(Sequel to Smallville Style)
Did Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy ever kiss in the movie? Clark didn’t get to find out. About the time Darcy began to question Elizabeth as to if her feelings for him had changed, Lois gave him a sideways glance and they were drawn to each other like a magnet. Their arms wrapped around each other necks, tangling in the other’s hair. As she opened her mouth and allowed his tongue to caress hers, her hand came to rest on his chest. Did she even realize her finger was circling his nipple? His own hands fell down to rest on her waist. He withdrew his tongue, but hers chased his into his mouth. He realized his fingers were touching bare skin where her shirt fell just short of her jeans. Spreading his fingers wide, his thumb brushed her breast and she caught her breath. He crossed his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. She was now half lying on his lap as they sat on the floor in front of her couch. Her hands were on the move again, doing some exploring of their own. Clark broke the kiss, panting, “Lois”.
“Clark,” she replied with a teasing lilt in her voice.
“I think. . . I think we’ve definitively answered the question of whether there’s any chemistry between us!”
“Mmm. And I enjoyed the experiment very much too.”
He put an arm behind her legs and stood up, probably not a maneuver a man could accomplish without the benefit of super-strength and the ability to float, but she didn’t seem to notice. He cradled her to his chest as he walked across the room to her bedroom door.
“Clark?”
He sat her down, and placed a light kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight, Lois.” He released her and made a hasty getaway to the spare bedroom.
*****
It was a good thing he didn’t need much sleep. What he really needed was a dip in the Arctic, but the whole point for him being at Lois’ was to be there to keep her safe. And a cold shower might be a little too obvious. He hadn’t felt like this since his teen years. He tossed and turned for hours trying to get comfortable. It didn’t help that his super-hearing told him that it had taken Lois several hours to settle down to sleep as well. Why had waiting seemed like such a good idea, again? Lois certainly didn’t seem to have any objections. Her dating experiences had obviously been very different than his, allowing her to be less reticent than he to start a physical relationship. But his conscience would simply not allow him to take the next step until he got things out in the open with Lois starting with “I am Superman”. Liar, liar, liar echoed in his head. How could she possibly forgive him for the years of dishonesty?
*****
After a restless night, Clark got up early and made Lois’ favorite pancakes for breakfast. The wafting smell of coffee must have awakened her as he did not hear her alarm go off but he saw her rush by on her way to the bathroom. “Morning, Clark!” she called before shutting the door with a snap. Clark chuckled. Obviously, she wasn’t quite ready for him to meet “Morning Lois” just yet. When he heard the bathroom door open a half-hour later, he poured her a cup of coffee and had it just the way she liked it by the time she entered the kitchen dressed and ready for work.
“Thanks, Clark,” she smiled brightly.
“I made pancakes.”
“Mmm. I could smell them. More importantly, you made coffee. A girl could get used to this,” she smiled and ducked her head she realized what she had said.
Clark felt his heart swell at the thought of spending breakfast with Lois every morning, but due to her obvious embarrassment he just began to talk about what they needed to do when they got to work.
*****
Lois and Clark huddled around Lois’ computer as they went through the files on the disk her contact had given them. Clark swatted distractedly at the fly buzzing around him. How had the dratted thing got into the newsroom anyway?
“Hey, look at this!” Lois said pointing to the screen. “I was running a check on Martin Snell and guess what? Five years ago he was staff council for Bill Church.”
“The CostMart king?”
“Yep. He worked in corporate acquisitions buying up overseas companies. I wonder...” Lois quickly typed some additional information into the program. “A-hah. Look at this. If you cross-graph what we know about the spread of Intergang with the spread of CostMarts around the world. . .
Clark shook his head at her leap of thinking. Lois was the best, but really. . . Clark leaned across the desk closing his hand as if trying to grasp an illusive object. “Lois, what am I doing right now?”
“Reaching?”
“And I'm not the only one. Lois, you could probably say the same thing about Burger Meister or Zing Cola. Let’s stick with the Martin Snell angle.”
