Halloween: 5/?
by Nan Smith
Leaving the building hadn't been all that difficult after the initial hurdle was surmounted. She had boarded the elevator a few minutes later with only two other people: a secretary, who had apparently stayed late to finish her work, and a maintenance man. The car made several stops on the way down the hundred-plus story structure and at last came to a stop. Many of the people who had collected in it during its trip flooded outward and past the security man standing by the doors. Lois exited with the crowd and a moment later was standing on the sidewalk outside Lex Tower.
The sun had long since set, but the streets were well lit in this section of town. Lois walked briskly away from the Tower. When Lex's people discovered that she was gone -- and that might not be until morning -- she didn't want them to be able to discover which taxi she had taken, where she had gone, or when.
The buses were still running. Ahead of her, a bus drew up at a corner bus stop and for a moment she considered the wisdom of boarding it but ultimately decided against it. She looked too much like Lois Luthor right now. She needed a place to change her clothing and hairstyle before she risked walking into a closed environment such as a bus.
There was a gas station four blocks away, at the edge of the business district. She started determinedly toward it.
Walking four blocks in heels wasn't comfortable, but she was pretty much inured to it. She was limping slightly by the time she got there, but once at her destination, headed directly for the ladies' room.
The door was locked. Well, that had never stopped her before, and the same objection to getting on a bus applied to talking to the station attendant. She removed the hair clips from the pocket of her jacket and proceeded to pick the lock. Fortunately, the restrooms were on one side of the building in a darkened area, so no one was likely to notice her presence.
And they didn't. Lois slipped inside. Ten minutes later, an entirely different woman emerged from the restroom. This one was dressed in jeans, black tennis shoes and a tan, long-sleeved shirt with the light jacket, worn open, over it. Her dark hair was done up in a swinging ponytail with the sunglasses perched on top of her head, and she wore almost no makeup. The business suit now occupied the bag. Leaving it around for Lex's people to find wasn't part of her plan.
This time when she found a bus stop, she waited, seated on the bench, until the downtown bus rumbled up to the curb, and then boarded with two other people. There were, as might be expected, no seats, so she stood, hanging onto a strap until they reached an area near a middle-class residential neighborhood. Lois left the bus and glanced around.
The neighborhood was mostly quiet except for a car with a pizza delivery sign atop its roof, advertising the Pizza Cabin, that was pulled up by the curb a short distance away, the motor still running. The delivery boy was just headed up a sidewalk toward a lighted front porch, several large, flat boxes in his hands. Lois hurried to the car, reached inside the driver's open window and unlocked the back door. An instant later, she was huddled on the floor behind the driver's seat, making herself as small as she could. Hopefully with her dark jeans, dark hair and the dark jacket, she wouldn't be noticed.
Silence. Lois stayed where she was, trying to breathe quietly.
The driver's door opened, the car lurched as the driver jumped into his seat and the door slammed. The car squealed away from the curb. Lois closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as the vehicle made a U-turn in the middle of the street, swaying wildly. The shocks must be pretty bad off, she thought, from the way the car bounded as it went over a depression in the street. She dared to reach up to grasp the safety handle and hung on.
The engine rumbled unevenly; Lois thought the muffler probably needed to be replaced. She stayed hunkered down, clenching her jaw to keep from crying out as they swung around a corner and the driver slammed on his brakes.
The door opened and the driver jumped out. Lois raised her head far enough to peek through the glass to see the man trotting up the walk toward an apartment complex, a stack of pizza boxes in his hands and a couple of bottles of soda tucked under one arm.
A pair of headlights was coming toward her, and Lois caught the glint of the streetlights off the lights, now unlit, across the roof of the car. She ducked down, hoping that the police officers in the squad car hadn't seen her.
Several minutes passed and the driver's door opened again. The delivery driver dropped into the seat and once more the door slammed. Lois held her breath as the car pulled away from the curb and rocketed forward again, the body of the vehicle swaying precariously as it rounded the corner fast enough to make the tires squeal in distress.
Twice more the car stopped and the driver repeated his routine. Then there was a long period of time with no stops, and at last the car pulled into a parking space. The engine died.
Lois didn't move, scrunched into a ball on the car floor, waiting. The door opened, the driver got out and the door slammed. Lois heard the click of a key in the lock. And then, nothing.
After counting silently to five hundred, she cautiously unfolded her body from its scrunch on the floor and peeked through the window.
The car was parked in a dimly lit lot behind a brick building. With trembling hands, she pushed up the door lock, opened the door and got out.
