Act I, Scene III
The Daily Planet's offices, as bustling and busy as you would expect the headquarters of a major metropolitan newspaper to be. We follow first one journalist and then another until we land at a particular desk emblazed with a gold nameplate which says CLARK KENT. It's empty. A female hand picks it up and turns it over, examining it.
JIMMY: Where is CK anyway?
Lois Lane starts slightly - she hadn't seen Jimmy Olsen behind her. She shoots him an annoyed look at being startled that is pure Lois, and puts the nameplate back down on the desk.
LOIS: Off on some story. You know Clark.
JIMMY: (playfully) So uh, so how are you two these days? You...you crazy kids...
His banter falters in the face of Lois' answering expression, which would stop a charging hippo and give it serious cause to reconsider its life choices.
LOIS: (coldly) Do I hear something?
JIMMY: I think you hear Perry calling me.
LOIS: I do. I really do.
He stumbles off in the supposed direction of Perry White's offices, in reality just glad for the excuse to be out of Lois' range when she's in this mood.
Lois, a little reluctantly, walks away from Clark's place of work and to her own. She sits. There's a package sitting on her desk. She picks it up, examines it, reads the label. We see it too. It's addressed to her, and it comes care of Richard White. She frowns.
Her phone buzzes. She lifts it with one hand, attempting to tear open the package with the other.
LOIS: Lois Lane? (beat) What, now? Here? Me? Um. Sure, absolutely, I'll be there in a sec.
She replaces the phone in the cradle and with both hands now free, takes a look at the package, still unopened, sitting beside her notepad and dictaphone. After a moment's pause she snatches the notepad and dictaphone.
We follow her as she walks through the crowded newsroom, until shouts of excitement from around her cause her to look up at the TV monitors arranged fifteen feet or so above the newsroom floor. They're running rolling news stations on a continuous feed and right now they're all showing the same thing.
Superman.
We see him, zipping and zooming in and out of a building that looks on the verge of collapse. The bottom of the screen displays the legend TEL AVIV QUAKE - LIVE!
NEWSHOUND #1: Guy never misses.
NEWSHOUND #2: Entire planet to look after and somehow he's always there. Guess Metropolis doesn't have a monopoly on him after all.
NEWSHOUND #1: Yeah (glances at Lois, under his beath) much as some of us wish he did, huh...
They snicker. Lois, who's obviously heard the exchange, pauses another moment to glance up at the action above before moving beyond it into a large conference room. Inside, Perry White is already there, along with two men we should recognise from the previous scene, who rise to greet her as she enters.
LOIS: Mayor Garcia. Mayor Sackett. Good to meet you both again.
Mayor Garcia glances at her appraisingly; he's obviously very taken with her.
GARCIA: Always a pleasure, Lois.
PERRY: Sit down, Lois. Our illustrious friends want to make a public appeal through the Planet, and I want you to cover it. Jimmy tells me Clark is AWOL once more?
LOIS: (without pause) He's in the Middle East, Chief. Went there this morning to cover the humanitarian efforts of the UN. I have a feeling he'll have a front-page leader on Superman's quake rescues in your inbox well before deadline tonight.
PERRY: (delighted)Great Caesar's Ghost! That man has the most uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time I've ever seen in a reporter.
LOIS: You don't pay him enough.
PERRY: Mmm. So he keeps reminding me.
Mayor Sackett coughs.
PERRY: Yes, well. Mayor Sackett-
SACKETT: Please, Perry. Call me Buck.
PERRY: (with the faintest trace of distaste; we sense he doesn't much care for 'Buck') Buck, yes. What is it you need from us?
SACKETT: It's not what I need, or even what Metropolis needs, Perry. Our little brother across the bay is in need of our assistance, and unique amongst all the cities in the world we have something we can give to aid him in his darkest hour of need...uh, are you getting this?
He's addressing Lois, whose pen hasn't moved and whose notepad is blank. She returns his accusing glare dispassionately.
LOIS: I'm sorry. I didn't realise this was a speech. I thought this was how you always talked.
Mayor Garcia brings a hand to his mouth to cover his amusement. Sackett goes redder. Perry White has the professionalism to shoot Lois a rebuking look. She feigns an apologetic shrug and begins transcribing dutifully.
SACKETT: ...and that something, Perry, Lois, is our friend Superman.
Lois looks up. She exchanges a look with Perry.
LOIS: I'm sorry, did you say Superman?
SACKETT: Absolutely I did.
LOIS: You want to give him to Gotham City? What is he, a trading commodity now?
