Metropolis, September 5, 2007. "Synchronize your watches people! 2400 hours until the Operation is a go!"

Daily Planet, September 5, 2007. Clark had flown off to his own apartment early in the morning so as to allow Lois to get ready and get Jason to school on time. In spite of the reconciliation neither of them wanted to give their son any ideas—"It'll take time to heal…" came Lois' words from the previous evening, echoing in the back of his mind. Still, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face, not for all the money in the world.

She arrived at work a half hour after he did, with a glow in her cheek and a bounce in her step. This time, instead of leaving the coffee on her desk, Clark left it on the edge of his own as an inducement for her to come over. Lois walked right over and plopped a small brown bag on the middle of his desk before sitting on it's edge and picking up the coffee.

"It's not homemade, but it was the best I could do given a lack of…" she looked around to make sure no one was listening "…superpowers." She took a sip of the drink he'd left for her.

"MMmmm, blueberry, my favorite," he said, without even moving toward the bag.

"Hey no fair!" she cried out playfully. "Looks like I'll have to invest in a lead-lined lunch basket for this weekend…"

His eyes twinkled at the implication. "And what might you be needing that for, Miss Lane?"

"For a family picnic in the park of course." She winked at him.

Clark was thankful then that he knew what it felt like to fly, because he was pretty sure his heart had taken lift-off out of his chest. He must have been looking at her queerly because Lois was staring at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I was just thanking my lucky stars that I landed here, on this planet, and that I was able to meet somebody as wonderful as you."

The glow in her face heightened, but she still rapped him on the arm with the paper she had folded up in her hand. "Are you sure you grow corn and not cheese out there in Smallville, Kent?" she asked mock-scoldingly.

"L-Lois," he replied, the bumbling farm boy-turned-reporter she'd known for all those years suddenly resurfacing. "You know they, uh…they don't g-grow cheese. It's cultured."

"Oh you." She gave him another whack with the paper. "Just remember, flattery will get you nowhere…but this coffee just might." Lois smiled at him before getting up and walking back to her own desk.

He was just about to bite into the muffin she'd left him when a bellow was heard from the back of the room. "Kent! Lane! Get in here!" Clark scrambled at the Chief's beckoning, while Lois gathered her notepad and calmly walked to his office. It took all her strength not to swoon at the sight of Clark Kent and maintain a professional and friend-like front.

The duo sat around the Chief's desk and waited as he pondered something outside his office window. Turning around, he looked from Lois to Clark and back again before beginning.

"Good to see you two've patched things up; it's about time. Now, I want you to look into the dwindling criminal element along the docks. A friend of mine at the MPD has said that their numbers have been dropping faster than the stock market in '29 since the Luthor announcement was made in May. He wasn't sure what to make of it before, but that's why I want you two to look into it…"

"I can't, Chief," Lois interjected.

"Oh no, not again," Perry said, sinking into his chair, rubbing the top of his balding head. Even Clark's eyes popped out of his head at Lois' words.

"No no, it's not like that, Perry, really!" she hastened to say. "I'm still working on that piece about the death of Aaron Cartmore, the playwright who was killed in his apartment last weekend, remember?"

"Lois, that was supposed to be a simple write-up; someone broke in, shot the guy in cold blood, cracked into his safe and left. So what's the hold-up?"

"Chief, the guy was obviously afraid of something. He had practically fifteen locks on his door, not to mention that not all the cash and bearer bonds were taken out of the safe, just enough was taken to make itlook like a robbery. I have it on good authority from my friend at the MPD that it's a homicide, not just a B&E gone bad."

Perry pondered her reporter's intuition for a moment before speaking again. "Ok, here's what we're going to do. Kent? You start investigating down at the docks. Lois, I'm giving you forty-eight hours and if nothing pans out then you're on the new story with him, ok?"

"Sure, Perry."

"Whatever you say, Chief."

"Good, that's settled, now get out and let me get back to work," he said, settling down to the paperwork before him.

Jason's first day of first grade had been a big success, and he relayed the events to Clark when his Mom brought him into the office that afternoon.

"And then we went out on the new playground, which was REALLY COOL! They got puzzle pieces on the ground so it won't hurt when you fall…"

"Whoa there, slow down, what do you mean they had puzzle pieces on the ground?" Clark asked, halting the boy jabbering away on his knee.

"He means they put foam rubber down instead of asphalt or mulch and it's in the shape of colorful puzzle pieces. It absorbs the shock in the kid's knees when they run around and doesn't hurt them should they fall down," Lois explained.

"Yeah, only I didn't fall, but Timmy Redman did and he told Mrs. Harper that it didn't hurt! And Danny and I climbed on the monkey bars and went down the slide before playing with Susie on the swings. And after recess we went back inside and colored, and I made a picture of a giant green T-Rex! Rarrr!!!!" He said, barring his claws menacingly.

Clark feigned a frightened look. "Oh boy, sounds like you had quite a day! I'm glad you liked it. Did you get any homework?" Just then, Clark cocked his head, intent on a sound off in the distance. It was a large bank robbery in Texas that was fast becoming a stand-off; his assistance was needed.

"Go to your Mother's desk, Jason, and get started on your homework, ok? I have to go…"

"But Da—Mr. Clark, why do you have to leave?"

"Because…" he lowered his voice by an octave and whispered in the child's ear "…people need my help." Jason's eyes went wide and he scrambled off Clark's lap and ran over to his Mother. Lois looked up in time to see Clark loosen his tie a little before jogging to the stairwell and pulling another disappearing act. A few minutes later the TV screens erupted with news of Superman's appearance on the scene of a hostage situation at the First Bank of Dallas, in Texas. She smiled knowingly to herself, assured that all would be well now that Clark was on the scene.

