Dangerous Liaisons

  I am the creator of my own unhappiness, I tear my heart with my own hands...
--Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos



*****************************

'Oh, yes.  Detective Kent, please come in, shut the door, have a seat...'

Captain Maggie Sawyer leaned back against her desk, and watched as Clark Kent, Detective Second Class, followed her instructions.  She smiled as her new detective looked up at her shyly.

'I see you passed your detective exams with flying colours,' she said, flipping through the file in her hands.  'Worked for a time in Gotham City.  Commissioner Gordon speaks well of you.  You were her liaison with the Batman.  Hmmm.  Not sure if I approve of the Batman.  Vigilantes....'

Clark cleared his throat.  'I understand your concerns, Captain,' he said.  'But Batman has been very helpful.  He's... he's a symbol.'

'Yes, a symbol.  Symbols can be useful.  Also they may be dangerous.  But your point is well taken, and your experience in Gotham City might be useful.  I want you to work with Sergeant Lane, to start.  Any objections?'

'Uh, no...'

The Captain was already buzzing the Sergeant's desk, so Clark figured if he did offer any objections they'd be ignored.

Sergeant Lane marched into the Captain's office.  She was tall, slender and pretty, and looked about as approachable as Batman on one of his bad days.

'Captain,  I'm glad you finally agreed to talk to me.   I need more... people.   Manpower.  Womanpower.   Whatever.'

'What makes you think I can do anything about that, Sarge? I'm just a captain, not God.'

Sergeant Lane sighed, and flopped into the chair next to Clark's.  'I know,' she said.   'But God isn't listening to me either.'

'You sure about that?' asked the Captain.  'Sergeant Lane, meet Detective Second Class Clark Kent.  Your new partner.'

Sergeant Lane turned and studied Clark carefully.  'My partner?' she asked.  'But... he's a nerd!'

'No I'm not,'  said Clark.  'Not really.'

'No, really,' said Lane.  'Look at him.  Glasses.  Nerdy hair, nerdy shoes, nerdy suit.'

'He just arrived from Gotham City,' said Captain Sawyer, as if that were an explanation, or an excuse.

'I worked with Batman,' Clark offered.

'Batman?  Hmmm,' said Lane.  'Vigilante stuff.'

'But I'm not a nerd,' said Clark.

'Nerd or not, he's your new partner, at least for now,' Captain Sawyer pointed out.   'I want you to show him the ropes.'

'Babysit him?' asked Lane.

'Hey!' said Clark.

'Show him the ropes,' said the Captain, again.  'He's interested in joining the Organized Crime Unit, according to his file.'

'That's what I'm interested in,' Clark agreed.

'If he can handle Batman, he can handle some of your informants, so don't look so depressed.  You wanted more manpower.'

Sergeant Lane gave Clark Kent another careful survey.  'Okay,' she allowed, at last.  'He's a nerd, but he looks pretty solid, too.'

'Can we stop talking about me in the third person?' asked Clark.

'I guess he'll do,' said Lane.  'Let's go, Manpower.'

Clark glanced back at the Captain as they left her office, and caught the tail end of a grin.

*****************

'So, you're from Gotham City?'

'Uh, not exactly, Sergeant Lane.  I studied there, for a while.'

'With Commissioner Gordon?'

'I was her liaison with Batman, like the Captain said.  That's all.'

'Ah... Here's the gym,' Sergeant Lane announced.  'See, we have a boxing ring.  The ropes Captain Sawyer mentioned.'

'Very funny, Sarge.'

'Men's locker room over there.  Women's locker room that way. Now I'll show you the cafeteria, and we'll head out.  I have some meetings to make.  You might have to wait in the car for some of them.  Some informants are....'

'Shy.  I know.  Batman can be shy.'

'You got to know him pretty well, did you?'

'No one knows Batman.'

'Here's the cafeteria.  The food is disgusting, but when you're hungry....  Now, let's head for the parking lot.  You have your own car?  We'll use mine for today.  Tomorrow you can drive.'

**********************

'You're getting to know Metropolis really fast,  Manpower,' said Sergeant Lane, a few days later.

'I grew up around here.  Smallville, actually.  And I went to college at Metropolis U.'

'I see.  So what made you move to Gotham City... Uh, turn here at the corner.  I have a meeting with an informant just down the street.'

'Gotham?  I wanted some experience of the world.'

'And Gotham City gave you that?'

'Well, it's very different from Smallville, I can say that.  All those Supervillains.'

'Yes.  Metropolis has its problems, but Gotham City?  It's a lunatic asylum.'

'Batman is fighting that.'

'Is he?  Or is he making things worse?'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean things are even crazier since he showed up.  The place had crime and corruption before, but the Joker is way beyond that...  Oh, pull up here, and wait in the car, if you don't mind.  This informant is particularly shy.'

Clark smiled, and shrugged.  'I don't mind,' he said.  'I'll sit here and read over my notes.'

'Workaholic!'

Sergeant Lane got out of the car, and strode off toward the warehouse.  For a moment, Clark was tempted to use his X-ray vision to check out her informant.  But he couldn't start doing that, he thought.  He couldn't start second guessing Lois at every turn.   She knew her stuff.  She'd been a cop longer than he had, and she was his superior officer.  Clark could sit quietly in the car and read his notes, and listen for any signs of danger to Lois, and not feel that his masculinity was in question.

He was, after all, Superman….

Superman's handwriting was an almost illegible scrawl.  The notebook was just for show, because cops were supposed to have them.

'Tlee unfurlmowl sujz sfi dodnot sii tli asswzd rin uvaj.'

Very useful piece of information, that.  But fortunately Clark remembered the conversation in photographic detail, and....

A rap on the car window.

'Hey, Manpower!   My informant wants to meet you after all.'

The empty warehouse was old and dusty.  Rats skittered away in horror as they approached.  At the far end of the main concourse stood a table, with two chairs, framed by the pale light of one dim, naked overhead bulb.  Sergeant Lane's informant didn't stand within such a dubious pool of light.  He stood behind it, shrouded in darkness.  But Clark didn't need the light.  He stopped dead in his tracks, gripped by a strange emotion he couldn't quite define.

From the shadows came a soft, lazy voice, making of his name a question, 'Clark?'

Clark answered, as if it truly were an answer, 'Lex!'

************

'Lex Luthor is my best informant.'

'I'll bet he is,' Clark muttered to himself.

'What was that, Manpower?  You have something to say to me, say it.'

'Sergeant Lane, I knew Lex Luthor when... years ago.'

'Yeah, that was obvious, Detective.  I'm not as stupid as I look.'

'He's dangerous.  He's a crook.'

'You playing judge, jury and executioner, now?  Luthor has never been convicted of any crime.'

'He buys the judges off.  Gets the charges thrown out on technicalities.'

'You know that?  You have evidence?  Even if you do have evidence, I don't care.'

'Because he's your best informant?'

'Got it in one.  Pull over…  I said pull over to the side of the road.  You deaf?'  Sergeant Lane turned in her seat to face him.  'I want you to listen to me very carefully, Detective.  Lex Luthor is a valuable informant.  He's been my informant for two years.  You are the new kid on the block, here.  If I had to choose between the two of you....'

'I'm your partner, Sarge,' Clark protested.

'Only if you behave.  I mean it, Manpower.  You think about it long and deep, and let me know by tomorrow morning.  If you're with me, fine.  If not, I'll tell Captain Sawyer, and you're on your own. And that would be a shame, Kent.  I like you, you're a good cop. You've been a cop for several years, and now you've made Detective.  What's your problem?'

'I told you. Lex...'

'...is a crook?  He's got criminal contacts, information that I need.  He passes it on to me.  If he were lily white, he'd be no use. That's how the informant system works.  And the informant system is the backbone of police work.  Not finding hidden clues, or tricking confessions out of perps.  You should know that by now.  Why is this situation any different?'

'Lex is only in it for himself,' said Clark.

Sergeant Lane laughed.  'Of course he's only in it for himself.  I never thought any differently.  We're all in it for ourselves, at the bottom.  It's how human society works, come to think.'

'Enlightened self interest?' said Clark, with considerable bitterness.

'Enlightened self interest! Yes.  What do you expect?  Clark, you're a cop.  You wanted to deal with saints, you should have been a priest.  In the meantime, I'll let you read a few of my files on Lex Luthor.  Think about them overnight, and be sensible.  For some reason, he seems to like you, and that could be useful, too.'

'Well,' said Clark, starting up the car.  'I want to be useful.'

'That's the spirit,' said Sergeant Lane.

*****************

Lex Luthor was a valuable informant, Clark decided.  Almost unbelievably valuable -- but there it was, in black and white.  Page after page of detailed information about members of the underworld -- and not only those of Metropolis.  Lois had used this information to build cases against several drug lords, and at least one big smuggling operation.

'Well?' asked the Sergeant, from behind him.

Clark shrugged.  He looked up at Lois, and grinned ruefully.  'Okay,' he said.  'I admit he's a good informant.  But what's in it for him?  You couldn't possibly pay him enough to make it worth his while.  He's a billionaire.'

'Several times over, at least.'

'So, he's getting rid of his rivals.  That must be it.'

'Luthor isn't into drugs.  I've never been able to find one scrap of evidence linking him to any drug operation.  Smuggling? Maybe.  It's a possibility.  But he's a billionaire, Detective.  Quite legitimately a billionaire.  Why would he risk his business by smuggling?  He may well have broken laws on his rise up the corporate ladder, but that's beyond our scope.  We're here to keep the flow of dangerous drugs to a minimum, and he's helping.'

'But... he may not be a drug lord, but he knows drug lords.  How come?'

'You know Lex Luthor,' said Lois Lane.  'That make you a billionaire?'

***************

Well, no, thought Clark.  Knowing Lex Luthor didn't make him a billionaire.  He was kind of poor, actually, though he hoped that condition was temporary.  College had depleted a lot of his funds.  Working in Gotham City with Commissioner Gordon and Batman had not added to his bank account in any considerable fashion.  Once he started collecting his pay, he'd be back on his feet, but in the meantime...

In the meantime he'd rented the cheapest apartment he could find.  It was in the roughest part of town he thought he could get away with, without actually creating suspicion he was a member of the underworld himself.  Of course he didn't have to worry about being mugged, and he kept nothing of value here. Most of his belongings were in storage, and had been for several years. His car was a heap, so he wasn't too worried about it being stolen.  And at least he had a parking space...a parking space that was currently occupied by something rarely seen in these parts -- a long, sleek black limo.  Clark might have wondered how escaped being carjacked, if he didn't figure out the answer almost instantly.

The license plates didn't include the words 'LEX'  in any form, but the car screamed Luthor from front to rear. And then there were the two black-leather-clad bodyguards, sidearms slung by their hips.  One was blonde, the other Black.

The blonde bent down to speak through the window, and Clark caught Lex Luthor's reply:  'I'll be fine, Mercy.  You can wait out here with Hope.  Clark's an old friend, I told you.'

Mercy straightened up, looking not very happy.  She levelled a calm, icy stare at Clark's car.  Clark got out, shut the door, and winced as the car rattled ominously.  A few more weeks, he thought.  He'd done all he could to recondition the thing, but it just wasn't worth the trouble.  Perhaps he could find something better at the junk yard.

Lex climbed out of his limo, moving sleekly, like a panther.  Clark caught the gleam of his pale blue eyes, and couldn't restrain a shiver.  Lex strode toward him, and Clark remembered another time he had done this very thing, carrying a sword.  Lex had offered him the hilt -- an act of trust and surrender, Clark knew now.  Since then, there had been little of either between them.

Lex stopped a few feet from Clark.  He didn't offer his hand, let alone a sword, but he did smile.

'I was happy to see you'd moved back to Metropolis, Clark,' he said.  'I'm here to pay you a welcome home visit.  Are you going to invite me in?'

Once, there had been no need of such invitations, but Clark shrugged.  'Sure,' he said.

They climbed the three flights of creaky stairs to Clark's apartment.  Clark could hear crying babies, noisy plumbing and overly-loud TV sets.  He could smell things best left undetermined.  Plaster flaked from ceilings, and something both too large for a mouse and too small for a cat skittered down the hall as he and Lex approached.

Lex said nothing, until Clark opened the door, and waved him inside.

'Well,' said Lex, at last.  'The view isn't so bad.'

Far off in the distance, they could see the tower of LexCorp.

'Bart Crowley owns this building, I believe,' Lex went on.  'He gives new meaning to the term Slum Landlord.  I may buy it from him.'

'Why?' asked Clark, before he could stop himself.  'So you can kick me out?'

Lex turned to him, his face even paler than before.  'What?  Whatever would make you think I'd do such a thing?  And even if I did... for God's sake, Clark.  Do you intend to live here the rest of your life?'

Clark realized he'd just put himself entirely in the wrong under his own volition.  'Sorry,' he said.  'Of course not.'

Lex turned away again, to stare out the window.  'I don't like slums,' he said.  'Do you?'

'No.'

'Good.  Slums exist.  They're always going to exist.  I doubt the human race is capable of eradicating them entirely.  But the longer a slum stays a slum, the more it breeds despair.  Children grow up who have never known anything but slums, and despair.'

'How would you know?' asked Clark.

Lex stared at him with cold, blank eyes, then turned back to the window.  'I have eyes, Clark. I can see.  And I know about despair.  Look at this building.  The one across the road.  Should people live like that?'

'There are worse ways to live,' said Clark.

'Tell me about them,' said Lex.

Clark said nothing.

Lex went on, 'I bought up the Whiteoaks Project, you know.  I was criticized for that.  Accused of wanting to kick people out, as you put it.  Some of the residents were criminals.  Drug dealers, petty thieves and thugs.  They ran off at my approach, because I have a reputation for not tolerating rivals.  The rest -- I offered them various deals.  I hired some to work on the cleanup crews.  Everyone was offered the chance to rent the fixed up apartments at only a few dollars more per month.  Most people thought it was a good payoff.  But some people still thought I should have left the slum the way it was. Why?  No one else was doing anything to help.'

'Did you do it to help other people, or yourself?' asked Clark.

'I didn't come here to discuss my immortal soul with you,' Lex answered after a long moment.  'I came here to discuss Sergeant Lane.  What do you think of her?   She's a good cop, right?  She's been using the information I give her wisely, don't you think?'

'Yes,' Clark admitted.

'So, why do I get the impression you don't approve?  Why do you look to me like someone ready to cause trouble?'

'It's not Sergeant Lane I don't trust, it's you.'

'Well, Clark, I figured that out real quick.  But Sergeant Lane and I have a good relationship going.  Why do you want to spoil it?  Jealous?'

'No!  Of course not.  But what are you really up to?  That's what I want to know.'

'Getting rid of the evil criminal element.  They're spoiling my city.  I don't want Metropolis to turn into Gotham City.  That's all we need, and then the Superheroes will start flying around in their capes, and... wait. That's started already.  Superman?  Superidiot, you mean.  What the hell do you think you're up to?  That's what I want to know.'

'What... what do you mean?' Clark stammered.

'Oh, Clark, what gave you the idea I was stupid?  Of all the names I've been called -- and I've been called plenty -- I don't remember that one.'

'So, you're really here to blackmail me?'

'Blackmail you?  Blackmail Superman?  Sure, Superman, consider yourself blackmailed.  Crush some coal into diamonds for me, or I'll reveal your secret identity.  How pathetic.  You think I need you for anything, especially for money?'

'Well what, then?'

'I want you to stop trying to cause trouble between Sergeant Lane and myself.  I want you to stick it out as her partner.  She's too brave for her own good, and she has no sense, when it comes to her own safety.  I want you to take care of  her.  She's tough, but she's not Wonder Woman.  She's mortal.  Use your brainless brawn for something worthwhile.'

'I'm not brainless,' Clark protested, feeling like he was 15 years old again.  It had only taken Lex a few minutes to reduce him to that.

Lex lifted an eyebrow.  'No?' he said.  'You could have fooled me.  I should go, now that we've settled that.  Mercy will be bursting in any moment, thinking you've murdered me.  So, I'll be seeing you in a week?  That's the next scheduled meeting.'

'I promised to think it over and let Sergeant Lane know my decision in the morning.'

Lex turned, his long black coat swirling around him, and stepped up right in front of Clark, until they were almost toe to toe.  'Think, Clark,' Lex said.  'Think hard.'

*************

Clark remembered the Whiteoaks Projects.  Built in the late Twentieth Century, designed to replace the slums that had defaced that section of Metropolis, Whiteoaks had quickly turned into another slum all its own, and the residents had been blamed.

