The Hottest Team in Town: 4/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"Hmm," Lucy said, clearly not convinced. "He's one beautiful specimen, that's for sure. I don't see how even you could miss that." She began to remove her coat. "Lois, if you don't get serious about a guy pretty soon, you're going to be like Aunt Harriet. She shows up at every wedding at her church, even when she barely knows the bride and groom." She sighed. "I just want you to meet a super guy and live happily ever after."
"Lucy, I'm barely twenty-six," Lois said, reflecting that Lucy didn't have any idea just how close she had come to the real situation. "I still have time."
"That's what Aunt Harriet thought. How did your date with Lex Luthor go, tonight?"
"It was an interview, Lucy. That's what Clark and I were talking about." Lois began to remove the dress that she had worn to the dinner, several hours ago. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."
**********
And now, part 4:
"Lois, could I catch a ride with you this morning?" Lucy asked, as Lois downed her cup of strong breakfast coffee. After her late night, she'd made it as concentrated as she could in an effort to pry her eyelids open. It tasted terrible, but at least it was dissolving the cobwebs from her brain.
She poured herself a second cup and this time added artificial sweetener and skim milk. "Where?"
"Just by the university. If you can drop me across from the entrance, I'll walk to the Administration building, and I can catch a ride home with somebody, later."
"Okay." Lois swallowed the liquid and set her coffee cup in the sink. The heavy dose of caffeine was working. She was awake, if not exactly chipper. But then, she had never been a morning person. "Let's go, then."
A few moments later, Lucy was eyeing the subcompact with raised eyebrows. "I thought you told me you were going to buy a Jeep Cherokee."
"I did. It's at the repair shop," Lois said. "I'm supposed to get it back in a couple of days. This is a loaner."
"Oh? What happened? Fender bender?"
"Um ... Barbara Trevino's hit man shot out my windshield. Let's go."
"You're kidding!"
Lois shook her head. "Wish I were. I had a real hassle convincing my insurance company to pay for it, too. They finally classified it under vandalism."
Her sister seemed dumbfounded for a few moments. When Lois pulled out onto the street, she glanced around a little apprehensively. "Nobody's likely to shoot at us today, are they?"
"I doubt it," Lois said. "Trevino's in jail, remember."
"And this didn't scare your partner off?"
"Clark? No. He was in the Jeep with me. He saved my life."
"Oh." Lucy seemed slightly stunned. "Does Mom know about it?"
"No. You know Mother. She'd have to double her tranquilizer dosage and it wouldn't do her blood pressure any good."
"Yeah," Lucy said. "Does this sort of thing happen a lot?"
"Not too often," Lois said. "I don't really go looking for people to shoot at me, you know."
"Could have fooled me," Lucy said. "Wasn't it that scientist who was trying to sabotage the space program that tied you up in the hangar and tried to blow you up?"
"Well ... yes. But I got out of it by picking the lock on the chain. What's your point?"
"Lois, this happens to you all the time!"
"Not all the time," Lois said. "Just now and then."
"Do you know how often it's happened to me?"
"No."
"Never!"
"Weren't you there when Brownhaven's Jewelry got held up?"
"Yes."
"Well?"
"Yes, but they weren't threatening to kill me! They just had a bunch of us in the store while the police negotiated with them. Nobody got shot."
"Neither did I," Lois said, unarguably. "Don't play mother hen with me, Lucy. I get enough of that from Mother." She negotiated the corner under the nose of a cement truck. "Have you talked to her recently?"
"Mother? About a week ago, I guess. She's out of Rehab."
"Again."
"This time she says she's going to stay sober."
"She said that last time, too. I'll believe it when I see it."
"Well, she said she met a guy while she was there. He's some kind of actor who was drying out. He got out at the same time she did, so they're going to try to support each other."
"An *actor*?"
"Uh huh," Lucy said. "Who knows, maybe she'll succeed."
"I'll believe *that* when I see it, too," Lois said. "An *actor*?"
"Lois, you're cynical."
"Well, aren't you?"
Lucy shrugged. "Kind of, I guess. I'd just like to see her prove to Daddy that she can get along without him, without whiskey to help."
"Yeah," Lois said. "So would I."
"Have you heard from Daddy recently?"
"About six months ago. He's still working in athletic reconstructive surgery. He has a new girlfriend, too. Or he did."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. She's about twenty-five."
"Twenty-six."
"Argh! When is the man going to grow up?"
Lois didn't answer. She figured Lucy didn't really expect one. The university campus was only a block away now, and within minutes, she pulled up at the curb, just across from the Administration building. "You're sure you can get a ride back?"
"Yeah, pretty sure."
"If you can't, you have my phone number at work. If I'm not in, call my beeper. Perry's talking about getting us cellular phones. When he does, I'll give you that number, too."
