Batman v Superwoman
Dawn of Justice
Chapter 2
Claire marveled as she looked at the bullpen of the Daily Planet, people were running about and a dozen different voices spoke out at once each saying something different. She stepped out of the elevator into the crowded space, and was immediately pushed and shoved across the room. Everybody was so caught up in whatever they were doing they didn't even notice Claire or acknowledge that they were throwing her around like a rag doll, it took almost all of herself control not to shove the people back knowing that she would probably send them through the window. She finally managed to find a spot without people running around and slipped into the spot, she took a breath and decided it was best if she tried to scout Lois out from her spot.
Before she had a chance she heard a voice not too far from her
"Excuse me, coming through, could you just... please move" the voice said slightly agitated
Claire turned to see where the voice came from and saw a person who really stuck out in the crowd. In the sea of dark greys and blues she saw a bright green plaid shirt with a brown coat over it, a pair of baggy blue jeans, red converse sneakers, bright orange spiked up hair, and a kind freckled face.
"And I thought I was going to stand out with this Librarian get up" Claire thought as she watched the figure attempt to make his way through the crowd
He appeared to be carrying coffee, fresh, hot, and a lot of it. It was amazing he was able to keep them from falling this long but the outcome was very obvious if this continued. Just as the thought came to her mind a forceful shove came the figures way and he was about to fall over and get scalding coffee all over himself, Claire easily made her way through the crowd and came to him keeping him upright and supporting the coffee in his hand, she then guided him to the clear spot she was previously in.
"Hey thanks for the save" the man said to Claire thankfully
Claire smiled "Don't mention it, Claire Kent what's you're…."
Claire said as she extended her right hand but froze when she saw that there was nothing where his left arm should be. Claire took this time to fully examine him he looked to be early twenties fresh out of college, the man gave a small laugh as he put the coffee down on a table
"Hey don't worry everybody make the same mistake, James Olsen and thank you Miss Kent" James said as he extended his right arm for her to shake.
Claire didn't want to be rude so she shook his hand making sure her eyes don't wander towards his left side
James gave a kind smile "Look its okay if you want to ask, I'm used to it" James said kindly.
Claire blushed in embarrassment feeling like she looked like a child that did something she wasn't supposed to her eyes wandered to his stub and a wave of sadness came over
"You lost it in the Black Zero Event didn't you" Claire said sadly.
James saw the sadness in Claire's eyes "Yeah I was trying to help some people out of a building when all that shit went down, got my arm pinned in some falling debris they got the stuff of my arm but they had to amputate it" James said in a somber tone but still with a bit of acceptance.
Claire felt her heart sink as he told her the story
"I am so sorry" Claire whispered as she looked away from James her eyes watering a bit
James saw this and was a bit surprised "Hey, hey, hey it's not that bad I was always a righty, and now I get too park in the handicap space which would be awesome if I had a car…. Or a license…. But hey were in the city so who the hell even drives" James said optimistically.
Claire smiled and Giggled at James exuberance
"Yeah I have that effect on all ladies" James said with a confident smile.
"Almost all of them" a female voice said from behind smacking James on the back of his head
Claire's eyes widen as she saw the woman walk up to her
"LOIS" Claire and James said at the same time, Claire happy, James annoyed.
Lois lane in her black blouse and ponytail hair smiled at Claire
"Great to see you made it Smallville, just in time as well see you met the planet's most eligible Intern, and Jim what are you doing carrying all this stuff with one arm are you trying to get sent back to the hospital, you're not an employee so you can't get worker's comp." Lois said playfully.
"Who says I'm trying to do workers comp. I'm just doing the job I was given as an intern, I may have one arm but I'm still Handi-capable" James said slightly offended by Lois
He then got another flick on the head "You get one for every cheap pun you try to pull, and I still think you shouldn't be working what if that starts acting up again" Lois said pointing to James stub.
