Clark and Lois - Despair to Hope – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 4 – 07/22
By Ken Janney
This version is rated PG-13
* denotes emphasis *
< denotes thoughts >
[ playback of a recording ]/ 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
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
Previously –
A little later Colette arrived. Letting herself in with her key she expected to find Suzanne asleep on the couch. However she wasn’t there and even the blanket was gone. She tip toed over to the bedroom door and peeked in. What she saw was her sister curled up in a chair beside the bed, sound asleep.
Colette closed the door again and went into the kitchen and put some coffee on to brew. When it was finished she prepared it the way her sister liked it and went to call her.
Suzanne was bleary eyed with lack of sleep as she moved to the kitchen with Colette. She heaved a heavy sigh as she sat down at the table and picked up her coffee. After taking a sip she put the cup down and said, “Je ne sais pas combien de temps je serai capable de continuer ça, mais comment pourrais-je arrêter? Il a besoin de nous. J'ai mal au dos à force de dormir dans cette chaise.“
(tr: “I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to do this, but, how can I stop? He needs us. My back aches from sleeping in that chair.”)
Colette asked, “Pourquoi ne pas dormir dans le lit avec lui ?“
(tr: “Why not sleep in the bed with him?”)
“Ce ne serait pas correct. Il a besoin d'amis, pas d'amants!“
(tr: “That would not be right. Right now he needs friends, not lovers.”)
“Tu as raison, Suzanne. Pourquoi ne pas prendre des tours? Dors sur le canapé ce soir. Je prendrai la chaise.“
(tr:“You’re right Suzanne. Why don’t we take turns? You sleep on the couch tonight and I’ll take the chair.”)
“Tu me sauve la vie, Colette! On devrait se relayer au travail. Si tu reste près de lui ce soir et je dors, je peux aller travailler demain.“
(tr: “Colette, you are a life saver. Why don’t we alternate at work? If you sit with him tonight and I sleep, I can go in to work tomorrow.”)
“Oh oui! Bonne idée! De cette façon, ni l'une ni l'autre n'aura à se taper tout le boulot. Je vais avertir Derek aujourd’hui.“
(tr: “Yes, let’s do that. That way neither one of us has to do all the work. I’ll tell Derek today.”)
Colette, usually the more flighty of the sisters for a change was the practical one when she asked, “Pense-tu qu'on devrait peut-être appeler un médecin?“
(tr: “Do you think that perhaps we should call a doctor?”)
Suzanne replied, “J'y ai pensé. Physiquement, il semble être en bonne santé; c'est son esprit qui est touché. Je pense qu'on l'aide autant qu'un docteur pourrait le faire.“
(tr: “I’ve thought of that. Physically he seems to be healthy; it is his mind that is affected. I think that we are doing as well as any doctor would do.”)
“Si tu le dis... Je dois aller travailler. Vas-tu être correcte ici toute seule avec lui?“
(tr: “If you say so. I need to leave for work. Will you be okay here alone with him?”)
“Ça devrait aller. Fait part à Derek de nos intentions. Je vais te voir ce soir.“
(tr:“I can handle it. Let Derek know what we will be doing and I’ll see you this evening.”)
Colette gave her sister a hug before walking out the door to go in to the office.
Suzanne returned to her post in the chair.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 5 – Luthor
September 1992 Metropolis
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036
Local designation – Alt 1
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Nigel St. John knocked on Lex’s office door. He heard Lex say, “Come in!” and then he entered swiftly. “Sir, we just got a report in on the latest arms shipment. The Brazzaville office reports that the arms arrived.”
Lex leaned back in his chair and blew a smoke ring from this Cuban cigar. “Very good, excellent, excellent in deed. We need to start preparing the next shipment.”
Nigel squared his heels and took a deep breath to deliver the bad news. He was well aware that Lex did not enjoy bad news and often took his anger out on his subordinates. Clearing his throat, he began. “There was however a problem. When the rebels opened the crates that held the arms, they claim that what they found were farming implements.”
