Chapter 25
Smallville...
A gust of wind indicates his usual arrival into Chloe's home sitting room.
"Clark, what did I say," Chloe reprimands him from between gritted teeth as he once again blows everything about.
"Um...oops?" he offers with his adorable goofy grin.
Chloe shakes her head at him.
"So where's Lois?"
"The Ledger, pursing her own leads. I fobbed her off," Chloe explains what she did so she could help Clark.
"Sorry about that," he apologises for making Chloe lie to her cousin about him.
"It's fine, Clark," Chloe tells him, accepting this is the price of her friendship with him.
"So what have you got?" Clark asks.
"I looked up all the previous names you gave me Schott used in Bayville but so far I don't have anything."
"What about disused Luthorcorp assets?" Clark suggests.
Chloe looks up, intrigued.
"He was living in the ruins of where he worked. Maybe he decided to continue that theme. Some place Lex doesn't have interest in...or didn't buy up when Luthorcorp was liquidated."
Chloe cocks her head as she considers that. She grins. "You really are turning into a little journalist aren't you," she says half in jest, half in pride at him.
Clark shrugs. "I write what I can."
"Yes. I've read your blog."
"I know. I can recognise your comments anywhere and their 'constructive' criticism," he complains, making a face at her.
Chloe smiles brightly. "Hey, I'm just being helpful."
"Is that what we're calling it?" Clark dead-pans.
"Yes," Chloe insists. "Look Clark you're really not a bad writer but you're not perfect either. It needs work...and that's good. I don't think any story ever written is perfect."
"It's hard."
"Yeah."
"No, Chlo. What I mean is for me most things are ridiculously easy but writing's hard. My powers can't cheat at it. I can have the entire dictionary in my head but to put the words down on paper, to write something that connects to people and gets the story across requires me to actually think hard. In that regard I'm just like you or Lois or any other writer."
Chloe stares at him for several moments. She never considered that. What it must be like for him to find one thing where he's 'normal'. When they have time she must get him to talk about that but they need to get back on the case of Toyman. "So how far a range we talking about?"
Clark looks at her puzzled for a moment.
"For locating Toyman," she jogs his memory.
"Oh. Right. Lets just start with Smallville and work our way outward. How about that?" he suggests.
Chloe shrugs. Good an idea as any.
Clark sits down next to her so as to help.
"By the way what are we doing about the Mayor?" she asks.
"Don't worry. I have the Professor dealing with that. When the sun sets our good Mayor will find himself haunted by the ghost of his crimes," he says cryptically.
Chloe turns her head and looks at him curiously. Now what the hell does that mean?
Mayor William Tate is sitting behind his desk in his office. The sun had set and he was considering heading home after this disastrous day. He had spent most of it trying to get a grip on the débâcle that happened at the town meeting. Now he has to organise another meeting and go through this whole thing again as soon as is feasible.
Robots. He just means what the hell? He knows Smallville has a reputation for weird but he can clearly remember days when stuff like that never happened.
Days before the 1st meteor shower. Before the mutants came.
Many people may ask what has brought him from his earlier position of trying to work out a peaceful cooperation with the mutant community to forcing them out.
His answer would be to go to the cemetery and look at all the graves with one single date. The date Lionel Luthor attacked and most of the Smallville police department was killed. He had to attend all of those funerals day after day after day, meet the grieving families. You can't be the same after that. You can't think the same and in the end he came to one inevitable conclusion.
If those mutants hadn't been here neither would have Lionel.
And as for Lex and his weapons...he was building them for SHIELD in the name of national defence. As a patriot he supports anything that strengthens the defence of these United States.
And as a patriot of this town he wants his legacy to be to have left Smallville in an at least as good condition as he found it when he first became Mayor and if that means forcing the mutants out to achieve this then gone they are.
Plus he's not daft. He's not a young man. He's in his 70s. Most people his age have retired. He needs to get this done, needs to cement his reputation and legacy before God decides his time on Earth has come to its end.
End...like Louise's life did...but that wasn't God's doing.
Tate has tried so many times over the years to try and forget that but after being asked about it today it's been haunting his memories all day since. It wasn't his fault. It was that damn Luthor's fault. How hard is it to kill one drifter and not kill the woman Tate loved? He means seriously.
"Sheriff Tate."
At that sternly spoken voice Tate's head shoots up and finds himself looking at a tall young man with black hair wearing a familiar looking brown leather jacket.
