Three Rules
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 2
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Lightning crackled across the pitch dark sky, and the wind howled across the street as Lois Lane gripped the belt of her trench coat around her. She stole a glance over her shoulder to where Clark and Jimmy were a few paces behind her. The quick scan of her surroundings and a shove against the rotating glass doors, and she was inside the Daily Planet lobby.
“What a mess,” Jimmy grumbled, shaking the rain droplets off his jacket with a swipe of his hand.
Lois pointed them toward the elevator in the corner of the lobby, motioning for them to follow as she ran a hand through her damp hair. “Fingers crossed those files lead us somewhere.”
Clark nodded his agreement, reaching over to press the call button to the elevator, pausing a brief moment as his hand brushed against hers as he pulled it back. Her lips tightened, feeling an electrical current rush through her at the sudden contact. Every alarm blared in the back of her mind, warning her of the impending danger that lurked around the corner. She had recited the mantra again and again to herself, warning every hormone and wavering thought to beware. She had been through that before.
‘Nope. Not going down that death trap again.’ She cleared her throat, catching the stare of Clark’s eyes on her. It was strange how different he looked with his face covered in the remnants of the rainstorm they had just run through. If it weren’t for the solid frame of his glasses, they would almost disappear behind the scattered droplets that covered his face.
She wanted to say something…anything to break the silence that had fallen between the three of them but found her mind blank as she mulled over what the next move was. She had asked for a team, and this was what she had to work with. A rookie that seemed to have more wits than she’d initially given him credit for. They were getting close to something. She could feel it.
But would it be enough?
Would whatever data Jimmy had been able to confiscate from the E.P.R.A.D. server be enough to clear Samuel Platt’s name and bring peace to his daughter and widow? Would there be a smoking gun to prove Baines’ connection to the Messenger sabotage? Each question came with its own subset of inquiries that left her wondering where all of this would lead.
The doors to the elevator opened as they arrived on the newsroom floor, and Jimmy made a beeline for the conference room, mumbling something about decrypting files. The lights were dimly lit and in the corner was a television set playing footage of an explosion just outside of Metropolis with a small group of journalists watching the coverage.
Lois pointed the screen as she rushed up, “Hey, turn that up.”
“At this time we can confirm at least one of the passengers has been identified as Dr. Antoinette Baines….” The newscaster’s voice was solemn as he continued to talk through the somber subject matter, turning to experts who questioned how E.P.R.A.D. would move forward with the launch.
“No…” Lois fumed angrily, stomping her foot. “No.”
A hand reached over to squeeze her shoulder and she jumped back, startled by the contact, turning to see Clark’s surprised expression. “If Baines was behind the sabotage then why ….” Clark stopped mid-sentence, answering his own question. “She could identify whoever was responsible.”
“As much as I hate to admit I’m wrong, I think you’re right. She wasn’t alone in this, but unfortunately, our only lead on who else could be working with her just went up in flames.” Lois gestured to the screen in dismay.
“We still have the files on the server.” Clark reminded her.
“Well, I hope you believe in miracles, Smallville, because we’re going to need one.”
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Miracle.
That was how Lois had described their chances of clearing Samuel Platt’s name. Clark patted his face dry, fresh out of the shower, aiming a beam of heat vision expertly across the hair that was beginning to peak across his chin and cheeks. One of the downsides he had noticed since puberty was how quickly his hair grew. He ran his fingertips through the dark locks on his head, wondering momentarily if it might be time for another trim.
He grimaced, looking around the hotel room. Maybe he should wait until he was living somewhere bigger than a shoebox before attempting a haircut. Knowing his luck he might end up catching the whole place on fire. He turned his attention back to his reflection, watching as the dark shadow of hair disappeared under the beam reflected on it.
After patting his face dry, he finished drying himself off with a quick beam of heat across his skin, watching as the droplets of water rose up in steam around him. Once he was sure he had completely dried off he moved at super-speed to change into the suit and tie he had laid out. He took a quick glance to the clock on the nightstand, noting the time.
“Better get moving.”
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Boring.
More boring.