Clark remembered a brief conversation of sorts he had with Lex on the subject.

'Well, Clark, just because you change someone's view, doesn't mean you change their outlook.'

'So you agree that poor people are to blame for their own poverty?'

'That's not what I said,' Lex protested, but Clark wasn't listening.

Clark made some comments about billionaires who think their money gives them the right to judge others, and Lex made some comments about Clark's thuggish friends, and who was judging whom, and it all went downhill from there.

The new community of Whiteoaks was a revelation.  Small thriving businesses.  Neat parks and gardens.  The large central courtyard appeared to be hosting a community fair, and colourful posters advertised a Farmer's Market next weekend, and a concert at the Whiteoaks Cultural Center.

Impressive.

Clark toured the place for an hour, and finally dropped into a coffee shop for an espresso.   He talked to the proprietor, who was at first inclined to be defensive.

'Look, if you're a cop here to check me out, I've got nothing to hide.  I've gone straight for good, okay?'

'I'm not here to check out anyone,' Clark lied.  'Just looking around.  Someone told me Whiteoaks had changed, that's all. Sure seems it has.'

Martin Spitzer was grey haired and rather haggard, but his eyes were bright.  He laughed.  'Yeah, it's changed in these parts all right, thanks to Lex Luthor.'

'Luthor?  The billionaire?  He's a nice guy then?'

The old guy laughed so hard this time he nearly fell off his barstool. 'Nice?  Lex Luthor?  You're kidding, right?  Came tearing in here like a hurricane.  They say one or two people committed suicide they were so scared.  I doubt that, but we were rounded up like cattle, and I did think for a moment we were going to be killed like cattle on the spot.  But no.  Luthor marched in and told us we had one chance to turn our lives around, and this was it.  If we didn't want the chance, we could get out and take our chances elsewhere.  If we took him up on his offer, we better make good on it, or he'd know the reason why.'

'What did he do then?' asked Clark, truly curious.

'He lectured us for an hour about taking handouts, then spending the money on booze and drugs.  Someone spouted off about civil rights, and he told the guy if he wanted his civil rights he should behave civilly.  Offered us jobs and education and a bit of seed money, as he called it.  Gave us all financial advice.  Financial advice from Lex Luthor, in person!  Opened up a LexCorp office just down the street and hired a few locals to help staff it.  My daughter works there.'

'I see,' said Clark, though the picture was a bit confusing.

'We do good business here.  See the muffins and cookies and so on?  They're all home-baked, by people right here in Whiteoaks.  Luthor suggested that to me, one day when he dropped in for an espresso.  Said it was a good way for homemakers to make a little extra money, and the taste is way better than anything you get from stores.  I wouldn't know, myself. All cookies taste the same to me.  Excuse me.  Got a new customer.'  Spitzer hauled himself to his feet and ambled over to take an order.

Back at the Cop Shop, he checked out Martin Spitzer's record.  Small time crook.  Spent more time behind bars than outside them, all through his twenties and thirties.  Ended up a derelict and a drunk on the streets of Metropolis.  Was given a place in the old Whiteoaks Project, and spent most of his welfare money on booze, until Lex Luthor came along.  Now he was running a coffee shop, and did, indeed seem to have gone straight.  Still drank a bit, and got rowdy on weekends, but nothing spectacular.

Wonders never ceased -- if it was all to be believed.

'If what all can be believed, Manpower?'

'Huh?'

Lois Lane was standing behind him, and Clark realized he must have spoken his thought aloud.

'Oh, sorry, Sarge.  I was just doing some research on Lex Luthor.'

'Yes?  And to what conclusions have you leaped?'

'No conclusions about Le...about Luthor.  But I did decide you are correct.  Luthor is a good informant.'

'Good decision, Detective. You have a future in law enforcement after all.  What led you to this end?'

'Luthor said I should stick by you, because you had no sense.'

'Really?'  Sergeant Lane drew herself up to her full five feet six inches.  Her face and voice turned icy.  'He said that, did he?'

Clark suddenly realized he had reached one of those crossroads in life.  He could do what Lex thought he might do -- cause mischief between Lex and Lois.  Lie, just a little.  It wouldn't destroy the relationship between his sergeant and his old friend immediately, but bit by bit they might lose their trust in each other.  Lois might be saved from Lex's evil influence.  But Lex would then lose Lois's good influence.  Perhaps Lois was all that stood between Lex and total evil.

'No, Sarge.  I was joking.  Lex admires you.  He just thinks you're too brave, that's all.  You need someone big and dumb around. Like me.'

Lois snickered.  'Big and dumb, huh?  Sounds like you, Manpower.'

'Yeah, that's what Lex thinks, too.  You seem to have a lot in common.'

Lois laughed heartily at that idea.  'A lot in common with Lex Luthor?  Sure, except that I'm female, have all my hair, and about twenty-five dollars and thirty-seven cents in my purse.  But... what were you having trouble believing earlier?'

'Oh, that.  Just the story of Whiteoaks Project.  Lex mentioned that he owns it now, and I went there this morning, on my way to work.  Talked to a guy named Martin Spitzer.  I was just wondering if he's for real.'

'Marty?  Oh, I know Marty.  Arrested him once, way back when I was a rookie.'  Lois spoke as if that were twenty years ago, but she couldn't be that old.  'Marty is one of Luthor's success stories.  He really has gone straight, far as anyone can tell.  Why?  You doubt it?'

'I don't know.  I don't know if someone can change that much.'

The sergeant shrugged. 'It happens,' she said.  'It might be rare, but it happens.  Come on, Manpower.  Let's go catch us some bad guys.'

***************

'We have to stop meeting like this,' said Lex Luthor.

'You started it,' said Clark.

'I did not.'

'Yes, you did.  You came to my place, now I'm returning the favour.'

'It's not a favour, Clark.  You bullied your way into my private offices, flashing your badge, destroying my reputation in front of my staff.'

'You don't have a reputation.  And besides, you started it when you invited me into the meeting with Lois.'

'Which you showed up at first, without an invitation.'

'I was waiting out in the car, until you said you wanted to meet me.'

Lex made a graceful, conciliatory gesture.  'Fine,' he said.  'The standings now are Clark 3, Lex 2.  I'll pass on the next round.  Anything else?'

'Just wanted to check out the view,' said Clark.  The view was very much in evidence.  Impossible to miss, framed as it was by wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling windows.  Clark stood for a moment before those windows, as if considering whether or not this view could compete with his own.  'I think you win on the view,' he conceded, at last.

'Thank you,' said Lex, with a gracious nod.  'Then we're even. Will that be all?'

There were two comfortable-looking armchairs right before the windows.  A little table between them held a tray of coffee and small cakes.  Clark dropped into one of these chairs, and poured himself a cup of coffee.

'Didn't have time to make it to the doughnut shop before charging in here?' asked Lex.

'No.  Sorry,' said Clark, though he wasn't sorry at all.

'Cops without time to eat doughnuts.  That's a scandal.  I'll dictate a letter to the Metropolis Times about it.'

'Thanks, Lex.  You're such a trooper.  The sergeant and I just busted another drug lab, based on the information you gave us the other day.'

'Wonderful!  Metropolis's Finest, hard at work.  Please, sit down, help yourself to coffee.  Cake?'

'Thanks, Lex.  By the way, why did you buy the Whiteoaks Projects?'

'The which?  Oh, that little thing.'  Lex dropped into the chair across from Clark, and picked up his own, cooling coffee cup.  Clark was tempted to use his heat vision to set it to boiling, but managed to restrain himself.  'I buy stuff all the time.  Cars, businesses...'

'...small countries....'

Lex made an acknowledging gesture.  'There you have it,' he said.  He looked off into the distance, as if engaging in some sort of internal seance.  'I can't remember... oh, yes.  The Whiteoaks Projects.  They were there, Clark.  And they were ugly.  An eyesore, truly.'

'Defacing your city?'

'Yes.  You see?  You do understand.  Whiteoaks is much prettier now, don't you think.'

'Impressive.  That was the word that came to my mind.'

'Thank you, Clark.   I always appreciate your opinion on any of my enterprises, or acquisitions.  Please, finish your coffee, before you run off to bust more drug dealers.  I'll have Margot make you up a little doggy bag with some cakes.  We can't have you fainting with hunger.  Or would you like us to get you doughnuts?  I'm sure we have some around, for those inevitable visits when your esteemed colleagues come around to tear up my walls and furniture, and walk off with all the private files I don't have time to shred first.'

Clark tried hard to keep his face perfectly straight, but couldn't quite manage the feat.  'No, thanks,' he said.  'I'll be fine.  Do you know Martin Spitzer?'

Lex appeared truly bewildered at this question.  'I don't believe I do,' he said, after a long moment to consider.  'Is this the sort of question for which I should request the presence of my lawyers before answering?'

'No.  He's an old guy, lives in Whiteoaks, runs a coffee house.'

'Ah.  Does he sell doughnuts?'

'Yes.  I talked to him this morning.  He used to be a small-time crook, and he attributes his rehabilitation to you.'

Now Lex appeared truly astonished.  'Indeed?' he said.

'He compared you to a hurricane, and said you frightened some Whiteoaks residents into committing suicide.  But you gave him a chance to reform, and he took it.'

'Yes.  Well.  And you look suspicious, Clark.  What is it you're thinking?  That I planted this Mister Spitzer there, just to appease your concerns about my influence on Sergeant Lane?  I can assure you, I've been too busy with....'

An altercation just outside Lex's office interrupted his description of what he'd been too busy with.  Clark could hear Margot telling someone that, 'Mister Luthor is busy,' and, 'Mister Houghton, you can't go in there!'

Lex's office doors burst open.  A tall, portly, red-faced man stood in the doorway.  Clark studied Lex's reaction.  When Clark had shown up in similar fashion, he had looked annoyed, but patient, as he might be by a child making too much of a nuisance of himself.  He had not looked at all angry or afraid.  Now, his spine stiffened.  For a moment, Clark felt a wave of rage wash over his former friend.  Lex's face turned into a mask of icy disdain, before he covered it with yet another mask of urbane composure.

'Houghton,' he said.  'How kind of you to call.'

'Cut the crap, Luthor,' said Lex's new visitor.  'What is it you're up to with the Fairview deal?  Perkins tells me you....'

Houghton caught sight of Clark, lounging in his chair by the window, where he had clearly been engaging in a little tete-a-tete with Lex.  Clark watched himself being assessed in Houghton's eyes.  Black leather jacket and jeans.  Not a business associate.  Making himself at home in Lex's office.  A friend? A poor relation?

Rough trade?

Clark got to his feet.  When he bearded Lex in his den, he had hung his detective badge on his belt, in full view.  It was now fully in Houghton's view.  The intruder paled, but recovered quickly.  Lex smiled, but for a moment, Clark thought he had seen a twitch of nervousness.  Was he afraid of what Clark might suspect?  Or was it Houghton's suspicions he was worried about?

'Thanks for the coffee, Lex,' said Clark, walking toward Lex with lazy grace.  'I should be getting back to work now.'  He ran a slow, comforting hand down Lex's back, and smiled down into Lex's eyes.  'See you later?' he added.

He thought he heard Houghton choke, but ignored this as he turned to add,  'Nice meeting you, uh.... Houghton, is it?  Gotta run.'  And he strolled out the office door.

His cell phone rang a few minutes later.

'Really, Clark.  That was... I don't know what that was.'

'You got rid of Houghton?'

'Yes.  Houghton has left the building.  You just ruined my reputation. Again.  Twice in one day.  Impressive.'

'Everyone knows you're bisexual, Lex.  Why are you worried about Houghton's opinion?'

'Because you're a cop, Clark.   It was hanging out there, for all the world to see.  Your badge, I mean.'

'Yeah, so now Houghton thinks you're screwing a cop.  So what?  That's why I did it, to deflect suspicion about why I was there.'

'You think that scene wasn't suspicious? I'm supposed to hate cops.  But you are pretty, I'll say that much.  So maybe I can pass it off as a kink.  Just... don't make a habit of that kind of thing, okay?'

'Sure Lex.  I'll try to restrain my desire to molest you from now on.'

A moment of silence.  'Thanks, Clark,' said Lex, with considerable sarcasm.  'I'll hold you to that.'

The phone went dead.  Clark was left alone with the feel of Lex's silk shirt against the palm of his hand, and the memory of how Lex's body had almost instantly heated up at his touch. His heart rate had gone up pretty fast, too.  Clark couldn't help but wonder what other effects his touch had produced, but what was the point of such speculation?


*********************


Clark kicked down the door of yet another drug lab.  At this rate, every drug addict in Metropolis would soon be going through withdrawal.  But no.  Somewhere lived and breathed a drug king-pin, who was happily eliminating his or her rivals, and his or her completely secure drug labs would soon be dominating the market.  Lois assured him this person wasn't Lex.

The door went flying inward.  Lois smirked.  'Your foot's as hard as your head, Kent,' she said.

Drug lab techs, delivery boys and other personnel scattered like rats before them, to be swept up by the uniforms and the dogs.  Police cars, lights flashing, had the building surrounded.  They were already setting up the yellow tape.  Their own lab techs would soon be moving in to take fingerprints, identify the drugs being produced, and to dismantle the place.   He and Lois had to stick around to monitor all this, but eventually they were back at the station, writing up their reports.

'Good work, people,' said Captain Sawyer.  'Keep it up.  Kent, a word?'

Clark followed her into her office.  'Is there a problem, Captain?' he asked.

'Not at all, Detective.  You're doing good work, as I said.  Just wanted to tell you that, and to ask about your future plans.  You and Lane get along?'

'Just fine, Captain.  I like her.'

'She seems to like you.'

'She insults me, every chance she gets, so yeah, I figure she likes me.'

The Captain laughed.  'Good, good.  I'm glad you're happy.  Lane tells me you've developed a good relationship of your own, with some of her informants.  That's useful, in case she can't make a meeting.  You're looking a bit rough around the edges, though.  Getting enough sleep?  I don't want to sound like your mother.  I have my rep as a tough, ball-breaking dyke to preserve, so please don't go around quoting me.  But that's a tough area of town you're living in. And your car....'

'I know, Captain.  I'm working on it.  Just need a few regular pays under my belt, and I'll be moving up in the world.'

'I hope so, Detective.  Wouldn't want to lose you to a mugger.'

'Not much chance of that, Captain,' said Clark.

'Don't look so offended, Kent.  You're already a valuable asset to this department.  But you're not Superman, you know.'


*************


Superman flew his patrol, foiling a few robberies, rescuing a few victims from muggers and rapists.  It was a bit of a busman's holiday, he thought.  But his days as Clark Kent did provide a valuable viewpoint from which to evaluate his experiences as a superhero. Superman saw the human race from above, flying over their heads as they crawled about like ants below.  It would be easy to assume that his perspective was the natural one, without the knowledge Clark channelled to him.

Those people scurrying down the sidewalks toward the subway, for example, were not truly rats in a maze. They had lives, people they loved or hated, dinner to cook, and favourite TV shows to watch and discuss.  Most of the time they gave no thought to Superman, except, perhaps, to envy his ability to bypass the lines at subway turnstiles.  The human race had been going strong, dominating the earth, long before Superman showed up.  It would survive long after he was gone.

It was late, past midnight, when he at last allowed himself to fly over the one building he had so far ignored, but which had been in his mind the whole day.  Lex Luthor's penthouse was mostly dark, but one cozy light burned in the living room.  The French doors stood wide open, and Superman caught a whiff of expensive whisky, and the soft clink of a glass being set on a table.  From so high up, Lex looked small and rather depressed.  The revelation gave Clark Kent no pleasure, and Superman was neutral on the subject.  He let himself float down, until he was only a few yards away.

Lex took another swallow of whisky, and bent to refill his glass, then straightened in his chair, as he noticed Superman watching.

'Are you a figment?' Lex asked.

'Not to my knowledge,' said Superman.  'But I come in peace.'

'I guess so,' said Lex Luthor.  'Or I'd be lying on the ground in a heap by now. How do you fight in that ridiculous outfit, anyway?  Doesn't the cape trip you up?'

'Not so far.  It's a costume of my people.  Don't make fun of my culture.'

'Culture?  What culture?  And furthermore, might I ask what people?  With the exception of your honoured self, Kara, and a handful of assorted homicidal lunatics, all your people are long dead.  Take note of that.  Perhaps a more effective wardrobe might facilitate greater personal success and lead to greater personal longevity.'

Superman glanced down at his costume.  'It works for me,' he said.  'But, just out of curiosity, what would you suggest?'

