When Churches Come Crashing Down
Folc4evernaday
Part 42
***
Lex Luthor was not a very understanding man. He was ruthless and demanded the best from everyone and everything around him. He had prided himself on a job well done when Lex Corp had created a monopoly over Metropolis. He was the face of Metropolis; the one everyone had to look up to see. Until that is he had lost control of everyone and everything around him.
He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“Sir?” Turner looked up from his desk to see his secretary, Janet hovering outside his door.
“Yes?”
“The alarm to the Turner Banking and Loan has been tripped. I’m not sure what you wanted to …”
He didn’t give her a chance to finish; instead, he was up out of his chair, heading for the elevator. No one stole from Lex Luthor and lived to tell about it.
***
“You know, you’re really not so bad,” Jack commented as he took a bite from his sandwich. “I don’t understand what the big fuss is all about,”
Superman shrugged, “I don’t know,”
“So, you’re like an exact copy of Superman?”
Superman nodded. “My father…” He stopped a moment. He didn’t want to discuss his father. “I was created in the womb,” He explained solemnly.
Jack looked at him perplexed for a moment, “Whatever,” He shrugged, “Maybe you and Superman should work together; take shifts in saving the world?”
Superman’s eyes darkened. “No! I am the rightful Superman. He is not!”
“Whoa!” Jack held up his hands, attempting to calm him down. “I didn’t mean to start anything. I just thought because you were both working towards the same goal, you could work together. My bad,”
Superman nodded, opening his mouth to speak, but an alarm caught his attention off in the distance.
***
Arianna smiled as she aimed the beam to her latest weapon on all that approached her. The doors to the bank opened and she smiled when she saw the figure approach her, “Lex, so good of you to join us!”
With that she aimed the weapon at him, knocking him to the ground in pain.
She smiled, kneeling down next to him as she ran a hand through his hair. He lay unconscious on the floor and she smirked. “Just think, if you could only stay like this forever we never would have had any problems,”
***
‘Andrew Simpelton was a simple man.’
Those words could not ring any truer. Andrew Simpleton had worked at LexCorp Finance for fifteen years. He had started out as just an intern, working his way up into management. He had always worked hard and given a thousand percent. Many thought of him as a nerd or a workaholic, but he thought of it as time well invested.
Now, as he sat underneath his desk, clutching his inhaler as his co-workers fell to the ground in hysteria; he wondered if he had been right to invest so much time into his work. He hadn’t taken a single risk in his life, nor had he accomplished anything as far as a personal achievement. He had remained a bachelor with no prospects in the near future, and he hardly had any friends. What did he have to show for himself?
He took another breath from his inhaler. He just didn’t understand why his co-workers were acting so strangely.
***
“Interesting proposal,” Mindy mused, “but why don’t you do the dirty work yourself?”
“You don’t want revenge for what he did to you?” Nigel probed, knowing full well Mindy had no idea Lex had been the one to poison her.
“What are you talking about?” Mindy inquired.
“You were in the hospital for over a week. I’d think you’d want to extract your revenge on the person who put you there.” Nigel shrugged, pretending to turn away, “Never mind, I suppose it's not your style,”
“Hold it!” Mindy ordered.
Nigel stopped in his tracks, smiling to himself. She had no idea she had just been played.
“Yes?”
“How exactly do you plan on having Lex arrested without exposing me too?”
“I have information from before he merged Turner Inc with the Church Industry,” Nigel promised. “Nothing will happen to your company,”
“How can you be so sure?” Mindy asked.
“My dear, I’ve been doing this a long time,” He explained.
***
Clark landed outside Turner Banking and Loan after overhearing the silent alarm. He scanned the building, assuring himself that it was safe to enter before opening the doors. The last thing he wanted was to put someone’s life in jeopardy because of his carelessness.
“What are YOU doing here?” A familiar voice from behind him asked irritably.
He held his index finger up, signaling the uninvited guest to be quiet. Everyone in the bank seemed to be unconscious.
“You’re going to screw everything up!” his doppelganger shouted.
“Would you stop?” Clark hissed back at him angrily.
He locked eyes with the very irritated Superman. He didn’t understand why he was here. Surely it didn’t take two of them to survey the scene.
<<’What do you want?’>>
The voice echoed in his mind.
Clark shook his head, taking a step back.
Did he seriously just…?
