Table of Contents
From Part 26:Lex stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around his hands, then reached for the door. The handle still felt hot, even through a couple of layers of leather. He ignored it, tugging at the door. It didn't open easily - warped already by the heat, he realised, and had to pause for a coughing fit to pass.
The door opened suddenly, and the corridor was visible. Or... he had to presume that it was the corridor. All that Lex could see was a towering wall of flickering red and yellow.
And then an enormous ball of flame, attracted by the sudden availability of oxygen, rushed towards him with a loud roar.
Lex screamed in agony as the flames rolled over him, making him stagger backwards and fall to the floor. And then he screamed again, the heat and pain excruciating.
He was on fire! The pain... the pain...
They... would... pay...
**********
Now read on...Clark plunged into the building, searching intently with all of his senses to detect where the trapped person was. The screams had ceased, cut off abruptly a second or two ago. He knew very well that he was probably already too late - but if there was even the faintest chance that whoever was trapped inside could still be alive, he didn't intend to give up until he found them.
At first, he found nothing - just furniture in flames or already reduced to cinders, or parts of walls and roof which had collapsed and were burning. And then, suddenly, just inside an open doorway, he saw what he was looking for.
A human being - Clark couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman - lay curled up protectively in the foetal position. Flames still licked the body; Clark blew to extinguish them and hunched down by the body. But he knew without even looking that it was too late. The person was already dead. The body was far too badly burned for there to be any hope of life - too far burned for identification, too, he realised with a rush of sadness. It would take dental records or DNA to work out who this had been.
It was probably a tramp, he thought. Someone in need of shelter from the elements on a near-winter's night. He - it was probably a male body - must have broken in and then not woken until the fire had taken hold and escape was impossible.
All he could do for what had once been a human life was to carry the remains outside, where the fire couldn’t devour them, and deliver them to a paramedic. Careful not to leave behind any fragments of clothing or body parts, Clark gently picked up the charred body and headed for the quickest way out.
**********
Lois was trying, without too much success, to interview the chief fire officer, who didn't seem to have much interest in talking to the press. The answers she received were mostly monosyllables, apart from suggestions that she should go back behind the cordon and wait until the fire was out, when he would be releasing a statement. The guy didn't seem to understand the concept of an exclusive, or of getting there first. He wouldn't even confirm that this fire was the work of the Toasters, although there wasn't much doubt of that.
And then she saw someone she recognised, breaking through the police cordon and coming up at a run. Toni Taylor.
"Ma'am, please go back behind the tape," the fire officer instructed brusquely.
"I'm the owner of the Metro Club," Taylor gasped breathlessly.
"I see." The officer's tone changed. "I'm afraid there isn't a lot we can do for your club. The fire just took hold too quickly. Our strategy is to try to contain it, to stop it spreading to other buildings." He gave a sympathetic shrug. "Superman's here somewhere and he's helping -."
"I don’t care about the building," Taylor interrupted, and Lois noticed that her expression was frantic. "There's someone in there!"
"What?" The officer stared at her. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. There's a high-tech security camera connected to a video display in my apartment. After I got the call, I checked it just in case - and it was flashing, which means there'd been an intruder."
"Why the hell didn't you tell the police immediately?" the officer demanded. He broke off to wave over a couple of firefighters, telling them that there was someone inside.
One firefighter shook his head. "If there's anyone in there, there's no way they're coming out alive. We can take a look, but I don't think it's safe to put men inside to search."
The expression of appalled shock on Toni Taylor's face drew Lois's attention. She stopped writing notes and studied the other woman. There was something she wasn't telling the fire officer, of that Lois was certain.
"Who is it?" she demanded. "Who's in there?"
"What?" Taylor stared at her. "How would I know who's in there?"
"You know," Lois retorted. "One of your brothers?"
The fire officer, who had finished issuing instructions, turned back, his attention clearly caught by the exchange. "Ms...?"
"Taylor. Toni Taylor."
"Ms Taylor, if you know anything at all about who is in there, you need to let me know. As it is, you're running a serious risk of having charges pressed against you for negligence."
Taylor looked from the fire officer to the burning building, to which firefighters dressed in protective clothing were currently running, then back again. "I saw him on my camera," she said, the strain audible in her voice. "Lex Luthor's in there!"
