Chapter 25 – Smallville

As Clark drove their rental car – a Buick Century – across the Pottawatome Creek Bridge, Lois leaned across the car's bench seat and kissed his cheek. Then she sat back in her seat and smiled as she gazed at him. Clark smiled back at her, though her show of affection surprised him. He stole a glance in her direction and admired her.

Lois had worn jeans and a tank top with a flannel shirt over top, but the car was warm enough that she had shed the flannel. Her head was capped by the Metropolis Meteors ball cap she had been wearing six years ago.

In just a tank top, Lois' arms were on display. Clark liked that her arms were toned and muscular. Her shoulders were likewise cut and defined. Clearly, Lois Lane took working out very seriously. She reminded him more of a female boxer than a news reporter.

"What brought that on?"

"This is where we first met," Lois reminded him. "You saved my life and my professional career, you know."

He nodded. "Your life, yes. Your career? That was all you, Lois."

"Without your story, I would have probably been done," she lamented.

"My story was nothing without the right reporter," Clark reminded her. "Anyone could have come out here, but not just anyone could have gotten it right. That was all you."

She grinned at this. "Well, I am the best in the business – so you'd better be taking notes, Smallville."

It was Clark's turn to grin. "I have eidetic memory, Lois – no notetaking necessary." Then he took the conversation in a more serious direction. "Speaking of reporting, how are we going to do this? I'm Superman, Lois – it would be unethical of me to investigate, and you already know who I am and what I'm about."

"Not everything," she reminded him. "I still don't know what you truly are. I learned the other day that you have freeze breath too – is that true?"

"I don't call it that, but yes; I can exhale a blast of super cooled air."

Lois pondered for a moment, and then her face lit up. "Clark, you can talk to me as Superman. We're riding around in this car – why not make good use of the time together?"

"That's actually a good idea, Lois. As Superman, I can be anywhere I want as fast as I want to be, so I'll just be sure to put in an appearance here so that you'll have a publicly verifiable sighting."

"Good thinking, Clark," Lois said enthusiastically. "Let's get started!"

Clark shrugged. They had enough time before arriving at home. "Fire away."

Lois excitement gave way to quiet hesitation. Clark was being cooperative, but now that she was about to get the answers she had been longing for, Lois was not so sure that she really wanted to know. What if the answers were troubling? Yes, she had to report the truth, but things had been so bad for so long, and things were finally going well. Did she really want to jinx it by poking the proverbial bear?

She chided herself; poking bears is what Lois did best, and it was an integral part of her job. There was no getting around this; Lois Lane had to know the truth about Superman – the truth about Clark.

"What are you?"

Clark drove in silence for a few moments before he answered, making Lois wonder if he too thought this might not be such a good idea. Then, he broke the silence, and what he said blew Lois' mind.

"I was raised in Smallville Kansas, given the name Clark Kent by my parents," he began. "But that is not who I am. I am Kal-El of the House of El, and I was born in another star system, in another galaxy in fact. I am from the planet Krypton, which was located in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Lois' eyes widened. "The … Andromeda Galaxy?"

Clark nodded.

"Wait a minute." Lois shook her head, still reeling from this revelation. "You said was."

Clark nodded again. "My home world was destroyed in a cataclysmic event, and my parents sent me here as an infant in an experimental starship."

"Hold on," Lois blurted out, "you said you were sent as an infant! How could you possibly know any of this?"

"Records were sent with my ship," Clark replied. "The ship also contained a holographic AI representation of my Kryptonian mother, Lara Lor Von, who was able to answer questions and tutor me regarding things Kryptonian."

"Let me guess," Lois said testily. "The ship and the AI self destructed as soon as you received this message."

"Nope. I was planning to show you the ship and the AI when we get to my parents' house."

Lois was silent again. She had just put her foot in her mouth, going from warm and friendly to angry and skeptical in the space of a few seconds. What is the matter with me? She shook her head. She knew Clark was not human – at least not like any human she had ever met – so why should an extraterrestrial origin be so hard for her to accept? Government funded scientific experimentation had been her own theory since she first met Clark as the Smallville Superboy, and it seemed that she had become so attached to this answer that the idea that he was something more was like a bucket of cold water being thrown onto her.

"I'm sorry, Clark; I can be quick tempered and sometimes … I jump to conclusions. It's in my nature to second guess everyone." Lois chuckled. "Guess that's why I became a reporter."

Clark simply shrugged and said, "It's a lot to take in."

Good, she thought. He's not the type to stay angry or miffed.

"Chloe suggested something to that effect – she mentioned space rocks falling in Smallville. Apparently either the government or Luthor-Corp has harvested all of them." Then her thoughts drifted to Clark – no, Kal-El's – homeworld.

"What destroyed Krypton?"

"I don't know," Clark replied. "Lara Lor-Von did not tell me – only that my Kryptonian father, Jor El, had enough warning to prep the ship. I'm not even certain that she knew. I always assumed that it was some kind of natural disaster, or maybe the planet was hit by a comet or something."

"Your parents must have been … really smart if they were building starships in their living room," Lois noted. "What do you know about them?"

"Only that Jor-El was Krypton's leading scientist and that Lara was an astronaut and served in the equivalent of Krypton's air force. Beyond that, I only know that they loved me and wanted me to be safe."

"What are the limits of your powers, Clark?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know, Lois. I've never encountered anything that I could not lift, and I've never encountered anything from Earth that could hurt me. I've flown my 'fastest' on several occasions, each time being faster than the last time. You already know that I have enhanced senses."

Reminders of his ability to see through solid objects came to mind once again. So far, this interview had been serious. Now that she had gotten over the initial shock of him being an extraterrestrial, she decided to have some fun.

"What color underwear do I have on?"

Clark glanced over and casually said, "Pink."

Lois felt her face flush as she wondered if he may have inadvertently looked past her underwear.

"Do you like pink?"

"I like pink very much, Lois," Clark assured.

Then a thought came to her. "Clark, I had thought that your vision was like … X-Ray vision, but you can see in color."

"Of course, I can." Then he added. "I can focus my eyes to see details on a microscopic level, or to see great distances. I can also combine these powers, allowing me to see through something far away and examine the object behind it at a microscopic level. I can also see in the infrared spectrum, allowing me to pick out recent after images or the heat trail from a vehicle. Coupled with my hearing, I can get a complete picture of things going on miles away."

Lois' jaw dropped. "That's … that's more than the most sophisticated surveillance equipment in existence is capable of!"

"You called me Superman for a reason, Lois."

"That I did," she agreed. "That I did." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "But you're so much more than that."