<<’Well? Are you going to stand there all day?’>>
No, he wasn’t imagining it.
The sound of sirens approaching them caught his attention. He looked towards the entrance to see where James Turner lay on the floor unconscious. His bank had been robbed and he’d tried to stop it.
‘Poor guy,’ Clark thought.
“She took it,” Turner mumbled incoherently.
He knelt down next to him to hear what Turner had said, hoping he’d repeat it, but Turner pushed him away.
He looked back at his doppelganger, hoping he’d heard what Turner had said, but he was gone.
A stampede of Metropolis’ finest, guarded in protective gear entered the bank. “CLEAR!” one of them shouted, waving his gun around.
Clark turned towards the officers and began giving them the details on what he thought had happened as they began helping clean up the havoc the robbers had left.
***
Amanda stood outside the ‘Sunshine Metropolis’ daycare center, watching as the young children played outside, chasing one another around the playground. She smiled bittersweetly. The ache she had inside her heart was still there; whether she admitted it or not.
She loved the time she had spent with Jordan. She didn’t care what anyone had said. In her heart, she knew she had been right. She was destined to be Jordan’s mother and nobody was going to rob her of that.
“What are you doing here?” Superman scolded from behind her.
“Nothing!” She said haughtily, turning away from the daycare center as she walked away.
***
Everything had changed. Sam Lane looked around what had once been his laboratory at S.T.A.R. Labs. It was now occupied by two interns. His belongings had probably been thrown out along with all his research notes. Everything he’d worked so hard on…
“Dr. Lane?”
Sam looked up to see Dr. Bernard Klein in front of him. “Yes?”
Dr. Klein smiled. “I know it’s a bit overwhelming. I put all your stuff in storage.” He explained. “Uh, the board isn’t comfortable with you having your own lab right now…well, given the circumstances.”
Dr. Lane nodded. He couldn’t blame them. He’d been charged with a capital offense. “Yes, of course.”
“Come on, I could use your help.”
“What are we working on?”
“Project KMD 629.” Dr. Klein stated flatly.
“You seem to have a lot of projects that begin with ‘K.’” Sam noted. “Never an ‘N’ or an ‘H’ It’s always ‘K’.”
“It’s my luck,” Dr. Klein said hurriedly.
“Right,” Sam nodded. “So what have we got?”
“Well, if you look at this sample…”
***
“Authorities still have yet to identify all the assailants that raided Turner Banking and Loan earlier this afternoon. Turner was found unconscious at the entrance of his bank when authorities arrived. Superman was on the scene, helping authorities to piece together what had happened…”
Lois clicked the television off, shaking her head. “Unreal,”
“I know,” Clark said, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder. “The guy was determined that these guys wouldn’t rob him; so he tried to stop them himself.”
“Trying to be the hero,” Lois sighed, leaning back against Clark’s embrace.
“Being stupid,” Clark corrected. “Now, he’s in the hospital and no one knows what these guys used on him.”
“There’s no telling unless he wakes up,” Lois said. The cries from the baby monitor caught her attention, veering her attention to the baby sleeping upstairs. “Someone’s hungry,”
***
Six Weeks Later…
The next few weeks kept Lois and Clark busy with the investigation into what appeared to be a botched robbery of James Turner’s empire. Turner had been released from the hospital shortly afterward, insistent upon returning to work.
Lois had been allowed to go back to work after her six-week checkup, albeit on a limited workload. The doctor still wanted her to take it easy after the complications she’d had during her pregnancy.
***
“I’m sure it’s nothing, Lex,” Nigel cooed, watching as Lex paced around him nervously.
“Why did you allow me to get checked into a hospital? Don’t you know they could figure it out?” Lex fumed angrily.
“What was I supposed to do? Break you out with an IV attached to you?” Nigel asked amused.
“You don’t understand the severity of this!” Lex argued. “Everything I’ve worked for,”
“You?” Nigel challenged slightly miffed.
“We. I apologize. I meant to say ‘we.’ Everything will fall apart.”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Nigel cut in.
“The weapon I had Mamba working on is GONE. If I didn’t know any better I’d say those hoodlums used it on me before they left the bank. The point is I have no way of destroying Superman now. No way of extracting my revenge and now every one of us is exposed. If that weapon makes its way back to the authorities,”
“That’s a bit of a stretch even for you, Lex.” Nigel cut him off, “You’re giving the authorities far too much credit.”
