XVI
President Lane
Even now, she wondered about him…
It had been almost five days since she had seen him and here she was prattling like a schoolgirl again (just like the time she had first laid eyes on him... Clark). Lois Lane had taken one of the largest gambles in her life for the one accomplishment of her presidency she would be happiest about… Lex Luthor behind bars.
But more than that, she wanted to save Clark. This was one problem he couldn't solve.
Luthor worked for Luthor and him alone. His sudden interest in The Kahndaq nuclear program had seemed… suspicious. Before she had entered politics, Lois Lane had been one hell of a reporter. She could put together events from the smallest details, matching motives with power and history. She knew who the players were and what they were after. She knew their style of play from the cards they laid on the table. Shew knew all the tells, the body language, inflections in speech. And she was relentless when the smallest opportunity presented itself. She had made her political career exposing bad politicians. It had been surprisingly easy. But Luthor had proved impossible to pin down.
Lois was one of the most powerful players in the world. The first female president of the United States. And to her undying shame, it had taken Lex Luthor as a running mate to get her there. He had the resources to back up her promises. She had ideals and a commonality people could relate to. Luthor had money. Lots of money and influence. He also had aspirations that reached far beyond the presidency. But for now, she was president. And damned if they weren't this close to tying LexCorp to the rogue nuke in Kahndaq!
If there was one thing she felt proud of during her presidency, it was bringing a reporter's intuition to the FBI and CIA. Once elected, she had insisted on the change from LexCorp technology to WayneNet due to an obvious conflict of interest. Lex (of course) had not been happy, but the change had been necessary after all… and very beneficial. If she was a world-class reporter, Bruce Wayne's team were world-class information detectives. His far-reaching software could actually put the pieces together in probable motives and scenario.
And the pieces told her that Luthor had provided the nuke to Muhannad. It had been too much, too fast. They just needed the evidence.
Her man of steel had given them the final piece of the puzzle. Ears that could hear footsteps from 3 miles away had heard Luthor whisper one word that neither of them had heard before…
"Kryptonite"
It had taken the combined power of the CIA and FBI to figure that one out. A far-off world called Krypton had exploded thirty-four years ago. Pieces of Krypton floated through space and became meteorites when entering the Earth's atmosphere - a known radioactive substance, Kryptonite. They had even located a small piece of it at the Smithsonian. That's when a strange thing happened. The greatest power in the world became vulnerable, paralyzed. Her man had a weakness.
He also had an enemy… Lex Luthor. Lois could never explain why Lex hated Big Blue. Jealousy? She had theories of course. Luthor knew that if President Lane were ever to have an 'unfortunate accident', that he too would also have an unfortunate accident. Luthor would accidentally be hurled into space. His term as acting president would be limited to seconds, although he would be the first man ever to visit space without the aid of spacecraft… or space suit. Big Blue was hers and she was his…. Clark.
No, to realize his wicked ambitions, Luthor needed to get rid of Big Blue, who was the best insurance a president could have… Lois was a mere trifle compared to the world's actual greatest super power. And now he had found a way with a strange, green, glowing rock. But how would he go about it?
She had pieced it together. Luthor's sudden interest in Kahndaq, a nuclear warhead that had magically appeared out of nowhere. Would a nuclear detonation kill Big Blue? She had her doubts. But a plutonium/kryptonite core?… Her lover was as good as dead if he went to Kahndaq.
She knew Luthor was playing his hand when he revealed images of the Tomahawk Block VI sitting in an open field in Kahndaq to Congress. The Kahndaqi hadn't even bothered to try and hide it! And then there was a motion for military intervention with America's "secret weapon" that she had managed to tie up with the United Nations.
That was why she had taken the greatest gamble of her life. Luthor was pushing for Big Blue to secure the weapon. She just needed to reveal the weapon for what it was. Wayne Industries had given them a flight suit capable of the retrieval. She had enlisted the aid of Scott and Barda Free to make it look like Big Blue had dropped off the face of the planet. The greatest escape artist in the universe had to help her lover escape Luthor's mad designs. They played a very dangerous game.
Unfortunately, Luthor had become aware of her three-man retrieval plan... and he would use any means to ensure it ended badly. She hated taking these gambles... but the vice president had spies everywhere. There were very few people that she could trust absolutely. General Johnson was one of them. She had to step up the operation under the cover of "preparation support" before Luthor became aware of her full plan. Now the success of the entire mission lay on the young shoulders of Captain Richard Grayson.
President Lane spoke a silent prayer.