This is still a WIP, so bear with me. Thanks to Ben, my BR (who's not a FoLC but is familiar enough with the series to give constructive criticism). Standard disclaimers apply.
Power Struggle
By Samik <samik982@yahoo.com>
Part I: Liberation
“Stay here. I’ve got something for you.” Lois and Clark’s plan to spend a quiet evening in, full of relaxation and Tuesday night television was in full swing. They’d finished dinner, Clark cleared the table and Lois was standing at the counter, sipping her glass of wine. He smiled at her as he exited the kitchen, returning momentarily.
He handed her a rectangular box. “What’d you do?” she asked jokingly, but gasped when she opened the box. He had bought her a simple heart shaped pendant, offset by two small diamonds. “Oh, Clark, it’s beautiful.”
“So are you,” he said. “Here.” Turning her around, he brushed the hair from the nape of her neck, fastened the clasp, then turned her around again. “Breathtaking.”
“What’s it for?”
“Always have to have a reason for everything?” She nodded. He thought for a moment. Usually putting his feelings into words came easy to him, but he found himself temporarily at a loss for words. “Because it’s simple,” he said, “and beautiful – simply beautiful. And that’s what our love is.” He pulled her close. “Simply beautiful.”
***
The inside of the conference room was dark. The only light came from adjacent rooms, streaming in through the windows, painting streaks across the floor. The five men of the Cabinet of Cardinals, the highest order of the organization’s masterminds, sat attentively around the table waiting for their boss to begin the meeting.
“We’re doing well, boys,” the boss said, crossing from the door to sit at the head of the table, cigar in hand, “but we could be doing better.” The boss gazed around the table, locking each member of the Cabinet in the eye, finding a hint of determination in each. They weren’t the best for nothing. “There’s only one bee in my basket that needs to be taken care of.” A thin line of smoke seeped from between the boss’s lips as the name of the marker was spoken.
Four of the five Cardinals shrank away from the table in fear. The fifth and newest member of the Cabinet, distinguished from the others by the red rose in his buttonhole, leaned towards the boss and said, his voice dripping with disdain, “I would be honored.” The boss looked at him skeptically. “Don’t worry. I will succeed where others have failed… including yourself.”
The boss’s eye’s narrowed at his comment, but said nothing to reprimand him for the cocky nature of his comment. The truth remained that the marker was still alive, although it was a bold move on the Cardinal’s part to suggest the boss failed at anything.
“You have three weeks. I understand planning this kind of hit takes time, but you will understand me if I’m not the most patient person in the world. No extensions.” The boss looked at those who slid back into the shadows. “I’m disappointed in the rest of you. Meeting’s over, boys.”
***
He rolled over the concrete floor clutching his arm, unable to breathe. Though the pain was nearing unbearable, he knew he wasn’t going to die. He had to get out of there. He wished for someone to get him out of there. The words “help me” formed on his lips – no more than a faint whisper – when the cold gray world around him faded from his consciousness.
***
“What do you want to do tonight?” Lois and Clark entered the bullpen together Thursday afternoon, after a less than informative meeting with Bobby Bigmouth.
“As much as I would love to have my handsome fiancée cook me a nice dinner in tonight,” she punctuated her statement by laying a hand on his chest, “Superman has the Metropolis Children’s Hospital opening gala to attend tonight, Clark’s writing it up for the Planet, and I’ve got tae kwon do.” Clark pulled out Lois’s desk chair for her, and she sank willingly into it. “You forgot.” Nodding, Clark perched himself on the edge of her desk. “What would you do without me?”
“Hmm,” Clark said thoughtfully, “probably buy a date book.” He grinned and skirted off in the general direction of his desk before Lois could swat him with a legal pad. “So when is the mayor’s press conference?” Clark sat down at his desk across from Lois and booted his computer.
“Tomorrow at two. I wonder what answers he has for the rise in organized crime. You would think that with all the money he’s pouring into the police department, and taking out of other areas, they’d be able to step it up and do something about it.”
“I don’t know what they’re…” A familiar far-away look appeared on Clark’s face. He answered Lois’s inquiring look before she could give it. “There’s been a break-in at Star Labs. I have to go *now.* Meet me there.” He rushed off towards the stairwell tugging at the knot in his brightly colored tie.
***
A tall attractive nurse went to check the charts of the newest patient on the criminal ward. His vitals had stabled significantly, she decided, since his admittance to the hospital. She checked the printout on the heart monitor concluding his heart rate was close enough to normal.
She injected a clear liquid into the tube of the patient’s IV. “It’s time to wake up.” She patiently waited for him to rouse. “Welcome back, sir,” she said, a slightly sadistic smile spreading across her face.
“It’s good to be back, Nurse…Cox.” He needn’t have pretended to check her name badge; he knew exactly who she was. “So I assume you’re helping arrange my reintroduction to Metropolis?”
