Chapter 36:
Lois glanced after the man who claimed to love her as he stepped onto the elevator and left. He was an odd bird, that was for sure. He got shifty as soon as she mentioned the blaze. Why, she hadn't a clue. She sighed. Might as well head down to the scene of the fire, see if she could find out anything about it. "Chief?"
"You want it, Lois?"
"Absolutely. Was just about to ask."
"Go on, then. Take Olsen."
She grabbed her purse and her pager from off her desk. "Jimmy! You coming or not?"
"Miss Lane?"
She turned around to find herself face to face with a huge bouquet of flowers. "Oh- uh... What is—"
"Delivery for you. I just need a signature and some place to set this."
She quickly turned and cleared some space off her desk, cheeks flaming with heat in the process. She didn't need to look at the card to know who the flowers were from. Red roses, white orchids, no fillers. Lois grabbed the clipboard from the delivery man's hands and gave a barely legible signature, glaring at anyone who dared to whistle and cat-call at her.
She waved Jimmy off as he pestered her to get going. "Give me a minute, Olsen. Geez." She plucked the card out of the outrageous display and flicked it open. Her throat closed up when she read the words, not ones she'd expected to see.
We need to talk. — LL
Her heart started pounding. What did that mean? What was there to talk about? He skipped out on her. He was gone for over a week. His note, his absence... she should have words for him!
She did have things to say to him.
Her stomach twisted, and she shoved the card deep into her purse. He couldn't... know anything, could he? That would be ridiculous. There was nothing to know, even. She shifted her weight on her feet, eyeing the flowers as if they would reveal all the answers she was looking for. She knew she was lying to herself.
"Lois? Are we going or not? The Metropolis Star already has a crew at the scene of the fire. It'll be out before we get there."
She shook her head and steeled her nerves. She'd deal with Lex later. Maybe much later. "Right. Let's go."
*****LnC*****
Clark revelled in the cheers as he put out the blaze, waving at the crowd, smile crinkling around his eyes. He knew it was stupid— ridiculously stupid— but something about flying around in the cape and the boots was thrilling. The way they all looked up to him, hope reflected in their eyes, smiles on their faces. He felt like a kid again, exhilaration pumping through his veins and ratcheting his mood way above his normal pitch.
He was a hero. A god.
He ate it up.
He landed and made the rounds. Shook hands with the fire chief, the arson inspector, even a couple of other firefighters and officers that seemed interested in meeting a real life superhero. He asked questions about the way the fire started, took an interest, made suggestions.
There was a high that accompanied it all.
So far they didn't have much of a lead. It was initially attributed to a gas leak, but some of the materials on site appeared to have burned too fast, so arson wasn't out of the mix just yet.
He clocked Lois' arrival instantaneously, turning his head ever so slightly as she and Jimmy slid out of a taxi and stormed up to the scene— Lois with a little less gusto than he'd anticipated, given her reaction in the newsroom. He dragged his eye over her form quickly— marking her shuffling gait, her lowered eyes, her stern expression. Not at all how he'd left her.
Clark frowned, and thanked the fire inspector, before casually making his way towards the reporters in the crowd.
"Hey! Big Blue! Over here!"
He nodded at the young photographer. "James. Good to see you."
Olsen seemed starstruck for a few moments, glancing at Lois proudly, before shaking his head and turning back to the man of steel. "Anything you can tell us on the fire?"
"Still inconclusive." he hedged, trying his best to keep an eye on Lois without appearing to. "Arson is still on the table, but it could just as easily be an accident."
James snapped a photograph of the black plumes of smoke, and Clark took the moment to casually check on Lois. "Everything all right, Miss Lane?"
"Hmm? Oh, fine."
She pulled away gently from where his hand rested on her arm, and he remembered who he was in that moment. He glanced about himself, reigning in his impulses and returning to the impassive mask of the hero. This was the downside of heroics. All eyes on him, constrained by the suit and social convention. He couldn't act like a human, act like himself. Every motion he made was captured, every word he said written down for eternity.
The double-edged sword of heroism.
He cocked his head to the side, as though he were listening to something in the distance, and made his excuses to leave.
He darted high above the clouds, bathing in the sunlight that energized him down to his bones. That was the stuff. He stretched out languidly, reclining in the air comfortably. Better than any drug known to man. Better than the thrill of performing high-octane rescues, saving people’s lives and knowing they’d be indebted to him for the rest of their lives and never be able to tip the scale. He allowed the rest of the world to drift away from him— all his troubles, concerns, plotting, day-to-day tasks— and just be.
He sighed in a brief moment of contentment.
It still wasn't better than kissing Lois Lane.
He sighed again, this time out of disappointment. He supposed there wasn't much use in wasting any more time up here. He cracked his knuckles, took a few more tingling moments in the sun, and allowed himself to fall.
Clark smiled as his cape drifted up around him, cradling his body in his rapid descent. He outstretched his arms and closed his eyes, peace smoothing away the worry lines in his face. Wind whipped at his ears, shadows of the clouds crossing his trouble-free expression.
At the last possible second, he fought gravity's control, and swooped up at a speed that left a boom in his wake and rattled the windows of Lex Luthor's penthouse. Clark grinned at hearing the man cursing after him, and decided it was time enough for him to get back to business.
*****LnC*****
"And she got the delivery? You're positive?"
