Clark Olson, Editor in Chief of the Daily Planet, suppressed a growl that would have made his 'uncle Perry' proud as he looked over the reports once again. The Daily Planet had been around for almost one hundred years, but if he couldn't figure something out she wouldn't see the end of the century.
"Blasted internet," muttered Clark, for the hundredth time that day. The Planet had just gotten out of debt from the fire when that infernal device had started to cut into the sales.
"Come on Clark, think," said Clark, as he rubbed his head. "You need something to put the Planet back on the map, something really big that no one else has yet."
This time the growl escaped his lips as he got ready to call a meeting with his best reporters. Two months as the EIC and he had to demand that they bring him a big story or he would have to start making some serious cutbacks.
His hand was on the intercom button when he heard the tapping, and for a moment his mind went blank. He was on the forty second floor, so only birds and window washers could tap on his windows, but the washer came yesterday and birds didn't know 'Shave and a Haircut.'
Turning around, Clark James Olson, son of the famous photographer James Olson, saw a dream come to life in the from of a flying man. He was younger than the photographs his dad had taken, but the large red S on the mans chest left little doubt as to the identity of the flying stranger.
"Superman," whispered Clark.
The young man outside his window simply smiled and nodded as if he had heard Clark's whisper. As soon as Clark regained enough sense to walk over towards the window, Superman pointed up, and flew away.
You didn't get to be the Editor in Chief of a paper like the Daily Planet unless you were an excellent reporter first, and Clark Olson had been the best reporter since his namesake. Grabbing the small camera his father had taught him to keep in his desk, and making sure he had a pad of paper and a pencil in his jacket, Clark sprinted through the bullpen towards the stairs as fast as his aging muscles could carry him.
When Clark reached the roof he found the flying man in the Superman costume hovering by the globe with a lopsided grin on his face. It was a great picture, so Clark took a quick shot before walking over to the hovering man.
"You got up here faster than I thought," said Superman.
"I may not be faster than a speeding bullet, but I'm a newsman and we can move fast enough if there's a big story involved," said Clark as he pulled out the pencil and paper. "Now I'm assuming you aren't a complete idiot and you knew that you would be interviewed as soon as you tapped on my window, so lets get started. Why are you impersonating Superman?"
"Impersonating?" asked the hovering figure in apparent shock.
"Until I have more information, yes, impersonating. Your costume is almost exactly like the one he wore but you're wearing red gloves and don't have the red underpants showing. Also you're about half a foot too short and have brown eyes instead of blue. So once again, why are you impersonating Superman?" asked Clark.
"Persistent, aren't you?" said the man with the ageless face. "To answer your question, I'm not impersonating anyone. The previous Superman was my father, and I'm carrying on his legacy."
"Why now?" asked Clark as he furiously wrote on the pad of paper. "Why have you waited so long before revealing yourself to the public? Does this have anything to do with what happened in Gotham?"
"Why now? Because I've only recently learned about my heritage. Why didn't I go public before this? There is still a law that says that people with powers like I have are to be arrested or shot on sight," said Superman. "I would have been happy working in secret, but after Gotham I don't think that is possible anymore."
"Exactly what would you be working against in secret?" asked Clark with narrowed eyes.
"Nightmares," said Superman with a tired grin. "Stuff that I hope you never have to deal with, but this isn't why I came to you. I need you to call a press conference to be held in front of the Planet in two days at four in the afternoon. I figured this exclusive was a good payment."
"I'll need another one after the conference," said Clark as he thanked whatever lucky star he had been born under.
"Okay, but it may not be with me," said Superman with that same half smile. "I don't speak for the team, so one of them may want to tell their side of the story."
"Others?" asked Clark.
"Just challenge the other members of the press to come to the conference and you'll get to meet them with everyone else," said Superman as he flew away.
Xander sighed in relief as he flew away from Metropolis. He had relied heavily on his fathers' memories to sound more like an adult, but Clark had probably been suspicious about the age when he mentioned the height difference.
