Clark and Lois – Two Universes - Matchmaker Chronicle Volume 7 04/32
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.
This particular story takes place after Lois and Clarks.
* * 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 – Common name – Alt 2
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Previously:
First stop for Lois was Mr. Olsen’s office. She stuck her head in the door and said, “I’ve got a name for you. Lucy Lane.”
He smiled and said, “Why am I not surprised? Okay, I’ll notify IT that she’s moving up here to research.”
“Thanks. She’s already starting on the assignment. Having her up here will help.”
“Fine, let me know when you have something.”
“Will do.” She ducked back out of his office and laughed as she returned to her desk. When she got there she sat down and pulled up a search page on her computer and typed in Leslie Luckabee. The search returned a few possibilities. She clicked on them as she went down the line. She called Clark over when she found one that looked interesting.
“Look at this Clark. There is an entry for a Leslie Luckabee with an address in Sydney, Australia. Let’s check that address.” A few more clicks brought up a satellite map of the city and they zoomed in on the address in question. It was an apartment complex on the outskirts of the city.
With a disgusted snort and a sour expression she said, “That has to be a dead end. This can’t be his address. Those aren’t the digs of a multi-millionaire.” She typed a few more keystrokes. “Here, look at this.” She pointed at her screen, “His current residence is listed as the penthouse of the Plaza here in Metropolis."
“See if you can get a picture.”
Lois typed some more. She found a possibility and clicked on it. A number of pictures were displayed. They were of a good looking fairly young guy swimming, playing polo and other sporting activities.
Clark picked out a couple and said, “Let’s print these out.”
Lois hit a few keys and the printer spit out a couple of sheets of paper.
Looking at them Clark said, “You know, these are all pretty recent. How far back can we go? We need to find out where he came from.”
“I think we need to give this job to Lucy. He’s supposed to be from Australia. Maybe she can get a copy of his driver’s license picture. She’d have to access a government database to get that. From what she said, I don’t think she’ll have any problems.”
“That could take some time.”
Picking up one of the pictures and looking at it Lois mused, “Maybe some on site investigation could speed things up. We could take this with us and start showing it around. Maybe someone would recognize him."
Clark replied, “Let’s not go off half cocked. Let’s see just what Lucy can come up with first.”
“Okay, let me go down and give her what we have and tell her what we need.” Lois got up and went to the elevator. While she was waiting she was thinking, <A little on site snooping could move this ahead a lot quicker.> She climbed aboard the elevator and took it down to the first floor, where IT had their offices.
She found Lucy in a cubicle. Lucy had two monitors with open data windows spread across both of them. It was a bewildering display and Lois wondered how Lucy could keep it all straight. As she watched Lucy grabbed a bunch of data from one window and dragged it over to another one and merged the two. It was an impressive display of legerdemain.
When Lucy was finished with that Lois said, “Luce?”
“Oh, hi Lois. What brings you down to the puzzle palace?”
“We managed to get some current pictures of Leslie Luckabee. We thought that we should try to get an older one, like maybe a driver’s license or passport picture from Australia.”
Lucy turned back to her monitors and grabbed her mouse. Clicking on an icon in her taskbar brought up a folder of pictures. A few clicks later she had the computer in filmstrip mode. She turned to Lois and asked, “Like this?” On the monitor was a typical driver’s license photo. He had been having a bad hair day and it wasn’t exactly a smile that was on his face. Another click and Lucy brought up another photo, or actually a set of photos, mug shots. “Or like this?”
Lois was impressed. She said, “Wow! You got all of that already? I’m impressed little sis. How did you get to be so good with computers?”
Blushing as she replied, Lucy said, “By trying to outdo James.”
“Could you print those out for me?”
Lucy turned back around and clicked a couple of times and pages started to come out of her attached printer. When they stopped Lucy picked them up and handed them to Lois.
Lois asked, “How soon will all of this,” she waved her hand to indicate Lucy’s computer setup, “be moved upstairs?”
