Rules of War
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 5
A/N: Sorry this one took so long to get posted. The holidays, RL and family took over. So without further ado here is Chapter 5.
“Come again?” Clark paced inside the dimly lit control room for New Troy Power. Unsurprisingly their power was out as well and so far there were no answers as to what was causing it. He tightened his arms across his chest as he looked around the semi-crowded room filled with technicians and board members all working to figure out what had caused the massive power outage that not only was affecting Metropolis but most of the state. He’d also been picking up on outages outside of New Troy and trickling into Washington.
“Polymorphic virus,” the technician typing away at his laptop and reading the long list of text on the black screen in front of him spoke up. “This is more sophisticated than anything I’ve ever seen before.”
“Can you stop it?” The technician’s supervisor asked, wiping his brow with his already sweat ridden sleeve.
“I can try,” the technician shook his head uncertainly, “but this is way more sophisticated than your average hacker.”
“What do you mean?” Clark asked.
“We had safeguards put up after the fiasco with that Ides of Metropolis super virus of Henry Harrison’s that infected everyone’s systems last year.” The technician’s supervisor spoke up. “We isolated our systems with segmented barriers to prevent a total wipe-out but somehow this virus has crept its way past every barrier and is now controlling….”
“What?” Clark frowned, noticing the concern on the supervisor’s face.
“Everything.” he breathed out shakily. “Every power company in the entire country has been infected.”
***
Ron Troupe looked around the dimly lit room that was crowded with journalists waiting to hear something from the president. The air was stifling and the heat from all the bodies in the room made the conditions unbearable. He swiped his hand against his brow, brushing away the beads of sweat as Ron glanced at his watch, seeing the light green light flicker the late hour back at him. He had barely made the flight to Washington before he’d found himself racing to make the impromptu press conference in the briefing room.
“How long has the power been out now?” John Radford with WGBS fanned himself with the pamphlets that had been handed out earlier as he turned to Ron.
“Two hours,” Ron frowned, letting out a heavy sigh.
Lisa Hoyle with LNN cut in with an exaggerated, “You’ve got to be kidding me. What’s taking them so long?”
Press Secretary Michael Grayson cleared his throat at the front of the room, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the President of the United States. “
***
Clark soared through the sky, searching for the familiar face in the building below. Just when he was about to give up hope he scanned the computer lab one last time and found the man he was looking for. Eugene Ladderman had helped stop the Ides of Metropolis virus last year. He wasn’t even sure if Eugene still worked at Metropolis University or not, but it was worth a try.
He landed outside the university and quickly spun into his suit and tie from earlier, climbing the steps to enter the university. The security desk was empty and the darkened hallways were abandoned. He turned the corner and found the computer lab he had seen Eugene in moments ago. He tried the door and much to his surprise the door opened without any trouble.
In the corner of the room was the familiar figure of Eugene Ladderman in the corner of the room, attempting to turn on each computer with no luck. “The entire city’s been wiped out,” Clark spoke up, letting his presence be known.
“Kent?” Eugene looked up, shaking his head as he looked around the room. “This is a surprise.” He walked toward Clark, “At least this time I’m not on the run.”
Clark cracked a half-smile, recalling the way he and Eugene had met last year. “You’re still teaching?”
“When I can,” Eugene looked around the room. “Kinda hard to teach a class about computer networks when you can’t turn the computer on.”
“Yeah, about that…” Clark patted the notepad in his hands. “I need your help.”
***
Rollie Vale tapped at his keyboard, his fingers flew across the keys as sweat beads dripped from his forehead. He didn’t dare look up for fear that he would lose his place. He could feel the breath against his neck as Bill Church Jr. leaned over his shoulder, reading the text on his screen. “Who is this FoxTrotUniform39?”
“I don’t know, but he’s making keeping the power off in every city a chore,” Rollie muttered, wiping his forehead with a nervous hand.
“How long can you keep the power off in Metropolis?” Church asked.
“Just Metropolis?” Rollie looked back at Church curiously.
“We need to keep them in the dark a little longer.” Church explained.
***
Lois stole a glance toward the window of the Planet she knew Clark used on occasion to re-enter when returning from a rescue. It had just been a few hours since Clark had gotten the onset of numerous calls for help at once. He’d barely made it to the Planet before he had to turn around and tend to the city in need.
“How’s this one, Chief?” Jimmy asked, handing Perry a copy of the printed paper. He was covered in ink from helping run the old linotype machine the young photographer had gotten a crash course in a few months ago.
Perry’s brow furrowed as he looked the paper over and shook his head, “You’re still a little uneven on the edge here.”
