Chapter Four
After Tess Carmichael's first few weeks in Metropolis she finally felt like she was developing an understanding of whom the players in this game were.
Gazing out across the Metropolis skyline to an expanse of smaller buildings and the river to the west, the giant globe of the Daily Planet building below and to the east, effectively standing across the street from the LuthorCorp Tower. It wasn't New York, but this city wasn't as bad as she'd imagined either.
Like Lionel and Lex Luthor before her, she could sense a lot of potential in this city.
Chief among her many new tasks would be how to manoeuvre these new players she'd been discovering into positions where she wanted them. If that meant arguing with the LuthorCorp Board of Directors over details, so be it.
"Tess, you can't be serious," Board member, Fred Bentley argued.
Bentley had had a seat on the board for more than fifteen years, serving as a loyal supporter of Lionel Luthor in his pomp, before switching alliances to the younger Luthor when it became clear who was really leading the company forward into the new millennium.
"Lex would never stand for this," Fred ranted on, his double chins jiggling in annoyance. "Lex, made it quite clear that this was a long-term investment acquisition."
"Selling now would be a betrayal," another board member huffed.
Tess moved to stand at the head of the large Walnut wood veneer executive conference table.
"Gentlemen," Tess began calmly, adjusting her perfectly coiffed and curled black hair before leaning forward to rest her palms flat against the table's rich Chestnut finish, her highly manicured nails reflecting off of the highly polished surface.
"I know what Lex Luthor expects of me in this role," she said, making slow but piercing eye contact with each member of the board. When she was sure she had their undivided attention she continued.
"Lex appointed me as your acting CEO in his absence, and I take his act of trust in me very, very seriously. However the terms of my renegotiated contract with this organisation are very clear: I have complete autonomy in the running of LexCorp and LuthorCorp International." Tess paused for a moment, allowing the meaning behind her words to ripple around the room.
"In decisions such as this, I'd prefer your support of course, but gentlemen, let me remind you that I don't need it and I don't have to answer to any of you. So, by close of business today Stern Enterprises will become the legal owners of the Daily Planet newspaper and its various periodicals. The deal is effectively done.
"Now, was there any other business?"
-8-
Lois Lane sat at her desk at the Daily Planet scribbling rough notes on story ideas she wanted to follow up on. As she reviewed her note pad she crossed off Franklin Stern, new owner of the Daily Planet.
After she'd got wind of the DP's impending sale she'd immediately investigated the perspective new owner's background, interviewing, under the pretence of a biographical article, a number of Stern Enterprise employees, past and present, as well as a number of former and current business associates.
Stern wasn't as pure as the driven snow by any means, after all business is business, but Lois was satisfied that Franklin Stern, wealthy philanthropist and publisher, had integrity and valued honesty. And judging by the appointment of the respected journalist, Perry White, as the paper's new Editor in Chief, Stern wasn't going to be taking a hands-on approach to reporting the news, the way Lex had.
Things were looking up.
Returning to her list Lois drew a line under the name Tess Carmichael. Since Lex Luthor's abrupt and mysterious disappearance from public life over a month ago Tess had emerged in his stead, running the company as its acting CEO with the apparent full backing of the LuthorCorp board. Try as she might though, Lois could find nothing damning on Tess, no nefarious links to Lex's many dubious meta-human projects, no accusations of blackmail, extortion or any other kind of wrongdoing. Yet.
Carmichael's bio read like a poster child for everything the NAACP stood for. Born in 1972 and raised in an affluent black suburb in Chicago, Illinois, Tess had graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law School with degrees in Business and Law.
She then spent the next several years establishing a reputation for making profits and turning around failing businesses as a financial consultant and analyst at various international finance companies.
In the wake of Lionel Luthor's failed takeover bid for the Asian based Apex consortium and his subsequent arrest and conviction for the double murder of his parents in 2004, Lex Luthor had worked relentlessly for months to hire Tess. Her impressive reputation was just what LuthorCorp needed to improve the slumping business profile of the organization.
Eventually convinced that Lex could offer her a challenge she'd enjoy, she was appointed to the newly created position of LuthorCorp's Director of International Operations, working out of LuthorCorp's New York offices.
She had been serving the company with distinction ever since.
Lois couldn't believe that Lex--that anally retentive, power hungry bald bastard--would allow the future dealings of his company to fall into the hands of a mere employee, no matter their capability or reputation, which was without question, Lois conceded, but something was definitely off about the whole scenario.
"Hey, Lois," a deep, friendly voice offered in greeting.
Lois glanced up at the familiar voice and found Clark grinning back at her from his seat at the desk opposite her own.
"Smallville, hey," she breathed, her voice unable to hide her surprise at his presence. "Where the hell have you been, Clark? I was practically on the verge of calling your mother."
"Yeah, sorry about that," he responded, his smile sobering.
"Well?" Lois demanded crossing her arms against her chest and sliding her chair back a bit to study Clark closely.
She hadn't seen him in nearly three weeks, not since they'd packed off Chloe to Star City in California, where Oliver Queen, working anonymously through a team of lawyers had effectively won Chloe a reprieve from the DDS and secured her freedom. However, knowing that she would remain on the DDS' radar for the foreseeable future, Queen had hatched an audacious plan to have Chloe "disappear," and then for her to re-emerge in Star City with a new identity and a new personal history.
