Of Memory and Memories
Author's Note: I haven't written Smallville fanfiction in years, so please don't hesitate to tell me if I've screwed something up horrendously. I'm particularly afraid of my characterisation of Lois. This fic is finished, though not typed so expect regular irregular postings and feel free to badger me for more via whatever means are available to you. I think there's more than one listed on my profile.
This is meant to be one of those stories that is Superman Returns if it had Smallville beginnings and as such is completely different from Superman Returns. I promise no more than two chapters of movie rewrite, and most of it is different.
Spoilers: Just about everything up to and including Episode 9x06: Crossfire. It veers off somewhere in the middle there. Oh yeah, and Superman Returns.
Chapter 1: Jet Lag
The first shuttle landed beside the Kansas cornfield with little damage to the surrounding area. The second, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, creating a gigantic crater and decimating almost twenty percent of that field's crop. From the first clambered a graceful blonde woman in a skintight black suit, a silver crest displayed across her chest. She quickly buried the spacecraft nearby, and as nobody had seen her land, nobody would know that she had been there. She frowned when she noticed the crater that the second ship had created. She jumped down into it, landing lightly, then peeled away the lid of the second craft. She shook its occupant awake.
"Kara?" the man inside questioned.
"I thought you said you could fly this ship, Kal-El," she reprimanded, indicating the mess he'd made of the cornfield.
He winced, feeling guilty. "Don't worry, I'll clean it up." He buried the ship in its crater, then carefully transplanted plants to make it appear as though he'd never been. Though the crop was noticeably more sparse, no one would know it was because a spaceship had crash landed there.
"Now let's go home," Kal-El voiced, eyeing a yellow farmhouse not too far away.
x x x
Martha Kent was just finished washing up the last of the day's dishes when she heard the front door open.
"Mom?" she heard a man speak- a man she hadn't heard in five years.
Martha ran to greet her son, throwing her arms around him and peppering his face with kisses. "Oh Clark!"
"I'm home now," he reassured her as she wept on his shoulder.
A moment later the woman realised that the front door was still open and that a blonde woman was standing in the threshold. "Kara, is that you?"
Kara nodded. "Hello Mrs Kent."
Martha hugged the younger woman as tightly as she had her son. "How many times have I told you to call me Aunt Martha?"
Kara smiled awkwardly. She'd been without human contact for a very long time, and had never had very much to begin with. She'd spent years looking for a place to call home... but maybe the place she'd followed her cousin to was the right one to begin with. On her travels she had seen planets similar to Krypton, met those descended from Kryptonians, yet hadn't fit in anywhere. Suddenly Earth seemed homey, if only because here at least she had Kal-El, her cousin. "Not one time more, Aunt Martha," Kara responded.
It took Martha only a moment to begin filling her son and niece's bellies with the potato salad and apple pie she'd prepared for tomorrow's picnic with Ben Hubbard. The three of them sat at the kitchen table more than happy to not speak, and instead to just savour the sights and smells of home.
x x x
Over the next few days, Clark and Kara re-acclimated to life on Earth. Martha had saved every edition of the Daily Planet from the day her son had left, and the pair speed-read through them. The cousins also spent a lot of time listening to Clark's mother talk about what had been going on in her life. She'd retired from politics, besides the occasional public speech, or advice giving phone call, and she'd gotten a healthy government pension in return. She still owned all of the original Kent farmland, though she had leased it all out to the neighbouring farmers. Clark was surprised to hear that his mother had something of a romance blooming with Ben Hubbard, a man he'd hardly gotten to know when he'd lived in Smallville.
Martha encouraged Clark to call all of his old friends, especially Lois, but Clark wasn't ready yet. They would have moved on without him and he was a little worried that they wouldn't be able to fit him back into their lives. He was afraid to find out how different they all were. His mother was already so different, her hair more silver than auburn, and that flirtatious smile she wore whenever she spoke about Ben Hubbard... But his mother was always going to be his mother; he didn't have to be friends with Chloe and Lois and Oliver and everyone else. According to his mother, the only one still left in Metropolis was Lois, and judging by an article of hers he'd read, she wasn't going to be particularly pleased that he was back.
Regardless, Clark knew that he had to get back to his life: saving people. He couldn't spend the rest of his life hiding on his farm. To that effect, he rang Perry White to see if he could get his old job back. The man had sounded uncharacteristically pleased to hear from him. The only opening Perry had was in obituaries, but Perry had not-so-subtly implied that that would just be a formality and that he was very much looking forward to getting his top reporting team back together. Clark's inquiry meant that he now had a deadline imposed upon him for his return to society. But before he went back to his day job, he would need to meet the new Justice League.
