Chapter 7
As the police escorted Sarah out of the room, Superman started to approach Lex and Nigel to confront them about what he’d just overheard, but just then, a hysterical Lois entered the room. She hopped from foot to foot, still wearing the tickling boots.
“Help, Superman,” she said. She’d said those words many times before, but this time she said them with a hoarse voice.
Superman turned his head slightly. Lois! In all the confusion of saving Lex from the feathers of The Tickler and then overhearing Lex say he had plans for The Tickler,, he’d forgotten all about Lois! He immediately rushed over to her side.
“Don’t worry, I can help you remove those troublesome things,” he said as he pointed at the tickling boots.
He motioned for Lois to take a seat in a nearby chair, and she complied. He then put one of her feet in his lap and broke the boot in two. Afterwards, he did the same thing to the other boot.
“Thank you so much, Superman,” Lois said as she continued to breathe heavily and gasp for air. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through.”
Lex approached them, pulled out a tissue, and wiped the sweat from Lois’ head. There was a clear look of disgust on Superman’s face as he remembered what he’d overheard Lex say.
“Just why were you The Tickler’s target, Luthor?” asked Superman, even though he already knew the answer.
“Believe me, Superman, I’d love to tell you,” Lex replied. “Unfortunately, I have no clue why I was taken hostage.”
“She and her mother have been having financial troubles,” Lois responded. “Her mother lost her job from some subsidiary owned by LexCorp. Sarah Carter, also known as The Tickler, had some warped idea that Lex was responsible for it. I tried to tell her that Lex probably doesn’t even have any idea who her mother is, and I even offered to talk to Lex about getting Mrs. Carter her job back. Sarah just wouldn’t listen to reason.”
Superman rolled his eyes. He knew better about Lex.
“Very unfortunate,” Lex sighed. “Of course, I will give Mrs. Carter her job back. I’m so upset about how things turned out, I may even give her a promotion.”
“I knew you would!” Lois exclaimed.
Superman couldn’t believe it. Somehow, he should have known Luthor would make a hero out of himself when he was the true villain behind the whole problem. That’s what he always did. What’s worse was that Lois, like so many others would, was just eating Luthor’s words up.
“You haven’t even heard the best part,” Lex added. “I plan on paying Sarah’s bail and getting her the best legal defense in the country.”
Actually, Lex hadn’t thought of that initially, but he’d managed to excite Lois enough with his other promises of good deeds, he figured he’d win a few more points with her by adding a few more good deeds to the list. It worked. Lois gave him a big hug and kissed him on the cheek. Luthor smiled at Superman, as if to mock him about the attention he was getting from Lois.
“I think I hear a fire alarm or something,” Superman grumbled as he flew into the air.
He hadn’t really heard anything, but Lois’ reactions to Luthor were making him so sick at the moment that he felt the need to get away for a few minutes. To think, he’d just rushed in there to save that pompous pig Luthor! He wished he’d let Sarah tickle torture him just a little bit more. If anyone deserved it, it was Lex Luthor, and it wasn’t like it was going to kill him or anything. For once, Superman actually regretted saving someone!
*****
A few minutes later, after flying above the city to clear his head a little bit and calm down from his anger over Lex’s grandstanding, Clark went back to the room where he’d left Lois and Lex. Luckily, Lois was now alone. Clark wasn’t so sure he could stand another conversation with Lex that night.
“Lois, I’ve been looking all over for you,” he lied.
“Clark, you missed it all, as usual,” Lois replied. “Superman saved Lex from Sarah, and then, he saved me from the tickling boots.”
Clark looked down at Lois’ now bare feet as she wriggled her toes. Then, he checked the floor for the tickling boots, but the broken tickling boots weren’t where he’d left them.
“What happened to the tickling boots?” Clark asked, though he suspected that Lex had made off with them.
Lois looked around the floor for a second and then shrugged.
“I guess Superman must have taken them,” she replied. “They’re not here anymore. To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to them after Superman got them off of my feet.”