“The hardware techs will move it and set it up after work this evening. That way they don’t disrupt my work. James called down and talked to Ken, my boss, and explained to him my new assignment. He wasn’t too happy about it. I’ve only been here a few weeks and I’m already being promoted. Now he’s going to have to back fill my position.”
“Promoted? I thought this would be a lateral move.”
“I was surprised about that too. It seems that moving up to the news floor is a promotion, at least that’s what James told Ken.”
Lois got a knowing look as she said, “Well, I’m glad we were able to get you a promotion. I’ll get out of here and let you work. See you later Sis.” She took her printouts and went back upstairs.
And Now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 02– Emergency in Australia
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 - Local designation – Alt 1
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In the penthouse of the Plaza Hotel in downtown Metropolis, a handsome young man in a sport coat and slacks was behind the bar in a corner of the room consuming a drink he had just poured. The music of an opera by Verdi was playing in the background. He was watching the other individual in the room as he, in turn, was pacing back and forth.
The pacing individual was supposedly the valet of the person behind the bar; however his manner belied that position. He was shorter and had long, straggly, unkempt hair and a disfigured face. The left side was somewhat distorted and the upper ridge of his left eye socket protruded. His appearance was the stuff of nightmares for young children.
Finishing that drink the man behind the bar started to pour another, but was interrupted by his companion, “Don’t you think you’ve had enough? That was your fourth." His voice was rough and gravely but thin which went along with his stature, yet it was fraught with authority
“Whatcha stressin’ about? We don’t have anything on t’day.”
The pacing individual stopped and stared at the man behind the bar. He said, “Stop that!”
“Stop what, mate?”
“Stop with the Strine! You’re supposed to be educated. If anyone hears you talking like that the game will be up. Everyone will know just what you are.”
“Oh, and just what might that be?”
“A minimum wage bogan from a cheap dodgey in Sydney where I found you.”
“Ah, but now I’m Leslie Luckabee, multi-millionaire and I don’t need to wait tables any more.”
“You’ll continue to be Leslie Luckabee, multi-millionaire as long as I need you to be Leslie Luckabee, multi-millionaire and if you aren’t careful your usefulness will end and I’ll have to come up with an alternate plan and if you’re lucky you’ll return to being Leslie Luckabee, bogan. You don’t want to inconvenience me that way. I’ve spent a lot of dough to get this far and if it is wasted I may have to take it out of your hide.” He resumed his pacing.
The man behind the bar, the one known as Leslie Luckabee, set down his glass and asked, ”Whatcha planning now?”
“We suffered a setback a few weeks ago. The DA’s office got enough evidence to raid the brothel and shut it down. They got the blackmail tapes and now we don’t have either as a source of income and more importantly - influence. That is a severe blow. We need to come up with another operation to make up some of that lost revenue.” He stopped and turned again to face Leslie, as he continued, “There isn’t much we can do about the lost tapes and the hold they gave us over some rather prominent politicians, but I’ve been in contact with a Libyan businessman. He is in the market for young, white women to staff a house he is setting up in Tripoli. I have some teams out looking for likely candidates to recruit.”
“What are you going to do? Run an ad in the paper?”
“What kind of a whacker are you? What chick would willingly place herself in that position? Once she is there, she’s not leaving. If she doesn’t perform she will be punished until she will. When she fails to attract clients, she will be done away with. She will only remain alive as long as she brings in money. It is an ideal business for us. He will constantly need replacements. I already have five. I rented a house out of town and they are there. They are being kept drugged so that they are docile and if Superman were to find them, he would regret his interference. If he gets too close he will fall into a green trap. I was here when he was exposed and I managed to acquire that chunk of green stone that Tempus used to control him. I’ve kept it all these years for just this eventuality. With that he will not be able to interfere with my plans.”
Sitting his glass back on the bar after quickly draining it, he asked, “What exactly are your plans?”
