What A Husband Should Be...
Previously...from part 12
By the end of the day, Lois was tired and needing pain medicines. Dr. Hito had come by and said that they would cast the femur where the external fixator was on Tuesday morning and hopefully Lois could be discharged from the hospital by the weekend. It was the best news that Clark had heard all day.
Clark decided to go back to the hotel for a while, but assured Lois that he would be back later that night. She’d asked him to bring her back some good Japanese food. Clark promised her that he would.
Clark kissed Lois’ cheek and left.
And now...
What A Husband Should Be 13/?
Continued
Tuesday, in Metropolis, Lex Luthor had been arrested and his bond hearing would be this morning. Perry was at the court house to represent the Daily Planet since his two best reporters were…not available. And besides, this was personal now. He wanted to see for himself that Lex Luthor was put away for what he had done to Lois and Clark.
“Case number 00666, The City of Metropolis versus Lex Luthor. The charges are extortion, murder, conspiracy to murder, accessory to murder, blackmail, multiple counts of each charge, plus more charges too numerous to mention. Mr. Robinette, what does the prosecution have to say?“ The judge started.
“Your honour, Mr. Luthor is a very rich and powerful man with lots of resources…means of terrorizing people, means of escaping. The people request that bail be denied and any communication with the outside be limited to his attorney. The people believe that Mr. Luthor’s empire is massive enough that he could, from behind bars inflict more terror than we could prepare for.”
“Your honour, Mr. Robinette is obviously influenced by the media and is therefore being unreasonable. My client is an upstanding citizen, philanthropist, and would never evade the law. And furthermore, Mr. Luthor is innocent of these accusations…” Mr. Bender started.
“Mr. Bender this is not a trial, just a bond hearing, so get on with it,” her honour urged.
“Yes, ma’ am. I am requesting that my client be released on his own recognizance,” continued Bender.
“Bail is set at one hundred million dollars and Mr. Luthor has to surrender all passports. Trial is set for two weeks from now,” Her honour finished with the doink-doink of her gavel. “Next case…number 00667...”
“It’s okay Lex. I know that seems like a lot but that means ten million will get you out until your trial…”
“Bender, I don’t give a damn. The money is not the issue. I have billions. Your sorry *** was supposed to get me out of this…” Lex grated out in anger.
“Lex…Lex…please…I will. I need to get your passports, before you can go. Please…or they‘ll lock you up and destroy all credibility,” Bender pleaded, as if he‘d been intimidated by Lex‘s tort.
“They’re in my office. But understand…I want them back after this is all done…” Lex snarled at Bender with his nose almost touching his. Bender could feel the spit droplets as Lex laid down his demands.
“Loud and clear,” Bender replied.
Perry White sat watching and listening to this circus. He could not believe that Bender had the cohunes to make such a request. And he couldn’t believe that the judge had set such a high bail. But then again this was pennies to Luthor. Luthor was going to be free until his trial and that was too much time.
Lex Luthor and Sheldon Bender walked towards the exit of the court room. As they passed where Perry was sitting, Luthor gave a snide grin and whispered to Perry, “Lex Luthor will not live in a cage!”
Perry watched Luthor and Bender then exit and he exited the courtroom shortly after. He would write this story and follow the trial until Lois and Clark returned. This one was too personal to pass off to anyone else.
Perry was headed to the Daily Planet. He would call Clark and fill him in on what just happened. Perry thought to himself, <It’s 1030 here so it’s 0030 in Tokyo. Maybe Kent is still up.>
Lex had the bail money wired to the courthouse and then separated from his lawyer to his waiting limousine. His passports had been delivered to his lawyer by a currier. Lex realized that he had a lot of work to do in such a short time. Nigel was dead and Ms. Cox was in jail. His next best choice for plan C was to locate Nigel’s contact in Tokyo. Lex pulled out his cell phone and dialed an international number.
“Tanaka…plan C,” Lex instructed when he heard the hello on the answering end of the phone.
“Affirmative.” Then there was a dial tone.
Lex instructed his driver to head to the Metropolis International Airport. He made another call to his pilot, to have his Gulfstream roaring when he arrived in a few minutes. The destination would be given once they were airbourne. The justice system was so…blind. Any smart businessman had more than one set of passports, and right now, the only country that he needed to get into and out of in a hurry was Japan, specifically Tokyo, Lex thought to himself.
Twenty minutes later Lex’s Gulfstream was leaving the runway of Metropolis International Airport. Once airbourne, he instructed the pilot, simply…”Tokyo.”
The pilot responded, “Yes sir, Mr. Luthor.”
Back at the Planet, Perry couldn’t get to the phone fast enough.