"Well when I applied for an Internship I wasn't expecting a super alien invasion, and being in the hospital for over a month" Jimmy said annoyed
"I bet you would have a lot of things to say to Superwoman knowing how she was a part of the whole thing" Claire said somberly.
James looked at Claire curiously "You know you are not the first person to ask me that, yeah I know she was the reason that they came down here and all this happen and if I had the chance to speak to her face to face I…." Jimmy said with Gusto but was stopped when a male voice rang out through the bullpen
"Lane, your friend has two minutes till her interview, if she's not here by then she doesn't get the job" the voice yelled allowing everyone to hear.
"Well I guess you guys have to get acquainted later, say goodbye Claire" Lois said hurriedly as she pushed Claire along
"Oh… um… right, see you around James" Claire said a bit surprised by the shoving
James waved goodbye "See you around to, hope you get the job, and call me Jimmy, James was my dad" Jimmy yelled to Claire as she got further and further away.
"Don't mind Jimmy he's a good kid, he got this internship a little bit before the event, really wants to be a photographer, but with that missing arm it's not looking so good, I'm trying to pull some strings with Perry but…" Lois told Claire in a sympathetic voice
"Mr. White sound like a strict man" Claire said a little worried.
"Oh yeah he is I heard one time he threw a guy through a wall during an interview" Lois said nonchalantly
Claire became visibly more worried sweating and fidgeting with her hands Lois saw this and began to laugh.
"Hey don't worry I've worked with Perry for years, he's tough but fair, if you do your part around here you'll be fine now a few tips for when you face him, always keep direct eye contact, no nervous movement, and speak clearly, also don't be scared he doesn't bite…. Much" Lois said as she pushed a nervous and sweating Claire into a room.
It had only been three minutes with him and Claire had broken every rule Lois had told her, she had been staring at her shoes only taking small glances at the man, her fingers have been nervously tapping on her bag, and when she introduced herself to him she was sure she heard her voice crack. The man in question was Perry White editor in chief of the Daily Planet he was a large African American man in his mid-fifties he had short black hair and a thin beard small patches of grey littered on his head and chin. He wore a white dress shirt, red tie and suspenders, his brown eyes were deep full of years of experience and they were analyzing her very thoroughly.
"You can't be for real" Perry said in an exhausted tone
Claire shot up to meet his eyes "In… what way Mister White" Claire asked still nervous
"You've sat there for three minutes looking at your shoes, nobody's shoes are that interesting, how did someone as shy as you write this" Perry said as he threw down a pile of paper, when Claire looked at it she realized it was her piece on the battle in Smallville.
"I can tell from the writing whether a reporter actually experienced a war or read about it on google, this is the writing of someone who was mere feet away when Superwoman fought those two aliens, and when I look at you, you look like a girl too nervous to ask her locker neighbor to the homecoming dance, you look like someone who runs at the first sign of trouble and you want me to believe that you wrote this" Perry said as he paced around his office.
"Well I wasn't actually watching it as I was more so in it" Claire though as her mind wandered to the battle in her hometown
She easily handled the big guy zipping around him a super speed and keeping of balance with quick but powerful blows, the other the female Kryptonian totally outclassed her and frankly Claire got lucky with her.
"I want you to know the only reason you're not leaving this office right now is because of Lois Lane, I don't know your connection to her but she wouldn't have wrote this recommendation if she didn't think you had potential, so I'm willing to believe that you wrote this but I want know why do you want to work at the Daily Planet" Perry said seriously as he sat on her desk and looked Claire straight in the eye.
Claire's eyes widen when she saw the intensity in Perry's eyes but she quickly calmed herself taking a deep breath and stood up from the chair using her full height
"Mr. White you have the fastest, most reliable news service in the world. Whenever a story happens the planet gets it first and has it webbed and in print while the New York Times is still fishing for sources, your Staff is that good and I'm that good" Claire said proudly with full use of her voice.
