CHAPTER ONE - VERDICT

It's just so… so typical, Lois realizes as she peruses the news on her phone. Here she is, the best and most well-recognized reporter in the whole damn world, and when aliens invaded - invaded her own hometown, no less - she was halfway around the world and literally stuck there, unable to report.

Not to mention that this story had astounding personal significance to her, not just as a Metropolis native, but as the girlfriend of one Clark Kent (aka Superman) - her city's resident superpowered (and friendly alien) protector. So she was forced to sit idly, completely sidelined, as Clark fought off impending doom and faced near certain death.

The media was frenzied and chaotic throughout it all too - to the point where Lois became almost ashamed to be part of a journalistic community that could hardly keep its facts straight. Every breaking news update was almost immediately retracted or sensationalized, and woefully contradictory information was released nearly each second.

For example, in one instance, there were at least forty unconfirmed reports of Superman's death, which nearly caused Lois to have forty separate coronaries. Meanwhile, there were forty more reports of Superman being alive and fighting on, taking on the invading leader - some hulking, sallow-skinned creature named Mongul - singlehandedly in some sort of colossal battle.

Of course, this is old news by now. It's been a month since the invasion of Metropolis - a month since Superman near-literally kicked the would-be-conqueror Mongul and his forces' butts off of planet Earth, expelling them to space. It must have came as quite the surprise to Mongul - he thought he was coming to subjugate a defenseless planet, but he accidentally found Superman instead.

Lois is just still incredulous and bitter about that fact that it happened, even as she reads articles about the repair efforts in the city. Her home was partially destroyed - and she wasn't even there. No, she got herself stranded in Qurac for two months, waiting for a flight home after the disaster, since almost all international travel routes to America were shut down for security reasons.

That's why she's still in Qurac, standing outside of a courthouse located in the nation's capital, checking the news on her phone out of boredom.

Of course, the pictures accompanying the articles oftentimes feature Superman - in all his gorgeous, blue-eyed glory. Apparently, he has been working round-the-clock to repair the city, which probably explains why the pictures show constant seriousness and concentration in his expression.

Or… that expression could be one of exhaustion, since lifting a million tons of building materials has probably put quite the strain on him.

Even so, seeing his face strikes her with newfound homesickness - God, she hasn't seen Clark in person in… forever. Not since before Mongul came. And despite how nice it would be, it's not like she can expect him to fly down to visit her. Not when the city needs him so much. If there aren't repairs to be made, there are criminals taking advantage of the chaos to stop. And if there aren't criminals to stop, there are supplies to deliver to families who lost everything in the destruction.

So no, she's not selfish enough to ask Clark to come visit her. They make phone calls and send e-mails. It's a system. An inadequate system, but a system all the same.

Regardless, there are some benefits to her being stranded here. She is able to attend the trial of the Bialyan terrorists who once made sport of shooting up a town. A town that Lois was somewhat coincidentally visiting at the time, and that near-coincidence caused her to receive a near-fatal bullet through the shoulder.

She got lucky and survived. But the rest of the village, her photographer Tom, and many other communities, did not.

It's been awhile since she has allowed herself to consider Tom. For a long time, she was rebuilding herself, trying to fight Lex, as if that would alleviate responsibility from her own conscience. Because really - he would not have been there, or died, if it was not for her.

Somehow, pushing him out of her mind was disturbingly easy to do - Tom had almost no family, no significant others. She wasn't even invited to his funeral. She wonders if those who knew him well blamed her, and purposely made it so she would never have a hand in his life (or death) again. Regardless, she is here - she has helped captured his killers to help gain Tom, and the rest of those people, some justice.

Right now, she is waiting for the jury's decision on the murderers' fates - a decision that has been long overdue. In fact, a conclusion should have been made by an hour ago - a deadline that was already two hours after the presentation of the men's cases.

She wonders what could be taking so long. Lois spent so much time sitting fruitlessly inside the courtroom that her joints started to stiffen, so she took a walk outside to relieve her restlessness.

Apparently, she is not the only one who shares this intention - not anymore, anyway. The door beside her opens, revealing a familiar, middle-aged man in a Quraci military uniform with close-cropped hair. He comes to stand beside her, pulling out and lighting a cigarette before placing it in between his lips.

Aware that Lois is watching him, he glances at her and holds up the box of cigarettes. "Care for one, Miss Lane?" he offers in the Quraci language, the cigarette still in between his teeth.

"No thanks, Colonel," she replies nearly fluently (her language skills have gotten quite good during her time stranded here). She shakes her head and sticks her phone in her pocket. "I kicked that addiction a while ago. In fact, I would recommend for you to do the same."

The Colonel chuckles. "In my line of work, with Bialya threatening war, I would be lucky to die from something like lung cancer."

"Whatever. It's your decision, not mine - but just keep your health in mind. Anyway, has there been any news from inside?"

"It is…" the Colonel exhales, "... a difficult decision. The public wants justice - the death penalty for the attackers of those villages, which would require a unanimous vote from the jury. But Bialya promises an attack if we do choose the death penalty. Thus, this issue has now become a matter of national pride and respect, not just of morality, and the jurors are having trouble dealing with the potential ramifications of their decisions."

Lois looks out from her spot on the steps of the courthouse, staring at the sprawling expanse of the Quraci capital city, Dhabar. "What would you vote for, if you were one of them?"

"Is this something for your articles, Miss Lane?"

"No. Just curiosity."