"Superman? I'm not sure how you got in here, but I don't find this very amusing," Tate says. He had noticed how much that hero looked like the drifter but thought it a mighty coincidence.
"I think you've got me confused with someone else," the man says.
Tate presses the silent alarm switch under his desk. "The police are on their way," he calmly informs the man. He puts on a show of nonchalance, stands and heads to the fireplace...only to find the man standing in his way, appearing from nowhere. The man calmly reaches under his shirt and pulls out a pendant on a necklace.
Tate's eyes go wide at seeing that unusual pendant again. "Where did you get that?!" he yells in shock.
"I knew you'd remember me," the man states calmly, securely.
"This can't be real," Tate says in denial. He has to be dreaming or having a hallucination or something.
"You've done a pretty good job of hiding what's real," the man accuses. "I know you made a deal with Lachlan to kill me. But how did you feel when you found out that you killed Louise instead?" he asks, knowing about the Mayor's love for Louise and therefore how sensitive a point this is.
"It was supposed to be you!" Tate shouts angrily. He turns back to his desk and pulls a gun out of a drawer. He fires several bullets...but they pass right through the man, impacting the fireplace behind.
"You can't kill me. I'm already dead," the man says with a smirk.
"Mother of God!" Tate mutters as he lowers the gun, truly terrified now by what can only be an apparition of some sort.
"If you ever want another day of peace, you'll confess what you've done to the sheriff," the man warns him, deadly seriously.
"No! I'm not going to jail!" Tate insists. He takes his gun and points it at his own head, ready to take his own life rather than take responsibility.
The man suddenly appears next to Tate, grabbing the arm and making Tate throw the weapon away.
"You're not taking the easy way out," the man informs him.
The door to the office flies open and Sheriff Adams and another officer come in, their weapons drawn. "Mayor Tate. You okay? We got the silent alarm," Sheriff Adams says.
"He's trying to kill me!" Tate pleads in panic.
"Who?" Sheriff Adams asks in confusion.
Tate looks around. The man is gone. He looks up, his eyes sad and desperate. "Lachlan was supposed to kill the drifter. I never meant to hurt Louise. I loved her," he confesses.
Sheriff Adams blinks. Lachlan, Louise, drifter...that sounds like that thing Sullivan and Lane were badgering her about this week. Great. They'll never let her hear the end of this.
What she doesn't see outside the window is a bald man sitting in a wheelchair next to a beautiful woman with long dark hair.
Charles and Lilandra had worked together to create that. It was all illusion within the Mayor's mind. Clark's plan...and it worked better than they expected. Perhaps a little telepathic push to amplify the guilt the Mayor was already feeling, to bring what he had tried to bury for 5 decades to the surface and the man cracked and confessed everything. They didn't have to make him do that. He did it all on his own.
Charles had had to go a little further than he intended to stop the Mayor killing himself. He doesn't like controlling people in such a fashion but the Mayor wasn't getting off that easily.
Justice done. 50 years late but done. How this affects what happens over the mutant community it's too early to tell.
Might have to wait for the new Mayor to be elected so they might only be delaying their problems...but for today that was a small victory they could live with.
So it was a simple plan really. Clark and Chloe came up with a list of potential places Toyman might be holding up and Clark would zip off and check them out.
Thus far though they were hitting dead-ends.
No sign of Toyman.
"How about tracing the parts?" Chloe suggests to Clark after he returns from his latest failure. "Toyman must get them from somewhere."
"I tried that last year. I couldn't find a trace. He either orders extremely common parts which are too numerous to trace and then alters them or he simply makes his toys from scratch himself. He is a genius after all."
Chloe rubs her head. "This is frustrating," she comments.
Clark slumps down on her couch. "I know," he concedes her point. "What's really frustrating is that all I wanted to do was to help him, you know but he chose to get his revenge rather than to try and see proper justice done."
Chloe has to smile. That's Clark. Sums him up nicely. It's why he's so special. But back to their immediate problem. "So what's our next move?" she asks him. "Because from what you say about Toyman it can only be a matter of time before he tries for Lex again."
Clark's head snaps round to a certain direction.
"What?" Chloe asks at the stern, serious look on her friend's face.
"Or he could be trying again right this second. Excuse me, Chloe. Duty calls," he gives his very brief explanation as he blurs off in a gust of wind, blowing everything about exactly like Chloe told him to stop doing.
