Hi! It's been a while since I posted anything. I've been so busy this last year, that I almost didn't have time anymore to come here, and certainly not to work on my fanfic.
But one year and half ago, I wrote "Somewhere...", that I've sent in French to the archive at the time, and started to work on the traduction in English to post it here. Unfortunately, I had to renounce for a year, by lack of time. Well, the year is almost over, and I'm starting to have a little time again. So, here's come the teaser of the story.
You can see the video-trailer for my story here:
http://www.folcvideo.com/trailer/Somewhere.wmv and the poster here:
http://lncphoto.free.fr/FANARTS/Somewhere.jpg And you can let your comments on the trailer or poster here:
http://www.lcficmbs.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=13;t=000621
I would like to thank Olympe for her help last year with this teaser, and with the first 3 parts she beta-readed. Thank you so much, Olympe, you've been a big help. The following parts have not been beta-readed but I think my English is better today than it was when I posted my first stories, so hopefully, it will be readable. LOL
Here's the teaser. Let me know if you liked it. It's been so long sinc last time I posted something I wrote that I am very nervous.
TEASER
"What do you want, Luthor?"
Superman was all keyed up. He always hated being in company of Lex Luthor, but after these last nightmarish weeks, he was particularly short of patience. Lex had chosen a bad moment to waste his time with pretence.
Everything in the manners and the falsely affable conversation of the billionaire was increasing Superman's disgust for the man in front of him by the minute. Luthor was speaking to him as if they were old friends.
He would never have come to see him if Lex had not specified that he wanted to discuss Lois with Superman in the message which he had left with Clark. All that kept him from going away without listening to what Luthor had to say was the certainty that, with the help of his friends Perry, Jimmy and Jack, he had finally managed to amass enough proof to put Luthor in jail for the rest of his life.
"A favor", Lex answered with the assurance of a man who was not used to seeing his desires denied. Superman couldn't believe his ears. Luthor was asking him for a favor? Luthor had an even more disturbed mind than he had imagined.
"From me? You must be joking."
"Hear me out," Lex replied, "my fiancée, Lois Lane, should be deliriously happy at the prospect of our forthcoming wedding. Unfortunately, she is not. "
While he was explaining to the superhero why he had contacted him, Luthor continued to enjoy his wines. A glass in the hand, he moved on to another barrel placed farther in the cellar while speaking. Superman followed him automatically while keeping his distance, and advanced up to the centre of the room.
" She misses her friends from the Daily Planet. Especially Clark Kent."
Superman hadn't expected this kind of discussion with Lex when he decided to answer his demand to come to see him. It relieved him profoundly to hear Luthor say that Lois wasn’t happy at the prospect of marrying this monster.
Since she had rejected him when he admitted his feelings for her as Clark, and accepted the billionaire’s proposal instead, he didn’t really know what to think about Lois any more. And during the investigation that he had been leading with Perry, Jimmy and Jack since the explosion of the Daily Planet with the goal to bring down Luthor, the fear had not left him. What if what they found didn't matter to Lois? What if she really loved Luthor? He did not want to envisage such a thing, but the mere thought caused him sleepless nights.
But as Lex said, Lois was not happy, and in the current situation, it was very good news. He was really relieved to know it. Hearing that the reason for Lois' unhappiness was that she missed Clark really pleased him. But he was there as Superman, and it wasn't a good idea to show his nemesis how he really felt.
"So?" Superman asked, trying to look detached and annoyed.
"You and Clark are friends. He passed a message on to you and you came," Lex explained.
"I'm not following."
"I'm asking you to use your influence to convince Clark to attend our wedding," he clarified. "You're invited, too."
"You live in a fantasy world, Luthor. Neither Clark nor I will ever do anything to support your marriage to Lois," Superman answered angrily. Lex Luthor must really be crazy to have imagined, even for only one second, that it would be otherwise.
"I see," he said, looking disappointed. With a small resigned pout, he resumed, "Then, I suppose, you're of no further use to me."
He opened the faucet of the barrel to which he had gone earlier, and at once a cage fell from the ceiling, imprisoning Superman in the middle of the cellar. Superman wasn’t able to hold back a chuckle of contempt in front of a gesture so stupid and useless.
"Bars won't... hold me, Luthor."
He felt stunned. He knew the symptoms, there was some kryptonite nearby. He did his best to hide it, hoping that Lex would believe that his plan wasn't working. With a determined face, he moved forward to the bars of the cage. Twisting them and getting out of there before all his powers abandoned him was his only chance to escape the hands of this madman and convince him that the kryptonite had no effect on him, contrary to the rumours which he had obviously heard.
"Oh? I think they will," Luthor exulted.
He seized a remote control put near the barrel and pressed the button. Immediately, the bars began to glow with a greenish light just as the superhero was squeezing them in his hands. The pain increased, and Superman screamed, unable to hold on. The bars burned his hands and he had to release them. His strenght was leaving him very quickly and he collapsed on the ground.
********************
Perry filled Jimmy's and Jack's plates, as well as his own, with the very spiced crayfis etouffee which he had prepared for supper while listening to both boys reporting to him what they had found during the day. They were beginning to have enough proof to nail Lex Luthor for the explosion of the Daily Planet. What acquitted totally Jack.
They didn’t have anything else to do except to wait for Clark’s return to find out if they could also prove that Lex was the infamous "Boss". And they all hoped so. They wanted to send him behind bars for a long time.
"What about you, Chief?"
