"So what's your plan?" Clark asked. Tess was in their father's old office.

"My plan was to intercept the shipment, but it seems Queen Industries has already put a hold on it according to their computer database."

"That's odd."

"Very." She changed the subject abruptly. "I saw the news. A little late to start playing the hero, isn't it? Being a Luthor makes you a tyrant as far as the public is concerned, and with the blood that stains your hands, people are only ever going to see a killer."

"You don't think I know that? I'm just trying to keep them guessing. That's all."

"Glad to hear it because we have some enemies that need taking care of," she said, handing him a list of which Oliver Queen was at the top.

"You think you can take over controlling me now that Dad's gone?" he asked, crumpling the paper. "I don't intend on taking orders from anyone ever again. Especially not you."

She turned on her feminine charms by popping a button to slide her cool hand inside of his shirt. "Clark, why are we arguing? Of course, you're free. We both are. Let's just go to Metropolis General's ball tonight and forget about the pressures of business for awhile."

He grabbed her intentionally, holding her wrist too tightly. It was going to leave a bruise that would hopefully remind her he wasn't to be manipulated. "I'm going. You're not."

She rubbed the blood flow back in after he let her go. "What I don't understand is why you didn't take care of Queen when you had the chance."

"That's not your concern."

"It's Lois Lane, isn't it? I heard you kidnapped her from her engagement party. Are you trying to prove something to her?" she said with a laugh that was meant to hurt him as much as he'd just hurt her. "Girls like her don't fall for guys like you. She's one conquest you'll never bed."

He sped away. If he'd stay there a second longer, Tess would have seen first hand that his days of killing weren't through because he would have grabbed her by the throat and hung her out the window, gladly watching her squirm before letting her fall to her death.

sss

Oliver was being true to his word. He said they'd found other colors as well, and he had his best scientists studying the makeup of the meteors and what their effects might be on a Kryptonian. Too bad there wasn't one that would make him into a good person. How did one go about negating all the damage a parent had done?

She chuckled to herself. If she knew the answer to that, she would have applied it to herself. Her father was the reason why being emotionally vulnerable scared her so much. It was why she still hadn't sat down with Ollie and talked about Chloe and the marital problems that were started to crop up. It was so much easier to retreat and hide behind work.

She was putting her final touches on the interview with the mayor. He had sidestepped or deflected all her questions surrounding Ultraman as she thought he would. She really wanted to track down Ultraman's save and interview that guy. Find out if he thought it could be him and if it would ever change his opinion of him. Now that would be an interesting story.

She was trying to determine how to spell the mayor's last name, Rodriguez. She couldn't remember if it ended in a "z" or an "s", and it wasn't easy to concentrate. She should have had her own office by now.

Luthor was squeaking in the chair across from her under the pretense of waiting for the late employee whose desk it was. He was staring at her as he did, trying to get her to lose her composure, and it was working as she angrily demanded. "Is this a new plot? Distract me from doing my work, so you have an excuse for firing me?"

"I should have thought of that," he said with a suave smile, "but, no, I need a plus one to the hospital's annual charity ball and a reporter covering it. You'll fill both spots nicely."

"There's a couple problems with that: one, I'm married, and two, that's not my beat."

"You're there to work, not to date, and it's your assignment if I say it is. That's how being the boss works."

"What about Cat?" she suggested.

"Not going to get me to change my mind, Lane. Deal with it, and be ready to go by 8:00."

She sighed. Another outing with Luthor. Oliver was just going to love this.