Lex rocked forward, anger and incredulity on his face. He didn’t like surprises within this side of his business. “Is this some kind of joke? Are they trying to get out of paying for the arms? Where do they get off trying something like this?”
Placing a stack of pictures on the desk in front of Lex, he said, “They sent pictures of what they found.”
Lex leafed through them and then flung them down in disgust. “They are obviously trying to get double. They substituted these farming implements for the arms and took these pictures to make it look like we had stiffed them and switched these out for what they had ordered. Get back to them and demand that they stop this fraud and pay what they owe, or else.”
“Or else what, Sir?”
“Or else they won’t be getting any more arms from me and I’ll start supplying arms to the Congolese government.”
“They anticipated your response and said that if you followed such an action as you have proposed that they will notify the American media of your connection to the illegal arms trade. They think you did this deliberately to them. It may or may not be related to this but, there was a report of some Americans following the cargo. They were captured by the rebels, however they managed to escape. The rebels say that they claimed to be reporters. The circumstances of their escape seem to be somewhat jumbled, but one definite detail is that they were both shot. The female had a mortal wound and the man was at least wounded. The man disappeared along with the body of the woman. They assume that he took the body and fled while they were otherwise occupied. They were convinced that there was no way for him to be able to survive without food, water or shelter being wounded and carrying that burden. Also, in that area there are plenty of big cats prowling. If they had scented blood they would have finished them off. All that would be left would be some bones.”
“Were they able to get any names?”
“The leader of the rebel team that had them said he heard the names ‘Charlie’ and ‘Linda’. Also there was another thing that was somewhat unusual. The leader was disarmed by the man. His trigger finger was broken and somehow the gun he had used on the woman was mangled. He was struck a single blow which knocked him out and broke his jaw. His report had to be in writing since his jaw is wired shut.”
“Contact them and have the gun sent to Brazzaville. Contact our man in the State Department and have it sent back in the diplomatic pouch. I want to see that gun.”
“They may not wish to cooperate. They don’t believe you held up your end of the deal.”
Lex continued “Send our own people if you have to, but I want a follow-up done. Have them search the area from where the encounter occurred all the way back to the town. Interview anyone that might have seen something. Check the local hospitals for any gunshot wound victims. We need to be sure. Follow any leads you get.”
Nigel gave a nod of assent and turned to leave. Luthor stopped him. “Nigel, check and see if any newspapers are missing any of their staff. Let’s see if we can identify who we are dealing with.”
Again Nigel nodded and this time managed to get out the door.
Luthor brooded over this information. It looked like there was a leak somewhere and he would need to plug it. He hit an intercom switch. “Mrs. Cox, please come to my office, at once.” He started tapping his finger on his desk as he waited.
Mrs. Cox entered the office without knocking. She was dressed in an extremely short skirt and a very low cut blouse. “Mrs. Cox, it would appear that we have a leak in the operation. Someone passed on the information about the guns to the media. A couple of reporters were following them. There’s no telling how much they found out. Call in the head of that operation. Have him in my office tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is going to be difficult trying to get to the bottom of this. Order dinner for two to be sent up. You’ll join me, of course.”
“Of course, Lex.” She swayed her hips very suggestively as she exited his office.
He watched her as she walked out planning just how he would relax, with her, before he really dug in on this problem tomorrow.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Brazzaville
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Charlie had been living with Suzanne now for over a week. He was still in a grief-stricken and somewhat delusional state. He was at least eating on his own, after a fashion, but it still required a lot of encouragement from Suzanne. The girls had been sharing the night duties and were not faring too badly as a result. He seemed to be coming out of his condition slowly.
Whichever girl was working that day had been bringing them groceries on a daily basis and they had both been staying in Suzanne’s apartment. She had been discussing Charlie’s state with her sister. “Colette, Charlot semble être en meilleurs états, qu'en penses-tu?“
(tr: “Colette, Charlot seems to be responding better, what do you think?”)
