Chapter 22
Lex Luthor finished leading Harold Saxon on a tour of the new LexCorp II building since Queen Industries has purchased the old LexCorp building. He led the strange alien into a room where the floor, walls, and ceiling were all the same starling white. In the center of the room was a large, comfy, leather chair surrounded by monitors. "Here is your guest suite where you will be able to watch the multiple operations in progress from the operatives' camera," Lex told the Master. He motioned to the chair and said, "I'm sure you find the chair very comfortable and there is a menu with a list of refreshments."
The Master sat in the chair and bounced up and down a few times on the overstuffed cushion. He noticed Lex had walked out of the room and was watching him from the doorway. He sighed and said, "It is really is pretty Lex, but a prison cell is still a prison cell. All though the chair, TV screens, and room service are a nice touch. I do wonder how you plan on keeping me in here knowing I can just blast my way through a wall with an electric bolt."
Lex smiled as he shut the door and a recorded image of him appeared on all of the screens. "I knew you would ask that question Mr. Saxon. Our minds work so much alike. The reason you can't escape comes from something I remembered from an intro to engineering class I took. You see, inside the walls, ceiling, floors, and even that door is a simple copper mesh. Any kind of EM transmission that you throw will be absorbed and spread out harmlessly across the entire room," the video said.
The Master applauded. "Oh bravo, Lex, bravo! You built me a Faraday cage," he said to the screen.
"You are inside a giant Faraday cage," the image of Lex Luthor said.
"Yeah, I know. I already said that," the Master said, beginning to get annoyed.
"Now that you have given me the information I need to stop the alien invasion that begins with Clark, I no longer have a use for you…at the moment," Lex added after a brief pause. "We will keep you alive and in comfort for now. I hope you will take the use of the screens and watch as I put an end to Clark and capture this Mr. Harkness. I'm sure my labs will find why you are so interested in him and when they do, they will use that information for my benefit. Oh and if you are getting any ideas about the cables, they have breakers that will trip and sound an alarm, so don't try anything," Lex advised.
The Master smiled to himself as he ordered several pounds of ribs and a bucket of hot wings with the remote. "Poor, poor Lex. I knew you were going to betray me. I would have been disappointed in you if you hadn't, but to do so this early in the game dooms this enterprise to failure," the Master thought. "Why do you think I never told you why I was interested in Jack? Hum? I hope you learn patience and how to maneuver your nemesis into being your backup plan out of all this." A concealed panel on the floor opened and a table rose up next to his chair carrying his snacks. He began munching while he watched several groups of armed men get into position on the multiple screens. One group looked like they were next to a bank. Another group was near a mall and had what looked like explosives. A third group had a creature wearing mechanic overalls on leash and a large metal collar in the back of a van. The fourth was simply waiting inside their van.
Oliver Queen, CEO of Queen Industries and costumed super hero, perched on the ledge of the skyscraper waiting for action. His partner for the evening was casually leaning against the building as if the thought of plummeting 50 stories to his death was nothing more than an inconvenience. Oliver glanced over at the ground far below. "Funny thing is, if Jack did slip and fall, he would definitely die, but then after a few minutes he would get back up and either bitch about having to clean his coat or flirt with the cop who showed up at the scene," he thought. "At least he's got some entertaining stories to pass the time." Oliver looked over at his new friend. "Hey Jack, you never finished got to finish your story before we stopped those gang members in that alley," he said.
"Oh yeah. So anyway, I thought I had finally got my vortex manipulator working and set it to find the Doctor," Jack said. "I activated it and the next thing I knew I was standing in front of this tall guy with bushy hair and a rubbish long scarf. He just stands there and points at me with his really long finger while his female friend stood there with her mouth hanging open," he said. Jack chuckled to himself before he went on. "They were really shocked. I just figured they had never seen a man just appear out of nowhere before. I was wrong. The tall guy says to me, 'Excuse me, but you're not wearing any pants.'" Jack said imitating a British accent. Jack went on with his story, "I told him that sometimes happens during vortex transport. The woman was still staring with her mouth open." "'You're also not wearing any underwear,' he told me,"Jack said, again imitating a British accent. "I said that happens all the time and winked at them. He looked at my wrist and muttered something about bloody time agents and whipped out his sonic screwdriver. Before I could say anything, he blasted my manipulator. After that I rematerialized inside Torchwood (with my pants back on by the way.) My vortex manipulator's time travel function was permanently fried," Jack said shaking his head. "At least now I know why from the moment I first met the Doctor, the first thing he always did when I entered a room was look below my waist. I always thought he was checking me out. It turns out he was just making sure I was wearing pants unlike the first time he met me," Jack explained.
