"Return"

Part 1 of 3

by Steave

It had been four years since Lex stepped foot into this building. A cacophony of sounds, smells, and memories flooded into his mind as he took his first step into LexCorp. His father's business, which had been his own since his father was killed. Cancer has a funny way of stopping life short.

As he mozied his way towards the elevator, his mind traveled to various topics. The first being his father. He had always contradicted Lex, and was constantly reminding him of previous failures. "You'll never have what it takes," was his father's favorite catch phrase. His voice still echoed in Lex's equilibrium, a constant reminder of why he's still here.

He was alone in the elevator, just the way he liked it. After taking a breath, he pushed the button to the top floor, his floor. Four years, and nothing had seemed to change. That is . . . almost.

This made his mind wander to another "individual." This . . . what was the Planet calling him? Superman? Ever since he had returned to Metropolis, this was the one name he constantly heard. Always half-whispered, as if he was some sort of God. Some, thinking that he even is God. The longer he lived, the more unable he became to dissuade himself that humanity was de-evolving.

But still, this Superman intrigued him. He was everywhere, not only in a literal sense, but figuratively as well. Once the reporters first caught glimpse of this . . . "savior" he was on every TV station in every country. His power seemed immense, but contained.

Who was this man? Was he even a man? Where did he come from? What was the true limit of his powers? Were there limits to his power? These were but a few of the questions raised from Lex's thoughts.

The elevator had finally stopped and Lex stepped outside. Walking down the empty hallway, his thoughts drifted to other things, and he let them be. He had had enough of Superman for one day, it was time to think upon other things.

As he opened the double doors that was the entrance to his office, Lana Lang greeted him, holding his usual Starbucks coffee and files of how the business had been for the past four years no doubt.

"It's good to see you again sir."

Lex waved her off while taking the files and coffee.

"Lana, you've known me since high school, you don't need to call me sir."

"Of course Lex."

"How's the company been?"

"Well, we've shown tremendous improvement in these two areas: Science and Arms."

"How're things going with S.T.A.R. Labs?"

"They've signed on and are now a branch of LexCorp."

"Excellent."

Lex sipped his Starbucks and sat in his revolving red leather chair. Turning to his view panel, he was greeted by an awakening Metropolis. The sun creeping over the tallest buildings in the world. His face was lit up with a golden light and he turned back to Lana.

"What's the schedule for today?"

"Well, files, files, and some more files. Oh, and you have an interview, live, with Lois Lane at 7."

"Aahh yes, would dearly hate to keep the press out of my life."

"Is there anything I can do for you sir . . . Lex?"

"How about, you do the files, I do believe that's why I hired you."

"Of course Lex."

"I think I'll spend some time in the labs."

Lex stood and vanished out of the office as quickly as he had entered. Lana went to the cabinet, and got to work.

--

"Lois . . . LOIS!"

Lois Lane awoke from her daydream of clouds and men in tights with flowing red capes to the sound of her Editor-in-Chief.

"GET IN HERE NOW!"

"Coming!"

She ran to the Chief's office, greeted by a puff of smoke from one of his cigarettes.

"Take a seat Lane."

She obeyed.

"Look, I understand we've all had a hellacious day yesterday, Olsen's still recovering, we got construction crew working on half of the building, and we've got our best reporter slacking off."

"What?"

"Look at this."

Perry White held up a copy of the Daily Planet that was running today. The headline read "SUPERMAN" but that wasn't what caught Lois' eye. What caught her eye was that the author of the article was . . . Clark Kent.

"H-how did he write that? This was supposed to be my story."

"Well, if you hadn't been busy daydreaming and slacking off, you might've been the one to write the article. Hell, the picture came from a guy who's in the hospital, the article from some jackass that started yesterday and was here all night typing this thing. These guys got heart, and I'm just wondering where yours is."

"Well, I'm sorry that I was too busy being blown up, shot at, and falling out of a helicopter."

"Nevermind Lane, just kick it up a notch is all I'm saying."

"Yes Chief."

Lois began to exit but was abruptly stopped by the sound of Perry's voice.

"You ready for tonight's interview?"

"You kidding, this will be about the 10000th time I've interview Lex Luthor."

"That's not who I'm talking about."

"Oh . . ."

The daydreams began to come back to her, of clouds and capes. And . . . handsome men . . . a handsome man. The way that he had saved her, talked to her, looked at her . . .

"LANE!"

"Oh . . . sorry boss, yeah I'm ready."

"Tonight's your night kiddo."

"Yeah . . . yeah it'll be quite a night."

--

Clark watched her leave Perry's office in a haze, and, causing as much commotion as he could, hurried over to her.

"Hey, uh, Lois?"

"Oh, hi Clark."

"Listen, uhm, Lois about the uh article . . ."

"Can I ask you something Clark?"

"Uh, sure, anything Lois."

"You're a pretty knowledgeable guy right?"

"Well, I guess that depends."

"Anyways, have you ever met someone that just . . . they just . . . swept you off your feet without even trying."

"Actually, Lois, I have . . . "

"And, how did that feel?"

"Well, it, uh, feels . . . felt, w-w-wonderful."

"Well," she began to daydream again, but she was staring deeply into Clark's eyes. He began to get uneasy, and his cheeks were flushed with red.

"Good job on that article Clark."

"T-thanks Lois."

"Well, I gotta get to work. See ya Clark."

"Right, see ya."

She walked off towards her desk, and Clark watched her leave. She was beautiful, like some fairy-tell princess that just came to life. She was everything that he had always wanted, and he knew it already . . . he loved her. He loved her.

--

The alley was dark and cold. It was an uncommon sight in Metropolis. With a city so bright you'd expect there to be no poverty, no homeless people, just lots of money and lights. Those people who assumed this, they were wrong. So very very wrong.

Milton Fine was one of these exceptions. He was homeless, and had been born thusly. Everything he had in his life he fought and scratched, and bled for. However, on this particular day, he found something. Something ancient . . . something deadly.

It was some kind of microchip. State-of-the-art Milton assumed, but was still unsure. There was a creepy . . . presence about this thing. Like somehow, it didn't belong here. As strange as it seemed, this object was, calling to him. It began, talking to him.

"Milton."

"Y-y-yeah?"

"Do you want to be someone?"

"Y-yeah."

"Do you want money, power, fame, fortune?"

"Yes."

"Then pick me up and I'll show you the road to certain fame."

"How?"

"Easy Milton, you're going to kill Superman."