*********
Clark made his way through the flames to the outside of the building, almost running into three firefighters dressed in fire-retardant clothing and breathing apparatus, and carrying hoses. "It's too dangerous to go in," he called, concerned for their safety.
One of them shoved his headgear aside. "We were told someone was in there..." His gaze fell to Clark's burden. "I guess that's him, huh, Superman?"
"I heard a scream," Clark explained. "But by the time I found him it was too late."
"Where did you find him?" the firefighter asked.
Clark described the surroundings.
"Just inside an open door?" The firefighter shook his head. "A fireball. Poor fool. If he hadn't opened the door he'd probably have made it - you'd have got him out alive if a little scorched and suffering from smoke inhalation."
Another firefighter had removed his headgear. "What the hell was he doing inside there, anyway? The owner said he broke in." He pulled a face. "I guess that's the police's problem. You sure there's no-one else in there, Superman?"
"Couldn't see any sign of anyone," Clark confirmed. "Look, let me hand this guy over to the paramedics, and then I'll be back to help you guys get this under control."
*********
Her back to Toni Taylor, who was standing watching the blazing club, Lois hit a speed-dial number on her cellphone. It was answered within two rings.
"Henderson."
"It's Lane. Can you get down to West River now?"
"I've come out of questioning a suspect to take this call, Lane. You think I have time to run halfway across the city?"
"You'll thank me for this," she told him. "And the suspect you're questioning might too. The Metro Club's on fire."
Henderson's groan was audible. "The Toasters again? There's nothing I can do there, Lois."
"Lex Luthor was in the building, Henderson. Still is, I understand."
"What?" Now she had his full attention. "He's trapped inside?"
"Probably pretty crispy by now," Lois quipped dryly. A flurry of movement caught the corner of her eye, and she turned back to the club to see Clark - as Superman - walking in her general direction and carrying what looked like a body. "No, I think he's out - Superman's here and I see him carrying a body out of the building."
"I'll be there in ten minutes. Don't go away." And the call was disconnected abruptly.
Rolling her eyes, Lois put her phone back into her purse and checked her watch. She was looking forward to this - even she couldn't get from Henderson's precinct to West River in ten minutes.
She made her way across to the fire department's paramedic vehicle, where Superman had taken the body. "Superman! Lois Lane, Daily Planet. He's dead, I take it?"
The paramedic gave her an irritated look.
"Unfortunately, yes. By the time I heard him scream, it was already too late." He laid the body on a gurney and moved back, closer to Lois; the paramedic thanked him, but then turned away to attend to the body.
"You know that's Lex Luthor?" Lois said quietly, watching her partner carefully.
He stared at her. "You're kidding!"
"Nope. Unless there's anyone else in there..."
"Not that I could see." Clark turned and stared back at the body on the gurney for a moment, then faced Lois again. "Yeah, it's him. The face is burned beyond recognition, but the bone structure's right. How did you know...?"
Lois explained briefly about Toni Taylor. "What a way to go," she added, glancing sideways and shuddering as she gazed at the corpse for a few seconds.
"Yeah," Clark said softly. The expression on his face made Lois frown.
"You're not blaming yourself, are you?"
"What, for not getting to him in time?" He shrugged. "I went down as soon as I heard him scream. But I guess he screamed because the fire had got him - so it was already too late then."
"Good," Lois said vehemently. At Clark's surprised expression, she bit her lip. "I know, I know. But if anyone deserves to be dead, Lex Luthor does. And we're going to prove it, too."
"Yeah," Clark agreed, then sighed. "I'd have saved him, you know? If I'd seen him in time, I mean. But... I can't be sorry that I didn't. This isn't like one of those poor guys caught in yesterday morning's fire. These fires were all his fault."
"But not this one, I'd guess," Lois pointed out. "Why would he order the Metro Club torched? Especially if he was planning to visit it."
"And Toni Taylor would never have agreed to it," Clark added. "I think this was a little bit of moonlighting by the Toasters."
