A/N: In this chapter, Chloe's introduced to a very special LuthorCorp facility. (Hint: We've heard the name mentioned on Smallville, but no one's ever shown it. Until now. g)
Chapter Eight
Chloe curled her fingers lovingly around the receiver of her desktop phone as she and Clark made plans for the rest of the day.
His voice was apologetic. "I'm stuck here at the farm this morning, at least for a little while. The paddock fence broke and I have to repair it, um, slowly. It's too close to the main road. But I'll be there as soon as I can, OK?"
Her answer was interrupted by the insistent beeping of the office printer, caused by a Planet staffer who was frantically jabbing its buttons in an effort to get it to work. Chloe grimaced, waiting for the ear-piercing racket to stop. "Sure. I've got piles of obits and wedding notices to edit, and one of the senior reporters wants some background "color" research on the history of City Hall out of our files in the morgue. I'll be busy, trust me."
"Researching musty old paper records? Why not just Google it?" Clark asked. "At least it sounds like an easy morning for you."
Chloe sighed, remembering the long, tedious hours she'd spent online and in the library investigating for Clark. If he ever decided to go into journalism, she resolved to see to it that his editor gave him plenty of back-room research jobs. It was time he learned to appreciate how much work it was.
"Very funny. Not," she retorted dryly, enjoying the sudden picture of Clark's huge frame hunched over an overstuffed file drawer, riffling through yellowed, crumbling piles of newsprint.
"Oh, c'mon. How hard could it be?" At his indulgent chuckle, she smiled sweetly. Make that several file drawers of yellowed, crumbling newsprint.
"Seriously, though, Chlo'," he went on, changing tone, "I'm actually happy to hear you'll be staying at the Planet's offices this morning. I think you'll be safer there. After what we talked about last night, I was afraid you'd take off for LuthorCorp first thing."
"As if Lex would even talk to me," she scoffed. "By now Lana's told him everything she overheard."
There was, she thought with a twinge of guilt, no need to tell him that she'd put a call in to Lex's secretary requesting an interview an hour ago. After all, she knew she'd never get a response.
"Speaking of Lana," Clark replied, "something about last night bothers me. Something that doesn't add up."
A loud crash next to Chloe's desk nearly made her drop the phone. Glancing toward the printer, she saw that the stack of heavy boxes next to it had somehow collapsed, spilling packs of printer paper onto the floor. Behind the pile stood the young intern.
"Sorry, Ms. Lane," he mumbled. "I was in a hurry." Starting to pick up the scattered packages, he added, over his shoulder, "Ms. Kahn said she wanted to see you."
"Uh-oh," Chloe groaned to Clark over the phone. "I was hoping she'd at least give me until this afternoon before chewing me out. Guess I'd better go put my head in the lion's mouth. See you soon."
She set the receiver back on its cradle almost gingerly and got up to leave, reaching for her notepad, but paused as her phone buzzed again. Impatiently, she checked caller ID, then did a double-take.
"LuthorCorp?" Before she had time to recover from her surprise, she'd already grabbed the receiver. "Lois Lane, Daily Planet."
"Good morning, Ms. Lane. I hear you'd like an interview." Hearing Lex's smooth greeting, Chloe fought a surge of excitement. Coming just before what was certain to be an unpleasant session with her editor, this was almost too much good luck.
Almost…..maybe it was too much good luck. Something wasn't right about this.
"Lex?" she asked. "I mean…Mr. Luthor. Why the change of heart? Yesterday you insisted we keep everything secret."
"Call it a 'thank you' for the warning I received last night, concerning Professor Fine." He paused. "Even if I did hear it, shall we say, second-hand. It's good to know that you at least thought about telling me I could be in danger."
Nothing in his tone had changed, but for some reason Chloe felt herself blushing furiously. "Lex, it's only a suspicion. When we met with you yesterday at Cadmus, we honestly didn't even think…."
"I understand. No hard feelings, I assure you. Besides which, I'm intrigued by your theory on the whereabouts of my crystal. I'd be interested in hearing more."
So that was it, she thought. Lana must have overheard Chloe mention that Fine might be hiding the crystal at LuthorCorp.
"I get it. You're dangling this interview as a carrot? To get me to tell you more."
"Put it any way you like, Lois. I'm still offering an interview. Take it or leave it."
Chloe considered this briefly. Even if she couldn't print the truth about Jor-El's crystal, she reflected, information about Cadmus Labs was fair game.
Aloud, she answered, "I'll take it—as long as you're willing to talk on the record about all your research at Cadmus. That's my offer, Lex."
Lex's laughter actually sounded genuine. "I see you've just expanded the scope of our interview. Always the intrepid reporter, aren't you? It's nice to know that some things never change. Alright, yes. I agree."