Oliver laughed. "So you spent over a century trying to find this guy and when you do, you end up flashing one of his earlier regenerations?" Oliver said. He reached over and lightly punched Jack in the leg. "That's priceless!" he snickered. "That had to have gone down in the time traveler's most embarrassing moments top 10 list," Oliver teased.
Jack looked shocked. "Not even close. Did I ever tell you about the time John and I did a con on a Royal Family and it was John's turn to seduce the Princess?" Jack asked. Oliver couldn't keep the smile from his face as he shook his head. "When we arrived, we were really drunk and split up to do our parts of the con. Turns out John read the briefing wrong and ended up having a week long affair with the Princess' prize poodle," Jack said.
Oliver turned a shade similar to his uniform. "That's wrong, that's really wrong," he managed to say. Oliver was saved from further descriptions of John's florid affair with a quadruped by Chloe contacting them on their earpieces.
"Captain...Green Arrow, are you guys there?" Chloe asked.
"Go ahead, Watchtower," Jack said.
"There is a bank robbery in progress at 5th and Main. The security video looks like 5 guys with sub-machine guns," Chloe said.
"We read you Watchtower, we're on our way," Oliver said as he stood up.
"Wait guys, there's more. We also have a disturbance near the Watchtower itself. Police radio says some guy wearing a Halloween mask and blue overalls is tearing up a store just a couple blocks away. Captain, that sounds like a weevil, but I thought they were only near the Rift?" Chloe said.
Jack frowned in thought. "Shit! All right we'll split up. Arrow will take care of the robbery and I'll go investigate the other disturbance. Watchtower, send Cyborg to back Arrow just in case things get dicey. Let Torchwood know about my gig in case it really is a weevil and let them know that I'm handling it so that they don't send some UNIT rookie in to get slaughtered," Jack said. He turned and walked along the ledge to the open window they had come in.
"Jack, what's a weevil?" Oliver asked seeing the concern in Jack's face.
"I'll explain later. I need to hurry," Jack said as he quickened his pace. Jack patted the second holster he now wore that carried a blaster identical to the ones John always had with him. It had been a welcome home present from John. He hoped he wouldn't have to use it.
Lois and Clark were settling into a nice dinner at the apartment above the Talon on the second official night of them being a couple when Clark's cell-phone rang. It was the special ringer for when Chloe called in on the Watchtower's phone line. "I'm sorry, Lois, but I have to take this. It's Chloe and something really big must be going on for them to bother me on my weekend off," he apologized.
Lois smiled at him and draped her arms around his large shoulders. She gave him a peck on the cheek. "I knew what I was signing up for when I agreed to be your girlfriend, Smallville. Answer the phone already," she told him.
Clark smiled at her and answered the phone, "Boy-Scout here, go ahead Watchtower."
Lois rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh at his call sign. "At least Jimmy and I came up with the Blur. That sounds a little better, but it still needs work," Lois thought. She watched Clark's handsome face lose all signs of the happiness it had just a moment ago and was replaced by anger.
"I'm on my way, Watchtower," Clark said as he hung up his phone. "Lois, there are terrorists with explosives at the new Metropolis Great Mall. The place is full of people. Oliver and Victor are taking care of a bank robbery and Jack is investigating a rampaging creature that might be an alien near the Watchtower building. I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can," he told her.
"Go! Get out of here! I'll still be madly in love with you and wanting to jump your bones when you get back, so shoo!" Lois said. Clark smiled and super sped out of the apartment. Lois ran to the bedroom to get dressed. She was torn between which story to go after. "Robberies are a dime a dozen, so terrorists at the mall or crazed alien creature? Which one Lane? Which one?" she asked herself as she changed into a pair of jeans, a red button down blouse, and a brown suede jacket. "I'll figure it out on the way into town," Lois told herself as she grabbed her keys and raced for the front door. She threw it open and found a man dressed in black combat fatigues waiting for her with a pistol already raised. Lois heard the pffft of compressed air as the dart gun fired and then felt the sting as the dart buried itself into her left shoulder. "Shit," she said as she slid to the ground.
Chloe scanned through the Police bands and switched between different security feeds. The creature had disappeared momentarily. She had been around Smallville, Ks long enough to know that the odds of the monster actually just going away were slim to none. The perimeter alarm to the building sounded to let her know a side door had been breached. She was about to investigate it when it Lana Luthor's terrorized and out of breath voice came over the intercom from the lobby. "Chloe, Chloe, oh please god, be there. Chloe!" Lana yelled.
As much as she disliked the woman Lana had become, she was her friend once and she sounded like she was in mortal peril. "What's wrong, Lana?" Chloe asked as she keyed the intercom button.
"You have to help me. There's this monster chasing me and I think it followed me to your building. It was wearing mechanics overalls, but it wasn't human," Lana sobbed.
