PREVIOUSLY...
“So how did you do it?” Clark asked.
Lois smiled. “I guess I sort of goaded him into it. Kept telling him that I wasn’t interested in some unemployed boy. So he had to inform me that he was Dr. Cole’s special assistant. When I rolled my eyes. He proceeded to try to convince me how invaluable he was to Cole.”
“And in the process, said some things he shouldn’t have said?”
Lois nodded. “At which point, I turned on him...”
AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter Twenty
* * * * * * * * *
**“What’s that?” Wolcott asked when Lois dug her tape recorder out of her purse. She placed it on the bar in front of her, still recording.
“My name’s Lois Lane. I’m a reporter for the Daily Planet. And everything you told me right now... How do you think your employers would feel about what you said?”
“Hey!” He reached towards the tape recorder and she quickly snatched it back.
“You’ve got two choices. Now, the way I figure it, if I trick you into saying something, I can use your name in my article. On the other hand, if you give me information willingly, I have an obligation to protect you as a source.”
Wolcott’s mouth seemed to move for a moment without any noise coming out.
“Are you interested in becoming one of my sources?” she asked.
Looking defeated, he slowly nodded.
“Good. Then let me tell you what I need to know.”**
“That’s my girl,” Clark said, looking at Lois affectionately.
“Yeah, well, I guess even in this screwed up reality, I do have my moments. Anyway, after that, he was extremely helpful. I even managed to get him to go on tape - promising him that I’d protect his identity. He confirmed that Cole was taking payments from Lex to feed me phony information about S-126. He even confirmed that Lex had paid Cole to confirm that the individuals pulled out of Hobbs Bay had been killed by exposure to S-126.”
“Did he know how they had actually been killed?”
Lois shook her head. “But he did tell me something else interesting.”
“What?”
“The evening Lex gave fifty thousand dollar to Perry, he had gone on to meet with Cole afterwards. Apparently, Cole had been hopping mad because Luthor hadn’t shown up with his payment.”
“A fifty thousand dollar payment?”
Lois nodded.
“So what are you saying? That Luthor gave the wrong envelope to the wrong man?”
“Well, you did say he was also carrying a cheque made payable to the Metropolis Literary Society for five thousand dollars.”
“Uhh... I don’t know, Lois. That doesn’t seem like the type of mistake Luthor would make. Surely he would notice the bulky envelope when he handed it to Perry.”
“Do you have a better explanation?”
“Maybe,” Clark said, thinking hard.
“Well?”
Clark shook his head. “It’s just on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t quite make it come into focus. Why don’t you tell me the rest of your story? Maybe it will come back to me while you’re talking.”
Lois nodded. “Okay, well, later that night, we all met up again at Perry’s.”
**“How could Carpenter sanction a story based on such flimsy evidence?” Perry asked when Lois finished filling them in on what she’d stolen from Kent.
“Well, they also had your altered bank records,” Henderson said.
“True, still...” Perry clicked his tongue against the top of his mouth thoughtfully. “No, there’s something else going on here, something we haven’t found yet.”
“I do have something else that might help,” Lois said before filling them in on what she’d found out from Wolcott.
“Well, that matches with what I found,” Henderson said.
“Which is?” Cat asked.
“As I told Lois this morning, after finding out that Lois hadn’t asked Cole to contact me, I got suspicious. So I did a bit of digging into his finances. He’s had some major influxes of cash lately. What Lois doesn’t know is that after she left the station today, I called an expert from Metropolis U. to look at Cole’s analysis of the radiation that killed all those men pulled out of Hobbs Bay.”
“And?” Lois asked, leaning forward in her chair.
“Well, he said the radiation didn’t match S-126.”
“Did he have an alternate theory?” Lois asked. “Because when I questioned Dr. Klein, he said S-126 is the only substance currently being tested at Star Labs that’s radioactive.”
“Oh, yeah. He had a theory.”
“Where were they been killed?” Perry asked.
“According to my expert, the most likely place is the Lexcorp Nuclear Power Plant.”
“So what were a bunch of Star Labs employees doing to get themselves killed by radiation at the Lexcorp Nuclear Power Plant?” Lois asked.
Henderson shrugged. “Maybe they were murdered to convince the world of the dangers of S-126.”