"Clark!" she yells at him in annoyance even if he's already long gone.
Luthor Mansion...
It was a scene of chaos as an army of toys swarmed over the grounds, fighting with Lex's security forces. That's what Clark finds as he arrives. Toyman was not holding anything back this time it seemed in his efforts to get his hands on Lex.
Amongst this battle Clark spots a certain brunette reporter in trouble. He rolls his eyes. Seriously. What it it with her...and Chloe. They're like trouble magnets. They can't help but be attracted to wherever the most danger is.
Unleashing two precise beams of heat vision he slices down the toys that were advancing on her and lands with a deliberate thump. He looks down and offers his hand. "Ms Lane. What are you doing here?"
Lois looks up at the sight of Superman and grins. She takes the offered hand and gets to her feet. "On a hunt. Had a scent," she explains.
"Uh huh," he says even as an overgrown teddy bear jumps on his back. Superman manages to grab it and flip it over his head. He locks it in a head-lock and with one simple twist rips the head off. He holds the head in his hand for a moment. "Great," he says with a slight grimace. "I can see the headlines now. Superman, the destroyer of teddy bears and ruiner of childhoods. I can see my national hero status slipping," he says with a smirk.
God he was a goof, Lois had to say. "Well if it means anything I'll never write a headline like that," she offers.
"Thank you, Ms Lane. Now I suggest you find cover while I put an end to this," he says to her and points her in the direction of cover.
Superman zips off to talk to the leader of the security detail. After some delay in trusting him or listening to him which only ended after Clark superbreath blew away a small army of toys they worked together to corral the toys and destroy them.
As soon as it's over Lois emerges from her cover. "So any comments?" she asks with a smug grin.
"No comment," the security detail leader says back sternly.
"Not even as being used by Lex?" Superman queries.
"What?" Lois asks.
"He's not here. He's not been here for hours has he? He left you behind to trick Toyman into thinking he was and take the brunt of Schott's aggressions. Wow, he's a shoe in for employer of the year isn't he," he adds sarcastically.
"That true?" Lois asks the leader.
"No comment," he snaps from between gritted teeth.
The tone tells Lois Superman is right on. Well that's interesting.
"Problem is Lex never listens to anyone even when they might know better," Superman says with a resigned and annoyed sounding tone.
"What does that mean?" Lois wonders.
"Toyman is a genius. Just as Lex used his own men as decoys, Schott used his toys as one. All this," Superman gestures at the destroyed toys around them, "was to keep me busy while he grabbed Lex."
"You can't know that," the leader scoffs.
"Actually I can. Check in with Lex's personal detail if you don't believe me."
The leader frowns. He wasn't suppose to unless it was an absolute emergency but the way Superman speaks so confidently. He tries...no response. He walks away and tries again and again and gets no response.
Superman shakes his head slightly.
Lois is puzzled...but also impressed. "How did you know?"
"Oh I've been keeping my ear on Lex since I visited him earlier. I know exactly where he is...and he's going to lead me to Toyman."
"You're...using Lex?" Lois questions that. Seems dangerous. Not that she cares much about Lex but it doesn't seem very...hero-like.
"This will not end until I find Toyman. He lives for vengeance...and I can't watch Lex indefinitely," Superman justifies his actions though he doesn't explain them or how he has done what he has said he has done. "Now if you'll excuse me Ms Lane I better catch up to Lex before Toyman gets that vengeance of his."
With that Superman rises into the night sky and flies off with a muffled sonic boom.
It wasn't like Clark was really intending for Lex to get hurt...at least in the permanent sense but like he said to Lois he needs to end this.
He follows his ears out into the woods beyond Smallville until Lex should be directly below him. He comes to a stop and floats in the air...and frowns as he hones in on precisely where Lex is. Sounds like...underground.
His x-ray vision flashes and he finds he can't see everything. Lead lining. Some sort of underground facility...another one is all he can tell. How many secret underground places does Smallville have? It's not that big a town. In fact it's a rather small town.
Well no point in standing on ceremony. Clark plunges down through the entrance tunnel and flies along.
"Halt! Friend or foe?" two squeaky voices say belonging to people-sized Napoleon era toy soldiers, guarding a large double door.
"Depends on how reasonable your boss is willing to be," Superman returns.
They aim their weapons and fire. The bullets bounce harmlessly off Clark's invulnerable frame. He blasts the soldiers with his heat vision and flies on through the doors. He lands in a dark space with dim lighting. There are what look like bleachers on either side of him filled with toys. "You've been busy, Winslow," Superman comments about finding even more toys.
