Welcome to Unspoken Want - Smallville Fanfiction
| Story Parameters | Superman: Fractured Reality |
| Author: RedKryptonClark aka RKC_EB | Story Details |
Characters: Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olson, Chloe Sullivan, Martha Kent, Jonathan Kent, The Justice League, Kara, and Lex & Lionel Luthor. |
Summary: Clark Kent has reset time by embracing an alternate universe where he did not save Lana in RECKONING in order to restore balance to the world after Lex Luthor let loose a nuclear weapon that destroyed a large chunk of California and was indirectly responsible for the death of Clark's closest friends including the love of his life, Lois Lane. The Ripple Effects from Clark’s adjusting time will unleash a new enemy upon Metropolis and Earth that Clark Kent is ill-prepared to face…will this reality bring forth a fate worse than the one that he erased? |
Superman: Fractured Reality
Prologue
The stars twinkled endlessly across the universe bathing the emptiness of space with their brilliance. A small object floated end over end in constant rotation moving forward by the remaining inertia that had launched it into space thousands of years ago. It had traversed great distances and had silently witnessed the death of stars, the birth of comets, and helplessly watched ships fly by without giving the asteroid appearing object a second thought.
Suddenly the emptiness of space seemed to come alive. A giant rapidly moving wave of energy pulsated across the universe on a direct outwards path. The object turned to face the energy wave and watched helplessly as it crashed straight into it, the object was thrown millions of light-years off of its course and when it stopped spinning it found itself plummeting towards the outer atmosphere of a blue planet covered with several large land masses. It accelerated and punched through the earth's atmosphere creating a large sonic boom as it caught fire and rapidly descended towards Earth.
A small Japanese fishing boat that was circling the Antarctic Circle bobbed in the icy waters as the stars twinkled overhead. The boat's captain watched with great interest as the sound of the sonic boom ricocheted off of the icy ocean, echoing for miles. Above he saw a fireball rapidly racing towards the Earth's surface. The captain's eyes grew wide as he realized the object was heading his way. He started screaming out in alarm and barely had time to hit the deck when the fire coated object impacted into the Antarctic ocean and sent a thirty foot wall of water straight up into the sky. The icy water showered the boat’s deck and caused the boat's anchor to heavily strain against the impact’s currents that threatened to detach the boat from its hold on the ocean's floor.
The captain began shouting for his crew to assist with keeping the boat afloat. Heart hammering in his chest, he turned and stared into the water where the object had disappeared and couldn't see anything. Members of his crew appeared to help. Then his first mate suddenly began pointing towards the ocean. With a shaking hand, the captain pulled a large flood lamp off of the wall and activated it. The lamp’s rays bobbed over the empty ocean like a firefly flickering on and off on a warm summer night; barely permeating the impregnating darkness. Suddenly a loud splash was heard and something shot straight out of the water, causing ocean water to again shower the deck of the already soggy boat.
The First Mate screamed, grabbed the light from his captain and shined it up into the air. The men on deck barely had time to register what they were seeing before blood curdling screams erupted out of their lungs as their lives flashed before their eyes.
******
Three days later a German scientific expedition liner came upon what appeared to be an abandoned fishing boat. They pulled up along side of it after their hails brought no response from the crew.
One of the German crew-members, Heinrich climbed his way onto the deck and began slipping as he stepped into a sticky, gooey substance. He looked around and gulped when he recognized the smell as that of human blood. His senses immediately went on high alert – the deck was caked in blood. Nervously he looked around and called out to any survivors and wasn't surprised not to receive an answer. Kneeling down he examined the carnage on the deck and realized that the crew of the boat had been ripped from limb to limb, their bodies were pummeled to the point of beyond recognition of even being human remains.
The large man fought with his gag reflex and with shaking hands picked up an object that stuck out from what he could only assume had been the stomach cavity of a man.
“What do you have there?” a crew-mate, Gunther asked from above deck.
Heinrich stared long and hard at the blood encrusted object and shook his head. “Looks like a thorn...” he shouted back. “Or maybe a tooth...or a tusk?”
“Tooth or tusk? From what?”
The man held up the twelve inch object for Gunther to see. Gulping deeply, he replied, “I have no idea.”
Chapter 1
In the late afternoon sun, Jonathan Kent’s eyes bulged against the near bone crushing embrace that he found himself in by his son, Clark Kent.
“It’s good to see you too, son,” Jonathan stated, patting his son affectionately on the back and choking back a tear of happiness in seeing his wayward son safe and at home.
Clark sheepishly realized that he had picked his father up off of the ground in his exuberance to see him again. Gently he put Jonathan Kent back down and beamed back at him. Clark planted his fists on either side of his hips and looked his father up and down. Jonathan Kent’s six foot frame was slightly more hunched over than when Clark had left him eight years ago and his blond hair was now liberally peppered with grey. Clark also noted that Jonathan wore glasses making him look distinguished and wise at the same time.
He didn’t quite know what to say, for so many years Clark had lived in a reality where Jonathan Kent had died of a heart attack. Even though he had reset time and had memories of Jonathan Kent being alive, he still thought of the previous timeline as being more real than this one. It was like waking from a horrible nightmare where everyone you loved had died and when you woke up everything was as it should be.
A corner of Jonathan’s mouth hitched upwards into a lopsided smile. “You’re looking at me like you’ve just seen a ghost, Clark.”
Nervously, Clark shifted from foot to foot and squinted his eyes. “Maybe that’s because it’s kinda true?” he offered.
Frowning, Jonathan shook his head and smiled. “Come on inside son, your Mom just made an apple pie and I know she’ll be delighted to see you.”
Clark looked around the Kent farm in confusion, judging by the height of the corn and the age of the calves in the field and height of the grass in the fields, he figured it was late spring. “What’s Mom doing home? Shouldn’t she be off performing her Senator duties?”
Jonathan’s eyes clouded briefly over and he sighed. “We’ve got a lot to tell you as well, son.”
Not liking his father’s ominous tone, Clark followed his father towards the house. The door crashed open and Martha Kent exploded out of the house. “CLARK!”
“Mom!” Clark shouted back, beaming. He picked his mother up and grinned delightfully as he swung her around in a circle. Martha laughed when Clark put her down. She reached up, grabbed either side of his face and planted a big kiss on his lips.
Laughing, Clark circled his arm around her shoulder while she hugged his waist. Jonathan gently pushed the door open and squeezed his son affectionately on his shoulder as they made their way into the house.
Clark glanced around and was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu, absolutely nothing had changed in the house which was a fact that he found to be very comforting.
Martha steered Clark towards a stool in front of the kitchen table and immediately began fussing over getting him something to eat.
“Don’t even try to stop her son, she’s a woman on a mission,” Jonathan replied in response to Clark’s pleas for her to not over extend herself.
They sat down for dinner and Jonathan and Martha filled Clark in on the doings in Smallville and what his old friends and their neighbors had been up to. While polishing off the last of his dinner, Clark asked, “So Mom, why aren’t you in Topeka or DC?”
Martha and Jonathan exchanged knowing, nervous glances.
“What?” Clark fearfully asked.
Jonathan shook his head and pointed to Martha. “You tell him, dear.”
Putting down her fork, Martha studied her son’s fearful expression. She wet her lips and said, “About three years after you went off to travel the world Lex’s army of lawyers managed to make good work of the legal system and got Lex out of jail on a small technicality that had been made by the prosecution against his case. He was cleared of all charges in Lana’s death and was a free man.”
Clark’s eyes widened with worry.
Martha continued, “Since he was cleared of the charges, Lex began funneling money into the community and fostered up a lot of support to run against me.”
Disbelief filled Clark’s green eyes. “LEX is now our State Senator???”
Jonathan and Martha again exchanged glances.
“What?” Clark laughed. “Don’t tell me that he’s our US Senator!”
“Senator Burke was killed in a mob hit and the Governor appointed Lex to his place,” Martha unhappily reported.
Memories of his past life where Lex sent one of his super soldiers after Senator Burke surfaced. No longer the slightest bit hungry, Clark pushed himself away from the table, stood, and rubbed his fingers down the sides of his face and brought his fingers together at the tip of his chin. “I can’t believe this…I did it all for nothing.”
“Did what, Clark?” Jonathan asked.
Clark spun around and faced his confused parents. He threw his hands helplessly out to the sides. “It’s happening all over again! But this time it’s worse because Lex is now positioned such that he won’t need to use Chloe to break into the US Missile Defense Mainframe, he’ll have the contacts in place in Washington to get them himself!”
“Clark! What are you talking about?” Jonathan demanded.
Martha and Jonathan watched their son’s eyes go out of focus as he obviously was in the middle of heavily contemplating something. “Oliver!”
“Oliver? Who’s Oliver?” Martha asked.
“Oliver Queen…is he in Metropolis or Star City?” Clark asked, planting his hands heavily upon the table. He caused the silverware to shake.
Jonathan’s eyes narrowed. “We don’t know who you’re talking about son.”
Clark stepped back for a moment and closed his eyes. “You’re right I never met Oliver in this timeline…”
“This timeline?” Jonathan asked, hopelessly lost.
“I have to find him, I’ll explain everything later, bye!”
Martha and Jonathan ran to the back door and watched their son lift off into the sky and rocket into the encroaching darkness of nightfall and veered off towards Metropolis.
“Now I’ve seen everything,” Jonathan said, mouth gaping wide open.
“I told you that our son could fly,” Martha replied with a wink and a smile.
“Yeah, but I never thought I’d actually see it with my own eyes,” Jonathan responded and gave his wife a proud squeeze around her waist.
*************************
Clark soared over The Daily Planet’s golden globe and shot off towards Oliver’s Metropolis Clock Tower Apartment. Since Dark Thursday never happened, Clark wondered if Oliver would ever have moved to Metropolis in the first place. As he neared the posh apartment, Clark activated his x-ray vision and looked inside and spied a lone figure wandering around the apartment: male, approximately 6’3”…it could be Oliver. Hovering outside the building Clark peered through the large doors that hid Oliver’s Green Arrow lair. A grin spread over Clark’s face as he detected rows of arrows, bowcasters, and other assorted techno-gadgets hanging on the concealed room’s walls.
Rapidly Clark landed on Oliver’s balcony, opened the door, and let himself into the apartment. The furnishings were still as modern as they had been in the past. Oliver looked up from his portable laptop that he’d been carrying and found himself staring at a giant dark haired man wearing a red jacket, blue t-shirt, jeans, and work boots. The man was impressively muscular…he appeared to be nearly bursting out of his clothing.
“Who the hell are you?” Oliver demanded. Seeing that the intruder didn’t enter his apartment through his elevator he demanded, “How in the hell did you get in here?”
A bemused smile crossed Clark’s face. “I flew in.” He chuckled over Oliver’s confused expression. “I see you’ve grown attached to your favored new style of facial hair. The goatee suits you, Oliver.”
Oliver watched the man carefully as he walked around the apartment with a strange sense of familiarity. The blond billionaire’s eyes widened as Clark approached his lair and pried open the doors. His mouth flew open as Clark walked inside and removed a bowcaster off of the wall and filled an arrow into it.
Quickly Oliver put his hands up. “What do you want from me? Who sent you?”
Clark frowned turning the weapon over in his hands. “How is the Green Arrow business for you these days, Oliver? Bad guys keeping you on your toes?” Clark watched as Oliver made to reach for his cellphone. In a blink of an eye, Clark grabbed it and returned to his place across the room. He watched with amusement as Oliver stared in disbelief at the spot where the phone had been.
“Looking for something?” Clark playfully flickered the phone back and forth in his fingers.
“Who are you?”
“I’m a friend of a few of your friends…Bart Allen, Arthur Curry, and Victor Stone,” Clark finally stated, trying to make his nervous friend a bit more comfortable with his presence.
Oliver tried to look confused. “Who?”
“You know, your other Justice League friends?” Clark offered and grinned as Oliver’s jaw dropped in confusion.
“How…?”
Clark exhaled deeply. “If I told you the how you wouldn’t believe me, let’s just say that in another lifetime you and I were friends and I want us to get that way again. My name’s Clark Kent.”
“Clark Kent?” Oliver’s eyebrows screwed together as he wracked his brain for reason of why that name sounded familiar. “I think Bart mentioned you once…he said you were fast like he was which would explain the cell phone.”
Clark arched a brow and nodded his head. He tossed Oliver’s cell phone onto a nearby chair and aimed the bowcaster directly at Oliver’s face and let loose of the trigger. Oliver’s eyes widened in terror as he watched the arrows tip race quickly towards the spot right between his eyes. A split second before it would’ve pierced Oliver’s skull in two, Clark raced towards the arrow, grabbed it, and headed out onto the balcony.
Oliver shook his head and looked around. He spied Clark staring up towards the sky twirling the arrow in his fingers.
Folding his arms across his chest, Oliver said, “I don’t suppose you could’ve given me a demonstration of your skills without causing me to nearly piss all over myself?”
Clark chuckled. He threw the arrow at Oliver who caught it and watched as Clark bee-lined for Oliver’s stack of weights. Clark picked up one of the solid steel cast 100lb dumbbells as if it was as lightweight as a bag of feathers. Placing his enormous palms on either end of the dumbbell, Clark squeezed and the handle bar inside the two large weighted sides burst and broke apart. Oliver’s mouth dropped open as Clark showed him the now destroyed dumbbell. Carefully, Clark placed the halves on a table and aligned up the stress marks, activated his heat vision he soldered the dumbbell back together. He picked it up, walked over to Oliver, and dropped the dumbbell into his hands. Oliver struggled against the unexpected weight. Lightly he touched the steel bar and snatched his finger away when it contacted the hot metal.
Taking the weight out of Oliver’s hand Clark put it on the ground and shrugged. “I’m bulletproof, I have super-breath, super-speed, super-strength, ice breath, heat vision, oh and I can fly.”
Oliver’s eyebrows shot up in merriment. “Fly?”
Clark slowly lifted himself off of the ground and rose himself towards Oliver’s ceiling. Oliver stood below Clark and shook his head in amazement. “Well you’re a walking…and flying apparently…Swiss Army Knife, aren’t you? What are you, Clark Kent?”
Popping back down onto the ground, Clark replied, “I’m one of the good guys and I need your help.”
“My help?”
“Yeah, you know Lex Luthor, the guy you went to Excelsior Academy with? I need to know everything that you know about his release from Belle Rieve,” Clark demanded.
Oliver crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do you want to know about Lex?”
“I think he might be up to something that could cause a lot of innocent people to die and needlessly suffer,” Clark revealed.
Scratching his goatee, Oliver responded, “I may not like the guy, but he got out of his sentence fair and square. The prosecution put a shady cop on the stand as a witness. Lex’s lawyers found out that he was intoxicated that night when he arrived on the scene. His testimony was thrown out and Lex got off.”
“His testimony? What about the testimony of the kids and driver of that bus? What about MY testimony?”
Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Clark Kent – that’s where I know you from, you were Lana’s boyfriend, right? Yeah I don’t know what to tell you Clark, but it was enough evidence that the judge threw out the conviction.”
“A judge that Lex most likely paid off,” Clark growled.
“Or his father,” Oliver countered.
“Lionel Luthor would never have lifted a finger to help get his son out of Belle Rieve. He would’ve happily thrown Lex into a cell and swallowed the key to keep him in there,” Clark spat back.
Oliver’s eyebrows arched upwards. “Know the Luthors quite well do you?”
“More than I’d like to,” Clark answered.
“Look I’d love to help you with your little vendetta against our US Senator but I’ve got other problems to worry about.”
“Like what?” Clark asked, his curiosity peaked. He crossed his arms over his chest and walked over to the large computer monitor that Oliver was studying. He saw Oliver sifting through a bunch of satellite images.
“I take it you trust me?” Clark asked.
Oliver looked Clark up and down and answered, “I’ll trust you after I see your reaction to what I’ve got to show you.” Oliver typed up some data and pulled up several new-stories that were printed in the overseas version of The Daily Planet. “There’ve been recent reports of a strange creature attacking small tribes in Africa. Whatever this thing is it’s leaving behind the worst carnage that anyone has ever seen before.”
“Well Africa is filled with dangerous animals, maybe it’s a pack of lions or something,” Clark offered.
“Can lions swim to Antarctica?”
Clark furrowed his brows in confusion.
Oliver pulled up satellite photos that showed the deck of the abandoned Japanese fishing boat that was discovered by the Germans. Oliver focused in on the guy standing on the deck.
“What’s he holding?” Clark asked.
“He claims it was a tooth or something of the sort. Any idea what kind of creature has twelve inch long teeth?”
Oliver pulled up a map of Africa. “It’s making its way up the coast line, if this thing reaches cities…”
“The greater the chance of casualties,” Clark said completing Oliver’s thought. “What have you done to try to investigate this thing?”
“I sent Bart over on my jet two days ago, he was supposed to report in today, but I haven’t heard from him.”
Clark studied the map and asked for exact co-ordinates for where Bart was sent to investigate. Oliver handed them over and in a flash, Clark was gone, leaving Oliver confused and alone in his apartment.
Chapter 2
Fueled with worry for the safety of his friend it took Clark less than half of an hour to rapidly fly the distance across the Atlantic Ocean. He then turned his trajectory southwards down the West African Coast towards the Congo region. It was almost dawn and Clark wanted to find Bart as quickly as possible.
Clark spied the smoke from above before his body told him that he’d reached the correct co-ordinates. Furrowing his brows in deep concentration, Clark crashed through the dense jungle foliage causing monkeys and birds to screech irrationally at being prematurely awoken from their slumber.
Clark landed on the outer edges of the smoldering remains of a small village. Where there were once shabbily knocked together houses and a town well lay hot embers and debris. Squatting, Clark examined the remains of a villager and felt his stomach turn over as the person’s body was almost unrecognizable. From what he could see the person’s facial features were forever frozen into an expression of utter terror. Clark gently pushed the eyelids down over the victim’s eyes and attempted to smooth the fear out in his cheeks. A lone tear escaped Clark’s eye as he saw piles of body parts lying around the area, they looked like they’d been ripped apart. He activated his x-ray vision and scanned the jungle for the creature that caused this destruction. Nothing in a forty mile radius was large enough to fit the bill of a creature that would have twelve inch long teeth.
Reassured that the coast was clear and worried for the safety of his friend, Clark shouted, “BART!!!” X-Ray vision still activated Clark scanned the village’s wreckage looking for signs of his friend. Fear squeezed his chest that perhaps his fast footed buddy had gotten caught by the creature and didn’t survive. His superhearing then detected a weak voice cry out, “Help.”
Clark dashed across the village and spied a pile of fallen palm trees. He rapidly threw them giant trunks out of the way and dug through the fronds and discovered Bart buried at the bottom of the pile. Even through the caked on dirt that Bart had smeared all over his face and in his hair, Clark could tell that his face was ash white.
“Bart! Are you alright?”
“Clark?” Bart meekly asked, his eyes barely going into focus. “Man am I glad to see you.”
The pungent smell of blood hit Clark’s nose and he glanced down at Bart’s legs. Using his x-ray vision he saw that both of Bart’s femurs were cracked. Bart had managed to somehow rip the sleeves off of his jacket and make tourniquets to stop himself from bleeding to death, but judging by his barely holding onto consciousness, Clark doubted he had much time left.
“This is going to hurt buddy, but it’ll hold you over until we can get you to a doctor,” Clark warned and then activated his heat vision and cauterized the open wounds on Bart’s legs.
Bart howled an inhuman cry of pain as Clark burned the wounds closed.
When finished, Clark brushed the hair out of Bart’s face and said, “Sorry. Come on, let me get you to a doctor.”
“What’s the point, amigo? I’m done for,” Bart weakly replied.
“I hardly think you’re at death’s door, Bart,” Clark countered, gently gathering his wounded friend up in his arms.
“Wait, grab that,” Bart said, pointing to a recording device that had fallen to the ground. Clark picked it up and looped the strap around Bart’s neck. The younger man’s face was haggard in appearance, his brown eyes filled with sorrow. “I might as well be dead. My legs are useless.”
The full implication of what Bart was saying hit Clark. If his legs didn’t heal, Bart wouldn’t be able to run. His speed was his identity, if his legs didn’t heal he’d a mere mortal and not supercharged. Clark smiled. “I have a feeling that a part of your abilities include superhealing, you’ll be back on your feet before you know it.”
“Dude, it’s not that I don’t appreciate your help, but the closest big hospital that is probably equipped to best help me is in Cairo - I really don’t want to be treated there,” Bart asked.
“How about Metropolis General then?”
Bart’s eyes focused on Clark’s face and filled with disbelief. “Last time I checked bro, you can’t run on water.”
The corner of Clark’s mouth itched upwards into a cocky smirk and he playfully arched a brow. “Running? Who said anything about running?”
Bart’s mouth gaped open and he grabbed onto Clark’s neck for dear life as Clark burst them straight up into the air and flew them back home towards Metropolis.
*************************
It is a little known fact that politicians rarely have time to sleep, a fact that Capital Hill’s newest Freshman Senator had recently become all too familiar with. Sitting in his office on Capital Hill, Lex Luthor sat behind his desk pouring over stacks of notes that were attached to piles of massive bills that were waiting their turn to go up for vote on the Senate floor. As he stared into his empty mug of coffee he wondered if it was possible that The US Congress and Senate could be personally responsible for keeping the Columbian Coffee market in business. Twiddling a pen between his fingers, Lex groaned as he tried to make heads or tails out a proposed Federal Land Grant bill that was going through the Senate in the next three days.
Overly tired, Lex pushed the paper aside and moaned, “What do I care if the people in Montana want the Feds to pay for the upkeep of twenty thousand acres of land?” When Lex ran for office he went in with starry eyed visions of being in a position to make real decisions that would affect the lives of millions of people, he never suspected that he’d be spending over half of his time buried under mountains of paper and red tape bureaucracy. The politicking made up for the hours that Lex wasted reading the seemingly endless stacks of bills that crossed his desk. Seasoned Senators laughed at his dedication and told him that given time he’d learn that nobody in Washington ever read the bills – they just made deals with each other to get their legislation passed. Although Lex admitted that he loved cutting corners, he didn’t much think that his constituents would much like it if he didn’t do everything in his power to deserve the honor of being their US Senator.
He knew that there were a large number of voters who were waiting for him to crash and burn. Lex wasn’t elected to this seat, he was appointed to it and if he wanted to win another term he needed to prove himself worthy of being in this office. Even though his manslaughter case had been thrown out and he had numerous high powered doctors give him a clean bill of physical and mental health, there were still rumors floating about his sanity. The last thing he needed was for word to get out that he wasn’t doing his full research on bills and vote in a way that would be contrary to what would be best for the people of Kansas if he wanted them to believe in him.
Lex also found that by reading the bills from cover to cover he discovered hidden gems buried under the pages of legal babble. Bills were used by politicians as means for hiding pet projects that often had nothing to do with the legislation at hand. It was these hidden amendments that Lex used to his fullest advantage when negotiating with his fellow Senators; by knowing his opponents most treasured projects he held true power over them.
He had discovered that there were some savvy seasoned politicians who understood this game as well. They always came to him wearing false smiles wondering when Lex would propose his first bit of legislation, thereby discovering his weakness. Smiling, Lex always replied, “When the need arises… when the need arises.”
At this time, Lex’s pet project needed to remain hidden and buried. If anyone caught wind of what he was up to Lex would be back in Belle Rieve faster than one could say indictment hearings.
Lex knitted his fingers together and glanced at his Movado desk clock and saw it was 3:30AM. His cell phone rang right on time.
“What have you got for me?” He demanded, massaging his temple.
“There’s been another attack, Mr. Senator. This time in the Congo, we’re emailing you images right now.”
Lex hung up, pulled out his private laptop, and waited for the photos to upload. The first thing that Lex did when he arrived in Washington was to seek out a money hungry mole in NASA’s hurricane watch satellite division. Lex had ordered the man to keep a close eye out for any unusual astronomical activity and report it to him immediately. Luthor Corp had its own series of satellites orbiting the Earth, however, the more data that he had access to the less likely something would escape his eye. When he received a call a week ago about a large meteorite hitting in the Antarctic Ocean and the news of the massacred crew that was found near the objects landing spot caused Lex’s six sense to tell him that this could be the sign that he was waiting for.
The images finished downloading and Lex greedily poured over them. All that the satellite images showed him was fire. Quickly he called up his own team of satellite engineers and asked them to pull up all data that the Luthor Corp satellite might’ve picked up in the same co-ordinates with the surrounding timestamps. Lex tapped a pencil against his desk, pulled out a map of Africa and made another line showing its upward climb toward the globe’s equator…towards more populated civilized human settlements.
Lex had a turning point in his life on the night that he was arrested. After getting so drunk after losing his election to Jonathan Kent that he had run Lana Lang off of the road and killed her, Lex hadn’t had a drink since then. But it was moments like these where he desperately fought the urge to find a bottle of vintage scotch to sooth his frayed nerves. Instead, he opened a pack of gum and shoved a piece in his mouth. He recalled how his rantings from that night about a man who could fly and shoot fire from his eyes earned him a one way ticket to Belle Rieve. His “loving and caring” father immediately ordered the doctors at the facility to perform several rounds of electro-shock therapy on his brain in order to “relieve his son from these images of madness.”
Lex knew better. Something happened that night that he couldn’t explain. One moment he was chasing Lana down trying to catch her on her cell phone to apologize for frightening her and then the next he was blinded by visions from what he believed to be were from the future. Even after the doctors had repeatedly zapped his brain, Lex still clung on tightly to many of those memories. He could vividly recall Lana Lang walking down the aisle at a church and agreeing to marry him. Lex also recalled a visitor from the stars who flew around Metropolis wearing a blue and red costume. The being was powerful and from what Lex could recall – he was also an evil menace to society.
It was this being that Lex had begun searching for in earnest once he had been released from Belle Rieve. Quietly he poured his own private funds into his 33.1 project knowing that he needed to create an army of super soldiers to combat this powerful foe. He had briefly worked with the government but found Senator Burke’s empty threats to cut off funding to be too big of a liability. He needed to be in complete control and managed the situation. Why let someone else have power over you when you can be in their spot instead? Lex often wondered.
As he stared at the satellite images and saw the destructive trail of fire, death, and heartache that this creature had left in its wake. Lex was more than certain that he had been visited by an angel that fateful winter night and the angel had warned him of a coming apocalypse. In his heart he knew that it was because of this alien entity that his final memories of fire and bombs going off were going to happen.
Why else would the world be in such peril if it was not trying to defend itself against a powerful alien foe?
*************************
Clark had contacted Oliver upon their return to Metropolis and took Bart to a healing facility outside of the city limits funded by the JLA with it’s own hand picked set of doctors. As Clark had suspected the moment that the doctors set the bones in both of Bart’s legs, his tendons and surrounding tissues began to super regenerate. Bart would have to remain in traction for a week or so but the doctors confirmed that Flash should be as good as new by then.
The sun was rising over Metropolis bathing the city in a golden glow. Clark burst out of Oliver’s elevator and found Oliver huddled together with AC and Victor around his control centers.
AC and Victor immediately descended upon Clark and gave him handshakes, claps on the back, and welcomed him back to the world of the living.
Oliver crossed his arms over his broad chest and scrutinized Clark. “Good work with bringing Bart back. After talking with AC and Victor here, they’ve convinced me that you’re someone who cn be trusted.”
“Glad to hear,” Clark replied. He had dropped off Bart’s camera to Oliver before taking Bart to the facility and nodded his chin towards the screen. “Did he get anything?”
Victor sat down at the controls and continued to work on cleaning up the footage. “Luckily it was all digital so even with the camera being stuck in muck for a few hours the images didn’t corrode like they would’ve on standard film. I had to do some work though because parts of the video feed were jumbled and hard to make out.” Clark walked behind Victor and watched as he started up the footage. “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve watched this - we have no idea what we’re looking at.”
Clark watched as Bart had obviously been speeding along tracking the creature as it moved through the dense jungle foliage. From what Clark could see of it, the thing was huge – probably fourteen feet tall, bipedal, had a powerfully strong chest, and was covered in spikes. Victor quickly pulled up a single frame from Bart’s footage and Clark examined it closely. He felt chills race up and down his spine. “It doesn’t look like it came from here.”