Jimmy nodded, backing away, “I’ll check the starting belt and make sure it’s secure.”
“Andy still hasn’t shown up?” Perry asked, turning to Madison who was fiddling with the fuse box by the elevator.
“Haven’t heard from him,” Madison sighed.
“Okay, people, this isn’t our first rodeo. You know the drill!” Perry turned his attention to the rest of the newsroom, “I need everyone’s stories on my desk in half an hour!”
Lois let out a low breath, turning to the typewriter on her desk where she had written up what she could of today’s fiasco. She still wasn't sure how to tie up the article other than stating the obvious. What she really wanted to do was to start looking into who or what was behind this massive power outage but she couldn't get any information with the phone lines down and her super husband with his photographic memory still inaccessible.
The addition of Fort Truman’s National Guard in the city gave her a sense of deja vu. The city felt like it was under siege with the sun beginning to set and everyone working from flashlights and lanterns. After the recent experience with the blackout a few months back most of the Planet staff had adapted well, but the lingering question on everyone’s minds remained.
Who was behind the power outage?
Ryan was locked away in a secure military prison at Camp Garrison-Humphreys. She knew Molly wouldn’t have done something like this, but her knowledge of computer engineering sure would come in handy right now. Unfortunately, she had moved overseas last month.
The creak of the door to the stairs caught her attention and she turned to see Eugene Ladderman and Clark entering the newsroom. Curious she crossed the room before anyone could notice Clark’s sudden return to the newsroom. She had used everything from ‘running errands’ or ‘oh, you just missed him’ to explain his absence for the last two hours and she was running out of plausible excuses quickly.
“Those stairs are brutal,” Eugene said as Lois approached. “Ms. Lane, you’re looking well. I do hope you’ve been changing your passwords like I recommended. Under a minute to crack a password isn’t exactly secure and... ”
“Oh, believe me, the password has been changed. Repeatedly.” Lois looked to Clark, silently asking, ‘What is he doing here?’
Clark thankfully was able to pick up on her silent question and explained, “Superman told me the power company had traced this outage to a computer virus.”
Lois’ brow furrowed and she repeated back to him, “Computer virus? So, someone did this on purpose?”
“It’s not just Metropolis either,” Clark gestured to the dark newsroom. “Everywhere across the country has been affected. New Troy. Washington. Parts of Gotham. The entire Midwest…”
“Most of the data centers that house the controls for the entire country are in the midwest.” Eugene piped in. “You take those out you can control...everything.”
“Looks like they’ve done it,” Lois replied numbly, looking around the darkened newsroom.
“That’s why I brought Eugene here.” Clark explained, “I figured since he was able to stop Henry Harrison’s virus last year, he might be able to help.”
“We’re not exactly up and running either,” Lois pointed out. “Jimmy’s trying to run the linotype machine and Perry can’t get ahold of Andy.”
“But you’re running on more than just desktops.” Eugene pointed out.
Lois nodded, acknowledging that they at least had laptops to work from if they could get a connection to get online, “Eugene, nothing is online. How are you going to fix anything if you can’t get a connection?”
“Let me worry about that,” Eugene said with a grin.
“Let who worry about what?” Perry’s voice came from behind them and they all turned to see the editor standing behind them.
***
Lucy Lane made her way through the darkened hallway of her apartment building. It had been hours since the power had gone out leaving her stranded in the middle of the engineering lab until security had overridden the computer locks. The entire city felt like it was under siege with soldiers and officers on every corner. The cars that had been on the road before were finally cleared and now that Fort Truman had called up the National Guard to help they had more than enough officers to help direct traffic and keep the streets safe.
She reached the door to her apartment and pulled out her keys to unlock the door. “So much for catching up on homework tonight.”
A cold breeze filled the doorway and she groaned when she noticed the open window in the corner of her apartment. She wrapped her arms around herself, letting out a muttered curse as she walked across the room to close the window. “I know I didn’t leave the window open,” she sighed to herself, looking around the dark apartment.
***
On the ledge, outside Lucy Lane’s apartment Johnny Corbin stood still, flattening himself against the brick as he heard the window slam shut a few feet away. He let out a sigh, looking up at the darkened window. There was something so captivating about this place...this woman that he couldn’t put his finger on.
He felt a flicker of a memory flash through his mind. A white flash of light and a man in blue and red stood in front of him just before everything went dark. The same daydream with the hidden meaning haunted his mind and he’d yet to discover who the mysterious man was.