Jimmy's voice brought Perry back to reality. At the moment, they couldn't prove anything but the payoffs to the board members which prompted their decision to approve the purchase of the Daily Planet by LexCorp, as well as the fact that Luthor had sponsored the explosion of the building of the newspaper. He had done so through his assistant Mrs. Cox who, in turn, had engaged John Black to execute the work and make Jack look guilty.
"Well," Perry answered, while sitting down at the table with both teenagers, "now, Lexel Investments did have additional insurance on the Daily Planet building."
"How much?" Jack asked.
"About twice what it would've cost to rebuild it. Lex Luthor cleared a cool seventy-five million on the deal."
"That's a motive," Jimmy exclaimed. "We nailed him!"
Yes, they could bring down Lex Luthor for insurance fraud, but Perry still hoped for Clark to return to the apartment with proof of all the other crimes they believed Luthor had committed. Al Capone had been arrested for tax evasion, but how much better it would have been to arrest him for all his other crimes? Perry hoped that history wouldn't repeat itself with Luthor, and that *he* would see himself publicly condemned for all of his crimes.
"So, what are we waiting for?" Jack asked with a bit of impatience. Naturally, he was even more eager to bring Luthor down than the others because it was he who was the billionaire's scapegoat.
"Clark," answered Perry. "Sit down, he is bound to arrive any minute."
Both young men took seat, ready to taste their Chief’s cooking. After eating dinner, Perry intended to go see Franklin Stern, a businessman whose past problems with Luthor were no secret, to get him to rebuild the Daily Planet. Taking revenge on Luthor was good indeed, but rebuilding the newspaper would still be better.
While they were waiting for Clark, they had no reason to suspect that he wasn't about to return to his apartment.
********************
Having spent the evening in the opera with Lois, Lex couldn't wait to return to the cellar to see the agony of his enemy. He was a little disappointed to notice that he was still conscious. He had hoped that Superman had already died. But the disappointment turned quickly into jubilation. The insufferable superhero would die very slowly. It was absolutely perfect. And he could take advantage that the superhero was still conscious to have a little more fun.
Lex knew, of course, that Lois was in love with Superman, and he suspected the Man of Steel of being in love with Lois as well, although he did not understand why Superman had not simply admitted his feelings to Lois to prevent their engagement. But whatever his reasons, Lex knew that Superman loved Lois and that it would make him suffer as much as the kryptonite to imagine the two of them together. He thus spent more than a quarter of an hour to exult in front of the cage by describing all the fantasies which he hoped to realize with Lois as soon as their marriage would be pronounced the following morning.
To his great disappointment, the Man of Steel did not react in any way, except for the soft groans of pain which escaped from his lips from time to time while waves of pain were rolling over him, leaving him weak and weaker. Lex decided then to change tactics. If he couldn’t hurt Superman in his love for Lois, he could hurt him by using his desire to keep her safe against him.
"I love Lois, but she's much too independent, don't you think? Well, leave that to me."
This time, Luthor got what he waited for. Superman raised his head and looked at him with unmasked hatred, and Luthor savored his triumph. It was him who had taught the fallen hero the meaning of hatred and the urge for murder. But it was too late for the super fool. He was going to die in atrocious sufferings. Once again, Lex Luthor had won! He was the better of them!
"Clark Kent knows where I am," Superman said with difficulty, as if using his voice had become too big an effort for him.
"That's right. I'll have to kill him, too. That reminds me. Which..."
"Luthor," Superman interrupted him.
"Strange to hear you say my name and know it's probably for the last time."
After a short silence, Lex went away from where he had been to scoff at his enemy, closed the door of the cage behind him and put the keys in his pocket.
"I'll be back later... when it's all over, and we'll have a little..."
He broke off to look dreamily at an axe hanging on the wall of the cellar.
"...heart to heart," he finished. "Have a nice death!"
Whistling joyfully, Lex went out of the cellar and got ready to go to bed. He had had an excellent day. And the next promised to be even better. It was the day he would marry Lois Lane, and watch Superman die. Finally.
In the corridors leading to his private apartments, Lex crossed the way of his personal assistant.
"Ah. Mrs. Cox! Just the person I needed. I have just had a small conversation with our guest in the cellar."
"Is everything okay, Lex?" She asked.
"Yes! Everything is perfect! I believe that he is going to suffer much longer that we had dared to hope!" Luthor exulted. His assistant smiled, apparently as delighted as he was. "But he raised an interesting issue during our conversation. We also need to eliminate Kent."
"Good, Lex. Do you have a precise idea how he should die, or do you prefer that I take charge of the details?" she asked in her most professional tone.
"We'll discuss it tomorrow, after the wedding, Mrs. Cox. I plan to fully enjoy the death of our friend in blue first before getting rid of *his* friend."
********************
NOTE: I thought about that story while hearing the song "Somewhere" by Within Temptation. I even borrowed the title of this song for my story. Here's the song's lyrics:
SOMEWHERE (Within Temptation - The Silent Force - 2004)
Lost in the darkness
Hoping for a sign
Instead there's only silence
Can't you hear my screams?
Never stop hoping
Need to know where you are
But one thing's for sure
You're always in my heart
I'll find you somewhere
I'll keep on trying
Until my dying day
I just need to know
Whatever has happened
The truth will free my soul
Lost in the darkness
Tried to find your way home
I want to embrace you
And never let you go
Almost hope you're in heaven
So no one can hurt your soul
Living in agony
Cause I just do not know
Where you are
I'll find you somewhere
I'll keep on trying
Until my dying day
I just need to know
Whatever has happened
The truth will free my soul
Wherever you are
I won't stop searching
Whatever it takes me to know
I'll find you somewhere
I'll keep on trying
Until my dying day
I just need to know
Whatever has happened
The truth will free my soul
