Clark and Lois The Lost Years Matchmaker Chronicles Vol 3 41/46
By Ken Janney
This version is rated PG-13
* denotes emphasis *
< denotes thoughts >
[ playback of a recording or TV Commentary] / telepathic communications /
(#) footnotes
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Reminder:
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Previously:
Lois decided to fill him in. “Here’s the explanation. Luthor fired girls that had no close family or friends. If they had a loan he would have it transferred and then used it as leverage to force them into prostitution. Those three girls we took out of there, well, it was their first night. They are all willing to testify.”
“If you could provide us with that data we’d appreciate it.”, Bill stated.
Scardino replied, “I’ll send it over by courier tomorrow.”
Reaching out to shake his hand Bill replied, “Thanks, we’ll put it to good use.”
They shook hands all around and Lois and Clark headed home.
Once they arrived home Clark suggested, “Let’s change into our surveillance outfits and make sure that you have a ski mask. Even though somewhat mystified by this Lois got out her outfit.
While they changed clothes she asked, “What are we doing?”
With a somewhat mischievous look Clark said, “I just thought that it’s still early. I thought we’d get Perry that scoop he wanted. Here’s what I thought … “
And now:
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Chapter – 41 - Luthor
Later that night – over center city
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They hovered, hand in hand, watching the not so crowded byways of center city. It wasn’t too long before Clark observed a suspicious looking character lurking in an alleyway. Using his enhanced vision he saw that the individual was armed with a long bladed knife, not something normally carried by the honest citizen. He said to Lois “I think I’ve got one spotted. I’m going to wait until he has a victim then I’m going to interfere.”
“Okay, I’ll keep looking for one for me. If I need any help,” /I’ll call./
“Uh oh. He just spotted a potential victim. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
/Clark, be careful, okay./
/Always. Here I go./
Clark zoomed down and landed just out of sight of the perp and his victim. The perp had forced the victim at knife point into an alley. He heard the perp demand his victim’s money and other valuables. He walked around the corner and signaled the victim to keep silence with a finger crossing his lips. When he was standing directly behind the perp he said “You might just want to find another line of work. This one doesn’t have very good prospects of lasting much longer.”
The perp spun around and tried to catch Clark with a sweeping cut with his knife. Clark had assumed his karate stance and caught the wrist of the perp’s knife hand in his as it came around. Clark then twisted his wrist until the perp dropped the weapon then Clark then gave him a gentle rap with his knuckles on the forehead. The perp dropped like he had been pole axed. Clark undid the perp’s belt and used it to secure his ankles by refastening his belt then he then took out his shoe laces and used them to tie his hands behind his back.
Clark then pulled out his cell phone and called 911.
The dispatcher answered “911, what is your emergency?”
Clark replied “I’d like to report an attempted robbery at the corner of Ninth and Siegel. The perp won’t be going anywhere and the victim will wait to be interviewed.” As he said this he looked over at the victim to get confirmation. The victim, very shakily nodded his assent. “Yes, the victim says he’ll wait to be interviewed.”
(dispatcher) “Who is this?”
Clark said, “Just a friend.” He closed the phone severing the connection. “Thank you citizen, the police should be here shortly.”
The victim, obviously shook up asked, “Wh … Who are you?”
“A friend.”
“Thanks, friend.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Clark ran to the end of the alley and around the corner. As soon as he was out of sight he took off straight up and rejoined Lois high in the air. Looking back down he saw that the victim had followed him to the end of the alley and when he failed to see Clark when he turned the corner he stood there scratching his head.
Lois asked “How’d it go?”
“Piece of cake. The perp didn’t know what hit him. The victim will have quite a story to tell to the press. I just hope we can get to him first.”
/Oh wow, I just spotted one. Wish me luck. Here I go./
/Good luck sweetheart. I’ll keep an eye on you./
Lois took off in a dive that brought her to the mouth of an alley where she landed out of sight. She heard the perp demand the victim’s valuables. She snuck up behind the perp and assuming a copy of Clark’s karate stance tapped him on the shoulder. He swung around but since she was so close with his hand outstretched as it was he couldn’t bring his gun to bear. Lois grabbed his gun hand and squeezed. He dropped the gun, screaming in pain as he did so. Lois gave him a light rap on the forehead which put him down for the count. She said to the victim “It’s over now. You have nothing to fear.” She proceeded to immobilize him the same way Clark had done and then opened her phone to dial 911.
Just before she did the victim asked “Who are you?”
“A friend, just a friend.” She hit the call button.
“911, what is your emergency?”
“I’d like to report an attempted robbery. The alley just off of Fifth and Creighton. The perp isn’t going anywhere and the victim will be here to interview.”
“Who is this?”