Lois fought the urge to yawn as she listened to Barnes provide his update on the Metropolis Car Show. She glanced across the table, trying to find anything but the mundane tone that filled the air. She had so many things she could be doing right now. It was just shy of midnight when she had finally pulled herself away from analyzing the data they had found at E.P.R.A.D. What they had been able to access without the heavily coded passcode and encryptions had been printed out for later analysis. Jimmy was supposed to be working with the photo lab to get the photos he’d taken printed so they could be analyzed.
She just hoped it would be enough.
She shifted in her chair, feeling the edge of the chair’s back hit her spine. Her neck craned to the side, and her gaze moved to the left corner where Clark was seated notepad in hand, seemingly unfazed by the dull stories being pushed by Barnes. If it weren’t for Barnes’ connection with one of the board members, she was sure Perry would have sent him packing years ago.
Most of the time she could stand the weekly update but today was not one of those days. She had a lot of ground to cover and hearing each reporter’s update wasn’t something she had the patience to endure. She glanced over at Clark who appeared equally as impatient to get through the weekly staff meeting as she was. A smile smoothed its way across her face as she looked across the table to where Jimmy was seated, taking furious notes and Cat who seemed more interested in analyzing Clark than paying attention to Perry.
She could admit even to herself that Clark was able to bring his a-game in the investigation. Many would have already turned in for the night, but he had still been at it long after she had finished up her dinner with Lex Luthor. The sour reminder of how that dinner had ended left a bitter taste in her mouth, but thanks to a few hours of digging through the research and a less than legal second visit to E.P.R.A.D. they had a clear direction in the investigation that would help them find the person or persons responsible and expose them.
A giddy grin crossed her face at the anticipation of another headline with her by-line gracing the cover of the Daily Planet. She had worked hard to get where she was in her career, but one thing that still remained just out of grasp was the long-sought out Pulitzer. This story could be the story that finally got her that recognition. Her attention moved to Clark just as he glanced down at his notebook again. A curious furrow rose in her brow, pondering if he might be giving the pad in his hand just a little too much attention.
“Lois?”
Lois pulled herself out of her inner musings, hearing her name from her editor. “Still working through the E.P.R.A.D. research to figure out who’s behind the sabotage.”
Perry’s brow furrowed and he smirked at her, “Well, that’s good to hear, but that still doesn’t answer my question on the Lex Luthor piece.”
“Lex Luthor?” Lois asked, feeling the heat twinge across her cheeks.
“Yes, were you able to get anywhere with your interview?” Perry asked with a bemused expression on his face.
“No, I hit a wall,” Lois grumbled in response.
Perry’s smirk broke out into a grin as he pointed to the window behind her, looking out onto the newsroom. “Well, maybe a follow-up is in order?”
Lois looked over her shoulder, startled to see Lex Luthor standing a few feet away in the middle of the bullpen, staring back at her with a nod. She let out a low mutter, grabbing her things and heading into the newsroom to see just what had spurred a visit from the philanthropist.
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Clark’s brow furrowed as he moved his attention to the newsroom behind him, watching as Lois exited the large conference room and cornering Lex Luthor, who stood just a few feet away from her desk. His super-hearing almost instinctively tuned into the conversation happening a few feet away. He knew he should be focused on his editor’s updates, especially given the fact that this was his first week, but he just couldn’t help himself.
“Bad time?” Lex Luthor’s voice rang in his ears as he gave the best impression he could of paying attention to Perry as he continued the update with the staff.
“Working,” Lois responded to Luthor, “I don’t exactly have a story to file because someone got the wrong idea about dinner the other night.”
“Did you get the flowers? I did try and apologize…”
“I don’t need an apology. I need answers to my questions.”
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Lois closed the door of the small conference room behind her, stepping out into the newsroom and stopping in front of Lex Luthor, watching him with a careful eye. “What can I help you with, Lex?”
“Bad time?” Lex asked, raising his eyebrow with a smile.
She crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head, “Working. I don’t exactly have a story to file because someone got the wrong idea about dinner the other night.”
“Did you get the flowers? I did try and apologize…” Lex tapped his index finger on his jaw.
“I don’t need an apology.” Lois counted sharply. “I need answers to my questions.”
“I was hoping I might be able to make it up to you by taking you to lunch.” Lex offered, gesturing toward the elevators. “I have a meeting in Paris this morning and would welcome the company.”
Lois twisted her mouth tightly, pondering momentarily if she should trust the invitation or not. As appealing as it was to possibly follow-up on the elusive interview she had been chasing after for what felt like forever, she couldn’t just drop everything and fly off to Paris without any notice.
