The next night, Clark arrived at Karly's apartment to pick her up for the gala. She took his breath away when she opened the door. She had dressed in a burgundy gown with off-the-shoulder straps. Silver sequins went around her waist and across the neckline. She had curled her hair and styled it so it all rested over her left shoulder.
"Wow," he said quietly. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you. You look very handsome yourself."
"Shall we?"
Karly smiled as she took his extended arm.
Meanwhile at Bruce Wayne's house, Kris stepped out of the bathroom as she finished putting on her earrings.
"Hey, can you zip me up?" she asked.
Bruce came over to her and zipped up the back of her long-sleeved black gown. "Is there any way I can talk you out of not going tonight?"
Kris turned around and put her hands to his chest. "You worry too much. What's the worst that could happen at a party like this?"
Bruce smirked, recalling how the Joker had thrown her off the roof at a party very similar to the one they were going to. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
"Relax. I'll have you remember that you helped me practice self-defense for several years now. I wouldn't say I'm the next MMA fighter, but I am capable of defending myself."
"I just don't want anything to happen to you."
"Keeping me locked away in this house is not going to help. That's just paranoia." She gave him a gentle kiss. "Come on, we're going to be late."
"Bruce Wayne is never late."
Kris started to head out to the car.
"Hey, Kris?"
Kris turned back around.
"You look stunning, by the way."
She smiled broadly. "Thank you."
This was the first party Kris was attending ever since that day in Metropolis. He was really, really against her going, but he had to admit…his wife was so hot. They had been married for ten years and she still made him weak at the knees.
Karly and Clark pulled up to the gala and parked in the lot reserved for members of the press. Then they both walked towards the red carpeted entrance.
"Karly, I have to cover things out here, so why don't you head inside?" Clark told her.
"Yeah, sure," Karly answered. "I'll see you in a bit."
She gently kissed him and started to go in. However, before she could get inside the doors, her attention was drawn to the new arrival when all the photographers and newspaper writers scrambled to get the person's attention.
"Who's that?" Clark asked the photographer next to him.
"You must be new to the 'let-them-eat-cake' beat," the man answered. "That is Bruce Wayne and his wife."
Clark and Karly watched as none other than Bruce Wayne himself stepped out of the vehicle followed by an older woman in a beautiful black dress. The woman took Bruce's arm and they walked inside together.
Karly wondered if it was difficult to always be in the spotlight. Bruce was probably used to it by now since he had been famous since birth, but was it hard on his wife?
From the way they looked at one another, she guessed that they were head over heels in love, so Mrs. Wayne probably didn't care as long as she got to be with him.
Not long after Bruce's arrival, all of the press members went inside to cover the actual event. Clark rejoined Karly as a blonde woman stepped up onto the stage with a microphone to introduce the man of the hour.
"Philanthropist. Bibliophile. True friend of the library of Metropolis. Mr. Lex Luthor."
Everyone politely applauded as they looked towards the back of the room where the man made his entrance.
"Me?" Lex asked in mock surprise. "Ah, okay." He quickly made his way up to the stage and hugged the blonde. "Nicky. You're embarrassing me."
Kris noticed Bruce's gaze linger on a brunette woman wearing a dark red dress standing in front of them. While she knew that Bruce would sometimes stare at other women in public in order to continue putting on his unsuspecting playboy image so people wouldn't believe he could be Batman, this seemed different. Something about the woman made Kris feel like she should know who she was.
However, she was more focused on the fact that a psychopath had made his appearance. She was a little put off by the fact that he had hair. No way was he going to have that hair for long. Lex Luthor was always bald.
Lex took the microphone from Nicky. "Speech. Speech. Uh, blah blah blah. Uh, open bar. The end."
The guests laughed a little. Both Karly and Kris, unaware of each other's presence, stared at him in confusion.
"The word 'philanthropist' comes from the Greek. Meaning a lover of humanity. It was coined about 2,500 years ago…"
Bruce lightly tapped Kris on the back. "I'll be right back," he whispered.
"I'll cover for you," she answered without looking away from the stage.
Karly noticed Clark's eyebrows furrow as he turned around.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Not sure…"
Karly looked in the same direction and noticed Bruce Wayne discreetly leaving the room towards the back. Did he think he was too good to listen to all of this?
She shouldn't be so quick to judge. Maybe he was just looking for a bathroom.
If she was being honest, she wished she could make an exit too until this painful speech was over. Eloquence was certainly not one of this man's skills.
"Gods and men," Lex continued. "Prometheus went with us. And he ruined Zeus' plan to destroy mankind and for that, he was given a thunderbolt." He imitated a thunderbolt striking down. "Hm. That seems unfair."
"What do Prometheus and Zeus have to do with all this?" Karly whispered.
