Chapter 37 – Back in Metropolis
Lois honked her horn as she tried to navigate her jeep through the crowded streets, but the closer she got to the Planet, the worse the traffic got. People were out in the streets holding signs. All manner of signs. Some had a hopeful message, others dire warnings, and still others were somewhere in between. All of them had one thing in common; they were all about Superman.
It was July fifteenth – only three days since the appearance of Superman, and the world was going insane. Lois Lane's interview with Superman was on the front page. To say that reactions were strong was the understatement of the century. For some reason, the Planet had become the focal point of both public outrage and public elation.
Police struggled to manage the crowd. On the east side of the street, a group from a local megachurch shouted out dire proclamations that Superman was the Anti-Christ; a false god fueled by satanic power. On the other side, another large church proclaimed Kal-El to be a messenger of God. Apparently, in Hebrew, Clark's Kryptonian name meant "Voice of God." Who knew? Lois now wished that she had not mentioned Clark's Kryptonian name in her article.
Then she saw the sign with her image upon it. It was so large that it took two people to hold it up. She read the words and felt the color drain from her face.
It proclaimed that "Lois Lane is the false prophet! Whore of Babylon speaks the lies of the devil!"
When she and Clark had left for Smallville three days ago, Metropolis was cautiously optimistic about the Man of Steel. Now, it was as if all hell had broken loose, her interview unleashing the floodgates of insanity.
She was finally able to get into the parking garage. Miraculously, nobody spotted her in the street. Lois feared that if they did, she would have been dragged from her vehicle and killed. She wished that Superman was here right now.
Lois parked and hoped that none of the crazies were in the garage. Thankfully, they were not – or if they were, they did not see her.
She rode the elevator up to the newsroom floor and when the doors opened, a broadly grinning Perry awaited her, holding in his hands a copy of the paper, her article headlining.
"See, Lane?" Perry was almost gloating. "I sent you to Smallville over your objections, and you return with the first full interview with Superman, along with a scoop on his preventing that Chemical train from derailing."
"Yes," she conceded, keeping to herself just how closely she had gotten to know the Man of Steel. "It definitely had an impact! What the hell happened, Chief? People are insane!"
"It's herd mentality and the human nature to panic," he said matter-of-factly. "People fear what they don't understand, and a superhuman alien who's immune to human weaponry and likely capable of taking out the entire military scares people like almost nothing else. What did you expect, Lane?"
"I expected people to read the article and come to an informed conclusion," she spat. "This is … crazy!"
"Like I'd believe that. How's that Luthor-Corp story coming?"
"It's done, Chief. I just need to go over it once more before handing it in."
"Good work, Lane – this is why I hired you. You really are the best. And you're rubbing off on Kent."
"Clark …."
"People suffer loss, Lane – it's unavoidable. We can wallow in it, or we can make it mean something."
True words, though they seemed somewhat callous at the moment.
Perry returned to his office and Lois returned to her desk where she looked at the finished article about Luthor-Corp and the reinstatement of Lex Luthor. Her mind whirled with conflicting feelings and thoughts on what she had written.
There was a new board and that board had voted unanimously for Lex to be chairman. Lois hoped that Lex's youth and inexperience would not spell disaster, but regardless, it was his chance to make things right. It was Lex Luthor's chance to clean up the mess that his father and the old board had left behind.
After reading through it several times, she deemed it ready for Perry's eyes. A cautiously positive article about a Luthor – Lois chuckled at the turn of events. A week ago, this would not have been possible. A week ago, she was still suspicious of Clark's friendship with the heir of Luthor-Corp and feeling betrayed by Clark as a result. Now, she was actually putting into print sentiments that Lex Luthor's ascendency was a change for the better, however cautious those sentiments may be.
She was hardly elated, however – Lex was still a wildcard, and Lois still did not fully trust that the egotistical man might not potentially make things worse for Metropolis. There was also the question of who had gassed the Kents, causing Jonathan's death. Was it Luthor-Corp? Clark had called the other day to let her know that "it" was gone. Lois knew that "it" was the starship, something Luthor would almost certainly want to study and reverse engineer. Even Clark had his suspicions about Luthor-Corp's potential involvement, though he did not seem to think Lex was connected.
Of course, Luthor-Corp's shakeup was still a huge positive, a seeming harbinger of good things beginning to happen in Metropolis.
It had been a week since Clark Rescued Meredith and her kids from a building rigged to explode. True to Maggie's prediction, the bombers were out within forty-eight hours. It was enough to make Lois want to pack it in and leave journalism behind … except that once Lois got Lena's information to Maggie, the board went down, and the bombers were arrested.
A new ADA, Mayson Drake, had made cleaning up Metropolis her mission in life, and she was starting at the very top: Luthor-Corp.
Drake was going after the disgraced board of directors with a passion, and the information from Lena had provided more fodder against them. A new board was elected, paving the way for Lex Luthor's return. As majority shareholders, Lex and Lena were in the driver's seat. Lena however, acquiesced to Lex's ambitions, leaving Lex in charge.
