Here is the long-awaited almost final chapter to Paul's House of Cards round-robin. In a couple days, I will post the actual final chapter to this tale, as this part ran a bit longer than I originally thought it would. I'll call that final chapter, Part 11.
Without further ado:
House of Cards, Part 10
By RL
From Part 9:
Luthor whipped around at the sound of the breaking door knob. "You!" he spat as soon as he caught sight of the man who had dared invade his privacy. Then, his look of utter hatred melted into one of smug assurance. "You didn't think I would be unprepared for you, did you? I won't let you get between me and my wife, alien." As he spoke, he pulled a chunk of glowing green rock out of his pocket.
Clark staggered back. Not from the Kryptonite, as the gloating Luthor obviously thought. The lead apron he'd borrowed from the hospital's X-ray department was shielding him well enough, for the time being. Fortunately, the unusually loose shirt he was wearing hid it from view. No, the pain Clark was feeling was much deeper than mere Kryptonite poisoning, and it call came from a single word. Luthor had said "wife." Clark had arrived too late. Somehow, it had happened. Lois was married to Lex, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Now Part 10:
<Wife...>
Lois was now Lex Luthor's wife. The pain from that realization stabbed through his soul. His life was over. A small part of his mind almost wished for him to be back in the Kryptonite cage where Luthor had tortured him and had come close to killing him only a few hours earlier.
How could she have married that monster? Back at her apartment, he had overheard the argument between them. From the heated words exchanged, Clark couldn't imagine that Lois would have had anything more to do with Luthor, let alone have married him. Maybe that was it? Maybe Luthor was merely bluffing and was holding her hostage? Clark felt his hope rising at the thought. If that was the case...
"Honey, who are you talking to? Come back to bed, please?" came a familiar, sleepy-sounding voice drifting in from behind the closed bedroom door.
"No one of consequence, my sweet," Luthor called out, taking only a brief moment to glance in the direction of the bedroom before returning his malevolent gaze back to Clark.
"Lex?" came Lois' voice again, followed by silence.
The pain and despair returned and multiplied as Clark felt his last hopes die. Sometime during the last few hours, Luthor had somehow convinced Lois that she had been wrong about him and that they should be married immediately. The endearment Lois had used for her new husband, one that Clark had imagined would someday be reserved only for him, served to shatter what remained of his dreams.
Clark fell to his knees as his strength left him, feeling utterly defeated. He looked up into Luthor's gloating expression and watched his nemesis come closer, holding the glowing rock before him as a weapon. The pain from the Kryptonite began to worsen as the protection from his lead apron began to fail.
"I've beaten you, Superman. As you can see, Lois is mine forever. You put up a good fight, but know that Lex Luthor always wins." Luthor kneeled before Clark, holding the Kryptonite just inches away from his face and laughing as Clark fell backwards with a scream of agony.
"You'll die knowing that tonight, Lois and I will be enjoying our first time together as husband and wife. I only wish I could keep you alive so that you could listen in and enjoy every second while we consummate our marriage. But you've been too much trouble as it is. I still wonder how you got out of that cage, but no matter."
With his other hand, Luthor pulled a cell phone from his pocket and pressed one of the buttons. After a few seconds, he spoke into the phone. "Mrs. Cox, I have some trash here for you to dispose of. And make sure there's nothing left to be picked up."
Luthor slipped the phone back into his pocket and returned his attention back to him. "Now where were we, Superman? Ah yes, I was just telling you about my wedding night. As you can tell, my *wife* is very impatient for us to begin our honeymoon. It's doubtful we'll want to leave this suite for quite a long time as we get, shall we say, intimately acquainted."
An almost feral grin crossed his features at that point, sickening Clark even further.
"Of course, that's just the beginning. Tomorrow, I'll begin my dear wife's training so that she'll take her rightful place by my side. She'll be stubborn, I expect, at the beginning, but that will simply make victory even sweeter. But I'll take care of that independent streak of hers as I promised you when you were last my guest."
"You'll never break her, Luthor!" spat Clark as he tried to crawl away from the evil rock, but could barely summon the energy to move.