“Hello…Kent? Perry White, listen sorry to wake you. I know it’s late there, but, Luthor is out on bail until his trial. He had a bail of one hundred million dollars, which the bond was posted, wired to the courthouse in a matter of minutes. They revoked his passports but, something’s not right. I’m still not comfortable with this. I don’t know if he’ll try anything else or not…He may try to get there, just watch your back…You’re welcome son…How’s Lois?…Good, good. She’s a fighter. Listen, Kent, when you two get back to Metropolis, I want you to take a vacation…a honeymoon, because God knows you deserve it…Now Kent I know what you said about your getting married, but trust me, she’ll want a honeymoon…Kent, that gal loves you. She’s just the only one who doesn’t see it yet…okay, give her my love…Goodnight.”
Lois would have her femur permanently rodded and casted in the morning at 0700. Between that and Perry’s phone call, Clark couldn’t get back to sleep. When Clark hung up from Perry it was 0105. Clark was pretty sure that Luthor was up to something. But, he knew he had to get some rest to be there for Lois in the morning. She was recovering so well. They had had such a good time earlier after he had come back to her with some Japanese takeout. Lois was so animated when she was hungry and there was good food nearby. But then she could not have anything to eat or drink after midnight to prepare for her early AM surgery.
Clark arrived back at the hospital at 0600. He related to Lois what Perry had told him the night before. He assured Lois that she was safe and that Perry would keep them informed. Lois still seemed a bit nervous, but Clark related that mostly to her going back to surgery. Clark sat in the chair next to Lois’ bed holding her hand until the surgical team would come to get her.
“Lois, honey, you okay?” Clark asked, concerned.
“Yea, I’m okay,” Lois replied calmly.
“You know that I love you right?“ Clark inquired. “I’ll be right here when you come out of surgery. Just come back to me.” Clark brought her hand up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her palm.
“Clark, if there is one thing that I know, it’s that you love me. If ever I had any doubts, they’re gone now. You know, I got a look at myself in the mirror this morning and I am a mess. I’m missing a patch of hair,” Lois started, pointing to her head where her craniotomy was done. “My face has scrapes all over it and I have little stitches like Frankenstein. I have broken bones, I cannot walk, I haven’t had a decent bath since…” Lois rambled as her voice started to quiver. “How could you love me like this, especially after I hurt you? You deserve so much…”
“Shhh, Lois. It’s okay,” Clark whispered as he gently held Lois hugged to his chest. He had to use caution when hugging her because she still had broken ribs. “I love you for you. I’ve been in love with you since I met you. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Your hair will grow back, your scratches will heal, your bones will go back together.”
“I know, but…”
“But…just come back to me. We’ve got a lot of…stories…to write,” Clark redirected his sentence from a what his original thoughts were. He wanted to tell her that they had a life to start as husband and wife and children t have, amongst a few things. But he didn’t want to spook her. He had a promise to keep.
“Mrs. Kent, time to go,” a nurse’s voice stated in the background. “It’s six forty five.”
Lois raised her head from Clark’s chest. She looked up into Clark’s eyes with tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” Lois simply stated as she kissed Clark on the cheek.
Clark touched Lois’ cheek lightly and simply stated, “I love you, honey.” He continued to hold onto her hand, but slowly let it go as the OR nurse and the anaesthesiologist rolled off with Lois.
Clark followed direction to the OR waiting room so that he could be with Lois in recovery. There he was lost again.
At 0800, Lex Luthor landed in Tokyo. He had a limousine driver take him to the Tokyo Trauma Center where plan C was to be launched.
At 0930, the orthopaedic surgeon came to the waiting room for Clark.
“Mr. Kent…”
“Yes,” Clark responded as he stood.
“Mrs. Kent did well. We pinned her leg back together with plates and screws and put a cast on. We wont have to do anymore surgery at this point. The hardware I stainless steel and we just usually leave it in, unless it causes her discomfort. She’s extubated in recovery and you…”
“Dr. Nakamoto! Mrs. Kent…she arrested…” the nurse yelled frantically.
“I thought you said…I need to see my wife, please!” Clark pleaded.
Out the corner of his eye, Clark noticed a ’physician’ run by headed towards the exit wearing scrubs and a whit lab coat, like the rest of the physicians. Dr. Nakamoto ran to recovery and Clark ran after the fleeing doctor. He just had a feeling that he needed to get a hold of the runner.
Almost at the exit, Clark grabbed the fleeing physician by the coat and tackled him to the floor. When bystanders noticed Clark running after the guy, they started to become aware that something was going on.
“Who the hell are you?” Clark yelled at the runner as he held him up by his neck. Clark’s powers had not yet shown any sign of returning but love and adrenalin gave him the strength of a hundred horses. “What did you do to my wife?” A young resident standing by noticed the blood drain from the runner’s face and started to intervene. “Sir, you have to release him. You’re going to kill him…please.”