"What are you going to do?" Clark asked Kara.
"I think I'll do something similar to you," Kara said. "Wear a costume and help people."
"And the rest of the time?" Clark wondered.
"I don't know yet," Kara stated. "I guess I'll figure it out as I go along."
"Well," said Clark. "If you're serious about the costume I'd better introduce you to the JLA."
x x x
The Justice League of America headquarters was hidden in plain sight within a building that any person of any socio-economic status would not be suspicious to be seen in. Clark, wearing the same glasses he'd worn since he'd first donned his Superman suit, and Kara went in through the public entrance. They managed to get an elevator to themselves, and Clark pressed the button for the 13th floor. The average city dweller would wonder why the button was there since, like in many buildings the same height, the 13th floor was absent. If that average person pressed the button, it would not light up. However, when Clark pressed the button, the lift began to descend to a level below that of the basement.
Clark deactivated the security protocol that questioned Kara's presence (he was one of only three people who could), and let himself into JLA HQ. Clark was suddenly alarmed. It was a hive of activity. In total Clark didn't think the League could have grown to more than twenty members, with half of them out on patrol. Oliver had clearly recruited more people than that. Most of them gave the Kryptonians odd looks, more than a little suspicious, but not doing anything about it.
Clark wondered at their reflexes... what if he wasn't a League member? By now, the pair of them could have had all of them disarmed. Deciding not to discover if any of them were capable of incapacitating a Kryptonian, Clark continued on to where he thought Ollie's office would be. There had been some renovations since the last time he was here, and Clark hoped that everything else was still in the same place. Maybe he should have called Ollie in advance.
Oliver's office was right where he'd last left it, and the older man greeted Clark as a superior in the military greets one reporting to him. Clark internally rolled his eyes. "You might be the founder and financier of the JLA, Ollie, but I'm not from Earth."
"Wow," Ollie said, dropping the military façade immediately. "I don't think I've ever seen you so accepting of your less than human heritage before."
"Five years in outer space will do that to a guy."
"And Kryptonian is no less than human," Kara put in, always eager to defend her home planet.
"Oliver, you remember my cousin Kara?" Clark reintroduced the pair. They'd met briefly during Kara's brief stay above ground last time, but not long enough to form a lasting relationship.
Ollie smiled. He'd forgotten how attractive Clark's cousin was.
Same old Ollie, thought Clark. "She wants to join the JLA."
"You can do everything he can, right?" Oliver asked her.
"But better," Kara smirked.
Clark scoffed. "She can maybe run faster than I can, but I'm definitely stronger."
"Faster than you, eh?" Oliver weighed it up. "We'll have to get you to race Bart."
"You'll like Bart," Clark informed Kara.
x x x
Bart was summoned and quickly introduced to Kara. Clark was right, they were instant friends. So instant, that Clark wondered if there was a romantic connection between the two. They went into a training room and began on a 400m track. It turned out that Bart was still faster along a straight section of track, but as soon as any sort of obstacle was put in the way, Kara could beat him, even Olympic-style hurdles. For anyone with eyes fast enough to see what they were doing it was an enlightening experience. Bart was more than a little enamoured of Kara when it was all over.
Oliver and Bart spent the day briefing Kara and Clark on the new protocols, and Kara got a costume and schedule to patrol the east coast. Oliver lightened the patrols around Metropolis where Clark would be taking over on Monday.
"What do you think of Supergirl?" Oliver asked.
Clark thought it was hilarious, and Kara was unsure.
"It's just that there would be better brand recognition," Oliver stated, reminding everyone that he was in fact still the CEO of a billion dollar corporation.
"That explains the colour combination," Kara stated.
"I don't think you're so adverse to those colours yourself," remarked Ollie, referring to her current ensemble of navy sweater over a red pencil skirt.
Clark grinned. It was one of the things that they shared that made him feel that blood connection that had lacked in his adoptive family.
Kara shared Clark's amusement. "Supergirl it is."
Clark thought that just maybe moving back wasn't going to be so hard after all.
And then Chloe arrived, a dark-haired man that Clark had never met before right behind her.
"So help me Clark Kent, if I didn't know that it would hurt me more than it hurt you, you'd be slapped right about now."
"It's nice to see you too, Chloe. I'll remember that the next time I'm powerless."
