Author's Note: First of all, I just want to say how AMAZED I am at how popular this fanfic got after just one chapter. It's a really happy surprise. Already, this story has over a hundred favs and a hundred follows along with over eighty comments. I'm so touched.
Speaking of the comments, I'd like to address a few of them before beginning this chapter. So among those comments, there appears to be a bit of a clash between reviewers that all started with a guest asking if I could make an OC that would be a love interest for Silver Banshee. I'd like to put that to rest before this gets violent. I appreciate the initial reviewer's suggestion, but unfortunately, I cannot make an OC at all. I see no need to make an OC for this particular story. So while I appreciate the suggestion, I cannot do it. I'm sorry.
Also, many readers have been making NUMEROUS comments regarding the upcoming Shadow arc in this fanfic's future. I love all your ideas, and I DO plan on including a Shadow saga, but that's not going to be until we reach the events of My Adventures With Superman season 3, which hasn't even be released yet. So before anyone makes any suggestions, I advise that everyone waits until we see it to come up with ideas for Shadow. That's what I plan to do.
Speaking of, I just watched Sonic the Hedgehog 3 last week, and it was PHENOMENAL! Can't wait for Sonic 4!
Anyway, enjoy the long-awaited chapter. This wasn't easy, but I think I did great on it. Any and all comments are welcome.
Sonic did his daily run around the city of Metropolis. During his run, he would help a couple of animals who were in trouble until he decided to take a rest. He stopped at the rooftop of the Daily Planet, the biggest news company in the city. Once he was there, he perched himself on the ledge looking down.
"Ah, Metropolis, the coolest city I know." Sonic said before pressing his finger to his ear like it was a radio. "This is Sonic the Hedgehog with your eyes in the sky coming to you live from the roof of the Daily Planet! Temperature's a bombing 79 degrees, and today might just be a good day to go out for a jog. But right now, let's move onto our favorite news lady, Lois Lane the Coffee Girl as she comes to her grouchy boss' office for her usual morning routine. Will she finally get the chance for a real story or will she get shot down again. My money's on this being a lucky day for her, ladies and gentlemen."
At that, Sonic flipped over the ledge and slid down the side of the Daily Planet. He stopped at another ledge right next to a window. He looked in and saw Perry White, Lois Lane's boss and chief editor of the Daily Planet, sitting at his desk. He then shifted his attention to two men who sat right in front of the window.
One was a big, sturdy-looking man with glasses. The other was a smaller, skinner, younger-looking, black man.
"Looks like we got some new players here." Sonic whispered to himself so the new guys wouldn't hear him. "Will they play a part in the Coffee Girl's future in this career or not?"
For a moment, the man with the glasses saw Sonic's reflection in his spectacles. The flash of bright blue made him curious enough to turn his head. Thankfully, Sonic noticed and avoided his eyesight just in time. He scratched his head before looking back away from the window. Still, Sonic peeked his ear close to the window to listen in on what was coming next.
In an instant, the door was slammed open, and Lois Lane stormed into the office with a happy smile on her face and a tablet in her hand.
"Stolen military robots are being hidden here in Metropolis, and I've got the scoop!" she proclaimed startling Perry.
"Lane…"
Lois presented her tablet which projected a holographic footage of what she then explained. "Mt. Simonson Base is the inventory warehouse for experimental military projects, and a day ago, they got robbed. The only road out leads through Metropolis, which means thieves with dangerous war machines are loose in our city. People need to know about this. So… ready for me to bust this story wide open?"
"No!" Perry answered pinching the space between his eyes. "Lois, you're an intern. The only reason I called you in today was to meet them." He gestured to the two men sitting by the window.
"Hi." the black man greeted.
Lois gasped when she saw the man in the glasses. "You?"
"You." the glasses man returned.
"These are the new interns, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen." Perry introduced. "I want you to show them the ropes and get—"
"They can help me with the story!" Lois interjected.
"Oh!" Jimmy exclaimed raising his hand up. "Have you considered that these robots might have come from beyond the stars?"
"Uh, they came from an army base." Lois said slightly put off by Jimmy's wild theory.
"There's only so many places to hide them." Clark said.
