"And people all around the world are talking about the flying man who saved the lives of 360 people on a 747 last night" Laura heard when she woke up. At first she pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Then she realized it was coming from her alarm clock. Flying man? She rushed to the TV and put on a huge smile when she saw what had happened. Clark had finally gone public. 'I'm so proud of you' Laura thought as she turned off the TV and started to get ready for work.
She had finished the article the night before, all she needed was the analysis of the substance she found and the article could go to print. True, she couldn't mention Falcone since it was all for the most part either heresay or circumstantial, but it would at least implicate the guy in charge of Whole Foods and force the people to ask the question who was trying to get those drugs in the people in the first place.
At about 9:30 AM, her work phone rang and she picked up before the end of the first ring.
"Matt?" She asked,
"Whose Matt? New boyfriend?" Lois asked.
"Lois! Oh my god, I thought you weren't supposed to call." Laura asked.
"Well, with all the excitement going on, Oliver found a way to make this call super secure. Apparently, it's a massive pain though so he says this may be our last talk for a while." Lois informed her.
"Well I'm glad you called! I just finished reading your article on – Superman? Is that it?" Laura asked.
"Yeah! Can you believe it? He actually saved me! I was trying to get some information, you know, one thing led to another and I got shot at and the next thing I know this guy has me in his arms and…you have to meet this guy Chl – Laura. He's something else." Lois rambled out.
"I believe you," Laura told her, knowingly, "so what else is going on?"
"You'll never believe this, guess who came back from his trip around the world?" Lois asked.
"Clark?" Laura responded, unsure how to answer.
"Exactly. And guess where he's working?" Lois asked but this time Laura just stumbled having no idea what to say, "Right across from me." Lois responded in a voice that sounded annoyed.
"Well, I'm sure everything will work out Lois. It always does. Boy do I miss you." Laura said thinking fondly of her cousin when she heard a low beep in her ear. "Lois, I love you I really do, but I'm getting a really important phone call right now."
"Matt?" Laura asked, feeling stupid again for assuming it was him.
"Yeah it's me. You're not going to believe these results." His voice told that he was both excited, anxious, and extremely annoyed at the moment.
"Excellent. I'm standing by the fax machine." Laura told him and hung up. Almost immediately, pages started streaming out of the fax machine. Laura hastily read them and almost kissed the intern when she was done – she had the proof she needed.
Laura marched up to Larry Stein's office with a feeling of accomplishment. When he told her to come in, she put the article on his desk, let him read it through, and then watched as looks of horror and excitement came over his face.
"How on earth did you get this article? And so fast?" Stein asked.
"Well to be honest, it was part of my Falcone investigation. Only problem is I have no proof of that link so as you can tell I just tried to imply that there is something else at work." Laura pointed out.
"Really? I couldn't tell." Larry said with a face of total seriousness which Laura realized meant not to question his ability to read. "What can I say Smith? You never cease to amaze me." And with that, Laura Smith's article was about to be on the front page of the Sunday Edition of the Gotham Gazette.
Carmine Falcone was many things. A mobster for one, but he also loved a good story. While he read the front page of the Sunday gazette, he couldn't help but notice how well researched and well written it was. That Laura Smith sure was a good reporter.
Of course, these facts were quickly overshadowed by the actual substance to the piece. His plans to transform Food Stuffs from a second rate grocery store into the only place the people of Gotham would shop for food blew up in his face (literally – he was only 10 ft from the explosion). And it appeared as though this reporter had at least some part in it. Worst of all – he had received a report from Anders that the damned Batman had been killed but his heroics were still making front page news.
As Falcone crumpled up the newspaper, Anders slowly crept towards him, head low. "Sir, here's everything we could find on Laura Smith – I gotta tell you, it's a little sketchy. I tried contacting a few of these references and things just don't add up."
Falcone looked up and grabbed the papers out of the lackey's hand. "Let me see this, everything before the Gotham Gazette is unverifiable? How is that possible?"
"Well actually, Mr. Queen's office first denied her working for them but then called back to say she did. And there was a Laura Smith but no record of a transcript at school or anything. If you ask me, it doesn't look like Laura Smith exists." Anders' told him, his face obviously afraid he was going to be in trouble.
"So you're telling me five years ago, Laura Smith moves into a cushy apartment in Gotham City and gets a job at the Gotham Gazette but before that she was – oh I don't know – someone else?" Falcone asked, his face getting excited.
"Yes sir."
"I need something – it's a file Lex Luthor dropped off about a week ago, I remember looking at it and then throwing it by my cigar box." Falcone asked, gesturing with his hand it was a rush.
Anders' quickly found the file and handed to Falcone whose face lit up, "I just figured out how we're going to get rid of Ms. Laura Smith without lifting a finger. Or should we say Chloe Sullivan. I need to get in contact with Lex Luthor right away."
"Chloe Sullivan is Laura Smith. Are you sure?" Lex Luthor's heart was racing faster than he knew possible. If Falcone was right, which judging by the evidence the mobster had shown him he probably was, he would be able to have Chloe Sullivan imprisoned by that night. Sure, Lex felt kind of stupid she duped him and that he hadn't put the pieces together before but he always imagined Chloe Sullivan in actual hiding rather than hiding in plain sight.
Lex hastily hung up the phone and called to his assistant, "I need you to assemble a retrieval team. Make it double the men as usual – we need this to go off without a hitch." And with a quick nod from the young man, Lex sat down in his chair and enjoyed the feeling of eminent success.
"Master Wayne, I understand you are fully healed however that happened, but that does not mean you must spend every minute out patrolling the streets of Gotham!" Alfred tried to say.
