CHAPTER 4
Minutes later...
"What happened up there anyway?" Clark asked while Lois opened the control panel for the third time to try to find some button to make the elevator work again.
"I already told you, Smallville" she said, impatiently.
"Are you sure you didn't forget to tell me anything?" he insisted.
Lois faced him, irritated.
"The guy freaked out when he saw I wasn't Chloe. Then, he jumped into the next building like a flying squirrel. What else do you want to know?" she answered.
"What could he want with Chloe?" asked Clark, thoughtful. He couldn't imagine that Chloe was Lex Luthor's target, after all, the shady times had finished for his friend, or had they?
"I know what you're thinking about, Smallville. But forget it" Lois said.
Clark looked at her, confused.
"He didn't seem like a mercenary contracted by the fertilizers' magnate. I'm pretty sure he wants to help us unmask Lex and take him out of the Senate race" she said.
Clark didn't say anything. Lois was too optomistic for his liking.
"You said you didn't see his face, right?" he asked.
"That's right" she answered, leaving the panel to look at his face.
"I don't know, Lois. It's too weird" he said.
"No, it's not" she disagreed.
Clark looked at her, curious.
"I thought he was Chloe's source about the Luthors" she explained.
"But he isn't" Clark interrupted.
"I imagined that when I saw he was wearing mask and gloves. And when I saw he was also armed, everything made sense" she completed.
"Sorry, Lois. But did I miss something?" Clark asked, confused about her discovery.
"He's terrified, Smallville" she said.
"Terrified?" Clark repeated. "Are you okay, Lois? Did you hit your head or something like that? 'Cause that doesn't make any sense to me--"
"He knows something about Lex. Something big" she finally said.
"Sorry to disappoint you again, but he didn't seem to me like a trustworthy source. Someone who uses a mask is usually hiding something" Clark said, not convinced of Lois' theory.
"It's not about confidence, Smallville. He knows something about Lex and he wants to share it with someone else. So, we finally have a chance to prove that Lex is dirty--"
"I don't agree with you, Lois. He could have hurt you"
Tired, Lois sat down on the floor.
Clark took advantage of the situation to check the entire place with his x-ray vision . But there wasn't any way to get out. They were locked in. The only thing he could do was to break the elevator's door with his super strength.
Then, he looked at Lois, and sat down on the floor in front of her. But she was too irritated to look at him. She just turned her face to avoid him. She acted like it was his fault that they were there.
"I thought you had quit" he said, suddenly.
"Had quit what?" she asked.
"Investigating Lex" he answered.
"Never" she said.
"Why? I mean... it's dangerous"
"Maybe you're satisfied with the world you live in, where people like the master of fraud leads with his dirt, involving innocent people, but I'm not" she said.
Surprised with Lois' words, Clark smiled bitterly.
"I'm not a conformist, Lois. I'm just--" he tried to explain.
"I don't understand you, Smallville. You have been friends with Lex for so long. How could you never see how cruel his intentions are?"
"You're exaggerating, Lois--" he said.
"You can't be serious, Smallville!" she protested. "It's amazing your skill of seeing good in people but it doesn't work with Mr Arrogant"
"Lex is just a little lost" he tried to explain.
"I don't think so. It's pretty clear to me that he knows exactly where he's going " she disagreed.
Clark didn't say anything. He thought that, in a certain sense, she was right.
"Why don't you leave this to the police, Lois? It's too risky" he warned her.
Lois smiled.
"Do you really believe Uncle Fester can be touched by the police? He has money, Smallville. He can buy anything, even the police" she said.
"But there are good people who can't be bought--"
"We're not in Kansas anymore, Smallville. This is the big city, where people and situations are very different from where you came from" she explained.
"Um. So, the armed guy in the roof is more trustworthy than police?" Clark asked, cynically.
"I didn't say that. The fact that he was armed just prove my theory that he's desperate, Smallville. Or why would he want to meet a Daily Planet trainee in a place like this?" Lois asked, suggesting something else.
"That's the point, Lois!" Clark said. "It's just a theory! We don't know anything about this guy--"
"Okay, Clark. What do you suggest?" she asked, irritated.
"I have no idea" he answered.
"I should know that!" she said. "And it's your fault that we lost the only guy who could answer all our questions!"
"My fault?" he asked, confused.
"Didn't you know? I don't need a full time hero to save me, Smallville! I know exactly what to do in complicated situations!" she stood up.
"Really? Like this one?" he stood up too.
"Do you want to know what? I won't stay here with you anymore, while a big story is escaping from us!" she said, trying again to climb into the hatch.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "You could fall!"
"Don't be such a scaredy-cat, Smallville, and come on!" she said, reaching the top.
Clark rolled his eyes, and followed her up.
Suddenly, when they reached the elevator's roof, something happened. There was a big noise and the elevator shook violently. They looked at each other and Lois tried to open the door to the tenth floor. But it didn't move.
"Let me try" he said, pushing her away.
Then, the elevator shook again.
"I think it won't support us any longer!" she said, worried.
Clark used his super-strength and opened the door and under Lois eyes, he explained:
"Rust"
Lois went out first, and when both of them left the elevator there was another big noise and the elevator fell down.
Surprised, they looked at each other.
"Too close, huh?" she said, smiling.
Clark didn't say anything. It wasn't funny. But Lois stood up and went to the stairs.
It was night when they finally left the building, and they knew there wasn't any chance of finding the masked man.
They walked down the street to get Lois' car in the alley where she left it but when they finally arrived there, the car wasn't there anymore.
"I can't believe!" she yelled.
"Did you really leave your car here? In this alley? Are you crazy?" he asked, surprised.
"Are you seeing any five star parking here?"
"So, let's take a cab" he suggested.
"In Suicide Slum? Impossible! Even the taxi drivers avoid this place" she said.
"Yeah. You should have thought about that before leaving your car here" he replied.
Lois ignored him, and asked for some money.
"Well, I just have some change"
"Some change, Smallville? How can you come to Metropolis carrying just some change?" she asked, perplexed.
Lois took Clark's change and ran over to the corner, where there was a telephone.
"Who are you calling?" he asked coming up next to her.
"Chloe" she answered, waiting on the line. "But I think she left the Planet"
"Try her cell phone" he suggested.
Lois tried it, but it was out of area.
"We're all by ourselves, Smallville" she said.
"Are we?" he asked.
Lois didn't answer him and walked away. Clark followed her and asked:
"Where are you going?"
"We have to find a cab" she answered.
"Really? I thought it was impossible to find one in this place" he said.
Lois rolled her eyes and turned to look at him.
"Are you coming or not, Smallville?"
Clark shook his head, and accompanied Lois.
TBC