“A friend.” She closed the phone severing the connection. She turned to the victim and said, “You’ll be okay until the police arrive.” She turned and ran to the end of the alley and as soon as she turned the corner she took off straight up and joined Clark.
“Good job! I saw the whole thing.”
Lois was very upbeat “That was fun! Let’s do some more!”
“Okay, let’s move over toward Hobbs Bay and see if there is any activity over there.” Clark reached out and took Lois’ hand as they flew in the direction of the bay. They had gotten into the habit of holding hands whenever they moved together while flying. It served a practical purpose in that it kept the jewels at full charge, but beyond that they both enjoyed it. When they reached their destination they hovered and looked around. Almost simultaneously they spotted a pair of robberies going down. The one Clark spotted was already in progress while the one Lois spotted was just about to happen. Clark gave Lois a quick kiss and said “Be careful.”
She replied /Go get ‘em tiger. I’ll wait till mine commits to intervene./
They flew down to their respective robberies and dealt with each of them in the same manner as they had the others. They met up again in the air, both of them in high spirits. Clark grabbed Lois and gave her a resounding kiss before they each started surveying the area again. It wasn’t too long before they spotted another pair of crimes. They separated again each dealing with one. As Clark was on the ascent from his most recent intervention he spotted yet another and immediately changed direction. /Lois, let’s put on a little show. Here’s what I have in mind … /
He landed out of sight again and approached from behind the perp. He signaled the victim to silence and then confronted the perp. Just as the perp whirled on Clark, Lois came running up.
Lois said “Charlie, mine didn’t take as long as we figured. Do you need any help?”
As Clark disarmed the perp he said, “No, I don’t think so. He’s going to take a little nap now.” Clark gave him a light rap on the forehead. He went down for the count.
Clark said, “Linda! Why don’t you place the call while I secure him?”
The victim had been watching this interplay and had gotten very interested in what was going on. He watched as Lois pulled out a cell phone and dialed 911. She made the call. They asked the victim to wait for the police and then hand in hand they moved down to the end of the alley. As soon as they rounded the corner they took off straight up. Once they got up to altitude neither of them could contain themselves any longer. Lois threw her arms around Clark and kissed him soundly.
When they came up for air she said “That was so much fun, I can’t believe it. Okay, we’ve officially made out debut. What next?”
“That was some show we put on for that guy. He is really going to have a story for the papers. We definitely have to get to him before any other paper. I think that’s enough for one night. If these guys are all part of Luthor’s organization he’ll be feeling the results of our activity tomorrow. I can’t wait to pick up the recording tomorrow night.”
They flew home had a snack and went to bed.
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Next morning – Daily Planet
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There was a message waiting for Clark when they got in. “Clark, Bill, call me.”
Clark looked over at Lois and with a little snicker said sarcastically “I wonder what he wants.”
Clark picked up his phone and made the call. “Henderson here”
“Morning, Bill. We just got in and got your message. What’s up?”
“You’re never going to believe this. The karate kid, actually karate kids have struck again.”
“Karate kids, what do you mean?”
“You remember the guy that saved Izzie, well he struck again only this time it wasn’t just him he had a girl helping him. They stopped a flock of robberies last night.”
“Bill, can we get copies of the police reports? We’d like to interview the victims.”
“Sure, I’ll have copies made for you. They’ll be ready for you when you get here.”
“We’ll be right there. Thanks for the heads up Bill!” He hung up the phone.
“Okay, grab your notebook. We have some interviews to do and a story to write.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Later
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The front page of the evening edition carried the headline.
KARATE KIDS BREAK UP ROBBERIES
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent
“Two karate experts called Linda and Charlie were very active last night foiling robberies all over the city. In each case they interrupted the robbery and subdued the perpetrator. All of the victims described the duo as dressed all in black with ski masks which concealed their identities. In all cases they used some kind of ‘sleeper hold’ on the perpetrator before securing them for the police. … “* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That night when they picked up the tape and listened to it they found out just how much their activities had bothered Luthor.
Luthor was outraged. He was screaming at his subordinates.
First thing he had had a call from Mitzie.
[(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Mitzie, so nice to hear from you.”
(Voice 2 Mitzie) “Don’t give me that crap Luthor. What the hell am I paying you for? I’m supposed to be immune from raids.”
(Voice 1) “You are!”
(Voice 2) “The Hell I am! I was raided last night! One of my new girls, Linda, had a high value target. A member of the House, Charlie something or other. They were in the presidential suite when the raid went down.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor’s voice changed dramatically as he asked,
) “What were those names again?”
(Voice 2) “What?”
(Voice 1) Luthor was literally yelling into the phone,
“What were those names?”
(Voice 2) “The girl was one of the new girls you sent over, Linda.”
(Voice 1) “I didn’t send anyone by that name! What was the other name, the name of the john?”
(Voice 2) “He called himself Charlie.”