Lois nodded. Her attention was caught then by the screech of brakes as a car pulled up sharply. "Henderson's here," she said abruptly. She checked her watch; he'd made it in under nine minutes. Impressive. "I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah, I said I'd help the firefighters anyway, and we've been talking here too long. I'll see you later." Clark hesitated for a moment, all the same, and in that instant Lois saw the expression in his eyes change: the sudden heat in his gaze warmed her and she was reminded of their kisses outside his apartment earlier. Yes, she was looking forward to seeing him later too.
And it was good to know that she wasn't the only one who'd found it hard to stand together like that and not be able to touch or to show their feelings for each other in any way at all. Lois had amazed herself with the strong impulse she'd felt to reach out to Clark. She'd wanted to stand closer to him so that he could put his arm around her shoulders. She'd wanted to reach up and plant a kiss on his jaw, and she'd wanted his arms to come around her and hold her. She'd wanted to kiss him the way they'd kissed that morning.
Reminding herself that he was there as Superman had required all of her concentration.
Clark strode away, taking flight quickly. She made herself
not look at him, even though she loved watching his graceful movements in the air, and instead she went to meet Henderson, who was flashing his badge at a local cop.
"Is there any speed limit you didn't just break, Henderson?" she enquired drolly.
"For your information, Lane, there's one big difference between a cop and a reporter when it comes to breaking speed limits," he drawled in response. "I have a pretty flashing light on top of my car that allows me to do it."
"Yeah, yeah." Lois rolled her eyes at him. "The guy we're pretty sure is Lex Luthor is over there," she told him then, indicating the ambulance. "Toni Taylor said she saw him go into the building, and Superman just told me that the corpse's bone structure fits. Guess you'll need DNA or something to confirm it, though."
"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy," Henderson observed sardonically, before stuffing his hands in his pockets and strolling over to the ambulance.
Things happened very quickly after that. Toni Taylor was handcuffed and escorted to a police cruiser, apparently on Bill Henderson's instructions. The emergency personnel on the scene, who had been making it clear that they saw journalists as an annoying intrusion, suddenly became extremely co-operative - also Henderson's doing, Lois was sure.
And then Superman flew back, carrying two passengers. He landed just where Henderson was standing with a couple of uniformed cops, letting go of his captives abruptly once he did so. Lois noticed that the men, dressed in strange suits which appeared to be made of some sort of aluminium, were tied up with bent pieces of metal.
"Inspector, meet the Toasters," Clark said, a chill in his voice. "Two of them, anyway. I caught them in the act of setting another fire - which I put out, by the way. The third is confined a few blocks away, waiting for his ride. Oh, and their flame-throwers are there too. If you give me just a minute, I'll bring them here."
The eyebrow which shot right up into his hairline was the only sign that Henderson was actually taken aback by this development. "Good of you to arrange delivery, Superman," he said dryly. "Officers, take good care of these two, okay?"
Lois shook her head in admiration. Nigel St John and Toni Taylor under arrest, Lex Luthor dead and now the Toasters caught too. Perry was going to get his front-page story, all right. She just couldn't wait to see her editor's face when she and Clark delivered it to him. This year's Kerth for investigative journalism had Clark's and her name written all over it.
She turned to watch Superman take flight again, and remembered that tonight she'd be flying with him - to Smallville, to visit his parents. Best of all, though, she and Clark would get to have some private time alone together later.
And that thought gave her even more satisfaction than the prospect of winning another Kerth.
*********
With a feeling of immense satisfaction, Bill Henderson oversaw the placement of the Toasters in another police vehicle and watched it drive off. As he'd told Lois, the West River fires weren't his case, and they certainly weren't on his patch. But given the evidence he had linking the fires to Lex Luthor, who certainly had been on his patch, he was entitled to claim some jurisdiction.
Of course, the document he had, the one Kent had obtained, wouldn't have been very much use in court anyway, given the way it had been acquired, although that still wouldn't have prevented him using it to try to get some sort of a confession or plea bargain out of Toni Taylor - Luthor's lawyers were far too smart for those tactics to be of any use with them. Now, of course, little of that was necessary: Lex Luthor was dead. Bill had seen the body and, while it was true that there was little left to identify, his policeman's eye had seen clues others might miss. Things such as bone structure, especially around the face, overall build and the quality of the fragments of clothing which had survived the inferno. Luthor was definitely dead.