“As tempting as a trip to Paris is, Mr. Luthor, I’m going to have to decline,” Lois frowned, shaking her head. “There’s a little girl that’s depending on me to help clear her dad’s name right now, and I can’t let her down.”
“Yes, of course, I understand,” Lex Luthor seemed surprised by the rejection but quickly recovered with a quick, “Another time then?”
As he spoke, the conference room emptied out, and she heard Clark and Jimmy approaching, “I’ve got to get these photos printed, and then we can meet up later?” Jimmy asked as he grabbed his camera bag.
“Yeah, maybe take what you have to Henderson and see what he says?” Clark suggested as they stopped in front of Lex Luthor. Clark nodded recognition to Lex Luthor, “Mr. Luthor.”
“Mr. Kent,” Lex Luthor quickly excused himself, “Well, I’ve got a flight to catch, hmm?” She gave a nonverbal shrug, and he gestured toward Perry’s office. “I’ll be seeing you, Ms. Lane.”
Lois frowned, watching as Lex met Perry just outside his office, shaking his hand with a grin as if he was working one of his elaborate parties. She wondered momentarily just what he might have to discuss with Perry but quickly dismissed it as she dove into the next steps on the investigation.
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Detective Bill Henderson sifted through the photos lain out on his desk, grumbling heavy breaths and offering up a minor ‘hmm’ every now and then while examining each photo as if it were a jigsaw puzzle piece to a much larger picture. He loved puzzles.
“Well?”
His eyes lifted, seeing a very tired James Olsen standing over him, pacing back and forth. “Do you want my opinion or not?”
“Sorry,” the mumble came out of the young man’s mouth as he looked down at his feet. “I’m just nervous.”
“It’s hard to make some of this out,” Henderson explained, pointing to the blurry image on the photo in front of him.
“Yeah, sorry, I was just trying to get as many photos as I could,” Jimmy explained sheepishly.
Henderson pointed to the blurry image of the shell being rebuilt and tapped on it, “There’s something here in the corner that can’t be quite made out. There are a few guys down at STAR Labs that specialize in this kind of stuff.” He pulled out a card and jotted down the name and handed it to the young journalist. “See if you can get them to help clean this up and then we can see what we’re looking at.”
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Perry tapped his fingertips on the surface of his desk, mulling over his conversation with philanthropist Lex Luthor from earlier in the morning. Though he’d been careful not to come right out and say it the underlying message had been clear. Whatever had happened during the interview Lois had conducted with Luthor, apparently had left the billionaire rattled enough to threaten legal action against the Planet if any reporter were to pursue an investigation into LexCorp or any of its subsidiaries.
Unfortunately for Lex Luthor, a threat like that would only encourage him to look further into what he was trying to hide.
“Mr. White?”
He looked up, seeing the copy boy at his door, “Yes?”
“Fax came over directed to you, Mr. White.” The copy boy handed it to him.
“Thank you.”
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Clark cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder, listening as Jimmy stammered his update from Detective Henderson. He nodded his agreement and responded, “Okay, Jimmy, just let us know what you find out…”
He hung the phone up and turned his attention to the disparate files they had printed off from the data retrieved from the server, hoping to find anything that would help clear Dr. Platt’s name. The endless reports directed to Dr. Baines had covered everything from lab conditions to inner office squabbles, but nothing so far even hinted at anything regarding sabotage or mechanical errors like Platt claimed.
“Jimmy’s taking the photos to STAR Labs to see if they can clean up the photos he took at E.P.R.A.D.” Clark said with a defeated sigh. “I guess we wait.”
“This is hopeless,” Lois grumbled from across the table, taking a sip from her mug of coffee. “We’ve got blurry photos and a smorgasbord of files that may or may not give us what we need to prove sabotage.”
“New E.P.R.A.D. director still not returning calls, huh?” Clark asked.
“I’ve left four messages,” Lois grumbled.
“We still have two days until the launch,” Clark shook his head in dismay, running a hand across his face. He pushed the stack of reports he had been sifting through to the side and reached for another file filled with more unknown files to go through.
“Two days and no one is even willing to consider talking to the press or listening to unsubstantiated rumors from a mad man that supposedly killed himself.” Lois reminded him, “We have to prove Platt was murdered in order to restore his credibility and…” She stopped mid-sentence, looking down at something in front of her.