AC stated, “There’s nothing in the ocean that could’ve mutated into looking like that thing, so I doubt it’s an evolutionary sea mutant.”
Listening to AC’s comments Clark continued to watch the footage. The creature then stopped, sniffed the air and let loose a bone chilling snarl, veered directions, and came upon the village. Bart’s camera caught about twenty seconds of villagers screaming for their lives as the beast flung open their homes that immediately caught on fire. Suddenly the creature came close to Bart and raced after a group of cowering villagers who’d climbed up a bunch of trees. The camera captured the creature rip the trees out by their roots and fling them aside once he got a hold of the screaming people. The camera went black as the trees fell on top of Bart. The video was now obscured but several minutes of blood curdling terrified screams punctured the remaining audio.
Clark gulped down a wave of nausea again, wiped his forehead clean of a trickle of sweat, and asked, “Can you back up the footage? I think there were a couple of captures where you can clearly see the creature’s front side.”
“Already done, Clark,” Victor replied, and brought up the screen caps of the creature as it turned around and spied the people in the trees.
Leaning forward, Clark closely examined the creature. “Something about this thing looks vaguely familiar.”
Oliver’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Please explain where you’ve seen a giant spike covered beast before, because I believe I missed that lesson in my zoology course in college.”
“I haven’t seen THIS before, but there’s something familiar about it…” Clark replied, massaging his chin. He racked his memory but came up with only phantom flickers of memories that he couldn’t quite place. “Victor does it look like the creature’s got something hanging on its chest there? Can you zoom in on it and see if we can read it?”
Victor shook his head, impressed that Clark would manage to see a detail like that, considering all that he could focus on was the sight of the creature standing right on top of a screaming male. “Give me a few seconds to clear up the image.”
AC tapped Clark on the shoulder. “Where’ve you been all of these years, bro?”
“Training,” Clark truthfully replied. “Looks like I picked the perfect time to return to the world of the living, huh?”
His buddy’s eyebrows shot up in agreement.
“Here you go, Clark,” Victor said. “That’s the best that I can do…don’t know about you but I have no idea what that thing says.”
“Looks like some sort of strange hieroglyphic,” Oliver stated. “Victor can you try to match the symbol up in to the Egyptian databases?”
“No need, you won’t find it there,” Clark stated, chills raced up and down his spine as the memory that had been flittering just out of reach snapped into focus - Titan. “It’s not from this Earth, the symbol is Kryptonian.”
“Kryp-what?” AC asked.
“Kryptonian…from the planet Krypton.” Clark looked at the trio of men and sighed. “It’s where I’m from. The planet no longer exists, it exploded. My parents sent me to Earth to save me before the planet was destroyed.” He pointed at the screen. “That symbol is from my native language.”
Oliver had a strangely impressed expression on his face. He said, “That’s why you can do all of those things, because you’re an alien?”
“I prefer Intergalactic Traveler,” Clark coolly replied. “But, yes, my molecular makeup is different than humans which is why I have the abilities that I do.”
Victor glanced at his friend and asked, “So does that symbol mean anything to you or tell you anything?”
Clark’s face became a strange mask of confusion as he reread the symbol again. He shook his head. “Yeah I can read it, but I don’t know what it means. This thing reminds me of an alien from my homeworld that I fought…in another lifetime. It had the same sort of boney scales that it used as aweapon, but it wasn’t covered in them like this thing is.” Clark’s face was covered in worry. Titan had been killing machine and this thing was a thousand times more deadly. “That fisherman must’ve found one of those scales – that was what was sticking out of the victim, not a tooth.”
“Looks familiar, but you don’t recognize it or know what it is?” Oliver asked.
Clark wracked his brain going over all of Jor-El’s teachings but came up blank. “No, this thing didn’t exist in any of the Kryptonian archives that I’ve studied.”
“What does the symbol say?” AC asked.
Everyone stared at Clark as one word escaped his lips, “Doomsday.”
Chapter 3
Clark talked with Oliver throughout the morning and happily agreed to his friend’s offer to provide for him whatever he needed as protective gear to go up against this creature. Clark described his costume, drew out his family crest, and also told Oliver about the glasses that he had created for him in his previous lifetime. Oliver seemed delighted in helping to create Clark’s techno gadgets. He said he’d get right on it and called in the Justice League’s special costume tailor. After several minutes of being measured from end to end the man said that the uniform would be ready by evening.
Somewhat dubious, Clark arched a brow. Oliver explained that his tailor was used to odd costume requests and understood the urgency of expediency.
Changing the subject, Oliver asked, “How are you going to find out more about this thing?”
“There are two people who might be able to help me. One doesn’t know that I know him and the other – well I don’t know how much help she’ll be but you never know,” Clark replied. “Before I go to ask their help, I need to position myself in a place where I can be on top of leads first hand when they come in so that I can better track this thing.”
“Where are you going to do that?” Oliver asked.
Clark smiled. “At The Daily Planet.”
**************************************
After spending a few moments gathering printouts of screencaps of the carnage in the village, Clark quickly typed up a story about the massacre in the Congo village to bring to Perry White as a current writing example. Oliver watched in amusement at the rapid speed that Clark typed out his article. Clark excluded much of the details about the creature because the last thing that he wanted was for gung ho monster chasers to head to Africa to try to find this thing.
He stopped at a department store and purchased a stylish blue suit, dress shoes, pale blue shirt, and red, white, and blue striped tie. Also purchasing a pair of designer reading glasses, and a briefcase, Clark was ready to go find Perry.
It was mid-morning when he stepped through the revolving doors of The Daily Planet. He felt a bit odd not having his costume underneath his suit, so he knew that he wouldn’t be able to perform any of his superhero duties until Oliver came through with that for him. Clark walked over to the reception desk and cleared his throat. The smartly dressed young woman looked up at him and asked, “How can I help you?”
Clark was stunned the young woman was the same girl from his previous life. Before she had been covered in piercings and wore all black now she looked like a respectable young woman. He smiled at least the snap in time had helped her to straighten out her life. “I’m looking for what floors these people are on,” Clark said, handing her a list with Perry, Lois, and Chloe’s names on them.
“Mr. White and Miss Lane are on floor twenty-three. I don’t see a Chloe Olson in our staff directory,” she replied.
Clark frowned. “How about Chloe Sullivan?”
“Chloe Sullivan? Yeah she’s on floor twelve.”
“Thank you,” Clark replied, frowning. So Perry and Lois had advanced four floors and Chloe was demoted by five. Why wasn’t she married to Jimmy? Or were they married and she just kept her maiden name? Clark would have to ask her when he saw her.
As he was stuffing the list of names into his briefcase a waft from a familiar spicy floral perfume floated in the air and danced in his nostrils. He snapped his head up and saw the elevator doors close before he could reach them. Sighing, he pressed the button and waited for the next car and headed to the twenty-third floor. His heart fluttered excitedly in his chest; at least now he knew that Lois was in today and not off chasing down an assignment. Clark wondered how she would react to seeing him since they didn’t spend nearly as much time in their youth together in this lifetime as they had in the previous. Then again, he thought they also didn’t part in the awkward manner that they had previously. He knew that when he left she saw him as a friend but nothing more. Would she still remember him? He smirked and thought, How could she not remember you, Clark? How many other guys has she met standing stark naked in the middle of cornfields?
The elevator doors opened and immediately Clark felt slightly out of place. The twenty-third floor had always been considered prime real estate when working at the Planet because it was the penthouse level of the building and housed all of the original Art Deco architecture that decorated the walls and ceilings. Clark glanced up and saw a large stained glass window that glittered and through it he could see the building’s distinguishable large globe. The room had been modernized, he noted and there were television screens mounted to the walls spewing forth up to date 24 hours news footage.
“Are you looking for someone?” A woman asked him.
Clark glanced down at the small Asian woman and smiled. “Yes, I’m looking for Perry White.”
“The paper’s Chief Editor? His office is over there. Is he expecting you?”
“Not really,” Clark admitted.
“You’ll want to talk to Angela to see if he’s free. Her desk is right outside of his office,” the woman explained and moved along.
Rounding the corners Clark kept looking for Lois’s office but couldn’t locate it. Finally he stopped at Angela’s desk and explained that he would like to speak to Mr. White. Perry’s assistant was frazzled in appearance. Her frizzy red hair desperately needed combing, her eyes were bloodshot, and from what Clark could tell her hands were shaking from ingesting too much coffee. The frantic assistant scanned over her boss’s calendar and buzzed his office. “Mr. White, there’s a…what’s your name?”
“Clark Kent.”
“There’s a Clark Kent here to see you.”
Perry’s voice boomed over the speaker phone, “Clark Kent??? CLARK KENT? Holy bungee cords send him in here!”
A large grin spread over Clark’s face, at least Mr. White seemed to remember their encounter from years ago when Clark had saved his life even when he was without powers.
Clark stepped into the office and immediately whistled. “Mr. White you’ve been doing well for yourself at the paper!” Perry’s office was covered in intricate wood carvings and the desk that he sat at appeared to be original from the era that it was created. The office smelled of vintage oak furniture and had large panoramic view windows that looked out all over the South Eastern side of Metropolis. The view was spectacular.
“Clark Kent! I swear you must be a mind reader. Don’t ask me why but I was perusing the local interest section of the paper the other day and read an update on Smallville’s corn festival and remembered you. I found myself wondering what in the heck you were doing with yourself and look at you! Here you are standing in my office!” Perry’s appearance hadn’t changed the slightest bit. The man’s brown hair was sprinkled with grey and might’ve been slightly more receding at the hairline, but his eyes still twinkled with the same devilish delight and intelligence that Clark always associated with the man.
Clark grabbed Perry’s offered hand and happily pumped it, grinning broadly from ear to ear. Perry motioned towards a chair and asked him to sit down. “So what have you been doing, Kent?”
“Travelling actually, and allowing the world to be my university and the people that I meet be my professors,” Clark replied.
“Uh huh, done any writing?”
“Professionally? No. But I’ve kept long journals of my travels and never stopped writing,” Clark offered, pulling out one of his journals that he had taken with him when he explored the small provinces of China.
Perry sifted through it and read some of Clark’s verse and threw it back towards Clark. He had a look of disappointment on his face. “You know I like you kid, but I need something concrete if I’m going to hire you on. I can’t very well just hire you because I owe you a favor.”
Quickly, Clark pointed his finger in the air and smirked. “How about a major scoop then?”
He handed Perry the photos of the destroyed village and the article that he’d written. He wrote it using all of Perry’s favorite styles and formatting; as it stood it was press worthy.
Leaning back in his chair, Perry shoved a red vine between his teeth and began chewing on it while he read the article and examined the pictures. “When exactly was this?”
“Yesterday, I just flew in from Africa this morning,” Clark replied, biting his lip at the irony of his statement.
“How’d you stumble upon this story?” Perry asked, eyebrow arched.
“I was in the area studying the disappearance of a rare type of monkey due to human encroachment upon the jungles when my guide and I heard sounds of mass panic. By the time we came upon the village, whatever had roared through there was gone.”
“So you didn’t actually see whatever did this?” Perry asked, his eyebrow cocked, his blue eye closely scrutinizing the well dressed and soft spoken young man seated across from him.
“No, Sir.”
“Any idea what it was?”
“No, Sir.”
“I don’t know it rather smells like a Bigfoot story. Stories like that are better suited for The Inquisitor not The Daily Planet,” Perry chewed on his red vine and nodded his head.
“But sir, you’re paper’s written articles about this before! You don’t want to run it?” Clark asked.
“I’m not printing any more stories about this so called African Menace until I get hard proof that something really is out there and that it’s not just a bunch of tribal folks making war on each other. Your style is impeccable though. Do you think you can sniff out stories like this here in Metropolis?”
“Absolutely, Chief,” Clark replied, getting over his disappointment over being passed over for his first byline.
“Your days of wanderlust are over?”
“Yes, Sir. I’m home for good,” Clark answered, smiling and pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Well then, it looks like you’ve got yourself a job! Welcome to The Daily Planet son!” Perry White exclaimed. Standing up he shook Clark’s hand. He then pounded on the intercom, “Angela! Get in here and take Clark Kent down to HR and have him fill out all of the new hire paperwork. Tell them to put him on at pay grade twelve. Get an extension set up for him and tell IT to get him a computer right away.”
“Where’s he going to be sitting?”
A broad, sneaky grin plastered over Perry’s face.
His assistant seemed to know what was coming, she asked, “Not another one, Chief?”
“Yep.”
“Ok, fine, but you really should warn him first about what he’s getting himself into.”
“Now where would the fun be in that?”
Clark heard Angela sigh. “Send him out.”
“Warn me about what, Mr. White?”
Before Clark could receive an answer he was pushed out the door and was standing by the young assistant while she IMed her contact in the IT department.
“Come on Mr. Kent, let’s get you down to HR.”
Clark’s pleas for info regarding his office assignment fell onto deaf ears. He guessed he would just have to wait to find out where he was going to be assigned to sit and could only hope it would be with Miss Lane.
***************************
Two hours later Clark was back in Perry’s office receiving a run down on the press’s time-schedules and exactly when each day the Chief Editor expected story updates from his top reporters. Clark was busily taking notes when the door to Perry’s office burst open. The intrusion was completely unexpected and Clark ended up throwing his papers all over the room.
“You’ll never believe who I got to agree to talk to me, Chief! Come on venture a guess!”
“Santa Claus!”
“Be serious, here…come on!”
“Who?”
“Mayor Wilkins! Can you believe it Chief? Even in the midst of the allegations of sexual misconduct he still agreed to see me!”
“That’s great, I knew you could do it!”
Clark crawled on his knees picking up his papers and found himself staring at two long, very shapely female legs. He gulped, shoved his glasses up his nose, and let his eyes travel all of the way up the woman’s form. Suddenly his nostrils picked up that all too familiar scent and he launched himself to his feet. His eyes screwed together in confusion when he saw that back of her head.
“Lois? What did you do to your hair?”
Simultaneously Lois and Perry White turned to face the intruder in their conversation. Clark nearly lost hold of his papers as Lois turned towards him. From when they met in high school, Clark had always known Lois as a dirty blond, the woman standing before him had a full head of chestnut dark brown hair.
Clark had been nervous about seeing Lois again knowing that she wouldn’t remember any of the events that they’d shared in the past history that he’d erased, but the last thing he expected was to have his breath completely taken away upon seeing her again. He couldn’t rip his eyes off of her face and how it looked framed by a full head of dark curls.
“You two know each other?” Perry asked, a sliver of a delightful smile burst over his face.
Lois narrowed her eyes and stared at the strangely star-struck taller man standing behind her. When recognition didn’t immediately hit her eyes, Clark rolled his eyes and realized that he was going to have to start up their old game. “Gee Lois, I didn’t think it would be so easy to forget me considering that you spent over a year sleeping in my bed!”
A look of indignation crossed Lois’s face before understanding dawned on her. “CLARK?”
Arms crossed over his chest, Perry pursed his lips together into a tight smile at this unexpected turn of events. He teased, “So you two REALLY know each other?”
“Chief, it’s not like THAT,” Lois growled. “I stayed on the Kent farm for a while when I was just out of high school. Clark slept on the couch.”
“Why doesn’t it surprise me that Mr. Kent here would give up his bed for a beauty like you?” Perry asked, obviously enjoying egging on his favorite reporter.
Lois rolled her eyes. “Can we FOCUS here? My interview is in an hour, I just wanted to give you a heads up before I headed out”
“GREAT! You can take your new partner with you,” Perry said, beaming.
Screwing her nose up as if she just smelled something stinky she spat, “Partner? How many times do I have to go over this with you? I DON’T need a partner!”
“When you’ve figured out how to properly spell and stopped pretending that you’re William Faulkner by filling your articles with endless run on sentences – perhaps THEN I will think that you can survive on your own without a partner, until then, you’re stuck,” Perry retorted.
Clark shifted on his feet.
“Fine,” Lois growled. “Who’s my new partner?”
Perry’s eyebrows shot straight up in the air. “Oh I think you can guess who.”
Lois paused for a heartbeat and then incredulously cried, “CLARK?”
“The man has mad writing skills, Lois. You can learn a lot from him. I don’t know how it is but this guy knew exactly how to properly write an article in The Daily Planet’s exact style,” Perry replied, complimenting Clark.
“Why thank you, Mr. White,” Clark said. “I do my homework.”
“Kiss ass,” Lois spat at him.
Clark stared at her in shock at her rudeness. “Lois!”
“Fine, follow me, Smallville – just try to keep up, alright? Don’t slip on those obviously new shoes of yours, I don’t have time for you to stop and wipe the dirt off of your knees,” Lois snarled and breezed out of Perry’s office.
“You’d better follow her, Kent.”
Quickly, Clark shoved his papers into his briefcase and raced after Lois’s retreating shapely form. She turned a corner and burst into a large office on the opposite side of the building. Clark stepped inside and immediately whistled. Lois’s office was slightly smaller than Perry’s but was nearly identical otherwise. He noted that the wall behind Lois’s desk was covered in awards and photos of her shaking hands with important people. Her panoramic windows showcased the North Western side of Metropolis and had a great view of Luthor Tower. “Wow!”
Spinning on her heel, Lois crossed her arms under her breasts, and cocked her head towards Clark. “You know, I had to sweat my way up from the basement of this place to earn my way into this office. What exactly did you do in order to earn a place here, huh? Did you win first prize in a corn shucking contest? Or maybe shake a box of Cracker Jacks and somehow won access to the spotlight here at the Planet?”
Clark found himself utterly distracted by how Lois’s arm position was predominantly helping to display her breasts through her thin red silk shirt. “Helloo…Earth to cow kisser, Clark!”
Clark glanced around the office and found that a second computer had just been set up on a desk facing opposite to hers. When he rounded the desk he saw a list of passwords and logins with his name on them. His finger brushed against the shiny new nameplate that they’d brought in that read “Clark Kent Daily Planet Star Reporter.”
He turned the plate around so that Lois wouldn’t see the title and shrugged. “I met Perry a long time ago in Smallville, I saved his life, helped him to get off of booze.”
“Of course you did,” Lois said, her mouth curved into an overly sweet smile, shaking her head slightly. “Clark Kent always Johnny on the spot to help some poor Schlob to turn his life around.” Lois dropped her arms, groaned, yanked open a desk drawer, and pulled out her digital recording device. “Come on, time’s wasting, Smallville.”
Clark left his briefcase at his desk and chased after Lois.
“I’m guessing he brought you on a high pay rate too, huh?” Lois asked.
“You know it’s not appropriate to talk about that, Lois!”
Darting in and out of hustling co-worker traffic, Lois made her way to the elevator doors and slammed on the button, ignoring his comment. “You know I bet if I had a penis I probably would’ve been hired on at a much higher rate than I was too.”
Not letting that comment go, Clark retorted, “I don’t know, I think if you had a penis Lois you probably would’ve ended up a front page story instead of a reporter here, especially if you were wearing skirts as tight as the one you’re wearing today.”
All traces of annoyance melted off of her face and Lois burst out laughing. “Smallville, look at you, you actually said that without blushing, maybe I was wrong - maybe you really are ready for city life.”
The elevator doors burst open and Clark and Lois waited for a stream of people to exit before getting into the empty car. Clark smiled. The second the doors closed he walked next to her and planted a hand against the wall by her head and whispered, “You have no idea what I’m ready for Lois. The question is, are you ready?”
A look of utter disbelief crossed Lois’s face. She squinted her hazel eyes and asked, “Are you flirting with me, Smallville?”
“Perhaps,” he answered, drinking in the sight of the slightly askew nose. “I love your hair-color, Lois it makes you look very mature. You’ve grown into a beautiful woman.”
Clark detected a quick flush pass over Lois’s cheeks at the compliment. “Wow, you’ve obviously been out of the dating circulation for too long, Clark. Cut it out,” Lois demanded.
“Why?”
“Because…you’re Clark Kent!”
He reached over and pounded on the pause button on the elevator and it jerked to a halt.
“What are you doing? We’ve got an interview to get to,” Lois stated. Her eyes suddenly found themselves examining Clark’s big green eyes that were hidden behind a pair of very sexy wire framed glasses. For a moment she thought she could get lost in them.
Cautiously Clark reached out and took a long dark curl of hers and let it fall through his fingers. Her familiar fruity shampoo fragrance filled the elevator. Memories of their past life together flooded Clark’s mind and his body ached for the woman he loved.
Lois’s face fell. “It reminds you of her, doesn’t it?”
“Who?”
Rolling her eyes, Lois replied, “Lana?”
“Lana?” Clark moved away from Lois and studied her closely. He laughed. “Lois, there isn’t one single millimeter of anything on your body or in your soul that even remotely reminds me of Lana.”
Hazel eyes smoking with annoyance, Lois pounded on the elevator button and it began its journey downwards again. “Of course I don’t, I’m not a perfect little dead angel who’ll forever be held up on this unattainable pedestal that no mere mortal can even dare to aspire to be like…something I may add that even Lana herself never managed to reach.”
A cocky grin spread over Clark’s face. “Am I detecting a hint of jealousy in your voice, Lois?”
She spun on her heel and faced Clark, her nose only a few centimeters away from his. “Never for one moment think that I ever wished that I was Lana Lang. That sweet but spineless simpleton and I had absolutely nothing in common.”
“Spineless? I seem to recall that you once called her gutsy,” Clark threw back, planting his balled fists on his hips.
“Yeah well, obviously first impressions can be wrong. Fortunately for us, my opinion of you remains the same,” Lois spat back.
Cocking a brow up inquisitively, Clark asked, “And what would that be? A geek?”
Pursing her lips together into a victorious smile, she replied, “Complete now with glasses.”
Clark walked up next to her and whispered into her ear, “But you like geeks in glasses, don’t you?”
Lois stared at the ceiling of the elevator. “What has gotten into YOU?” The doors opened and Lois burst out into the lobby with her grinning partner following in hot pursuit. “Don’t even think of falling for me farmboy – I’m way more than you can handle.”
“I don’t know I can handle quite a lot…more than you can imagine, actually,” Clark retorted.
“Are you interested in learning how to catch a dirty politician in a lie or do you want to keep getting shot down by me?”
“I’m great at multi-tasking, Lois,” Clark replied and choked back a snort of laughter at the adorable appalled expression that crossed over Lois’s face.
She darted out onto the street. The sounds of horns, car engines throttling, people shouting into their cell phones assaulted Clark’s ears as Lois dashed over to the curb, shook her curvy leg towards the street, and whistled loudly. A cab roared to a halt and Clark opened the door from his partner. “Chivalry noted, Smallville. Now get in before I tell the driver to spin out and leave your buns of steel behind.”
“So you have been checking me out, Lois,” Clark answered, pulling one of her old lines back and throwing it right back at her.
Rolling her eyes Lois spat out that she wanted to get to City Hall and glared at Clark like he’d just swiped the last cookie off of the counter.
“Are you sure that your cows aren’t missing you?”
“Sorry Lois, they’ve got my Dad to keep them company, I’m afraid that I’m all yours.”
“Any chance I can return my obnoxious gift back to its original sender?”
Beaming, Clark replied, “Not a chance in hell.”
Clark grinned as Lois turned and stared out the window pouting. He desperately wanted to grab a foot of hers and give it a massage, one of the sure fire ways that he knew of cracking her of these icy moods, but he also didn’t need to be slapped in the face right now. Figuring that he’d pushed her far enough, Clark backed off, and let Lois stew in her own thoughts. At least she was willing to continue their usual bickering game and Clark knew where that usually landed them. He grinned at the thought and looked out his own window and failed to see Lois turn her head back and give him a complete once over. His superhearing did, however, detect her barely audible gulp. That was enough of a small victory to keep him grinning for the rest of the day.
Chapter 4
Clark stared bemusedly at the perturbed expression that marred Lois’s face as she emailed her draft of the interview with the Mayor over to him to edit.
“Explain to me again how exactly it was that you knew to ask Mayor Wilkins if he was responsible for filtering funds from his free housing funding project into an off shore Cayman Account that was under the name of his mistress?”
Furiously, editing Lois’s atrocious spelling and inserting his own observations from the interview into the article Clark bit his lip. He realized that he was going to start to hate it when elements from both timelines intersected and were true in both. “Call it a hunch.”
“Hunch my ass! That was the lynch-pin for our article! You saw how his face went white and how he immediately ordered us out of the office afterwards; he all but admitted to the scandal! Good God Clark, I hope that you have proof to follow up that accusation with! You do know that we can’t write that into article without something to back it up with, right???”
Clark buried his face deeper into his computer.
“Are you listening to me? Do you have anything?”
Nervously, he squeaked, “Define anything.”
“CRAP! I knew it! You’ve got nothing! NOTHING!” Lois seethed and paced back and forth in their office. “You know that I’ll never be invited to see the Mayor again thanks to your asking that question.”
“Looking for another celeb picture to hang on your wall? I mean really Lois, what do you care? He’s going to get kicked out of office soon. I’m sure the deputy mayor who steps in for Wilkins will give us the red carpet treatment for getting his predecessor booted from office,” Clark replied.
“UGH! That’s not the POINT Clark! You can’t shout fire into a crowded building without there being flames to back up your warning!”
Quickly, Clark began typing into a series of encrypted screens and asked Victor for a little help. Several moments later, Victor returned to him a sheet providing him with Wilkin’s Cayman Account number w/ the name of his mistress attached to it. With a smirk he printed it off.
“Would you like to get that for me, Lois?” he coolly asked and buried himself back into his editing.
Lois snatched the paper off of the printer’s tray and continued ranting, “You know we could even get docked a pay grade for doing something childish like this. That was SUCH a rookie move, Smallville! Why on earth did I even let you speak?”
“Lois?”
“I mean come on, what does journalistic integrity mean to a small town farmboy, right?”
“LOIS!”
“WHAT?” Lois’s eyes burned with the heated fire that immediately got Clark's heart palpitating wildly in his chest.
Clark leaned back in his swivel chair and knitted his fingers under his chin. Eyes twinkling he pleaded, “Take a look at what you’re holding.”
“What?” Lois shouted and then remembered the piece of paper in her hands. Clark waited while she looked it over. Her face went from full of anger to wide eyed disbelief. “CLARK! How in the world did you get this? You know what this means? All of those allegations are TRUE!” She twirled on her heel happily in a circle and did a ridiculously silly jump in the air. “Perry is going to LOVE US!”
Clark held back a laugh, god he loved it when Lois got all competitive. Cocking his brow, Clark purred, “Oh it’s US now?”
“Huh?” Lois looked at Clark and suddenly realized what he meant. She tried to shrug it off. “Well we ARE partners.” She pursed her lips together and rolled her eyes. “I guess this means we can share the front page byline.”
Clark laughed out loud. “Oh gee how generous of you, Lois especially since Perry assigned us both to this case to begin with!”
She chewed on her lower lip for a moment and tossed her head back shaking her brown hair out of her face. “Maybe Perry wasn’t an idiot for assigning you to work with me. This might actually work out.”
He narrowed his eyes and stated, “You know that almost smelled like a compliment.”
Rolling her eyes, Lois sat back down, and replied, “Yeah well don’t expect that to become a habit around here.”
“Unless I keep pulling stuff like that out of my hat,” Clark added, leaned forward in his chair and continued to finish editing the article. He then emailed it back to Lois for final review.
She read it over and sighed. “Damn, White was right, you know your stuff. I’m sending it down to the presses.”
Clark stood up. “Do we need to do anything right now?”
“Nope, just wait for another story to come in,” Lois answered.
“I’ll be back then,” Clark replied and exited the office without giving an explanation of his departure.
He made his way to the stairwell and blurred down eleven floors. Exiting on floor twelve he began searching for Chloe. Finally on the East side of the building in the middle of cubical hell he found his old friend hunched over her desk pounding away at her computer. Her small desk was piled sky high with magazines and the floor around it was filled with random pieces of electronics and gadgets. His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied her from behind, her hair was short and spiky rather like how she used to keep it cut in high school.
Not turning around, Chloe barked, “You know I really hate it when people lurk over my shoulder!”
“Sorry, I can leave if you’re busy,” Clark answered and faked turning around to leave.
Chloe spun so fast in her chair that Clark wondered if she was going to break the swivel on it. “CLARK??? OMIGODHOWAREYOU???”