Perry looked a bit surprised seeing this sudden burst of bravado from what he thought was a timid mouse
"So the mouse can roar huh, is there something you want to tell me Claire" Perry said quizzically once again looking in Claire's eyes.
Claire flinched again at Perry's analytic eyes looking deep into hers looking for who she really was, but she couldn't let him see the real her. Her eyes began to dart to the sides trying to find an escape that's when she noticed that her hand was on Perry's desk and was near a pencil holder, so she slid her hand knocking the holder over and spilling the Pencils on the ground.
"Oh I am so sorry Mr. White I'll pick those up, just give me a sec" Claire said frantically slipping back into her soft voice.
"Just leave the pens and sit down Kent" Perry said like a stern father
Claire did as she was told putting the pens on her desk some rolling to the ground again and sat in the chair hunched over. Perry sighed as he leaned on his desk and looked at Claire
"Listen Kent as flattering as your little speech was you just pointed out the problem here, my reporters are the best because they aren't afraid to write the truth and Miss you have fear written all over you. I can't use you" Perry said bluntly.
"You don't know me Mr. White, I can show you" Claire said slightly pleading
"Then show me Kent, prove to me you got what it takes. Prove yourself right now or stop wasting my time" Perry said very loud but not yelling.
Claire was very nervous this conversation was not going her way and she needed this job not just for money but to keep a close ear to the on goings of the world to help when she was needed.
"Mr. White I…I…." Claire whispered out but stopped when she heard something it was a whirring sound and the sound of people clamoring over something
As she focused more on the sounds she heard
"Why is it so close?"
"Where is it going?"
She looked down and used her X –Ray to see through the floors. She saw a bunch of people looking out the window and seeing a drone of some kind making its way up, and as she scanned the drone she saw that it was armed and coming to this floor.
"MISTER WHITE" Claire yelled as she shot up from her seat incredibly quick
"Kent yelling just makes me think you're…." Perry said giving an exhausted sigh just as the drone reached the window and a small light on it turned from green to red.
Claire could hear the mechanisms within the drone turning it was preparing to fire and Perry was right in its crosshairs
"GET DOWN" Claire yelled as she tackled Perry while to the ground avoiding the gunfire she used a bit of her super speed to get her there but not enough to arise suspicion.
The bullets tore through the glass and the wall behind them people screams of fear could be heard, and just as soon as the gunfire began it stopped. Claire lifted her head and looked out the window seeing the drone fly away erratically, she looked down at Perry White he was shocked, out of breath, but fine.
"Mr. White are you okay" Claire asked genuinely concerned for the elderly man he coughed and took some deep breathes
"I'm fine Kent, the others…" He said terrified for his staff.
Claire burst from Perry's office and looked around the bullpen was in chaos, the gunfire destroyed multiple desk and computers. Luckily no one was in front of the office when it happened though there were injured and they needed immediate medical attention, Claire saw a small bit of red hair emerge from behind a desk and she ran to it.
"Lois are you okay" Claire asked worried as she helped up her friend
"I'm alright Claire, what just happened" Lois asked still a bit shaken from the experience.
"Some kind of military drone, it went crazy, just started shooting out of the….." Claire said but stopped realizing that the drone was still out there
She used her enhanced vision a found the drone it was shooting into random buildings and into the streets bellow injuring dozens of people and even killing a few. Claire's eyes narrowed on the malfunctioning drone it needed to be stopped
"Lois nobody here is dead but they need to get to a hospital, stay here I need…" Claire said seriously as she rose from the ground.
Lois put her hand up stopping her speech "I get it Claire, go do your super-thing" Lois said encouragingly
Claire smiled giving her friend a hug before making a beeline for the stairs. As she did she passed Jimmy Olsen hiding underneath a table who looked at her in confusion
"Where the Hell is she going" Jimmy thought watching Claire run into the staircase.
