Clark and Lois - Despair to Hope – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 4 – 08/22
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 –
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.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter – 6 Revenge
Somewhere in Metropolis
September 28, 1992
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036
Local designation – Alt 1
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In a basement workshop the Newtrich sisters were working on a project. Actually, to be more correct Nell was working on a project. Nell was the technical brain of the operation and Lucille was the operational brain. They had both been laid off from their respective positions, Nell as a technician in the Enhanced Optical Weapons Systems Division of LexLabs and Lucille from her position as a reporter for LNN, another subsidiary of LuthorCorp. Neither had been able in the last six months to find alternate employment and their funds were starting to be depleted. They had been contacted a couple of months ago with an offer of employment; however it was something that neither of them would consider. They had an outstanding loan on their car and had been told that they had better maintain the payments or else. After being informed of this they had been contacted by a woman named Constance with an offer of employment. When it was explained that they would be hired as ‘Hostesses’ they had both flatly refused. They knew the source of the offer and were very angry. They had developed a determination to take out their frustrations on and have revenge against Lex Luthor as the head of LuthorCorp and the author of their difficulties.
Nell had been working on a laser which was housed in the case of a video cam, very effectively disguising it. Power would be provided by a belt battery pack just like that used by TV crews. The only problem had been the crystal. They surely couldn’t afford a ruby rod so Nell had used a red rock crystal she had spotted in the lab. It had been small enough that before she was escorted out of the building she had been able to pocket it and take it with her. She had no idea as to exactly what it was. All she knew was that it was red like a ruby and it should focus the beam the way she wanted. She wasn’t sure exactly how well it would work though. It seemed that in the dark it emitted a red glow of its own and she didn’t know if that might not interfere with the laser beam as it was emitted. They would just have to try.
Lucille walked in while Nell was working. She was very obviously impatient with her sister. “Don’t you have that thing finished yet? Nell, the White Orchid Ball is only a few of days away. We need this ready for that event.”
“I know, I know. I’m working on it. I just need a little more time. Polishing the ends of this crystal took longer than I had imagined that it would. The ends had to be perfectly parallel in order to prevent scatter or attenuation due to deflection.” She fumbled and dropped the crystal as she was trying to get it placed in its holder within the laser. Fortunately it only fell to the desktop. If it had fallen to the floor it might have shattered. Nell quickly grabbed for it but it skittered out of reach. Lucille reached out calmly and corralled the wayward crystal. Nell was somewhat appalled when she did this because she was not wearing gloves and was getting her fingerprints and body oils all over the crystal as a result. She then handed it to Nell who opened both gloved hands to receive it.
“Nell, be careful! Don’t break that, you know we can’t afford a replacement. I thought you said I could count on you.”
“You can! It just slipped, that’s all.” She continued, muttering to herself, “Now I’ve got to clean it again.”
“Nell, things are always slipping with you. You are the most *clumsy*, butterfingered person I know. That’s one of the things that got you fired from LexLabs. You dropped that weapon you were working on. What was it called the Quinton debilitator or some such idiotic name?”
As Nell was busy re-cleaning the crystal she was shocked at the name her sister had given the weapon she had been working on. She replied with some exasperation, “It was called a Quantum Disruptor!”
“Whatever! When you dropped it, it fried the scientist that invented it before he had a chance to complete the drawings just before destroying itself. Now it’s an incomplete project. They don’t even have the prototype to look at!”
“But it wasn’t my fault! There was a grease spot on the floor and I slipped on it! It was an accident.”
“Nell, you’re an accident just looking for a place to happen. Now tell me about this laser again. How is it going to work?”
“Well, this is my own design. I needed to take some shortcuts because we didn’t have the money to buy what I really wanted. I was able to scavenge some of the parts from old TV sets. I built the circuit board from scratch. Here, you see these? These are the capacitors. The power comes from the battery pack and passes through this inverter which changes the current from DC to AC and then this module steps up the voltage and feeds it to this bank of capacitors. They store the energy and supply it in a burst to the exciter which initiates the source … “
“Whoa, you lost me back at AC and DC. Can’t you put all of that into simple terms?”
