CHAPTER 14
“Where are you?” Clark asked.
“The Charleston Hotel over on Virginia Street here in the city. I’m in a linen closet on the third floor. I saw a car pull up out front a couple of minutes ago and some guys I know work for Intergang got out.”
“I’ll…send help right now,” Clark said standing and looking in the direction of the hotel that was out of sight to the normal eye several blocks to the west.
He disconnected the call and turned to Lois who was looking at him expectantly. Convincing her to stay while he headed toward the hotel would be a much more difficult task than stopping a few hired guns.
“Lois, I need you to call Henderson and let him know that Maxwell called and he may be in some danger.”
“What? Where?” Lois said starting to rise out of her seat as well.
“He’s at the Charleston Hotel over on Virginia Street. He said that he recognized some Intergang goons coming into the hotel. Call Henderson and have him get over there as quick as he can,” Clark said as he tossed some money on the table and headed for the door of the restaurant.
“Hold it, Smallville,” Lois said running to catch up, “first of all I left my cell phone at home and second why don’t we both go together and you can call Henderson yourself on the way?”
Clark looked at her helplessly for a second and then down at the phone in his hand.
“I’m not going over there yet,” he said as inspiration hit. “I think I know where Superman may be right now and I’m going to let him know so he can get there quickly. Then I’ll head over to the hotel.”
He thrust his cell phone into Lois’ hands. “You take this and call Henderson and then you head over there too. Hopefully we’ll meet somewhere in the middle,” he said as he rushed out the door.
Lois stared at his back for a second and then looked down at the phone in her hand.
“Hey,” she yelled after him as a sudden idea hit her, “don’t you need this phone to call Superman?”
Clark either ignored her or didn’t seem to hear as he disappeared into the crowd of people on the street.
Lois stood in place for a few moments and then let out a sigh and phoned Henderson as she hailed a cab. As luck would have it Henderson was in his office and she quickly relayed Clark’s message. Satisfied that at least that bit was taken care of she got into the back of the cab that stopped at her wolf whistle.
Suddenly Clark’s phone began to ring again.
“Hello?” Lois answered.
There was a short pause on the phone and then a man’s voice responded.
“I’m trying to reach Clark Kent. Is this his phone?”
“Yes, but he’s not here can I take a message?”
“Who is this?”
“Hey, you’re the one calling me, who’s this?”
There was another short pause before the man spoke.
“Lois Lane then. At least I assume as much from the descriptions of the attitude I’ve heard.”
“I’m surrounded by comedians,” Lois responded. “Now your turn.”
“I’m a friend of Kent’s. I have some information he was wanting.”
“Ah, you wouldn’t be the ‘sort of in law enforcement’ friend would you?”
There was a short sound that sounded like a laugh and then the man answered.
“You could say that, Ms. Lane.”
“Ok, give with the information.”
“Where’s Kent?”
Lois sighed.
“Not here like I said. Now did you have something important to say or were you just calling to play twenty questions with me?”
“Clark highly understated the attitude.”
“Uh huh,” Lois said, “that’s something else you need to tell me. How exactly did Clark describe my ‘attitude’?”
There was another short laugh on the other end of the phone.
“When you see Clark tell him I have the information he wanted.”
Lois sat straight up in her seat.
“Hold it,” she said, “if this is about who hired Lawton you can tell me. Clark and I are working on this together.”
“Ok,” the man responded, “the word is that Lawton was hired for some general wet work by a man named Slade Wilson. Wilson is ex-military and currently operates as a mercenary and assassin.”
“Does he have any connection to Intergang?” Lois asked.
“Unknown at present. His reputation though is that he doesn’t get affiliated with anyone beyond a specific contract though that may change if the mood strikes him. Apparently he’s already a wealthy man, but he likes to do this kind of work just for fun.”
“Pretty sick way to have fun,” Lois said.
“He’s a pretty sick person. He was the beneficiary or victim, depending on how you look at it, of military experimentation into the creation of the ultimate combatant. The experiment left him with enhanced speed and strength. For this man thought and action are almost instantaneous. Plus he’s a trained strategist and a cold blooded killer.”
“What does he look like?”
“He’s Caucasian in his forties with silver hair. He’s about 6’2’’ and wears an eye patch due to losing an eye several years ago. He also likes to dress in a garish orange and blue paramilitary outfit when he’s on ‘the job’ so to speak. His mask only has one eyehole because he doesn’t mind in the least bit to advertise the fact that he’s blind on one side. Wilson’s arrogant to the extreme and bills himself as the best in the business. He calls himself Deathstroke the Terminator.”
