Chapter 12: Derailed

The demonstration at S.T.A.R lab was over, now it was time for Lois to get back to the Planet. She had no desire to find a cab and wait through the traffic, so she decided to try out the sky-train It had just reopened today after the track sustained heavy damage due to the tornado months ago. The line at the sky-train docking station was larger than usual as a result. Being without it for a few months made many people realize how convenient it actually was. Getting a taxi was like winning the lottery in the few months of down-time.

Despite the long line, it was still quicker than getting in a taxi and braving Metropolis' traffic, where you'd be lucky to travel a block in five minutes. With this mode of transportation, one large car traveled on the track throughout the city, with a new car arriving every eight minutes. This made the line go fast, and even with this wait on line, this mode of transportation was still the quickest way to get around Metropolis.

Lois finally made it onto a car, and was able to take a seat and relax. Waiting in that long line could be quite strenuous at times, depending on who was in front or behind you. It was almost like waiting in line to get onto a roller coaster at an amusement park; sometimes you end up near a person who you wish you could just punch in the mouth. She sat back in her seat and let her head lean back and relax as she waited for the car to depart from the platform. When the bell chimed and the doors slid shut, she was confident that she was going to have a peaceful ride. However, as the car started moving, her hope was dashed. "Lois Lane."

Lois spun in her seat and looked behind her to see Lana Lang walking down the aisle towards the empty seat across from her. "Miss Lang, Fancy seeing you on the Sky-train. What, did your limo breakdown or did your limo driver go on strike?"

"I'm not comfortable with riding in the limo, yet," Lana replied, taking the seat across from Lois. "Is it just me, or am I picking up some hostile vibes? Are you really that angry about me contemplating buying the Daily Planet out? You realize, that even if I do, you're job is not in danger. I'd be a fool to make sure that Metropolis's most famous reporter is not happy."

"I'm flattered," Lois replied. "But, perhaps that the company that you represent tends to leave a bad taste in my mouth," Lois replied snidely. "After Lex died, I was hoping that Lexcorp would die with him."

"Lois, not everyone in Lexcorp is like Lex. To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting to become his replacement. After I learned about everything he had done, I was ready to quit."

"So money is more important to you than principal. I don't see that to be much better," Lois replied. Only after those words came out, did she regret the harshness she put into them. She really was not all that upset about her trying to save Lexcorp. She could not understand why she was being so nasty to her. It could not possibly be because of her previous relationship with Clark. What was there for her to be jealous about?

The sting of the words was made apparent by the look in Lana's face. "I can care less about the money. The only reason I took this job is because I genuinely think that I can make this corporation an ethical one once again. You have no idea what I've been doing to try to rid the corporation of Lex's stench."

"I know, I heard; you're changing the name back to Luthorcorp," Lois replied, not really interested in hearing the details.

"I'm doing more than just that. Luthor had an extreme hatred for Superman. Why, I have no idea; but I found that he had a huge stockpile of Kryptonite. I'm getting rid of all of it."

Lois squirmed in her seat, not liking what she was hearing. "How are you getting rid of it?"

"I'm getting help from the U.S. government. I've been in talks with General Lane who is interested in taking all of it. We can't afford it getting into the wrong hands."

"My father?" Lois was furious; her father was the wrong hands in this case. "What is he planning to do with it?"

Lana shrugged; surprised to learn the Lois was the General's daughter. "We're going to help them set up a defensive weapon to protect the earth from any possible hostile aliens out there. There has to be others like Superman out there, and they all can't be as noble as him."

The train shook violently, throwing Lois and half of the people in the car out of their seats. One of the wheels came dislodged from the track, which threatened to derail it completely. On the left-hand side of the rail was an emergency platform the stretched the entire track. If the car lost power and became stranded, the people could be evacuated safely enough since the track was ten stories aboveground. The hind wheels came off the tracks, and the back of the train started to swerve unto the platform.

