Chapter 8
About an hour had gone by since Lex had begun tickling Sarah, and he was still going at it. So far, she’d managed to stay strong and not give up, but Sarah knew it was only a matter of time before the torture was too much for her. Currently, Lex was running the feather duster-gun in circles around her navel.
“Come on, Sarah,” Lex coaxed her. “You know that I’m not going to give up, and you know how effective the drug is. Just give in. Nobody would blame you.”
Sarah remained unyielding. Through her laughter, she responded, “No way!”
“She’s tougher than I expected,” Nigel complimented Sarah. “Perhaps she needs some persuasion other than being tickled, sir.”
“Hmmm, you may be right, Nigel,” Lex replied as he stopped tickling Sarah. “If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you’re very fond of your mother. Perhaps I’ve been torturing the wrong person.”
“My mother can take a little tickling just as well as I can,” Sarah blurted out.
“Oh, with her, I would stop at a little bit of tickling,” Lex responded devilishly. “I’d use a type of torture that might leave more permanent results.”
Finally, Sarah showed a sign of cracking. A look of true terror came across her face, and she began sobbing and shaking her head.
“No; no!” Sarah yelled. “Please don’t! I promise I’ll do anything you want!”
“Splendid,” Lex replied gleefully. “I knew you’d see things my way eventually. First, I’ll need you to produce more of the tickling drug and a new pair of tickling boots. Then, we’ll talk about my plans for Lois Lane and Clark Kent.”
*****
About a week later, Lois and Clark were working late at the Daily Planet. Outside, the building, Sarah, Lex, and Nigel stood in a dark alley.
“You know what to do?” Lex asked.
“I’m to use the gas to make Lane and Kent pass out. Then, I tie them both up and put them in separate rooms. First, I work on Lane. Then, Kent. I’m not to harm Lane at all. If I have to get a little violent with Kent, then so be it,” Sarah repeated the words Lex had drilled into her head about a billion times already.
“And what are the important conversation topics I gave you?” Lex asked.
“What do you know about Superman that you haven’t printed? What are his weaknesses? Does he have a secret identity? Do you have a way to contact him?” Sarah responded.
“Good, good,” Lex replied. He sounded pleased. “Now, as an added precaution, I’ve decided that I’ll have you wear these into the Daily Planet.”
He placed a pair of boots beside Sarah’s feet.
“Tickling boots?” Sarah replied. She frowned at the thought of being the one forced to wear the boots she had personally built for Lex, but she put them on anyways.
“I’ll only turn them on if I decide you’re taking too long in there,” Lex assured her.
*****
Once inside the building, Sarah stared at Lois and Clark as she hid behind a big plant in a pot. She really didn’t want to do this. Lois and Clark seemed like nice enough people. Unfortunately, she had no choice, so she took a deep breath and threw the knockout gas bomb that Lex had given her and put a gas mask over her face.
Lois was put to sleep instantly, but Clark didn’t go down so fast. First, he used his x-ray vision to look through Sarah’s mask. After seeing who it was, he decided that not passing out would raise too many questions, so he fell to the ground and pretended to be knocked out.
First, Sarah tied Lois up at her desk. Then, she dragged Clark toward the conference room. He was a little bit heavy for her, and she bumped him on the head a few times on the way there. Once in there, Sarah tied him to a chair.
When she left the room, Clark immediately opened his eyes and used his x-ray vision and super hearing to observe what she was doing to Lois. He was curious to see where this was going.
Sarah held Lois’ head in her hand and ran smelling salt across her nose, causing her to wake up immediately.
“Sarah?” Lois asked. “What are you doing?”
“Sorry, Lois, but I have to tickle you,” Sarah replied.
“Again!?” Lois shrieked. “You have got to be kidding me!”
Clark ripped the ropes off himself and considered rushing to Lois’ rescue, but he stopped. Somebody kidnapped Sarah, and now, she’s up to her old tricks as The Tickler. Based on what he’d overheard Lex say, he had to be behind it. Clark decided to watch Sarah and see what she was up to before saving Lois. It was the only way to determine what Lex was up to.
As Sarah held the feather duster-gun at Lois’ waist, Lois squirmed beneath the ropes. “I have a confession to make,” Lois said nervously. “I’m really, really ticklish. Can I just give you whatever you want and skip the tickling this time?”
Clark smirked. He had to admit that he saw the humor in the “unticklish” Lois Lane turning into the “really, really ticklish” Lois Lane.
“What are Superman’s weaknesses?” asked Sarah.
“That’s an easy one,” Lois replied. “He doesn’t have one. HELP, SUPERMAN!!!”
Sarah shoved a scarf in Lois mouth to keep her quite and turned on her feather duster-gun.
“That was a bad move, Lane,” Sarah scolded her. “Now, I have to tickle you.”
Lois began laughing through the scarf as Sarah used the feather duster-gun to explore all over her body. Sarah soon realized that Lois was the most ticklish in between her toes, so she let the feather duster-gun rest in that spot.
