Part 1

Something wicked this way comes

Metropolis

Luthorcorp Offices

"I'll be there in half an hour," he said into his cellphone before hanging up and continuing where he had previously left off: "As I was saying, Luthorcorp now owns 10 of the largest computer manufacturing companies on the Hong Kong market. Whether that's an illegal monopolist action or simply a good marketing strategy's very much debatable. I think the only reason Mr. Queen is complaining is that he didn't think of it first," Lex Luthor said with a charming smile drawing a smirk from the journalist sitting in front of him in his office, taking an exclusive interview.

"Do you regret never following your political ambitions as opposed to your business ones?" the young woman asked looking up at him over the rim of her glasses.

"I was never one for family feuds," he confessed. "I'm afraid my father would have taken it personally if I went up against senator Kent in an election, considering he's her campaign coordinator and right hand. Plus, I believe I'm a realistic person. After all, what chances would I have against someone who can come back from the dead?"

"Many people believe your reasons for bowing out of the political game early are strictly related to your somewhat tarnished reputation," the reporter replied staring at him intently for a moment. Lex held her gaze firmly before telling her:

"I'd like to think a fine reporter such as yourself, Miss Landry, would know better than to listen to malicious rumors spread by unfriendly competitors."

"On the other hand, Mr. Luthor, there is only so much a person can attribute to 'unfriendly competitors'," she pointed out with a sheepish smile.

"You have quite a sharp tongue, Miss Landry," he noted.

"I doubt you would have agreed to this interview if I didn't," she said with a smug smile.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you then, but I'm afraid that if Chloe Sullivan hadn't called me and made a special request that I see you, you'd still be waiting around in the downstairs lobby with the rest of the vultures," he told her. "She must really see something in you if she went through the trouble of calling me."

"Why? Do you make it difficult for her to reach you?" she offered raising her eyebrows, cursing herself for being arrogant enough to believe that she had been received strictly due to her fast growing notoriety in the journalistic circles.

"No, my secretary has express orders to patch her calls through at any time," he said and stared at her for a moment. She didn't enjoy being out of the loop. It was like hearing a pun without the joke. Lex sighed and leaning a bit forward as if to share a secret, added on a more hushed tone: "You see, every time she has to turn to me for a favor, she's stepping on her pride. And you know how awful that feels to anyone. Especially to someone in her position."

"But she's friends with your wife. Are you implying she's stepping on her pride whenever she sees her?" the young reporter reminded him.

"Of course not," Lex smiled.

"You're making no sense," she let out frustrated.

"Or maybe you still have a thing or two to learn before drawing hasty conclusions," he suggested. The journalist frowned annoyed. Lex looked at her amused. Just as the ever sharp Miss Landry prepared to ask a new question, the voice of Lex's secretary was heard through the intercom:

"Mr. Luthor, you have a visitor that…"

"Carla, my next appointment isn't until 5 PM. Didn't I say I didn't want to be disturbed until then?" Lex asked not taking his eyes off the journalist.

"But Mr. Luthor, she really insists that you see her right away," Carla told him.

"I'm expected downtown in a few minutes. Tell whoever it is to come back later," he said growing impatient. There was a brief pause and Lex was about to continue his conversation with the reporter when Carla's voice returned hesitantly through the intercom:

"She says it's urgent. That you'll regret it if you don't see her now."

"Who is it?" Lex asked sighing amazed at the secretary's incompetence in achieving even the smallest task such as keeping unwanted guests out of his office.

"She says her name is Lois Lane," she announced and Lex's eyes suddenly turned toward the intercom in disbelief.

"What did you say?" he asked thinking he hadn't heard right the first time around.

"Lois Lane," Carla repeated. No, there was no mistake. There it was. After spending years trying to convince her to let him see her, here she was asking to see him. He stood up and looked out the window to hide his agitation.

"I'm sorry, Miss Landry, but the interview's over," he announced, not even glancing back at her. He had lost all interest in her the moment he had heard those two words: Lois Lane.

Downtown

"You're not going to call dad, are you?" Laura asked fidgeting in front of her mother, the adrenaline rush she had gotten from the car ride finally toning down.

