Thanks to all the FoLCs that have been providing feedback - it's like chocolate for the soul.
Part 16 is going up early due to the amazing incentives provided by Carol, Mel and Sue (you can blame them for any mistakes
). Chocolate chip cookies, brownies and especially part 6 of
Ricochet. Pony up, Sue!
TOC is
here .
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
From part 15:
It takes me about a millisecond to realize how much trouble I’m in. I open my mouth to scream while dodging to the side in an attempt to cut around the officer, but it doesn’t work. He must have been expecting me to figure him out, because before I can do anything, he wraps one arm around me, pinning my arms to my sides while simultaneously placing a moist cloth over my mouth and nose. I struggle to get away, at least to pull back far enough to call for Clark, but the cop merely tightens his grip.
The darkness starts to close in as he confirms my fears with a nauseatingly predictable statement.
“The Boss wants to talk to you.”
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
Master of Disguise - Part 16
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
The sharp scent of ammonia stings my nose as I regain consciousness. My head snaps back in an effort to get away from the overpowering aroma, a movement that changes the dull pain at the base of my head into a throbbing ache. I keep my eyes closed and will the pain away. It’s just starting to work when I get another whiff of the pungent odor.
Still a bit groggy, I try to reach out to push the stench away when I realize I can’t move my arms. A few exploratory movements confirm I’m sitting in a high-backed chair with my hands bound behind the chair with a thick, rough rope. A quick test against the knot reveals that the person that tied it knows what they are doing. The only pleasant discovery is that whoever it is, they were cocky enough to leave my feet free.
“Lois.”
Lex’s smarmy tone is accompanied by the same strong odor and I jerk my head to the side to avoid breathing directly from the smelling salts. My mouth is dry and scratchy and my eyes water as I try to blink the room into focus. The bright morning sunlight streaming in from the balcony windows drives a spike into the back of my skull and I quickly close them in favor of the soothing darkness.
“Lo-is.”
The irritation in Lex’s voice is a minor victory. I keep my eyes closed and in an act of stubborn defiance, I refuse to answer his call. His reaction to my insolence is a neck-wrenching slap that knocks my head soundly into the back of my chair. When I don’t immediately respond, he slaps me from the other direction, adding the force of his impatience as a punishment. Colorful sparkles dance behind my closed eyelids as I work my jaw back and forth, noting the metallic taste that proves he hit me hard enough to draw blood. I’m proud of my control, though. Other than one involuntary gasp, I still refuse to acknowledge him.
Lex grabs a fistful of my hair and roughly pulls my head back, forcing me to look at him. My eyebrows draw together in pain and I breathe harshly through my nose. Belligerently, I remain silent and glare at him, letting him see all the hatred and loathing I have for him. We stare at each other and I internally shudder at the amount of evil emanating from his gaze, but I refuse to be cowed. If I’m going to die, it’ll be on my terms as Lois Lane and it will be with the full knowledge that Lex no longer holds any power over me.
My confrontational attitude causes his fist to tighten in my hair, but I suppress even the smallest whimper. I won’t give him the satisfaction. Instead, I greet him with a small twist of my lips and as much scorn in my voice as I can muster.
“Hello, Lex.”
His eyes narrow in barely controlled rage. “Welcome home, darling. Did you have a good time in San Francisco?”
A million responses fly through my mind, but I hold my tongue. Anything I say will probably make things worse for me, either hindering the investigation or giving Lex time to escape. Instead, I choose to smile knowingly and let him draw his own conclusions. He remains still for another moment, waiting for me to respond and I thrill at a twitch in the corner of his eye. My smile broadens. I know it’s dangerous, but goading Lex is so very satisfying.
When it becomes obvious that I’m not going to say anything, he finally releases my head with another thump against the chair-back. He takes several steps back to stand next to his desk, watching me for another long moment. Despite the warm shafts of morning sunlight streaming in through the windows, Lex’s cold, calculating smile sends a shiver of dread down my back.
He looks to my right and unexpectedly lifts his hand toward me in a sick parody of paternalistic pride. “Behold, the great Lois Lane.”
