My first fic in a while. Trying to shake the cobwebs out. Be gentle with the reviews.
Disclaimer: Justice League is not mine, though, who knows, maybe one day.
Bored!
Chapter 1, wherein our protagonist is really bored.
Clark Kent was bored. Really bored. Sitting at his desk, staring at his computer monitor, he idly wondered if he'd ever been this bored.
He thought back to when he had been stuck on a deep space mission to sector 3599. He and Green Lantern had gone to assist Kyle Rayner, another Green Lantern, in dispatching what Kyle had described as "a giant alien space-mantis-thing" which was bent on swallowing a planet in the vicinity. There were only 3600 sectors in the universe, and to Clark's mind, the reason for this was that whatever creator of the universe there was, he started running out of stuff at about sector 2000. All that there was in 3599 was a planet and some stray molecules. 3600 was just a empty vacuum. Beyond that, not even the Lantern's knew. (1)
Between the three of them, they had dispatched the beast, but the ship they had used broke down halfway back, forcing John to fly the two the rest of the way. It was an eighteen hour trip to Oa, for John to recharge his ring, and another seven back to Earth.
He weighed the two situations in his mind, and found that his current situation was wanting, though just barely.
He looked over to Lois Lane's desk, to see his friend (girlfriend?) trying to balance a pencil on her nose. She would put the pencil on her nose, and it would roll off. On, then off.
Again and again. It was sort of hypnotic. After about five minutes of this:
"Lois?" He called.
"Yeah, Clark?" She replied, still attempting to balance the pencil.
"You remember ever being this..." The Pulitzer prize winning journalist hedged, "...bored?" I have nine million awards, and bored is the best I can do?
Immediately, "Nope. I have never, ever been this bored in my entire life. Not even when you tried to demonstrate how to tie a dutch twist knot, have I been this bored. Not even when you explained how to light a fire in the wilderness using a flint, was I even close to how bored I am now."
"You mean my amazing boy scout abilities don't...amaze you?" He asked in mock horror.
"Not in the least, Smallville." She quipped, good-naturedly.
"Well, I must say, I am outraged, and I am leaving, good miss!" With that mock outburst, he grabbed his coat and hat, and started off. Heh, Alfred impression for the win. Boy Scout 1, Lois 0.
"Where are you going?"
He stopped. "Home, probably. I already filed my story with Perry, so I guess I could just take an early day, maybe cook an early dinner...why, you want to come along?" He asked, a cheeky smile on his face.
Lois laughed at the utterly un-Clark-like look, and said, "Lemme grab my coat, and tell Perry we're going."
She grabbed her trademark purple coat, and leaned into Perry's office. "Perry, me and Clark-"
"Are leaving, yeah. I'm gonna get out of here soon too. Have fun, you two." Lois smiled, and leaned back out of the office, as Perry light up his last cigar of the day. He never smoked them at home; they stunk up the place, and the odor was a pain to get rid of. Here at the Planet though, he liked to walk around the building, enjoying his cigar. He didn't care about the smell; it wasn't his house, was it?
He wondered how Lois hadn't figured out Clark's secret yet. Perry prided himself on the fact that he might have been the only person on the planet to have deduced that Clark Kent was Superman. (2) She's a smart kid, how hasn't she figured it out yet? Unless, and he gasped, because it was the most likely explanation, she already knows and doesn't want him to know that she knows. Geez, its like 'Days of Our Lives' here.
Next chapter: Clark and Lois walking to his apartment, and a meeting with a certain Manhunter...
(1) Source Wall. Scary place. Wikipedia it.
(2) Batman figured it out in "The World's Finest".