“An adequate distraction has been arranged, Mr. Luthor. We have a short window in which to work.” She pretended to make a note in his chart while she explained to him what was going to happen. When she finished, he inquired about the location of his most prized and invaluable possession. Nurse Cox nodded knowingly. “It is currently held by a colleague. It will be returned to you soon.”
She bowed slightly as she left Lex alone with his thoughts, thoughts that, for the last three years, had been very one sided. Thoughts of Lois Lane.
Back at the nurse’s station, Nurse Cox dialed a mobile phone whose owner was located ten blocks up the street. “Daily,” said the voice on the other end.
Mrs. Cox’s instruction was simple. “Go.”
***
“Nothing was taken, Superman.” Dr. Kline held a handkerchief over a small gash near his left eyebrow as he was escorted by police from his laboratory to the exterior of the building. “You might though,” he said in an absent minded way, “want to suggest to the police officers that one of them turn off my Bunsen burner. They were so eager to get me out of there, I didn’t have time to put it out.” Superman nodded and led Dr. Kline to the paramedics.
“What can you tell me about the man who was trying to break in, Dr. Kline?” Superman seemed distracted. He took a step back to allow the medic to attend to Dr. Kline’s eye.
“Well, I’ve been working on this classified project,” he said vaguely, gesturing slightly towards the medic, “when this guy came in and jumped me. I’m getting closer to the answer, a couple more months, I think. There’s something about the DNA that I keep getting caught up…”
“Dr. Kline?”
“Right, so the guy was about this tall,” he said, raising his arm about five feet from the ground, “and kind of stocky. I’m not sure what it was he wanted, but he ran when I hit the alarm. Knocked over a beaker on his way…” He trailed off. “Superman?” he said after a second, “you might want to have someone turn off that burner before the whole building blows up.”
Superman sped off as Lois approached.
“Dr. Kline, are you all right?” He jumped when she addressed him, unaware of her presence. Her eyes followed Superman’s speedy departure before focusing completely on the doctor.
“Oh, hello, Ms. Lane.” The currently uncertain fate of his lab left him a little preoccupied. “Yes, I’m quite all right. And nothing was taken. We’re not even sure what the intruder was after.”
Superman returned and the three spoke quietly about the security of a certain green rock before going their separate ways.
*
An hour later, Clark walked in the Daily Planet to find Lois already back. She eyed him curiously as he sat on the edge of her desk.
“I left Star Labs, then decided to go back to make sure the you-know-what was still in locked in Dr. Kline’s office. Everything is safe and sound.” Relief spread across Lois’s face. “And I did another once over of the laboratory and found this.” He showed her a copy of the partial fingerprint he found on a fragment of the broken beaker. “I sent a copy to Henderson, but figured we might give Jimmy something to do.”
“Did I hear my name?” Jimmy stopped next to Lois’s desk with a stack of manila envelopes and a sandwich in a plastic container.
“Yeah, Jimbo,” Clark said, placing the photocopy on top of the sandwich, “Could you find out who belongs to this fingerprint for us.”
“I’m on it, CK. Just give me a chance to, um,” he looked down at the mass of file folders he was holding, “get rid of all this stuff. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Jimmy! Where’s my sandwich?!?”
“I gotta go, guys.” He glanced in the direction of Perry’s office. “He’s been waiting far too long for his lunch. He’s bound to snap soon.” Jimmy strode as quickly has he could towards Perry’s office.
Clark left his perch on Lois’s desk to write up the notes from the Star Labs break-in, and Lois promptly began phoning any snitch she could think of in effort to find out why the crime rate in the city had risen as it had.
The afternoon crawled along for the pair. They weren’t idle, but the leads they pursued from the office weren’t getting them anywhere. Lois’s lack of patience was beginning to show. While on hold, she tapped her pencil repeatedly on the desktop. Lois offhandedly wondered what exactly the mayor had to say about the organized crime syndicate.
“Lois! Clark! In here! Now!” Perry didn’t bother to come all the way out of his office. Clark looked at Lois. She shrugged.
Any other day this kind of distraction would be welcome. Perry often added an unexpected insight to a stagnate investigation. Nothing could have prepared them for today’s conversation. They could tell as they walked in the door that something was wrong, that he didn’t call them in to talk about the story they were stuck on, but something else. Something that made worry lines evident on Perry’s face.
“Have a seat, kids,” gesturing towards the couch in the corner of his office. He pulled a chair in front of them and sat in it nervously. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” he began. “The police couldn’t figure out how it happened, but thought it a good idea to call me and let me know so I could give you guys the heads up.
“Okay, the point.” Both reporters were apprehensive. Neither could remember ever seeing Perry this nervous. Lois reached for one of Clark’s hands, her other fiddled with the necklace around her neck. Perry looked them both in the eye. “Luthor’s out.”