***
Patience. That was the dreaded word that felt like a curse on Clark Kent’s lips. The minutes felt like hours as he and Lois tried to wait out Eugene Ladderman to see if any progress had been made on his attempts to track down the hacker and fight this super-virus that had crippled the city. Unfortunately this time around was different. Eugene couldn’t just click a button and fight this virus because he didn’t have any inside information to help him.
“The city’s spooky looking without power,” Lois commented as they reached the front door to their apartment.
Clark nodded his agreement and looped his arm around her shoulders. “I think for the moment the police have everything under control thankfully.”
“You think someone might try something?” Lois guessed, looking over at him as he pulled out the key to the apartment and turned the lock to the door through the pitch black darkness.
“It would surprise me if they didn’t try something,” Clark responded with a smile as he opened the door for her. He flashed her a smile, “Some first day back, huh?”
Lois twisted her mouth at him as he closed the door behind him. She ran a hand across his chest.
“I know I mentioned I missed the chase of a good story, but not to this extent.”
He outlined her jawline with his palm, cupping her cheek and leaned in to kiss her. “I don’t think anyone’s in danger of being bor—” He pulled back, hearing the distress cries with his super-hearing.
“Nope, not bored at all,” Lois whispered, loosening the knot to his tie.
“Keep the doors locked.” He cautioned, looking around the dark apartment. “You never know what criminals will try in these circumstances.”
“Be careful,” Lois whispered, leaning in for one last kiss before he disappeared into a blur of red and blue pigments before her eyes.
***
Perry clapped his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder, pointing at the bold letters on the front page of the Daily Planet’s evening edition. “You did good, kid.”
Jimmy let out a yawn, turning back to Perry with a smile, “I’m just glad Andy showed up when he did.”
“Yeah, me too,” Perry commented, looking around the nearly abandoned newsroom.
Lois and Clark and most of the staff had left a few hours ago on Perry’s orders. Eugene Ladderman was setup in Perry’s office, trying to decipher the code in the virus that had knocked the Planet off the powergrid. So far there had been no change, but hopefully by morning some headway would be made.
“Why don’t you go on home?” Perry suggested, gesturing to the empty desks around him. “The paper’s printed. We’ve got the copy ready for the morning edition.”
“You sure you don’t need me?” Jimmy asked, standing to his feet. A part of him wanted to stay and help but the other part of him wanted to leave. He hadn’t seen or heard from Lucy in nearly eighteen hours and he really wanted to make sure she was okay.
“I’m sure,” Perry nodded, “Get on out of here. I’ll see you in the morning.”
***
“Air traffic control do you read me?” the frantic shouting came from the cockpit as Clark took ahold of the left wing of the plane that was circling around the dark harbor.
“We’re out of fuel!”
He could feel the rush of cold air against his face as he tried to stop the plane from descending down several hundred feet into the bay below. The pitch dark pier was only lit by the few lanterns hanging on the two ships sailing toward Gotham. A hard jolt came from the plane and he looked to the side and saw the gaping hole from where the plane’s left wing had become unhinged from the plane.
“Nooo!” Clark flew after the plane at super-speed, stopping the plane full of passengers from plummeting down into the cold bay below.
***
The time on his watch blinked back ‘11:59’ as Ron turned his attention to the crowded room he was in. There had been little change to the circumstances he’d found himself in other than the calmer tone many of the journalists were taking with their co-habitants. Spending most of the night hours crouched together in a cramped room had made many of the other journalists go from agitated to bored to restless and desperate to hear one another’s voice. Some began sharing the best of stories while others opened up about their families. All the while the podium the press secretary had vacated hours ago remained empty.
Ron turned to John Radford, “How are we still sitting here, waiting for news?”
As if on cue, a flicker of lights filled the room and a loud hum could be heard as electricity coursed through the powerlines of the White House, bringing to life once more the majestic briefing room everyone had been huddled inside for nearly six hours. A loud cheer could be heard as everyone looked to the doors that had just opened and a loud booming voice announced, “The President of the United States.”
***
The candles flickered on the nightstand as Lois felt the warmth from Clark’s body against hers. She let out a long sigh as her husbands arm looped around her waist and pulled her to him. A sense of calm washed over her as she felt his hand move over the curve of her hip. The stress from the day and the questions that continued to multiply as the hours went on.
Most of the afternoon had been spent balancing between hiding Clark’s absence from the newsroom to Perry and trying to squeeze out a somewhat ready article with no resources at her disposal and no power. The memory of typing her story on Fort Truman’s attack when Ryan Wiley attempted to hold the world ransom was reminiscent with the way she’d spent most of her afternoon.
