House of Luthor Matchmaker Style
Rated PG-13
*Word* is for emphasis
<"word"> is thoughts
/*word*/ audiotape playback
Previously
Lois's position at LNN was of a very unusual nature. She didn't have any set schedule and she didn't have any firm assignment. Since she was now engaged to the owner even the head of the operation was reluctant to tell her what to do.
Not willing to just rest on her laurels, Lois found things to do. She became something of a troubleshooter. With the contacts she had developed as a reporter there had been numerous cases similar to the one that announced her presence. She had been able to confirm or, in some cases refute stories giving LNN the scoop or in the case of the latter, keeping the station from having egg on its collective face by putting out a false narrative..
This afternoon she was going to be meeting Luthor in his penthouse. Before she left she placed a call. "Hello, Charlie. Is Lucy there?"
"No, she ain't here right now. Ya wanna leave a message?"
"Yeah, tell her that I may be a little late for dinner. I'm meeting with my fiancé this afternoon. He called and said he had some things that we needed to go over."
"I'll be sure and pass the message on."
"Thanks." She hung up the phone and smiled knowing that Clark had the message and would be watching over her. She wasn't sure if her line was bugged or not, but they weren't taking any chances thus the dialect from Clark and the veiled message from Lois.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A couple of hours later, Lois showed up at the penthouse. When she exited the elevator, Luthor approached and attempted to give her a kiss. As he neared, she turned her face so that he kissed her cheek rather than her lips.
Luthor's disappointment was obvious, but he controlled himself. This only served to fuel his determination to dominate this very independent woman once she was his, legally.
Taking her hand, he led her into his office. As they entered, he glanced in the direction of a set of bookcases which lined one wall. Lois had noticed him glancing in that direction each time they had entered the office and was becoming suspicious.
They crossed the room to a large table. Laid out on top of the table was a set of blueprints.
Lois asked, "What is all this?"
Smugly, he replied, "These, my dear, are the plans for our new mansion. Forty rooms, a garage, stable, tennis courts, swimming pool … all the comforts of home."
Lois moved over and started to look at the plans.
Luthor pointed out a feature and said, "This is wrong. I wanted the doors off the master side balcony to be sliders. French doors make the room look smaller."
Lois gasped out, "Lex, the master bedroom is three thousand square feet. That's more than twice the size of my apartment."
He pointed at another feature and asked, "Well, what about the exercise area? Should we put it back on the ground floor?"
Lois knew that she had to play along; they had come too far to blow it now. She sighed and said, "No, I think this is right. It'll be great to get out of bed and have that stair climber staring me right in the face saying 'Now, Lois. Now.'"
Luthor couldn't pass up that lead-in, "But Darling, that'll be my line." Luthor had been pointing out the features and as he did, he worked his way around behind Lois. He was so close that Lois could feel his breath on her neck and shoulders. Shortly his breath wasn't all she felt as his lips started at the edge of her neckline on her shoulder and kissed their way to and up her neck.
Lois pulled away slightly and said, "Thank you, Lex, for understanding about my wanting to wait ... for our wedding night. I just want it to be special."
Luthor smiled a secret smile. She had absolutely no idea what he had planned for their wedding night. He said simply, "It will be." He thought, <Making you submit will be the culmination of a year's effort.> as he kissed the side of her neck again.
While Luthor had been kissing her bare skin, Lois had been feeling nothing so much as revulsion. Now, after his comment, she started to shiver with that revulsion and perhaps a little fear that something would still happen, that he would get on to them and take his pound of flesh from her.
Luthor felt her shiver and misinterpreted it, thinking that she was trembling in anticipation and smiled to himself.
Just then, there was a knock on the door and without waiting for it to be acknowledged, Mrs. Cox walked in. Without preamble, she asked, "Lex, could we run through your schedule for tomorrow?"
Lex was irritated by the interruption. He felt that he was finally making some headway with his intended conquest and Mrs. Cox had destroyed the mood he had been creating. If this kind of behavior continued, no matter how much he relied on her or enjoyed her company, she would have to be put in her place. Reluctantly he turned to her and said, "Of course. Come in Mrs. Cox."