"Don't play nice with me," she shook her finger at him. "Do you know how worried we all were? And you just left some cryptic note behind about saving the universe."
"Kara needed my help."
Chloe eyed Clark's cousin behind his back. "And I'm sure the whole universe needs your help too, but-"
Clark's eyes flashed. "But I had to say goodbye to you? So that you could try to convince me to stay when planets are being destroyed halfway across the galaxy?"
"Yes! Because what's an hour when it takes you two years to get there? Because some of us don't want to be feeling guilty about the last things we'd said to you before you died!"
Clark flicked through his memory in his mind. What had been the last thing Chloe had said to him? They'd argued about Lois, because that's all they ever seemed to do those days. She'd called him names, but she'd called him worse before. "You know I love you, Chloe. Nothing you say could ever make me stop."
Chloe let out a long breath. "You're not forgiven yet. At least not until you've spoken to Lois."
Clark ignored the Lois elephant and said, "I love how whenever I save the world I don't even get a thank you from the people who know that I did it."
"Thank you, Clark," Ollie and Bart chorused.
Clark cuffed them both simultaneously.
Ollie rubbed his head. "And that's why no one ever thanks you."
"Now, since no one else is willing to do the honours," the stranger spoke, extending a hand toward Clark. "I'm Bruce."
Clark shook the man's hand though there was something about him that seemed untrustworthy. It didn't matter that they were still at Justice League HQ, one of the safest places on the planet.
"AKA the Batman," Chloe added.
"I was wondering if we'd ever meet, Superman."
Clark winced. The name was so pretentious and he wasn't even in alien garb. "Clark is fine," he responded.
Bruce gave him a calculating look. "Care to spar?"
Clark looked curiously back at him. From what he'd read in the Planet, Batman wasn't a meta-human. Of course that hadn't stopped Ollie from being able to take Clark down on occasion. "On what terms?" he asked, afraid of hurting the other man. He wasn't sure he trusted him, but it didn't mean that he wanted him to beat him up.
"Yourself, no weapons, versus me in my armour, no gadgets."
"Do you think your suit's strong enough?" Clark asked. He hadn't seen it in person and had no idea what it was made of.
"We'll find out, won't we?" There was a gleam in Bruce's eye.
"And where is this going to be?" Clark asked. "Because if it's a room full of kryptonite I'm just going to forfeit right now and save myself the pain."
"What about the red sun room?" Ollie suggested.
Clark stared at Oliver. That room hadn't existed the last time he was here. How and why had they created one? "If that's what I think it is then Batman's armour gives him an advantage."
"Scared?" taunted Batman.
"Interested in fairness," Clark clarified.
"Always the boy scout," Bart remarked. "Truth, justice and all that other crap."
"Gee Bart, no one would think that you were a member of the Justice League the way you go on."
Bart grinned. "And that's why no one's ever figured out that I am. You could take a leaf out of my book."
"Look at it this way," Bruce said, bringing it back to his challenge. "When the fight's over, you'll crawl out of the room, get some sunlight and it will be like it never happened. Whereas I will have to heal the normal way."
"Okay," Clark agreed. "But then we're fighting on a points system. Not anything else."
"Agreed."
The rest of the room was atwitter. Bart had already started taking bets and some of the heroes were calling their not present friends.
Bruce was looking pretty proud of himself and Clark was desperately trying to remember when the last time he'd fought without his powers was. There was no doubt in his mind that Bruce had the advantage in this situation. He just hoped that losing wouldn't be grounds for expulsion from the JLA.
x x x
The fight took place in an arena that rather reminded Superman of Smallville High's gym. There were stands to one side where about fifteen spectators sat. Clark noticed that they seemed to be divided into two factions: heroes (some Clark recognised, and others he didn't) and technicians (including Chloe). Though Victor Stone could have sat with either faction, he was sitting beside Chloe. Despite the division, neither side seemed to be wholly barracking for either Superman or Batman. In fact, Superman suspected that the difference was between those who had placed bets with Bart, and those who hadn't.
Ollie was refereeing and the fight started when he shot an arrow flare into the air. At first the two costumed heroes circled one another, sizing each other up. Clark didn't like to be on the offensive if he could help it, so he waited, nimbly stepping from side to side. The audience goaded them into making moves, those who'd placed bets loudest of all.
Suddenly, Batman attacked: a quick series of punches followed by a high kick that Superman easily avoided. A heaviness had settled upon Superman as soon as he'd entered the room, but at the same time it was a natural, familiar sort of heaviness. Sort of like the feeling you get after a long holiday when you're back into your old routine again. He still seemed quicker on his feet than a man his size out to be, though Batman, a man of similar stature moved just as quickly.
