Red Like Kryptonite
Folc4evernaday
Pt. 3
***
Perry continued to fight his assailants with everything he had. He was guided inside an unknown building. He heard clapping in the background; they were mocking him. “I’ll have you in jail longer than a cat with nine lives!”
The hand that remained on his arm released him. “If you need anything, just pick up the phone.” With that his captor left, locking the door behind him.
“I’d be phoning my attorney if I were you!” Perry shouted at the closed door. The clapping continued. He peeled the blindfold off and turned around. He couldn’t believe what he saw.
“Bravo. Bravo. I’d expect nothing less from the crusading Perry White,” Bill Church Jr said, taking a puff from his cigar.
“Billy? They got you too?”
Bill Jr. just smiled. “Actually, they work for me; so in a sense, I’ve got you.”
Perry looked at the young man in anguish, uncertain if he’d heard correctly. “Wanna run that by me again?”
“Intergang. I run it. Now, do the pieces fit?”
“Like horns on a June bug. You’re behind the Multi-World Communications offer to buy the Planet?”
“Of course. Not only did I take over Dad’s legit business, but I took over Intergang as well. Kind of a two-for-one deal.” Bill’s face sobered,
“Unfortunately, you made Mr. Stern hesitate on our bid, so I thought this might help tip the scales.”
Perry shook his head. How had he been so blind? His eyes narrowed as he looked at Bill. “The only paper you’re about to become publisher of is the Maximum Security Monthly.”
Bill ignored the comment, “Perry, look, I brought you here to make you an offer. I want you to be a part of the Intergang family. You and Alice will be taken care of for life. We’ve got a great medical program and a terrific retirement plan.” Perry just glared at him. “Anyway,” Bill got up and headed towards the door. “I know this is a lot to absorb. Think it over. We’ll talk some more; then we’ll see.” He knocked three times on the door’s wooden panel and someone on the other side opened the door.
Perry watched in disgust as Church winked at him before turning to leave finally. He heard the hard click of the door being locked. He shook his head in disgust and turned towards the window. Hoping to find a clue as to where he was being held, he pulled open the drapes and stopped in surprise. Nothing but a brick wall on the other side to greet him. He slumped down into one of the chairs in defeat. “Superman, where are you when I need you?”
***
Clark cradled his head in his hands as he listened. “Clark, Perry was being kidnapped and you just…stood there!” Lois angrily paced around him. “What is going on with you?”
“I don’t know,” Clark said defeated. “I just…didn’t care…”
“How could you not care? Perry is your friend.” Lois looked at him anguished. “I-I don’t understand what is going on with you.”
“I don’t know,” Clark said, raking a hand through his hair.
“You mentioned that,” she muttered irritably. “Why would someone kidnap Perry?”
Clark looked up and noticed she was looking at him for an answer. His mind seemed to be in a fog. “I don’t know.” He winced at her glare.
“Maybe it has something to do with that offer from Multi-World Communications.” A light bulb went off in his head and he grabbed a piece of paper and pencil to quickly sketch out the face of the abductor.
“Maybe this will help. I just wish I’d thought of this sooner.”
“No kidding,” Lois muttered under her breath. She took the sketch from him and opened the door to Perry’s office. “Jimmy?”
Jimmy ran up to her, “What’s up?”
“Fax a copy of this to the police and get one to everyone we know on the street, including Bobby Bigmouth. Somebody’s got to know this guy.” Lois instructed.
Jimmy nodded, “You got it.” Then he was gone to carry out Lois’ orders.
Lois then turned back to Clark, “So, have you ever had these moods before?”
“Moods?” Clark asked confused.
“Where you just don’t care?” Lois prompted.
“No.” He shook his head. “The first time I noticed it was this morning. I had every intention of stopping those thieves, then all of a sudden I stopped.”
“Did you see anything out of the ordinary?” Lois asked, concerned.
“No,” Clark shook his head.
