Author's Note: Here's the third installment of what is looking to be a
long one. Hope you all have figured out by now, that Lex and Lana are
family now, and that Chloe and Clark are together. Well, that's where
we'll start this chapter…
Clark Kent sat quietly behind his desk in the newsroom of the Daily Planet, sipping coffee and staring at the e-mail his mother had sent him. She'd read about his heroism in the paper and wanted to make sure everything was ok. She knew he was invulnerable, but she was still his mom, so she worried. He'd thought about giving her a call this morning before work, but he'd woken up late and had to hurry because Chloe forgot to reset the alarm before heading off to do research for her story.
"Good morning, Clark." Lois slid into her seat across from him. "How's my hero doing this morning?"
Clark noticed the smile on Lois's face and returned it. "I'm doing ok, how are you?"
"I'm staying busy."
"Did you see the police reports from last night?" He tossed her a stack of papers.
"Not yet. I've been a little off my game this morning. I'm usually here before Perry." She sat down and scanned the first page.
"It seems like there are some gangs out there with new weapons." He reached into his desk and pulled out a file with pictures. "These are pictures of a prototype weapon stolen from a military warehouse."
"What's so special about these weapons? They look just like normal guns." Clark was glad that she seemed to be very interested in the case.
"Well, they basically are normal guns, only they fire a special type of bullet. They have explosive tips and can track their targets." He got up from his desk and went around to stand behind Lois. "The gun itself contains high resolution sensors and advanced micro-circuitry, so do the bullets. They lock onto the target and then transfer the identification information to the bullets before it is fired."
"Any idea which gangs have them, or who stole them in the first place?" Lois seemed engrossed in the case, and Clark was glad that she seemed to have forgotten about her ordeal yesterday.
"That was where I was hoping you could help me out. There's not much out there but the basics, and I only managed to get these specs and pictures from a friend of mine that works for STAR Labs." He sat down on the edge of her desk. "I was hoping you could get in touch with some of your contacts in the Metropolis PD and find out some more. This could be a huge story."
"Thanks, Clark. I think I'll do that. There are a couple people I can call, maybe I'll come up with something. You want to write this one together?" Clark could see a fire in her eyes.
"No, why don't you take this one. I feel kind of bad about the whole mayor thing, and I'm going to be pretty busy with that." She smiled at him and he smiled back. "I want us to be friends Lois. I don't want us to be competing all the time."
"Clark, you saved me yesterday, we're going to be friends no matter what stories you steal from me." That last bit was touched with a hint of sarcasm. Clark picked up on it and shot her a look.
"I'm going to hold you to that." He stood up, going back over to his desk. Just then, his phone rang. "Hello?"
"Hello, Clark." Martha Kent's voice greeted her son. "How's work?"
"Mom, things are going really well. I'm just getting to know one of my coworkers a bit better." Lois shot him a grin and mouthed the words 'momma's boy' at Clark. He picked up one of the stuffed animals Lois kept on her desk and tossed it at her.
"Well, why don't you and Chloe come over for dinner tonight, there's something that your father and I want to show you?" Clark could tell by the tone in her voice, that the last bit had something to do with his secret. Her voice always got like that when she talked about it.
"Sure thing, Mom. We'll be by at 7:30." He turned to look at Lois, finding her deeply engrossed in the file he'd given to her. "See you tonight, love you."
"Love you too, Son."
Clark hung up the phone and gathered his coat and briefcase. As he made his way to the elevator, he thought about where he'd start looking for Chloe. He really needed to talk to her and find out if she had any idea what his mother wanted to show him.
"Good morning, Sleepyhead." Lex greeted Lana as she seated herself at the table for breakfast. It was just a little after 8:00 a.m. but he'd been up since 4:00 a.m.
"Sleepyhead?" Lana questioned. "Now I remember why I liked Europe so much. People there know how to sleep."
"Remember, the Early Bird catches the worm. Or in this case, the rival European Bio-Tech firm." He tossed her the Wall-Street Journal. On the front page, was Lex's picture. The caption read: Multinational American Conglomerate, LuthorCorp, acquires GenSuisse in Hostile Takeover.