“Are you suggesting that Lex murdered a whole bunch of Star Labs employees just to discredit S-126?” Cat asked.
“Now, I didn’t say that,” Henderson responded immediately. “There is nothing to link Luthor to this particular incident. And I suspect that given enough time, Luthor will be kind enough to lead us to some sacrificial lamb who will take the fall for this.”
“And Lex will walk away, free and clear,” Perry said. “Why do I get the feeling that you aren’t overly surprised by this?”
“I’ve been investigating Luthor for years,” Henderson said. “But I’ve never even gotten close to him.”
“Maybe this time will be different.”
“Maybe,” Henderson conceded, although his tone indicated just how little he believed that.
“Still, none of this exonerates Perry,” Alice said.
“Jimmy, how did you make out with those bank records?” Perry asked.
“Not very well. The person who did this was good - better than I am with a computer.”
“So that’s a dead end?”
“Not exactly. Computer geeks get to know each other over time. And even if they don’t exactly know each other, they at least know about each other.”
“And one such person works at the Bank of Metropolis?” Lois asked.
“Not exactly. But I checked in with some of my hacker buddies, trying to figure out whose work this might be. And they had a name.” Jimmy gave a dramatic pause. “His name is Eric Press. He’s like the Michael Jordan of hackers.”
“Then we’ve got to talk to him,” Lois said excitedly.
“Already done,” Cat said, looking very much as if she’d just eaten the canary as she pulled a small cassette tape out of her purse.
“You?” Lois asked in disbelief.
“Lois, I can get any man to talk to me,” Cat responded, her tone of voice conveying the method she’d used to get him to talk.
“So what did he have to say for himself?” Perry asked.
“Well, I pretended that I was a computer geek groopy. It wasn’t long before he was bragging to me about every hack job or computer trick he’d ever done. Soon he was spilling his guts about the job he’d done a couple days ago - altering Perry’s bank accounts. He even told me how he did it. When I left he was too hot and bothered to worry about what he’d told me.”
“Once I had that information,” Jimmy said. “I was able to emulate his style, back track his work and prove that the records were altered.”
“Was Luthor the one who commissioned this?” Henderson asked.
Cat shook her head. “No. He claimed Preston Carpenter paid him for the work.”
“I don’t understand,” Alice said. “I thought Luthor was behind this.”
“Unless Carpenter and Luthor are working together,” Jack said.
Perry shook his head. “I doubt it. Luthor and Carpenter have gone head-to-head too many times to trust each other enough to work together on something like this.”
“So how does it all fit together?” Lois asked, only to be met by silence. “So what did you find, Perry?” she finally asked.
“I spent most of the day contacting sources. Nothing. Then I contacted a couple of friends I have on the Planet’s board, trying to find out who had tipped them off about the story. They didn’t know.”
“That’s where I came in,” Jack said. “Perry called me and asked me to see what I could find on the other board members.”
“I needed some leverage. And I figured with Jack’s low profile, he could follow some of the board members, see if he could find any thing I could use.”
“And did he?” Lois asked.
Jack smiled. “It seems Simon Truesdale had a sudden attack of conscience. He’s now willing to confess that he received a phone call from Preston Carpenter, informing him of the story.”
“So it was Carpenter...”
“Well, that’s not exactly all he had to say. Apparently, after the story broke, he received a substantial cash inducement to hire Claude. And that money came from Luthor.”
“Any particular reason for Truesdale’s sudden attack of conscience?” Jimmy asked.
“It might be related to a certain video tape he’s hoping his wife never receives.”
“Poor woman,” Perry said.
“Not after the divorce settlement,” Jack said.
Lois gave Jack a swat across the back of his head. “Still, the pieces don’t fit. If they aren’t working together...” She gave her head a shake. “Well, at least we have what we need to get Perry cleared.”
“So when are you coming back to work?” Cat asked. “Even I’m not sure how much longer I can stomach Claude as editor.”
“I’m not,” Perry said.
“What?” The question was gasped by every employee of the Daily Planet present.
“We don’t show our hand until we get the whole story.”
“So we need to find the connection between Lex and Carpenter,” Lois said in frustration.
“Any ideas on how we do that?” Jack asked a completely silent room.**
“Wait!” Clark said. “I think I remember what was evading me earlier.”
