Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Comments: An Extraordinary Man II (15/?)

A new voice, heavy with sleep, joined the conversation. "Kent? What's going on? I thought I heard voices?"

"Yes, CJ, what is going on?"

Lois's light-hearted enthusiasm had given way to something more wary – as well it might, CJ thought. Mayson, tousle-haired and clad only in a borrowed T-shirt, was standing in the archway that led through to his bedroom, and Lois was eyeing the other woman with suspicion.

Mayson, now that she was beginning to wake up, was staring back at Lois with something like incredulity on her face. "CJ? What's going on here? I thought you two hated each other!"

"Um," said CJ.

Lois turned to face him. Flatly she said, "What is she doing here?"

"That's part of what I had to tell you," said CJ.

Mayson still seemed to be trying to reconcile the arrival of Lois in CJ's apartment with what she knew about their relationship. Her eyes narrowed shrewdly, then she said with a leap of logic that was almost worthy of Lois, herself, "You're working together, aren't you." It wasn't a question. "On this Luthor thing, I mean. Hey, is that pizza? I'm starving!"

Oddly, it was Mayson's willingness to eat Lois's food that diffused the awkward situation.

By the time they'd finished their first slices, Lois had been made aware of Tierney's, still-sleeping, presence in the next room, and the reason for Mayson's visit. By the time they'd eaten their second slices, Lois had outlined her suspicions about LexCorp's manipulation of the media. As they started on their third slices, they moved on to speculation, and tentatively began to plan out future courses of action.

Lois's calculating expression did nothing whatsoever to reassure CJ; the last time he'd seen that look had been when she'd hacked into the juror's bank accounts. He therefore took little comfort from her next words. "I have an idea, but I'd like to work on it a little before I tell you guys—" which CJ took to actually mean Mayson "—what it is."

She looked at him again, and again there was that glint in her eyes that made him feel decidedly uneasy. "I said that's too risky." Then, reacting to his open-mouthed disbelief, she said, "Oh, I know we'll have to go through all the proper channels eventually. I'm just saying that it's time consuming to do that, and it involves too many people. The risk of Luthor getting wind of what we're up to, and of someone cleaning house before the police get there – always assuming that the police are straight – is too great. I want to take a look around before that happens."

Warily, he asked, "So what do you have in mind?"

"Tell me, CJ," she said sweetly, "what would you say to a spot of breaking and entering?"