Chapter 2: Up and Away

Clark Kent is in his apartment. Right as he takes his tuxedo out of his closet, his phone rings. The name of Lois Lane appears on its screen. He answers the phone.

"Hi, Lois! Are you already at the party?" He refers to the birthday party of Daily Planet's CEO Franklin Stern on his yacht. Stern is also celebrating his purchase of the Daily Planet from Morgan Edge's hands.

"Yup!" Lois answers. She's wearing a gorgeous black, long-sleeve dress. "I'm here with Lisa. Jimmy and Lucy have just arrived. Won't you come here?"

"I had to finish an article at Perry's request. But I'm about to wear my tuxedo and-" Before Clark can finish the sentence, he hears an explosion and quickly uses his X-ray vision to examine the area where the explosion's sound came from, until he finds what has caused it. "Atomic Skull is attacking S.T.A.R. Labs' facilities!"

"Let me guess: this is a job for Superman, right?"

"Yes, Lois. I'm gonna be a bit late for the party. See you later."

Using his superhuman speed, Clark changes his clothes, being in Superman's costume in less than two seconds.

He arrives at S.T.A.R. Labs twenty seconds later, using his cold breath to extinguish the fire of the explosion he heard earlier. In the middle of the resulting smoke, there's a man, whose head is a skull surrounded by a purple glow, wearing an indigo powered armor. He's Albert Michaels, known as Atomic Skull, since he was affected by an experimental power source from a S.T.A.R. Labs' submarine, in the same accident that turned his colleague Karen Faulkner into the orange-skinned creature known as Rampage.

Atomic Skull is holding a heavy cylindrical device, an energy converter.

"Exploding things in a lab isn't something nice to do, Dr. Michaels. Someone could've get hurt", Superman says.

"First: I made sure to invade after everybody's gone, so nobody got hurt; second: I wouldn't have to explode anything it the lab's crew hadn't locked this energy converter behind a thick titanium door; and third: call me Atomic Skull, not Dr. Michaels."

The villain hits Superman with a radioactive blast from his hands, managing to hurt the hero. He prepares to shoot a second blast, but Superman uses his superspeed to dodge it, then charging towards Atomic Skull and hitting his jaw. The energy converter falls from Atomic Skull's hands, but Superman catches it before it hits the floor.

Before Atomic Skull can recover, Superman quickly finds a hazmat suit from the lab workers and put it on the villain, wrapping him in the remains of the wrecked titanium door. Maggie Sawyer's Special Crimes Unit arrive at the scene and apprehends the criminal.

Some minutes later, Clark Kent, wearing his tuxedo, arrives at Franklin Stern's party. He greets Mr. Stern and congratulates him for purchasing the Daily Planet. He walks through the party and sees his close friends dancing a waltz: Lois Lane with her girlfriend Lisa Lasalle, who wears a strapless navy blue dress; Lois' sister Lucy Lane, wearing a dark green puff sleeve dress, with her boyfriend Jimmy Olsen, wearing a tuxedo. Right as Lois sees Clark, she tells him:

"Enjoy the party, Clark! Find a pair to dance."

Before Clark could even search around, he's invited by a short-haired redhead dressed in purple, weaing a pearl necklace: Alexandra "Lexy" Luthor. He accepts and they begin to dance. During the waltz, she says:

"I've been reading your stories about Superman, Mr. Kent. You really believe he's the good samaritan he claims, don't you?"

"I don't have any reason to think the contrary, Ms. Luthor."

"You're form Kansas, right?"

"Yes. Smallville, to be precise."

"A typical farm boy, with a naive, black and white worldview. Superman is an all-powerful alien, Mr. Kent, in a very complex world. You should open your eyes to this world. Someday, I'll prove Superman is a menace!"

"Or someone will prove you wrong."

"Whatever, Mr. Kent, whatever." The music stops. "Anyway, it was a good dance. See you later, Mr. Kent."

"See you later, Ms. Luthor".

Alexandra walks towards the mayor, while Clark reunites with Lois, Lisa, Lucy and Jimmy.