Smythe stepped over so that he was directly in front of Luckabee with the bar between them and while tapping the bar with his fingers decided how much to tell his puppet. After coming to his decision he started, “In order for you to understand I need to fill you in on some history. Some years ago, there was a single individual, here in Metropolis, who ran most of the rackets. No one knew it. They all thought he was a ridgey-didge businessman. He was smart about most things, but he finally made a fatal mistake. He was behind the house, which is why we took it over. His mistake was the way he went about staffing it. He identified young women within the corporation, sacked them for no reason and then blacklisted them so that they couldn’t find work. He selected women that had loans or other financial obligations which he took over and then used the threat of foreclosure to pressure them. Then he sent Constance to them with an offer of work in the house. His mistake was in choosing one particular individual. She was a scientist, an expert in energy weapons. When she and her sister were fired, they were mad as a cut snake and decided to get even. The brainy one built a laser and used it to kill … Lex Luthor, my father. You’ve only known me as Smythe. My true name is Lex Luthor Junior.”
“But, Luthor was a Yank; I thought you was from Oz.”
“Lex Luthor was briefly married to an Aussie woman, just long enough for her to get pregnant and have a child. When he saw the child he was disgusted and left. He couldn’t stand the fact that I was less than perfect. He paid the bills, but that was all. He never wanted to see me again and he never did. He died before I came to the States. Now, I plan to rebuild his empire, but Superman could be a problem. He wasn’t around when my father was building his empire so my task will be more difficult, but I look forward to the challenge.” As he was saying all of this he was watching Luckabee, looking for signs of weakness.
The young man called Luckabee, couldn’t stand the scrutiny and looked back down at the bar. After clearing his throat he said, “So, what was in this empire?”
Smythe smirked as he replied, “For one thing, ANN, the All News Network used to be LNN, the Luthor News Network, but that is not why I’m buying it or the Daily Planet. No, he who controls the news controls the people. People are so gullible, they will believe anything they read or see on TV. If you control the media, you control the people.”
“Okay, so once you control the media, what will you do with it?”
“I will use it to turn the people against Superman.”
It was a good thing that Leslie wasn’t drinking something when Smythe said this because he would have spit it out and it would have been all over Smythe if he had. He blurted out, “But, Clark Kent, Superman, works for the bloody Daily Planet!!! How will you use the Planet to turn people against him with him working there?”
Waving the hand that had been resting on the bar dismissively, Smythe said, “You mean that currently he works at the Planet. Once we own the Planet I think his services will no longer be needed.”
“What about his partner? They seem to go together like pies and sauce. How will you be able to get rid of him and not have her defend him in print?”
“Anything she writes has to be approved by the editor and failing that you are forgetting our new enterprise. I think the redoubtable Lois Lane will be making a one way trip to Libya.”
“Wait a minute! That could be dangerous. How are you going to get her without him getting involved in locating her?”
“Idiot! Weren't you listening or is your brain addled from too much grog? I am prepared for that eventuality. I was in Metropolis when Superman made his ‘debut’ if you want to call it that. He was just starting to help the police when Tempus exposed him for what he is. That confrontation took place on TV, but you might not have seen it Down Under. Tempus lured him to the studio and then proceeded to capture him by using a chunk of a glowing green rock. That fiasco ended in Tempus’ plans being revealed and then somehow he disappeared. No one knows just what happened to him. I had my minions scour that studio after the emergency was past and they found that rock in a far corner behind a piece of scene dressing where Lois Lane had thrown it. I now have that green rock that Tempus used. It could be interesting to actually let him know just where he can find her and then spring the trap. Kill two birds with one stone as it were.”
Just then, the phone rang. Smythe answered it and recognized the voice on the other end. Peremptorily he said, "Report." He listened to the reply and then said, "Proceed with special target number one," and hung up the phone.
Turning to Luckabee, he said, "We now have seven."
With some concern in his voice Luckabee asked, "Just who is Special Target Number One?"
"Why, that would be Lois Lane, of course."
"What other lurks do you have planned?"
“Another thing we are going to do is to build a new, upscale marina area in Hobbs Bay. There will be a modern conference center as well as residences.”
“How are you going to do that? The blokes that live over there aren’t about to sell out to you.”
“Ah, perhaps before they wouldn’t, but I think that shortly they will be begging you to buy their properties.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
At the Daily Planet, Lois was just leaving the elevator after having visited Lucy.
