Clark and Lois - Hope Realized - Matchmaker Chronicle Volume 5 21/25
By Ken Janney
Rating PG-13
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.
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
(#) footnotes
/ denotes telepathic communication/
[ playback of a recording or TV Commentary]For reference purposes the following will hold true throughout.
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
Alpha -120 x Gamma 255 x Tau -190 New universe called Alt 2
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Clark and Lois – Hope Realized - The Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 5
Previously:
“Well, that’s another issue I wanted to talk to you about. In view of this I’ve been approached with an offer to buy out the paper.”
Clark asked, ”Oh, who wants to buy the paper?”
James replied, “A guy by the name of Leslie Luckabee. He came out of nowhere with the offer. He’s from Australia.”
As soon as they heard the name, both Lois and Clark blurted out, “LESLIE!”
James was startled, hesitantly he said, “Yeah, Leslie Luckabee. Is there a problem?”
Clark said, “This investigation we’re working on, we got a break. A few of weeks ago we went undercover into the local brothel. While we were in there we heard that the person that was over the Madam was named Leslie. It’s possible that we finally got a name for the person behind all of the rackets here in Metropolis. That name is Leslie. Possibly, Leslie Luckabee. We only have the one name right now.”
James said, “It might not be the same one.”
Lois said, “You’re right, it might not be, but, can we take the chance that it isn’t?”
Clark said, “I think that until we determine just who Leslie is we can’t take the chance. Just who is Leslie Luckabee anyhow? Has anyone done a background check on him? If there hasn’t been, we need to do one. The name similarity can hardly be a coincidence.”
Back at the farm house that night after Lucy went to bed Lois and Clark were in the living room. Clark said, “I don’t know about you, but I feel like I need a break from this and to see my folks. Shall we go back for a while?”
Lois moved into his arms and replied, “I’m kinda missing the Kents too. We’ll be back here five minutes after we leave. Let’s go.”
Clark pulled out the TaDT and it turned on as he handled it. He punched the appropriate keys, a portal opened in front of them and they stepped through.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 20 – Back Home
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Universal Locator Designation
Common name ALT2
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They stepped through the portal into the living room of the Kent farmhouse. They heard Martha and Jonathan in the kitchen and walked over and through the door. Clark asked, “Well, how long have we been gone?”
Martha looked at the clock on the wall and said, “I’d say about five minutes. How long were you in the other universe?”
With a chuckle Lois replied, “Whew, a while. What a time! I met Lana Lang, the other Lana Lang. Boy, was she ever pushy!” Turning to Clark she said, “I can see why you didn’t marry her.”
Clark laughed and explained to Jonathan and Martha, “It was actually the other way around. When I decided to go public she broke the engagement. She was afraid that the government would haul me away to study me. Well, it sure looks like the device that Herb gave us works. I think that once we start we will need to set a regular schedule for moving back and forth. We should probably make weekly trips. Here a week, there a week. What do you think?”
Thinking ahead, Lois said, “I agree, that way if there are ‘physical’ changes it won’t be like a flip animation book.”
Martha asked, “Are you two thinking …”
Jonathan looked puzzled at the byplay. Martha looked at him in exasperation and gently clarified, “The patter of little feet, Jonathan! Grandchildren!”
Lois said, “Let’s just say that we are open to the possibility.”
Martha threw her arms around Lois and gave her a hug and a kiss as she started crying. Lois returned the hug. Jonathan broke out in a big smile and winked at his new son. Clark blushed, and then smiled too.
Lois turned to Clark and asked, “We have to be at work tomorrow, shall we spend the night here or Metropolis?”
His reply was somewhat tongue in cheek as he said, “Well, as long as Mom and Dad promise not to throw us out on our ears, why don’t we stay here tonight and spend some time with them, after all that is why we decided to come back.”
Martha gave him a swat on the arm and said, “You keep that up and I just might. Now, get outta here and let me get lunch on. I think your dad needs some help with some fence. Lois, Honey, you can help me.”
Laughing, Jonathan said, “Well, Clark, you heard the boss, let’s go work on some fence,” as he put an arm across Clark’s shoulders and headed for the door.
Lois and Martha both laughed as they disappeared out the door.
That evening they all had fun playing a cutthroat game of Scrabble which Lois won, spending time together.
The next day they arrived at their apartment early and dressed for work. They were anxious to get cracking on the Luthor investigation.
As they were finishing up Clark said, “I’m beginning to think that this apartment is too small for us. Shall we look for a bigger place?”
