Lois allowed herself to fall back against her chair in the conference room as Chloe sighed. They had been going over the same information for three weeks now, and had searched every field within a 100-mile radius and not once had there been any hint of a criminal organization occupying the land.
" This doesn't make any sense. The way Perry described it this field place has to be within two hours of the Daily Planet."
Lois only nodded in ascent with her cousin. This had become even more personal for her, Intergang had threatened the closest thing to a father figure she had, not to mention stealing all of her computer files. When she got a hold of the guy responsible she was going to make him pay. " Okay, let's look at this another way."
Chloe rolled her eyes at her cousin, as if they hadn't done that already. " Lois we've looked at this every which way we can, what more can we do. They got almost all of our files, I mean we don't exactly have much to work with.
Jimmy Olsen picked this moment to walk in with the cups of coffee they had asked for, " Sorry I'm late, but the chief asked me to delay your coffee a little bit. He's afraid you're both going to become so addicted that you won't be able to drink anything else."
Both women scowled as they took their respective drinks and took a large gulp, it may have been a mental thing but at ten in the morning it was a great wake up, even if it wasn't their first cup.
" So what have ya'll found?" Jimmy took a seat in the conference room they had been using and looked over the maps and papers with interest.
Jimmy could hear the frustration in Lois's voice when she spoke " We've found about a thousand different places where the fields we're looking for aren't." Jimmy nodded his head, not quite sure how many fields were in the greater Metropolis area.
" How many fields can there really be to look through?" He received a glare from both women and Chloe answered his question.
" Within 2 hours of Metropolis by car there are about 150 separate fields with property on them. On top of that there are another 500 people listed under the last name field. Add that to the hundreds of sports fields and you've pretty much summed up three weeks of our lives."
Jimmy nodded his head debating on whether or not he should offer his opinion, in the end he decided he wanted to help, " Why exactly are you searching for a field?"
Lois sighed knowing he was only trying to help, " We're are searching for some field because the guy who threatened Perry said and I quote, 'Ask him if it's okay that I meet him at the fields in a couple of ours'."
" Well that doesn't make sense." Both Chloe and Lois looked at him confused not quite sure what he meant.
" What do you mean Jimmy?" It was Lois who asked what was on both women's minds.
" Well, the guy said fields. How can you someone in fields, shouldn't he have met someone in a field." When both women just stared at him Jimmy became uncomfortable, and he began to shift uncomfortably.
" You have to be freaking kidding me." Lois shot up out of her chair and made her way to her desk so that she could use her phone. She called a contact she only used in emergency situations. She hated having to use this source but knew that it was the only way.
He picked up on the fourth ring and Lois braced herself as he answered, " Agent Daniels, how may I help."
" Hey Daniels, I need a favor." Lois heard him sigh on the other end of the phone.
" This isn't fair Lois, you're taking advantage of me." Lois knew he was right; she had dated him awhile before breaking up with him after he said the three words she couldn't return.
" I…I know, but you know I wouldn't call if I could help it." There was a pause and Lois feared that he would hang up, she had cared about the man and hated hurting him, but she couldn't lie she wasn't in love with him.
He sighed once again before answering, " What do you need?"
" Did the FBI ever look into a business with the name fields in it?" She knew she was asking a lot, but if this bit of evidence wound up being what she needed it was worth it.
" You know I shouldn't be telling anyone that, especially a reporter." She could hear the little bit of anger in his voice.
" I know." She couldn't really think of anything else to say.
For third time in the conversation he sighed, " At the edge of suicide slums theirs a strip club called the Elysian Fields, after a lot of investigations the FBI determined that their was no criminal activity going on. Especially seeing as Trask sold it a year or two ago." Lois heard the news and knew without a doubt that this was the fields the thief was talking about.
" Thank you." Once again she couldn't think of anything else to say.
" I'll see you around Lo." With that he hung up and Lois knew that it was the last time they were ever going to speak, she had just used the last of his good will by asking him to break confidentiality and he was not happy about it..
