Chapter 46:
It had been a long day. Mostly because it was a slow day. Which wasn't a bad thing. He was actually going to make it home in time for dinner— an impressive feat he hadn't accomplished often since making inspector. Bill tossed his briefcase in the trunk of his car and slammed the lid shut, shutting his time on the clock officially and the knot in his shoulder felt looser already.
A loud slam behind him startled him, and he reflexively reached for his weapon. He relaxed again when he saw who it was. "Hey. You got me for a second there. What's going on?"
The cape-clad hero didn't waste time with any niceties and instead thrust a man at him with his hands tied together with rope. "Inspector, this is Dr. Carlton. It's not going to make much sense right now, but he's connected to the missing girl from Beckworth."
Henderson frowned. "You mean the missing children?"
Watching the color drain out of the all-powerful man’s face was unnerving. He clearly hadn't been expecting that. Bill frowned a little deeper. The man of steel perplexed him at times. "What?"
"Three more children disappeared from the orphanage. One was called in yesterday, and the other two tonight. Three boys and a girl."
The horror on the hero's face settled into disgust and dismay. He gestured at the man now in Henderson's custody. "Well, the good doctor's been doing experiments on them. I couldn't get anything out of him on where they are now—"
"I told you! I don't know! They ran away from Beckworth—"
"Because of you I'm assuming."
The doctor stammered, and Bill sighed. Looks like he wasn't getting home early then anyways. He opened his trunk and grabbed his briefcase once again before linking an arm thru the criminal's. "Well, thanks for your help. I mean, you kind of broke the chain of custody, but I appreciate it and we will look into this as deeply as we can."
The man of steel nodded again, somber.
"And we'll find those kids, don't worry about it."
The hero shot him a small, grateful smile, and took off as quickly as he'd arrived, leaving Bill with his ward and a whole host of questions. There was something off about the man of steel that he couldn't quite put his finger on yet. He'd say it had something to do with the missing kids, except he hadn't known about the other three.
And if he was honest with himself, this wasn't the first time he'd felt this way.
"Can I file a report against him?"
Henderson snapped out of his thoughts suddenly. He blinked at the doctor responsible for kidnapping four kids or worse, and catalogued his appearance. His hair and clothes were disheveled, there was blood pooling under the surface of his skin near his collarbone, most probably where the man of steel had gripped him too tightly. A twist in his stomach made Bill think that wasn't the only bruise from the hero he'd find. He made the decision then and there whose side to take. "Nice try, Doc. Nobody's gonna believe a guy that experiments on orphans."
The man gaped and pleaded, but Henderson dragged him along. Back to the elevators, up to interrogation, taking his fingerprints. All the while ignoring him. He put aside any qualms he had about the situation. They were putting away a bad guy— a real bad guy by the looks of things.
And besides. It never hurt to gain some friends in high places.
*****LnC*****
Lois groaned, the familiar ache of a world class hangover beating inside her brain. She rolled over gently, eyes shut fiercely, and stuck a hand out in hopes that she'd left herself an aspirin and a water bottle on her nightstand last night.
Her brow furrowed slightly when she instead reached for more satiny fabric. She stretched a little beyond her reach— still nothing. How drunk had she been last night? Was she upside down? And something was tangled up around her— she squirmed to get out of the death grip of the blankets...
She scrambled to an upright position when she opened one eye. Her heart leapt into her throat.
Where the hell was she?
She didn't recognize her surroundings at all. She was in a king-sized bed underneath a black satin bedspread, in a large room with a big red stripe on the wall. Lois pushed the unfamiliar bedding away, curling in on herself protectively before realizing what she was wearing. The pit in her stomach deepened as she looked down at the golden, bikini-style underwear and the few scarves tangled around her. What the hell had she done?
A figure crossed her field of vision and she clutched the blankets to her chest with a squeak to cover herself.
Clark looked up from his coffee and paper at the sound, and he shot her a small surprised smile. "Oh, hey. You're awake."
Mortification flamed her cheeks hot and she gaped at his casual manner. As if it was no big deal that she woke up in his bed, barely clothed. "Oh, God," she groaned, slamming her eyes shut. She curled into a ball as tight as she could and rocked back and forth.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't worry— nothing happened."
She snorted at him, still not daring to look up at him even when she felt the bed shift beneath his weight. "Sure you'd say that."
"Lois, I swear to you on my father's grave, nothing happened. Maybe some light making out. But after that I was a perfect gentleman— are you feeling okay? Can I get you anything?"
"You can get me my clothes you sick, twisted—"
Clark cleared his throat nervously. "You, uh, didn't bring any."
She peeked out at him quickly and examined his face for any hint of a lie, but the tightness of his expression and the way he was steadfastly not looking at her was reassuring.
"You did leave a trenchcoat in the elevator? Or I could grab you a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt?"
She swallowed thickly and nodded, retreating back to the relative safety of the comforter. She listened intently to the woosh of drawers opening and snapping shut, and the soft pat as the items were tossed on the satin bedding. She didn't dare look up yet. His sigh barely reached her ears. "Why don't you get dressed, and then we'll talk and get you up to speed."