However, Mayson Drake's interest was not limited to Luthor-Corp, it seemed that her attention had also been drawn to Superman. Her comments in the wake of his appearance were hardly flattering. Mayson Drake feared the large, dark-haired man in a blue and red caped costume with a symbol that resembled an "S" emblazoned on his chest, and it was easy to see why.
This enigmatic man moved faster than was humanly possible, making it difficult to obtain accurate facial descriptions, and a reddish glow about his eyes obscured his features when he was not moving at supersonic speeds.
His feats of superhuman strength were astounding – people had reported him stopping cars in their tracks, lifting cars and equally heavy objects, and even bending steel in his bare hands. Lois' article even detailed how he had appeared in Smallville the other day and stopped a chemical train on the verge of derailment, yet another impossible feat of strength.
The Metropolis police were already investigating him, visibly nervous by the appearance of such a man. Lois knew exactly who the Man of Steel was and had presented him in the most positive light, but she knew that her objectivity was long since gone. To the rest of the city, he was a man with the power to either save the world or cause an extinction level event.
In spite of Perry running Lois' stories on the Man of Steel, nobody else at the Planet was elated by Superman's appearance besides Lois.
Already, the paper's conservative columnist, Dirk Armstrong, was calling the red and blue clad figure a tool of the left wing, actually citing Superman's quotes from Lois' own articles.
Ron Troupe, an African American political columnist for the Planet, had concerns about a white superman swooping in to save the day. While he did not seem to question Superman's motives so much, he was concerned that the appearance of a super-powered white man might energize white supremacist groups, who might see this Superman as the pinnacle of white power.
Steve Lombard, the sports columnist, worried that if more men like Superman were to appear, then what would be the point of human athletics and striving. If nobody could compete with these superhuman beings – never mind that no such individuals besides Superman had appeared – then no human athlete had any reason to try.
Jimmy, though not a reporter, was visibly fearful of Superman, worried like everyone else about what the Man of Steel could do if he were angered or otherwise broke bad.
Of course, Cat Grant had plenty to say; all of it positive, and all of it tawdry.
Clark Kent, for his part, had refused to report on Superman's activities. It was understandable – it would be unethical for him to sing his own praises – but Kent's silence made Lois feel alone in her support of the Man of Steel, especially with him back in Smallville.
Still, it was a far better week of news that she had seen all year.
With Luthor-Corp under new leadership and Superman now making his home in Metropolis, things were actually looking up. And then there was Clark.
The midwestern rookie was proving to be a good reporter in his own right, his firm but gentle touch proving a nice complement to Lois' hard-hitting style. The two had become a celebrated team in a very short time, and privately, they were becoming closer day by day.
Her time in Smallville had proved enlightening. It was both joyous and deeply saddening. She got to meet Clark's parents before his father's untimely death and could not help but love them. She had seen Clark's starship and now knew more about him than anyone other than his parents and Clark himself. Lois had met Clark's childhood friends and his boyhood crush. He had let her fully into his world. Lois had been there for Clark when his father died and was with him as his mother was taken to the hospital.
The last time any relationship had gotten to this level was … well, it had been a while.
She wondered how her partner was doing. Lois had not heard from him since his call the other day, and the funeral had to be any day now. Perry had given Lois clearance to attend, but she still did not know for when the funeral was scheduled.
Suddenly, Lois' nostrils were filled with the aroma of coffee – her usual latte. A hand reached around from behind her, a hot latte held in its grip. The large hand was connected to a muscular arm.
"It's still the new guy's job to buy you coffee, right?"
Lois turned in her chair to see Clark standing there. She smiled and took the coffee, placing it on her desk before standing and hugging him.
"I am so sorry, Clark. This must be …."
Clark held her tightly. "It's worse, Lois; much worse."
She looked up, wondering if Clark's mother had died as well, but his expression told her that this was not the case. Clark had that look in his eyes that he had before leaping into action. There was something wrong that only Superman could handle, and she feared that Lex Luthor was at the center.
"Whatever it is, we'll face it together," she assured.
"There isn't a lot of time, Lois. Lex was in Smallville."
"What?" Lois could hardly believe it. So far as she had known, Lex had been here in Metropolis the whole time. "He wasn't the one who …."
"He isn't responsible for Pa's death, but he's in this up to his eyeballs. He needs my help more than ever."
"He … stole it … didn't he?"
Clark nodded. "Not personally, and there's another force behind it. I need to contact Lena – she's in terrible danger."
"You don't think he'd …."
"Lois, Lex isn't Lex, not anymore. I'll explain later, but whatever you see Lex doing or hear him saying, he has no control. It's something else … something darker."
Lois felt her eyes go wide. "Clark, you make it sound like he's taken leave of his senses … or possessed!"
"That's because he is, in a matter of speaking."
This was getting weirder and weirder. "Clark, I don't understand."
"You will, but I can't talk about it here. I need to see you alone."
"Let's go now, Clark – your place or mine?"
"Yours," he replied. Then he leaned down and whispered, "Meet me on the rooftop."
She held him tightly and kissed him before letting go and saying, "On my way."