Fire on the Side

Chapter Four


"Daily Planet, Clark Kent speaking."

"Hello, darling, how are you?" Clive asked, charm almost pouring out of the phone.

"Clive! It's been a while! I'm fine, how are you?"

"Perfectly peachy. Did I just say that? Don't answer that. I was wondering if I could grab you for lunch. Today."

"Ah...that's..."

"Yes, I know. Right now. Could you? It's rather important." "We "Well...I don't really have anything on my schedule."

"Wonderful. We'll meet you at the usual." He hung up.
Clark stared at the phone and set it back down on the receiver. Who is WE? He wondered. Was Scribe back in town?

"Problem?" Lois asked.

"I don't know. But I've got dates to lunch."



"Lavender's Green?" Casey asked, a bit skeptical of the name. "Who's Lavender?"

"It's not a person. It's a kind of code. You'll see." Clive said, opening the door.

He ushered Casey into the club. "Oh, it's a club kind of place. Excellent. HEY! Alright! Karaoke! This place isn't bad. For being a throw back to the 'good old days'."

A waitress came up to them, "Hello, Clive. Two?"

"No, my good dear. We'll be three. This is a bit of a private get together, if you take my meaning."

"Sure do. Not a problem. I'll set you up in the corner."

"So, we're meeting THE Clark Kent? I mean...wow. I never went in for the comic books and all, but I loved the TV show."

"So, I take it you know?" Clive asked.

"Yes. If I start gushing...I'll try to restrain my." H." He countered when he saw Clive's frown. The doors opened and Casey's eyes got much larger and he cleared his throat. "Restrained. Honestly. Wow."

"Hello, Clive. Hello gorgeous."

"Oh, my god, Superman just hit on me." Casey just managed to hold that thought in. "Back at ya. I'm Casey." They shook hands and Clark noticed Casey had a very strong grip.

"He...dropped in on us. He knows about you and we'd like your help. We were wondering if you could do what you did for Scribe for him." Clive said.

"Who?" Casey asked, but wasn't answered right away.

"Another one? Geeze. For you Clive, anything. Were is your significant other?"

"He was feeling a little under the weather. I made him stay home."

"Must I repeat myself?" Casey asked.

"No. I will give you the brief overview. A few years ago a woman named Scribe was accidentily kidnapped, well, misplaced, into our world. She knew many things abour our world, including Superman's real identity, and she caused quite a stir with her flamboyant persona, new words, drink, music, etc. You get the picture. It sounds like she came from a world much like yours. She has computers, cell phones, and her superheroes come in comic books. Now, Superman has a device that allows a transfer into other dimensions. We can send you home, but it will take many tries to find the right one."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there. Who the fuck said I wanted to go HOME. I'm not going back there." Casey said, getting alarmed.

"Why not? Scribe liked it here, but she grew very homesick after a while." Clark said earnestly.

"First off, I'm not this Scribe person. Second, I have a psychotic ex-boyfriend out to get me over there! I just want to be able to get a few things, alright, a lot of things, from there so I can start to make a living over HERE. I can't live in a world without my music, Rocky Horror, or my bank account."

"He's going to be doing that a lot, isn't he? Talkinout out stuff that we don't know?" Clark said with a hint of weariness.

"Ha. Not for long. I'll remedy that. Or try." Casey said with an evil grin.

"I think I'm getting déjà vu."

"Eerily so. Tonight good? Say, around 9? We don't know how long it will take." Clive prompted.

"Sure. I'll-er-drop by then. Can I ask you something, Casey?" Clark seemed confused and curious.

"Sure. Shoot."

"You're not human, are you?"

"Very astute. What gave it away?"

"You're heart isn't beating."

Clive made a choking noise in his water.

"Don't breathe and swallow at the same time." Casey advised him. "No, my heart doesn't beat. It CAN, but only if I want it to and a few special occasions... For example, when Clive and Trenton found me on the street. I didn't fancy waking up in a morgue. So I made it beat."

"What are you?"

"I think you know. Besides from being drop dead sexy? I'm El Mosquito."

"Huh?" Clark said, clearly confused.

"You DO have mosquitoes here, right?"

"Yes....you're some giant bug?"

Casey dropped his head to the table and groaned. "No, but I do what they do. I'm Nosferatu! Vampire?"

It was Clark's turn to gape.

"And don't get your spandex all twisted in a knot. I don't kill to live or live to kill. I won't cause any problems. I'm not a villain. Boy Scouts honor." He held up his hand as a pledge.

"Ah, right. Then where WILL you...you know."

"I can raid the local blood bank? Or...take from multiple people. And I don't need to feed every single night either."

"Well, good. I trust Clive. If he trusts you, then we'll be fine."

"Excellent. Now there are some questions I'm just dying to ask you. Are you cut-."

"Why don't we order lunch now?" Clive asked cutting in.

Clark opened his mouth and then shut it. He couldn't manage to say a thing for a moment, and let Casey's question pass. "Sure, sounds good."

Casey shot Clive a small death glare and picked up his own menu. Can't a guy have a little fun flirting with THE MAN? Sure he's straight and all, but passing up on the opportunity would have been very sad indeed. Not like Superman was his type or anything.


After lunch and saying good bye to Clark, they took a small detour to a pharmacy to get some meds for Trenton (Zinc aron ron pills) and then the grocery store next door (meet, veggies, tea). Casey was still trying to convince Clive that he would gladly cook dinner to pay them back, but Clive would not hear of it. Casey then started to add helpful tips about what would go together if they should cook this or that.

As they were walking up the stairs two cats sat on the top step, waiting. Casey stopped with one foot on the first step, "Amazing."

"What?" Clive asked behind him.

"Well, most animals don't like me. They flee from me, because they can sense I'm unnatural. I've never seen cats, let alone TWO, just stay put when I come around." Casey slowly ascended the stairs. Still the cats did not move. When he got to the top, they moved out of his way. They sniffed at him, pawed at his feet, and looked him up and down.

Only when Ms. Havasnark opened her door did they trot off down the hall and disappear.

"Hello, dear." She gave Casey a big toothy smile.

"Er, hello."

"Clive, are you hiding all the gorgeous men from me?"

"Now why would I do that, love?"

"I saw you two scampering out of here earlier and I thought you didn't want to introduce me!" She said with mock pain.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Havasnark, but we had a pressing lunch engagement. This is Casey-."

"Armagh." Casey said quickly.

"God bless the Irish when they made you!" She said gleefully.

Casey couldn't help put laugh. "Huzzah, my good lady." He said in his best formal Irish accent. He gently set down the bag he was carrying and got down on one knee and kissed her hand.

"Clive, you really know how to pick em." She grinned.

"Oh, wait...no...we're not..." Casey said, hurriedly getting to his feet.

"Ah, more eye candy for me! Well, I won't keep you boys. Ta!" She waved and slipped back into her apartment.

"Am I going to have to worry about her trying to jump me every time I come over here?" Casey said, turning to Clive.

"No. She just loves to flirt." Clive reassured him.

"I see... Be quiet on your way in. Trenton is sleeping."

"How can you tell?"

"His breathing is even and his heart rate is slower."

"You can HEAR that?"

"There are SOME perks to being me."

Author's Note:
The next chapter might be a little bit longer in coming. I've got serious school work issues (damn college). So, once I get that cleared up and get back on schdedual, ouldould be up and running again. Please review (anything-a word, a comment, please!).