He scratches his chin. "After all the horror stories I have heard, after all the crimes I know they're responsible for… I would choose the death penalty in a heartbeat - Bialya be damned. They're going to attack us either way. Plus, after all the trouble we went through, trying to capture these killers after their months on the run - I think we deserve some justice."

Lois makes a humming sound - one that is neither approving or disapproving of his choice. She just continues staring at the city… a city not unlike her own in its beauty or the dangers it faces. Metropolis faces alien conquerors, Dhabar faces a greedy queen from a nearby country.

"Of course… I suppose I should be asking you what you'd prefer. You were nearly one of their victims after all, and lost one of your acquaintances to them. And then you traveled with our convoy to report on their capture. So if anyone should have a say… it'd probably be you," the Colonel tells her.

"I wouldn't have them killed," Lois says quietly but confidently.

"Why?"

"Because I'm not gonna stain my soul for the likes of them. Besides… a prison sentence lasts a lot longer than the brief pain of dying," she remarks. "Not to mention that, with aliens and all sorts of nasty things attacking, it'd probably be a good idea for humans to stop killing each other in general."

The Colonel shakes his head, as if he cannot quite fathom what he is hearing - and maybe, as a man who has come to expect war, he really can't understand her hopes for absolute peace. Thus, it is a few silent moments later that he drops his cigarette on the ground and proceeds to stomp it out.

"We should go back inside. They should have an answer any minute now."

"That's what they said hours ago," Lois complains.

"Still - you should not miss a chance to report, correct?"

It's still quite a while before a man enters the courtroom with a folded paper in hand, nearly stumbling to the judge's podium. The people observing the trial crane their necks to follow his progress, and to perhaps get a glance at what's written on the paper.

The judge immediately reads what the man gives him, his expression inscrutable. In her seat nearby, Lois keeps her pen poised on her notepad, prepared for the verdict. She recognizes that silence hangs like a curtain over the room - a curtain that begins to pull open as the judge clears his throat and starts to speak.

"The jury has come to a decision," he says loudly. He then gestures to the killers, who stand in handcuffs at the front of the room, their faces downcast. "Given the charges of mass murder… these men will receive a penalty determined by High Court of Qurac and its civilian council. Their final verdict is... "

Everyone holds their breath.

"...lifetime imprisonment, beginning immediately. This court is dismissed."

As the hall erupts into angry shouts, Lois sits in her chair, scrawling the resulting verdict down for her upcoming article. Many Quraci people are obviously upset - they were expecting the men to pay for their crimes with their lives. But now… now they can't help feeling betrayed by the jury. But could anyone blame the council for their choice? They were almost literally asked if killing should be answered with more killing… and they chose no.

For that reason, Lois is glad that she wasn't a member of that jury. She's even more glad that the war with Bialya will be postponed - even for a little while. Like she said before, in the face of all these external threats, the humans should probably avoid killing each other at every opportunity.

As soon as she finishes writing on her notepad, Lois glances sideways toward another seat in the audience, one that is a little ways off. On it sits a young girl - a girl that Lois recognizes. The girl that Lois once tried to save, and essentially got shot protecting.

The girl had made it, after all. It was only a few hours ago, when Lois was walking into the courtroom, that she learned that fact for the first time. And it was the first time she and the girl interacted since that day in the village, all those months ago.

Well… somewhat interacted. They merely exchanged glances upon their reunion, but that's okay with Lois. The memories that they both have of that day are… painful. There's nothing for them to really discuss - and Lois certainly doesn't desire thanks from her. Truly, she did not contribute all that much to saving the girl's life. All she did was buy her a few seconds of time. But once that bullet tore through Lois's shoulder… well, her help was abruptly brought to an end.

Of course, the girl is not the only person she met again. After the men's captures, the guy who fired that bullet recognized her on sight. At the time, she was travelling with the convoy, trying to make sense of what happened that day by interviewing the monsters that took so many lives - there had to be some profound reason, didn't there? Life could not possibly be that cruel for no reason at all. But… there really wasn't a reason. And his reaction to her interview and reappearance was... unkind to say the least, not that she expected anything else. First, he spewed a string of offensive slurs at her, and then proceeded to spit on her, claiming that she had defamed Bialya.

As a result, Lois punched him so hard that she probably permanently deformed his nose. The soldiers she was traveling with didn't object in the least.

But this is it, Lois supposes as she watches the murderers being led out of the room by armed guards. This is the closure she waited for.

She wouldn't exactly call it sweet… but it's certainly more than she could hoped for in the past.

The past… she really has spent a lot of time thinking about the past these last few weeks. She has relived that unhappy day in that village a thousand times, the images flashing before her eyes every time she was forced to look at those murderous men.

But now they're gone. And justice was served. There's nothing more that she could ask for - not reasonably, anyway.

So now, she supposes, the only thing she can ask for is two tickets to go home. Metropolis seems to be calling her back into its arms… and so is its Man of Steel.

But she still wants a reason. But there is none. Terrible things happen far too often, in her opinion, and it is only recently that she has started to believe in the good kind of luck.

TBC...

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING SUPERMAN OR DC COMICS-RELATED

a/n: I know these chapters are shorter than usual. They get longer. Also, I'm posting early because I'm gonna be busy all day tomorrow.

I'm pretty behind with writing due to my schedule, so there may be a hiatus between book 2 and book 3. We'll see.

I'm also super busy right now so I wasn't able to edit this thoroughly so please excuse typos.

Hope you enjoyed! Review please!