The smell of pizza filled the air around her. This must be the local Pizza Cabin, where the delivery driver had come from. Lois walked away from the car, keeping to the more dimly lit areas of the lot until she reached the sidewalk; then she took a deep breath, straightened up and stepped boldly out onto the walk.
A crowd of giggling teenagers was entering the glass doors on one side of the building, and above the door a lighted sign announced "Pizza Cabin." Lois made her way past them to the corner. The street sign informed her that she was at the corner of Flag and Piccolo. She felt a wave of relief. Clinton Street was only two blocks away. Without hesitation, now, she turned south and began to walk. With luck, Clark was home, and right now she would put up with any amount of anger, however misplaced, just to see his face and get some help.
The trip to Clinton Street was uneventful, but as she approached the short, narrow street where her partner -- at least in her own world -- lived, she slowed her steps, looking cautiously around. The conversation she had heard last night while she stood outside Lex's office came to mind. Lex could very well have someone watching Clark if he intended to have him killed. With a carefully unconcerned manner, she strolled down the walk in front of Clark's place, glancing around as she reached the steps that led up to his apartment.
She didn't see anyone, but the sensation that someone was watching wouldn't quite go away. An investigative reporter tended to trust her instincts, so Lois continued on past the apartment building, turned the corner and walked steadily until she had passed into the shelter of another of the old buildings that lined these streets.
Once out of the sight of anyone that might be keeping an eye on Clark's apartment, she hurried to the building and flattened herself against it. Slowly and cautiously, she peeked one eye around the corner.
A single street light illuminated the sidewalk in front of Clark's place. What she expected to see she wasn't sure, but Lois waited with the patience that she was able to employ as an investigative reporter, although it was entirely foreign to her in her personal life. If someone was watching Clark's apartment besides her, anyway, sooner or later she would spot him.
What was that across the street? The building that faced Clark's door was mostly a blank, windowless wall on this side, but there was a narrow alley that opened between that structure and a second one very close to it. The street seemed quiet. Now and then a single figure would cut down the short, narrow street that styled itself Clinton Avenue, but otherwise the area was deserted.
If she hadn't been looking, she wouldn't have caught the flare of a match in the dark alleyway. It was only visible for a second, quickly shielded by someone's hand, but for an instant she caught the glimpse of a man's face as he held the match close to light his cigarette. The match went out, but now that she was watching, she could see the faint glow from the tip of the cigarette as the man in the alley smoked it. She watched, hoping that her imagination was working overtime and that the guy was simply a passerby who had stopped to light his cigarette. Or maybe, she thought, the place was an apartment house, and the man had only stepped outside to smoke. Maybe he had a wife that wouldn't let him smoke in the house.
After a time, there was a tiny shower of sparks and the cigarette was dropped to the ground. A moment later she saw the muted flare of another match. The movement of the cigarette tip resumed.
Well, that pretty much was that. The guy was stationed across the street watching Clark's apartment. *Now* what was she going to do?
A familiar figure was coming down the walk. She could have recognized that tall, muscular silhouette and jaunty walk anywhere, even before the single streetlight glinted off the lenses of a pair of glasses, and then revealed the brilliant swirls of red, gold and black on what Clark Kent fancifully called a tie. Lois stifled the urge to call out a warning that would have revealed to the watcher that Lois Luthor was here to see her partner.
Two dark shapes detached themselves from the dark of the alley and darted across the street toward Clark. She almost cried out when she saw the knives in their hands, and then she was running toward her partner, unable to stop herself, as he turned to confront the two men.
The two assailants were coming at him from the right and the left, and Clark crouched, obviously ready to defend himself, but what were the odds that he could handle two armed men with his bare hands? The first man was coming at him with the knife held at waist level, slashing for Clark's midriff. Her partner dodged it in a motion so swift that Lois almost couldn't believe what she had seen. Either the Clark of this world had studied fighting techniques on his own, or Clark hadn't told her everything about himself. Then there was no more time to think as Lois catapulted past Clark, head-on into the second attacker.
At the last second the man saw her coming and tried to dodge, but it was too late. They crashed to the sidewalk and Lois hit the ground, rolled sideways and came to her feet again, all in one motion. Marginally, she was aware of Clark and the first assailant jockeying for position behind and to her left, but her attention was now on the man scrambling ungracefully to his feet.
Letting him get his bearings probably wasn't a good idea. Lois kicked him in the face, feeling the hot-ice slash of the knife against her ankle as she did so. The attacker went down again and she kicked him in the side with all her strength.
