Fic: From Hell

[kitmerlot_1213]

In honor of the New Year, I'm posting my favorite ficlet from NS's October "Halloween Duck Mystery" Challenge:

Title: From Hell
Author: Kathy
Rating: PG 13
Pairings: Chlex
Spoilers: None this short story is totally AU
Category: Mystery/Horror
Summary: Chloe and Lex are on the hunt for Jack the Ripper.
Disclaimer: This story is purely for fun and no profit. I don't own Smallville or any of its characters.
A/N: Originally posted at NS the Chlex fan site.
This is my entry for the October Challenge "Halloween Duck Mystery" at NS. All fics have to pertain to the given theme, and be between 800 to 1000 words, and Chlex has to be at the center of the story. Please tell me what you think.

From Hell


Detective Constable Alexander Luthor could feel the worry and despair of the denizens of Whitechapel wash over him as he walked the streets.

He made his circuit up Berner Street to Hanbury Street to Fieldgate, all the while keeping his eyes open for any suspicious looking characters.

The East End of London was not a large section but it was so densely populated that the amount of people milling around at 10pm was not that surprising.

What did astonish him was the number of women still willing to go off into dark alleyways with men, especially after the horrible killings.

Five women had been murdered, their throats cut, and for three of the victims, they had been damn near mutilated.

The newspapers had latched onto the crimes, even naming the killer Jack the Ripper and that only escalated the terror of its readers.

Lex knew that the people were afraid and that they blamed the police for the madman still being on the loose so they had taken to brandishing their own form of street justice.

Twice already this night he had broken up brawls amongst men accusing various immigrants of being the man known on the streets as The Knife and once he’d averted a potential lynching.

The thought crossed his mind the one of the men involved in the brawls might have been the killer the Metropolitan police were seeking.

He’d passed the pub The Plaid Duck and stopped suddenly.

A familiar looking blond woman stood just in front of the pub, smack dab in the middle of Berner Street.

She was looking up and down the street, and seemed to be measuring distances with her eyes.

She was also gathering the attention of several unsavory looking men when Lex quickly walked up behind her and grabbed her arm.

"There you are darling, I was wondering where you wandered off to!"

The blond gasped in surprise and had her pocketknife out in a flash but she sagged in relief at seeing Lex.

Miss Chloe Sullivan smiled into the tense face of Lex Luthor and breathlessly answered, "Dear me, but you gave me a fright."

Lowering her voice so no one nearby could hear her, she fiercely whispered, "Let go of me Lex, or I swear I’ll start screaming!"

Lex didn’t answer but continued to grip her arm tightly. He whispered back just as fiercely, "Scream all you want Chloe, but I’ll have you in front of the Magistrate for public drunkenness faster then you can blink."

She scowled furiously up at him, "I haven’t had a drop to drink and you know it."

He pointed to the public house in front of them, "You are loitering around a drinking establishment. That’s the only excuse I need."

Chloe rolled her eyes in disbelief at his highhandedness. "Lex Luthor, I can not believe that you would willingly get in the way of my helping to solve these crimes."

Lex pulled Chloe closer into him and practically hissed into her ear, "This isn’t a game Chloe, nor is it a way for you to sell more papers!"

Chloe Sullivan was working undercover in the East End, writing under pen name Gabriel Joseph for The Star. Her column, The City at Night: A Continuing Journal of Whitechapel was wildly popular with readers.

She lived in the local workhouses and wrote of the appalling conditions she found there, and for two terrifying weeks, she had been an inmate in the Fairfield Row Lunatic Asylum, uncovering horrifying abuse.

Lex knew the risks she was willing to take if she thought she had a story, but he was damned if he was going to let her get hurt. Not on his watch.

Chloe drew back, as if she’d been slapped. "I know this isn’t a game! People are being killed and it’s up to all of us to stay vigilant."

Lex nodded his head gravely, "Yes, we do need the citizens to keep a sharp look out but it will be the police who catch this man and not the newspapers."

He glanced around him and saw that the men Chloe had been attracting had dispersed once Lex had walked up to her. He loosened his hold on her arm and Chloe had moved to step back slightly away from him.

They regarded each other in the gloomy darkness, the gas lamp above them barely cutting through the fog. Chloe finally spoke, "Can I at least tell you my theory as to how the killer fled Berner Street to Mitre Square?"

Lex sighed loudly, "If you must."

They had gone around this point on several occasions with Lex punching holes into all of Chloe’s theories, but he admired her tenacity to keep going.

