Ambush

Day 107, Wednesday, 9:40AM, Metropolis, Suicide Slum

The Truman Towers apartment complex was typical of the low-income subsidized housing efforts in the bleak area of Metropolis derisively called Suicide Slum. The residents apparently cared little about the appearance or livability of the property that they had no vested interest in. A majority of residents claimed some type of government assistance and among their occasional bitter arguments, a cacophony of broadcast stations could be heard blaring from the surplus of television sets found in the apartments.

The complex was the object of attention for two men waiting in an ambulance that had just parked a few blocks down the street. Though both were dressed as Emergency Medical Technicians and the ambulance was indistinguishable from any of the city's ambulances, that was not their purpose here this day. Owen Sarvis looked on with eager anticipation from the ambulance's driver's seat, while Ricky Hernandez nervously took stock of their surroundings. "Why are we here?" Ricky finally asked apprehensively.

"To toughen you up," Sarvis told him curtly. "The boss thinks that you're too squeamish, and we need to take care of that." Sarvis opened up a duffle bag sitting on the floor between them and pulled out a couple of Smith and Wesson 410 Pistols, handing one of them to Ricky. "Take this," he commanded. At Ricky's hesitation, he added, "That wasn't a request."

Ricky reluctantly accepted the pistol, unsure of where to put it. Owen pointed out the weapon's safety on his gun, he briefly pointed out the features on his own gun. "This lever here is the safety. When it's up like this, it won't fire. Move it here to shoot… This button here releases the clip. The clip holds ten rounds, plus one in the chamber. To reload, just drop the clip, and slap a new one in." After stowing the weapon in his jacket, Owen grabbed several clips from the duffle bag, and handed two of them to Ricky. "Don't let us down," Owen warned him ominously.

Ricky stared at the gun momentarily, unsure where to put it, before finally slipping it in his jacket pocket. Before he had a chance to respond, a deafening explosion rang out, and Ricky looked up to see one side of the Truman Towers Apartment Complex implode and collapse into the street. "Oh, my God," Ricky murmured.

"Right on schedule," Owen stated proudly. "Now we wait for the rest of the team to do their jobs." For some time, though he was uncertain how long, Ricky watched the scene in horror as flames licked at the debris and the residents cried out in anguish as the reality of the event finally hit them. He began a silent prayer for those caught inside. Soon he saw a familiar red and blue blur dive into the building as Superman began to pull out survivors.

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A small section of the Truman Towers basement had been fortified to withstand the planned implosion, and was currently occupied by the six members of Owen Sarvis' team. The area, which was normally used for residents' supplemental storage, had been partially cleared. They had also taken pains to make sure that their exit route would remain unobstructed after the explosion. Now that the moment of truth had arrived, they took their positions. A middle aged woman named Madeline Vaughan crawled under a tipped over shelving unit, pretending to be pinned while her five male colleagues hid behind the clutter of the room.

Danny Peña took his position behind the two foot long, four inch diameter barrel of the weapon that would take down the Man of Steel. In the dim illumination of the room's emergency lighting, Danny gave Madeline a thumbs-up signal, and she began wailing, "Help me, Superman." Several minutes later, they finally heard the rumble of the Man of Steel crashing through the far wall. When he bent down to lift the shelves off of Madeline, Danny removed the lead cap from the barrel of his weapon.

Superman suddenly stood back up, alerted by his kryptonite proximity alarm. The heads up display lit up in a frequency beyond human vision and an arrow indicated the direction of the source. He looked over at Danny as the hoodlum pulled the trigger, spreading a kryptonite net from the barrel that sped at him.

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Day 107, Wednesday, 9:50AM, Metropolis

Lois Lane was still stewing over the revelations forced from her by her son's innocent comments that morning as he obliviously giggled at the Monsters Inc. DVD playing on the Odyssey's entertainment system. Though she didn't blame Jason for the slip any more than Clark did, she resented having control of the situation taken from them. She had hoped to invite their coworkers over in small groups, swear them to secrecy, and reveal her relationship with Clark Kent. Instead, she'd been forced to come clean in Perry's office in order to avoid a rumor mill fiasco.

