Disclaimer: not mine.
Clark tried to focus his hearing on finding their Jane Doe before the rest of the press did. Once Lois' public debacle reached Perry's ears, probably through Cat, they'd better bring him something bigger, and right now that was an exclusive interview with the civilian who had confronted Lex. Lois was helping by becoming bait, but surely he was not the only reporter wanting that interview, so he had to be fast. In a few seconds, he located the heartbeat he had memorized. It came from the restrooms area. Sneaking out of the conference room, Clark blurred towards the sound. Her heart was still beating a little too fast.
Clark walked casually, as if he had just gotten out of the male restroom himself.
"That was one hell of an argumentative opinion," he said.
Clark could see the disconcertion in her eyes as she responded cautiously. "Compliment or attack?"
Clark smiled at her. "Compliment. Always."
More relieved, the woman smiled. "Then thank you." She looked at her hands. "Geez, I'm sweating."
Clark smiled. "I can see."
She took a handkerchief from the back pocket of her jeans and dried her hands. Clark looked at her. She was not carrying a purse, and her clothes were more casual than work related. No make-up, either. The very slight wrinkles on her face showed that she was probably the same age as them, in her thirties. "That guy really imposes, you know?," she said.
They both started walking towards the exit.
"You did a great job hiding it," said Clark smiling. He kept all his intentions of causing a good impression. A very dear reporter's head probably depended on it. "I'm sure your words reached everybody in that room, but shouldn't they get to much more people, Ms...?"
She turned and looked up at him. She wasn't very tall. "Parker. Isabel Parker," she said extending her hand.
Clark gave his to her, a bear paw compared to the thin small fingers he shook. "Clark Kent. Daily Planet. Listen, our paper is preparing a special follow-up of the campaigns, and as you can imagine we are very worried about the income were Lex Luthor to reach the Oval office."
"Yeah. It sounded like that from Miss Lane's direct approach."
"Well, I was hoping you would like to concede us an interview."
"No."
That same direct tone Lex had suffered a few minutes ago caught Clark unaware. And that didn't mean good news for him and Lois. "Um, but..." Especially not good for Lois.
She smiled kindly as she exposed the reasons of her rejection. "Don't get me wrong, Mr. Kent. I believe in the power of the press and the significant role it should play in this campaign, but I doubt an interview with a random citizen would do a lot. I'm sure Luthor would dig up and find whatever he can to discredit me, and he would find it, believe me."
"I beg your pardon?," said Clark a little confused.
"I am not a full North American, so I'm guessing Mr. Luthor would attack me questioning my patriotism."
"How would that affect your credibility? You're still half United States citizen, right?"
"That's what it says in my passport. But the other half is the problematic one. I come from a country which took out the troops from Iraq after its own presidential election turmoil back in 2004, a diplomatic move which didn't exactly help our international relationships. Nevermind how long ago that happened. Use the mass media to scratch a little there and the solidness of my arguments will go flushing down the toilet."
Clark insisted, for Lois' sake. "But what you said today could help a potential voting population sector to become active and register. We need that badly."
"I'm not saying my words should not make it to the press, Mr. Kent. I'm just saying you should make them your own, supported with facts, not with a philosophical rhetoric."
"Believe me, we are not the best choice either," said Clark. "You could see today that there's a slight war between Lex and us. We sort of have history," said Clark trying not to reveal too much.
"Slight war? Looked like the Median war of bellicose history."
"But wasn't that a war were a few made a difference?," asked Clark hoping to convince the woman for the interview with her own game.
"Wars are never a good example for anything, Mr. Kent. There's always people making a difference, giving hope, you're right, but that's it. Don't take bellicose conflicts as an example of anything."
Clark looked at her. If she only knew what did he really think about wars and what did he knew about a few making the difference, maybe she would change her mind.
"The Spartans failed to defend the Thermopiles, and that is the fact."
"But their king's heroism planted a seed," said Clark.
"You can take that as a fact and convince me. But what kind of seed did he plant?," she asked. "Greece won the war, that is another fact, but only to have whatever seed planted blossoming into a new and bigger conflict. And that, is both a fact and its ultimate consequence. If you use me, Luthor will strike back turning my words upside down," she said, completely convinced. "If my words are manipulated to discredit me, they will eventually poison all your work, and the outcome will be very ugly."
Their conversation while walking had led them to the main entrance. Clark had quickened the pace so no journalist could find them. Clark gently opened the door and let her pass first. Once on the street, he could see Ollie and Dinah. By Ollie's concerned expression he figured he was seeing Lois talking to the press.
"I read the Daily Planet, Mr. Kent, I know you and Miss Lane are some of the best reporters in town. I'm sure your journalistic approach will be far more useful than any quote I can give you. You don't need an interview with me to make your point proven." She then looked at her watch. "I should be going." She gave her hand to Clark. "It was nice talking to you, Mr. Kent."
Knowing there was nothing else to try, Clark shook her hand. "You too. Take care."
Smiling, the woman turned towards Centennial Park.
Clark forced himself to see an upside of not having gotten the scoop. Maybe by not seeing her on a published interview Lex would soon forget her.
This time when her cell rang, Barbara was aware of which phone she was taking. "Hey, Dick."
"Anything new on your search?," he asked.
" There was no time for a further sneak-peak after what I saw, Dick. I had to shut down the network and run a double encryption program."
"And now you're back on line? Isn't it dangerous, Babs?," asked a concerned Dick.
"There's no choice, I have to send the security files to my back-up sources, but don't worry, I took precautions. I also hacked in the facility again. It's been wiped out, Dick."
"What do you mean wiped out?"