A spotlight above clicks on and in front of Superman it illuminates Toyman sitting in an oversized high chair that is at least a good 10 feet tall.
"I know why you're here, Superman," Toyman addresses him.
Another spotlight clicks on and to Superman's right, chained up against the wall, gagged, is Lex.
Superman turns his attention back to Toyman. "Lets not do this again, Winslow," he requests. "You know I have to save him. This time why don't you let me save you too."
"Always the hero," Toyman remarks, with what almost sounds like pride. "Tell me though how did you get here so quick?"
"I followed my ears."
"Ooh cryptic," Toyman childishly remarks.
"When your kangaroo attacked before I used the distraction to slip a microscopic hypersonic transmitter into Lex's drink," Superman confesses. He picked it up when he was back at the Institute. It's like the one he built into Detective Sawyer's watch only smaller...much smaller. It's been transmitting constantly and Clark's been listening in to it all this time, waiting for Toyman to make his move. It was Clark's fail all fall back in case he couldn't find Toyman before he tried again to snatch Lex.
The kangaroo came too early, before Clark had managed to get Lex to swallow the transmitter. That's why he had to destroy it. Otherwise he may have well faked letting it take Lex and followed it. Just one of those cases of bad timing.
Clark gets the feeling of someone staring a hole in him and turns his head to see Lex glaring, obviously unhappy at what Clark has said about the transmitter. "Oh don't give me that look. It saved your life. Plus it'll have passed through your digestion system by tomorrow."
"Clever," Toyman congratulates Superman. "Always knew you were more brains than brawn."
"So what's your answer, Winslow?" Superman asks. "Are you going to let me help you this time?"
"I'm afraid not, Superman," Toyman turns down the offer. "Junior here has decided to follow in his mean old daddy's footsteps and has therefore inherited his fate and I won't let you stop me this time!" he proclaims and presses a switch in front of him.
What looks like laser grid forms a cage around Superman.
Superman walks up and peers closer at the light. "Hard light," he can identify. Just like what the Danger Room uses. Toyman is a genius. You do have to give him credit where credit is due.
Toyman claps merrily. "Oh goodie, goodie. That means you know what you're facing."
"Can't hold me," Superman says and grabs the bars to break apart. Energy surges up his arms in reaction. The harder he tries to break the bars the more of a shock is going up his system. Finally with a cry of pain he has no choice but to release the bars and stumble back. He looks down at his hands to see healing burns. He blinks in shock.
"This facility...another one of Luthor senior's secret facilities. Has its own small nuclear reactor. I've designed this system to drain whatever level of power it needs directly from that reactor to match your strength," Toyman explains.
Clark needs a moment to heal so tries to buy himself a moment to do so and to think. "Why now?"
"Oh why kidnap Lex now," Toyman guesses he means. "In a word. Bloodsport."
"The gun," Superman's mind jumps too. "It was like the one the astronaut had."
"Stolen technology! My stolen technology!" Toyman hisses. "That Lex has misused just like his father to create weapons of death!" he says furiously. That is what makes him so angry. His technology was suppose to create toys for children. Not weapons to kill them. That is what brought him back out of hiding.
"Lex created Bloodsport?" Superman thinks Toyman means.
"Of course he did. He decided to be rid of your friend, Nightwing. I must remember to play a game or two with her," Toyman idly mentions.
Superman's eyes flare up. Andrea has enough problems. She doesn't need his. He makes Toyman change thoughts while remembering to deal with Lex later if what Toyman is saying about Bloodsport is true. "But you've been here awhile, Winslow. Possibly since we last met, yes?"
"I needed a new home since you blew up my last one," he reprimands Superman in childish sounding anger.
"You blew it up yourself," Superman reminds him.
"Yes. Well how else was I going to get those Luthor stains out? Nothing beats removal by bomb."
Clark isn't sure but he thinks Toyman may be further over the edge than last time they met. "Come on Winslow. Don't do this," he requests one last time. "Lex can get justice with your help."
"Haven't changed have you? You said the same thing about Lionel and look where that ended?"
"It could have ended with him in jail if you had taken up my offer," Superman argues...and in Clark's head he believes it. If Toyman had chosen to help, Lionel could have been in jail long before even that thing with the Sentinels blew up.
