Chapter 49:
Lex kept his jaw firmly shut. He was grinding his teeth, and his eye was twitching, and he was about three seconds away from exploding. If he could just keep breathing, he might be able to postpone Nigel's death.
The silence in the elevator was rudely interrupted by the soft ding of it's arrival on their floor. Yes. Focus on the physical things. That's what he would do. The crush of his soft carpets underfoot, the dim lighting of his office space, the shuffle of Nigel St. John's feet behind him... He hit the door to his office violently and shoved them open, releasing some of his rage into the gesture. His eyes alighted on the box and files open on his desk from Fane and he scoffed. Not ten hours ago had he received the package and all relevant information from Lieutenant Fane about Trask's association with Bureau 39. He'd been sitting here, going through as much random information as he could, trying to pull together twenty-year-old puzzle pieces—
"Sir, may I just—"
"No, Nigel, you may not."
"I merely wanted to show—"
Lex flipped the banker's box over and sent the contents spewing onto the floor. That felt good. He picked up a small, silver box and chucked it at Nigel's head. The man ducked, and Lex scowled. "You have the audacity to talk now? Fine. Let's talk." He walked around his desk, feeling the heat of rage flaming at his cheeks. "Let's talk about you going behind my back, and superseding my orders to Miranda specifically, huh? Or how about— and this is good— deciding to kidnap my girlfriend's sister for half a week? And what about that nonsense about not being on my side?"
"I can explain," he spoke carefully, his words metered and even. Lex glared at him.
"Can you? Because I'd love to hear what excuse you have. Just what the hell have you been thinking, Nigel?"
Nigel threw his hands up in the air. "I am the only one thinking clearly! Do you have any idea how much thought I've put into this? Yes, kidnapping Lucy Lane was not apart of the plan— and I told you Miranda would be serious trouble if you'd let her come back— but trying to manipulate that freak of nature— that was a good plan. Foolproof, even. Almost."
Lex cupped his face in his hands and rubbed at his eyes. "You wanted the Man of Steel to be under the influence of a pheromone. Great idea."
"Yes, it was a great idea. We need to know the man's weaknesses—"
"I'm through trying to take on that prick! Hiding behind all that spandex and hair gel!" Lex exploded, silencing Nigel. He scoffed at the man. "All this time I've been... wasting. Worried about him, or Kent... when I could have just been content and happy, and spending my efforts focused on Lois. Now..." Lex looked down at his hands, shaking now, eyes welling up. He swore under his breath, trying to keep his anger up and keep his burning tears at bay. Lois would never take him back after this. Assuming she even knew he was apart of it... no, she had to know by now. Surely the superhero wouldn't keep it a secret. He swallowed down the bile creeping up into his throat. What had he done?
"We can still defeat him, sir. If we just don't give up, I have a plan—"
Lex sank into his desk chair, defeated. "There is no we, Nigel. We're through."
Nigel froze. "Sorry?"
He let his eyes drift close. He hated to do this, but Nigel had gone too far. "I need you to leave. You're fired."
The resounding silence almost made him wonder if the British ex-spy had already left, but Lex knew better than that. At this point, he just wanted to be left alone to wallow in misery.
"You're not serious."
Lex's eyes fluttered open, irritation flaring up once more. "You think I'm joking."
"I know this went poorly, but—"
He catapulted from his chair and pulled open the middle left drawer of his desk. He shuffled around for the catch on the false bottom, and released it to brandish a gun. Nigel took a step back, and Lex smiled. "Do you know what this is? This was my father's gun." He ran a hand over the weapon affectionately. "It's a .42 caliber Merwin and Bray revolver. A lovely family heirloom. To the best of my knowledge, it's only been fired twice. Once, when my father finally did the world a favor and took a bullet to the brain, and again, when that asshole found it and used it as a show of his strength."
He glanced up at Nigel's face, somewhat pleased with the sinking look of fear in his eyes. He'd never been able to scare the MI-6 agent before. "I keep it as a reminder: that I am not a bad guy. My father— now he was a bad guy. Clark Kent— he's a bad guy, but I don't even know if he's as bad as Lionel Luthor once was. But the Man of Steel... he’s an inconvenience. He's no God, like the masses seem to think he is, and he's clearly not perfect. But going after a so-called superhero? You're trying to paint me a villain, Nigel."
"He's more than an inconvenience, sir, he's a menace."
"He sure didn't want me dead when you were holding a gun to my throat, did he?"
St. John gaped helplessly, searching for his words. "I'm trying to protect you."
Lex scoffed again. "Well then, you're relieved of your duties. I no longer require your protection. Now get out, before I find a need to use this gun a third time."
