Pairing: Clark/Lois (Bluretto)

Spoilers: Starts at the beginning of Stilleto... but with a twist.

Plot: Season 8 - Clark's head is still messed up from Lana's sudden departure, and his emerging feelings for Lois. During one of his night-time saves, he comes across a mysterious female superhero called Stiletto. What he cannot work out is why he is so drawn to her...

A/N: This follows the Superman theory that glasses and masks can stop people recognising you, so you are going to have to suspend belief that Clark does not know that Lois is Stiletto

That was the fifth time Lois had pricked herself with the needle. She had come to the conclusion that her sewing skills were about as good as her cooking skills. Even so, nothing could dent her feelings of euphoria, after rescuing Chloe from the muggers. She wondered if the Blur felt like this every time he saved someone, if so he must have been constantly happy, going by the number of saves he was doing these days.

Lois had no intention of looking for trouble once she donned the leather outfit. It was a means to an end and the only ending she wanted was a one on one interview with the Blur, as she had renamed him. The Blur had been her number one goal as a reporter since he had burst on the scene six months ago, although she had a feeling he had been covertly saving people for a lot longer.

The suit had been straightforward but the mask was the problem – it kept falling down as the material was too flimsy. Then she remembered that Oliver had a few masks as she remembered his comment that he was unable to choose which one to wear for the charity ball held by Lex a few years ago. After all he was the Green Arrow.

Oliver was working in his penthouse when Lois arrived.

"Do you ever rest?" she smiled, as she came out of the lift.

"I have to go out and patrol soon." He replied as he grabbed a towel and headed over to the mini bar to grab some water. "Want one?"

Lois nodded and took a seat.

"So what can I do for you, Lois." He sat down in the chair opposite her.

"I need your help. I want an alter ego."

He looked at her in bewilderment. "What is wrong with the one you already have?"
"No, this is for a story. No doubt Chloe will have told you what happened the other night." Lois suggested.

"Yeah she did...wait a minute, you are not thinking of adopting this Stiletto identity. Lois, the streets are too dangerous. Leave it to me and the Red and Blue Blur to deal with the criminals."

She shook her head. "You don't understand. I am not doing it to fight crime but to grab a one on one with the Blur. I need to know more about him."

Oliver sat back and pondered it for a few seconds, and his mind was coming up with crazy ideas. He thought back to the conversation he had had with Lois on the veranda after Chloe's wedding. The prodigal Lana had just returned and blown any chance that Lois had with Clark out of the water.

But now Lana had left Clark's life for good, unable to return due to the power suit. He wondered if this was his chance to make his friends happy.

At the moment, Lois and Clark's relationship was going nowhere. Neither was willing to let down their emotional guard and let the other one in. Oliver still loved Lois but he knew they were not meant to be together. She was an amazing woman and she needed to be happy; that's all he cared about. So he decided to give it a go and see what happened.

"Penny for your thoughts." Lois said, snapping Oliver out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something. So if I help you, you must promise not to start fighting crime. This is purely to get an interview with the Blur." Oliver explained, trying to think of ways to help Lois become unrecognisable to Clark.

Within a few hours, Lois was ready, or did he mean Stiletto.

"Are you sure no one will recognise me?" she asked doubtfully.

"Lois, trust me. I'm an expert. The hood and mask will stop anyone seeing who you are and the voice modulator in the hood will alter your voice beyond recognition.

Lois smiled and admired her new look in the full length mirror. "I make leather look good, don't I?" she smirked.

"Yeah you do."

"One question though – why is the mask lead lined?" Lois asked.

He knew he could not tell her the real reason, that the Blur would not be able to see through her mask using his x-ray vision. "It just makes it stay on easier." He lied.

"By the way how are you and Clark getting on?" he asked.

"Ok I guess...we are just friends. I realise now that I was stupid to think there was any more to it than that. I have never asked what happened between Lana and him, or why she left. She has left him twice now, so you never know he might be lucky the third time she comes back...she might stay."

"You don't like Lana much, do you?"

"I don't hate her, but it upsets me when I repeatedly witness the aftermath of her departures. Clark is destroyed every time and just when he manages to pick himself up again; she comes back, screws around with his head and leaves again."

"I agree with you." Oliver said, still feeling guilty that he had told Lana she should come to Chloe's wedding. In some ways this new matchmaking plan was his one shot at redemption. "I still think he needs you, Lois and one day he will realise that."