Chloe leaped out of her chair and threw her arms around Clark's waist and buried her face against his chest. With a grin plastered on his face Clark engulfed his old friend in a big bear hug.
“Now that’s what I call a welcome back reception!” he replied, gently rocking her in his arms.
Chloe pulled away from Clark and scrutinized his face. “What’s up with the glasses?”
“What? Don’t you like them?” Clark asked, pushing them back up his nose.
She crossed her arms over her chest and replied, “Yeah, but it’s not like you need them, right?”
Quickly, Clark looked around them and saw no one was listening. He leaned in close to her and whispered, “They’re a disguise.”
A small dubious laugh escaped Chloe’s mouth. “You know Clark glasses are rather like windshields; people seem to think that just because they’re in their cars that the world around them can’t see them picking their noses – but you know glass IS transparent, it hides nothing.”
“Nice analogy, thanks Chloe,” Clark replied, smirking at her.
“Well I’m sorry but who’s going to be fooled by only a pair of glasses? I mean, who would be that gullible?”
Clark shrugged. “You might be surprised.”
“Why do you need a disguise?” Chloe wondered aloud, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Well, I don’t need it quite yet, but I will,” Clark weakly offered. He waved a hand and asked, “What about you? What are you doing these days?”
“I write an advice column,” Chloe answered, sitting down and pointing to an extra chair for Clark.
He straddled the chair and guessed, “Love advice?”
Chloe coughed out a laugh. “Hardly, I’m Techno-Geek Girl, I write a column answering questions and giving technical advice to the computer challenged people of the world. Think of me as a one woman tech support team.”
“Wow,” Clark said, trying to make his reply sound encouraging. “How did you end up with that job?”
“Well you know after my prison term…”
“PRISON???” Clark’s mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged out of his head in disbelief.
A devious grin spread over Chloe’s face. “You know I’ve been waiting for the day for you to come back JUST so I could see that expression on your face when I brought that up. Seriously that just made my day, Clark.”
He helplessly held his hands up and shook them demanding her to fork over the details.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Lois and I were working on this big undercover story chasing down a lead that a mob informant had sent Lois’s way that something big was about to go down with the Camiacchio business. We went undercover as waitresses in a strip bar that Roberto Camiacchio owned. I managed to get away long enough one night to swipe the main harddrive on their office’s computer. When I got it home and hooked it up I found out that the Feds had been monitoring all activity going in and out of the computer. They immediately descended upon me and had me arrested for interfering in a Federal racketeering case. They then got a subpoena and picked my computer's harddrive apart and found all sorts of lovely illegal activity stored there...they went after me full tilt.”
Clark’s face was covered in a mystified expression.
Chloe continued, “The paper did everything that they could to back me up, they gave me the best lawyers, but the Feds decided to make an example of me to the Press that they’ll lay down the law to any reporter who interferes with their undercover operations and uses illegal methods to uncover the news. I got eighteen months in the slammer.”
Utterly speechless, Clark had no idea how to respond to that. Seeing the pained look in Clark’s eyes Chloe added, “I mean I guess it wasn’t so bad. Perry was outraged and in spite of everything he kept me on payroll. I got several big insider exposes written on the internal corruption of the correctional institutions here in the country.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say, Chloe. I had no idea.”
“Of course you didn’t, I mean it’s not like you got WMET up there in your Arctic igloo, right?” Chloe joked.
Clark arched a brow in her direction and gave her a small encouraging smile. “Well I’m sure that your friends and family supported you, right?”
Chloe suddenly got all frigid. “Yeah, right.”
“What? I’m sure that Lois…”
She snorted a laugh. “LOIS! Yeah, Clark, Lois was a big support to me. I got eighteen months in the slammer and my misery helped her to ascend to the penthouse in the sky.”
Shifting uncomfortably, Clark asked, “What does that mean?”
“Lois supported me all of the way through the trial, you know? She tore the Federal lawyers apart and really did a great job on the witness stand and all, but at the same time, she used my trial and the case as the stories that launched her career. She became Perry’s golden girl all because she was championing my cause,” Chloe icily reported. “She got all sorts of awards for her coverage of the trial – Lois gets all of the fancy and juicy assignments. When I got out, ask me what I got Clark? Huh?” Chloe shoved a paper into Clark’s hands. “I got signed on as the paper’s Techno-Geek Girl. I get to travel the city going to big technology and comic book conventions. Woohoo! All of the nerds and dorks of the world see me as their very own Princess Leia for the paper. I can’t tell you how many pathetic marriage proposals I’ve gotten from lonely, still living with their parent geeks around Metropolis. I get to do everything for this paper EXCEPT report actual news. I don’t actually do anything that matters here.” Quickly she turned away and brushed aside a tear.
Clark studied the paper with her column. “I wouldn’t say that Chloe. I mean look at this, you answered a bunch of questions to a technically challenged seventy five year old woman, I’m sure that in her eyes you are her hero because she now has a better understanding on how to open pictures of her grandchildren.”
“It’s not the same thing,” Chloe growled.
“If you hate your job so much why don’t you…”
“Quit? And do what Clark? I’m a convicted felon who the hell is going to hire me?”
Clark thought on that for a moment and brightly answered, “Oliver!”
“Oliver? Who’s Oliver?”
“Oliver Que…” Clark’s voice petered off realizing that Chloe had never met him. “I know someone who I can talk to.”
“Billionaire Oliver Queen? You know him? Exactly how long have you been back in town Clark? I guess I’m bottom on your list of priorities, huh?”
“Chloe!” Clark spat angrily. “Look, I’m sorry but I had things to do when I got back. And for your information I only got back last night. You have NO idea what I went through to get to where I am right now.” He reached over and took her hand. “Hey, I’m sorry that you were handed a rough deal. Trust me though, it could’ve been worse.”
Chloe barked indignantly at him. “How?”
“Well, you could be dead. Believe me, spending time in prison might not have been fun but at least you’re alive and healthy,” Clark answered sternly. He suddenly found himself wondering if her powers ever emerged, judging by the fact that she didn’t bring them up he could only assume that they hadn’t yet.
The reporter in Chloe surfaced and she narrowed her eyes at Clark. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Come by the farm tonight. I have a lot of explaining to do to my parents and you might as well be there too so I don’t have to go over everything again,” Clark offered. He then looked at his watch. “I’d better get going or she’ll send the dogs out to find me.”
“Who?”
Clark realized that given Chloe’s rather bristling attitude towards he cousin, she probably didn’t want to hear about his new position, but he knew that he had to tell her rather than have her see his name appear on the front page tomorrow alongside Lois’. “My partner.” He put a smile on his face. “Looks like you finally got through to me after all Chloe. I’m a reporter here at the Planet!”
Chloe’s face froze into an expression of confused disbelief. “Wow, ok left field answer there, didn’t see that one coming. So who…” Her blue eyes quickly burned into his with an intensity that caused Clark to cringe. “You’re partnered with LOIS aren’t you?”
Meekly, Clark flashed a lopsided grin in her direction.
“This just gets better and better,” she mumbled. “She eats partners for breakfast, Clark. Watch yourself.”
“Don’t worry, I can hold my own with her. Chloe…”
“Yeah?” she grimly replied. “I hope so, for your sake.”
“See you tonight at the farm? Say sevenish?”
“Alright.”
Clark pushed the chair back and left her desk. Walking away he realized that he forgot to ask about Jimmy, but considering he didn’t see any photos of the two of them together he was suddenly very glad that he forgot to ask. Something told him that would be another sore spot for her and he didn’t much feel like pouring salt into another of her open wounds.
************************
Clark found Lois sitting at her desk tapping a pen against her keyboard. She scrutinized him from the moment that he walked into the office until he sat down. Smoothing his tie against his shirt he asked, “What?”
“Let me guess you now see me as a heartless big bad wolf, right?”
“What are you talking about?” Clark asked.
“Chloe? I’m sure she spit poison all over you about how I rose victoriously through the ranks while she wasted away in prison?”
“How did you…?”
“I am an investigative reporter, Smallville. Besides it doesn’t take a genius to figure out you’d go track her down, you guys are friends.”
Clark studied Lois’s eyes he saw pain lurking behind their anger. Cautiously he admitted, “You name did come up.”
“Chloe saw what she wanted to see, Clark. At the time I was fielding top level stories left and right. Chloe’s trial was only a fraction of the case load that I was carrying at the time. Our state’s Governor was in over her head having allegedly hired an illegal alien as her children’s nanny and I cracked that case wide open. THAT story made me a top reporter, not covering Chloe’s trial.” She glanced at him and saw that Clark didn’t appear to be making any judgments either way. She continued, “I went to see her every week for the first six months that she was in there, did she tell you that? I sent her care packages every week with amenities to help make her stay easier. Did she ever once thank me? No. She continued to just get more jealous and resentful towards me. Finally she couldn’t take it anymore and demanded that I stop coming to visit her. I tried a few times but she flat out refused to come and talk to me.”
Lois massaged her forehead. “Do you have any idea what I did for her? I was the one who demanded that Perry keep her on payroll even though she was in prison. Perry wanted to side with the board and cut their losses and all ties with her but I forced him to recognize what she did for the paper. Look I won’t deny that she got the shortest end of the stick in that whole fiasco. As reporters, we all occasionally cross that fine line in order to get to the truth – she got caught. She didn’t deserve what happened to her and unfortunately there’s nothing I can say that can convince her that I spend every day of my life hating myself that I couldn’t do something more to help her out!”
Clark pushed his chair back and rolled himself next to her desk. Gently he took Lois’s right hand in his and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “What have you guys done to try to patch things up between you two?”
“There’s nothing TO DO, Clark. She won’t listen to me. Prison changed her. I mean she pushed aside everyone who she loves – me, Jimmy…not having you around…I think she felt like the whole world was out to get her and she hasn’t been willing to let go and move on,” Lois replied. She suddenly became self conscious of the weight of Clark’s hand on hers and the intensity of the sincerity that burned from his large green eyes. She gulped and did something utterly uncharacteristic, she put her own hand over his and softly urged, “Maybe you can get through to her, Clark. She always listened to you in the past if anyone can get through to her you can.” Her hazel eyes quickly glanced away. “I miss her.”
Clark smiled. “I’ll do my best.” Not wanting to push the moment, Clark moved away from her and changed the subject. “So do we actually get to leave at 5?”
“Yeah well there aren’t any stories going on at the moment, so go ahead and take off Clark. Maybe your second day will be more exciting and you'll have your rear glued to your chair all night.”
“What about you?”
“I just have some paperwork to finish and I’ll be on my way home,” Lois answered, burying her face behind her computer. Clark could tell that talking about Chloe took a toll on her and she was trying to hold her composure together until he left.
Not wanting her to feel uncomfortable, Clark gathered his things, and made to exit the office. Before he did, he paused by her desk, and gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. As he opened the door, Lois softly called out to him, “Clark?”
He turned around and saw her flicker a glance in his direction. “It’s nice having you back.”
Clark stared back at her and felt his heart constrict in his chest. This was the side of Lois that she never showed to anyone and it was the side of her that he loved with a burning passion. He loved her fire and spirit, but he equally loved her when she was vulnerable. She portrayed the portrait to the world of being the top lioness in the pride, yet with him, he got to see the kitten lurking below that facade. It was her own secret identity that she never showed to the outside world. She only showed it to Clark, rather like he was only willing to show his full alien side to her and to no one else. It was no wonder, he thought, that they were perfectly suited for each other. They understood each other better than anyone else could on this planet because they were the same in so many ways.
“I’m glad to be back, Lois and I couldn’t be happier than being partnered with you. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Clark replied and exited the office. As he shut the door, he saw a small lopsided grin spread over her face that caused his heart to jump happily in his chest.
Chapter 5
Clark made a quick stop at Oliver’s and retrieved his uniform. Oliver informed him that it would take a few days to get the glasses made and he handed over an extra pair of extra giant aviators that he used himself when undercover as the Green Arrow to hold him over for helping to conceal his identity.
Thanking Oliver for his costume, Clark briefly mentioned Chloe and her mad research skills. Oliver shrugged and replied that he’d be happy to meet her. After confirming that Bart was doing well and that there was no new information on Doomsday’s whereabouts, Clark took off to complete a list of chores he needed to accomplish for his next order of business.
The sun was beginning to dip over the horizon when Clark appeared over Reevers Dam holding a bag full of freshly purchased clothes and his briefcase a half an hour later. He quickly scanned the parking lot and confirmed that most of the Dam’s employees were gone for the evening. Clark then glanced towards the sky and shouted, “J’onn I need your help!!!”
Clark nervously chewed the inside of his mouth as he scanned the sky hoping that his old friend was somewhere nearby. Suddenly a bright red streak appeared and soared across the brightly lit sunset sky. Suddenly an older, stern faced, African American man was standing beside Clark.
“J’onn,” Clark said greeting the man with a smile. “It’s nice seeing you.”
The man furrowed his brows suspiciously at Clark. “How do you know who I am?”
“It’s a long story that I’ll happily tell you after you help me out with something,” Clark offered. Seeing that J’onn wasn’t about to budge without some sort of assurance, Clark added, “Look Jor-El mentioned you in my training, alright?”
Slowly, the Martian nodded his head and folded his arms across his chest. “How may I assist you, Kal-El?”
Clark mirrored J’onn’s pose and pointed his chin towards the dam. “There’s a ship buried somewhere down there that has my cousin Kara Zor-El trapped in it. I can’t locate it because its hull is made of lead. I need your eyes to locate it.”
If J’onn J’onzz had been suspicious before he now radiated apprehension and mistrust.
Chuckling, Clark sighed and scratched his head and authoritatively stated, “I am Kal-El, last son of the planet Krypton. My father Jor-El and mother Lara sent me to Earth to be a beacon of hope for the people of this planet. They sent you, their most trusted friend to Earth to watch over me in case anything happened where I got in too deep over my head. You have powers similar to mine and some that I don’t, including the ability to see through lead.”
J’onn frowned but nodded his head. “How do you know that Kara Zor-El lives and is down here?”
Clark exhaled a large batch of air. “Because over twenty four hours ago I reset time and in my previous lifetime Kara was buried down there and has been trapped in suspended animation.”
Luckily for Clark, J’onn was well aware that his father had done the same thing for Krypton on multiple occasions, and reluctantly accepted Clark’s answer.
J’onn turned and activated his Martian vision and began scanning the water. His heated x-ray vision burned aside years of soil. “I think I’ve found it – there!”
Clark activated his own x-ray vision and saw a large dark form under the water where J’onn was pointing. Throwing off his jacket and shoes, Clark dashed towards the reservoir and dove into the water. Swimming through the water with powerful strokes he zeroed in on the large spacecraft. Under water he activated his own heat vision and blasted it towards the locking mechanism of the ship. Years of being trapped under water had corroded the activation mechanisms of the ship’s outer hull. Clark’s heat finally broke through the rust and tarnished lead. Clark pushed himself backwards a safe distance from the ship as it started to move and lights began to flash. Suddenly the ship began to ascend out of the water and Clark swam alongside it as it broke the water’s surface. He quickly scanned the area and still didn’t see anyone. His eyes grew wide as the hull broke open to reveal a silhouette of a young woman lying in slumber inside the chamber.
A grin cracked over Clark’s face as an invisible veil of air rippled around her body releasing her from stasis. Large blue eyes flickered open and a single word escaped from her lips, “Kal-El.”
Before Kara could launch herself out the ship, Clark snapped up out of the water and grabbed her wrist. Slyly grinning he cocked up a brow and asked, “You called?”
Before Clark could react a bare foot whipped out of the chamber and crashed against his face. Blond hair flying, Kara became a blur of motion and as she launched herself at Clark. The two densely weighted Kryptonian bodies crashed into the water as Kara threw wild punches towards her attacker. In the growing dim light of the evening Clark found it difficult to evade every hit and cringed as Kara’s foot connected dangerously close to his groin area.
Some thanks I get for releasing you, cousin, Clark angrily thought as he sped towards her taut and challenging body. Using his superspeed in the water Clark snatched her hands and using his iron tight strength, clamped her wrists together in his right hand and twisted them behind her back. Clark then super-jumped them out of the water towards the shore. He held her out at arms distance and concentrated all of his heat vision onto the floating ship and quickly averted his eyes as it exploded and the debris flew in every direction. He watched the dam itself and was relieved to see that the debris from the ship didn’t hit it and damage the structure.
“LET GO OF ME!” Kara demanded as she squirmed in Clark’s hold. Like an annoying bug, Clark held her out at full arms length and let her kick with all of her might. Her 5 foot 5” frame didn’t allow her the distance to be able to successfully reach his body. With amusement Clark thought she looked like a wildly moving cartoon character.
Cocking his head to the side, Clark smirked at Kara. “Are you through?”
Long streaks of wet hair fell in front of her face giving her the appearance of a crazy person. “LET ME GO HUMAN!”
Clark laughed and shook his head. “Kara Zor-El did you not even pay the slightest bit of attention to how I just destroyed your ship?”
The use of her full name momentarily shocked the girl out of her struggles. “Where did you learn that name?”
“It’s a long story, short side of it, but I’m who you’re looking for, I am Kal-El. Although here on Earth, I’m known as Clark Kent.”
Kara sneered. “Impossible! You’re a grown man!”
“I assure you Kara Zor-El, he is not lying,” J’onn stated from a safe distance.
Her eyes grew wide as they fell upon J’onn. “You! Why are YOU here?” Clark felt the air crackle as Kara shot poison filled daggers in J’onn’s direction.
“Promise you won’t try to escape or kick me if I let you go?” Clark asked.
Looking somewhat overwhelmed, Kara nodded her head. “I do not understand, how is this possible, you’re supposed to be a baby.”
“You’ve been trapped in suspended animation for 27 years,” Clark said calculating the time.
Kara pushed her hair out of her eyes and howled, “TWENTY SEVEN YEARS???” A cool breeze shifted over the water and her eyes suddenly flickered down her body and she realized that she wore only a tiny sheer shift. J’onn handed Clark the bag that he had brought with him to the Dam. Clark reached inside and handed her the outfit that he had purchased for her.
“Put these on. We need to get out of here then, someone will have likely seen the ship explode and come to investigate.”
In a flash Kara was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a red t-shirt. Clark glanced at J’onn, “Meet me at the farm?”
Nodding the Martian bolted up in the sky and left them in a trail of red. Clark smiled affectionately at his cousin. “Come on Kara, I have some wonderful people for you to meet! Follow me!”
Clark lifted up off of the ground and smiled as Kara frowned and then shot up after him. Laughing at his unsure cousin, the two Kryptonians chased each other through the sky towards the Kent farm.
**********************
Clark landed in the driveway of his house and glanced upwards to see Kara defiantly hovering over the barn examining her surroundings. He rolled his eyes and flew up to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“Where are we?”
“At my parent’s farm.”
“Your parents are dead, Kal-El.”
“Yes, my birth parents are dead. These are the Kents; they adopted me and raised me. Trust me, you’ll love them!”
Kara stared suspiciously at Clark. “What if they don’t like me?”
“Well if you insist on hanging out here like a free-floating weather vane, they very well might not like you. Come on, they’ll be thrilled to meet you.”
“Why are we here?” Kara asked, folding her arms over her chest.
Clark felt bubbles of frustration begin to rise. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I live…well lived here growing up. If you behave yourself you can live here too.”
A cow mooed in the field. She wrinkled her nose as the stench from the pastures reached her nostrils. “What is that primitive beast?”
Clark smirked. “It’s a cow, don’t worry, it won’t hurt you.”
Stubbornly Kara refused to budge. Clark pleaded with her, “They’ll love you Kara, come on inside with me.”
His cousin crossed her arms over her chest and begrudgingly landed on the ground next to him. J’onn stood near the porch waiting for them. Clark rolled his eyes as both J’onn and Kara stared uncertainly at each other. “You two, will you just get over it already? Krypton is gone, let bygones be bygones.”
Clark gave Kara a stern look and held up his finger to her silencing her protests. “Just, please let me explain everything, ok?”
With both of his new charges flashing hostile silent glances at each other, Clark sighed and walked into the house. He found his parents and Chloe sitting in the kitchen together.
Martha suddenly looked flustered at the unexpected addition of two new guests.
“Mom, Dad, Chloe I’d like to introduce you to a couple of people. This here is J’onn J’onzz, he was a friend of my father, Jor-El.” He watched with amusement as Jonathan’s eyebrows shot straight up in the air. “And this…” he said putting his hands firmly on Kara’s shoulders and presenting the very attractive young blond girl to his parents. “Is Kara Zor-El. She is my cousin.”
Clark found it difficult to hide a smirk as he watched his parents and Chloe’s mouths all drop towards the floor in astonishment.
He then introduced his parents and Chloe to Kara. Martha was the first to snap out of her shock, she immediately jumped forward, and wrapped her arms around Kara. “Welcome to the family, Kara!”
Arching an eyebrow at Clark, Kara uncertainly patted Martha on the back and gave the red haired woman a half smile. Jonathan beamed. “Welcome Kara! It’s wonderful that Clark finally has someone in his life who is just like him so that he won’t feel so alone. Clark, when did you find out that you had family here on Earth?”
“It’s a long story that I think it’s time that I told you all about.”
“Who is she an earthling sister?” Kara asked pointing at Chloe.
Chloe’s eyebrow shot up. “Earthling? Why do I suddenly feel like I should be on the set of STAR TREK?”
“What is STAR TREK some space station?” Kara asked.
Clark chuckled and directed her towards a stool to sit down onto. “I’m sure you’ll find out soon, cousin. Chloe’s my best friend.”
“And she knows what you are?”
“Yes, I trust her with my secret,” Clark replied.
Kara wrinkled her nose. “Secret? Why would you want to hide what you are? Some Prince of Krypton you are to cower and hide yourself away and not share your abilities to the world!”
Annoyed, Clark released a long breath of air that he’d been unconsciously holding. He wrinkled his eyes and squeezed at the bridge of his nose as a sharp pain burst in his skull. He’d forgotten how often he and Kara used to butt heads in the beginning when she’d been released from stasis. “I’ll explain everything, Kara. I promise.”
“Not until we all have dinner,” Martha replied. “I’ll put on something to eat.”
“No need, Mom,” Clark replied right as his super hearing detected the sound of tires coming up the driveway. He walked outside and met the delivery guy and returned carrying a stack of pizzas and drinks.
Clark chuckled at everyone’s puzzled expressions. “So sue me, I planned ahead for this evening.” After putting down the pizzas, he picked up his bag that still held his briefcase, extracted from it a large package of Oreos, and threw them at his very startled Martian friend.
“Dig in folks,” Clark ordered as he explained the concepts of pizzas to Kara. Everyone gathered around the dining room table and ate with small talk. When they were mostly finished, Clark asked everyone to move into the living room and then he began his long narrative of explaining the events that took place in his alternate lifetime.
His audience sat in silent rapture as Clark laid out the details of the world he lived in before he reset time.
He finished by explaining how he changed the course of history and then sat down and waited for everyone’s reactions.
Jonathan and Chloe were both the most affected by the news. Jonathan gulped deeply and spoke up first, “You’re telling me that you sacrificed Lana’s life for mine?”
Clark shrugged. “Sort of, the reality was that I should’ve never asked Jor-El to turn back time that first go around. By letting her go the events that transpired years later would never have happened had she just died.”
“But Lex wasn’t a Senator in that timeline,” Martha stated.
“No, which also means that he probably now doesn’t have a reason to blow up California,” Clark answered.
“Unless he somehow remembers something from what happened right?” Martha asked, her blue eyes filled with confusion.
Jonathan muddled through things. “Wouldn’t he remember things the same as you did?”
“Well see, that’s the problem,” Clark replied. “See for me, I returned in the timeline now, however the change took effect that election night. Do you remember Lex that evening? He kept ranting and screaming about Superman?”
“How can I forget he kept screaming it right in front of my face,” Jonathan replied, waving a hand in front of his face indicating the high levels of booze that came off of Lex’s breath at the time.
“So he somehow remembered you from that other timeline?” Martha asked. She looked at J’onn and asked. “Is that possible?”
“Resetting time is very tricky. Most people don’t remember it. However from what I know of Lex’s past, his father had put him through several rounds of electrotherapy, correct?”
Clark nodded his head.
“Then it’s very possible that his mind was still somewhat fractured enough that he could’ve received the data from both timelines,” J’onn agreed.
Jonathan let out a small chuckle. “And to think I had thought that Lionel was being a sadistic bastard for forcing several new rounds of shock therapy on Lex when he was imprisoned.”
“He was protecting you, wasn’t he Clark?”
J’onn spoke up. “Lionel Luthor is an Ambassador of the House of El. It is probable that he was working to help Kal-El.”
Bored with the conversation, Kara bolted up from her seat on the couch. “Where was I during all of this?” Kara asked with her arms crossed over her chest, mirroring her cousin’s stance.
“Honestly? I don’t know. You and I parted ways when I went off to my training. You headed out to explore the world. I can only guess that you were still doing that and hadn’t returned home to Metropolis,” Clark said.
Chloe sat at the edge of the couch and was staring off into space chewing on her thumbnail. Clark could tell she was digesting the news that she had likely died the last go around and was stewing on the idea that she was meteor infected.
Clark then focused his attention on J’onn and Kara and explained, “I wanted you both here for a specific reason.”
“What so if you didn’t need me you would’ve just left me in stasis?” Kara demanded.
Exhaling an annoyed breath, Clark turned to his blond cousin and said reassuringly, “I wasn’t going to leave you down there. I released you as soon as I had enough free time. I love you, cousin I wouldn’t have abandoned you.”
She flashed him an uncertain frown and watched Clark walk into the kitchen.
With that said he retrieved his briefcase. “I’m still not discounting Lex Luthor as a real threat to our safety, but right now we have a larger problem to worry about.” He handed over the satellite images of Doomsday to both his cousin and J’onn. “I revisited all of my father’s lessons and he never mentioned anything about this creature. Do either of you know anything about something called Doomsday?”
J’onn examined the image with great interest. “He is wearing a Kryptonian symbol on his chest.”
“Yes, that’s where I found out his name.” Clark felt a stab of disappointment realizing that J’onn didn’t know what it was. He knelt in front of his cousin and looked up into her eyes. “You told me before, in the past life, that you enjoyed studying ancient Kryptonian history. Come on Kara, does the name Doomsday mean anything to you?”
Her hand began to slightly tremble. “He cannot be here.”
“He IS here, though. What is he, Kara?”
Kara’s large icy blue eyes stared into her cousins. “He will be the death of us.”
The room got completely still – no one dared to breathe. A single tear cascaded down Chloe’s face as everyone waited for Kara to continue. She gulped and explained, “He was an abomination, created by a mad scientist in the early days of Krypton. This scientist Bertron created Doomsday to be the ultimate survivor. He created it by re-engineering leftover pieces of the creature over and over until it was near indestructible. The beast has no conscience and is full of hate. It learns its enemy’s weaknesses and immediately adapts to anything that someone might use on it that manages to hurt it. He regenerates almost instantaneously. I believe that the Kryptonians hurdled him off towards the edge of space hoping it would never land on another inhabitable planet again. I don’t know how it got here.”
“It probably got caught in the rift created when Clark reset time,” J’onn offered.
“So it’s indestructible?” Clark asked.
Kara shrugged. “I do not know.”
Clark slowly nodded his head. “Well I guess we’ll have to wait and try to figure out how to disable him. We can’t have him reach any densely populated areas. I’ve seen first hand the carnage that this beast can wreck on people’s lives.” Martha and Jonathan noted the shadow of pain that cast itself over Clark’s green eyes as memories surfaced in his mind. Staring hard at J’onn and Kara to judge their reactions; he stated, “We have to stop it.”
“Then let’s go find it!” Kara barked, ready to bolt.
“Easy girl! You’re not going anywhere!” Clark replied grabbing her by the shoulders and forced her back onto the couch. He squatted in front of his scowling teenage relative and said, “You need to learn what it’s like to be human. Also you have other abilities that you’re going to need to master before you can go into battle.”
“Other abilities?” Kara asked; her interest piqued in spite of herself.
“Yes.”
“Teach me,” she ordered.