“Indeed, sir. Indomitable, to the last.”
Although I should have expected his presence, Nigel’s urbane tone takes me by surprise,. I turn my head just enough to see him standing beside me, a gun trained on my head. It’s a useless gesture designed to frighten me; I know that he won’t shoot. Lex will want to kill me himself.
“Lex’s ever-faithful lap dog,” I say with scorn, “looking menacing with a gun in his hand. Tell me, Nigel, isn’t it debasing to think only what Lex tells you to think and to do only what he allows you to do?”
The consummate professional, Nigel’s visage doesn’t change at all, but I take great pleasure that my disdainful tone causes his grip on the gun to tighten before he puts it away. It’s unbelievable, but manipulating Nigel is even easier than Lex. I dismiss Nigel completely and turn to look quickly around the penthouse office, my mind already looking for an escape route.
It takes me all of three seconds to realize my situation is pretty hopeless. I can see the metal box containing the Kryptonite sitting atop Lex’s desk, so I can’t depend on Superman for rescue. Unless Nigel leaves and I can stall long enough for Henderson to get here, I’m dead.
Lex leans against the corner of his desk and crosses his arms. What he’s waiting for, I have no idea, but I’m happy to sit in silence. Every minute we prolong this non-conversation works in my favor. Obviously, his patience isn’t as enduring as mine. After a minute, he begins pacing in front of his desk. He makes several passes before he stops and his head tilts as he looks at me.
“Nothing to say? No questions to ask?” Lex asks mockingly. “That world-famous curiosity isn’t wondering how I figured you out?”
I stamp on the inquisitive impulse that rises inside of me, but he must have seen the spark of interest in my eyes. He smiles in smug gratification before turning to pull a pair of black, four-inch stilettos from the trash bin – my four-inch stilettos. In the shock of the shooting, Clark and I had completely forgotten about them, leaving them on the floor behind the shot-up pallets in the dirty warehouse.
I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed. I must have absent-mindedly slipped my sneakers on some time before leaving the hotel, but my carelessness had tipped Lex off, putting our investigation in jeopardy. Once Lex found the shoes, it wouldn’t have taken him long to figure out which woman could be hiding there. It also wouldn’t take much speculation to figure out I probably had a little ‘super’ help in getting away. It takes considerable effort to swallow the panic rising in my throat as my eyes track back to Lex’s face.
“Sloppy, Lois,” Lex chides.
The fear I feel at my quick capture is tempered by the hope that Lex’s impulsive action will translate into a mistake I can use. Besides, if he knew how much damage we’d already done, he wouldn’t be standing here so calmly. Even someone with an ego the size of Metropolis would be scrambling to salvage what he could instead of interrogating me. The thought that he has *still* underestimated me almost makes me smile.
Lex smiles condescendingly before dropping the shoes back into the garbage and then leans against his desk again, his fingers interlocking in front of him as his voice takes on a friendly, conversational tone.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking since last night about the past month, reassessing your behaviors. Separately, the headaches, your spirited outbursts, the innocuously long hours at the office and more time spent with Jimmy Olsen weren’t troublesome. But if I add in the unexplained attacks on my business ventures, I get a very different aggregate. Together they add up to one thing – Lois Lane, investigative reporter.”
“I knew I had a leak, but my attention was across the country on that gnat, Kent. I must say, your manipulation of my interest in Superman was nothing short of pure genius, a well-played subterfuge that frankly, reminds me of myself. Let it be said that Lex Luthor can give credit where it is due. I was fooled by your brilliant masquerade, my dear. Congratulations.”
Why does his compliment make me feel so dirty? I know Lex wants to get me talking, that he wants very much to know how I figured him out and how much damage I’ve been able to do. For that reason, I keep my mouth shut and avoid revealing my revulsion in my expression. After a long pause, Lex continues with his monologue.
“You were a challenge, Lois, at times a formidable foe. I knew you had the potential for greatness if you could be seduced. What better cover, than to have the award-winning Lois Lane as my wife? If I could fool you, then everyone else would be a snap. Granted, seducing you took a little more effort and cost than I was accustomed to, but, in the end, I won.”