“What?” Clark asked.
“It’s a list of patents from the USPTO office for the medical treatments Prometheus is supposed to help find cures for, but…” Her face scrunched as she looked over the paper in front of her. “It doesn’t make any sense?”
“What doesn’t make sense?” Clark asked, walking over to where she was sitting to read over her shoulder.
“Look,” Lois pointed to the list in front of her. “Luthor Space Station has a patent on almost everything listed here.”
“I thought Luthor Space Station didn’t break ground until this year,” Clark’s jaw tightened as he read through the list.
“That’s what he said. Kinda throws out the whole humanitarian argument, doesn’t it?” Lois jabbed with a shake of her head. She pointed her finger at the date of the patents, “This says the patent was awarded last year.”
“Maybe it’s a coincidence?” Clark shrugged his shoulders but didn’t seem all that convincing.
“Yeah, right…” Lois grumbled. “Maybe there was something to that medical research angle, but we’ll need more than just suspicion to prove anything.”
“So, what do we do?” Clark asked.
“Follow the evidence.” Lois tapped her pen against the list in front of her. “Where’s that list of medical research centers you had?”
“Just a sec,” Clark stepped out into the newsroom to retrieve the list of research centers he had pulled the previous day. He barely reached his desk when he was stopped by Perry White.
“Hey, Kent, you and Lois still working on that E.P.R.A.D. sabotage story, right?” Perry asked, walking up with a printout from the fax machine.
“Yes, sir, Mr. White, we might have caught a new angle,” Clark said, turning to his editor with a smile.
“Well, I think you may have more than a new angle,” Perry handed him the fax in his hand. “This just came in. Sent over from E.P.R.A.D.’s new director.”
“The same director that has been avoiding our calls?” Clark asked with a raised eyebrow.
Perry chuckled, patting Clark on the shoulder, “Well, he’s talking now. He apparently found this on Dr. Baines’ hard drive and wanted to do the right thing.” Perry pointed toward the conference room. “Look it over with Lois, and I want the story on my desk within the hour.”
“Yes, sir,” Clark called after him, scanning the fax he’d been given. A frown crossed his face, feeling the pit of his gut churn as he headed back into the conference room. The blinds on the conference room door clanged, and he let out a low breath.
“You find it?” Lois asked, not looking up from the scattered papers in front of her.
“Yeah,” Clark nodded, claiming a seat next to her. “Mr. White just dropped this off. A fax from E.P.R.A.D.’s new director.”
Lois’ jaw tightened as she looked it over, “A confession to the sabotage from Dr. Baines.” Lois frowned, shaking her head. “Seems a bit convenient considering Baines is now dead.”
“You don’t think she’s behind it?” Clark asked.
“No, I think she’s behind it, but I don’t think she was alone in it,” Lois explained.
“Well, Perry wants the story within the hour. What do we write?”
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Messenger Sabotaged, Alleged Saboteur Dies in Fiery Explosion!
By Lois Lane and Special Contribution by Clark Kent
Lex Luthor took a sip of his chardonnay, scanning the front page of the Daily Planet with a frown as he scanned the article. “Asabi?” Lex called in his office, knowing the man was waiting just outside the hall.
“Yes, sir?” Asabi called as he stepped into the office.
“It seems the director at E.P.R.A.D. wasn’t as convincing as we anticipated.”
Asabi frowned, pointing at the front-page story with Antoinette Baines’ photo declaring her as the saboteur, “Mr. Luthor the Planet like every other news organization has run with the confession you had the director send out.”
“All other news organizations left no doubt in the public’s mind that Dr. Baines acted alone. It seems Ms. Lane and Mr. Kent are less than convinced of Antoinette’s sole culpability in the Messenger’s sabotage.”
“Your visit with Mr. White this morning didn’t help?” Asabi asked curiously.
“Not as well as I would have liked,” Lex mused, shaking his head, “Unfortunately, distracting Ms. Lane was a fruitless endeavor as well.”
“How would you like to proceed Mr. Luthor?”
“I want you to find out everything you can on the reporters Lois Lane, Clark Kent and James Olsen. No matter how small the indiscretion. I want to know about it.” Lex said as he pulled out a file in his desk marked, ‘Bureau 39.’ He straightened his tie. “I have a meeting in Washington this evening. I expect a full report when I return.”