Nigel stood there silently, grasping for the right reply, but Lex was done arguing. He packed his gun away once more, closing the drawer soundly. The end of an era. Nigel and Lex no more.
"You'll live to regret this. You have no idea what I've sacrificed for your sake."
"Well now, that's your own damn fault, isn't it? You backed the wrong horse."
Nigel St. John squared his jaw firmly and stood tall. He straightened out his rumpled jacket, tugging at his sleeve politely. "It would seem I have."
Lex gestured at the door pointedly.
"Oh, and one last thing. When they find my body— if they find it— watch your back that Kent doesn't pin it on you. You're not wrong about him. He's absolutely out to get you, and he's easily a worse man than your father. And you will live to regret this moment."
Lex furrowed his brow at that, but Nigel turned on his heel and stormed out of his office firmly.
*****LnC*****
"Lucy. Lu-cy," she sing-songed lightly, fingers toying with the sweat-slicked bangs plastered to her sister's brow. A slight flutter to her eyelids had Lois sitting up ramrod straight in a flash. She hit the call button behind her sister's hospital bed and she focused her attention back on her sister.
"Come on, Luce. Wake up."
Lucy stirred and slowly her eyes opened. A wave of relief crashed over Lois, and she tackled her sister in a fierce hug. "Oh, thank God."
"Lois? Wh-where am I? What's going on?"
A nurse came in and pressed to turn off the call button before shuffling her out of the way and doing a few checks on her sister. Panic made Lucy's voice tight as she called out for her again, and Lois made her way back to the other side of the bed. She reached out for her sister's hand and gripped it tightly.
"How are you feeling?"
Lucy closed her eyes again and breathed in deeply. "I feel lightheaded. A little nauseous still. But better."
Lois felt her heart calm down a little with those words. She hadn't even realized how on edge she'd been this whole time. Finally she could breathe easy. "That's good to hear. What happened? Did they... They didn't... hurt you, did they?"
A soft, sad smile crossed Lucy's face. Lois felt her stomach drop in the moments before Lucy spoke again. "No, not in any real way. They were pretty much just keeping me drugged, so I was pretty out of it."
"Then are you sure—"
"Yes, Lois, I'm sure."
A sigh of relief eased past her lips. She leaned her forehead against their joined hands. She didn't know what she'd have done if anything worse had happened. "I'm so glad you're okay."
Lucy shook her head back and forth sharply, bringing Lois' attention back up to her face. Her heart ached for her sister as tears welled up in her eyes. "I don't know how you live like this, Lois. You know you were their real target. They didn't even want me. You go through scrapes like this just about every other week, and I can't even handle it once. I don't even know if I can go home again."
"No," Lois cut in firmly, brushing her sister's hair back. "You can't think of it that way. It's not special that I get in trouble all the time and you think I can miraculously handle it. You react how you want to react. Feel your feelings."
Lucy took a deep shuddering breath in and brushed her tears away. "I guess. Right now I mostly feel... off."
"That's understandable—"
"No, like there's something else wrong. I don't feel right in the head still."
Lois froze. That wasn't a good sign. She glanced at the nurse, who seemed to be surreptitiously checking her charts in the corner while eavesdropping. She reached an arm out and felt her sister's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever or anything," she started hesitantly, "so that's good."
A knock on the door drew her attention away, and she smiled softly when she saw Kansas standing there. An image of him in the Suit superimposed over him in her mind, and she shook her head wryly to dispel it. It was hard to believe still, even with all the evidence she'd found, and the fact that he'd admitted it, and that he'd flown her here from his place. His grin was soft and a little goofy, and put a flutter in her stomach. "Everything all right in here?"
Lois nodded, and turned to look back at her sister with a smile.
Except Lucy wasn't smiling. Her pupils were blown wide, and her expression was some cross of anger and something more. That pit was back in Lois' stomach.
"What's handsome doing here?"
"Um," Lois hedged, scrambling for the right response that wouldn't give away his cover, "we rode over here together. We've been working on finding you—"
"You two shagging?"
Lois' eyebrows rocketed skyward at both the accusation and the odd term. "What? No! Luce- where did you— why would you—"
"That's a shame," she purred, batting her eyes at Clark across the way. Lois felt disgusted, and turned to look back at her— Clark. He seemed as bewildered as she did. "He is a fine looking specimen. Maybe one of these times, you and I can go a few rounds, Kent."
"Lucy!"
She hadn't expected Kansas' cheeks to flame as red as they did, and if the situation weren't so tense and awkward she would have laughed. He cleared his throat. "Why don't I go, uh, get us some coffee?"
"Clark—"
He was bounding out of the room before she could even get another word in. Lois turned back to her sister, flabbergasted. Lucy dissolved into manic-sounding giggles at her expression. "Oh, Lois, lighten up. If you're not together, then what's the harm in having a little fun?"
