Chapter 23
Dancing With the Devil
Guest stars - Lex Luthor, Perry White
"Come on Lois, this is a waste of time." Clark turned his back on Lex as Lois stared blankly at him. "This isn't a social call, Clark." Lex snarled. "Look at me!" Just then, Clark turned back around and noted that Lex's appearance had been slightly altered. "You have looked better." Clark said coldly.
Lex's face was reddened, tan, and seemed wider and older. His throat, neck, and shoulder had visible scars on them, as did his hands and forearm. The worst thing about Lex's appearance, in Clark's mind, was his former friend turned mortal enemy's eyes.
Lex's steel blue eyes seemed darker, colder, and haunted, like the living dead. "Where the hell have you been, Luthor?" Lois asked angrily. "Yeah, you've been gone almost two years." Clark agreed. "The last I heard you were chasing some bizarre character called the Traveler. How'd that work out for you?" Lex was briefly silent, staring daggers at him.
"It's an amazing coincidence that you dropped out of sight shortly after you killed your father." Clark accused, sending shivers down Lois's spine. Clark's tone was deadly, confrontational, and accusatory. She'd rarely ever heard him so angry. In fact, Lois recalled that the only other time she'd heard Clark be this menacing was when he'd found Alicia Baker dead.
Lois had barely stopped Clark from strangling Alicia's murderer, Caleb. "It's no coincidence, Clark." Lex growled. Clark felt his emotions rifling towards the surface. It was all he could do to restrain himself. He wanted dearly to go across the desk at Lex and rip him apart with his bare hands.
Clark shifted his gaze towards a concerned Lois. Seeing her helped to still his ire and calm his boiling rage. "By the way, that murder rap was never proven." Lex stated in his usual calm, deadly demeanor. "I know you killed Lionel, Lex." Clark stated, devoid of emotion. "He deserved better than that."
"That's your opinion." Lex argued. "As to my whereabouts…after the unfortunate death of my father, the LuthorCorp Board of Directors never trusted me again. They asked for my resignation, and reneged on my purchase of the Daily Planet. I transferred control of my investments to Tess Mercer." This didn't surprise Clark at all. "The legal fees for my indiscretions were enormous." Lex added.
"You ran away until the heat was off." Lois deadpanned. "I prefer to call it 'exploring my options'." Lex smirked, though the action seemed to cause him some degree of pain, as he winced thereafter. "Anyway, Mercy is quite capable and ruthless." Lex continued. "I knew my investments were safe with her." Praising his devoted protégé.
Lois shifted uneasily. "Mercy kept control of the paper until Perry White's investor firm bought it out from under her." She added bravely: "That still doesn't tell us where you've been, what you were doing, and why you've returned." Lex grinned thinly. "All in good time, Miss Lane."
Clark glowered at him. "Fortunately, my father and I have several 'safe houses' throughout the world." Lex remarked distractedly. Both he and Clark had heard some noise downstairs. "Why have you come back?" Lois pressed. "And what do you want with us?" Lex put down his revolver, much to Clark and Lois's relief.
"I won't be staying long, Miss Lane." Lex said evasively. "By the way, congratulations on your promotion to Cub Reporter at the Planet, and to you Clark." Lois flushed. "I'm still just an average reporter, Lex." She retorted. "Hardly, Lois, hardly." His eyes narrowed as he complimented her.
"I see you and Clark have hooked up." Lex sniped. "I love that unusually colored ring. Clark, you're moving on, sans Lana. As am I." He threw in the dig. "Did you have a point?" Clark growled. "Sure, Clark. I just wanted to catch up with a couple of old acquaintances." Lex said, rubbing his damaged chin. "The doctors did some fine cosmetic surgery on me, don't you think?"
"I insisted that they restore the Luthor prominence to my jaw as well, after my unfortunate accident, but I digress." Lex frowned. "You two know what happened out there tonight, don't you?" he asked in his usual unflappable tone. "Out where?" Clark gave him a smartass answer.
"Lois and I were just out walking along the Bay when your goons picked us up." Clark baited. "You are such a liar, Clark, in fact, the king of liars!" Lex slammed both fists on his desk, making Lois jump. The revolver bounced up as well, and fortunately didn't fire.