“Of course, Mr. Luthor,” Asabi nodded.
________________________________________
Messenger Sabotaged, Alleged Saboteur Dies in Fiery Explosion!
By Lois Lane and Special Contribution by Clark KentGlasses clinked against one another, and the crowd of journalists circled around the television set, and a banner was pinned up with ‘Congratulations!’ painted across it. Lois grinned ear to ear as she walked up to Jimmy, who was basking in the attention from the secretarial pool.
“Of course, it was a risk, but as they say no reward without risk, right? I took the photos myself….”
Lois took a sip of her champagne, and she turned to Clark with a smirk, “He took the photos…”
Clark chuckled as Perry approached them with a broad smile, “Lane, Kent! Great work you two. This piece is sure to have quite the number of follow-ups.”
“That’s great news, Sir,” Clark responded with a smile. “Has the new director re-examined the Messenger yet?”
“Yes, I just spoke with ground control, and they just finished going through the colonist launch station with a fine-tooth comb. They discovered the same coolant problem in the protective bands and have fixed it. They’re all set for tomorrow morning.” Perry cheered, clapping Clark on the shoulder. “And you’ll be pleased to hear Amy Platt is back on the passenger list with her mother.”
Clark let out a sigh of relief, relieved to hear their spot on the Messenger had been restored after the investigation. “Thank you, sir.”
Perry ran a hand through his hair, grinning ear to ear, “We’ve been getting calls all morning about the E.P.R.A.D. sabotage, and it seems the new director is willing to have a sit down after the launch.”
“After the launch?” Lois asked.
“Now, look, Lois, you have to admit with all the sabotage and questionable practices going on, expecting a seat on the Messenger was far-fetched.” Perry chastised.
“But Chief, imagine the Daily Planet getting an exclusive personal account of being on the colonist transport…” Lois argued, feeling the rejection hit her hard.
“No can do, Lois.”
Lois seemed to mull the rejection over and then nodded begrudgingly, “Oh, well, another time then.”
“You still have the sit down with the director afterward,” Perry reminded her.
“Right.” Lois nodded as Perry moved off with a shrug. She turned her attention to Clark who was admiring the headline on the front page of the Planet. “Admiring your handiwork, Smallville?”
“Something like that,” Clark nodded to her with a half-smile. “We did something really good here. Cleared Platt’s name and made sure a little girl got her place on the Messenger restored.”
“I know,” Lois frowned, “I just wish we could have caught who was behind the sabotage to begin with.”
“One headline doesn’t mean we have to stop the investigation,” Clark reminded her. “Maybe we can compare notes later? If I do recall, you owe me a raincheck on dinner?”
Lois flashed him a weak smile, “As much as I’d love to dig into the leads we have with the medical research, I think I’m going to pass tonight. Maybe after the launch?”
“Sure,” Clark nodded, trying not to look too disappointed.
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Later that evening, Clark stared at his reflection in a full-length mirror at his parents’ farmhouse, feeling a wave of uncertainty wash over him as he looked into the mirror and saw the blue and red spandex dressed man staring back at him. He had tried on about a dozen different costumes. All colorful spandex. So far, none had caught his interest, but this one felt different. It was mostly blue spandex with red briefs over them. It had a red cape attached and a yellow belt around the waist. He wore matching red boots.
“What about that one?” his mom called out to him, exhausted with her glasses half skewed across her face and her hair loose from the pins she kept them in.
“I don’t know, Mom…I mean, it’s certainly….colorful,” he said, walking around the bedroom uncertainly.
She stood up to get a better look at him.
“What do you think?” he asked, feeling a self-conscious wave of uncertainty wash over him as she looked him over.
“Well, one thing’s for sure; no one’s gonna be looking at your face,” she teased.
“Mom!!”
She let out a good-hearted chuckle and teased. “Well, they don’t call them tights for nothing.”
She wrapped her arm around him and stared at his reflection a moment. “It feels like there’s something missing. Something…” She moved toward the bed and pulled out an old trunk from beneath the bed. She flipped the latches open to the trunk and pulled out a blue baby blanket, holding it close to her.“The baby blanket we found you in so long ago.” She put the blanket back down and reached into the trunk once more. “And this…” she pulled out an ‘S’ shield emblem.
