Fly Hard- Matchmaker Style
Rated PG-13
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Previously
Lois, hearing this and knowing Lex's attraction to her pictured herself as Lily and even though Clark would never be a partner with Lex, because of her relationship with Clark she pictured him as Bill.
Lily, in an attempt to defuse the situation, stood and approached Dragonetti. She was wearing a slinky, short white flapper dress with bead tassels hanging from the waist that swished around as her hips moved. She put her arms around him and said, "Pino, I missed you."
In a sneering tone, Dragonetti replied, "I can see that. Now, beat it. I've got business with Bill."
Lily, still trying to cover said, "Your business is my business, you big lug."
Dragonetti dismissed her, "Later, baby."
Lily looked back and forth between Bill and Pino, trying not to give anything away, but failing to conceal her attraction to Bill before she blew a kiss to Pino and sashayed away. As she walked away, Pino was taking in the sway of her hips and slid into the seat she had just vacated at the table.
Pino addressed Bill, "So, what's the emergency?"
"It's Murphy." He nodded his head in the direction of a group of people on the other side of the bar. "He's making a play for our action down by the Wharf."
Lois had no difficulty in casting Fuentes in this part.
Thoughtfully, Dragonetti looked at Murphy and said, "Is that so?"
Murphy chose that time to look up and seeing both Bill and Pino looking at him decided that it was time to beard the lion in his den. Standing he pulled his jacket straight and then strode over to their side of the bar.
Being sarcastic, Murphy looked down at his adversaries seated at the table and he said, "Gentlemen, what a lovely establishment you have here.
Bill spoke up, "You've got a lot of nerve, Murphy."
Dragonetti replied, more dismissively, "But, fortunately for us, not too many brains. We've got the wharf locked up."
Perry's story was interrupted by Fuentes as he came into the conference room. Looking around he saw that all of his hostages were out of their handcuffs. He blurted out, "What do we have here a bunch of Houdinis?"
And Now:
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Chapter 5
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Fuentes addressed the group, "The system is unlocked. Now, who can get me on-line with a computer?"
Lois was about to volunteer her services, but Clark cut her off, "I can help. What file do you need?"
Fuentes was gruff, "That's none of your concern." As Clark stood up, he continued, "Just get me into the Metro-Comp data base."
Lois piped up, "Metro-Comp? That's the old system. We updated three years ago. He won't know how to use it." She stood from her chair.
Just then, Cat spoke up, "I've been around longer than either of them. She was still probationary when the switchover occurred." Standing up, she said, "You'll have to take me."
Lois hissed, "Cat, what are you doing?"
"Cooperating so that they can get what they want and leave."
George, seeing the wisdom of what she said agreed, but was still worried, "Be careful."
She patted George’s hand and said, "Don't worry."
As she passed Lois she whispered, "
Somebody's got to find out what they're doing here."
Remy grabbed Cat's arm and dragged her into Perry's office. She shoved her toward the chair beside a desk.
Fuentes commanded, "Sit down."
Cat started to reply, "I'd prefer to …"
Fuentes put his hand on Cat's shoulder and shoved her down, "Sit."
After forcing Cat to sit Fuentes moved to the actual computer and started to type. "All right, give me your access code."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, back in the conference room, George was worried. They were all straining to see into Perry's office.
George addressed Clark, "I shouldn't have let her go in there. Why did you allow it?"
Clark shrugged and said, "It wasn't exactly my plan."
George showed just how worried he was with an angry outburst, "If anything happens to her I'll …"
His statement was cut off by a scream from Cat.
Lois moved up next to Clark so that she could block the other's view as he lowered his glasses to use his x-ray vision. She whispered, "What's happening to her?"
He replied, "Shhhhh."
Clark could see that Fuentes had a handful of her auburn mane pulling her head back. In a threatening tone, he said, "I've spent the last eight months planning for this night. Your life means less than nothing to me right now, so if you don't give me the
correct access code I'm going to break your lovely little neck."
Looking around, Clark could see that all eyes appeared to be on him. Even though Perry was captain of the ship, they were all looking to Clark for leadership.
Lois held his arm and felt it tense as he readied for action. She said, "Be careful."
Ruefully he nodded and she felt it as his muscles relaxed under her hand.
He whispered, "He hasn't really hurt her. She was more startled at the rough handling."
Cat replied to Fuentes, meekly, "Superman."
Hearing that, Clark started to tense again.
Lois felt the change and asked, "What's happened?"
Remy heard Cat and went on alert. She pulled her gun and started looking around warily.
Fuentes sneered, "Superman can't help you now," and tightened his grip on her hair.
She choked out, "Like I said, this system was replaced. I still use it occasionally and the last time I did, I changed my password to Superman, so that is my
access code, you idiot, and if you ever tell that to Lane, I'll kill you with my bare hands. I was going to be changing it, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet."
As Clark watched, Fuentes looked surprised, released his grip on Cat's hair and actually patted her head. Lois felt his muscles relax again. He actually chuckled. Lois challenged, "What's so funny?"
