Chapter 51

Superman arrived back at the judge's chambers to find one very relaxed man still sitting with the Golden Lasso of Truth around his shoulders, one very nervous judge, and one very agitated Wonder Woman.

"Superman! It's about time! You'll never believe what we—"

"Sorry. Things took a little longer than—" He stopped when he saw the panic in her eyes and the judge, sitting behind the desk, gulping down a dose of Maalox. "What did I miss?"

"He's been spilling his guts to us ever since you left," she pointed at Grange. "He says Lex Luthor is behind this!"

"Lex Luthor? No, it can't be. He's dead."

"Not according to him, he's not." She tugged viciously on the rope to get the man's attention. "Tell him what you just told us."

"Sure, pretty lady," Grange said, and his speech was slightly slurred in such a way that Superman wondered if the Lasso had the side effect of making its victim a little drunk as well as truthful. "I said that Lex Luthor has been hiding out in some research facility he's got in Canada. It's way, way up there, you know. I was there a long time while they researched my power." He bent forward and whispered conspiratorially, "They never did figure out it was the car." Putting a finger to his lips, he continued, "But they knew what I could do if they just left me to it, so he let me leave and he would just send me instructions from time to time. Whatever he needed done, I did it, or I arranged to have it done. Money was never a problem, and I was allowed to do whatever I wanted as long as his business got taken care of. So sweet!"

"You actually saw Lex Luthor alive?" Superman asked.

"Yep. Oh, he's been banged up, nearly died a few years ago from what I hear. But yes, he's very much alive."

"How long ago did you see him in the flesh with your very own eyes?"

"Let's see, that would be about two months ago. He doesn't usually meet me in person. He prefers to keep his distance around someone with my kind of power, but I think this job was a little personal with him, and he wanted to make sure I knew how important it was. He told me who he wanted dead, and after that, I hired Benson."

"To kill Lois Lane?"

"Yep. Did it too, didn't he?" The man smiled again and Superman had to turn away in disgust.

"Do you know why Luthor wanted her dead?"

"Never did quite understand that really, but it sure looked to me like it was some sort of vendetta against a guy named Clark Kent. Someone told me he's a reporter. Luthor's got some kind of problem with him. Probably wrote a nasty story about him or something. Anyway, she's supposed to be his girlfriend nowadays, and Mr. Luthor just said he wanted her dead."

"Why did he have you hire Benson? Why not just hire him himself?"

"Because he knows I tie up all my loose ends. I'm dependable. He trusts me."

"And that's all Benson was to you? A loose end?"

"Superman," the judge finally intervened, "unless you have that proof we discussed, this really needs to stop. You're jeopardizing the case against him with all this questioning. You can't go after proof you're directed to with the information you're finding out from him this way. It'll be thrown out of court in a heartbeat."

"Very well. But I don't have it yet. I will by morning though. And that proof is coming from a completely different source, so don't worry. Can we get him into a cell now?"

"That will be a pleasure. I'll call a deputy," the judge said as he lifted the phone receiver.

"Wonder Woman, will you—"

"Sure. I'll keep it on him until he's inside. The power should have faded by now, but…"

"Yeah, we really can't take any chances. Could we ask the guards to wear ear plugs for tonight?" he asked the judge.

"We'll put him off to himself as well, even if we have to double up some cells."

"I know he's also allowed a phone call, but if the phones are out…"

"There's nothing wrong with the phones, Superman." He looked up to see Superman smile.

From the look in his eye, the judge had a feeling they phones wouldn't be working for long.

********

A couple of dozen medical history questions, three additional samples, and fourteen signed forms later, Lois Lane managed to escape the horror chamber known as Star Labs. With only a perfunctory wave to Superman who had just arrived once more back to the lab, she escaped to her car.

All the way back to Smallville, she was trying to form in her mind just what she'd be saying tonight when he finally made his way back there too.

Just no kissing! No, it is too damn distracting. He knew it too now, which was even worse. Totally unfair tactics, by the way. Didn't he know the rules of war?

No, most probably he doesn't, she thought with a smile. He could plow fields, muck out stalls, and save people from speeding bullets, but war? No. A stray thought struck her as she pictured Clark in uniform in a platoon of soldiers under her dad's command.

She laughed outright.

"An army of one indeed," she said to the lonely road in her headlights.

Author's notes:Thanks to you all for commenting! Now just a few words to a few of you…

Naikbor- yeah, tossed in those other colors just for you! And actually my sometimes beta, devilneedsaride, came up with the "bondage barbie" moniker and I loved it. She came up with it rather quickly too- made me wonder about her…

Cloisharley – I think he's actually done that test. They are just being tightlipped about the results. The way Lois hits Clark on the show has always bugged me from day one. I guess that's why I addressed it in both of my stories. Hopefully this one will explain why she's not at least getting bruised, much less breaking a bone.

Solipoli – welcome aboard. Who knows how long this story is going to be? I surely don't. I thought I was worth about 10 chapters tops!

Jock Wizard – Yeah, I keep hearing the problem has been tackled by the movies and the series. But in both, the solution seems to be to take away his powers. (Unacceptable to me.) The comics and L&C didn't think it was that big a deal, that he could control the powers enough not to hurt Lois. I guess I'm still thinking about an essay that appeared on the net decades ago that theorized his super-sperm would just keep going and drill tiny little holes in Lois' abdomen, causing her to die of peritonitis. I'd just like to explore another way around a problem, especially with a younger Superman who hasn't even reached the pinnacle of his powers yet and may not have as much control as the much older Superman in the comics.