They had left the Planet a few hours ago but before they had even unlocked the door to their apartment Clark had picked up a call for help a few blocks away. Surprisingly he hadn’t been gone longer than just two hours. She craned her neck to look back at him and his lips found hers, caressing them with the smoothness of his tongue. His hand moved through her hair, tracing the frame of her face.
Little by little the stresses of the day began to disappear as she rolled over in bed to face him, running her hand across his jaw. His hand rested against her cheek as he broke off the kiss, resting his forehead against hers. The worry lines were evident on his face. Her eyes fluttered as she stretched her neck to the side to look up at him.
“Clark?”
“Another close call,” he breathed out, tightening his arm around her waist as he buried his face in her hair.
Question after question plagued her mind as she sunk back into the mattress, cradling her husband against her chest. She wanted to ask what happened and if he’d found anything else out but she also knew the answers would come after Clark had had time to process everything. His hands moved up and down her sides, tracing the soft cotton of the sheet wrapped around her. His breathed teased her outer ear and she felt a shiver run through her.
“You cold?” he murmured in her ear.
“A little,” she admitted sheepishly. Thankfully the temperature hadn’t dropped to the normal cold that often took over the fall weather. How long that would be the case she wasn’t sure. She felt the warm rays from his heat vision wash over her and let out an involuntary shudder. “Thanks,”
“Anytime.” A lazy smile spread across his face and he leaned in to capture her mouth with his once again with an intensity that made her forget about the questions that had been plaguing her mind for most of the evening. She felt the cotton sheet give away and his bare chest press against hers as she looped her right leg over his hips. “I think I’ve had plenty of practice in keeping you warm these past few weeks.”
“Practice does make perfect.” she agreed with a sultry giggle before she found her lips captured once more with his.
***
Eugene looked up from the desk he was huddled at and saw Perry White curled up on the couch, trying to pretend he wasn’t falling asleep trying to redline the papers in his hand by the light of flashlights and battery powered lanterns. He let out a long sigh, looking at the blinking battery light that had pulled up and frowned. He turned to the box of batteries Perry White had furnished him with and grabbed the battery pack on top.
“Infinity300 you’ve met your match.” Eugene grinned as he slapped the replacement battery backup to the back of the laptop he was working from. He saw the red light blink green and the bar change to fully charged in a matter of minutes. “Here we go.”
***
The next morning, Metropolis held a an eerie calm over its residents. Gone were the sounds of cars humming on the streets and public transportation whirring from one stop to another. The dim light of the sun rising along the horizon reflected off the water of the bay as Clark soared above the clouds, checking the city below him for any sign of trouble.
Most of the evening had been spent with one ear.on the outside world as he tried to get what sleep he’d been allowed before morning called. It had been a long and stressful evening with the numerous calls for help that had left him in need of reassurance and comfort by the end of the night that it would be okay. He had nearly lost an entire plane full of passengers. He’d come close to not being fast enough and that knowledge rocked him to the core, reminding him just how precious his gift of speed was.
“Flight 292 this is Air Traffic Control,” came the chirp of a radio from the distance.
Clark frowned when he picked up the radio frequency looking down at the city that was still dark with no power to light the businesses and homes below. Curious, he followed the source of the frequency he picked up on, trying to determine where the radio was feeding from.
***
Governor Wade paced in the hallway of the governor’s mansion, running a hand through his thinning hair. The lobby was filled with his administration staff. Most of which had been there all night. The city was still without power and he had no answers to give to the residents of New Troy.
The door opened and he turned to see General Reynolds standing in the doorway. The stern features on Reynolds’ face told him the visit wasn't a social call not was it good news.
“General,” Wade cleared his throat as he looked toward his Deputy Chief of Staff with a wary expression.
“The President has declared a state of emergency for the entire nation, Governor.” the Colonel spoke up. “I'll take it from here.”
***
Clark landed in the field just outside Saginaw County Airport just outside Saginaw Bay in Michigan. He looked around the field he was in, watching as the pilot exited the small helicopter with the help of the awaiting EMT’s ready to check him out for injuries. The radio on the helicopter was working. The lights and hum of activity filled the small airport and the city.
“Thank you, Superman,” the Ground Control Attendant said, walking with the gurney that the pilot was being wheeled on.
Clark nodded to the attendant and looked back to the helicopter that had lost its tail rotor just before almost crash landing into the field they were standing in. “I just wish I’d been able to do more.”
He took off, flying through the sky and making his way back to Metropolis. From what he could tell it appeared that power had been restored throughout the country. His super-hearing had picked up on police scanners, radio frequencies while attempting to stop the out of control helicopter from crashing. Hopefully that meant Metropolis was back online too.