“Just go with me on this Clark! Look. In 1975, the first CostMart opens in Denver. It is also the same city and same year that the first police report on Intergang activity is recorded. The first overseas CostMart was in Australia in 1985, and guess what? First overseas Intergang operation,” she pointed at the screen, “Australia, 1985.”
“Okay, we’ll check the police files on Bill Church, but I still think Snell is the guy to nail here.”
Perry had walked up behind them. “Bill Church? Is this about the Urban Renewal Project?”
Lois turned to him excitedly, “Perry! We may be onto something big here. Everywhere Intergang has gained a foothold, there’s a CostMart. What if Bill Church is not only the owner of all the CostMart stores but is also the head of Intergang?”
Perry’s face got red. Uh-oh, thought Clark, as Perry’s finger came up. “Now, just a minute here, young lady!” Lois head snapped back to look at Perry. Clark was willing to bet that Perry was the only man who had ever addressed Lois like that and lived to tell about it. “I’ve know the Churches for years. Bill Church, Jr. even caddied for me back when I actually had time to play golf. These are my personal friends you are talking about here. I will not allow you to print anything against them, even hints, in my paper.” Perry stalked angrily away.
Lois sat there, a shocked expression on her face before Clark saw the glaze of tears come over her eyes. Grabbing her arm, Clark hurried her into the conference room before she broke down in front of the whole newsroom. He put his arm around her and she leaned into his chest as she sniffed a few times, never really crying, before she was able to compose herself. Perry was like a surrogate father to Lois and his angry disapproval was crushing to her. She finally pulled away from him, wiping at her face.
“Okay now?” he asked
Lois nodded. “I’m sorry, Clark. I should be able to handle something like that, but it was just so unexpected. Perry’s been angry in general around me before, but he’s never been angry like that *at* me before.”
“There’s probably something else bothering him.” Clark’s own anger flared for a moment. No matter how upset Perry was, he had no right to take it out on Lois. Number one, she didn’t deserve it, and number two, it was completely unprofessional.
“It’s okay, Clark,” she said, patting his chest. “I’m fine. Don’t be mad at Perry. You’re right, I’m sure there’s something else that set him off.”
A thought occurred to Clark and he chuckled.
Lois looked at him speculatively, “What?”
Clark shook his head. “I was just thinking that we are running into a roadblock here. We can’t print even what we know about Luthor’s operations because he owns the paper. There’s no point in even pursuing our suspicions. We can’t print anything about your theory concerning Intergang and Bill Church because Perry won’t allow it. I’m suddenly feeling a little cramped here.”
“Wow. You’re completely right, Clark. I *have* still been keeping tabs on LexCorp, and there’s been a lot of stock turnover lately. A couple of his smaller businesses have even been bought out.”
“Lois! What if. . . do you know who bought them?”
“Not off the top of my head. Why?”
“What if Intergang is buying up Luthor’s holdings like we suspect they are taking over organized crime in Metropolis? A corporate takeover as well as criminal one?”
“Oh, Clark, this is big. Pulitzer big!”
“Except that we can’t print a thing.”
“Clark, Perry may be friends with the Churches, but if we proved a connection between Bill Church and Intergang, Perry wouldn’t sit on it. He would do what was right, even if it hurt.”
A slight knock came from the door. It opened and Perry stuck his head in. “Ah, Lois, I’m sorry, honey. It’s your job to investigate anyone with possible connections to this Intergang. You just caught me off guard.” He came in and shut the door. “ I know I've been kind of short-tempered and irritable lately. I've been quick to judge and quick to condemn. Sometimes I've even been downright mean, and you can expect a lot more of it. I’m not spreading this around, but purchase of the Planet is in negotiations and it’s making me a nervous wreck.” Perry ran his hand through his thinning hair. “We’ve got a good group here, and I just don’t want to see that messed up.”
Lois was at his side with instant forgiveness. She patted Perry’s hand. “It’s okay, Perry. I was just telling Clark that you always do the right thing. I didn’t know that you knew the Churches personally, or I would have never sprung that idea on you like that. You know me, I get these crazy ideas sometimes.”
“Yea, and as often as not, you’re right too. You have great instincts, Lois, but I think this may be one of the .1% of times when you are way off.”
