Clark allowed himself to fall just a little longer, stunned to see Lois staring at him.
All the lights in the casino went out, including the lights on the street outside. In the moment before he would have hit the ground, Clark shifted into motion sideways, and disappeared.
Figuring out an explanation was going to be the hard part.
**************
“Ando!” Hiro said. “What have you done?”
“I’ve cut the power. It will take them two minutes to get it back up again. Long enough for you to find the sword and get us out of here.”
Hiro pushed one more piece of furniture against the door and turned. In one of the boxes along the walls was the treasure he was seeking. The sword would restore his power. It had to.
*************
Lois stared down at the street. One moment Clark had been there, and the next, he’d been gone.
“Have you seen what you came to see, Ms. Lane?”
Linderman sat behind the huge desk, shrouded in darkness. On the wall behind him was a picture of a brunette woman staring out the window in horror as a body fell. It was one of the paintings by the artist Mendez, the one who had painted Superman before there had been a Superman.
The lights came back up and Lois turned to Linderman.
“This doesn’t bother you? A man falls to his death and all you do is sit in your chair?”
Most business owners would be panicking now, the threat of lawsuits and lost money fueling calls to their lawyers.
“Mr. Mendez’s abilities would seem to suggest that some things are fated.”
“You staged this,” she accused. “You knew this was going to happen and you did nothing to stop it.”
“I didn’t know anything.” Linderman said, his expression congenial. “All I did was collect a piece of eccentric art.”
“And what would have happened if I’d refused to show up?” Lois asked, still distracted by the concrete outside. Still no body. Perhaps she’d hallucinated it, or maybe one of Suresh’s mutants had made her see something that wasn’t there.
“You collect a lot of things.” Lois closed her eyes for a moment and attempted to compose herself. Clark wasn’t definitively dead. Linderman was hoping to disconcert her., get her so flustered that she didn’t ask the questions she’d come to ask.
“Some people say you collect politicians like you collect fine wines.”
“That’s a statement that sounds suspiciously like libel, Ms. Lane.” Linderman said calmly. “I’m not sure that the Daily Planet legal department has the resources to survive the consequences that would surely follow such baseless accusations.”
“The Planet isn’t in the habit of making baseless accusations.” Lois shook her head and turned to face the man. “I have witnesses who saw Nathan Petrelli here at a time when he said he was taking his brother to a treatment center. The treatment center has no record of a Peter Petrelli ever being admitted.”
“They wouldn’t tell you if he had been admitted Ms. Lane. There are laws to protect patient confidentiality.”
“So it’s a coincidence that Nathan Petrelli has been seen at two casinos owned by you?”
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. If Mr. Petrelli wanted to stop by for a game of cards after dropping his brother off, who can blame him? The campaign trail is very stressful. Sometimes it’s good for people to take a little time off.”
Lois shook her head. “In the middle of a campaign? People just don’t…”
There was a knock at the door. A plain looking man in a suit entered and walked quickly over to Linderman. He whispered in his ear. The only word Lois could make out was “sword.”
Linderman grimaced.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut this short, Ms. Lane.” He forced a smile. “Please enjoy our hospitality.”
A moment later, Lois was escorted out of the office.
**************
“It’s a conspiracy,” Lex said. “With far reaching implications.”
“And you’re telling me this out of the goodness of your heart?”
It was apparent that Ted Sprague hadn’t bathed in days. The cabin reeked with the smell of stale sweat, beer and ozone. Sprague’s hair and beard were matted and coarse. Lex repressed a disdainful sniff. This was a man who could incinerate him with a gesture. Lex only hoped that the background radiation wasn’t too high. He felt a moment of regret. If he’d been able to trust anyone else with this, he would have done so. The chances of someone else working for Linderman, or betraying him to Linderman were too high.
Also, Sprague required a delicate, diplomatic touch.
“The Primatech people are just a cover,” Lex said. “Their true master is a man named Linderman. He runs several casinos in Las Vegas. If you want answers, you’ll have to get them from him.”
“Why should I believe you?”
Lex tossed a folder across the table toward Sprague. Sprague opened the file gingerly and began to read.
The smell of ozone began to rise in the room. Lex slowly began to back away toward the door.
There was a sound from his earpiece, and Lex said, “There’s an army coming here after you. They ultimately work for Linderman.”
As he’d hoped, the files in the folder were turning to ash in Sprague’s hands.
Moments later, Lex’s Limousine was flying through the Nevada desert, dust flying in its wake. The army was just over the horizon and Sprague was spoiling for a fight. If Sprague was killed, then Lex would simply claim to have been trying to bring him over to the side of the company.
If Sprague lost control and killed everyone, then Lex would be waiting while Linderman dealt with the situation. A second attack on a different front might make a difference.
Lex picked up his cell phone and switched on the encryption software and voice modulation.
“Mr. Parkman?” he said a moment later. “I have an interesting proposition for you.”
************
The hotel room was dark and empty. Lois didn’t turn the light on. Instead she silently closed the door behind her and leaned back against it. She slid slowly to the ground and began to cry.
She hadn’t realized just how much Clark had meant to her until he was gone. Although she’d seen no body, Lois couldn’t understand how he could have gotten away. It wasn’t like there had been brightly colored roof awnings for him to grab on to.
The odds of Superman being out here were astronomical. There was no way Superman could have heard him yell out in time, and only if Superman had already been in Vegas would he have been able to save him.
Lois hadn’t seen a flash of red cape either. Usually Superman liked to stick around and accept the thanks of the people he’d saved.
Hearing movement in the darkness, Lois stiffened. She wiped her hand against her eye and grabbed the door handle to help lever herself to her feet.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me,” Clark said quietly.
Lois gasped. She found herself rushing forward to where Clark was sitting at the side of the bed.
She embraced him tightly and found herself crying again.
When she finally regained control of herself, Lois asked, “What happened?”
“I stumbled across a blonde woman shooting two federal agents,” Clark said. “She pushed me out of a window.”
Lois felt a moment of shock again. “So how did you get away?”