"That's where you're wrong, dear boy," taunted Luthor. "She's already succumbed to my charms and agreed to be my wife despite your feeble attempts to poison her mind against me. And she married me eagerly, I might add. She simply couldn't wait to sign her name on the marriage certificate. With you gone, I'm all she has left."
Luthor stared at the Kryptonite as if it were the most precious object in the universe. Without taking his eyes from it, he addressed Clark. "I find it wonderful how you've played your role so well, driving my Lois away from you far better than I could have planned. She'll never know what happened to you. All she'll think is that one more person she thought she cared about abandoned her. Little will she realize that..."
Suddenly, a voice interrupted from the entrance to the hotel suite. "Mr. Luthor, I was just passing by and noticed that your door was broken..." The voice trailed off. Clark glanced backwards and noticed a well-dressed man with a nametag on his jacket, apparently an employee of the Luxor. The man stood frozen with his jaw hanging open, apparently stunned at the scene before him.
Realizing this was his only chance to escape, Clark summoned every ounce of will power he had left and leapt to his feet, stumbling towards the doorway. He shoved the Luxor employee aside and ran out the door, gaining strength as the distance between him and the Kryptonite increased.
It wasn't until the door to the inclinator closed that he could breathe a sigh of relief. He was free. Only then did he collapse to the floor with the weight of his pent-up emotions and weep for the first time in his life. <Goodbye, Lois,> he cried, bidding her a final farewell in his thoughts.
*****
Lex slammed the remnants of the door closed in anger. He turned to Mrs. Cox and growled quietly, "Find Mr. Kent and eliminate him. Use whatever resources you have. And just in case Superman tries to come to his rescue, make sure you're wearing that piece of Kryptonite you have on that necklace. In the meantime, unless it's an emergency, my wife and I are not to be disturbed until further notice. To make sure that no one gets in or out, post some guards in the hallway. Now get going!"
Mrs. Cox nodded and left the room in a hurry, leaving a steaming Lex behind. An expensive-looking vase fell victim to his anger, smashing against the wall. Straightening his tie, Lex pondered his next move. Kent was still in the city. He could feel it. It was unknown how quickly the alien regained his powers after exposure to the Kryptonite, but he couldn't take the chance of a fully powered superhero coming after him. He had to be killed immediately. Every second Kent remained alive threatened his possession of Lois Lane.
Lois.
He turned his gaze to the bedroom door, and a lecherous smile slowly emerged. <At least tonight will be quite pleasurable, even if it's likely she won't be clear-headed until morning,> he said to himself, reveling in the pain Kent must be going through knowing that Lois would be making love to him exclusively for the rest of her life. He opened the door and entered the bedroom, his eyes locked on the delicious, partially clothed form of his wife, who was snoring gently on the bed with the covers thrown aside. Quickly taking off his clothes, he slipped under the sheets and reached for Lois...
*****
Lois' head was aching as she fought the fog in her brain. What was making that racket? She still felt like she was floating. Maybe she was still in her dream? That was it. She had had this dream many times before, though usually it was much more vivid than it was now. Typically, once she had made it to the bed in her dreams, Clark would already be naked and ready for her. A vision of his bare chest floated before her and she sighed. Odd that he always seemed to be covered with a big red cape.
But Clark wasn't here right now. Maybe he was the one making all the noise? She concentrated a bit harder and heard some voices she couldn't quite make out. It sounded like Clark was talking to someone. What was he doing out there instead of being in here with her?
She called out, "Honey, who are you talking to? Come back to bed, please?"
That's right. She was married to Clark now in her dream, so the endearment sounded so nice. Her Clark would make whomever it was go away, and he would then come back to her. Then she could get to the good part of her dream.
Oddly enough, though, it wasn't Clark who answered back. She heard an unexpected voice call out, "No one of consequence, my sweet."
"Lex?" She blinked in confusion. What was Lex doing here? She'd never dreamed of him before. She did vaguely remember some sort of argument she'd had with him recently but for the life of her couldn't remember what it was about.
She'd always hated it when he called her, "my sweet." It always sounded so fake and condescending. Oh well, no matter. Clark would fix everything. He was good at that. Then he'd come back to bed and do all those things to her that she loved. That would be nice. She loved Clark after all.
She started to feel herself drifting off again to the pleasant thoughts of being Lois Lane-Kent.