"You're sure I won't be a bother?"
"I'm sure. Perry doesn't have Clark and me on a set schedule, anyway. We're investigating some ... I guess you'd call it business corruption, right now."
"Okay." Lucy glanced at her watch. "I'd better go. I'm supposed to see the class counselor in twenty minutes to try to decide what I need to take this next semester." She opened the door and got out. "See you later, Sis."
"Right." Lois made no move to pull away from the curb, waiting as her sister crossed the street and headed down the sidewalk toward the big, brick building. The day was overcast and a light sprinkling of snow was drifting down. The tiny flakes melted as they lit on the windshield.
Watching her, Lois heaved a small sigh. Inadvertently, Lucy had put her finger directly on the real problem, she thought. Only how did you deal with a father who was terminally an emotional four-year-old? No wonder she and her sister had the problems they did.
Lucy, at twenty-one, was having a great deal of difficulty finding a direction in her life. Lois, on the other hand, had always been very driven, always determined to do better than her best, and when she reached her goal, she inevitably found that it wasn't good enough for her own standards. There was probably some deep, profound meaning there, she thought, but she was darned if she could figure out what it was.
Lucy had disappeared into the Administration building. Shelving her thoughts as unproductive, Lois glanced back and pulled out onto the street again. She and Charlie had a billionaire criminal to catch.
**********
Lois pulled into a parking space in the Daily Planet's underground garage and cut the engine. A glance at her watch as she shut and locked the door of the little subcompact told her that she was a few minutes early. She saw Jimmy's battered fixer-upper a few spaces down from her own parking spot, and the flashy, red sports car that belonged to Ralph parked next to it. The man was just locking the door as she rang for the elevator, and he joined her a moment later, whistling cheerfully.
"Hey there," he greeted her. "Where's Kent? You two have a falling out?"
Lois glanced indifferently at him. "Why would you think a thing like that?"
"You always come in to work together," Ralph said. He gave her an appraising, sideways glance. Lois consciously refrained from bristling.
"That was while he was my bodyguard," she said, coolly. "Since nobody's trying to kill me, anymore, I came in alone."
"Who was trying to kill you?" Ralph asked, looking surprised.
"Barbara Trevino's assassin," Lois said. "And later, Trask threw me out of his plane. Don't you ever pay attention to what's going on in the newsroom, Ralph?"
"If he threw you out of his plane, why are you still alive?" Ralph asked, looking skeptical.
"Because Superman showed up, remember? He caught me, as well as the government agent that got thrown out along with me, and then caught Trask and his goons. Not all the details were in the paper, but everybody in the newsroom knew it -- except you."
"Hey," Ralph said, piously, "I mind my own business."
The elevator arrived just then, which was fortunate, Lois thought. It gave her time to recover from the effect of this manifestly false statement. They rode it to the newsroom in silence and Lois stepped out ahead of Ralph, glancing around for her partner.
He wasn't at his desk, she saw, but the monitors were on and showed the image of a hostage standoff. The familiar Administration building of New Troy State loomed in the background. As Lois stared in complete shock, and the announcer explained that a hostage crisis at New Troy University had taken the occupants of the Administration building by complete surprise, she saw a blue and red streak shoot past the camera and into the building. A moment later, Superman emerged with a disgruntled young man held by the back of his collar, and a bundle of guns under the other arm. Police and paramedics streamed past him as Superman handed his captive over to a pair of police officers.
"Superman!" The announcer rushed up to the Man of Steel. "The hostages! Is anyone hurt? Any casualties?"
Lois waited, her heart in her mouth. It sounded to her as if the man was hoping that he would have some ghastly tragedy on which to report.
Superman shook his head. "No one was hurt," he explained, his voice sounding deceptively mild. "Some of them are a little shaken up, but no one was physically injured. Excuse me." He disappeared from the camera's range, and Lois belatedly let out her breath. If Clark said no one was hurt, she believed him. It figured that this was the day that Lucy had gone to the university. A little superstitious tingle crawled over the back of her neck, but she shook it off. Trouble didn't automatically find the Lane women, she told herself. It was just coincidence, but at least, maybe now Lucy would refrain from pointing out how many times Lois had been in life or death situations in the last six months or so. Not that she really knew, she assured herself. After all, that business with the Shockwave coastal defense system had been a one shot thing, and so had the situation with the gunrunners. And she hadn't meant to get herself thrown into the Hobs River tied hand and foot. It had just sort of happened. Fortunately, she'd been working on the ropes and had managed to get them off her hands once she was in the water, and swim to shore. She hadn't mentioned most of those things in the articles she'd written, so it was unlikely that Lucy would find out about them.