“Clark,” Lois began at the same time Clark began, “Lois,”
“Sorry,” Clark smiled weakly at her.
“Do you think it could be stress-related?” Lois asked.
Clark cocked an eyebrow at her. “Remember who you’re talking to,” he pointed out.
Lois nodded then took a seat next to him. “I just meant with everything that’s been going on lately. I mean, last week with Jimmy and Sarah, then what happened…You know what I’m saying?” She could feel a slight blush creeping on her cheeks as she looked hesitantly up at Clark.
He took the hand she had been wringing as she was rambling and held it gently in his palm. “Lois, it’s nothing like that. I may be a lot of things, but stressed is not one of them.” He smiled up at her, “Right now I’m a bit confused, though,”
Lois nodded, realizing what he was referring to. “Oh.”
“Let me guess, here. It was during the fiasco with Jimmy and Sarah?” Lois nodded. “You saw me catch the bullets?” She nodded again. “I was going to tell you…”
She looked up at him, holding back tears. “Then why didn’t you?”
A knock at the door interrupted them. “Hey, Lois…” Their heads both shot up as they looked at Jimmy. “Err…Sorry guys.”
“What is it, Jimmy?” Lois asked.
“Here’s that tape from the security camera you wanted.” Jimmy waved the tape in front of him.
Lois grabbed it. “Thanks, Jimmy.” Jimmy nodded and left. “Let’s see what’s on here.”
“Lois,” Clark took the tape from her.
“We have to find Perry. We can talk about this later,” she said briskly. Realizing she wasn’t budging, Clark just nodded and put the tape in.
***
Bill Church sat down in the large cushioned chair across from Perry. “So, have you thought any more about my offer?”
Perry sighed, “All I have to do for all this is, what? Give up my pride, my integrity? Throw away the public trust I’ve earned through thirty-five years of hard work? ‘Back off’ on my responsibility to give the American people the truth?”
Bill Church Jr. nodded, “Basically.”
“Yeah, well, I won’t do it.” Perry snapped back, glaring at Bill Church Jr.
Bill stared at Perry, slightly amused. “You know, I talked to your mom today,” he mused.
Perry stared at Bill Jr., confused. “My mom?”
Bill nodded, standing up to pace around Perry. “Love the rest home. Very tasteful. She’s in great shape for a woman her age. She cheats at bridge, but she’s in great shape. She sends her love.”
“My mother would twist your head off if she knew what you’d done.”
Bill Church Jr. nodded, “No doubt, but she doesn’t know, does she?” He laughed to himself. “Oh, and Alice says hello too.” Perry just stared blankly back at Bill. “Don’t you think she deserves a new car? After a few years, things start to go wrong… like brakes.”
Perry’s face fell as the underlying threat became clear. He stood up and placed his hands on Bill’s shoulders. “Now, Billy, let’s put our differences aside for a moment. You and me…. We go way back. Listen to what you’re saying, son…” His tone turned hysterical as he grabbed Bill by his coat jacket, “This is Alice you’re talking about! This is Alice!”
“Perry…”
“Not Alice!” Perry pleaded. “Not Alice!!”
“Perry, take it easy,” Bill pried Perry off of him. “I’m a patient man,” He reassured then glared at Perry, “to a point.”
***
“Lois?” Clark knocked on the conference room door.
Lois looked up, “Hi.” She gestured to the screen shots from the security camera’s footage in front of her. “I’m just…going over all this. I haven’t really found anything. You’re right. It’s just out of the blue that you, uh, you know?” She shrugged her shoulders uncertainly. “Any sign of Perry?”
“No, I still can’t believe I did that, just let them drive off,” Clark shook his head in disgust.
“Well, I guess we should try and figure out what made you do that,” Lois said, sifting through the photos in front of her to avoid his gaze.
“Yeah,” Clark nodded. He grabbed a stack of photos and began scanning through them at super speed, using his enhanced vision. After flipping through the photos twice he pulled out one of the screen shots to focus on it more in detail.