Her internal clock told her some time had passed, but she felt herself floating again. A hand was caressing her shoulder. It felt warm and soothing. Clark was giving her a massage! That was so sweet of him. He was always doing such nice things for her. Maybe someday she'd do something nice for him. Speaking of nice...
Lois rolled over to face her dream lover. For some reason, she still couldn't focus on him, seeing only a dark shape before her. It had to be Clark since he seemed to be naked. Fingers reached over to unbutton her blouse and tug her skirt down her legs. That was strange. She didn't remember her dreams being so complicated before. Her dreams usually skipped the undressing part. A hand then reached out to the back of her head, pulling her closer. She felt lips touch hers, and she responded, kissing him back in return.
"Oh, Clark!" she called to her lover. But then the world began to fade again, so she never felt the body next to hers stiffen in surprise and anger.
*****
Clark sat down heavily on the bed in his motel room and stripped off the lead apron he had been wearing for the last several hours. He was lucky he had been wearing it or else he would never have been able to escape. The apron had protected him to some degree, but couldn't offer complete safety since the exposed parts of his body had still been exposed to the deadly radiation. But it had been enough to save him. He was already feeling stronger physically, though emotionally, he was a wreck.
Laying his weary body onto the bed, he stared up at the ceiling. He was at a complete loss as to what to do now. At least he should be safe here for a short time. Checking in under an assumed name at a motel in nearby Henderson, just to the south of Las Vegas, no one should be able to find him. Knowing Luthor, there was a good chance his thugs had been dispatched to kill him, including that Mrs. Cox Luthor had talked to on the phone.
Would it be so bad if they did kill him?
Clark berated himself for such maudlin thoughts. Even though he had lost the most important person in his life, he still had to stay alive for his parents' sakes. He had successfully gotten through to his mom on a pay phone and had extracted a promise that they would stay with Wayne Irig tonight. Tomorrow, he would try to organize a more permanent solution.
He knew he was in danger still as well as his parents. And even though Luthor had beaten him, to be left alone would be the last thing he should expect. Luthor would continue to make his life miserable for as long as he could. But Clark couldn't stay on the run forever. Sooner or later, he would have to confront his enemy again. If he were to die, he would at least make sure Lois knew who had killed him. Lois would never tolerate being married to a murderer.
What he couldn't understand was why Lois had married that madman. His mind ran in circles, failing to come up with a logical reason. In her argument with Luthor, she had said she wouldn't marry him if he were the last man on earth. But she *had* married him in the end. Clark could have believed Lois had been coerced, but Lois calling Luthor, "honey," made that unlikely.
Maybe Lois had truly fallen in love with Luthor and had decided she wanted to be with him despite knowing of his evil? It certainly seemed unlike the Lois Lane Clark had known for the last year, but her behavior over the last few months had shown him just how little he knew the real person.
And worse, she had betrayed him by revealing his secret identity to his greatest enemy. The realization that his life as Clark Kent would soon be over, and that Lois was the reason for it, hurt down to his very core. He knew Luthor would expose him to the world soon. Despite the threat to his personal life, though, Lois remained at the forefront of his thoughts.
He realized that no matter what, he still loved her despite all she had done to him. Maybe that's why Lois was with Luthor now? Maybe she loved him so much that she could forgive who he was? Another pain went through him as it occurred to him just what the new couple was probably doing at that very moment.
It was time to go. In the morning, Clark would leave Las Vegas. Lois had made her choice. It was time for him to accept that and move on. It broke his heart, but he realized that he had nothing left for him in Metropolis. Tomorrow, he had some very hard choices of his own to make.
*****
Lois woke up on her side with an enormous headache. Her mind was still somewhat clouded with sleep, but she immediately felt something was wrong. The bed she was lying in didn't feel familiar. The mattress was much harder than she was used to. And the sheets were rougher. Where was she?
She suddenly realized that there was a weight pressing down on her side. Looking down, she also noticed a hairy arm draped around her naked waist. <Omigod!> Pieces of her dream from last night came back to her. She remembered getting married to Clark in her dream. But that couldn't be real. Glancing at her left hand, she saw a wedding band nestled next to the huge engagement ring. It hadn't been a dream! But wait! The engagement ring came from Lex...