Difficult though it was to take, Oliver had argued successfully that this was the only way to truly keep Chloe safe and permanently off the DDS' most watched list. This also meant that she would also have to cut her previous links to Smallville and Metropolis, including that of all her friends and family.
Gabe Sullivan, Jimmy Olsen and Lois took the news the hardest, but a resilient Chloe seemed to have no problem dealing with their final separation.
"You know that Kara hasn't been too well recently so I thought I'd go check on her in Minnesota."
Lois raised a sceptical eyebrow. "So what, you can't call or send emails from Minnesota? Come on, Clark. You didn't even respond to one of my messages. I thought maybe a cow or something had trampled you. I mean, what about the farm?"
Clark ran a large hand through his hair and sighed. Lois watched him, as he appeared to struggle with answers.
"I don't need full disclosure, Smallville. I was just worried about you is all. Chloe … not being around has affected us all I guess," she finished sympathetically.
"Yeah," he said slowly. "But I didn't mean to make you worry, Lois. I'm sorry. I just needed to work through some stuff on my own," Clark continued sincerely. "Minnesota's a good place to do that I guess," he shrugged apologetically.
Lois nodded in appeasement. She wasn't entirely satisfied with his answer, but she wasn't going to push him for more details either. He'd open up and tell her more when he was ready, he usually did.
"So, how is Kara?" Lois asked changing the subject to a much brighter topic, she hoped.
"Kara's good, she sends her best. She'll be starting college this fall at Lawrence Tech, in Michigan," Clark answered proudly.
"Great! What's she studying?"
"Engineering Technology."
"Hey, heads up, people!" a voice called out to the basement staff. "The new editor," the same voice went onto whisper conspiratorially.
All heads and eyes swivelled towards the staircase as the new Editor in Chief of the Daily Planet came down the final stair and began moving slowly among the basement staff. The gruff looking man, who appeared to be in his early fifties, would stop here and there exchanging words and smiling with some of the staff.
"That's Perry White, our new editor," Lois explained quietly to Clark as they watched Perry engage with the troops. "I did a little checking; he has a pretty impressive resume, despite spending a few years on the sauce not too long ago."
"Oh, yeah?" Clark responded behind a slightly knowing smile.
Lois and Clark watched with interest as the new editor directed his attention towards them. The pull of Perry's serious gaze got Lois moving to her feet and she stepped around her desk to stand with Clark, who'd already rolled his chair around to stand and face the Planet's latest editor.
"I've read your work, Lane," Perry announced, nodding his head briefly in her direction as he drew to a stop before them. "Some of what you've written here, and at The Inquisitor; I liked it. You've got balls, kid. Keep it up."
"Thanks, Chief," Lois beamed proudly.
"Don't call me, Chief, kid," Perry admonished, brandishing a warning finger in her direction. "Kent," the older man continued, clapping Clark on the shoulder with a brawny hand. "I'm giving you a chance here, because you asked and I owed you."
Lois' eyebrows shot up and her face became twisted in confusion, at Clark and Perry's unexpected exchange.
"But this is it," Perry continued to lecture Clark. "The rest is up to you. If you can't hack it, I've got a hundred snot-nosed journalism majors more than ready to grab their chance at an internship."
"You won't regret giving me this opportunity, Mr. White."
"We'll see, Kent, we'll see. Lane," the new editor raised a meaty finger in Lois's direction. "I want you to help Kent get his feet wet, understand? He'll need someone around him with street smarts and tenacity--from what I've heard; he'll get plenty of that from you," he instructed.
"And this goes for all of you," Perry bellowed, turning towards the sea of expectant faces as he raised his powerful voice among them. "There'll be no free rides for anyone from now on and no slacking! We report the news, news verified by facts, people! Gossip will stay where it belongs; in the tabloids section, and will not, I repeat, will not be my front-page lead. Ever! Is that understood?"
Heads bobbed in understanding around the basement.
"Good. Now, stop standing around and get back to work!" he barked before marching back up the stairs while the basement newsroom returned to its usual clamour.
A stunned Lois turned to a still grinning Clark.
"You applied for the internship?"
Clark nodded, smiling.
"And Perry White owed you a favour?" she questioned incredulously.
His grin getting wider, Clark simply nodded again.
Lois continued to gawk at her friend, her voice getting a little higher than usual with each question. It was as if a key was being turned in a lock as she finally realised what she had just witnessed.
"You work here now?" she breathed out, as if she was asking herself to clarify the situation.
"When I read about the change of ownership a couple of weeks ago, I figured sending in that application wouldn't hurt, plus …"
"Perry White owed you a favour," Lois finished for him, chuckling with amusement. "Smallville," she grinned proudly, jumping off the desk to thump him on the arm. "You work here," she said again through a happy smile.
"I was hoping you'd be pleased about it," he smiled back.
"How do you even know Perry White? You know what, scratch that; it's about time you got off your ass," Lois declared, retaking her seat. "But just remember, you're not working with me, you are working for me. I call the shots, I ask the questions. You are low man--I am top banana and that's the way I like it, comprende?"
Clark smirked back across the desk. "Sure, Lois. You like to be on top. Got it."
Lois snorted. "Don't push me, Kent, you are way out of your league."
Things were definitely looking up.
… to be continued …
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