"Hold on, Lana. I've already sent for help. I'm coming down to the lobby to get you. Stay right there," Chloe said as she grabbed a Tazer from a desk drawer. She ran to the elevator and slammed the lobby button. Chloe didn't see Lana's smug smile on the interior security camera.
Jack saw the weevil tear open the side door to the Watchtower building. He ran after it and followed it inside. From the back he had to admit that even he couldn't distinguish one weevil from another since they all wore identical jumpsuits. The coveralls weren't just similar; they were identical down to a molecular level. They even all had the same piece of hard candy he had left in the pocket when he had given the original to the weevil he named "Janet". She had preferred the monkey flavored ones over the dog, so he had left her an extra when he had set her loose the first time. His Torchwood crew had steadfastly refused to ask him where he had picked up the odd flavored candies. They were dumbfounded the next night when all of the weevil sightings had the weevils wearing clothes. The two they captured were Janet (the second in her long list of captures) and a different one, but both were wearing the SAME overalls. The team never did figure out who or what was duplicating the suits.
Jack watched the lumbering frame make its way into the lobby where it stopped in the middle and turned around, sniffing the air. It let out its eerie howl and turned suddenly to face the hallway where Jack was standing. It crouched lower and swayed side to side. "Janet?" Jack asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked. Jack looked at what he had come to think of as the closest thing the humans and weevils had to an ambassador. He saw the large silver collar around "her" neck. "What is that around your neck?"
"A dual purpose tracking device and shock / restraint collar," Lana Luthor said as she emerged from behind one of pillars. "We found this thin on its way into Kansas last week and decided to see if it could be of any use. 'Janet?' I guess your taste in girlfriends hasn't improved much has it, Jack Harkness?" she asked him. Before Jack could get a word in Lana motioned with her hand and a thug stepped out as well holding Chloe in one hand and a gun pointed to her head with the other. "Before you start threatening me again, I just want you to know that I really don't mind killing Chloe," Lana said.
Jack raised his arms to his sides to be as none threatening as possible. "What do you want, Lana?" he asked.
"What I want is Clark's eternal love and devotion, which is rightfully mine," Lana said. "I had that until you came and screwed everything up, but with the help of an old enemy of yours, I'm going to get it back," she said. "I'm going to break Clark of his foolish crush on that piece of trash, Lois Lane. Chloe here is going to help me. Clark is going to be mine again, and Lois Lane, Chloe Sullivan and you will no longer be a threat to my happiness," Lana explained.
Jack smirked at Lana causing her blood to boil. "Like my friends in London say, 'You're bloody mental' you know that right?" he asked her.
Lana ignored Jack and walked over to Chloe clucking her tongue. "It's so sad about your love life, Chloe. First you spend years pining away for the man who thinks of you only as his sidekick and rightly only has eyes for me. Then you go and marry a loser. He wises up and divorces you. You then get together with a serial killer who kills your ex-husband right in front of you. Now, you get involved with another loser," Lana said acidly. Jack saw where this was headed and silently slipped off his coat, hiding his blaster in the sleeve. "Lex told me to bring your boyfriend back alive, but I just don't see how that is possible. It's his fault that Clark is with that tramp in the first place and we Luthors just don't sit idly by and let insults like that or threats like the ones he made at the USO dance go unanswered," she said calmly. "I want you to watch this and know why I ended up in the mansion and why you will always be alone," Lana told Chloe and motioned with her hand. A third man with a sub machine gun had stepped out and opened fire onto Jack. The bullets tore through his chest and head, killing him instantly. Lana wasn't nearly as satisfied as she hoped she would be when the only reaction she got from Chloe was a single tear sliding down her cheek. "And people call me a cold hearted bitch," Lana thought. "Leave the thing with the body, it should dispose of any evidence quite nicely," Lana said. "Let's go," Lana instructed her team as they dragged Chloe into the waiting van. It sped away as soon as everyone was on board.
Janet watched "the one who always is" get killed yet again. She admired his ability to take time out for recreation in the middle of an obviously busy day. After the final destruction of "the pale one who was dead, but just kept moving anyway" and then "the one who always is" going missing, her kind had thought about packing it in and finding a new vacation spot. Janet was thinking the same, but then she felt the familiar tingle that told her time was displeased at having an anomaly in its midst. She had travelled across this world's version of the Atlantic tracking his "scent". Janet sent up another howl and with it a mental surge into her home dimension to let her kin know that she found him again. They would have to travel through the rift as usual, but then they would follow her route and move into this new city to be near their idol. Superstars were so rare on the weevil side of the rift. Janet crouched low over the still lifeless body of Captain Jack Harkness. She reached down a clawed hand and gently tapped his forehead with one of the claws that could easily slice a man's neck off. Janet growled affectionately at him and then made her way to the basement door, instinctively knowing the way to the sewers.