Hello, everyone. Thanks to those who gave me feedback.
And thanks to rkn for betaing.
Here's part 20.
A Box of Swiss Chocolates
The next morning, Clark got up early. 5:00AM, to be exact. After all, he had a lot of work ahead of him. And in Switzerland, it was already 11:00AM. So he needed to get a move on.
There was no need to wake up Lois, though, he said to himself. She needed sleep a lot more than he did. And he knew from personal experience that she was definitely NOT a morning person. So Clark quietly came downstairs and spun into Superman. Then he flew out the window without a second thought. There was no need to bother with breakfast. He didn’t need to eat, and it would waste precious time.
He quickly arrived in Zurich, where Kiley had said that Luthor was living. He had to wonder why he hadn’t decided to take over Lexcorp in Metropolis yet. But he was probably just biding his time. Or maybe this Luthor was planning to take over Zurich instead.
Kiley said he ran a chocolate shop called, “The Choco Bean.” He snorted. The man was obviously trying to seduce his daughter through chocolate. He was well aware of how much Lane women enjoyed chocolate; he had surprised Lois with it many times as well. But there was a difference between buying someone chocolate because you knew it made them happy, and buying someone chocolate so you could buy their love or seduce their good sense.
Anyway, the first thing he needed to do was talk to Luthor’s employees if he wanted to find out about this man. So, after finding it, he causally strolled into the shop, pretending to look around. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been in a dozen of these places over the years to buy gifts for Lois. They were all pretty similar.
He stopped next to a stock hand. “Hello, sir. Good day,” Clark commented in Swiss German, trying to make conversation.
“Definitely,” the man agreed.
“So can you tell me if this is a good place to work? What kind of benefits do you get?” Clark tried to keep his tone causal.
“It’s a pretty good place,” the employee said nodding. “’We get paid vacations and sick time and all that. And the owner is generally very cheerful. I’ve noticed he’s not so happy for the last week or so, but he doesn’t take it out on us or anything.”
Okay, so Luthor kept his deception up to his employees. Or at least some of them, anyhow. Well, the original Luthor kept his deception to some of his employees as well. Of course, just as many of them lied for Luthor, so that could be the case here, as well.
He picked up a package of cookies and walked up to the counter. “Hello,” he greeted the next employee. “Do you enjoy working here?”
The man behind the counter nodded nonchalantly and rung up the cookies. “It’s not too bad.”
“What kind of things do you do here?”
The cashier shrugged. “Over the counter, stock, whatever needs to be done.”
Clark purposely listened to the man’s heartbeat to see if he was lying, but seemed to be telling the truth. Of course, he noticed the man’s comment about “whatever needs to be done.” What kind of sinister work did that include, he wondered. He’d have to check that out more thoroughly later.
Clark walked out of the Choco Bean, holding the cookies. Maybe he should pick people who weren’t so loyal to Luthor. He signed their paychecks, after all. They probably felt they had to say nice things about him.
He picked up the box and sniffed the cookies carefully. He wouldn’t put it past Luthor to put drugs in his chocolates to make more people buy them. But they smelled like cookies, and with his super-nose, he would be able to detect any drugs. Clark shrugged. Either there weren’t any drugs in this particular batch, or he wasn’t actually spiking the chocolates. That was something he’d have to look into later. He tossed the cookies in a nearby garbage can. It wasn’t like he actually wanted anyone in his family to eat them, at any rate.
For now, he’d ask people nearby what they thought of Luthor. Some people were unlikely to know him; after all, for some reason, he didn’t seem to have as much of a presence here as the original Luthor did in Metropolis. It could be because this Luthor worked more in the underground, of course. But, some people probably would know him, one way or another. And maybe he’d get a less biased view.
So he walked up to a person on the sidewalk very business like. “Excuse me, ma’am, my name is Clark. I’m conducting a survey. I work for a newspaper,” he said in Swiss German. All of that was true, but it was also vague enough so she wouldn’t wonder what he was really up to if she were the curious sort.
The woman nodded, not seeming to mind.
“I was wondering if you could tell me about some of our local business people,” Clark began, once again trying to sound innocent.