"There's only one condition, though," he added, as if it were an afterthought. "This time I want you to come alone."
"Why?" she asked, puzzled. "If this isn't confidential, why do you care?"
"I have my reasons. Again—take it or leave it, Lois."
Chloe chewed her lip thoughtfully and pushed aside her misgivings. As reluctant as she was to agree, her job depended on this. "All right. See you at LuthorCorp."
She wondered if she should call Clark, then shook her head regretfully. Clark, she realized uneasily, would tell her this was a bad idea, and she knew he'd be right. But she couldn't let him try to talk her out of going.
Instead, Chloe scribbled something rapidly on her notepad, then scanned the newsroom until she located the young gofer, who was rolling a mail cart between the rows of desks. At her wave, he abandoned the cart and ran across to her desk.
She smiled up at his freckled face. "Would you do me a favor? Please tell Ms. Kahn I've got an interview with Lex Luthor right now, but I'll see her as soon as I get back, OK?"
He nodded. "Oh," she added, "and if Clark Kent drops by, I left him a note on my desk telling him about the interview. Would you give it to him, if you're around?"
The kid glanced at the message. "Sure. No problem."
Chloe, dropping her digital camera into her purse, grinned her thanks at him as she rushed out the door. The boy watched her leave, then looked down again at the note.
……………………
Nothing screamed "Worship me!" quite so loudly as Lionel Luthor's masterpiece, the immense marble-and-glass lobby of LuthorCorp Tower, Chloe thought looking around her.
But, as she took in the vast shining expanse, decorated with gardens, Chinese sculpture, and waterfalls, she felt none of the awe she'd experienced in Jor-El's icy fortress. This oversized space, however impressive, wasn't a place made by giants; it was just a large room, made by a human who wished he was a giant. And now it was owned by his son.
"Is Lex Luthor in?" she asked the security guard, leaning across the polished surface of the black-marble reception console to flash her press pass. "Lois Lane of the Daily Planet. I have an appointment."
The bored guard barely glanced at her before scrolling down a list of names on the screen set into the desk surface. "You're a few minutes early, Ms. Lane. Let me call up…."
"That won't be necessary," a familiar voice cut in smoothly, and the guard's sleepy eyes snapped wide open. Whirling around, Chloe saw the head of LuthorCorp himself striding towards her, his long black coat billowing out in his wake like the wings of some large bird of prey. As he approached, he extended a hand and greeted her in a mild voice. "Welcome to my headquarters, Lois. It's your first visit here, isn't it?"
His attitude radiated sincerity, which instantly put Chloe on her guard. From what she'd seen, the Luthor family had bred "sincerity" out of their collective DNA well before the time Lionel was born.
"Lex," she returned cordially, shaking the offered hand. "I appreciate your time."
He smiled, shrugging slightly, but Chloe noticed that his lips were pressed together tightly, and that his jaw seemed tense. "As I've repeatedly assured your editor, LuthorCorp is always happy to make time for the press."
Lex gestured towards a shadowed passage leading off the main lobby, apart from the main bank of elevators. "Please."
Pushing aside her misgivings, she followed him around a corner past another security guard, to a small alcove where a single elevator waited. Lex hit the button, and the doors slid open.
Chloe eyed the guard appraisingly. "I'll say one thing: Your offices here are definitely a lot more secure than your mansion in Smallville."
He shot her a look. "For good reason. As you're about to see." Still smiling, he waved her into the small car. She noticed that the sole button on the elevator's control panel was, strangely, unmarked.
To her surprise, instead of pushing the button, Lex slid a small badge from his coat pocket and pressed it against the control panel. Flashing red numbers raced across a screen which had, seemingly, appeared out of nowhere. A mechanized voice from concealed speakers made Chloe jump.
"Voice recognition. Password?"
"Lex Luthor, password 'Julian,'" Lex intoned.
"Voice ID complete," droned the tinny voice, and the flashing numbers swirled from red to green, reshaping into a single set of digits:
"33.1"
Chloe eyed the display nervously. "Isn't this a little over the top, Lex? Even for you?"
The cool gray stare from her companion did nothing to reassure her. Sounding almost regretful, he replied, "It's necessary, I'm afraid." His gaze held hers. "I wish you weren't involved in this. Please believe that."
Chloe fought back the beginnings of panic. "Lex, what's going on?"
He looked away as the doors slid open. "You're interested in that crystal, aren't you? I'm taking you to it, Lois."
The revelation that Lex was involved in the theft of the crystal left her speechless. Fearfully, she glanced beyond the doors. What she saw made her gasp in stunned disbelief.