Blood spattered, and the breath went out of her opponent with a whoosh. Then, somehow, Clark was bending over the second knife-wielder and removing the weapon from his grasp. The first man was on the ground, and now Clark glanced at Lois.
"You're hurt!" he said.
"They're going to get away," Lois managed, her voice no more than a breathy whisper. The two assailants were staggering to their feet. Clark turned back to the men.
"Get out of here," he said.
He didn't have to speak twice. The two men ran.
Her ankle hurt. Only now did the fact really register, and Lois looked down to see that the knife had caught her across the side of her ankle and that the cut was bleeding freely. "Ouch," she said faintly.
Clark was hustling her up the steps of his apartment and before she realized it she was seated on his sofa, the cut ankle resting on the old leather ottoman. Clark had disappeared, but an instant later he was back, a towel in his hands. He folded it expertly and pressed it to the cut.
"Just a minute," he said. "Can you put pressure on this?"
Numbly, she nodded. He had disappeared again, she thought, and then she realized that he was pulling curtains across the window that led to the balcony.
Then he returned again and took the towel from her hands, moving it aside to examine the cut.
"Clark," she began.
He shook his head. "Lie down a minute," he said. "On your face. I'm going to get my first aid kit and take care of that. Then we can talk."
"Clark," she whispered. "Lex tried to have you killed."
"I know," he said. "Mortie gave me your message."
Her stomach was definitely feeling uneasy. She rested her forehead on her arm, aware of movement behind her. Then Clark's fingers touched her ankle. "It's kind of deep. This is going to sting a little."
"It's not that mixture you used on Lex that night at the Planet, is it?"
"No." She was almost certain that she could hear a smile in his voice. "I'm afraid I made that sting a little more than necessary. Hold still, now."
If Lex's wound had stung more than necessary, then Clark had been more vindictive that she'd thought he was capable of being, she was thinking a minute later. Then suddenly a sensation of cold enveloped the wound and the pain abated. She tried to twist around to see what he was doing.
"No, hold still. I'm bandaging it up," Clark's voice said. She was aware of his fingers touching her ankle very gently. "Almost done. There." Clark laid her ankle down on the couch. "You can sit up now."
She rolled carefully over and pushed herself into a sitting position. Clark was putting a roll of gauze and another of adhesive tape back into a small, canvas case.
"Where did you get that?" Lois asked.
"This?" Clark snapped the case closed. "I bought it from some Boy Scouts a few months ago." He laid the little case aside. "When Mortie told me you'd called this afternoon, I could hardly believe it. I haven't seen you since the day of your wedding."
"I can't stay," she said. "Not here, anyway. As soon as they realize I've left the penthouse, they're going to be looking for me and the first place they'll look is here. Clark, everything you said about Lex was true, and I'm so sorry I didn't listen."
"How did you find out?"
Lois shrugged. "That's another story -- a pretty unbelievable one. Something crazy has happened, and I need help."
"What kind of help?"
"I need to find someone. There's a good chance she has the evidence that will incriminate Lex. If not, I can at least tell you where to look for evidence."
"Who is she?" Clark asked.
Lois found that she was clasping her hands tightly in her lap. "You'll never believe me. I almost don't believe it myself. Can you trust me enough not to ask -- and if I find her, I can tell you the whole story, and have the evidence to prove it. And then I'll need more help."
"If you betray Luthor, he'll be after you," Clark said. "You'll be a target."
"I know," Lois said quietly. "On the other hand, if I don't, he'll have destroyed everything I cared about, without having to pay a nickel." She hesitated. "What happened to Jimmy, Clark? Is he still alive?"
Clark hesitated. "Yes," he said finally. "There was an attempt on his life a few weeks ago and Superman helped him leave the country. To relocate without leaving any tracks."
"How about Perry?"
"As far as I know, he's living retired in Florida. I think he's safe enough as long as he doesn't try to contact you."
"Jack?"
"He escaped from the juvenile facility when --"
"When he found out someone had been sent there to kill him," Lois said. "Thank god. I was afraid that this time Lex might have succeeded."
"This time?" Clark asked.
"I'll explain later. Have you warned Superman? Lex was talking to that assistant of his last night -- Mrs. Cox. He still has the Kryptonite cage and he plans to use me to lure Superman in. He intends to chain him in the cage so he can't get away this time. He has to stay away from Lex, no matter what kind of excuse Lex uses to get him to --"
"Lois," Clark said slowly. "How did you know about the Kryptonite cage? Superman never told anyone about it."