'Is that why you dropped by?  For wardrobe advice?'

Superman shrugged.  'No. I just dropped by to say hello.  And to bring you this.'  He let himself settle on the balcony pavement, and bent down to gently place something on Lex's marble patio table.

Lex stared.  'That's a diamond,' he said, after a long moment.

'I know.  I made it this morning, before going in to work.'

'Why?  No… wait. Clark. That was sarcasm.  Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?'

'Huh? Oh, the blackmail joke. No, it's not a blackmail payment.  It's payment for information given.  You're an informant, remember?'

'An unpaid informant,' said Lex.

'I know, and it makes me nervous.  I keep wondering what you're getting out of it.'

'And you keep seeing plots where there are none.  Drug lords, crime bosses -- dragging the human race down.  Beings like you, from other worlds, your greater technology, your penchant for seeing us as potential slaves -- endangering our future.  I don't like the place the world is in right now.  More of your 'people' could show up at any time.  We have to be ready.'

'Lex, I don't think....'

'You don't think it's enough, what I'm doing.  I look pathetic, to you, as you fly overhead, with all your vast power.  I'm just a human being, but I'm not going to crawl into a hole and die.  I'm not going to surrender, either.  I was taken over by one of your 'people' once. It's not going to happen again.'

'Zod isn't my people.  He's gone. He won't be back.'

'Well, I'm reassured.  Everything's fine then.  I'll just forget all about it, and turn in.  Why don't you run off to bed, too?  Don't forget to take your shiny little stone with you.'

'Keep it,' said Clark.  'I made it for you. It didn't cost me anything.'

'Thanks,' said Lex.  'I met Superman, and all I got was this lousy diamond.  Clark?  Since you've taken up your, in my opinion, entirely extraneous career as a superhero, let me give you a word of advice.  Don't try to do too much for people.  It only causes resentment, and eventually they'll hate you for it.'


******************


'Sergeant Lane, what do you think would have happened if....'

'Hang on, Detective.  It's too early in the morning.  I haven't had enough coffee, yet.  Please don't ask me to think, especially about hypothetical ifs.'

'This is a personal matter, Sarge.... Lois.  It's not work related.'

'Got dating problems, Clark?  Okay, spill.  I'll just zone out.'

'Not dating problems.  Just... what do you think would have happened if, when you were fifteen years old....'

'God!  Clark.  Have mercy.  Fifteen?'

'You meet a guy, an older guy.  Rich.  And he gives you things, whatever you ask for.'

'What?  You mean in exchange for sex?'

'No.  Nothing to do with sex.  What is it with women?  They think everything is about sex, or romance.'

'Because everything is about sex and romance.  Get a grip.  Look around you.  You think all those people on drugs or booze would be doing that if they had the real thing at home?  The drugs are a substitute, and.... Omigod!  Clark, this is about you and Lex Luthor.  Omigod!  You were Lex Luthor's boyfriend.'

'What?  No!  Lois, please.  Keep your voice down.'  They were driving down a busy, noisy main street, but who knew?  Maybe someone had his car bugged.  'I wasn't his boyfriend.  Just a friend.'

'And he gave you expensive gifts? To just a friend? God!  He hasn't so much as bought me a coffee.'

'My parents wouldn't let me keep the gifts.  But he did things for me, whenever I asked. He never asked for anything in return.  Not sex, anyway, just my friendship.'

'And that's why you hate him?  Okay, that makes sense, I guess.  You resented his money, his generosity.'

'That's not the whole story.'

'Of course not.  Who can ever tell the whole story?  But it's part of the whole story. Right?  Am I right?'

'I guess.'

'You guess?  Listen.  I've been trying to imagine such a scenario, for myself, like you asked.  I was an army brat.  We weren't poor, but isn't it every kid's dream?  To be able to have anything they want, when they want?  All the newest toys.  A pony.'

'You wanted a pony?'

'All kids want a pony.  That's not the point. Get back to the point.  I think I would have been spoiled.  I would have used the guy.  Used him and hurt him, and twisted the situation to my advantage.  I would have garnered most of the sympathy.  Who would feel sympathy for some old rich guy, when this innocent little girl is there as the victim?  Were you the victim, Clark?'

'I'm hungry,' said Clark.  'Let's stop for a doughnut.'

'Yeah,' said Sergeant Lane.  'I need another coffee.'


******************
 

'You know, Clark, if you eat a dozen doughnuts every time you discover new evidence you're not perfect, I'll soon need a crane to lift you into my car. No one's perfect, Clark.'

'I know,' said Clark. 'I never realized before that I could look so ugly.  It's just a shock, that's all.'

'Welcome to the human race... What's so funny?'

'Nothing.  Do you know why I decided to become a cop?  To hunt down and punish people who hurt others, who use them, and all the time....'

'You were one of them, and so am I, and so is Lex Luthor, and so is everyone who ever lived.  That's all I meant by my analysis. It wasn't a condemnation of you, personally.'

Clark looked up from his little pile of doughnut crumbs.  'No,' he said.  'That's why your analysis was so damning.  I'm supposed to be better. I wanted to be better.  I thought I was better.  I guess wanting to be something, supposing you should be something -- doesn't add up to being something.'

'No kidding,' said Lois Lane.  'I always wanted to be a sexy blonde.  But look at me.'

Clark looked.  'You look just fine the way you are, Sarge,' he said.

'Thanks for that overwhelming endorsement.  I've had enough coffee.  Let's get back to work, huh?'

Women were incomprehensible, thought Clark.  No matter that they were equal to men.  No matter how smart and strong they were -- still they were mysteries.  Why else would Lois Lane, a tough-as-nails police sergeant, and an attractive woman in every way, mutter to herself as they got into the car, 'Maybe if I shaved my head?'  It made no sense.


***************


Clark barely needed any sleep these days, but he liked to sleep as much as his double life allowed.  When he slept, he dreamed.

He'd read books about human dreams, about their mysterious symbolism.  But when he dreamt, his dreams all made perfect sense, without any need of analysis.  Humans often dreamt about flying, about having incredible powers. But Superman could and did fly, and he possessed almost every imaginable power.  Superman was the embodiment of everyone's dreams, and Clark was Superman.

Clark dreamt about living in a place where he was like everyone else, where love was simple to find, and he didn't have to fear hurting those he loved.  Clark dreamt about not having to hide who and what he was, about someone who not only accepted him but admired him, and who could protect him as well as need his protection.

So, when the phone rang at seven AM, dragging him out of his peaceful dream of... he answered it without much patience.  'Yeah?  This better be good.'

'Thanks, Clark.  Thanks a lot.  I hope it was good for you.'

'What?  Lex?  What are you talking about?'

But Lex had already hung up.  Clark called him back.  Lex didn't answer -- several times in a row.

Clark gave up.  Got out of bed.  Made coffee.  Turned on the old TV set, volume down, without paying attention to what was on.  Went to the door. Picked up the papers lying on his mat.  Sipped at his coffee.

The headline on the first paper read:  DOLLAR FALLS AGAIN.

The second newspaper: IRAQI INSURGENTS ATTACK AGAIN!

The third newspaper:  IS THIS MAN A POLICE INFORMANT?

Under the headline, a picture of Lex Luthor.

Clark stared at the words and the picture for some time before the sense of them sank in.  He tried calling Lex one more time, then called Margot's desk.

'It wasn't me' he said, before she could hang up on him.  'It wasn't me, Margot.  Please tell Lex it wasn't me.'

'Mister Kent, Mister Luthor prepared a message in the certainty that you would call me,' she said.  'He said to tell you, and I quote:  "It was your fault, Clark.  You visited my offices wearing your badge.  That's all he wrote."  But I'll pass on your message, nonetheless.  Goodbye, Mister Kent.'  The phone clicked in his ear with a chilling finality.

Something on the TV screen caught his eye.  Lex Luthor's face, juxtaposed with a photograph of Detective Clark Kent leaving the LexCorp building the other day.  It was an early morning talk show, and the hostess was discussing the latest news.  Lex Luthor was big news here in Metropolis.

The phone rang. He grabbed at the receiver.  'Lex? I'm sorry, it wasn't....'

'Not Lex, Manpower.  This is your sergeant speaking. Remember me?  What the hell happened?'

'Sarge?  I'm sorry, I never thought such a thing would happen.  I don't understand.  Surely everyone realizes this isn't how we interview informants.  Cops don't show up at an informant's place of work to ask them questions.'

'A cop leaving Lex Luthor's place of work is news. Anything about Lex Luthor is news.  Reporters don't care about the truth.  Not any more. Maybe they did, way back in the twentieth century.  Welcome to the twenty-first.'

'Listen, Sarge, I have to fix this.  I won't be in to work until later.  Cover for me, will you?' He hung up on Lois's squawk of outrage.

Superman landed in the alley behind the TV station, and changed into Clark Kent.  He slipped through the back door, bypassing security with practised ease, and made it to the studio before anyone noticed he was there.

'Excuse me,' he said.  He walked out on stage, slipping through the hands of the security guards.  'I'm Detective Clark Kent.  That's my picture you've been flashing on your screen all morning.'

'Let him on stage!' someone called.  'He's news.'

Clark grabbed an empty chair, and sat down alongside the surprised talk show hostess.  He held out his hand, and she shook it.  'Nice to meet you,' said Clark.

'Um, yes.  Nice to meet you, too.  Why are you here, Detective Kent.'

'I'm here to protest, and to explain.  You've been showing pictures of me leaving the LexCorp building.  I wasn't there to interview an informant. I was visiting an old friend.  Lex Luthor was a good friend of mine, many years ago.'

'A friend?  I must say, Mister Kent, you don't strike me as the sort of person a billionaire counts among his friends.  What do the two of you have in common?'

'Appearances can be deceiving,' said Clark.  'Lex Luthor and I have a lot in common. We shared many experiences, and became best friends.  Then, he objected to my choice of career, and we grew apart.  Now that I've moved back to Metropolis, we've been renewing our relationship.'

'Relationship?  Mister Kent, what is the nature of your relationship with Mister Luthor?'

Clark looked right into the camera, and smirked.  'We're just good friends,' he said.


**************


'Well, if it isn't Lex Luthor's boyfriend'

'Hey, guys.  It's Lex Luthor's butt buddy.'

'Yeah.  You like it up the ass, Kent?'

Clark ignored the cat-calls, and made his way to his desk.  Lois wasn't there.  He looked around, and caught a glimpse of her, through Captain Sawyer's window.  Perhaps they were conferring over his future with the OCU.  He sat down, and pretended to read a case file, resisting the urge to listen to his superiors' conversation.

A voice hissed behind him, 'Do you like it up the ass, Kent?  I got something here for you, if I ever catch you alone in the locker room.  The locker room's for men, got tha... Umph.'

Clark heard a thump behind him, and turned.  Sergeant Lane was standing over the prone body of Detective Sam Carson.  'Get up,' she said.  'Get up so I can knock you down again.'

'I think once was enough, Sergeant Lane.'  That was Captain Sawyer, who had decided to join them.  'It was enough, wasn't it, Detective Carson?'

'He was threatening my partner,' said Lois Lane.  'I don't think it's enough.'

'Is that true, Detective Kent?  Did he threaten you?'

'Um....' said Clark.

'Yeah, hide behind a woman's skirts, Kent,' said Carson, as he struggled to his feet.

'I'm wearing pants,' said Sergeant Lane.

'So am I,' said Captain Sawyer.  'And we take threats and harassment seriously, in this department.  Did he threaten you, Kent?'

'Yes, Captain,' said Clark.

Lane spoke in a low, urgent voice, 'He threatened Detective Kent with rape, Captain.'

'Okay, I am now taking this very seriously indeed.  Detective Carson, you are suspended for the rest of the day, without pay, pending a hearing.  Get out now.  I don't want to hear another word.'  Captain Sawyer raised her voice.  'The rest of you, get back to work.  Harassment in any form is not tolerated in this department.  Didn't you all get the memo?  I am scheduling seminars on the subject, same as we had last year.  You will all attend.  Detective Kent, Sergeant Lane, in my office.'

Captain Sawyer sat at her desk, and regarded Clark for a moment, in silence.  'Were you Lex Luthor's boyfriend?' she asked, at last.  'I don't care whether you're gay or not. I'm a lesbian, myself, and everyone knows it.  I won't tolerate homophobia here, and I thought everyone understood that, too.  But I need to know about your relationship with Luthor.  He's your informant.'

'No, Captain,' Lane interrupted.  'With all due respect, he's my informant.  Kent told me that he and Luthor had been friends when they were boys, and I convinced him it didn't matter, so the fallout is my fault.'

'Excuse me, Sergeant Lane, but it's my fault.  Captain Sawyer, I paid a visit to Luthor's offices.  One of his business associates saw me there.  I suppose that's where the news story originated.  But it's all nonsense, like I said on TV.  And no, I wasn't Luthor's boyfriend.'

'You said more than that on TV, Detective.  You hinted at a lot more.'

'I wanted to draw attention away from Lex, from the theory that he's an informant.  It worked, didn't it?  Am I fired, Captain?'

'Hardly,' said Sawyer.  'That would be grounds for a sexual orientation discrimination suit.  Technically, you've done nothing wrong, with the possible exception of speaking to the press without prior approval.  You are hereby cautioned about that in future, but nothing will go on your file. First offence, and all that.  Don't let it happen again.'

'I won't, Captain, and thank you.'

'In fact, Detective, I want you to take the Detective One exams, as soon as possible.  Sergeant Lane says she'd like to have you as her permanent partner.  In the meantime, take the rest of the day off... not as a disciplinary measure.  Nothing like that.  But your face is all over the media.  It will make it hard to get any work done.  By tomorrow, it will be someone else's face.  Go look for a better apartment, or a better car, or something.  If anyone asks, you're on special assignment.   Got that?'

'Um... sure, Captain.  And thanks.'


**************


Clark went home, because there was nowhere else to go.  Well, he could drop in on his mother, but he was a grown man.  He couldn't go running to Mom every time something went wrong in his life.  Taking her his laundry once a month was bad enough, but there were no washing machines in the building, and his double life left little time for hunting around for decent laundromats.

Okay. New apartment. Check.  Open the papers.  Apartment rentals.  Some place affordable, but more appropriate than this dump.  A studio?  At least this place had more room.  But decent one bedroom apartments were...

A knock on his door.  Clark got up to open it.  A man stood in the doorway, flanked by bodyguards dressed in black leather.

'Have you gone out of your mind?' asked Lex Luthor.


***************


He could see the headlines now:  GAY COP BEATS UP ON BILLIONAIRE BOYFRIEND!

He'd put himself in his current untenable position, but that didn't make it any easier to bear.  There was nothing he could do to shut up Lex at this point, that would not be accounted domestic violence.  Nothing.  Lex could go on ranting and raving, gleefully pointing out his various and sundry inadequacies, and Clark had to smile and listen -- or pretend to listen.  Actually, he was listening to the surf at Puerto Chicama, and only catching a word of Lex's speech here and there, but it was enough.

'.... what might anyone expect?  You were raised by that gormless idiot, Jonathan Kent.  Though I'm persuaded he'd be shocked at your TV appearance this morning, smirking like a cheap rent boy.'

'Cheap?' Clark ventured.

'You had better hope the media doesn't track you down here.  One look at this apartment, and they'll know you haven't been charging the going rates for someone of your looks and stature.  clarkkent@alwaysonsale.com  That should be your email address.'

'And what's wrong with being gormless?' Clark evaded.  'Who needs a gorm, anyway?'

'Gorm is middle English, from the Old Norse word meaning sense, of which I am assured you have none.'

'And you do?'

Lex's eyes went as cold and as dark as the Old Norse sea, across which the Vikings had sailed in search of booty.  'I suppose,' he said, with enough ice in his voice to sink the Titanic, 'That it depends upon your definition of sense.  If you think it's sense to hide your head in the sand about aliens invading Earth, while you play cops and robbers with Batman, and fly around in that....'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' said Clark. 'We have witnesses.'

'Hope and Mercy?  They aren't witnesses.  I have no secrets from them.  It's vital to my security they know everything I know.'

'Wonderful,' said Clark.  'Do they stand over your bed when you have company, or what?'

'How did you guess?  And why is it your business?  Whatever you may have insinuated on TV, we were never lovers.  Are you sorry about that, now?'

'Why would I be?  I don't need diamond earrings.'

'No,' said Lex, and now both his voice and his eyes were bright and hot.  'Diamond earrings wouldn't suit you.  A stud, maybe.  A ruby, the colour of blood.  Here...'  His right hand brushed Clark's left earlobe.  'Or here...'  His hand ventured lower, to rest over his left nipple.  'Or here...'