Clark was on the phone as she descended the ramp so she sat down at her desk with the pictures. When Clark finished his call he came over and sat next to her.
He said, “I called the Plaza. It looks like Leslie Luckabee is single and has one servant a Mr. Smythe. That was all I was able to get out of the desk clerk.”
“I went to see Lucy. Good news, Lucy should be up here tomorrow and, get this,” she switched to a conspiratorial tone, “this is a promotion for her.”
With a surprised expression he said, “Promotion? Research assistant is the bottom of the ladder, just above gofer. If that’s a promotion, I’d hate to know what she was being paid in IT.”
Continuing in her conspiratorial tone, she said, “Just between you and me, I think she’s going to be paid a lot more than any other research assistant we have ever known.” Changing tracks she said, “Here, look at what Lucy got for us.” She handed him the pictures.
After perusing the pictures for a few seconds, he said, “Wow! Okay, he did time for something. I wonder how he made his money,” with a smile he finished with, “or if he earned it honestly.”
“We need to find out how recent that picture is. If he was in jail, how did he get his millions?”
“Maybe he inherited them.”
With an unladylike snort she said, “Not likely.”
With a smile Clark replied, “I don’t know, stranger things have happened, like … us finding each other.”
"We had more than a little bit of help with that.” The Mad Dog was starting to show itself. “I suspect that he did too. We need to find the source of his funds.”
“Lucy is going to be finding his money and tracking its movements. Won’t that be enough?”
Lois was vehement, “NO! We have to trace it back to the source. Seeing where it’s going now isn’t enough.”
Clark replied, “Okay, we’ll work on that. Maybe Lucy can get that info for us.”
“What if she can’t?”
“Then we’ll try something else. Maybe Superman could fly to Australia and make some inquiries.”
Lois switched to telepathy, /“Or Superwoman could.”/
He replied in kind, /“Ahhh, but, there’s the problem. Superwoman doesn’t exist in this universe.”/
/”Well, maybe she should! All it would take is a little flight, maybe a rescue.”/
/”What about saving your presence as a surprise?”/
/”You know, I think I hate surprises, especially when I’m the surprise.”/
/”But, think how much fun springing the surprise is going to be when you do make your debut.”/
With a mental pout she replied, /”But, you get to work out in the open.”/
Out of the corner of his eye, Clark saw what was being broadcast over ANN. Their tag line was 'All News Network, All News, All the Time'. It was a scene from cameras located on the upper floor of the Sunbird Beach Resort Hotel on Main Beach Parade on the Australian Gold Coast looking out on the Tasmanian Sea. A cruise liner was in trouble and they were requesting Superman’s aid.
Lois jumped up out of her chair and grabbed Clark. She whispered in his ear “This is our chance, Australia! I can go with you.”
“Lo-is, what about Lucy?”
“Oh, drat! How do we get her to Smallville? Why don’t we drop her off on the way by?”
“It’s too early in the day. We can’t take her home this early.”
Lois snapped her fingers, “James! Maybe she could go home with him.”
“I don’t know how that would work out. We don’t know how long this will take. Look, I need to go. This happens a lot and James is okay with it because I can write it up as an exclusive. If I’m not back in time, go out to dinner.” He gave her a kiss and said, “Wish me luck.”
She said, “Good luck.” And then switched over to telepathy, /”What if you are gone too long. If Lucy knew about me I could fly her home. This way we’re stuck here.”/
/”This is just one of the glitches in our living arrangements that we have to look at. We can discuss it when I get back.”/
/”You bet we will, buster. I think we need a local apartment, that’s what I think.”/
Clark leaned in and gave her a kiss. He said, “Keep the home fires burning.”
Lois patted his cheek and asked, “Should we save a seat for you at dinner?”
Back over his shoulder he said, “I’ll have to let you know,” as he headed for the stairwell. A few seconds later there was a sonic boom heard in the western suburbs.