Superman wasn't actually as hindered as he'd thought he would be, it was similar to the last battle he'd fought with Kara over Warworld. The sun there had been somewhere in between Earth's yellow and Krypton's red, so they'd both had increased agility, but lacked vision powers and super breath.
Batman's style had more finesse, but Superman made up for it with ingenuity. Superman suspected that the Batman had had professional training at some point, whereas he'd learnt from watching and participating in fights with criminals over the years. He'd fought so many humans with differing fighting styles over the years that it would be difficult for anyone to peg him as a particular style.
The fighters were evenly matched, point for point until Batman appeared to tire so Superman went on the offensive, earning himself eight points, putting him in the lead in the race to one hundred points. Batman quickly got his second wind and went for Superman, who wasn't quite tired yet. When Batman's barrage of attacks eased, Superman was still ahead by three points.
When they'd begun so evenly, three points was going to be difficult for Batman to overcome, unless his style changed. They were down to the home stretch now. Superman 93 to Batman's 90. With this realisation, their pace increased and neither party scored for ten minutes. Then Superman pulled out a strange kick that looked as though it should have dislocated his leg, earning himself two more points. Batman grew desperate and careless, allowing Superman the opportunity to earn himself another four points.
And just as Superman thought he'd pulled it off, Batman wrestled his way up to make themselves even before Superman could even count the points. Whoever landed the next hit would win. The audience watched in hushed amazement as they blocked and dodged each other's attacks. It looked like it was going to be another long set before Superman tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground.
As Batman approached, Clark quickly jumped back to his feet and swept his opponent's out from under him.
The crowd cheered and whistled as Oliver declared Superman to be the winner. Batman accepted Superman's help up and smacked him soundly on the back. "Good match. I didn't think you had it in you to play dirty."
Superman smirked. "All's fair in love and war: real or pretend."
"So I've heard," Batman noted. Superman wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the other man quickly glance over at Chloe. Maybe that's where his uneasy feeling about Bruce was coming from. His over-protective side.
They stepped from the room together and headed for the nearest showers. Superman felt his normal weight settle upon him as soon as he took a step out. He didn't realise until much later exactly how important it was that he won that match.
x x x
On Monday, Clark made his way into the Daily Planet building for the first time in five years. It was almost exactly as he remembered it, the globe atop its roof still turning. It smelled just as fresh: of old newspapers and stale coffee and doughnuts.
Clark didn't have time to stop and let it all in as everyone pushed past him. As a rather large man, he created a bit of a traffic jam whenever he did stop. He swept into an elevator and watched as someone else pressed the button for the main bullpen. When Clark stepped out, he was momentarily fazed. The floor plan had changed. Tess Mercer and the editors before her had always chosen to keep their office on a separate floor from the ruckus of the bullpen, but Perry White preferred to keep his reporters on their toes. He'd had his office moved down to their level, with glass windows allowing him to keep a physical eye on them. When Clark had left, the new office was under construction and Perry had lorded over them from a corner desk, only occasionally taking private calls in the office upstairs. Now he had an office, beside it was one for his assistant, and beside that a conference room.
The extra rooms had of course led to the shafting of some members of staff from the floor. The first few had thought that being removed from the bullpen was something like a promotion, but soon learned that the ex-editor-in-chief's office was more of a doghouse. After that everyone tried to keep a desk on the main floor in amongst the other journalists.
"Clark!" a female voice excitedly shouted at him. A young blonde woman barely out of her teens approached Clark, a camera dangling around her neck.
Clark didn't think she had been working at the paper when he had left and it took him a moment longer to place her. "Maddie?"
She nodded, and hugged him enthusiastically, drawing a jealous stare from one of the other reporters sitting nearby. "It's been so long since I've seen you."
Clark guiltily noted that it had been far longer than five years since he'd seen the hyalokinetic girl. "I can't believe it. You're all grown up!"
She blushed, embarrassed. "The chief's waiting to see you in his office," she informed him.
"Thanks Maddie," Clark said, heading toward Perry's office. "We'll have to catch up sometime soon."
Perry welcomed back Clark as warmly as he could with as few words as possible. He showed him his desk (across the aisle from Lois', he noted) and slapped some puff piece about the opening of a restored building on his desk. Clark couldn't help but feel right at home. Minus one thing: "Where's Lois?" he asked.