Clark chuckled. “I will, but first I’ve got something that I have to do.”
“What’s that?”
The left side of his mouth itched upwards into a smirk. “Be super, of course.”
Chloe shifted her eyes at her friend in confusion. “Who are you and what have you done to Clark Kent?”
She then angrily jumped to her feet and stormed out of the living room towards the back kitchen door.
Clark quickly spun towards his parents. Jonathan waved him on. “We’ll take care of Kara – go!”
Taking his cue to leave as well J’onn followed Clark out onto the deck. “Call me when you need me,” the Martian offered, flashed his eyes red, and flew off in a streak of red. Clark supersped to Chloe’s car and through her open window ripped her keys out of the ignition before she realized that they were gone. He noticed that she’d begun to cry once she got out of the house. She quickly averted her face to hide her tears.
“Chloe,” Clark said in a soft voice. He squatted next to her car door, reached inside and wiped her face with his thumb. He sheepishly glanced at her, “I dumped a hell of a lot on you, didn’t I?”
He saw her lower lip quiver as she inhaled a deep breath. “Why didn’t you just let me stay dead?”
“It doesn’t work that way, Chloe,” Clark replied.
“Were we really that happy, Clark?” she whispered.
“Who?”
“Me and Jimmy.”
He felt the hairs rise on his arm. He gulped and nodded his head. “You both were crazy for each other and great parents.”
“I really screwed up, Clark. He was so sweet and kept coming to see me in prison. He always had a smile on his face and went out of his way to cheer me up, but I stupidly let the jaded other prisoners get to me and…they chipped away at my confidence until I thought he was visiting me out of pity. I turned on him and he never did anything to deserve the way I treated him. He won’t even look at me now. If we happen to end up in a hallway together, he turns around and runs away from me.”
“I’m sorry,” Clark replied.
Chloe picked up a stray napkin that was tucked between her car seats and blew her nose. “And apparently I’m a freak. Fitting isn’t it? The freak hunter is a freak herself.”
“Hey, you have an amazing power, don’t get yourself down about it,” Clark replied. “I’ll tell you what, Oliver and his guys will be able to help you out with learning to use it. You’ll make a great addition to the team.”
Her large grey-blue eyes flickered over Clark’s open and honest face. “I’m not exactly an angel anymore, Clark. I’m a felon.”
“Maybe, but you learned your lesson, right?”
She shrugged. “I guess.”
“Trust me, when you get to meet the guys, they won’t judge you for cutting corners,” Clark replied. “Can you promise me something?”
“What?”
He reached inside her car and held her hand firmly. Chloe saw that genuine warmth and love that always radiated from Clark’s big eyes as they held hers tightly. “Promise me that you’ll patch things up with Lois.” She heard his voice catch slightly, “She misses you something fierce but doesn’t know how to get through the barriers you’ve put up between you both.”
A strange dawning fell on her as she saw the urgency in Clark’s pleading eyes. “You really love her, don’t you?”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
Flashing one of her trademark smirks, Chloe rolled her shoulder,s and replied, “I think flying across the galaxy, risking getting sucked into a black hole, resetting time all so that you could save the woman that you love is all the evidence that I need of your love for her, Clark.”
He appeared slightly stunned. “You believe me then?”
She tightened her grip on his hand. “Oh please, Clark you were always an alright reporter in high school, but you were no creative writer. There’s no possible way that YOU could make up a story like that unless it was real.”
“Gee thanks,” Clark growled, with a smile.
Chloe let go of Clark’s hand and took her keys back from him. “I’ll do it. I miss her too, Clark.”
With a large grin plastered over his face, Clark reached inside her window and kissed Chloe on her forehead. Laughing, Chloe watched him walk away from her car and look up towards the sky.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Metropolis,” Clark answered, testing the air.
“Don’t you want a ride?”
In a blurring motion, Clark was suddenly fully changed into his blue and red superhero costume complete with cape and boots. He held Oliver’s spare glasses in his hand and put them on. With a smirk he replied, “Thanks, but I’ve got the transportation angle covered.”
Chloe quickly threw open her car and watched with her mouth wide open as Clark shot straight up into the air, grinned back in her direction, waved, and flew off.
“Whoa,” she whispered. Heart racing in her chest, a large grin spread over her face. After so many years of feeling like a failure, Chloe suddenly felt like she was a part of something again and that her life had a purpose. She ran to her car and fired up the engine and sped towards Metropolis.
She wanted to be there to see Lois’s face when she learned that a man can fly.
Chapter 6
Chloe gulped and felt her stomach lurch as the elevator ascended past her usual twelfth floor stop as it made its way towards the twenty-third floor. She knew her cousin’s habits; Lois never went home in the evening and would still be holed up in her office.
She exited the elevator onto the lush top floor of The Daily Planet holding a tray of coffee cups as a peace offering for her cousin. The cups slightly quivered under her trembling hand as she walked through the nearly deserted hallways towards Lois’s office. She saw a light shining under Perry White’s office and heard his voice rumble behind a closed door. Picking up her pace, Chloe darted past the Chief Editor’s office towards her cousin’s office door. Lois’s door was also shut. Tentatively Chloe pressed her ear against the door and heard two voices mumbling inside. One she was able to pick out as belonging to Lois and the other was male.
Gripped with uncertainty, Chloe didn’t want to disturb Lois if she was talking to a source. She then heard Lois let out a casual laugh. Her eyes grew wide as she recognized the responding laugh of the second occupant and froze. Chloe’s heart began to slam in her chest and she felt all wetness immediately dry in her mouth from fear. Before she could decide if she wanted to bolt or not the door quickly opened. The unexpected movement caused her arm to involuntarily jerk and Chloe yelped as the two coffees in her tray toppled over and poured over the front of her shirt.
Her large blue eyes widened as she found herself gazing into the wide gray eyes of Jimmy Olson. “Are you alright?” he asked, digging into his pocket he pulled out the hanky that he used for wiping his lens-caps clean and pathetically attempted to help her to dry off.
Chloe’s cheeks burned from embarrassment. Rolling her eyes she lied, “They were cold anyways, don’t worry Jimmy.”
He met her eyes and squinted them slightly. “You know, I’ve got a clean t-shirt at my desk, I’ll get it for you to change into.”
“It’s Ok…” Chloe replied to his rapidly retreating form. She exhaled and started at the ceiling.
“Come on in here, Chlo, I have a huge stack of napkins that you can use to clean up with,” Lois offered from the doorway.
“Thanks,” Chloe said, tossing the cups and tray into Lois’s trashcan. She pulled her shirt out from against her body and happily began sopping up excess coffee up with Lois’s stash.
She glanced over at Lois and saw her perched on the edge of her desk staring intently in her direction. Chloe examined her older cousin; in the past by the middle of the day Lois would be a mess, Chloe realized looking at her cousin that her makeup was impeccably made, her hair still held in it’s style, about the only thing that betrayed the long hours that she had spent at the office were the deep creases in her skirt from sitting at her computer.
“What’s up, Chloe?” Lois softly inquired.
Before Chloe could answer, Jimmy burst into the room and handed a white t-shirt to his soaked ex-girlfriend along w/ a full roll of paper towels.
“Keep the shirt,” Jimmy said, awkwardly grabbed the door knob and darted out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Chloe peeked out though the blinds and saw him race to the elevators. Her heart sank as she watched him get inside. “He still can’t even stand to be within five feet of me…not that I blame him,” Chloe whispered.
She turned the lever knob to close the blinds and looked at Lois’s exposed office windows. “Here,” Lois said, got up, and tapped a button on a control box on her office wall.
Chloe watched as long blinds slipped down from the ceiling and covered all of the windows giving her complete privacy. “Whoa. That, um…that’s some perk.”
“Yeah well you never know when you might have source come in who wouldn’t want to be seen by the outside world. I’ll turn around if it makes you more comfortable,” Lois stated. She locked her door and began riffling through one of her file cabinets.
Rapidly, Chloe began stripping off her wet and ruined shirt and sopped up the excess coffee from her skin. “Do you think that coffee is an herbal skin softener?”
“Well it’s shocking that my skin’s still alright considering I’ve dropped more cups on myself than I can count,” Lois replied, grinning.
Chloe briefly sniffed the t-shirt and felt her heart tug in her chest, even sitting in a drawer in Jimmy’s desk it still slightly smelled of his musky aftershave. She sighed and tugged it over her head. “So much for the goth computer chick look that I try to go for,” Chloe said.
Lois extracted a bag out one of her drawers and handed it to Chloe. “We should get that into the bathroom before the stain sets.”
“Is that how it’s going to be? We’re bonding over laundry?” Chloe asked, arching an eyebrow. She sighed. “Lois, I…” Her tall cousin stared intently at her. Suddenly, Chloe felt a giant lump form in her throat and her lower lip began to quiver. “I was an idiot. You were just trying to help me and I pushed you away.” Lois’s brows arched upwards her face filled with hope. Chloe looked away. “I also know that you got to where you are through hard work on your other stories. I’m so, so sorry for ever implying that you used my being in jail to get you here.”
“I’ve missed you, Chlo,” Lois replied, her voice deep with emotion.
“Me too, Lo.”
Suddenly, Chloe found herself wrapped up in her cousin’s arms. The two women unsuccessfully fought back the urge to cry. A couple of minutes later, Lois stood up, and wiped her eyes. “So much for my makeup.”
“You look great, Lo,” Chloe answered. Scratching her forehead, Chloe asked, “So where do we go from here?”
“I'm good with ignoring the past and living in the present, how about you?” Lois offered.
“Sounds great!” Chloe agreed, grinning.
Suddenly they heard a loud bang against the door followed by a yowl of pain. The cousins frowned and Lois unlocked her door to find Jimmy standing outside nursing his nose, his camera dangling around his neck.
“You have GOT to see this!”
Lois and Chloe followed his finger as he pointed towards one of the large LCD screens that circled the twenty-third floor. A new report blared with an Asian female reporter shouting into her microphone, The bridge which has been under repair suddenly gave way under a bus full of schoolchildren. Their screams could be heard for miles as the bus teetered on the edge of the hole, threatening to plummet into the freezing Metropolis River below. Even though the children climbed to the back of the bus to try to help balance the vehicle their doomed fate appeared to be inevitable.
Lois and Chloe watched in horror as a shaky camera zoomed in on the teetering schoolbus. Before rescue crews could attempt to reach the vehicle – a stranger appeared out of nowhere. This is a WMET exclusive! A man wearing what appears to be a blue and red costume grabbed the back of the bus and pulled it away from the hole.
Eyes wide, Lois stepped as close as she could to the screen and watched as the man wearing a red cape ripped open the emergency door off of the back of the bus and helped each child off of it.
Here's what you won't believe folks...look at how our mystery hero made his exit!
Chloe examined her cousin's jaw as it dropped towards the floor as the figure lifted off of the ground, waved to the children, and flew off.
Lois’s entire body tingled with goosebumps. In a near whisper, Lois ordered, “Get my keys, Chloe we're going to find that guy.”
After a half of a heart beat the three were racing towards the elevator in hot pursuit of the biggest story of the year.
********************************
Lois, Chloe, and Jimmy all piled into Lois's SUV. Flooring it, Lois exploded out of The Daily Planet's underground parking lot. Chloe gripped her door handle in fear while Jimmy's eyes darted out of the windows searching the sky for the man in the red cape.
“What the hell do you think that was? Did you see the footage? He just FLEW off! There weren't any wires or any exhaust or smoke trails coming from him indicating that he was using some sort of a device to assist with his flight!” Lois excitedly exclaimed, swerving dangerously in and out of traffic.
“You know, Lo, we really don't want to become the next story here – slow down a little bit will you?” Chloe insisted, gulping.
She stared at her cousin and saw something that she wasn't expecting a look of utter devious delight played over Lois's features. “Chloe this guy just played boy scout to a group of school kids, don't you think that he might come to our rescue if we needed it?”
That comment yanked Jimmy out of his Pulitzer dreams and he barked, “What?”
Lois laughed. “Oh relax guys, I'm a great driver, I've taken tons of defensive driving courses there's no reason to worry.”
Chloe watched the light ahead of them turn yellow and instead of slowing down, Lois gunned the accelerator. “LOIS!” The light turned red and the SUV fired through the intersection. The SUV was suddenly bathed in a bright light and the sound of a loud horn blared from the left side of their truck. Lois, Chloe, and Jimmy screamed as a tanker truck barreled straight towards them from cross traffic.
The light briefly darkened and suddenly the reporting crew gripped tightly onto anything around them as the SUV lifted straight off of the ground. Jimmy immediately began firing photos out his window as he captured the tanker truck drive safely underneath them.
“What the hell?” Lois screamed and then her eyes flickered to her rearview mirror. A grinning handsome face half covered by sunglasses was peering in through the back window. “Jimmy! Chloe!”
Jimmy whirled around and fired off a shot and then lowered his camera. Sheepishly he shrugged. “Probably shouldn't have done that, I might've blinded the guy.”
Lois eased her foot off of the accelerator and put the truck into park as their savior gently lowered the car towards an empty parking lot. Fumbling in her purse, Lois extracted and turned on her digital recording device. Before the tires had even hit the ground, Lois had unhooked her seat belt and opened her car door. Flinging herself out of the car, she raced around the truck and found herself face to face with a massive man wearing a dark blue costume with a giant S emblem blazed on the front of it. The evening wind gathered around his cape and sent it swirling around his impressively toned body.
For a moment, Lois forgot entirely how to speak as she stared at the man's chiseled jawbone and windswept dark hair. Her heart fluttered uncontrollably in her chest and she forgot everything around her as her eyes drank in the glorious sight of what had to be the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes upon.
“Are you alright, Miss?” the man asked in a deep, rumbling voice.
Lois gulped, smiled brightly, and began nervously fidgeting with her shirt’s collar. “Yes...thanks to you.”
Jimmy began snapping photos of the man as he stood behind the truck with his arms crossed over his chest.
“That was a very dangerous thing you did there, Miss Lane. You could've gotten yourself and your friends killed with that reckless driving,” the man scolded.
Disbelief filled Lois's eyes and she squeaked, “You know me?”
“Who wouldn't know Metropolis's finest reporter?”
Chloe watched the exchange behind her hand as she hid a large smirk. Clark's fancy glasses barely disguised his identity. She found herself almost horrified by how her brilliant cousin seemed to be completely oblivious to the obvious.
“And who are you?” Lois asked. “Where did you come from?”
The corner of Clark's mouth itched upwards and he leaned in towards the woman he loved. He whispered, “Get yourself home safely and maybe I'll let you know.”
Lois's eyes grew to the size of saucers as she watched a large grin spread over the man’s face. Waving to the group, the mystery man bolted straight into the sky and vanished into the twinkling evening lights.
The trio raced back towards the office and Lois typed up her first hand account. Jimmy hooked up to Clark's computer and showed Lois “the money shot” of the mystery man standing in the parking lot with his arms crossed.
“What's the S for?” Chloe innocently asked. “I mean every superhero has to have a name, right?”
Tapping her pencil rapidly against her palm, Lois pushed away from her computer and began to pace her office. “S...S for spectacular?”
“Doesn't really roll off of the tongue, Lois.” Chloe kidded.
“Stunning? Sexy?” Lois asked, gazing out the window.
Jimmy exploded with laughter. “Yeah, I think a guy who can lift cars and fly them over the city should be named SexyMan!”
A light laugh escaped out of Lois's mouth. “Yeah, sorry, I was kidding. But dear lord, Chloe did you see the size of that man's chest and his arms? God he's built like some super tank!” Words flew rapidly through her brain and suddenly one popped out at her... “Super! That's it Chloe, he's Superman!”
Chloe suddenly grew a giant grin across her face. “I think that's perfect Lois...a real headline grabber!” She watched in complete amusement as the dreamy smile on Lois's face expanded and lit her up radiating her natural beauty. Chloe shook her head as Jimmy and Lois put the final touches on their story including several pictures of the SUV in flight. She couldn't help but think that all of their lives were about to turned upside down.
Chloe also wondered how long it would take for Lois to recognize the man behind the flimsy mask and how pissed she would be when she figured it out that the “stunning and sexy” man who she was hopelessly smitten with was Clark Kent.
Chapter 7
The warm evening breeze rustled through the foliage of the plants that liberally adorned the garden on Lois’s balcony. In a dreamlike state she danced her way around her pots and over doused them all with their evening water. For all that Lois was a horrible cook she discovered that she loved gardening. She found her flowers and vegetables to be a plush oasis in the daily grind of living in a city built of brick, glass, concrete, and cold steel.
Her ears detected the whistle of her teapot that she’d put on and went back inside to make herself a cup of herbal tea. She let her tea bag seep, slowly unbuttoned her shirt, and retreated into her bedroom. Once inside she shucked off her work clothes and climbed into a pair of comfy military grade sweatpants and an old flannel shirt. She rolled up the sleeves and examined the worn red and gold plaid shirt. She remembered the day when she and Martha Kent were heading to Goodwill with several boxes of things and Lois had spied Clark’s flannel shirt and snatched it before it could be given away. Lois then grabbed a large clip and twisted her hair up off of her neck and piled it onto the top of her head. After stuffing her sore feet into a pair of thick socks she headed back to the kitchen and got her tea. She walked back out onto her patio and sat herself down in a chaise lounge. Staring up at the stars, Lois realized that she could barely see them due to the light pollution and exhaust from the city. She still fancied that if she concentrated hard enough she’d be able to spy a flying man dancing amongst the stars.
For some reason her mind turned away from Superman and landed again on Clark Kent. She still couldn’t believe that he was not only back from his long hiatus from the world but had returned as a reporter for The Daily Planet. She mulled over how he had managed to come across those Cayman records of Mayor Wilkins and began to wonder exactly where Clark had been hiding for the past few years. Her mind whirled rapidly forward with crazy theories and she began to wonder if perhaps he had been recruited by some covert division of the military or government. For a moment she nearly discarded the idea but she did know that his mother had connections in Washington, perhaps it wasn’t such a screwball thought after all. How else could he, a simple farmer, break into unbreakable Cayman account records?
She wiggled her toes and blew on her mug and took a drink of the sweet Jasmine scented liquid as she muddled over that thought. Suddenly she felt a quick breeze and she slightly shivered. Lois’s large hazel eyes peered over the brim of her mug and she felt all blood drain from her face. Standing in front of her on her balcony’s ledge was Superman. Acutely aware at her very unglamorous appearance, Lois tried to hide unsuccessfully behind her cup.
“Oh god, couldn’t have given me a warning that you were coming could you?” she whispered.
“But I did warn you, Miss Lane,” Superman pleasantly stated from fifteen feet away.
Lois’s eyes narrowed. “How did…?”
“I have superhearing,” her caped new arrival replied. He then gestured towards her. “I apologize, I shouldn’t have listened in on your private…mutterings.”
A small grin formed on Lois’s face. “It’s alright. Can you come down from there? You’re making me nervous.”
The man smirked. “Why are you worried that I’m going to fall?” Flailing his arms, Superman suddenly toppled backwards and back flopped over the ledge of the balcony.
Lois screamed, spilled her tea all over her patio, and dashed towards her balcony. As she leaned over the edge an annoyed frown came over her face as Superman hovered right below her line of sight and eagerly peered towards the ledge waiting to see her expression. He reached up, grabbed the brickwork, and pulled himself back up onto her patio. Clark stared at Lois’s terrified and annoyed expression and fought down the urge to snatch her into his arms and kiss her. Instead he cleared his throat and smiled in her direction.
“As you can see it would take a lot more than a little fall to break my neck, Miss Lane,” Clark stated, making sure his voice remained deep and unrecognizable.
A sliver of a smile crept over Lois’s lips. “Just don’t do that again, ok? You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Clark watched her as she quickly snatched the clip out of her hair and self-consciously shook her long dark tresses loosely around her shoulders. His eyes fell onto the shirt she was wearing and his heart skipped a beat. He involuntarily inhaled a quick breath when he recognized it as being one of his flannel shirts from high school. Clark wondered when she had pilfered it. Lois appeared to be deciding what to do and he could tell she desperately wanted to change her clothes. Lightly he stepped onto the patio and took her elbow in his large hand and twirled her around to face him. Her eyes grew the size of saucers as he flashed a wide, open smile. “I know that you’ve had a long day at the office, don’t think of changing on my account.”
Her chin dipped towards her chest as her brows narrowed suspiciously. In a small voice she asked, “How did you know I was thinking that? Are you a mind reader too?”
“No, I just sensed it by the way you’ve been fidgeting,” he answered. “If you’d like to get your recorder, I’m sure that you’d love an exclusive interview?”
Lois’s face brightly lit up and she squealed, “Really?”
“I wouldn’t dare thinking of giving anyone else the exclusive,” Superman replied.
“Why not?”
“Are you not Metropolis’s number one reporter?”
Lois blushed. “Well…I…maybe...”
Superman cocked his head at her and arched an eyebrow over the rim of his sunglasses. “Beautiful AND modest, I understand you’ve won the Kerth award three years in a row, that’s hardly something to sneeze at.”
Lois rolled her shoulders and grinned. “Oh stop it, I’m just good at my job.”
“Exactly. That’s why I want you…”
Eyes growing large, Lois felt her heart plunge into her stomach as her nerves began to fray. Her knees slightly wobbled. She gulped and squeaked, “Want me?”
Clark had carefully chosen his words and was enjoying seeing Lois get flustered. He cocked a brow and completed his sentence “…to interview me?”
“Interview??? RIGHT!” Suddenly feeling very foolish, Lois shouted, “Don’t go ANYWHERE!”
Clark watched her dart into her apartment, hunting for her purse in order to grab her recorder. A slight breeze rustled through Clark’s hair as he examined her flowerbeds. His mind’s eye traveled back to Lois’s previous garden, it had been a colorful oasis of various flowers. This time around the flowers were still there, however half of her beds were now filled with vegetables and herbs. He stared at her large plump tomatoes and recognized some carrot plumes. Clark grinned knowing that those were vegetables that one could eat raw. He also recognized mint, sage, two kinds of basil, and some cumin. He reached over and brushed his fingers against a large lavender bush and released its heady woody floral scent into the air. He didn’t remember Lois particularly liking lavender the difference caused him to slightly frown.
“Don’t you like lavender?”
Realizing that Lois had misinterpreted his facial expression, Clark smiled. “I like lavender just fine. Do you do anything with it?”
“Actually, I do. I like to sprinkle it in my bathwater,” Lois stated.
“Wow,” Clark said and thought to himself, How very girly of you, Lois.
Self-conscious, Lois asked, “So is this an interview of me, or you?”
Clark turned around and smiled. “Sorry…” He was glad that he wore the large glasses for he was certain that his eyes had just bugged out of his head like a cartoon character.
Lois had taken advantage of her three seconds inside to change her clothing. She now wore a pair of low rise jeans and a low cut white peasant blouse that exposed her toned mid rift. It took every ounce of Clark’s strength to rip his eyes off of her impressive cleavage, especially when he realized that she wasn’t wearing a bra under the sheer top. He forced his eyes upwards and focused on how stunning her dark brown hair looked against the white fabric. Clark noticed a sliver of a pleased smile spread over Lois’s face; she had obviously realized that she’d gotten his full attention and had finally gotten the upper hand in the meeting.
Quickly, Clark spun away from her, he felt his heart hammering in his chest, and suddenly felt very hot as his mind drifted back to the dark impressions of Lois’s nipples that showed beneath her top’s fabric. Gulping hard, he snapped off a sprig of lavender, and crushed it between his fingers, releasing the scent in the air. His deep voice rumbled, “So anyways, fire away, Miss Lane.”
“What are you?” Lois asked; her tone soft and full of wonder as she stared at the yellow S that was emblazoned on Superman’s cape.
Clark turned around and met her hazel eyes. “I’m one of the last survivors of a planet called Krypton….that’s K-R-Y-P-T-O-N. My parents put me in a ship and sent me here to earth to be raised amongst humans. I grew to love the people on my adopted homeworld and vowed to use my special abilities to protect them from dark forces.”
“Dark forces?”
“Corruption…war…criminal activity…things of that sort.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a full time job the Earth is filled with that sort of evil,” Lois replied.
“Perhaps, but for now, I’m staying in Metropolis to help protect this fine city. Unfortunately there’s plenty of crime here that I'm...suited to assist with.”
He watched as her nose crinkled and she asked, “You’re not human…how can you do the things that you do?”
“My people lived in a solar system that circled a red sun. The yellow sun of this system nourishes molecular makeup and gives me my special powers,” Clark replied.
“That’s interesting,” Lois absently replied, scribbling notes as her recorder continued to do its thing. “What can you do?”
Clark folded his arms over his broad chest and said, “I have super enhanced strength and speed and hearing and breath. I’m fireproof. I have x-ray, heat, and micro vision and I have super and freezing breath.”
“And you can fly.”
He grinned. “And I can fly.”
A suspicious expression crossed Lois’s face as she read over what Superman had just listed off to her. “What does Super and freezing breath mean?”
Smiling, Clark pointed to the puddle of tea on her patio floor and blew on it. Lois’s eyes widened as the puddle turned to ice. Superman put up a finger, ceased blowing, and stared intently at the puddle. Suddenly it melted and began to bubble. “Freezing breath and heat vision.”
“Wow,” Lois stated dreamily.
The last time around, Lois had made a snarky comment on him being a walking Swiss Army knife, this time she seemed...distracted. Clark grinned.
“And Super breath?”
Quickly Clark scanned the sky and located a large patch of clouds that were covering the moon. He grabbed Lois’s hand and pulled her to his side and pointed towards the heavens. Inhaling deeply, Clark blew skywards and punched a hole through the cloud mass revealing the bright, full moon.
As Lois stared at the shiny orb she shook her head with disbelief. “That’s amazing!” Clark stared down into her wide eyes and as she peered in his direction he could tell she was desperately trying to see his eyes through his glasses. Softly she said, “Tell me something real about you…something that you maybe haven’t even told your best friend…wait, do you have friends?”
Clark smirked. “Yes I have friends, in fact I live a rather ordinary life by day, it keeps me grounded, you know? And it connects me to the people on this planet and helps to make me one of them…even if I’m not.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Since I was a young boy.”
“And were you always…different…growing up?”
“My abilities developed as I grew older. When they first started I was really confused, I mean how exactly do you fit in when you’re indestructible, or can run faster than a speeding bullet?” Clark asked. He stared pointedly in her direction, “You have no idea how difficult it was growing up, not knowing who or what I was and having to keep everything that was so…special…about me from those who I cared the most about. I lived in constant fear every day that if they did find out what I was that they’d think I was a freak and leave me.”
Lois’s heart ached for the handsome stranger. “You must’ve been a lonely childhood. Don’t you have anyone in your life who knows the real you? Like maybe a girlfriend or a wife?”
Clark rubbed the back of his neck and to her first part of the question replied, “Sure…a few.” Lois’s eyes widened in shock. Clark then realized the full question that he had been asked and he let out a laugh. “Uh not what I meant…I meant that there are a few of my friends who know my secret…but it’s a burden that I don’t have the luxury of sharing with too many people. Their knowing could put their lives in danger.” Clark realized he still hadn’t answered the question that he knew she was dying to hear the reply. With a small smile he said, “I don’t have a girlfriend or a wife.”
A sly grin formed on Lois’s face. “Not that you haven’t had your fair share of women fawning over you over the years I’m sure. I mean, who wouldn’t be interested in a tall dark handsome stranger from the stars?”
Clark couldn’t help himself and flashed a lopsided smile. “You might be surprised…some girls thought I was a dork.”
“A dork?” Lois asked incredulously. “You? Whoever those ditzes were, I question their tastes in men.”
The irony of Lois’s words caused a sharp giggle to nearly erupt out of Clark. He quickly covered it by coughing. Deciding that he needed to end this line of questioning, Clark turned and pulled the recorder and pad of paper out of her hand and then placed them on a nearby planter. Before Lois could react he quickly scooped her up into his arms and advised, “You’d better hold onto my neck.”
“Why?”
“Just do it!”
Lois stared suspiciously at Superman and did what she was told. A large gasp burst out of her lungs as he shot them straight up into the air.