“Is it relevant here?”
“I think so,” Clark said. “I had to work that Saturday. Anyway, at one point I decided to go talk to Carpenter. I don’t know why, but something just didn’t feel right about this story. Maybe it was knowing how thrilled Carpenter was to bring down Perry. Maybe it was a result of the run-in I had with you. Anyway, for whatever reason, I felt as if I had missed something. I was just approaching the door to his office when...”
**Clark stopped, hand raised to knock, when he heard voices coming from inside. Maybe now was not the best time to talk to Carpenter. He was about to leave when he stopped in his tracks.
“Congratulations, Preston. You did what you set out to do. It’s only a matter of time now before the Daily Planet is ripe for takeover - without White to guide it.”
The voice penetrated through the barriers which normally prevented Clark from listening in on other people’s conversations - as if somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew this conversation was important.
“Yes, it was a stroke of good luck when Kent and King came to me with that story.”
“Of course, you coming up with those phony bank accounts wasn’t exactly luck.”
Carpenter laughed. “Yes, that was a brilliant idea. After all, the very idea that Perry White could be bought... I knew there had to be some mistake as soon as I saw their evidence. But taking advantage of the situation is one of the reasons that I will win.”
“You are a man of vision.”
“No. I’m a man of action. Remember Charles Foster Kane?”
“Of course.”
“My idol, although he was only a movie character. I have, however, devoted my time to becoming the genuine article.”
“Aren’t you already?”
“Not quite. You see, Kane not only reported the news, he made it. He set out an agenda for the country, then had his papers promote that agenda. And the country followed. Soon I’ll have that kind of power. Soon.
“I was even able to use the opportunity to take a shot at Luthor. Not that it will bring LNN down. But it’s just a matter of time before I manage that, too.”
Clark backed slowly away from the door. He had been used. Lane had been right.
He turned, the elevators in his sights. He had to get out of there. He had to make this right.
A few minutes later, he was on the roof of Lex towers. What he’d overheard the last time he’d been at Luthor’s penthouse had told him that Luthor was somehow manipulating the news at the Daily Planet. But if it wasn’t Perry White, who was it?
No one was in Luthor’s office at the moment. Clark x-rayed the building until he found what he was looking for. In the waste basket in the office adjoining Luthor’s penthouse office was the transmitter that was disguised as a pen.
A quick check showed that the balcony door was unlocked. A moment and a rush of wind later, the pen was situated on a shelf near Luthor’s desk. And Clark was attaching the speaker to the tape recorder. If Luthor hadn’t been giving White a fifty thousand dollar bribe, what exactly had he been doing?**
“But we already know why Lex gave Perry the money,” Lois said.
“You did. I didn’t. But that’s not why I’m telling you this part of the story.” Clark took a deep breath. “Anyway, I sat on that roof for hours before Luthor showed up. I guess that must have been during the time that he was at your place. He finally arrived with Nigel. I watched the activity through the roof, even as the tape recorder captured every word.”
**Clark had to admit, he didn’t understand half of what Luthor and his assistant were talking about. Certainly nothing about Perry White or S-126.
Of course, Clark had found it interesting when Luthor mentioned having had his office swept for bugs. Obviously, he’d realized that someone had overheard a private conversation. Equally as obvious was that he hadn’t, at the time, swept Mrs. Cox’s office for bugs. If he had, he’d have found the pen. “Trying to save a few bucks, Luthor?” Clark quietly whispered. Well, hopefully that would be the man’s downfall.
Still, it had been over an hour now since Luthor had returned to his penthouse. Clark sighed. How much longer before...
Suddenly Clark sat up a bit straighter.
“Congratulations on Perry White, by the way,” Nigel said.
“Now... what makes you think I had anything to do with that?”
“When I found out that Perry White had been fired, I knew that you had to be involved,” Nigel said.
Luthor chuckled. “Perry White has been a thorn in my side for years now. A man who can’t be bought is of no use to me. I mean, I’d found a way around it, Nigel. I’d charmed Lois Lane enough to get inside information on the Planet’s investigations when required. Still, to finally be rid of White...” Luthor held a cigar to his lips. “Life is sweet, Nigel. Life is sweet.”