Lois said, “You might be right. This place was fine for me when I was single, but there’re two of us now.”
He replied, “In a couple of the other universes the other couples are living at 348 Hyperion Ave. It is a multi story brownstone. One of the nice things about it is that there is already a secret compartment that the uniforms can be stored in.”
“Let’s go check in with Perry and call a realtor. If it’s available we can go look at it this evening.”
“Sounds good.” They both finished up and left for work.
First stop when they arrived at the Planet was Jimmy’s desk. He saw them approaching and said, “Hi Guys ! How was the honeymoon? Hey, while you were away Superman and Superwoman busted up a heist of some gold bullion.”
“Hi Jimmy, yeah, we read about it in Hawaii. Did they ever find out who was behind it?”
“No, not yet. All they got were low level operators mostly muscle for hire. The leader was the only one that knew anyone other than the leader and all he had was a description, a stout Englishman with a Vandyke.”
Lois looked at Clark and said, “Sure sounds like Nigel and it would be just like Luthor to work through intermediaries so that his hands stay clean. Let’s go into the conference room and talk, you too Jimmy.”
They all went into the conference room. Lois said, “Jimmy, how much have you got for us on that assignment?”
Jimmy asked, “I’ve been thinking about that. If I leave it in digital format you can do cross-checks using computer software rather than looking at columns of numbers on paper.”
Clark said, “That sounds like a good idea.”
Jimmy said, “I’ll burn the data to a CD for you. I’ll have it in a few minutes.” Jimmy got up and returned to his desk.
Lois turned to Clark and asked, “Do you think that Luthor will give up, now that we’re married?”
He replied, “There’s one way to find out. We could snoop some more tonight. Do you want Chinese or Italian?””
She said, “We had Chinese the last time. Let’s have Italian tonight.” Her tone became one of a teasing nature as she continued, “My husband really knows how to treat a girl. A romantic dinner under the stars.”
His tone was the same as he replied, “The romance comes later, when we get home.”
She replied, “I’m looking forward to it. Let’s go call a realtor and see about that house you like so much. Maybe we can look at it before we go on our stakeout.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lois liked 348 Hyperion every bit as much as Clark and they made an offer. The realtor told them that they would hear back in a few days if their offer had been accepted.
They returned to the apartment and changed into their snooping clothes. As they were doing this Lois grabbed a mini-recorder. Seeing this Clark said, “You know, that’s a very good idea. If we can record Luthor’s plans we could take the tape to Henderson. He might just be able to use it. We aren’t going to be able to use that from the roof though.” He snapped his fingers and said, “You know, in the equipment closet of my Planet we have some wireless microphones. Is there anything like that here?”
“Sure, we have all kinds of surveillance equipment for stakeouts. Recorders, wireless mics, cameras, even infra-red film for the cameras.”
Clark asked, “What about video cameras?”
Lois asked, “What do you have in mind?”
“Let’s treat this like any other surveillance and do it right. It’s fine for us to listen in, but, if we want evidence, it has to be recorded. Let’s stop by the Planet on our way and pick up what we need.”
With a pout Lois asked, “What will this do to our plans for Italian?”
With a grin he replied, “We’ll still do it, it just won’t be take-out.”
They stopped at the Planet and raided the equipment closet. They had two duffle bags of equipment when they left. They flew to the top of LexTower and sorted out the equipment, set it up and tested it. When the sun had gone down sufficiently so that they wouldn’t be seen Lois flew down and attached a wireless mic with a suction cup appliance to an upper corner of a window in Lex’s office. She hovered head down above the window so that all that could be seen from inside was a hand and that only briefly.
When she returned to Clark she said, “As I was placing the mic I could feel pain and I was starting to weaken. He must have Kryptonite in his office somewhere.”
He replied, “We’ll have to watch out for that in the future. If Bill invites us to help with the raid, we’ll have to be busy with something else.”
Eight o’clock that night found them on the roof of LexTower listening in as Lex was meeting with Nigel. Clark took a video camera and floated down and out over the street, far enough away from the window that he wouldn’t be illuminated by the lights from the office. He zoomed in with the camera so that he had a close shot, almost as good as being in the room itself. The wireless mic was broadcasting on a particular frequency and the camera and the tape recorder were both set to pick up the same signal.
[(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Nigel, there have been two tries now to eliminate Kent and both have failed. Your bomber tried to make it look like an accidental gas explosion and then there was the mugging. I want Lane, no, I must have Lane. She must be mine. No other woman will do. I don’t care how you do it, I want Kent eliminated. I don’t care if you use a sniper; just get him out of my way.”