Perry didn't respond verbally and instead waved a hand at one of the newsroom's many television screens. It was a shuttle launch. Seeing that Lois was unlikely to get into any trouble for the moment, Clark sat down and pulled up the website of the restored boarding house, beginning the research he'd have to do before attending the opening that afternoon. Clark grew engrossed in the activity, in the history of that old building that was among the first to be built along the river in the town that would become a metropolis.
x x x
Clark only paused when Maddie came by to invite him to lunch. He accepted and Maddie showed him her new favourite restaurant, a cheery Italian place full of natural light. A lot had happened to Maddie over the years. She'd finished high school and had even found the courage to join the cheerleading squad and the school choir. She had come across photography accidentally when she'd gone out with a boy who was keen on it. Her grandmother bought her a camera one Christmas and she'd decided that photojournalism was the way to go.
"Of course, I couldn't do that in Smallville so I moved out to Metropolis and then one day while stalking the papers I stumbled across Lois." Maddie paused to take a bite of her ravioli. "She remembered me, even though it had been years. I didn't ask her for anything, but she went and spoke to Perry anyway."
That was the sort of thing Lois did. Clark smiled as he thought of her. She was probably still feeling guilty about thinking that Maddie had been a cold-blooded killer.
"So that's how I ended up at the Planet," she finished.
Clark listened as Maddie told him about her photography. It was all he could do, because what could he tell her about his last five years? And she seemed content to talk about herself, a far cry from the girl he'd met all those years ago. It turned out that she was naturally good at taking pictures, though she hadn't noticed at first that she'd been subconsciously manipulating the lenses within the camera to best effect. Privately, Clark was glad that she wasn't using her ability to commit crimes the way her father had. She mentioned that she'd been to see him recently, and he seemed reformed, though he was never going to be released. Even though she believed he was different, she wasn't sure that he could be out in society, around glass, though she had promised to visit him regularly from then on.
As the pair left the restaurant, all the lights went out. It was some sort of power surge or drain, and it took Clark a moment to work out what exactly was wrong. He could hear shouts of alarm from all over the city and knew that it was a job for Superman. His first public outing since he'd come back. He made some excuse to Maddie before taking off, changing into his new suit in an alley before heading to a fire that had started. It was quick to put out, and Superman listened for other emergencies. He left most of the people trapped in elevators for the firemen, but did pry open one with a pregnant woman whose distress at being trapped seemed to have forced premature labour.
It was small emergencies like these that kept Superman occupied for a time before he heard a sudden chorus of screams and startled shouts. These were backed up by several thuds as people hit the ceiling of an aeroplane. With dread he realised that it was the shuttle launch that Lois had been covering. He sped toward the still connected shuttle and plane and observed it. This was going to take some wrangling.
First Superman disengaged the shuttle from the plane, and seeing that it was physically intact, he allowed it to maintain its course. The 747 on the other hand, was quickly losing altitude. He caught it quickly, and gently set it down in the nearest available open space: a baseball field. He quickly scanned everyone to see if they were injured, taking just a second longer with Lois as she eyed him with suspicion. Superman spoke some flippant remark before taking off for the building reopening. If it wasn't cancelled by the blackout, Clark would make it there just in time. The ceremony was slightly delayed, but soon enough the speeches began. It was two hours before Clark could head back to the Planet to write up his article.
x x x
Back at the Planet, Clark noticed that Lois' desk was now occupied. A man that Clark hadn't met was holding a boy who could be no older than five and fussing over Lois- something Clark had always known her to hate yet seemed to be tolerating. It was the boy who noticed Clark first, staring up at him with wide blue eyes, curiosity filling them. Clark smiled back at him, an ache in his chest as he noted the boy's features that marked him as Lois'. He didn't stop by her desk, and instead sat at his own and booted up his laptop.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Lois send the man and boy to the assistant editor's office, and she immediately swivelled to stare at him.
"I suppose a hello's too much to hope for after you didn't say goodbye." Lois' words were sharp and drew the attention of more than a few of their co-workers, especially those who hadn't met Clark before today.
Clark looked at her, not sure what to say. "Hello Lois," he said finally, not wanting to get into the argument here. He turned back to his screen and resumed typing.
"You were out," Lois continued. "So I guess you haven't heard that the Chief wants front to back Superman coverage now."
Clark winced, but continued typing despite not knowing whether his article would even be printed. Its only connection to Superman he couldn't let the Chief print.
"And," Lois raised her voice as ire coloured it. "He wants me to get the first interview since it went so well last time." She shot him a pointed look.