“I hope so, Chief. So, who’s buying the Planet?”
“Hopefully Franklin Stern. I’ve been talking to several contacts that I have in the publishing business over the last few months and he’s the first one to bite. Stern Publishing has a good reputation. Mr. Stern is a big supporter of free press and he’ll run a good ship. But his main interests are radio and television, though he also owns a book publishing company. He has no experience in the newspaper business. I don’t want to put the Planet on the back burner to his other endeavors.”
The Planet was Perry’s baby. Everyone knew that. Lois murmured sympathetically.
“Franklin Stern is a businessman, Perry. He wouldn’t buy the Planet just to have it overshadowed by other media outlets,” Clark stated assuredly.
Perry nodded, obviously still troubled, as he headed out of the conference room.
“Wow.”
Clark nodded. “Wow. Maybe we’ll be able to take up that Luthor investigation again sooner than we thought. For now, let’s figure out what Martin Snell is up to.”
“Fine, Clark. But I’m not giving up on the Church idea. I’m going to have Jimmy compile a list of Church’s holdings *quietly* so I don’t set Perry off again and compare them to Luthor’s holdings. My gut tells me the big story is there.”
“Okay, I’ll keep on Snell and we’ll compare notes.”
*****
He had already let himself into Lois’ apartment and was busy fixing the dinner he had picked up the groceries to make on his way home. Lois had promised that she would take a cab directly from the Planet to her apartment and call before she left, so he had left her at the Planet. Clark knew if he hovered over her too much, he would drive her crazy. Perry would keep an eye on her at the Planet and Lois had called MetroTaxi to request a cabbie they were familiar with rather than her usual “stand on the street corner and whistle” approach to getting a cab. He was just mixing the vegetables in with the meat when he heard her heartbeat as she came up the stairs. He hurried to the door and let her into the apartment.
“Okay?” he asked. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to close and lock the door. Still he caught the roll of her eyes.
“I’m fine, Clark, really. But you have to see this!” Lois reached into her satchel and pulled out a picture. “I dug a little deeper and found out something else about Church. Look.” She handed the picture to him.
Clark look at the picture. Bill Church, Martin Snell. . . and Mayson Drake arm in arm at some formal banquet.
“Mayson Drake worked under Snell in Church's acquisitions division.”
“And now you think that she is also a part of Intergang?”
Lois shrugged, “If the four inch heel fits. . .”
“I just didn’t get that impression from her.”
“Clark, I think you’re a little dense when it comes to women. Who told whom that Mayson had a crush on whom?”
“Maybe “whom” is a little dense, Lois, but “whom” can also usually tell when someone’s lying to me. It’s something about the look in their eyes.” *And* by the way their heart rate speeds up, he added silently. “I think Mayson is on the up and up.”
Lois frowned. “Okay. Let’s say I trust you on this one. Let’s ask her about this picture. Maybe she can tell us something else.”
*****
Clark had called Mayson’s office and asked if she would be available at lunch to talk to Lois and him. Mayson agreed and they decided to visit Uncle Mike’s restaurant again. What they didn’t expect was to see was Bill Church himself dropping Mayson off. Mayson kissed Bill Church’s cheek through the open car window before he drove off and she headed in their direction.
“Lois, Clark. How are you?”
“We’re fine, Mayson. Is Mr. Church a friend of yours?” Lois did get right to the point.
“I used to work for him. I was talking to Bill about what was happening here on the Southside and since he's chairing the Urban Redevelopment Fund, I thought he ought to get down here himself and spread a little of that wealth around.”
“So, you used to work for Church-” Clark began.
“Look, Mayson. We’ll cut to the chase. Clark and I have been following a series of leads. From Baby Rage to Martin Snell to Intergang... then from Intergang to Bill Church.” Lois charged full steam ahead
“I can’t believe that you asked me to lunch just to ask me if my ex-boss is the head of Intergang!”
“We agreed to work together on this, Mayson. Lois and I need to know,” Clark said, with a hint of apology in his tone.
“Bill Church is my friend. Martin Snell is a professional acquaintance.”
