Title: Faking It
Rating: PG13
Summary: Smallville High's newest student is the billionaire, Lex Luthor, who is forced to go undercover as a regular teenager.
Chapter 1: Persuasion
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The large office lingered in silence as Lex leaned back in his chair, mulling over his present predicament. Two other men sat before him, one older and dressed just as sharply as Lex; the younger sat passively avoiding eye contact with anyone.
"If this situation continues, your plant will be shut down for good, Lex." the older man frowned. "I'll be forced to advise my superiors to do so."
"Firstly, you call me Mr Luthor, detective and secondly, I'm well aware of the current situation." the billionaire said evenly as he spun a pen between his fingers. He couldn't believe he had to deal with this crap on top of everything else that had happened recently. Bad things always happened at once though.
The detective let out a sigh and tossed a folder onto the table, "We've narrowed own the list of suspects..."
"I wouldn't call twelve hundred pages 'narrowing down'" Lex stated bluntly, glaring at the wad of paper.
"It's hard to believe, but lots of people actually dislike you enough to steal from you," the detective continued dryly, glancing at his partner who still looked like a bug about to be squashed.
Lex ignored the detective's tone and continued, "I wouldn't mind about the money so much... but this person is using it to fund a drug ring? At a high school?" he continued in a somewhat disbelief.
"Smallville High isn't all about football and farming anymore. Your plant brought many workers and their families to this town over the years. Needless to say, Metropolis kids are a little more wayward than most."
"Don't I know it." Lex murmured thoughtfully. Any way you sliced it, Smallville was going to blame him for the whole mess... even if just one of their precious teens were hurt. He was in a whole lot of crap.
"So how do you propose solving this problem?" Lex asked, glancing between the two detectives.
"It's a very delicate situation. There's one extortionist at the plant, with a link to someone at the high school, that's where the drugs were confiscated from. So far we've managed to conceal the story, but we can't hide it forever, the paper trail leads directly to LuthorCorp. We'll need to have someone working around the clock to-"
"Get to the point, detective," Lex said with an almost frustrated sigh.
"Someone needs to work undercover at Smallville High. The rookie here is the only one who looks young enough for the job." the detective stated, motioning towards his partner.
Lex rose and walked to the other side of the desk sceptically. "At the high school? I can't allow you to create a scene there.... if anyone gets hurt-"
"You'll never be able to forgive yourself?" the younger detective piped up.
"I was going to say that it'll be bad press for LuthorCorp.... but, sure, I guess I'm worried about the kids too," Lex continued. He thought of the teens of Smallville that he'd grown attached to.. he wasn't about to let them get hurt.
"I take it you're the one Metropolis PD sent for the undercover work?" Lex asked the younger man.
"Er... yes sir." he mumbled back.
"So what is your plan of action? Say you see a group of kids that might be involved in this drug ring... how do you plan to infiltrate their little circle?"
"Well... I'll, um... introduce myself. Maybe ask if I can sit with them at lunch... or buy them coffee...?"
Lex sighed and looked up to the ceiling in frustration.
"You're telling me that your plan is to go up to an eighteen year old drug dealer and ask him out to coffee?" he snapped. "He'll probably kick the crap out of you... before flushing your head in a toilet."
"I... I..." the rookie detective stuttered, trying desperately to think. "I could casually slip the subject of drugs into the conversation?"
Lex clenched his jaw, drawing on the last of his patience, "Can't you get someone else to do this?" he demanded, turning to the older man.
"We're understaffed as it is, and since it involves a government high school, you can't hand the case over to private agency."
Lex sighed, considering his options. If the situation wasn't resolved quickly, it could cause serious hassles for LuthorCorp.... the scandal would be huge. Funding a local drug deal usually had that effect, and his father was in no condition to bail him out this time.
"You seem to know a lot about these kind of kids, Mr Luthor..." the detective said, slowly forming a plan. "You probably have more experience in this area than anyone in my department..."
Lex raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms defensively, "You can forget about that idea right now. I'm a busy man, I don't have time to gallivant around a high school, introducing myself to potential drug addicts."
"Even if it saves lives? I don't see another way out, Mr Luthor... it might be our only hope. You have the advantage of knowing these people."
Lex sighed in frustration. He could not believe the predicament he was in. "I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to make this go away but I'm not prepared to do *your* job. Besides... people would recognize me."
The detective thought for a second then motioned for his partner to leave the room. The younger man nodded quickly and scrambled out the door, almost relieved.
"I can have a specialized team to give you a perfect disguise, not even your best friend would notice. Exactly how many people have a chance of recognising you?" The detective continued.
"Well... there's the Kent's boy, Lana Lang, Pete and the Sullivan girl. I guess they'd be easy enough to fool." Lex said before lapsing into thought. "Then there's the problem of identification, birth certificate..."
"All taken care of, you can use the ID we were going to give the rookie. Your alias will be Raymond Shoeland."
Lex's eyebrows shot up, "You're kidding? No wonder the rookie didn't want the job, couldn't the Met PD come up with a better name?"
"We were in a slight hurry, it was the best we could do. Your course selection will be taken care of, you'll just need to register for grade twelve." The man continued, hopefully.
Lex frowned in thought.... Surely Gabe would be able to handle things for a while... It wasn't like it took a lot of effort to process crap.
"Fine, I'm in... but I refuse to do homework." Lex stated, thoroughly irritated.
"It's settled then, Mr Luthor." the detective said with a satisfactory grin.
"You're Smallville High's newest student."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Please Review : ) Good enough start?
