Games People Play: 2/4 -- probably
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"So what are you going to do?" Clark asked.
Lois smiled without mirth. "I'm going to go on dating him, and I'm going to use the relationship to investigate him. And you're going to help me."
"Don't think I'm going to date Luthor," Clark said. "He's not my type."
"You're not his, either," Lois said, rigorously suppressing the temptation to smile. "Do you think Superman would be willing to help us, if we needed him?"
"Probably," Clark said. "What do you have in mind?"
"Nothing, yet, but that won't last long. I'll let you know when I come up with an idea that looks like it has a chance ...."
**********
Part 2:
Lois had shed her shoes, Clark noticed. It was something she invariably did when they were working together on some story or other at his place. He'd seen her discreetly remove them under her desk, as well.
He got to his feet, noticing her empty coffee mug. "Want some more?"
She covered a small yawn with her hand. "Sure." With the other hand she gave him the empty container and flexed her toes again. "I'm going to need it after last night. You know, I really don't like the idea that one of Lex's people was inside my apartment. How do you suppose he got in with all the locks on my door?"
"There's always your windows," Clark pointed out, raising his voice a little so she could hear him from the kitchenette, where he was refilling the coffee cups. "Do you lock them?"
"I lock the one by the fire escape," she said.
"Well, any crook with a head for heights could get to one of the others," Clark pointed out. "Or a burglar could lower himself from the roof. Maybe you should lock them, too."
"You're probably right," Lois said.
He returned to the living room and set the coffee cup on the end table. "There you go."
Lois was standing by the window, looking out at the street. Clark glanced through the wall over the tops of his glasses, but saw nothing unusual. "Anything interesting?"
She shook her head, covering another small yawn and turned back toward the sofa, and the coffee. "Just thinking."
"That's a dangerous pastime, or so I hear."
"Especially for me," Lois said. "You know, I'd like to get down into Lex's ark again, and look around. I didn't really have much time for exploring, but what I saw was interesting. I'd like you to come with me, and I don't want Lex to know that we're there," she added. "We need to find out why he built it. He sure didn't just throw it together in the days since he heard about Nightfall, so what's it for?"
"Good question," Clark said. "When do you want to try?"
"Probably tomorrow, after I've had a night's sleep," she said. "Aren't you going to try to talk me out of it?"
Clark rigorously avoided smiling. "I figure I owe you something after the last couple of days," he said. "And if I object, you'll go anyway, so I might as well agree. Besides, I want to know what he's up to, too."
Lois eyed him a little suspiciously but said nothing. She took a sip of the coffee. "This is good, but I could eat a horse. I just remembered I didn't have any breakfast."
"Or any sleep since night before last," Clark said. "Would you like me to make you some lunch? I went shopping the other day, so I've got all kinds of ingredients."
"Just as long as it's not Ho-Hos and Ding Dongs," Lois said.
"How about a tuna salad sandwich?"
"That sounds great," Lois said.
Apparently it really did, Clark thought. He could hear her stomach growl at the mention of food. "Give me five minutes," he said.
The promised sandwich took actually three minutes all told, since Clark put a little super speed into the preparation. Lois was finishing the last of her coffee when he set the plate and a glass of orange juice on the coffee table. "Your dinner is served, Madam."
"More like lunch," she said, reaching for the sandwich.
"Technically breakfast, since you haven't eaten since yesterday."
"Don't quibble." She took a large bite, chewed rapturously and swallowed. "This is really good. I didn't know you could cook."
"Mom gave me a few lessons," he said modestly. "It's a bachelor necessity these days. Besides, I didn't heat anything up."
Lois was in the process of inhaling the sandwich. When the last piece vanished, she drank the juice in one marathon session and set down the empty glass. "I feel better," she announced.
"Good." Clark scooped up the empty plate and glass. "Want any more?"
She shook her head. "No. That was just right."
"If you say so. If you change your mind, I've got more tuna salad in the fridge. Let me just wash these off under the faucet and I'll be right back."
Lois nodded, putting her feet on the coffee table, and leaning back against the sofa back. Clark smiled at his partner's image of comfort and went to the kitchen sink to rinse off the plate and glass. It took barely a minute to wash and dry them, and store them in his cupboard, but when he returned to the living area, Lois was sound asleep.
Clark grinned a little at the sight of his sleeping partner, and after a moment's consideration he went into his sleeping area and returned with a light blanket, which he spread over her lap. Then he went quietly into his bedroom and picked up the phone and punched in the number for Jimmy Olsen's desk at the Daily Planet.
"Daily Planet, Olsen speaking," Jimmy's voice said after three rings.
"Hey, Jim," Clark said.
"Hi CK," Jimmy said. "What's up?"
"If anyone asks," Clark said, "Lois and I are following up on what happened to her last night." He crossed his fingers. "We won't be back in the office for two or three hours. If Perry asks, pass that along, would you?"
"Sure," Jimmy said. "No problem."
"Thanks," Clark said. "Talk to you later. Bye."