"Lucy," she groaned cradling her forehead in her hands. This would be just her luck. Her sister gets affected by the same pheromones she was, and of course they'd be fighting over the same guy. "It's the pheromones talking," she told herself as much as she was telling Lucy. "It's not you. You'll bounce back."
"If you two aren't together yet, then why are you together all the time?"
Lois leaned back in her chair. "Clark and I are friends. Good friends."
"Nigel seemed to think you were more than that. Said he had proof."
She was surprised by that bit of information. Firstly, that Nigel was there in the first place, that Lucy had recognized him from their few encounters together, and that he would reveal any amount of information to Lucy, the prisoner. "Nigel told you that?"
"No, he told Lex that."
Her blood went cold. "Lex was there?"
"Yep." Her sister's flippant manner sent another chill through her bones. "He's handsome too, although not nearly as handsome as Clark. Miranda seemed pretty focused on Nigel, which I guess I can get, in a kinda twisted way. You know, in an authority-figure, daddy-issues, hot-for-teacher kind of way. But still, wouldn't be my first choice in a lineup—"
"Lucy, backup. I need you to focus, okay?" She grabbed her sister's hands between her own, probably squeezing a bit too hard to keep her attention, but it worked. Lucy looked up at her, a little of the dazed look starting to dissipate again. "Who was in that... that bunker with you?"
"It started out with just Miranda— she's the one who kidnapped me. Then came Nigel and then Lex."
Lois' heart raced uncontrollably. "So Lex was involved."
"Yeah. And you definitely need to break up with him. He's a bad guy, Lois."
"I know," she admitted, a measure of relief settling over her and lifting the pressure in her chest. She needed to end things with Lex, especially after all this. Hearing her sister confirm it took a little of the blame off her shoulders. It wasn't all her fault. She was right to suspect him.
"And if I'm perfectly honest," Lucy continued, starting to sound more like her normal self again, "I'm not so sure if Clark is a good guy either."
Her heart stopped for a second, but then she shook her head. "Lucy, this isn't some game so you can get your paws on Clark yourself. This is serious."
"I'm being serious," she whined, but her eyes were earnest. "Lex and Nigel were talking about him. They don't like him."
"Of course they don't. Because they're the bad guys."
Lucy shrugged and folded her hands in her lap. "If you say so."
Lois pursed her lips and turned to look at the nurse in the corner, who was scribbling away in a notebook. Lois stood up slowly and walked over to her. "Excuse me, I know she was exposed to the pheromone solution, but how long do you think she's going to be affected?"
The nurse looked over her shoulder at Lucy and smiled grimly. "Honestly, we don't know. It was a one hundred percent compound. We've never dealt with anything like this before. It seems to come and go in waves. We're going to keep her under observation for a few more days, see what pans out. We might be able to treat her with some medication for manic-depressive mood disorders, but we might also have to send her to a specialist."
Lois bit her bottom lip. That wasn't good news. If she'd been hit with a diluted solution and still been out of it for three days, there was no guarantee for Lucy. Her stomach churned and she glanced back at her sister disconcertedly.
A soft rap on the window drew her attention away, and she smiled at Kent, apparently too afraid to come back in her sister's room. She rolled her eyes and made her excuses to Lucy and the kindly nurse before following after him. He smirked conspiratorially at her and pointed up. Lois glanced upwards in confusion and back down, only to find him already making his way towards the elevators. She hurried after him, catching up just in time to beat the doors closed, giggling.
"You couldn't have just asked if I wanted a smoke?"
He grinned— that wonderful, knee-weakening, mega-watt grin she loved so much. "That's no fun."
The doors opened back up, and she followed him to the stairwell, where they took the last few steps up to the roof, and he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. She noticed that he almost always smoked her brand now, and a flush ran across her cheeks.
"Now that you, uh, know... you know... I probably shouldn't be encouraging your smoking habits."
Lois scoffed and snatched the cylinder out of his hands. "What, now you have an image to uphold, Mr. Superhero?"
He huffed a laugh and shook his head mirthfully. "No, it's just... These things aren't good for you. I'm pretty much invulnerable, so it doesn't have an effect on me, but you—"
Lois put a hand on his chest to stop what she thought might become a world class ramble. "Let me set one thing straight here. My decision to smoke or not smoke has nothing to do with you. As with every decision I make— they're all my decisions. So before you get you tights in a bunch just know that I don't do anything I don't want to do and give me a light."
A smirk pulled at his lips, and he nodded. "All right. Here, hold still and breath in."