Nigel immediately stepped forward and held a flame to light his master’s cigar. “So how’d you do it?”
“Well, it was actually something of a lucky happenstance. I knew Carpenter has been trying to bring down the Daily Planet.” He looked at his employee. “It helps to keep informed, Nigel.”
“Just so, sir. So how did you take advantage of that?”
“Two reporters from The Star showed up here, nosing around for an interview. I had a meeting with Perry later in the evening. When I saw the same two reporters there, I knew I was being followed. So I made an impulsive decision. Turned out it was the right one. A little more expensive than I would have liked, but...”
“How so, sir?”
“I had two envelopes on me. One was a cheque for five thousand dollars for Perry’s pet charity. The second was a fifty thousand dollar cash payment for Jefferson Cole. I just gave Perry the fifty thousand dollars. As I suspected, the reporters stayed behind to find out what was in the envelope. I let Carpenter take it from there - knowing that when he got the story, he’d find a way to juice it up for use against Perry.”
“Brilliant, sir.”
“It was, wasn’t it. Sun Tzu said ‘When the enemy gives you an opening, be swift as a hare and he will be unable to withstand you.’ And now, as a result of my quick thinking, there’s an editor in place at the Planet who has much more expensive tastes than Perry White.”
“And what about Ms. Lane, sir?”
“It’s only a matter of time, given the hostility between Lois and her new editor, before she’s nothing more than a footnote in the history of the Daily Planet. So I ended my relationship with her tonight. I had planned something a little more... satisfying for our final date. Unfortunately, Lois was not inclined to cooperate. Not that it matters. After all, I have no further need for Lois Lane.”
Clark sat back, staring up at the stars. He’d been used. First, by Carpenter. Now by Luthor. And yet, what did he do with this information? It wasn’t as if Carpenter would ever agree to run this story. In fact, Clark had no doubt that Carpenter would find a way to bury it.**
“Why didn’t you come over with it right away. I mean, if you got it on Saturday night...” Lois asked.
“Well, it was late - very late. And at first, I was too distressed about what I’d discovered. I’d been used, Lois. Not only by Carpenter on some crazy quest to become some sort of new-age Kane, but also by Luthor. I felt like a total fool. And coming to you like that...” He shook his head. “Besides, I knew that what I had on tape would hurt you, too. After all, Luthor’s comments about you... I was sort of afraid that you’d blame me for bringing it to you. Anyway, by Sunday, I had finally worked up the nerve to talk to you about it.”
“I remember,” Lois said, reaching out to give his hand a squeeze.
**Lois was as tired as she could ever remember being as she removed the keys to her apartment from her purse. And to think that tomorrow she was going to have to get up and go into work - only to report to Claude.
Damn!
Why did Perry have to insist on getting the whole story before clearing his name? Surely he could come back now, and then they could work together to get the rest of the story. Okay, so maybe both Carpenter and Lex would scurry for cover if they discovered that Perry was on to them. But so what? The important thing here was to clear Perry and get rid of Claude.
“Lane?”
Lois jumped at the sound of a man saying her name. She spun around to confront the intruder standing in the hallway. Kent? She let out a breath. This was just what she didn’t need right now. Where had he come from anyway? He’d appeared so silently that she hadn’t had any warning. Well, he was keeping his distance so... maybe she could get rid of him quickly.
“What do you want?” she asked. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted that Kent seemed to flinch away from the anger in her voice. Well, too bad. She’d made her feelings about him all too clear a couple of nights ago. If he didn’t have the good sense to stay away, that was his problem.
“Look. I know I’m probably the last person in the world you want to see right now...”
“You think?”
Ignoring the biting sarcasm in her words, he continued to speak. “...but we need to talk.”
She rolled her eyes, turning towards her door to continue unlocking it. “Sorry, Kent. I think we’ve pretty much said all we have to say to each other.” She stepped inside her apartment and had begun closing the door on her unwelcome guest when he continued.
“I’ve got the evidence you need to clear Perry White!”
She stopped and then, slowly opened the door again, just far enough to stand in the doorway, regarding him leerily. Was he just trying to find out how much she knew? “What makes you think that we don’t already have the evidence necessary to clear Perry?”
“You don’t have this.”
“Okay, so what do you have?”
