Chapter 20: Making Headlines Again

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

Perry White, newly minted editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, was not the kind of man who was easily surprised. Having spent decades in journalism, he had already seen it all and hadn't been impressed the first time... mostly. There were definitely some exceptions to that rule, most of them based around a certain flying woman whom Perry had named several years ago.

So when one night said woman suddenly appeared on his balcony, Perry White was mentally bracing himself. He was quite certain that this was going to be another night that would most definitely change the world as he knew it all over again. He was getting to old for this.

"Evening, Perry," she greeted him with that dazzling smile of hers. "Got a minute to chat?"

"You could come by the door, you know?" he said, gesturing for her to enter into his living room. Superwoman sat down on his couch, crossing her legs and leaning back into the cushions.

"Now where would the fun be in that, Perry?" she asked. "Believe me, when you can fly, you fly as much as you possible can."

"I'll take your word for it." He sat down opposite her, a drink in hand. He was sure he was going to need it before this talk was over.

"Whatever happened to that Lane girl?" Superwoman asked, giving him the distinct impression that she was beating around the bush. "She still following you around?"

"No, thank god," he replied. "Though I fear she'll be back before too long. Girl intends to study journalism and is already freelancing for several small-time papers and online magazines. I'm betting I'll have her application on my desk by the time she turns 20 at the latest."

"I read her 'Superwoman's Pal' column in some paper," Superwoman chuckled. "The girl can write, I give her that. Her sense of self-preservation, though..."

"Yeah! So, what brings you here today? I doubt you came by only to inquire about your biggest fan."

For the first time since that long ago day he had first met her, Perry saw something like uncertainty on her still absurdly young-looking face. He still vividly remembered how she had looked back then, caught between her desire to remain unseen and her refusal to let innocent people die when she could prevent it. That she now looked torn again only cemented Perry's belief that something rather monumental was afoot.

"I would like your advice, Perry," she finally said.

"What about?" he asked, leaning forward. Every reporting instinct he had was on high alert. He could already see a front page forming in his mind, just waiting for the headline.

"There is something I want... well, not want, really, but... damn it, let me start again!"

Perry smiled. There was something utterly charming about seeing the world's most powerful woman looking so flustered. Right now, she simply looked like a young woman, not an almighty near-goddess.

"You have probably figured out that I wasn't too keen on going public way back then," she eventually said. "For quite a while I preferred working unseen. I only revealed myself to the world when there was no other choice."

"As someone who would be dead if you hadn't, I can only say that I am glad you did so."

"Despite going public, though," she continued, "there are certain aspects of my life I have worked very hard to keep out of the public eye."

Perry nodded, having figured as much long ago. A large part of the public seemed to be convinced that Superwoman was just that, Superwoman, nothing more. That she spent all her time flying around the world, stopping bad guys, preventing catastrophes, the works. That she didn't wear a mask, unlike those vigilantes in Gotham and Star City for example, seemed to imply that she had nothing to hide. What you saw was what you got.

Perry knew better. He had seen it on her face back then and he saw it now. Superwoman was a role, a mask, and behind it was a woman who would never have basked in the accolades of the public if her hand hadn't been forced by circumstances. A woman who did what she did not for glory or recognition, but because she had the power to do so and considered it her responsibility. A woman he was convinced had a private life somewhere, well-hidden from the public. Something she fully deserved in his mind, which was why he had never gone snooping, no matter how tempting the thought.

"And that is changing?" he asked.

"Well, yes. Remember about two years back when the Parasite attacked Metropolis harbor and nearly killed me?"

Perry certainly remembered that day. As the first reporter to interview Superwoman, he had certainly kept abreast of any and all stories about the heroine he had named. He had been in front of his TV, actually, when she had collapsed after defeating the monster. Like most viewers, he had feared for her safety. Something had saved her that day, something that moved so fast that not even high-res TV cameras had managed to capture more than a somewhat human-shaped blur. Superwoman had turned up whole and healthy but a day later, but those few hours when she had simply vanished without a trace after looking nearly dead had sent the entire world into a panic attack.

"I definitely remember," he said. "People talked about 'The Blur' that saved you for weeks. Nothing ever came of it, though, and you never gave a statement about what happened that day. Is that changing now?"

"In a way, yes." She paused, wringing her hands. "I trust you, Perry, otherwise I wouldn't be here. But I need you to promise me that you will not breathe a word of this to anyone until I say it's time."

"You have my word," he said without hesitation.

"Good, okay then." She hesitated again, wrung her hands a few more times, then finally seemed to find her resolve and turned toward the balcony door. "You can come in!"