Rating: PG13
Summary: Smallville High's newest student is the billionaire, Lex Luthor, who is forced to go undercover as a regular teenager.
Chapter 1: Persuasion
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The large office lingered in silence as Lex leaned back in his chair, mulling over his present predicament. Two other men sat before him, one older and dressed just as sharply as Lex; the younger sat passively avoiding eye contact with anyone.
"If this situation continues, your plant will be shut down for good, Lex." the older man frowned. "I'll be forced to advise my superiors to do so."
"Firstly, you call me Mr Luthor, detective and secondly, I'm well aware of the current situation." the billionaire said evenly as he spun a pen between his fingers. He couldn't believe he had to deal with this crap on top of everything else that had happened recently. Bad things always happened at once though.
The detective let out a sigh and tossed a folder onto the table, "We've narrowed own the list of suspects..."
"I wouldn't call twelve hundred pages 'narrowing down'" Lex stated bluntly, glaring at the wad of paper.
"It's hard to believe, but lots of people actually dislike you enough to steal from you," the detective continued dryly, glancing at his partner who still looked like a bug about to be squashed.
Lex ignored the detective's tone and continued, "I wouldn't mind about the money so much... but this person is using it to fund a drug ring? At a high school?" he continued in a somewhat disbelief.
"Smallville High isn't all about football and farming anymore. Your plant brought many workers and their families to this town over the years. Needless to say, Metropolis kids are a little more wayward than most."
"Don't I know it." Lex murmured thoughtfully. Any way you sliced it, Smallville was going to blame him for the whole mess... even if just one of their precious teens were hurt. He was in a whole lot of crap.
"So how do you propose solving this problem?" Lex asked, glancing between the two detectives.
"It's a very delicate situation. There's one extortionist at the plant, with a link to someone at the high school, that's where the drugs were confiscated from. So far we've managed to conceal the story, but we can't hide it forever, the paper trail leads directly to LuthorCorp. We'll need to have someone working around the clock to-"
"Get to the point, detective," Lex said with an almost frustrated sigh.
"Someone needs to work undercover at Smallville High. The rookie here is the only one who looks young enough for the job." the detective stated, motioning towards his partner.
Lex rose and walked to the other side of the desk sceptically. "At the high school? I can't allow you to create a scene there.... if anyone gets hurt-"
"You'll never be able to forgive yourself?" the younger detective piped up.
"I was going to say that it'll be bad press for LuthorCorp.... but, sure, I guess I'm worried about the kids too," Lex continued. He thought of the teens of Smallville that he'd grown attached to.. he wasn't about to let them get hurt.
"I take it you're the one Metropolis PD sent for the undercover work?" Lex asked the younger man.
"Er... yes sir." he mumbled back.
"So what is your plan of action? Say you see a group of kids that might be involved in this drug ring... how do you plan to infiltrate their little circle?"
"Well... I'll, um... introduce myself. Maybe ask if I can sit with them at lunch... or buy them coffee...?"
Lex sighed and looked up to the ceiling in frustration.
"You're telling me that your plan is to go up to an eighteen year old drug dealer and ask him out to coffee?" he snapped. "He'll probably kick the crap out of you... before flushing your head in a toilet."
"I... I..." the rookie detective stuttered, trying desperately to think. "I could casually slip the subject of drugs into the conversation?"
Lex clenched his jaw, drawing on the last of his patience, "Can't you get someone else to do this?" he demanded, turning to the older man.
"We're understaffed as it is, and since it involves a government high school, you can't hand the case over to private agency."
Lex sighed, considering his options. If the situation wasn't resolved quickly, it could cause serious hassles for LuthorCorp.... the scandal would be huge. Funding a local drug deal usually had that effect, and his father was in no condition to bail him out this time.
"You seem to know a lot about these kind of kids, Mr Luthor..." the detective said, slowly forming a plan. "You probably have more experience in this area than anyone in my department..."
Lex raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms defensively, "You can forget about that idea right now. I'm a busy man, I don't have time to gallivant around a high school, introducing myself to potential drug addicts."
"Even if it saves lives? I don't see another way out, Mr Luthor... it might be our only hope. You have the advantage of knowing these people."
Lex sighed in frustration. He could not believe the predicament he was in. "I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to make this go away but I'm not prepared to do *your* job. Besides... people would recognize me."
The detective thought for a second then motioned for his partner to leave the room. The younger man nodded quickly and scrambled out the door, almost relieved.
"I can have a specialized team to give you a perfect disguise, not even your best friend would notice. Exactly how many people have a chance of recognising you?" The detective continued.
"Well... there's the Kent's boy, Lana Lang, Pete and the Sullivan girl. I guess they'd be easy enough to fool." Lex said before lapsing into thought. "Then there's the problem of identification, birth certificate..."
"All taken care of, you can use the ID we were going to give the rookie. Your alias will be Raymond Shoeland."
Lex's eyebrows shot up, "You're kidding? No wonder the rookie didn't want the job, couldn't the Met PD come up with a better name?"
"We were in a slight hurry, it was the best we could do. Your course selection will be taken care of, you'll just need to register for grade twelve." The man continued, hopefully.
Lex frowned in thought.... Surely Gabe would be able to handle things for a while... It wasn't like it took a lot of effort to process crap.
"Fine, I'm in... but I refuse to do homework." Lex stated, thoroughly irritated.
"It's settled then, Mr Luthor." the detective said with a satisfactory grin.
"You're Smallville High's newest student."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Please Review : ) Good enough start?