Lex grabbed it with his slightly disfigured hand. "Don't toy with me, Clark!" He shouted furiously. "Where is the rest of my shipment?" Clark gave him his best innocent look. "Shipment of what?" he asked as Lois edged closer to him, unsure of exactly what to do next.
Lois was worried. Clark was purposely goading Lex into something. To her it seemed very unusual and un-Clark-like. "You know very well what shipment, Clark!" Lex yelled, picking up the silver barreled gun again. Clark stood directly in the path of Lex's shot, should he choose to take it.
"Actually Lex, we did see a lot of police activity near the beginning of the docks." Clark said in a purposefully even tone. "I would check with the Port Authority, FBI, or the Metropolis Police Department. I'm sure they'd be interested in talking to you." Clark's voice oozed sarcasm.
Lois stifled a grin. She'd never seen Clark so full of bravado before. It turned her on, but at the same time, she hoped that his stunt wouldn't get them killed or injured. "Fine! Go! Get Lost!" Lex pointed the gun towards the office door. "That's it?" Lois asked skeptically.
"What about your minions and underlings with the guns?" She was incredulous. Lex laughed raucously. "That's not my problem! Go!" He urged maniacally. Clark shrugged and said, "Okay. Bye Lex!" He turned and took Lois by the hand, guiding her towards the door and out onto the landing.
"Are you crazy, Smallville?" Lois protested. "Those guys are going to turn us into Swiss cheese." Clark led her down the stairs and into the empty, darkened warehouse. "See? No one's home." Clark said cynically. They made their way past the dimly lit cargo bays.
"Why didn't Lex kill us, or at least torture, or threaten us into revealing any information?" Lois was astounded. "Not that I'm complaining, but why go with the whole 'gangsters taking us for a ride' scenario?" Clark shrugged. "He was probably just trying to scare us into telling him about the bust. Lex was a borderline psychotic even before he killed Lionel. He looked completely unhinged."
"Apparently, killing us isn't in his current plan." Clark added. "I'm thankful for that." Lois began. "It still makes me wonder what he's up to." Clark felt a minor wave of dizziness pass. He was holding Lois's hand with the blue k ring on it. Suddenly, he switched sides, taking her other hand.
"Maybe Lex isn't calling all the shots." Clark guessed as they headed across the open warehouse aisle closest to the exit. "If he signed over most of his estate and holdings to Mercy, he may have had to work for someone else." Lois considered that. "Mosuban? Rowland? It didn't seem likely." She said.
Lex suddenly slammed the office door behind them and followed along down the stairs and into the warehouse. Clark shoved Lois behind him, much to her objection. "Relax, Clark." Lex sneered as he pursued a parallel course from them, with a big black briefcase in his hand.
"If I'd wanted you two killed, you'd already be dead." Lex hurried past them as Clark heard a large splash in Metropolis Bay nearby. He wanted to investigate, but dare not leave Lois alone, even for a split second, especially now that her latent Krypto abilities were inhibited by the blue k ring.
Lois would have no way to defend herself, certainly not from any sort of weapon. Lex preceded them outside into the night. Dawn was slowly approaching as the first glints of sunlight appeared above Metropolis Bay's horizon. The Blue Red blur's first night was nearly over.
Out on the wharf, a black pick up truck peeled rubber and sped recklessly in the opposite direction from the police and port authority activities. "You have to love the Metropolis skyline just before sunrise." Lex appraised. "I have some urgent meetings to attend this morning."
Lex yelled back over his shoulder at them without ever turning his head. Clark noted a few more scars along the back of Lex's exposed neck. "I'll be back!" He threatened as he quickly stepped off a platform and into an awaiting black speedboat with a lone driver. The driver appeared to be female.
What's more, Clark swore that it was Tess. The boat sped off towards the center of the bay. Lois yawned after Lex and the mystery woman were out of sight. "I'm wiped." Lois stated, leaning heavily on Clark's broad shoulder. "We still have a story to get out by the late morning's edition." She added. "I hate to do this to you, Smallville, but can you type it up for me once we get back to the Planet?"
"Sure." Clark said as he watched Lois's eyelids grow heavy. "What about the pictures?" He asked. Lois smirked. "You'll just have to find where I've hidden the camera on my person." Clark reddened. He waited a moment until she was sound asleep, and snoring loudly.