Luthor's empire would start to crumble pretty quickly, revealing a lot of murky stuff which could keep him busy for some time. And he was looking forward to that; he had a very strong suspicion that, in the unravelling of Luthor's doings, he'd find the answer to a considerable number of questions which had been worrying the MPD for some time. And now, pressure could be brought to bear on Luthor's former associates to get them to come forward voluntarily rather than waiting to be arrested. Plus, he could finally deal with the leak within the department, something he hadn’t tried to do so far in order to avoid tipping off Luthor that his source’s cover had been blown. Yes, it was going to be a fascinating, and very satisfying, six months or so.
And the fact that they'd got to this point was, Bill admitted, largely due to the bane of his life, Lois Lane, and to her new partner. His gaze swivelled to Lane where she stood interviewing another firefighter.
Lois Lane. Who could have predicted, all those years ago, that the skinny, belligerent but scared kid he'd rescued would have turned out so well?
He remembered that evening as clearly as if it were yesterday. He'd been a beat cop at the time, called by a railroad station attendant to pick up two suspected runaways. The younger kid had been tired and tearful; the older, however, had given him a suspicious glare and immediately moved to stand protectively in front of her sister. Even when he'd shown her his badge - as if his uniform hadn't been enough to prove his status - she'd been wary. She'd refused to tell him anything about why the two of them had been running away, or where they'd been going. She'd also refused to tell him where they lived; the younger kid, though, had recited her address when asked, much to Lois's obvious annoyance. And yet, when he'd delivered them home, Lois had turned to him and thanked him, stiffly and formally.
He'd never forgotten her. And, although he hadn't exactly intended to, he'd kept track of her over the years. In part, it was the unsolved mystery which had bugged him: why should two kids from a well-off household, with a doctor for a father, feel such despair that they would run away? And why had he been left with the strong impression that, if it hadn't been for her younger sister, Lois would have left again in a heartbeat?
So he'd followed her progress through high school and her interest in journalism, through MetU and her internship at the Planet. Once, only once, had he come close to making contact again: a friend of hers in college had been attacked and Lois was listed as a witness. But he'd hesitated and then handed the case to a colleague, worried that, if he'd made himself known to her as the cop who'd rescued her years before, Lois might take a dim view of the fact that he still remembered her. A guy almost old enough to be her father - she could've thought of him as some sort of stalker. Though that had never been his motive. Something about the young Lois, her courage combined with the sadness he'd seen in her eyes, an expression which, then, he hadn't been used to seeing in kids, had struck a chord in him.
But she'd turned out well: a highly successful journalist by her mid-twenties, persistent enough to be a real pain in the butt to him much of the time. Regardless, he respected her highly, and he was aware that, under her sarcasm and aggression towards him, she respected him too. One thing, though, that had never gone away was the aura she projected of Lois Lane against the world; it was clear that she still hated to rely on anyone but herself, and that she believed no-one could be trusted.
That, though, could be changing. Bill smiled inwardly as he recalled his morning meeting with Lois and her partner after Kent had chased off his mugger. Despite Lois's attempts to pretend otherwise, it was clear that she and Kent were more than just work colleagues.
And she'd found one of the good guys, too, Bill reflected as he watched Superman accept the appreciation of the firefighters and take off into the air again. His hands in his pockets once more, he scanned the crowd of onlookers until he saw what he'd been looking for.
A man slipped out of a side alley and melted into the crowd. Seconds later, Clark Kent pushed his way through and flashed his press-pass at the police cordon, then made his way over to Lois. Bill smiled again. The nagging feeling which had been pestering him since he'd talked to Superman about Nigel St John, and which had turned into a hunch when he'd seen Superman talking with Lois just a few minutes earlier, was confirmed.
It was completely understandable that no-one else had seen through the illusion - the flashy costume was intended to distract, after all, and it did that very well. But Bill did have years of experience at seeing beyond what people wanted him to see. He noticed things that others would not - such as Superman's faint twitchiness earlier that morning when Bill had been talking about penetrating disguises. The biggest clue of all, though, had been the way Lois Lane and Superman had been looking at each other. They probably hadn't even been conscious of it themselves, and no casual observer would have noticed. But he had.