“Is he really that good?”
“He’s probably about half as good as he thinks he is, but that’s still impressive.”
“Thanks for the information. I’ll let Clark know you called. If you hear anything else let us know.”
“I’ll keep checking into things,” the man replied and then just before Lois hung up he spoke again.
“Lois, tell Clark that this guy may not be in Superman’s weight class, but that doesn’t make him any less dangerous. He’s a strategist who is always thinking five moves ahead and if he’s the one who hired Deadshot then he probably has access to the same resources. Both of you need to be very careful. Tell Clark that if he needs anything just to call and I can be there in less than an hour.”
“I’ll let him know,” Lois replied feeling a bit touched by the concern she heard in the man’s voice. “Hey, what is your name anyway?”
The only answer she received was the sound of dead air from a terminated connection.
**********
Several blocks away Superman was descending toward the Charleston Hotel when he saw Maxwell step out of a window and begin hurrying down the fire escape. He was altering course toward Maxwell when a second man stepped out onto the fire escape, leveled a gun at the ex-deputy Mayor and fired.
A burst of heat vision vaporized the bullet as it left the gun’s muzzle and a blast of super breath knocked the would-be assassin off of his feet and sent his gun spinning through the air. Before the Man of Steel could do anything further though his attention was drawn by a blur of orange and blue that emerged from the alleyway and opened fire on Robert Maxwell. Superman accelerated and placed himself between the Maxwell and the bullets and allowed them to bounce off of his chest.
Heeding a warning from the back of his mind he scanned the costumed villain before he made an effort to snatch him and gift-wrap him up in a convenient lamppost. As he suspected he found a second gun on the villain’s person loaded with Kryptonite shells. What he didn’t expect was the second weapon he found laced with Kryptonite.
“A sword?” he said to himself as he dropped to the ground to face the masked man.
As if reading Superman’s mind the man holstered his gun and reaching behind his back pulled the sword free from its sheath. Both edges of the blade were studded with razor sharp Kryptonite stones.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” The Man of Steel said aloud as his opponent approached him slowly.
He fired a burst of heat vision, which caught the sword blade where it met the hilt and sheared through the metal causing the blade to drop off and hit the ground. The hilt was also super-heated and the man let out a startled grunt and instantly dropped it to the ground as well. A second more powerful blast of heat vision vaporized the metal of the blade and left the heat resistant Kryptonite lying scattered on the ground.
Superman took a moment to marvel at the irony that while whatever process had irradiated the fragments of his home world and robbed them of their invulnerability on Earth had still rendered them so resistant to heat that the Kryptonite meteorites could pass through the atmosphere unharmed and also protect them from his best long-range offensive power.
A quick puff of super-breath, however, did send the fragments to the far corners of the alley and away from his adversary who did appear to be somewhat surprised at the ease in which his first threat had been dealt with. Still, he didn’t hesitate more than a moment before he pulled his other gun and fired three quick shots at the Man of Steel.
As was always the case in moments like this the world seemed to slow to a crawl from Clark’s perspective. He noted the flickering glow from the gun’s barrel as the first Kryptonite bullet emerged. He became aware of a second gunman taking aim at Maxwell from position on the fire escape below the fleeing man. He was also aware of the Channel 6 van that was beginning to skid to a stop on the street in front of the alley apparently alerted to a potential story by the gunfire.
Superman dropped to one knee and slammed a fist into the pavement. As the pavement cracked he grabbed three loose pieces and sent them at super-sonic speed toward his attacker. He then fired a burst of heat vision at the second gunman’s weapon. As time seemed to speed up he observed the gunman drop his pistol and yelp in pain as he grabbed his hand. The three pieces of pavement intersected all three Kryptonite bullets with devastating effect. The superior mass and speed of the projectiles shattered the radioactive bullets and sent fragments ricocheting back toward the costumed man. The man’s single eye widened in surprise, but he easily avoided the remnants of his bullets.
As Maxwell reached the ground and ran for the alleyway entrance Superman and the masked man stood in a stalemate. Superman could not approach his adversary because of the Kryptonite still in his possession and his opponent had seen that Superman could easily defend himself against the man’s fire.
“Look’s like we have a Mexican standoff,” the man said finally breaking the silence.
“Except I can wait for the police,” Superman replied not moving from his position blocking the man from following after Maxwell.