(Voice 2 – St. John) “Sir, a sniper? That would cause all kinds of investigations. We need to make it look like the death was an accident if at all possible.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “I’m getting tired of half measures. Look, your bomber was captured. The muggers, all but one was caught. They can all identify you, if they haven’t already. For your own safety you need to succeed this time.”
(Voice 2 – St. John) “I could possibly arrange a hit-and-run…”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) interrupting said,
“Nothing that placed Lane in danger. I think a sniper. Take him out surgically. See to it.”
(Voice 2 – St. John) “Yes, Sir, if you insist.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Send in Mrs. Cox on your way out.”A short time later Mrs. Cox entered. Luthor addressed her.
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “I need to see Mitzie and Izzie. Arrange meetings with them for tomorrow night. Set them up for oh, ten and ten thirty.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “Which do you want to see first?”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Set it up for Izzie Banks first. Constance can watch the house while Mitzie is here.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “I’ll set them up, Lex.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “I know you will. I can always count on you. Call André and have dinner for two sent up. You’ll join me, of course.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “What about Lois Lane. I thought she was the only woman that would satisfy you.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “So far, she has been unattainable.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “How are you going to possess her even if you kill Kent?”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Ah, my dear, I will win her with my charm, my money and power. No woman can resist that combination.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “What if she suspects that you were the one that had Kent killed?”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “How would she find that out?”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “What if the police get a line on Nigel? He could spill the beans.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Yes, he might, but only if he is alive to spill said beans. I have grown tired of his attitude. Once he has accomplished his task he will have outlived his usefulness. MI6 has an interest in our dear Nigel however; if I turn him over to them he can still talk too much. I’ll use a more permanent solution and then our dead Nigel won’t be talking to anyone anymore.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “Can I do it Lex? You haven’t allowed me to express myself for ever so long. I always enjoyed my work when I was with the CIA. I still get a thrill when I hear the phrase ‘with extreme prejudice.’ It actually turns me on.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Patience my sweet, patience. I may give you your chance … later. Right now I need him and I need you to set up those meetings for me.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “Right away Lex.]Realizing that they had all that they were going to get tonight since Lois had already been exposed to the Kryptonite, Clark flew up and recovered the microphone flying a fast as he could so that he kept his exposure to a minimum. They packed up the equipment and headed home. After securing the equipment they changed and took off from the back window, destination – Rome for their Italian dinner.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning they went to see Henderson. As soon as Sgt. Tartaglia saw them he sent them on back. They knocked on his door and heard, “Come!”
Clark opened the door and ushered Lois in.
As soon as he saw who it was, Bill started smiling and said, “Welcome back! That was a lovely wedding. Let me see the rings. I didn’t get a good look at them at the wedding.”
They held out their hands and Bill examined the rings before he said, “Very nice. Distinctive. Were they designed just for you?”
Looking at Lois and having a conspiratorial air Clark replied, “We picked them up in a little shop run by a Frenchman that I know.”
Bill said, “Well, I don’t kid myself thinking that this is a social visit. What do you have for me?”
Lois started it, “Bill, you know how close we are to Superman and Superwoman, well, they are taking these attacks on us personally. Especially since there’s Kryptonite involved, that’s tantamount to an attack on them. We borrowed some surveillance equipment from the Planet and provided it to them and they did a little super surveillance for us.”
Clark pulled out a mini-recorder and hit play. Bill heard:
[(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Nigel, there have been two tries now to eliminate Kent and both have failed. Your bomber tried to make it look like an accidental gas explosion and then there was the mugging. I want Lane, no, I must have Lane. She must be mine. No other woman will do. I don’t care how you do it, I want Kent eliminated. I don’t care if you use a sniper; just get him out of my way.”
(Voice 2 – St. John) “Sir, a sniper? That would cause all kinds of investigations. We need to make it look like the death was an accident if at all possible.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “I’m getting tired of half measures. Look, your bomber was captured. The muggers, all but one was caught. They can all identify you, if they haven’t already. For your own safety you need to succeed this time.”
(Voice 2 – St. John) “I could possibly arrange a hit-and-run…”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) interrupting said,
“Nothing that placed Lane in danger. I think a sniper. Take him out surgically. See to it.”
(Voice 2 – St. John) “Yes, Sir, if you insist.”]“Oh, that’s good,” Bill said, “If only we had this on video. This is good, but they could claim that it is a voice impersonator.”
Clark said, “We have video as well.”