So the woman described several local restaurant owners and shop owners.
“And what do you think of Larry Luthor? He’s got that chocolate shop, the Choco Bean, I think he calls it.”
She shrugged. “I’ve never heard of it.”
He fired the same questions at another woman. “I love the Choco Bean! They have really fresh chocolate, you know.”
The fourth person he interviewed, a man, had a different opinion, though. “Luthors!,” he exclaimed. “They’re all up to no good. I remember when I was young, Lex Luthor would occasionally come by here to visit. He had this fortress around here somewhere, you know. And servants secretly working for him over there. It was creepy. I can’t believe we’ve got another one around here.”
There! That was what Clark was looking for. The new Luthor was obviously influenced by the old one. And this man knew that and wasn’t afraid to say so. He wondered if Luthor was still living in this “fortress.” Or even kept it as a headquarters for underground business, or something. He’d have to check that out.
He interviewed other people on this subject. Some had never heard of him. Others talked about how great his chocolates were. One person talked about how he sometimes saw him at the opera. He shuddered. There was another correlation. The original Luthor always made it obvious he enjoyed opera. Apparently this Luthor did as well.
He needed to do some more in-depth research, though. He would have never have nailed the original Luthor by only talking to people about what they thought of him. Maybe he should look at his birth records next. After all, Kiley claimed he was Lex Luthor’s nephew, but how did she know that? Maybe he was really his son or something.
So Clark spent the afternoon looking at birthing records, by pretending to be a temp. doing inventory. He chuckled, despite this tense situation. Lois’s ideas for investigations had really rubbed off on him. He found out that Larry did have a mother named Lacey Luthor, according to the records and no father listed. He couldn’t find any records for Lacey, which probably meant she wasn’t born here. Well, then Larry’s story was the official story. Clark wasn’t sure if that meant it was true or if the truth was just hid exceptionally well.
Next, he decided to see if he could find this “fortress.” That could very well answer all of his questions. But Clark looked for the next two days, and still couldn’t find it. What was the point of having X-ray vision if he couldn’t find something when he really needed to? he grumbled to himself. He was getting tired though.
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While her father had been investigating Larry Luthor, Kiley continued to obsess about her situation. Her plan to have her family meet Larry and decide for themselves if he was trustworthy had not worked at all. It seemed like she might actually have to choose between Larry and her family.
Unfortunately, she COULDN’T choose between them. They were both equally important to her. But right now, with her family being upset at her for keeping Larry from them for so long and for continuing to believe in his good nature, and Larry not accepting her in his life while she continued to keep major secrets from him, she had no one.
No one except her paints, that is she added to herself as she continued to work on the painting that illustrated her broken family and her feelings about that.
That evening, her phone rang. She wondered who it could be. Her family wasn’t speaking to her, Larry wasn’t speaking to her, and her gallery had no reason to contact her as far as she knew.
“Hello?” she said into the phone.
“Kiley, It’s Mom.” Kiley almost dropped the phone. Her mother had been the one most upset at her for keeping Larry a secret. Why was she calling?
“Listen, I haven’t been able to find your father all day. I know he’s not on a rescue. I would have heard about it by now. He didn’t even show up for work…And,” her mother’s voice shook. “I just keep remembering the last time I couldn’t find him, a month ago. We think we’ve got all the Kryptonite at STAR labs now, but…” her voice trailed off.
Kiley stopped short, picturing her father in pain from Kryptonite for a WHOLE DAY. What would that do to him? If only she had worked harder to bridge the gap between her and Dad!
Mom continued, “I know we’re not on the best of terms right now, Kiley, and I’m sorry about that. But…you found him last time and…”
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll find him,” Kiley replied, trying to comfort her mother and herself at the same time. Everything would be okay. Right? She hung up the phone and spun into Superwoman.
Then she took off and circled the city, using her X-ray vision to check the inside of all the buildings. There was no sign of her father an hour later. Maybe she should check more carefully? Superwoman tried again.
Half way through, she noticed a knife attack in full swing. The victim was already being cut up pretty badly. Kiley didn’t really want to bother with individual rescues tonight. The more time she spent NOT looking for her father the more trouble he could be in. But she couldn’t very well watch something like that happen and do nothing!