Reality seemed to settle in Clark and he released his grip on the runner. The guy slid from Clark’s grip to the floor. Clark got down on his knees in the guy’s face, his rage still very evident.
“Who are you?” Clark demanded.
Just then Dr. Nakamoto came down the hall to Clark. Security had arrived at the scene as well as the Tokyo police.
“Mr. Kent, Mrs. Kent is…”
“Who is this guy? What did he do to Lois?”
“Mrs. Kent is okay now. We’ll explain what happened in just a minute. Constable, arrest this man. He tried to kill one of my patients,” Dr. Nakamoto instructed.
“No…it wasn’t my idea. The man outside in the limousine…he…” the runner stated.
“What’s your name?” the constable asked.
“Lin Tanaka. Mr. Luthor…”
Just then Clark noticed a black limousine start to pull off from the front entrance of the hospital.
“Luthor…he’s leaving. He tried to kill my wife before…”
“Mr. Kent, we’ll get him. We just got a call from an Inspector Henderson in Metropolis that he has a trial coming up and to be on the lookout for him. Apparently Henderson had been tailing him, but did not have the resources to stop him at the time. By the time he had warned us to be on the lookout for him, he had already landed and was probably here at the hospital,” the Tokyo police assured Clark. “Mr. Kent, just go be with your wife. We’ve got this under control.”
“Pop…pop…pop,” sounded outside. Clark, Dr. Nakamoto, the police and hospital security went to the door. The tires of the limousine had been blown out and the police had surrounded the limo just at the hospital’s entrance from the street. Then some policemen pulled the driver then Lex Luthor from the car. The driver was placed in the back of the police car in handcuffs. The door stayed ajar. Luthor was still standing there, with that cheshire cat grin, trying to buy off the police with smooth talk. Clark couldn’t resist. His anger and rage made him start toward the scene. He wanted to look Luthor in the eyes and tell him…well, he didn’t know what he would say. If only he could get his hands on him. The good thing about Tokyo is that these people weren’t on Luthor’s payroll so they didn’t owe him any favors. As he approached the scene, the police was warning him away.
Luthor took the opportunity when one of the policemen turned to warn Clark away, to go after his gun. The policeman reached to stop Luthor from obtaining control of his gun but was too slow. Lex stood with the policeman’s gun aimed at his own head and smiled as he started to talk.
“It’s a pity that it has to end this way, but Lex Luthor…WILL NOT…LIVE IN A CAGE!” Luthor yelled as he aimed the gun at the driver and shot him, once in the ear. The driver slumped over in the seat of the police car, immediately lifeless.
The police open fired on Lex Luthor, which was in a sinister way, what he wanted. As the police inside of the hospital made their way out with their prisoner, Lin Tanaka, Lex managed to get off one last shot, to Tanaka’s chest. Tanaka fell to the ground, lifeless, like a rag doll. Lex, then, shot by the police multiple times fell chest down to the ground with his face turned to his right side, and smiled as life escaped his body leaving his eyes open. The medical staff ran out to try to save him and Tanaka but it was all done.
Clark stood there for what seemed like forever with his mouth agape for what seemed lie a lifetime. He was startled out of his daze by the recovery room nurse coming out and tapping him on the shoulder.
“Mr. Kent, Mrs. Kent is asking for you.”
“Okay…” Clark responded softly as he followed the nurse back in to the recovery room.
On the way inside the recovery room nurse related to Clark that Lois had come out of surgery and was doing well until this ’unknown doctor,’ now known as Tanaka, approached her bedside. “He stood there, by her bed, for a few minutes talking to her. Lois was awake but drowsy. As he talked to her, he injected her IV with what was later found to be succinylcholine, a paralyzing agent used with anaesthesia and pentathol which is the sleep inducing agent for general anaesthesia. He ran out so quickly that he dropped the syringes on the floor instead of in the needle box. The needle box had just been emptied. If Mrs. Kent had not been with us, monitored…“ the nurse dropped off without finishing that thought. Clark could read her inference. “We gave her those drugs for surgery, so they would have been otherwise hard to trace and figure out what happened if we had not been in this setting. The difference when those drugs are used during surgery is that we stick a breathing tube down to breathe for the patient,” the nurse related.
“Oh, God, she was suffocating?”
“Well, sort of, except she was asleep and didn’t know it. I’m sorry Mr. Kent, that it happened, but, she’s okay now,” the nurse said sincerely. “Right over there…”
“Thank you.” Clark responded to the nurse. “Lois, honey, …” Clark whispered as he held Lois’ hand and tears started to fall down his cheeks.
tbc…