Confusion furrowed her brow, but she leaned in with the barrel between her lips and did as he asked. He glanced around before pulling his glasses down the bridge of his nose and his eyes glowed with a reddish tint. A tingle ran through her as she realized what he was doing, before she remembered his instruction and she dragged in a deep breath.
He smiled broadly at her following plume of smoke and pushed his glasses back up satisfactorily. "I've always wanted to do that. I can't light my own that way."
Lois spluttered a laugh at that, tension evaporating between them. A peaceful silence took up residence with them as they both stood there enjoying their break. The first break they'd really gotten in a week or two. "So why do you smoke? If you're not affected by it."
He shrugged and released a puff of smoke into the air. "Why do I drink alcohol? Or coffee? It's habit, mostly. Fixes your mindset. A relaxing pattern."
Lois hummed. "Same as the rest of us then, mostly. Just without the impairments."
"Some would say without the good parts," he joked.
A stray thought came and went, distracting her from their temporary bubble of calm. She looked darkly at the ground. "So how long have you known about Lex?"
He'd been holding his smoke in his mouth for a minute now, but her question made him cough and lose his concentration, and all the smoke came pouring out. "What?"
"Lucy told me Lex was there with Nigel and Miranda when you rescued her. Why didn't you tell the cops that? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well, for starters, I didn't expect you to figure out who I was."
Anger filled her up again, and their bubble popped. She glared daggers at him and took another drag off her cigarette. "That's right. Why on earth would you stop lying to me? It's not like my life or my sister's life was on the line or anything. Better let me go on thinking everything is situation-normal, right?"
"Lois," he began, but she held up a hand.
"No, I'm serious. If it's so important to you that you put Lex Luthor away for being the Boss, you should have come to me with all the facts in the beginning. Even if you didn't want to tell me your secret identity, you could have come to me in the costume and said "by the way, you're dating a sociopath." No muss no fuss."
"Be honest, would you really have believed me if I came up to you with barely knowing each other and told you about Lex?"
"Yes!" she cried, waving her cigarette through the air on a broad gesture.
His gaze was patronizing, and her stomach twisted with doubt as he spoke, because he was right. "No, you wouldn't have. Not without evidence. I know you, Lois. You would have thought I was some crazy alien, or if I'd said it as myself, you'd have just called me jealous. Which you did. I needed to amass my evidence, slowly build it up, then present my case. Just like I did. There’s… some things I know as,” he glanced over his shoulder, as though ensuring they were alone, “as the man in the cape, that the man in glasses couldn’t possibly have learned on his own. So I had to show, not tell."
"You lied to me."
The hurt was written plainly across his face, and Lois folded her arms. He made plenty of valid points, but she was right on this one, and he knew it. "Yes."
"I don't appreciate being lied to."
"I know," he admitted, and flipped his glasses up so they rested on the top of his head while he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"And you should have told the cops everything about what happened with Lucy."
He sighed. "Look, I can trust Henderson, I think. But Lois, if Lex Luthor is The Boss, there's no way he doesn't have eyes and ears inside the police force. I don't want to tip my hand until this case is completely shored up."
Lois could understand the logic on that, and she almost hated him for it. "We can trust Henderson. I've known him a long time— he's a good cop. He'll be on our side."
Clark inclined his head slightly and conceded. "We can bring him in when we have a little more to work with."
She sighed heavily and leaned against the building's edge. It was nice working things out like this. Compromising. Discussing. For the first time in her life, Lois felt like she had an actual partner. It was almost a scary thought.
"Can I make the case that you lied to me also?"
"I never—"
"About your feelings for me?"
She shut her mouth with an audible click, and the heat in her ears told her she was blushing hard. "I do not—"
"Ah-ah-ah. No more lying, right?"
She glared at him, suddenly unhappy with this two way street they were on. "Okay. Maybe somewhere, buried incredibly deep inside me, is some eensy-weensy, microcosmic although highly unlikely possibility that I could feel some sort of unmotivated and completely unrealistic attraction to you, and the pheromones brought it out."
A grin pulled at the corners of his lips and he flipped his glasses back down to rest on his face. "As long as you're being honest with yourself, Lois."
She smiled and turned away bashfully. She couldn't believe he was going to call her on this now of all times. Where did her high ground go? She bit down on her cheek and leaned her head out over the edge of the building, looking down at the street below.
His warm, large hand landed softly on her shoulder, and she turned to look up at him. Somehow he filled her personal space, and Lois didn't seem to be bothered in the least. "Don't lean out too far, wouldn't want to have the guy in tights come and rescue you."
"Something tells me he wouldn't mind," she quipped.
A spark ignited in his eye, and he smashed the butt of his own cigarette before turning back to her and cupping her face in his hand. "Any chance to sweep you off your feet."
Her eyelids fluttered closed gently, and he sealed his lips against hers.