So Superwoman stopped the knife attack and gave the perpetrators a “stern talking to” before handing them over to the police. Then she took the victim to the hospital. Although none of her wounds looked life-threatening, any attack like that was serious.
Then she went back to looking for her father. Where was he? An hour later, there was still no sign of him after her more through “checking.” Would he be outside the city? Villains did that sometimes.
So Kiley flew to the outer ring of Metropolis, making sure to check old warehouses, where torturing her father would be easy. There was nothing.
Suddenly she heard a scream! Dad? But it didn’t sound like his voice. She flew towards the sound. A guy was on top of a young woman without any clothes on. “Nononononon!” she screamed. “Johnny, I said no!”
She shuddered at the sight. The poor woman was obviously terrified. Whether she could find her father or not, she was glad to be able to solve this problem. She picked the guy of the woman, and told him, “IF SHE SAID NO, SHE MEANT NO.”
Then she flew the piece of slime to the police station. Situations like that made her especially glad she had decided to become (and stay) being Superwoman. Although rape victims would probably allow her father’s assistance as well, she also knew they tended to be afraid of men after going through such horror. They probably appreciated her assistance more.
Anyway, unfortunately she couldn’t to anything more for the young woman. The rest would be up to her.
But where was her father? After almost a whole night, there was still no sign of him. Kiley continued to look, though. She needed to find her father. For her mother’s sake and for hers.
Several hours later, Kiley was at her wits end. She couldn’t think of any other places where Dad could possibly be. She flew by Hyperion Avenue. Could she possibly stop in and tell her mother the bad news? Or should she just go home and call her?
She finally went home and called her mother. “I’ve been all over Metropolis twice, Mom. And anywhere within 100 miles of here. I just don’t know where else to look. I’m so sorry, Mom.”
Her mother sighed. “Thanks for trying, Kiley. I’m trying to see where he might have gone or might have been taken myself, through the Daily Planet achieves. If I get anything concrete, I’ll let you know.
Kiley decided to sleep for a couple of hours. She had been up all night, and even though she didn’t need as much sleep as a normal human, it still helped. Besides, there was nothing else for her to do right now.
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Clark flew into the window on Hyperion Avenue that night, tired. Even though Clark didn’t need as much sleep as an earth human, he still needed some. He had been running non-stop for two days on this now, and he was feeling it. Besides, some people might notice Superman kept flying around this area. Clark was still worried about Kiley and wanted to find some solid evidence to convince her of Luthor’s wrongdoing, but he would be able to do that better after a night’s rest. He’d have to try again another day.
Staring him in the face was a very angry Lois.
“Where have you been?! I thought maybe that casino man got a hold of more Kryptonite or something, but Kiley couldn’t find you anywhere. I know you weren’t on a rescue. There hasn’t been anything on the news about Superman in over two days.”
Clark hung his head. In his desire to get started quickly on his investigation, he didn’t tell Lois were he was going at all. He should have at least left a note. He tried to imagine how worried he’d be if she disappeared for two days.
“I’m sorry Lois. I know I should have told you where I was going. But after Kiley made it clear she still wanted to see Luthor, I decided I needed to investigate him. So I went to Switzerland. I haven’t really found anything concrete, yet, though.
Lois did not look happy about this information. “So you went to investigate Larry Luthor by YOURSELF without telling me? Clark the Luthors are known for having Kryptonite! I know we thought we had it all in Dr. Klein’s vault, but then we found Mr. Riccoi had some. Who knows, there might be more floating around! How could you do that without telling me?”
The idea that Luthor might have Kryptonite had not occurred to him, but it wasn’t really the point. “Lois, I already told you that I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. That was wrong. But quite frankly, I don’t really care about the Kryponite. I just want Kiley to see the light on Luthor. I had to do something.”
Lois began pacing through their living room. “I agree with you that we need to do something about Kiley, Clark. But this isn’t the way. You may not care that he might have Kryptonite, but I DO! And I need to tell Kiley that she can stop worrying about her father, because it looks like he’s been fine all along!”