"On the night of September, 30, 1888, there was the double murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. Stride’s body was found in an alleyway on Berner Street and Eddowes was found in Mitre Square. The killer would have to have been walking at a brisk clip because the bodies were found 45 minutes apart."

Here Lex interrupted, "Not necessarily. A constable could make that distance in less then 10 minutes and walking at a normal rate."

"Yes," Chloe acquiesced, " but only if the man knew the streets. The area of Mitre Square is a virtual labyrinth of blind corridors and alleyways."

At this Lex looked up sharply at Chloe, "You’ve been walking through that neighborhood?"

She nodded and spoke far too breezily for his comfort, "It was during the day and filled with people, I was perfectly safe."

He closed his eyes and shook his head, "Chloe, I swear by all that is holy..."

She stepped closer to him and took his hand, "Please don’t fret. I promise that I didn’t take an unnecessary risk."

She paused for a moment. "Lois was with me."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, "Oh yes, that’s quite comforting! You and your cousin are both known for worrying about your safety."

Chloe smiled gamefully, "Now back to my theory. The killer’s a local man because not only does he know the streets, but the local women know him as well and therefore wouldn’t be afraid to go off with him."

Lex nodded in agreement, "Speaking off the record..." And at Chloe’s brief inclination of her head, he continued, "Scotland Yard agrees with the majority of your theory, excepting the women not being afraid. I think that the poor unfortunates would have gone anywhere with a man willing to pay them"

They both stood in contemplative silence for a moment, and then Chloe continued to speak. "I know that another working theory is that the killer has medical knowledge because of various organs being removed."

Lex interrupted a second time, "Medical knowledge is too broad a term. All the killer would have to know in order to remove a kidney would be the barest of anatomy, so that covers the medical field, but also the butchers in the slaughterhouses."

At this Chloe paused and looked up at Lex. "What about barbers?"

"Barbers?" He repeated thoughtfully, "I suppose they definitely fit the bill regarding dexterity with a knife, but I’m unsure as to their knowledge of the human form."

Again, they paused and looked at each other, and again, Chloe spoke first. "The police aren’t going to catch this man, are they?"

At her words, Lex looked down at the cobbled stone street. "Short of a confession or catching him in the act, we don’t have that many solid clues, so no, it doesn’t look good."

Chloe’s face filled with sadness, and Lex suddenly wanted to see her smile again. "Look, how about I buy you a pint, and we can put our heads together and come up with a plan to catch the Ripper?"

Chloe smiled gratefully and tucked her arm into his. "Between the two of us, we should be able to get him!"

They walked into the pub The Plaid Duck, unaware that a man had been observing them the whole time they spoke together.

The pair of them would bear watching, particularly the little blond. Her theories were getting a little too close to the truth for his comfort.

The knife in his hand flashed briefly as he placed it back into his coat pocket, the silver of the straight edged razor gleaming briefly in the light from the gas lamp.

Yes, they definitely bore watching, and if necessary, he was prepared to stop their meddling.

He pulled the collar of his coat up and headed towards his home, easily blending into the darkness.

~~~


If anyone wants to learn more about Jack the Ripper, please check out this website: http://www.casebook.org/

　

Comments

[eternal-moonie.livejournal.com]

Absolutely LOVE this story! Well done sweetie!

[kitmerlot1213.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I appreciate it :)

[laurelnola.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. You had me at "Chlex" and "Jack the Ripper"! I am sort of morbidly obsessed with Victorian-era crime, like Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden. Yes, I am a sicko. But I'm a sicko who's going to grin like a loon while reading this story!

*runs off to read*........

[laurelnola.livejournal.com]

"She lived in the local workhouses and wrote of the appalling conditions she found there, and for two terrifying weeks, she had been an inmate in the Fairfield Row Lunatic Asylum, uncovering horrifying abuse."

*dies of squee*

She's Nellie Bly!! Holy freakaloo, that's perfect! What a great way to tie in ALL the Victorian elements, Kathy!

And that psycho standing in the corner with the knife. It's Clark, right? In his black psycho suit? Go on, you know it is. *grin* Just kiddin'.

Lovely story, hon!

[kitmerlot1213.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the two awesome replies and yes, I adore Jack the Ripper as well and of course Chloe would br Nellie Bly :)

And as much as I would have loved to have Clark being the knife-wielding psycho in my story, I was thinking more along the lines of Sweeney Todd but I like your idea as well:):)