Clark winced. That interview had been a nightmare. He hadn't quite worked out how to tell Lois that he was an alien from Krypton, and so far she hadn't been on the scene of any of his rescues so she hadn't worked it out for herself, yet. But the Chief had been adamant about an interview and the only person he trusted to give him a fair go was Lois. She'd taken one look at him and stormed away. It was two excruciating days before she interviewed him as Superman. And two long weeks before she forgave Clark for not letting her in on it earlier.
Clark spun to look at her, giving her his full attention. "So when is this interview?" he asked.
"There isn't going to be an interview," she stated, getting up to stand next to Clark's desk so that she could lower her voice. "I told Perry that I wanted to do a story on the blackout."
Clark knew that angry paled in comparison to what Lois was feeling right now.
"And do you know what he said?" she all but demanded.
Clark shook his head, not daring to open his mouth.
"He said," and here Lois did her best Perry impression, "'Kent can cover that'. Can you imagine that? I hear that Clark Kent my former best friend snuck back into the country, back into Metropolis, back into the Daily Planet and he didn't say a single word to me before he arrived."
"I knew you'd be upset," Clark said, knowing that nothing he said would be enough to placate Lois. It was why he'd avoided her until he got here after all.
"I'm way beyond upset here, Clark. I'm someone else, that's how far past upset I am!"
Clark knew that he deserved this, but that didn't mean that it was an enjoyable experience. "We don't have to be friends," he said, as much as it hurt him to do so. "But maybe you should do that Superman interview now to get Perry off your back."
"We're going to do the interview when I want to," Lois growled. "You're not getting away with this that easily. For better or worse we're part of each other's lives again and it's going to be a lot of hard work from here on out."
Damn him if that didn't describe their entire relationship from naked in a cornfield to Daily Planet staffers. "I missed you, Lois," he admitted, sensing that she'd said as much as she was willing to at the moment.
Lois only said "You have a funny way of showing it," before turning toward her own desk. She tore a couple of sheets of paper from her notepad and deposited them on Clark's desk.
It took Clark a second to decipher her shorthand, but once he did, he realised that it was her notes about the blackout - a peace offering if he knew Lois Lane.
x x x
Later that night, after Clark had left the Daily Planet building, Lois called Clark on his cell phone. He was flying home to Smallville when he heard the phone ring. He descended into a field and decided to walk the rest of the way.
"Hello Superman. It's Lois Lane." And just like that Clark knew that Lois wasn't ready to speak to Clark yet.
"Yes, Miss Lane?" he responded in his Superman voice. It was easier for both of them this way, distanced physically and mentally by his persona. Superman had never wronged Lois Lane.
Lois asked the newspaper's questions and none of her own. He told her stoically about Warworld- the planet-sized weapon of mass destruction that Kara had encountered while on her journey. He told her how they'd worked together to strain the machine until it broke. He talked about Kara and how she would make her appearance as Supergirl soon, but making it out to sound as though she'd been travelling since Krypton exploded and that he'd only met her when she came to Earth to ask him to help her with Warworld. As far as the general public knew, Superman had arrived on the planet as an adult and Krypton had been destroyed only a year or so before he arrived, so it wasn't unlikely that Kara would have known him and where he was going.
Earth had been next on Warworld's list and so, no matter how far away he was, he was still doing his best to protect the people of Earth. He told Lois that he'd read her Pulitzer-winning article, and that he didn't fault her for writing it. That it was honest and true. It was difficult for him to tell how Lois took that. Probably not well as she hung up soon afterward, asking no more questions.
Clark sighed, then sped home, eager to spend more time with his mother.
x x x
The next day Clark was introduced to Richard White, Perry's nephew and Lois' fiancé, and just like that, Clark knew he was not going to have a good day. He'd suspected that Lois had moved on the day before when he'd seen them together, but he should have known that there was more to it- that they were living together, raising a child together.
Could it really be called 'moving on'? Clark wondered. He and Lois had had little more than a fling before he'd had to leave. He'd always expected that there would be more to the relationship, but now there couldn't be. He was so unsure of Lois' feelings, maybe it hadn't meant anything to her at all.
To add to the day's misery, Lois took back the blackout story, meaning that he'd need to find his own, something difficult to do when you hadn't been living in the city for the past five years. He hated writing about Superman, but he had to write something if he didn't want to lose his job after getting it back. Writing about the meteor infected was almost as bad. Advances in technology had meant that the psychosis that usually came with the powers could be treated, but even with Lana absorbing as much kryptonite as she could, there were always more people who committed atrocities before they could be helped.