"And as I told you people like them don't get justice unless someone like me delivers it. Now hero I'm going to do you a favour."
Clark doesn't like the sound of that. "What favour?"
"Everyone knows the true mettle of a hero can only be shown when he's tested...and I'm going to test you."
"And if I pass your test?"
"You get to leave."
"Not without Lex."
"Aw poo. In that case I'm afraid we have to be adversaries again."
"I don't want to fight you, Winslow. I'm here to save you."
"I'm afraid, Superman, I'm not giving you a choice in this matter. Turn around."
Superman does just that slowly as the floor under him lights up and a hologram appears in front of him. A really crude, blocky one of a humanoid figure.
"Allow me to introduce Death Fist Ninja. My latest game," Toyman informs him.
"Very 19...90s isn't it?" Superman places the level of graphics.
"And what's wrong with that?" Toyman asks, his tone sharp as if Superman hit a nerve. "Best decade for video games ever!" Toyman declares loudly. "However this one you never would have found in the stores."
Clark isn't liking this...at all. Above his head are life bars in a hanging sign. One for him. One for the ninja. "Defeat the ninja and I can leave, right?" he suddenly asks because at the very least it would get him out the cage and he can circle around back for Lex.
"If you choose to."
"Right then," he decides to do this as he and the ninja circle around each other. He throws a very obvious punch deliberately just to see what happens.
The ninja vanishes out of existence.
"I call cheater!" Superman complains.
"Hiyah!" an electronic sounding voice yells.
Superman turns round to be met with a double kick to his chest. A hard blow which sends him into the cage and surges energy through his body again. He stumbles forward and drops to one knee.
The toys on the bleachers move and cheer at the ninja's success.
"Two things, Superman. There are no rules...and remember what I said about what powers this place. The game will draw whatever amount of energy it takes to defeat you," Toyman says.
Superman's eyes narrow. He rises back to his feet. An entire nuclear reactor channelled against him. Could be problematic. The ninja figure vanishes again. His eyes dart around him but it still manages to catch him unawares from the side, the blow magnified by what feels like a huge electric shock. The ninja follows it up with a kick, a backhand, a kick to the stomach, a double fist across his face sending him staggering back.
It vanishes only to reappear directly behind him, grabs him by the shoulders and flips him over its head to the floor. It leaps into the air and lands a knee into his gut.
Clark shakes his head. Ok, this is definitely smarting. He flips to his feet and zips at the ninja who blocks his blow and slaps him across the face twice and then delivers a hard punch sending Superman back into the energy grid giving him another shock.
Above his head Superman's life bar drops to dangerously low...apparently.
Lex groans behind his gag. He's doomed. The moron hero is so stupid. He doesn't even seem to be trying.
Superman rubs his chin. "Alright. That's it. Got what I needed," he comments strangely. He zips back to the centre of the cage face to face with the ninja who he gestures to come get some.
It kicks. He blocks.
Left jab. He blocks
Low kick. He blocks.
Left-right combo. He blocks
Kicks, punches...every one blocked...as if Superman is anticipating.
"Impossible," Toyman mutters as he works out what is happening. "He's worked out the ninja's moves...but the program's too complex," he thinks since he wrote it.
"Seriously are all those 'hiyahs!' really necessary," Superman mocks the ninja's use of them as he dodges one blow by zipping in directly behind the ninja and then smashes it in the back sending it to the ground. "Feels like I'm in a Power Ranger episode."
Toyman panics...and shifts to manual control...which actually makes Superman's job easier. No human, however brilliant, can move as fast as a machine and Clark, with his varying supervisions, can see exactly what Toyman is tapping allowing him to dodge every blow easily.
Superman folds his arms across his chest and smirks as he dodges punches and kicks galore. "Getting bored now," he whines childishly...so he smashes an uppercut into the ninja.
Toyman hits the 'deathfist' button and the ninja's right fist becomes supercharged.
Superman catches the arm and throws the ninja into the energy grid. He then smashes into its back, forcing it into the grid, trying to break through...and here's the real beauty of the plan. Both the ninja and the grid draw their power from the same source and both are now trying to draw whatever power it takes to keep both working. Something has to give...hopefully before the reactor itself overloads.
Luckily it is simply all the circuits that start to go, including Toyman's controller as it sparks and explodes. He drops down from the high chair and heads for his prize. Lex.