"I've already got a lead." Lois said.
Jimmy gasped. "It could be the sewer dinosaurs."
"So we follow up…" Clark said.
"Moth Man."
"Meet my source…" Lois continued.
"Merpeople! Merpeople!"
"Find the robots…" Clark continued.
"And get the story." Lois finished.
"Then what are we waiting around here for?" Jimmy asked.
Everyone looked back at Perry, who had a very disgruntled look on his face clearly annoyed by the conversation happening around him.
"Uh, donut, Mr. White?" Clark asked nervously offering a box of donuts to his new boss. "Chief?"
"New interns, out. Old intern, stay." Perry instructed. As soon as Clark and Jimmy left the office, he turned his undivided attention to Lois. "You do not report the news. You do not leave this building. Your job is to teach the interns how to scan things and make coffee. That's it."
"Mr. White, for the good of Metropolis—" Lois started to say.
"For the good of me, you need to stop coming in with these wild ideas. Do what I tell you to do. Lane, this is your last chance."
At that, the disheartened Lois was guided out of the office. Once she was gone, Perry slammed the door shut behind her to emphasize his point.
Meanwhile, outside the window, Sonic sighed. "Well, it looks like another swing and a miss for Lois Lane. Same time tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen." At that, he raced down the building again in a flash of blue light.
After swiping a chili dog from a cart, Sonic stopped when he reached the top of a building which was built right next to a large park. He took a seat right when a gray pigeon landed beside him.
"Well, today ended up just like any other day." Sonic said. "I mean, sure, those two new interns keep it fresh, but other than that, nothing."
The pigeon cooed.
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Sonic said pretending to understand what the bird said. He took a bite of his chili dog savoring its spicy taste before speaking again. "Poor Lois. She works pretty hard, and she just needs one good story."
The pigeon cooed again.
"You think I should be her next story?" Sonic asked laughing. "No, no. Absolutely not. Don't get me wrong. I do want to help her, but I can't let her do a report on me. If the people of Earth found out I existed, then I'd have to move to that dirty, disgusting mushroom planet." He sighed sadly taking another bite. "You know… Lois did seem to make a big deal about those stolen military robots that she thinks are here in Metropolis. If that's true, then innocent people could get hurt if they get out."
The pigeon cooed one last time sparking Sonic's interest.
"Hey, that's an AWESOME idea!" Sonic said springing up to his feet. "I could help find those robots and carefully lead Lois to them… without letting her know I exist, of course. She gets her story, and I get to help out. Win-win for everybody!" He finished his chili dog shoving all that was left down his throat. "Good talk!" He ran off leaving the pigeon to coo alone.
Sonic made his way across the city of Metropolis thinking to himself out loud. "Let's see. If I were a group of thieves who stole giant killer robots, where would I hide them? Can't exactly hide them in plain sight, so maybe they're in a big place that no one would think to look. Maybe an abandoned building or…"
Sonic stopped when he noticed a large, metal moving truck driving down the street. Seeing the pier number on it, he realized the answer.
"Or maybe they're using one of those storage warehouses. Haha! Sonic, you investigative genius!"
Sonic made it to the Metropolis docks which had a large lineup of warehouses side by side. He ran to the far end and started stretching his arms and legs.
"Okay. So probably a hundred warehouses and just one me. Should take me about a minute at most." Sonic said readying himself. He placed his hands on the ground and knelt down while sparking some blue electricity sparkling over his quills. "Gotta go fast."
In an instant, Sonic dashed over to the first warehouse followed by the next one. He then proceeded to check one warehouse after another, finding each place to be either empty or devoid of any suspicious evidence of robot robbery.
Finally, Sonic stopped when he reached the inside of the twenty-ninth warehouse. He perched himself on the higher railings and looked down seeing a suspicious operation go down. Below, a bunch of people dressed in black uniforms sat around right beside large, military-style storage containers.
"Ooh. Very Ocean's Eleven." Sonic commented quietly watching from above. "I'm guessing these guys aren't dockworkers."
Just then, the storage door opened up and a slender woman walked right in wearing black clothes like all the others. She removed a biker helmet from her head revealing herself to be a dark-skinned woman with white hair. She walked right in and met up with a man who was closing a crate full of high-tech weapons.