Perhaps he could write about his cousin instead. She'd been behaving the way he had when he'd been the Blur, so no one had gotten a clear picture of her face yet. Had Superman not mentioned her in his interview with Lois the night before, the world would still be unaware of the presence of a second Kryptonian on the planet.
Clark decided he'd probably better ask Lois if she wanted to take the interview first. He didn't want her more upset with him than she was already. And writing about his cousin was almost as bad as writing about himself. But giving Lois the interview meant talking to her.
Lois appeared busy, so he didn't want to distract her. He hated having to be so careful around Lois. When they'd first met it was second nature to bicker and now he was trying to avoid that as much as possible. It was wrong... unnatural. The exact opposite of what their relationship was supposed to be. The fact that he couldn't just say whatever he liked to Lois was unsettling.
There were a few nasty saves to be performed that day. A girl was about to be brutally gang raped. A teenage boy had shot his brother accidentally as he tried to commit suicide. An older woman had passed out into a fire she'd been tending and was burnt beyond recognition.
The only bright spot of the day came in the early evening in the form of Jason, Lois' son. He'd come into the Daily Planet and stood by Clark's desk, staring up at him for a long moment before Clark realised that the child wasn't going to go away.
"Hi," Clark greeted him. "I'm Clark."
"Hi," the boy responded shyly. He continued to stare at him, wide-eyed.
Clark couldn't help but grin at him, barely resisting the urge to ruffle that already unruly mop on his head. The kid would probably take it as an invasion of personal space. "Do you like to draw?" he asked instead.
The boy nodded.
Clark gave him a piece of paper and a pen.
Jason took them, but continued to stare at Clark.
Clark smiled encouragingly at him, picking up his own pen and drawing a quick caricature of himself. "What do you think?" he asked, holding the picture of himself up beside his face. "Do you think this looks like me?"
The boy shook his head solemnly in the negative.
Maddie happened to be walking past and stopped to take a picture before laughing. "That's the same trick you pulled on me."
Clark grinned at her. "Well it worked with you, didn't it?"
Maddie continued to smile. Meeting Clark was a turning point in her life. Who knew how many other people he'd saved in a similar manner over the years?
Lois chose that moment to pay attention to her surroundings. "Hey munchkin you're meant to be in your dad's office." It seemed to Clark that although she was addressing her son, Lois had emphasised the word 'dad' for Clark's benefit, cruelly reminding him of what he didn't have. Of what they didn't have.
"Wait Lois," Clark called out as the woman took her son's hand. She paused. "I just wanted to know if you wanted an interview with Supergirl or if I could take it."
Lois frowned at him, a million things going through her mind as her reporter's instinct warred with her morals and her need to maintain a relationship of some sort with Clark. "Did you ask her if she even wanted to be interviewed?"
Clark shook his head. "Not yet."
"Ask her first," Lois said, delaying her decision. With that she led Jason toward Richard's office.
"What's with her?" Maddie wondered aloud. "She's usually all over an exclusive interview."
Clark sighed. "Things with Lois weren't the best before I left. Being gone just made it worse."
"But it's Supergirl!" Maddie seemed a little starstruck and Clark wondered if maybe he should arrange a meeting. "That doesn't have anything to do with you."
It was strange. Clark had been under the impression that Maddie knew he was Superman- that she'd figured it out for herself like a lot of people from Smallville had. It didn't matter to them that Superman's face wasn't quite Clark Kent's. They knew. They never said anything, and that, more than anything else, was why he was glad his spaceship had landed where it did. That Jor-El and Lara had chosen to send him there of all places.
"These days," said Clark. "I don't really know what's going through the mind of Lois Lane."
x x x
That night Clark decided to stay late with Lois. She was working on the blackout story which technically still belonged to him. Clark hadn't anticipated that with Lois would be Richard and Jason. It wasn't the most comfortable night he'd ever spent with Lois. Clark was still on the outs with Lois, so she was using Richard as a shield. She'd speak as though Richard was the one working with her on the story and then Clark would mention his own thoughts on the subject.
While Lois was busy trying to pinpoint where in a five block radius the power drain had originated, Richard took the opportunity to start his own conversation with Clark.
"Perry says you used to work here before?"
Though Lois didn't appear distracted, Clark knew she was listening to their conversation.
"For five years," Clark affirmed. "Five years ago."
"So you would have been around when Superman was, then? I didn't get to see much of him over in England."
Clark nodded, wishing they weren't on the subject of his alter ego.
