CHAPTER 12
“You broke his jaw?!” Jimmy said amazed.
“I didn’t mean to,” Clark said trying his best to downplay things.
“One punch. Lois said you just hit him with one punch.”
“Lois was exaggerating. She had already softened him up with a few good punches herself. I just got in a lucky shot at the right moment. I probably hit him a few more times than she said.”
“Don’t be modest, Smallville,” Lois said approaching from behind, “I was rather pleased that you picked that moment to intercede. I thought I was a goner for sure. And, I don’t exaggerate. It was just one punch. I was there, remember?”
“Well, like I said, you had softened him up,” Clark said looking up at the woman. “I would rather you had ran in the other direction, though. Attacking a hit man isn’t exactly the smartest move you could make.”
“And letting him kill the star witness and probably you and me as well would have been a smart move?”
“That’s not what I mean,” Clark said.
“Then perhaps you might explain it better. I didn’t exactly see you high tailing it out the door. Are you saying it was a ‘smart’ move for you to roll around with a super villain, but not me? You wouldn’t be saying that because I’m a woman would you?”
“No, Lois,” Clark said shaking his head, “you know better than that. I just don’t like the idea of you going up against a killer.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, Clark, but someone had to. He’d just shot a cop and was drawing a bead on Maxwell. And you heard him, whoever hired him apparently named us in the hit as well.”
“I remember,” Clark said staring at his computer screen. “And we’re left without even any names to follow up on because Floyd Lawton A.K.A. Deadshot chose to make his entrance before Maxwell could finish his story.”
“Yeah, at least we know that Maxwell agreed with your version of the ‘smart’ move. The police still haven’t found him since he took off out the back door.”
“One punch…” Jimmy said again shaking his head in wonder.
“Jimmy,” Clark said feeling a bit exasperated, “seriously, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“Do you know how much force it would take to break a man’s jaw, Clark?” Jimmy asked looking at his friend.
“On average, it takes about 12 pounds of pressure to break a bone,” said a voice from behind them.
“Henderson,” Clark said looking up and trying not to show the gratitude he felt for the rescue.
“It’s not easy to break a bone in a fight, but it happens more often than you think, Olsen,” Henderson continued as he came to a stop beside the trio.
“Which also means that you’re lucky you didn’t break your hand as well, Kent,” he added.
“Any news on Maxwell?” Clark asked trying again to shift the topic.
“Nothing yet. The fact is he has access to God only knows how much money through different accounts to fund his escape. We’ve frozen what accounts we could find and have his description out to every train, plane, and bus station in the tri-state area, but so far nothing. Right now it’s even money if we find him or not, though.”
“Especially if Intergang finds him first,” Lois said. “Is Lawton talking at all?”
“I doubt he would even if his jaw wasn’t wired shut,” Henderson said with a slight smile. “That was actually a pretty good shot, Kent. The local boys said he was still out cold when they got there.”
Clark began to feel sick to his stomach again only this time there was no Kryptonite to blame it on.
“It was just a lucky punch,” he repeated weakly for perhaps the hundredth time that day.
“Either way,” Henderson said shrugging his shoulders, “you might want to be on alert the next time Lawton escapes or comes up for parole. The boys downtown say that he’s one unhappy inmate.”
“Well, if there isn’t any word on Maxwell then why have you stopped by Henderson? Not just to feed Clark’s ulcer I hope,” Lois said.
“I just wanted to see if Maxwell had told you anything that he’d kept from us. Hagan wanted an officer there during the interview to keep an eye on things like that, but he unfortunately isn’t around now to make a report.”
Clark closed his eyes briefly as he remembered seeing the officer gunned down while he watched helplessly from the couch.
“How’s the other officer?” he asked.
“They kept him overnight for observation,” Henderson replied, “but it looks like he was just stunned by the explosion and wasn’t seriously injured.”
“Thank God for that,” Clark said softly almost to himself.
“Yeah, he got off real lucky. Mostly thanks to you two though. God only knows what Deadshot would have done if you hadn’t taken him out.”
“Are you actually thanking us, Henderson?” Lois asked sounding shocked.
“I give credit where credit is due, Lane. And Kent,” Henderson said emphasizing Clark’s name, “did apprehend a cop killer.”
“I appreciate you too, Inspector,” Lois said adopting a syrupy sweet smile.
“I don’t think Maxwell even got to tell us as much as he told you, Inspector,” Clark said quickly speaking to break the staring contest Henderson and Lois had started to be engaged in.
He and Lois related all that Maxwell had shared with them up until the point of Deadshot’s interruption.
“I don’t suppose you’d like to share any names that Maxwell provided would you Inspector?” Lois asked.
“You suppose entirely correctly, Lane” Henderson responded. “Don’t worry though, I’ll stay in touch. I remember my debts. I expect the same from you two as well. You find out anything I want to be the first person to know before Perry White even.”
