For Jessi, because she's awesome.
I haven't done this in forever, so please be gentle with me. 
This is set in S4 and starts during Lethal Weapon.
~~~~Lois walked inside her brownstone to the strangest sight. Her living room looked like hell, upside down. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened, except that Clark had probably had some sort of
super-accident again.
She found him sitting on the floor, in the dining room, looking like the weight of the world was weighing down on him. He'd hiccuped, he explained, and it might have been funny, she thought, if her heart hadn't been breaking for him. The one thing he'd always been able to count on — his strength — had now become his greatest weakness.
She'd come home with good news, but she wasn't so sure how helpful it might be anymore. So what if she knew who was behind all of this? They still had no idea where the thugs had stashed the red Kryptonite they held. And what chance did they have of curing Clark if they couldn't get rid of the red K? Lois tried not to imagine what might happen if getting rid of it turned out not to be enough.
Of course, she knew that the moment she told Clark what she'd overheard, and that she was pretty confident that Perry's son was behind this, that he'd want to spring into action and get this whole episode over. What she hadn't quite expected, though, was that he'd destroy a chair in his enthusiasm.
A look of defeat flashed in his eyes. "Lois…," he began in a small, hesitant voice, "Honey, I can't go out there like this. It's not safe. Do you think you could go solo for a while?"
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"All I know is… being around me is dangerous. For you, for everyone. Besides, the mayor has all but banished Superman from the city, so I might as well quarantine myself for now."
"Where will you go?"
"I'm not sure yet. Far, probably?" Clark replied, rolling his shoulders in a slow, careful shrug. "Hearing cries for help when I'm not supposed to do anything about them; when I
can't do anything about them… Lois, it's killing me."
"I know…," she said softly. "I'll think of something to tell Perry. Just… don't be gone too long? I can do solo for a while, but it's not what we signed up for, you know?"
Moments later, Clark had turned into Superman and flown away gingerly, leaving Lois to get rid of the red K by herself. She hoped with all her heart that it would be enough to make her husband normal again. Or as normally
super as he usually was, at any rate.
~.~.~
It took Superman several long minutes to dig himself out of the sand dune upon which he'd completely failed to land. The harder he fought to get back to the surface, the more he sank into it. And the more he sank, the less he knew which way was up. It wasn't until he'd started working his way out calmly that he'd been able to make any progress in the right direction.
“Stupid,” he complained, spitting out a mouthful of sand, as he finally stood clear of the crater he'd involuntarily created.
He had sand everywhere else, too: in his hair, his eyes, his nose, all the way down his boots and even in the smallest recesses of his spandex costume. For a second, he considered super-shaking it all off, but then he realized that in doing so he might very well cause a sandstorm, or worse turn the Sahara into a sandless desert altogether.
So, carefully, he rubbed the sand out of his eyes, spat it out of his mouth, emptied it from his red boots, and dusted what he could off himself. What was left inside his costume, he'd just have to deal with later.
Realizing that hiding out in the Sahara was a very poor idea, Superman flew off in search of a more convenient exile location.
~.~.~
Meanwhile, in Metropolis…Lois walked into her editor's office resolutely. The quicker she got this done, the less time she'd spend stressing about it. Still, she hated having to do it at all. Granted, it wouldn't be the first time she'd be making up some sort of excuse for her husband's sudden disappearance, but she'd always known before that he would be back momentarily. Not this time. He'd be back, of course, and in a few days, most probably — but exactly when, she hadn't the faintest idea. Which meant that this time, she'd have to
really lie about it.
"Oh, Chief, hi," she began, hesitating a little. "I just wanted to let you know… Clark would have told you himself, but he left in a bit of a hurry, you see?" She let out a small, nervous laugh, then continued, wringing her hands as she spoke. "Anyway, so, the thing is, you know how Superman's been having 'health issues' recently? Well, there might be a cure, and so he's gone off to check out the debris from a meteorite shower, in Africa."
"And Clark went along to make sure Superman doesn't accidentally destroy the one thing that might cure him?" Perry asked, a frown forming on his face.
"Yes! Exactly!" Lois' eyes went wide. "Mmm...yes, that's it," she said, reigning in her excitement as heat rose on her cheeks. "He's just helping out a friend. You know how Clark is, right? I mean, who else do you know who still visits old neighbors regularly and takes care of their cat? I keep telling him,
honey, don't you think they're taking advantage of —"
"Lois?" Perry cut in, looking at her curiously, "Lois… are you alright?"
"Oh, uh… I'm just worried about him, I guess."
"Superman?"
Lois blinked. "Well, yeah," she said, forcing a casual shrug, "aren't you?"
"They'll be fine, Lois. I'm sure they'll both be just fine."
"Yes… Anyway, it'll all be over soon. Clark would have explained all this himself, but they were in a bit of a hurry to leave and get to this cure. You understand, don't you?"
"Of course."
~.~.~
Later…Superman sat on the sun-drenched beach, breathing in deeply. It was quiet here; nothing but the sounds of the waves rolling in and out, and the wind rustling the leaves of the palm trees.
It had been several days now, since his last exposure to red Kryptonite, and surely its effects were bound to go away sooner or later, he tought. He'd expected to be better by now, but his powers were still responding erratically to his control; an hour ago, he'd turned the tree he'd meant to use as firewood into sawdust instead. He'd just have to wait a little more, that was all, and all things considered, waiting for that to happen while sitting here was a much better alternative than the Sahara ever would have been.
He'd found this little island —
deserted island — as he was flying over the Pacific, a few days earlier. It had seemed like the perfect place to rest; the perfect place to meditate, like Dr. Klein had suggested he do. There was nothing here except some trees and perhaps a few insects. The island was so small and so remote, there weren't any animals living here, not even any birds that he could hear. There was no chance of him harming anyone. He'd be safe, and the world would be from him, too.
That is, until he suddenly, unexpectedly sneezed.
Super sneezed. And in the blink of an eye, a tsunami started to unfurl upon the shores of a half-dozen nearby islands. Some of them,
inhabited islands.
He tried to stop it, the same way he'd stopped a tidal wave headed for Metropolis once, but with his powers still out of whack, in the end, all he'd really done was to make things much, much worse.
Drenched, beaten and helpless, Superman witnessed the destruction he'd so innocently caused. A deserted island had been a poor choice after all.
Where was he supposed to go now?