Lois looked up with intrigue. “Did you find something?”
“Maybe,” he said. He pointed to the image of the van where a man in black was hunched over an object that was not visible to the naked eye. He zeroed in on the image and grimaced. “It looks like some kind of metal box…”
“Metal box?” Lois asked; confused. Realization suddenly dawned on her.
“You thinking they might have…”
Clark seemed to be having the same train of thought. “Kryptonite?” His nose scrunched up. “But I didn’t feel the effects of it. No pain. No nausea…”
Lois gave him a twisted smile. “I don’t know. Something’s up. I guess we should start with trying to run the plates on that van; see who it’s registered to. Then we can ….” Lois caught Clark smiling at her. “What?”
“Nothing. He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Why are you staring at me then?” Lois tucked a wayward lock of hair behind her ear nervously.
“Because we’re starting to get somewhere with this.” Clark breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought I was going crazy there for a little bit.”
“You’re relieved, so you stare at me?” Lois asked suspiciously, arching her eyebrow at him.
“Well, yeah, that and I thought we could talk,” Clark said.
“I should get these down to the photo lab,” she said quickly; standing up from her seat. Before he could argue she was out the door, leaving him behind to wonder what he’d done now.
***
“Knox. This is a surprise,” Bill mused when he opened the door to his office.
“We have a problem,” Knox muttered angrily.
“A problem?” Bill asked.
“With Operation Nirvana. I think I have a leak,” Knox said angrily.
“Information…about Nirvana. I’m getting calls from the DEA.”
“Well, how is that my problem? You’re the one that guaranteed me this was a done deal.” Bill retorted, taking a puff of his cigar. “If you can’t handle your own problems…”
“I can!” Knox argued.
“Then take care of your problem,” Bill retorted menacingly, “or I’ll pull the plug on your entire stinking operation.”
“Y-yes,” Knox stammered. “Absolutely, Mr. Church.”
***
“What have you got?” Clark asked concerned when Lois made her way down the steps into the newsroom with a pile of folders.
“Plenty!” she said smugly. “Let’s go into the conference room.”
He nodded and followed her, closing the door behind them. “Well?”
“We’ve got our connection to Intergang,” Lois smirked. “The van is owned by Cost-Mart and the man you made a sketch of is a soil engineer that works for Cost Mart, Gene Newtrich.” Lois pulled out the background check she had done on Newtrich. “There’s nothing on him. No record of any kind.”
“Well, Luthor didn’t even have a parking ticket on him before the police found the long list of his dirty laundry,” Clark pointed out.
“True.” Lois sighed. “And I’ll bet he’s the same one in this picture carrying the Kryptonite if that’s what it is.”
“So, what now?” he asked.
“Well, now I think it’s time to take a look at Mr. Newtrich’s office and pay him a visit,” Lois said. “You up to it?”
“Yeah.”
***
Clark glanced up at the sign that read “Gene Newtrich Engineering” skeptically. “So, what exactly is the plan?”
“Well, it’s late,” Lois began, uncertainly. “Hopefully everyone will have gone home by now so we can just duck in and duck out…”
“Break in?” Clark supplied.
“Don’t sound so judgmental!” Lois snapped. “Come on!”
Unbeknownst to either of them a black sedan had slid up and was watching them as they entered the building.
***
Clark scanned the office they were in, looking for any signs of evidence linking to Intergang or to Perry’s kidnapping. Nothing. There were plenty of blueprints spread out on one of the desks along with disarrayed files scattered all around the office.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Clark asked.
“I have no idea, but hopefully we’ll find it,” Lois said curtly, flipping through the blueprints on the desk.
Clark moved to the other side of the room and began opening the file cabinets, uncertain what he was looking for specifically. “I don’t see why a soil engineer would be involved in a plot to kidnap Perry.”