(Voice 1) “That’s what I *thought* you said. You say they were in the presidential suite? The one set up to record? I want those tapes! Send them over to me, immediately.”
(Voice 2 – In a more than somewhat subdued tone she replied,
) “I can’t.”
(Voice 1 – With more than a little menace in the tone Luthor asked,
) “What do you mean, you can’t?”
(Voice 2) With fear in her voice she replied,
“The video equipment failed just as they entered the room.”
(Voice 1) “What!!!!!!”
(Voice 2) “All of a sudden, it just quit … like all of a sudden the cameras went bad.”
(Voice 1) In an enraged tone Luthor screamed,
“*Both* of them? And you didn’t think that there was anything *unusual* about that?”
(Voice 2) “Well, yeah, we did but there was no way to correct the problem.”
(Voice 1) “Can you at least describe them to me?”
(Voice 2) “Well, yeah, I guess. Linda was about medium height, good figure, brown hair and eyes. Very attractive. Charlie was very taken with her.”
(Voice 1) “It figures. Describe him.”
(Voice 2) “Well he was tall, six feet or so, dark hair, full beard, glasses. A little older, there might have been a little gray in his hair.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor was speaking more to himself than Mitzie
) “They *are* here!”
(Voice 2) “Who are here? Okay, fine, what are you going to do about this?”
(Voice 1) “Do, what do you mean, what am *I* going to do. I’m going to do precisely nothing! You’re on your own for now. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”]He slammed down the phone.
It didn’t get any better; in fact it was downhill from there. It appeared as though the robberies that they had interrupted had all been all part of his organization
He picked up the latest edition of the Planet. The headline caught his attention. “What the … Karate kids? Charlie and Linda again???” He hit an intercom switch. He roared “Nigel, get in here!”
Nigel knocked on the office door. He heard “Get in here!”
“Look at this! First they are in the Congo following the arms shipment. Then they show up at the White Orchid Ball. Last night they were in Mitzie’s place. Now they’re disrupting our robbery group. I begin to suspect that they could have been responsible for the water tank leak and the bomb failure. I need answers! Find them!”
Nigel had overheard the conversation with Mitzie. “But Lex, we don’t know what they look like. They appear to be disguised all the time. We can’t trust any ID we might get! The description from the Congo could fit almost anyone in their twenties. The description from Mitzie’s has at least the man as somewhat older. Now they are wearing masks and are described as teens! We don’t have anything we can go with.”
“Get out of here and get me something, anything on them. They are a thorn in my side and I want them removed!”
By the time they had gotten through the entire tape there was enough stuff on the tape to incriminate him in all of the operations.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They took the tape to Bill Henderson and played it for him. When they finished playing it he said, “Well, I think this could be the final nail in his coffin. We have enough on him along with the testimony of the people we have in custody. I’m going to a judge I trust to get a warrant. Do you two want to go on the bust? It’s your exclusive.”
“Thanks Bill. What time do we need to be here?”
“Give me two hours and I’ll have a squad ready to raid Luthor Tower.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
At the appointed time Lois and Clark arrived at headquarters and joined the police squad as they moved out for Luthor Towers.
As they entered the lobby Bill had the security guard placed in custody so that he couldn’t alert Luthor to the fact of the raid. They all piled into the express elevator and took it to the one hundredth floor where Luthor had his offices. The door to his office was directly across from the elevator. Bill didn’t bother to knock. He just opened the door and entered followed closely by Clark, Lois and the police squad.
Mrs. Cox asked “Can I help you?”
Henderson said “Jacobs, detain her. She’s an accessory.”
“What do you mean barging in here?”
Jacobs grabbed her but not before she was able to hit a switch on her intercom “Lex! Police!” she shouted.
Bill charged the door to the office and burst it open. He had drawn his gun as he had charged the door. As the door opened he shouted “Luthor, you’re under arrest!” True to his training he didn’t just charge through the door instead he dropped as he hit the door and hit the floor rolling into the room. That was the only thing that saved his life. A bullet slug buried itself in the door where his body would have been if he had been still standing. His roll stopped when he was on his stomach. His hands were straight in front of him and pointed in the general direction of Luthor. He shouted “Drop it Luthor!”
Luthor chose not to heed the order and started to shift his aim to shoot Henderson. The amount that Bill had to shift was less and he squeezed off a shot before Luthor got lined up. Luthor dropped, the bullet hitting him center of mass, very close to the heart.
Lois pushed through to get to him.
He was dying and he knew it. He said “How?”
She knelt down close to him and said in a tone only he could hear “Charlie and Linda send their regards. That’s for all the lives you’ve ruined you bastard.”
As he heard those names, a look of pure hate took over his features as he took his last breath.
comments go here To be continued in Chapter 42 – Superman and Superwoman to the Rescue