Kent looked around the hallway. “Can we talk inside?”
Lois stared at him for a long moment. As much as she might hate it, he was right. The hallway of her building probably was hardly the place for this conversation. Especially if he really did have information for her - which, in her mind, was still a very large question. She hesitated for a moment more before, without inviting him in, turning and walking into her apartment, leaving the door open behind her.
As expected, he followed her through, closing the door softly behind him.
She turned, facing him just inside her apartment, arms folded across her chest.
“First, let me say that you were right and I was wrong. And I’m so sorry for...”
“Just tell me what you have, Kent. I don’t have all night,” she said, still not sure if he was on the level with her or not.
He shut his mouth before giving her a brief nod. “Okay, yesterday, I overheard a conversation where Preston Carpenter admitted to doctoring the numbers in Mr. White’s bank account to make Linda and I believe that he had taken money from Luthor on various occasions,” Clark said.
“Okay, fine. I already knew that but thanks for telling me,” Lois said. “Now... if you don’t mind... it’s late.”
“Wait! There’s something else. After I heard the conversation, it made me wonder what Luthor was really up to. So I went back to Lex Towers and I bugged his penthouse office.” Kent removed a small cassette tape from his pocket. “I think you might want to listen to this.”
Lois fought the impulse to jump towards him and snatch the tape from his hand. Instead, she stepped slowly forward, holding out her hand casually. He placed it in her hand and for a moment skin contacted skin.
Lois had to fight the urge to jerk away at the spark of electricity that seemed to jump between them. Instead, she simply took the tape and stepped back again. “Thanks.”
He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but after a moment, he turned back to the door. With his hand on the door, he turned to look at her one final time before simply nodding and stepping out the door. Without saying goodbye, she closed the door behind him, fighting to get the trembling in her limbs under control.
It took a few deep breaths but finally she was able to walk over to the kitchen table. Immediately removing her tape recorder from her purse, she inserted the tape.
A few minutes later, she was sitting at the table staring blankly into space. Kent wasn’t the only one who had been a dupe. Lex had used her just as surely as he had used Kent. Still, now was not the time to get lost in self-pity.
Getting up, she made her way to the phone. A few minutes later, her feelings of depression were alleviated by Perry’s yell of “Hot damn!” It was practically loud enough to wake the dead.
“So how did you get this, honey?” he finally asked.
“Well, actually...”
“Oh, hell. I don’t care,” Perry said. “Just tell me you’re sure it’s real.”
Lois thought about that for a moment before realizing that she was. “Yes, Perry. It’s real.”
“Then I’ll see you in the morning,” Perry said excitedly before yelling his wife’s name.
Lois couldn’t help but smile as she hung up the phone. As she got ready for bed, she thought about the tape again. She would tell Perry where the tape came from in the morning. After all, even if there was no future for her and Kent, she at least owed him that much.**
“So did you? Tell Perry, I mean?” Clark asked.
Lois nodded as she thought back to that time.
**Lois cautiously knocked on the door to Perry’s office, for once waiting to be invited before walking through.
“Hey, darlin’, what’s going on?”
She fiddled nervously with her hands. “I just... Well, I think you need to know where I got that tape of Lex.”
“What did you do?”
“No. No. Not me. I mean... when I got home last night... Clark Kent was waiting for me.”
Perry sprung to his feet. “You got the tape from Kent? Hell, honey, you should have told me this before. There’s no way any evidence from that man can be trusted.”
“I believe it’s valid, Perry. I was skeptical, but... Well, I had an encounter with Lex that backs up what’s on that tape.”
Perry walked to the door, closing it quietly before turning back to Lois. “What happened?”
“Well, among other things. Lex indicated that I could lose my job, just like you had lost yours. It was a threat, Perry. I have no problems believing that he was at least partially responsible for setting you up.”
Perry ran his hand through his hair, growling slightly under his breath. “Okay, well, that certainly backs up what was on the tape. But still... why would Kent do that? What’s in it for him?”
“I think he felt as if he’d been used.”
“Used? After what he did to you, how can you even say that? That man doesn’t get used. He’s a user.” **
“What I did to you?” Clark asked.
Lois shrugged. “I guess he could have been talking about you blowing my cover on a couple of stories.”