"Don't touch that." she advised.
"What took you so long, Willis?" the man asked. "The crew is getting restless."
"Our fence wasn't at the drop point." Willis answered. "We have no buyer. It gets better. Every buyer, fixer, or fence in metropolis has just disappeared on us. We're stuck here."
"Leslie, we can't just sit in a warehouse full of freaky stolen science weapons 'til the cops show up. We don't even know what half this stuff is. What are we going to do?"
Leslie Willis grabbed her minion by his shoulder and pulled herself up to him. "I don't know, Badger. Why don't we panic real loud in front of the thieves and killers we hired for this job? What we need to do is keep moving. If we can find a way out of town, then I—"
Leslie was immediately drawn to the sound of robotic whirring loudly echoing through the warehouse. She and Badger turned to one of the giant crates where a big, robotic arm burst out and grabbed one of the crooks. Another hand popped out about to blast him, but Leslie acted quickly and pressed a red button on the side of the crate forcing it to shut off.
"Which one of you messed with the robot?" Leslie asked accusingly to her crew.
"Eh… Looks like Brad." Badger answered looking at the traumatized crook who narrowly avoided getting blasted.
"Listen up, people." Leslie announced. "We've hit a snag in the operation. Do what I say, and we can still get paid. Fail to do so, and you end up like Brad. Suit up and load the trucks. Time for Plan B."
The criminals nodded and proceeded to start packing while Sonic looked down dismayed.
"Oh, man. They're already moving?" Sonic asked. "I gotta find out where these guys are going so I can give Lois the heads-up."
Sonic dropped from above landing right behind one of the giant crates. When he peeked around, he saw that Badger brought out several jackets and passed them out to everyone, including his boss.
"All right. We're going to be at the freighter docks, so these jackets will allow us to go in unnoticed!" Leslie instructed.
"The docks, huh?" Sonic asked. "Well, that sounds like useful info. Just gotta…"
Sonic immediately rushed right past the criminals while trying not to get noticed by them. He grabbed one of the jackets, but instead of taking the whole thing, he just took a silver badge with the letters PM from it. He didn't notice it until he stopped at another hiding place. Of course, his blue flash of light did get Leslie's attention. It disappeared before her eyes making her confused and uneasy.
"Is something wrong, Willis?" Badger asked.
"It's… It's probably nothing." Leslie said. "Come on."
Leslie and the gang got in their trucks full of stolen equipment and left the warehouse leaving Sonic alone with the badge he took.
"Oh, man." Sonic groaned kicking the dirt. "All that, and all I got was this dumb badge? Well, I guess it's better than nothing. So I might as well…"
He ran right outside, but stopped once he noticed Lois, Clark, and Jimmy hiding behind a dumpster across the street. Trying to avoid being seen, he ran back into the warehouse narrowly avoiding their gaze.
"Oh, man! It looks like Lois is already catching up." Sonic said. "Too bad it looks like they JUST missed the crooks. But they won't know where they went. How do I let them know that…"
Sonic heard the door open and ran right back up to the ceiling beams. He then watched as the trio he was helping made their way into the empty warehouse. They were expecting a bunch of stolen military weapons, so Lois was upset to find the place devoid of any evidence she was looking for.
"No! The robots should be here." Lois stated worryingly. "Look around. There has to be something."
The three began looking around while Sonic watched and whispered to himself. "Oh, man. I gotta help them. But how do I without…" He stopped and looked at the badge which he held in his hand. "Idea."
Sonic tossed the badge down letting it land behind Jimmy Olsen. He heard it hit the ground and turned to pick it up.
"Oh. Look." he said drawing Lois and Clark to him to see the badge. "PM."
"PM could be initials," Clark said, "Like…"
"Paranormal Metasapiens!" Jimmy proclaimed. "It's the term for the superintelligent gorillas France has been hiding."
Hearing that from above, Sonic smacked his own face. "Yeesh. Where did the Planet find guys like him?"
When he pulled his hand away, he noticed Clark step away to answer a phone call that then made him despondent. When the call was over, Lois returned to him holding the badge up.
