Chapter 26:
Lex was admiring the view as the sun set over his balcony. Metropolis was a beautiful city. Sure, she had her dark corners, rough edges. But compared to her sister city in Gotham, she was pristine, a flawless diamond. Lex sighed as the sun dipped below the next tallest building.
Today had been quite the productive day. There hadn't been any casualties, as he'd predicted, very few injuries even, and to top it off, he'd learned a little more about the apparently indestructible hero; namely, that the man was indestructible.
The word left a bad taste in his mouth. It was a bad feeling. That he could hardly retaliate if the man of steel somehow came after him, or that his powers were completely unchecked. He had to have a weakness somewhere. He just didn't know what on God's green earth that weakness could be.
A shadow crossed over his features, and it was as if thinking the hero's name could summon him alone. Lex felt paralyzed for a moment. What if the alien could in fact do that? Read his mind somehow. He fought a shudder and put on his best gracious host grin as he looked up at the hero perched delicately on his balcony. "You startled me! What a lovely surprise! I don't believe we've had the pleasure: Lex Luthor."
The expression on the hero's face was not one Lex could match with any of the pictures he'd seen of the friendly neighborhood superhero. He took in the way the man's suit was stained and his cape a bit tattered, and that concern about having checks for powers reared back in his mind again.
The hero ignored his introduction and jumped off the balcony to land besides him. "I know who you are, Luthor. Who you really are."
"Do you now?" Lex stalled, turning his back on the hero and sweeping into his office with an air of confidence he couldn't quite muster for real. He turned just in time to watch the man of steel come striding in after him, an angry determination sparking in his eyes.
"You want to know how strong I am, Luthor?"
The hero picked up the sword of Damascus he had perched in its display and bent it in half without any sort of exertion, and not a cut from the blade either. Lex swallowed. This was a bad sign.
"You want to know how fast I am?"
He grabbed the gun sitting in Lex's middle desk drawer. Lex's eyes shot wide. How the hell had he even known there was a gun in there? He cocked the gun, and aimed it square at his chest.
Surely he wouldn't actually fire—
The sound of the gunshot had barely reached his ears, Lex bracing himself for his end, when the man sped to his side and plucked the bullet out of thin air, just before it hit his chest. Lex felt his heart pounding faster than he'd ever remembered, and maybe it was a heart attack. Lex considered himself to be in peak physical shape, but that fear and panic just about did him in. He casually pressed the bullet into his palm, and it took a moment for Lex to register the searing heat of the thing before he dropped it to the ground, eyes wide.
He looked up in a mixture of horror and awe at the hero. The blood drumming in his ears made it hard to even hear himself speak, but he tried anyway, louder than he'd perhaps intended. "Does that conclude your demonstration?"
He crossed his arms over his chest. "The tests stop now, Luthor."
A flash of fear ran through him at the fact that he'd been caught out, and he swallowed dryly. "Me? I admit nothing. I'm not sure what tests you're talking about. You know, I do hold a certain position in this city—"
His eyes flashed again, incensed that Lex refused to concede. "Yes," he interjected. "And there's nothing that would please me more than to see you dethroned and behind bars, like any common criminal. That day will come, Luthor. Mark my words."
Lex scoffed, his bravado taking him farther than he'd ever expected. He dared to step towards the hero once more, believing now that the man wouldn't actually do anything to hurt him. "I trust not. You have no proof. No one's been hurt. And besides all that, no one would believe you."
The hero smiled politely, suddenly calmer than he had been this whole time, more the picture of the hero he'd glimpsed on tv and in the papers. It was an eerie amount of control, but Lex let the brief submission bolster his spirits more, and he leaned forward menacingly, waiting for the hero to back down. Instead, he very placidly just nodded his head in the direction over his shoulder.
"She might."
Time froze.
Those two words socked Lex in the gut, and the wind left his sails in an instant as he followed the hero's gaze to the woman who stood behind him with a horrified look on her face.
Lex could hardly swallow as he choked out her name. "Lois."
