Clark told Kara everything about his encounter with Gwen. Everything she had said, even the details he had omitted from Lois. Especially the details he omitted from Lois…he needed his cousin to have the full picture in order for them both to try to help the other Kryptonian. Kara listened intently and clapped a hand over her mouth, holding it there in wide eyed wonder until the end of his narrative.
"Wow." She said at last. "Gw'len, huh? She's another one of us! That's—that's wonderful!"
"But she's troubled. And stubborn." Clark sighed. "Help me find her again. Maybe if we both talked to her—"
Kara's smile slowly faded and she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind one ear. "Maybe we should give her a bit of time and think about this. No offense, Kal, but from what you described, I don't think we should come on that, uh, strong..."
Clark frowned, not at all pleased with his cousin's reluctance. "What do you mean? We're her species! She should—"
"Kal, she tried to fly away from you multiple times. She doesn't want to talk. She wants to stay anonymous."
"I don't see why." Clark huffed, "I'm thrilled to know she's on the planet. But she's being obstinate and overdramatic!"
"I know, I know. Give me a day or two to mull this all over," Kara said softly. "Then I'll contact you, ok?"
"Ok." Clark nodded finally. They exchanged a few more words and said goodbye. Then Clark jetted to his next stop, Gothem City.
He landed on a particular rooftop and turned on the giant spotlight with the shape of a black bat stretched across it. He waited for a half hour, growing more and more irritated before he heard soft breathing and turned to see the Bat Man, all decked out, striding toward him.
"Can't sneak up on you, can I." Bruce said.
"No. But thanks for coming." Clark kicked the bat signal sourly and the light blinked off. "I could have written your name in the sky or something, but it's getting dark."
Bruce's thin lips twitched behind the mask. "Well, not that I wouldn't have appreciated that gesture, but you know we could just as easily exchange phone numbers..." he flicked his eyes down to the mangled lump on the roof between them. "What's this?"
Clark rolled over the body of the Parademon he had brought with his booted toe. "Just an old acquaintance. Look familiar?"
"Yeah, like a bad penny." Bat Man growled.
"I spent my morning decommissioning two hundred of these." Clark began. "Half of them were equipped with Kryptonite claws."
Actually…I counted. There was only one hundred ninety-three, Kal. And forty two of them had claws. That's not half.
Clark's head whipped to the West as his ears picked up Gwen's soft voice floating on the breeze. That little spitfire! She was somewhere nearby, watching them! It only took him a second to scope Gothem City with his super sight and pinpoint her shadowy form, crouched against a different rooftop two miles away.
Don't give me away, Kal. She warned.
"What's wrong?" Bruce was eyeing Clark suspiciously now. His fists were balled and his body tense, as if ready to spring into action. Or a fight. He never knew which one he should be expecting lately with the moody Superman.
"Just…I heard something." Clark slowly faced forward and motioned to the Parademon again. "Bruce, I have reason to believe that Lex Luther is behind this. He did break out of prison a few weeks ago."
"I know. I heard. I also heard you had some unexpected help during your little adventure this morning." The Bat Man bent and made a big show of examining the Parademon, when he was really waiting and giving Clark a chance to defend himself.
Clark sighed, deliberately not glancing in Gwen's general direction. "Perhaps I can tell you more about that development later. Right now I need you to take this thing back to your lab and find out how Lex got it to work again, and what he's up to. Use all your tricks."
"Well obviously it was re-programed not to hone in on fear, but to find a Kryptonian. Or two." Bruce said dryly. He was no fool. "I'll take a look at it."
"I'd appreciate it." Clark turned to go. That was the way things were between him and the Bat Man. Get business done and not stand around chatting idly. Easy.
"Are you unscathed then?" Bruce straightened. "You mentioned Kryptonite claws. Luther must have been hard pressed to find that much green."
Clark kept his back to the Bat Man, his red cape catching a breeze and stretching away from him, as if invisible fingers were begging him to go another direction. He glanced over his shoulder.
"Careful. I might start to think you actually cared about me." Clark muttered. Bruce chuckled as Superman rocketed off into the dark sky.
Clark tried to sense Gwen, curious if she had left Gothem City. To search for her in the vicinity was easy. He only had to dial up his super sight and hearing to pick out the most glaring, unique being from the millions of normal humans on this continent. But he couldn't sense that much power now, other than the potent glow he felt radiating from Kara over in National City, so that meant Gwen must have flown back halfway across the globe.
He returned to Metropolis instead. Lost in his own thoughts, he flew laps around it. It was the middle of the night. The city was pretty quiet, just the way he liked it. There were a handful of petty crimes taking place, but nothing that the local law enforcement couldn't handle. Trespassing, speeding, driving while intoxicated. Small stuff.
Clark finally landed on Lois' balcony and let himself in. Glancing through the walls, he could immediately tell she was not present so he looked further and spotted her in her office of the Daily Planet building. She was burning the midnight oil, working on his new story. What a girl. Clark peeled off his super suit and took a cold shower, relishing the soothing water on his tired body.
The next thing he knew Lois was sweeping into the front door at 7:00AM, waving a copy of The Daily Planet in his face.
"Clark! Look at this! What do you think?" she laughed, all bubbly and excited as she leaped on him. Clark was stretched out on the living room couch, dozing. He smiled and sat up, taking the paper from her.
Lois' new story had been printed on the front page. No surprise there. The bold headline announced "New Superwoman Teams Up With Superman". Clark narrowed his eyes.
"Lois, that title alone is misleading. She didn't join me. We're not a team."
"Oh just keep reading." Lois slapped his arm playfully.
Clark did. The rest of the article went on to say that the mysterious woman Metropolis saw fighting alongside Superman was another Kryptonian like him. The article was lengthy but tastefully worded. It stressed that the new woman was a friend to Earth and that the public had nothing to worry about. In fact, it hinted, the public should welcome her with open arms if she made another appearance. More details about this woman were to come, the article promised. The world was certainly lucky to have another gifted protector in its midst.
Clark set down the newspaper and leaned back.
"Well?" Lois scooted closer to him on the couch. "What do you think?"
Clark considered a moment. Her article had flirted with speculation, but for the most part she had told the truth as he had presented it.
"It's good." He said at last. "The planet will be tantalized."
Lois' lips formed a pout. "You don't like it."
"I don't know, it still—" Clark grasped for words. "It still feels like an open can of worms, as your Earth saying goes."
"Well of course it does!" Lois slid into his lap and draped her arms around his neck. "You didn't give me the whole story, Clark, so people are still going to go wild and bombard you with more questions. They won't be satisfied—I won't be satisfied—until we know everything that's going on."
Clark nodded, gazing off into the distance. "There's going to be changes." He looked a little sad.
Lois stroked his hair and kissed his lips, waiting. She was used to the high stress demands of his profession, but she was kind enough to be quiet and let him deal with things in his own way.
"I for one am glad there's another Kryptonian here to help you out." She said after the silence had stretched too long. "Maybe you won't be so overworked and we can spend more time together."
Clark looked at her, surprised. Then he tackled her down onto the couch amid her screaming laughter.
And now we have Bat Man in the story! This is a slow burn drama. I'll do more chapters with mixed adventure, action and Clark getting to know someone better.