"Look Alfred, it's important that people know I'm still alive. After the explosion, some people were saying I died and – well – I don't want that rumor to catch." Bruce argued.
"All I'm saying is that maybe you should try and figure out how you're alive. Oh and how you miraculously appeared on the couch." Alfred suggested lightly. He had mentioned it a few times before and each time Bruce simply shrugged it off.
"I know," Bruce sighed, "there's a lot that's been happening lately that I don't understand. Did you see the Daily Planet article this morning?"
"I did indeed. I guess there really is a man who can fly." Alfred responded. "Perhaps if there's a man who can fly there's an angel who can heal." The older man suggested lightly.
Bruce simply stared at the old man and suddenly recalled a file. He ran up and gave Alfred a small hug which nearly gave him a heart attack. "You're a genius!" Bruce told him and then ran off to the study to grab the folder on Chloe Sullivan.
So maybe this girl really had some healing ability which was why Lex Luthor was after. And obviously she was in Gotham considering he was currently alive. But why did she save him? He knew he was missing something obvious – it was right at the tip of his tongue. He was on the verge of an epiphany when his police scanner went off. 'There's been a disturbance at 1455 West Elen St…' and Bruce suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.
Alfred noticed and frowned at him in question. "That's where Laura Smith lives. I guess her article must have created a stir. I have to help her." Bruce responded and ran down to the caves to change into his gear.
Laura spent her entire Sunday fielding phone calls from coworkers and friends who wanted to congratulate her. She had to admit, she felt pretty proud of the work she had done and felt it was the first step to putting down Falcone for good. Enjoying the day off, Chloe ordered in Chinese take out for dinner and was comfortably lounging on the couch in sweats.
When Lex's team broke through her door, after a moment's panic her next impulse was to roll her eyes at the irony that the first day in a while she felt truly at peace would be the day that he would find her. Thinking fast, she sprinted to her small watchtower control and pressed the panic button.
By the time the button had been pressed three of the men had her pinned to a wall and there was nothing she could do, try as she might, to get away. And then she heard him clapping, "Well done, you've captured the elusive Chloe Sullivan. Get her out of here fast before her friends show up." Lex said before immediately vacating the area. On her way out, Laura let a small smile form on her face while looking up at at an apparently blank spot on the wall.
The abduction all in all went down pretty smoothly and quietly. The majority of Laura's neighbors continued on with their nightly activities none the wiser. They were just about out the building when suddenly Lex's men were one by one being beaten down by a mysterious force. "It's one of them. Lex said disgusted. "Just don't freak out and get her to the car as fast as possible." Lex was getting a little annoyed, the noise level was now high enough that some curious neighbors might be tempted to look out their windows. But then again, this was Gotham so the people would more than less likely not say anything.
What Lex didn't realize was that the disturbance Bart was creating was enough for Laura to wiggle out of the hold the two distracted guard held on her. Once her arms were free, she elbowed both guards as hard as she could, removed the duct tape over her mouth, and started screaming and running as hard as possible. Of course, Lex would realize at once what was going on but she was hoping that some public attention would help her in this situation.
It had. One of Laura's neighbor's on the first floor who was quite fond of Laura and a fan of her work as a reporter heard the screams and immediately called 911. Within minutes, the police were on the scene but by then Laura and Lex were out of sight.
Now in a small park area near her apartment, she heard Lex taunt her with, "Come out come out wherever you are." Currently hiding behind a tree, she had to start to figure out a game plan. She knew she would be caught sooner or later, every minute another of Lex's guards were gaining consciousness. Bart had apparently left, presumably to apprise Oliver and the rest of the situation and hopefully to get some stronger reinforcements.
She decided to keep running. Laura's greatest advantage for the moment was that Lex needed her alive. More than her DNA, Lex needed the knowledge she held or regardless of her situation he would be in jail. So she started running as fast she could, now back towards the apartment complex where she heard sirens. She was almost to the edge of the park when she was knocked down by one of Lex's men and lost consciousness.
"Good work, Ames." Lex told the man who maintained a gun pointed at the unconscious girl. "Not so fast now, are ya?" He told her. The group of about 11 men plus Lex carried Laura through the park and away from the cops. Little did they know the Batman had arrived and was tracking their whereabouts, prepared to strike the moment he could gain the advantage.
"You LEFT here there?" Oliver asked on the phone with Bart. As soon as he got the 911, he immediately hopped on a plane to Gotham, aware that he would probably get there to late but also aware he wouldn't be able to handle staying away.
"Calm down, I made sure Chloe had gotten away first. I KNOW he'll probably catch her again but I was going to get caught if I hung around too long so I figured it would be smart to grab Supes first." Bart explained.
"Seriously, your calling him that ridiculous name Lois came up with?" Oliver asked incredulously. "Anyways back to the point. Did you find him?"
"I'm looking for him right now, I'll let you know the next time I have something to report." Bart responded and continued super speeding around Metropolis. Finally, he found Clark on the rooftop of the daily planet. He watched for a second as Lois Lane walked down the stairs.
"Giving her an interview?" Bart asked with his eyebrows raised.
"I'm giving the public what they want." Superman responded, with his hands on his hips.
"I'll make fun of you for that later. Chloe's in trouble." And with that, they both took off – Superman by air and Impulse by ground.
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A/N: I'm terrible - taking forever to type this up, I know. But in my defense, my work schedule dramatically changed recently and I'm still adjusting. However, I'm planning on spending my day off finishing this story so ideally the last couple chapters should be up by next week.