“Fine. Now that is out of the way, can we agree to enjoy our lunch together? Lois’ Uncle Mike is a great chef,” Clark attempted to be the peacemaker.
Mayson’s angry eyes met his across the table before moving to Lois. She nodded. “But Bill Church is off limits. He’s been like a father to me.”
“I can relate to that, Mayson,” Lois commented. “Perry is more than just a boss to me as well. I guess I would get pretty upset if someone tried to tie him to Intergang.”
*****
Lois was very quiet on the drive back to the Planet. Finally Clark asked, “Lois, is everything okay?”
“I was thinking about what Mayson said about Bill Church being like a father to her. It makes me hope that he isn’t involved with Intergang. But my gut instinct tells me that he is.”
Clark nodded. “That would be rough.”
“Clark, Perry is friends with Bill Church. What if. . .”
“Lois, Perry is honest through and through. If he’s defending Bill Church, it’s because he honestly thinks that he isn’t involved in Intergang. And maybe he’s not. But it is our job to find out.”
Lois nodded in reluctant agreement, but her mouth was still twisted in a frown.
*****
The next day Clark sat in the stand at the New Troy County Courthouse where he had been sworn in to testify against Baby Rage. The man in question did not even resemble the gang member that Clark had seen at the restaurant. Dressed in an impressive suit and tie sitting next to Martin Snell, Baby Rage inclined his head in acknowledgement of Clark.
“And after you saw the defendant start the fire... ?” Mayson questioned him.
“Superman flew down, apprehended him and put it out.”
“Thank you, Mr. Kent.” She moved to take her seat. “Your witnesss,” she indicated to Martin Snell.
“No questions at this time,” Snell countered.
The judge turned to him, “You're excused, Mr. Kent.”
As Clark departed the stand a paralegal rushed past Clark to Snell, handed him a folder conversed with him in low tones. Clark was tempted to listen in. Snell was up to something, he was sure of it.
Clark sat down next to Lois and her uncle and Lois reached over and squeezed his hand.
“You did great, “ she whispered. Clark looked at their clasped hands and then smiled at her as he squeezed back.
They looked up to see Snell and Mayson standing at the judge’s bench.
“What’s going on?” Lois whispered.
“The Judge is reviewing the document the paralegal gave to Snell.”
The Judge gestured for the two attorneys to be seated, then looks up gravely. “ New evidence seems to indicate that the officers who arrested the defendant did not properly apprise him of his Miranda rights. And the warrant issued to search his house had the incorrect address on it.”
A hiss escaped Lois. “I knew it!”
The judge continued. “ Ms. Drake, your office personally issued the warrant.”
“There must be some mistake... “ Mayson stuttered.
“If so, I'll grant you twenty-four hours to investigate this matter internally and refute the charges. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to declare the arrest invalid and set the defendant free.” The judged banged his gavel, stood and left the courtroom. Baby Rage turned and gave Clark a nasty wink.
“Sorry, Mayson. Better luck next time.” Snell threw in Mayson’s direction as he ushered Baby Rage from the courtroom.
“This was all her, she set it up. She's dirty, Clark. How much more evidence do we need?” Lois hissed
“I just don’t think so, Lois. She seemed pretty surprised. And she did tell us that Snell would play dirty.” Looking at the defeated slump of Mayson’s shoulders as she walked out the courtroom he felt that she was either truly upset or she was the best actress he had ever encountered.
*****
Back at the Planet, Lois got on the phone right away to her contact trying to get him to disclose the names he was refusing to provide. “Look, you're the best police source I have, I need names or the whole case is going to get tossed out. This is personal. My uncle lives in Southside!” She slammed the phone down in disgust. “He hung up on me!”
“It seems like we're at a dead end.”
“Maybe not.” Clark turned around startled as Mayson approached their desks. “If that case gets thrown out and my office is implicated, my career is over. I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do. But I don't know who to trust anymore.”
“You can trust us, Mayson,” Clark assured her.