There were the hostages now, emerging from the building. Lucy was about halfway back in the crowd, looking surprisingly unruffled. The camera shifted, and the announcer was speculating on the reasons for the incident as the police hustled the gunman into the back of a police car. Superman had vanished, but for a second, she caught a glimpse of someone who looked like Clark in the background.
Slowly, she descended the ramp and made her way across the Pit to her desk. A vase of long-stemmed red roses sat prominently on the far-left corner, and she picked up the card.
The writing was familiar; probably because of the number of documents she had been perusing in the last couple of days bearing this particular signature. It said simply "I enjoyed last night. Love, Lex".
"Send yourself roses again?" Cat Grant's voice said, behind her.
Lois smiled, continuing the act for the benefit of any hypothetical spy. Admittedly, it seemed unlikely that anyone was watching her, but it had also seemed unlikely that anyone would bug her apartment or shoot a rocket propelled grenade through her window. Until she was certain that Luthor was completely deceived, she and Clark would continue to take precautions against his finding out that they harbored suspicions of his real nature. Lex Luthor couldn't have arrived at his present station in life by being careless.
"I had dinner with Lex Luthor last night," she informed Cat with just a touch of condescension, holding out the card to her co-worker. She didn't fail to notice Ralph's instant interest, either. She had no doubt that rumors about her and Luthor would soon be circulating, fueled by his inevitably gutter-oriented mind.
Cat took the card and read it, her eyebrows climbing toward her hairline. "Nice," she remarked. "He's never sent me flowers."
"Huh?"
"Lex and I have ... dated upon occasion."
"This was an interview," Lois informed her.
"Naturally," Cat said. She shook her head. "I'll bet you didn't even have dessert."
"No."
"That figures." Cat gave her the card back and walked away.
Jimmy was standing by her desk as she turned back, a sheaf of print outs in his hand. "Here's some of that stuff you wanted me to look for," he said, keeping his voice low. "Companies belonging to ... well, you know, and the circumstances leading up to their acquisition. It makes interesting reading, I'll say that."
"Any luck on the phone numbers?" Lois asked.
Jimmy nodded. "Some. One of them is the number to the switchboard to LexTower. The other is to a cellular phone, but I'm having trouble identifying who it belongs to. It's unlisted and none of my usual contacts seem to be able to find out."
"Keep trying," Lois said. "It would be interesting if it belonged to ... him."
"Sure would," Jimmy agreed.
"I'll work at it from my end, too" Lois said. "I might be able to find out if it's his, if he wants to see me again." She glanced sideways at the bouquet.
Jimmy did as well. "That's an idea," he agreed. "Okay, I'm on it."
The elevator doors opened and Clark Kent stepped out. As he did so, Lois's phone shrilled. She picked it up, thinking that the day seemed to be getting started with a real kick. "Lois Lane."
"Hello, Lois." It was Henderson's voice. "You might want to come by the Precinct when you get the chance. I'd like to talk to you about that subject we spoke about the last time I saw you."
"Oh ... uh, right. I'll be there in a while," Lois said. The last time they had spoken was when the Police Inspector had dropped by her apartment in response to her report of a break-in. The subject had been Lex Luthor. "Thanks, Inspector."
"Not a problem," Henderson said. "Always glad to do a favor for the Press." He hung up.
"Anything?" Clark's voice said from behind her. He propped a hip on the corner of her desk and set a cup of coffee on a clear spot.
"Yeah. Henderson wants to talk to us. About ... that subject."
"Hmm." Clark's eyebrows went up slightly. "It seems to me as if the good Inspector is hoping we'll be able to turn up something he can use."
"Well ... he may. If there's corruption in the Department ..."
"The thought had occurred to me," Clark agreed. "If some of his men are on ... *his* payroll, an outside investigation might be the only way he'll be able to find any evidence before it disappears. You trust him, don't you?"
"Henderson? Yes."
"That's good enough for me. I need to write up this morning's hostage standoff for Perry, and then we can go see what he has to say."
Lois nodded. "I saw some of it," she said. "Lucy was okay, wasn't she?"
"She was fine," Clark said. "She took the whole thing in stride. I left her talking to the police."
"What was it all about, anyway?"
Clark shrugged. "Some student was upset because he's failing most of his subjects. He was claiming that the school had it in for him and wanted to talk to the media so he could present his case to the public."
"Well, he'll get his chance," Lois said, dryly. She picked up her coffee. "Better get it written up. Thanks for the coffee, by the way."
"Hey," Ralph said, nudging Clark in the ribs as he went by. "You better watch out. She's seeing Lex Luthor, now. Out of your class, Kent."
Lois rolled her eyes and Clark shook his head. "Thanks for the warning, Ralph."
**********
(tbc)