She shook her head in disbelief as she bent down to her work. Clark Kent as Superman…who would have guessed?

Daily Planet, September 6, 2007. Clark looked up from his computer in the early afternoon and caught a glimpse of Lois pacing the floor in the conference room. The Chief had asked Jimmy to lend her a hand when he wasn't out on assignment, and he was currently sitting at the computer at the opposite end of the room from her helping her in her investigation. Lois looked a little frazzled.

Clark knocked on the conference room door. "Hey guys, you want to, uh…g-grab a bite to eat? Maybe help c-clear your heads?"

"Yeah, CK, that sounds great!" Jimmy said, getting up from his seat.

"Give us fifteen minutes, will you, Clark? There's just one thing I need to figure out before we go…" but she caught the look on his face and knew he wasn't listening, his face had gone ashen.

She stopped pacing right in front of him. "What is it?"

His voice switched to its lower register. "Something's wrong at Donner Elementary…its Jason…"

"GO!" she screamed at him, causing Jimmy to jump. Clark was gone before the young photographer had a chance to note his absence.

"What…? What's wrong? Where's CK?"

"Uh, uh…he's out…on a lead! Forgot about meeting an informant. I gotta go, Jimmy, it's Jason…"

"Um, ok, sure, whatever you have to do, I'll be here when you get back." But she too was gone before he'd even finished speaking.

12:58 pm. The delivery van, the two repair trucks and a handful of SUV's took up their position on the three streets surrounding the Donner Elementary school playground. One of the vans was rigged with all manner of video surveillance equipment and all were lead-lined.

At 12:59 four rough looking men stepped out of one of the SUV's parked along the Northwest side and began casually walking around the outside of the playground. A short chain link fence was all that stopped them from their intended target.

"I've got him," a voice buzzed in all four earpieces. "Red zip-up jacket atop the jungle gym." The four men nodded at one another and strolled over to that side of the playground. The child jumped down off the equipment and started heading for the swings.

"NOW!"

The thugs hopped the fence and ran full-out at Jason Lane, one of them grabbing him roughly around the waist and slinging him over his shoulder. Both Jason and his friend Danny, who had been running beside him, started screaming.

Mr. Jablonsky, a fifth grade teacher at the school, was the first to notice the commotion. "ASHLEY, CALL 911! THEY'VE GOT ONE OF THE CHILDREN!!!!" The other kids fled the schoolyard screaming in terror as the teachers quickly ushered them back into the safety of the building. The kidnappers were crossing the playground back to their vehicle as Mr. Jablonsky took off after them.

The men knew what the job was; grab the child and Superman would show. What they hadn't been told was that the child in question possessed half-Kryptonian DNA and that he was not going ANYWHERE without a fight. Jason was screaming like he'd never screamed before; his throat and lungs were burning from the effort and he flailed about in the thug's grip, pounding on his back with his hands and delivering a swift kick to his chest that sent the ruffian down on his knees.

"What are youDOING!?!?!" one of them hissed at the man on the ground. "GET UP!"

"C…ca…can't…" the one on the ground replied, winded. A pair of fingers snapped and the two other kidnappers moved to take Jason out of his arms. Mr. Jablonsky reached them and delivered a swift punch across one of the men's jaws. The teacher was about to get his own jaw clocked in return when it connected with blue-covered steel.

Superman landed with a blur on the playground, not giving any thought to the safety of his surroundings, his only focus in getting his son out of harm's way. He quickly wrangled Jason out of the still-winded man's grip and passed him off to the teacher.

"Get him out of here, get them all out of here, NOW!" he shouted, hoping to curb the terror in his voice while pointing at the other children who were still outside. Mr. Jablonsky fled with Jason clutched in his arms, the little boy shaking uncontrollably.

The third man got to his feet and the four of them began to circle the Man of Steel like hyenas to a kill. Superman kept his eyes on all of them, but he heard the opening and closing of other car doors nearby. Soon there were twenty more men stealing over the once happy play area.

"NOW!" the voice once again echoed in all their earpieces. Superman heard the command along with the hiss of hydraulics and saw several of the puzzle pieces on the ground pop off into the air—only then did he start to feel sick.

Kryptonite!The playground surface was littered with the green rock, hidden by a thin lead lining underneath the kid-friendly groundwork. The set-up was too elaborate to have been a spur-of-the-moment plan concocted by a couple of goons, and Clark quickly realized that this trap had Lex Luthor written all over it.

As he registered these facts one of the men aimed a punch squarely at his chest; the connection of it caused him to topple back slightly. His strength had not wholly left him but he knew it wouldn't be long—he began to swing about at the throng of men that enclosed on him. Clark felt his fist connect with someone's jaw before he picked up another man and tossed him out of the way. This went on for several minutes before his arms started swinging wildly in front of him like an over-tired boxer—he couldn't tell how many men he'd struck because wherever one went down three more popped up. Punches were also being thrown in his direction, hitting him in the face, chest and back. He felt the jab taken at his New Krypton wound most acutely and crumpled to one knee in pain. This was the opportunity the men had been waiting for.

Superman looked up in time to see a net about to be thrown over him. He struggled in vain to get to his feet and fly to safety; it was the last thing he remembered before everything went black.

Students and teachers watched from the windows as the horrific scene unfolded before them. Sirens could be heard in the distance as the men scrambled to load their unconscious victim into the delivery van before returning to their own vehicles to flee the site. They were long gone by the time the authorities arrived, leaving exposed Kryptonite flooring and a bloody trail on the playground in their wake.

The whole episode had taken only seven minutes.

A/N: B&E is slang for breaking and entering.