Lois turned around to face Chloe and couldn't help but smirk despite the guilt that was still subtly hanging over her. " How do you feel about strip clubs."
Chloe's eyes went wide, and she knew that her life was about to take a turn she never expected.
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[i] One week later…
[/i]
" If you two do this you do it right." Perry couldn't believe the conversation he was having. Lois Lane was the only one crazy enough to think she could pull this off and smart enough to actually have a chance at succeeding.
" Who do you think you're talking to chief, I already rented an apartment for me and Chloe rented under fake names, and once we leave here will make sure no one will recognize us." Lois meant it too, Chloe was going to dye her hair brunette and Lois was going to put blonde highlights in her hair. On top of that she was going to put in contacts that made her eyes appear to be blue instead of hazel. Chloe would be doing the same and they would pretend to be sisters that had simply decided to work at the club together.
" So neither of you has a problem posing as…" Perry let his sentence trail off as both Chloe and Lois shot each other looks.
" Well we're going to try and avoid it chief but if we have to…we have to." Chloe spoke, she wasn't sure how she had been talked into doing this, but she would have been willing to bet money that it had to do with anyone messing with her hard drive.
Lois shrugged her shoulders, admittedly she was not thrilled that they had to go undercover at a strip club, but it wasn't as if it was the first time. She quickly shoved the memory out of her head, memories like that one always led to a dark place.
" Well then ladies, as of now I don't want to see you around. If anyone asks you are on vacation with your father." He nodded towards Lois.
Lois and Chloe both nodded, they had told the general that they were laying low for a while because of Intergang and he was all to willing to agree to let the girls use him as an alibi.
They were making their way out the door but Perry called out before they left. " Promise me you'll check in every few days."
Lois was touched by the worry in his eyes but knew they both had to go anyway. " Don't worry Chief, we always do."
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Kal was going over the numbers in his private office at the Elysian Fields. He had remodeled it to be a temporary home while his penthouse sweet was being finished in downtown Metropolis.
Intergang was up in profits in the international market, but it had lost at least half of its profits in the Metropolis area. With all the arrests there were not only less people to collect dues, but also a much greater number of people willing to pay. They believed Intergang to be weak and refused to pay for various reasons. The worst had been the constant investigations, cops were searching anything connected to Intergang so Kal had instructed all crime to stop until he gave the go ahead. Tonight was the night to do so.
He made a call to one of his best men, " Marco, assemble as many skilled teams as you can in two hours and come meet me in the basement of the club."
Two hours late Kal was standing in the same room he had dealt with Sykes in, only this time he was surrounded by some of the most skilled men in Metropolis. As he looked around he noticed that there wasn't any trace of blood in the place. His clean up crew had done a very good job.
As he looked around he noticed that there were enough people here 20 high-end teams. They didn't come cheap, but always made more than what they cost, Marco had done a good job, it wasn't easy to get criminals to drop whatever they were doing at a moments notice, of course Kal had never been turned down before.
" I'd like to thank you all for coming on such short notice, I know that none of you were exactly thrilled with my decision to halt business for the past since the Trask incident. Tonight I'm here to tell you that its time to show the city that we're still in charge." There was a cheer from the crowd and Kal smirked.
He gestured to the table at the center of the room, " On that table there are 21 assignments, all high profile and highly profitable. Now as many of you have noticed there are only twenty teams here. A couple of you will be losing a team member and that person will be working on a special assignment with me."
There was a murmur in the crowd before a woman spoke up, " Who gets to work with you?" Kal smirked at her question, when he looked around the room he could tell that every one of the criminals wanted the coveted spots.
" It's completely random, in a few of the folders it has instructions that will tell you who comes with me. Before you leave the room each of your teams will grab a folder, in it you will find what your assignments are and when to do them. You follow the instructions word for word. If it's not in there, I leave it to your discretion."
He stayed as each team grabbed a folder and quietly made their way outside the room, Kal knew that if he didn't monitor the activity each team would have fought for the folder that allowed them to send a member of the team that worked with him. When everyone was gone Marco stayed behind, he seemed to struggle for a moment before working up the courage to ask the question.