“That’s the 64-billion-dollar question,” Lois muttered under her breath. Clark continued going through the drawers. A strange feeling washed over him as he closed the last drawer. He looked up and noticed Lois hunched over a roll of blueprints. “Newtrich was hired by Cost-Mart; Intergang. We know he kidnapped Perry; now all we need is to find out where he’s keeping him.”
Unconcerned with what Lois was talking about or with searching the office any further Clark walked up behind her; wrapping his arms around her. “Why don’t we get out of here?” He whispered in her ear. “I can take you wherever you want to go.”
He smiled when he felt Lois’ body shake against him. “Clark, stop it…” She tried unsuccessfully to pry herself out of his arms. She noticed the title of the plans she was looking at and jerked away from him again. “These are the plans for the substructure of Cost-Mart.”
“That’s nice,” he whispered, nibbling at the spot behind her ear that she loved so much.
“Clark, there has to be a connection…Oh, God…Stop. I can’t think when you do that…” She whispered breathlessly.
He smiled against her skin. “That’s the idea.”
“Clark, we have to find Perry.” She turned in his arms to face him. “Please concentrate.”
“I am,” he whispered, leaning in to capture her mouth.
***
“This is getting too far,” Knox muttered under his breath. He turned towards Bill Church Jr. “Those reporters, Lane and Kent, they’re becoming a problem. What do you want my boys to do about them?”
Bill sighed, shaking his head. “Never do things the easy way,” he muttered. “Bring ‘em here. We’ll deal with them.”
“You got it.”
***
“Cl..Clark….” Lois whimpered against his lips. “We really need to…Oh, God...” She murmured. The back of her thighs touched the edge of the desk. They needed to cool it and work on finding Perry. They hadn’t even talked about what had happened last week or where they stood.
“I love you so much, Lois,” he murmured against her lips. His hands rested on her hips as he pressed his solid frame against hers. “Do you have any idea, how LONG I’ve fantasized about what happened last week?” His hands slipped down her thighs and came to rest on her hips.
“Last week?” Lois asked breathlessly.
“Mmhmm,” He nibbled at her earlobe, tugging on it slightly. He stepped closer, lifting her up to increase the contact between them. She moaned, tightening her legs around him. Why was she fighting this? Just last week she had wanted this, albeit under different circumstances…
<<’He’s not himself!’>> her conscience chastised her.
She felt her body being lowered against the wood grain of the desk. His solid frame was pressed against hers. She had to stop. “Clark, please wait..."
A loud bang from the hallway caught their attention. They both looked up, surprised. Two armed men, dressed in black, stood with their guns trained on them. “Well, isn’t this cozy? You two lovebirds are coming with us!”
***
“And how are we feeling now?” Bill Church Jr. asked, stepping into the room where Perry was imprisoned. Perry just glared at him. “Still a bit disgruntled? I understand. But Perry, I don’t want you to think of this as a prison. Think of it as your future headquarters.”
“I’ll never join Intergang.” Perry snapped vehemently.
“I don’t think you fully understand the seriousness of the situation. If you work for me, you get rich beyond your wildest dreams. If on the other hand, you continue to cling to your misguided morality, you die. At Harvard Business School, we’d call that a no-brainer.”
Perry just glared at Bill Church Jr in disgust. “I’m ashamed I ever let you spit up on me!”
***
“Well, well, what do we have here?” Knox asked, circling around Lois and Clark. He resembled a vulture of sorts. They had been thrown into the back seat of a black sedan by the thugs and held at gunpoint. Clark didn’t seem to care. Lois looked over at him in concern. She hoped he wouldn’t do anything to expose himself in his state of apathy.
“You won’t get away with this!” Lois snapped. “People know where we are! They’ll come looking for us!”
“The famous Lois Lane spunk,” Knox muttered in disgust. “I hate spunk. It doesn’t matter. Soon you’ll be working for us.”
***
TBC...
Last edited by folc4evernaday; 10/28/16 11:33 AM.