"I already have. He should be here any minute," Lana told her on a cross tone. "What have your father and I told you, Laura? Actually, the both of you?" she asked turning toward her eldest daughter as well who was standing awkwardly beside Laura, looking embarrassed in her prep school uniform and her now ruffled light brown hair.

"That we're going to try to keep the Luthor name out of the tabloids for at least a week," Laura and Lily repeated in unison.

"Glad to hear you're setting your goals high," Chloe chuckled from the side. She thought it was tremendously funny as there was no way in hell or heaven that the tabloids would ever go a week without mentioning the Luthors even if they behaved themselves. They were like their all time favorite subject. They had relished in the kinky relationship and extramarital affairs in the early days of the couple, had gone crazy over pregnant pictures of Mrs. Luthor and paid a fine dollar for first baby pictures of the Luthor girls. They had been there when Laura had smoked her first cigarette and ditched her first class, when Lily had won her first prize of excellency and rode her first horse. And of course from extravagant holidays to extreme sports, accidents and dangerous stunts, the tabloids had published them all. They had made of the Luthors Metropolis' own little royal family and there was no way they would let a week pass without reminding the world of it.

"The higher the goals the bigger the expectations," a voice said from behind them.

"Lionel!" she said frowning, turning to face him. "Where's Lex?"

"He couldn't make it, but he sent me instead," he explained briefly as he took in the damage. Then shaking his head he turned toward his youngest granddaughter and said: "Laura, I didn't get you that car so you could try to see if it can go over 300 miles an hour in downtown Metropolis in the middle of the day. I precisely mentioned you should do it in a field. Or the desert."

"I knew letting you buy her a car would somehow come back to haunt me," Lana mused.

"I wanted to, grandpa, honestly, but we only had 10 minutes left before Lily's piano classes started," Laura excused herself.

"Anyone see you were in the car?" Lionel asked inspecting the scene more closely, looking rather amused than actually worried.

"Even if they didn't, the license plate's kind of a giveaway, don't you think?" Chloe intervened pointing toward the license plate that said LL JR2. "I think you guys should really reconsider personalized license plate numbers given your history with cars."

"Well, so much for any potential cover-up," Lionel faked disappointment as if he had noticed Chloe's presence there only then. Lana turned toward her with a worried look on her face as if she had suddenly remembered now that Chloe wasn't just her friend, but also a journalist.

"You're not going to write anything about this, are you?" she asked alarmed.

"Every other paper in the city will," she pointed out. "I'm sorry, Lana, but the Daily Planet not even mentioning it would be a clear indication that I'm favoring you or worse. The most I can do is make sure the story will be brief."

Suddenly, the blinding light of a flash immortalized the car embedded in the wooden bar and the camera soon turned toward the Luthors.

"The vultures are gathering," Lionel noted and taking his granddaughters protectively by the shoulders told them: "Let's go. We can't have them catching you looking all guilty and ashamed. I have a limousine waiting in the back alley. Mommy will take care of the damages." And then turning toward Lana said: "I'll take them home."

"Thank you, Lionel. I'll deal with the sharks and the owner," Lana replied and as Lionel made his way out with the girls through the back door, she turned to Chloe and told her apologetically: "I'm sorry about this. I really wanted us to sit down and just talk for a few hours…"

"It's alright, I understand," Chloe told her with a smile. "Tiny suggestion though: if you want your girls to stay out of trouble, how about taking their cars away for a while? They both seem to have unfortunately inherited the Luthor-Lang speed gene."

"If it were only that easy. Laura takes it like a stubborn five year old and last time we took her car away she hotwired one from her school's parking lot – the principal's car to be more precise – and crashed it into a bridge post," she pointed out.

"I remember," she said. "Third school she got kicked out of, right?"

"I miss the days when she was too young to drive," Lana admitted sighing and seeing the owner of the bar – who had been called in by the staff – coming in, braced herself for an argument. Just as he was nearing her however, her cellphone started ringing. She looked at the caller ID and when she saw it was Lex, she answered it immediately: "Where are you? When I asked you to come here, I wanted you to be here, not Lionel." She paused for a moment as Lex explained something to her. "What?" she asked incredulously. "I'll be right there," she told him and closed her phone.

