Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhere we left off in Part 110 ... Lois dragged her feet off the elevator and into the newsroom. It was past two in the morning and she wanted to type up what had happened at the Hob’s River Carnival while it was fresh in her mind. Superman had brought Chris to the Moskal estate, where Lois, Jimmy, Nick, and Mark Moskal had gone after the police took their statements and arrested Constance.
In the basement of the Magic Club, Superman had found Chris in front of some sort of hypnotic television channel with no memory of how or why he was there. Darren Ronick was wandering around too, but Constance had hypnotized him and Dr. Novak so that neither of them would notice the children she kept bringing and keeping there.
A part of Lois felt that she should call Clark and inform him what happened, because this had been his story for the most part. It was a very small part of her. She had joined in, starting that morning, on this particular investigation and had only taken over when he decided not to join them at the Carnival. Technically, she knew that he had been there as Superman. Therefore, she would give him credit…as Superman. He had made his bed and, therefore, could continue to sleep in it as Clark. Good-bye shared byline. Hello, Superman rescue.
She yawned. Of course, if she and Clark had been working on a story together and she had gone to bed and Superman ‘and Clark’ had tied it up nicely, she would want a head’s up phone call as well. Wouldn’t she?
Lois wasn’t feeling charitable at the moment.
I met a nice woman.What was that supposed to imply? That Lois wasn’t nice? She was nice. To him. When he wasn’t lying and hiding things from her, and being an overprotective imbecile. Fine. Clark was jealous of Luthor. Banner headline there. She’d known that since the White Orchid Ball. But did he have to act all defensive about it? She had told him that she loved
him, not Lex, not Superman… okay; she had said she loved Superman too, but – come on! – How could she not? He was Superman, for heaven’s sake! Half the women in the world were in love with him, and that was a low-ball estimate.
Anyway, not only had Lois told Clark that she loved him, but that he was the only man in the world for her, that their break-up was just a ruse, and
to trust her. Clearly, he was still having trouble with that last one. She sighed. She trusted him, why couldn’t he trust her? How could she make him trust her?
Maybe she should go up to the roof and talk to Superman about her Daitch discovery. Lois glanced at the clock. It was around the time when night turned to morning. Clark had probably already gone to bed, and so should she. Tomorrow was Sunday, and she had the day off. She would talk to him then.
Part 111*******
Wanted*******
Lois rolled over and, after slapping her hand on the bedside table for three rings, picked up the telephone. “’ello?” she mumbled, cracking one eye open enough to see the time: 8:15.
This had better be World War III. Sunday was her morning to sleep in and read the Sunday Daily Planet over pastries that she had picked up after a two mile run. She had been looking forward to this day off for the past month, but it kept getting postponed. It felt as if she had tossed and turned in bed after returning home from typing up her story on Moskal and Constance, and had only just fallen asleep.
“Lois?” a voice seemed to clang her head like church bells. “Is that you?”
“Is me,” she grumbled. “Who else would answer my phone?” She shifted her position and accidentally dropped the phone in her sheets. Scrambling to pick it up, she put the phone back to her ear.
“— Lex Luthor,” the voice said.
“Lex Luthor? You’ve got the wrong number. No. No. He’s not here. Too early. I’m not letting any man into my bed until I’m married,” Lois said, hanging up the phone. “Or get a decent night’s sleep.” Her eyes dropped closed again.
It took only two seconds for her to be in Superman’s arms once more as he floated with her through the air.
“Superman,” she murmured, gazing at the ring on her fourth finger. “Go into the clouds, so nobody can see me kiss you.”
“Lois, you do know that Clark is who I am. Superman is only what I can do,” he said, but, despite these words, he still flew her into the clouds.
“No, Lois Lane is what…
who you do, now,” Lois corrected him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. “Mmmmmmm. Most definitely.” She slipped from his cradle hold to a position where their chests met. “Why couldn’t it always be like this, Superman?”