"Port of Metropolis! This is from a dockworker's jacket! They're moving the robots to the docks! Come on. We can catch them, and then, we can—"
"Perry just called." Clark said making Lois uneasy. He looked at her with a betrayed look. "Lois, you lied. You told us Perry told us to investigate the robots, but you lied."
Sonic widened his eyes hearing that revelation and felt nervous about the scene that was going on. "Ooh, that's awkward."
"I mean, technically, yes," Lois said nervously, "But you wouldn't have helped me if I told the truth."
"You didn't give us the chance." Clark said.
"Because this was too important!" Lois argued. "The people of Metropolis need to know what's happening in their city, and—"
"This isn't about the city, Lois. It's about you. I trusted you, and you used me and Jimmy just so you could get your story."
"Come on, Clark. We're a team."
"We're NOT a team. We're just two dummies who listened to you because we didn't know any better. Now, we do."
Lois frowned realizing she wasn't going to convince Clark of anything. "Fine. I don't need your help anyway." She grabbed Jimmy by his suspender and pulled him out of the warehouse leaving Clark in the warehouse (along with Sonic, who was still watching from above).
"Wow. This tension needs a knife to be cut." he thought to himself. "That did sound pretty upsetting what Lois did, but I still gotta help her. In for a penny and all that."
Sonic hopped from rooftop to rooftop following Lois and Jimmy on their way to the docks. All the while, he overheard Lois' ranting about Clark.
"I can't believe him! What is wrong with your dumb, beautiful coward of a best friend?!"
"Clark's just…" Jimmy started to say, "You know, he just grew up on a… Wait, did you say beautiful?"
"And then, he says I'M the selfish one!" Lois continued yelling. "I mean, yes, I lied, but he wouldn't have helped me unless I had. Not like he helped that old lady with the bib, or helped me with Flip, or… brought everyone donuts." She stopped letting down a regretful frown. "I WAS being selfish."
"Well, at least she's learning." Sonic said to himself. That's when he looked across the street right at the dock area. He watched in amazement at a large crate which had black robot arms sticking out of it. "There they are! I gotta help them see."
Sonic readied himself before running down the building and across the street right in front of Lois and Jimmy. The two of them felt a strong breeze as he passed by.
"Whoa! What was that?" Jimmy asked looking to the direction that Sonic was running to, but didn't catch sight of him.
"I don't know," Lois said before looking up at the crate, "But it looks like we found our robots."
Sonic hid himself behind a metal crate and peeked around. He saw the large loading bay where Leslie Willis and her crew were raising up the crates with the robot parts. He then glanced nearby and saw Lois and Jimmy watching in awe from afar.
"Well, it looks like that's a wrap for the day." Sonic said to himself. "Spied on a bunch of bad guys, witnessed an uncomfortable argument, and helped Lois get the story she needed. All in all, it's not the perfect day, but it's gonna get… Wait. Is it just me, or do those two look a little exposed out there?"
Sonic was right. Despite their efforts to hide, Leslie spotted them at a glanced and called everyone's attention to them.
"Hey!" she yelled pulling out a gun that fired a blue laser blast. Thankfully, Lois and Jimmy ran off to avoid them. "Surround them!"
Lois and Jimmy ran as fast as they could. However, they were almost immediately surrounded by Leslie's gang, who all aimed their guns at them.
"Uh… Is this not the way to the restroom?" Lois asked innocently.
"Looks like we got a couple of spies." Leslie said. "Fire on my mark, gang. Three…"
"Oh, no. What do I do?" Sonic asked in a quickly-rising panic.
"Two…"
"I could run in to save them, but I'd be exposing myself!"
"One…"
Sonic couldn't hide anymore. Without thinking, he ran out of his hiding place and rushed right into the circle.
"FI—" Leslie didn't have time to finish her command. She got knocked over by Sonic who pushed her away as hard as he could.
Everyone turned their attention to the blue hedgehog who stood in Leslie's place. Everyone had their wide eyes pointed right at him shaken by the mere sight of him. Even Lois and Jimmy stood surprised by what he saw. Sonic immediately found himself surrounded by the humans who stared right at him.