Lois sighed. "Well I won't be waiting around. Anyway back to the important topic – snaring my interview with the Blur. Do you think it will work?"

"Who knows, but if I was the Blur I would find it pretty hard to resist you in leather." Oliver grinned.

Lois just hoped that was true...

Clark had to admit his head was a mess. The only thing keeping him sane was his double life as the Red and Blue Blur; in fact he felt with every save that he was getting closer to the destiny Jor-el had planned all along. This secret life was like a breath of fresh air when compared to his complicated personal life.

Last month he felt like his whole life had gone back two years, shattering any chance he had of ever moving forward. Lois and he had grown close since Lana left the goodbye DVD and for the first time ever, feelings for someone other than his childhood sweetheart were starting to surface. He could not define what those feelings were – in fact he had been trying the past six months to work it out.

At the Chloe's wedding, there was a massive shift in his feelings for Lois, which resulted in them almost kissing. Then the roadblock...Lana had returned. Suddenly he was jolted back into his fairytale of living happily ever after with the girl who meant the world to him.

They started up their relationship as though she had never been away, only for the fairytale to be torn from him by Lex's twisted plans. It should have been the end of Clark's world but...he had spent the last month asking if it really was the end of his world. He still was figuring the answer to that question.

Chloe arrived at the Kent Farm looking for Clark. She had been working on something for a few weeks and she hoped he would go with it. After the flash forward he had experienced recently, he needed to change his look. For someone who wanted to remain in the shadows, the red and blue look was not the brightest of ideas for a colour choice.

"Have you been shopping?" He asked as she walked through the door struggling to carry the two massive shopping bags.

"I have been using Ollie's store card...with his permission of course."

"Where do you store all these clothes at the Talon, considering how many Lois has?" Clark smirked.

She put the bags on his sofa. "These are for you!" she replied.

"What...why? Lois has been trying for the past five years to get me to give up my obsession with plaid so this will not work."

"Clark, this is your work wear if you know what I mean. You told me how you would be vilified if people knew who you were. The red and blue has to go..." She reached in the bag and pulled out a black pair of jeans, a black tee and a short black leather jacket.

"Chloe, I never understood the Goth look."

"Clark, it doesn't matter if you like the look as long as it does the job of protecting your identity." Chloe replied.

He held the jacket up, and realised Chloe had come up with a valid point. "Ok...I will try it for a week, but if I don't like it I go back to my old clothes."

"Deal..." she shook his hand. One thing that puzzled her was how easily Oliver had handed his store card over. She was convinced he was up to something but she could not work out what.

He sped upstairs and less than a second later, he reappeared with his new outfit on.

"It's quite comfortable actually." He had to admit. "Ok, I'm going on patrol now so I will keep it on. Thanks for buying these for me." He smiled and then sped out of the door.

After a few hours, he thought about calling it a night, as it seemed pretty quiet. Just then there was a scream in the distance.

Lois had been prowling the streets with no sightings. It was a ridiculously crime free night, so she decided to head back to Smallville. Just then she sighted a woman walking on the other side alone, she was almost running, and seemed to be clutching her bag. A few steps behind her was a man following her. Lois headed closer to see what was going to happen. It did not take long for the man to grab the woman and try and pull her bag from her.

Lois shouted. "Hey...". The man turned around to see who was shouting. He looked at her with a smirk on his face and then pulled out a knife. Before he had the chance to react further, something blurred past him, leaving the man in a heap on the floor.

Lois went over to the woman. She helped her up. "Are you ok?"

The woman looked at her. "Thank you so much for saving me. Who are you?"

"It's no problem, all in a day's work." Lois replied, glad her modulator was switched on because it made her sound more authorative. "I'm Stiletto."

The police sirens ran out in the distance. Lois knew she had to get out of there and wondered which way she should run, but before she had a chance, she felt the ground disappear from underneath her feet. She then found herself standing in an alley with a dark figure less than ten metres away from her but hidden in the shadows.

Clark could not believe what he was seeing when he rescued the woman from the mugger. After he had taken the man out, he stood on a nearby roof ledge watching a figure dressed head to toe in tight leather attend to the woman. The leather left nothing to the imagination – and with a body like that, his imagination could run wild.

