Hi, everyone. This is my first attempt ever to post a fanfic story (or part of one in this case), so hopefully you'll enjoy it. I have no BR so any mistakes are all mine. This part isn't quite as long as Tank's, but is longer than normal posts so I'll try splitting this up into two parts as well.
Without further ado:
House of Cards, Part 6
By RL
From Part 5:
The more practical side of Lois Lane finally forced her to get on with what she had to do. Her bag had been packed the night before, but she needed to add a little make-up to repair what her tears had ruined. Suddenly there was a knock at her door. Her ride was there. She set her mouth in a firm line. There was nothing she could do now. What was done was done, and all she could do was to wait until it grew out. If Lex told her he liked it, she would kill him. As Lois grabbed her suitcase and moved toward the door she couldn't help but think that Clark would hate it.
An hour later she was staring out the window of Lex's personal jet, watching the skyline of Metropolis fall away. For some strange reason she was seized by a flash of anxiety. It was like she was looking at her home for the last time. For some reason it felt like after today, everything was going to be different. The old Metropolis would never be the same. She glanced over at where Lex was sitting conversing with someone on the phone. Maybe that's what this was all about? Maybe Lois was facing a whole new life now. A life with... Lex?
Now continued in Part 6:
A vast empty ocean was all Lois could see from her view out the window. Empty. That was a word that seemed to perfectly describe how she was feeling at the moment on her way to Paris. She thought to herself that she should be ecstatic. She was going to the fabulous City of Lights with her probably soon-to-be fiancé to attend a gala that would be attended by the elite of Europe. As a reporter, that would be the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to talk one-on-one with so many of the rich and powerful in one room. But for some reason, she was feeling anxious about the trip, as if something wasn’t quite right. Something inside her was telling her she needed to be in Metropolis but for the life of her couldn’t figure out why. All she knew was that her gut instinct was telling her it had something to do with Clark, as if he was in trouble. But he was Superman. How much trouble could Superman get into? Sigh. She got so depressed every time she thought about him now.
Her mind wandered back once again to her argument with Clark the previous day. Ever since then, she frequently found herself thinking about the bitter words they had exchanged. It was over between them, certainly as potential lovers but also as friends as well. Clark’s lack of trust in her was just something she couldn’t forgive but even if she could, every discussion they had recently degenerated into a full blown argument. How could they possibly be friends if they couldn’t stay civil to one another for five minutes? The divisions between the two of them were just too deep, and all they could do these days was hurt each other. Clark was clearly bitter over her rejection of his declaration of love. She had tried to let him down as gently as possible, but he had reacted first by throwing his other identity as Superman spitefully in her face, and then by going to work at LNN to spy on her and Lex. After she’d helped arrange things so he could perform his duties as Superman without suspicion, he thanked her by attacking her over the surveillance equipment in her office. She was proven right, of course. Lex had come into her office later that day with a workman to remove the spy equipment after discovering that they had not been removed after the arrest of the previous occupant. Now what was his name again? Right, Paul Hattman. She would enjoy telling Clark how wrong he’d been about her fiancé.
Fiancé? Had she already started to think of Lex in those terms? She took a quick glance at him on the other side of the jet, still with a phone stuck to his ear. It looked like Lex was her only choice now, that or staying single. But she didn’t think she could handle the loneliness anymore. Maybe after they returned to Metropolis, she would tell Lex she would marry him. Losing everything important in her life was hurting her more than she could readily admit. Superman was no longer in the picture since he turned out to be her lying, vindictive ex-partner. Her feelings were still in a jumble over Superman. While she knew that attraction was still there deep inside her, she couldn’t reconcile those feelings with the anger and humiliation she felt towards the man inside the suit for deceiving her for so long. If only he had told her much sooner in a respectful manner. There was a bit of guilt involved on her part, too, she finally admitted to herself. When she was calm, she could rationally see some of the reasons why Clark wouldn’t trust her with his secret. It wasn’t just any ordinary secret either. She didn’t treat him very well when they first met and compared him to his alter-ego unfavorably time and time again. He was probably afraid she’d sell him out for a chance at the coveted Pulitzer Prize. Chuckling inside, she admitted he probably had a point, at least at the beginning. After they’d become friends, he probably refused to tell her because of how she kept throwing herself at the superhero. It was obvious that Clark was jealous of his own creation, thinking he was unable to compete with himself in Lois’ eyes. She’d seen enough evidence of that over the last year. Sometimes when she talked about her feelings toward Superman, she would see Clark’s expression change to one of jealousy for a fleeting moment. She had thought that odd at the time since Clark and Superman were supposed to be the best of friends, but the reasons were clear now. He didn’t trust her to love the real him if she found out Clark and Superman were one and the same. It hurt to know Clark thought she was so shallow. He obviously thought she had loved Superman for his powers alone and not for his innate goodness and willingness to help others. After all, if he were an ordinary man with no powers at all…
Omigod! No wonder Clark was feeling so bitter. Maybe he was justified in feeling that way after what she did to him. She had told the ordinary man she didn’t love him romantically while at the same time essentially telling him she was going to declare her love for his alter-ego. She HAD been that shallow. Pain and further guilt flooded through her as tears began to fall again in earnest. “Oh, Clark. I’m sorry.”