"Uh… Meow?"
Everyone screamed in terror pulling their triggers right at him. Thankfully, he was fast enough to avoid them. The criminals turned their guns to fire at Sonic, who continued to run avoiding their blasts while also forgetting Lois and Jimmy.
"What the heck is that?!" Jimmy asked.
"What are you asking me for?!" Lois asked. "You're the one who keeps yelling about freaky cryptids!"
"I never heard of anything like THAT!"
"Well, whatever it is," Lois said noticing the criminals distracted by Sonic, "It's giving us the chance we need to get out of here! Let's go!"
As Lois and Jimmy ran, Badger returned to Leslie helping her up.
"What happened?" she groaned.
"You got knocked over by… I don't know! It was some kind of big, blue, furry thing!"
"A big, blue, furry thing?" Leslie asked. "What…"
Leslie was cut off when Sonic ran back to her. She watched with wide eyes as he leaned on the container across from her.
"Man, you need to find a better crew, lady." Sonic taunted cockily. "These guys aim like Stormtroopers in Star Wars!" He continued to run in a flash of light avoiding the laser blasts.
"What… What was that?!" Leslie asked loudly.
"I don't know!" Badger shouted.
"Well, don't just be useless, everyone!" Leslie shouted so every one of her henchmen could hear her. "Someone, take care of it!"
One of the crooks found himself next to the containers that held the robots, and instinctively, he placed his hand on the activation button. The hatch buzzed and popped off its top allowing a large robot to emerge and walk out. It nearly stepped on Leslie and Badger, who jumped out of the way allowing it to pass.
Leslie looked at the other criminals annoyed by the stupid move one of them made. "Why… would you use… the robot?!"
Sonic rested for a moment when he hid behind a crate stacked high on top of a pile. He wasn't particularly exhausted, but he was conflicted about what he just did.
"Way to go, Sonic! Ten years without anyone seeing you, and you just threw yourself into a position where twenty people saw you, including two reporters!" Sonic said to himself. "Still, Lois and that new guy was in trouble, and I had to save them." He sighed. "It doesn't matter now. There's only one thing to do."
Sonic reached into his shoes and pulled out the sack full of rings. He reached in and pulled one out.
"I hate to do this, but I have no choice." Sonic said in dismay. "Mushroom planet, here I…"
Sonic was interrupted by the robot which flew up above him and dealt a blow to him. He was caught off guard when he was launched across the shipping area dropping his bag on the way.
Sonic was knocked to a narrow space right and landed right in front of Lois and Jimmy, who were still looking for their escape. He groaned as he tried to get up, but stopped when Jimmy started to step on his head repeatedly.
"Ow, ow, ow! Will you cut it out!" Sonic shouted knocking Jimmy's foot away.
"It talks!" Jimmy gasped. "The big mutant porcupine talks!"
"Porcupine?" Sonic asked standing back up. "That's an insult if I've ever heard one."
"What are you then?" Lois asked.
"That's a good question." Sonic said right before the robot rose over them readying another laser blast. "But we should save this conversation for later!"
The three of them narrowly avoided the laser blast. Lois fell backward, but she was stopped by a pair of hands that she then saw belonged to the reporter who she argued with earlier.
"Clark, you came back!" Lois gasped happily.
"Happy to…" Clark said before seeing Sonic sharing the same reaction as everyone else. "Uh… What is that?"
"We'll get into that later!" Sonic shouted as the robot stepped over to confront them. "Right now, we got a killer robot to deal with!"
The robot raised its arm ready to knock Jimmy aside. Clark immediately took action and pushed him out of the way allowing himself to get knocked over instead. He fell into a pile of cardboard boxes.
"CLARK!" Jimmy yelled. The robot continued its pursuit of him and the others.
"You guys go on ahead!" Sonic shouted stepping up. "I'll send this thing to the junkyard!"
"How?" Lois asked.
"I have absolutely no idea!"
The robot raised its fist and launched it down at Sonic, who then dodged it and ran up the piles of crates beside it. He then jumped up and landed right on top of the robot's head. It then shook its head around trying to throw Sonic off. The hedgehog tried to hang on, but he had a hard time trying to.