Toyman pulls out his water/acid gun. "It seems, Lex, we're going to have to cut our play date short. Shame. I had this whole revolutionary France theme planned complete with guillotine but I'm afraid the mean old Superman won't let us have our fun."
"Time to put your toys away, Toyman!" Superman shouts as he shoves the ninja harder and the whole game arena starts to breakdown as circuits overload creating sparks and small explosions and fires. "And bed without supper!" he adds for good measure.
"Meanie!" Toyman yells back.
Superman rolls his eyes. The things he goes through. Last time giant rubber ducks. This time boxing Kangaroos and now 90s style CG ninjas. No-one in their right mind would believe it. He grits his teeth and gives the ninja one last hard push.
The lifebar indicator above shifts from Superman's decreasing health to the ninja's which drops to zero. The sign explodes and the holograms dissolve.
Superman blurs over just as Toyman is squirting his acid at Lex. He stands directly in the path and the acid harmlessly hits him instead.
"You just can't let me have fun!" Toyman throws a tantrum.
"Too much fun, I think, for you."
"You can never have enough fun. Try some playdoh!" Toyman says as he throws a green lump at Superman.
It impacts his chest and sticks there. Superman pulls at it a little. "No. Please. Take it back. It clashes with my costume."
Toyman giggles. "That's not all it does."
The stuff...the goop then comes alive and starts growing and covering Superman and no matter what he tries he can't tear it off.
"Oops. I forgot to say this stuff comes with a warning label. It's a biogenic weapon courtesy of Lexcorp. A living organism whose contact with the skin proves fatal. It grows until it asphyxiates its host. Definitely not for children. You should always read the label before playing."
The stuff grows and grows until Superman vanishes from sight under it.
The green goop then starts spinning faster and faster, generating its own wind until it starts flying off Superman in every direction in lumps. One lump barely misses Lex's head. His eyes are as wide as headlamps seeing how close it came.
Toyman dives for cover.
Several moments later Superman comes to a stop, free of his green parasite.
"Cheater!" Toyman complains. "Oh well," he says in an accepting tone. "Time for a repeat." He presses a switch he has in his hands and from up above come dropping down lots and lots of toy bombs. Just like last time.
Superman looks around him. Crap. He forgot to check for that even though he told himself after last time he would. Some days it's just not worth getting out of bed. He zips to Lex and rips him down from the wall. He turns to get Toyman...but the doll head wearing man is gone. Vanished into the shadows. Again just like last time. The bombs start ticking...just like last time.
This is worse than those daytime repeats.
With Lex in tow Superman blurs out the exit...and like with Lionel a wall of flame and explosion following in their wake.
He bursts out into the fresh air of above ground and drops Lex none too ceremoniously a safe distance away.
Lex rips the gag away from his mouth. "Took you long enough," he grumbles.
Superman gives him an icy glare in return. Clark saves his life and all he can do is complain. Talk about ungracious. "I did warn you about him," he reminds Lex.
"That you did."
"So Bloodsport?" Superman raises what Toyman was saying.
"The ravings of a lunatic," Lex dismisses it. "I had no links with any of that. Try and prove I did," he challenges.
Clark can imagine that that would be impossible, knowing Lex.
"So tell me. How did you defeat his ninja? It was beating you easily to start with," Lex's curiosity needs to know the answer.
Superman decides to give him the answer...mostly because it's nice to show Lex up for not being able to work it out himself. "Toyman said there were no rules...but there were. Rules...lines of code governing how the ninja fought. Just had to work them out."
Lex blinks. "You let it beat you so you could study how it fought and figure those rules out?"
Superman arches an eyebrow. "You sound surprised?"
"Astonished," Lex confesses. He never credited Superman with that much intelligence.
"Don't think this is over," Superman warns.
"You've said that before," Lex reminds him.
"Not me. Toyman." Superman clarifies whom he is talking about.
"He just blew himself up."
"So he did the last time when he kidnapped your father. Doesn't seem to manage to stop him. Take my advice, even though I doubt you will, your father didn't either, be careful around any toys you see because you just never know." With that Superman blurs off.
Lex stares for a moment at where Superman was...and then looks around him. He realises he has no clue where he is and Superman just left him. That over-preened, no good...he swears one day he's going to prove Superman is not all that.
Author's Note: I was so channelling the 90s here. Anyway like any good villain Toyman lives to return another day and Lex will learn absolutely nothing. Aw wasn't it sweet with the Professor and Lilandra working together. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Relic part 6 as I wrap this arc up.