As soon as she hit the staircase Claire used her super speed and reached the roof in a matter of seconds, bursting through the roof door. Running to the ledge looking over it getting a good look at the attacking drone, Claire quickly removed her office attire revealing her red crest and blue suit. She undid her hair bun allowing her hair to flow freely, a few loose strands flowing freely on her forehead. Claire stood on the roof in full super attire cape flowing in the wind, she then stood on the ledge of the Daily Planet took a deep breath and stepped off. She allowed herself to fall for a few stories before she then used her abilities to soar above the streets of Metropolis. People's heads immediately shot up as they saw a red and blue blur rocketed over their heads and towards the drone. The drone ceased firing onto the people bellow, faced Superwoman and began to fire on her. The bullets bounced harmlessly off her skin not even scratching her suit as she sped towards the drone, Claire brought her arms in front of her face and increased her speed. Superwoman slammed into the drone full force making it explode in smoke and fire, Claire stopped herself in the air and looked down seeing the chunks of metal fall to the streets below where a couple stood. She sped towards the couple pulled them out of the way allowing the metal to crash onto the pavement and crush a car. She landed on the sidewalk letting the couple down
"Are you two okay" she asked concerned
Both were clearly terrified but the man was able to give Claire a nod. Claire gave a relieved sigh and relaxed, but instantly tensed up when her ears picked up something a whirring sound coming from multiple parts of the city. She immediately launched herself into the sky and scanned the city her eyes widening at what she saw
"Oh God there's more" Claire said grimly as she saw multiple drones flying across the city all of the malfunctioning and attacking people.
She quickly took off to combat the other drones there were four in total and they were coupled in two groups. She flew to the closet set it appeared like they were ready for her as they stopped shooting onto the people and at her. These drones appeared to have an upped arsenal releasing missiles instead of bullets, Claire flew forward taking the missiles head on afraid of what would happen if they hit a building. Claire took two missiles to the chest knocking her back a bit, but not out of the air. Claire righted herself in the air narrowing her eyes at the drones who were preparing to fire again, she looked down the street seeing that it was mostly empty all the people taking shelter in nearby building to avoid the battle only some abandoned cars remained. Claire with sonic speed flew and grabbed one of the drones bringing it to the ground and ripping it in half, the other airborne drone fired another missile at the grounded Claire. Claire faster than the eye could see leaned to the side not letting the missile hit her, but also grabbing the side of it suspending it in her grip. She allowed the rocket to run out in her grip sputtering to a halt, as soon as it was done she flipped the missile letting the war head face the other drone. She gripped the missile like a football taking in a deep breath focusing on the drone, she then almost professionally threw the missile at the last drone destroying it.
"Two down, two to go" Claire said to herself as she took to the sky again
She made her way through the city towards the last set of drones, she was surprised when she only saw one firing towards the sidewalk. Before she could ponder that any further metallic cables wrapped around her and began the course electricity through her entire body, a drone hovered behind her cranking up the intensity making her scream. Claire gritted her teeth as she turned to face the drone her eyes glowing red, she let out a yell as she fired off her heat vision slicing the drone in half. The two chunks of metal fell to the ground as Claire slowly landed on the sidewalk the shock taking a lot out of her, she propped herself against a building and looked at the last drone, it doing the same to her. Then the sound of crying filled the silent streets Claire immediately looked down the street and saw a little boy no older than five wandering the streets crying for his mommy. The drone turned around and faced the child then it began to fly towards him weapons at the ready, the child looked up as it saw the drone flying towards him and then a volley of bullets were shot at him. His eyes widened as he watched the bullets came closer then suddenly all he saw was a red "S", Claire rushed towards the child shielding him with her body as the bullets bounced of her back. Claire turned her head quickly firing her heat vision at the drone this time taking one of its wings sending it in a tailspin right at her and the child. Claire hugged the child close allowing the drone to crash into her back and explode, the smoke and fire began to clear as Claire slowly loosened her hold on the child. Though the child was still hugging her crying, Claire gave a kind smile as she gently picked up the child
"Hey it's okay, it's gone, and you're safe now" Claire hushed in a motherly tone.