Nell, with an exasperated look at her sister pointed at the power leads and said, “The power comes in on this wire.” Pointing at the inverter “It goes through here and gets changed from one type of energy to another.” Pointing at the capacitors she said, “The energy gets stored here until the trigger is pushed. Then it lights the lamp and this directs the beam to the crystal.” She pointed at the red crystal. “and then it comes out here.” She pointed at the lens.
“That’s more like it. Don’t most lasers use a ruby?”
Nell, starting to lose patience with her sister and her complete ignorance of technical matters almost shouted, “Do you really think we could afford a ruby? Where was I supposed to get the money for that?”
”Okay, okay, no ruby. What’s this red crystal?”
“I don’t know. Nobody knew. It’s just a rock crystal that was sent in for analysis from some place in Kansas. Nobody had gotten around to the analysis and it’s not likely that anyone will miss it. I thought that I might be able to use it so I stuck it in my pocket. The only thing that concerns me is the fact that it glows in the dark. I don’t know if that will interfere with the beam or not. That’s one of the things that I need to test.”
“There we go back to tests again. When are you going to start testing this thing?”
Nell, her frustration becoming even more evident raised her voice even higher “I’d be able to test it sooner if you didn’t ask me so many questions!”
“Shouldn’t you be working on putting it together so that you can start the tests?”
Nell said “I know!” as she picked up the crystal and finally succeeded in placing it in the clips, pinching her finger in the process. She let out an “Ouch” and yanking off her glove stuck the injured finger in her mouth to suck on it.
“How much more needs to be done on this? It looks like you’re finished.”
With her head close to the mechanism Nell answered in a somewhat distracted manner as she had her hands working inside the mechanism. “No, it’s not finished. I have to check and then confirm the alignment then I have to check the exciter and the power supply. Then I need to check the collimator. Then I have to recheck the alignment and then we have to run a low power test … “
“Just tell me that this is going to work!”
“It’s going to work!”
“Tell me why.”
Nell replied, as if reciting something she had learned by heart, “Because we have to get back at Lex Luthor for firing us and we don’t care how we do it. Actually the more painfully the better.”
Lucille asked, “Can’t we skip some of those steps? It sounds like it’s going to take you more time than we have!”
Nell looked away from her work and at Lucille, her hands still buried in the mechanism and said “No, we can’t skip any step, not if you want to be sure it’s going to work the way it’s supposed to.”
“When are you going to start the testing?”
“I should be ready to start the testing tomorrow
“All right then, keep working. Just work faster I don’t want to miss the ball.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 3, 1992
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The day of the White Orchid Ball was upon them. That morning Lex had called Nigel in. “Nigel, what progress have you made on getting a picture of Lois Lane?”
“The picture I was able to obtain from DMV wasn’t really usable, but through a contact in the State Department I was able to obtain a passport photo which though it is several years old was of better quality. I sent it off to our people in Brazzaville. They flew it up to the rebel camp and showed it to the people that saw the female reporter. They were not able to make a positive ID. They said it could be but, then again it could have been any woman.”
“Are we dealing with incompetents? How difficult is it to look at a picture and tell if it’s someone you saw or not? Okay, whatever. Keep following up on that. Another action item. This evening we’ll have several members of the space sub-committees in the Senate and House at the ball. Have a meeting room prepared so that I can get them together and try to convince them to throw their support behind my offer to assist with the space program. Have the appropriate libations available. Send in Mrs. Cox on your way out.”
A couple of minutes later Mrs. Cox entered. “Mrs. Cox, please contact Mitzie and have her send a few of the girls over to act as hostesses for the meeting I’m panning with the members of the Senate and House sub-committees. It would be nice if she would have the special room ready if any of the esteemed members of government would like to accompany one of the girls back to her establishment. Tell her to make sure that the girls are dressed appropriately.”
“I’ll take care of it Lex.”
“I know, I can always count on you.”
She sashayed out of his office with a sexy swaying of her hips while he looked on appreciatively.
A few seconds later Lex’s intercom buzzed. “Yes?”
“Lex, Miranda is here to see you.”
Lex let out a virulent expletive and then calmed himself and depressed a key. “Send her in.”