After he hung up, he glanced thoughtfully at his partner. She was going to get a crick in her neck, trying to sleep in that position. Carefully, he shifted her until she was lying full-length on the couch, with a sofa cushion under her head. Lois grumbled faintly and subsided.
Clark turned and went back to the kitchenette. Moving silently, he tidied the remaining traces of his food preparation, but while his hands were busy, his mind was elsewhere, reviewing what he had seen and heard that morning.
The conversation on the other end of the phone that morning had been interesting, if inconclusive, but one thing was clear: Lois was going to have to be very, very careful. If she gave Luthor the slightest indication that she suspected him, there would be no second chance. He was going to have to be alert for trouble. He would not allow Luthor to harm Lois, no matter what, and judging from what he knew of Luthor, if he realized that she knew his real nature she could be in real danger. And if that meant that he had to maintain an around the clock vigil to protect her, then that was how it would have to be.
But right now, since she was asleep on his sofa, maybe he should pay a super fast visit to her apartment. If Luthor's people had been there, it might not be a bad idea to check and see if they had left any clues, or other, more tangible traces of their presence.
Accordingly, two seconds later, Superman floated outside the window of Lois Lane's apartment and x-rayed the premises. His eyebrows rose.
"Well, well," he murmured to himself. He was about to streak into the apartment, when an idea made him pause. There might be a way that he and Lois could use this development to their advantage if they played it right....
**********
Lois was still sleeping when he returned, and he was careful not to disturb her. As a matter of fact, he had spent a sleepless night as well. A moment later, he had stretched out on his bed and closed his eyes. Any movement in the apartment would bring him awake, he knew. The fact that he knew Lois could be in jeopardy was enough to keep that part of him that was always aware of her presence alert. Superman could go for long periods without sleep, but that didn't mean he was impervious to fatigue, and since he was going to need to be awake later, now was the perfect time to catch forty winks.
It was rather more than three hours later that he awakened, alerted by the sounds of stirring in the living area. Quickly, he floated into an upright position, hastily tidied his clothing and stepped around the partition.
Lois was just sitting up, covering a yawn with the back of her hand. "Clark?"
"Right here," he said. "Since you decided to take a nap, I did, too."
"Were you tired?" she asked, sounding slightly surprised, and then seemed to catch herself. "I mean," she added, hurriedly, "you seemed wide awake this morning. I thought you'd probably gone to sleep at my place."
He shook his head. "I was too worried about you."
"Oh. Yes, of course you were. I guess you remembered how I sometimes got in trouble, even with amnesia," she said.
"Well, sort of," he said. "Anyway, I talked to Superman after you went to sleep. He checked out your apartment for me. Luthor's people -- or somebody, anyway -- left some bugs in your place. Microphones."
"*What?*"
He almost winced at the volume level. "Somebody bugged your place," he repeated.
"Why that -- that peeping Tom!" she said. Then she seemed to think of something. "Did Superman clear them out?"
"Not yet. He said he would if you wanted him to, but he thought maybe that would give things away," Clark said. "Besides, it might work out to our advantage if Luthor were to overhear us talking in your place. What do you think?"
"That's just what I was thinking," Lois said. A faint but definitely malicious smile curved her lips. "This might work out all right after all."
**********
Lois opened the door of her apartment. "Come on in and sit down," she said to her partner. "I just need to find my notes and we can go."
"We've got almost an hour," Clark said, following her into the room. He took a seat on one of the sofas as Lois locked the door. "Take your time."
"You never know what traffic's going to be like," Lois said. "Or whether there'll be a taxi. It seems like every time I really need one, there's never one around -- especially today. Everything's still disorganized after the Nightfall scare. Speaking of which, how are *you*, now? Any more memory problems, no dizziness or headaches or anything?"
"No," Clark said. "I still don't remember how I hit my head, but except for that, everything is fine. And speaking of that, you still haven't told me everything about what happened to you last night. I was worried about you when you didn't come back. Did I hear you tell Perry that you were kidnapped *again*?"
Lois cast him an exasperated look. The "again" wasn't part of the script they had worked out. Clark was poking fun at her -- something that he had done since the beginning of their acquaintance, and which no one else dared to do. That should have been a clue right there, she thought. Only Superman was likely to have the courage to actually kid her -- except that Superman never joked with anyone.
Well, that wasn't quite true. He never joked with anyone else that she was aware of, but he did occasionally let traces of his sense of humor slip around *her.* And that should have been another clue, she thought.
He met her look with one of complete innocence. Deciding that the best thing to do was to ignore it, she began to ruffle audibly through the drawers of her writing desk. "Yes I was -- and don't you dare laugh! It wasn't funny!"
"Do you have any idea who was behind it?"
"Not yet," Lois said. "Lex said he thought it might be some competitor of his. I'm not so sure, though. It wouldn't be the first time somebody has gone after me for revenge, or something."
"Like the time that drug kingpin in Little China had you tied hand and foot and threw you into Hob's Bay, three weeks ago?" Clark interjected. "It was a good thing Superman was nearby when it happened or you would have been fish food."
