CHAPTER 26
'Time passes and things never change,' Superman thought morosely as he handed over the latest villain of the week to the Metropolis Police Force. Pressing his feet into the ground for momentum, he took off, soaring over the city skyline with his cape trailing behind him. It had been five years since Lex Luthor had requested his assistance in tracing Chloe, five years of fruitless searching. He kept hoping something would come up, but nothing ever did. A flash of blonde hair out of the corner of his eye would make his heart stop in his chest. He once followed a woman home from the supermarket, flying low behind her minivan, sure that he had finally cracked Chloe's mysterious disappearance...but once she stepped out of the car he saw the woman's eyes were pale blue, a far cry from the sparkling hazel he remembered so clearly from his youth. He had come to understand that even with his powers, he couldn't save everyone...and he struggled to convince himself that he had done the best that he could. He had taken Lois up on her suggestion and found employment at the Daily Planet, fully immersing himself in the life Chloe had always wanted. He had made a vow to protect the world at any cost, and had been taken delightfully by surprise as America welcomed its new alien protector. He had watched Lex turn from bad to worse as his search for Chloe led him to the vicious underbelly of the city; Lex befriended mutants, serial killers, anyone who might have any idea what happened five years ago. The frustration of his own helplessness in the situation had inspired Lex to seek out power in whatever way he could, and although he maintained a fairly solid name within the city, the majority of his business dealings always occurred behind tightly locked doors.
He reveled in the cool breeze, admired the beautiful gold, rotating planet on top of the news office from his spectacular bird's eye view. His throat contracted as the taste of sour metal assaulted his mouth, a sure sign that he was passing over the Luthorcorp building, the steel monstrosity surrounded with a thick coat of gray smog like it had emerged from some mythic fog. Lex had moved permanently to Metropolis shortly after his father's death, and sometimes, it seemed like he did so just to piss off Superman. So many of their encounters involved Lex struggling to out-hero Superman, donating ostentatious amounts of money to the Children's Hospital or his latest investment- building a new transportation line. The silver trains looked like speeding bullets, rushing through their narrow tunnels across the city. Last week, a man had short-circuited the electric current and had taken the travelers hostage. Superman had managed to save every single passenger, but not without causing expensive damage to the train line. Needless to say, Mr. Luthor had hardly been pleased.
Superman hovered quietly by a dimly lit window, watching Lex hunched over his desk, scribbling on papers and filing them away. He looked so old. When had they all gotten so old? Lex straightened his posture stiffly as if he knew instinctively that he was being watched and slowly turned his head to the window. When they faced each other, his eyes shone with such absolute hatred that Superman had to fight the desire to shrink back into the darkness. Lex smacked the flat palm of his hand against the window, directly besides Superman's face. Superman shook his head in disappointment and took to the air. 'No. Things never change.' We all follow pre-designed paths to our destiny. And perhaps, it was Chloe Sullivan's destiny to disappear in the city smoke.