“Never underestimate your opponent.”
***
“Henderson?” Detective Wolf knocked on the inspector’s door.
“Yeah?” Henderson didn’t even look up from the report he was typing up.
“Someone to see you. A Mindy Church.”
Henderson looked up at that. He raised his eyebrows, “Well, by all means, send her in.”
Wolf looked over his shoulder and motioned for Mindy to come in. “If you need anything just let us know,”
“I will, thank you, Detective.” She cooed, rubbing her palm up and down his shoulder.
Detective Wolf blushed under Mindy’s gaze and then took his cue to exit, “I, uh, I gotta go. I’ll catch up with you later, Henderson,”
Wolf could have sworn he heard Henderson mutter ‘coward’ under his breath as he left the office and headed towards the break room.
***
“Lois, it’s not that bad,” Clark argued.
Lois shook her head adamantly. “It is that bad. Every time we bring Laura and Jordan to Dr. Klein for a checkup my father’s there with his five thousand questions. I don’t want to deal with it. Make the call.”
“You are not leaving me alone with him,” Clark argued.
“Invite your dad. Make it a guy’s thing. I don’t care. Just get him out of S.T.A.R. Labs for the time being.” Lois shot back.
“You’re being ridiculous.” He added.
“So sue me,” Lois snapped. “I do not want another day of trying to dodge questions with him.”
“So you want me to do it?” Clark summarized.
“Exactly,” Lois gave him a peck on the cheek as she placed Laura’s carrier in the backseat of the Jeep. “Make the call,”
Clark shook his head as he watched her pull out of the driveway. “The things I do,” He muttered to himself as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone and began to dial.
***
Amanda stood outside the daycare center, expectantly waiting for the children to come outside to play on the playground. It had become a routine over the last few weeks. She’d finish her work at Top Copy then she’d take a lunch break at the same time the children were playing and enjoy the afternoon watching her ‘son’ play. She had finally gotten that Superman wannabe to back off. He kept trying to guilt her into giving up her routine, but she wouldn’t waver.
She looked up when she heard the children cheering as they came out on the playground. She looked around; searching for the familiar face she looked forward to. Where was he? She didn’t see him.
Panic raced through her mind as she searched for his face. He was nowhere to be found.
***
Lois looked up at the clock nervously as Dr. Klein examined both Laura and Jordan. The last visit had been a mess. Clark had kept Sam out in the hall forcing himself to listen to Sam’s stories about his ‘medical breakthroughs’ for a made up article in order to cover up their real reason for visiting S.T.A.R. Labs. She half suspected he was onto them.
Thankfully Clark had held up his end of the bargain and gotten Sam out of the office. How had he done it? She didn’t want to know.
***
How exactly had they gotten on this subject? Clark looked from father to father-in-law wondering how they had gotten to such an odd topic of conversation. Sam was trying to convince them that ‘family life’ wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. There was apparently more to life than coming home to your loved one and children. The invention of robotics and discovery of cloning could apparently satisfy any man.
He hung his head as he took another gulp of his beer. If alcohol had an effect on him he’d be wishing for it to take effect right now. The waitress seemed to be avoiding their table ever since the topic of conversation had shifted. He didn’t blame her. He’d avoid this table if he could too.
‘The things I do for love,’ he thought to himself. ‘She owes me, big time,’
***
“I’m not sure I understand what it is exactly you want, Mrs. Church,” Henderson peeled Mindy’s arms off of him once more, taking a few steps away from her to put more distance between them. She closed the distance once more, tracing the outline of his chest with her index finger, teasing him.
“Oh, but I’ve told you at least a dozen times, Inspector,” She cooed. “I’m doing my part as a Metropolitan! I’m trying to stop ‘valiants’ from hurting our city.”
“Valiants?” He looked at her perplexed.
“And criminals too!” She cheered. “I came across this and I was shocked!” She pointed at the file on the desk.
“I’ll take a look at it!” Henderson assured hurriedly, pushing her away once more.
“Oh, thank you!” She planted a big wet one on his cheek.
“Uh, you’re welcome,” He said gruffly, straightening his jacket.
***
Mayson watched as Lucy Lane stepped into the DA’s office, humming to herself. It had been a while since she’d seen Lucy this happy. She was grateful to see the Lucy Lane she had gotten to know earlier last year rather than the gloom of doom version that had been around these past few months.
