Chapter 39:
Clark hit the wall of the building as he walked past, chipping some of the brickwork away. He brushed his hand on his pants with a growl. He didn't care anymore. Where did Perry White get off, telling him that he should step back? Perry was the one who needed to step back. Step back before he found himself on the wrong side of his temper.
Overprotective son-of-a-bitch.
Perry wasn't on his side. Nigel wasn't on his side anymore. Everything was falling apart at the seams and he could hardly piece it back together. He ran his hand back through his hair and stepped off the sidewalk without checking the street.
A car nearly knocked into him, stopping just shy of his knee. The driver laid on his horn and flipped him off. Clark returned the gesture, scowling darkly, pushing forward even as people and cars continued to swarm around him.
He had to get some space to breathe. Metropolis was feeling too small, too many people around and buildings and not enough sunlight or space. He turned sharply into the next alley and spun into the suit, and took off into the skies high above.
Lois. Lois was his only saving grace anymore. He needed her on his side. He needed to destroy Lex, now more than ever. Before anything else came crashing down. Nigel alone could—
He skidded to a halt, high above the Metropolis skyline, and froze. He glanced back down at the city, so shiny and bright. From up here, it didn't look like the dingy, dark, crime-ridden den of scum and villainy that it most definitely was.
He was a fool for trusting Nigel. Nigel knew everything. He could walk right into Luthor's penthouse and lay out every inch of the plan for him. He could go to the police, he could provide documentation. The only thing possibly holding him back was the fact that they seemed to be in a deadlock— trapped by each other in this spiral of mutually assured destruction.
"Help! Please, somebody! Help!"
The cries were young, and Clark felt his heart stir. He wasn't particularly in the heroic mood, but if there was a child in danger he couldn't exactly stand idly by. He swooped down through the clouds and landed with a thud.
A young girl with wide eyes looked up at him in awe. She grasped for words for a minute, seemingly stunned by his sudden appearance. Clark soothed her in a reassuring tone. “It's alright. I'm here to help. What's wrong?”
Her voice was quiet and awe filled. "You actually came!"
The note of surprise in her voice cut at his heart, and he knelt down on one knee to her level. "Is everything alright, young lady?"
"My sister. She's gone missing. Nobody can find her, and nobody will believe me."
Clark's brow furrowed. "What about your family? Surely they believe you? Where are your parents?"
She shook her head, big, round, crocodile tears streaming down her face. "We don't got any parents. We live at the Beckworth orphanage."
His stomach clenched, and a ball of hot rage ate away at him. Who would dare... How could anyone have the gall to go after someone so helpless? He tried to inject some lightness into the mood, not let the dark cloud he was feeling inside overtake his expression. "Orphans, huh? You know, I'm an orphan too."
Her damp eyes went impossibly wider. "Really?"
"Oh yeah. Twice actually. I can't speak for any of your personal experiences, but I know it's tough. How can I help, sweetie?"
She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "She usually comes back. She goes to see the doctor, and then she comes back. But she didn't come back this time. I'm scared."
The wheels in Clark's brain were spinning out of control. There were so many possibilities with that one statement. Was her sister sick? Did she die? Was it possible it was as simple as that, and this was just a grieving child who couldn't process these feelings?
His gut told him no. But the alternative was too horrible to contemplate.
Clark leaned forward and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Listen... what's your name?"
The girl wiped her arm across her face to brush away her tears. "Ines. My sister's name is Aymee."
"Ines. How about this. I have some friends, they're good people, and they're really great at figuring out things like this. They work at the Daily Planet. They can come visit you and figure out what's going on with your sister, and make sure things are all right for you at the Beckworth orphanage. I can't be seen investigating on the outside, but if they do it for me, I can find your sister, whatever's going on. And until then I'll be searching the whole city for her. Okay?"
She eyed him warily, clearly unsure if she could trust him, or these new people he mentioned. He waited patiently for her response with his hands folded over one knee, not pressuring her, exuding as much calmness and confidence for her as he possibly could.
Slowly, she nodded, and a wave of relief washed over him.
"You promise you'll find my sister?"
He met the young girl's eyes steadily, never more determined to keep a promise in his life. "I promise."
*****LnC*****
The skies were clear today. Lex smiled up at the sun, absorbing as much vitamin D as he could get, letting it warm him from the inside out. Today was going to be a good day. For the first time in a long time, probably since Clark Kent came to town, he felt good. He had a plan. No more would he be a rudderless vessel, trying to fight the current against all odds. He was a man on a mission, and he was confident he would be a success.
So what that Lois hadn't called or contacted him in days, in spite of all his efforts. She would see. He would make her see.
He would make her love him again.
Taking one last deep breath, Lex opened his eyes and opened the door.
The jingling bells greeted him warmly, and he smiled. The shop was quaint, small but cozy. He took in the array of tables and displays around him. It felt charmingly antiquated, like he could stumble upon a rare treasure under the cover of a lace doily or in a dusty corner. Maybe there'd be some long lost love letters in the bottom of an antique trunk, sending him back to another time, another life. The aura of the place was almost mystical. Lex smiled fondly as he picked up an intricate glass vial and examined it, the colors of the glass mixed and blown out beautifully. Some craftsman must have been very proud to make a piece like that.