" Are you sure this is a good idea boss?" Kal knew why Marco was worried, after all no one had ever hit the city as hard as he was about to.
Kal only smirked knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that his plan would work, after all it wasn't often he handled the hardest tasks himself. In a mere two weeks Metropolis and the world would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was Intergang's city.
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" Are you ready?" Lois knocked on the door of her cousin's new bedroom. She looked around and shook her head. It was a huge step down for the both of them and the water wasn't exactly what Lois would call drinkable, but it was necessary if they were going to pull off their fake back-story.
Chloe swung the door open and glared at Lois, " You know considering we're about to go pretend to be strippers I didn't think you would be in a hurry."
Lois rolled her eyes; " It's not that I'm in a hurry to do this it's just that if we're going to get a good look at the club, we need to get there before people start showing up." They had both figured out that the club opened at five in the afternoon and that it would be the best time to get a look at the club while the least amount of people possible would be there.
" I don't know how I let you talk me into this Lo." Chloe shook her head as they silently made their way outside of the apartment and down the street. They were both wearing tight jeans and halter tops and Chloe had to admit that after half a decade of wearing mostly business suits she felt a little bit uncomfortable.
" I don't think I had to talk you into anything, I mean this club is our only lead and the only way their going to let us in is if we work there. I don't know about you but I think we're more believable applying to be a stripper than a bouncer." Chloe huffed, she wasn't thrilled about this but the two who hated this plan the most were Bruce and Oliver.
Each had insisted that because of who they were they could easily have been granted access to the club and maybe even been approached to join the organization, but Lois had shot that idea down from the start. Everyone knew that the two dated the Daily Planet's star reporters, even though most people didn't know what Lois or Chloe looked like, at least two thirds of people out there could recognize at least one of them.
They came to halt at the entrance of the club and both women had to admit they were impressed. There were no neon signs or flyers of half naked women on the outside. In fact it was built In an Ancient Greek style that looked almost royal. Engraved above the entrance were the words Elysian Fields, and if she wasn't mistaken they were engraved in gold. Lois noted that even with its proximity to Suicide Slums nothing was out of order, she figured if she were part of the underworld she wouldn't mess with an Intergang property either.
" Well sis its now or never." Lois took the first step and on the way up Chloe remained approximately half a step behind becoming the alias that they had set up. When she opened the door neither woman was quite sure what to expect, they were however surprised to see how luxurious it was.
In contrast to the exterior the inside was completely modern, every booth and chair was lined with comfortable leather. Beyond that the bar looked like it was stocked with every alcoholic beverage known to man. Randomly throughout the club their were poles that Lois knew were so that the high paying clientele would get a better look at the dancers than if they were on a stage far away.
Both women quickly noticed that although there were two doors on the far side of the club. Lois was willing to bet that neither was an exit. " This place is unbelievable."
Chloe nodded at her cousin but before she could respond a man's voice came out from across the room. " You two here for the audition?"
They both jumped slightly at the voice and turned to see a large man in black jeans and a black t-shirt. Chloe was the one to respond, " What else?"
He nodded his head and looked them both up and down clearly deciding for himself if they should be allowed to work here. " Well you two are a little to skinny for my taste but you," The man looked at Lois, " Are definitely the boss's type."
Normally the word boss would have made Lois and Chloe jump for joy, but they both knew that their was no way in hell that the leader of Intergang would be managing a club like this personally. This guy he called the boss was probably higher on the totem pole than most but both women thought he was still at least a few level's down of the top level.
Lois was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the man or Chloe start to walk towards the right back door. " You coming babe."
Making sure not to respond to the nick name Lois put on a fake excited look and made her way towards the back of the room where she was apparently about to meet the only lead she had on her new case, she didn't know who they were going to see but she did know that if all went according to plan she was well on her way to finding the leader of Intergang.
Who knew maybe she would get lucky and whoever this guy was would be closer to the top than she thought.