Lois interviewed the crowd for quotes on their reactions. She herself didn't know quite how to feel other than shocked, but anger set in after the shock began to wear off. Unfortunately, most seemed excited about "Superman's" takeover and optimistic for the future.
She would have liked to grab the microphone and reveal the man behind the curtain, so to speak, but she knew she would get dragged off by one of the men in black suits with no proof. It was Emil who had to tell everyone who the imposter was.
She found a private spot to make a phone call.
"Hello?" Batman's gravely voice answered, letting her know he was in his Batman disguise.
"I didn't know you came out during the day," she said, a stab at levity. It wasn't the time for jokes perhaps, but it felt like there never was anymore.
"I saw it. I'm with the good doctor now. I'll let you know how it goes."
Bruce was one step ahead of her. Good. She didn't envy Dr. Hamilton at all.
sss
"And you're going to tell the world who he really is," he growled at the scientist that he had pressed against the wall. A simple revelation and this could all be fixed. At least, he hoped so.
"What if he comes after me? He believes he's doing the right thing. Nothing will get in his way. Not even me," Emil said fearfully.
The creator had become afraid of his creation. The Frankenstein story come to life. "You'll have protection from me, from Wonder Woman."
"And perhaps from someone fast?" Diana put in.
He nodded. They hadn't gotten a chance to meet with Barry Allen yet in all the madness, but it was time to pay a visit to the forensics department in Central City. They'd need all the help they could get going against not just the clone but the United States.
sss
"I want you to go interview some conspiracists. They called in, saying they had some news of interest regarding Superman's takeover of the U.S. They sounded like nuts to me, but then this country's gone nuts. Maybe they do have some good information," Perry told Lois.
"I told you it's not Superman. It's a clone. That's the story we need to be running to wake people up. I can interview Dr. Emil, he's already agreed to talk, and then maybe people won't be so eager to stand behind a clone that's not even a year old yet."
"You can work on it after you talk to these guys."
To argue would be to waste time they didn't have. "Fine. I suppose I can see them first."
It was a small house that looked run down. A quick knock and she was wordlessly let in by a man who looked and smelled like he hadn't seen a bath in days.
It was dark inside despite it being the middle of the day as blackout curtains hung on all the windows like they shunned sunlight. There were scented candles burning in place of the natural light that did little to cover the scent of marijuana. Though she was sure it was strictly for medicinal purposes, she thought with a roll of her eyes.
Perry had sent her to a house of crackpots pure and simple. A few questions to say she'd done as she was told and then she was out of here.
She followed the man deeper into the house against her better judgment and was taken to the leader, she supposed. He wore thick glasses with black frames like Clark, but that's where the physical similarities ended. He had a blond goatee and he was wiry rather than muscular. "You doubt. I can see it in your face," this leader said before she could ask her first question. "Then you must see so your eyes will be opened."
He showed her a video of the press conference that someone had filmed. "I don't need to see it. I was there. Nothing out of the ordinary happened other than the president lost his mind."
"Sure about that?" He froze the frame and she walked closer to the screen for a better look. He pointed to the roof of one of the buildings. "See there. That's him. The god of evil."
It was a mere speck on the screen, nothing definable. "It could be anything. Anybody. Edited even."
He handed her an enlarged part of the picture someone had printed off. It was grainy, but the figure couldn't be mistaken. Though it was a humanoid, it was other worldly in dress and his skin looked more like rock than flesh. And it didn't look friendly. No wonder they thought he was the god of evil.
"You will find him on any video out there," he told her. "Because it's real. He was there."
"So you want him exposed? To bring him to justice? Do you have any proof he's behind anything? I can't run a story based on his looks alone."
"We don't want him exposed; we want him revealed. So that others can worship him along with us. He's come to take what is his. To resist is futile. We must embrace and support. What people call evil is nothing but our most primitive desires. The god of evil has come to free us and return us to our animalistic passions."
"Charming." The unease in her grew, but they didn't seem dangerous as much as misguided.
This little cult was making the church of Superman start to look sane and that took some doing. They were right about one thing though. Something evil was out there and she was going to bring it to light to save mankind from the dark road they were heading down.