(Advertising department - Smallville Ledger, Smallville)
With Lionel behind bars, Lex had begun the arduous process of hiring new staff. He already placed several executive and managerial-level ads in the Careers section of the Daily Planet. Senior staff would need executive assistants, IT personnel and other subordinates. He was told that The Ledger had wide distribution in Lowell County. He preferred to have employees who lived in the area: such employees would have a personal stake in the community's prosperity.
After he dropped off the final proofs for the employment ads, Lex walked past the editorial room and down the long hallway to the main entrance. Then he heard something break – was it a vase- at the far end of the hallway. He shrugged and continued towards the exit. Another 'crash' – louder this time – caught his attention. He thought it might be the clank of some machinery, when he approached the Archives Room.
A woman's shriek convinced him that the noise had nothing do to with machinery. "Someone help me!" the woman screamed again.
"Chloe?" Lex recognized the voice. He grabbed the door handle to the Archives Room, but it was locked. Chloe continued to scream. Lex took a few steps back, and kicked open the door. He saw a burly man, with janitor's overalls, hovering over Chloe. Lex lunged at the janitor, and punched him in the jaw. Frankie, the janitor, flung Lex against the file cabinet. Before he could grab Lex's throat, Lex punched him in the stomach.
Frankie stooped over, but he hurled himself upon Lex – pinning him against the file cabinets. Lex struggled to keep the janitor's brass-knuckled fist away from him. He smashed Frankie's hand against the corner of a file cabinet several times, then he yanked the brass knuckles from his fingers. Lex butted his head into Frankie's face, causing the janitor to loosen his grip on him.
"Lex – here!" Chloe tossed a steel three-hole puncher towards him. When Frankie charged him, Lex belted it across the janitor's head. The blow knocked him to the ground – finally. Frankie's broken nose began to bleed, and he groaned in agony.
Lex breathed deeply and tried to catch his breath. "Chloe … are you alright?"
Chloe was frozen with fear, but she struggled to regain control of her senses. "Frankie the 'Killer Janitor' over there is one of Tony Zucco's wiseguys. He didn't like the fact that I was looking into the All Saints' Day massacre. I'm going to call the sheriff's department!"
"Zucco," Lex grumbled. He scowled as he examined Frankie's name badge on his overalls. "If Frankie really is one of Zucco's 'made men', this is beyond the county sheriff's authority. It's organized crime. You'd better call the FBI detachment in Metropolis after you've called the sheriff."
Lex yanked Frankie's head up towards him. "Who ordered this? Zucco? One of his dons in Metropolis? Talk!"
Frankie spat out some blood. "I ain't talkin' to nobody. Nobody!"
"Well, it seems you've already said too much!" Lex barked. "How about I let it be known in Metropolis' Little Sicily that you broke your cover here and spilled the beans to a high school reporter about Zucco's business? I bet it wouldn't go over well with the Metropolis mob captains!"
"You wouldn't do that," Frankie snickered. Lex glared at him, without remorse. Lex Luthor wasn't afraid of him. The janitor began to feel nervous about what might happen to him if Lex carried out his threat.
Chloe hung up her cell. "The sheriff and federal agents are on their way. So that's it then! Tony Zucco will want to keep clear of Metropolis, since his network has been exposed here. If Frankie knows what's good for him, he'll tell the FBI what he knows." Lex didn't seem to be too pleased, despite their success.
"Lex?" Chloe wondered. "For someone who just took on one of Zucco's hoods – and survived – you don't seem to be in the mood to celebrate." Frankie continued to groan, as Lex hog-tied him with duct tape.
"Frankie won't talk," Lex muttered, "because of omerta: the mafia's code of silence. He's a 'made man', Chloe. His life is bound to the fate of the Zucco crime family. Were he to betray the trust placed in him, he'd be – literally and figuratively – a dead man. Just look at him: he's afraid he may have said too much! His fate isn't his to control anymore; it's in Tony Zucco's hands now."
Lex was reluctant to say more about Tony Zucco, his new union partner, but Chloe Sullivan would have uncovered that detail eventually. "Tony Zucco," Lex admitted, "took over leadership of all the major construction unions in Metropolis this morning – with the apparent help of the state labour secretary. He's in town, and he's not leaving anytime soon. He said so himself."
Chloe blinked her eyes in disbelief. "You've met Tony Zucco? Your address book just became more newsworthy than it was five minutes ago!"
Lex could hear the familiar siren wails of the county sheriff's squad cars. "I'd advise you to exorcise the name 'Tony Zucco' from all those story ideas budding in your head," Lex cautioned sternly, "unless you really believe your by-line is worth a one-way, first-person perspective of the bottom of Gotham Harbour."
"Well, thanks, Lex," Chloe frowned, "for dampening my hopes for a freelance article in the Ledger!" She was disappointed that Lex had shut down that story angle, but he seemed genuinely concerned about her safety.
The sheriff's deputies arrived in the hallway outside and arrested Frankie.
"Our dispatcher says someone gave the feds the heads-up," one of the deputies observed. "Frankie should be our collar; now the feds are claiming jurisdiction."
"Forgive our haste in informing the FBI," Lex responded sarcastically, "but when one of Tony Zucco's informers assaults one of the locals, I presumed that Gotham mafia entanglements were far beyond the scope of the County's Finest." The deputy merely shrugged at the implied insult.
Lex and the other deputy accompanied Chloe to the waiting ambulance. Chloe's arm seemed to be hurting and Lex's right hand had become sore. As Lex stepped into the ambulance's stretcher bay, he shuddered.
How would Zucco react to Chloe's unexpected exposure of his underworld links in Smallville?