For a moment Perry was confused, seeing no one she could possibly be talking to. Then there was a figure standing in the door that hadn't been there a moment ago. A figure wearing a blue and red suit with a very familiar diamond-shaped symbol on its chest and a red cape falling from its shoulders. A figure that was a good deal shorter than either Superwoman or himself.

"Perry, I would like you to meet someone," Superwoman said. "This... this is my son!"

Perry was sure his mouth was hanging wide open. Of all the things he had thought he would learn today, this had certainly not been it. The idea that superwoman, the world's first and premier superhero, had a son, an almost grown son... it was so absurd somehow, no matter how often he had considered the notion that she had a private life somewhere.

The boy was standing in his living room, though, real as life and looking awkward in the way early teenagers often did, shifting from foot to foot. He had clearly had a growth spurt very recently, as his limbs seemed too long for his lanky body and he looked too thin for his shoulders. He would probably be a pretty big and broad guy once he was finished growing, but right now he was maybe 13 or 14 years old, he figured, no more than that.

Looking back at Superwoman, Perry bit back the obvious question how a woman who looked mid-twenties at the most could have a teenage son. She was an alien, she had told him, so there was no telling how old she really was or at what age her people started reproducing. If Superwoman said that this boy was her son, then he was her son, full stop. Of course, that just led to a huge load of other questions.

"Hi, Mr. White," the boy said when the silence clearly became uncomfortable for him. "Great to finally meet you. My mom has told me a lot about you."

"Can't say the same about you, kid," he finally managed after taking a big sip of his drink. "I am certain I would have remembered had she ever mentioned a son."

"I kept him out of the spotlight for obvious reasons," Superwoman said, gesturing for the boy to sit down beside her. "But he is well on the way towards becoming a man and... well, I've been told it would be very hypocritical of me to keep him from helping people same as I do, seeing as he has the same powers I have."

Perry didn't need any super powers of his own to interpret the look on Superwoman's face. She was clearly highly uncomfortable revealing the existence of her son to anyone, let alone the world at large. He fully understood that. The scrutiny she was under put that of most celebrities to shame and she had made many enemies, too. Enemies that would love to hurt her by hurting her son, no matter how invulnerable he probably was. Luthor came to mind immediately. The man would have given his eyeteeth for this kind of leverage over the woman he had failed to destroy.

"I'm sorry for asking this," Perry said, "but I distinctly remember you telling me that you were the last of your kind when you gave me that interview way back then. So either that boy there is a whole lot younger than he looks, or you lied to me."

"Oh, I never lied to you, Perry," she assured him, smiling now. "If I may refresh your memory, my exact words were 'I am the last daughter of Krypton'. I never said anything about sons."

He stopped, thinking back to that day, then groaned. He really should have noticed that very specific wording. In his defense, he had been kind of overwhelmed by being given the chance to interview the world's very first superhero, who had saved him from certain death just one day earlier.

"Okay, good point," he finally admitted. "So... kid, are you an only child then?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but a stern look from Superwoman stopped him cold. When he finally spoke, Perry was sure that he was listening to a pre-prepared answer.

"I am the son of Superwoman, Mr. White," he said, grinning broadly. "That's all anyone needs to know."

"Good answer, kid," he granted. "Okay, I assume you are 'The Blur' then? The one who saved Superwoman that night?"

He didn't need to hear an answer from them, really. It was all there on Superwoman's face as she looked at her son. A look of such parental pride that it melted his heart and dispelled any lingering doubts he might have had about this boy truly being hers.

"He did," she simply said. The look of pride on his face mirrored her own.

"But I'm not calling myself 'The Blur'," the kid added, looking affronted in a way teenagers the world over had perfected. "That's a stupid name!"

Perry laughed. "Yeah, I thought so, too, kid."

"So, about that advice I wanted to ask you," Superwoman began.

"I guess it's about unveiling the existence of 'Superboy' here to the world?" Perry asked.

"SuperBOY?" the boy said, considering the name. "Well, okay, I guess I can live with that for now. It had better be SuperMAN in a few years, though!"

"Way too soon," Superwoman muttered, causing Perry to laugh. It seemed parents, especially mothers, were the same all over the universe.

"So how do you want to play this?" Perry asked, leaning back in his seat. "We can introduce Superboy via a press event, that's easily arranged. But we need to get the story straight before that. Most important thing first: do you want the world to know he is your son?"

"Of course," Superboy said before Superwoman could say anything. A side-glance from his mother had the boy sitting back down, looking only somewhat contrite.

"We had a long talk about this," she told him, looking slightly exasperated. "And yes, despite some... concerns, I don't want us to have to play a charade in public. He is my son and I am proud to say so to anyone who asks."

"Okay, then we'll do it that way," Perry agreed. "But you know there will be questions, right? You'll have to give people at least some answers or they'll make up their own."