“Is that what you think?”
Lois hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “No, I think there’s more there, but... I’m sorry. I just don’t know what it is.”
“So... what happened then?”
**Lois didn’t respond. After all, she couldn’t deny that Perry had a point.
“And anyway... Why bring it to you? Why not write it up for his own paper - or, if Carpenter wouldn’t run it, take it somewhere else? He could do it as an anonymous source. Could probably even make some money from it. Why give it to us?
“No, that boy wants something. He’s trying to ingratiate himself to us. The idea that he would do this out of some sort of late blooming sense of integrity... No. No. No. It doesn’t make any sense. This tape is some sort of attempt to get us to let down our guard. Some sort of Trogan Horse. He wants us to trust him. Why? Nothing to our good, I can assure you.
“Besides... even if he was the sole of integrity, which we know he isn’t, the damage he’s done to my reputation can’t be undone. People will remember the scandal, not the retraction.”**
Clark sighed. “Well, I guess we knew that Perry still doesn’t like me so...”
“I like you.”
Clark smiled.
“But I have to admit, Clark. He did make me wonder. I mean, you seemed interested in... starting something with me. And I guess I sort of found myself wondering if you gave me the tape as a way to... I don’t know. Seduce me, or something. It would explain why you came to me instead of writing it up for another publication.” She studied her fingernails, ashamed that she could ever have believed such a time of this honorable man. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said softly, rescuing one of her hands so that he could lightly stroke the tension out of it. “So do you remember what happened after I gave you the tape? How did Perry get his job back?”
Lois nodded. “Perry contacted one of the board members, one he trusted, and gave him a copy of our evidence. Perry was immediately reinstated. We ran the story. Of course, there wasn’t enough against Claude to legitimately fire him. After all, all Lex had said was that Claude had more expensive tastes than Perry.” She thought for a moment. “Our only real problem was that we didn’t have any evidence of illegal conduct by either Lex or Carpenter. I mean, it’s not illegal to lie to the public. Tabloids do it all the time. Nor is illegal to pay someone to lie to the press.
“Of course, had the claims been true against Perry, Perry could probably have been charged - fraud against an employer. But Carpenter owned The Star - so there was no fraud. Perry could, of course, have sued both Lex and Carpenter, but... he decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Both of them had deep pockets. And Perry didn’t want to be tied up with lawyers for years and years. Besides, it would drag the issue out. And in the end, it would only make more people aware of the allegations - not the verdict.
“But there was one final consequence of the story,” Lois continued. “Carpenter was still running The Star, still looking for a way to destroy the Daily Planet. And that’s why Perry called a meeting in the conference room...”
**“All right, people. Listen up,” Perry said, causing everyone crowded into the conference room to fall silent. “As of this moment, The Daily Planet and The Star are at war. Anyone caught fraternizing with the enemy better have their resume all polished up and ready to go, because you’ll be fired and singing Heartbreak Hotel quicker than the King can tune his guitar. Do I make myself clear?”
There was a general muttering of acknowledgment around the room.
“Do I make myself clear?” Perry said again, this time louder.
His audience responded in kind.
“Good. Because I’m not fooling here, folks. Any Daily Planet employee caught as much as giving a Star employee a pen at a press conference is gone.” With that final warning, Perry turned and stormed out of the room.**
“I went by the Daily Planet later that day to try to apologize to Perry,” Clark said.
“I remember. I was there when he threw you out.”
“I saw you.” He gave her a sad smile. “Do you remember anything else?”
Lois nodded. “A few days later, the manager of the Lexcorp Nuclear Plant committed suicide. His suicide note said that he’d killed himself because he could no longer live with the guilt of killing all those Star Labs employees.”
“I remember that. He claimed that he’d killed them hoping that it would discredit S-126 - afraid that if there was free power, he’d lose his job.”
“So Henderson was right and Lex did give us a sacrificial lamb to take the fall for the Hobbs Bay deaths.”
“Do you remember what happened to Jefferson Cole?”
Lois nodded. “Cole was fired from his job and discredited in the scientific community. But he didn’t go to jail.”
“Do you think that means he doesn’t try to frame you for murder?”