Before Lex's descending hand could reach its destination, Clark grabbed the wrist, gently, with an eye on Hope and Mercy.  'Don't,' he said.

'I'm not molesting you.  Only showing you how to seduce someone, since you have no idea how to do it.'

'What? You're talking about the TV interview? Or that territorial display in your office? I wasn't trying to seduce you. I was trying to protect you.'

'You have no idea how to do that, either.  And don't you realize you've only hurt yourself?  For the rest of your life -- which I assume will be a long one -- you will be known as Lex Luthor's ex-boyfriend.'

Clark shrugged.  'If the world sees me that way,' he said.  'Maybe they won't notice anything else.'

'I hope so,' said Lex.  'Well, I guess my work here is done, and I should be on my way.'

'Don't let me keep you,' said Clark.

'You couldn't keep me in the manner to which I am accustomed for five minutes at a time,' said Lex Luthor.

'I don't want to try,' said Clark.  'You wouldn't be worth the trouble.'

'That's what you think,' said Lex.  He swept out the door, Hope and Mercy following.

Well, thought Clark.  His morning certainly hadn't been boring.  He went to the window, to watch Lex's departure -- only to assure himself that Lex did actually depart, of course.  He watched Lex walk toward his limo, flanked by the two leather-clad amazons.  His chauffeur opened the back door.  Mercy got inside, and Lex started after.

A car came careening around the corner, at top speed.  The license plates were covered in mud.  Clark didn't need to see the gun barrel sticking out the side window.  'Lex!' he shouted.  'Get down.'

Mercy jumped back out of the car.  She and Hope threw themselves over Lex's body.   Superman sped out of Clark's window.  He caught the second bullet.  He also caught the car before it could continue on its way.   He had the driver and assassin tied up in seconds.  

'I'll be right back,' Superman said to his captives.  'Don't go anywhere.'  He ignored the obscene replies.

Lex and Mercy were unharmed.  The first bullet had struck Hope in the arm.  'I'll be fine,' she was saying.

'Sure you will,' said Superman.  'I'll take you to the hospital right now.'

'That won't be necessary,' said Lex and Mercy in unison.

'You can sit in the car and bleed all over the upholstery for ten minutes while your friends drive you to the hospital, or I can take you there in seconds. Which do you prefer?'

The answer was obvious.


****************


Clark flew right in the front door of the police station, the would-be killer dangling from one hand by his belt.  'Sergeant Lane?' he asked, in his Superman voice.

Lois looked at him, her eyes narrowed for a moment, but she nodded.

'This man attempted to kill Lex Luthor.  He managed to wound one of Luthor's bodyguards, who is now in hospital.  I'll leave him in your capable hands.'

'Wait!  Superman?  You witnessed this yourself?  Perhaps you should assist with the interrogation?'

Clark was a bit nervous about spending so much time with his sergeant, in his Superman persona.  Lois Lane was far too perceptive for his peace of mind, at times.

Fortunately, the perp was quite willing to talk.

'I'll talk,' said the perp.  'Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you.  I'm no killer.  This wasn't my idea.  You think I'd be so stupid to try killing Lex-Fucking-Luthor of my own free will?  See, I was walking innocent-like along the street.  This guy drives up, forces me into his car. Says he'll kill my old mother if I don't agree to shoot Lex-Fucking-Luthor.  Also, he'll pay me ten thousand dollars to do it. Well, I won't get that money now, will I?  Also, you better call and check on my mother.'

'Okay,' said Lois Lane.  'What's the guy's name?'

'Houghton, his name was.  Carl Houghton.'


**************


'Ten grand!' said Lex-Fucking-Luthor.  'That's all my life is worth now?'

'I don't think you should be worrying about....'

'I'm worth at least ten billion, and Houghton offers up ten grand to kill  me?'

'Who's Carl Houghton, Lex?'

'He's a business associate. That's all you need to know.'

'I don't agree.  Lane is arresting him as we speak.'

'The charges won't stick.'

'Lex.'

'I have no knowledge of his plot to kill me, Clark.  So I can't help you there.  The charges won't stick.  His lawyer will have him out on bail before the ink is dry, and you better keep your informant in protective custody.'

'I see,' said Clark.  'You do business with people like that?'

'If necessary.  A person can choose their friends, but not relatives or business associates.  Business is business. It has nothing to do with likes or dislikes, love or hate, virtue or vice.'

'It has to do with profit?'

'Sometimes. Or it has to do with expediency.  Who is the best person for the job?  You may hate the best person, but still they are the best person, so you put your personal feelings aside....  Ah.  There's Hope at last.  Ready to go home, my dear?'

'Of course, Mister Luthor.  I'll be fine.'  Hope was leaning on Mercy's arm, her own arm bandaged from the elbow to the shoulder.

'I never doubted it,' said Lex. 'You have my respect and admiration.  You have my thanks for a job well done.  And you have a ten thousand dollar bonus.  That's the going rate for killing me, it seems, so….  Clark?  Need a lift home?'

Clark nearly said no, but changed his mind.  Lex Luthor's company had always been entertaining, if at times dangerous and infuriating.  He didn't really want to fly straight back to the want ads and a hopeless apartment search.  Fighting with Lex had to be more fun than that.

'When I called the police station this morning,' Lex continued in the car,  'Your partner told me you were at home.  I never asked why. Did they fire you?'

'No,' said Clark.  'Of course not.  Captain Sawyer was just giving me a break, to let things cool down.'

'Cool down? Why?  Who was making things hot for you?'  Lex was looking truly concerned.

'Just another detective, threatening unspeakable retribution.... what does it matter what?  Lex, he can't really rape me.'

'Rape?  He threatened rape?  Who is this vile malfeasant?'

'Huh?  Oh, just another detective.  Captain Sawyer sent him home for the rest of the day, and he'll be up on the carpet tomorrow.'

'You mean he's not behind bars?  I don't believe it.'

'Lex, you don't understand police society.  The way things are done....'

'No? And you lecture me about business ethics...  Never mind.  You shouldn't go home.  You're coming home with me for the night.  I'll see to it that Captain Sawyer delivers more than a harsh lecture.'  Lex rapped on the window between the passenger and driver sections.  'Howard?  We're not going to Mister Kent's place after all.  We're going back to the Penthouse.... No, Clark.  It's not unnecessary.  You are not completely invulnerable, whatever you may think.  And I am involved, already.  I can't, in all conscience, just drop you off at your door, leaving you to the wolves.  You told the whole world we were sharing spit. Will it kill you to have dinner with me, and sleep under my roof for one night?'

'I guess not,' said Clark.

'Good.  But wait, I've had another thought.  Hope?  Are you up to a drive, or do you need to go home to bed right away?'

'She's asleep,' said Mercy.  'I'll keep an eye on her.'

Hope was indeed asleep, her head in Mercy's lap.

'Good,' said Lex, again.  'There's something I want Clark to see.  He's so interested in my business.  Howard, I've changed my mind again.  We're driving to the plant.  The new one, out on Richmond Road.'  Lex added, 'You'll like this, Clark.  You and your friends used to destroy everything I built, but you never destroyed me.  You just made me tougher.  I want to show you what I mean.'


**************

'You're taking me to one of your plants?' asked Clark, after a long silence.

'No one can actually take you anywhere, by force,' Lex replied.  'But I'd like you to see it.  I want to give you the grand tour.'

'Why?  So I'll see what you want me to see?'

'Everyone shows people what they want them to see.  You do. Lane does.  Captain Sawyer....'

'Cut out the crap, Lex,' Clark snapped, at last.  'What is it you're hiding?'

'I knew you'd react that way.  You're so predictable.'

The limo drove through guarded gates.  Clark turned his x-ray vision on the building ahead, but it was lined with lead, and he couldn't see inside.

'It's lined with lead, Clark,' Lex told him.  'You'll have to wait until you're inside to see what's inside, like everyone else.'

'Do I want to go inside?' asked Clark.  'If I don't know what's inside?'

'The Uncertainty Principle,' said Lex, in a philosophic voice.  'I've walked into many a situation where I didn't know what awaited me.  All life, when it's born, slides out of its egg, or its mother's womb, into an unknown world.  That's the joy and excitement of life.  I just want to add, while you consider your options, that many people saw you leave the hospital with me, and get into my limo.  If you disappear henceforth, I will be among the chief suspects, considering the events of the last few days.  I may be, as you have often accused me of being, rash, but not that rash.'

'You mean there isn't Kryptonite inside the plant?  Why don't you just say so?'

'Because there is Kryptonite inside the plant, but it's stored away behind lead shields, and I have no intentions of unshielding it, unless forced to do so.  That's why.  Now, we can sit out here and debate the issue, or we can go inside, and you can lecture me on my ethics, or lack of them.  Which is it?'

Lex could really be an asshole, without even trying.

'I wish you'd relax, Clark,' he said as they rode down, floor after floor, in a lead-lined elevator.  'Why in God's name would I want to kill you?'

'You've tried... you've tried harming me.'

'Harming you?  I've tried figuring out what the fuck you are.  I've tried figuring out why the fuck you're here and what your intentions are.  I've tried figuring out what the fuck to do about you if your intentions are bad.  I've tried all these things without any help from you.  If that's harming you, so be it... Oh, here we are.  You're about to hit pay dirt.  Lex Luthor's newest project.  Still in the beta stage, and I'm looking forward to your input.  Just one thing.  Don't attempt to break it, before we've had a chance to play with it.'

The elevator doors opened.  Across the wide, dark chamber, stood a figure, tall, silent, unmoving and mysterious. It reminded Clark of an old science fiction movie.  The Day the Earth Stood Still -- that was the name.

'It's a robot,' said Clark.

'Amazing, Clark.  You really are a detective. In fact, I do call him Gort, though he doesn't have power over life and death -- yet.  And Clark, I know what you're just itching to do.  Rip into him.  Destroy him, before you know what he even is.  You'd be killing a living, thinking being, who has harmed no one.  Do you want that on your conscience, if you have such a thing?'

Clark turned, slowly, and stared at Lex.  'What do you mean?' he asked.

'What do I mean about what?  About your conscience?  I suppose that was cruel, but sometimes I've wondered.  You have a selective conscience, I think.  It works in most instances, but when it encounters me, or someone like me....'

'I mean, what do you mean it's a living being?  It's a robot.'

'Gort is not an it.  Gort is a he.  Definitely male, though I resisted the urge to give him a penis he'd have no real use for.  His body is robotic, that's for sure.  But his mind is male.  I know that for a fact.'

Clark felt a chill.  'How do you know?' he asked.

'I know because I chose a male mind upon which to build Gort's, that's how.'

'You... you used a real, living mind for Gor... for it's head?'

'It's more complex than you're making it sound.  He's not Frankenstein's Monster.  I didn't sew human body parts together to create him.'

'What does he...  it have?  Whose mind... what brain did you use, Lex?'

Lex took a step forward, closer to Clark, not back.  Attacking, not retreating.  'A gay, orphaned baby whale's, of course.. Superman! Alert Aquaman.  Call on Batman.  Save the gay baby whale brain cells.'

'You're joking, right?'

'Yes.  Sorry.  I couldn't resist.  The brain comes from a little boy I dragged off the streets of Mexico City. I tore him out of his mother's arms.  They were just poor peasants.  No one will miss him but his mother.'

'Lex.'

'You mean you don't believe my story? Curses.  Foiled again... Okay.  I used the brain of someone very close to me.  Someone I trust implicitly to understand my every plan.  Gort will never be a traitor to any cause of mine.'

'Lex, will you just answer the question?'

'I used my own brain cells, Clark. I have plenty to spare, after all.  I gave up a few here and there, but I'm still smarter than you, any day of the week.'

Clark stared into Lex Luthor's eyes.  They shone with a madness that made his hair stand on end.  'Why would you do such a thing?' he asked.

'I need Super Soldiers to fight the aliens when they arrive, since Superman is no help.  I decided that robots were the best choice.  They're not human, so you can't accuse me of abusing people.  Gort won't run wild, killing humans, because he's programmed to fight on our side, and on our side only.  I don't want to take over the world, Clark. I want to protect it.  No one else will do it. No one else can do it.  I figured it out, one night when I felt completely alone -- I was meant to be alone, for a reason.  I have no one to distract me. I can't be bought, for any amount of money, because I'm one of the richest men on Earth.  I'm ready to die to protect this world.  Can you say the same?  Can you?  You're not even human.'

Lex was playing with something in his pocket.  He didn't seem to be watching Clark at all, but Clark could feel his nervous energy building and growing.  Leading up to something, some bizarre act of violence.

'I think of myself as human,' said Clark.  'Yes, I would protect this world.'

Lex now fixed his eyes upon Clark's.  'But what have you done to prove it?  I mean, what plans do you have in place?  Do you know for sure there won't be an invasion, and if so, how do you know?  What proof do you have?  Are you sure all the other Kryptonians are dead, or otherwise accounted for?  Can you swear to it?'

'No,' said Clark.

'But you want me to believe it.  You want me to trust you to protect us all.  What if other Kryptonians show up en masse?  Too many for you to handle.  What if you're asleep, or playing with yourself somewhere?  You're only one man, Clark, even if you are all-powerful.'

'Gort's only one robot,'  Clark pointed out.

'He's a prototype.  He's not finished, by any means.  At the present time, he could hold you off in a fight for five minutes.  If I had a thousand of them, they would buy us time.  You wouldn't have to fight alone, if you truly would fight on our side....  But I can see it in your eyes.  You want to destroy Gort.  You want to arrest me -- though I can't see what fucking law I've broken.  You want to send me to Belle Reve -- though you admit that my fears of an alien invasion are not baseless.  You don't trust me.  Why the hell should I trust you?  But I do try.'

Lex took his hand out of his pocket.  'See this ring, Clark?  I've been carrying it in my pocket ever since you came back to Metropolis, but I haven't flipped the lid, which is made of lead, because underneath is a stone of Kryptonite.  There is Kryptonite throughout the plant.  If I spoke the right word, the panels would pull back, and you'd be helpless.  But I won't say the word, unless you try to kill me, or destroy Gort.  I don't want to destroy you.  I don't hate you, what you are, only what you're doing.   Ignoring the dangers out there, and letting me fight on my own.  Gort!  Wake up.'

The robot jerked to attention, and stepped out of the shadows.   The face did look a little like Gort's, but when the visor lifted, no death ray ensued.

'Gort!' said Lex, again.  'Who is our visitor?'

'Clark Kent,' said Gort, in a voice very much like Lex's.  My God, thought Clark.

'Who is Clark Kent?' Lex went on.

'He is alien, but may be a friend.  I should trust him, to a point, pending further information.'

'Thank you, Gort.  What would you do if I ordered you to take over the Earth for me?'

'I will obey no such commands. Ruling the world is a useless ambition for me.  If you want to rule the world, do it yourself.'

'A wise robot.  Right Clark?  Gort knows how to make choices.  What about you?  I told you once before to choose very carefully.  I say it again, but with far more import.'

'I want to trust you, Lex.  But you're dangerous.'

'So are you,' said Lex.  'We're both dangerous, no question.  The question is, to whom should we be dangerous?  To our mutual enemies, or to each other?'


**********************



It had been a few years since Clark visited Lex's penthouse.  He remembered the first time, how he had been awed by its modernity, by its vast spaces and beautiful furnishings.  He had also been envious, an emotion that much of Lex's life aroused in him.  Lex was rich, powerful, independent. He drove a Porsche. His girlfriends were exquisitely beautiful, and he could have sex at any time, without worrying about his parents walking in on them.

The penthouse hadn't changed much.  Perhaps it was Clark himself who had changed.  For now, it struck him as cold and empty, and not worthy of envy.  It struck him as a tomb, whose inhabitants just hadn't realized they were dead and buried yet.

Of course, since it belonged to Lex, it was a very neat and clean tomb. The drapes hung perfectly. Clark couldn't imagine the temerity of a speck of dust that would dare to settle on Lex's desk or coffee table.  In fact, as Lex strode impatiently by him, Clark saw a dust mote caught in a beam of sunlight. It danced lazily downward, until it reached Lex's shoulder, then veered away as fast as dust could travel.  Clark chuckled.  Lex turned, and narrowed his eyes.

'What?' he asked.

'Nothing,' said Clark, looking as innocent as possible.