“I don’t know why, but I believe you.” She opened the briefcase that she was carrying and pulled out files, records and computer discs. “I’ve already given you everything my office has on Intergang. These are my own personal files on Intergang as well as my files on Martin Snell. I've known Martin a long time, he's always danced close to the line. Maybe together we can find out where he stepped over. Please help me.”
As Clark reached to take the files from her he heard the whine of an insect and batted the fly away from him.
“Careful, Clark, that sounds like the bug that bit me. It still hurts,” Lois commented distractedly as she reached for the files he had been distracted from.
Clark was seized with suspicion and trained his vision on the fly. . . that was not a fly. Reaching quickly, he grasped the flying robot between his thumb and forefinger. The tiny robot looked very much like a fly, but was a tracer of some sort. “I have to go.”
Two heads, one blonde, one brunette came up from the file they were studying.
“What?”
“Where?” they asked simultaneously.
“You guys stay here, this won't take long.” Before either woman could respond, he made his escape. Still, he heard Mayson question, “Does he do that a lot?” and Lois’ answer, “Constantly. It’s one of his more annoying habits. But he’s worth it.” His heart swelled with happiness even as his hearing continued to track the homing signal to the “fly”.
*****
He burst through the wall of the hidden room that the signal was generating from. Two men seated in front of large computers stared open mouthed at him. He crushed the “fly” between his thumb and forefinger and the men watched him terrified.
“So that's how your bullets always find their targets. A genetic tag, injected by needle. What is it, a radio isotope?”
The two nodded in unison.
“Who hired you?” The two men just looked at each other. Clark grabbed the nearest one by the collar. “I asked you a question.”
“We-we-we- I d-d-don’t know. It was all arranged on-line. We were just asked to test this new targeting program.”
Computer geeks, Clark scoffed mentally. All they knew is that they got to play a real live computer game and get paid to do so. He wasn’t going to be able to get any information out of them.
“Lois Lane-Kent, Jimmy Olsen, and Clark Kent are good friends of mine. I would appreciate it if you would stop bugging them.” Oh, that’s eloquent, Kent- “bugging” them. He turned to leave through the gaping hole he had made in the wall.
“S-s-s-uperman?”
He turned back, “Yes?”
“There was one more.”
“What?” What was the geek talking about? One more what?
“Y-y-ou said Lois Lane-Kent, Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent. There was another one.”
He was instantly back in the room standing over the man who cowered in the chair. “Who?” he asked in a clipped voice.
“Perry White.”
The next sound that was heard was a sonic boom as Clark raced out of the room towards the Daily Planet. As he got closer, he could hear the whir of the same type of bullet that had been aimed at Lois and Jimmy this afternoon. I bet this one isn’t full of paint, he thought grimly putting on an extra burst of speed. He was now a block away from the Planet and he could see Perry coming out of the revolving door, papers tucked under his arm, whistling as he began to look around for a cab. Clark grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the way as the bullet whizzed past him and lodged into the side of the Daily Planet building.
“ Superman, did you just save me from something?” Perry asked, a little stunned.
“Uh-huh.”
“Do I wanna know what it was?”
Superman gave him a tight smile. “Nope.”
“Well, uh, thanks, Superman.”
*****
Mayson joined Lois and Clark at Lois’ apartment for dinner, which he had cooked, of course. They still needed to finish their conversation from earlier. Mayson insisted on helping with the salad which was the only part of the dinner Lois felt was simple enough for her to handle. With a little guidance from Mayson, the salad was as edible as the fettuccine Alfredo that made their mouths water as Clark pulled it from the oven.
They loaded their plates and sat down at Lois’ table.
“How are we going to keep Snell from getting Baby Rage off the hook?” Clark began the discussion.
“We need to figure out who helped Snell mess up that paper work, “ suggested Mayson.
“I have a better idea,” began Lois.
*****
The judge frowned as he listened to the taped conversation coming from Lois’ handheld recorder.
“Those reporters, Kent and Lane? They have a source in the police department,” came Mayson’s voice.
“And this is interesting to me, why?” Snell’s voice replied.
“This morning, the three of us put the heat on this guy to give us the names of the cops you bribed to bungle Baby's arrest.”
