Chapter 4 and I'm already screaming KERTH!
You are really something special, Terry. After years of being told by various scriptwriters and fanfic authors what a snake Lex Luthor is, you finally show it to us in full techni-color. The stunt in the courtroom was so brilliantly and convincingly written that I found myself being rather charmed before having to remind myself sharply that the man was a mastermind CRIMINAL despite all appearances. Which necessity rather shocked me, mind you.
But other aspects of Lex’s character didn’t seem to fit with his being a criminal mastermind. She discovered that he’d been funding a cancer research wing of the New Troy Children’s Hospital for the past four years, and there hadn’t been one peep about it in the press. There was also an endowment for the state’s Veteran’s Hospital which paid for two surgeons and fifteen nurses, two fire stations in Metropolis’s inner city that he’d bought and refurbished and donated back to the city, an elementary school completely remodeled and fully stocked with books and desks and other equipment, and a large anonymous annual gift to the Policeman’s Survivors fund.
All of it was anonymous. Even the cops on the street didn’t know that Lex Luthor had provided a measure of security for their families in case the worst happened to any one of them.
She sat back in her chair and pondered. If Lex was dirty, these activities would make a good cover for him, but only if it was public knowledge. This was all done in secret. His behavior didn’t fit her image of a bloodthirsty criminal mastermind.
Which got me thinking, since you decided to treat Lana very differently than we are familiar with in LnCverse, maybe you were also going to portray Luthor more as Micheal Rosenbaum than John Shea. Which thought necessitated another sharp smack to the head.
Still, that's just how damn good your writing is!
Hardly a quarter of the way into the story and I already, finally am beginning to see how Lois could have fallen for this facade - the guy's a magician! And the greatest magicians LIVE their tricks and lies just so they can pull off their least illusions. I am reminded of Alfred Borden in The Prestige.
“Are you okay? You look a little thin.”
“I don’t get thin. I don’t get heavy, either, or at least not so far.”
She loosened up a little and grinned. “I wish I had that kind of metabolism.”
“Sorry. It’s genetic.”
That's right. She is now the only person in the world apart from his parents who KNOWS. Thus effectively replacing Lana as his primary female confidant. What a subtle setting.
he nodded. “Good.” She broke eye contact and reached for a business card beside her phone. “If you feel like you need to talk to someone else, here’s the number for my therapist.”
Clark took the card with raised eyebrows. “You’re seeing a therapist?”
She shrugged. “Survivor’s guilt. I made it out, Lana didn’t.”
Lois watched him to see how he’d react to any mention of his wife. He didn’t bat an eye, which she suspected was not as good as a slight reaction would have been.
He nodded. “I understand. Maybe I’ll give her a call.”
“If you do, make sure you tell her who gave you the card.”
He almost grinned. “Why, do you get a referral fee?”
She almost grinned back. “No. So we don’t meet each other between sessions. Dr. Friskin says that it’s not always a good thing for people who know each other to meet in their therapist’s outer office.”
He glanced at the card again, then tucked it in his shirt pocket. “Thanks.”
Oh thank the gods! No angsty drama. Very matter-of-fact and methodical. Almost chillingly so, I thought.
She glanced at the scar on her hand and tried to defuse the memory by being flippant. “I’m a woman. I can change either my mind or my identity any time I want to.”
Now there's a quotable quote if I ever heard one!
She pushed the thought away as soon as she realized what she was thinking. She couldn’t ask Superman to do legwork for her! Not only would it be demeaning, it would be – she couldn’t think of a term to describe how awkward that conversation would be.
And there come the rub.