Lex shrugged, then turned and looked around the beautiful, empty room.  He stalked to the telephone, pushed a button and started snapping orders.  Servants ran to do his bidding.  Clark left them to it, and went to stand out on the balcony,  looking over the city.

'I ordered an early dinner,' said Lex's voice, behind him.  'You must be hungry.'

'I'm okay,' said Clark.  'But I don't like being threatened.'

'Who does?'

'You forced my hand.'

'Don't let it put you off your dinner,' said Lex.  'Maurice is one of the best French chefs in the city.'

'Well, he would be, of course.  You hired him.'

'Why would I hire one of the worst?  And before you say it -- Clark, I don't have time to cook my own dinner, or do my own housework.  Keeping house is hard work, and takes a lot of time.  My staff is well paid, and well treated.  Ask any one of them if they'd rather be unemployed because you think it's pretentious to keep servants.'

'No.  Of course not.  I'm just in a bad mood, because....'

'Because I threatened you.  I needed to get your attention, and your people seem to respond to threats.  I have achieved my goals, and the threat is put away safely, for now.  But do go on being a victim if it works for you.'

Lex may have seen a dawning threat in Clark's eyes, because his own eyes widened.  But he didn't back down in fear.  He smiled.  'In the meantime,' he said. 'Drinks will be served in the drawing room.  I'll be in the library if you need to speak to me.  Or we could simply meet in the dining room, at dinner time. One of my servants will show you the way.'  Lex gave Clark a quick, rather insincere smile, and disappered down a long hallway.  

Did he like being the victim?  Lois had accused him of something similar, and Clark had recognized an uncomfortable truth in her words.  Perhaps it had something to do with his growing sense of invulnerability at the time that his relationship with Lex had deteriorated. Lex had been a convenient target for his frustrations over his alien status. But Lex, out of all his friends, relations and acquaintances, had been the only one who had accepted him without reservation.  The only one who had really wanted to know. Everyone else, even though they accepted him, did so with reservations. They had seen his differences as something to be hidden.

Lex, on the other hand, had been obsessed, fascinated, endlessly curious.  Mom and Dad had read Lex's fascinated curiosity as dangerous, as a wish to dissect him, to use him.  Looking back, Clark had to admit there had been no hints of such a desire.  Of other desires, there had been hints, and that had frightened Clark at times.  At other times, those hints had drawn him closer, with the longing to be able to reveal all of himself to someone.

Lex was in his library, studying papers spread out on his desk.  'Clark,' he announced to the room at large, though it was empty of anyone but themselves.  'Make yourself at home.  If you need something to drink, there's a small bar to your left.  Something to read?  Look around you.'

'I'd like to talk,' said Clark.

'Talk?'  Lex looked up, leaned forward.  'You have my complete attention,' he said.  'Talk.'

'Um... could we sit...?'

'More comfortably?  Of course, Clark.  Pull up a chair.  Over here by the window?  Good.'  Lex sat down, relaxed and graceful.

'I've been thinking over your offer of an alliance,' said Clark.  'I'm wondering about the details.  That's all.'

'Details?  The devil is in the details, isn't he?  We'll have to hammer them out, I agree.  I was planning to do that after dinner, but if you insist...'

'I'm not insisting about anything, yet.  I'm not sure what....'

'What to insist about?  I agree.  This is a tentative agreement, subject to negotiation.  What I had in mind, was an alliance for... exploration.  Investigation.  You agreed that you had no evidence that other aliens weren't planning to invade Earth.  I have no evidence they are.  The conclusion is obvious.  We need more evidence.  Why don't we begin with that?  We collaborate in an evidence finding mission.'

'That sounds fair,' Clark allowed.

'Good,' said Lex.  He got to his feet, walked over to a bookcase, and slid it back.  Concealed behind it was a wall safe.  He opened this, and took out a stack of notebooks.  'I've accumulated a considerable amount of evidence of the existence of aliens, some of whom have lived among us,' he went on.  'I've kept handwritten notes, because computer files can be hacked.  My notes are written in various languages.  I believe you can read them all?'

Clark glanced through the notebooks.  A mishmash of Japanese, Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, German....  But the notes were detailed, concise, and damning.  He began to read.

He already knew most of the details, but as with the room Lex had kept at one time, with all those artifacts about Clark and the mutants, to see the information in one place was a shock.  His own history had been pieced together, from Lex's memories, and the stories Clark himself had told the press.  The caves.  The attacks by Zod.  Kara.  The Kryptonite meteors.

'If there is intelligent, humanoid life on one other planet,' Clark read.  'It probably exists on many more.  If one alien knows about Earth, others might.  If one alien has attacked Earth in my lifetime, others might make the attempt.'

'I know all this,' said Clark, over dinner.

'But you prefer to ignore it,' Lex countered.

'I prefer not to over-react,' said Clark.

'Where do you draw the line?  When does not over-reacting become ignoring?'

'I suppose it's best to err on the side of caution.'

'You suppose?  Really?' Lex buttered a piece of roll, as if he were putting the finishing touches on a work of art.  'I'm thinking,' he went on.  'Of a journal article I read about you, not long ago.'

'About me?'

'About Superman, anyway.  The author claimed you represented the aspirations of humanity -- not merely humans here on Earth, but of all humanoids everywhere in the universe.  You are all-powerful, all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing....'

'Lex.'

'And you use your powers for good, in the service of we little humans...'

'Lex, I don't think of myself...'

'You don't think at all.  You have high intelligence.  You can reason.  But you don't think.  You feel.  You see people suffering around you, so you want to help, but you don't see what you're doing to them.  To us.  You don't wonder if you're truly doing the right thing, if you're truly fulfilling your destiny.  Were you really sent here to catch petty crooks?  To stop me from becoming too rich and powerful?  Or to protect our world from a real threat, the sort of threat only you could protect us from?'

'I told you I'd work with you, Lex.'

'I know.  But I want you to commit yourself to this.  I want you to stop harbouring doubts about my intentions.  At least for now.  At least until I've been proven wrong.  If you fight me at every turn....'

'I won't.  I told you that.  I meant what I said.'

Lex put his roll down, wearily, abandoning his attempt to cover every centimetre with butter.  'That's all I ask,' he said.

'I'll fly my first reconnaissance mission tonight,' said Clark.  'I'll report back here.'

'Do that,' said Lex.  'Excuse me, but I'm not very hungry.  I'll be in the library.'

'Yes sir,' Clark said, to his retreating back.

Lex didn't flinch.

*************

He had never been so far out into deep space, unless one counted the journey to Earth as a child.  Alone, without a space ship, without the comfort of the AI, so far from the yellow sun and its power -- he had no idea how long he could survive, or if, in time, he might not be able to make it back to Earth alive.  It was best, he thought, not to tempt fate, especially his first time out.  Best to monitor his own reactions, check for any loss of his powers.

He sent his hearing out as far as it could go.  Background noise.  He used his x-ray vision on some passing comets.  Balls of dust and ice, burning through space.  His long distance vision...he sent that as far as it would go, to the very edge of the Milky Way.  Nothing dangerous or threatening.  Those planets inhabited by intelligent life forms seemed peaceful enough.   Certainly there were no signs of space fleets, massing for invasion.
 
It was fun to test his powers to the utmost, he thought, without the usual limits set by the fragility of human life, and Earth's environment.  There was no one here to be hurt by his strength. There was no one to see his laser vision, let alone to notice it and remark upon it.

Did his powers really exist, so far from all surveillance?  Like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, did he make a sound if there were no one to hear him?

So many times he had fretted against restrictions.  So many times he had wished he could break all constraints.  But constraints, restrictions, set about him like fences, like prison walls, defining his limits, defined him.  He could feel himself within those limits, so he could define himself.  On Earth, he was Superman.  Who was he now, so far from Earth?  There was no one to say.

The vastness of space and time dwarfed his powers.  There was no one to see him, to hear him, to touch him.

He was alone.

He closed his eyes, and savoured the solitude, far greater than the solitude of the Fortress.  The cold, the silence, the emptiness here was total.  There was no one here to call upon Superman -- or even Detective Clark Kent.  There was no one here to have expectations, for good or for ill.  There was no one here to define him -- except for himself.

Who am I? That was now his single thought.

And then he felt it. A touch.  Tentative, but somehow not gentle.  Uncertain, but somehow not afraid.  Inquisitive, perhaps, and also, perhaps, threatening.

He opened his eyes, but still he was alone.  The red cape draped about his body in the same, still folds as before.  Nothing had stirred the folds of his cape, therefore the touch had not been physical.

He closed his eyes again, and waited, but the touch did not return.

*****************

The balcony windows of Lex's penthouse stood wide open, and light shone out like a beacon.  Lex, it seemed, had scarcely moved since Clark had left him here, studying their combined notes on extraterrestrial life.  When he looked up, he rubbed his eyes, and grimaced.  'Uggh. Superman.  Have pity.'

'What...  Oh, sorry.'  Superman whirled about, and Clark re-appeared, in his black leather jacket and jeans.

'Nifty,' said Lex.  'Welcome back, Detective Kent. Please, pour yourself a drink.'  He reached for the whisky bottle on his desk, and poured himself one.

'I'm not thirsty,' said Clark.  'You shouldn't drink so much.'

'I am thirsty, and my drinking habits are no concern of yours.'

'Were no concern of mine, until you made us partners.  Things have changed.  I don't want to be partners with a drunk. Alcohol impairs human judgement.'

'I'm not drunk  I'm not impaired....'

'I've seen car wrecks caused by people who said that very thing, just before they got behind the wheel.'

'Granted.  Point taken.  I'll be more careful in the future.'

'The future starts now, Lex,' said Clark.

Lex looked up at him with an odd expression.  Not angry.  Not threatening.  Not even puzzled, exactly.  Wondering? Hopeful?

'Very well,' he said.  He poured the drink back  into the bottle.   'Why waste it.' he explained.  He got to his feet, quite steadily, and carried the whisky bottle back to the bar.  'Happy?' he asked, but didn't wait for a reply.  'Now,' he said.  'Do you have anything to report?'

'This being my first trip out,' said Clark.  'I used it mostly to test my limits.  How far could I listen?  Stuff like that.  I checked out all the nearby inhabited systems.  No suspicious activity. A few internecine wars, that's all.   I saw no signs of close-range surveillance of Earth.'

Lex sighed.  'That's good,' he said.

'I realize it proves nothing,' said Clark.  'Yet.  This was just a preliminary investigation.'

'Of course, Clark.  But I'm relieved.  No one is massed upon our borders, ready to strike.  We have time, in case anyone is planning such a thing.'

'I'll test my limits further tomorrow.  But I don't want to get so far from the Sun that I lose all strength and can't get back.'

'No,' said Lex.  'Don't do that.'

Clark moved about restlessly.  He went to the library windows, and looked out on the night.

'What?' asked Lex.  'Is there something else?  Or would you rather just leave now?  Tired of my company?'

'I was never tired of your company, Lex.  Even when I was so angry, I could have.... No, not tired or bored.'

'Well, that's good,' said Lex.  'You don't bore me, either.'

Clark gazed out at the stars.  They looked smaller and dimmer from here, but that was only the effects of Earth's atmosphere, pollution and the competition from the city lights.

'There was something else,' he said, at last.  'It wasn't something I saw or heard. This was different.  It was something I felt.  Like a touch.'

'Like a touch?  What do you mean?'

'I was testing the limits of all my senses, like I said.  Then, I just floated in space for a while....  I don't know why.  There was no one, nothing alive, for billions of kilometres around.  I was....'

'Alone,' Lex finished for him.  'Singular.  A point in space and time.  No one to reflect back your self-image.  No one who cared.'

'Yes.  That's it.  For the first time in my life, I was completely alone.  I let myself drift.  And then I felt it.  A touch.  But not a touch.  Difficult to define.'

'How do you know it wasn't just a speck of space dust?  A meteorite, or....'

'The touch was conscious.  Curious about who I was.  It continued for some moments, and it stopped as soon as I reacted.'

'Not space dust,' said Lex.

'No,' said Clark.  'But now the consciousness is aware that I am conscious of it.'

'That couldn't be helped,' said Lex.  'The best thing to do is to pretend you didn't really notice.  Continue as if nothing happened, for a few days.  Then, try drifting again.  See if the touch returns.  Play along, next time.'

Clark nodded.  'Thanks,' he said.

It was curious how they had fallen back into their old ways of association, as though that were natural, and their hostility had been perverse.  Counterintuitive.  A reaction against something else other than its purported cause.

Lex smiled.  'Don't mention it,' he said.  'Glad to be of some help.'

'Of course you're a help, Lex,' said Clark, and watched something hush inside Lex.  Something tense, and then relax.  The reaction caused barely a ripple on Lex's calm face, but Clark had seen it.

'You should get some sleep,' Clark went on.

'I don't need much sleep,' said Lex.

'Neither do I, but I still do it.  Sleep, I mean.  It's nice to just relax, let the world drift away, and get by without you for a few hours.'

'You do that?' asked Lex.

'Sometimes.  Otherwise I get wound up, like a spring inside.  You know?'

Lex looked mystified.  'A spring?' he asked.

More like a volcano, in Lex's case, Clark thought.  Or a multi-megaton bomb.  'Yes,' he said.  'Everyone needs to relax, once in a while.'

'I relax,' said Lex, in an authoritarian tone of voice, as if he ordered his own psyche to relax or else.  Perhaps he did.

'Then relax now,' said Clark.  'We've done all we can for tonight.  There are no weapons massed on our borders, as I said.  I'll return tomorrow night.  Why don't you get some sleep, and I'll do the same.  I often find that even though I don't need sleep, I feel better after.  Different. Lighter, somehow.'

'Sounds like the after effects of a good fuck,' said Lex, bluntly.

Clark laughed.  'I haven't had one of those for a while,' he said.  'Have you?'

'What?  Superman can't get laid.  Even with that costume advertising all your assets?  Clearly you're not trying hard enough.'

'You think I have assets, Lex?'

Lex's face closed like a door.  'Don't do this,' he said.

'Do what, Lex?'

'Don't.  Do.  This.  I'm not your toy.'

'Lex.  Of all the things I ever thought about you....  Toy?  That word never entered my mind.'

'Good.  Then stop trying to play me.  Or play with me.'

'I'm not.  I'm not playing anything.  It's not a game, with me.'

'I've seen you, once or twice....'

'The meteors.  The red Kryptonite.  Is there any of that around?'

'No.' Lex shook his head, as if really confused.  'Then what is this about?'

'Do you think I have assets, Lex?'

'I... You... I think you are the most beautiful creature....'  Lex managed in a strangled voice.

'You make me sound like a horse.  Lex, do you want to ride me?'

'Are you getting back at me for the Kryptonite?  I don't blame you, if that's the case.  But it's not like you, being so underhanded.  If you want to punish me, just do it.'

'Do you want me to punish you?'  Clark moved a few steps closer to Lex, watching his reaction.  He remembered the heat of Lex's body, when he'd caressed him that day at the office.  He remembered other things.  Looks. Touches.  All of them gentle and affectionate.

Lex closed his eyes, as if the light from Clark's body hurt them.  'No,' he said.  'I don't want to be punished. I don't want to fight any more. At least not tonight.  You're right.  I'm tired.  I think I'll go to bed now.  See you in the morning?'

Clark took another slow and easy step forward.  It brought him right into Lex's personal space.  'Sure, Lex,' he said. 'I'll see you in the morning.'

************

Lex's bedroom was simply furnished, but comfortable, and, as Clark was happy to see, the bed was big enough for two.  He tore the covers off, and tossed them on the floor.

Lex watched him from the doorway, rather bemused.  'Make yourself at home, why don't you?' he said.

'I intend to,' Clark answered. 'Isn't that what you want?  Isn't that why we're here.'

'What I want....' Lex muttered, looking down at the floor, not at Clark.  This wasn't good.

'C'mon, Lex.  Don't play the shy virgin. Unless... you want me to seduce you?  I can do that.  I don't have as much experience as you, but I can improvise.'

'Improvise? You mean experiment.  I'm an experiment to you?'

'You said you wanted this.  You said you wanted me.'

Lex nodded.  'I want you.  I said you were beautiful.  That doesn't mean this is a good idea.'

'Why not?' asked Clark, rather sulkily.

'Does beauty lead to wisdom, Phaedrus?'

'Phaedrus?  Who's Phaedrus...  Oh.  This is leading to one of your lectures about the Greeks, right?  Plato.  Who cares about Plato?'

'He had some good ideas,' Lex ventured.

'He's been dead for over two thousand years,' Clark pointed out.