Lois shrugged. “Who knows. But I also remember that Star Labs quit working with S-126. Apparently, they discovered that there wasn’t enough of it in Smallville... and it hadn’t been found anywhere else, to make converting it to a usable source of power financially feasible.”
“So Luthor killed, or had killed, all those people to discredit S-126 and it was completely unnecessary?”
“Seems so. Anyway, if they decided that it wasn’t practical to develop kryptonite into a power source, that might not be a bad thing.”
“There is one final thing I remember about that time,” Clark said.
“What?” Lois asked.
**Clark had to try one final time. He fiddled with the zipper on his jacket as he waited on the street outside her apartment. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to say. Not that he hadn’t tried to find the right words, words that would get her to forgive him. She’d said when this whole thing had started that she was beginning to think that she might have misjudged him. And given the pain she’d seen in her eyes when she’d walked out of his apartment that night, he was almost convinced that she had feelings for him.
Surely if she had feelings for him, they could work past this. But... how did he get her to take that first step? What could he say that would reach her?
He saw a taxi pull up in front of her building and watched as Lane stepped out. He rushed across the street, his foot hitting the first step to her apartment building as her hand landed on the door handle.
“Lane,” he said softly.
She stopped, but didn’t turn towards him. He could hear her heartbeat speed up and knew she had heard him.
“Please, talk to me,” Clark begged when she didn’t move to enter her building. “I’m so sorry about everything. Please, give me another chance. I really think we could have something special if you’d just give me a chance.”
For a moment, she rested her head against the doorframe. “I’m sorry. I can’t,” she whispered in a voice so soft that he knew he wasn’t meant to hear her. Then, without as much as looking in his direction, she opened the door and stepped inside.
Clark closed his eyes as a tear slid slowly down his cheek. It was over. It was really over.**
* * * * * * * * *
“I could really do with some supper,” Clark said, leaning back in his chair. It felt as if he’d just lived through the nine stages of hell - all in the course of the last few hours. Judging by the strained expression on his wife’s face, she felt the same. Reliving these hard times in their past... No, not their past. This past. This distorted version of the past, perhaps. But never their past. But it was starting to get difficult to keep things straight in his mind.
“Yeah. I could use a break, too,” Lois said. “The last few hours have been a little...”
“Emotional?”
She gave him a tired smile. “Yeah. But once we eat, I think we have to keep going. I just can’t stop worrying about Vicky.”
Clark drew a deep breath at the mention of his daughter. She was right. For Vicky’s sake, they had to keep going - no matter how difficult it was. “Okay, why don’t I fly back to my apartment and get the sandwiches Mom made for us?” He rose to his feet.
“Wait!”
“What?”
“There’s no Superman in this reality.”
“Oh, right. Well, don’t worry, I can fly fast enough when I don’t have a passenger to be almost...”
“...invisible, right. Just be sure you don’t vaporize Martha’s brownies on the way back.”
Clark smiled, leaning over to give his wife a kiss before turning to leave the room.
* * * * * * * * *
When Clark returned, he found Lois still in the conference room, bent over her computer screen reading intently.
“Find something?” he asked as he set their supper on the table.
“Yeah. Take a look at this.” She scrolled back to the beginning of the story so that he could see what she was referring to.
On the screen in front of him was what appeared to be a wedding photo. Mr. and Mrs. Lex Luthor. Luthor himself was looking as cocky as ever. The woman next to him, who didn’t appear to be more than eighteen - if that - looked terrified.
“I remember something about this,” she said softly.
“What?”
She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she struggled to get a grip on the memory. “I’m not sure.”
“Wait a minute! Wasn’t she the one who brought Luthor down?”
Lois’ expression cleared. “Right. Of course. Yeah. Apparently she wasn’t too thrilled with being Mrs. Lex Luthor. Started working with Henderson shortly after she and Lex got back from their honeymoon. If I recall correctly, Lex never even saw it coming.”
Lois and Clark both shared a smile.
“Yeah, I remember the siege that took place at Lex Towers - when the police tried to bring him in. It was the first time I’d seen you since that night at your apartment.”
Lois nodded as she thought back.
**Lois knew Kent had joined the crowd of press outside Lex Towers almost the instant he stepped out of the taxi. It had been almost two months since Perry had been reinstated, two months during which time she had thrown herself into her work, refusing to think about Kent.