"It's a good thing I'd been working on my gag and managed to yell for help," Lois countered. "Not to mention that water survival course I took a couple of years ago. I was able to float until he got to me. I'm not helpless, you know. Superman hasn't always been around to get me out of trouble."
"That's true," Clark said. "I can't think of anyone I know that's better able than you at taking care of himself. But even the best of us sometimes get into things they can't get out of without help. It scares me sometimes."
"Anyway," Lois said, determinedly bringing the subject back to the point, while tabling the rest of that remark to think about later, "I'm going to have Jimmy do a search and see if anyone with a grudge against me has been let out of jail recently."
"Unfortunately," Clark said, "a lot of people *not* in jail have grudges against you, too."
"Yeah," Lois admitted. "But outside of Chin Chu or whatever his name was, I can't think of anyone I've caused trouble for in the last month or so, so maybe we can narrow it down. And Lex's people might turn up something. It happened in the Lex Tower elevator, you know. They must have left some traces, or maybe somebody else saw them. Bad guys don't operate in a vacuum, and Lex can probably afford the best investigators in the business."
Clark made a face. "I'd say that's a given."
"Here they are," Lois said. "Now all we need to find is a cab on short notice. I've almost saved up enough for a good down payment on that Jeep Cherokee I've been planning for. Then we won't have to rely on city transportation anymore."
"That'll be convenient," Clark said. He got to his feet and went to unlock and open the door for her. "After you."
Once out in the hall, Lois closed and locked the door again, and then stopped to take a deep breath. "How did we sound? Do you think we convinced him?"
"I think we sounded pretty good," Clark said.
"No thanks to you! You kept going off script!"
"I figured a little joking around would sound more genuine," Clark said solemnly, but she could see the little devil dancing in his eyes. Come to think of it, she had seen that expression a few times on Superman's face as well, and she was quite sure that he never showed that side of his character to anyone else while in the Suit. For some reason it made her heartbeat speed up a little, but she pretended to consider his statement objectively.
"You're probably right," she admitted grudgingly, at last. "But next time warn me."
"It sounds better unrehearsed," Clark said, the little devil in his expression a little more pronounced. "Don't worry. I think he's probably as convinced as he's going to be. But that doesn't mean you should get careless."
"Not a chance, Kent. I didn't get where I am by being careless. Now, let's head back to the Planet. I need to get hold of some props."
"Props?"
"If we're going to go sneaking into Lex Tower tonight, and prowl around through Lex's bunker, we're going to need some supplies. And plenty of film."
"Oh. Okay." Meekly, he followed her toward the elevator.
**********
The city was nearly dark when Lois and Clark, clad in business suits, approached a side door of Lex Tower.
The traffic around the building had thinned considerably from what it had been during the day. Lex might not have had a lot of meetings because of the asteroid, but it had picked up as the day wore on. But the building had closed for business at eight, and now the area toward the side and rear of the towering structure was deserted. Lights from the passing cars on the street that the building faced sent shadows racing eerily across the pavement and reflected from the window glass of surrounding buildings, but where they were it was dark.
Lois turned her head, listening intently, and hoped that Clark's super senses were also scanning the area. He must be, she thought. The only time they had ever been caught while sneaking around enemy territory had been during that odd situation in Smallville when Clark had somehow acquired a paper cut. That incident still needed to be explained, but that had really been a very strange scenario, come to think of it. Clark's allergies, when Superman didn't get allergies, the paper cut, the fight with Trask which had left him with a slightly discolored spot on his cheek that had somehow disappeared by the next day...Trask had been searching for a rock that he thought would kill Superman, and Clark had been very quiet about it, she realized suddenly. Except when he had named it Kryptonite. Was it possible that the stuff actually existed and that he had somehow found it and been hurt by it? It seemed unlikely, but a lot of things that had happened since she had met him seemed unlikely.
Anyway, there were no strange rocks, meteorite or otherwise, present now. Clark was right beside her, and she could see him turning his head right and left in the dimness. Superman was on the job, she thought, and it was immensely reassuring.
"Anything?" she whispered.
"Not yet," Clark said. "Hurry up and pick that lock, will you?"
"There's an alarm on the door," she said. "I have to take that out first. Keep an eye out and let me know if anyone's coming."
"Sure." He had turned to examine the door more closely. "Just a second. I've seen this kind of lock before when I was in the Philippines. The wire is inside the door and runs over to the left along here. If you break the contact in here, it goes off. Let me borrow your pick."
Silently, she surrendered the instrument and watched, slightly bemused, as he inserted it in the lock.
"Keep watch," he told her softly. "This won't take long."
Lois turned, but kept a surreptitious eye on what he was doing. Clark lowered his glasses and suddenly something inside the lock sizzled faintly. Casually, she shifted her position, pretending to scan the area. So *that* was it. He'd done something with his amazing vision powers to short the lock out. The sneak!
Oh well, she decided, he'd saved her a lot of work and time.
Clark was easing the door open. "It's clear," he whispered. "Come on."
**********
tbc