The wind whipped against Lois’s clothes and she shook her head to knock a large lock of hair out her eyes as she clung tighter around Superman’s neck. Superman’s eyes fixated on some distant spot in the night’s sky and Lois took the opportunity to watch as her apartment’s surrounding buildings grew tiny and Metropolis became a blanket of twinkling lights. She felt her stomach rise upwards into her throat, like she felt whenever she was giddy and climbing up a high incline on a rollercoaster. Suddenly their rapid climb slowed down and Superman stilled them far above the city. Try as she might, Lois couldn’t speak. Her heart raced in her chest with excitement. She gently chewed on her lower lip and waited until Superman met her eyes. He smiled brightly and Lois nestled her head against his firm shoulder.
Clark’s heart burned in his chest as Lois made herself comfortably at home in his arms. Skillfully he raced them towards the clouds that he had blown aside and burst them right through it. He felt his charge shiver slightly as the cloud’s condensation cooled her cheeks and nose. Lois gripped tighter against Superman’s body, pressing herself against his chest for warmth. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks and realized that she should’ve kept her warm flannel shirt on because now that she’d changed tops she was freezing!
Clark sensed her discomfort. The cape he wore was used for aerodynamics and as a shield against fire, for simple flight, it was an unnecessary part of his costume. Deftly he hovered over the top of a fluffy cloud. Lois peered down and stared at his boots, they appeared to be planted firmly in the middle of the foggy floating body. Gently he released his hold on her legs and Lois’s eyes bulged as she clung tighter to his neck. Clark gasped as she dug her nails into his skin and raked them against his hairline. Quickly he reached around, unhooked his cape from his costume and moved it around Lois’s neck. He suddenly realized that he wouldn’t be able to clasp it with one hand.
Lois watched his fingers fumble with the clasp. Heart pounding in her chest she felt Superman’s arm squeeze itself tighter around her waist and for good measure he hooked a finger through one of her jean's belt loops. Reluctantly she let go of her left arm and with his help got the complicated clasp shut. They smiled at each other as Lois encased herself in the warm fabric. Clark cradled her again in his arms and shot them upwards and then rapidly dipped them down. Lois’s stomach jumped from her gut to her lungs and back again as Superman took her on a machine free rollercoaster ride amongst the stars. She found it difficult to speak in the high atmosphere but still smiled at his entertaining showing off. She hadn't had this much fun in years.
Gently Clark released his hold on her legs and pried her left hand from around his neck and knotted his fingers amongst hers. Lois’s legs had instinctively entwined with his in order to prevent herself from falling. She looked on anxiously to see what her flight partner was doing. He nodded his head reassuringly in her direction, smiled, and then gently moved his arm fully around her waist and held her stomach. He gestured to her legs and mouthed, “let go.” With Superman’s cape billowing out behind her, Lois slightly jerked and released her vice-like grasp from his legs. She squeezed her eyes shut tight until she realized that she was flying. Her hazel eyes popped open and she was tightly held in Superman’s right arm at his side holding her hand.
All of her life Lois had been fearless, doing daredevil feats, most of the time to spite her father. From skydiving, to high cliff diving, to white water rapids jumping, this had to be the most exhilarating experience of her life. Superman gently moved her to arms length and with his cape fluttering around her, she experienced the allusion of self propelled flight. Momentarily she forgot being cold, she was free.
Clark happened to glance at Lois's profile and noticed that her neck was covered in goose bumps. With the skill of a classically trained dancer, Clark lightly twisted his wrist and brought Lois rolling towards his body. Now wrapped up in his arms, he bulleted them down through the clouds and back towards Metropolis.
Before Lois could wonder where they were going, Superman landed them on top of the rooftop of the Metropolis Union Bank. The location gave them a panoramic view of the city. He lightly twirled her out of his arms and watched as her face alit with wonder at the dazzling landscape below them.
Lois ran her fingers against the inside of the strange fabric and felt as if every nerve in her body was alive...truly alive! Breathless she spun around on wobbly legs and stared at her companion. Before he could react, she had snaked her arms around his shoulders and flashed him a vibrant smile. Clark's heart pounded as butterflies fluttered in his chest and any and all thoughts in his head froze. Her long fingers barely danced across the skin on the back of his neck causing Clark to exhale from a jolt of unexpected pleasure. She then dug her fingers into his thick dark hair and brought his lips towards her face.
In a husky voice she whispered, “I can't fly, but there's no saying I can't make you feel lighter than air.” Unable to resist what she was offering, Superman descended upon her lips that were an exciting blend of icy cool softness with hot breath that lurked behind them. So completely thrown off was he by the passionate power of their kiss that Clark didn't realize until it was too late what Lois was doing. His eyes snapped open and the world was much brighter around him...his goggles were now in the prized possession of Ace Reporter Lois Lane.
He gulped...twice.
Lois stepped back and scrutinized him from toe to eyes. Clark felt like a bug trapped in a glass jar being examined by its captor. He felt utterly self conscious and was terrified that she would recognize him on the spot. Slowly he folded his arms across his chest and tried to come off cool now that she had stripped him of his eye-wear. Lois's face was unreadable for a few moments and then she smiled.
“Why do you hide those beautiful eyes behind these things?” Lois gushed. “You look so much better without them.”
She didn't recognize him! Clark didn't know whether to be horrified by how utterly blind she was or relieved. He coughed and lowered his voice. “They're not just glasses...they're a part of my costume...to help provide me with anonymity.”
“Oh, your life must be sooo hard! You poor, poor man!” Lois oozed and draped her arms around his neck again. Clark folded his arms around her body and felt his cheeks flush as he realized even though she knew he was an alien, she thought of him as just a person. He smiled, Lois was still Lois. He exaled a deep sigh of relief. She brushed her chin against his neck and cooed, “I promise, I won't say anything about the glasses, just promise me something in return?”
Suspicious, Clark inquired, “Am I going to regret agreeing to this?”
Lois giggled. “No silly!” She turned her hazel eyes in his direction and pleaded, “Promise me that if we're alone that you'll take them off?” Lois nibbled on the side of her mouth and stared at him like a kid being offered a huge wrapped present at Christmas time.
Relief flooded over Clark and he happily agreed. He pulled her into a tight hug and suddenly felt very uncomfortable as he could sensed her hard, erect nipples digging into his chest. He buried his head into her hair and fought to remind himself that this Lois wasn't in on the secret. As it was, his head started spinning and he began to panic that perhaps letting her kiss him wasn't such a good idea. What if??? Clark shook the idea from his head as nonsense. Suddenly Lois slipped an arm from his shoulder to his waist and hooked it around his middle. His eyes grew wide as her fingers began to wander around his back and then downwards...
“Miss Lane!” Superman gruffly said and quickly ended their embrace.
Lois's face flushed with embarrassment. Trying not to make her feel foolish Clark quickly offered, “You must be freezing! Come on and I'll take you home.”
Sheepishly Lois smiled and nodded her head. Superman again cradled her in his arms and flew her back to her apartment's balcony. There he danced to a stop and let her down.
He smiled broadly at her and stepped onto her balcony. Before leaving Clark examined the expression on Lois's face – it was one of complete wonder...and infatuation.
Oh crap, he thought and gulped. Covering up his sudden worry, he brightly signaled the end of their evening.“Well I'd better be going...and you have one heck of an article to write Miss Lane! I look forward to reading it!”
As quickly as he arrived, Superman waved goodnight and sped away into the stars. Lois raced towards her balcony edge and watched him until he became a spec in the night.
Lois felt flushed, elated, and euphoric. It wasn't until Superman was long gone that she realized that she had something held tightly in her hand...it was his sunglasses.
“It wasn't just a dream,” she whispered dreamily. Lois felt as though she was still dancing amongst the clouds, with a giddy, giggle, she twirled her way into her apartment as the mystery man from another planet marched his way into her heart.
Chapter 8
Clark landed at the Kent family farm, removed his costume, and changed into a blue t-shirt and white sweat pants. His large feet padded down the stairs as he scratched his head. Clark glanced to his right and saw his cousin sitting Indian style in front of the unlit fireplace. Sitting to her left was the family dog Shelby. His face had turned completely white from age. The golden retriever’s hazy brown eyes opened and he let out a tiny woof.
Stooping over, Clark scratched his old friend’s ear. “Hey Shelby, how’re you doing boy? Remember me?”
Shelby responded by thumping his tail on the floor a couple of times, he then loudly groaned, repositioned himself on the floor, and fell back asleep.
“Apparently he has something called arthritis, it causes pain the dog’s joints. He nearly tripped me four times this evening from walking too slow,” Kara said as she thumbed through a large encyclopedia. “I once had to jump to avoid crashing into him and banged my head on the ceiling.”
Clark was too preoccupied to see the humor in her antics with Shelby. He absently nodded his head and then buried his face in his hands.
Returning to the encyclopedia, Kara said, “These humans are worse than Kryptonians, I have lost count of how many wars that they have engaged in over the years against each other.”
“Yeah well at least they haven’t blown up their planet, so they are a step ahead of Kryptonians,” Clark dully replied.
Kara peered up over her book and noticed Clark’s defeated posture. “What is wrong with you, Kal-El?”
With an annoyed grunt, Clark dropped his arm against his couch’s armrest and reminded her, “Its CLARK, not Kal-El.” Uncomfortable silence filled the room as Clark gazed out the dark living room window. “I screwed up, Kara.”
She then said something that Clark wasn’t expecting. “You look like your father right now. Jor-El always brooded – he acted as if the weight of the entire planet rested on his shoulders.”
Her cousin shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe he did? It was my understanding that he tried resetting time over and over on Krypton to save it and yet no matter how many times he did it, the planet always perished.”
“My father hated him for that. He always felt that Jor-El was too cavalier with resetting time. He thought his brother played God too much and should’ve consulted others.”
Clark didn’t much feel like hashing out old family feuds with his cousin. “He isn’t an easy person to get along with, but he does mean well.”
Kara saw that Clark’s interest was waning on the subject, so she changed it back to his own personal turmoil. “What happened Clark, why do you feel like a failure?”
“A failure? I look that bad huh? Well I wouldn’t go that far…but I think I made a big mistake.” Kara’s large blue eyes bore into his waiting for him to continue. Shelby let out a low belch and the room suddenly smelled like dog food. Clark smirked at the dog whose front left foot had begun to twitch in his sleep. He gazed sheepishly at Kara and admitted, “I let Lois kiss me.”
Kara rolled her eyes. “How exactly is that a screw up?”
“Because I was Superman when she kissed me…not Clark Kent.” He waited to see if she grasped the full meaning of his words. Her eyebrows scrunched together and she shook her head. He continued, “She’s totally enamored with him, Kara…Superman…not Clark Kent.”
“But you’re Superman,” she pointed out.
Launching to his feet, Clark rubbed his hands angrily through his hair and began pacing the living room. “Yes, but I’m not Superman…I’m Clark Kent.”
“What?” Kara asked, completely bewildered.
Clark tried to articulate his frustration, he spat out, “I’m Clark Kent…that’s who I am, Kara. Superman…that’s what Jor-El wanted me to become, he sent me here to be this beacon of light for humanity, to give them hope…but that’s not WHO I am.” He glanced at his cousin and saw that she still wasn’t making the connections. He exhaled deeply and added, “I was raised to be human…I was raised with humans, by humans, to BE a human. I think like them, I learned my values from Jonathan Kent – they guide me in life and help me to make the decisions that I make – my Kryptonian heritage didn’t help me with developing that…well not until I got older.
“Superman is what I can do, but Clark Kent is who I am. It’s like Lois has fallen for the pretty color of a sports car and likes the bells and whistles in it but doesn’t care how the thing actually runs.” Realizing that that analogy didn’t make a lot of sense, Clark plopped down onto the couch in frustration. Shelby felt the vibration of Clark’s action and whimpered in his sleep.
Finally Kara nodded her head. “I understand your problem. This isn’t really a problem, the answer is simple, Clark.”
“It is?” Clark replied, cautiously.
Her eyes rolled. “You just have to tell her that you are Superman.”
Clark let out a little laugh. He sarcastically spat, “Right, totally easy, thanks Cuz!”
“Why not? What’s wrong with telling her? You didn’t have any problems telling her the last time around and look how things came out?”
Gingerly he planted his elbows on his knees and leaned towards Kara. “Last time around she wasn’t enamored with Superman and last time we got together…she died.”
“You did all of this so that you both could be together again, right? Then why should this be any different?”
“Lois is different…her hair is darker and she’s…”
“She’s what?”
Clark shrugged. “She’s more girly.”
“So you don’t love her?”
Taken aback, Clark sat upright. “What? No of course not…I mean of course I do! All that I’m saying is that things are different and I can’t be certain that she’ll act the same way. For all I know since she’s interested in Superman, she might hate me for keeping the truth from her.”
“And do you think that this will get easier the longer that you keep it from her?”
Snarling, Clark growled at her and flashed her a “I hate it when you’re right” scowl. Kara sweetly smiled back at him.
“This is a nightmare. Do you know that when I saw that love-haze look on her face as she watched Superman fly away I experienced a huge pang of jealousy?”
Kara’s eyes grew wide and she attempted to smother a rising fit of giggles.
“This isn’t funny Kara!” Clark began pacing again. He abruptly stopped and his expression turned wild. “Oh dear lord, I’m stuck in a love-triangle from hell…me, my secret identity, and the woman who I love.”
Not able to control herself any longer, Kara burst out laughing, rolled onto her back, and stamped her feet on the floor as she howled with laughter. Now awake, Shelby thumped his tail, wiggled over to Kara and licked her face which only caused her to laugh louder.
Clark stared murderously in her direction and was even more horrified when his parents emerged from the top of the stairs. Martha was tying her bathrobe shut – both had been rudely awakened by the ruckus that he had caused.
“Sorry Mom and Dad, I didn’t mean for us to wake you up.”
Yawning Jonathan asked, “What is going on?”
Kara wailed, “Clark is jealous of himself!”
Martha gazed on sympathetically at her son who buried his face in his hands. She wrapped him up in her arms and steered him towards the kitchen. “Come on I’ll make some cocoa and you can tell us all about it.”
Frustrated with his cousins high pitched peals of laughter Clark obediently followed his parents into the kitchen and relayed his problem to them. Clark ended his recount of events by adding, “In this timeline Lois and I barely got to know each other when we were younger. We were acquaintances for only two years – what if she never learns to see me in any way other than just a plutonic friend?”
Jonathan and Martha recognized the lost puppy dog expression that marred Clark’s handsome features, it was his trademark that he wore on his face for years while growing up when he always felt like an outsider. Jonathan’s heart went out for his son, the boy was able to pull busloads of kids safely away from what would have been certain death, but understanding love had always been his biggest hurdle in life. Clark snatched a snickerdoodle off of a plate of homemade cookies and shoved the whole thing in his mouth and devoured it in three chews. Martha pulled a steaming pot of cocoa off of the stove and poured everyone frothy mugs of the sweet smelling drink.
Staring intently into his cocoa, Clark felt a lump forming in his throat as he croaked out, “I guess that just might be the price that I have to pay for resetting time and like it or not I’ll just have to accept that working with her will be enough.”
Kara sauntered over to the table, finally having sobered up from her laughing fits. “Stop being a crybaby Kal-El. What did you do the last time around that helped to speed things up?”
“I moved in with her,” he said brightly.
“That’s correct. And now, think about it in this timeline your cousin has just moved in from out of town and you simply couldn’t impose yourself on your aging parents by living with them,” she reasoned, arching her thin brow his way. She saw Jonathan’s eyebrows shoot up.
“Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Kent,” Kara apologized, burying her face behind her mug. Her tastebuds delighted at the taste of the sweet, creamy drink.
Martha patted Kara’s hand and then turned to her son. “And it is SUCH a long commute every day to Metropolis, you’ll miss all of the morning news if you have to drive that distance every day.”
“And remember son, I taught you the greatest gift of all for persuasion,” Jonathan added.
“What’s that Dad?”
“The power of guilt…remind her how we took her in and let her live with us all of those years ago…”
“And gave her jobs!” Marth piped in.
“Mom! Dad! I couldn’t do that! You both didn’t really feel that she was an imposition…did you?”
Jonathan sighed. “No son, in fact quite the opposite.”
A sly grin spread over Martha’s face and she leaned over on the table. Hiding a grin behind her mug she said, “Your father and I always hoped that you would see what was always so blindingly obvious to us all along.”
“What was that?” Clark demanded, completely befuddled.
“That you and Lois were perfect for each other, even back then.”
Clark stared at his mother like she had just sprouted a second head. He then stared at his father who was beaming one of his trademark lopsided smiles. “It’s true son.”
“But we constantly fought together!”
Kara broke apart a cookie for herself and shrugged her shoulders. “Cousin…don’t you know anything? Fighting equals foreplay.”
Eyes opening wide, Clark studied his parents for confirmation. Jonathan shrugged his shoulders and confessed, “We always knew that there was something brewing under the surface between you two Clark. Lois always seeemed like a perfect fit for you..but you were young…”
“And I was in love with Lana,” Clark added.
Martha nodded. “Your powerful feelings for Lana overshadowed your ability to see what was right in front of you. Then again Lois was in a similar boat with you…she was busy dating men with qualities that she thought that she wanted in men…not what she needed.” Clark’s mother flashed him a smile that caused wrinkles to crinkle around her eyes.
She continued, “Being a teenager and young adult is hard. So many people marry too young to the first person who they were in love with and they just don’t realize that their needs will change as they get older. Sometimes that first great love simply is there to allow you to understand the feelings so that when your true love comes your way, you’re able to recognize him.” She leaned over the table, squeezed Jonathan’s hand and they pecked each other on the lips.
“But you two married young,” Clark pointed out.
“Yes, son. But we also had gotten over our childhood crushes and loves. If people are lucky they’ll find their great love early in life, but many people need time,” Jonathan countered.
“The best relationships happen when two people truly know themselves before seeking someone else to try to fulfill them,” Martha explained.
Kara listened intently to the conversation. “You have many rules for falling in love on this planet.”
Jonathan chuckled. “Trust me there are no rules on love.”
Clark attempted a smile and drank down a smooth chocolately slug from his cup. “I guess the question now is where is Lois?”
“Lois knows who she is Clark, she’s an award winning reporter for The Daily Planet. If anything, I’d say her fascination with Superman is simply a means for her to escape from the drudgery of her job,” Martha reassured, with a smile.
“Kind of like girls fantasizing about rock stars,” Kara quipped.
Clark arched a brow inquisitively in her direction.
A sly smile spread over her lips. “What? Some of those guys on MTV are hot.”
“Nice,” Clark moaned. His cousin had been free for only a few hours and her brain was already rotting from an infusion of pop culture.
Kara’s teasing smile spread further across her face and she challenged, “Think about it if you would just tell her that you were Superman, she’d think of YOU as a rock star.”
“Hardly…she’ll be pissed off that I didn’t tell her right away. Lois never sees me as anything other than a dorky farmboy…” Clark massaged his forehead angrily. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Just be yourself, son. Lois will come around,” Jonathan said and clapped his son on the shoulder. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to bed, otherwise the cows will have to march up the stairs and wake me up to feed them in the morning.”
Martha kissed Clark on the forehead and followed Jonathan upstairs. Alone with his cousin, Clark looked at her.
Kara looked slightly alarmed. “The cows do not come into the house demanding breakfast do they?”
Clark grinned. “No that was a joke, Kara.”
She smiled in relief. She wrung her fingers together. “I don’t suppose that you found out anything more about Doomsday did you?”
“Not yet. I’ve got friends helping me though – if there’s a way to find him, they’ll locate the creature,” he reassured.
“Get some sleep, Clark. You’ll be able to think clearer in the morning.”
Smirking slightly, Clark nodded his head and got up to climb onto the couch.
“Go up to your room…your parents fixed up the attic for me, I’m all set,” Kara replied, smiling.
“Thanks,” Clark said brightly. “The spiders don’t bother you?”
“Why should they? It’s not like you’ll be here that much longer and I can just takeover your bedroom, right?” she asked arching a brow.
He grinned back. “Let’s hope so. Goodnight, Kara.”
“Goodnight, Kal-El.”
Too exhausted to worry further, Clark crawled into bed and fell asleep.
Chapter 9
Half way across the US the early morning papers began their distribution. Lex Luthor’s eyes popped open after barely closing at the sound of a tentative knock on the bedroom door of his Senatorial home.
“This had better be good,” he growled.
His bedroom door smartly opened and his manservant/bodyguard Patrick entered the room. “I apologize for disturbing you, Senator Luthor, however, I thought that you would want to see this.”
Patrick handed over a nighttime edition of The Daily Planet to Lex’s waiting hands while turning on his master’s bedside table.
The 50 point front page headline read “Superman Saves Metropolis Schoolchildren from Certain Death” by Lois Lane. Next to it was another equally large article with the headline, “My Evening with Superman.”
Wide awake, Lex devoured the text. The name Superman triggered buried flashes of memories that had been buried in his sub-consicious for four years. His palms began to sweat as he flipped through the paper reading one miraculous story about the caped crusader after another.
“This is it, Patrick. This is what I’ve been waiting for,” Lex murmured.
“I thought it might be, Senator. When you are done with the paper the national news has picked up on the story. There’s fresh coffee waiting for you in your office.”
“Thank you.” With a wave of his hand, Lex dismissed his manservant, climbed out of bed and watched the sky as the sun began to creep over the horizon to signal a new day. He threw on his bathrobe; it looked like he wasn’t going to get any sleep after all.
*************************
Clark carried a tray with 2 large coffees and a bag of danishes into The Daily Planet to share with his partner. From the moment he dropped into Metropolis he had been confident about everything but today he felt a sliver of fear ripple though his soul, things weren’t going as planned. There was a murderous Kryptonian creature on the loose on the planet and Lois Lane was proving to be just as elusive of prey to catch.
He burst into their office to find Lois gazing at her spectacular expose on Superman…or more accurately at the huge photo of Superman that accompanied the article. As quickly as the door opened she shoved the paper aside and nervously straightened her jacket.
“Hey Smallville,” Lois said, her eyes turned towards the window and began scanning the skyline.
Clark rolled his eyes and delivered her coffee and a pastry to his partner. “I doubt that he’s going to spend his days flying around for your entertainment.”
An offended look marred Lois’s dreamy expression. “I do NOT expect Superman to waste his day entertaining me. I know that he has plenty of work to do. Besides, he confided in me that he lives a normal life outside of his superhero duties.” A sly smile spread across her face. “So you DID read my interview? What did you think? Isn’t he amazing?”
Clark exhaled an irrational pang of irritation course through him and he arched a brow in her direction. Pursing his lips tightly together he did the only thing that he could do, he agreed. “Yep, Superman’s quite amazing.”
“Don’t you wish that you hadn’t decided to go home early? You missed out on all of the fun!” Lois’s eyes were clouded again in that dreamy haze that had covered her features the night before.
Clark flattened his tie and sat down at his desk. He grumbled, “I’ll take your word on it.” Quickly he logged into his computer and connected into The Daily Planet’s live news feed while he sorted through his email. He changed the subject, “So what’s your poison? There’s a city council meeting at eleven…”
Lois fiddled with her long ponytail that hung over her shoulder. Her lips drooped. “Boy that sounds dull doesn’t it?”
Before Clark could respond they both heard a bellowing voice outside of their office shout out, “LANE! KENT! GET IN HERE!”
Jumping to their feet, Lois and Clark raced towards Mr. White’s office.
“What’s up Chief?” Lois asked.
Their boss first picked up the front page and showed it to Lois, “Great job on the Superman exclusive – daily circulation on this is through the roof, we’re even having to do a reprint!” Before Lois could reply he continued, “Fifth and South Central there’s a hot story brewing that I want you two to get all over. There’s a new chemical plant that’s gone in half a block from Metropolis Elementary. Parents are lined up out on the street protesting and not allowing it’s employees to enter.”
“Who’s the plant owner?” Clark inquired.
“Unsure, building formerly was a part of Luthor Corp,” White responded.
“We’ll get right on it, Chief!” Clark declared with a grin.
Their boss studied his number one reporter as her eyes were glued onto the image of Superman on the front page that he was waving around. “Anything that I can do for you, Lois?”
Startled, she jumped and smiled sheepishly, “No Chief, we’re on it.”
Clark’s long legs strode back into their office with Lois hot on his heels. “So I think that you should cover the human interest angle and talk to the parents while I talk to the plant manger,” Lois declared.
With a loud snort, Clark replied, “No way am I letting you into that plant without me, Lois.” He spun around on his heel, causing Lois to abruptly stop just moments before crashing into him. “We’re partners, that means we work the story together – I hate to break it to you but you’re not ditching me like a bad date.”
“You know I have managed over the years to chase down stories by myself.” She stared indignantly at him. “Besides, I wasn’t planning on ditching you, it’s just that I’m sure that you’re better with the whole ‘human interest’ side of things is all.”
Clark sat down at his computer and quickly located the information of the building in question. He filled out an online request to City Hall asking for copies of the bill of sale for the plant. He then pulled on his jacket and watched while Lois stuffed a danish into her mouth, grabbed her keys, purse, and jacket and marched towards the door. On their way out, Lois shouted, “Olsen! Come on!”
From across the bullpen Jimmy jumped from his desk, camera at the ready.
As they marched along, Lois said, “Olsen, this is Clark Kent…Clark, Jimmy Olsen.”
“Yeah, Lois we know each other already,” Jimmy replied with a confused expression. “What’s up, CK? How was your trip?”
“Good, I got to see a lot of the world,” Clark replied.
“Man, did you miss major excitement last night!” Jimmy's bright blue eyes sparkled with joy. “I've never seen anything like it. Clark, Superman can FLY! FLY, I tell you!”
Clark shrugged his shoulders. “I've seen a lot of people do pretty remarkabl things Jimmy.”
“Bet you've never seen anyone fly before though!”
The trio stopped by the elevator and the doors hissed open in time to save Clark from having to spit out one of his daily lies. Taking advantage of the moment, Clark turned to Lois and his eyes immediately fell upon her white blouse's neckline that had shifted slightly and from his angle he could see deeper into her cleavage.
He squeaked, “Lo-is.” Quickly he coughed and she crossed her arms under her breasts which only succeeded in making her cleavage larger.
“Yes, Clark?”
Clark suddenly became aware of the light scent of lavender that wafted to his nose. Remembering that Lois said that she bathed in the stuff, a full blown vision of her nude popped into his head and all logical thoughts vanished as his palms began to sweat.
Swiftly, Jimmy took advantage of the hole in conversation. “How fast do you think that he can fly? I mean can he fly as fast as a plane? And if so what size of a plane?”
Lois shifted her weight and her blouse fell back into its normal position. A small smile spread on her lips and her eyes glazed over as she re-imagined herself in flight with Superman, clutched securely in his burly, protective arms. She softly sighed.
All sensual thought of Lois vanished from Clark's head as a wave of jealousy coursed through him. He barked,“How do you think that a chemical plant was granted city ordinances when it's so close to a school?”
The question had the hoped for effect, Lois snapped out of her own daydream. “Someone lied to someone.”
With a hiss the elevator doors opened and the trio briskly walked through the sparsely crowded Dail Planet Lobby.
Clark's brows knit together. He pushed his glasses up his nose and retorted, “Or got paid off.”
A chill ran through both Lois and Clark's bodies. They turned to each other and stated in unison, “Mayor Wilkins!”
Breath thick with excitement, Lois said, “Clark, that money! It wasn't Mayor Wilkins just skimming local money off for his mistress, he was hiding a bribe!”
“Trying to at least. No wonder that he went white. He probably was relieved that we thought that he was just hiding a mistress.”
Lois threw her hand up and whistled for a taxi as they hit the outside pavement. “Of course he was relieved. There aren't just local laws, but likely Federal laws that he'd be breaking if the truth came out that he willingly knew about this.”
Clark opened the door to a cab that stopped in front of them. Jimmy jumped in followed by Lois and then Clark. Clark handed the driver the address.
“You know, when I was looking up the address of the plant, I found something else. It's right by the waterfront. With the extreme efforts that our local Green Conservation Groups have been working with the local government to clean out the harbor, how do you think that they'll like learning that there might be a potentially hazardous chemical plant right on the water?”