With clarity, her argument with Lex came flooding back to her consciousness. Lex was a villain! There was no way she could have married him. Lois turned slightly, knowing whom she'd see but dreading it at the same time. Her worst fears were confirmed when she saw a sleeping Lex behind her. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.
How could this have happened? The last thing she remembered clearly was arguing with Lex after she had gotten off the phone with Henderson. After she had confronted him with her evidence of his lying, Lex had transformed before her very eyes into a man who radiated evil. She remembered detecting an odd smell and then nothing more after that.
It was obvious that she'd been drugged. And her dream really hadn't been a dream. She had gotten married, only to the wrong man. Clark had been right about Lex. And she had refused to listen to him. Worse yet, she had finally realized what she had known all along but had refused to admit to herself. She loved Clark. In her dreams, she couldn't lie to herself. Being married to Clark felt right. Her subconscious knew what she had really wanted. Now she was trapped, married to a controlling monster. She had to escape.
Lightly lifting Lex's arm from her waist, Lois slipped out of the bed. Fortunately, Lex appeared to be a heavy sleeper. Spotting her clothes lying on the floor, Lois picked them up and tip toed out of the bedroom into the living room of the suite. It became instantly apparent to her that they were in Las Vegas with all the tacky decorations and artwork in the room.
A glance at the clock on the mantle showed it was just past 5 AM. Fearing Lex would wake up at any moment, she dressed as quickly and quietly as she could and left the hotel suite, stopping only to tug the offending rings off her finger and to leave them on a table next to the door.
Peeking into the corridor, she immediately noticed a pair of men in suits standing down near where the elevators would be. Those were likely Lex's goons. Fortunately, they seemed to be engaged in a conversation about betting on horse races. So she slipped out of the room and turned in the other direction, moving quickly before she could be seen.
After walking quite a distance, she found another set of elevators, or rather inclinators, as the signs said. Next to the bank of inclinator doors was a large window. Peeking downward, she saw a large casino plus what appeared to be some Egyptian-style exhibits on the floor above the casino.
They were at the Luxor, apparently. She'd heard about this brand-new casino, but had never been here. Instead of elevators, the Luxor had four inclinators, one at each corner of the pyramid, running at an angle instead of up and down. If her memory of Las Vegas' layout was accurate from the last time she'd been here for a reporters' convention, she was near the very south end of the Las Vegas Strip. It should be easy enough to find a cab downstairs. But where would she go?
The airport was the logical choice, but she realized she had no money and no credit cards. So even a cab was not an available option. The first thing she had to do, though, was to get away from the Luxor. If she stayed, Lex would find her and drag her back.
Now ensconced in the inclinator, she leaned against the back wall to think. Her instincts were telling her she was forgetting some important details from the night before. Her mind wandered back to the hotel suite. A shudder went through her at the thought of being in bed with Lex. It wasn't possible they had slept together, had they? It had been their wedding night and they had both been naked. She could easily imagine Lex raping her regardless of her state of mind. Or worse, because of her state of mind.
A mental examination of her own body, though, failed to reveal any sore muscles or any other evidence that she'd had sex the night before. It had been quite a while since she'd been with a man, but the aftermath wasn't something she could forget that easily.
Thinking back, she dimly remembered kissing Clark, only it hadn't been Clark. She almost gagged at the thought. But very soon after she'd started kissing him, she'd blanked out. The drug Lex had given her apparently had still been affecting her. Most likely, she'd passed out on him and Lex hadn't been inclined to force himself on an unconscious victim. In a way, she was thankful she had remained drugged.
Clark! She'd distinctly remembered hearing Clark's voice last night. The whole night was still fuzzy in her brain, but the memory of hearing his voice was indelibly imprinted in her mind. It couldn't have been her imagination.
She had to get a hold of Clark. He could help her, assuming he'd still want to have anything to do with her, she thought sadly. The last time she'd talked to him had been the biggest argument they'd ever had. That had been before she had gone to Paris with Lex. And now, if Clark had really been there last night in the hotel suite, he must certainly know that she had married Lex. There would be no way for him to know that the marriage hadn't been voluntary on her part. That could explain why he had left her in Lex's suite.
