Meanwhile...
"I can't believe Lois would really consider going out with Bruce Wayne." Clark sulked.
"Well... You never really gave her a chance to spend some time with you..." Atticus said with a small shrug. "And you did kinda fly off to handle those guys that were robbing the national bank before Lois could finish her sentence."
Clark soon remembered that and felt a little shameful.
"I'm sorry, Clark, but that's what I'm seeing, and where Lois is free to date whoever she wants." Atticus told his godfather.
"Yes, I suppose you're right," Clark sighed. "Um... How's school going by the way?" he then asked to change the subject.
"School's fine, but Mr. Kraft is so annoying and strict..." Atticus rolled his eyes about one man in his school. "I think he's trying to become the dictator of the school or something."
"He can't be that bad." Clark said.
"Sheesh..." Atticus rolled his eyes. "I don't know what his problem is, though I swear he was crushing on Sabrina's Aunt Zelda during one of the Parent Teacher Nights."
"That's, uh, interesting." Clark said.
"I don't know what his deal is..." Atticus shrugged as he settled in.
"You keeping up to your exercises?" Clark asked.
This made Atticus smile as that was always fun to talk about. "Oh, you bet I am!"
"Good to hear." Clark smiled.
"Also eating all my vegetables." Atticus smiled.
"Yeah, but you always do that." Clark smirked playfully.
"Fair enough." Atticus smirked back before seeing Clark bringing out a arm wrestling table.
"Well, if I'm gonna stay inside, I might as well make some use." Clark chuckled.
"Aw, gee, little old me with big old you?" Atticus asked innocently.
Clark soon set the table down in front of them. "Let's see how strong you've gotten." He smirked.
Atticus rolled up his sleeves and cracked his knuckles. Clark then grabbed his hand and they began to arm-wrestle. The two of them began to try and get the other's hand on the table.
"This almost makes the times you're in school worth it." Clark joked.
"Don't forget, I'm on the football team." Atticus smirked with a grunt as he was now starting to get Clark hand to the table.
"Yeah, yeah," Clark chuckled as he tried to move his hand back to put Atticus's down on the table. "Don't get too cocky."
"I never get cocky." Atticus smirked.
The two of them kept going at this.
While they had their arm wrestling match, Bruce and Lois were at their date.
"So, he just appears when there's trouble?" Bruce asked Lois. "No special signal?"
"He's not like your Batman, thank goodness." Lois replied.
"Then how do you contact him?" Bruce asked.
"Committing a felony helps," Lois replied as she stirred her drink before giving a small chuckle. "Listen, you seem awfully interested in Superman. You want me to fix you two up and maybe your little lady friend can go out with Sayia Man?"
"Sorry," Bruce winked bashfully. "Besides, I don't think Cherry would be interested in him."
"No, I'm sorry. It's just that I was hoping to get away from the subject of the 'Man of Steel' for one night," Lois replied with a small smile. "I've been a little too consumed with him lately."
Bruce soon stood up and took her hand. "Maybe we could change subjects." He suggested as he walked towards the dance floor with her where other people were dancing together.
"No more men in tights?" Lois smirked.
"Deal." Bruce smirked back as he took a hold of her.
The two soon smiled to each other and began to share their own dance among the other couples.
Back at Clark's apartment room, Atticus was seen as the one that won the match as Clark rubbed his arm.
"Well, I can tell you've been practicing," Clark smiled to Atticus. "I'm proud."
"Thanks, I just had to show you what I could do after our last meeting," Atticus smiled back. "So, wanna go and ask someone if they've seen The Joker?"
"Hmm... Yes, I suppose that would be fine." Clark replied.
"I never thought that we would ever have to tangle with him since he's from Gotham." Atticus said.
They soon went out and were soon at a bar. The bouncer glared since Atticus was under 21.
"He's with me." Clark told the bouncer so that Atticus could be let in.
The bouncer soon let them both in. Atticus looked around with Clark as the patrons were going out their normal business.