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Pain flooded through his system. Clark had no idea how long he’d been in the cage, but it seemed like days. Pain and despair were his only companions now. Everything he loved was in jeopardy. Lois was lost to him because she had somehow been snowed by an oily con artist. His parents were in danger now that Luthor knew who he really was. How could he protect them when he couldn’t protect himself? Luthor knew. To him, the implications were obvious. He knew Lois no longer trusted him, her best friend over the last year. Yet she trusted Luthor, a man she barely knew. After their last argument, Lois had sold him out and told Luthor about his true identity. How else could Luthor have found out? They weren’t anywhere near the bugs in Lois’ office when they had discussed his identity. The only possibility left was that the love of his life had betrayed him to his worst enemy. His soul howled in agony, hurting more from the betrayal than he did from the kryptonite slowly bleeding his life away.
Maybe it was better this way. It wouldn’t take much to give in to the pain and die here alone, trapped like an animal. He’d already come close to giving in several times since he’d been caged. What did he have to live for if he did manage to escape? Luthor would expose his identity to the world no matter what he said, so he had no chance at a private life. What kind of life would he have anyway without Lois? She’d chosen the most evil man in Metropolis over her best friend and wounded him grievously in the process. For all he knew, they were happily on their honeymoon by now. His stomach heaved at that thought. Yes, maybe it was better that he die now. It would be so much easier that way.
No!!! Luthor would win. His parents were still in terrible danger and he owed it to them to survive and warn them. Despite his hurt, Lois’ well-being still mattered to him. Luthor had all but promised that he would break Lois’ spirit when, he meant if, they got married. Her independence was what gave Lois her fire, her essence, her beauty, though outwardly she was gorgeous as well. Without that, he shuddered to think of what would be left, a broken shell of a once beautiful woman. No, he had to get out of here. He pulled himself up with a groan which took every bit of energy he had left. Over on top of the barrel was the key. Maybe he could get the key somehow? He then glanced at the bars. They were glowing brightly. Luthor had thrown a switch to activate the kryptonite. Was it possible to turn it off? He knew he didn’t have much time left.
Making a decision, he pulled off one of his boots. It was all he had to work with. He gauged the angle and guessed at the force he would need to hit the lever with his boot. Now which one? One controlled the kryptonite. The other had lowered the cage. It didn’t make sense to go after the one that controlled the kryptonite. From what Luthor had said, that switch only controlled an electrical flow that burned off the lead coating. Turning that off wouldn’t accomplish anything. So he would try for the lever that controlled the cage. He hoped it wasn’t merely a release lever but would raise it as well. He only had two boots, so he only had two chances. If this failed, he’d try for the key.
Taking careful aim, he threw the boot. It glanced off the lever, moving it slightly. The cage lurched up a couple of inches, much to his delight. So it was a two-way lever. If he could get the cage to rise just a few more inches, he could crawl under it. One more boot left. This was his last chance. Perhaps it was desperation mixed in with a little luck but the second boot managed to knock the lever fully to the other position. The cage lifted all the way up. He was free! Still too weak to walk, he crawled to the other side of the wine cellar and hid himself behind some casks to recover. The distance helped immensely. Though he could still feel some effects from the kryptonite, the effects had diminished to bare awareness.
It took him about an hour to recover enough strength to make his way out of the LexCorp building. But before he left, he changed back into his normal suit and tie at human speed and tossed his Superman suit and his boots to where the cage would be in the down position. He then pulled the lever, lowering the cage again. <Let’s see if this confuses them for a while,> he thought with an evil grin.
He glanced at his watch to see how much time he had lost inside the cage. It looked like he’d been there for about 36 hours. That was the longest exposure he’d ever had to kryptonite. Unfortunately, his powers were gone. Would they ever come back after such a long exposure?
Once outside, Clark’s first thought was to get to Lois. But Lois was in Paris with Luthor and wouldn’t return until the following evening or the morning after that. The thought of Lois with Luthor in a romantic setting turned his stomach, so he used his anger at her to pull himself out of the doldrums. In the meantime, he had to warn his parents about Luthor and had to go into hiding himself for a while. He certainly couldn’t go back to his apartment or to LNN. Without his powers, he would be at Luthor’s mercy. When Lois came back, he’d go see her. It hurt that she had betrayed him, but she thought Luthor was a good person. She probably didn’t think it was wrong to tell her probable fiancé about him, since to Clark couples shouldn’t have secrets between them. Would she listen to him if he told her about the kryptonite cage? He clearly had no powers, so that would be easy enough to prove his exposure to the deadly mineral. But would it be enough? Regardless, he had to try.
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[Continued in Part 6b]