SACKETT: Please, Miss Lane, we're all aware of your, uh, unique position in regards to-
GARCIA: (before Lois has a chance to explode) Buck, please. Miss Lane, we're not proposing to steal Superman or anything so preposterous. The televisions outside display his heroism across the globe, far beyond the confines of Metropolis city limits. Not a quake, not a crisis goes by without the comforting thought of him (he searches for the right term) riding to the rescue. Uh. Figuratively speaking, of course. And Gotham has need, Miss Lane. We too have a quite unique individual who calls our city home.
PERRY: You're talking about him, aren't you. The Batman. You want Superman to go after him.
GARCIA: Through your paper, we're going to ask him to do just that, yes.
PERRY: Dear God in heaven. This will be the news event of the goddamned century. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of it. And the Planet has the exclusive?
SACKETT: (glancing at Lois)You and Superman go together. It's a natural fit. Will you run the appeal?
PERRY: I'll write the editorial personally. I-I can't believe this. My hands are shaking, look. Gentlemen, I guarantee this will be our front page tomorrow.
LOIS: What about the quake? Clark's report-
PERRY: (dismissively)Quakes come and go, Lois. Superman taking on the Batman...
He reaches for a decanter of what is presumably whiskey sitting on the table before him, makes as if to pour some into a glass, and ends up simply swigging from the decanter, wiping his mouth and looking glassy-eyed into the distance.
PERRY: This will be the biggest story since we all believed a man could fly.
LOIS: Assuming he says yes.
GARCIA: Why wouldn't he, Miss Lane?
Act I, Scene IV
Clark's apartment. He is standing facing Lois. Both are in a confrontational pose. Somewhere in the background, video game noises can be heard.
CLARK: Why wouldn't I, Lois?
LOIS: Well let's see.
We move away slightly to where Jason, Lois's eight-year-old son, is sitting playing on an Xbox 360. He's playing a superhero game. As we watch, he presses buttons to make his character leap across two tall buildings and begin to take out a group of bad guys with a succession of punches, kicks and throws.
We go back to Lois & Clark.
LOIS: ...no-one knows a damn thing about what this guy can do, who he is, why he...why he did the things he did. Why go from the unofficial toast of a city to someone who takes the rap for a spate of cop killings with no motive?
CLARK: Lois, the man dresses up as...a...giant...bat. I'm only amazed he doesn't have nipples on his body armour. He's not exactly the pinnacle of a reasoned mind.
LOIS: Gee, y'know, that would sound so much more convincing if it didn't come a man who parades around in a skintight blue suit with an al fresco approach to his underwear.
CLARK: Ouch. Cheap shot. Besides, I wanted to change to that black suit.
LOIS: And I told you. People will say you've gone evil. Now stop changing the subject.
CLARK: He's just a man, Lois.
LOIS: Oh that's a comforting attitude. Is that all we seem now to you, Clark? Mere humans?
CLARK: Of course not. But I'm just saying...all of his tricks, all of his little gadgets...they might work fine on muggers and wackos with circus fixations, but what are they going to do against me?
We cut to Jason's video game. The avatar on screen rises vertically into the air and flies straight downward again into the ground, cracking the surface and sending a shockwave ploughing into a giant robot attacking him, knocking it off its feet. Jason grins in satisfaction. We see for the first time that attached to his head are an expensive-looking pair of headphones.
LOIS: He may be just a man. But so was Luthor.
A frown crosses Jason's face. His hand leaves the joypad and slides down the in-line volume control notches on the phones so the volume of the music he's listening to decreases.
LOIS: And you-
CLARK: (raising a finger) Jason? Are you listening?
JASON: No...
CLARK: Jason, remind me of something. Is what Superman stands for white lies, justice and the American way? Is that how it goes?
LOIS: That American way thing is gonna have to go. Unless you're going for the irony value.
CLARK: Please. I'm trying to impart morality lessons here.
LOIS: Hey, you started it.
JASON: Why did you say his name?
That stops the Lois & Clark bickering in its tracks. Both look at the other, discomforted. Jason looks at them in the uncomplicated way that children have.
LOIS: I was making an example, son.
JASON: But you haven't found him yet.
CLARK: Jason-
JASON: He's still out there. Somewhere. And after what he did to my father-
Lois and Clark glance down at the floor in unison at this. Lois is the first to look up. She walks to where Jason is sitting on the sofa and drops to her hands and knees to take his hands in hers and look into his eyes.
LOIS: What he did to Richard - to your father - it was terrible. But we fixed it, Jason. And you helped. And I know your father is very proud of you for that.
CLARK: (quietly)That's a fact.
LOIS: And him - Luthor - you know Uncle Clark never stops looking for him, and will never stop until he finds him and puts him somewhere where he can never hurt any of us again.