Outside the elevator, a central hall soared to impossible heights, ringed with multiple galleries, each one at least a full story tall. Banks of escalators silently ran between each of the levels. Here and there, men and women in white lab coats appeared out of doorways and rode up or down to another gallery. The lighting was soft, indirect, and completely artificial; there were no windows.
"What is this place?" she breathed, as Lex led her out of the elevator into the main hall. Tilting her head back, she squinted into the darkness, looking for some sign of a ceiling, but the galleries seemed to stretch up forever.
Lex's voice held a touch of pride. "Welcome to Level 33.1, my newest research facility," he remarked. "And congratulations. You're one of the few outsiders to visit us."
"But how," Chloe gulped and tried again, "How…."
"When I took over LuthorCorp, I made a few special modifications to the Tower," he said, answering her unspoken question. "Let's just say that all of this appears, from the outside, to be nothing more exceptional than any of the other 81 floors in this building."
"Hasn't anyone noticed that, like, like…ten floors are missing from your building?" she stammered.
"Fifteen. But they're not missing, Lois. There are actually two public elevators with these floors marked as "LuthorCorp Administrative Services" and "Luthor General Insurance Division." Of course, they're both rather—inactive—groups, but if anyone should be curious enough to visit them, all they have to do is push the appropriate floor, and they'll be taken to a very convincing-looking suite of offices." He smiled faintly. "Also, those two elevators seem to be under repair quite often."
"Uh-huh," Chloe said, still staring upward, wishing she could think of something better to say. Unlike the lobby, thirty-three (or more?) floors below, this hidden city was awe-inspiring. For sheer impressiveness, it didn't quite measure up to the ice palace built by Clark's biological father, but, Chloe had to admit, it came close.
She followed Lex further out onto the plushly carpeted floor of the main hall. Tall mahogany bookcases lined the high walls on one side; the other was dominated by a gigantic video display, in front of which milled a few more white-coated staffers. In between, a set of wood-paneled doors stood firmly shut.
As she stared at the video display, her eyes widened further at the ten-foot close-up of a small girl piecing together a jigsaw at a table in a bare white room. Next to her, on screen, sat an older woman, who was smiling and nodding approval. A cluster of staffers seated at a nearby console studied the display and made notes.
Chloe's mouth dropped open again. "That's Emily Dinsmore!" she exclaimed.
Lex glanced at the display. "Emily Dinsmore version 3.0, if I'm not mistaken," he corrected casually. He turned to Chloe, who had, by now, managed to regain her self-control. "My father's initial research was very promising. I didn't want it to go to waste. And, since then, as you can see," he continued, his eyes sweeping the hall, "I've built on it considerably."
She regarded Lex with horror. "You're doing secret research on clones?"
He shrugged. "Among other things. This facility is dedicated to exploring human capabilities in every way possible."
A slim man about Chloe's age detached himself from the group in front of the display and sauntered towards them. She gave a little start of recognition.
"Mikhail Mxyz……whatever."
"Mxyzptlk, my dear," he corrected in thickly accented English. "Long time, no see."
Chloe bristled. "Not long enough. Last time we met, you were holding a knife to my throat. That is, before your arrest." She scanned the hall. "So you traded one kind of jail for another."
He burst out laughing. "'Jail?' Not exactly." He turned to Lex. "Molly Griggs was looking for you. I'm going to the gym for a while. Oh, and…." he added, leering at Chloe, "thanks, Lex, for hiring the new barista. She's very, very good. And her coffee's OK, too." He glided off towards an escalator.
Chloe took a deep breath. "OK, Lex. You said you were taking me to see the crystal. Where is it? And why on Earth did you fake a robbery?"
In the soft light, it was hard to see his shadowed face. "You'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, feel free to walk around. I'll be right back." Without waiting for a reply, he strode to the double doors, disappearing quickly as they closed after him.
A quick check of the elevator behind her confirmed what she already suspected; the "Down" button was disabled. In spite of her growing misgivings, she reached instinctively for her camera and began clicking in every direction.
A lighted alcove to one side of the double doors caught her eye. Moving closer, she saw that it contained a bronze bust of a strikingly handsome woman with flowing hair. Underneath, on a matching bronze plaque, an inscription read: "This facility is dedicated to the memory of LILLIAN LUTHOR. 1956-1992. In hope that others like her may be saved."
She was adjusting her camera settings when the double doors swung open. Focusing on the sculpture, she barely heard them.
"Ms. Lane?" It wasn't Lex's voice. Chloe snapped her picture, looked up, and froze.
Professor Fine—or the artificial construct that called itself Professor Fine—loomed over her, a small smirk on his face. Lex stood behind him, hands folded, eyes down.
"It's time we had a little talk, don't you think?"
TBC….