"Uh... Has anyone seen or heard from the man known as The Joker?" Atticus spoke up. He hoped one of the men in the bar would speak up next.
The men glanced at Atticus.
"Take it easy, fellas, don't want any trouble." Atticus said to them.
"The Joker, ya say?" A man's voice asked in the back, showing who looked like a sailor captain of some type.
"Yeah." Atticus nodded.
Clark soon went with Atticus to talk with this man who seemed to know who they were talking about.
"Who hasn't seen a joker around this town?" The man asked, seeming to misunderstand.
"No, no, I meant the villain, The Joker." Atticus said.
"Ohh... Him..." The man replied. "Isn't he from Gotham City?"
"This is getting us nowhere." Atticus rolled his eyes.
"You can say that again." Clark sighed.
Two figures were soon seen jumping from roof-to-roof. They were soon revealed as they landed on the roof of a night club.
"I hate doing that..." Cherry groaned to herself.
"You did much better than the first time." Batman told her.
"Darn astigmatism." Cherry grumbled before looking through the window.
"You might wanna change so no one recognizes you just in case." Batman told her.
Cherry brought out her costume and bowed her head as something unusual happened. It seemed as if the dark shadows surrounded her and engulfed her into the darkness and she was suddenly changed into her superhero outfit and she then looked ready and determined.
"That's a good girl," Batman approved. "Have you thought of a name yet?"
"Something like Gothika, I guess," Cherry shrugged. "It came to me in a dream while you were gone."
"That sounds perfect." Batman said.
Cherry looked in the window and her eyes widened. "Uh, I don't think I'm old enough to go in there," she then told him, a bit nervously since there were women in cages. "Maybe I should stay out here."
"Are you sure?" Batman asked her. "I'd hate to leave you all by yourself."
"Ah, I'm fine, what could happen?" Cherry shrugged.
"Fair enough since there's no one up here." Batman said.
"Have fun." Cherry told him.
"Yeah, good luck." Batman huffed slightly before going inside.
Cherry then watched him go as she stayed by the window, hugging her knees. It seemed to be a fun evening for everyone in the club until Batman swooped in, shattering the window's glass as he had some questions. Cherry hoped for the guys in the club sake's that they would have the answers to Batman's questions. The music stopped and everyone felt scared and nervous about seeing The Dark Knight.
"It's been a long time, Blinko." Batman glared to the man he was looking at.
The woman beside the man soon ran off, feeling scared. Cherry began to watch everything from the window.
"I heard your boss Carlini has been replaced," Batman glared to the man. "We need to talk!"
One man soon took out his gun only for it to be struck away by a Baterrang. The people soon panicked and ran away.
"Ooh, look at 'em scramble." Cherry hid a small smirk.
Two men soon tried to attack Batman only for him to punch them both out. Cherry punched from the window like she was pretending from a fighting video game.
The man soon ran off to his other members. "Get him!" he then told them.
Batman soon grabbed a cage with a woman still inside of it and tossed it towards the running men to hit them and they fell over. A man with a gun soon started to shoot at Batman. Batman of course dodged the shots while running and dodging before tying the man up with one of his weapons. The man soon stumbled from that and fell right over. Binko soon tried to get out the doors as a Baterrang flew towards the door and stabbed inside of it, trapping him.
"Yeah, he's got him." Cherry smirked.
Someone seemed to come right behind her.
"Where's The Joker?" Batman snarled.
"Who knows? Makin' ha-ha with Harley Quinn?" Blinko smirked until he was pulled tighter. "I don't know! Honest! I never went back after he muscled him! I don't want nothing to do with that clown."
"That's enough," A familiar Man of Steel told Batman as he grabbed his wrist. "I think you've got your answer."
"What the-? When did he arrive?" Cherry asked.
"Hey, buddy." Sayia Man's voice said behind her.