'And this isn't about Plato, not really,' said Lex.  He came into the bedroom, and shut the door.  'That's a quote from Death in Venice,' he went on.  'Benjamin Britten's opera.'

'Oh, yeah?'

'His last opera.  Based on the novel by Thomas Mann.'

'Oh, yeah?'

'His daughter, Erika Mann, married the English poet, W.H. Auden. She was a lesbian and he was gay, and they'd never met before their wedding.  He married her to give her British citizenship, so she could escape the Nazi regime in Europe.   As he said:  What are buggers for?'

'Uh?'

'Auden was really in love with Benjamin Britten.  But Britten didn't love him back.  Britten looked up to Auden as more sophisticated than he was.  But then, after a while, he began to resent Auden's attitude toward him.  Auden thought Britten was too repressed.'

'Does this story have a point?'

'Eventually, Britten fell in love with Peter Pears, the singer, and they lived happily ever after. They had the sort of relationship Auden had wanted with Britten. Britten wrote all his music for Pears, and they worked together and they adored each other. Auden was jealous, and he wrote Britten a letter, counselling him to let his bohemian side loose.  Britten sent the letter back in pieces, and didn't speak to Auden for years.'

'Point, Lex?  Point?'

'Both Britten and Auden were attracted to beautiful young men, but they wanted a real relationship with someone who loved them back.  They realized that beautiful people aren't responsible for their beauty, and that it isn't a sign of virtue.  They also knew that it was possible to become enslaved to beauty.  That's what happens to Aschenbach in Death in Venice.  Tadzio is beautiful.  Aschenbach falls in love, and he stays in Venice during the hot summer weather, when he should leave, and he dies.  He dies, for love, but Tadzio has never loved him. Tadzio gives him nothing in return -- except the chance to gaze upon his beauty.'

'Lex.'

'I stayed in Smallville, when I should have left.  Why do you think I stayed?'

'I don't know, Lex.  I was a brat. What can I say?'

'You could try to explain what this is all about.'

'What this?  You mean the fact that we're in your bedroom, and we're both still fully dressed?  And you're lecturing me about someone called Tadzio?  I thought by now we'd be naked and...and I give really good blow-jobs.'

'Nifty.'

'What is your problem?  You have something against blow-jobs?'

'No.  I just want something more from life.'

Clark sank down on Lex's mattress and sighed.  'We're guys,' he said.  'We're supposed to have one-track minds. We're not supposed to want more from life than a good fuck.'

'Speak for yourself,' said Lex.

Clark turned, and leaned back against the ornate headboard.  'I'm not Tadzio,' he said.  'And I'm not Benjamin Britten.  I wanted to give you something.'

'Are you sure?' asked Lex.

'Yes.  I'm sure. Why are you arguing with me?  I think I may have grown up since our days in Smallville.'

Lex came and sat beside him on the bed.  Things were looking up, thought Clark.  'I'm not trying to use you,' he said.

'No.  That's true.  I'm the one who's using you, this time around.'

'That's okay,' said Clark. 'It's all in a good cause, even if your methods are....'

'Repulsive?'

'You piss me off, sometimes,'  said Clark

'I see,' said Lex.

'That doesn't mean... I mean, you're not repulsive.'

'Clark.  I told you, you need to work on your technique, if you want to seduce someone.'

'I don't want to seduce you, Lex.  I want to give you something.  You're not listening.  You have all these voices in your head, and they're drowning out my voice.  I don't have an agenda, here.  I'm offering myself to you.'

'Yourself?' asked Lex.  'Or a blow-job?'

Clark reached out and touched Lex's mouth, caressing the small scar over his lip. 'Myself,' he said.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door.  Clark had no way of knowing for sure, but he had strong reasons to suspect that only one or two of Lex's staff would dare to do such a thing.

Lex sighed.  He got to his feet, strolled casually to the door, and opened it.  'Yes, Mercy?' he said.

'I'm sorry to bother you, Boss.  But there's someone downstairs, in the security office, and she won't leave.'

'Mercy,  I'm not an expert in security, but I can't help but make a small suggestion.  Why doesn't the guard on duty throw her out?'

'Because she's a cop, that's why.  And she's Mister Kent's partner.'

Clark jumped to his feet.  'Lois?  What's she doing here?'

'Sergeant Lane wants to speak to you, Mister Kent.  She called earlier, but you were out.  We didn't bother you with it, Boss.  You were busy, and you said you didn't want to be disturbed.  Then, about ten minutes ago, the Sergeant showed up here, in person.  And she won't leave.'

'Very well, Mercy. Show her in... oh, how about the drawing room?'

'Right, Boss.'

Clark listened to Mercy stomping down the hall.  'Bad timing,' he said, after a long moment of silence.

'Or good timing,' said Lex.  'Maybe you've just been saved by the bell.'

'Saved from what?  Giving you a blow-job?'

'From spending the rest of your life labelled as my boy-toy.'

'Oh, Lex.  Maybe you're the one who needs to grow up.  Let's go see what Lois wants, and then come back here and argue some more.  Things were just getting interesting.'

They could hear Lois storming down the hall toward the drawing room, before the door opened and Mercy announced her.  'Sergeant Lane to see you, Mister Luthor.'

'Mister Luthor!  I've been trying to speak to you for the last ten minutes.  I'm not used to being kept waiting like this, and... Clark!  You're here?  You're all right? Thank God!  I'm your partner, Clark.  You're not supposed to take off like that, without letting me know where you are.  I thought....'

'Lois?  What's the problem?'
 
'Someone firebombed your apartment, that's what the problem is.'

************

Lois seemed really concerned about him, thought Clark.  She was still ranting about how he should have let her know where he was.

'I wasn't in any one place for very long,' he explained.  'I was on a special assignment.' It was true enough.   'Ask Captain Sawyer.'

'That was just a ploy, to get you away from the spotlight for the rest of the day.'

'No, I really was on an assignment.  But why didn't you just call my cell?'

'I did.  You didn't answer.  Was it turned off?'

'No,'  Clark took the cell phone out of his pocket.  The screen was black.  Not a good sign.  He pushed buttons, shook it.  Nothing.  'My battery is dead,' he said.

'Oh, come on.  It was working this morning, wasn't it?'

'It must be defective.'

'Let me see,' said Lex.

Clark shrugged, and handed it over.

'Have you had problems with it before?' Lex asked.  'Unusually low power levels after short-term use?'

'No.'

'Did you have the phone with you the whole time?'

'Yes.' Yes, he had.  He carried it with him all the time, even as Superman.  'You think....'

'I don't think anything.  Yet.'

Lex opened the phone, removed the battery, studied it.  Though Clark couldn't see anything worth studying.   Lex held the battery up in obvious invitation.  Clark smiled, shrugged, shook his head.  Even with his x-ray vision, it was just an ordinary dead battery.

'Mercy?'  Lex called in a soft voice.

The bodyguard appeared, instantly.  She must have been waiting just outside the door.

'See if you can find a replacement battery for Detective Kent's cell phone, would you?  Thanks.'  Mercy disappeared, without a word.  'Do you mind, Clark?  I'd like to study this one.  See what caused it to drain so fast.  Clearly the human race needs better cell phone batteries.'

'I always seem to be recharging mine,'  Lois agreed.

'There you are,' said Lex.  He slipped the battery into his pocket.  'Now that we've settled that, let's continue with the firebombing.  What happened?'

'Someone threw a Molotov Cocktail through Clark's window,' said Lois.

'No one was hurt though,' said Clark.  'And the fire didn't spread.'

'How did you know?' asked Lois.

'You were just worried about me.  You didn't mention any casualties.  I figured you would have said something about them by now, if they existed.  The building is old, and run down, but solidly built.  The roof is slate.  I figure it was a small bomb, designed to take out my apartment in a surgical strike.'

'You got it.  And there were materials found at the scene, labelled LexCorp.'

'LexCorp!'  said Lex.   'Whoa.  I had nothing to do with this.'

'Of course not,' said Clark.  'If you did, you wouldn't leave incriminating evidence behind.'

'To say nothing of the fact that I have no reason to firebomb your apartment.  What possible reason would I have?'

'Revenge?' Clark suggested.

'And do you really think, Clark, that if I wanted revenge, I'd do it on so small a scale?'

'I'm sure any revenge you took would be of earth-shattering proportions.  But someone is trying to put the blame on you.'

'And someone has it in for you, too,' Lex pointed out.  'Do you have enemies?'

'I'm a cop,' said Clark.  'I suppose I've made a few enemies.  Listen.  I have an idea.  Sergeant, did you mention to anyone you were coming here?'

'No.  I'm not working the case.  I went down there to have a look, because you're my partner.  Everyone was very sympathetic, of course.  They told me you'd been seen leaving the building with Lex, after someone tried to kill him.  I went to the hospital.  Got the same story.  It looked like the person to question about your whereabouts, was Lex Luthor.  But when I called, they told me you weren't here.'

'I wasn't here,' said Clark.  'They told you the truth.'

'Okay.  So what's your idea?'

'Lex is mad that his reputation in the Metropolis underworld has been compromised.'

'I wouldn't say I'm mad, exactly,' Lex commented.

'But you think your usefulness has been damaged.  Suppose you were hauled down to the station, and questioned about the attack on my apartment?  That would cast suspicion on your character, right?'

'I suppose.'

'What do you think, Lois?'

'You want me to arrest Lex Luthor?  No way.  I know he's innocent, so it would be false arrest.  Plus, he's my informant.  That's a can of worms I don't want to open.'

'No. I have a better idea.  I know how to contact Superman.'

'Go on,' said Lois.

'I'm serious. I worked with Batman, remember?  I met Superman once or twice, and he told me how to get in touch with him, if I needed his help.'

'And you think he'd help with this?'

'No harm in asking.  I promised never to reveal the contact number to anyone, so I'm going out to find a public phone booth.  Sorry, Lex.  It's not that I don't trust you, but....'

'Sure,' said Lex.  'No problem.'

'I'll be right back,' said Clark.

Lex followed him out into the hall, and pulled him into an empty room.  Lex seemed to have a lot of those.  'What the hell?' he asked.  'You want to arrest me?  I keep telling you.  You need to work on your seduction technique.  Let me give you a hint.  That's not one of my fantasies.'

'Not one of mine, either.  Lex, this will solve some of our problems.'

'Our problems?  Ours?'

'Our problems. As in, mine and yours.'

'What problems are those?  You think this might improve our relationship?'

'It will improve your reputation with the underworld, like I said.  I'm not going to arrest you.  Superman will take you into custody, and the police will let you go right away.  Superman will apologize.  He'll admit he was wrong.  You keep saying it's not good to have an alien hero who always appears to be perfect.  I... Detective Kent will show up.  He'll say he knows you're innocent, because we're such close friends.'

'Clark.  It worries me that you're starting to talk about yourself in the third person.  And I told you, a life as Lex Luthor's boy-toy....'

'Is perfect camouflage.  Batman was always telling me, I should have separated my two identities more.  I couldn't be a rich playboy like him. Didn't have the money.  But maybe I should have been... I don't know.  A hairdresser.  Or a reporter, or something.  When I became a cop, I was still trying to figure out how to use my powers to help people.  Being a cop seemed the best way.  Then I started working with Batman.'

'And Bruce convinced you to dress up in tights and a cape?  Figures.'

'Bruce?  You know about....'

'I made it my business to find out the secret identities of all you lunatics in capes.  Someone needs to keep an eye on you.  I won't reveal anyone's secrets, unless it becomes necessary.'

'Fair enough.  Since you're so interested -- being your boy-toy?  That's a pretty good secret identity, don't you think?'

Lex could be so predictable, thought Clark.

'You want to use me to protect your identity?  Sure.  But we need to talk about this in more detail later.  You should move in here, at least for now, since your apartment is out of commission.  And we should plan how we're going to deal with each other in public.'

'We'll talk about that later.  Lex, listen.  We need to set this up.  There's something I want you to do.'

**************

Lex Luthor stepped out of his limousine, and observed the crime scene with disdain.  Even from his perspective, Superman could tell Lex was in a state of high irritation.  He did not care for Clark's plan, and had told him so in much detail.

Lex looked around, spotted the police officer on guard outside the building and walked up to her, Mercy following closely.  The petite Black woman seemed to recognize Lex, and he spoke to her urgently for a few minutes.  Clark succumbed to his temptation and tuned in.

'... and I want this treated seriously, Officer Reilly,' said Lex.

'I was treating it seriously even before you showed up,' said the young officer.

'Other people might have other ideas about how to treat it.  If that happens, let me know.'

'What is it you suspect?' asked Officer Reilly.

'I'm a concerned citizen.  Detective Kent is a friend of mine.  I'm urging you to keep your eyes open. That's all.  If you notice anything unusual, call this number,'  Lex took one of his cards out of his pocket, and scribbled a number on it.  'This is my secretary's number.  Call and leave a message at any time.'

'Damn,' Superman heard Officer Reilly mutter, as Lex walked back to his limo.

The car sped away.  Superman let it get a few blocks, then swooped down and picked it up in one hand.  'Trying to cover up your crimes, Luthor?  Bribing a police officer?'

'I've bribed no one,' Lex yelped from the car window, as Superman carted him off to the police station.

'That's just because Officer Reilly is above taking bribes.'

'Officer Reilly?  You know her?' asked Lex.

'Uh....'

'You were listening in to our conversation then,' said Lex in a disgusted tone of voice.

'Only the last few words.  What is it you suspect?' asked Superman.

'Nothing.  I suspect nothing.  And if I did I wouldn't tell you. Just carry on arresting me.'

'Lex!'

'And quit calling me Lex.  I'm Luthor to you -- Superman.'

Le... Luthor was still angry some time later, ensconced in Captain Sawyer's office, with Mercy standing guard. She'd refused to leave his side. 'If you're arresting Lex Luthor, you will have to arrest me, too,' she declared.

'I'm arresting no one,' said Superman.  'That is the prerogative of the police, of course,' he told Captain Sawyer. 'I merely brought Luthor in for questioning.  I observed him outside Detective Kent's building.  Detective Kent's apartment was firebombed earlier tonight, and Detective Kent has disappeared.'

'And you blame me?' asked Luthor.

'You were in Detective Kent's company earlier today.'

'Ye-es,' Luthor drawled.  'I was indeed.'

'Do you know where Detective Kent is now?'

Luthor looked Superman up and down from head to foot.  'No,' he said.

'Superman,' said Captain Sawyer. 'I appreciate your help, as always.  But I think we can take it from here.  If you don't mind?'

'Certainly,' said Superman.  'But don't let Luthor intimidate you.'

'I assure you I will not,' said Captain Sawyer.

'That's the spirit,' said Luthor.  'See you around, Superman.'

**********

Superman flew out to the Kent farm, in Smallville.  Martha Kent was alone in the farmhouse. The TV was on, broadcasting yet another story about Clark Kent and Lex Luthor.  Superman circled overhead, listening to the Newsflash that he had arrested Lex Luthor for the murder of Clark Kent.

'What!' he heard his mother say, and figured that was his cue to make an entrance.

'Hi, Mom,' he said.  'If anyone asks, I was here this evening, visiting.  Okay?'

'What?' asked Martha.

'Lex is at the police station,' Clark went on.  'Getting more impatient by the minute, and you know how unpleasant that can be.  I have to go bail him out. Okay?'

Martha finally found her voice.  'Clark Kent.  You just blow in here, and expect me to give you an alibi, with no explanation about what you've been up to. Though, judging by the news reports today, you've been up to quite a lot.'

'Yeah, Mom.  That's about the size of it. It's too complicated to explain right now, but...  I don't think it's likely anyone will ask you, but if they do, just back me up.  Please?'

'Okay.  But Clark?  Are you and Lex really....'

'Sorry, Mom.  Gotta go.  Lex is about to blow his cool.  I'll call later.  Love you.'

Superman flew off at top speed, resolutely closing his ears to what his mother shouted after him.  Though he thought he heard one or two words he had hoped his mother didn't know.

*************

Lex Luthor did know those words.  No question about it.  'This is fucking ridiculous,' he was saying.  'I keep asking what possible reason I would have to kill Clark Kent?  But I get no answer.'

'To cover up your relationship with him?' Captain Sawyer suggested.

'You have to be fucking kidding,' said Lex.  'So why would I show up at Clark's building looking for him?  Oh, yes. Criminals return to the scene of their crimes.  I suppose Superman read about it in Detecting for Idiots, or something.'

Clark thought that was as good a cue as any, to make his entrance on this stage.  From the look on Lex's face he was just in time.

'Hello, Captain Sawyer.  I hear you've been looking for me?'