Lois closed her lips tightly together. "I can't tell you," she said. "You wouldn't believe me, and you'd think I'm crazy. The only way I can prove to you that my story is true is if I can find this...person."
"Why can't you tell me?" he asked. "We used to trust each other."
She bit her lip, feeling the tears that she had refused to shed up until now begin to leak from her eyes. "It's not a matter of trust, Clark. If there's anybody I trust in the whole world, it's you -- you and Superman. He was so completely right that night -- the night I asked you to get in touch with him for me. I know why he was angry with me, now. He knew what Lex was, just like you did. If only I'd believed you --" She clenched her hands together tightly. "If I'd listened to you, none of this would have happened. I was so scared when I found out, last night, what he planned. He has people watching me every minute when I leave the penthouse. My jewelry is bugged, he monitors my computer -- I was so afraid he'd manage to kill you before I could warn you about it."
"But you managed."
"Yes, but you should have seen what I had to do to get away! I got away tonight, too -- but now I can't go back. I have to find her. It's the only chance I have."
"*Who* do you have to find?" he asked. "I'll help you if I can; I promise. I can probably get Superman to help you, too, if you'll just tell me who we're looking for." He reached out and cautiously took her hands. "Remember what I told you after Dr. Baines held us hostage in that warehouse? You *can* trust me."
"Oh, I know," Lois said. "It's not a question of trust. If you think I'm insane, it doesn't matter if I trust you."
"Why don't you tell me anyhow? Then we'll know. Who are you looking for?"
Lois closed her eyes. She was so very tired of trying to handle this mess all by herself. "All right, but I want you to swear that even if you think I'm completely insane, you'll go along anyhow, at least until I've had a chance to prove that what I'm saying is true."
"That's asking a lot," Clark said.
"If you don't promise, I can't tell you," she said. "Those are the terms."
"All right then, I promise."
"Cross your heart and hope to die?"
"Cross my heart."
"Scout's honor?"
"Scout's honor," Clark said. "Come on, Lois; it can't be that bad."
"Yes, it can."
"So, who are we looking for?"
Lois took a deep breath. "Me."
Clark stared at her. "What do you mean, 'you'?"
"That's why I said you'd think I was crazy," Lois said, miserably. "No one is going to believe this story."
"I'm not saying that," Clark said, frowning. "I just want to know what you mean." He studied her thoughtfully. "Lois, I know this seems irrelevant, but does your knowing about the Kryptonite cage have anything to do with this?"
She nodded. "Yes, it does. Everything does."
"Why don't you explain a little more?"
"I'll try," Lois said. "I'm not completely sure I understand what happened, myself. All I've got are some guesses -- and one email."
"Just start at the beginning," Clark said. "I'll just listen, okay?"
Lois drew a deep, nervous breath. "Okay. It all started on Halloween...."
She began to talk, and Clark listened, obviously taking in every word. Several times he frowned, as if he was trying to understand her reasoning, but oddly enough, he didn't seem disbelieving. "So *I* -- your Clark, I mean -- told you about the cage?"
Lois nodded. "He said Superman told him, and he told me about it."
"How did he say Superman got away?" Clark asked, watching her closely.
"He said Superman used his super-breath on Lex's cummerbund to move the key closer to him. Then he rammed himself against the bars of the cage to bump it toward the key until he could reach it."
"That's exactly how he got away," Clark said. "And I know there's no ordinary way you could know that. No one knew, except Superman -- and me. What happened after that?"
"Well, Clark said Lex came down before Superman got out of the basement, and he hid among the wine barrels until Lex ran out."
"That's where the story changes," Clark said. "Luthor didn't come down into the wine cellar while Superman was there. What -- what happened to Luthor -- in your world?"
"You, Perry, Jimmy and Jack worked together to gather evidence on Lex -- how he'd engineered the Daily Planet's downfall, and how he'd bombed it and blamed Jack for it," Lois said. "They took the information to Henderson, and Henderson and his men showed up at the wedding to arrest Lex. To escape being arrested, he jumped from the balcony of his office. Superman couldn't save him because the Kryptonite cage had temporarily suppressed his powers."
"So, in your...timeline," Clark said carefully, "they showed up in time to stop the wedding."
Lois shook her head. "No. When it came right down to it, I couldn't say 'I do'. I realized that I didn't love Lex, and that I --" She paused, reluctant to tell him what had been going through her head at the time, but this wasn't *her* Clark. She had nothing to lose. "That I *might* love Clark. That I'd certainly lose him as my best friend if I married Lex. So I said 'I can't' instead of 'I do'."