Between kisses he murmured, “I told you, we couldn’t make love until we were married, and please call me ‘Clark’.”
“Not while you’re dressed like this. While you’re in the Suit, I have to call you ‘Superman’,” Lois reminded him. “Them’s the rules.”
“Then I better take off this Suit,” he replied and naughtily bounced his eyebrows in a most un-Superman like manner.
“I wish you would. It’s quite the tease. Skintight, but all covered up,” she said as they tumbled through the clouds as if on a giant bed with big fluffy pillows. A moment later, they were rolling on a real bed with real pillows. Lois’s hand glossed over his chest and she felt skin, glorious bare skin. “Oh, Clark,” she giggled. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
His lips kissed down her chest, his voice serious. “I’m here, Lois, I’ll always be with you. No matter where you are and who you’re with, I’ll be right there with you.”
Lois’s eyes flashed open to find herself alone in bed, and it had been her own hands touching her body. “No!” she screamed and discovered she couldn’t move. She was now tied up in a straitjacket. She thrashed and kicked, but she couldn’t move on the cot in her cell.
A fire alarm sounded, and the room started to fill with water. She kicked and kicked but it was as if the straitjacket had tied itself to the bed. The door burst open and Lex Luthor stood silhouetted in the doorway.
“We’ve got to go, darling. Metropolis has flooded,” he said, pulling her from the bed and to her feet.
~Escape!~ Clark’s voice pleaded within her head.
“Where?” she asked him.
“The roof,” Lex answered. “I’ve got a helicopter up there. I have a hunting cabin in the Swiss Alps. That should be above water level.”
~He’s crazy!~ Clark’s voice reminded her as Lex pulled her into a stairwell and upwards. She could see the water flowing in the lower floors, covering the stairs with its icy cold currents.
“Run!” Lex insisted.
~How is a helicopter going to take off in this rain?~ Clark asked as they burst through the door to the roof. The freezing rain pelted her in the face. Through the haze from the horizontal rain, she could see a bright yellow helicopter with its blades just starting to turn. The asylum wasn’t more than ten stories, but it was still higher than all the surrounding buildings… or the buildings, which used to surround it. A monstrous wave of water hit the building, shaking it and swallowing up everything else in the neighborhood.
“~Get in the ‘copter, Lois,~” both Lex and Clark said at the same time.
The beginning will come at the end, Star had told her.
Lois pushed the wet hair from her eyes, bent over, and ran towards the helicopter. She pulled open the door behind the pilot and climbed inside.
Lex climbed into the passenger seat and put on some headphones. “Let’s go!” he hollered, making a circle with his finger in case the pilot couldn’t hear him.
As the helicopter started to rise, Lois took hold of the seatbelt straps and tried to latch it. The helicopter shuddered and tipped towards the passenger side, knocking open Lex’s door.
“Lex!” she hollered, smashing up against the window of the door behind Lex’s seat, but thankfully, that door didn’t open. Looking through the window, she saw a huge purple octopus tentacle come out of the water and grab hold of the landing skid.
“Octopus!” Lois screamed, pointing.
Lex reached out to close his door only to be taken by another tentacle, disappearing from view. The helicopter shuddered and began to tear apart with a loud crash of glass.
Suddenly, everything went silent and a pair of strong arms held her.
“Lois, are you all right?” a calm voice soothed in her ear.
“Octopus! It took Lex, and…” Lois gasped between breaths as she struggled to free herself from the seatbelt, and then realized that she was dry and in her bedroom.
Superman stood on her bed and held her in his arms.
“Superman! Oh, thank God! You’re alive!” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his face. “For a second there, I thought I had imagined the whole thing.” She pressed her mouth to his, but instead of relaxing into the kiss, he stiffened.
“Lois, you’re kissing me,” he said, stating the obvious.
“I’m so glad you exist!” she explained, resting her head on his shoulder. “I had a horrible dream. It was insanely horrible. We were on our honeymoon, and then Clark disappeared as we started to make…”
Superman cleared his throat. “
We were married?”