But for some reason, that didn’t stop the dreams. It didn’t stop the cold emptiness that came to her when she woke in the middle of the night to find that she was alone.
What was she doing? She was supposed to be here to cover the fall of the House of Luthor - not mooning over a man she could never have, never really trust. He was still the enemy. And in the last two months, Perry’s stance had not wavered. Even if she personally might have been willing to forgive Kent, there was no point. She would not risk her job for a ‘maybe’ - and a wobbly maybe at best. No man was worth that.
She pushed back the feeling of cold as she directed her eyes up towards the penthouse, as if by looking up she could see what was going on inside.
It was supposed to have been a quiet arrest. No crowds. No press. Just arrest Luthor quickly before the press was even aware it was happening. But Lex had taken hostages and soon the whole thing was out of control. And now... media circus was probably the best way to describe the situation. In fact, she might use that expression in her article.
In the corner of her eye, she could see Kent begin to shift from foot to foot, even as he stared intently up at the top floor of Lex Towers. If she hadn’t known better, she could almost imagine that he was watching the action inside. His increased agitation was obvious, as if things weren’t going well. And then... He took off, around the corner of the building.
“What?” she asked, taking a couple steps towards the alley where he had disappeared. Had he found another way in - another way to get to the action inside?
“Look!” someone shouted.
Lois’ attention was diverted from Kent’s unusual disappearance by the sight of everyone looking at the penthouse balcony. Was that a man standing on the ledge? Seeing one of her colleagues using a pair of binoculars, she quickly stepped forward, swiping them from the startled man’s hand to get a look at the balcony herself.
“Hey, Lane! What do you think you’re doing?”
She stared upwards through the device. Yes. A man was definitely standing on the ledge surrounding the balcony, swinging his arms around.
The man whose binoculars she had stolen gave up to look back at the balcony, not wanting to miss the action, when the crowd suddenly gasped.
She pulled in a sharp breath, thinking the man was falling off the balcony, only to suddenly realize that although he was going over, he was falling onto the balcony, and into the clutches of the waiting police.
A gasp of relief or disappointment, Lois couldn’t tell which, went up from the watching crowd. And suddenly, Kent was back, standing with the rest of the reporters, acting as if he’d been there the whole time. Where had he gone? What was he trying to hide?
She looked over at him and for a moment their eyes met. He looked startled and then... his face softened, looking as if it was about to relax into a friendly smile in her direction. She looked away.
No. The last thing she needed to do right now was to encourage him in any way. They were rivals, and that was the way it was going to stay. Perry was right. Being friends with someone from a competing paper was bad news. Especially Clark Kent.
“Ladies and Gentlemen.”
Lois’ attention was directed back to the front of the building by a police officer addressing the crowd.
“We now have Lex Luthor in custody,” the officer said. “He did give us a bit of a problem, even threatened to commit suicide, jumping up on the balcony ledge. But he must have changed his mind because he jumped in the wrong direction and we were able to easily detain him.”
Just then, cameras began to flash and reporters began to chatter excitedly as the doors of the building opened and Henderson and company escorted Lex Luthor out of the building.
Lois almost gasped at the change in Lex. He no longer looked like the calm self assured man she knew. He looked half wild, yelling at the people directing him towards the waiting police car.
“God pushed me down onto that balcony. He saved me. You saw it. How can you not believe? I have God on my side. I am the new messiah.”
Lois’ eyebrows rose as she watched Lex forced into the back seat of the police car. Whatever had happened on that balcony, it had obviously caused Lex to lose his mind.**
“You pushed him, didn’t you? That’s what you did when you went around the side of the building,” Lois said.
Clark nodded. “He was about to jump. I couldn’t let it happen.”
Lois studied him for a moment before nodding. To Clark, a life was a life. And every life was precious - even that of Lex Luthor.
“And here I thought you must have rushed around the building to relieve yourself.”
“What?” Clark gasped.
She shrugged. “You seemed to be shifting around a lot before you left and yet were fine when you returned and so I just thought...”
“...that I slipped into an alley to relieve myself?”
Lois shrugged. “Well, hey, better that than me guessing the truth. I hate to think what I might have done with it.”
* * * * * * * * *
END OF SEASON ONE
TO BE CONTINUED...