"I guess *my* Lois didn't say it, though," Clark said. He appeared to be looking at a spot on the rug, but his hand, where it lay on his knee, had clenched into a fist.
"I think that maybe she didn't quite have the nerve," Lois said softly. "I almost didn't. But --" She stopped. "You *believe* me?" she whispered.
"I don't see how I can't," he said, somewhat obscurely. "You know things that no one but Superman or I could have told you -- and we didn't," he added. He was looking at her oddly. "You think she -- *my* Lois -- might have wanted to refuse?"
"Probably," Lois said. "If she's anything like me, and I think she must be. It must be one of the little differences between your timeline and mine. But afterwards, you -- my Clark -- told me the truth: that he'd just been trying to save me from Lex; that he didn't love me."
"Don't be too sure of that," Clark said. "I'm not the Clark of your world, but I didn't lie to Lois about that."
"You didn't? What did you tell her?"
He hesitated. "I told her...that I'd been in love with her for a long time," he said in a low voice. "She told me she didn't feel like that about me."
"That's what I told my Clark," Lois said. "It was only at the wedding that I realized that maybe I cared more about him than I knew."
"Do you?"
"I don't know. I know he's my best friend, and that I don't want to be without him. We never had the chance to find out the rest. After the Daily Planet was re-built, we went back to the way we were. And now --" She dashed away an errant teardrop that was trying to make its way down her cheek. "Now, I'm stuck here and have no idea if I'll ever be able to get back. I've been trying to figure it out, but I don't know if I can do it on my own."
"Well," he said decisively, "you're not on your own anymore. I'll help you. But first, I think we have to find Lois. Do you have any idea where she might go?"
Lois closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The sense of relief almost made her lightheaded. She wasn't alone among enemies anymore. She had an ally.
"Lois?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
She opened her eyes and tried to smile. "Yeah. I didn't realize how scared I was. I've gotten too used to working out problems with Clark. I *do* have an idea. In her place, I'd want to hide out someplace that Lex wouldn't think of -- that he wouldn't connect with me. That's why I said I couldn't stay here. This is the first place he'll think of, and I didn't want to put you in more danger."
Clark was nodding. "I can see that, but if he really intends to kill me -- and after what happened outside, I think we can assume he does -- I can't see that it matters, except that you don't want him to find you here."
She nodded. "But," she added, "let's not make unnecessary trouble. It'll be better if he doesn't find me at all."
"I'm not arguing. So, what do you think my Lois did?"
"Well," Lois said, "I was looking through the folders on her computer and I saw one that I did the research for a few years ago, but I never wrote the story. I was careful not to do anything to draw attention to that particular folder; as a matter of fact, I went to a lot of effort to draw attention to some other stories I did. They don't know that I know how Lex was monitoring me back when I was engaged to him, so I'm pretty sure they don't realize I know they're monitoring my computer." She broke off. "Why are you grinning?"
He shook his head and his grin became wider. "You sure babble like my Lois," he said.
"I don't babble!" Lois said, a little indignantly. "It's just the way I organize my thoughts!"
She could see him fighting to erase the grin. "Right," he said. "Go on."
"Well, anyway, the story was about the Hobbs Women's Shelter. It hit me that she might have gone to it -- or to one like it -- for just a few days, to hide while he hunted for her. She couldn't know that whoever is behind this weird transfer put another Lois in her place, so that Lex doesn't even realize she's gone. In her place, I wouldn't have run like she did unless I had the evidence on him that I needed. She's probably trying to figure out how to get it to Henderson or someone else that she trusts, without getting caught."
"So, Henderson's not on Luthor's payroll?"
"Well, in my world he wasn't, but a lot of other cops were, along with a couple of the Assistant DAs and half the judges in town. Do you trust him?"
He seemed to consider for a long moment. Then, "Yeah, I trust him. If Henderson's not honest, then no one is." He got to his feet. "Let's get the phone directory and find the addresses for the women's shelters in the city. Superman can check them out for us in fifteen minutes."
**********
"It looks like there are five women's shelters in the city," Clark said.
Lois nodded and glanced at the clock on the end table. "They're all closed up for the night, now. What are we going to do?"
"We'll have to check them out," Clark said. "Superman can fly overhead and x-ray them from above. I don't think they'd let even him in at this time of night."
"I'm sure they wouldn't," Lois agreed. "Are you going to call Superman right now?"