“Clark and I,” she clarified.
“You and Clark were
married,” he repeated, his eyes sparkling despite his serious expression and he relaxed a bit more into her embrace. “And then he disappeared?”
“We were making love. Mmmmmm,” Lois moaned, leaning back as she remembered how he had kissed down her neck to her chest. She wanted to kiss him again. She wanted him to take off the Suit and make love to her as he had in her dream. “Oh, it was…” Then she realized to whom she was speaking, and knew Superman would never make love to her. Of course, she knew it was Clark under that Suit, but he didn’t know that she knew. Superman was supposed to be her ex-boyfriend, not her current boyfriend in disguise. She coughed. “Never mind how wonderful he was… anyway, I woke up and it wasn’t real. He wasn’t real, and you didn’t exist. Oh, it was horrible. Clark was a ghostly voice in my head as if he was dead, and I was prisoner in a mental institution because I believed there was a man who flew through the air and saved me all the time, and then it began to flood. But Lex showed up to rescue me…”
“Luthor rescued you?” Superman echoed incredulously.
“But Clark’s voice kept telling me that I needed to escape, only I couldn’t because Metropolis was flooding, and there was nowhere to go but with Lex. We made it to the roof to Lex’s helicopter and tried to leave the city, but a giant purple octopus tentacle came out of the water and grabbed hold of the helicopter and…”
A chuckle rose in his chest, through his throat, and escaped through his mouth as a loud guffaw. He covered his mouth and apologized, but Lois could still see the telltale grin.
Lois pushed out of his arms and landed with a bouncing thud on her bed. Scrambling to her feet, she put her hands on her hips. “What’s so funny?”
“I thought… When you screamed… I thought that you were in actual danger… And it turned out to be, of all things, an octopus attacking Lex’s helicopter in a dream,” he said, still hovering above her bed. He crossed his arms, leaving one hand over his mouth and a raised eyebrow. “Was it really an
octopus?”
“Soooo? It grabbed Lex out of the helicopter. I was very… overwrought,” she snapped, grabbing a pillow off the bed and throwing it at him. “It was a nightmare.”
“An octopus took Lex. An
octopus.” He shook his head. “A
purple octopus.”
“Who cares what color it was? It was just a dream. I’m sorry if I disturbed you with my wacky nightmare,” Lois said, pulling on her robe and marching out to the living room. “I don’t believe I invited you into my...” She came to a standstill. One of her living room windows was gone. Well, mostly gone. The glass was gone and some of the frame. They littered her floor. Moreover, there was a big Superman sized hole where there had once been her window. She held out her hand. “Wh…what?” she stammered.
Superman shifted his feet before settling into an A-frame position with his arms crossed. “I thought you were in danger, Lois. You screamed ‘Lex’ and then ‘octopus’ and I…” he started before she saw his eyes dart to the debris in her living room. “I apologize.”
“What were you thinking?” Lois asked as both her nightmare and her damaged living room keeping her in shock.
“I didn’t think,” he admitted. “You told me once that you’d only say ‘octopus’ if you needed me.”
Lois remembered the argument well, but she never expected this to be a result. Then again, she never would have dreamed up such a nightmare. She took a step towards him. “I’ll always need you,” she said, turning toward the closet to pull out a broom and handing it to him. “To clean up my messes.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
Before he could get started, she set her hand on his chest over his crest. It had been so long since she had felt it. “The dream started with you flying me into the clouds,” she murmured, her fingers splaying out so that her palm lay flat on his chest. “I miss flying with you.”
Superman covered her hand with his, and the expression of love in his eyes could only belong to Clark. How could she have missed it all that time? “I do, too,” he said.
For a whole minute, neither of them spoke.
“Lois, I’m…” He paused, searching her eyes for something.
“You’re what?” she asked with a confused shake of her head.