"No idea," Clark replied. "I've yet to get a quote I can actually use for this article."
Kris wondered if Bruce was getting along okay with hacking Lex's computer. He had Alfred talking him through it, so he was probably fine. Even if Bruce always wanted to be Batman more than he wanted to be himself.
She kind of wished she'd gone with him. Listening to Lex was making her head hurt as she tried to follow his long-winded paths and non sequiturs. But knowing how crazy he was, she wanted to be able to keep tabs on him and learn more about this particular universe's version of the infamous villain. Besides, if she and Bruce left the room together, people might think all kinds of things.
Of course, people would also think all kinds of things with him leaving on his own. There were always ridiculous rumors surrounding the couple. It came with living the life of a billionaire.
She loved Bruce with all her heart, but if there was one thing she despised about their marriage, it was the serious lack of privacy. They couldn't go a hundred feet on the street without someone snapping a picture and coming up with a fancy headline about how their marriage was doomed to fail.
The longer Lex went on with whatever nonsense he was spewing, the more all of the guests wanted him to wrap it up.
"Books are knowledge," Lex went on. "And knowledge is power. And I am…" He laughed nervously. "No. Uh, um…No, what am I…I…what was I saying? No."
Karly released a breath of air. "Is this almost over?"
"I sure hope so," Clark said.
"The bittersweet pain among men is having knowledge with no power. Because…because that is paradoxical! And um…" He laughed nervously again. "Thank you for coming. Please, drink, drink!"
Scattered applause sounded from the guests who were most likely applauding that the speech was over rather than the speech itself.
Bruce reentered the room, and Kris quickly came over to him. "Please never leave my side again."
Bruce laughed. "I guess I didn't miss anything huge then."
"Only the worst and most awkward speech I have ever heard in my life."
Bruce looked over and made eye contact with the red-adorned woman again. He started towards her until someone started calling his name.
"Mr. Wayne. Mr. Wayne."
Bruce looked over to find a glasses-wearing dork holding out his hand for him to shake. A very pretty young woman dressed in a burgundy dress stood by his side.
"Clark Kent, Daily Planet," the nerd introduced.
Beside Bruce, Kris internally freaked just a tad. She was standing in front of none other than Superman!
Not that anyone could know she knew that.
Luckily for her, she had gotten a lot better about holding in her inner teenage fangirl.
"Oh, my foundation has already issued a statement in support of, uh, books," Bruce said.
"Sir?"
The woman in red passed by again and Bruce stared after her, feeling something off about her.
"Bruce, be polite," Kris said as she lightly hit him on the arm.
"Sorry. Bad habit."
Karly frowned. Did he always stare after other women when he was already married? How did this lovely woman possibly deal with that? Was their marriage not as fairytale as it seemed?
"What's your position on the Bat vigilante in Gotham?" Clark asked quite bluntly.
Awkward silence stretched between the four of them for a few seconds.
Kris sighed a little. He just had to go there.
Finally, Bruce smirked, "Daily Planet. Wait, do I own this one? Or is that the other guy?"
"Civil liberties are being trampled on in your city. Good people are living in fear."
Bruce lost his sarcastic behavior. "Don't believe everything you hear, son."
"I've seen it, Mr. Wayne. He thinks he's above the law."
Well, this is unfortunate, Kris thought. Weren't Superman and Batman supposed to be really good friends? Instead, Superman was acting like a pious jerk pretending he knew everything there is to know about vigilantism. His opinion might change if he actually ever spent a night in Gotham City.
"The Daily Planet criticizing those who think they're above the law is a little hypocritical, wouldn't you say?" Bruce asked suavely. "Considering every time your hero saves a cat out of a tree, you write a puff piece editorial about an alien who, if he wanted to, could burn the whole place down. There wouldn't be a thing we could do to stop him."
Oh, perfect, my husband is getting on his case too.
Karly tried to suppress all of the things she wanted to say to this Bruce Wayne character. Superman happened to be a wonderful superhero who at least didn't torture people to get information out of them.
Though he did have a point. Clark did have some incredible powers that could wipe out the human race. It was only natural to be wary of him if one didn't really know him.
"Most of the world doesn't share your opinion, Mr. Wayne," Clark said icily.
"Maybe it's the Gotham City in me. We just have a bad history with freaks dressed like clowns."
Though Karly was furious at the statement, she noticed Mrs. Wayne's eyes darken and she couldn't help but wonder why.
Suddenly, her eyes brightened again and she reached her hand out. "Hi, I'm Kristina Wayne, Bruce's wife."
"Um, Karly Mathis, Clark's girlfriend."
Kris made sure her expression didn't change, but she was surprised. Wasn't Clark's love interest supposed to be Lois Lane? Or at least it should be Lana Lang if not Lois. She had never heard of Karly Mathis before in any adaptation.