I refuse to tell him how much of this story I already knew, but his last egotistical boast is too pompous to let him have the last word. “You do like the sound of your own voice, don’t you, Lex?”
His visage darkens slightly at my rebuttal, but clears quickly. “I was even fooled and distracted by your alleged kidnapping. Not that I cared much about what happened to you, but I did take offense that anyone would dare take something that belongs to me.”
“I belong to *myself,*” I grind out through clenched teeth.
He steps toward me, all traces of friendliness gone. “I own you, Lois. I paid a million dollars to win you over. You’re mine by marriage contract.”
I want to throw his statement back in his face, to tell him his accounting is off. If we had uncovered everything, I knew Lex had lost more than ten *billion* dollars to my investigations before he had figured out a way to neutralize me. And he’d done a good job of that – he’d stolen my life away. But I couldn’t admit it, not without telling Lex how much danger he is in. Let him continue to bluster until the police arrive. Lex won’t have time to escape and I might just live through this.
Lex hesitates and then walks calmly to his weapons cabinet. He picks up an old sword from the display, the one that belonged to Alexander the Great. He fingers it, twisting it in his hands and testing the blade’s sharpness against his thumb before turning around again.
“You know, Nigel. My weakness was in my pride.”
“How so, sir?”
“I couldn’t conceive of a reason for my wife to betray me.”
All the rage I’d felt at his perfidy slams through me in an instant. Until now, I’d always thought that the phrase, ‘seeing red’ was a metaphor, but for the briefest moment my hatred for Lex burns in my temples and clouds my vision with a red-hot intensity. After everything he’s done, how can he possibly expect anything but betrayal? The anguished words fly out of my mouth before I can stop them.
“You destroyed everything I loved,” I cry.
“Ah, so it is the Daily Planet.” Lex nods in understanding. “I must admit that destroying the newspaper was one of my most inspired ideas. Eliminate my rival for your affections and present myself as a savior.” Lex strikes a dramatic pose, extending his sword arm to an imaginary audience. “‘And thus I clothe my naked villainy … And seem a saint, when most I play the devil,’” he quotes.
“King Richard the Third,” Nigel says, clapping.
“Quite so,” Lex preens. “I removed an irritating obstacle and won the hand of the fair maiden, two thorns for the price of one. It worked out well, don’t you think, Nigel?
“Inspired, sir,” Nigel responds. “‘Was ever woman in this humour woo’d? Was ever woman in this humour won?’”
To hear them congratulate themselves for the destruction of the Planet, for their lack of remorse for the deaths of Perry and the others and for the systematic ruin of my life is almost more than I can stand. The sheer fury I feel makes it impossible to hold my tongue.
“You bastard!”
“Now, now, Darling. That’s such crass language for a woman of your seeming decorum.” His eyes rake over the red leather halter I’m still wearing. “Rather bold for someone in your precarious position. I won’t allow you to speak to me in that manner.”
“Or what,” I ask derisively. “You’ll wash my mouth out with soap? There’s nothing else you can do to me.”
He leans down until his face is no more than two inches from my own. I feel sick as the smell of his aftershave mixed with the lingering trace of cigar smoke wafts over me. The cold depths of his eyes transmit his capacity for evil and I shudder.
“Oh, but you’re wrong about that, Lois. I may have destroyed the Daily Planet, but there are still things you care about and therefore, things I can do to hurt you: Jimmy Olsen, for one, your parents, your sister.”
His threat immediately replaces my anger with a horrified fear, but I’m saved from hearing or imagining the gruesome details by a loud buzzing noise coming from the intercom. Lex continues to stare menacingly into my eyes for a moment before returning to his desk. He presses a button to shut off the alarm and answers the call from the security office.
“Yes?” he barks. There is nothing but white noise from the other end, so he asks again. “What is it, Johnson?” When he still doesn’t receive an answer, Lex looks at Nigel and jerks his head toward the office door. Nigel slips out of the room and Lex flicks off the switch.