Just as he reached bridge leading from Gotham to Metropolis, the sound of the electric hum running through the powerlines came to a halting stop. ‘Oh, no,’ he let out a groan, realizing his mental relief over the power outage being over had been short-lived. A frown crossed his face and he turned his attention to the darkness that covered the city he called home.
He looked behind him, noticing the soft glow coming from Gotham of lights in the clock tower. How was it that one city remained in the dark while the rest of the nation had been restored? The longer the city was without power the more desperate the city of Metropolis became. He and Lois needed to find who was behind the country-wide blackout and why, but first he needed to make a visit to confirm his suspicions.
***
Rollie Vale looked around the room nervously, spotting the enigmatic Bill Church Jr. in the corner, puffing on his cigar. The two women that had helped him make his escape sat across from him, wearing devilish grins that made him question momentarily how certain he was on his decision to team up with Intergang.
“The virus is timed to return Metropolis to full power in one hour,” he answered proudly.
“How deep were you able to penetrate the system?” Church asked, tapping his hand on the table in front of him.
“I got everything,” Rollie Vale grinned proudly.
“I do love a man that knows his way around a hard drive,” the woman he’d come to know as ‘HQ’ lunged across the table to plant her mouth on his, giving him a taste of cinnamon, liquor and fries all at once.
***
Ron Troupe looked down at the list of names he’d written down, still in disbelief at the announcement the press room had been given from the President. Criminals, philanderers, and thieves. Every newly appointed senator and congressman or congresswoman was someone that had lost to the newly vacated seats or someone that had dropped out of the race for the sake of their campaign. No one on the list screamed ‘trustworthy’ or ‘law-abiding.’ He took a deep breath as he reached for the phone in his pocket, wondering momentarily if he’d be able to get through.
***
“Are you sure?” Lois asked, pushing her way through the double doors of STAR Labs. The lobby was dark and the doors that were normally tightly sealed had been propped open for entry.
“Metropolis is the only city that hasn’t been restored.” Clark said with a grim expression as he followed her through the corridor.
“Lois, Clark, this is a surprise!” they both turned their attention to see Dr. Klein standing in the hallway.
They glanced at one another before jumping into the issue at hand in unison, “Yes, about that…” Clark began at the same time Lois started in with, “Dr. Klein we need your help.”
***
Bruce typed frantically at the keyboard of his laptop, searching through database after database to find the source of the virus his computer system had picked up on. The red blinking light in the corner of his keypad caught his attention and he looked up, “Lucius, where are the battery packs?”
“Catch,” Lucius tossed another battery pack to him, not even looking up from his own laptop as he typed away, continuing with his own search to track down the intruder that was attempting to take control of Wayne Tech’s infrastructure.
Bruce snapped the pack in place and smiled when he saw the blinking red light go from in distress to fully charged in a matter of minutes.
“How are you coming, Lucius?” Bruce asked. Before Lucius could respond the screen cleared and a green box with an infinity symbol appeared on his screen before spinning into a counterclockwise direction and disappearing once more. A loud humming filled the room and Bruce looked up at the lights that filled the room.
“Strange,” Lucius commented.
“Something's not right.” Bruce agreed.
***
“We did it!”
Cheers filled the crowded room as the technician that had been hard at work debugging New Troy Power’s data structure sat numbly at the screen. There was nothing that explained the sudden appearance of the infinity symbol or the power being restored.
The technician that had been working on fighting the virus with the help of his team stared at this screen, confused at the sudden entry into the cyber barriers that had prevented him from breaking through for hours. Now, all of a sudden he was in. Why?
***
The lights flooded through the newsroom of the Daily Planet and the staff cheered. Perry reached over to hug his desktop monitor just before pressing the power button to boot his computer on. The sound of power humming through the motherboard was music to his ears. “We are back online!”
“I'm not so sure about that.” Eugene's response came.
“What do you mean?” Perry asked.
Eugene stood up from the couch he’d been camped out on all evening and walked toward him, leaning over his shoulder. “It’s just...too easy.”
“You thinkin’ something else is going on here?” Perry asked, looking behind him.
“You could say that,” Eugene pointed to the screens on the television monitors outside Perry’s office. “Looks like we’re not the only ones with power back.”
“What in the world?” Perry glanced at the screen and saw a sign that read, “Criminals = Law Makers” with Ron Troupe standing in front of the crowd.
***
“Where to, Mr. Denetto?” the pilot asked as Johnny Denetto and his team boarded the private plane.
“Metropolis,” Stitches replied with a broad grin, patting the lead box next to him. “We have some tests to run.”
***
TBC...
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