"You've been up since 4:00 a.m. just to buy this company?" Lana still didn't understand Lex's extreme dedication to business.
"Well, if I hadn't, then Bruce Wayne would have. We may be friends outside the office, but during the business day, whether it's here or Geneva, we're rivals."
"Ahh…" Lana pretended to understand what Lex was saying, if for nothing else than to change the subject. "So, I guess I must have fallen asleep before you got home last night. I'm sorry."
"That's fine. I didn't get back until well after midnight. I was on a conference call with some of our Japanese subsidiaries. They're looking at the possibility of strikes at one of our microprocessor manufacturing plants in Tokyo." It was once again, more information that Lana cared to have.
"I wanted to ask you yesterday, how's your love life been lately?" She watched as Lex put his newspaper down and looked up from his breakfast.
"Well, actually, I've been a little too busy at the office lately to have any sort of love life. Until a few months ago, I'd been seeing someone, but it ended when Dad took a turn for the worse and I had to begin spending nearly every waking moment at the office."
Lana sighed and looked straight at Lex. "You're working too hard, Lex. You need to give yourself a chance to live. If you don't, you're only going to end up like Lionell." She watched his face for a response. She got the one she'd expected. He hated being compared to his father.
"I'm not anything like him, and I never will be." His voice was cold but then softened. "But, I do think you're right. I need to get out more, start having a social life. Maybe we can start at the party tomorrow night."
Lana's eyes got big, and she slightly tipped her head to the side. "We?"
"Yes, we. If I'm going to help you try and get Clark back, then you're going to help me with my terrible social life." A smile spread across his face. "Besides, it's not like you have anything better to do."
Lana picked up her napkin and threw it at him across the table. He ducked, the napkin hitting the window behind him and falling harmlessly to the floor. His smile grew bigger, and Lana began to laugh. She sure had missed this, she'd missed having family.
"I was thinking of inviting the young woman Clark saved yesterday. She's a reporter who's been trying to get an interview with me for a while. I might have said yes if I'd ever met her in person. She's actually quite beautiful."
"But why would you…" Lana wasn't able to finish the sentence before Lex cut her off.
"For me, not for Clark. What do you think I am, evil?" Lex raised his pinky finger, hand outturned to his mouth.
"Only quasi-evil." They both fell into hysterics at the reference.
"Well, dear sister, I need to be leaving for the office. I'll talk to you this evening, if I get home before you are asleep. That is, unless you want to stop by for lunch?" Lex stood to leave the table.
"Actually, I was thinking of going to Smallville to visit Martha. I've missed her while I was away." She smiled and took a drink of her orange juice.
"Well, suit yourself. If you'd rather mingle with the common people, that's fine with me." A wry grin spread across his face.
"Easy, Clark." Lana recognized the line Clark had used on her after Nell and Lionell had gotten married. "I love you, Lex. I hope you have a good day. Try not to take over the world while I'm gone, ok?"
"I'll try." He winked at her and left the room
"Chloe?" Clark had been wondering around in Suicide Slum for a little over an hour looking for her. One of the barkeepers a couple blocks over said he'd seen her leave with a guy who lived just off this alley. Clark wondered why he'd let her come alone, but then remembered how much she hated to depend on him to keep her safe.
"And just who the hell do you think you are?" The voice caught him off guard, he was so absorbed in his thoughts about Chloe.
Clark turned around to face the source of the voice. He was met by a young man holding one of the gun's he'd shown Lois this morning. "I'm looking for someone, a woman. She's blonde…"
"Shut the fuck up!" The man pointed the gun at Clark's head and stepped closer. There didn't seem to be anyone else with him so Clark didn't see the harm in using a bit of his abilities to subdue his new friend.
In a flash, the man was out cold, his gun now in Clark's hand. He lifted him to his feet and smacked him on the face a couple times to wake him back up. The man came too groggily. When he saw Clark's face and his piercing grey eyes he started to struggle. "How'd…who…"
"Why don't I ask the questions?" He pointed the gun at him, after he'd unloaded it of course. He didn't have to know that. "First off, where's Chloe Sullivan. She's a reporter for the Planet, about 5' 5", blonde hair, kind of loud?"