“Je suis d'accord. Il devrait être de retour à la normale d'ici peu.“
(tr: “I agree. It may not be too much longer before he is back to normal. )
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Downtown Metropolis
3 weeks later
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Nigel knocked on Luthor’s door. From the other side he heard “Come!” Nigel opened the door and entered carrying a box.
“Ah, what have we here? Is this the package from the Congo?”
“Yes Sir. It arrived by courier a short time ago.” He placed it on Luthor’s desk in front of him.
As Luthor opened the box he asked, “What have you found so far on the follow-up?”
“We haven’t found a single trace of either the man or the woman. It’s like they vanished into thin air, which is the oddest coincidence. One of the native bearers had been sent to the camp to request a relief crew be sent. As he was nearing the edge of the grassland he heard shots being fired. Because of this he moved ahead more cautiously. It was almost dark so he couldn’t see much. He said that suddenly what he described as an evil spirit took off from the ground and flew away. He panicked and fled back to the cargo train. When the security team from the Cargo train arrived at the site they found the group that had been escorting the prisoners either unconscious or tied up. There was blood on the ground and marks of a scuffle but no bodies.”
Luthor looked up with the mangled gun in his hand and said “And this. What could have done this to this weapon?” He was turning it over and over in his hands. “It was fired at least once before it was crushed. How was it crushed?” Luthor was wearing a very pensive expression. “An evil spirit you say? The native said an evil spirit flew up from the ground?”
“Yes, sir. But you know how these superstitious natives are. Most of the time you can’t believe even half of what they say.”
“But, what if? What if we take what he said as fact?”
“It was dark; his eyes could have been playing tricks on him.”
“But, what if they weren’t? What if something, no, someone … took the woman and flew her to safety?”
“According to the shooter it was a mortal wound.”
“Ah, but perhaps only if medical care was not immediately available. Expand the search immediately. Check every hospital in a two hundred kilometer no, on second thought check every hospital in the country for a woman with a gunshot wound. When did the incident occur? Whatever, I want to know if a woman who had been shot was brought into a hospital the night of the incident, any hospital.” I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
“As you wish. I’ll initiate the inquiry immediately.” Nigel turned and left.
Luthor continued to sit at his desk turning the crushed gun around and around in his hands and muttering. “No normal man could have done this. It would take enormous strength to crush this steel. And to be able to fly?!?!?!? How could this possibly be? I just may be up against a worthy adversary. I’ll find you, whoever and wherever you are. I’ll find you and if you cross me, I’ll crush you!” Looking down at the gun again, he said with determination. “I’ll crush you the way you crushed this gun. Lex Luthor will crush you the same way I have crushed *all* of my adversaries, with cunning. Physical strength is as nothing compared to my brain. Lex Luthor will win, as I always do.”
Lex depressed a key on his intercom “Mrs. Cox, attend me if you will.”
“Right away, Lex.”
As she opened the door Lex was replacing the crushed gun back in the box. “Have this sent to LexLabs. I want a complete analysis. I need to know just how much force needed to be applied to crush this gun this way. See to it. Oh and call the madam and have her send one of her girls over tonight.” When he saw her hurt expression, he continued, “I have something else for you to be doing for me tonight, my sweet. I’ve checked and the only Metropolis based newspaper that has an office in Brazzaville is the Daily Planet. I want you to pack an overnight bag. I’ll have a jet waiting for you. I want you to go to Brazzaville, to the Daily Planet office and see if you can find out if any of their reporters were checking up on our arms shipment. I expect you can use your … abundant … talents … to secure all the information I need.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Brazzaville
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It had been about a month since Lois’ death and Charlie had slowly come out of his delusional state which had been brought about through his profound grief, lack of sleep and lack of food. Even though he derived most of his energy from the sun, he still needed food, at least occasionally.
With the return of his sanity he had become aware of what had been happening and he was very grateful to the twins for the care they had given him.
As usual, this evening both of the girls were having dinner with him and he felt that he needed to express his appreciation but, didn’t know how to go about it.
