|2|
Chloe's voice came to life in his ear. "Superman, the Metropolis Police Department is receiving reports of a string of potentially connected robberies downtown. They're spread over several city blocks, but they're happening one on top of the each other. The perpetrator at each scene is being described as a man of average height dressed in black, ski mask covering his face, and an Egyptian style tattoo on his left hand. Green Arrow is in Star City, but Impulse can be called in if needed."
"Thanks, Watchtower. I've got it."
Clark focused his hearing, listening for police reports in order to zero in on the latest theft. Moments later he was arriving on scene at jewellery store where a masked man stood watching the door as if waiting for him. Around him, patrons and staff were crouched on the floor, mostly silent save one man quietly shushing his fussing infant.
The robber grinned behind his mask, raising a hand in greeting and revealing a tiny flash of green so swiftly that Clark might have thought it imagined if it weren't for the faint sensation of discomfort that washed over him.
"Put the gun down and step away from these people." Clark scanned the guy in search of lead that might be concealing greater amounts of kryptonite and found none.
"Or you'll do what, Superman. Strong arm me into giving up?" Sarcasm coloured the thief's tone.
"If need be." Clark crossed his arms over his chest and stared impassively at him.
He laughed, tugging his mask off slowly and tossing the gun at Clark's feet. "Alright, you got me." Dark hair fell around his face in thin, greasy strands, covering watery blue eyes as he lifted his hands into the air. The kryptonite was no longer in his grasp.
Clark kicked the gun out of the way, blinking against vertigo as he moved close and settled a hand around the thief's bicep. "Metropolis PD would like to have a word with you," he said, leading the man out of the store. The police were pulling up as they exited, and he handed the criminal over to them with a brief nod and a small wave at the people slowly climbing to their feet inside the store.
He scanned the criminal once more in search of the kryptonite before moving his visual search to the surrounding area. It was gone. From the backseat of the police vehicle, the man grinned maliciously as the car pulled away.
o
"What do you mean, it disappeared?" Chloe was seated on the couch in his apartment that evening, feet tucked up beneath her as he related the details of the robbery.
"It was in his hand and then it wasn't."
"Like slight of hand you mean."
"Except the quarter usually ends up in the magician's sleeve, doesn't it. That kryptonite was gone. I scanned him for lead and he was clean. I scanned the whole scene and everyone there. I don't know what happened to it, Chloe."
"What about the guy? He committed eleven separate acts of theft in an hour and seven minutes, Clark."
"MPD is still working on that. They're reviewing video surveillance; so far there's been nothing out of the ordinary. He's been taken to Metropolis General for tests. I'm thinking he's meteor infected. Oliver is gathering information from his satellite feeds, and Batman is checking traffic cams, ATMs, and any other available video source. We'll figure it out."
"Bruce is assisting with a Metropolis case? Hmm, it's not like him to be so… helpful when it comes to anything outside Gotham."
Clark rolled his eyes at the smirk she flashed him. "Batman is intrigued by the particulars of this case. Give it up, Chloe. I've told you that you can guess at Batman's identity until you've listed off every citizen of Gotham in triplicate. I'm not going to tell you his identity. And there's nothing going on there outside of collaboration between colleagues."
"It seems to me he'd be more interested in the man investigating this case than the case itself. I bet you'd like to collaborate with him on a more personal level?"
"One time in college and you're never going to let it go, are you."
"Sorry, Clark. Walking in on you and our very hot, very male editor getting it on is far too juicy to ever let go. Just screw and get on with it. Who knows, maybe getting laid will improve Batman's attitude. He could growl 92 percent of the time instead of 96."
Clark shot a warning glance in her direction.
"Alright, I'll stop!" She laughed, raising her hands in a sign of defeat before reaching for the phone. "Do you want pizza or Chinese for dinner?"
"Pizza."
"Excellent choice, Mr. Kent. Pizza it is."
o o o o
"What are these things," Bruce growled as he flung a small, mechanical creature off his arm. Bruce turned his attention to the second onslaught as Clark melted the remainder of the first attack into a pile of molten steel.
"No idea. Something the Joker cooked up?"
A tinny series of pings preceded Bruce's response as he launched batarangs at the coming assault. "These are barely denting the damn things. They're too sophisticated for Joker. He prefers a more hands on approach, and he can't get close enough to the action out here in the open like this."
"What about Lex?"
"He knows he'll get his ass handed to him if he tries to play in Gotham."
"By you? Or by the inhabitants of Gotham's underbelly?" Bruce didn't answer. Clark aimed his heat vision at a swarm of the half-foot tall monkey-like robots heading straight for Bruce's back. "Tell me you know you can't hurt Lex without proof."
"Does that mean if I get proof, I can mess him up? It's not me I'm referring to anyway. There are plenty of criminals in this city who would have a field day if they thought Luthor was stepping in on their playground. I wouldn't have to lay a finger on him."
Clark rolled his eyes. "You make it sound like they're all a bunch of childr – Ow!" He glanced down to see where one of the robots had made it past his defences and fixed its metal claws into his arm. He was startled to see two tiny round, glowing bits of kryptonite where the eyes should have been.
"Superman?"
As if on cue the remaining robots took off, leaving Clark and Bruce to stare at the slim, bight lines of red where the creature had sunk in three claws. "It had green eyes," Clark said. "Maybe it was Lex?"
Eyes dark and mouth grim, Bruce pulled Clark's arm closer to examine the shallow cuts. "Luthor needs to re-evaluate his stance on whether or not he likes living with all his fingers intact, if that's the case."
"That's the third time in as many days that I've been targeted in a kryptonite-based attack." Clark glanced at the now-quiet field they stood in, taking in the crushed and melted piles of metal scattered around them. "Whoever is behind these events is leading up to something."
"It's too bad you melted them all. I'd have liked to analyze one."
"Sorry for not letting the little mechanical monkey things attack you, Batman. Next time I'll let one get in a claw or two just for kicks."
Bruce cracked a brief smile. "Sarcasm hardly suits you, Superman."
"I'll keep that in mind."
o o o o
Lex stood in front of a bank of screens re-playing the scenes from the strike earlier that day. The robots served no purpose other than to test Superman and transmit footage of the event back to Lex. Even with two-dozen or so down for the count, they had provided exactly what he'd hoped to see. Superman had started out strong, but the switch between squeezing or crushing them into scrap to melting them down from a distance had not gone unnoticed by him. Nor had the expression on Clark's face when he saw the gashes.
"All you had to do was trust me, Clark, and this whole thing could have been avoided." Lex's voice was lost under the sounds of Superman and Batman's encounter with his robots as he replayed it from the beginning again. "Power like yours requires guidance. Discipline. All the things you lack." He fell silent as the fight played out to its conclusion.
"Come in," he called out a moment later when a knock sounded on his office door. Lex glanced up at Dr. Teison. "Superman appears to be suffering heightened effects from small amounts of kryptonite. In light of the spectacular failure your previous three attempts turned into, I'd be lying if I said your future hadn't depended on the success of this attack."
The scientist reached nervously to run a hand through his short, greying hair. "Mr. Luthor, altering kryptonite in this manner has never been done before. There were bound to be a few misses before we-"
"Keep talking, doctor, and I might have to reconsider my decision not to eliminate you." Lex tucked his hands behind him as he left the flustered man behind. "Launch the next attack in three days," he called over his shoulder.