Lois opened her mouth to speak, but Henderson continued on.
“I don’t believe for a minute that’ll happen, though, so I’ll settle for being the first person who finds out immediately after White.”
Clark smiled for the first time that morning. “Don’t worry, Inspector. What we know you’ll know.”
Henderson nodded his head absently and then headed for the door. He stopped before he left the newsroom though and turned back to address Clark.
“I think I am starting to see how you’ve survived Lane all these years, Kent. With a punch like that you’re probably tough enough to actually come close to holding your own.”
He then chuckled and left the newsroom without a backward glance while Lois rolled her eyes.
“Someone should file a police brutality suit just because they force people to listen to their humor,” Lois said.
Turning back to Clark she added, “But aside from waiting for chuckles there to call do you have any ideas for what to do next?”
“Not much,” he replied. “But I do have a source in Lawton’s hometown that usually keeps track of the comings and goings of people like him. I’ll check with him tonight.”
**********
Superman leaned back against the wall beside a doorway while he waited for the man he had come to see to finish his work inside. Casting a glance through a side window from time to time his acute vision cut through the darkness and he marveled at what he saw inside.
Ten men surrounded and were attempting to overcome an eleventh. That man was dressed in black and gray and seemed more a part of the shadows than actually human. He moved with incredible speed and was dispatching the men with a hand-to-hand combat acumen that defied belief.
Superman knew that any attempts at help on his part would be deemed interference so he remained at his vantage point acting only as an observer. This decision quickly changed though when he saw another man step into the room and level a gun at the back of the man in black. Superman’s eyes narrowed and he prepared to let loose a short burst of heat vision, which would quickly end the problem.
Before he could act, however, something flew through the darkness knocking the gun from the man’s hand and then ricocheted into his chin rendering him unconscious. Superman stared in amazement for a moment before turning his gaze back to the man in black only to find the man glaring back at him as if he somehow was aware of Clark’s presence and knew what had been going through The Man of Steel’s mind.
Superman suddenly opened his mouth to shout a warning, but again before he could act the man lashed out and took down the thug that had been attempting to take him from behind. After another short glare the man in black returned to dispatch the remaining criminals.
“Oookay, now that was just spooky,” Superman muttered to himself as he turned back around to lean on the wall with his arms crossed.
He heard running footsteps approach the doorway from inside the room and he swung an arm out to halt the attempted escape. Before the criminal could knock the breath out of himself on the invulnerable arm, however, a black gloved hand grabbed hold of his collar and jerked him to a stop.
Realizing that something had stopped the criminal from his headlong rush into an immovable object Superman glanced into the room and found the terrified man being held aloft by Gotham City’s own masked protector, The Batman.
“Oh, good you’re done,” Superman said, “why don’t you tie h…”
The Batman delivered a straight-armed punch to the man’s jaw knocking him unconscious and then dropped him to the floor.
“Or you could do that,” Superman finished.
“I have no idea who hired Lawton, but I’m working on it,” Batman’s gravelly voice stated matter of factly startling the Man of Steel.
“How did…?” Superman began.
“It was on the news,” Batman said as he pulled plastic restraint ties from his belt and began to secure the unconscious men littered about the floor.
Yeah, I guess that’s…”
“You broke his jaw,” Batman said interrupting Superman a second time.
Superman dropped his head in embarrassment.
“It was an accident. He had Kryptonite on him and it was weakening me. I…”
“I wasn’t criticizing. I actually laughed out loud. Alfred thought I was ill.”
“Well, it wasn’t on purpose. I was just having trouble gauging my strength because of the Kryptonite and besides I needed to take him out quickly. Lois was…”
“Ahhh,” Batman said as he secured the last man.
“What do you mean ‘ahhh’?”
“Nothing, just Ms. Lane’s presence explains some of the urgency,” Batman said as he exited the building with Superman on his heels.
“Well, of course it does. A civilian was in danger. I had…what are you smirking about?”
Batman stopped in his tracks and turned around stone-faced.
“I. Don’t. Smirk.”
He hit a switch on his belt and headlights suddenly came on across the parking lot and a car moved quickly toward them only to stop a foot from Batman’s still form. The car itself was completely black with opaque tinted windows. Batman opened the door and retrieved a small lead case from somewhere in the interior. He tossed the case to Superman.
“What’s this?”
“The Kryptonite bullets Deadshot had on him. I figured you might want to dispose of them personally.”
Superman stared at the case in his hand for a second before responding.
“I thought these were in evidence lock-up back in Metropolis.”
“They were. They’re not now.”
“I appreciate the thought, Bruce, but you didn’t have to. I have a pretty good working relationship with the MPD. They would have turned them over to me after the trial.”
“Don’t be naive, Clark. They would have been buried under a ton of paperwork and when and if they ever did give them to you I guarantee at least one if not more would have been missing.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Batman said as he got in the car. “At any rate, you’ll find out soon enough. I replaced them with virtual duplicates except that they’re harmless to you. There are ten of them. If they give you all ten after the trial then you can feel free to come back and say I told you so. Until then I thought it might be safer if you had the originals now.”
