AN: Thanks Mak for the plug you gave me. And for the quick turn around with this chapter.
AN – 2: If you haven't read Mak5258's story Identity Crisis you should. I can only hope my story is as gripping.
They stood there, at the top of their little world, looking over the city he protected. She was his all in all, his heart. Their love had done what nothing else could; he finally belonged.
Clark looked at her as she held his hand, not knowing what to expect from this unpredictable force called Lois Lane. Where did they go from here? What did she want from him? How can he be what he now needed to be, wanted to be? What about Richard? So many questions swirled through his head, he felt light-headed. Maybe he wasn't as well as he thought.
"Are you ok, Clark?" Lois asked.
Clark shook his head, as if trying to clear a fog. "Maybe I need to get more sun," Clark answered weakly. "I used most of my strength lifting that thing into space."
"Maybe you should go get some sunshine." Lois agreed, "You've been through a lot in the last few days." A far-away look crossed Clark's face as he heard a voice bellow below. "We need to get back to work, Perry's looking for us," he said.
The ride down to the bullpen was taken in silence. Both parties that occupied the car contemplated their recent conversation. There was still much to discuss, decisions to be made. Those decisions could not, and would not, be made in haste. There was too much at risk.
Everything felt surreal to Clark. Was it just a few days ago I flew out of this building to rescue Lois? He thought to himself. How much had his life changed in those few hours, so much more than in the days since his return from Krypton. Being a writer, he knew the power of words, but those words, the words barely whispered into his unconsciousness changed everything. A son, he had a son.
Clark closed his eyes and pondered what Lois had told him, only to pop open as he heard in the back of his mind the heckling voice of Lex Luthor: "Like a son inheriting the traits of his father!" he spat out as he beat Superman on that island. Does he know? How could he? There is no way. Unless — something happened on that yacht. Oh dear God!
As the elevator doors opened onto the bullpen, Clark stilled his thoughts. Right now he had other things to take care of, like getting back to work. After all, he was still paid to write about the happenings in the present, not to ponder their future, or past.
Lois was the first to exit the elevator, striding towards Perry's office, Clark stumbling as if he was struggling to keep pace with his petite partner. It amazed him how she could switch modes like that, going from the emotion-filled conversation they just had, to Mad Dog Lane in less time than it would have taken him to change into his suit.
Jimmy looked up to see the pair exit the elevator; "Chief's looking for you both, and he's in one of his moods." He warned as he grabbed at his camera, not quite trusting that Clark would manage to pass by without knocking it down.
"Lane, Kent, where the hell have you been? My office NOW!" the Planet's Editor in chief bellowed, again. Clark looked at Lois and shrugged, as if to say some things never change, and do you have any idea what you did? Lois smirked back at him.
"What'd you do this time, Smallville?" Some things really never do change, he sighed as they entered Perry's office.
* * * *
Inside a ten foot by ten foot concrete cell, a distinguished looking elderly man sat staring at the wall, as if he were looking out a picture window; a newspaper lay in his lap. How long he had been a prisoner inside these walls, he had no way to tell. The days felt as if they were both longer and shorter as they passed.
He was kept isolated from the others, his jailers claiming it was for his protection. He felt that it was from fear, fear of who he was, what he was. He once had, for a short time, power, great and fearsome power. He had power over the lives of all who inhabited this place, power to do as he willed. He had power, but not discernment; strength but not wisdom. He did not understand the people he attempted to lead. They saw him as an evil tyrant, but he saw them as a primitive people who needed a strong leader. Then the one they called Superman appeared, and by using the treachery of this primitive people, defeated him. Not only was he defeated, he was stripped of his power, and placed in this hole: isolated but not weakened.
He'd had time, plenty of time. He observed them, learned from them and about them. He gained wisdom from their history. He watched as their hero disappeared. Listened as they at first questioned his absence, then as they realized he had left them; he relished their anger towards their hero.
Now the hero was back, and this man realized that he needed to assert his place in this world. They knew their hero as Superman. But he had known him as the infant Kal El, the son of his friend, turned enemy. On Krypton he would yet be considered a child, not yet ready for the responsibilities of the adult world. He had already proven that as he left the most precious treasure in the universe unprotected. He looked at the paper in his lap, gracing the front page was the photo of a woman carrying a young child, surrounded by a crowd awaiting news of their hero. A boy with eyes he would always remember, the face of from a childhood long gone. Oh, he would never forget his betrayer, Jor El, and now he could repay a long held debt.
***
Once Lois and Clark entered Perry's office, the chief looked at his two top reporters, both noticing a look of apprehension on his face. "Kent," he started, "what can you tell me about that General Zod?" His glance toward Lois told her that he understood he was bringing up a sore subject.
"Zod?" Clark asked bewilderedly. "Only what Superman told us. And that wasn't much. Why?" Perry gave Clark a disbelieving stare.
"Kent, Lois told me when she got back from Niagara, that Superman needed your help. Now, he had to tell you something about the man to get your help. We really need to find out as much about the man as possible, as soon as possible."
"Why, chief?" Lois inquired as she looked nervously at Clark. "We all know what happened: he came, tried to conquer, was defeated by Superman, stripped of his powers and locked away. What more is there to say about him?"
Perry looked over at Lois, "He wants an interview." Lois and Clark gasped at that revelation. Zod had kept to himself since his imprisonment, refusing to even speak to an attorney, choosing instead to allow himself to be placed in a super-max prison. Lois had tried, at one point, to visit him, thinking that perhaps he might know what happened to Kal-El, but was turned away.