Lois was a keen observer. She was grateful for the reprieve that Mrs. Cox provided. She had caught the looks that Mrs. Cox had been giving her and was sure that she knew the source and was sure that sometime in the future she would be able to use the information. She watched as Lex and Mrs. Cox moved over to his desk. She laid out his calendar.
Once Lex was there and looking over her shoulder, she pointed at an entry and said, "You'll notice the Series K field test is set for 3:45 p.m."
Lois noticed Lex's reaction; he smiled and said, "Excellent."
As soon as he had uttered that word, the phone on the desk rang. Mrs. Cox picked it up and listened briefly. Pulling the phone away she said, "Bagdonis in Chicago."
Luthor looked at Lois apologetically and said, "I'll take it in the library."
And now
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 2
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lois was curious and hoped that she could pump Mrs. Cox for information, so after Luthor exited to take his call Lois turned to Mrs. Cox and asked, innocently, "What's Series ‘K'?"
Mrs. Cox knew that if she told Lois the truth that it would create problems, so she was deliberately vague in her response. "Oh, something we've been working on." She considered how best to answer without giving any information, "The details are ... confidential."
Lois knew that Mrs. Cox didn't approve of her and Lex's infatuation with her. She also knew that this was her way of expressing her dislike and showing Lois just where she stood, so she tried a subtle push, "Lex has no secrets from me." She knew the statement was a lie, but she hoped to throw Mrs. Cox off the track. She didn't want to give her the slightest inkling that they were investigating them.
Mrs. Cox almost gave away more than she should have when she said, "Really?"
To divert her, Lois changed tracks, "Tell me, Mrs. Cox, is there a Mr. Cox?"
Her blunt reply was, "He died."
Lois feigned sympathy as she said, "Oh, I'm sorry."
Mrs. Cox started to show her true colors, when she replied, "Don't be. I'm not."
Lois was shocked at her cold blooded response, but filed this snippet of information away as well.
Luthor exited the library and rejoined them. He asked, Mrs. Cox, "Anything else?"
"Nothing I can't handle."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cox. That'll be all for now."
As she moved away, Mrs. Cox added an extra sway to her hips. Luthor was just a bit incautious as he watched her go and Lois saw it. Another piece of information to file away. In order for her to give Luthor the impression that she was falling under his sway, Lois decided to let him think that she was becoming jealous, so once the door was closed behind her, she said, "I don't like that woman." She wanted to see how far Luthor would carry his deception. His response didn't disappoint her.
Luthor was quick to reply, "She's easily the best assistant I've ever had, but, if you object to her, I'll ..."
Lois knew that he was being disingenuous, but decided to play it like he had convinced her. "No, it's okay, really." She wanted to put some distance between them so she walked out onto the balcony. Unfortunately, Luthor followed her.
Apparently Lois had not been entirely successful in hiding her revulsion and anxiety because Luthor asked, "What is it? You seen distracted this afternoon."
If she was being honest, Lois would have said that she couldn't wait to get home and take a hot shower so that she could scrub her neck and shoulder where he had been kissing her, but to maintain her cover she had to come up with something believable. After a brief, thoughtful pause she said, "Well, with my mom coming in, and all the wedding preparations ..."
Apparently she wasn't convincing enough and Luthor pressed her, "What else?"
She needed to come up with something else and she thought of just the right thing, "Oh ... I was just wondering how everybody was. I haven't spoken to Perry or Cat in weeks."
Luthor felt safe when he offered, "Why don't you give them a call," because he ‘knew' that Perry was out of the way in Florida and Catherine Grant was not a threat.
Lois considered for a second and then said, "I think I will."
Trying to change the subject, Luthor asked, "Now, did we decide on the twelve car garage, or the fifteen?"
As soon as she was able to, Lois excused herself and left Luthor to his business.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That morning, Lucy had been an interested observer as Clark prepared for the day. She had been about to leave for a class, but before leaving had needed to ask Clark a question. When she had knocked on the bathroom door, Clark had opened it to see what she wanted. When he opened the door, Lucy's jaw dropped because all he was wearing was a towel around his waist.