He nodded, tilted his face as if he were going to kiss her, and said, “I’m C…”
A loud banging knock on her door jerked them apart.
Superman gazed at the door and scowled. It wasn’t an expression she ever saw on his face, at least not when he was dressed in the Suit.
“Lois?” Lex’s voice called through the door as he knocked again. “Are you all right, darling?”
“Darling?” Superman repeated wryly.
“If you don’t answer, I’m going to break down this door,” Lex threatened.
“I’d like to see that,” Superman mumbled, crossing his arms. He replaced the scowl with an intense expression as Clark slipped fully back into his other persona.
Lois flipped the locks on her door and swung it open. “Lex, this is a surprise,” she said, trying to keep the annoyance from her tone.
“I called earlier to invite you to lunch, but…” Lex stopped speaking as soon as he saw Superman standing there in all his intensity. “What’s he doing here?” Then he noticed the window. “Redecorating?” He stepped closer to Lois and set a hand on her arm. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I had a nightmare, that’s all. Apparently, I screamed in my sleep…” Lois said by way of explanation and gestured towards the window. “And…”
“Admirable, Superman. I take it you will pay to have Miss Lane’s window repaired,” Lex said, turning to Lois. “I insist that you stay at the penthouse until...”
Insist?“I’ll have the repairs completed by lunchtime, Lois,” Superman interjected. “There’s no reason for you to be inconvenienced.”
Lex was much better at hiding his anger at Superman, Lois noticed. His lips only tightened slightly, while Superman’s eyes narrowed.
“No inconvenience at all, to either of us, I assure you, Superman,” Lex said, wrapping an arm around Lois’s shoulders and guiding her away from Superman and towards her kitchen. “I was worried, my dear. I telephoned last evening to ask how you were after the robbery at the coffee shop, but you never answered. I also had a cancellation for this morning and thought we could do lunch.”
Lois glanced over her shoulder at Superman, who was slowly sweeping up the glass, but she could tell from his strained expression that he was listening in. Nudging her gaze past him to her desk, she saw the light blinking on her answering machine. She pushed down her irritation at Lex for, a) assuming she wouldn’t have plans on a Saturday night, and b) assuming the same thing was true for Sunday lunch. What kind of pathetic loser did he think she was? That she didn’t have plans with anyone else didn’t mean that she was free at his beck and call. “I worked late last night,” she replied honestly.
“You spoke so incoherently this morning when I phoned, saying things which didn’t make any sense, and then the line disconnected,” Lex went on, running his hand down her arm.
“You called?” Lois asked with furrowed brow. She had no recollection of it at all. No, wait. She had to answer the telephone before she and Superman could leave on their honeymoon, but it had been a wrong number… Her eyes widened and her gaze shot to Superman.
Superman glanced at her. His mouth pressed into a line but his eyes sparkled with delight that she had hung up on Lex. Then again,
he didn’t know that she knew his secret and might possibly have blathered it to Lex on the phone this morning while she was mostly asleep.
“What did I say?” Lois asked Lex.
“Oh, nothing of consequence,” Lex said, but he smiled at her tenderly, which made her stomach drop.
What did I say?“I came over straightaway when you didn’t answer when I called back. I arrive to find glass on the sidewalk and a huge hole in your wall,” Lex said, pulling her into his embrace. “You had me worried.”
Lex wasn’t a hugger. That much was obvious by the awkwardness of the embrace. Lois wondered whom the big show was for. Had he really been worried? Had he been worried that she hadn’t been
alone?
What had she said?
“I’m fine,” Lois reassured him, stepping out of his arms.
“Why don’t you get dressed and I’ll take you for breakfast while…” Lex glanced over at Superman. “Superman here fixes your apartment?”
“That’s very kind of you, Lex, but I have plans,” Lois informed him.
Superman looked at her with hope. Was he actually expecting her to tell Lex that she was meeting Clark for brunch?