"Don't worry! I got it right where I want it!" Sonic yelled before he lost his grip. The robot's thrashing sent him back to Lois and Jimmy as they ran right to a dead end.
"That didn't do much." Lois said.
The robot regained its composure and towered over Lois, Jimmy, and Sonic. It was just about ready to deliver the final blow and finish it off for good.
Unfortunately for it, Clark decided to step in with his own method.
Clark Kent wasn't as much damaged by the robot as he should've been. His secret powers helped him recover quickly. He then saw his friends in trouble and flew right into action. But he knew he couldn't be seen doing it, so he grabbed a dockworker's jacket and put it on to cover his clothes and head.
So right when the robot threw its punch at the three, Clark saved them by flying in the way and stopping it with his own bare hands. Sonic, Lois, and Jimmy were astonished seeing a flying man stop a robot singlehandedly. Jimmy took the chance and took a picture of what was happening.
After stopping the robot's attack, Clark proceeded to punch the robot until he smashed the red crystal at its center knocking it backward right within Leslie's line of sight. The robot recovered and dealt a few blows to Clark knocking him to the ground, but he quickly recovered and avoided any more attacks with his own superspeed.
Seeing the hooded figure avoid the robot's attacks quickly, Lois turned to Sonic. "Who's he?"
"I don't know." Sonic answered.
"How do you not know?!" Jimmy yelled.
"Don't blame me! I tell you, I never met that guy before in my life!"
The fight ended with the robot on its back and Clark latching onto its red crystal. He pulled on it with all his might before he finally ripped it out. Once he did, the robot collapsed and lost all its power.
From the side, Leslie gritted her teeth. "First, a bunch of meddling witnesses came by. Then, a big rodent made a fool out of my men. And now, some flying freak destroyed my robot? I certainly didn't plan for this. Badger I need you to…" She stopped herself when she realized that her right-hand man had already fled abandoning her. "Fine. New plan."
She ran up to the rest of the crates she stole from the military base. She slammed her fist on all the red buttons opening them all up and activating all the robots inside. As they jumped out to surround Clark, Leslie took the opportunity to escape.
"Whoever he is, he's strong," Jimmy said, "But I don't think he's going to last much longer against those things."
"Not without me, he's not!" Sonic said. He quickly disappeared in a flash of blue lightning and ran up to the robots. He jumped up to one of the robots and struck it hard with his whole body causing it to fall and knock over the robot right next to it. A couple of the other robots turned and aimed their weapons at Sonic, but he ran out of the way while Clark flew over to face the other robots.
Lois realized that even with Sonic's help the robots still had the advantage. She then saw another crate and realized that pressing the buttons could shut them all down. So she ran across the loading area as fast as she could. Thankfully, she pressed the button and shut off one of the robots before it could fire directly at Clark.
The rest of the robots turned to Lois and saw her as a threat. They ran over to her causing Clark to panic beneath his hood.
"Lois…" Clark said weakly.
Lois hurried over to press the other buttons shutting off all the robots one by one. The robots stopped her by firing their lasers. She ducked out of the way, but the lasers cut the supporting columns and dropped the last two containers keeping the last two online.
Lois ran over to try and shut the robots down, but she was stopped by one of their lasers. She found herself trapped seeing the weapon firing up while aiming directly at her.
"Lois, no!" Clark yelled.
Seeing the girl he liked in trouble, he powered through his pain and headed forward. But that wasn't all. His eyes emitted a glowing blue light and a spark of lightning shot over his body. In a flash of light, he shot himself instantly to the robot that was about to blast Lois. He delivered a hard punch that sent it flying far and fast. Once it was gone, he saw that all his wounds were healed and everyone watched in amazement.
There was still one last robot to deal with though. It stood up to its feet and aimed its laser at Clark, but Sonic jumped up and knocked its weapon away.
"Hey, don't leave me out of the action, Tin Man!" Sonic yelled.
The robot aimed its weapon at Sonic, but he ran away from it. He continued to run around it avoiding the laser trying to aim at him. Sonic ran in a circle of blue lightning while Clark, Lois, and Jimmy watched from afar. They also noticed that the more Sonic ran around, the brighter his lighting was.
