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From Part 21:Maybe it wouldn’t affect the glass. After all, he could use what his parents called his X-ray vision through glass, without any ill-effects either on himself or on the glass.
Clark took a deep breath. Okay, he’d give it a try...
Concentrating, he lowered his glasses and sent a dart of heat vision through the window, aimed straight at Lex Luthor’s pistol-hand. And, seconds later, he had the satisfaction of seeing the businessman wince and drop the gun, cradling his hand protectively against his side. Before anyone else in the room could react, Clark turned his attention to the man called Nigel, giving him the same treatment.
He was pleased to see that the police officers acted very swiftly, drawing their own weapons and overpowering Luthor and Nigel. All was well; he smiled, then took flight at almost supersonic speed to return to Lois.
********
Now read on...Okay. She really didn’t have a clue what he was doing, Lois thought in irritation as she stared up at the speck which was Clark, apparently clinging to the side of the penthouse wall. She
hated not knowing what was going on. Couldn’t he have told her what was happening? What he intended to do?
Well, he would darned well tell her
everything just as soon as he came back! Or else he’d be shredded wheat!
The wind stirred beside her, and when it died down again, Clark was standing there, a smug grin on his face.
“What was that all about?” she demanded.
“Luthor and his associate set a trap for Henderson.” Clark explained what had happened, and his own remedial action.
“Wow.” Lois shook her head. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
At that, Clark looked almost embarrassed. “I’m not some sort of superhuman being, you know, Lois.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” Superhuman... That set her thinking. He was pretty super, and the things he could do were
definitely superhuman. Maybe...
But that was for later. “So, Luthor’s under arrest?”
“He was when I came back up here.” Clark looked away for a moment, over towards the LexCorp building; then he turned back to her. “They’re on their way down. And yes, Luthor and his functionary are definitely in custody!” He grinned at her, clearly as delighted as she was.
“We did it!” Lois exclaimed excitedly.
“Yeah!” And suddenly, without Lois having any idea how it had happened, they were in each other’s arms, hugging joyfully.
“See how much help you can be?” she said to Clark, smiling happily up at him.
He smiled back, his eyes alight. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You had the bright idea that Luthor might still be here. And you suggested that we look for him.”
“We make a great team,” she told him.
“Fantastic.” His arms tightened around her, and she slid her own arms up and around his neck. She met his gaze with hers, enjoying the way his brown eyes sparkled with delight and happiness. Yes, they were a great team.
And suddenly their surroundings seemed to fade, and Clark’s eyes lost that excited light and turned darker, more intense. And Lois felt a sense of tension growing deep inside her, as if she was waiting with anticipation for something to happen...
...and, as her chin tilted up towards Clark almost of its own accord, and he lowered his head to meet her, she knew what it was.
Their lips touched. And lightning struck. And Lois knew that their fevered, desperate kisses in the EPRAD shed hadn’t just been the result of a near-death encounter. Clark Kent’s kisses really had the power to stir her as no other man’s ever had.
The kiss grew deeper within seconds, both eager to know the other and unable to countenance delay. Her lips were parted beneath his, and she was exploring him just as frantically as he was her. Her knees felt weak, and she clung to him, wanting - needing - to get closer still. One of his hands had slid up her back and was holding her head, fingers combing through the strands of her hair. She pulled her arms back from around his neck, sliding her palms up to caress his face, uncaring about the rasp of stubble which scratched her; just needing to be closer to him.
And she was lost. Tumbling headlong into lust - or even into love - with Clark Kent.
********
He was kissing her again. And she was kissing him back, just as fiercely as before.
Part of him had been wondering, ever since their escape from EPRAD, whether Lois’s response to his kisses - her own kisses in return - had been borne solely of desperation, an uncontrollable need for human contact and succour in what she’d believed were her last few minutes of life.
Her life wasn’t in danger now. And yet she was clinging to him as if her survival depended on it. As if he was essential to her well-being.
Just as she was to his.
He hadn’t been imagining it over the past couple of weeks; he really was falling in love with Lois Lane.
She was soft and yielding in his arms, clinging to him as if she didn’t want to let go either. Could she possibly feel the same way?
Reality began to intrude, however, as the sound of police radios sparked off his hearing. Things were happening down below that they couldn’t ignore - that Lois certainly wouldn’t want to ignore.
Reluctantly, he dragged his mouth from hers. But Lois tightened her grip on him, trying to tug him back to her.
“Lois... the police... Luthor...” he managed to say, before her lips invaded his again. But she pulled back after one last kiss.
“You’re right,” she agreed, clearly loath to say so; he couldn’t help but notice that she was flushed and breathing heavily. “We’ve got to get the scoop on him being arrested. There is
no way that I’m missing out on that! Not when the guy tried to kill us!”
Clark grinned. “Consider me at your service. Where would you like to go?”
“Down there.” She pointed. “I want to talk to Henderson before he leaves.”
“Your wish, again, is my command.” He made a little bow before scooping her up into his arms. “Let’s go.”
*********
They’d got another scoop, and this time it was even bigger. The fall of Lex Luthor, the city’s richest citizen, friend of politicians and winner of the Man of the Year for the last half-dozen years. Lois couldn’t wait to get the exclusive from Henderson so that they could go back to the Planet and write it up.
