Thank you, Chlollie, for your kind words. And my thanks also to those who placed this story on their alerts/favorite lists.
The Adventures of Chloe Sullivan
"Just Another Day...."
Chapter Three
"That's it, Brutus!" Toyman cheered. "Teach her a lesson!"
Chloe kept backing away from the giant metal robot as it loomed over her, its claws hovered right over her head. To make matters worse, Chloe heard the army of mechanical dogs grow louder from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the dogs were all still charging right at her--just as the robot began to bring its claws down to grab her.
"Oh jeez!" Chloe cried, as she abruptly leapt forward--towards the robot--in a panic. She crouched down just as she heard a metallic bashing sound from behind her.
She glanced around and saw that the robot had slammed its claws together right where she had stood. Brutus, the giant robot, swiveled its massive head around in an effort to see where Chloe had gone. Little did the big mechanical monster realize that she was right underneath him.
The mechanical dogs, still within a heated frenzy, now zealously charged at the robot. As Brutus swiped and swatted the toy dogs into little piles of broken gears, Chloe took this moment to run out from under his flailing arms. She took cover underneath a folding table that had been set up beside the wall of boxes.
"NOOOO!" Toyman screamed, as he ran towards Brutus. "STOP! STOP!"
But the large robot had by now finished off the remnants of the toy dogs--one of which still barked defiantly at him, even though the back half of its body had been ripped off.
Chloe watched as Toyman pressed some buttons on the remote control, and Brutus abruptly quieted down. Then her cell phone began to vibrate, and she quickly answered it.
"Hello?" she said in a hushed whisper.
"Chloe!" Lana said cheerily. "How's it going? Listen, I took your advice and just had a nap. And, boy, I feel so much bet--"
"Lana, shut up," Chloe frantically whispered into the phone. "Those power readings you got from the warehouse…they weren't from Luthor, but from some new villain called the Toyman."
"Really? How did you find this out?"
"Because I'm hiding in fear for my life from him right now!" Chloe said, sotto voce.
Suddenly, Chloe's cover was blown when the table was pulled away from above her. She found herself staring up into Brutus' cold, gleaming face.
"There she is, Brutus!" Toyman said triumphantly. "There's the naughty girl who broke my toys! Now you go and teach her a lesson in manners!"
Chloe let out a scream as Brutus clenched one of his large metal hands into a fist. She ducked to the floor, dropping her cell phone, as the metal monstrosity smashed his fist through the wall of boxes that was behind her.
When Brutus pulled his fist back, Chloe saw that he had made a large hole in the wall of crates for her.
"Thanks!" Chloe called as she leapt through the hole. She landed roughly on the ground of the isle next door--but then Chloe, not wanting to waste any time--got to her feet and began running towards the end of the isle of boxes. The exit was down in that direction, and Chloe hoped she could reach it before--
"Oh God," she muttered dismally, once she saw Brutus had already beat her to the exit. Being so large, all it took for him was just five of his great strides, and he was already there, blocking the exit as he waited for her.
Chloe, feeling exhausted, glanced about for another exit out of here--but all she saw was the Toyman as he joyfully skipped over to her.
"This is so much fun!" he exclaimed. "Now let's see Brutus pound you into the ground!"
Chloe shook her head as she started to back away--yet she realized, with a sinking feeling, that no matter how far she ran, she would never outrun this metal monstrosity. Brutus loomed over her, one fist raised up directly over where Chloe stood.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Chloe closed her eyes and hoped the end would not be too painful. When she heard a loud crashing sound, Chloe opened her eyes and saw a wonderful sight.
Superman had burst in straight through the roof, and now he strained mightily as he held back Brutus' fist in midair. Chloe figured that Lana--bless her--must have called Clark right after her call with Chloe got interrupted. Both superhuman and robot paused as they strained against each other for a few seconds, looking like a bizarre arm wrestling match--until Brutus lost.
Superman ripped off the robot's arm and flung it to the ground, where it devastated a pile of crates. Then he flew straight into Brutus' chest, using his own body as a battering ram that knocked the robot into another pile of crates, shattering them.
'Hope Luthor has plenty of insurance,' Chloe thought, as she watched the battle unfold, destroying most of the property within the warehouse.