An unwitting voice or reason came from Jimmy. “Before you guys start calling in the tree huggers, why don't we make sure that they ARE in fact making something toxic in that plant. For all that we know they might just be making soap or something.”
A large smile pressed across Clark's face at his friend. “You're right, Jimmy..innocent until proven guilty!”
The cab sped through Metropolis hitting very few red lights and before the reporters knew it they arrived at their destination. Lois paid the driver as Clark opened the door for his partner and Jimmy. A large crowd of angry citizens were crowded around the front of a warehouse called “McGovern Chemicals.”
Lois snorted. “I guess we can rule soap out.”
The optimistic smile on Jimmy's face fell. Clark chucked him on the shoulder. With a sigh, Jimmy said, “I'll go get some photos.”
Fully into reporter zone, Lois spied a wiry security guard standing outside the building, and staring nervously at the crowd. She bounded over in his direction.
Clark strode behind her in time to see her curl her fingers into the wire with one hand, and with the other she extracted her press pass out of her pocket and flashed it at the guard. “Lois Lane, The Daily Planet.” She cocked her head and flashed him a little lopsided smile. “Any chance that you can get me and my partner here in to see your boss?”
“I'm quite certain that he'd like to be able to tell his side of the story and spread some good press about this situation,” Clark offered.
The young man stared suspiciously at them. “But you're reporters, I'm sure that all that you want to do is write about how horrible McGovern Chemicals is.”
With complete sincerity plastered across her face, Lois's eyes fluttered to the kid's name badge and she reasoned, “Tim? We're with The Daily Planet, NOT The Inquisitor, we print the truth not sensationalized journalism.” She slipped a business card through the fence. “Could you please take that to your boss and see if he'll let us come talk to him?”
Tim nodded his head and ducked into a nearby doorway and vanished inside the building.
Clark chuckled. “Lois, I believe that you can convince a man in a desert that he needs to buy a boat.”
“Congratulate me when we're inside.” Lois planted her fists on her hips and she examined the crowd. “What if this place isn't toxic?”
“A chemical plant not toxic? How likely would that be, Lois?”
“I don't know. Sometimes I just think that people jump too easily to conclusions is all. I mean, if this place we really dangerous, don't you think that Superman would be here?”
Clark realized that her eyes were flickering around the entire area, including the bright blue sky scanning for his alter-ego. He rolled his eyes. “Exactly WHAT would Superman do about a chemical plant? Yank it off of it’s foundation and relocate it to Timbuktu?”
Lois glanced at her partner and felt the weight of his intensely incredulous stare. “Fine, you're right, there's nothing that he could do about it. Environmental crime isn't exactly his forte, he's more of a man of action.”
The protestors began shouting in earnest as a group of new security guards showed up and opened the gates a hair to let four frazzled employees inside the facility.
From the crowd Clark spied a young woman with black hair trying to press her way through the writhing angry mob towards the gate. A heavyset woman spied her and grabbed the woman’s arm and began screaming in her face. “How can you work there? They’re endangering the lives of our CHILDREN!”
Clark sensed the mood of the crowd turn, it went from being just angry disorganized mob to unified in wave of searing hatred as they all surrounded the factory worker. Quickly Clark picked up his cell phone and loudly pretended to take a call and stepped away from Lois. Her attention shifted entirely onto the mob giving Clark the split moment that he needed to dash away.
Seconds later a blue and red blur fell out of the sky and crashed into the middle of the mob. The victim was mid scream as the sound of fabric ripping filled the area as unknown assailants tore the woman’s factory uniform. She pleaded, “I need to feed my family! This is the only job that I could get!”
Superman wrapped his arms around the factory employee and jumped over the crowd of arms that stretched upwards trying to claim their prize.
Scowling he growled, “You all should be ashamed of yourselves! Is this what you call a peaceful protest? Who here is going to pay for this woman’s uniform?”
The woman wept in his arms as Superman floated over to the gate and safely deposited her on the company side of the gate. She tugged up her ripped sleeve and bolted into the factory's back door.
“We have a right to protest here! I have a petition for it! Don't try to shame us, Superman!” An angry man yelled from the crowd. In a flash, Clark towered over the bespeckled balding man.
He studied the paper that now shook in the man's hand. “That petition gives you the right to peacefully protest, not terrorize and attack factory employees. These people have families! They have children to feed...”
“What about our children??”
The crowd cheered in unison.
Superman spread his hands out. “Look, it's possible that you have a valid reason to protest this company being here, but until an investigation can be made on the place, you all might be getting yourselves upset over nothing. As citizens you have the right to speak your minds, but please, leave the employees alone. Do you all want to get slapped with assault charges? Because that woman has the right to file them against you all! How would you all like it if you were just trying to go to work and someone came along and ripped your clothes? You'd be humiliated, wouldn't you?”
The crowd went silent. From across the way, a large proud grin plastered itself over Lois’s face. A small voice spoke at Clark's side. “Superman?” He turned his head and saw an older gentleman, he was holding out a wad of bills. “I think that I accidentally ripped that woman's uniform. Here, this should cover it.”
Clark fanned out the money and suddenly found fistfuls of dollars pointed in his direction. He took a few bills from each person until he had gathered enough money that he believed would cover a new uniform for the woman. The crowd parted for him and he handed it to one of the guards who darted off inside to deliver it to the employee.
Faster than a blink of the eye, Clark sped off across the city and returned carrying a bunch of unused crowd barriers and dropped them forty feet away form the entrance. “Everyone, you need to follow the rules of the protest petition and you must be forty feet away from the building. Any of you who step beyond this barrier will be considered breaking the law.”
The crowd murmured and obediently moved behind the barriers. Superman handed the petition to the factory guards and said, “If anyone crosses these barriers and further breaks the rules of the petition, it is in your right to call the police. Something tells me though, that they'll behave themselves from now on.”
“Thank you, Superman,” the female guard replied as she watched him raise off of the ground and disappear into the sky.
Lois's heart pounded in her chest after watching the exchange. She knew that Superman would end up somehow saving the day. Even if the folks inside the company stonewalled she and Clark, at least wouldn't walk away from the day empty handed and without a story. Lois did feel disappointed that Superman didn't stop to say hello to her, but she supposed that he likely failed to see her.
From behind her she heard the snap of a cell phone being turned off. “Did I miss anything?”
Rolling her eyes, Lois sighed. “Only a Superman sighting! Clark you have the worst timing for making phone calls.” She turned around and arched a brow at her tall partner.
Jimmy raced over from the crowd with a large grin plastered all over his face. “CK I got the most amazing shots – look!”
Clark studied the thumbnails on Jimmy's camera of himself doing crowd control. He smiled. “Great job Jimmy. I feel bad that I missed it.”
“Oh I wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure that you'll get to see him soon!”
Tim the security guard arrived. “You two have clearance to come inside.” The man apologized, “Sorry, no cameras allowed.”
“It's OK. Lois, CK I'm going to head back to the Planet to process these.”
“See you back at the bullpen, Olsen,” Lois replied and walked towards the open gate. “Ladies first, Smallville. Try to keep up.” Clark watched her march inside and promptly enjoyed the view from behind.
“Absolutely, Lois.” With a lopsided grin, he straightened his tie and followed her inside.
Chapter 10
Chloe studied her hair again in the mirror one last time before darting out of the ladies room and into the lobby at The Daily Planet on her way to her interview with Oliver Queen. She turned a blind corner directly into Jimmy Olsen. The two cracked heads, audibly howled, and slapped their foreheads in unison.
“Watch where….Jimmy?” Chloe abruptly swallowed her tirade when she realized who it was that she ran into. “Oh god.”
“Chloe I’m so sorry, I was looking at camera and didn’t even see you. Are you alright?”
She knitted her brows together and opened her eyes wide. “I think that I have a goose egg forming right in the middle of my forehead.”
Gently, Jimmy lifted her fingers off of her face and his pale eyes widened with alarm. He smiled brightly. “No worries – let’s go get some ice on that, it’ll go down right away!” He started steering her towards the elevators.
Chloe put on the brakes. “Jimmy I can’t. I have to be somewhere.”
His face fell. “Oh.” Lighting up again, he asked, “Big story to report on?”
She chewed the inside of her mouth. “No.” Her voice lowered. “Job interview.”
Jimmy looked like he had sand kicked all over his ice cream cone. “Oh.”
Slowly, she sat down on a bench, her shoulders deflated. “I don’t know why I bother, who’d hire a felon?”
“I would!” Jimmy chirped.
She smiled broadly. “Thanks, Jimmy.”
“I’m sure that you’ll do great, although I’ll admit that I’ll miss your weekly Geek Girl Colum. I’ve learned some great tips from you.”
In the span of a heartbeat, her cheeks burned as brightly as the lump on her forehead. Chloe found herself overcome by emotions that she had buried for years for the sweet man at her side. As quickly as they rose they were smothered in shame. How could she have turned her back on such an amazing and generous guy?
Slightly wobbly, she got to her feet. “I’d better get going. What were you in such a hurry about?”
Beaming, Jimmy flashed his close up photos of Superman at the factory. “Lois was right there and there weren’t any other reporters. We’ll scoop everyone!”
“That’s great, Jimmy,” Chloe replied, with a smile. “I’ll see you later.”
Before he could say anything, Chloe ducked her head and darted towards the door. The throbbing in her forehead felt like a drum beat, pounding her stupidity into her brain on how effortlessly she had screwed up her own life and could find no way to find absolution, nor a reason that anyone should offer her forgiveness for her own idiocy.
************************************
“Marcus Washington, pleasure to meet you both,” the factory owner beamed his glaringly white teeth at Lois Lane. “Lois Lane…I never thought that I’d have the pleasure of meeting such a well known celebrity here in Metropolis!”
Lois nodded her head slightly. “Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice.”
The heavy set man pumped Clark’s hand enthusiastically. “My pleasure. With what will likely be a PR nightmare forming outside, I’m more than happy to grab the opportunity to show our side of things.”
Clark pushed up his glasses. “So what exactly does McGovern Chemicals make?”
“We’re a part of a global company called ARB International. ARB is the world leader in manufacturing industrial cleaning solutions for companies. McGovern was acquired by them five years ago. We specialize in creating cleaning solutions that counter radioactive spills.” His dark eyes saw the surprise that jumped into both Lois and Clark’s eyes. The dark skinned man held up a hand. “Before you get all worried, remember, I said that we create the cleaning solutions we don’t do anything that’s actually radioactive here.”
“But don’t they need to be tested?” Lois asked.
“We’re just the manufacturing plant; we don’t create the formulas and test them here. That takes place at our corporate offices in Nebraska; although our resulting products are of course heavily regulated before leaving the plant.”
Mr. Washington led the two reporters down a long walk way that ended up at a door that opened onto a metal catwalk that looked over the entire manufacturing plant. Below large vats of chemicals bubbled and brewed with large amounts of steam rising under glass domed covers to prevent the vapors from escaping into the room’s air. The room strangely smelled sulfuric and clean at the same time. Employees raced around the vats below testing the chemical’s levels wearing jumpsuits but no face masks or gloves. The vats were very loud; Mr. Washington had to raise his voice over them to be heard.
“This is where the solutions are created. Everything that goes into our solutions are natural based. Although admittedly you wouldn’t want to get the stuff on your skin because it would cause severe rashes. But overall it’s not as toxic as you might expect.”
“Why is that?” Lois asked, unconvinced.
“We’re a new division specializing in green solutions for non-green problems. In the past any contact with such cleaning solutions would have meant instant death or immediate hospitalization for anyone who incorrectly came in contact with them. Our specialized formula is designed to specifically go after radioactive matter only,” the plant manager explained with a broad, toothy smile.
“How is it possible that the solution knows to only go after radioactive agents?” Clark inquired.
The man shrugged. “I admit that I’m not a scientist. I can only tell you what I’ve seen firsthand with the demonstrations that corporate has sent to us.”
“So the protesters outside…” Lois began.
The man’s dark eyes filled with sympathy. “I can completely understand their concerns. ARB had no idea that there was a school so close to this facility when they picked up the plant for a song a year and a half ago.” He led them out of the plant and in through another door that had them far above the distribution portion of the factory. “This plant sat vacant during the recent turned economy for many years. ARB got it for a good price and spent a lot of money retrofitting it to bring it up to code and to customize the facility for our needs.”
Clark lowered his glasses slightly and activated his X-Ray vision and studied the walls of the plant. From what he could tell they were heavily reinforced with industrial grade steel.
“McGovern and ARB have a long standing relationship with the EPA & OSHA; our facility is 100% up to code. In fact, OSHA gave us the highest marks for employee safety prior to opening this week!”
Lois and Clark peered down at the complex series of conveyor belts that distributed and sealed the solution into large drums.
“The chemicals go through four final rounds of purification through the machines over there on the far north side of the room before they’re ready for distribution,” Mr. Washington stated, pointing towards the opposite wall. “By the time that they’re ready to get loaded onto trucks and sent off for sale, the chemicals themselves are relatively harmless.”
Using his magnification ability, Clark’s vision zoomed in and he studied the drums. Nowhere on them could he see toxic stickers.
Marcus must’ve seen Clark’s intense stare and he chuckled. “Trust me, if they were toxic, the EPA would’ve made us plaster our drums with warning signs.”
“What about the vats of the chemicals in the other room though? I saw the toxic labels all over the vats there,” Lois pointed out.
“Yes, the chemicals start off harsh, but our purification process removes the toxins out of it.”
“What would happen if you had an accident in that room?” Lois demanded. “What if those unstable chemicals got out? Wouldn’t the children or the harbor be in serious danger of contamination?”
Mr. Washington chuckled. “We have safety protocols in place that would prevent any large catastrophes. The entire facility is equipped with special underground tanks that would catch any chemicals that tried to leak through our floors. There’s no way for the chemicals to find their way to the harbor.”
Clark activated his x-ray vision and saw a series of complex tanks below the concrete surface. He then examined the ceiling and asked, “What about an explosion?”
“The chances of that happening are slim,” the plant manager assured. “If something did happen we have the most highly advanced air filtration system built into the facility. It’s designed to trigger whenever there are significant changes in the chemical makeup of the air in the room. It is so sensitive that it would trigger warnings to our plant supervisors & security team before we were even aware that there was a problem brewing.”
The trio walked out of the distribution plant and walked into the large control room. Mr. Washington showed them the screens and large controller boards that examined every aspect of the manufacturing process. He pointed to a monitor that was covered in charts – all were strongly bright green indicating that the plant was running in safe mode.
After getting a detailed tour of the control room, they made their way out and into a series of long hallways that led away from the plant and towards the offices. Lois was asking Mr. Washington about what sorts of positions that they offered for employees. They passed a large graphic that showed the layout of the employee offices and Clark activated his super hearing; with it he penetrated into the office and began scouting out any anomalies. He focused his hearing towards the accounting department. He sifted through several conversations about facility expense costs, payroll discussions, and focused in on one voice. He couldn’t make out what the individual was saying but he was mumbling incoherently under his breath about something. Clark’s eyes widened when he picked out two words, “Senator Luthor.”
Clark broke into the conversation, the blood pounding in his ears, and asked, “Are you aware that this facility used to be a part of Luthor Corp?”
Mr. Washington stared blankly at Clark’s curve ball question. “I suppose that’s possible. As I stated before, this warehouse had been sitting vacant for many years before ARB acquired it.”
Lois peered around their host and flashed Clark a “where are you going with this?” expression.
“Does this facility receive any sort of Federal funding?”
The man’s eyes opened wide. “Federal funding? Why on earth would we receive that? Our products are targeted for the private sector only.”
Stepping closer to the man and using his large physical frame to block any sort of retreat path, Clark zeroed in on the man pining him to a spot next to the wall. “Plants that would produce anything that would be radioactive would require intense Federal scrutiny. You can’t live without them and vice versa.”
Mr. Washington slightly gulped and appeared uncomfortable with being blocked between the two reporters. “True we would be out of business without our customers, but we have nothing to do with how they receive their own funding to keep their companies afloat. As much as I would love to receive extra Federal funding, unfortunately that just isn’t the case here, we are at the mercy of the needs of our very exclusive and focused customer base.” The man’s confused expression convinced Clark that he was telling the truth.
Walking around the man, Lois put a hand on Clark’s arm and bore her hazel eyes into his green orbs. “I think that we have enough for our story, don’t you think so Clark?”
His entire frame relaxed and he smiled. “There is one more thing that I would like to ask, if I may?” Clark shoved his glasses up his nose again and stepped away from the plant manager, giving him room.
“Of course,” Mr. Washington asked slightly suspiciously.
“The woman who was attacked by the mob outside, have you seen her? Is she doing alright?”
The man’s face brightened. “Tamara? The poor thing was a wreck when she came into work and was so relieved Superman helped her out. In fact, we’re all grateful for Superman’s assistance. The crowd showed up at the crack of dawn before my security team could attempt to put up those crowd barriers. We were this close to calling in the police for assistance. Frankly, we prefer not having to do so, don’t need that kind of attention you know what with being new in the neighborhood and all.”
Clark smiled. “We’d love to be able to talk with Tamara, if that’s possible. I’m sure that she wouldn’t mind being able to thank Superman in our story.”
Mr. Washing beamed. “Absolutely, let me get her. I’ll be right back!”
Lois and Clark were left alone standing in the hallway. A sliver of a smile spread on Lois’s face and she chuckled at Clark. “Wow Smallville, I never would’ve pictured you as the heavy. I swear if that man had been hiding anything, you would’ve scared the truth right out of him.” Clark grinned, his partner wore an expression of extreme satisfaction on her face. “Maybe Mr. White really did know what he was doing when he paired you up with me.”
He flashed a lopsided smile. “So you like aggressive Clark Kent?”
“I’ll admit, I don’t mind seeing him show up every once in a while,” Lois said. She chewed the side of her mouth. “Just don’t make a habit of bringing him out all of the time.” She leaned in close to him. “We really don’t want to make a habit of scaring our sources!”
With a large smile, Clark replied, “I’ll keep that in mind and chalk it up to one of Lois Lane’s rules of reporting…don’t scare your source.”
Lois laughed and pulled a face. “Remind me to remember that one myself.”
After a few minutes the woman came out and gushed over Superman. Clark left the building with a warm feeling in his gut that he had been able to help the woman out. Out on the pavement, Lois said, “I’ll cover the Superman angle of the story if you want to work up your impressions on what we learned about the plant.”
Clark stopped in his tracks and gave her a sideways glance. “I would’ve thought that you’d want to cover that since that’s the meatier part of the article.”
She tucked a stray brunette clump of hair behind her left ear and said, “Call it reporter’s intuition. You were onto something in there Smallville. Something tells me that this is your story…the one that could be your big break.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know…I’m not ready for that. How about, we’ll combine the two parts into one large article and share the byline.”
Lois studied her tall friend with wonder. “You’re amazing Smallville. That thing that you did back there, it was all for the story wasn’t it? You really don’t have ambition of your own do you?”
“It’s all about uncovering the truth, Lois. That’s what being a good reporter is, right?”
Sticking her hand out to hail a taxi, Lois bore her eyes into his. “No Clark it’s not.” He flashed a startled, worried expression. She beamed mischievously. “It’s how you become a GREAT reporter!”
Beaming from ear to ear, Clark jumped into a cab along with his partner and the two raced off towards The Daily Planet to begin working on their article.
Chapter 10
Chloe studied her hair again in the mirror one last time before darting out of the ladies room and into the lobby at The Daily Planet on her way to her interview with Oliver Queen. She turned a blind corner directly into Jimmy Olsen. The two cracked heads, audibly howled, and slapped their foreheads in unison.
“Watch where….Jimmy?” Chloe abruptly swallowed her tirade when she realized who it was that she ran into. “Oh god.”
“Chloe I’m so sorry, I was looking at camera and didn’t even see you. Are you alright?”
She knitted her brows together and opened her eyes wide. “I think that I have a goose egg forming right in the middle of my forehead.”
Gently, Jimmy lifted her fingers off of her face and his pale eyes widened with alarm. He smiled brightly. “No worries – let’s go get some ice on that, it’ll go down right away!” He started steering her towards the elevators.
Chloe put on the brakes. “Jimmy I can’t. I have to be somewhere.”
His face fell. “Oh.” Lighting up again, he asked, “Big story to report on?”
She chewed the inside of her mouth. “No.” Her voice lowered. “Job interview.”
Jimmy looked like he had sand kicked all over his ice cream cone. “Oh.”
Slowly, she sat down on a bench, her shoulders deflated. “I don’t know why I bother, who’d hire a felon?”
“I would!” Jimmy chirped.
She smiled broadly. “Thanks, Jimmy.”
“I’m sure that you’ll do great, although I’ll admit that I’ll miss your weekly Geek Girl Colum. I’ve learned some great tips from you.”
In the span of a heartbeat, her cheeks burned as brightly as the lump on her forehead. Chloe found herself overcome by emotions that she had buried for years for the sweet man at her side. As quickly as they rose they were smothered in shame. How could she have turned her back on such an amazing and generous guy?
Slightly wobbly, she got to her feet. “I’d better get going. What were you in such a hurry about?”
Beaming, Jimmy flashed his close up photos of Superman at the factory. “Lois was right there and there weren’t any other reporters. We’ll scoop everyone!”
“That’s great, Jimmy,” Chloe replied, with a smile. “I’ll see you later.”
Before he could say anything, Chloe ducked her head and darted towards the door. The throbbing in her forehead felt like a drum beat, pounding her stupidity into her brain on how effortlessly she had screwed up her own life and could find no way to find absolution, nor a reason that anyone should offer her forgiveness for her own idiocy.
************************************
“Marcus Washington, pleasure to meet you both,” the factory owner beamed his glaringly white teeth at Lois Lane. “Lois Lane…I never thought that I’d have the pleasure of meeting such a well known celebrity here in Metropolis!”
Lois nodded her head slightly. “Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice.”
The heavy set man pumped Clark’s hand enthusiastically. “My pleasure. With what will likely be a PR nightmare forming outside, I’m more than happy to grab the opportunity to show our side of things.”
Clark pushed up his glasses. “So what exactly does McGovern Chemicals make?”
“We’re a part of a global company called ARB International. ARB is the world leader in manufacturing industrial cleaning solutions for companies. McGovern was acquired by them five years ago. We specialize in creating cleaning solutions that counter radioactive spills.” His dark eyes saw the surprise that jumped into both Lois and Clark’s eyes. The dark skinned man held up a hand. “Before you get all worried, remember, I said that we create the cleaning solutions we don’t do anything that’s actually radioactive here.”
“But don’t they need to be tested?” Lois asked.
“We’re just the manufacturing plant; we don’t create the formulas and test them here. That takes place at our corporate offices in Nebraska; although our resulting products are of course heavily regulated before leaving the plant.”
Mr. Washington led the two reporters down a long walk way that ended up at a door that opened onto a metal catwalk that looked over the entire manufacturing plant. Below large vats of chemicals bubbled and brewed with large amounts of steam rising under glass domed covers to prevent the vapors from escaping into the room’s air. The room strangely smelled sulfuric and clean at the same time. Employees raced around the vats below testing the chemical’s levels wearing jumpsuits but no face masks or gloves. The vats were very loud; Mr. Washington had to raise his voice over them to be heard.
“This is where the solutions are created. Everything that goes into our solutions are natural based. Although admittedly you wouldn’t want to get the stuff on your skin because it would cause severe rashes. But overall it’s not as toxic as you might expect.”
“Why is that?” Lois asked, unconvinced.
“We’re a new division specializing in green solutions for non-green problems. In the past any contact with such cleaning solutions would have meant instant death or immediate hospitalization for anyone who incorrectly came in contact with them. Our specialized formula is designed to specifically go after radioactive matter only,” the plant manager explained with a broad, toothy smile.
“How is it possible that the solution knows to only go after radioactive agents?” Clark inquired.
The man shrugged. “I admit that I’m not a scientist. I can only tell you what I’ve seen firsthand with the demonstrations that corporate has sent to us.”
“So the protesters outside…” Lois began.
The man’s dark eyes filled with sympathy. “I can completely understand their concerns. ARB had no idea that there was a school so close to this facility when they picked up the plant for a song a year and a half ago.” He led them out of the plant and in through another door that had them far above the distribution portion of the factory. “This plant sat vacant during the recent turned economy for many years. ARB got it for a good price and spent a lot of money retrofitting it to bring it up to code and to customize the facility for our needs.”
Clark lowered his glasses slightly and activated his X-Ray vision and studied the walls of the plant. From what he could tell they were heavily reinforced with industrial grade steel.
“McGovern and ARB have a long standing relationship with the EPA & OSHA; our facility is 100% up to code. In fact, OSHA gave us the highest marks for employee safety prior to opening this week!”
Lois and Clark peered down at the complex series of conveyor belts that distributed and sealed the solution into large drums.
“The chemicals go through four final rounds of purification through the machines over there on the far north side of the room before they’re ready for distribution,” Mr. Washington stated, pointing towards the opposite wall. “By the time that they’re ready to get loaded onto trucks and sent off for sale, the chemicals themselves are relatively harmless.”
Using his magnification ability, Clark’s vision zoomed in and he studied the drums. Nowhere on them could he see toxic stickers.
Marcus must’ve seen Clark’s intense stare and he chuckled. “Trust me, if they were toxic, the EPA would’ve made us plaster our drums with warning signs.”
“What about the vats of the chemicals in the other room though? I saw the toxic labels all over the vats there,” Lois pointed out.
“Yes, the chemicals start off harsh, but our purification process removes the toxins out of it.”
“What would happen if you had an accident in that room?” Lois demanded. “What if those unstable chemicals got out? Wouldn’t the children or the harbor be in serious danger of contamination?”
Mr. Washington chuckled. “We have safety protocols in place that would prevent any large catastrophes. The entire facility is equipped with special underground tanks that would catch any chemicals that tried to leak through our floors. There’s no way for the chemicals to find their way to the harbor.”
Clark activated his x-ray vision and saw a series of complex tanks below the concrete surface. He then examined the ceiling and asked, “What about an explosion?”
“The chances of that happening are slim,” the plant manager assured. “If something did happen we have the most highly advanced air filtration system built into the facility. It’s designed to trigger whenever there are significant changes in the chemical makeup of the air in the room. It is so sensitive that it would trigger warnings to our plant supervisors & security team before we were even aware that there was a problem brewing.”
The trio walked out of the distribution plant and walked into the large control room. Mr. Washington showed them the screens and large controller boards that examined every aspect of the manufacturing process. He pointed to a monitor that was covered in charts – all were strongly bright green indicating that the plant was running in safe mode.
After getting a detailed tour of the control room, they made their way out and into a series of long hallways that led away from the plant and towards the offices. Lois was asking Mr. Washington about what sorts of positions that they offered for employees. They passed a large graphic that showed the layout of the employee offices and Clark activated his super hearing; with it he penetrated into the office and began scouting out any anomalies. He focused his hearing towards the accounting department. He sifted through several conversations about facility expense costs, payroll discussions, and focused in on one voice. He couldn’t make out what the individual was saying but he was mumbling incoherently under his breath about something. Clark’s eyes widened when he picked out two words, “Senator Luthor.”
Clark broke into the conversation, the blood pounding in his ears, and asked, “Are you aware that this facility used to be a part of Luthor Corp?”
Mr. Washington stared blankly at Clark’s curve ball question. “I suppose that’s possible. As I stated before, this warehouse had been sitting vacant for many years before ARB acquired it.”
Lois peered around their host and flashed Clark a “where are you going with this?” expression.
“Does this facility receive any sort of Federal funding?”
The man’s eyes opened wide. “Federal funding? Why on earth would we receive that? Our products are targeted for the private sector only.”
Stepping closer to the man and using his large physical frame to block any sort of retreat path, Clark zeroed in on the man pining him to a spot next to the wall. “Plants that would produce anything that would be radioactive would require intense Federal scrutiny. You can’t live without them and vice versa.”
Mr. Washington slightly gulped and appeared uncomfortable with being blocked between the two reporters. “True we would be out of business without our customers, but we have nothing to do with how they receive their own funding to keep their companies afloat. As much as I would love to receive extra Federal funding, unfortunately that just isn’t the case here, we are at the mercy of the needs of our very exclusive and focused customer base.” The man’s confused expression convinced Clark that he was telling the truth.