Suddenly people slowly began to flood the streets still afraid that something else might happen
"XAVIER" a voice broke out through the murmuring crowd as a lady broke through them and ran towards Claire
"MOMMY" the child said happily.
Claire walked towards the woman still holding the child
"It's alright ma'am your son is…" Claire said but was suddenly stopped when the woman snatched her son from her grip and held him close to his chest
"Don't touch my Son" the woman said very scared. Claire took a step back taken aback by what the woman said
"Ma'am…. I'm not going to hurt you or your child, I'm just here to help" she said saddened by what she said
"Haven't you helped this city enough" a man from the growing crowd yelled.
Soon murmurs and whispers spread around the crowd, but to Claire they may as well been talking inches in front of her.
"Why did she come back?"
"She's the reason my house is destroyed"
"Is another event going to happen"
"I can't lose another friend to this…this thing", Claire heard every last whisper.
"Why don't you go back to where you came from" a woman shouted
"Yeah go join those other freaks" another man shouted
Soon the crowd joined in throwing obscenities at Claire, she could do nothing only stand there and take it. Someone even threw a piece of debris at her head, she didn't flinch but it still hurt her inside. She was prepared to leave in defeat until another voice rang out louder than all the other voices
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU" a male voice said
Claire and the entire crowd turned to see a red head making his way through the crowd towards Superwoman.
Jimmy Olsen was finally meeting Superwoman face to face, Claire looked at the disabled photographer remembering that he had something to say to her super-persona, looks like she and everyone here were about hear it.
"Why are you yelling at her she just saved all your lives from that killer drone" Jimmy yelled to the crowd.
"Listen everyone were all still healing from the event I get that, we lost homes, possessions…. people, but we can't blame Superwoman for what happened she had no control and she did everything she could to defend us, even with everything she can do she's just one woman can we really put all this blame on her" Jimmy said pleading with the crowd.
"Why the hell are you defending her, looks like she screwed you over just like the rest of us" a man screamed emphasizing Jimmy's missing arm.
Jimmy took a moment to look at his stump clutching it tightly
"Yeah I lost an arm during that whole thing, but an arm is better than the alternative, from what I heard those Kryptonians wanted to wipe out the whole planet and this woman fought against her own people…. her home for us, thanks to her I can see my family, my mom, my sis, I'm still alive and so are all of you, let's stop focusing on what we lost and on what we still have" Jimmy yelled straining his voice.
Claire stood in amazement at what Jimmy just said, Olsen's words seemed to have wowed the crowd into silence. Jimmy turned to face Superwoman his pale blue eyes filled with hope and optimism
"Thank You Superwoman" Jimmy said kindly.
Claire felt a smile creeping up her face, suddenly the child was let down from his mother's hold and made her way to Superwoman tugging on her cape. Claire looked at the child kneeling down to his level, the child suddenly wrapped his arm around her neck hugging her
"Thank You Ms. Superwoman" the child said with unwavering kindness.
Claire was completely smiling now as she returned the hug
"You're Welcome, both of you" Claire said her voice wavering a bit.
A flash came from the side as a smiling Jimmy took a photo of the incredible scene, once the hug was over the child ran back to his mother taking her hand. The woman was still wary of Superwoman, but swallowed hard and said
"Thank You Superwoman, for saving my son" she said wary but grateful.
Claire gave the mother a nod and began to walk away, she stopped when she felt Jimmy place a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey I'm pretty sure my little speech didn't really change anyone's opinion of you, but I just had to get that out of my system seeing them berate even after you saved them was just maddening" Jimmy said slightly upset
Claire smiled at Jimmy "Thanks for sticking up for me, and I wouldn't be so sure about that it just one stone to ripple a pond" Claire said reassuringly.