“Well, you seem to be in a good mood. How was your lunch?” Mayson inquired.
“Wonderful.” Lucy beamed.
Mayson smiled knowingly, “Good food?”
“Good food? Yes. Great company? Always.” Lucy answered happily.
Mayson shook her head at her lovestruck friend. “Whatever you say, Luce.” She handed her a package that had come in. “This came for you while you were gone.”
“Oh, thanks,” Lucy said, taking it from her. “The Church Group,” She read. “That’s weird. I’ve never heard of them.”
“Could be some subcontractor,” Mayson suggested.
“Yeah,” Lucy nodded.
***
Lois fought to suppress her laughter. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Clark shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “Never again.”
“Oh, come on,” She pleaded, tugging on his arm, trying to ease him out of his mood. He’d been mad about having lunch with her father all day. She wasn’t sure what could have happened that could be this bad. Clark usually didn’t brood this long.
“No way,” He shook his head. She rested her head against his shoulder, trying to suppress her laughter. “It’s not funny. You weren’t there.”
“It kind of is,” She laughed.
“No, it's not.” He shook his head. “He is the most….” He grunted in disapproval when he couldn’t come up with the right words to finish his statement.
“I know,” She nodded, resting her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“You know he’s a jerk,” Clark added.
“You know this is the same person you kept trying to push me to involve him in our lives last year, right?” Lois shot back.
Clark hung his head as he sighed in recognition, “Now, I understand. I get it. Please don’t make me do something like that again. My sanity can’t take it.”
“Who says your sane?” Lois teased. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and thwacked her gently with it. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding!” She squealed in laughter.
“Not funny.” He added, pulling her towards him. “Two hours.”
She turned to link her arms around his neck, leaning up to kiss him, “I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, Laura and Jordan’s exam came out fine. Perfectly healthy,”
Clark gave her a half smile. He sighed, “It does make me feel a little better.”
“I’m sorry daddy was such a scrooge and drove you and your dad crazy,” She said, inching herself closer. What’s my punishment? Kitchen duty for a week?”
Clark laughed. “I’m not letting you near that stove after what happened last week.”
“I followed those directions to the letter.” She snapped back.
“It still caught on fire. You’re not touching the stove.” He shot back, pulling her towards him.
“You’re mean.”
“How am I mean?” He asked.
“Picking on me because I can’t cook; that’s mean,” Lois explained.
“I never said you couldn’t cook…I just said you couldn’t touch the stove. There’s a difference.”
“Hah!” Lois scoffed, pulling away from him.
He watched her head get up off the couch and head towards the kitchen, “Where are you going?”
“I’m hungry. I’m going to fix something to eat WITHOUT using the stove since apparently I’m not allowed to touch it.” Lois shot back over her shoulder.
Clark got up to follow her into the kitchen. She was bent over, looking through the refrigerator with the door half open. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as she continued to look through the cabinets for something to eat. “You want me to fix something?”
“No,” She said half-heartedly. He smiled against her skin, leaning down to kiss her.
“No?” He murmured against her lips. “I thought you were hungry.”
“I am..” She said, “was. You’re very distracting.” She said, stepping away from him.
“How am I distracting?” He teased.
She turned to close the door to the refrigerator. “Because you are,” She shot back. She sighed when his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her towards him.
“I’m just minding my own business,” He said innocently, tightening his arms around her waist. She laughed, pulling him towards her. “You’re the one that’s up to no good.”
“Really?” She inquired, tugging on the lapels of his jacket to pull him towards her. “Exactly how am I up to no good?”
“Where to begin?” He asked, resting his hands on her hips as he walked them out of the kitchen. Her grip on the lapels of his jacket had not faltered. She held onto him tightly as he continued to walk them backward. “First, you con me into making your dad leave S.T.A.R. Labs.”
“I did apologize for that,” She pointed out.
“Two hours of utter nonsense I had to listen to,” He added, lifting her up in his arms to keep her in his embrace.
“At least you didn’t have to live with him.” She teased.
“No, that was enough,” He sighed, pressing her back against the wall to the entrance of the kitchen.
“Clark,” She let out a soft whimper when he molded his body against hers. His lips brushed against her collarbone. He supported her with one arm as he began popping the buttons to her blouse open. “What if we wake someone up?”
“Then you’ll just have to learn to be quiet,” He teased.
