ChApTeR FoUrTeEn
"Mom! Dad!" Clark called out and went to see them, but Lex pulled him back and put his manicured finger to his lips. Clark stared suspiciously and smirked. "When did you do that?" he laughed, pointing to the finger. Lex grimaced and pulled his hand away.
"Bring that up with Lana. She made me do it." He shoved the topic off and pointed at the unconscious Kents. "That could be trap. Some giant… giant… thing could come down on us the moment we step over there!"
"Would somebody please tell me what two people tied to a chair are doing in my building!" Richard boomed and pushed his way forward, almost knocking over Chloe.
"Somebody kidnapped my parents. My friends and I think it was a woman by the name of Margaret Frasier."
"Isn't she crazy? Bonkers? Cracked? Batty? Mental? Flaky? Flipped? Nuts? Schizo? Wacky? Unglued? Unhinged? Unzipped? Totally and completely out of her…"
"Thank You." Clark put up his hands to make him stop. It was a surprise he let him go on that long. "Okay. Chloe. You stay here with the walking Thesaurus. Lex…iss and I will go investigate."
"Why do I have to go?" Lex moaned, getting really tired of using his fake voice.
"Because. That's how it always goes. You and me go find the evil doers together. Like a team or something…" Clark trailed off at the end, trying to be mysterious… or hinting at something and Lex decided to stay with the mysterious part. Lex and Clark slowly inched forward.
"Clark. If someone had asked your name while you were still dressed as a girl, what would you have said?" Lex asked quietly.
"What kind of question is that?" Clark furrowed his eyebrows and laughed nervously.
"Just answer the damn question!"
"I dunno, Clarkina maybe."
"That's it? You'd put an "-ina" at the end and be done with it?"
"You put an "-iss". It can't be much better."
"At least my name sounds like could belong to a girl!"
"And what does mine sound like?"
"Like a man trying to be woman. He's got the look but gave it away with the name. Clarkina isn't even a real name found in the English language… or ANY language…"
Meanwhile, Chloe, Richard, and the security were watching Clark and, as they knew him (or her), Lexiss inch closer to the bodies.
"What are they speaking about?" Richard looked down at Chloe intently. Chloe looked up and smiled cheekily.
"Paranoid?"
"No." Richard looked confused. "Just interested. So, are you a journalist?"
"Yeah. How'd you guess?" Chloe brightened up even more and moved closer to Richard. He was unsure what he gesture meant, so he just cleared his throat.
"You looked really annoying. Like someone who has a tendency to step into people's personal space." Richard put emphasis on the last two words, but Chloe ignored him and moved a little closer.
"I'm not as annoying as I seem. Some people think I'm a crybaby, but I also enjoy taking charge."
"What are you doing! I'm 44, for goodness sake!" Richard erupted, throwing his hands into the air.
"So?" Chloe looked slightly disappointed. She couldn't quite understand what he meant. All she was trying to do was to be friends. Richard mistook her for the second time that day and shuddered.
"I need to be alone." He whimpered and walked off near the exit of the tunnel, sat down, and pulled out his iPod. He turned it on and placed the ear buds steadily into his ears.
"Is he a little…" Chloe made a turning motion with her finger at her head and looked to the head security guard, a young muscular man.
"Isn't everyone?"
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Margaret watched from a window above the room and laughed that nobody seemed to bother looking up. Her blonde hair bounced when she laughed. It wasn't the only thing that bounced when she laughed, and the henchman at her side was having a hard time not focusing on the hair.
"Those fools! I seems they've forgotten to look up. Look at them. Almost to my trap. Once they step on that exact spot… BOOM!"
Now, let me take a moment to explain something. Margaret, in fact, had set no trap. There was no button or bomb ready. Her plan was faulty. She was talking so loud that even Richard with his ear buds in would hear her. Her henchman was the building's janitor and the only weapon he possessed was a mop.
"But… miss… there's nothing there." The janitor explained simply.
"Hush! Ready your weapon!" Margaret ordered. The janitor shrugged and held his mop at a "threatening" position. "Here!" Margaret pulled a large rope from a trunk at her feet and held onto the one end. She did not tie the other end to anything. "We'll climb down the rope and surprise them."
Margaret threw the rope at the window and it hit the glass, causing it to bounce back and land with a thud. The janitor dropped the menacing stance and opened the window.
"Miss…"
"Thank you henchman! Pick up your weapon! We're ready to attack!" Margaret pulled out a very large gun and tossed the rope out the window. The entire rope went flying out the window and it all disappeared. The two people scurried to the window and stared at the heap of rope at the bottom.
"Miss…" the janitor warned again.
"It's perfect!" Margaret cackled. "Quick before they see! GO!" and she pushed him out the window.
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Clark looked up just in time to rush under where the janitor was falling and catch him. The janitor clutched his mop and ran over to stand by Richard without so much of a word.
"Wonderful!" a female voice called out. Clark looked up as did everyone else occupying the room. Well, except Martha and Jonathon. They were still unconscious.
"You! What have you done to my parents!" Clark yelled.
"I will climb down and tell you!" Margaret disappeared and eventually returned, throwing one end of a rope out the window. She expertly climbed down and landed cat-like on her feet.
"But… but…" the janitor stammered. Richard finally stood and stared in shock.
"I've seen her before!" he exclaimed. Margaret turned to him and smiled.
"You better believe it… sir." She began to walk forward. Clark and Lex were too busy trying to figure out why Margaret pushed an old man out of a window to notice.
My, god! You're my secretary!"
"Was your secretary. Until you fired me! Now look! I'm psychotic! Nuts! Unhinged! Cuckoo! Bonkers! Cracked! Absolutely and totally out of my…"
"What are you doing! Leave me alone!" Richard made the sign of the cross in front of him.
"You idiot!" Margaret crowed. "You never were quite stable, we you?" she reached out with ease and curled her fingers around Richard's neck. With the after effects of meteor rock infused strength (why Clark hadn't felt it is still a mystery), she lifted him off the ground. The security officers had long run away. Clark finally noticed something was going on and ran over. Margaret heard him coming. She threw Richard against the wall and he smacked into it. Something cracked and he slid down the rest of the wall, landing on a heap on the floor.
Chloe rushed over to him and begged the crack wasn't his head or his back. It was okay, Chloe breathed. It was just his iPod.
"You have issues!" Lex cried. Clark gave him a look and stepped forward.
"If you've killed him or mortally wounded him, you are so dead! For all I know, my parents are dead as of this moment."
"Oh, b-o-o h-o-o!" she spelled and rolled her eyes. "You don't think I could do the same to you?" She paused. "Or your girlfriend?"
"Leave my girlfriend alone!" Clark yelled dangerously and stepped in front of Lex. He blinked a few times and looked back at Lex, who was sharing the same expression. "I… um… heh, heh." He tried to laugh.
At that moment, Jonathon decided to wake up. He took one look at Clark (and woman he'd never seen before) standing in front of the blonde who kidnapped them and Chloe crouching down next to a man in a business suit who had begun to bleed from his head and was obviously unconscious. He yelled the first things to come to his mind.
"Holy shit! This looks like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!" Which in all truth, could have been possible. There was redhead, a blonde girl, a brunette guy, a man in suit who did a bad job fighting, and a girl who looked pretty evil.
He decided to go back to sleep.