Clark stared briefly at the case before he spoke.
“Thank you.”
Batman grunted an acknowledgement and then moved to put the car in gear.
“Bruce…” Clark began unsure as to how to proceed.
“Yes?” Batman responded taking his hand off the gearshift and looking up at Clark expectantly.
“Have…” Clark met his friend’s gaze briefly, but dropped his eyes as he spoke, “have you ever been bothered by the stuff you encounter on the job? Or feel like your control might be slipping?”
Hearing no response from his friend Clark continued on trying to find the words to explain his dilemma, “I mean have you ever been afraid of yourself? Of the things you can do or might do?”
Batman stared blankly at Superman for a moment before speaking.
“We’re not going to have ‘a moment’ are we?”
“What? No…no, it was just brought up to me a few days ago that people who deal with the kinds of things we deal do sometimes suffer from some stress related problems. They tend to burn out quickly and maybe be bothered by stress from the job. I just wondered if that had ever happened to you or if you had any opinion on the matter.”
Batman continued to stare blankly without speaking.
“And I guess that’s a ‘no’,” Superman said
“Clark,” Batman said, “is something in particular on your mind?”
“No…yes, it’s just last night I almost killed a man. I panicked when I thought he was going to kill another person and then without regard for his safety I lashed out. It was foolish and impulsive and I have to wonder if stress hasn’t caused me to lose my perspective.”
“Clark, you didn’t almost kill a man. You only broke his jaw. And it was a man who had just killed a police officer and almost killed you and someone…important to you.”
“That’s just semantics, Bruce. I ‘only’ broke his jaw by shear luck. I didn’t know how hard I was hitting him. I thought I was just going to knock him down. What if I had snapped his neck? Because of the Kryptonite I had no idea what power level I was functioning at. It was irresponsible of me to hit him at all.”
“What other choice did he leave you, Clark? He was the one with the gun. He was the one intent on killing everyone in that room. You had to act.”
“Act, but not kill. There’s always another option.”
“But, you didn’t kill him and never had the intention to in the first place.”
“I could have, though. And easily since I didn’t know my strength level.”
“Now who’s talking semantics?” Batman asked.
“If you knew it was possible that something you could do would potentially kill an opponent in a fight would you risk it?”
“It’s not the same, Clark.”
“Would you?” Clark pressed.
“No,” Batman said after a pause, “but hindsight is always twenty-twenty. All you knew was that he had to be stopped before he killed again and you pulled your punch like you’ve always done. Now, let me ask you a question.”
Clark looked at his friend expectantly.
“Even considering the Kryptonite, could you have hit him hard enough to kill him if you had wanted to?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“But nothing. You pulled your punch, Clark. You could have stopped him quickly and decisively, but you chose the morally right path of not taking a life. A path you’ve always chosen. That’s the one true commonality the two of us share. We don’t kill. Just because you didn’t know how hard you did hit him doesn’t change the fact that you knew how hard you could hit him and you consciously chose not to.”
“But what if I had been wrong?”
“You’re the most level headed man I know, Clark, and I’d trust your judgment, even impaired, before almost anyone else’s” the Batman responded. “The only complaint I have about you is that you’re too hard on yourself and too trusting and easy on everyone else around you. I’m afraid that it’s liable to get you killed one of these days.”
“You tend to look at the dark side of things, Bruce. Sometimes I think you’re not trusting enough of the motives of others. These bullets for example.”
“You trust that people are just like you and want to do the right thing. But, they don’t see you as one of them, Clark. You’re larger than life. Almost a god. And people like to bring gods down to their level. You show people how they could be if they worked at it and didn’t always choose the easy path. But, too many people like the easy way, Clark, the comfortable way. They don’t like it when someone shows them that the justifications they use to excuse how they live their lives are exactly that, justifications and excuses. It reminds them of the compromises they make everyday because they’re too weak to stand their ground. It’s why people pull the wings off of flies and crucify good men. They don’t like to feel like they’re being looked down upon even if just from a moral standpoint. Give them the opportunity and they’ll find your weaknesses and bludgeon you with them. That’s why you can’t afford to trust that they’ll just hand over the one thing that evens the playing field.”
When Clark didn’t respond after a few moments Batman put the car in gear.
“Not everyone is as good a person as you are, Clark. Remember that.”
With that his window closed and the car disappeared into the night leaving the Man of Steel alone in the dark parking lot with his thoughts.
“But I have to believe they can be, Bruce. I have to believe they can be,” Clark whispered to himself.
He stared at the case in his hand for a few moments and then his eyes began to glow slightly. Smoke rose from the case, as the seam was welded shut. When this was complete he made a sudden move and hurled the case into the sky.
TBC…