"Can I help—"
He spun around at the voice and saw the woman's stunned expression before anything else. He put down the glass vial carefully, and opened his arms wide in greeting. "Miranda! What a coincidence!"
She scowled at him bitterly, her smudged dark eyeliner underlining the effect. "Lex. What are you doing here?"
He let his arms fall back to his sides, trying not to let his grin fall as well. "You're looking beautiful as always."
And she did. Her blonde luscious locks feathered quite remarkably around her face. A rare gypsy woman. In another life, perhaps, he could see himself with her. Any man would. But not so long as he had Lois in his life, in whatever capacity.
She turned away with a sigh and stalked back behind the counter. "If you're not here for business, then you're not welcome."
"It is business, I swear."
She leaned over the cluttered countertop and evaluated him with an unsettling eye. "Maybe you're not welcome anyway."
He tsked at her. "Miranda, you haven't even heard my proposition yet. What if I said it was a good one? I'll make it worth your while."
"I don't think you could afford it."
He pulled at his hair in frustration, all charm and suavity gone, eye twitch returning. "Just! Listen to me. All right? I need your help. You're the best damn chemist in the city and I need a potion of sorts."
She laughed in his face, and Lex flinched. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. After you fired me for exactly that?"
He'd prepared for this part. His fingers wandered out to fiddle with a little mechanical figurine on the countertop, jigging the trigger up and down to make it dance across the platform and he built his argument. "That was different. It looked bad on the company. There were... ethical issues with your experiments."
"And yet," she snatched the toy from his hands harshly, "here you are. Bet you wished I was still under the Lexcorp umbrella now."
Lex scowled and folded his hands together calmly. "It's irrelevant now. Are you saying you don't want to work on a side project for me?"
"Depends on what it is."
"How about 'Love Potion Number Nine?'"
His quip fell on deaf ears. Miranda went completely motionless at the words. "Absolutely not."
"Miranda—"
"No. Why now?"
"It's none of your business," Lex spluttered.
She threw her hands up out of exasperation and spun to grab a book off the shelf behind her. "You short-sighted, idiotic... I haven't worked on that project in almost two years."
"Please." He was no longer above outright begging. "What do I have to give you, what more do you want from me? I've apologized and I'll pay you whatever you want, and—"
"I want my old job back," she said, eyeing him predatorily.
Lex nodded rapidly, hands in the air beseechingly. "Done."
"And a pay bump. And free reign to work on my projects as I see fit."
He winced at that last one, but he needed her services now. He couldn't very well nitpick. "Fine. On the condition that you consent to some oversight and monthly reports for the shareholders meetings."
"Only if I get all this in writing in a five year contract."
He soothed at the bags under his eye gently, easing the spasms away. "Fine. Do we have a deal?"
There was a beat of silence where Lex's stomach flipped nervously. She was still examining him carefully, and it was unsettling him to his core.
"Still getting those stress twitches, I see?"
"Miranda." His voice cut harshly, done playing games. Finally she smiled, tongue peeking out through her teeth coyly, and Lex got the distinct impression that he'd just been played. Like a cat with a mouse.
"We have a deal."
He rolled his eyes at her dramatics. She was being ridiculous about all this. He was giving her all she had before and more. She could have just asked and he'd have gladly given it to her. He gestured his thanks with a hand her direction and just a hint of sarcasm coloring his tone. "Thank you, finally. You start immediately. I'll have a lab ready for you in a couple of days, if you could just get started here." He spun on his heel and headed for the door, the mystery of the place somehow lost as he walked past everything a second time, now just appearing grim and old and dirty.
"Whoever she is, it won't make her love you."
Lex froze, not daring to breathe let alone turn to face her. He could feel her smug smirk burning a hole in his skull. He swallowed thickly, trying to play it off cool. "Well, that's what I'm paying you for."
She clicked her tongue at him. "I'm a doctor, Lex, not a miracle worker."
"Well then good because I don't believe in miracles,” he snapped.
He glanced back at her to find her shaking her head at him, eyes closed. "Even if I do get this to work, you'll know it's not real. She'll never really love you."
"She loves me," he said with a snarl. Because that stung. He had to blink back the pain that tried to escape from his eyes. "This is just... insurance."
"You're okay living your life like that?"
His stomach knotted, and he was forced to acknowledge that he really didn't know. It was hard to know anything anymore, what with where his life was at. The only two things he did know was that Clark Kent was sabotaging him, and that he loved Lois Lane. Lois was the only thing left in his life that made a bit of sense, and he was losing her. He couldn't afford to lose her, especially not to Kent, of all people.
He met her gaze firmly. "Yes."
The way his word seemed to echo through the space felt unnatural, but it was enough for Miranda to back down. She started stacking some books on her counter, sorting them by some order of importance. "Fine. But don't come crying to me when it turns out sleeping next to a blow up doll isn't all it's cracked up to be."
Lex felt his eye twitch again, and he watched Miranda gather up her notebooks and textbooks for a few seconds more with a fire in his belly. He shoved the door open, and the bells rattled violently on his way out.