"Blown up. I suddenly lost all communications and transmissions. Ten minutes later Metropolis Police Department received several calls reporting a big explosion west of the city. They have found nothing but debris and rubble. I'm getting into their department to try and find out some more, and--"
"Babs," interrupted Dick.
She sighed. "What?"
"Go to sleep," he said softening his voice. "Or go for a walk. Call your father, get some fresh air. I'll be back by tomorrow, I'll help you out. But let it go for now, ok?"
Truth be told, Barbara was too tired to argue.
"Ok. I'll go get some fresh air. But my father? we are going to see him together, you are not dodging that bullet, mister."
Dick let out a chuckle. "I'll call you tonight. Love you."
"Love you too."
Barbara hung up the phone and looked at the screen. She had been able to recover at least a 75% of information. Seeing what she believed they had had there, even a 10% would have been worthy enough to risk themselves. But she was playing it safe. After using her encryption software, she had started sending the intel, fractioned, to the two people she knew skillful and trustworthy enough, a transmission programmed to be virtually untraceable once finished.
Checking the downloading progress, she took the com, device and called using the channel directly connected to the Batcave. "Bruce, it's Barbara, are you there?" There was no response. "I guess not. Look, I'm onto something, I think we've pissed off a very big hotshot with some compromising intel. Super compromising intel, if you get my drift. The data is encrypted, I've split it in two files for back up. You will be receiving one of them. Call me back. To my cell, I, um, I might be out getting some fresh air. Ok, bye."
Feeding the press with white lies wasn't something Lois felt too proud of, but it was not as if she had had another option. This year's anniversary had been the most painful of the last six years.
--And there I thought I had moved on, Chlo. You must be so proud of me right now.
Walking to her destination, Lois thought of her life after Chloe's death at the hands of Davis/Zod. He had taken her hostage, claiming Kal-el's presence. Clark was a little bit too late. Chloe was still alive when he found her, and even made it through the first two surgeries. But in the end her body gave up.
Clark had been torn and ragged with guilt, feeling responsible of Chloe's outcome. There was a thing with Clark and talking about her death, he wasn't able to actually say it. Had never been. But there he was, the stoic hero, saving the world, taking silently the blame and the responsibility as if both were his duty. And all in all, he might be in denial with the D word, but he was certainly doing better than her in the Chloe department.
--You see, couz? Our red-blue blur is being the hero you believed him to be. Now, let's see what we choose for 2020, ok?
Destination reached, Lois opened the door and entered the music store.
After the last statements to the press, and once he went back to the security room to pack up his things, Lex's face had nothing to do with the confident and victorious smile with which he had gone through most of the night.
He'd had his victory over Lois, but that was to be expected. Christ, they were both so predictable. He had savored every second of it.
But that other woman. That had been something unexpected, and something he had not enjoyed at all. Nevertheless, his plans would not be altered, he would make sure of that, any means necessary. And that contingency... well, maybe he could take advantage of it.
The second annoying event to happen had been that message. So he hadn't been wrong, Oracle existed and was getting close. Minor disturbance, he had anticipated that too.
Soon his confidence was back in him and his gallant façade was on again to be seen by everybody when he exited the building and entered the limo.
"To LexCorp," he ordered the driver.
"Yes sir."
As soon as the vehicle started moving, he made a call through his secure line.
"Wilson, report."
A masculine voice answered. "All set, sir. The compromised facility has been secured. Relocation completed."
"And the information?"
"There was a security breach in the system, we cannot assess the amount of information downloaded to an unknown source, but--"
"My orders were very specific, Wilson!," exclaimed Lex.
"That security problem is being dealt with right now, sir. The signal was almost untraceable, but your--"
"Spare me the labor pains, Wilson. I don't want excuses."
"We have located it, sir. It comes from Gotham City."
"Well, then make sure that this Gotham situation is dealt with."
"Yes sir."
'Hope?'
"I think about hope, and it makes me smile. It feels good."
'What does 'hope' mean exactly?'
I go for the dictionary definition, succinct and simple. "It's a feeling of desire for something and confidence in the possibility of its fulfillment."
'And where are your hopes right now?'
"In many things," I answer. Feisty does not look too satisfied though.
'It'd do you better if you were less generic, you know?'
Yep. Not convinced at all.
"If I talked about all the things in which I have hope, we'd never end. I'd achieve some, but some others not. Those would be lost."
'Are you sure we're talking about hope and not fear?'
"Fear?"
'The fear you have that those hopes in which you rely so much, won't come true.'
London, February, 2011.
Ella Hunt.
The batcave was silent. Tim was with Young Justice for the week and Alfred had a day off. Dick was in New York, and would not be back until tomorrow.
Gotham had suffered a general electric blackout for ten minutes. Luckily, there were no big accidents, and ten minutes were not enough time for criminals to cause havoc.
After a patrol over his city, Bruce returned to the cave to evaluate any damages on his system. Taking off the cowl, he sat down in front of the main computer. Everything seemed normal. Then he saw Oracle's signal was on. He opened the channel, and heard Barbara's message. "...my cell, I, um, I might be out getting some fresh air. Ok, bye."
Bruce checked the time. The call had been made more than three hours before. While sweeping the system for the encrypted files, he called Oracle's line. A walk would not be that long.
She didn't pick up. Bruce frowned, Barbara was usually working at this hour. Maybe she had taken that walk seriously.
Reluctant, he dialed her personal cell phone.
Author's notes: Not much to say. Next day I'm probably posting both chapters 11 (Intermission: Lois / Dinah-Ollie) and 12 (Venting: full Clois). I want to reach chapter 14 by the end of the week.
