Alice was not happy with him. His employees were not happy with him. Generally, everybody that knew him was rather displeased with him, at the moment. It was Christmas Eve and, because he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet, he had to make sure somebody was covering Superman and his latest stint in the back of an ambulance because of kryptonite. It was becoming increasingly frequent, his exposure to that fatal substance. And because it was Christmas Eve and he was forcing a core staff to report to the bullpen—instead of the skeleton staff he required for holidays—he had decided it was his responsibility to put in an appearance.

The elevator dinged to announce its arrival at his chosen floor and Perry pulled himself out of his ruminations to look properly intimidating. The doors slid open to reveal his bullpen, with gleaming floors, tidy desks, and blank monitors.

The bullpen itself was empty, so were all the offices for the section editors. The conference room, though, was full. He had about a second to register the stillness of the people gathered in the conference room before th sound of a gun cocking to his left drew his attention.

"Hello, Mister White. Nice of you to join us," the man holding the gun said. He was dressed all in black and held a hand gun up and ready.

"And who might you be?" Perry asked smoothly, though he certainly didn't feel smooth. He held his hands up in the most non-threatening way he could manage and gazed at the man in black.

"Move. Get in the conference room," the man in black ordered, gesturing with the gun.

"If you say so," Perry agreed, keeping his hands up as he walked toward the conference room.


A/N: Next chapter coming soon!