Cherry yelped and nearly fell through the broken window since she didn't know he was there and was now dangling from the height which made her a bit nervous. She was soon helped up and where they both soon saw Superman get thrown across the room as he landed on a table. Blinko soon got up since he wasn't held anymore and then began to run. Superman soon shoved Batman against the doors once he got up.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" Cherry called out with an excited smirk.
"I heard you were crazy; I didn't think you were stupid." Superman said before using his X-ray vision to see who Batman was under the mask.
Sayia Man and Cherry soon came down to the two superhero men.
"Bruce Wayne...?" Superman muttered.
"You peeked." Batman glared.
"I won't have vigilantes in my town." Superman warned him.
"You'll be rid of me as soon as I find The Joker." Batman glowered.
"That may not be soon enough." Superman retorted.
"No?" Cherry glared at him, feeling annoyed with him and soon took out a piece of the dragon from Batman's belt. "Look at it! Look at it! LOOK AT IT! I WANT ALL OF YOU TO LOOK AT IT!"
Superman soon groaned out of pain but not much as it was just a piece of it.
"It doesn't take much, does it?" Batman huffed to Superman. "The Joker has 20 pounds more where this came from. I thought you might want to know."
Cherry smirked to Superman before tossing it and it ended up landing in a glass of wine on the table beside The Man of Steel.
"That was mean!" Sayia Man told Cherry in a scolding tone.
"Cry me a river." Cherry replied, almost nastily.
Saiya Man soon used his magic to teleport the piece away. Cherry soon went off with Batman in a mysterious way.
"Oh, Daddy, that sounds so mean of Aunt Cherry." Estelle pouted.
"Yeah, well, your Aunt Cherry had her moments of being mean." Mo said.
"Doesn't everybody sometimes anyway?" Vincent asked, a bit sheepish as he remembered when they were with the Loonatics and he was influenced by Captain Pollution which made him into a bully against his own siblings and cousin.
"Fair point." Estelle said.
"So what happened next?" Tony asked.
"Well, that night, Superman and I went back to his place to cool down since it had been a long day and decided to maybe get some sleep." Atticus replied.
"Look, we had a long day, why don't we cool down and get some sleep?" Atticus suggested as he began to undress out of his uniform and decided to put on his pajamas.
The phone soon went off.
Clark decided to answer it. "Hello?"
'Hi. I just wanted to let you know I'll be in late tomorrow,' Lois said on the other line. 'I'm having breakfast with Bruce.'
"Isn't that special?" Clark said out of disapproval as he threw his superhero outfit on the bed.
Atticus looked over as he knew that couldn't be good as he went to brush his teeth.
'Do I detect a note of disapproval?' Lois asked.
"You were the one who compared him to garbage." Clark defended as he slid on his glasses.
After finishing brushing his teeth, Atticus came out and soon saw a tracking device on his godfather's cape and recognized the shape.
'Well, I was wrong,' Lois smiled on the other line, sounding like she was in love. 'He's very thoughtful, and much deeper than the gossip mongers would let you believe.'
"Wouldn't I know?" Clark growled as he picked up the tracking chip, looking peeved.
Atticus and Clark soon went to the balcony window to see if they were followed.
'I'll let you go, so you count sheep or whatever you Kansas boys dream about. Bye.' Lois said before hanging up.
Batman was soon watching with binoculars on a far away tower and smirked with a thumb's up before gliding off into the night.
"Touche." Clark glared as he crushed the tracking device with his strength.
"Hmph." Atticus pouted.
"Atticus..." Clark said. "I need you to do me a favor."
"What's that?" Atticus asked.
Clark soon said something that made Atticus's heart sink. "I don't want you to be friends with Cherry anymore."
"What? But me and Cherry have been friends ever sense we were kids." Atticus frowned.
"I don't think you should be friends anymore if she hangs around that Batman person." Clark told him, a bit firmly.
"W-What am I gonna tell Cherry?!" Atticus asked, almost heartbroken.
Atticus bowed his head in present day as remembering that made him a little solemn, even if it was in the past and everyone gave him quiet patience to hear about more as it was quite the tear jerker.