Hello? Faux break-up for a reason, there, Superman.“Plans?” Lex repeated. “With whom?”
“With myself. If you gentlemen will excuse me, I had a long late night. I
had planned to sleep in, go jogging, and read the Sunday paper,” Lois said, rubbing her forehead as a headache settled in. “Thanks to the two of you, and my nightmare, that first part is impossible, but I’d like to continue with my day, alone. I appreciate the sentiment from both of you, but I don’t
need a protector.”
“Of course you don’t,” Lex agreed. “Since I’m already here, why don’t we do brunch and you can read the paper afterwards?”
He really didn’t understand her, did he? “Thank you, Lex, but…”
“You need to eat,” Lex insisted. “Anyway, I have something for you.”
Did Lex have information for her? Had he read about how the kidnapper actually had been associated with the Magic Club and, therefore, knew she had been honest with him about a Daily Planet investigation, no matter how inadvertently it had been? “Well, okay, Lex,” Lois caved. “I’ll make an exception just this once.”
*
Clark’s gut twisted into knots.
Okay? She was going out with that… that… piece of giant octopus bait because Lex had
something for her? Clark could give her things, anything she wanted from anywhere in the world, and give it to her within seconds, and with all of his heart.
He suddenly remembered what his dad had told him when he had mentioned Lana in fourth grade and how he needed money because all the guys were buying her things. His father had asked if it was Lana’s birthday as Christmas was still several months away. When Clark had explained that Lana was using the gifts to gauge how much interest a boy had in her, his father had responded, ‘Son, if a girl isn’t interested in you without you having to buy her love, then she isn’t a girl worth pursuing.’
Why hadn’t Clark remembered that about Lana when he returned to Smallville six years later? He recalled that at the time he hadn’t liked his father’s advice and had thought his dad hadn’t understood. Back at that point, buying a girl’s affection sure seemed like a much easier way to get it than any other means. Actually, it still seemed easier. Then he remembered that he already had Lois’s love for free. Luthor had to buy her attention, and that made him feel a little bit better. Not that Clark wanted Lois to go off with that man for any reason, but until he had proof of Luthor’s wickedness, there wasn’t much he could tactfully do about it other than try to convince Lois to stay away from him.
“Let me just take a quick shower and change,” Lois said, glancing over at Superman. She looked as if she wanted to say something to him but then changed her mind, probably because Luthor was there, and turned away.
If only Luthor hadn’t showed up.
Luthor kissed her cheek. “Take your time, my dear. I don’t mind waiting.”
Clark could say what he thought of that statement, but he had promised his mother when he was eight never to swear aloud, especially when ladies were present.
Lois headed towards her bedroom, stopped, and turned back around. Her eyes met and held Superman’s. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, Lois,” Superman replied, he continued to watch her until she shut the door of her bedroom.
Luthor made an overt look at the damage. “Perhaps you should come with a warning label, Superman. Do you often burst into women’s apartments? Should I have an all points bulletin issued on LNN?”
“Lois screamed your name and then for help. I would call those extraordinary circumstances,” Superman replied curtly.
“Certainly. Certainly,” Luthor said, stepping closer to Superman and lowering his voice. “Screaming my name, huh?” The billionaire grinned as if Superman had given him a priceless gift. “I recommend that you don’t break into the home of every woman who does that. You’ll find yourself a very busy man.”
“She screamed it in fear,” Superman corrected, staring Luthor down.
“So, you say. She could have been screaming it in passion,” Luthor responded.
“Lois would rather die than…”
“Would she now?” Luthor inquired. “No, I don’t think so.” His lips curled up in a manner that reminded Clark of that villain the Joker he had battled back in his old dimension’s Gotham City. Luthor leaned forward. “In fact, I know so.”
Superman’s fingers twitched. It would take no effort, no super strength, and no super speed to wrap his hand around that man’s throat and squeeze it. The broom in his hand groaned.