Clark snickered quietly as he picked Lois up, and after checking the surrounding area with his extraordinary vision; he zipped them back to the Daily Planet parking lot. With Lois on one arm, Clark opened up her car and grabbed her laptop, which she'd secured in the trunk.
The earliest shift employees were just starting to pull into the parking lot. Clark quickly entered the paper's loading dock with Lois and the laptop in his arms. As luck would have it, no one saw them. He super sped them upstairs and carefully placed Lois in her cubicle chair.
Clark flushed as he located the camera beneath her teddy, and photo shopped the pictures into the article. He used his superior speed to type up all the details, remembering not to overload and burn up the keyboard.
He proofread it, and upon finishing, put the article on Perry White's desk, keeping a copy on Lois's hard drive. By now, the first shift employees had fully piled into the office.
Many employees glanced at Lois, shaking their heads. Catherine Grant pulled in around 8 AM, spying Clark seated in his cubicle. "I take it you're Clark Kent?" She extended a thin, well-manicured and tan hand. "Catherine Grant. Fashion-ista and Social Page Columnist."
Clark shook it, smiling pleasantly, but he offered no explanation for Lois's snoring, and the fact that she was wearing the same clothes she'd had on yesterday. Naturally, Grant noticed that. "I'm impressed." She glanced at Clark with approval. "You wore our little Lois out last night, didn't you?"
Clark said nothing, deciding to let Lois explain the incident later on in the day. Perry strolled in just then, as Catherine and the other employees scattered, leaving Clark to face him alone. "What the Sam Hill? You two pulled an all-nighter?" He asked gruffly as Clark nodded.
"The story is proofread and on your desk, Mr. White." Clark said cordially. "Is it? Now that's what I like to see, Kent, dedication." Perry praised. "Thanks, sir." Clark reddened. "Uh…after I okay the story, take Sleeping Beauty here, home, will you?" Perry continued.
"I can't have the other employees and fat cats seeing Lane lost in dreamland." Perry smiled broadly. "Understood." Clark nodded as Perry sauntered over to his office, shaking his head. About an hour later, Perry returned to Clark's cubicle. "How's the story look?" He asked his boss.
"The article is good, Kent." Perry eyed him suspiciously. "I'll be sure and tell Lois." Clark offered. "Clark, you wrote it for her, didn't you?" Perry questioned. "Yes. Lois was tired, so I stepped in to help." Clark replied. "How could you tell?" Perry smirked. "Because I didn't have to change any spelling! Good job. I like to see teamwork." Perry praised.
"I had Cat Grant post the article on-line at Daily . She didn't have much to do this morning. Most of Grant's reporting comes during the early evening." Perry explained. "You don't mind not getting a by-line, Clark?" He shrugged. "Like you said, we're a team."
Perry placed his hands behind his back. "You know, Clark, I'm starting to get a vision here." He sat on the edge of the slumbering Lois's desk. "I can't go to the brass until after the week's circulation returns are in, but I'm going to recommend that you and Lois be elevated to Senior Cub Reporters."
"Thanks, Mr. White." Clark silently wished that Lois had heard Perry's praise. It would certainly surprise her later on. "I'm seeing Lois Lane and Clark Kent, at the top of the news world. Their names synonymous with The Daily Planet." Perry boasted. "Is that too much pressure for you, Clark?" The young journalist shrugged. "We'll do our best."
"That's what I'm counting on!" Perry smiled. "What in the world did you do to this girl, Clark?" He glanced over at Lois, curled up uncomfortably in the cubicle chair. "Lois said that she hadn't been sleeping well. After we chased leads all last night, I guess it finally caught up with her."
"Take her home, Clark." Perry directed. "I want my new ace reporters refreshed and ready to work tomorrow morning." He shook Clark's hand. "Will do, chief, and thanks." Perry turned towards his office. "One more thing, Clark. This Red and Blue Blur, do you think we can get an exclusive on him?" Clark couldn't resist smirking. "What makes you think it's a he?"
Perry cast him a puzzled glance. "You can count on it." Clark playfully reassured him. "Count on an interview with the Red and Blue blur?" Perry confirmed. "Yes. I'll bet on it." Clark said confidently. Perry smiled. "That's what I like to hear, Clark."