After a few back and forth placements and one more bout with the sewing machine, he donned the suit with the crest across the chest sewn onto it, staring at his reflection with a new sense of fearlessness that he hadn’t felt before. Having this connection to his past as a part of his alter-ego felt right. Like destiny.
“Your parents would have been so proud of you. We sure are.” His mom hugged him.
“Thanks, Mom.” He hugged her back and turned around to look at himself in the mirror more critically. “I’m still not so sure about the cape.”
“Really? I love it. It’ll look grand when you’re flying.”
His dad stepped in the room to survey the suit making process and stopped short when he saw him with the emblem across his chest. “That’s my boy.” He smiled proudly.
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E.P.R.A.D. was abuzz with activity and thanks to sources and a disguise, Lois was able to sneak on board, finding herself a seat in the habitation module. She began to settle herself in, strapping herself in for the launch. This was it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door to the room open. Panic began to set in as she feared her work to obtain the exclusive of the lifetime would be dashed in a moment, but the man was far too preoccupied to worry about her presence. He placed a device on the wall then left before he could notice her presence.
A digital beeping noise reached her ears and she quickly unstrapped herself, moving to examine the device. She walked over to it and felt panic set in. “Oh, my God!” she gasped. The digital timer on the wall read one minute and thirty seconds. It was counting backward along with the announcer. She hurried over to the door and began to bang on it insistently. “It’s a bomb! There’s a bomb on the transport! Somebody help!”
“One minute and counting…” the announcer read off.
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Back at the Kent farmhouse, Clark was settled with his parents, taking in the historic launch that played on the television as they watched the boosters ignite. “There she blows,” Jonathan mused.
Clark looked up from the television with a faraway look on his face. Martha noticed the gesture. “What’s wrong, Clark?”
“Something’s wrong,” he said grimly, getting up to change into his suit.
“What do you mean? Did you hear something?” Jonathan asked in concern.
“I’ve got to go.”
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Desperation began to set in as Lois fiddled through her purse, searching for something to help diffuse the bomb. At the bottom of her purse, she found her Swiss Army Knife. With the help of the knife, she found a cabinet on the wall and tore off the casing. Underneath the plastic casing were a million different colored wires. “I have to warn them…” she muttered to herself. “Which one?” She began slashing the wires with her knife, unsure of what each wire connected to but hoping it would be enough to draw attention to stall the launch and get rid of the bomb.
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“Thirty seconds and counting…” the officer read off.
A technician waved at the officer. “Sir, we have a circuit failure in the main panel.”
The officer nodded. “Due to a mechanical failure, we have suspended countdown at twenty-nine seconds. We will advise.”
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Outside of E.P.R.A.D., hundreds of spectators stood watching the launch. A red and blue blur passed over them.
“What the hell is that?” a man asked.
“Is it a bird?” another asked.
“Is it a plane?” someone else asked.
A man with a pair of binoculars shook his head. “Nope. Just some guy in a pair of tights and a cape.”
The crowd turned on him, throwing random items at him. “Oh, come on.”
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The launch commander and other personnel gathered around the monitors, searching for an answer as to what had gone wrong. All team members were silent and in awe as they watched Clark make his way down the corridors and into the main panel room.
“Are we scrubbing the mission?” the public affairs officer asked the commander.
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“Help! Somebody! There’s a bomb! Please!”
Clark made his way to the door and pried it open. Lois looked towards the door, not really getting a good look at him. “Oh, thank God! We’ve got to get the bomb squad down here and...” she stopped when he stepped into the light, unable to finish her sentence as she stared at him with an intensity that he was sure would melt him into a pool of nothingness if she could.
He cleared his throat, pointing at the device behind her, “If you’ll excuse me, Ms. Lane,” he reached for the bomb behind her, taking it and placing it in his mouth to swallow.
Before she could open her mouth to argue, it exploded inside him. She stared at him for a long moment, “How did you know my name?”
A twinkle crossed her eyes, and she cleared her throat, “You just swallowed a bomb, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.” He responded, trying not to meet the steely gaze that seemed to be sizing him up with a critique stare. “I don’t believe you’re supposed to be back here, Ms. Lane.”
“Well, I won’t tell if you won’t, Smallville.”
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TBC...
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