“Temper, temper, Superman. You wouldn’t want to have to buy Lois a new broom as well, would you?” Luthor taunted. “The fact is you and I both know she can never have the kind of relationship she wants with you. We both know I can give her everything she could ever want in life.”
“Lois would never choose to be associated with your villainy,” Superman replied.
“She wouldn’t?” Luthor said, walking to the other side of the room and taking a seat. “She’s already has. Apparently, she dreams of me.”
Superman didn’t dignify that remark with a response. Mostly because he knew that both Clark and Superman had held higher esteem in her dream than Lex had.
We both know I can give her everything she could ever want in life. Luthor’s words echoed in Clark’s mind.
Clark knew they weren’t true. Clark could give her love. Clark couldn’t be intimate with her, or marry her, and she would never be able to bear his children, but he knew a platonic love with Clark would be a better life than Luthor could ever give her. In his gut, Clark knew that someday it would come to that, and Lois would want a real love that a non-evil man could give her and he would have to let her go.
For now, this was a non-worry, he told himself. Lois would never fall for Luthor’s charms. She loved Clark and that was all there was to it.
For now.
***
Superman refused to leave Lois’s apartment until she and Luthor had left for brunch. She might not want his protection, but he wasn’t naïve enough to leave Luthor “hanging out” while she was showering and changing. He had faith in Lois, but he didn’t trust that bucket of slime.
Repairing Lois’s window took more effort than he expected. Clark had no easy access to cash. His wallet had disappeared during his abduction, and he had no way to get his driver’s license replaced without forgery, being that he had been using his license from his old dimension and, therefore, there was no record of him in this dimension’s DMV. It wasn’t as if he needed to drive anywhere or take taxis. He had restocked his pantry after the break-in – the break-in that destroyed his apartment, not the break-in when he was abducted – so he had been eating the food he had. Unfortunately, supplies had been getting low. He was thankful the Kents had invited him to dinner Sunday night.
The Daily Planet had replaced his lost press badge and luckily, he convinced his bank to cash Friday’s paycheck using that ID. He had needed to pay his rent with those funds, as well as buy food and have a little pocket money. He doubted that he could withdraw money from his account, though, without a state-issued ID, and he didn’t have enough cash left to purchase a new window for Lois’s apartment. He was still waiting for his replacement ATM card to arrive in the mail.
Finally, Clark decided that since Superman had broken Lois’s window, it would have to be the Superman Foundation that paid for the repairs. He found an open big-box hardware store with the correct sized windows in stock, which, after some discussion with the manager, would also be willing to send the bill to the Superman Foundation. He borrowed the tools needed to install the window from the Kents. If he kept making mistakes as he had that morning, he might as well buy himself a set of tools to keep at his apartment.
He thought about what had happened as he put in the new window. He had been in the midst of his morning patrol, when he heard her scream Luthor’s name, which had been shocking enough, but then it had been quickly followed by a holler of ‘octopus’. Before he realized what he was doing, he was gathering a writhing Lois out of her bed and into his arms. He hadn’t thought, merely reacted.
Clark chuckled. A purple octopus rescued Lois from a deranged Luthor. He was surprised that she didn’t see what he had. Purple was a combination of red and blue, the very colors of his uniform. Octopus was her codeword for “help Superman”. Lois might not want a protector, but her subconscious clearly did, and a very specific protector at that.
It had been very difficult not to respond to Lois’s kisses while he had held her in his arms, especially with her enthusiasm at Superman's existence. He hadn’t wanted to encourage such behavior as she had told Clark that there would never be anything between her and Superman. Lois seemed to know where his weakness buttons had been installed and had no problem pressing them whenever she pleased. Did she know that it thrilled him to no end that she both loved his super side and dreamed of marrying his Clark side? Had the guilt from kissing Superman on Impact Day faded? However, Lois seemed to have no difficulty in repeating that action. Yet, she had practically swooned while recalling making love to Clark in her dream.