“I haven’t been fine, Lois! I’ve been worried sick about Kiley!” He sighed and plopped himself on one of the living room couches.
Lois dialed Kiley’s number. “Kiley, he’s okay. You don’t need to worry anymore....I….guess he went to Switzerland to find more information on Larry.”
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Several hours after falling asleep, Kiley woke up. Just then, the phone rang. “Hello?” she said into the phone, withdrawn.
“Kiley, he’s okay. You don’t need to worry anymore,” Mom told her.
Thank goodness! Dad was okay! But how did Mom find him? And where was he?
“Where was he, Mom?”
“I guess he went to Switzerland to find more information on Larry.“Oh my gosh, Kiley thought to herself. Why hadn’t that occurred to me? She knew he was upset and worried about her because of Larry. And since investigating was what her father did when he wasn’t being Superman, it made sense.
“Thanks Mom,” she said into the phone before hanging up. She was grateful that her mother told her father was okay. And she was glad that she didn’t have to worry about Dad anymore. But even though she knew it made sense that he was investigating Larry, it hurt. It hurt a lot.
She knew how her parents investigated criminals. And since Dad obviously believed Larry was a criminal, he would operate the same way. They did breaking and entering, went through personal files, undercover work, and underhanded superpower work. Usually that was okay with her. After all, it put more criminals in jail, and her parents knew that it worked for them. They were good at it.
But this wasn’t a criminal he was investigating right now. This was Larry. The man she loved. Her father was breaking and entering his chocolate shop, his house, and who knew what else to find his “evidence.” He would be going through Larry’s personal things. How could Dad do that to Larry? How could he do that to her? Why couldn’t he trust her instincts on this, even just a little?
Not only that, but Dad had done this without telling anyone. He had made her and her mother, and the rest of the family, worry that he was in trouble. Because that was the only reason why Dad would disappear without telling anyone when he was obviously not on a rescue, right? That’s what they’d always believed. Well, it was obviously not true anymore.
Kiley decided to clean her apartment again. She really needed to get her emotions under control right now.
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Great. Now Kiley new he was investigating Luthor. He wasn’t sure that would go over well. He’d really like to find some concrete evidence, first. All he was trying to do was help Kiley, and hopefully put his family back together. Now it seemed everyone was ganging up on him. And he was tired. Why did he have to deal with this now?
“Lois, I came home because I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Fine!” Lois replied, not looking at him.
Clark went upstairs and soon fell asleep. However, a few hours later, Lois came to bed herself. Half asleep, he noticed Lois did not cuddle up with him or put her head on his chest as she usually did. Instead, she slept on the other side of the bed.
The next morning, he got up early again, ready to head back to Switzerland. This time, however, he made sure to leave Lois a note on where he was going, pinning it to the refrigerator. That was one mistake he could correct.
So what should he do first? Try to find this secret fortress again? Or look to see if there were drugs in the chocolates? Or should he talk to some of the shadier people in this town? Maybe they knew Luthor? The problem was Clark had a year to gain evidence against the original Luthor. He didn’t have that much time now.
He finally decided to take a second look at the chocolates. After all, that was what would pertain to Kiley the most. Clark quickly found the bakery in the back of the Choco Bean and used his X-ray vision to look inside. They didn’t seem to be doing anything except making chocolates, but of course, they probably wouldn’t keep the drugs so out in the open.
Maybe he should look at Luthor’s financial records. If he was putting drugs in the chocolates, he would have to buy them, right? Besides, that should give him an idea of what other suspicious business practices he had.
Still, he couldn’t look at Luthor’s financial records of the chocolate store until dark. If he knew where Luthor lived, he could look at his personal records, but Clark had no idea if Luthor was at home today. As much as he wanted to march right up to him, and tell him to leave his daughter alone, he also didn’t want to let Luthor know he was on to him yet.
So maybe he’d look for that darn fortress again. For all he knew, the financial records AND the drugs, no to mention who knew what else, all there.
So Clark continued looking for this mythical fortress, but still found nothing. How close to Zurich was it anyway? Was it way out in the middle of nowhere? He flew further and further away, and still there was no sign of this place. Not even underground. Was it lined with lead? he suddenly wondered. There was a good possibility. No Luthor would want any Superhero stumbling over his hideout. Why hadn’t that occured to him before?