It wasn’t until Clark set her down in an alley just around the corner from the LexCorp building that Lois realised her excitement about getting the Luthor story had even surpassed that of flying with Clark. How quickly she was becoming blasé about something which, less than an hour earlier, had been beyond the realms of fantasy.
As he released her, Clark grinned knowingly and Lois realised that he understood just what was going through her mind. Stunned, she had to pause for a moment. She’d known Clark Kent less than two weeks - and for at least four days of that time she hadn’t known he was anything other than a low-life car thief. How could he possibly understand her so well?
And yet he clearly did. As he gestured for her to precede him out of the alley, he murmured, “Another Kerth award on its way to you, I assume. Is this your biggest scoop yet?”
“Yet,” she agreed, then gave him a wink. “Just wait until I write the exclusive on Superman.
That will knock all the others into the shade!”
Clark halted abruptly. “
Superman?”
“Yep.” She grinned. “That’s what I’m going to call you. I decided it back there, when we were up on the roof. You keep telling me that you’re just a man, an ordinary guy, and yet you can do so many superhuman things... well, that makes you Superman, in my opinion.”
Clark’s expression indicated that he wasn’t all that happy with her idea. “I’m not really sure about that, Lois. The name... well, it’s kind of egotistical, isn’t it?”
“Not if you’re not the one to come up with it,” she pointed out.
“But still... Lois, I might not even
be human. Remember?”
She shrugged. “Does it matter? You look like a man. Don’t you?”
To her amazement, he blushed. “Um... yeah.”
“Then Superman it is.”
But he surprised her by sticking to his resistance. “We’ll talk about it. Okay? Now, don’t you have somewhere you wanted to be?”
“Come on.” She grabbed his arm. “We have a story to get.”
Henderson rolled his eyes as they approached the parked cars. “Jeez, Lane, don’t you ever go to sleep?”
“Could say the same for you, Henderson,” she drawled.
He ignored her response. “Kent, don’t let this crazy woman drag you into bad habits.”
“Do I get a choice?” Clark quipped.
“I should have guessed you two would be somewhere about, after that tip-off,” the detective added.
“Of course!” Lois said immediately. “So, what about that exclusive you promised us?”
“You can come by the precinct later today,” Henderson offered. “I’ll talk to you then.”
“You can talk to us now!”
“Hey!” An indignant voice called from one of the cars. Lois glanced over, seeing a somewhat dishevelled-looking Lex Luthor trying to lean out past his police escort. “Just what is the delay here?”
“What’s the matter, Luthor?” she called, strolling over towards the car. “Don’t like it when you have to wait on someone else’s timetable for a change?”
The look on his face was worth all the trauma she’d gone through that night. “Lois Lane!” he exclaimed, his famous control actually dropping as he showed incredulity.
“In the flesh,” she drawled. “And you were never actually introduced to my partner, were you?” she added as Clark moved over to join her. “Clark Kent, also of the Daily Planet.”
She could almost feel Luthor gritting his teeth. Then he said, very casually, “One might wonder just how you managed to escape from the very unfortunate situation I understand Dr Baines had placed you in.”
“On your instructions, you mean,” Lois hissed. Then, mimicking her questioner’s casual air, she added, “Maybe this should teach you never to underestimate award-winning investigative journalists.”
Clark caught her arm lightly as she turned back to Henderson; the detective had been watching the exchange with a grin which was quickly stifled as the two of them returned. “Lois, I’m not an award-winning reporter,” Clark pointed out.
“Not yet,” she told him with a grin. “But you will be. That’s a given. Just stick with me, kid, and you’ll go far,” she drawled.
“As far as the nearest clink, if you’re not careful, Lane,” Henderson commented with a flash of humour. “I just know that one of these days I’m going to get a call from Perry White - or maybe Kent here - telling me that you’re locked up for interfering in police business or breaking and entering. And I’m looking forward to seeing you with bars across your face, you know.”
Lois shrugged, untroubled by the familiar banter with the detective; they had a long relationship which, although was characterised by barbs and caustic exchanges, was securely based on mutual trust and respect. “I’ve been in jail before now.”
She almost felt the raise of eyebrows on Clark’s face. “You can fill me in on that later,” he said, before turning to Henderson. “Okay, what can you tell us for now? What will the charges be?”
“Can’t you let us charge him first?” Henderson said sardonically. “Okay, it’s no secret that we’ll be charging him with attempted murder and conspiracy to murder. Probably Murder One as well, if we can tie him to Baines’ death. And I’ll probably manage to slip in something about threatening and attempted abduction of a police officer too.”
Lois remembered just in time that she wasn’t supposed to know anything about that. “Oh?”
“Look, if the two of you come to see me this evening, I’ll fill you in on the details, okay?” Henderson said. “Right now, I have to take these...
gentlemen down to the precinct. You’ve got your scoop anyway - it’ll make the Planet’s evening edition, right? And I’ll save you some exclusive material, so you don’t have to worry that LNN will get the jump on you,” he finished, his voice laced heavily with irony.
“I can’t wait to see how LNN reports this,” Lois commented with a grin at Clark. “What’s the betting that they make it the filler before the last commercial break?”
“I won’t even touch that one!”
**********
...tbc
