"...and so he tells the guy, 'hey man,why don't you just leave him alone?' And the guy, he was huge y'know, even bigger than Clark, he just lets me go. And I'm thinking, ' well that was easy'. These guys were seniors, and they were football players, so that made them the kings of the frat. They didn't listen to anyone. Even the Dean turned a blind eye to their antics most of the time, so this was a huge deal. Then right as he's turning to go, POW! The guy just smashes a beer bottle on the back of Clark's head. Starts mouthing off about how Clark is a faggot and all this crap which I'd rather not repeat."

"Oh my god. What happened after?"

"Clark just turned around real slow, like he didn't even feel it. He feels the back of his head and looks at his hand. Thank god there was no bleeding. Then he just picked the big guy up and threw him. Sent him right over the counter and into the drinks cabinet, head first. There was this lull for a second, then all hell broke loose. The guys whole squad backed him up. Clark... well he didn't exactly go apeshit, but he damn near flattened the entire football team by himself. The only reason he didn't beat them all is because some of them were smart enough to get the hell out of there."

"Really? That sounds a bit much Jimmy."

"Scouts honour Lois. Go to MSU Ares House Fraternity and ask them about the night Clark Kent beat the crap out of the Metropolis Rams. They were so scared of him they told the coach they got drunk and crashed their truck into a ditch over the weekend. Clark was a legend around campus after that, but because it happened at a frat house not many people knew exactly what happened. But everyone just...respected him more after that. Those guys never bothered me again, in fact they inducted all the remaining guys into the frat without any more dumb tests. The big guy even replaced my camera. Then when it was all over and the guys were all groaning on the floor, he just comes up to me like nothing happened, and he says 'hi, my name is Clark Kent. Sorry you had to go through all that.' And that's not all, Clark actually befriended that guy. They weren't best buddies, but they had a mutual respect for each other up until the guy graduated. And now, the icing on the cake. The 'big guy' is Shawn Williams of the Coast City Sharks. So yeah, that's how I met Clark."

"Wow. That is surreal." Lois murmured.

"14th and Pine." the cab driver said mechanically.

"We're here."

"Finally. Wow, Clark lives really far. What does he do, fly to work every day?" Lois said as she paid the cab driver. "More where that came from, keep the engine running." she added to the cabbie.

"It's not that far. He walks I think. It's probably nothing to him though. The guy is built like a fridge."

Lois looked at the building. It was impossibly high.

"Please tell me he lives on the lower floors."

"Nope, top floor."

"I hope the elevator works."

"In a building this old? I think there's a better chance of you winning a Pulitzer."

"You wait. I'll get it one day. Anyway, I'm not walking all the way up this building. You'll just have to carry me."

"No way I can carry you. Work some of that lunch off. Besides, you've got a stairmaster at home. This is the same thing."

"Are you saying I'm fat? You're saying I'm fat!"

"No. I'm just-"

"Shut up! I can't believe you said I'm fat! Some friend you are Jimmy!"

"Lois, I-"

"Shut up! shut up! Let's just get this over with, ok?"

"Ok. After y-"

"What did I just say!?"

Upstairs...

Clark stepped out of the shower dripping wet and walked into his living room. The news was still a bit of a shock to him, although after a little thought he supposed it wasn't that surprising. It was only a matter of time before the government did something like this. Of course they would want to control meta's in some way. Frankly he was surprised they hadn't put something in place sooner.
Although knowing this government, they probably had something scary locked away somewhere for a very special day. Did they really? Was it really like in the movies? Some giant fail-safe stashed away somewhere? Stranger things have happened, the clinical part of his brain, the one he liked to call the Kryptonian, told him. What humans lack in raw power they make up for with resourcefulness and unnerving resilience. And that train of thought led him to think about Batman.
Did he have any opinions on such affairs? Or was he fine with it as long as it stayed out of Gotham? Somehow he got the feeling discretion was very valuable to him. Thinking deeper he realized Batman was pretty much the only other superhero he knew personally-and even that was a generous way of putting it. One tense meeting doesn't mean anything. And he said not to contact him in case of an emergency.

Well, technically speaking he said not to contact Batman unless it was an emergency.

Bruce Wayne however...

So yeah, it wasn't that shocking.

What was really shocking was the open invitation to him.

Were they bluffing? Would they throw him into a cage the minute he walked in?

Walked into what? It's not like they were holding job interviews for joining the Justice League of America. The mental image rose unbidden. 'Hi, I'm here to try out for the JLA? I have various skills and abilities, and I'm a very fast learner.' One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to go to them. Maybe if they came to him he would accept. Maybe. Just maybe.

He shook his head, splashing droplets of water onto the coffee table. He wondered how his parents would respond to it. Then his thoughts turned to his friends next. Lois and Jimmy would be... That was harder to tell actually.

Lois and Jimmy!

The Daily Planet was probably abuzz with activity right now. Perry would want all hands on deck. And here he was thinking about stuff that didn't pay the rent. Why didn't he think of it before?

"I should have checked the news earlier..." He got up and began putting together some clothes to wear, when the doorbell rang. He looked through the door. Crap. Speak of the devil. Or rather think of the devil.

