Clark clutched at his chest as the weapon hit it, gasped for breath, groaned a few times, and burst out laughing. "Come on," he chided the nervous drug dealer, who had taken a tentative step towards escape, "You really think that once you were out of bullets, like throwing the gun at me was going to do anything? Get real." The dealer seemed slightly relieved when the police arrived, mid-lecture.
He was watching the time, though, since he'd talked Bruce and Diana into letting him follow them that night when they rescued Lex from the secluded house in the woods upstate. If only Gotham City had the various business clocks or the big clock tower up and running, he wouldn't have had to wear a wristwatch, which even he, with his far less fussy dress sense, knew was spoiling his whole superhero look. But, unlike some, no, make that all, Luthors he knew, he wasn't going to let that get to him.
The League hadn't let him get really involved in finding the house and making sure that Lex was held there, getting into various architects' offices and copying the blueprints, and making all the bribes they needed for the rest. That he could deal with, since he figured that their father would have everybody on watch for him specifically and probably have everything laced with lead and meteorites. But when it came to the actual rescue, when they'd decided that two people would be best and that Bruce and Diana would be the best team, since he had all his bat toys and her lasso could make people tell the truth, just in case Lex was hidden some place inside that they couldn't find themselves, he'd insisted that he keep the rear guard. After one meaningful exchange of stares, which Clark had ended with his "I can break your resistance again" smirk, Bruce had agreed.
He circled the city to kill time. He had to admit that Lionel was really getting everything rebuilt and things were a lot closer to being orderly than he'd imagined they would be at this time. Sometimes he was uneasy about just what Lionel wanted to accomplish with all this, other times he figured that it was all about Lionel's drive for vicarious immortality. Weird, when you thought about it, that Lionel had established all kinds of things with the Luthor name all over them, the corporation, the stadium, the foundation, the opera house, all that, and now he probably had a decent chance of being immortal, what with being able to rejuvenate himself, but the history books wouldn't recognize, probably, that he was the first human to really be immortal. Weird.
What hit Clark as even weirder was that his father had actually been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for rebuilding Gotham City. Had they ever seen Lionel in the middle of a burst of fury?
He checked his wristwatch again and flew back to Bat Central HQ. He didn't want to be late for this, though certainly he could catch up to them on the road if he had to. He just didn't want them to tell Lex that he was late, because then he'd never hear the end of it.
With any luck, Bruce and Diana would burst in while Lex was eating, and there'd be a big food-splat. Then he'd get to make sure that Lex never heard the end of it.
***
The problem with waiting in the Batmobile was that there wasn't a radio, Clark decided. The ride up had been okay, but once they'd gotten to a certain distance, they'd parked and Clark had to wait. He'd already played with as many of the controls as Bruce hadn't specifically disabled, based on earlier experiences with Clark and the car.
The time wasn't so much dragging as freezing. He'd actually been disappointed when the sun set, because that meant he couldn't pass the time in another thrilling round of "count the squirrels." What, had Lex said that he wasn't leaving without changing his clothes and brushing his teeth?
One of the things that had told them that they'd found the right place was the way that there was so much lead in the glass and walls, and so he couldn't even try to fly up and see if he could see if anything was happening from a distance.
Bruce and Diana hadn't forgotten where they were parked, had they? Maybe he'd better just stroll a bit closer, not close enough to be detected, of course, and see if he could tell what was going on.
He was watching the time, though, since he'd talked Bruce and Diana into letting him follow them that night when they rescued Lex from the secluded house in the woods upstate. If only Gotham City had the various business clocks or the big clock tower up and running, he wouldn't have had to wear a wristwatch, which even he, with his far less fussy dress sense, knew was spoiling his whole superhero look. But, unlike some, no, make that all, Luthors he knew, he wasn't going to let that get to him.
The League hadn't let him get really involved in finding the house and making sure that Lex was held there, getting into various architects' offices and copying the blueprints, and making all the bribes they needed for the rest. That he could deal with, since he figured that their father would have everybody on watch for him specifically and probably have everything laced with lead and meteorites. But when it came to the actual rescue, when they'd decided that two people would be best and that Bruce and Diana would be the best team, since he had all his bat toys and her lasso could make people tell the truth, just in case Lex was hidden some place inside that they couldn't find themselves, he'd insisted that he keep the rear guard. After one meaningful exchange of stares, which Clark had ended with his "I can break your resistance again" smirk, Bruce had agreed.
He circled the city to kill time. He had to admit that Lionel was really getting everything rebuilt and things were a lot closer to being orderly than he'd imagined they would be at this time. Sometimes he was uneasy about just what Lionel wanted to accomplish with all this, other times he figured that it was all about Lionel's drive for vicarious immortality. Weird, when you thought about it, that Lionel had established all kinds of things with the Luthor name all over them, the corporation, the stadium, the foundation, the opera house, all that, and now he probably had a decent chance of being immortal, what with being able to rejuvenate himself, but the history books wouldn't recognize, probably, that he was the first human to really be immortal. Weird.
What hit Clark as even weirder was that his father had actually been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for rebuilding Gotham City. Had they ever seen Lionel in the middle of a burst of fury?
He checked his wristwatch again and flew back to Bat Central HQ. He didn't want to be late for this, though certainly he could catch up to them on the road if he had to. He just didn't want them to tell Lex that he was late, because then he'd never hear the end of it.
With any luck, Bruce and Diana would burst in while Lex was eating, and there'd be a big food-splat. Then he'd get to make sure that Lex never heard the end of it.
***
The problem with waiting in the Batmobile was that there wasn't a radio, Clark decided. The ride up had been okay, but once they'd gotten to a certain distance, they'd parked and Clark had to wait. He'd already played with as many of the controls as Bruce hadn't specifically disabled, based on earlier experiences with Clark and the car.
The time wasn't so much dragging as freezing. He'd actually been disappointed when the sun set, because that meant he couldn't pass the time in another thrilling round of "count the squirrels." What, had Lex said that he wasn't leaving without changing his clothes and brushing his teeth?
One of the things that had told them that they'd found the right place was the way that there was so much lead in the glass and walls, and so he couldn't even try to fly up and see if he could see if anything was happening from a distance.
Bruce and Diana hadn't forgotten where they were parked, had they? Maybe he'd better just stroll a bit closer, not close enough to be detected, of course, and see if he could tell what was going on.