Walking around the man, Lois put a hand on Clark’s arm and bore her hazel eyes into his green orbs. “I think that we have enough for our story, don’t you think so Clark?”
His entire frame relaxed and he smiled. “There is one more thing that I would like to ask, if I may?” Clark shoved his glasses up his nose again and stepped away from the plant manager, giving him room.
“Of course,” Mr. Washington asked slightly suspiciously.
“The woman who was attacked by the mob outside, have you seen her? Is she doing alright?”
The man’s face brightened. “Tamara? The poor thing was a wreck when she came into work and was so relieved Superman helped her out. In fact, we’re all grateful for Superman’s assistance. The crowd showed up at the crack of dawn before my security team could attempt to put up those crowd barriers. We were this close to calling in the police for assistance. Frankly, we prefer not having to do so, don’t need that kind of attention you know what with being new in the neighborhood and all.”
Clark smiled. “We’d love to be able to talk with Tamara, if that’s possible. I’m sure that she wouldn’t mind being able to thank Superman in our story.”
Mr. Washing beamed. “Absolutely, let me get her. I’ll be right back!”
Lois and Clark were left alone standing in the hallway. A sliver of a smile spread on Lois’s face and she chuckled at Clark. “Wow Smallville, I never would’ve pictured you as the heavy. I swear if that man had been hiding anything, you would’ve scared the truth right out of him.” Clark grinned, his partner wore an expression of extreme satisfaction on her face. “Maybe Mr. White really did know what he was doing when he paired you up with me.”
He flashed a lopsided smile. “So you like aggressive Clark Kent?”
“I’ll admit, I don’t mind seeing him show up every once in a while,” Lois said. She chewed the side of her mouth. “Just don’t make a habit of bringing him out all of the time.” She leaned in close to him. “We really don’t want to make a habit of scaring our sources!”
With a large smile, Clark replied, “I’ll keep that in mind and chalk it up to one of Lois Lane’s rules of reporting…don’t scare your source.”
Lois laughed and pulled a face. “Remind me to remember that one myself.”
After a few minutes the woman came out and gushed over Superman. Clark left the building with a warm feeling in his gut that he had been able to help the woman out. Out on the pavement, Lois said, “I’ll cover the Superman angle of the story if you want to work up your impressions on what we learned about the plant.”
Clark stopped in his tracks and gave her a sideways glance. “I would’ve thought that you’d want to cover that since that’s the meatier part of the article.”
She tucked a stray brunette clump of hair behind her left ear and said, “Call it reporter’s intuition. You were onto something in there Smallville. Something tells me that this is your story…the one that could be your big break.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know…I’m not ready for that. How about, we’ll combine the two parts into one large article and share the byline.”
Lois studied her tall friend with wonder. “You’re amazing Smallville. That thing that you did back there, it was all for the story wasn’t it? You really don’t have ambition of your own do you?”
“It’s all about uncovering the truth, Lois. That’s what being a good reporter is, right?”
Sticking her hand out to hail a taxi, Lois bore her eyes into his. “No Clark it’s not.” He flashed a startled, worried expression. She beamed mischievously. “It’s how you become a GREAT reporter!”
Beaming from ear to ear, Clark jumped into a cab along with his partner and the two raced off towards The Daily Planet to begin working on their article.
Chapter 11
Chloe tried, unsuccessfully, to ignore the throbbing pain that radiated from the center of her forehead. As the freight elevator bumped along towards the top floor of the building, her heart hammered in her chest. It had been a long time since Chloe had been in a position where she had been face to face with anyone of any real importance having been shuttled into geek central on the paper. Finally the elevator stopped and the door creaked open. Tentatively she stepped into the spacious loft apartment and visually soaked in the modern furniture, peppered with brightly colored accents.
“I’m not going to say it again,” a disembodied voice rumbled. “Just fix the problem alright?” She heard a grunt rise from the center of the room and a blond head poked itself up from laying down on a couch.
Clearing her throat, Chloe studied the tall man, Oliver Queen was even more handsome than the pictures that she constantly saw of him plastered all over the business and social sections of The Daily Planet. Oliver Queen rubbed his goatee and smiled at her. “Sorry, I hate talking to company lawyers.” He put the phone down and walked towards her. Pumping her hand, he said, “Oliver Queen and you must be Chloe Sullivan.”
“Yes. I’m not too early am I?”
He smiled. “Right on time.” With a slight spring to his step, Oliver walked over to his bar, filled two glasses with ice and opened a bottle of mineral water that he poured into both glasses. He handed one to Chloe without her asking and ushered them over to his couches. He peered at her over the top of his glass and his eyes fell upon the lump on her forehead. “I’d hate to see the other guy.”
Chloe let out a small self-conscious sigh. “Accident prone.”
Leaning back, Oliver said, “So Clark tells me that you’re good with computers.”
“Yeah, I know my way around them,” she agreed but paused on extrapolating further, uncertain of how much she wanted to incriminate herself.
Oliver sensed that she was hiding something. He leaned forward and stated, “He said that you were arrested for hacking.” When he saw the panic rise into her eyes he put his hand up. “Don’t worry, frankly I find that to be an asset rather than a deal breaker.” His deep brown eyes penetrated in her direction. “I’ve assembled a team of highly skilled individuals who often go on sensitive projects where they could use someone to watch over their activities and help them from afar. From what Clark said about your skills, I think that you might make a good fit for that role.”
Intrigued, Chloe asked, “What would the role entail?”
“Monitoring their safety mostly. You’d need to be able to hack into security feeds and gain access to oftentimes high level secured servers and be able to assist them by shutting off security fields and such. Be able to break into security cameras to help the team navigate safely out of ops without detection…that sort of thing.”
Her eyes went wide. “You actually want me to utilize the skills that I went to prison for?” She exhaled deeply and stared at the floor, her mind spinning.
Oliver's eyes narrowed. “Clark did tell you that this was the job right?”
“He ah, didn’t really give me specifics. I’m surprised that he would approve of this sort of a thing for me,” Chloe muttered.
“Yeah, he does seem to be kind of a boy scout,” Oliver stated. “Look if you’re not interested, I get it. All of us risk a lot doing what we do. What I can tell you is that I’ll have your back. My team, they’re exceptional at getting out of sticky situations and if you’re as good as Clark seems to think, I’m sure that you can cover your tracks to protect yourself. I’ll be able to help you out with that. I’ve got access to the most advanced satellite networks on the planet. It would take a genius hacker to be able to track down the cyber footprints that my organization leaves behind. These guys by the way are all Clark’s friends.”
Chloe tapped her fingernails against her glass, her brows furrowed in deep concentration.
“We can start you off with just some research if you’d prefer and see how you like it.” He stood up and gruffly added, “Although I have to confess that at the moment I’m not quite sure why Clark referred you to me. We need someone with confidence and that seems to be sorely lacking from you.”
Her eyes burned with annoyance. “Have you ever spent time in prison Mr. Queen?” She rose to her feet and glared at him. “No privacy for anything…ANYTHING. Even in a women’s prison you’re always completely aware of your surroundings and not pissing off the wrong people.”
Oliver sensed that strength in Chloe coming forward that he had hoped was hiding in there. “So what did you do to assure your safety?”
“I made connections with the right people who could protect me and worked trades to make sure that I got put onto the safest job duties.”
He crossed his massive arms over his chest. “Sounds like you’ve got some good negotiating skills.”
Chloe realized what he was doing. “I suppose. I kept my nose clean because I wanted out of there. I don't ever want to go back.”
“Clark didn’t tell you anything, did he?”
She slowly shook her head. Her eyes narrowed on his lower face then and studied his jaw. These guys by the way are all Clark’s friends. Those words rattled in her brain. A connection popped in her mind. “You’re The Green Arrow, aren’t you?” Chills of excitement raced through her body.
A broad full grin spread over Oliver’s face. “Now that’s the kind of analytical mind that I’m looking for on my team.” He reached into his pocket and extracted a set of keys and pointed out the window. “See the old Woolsworth building over there and it’s clock tower?”
“Yes.”
“Head over there, take a look around and let me know if you see anything there that interests you.” He chucked her a cell phone. “Call me on that if you have any questions.”
Chloe stared at him stunned. “You’re hiring me?”
“Well you haven’t exactly said yes, so let’s just say that I’m giving you a test drive if you’d like. If you feel that what’s there will meet your needs and skills and help to keep you under the police's radar, maybe we can work together.”
“But you don’t even know me.”
Oliver’s dark eyes penetrated into her confused blue orbs. “Clark trusts you, believe me, that’s enough for me.” He smirked. “I’m not exactly going to argue with a guy who can shoot fire from his eyes, you know?”
Chloe grinned, tossed the keys and caught them. “I’ll give you a call later.”
“Just not in the evening. I have somewhere, non-League related to be.”
“Alright,” Chloe said turning to leave. “Oh and Mr. Queen? Thank you for giving me a chance. Not very many billionaires would even consider hiring a former con.”
“Chloe, my team is all about second chances.” They shared a small smile and Chloe darted to the elevator. As she punched the down button her belly continued to perform back flips, but this time instead of being caused by nerves – they were from excitement.
*****************************
Lois broke free of her dreamy non-productive gazing out her office window as she ceased watching the sun crawl towards the horizon. She and Clark had submitted their story a half an hour ago and were waiting on Perry’s verdict on it. The story, she felt, was balanced but lacked that big punch to make it past the front page’s top fold. Although Olsen's handsome photos of Superman in the thick of the near riot likely would give them a top page spot.
Her hazel eyes turned towards her partner. Clark was uncomfortably hunched over pouring over pages of tiny text on his computer screen. She remembered when they lived together at the Kent Farm when he was in High School and that Clark could throw perfect full field passes to his team mates on the Crow’s football team, now his eyes were so bad that he had to sit mere inches away from his computer monitor. She had always thought of him as a geek as a kid because he had been a stereotypical farmer teenager: sweet, hard working, and a poster boy for flannels and work boots. Her lip curled up slightly, although she used to rag on him about his appearance, there was always something comforting about his down to earth attire. As her eyes sized up his pin-stripe dress shirt and red silk tie that was still perfectly knotted at his neck, Lois admitted that he had grown up nicely. The glasses still reminded her of that geek kid who she used to terrorize with her “White Snake” marathons at three in the morning.
Instinctively she walked behind him and placed her hands on either side of his neck. For the briefest moment she felt his muscles tense up at the unexpected contact. She smiled and began moving her thumbs in circles at the base of the back of his neck. Lois felt Clark melt back into her touch and a small sigh escaped his lips as her thumbs worked deeper into his skin.
“What’s so attention captivating that you’re burning your retinas out reading that tiny print?” Lois asked. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull, the font must've been set to 6. “God Smallville, it's no wonder that you're as blind as a bat.” She shifted her head to peer around his left shoulder and shoved her arms forward to his keyboard, with his extreme size, she had to stand on her tip toes behind him. “Look, I’ve got a trick to show you.” She pressed down on the control button with her left hand and then scrolled upwards with his mouse’s wheel.
Clark made a very unmanly audible squeak as he watched the text grow larger. His large hands moved to cover Lois’s. “Show me how you did that.” She manipulated his large meathooks and puppeted his hands into repeating the steps. Lois flashed a lopsided grin as she realized that Clark was completely impressed.
She giggled, slowly moved her hands up his arms to his head, and ruffled his hair. “Still the same, Clark Kent.”
Clark spun in his chair, his knees crashed into hers and she lost her balance. Swiftly Clark snatched her and placed his beautiful brunette partner into his lap. Still smiling, he asked, “You hungry? Want to go grab something?”
Lois stared at him with a slightly scandalized expression at his audacity and forwardness. She knew that she should jump out of his lap, but for some reason, it felt…right being there. “You are something else…bumbling rookie one moment and charming Charlie the next.”
“I live to keep people guessing,” Clark offered back. His smile dropped as their office door crashed open. Lois bolted out of Clark’s lap, eyes wide and cheeks hot with guilt as Perry filled their doorway. Clark looked on slightly sheepish, like a dog that just got caught chasing chickens; he was sorry to get caught, but not sorry about having fun.
Perry arched a brow at them. “Celebrating a good day of reporting? Well it’s not over yet, Lane and Kent. The Senator just arrived in town and is holding a fundraiser black tie event – I want both of you there to cover it.”
“Lex Luthor is in town?” Clark asked, suddenly all business. His eyes flickering to the bills that he had been critically examining that Lex had voted into law.
“Yes. Try to find out what’s hot in Washington right now, will you? We could use some good DC news for the paper,” White insisted. He tossed a press bundle at Lois.
“How about our article?”
“The chemical plant piece? Nicely balanced – not sexy but I think that after running that piece we should see fewer near riots over there. Olsen's photos helped get you guys over the fold on that one. You’re still digging for some follow-up dirt on it though aren’t you?”
“Yes, Chief,” Clark agreed.
Lois backed up Clark. “Clark sensed that something squirrely might be going on over there. We’re working a few other angles.” Clark resisted the pull of his right lip at the way that Lois jumped in and supported him when both of them knew that the story was essentially dead.
“Good to hear! Let me know how that party went…remember find out what they’re doing with our tax dollars!” Perry then exited the office leaving Lois and Clark alone.
“I guess rain check on that dinner invite?” Clark asked standing up. “Want me to pick you up? I’m sure that parking will be limited around the Plaza.”
“Sure,” Lois said, her eyes traveled up Clark’s tall frame. “Do you have a tux?”
He pulled on his jacked, grabbed Lois’s and helped her into it. “Affirmative.”
“We want to get there just when the event begins so that we can see who all arrive and make a list of them to decide who are the most important people to talk to and who not to waste your time on.”
Clark examined the party invite that Perry had provided along with the press passes. “I wonder what Lex is up to? Why would he bother coming back to Metropolis right now? It's not like elections are even this year.”
The pair headed towards the elevator and Lois shrugged. “Who knows why Senator Cue-ball does what he does”
“Maybe he's about to pass a bill that'll make him unpopular with the voters back home and he's trying to do a peremptory strike on public opinion and is going to make some big charitable donation or something to try to distract people.”
Lois laughed, pounded the elevator button and crossed her arms over her chest. “Wow, old grudges never die with you, do they?”
A look of deep concern crossed Clark's face. “He's not to be trusted, Lois. I've known Lex for a long time he never does anything without having some alterior motive backing up his actions.”
The doors chimed open and they waited for the car to empty before climbing in. Lois smiled. “I'd forgotten about that.”
“About what?” Clark asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.
“You Kent men – you expect a lot out of people, lord help those who do not live up to your code of ethics.”
Clark grinned. “We believe in justice and common sense and decency. I don't see that there's anything wrong with expecting people to live by a moral code.”
She arched a brow at him. “People are flawed though, we make mistakes.” Her hazel eyes peered deeply into his own. “I want you to go to this party with an open mind Clark. It's possible that Lex learned from his mistakes and that he's a changed man.”
Impressed, Clark was slightly taken aback. “Isn't that usually my line?”
“Yep, usually it is,” Lois lobbed back. “Good thing that you have me around to help to keep your mind straight, right Smallville?”
He leaned towards her and in a husky voice barbed, “That is a good thing because being around you again, makes me imbalanced.”
The doors opened and they headed towards the garage. Chuckling at Clark's bumbling flirting, Lois beeped her door open and Clark waited until she was safely inside. He peered through her door and said, “I promise to be on my best behavior, Lois.”
“Good,” she said, with a grin. “Because these things can get pretty dry and dull fast which makes that liquor go down even faster. I can't make that same promise.”
“In that case, I'll pick you up. Seven?”
She grinned. “Sounds good, Smallville.” Clark closed her door and watched as she pulled her car out and exited the garage.
With a smile on his face, Clark activated his superhearing. He stared at his watch, he had an hour to kill before he needed to get ready for the evening. Zeroing in on a young girl's cry, in superspeed, he changed and blasted off across the city.
Chapter 12
After having to punch a hole through six feet of dirt to break through an unused drainage pipe to retrieve a little girl’s rat terrier who’d gotten himself trapped underground, talking a distraught young man from jumping off of the Metropolis bridge, snatching a pedestrian out of the way of a runaway delivery truck’s path, hog-tying two jewelry store robbers before they could get their hands on some cash, and helping an elderly woman carry her groceries into her apartment, Clark Kent arrived home to change into his tuxedo that Martha had pressed for him.
He came down the stairs with his shiny dress shoes gently tapping out a quick pace. Martha’s face lit up like the fourth of July with pride. “Oh Clark, you’ve grown into such a handsome man,” she said, fussing with his jacket’s lapels.
Clark patted his jacket pocket to make sure that his glasses were in place. He stroked the front of his dress shirt to smooth it and asked, “You think Lois will be impressed?”
Jonathan’s eyebrows shot up. “Son, she’d be crazy not to be.”
“How’re things going on the Lois front?” Kara asked, chomping down a large forkful of salad.
Remembering his partner draping herself over him this afternoon in his office, Clark smiled. “Going as planned. She seems to be getting more comfortable with me again, which is a good thing.”
Kara jabbed a fork in his direction. “Explain to me again why you aren’t just telling her outright that you’re Superman?”
Clark shrugged uncomfortably. “She’s somewhat different than she was before. I knew her longer in the past reality and we had more time to get to know each other. Besides I want to make sure that she’s in love with ME and not Superman.”
“Won’t she get pissed that you’ve been lying to her?” Kara asked, eating more of her dinner.
“Lois will be pissed regardless of when I tell her, it’s all a matter of finding the right moment to ensure that Hurricane Lois doesn’t strike land afterward.” Clark gave his cousin an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been around to show you how to use your powers.”
“It’s alright, Mr. Kent has been helping me,” Kara replied.
Eyebrows shooting up, Clark grinned. “Really? And how is that going, Dad?”
“Oh you know, I’ve had experience doing this once before, it’s pretty much the same,” Johnathan replied with a smile.
“That bad huh?”
Kara looked offended. “I’m a good student, thank you very much!”
Johnathan laughed. “It’s not so bad, son. In fact, it’s rather nice having another youngster in the house, it makes me feel young again myself.”
Clark glanced at his watch, put on an overcoat, and made his way towards the door. “I’ll see you all later.”
“Have a good time Clark!” Martha said as they watched him fly out and into the night.
******************************
Taking a deep breath Clark patted his hair into place and stuffed his glasses on before knocking on Lois’s door. He heard a frazzled voice inside order, “It’s open, come on in Clark!”
Clark cracked her door and walked inside. He started saying, “You know living in the big city it’s not very safe to have your door unlo….” Words froze in his mouth as he turned and saw Lois standing along the backside of her couch, leaning over putting a heel on. She quickly straightened, stomped into her heel, and flashed him a lopsided smile. Lois had her hair twisted into an intricate braid on her head with loose curls spiraling around her face and bangs. She wore a pale lavender cocktail dress that plunged in the front and came out in a belle shaped chiffon skirt. Around her neck she wore a set of off white pearls that matched the tiny seed pearls that decorated the entire top portion of her dress. Sparkling silver hoop earrings dangled on her ears. She had applied evening make-up that accentuated her eyes and made her lips glossy and full.
Lois herself was visually examining her partner, with his hair styled perfectly into place, and his classically tailored tuxedo that peeked out from a wool black overcoat with a white silk scarf tucked into the collar, he looked like he had just stepped out of a 1940’s black and white film; all that he was missing was the top hat. Even with his square jaw locked into a dazed expression he was breathtakingly handsome.
She gulped and squeaked, “You clean up nicely, Smallville.”
Clark approached her and took one of her hands in his, gently he raised it over her head and lightly turned her around in a circle in front of him so that he could examine her from all angles. The back of her dress had a square opening that revealed a pattern of three tiny moles that she had on her back. Lois smiled with giddiness at Clark’s playfulness. “You’re stunning, Lois.” Before Lois could react, Clark placed a hand in the small of her back and pulled her against him. He stared deeply into her eyes and stated, “I wish that we weren’t going to a job, I don’t know if I’m going to like sharing you with everyone at that party looking like this.”
Lois gazed back into his green eyes and asked, “Since when did bumbling Clark Kent turn into a world class flirt?”
“When he grew up and realized that the only person worthy of laying his eyes on is the stunning woman who he’s holding in his arms,” Clark replied with a grin.
Lois groaned. He contemplatively puckered his mouth a bit. “Too much?”
She chewed on her lower lip, secretly she started to feel slightly dizzy from his flattery. She found it strangely exciting that he was getting to her. “Just a bit over the top.”
With flair Clark spun her out of his arms and Lois stopped twirling right in front of her jacket and purse. She handed her coat to Clark who held it out for her. While he lowered it onto her shoulders he inhaled her scent, hints of lavender mixed with spicy perfume. Lois felt his large form behind her and without thinking she leaned back against him and placed a hand upon his cheek. Clark peered down her shoulder and examined the line of her jaw and tried to meet her eyes to find out what she was thinking. From her somewhat confused expression, he could tell that she didn’t quite know what she was doing either. Lightly he slipped his arms around her waist and buttoned her coat for her and then rested his hands at the center of her body’s core.
Lois could smell Clark’s masculine scent from behind her. On top of his musky aftershave she detected the light smell of rain. “Is it raining out?”
Clark’s eyes widened remembering that he’d flown closely next to the clouds on his way over, he must’ve trapped a small bit of condensation in his coat. Thinking fast he replied, “No, but it was drizzling a little in Smallville when I left there.”
Seconds slipped by and Clark gently turned her around to face him. Her eyes penetrated his and she chewed on her lower lip. Lois seemed lost over what she was doing, realization of her inaction broke over her features and flustered, she broke the moment, cleared her throat and in a husky voice stated, “We should go, don’t want to be late.”
Although Clark felt disappointment rise as she pulled away, but he knew that she was correct; they were on a schedule. Lois grabbed her purse, fussed slightly with her hair, and led Clark out of her apartment. After locking it she looped her arm in his that he offered and they headed to his truck.
Lois had a wide smile on her face as she climbed into the passenger’s seat. Clark closed the door and asked through the window that she had rolled down, “Why are you smiling?”
“You, you’re still the farm-boy. I wore this dress because I knew that the chariot that you’d bring to get me in would arrive on giant truck tires.”
“You can take the boy off of the farm..” Clark said with a smirk and then jogged around the truck to climb into the driver’s seat.
In her seat, Lois whispered, “Just please don’t ever take it completely out of him.”
*********************
Lois and Clark clipped on their press passes and made it through security before entering through the doors of the swanky penthouse apartment that Lex Luther owned in Metropolis. Lois immediately grabbed a glass of champagne and began whispering to Clark the resumes of each of the party guests. She subversively pointed to a poofy gray haired woman wearing a long sparkling blue dress that was overly fancy for the occasion. “That’s Margaret Stronghold, she’s the widow of former Governor Martinson’s brother. Steer as clear of her as possible, unless you want to be cornered for an hour strong-armed into listening to her go on and on about how well her prize winning Persians are doing on the cat show circuit.” Her eyes suddenly fell upon a tall form heading in their direction. “And that is...”
Clark threw his hand out and strongly grabbed an extended hand. With a smile, Clark said, “Oliver Queen. I didn't know that you were going to be here tonight.”
“Shockingly the Senator wouldn't pick up a call from me if I had news that his estate in Smallville was burning to the ground, however, whenever he's here and wants money, it's funny how an invitation always finds it's way into my mailbox,” Oliver replied with a smirk. His eyes then fell upon Clark's lovely partner. “Your photos don't do you justice, Miss Lane.”
Clark's eyes burned with sharp annoyance as he watched Lois smile brightly as Oliver kissed the top of her hand. With a single step, Clark blocked half of Lois and coldly asked, “Aren't there other debutantes here who are dying to find themselves on the arm of Metropolis's most eligible bachelor?”
Both Oliver and Lois looked at Clark with surprise.
“I suppose, but I do confess that I prefer for women to have brains in their head that they know how to use.”
“Keep looking around, Oliver. I'm sure that there are plenty of them here tonight,” Clark ordered.
Lois stood between then and arched a brow. “OK I don't know what's going on here, but dry cleaning this dress would cost me a fortune, I need to get it away from this pissing match. Why don't you both just take them outside and measure them, alright?” With a lopsided smirk, Lois rolled her eyes and retreated towards the closest waiter carrying around champagne goblets.
Oliver shook his head at Clark. “Subtle, Clark.”
“Look, she's confused enough already without you coming in to confuse matters,” Clark anxiously explained, rubbing his hand nervously on his neck. His eyes scanned the room attempting to locate his lovely partner.
“Yes, I read her expose, she sounded like a woman in love,” Oliver further tormented.
Clark's annoyed eyes glared into Oliver's. “She's got a crush. And if we weren't assigned to come to this thing, I would've had her on a date this evening.”
Oliver grinned. “Go out and measure them. That woman's got fire to her. You sure that you can handle that much woman, Clark?”
Smirking deeper he replied, “I certainly can better than you.” Clark exhaled and closed his eyes. “I'm sorry, Oliver. I'm just...”
“Crazy in love? Don't worry about it, Clark, you've spoken and have been heard loud and clear,” Oliver responded in order to prevent his burly friend from having to further explain himself. “Not that I blame you, if I had a woman like that in my sights, I'd probably go all Neanderthal around anyone who tried to get between us also.”
Annoyance blazed in Clark's eyes, yet he smirked. Grabbing two glasses of champagne and handing one to Oliver, he asked, “So why do you think that we're here?”
“Lex didn't say on his invite other than it's a matter of great importance. Seriously he's on one big power trip if he really thinks that his opinion means that much in Washington,” Oliver stated.
Scrunching his brows together contemplatively, Clark inquired, “What do you mean by that?”
Oliver's brown eyes flickered in Clark's direction. “I have it on good authority that the Washington elite don't think much of him. They don't overly trust him because they believe that he somehow rigged his election. He's kept himself mostly clean since he's been in Washington, but there is a stain on his position there.”
“I wouldn't be so sure of that Intel,” Lois responded, sidling back up to her partner. She cocked her head towards the study doors. Approximately 15 men and women all wearing business suits and surrounded by men in black poured into the room.
Mentally Clark checked the faces against those of the members of the Senate including the head of the Senate. His eyes widened when they fell upon Vice President Hogan. “What are you up to, Lex?”
As if on cue, several other people poured out of the study doors including an African American woman who nearly filled the space of the double doors. Behind her Lex arrived and with a hand casually stuffed into his pocked he addressed the crowd. “I wanted to thank you all for coming here this evening. I hope that you all are enjoying the food and champagne, because I strongly recommend that you hold onto good times and good memories; for I fear that they will be far in between in the coming days.”
Oliver, Clark, and Lois all shared puzzled expressions. The room went black and a large screen mechanically dropped from the ceiling above. Lex began tapping on an electronic remote and satellite images appeared on the screen.
“About a month ago something came down from out of the sky and landed in the ocean. This thing destroyed a fishing crew,” Lex explained, showing a tiny image of something large hulking in a fishing boat in night waters. Clark and Oliver knowingly stared at each other and then ripped their attention back to the screen as Lex showed swashes through the African jungles that looked like a bulldozer had cleared a path.
Lois leaned into Clark. “Clark?”
“Um huh?”
“Was this the thing that you reported on to Perry White when you first came back to Metropolis?”
Clark gulped, he sometimes hated how observant Lois could be. He shrugged. “I don't know Lois, I never got a look of it.”
“Three days ago it made it's way to a large seaport outside of Cairo.” Lex showed everyone several gruesome images of bodies that had been ripped to shreds. The older men and women in the room screamed and turned away from the carnage.
“That's BARBARIC! Why are you showing this to us, Senator?” Ms. Stronghold wailed.
“Because, it has vanished off of the face of the planet. We don't know where it had disappeared to, until today.” Lex showed them a large shipping cargo freighter in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Clark walked closer to the satellite image. Activating his macro vision he could see human body parts strewn all over it as well.
“This freighter was located 200 miles off of the East Coast, the entire crew was dead,” Lex explained.
Lois brushed past Clark and stormed into the center of the room. “Lex, this information looks like top military intelligence. What on earth is possessing you to show it all to us tonight?”
“Lois, you should know the answer to that question,” Lex challenged. He stared into her blank and confused eyes. Placing a finger under her chin, he invaded her personal space. “Of all of the people in Metropolis, you should be able to figure it out.”