***
“Such a perfect piece,” Arianna commented, stroking the sides of the Quantum Disruptor she had taken with her from her raid on Turner Banking and Loan. She smiled to herself, “Another addition,” She glanced towards the wall that held several pieces behind a glass case. She had collected almost everything Lex had gained on his climb to fame during the construction of LexCorp. She had stood by him through thick and thin; playing the doting wife while he had betrayed her countless times. She wouldn’t be the one left holding all the pieces this time. Lex Luthor would pay for what he had done to her and her family’s empire.
***
Lois took a deep breath as she stepped into the Daily Planet lobby. The fluctuation of her emotions was easy to read about, but surviving the ups and downs was completely different. She seemed much more emotional this time around than she had after Jordan. She had just dropped Jordan off at daycare and Laura was with the Kents. They had insisted on staying with them to help adjust to the new baby in the house. Martha and Jonathan had been a godsend, helping balance between the two children vying to be the center of everyone’s attention.
It was overwhelming, to say the least when she had just recently adapted to life with Jordan and now here was another little body to add to the mix. That added with her husband’s extracurricular activities kept her stressed most of the time. She was usually able to hide the stress; except for today when she’d broke down in tears dropping Jordan off.
It wasn’t very convincing to the teacher when she’d insisted she was all right as she kept sobbing. Clark had had to attend to a situation up north with an oil spill that had turned into an oil fire on the harbor; so she’d had to do the morning routine of dropping Jordan off alone. Now, she was late to work. She struggled to readjust her make-up to hide her puffy eyes from the curious glances she knew would come if she dared step into the Daily Planet newsroom without her game face on. Mad Dog Lane didn’t have puffy eyes or emotions other than anger.
***
Superman landed on the outskirts of Sunshine Metropolis daycare center, watching as Amanda stared at the playing children from the park across the street. She’s still watching him. He knew this wasn’t right. He knew he should do something, but he didn’t know what to do.
Maybe Jack was right. Maybe he needed to work WITH the other Superman.
***
“Morning, Lois,” Jimmy bounded up to her with a large manila envelope in his hand. “This came for you guys yesterday afternoon. You guys had left early, so…” He shrugged, handing her the envelope.
“Thanks, Jimmy,” She said inattentively, reaching for the envelope without looking up from her computer as she continued typing away.
Jimmy nodded, catching the hint. He walked away, allowing Lois to continue typing up her notes. Lois turned her attention back to the computer screen, concentrating on finishing before the staff meeting in less than an hour. She glanced at the clock at the bottom of her screen. Hopefully, Clark would be making an appearance before the staff meeting. She didn’t feel up to making up another excuse for his absence right now.
***
“Take a look at this,” Henderson said, laying out sheet by sheet on the large conference table in front of him.
“It’s a bunch of company details,” Wolf commented. “So?”
“No,” Henderson groaned, fisting his hair in frustration. “LOOK!” He pointed at the highlighted points on the sheet.
“Huh?” Wolf commented as he read, “Turner Industries has the same companies that…”
Henderson threw another folder on top of the sheet he was reading. The file read ‘CONFIDENTIAL’. “Open it,” He ordered.
Wolf sighed, taking a sip of his coffee as he opened the folder. “This is James Turner’s medical file. So?”
Henderson threw down another file. The same stamp of ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ was marked on this one as well. “Go on,” He prompted.
Wolf shook his head, opening the next file, “Lex Luthor?” He glanced at Henderson perplexed. “I don’t get it.”
“Blood type and fingerprints are an exact match,” Henderson explained. “How coincidental is it that Mr. Turner appeared after Lex Luthor’s supposed death. The body can’t be found. Turner Industries conveniently owns almost every property that LexCorp owned; excluding the Daily Planet.”
“They also own Cost-Mart,” Wolf pointed out.
“Technically that would be Mindy Church that owns them.” Henderson corrected.
“So what are you saying Lex Luthor has been living among us this whole time without anyone knowing it?” Wolf asked.
“He didn’t fool everyone,” Henderson remarked with a smirk, pointing at the confidential files. “How do you think I got all this?”
“Oooh, that’s cold. Betrayed by your own business partner.” Wolf whistled. “Good for us, though,”
“We still need more than this to go to the judge for a warrant,” Henderson explained. “All we got is theories.”
***
TBC...
Last edited by folc4evernaday; 11/01/16 10:44 AM.