That got her attention, and she whipped her head up to glare at him. "You said nothing happened!"
His surprise would have been comical if she hadn't been fuming. He raised his hands defensively and backed out of the room slowly. "Nothing like that! This is about work."
"Oh sure. You expect me to believe that you went and actually worked on a story without me when I was in your bed a few hours?"
He cocked his head to the side and looked down at her strangely, some mix of hurt, anger and amusement on his face. She got the sinking feeling that they were not on an even playing field for some reason. "Firstly, I know that I try to come across as a laid-back, easy-going guy, but I've worked very hard to get where I am. And secondly, you've been conked out for a day and a half."
He turned on his heel and left her feeling somehow more humiliated by that little slip than she did over her whole ensemble. She huffed and rolled out from under the covers, only stopping a moment to brace a hand against her throbbing head. First things first, she'd need to coax a couple of Advil out of the man. Then she could apologize and figure out just what the hell happened here.
She padded out and around his apartment in a sinfully comfortable pair of sweatpants and a Metropolis Tigers shirt, not sure where he'd run off. A new turn took her into a room she hadn't seen before, and her steps slowed. The view was breathtaking— the whole wall was one giant window, looking out on the entire city of Metropolis. A twinge of guilt strummed at her heartstrings when she caught sight of Lexcorp Tower, but she quickly shoved it aside as she turned to look at his desk. Everything in here was so pristine that she'd hardly have known it was an office if it weren't for one corner of a file sticking out of the drawer. She bent down and pried it out of the drawer, hissing slightly when a nail broke. She shook her hand out and powered through, flipping to the first page.
"Lois? Where'd you go?"
She barely heard him, eyes fully focused on the image of Nigel St. John passing a package of what she could only assume to be cash or drugs to a small, portly man in glasses.
"Lois? Are you decent?"
She scoffed at that one, and called out to him. "In here." He turned the corner with a mug of coffee and a bottle of aspirin. She lifted the file she was looking at in the air with a question in her eyes.
Clark grimaced and set her mug down carefully. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I found Dr. Carlton."
Lois reached for her much needed mug of comfort and took a sip before responding. "You mean from Beckworth?"
A nod. "He had been receiving payments from a benefactor to run some experiments on a group of children through a company called Deadshot Research Facilities."
"Experiments?"
"He'd been dosing them with a drug to make them smarter."
"And Deadshot Research is Nigel St. John?"
The purse of his lips made her question him a moment. "As far as I can tell. Nigel appears to have gone underground, disappeared without a trace."
"You mean he's not at Le-" she choked on his name, and she realized how long it had really been since she'd seen her boyfriend. If she could even call him that.
"I mean, I haven't been by to check. But if he is there, Luthor's got him hidden pretty deep in that tower of his. Doctor Carlton is already in custody, but the kids are still missing."
Lois' head swam with all this new information. She only knew one thing for sure right now. She set her mug down and popped the cap off the bottle of pills to pour out a generous amount. "I need to get home."
*****LnC*****
"Ha! Project K. Like Kent. Get it?" Lex looked around himself for a response when he didn't get one. A scowl sliced across his features. "I guess it's not that clever. Where the hell is everybody?"
He pushed aside the folder of information he'd gotten from Colonel Fane for the time being and stood up. No Miranda in his business, bugging him for money or attention or a guinea pig. No Lois, although that was fast becoming less and less of a surprise.
No Nigel.
That was what bothered him.
He dialed down for Asabi and was pleased to hear his voice at least. "Asabi, when was the last time Nigel's been in?"
"I'd say it's been at least 4 days, sir."
Lex swallowed his initial reaction of fear down and ended the call with a brief thank you. If Nigel was gone there had to be a good reason.
His fingers grazed over the manilla folder in hesitance, wanting to learn more... but if he didn't address this, it might be the end of the road anyways. Decision made, he picked up the file and slid it into the bank box marked B.39.
It had waited eighteen years. The Bureau could wait one more day.
*****LnC*****
Clark kept an eye on her the entire ride over. She was retreating into her head, he could tell that much. He hoped he hadn't overdone it with letting her find the file. He'd figured she'd go snooping around at some point, so it was an easy assumption to think she'd stick her nose into any visible paperwork. And it's not like he had steered her down a wrong path— they were on the same page. He just would have to kill Nigel before she found him.
He followed her up to her apartment in spite of her protests, stating that he'd get bored in the car. He couldn't give her space to think about the circumstances too hard. Finding that file might have been too obvious, but he just couldn't pass it up. She'd passed out in his bed. Clark congratulated himself on his perseverance in not sleeping with her under the influence, and rewarded himself by pointing her suspicions once again in the direction of Lex Luthor.
She stuck her key in the middle lock and her form went completely rigid. Clark frowned. "What's the matter?"
"Sh-shh!" She swatted at his arm harder than she probably thought. He strained his hearing, but didn't notice any sounds coming from inside the apartment. Lois removed her key carefully and veered towards a different lock, this one on the door handle itself. Clark observed silently with confusion, her fingers steady as she unlocked that one and turned the door handle.
The door swung open with ease, and suddenly Clark was privy to Lois' suspicions.
Her apartment was overturned.