The voice on the other end of the line replied in the affirmative, and Lex pursed his lips. She was at work. She was probably busy working. It had only been an hour since she'd received his gift. He thanked the woman on the line and hung up the phone.
The entire building shook, windows rattling loudly, and Lex grabbed at his desk edge frantically as some paperwork flew off. "What the—"
A sonic boom rocketed past in his ears, and a flash of color outside his windows identified the source. He let his shoulders drop, his breathing even. Well, it was better than an earthquake. Lex muttered a few choice words after the hero that streaked by and bent over to collect the papers that had drifted off his desk in his wake. The alien knew what he was doing, clearly was not going to be friendly with him after their last run in. Which was just fine by him. He had no need for a superhero lurking around.
The thought that maybe he should keep the hero on a backburner crossed his mind. Lex clicked his tongue. Kent had to be his main focus, he knew, but this so-called superhero was a threat of his own right. No way would Lex be able to pull off anything he was planning if the caped wonder wanted to stop him. The man was indestructible— fast, strong, able to fly. Nothing would escape his notice.
His intercom buzzed, and Lex hit the button irascibly at the interruption. "Yes?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Fane is here to speak with you, sir."
Surprise flooded him. "Send him in, please."
The man entered not a moment later, and Lex smiled at the man and outstretched his arms broadly. "Colonel! What a wonderful surprise."
The man shook his hand warmly. "Good to see you, Mr. Luthor."
"Please, you know better than to call me that. Call me Lex. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He gestured for the man to sit before his desk, and took his own seat on the other side. Lex finished stacking his loose papers and slid them into his top drawer as the army man spoke.
"Unfortunately, I'm here on business, not pleasure. We had some difficulty getting in contact with you last week, your assistant mentioned you were out of town?"
"Yes, I had a... personal commitment to attend to."
The man nodded, didn't press for any more information. "Well, I'm here to apologize on behalf of the military for all of the complications behind Project Shockwave. We do appreciate everything Luthor Technologies has invested into this project, and it is one hundred percent back on track, now that Roarke and Harrington are out of the picture."
Lex blinked at the man in confusion. He was completely in the dark on this one. "I'm sorry, what happened?"
Fane shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "I'm sorry. I thought you'd have heard."
He was still trying to play catch up in his head, get off the subject of Kent and Lois and think back on his actual work. "Something went wrong with Project Shockwave? I invested half a billion dollars of research and development into that. What do you mean there were complications?"
"Not anymore. Everything is back on track, and Congress passed the measure to implement it. But as it turns out, an arms dealer named Thaddeus Roarke was trying to sabotage your device. He even blackmailed Congressman Harrington to gain access to the project. Luckily Miss Lane and the folks at the Daily Planet caught wind of it and stepped in when they did."
Lex ran a hand through his hair, loosening some of his curls. "Lois did that?"
The nod he got was hesitant. "She and a Mr. Kent. Actually it was Kent who made the final call, detailing everything they'd found. If it wasn't for the fact that I know you and Lois were together, they'd probably have been looking at some very different results. Treasonous ones. You know this project was labeled with some of the highest security clearances."
Lex breezed right past that warning, ignoring it and the spike of fear at the possibility of Lois getting in serious trouble with these people. She didn't have the best track record for keeping out of trouble, of that he was certain. He tapped his foot under the desk, expending some nervous energy. Kent was involved. Again. He didn't know why Kent would even bother sticking his nose in to rescue one of his projects. It seemed contrary to everything he'd learned about the man this past week. He shook his head, focusing again. "Roarke, though... He's an arms dealer. What did he want with Shockwave?"
Fane shrugged. "Not sure still. We thought initially he maybe wanted to compete with a bid for his own security system, but he didn't seem to have anything similar on the horizon. Our best guess was that he was in it for the money."
"You didn't ask him?"
"He's in the wind. We think we tracked him down to Morocco, but they're a non-extradition country. Not much we can do at this point."
His head was reeling. There was a problem; there wasn't a problem. There was a person behind it; that person was gone. He was getting whiplash just trying to wrap his mind around it all. "But... in all?"
"All's well that ends well, sir. Shockwave was successful and we're looking to implement it on a wider scale."
He let out a long sigh of relief. "You really had me on the edge of my seat there for a moment, Colonel."
Colonel Fane grinned ear to ear. "Sorry about that, Lex. Had to disclose everything."
Lex carded his hand back through his hair and shook his head with a matching grin. "I appreciate it. Sorry I wasn't able to respond sooner."
"Not a problem at all. It was good to chat in person. Don't get to catch up very often anymore."
"Would you stay for a drink?"
Fane seemed to weigh the option for a moment, but shook his head, and Lex felt his heart sink. He could actually use a friend right now, even if that friend was just a business acquaintance that he'd gotten to know over the past several years. "No, I'm on duty. Plus I've got to get back to base. I have a meeting with General Marshall in a couple of hours. But, raincheck?"
Lex gave him a crooked smile. "Of course. Any time."
"Maybe I'll get to meet this infamous Lois Lane next time, huh?"
He smiled brighter, falsely, and brought his hand up to brush at the corners of his mouth. His mind wandered back down the path with Lois and Kent and everything that went with it. "Hopefully."
"All right. Good talking to you. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
Lex clapped the man on the shoulder enthusiastically as he walked him out of his office and into the elevator. "Trust me, I won't."