"I don't know who the hell you're talking about man. I'm just out to make a quick score." The man's entire body began to shake. He was trying to get away, but it wasn't any use. Clark just held him harder to the wall.
"Street punks don't carry prototype military weapons that were stolen from a government warehouse. Now, I want to know who you are working for, and where you are keeping Chloe." Clark now pointed the gun at the man's head.
"Fine, man, I'll tell you!" The man was starting to sob. "They're keeping her in a warehouse on Hobbes Street, but I can't tell you who they are. They'll kill…"
Before he could finish, Clark hit him over the back of the head again with the gun and he was out. He raced over to Hobbes Street and began searching the warehouses. Finally he found the one he was looking for. A quick scan of the building with his x-ray vision showed Chloe tied to a chair being guarded by three men with those same guns. Clark decided he'd have to disarm them before he made his move. He couldn't risk one of them getting a shot off at Chloe.
It didn't take long for him to come up with a plan. He went around to the back of the warehouse, finding a window that looked in on the room where Chloe was being held. He flew up to just outside the window and focused his heat vision on the first of the two guns. The barrel quickly melted and gun became too hot for the man to hold on to. When he dropped it, Clark turned his focus on the other. Soon it too was on the floor. The next thing either of them knew, they were lying on the floor. Clark quickly untied Chloe and helped her out of the warehouse before he called the police.
"Oh, God, Clark. I wasn't sure if you'd be able to find me in time. What are you even doing here?" Chloe was still wringing her hands together trying to rid them of the feeling left behind by the ropes.
"I came to look for you. Mom called and wants us to come over for dinner tonight. She says that she has some sort of surprise for me. Any idea what it could be?" He put his phone back in his pocket and checked to make sure that the guards were still in the building where he'd left them.
"Not really. She hasn't told me anything." She reached out and took his hand. "I could really use the break, after the day I've had."
He smiled at her. "You should stop getting yourself into trouble."
"Yeah, but then what would I do to be alone with you?" She reached over and kissed him, just as the first of the police arrived.
Clark Kent sat quietly behind his desk in the newsroom of the Daily Planet, sipping coffee and staring at the e-mail his mother had sent him. She'd read about his heroism in the paper and wanted to make sure everything was ok. She knew he was invulnerable, but she was still his mom, so she worried. He'd thought about giving her a call this morning before work, but he'd woken up late and had to hurry because Chloe forgot to reset the alarm before heading off to do research for her story.
"Good morning, Clark." Lois slid into her seat across from him. "How's my hero doing this morning?"
Clark noticed the smile on Lois's face and returned it. "I'm doing ok, how are you?"
"I'm staying busy."
"Did you see the police reports from last night?" He tossed her a stack of papers.
"Not yet. I've been a little off my game this morning. I'm usually here before Perry." She sat down and scanned the first page.
"It seems like there are some gangs out there with new weapons." He reached into his desk and pulled out a file with pictures. "These are pictures of a prototype weapon stolen from a military warehouse."
"What's so special about these weapons? They look just like normal guns." Clark was glad that she seemed to be very interested in the case.
"Well, they basically are normal guns, only they fire a special type of bullet. They have explosive tips and can track their targets." He got up from his desk and went around to stand behind Lois. "The gun itself contains high resolution sensors and advanced micro-circuitry, so do the bullets. They lock onto the target and then transfer the identification information to the bullets before it is fired."
"Any idea which gangs have them, or who stole them in the first place?" Lois seemed engrossed in the case, and Clark was glad that she seemed to have forgotten about her ordeal yesterday.
"That was where I was hoping you could help me out. There's not much out there but the basics, and I only managed to get these specs and pictures from a friend of mine that works for STAR Labs." He sat down on the edge of her desk. "I was hoping you could get in touch with some of your contacts in the Metropolis PD and find out some more. This could be a huge story."
"Thanks, Clark. I think I'll do that. There are a couple people I can call, maybe I'll come up with something. You want to write this one together?" Clark could see a fire in her eyes.