"Listen the whole world has a bunch of different thoughts about you and a lot of them aren't good, I just want you to know that no matter what the world thinks of you, you'll always have a pal when Jimmy Olsen's around" Jimmy said smiling jabbing his thumb into his chest.
Claire gave Jimmy and Toothy smile and a small giggle making him blush
"That's really good to know" Claire said as she gently lifted herself into air and then took off.
Even though Claire was a good distance away she still heard the people below
"She did help us"
"We can't trust her"
"Maybe she just wants to help"
"Why did that kid stand up for her"
"I don't know what to think", Claire sighed as she took off back to the Daily Planet.
Unbeknownst to her a small drone was watching her a camera recording her as she flew away, this was recording was being fed to a building far from Claire current location to a darkened room where a figure sat watching multiple screens each showing a moment in Claire's battle with the drones, the figure smiled his blue eyes gleaming in the dark.
"Oh cute, she has a little friend, soon enough he'll see her for what she is, soon they will all see" he said devilishly leaning on his chair.
2 Hours Later, Daily Planet
The injured were sent to the hospital and the damage still remained as desk were torn apart and bullet holes littered the walls. Only a few people remained in the building one of them being Lois Lane as she rushed past the various people cleaning up the debris from the attack to Perry White's office. She bust through the door
"Alright Perry I was able to get some notes about the attack, and some witness statements as soon as I get to a computer I'll get to work" Lois said looking down into a stack of papers she wrote.
"Sorry Lane someone beat you to it" Perry said causing Lois's head to snap up and see Claire sitting and giving her a nervous smile.
"Looks like I was wrong about you Kent, you didn't hesitate about going out and getting that story or saving my life" Perry said making Claire blush.
"And you were able to push this out in under a hour, by pencil no less you are the fastest writer I've ever seen" Perry said waving a sizable stack of loose-leaf that Claire wrote on
"You should see me type, if I owned a laptop" Claire said nervously.
"This will look great tomorrow all we need is some photos to go with it" Perry said scratching his chin
Suddenly Jimmy Olsen came into the room and slammed a stack of photos onto the desk. The photos showed Superwoman fighting the drones, shielding the child, and the hug they both shared.
"Mr. White my name is James Bartholomew Olsen" Jimmy said with a confident smile
Perry looked over the photos and returned the smile to Jimmy "Well it looks like we have everything covered" Perry said.
"Not quite Mr. White we still don't know why those drones went haywire, we should have our best reporter on that and if she wants I would like to assist" Claire said looking towards Lois making her smile.
"Alright we run this tomorrow, you two are on the drone story and bring Olsen along the kids got potential" Perry said as he waved them off looking over the writings again.
Lois and Claire both exited his office "Seriously hand-written in under an hour, you set the paper on fire didn't you" Lois said giving her a nudge
Claire blushed and smiled "I wanted to make a good impression…. And…. yes a few times" Claire said scratching the back of her head.
"So ladies I'll be seeing you both tomorrow, I have a serious case of Netflix and Chill that I need to address after today" Jimmy said walking past the two
"Hey Jimmy what you said to that crowd was really kind and mature, I could tell it came from the heart" Claire said smiling.
"Thanks Claire…. Wait you were in the crowd" Jimmy said confused
Claire perked up immediately "Oh…. Well…. I was just there to… get the story and I saw you, then I heard you…. I just didn't want to get in your way" Claire stuttered nervous and quick giving a nervous laugh.
Jimmy smiled as he walked away
"Smooth Smallville" Lois said patting her back and walking away as well.
Claire stood there for a minute thinking over her day and all that had happened
"Lois, Claire, and Jimmy…. Maybe…. Metropolis won't be as bad as I thought" Claire said to herself as she straightened her glasses and made her way to the elevator
For the first time since she came to Metropolis she felt like she wasn't alone as Superwoman or as herself.