It was getting dark. Maybe he’d try the financial records now. At least he knew where they should be. He flew back to Zurich and landed in an alley, spinning quickly into Clark. He looked around, trying to make sure there was no one in the shop.
A blond man quietly shut the door of the Choco Bean and locked the door. He didn’t seem to recognize where he was going, so the man almost bumped into Clark.
“I’m sorry sir,” the man apologized. “I wasn’t really looking were I was going. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“I do, too. It’s okay,” Clark apologized. The man walked off.
Clark X-rayed the building and noticed to his delight that there was no one else inside. He walked around to the back and flicked the lock with his finger. Doing that, he was reminded of all the locks Lois picked when they investigated together. They didn’t do that so much anymore, because their investigations had scaled down considerably after having children. But there were still a couple of them per a year.
Then he walked into the small office. Looking around, Clark wondered where Luthor would keep his records. In a filing cabinet? He didn’t see any. In the desk? Clark began looking through the desk, careful not to disturb anything. He didn’t want Luthor to know he had been here.
It was odd doing this sort of thing without his partner, Clark thought to himself as he continued to search for anything suspicious. Finally, he found the financial records. He didn’t notice any expenses that would be unusual for a chocolate business, though. Clark supposed he’d have to look at his personal records for more details about Luthor.
As Clark was leaving, careful to keep everything the way he found it, he suddenly stopped short.
He had thought to himself several times that it was weird to do an investigation without Lois. But why WAS he doing an investigation without Lois? Of course, one of them had to go to work at the Planet. But still…they always did investigations together, even when it wasn’t Planet business.
They investigated Tempus together when he tried to be elected President. They investigated Leslie Luckabee, or Lex Luthor, Jr, or whoever he was, together. Of course, he could fly to Switzerland easily and use his powers to make things go faster. But that never stopped him from wanting to work with Lois before. So what was his problem?
Clark flew home, slowly. It was no wonder Lois had been mad at him last night. Not only did he not tell her where he was going, he didn’t include her in his plans at all. He hoped she could forgive him.
He quietly flew into the window and landed. Lois seemed to be watching TV. “Hi, honey,” he said softly as he sat next to her.
Lois ignored him. The way he had been ignoring her, he supposed. “Listen, I realized today that I didn’t include you in my plans at all. I’m really sorry, honey.”
She turned around and faced him. “Why was that, Clark? Not only do you go to a place that could possibly have Kryptonite waiting for you, you pretend I wouldn’t want to be included. I CARE about Kiley, too, Clark. We always do our best investigating together.”
“I know that, honey. I don’t even know why it didn’t occur to me to talk to you first. I know I could have used your input.” He buried his head in his hands in shame. How could he treat his wife like this? “I guess I was just so eager to get Luthor’s claws out of Kiley, that’s all I could think about….And…all this talk about Luthor is reminding me so much of one of the only investigations we didn’t do together,” Clark slowly came to the realization that that was what had been bothering him for the past three days.
Lois nodded in sudden understanding. “When I was engaged to Lex?” she asked him.
Clark nodded.
“Clark you know I’m sorry for everything I put you through back then, right? I didn’t listen to you at all.”
“I know. It’s just that this situation is so similar. Kiley won’t listen to us at all, either. She’s just as stubborn as you were. I guess I’ve been reliving that so much that I ended up figuring I had to do my investigating without you, again.”
“But I don’t think that anymore, Clark. I would have helped, you know that, right?”
“I know Lois. And I never should have shut you out. But my feelings…I’m so sorry, honey. I know I don’t deserve it, but please forgive me.”
Lois smiled and took him in her arms and kissed him. “Come, let’s have some dinner.”
Clark still felt he didn’t deserve her forgiveness, but he followed her into the kitchen anyway.
As they ate their meal of Lois’s favorite, Chinese, Lois kept brushing her hand against his shoulders. He supposed she was still trying to show him she actually forgave him.
Alice sat across the table from them as they ate. But rather than roll her eyes and grumble, as she usually did when she witnessed her parents affection, she smiled.