"First," Clark said, "if you don't mind, we're going to find you a place to stay for the night. You're tired out. After you're somewhere safe, I'll get hold of Superman and he can check the shelters. If she's not in any of them, we can try something else."
The thought of simply turning the investigation over to Clark and Superman, without remaining involved herself, went against the grain, but she had to admit that he was right. She was exhausted after the events of the evening, and the cut ankle was throbbing like a sore tooth. And, besides the necessity of remaining out of sight, she didn't have anywhere near the resources that Superman could bring to bear.
Clark seemed to read her mind. "I promise if we find anything, I'll call you first thing."
She leaned back on the old sofa and closed her eyes. "You're right. But where am I going to stay?"
"I have an idea," Clark said. "Mortie was worried about you, when he talked to me. He told me that if I needed help, to call him."
"I can't stay with Mortie!"
"No, of course not, but no one is watching him."
"Oh," Lois said.
Clark reached for the telephone, tucked the receiver between his ear and shoulder and started to dial. And paused. He put the receiver down.
"What's the matter?" Lois asked.
"I don't want to risk my phone being bugged," he said. "If Luthor bugged your compact and other stuff of yours, he's probably watching me, too. He knows I'm his enemy."
Lois sat straight up. "Could he have bugged your apartment?"
Clark had risen to his feet and turned partly away from her. He removed his glasses and polished the lenses with his handkerchief before replacing them. "I don't think so," he said, turning back. "My alarm system would have triggered."
"Since when do you have an alarm system on your apartment?"
He gave her a slight smile. "Ever since Jack broke into the place last spring. Let's get out of here and head over to Mortie's. He doesn't live all that far away if you take a shortcut through the park. He can check you into a motel, so no one ever sees your face -- or mine," he added. "I think that would be best, don't you?"
"You're probably right," Lois said. "You're going to be careful, too, aren't you?"
"Of course I am," Clark said, quietly. "And as soon as I know anything, I'll tell you. If we can find Lois -- my Lois, that is -- we'll decide what to do after we know what the situation is. And we can't forget the guy you think may be behind your being here."
"I haven't," Lois said.
"Neither have I," Clark said. "We need to get you back where you belong."
"If it's possible," Lois said a little glumly.
"Hey," Clark said. "It's not like Lois Lane to give up. If someone brought you here, they can take you back."
"If we can catch him," Lois said.
"From what you say about seeing him twice, and then that email --" Clark made a face. "It sounds to me like he's having fun watching you struggle."
"It kind of seems like it," Lois agreed. "But if he's the guy I've seen three times, I've never seen him before in my life."
"Well," Clark pointed out, "he certainly knows who you are, and the email sure sounded like he was enjoying himself. My guess is that he's going to stick around as long as you keep entertaining him. If he *is* the person you've seen three times, he probably doesn't realize you've spotted him."
"Probably not," Lois said. "I hope not, anyhow."
"If you see him again, point him out to me, or Superman," Clark said. "One way or another, we'll find out."
He didn't say how, but Lois thought that this Clark seemed to have become considerably more proactive than her Clark in the months since his Lois had married Lex. Maybe he'd had to. Or maybe it was just because the woman he loved was in trouble and he was determined to help her.
Was it possible that *her* Clark, the Clark of her world, had told her a lie out of some misplaced sense of chivalry? Would he do such a thing?
Now that was a really stupid question, she told herself. Of course he would. If he thought for a moment that she might be made uncomfortable working with a partner who was in love with her, of course he'd let her off the hook. Well, if she ever got home again, she'd at least give him more of a chance. Who knew what might happen? The fact that the Clark of this timeline hadn't lied meant that it was at least a possibility, didn't it?
"Lois?" Clark asked. "Are you there?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about something," she said.
"Oh. Well, do you think you can walk on that ankle? I'd like to get you someplace safe as quickly as possible. We don't know if those two guys are going to go running to Luthor or not."
"Lex is in Zurich," Lois said. "At least, he told me that was where he was going."
"They might run to whichever subordinate it is that he told to hire them, though," Clark reminded her. "I doubt Luthor is going to do the dirty work, himself."
"Sometimes he does," Lois said. "At least, in my world, he did. It came out during the investigations after he died. I think he didn't like to leave the important details to be handled by somebody who might mess up."
"I can understand that," Clark said, thoughtfully. "I imagine Mr. Luthor has a lot to hide. No point in giving subordinates the power to blackmail him if he doesn't have to."
"Exactly," Lois said. She pushed herself out of the sofa cushions. "I guess we'd better go."
**********
tbc