Although wild horses would never make him tell her so, young Lois Lane had grown up into a woman Inspector Bill Henderson was proud to know. And now, with Clark Kent in her life, he thought he could finally stop worrying about her.
"Take care, Lois," he murmured, too softly for her to hear him, and he turned to walk towards his car.
**********
~ EPILOGUE ~ ~ A week later ~"Clark?"
Clark, in the middle of preparing dinner, looked up and smiled at Lois, who had just come into the apartment. It had been the best week of his life so far. No more nightmares - they’d simply disappeared after the night he’d finally talked to Lois. His trauma finally seemed to be a thing of the past. Not that he would ever forget what Jason Trask had done to him, or to his parents. But he was putting it behind him and learning to live again without being haunted by fear or guilt.
And he had come to terms with being alien - and he knew that, for all his differences, the people who loved him wouldn’t have him any other way.
Best of all, he had the woman of his dreams living with him, loving him. Being there for him.
"Hey. You worked later than you said you were going to."
"Got a phone call just as I was leaving," she explained. "My insurance agent."
"Oh yeah?" Clark raised an eyebrow. Lois's insurance company had delayed and delayed making a decision on whether it intended to pay out for the fire. The company had acted very badly, he felt; it wasn't only Lois who was in limbo, but other former residents of the apartment building too, almost all of whom were insured with the same company.
"Apparently, they finally decided that, although the fire was arson, it wasn't caused by anyone who lived there, and no-one who lived there gained in any way from the fire. So they're going to pay out after all. And the building's owners, because they're going to get a payout too, have offered everyone a new apartment in a building about half a mile away. No increase in rent, although the apartments are newer and bigger."
Clark stilled. Lois was still staying with him, of course, using the bedroom he'd created for her upstairs. For the past week, he'd been living with his girlfriend, except for the separate bedrooms - something he didn't have a problem with, although he had to admit that he longed to have her share his bed. Not just for lovemaking, although he longed for that too; he wanted to hold her through the night and to wake up in the morning next to her. Living with Lois made his life complete.
But the duration of the arrangement was something they'd never discussed. He'd made it clear that she could regard it as temporary or as permanent; whatever she preferred. And she'd never expressed a preference either way.
"So what are you going to do?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even despite the sinking feeling in his heart that she was going to move out.
"Well..." She sounded hesitant. "I... wondered if I should go and look at the apartments..."
There had definitely been uncertainty in her voice. "You wondered? You don't know?"
Lois shrugged awkwardly. "I... well, I can't impose on you indefinitely..."
He dropped the vegetable knife he was holding and rushed to her side. "Lois, you're not imposing on me! Don't you know how much I love having you live here with me?"
She dipped her head, even as he took her in his arms. "I love living here with you. And I know you said in the beginning that I could stay as long as I wanted... but I figured you might have changed your mind, or that now that we're dating you might think it's awkward if I stay here and we're not sleeping together..."
"Lois," he said firmly, interrupting her. "I *love* it that we're living together. Of course I'd love it if we were sleeping together too, but what's the hurry? I'm not going anywhere, and I hope you're not either. Making love can wait until we're both ready." He paused, giving her a wry smile. "I'm in this for the long term, Lois. I'm hoping that you are too."
"The... long term?" She pulled back and out of his arms, but stayed close, just looking up at him.
"Lois, I want to marry you," he said, heart in his mouth. "Look, I know it's far too soon, and I don't want you to consider that a proposal. But it's what I want eventually, when the time is right. So in the meantime, if you're asking me do I want you to move out of here and move into an apartment on your own about six miles from here, leaving me on my own here... the answer's no."
Her smile warmed his heart. "I'm glad. Because I want to stay."
"Stay, then," he asked, smiling at her, his love for her in every look, every touch.
"I will." She took a step closer, bringing herself into his arms again.
"Good." He lowered his head and brought one hand up to slide his palm along her cheek. "Because I'm not sure that I could've let you leave."
"I'm not sure that I could've left," she murmured against his lips.
"That's just as well, then." He smiled softly, then captured her mouth with his own.
And the strange visitor from another planet finally knew that he belonged.
~ The End ~ (finally!}
(c) Wendy Richards 2004
<wendy@lcfanfic.com>