JASON: I should have left him to die.
We get a very quick flashback of what was shown in the Prologue - the moment where Jason, stopping a Humvee from going over a ravine, hangs on for dear life and allows Lex Luthor to scramble free, to survive.
CLARK: (appalled)Jason, no! Don't ever think like that. Don't ever. Please. You have to promise me.
JASON: (reluctantly)Okay. But why can't you find him? I mean, he's just a man, right?
Lois shoots a dangerous look at Clark at this, narrowing her eyes at him. Clark has the decency to look embarrassed.
CLARK: Jason, just because Luthor can't fly or isn't super strong...he's smart. Real smart. And he knows where to hide. It would take the world's greatest detective to find him.
Realisation dawns on Jason's face like the breaking of day. He jumps up, almost bowling Lois over as he does, for when he jumps up he jumps almost eight feet straight up, barely missing bashing his head on the apartment ceiling. When he lands, he claps his hands together with excitement.
JASON: The world's greatest detective! That's who you need!
He zips off - literally, zips, his arms and legs a blur. He's nowhere near as fast as his father, but he's much quicker than any eight-year-old child should have a right to be, a fact that isn't lost on his mother.
LOIS: His powers are getting stronger.
CLARK: Superman will take him-
LOIS: Clark, you're doing it again.
CLARK: I'll take him for more training. I promise.
LOIS: You know I hate that.
Clark is beside her in an eyeblink, his arms around her. He tilts her chin up so their lips are brushing, pushing aside a forelock of her hair from her eyes.
CLARK: I know. I'm more interested in what you love.
LOIS: Oh, I think you know the answer to that...
They are about to kiss when a loud and exaggerated cough is heard. Reluctantly they break apart, small hands tugging both of their forearms.
JASON: Look. Look. Look!
They look. He's holding a scrapbook, and it's filled with newspaper clippings, all about one thing. One man.
Clark takes the scrapbook from the boy, opens it to a double-page spread from the Gotham Chronicle: BATMAN SMASHES SMUGGLING RING!
LOIS: Jason, what is this?
JASON: I wanted to show it to you before, but I figured you might get mad. I've been collecting it for a while now.
LOIS: For how long?
JASON: Since before they started telling all those lies about him! He's not a murderer and he wouldn't kill policemen! He's a superhero just like you, Clark! Just like Superman!
LOIS: (sits down on the sofa weakly, pulling her son to her) Oh, Jason...
JASON: (shakes free) And look! Look at this!
He turns the scrapbook pages to another page from the Gotham Observer, an editorial entitled BATMAN: SHERLOCK HOLMES IN A CAPE.
JASON: You said yourself you don't know where Luthor is - and I'm afraid. I'm scared he's out there and he's going to hurt us again. He hates Superman more than anyone else in the whole world.
We see Clark, looking down at the newspaper headline, his face unreadable. Finally, he speaks.
CLARK: You kept a scrapbook? Of Batman?
JASON: Um.
LOIS: Clark-
CLARK: Well I'm just saying, Lois. I mean not every kid gets to soar through the skies on Superman's back. Or tunnel through the Earth's crust. Or dive to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Or go into low-Earth orbit. You know. Some kids would think that was pretty neat.
JASON: (defensively)It is neat. Really. Really, it's neat.
CLARK: Okay. It's neat. So. Where's your Superman scrapbook?
LOIS: Oh, Clark!
CLARK: No, no, really I'm interested. Is it here or...?
JASON: Um.
CLARK: What's wrong? Don't you have a Superman scrapbook?
LOIS: This is officially pathetic as of right now.
JASON: You told me not to lie.
CLARK: I'm considering making an exception.
JASON: It's just that...well, um....it's Batman, you know? He's so...I mean he stays in the shadows...he strikes fear into the hearts of criminals...
LOIS: (wistfully)...he's got that dark, mean, moody, needs-a-good-woman-to-tame-his-tortured-soul-thing...
JASON: ...he's cool.
CLARK: And Superman's not cool?
JASON: (unconvincingly)Oh, Superman's way cool...
LOIS: (equally as unconvincingly) Oh absolutely, yeah. Superman is one cool cat. Bingo.
Clark cocks his head to the side.
CLARK: Mugging. Lower East Side. We'll continue this conversation later.
And with a blur of motion he's gone. The curtains of the apartment flap in the breeze. Lois bends down to pick up a bundle from the floor - it's Clark's civilian clothes, his Clark Kent outfit, left behind in the instant change and exit to Superman. She tries to maintain her earlier intensity of glare to Jason but fails, a faint smile tugging the corner of her mouth upward.
LOIS: So let's see this scrapbook of yours...