They noted this and tried to draw him out. Suzanne moved over, sat on his lap and put her arms around his neck forcing him to look at her. She asked, “Charlot, why are you so sad? We thought that we ‘ad ‘elped you through zat.” She leaned in and gave him a kiss.
Again he looked down as he said, “I am embarrassed to say that I don’t know how to adequately thank you for all that you have done for me.”
“Charlot, mon petit chou, do not feel bad about zat. Colette and I deed what we needed to do for our friend. We are zo zorry zat you lost your wife.”
Charlie replied, “You don’t understand, we weren’t really married. We were working together on the story but that was our cover. I did hope that when we were finished that we would actually be married, but we had never …”
Startled Suzanne replied, “Oh, Charlot, I’m so sorry. You never really had the shance to make love with your lady love?”
“No, I had been waiting for the right woman to come along and then when she did we wanted to wait until we were finished with this investigation.”
“Charlot, do not blame yourself. Eet was no your fault zat she was shot. At times you thought zat eet was her zat was taking care of you. If not for zat you might not have come back to us. We were very much afraid zat you were going to die also. You were on zee brink.”
“I almost wish you hadn’t brought me back, that I had died with her.”
“Charlot, do not talk like that. Somehow, some way, some time you will find someone that will take her place.”
“No, you do not understand. There is no other; there can be no other. She was the only one.” But he started thinking, <Could there be another? She was my Lois, but, there *are* other Lois Lanes. What if? Maybe what I need is to hang on until Herb returns.> The very thought gave him a sudden jolt of hope.
The girls noticed that he was lost in thought and afterwards they saw a change in attitude. He said, “You know, Suzanne, you may be right. Perhaps there is another woman out there for me.” With a wistful look and sound in his voice he finished with, “Only time will tell.”
Some animation came back into his voice as he addressed each of the girls in turn, “I think it’s time for me to return to my hotel. Thank you Suzanne, and you Colette, I do appreciate all that you have done for me. Please tell Derek that I’ll be in tomorrow morning and that if he has a few minutes, I’d like to talk to him. I’ll be staying for the rest of the year and I might as well do some reporting while I’m here.”
One of the first things he did was to go to the paper’s morgue and pull a copy of the paper that carried the story of the rescue of the D’Arnet family and make a copy of it. He then contacted the papers that had covered the story and identifying himself requested copies of the original prints and also copies of that particular edition. When he got them he had his favorite picture framed and he placed it on his night table next to his bed. He cut the article out of the paper, carefully folded it and placed it in his billfold. He had another picture framed and kept it on his desk at the Planet office.
A couple of days later, Charlie was alone in the office when a strange woman with a café au lait complexion, low cut blouse and very short leather skirt walked in the door. From the way she was dressed he knew that she wasn’t local so when he stood up and walked over to greet her he used his French accent, "'ello, may I 'elp you?"
Mrs. Cox gave him a very close appraisal and liked what she saw. She replied, "Why, yes you may." Pointedly looking at his crotch she asked, "I was wondering just how large a staff you have ... Uh, I mean, uh, here in this office."
Startled by her boldness, Clark took the innocent meaning and calmly replied, "We 'ave a rather small staff 'ere"
Still looking down, Mrs. Cox replied, "Not from what I can see. Uh,” then Mrs. Cox asked, “Would you like to have me for lunch,” deliberately using a double entendré.
Clark replied, “No, sank vous. I mus remain in zee office. I am zee only one ‘ere at zis time.”
Mrs. Cox reached out and stroked his cheek and her hand continued down lingering on his chest. As she felt his pecs she got a look of extreme interest. She brought her other hand up and using both started exploring his body. As she did so she started to get a very dreamy expression. She was thinking, <Wow, he’s better built than Lex and Lex is outstanding! I would just love to find out if the rest of him is as solidly built as his chest. If what I am feeling is any indication he’s something special. I wonder how he would be in bed?>
He allowed her to do this for a short time and then placing his hands over hers he removed her hands and brought them together gently, although he really wanted to just tell her to keep her hands off.