(Smallville Medical Center, Smallville)
Clark and the Kents waited in the lounge outside the ER. When the doors opened, they spotted both Chloe and Lex. Chloe's left forearm was wrapped in a gauze bandage, while Lex's right hand was bandaged. Lex completed his statement to the FBI agents and followed Chloe to the exit.
"Chloe! Lex!" Clark blurted. "We heard you were both admitted two hours ago. Are you alright?" The Kents ran towards Chloe and Lex.
"One of Zucco's wiseguys tried to use me for boxing practice at the Ledger archives," Chloe replied, "but, luckily, Lex got there in time. Battle scars heal, but it seems Zucco's writing the next chapter of his mob saga here in Smallville. We might not be so lucky next time."
"Zucco?" Jonathan Kent wondered. "Wait – you're saying you had a run-in with one of Tony Zucco's goons? This is Smallville … what business does a Gotham crime lord have in our town?" Chloe glanced warily at Lex, but she chose not to explain that Lex knew Zucco. She wanted no part of that hornet's nest.
"Frankie the Janitor didn't say much to us," Lex added, as he cradled his sore hand, "but he seemed to have an objection over Chloe's research into the All Saints Day massacre in the 1980's."
"Well, I'm glad you guys are alright," Clark answered.
"This is far from over," Lex declared. If one of Zucco's cronies was prepared to kill Chloe because of the All Saints Day massacre, he feared, then Helena Bertinelli wasn't a long-forgotten footnote. In fact, her presence was becoming a clear and present danger to both Zucco and the people of Smallville.
"If that janitor was ready to kill because of alleged Zucco connections to the Bertinellis' slayings," Lex continued, "then it seems to me, Clark, that your history teacher owes all of us an explanation for her convenient arrival in Smallville."
"Miss Bertinelli has nothing to do with this," Clark protested. "If she was only here to get revenge, why would she go through all the trouble of becoming a student teacher? Why volunteer to coach the volleyball team?"
"She'd never have set foot in Lowell County," Lex continued, "if she didn't have the informal blessing of the Wayne Foundation and the Gotham U. board of regents. They'd rather ship their problems to the Midwest."
"I was inclined to see things your way, Clark," Chloe said. "Until tonight. It's obvious to me that she's hiding something. Let's suppose that Miss Bertinelli isn't here on a mission of vengeance. The fact is that the murder of her parents is still making Zucco's people nervous … even twenty years later! And they nearly mashed me into pulp to keep it buried in the past!"
"Clark," Jonathan added, "Lex and Chloe might be right. The whole town's heard the rumours of Miss Bertinelli's mob lineage. Some of the parents have been talking and – well, we're thinking of collecting a petition and submitting it to the school board to cancel her teaching placement."
"No!" Clark was enraged. "Miss Bertinelli is a good teacher! She wants to make a clean break with her past, and everyone doesn't want to believe her. Well, I do!"
"Look, Clark," Lex tried to calm Clark down. "Let me talk to Mr. Zucco. He's running the Metropolis construction unions at my corporate development and –"
"You're in business with Tony Zucco?" Clark gasped. "Somehow that doesn't really surprise me anymore. First, it's Morgan Edge. Now, Tony Zucco? The Luthors seem to have many friends in the underworld."
"It's more complicated than that," Lex announced. "He knows that I won't tolerate the sort of tactics he's used in Gotham City to wield power. Zucco has allies in Topeka and he plans to remain in Metropolis to oversee the Commerce Square development. He's aware of his limits: he can't move an inch in the city without my knowledge. What I can do is find out if he's still holding a grudge against your 'reformed' history teacher."
Clark didn't want to listen. Martha tried to convince her son to be more sensible. "Maybe we won't have to resort to a petition. I, for one, am willing to look past Helena's sordid family history and give her a second chance at a new life." She looked at those who wanted to deny the new teacher a fair shake – including her husband. "We should all give her a second chance. If there's solid proof that she has an ulterior motive, I'll be the first person to sign the petition for her removal."
Jonathan relented. "That sounds fair to me," he sighed. "I'll give it a day or two before we resort to petitions. Clark?"
Clark nodded, but he felt that no one tried to understand his viewpoint. "If it means you're not going to recklessly chase her out of town," he pouted, "I'll agree with that. She's cursed with a family name linked to the mob. It's not fair that she should be judged by what her father did in the past." He looked directly at Lex. "I thought a Luthor could relate to that situation."
"Point taken, Clark," Lex replied. "I only hope your unwavering faith in Helena won't lead to further underworld violence." As the Kents and Chloe left for the parking lot, he approached Jonathan.
"For what it's worth, Mr. Kent," Lex began, "I agree with you. Helena Bertinelli is a danger to the school and to the town. If you need any help in approaching the county school board with your petition –"
Jonathan paused and faced Lex. "Since Tony Zucco is a current associate of yours, I think it would be best if you didn't help. I am grateful that you rescued Chloe, but you've 'helped' enough already. How you handle your business partner is your concern, Lex – not Smallville's. You keep your own house in order, and I'll keep mine."
Lex winced at Jonathan's rebuke. Nothing he did would sway Jonathan's opinion of him. Zucco owes me an explanation, he scowled to himself. I'll demand one.
In the truck, Chloe tried to talk to Clark, but he wasn't in the mood for conversation. Chloe, Lex – and now his parents – were willing to turn against his teacher. Zucco had Miss Bertinelli's parents killed in cold blood, yet it seemed Zucco had free reign over their entire county. His influence now extended to the state capital. It was unfair, and unjust. Clark was determined to prove her innocence, despite tonight's events.
The attack on Chloe had brought Gotham City's ugly mob wars to their streets. Clark didn't want to admit it, but Chloe was right. Was it mere coincidence? Or did their new teacher arrange to come here in order to confront Zucco about the slaughter of her parents?
They had to find out – soon – if Helena Bertinelli had a hidden agenda.