As the two stood in silence for a moment Superman became aware of first a newswoman and her camera man stepping into the alleyway and begin filming the standoff and then off in the distance as if to punctuate his earlier statement he began to hear police sirens.
“Well,” his opponent said, “I guess I can’t fault your logic there.”
He then began to run quickly toward the Man of Steel and raised his gun to fire two quick shots before turning to fire a third at one of the gunmen still on the fire escape. Superman instinctively began to step backwards as the Kryptonite welding assassin drew closer. One of the man’s shots went wide and he ignored it as he directed a quick puff of super compressed air at the bullet coming at him deflecting it into the wall and then took to the air to outrace the third bullet heading toward the gunman. He snatched the man off the fire escape before the bullet came close enough for him even to begin feeling the effects of the radiation.
As he landed with the man held securely in one arm he turned to confront the shooter and froze in shock. The other bullet hadn’t went wide after all. It had been dead on target. The news cameraman was lying on the ground clutching his stomach and moaning while the assassin made for the alleyway entrance.
“You’ve got a choice, hero,” he yelled back over his shoulder. “A gut shot isn’t fatal if you get him to the hospital in time, but you can’t do that and catch me too. Especially since it’ll kill you as well if you just pick him up and try to carry him.”
As the man rounded the corner Clark had no choice but to admit that he was right. This wasn’t over though he told himself. Not by a long shot. He quickly knocked the gunman he did have unconscious and rushed toward the cameraman.
“Superman,” the newswoman said jumping in front of him and holding her microphone out, “Renee Guest from Channel 6 news. What happened here? And who was that man after Robert Maxwell?”
Superman ignored her questions and stepped around her with an annoyed look beginning to appear on his face. At this range he could feel the effects of the Kryptonite as the radiation began to assault his person. When he knelt down to check the man’s condition he felt like his insides were on fire and he had to concentrate to fight the familiar dizziness and nausea.
“Superman,” Renee Guest continued again thrusting the microphone in his face, “the people have a right to know why you were engaged in a gun dual in broad daylight that endangered innocent civilians.”
“Ms. Guest,” Superman finally said looking up at the woman his expression actually making her take a step back, “the trouble with you people yelling about right to know is that you don’t think to ask yourself first if it’s right to do something. You’re blundering in here endangered both yourself and your cameraman and now he’s paying the price for your mistake.”
Not waiting to hear her reply he stood and walked over to the news van. Grabbing hold of one of the side doors he ripped it off and laid it on the ground. He then quickly rummaged through the vans contents until he found several long, thick power cables. He attached them to the door to create a harness and then carried it over to the injured cameraman
The man was beginning to go into shock and Superman knew he had to hurry. He ignored the pain that began to rack his body as he approached the injured man and grabbing him by his shoulders began to wrestle him onto the makeshift gurney while using his x-ray vision to make sure he didn’t injure then man further.
Renee Guest had finally realized that she wasn’t going to get an interview here and so had grabbed up the fallen camera to record the Man of Steel’s rescue efforts. As police cars began to arrive on the scene Superman took hold of the far end of the cables and lifted the entire apparatus into the air. He was still close enough to feel some of the effects from the Kryptonite, but not so close that it impeded his ability to fly.
“Bill,” he yelled down at the police Inspector exiting the lead car, “I have to get this man to a hospital. There’s an Intergang shooter in the alley and another somewhere in the hotel with an injured hand. I’ll stop by headquarters later and explain what happened.”
Henderson watched the hero disappear into the sky and then turned to the crime scene only to suddenly have a camera shoved in his face.
“Inspector Henderson, Renee Guest, Channel 6 News. Can you tell me what happened here?”
“Wonderful,” Henderson muttered to himself, “just wonderful.”
**********
Lois’ cab pulled up just as the police were cordoning off the area. She made her way through the crowd and flashed her press pass at a cop who barred her way as she attempted to pass under the yellow tape.
“Henderson will want to see me, trust me,” she said.
“Lois Lane?” the cop asked as he checked the name on her pass. “The same Lois Lane he once told us to shoot on sight if she showed up at another crime scene?”
She shot the cop a withering look. “Just tell him I’m here and save the comedy for the Tonight Show.”
The cop smirked at her and spoke into his radio. A moment later Henderson appeared.
“You able to fill in any of the blanks here, Lane?” he asked.
“Yes, miss, do you have any information about what happened here?”