"Something wrong?" Chloe asked when she saw she was suddenly so agitated.

"No, everything's fine…I just…I have to go," she said in a rushed tone and handing a business card to the owner of the bar told him: "This is the phone number of one of our lawyers, call him and give him a number after you finish the damage estimation. He'll take care of it. And I don't suggest you try to fatten the sum up too much unless you plan on not getting a dime," she added on a warning tone and after bidding Chloe farewell, stormed out of the bar in a hurry. The reporter looked after her curiously. What exactly had happened that had made her leave in such a rush?

Luthorcorp Offices

Lana entered the office without being announced. The secretary knew Mrs. Luthor was allowed to interrupt any meeting and she would have hell to pay if she ever tried to stop her from going into her husband's office. She closed the door behind her and taking a deep breath stared at the woman sitting opposite Lex at his desk. When she heard Lana coming in she had turned her head around.

"So it's true," Lana let out breathlessly staring at the woman amazed. She hadn't aged one day since the last time she had seen her more than 15 years ago.

"Do you really think he'd be joking about something like this?" Lois Lane asked raising her eyebrows in a superior smug way.

"Lois is here to make us an offer," Lex announced and Lana noticed he was not his usual calm self.

"Concerning Alexander?" she instantly assumed.

"Of course," Lois smiled icily. "I'd like you to take my son in. He's going to start attending Met U in a week," she explained. "I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't hear of it. Metropolis is the only place he wants to be. And given the circumstances I thought it was wiser if we did it this way rather than through some pathetic attempts on your part to get closer to him without my knowledge. Not to mention sparing me the financial hassle of supporting him in Metropolis. I think it would be the least you could do."

"I wanted you to hear it too," Lex told Lana. "It isn't just my decision to make."

"There's no decision to make actually," Lana replied. "We'll take him in."

"Excellent," Lois smiled satisfied and stood up. "I'll let him know," she announced and as she headed for the door stopped a few feet away from it and looking at them over her shoulder, told them: "There's one more thing: he doesn't know who his father is and I want it to stay that way."

"But…," Lana wanted to protest, but Lois ignored her:

"That's the only condition I have," she said. "Unless you want me to pull my mommy veto card and force him to choose between me and Metropolis."

"No!" Lex protested. "It's fine. He doesn't have to know."

"Good," Lois smiled and gave them one last look before leaving.

When she was gone, Lana moved behind Lex and put her hands on his shoulders beneath his jacket in a comforting manner.

"Thank you," Lex breathed out leaning into her chest and looking up at her with a relieved smile.

"Will you be able to help it?" she asked referring to Lois' one condition.

"I've helped it for this long," he shrugged lightly.

"I'm sure he's going to figure it out by himself though," Lana said with a reassuring smile squeezing his shoulders gently. After a few moments she added: "Rather pretty though, isn't she? Certainly kept herself well over the years. She doesn't look a day over 22." Lex looked up at her and smiled amused. Lana sighed and leaning down rested her chin against his shoulder as her arms wrapped around his chest. "Guess what Laura and Lily did today?"

The Daily Planet

"I give you this big opportunity to show me what you have, an exclusive interview with Lex Luthor and what do you come back with? Three answered questions and a round of snark," Chloe said frustrated as she looked over Marilyn Landry's notes on her interview with Lex.

"It wasn't my fault, I got ushered out not even half way through it," Marilyn complained. "He had this urgent unscheduled visit. Very important apparently. Some Lois Lane person."

"Who?" Chloe asked her, stopping in her tracks.

"I know," she scoffed. "Exactly what I was thinking too. Maybe she was an old mistress or something although through be told, the way she looked she could very well have been his daughter."

"I'm sorry, did you say Lois Lane?" Chloe asked thinking she must be mistaken.

"Yeah…," she nodded. "I heard the secretary say it twice."

Chloe frowned. Why was Lois going to see Lex after all those years when she had forbidden any contact between him and her and Alexander?

End Part 1