'A lot of people have been looking for you, Detective,' said the captain.

'Well, you gave me the day off,' Clark pointed out.  'I had a few things to think about, so I went to see my mother.'

'You left your car behind.'

'It's not working very well, and I wasn't sure it would make it to Smallville and back.   I guess I need a new one.'

'Well, Captain,' said Lex. 'Now that your errant detective has been found, alive and well -- if none too bright -- I'm going to make my exit.'

'What's the matter, Lex?  Still angry with me?  And what are you doing here, anyway?'

'Your friend Superman,' said Lex.

'Superman?  What's he got to do with it?'

'He thought I might have murdered you. So he hauled me in for questioning.'

'What?  Captain Sawyer, Lex wouldn't murder me.'

'Oh, no,' said Lex.  'Don't take that for granted.  You've been a lot of trouble to me the last few days.  One way or another.'

'Enough to drive you to murder?' asked Clark.

Lex's eyes narrowed.  'Maybe not,' he said.

'On that note,' said Captain Sawyer.  'Perhaps you should leave, while you're still friends.'

'We're not friends,' said Lex.

'What are we then?' Clark asked.

Lex's cell phone played a Bach cantata.  He opened it, held it to his ear.  'Lex, here,' he said.  'Yes. Yes. Yes.  Thank you, Margot.'  He closed the phone, stood quietly for a moment, looking pensive.  Then he said, 'That was my secretary.  A police officer I know called to pass on a message to me.  This officer was in the Frog and Firkin, a local bar patronized by Metropolis's finest.  Several other police officers were present, and one of them was buying everyone drinks, and bragging.  He had blown up the apartment of 'that faggot, Clark Kent'.'

'And what was this officer's name?' asked Captain Sawyer.

'Detective Sam Carson.  Now, why does that name sound familiar?'

'Sam Carson is one of my detectives, Mister Luthor.'

'Oh, yes?  The one who threatened to rape Clark?  And he's out celebrating with the rest of the boys in blue?  And we wonder why people have so little respect for the law?'

Captain Sawyer got to her feet to face Lex.  'I have a great deal of respect for the law, Mister Luthor,' she said in a hard, cold voice.

'In respect to the general population, you all have respect,' said Lex.   'But the police are a law unto themselves.'

'There is a formal procedure for charging police officers with offences, and it will be followed.'

'And in the meantime, Carson is free to destroy Clark's home -- and what else?'

'We have no actual proof that he did so.  Only a phone call to your secretary from an anonymous source.'

'It's known as a tip, Captain Sawyer.  At least that is my understanding from DVDs of old TV shows like Dragnet.  Starsky and Hutch?  Ever heard of them?'

A good time to butt in, thought Clark. 'Um, excuse me. Captain Sawyer?  Lex? Since my apartment has been trashed, I have arrangements to make. So, I should run.'

'You're staying with me, until you find a new place,' said Lex.

'Thanks, Lex.  That's very kind of you.  But I still have to make arrangements.  Phone calls?'

'Oh,' said Lex.

The penny dropped, thought Clark.

'Detective Kent, I hope I don't have to remind you that it's not your prerogative to take revenge on Detective Carson.'

'Of course not,' said Clark.  'He didn't destroy anything important.  Most of my things were in storage.  I'll see you tomorrow morning, Captain.'

It was a relief to make his escape, out into the late night Metropolis air.  The Frog and Firkin was only a few blocks from the police station, and Superman had been monitoring the festivities ever since Lex's phone call.  Now, he cruised overhead, waiting for the right moment to make his entrance.

Sam Carson and his buddies were well into their cups.

'Faggots shouldn't be cops,' Carson was saying.  'They're cowards.'

'Mmm.  But we have civil rights laws,' said a buddy.  'There's nothing we can do about it.'

'No.  Nothing.  Nothing but show them how we feel.  I don't have anything against them, personally.  They shouldn't be cops, that's all.  They're not fit for the job.  Nothing to do with civil rights.  Cops should be real men.'

'Captain Sawyer isn't a man.  And she's a lesbo.'

'Not the same thing,' Carson declared.  'She's a woman, but she's tough. Tough like a man.  Dykes are like that.  But they don't make me sick, like faggots do.  Imagine Sawyer with her girl friend.  That's hot.  But imagine Kent with Luthor?  Makes me want to hurl.  He got what he deserved, and I'd do it again.  Maybe I will.  Just blowing up his apartment wasn't enough.  He wasn't in it.'

'You can't kill another cop, Carson.  Even if he is a faggot.'

'No.  You're right.'  Carson sounded sad at the realization.  'I can't kill him.  But maybe blow up his car, next?  Or send anonymous threats.  He has family back in Smallville, I hear.  They wouldn't be too happy if....'

Superman burst in through the front door of the Frog and Firkin, like an avenging Fury.

************

There they were -- all over the morning news again.

Superman taking Detective Sam Carson into custody.  Superman apologizing for implicating Lex Luthor in the firebombing of Detective Clark Kent's apartment.  Lex Luthor smirking as he accepted Superman's apology.

'I'm just glad Superman apprehended a suspect.  Clark Kent is a good friend, and I am distressed at the personal loss he has suffered.'

Batman commenting that Superman clearly wasn't above making a mistake, and perhaps the human race shouldn't rely on him to always be perfect.

'We don't know how Kryptonian minds work,' he said.  'We haven't really studied the subject.'

'Huh?' said Lex.  He'd just woken up and was actually rubbing his sleepy eyes like a little boy.

'Huh to what, in particular?' asked Clark.

'Huh to Batman.  His remarks on the subject of aliens might carry more weight if he weren't dressed as a giant bat.'

'I should go into work this morning.  I doubt Lois and I will get much work done.  Probably Captain Sawyer will have us riding our desks.'

'That should be an interesting sight,' said Lex.

'It means.... no, never mind.  You know perfectly well... But I'll be home for dinner, and then we need to talk.'

Talk? About what?'

'You know about what.  Quit being such a coward.  It's not like you.'

'Fine,' said Lex.  'We'll talk.  Though I think I should remind you that we're men, and we aren't supposed to talk.  We're supposed to grunt once in a while, mostly at football games, and that's about it.'

'Sure, Lex.  I'll be home for dinner, and we'll watch football and grunt a few times.'

'I hate football,' said Lex, darkly.

Clark gave up, and went in to work.

Heated conversations that froze solid as he came into view.  Glowering looks aimed at his back as he walked down the hall.  People who started to speak to him, but then were pulled away into corners by their friends.

'How are things going, Manpower?' asked Sergeant Lane.

'Fine. Just fine.'

'It'll all blow over.'

'Eventually, I know.  No, I meant it.  It's fine. Could have been far worse.  My locker could have obscene graffiti written all over it.'

'Not here. Not today.  Anyone who hates you is keeping a low profile.  You're friends with Superman and Lex Luthor.'

'I know,' said Clark.  'And they're both a pain in the ass.'

Lois's eyes widened.  'Both?' she said.

'Not that way,' said Clark.  'Superman and I really are just good friends.'

'Well, that's a relief.'

************

'How are things going, Detective?' asked Captain Sawyer.

'Fine,' said Clark.  'It could have been worse.'

'No obscene graffiti on your locker?'

'Not yet.'

'Good.  Let me know if anything like that happens.  And you should consider joining the Gay and Lesbian Association.... Yes, yes.  I know you don't want to label yourself so early in life.  But the fact is, you've already done that, for whatever reason.  It doesn't matter, Detective, what your relationship is with Lex Luthor, what it was in the past, or might be in the future.  Your names are linked inextricably.'

'So Lex keeps telling me.  I don't mind, Captain.  It works both ways, you know.'

************

'How was your day, Clark?'

'Fine.'

'No obscene graffiti on your locker?'

'Not yet.  But really, Lex.  I'm Superman.  I think I can afford to ignore obscene graffiti.'

'I can afford to have your locker painted over, if such should ever be necessary.'

'I know. I appreciate the thought.'

'Do you?  That's new.  What brought about this sea change?'

'We work well together, when we work together.  We always did.'

'Yes, but that's only when we work together.  To do so, we have to be in some manner of agreement on principles, methods and aims.  How likely is that to happen?'

'It could happen, if we tried.'

'Could it?  I don't know.  We have such different ideas about principles, methods and aims.  Which one of us is going to compromise?  Superman?  Unlikely.'

'I hate that name,' said Clark.  'It's not really me.  It's not the name my parents gave me.  Either set of parents. It's not a name that I chose for myself.'

'But you're stuck with it, and eventually you will start to think of yourself that way.  As Super.  As completely invulnerable, and perfect.'

'I hope not,' said Clark.  'But if it does happen, I hope there will be a friend around to remind me who I am.'

'Would you listen?'

'I might,' said Clark.  'Lex, on my lunch break, I went to the library, and checked out some references.  Benjamin Britten and W.H. Auden.  Interesting.  I read a letter Auden wrote to Britten.  He told Britten that to grow up he needed to learn how to be cruel.  Do you agree with that?'

'Whether I agree or not, it's how the world works.   If you're too kind, the world thinks you're weak, that you can be pushed around.  If you push back hard, the world respects you.'

'Is that what you want?  The respect of the world?  Will the world keep you company, keep you warm at night, cry with you when you're sad, laugh with you when you're happy?'

'This is starting to sound like a sappy song, or a Disney cartoon.'

'I'm just saying, what does the respect of the world actually do for you?  Can you feel the respect, touch it, caress it?  Or do you just tell yourself every night, that maybe you're acting like a shit, but at least you have the respect of the world?'

'Good God, Clark.  You've been thinking.  Are you sure that's safe for your alien brain?  Next you might be running around in a giant bat costume.'

'Quit screwing around, Lex.  I'm serious.  We have an opportunity, here.  We're both powerful men in our own ways.  We're working together already.  Why not try to make it work?  Why not try to get and keep each other's respect? I'm willing to try.  I agree that I've been wasting my powers chasing thugs, and I'm working with you to protect the planet.  What are you willing to do?'

'What is it you want?'

'As Captain Sawyer told me, now our names are inextricably linked. As long as you haven't been convicted of a crime, I can deal with your shady reputation.'

'But once I'm convicted, all bets are off.'

'Once you're convicted, so am I.  I won't just be the boyfriend of Lex Luthor, shady businessman.  I'll be the boyfriend of Lex Luthor, convict.  And as a cop....'

'Your career is pretty much destroyed.  I get it.'

'I don't want to cramp your style, but if you're willing to make some concessions, I can make it worth your while.'

'Can you?' asked Lex.  'And why would you?'

'If you don't know by now,' said Clark.  'You're not as clever as you think.'

'I guess I'm not very clever, Clark, because I never could figure you out.  Oh, I figured out you were Superman, eventually.  But as for what makes you tick, how you think, how you feel -- such subtleties elude me.  They continue to elude me.  Why would you offer yourself to me....'

'That's not what....'

'Let me finish my question, please?  Why would you offer yourself to me, when I have nothing you want in return? When we were young, you envied me some of the benefits of my wealth, but you grew past all that.  Or so I thought.'

'Lex, it's not your wealth I'm interested in.  I've always been interested in you as a person.  You know that.  And that phrase?  Offering myself to you?  Makes me sound like a virgin sacrifice.  Not what I had in mind.'

'What do you have in mind, Clark?'

'Companionship.  Mutual pleasure.  A partnership of equals.  I wasn't offering to pay you for your compromises, just pointing out that compromising has benefits.'

'I see,' said Lex.

'Do you?' said Clark.  'If we're not fighting, we have time to do other things.  Other things might be more fun.'  He took a step closer, right into Lex's personal space, like last night.

Unlike last night, Lex took a step back this time.  'I've been manipulated by experts,' he said.  'You're not very good at it.'

'That's because I'm not trying to manipulate you.  Lex, I'm being honest. I'm laying my cards on the table, telling you what I'm offering, right up front.'

'You've lied to me many times.  Hid things.'  Lex shook his head. 'But no, you never tried to manipulate me. You're right there.'  His tone of voice suggested he was wondering if that was a good thing, or good enough.

Clark looked into Lex's naked eyes, and wondered himself.  He had thought he knew all about Lex's tortured, twisted, tormented childhood, until that moment.

'I tried to use you, sometimes,' Clark decided to confess.  'But I did want to be friends.  And not for your money.  Not really.  You showed me that there were other ways to live, outside of the farm.  You taught me how to have confidence in myself.  Or you tried to.  You were a good friend to me, sometimes. And sometimes I was good for you.  But we failed.  Both of us.  Sometimes I still wonder why.  Was it because of our own weakness?  Or did we let other people come between us?'

'Sometimes I want to blame you,' said Lex.  'Or other people. But then, I know the weakness is mine.  I should have kept our friendship superficial.  I shouldn't have confided in you, believed in you.  I believed you were a sign, to show me my life could be more.  That I could be a great man, do great things.'

'I was just a boy, Lex.'

'You were fifteen, when we met.  Alexander was....'

'Eighteen when he set out to conquer the world.  I know.'

'I didn't expect that of you. I only wanted you to return some of the trust I gave you.  I wanted you to confide in me, but you wouldn't.  The fault must have been mine.  I wasn't the sort of person anyone could trust.'

'My parents....'

'Your parents, your friends, and everyone around us told you I'd destroy you.  What?  Lock you away in a lab somewhere?  God, Clark.  I would have protected you with every fiber of my being.  I tried to tell you. I tried to show you.  I tried to prove it to you. But you never believed me. Maybe you were right.  Not in the way you meant it, but maybe I would have destroyed you, if you'd trusted me, just by protecting you too much.  Maybe.'

'My parents protected me too much,' said Clark.  'They loved me, but sometimes they treated me like a... like I was handicapped, or something.  They were always afraid someone would come and take me away.  They meant well.'

'My father meant well, too. I suppose,' said Lex, in a distant voice, as if he were talking about something that happened in another lifetime.

'Yes.  But we don't have to go on all our lives following the maps our parents gave us. Do we? We can strike out on our own.'

There was less torment in Lex's eyes, now, and more hope.  Clark took a step forward, and Lex didn't back off.  Clark put his arms around Lex, gently.  Not really holding him, letting Lex know that he could step away, if he wanted to.  Clark bent down, and touched his lips to Lex's, in their first real kiss.

'This was what I wanted to do last night,'  Clark whispered.  He kissed Lex again, a little more firmly this time.  'If you'd let me.  If we hadn't been interrupted.'  Lex's mouth was soft and firm, his lips cool at first, and then hot, so very hot.  The heat of Lex's mouth seemed to travel down Clark's spine, and pool in his groin.

Lex pulled him closer, and kissed back.  He pressed his body against Clark's, letting him feel how hard and angular and male that body was.  Letting him feel his erection.  'Is this what you wanted?' Lex whispered back.  'Is this what you really wanted?'

Clark gasped at the flood of desire that washed through him.  He pulled Lex into a tighter embrace, so close that he could feel his heart beating, hear his blood soaring through his veins, feel his cock swelling and rising more and more, so impossibly high and urgent, and his own cock swelled in response.

Lex's eyes grew wider in realization, and then closed in acceptance.  'This is what you want,' he moaned.  'It's really what you want.'

They were kissing each other, now.  Deep, heated kisses, breathing warm air into each other's mouths. Sliding their tongues back and forth between each other's lips.  Touching each other intimately.  Letting their hands slide over each other's shoulders and backs and asses until Clark felt dizzy and lost in a way he'd never felt far out into deep space. Until Clark felt he might burst into flame in a way he'd never felt staring into the furnace of the sun when he had been closer to it than the planet Mercury.

Clark sighed, at last, and drew back slightly, just enough to say, 'I remember the way to your bedroom.'

'Yes,' said Lex, but he didn't let go.  He pulled Clark back into their embrace, and kissed him again, and Clark began to think it was going to be up to him -- either to carry Lex to the bedroom, or to give up and just pull them both to the floor and do it there on Lex's beautiful but hideously expensive carpet.

And then, seemingly from the ceiling above them, came a voice,  'Have you gone out of your mind?'

They looked at each other, wildly.  Then Lex looked over Clark's shoulder, and his eyes darkened with anger.

'That question would carry more weight,' he said.  'If you weren't dressed as a giant bat.'

'Batman?' said Clark.

'In person,' said Lex.  'He's standing on the window seat behind you.'

Clark turned, and there he was.  Long black cape, bat mask.  Eyes glowering, as if he were the one affronted.

'What do you think you're doing?' asked Batman.

'I should ask you that question,' said Lex.  'You infiltrated my home.'