Everyone in the car held on to anything sturdy that they could get their hands on. The screams of terrified people filled the entire train, as nearly everyone was fairly certain that they were about to die. The car was nearly sliding down the tracks sideways, while inching closer and closer to the edge of the track. The front hung over the edge and the weight began to tip it over.

Those inside, that did not have a good hold on something sturdy, found themselves sliding towards the front of the car. Lois found herself hugging her seat, holding on for her life. Lana was screaming in terror as she had just barely managed to grab hold of the pole before the car started to tip over. As she found herself dangling, another person had not been so lucky and was sliding down to the front. Her foot nearly kicked Lana in the face on the way down.

The additional weight caused the car to, completely, slide off the track and fall towards teh ground. On the ground, a mother was pushing her infant son in a stroller only to find herself in the path of the falling sky-train car. Paralyzed by fear, she was helpless to save the life of her son and herself. Her instincts told her to use her body to shield her infant son, even though she knew in her head that it would make no difference in the outcome.

Out of nowhere, a red and blue blur flew over her head. Before her mind could comprehend what was happening, Superman had caught the car over his head and was in progress of flying back up towards the track. Superman did not stop after reaching the track; he followed it, at a decent pace, all the way to next docking station.

As he reached the station, he realized that he was going to have to put it down just outside from the docking station; the roof top over tracks at the docking station was too low. He softly hovered down onto the tracks. As soon as his feet touched down, he carefully, and gently, placed the back end of the car onto the track. He walked backwards towards the front of the car where he was able to walk out from underneath the car and gently place the front of it safely on the track.

With the car safely down, he quickly moved to the controller's booth to check on the conductor. From looking through the window, it appeared that he was unharmed other than, perhaps, a mild concussion. He stuck his fingers into the cracks of the door and forced it to slide open. "Sir, are you alright?"

"Ye—yeah, th—thanks!" he replied, still in shock.

"If you will open the doors, I am sure that there will be injuries that will have to be taken care of. "

"Sure," he said. Pressing a button, both the front and the back doors slid open.

Superman looked over to see people starting to file out of the car. There were some with scrape and bruises, but nothing too serious. Among the people, he was surprised to see Lois Lane and Lana Lang together. He had not expected to come across either of them, and especially together. The awkward moment froze him where he stood. Ever since Lana returned, life had become more complicated than he had anticipated. There was still a part of him that loved Lana, but now, he had a budding relationship starting with Lois, who was very infatuated with him as Superman. To make things worse, Lana was the one person in the world who knew him very deeply. He could not be certain that the slight changes he had made in his appearance would fool her. Other than her mother, she would the one person that could see past his disguise, just like Lex was able to do. If Lex could see through his disguise, Lana would most likely be able to as well.

It was not difficult for Lois to spot him; it was as if she had a built-in Superman radar that went off in her head. Her eyes were instantly drawn to him. "Superman!"

"Superman?" Lana had never seen Superman in person before; she only knew him by reputation alone. She had heard that he was a very tall, handsome man, but she was more interested in seeing the man Lex Luthor had obsessed over. She looked out towards him, and she did not know if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not. He was standing pretty far away, but she could have sworn that Superman looked exactly like Clark Kent as she remembered him back during the days of Smallville. "Clark?" She muttered underneath her breath.

Lois overheard her and was almost shocked. It caused her to do a double take on Superman. For some strange reason, Lana Lang was seeing Clark when she looked at him. Squinting, she tried to imagine Superman wearing black plastic-framed glasses, but she could not overlook the differences between the two. Superman stood straight and exuberated confidence. Clark Kent walked with a typical, human arched back and was everything but confident. Clark was so inept at times, that it was impossible for anyone to fake it.

Superman could read Lana's face and see that she was trying to put figure him out. He could not allow that to happen. As the people from the car began to clap and cheer for Superman had done for them, he turned and leaped into the air. He could only pray that his sudden departure would not be taken as an act of rudeness. He had to leave before Lana recognized him. This was the first piece of evidence that keeping Metropolis safe had just become much more difficult.