Beyond the External
by Lieta
Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” All rights to the characters belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros. No profit was made off this work.
Chapter 2
Later that evening, Clark was returning from helping out at a traffic incident that had occurred as rush hour started easing up for the night. He came into his apartment from the balcony, wanting to check his suit for stains before he exchanged it for normal clothing.
Then he froze as he noticed that his sofa was occupied.
*Lois* was sitting on his couch, engrossed in the notebook he'd left out detailing all of his notes on... Luthor.
Bracing himself for the imminent confrontation he called out, "Lois?" as he came through the arch into his living room.
She startled to her feet and whirled to face him. Upon seeing who had surprised her, her jaw dropped and she stammered out, "S-S-Superman?"
Clark debated with himself for a moment on how he should react to her being here. Finally he decided on a course of action, "Is Clark here?" he asked, feigning confusion.
Lois frowned at him for a moment before turning back to the open notebook now sitting on his table. "No, Clark's not here," she replied in an eerily calm voice that had him debating flying right back out the window. It was a voice that signaled danger to whomever had crossed Mad Dog Lane. "I wanted to talk to him about something and decided to wait for him to get home when I realized he wasn't here." Clark wondered sardonically how she'd gotten in, but knew she would never acknowledge picking his lock or whatever she'd done to get into his apartment. "Mind explaining why Clark has all this book of... fantasy... about Lex?" she continued, motioning to the notebook. Clark mused that this was the first time Lois had ever glared at Superman.
Turning his own gaze to the notebook, Clark explained, "That contains notes on my interactions with Lex Luthor as well as theories about his involvement with some situations I've had to intervene in since my arrival in Metropolis. There’s also what Clark's been able to find investigating the same incidents.”
Lois snorted in disbelief, "Did *Clark* put you up to this? I know he seems to dislike Lex for whatever reason." Lois waved a hand dismissively.
Clark set his teeth in annoyance as he picked up the notebook and quickly found one specific page. It was a transcript of his and Luthor's conversations from when Luthor had been testing him. He held it out to Lois. "This is a conversation I had with Luthor not long after I arrived in Metropolis. Do you remember when the Carlin building was bombed?"
Lois brushed a hand over where shrapnel from the bomb had grazed her temple. "Yeah," she whispered. She scanned through the transcript, nibbling on her lips as she went through the page. She finished and laid the notebook back on his table. "I don't know what you want me to be reading into this. Sure, if you're prejudiced against him, it could look bad. But I'm sure you misunderstood something!"
Clark sighed. It took everything in him to not try to shift his missing glasses on his nose or anything else that would be 'not Superman'. And he had thought juggling being both Clark and Superman in the same apartment the other day before the run away train had been hard.
He sat down primly on the very edge of the couch and tried to formulate his response. "You can read whatever you want into it. But, that was when I was sure that Luthor was behind some of the crimes I've seen since I came to Metropolis."
Lois clenched her jaw and bit out, "And Clark's been helping you with this?"
Clark rubbed his forehead and replied tiredly, "Clark's been investigating everything I've seen. There's no proof, but I think Luthor was behind, at the least, the sabotaging of Prometheus, when I was being tested shortly after that and this heat wave. And I'm suspicious he was behind Menken's fighters and the Smart Kids."
Lois huffed, "Really? Lex saved my life when Menken took me hostage and gave both my father and the 'Invisible Man' jobs after they were left with little to no prospects. And the space station? He tried to *save* the program!" She set her hands on her hips and her voice rose to a shout, "And finally, you're blaming him for that "leak"?"
Clark was again tempted to drop his Superman role in his frustration. But, he couldn't, at least not totally. “There are just too many coincidences. Prometheus was sabotaged, Luthor volunteers a fully planned space station than even came with a holographic presentation. People were behaving in bizarre ways that seemed to test my abilities and, after I confronted Luthor about it, they stopped. Menken had to be getting funds to pay for your father's work from somewhere, but as soon as he gets caught he manages to know your schedule well enough to kidnap you *and* Luthor was able to find him faster than *I* was once he'd dragged you away! Then, not only did the Smart Kids target him specifically in their schemes, instead of just a random company or bank, but you didn't *hear* him talking to Phillip, trying to convince him to keep taking Metamide 6 and to give him the improved formula. Finally, there is no way that the temperature fluctuations we saw during the heat wave were from a *leak.* You poured over the data yourself. When I used my powers, the heat went up, when I didn't, it went down. How could that be from just a *leak*?"
Lois crossed her arms and set her jaw in a mulish expression. "That still doesn't mean *Lex* had anything to do with it."
Clark resisted rolling his eyes. "You're right," he returned. "It doesn't. But all of that that added *together* starts to become very troubling." A contemplative expression crossed his face. "However, I may well be mistaken. Why don't you prove Clark and I wrong?" He picked up the notebook and held it out to her.
He saw the fire of the challenge flare in Lois' eyes. "Fine!" she spat out, grabbing the notebook from his hand. "I *will* prove that both you and Clark are targeting the wrong man."
And with that she stalked out of his apartment, notebook in hand.