"No, why don't you take this one. I feel kind of bad about the whole mayor thing, and I'm going to be pretty busy with that." She smiled at him and he smiled back. "I want us to be friends Lois. I don't want us to be competing all the time."
"Clark, you saved me yesterday, we're going to be friends no matter what stories you steal from me." That last bit was touched with a hint of sarcasm. Clark picked up on it and shot her a look.
"I'm going to hold you to that." He stood up, going back over to his desk. Just then, his phone rang. "Hello?"
"Hello, Clark." Martha Kent's voice greeted her son. "How's work?"
"Mom, things are going really well. I'm just getting to know one of my coworkers a bit better." Lois shot him a grin and mouthed the words 'momma's boy' at Clark. He picked up one of the stuffed animals Lois kept on her desk and tossed it at her.
"Well, why don't you and Chloe come over for dinner tonight, there's something that your father and I want to show you?" Clark could tell by the tone in her voice, that the last bit had something to do with his secret. Her voice always got like that when she talked about it.
"Sure thing, Mom. We'll be by at 7:30." He turned to look at Lois, finding her deeply engrossed in the file he'd given to her. "See you tonight, love you."
"Love you too, Son."
Clark hung up the phone and gathered his coat and briefcase. As he made his way to the elevator, he thought about where he'd start looking for Chloe. He really needed to talk to her and find out if she had any idea what his mother wanted to show him.
"Good morning, Sleepyhead." Lex greeted Lana as she seated herself at the table for breakfast. It was just a little after 8:00 a.m. but he'd been up since 4:00 a.m.
"Sleepyhead?" Lana questioned. "Now I remember why I liked Europe so much. People there know how to sleep."
"Remember, the Early Bird catches the worm. Or in this case, the rival European Bio-Tech firm." He tossed her the Wall-Street Journal. On the front page, was Lex's picture. The caption read: Multinational American Conglomerate, LuthorCorp, acquires GenSuisse in Hostile Takeover.
"You've been up since 4:00 a.m. just to buy this company?" Lana still didn't understand Lex's extreme dedication to business.
"Well, if I hadn't, then Bruce Wayne would have. We may be friends outside the office, but during the business day, whether it's here or Geneva, we're rivals."
"Ahh…" Lana pretended to understand what Lex was saying, if for nothing else than to change the subject. "So, I guess I must have fallen asleep before you got home last night. I'm sorry."
"That's fine. I didn't get back until well after midnight. I was on a conference call with some of our Japanese subsidiaries. They're looking at the possibility of strikes at one of our microprocessor manufacturing plants in Tokyo." It was once again, more information that Lana cared to have.
"I wanted to ask you yesterday, how's your love life been lately?" She watched as Lex put his newspaper down and looked up from his breakfast.
"Well, actually, I've been a little too busy at the office lately to have any sort of love life. Until a few months ago, I'd been seeing someone, but it ended when Dad took a turn for the worse and I had to begin spending nearly every waking moment at the office."
Lana sighed and looked straight at Lex. "You're working too hard, Lex. You need to give yourself a chance to live. If you don't, you're only going to end up like Lionell." She watched his face for a response. She got the one she'd expected. He hated being compared to his father.
"I'm not anything like him, and I never will be." His voice was cold but then softened. "But, I do think you're right. I need to get out more, start having a social life. Maybe we can start at the party tomorrow night."
Lana's eyes got big, and she slightly tipped her head to the side. "We?"
"Yes, we. If I'm going to help you try and get Clark back, then you're going to help me with my terrible social life." A smile spread across his face. "Besides, it's not like you have anything better to do."
Lana picked up her napkin and threw it at him across the table. He ducked, the napkin hitting the window behind him and falling harmlessly to the floor. His smile grew bigger, and Lana began to laugh. She sure had missed this, she'd missed having family.
"I was thinking of inviting the young woman Clark saved yesterday. She's a reporter who's been trying to get an interview with me for a while. I might have said yes if I'd ever met her in person. She's actually quite beautiful."
"But why would you…" Lana wasn't able to finish the sentence before Lex cut her off.