Clark knew that he hadn’t taken them, and they couldn’t have just walked off on they’re own. He suspected that Lex might have taken them. He wasn’t sure why he’d do it, but Lex had said he’d had some use for The Tickler. He was about to share his theory with Lois, but he stopped when she began speaking again.
“You won’t believe how generous Lex was! Here’s a woman who tied him up and tortured him, and he still wants to help Sarah and her family. Not only is he going to give Sarah’s mother her job back, with a promotion, but he’s even going to provide Sarah’s bail and pay for her legal bills. Can you believe that guy? What a philanthropist! We need to get back to the Planet and start typing now!”
“He’s a wonderful human being,” Clark said sarcastically, but he was really thinking that it was a shame that their final story on The Tickler was going to turn into an article singing the praises of Lex Luthor.
Clark literally felt like throwing up.
“You can carry me to the taxi,” Lois added, interrupting Clark’s frustrated thoughts about Lex Luthor.
“Huh?” Clark asked, not quite sure where that comment came from.
Lois pointed at her bare feet. “I didn’t think to bring an extra pair of shoes, and you don’t expect me to walk around the streets of Metropolis barefoot while we try to catch a cab, do you? I could step on a piece of glass or something.”
“Of course,” Clark said as he picked her up chivalrously.
Clark wondered to himself if Lois would think as highly of him for carrying her to the taxi as she did of Lex for showing off by helping out Sarah and her mother, but he doubted it. Sometimes, Lois’ high opinion of Lex really got to Clark.
“Don’t worry. I have an extra pair of heels at work,” Lois said as he carried her off.
*****
“How are your experiments going?” Lex asked one of his scientists as he and Nigel entered a laboratory.
“Not well,” the man replied as he held up a tickling boot. “I’ve managed to put the pieces of the boots back together, but I’m not sure how to repair the tickling mechanism inside the boots. Everything I’ve tried so far has failed.”
“That’s not something I want to hear from one of the brightest scientists in the world whose being paid a lot of money to do what I tell him to do,” Lex reminded him.
“Sorry, Mr. Luthor,” the man said timidly.
“I have a few other items I’ve collected that I want you to look at,” added Lex.
He placed a feather duster-gun and the drug that Sarah had used on him on a table.
“Analyze this drug. Tell me if it is possible to make more of it,” Lex ordered.
“Yes, Mr. Luthor,” the scientist replied nervously.
As Lex and Nigel left the room, Nigel asked, “And if he can’t make more of the drug or repair the boots?”
“We’ll have to kidnap Sarah Carter,” Lex replied. “I figure I owe her one anyways after what she did to me. In fact, since I’m not very confident that that buffoon will be able to do what I want him to do, I’m making the decision to kidnap Miss Carter right now. You can hire a few thugs to kidnap her immediately.”
“Of course, sir. But, what if she refuses to repair the boots and to make more of the drug?” Nigel asked.
“I’ll inject her with her own drug and use that annoying feather duster-gun on her myself,” Lex replied. “It’ll actually be a little bit fun. After all, she did tickle torture me. I can’t let her get away with that, now can I?”
“Of course not, sir,” Nigel replied with a smile. “Out of curiosity, though, why is it that you’re so eager to get a hold of the tickling technology?”
Lex smiled. “Superman.”
“Of course, sir,” replied Nigel.
“I’ve long thought that there has to be a chink in his armor,” Lex explained. “Ever since he made his first appearance in Metropolis. The problem is that I’ve never been able to figure it out.”
“And you plan to tickle Superman until he tells you his secret?” asked Nigel.
“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous, Nigel,” Lex scoffed. “The tickling drug could never be injected into Superman’s invulnerable skin. Nevertheless, there are at least a couple of people who likely know more about Superman than they’re telling us.”
“Clark Kent and Lois Lane?” Nigel suggested.
“Precisely,” Lex confirmed. “And while I’d gladly torture Kent in any way imaginable to get information out of him, Lois Lane is another matter. I’m fond of her, and I’d never do any permanent damage to her.”
“But tickling won’t harm her physically,” Nigel said, finally understanding Lex’s plan.
“Yes,” Lex verified Nigel’s suspicions. “I plan to tickle torture Mr. Kent and Miss Lane until they tell me everything they know about Superman.”
