Disclaimer: I don't own Superman. Yeah.
A/N: Chapter 4!!! Yay, almost done ;) And sorry for the lack of action so far, but in this chapter things will finally start getting interesting.
As soon as Clark got back from rescuing the hostages, he quickly went into a phone booth and changed back into his Clark Kent clothes. Checking his watch, he realized he was late for the lunch interview.
"Darn it!" he thought to himself as he walked quickly down to First Street, and then into the café where Lois Lane was waiting impatiently for him. Clark quickly walked over to the table, sat down, and then gave a sorry smile to Lois, who was looking at him with frustration in her eyes.
"Clark, you were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago! Where were you?" Lois asked angrily.
Clark grimaced and answered, "I had to be somewhere in lower Metropolis, and it took a little longer than I expected. I'm sorry."
Lois sighed and looked around. "Well, lucky for you because the guy the intern arranged for us to meet isn't here yet."
Clark looked confused. "Intern? But I thought Perry said he would never get another intern."
"Yeah, well, I guess he changed his mind," Lois said, still looking at the door.
Clark thought for a moment. "What was the intern's name, again?"
"Um, I think it was Lana Ruthol or something like that. Nice girl," Lois said, still trying to find a sign of the interviewee.
Suddenly the door to the café opened with a jingle, and in walked a confident man with red hair and a nervous woman with brown, curly hair. She looked around, and then spotted Lois and Clark sitting at the table in the back. She excitedly nudged the man with her elbow and whispered into his ear. He looked over at her with a roll of his eyes and a slight scowl. Then the woman led both of them over to the two reporters.
"Lois Lane! And you must be Clark Kent. I'm, er, Lana Ruthol. And this is the guy I was telling you about, um…"
"I'm Roger Becks," the disguised Lex Luthor said to Clark and Lois. "So, I hear that you want to learn about Lex Luthor?"
Clark peered at the two through his glasses, feeling some familiarity from them but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Lois, ever the dedicated reporter, ignored Clark's stares and got right down to business.
"So, welcome Roger, Lana. Do you want anything to eat or drink before we start this interview?" Lois asked the two inquiringly.
"No thanks. Listen, I have some pictures and documents I left at home which would be absolutely perfect for your article. Do you think maybe we can conduct the interview there, instead?" Lex asked, grinning broadly at the two reporters.
Lois gave a fleeting look to Clark, and then capped her pen. "Sure, Roger. Let's go, Clark."
Clark looked suspiciously at Lex, but then shook his head. "Alright Lois."
"Ms. Lane, Mr. Clark, Ms. Ruthol, follow me to my house. Its not far, we just have to take a short taxi ride."
As Lois and Clark stood up from the table, Clark leaned over to whisper to Lois. "I have a bad feeling about this. I don't think it's a good idea."
Lois just shrugged his comment off. "C'mon, it'll be fine! The worst that will happen is that he turns out to be some attention-seeker, with nothing he can add to our story."
"Sure," Clark thought. As they stepped out onto the curb, Lois desperately tried to flag down a taxi, to no avail. Seeing no other way, Clark whistled- loudly. So loudly that he drew stares from the people eating outside and from Lois, Lex, and Kitty.
"Um, I'm a good whistler," Clark said sheepishly.
Immediately a taxi pulled up to the curb, and the four piled in and headed off to the Luthor mansion, unbeknownst to Lois and Clark.
------
As soon as they arrived at the Luthor mansion, Clark got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach; worse than before. As the four of them were walking up the driveway to the front door, it got worse and worse until he knew something was up. But after a glance over at Lois, seeing her calm and almost happy, he decided that the feelings were nothing; perhaps just some bad eggs he had that morning.
Lex Luthor opened the door and gestured for everyone to go inside. He smiled at Lois, who looked at him odd. "What is there to smile about?" Lois asked herself. But she buried her suspicions and walked in along with Clark and the disguised Kitty.
As soon as all of them entered the foyer, the door closed. Clark looked around for a maid, a butler, anyone who could have closed it, but no one was standing near. Puzzled, he used his x-ray vision to see if there were any mechanics inside the heavy wooden door. To his surprise, a bolt lock was silently locking inside the door, insuring that no one could get in- or out.
Clark took another, closer look at Roger Becks. He seemed familiar- too familiar. But Clark had never met anyone with that mop of red hair on their head.