"For me, not for Clark. What do you think I am, evil?" Lex raised his pinky finger, hand outturned to his mouth.
"Only quasi-evil." They both fell into hysterics at the reference.
"Well, dear sister, I need to be leaving for the office. I'll talk to you this evening, if I get home before you are asleep. That is, unless you want to stop by for lunch?" Lex stood to leave the table.
"Actually, I was thinking of going to Smallville to visit Martha. I've missed her while I was away." She smiled and took a drink of her orange juice.
"Well, suit yourself. If you'd rather mingle with the common people, that's fine with me." A wry grin spread across his face.
"Easy, Clark." Lana recognized the line Clark had used on her after Nell and Lionell had gotten married. "I love you, Lex. I hope you have a good day. Try not to take over the world while I'm gone, ok?"
"I'll try." He winked at her and left the room
"Chloe?" Clark had been wondering around in Suicide Slum for a little over an hour looking for her. One of the barkeepers a couple blocks over said he'd seen her leave with a guy who lived just off this alley. Clark wondered why he'd let her come alone, but then remembered how much she hated to depend on him to keep her safe.
"And just who the hell do you think you are?" The voice caught him off guard, he was so absorbed in his thoughts about Chloe.
Clark turned around to face the source of the voice. He was met by a young man holding one of the gun's he'd shown Lois this morning. "I'm looking for someone, a woman. She's blonde…"
"Shut the fuck up!" The man pointed the gun at Clark's head and stepped closer. There didn't seem to be anyone else with him so Clark didn't see the harm in using a bit of his abilities to subdue his new friend.
In a flash, the man was out cold, his gun now in Clark's hand. He lifted him to his feet and smacked him on the face a couple times to wake him back up. The man came too groggily. When he saw Clark's face and his piercing grey eyes he started to struggle. "How'd…who…"
"Why don't I ask the questions?" He pointed the gun at him, after he'd unloaded it of course. He didn't have to know that. "First off, where's Chloe Sullivan. She's a reporter for the Planet, about 5' 5", blonde hair, kind of loud?"
"I don't know who the hell you're talking about man. I'm just out to make a quick score." The man's entire body began to shake. He was trying to get away, but it wasn't any use. Clark just held him harder to the wall.
"Street punks don't carry prototype military weapons that were stolen from a government warehouse. Now, I want to know who you are working for, and where you are keeping Chloe." Clark now pointed the gun at the man's head.
"Fine, man, I'll tell you!" The man was starting to sob. "They're keeping her in a warehouse on Hobbes Street, but I can't tell you who they are. They'll kill…"
Before he could finish, Clark hit him over the back of the head again with the gun and he was out. He raced over to Hobbes Street and began searching the warehouses. Finally he found the one he was looking for. A quick scan of the building with his x-ray vision showed Chloe tied to a chair being guarded by three men with those same guns. Clark decided he'd have to disarm them before he made his move. He couldn't risk one of them getting a shot off at Chloe.
It didn't take long for him to come up with a plan. He went around to the back of the warehouse, finding a window that looked in on the room where Chloe was being held. He flew up to just outside the window and focused his heat vision on the first of the two guns. The barrel quickly melted and gun became too hot for the man to hold on to. When he dropped it, Clark turned his focus on the other. Soon it too was on the floor. The next thing either of them knew, they were lying on the floor. Clark quickly untied Chloe and helped her out of the warehouse before he called the police.
"Oh, God, Clark. I wasn't sure if you'd be able to find me in time. What are you even doing here?" Chloe was still wringing her hands together trying to rid them of the feeling left behind by the ropes.
"I came to look for you. Mom called and wants us to come over for dinner tonight. She says that she has some sort of surprise for me. Any idea what it could be?" He put his phone back in his pocket and checked to make sure that the guards were still in the building where he'd left them.
"Not really. She hasn't told me anything." She reached out and took his hand. "I could really use the break, after the day I've had."
He smiled at her. "You should stop getting yourself into trouble."
"Yeah, but then what would I do to be alone with you?" She reached over and kissed him, just as the first of the police arrived.
