Chapter 15

Clark was late for work. California had had massive floods and he had been there most of the night and early morning helping. He was tired and probably looked disheveled because he didn't really look in a mirror when he got dressed for work. Clark sighed. All he wanted to do was sit at his desk for a moment, as he literally had not sat for about 12 hours. Although he wasn't on his feet for most of it, flying was exhausting after a while too. He sighed again and leaned on the far wall of the elevator.

It had been three weeks since the attack on him with the strange bullet and he was no closer in discovering what it actually was that harmed him. Since the bullet was taken from them there was no way to analyze it, the missing criminals had turned up on the banks of the river, and all of the evidence from the robbery had mysteriously disappeared from police storage. A couple of times he had entertained the thought of asking Batman for help, but he doubted the Caped Crusader would aid. Looking into what the substance was, was a dead-end. At least the who involved was a slightly more encouraging investigation.

Begrudgingly he knew Lois was probably right about the attack. Most likely Luthor was behind everything surrounding this perplexing weapon. If there was anyone with the power to erase so many incriminating marks, it was Lex Luthor. But he wasn't so sure about the message he had received.

One good thing about the attack was that it had sparked something about the note.

She teleported us here.

Teleportation was a perfect explanation for the note's unusual delivery. And suddenly, they knew of someone who could have delivered it. If she could teleport people, then she could definitely do the same with objects. There was no definitive way to identify her, though. After questioning all the witnesses at the bank, it was the same story. Everyone thought for a moment that they saw a woman in black standing next to Superman and then as quickly as she had arrived, they were gone without a trace. No newspapers were reporting about a new superhero in the city. There were no miraculous saves accompanied by her description. And Clark barely remembered seeing her after he had woken up. The only feature that he had seen and stood out strikingly was her eyes. She was invisible and untraceable. And so was the one who wrote the message. The only comforting aspect of the whole deal was that if his mysterious ally was connected to the message then whoever commissioned it was also a friend. Or at least not an enemy, which ruled out Lex, but reignited his earlier suspicions about Kassandra.

Compounded by the confrontation with Catherine two weeks earlier, Kassandra fell squarely under his radar again. Resolving to watch her and every move she made, he hoped to spot something about her that would connect her more conclusively. This task however was difficult as she had rarely been in the office. Clark had to take a different approach. Thinking that maybe there was something revealing, a gesture or movement that could indicate a display of power, Clark had watched the video again. A second before the note had appeared she had swiped her hair out of her face. But it was nothing definitive. All he had as proof was a casual gesture, his instincts, and vague memories of eyes that looked remarkably like hers. So nothing solid. If he was wrong and they confronted her then he would inadvertently out himself to the wrong person. He wondered what Lois would think. Frankly he wondered what Lois was thinking at all. They had been running parallel to each other the past three days.

She was deep into a story. Or at least he thought she was. The attack, the investigation into what that message was, and her day job were piling up on her he was sure, but usually it was piling up on the both of them. Regardless of the added stress, the lack of cross traffic between them was getting ridiculous. They lived together and somehow she was gone whenever he arrived. When she was there, she was nervous and twitchy, but also strangely elated. Clark couldn't pinpoint the cause of this behavior. This was different and seemingly unrelated to recent events as this strange behavior had only started three days ago. Or maybe it was related and he was just dense. Maybe he should fly them both to a tropical island as the weather was starting to get cold. He would still have to leave occasionally, but she could relax on the beach. He resolved that it was a good idea and he planned on sharing it with her if she was there. When he saw her strawberry blonde hair, his face cracked into a relieved smile. Today at least Lois was at the Daily Planet. Physically anyway.

It appeared Lombard was trying to talk to her and she wasn't paying attention. It wasn't a very unusual response; most people ignored him when he was talking trash or hitting on members of the staff. And judging from his cocky smile he was doing just that. But she wasn't being purposefully distant. She seemed very enthralled with whatever she was reading on her computer which was turned away from Lombard. So absorbed was she, that she jumped when Clark kissed her temple. They usually remained professional at the office, but he hadn't gotten more than a hello-goodbye out of her recently and he wanted to touch her. If Lombard was reminded that they were a couple in the process, all the better for it.

He looked at her computer screen. At some point between being surprised by his entrance and turning to him, she had exited out of whatever she had been reading. A little hurt that she was keeping secrets, and confused, he said "Lois, what-"

"I'm fine, Clark," she answered quickly. "Um, can I talk to you in private?"

"Oh Clark! Man, you're in trouble now!" Lombard chortled.

Clark ignored him. He was too tired to suffer Lombard's antics.

"Lombard, I have to speak to my partner," she said dismissively.

He stepped back with his hands up, but with a gigantic smile on his face. "Don't mind me. I wouldn't want to get in the middle of any of your spats."

He turned; his laughter could be heard trailing down the bull pen.

"What is it?" Clark asked, mildly concerned.

Lois just shook her head and gestured to Clark to enter one of the empty conference rooms. He followed swiftly after her. Dumbly, he scanned his brain for any wrong or grievance he had committed and discovered nothing. He could be unaware. It had happened before. Or something else must be up. She seemed more urgently anxious than angry at him.

Once she had closed the door behind them, she turned to face him.

"I have a message from General Swanwick."

Clark was a little taken aback. "What?"

"He wants to speak with you," she looked around surreptitiously and whispered, "Superman."

Clark grew a little tense. "What about?"

"He wouldn't tell me any details, but he said to meet him where you almost killed him." Her lips quirked at the edges.

