At this moment I am deciding to end this story at 13 chapters in total. And if you have got any ideas on how I can improve on my writing; do tell. Anything else you want to say, do tell as well. Enjoy! :D

CHAPTER 10

"For the last time Kent, I am telling you I'm not wearing that damn Spandex suit of yours. I will not go around masquerading in red and blue."

"It is not Spandex, it is Kryptonian armor!" Clark fired back after Bruce shot him the accusation. "Don't be stubborn, if I carry you all the way to Metropolis in your hospital robe, you are gonna end up in worse shape than you are in now."

Bruce grunted, but said nothing, so Clark had him put on the Kryptonian bodysuit. As soon as he had put on the suit, however, Bruce felt slightly invigorated. The pain in his back was subsided, the numbness in his legs was significantly reduced.

"Ready?" Clark asked. At Bruce's nodding, Clark took him up gently in his arms, ignoring the flush that was creeping around Bruce's face, before taking off slowly.

"I am so gonna hate this," Bruce let out through clenched teeth, the cold wind hit across his face as Clark accelerated through the atmosphere.

(-)

"Are you telling me you are falling back on your end of the bargain, Mr. Luthor?" Dorrance asked menacingly.

"Nothing to fall back upon when you have not even succeeded in fulfilling your end of the bargain," Luthor responded smoothly, motioning Mercy to pass him the newspaper. Dorrance snatched the newspaper through Luthor's fingers and felt his jaw dropped.

"That is utter bullshit! We just broke his back, he would be nearly dead now, not running around in Gotham scaring punks!" he threw the paper to the ground and slammed his fists on Luthor's table, sticking his face towards Luthor. "And why do you care whether he is in Gotham or in Wisconsin? You wanted to get rid of the Bat, you have got it, so just pay us our money."

"I see no credit of yours in his departure from Metropolis, and therefore no valid reason exists as to why I should pay you more than what your shipment demanded."

Dorrance lunged forward and grabbed Luthor by the neck, "Little man, if you think I am a common thug whom you can hook up with your businessman talk, you are barking up the wrong tree. I can squash your insignificant bald head and take over your whole empire just as easily as I took over this gang. Keep your part of the bargain and we can end this deal without any unnecessary unpleasantness."

Lex was not even slightly intimidated by the hulking figure hoisting him upwards and nonchalantly snapped his fingers. Before he knew Dorrance was grabbed by strong hands and flicked casually towards his men crashing. The rest of the gang who were still standing were stunned at finding their boss grounded before them.

Dorrance wiped the blood dripping from his chin and looked up. Through the dust the crash had caused, the men could make out a humanoid silhouette, which was not quite human. The dust slowly cleared, revealing a human sized robot. When it spoke, however, it felt more human, despite the mechanical monotone.

"Leave, before more of you get hurt."

"Gun that freak down, boys," Dorrance regretted the moment he made the command. The metallic armor easily withstood all the bullets his men's Tommy guns fired, and with the surprising speed he had experienced earlier, he saw his men being chucked all over the place. Before he could get over his incredulity, Dorrance was lifter upwards by the force of the uppercutting metallic fist. He smashed through the roof of the place and fell down on the floor of Lex's office with a thundering crush.

A panel in the metallic chest opened, exposing the familiar green rock which the gang helped Luthor obtain. The rock began to glow ominously when the command came.

"Stop."

Lex walked up to Dorrance, who was cowering on the floor, the bravado which he had shown five minutes earlier completely evaporated. "If you think the money is not enough, I can make it worth your while with pain. Yes?"

The giant stumbled while trying to get up. The mask did not let it reveal, but Lex was sure the eyes behind the mask were burning with hatred.

"I will get one over you Luthor," Dorrance hissed, before calling his men together and leaving. Lex smiled at Metallo, indirectly gesturing that the latter should leave as well.

When both the gang and Metallo had left, Mercy called him, "Lex, you do not need more enemies do you? Not after already antagonizing that alien."

Lex smiled, "The gang will have sense not to mess with me, Mercy. The Big Blue is as much of a menace to them as he is to me. And I do not think the Gothamite will let them go free so easily. The gang already has its hands full. Metallo can take care of the rest of the problems I have."

Mercy considered, then smiled, "You sly old dog."