But even if Clark would help her, how could she possibly find him? Clark was Superman. He could be in Metropolis or anywhere else in the world, even if he had been in Las Vegas last night. She had to try, though. He was the only person in the world who could help her. If she failed to find him...
She shuddered to think what her life would be if she couldn't find him or if Lex found her first.
*****
"Where is she!" Lex paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, angrily muttering to himself while his two guards assigned to the hotel suite by Mrs. Cox seemed to find gazing at the floor more interesting than facing him.
Lex couldn't believe his horrible run of bad luck, something that seemed to only happen when Lois Lane or Superman were involved. He cursed the hapless Luxor employee who had appeared at his door, allowing Kent to escape. Otherwise, Superman would be dead by now. He cursed the drug that had robbed him of his marital rewards last night and again this morning. Staying up late attempting to wake Lois from her drugged state and failing had apparently cost him since Lois had vanished when he had finally woken up at the ridiculously late hour of 9 AM.
"I don't know, Mr. Luthor," offered one of the guards. "We were watching the whole time, but nobody came in or out, as per your orders, sir."
"Obviously, you were too incompetent for such a simple job. Get out of here, both of you. I want you to look for her in case she's still in the city. Find her or else..." He left the thought unfinished.
The two guards looked at one another, frightened, and stumbled over each other on the way out of the suite.
It was obvious to Lex that he had been far too lenient. It was time he dealt with Superman once and for all. He would take care of Lois later. He didn't have the manpower immediately available to take care of both of them at the same time. Though once Superman was out of the way, there was no way Lois could escape from him no matter where she went. And when back in his possession, she would learn obedience. But first things first. He patted the large lump in his jacket pocket and drew comfort from its presence.
First, he made a mental note to have his incompetent guards eliminated. He needed to set an example that failure would not be tolerated. Second, he would get Nigel to start an immediate search for his wayward wife. Then pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he made a quick phone call to his plane. As soon as the pilot answered the phone, Lex barked out his orders.
"I want the plane ready to go in twenty minutes. File the flight plan for Wichita, Kansas. I'll be there shortly. Inform Mrs. Cox to join us at the plane and to not be late. We'll be leaving as soon as I arrive."
After hanging up, Lex smiled as he thought of what was to come. This would be a very interesting trip. He looked forward to seeing Smallville, Kansas, the home of Martha and Jonathan Kent.
*****
"Perry? It's Lois. Thank goodness I found you."
"Lois! Where in the name of Graceland are you?"
"It's a long story..."
Lois gave him a quick summary of everything that had happened to her, finishing with, "I'm in Las Vegas right now. Could you advance me some money? Enough to get me to Metropolis on the next flight out?"
"Sure, darlin'. I'll wire it right away."
After giving Perry the information for where to send the money and thanking him, Lois hung up the phone and sat down heavily on the bench next to the Western Union desk. Listening to the steady clink, clink of coins dropping into slot machine trays, she pondered her next move while waiting for the wire transfer.
Being Las Vegas, fortunately it was fairly simple to get money even without having credit cards or checks. Since Western Unions existed in just about every hotel in Las Vegas, it had been a simple matter of calling Perry collect and asking him to wire her money at the Aladdin. This was the furthest she could get from the Luxor quickly that was within short walking distance. She definitely didn't want to get caught by Lex's men out on the street.
Once she got the money, she'd have to get to the airport but she'd have to be very careful. The airport was likely the first place Lex would look for her. Even if she did escape to Metropolis, what would she do then? The law likely couldn't help her, especially since she was now married to the man who was after her, and she had no real evidence her husband was a criminal. Perry was in Florida. Her parents were out of the question.
Again, she concluded that the only one who could possibly help her was Clark. Through thick and thin, Clark had been the only one who had always stuck by her. His being Superman didn't hurt, either, she acknowledged with reluctance. Only Superman could possibly help her against someone as powerful as Lex Luthor.
<Oh, Clark!>
She had hurt him badly, she finally admitted to herself. First, Lois had rejected Clark in favor of his alter ego. That had hurt him terribly. The look on his face that day still haunted her. Now she knew the bitter truth, and it had come far too late for her. Both of the men in her life had hidden their true selves from her, and in both cases, she had been completely blind. How could someone who was the best investigative reporter in Metropolis have failed to see behind the masks her best friend and her husband <gulp> had used to hide themselves?