“I'm awfully sorry, counselor, I have absolutely no knowledge of this.”
“You've got a leak, Martin. Lois Lane's contact is one of your guys. On Intergang's payroll. I'd say right about now, you really want to get rid of this guy, don't you? Well, I can make it happen. Here's the name of that two-timing cop. For sale, a one-time only offer.” A short pause. “Tick-tock, Martin.”
“How much?” Snell took the bait.
“What do you pay your cops?”
“Five thousand a month, a little extra here and there for special favors. We can probably do a little better for you, I mean you are the deputy district attorney.”
The judged leaned over and turned off the recording. He turned and looked at Martin Snell and raised an eyebrow,
Snell smoothly began to excuse himself, “Your Honor, it's clear to me that the voice on that recording is that of an actor, hired to impersonate me.”
The judge was not amused. “Really. I'd like to hear his Brando. But for the moment, we're going to assume that was you- which does not bode well for your future as an attorney, or a free man. As for the defendant, Daniel Anthony Bell AKA, Baby Rage. . . You're going to trial.”
Lois smiled slipping her hand into Clark’s. “My plan worked.”
Clark smiled down at her. “It sure did.”
*****
Clark held Lois gently in his arms as they danced to the music. He looked around at the people milling around the spread of delicious food. Mike Lane beamed with happiness as the guest exclaimed over the food. The song finished and he reluctantly released Lois and they walked towards the buffet table. Lois hugged her uncle.
“They're all asking about your restaurant. You got a lucky break, getting asked to cater the Urban Redevelopment Charity Ball, Uncle Mike.”
“Well, it's pretty amazing how fast things are turning around. In just two days it’s like a whole new neighborhood. No more gangs, no more slow cops, thanks to those articles you two wrote,” he answered.
“The credit probably goes to Mayson’s new strike force,” Clark commented.
“Intergang seems to have decided to fade into the background for a while. Guess that’s another big story we’ll have to put on hold, partner, “ Lois said, lightly punching his arm.
Mike smiled at them, “Why don’t you two get back to dancing? I’m sure you’d rather do that than talk to an old geezer like me. And, Lois? I have that chocolate torte you wanted set aside for you. I included lots of raspberry sauce.”
“Mmm,” Lois said as she walked back to the dance floor holding Clark’s hand. “I love chocolate.”
Clark pulled her into his arms, looking down at her. “And I love. . . raspberry.” His arms tightened around her, as he struggled to keep himself in check. He wanted to kiss her senseless right there in the middle of the dance floor. To tell her he was Superman and declare his love in front of all Metropolis. He sighed and instead said, “Since Superman took out Intergang’s targeting system, the threat to your life is over.”
“So you’ll be going back to your apartment?” Lois was now staring at his chest, hiding her face from his view.
“Yes.”
“I’ll miss you.”
Why was this so hard? Shouldn’t love be easy? Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They get married. No lies, no secret identities to keep them apart.
“Lois, Clark,” Perry drawled next to them.
“Chief!” Clark responded.
“Just wanted to let you know that Stern Publishing’s purchase of the Planet has finally been completed. Everyone gets to keep their jobs. Now he has some ideas for modernization that I’m going to have to hash out with him. What exactly does that mean anyway, modernizing?”
“Perry that’s wonderful!” Lois pulled out of his arms to quickly hug her boss.
“That’s great news, Chief,” Clark clapped Perry on the back.
“Well, keep it under your hat for now. We’re going to make the big announcement at the Planet’s 80th Anniversary Celebration.”
“What celebration?” asked Lois.
“Oh, Stern wants to really emphasize the Planet’s history in Metropolis. We’re going to be running old articles from the archives. We going to get some photo shoots done for billboards. In fact, his PR people will probably be giving you a call pretty soon. As the Planet’s top reporting team, they’ll probably want you guys in the ads. You’ll have to wear clothes from the early 1990’s. I even know somebody with a vintage Ford for us to use in the background. It’s actually a really neat campaign. Anyway, the kick-off will be a party next week in the newsroom.”
*****
Oh, yes. Another new version of TOGOM to follow!