He took a few steps backward before turning towards the balcony to take off. Lex gaped at his girlfriend like a fish, and turned back to the Man of Steel just as he was leaving. "Wait, no- you can't leave! You have to explain to her—"
A sonic boom cut him off mid-thought. Lex turned back to Lois. "You don't understand. You missed everything he—"
Lois' eyes drifted shut. "Lex."
He clammed up and for the love of all that was good and right and holy he begged the stars that she give him a chance to explain.
Lois stayed like that for a dreadfully long time. Her eyes opened and he couldn't bear it another second.
"He's deranged. You didn't see- I didn't try to—"
"I need some space."
"Lois," he pleaded, practically begging her. He almost grabbed her arm but remembered how she felt about that, and instead dropped to his knees, reaching gently for her hand. "Please, hear my side of it."
"You know, I came here to surprise you, and I had this nice gesture and everything, and here I'm the one surprised."
"Lois, Lois... please Lois," he begged for absolution, feeling the hurt watering up in her eyes as it was in his own. "Don't leave me. I love you. I love you so much."
"I'm not saying... I just need time. Okay? Give me some time."
Lex swallowed past the lump that was a permanent resident in his throat now and nodded. "I can give you time. Whatever you need. I promise, my darling."
She pulled her hand from his grip when he leaned in to kiss it, mind racing a mile a minute, and she left him kneeling there all alone.
*****LnC*****
Clark soared through the skies, giddy as a schoolgirl.
Did that really just happen?
Just for kicks, he flew around Metropolis, looking for crime to stop. He helped an old lady cross the street, stopped a gang fight from breaking out, and rescued a cat from a tree.
This was the best he'd felt in ages. He could not have planned that to go better if he tried. He tried to get his facts in order, because it was that unbelievable.
One. Lex Luthor was actually the person behind the attacks on his alter ego. Mystery solved. No frame up necessary. Hard evidence was present. Two. He, as his alter ego, had successfully confronted Luthor about it, and ended up antagonizing the man enough to nearly prompt an actual rivalry. And, Lois had walked in at the exact right moment to watch it all!
A disagreement seemed to be breaking out below him on the docks, so he swooped down once more to save the day again.
"Evening, gentlemen. Everything all right?"
Both groups swung their guns towards him. Clark merely smiled. "Go ahead. Not the first guy to try and do me in today. See this stain? That's from a bomb."
The men on the docks shared a look, and while they didn't put down their guns, Clark took it as a good sign that nobody had tried to shoot him yet. He walked towards the crate they were clearly trying to smuggle past customs. "What's in the box? Drugs? Heroine maybe?" He tore the lid off the box with a quick flip of his wrist, and examined the bags of white powder inside. "Let's find out." He gave the packet a quick zap with his laser vision to slice it in half.
The criminals were dumbfounded as they watched the infallible hero lick his pinky finger, stick it into the white powder, and return the digit to his mouth carefully. "Mm. Cocaine. It seems I was wrong. Not half bad, either."
"Hey! What's going on down there?"
The guys froze at the sound of the security team coming after them. "Give me the money and you can have it all right now," the ringleader of one side spoke in an undertone, nervously glancing at the hero.
Clark laughed. "It's cute that you guys think you're getting away with this." In the blink of an eye, the man of steel disappeared, and reappeared with the customs guards in tow. "Officers, nice of you to join us. It seems these guys have some sort of drug ring going, and we've caught them in the act. You have a way to call 911?"
"The boss isn't gonna like this," one of the guys muttered, and Clark suddenly felt like he'd had a bucket of ice water dumped over him.
The other kid tossed his hands in the air. "Take me in! I'd rather go to prison."
Clark watched on as the officers made their arrests and called in their superiors, masking his face to remain as neutral as possible while it all went down.
"Thank you so much. We've been trying to put these guys to a stop for a while now."
He smiled politely and nodded, remarking rather cooly that it was what he did, before flying away in a more somber mood.