"No fair, Superman!" Toyman shouted. "If you're gonna fight dirty, then so will I!"
He flipped a switch on the remote, and a rectangular section on Brutus' chest suddenly opened up, revealing a glowing green crystal.
"Oh no!" Chloe cried, as she watched Superman wince in pain at the sight of the kryptonite.
When Superman faltered, Brutus used that moment to slam him into the ground with his remaining arm.
Chloe watched, horrified, as Brutus then kicked Superman into another pile of boxes, as if the Man Of Steel was nothing more than a football.
"SCORE!" Toyman cried with joy, waving one hand.
Chloe realized he held the remote that controlled Brutus was in his other hand. She was a short woman, but Toyman was even smaller than she was; so this shouldn't be too hard.
With a running leap, Chloe tackled Toyman, knocking both him and herself to the ground. Toyman let out a frustrated growl as Chloe grabbed the remote from him and then got to her feet.
Chloe quickly looked over the remote control, wondering how she could stop Brutus, until she saw a big button that read: 'OFF.' She pressed it, and Brutus halted in mid-step, with one foot hanging in the air. Chloe then smashed the remote by throwing it against the concrete floor. She made sure the pieces were unfixable by crushing them underfoot with her shoes.
Brutus continued to stand on one foot, until the unbalanced weight began to shift him forward. When he crashed face down on the floor, the section of his chest that contained the kryptonite was now hidden.
Chloe smiled when she saw Superman wearily get to his feet. It didn't take long for him to rebound once the kryptonite was removed.
Toyman stood with his hands balled into fist at his sides. "You are an evil little girl!" he snarled at Chloe.
"And you really need some psychiatric help," Chloe told him.
"No, you're the one who's going to need help," Toyman said. "From a hospital!"
Chloe's stared in surprise when Toyman raised his hand and clicked on another remote. "Just how many of those things do you have, anyway?"
The top of a nearby crate flew off, and a giant jack-in-the-box popped up on a huge spring. Chloe stared in disbelief at the clownish-looking figure that bobbed up and down, waving its arms--until her eyes grew fearfully wide in shock at what she saw in the clown figure's hands.
It was a pair of machine guns.
The clownish jack-in-the-box figure smiled gaily as the automatic weapons sprayed bullets all over the warehouse. It bobbed and bounced merrily up and down on its spring as it swung towards Chloe's direction. And Chloe knew that, even if she ran, it still wouldn't make any difference.
Just as the jack-in-the-box took aim at her, a red and blue flash appeared, and a grateful Chloe was instantly swept off her feet and carried out of the warehouse.
Once outside, Superman placed her behind the front tire of a truck. "Stay right here," he told her. "Use the truck as cover. I've got some cleaning up to do."
He left in a blur, and Chloe cringed as she heard a riotous noise of explosions and more gunfire come from within the warehouse. And then there was a single loud crashing sound, which was followed by silence.
Superman came out of the warehouse alone. As he walked over to her, he said, "Looks like your little boyfriend used the melee to get away, Chloe."
"Oh, no!" Chloe said, waving her finger at him. "I may have been on some disastrous dates in my day, but Toyman was never one of them!"
Superman chuckled. "What was that guy's deal, anyway?"
"Suffering from a Peter Pan complex?" Chloe said with a shrug. "I don't know what his problem was, but did you see some of the stuff he was making in there?"
Superman nodded grimly. "All toys that were positively lethal. If nothing else, you stopped him before he could get a chance to use them on the public."
Chloe stared at him, stunned. "Me?! I didn't stop him, Superman, you did."
"If it weren't for you coming here in the first place, Chloe, we never would have heard of Toyman--until it was too late. Besides, that robot with the kryptonite tiepin nearly had my number…until he tripped over his own feet. And I recall seeing you having something to do with that. Thanks."
Chloe blushed as Superman gave her arm an affectionate rub. That little gesture from the Man Of Steel almost made this wacky day worth it.
Well, almost….
Later, when the police showed up, Chloe had to put up with another meeting with Inspector Turpin, who arrived with Maggie Sawyer--Turpin's right hand woman and confidant in the SCU. Sawyer took one look at Chloe and muttered, "Once more, wherever there's chaos and mayhem in Metropolis, we find you right in the middle of it."