The door opened and in stepped Miranda Michaels. She didn’t beat around the bush but came straight to the point. “Lex, where’s my money?”
“What money would that be?”
“My cut from the last arms shipment.”
“Well, you see Miranda, we ran into some unexpected complications. The shipment was compromised.”
“Compromised? Does that mean that we didn’t get paid? What happened?”
“There was an apparent leak and the media were notified of the shipment. There were some reporters following the cargo. Aside from that the customers are claiming that we defaulted on the cargo, substituting farming implements for the arms.”
“Was it delivered?”
“According to them, no it wasn’t, but yes, it was delivered.”
“Then where’s my money? I need those funds to finance my research.”
“I told you, they are refusing to pay. They say they received a shipment of hoes and rakes!”
“Don’t give me that! I know you, you got paid, you’re just holding out on me. You should give me my share. If you can’t, maybe we could compromise. Why don’t we do this, the ball is tonight. I’d be willing to forgive my share if you’d invite me to come as your date. It could be like old times. After the ball we could spend some time together.” As she was saying this she pointedly was looking in the direction of his private apartments.
“Miranda, Miranda, you know that there is no ‘we’, not anymore. That’s ancient history.”
“In other words there’s no us *and* no money.”
“That’s right.” Lex turned around to pick up a cigar from his humidor. When he turned back around Miranda sprayed him in the face with a liquid from a small atomizer she had carried in her pocket. “Ugh, what was that? It smells like old athletic socks.”
“It’s just one of my concoctions. I call it ‘Revenge’. Are you sure that there isn’t anything that you want to say to me?”
Dismissively Luthor said, “Just good day. You can see yourself out.”
With a more than disappointed air she turned to leave. “You haven’t heard the last of me Lex.” When she reached the door she turned to give him one last look as she exited only to see him blow a smoke ring and exhibit his pleasure with his cigar.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After she returned to her shop Miranda checked the contents of the atomizer. She sprayed a male lab rat and then placed it in the cage of a female. The male rat went through the courting ritual normal for rats which consisted of checking to make sure that his companion was a female and then he mounted her, repeatedly.
She started muttering to herself “Why didn’t it work? This compound should have had him groveling at my feet begging me to love him and make love to him. I wonder if it has a delayed response in the human species. It sure worked on *this* rat. Why didn’t it work on *that* rat in LexTower?”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Later at the ball
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Luthor descended the stairs with several members of congress with whom he had been meeting. He had been proposing to add his support to the space effort and EPRAD. His concern over the sabotage of the Prometheus shuttle had caused him to come forward and offer his assistance.
As he reached the middle of the flight he spotted Mayson Drake, ADA. She was standing alone in the center of the floor looking very lovely and yet feeling somewhat uncomfortable and out of place in her ball finery. Her pose was such that a delicately shaped leg was visible through the slit in the skirt. Luthor excused himself from his party and made a beeline toward her. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as he continued the descent on auto-pilot. He felt he had to meet her. He had to possess her. She meant everything to him. He couldn’t live without her. When he reached her he asked “And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?”
She stuck out her hand as if to shake his and said, “Mayson Drake, Assistant District Attorney.” Luthor took her hand and lifting it to his lips kissed the back of it and then turning it over he kissed her palm. He signaled the band to start paying.
He said, “May I have the pleasure of this dance?”
“I’d be delighted.” He took her in his arms and they started dancing to the waltz which the band started to play.
He was a good dancer, excellent actually, but Mayson started feeling somewhat uncomfortable as the dance progressed with the way he kept pulling her in closer and closer.
The music ended, there was some polite applause for the band and they moved over to the refreshment area. Luthor made some small talk as they browsed the refreshments.
About this time a ‘news crew’ from LNN arrived to document the evening. It consisted of two women, a camera person and a reporter. They were apparently planning to interview Luthor and were setting up near him. Luthor didn’t think much of it until it looked like they were ready to start.
He heard Lucille say, “Ready Nell? Shoot!”
