Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 12
By
Jason Richard
Clark Kent walked through The Daily Planet with his new glasses. He got occasional glances now and then, and a few people said he looked different, but no one seemed to know what it was. The real test, however, would he be people he'd be working with.
Walking into the main office, hearing the Elvis song Heartbreak Hotel coming from Mr. White's private office, the first person Clark spoke to was Jimmy Olsen. The young photographer was sorting through some photos when Clark walked up to him.
"Good Morning Jimmy," said Clark.
"Good Moooor...what?" said Jimmy, scrunching his face. "You...what did you do? You look different."
Clark had to stifle a laugh as he said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm the same as I ever was."
Clark couldn't help but snigger...just a little.
Jimmy eyed him suspiciously, a smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. "You're hiding something."
In plain sight, thought Clark. "No." he said, shaking his head. "You've got me all wrong."
"Yeah right," said Jimmy, not believing him. "Hey Lois, does Clark look different to you?"
Lois, walking by, gave Clark one look and said, "New glasses."
For a second Glark got a little nervous, but Lois didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, "No...Same glasses. I'm surprised Miss Lane. You're usually more observant."
Lois rolled her eyes as he picked up a stack of paper and straightened them up, saying, "Oh please. As if that were a major detail. If you look different it's probably your overconfidence after that STAR labs interview. It will pass."
And she walked off. Clark didn't really know what to make of that encounter, and supposed that the real test of how well the glasses worked would be when she saw him as Superman again, without the glasses.
"Hey boss!" said jimmy as Perry White walked by. "Doesn't Clark look different."
White took one look at Clark and said, "Nope. Still looks like a rookie to me." and he went on with what he was doing. In truth that response didn't surprise Clark at all.
Jimmy sighed, "Man, I'd like to call myself a great mind, but no one ever seems to think alike to prove it."
"I'm sure you'll get your moment someday," said Clark, and with that he went to his desk to begin his workday. He had a lot to do...but first he took a second to get on his computer and look up the coordinates his pod had given him, now that he had a moment. The first set came up somewhere in the atlantic ocean. Not much competition for that one. It was the second set that worried him.
There was, apparently, an alien artifact from his home planet hiding out in Lexcorp. That was bad. Really bad. He didn't feel comfortable just barging in as Superman and taking it...for a number of reasons. It sent a bad message if he used his power like that, if there was any place in the world with whatever kind of radiation that could hurt him, it was a science facility...and he was certain there were other reasons, but didn't feel like going through all of them in his head.
He needed a way in as a reporter, but that wasn't going to be easy. As far as he knew few reporters ever got inside Lexcorp, which one of those few being Lois Lane.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. May he himself didn't have to get in as a reporter. He'd have to be careful. The last thing he wanted to do was put her in danger. First thing he needed to do was scope out the place with his X-Ray Vision. Until then, he'd just do his job.
Little did he know that Lex Luthor's plan to do something about Superman was well underway, as at that exact moment Bruno Manheim was paying someone a little visit for that very purpose.
...
Thanks to all the readers for their support of this story. I really mean that.
Jason.