A moment of silence follows as I tamp down my emotions, wrapping them up in a ball and shoving them into a corner of my mind. I need to concentrate on a way out of here and those kinds of emotions will only make things worse; although it would be worth my life to bring Lex down, I still want to live through this. It takes me a minute to realize that Lex is also lost in thought. He’s standing by his desk with his head bowed and his back to me. I see Lex stroke the metal box on his desk and I tremble with new fear as he begins to speak.
“You were always a little too independent for my tastes, Lois. I took great pleasure in making you mine and, I thought, in breaking you. I admit my surprise at your resilience. You have been a worthy adversary, but I realize that you are nothing compared to the challenge of beating a Superman.”
He lifts the lid and the eerie, green glow reminds me why I need to escape by myself. Now that Nigel is gone, I wriggle my wrists, trying to work my hands free from their bindings. I use as much force as I can without making any sound that will alert Lex to what I’m doing, but the rope is too well tied. With one last frustrated tug, I’m taken completely by surprise when my hands pull free.
I bring my wrists in front of me and see that the knot didn’t come undone after all; it was cleanly cut in two. The singed edges on the rope can only mean one thing; Clark is here. My heart delights in the knowledge that my partner is here – my caring, intelligent and completely insane partner. What the hell is he doing here? He *knew* that Lex had the Kryptonite. I mean, I’m glad that he’s learned enough caution to keep hidden until the cavalry arrives, but it was stupid to come at all.
It takes all my restraint to keep my feelings from showing. If Clark is here, then maybe Henderson isn’t far behind. My mind races for a way to warn Clark away and to keep Lex talking. I see Lex turning toward me from the corner of my eye and have just enough time to thrust my hands back behind the chair.
“You’ll never defeat Superman,” I declare. “Even if that thing can hurt him, he’d be too smart to get near it. He’d go get the police to arrest you instead.” I pitch my voice to carry at least as far as the hallway, hoping that Clark will take the hint and get reinforcements.
“Lois, Lois. You think your warning will keep Superman away? I’ve made studying him an art form and you’re wrong on two counts, my dear. First, I’ve already successfully tested the rock. Superman responded to a false bank alarm this morning and Mrs. Cox assured me that this little thing works like a charm. Even at a distance, it brought the Man of Steel to his knees. Second, he has morals. He genuinely cares about people and will always show up when lives are threatened. I, on the other hand, have no qualms about threatening the lives of innocent people. That is why I will win.”
“You are nothing compared to Superman. He’s good and kind and he will beat you before you even know the war has started.”
Lex’s eyes narrow and I immediately regret my words. My impetuous and passionate statement is a virtual confession that I know and care about Superman. Oh, god. Lex is right. No matter the danger to him, Clark won’t allow anyone to hurt me if he can help it. It doesn’t matter that the Kryptonite is here, he’ll come to my rescue no matter what.
“I think not, my dear,” Lex says quietly. He picks up the forgotten blade from his desktop and stares at it for a moment, lost in contemplation. He steps up next to me, a deadly cold calculation in his eyes. “Nigel was right, ‘Richard the Third’ is quite apropos for this situation. ‘So wise so young, they say, do never live long.’ Goodbye, Lois.”
Lex grabs a fistful of my hair and yanks my head back, placing the edge of the blade against my throat. When his arm swings back, the door to the office crashes open, distracting Lex long enough for me to knock his hand away from my hair and roll sideways out of my chair. By the time I regain my feet and take a defensive stance, Lex is grappling with a determined Clark Kent.
Clark is holding Lex’s sword arm away with both hands, but it’s obvious to me that the Kryptonite is taking its toll on him. Lex’s other fist delivers several sharp jabs to Clark’s body before knocking him away with a vicious punch to the face. Clark topples over an antique chest and scrambles to his feet, but before he can regain his balance, Lex swings the sword toward his head.
“Clark!”
My warning gives him just enough time to duck to the side, but the blade still slices into his shoulder. Clark cries out, falling to one knee as I jump forward to prevent Lex from striking again. My roundhouse kick deflects his attack, but it’s not enough to disarm him. Lex blocks my punch with seeming ease and knocks me into a heavy side table that steals my breath away.
