"What time is it!?" Davison barked.
"Six fifty-one." Someone answered.
Agent Davison was already moving towards the door as he shouted orders. "I want every available unit on the road; marked and unmarked, fire truck, ambulance, motorcycle units, bike cops, even mounted officers! They see a school bus, the stop it, evacuate it, and lock it down! Get the bomb squad on the horn and give them the heads up. Tell them to call in everyone they have. I don't care who's got the day off, who's on sick leave, or who's on vacation. I even want the guy that cleans the van suited up and ready to defuse a bomb if necessary!" They approached the elevators. "Get the Board of Education on the line. I need bus routes and schedules ASAP! I need bus dispatch to contact every driver and tell them that there's an "Amber Alert" in effect! I repeat: an "Amber Alert!" Tell them officers are going to check each bus for the missing child. Under no circumstances are they to be told that their bus is in danger. I don't want some driver making eighteen bucks and hour freaking out and leaving a bunch of kids to die."
He was jamming the down button furiously.
"I want a chopper in the park down the street in ten minutes. I'll coordinate all efforts from the air!"
The elevator doors opened with a ping and the swarm of agents packed inside. Only Superman stood outside the doors.
"We find the bus, we defuse the bomb!" Agent Davison urged. "Nothing else matters. No one dies today!"
"What can I do?" Superman asked.
Agent Davison gave him an icy look.
"What can you do?" he said to the red and blue clad superhero. "Don't try to help."
The elevator doors closed.
When the elevators doors opened again, it was into the lobby of the Metro One Broadcast building, Special Agent Davison wasn't that surprised to see Superman standing on the other side, a look of grim determination set in his face
"Maybe you misunderstood me." Superman said plainly.
"No." Davison said, pushing past him and walking quickly through the lobby. "Stop an earthquake in Peru. Turn back a meteor headed for earth. Save a dying star from collapsing. Hell, go to your little superhero club house and play scrabble with the Martian. I don't care what you do, but you are not getting involved in this, Superman!"
He pushed open the large glass double doors and walked outside, Superman just behind him.
"Innocent lives are in danger!" Superman said heatedly. "You can't expect me to just stand around doing nothing!"
Davison turned on his heels so quickly, Superman almost knocked him over.
"That's exactly what you're going to do!" he shouted. He drew even with Superman and looked him in the eyes. "You may not have noticed, but some madman has just waged war against you, and he's using all of Metropolis as his battlefield! Yesterday, you pulled over three dozen bodies out of Metropolis Bay, most of them in pieces. Yeah, you saved a few dozen, and yeah, you did the right thing. But today, if you do the right thing, if you do anything, then it won't be people on their way to work we're piecing together. It'll be kids on their way to school!"
"Agent Davison," Superman began. "Please understand. I can't just sit on the sidelines..."
"I don't have to understand anything!" Davison yelled; his face inches from Superman's. "But you better understand this, Superman: this is a federal investigation! I don't care what you've done in the past! Not how many criminals you captured! Not how many super-powered thugs you beat! Not how many times you saved the world! If you so much as x-ray one of those school buses, I'll have you locked in a kryptonite cell and up on federal charges so fast, you'll need super-speed just to keep up! Do I make myself clear!?"
The agents surrounding them exchanged nervous glances. They knew that there wasn't really anything any of them, including Davison, could do that would stop Superman from doing anything he wanted to do. If things went bad, he could wipe the street with all of them in a matter of seconds. But those who knew Special Agent Davison would say the same for him as well.
Superman looked down at him, the anger and frustration naked on his face. Eyes that could melt steel looked on to eyes of soft brown. Superman looked at the man; not someone who could lift a car over their head, or wield mystic energies, or even someone with a high-tech arsenal of weapons. Just a normal man.
Superman dropped his gaze, and let the tension out of his shoulders.
"I understand." He said finally. "I won't interfere."
Special Agent Davison blinked.
He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, and closed it again.
He looked at Superman for a long moment before deciding nothing more needed to be said. He turned then, and headed for an unmarked vehicle, blue lights flashing in the front and rear windows, barking orders as he went.
The team of agents followed.
Superman watched them all climb into vehicles and speed off in every direction. At last, he stood alone in the center of the street.
With a deep breath and a slight shudder, he began to rise into the air, a single thought racing through his mind: "Looks like this isn't a job for Superman."