On the other hand, no adaptation of Batman had a Kristina Wayne née Jacobson either. Perhaps in this universe, everyone had different love interests than what was canon.
"It's lovely to meet you," Kris smiled. "Would you like to get a drink?"
"I'd love that."
The two women went over to the bar and away from the very awkward and suffocating environment.
"I apologize for my husband," Kris said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about Clark, too."
"I had no idea things were going to get so tense between them."
"Well, Clark is a good friend of Superman, so it's hard to listen to someone insult him."
Good friend, my butt, Kris thought. "I don't know much about Superman, but I would think he's a good guy."
"Do you agree with him? Your husband, I mean."
Kris sighed. "Karly…you have to understand that Metropolis isn't like Gotham. Over half of the cops on the force are crooked and/or work for the mob. It's impossible to trust anyone. Honestly, Batman is the only way we can get anything done. I don't agree with everything he does, and I will admit he's gotten more vicious recently, but we always know which side he's on."
Karly nodded a little. She made a good point. Who was she to judge about somewhere she had never lived? She had heard that Gotham could be a pretty rough city to live in. Maybe the only reason Batman did what he did was because he didn't have a choice in such a seedy and unforgiving place.
"Not only that, but he's saved my life on several occasions which certainly makes me trust him."
Karly laughed lightly. "Yeah, it's the same with me and Superman."
I bet it is.
"He's the same way. Look…in the Battle of Metropolis two years ago, the papers didn't print the whole story. Superman was battling Zod and then Zod threatened to kill me and another family. In order to save us, he had to kill Zod. Which meant he was killing the only living being left of his race. I mean…he had to have felt more alone than ever."
Except he has you.
She couldn't say that since she wasn't supposed to know Karly's boyfriend was Superman. She wondered if Karly herself knew. In some adaptations, Clark never told his significant other about his superhero persona.
Kris sighed again. "There's a reason why Bruce is not Superman's biggest fan. The both of us were in Metropolis during the whole fight with Zod because Bruce owns several businesses there and wanted to make sure his employees got out safely."
"That's really considerate of him."
"Bruce may come across as many things, but he does care about the people who work for him. Anyway, while we were looking for and assisting survivors…some debris from one of the buildings crushed me. I was in a coma for six months."
Karly's eyes widened.
"No one thought I was going to make it…but Bruce refused to pull the plug on me. Obviously, I eventually woke up and I had to go through intense physical therapy and rehabilitation. But…the whole thing really tore Bruce up. And he lays a lot of the blame on Superman for destroying the city in the first place. I know it wasn't all his fault, but when the life of the one you love most is in danger, you don't really think rationally."
"Mrs. Wayne…I'm terribly sorry."
"Please, call me Kris."
"Kris?"
"I like it better than Kristina."
"I'm glad you're okay now."
Kris smiled a little. "So…cut him some slack. It's just a really personal thing for him."
Karly nodded a little. As she watched Kris leave to return to Bruce's side, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to watch your spouse lying in a bed wondering if you would ever hear their voice again.
Bruce left the intense and awkward conversation with Clark and Lex and met Kris halfway. Kris politely took his arm like the exemplary wife, and they headed off in another direction.
Clark started to follow after them.
"What is it?" Karly asked as she walked up to him.
"I'm not completely sure. There's something off about those two. Someone is feeding Mr. Wayne information from somewhere else."
"Why would he need to do that?"
"Probably not for any good reason."
"Do you think Mrs. Wayne knows?"
"I would think so, but I'm not positive."
Clark and Karly started to follow after the famous married couple down a long set of stairs.
In the electronics room where Bruce had planted his hacking device, he realized with great dismay that someone had taken it.
When he looked out through the glass door, he once again met eyes with the woman in red.
Bruce quickly left the room to see her going back up the stairs. "Excuse me!"
He and Kris followed after her, but she was nowhere in sight. They made it outside the building just in time to see the woman smirk at them before getting into her car and zooming off.
Before Clark could figure out the reason they had all come to the bottom level of the building, his attention was drawn to the TV in the staff kitchen. A news report showed that a fire had broken out in Mexico during the Day of the Dead celebration. The camera showed a poor girl trapped in the burning building with no one to rescue her.
Karly looked over at Clark and nodded her head.
Without a word, Clark took off.
In barely thirty seconds, Superman appeared on the TV screen. He quickly pulled the girl from the building and gently held her in his arms as he flew down to safety, the flaming building crumbling behind him.
He carried the girl back to her mother and set her down onto the ground. The crowd, many of them dressed in skeleton costumes for the Mexican holiday, touched Superman in reverence and gratitude. Several of them burst into tears in relief.
Karly smiled a little.
That's my boyfriend.