Chapter 5
Across town at one of the small executive airports Lex Luthor
and his men exited their limo and made for one of the hangars.
Luthor was carrying a device about two feet long. It looked like
a simple rectangular box with a small pipe sticking out of the
end with a glass ball attached to it. Luthor sat the device down
just outside the hangar door, and pushed it forward with his foot
until the glass ball was just inside the door. Then Luthor and
his men walked into the hangar.
"Ivan!" Luthor called "Gregari! You got my weapons
components?"
"Right here Luthor!" a voice answered with a heavy
Russian accent. Four objects dropped from the ceiling. At just
about head level they exploded, Luthor and his men were engulfed
in smoke and shrapnel ripped up everything in the hangar. Five
men appeared through a back door but as the smoke cleared they
looked absolutely bewildered! The floor was empty! Luthor and his
men weren't there! To the men's surprise Luthor and his men
walked in through the door again, weapons ready!
"That wasn't very nice, Ivan! Who came up with that little
trick, Gregori?" "What the...?" one of the men
screamed. He pulled a pistol from underneath his shoulder but as
he brought it up it discharged. The man beside him jerked.
"Gregori!" the man screamed,"Gregori!" He
fell to his knees beside the trembling man on the ground,
muttering his name over and over again. Luthor motioned for his
companions to back off and they did so.
"You owe me some equipment, Ivan!" he remarked,
"Because of what just happened I won't take this
unpleasantness out of your hide. But don't every try to cross me
again!" A thought entered Luthor's mind. "What blood
type is your brother?"
"O negative," the Russian muttered. "The parts
will be sent. I don't understand why you're not killing me. I
would've killed you. But the kindness will be repaid."
Luthor took out a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and
stuck it in the man's pocket, then took a pen like device out of
his other pocket. "Wait 'til we've driven off," he
snapped, "then twist the bottom of that. It will summon blue
and ugly. The note will tell him what to do."
Without another word Luthor turned and left. A few minutes later,
far away, Superman was lowering a ship into a dry dock when he
heard a signal. As soon as the ship was safely in place he shot
away. In moments he was walking into the hangar and surveying the
scene. The man still knelt on the floor beside his brother. The
man took a note from his pocket and held it out. Superman read
it.
"This is Luthor's handwriting," Superman questioned.
"He gave you this note?"
The man nodded. "It says there's a woman dying in Bronx
Hospital that needs a liver from an O negative donor. Are you
this man's next of kin?"
"Yes," the man answered, "I'm his brother."
"Will you donate his liver?"
"He always said," the man answered, "if he died
he'd like somebody to have his heart because it's a great heart.
I guess a liver would be just as good. But if you could find
somebody that could use his heart..."
"If I can find someone," Superman promised, "I'll
deliver the heart and any other organs that can be used, myself.
Who did this, Luthor?"
"No," the man answered, "I did. It was an
accident, my gun went off."
"You two in there!" Superman remarked, "I'm
summoning the police. See that no one disturbs this weapon until
they get here. But I'm taking these two to the Bronx Hospital.
They can pick them up there."
"Do as he says," Ivan answered, gaining his feet.
Superman picked up his brother, took him under his other arm, and
they whisked away.
After the police had secured his prisoner Superman took the
heart, lungs, kidneys and even some of the bowels and whisked
them to hospitals around the country. Some of the man's bones
would be distributed through normal means. "One life
lost," Superman remarked to himself as he headed home,
"but several lives saved! But why is Luthor being so
considerate and so helpful? It's a change I don't mind, but it
makes me nervous!"
A few minutes later Clark Kent reentered the newsroom and sat
down at his desk and began to type.
"Where have you been, Mr. Kent?" the copy boy Eddie
asked, as he put some more mail in Kent's basket. "Was on an
errand," Kent answered, "and ran into Superman. He gave
me an interesting story."
Kent pressed 'print' and two pages came out of his printer.
"Run this down to composing, Eddie," he instructed,
"they'll have to override the automatic system to get this
in the latest edition. Have it replace the story I've already got
in!"
"On it's way, Mr. Kent!" Eddie snapped.
"Wow!" he continued, as he headed off, "To have
Superman drop by and give you a story! You and Miss Lane are the
tops, Clark, you're the tops!"
Kent smiled as Eddie hurried off. Then he looked at the folder of
sketches. "Got to do something about that!" he
remarked, "Just as soon as I can get away!" He went
back to the computer and checked on what else was going on. A
couple of hours later he picked up his things and headed out of
the office.
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