He asked, "Mind if I finish up?"
In a distracted tone, Lucy replied, "Huh? Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, finish up."
Clark smiled at her reaction and picked up a hand mirror. Looking at himself he used his heat vision, bouncing it off the mirror to remove his beard stubble. Once he was finished, he ran a hand over his cheeks and being satisfied, reached for the after-shave and splashed some on his face.
Lucy asked, "Why bother to shave? Your disguise is a beard."
She smiled and said, "Ah, but Superman is clean shaven."
With a look of comprehension, Lucy said, "Oh, yeah, right. Superman can't start showing up with a beard. It would be kinda sexy though."
Clark laughed and said, "Superman isn't supposed to be sexy. He has to be impersonal and aloof. The skin tight suit is bad enough." He gave that a second to sink in and then asked, "What did you want to ask?"
"Ask? I wanted to ask something. I can't remember what it was. Oh well, if I think about it, I'll ask later. Gotta run, class. Bye."
Chuckling, he replied, "Wait a minute. I think I have to take you to your class. I need the car. I'll be finished here in just a second." He shifted into super-speed and finished donning his disguise and then escorted Lucy to the car.
After dropping Lucy off at school, Clark drove to Perry's cabin. As he exited the car, Perry came out on the porch to greet him.
Waving, Clark said, "Hi, Perry. It's good to see you."
Suddenly a thought came to Clark and he voiced what was on his mind, "What did you tell Alice?"
Perry shrugged it off, "Son, I've been married twenty-five years and if there's one thing I've learned it's you don't lie to your spouse."
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her I was doing research for a book I'm gonna write."
Entering the cabin, Clark spotted Jimmy and Jack. Jimmy greeted him, "Hey, CK. How's it going?"
"I was going to ask you the same question. How's the research going?"
Jimmy shrugged and said, "Slow, man, using a modem line is the pits. Give me a high speed network connection any day."
"Have you gotten anywhere on the insurance angle?"
"Yeah, there
was additional insurance on the Daily Planet building through a subsidiary of LexCorp-called Lexel Investments. Now all I have to do is find out how much and that will take some time, especially since I'm on a modem."
Turning to Jack, Clark asked, "Have you had any luck on the bomb?"
"Yeah, I went back to my old haunts and started asking around. I finally got a couple of names. Couple o' guys suddenly came into some money, real money, if you know what I mean."
"Get the names?"
"Yeah, the guys name was Pete. Pete Black and his brother John."
Perry asked, "Anything about who hired them?"
In a conspiratorial tone he replied, "Just that it was someone important, and they got paid a ton of money. He called him: 'The Boss.'"
Clark blurted out, "That fits, but I can't believe this 'Boss' would bomb the Daily Planet just to frame Jimmy for the job. There's another, bigger reason. Jimmy was just the fall guy. It's Luthor and he did it so that he could isolate Lois. This just shows what lengths he will go to do it."
Perry took charge and started giving orders, "Jimmy, Jack, find out where we can contact this John Black character. We need to clear Jimmy's name once and for all with the police. Henderson got him out on a technicality. We need to firm that up. I'll do some digging into Daily Planet finances."
Jimmy had a cheery tone as smiling he said, "Just like old times."
Clark said, "Okay, looks like we are on the road. I need to get back before I'm missed, besides, I have to pick up Lucy from her class."
"Okay, CK. Hey, once this is over, do you think I might have a chance with her?"
Clark laughed and said, "You'll have to check with Lois on that. See you guys later."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Clark had picked Lucy up after her class and taken her home. He was helping her with her studies when he heard an alarm. At 3:45 he cocked his head to the side and went silent.
Lucy saw what he was doing and said, "I've seen you do that before. You're listening to something, aren't you?"