"I know," she said, a sad look in her eyes. "We will stick to the truth as much as we can without revealing too much. His father, he... he died with our world. He grew up here on Earth with me, but no one needs to know how or where."

"We can work with that. There will be more questions, though. Did he go to school somewhere or did you home school him? Are his powers the same as yours or are there differences? Will he work solely with you or operate solo? Is it really responsible to allow a super-powered teenager to run around the globe, performing feats without supervision? And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head."

He paused, thinking of the question he had pushed from his mind earlier. Someone would ask it, he was sure, so best to get it out now. "There is also the matter of how old you were when you had him, Superwoman."

She smiled at him. "Are you really going to ask a lady her age, Mr. White?"

"Me? Never, my mum would have my hide if she heard me asking such. But the question will come, I guarantee you that."

"Then the answer will be 'none of your business'!" she resolved.

"I'm down with that, but not everyone will be. You better be ready for some really scathing comments about teenage pregnancy."

"Believe me, I've heard all of them before!"

His reporting mind immediately jumped on that remark, concluding that, in order for her to have heard such remarks before, there had to be people out there who knew about a very young-looking woman having a teenage son. He quickly squashed those thoughts. He had long ago resolved never to look into Superwoman's private life without her express approval and he intended to stick to that, no matter what.

"As for the other questions," she continued, "Superboy was trained extensively in the use of his powers by myself, the rest of his schooling is nobody's business. He will work exclusively with me or Wonder Woman for the time being. While he has the same powers I have, he will first need to gather experience before we will even consider him working alone."

The boy didn't exactly look happy with that, but kept his mouth shut. Perry smirked. It seemed like teenage boys were the same all over the universe, too. Superboy seemed quite well-behaved for a teenager, which was definitely a good thing. Just thinking about some of the moody teenagers he had met in his life having the same powers as Superwoman... not a pretty thought.

"So we will set up a press conference," Perry said, walking to his bar to refill his glass. "How soon do you want to do this?"

"As soon as you can set it up, Perry," she replied, getting up from the couch. "I fear Superboy here is all out of patience." She ruffled his hair.

"Mo-om!" he complained, shoving her hand away. Perry laughed.

WELCOME SUPERBOY!
SUPERWOMAN PRESENTS HER SON TO THE WORLD!

Superwoman's Pal
A column by Lois Lane

Anyone who has ever read my column – or pretty much anything I have ever written – will know that I am a huge fan of a certain flying superhero that has protected our world for several years now. Ever since her debut Superwoman has shown the entire world, but especially the female part of it, what being a hero is all about. She has inspired us through her deeds and especially through her compassion and dedication. She has shown us that great powers don't have to corrupt, but can instead be used for the good of all.

Until yesterday I was certain that there was nothing Superwoman could do that would make me admire and respect her more than I already did. But I was wrong. Because yesterday I learned, along with the rest of the world, that Superwoman is not just a hero, not just an inspiration. She is so much more than that, too.

Superwoman is also a mother.

I am sure I was not the only one who was utterly gobsmacked by this revelation. I consider myself an independent and liberated girl, who fully intends to one day be a mother AND hold down a fulfilling job. But it seems even I am not immune to the fear that it might not be possible. That women will always have to choose in some way, that we will have to neglect either our careers or our children. That we are doomed to either be bad mothers because we put our jobs first, or traitors to feminism because we put our children first.

Now, though, I am full of hope that it can be done. Superwoman, who no doubt has one of the busiest, most stressful jobs in the world, has found the time to raise a son. And while we know very little of the newly named 'Superboy' so far, the sole fact that he seems intent on following in his mother's footsteps and become a hero as well, tells me that she must have done something right raising him.

I am sure that there will be a lot of talk in the next few months about Superboy, where he came from, how he grew up, and how Superwoman managed to hide him from the world for so long. I am looking forward to learning more about him. No doubt there will also be a lot of talk about how young Superwoman must have been when she had him, and self-proclaimed defenders of morality will certainly choose to disregard the fact that she is actually an alien and that we know almost nothing about her species' reproduction cycle or habits.

More than anything, though, I hope that Superwoman will take this opportunity and tell the world about her experiences as a mother. Superwoman has shown us that we can be women and heroes. Now she can also show us that we can be heroes and mothers.

End Chapter 20

Author's Note: I'm doing a bit of mix and match here as far as the media types are concerned. If Lois Lane were a teenager today, I'm sure she'd focus exclusively on online publishing and not bother with applying to a newspaper, but I do want her to eventually turn up at the Daily Planet. So as far as the Super Family Earth is concerned, online magazines and news sources exist, but so do classic newspapers, and both can make a living.