*****
Soon afterwards, Sarah was at home alone with her mother preparing dinner. Since she’d been released on bail, things had been quiet between her and her mother, but Mrs. Carter chose to break her silence that night.
“I know you were just doing it for me, and I wanted to tell you that while I think we both know what you did was wrong, I don’t think any less of you because of it. Really, though, don’t ever again do something illegal on account of me.”
Sarah started to cry. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I know that I messed up!”
Her mother put Sarah’s head on her shoulder and patted her on the back. “It’s all right, Sarah. I have my job back, and Mr. Luthor is going to make sure you don’t go to jail.”
Sarah stopped crying and looked up. “You don’t really believe him, do you?”
“Of course I do,” Mrs. Carter replied. “I think he’s ashamed that his company did us wrong, and he’s trying to make up for it.”
Suddenly, they heard a boom at the door. As they both stood up in shock, the door fell to the ground and three men wearing masks rushed into the room. As Sarah screamed loudly, one of them held up a gun.
“You’re coming with us,” he said.
*****
Soon after, Superman rushed into the room. He looked around. Other than the door being knocked over, nothing seemed out of place. Unfortunately, the room was empty, so he used his X-ray vision and saw Mrs. Carter in her bedroom on the phone.
“What happened?” he called out frantically. “I heard a scream.”
A sobbing Mrs. Carter came into the living room.
“I just got off the phone with the police. Sarah’s been kidnapped.”
*****
Within a short amount of time, Sarah was brought to Lex’s lair with blindfold over her eyes, with tape over her mouth, and with her hands tied behind her back.
“Miss Carter, allow me to make you comfortable,” Lex said as he took the tape off of her mouth.
As soon as the tape was removed from her mouth, though, Sarah bit his hand as hard as she could and stomped her foot on his foot. Lex’s henchmen ran to his aid and held her down so that she couldn’t escape, though it took three of them to do so. Sarah was enraged, and the amount of fight in her made that very clear. As she was being tied to a chair by Lex’s henchmen, Lex examined his hand. It was gushing with blood.
“That was a mistake,” he said sternly.
He had a look in his eyes like he wanted to kill Sarah, but he soon regained control over himself. After all, he needed her.
“I knew that nice guy stuff was just an act, Luthor,” Sarah said, somehow sounding unafraid.
Lex looked stunned. She was blindfolded. How could she know who he was?
“You fools,” he said as he turned to the thugs he’d hired to kidnap her. “What did you do to tip her off about my identity?”
“They didn’t do anything,” Sarah replied confidently. “I always knew you were dirty. I figured you were the only one who’d want to harm me.”
“I don’t want to harm you,” Lex replied in a tranquil tone. “I only plan on tickle torturing you, like you did to me.”
Sarah laughed in his face. “You want to use my own gimmick on me? You really think I didn’t find some serum to make myself not ticklish in case my drug fell in the wrong hands?”
She was lying, although she was starting to think a serum like that would be useful at this point. Unfortunately, Lex could smell the fear on her. He grabbed the syringe containing the drug and bent down beside her.
“It’s Sarah’s turn to play the fool,” he whispered in her ear as he poked at her belly. “Let’s see how you take your own medicine.”
To Lex’s satisfaction, she flinched slightly, alerting him to the fact that she was indeed ticklish. He figured the blindfold would help him greatly, so he decided not to remove it. After all, it would allow him to have the element of surprise over Sarah.
“I assume you didn’t just bring me here to tickle me,” said Sarah. “So, what is it that you want?”
“Fix the damaged tickling boots and get me more of the tickling drug, or I’ll be forced to use your own weapon against you,” Lex warned her.
“I may have done a few wrong things, but I’m not a bad person,” Sarah replied. “If you want the tickling drug, you want it for a bad reason. Therefore, I refuse to give it to you.”
Lex violently jammed the syringe into her arm, causing Sarah to scream in pain. He then removed her boots, turned on the feather duster-gun, and began tickling Sarah’s stockinged feet with it.
“Have it your way,” he said with a huge grin on his face.
To be continued...