Still that had gone better than it had any right to, and by the way Clark was yelling at his bullpen to get moving the press conference would take place soon enough.
Two days later, the lobby of the Daily Planet was packed with every member of the press it could hold, and none of them were happy. Half the people there thought that the whole thing was a scam to keep the Planet in business, while the other half were almost foaming at the mouth because they had been scooped on the biggest story in the last fifty years.
The front page article, Heir of Tomorrow by Clark Olson, had single handedly shot the sales through the roof, and the Daily Planet was once again a household name. The frenzy didn't end there though, the next day the Planet had pulled up every fact they could about the old heroes and gave the world a refresher course about the true history of the Second World War while all the other news outlets were debating whether or not the whole thing was a hoax or not.
As the minutes ticked by the group became more and more agitated. Conferences were supposed to be held on neutral ground, but holding it here had assured that the Daily Planet would get the best pictures and be the first seen when questions were going to be asked.
As the clock struck four there was a whoosh of air, and suddenly a man was standing where no one had been before. There was no doubt it was the same man that had been photographed two days ago, and for a moment a room full of hardened reporters couldn't think of anything to say.
"Thanks for meeting me," said the man. "Now before we get to the Q and A session I have some introductions to make."
As soon as the man stopped speaking the air behind him began to twist and turn, opening a portal from which four figures emerged. "Allow me to introduce Wonder Woman, the Flash, Stargirl, and Dr. Fate. We were all there during the events that took place in Gotham, and it wouldn't have ended as well if we hadn't worked together."
"Exactly what did happen in Gotham? Government officials haven't said that much about what happened other than it was a part of some kind of terrorist attack," said a woman that was with the Gotham Gazette.
"A very dangerous man got a hold of a weapon of undetermined strength. We are currently working to find who provided the weapon to see that he or she is brought to the proper authorities," said Fate in an echoing voice.
"Do you plan to form a new team?" asked the representative from the New York Times.
"You bet," said a smiling Stargirl. "People died in Gotham because we didn't know about each other, I don't want that to happen again."
"Just how old are all of you?" asked the reporter from CNN.
"Old enough," said the Flash. "Would it be better if we were a bit older and had more experience? No question about it, the answer is yes, but sometimes life can't be better. We were the only ones that stood a chance to stop what was happening in Gotham so for better or worse we had to step up and risk our lives to protect people that couldn't protect themselves at the moment. After all isn't that what heroes are supposed to do?"
"Do you plan on helping America in any of its future war efforts?" asked an unidentified person.
"No," said Wonder Woman. "We plan to take no sides in any of the upcoming conflicts between any country, unless it is to prevent nuclear weapons from being launched."
This caused the conference to erupt with questions and wild accusations. People who were potentially more powerful than most customary weapons said that they wouldn't be working for any one country; it was perhaps the most frightening thing many people in that room had ever heard.
"Listen, I have my fathers' memories, including those of World War Two. I remember what it was like when the atomic bombs were dropped. After the Second World War, the ideals got a bit murky. One of the reasons the Justice Society of America was disbanded was because they wouldn't fight in Korea simply because some people overseas wanted a different kind of government," said Superman.
"Also not all of us are citizens of the United States," said Wonder Woman.
"If you don't hold allegiance to any country, what assurance do we have that you won't take over?" asked another reporter.
"We're only five people. If every country in the world decided to come together and fight us, we wouldn't stand a chance. But I honestly hope it doesn't come to that. We aren't here to take over, we're here to protect this world from threats people, and countries aren't capable of fighting these threats at this time," said Superman.
"Are all of you single?" asked a reporter for one of the tabloids.
"That's a bit off track from what we should be talking about here, so no comment," said Superman.
From there the questions simply continued to get more and more personal, ranging from the reasonable, 'How is your family dealing with your decision to put yourself in danger like this?' To the deeply personal, 'Are any of you gay?' So Superman called an end to the conference, giving the world time to think about just how their world had changed.