"Who is it?" he shouted.

"It's Lois and Jimmy you idiot! Who else would it be? We've only called you about a thousand times!" Lois shouted back.

"Just a minute!" he replied.

"I'm not waiting a minute Smallville! This hallway looks like it houses serial killers! Is that... Is that graffiti?"

"Yeah." He squinted to read the barely legible, tiny scrawl of ink on the wall. "I think it says...Oh dear.. I can't read that out loud." Jimmy said.

"God! I didn't know such places existed in Metropolis!"

"Hey, some of us actually have to live on our salaries alone. Besides, its the only 'graffiti' we saw the whole way here. And the elevator worked at least. It's not a bad place actually. Ever been to the Suicide Slums? or Bludhaven? They have those names for a reason."

"Suicide Slums I know of, but Bludhaven?"

"It's not that far from Gotham. It's probably worse than Gotham actually."

"I don't think any place is worse than Gotham."

"Some would say Bludhaven is. It doesn't have a bat-themed vigilante protecting it."

"Batman isn't real. He would have been there when that random attack happened."

"He is real. I happen to be a photographer Lois, and I can verify the authenticity of the popular 'Bat in the Sky' photo."

"Those are the biggest words I've ever heard you use...What is taking him so long? Clark, what the hel are you doing? Cooking up a shot? Flushing your stash? In this neighborhood I wouldn't be surprised."

Silence.

"Clark, if you don't open up right now I will break this door down! I think I might get tetanus just standing here!"

Clark was in his room, searching frantically for a towel.

No dice. That's what you get for dripping dry every day Kent.

He wasn't even sure he had ever had a towel. The doorbell rang again. He could hear a key sliding into the lock. When did he give Jimmy a key? And why would he enter the house anyway? He picked up a pair of jeans and hastily pulled them on, ripping them cleanly at the seams in the process. Superhuman strength was incredibly frustrating at times. Thankfully, he spotted a towel and he managed to wrap himself in it just as the front door opened. Before he stepped into the living room he ripped off his necklace and stuffed it under the pillow, then he put on his glasses.

"Um... to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked in as natural a tone as possible.

"Oh my god." Was all Lois said after looking him up and down. Then she squeezed her eyes shut as her face turned beet red.

Clark turned to Jimmy, somewhat puzzled. "Is it something I said?" Jimmy wouldn't make eye contact.

"Clark, your towel is about as concealing as a miniskirt."

He looked down.
The 'towel' he had wrapped himself in might have been enough to wrap around the waist of a teenage boy, but it was stretched too thin over his large frame. It did indeed look like a miniskirt. With a bulge at the front.

"OH! Oh god! I'm so sorry!" He practically said in a mortified tone. He went back into the room and put on his clothes, taking care to be slow, then he put on his glasses again-cursing at his carelessness- before going back into the living room.

"I think I've learned WAY TOO MUCH about Clark today. WAY TOO MUCH!"

"Oh come on Lois. It wasn't that bad, just a little bit more skin than usual. It's not like you saw his-"

"We shall never speak of this again!"

"Now hold on, I think you're exaggerating-"

"Shut up Clark!"

"I-"

"Silence!"

Downstairs..

The cabbie flicked the smouldering cigarette butt out of the window just as his 'fares', as he liked to think of them, emerged from the building.

The Pretty Lady looked...embarrassed in an angry way. The Ginger looked thoroughly amused. There was a third guy with them, big guy with glasses. He must have been this 'Clark' the two were talking about. He could see why the Ginger said he was built like a fridge. He looked like an intellectual that moonlighted as a bouncer. He also looked guilty. He guessed that the lady was maybe the Fridge's girlfriend, or maybe she liked him, and they had walked in on him with another woman. He had seen it a million times. They all shuffled into the car quietly, the Fridge first, then Ginger, then Pretty Lady.

There was a pregnant silence.

He cleared his throat.

"Where to?"

"Daily Planet offices please." The Fridge said in a surprisingly quiet voice.

They drove in awkward silence for a while. That was all right, he had experienced many an awkward fare. Break-ups were always the weirdest. Then the Fridge spoke.

"Jimmy?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you get a spare key to my apartment?"

"I didn't."

"Then who-"

"It was me that had the key Clark."

"Oh."

Silence for a few beats.

"May I ask how you got it?"

"Really Clark? Really? You're going to ask me that now? After everything I just saw?" she asked angrily.

Definitely a cheating case, the cabbie thought triumphantly as they pulled up outside the offices.

"Daily Planet."

Somehow the Fridge paid first, even though he could see Pretty Lady reaching for her purse in the rear view mirror long before he had announced the destination. Ginger was obviously 'that guy' in the group that never paid for anything because he was always broke.

The Fridge was the last out of the car. For a brief moment he wondered if he should give him some advice. From the story he heard he seemed like a nice guy. Nah, it's none of my business anyway. The Fridge shut the door gingerly, as if it was made of glass.

He drove off in search of his next fare.

A/N: Harry, maybe you should read the note again.