Her mood was decidedly dark as she turned into the parking garage attached to the Donner Medical Building – yet another place she really didn't want to be. Since her son's Kryptonian DNA became active, his immune system had morphed to the point that he was no longer affected by allergies, or any of the other childhood illnesses that had plagued his earlier years. Yet, she was wasting her time by taking him to an appointment with an allergist because she had forgotten to cancel it, and would rather pay the $10 copay than the $125 missed appointment penalty.

Lois collected her parking stub from the machine, and pulled into the garage past Phil Castle's white van, failing to notice the van pull out behind her. Both drivers were oblivious to the Ford Fusion that pulled in behind them. The three vehicles circled the garage, each keeping a fifty foot or better following distance, as Lois hunted for a parking place, finally finding one on the third level. Phil Castle pulled the white van slowly forward, stopping approximately ten feet beyond Lois' parked minivan.

When Lois finally walked out behind the vehicle with her son, the back doors of the white panel van suddenly burst open. Lois and Jason where caught by surprise when the net spread out from the barrel of its launcher and wrapped around them, triggering the kryptonite alarms in their watches. Lois struggled with the net and momentarily gazed at her watch, where two normally invisible characters now shined brightly against the face: 'J' for Jason, and 'K' for Kal-El. Both of her boys were under attack. The bastards must have bugged the doctor's phone, Lois realized in horror. Oh, God, we've got to get out of here…

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Ricky continued to watch in horror as people spilled out of the Truman Towers apartments. He was brought out of his thoughts as Owen smacked him in the arm and chastised him, "Get over it. They aren't our problem, and it's a small price to pay to get that busybody wrapped up for the boss."

Busybody? Ricky thought as his eyes widened at the realization. That's the name that Luthor uses for Superman. Oh, my God. This is a trap!

Owen cackled at Ricky's reaction as he asked derisively, "Man, where did he ever find a choir boy like you?"

Ricky glared at the other man, before dropping his head, covering his mouth with both hands as he began chanting in an inaudible whisper, "Superman, it's a trap. You'd better check on Jason… Superman, it's a trap. You'd better check on Jason…"

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Superman's kryptonite warning system had barely given him a full second of advance warning before the net hurtled toward him. He had just barely leapt out of the way, flattening himself against the ceiling. This was a trap? he wondered incredulously. My, God, all those people that were hurt... The net sailed underneath him, landing against the wall twenty feet behind him. Ricky's warning now reached his ears, transforming his reaction from one of surprise to one of dread for his son. Jason! Luthor wants all three of us. If he's moving against me… Oh, my God!

"Idiot!", Madeline yelled. "How could you miss?"

She's part of this, too, Superman lamented. All those lives lost… He dropped to the floor and was pulled from his thoughts by a new threat reported from his kryptonite alarm. He looked to the source to see Paul Zucker pull a collar from a metal box and charge at him . Zucker collided with the Kryptonian who was weakened by the kryptonite, and both men crashed into the shelves behind them. Superman rolled as they fell, and the other man took the brunt of the impact, which tipped over the shelving unit and knocked down the remaining six rows of shelves like dominoes. Superman struggled to his feet, slowed by the kryptonite. He was distracted by another alarm from his buckle in the telltale frequency that confirmed his fears: Jason was also under attack. He pushed himself off of Zucker, who was stunned from the fall, and crawled over the shelves to the aisle beside them. I've got to get to Jason!

Nicholas Yeager saw Superman struggle to pull himself up against the far wall, and quickly picked up the kryptonite net. He tossed it at Superman, but his aim was low. The net brushed against his target's abdomen and the Kryptonian remained free as he staggered backwards. Zucker was now back on his feet, awkwardly stepping toward the Man of Steel across the crumpled shelves. Jason needs me, Superman reminded himself. He quickly scanned the room before turning and jogging toward the door at the other end.