Finally, Sonic stopped and made a direct run toward the robot. He jumped over to it and threw his punch. Once his fist made contact with the robot…
BOOM!
A large explosion of blue light came from the impact causing a blue wave to blast right out. Every piece of electronic it hit then short-circuited, from the robot to the security lights to the nearby buildings… Heck, just about half of the state lost all its power thanks to that explosion, including the satellite that hovered overhead.
When the light died down, everyone turned back to see the aftermath of the battle. They saw the robot collapse flat on the ground and the dust cover the ground, but as far as they could tell, there was no sign of the blue hedgehog that saved their lives. Clark took the opportunity to disappear.
After basking in the sunlight and thinking back to his "normal man having a normal day" promise to himself and wondering who he was, Clark flew back to where the robot knocked him over and ditched the dockworker jacket he used to disguise himself. He made it just in time for Lois to find him.
"Clark!" Lois yelled hugging onto him while he was feigning his injury. "I'm sorry I lied! You were right! I was being selfish, and you just left us! But you came back! And… And I'm sorry."
"Clark?" Jimmy asked before giving his best friend a similar hug from behind. "CLARK! YOU'RE OKAY!"
"Jimmy, please tell me you got that!" Lois said.
"Every second of it!" Jimmy said holding up his camera. "I have pictures of a man flying through the air and a strange, blue creature that was running as fast as the speed of sound! They've got to be aliens! Everything I've ever believed in is real!"
"Uh, you got pictures of the fight?" Clark asked nervous.
"You got that right!" Jimmy said. "Just gotta show you what…" His smile faded quickly when he looked at the screen. "Uh, oh."
"Uh, oh?" Lois asked worried about his reaction. "Why the 'uh, oh', Jimmy? There can't be any uh, ohs!"
"Well… you remember that blue explosion that caused a blackout?" Jimmy asked nervously. "It also kinda… affected my camera."
"WHAT?!" Lois gasped. She took the camera and tried to turn it back on, but she kept getting a blank screen. "No, no, no! Jimmy, tell me you can turn this camera back on and save the pictures!"
"Well, it depends on how badly that energy surge damaged the camera." Jimmy answered. "I can probably turn it back on, but as for the photos… I don't like their chances."
Lois groaned lowering her head. "This is the story of the century. Stolen military robots taken down by a blue mutant creature and a… Superman. And there's not a shred of proof to back it up. Perry's going to be so mad at us for this."
Although Clark was relieved that all photos of him were erased, he wasn't thrilled at seeing Lois' sad expression. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, Jimmy and I will stand by you."
"You… You will?" Lois asked.
"Of course." Clark answered. "After all, we're a team."
Lois smiled. "Thanks. And so, all we have to do is get an exclusive interview with Superman and the blue creature, and then, Mr. White will have to take us seriously. And I promise, from now on, no more secrets. You in, Clark?"
Clark blushed feeling Lois' faith toward him. "Of course, Lois."
"Yes!" Lois cheered. "And no matter where they go, no matter where they hide, we will track both Superman and the blue creature down and force them to tell us their secrets! And then, we'll publish them!"
That statement made Clark uneasy.
"Sounds good to me!" Jimmy said. "So we gone?"
Lois looked back at the loading area noticing the dust beginning to clear. "Uh, you guys go on ahead. I'm gonna see if I can't find anything we can use."
"Um, sure. Good luck." Clark said before walking off.
Jimmy was about to follow when he noticed a golden shine catch his eye. He turned and followed it all the way to a pile of rubble that nearly buried something. What he then dug out was the bag of golden rings that Sonic dropped during the fight. He opened it up and pulled one out to examine it.
"Huh. What could the story behind these be?"
While Jimmy tucked away the rings he found, Lois ran back to the loading area. She looked around and saw something that made her smile. She found Sonic the Hedgehog on his back and unconscious. She knelt down and tapped him with her finger to make sure he was asleep.
"Looks like that fight took a lot out of you, huh, little guy?" Lois asked picking Sonic up. "Well, let's take you to my place where you can answer all my questions. Haha! This is the best day of my life!"