Lois continued to watch the coverage on the TV. The scene had switched from the camera on the Sunbird to a news helicopter. The cruise ship was obviously in distress although it wasn’t apparent as to what had happened. Suddenly she caught the term rogue wave and nodded in understanding. The ship was listing at a severe angle and seemed to be leaning more and more. If this kept up it would turn turtle within a very few minutes. A couple of minutes later, as the starboard side rail was dipping under the surface, Superman came into the frame. As they watched he dove underwater. A few seconds later the ship was being righted and then started to lift clear of the water.
Just then the police/fire scanner chirruped and announced a robbery and the address was just around the block from the Planet.
Lois felt the need to help out so she grabbed her bag and throwing the strap over her shoulder she headed for the stairwell. As soon as the door was closed behind her she supersped down to the lobby. She almost literally ran through the lobby and out the doors headed for the scene.
As she was running down the block to get to the scene she saw a car coming up the street toward her at a high rate of speed. She assumed that this was a getaway car because it was being pursued closely by a police car. Suddenly, Clark’s parting remark came to mind. He had said, “Keep the home fires burning.” That gave her an idea so; she used her heat vision in a wide beam on the radiator to instantly overheat the water causing it to boil so furiously that the cap popped off like a cork out of a champagne bottle. Water with coolant treatment started bubbling out of the neck and steam immediately started billowing out from under the hood so thickly that the driver’s vision was obscured and it was complicated by the oily coolant which smeared the windshield so he had to hit the brake before his plowed into another car or light pole.
The crooks bailed out of their car guns in hand. One of them shouted, “Come and get it coppers!” He leveled his gun in the direction of the car that had been chasing them. He was going to shoot the driver right through the windshield.
Lois used her heat vision again and heated up the guns. This time she moderated the heat so that the rounds in the magazines didn’t explode, but hot enough that they had to drop them.
The driver, who was the one aiming at the cop screamed in pain, “Owwwww! It’s burning my hand!” as he dropped his gun.
The driver of the pursuing police car had seen the distress that the crooks were in and stopped behind them. Seeing the perp aiming at him, the officer jumped out of his car and crouched behind the door. He started to shout for them to drop their guns, but before he could get it out they in fact dropped their guns and put their hands up. Staying behind the door of his cruiser car the officer stood up and shouted for them to put their hands on the roof of their car and lean in to them.
As they complied another car pulled up and another officer jumped out, gun in hand. Seeing the perps moving to put their hands on the roof of their car he reached back and pulled out his cuffs as he moved in to place them in custody.
The cop figured out what must have happened and he started scanning the sky looking for Superman, but he didn’t see him.
As he was cuffing the prisoner Lois walked up and looking at his name tag said, “Officer Powers, Lois Lane, Daily Planet. What happened here?”
“Ah, Ms. Lane, I’ve read your stuff in the Planet. Well, these guys just robbed Hotchkiss Jewelers up the block.” He reached into the car and removed a bag. Opening it he displayed the contents. A pile of sparkling jewelry greeted her perusal.
She asked, “How did you stop them?”
He replied, “It had to have been Superman. The car overheating could have been a mechanical failure, but the guns heating up, that had to be Superman. He must have had somewhere else to go, because he didn’t stick around. I wished that he had, I woulda liked to thank him.”
Lois smiled in the secret knowledge that she had been able to help and still keep her secret. She said, “I’m sure he knows that you are grateful. Thank you officer, I need to get back and get this written up for the evening edition,” as she turned and headed to Hotchkiss Jewelers. When she got there she interviewed a clerk. They were still doing an inventory, but a preliminary estimate on the value of the jewelry stolen was $25,000. After making the appropriate notes she thanked the clerk and returned to the Planet.
She wrote up her Superman foils Jewelry store heist getaway story and sent it to Mr. Olsen. She thought to herself, <I need to tell Clark that he heated up those guns on his way to Australia.>
comments go here TBC
Glossary of Aussie terms:
Strine - Aussie slang
Bogan - busboy/waiter
Dodgey - eating establishment
Whacker - idiot
Chick - young girl
ridgey-didge - very rich
sacked - fired
Yank - American
Oz - Australia
Grog - Liquor