Understanding dawned. “You want Superman.”
A knot twisted in Clark's chest.
“Yes, Lois. I want Superman...I want his help. Our country needs his help. This creature is going to threaten our very existence. I believe that Superman could help our military come up with a line of defense to stop this beast before it takes American lives,” Lex stated. “Today, both Congress and the Senate had closed door sessions and have agreed to fund a brand new special branch of the military that is entirely focused on locating and capturing this thing.”
The light of the satellite played over Lex's features and he added, “We would like Superman to helm this special organization. Vice President Hogan agreed to come here to show our Super charged ally that even the White House is behind this.”
The room erupted in mumbles. Lex turned off the projector and the lights went back on. Before Clark could walk up to Lex, Oliver placed a hand on his huge bicep. “Don't fall for it, Clark. You see that woman standing behind him? That's Agent Amanda Waller, she's ruthless. Lex always had his pet project in studying meteor freaks, right? Waller was a part of a government project that did the same thing. Only our boys in blue, they weren't nearly as humanitarian in their treatment of their subjects as Lex was. I guarantee you if you side with Lex you'll find yourself strapped to a chair and experimented on.”
Clark stared evenly at him. “Don't worry, I have no intention of giving myself over to Lex.”
Clark stepped out of the shadows and stood beside Lois, his massive frame towered over Lex. A small anemic smile plastered itself over Lex's face. “Clark Kent. You know I thought that I saw your name sharing a byline with Miss Lane here on a front page story...but frankly, I thought it was a typo.”
“You should know Lex that I've always taken initiative in tracking down the truth. Being a reporter was a logical career move for me to utilize my instincts,” Clark shot back.
“Well, I always guessed that you were too good for the farm. Good for you, Clark.”
Lex made to turn away from his old acquaintances and Clark asked, “What's your interest in Black Creek Montana, Lex? Planning a new location for a secret lab?”
Smiling, Lex said, “Now THERE'S the Clark Kent that I know...” he turned and faced his old friend. “Always making wild accusations without having facts to back them up.”
Clark approached Lex and towered over him. “You signed three of Senator Boyton of Montana's bills in the past several months that were all boring land grants – not exactly the stuff that I'm sure would interest you in any other way, other than article 856 of the latest Billings Land Expansion Grant that stated that an ex-Vietnam era military base in Black Creek would be decommissioned and released for public sale.” Clark further invaded Lex's space. “Two days after that grant was passed, one of LuthorCorp's subsidiaries went in and bought the entire land.”
“Really, Clark? You actually READ the bills that we pass? Do you know that most Senators have no idea what is in each of those bills? We mostly just get the cliff notes versions to vote on,” Lex joked.
“What are you going to do with the lab, Lex? You own it now,” Clark demanded.
In a low voice, Lex said, “Fine if you must know, it's the perfect location as headquarters for Task Force X – the group that we've just passed into law today to capture that beast. The facility was under utilized by the service and under funded. I agreed to buy it and keep it running at my own expense. I'm doing the country a service Clark. There's nothing insidious in my actions. If you'll excuse me, I have other guests to attend to.”
Clark glanced at his partner. Lois's brow was arched and she was tapping her foot. “He's hiding something.”
“Yeah, I know,” Clark agreed.
“Dirty rat won't get away with it.” Turning on her heel Lois headed to the door and grabbed her coat. “Come on Smallville, we have a story to write.”
“What are you going to say?” Clark asked, as he helped her into her coat.
“Not what he's suggesting,” Lois answered, storming out of the penthouse. Clark threw on his coat in hot pursuit. “I'm quite sure that Lex thinks that Superman is going to just man up and become the Government's puppet. We have to warn him against that, Clark, and FAST.” As the elevator doors closed on them, Lois said, “He's doesn't want Superman as an ally Clark, he wants to dissect him.”
“Whatever happened to giving Lex some leeway?”
Lois pounded on the elevator door. “That was before he decided to mess with my Superman.”
The doors shut and Clark felt a strange mixture of pride and horror at Lois's determination to protect Superman. He did decide one thing though, he was much happier having Lois on his side, than not and found himself pitying Lex for the hell that he would likely face from his partner if he dared to mess with Superman. With that thought, Clark smiled.
Chapter 13
The hours ticked away and before Clark knew it rays of pre-dawn light began to brighten the sky outside their Daily Planet office window. He dug his hand’s heels into his eyes to wipe away sleep and replaced his glasses. Blinking a few times he scanned over their article one last time seeking out typos and grammatical errors. After not finding any, he peered over his monitor and asked, “Lois, alright if I submit our article?”
Lois’s bloodshot eyes were gazing intently at a spot on the floor. “Earth to Lois…”
She shook her head and sighed, “Sorry Clark. If it’s free of typos get it in, we should be able to just make the morning edition. The printers are holding a spot for it on the main page.”
Clark called down to the printing room and informed them that the article was on the way. He then stood up, pulled on his coat and offered his hand to his partner. “Come on, we’re going home.”
Lois allowed her partner to roll her up into her coat and lead her towards the elevators. The bullpen only had a slight hum as early morning staffers began arriving for their morning duties.
The elevator opened and Perry White stepped out. He held up his phone. “Just read the article, good writing you both. Take the day off.”
Smirking, Lois replied, “Oh please, Chief, since when do you know me to take a day off? A couple of hours sleep and I’ll be ready for an evening follow-up.”
All light fell from Perry’s face. “It wasn’t a suggestion, Lane. You haven’t taken a day off in weeks – that’s an order.”
Sleep vanished from her eyes. “But Chief…! What if Superman responds….?”
“I’m sure if he feels the need to have his favorite publicity girl share his reply with the world, that he’ll find a way to give you the exclusive scoop. If not, don’t worry, I have a whole building of able writers who can fill in for you for a day,” Perry responded, backing away and moving towards his office. “Kent make sure that I don’t see her until tomorrow morning – that’s an order!”
Clark helped Lois into the elevator and paused as Perry cleared his throat. “Kent, I’m sorry. I should’ve printed that story that you brought us on the day that you arrived here.”
Smiling, Clark replied, “Well you can thank Senator Luther for the satellite photos that he sent us, we now have the pictures to go along with the story.”
Perry grinned, raised his fingers to his forehead and saluted Clark on his way.
Lois’s shoulders slumped, dejected. “He hasn’t even bothered to glance in my direction since that exclusive interview. Why would Superman single me out now?”
Clark steered her into the open elevator and pushed the lobby button. “I’m sure that he’s just been busy, Lois.”
She looked away unconvinced. Twenty minutes later they arrived on her doorstep. Lois opened the door and Clark followed her inside. He removed her coat and Lois turned and glanced up at her partner, his once perfectly combed hair was now sticking up all over the place, his tie hung loosely around his neck and the top buttons of his dress shirt were wide open to reveal a perfectly chiseled V at the top of his chest. Somehow, even messy and tired Clark still managed to look dashing. She searched into his green eyes she felt a strange sense of peace wash over her. As she stared at Clark she realized that if she allowed herself, she could let her guard down for him, and completely expose herself to him. She wouldn’t care. Lois knew that Clark would never take her for granted. He was a rock and for the first time in her life she wanted to feel less like stone herself.
A sliver of fear crept through her senses. She felt herself standing at a fork in a road. Making up her mind she decided to do something that she never did, Lois would hand Clark the reigns, and let him decide which path that she should take. Cocking her head she said, “Follow me, Smallville.”
Shock registered in Clark’s eyes as he squeaked, “Excuse me?”
Too tired to argue, Lois said, “I’ve got a guest room that you can sleep in.” Clark shrugged out of his coat and followed her down her hall. She flicked on a light and Clark found himself staring into a very hot pink bedroom. Pink walls glared back at him and a graphic black and hot pink bedspread covered the bed. Accessories all over the black furniture were also pink. For a moment, Lois didn’t understand the dumbstruck expression on Clark’s face. She then burst into laughter and stroked a hand against his arm. “Sorry, the decorating in here wasn’t my choice. This is Lucy’s room whenever she’s in town.”
Clark grinned and sighed with relief. “How often do you see her?”
“Who? Lucy? She’s here every few weeks. She’s got a sales job and she’s on the road a lot…jet setting around the world as usual.” A hint of bitterness entered her tone. “Nothing but the high life for my sister.”
Crossing his arms, Clark leaned against the hallway wall and stared into her eyes. “I thought that you were over being jealous of your sister.”
She sighed. “I am, really. I guess that I’m just tired,” she lied. Every blood vessel in her body crackled with anticipation. Clark peered over her shoulder and gazed into a cracked door that he assumed was her bedroom. Seeing where his eyes were going Lois’s skin quivered, she placed a foot forward onto a path that promised change. She pushed her door open and stopped in the door’s threshold. Lois pointed at her shoulder blades. Gently Clark unhooked the top of her dress and unzipped it for her. His eyes followed the line of her back and saw it gape open enough to show a peep of lacy panties and suddenly he felt very hot. She stepped into her room and Clark shifted his focus and studied the colors in her room, sky blue and yellow with hints of red.
His colors.
Clark’s eyes fell on a couple of photographs on her wall and his mouth fell open.
Lois’s cheeks burned slightly. “Why are you surprised, Clark? The time that I lived on the Kent farm, I look back on those years with great fondness; they were the best years of my life. Your family gave me a real home.” She turned and burned her gaze into his eyes.
“Even with me on it?” Clark asked, arching a brow.
“Well, admittedly, I did sorta think of you as a dorky over protective brother-type.” Clark felt his jaw clench and then loosen as her eyes travelled down the full length of his body. She took a step backwards into the center of her bedroom, as if tethered by an invisible string, Clark followed. “Boy that was stupid of me…” her eyes flickered back towards his and in a single motion, her dress billowed into a lavender pile at her feet. “wasn’t it?”
In a heartbeat, Clark had his arms around her waist and crashed his lips upon hers. All of the pent up desire that he’d been bottling up for weeks erupted as he gathered his willing beloved into his arms. Lois groaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, digging her left hand fingers into his hair while she threw her legs around Clark’s waist she tightened them behind his massive form locking her in place. Her right hand fingers tugged at his shirt’s button holes. Clark really wanted to help her out, but feared that if he put her down, the woman he loved more than life itself would come to her senses and banish him into that girly room alone. His hands smothered her against him. He felt the heat of her body through his clothes and felt his senses leaving him. She gyrated her hips against his waistband slightly as their kiss deepened. Her fingers finally released the buttons from their prisons and knowing that Clark had a firm hold of her she ripped his shirt off of his arms and down his back. Jumping down from his waist, Lois tugged on his belt bringing him closer towards her so that she could manipulate the buckle. Clark stepped out of his shoes and yanked his undershirt off exposing his massive bare chest to her.
Clark’s large hands knotted themselves into her updoo and released her hair from the braids. Her dark hair billowed around her shoulders. His eyes fell on her lacy cream colored strapless bra and panties and in a husky voice, he asked, “Are you sure? You’re not just going for me because Superman’s not here?”
Lois turned, climbed on her bed, reached behind herself, and unhooked her bra. “I’m not interested in a fantasy, Clark. I want a real man. I want you.”
With a wide grin, Clark shoved all doubt from his mind and flew into her open arms.
*************************
“Did you know that I secretly had a thing for you, even way back when?” Lois asked from the crook of Clark’s arm. Her leg tangled with his under her covers. “I thought that you were a dorky farmboy, but I liked that about you.”
Clark squinted in disbelief and asked, “Why in the hell didn’t you ever say anything?”
“Because, you were in love with Lana and you never even knew that I was alive.”
Clark felt her heart beat against his chest, his fingers stroked her back. “Trust me, I knew that you were alive. And all of my snarking – all of my joking, I was masking the fact that I couldn’t ever take my eyes off of you,” Clark replied. He nuzzled her hair. “Even when Lana was in the same room you always outshined her. I guess I was just too blind to understand what was going on.”
“You were one screwed up teenager,” Lois stated, matter of fact.
Clark grinned. “Back at you.”
She yawned and snuggled closer to him, a large contented smile oozed across her face.
Realizing that he needed to tell her at some point, Clark cleared his throat. “I have something that I should probably tell you, Lois.” He stroked her back. Feeling a bit nervous he said, “There was a reason that I was so screwed up as a teenager. You see, I wasn’t like everyone else. I had this giant secret that was keeping…a secret that no one could know. It was big. I’m somewhat surprised that you never figured it out being as intuitive as you are.” Clark stared at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “I’m not from here, Lois. I’m…” His ears detected a sound and he turned his head towards his chest. “Lois?”
Flopping his head against her pillow Clark groaned, she was snoring away, happily asleep.
“I promise, I’ll tell you tomorrow,” he whispered and promptly followed her to dreamland.
*************************
Clark awoke to the smell of something burning. Shrugging into a pair of flannel boxer shorts that Lois had laid out for him Clark followed the acrid scent without a lot of worry, having lived with Lois for a couple of years on the Kent farm, he learned to recognize the stench of her cooking disasters. He found Lois dancing around her kitchen waving away smoke, she wore a tight tank top and undies. With a grin, Clark billowed his cheeks and blew a large amount of the smoke out towards her open patio door.
He walked behind her and snuggled her waist. “What are you trying to make, Lois?”
Annoyed and angry she threw a skillet layered with black burnt gunk into her sink. “It was supposed to be pancakes.”
Clark nuzzled her neck and reached onto her drying rack and extracted a clean skillet. “Want me to make breakfast?”
“NO! I can do it,” Lois insisted, yanking the pan out of his hand.
“I can help,” Clark offered.
Lois’s eyes widened and then closed as Clark’s hands roamed under her tank top and down her left thigh. “That’s not really helping me…to cook…”
“Not really hungry for food,” Clark countered, taking the pan out of her hand again, he flicked off the stove and twirled her out of the kitchen. Clark crashed her against his body and descended on her lips. Lois gently extracted his glasses and put them on the counter and then greedily grabbed his face as tightly as possible in her hands all of the while powering her entire soul into their kiss. Clark felt extremely light headed and giddy as his hands traveled across her back pulling her tank top higher. In three steps they were on her couch and became a web of arms and legs. Clark’s fingers were working their way towards her panties waistband when they were interrupted by an insistent buzzing.
Lois pleaded into his mouth, “Ignore it…day off.”
Grinning, Clark said, “I’ll get rid of them.” Lois groaned, sat up and nibbled on his neck while Clark grabbed his coat, and extracted his cell phone from his pocket. Without bothering to ask who it was, he blurted, “This had better be good.”
“We need you here NOW Clark,” Oliver’s insistent voice barked into the phone. Clark closed his eyes and focused on the feel of Lois’s lips as they explored his neck. He inhaled with anticipation as she boldly pulled open the flap of his boxers.
“Why?” Clark asked, tilting his head, Lois found his lips and claimed them as her own.
Ollie’s barely audible voice barked back, “This thing is your mess, Clark. You need to come clean it up.”
Clark let go of their kiss and Lois straddled him on the couch. She wiggled her eyebrows and pushed herself down his legs onto the floor. There she settled in and pulled his legs around her. Clark stared at the ceiling his eyes wide as she yanked his boxers clear off. “Is it…causing…any…problems???” He squeaked the last word between the quickening of his breath.
There was a pregnant pause on the phone. “You know, I’m sure that we’d all love to hang out with our girlfriends rather than deal with marauding monsters, Clark, but right now, we don’t have that luxury.”
“Is it causing…problems?” Clark insisted, his world began blurring around him as Lois’s lips and tongue performed magical feats that made concentration near impossible.
“Not yet. Nobody knows where it is…”
“GREAT, call me when you hear any news.” In a split second Clark turned off the phone, dropped it on the floor, reached down, and pulled Lois back onto his lap. With a twinkle in his eye he teased, “No fair allowing me to have all of the fun alone.”
Lois squeaked as Clark gathered her in his arms, then stood up, and teased, “Your hair smells like smoke, I think that you need a bath.”
Placing her on the floor and taking her hand, Clark led her giddily towards the bathroom.
******************
An hour and a half later, they emerged, squeaky clean, and feeling rejuvenated. Wearing his tux pants and undershirt, while Lois wore a t-shirt and jeans, Lois’s wet hair clung to her shoulders and she grinned at him.
“I don’t think that I’ll ever look at a bathtub the same again thanks to you,” she teased.
“Water’s good for a lot of things, other than just drinking,” Clark replied.
Lois inhaled his lips. When she let go, she gushed, “Yes, it does a body good.”
Clark put on his dress shirt and picked up his coat. Lois pouted. “I need to get a change of clothes Lois. And I’ll grab us some dinner.” Clark stuck his finger in her face. “No sneaking off to work while I’m gone.”
With a twinkle in her eye, Lois took his finger into her mouth and tickled it with her tongue. Clark suddenly wondered if he was making a mistake leaving. She handed it back to him then and sighed. “Go get your spare clothes…not that you really need them.”
“I’ll be back before you know it,” Clark promised. Kissing her deeply, Clark smiled and forced himself out of her apartment.
Once he was out of her sight, Clark rushed to the farm where he did a quick change before zipping back to Metropolis to face Oliver’s wrath.
*******************************************************
Chapter 14
“…Oliver Queen’s been calling and calling, Clark. Clark? Hello?”
Images of flying through white clouds evaporated into puffs of pale blond hair. Clark blearily found himself staring into his cousin’s large blue eyes. Jamming the heels of his hands into his eyes to wipe the sleep from them, he peered suspiciously at Kara. “How long have you been sitting there?”
A sly grin slithered across Kara’s face. “Long enough to see that you were very, VERY happy in sleep land, cuz.”
He flopped his head into his pillows as reality erased away the last traces of mental erotic pleasure that he’d partaken in during his evening slumber. “What do you want, Kara?”
“Oliver Queen keeps calling you, he says that he wants you to come over today.”
“Was it urgent?”
“No, I guess he must’ve felt that I was unreliable as a messenger because he called here three times trying to make sure that he left his message for you,” she replied, her brows scrunched together in confusion.
Clark laughed. “I think that I might’ve forgotten to mention you to him – he probably had no idea who he was talking to.”
She shrugged and stared sharply at him. “So out with it.”
“Out with what?”
“What were all of the happy chipmunk noises about?” she teased.
Clark narrowed his eyes. “Like I’m going to tell you.”
“You should you know. I took courses on dream analysis back on Kandor. I could help you to dissect them and get to the bottom of any unresolved issues that you might be trying to solve while you sleep,” she answered proudly.
He shoved his fingers through his thick dark hair and smiled broadly. “I think that I’m good, Kara. But thank you for your offer.” He attempted to shove himself onto his elbows and make his way out of bed.
Kara pushed down on his covers and glared into his eyes. “Are you sure? Towards the end there, you looked guilty.”
“Guil..ty?” Clark stammered with disbelief.
“Yes.” She stared sternly at him. “The funny thing about dreams is that they usually tell us things that we weren’t even aware were bothering us.”
“Why would the people of Kandor think that dream analysis was important?”
“Because dreams work out things that oftentimes we can’t figure out in our conscious mind. Many of our greatest scientists came up with large advancements in technology after they had their dreams analyzed.”
He narrowed his eyes in his cousin’s direction. “You’re not going to let me up until I tell you, are you?”
Kara smiled sweetly. “Affirmative, Kal-El. Now spill.”
“Fine,” he growled. To the best of his recollection he recounted the dream back to her omitting the details that caused him to “make happy chipmunk noises” in his sleep.
Eyes glazed over and in deep thought, Kara began pacing in Clark’s room. “So what really happened last night?”
Knotting his fingers behind his head, Clark replied, “We got off late after staying up all night working on the Lex Luther story. I drove Lois home and said goodnight to her at her door and flew home.”
“No pink and black room sighting?”
“No. I have no idea how she has her spare room set up.”
“Interesting…OK did you meet Perry White on your way out of work last night?”
“No.”
“OK your conversation with him shows that you are resentful that he hasn’t acknowledged the fact that you brought this story to him weeks ago and could’ve made you a big shot reporter right off of the bat. You’d seem like a Johnny come lately if he tried to print it now that the cat is out of the bag,” Kara explained. “So much for your Pulitzer.”
Before Clark could respond, she plunged forward. “Did Lois complain about Superman not contacting her?”
“Yes,” he replied, annoyed.
“Well that explains why you were guilty over what you did in your dream. Consciously you know that Lois is still pining over Superman and yet you took advantage of her in your dream.”
“Advantage of her? In my dream? Isn’t that what dreams are for?” Clark cried out.
“Of course, and normally no one would think twice about it because face it, you were just living a fantasy right? The only problem was that you, yourself knew, even deep down in your subconscious that taking advantage of her now would be a bad idea because she’s confused. She even openly repeated her confusion DURING your dream, so even your dream self knew that you were being a dog when you jumped her bones.”
Clark felt a headache coming on as he glowered at Kara. He sighed, he couldn’t argue her point. “What else?”
“The scary bedroom is easy – you don’t want to be a guest in her house, you want to be in her room, with Lois. It’s why you visualized yourself all over her bedroom – photos of the farm, your colors in her decorating - you see it as being your home. A large part of you is screaming that you belong there.”
He had no response to that statement either.
“Did Lois have a thing for you in high school?”
“Yeah, intense hatred…or at least annoyance.”
“I think that whole conversation was more wishful thinking on your behalf. You know that Lois is who you truly belong with, yet I think that subconsciously you wish that you both had recognized your feelings sooner so that you wouldn’t be apart right now. Lois would’ve fallen in love with you first, not Superman,” Kara said, planting her fists on her hips. “I think that’s about it. Feeling any better?” She threw up a finger before he could reply. “Oh and the phone call with Oliver…subconsciously you literally enjoyed sticking it to him that you got the girl and he didn’t.”
Throwing his blankets off, Clark thrust his finger at his door. “Out!”
Kara pouted. “The truth hurts, huh?” With a smug expression on her face and leaving a waft of giggles on the air, she bounded out of his door and retreated downstairs.
Shaking his head Clark left the safety of his comfortable bedroom and headed into the bathroom to shower and get himself ready for the day.
An hour later, he and Kara were on the road in his truck.
“Explain to me again why we’re driving to Metropolis rather than flying?” She asked, enjoying the warm sun as it bathed down on her face through the window.
“Because I’m planning to stop by and see Lois after we stop at Oliver’s. I need wheels for that.” He turned and looked at her. “Feel free to fly off when we’re done…just don’t…”
“…Let anyone see me. Yeah, yeah,” Kara answered. “Is Superman ashamed of his cousin?”
“No. It’s just that the world is just getting used to there being one all powerful alien in the world, I don’t know how they’d take there being two.”
“Humans are weird, they probably would see it as a sign of a forthcoming invasion,” Kara replied, fiddling with the radio looking for a better station.
“Exactly,” Clark agreed.
“So you’ve decided that I’m trustworthy enough to meet your friend Oliver. That’s a step in the right direction,” Kara stated.
He shrugged. “You know more about Doomsday than I do, maybe you can shed some light on any intel that he has. Just be careful Kara.”
She studied the worried expression on her cousin's face. “What?”
“Oliver...he's never met a blond that he doesn't like.”
Smirking, Kara replied, “Don't worry, billionaire bachelors hold little appeal or interest for me.”
Clark beamed with pride and he lightly hummed as they wove their way through the busy streets of Metropolis.
“Where are we going again?”
Clark leaned out the window and stared up at the tower of the old Woolworth building. “There.”
************************
Clark pushed the stained glass doors at the top of the Woolworth tower open and ushered his cousin inside.
“What the hell, Clark? Did you not understand it when I said to keep this place a secret?” Oliver's voice boomed from above.
Before Clark could respond, a familiar female voice replied, “It's OK, she's his cousin.”
“Thanks, Chloe.” The short blond woman wove her way down the winding stairwell with a large grin plastered over her face.
“What do you think?”
“What is this place?”
“We call it the Watchtower, it's in the dead center of Metropolis, we can see the whole city from here. Perfect lair for a merry band of superheros don't you think?” Chloe asked with a bright smile on her face.
Clark smiled. “I take it Oliver hired you?”
“Yep! Been working all morning monitoring Queen Industry satellite signals looking for our missing spiny monster.”
Kara walked towards one of the large screens and began typing into the nearest terminal. Suddenly the screen exploded with a mad rush of satellite still images.
“Make yourself at home,” Chloe said, eyebrow arched.
“Thanks. These primitive machines are easy to use,” Kara cooly responded.
Chloe glowered at Clark who shrugged back.
Oliver stood beside Clark and watched while Kara blasted through the feeds. “You were looking FOR the creature, correct?”
“Yeah...?”
“You'll never find him that way.”
Clark walked beside his cousin, understanding her logic and explained. “You have to look for evidence of where he's been.”
“It snuck into the country. It spent weeks hiding in jungles undetected overseas, it won't want to come out into the open until it's ready to be seen...until it's found it's target.”
“Which will be?” Oliver inquired, eyebrows up.
“Clark and myself.”
Eyes wide, Clark stared at her. “Think that you could've shared that bit of information with me sooner? Why would it come looking for us?”
Her large, liquidy blue eyes bore up in his direction. “Because we're the last children of Krypton – our ancestors made that creature, tortured it, and then sent it flying off into space for millenniums. It's got to have a major grudge against anyone or anything Kryptonian.”
“How would it even know that we're here?” Clark asked as he watched Kara select topographic paths from Florida to Metropolis. She systematically began pulling live satellite feeds from the past 72 hours and began a brand new visual search.
“Likely it can smell us.” Before either members of the peanut gallery could comment, Kara continued. “When we use our powers we release a special pheromone that the creature likely can smell. Humans can't detect it.”
“And why can the creature?”
Kara glowered. “He was designed with that knowledge, it was embedded in it's DNA.” She paused her search and zoomed in on a forested area along the lowest area of the Appalachian Trail. “There!”
Oliver and Chloe walked up behind the two El cousins. “What are we looking at?”
“See that tree? It's gotta be over eighty feet tall. It was ripped right out at the roots and thrown down the mountain.”
Smirking, Oliver counted. “Come on, it could've toppled over in a recent mudslide, that doesn't prove anything.”
“No. It didn't fall down, LOOK at it.”
She zoomed further down the tree. Approximately fifteen feet from the base all of the branches were broken. “Something grabbed the tree right there, ripped it out from it's roots, and threw it down the side of the mountain. It was thrown a good four hundred feet before it bounced and landed another three hundred feet away..”
Chloe gulped. “That tree is four times larger than that creature.”
“Exactly” Kara began plotting out charts. “If my calculations are correct, it'll reach Metropolis by Friday.”
*****************
Clark sagged against the window sill and peered out the center of the large stained window that illuminated the tower with light. His eyes scanned the city that he loved so much. He knew that Kara was behind him and stated, “We should go looking for it, we can't let it reach the city. Thousands of people could get hurt if we lead it here.”
Placing a hand on his shoulder, Kara cleared her throat. “That's a lot of land for us to try to cover, Clark. We'd waste energy in the search. Trust me, it'll make it's presence known plenty early for us to take it on before it reaches Metropolis.”
Eyes large and contemplative, Clark said in a low voice. “You're sure we've only got about four days?”
“Plus or minus a couple of days at most.” Kara stared at her cousin's broad back. “Go to her, Clark. Spend as much time as you've got with her. I'll work with the team here try to come up with a plan of attack.”
“That doesn't seem fair.”
In a soft voice she responded. “And neither would it be if we died without your ever having a chance to tell Lois how you feel about her.”
“This creature, what do you think could destroy it?”
“I don't know. The scientists of old threw everything at it and it just became more invulnerable with every new weapon that they used on it.”
“What about Kryptonite?”
“Maybe.” Kara snorted. “Exactly how would we get it somewhere where it could be in contact with Kryptonite? And what happens if it immediately becomes immune? We'd be powerless and it would be able to destroy us in a heartbeat.”
“Bad idea?”
Kara squeezed his forearm. “You worry about saving mankind, I'll work with Oliver and Chloe to come up with more options.”
“I'll be back later.”
Kara smiled as he headed out of the tower, all of the while a knot twisted in her gut. She didn't have the heart to tell her cousin that irregardless of how much planning they did, defeating Doomsday on their own without a Kryptonian army to back them up would likely be impossible.
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