For a moment, I can’t make my body move. I see Lex advance on me with deadly intent, but Clark tackles him before he can deliver the blow. The sword skitters across the floor and under a cabinet as they trade punches, but Clark just isn’t a match for Lex’s training and skill, not with the Kryptonite weakening him.
They vie for dominance, trading punches as Clark tries to keep Lex away from me and himself as far from Lex’s desk as possible. After another powerful punch to the face, Lex sweeps Clark’s feet out from under him and Clark falls to the floor. There’s blood seeping from the cut on his arm and out of several cuts on his face and nose. I crawl next to him and he groans as I help him sit up, supporting his weight as he pants against my shoulder.
“Get out of here, Lois.”
“No, Clark. I’m not leaving without you.”
I struggle to pull Clark to his feet, but neither of us has the strength. By the time I give up, Lex has pulled a gun from his desk drawer and has it trained on the two of us.
“Well, well, this is a surprise,” Lex declares with contempt. “I was expecting Superman, but instead I get two-bit reporting hack from San Francisco. I’m disappointed in you, Lois. A few minutes ago it sounded like you were in love with a god in a cape, yet you choose to betray me with this…nobody.”
I find the irony in Lex’s words hilarious and a short bark of laughter escapes before I can answer him. “Believe me Lex, I’d choose Clark over you or Superman any day. I feel more excitement in one kiss from Clark than I ever felt for you.”
“You think that matters?” Lex sneers. “Your feelings are worth nothing. All I required from you is obedience and silence and since you can no longer give me either, you are nothing. Your pitiful attempt to defeat me has failed, Lois.”
“Failed?” I mock. “You have no idea how badly I’ve beaten you…”
“Lois, don’t,” Clark cautions.
Heedless of the danger, I ignore Clark’s warning. I need Lex to know, even if it’s only posthumously, that Lois Lane was the one to bring him down. Telling him just how badly I’d beaten him is not only necessary, it’s cathartic.
“We’ve already written the article,” I triumphantly inform him, “that exposes your criminal activities and rips away your mask of decency. The whole world will read about it in the afternoon edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. Also, the Boss’s organization is in ruins. The police have John Black in custody; arrest warrants have been issued for scores of your henchmen and lackeys, including Mrs. Cox, and Nigel is facing extradition…”
I take great pleasure in seeing the severity of his plight dawn on him and a part of me thrills at the twitch in his eye. Lex will certainly kill me now, and strangely enough, that thought doesn’t bother me. But Clark – for Clark I need to postpone the inevitable, to give Henderson enough time to save him. I bet everything on the fact that Lex will wait until he knows just how much damage I’ve been able to do. When his control doesn’t falter, I breathe a sigh of relief and press on.
“Without money, prestige and power,” I tell him. “You’re less than nothing and you’re broke, Lex. An hour ago, your bank accounts and assets were frozen. Not just the personal accounts in your name or mine, but the LexCorp assets and all of the hidden offshore accounts you have sprinkled throughout the world; Geneva, Bangkok, Barbados, Malta, Switzerland, Sri Lanka. Need I go on?”
“No one defies me and lives,” Lex warns, the deathly certainty in his voice sending a shiver up my spine. My time has run out. I position myself in front of Clark as Lex lifts the gun and points it at me, but the sound of heavy footsteps running down the hallway attracts his attention. I assume with relief that Henderson has arrived at last.
“It’s over, Lex.” I announce. “Inspector Henderson has all the evidence he needs to put you away for several lifetimes. You’re finished.”
“Finished?” He scoffs, turning back to me. “I’ve hardly begun. No matter what you think you’ve accomplished, my control over Metropolis is complete and soon I’ll own the country, if not more. I’m a god amongst the pitiable dregs of humanity. You could never hurt me, Lois. I’m invincible.”
I hear the sound of guns cocking and I turn to look out the office door, expecting to see Metropolis’ finest. Instead, I am shocked to see three men decked out in combat fatigues.
It’s Colonel Trask.
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
tbc...