“Does Superman have a secret identity?” asked Sarah.
Lois spit out the scarf and yelled, “I don’t know!”
“Bad answer,” Sarah replied. “Can you contact him?”
“Heeheehee - He usually c-comes when I – ha-ha - call for him. Ha-ha-ha,” Lois replied through her laughter. “He’ll be here any minute. I know he will!”
Clark debated whether or not he should appear as Superman to save Lois. This seemed like it might be a trap for Superman, using Lois as bait, but he couldn’t just stand still while Lois suffered. Then, before he could do anything, Sarah stopped tickling Lois.
“You seem way to ticklish to be lying,” Sarah replied. “In fact, you’re probably the most ticklish of any of the people I’ve encountered.”
Lois looked indignant. “I wouldn’t say the most. Clark’s pretty ticklish. You just haven’t tickled him yet.”
“I plan on making up for that right now,” Sarah replied. “Anyways, Kent probably knows more than you. Rumor has it he’s tight with Superman.”
Clark hurriedly sat back down in the chair and wrapped the ropes around himself to make it look like he was still tied up as best as he could. Then, just as Sarah entered the room, he put his head down like he was still passed out.
“Time to wake up, Mr. Kent,” Sarah cooed as she put the smelling salt under his nose.
Clark raised his head slowly and faked grogginess. “Sarah?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s me,” she replied. “I’m going to inject you with this needle, and then, I’m going to tickle you.”
Clark hadn’t thought about the needle. If Sarah injected him with it and it bent, she was sure to figure out he was Superman!
“Wait a minute, Sarah! Don’t inject me with that needle!” Clark begged.
“Wow, Lois said you were more ticklish than her, but I never expected this!” Sarah replied excitedly.
She reached out and scribbled her nail across his abs, and he laughed.
“Ooh,” Sarah added. “And you work out, too. This will be fun.”
She began wriggling her fingers up and down his ribs, causing him to laugh some more. As she drew her long nails across Clark’s belly, he realized that bullets may bounce off Superman’s chest, but he was helpless against tickling. Worse yet, he was laughing like crazy, and Sarah hadn’t even used the drug on him!
“Now, tell me, Mr. Kent, what are Superman’s weaknesses?” Sarah asked as she continued tickling him.
“He’s invulnerable to everything,” Clark replied.
“Come on,” Sarah said as she drew her fingernails across Clark’s sides. “There must be something about him you know.”
“I don’t know about any weaknesses!” Clark replied.
Sarah continued poking at Clark’s sides, causing him to jump in his seat with each poke.
“Does he have a secret identity?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” Clark replied as Sarah danced her fingers around his waist.
“If I don’t get answers soon, we go to the drug, and then, you’re really in for it,” Sarah warned.
She picked up her feather duster-gun, removed one of Clark’s shoes, and began sliding the feathers across his foot.
“I don’t know anything!” Clark replied.
“That’s it, you get the tickling drug,” Sarah said as she picked up the syringe.
Clark closed his eyes in anticipation. This was it. His secret was about to come out. Then, all of a sudden, he heard laughter. It was female laughter, but it wasn’t Lois. That meant it had to be Sarah! He opened his eyes, and sure enough, Sarah was laughing hard as she hopped from foot to foot. He x-rayed her boots and sure enough, Sarah was wearing tickling boots.
“This time, you got lucky,” Sarah said as she ran towards the exit.
*****
“And she tickle tortured the two of you? Great shades of Elvis, this story just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Perry said in astonishment.
“I held out strong, but Clark would have spilled his guts if he knew anything about Superman,” Lois replied. “I could hear him laughing and begging not to be tickled from all the way in the other room.”
She knew that she had been just as bad, if not worse, than Clark, but it made her feel better about her own ticklishness to throw off on Clark a little bit.
“She was kidnapped by someone, and I believe she’s being forced into working for this person,” Clark added. “When she abruptly left, I noticed she was wearing tickling boots like the ones she forced Lois to wear.”
“Serves her right for putting them on me,” added Lois. “Those things were awful!”
“And what exactly did she want?” asked Perry.
“It seemed like she wanted information on Superman, but we didn’t give it to her,” answered Clark.
“Not that we knew anything she was asking,” added Lois.
“It sounds pretty serious if someone is gunning for Superman,” Perry said with a sigh. “The two of you need to get back to work on figuring out who kidnapped Sarah.”
*****
Lex looked surprisingly happy as he approached Sarah, who was tied up and still wearing the tickling boots, the next morning.
“Why do you look so happy?” Sarah asked him. “You lost. Lane and Kent didn’t know anything about Superman, and if they did, they didn’t talk.”
“That may be so, but I still have some use for your technology,” Lex replied.
“Of course you do,” Sarah groaned. “What do you want me to do now? Any more friends you want me to tickle for you?”
“Just one,” Lex replied as he smiled widely. “Only I wouldn’t call this particular person a friend.”
“Who?” Sarah asked.
“Superman,” Lex replied cheerfully. “I want you to tickle Superman.”
To be continued...