"I need you and Kent to go to the penitentiary where he is being held. He says it is time to address the incidents leading to his incarceration. He's claiming that he was some sort of political prisoner before Krypton exploded, and Luthor's pawn after he arrived on Earth. "
"No way, Perry!" Lois exclaimed. "I mean, Clark just got out of the hospital. Don't you think it is a little soon to send him halfway across the country to get an interview with some alien psycho?" Clark flinched slightly at that last remark.
"Its ok Lois, if the chief needs us to go interview Zod, then maybe we should." That would give me a chance to find out what he is up to. Father warned me about him. I didn't listen the first time. I won't make the same mistake twice.
Lois wasn't about to back down, "How about I take Richard instead?" Clark gave her a quizzical look.
"You don't understand, Lois. He specifically asked for you both. He won't speak with anyone else. You don't have a choice here," Perry said, exasperation apparent in his voice.
Clark noticed Lois deflate at that. He then realized, as she already had, why it was that she was hesitant. Once Zod met Clark Kent he would know exactly with whom he was meeting with. Clark could not hide the truth from Zod; there would be no illusion to hide behind.
"When do we leave?" He asked quietly.
"Tomorrow." Perry answered, as he handed Clark their plane tickets. "I want you two to give me all you can on Zod by this evening. I want to know just what it is we're getting into."
"Oh, by the way, he has also sent a letter to the UN to have them declare Superman's fortress to be Kryptonian territory, and all rights be granted to him, as the elder Kryptonian on the planet." At that Clark turned away, closing his eyes and dropping the tickets Perry had just handed him.
"Sorry, chief." Clark mumbled, obviously embarrassed by his clumsiness. What started out as a beautiful day had turned into a nightmare.
Lois gently placed her hand on Clark's arm as they were leaving Perry's office. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly.
It took a lot to make Clark angry, but now it simmered: anger towards the only person whom he hated more than Lex Luthor. The one who had taken everything that mattered away from him. The one who destroyed his home, his world. General Zod, the trusted head of the Kryptonian Security forces, who tried to overthrow the ruling council and place himself in charge of the dying planet. When his coup was averted, he started a series of events that hastened the destruction of Krypton.
Clark was overwhelmed by the revelations of the day, Lois had never forgotten, she didn't hate him, and now Zod was trying to take what was left of his home away from him. Well, at least Superman hadn't been called upon for the last couple hours. Clark walked distractedly back to his desk.
As they sat at their respective stations, Lois started putting together a plan of attack. When they found out about Zod the first time it was she who had to come back to Metropolis and explain what Clark needed to do: that Superman entrusted him with the secret location of his Fortress of Solitude, and he was needed to implement a distraction that would lead to the ultimate defeat of Zod. It was important that they keep that story straight, or Perry would find out that they were hiding something from him.
"Clark," Lois said, making Clark jump. "You can't possibly intend to go ahead with this interview, can you? I mean, one look at you and he'll see right through you. And if he knows who you are, then—"
"Then what Lois?" Clark shot back at her. "Then he'll figure out about Jason? That he'll know that you and I, that I'm …" Clark felt a surge of anger through him like hot wax running through his veins.
"Don't you dare say it, Clark Kent; don't you even think it. You are not, by any stretch of the imagination, a dead-beat dad." Lois chastised him as quietly as she could. "You had no way of knowing I was pregnant when you left. And even if you did, I wouldn't have let you stay. You needed to go, to find out for yourself what was out there. If you had stayed because of me, you would have ended up resenting us, resenting me.
"Right now, we have to figure out how we are going to handle this interview. Because there is no way in hell you are going into that prison. Not only is Zod there, but also, didn't Superman put special lights in his cellblock? Lights that replicate Krypton's sun to keep Zod powerless? If you went into his cell, you too would be powerless."
Clark looked at Lois and nodded in agreement. "And as I was saying; if Zod recognized you, he could use it against you. He could reveal your secret to the world, and there would be nothing you could do to stop him." With that said, Lois stood up and started to walk towards Richard's office. Stopping at the door she whispered to Clark "Now, I wouldn't be against some super-ears listening in from somewhere nearby.
"Oh, by the way," Lois said, "is your mom still in town? Because, if she is, we could use her help watching the Munchkin while we're gone. I plan on having Richard accompany us on this. We might need his, uh, 'expertise' in the diplomatic front if Zod drags the UN into this. Oh, and you and I really need to talk." With that, Lois closed the door to Richard's office.
Clark swallowed nervously at that statement, flushing with the remembrance of the last time they spoke those words, and what they were a prelude to. He realized that was exactly why they had to talk, why his mother was needed, and why his anonymity was necessary. Clark was once again amazed at this woman, and how quickly she could switch gears. One minute she was planning her next great interview, and the next arranging for her child to be placed in the care of his elderly grandmother whom neither had ever met.
Clark's eyes turned to the assistant editor's office as he had another thought; if Richard was going to accompany them on this trip, he would have to explain why he wasn't actually going to sit in on the interview with Zod, and why Lois was having his mother watch her son. Besides, he too deserved to know exactly who fathered the child he was raising.
Clark stood resignedly and started walking towards Richard's office, knowing that once more he had to share his secret for his son's sake. He stopped as he heard the subsonic rumbling of tectonic plates slipping, another big earthquake somewhere. He looked into the office as his son looked back at him. He looked puzzled, as if he heard something but didn't know what he was hearing. Tuning into the news feeds that were a constant in the bullpen, Clark heard that the quake was centered in a highly populated area in central China, near a large dam. Giving a small wave to his son, he quickly headed to the elevator. He would speak with Richard later. This was going to be another long week.