Chapter 14: The Daily Planet

"Can someone tell me if 'Catastrophe' ends with an 'E' or an 'I-E'?" Lois Lane asked as raced through the frantic bustle of the Daily Planet newsroom. Spelling was not her strong suit.

"Definitely, with just an 'E', Miss. Lane," The peppy Jimmy Olsen replied. "Hey Lois, you like my new camera? It's top of the line! It took me six months to save up for this puppy."

"That's nice, Jimmy," Lois replied, not paying attention to the enthused teenager. She was more focused on her story and getting to her desk to type it up. Whenever she would get a hot story, everything else did not matter.

She was almost to her desk until she ran into her boss, Perry White. He was a Daily Planet legend. He was praised as the best reporter that Daily Planet had ever had. It was an honor she was determined to establish for herself. His gray hair was testament of the thousands of wild stories he could tell about his days in the field.

"Oh Boss, good; do you spell 'conveyor' with an 'E' or an 'O'?"

Perry had the appearance of someone who had a migraine. "Lois, we are living in the era of IPhone's and Blackberries, and how do you hand me your stories: typed using an outdated typewriter!" Perry pointed to the typewriter on her desk."

"Outdated? Let me tell you one thing, Boss: that typewriter is not outdated. It's electric!"

Yep, Perry had a migraine alright, and her name was Lois Lane. "I bought you this brand smackin' new Desktop." Perry used his right foot to tap on the computer that was underneath her desk. "It's a dandy little contraption that has something called a 'word processor' on it. If you used that to type up your reports, you wouldn't need to ask everyone, in the world, how to spell something, because it has an ingenious tool called a 'spell checker'.

"Boss, computers and I just don't get along together."

"I'll pay for classes. You need to learn how to use the computer," Perry snapped. He opened her top draw and pulled out an unopened box and dropped it on her desk. "How about this? This is the Blackberry that I gave you and It's unopened!"

"I just don't need a fancy phone like that. I have no room for it in my purse."

His headache was quickly getting worse. "Every reporter in the Daily Planet has one, and you haven't even opened yours. That's just great," he grunted. "You're lucky that you're a Pulitzer Prize award winning journalist. Just come with me to my office, will you?"

Lois followed him as instructed. She could not help that she was a strong woman. She was the daughter of a military general; it was in her blood. She probably would have gone into the military except for the fact that she had a nasty tendency to be clumsy. That was fine with her, because she loved what she did.

She was a remarkably attractive woman. She had a body that most women would die for. That came from all the exercise that was ingrained in her from her military father. Back in middle school, she was a rather plump little girl. Her father always chewed her out because of it. Since then, she had worked hard to maintain her figure; and it paid off in dividends. Wherever she went, men's jaws would drop. Despite her angelic looks, she had not been on a date since forever. It was her strong-will which intimidated men. They were all scared of her, and she was OK with that, as well. She was married to her work.

"What's this about, Boss?"

"There's someone I want you to meet." While everyone had cubical in the center of a large room, Perry had his own office separated by a glass panel with golden-brown blinds for each window pane. Perry opened the door for Lana who walked in to see a man sitting in the office. As she and Perry entered the room, he stood and smiled at them.

Her eyes widen when she saw how tall he was. "Well, hello, Big Boy," Lois purred. Not only was he uncommonly tall, but devilishly cute, as well. The black, plastic-framed glasses which would make anyone else look like a total geek, but for him, it made him even sexier.

Perry grunted as he closed the glass door behind them. "Am I going to have to sign you up for another seminar on sexual harassment?"

"Sorry, Boss," Lois replied, remembering the last time she had sat through one of those seminars. She had almost been thrown out for sleeping through part of it.

"Lois Lane, I want you to meet Clark Kent, Daily Planet's newest reporter."

"Nice to meet you," Clark nodded politely as he reached out his hand.

"Welcome to the Daily Planet," She replied, accepting the handshake gesture. "Wow, what a grip!" She said as she rubbed her sore hand.

"Oh, sorry about that," Clark apologized. He was usually better at controlling his strength than that.

"Mr. Kent, here, is a very promising reporter, a very fast typer, and he actually knows how to use a computer." Lana frowned. Was he ever going to get off her back about her and that stupid computer? What Perry said next was nothing short of a bombshell. "He is going to be your partner."

"Partner? I don't need a partner! I don't want a partner! This is not law enforcement!"

"This is just until Mr. Kent get's a handle on the way we do things here." Lois could only brood at the turn of events. "What are you still doing in my office? Go show Mr. Kent around."

Lois stormed out of the office; not concerned if Clark was behind her, or not. He was, however, and he followed her to her desk. The tension was thick, but he did not take offense to her reaction. "Listen, I realize you're losing valuable time helping me learn the tricks of the trade, but I just want you to know that I appreciate it, and I look forward to learning from you."

She looked at him with an expressionless face for a second before she grabbed the unopened Blackberry phone on her desk and tossed it over to Clark. "Here's a Blackberry for you." She turned and stormed off.