(-)

"Tell me, what are you actually doing here with a broken back when you are supposed to have models swooning over you in Himalayas?"

Bruce lifted his face from in front of the computer screen, "Business matters Lois. Thanks for all the trouble you have taken." Cue the curt reply.

Lois walked over to Bruce's wheelchair and looked at the screen, "So tapping phones, tracing mails have become business for you? Since when?"

Bruce killed the screen, and swiveled his chair to face Lois, "Since I have become confined to this wheelchair due to an unfortunate accident in the hotel staircase. You can no longer spy on your rival corporations effectively when you can barely move."

Lois raised her eyebrows, "That still does not explain why you choose to remain incognito. Although," she paused, with a curious smile on her face, "I found it too much of a coincidence that a billionaire and a vigilant from Gotham sprung up here at the same time."

Bruce flinched slightly, which was all Lois' trained eyes needed. A shot in the dark had got her jackpot. "Coincidences do occur," he said finally, looking directly at Lois' eyes.

"Those blue eyes, why do I feel lost whenever I look at them?" thought Lois, as she slowly found her face moving towards Bruce's….

(-)

"I should not have done that," Lois said awkwardly after drawing her lips away from Bruce's. A faint hint of a smile formed on Bruce's face as he saw Lois' cheeks turn bright red. She turned suddenly and hurriedly left the room, leaving Bruce alone and confused in the room. Bruce continued to stare at the door for some time, thinking how he had meant the kiss as a distraction to get Lois off her track. But now after that happened, he realized how his own feelings about her had developed.

"No, Wayne, you are not doing this, remember?" Bruce told himself.

"Remember what?" Clark's voice came from outside the window, startling Bruce. "Just dropping by," he offered at Bruce's questioning gaze, flying in to the room. "Lois is in her room I guess."

A moment of awkward silence followed, interrupted only by the sound of Bruce's fingers hitting the keys on the keyboard.

"Have you ever done something which you would not have done normally, but you were forced to do due to circumstances?" Clark spoke after ten minutes.

Bruce spoke without turning his gaze, "You mean the Kryptonian you had to kill?" Ignoring Clark's wincing at his lack of sugar coating the truth, he continued, "No. But I have seen others in similar situations."

"Not a night goes by when his face does not haunt me. And there are lives which could have been saved, but I failed," Clark muttered miserably. "Sometimes I think I am not the hero they make me to be."

"I am sure Lois does not think that way."

Clark smiled sadly, "She would not admit it, but she has become bored listening to this repeatedly for the past few months. I did not want to bother her with old stories."

Bruce finally looked up, "So you are thinking of quitting. Fine, but what happens then? Or are you afraid even to think of that?"

"Are you calling me a coward, Bruce?" Clark's voice turned cold.

"Maybe."

"You don't know what it feels like to be looked upon like a freak!" Clark bitterly spat. "My father told me people would push me away if they knew what I truly am. And it's right isn't it?"

"I don't need to know. I won't ever admit I told this, but let me tell you Clark, do you have any idea how much people pin their hopes on you? That's right, you don't know. Are you going to take their hopes away from them?"

Clark smiled bitterly, "Hope. So fragile."

"Well, so are you, under your pretense of being strong. You want to clear the guilt from your heart? Keep the fighting on. The hardest part not of a fight is not winning it, the hardest part is not giving in to the urge of stopping. You are too afraid because you think along the lines of 'what would happen'. Try thinking of the consequences of what would have happened if you did not make the choices that you did" Bruce turned his eyes back on the screen, with an air of finality.

Clark stood in his place, silently, his head dropping low. When Bruce turned his head to find Clark, he found the latter had slipped away silently without him noticing.

"Idiot," Bruce grumbled. His eyes became fixed upon a particular entry on the page that had just appeared on the screen.

"Lucius, I hope I did not wake you," Bruce called on his phone.

"Well I am sure it must not be too dark in Tibet," the unmistakable sound of stifling a yawn came from the other side.

"I need you to hand over the prototype suit to a friend tomorrow at our Metropolis branch. 11 in the morning. Be sharp and keep it as much of a secret as you can."

"Ok. Now can I go back to sleep?" the line broke.

"Clark," Bruce put through a second call. "I need you to do something for me."

A/N: Tada! Obviously Bruce has found something interesting, which explains his calling for the prototype suit. Hence the next chapter...