The police sirens interrupted his thoughts and he noticed the leather clad figure panicking about which way to go. He decided to help her get away from them. Now here he was looking at the mysterious woman, standing just yards away from him.

They stood looking at each other, both not knowing what would happen next.

Lois looked at the figure trying to make out what he looked like but the Blur was remaining in the shadows.

"Are you the Red and Blue Blur?" she broke the stalemate, reassured the voice modulator was working.

There were no words but she could just make out a slight nod of the head.

"Would you mind if I just called you the Blur especially as you seem to have done away with your red and blue outfit." She asked nervously.

Clark nodded again but was careful not to speak.

"If you're wondering, I am Stiletto."

He looked down at her feet but did not see any sign of heels, just long leather boots. In fact it was hard to tell where the boots stopped and the leather outfit took over. He was mesmerised.

Lois noticed he was looking at her boots. "I know it is a strange name but the stilettos kill me." She replied honestly.

Clark heard a gunshot in the distance. Lois heard it too. "I know you need to go but will you meet me here tomorrow night at 11pm. I want to talk to you again."

He nodded and then sped off.

Lois walked home, her heart still racing from her first meeting with the Blur. She had even surprised herself when she asked to meet him again

Clark stood on the Crow's Nest watching the city. The robbery was all sorted out in minutes and now he was just checking before he headed back home. He could not get Stiletto out of his mind. There was something about her, which drew him to her. He would never normally agree to meet someone as the Blur, but he found her request too inviting to refuse.

He had an idea. He sped to Oliver's penthouse. He had just got back from his patrol.

"Sorry to bother you Oliver. I just need to talk to you." He said as he left the lift.

"Sounds urgent!" He asked Clark to sit down. "By the way I like the outfit Chloe bought for you."

"Thanks for it."

"So what's happened. You don't normally visit me for advice." Oliver asked.

"I met someone on patrol tonight. Have you heard of Stiletto?" Clark asked nervously.

"Yeah, isn't she that leather clad girl who has decided to join the realms of crime fighting in Metropolis?"

"I have never heard of her, but I came across her tonight."

"What is she like?"

"We only talked a few minutes, or should I say, I only listened...she did the talking. She was...how do I put this...breathtaking."

Oliver was shocked. He had expected Clark to notice Stiletto, but not to this extent and not this quickly. "It seems like you have some sort of crush on this mysterious Stiletto." He laughed.

"Of course I don't." Clark suddenly became defensive. "I was just shocked to see her, that's all."

"So what advice did you want?"

"She asked me to meet her again tomorrow night, but this time I want to step out of the shadows and talk to her."

"Wait a moment, you want to reveal your identity." Oliver exclaimed.

"No of course not but I was wondering if you could lend me one of your voice distorters so I can have a conversation with her. It is going to be a bit one sided otherwise."

"Ok, I can do that for you, but it helps to have it attached to some kind of mask or hood."

Clark looked at him. "A hood? No way."

"Do you want to come out of the shadows, or not?" Oliver asked.

He paused for a moment. "Ok...I do, but it has to be black."

Half an hour later Clark was standing there with a hood attached to his jacket and dark glasses. "I will only use these if I see her. I think they will probably fall down when I super speed anyway."

He smiled and left excited by the planned meeting the following night. He walked into work the following day lost in his thoughts. Lois was sitting at her desk singing to herself.

"Hi Clark, how are you today on this fine morning?" she smiled.

"I am fine. I take it you had a maple donut for breakfast going by your chipper mood." He replied.

"No, just enjoying life at the moment. What have we got on today?" she asked.

"We have that conference at the Town Hall about the spending cuts and then the staff meeting with Tess this afternoon."

"It sounds like a thrilling day!" Lois grimaced, wishing it was tonight already.

The press conference seemed to go on forever. Lois found herself drifting off wondering what the Blur really looked like. She could see he was tall and well built, but then again he would be if he was a superhero.

"Lois, you can wake up now. It's over." Clark nudged her to pull her out of her daydream state. "Did you catch any of that?"

"No, but why do I need to bother? You will have everything written down."

"Hmm...I don't actually. For some reason I didn't take much notice. Guess I was lost in my thoughts." Clark replied.

"That's not like you. You must have something on your mind. Do you want to talk about it?"

Clark smiled. "No, it's ok. It's not important."