"Then you'd be able to tell whether there was any truth to Lois' article."
It didn't take a genius to figure out exactly which of Lois' articles Richard was referring to: the Pulitzer Prize-worthy one about the world not needing Superman. Clark chose his words carefully. "Superman is more a symbol of hope than anything else," he began. "Humanity has proven on more than one occasion that it can take care of itself." Clark thought fondly of the non-alien, regular human members of the JLA. "Having a flying alien around can help, but for the most part, it's regular people who keep the world turning. Parents who raise their children with a code of ethics. Heck, even people who look both ways before crossing a street. And not even Superman can help you if you've broken your leg."
"Sometimes people don't need saving," Lois added.
Clark looked her directly in the eyes. "But it's the people who don't think they need help that need it the most."
Lois tossed her hair aside. "I can look after myself."
Clark scoffed but let it slide. Richard was giving him an odd look. "So why are you so interested in Superman?" Clark asked Richard. "Surely you've gotten your fill from the paper?"
Lois eyed Richard, daring him to respond.
"It seems like almost everyone else has their own personal Superman story. I don't."
"If you hang round Lois long enough you're sure to have a million. He used to save her almost on a daily basis."
"From things that I could have gotten myself out of," put in Lois.
"That's what you'd tell me," Clark said. "But not Superman. It was always, 'Oh Superman, thank you!'" He affected a higher pitched tone that had little similarity to Lois' usual speaking voice. Lois treating Superman differently was part of the disguise. She couldn't exactly treat the world's saviour like bumbling farm boy Clark Kent.
Richard laughed. Jason looked up from his colouring effectively saving Clark from Lois' wrath. "Can we have dinner now?"
"Sure munchkin," Richard agreed. "What do you want?"
"Burritos!" Jason burst out.
Richard stood. "Do you want anything special?" he asked Clark.
The bespectacled man shook his head. "No. I'm easy."
Richard and Jason left, leaving Clark and Lois alone.
Lois headed to the printer to pick something up. She deposited the sheets in front of Clark and he could make out that it was a list of addresses. "Why don't you make yourself useful and find out if there's anything suspicious in any of these places."
"I can't do that!" protested Clark. "It's an invasion of privacy."
Lois rolled her eyes. "Well aren't you the king of morals? It's not like you'd do anything with that information."
"We don't even know if the blackout was caused by anything illegal. It's just wrong."
"You're such a wet blanket."
Clark sighed. "Narrow it down and I'll think about it."
"Working with you on stories used to be fun. Now it's just a chore."
Clark didn't pay attention to her speech, instead focusing on a woman's terrified screams. "I have to go," he said, loosening his tie, barely hearing Lois' ire. He ran up the emergency stairs and took off from the roof. He got to the woman's runaway car just before she crashed into a fountain.
The woman, Katherine, was rambling and in shock, so Superman dropped her off at Metropolis General before heading back to the Planet, hoping that he'd be back before Richard and Jason. He saw them entering the building as he descended toward the globe-topped building. He sped back into his seat and ignored Lois' frown. Having to take the woman to the hospital meant that he couldn't stick around for interviews as Clark Kent, so still he didn't have a story.
The elevator dinged and Richard and Jason stepped out with bags of Mexican food. It smelled delicious.
"Almost as good as Mexico," Clark commented after he'd taken a bite.
"Is is, isn't it?" Richard noted. "But nothing beats the burritos in Juárez."
While he was on his trip to Krypton, the Justice League had concocted a cover story for Clark. Each international excursion taken by a member turned into another page of Clark Kent's travelogue. Clark had read it over the weekend and quickly visited those places, taking a few extra hours in those places he'd never visited before.
"You've been to Mexico?" questioned Clark.
"Chasing down a border patrol story a while back," nodded Richard.
"I was there a couple of years ago, too, on my trip."
Lois rolled her eyes. Superman might not lie, but Clark Kent had done it every day of his life.
The two men bonded over their shared adventures to the more off the map places they'd visited.
Lois couldn't stand it, so she feigned fatigue, mentioned the munchkin, and almost before Clark noticed, they were packing. Lois was quick to squash Richard's suggestion of giving Clark a lift home and expressed feigned disbelief at his car-less commute. Usually Clark would bring the truck in as cover, but he'd been busy as Superman this morning. He really needed to get a place in Metropolis soon, if only to protect his secret.
x X X x
A/N: And there's chapter one. Hopefully it doesn't completely suck. Chapter two should be out within the next week.
