in my opinion,” Nigel said, narrowing his eyes at him.
Lex pulled Bender up to his feet, grabbing him by the collar, “The money, Bender!”
“Y-yes, Lex,” Bender stammered. “I just n-need s-some time. Y-you were d-dead.”
“Obviously a misconception all around.” Nigel piped in.
Lex pushed Bender toward Nigel, “Make sure he gets back every last cent.”
“Of course,” Nigel nodded.
“And Bender?” He called out. “If you cross me again I’ll cut open your chest and sew a rat up inside!”
***
Lois took a long sip of her tea, glancing over at Clark who had his head buried in the list of clients they’d gotten from Detective Ryder. All in all their visit to the police station had been informative. They had a call into Jimmy to see what he could pull up from the van’s license plate.
“Anything on Nigel?” Lois asked, setting her tea down on the table in front of her. She pushed her plate to the side, making room for her notebook she’d been writing in before their food had arrived.
“No, but I’ve written down a few names that could have been aliases. Same initials.” He handed the list to her.
She scanned the list he gave her and frowned when she spotted a name she recognized. “Clark,” she pointed to the name at the top, “Nicholas S. Janacek is an alias Nigel used to use when he worked for Lex.”
“You’re sure?” He asked, looking at her for confirmation.
“Positive.” She breathed, shaking her head. “The question is what would Nigel want with Bender?”
“Well, he was in Luthor’s inner circle. Maybe there’s something there the authorities never found? Hidden assets maybe?” Clark guessed.
“Yeah, but how does this all connect to that doctor stealing Lex’s body?” Lois wondered aloud.
“I don’t know.” He said, wrapping an arm around her. She relaxed against him, savoring the feel of his touch. The more they dug into this, the more uncomfortable she became. Rehashing anything related to Lex reminded her of a time she wished to forget. She didn’t want to remember the mistakes she’d made back then or how close she’d come to losing Clark.
<<“All those things about Lex you couldn’t prove?”
“Conversations with him and Superman.”
“You should have told me.”
“I tried.”>>
<<“You disappeared. After our fight about Lex when you stormed off. I tried calling you, and you never returned my calls. I tried calling for Superman, and he never showed...You abandoned me and I…”
“Lois, I would never abandon you….ever.”>>
<<“It was a trap. I got arrogant and never thought he’d get his hands on it after it was destroyed in Smallville.”
“What was destroyed?”
“Kryptonite...Luthor had a cage of Kryptonite. I was trapped in there for a day and a half. Listened to Luthor taunt me about how he’d finally won and what he was going to do to me…and everyone I cared about. I used up all of my strength to get out of there…had to hide behind the barrels of wine when he came in there with an ax.”
“Clark…”
“I made the mistake of being overconfident when I confronted him. I never scanned the wine cellar. Never thought to check for Kryptonite. I never thought he’d get his hands on it. It was destroyed…so I thought.”>> “Hey,” He tilted her chin to look at him. “We’ll figure this out. We always do.” he leaned in to kiss her.
She let out a sigh of relief, returning the kiss with enthusiasm. Clark always knew just the right thing to say or do to make her smile. His fingers lingered in her hair as he slowly pulled away, resting his forehead against hers. She looked up at him, meeting his dark eyes and saw the same worry and concern she’d been feeling. She moved her hand to stroke his cheek and murmured, “The idea of getting away from it all is growing more and more appealing.”
He chuckled, pulling away from her, “Well, I did have a chance to talk to Perry. As long as neither of us ends up kidnapped or anything we should be all set for Friday.”
An impish grin crossed her face, “So where exactly are you taking me?”
“Somewhere I don’t have to worry about either of us getting into trouble.” He answered with a twinkle in his eye.
She threw him a slightly annoyed expression. “How am I supposed to pack?”
“Just wear what you want.” He smiled back at her.
“That doesn’t tell me anything.” She retorted with a raised eyebrow.
“The idea is just to have a good time and not worry about all of
this.” He gestured to the papers in front of them.
“I don’t like surprises.” She reminded him.
“Too bad.” He leaned in to kiss her once more. “I love them.”
***
TBC...
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