Suddenly it dawned on him- that so-called Roger was not a red-head at all! Why, without the red hair, he looked exactly like Clark's nemesis- Lex Luthor. And looking him over once more, Clark was able to confirm that it was, in fact, the devious Lex Luthor.
Clark quickly looked at Lois, who was getting out her thick notepad and pen. He leaned down and whispered to her, "Lois, I have a really bad feeling about this guy. Really bad. I think maybe we should go."
Clark was hoping to alert her that the doors were locked, and so she could call the authorities on her cell phone. He didn't want to reveal to her that he was Superman. He wasn't ready for that. But Lois just ignored him and asked, "Roger, so, for my first question about Lex Luthor, where is he now?"
Lex Luthor smiled evilly. "Well, my dear Lois Lane, the award-winning journalist, you obviously aren't that intuitive, because if you were, than you would have realized I already have told you."
Lois looked aghast. "Wh-what? Clark, did you pick up on it?"
Clark looked at Lex with a fire in his eyes. "I didn't realize what you told us until a few minutes ago, after I got a better look at you."
"Wh-what are you talking about Clark?" Lois asked, scared.
"Ah, yes! The 'bodyguard' reporter pay more attention than the award-winner! How funny this is. But, since you're still so much in the dark, Lois, I guess I'll just tell you. You see, Lex Luthor lives in this very house," Lex coolly told Lois.
Lois stepped back in shock, looking wildly between Lex Luthor and Clark. "You-you're Lex Luthor! But I thought you were gone!"
"Finally! Finally you caught on. It took you long enough. Even with Clark there giving you hints- as that's what I suspect you were whispering to her about- and Kitty practically messing up the whole plan! Ruthol, really. Its just a switch between the first and last letters of my name!" Lex exclaimed. He started pacing around the foyer, looking at the two shocked reporters.
"What do you want, Lex?" Clark coldly asked, the Superman side taking hold of him.
"What do I want? I want the world! Everyone should know that by now. But why are you here? Its all part of my plot to kill Superman! And you two walked right into it," Lex said deviously.
"But neither of us is Superman. We don't even know where he is!" Lois exclaimed, looking around for a way out.
"But, my dear, you will help me. You see, I have been studying Superman, looking for his weaknesses. He doesn't have many, you know. One, of course, is kryptonite. But that never seems to work."
"And the other?" Clark asked faintly, knowing exactly what Lex Luthor was going to say.
"The other weakness is standing right in front of me, a Ms. Lois Lane," Lex said, looking at Lois.
"But-but, why? How?" Lois stammered.
"Its simple really. I have studied Superman enough to know that he has a gigantic crush on you. Its quite sweet, actually. But it always seems that whenever you are in trouble, he rescues you. You are the one that sees him the most, you know," Lex calmly explained to Lois.
"But what's that got to do with anything?" Clark asked for Lois, who was looking faint.
"Well, I let Ms. Lane there have one call to whomever she chooses- and it will be Superman. Of course, it could be the authorities but Superman has always picked up on their calls in the past, hasn't he? So Superman comes, and I hide you and Lois- providing you cooperate of course-in a lead-lined room that he cannot see into. Then I propose a trade; your lives for his. Of course he'll accept, and I shall lock him in a chamber filled with kryptonite until the radioactive rock kills him. Comprende?" Lex asked Clark.
Clark nodded, everything making perfect sense. "But what if I don't cooperate?" he asked.
"Why, I shoot you, you die, and it serves quite a lesson to Ms. Lane," Lex said, looking at Kitty. "Kitty, do you have my gun ready?"
Kitty, looking dejected in the corner, looked up. "Why, yes. Its right here," she said, holding up a handgun.
"Excellent," Lex said, and then turned his attention back over to Lois and Clark. "Now, any complaints? No? So follow me. And don't even think about trying to escape. I have this place locked up tighter than Fort Knox."
Lois and Clark looked at each other, and then grudgingly followed Lex Luthor down the hallway into a room- and, as Clark discovered after trying to use his x-ray vision, it was lead-lined.
Clark looked around for any way for them to escape- or even a place where he could disappear for a while so he can change into Superman without his secret identity being discovered. But his frantic search was futile. There was nowhere he could go to be alone. They were trapped.