A red beam sprang out from the lens of the ‘video cam’ and struck Luthor in the neck, severing the carotid artery. The guards rushed the shooter and she was knocked off balance. The beam from the laser swung wildly inflicting more injury on Luthor as it tore a path across his neck and down his chest. Blood started to spurt from the wound like a geyser. Lucille shouted “Now it’s your turn to suffer, Luthor!” Luthor fell to the floor unconscious, wallowing in a pool of his own blood which got larger by the second. Before help was able to arrive he had bled to death.
As the sisters were captured there was a small explosion and a puff of smoke from the weapon. Nell was slightly injured by the explosion and, being startled by it, dropped the weapon. She and her sister were both captured by security.
Mayson Drake being the sole law enforcement official on the scene ordered the guards to detain all of the attendees and directed Luthor’s staff to call 911 and summon the police and an ambulance. Acting under her orders the guards kept all of the guests there so that they could be interviewed by the police about the incident.
When the police arrived they took the sisters into custody, cuffed them, read them their rights and led them out to a black-n-white to be taken to headquarters. Shortly after the police arrived the paramedics did also. The lead medic checked Luthor, turned to his assistant and said, “Call the coroner’s office. This is a DOA.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
During the trial the sisters tried to claim ‘Justifiable Homicide’ and in the course of the trial information on Luthor’s involvement in the prostitution racket in Metropolis came to light and his involvement in the firing of many young women, the sisters included, who were then forced into sex slavery. This led to additional revelations about his involvement in other rackets. It was finally revealed that he was in fact the infamous ‘Boss’ of the Metropolis rackets.
At the conclusion of the trial the jury was sympathetic to the plight that the sisters had been put into and took into consideration the additional revelations of Luthor’s involvement in the rackets and gave a guilty verdict to a lesser charge recommending leniency. The judge gave them relatively light sentences which he then commuted to time served.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Clark read about the incident at the White Orchid Ball when the story came in over the wire service. He didn’t like anyone dying, however, in this case he was willing to make an exception. He decided to make a trip to the cemetery.
It had been his habit to visit her grave at least once a week to put new flowers on it and to talk to her. As he knelt by her grave he placed a dozen red roses on the ground and was silent for a time.
Finally he was able to speak and said, “Lois, a lot has been happening. I only have a few months to wait for Herb to show up and I’ve been keeping busy working for the local office. We just got in a report on Luthor. His crimes have finally caught up with him. Some women he had wronged built a weapon and were able to end his miserable life. I guess he won’t be sending any more arms to the rebels and he has paid for what those arms he supplied did to you.”
“Before Herb shows up, you know what I’m going to do. I’m going to take a page out of Jack Benny’s book (1). I’m going to go to the florist and I am going to set up a trust. I’m going to have one red rose delivered and placed on your grave every day. I know that you are looking down on us and you will see, you’ll see just how much you meant to me. I wish you were here with me right now, I miss you so, my love. Every day I still wish that I had died instead of you or at least with you and if it hadn’t been for the twins I might have, but, that wasn’t meant to be.”
“You’ll be happy to hear that the twins have really matured through this experience. They have seen what we meant to each other and they want that kind of relationship, a loving relationship with one man. They have become my very closest friends and have stopped playing their little games with men. They are looking for that one relationship that will last. They are treating me like a big brother now and asking my advice on lots of things, but mostly interpersonal relationships. It has gotten to the point that they want me to interview any prospective dates and give them my approval before they will go out with him and they have decided that the next man they have sex with will be the man that they marry. I hope that they will find their future husbands before I leave. That would make my departure a lot easier.” Again he lapsed into silence and just knelt there for a while. Eventually he returned to his hotel.
Since they were the only things that he had to remember his Lois he resolved to keep her jewelry and her purse with her ID and donate the clothing to a charity there in Brazzaville.
1. Jack Benny was married to Mary Livingstone (born: Sadie (Marrix) Marks), a cousin of the Marx brothers, who was many years his junior. Knowing that he was dying he set up a trust with a florist so that a single rose would be delivered to her daily after his death. The day after the funeral she started receiving the roses and it was a week or so before her grief at her loss lessened enough to question the source of the flowers. She then started asking questions and found out that Jack was the source. It was a testament to his love for her and the deliveries continued until her death in 1983.
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/benny.asp comments go here To be continued in Chapter 7 – Herb Shows up and Herb Shows Up