He crashed through the door and stumbled down the hall. Almost immediately afterwards, the ceiling collapsed behind him. The collapse startled his pursuers and threw up a cloud of dust that forced them back. His strength returned as he ran down the hall and up the stairwell, finally bursting through the ceiling and rocketing into the sky, his departure concealed by the thick smoke from the flames that now engulfed the building.

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Phil Castle observed his crew through the open back doors of the van and smiled in satisfaction. The men had quickly jumped out the back of the van and descended on their quarry. Let's see Luthor even try to complain this time, he thought confidently. The men were struggling to get the collar on the boy while avoiding his mother's frantic kicks. The effort was challenging enough that they missed the approach of the Ford Fusion behind them until both front doors burst open with shouts of, "FBI! Freeze!" The five men standing between the vehicles hesitated momentarily before Jeff Pittiglio and Evan Shearer pulled guns from their belts and opened fire. FBI agents James Magnuson and Randy Tarantine ducked behind their open doors, and the other three would-be kidnappers abandoned their prize and sprinted back to the van, jumping in just as Phil gunned the engine and accelerated up the ramp.

Behind him, the FBI agents peeked above their car doors and returned fire, striking Pittiglio twice in the chest. Shearer's fire hit home in Agent Tarantine's right shoulder, and he sank behind the passenger door of the Fusion. The next shot from Magnuson's service revolver ended the gunfight, dropping Shearer with a shot to the center of his chest.

Agent Tarantine looked over at his partner's worried face and assured him, "It's not bad. Go get the bastards." Magnuson, nodded and climbed back behind the wheel. He maneuvered around the netted pair on the ramp, and sped after the van . Tarantine slowly walked over to the fallen gunmen, his gun drawn. Only after kicking the their weapons away and confirming the kills did he direct his attention to the woman and child. He paused in surprise when he noticed the greenish metallic collar padlocked around the boy's neck and muttered, "What the hell?"

Dammit! Lois swore. Got to get the collar off! She didn't acknowledge her rescuer. Tears ran freely down her face while she desperately struggled to get the collar off of her unconscious son. Tarantine holstered his weapon and quickly called in the attack on his cell phone before approaching them and attempting to free them from the net with his uninjured left hand. His assurances that help was on the way were of little comfort to Lois as her efforts with the collar tore at the skin of her fingers. Now free of the net, she dug through the back of her minivan for anything that might help remove the stubborn collar, hesitating briefly as her fingers wrapped around the tire iron.

"That may do more harm than good," Agent Tarantine advised her. "There's a police cruiser on the way, and they'll probably have bolt cutters for the padlock."

"I've got to get the collar off him!" Lois insisted, She struggled to slide the tire iron through the ring that secured the collar, which barely passed through. Her efforts were interrupted by the sudden presence of a figure covered in dull grey armor that vaguely resembled a spacesuit with its astronaut-style helmet. A sob choked out as Lois looked up gratefully at her armor-clad husband. He knelt down, pulled apart the padlock and removed the kryptonite collar from their son. "I got here as quickly as I could," he told her softly through the speaker in his armor. "I'll be back after I get rid of this." Superman disappeared from the garage in a gray blur, taking the net and the collar with him.

"Who the hell was that?" Agent Tarantine asked in amazement, staring off in the direction that the gray figure had flown off in. Lois remained silent, her attention focused on her son as he slowly blinked his eyes open.

"Mommy?" Jason asked tiredly, the fear still apparent in his voice.

"Shhh… It's okay, sweetheart," Lois consoled him, voice thick with emotion. "We're safe now."

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I'm dead, Phil Castle thought. He was trapped behind his van with the remains of his crew. Magnuson had managed to shoot out one of the van's tires, and it had crashed into the barrier wall at the northwest corner of the platform. They couldn't make it to the stairwell on the opposite side without exposing themselves to their opponent's fire. They managed to crawl out of the van opposite Magnuson, and were firing back at him around the edges of the vehicle. Both sides of the firefight were effectively pinned down. If that fed doesn't get me, Lex will have my head for sure, Castle mused.