'I'm trying to get laid,' said Clark.  'But I keep getting interrupted.'

'Why?' growled Batman.

'You've been hanging around in the Batcave too long, if you have to ask that,' said Clark.

'I meant, why are you trying to get laid here and now, with this man?  You told me you hated him.'

Clark felt Lex grow still and cold beside him.  Wonderful.  'I told you I hated him sometimes,' Clark corrected Batman.  'What else did I tell you?'

Batman shrugged.  'You said you wished things could be different between you.'

'And I never stopped wishing that.  So, if you have nothing further to say....'

'You're endangering yourself, you know.'

'That's my business.'

'Maybe, but....'

'It's Superman's business what he does with his life, too.  I want something in my life, and Superman's, besides work catching crooks, and flying around in a cape catching crooks. Oh, yes.  Lex already knows.  Everything.'

'Was that wise?' asked Batman.

'I didn't tell him.  He figured it out, long ago.  And he's never threatened to use that information against me.'

'Yet,' said Batman.

'What does that mean?' asked Lex.  He leaned back against his desk, looking suave and not at all discomfited by the interruption.

Clark was seething.

'What does that mean?' asked Lex, again, stifling a yawn rather obviously.

'I mean that if you're... involved,' said Batman.  'In a relationship, you'll have more opportunity to use your knowledge against him.'

'Well, yes.  That already occurred to me,' Lex confessed.  'I'm going to blackmail Clark into servicing me sexually every night, or I'll reveal his secret identity.'

'Every night?' asked Clark.  'Only once a night?'

'Well, two or three times a night.  And in the morning, too.'

'Nooners?' asked Clark.

'Certainly,' said Lex.  'When our schedules allow.'

'Okay,' said Clark.

Batman stared at them both through the eye holes of his mask.  'You are both crazy, dangerous men,' he said.  He turned, with a swirl of his cape, and flung himself out the window.

Lex waited for a moment, then went to the window and looked down.  'He made it,' he sighed.  'That cape acts like a kind of parachute, right?'

'Yeah,' said Clark.

'Damn,' said Lex.

Lex sighed again.  'Well,' he said.  'He was half right.'

'About what?'

'About us being two crazy, dangerous men.'

'Half right? So... then I'm crazy and you're dangerous?  Or the other way around?'

Lex turned from the window.  His face looked calm, controlled, dismissive.

'Or do you think all the dangerous craziness is on my side of the family?' asked Clark.

'That's a possibility,' said Lex. 'Which I'm happy to see you've finally agreed to consider.'

'And I thought you were just happy to see me,' said Clark, with a smirk.

'Clark, I....'

'Oh, no, no.  You don't get out of it that easily.  A few minutes ago....'

'And then another of your friends showed up.'

'I didn't invite him.  I nearly threw him out the window.'

'Was that before or after he repeated certain remarks you made to him referencing me?'

'Both.  I don't hate you, Lex. Not now.  And you couldn't have been ignorant about my former feelings about you.'

'No, I wasn't.  But your reported words were like a pail of cold water over my head, operating as a wake-up call.  Clark, we're not exactly copacetic.'

'Maybe not, but I didn't think you were a cock tease.'

'I'm sorry about that, but I'm sure....'

'One of your servants might do the deed?  Maybe for an extra big bonus?'

'That's disgusting.'

'Or I could order pizza.  The delivery boy?'

'Not here in my apartment.  I'm sure there are enough no-tell motels in your former neighbourhood.'

'You know, this is not very consistent of you, considering just a few minutes ago you were blackmailing me for sex.'

'That was for show.  To piss Batman off.'

'Oh, come on, Lex. You can put on a better show than that. So can I, for that matter.'  Before Lex could open his mouth for the riposte, Clark had stripped, and stood naked.

Lex backed up a step.  Again, dammit.

'You know, blackmail can work both ways,' said Clark.

'What do you mean?' asked Lex.

'I mean, that I could reveal my identity as Superman to the world at large, and you'd be outed as Superman's boyfriend.'

'I'm not,' said Lex.

'Not yet,' said Clark.  'But we were going at it pretty hot and heavy a few minutes ago.  And I thought you believed in finishing what you started.'

Lex closed his eyes.  'Okay,' he said.  'Let's finish it.'

'You never know, we might both hate it.  It might be awful.  Like eating live slugs with chocolate sauce.'

'I'm sure it won't be that bad,' said Lex.

'Good,' said Clark, and before Lex could find another excuse, he whisked them both into the bedroom, and shut the door.  'Perhaps you should alert Mercy,' he went on.  'Tell her that if the National Guard shows up, they can wait until we're finished.'

'Let's just trust in the concept of third time lucky.'

'Okay,' said Clark.  'So why don't you even things up? I mean, I'm naked, and you're fully clothed.  Unless it turns you on?  The kink factor?'

'Kink?  If you think that's kinky....'

'Lex?  Just get naked, will you?'

'Your wish is my command.'

'I like the sound of that,' said Clark.

Lex took his clothes off, as simply as he might before taking a shower.  He folded his clothes neatly, and placed them on a chair.  Then he turned to Clark and said, 'Right.  Let's finish this so we can get back to life as we know it, shall we?'

Clark couldn't help grinning.  'You know,' he said.  'If you think this cold business-like attitude is turning me off, you're wrong.  Keep it up.'

'Keep what up?'

'Bargaining,' said Clark.  'You have a reputation for driving a hard bargain.  Prove it.  Take me over, like you took over the Whiteoaks Projects.'

'You are hardly synonymous....'

'Come on, Lex.  Play along.  Play to win.'

Lex gave a leisurely stretch, completely unselfconscious in his naked skin.  He strolled to the bed, pulled down the bedspread, and folded it neatly.  He tossed the blanket aside, and settled himself amid the linen sheets, with the pillows stacked behind his head.  He leaned over the bedside table, and poured himself a glass of water from the carafe waiting there.

'In the case of the Whiteoaks projects,' he said.  'The risks were minimal, and the benefits, if also minimal, were obvious, and outweighed the costs. If I'm to acquire you, I need to know how you will affect the rest of my organization.  What are your risks, costs and benefits? These should be specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic and time-constrained.  Are you any of these things?'

'Um....' said Clark.

'What are the situational factors and risk factors involved?  The situational factors are based on the complexity of the situation, and/or its uncertainty.  Based upon that, I can determine the risk factors.  Is this situation complex?'

'Yes,' said Clark, happy to be able to offer an opinion.  'And I would say the outcome is uncertain.'

'So, there are risks involved in acquiring you.'

'That's what Batman said.  The situation is dangerous.'

'Yes,' said Lex, his eyes narrowing at the mention of Batman.  'I need to determine options for risk management.'

'What if the benefits outweigh the risks?' Clark asked.  'Shouldn't that factor in?'

'What benefits are you resolved to offer?'

Clark laughed.  'Weren't you sampling those benefits a few minutes ago?  You tell me.'

'Desire isn't a safe reason to make an acquisition.  Desire tends to ignore the risks, and over-estimate the benefits.  I have to think of my shareholders, and how you will affect all the actors involved.  If you are to be part of LexCorp....'

'I'll never be part of LexCorp.  You can't stamp your logo all over me.  Perhaps I can be a separate entity?'

'How separate can you be, if we're involved, as Batman said? He only mentioned the risks for you, of course.  I'm risking everything, if I acquire you.  You will have access to information about the rest of the actors involved in my business.'

'We're already working together, Lex,' Clark pointed out.

'Yes, but that's less personal,' said Lex.  'We are interacting in a small, discrete theatre of enterprise.  This, that you propose....'

'It could be overwhelming.  It could change us both.  Change is good.'

'Is it?' asked Lex.  'Most times, when things change in my life, I lose.'

'This time, we could both win,' said Clark.

Lex waved his hand vaguely, from Clark to the bed.  'Have a seat,' he said.

Clark flung himself happily onto the battlefield.   'We're in bed together, naked,' he observed.  'The mountains haven't collapsed.  The heavens haven't opened up.'

'Not as far as we know,' Lex agreed.  'But it's early yet.'

'Let's test it further,' said Clark.  He bent down, and before Lex could shift back on the bed, he took Lex's cock in his mouth.

All resistance ceased.

************

Lex tasted sweaty and smelled like love.  His cock fitted under Clark's tongue as if designed for that purpose.  His long fingers threaded through Clark's hair.  His long legs wound around Clark's waist.  Clark wanted to make him moan, as he had moaned when they were kissing in Lex's study.  But this time, Lex remained stubbornly silent, even when his cock spurted semen into Clark's mouth.

Lex sighed, very softly, then reached for Clark's cock.

'Be careful,' said Clark.  'It's been a while.  I don't want to lose control.  It scares me.'

'I'll just give you a hand job for now,' said Lex.  But he bent and kissed Clark's cock. Soft, nibbling kisses, all along the length.

Clark moaned for him.

'You're like a leopard,' said Lex.  'Or a lion.  All power and beauty under my hands.'

'Yes,' said Clark.  'Touch me there, and there.'

Lex's hands were strong, knowing, purposeful.  Lex touched him as if he'd planned out his campaign in advance, as perhaps he had.  Lex touched him as if he owned him, as if his body were Lex's home, and he'd been away for years, but now had returned, and was here to stake his claim.  It was good to feel owned, as if he belonged to someone, as if he couldn't lose control, because Lex controlled him.  Even if it were only a fantasy, it was good to feel safe, and owned.  Lex's hands on his cock reminded him of being in the Porsche when Lex was driving.  Lex's hands were reckless, but skillful.  Lex's hands brought him to the edge of orgasm, and back, and then over the edge, tumbling down, down, down into the water, and then they were flying together, up, over the city, gasping for air, and Clark covered Lex's mouth with his own, and breathed into it, and then Lex moaned for him, clung to him, and called out his name as though he were the one coming, and they lay together among the torn and tangled sheets, and just breathed.

'Well?' said Clark, after a long while.  'Have you decided to acquire me?'

'I think I just did,' said Lex, sleepily.  'Or you acquired me.  Or something.'

'It's not like you to be so imprecise,' Clark noted.

Lex rose up on one elbow, and looked down into Clark's face.  'Things got a bit imprecise there for a while,' he said.  'A bit muddled.  Perhaps it was a merger, rather than an acquisition.  I'll check with my lawyers in the morning.'

'I definitely think we merged,' said Clark.  'You can quote me on that.'

'Yes, but what sort of merger was it?  There are different kinds, you know.'

'I know,' said Clark.  'Let's try some of the others.'

'There are horizontal mergers, vertical mergers, congeneric mergers, and conglomerate mergers.'

'Wow.  I like the sound of conglomerate mergers.  Tell me more.'

'Also accretive mergers and dilutive mergers.'

'Ouch. I don't like the sound of that last one.  Who wants to be diluted?'

'Not me.  I hate it when my stock prices go down.'

'What about when I go down?'

*******

Clark knew he must have slept, because the last thing he remembered was Lex fucking him, with the lights on so he could see everything, and now Lex was sitting, in the dark, wrapped in a dressing gown, looking out the window at the moon rising over Metropolis.

'Lex?  You okay?'

Lex turned, smiling calmly.  'I'm fine, Clark. Just letting you get some sleep.'

'Ah.  Okay, I got some sleep. Did you get some sleep?'

'A little.'

'And now you're thinking.'  Clark climbed out of bed, went to Lex, sank down on the floor at his feet.  'Don't think too hard,' he said.  'This -- what we just did -- it's not quantum physics, or robotics.  We don't have to solve it, just enjoy it.'

'That's why I got out of bed,' said Lex. 'It's not polite to think in the presence of your naked lover.'

'What is considered polite behaviour under those circumstances?' asked Clark.  'Is it polite to be dressed?'

'No, but....'

Clark slipped the dressing gown off Lex's shoulders.  'That's better,' he said.  'You look beautiful in the moonlight.'

Lex laughed. 'Now that's something I never expected to hear from Clark Kent.  Or anyone, to tell the truth.'

'It's the polite sort of thing to say to your naked lover,' said Clark.

'You're just being polite, then?'

'No,' said Clark.  'I'm telling the truth.'  He pulled Lex down, into his arms.  'Let's try out that conglomerate merger,' he said.

**************

'I'm going out to patrol the universe,' said Clark, after a long, breathless interval.   'And to look for evidence of alien invasions -- remember them?  And I'll be back and we can worry about that for a while.  Okay?'

'Okay,' said Lex.  'But be careful.  It's a jungle out there.'

After the warmth of Lex's arms, the cold of deep space was palpable, even for Superman.  Everything seemed the same as last night.  The cold, the emptiness.  No new signs of impending invasion.  No massing warships.  No small, hidden scout ships.  Superman was alone in the cold, empty reaches of space -- and yet, somehow, not alone.

Lex was not in the penthouse when Clark got back.

'He had a meeting,' Hope told him.  'He took Mercy with him. It's business, he said. That's all I know.'

'Okay.  I just need to talk to him, that's all.'

'You'll have to wait your turn,' said Hope.

Business?  It was midnight.  Who conducted business at midnight?

Whatever business Lex was up to, it was over by 2AM.  Lex came home looking pleased and concerned at the same time.  'Ah,' he said when he saw Clark waiting up.  'Sorry I'm late back.  I had some business to see to.'

'So Hope told me,' said Clark.

'Don't sound so suspicious,' said Lex.  'I'm not running around on you.  I haven't ordered anyone's assassination, or taken over any small countries.  Lately.  What about you?'

'Hmm?  Me?  Oh, yes.  The patrol.  It was interesting.'

'How interesting?'

'Nothing new.  Nothing alarming. Except the consciousness.  That's the only word I can use to describe it.  It's stronger, Lex.  Stronger than last night.  It noticed me right away.  I pretended not to notice it, like you said.'

'Have you checked your cell phone?'

'First thing when I got back.  The battery is dead.'

Lex pulled Clark's old cell phone battery out of his pocket.  'I've had my lab working on this all day.  They think the power was deliberately drained, all in one shot.  Give me that one, and I'll have them check it, too.  More data always helps.'

'But you realize what this means, Lex.'

'Deep space is dangerous for cell phone users?'

'Ha!  Funny.  Whatever that thing is,  it's getting stronger, and I just fed it again.'

'The Kraken wakes,' said Lex.  'Here we are, trying to protect Earth, and we may have roused a new danger.'

'Maybe.  We don't know.'

'You said it felt hostile.'

'Maybe. Or maybe it was just hungry.  If it likes cell phone batteries, we can build a big one, and feed it.'

'And then it will be our bitch?  Yeah, maybe.'

'We need to know more about it.  I'll try to talk to it.  Tomorrow.'

'Talk to it?  Clark....'

'It's a long way from Earth.  There are other worlds just as close to it. Why would it come here and start eating people?  I don't think that's what it's after.'

'Who knows what it's after.  We don't even know what IT is.'

'No, and I need to know, because it contacted me.  It used me for its own purposes, and I need to know what they are.'

'Knowledge is a good thing,' said Lex.  'I understand your desire to know.  We need to go about this carefully, however.  I'll have my labs work on something, some device to collect data.  If we can determine what this consciousness is, before you try to talk to it....'

'Okay,' said Clark. 'I'll wait.  But don't make me wait too long.'

'You're becoming impatient, these days,' said Lex.

'I waited a long time for you,' said Clark.  'I didn't really know what I was waiting for.  This, that we've created between us, it's what I always wanted, I think.'

'You think?' asked Lex.

'I can't be sure, because you confused me.  You aren't an easy person to get really close to.'

'Neither are you,' said Lex.  'In fact, I think you're worse.  I told  you almost everything about myself.  How much did you tell me?'

'You're right,' said Clark.  'I wanted you to take me on faith.'

'And I did, or I tried. But faith only goes so far.'

'But we had something else. Something other than faith.  We had some kind of recognition of each other. Didn't we?'

'What do you mean?'

'What was your first thought, the day we met?  I remember thinking you were a friend, and it was because of you that I learned who I really was.  After that, things got confused.  Other people did their best to separate us, and I let them.  I was wrong.'

Lex was silent for a long time.  Then he said, 'I thought that finally there was something in my life to trust in, to believe in.  I thought you were my salvation.'

'And I screwed up,' said Clark.

Lex shrugged. 'So did I,' he said.

'We both screwed up,' said Clark.  'We know that.  We've confessed.  We're getting along fine.  We need to work to make this work.'

'If we can make this work.'

'You are Lex Luthor,' said Clark.  'And I'm Superman.  If we can't make something work, the world is doomed.'

***The End***

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