CHAPTER 6

A long walk later, Lois was tired and Clark, irritated.

"I can't call my parents, 'cause they are in Granville. But you can still call your father, Lois. He may send someone to meet us and--" Clark suggested.

"No way, Smallville!" she interrupted him. "To him, just being in this part of town would be a good reason for a Court Martial!"

Clark rolled his eyes.

"Why are you always exaggerating about your dad?" he asked.

Suddenly, Lois stopped walking. Just as Clark began to think it was because of his mentioning the General, she said, looking at something two blocks ahead:

"Wait!"

Clark looked to see what had her attention and saw two groups of armed boys talking. It was a gang meeting. Suddenly, the one who seemed to be the leader of one group started to speak louder with the other. And, just as suddenly, he raised his gun and shot him so fast that the members of the other group couldn't avoid it.

"Oh my God!" Lois screamed in horror.

"We have to do something" Clark said, while preparing himself to go over there.

"Are you crazy?" she asked, pulling him by the arm. "They are all armed!"

Then, the members of both gangs saw Lois and Clark. Deciding to exterminate the witnesses before finishing the confrontation, they walked in their direction raising their guns. As fast as she could, Lois pulled Clark by the hand and ran. The boys ran after them. But Lois and Clark entered into a dead-end alley. And while Clark prepared himself to the worst, Lois found a door.

"Here, Clark!" she said, trying to open it.

With a little gesture, Clark opened the door, and when they were already inside, he pulled a heavy box to block it.

In the alley, both gangs approached the door and one of them just said:

"I don't know about you guys, but I ain't goin' in this place"

"Me neither" another one said.

And all of them went away.

"I think they're gone" Lois said, relieved, while trying to listen through the door.

"I know why--" Clark said, looking at where they were.

"What Smallville?" and Lois saw they were in a room full of boxes. But that was nothing. There was a table piled high with money and five armed men around it, with pistols and machine guns pointed at both of them. And when Lois and Clark raised their hands, all of them unlocked their weapons at the same time.

Just when Clark thought it was too late, and that he would have to cover Lois to protect her from the shots, something happened:

"Wait a minute!" a short man with thinning hair said, emerging from the midst of all those well dressed and armed guys.

Lois and Clark kept their hands raised and the man said, looking at her:

"Are you The Duchess?"

Lois and Clark looked at each other, confused.

"Well, I--" she said, with a nervous smile. She didn't have any idea who was The Duchess, and whether or not it was a good thing to be her under the circunstances.

Clark looked at her, worried, and waited, hoping she didn't say anything inappropriate.

The guy just smiled and gestured to his accomplices to lower their weapons.

"Of course you are!" he said. "I should have known you'd come!" he added. "I'm Vincent"

Confused, Lois accepted the handshake.

"What about him?" Vincent asked about Clark, who probably was more confused than Lois.

"He?" she asked, looking at him too. "Well, he, er--"

"How could I be so stupid?" Vincent asked to himself.

Lois and Clark thought he had discovered they were impostors, but he continued:

"A person like you MUST have a bodyguard! And he sure is the right size for the job!" he smiled, examining Clark.

Lois smiled in return.

"Yeah. He's my bodyguard" she agreed, also perplexed.

"I'm sure he's something else, too!" Vincent smiled suggestively, and his accomplices smiled too. "We know your reputation, Duchess--"

Lois and Clark looked at each other.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!" Vincent said.

While Vincent walked over to the table where the other guys were sitting with their weapons, Clark turned around to examine the door he and Lois had come in. There was no way to get out of here. Lois could be seriously injured and that was a risk he didn't want to take.

"Stay cool, Smallville. I'll get us out of here" Lois whispered.

TBC