Clark smiled a bit too. He could still remember her face when he told Lois about the time he downed a drone a few feet from General Swanwick's vehicle. Although she had scolded him for his recklessness, her anger had been barely genuine.

"Anyway, he seemed pretty serious about it, so you should talk to him."

"Right."

He doubted there was much the General wasn't serious about, especially when it involved him. They were barely allies; they were definitely not friends.

"Did he give a specific time?"

Perhaps there was a rule. No matter if it was a magic spell or a secret rendezvous of great importance, the time of meeting always seemed to be midnight.

It was a little strange. The last time Superman and General Swanwick talked it was after he had almost crushed him with a surveillance drone. Although Clark's aim was superb, the General was miffed and the succeeding conversation wasn't exactly friendly. However, he hoped this interaction would be more congenial.

His Hummer's roar preceded the vehicle long before it arrived. It gave him time to prepare himself for whatever the General may want to discuss. There was a tenuous trust between him and General Swanwick. He didn't want to damage it, but he also didn't want to give anything away, not like last time when in a spurt of comfort he had revealed he had grown up in Kansas. Although honestly after what happened to Smallville if no one even thought there was a connection, he would be worried about the government's competency.

As he heard the Hummer drawing near, he turned to face it and respectfully nodded as the man stepped out of the vehicle. He looked barely changed since last they met. Still stern and strong, he commanded everywhere he walked. Except this time instead of facing Clark with anger and suspicion, there was a sense of coöperation, like two soldiers meeting to discuss important business.

General Swanwick nodded a greeting before he spoke. "I see you've been busy for the past 7 months."

"I do what I can."

General Swanwick raised his eyebrows knowingly. "Then you won't mind if I ask you to do a favor."

Clark raised a hand. "First I want to ask you something. Why did you involve Lois in this?"

"I know of no other way of contacting you. It's not like we have a Superman signal," General Swanwick said in what Clark assumed was an attempt at being facetious.

Clark grimaced. For the rest of the world, Superman only had ever spoken to a select few people, some of whom had perished during Zod's incursion. General Swanwick and Lois Lane were the best lines of communication. It irked Clark that she was in the middle of this and probably would be at least until he could figure a way of communicating with the people and the government safely and confidentially.

"I could call you if I knew your name."

"Kal or Superman," he said with a small amount of facetiousness himself.

He sighed seemingly irritated. "You know what I mean."

"I'm sorry, General. But it's better that as few people as possible know my true identity."

"I'm not trustworthy?"

"That's not what I meant," he said earnestly.

General Swanwick did not look pleased, but he said nothing for which Clark was grateful. There was a reason he kept his identity secret. That information could put everyone he loved and everyone associated with him in danger. It was true that he didn't completely trust the government; the last thing he wanted was to become the government's dog. But he respected General Swanwick and tenuous their trust for each other may be, he believed that the General would be a great ally in the future. This was not the time to rehash the old argument, however. He was there for a reason.

"Why am I here, General?"

The only acknowledgment of the abrupt change in subject was a slight eyebrow raise from General Swanwick, but he spoke nothing about how he felt. Instead he pulled out a tablet, flicked it on to show Clark satellite imagery. There were several of them with different dates. Some of which were fairly recent.

"What am I looking at, General?"

"A few months ago, NASA detected foreign objects falling to Earth. Thankfully, they all have fallen harmlessly into uninhabited areas. One in the Indian Ocean, another in the Sahara desert. There was a series that happened a couple of days ago in the Utah Canyon lands. Compared to the others this was significantly smaller," he explained.

"Why do you need me then?"

Usually he was asked for help in preventing natural disasters and cleaning up any resulting damage he couldn't circumvent. If the meteor showers had taken place somewhere uninhabited, he saw no reason to be involved.

General Swanwick looked him straight in the eyes. "We want you to inspect the objects."

Clark raised his eyebrows in question.

"Look it's no secret that you're made of sterner stuff than any human and frankly I think someone like you is better equipped to handle things of this nature."

You mean as an alien I'm better suited to handle stuff from outer space.

"Who else is involved in the clean up efforts?" Clark asked.

"Officially the United States and Egyptian governments. We're not worried about the ocean."

Clark arched an eyebrow. "And unofficially?"

The General frowned and shifted a little, seemingly annoyed at his shrewdness. "After the meteor shower in the Sahara desert, the Egyptian government reportedly went to clean up the site and someone had beaten them to it. We don't know who or why."

"Why was I not informed about the first meteor shower?" Clark asked with an angry edge to his voice.

General Swanwick frowned a little deeper.

"According to these time stamps, it happened several months ago, General."

His eyes told him everything. The United States government was still wary of him. It must have taken the General a while to convince them to ask Superman for help. Public pressure and consistent saves changed the tune of most politicians, but communication and trust between him and the government was still left wanting. As disheartening the news of that fact was, it made Clark even more hopeful considering General Swanwick had vouched for him. Great ally indeed.

Clark nodded his understanding. "Is there an investigation going on?"

"There was. There's not a trace of whoever was there and no one near the crash site talked."

"You think they were paid for their silence."

"Or threatened," he said gravely.

Clark nodded. "I'll look into it," Clark said determinedly.

They briefly shook hands and Clark departed quickly, wondering what value meteorites could be to someone to prompt them to persuade people into silence. Most likely it was something unsavory or at least illegal. Regardless of the reason, he would investigate this matter as soon as possible.