He held up a finger for silence and Lucy stopped the flow of words. Then he answered, "Yes, I just heard a bank alarm. Gotta go." Standing up from where he was sitting, next to Lucy he grabbed his shades and jacket before jogging out the door. Exiting the building he headed for the alley that he commonly used, spun into his uniform and took off to respond to the alarm.
The alarm was still ringing when Superman landed. Everything looked peaceful which surprised him. Looking around he spotted a guard just as the guard spotted him. The guard approached and said, "Thanks for coming, Superman, but it was a false alarm. The security system just went crazy all of a sudden. Sorry to take up your time."
Superman placed his hands on his hips and looked around again as he replied, "No problem at all."
Pedestrians were passing by. A few tourists with cameras stopped to take pictures of Superman.
One of the passers-by was Angelica Cox. As she walked by, Superman suddenly felt feint and the pain almost doubled him over. It was brief. Mrs. Cox was within about ten feet of Superman for about fifteen seconds. As soon as she passed beyond that radius the pain faded.
The guard seeing how Superman was acting became concerned and asked, "Superman, are you okay?"
By this time the pain was fading and Superman was straightening up again. He replied, "Yes. I'm ... fine, now. For a minute there ..." Knowing what had just happened, he started scanning the people around him. By this time, Mrs. Cox had turned a corner and was out of sight.
Once around the corner, Mrs. Cox pulled out a cell phone and made a call.
The phone in Lex's office rang once before he picked it up, "Report."
"We have the genuine article, Lex. Works like a charm." As she was speaking, she pulled a glowing green rock, hanging on a chain from her cleavage.
Failing to find the source of his weakness nearby, Superman took to the air thinking that he should avoid another exposure.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That afternoon, Lois called and spoke to Lex, "Lex, I won't be over tonight."
"Might I ask, why? I was going to have Andre prepare one of his specialties."
"I really need to get together with my sister. She's been helping me with the wedding plans. I have some things to go over with her."
The tone of his voice was one of disappointment, however he was actually relieved. With Mrs. Cox's report that the rock was the genuine article he had some planning to do, "I'll miss you this evening then. Enjoy your time with your sister. Doesn't her current boyfriend live with her?"
Lois was wary and careful with her answer, "Yeah, but when we get together, he makes himself scarce. I think he takes the opportunity to go out and score. I'm really disappointed in my sister, taking up with a druggie."
"Do you want me to do something?"
Lois was hasty to answer, "No, that won't be necessary. None of her relationships ever last very long. I don't see this one lasting much longer anyhow."
"Okay, I was just thinking that if he was a problem or if he bothered you, I could have him removed."
"I appreciate the thought, Lex, but that won't be necessary."
"Will I see you tomorrow?"
"I don't know. There are some things happening that I want to cover for the station."
"You do know that you don't have to work, don't you?"
"I … know, but I want to. It's just who I am."
"Whatever makes you happy, Dearest. Can I plan for dinner tomorrow night?"
"I'll have to let you know tomorrow."
"I'll look for your call."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That evening, Lois showed up at Lucy's apartment. As soon as the door was closed behind her, she threw herself into Clark's arms. "Oh, Clark, I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Honey."
"Look, it's nearing the date of the wedding. Let's finish this thing up so that we can give Luthor his surprise wedding present."
"There's nothing I'd like better, but we are still missing a lot of evidence."
"We'll just have to see about getting what we need."
"Uh, there's another thing …"
Instantly apprehensive, Lois asked, "What?"
"Kryptonite. I was exposed to it earlier."
The pieces of the puzzle started to fall together, Lois asked, "When?"
"There was a bank alarm a little before four PM."
"Could it have been 3:45?"
"Yeah, right about then."
0
"Series K? What is Series K?"
"Mrs. Cox came in to confirm a field test of Series K today at 3:45. It has to be Kryptonite. We have to stop this. Now that we know he had Kryptonite it places you in danger."
"We can't stop now. We are very close. We just need a little more."
"Okay, at my first opportunity I'm going to go in and get what I can and since we know he has Kryptonite, you, my very dear husband will have to keep your distance."
"What do you think you can get?"
"I won't know until I get there, but I'll get something."
comments go here. TBC