He wondered about her dream. It seemed overly detailed. She seemed only to remember those semi-psychic dreams she had… although, perhaps those were the only ones which she recounted to him. He knew he had plenty of dreams of her, only one of which he had ever mentioned to some extent. Could she have been recalling the great disaster that ended her world? No, according to Herb, this Lois hadn’t ended up with Luthor. Then again, could Herb have not counted Lois being Luthor’s prisoner as ‘ending up with him’? No, Clark couldn’t believe that Luthor died by being extricated from a helicopter by a large octopus while Metropolis was flooding. That was too fantastical for reality, even a reality where there was a man who flew.
Lois still hadn’t returned home when Clark had completed the finishing touches on his repairs. Even if he wished to do nothing more than wait for her return, he knew that she wouldn’t be pleased at this seeming untrusting action. Although she had whispered to him while in her shower that they needed to talk.
Luthor had noticed his intense expression of concentration and asked if Superman would turn his back towards Lois’s bedroom, so that Luthor would know that he wasn’t peering through the walls at her while in the shower. Clark had defended himself, nevertheless turned his back towards Lois’s room while he continued sweeping.
Superman took off from Lois’s apartment and flew off in the direction of Lex’s penthouse to double check on their brunch. They weren’t there. He had no idea where they could have gone, but he had to have faith that even Luthor was smart enough not to have Lois disappear while in his company. Even Miranda was seen leaving LexTower before she ‘killed herself’ back at her store.
Clark hated feeling envy for Luthor. He remembered that supersonic watch that Jimmy had while they were in Smallville, and wondered if he could buy one for Lois to replace the watch she had lost in the robbery. He smiled, liking the idea. Now, if Superman could only convince Lois to wear such a watch without her throwing it into his or Clark’s face.
***
Lois came in early to the newsroom on Monday morning. She wanted a chance to talk to Clark before the rush of their day began. Lex’s interruption of her discussion with Superman the previous morning had upset her. Had Clark been on the verge of revealing to her his secret? Superman certainly seemed as if he were about to kiss her, which she knew she shouldn’t have encouraged, but she had started it by kissing him first. Anyway, she doubted Clark would kiss her again as Superman unless he was going to tell her about his secret first.
Was she ready to tell Clark about her undercover operation with Lex? That was the big crux. She knew that they would argue about it, and Clark would do anything and everything in his insurmountable power to stop her. Lois wanted Clark to accept that, as a journalist, she took dangerous chances to get a story, just as she had by going to witness the Moskals’ ransom drop on Saturday night. She knew that Clark’s overprotective side would have difficulty with her walking knowingly into danger.
Lex had taken Lois out of Metropolis to his estate located halfway between Metropolis and Gotham City. It would have been nice to have a little head’s up on the length of their excursion. He had called ahead and had his staff, his servants, set up a romantic picnic brunch out in the gardens. It wasn’t the kind of picnic lunch that she would have had with Clark. For one, the picnic included a table and chairs, and a butler to serve it. It was a large old country house, which reminded her of the manor houses she had taken tours of during her semester abroad in Ireland. It was huge and rambling with more servants than she could count. Being that Lex had never mentioned the house to her previously, she was quite a bit surprised at the number of people he had employed there, as if he visited often. She liked that he was opening himself and his life to her, and letting her get to know the real Lex Luthor better. It meant that he was starting to trust her. Step one of her plan was complete.
Who knew that the way to attract a man such as Lex was to express as little interest in him as possible? She guessed that he constantly must have had women flinging themselves at him to gain access to his money. Lois had no interest in Lex’s wealth. She had no interest in getting to know the man any better than she did already. She certainly had no romantic designs on Lex. She had only one interest in him: she wanted to know his secrets, such as where he kept his Kryptonite and what crimes he had committed, and she wanted to bring him down for trying to kill the man she loved. Other than that, she had no interest in Lex Luthor at all.
***End of Part 111*** Part 112 For all of you begging for another flashback.
Comments