***
Two gentlemen in a black SUV were waiting for Karl when he came around the corner two blocks north of where they were parked. To the outside observer, they seemed to be in heavy conversation.
“I heard you’ve joined the ranks of Intergang.” The man in the driver’s seat said nothing. “Come now, Nigel. I didn’t really expect less of you. I understand you’ve already risen high in the ranks. Isn't that true, Cardinal?
“Yes, sir. I suppose rumors run rampant on the inside?”
“They do, Nigel, but you know as well as I that all rumors are based in fact.” Karl, a small, stocky blonde man of 23, approached Lex’s window.
“Is everything set?” Nigel skipped salutations and got directly to the point. Karl nodded. “Good. And I trust everything this morning went off without a hitch? You can’t be identified.” Karl nod this time was hesitant.. “Tonight. 10:30. This address.” Lex handed him a folded sheet of paper, Nigel started the car.
Lex’s face contorted as he rolled up the passenger side window. “He’s lying. He will be taken care of. We can’t have any loose ends, and I’m *not* going back to jail.”
***
Both Lois and Clark were calmer when they exited Perry’s office, but still very rattled. With Perry, and Henderson on speakerphone, the four of them went through possible scenarios. In their last meeting with Luthor, Lois was kidnapped and replaced with a clone, then suffered from amnesia.
They all knew that Luthor was dangerous and they all knew that he wanted nothing more rid the world of his most formidable foe and possess Lois Lane.
Clark’s knee-jerk reaction, to which both Perry and Bill Henderson agreed, was to send Lois to Smallville, or anywhere else, for a few days to allow Superman and the authorities to try to catch up with Luthor and return him to jail. Lois immediately refused arguing that why, at the cry of danger, the men’s first reaction was to send her somewhere. In the back of her mind, she did think it would be nice to visit with Martha and Jonathon for a while, but her sense of adventure and journalistic instinct bade her to stay and fight the bad guys.
Clark had, after she rejected the idea of visiting his parents, suggested that either Perry reassign the Children’s Hospital story, or that she accompany him. She knew as well as he did that particular idea was near impossible.
Henderson, who had been silent for most of the conversation, suggested that Lois be under police protection. She started to protest this as well, but Clark’s hand on her arm quieted her. Reluctantly, she agreed. So Lois could still assert her independence, Henderson agreed that her police escort follow her unobtrusively.
Lois reluctantly agreed to Henderson’s conditions, and the conversation ended.
*
That evening, Clark reluctantly parted Lois’s company to attend the gala at the Children’s Hospital. Superman had promised he would be in attendance, spending time with some of the children who were to be moved into the ward, and Superman doesn’t break promises.
When Lois left her apartment, the sun was just beginning to set. In her rearview mirror, she watched in exasperation the unmarked police car that followed her at a block’s distance. In passing, she considered ditching her tail. He wasn’t cramping her style, and the repercussions would be far worse than pretending he wasn’t there, so she let it go.
Lois parked her jeep in the parking lot across the street from the studio. She saw the unmarked police car pull up and park on the street. Lois had anticipated the officer staying in the car and keeping watch from the exterior of the building, but he didn’t. She watched him come in, say something to the teacher of the class, and proceeded to take off his shoes and socks. Assuming the guise of a visiting student, he ignored Lois’s questioning looks.
“I’m just following orders,” he whispered to her in passing. She looked at him sharply, then decided she would simply pretend he wasn’t there.
Her sparring partner bowed to her, then smiled the kind of smile that said he knew something she didn’t. And he did. Ten minutes into the class a clear, odorless gas began to seep down from the air conditioning unit.
From the outside, no one would have known anything was wrong. One by one, the members of the class collapsed unconscious on the floor until there was one left standing.
Adjusting the mask he had fitted over his nose and mouth, he took a box out of his gym bag and attached it to wires hidden beneath the mat. Pressing the button, five minutes began to tick off the clock. He slung the bag across his shoulder, picked up Lois, and scurried out as fast as he could with her added weight.
He met Mickey in a nearby alley, a place where they could still see, but were well shielded. Lois stirring didn’t go unnoticed by her captors, though by this time, she was bound and gagged so they paid her little attention.
She watched in horror as the building she was in no more than five minutes previous exploded. Everyone would think she had been in the building. They, Mickey and Karl, smiled triumphantly as smoke billowed from the demolished building.
“Come on, man. We out.” Karl tugged at Mickey’s sleeve.
“Right, man, just lemme check this for one more sec. We ain’t never done nothin’ this good.” Mickey stood in awe of his own work.
“Look, bro. I know you wanna watch, but five-o gonna be all up in this in a minute. Take me back to my ride and take the cargo to the warehouse. I’m fin’ta take care of something else right quick and meet you there.”
Lois struggled as they carried her to the windowless white van parked at the other end of the alley, but they were too strong for her. As the back doors of the van closed, she hoped Clark would find what she left behind before someone else did.
tbc.