Bill practically jumped out of his chair. “Why didn’t you say that first?”
Clark put his hand on Bill’s arm and patting it indicated that he should sit. “We got more than that. The thing is, we want to get the whole package and bring it in all at once. If we do it piecemeal he might be able to skate on the smaller charges. Here, listen to this,” He hit the play button again.
[(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “What if the police get a line on Nigel? He could spill the beans.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Yes, he might, but only if he is alive to spill said beans. I have grown tired of his attitude. Once he has accomplished his task he will have outlived his usefulness. MI6 has an interest in our dear Nigel however; if I turn him over to them he can still talk too much. I’ll need a more permanent solution and then our dead Nigel won’t be talking to anyone anymore.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “Can I do it Lex? You haven’t allowed me to express myself for ever so long. I always enjoyed my work when I was with the CIA. I still get a thrill when I hear the phrase ‘with extreme prejudice.’ It actually turns me on.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Patience my sweet, patience. I may give you your chance … later. Right now I need him and I need you to set up those meetings for me.”]When the tape finished Lois said, “If we can get Nigel into custody it could do several things, first he isn’t running around contracting with a sniper, second if we play this tape for him he may turn on Luthor and give us all of the low down on him, third in the event that isn’t enough we can threaten to call in MI6. One or the other of these things should work.”
Giving in, Bill said, “Okay, we’ll play it your way. With Superman and Superwoman helping to get evidence like this we can’t miss. Is there any more?”
“He set up a couple of meetings for tonight. Someone called Izzie Banks and someone else called Mitzie. Those names ring any bells?”
Bill let out a snort and then said, “I’ve heard of Mitzie but I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting her establishment professionally or otherwise. She’s the Madam of the most exclusive bordello in the city. Muggervin can give you the details. He heads up vice.” Bill picked up his phone and dialed an extension. When it was answered he said, “Muggervin, got a couple of minutes? Yeah, my office. Couple of people for you to talk to. Okay.” He hung the receiver up and said, “Muggervin will be here in a minute.”
While they waited Clark advanced the tape to the section of interest. When Muggervin entered Bill performed the introductions and Muggervin said, “What do you have for me?”
Lois replied, “With a little super assistance from a couple of friends of ours we got a recording of some conversations in a particular office. One deals with some people you may be familiar with. Clark?”
“All set.” He hit the play button.
[(Voice 1 – Luthor) “I need to see Mitzie and Izzie. Arrange meetings with them for tomorrow night. Set them up for oh, ten and ten thirty.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “Which do you want to see first?”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Set it up for Izzie Banks first. Constance can watch the house while Mitzie is here.”
(Voice 3 – Mrs. Cox) “I’ll set them up, Lex.”]Muggervin was beside himself. He asked, “Is that who I think it is? Lex Luthor, and he’s summoning Mitzie to a meeting? I always suspected that she had powerful friends. I’ve never been able to get a warrant for a raid. With his money he must have half the judges on the bench in his back pocket. I wish I could listen in on that meeting.”
Clark said, “We’ll have a recording for you tomorrow. We want to gather as much evidence linking him to criminal activities as we can so that when we go for an indictment it will be an open and shut case.”
Muggervin asked, “What do you get out of it?”
Lois answered, “Aside from personal satisfaction, a front page headline and maybe a Pulitzer nomination.”
Chuckling, Bill said, “You don’t set your sights high, do you?”
Laughing, Clark replied, “If you don’t shoot for the big Kahuna, you’ll never hit it.” Becoming more serious, Clark asked, “What do you want to do about Nigel?”
Bill replied, “I think we have at least enough to bring him as a material witness.”
Clark said, “If you can get a warrant issued we can ask Superman or Superwoman to pick him up and deliver him to you. They can probably find him when your people couldn’t.”
“Let me make a call.” Bill picked up his phone and dialed a number. When it was answered he said, “Hello, who am I speaking with please? Ah, Ms. Drake, I need to get a warrant issued.” Hearing this name Lois and Clark exchanged looks. Bill continued, “Person. Material witness. Recording. Nigel St. John. Pick up for interrogation. I’ll be right over.”
Clark and Lois looked at each other at Mayson’s name. Lois thought, /The universes work alike, don’t they? At least here you haven’t developed a relationship with her./
Clark thought back, /It’s our good fortune they do, honey. It’s a good thing we’re married already. Remember, she’s been a problem, not just in my universe, but others as well./
comments go here To be continued in Chapter 21 – Lois! Look Before You Leap!