"That's because she's fighting the good fight," Turpin said with a slight smile. "Ain't that right, Ms. Sullivan?"
Chloe smiled back at him. Apparently, she really did pick up a new ally today. "That's right, Inspector."
Superman had to fly off, and Chloe wondered if he was actually worried about being missed at the Daily Planet. She knew Lois could be a real annoying snoop on her own.
A worried looking Lana showed up, and gave Chloe a tight hug. "Are you ok?"
"Just dandy," Chloe told her. "Superman showed up just in the nick of time."
"Yeah, well, he's not the only one," Lana said, with a disgusted look over her shoulder.
Chloe saw that she glared at Luthor, who got out of his limousine and was inspecting the damage to his warehouse. Mercy was with him; and she acted like she was the loyal chauffeur. If she noticed Chloe, whom she was involved with in a death struggle just a few hours ago, Mercy never acknowledged it.
"Luthor's probably here to give me the bill for the damages," Chloe said dismally.
After speaking briefly with the fire chief at the scene, as well as Inspector Turpin, Luthor came over to Chloe and Lana. "I heard about your little escapade here," he said to Chloe. "And I just wanted to make sure you were unharmed."
'My little escapade?' Chloe thought with a slight frown. "I'm fine, Lex. Thanks. Um, sorry about your warehouse."
He shook his head. "Nonsense. Whatever was destroyed can be replaced. This Toyman sounds pretty dangerous. I'm just glad to see you're all right."
"Toyman mentioned something about coming after you," Chloe added. "So for what it's worth, Lex, you should watch your back from now on."
"Thank you, Chloe," Lex said. He looked genuinely grateful. He then stared meaningfully at Lana for a moment, then said, "Good day, ladies."
He turned away and walked towards his limousine. Mercy held open the door for Luthor as he got inside the long black car.
When Lana shot Chloe an annoyed look, Chloe just shrugged. "What?! We want to bring him to justice, not see him get killed, right?"
"Yeah, you're right," Lana admitted with a sigh.
As Mercy walked around the limousine towards the driver's side, she glanced over at Chloe for the first time. With a sneer, Mercy said, "Hope you and I get the chance to 'go shopping' again very soon, Chloe…."
Chloe just stared after her, stunned, as Mercy got into the car and drove off. "Ok, now I really wouldn't mind seeing her spend some quality time with Toyman's little rabid mechanical doggies…."
Lana gave her a confused look. "Did something happen I don't know about?"
"Did something happen?!" Chloe sarcastically asked the sky. "Oh, well, now, let's see! After being made fun of by Lois, Jimmy and even Clark at the Daily Planet, I spot Mercy on the monorail, and tail her to a shopping mall, where I watch her buy lingerie. After that, she tries to kill me in an alleyway with a ray gun that's straight out of a Buck Rodgers serial. Then, I get arrested and treated like a terrorist for blowing up a container filled with cardboard! Inspector Turpin, of all people, vouches for me. When I leave on the monorail, I decide to check out the energy signature reported in the warehouse--but instead of finding any evidence on Luthor, I wind up discovering Toyman, a new super villain who's raiding Luthor's supplies! Toyman almost manages to kill me, and Superman, before making his escape. And now I've got both Mercy and Toyman out there, holding major grudges against me."
Chloe abruptly glanced at her watch. "And, to top it off, Lana, all of this takes place before lunchtime!"
Lana stared at her sympathetically. "So, in other words…this was just another day for you…huh, Chloe?"
Chloe angrily stared at Lana, whose mouth crept upwards into a smile. But Chloe soon found Lana's mood to be infectous; she just couldn't stay angry as a large grin spread across her own features.
"Yeah, I guess it is just another day for me," Chloe said with a laugh, as she affectionately hugged Lana. "Another day in my crazy life."
"C'mon, I'll buy you lunch," Lana said, as they walked over to her car. "But I hope you don't mind if we stop off at a toy store, first. I have to buy a birthday present for Reggie--he's the son of Margaret, my personal assistant."
"Uh, sure," Chloe said with a weary look. "But I hope you don't mind if I wait in the car. After today, I've really had my fill of toys…."
The End