Clark looked at her, shook his head and said, "I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"I'd be risking Cat's wrath if I did."
"That's just great. You're afraid of Cat and won't tell your wife what happened."
"Let's be reasonable. How could you have learned what she said unless someone had super-hearing? It could compromise The Secret."
"That's low, Kent. That's so low."
He snickered.
George was growing more and more concerned the longer Cat was away and staggering to his feet said, "I'm going in there."
His determination exceeded what his body was capable of at that time, he staggered, Clark caught him as he fell and eased him back to a sitting position against the wall.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Cat was sitting at Perry's desk and was accessing the system that Fuentes had demanded. She could feel Fuentes's breath on her bare shoulder as he peered at the screen. He said, "The file is named, ‘D-P-B-L-P-R-N-T'"
Cat's very experienced fingers flew across the keyboard. As they did she confirmed, "D-P-B-L-P-R-N-T … Daily Planet … blueprint?"
He was being patronizing now, "That's right, sweetheart. Now, call it up."
Cat mused, "So you must be interested in architecture. I always found this building particularly fascinating myself."
The computer searched for the record and finally displayed a list of names related to the one requested. He pointed at one and said, "There it is. Bring it up."
"Yes, sir. Daily Planet Blueprint."
Fuentes smiled as the file opened and the sketches of the building started to appear on the screen.
Cat was somewhat out of her element on this one. She wished she had kept her mouth shut and let Lois be the one doing this. She had years of experience looking at blueprints. That wasn't a main necessity in the gossip business.
Fuentes directed, "Find the floor below us."
Cat tried to be flip as she scrolled through the pages trying to make it look like she knew what she was doing, "Hmm. I think that's the advertising department. Thinking about placing a personal?"
He stopped her and said, "That's the one." He studied the drawing for a time and then said, "Now, show me the one for this floor."
Taking the chance that the floors would be consecutive, Cat flipped to the next page and sat back.
Apparently her guess had been correct because Fuentes seemed to be satisfied with what he saw. Picking up his walkie-talkie he keyed it and said, Bring the equipment up here."
Cat asked, "Now, what could possibly be here in the Daily Planet newsroom that would be worth risking your lives and the lives of everyone in Metropolis?"
Fuentes looked at her and asked what he obviously perceived to be a rhetorical question, "What else has man sought after without pity or remorse since the dawn of time?"
With one raised eyebrow, Cat replied, "Good sex?"
Fuentes spat out, "Cold, hard, cash."
In a small voice, Cat said, "Oh."
Fuentes ordered, "Print out those plans."
Cat moved to comply, but said, "Sure, but they'll come out over there," and pointed into the bullpen.
Fuentes replied, "That's fine. Do it."
Cat hit a few keys and from where Fuentes stood he could see paper being ejected. She wondered what Lois would do in this situation and the only thing she could come up with was, "Well, since I've already been so helpful, how about giving me an exclusive interview?" She hoped that she sounded more confident then she felt.
"We'll discuss the future, later."
He stood and headed for the printer.
Cat briefly considered trying to send an e-mail to get help, but she didn't have access to her address list from Perry's computer and who would she send the note to anyway? Lois was the one with all of the contacts at MPD. Besides, trying something like that was more up Lois's alley not Cat's. Cat's life as a gossip columnist was a safe one, unless you counted the occasional enraged male actor that she got the goods on and printed that he was having an affair. Her best course of action was to not try anything, be a good girl and just wait to be sent back to the conference room with the rest.
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George was slowly recovering. Clark heard him groan as he tried to straighten up. Clark grabbed a glass and poured him some water. Kneeling down next to him he helped George to a sitting position and offered the water. "Here, drink this. You lost a lot of volume. You need to replace the fluids."
Without thinking, George tried to use his wounded arm and winced when he tried to move it.
Clark asked, "How's the shoulder?"
"It wasn't all that bad."
Jack heard his statement and corrected him, "Hey, you'd still be bleeding to death if it wasn't for him."
"It was that bad?"
Clark nodded and said, "Yeah, it was, but we took care of it. You still need to go to the hospital, but as long as you don't exert yourself too much, you'll last."
Fuentes strode over to the desk and grabbed Cat's arm. "That's all I need from you … for the time being." He guided her back and thrust her through the door to the conference room.
She stumbled on her heels and almost fell, but Lois caught her.
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Jimmy had passed several junctions and he was hoping that he wasn't going around in circles, it was all so … the same … blank metal walls … top, bottom and both sides … open in front and behind. Finally he came to one that sloped down and bracing his hands and feet against the sides to control the speed of his descent he slid down all the time hoping that he wasn't making enough noise to attract someone's attention.
Once he reached the bottom he was again within bare metal walls. At least he knew that he was on a different floor now. A few more floors down and it might just be safe enough to exit through one of the grills like those he had passed.
As the distance between him and the invaders increased his confidence increased. He was now somewhat buoyed up and muttered, "The intrepid cub reporter stealthily worked his way through the dark maze of tunnels knowing that certain death could lurk around every corner. Yet he continued on ... He was their only hope. He was Olsen, Jimmy Olsen."
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