He peeked around the van and finally saw a clear shot at his adversary and lifted his gun to fire. Before he could pull the trigger, however, he heard a loud whoosh and felt the wind knocked out of him by an unseen force which had also dragged him out in front of his van. He recovered his bearings only to realize that he and his men were now several feet in front of their cover, with their wrists and ankles bound by plastic zip ties. Phil leaned his head back and groaned, finally recognizing his defeat and hoping he'd survive Lex Luthor's anger when he boss learned of his failure.

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Superman floated ten thousand feet above the inferno that had once been Truman Towers and removed his helmet. He analyzed the carnage, grateful that he'd that adopted the triage practice of listening for the strength of heartbeats to locate the most seriously injured parties first. In this case, it had enabled him to evacuate all of the surviving innocent victims before encountering the ambush team, who were now the only ones left alive in the building. The collapse of the ceiling during his escape had apparently blocked off their escape route, and they were attempting to climb up the hole that he'd created when he burst in to rescue them. Seeing that they were in no immediate danger, he shifted his attention to the ambulance where Ricky's whispers were coming from.

Owen Sarvis finally grew weary of seeing Ricky hunched forward with his face in his hands and swatted him. "Pay attention!" he chastised him. "We're making history here. Don't wimp out on us."

Ricky lifted his head and turned to glare at the other man. "We'll see," he told the other man skeptically. "Things don't always turn out the way we expect they will."

"Try to contain your optimism," Owen chided him sarcastically. "They'll be out any minute now." He was interrupted from further comment when the back doors of the ambulance flew open, and he was pulled from his seat into the back of the ambulance. Owen stared up in surprise at the armor-clad Man of Steel, struggling futilely in his grasp.

"Superman?" Ricky questioned uncertainly as he scrutinized the face behind the transparent faceplate. "Nobody saw you come in here, did they?"

Superman turned to Ricky and assured him, "Not if the conversations that I'm hearing right now are any indication. Why?"

"Because if we play our cards right, we can end this nightmare right now and trick Luthor into showing himself. However, for that to work, he has to believe that his ambush teams succeeded."

"Narc!" Owen hollered angrily. "Luthor'll kill you when he finds out you ratted him out."

Turning to the Man of Steel, Ricky asked hopefully, "Um, would you mind relieving him of his weapon? You may be bulletproof, but I'm not." A moment later, Owen was disarmed with his wrists and ankles zip tied.

Superman sat on the bench in the back of the ambulance and dropped his helmet to the floor. "What do you need me to do?" he asked, both hopeful and curious from the other man's statement.

Ricky offered a wide smile as he answered seriously. "We've got to move quickly before local news or police transmissions tip him off, but this is what I have in mind…"

Superman returned the smile as Ricky shared his plan and recalled Bruce Wayne's appraisal of the man opposite him two days earlier. Yes, we're very lucky indeed to have you on our side, he thought as he anticipated finally ending the ordeal that his family had endured over the past few months.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to htbthomasfor the beta.

I've also got to take this opportunity to shift the spotlight to some of my peers. Their work raises the bar, and inspires me to try to write a better story. If you've enjoyed my story enough to get to this point, I'm confident that you'll enjoy theirs. These are all intriguing, complicated, intricate stories with character and depth. Here's a partial list of SR fandom recommended reading (and my apologies to anyone I missed):

Little Secrets by kalalanekent
Déjà Vu by htbthomas
Getting Eaten Alive by Tandrelmairon
Life Belongs to the Living by bistyboo1974
Shadows of Darkness by dandello (a.k.a. Shado Librarian)
Superman: Aftermath by saavikam77
Supermen by maaikefluffy
The Eye of the Storm by Speakfire
Unmasked
by Nautica7mk
Veritas
by alamogirl80
It's Written in the Stars
by sanalayla (A crossover between SR and Smallville fandoms).