She had rejected the finest man in the world and the man she had finally come to know she loved in return for the most evil man in the world. Now she was trapped.
Mrs. Lex Luthor.
Even the name sent chills through her. Her only chance was to hide from Lex. If Lex succeeded in catching her, she was well aware that she would be a prisoner. Once in Lex's clutches, no one in authority could help her now that she was chained to him by marriage. That meant going back to Metropolis wasn't possible. Returning there would be like going into the lion's den. And it was likely Clark wasn't even in the city. He had never returned to LNN since the day after Lois had left for Paris. So where could he be?
Of course! Since she couldn't go to Metropolis, the logical place to go would be to Smallville. While there was no guarantee Clark was in Smallville, the Kents would surely know how to contact him. Or Clark would contact his parents at some point. Hopefully, he would still be in a mood to talk to her. While she wouldn't blame him if he refused to ever have anything to do with her again, Lois was left with no alternative. Clark would help her. He just had to!
Calling Perry back, she gave him an update on her plans to go to Smallville. Perry promised to wire her additional money just in case any emergencies cropped up. Thanking him, Lois promised to return the money as soon as possible.
Now her attention turned to how to escape from the airport without being detected. Since she knew Lex would be flying out of the Executive Air Terminal at McCarran Airport where the private jets were located, there was less of a likelihood she would run into him in the main terminals.
But if Lex was actively hunting for her, and she knew he would be, then she needed a disguise. This was Las Vegas. How hard could it be to disguise oneself inconspicuously in a city where everyone looked weird and out of place? With brief amusement, she imagined herself dressed as a female Elvis impersonator. Hmm...
*****
"So, the Kents are at their neighbors?" asked Lex. He sat in the back seat of the limousine that had awaited them at the Wichita airport, puffing on a Cohiba while lazily staring out the windows at the non-changing scenery.
"Yes. According to Nigel's spy you ordered three days ago, they packed a few bags yesterday and went to the home of Wayne Irig," replied Mrs. Cox. "I wish I understood why we are here in Kansas, though."
"I'm surprised at you. It's well known that Superman is a good friend to Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Right now, we need a hostage or two to bring Superman back to us. Since your incompetence has temporarily taken Lois away from me at the moment, we need to use Kent's parents as leverage since you can't seem to locate Kent."
The reproach in Lex's voice was obvious, and Mrs. Cox did well to look ashamed in Lex's opinion. But any more failures on her part wouldn't save her from his wrath despite her ample talents in other areas, he thought, looking at her lasciviously. Speaking of those talents, he was feeling incredibly frustrated. He was supposed to be on his honeymoon, and since Lois had been inconsiderate enough to deny him his just due... they still had half an hour before reaching Smallville. His hand reached for the privacy screen button.
*****
Clark awoke to the deafening sound of a radio alarm clock. Still somewhat groggy with sleep, he reached over to the clock on his nightstand and slammed his hand down to turn off the infernal noise.
<Why are alarm clocks in motels always set to heavy metal stations?>
He came instantly awake when his hand smashed clear through the nightstand. And the noise hadn't stopped.
With slow realization, Clark concentrated momentarily to shut off his hearing. The noise stopped instantly. His powers were back! Apparently it hadn't been his radio at all, but that of a neighboring motel room. As a quick test, he floated himself a few inches off the floor. Wincing slightly at the damage he had caused to the nightstand, he wrote a brief note asking the motel to send him a bill for damages.
Taking a look at his watch, he was shocked to find that it was already past 2:00 in the afternoon, Las Vegas time. The Kryptonite had taken quite a bit out of him for him to sleep for so long. For now, he had to get to Kansas to move his parents to safety before it was too late.
He thought momentarily of Lois, but shoved his thoughts of her to the back of his mind. Lois was out of his life forever so he had to stop thinking about her, if for no other reason than to keep his sanity. There would be time later for contemplating his losses. Quickly performing a video checkout of his room, Clark spun into his suit, grabbed the lead apron, and exited the motel room at a speed too fast for the naked eye to see.
*****
tbc...