Lois turned to find Renee Guest still welding her own camera and still attempting to get an interview with anyone who would talk to her. She looked the woman up and down for a moment before she spoke.
“Channel 6 falling victim to budget cuts or just trying to cross train all of their staff?”
“My cameraman was injured in the crossfire between Superman and whomever it was he was fighting. If you have information about this it’s the public’s right to know,” Renee replied.
“Uh hum,” Lois said as if pondering the question for a moment. “Perhaps the Chief of Police might be a better one to ask that question of,” she said pointing over Renee’s shoulder.
“What? Where?” Renee said turning around and searching the crowd.
Lois stepped forward and stuck her ankle in front of one of Renee’s and as the newswoman panned the crowd she tripped and went sprawling.
“Oops,” Lois said, “terribly sorry, sweetie. I’d help you up, but I have to go answer some questions.”
She flashed the woman a fake smile and took Henderson’s arm as she stepped under the police tape. For his part Henderson tried his best to disguise the grin that was threatening to split his face.
“Ok, Lane,” he said as he led her further into the alley, “fourth degree assault aside, what can you tell me about what happened here?”
“All I know, Inspector, is what I told you on the phone earlier. Clark got a call from Maxwell saying he was in danger and then he asked me to call you while he went to find Superman.”
“Well, I guess he succeeded because the big guy was leaving with the injured cameraman when I got here. Apparently Guest is the only witness we have beyond a couple of gunmen we nabbed. They’re not talking and we can’t get her out of interview mode long enough to give us more than the bare details.”
“No sign of Maxwell?” Lois asked.
“If he was here,” Henderson said, “then he was long gone by the time we arrived.”
“Have you seen Clark?”
“Kent? No, I haven’t seen him either. I thought you said he went to find Superman?”
“That’s what he said, but he also said he’d come here afterward.”
“Well, I haven’t seen him yet, but when I do I’d be curious as to how he found Superman. The department could use that phone number, signal light, or whatever the hell he used.”
“Don’t bother, Inspector. If he was contacted by anyone it wasn’t me,” Clark said appearing at their side as if on cue.
“Clark!” Lois said, “Where in the hell have you been? You don’t just take off on your partner without so much as a ‘by your leave’.”
“Like I said, Lois,” Clark said looking slightly embarrassed, “I thought I knew how to get in touch with Superman, but I was wrong.”
“How exactly was that then?” she asked.
“Well, it didn’t work so it’s not really worth going into,” Clark replied.
“The hell it isn’t, farmboy. You don’t just issue orders and then disappear without some kind of explanation.”
“Ok, kids,” Henderson interrupted. “You want to argue like man and wife wait until after the wedding. In the mean time I have some questions for Kent here.”
“Sorry, Inspector,” Clark said ignoring the angry look Lois cast in his direction.
“Ok, what can you add to any of this,” Henderson asked.
“Well, I’m sure Lois has already told you everything I know, Inspector. We were having breakfast and Maxwell called saying that he had recognized some Intergang thugs getting out of a car in front of this hotel. He was hiding in a linen closet and didn’t provide a whole lot else.”
“Breakfast?” Henderson asked with raised eyebrows.
It took the two reporters a moment to understand the question and then almost as one they both blushed and began to stammer explanations.
“At Bennigan’s,” Clark said naming the restaurant they had been at.
“We were on the way to work,” Lois added.
“Not together,” Clark said, “I mean we were together, but we had just met up with each other a little before.”
“To discuss the story,” Lois quickly added.
“Uh huh,” Henderson said with a smile on his face, “whatever you two say. Anyway I guess I need to figure out what Maxwell, Intergang, and a masked man in orange and blue are doing playing hide and seek in my city. And what their next move is.”
“Masked man in orange and blue?” Lois asked.
“Yeah, that’s who Guest said Superman was facing down when she got here. She said he was the one who shot her cameraman.”
“Clark,” Lois said turning to her partner, “your contact called right after you left. He said that a man named Slade Wilson hired Lawton. He said that Wilson is a mercenary and assassin with super powers thanks to a military experiment and that he dresses in an orange and blue outfit and calls himself Deathstroke the Terminator. Your contact said that Wilson was wealthy and that apparently he takes contracts just for the fun of it.”
“Just for the fun of it,” Clark said his expression darkening. “He thinks killing people and shooting innocents is fun. It sounds like someone needs to teach Mr. Slade Wilson a lesson about the sanctity of life.”
TBC…