Coming out of her dreamy state Mrs. Cox asked, "What are you doing later this evening, say, after dinner?”
“I’m zo zorry, I am occu-pied zis evening.” <And every other evening while you are around.>
“I’ll just bet that you are. Ah well, I guess it’s not meant to be. Do you have visiting reporters come in frequently?"
"No, not zeery off-ten."
"Do you have any visiting right now?"
"Mais non, uh, no we do not."
She closed the distance between then again and started stroking his cheek once more as she continued, "Are you sure that there has been no one visiting?"
Charlie was sure at this point that this woman was here because Luthor had sent her. He was happy that he was the only one here and that the framed picture of Lois was turned so that she could not see it and that Claude was absent. Claude, he was sure, would have spilled the beans and told her everything. Right then and there he decided that he needed to talk to Dr. M’Benga to make sure that no one would talk about Lois. In the mean time he needed to decide what he would tell this woman. Not wanting to give away the fact that Lois had died he quickly came to a decision and then said, “We deed recently ‘ave a marr-i-ed couple visit-ing but, zay were no ‘ere pour zery long.”
She asked, “Oh, what were their names?”
He decided to give her a minimum of information and to try to confuse the issue somewhat. He said, “Zay were call-ed Charlie and Linda. Zay were from États-Unis.“
“What were they here for?”
“Zay nevair tol us just what zay were ‘ere for. Zay only stopp-ed in here brief-ly.”
Mrs. Cox at this point could see that she had all of the information that she was about to get and since this handsome specimen wouldn’t go to lunch or dinner with her rather than waste a lot of time she decided that she would take what she had and return to Luthor. With a very disappointed air she said, “It’s a shame that you won’t go out with me. We could have had such a good time, but, thank you for the information.” After saying this she turned and left.
Charlie hoped he hadn’t given her too much information. But he wasn’t very impressed with her persistence in getting information from more than one source. Lois would have beaten her hands down, he reflected sadly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Two weeks later
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lex Luthor called Nigel and asked him to come to his office. When he came in Luthor asked “Nigel, I need an update on your inquiry into the newspaper reporters. Mrs. Cox has confirmed that there was a married couple in Brazzaville, briefly.”
“There has only been a single reporter absent from the Metropolis office of the Daily Planet, Lois Lane. The report is that she has been on a ‘rest leave’. The pressures of the job had been getting to her and she needed some time off. If it was a married couple then that leaves her out as a possibility.”
“Lois Lane … I’ve heard that name. Wasn’t she involved in the investigation that broke up our car heist ring about a year ago?”
“One and the same. Fortunately we were able to cover our tracks and all she was able to get were the lower level operators. It was a minor hindrance at worst.”
“But a hindrance none the less. We’ll have to find out what she looks like. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen her picture. See if you can get a picture from the DMV.”
“I can do that.”
“See to it that you do. That still doesn’t tell me who the pair was that was in the Congo. Continue to follow up on that.”
“Yes, Sir
“Oh, and Nigel, when you get the picture have it wired to our people in the Congo and see if they recognize her.”
“Will do.”
Luthor depressed a switch on the intercom. “Mrs. Cox, have we received the report on that weapon as yet?”
“I have it right here.”
“Bring it to me, please.”
She brought it in to him and stood by as he examined it. As he read he mused aloud “Mmmm, partial finger prints, not enough to get a match. Weapon fired once since cleaning. Force required to deform the metal … What?? That much? That’s physically impossible! I never would have believed it possible to generate that much force. Surely no human hand could generate that much power. There *must* be a mistake here. Have them recheck their findings.”
“I already did Lex. This is the confirmatory report. When I saw the initial report, I immediately requested confirmation. They took new weapons of the same type and used a hydraulic system to crush it. That’s how much force was needed.”
“Unbelievable!” He was stunned.
comments go here To be continued in Chapter 6 – Revenge
