She grinned shyly, “I guess I talk too much.”
“No, not at all. I love listening to you. You’re a fun-loving person. It’s refreshing.”
“Thanks Clark,” she blushed slightly, turning her attention to wiping her mouth with her napkin. She looked around for the Ladies room. “I’d better go freshen up, I’ll be right back.”
“Sure,” Clark said as the waiter arrived with the bill. Kara got up and left while Clark pulled his credit card out of his pocket and put it in the tip tray on top of the cheque. He’d have to go pick up his wallet soon. He wasn’t looking forward to that, though.
Part 21
The hit man that Nigel had hired, climbed the stairs to the roof of the Metropolitan Life building in Metropolis. He had the machine gun loaded with kryptonite bullets under his loose overcoat, hardly what you'd need to wear on this nice summer evening.
He set up the tripod that would hold the heavy gun in place. It took a few minutes to secure the gun into the connection. He looked through the viewfinder and located the building across the street. The front entrance would be a perfect spot to catch Superman as he entered and left the building with the injured. He adjusted the gun so that it would point in just the right direction.
He pulled a remote control device out of his pocket and pushed the red button.
The office building across the road exploded. Glass, metal and cement spewed out onto the street and in all directions. Several cars swerved to avoid the flying debris and crashed into telephone poles and into oncoming traffic. Tires screeched and horns blared.
The office building burst into flames as the upper floors toppled precariously. The few people who had been working late broke the sealed glass windows to escape the teetering building as flames spread upward in windy waves of heat. Shrieks were heard as one man jumped to his death below, driven out by the flames.
Clark and Kara stepped out from the restaurant into the noisy street dance below. Kara smiled at Clark, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the crowd. They began to dance with the loud rock music. She watched his face as they faced one another. She smiled as they made eye contact, admiring his agility.
Suddenly Clark's head turned upward and to the side. He froze. Leaning close to Kara's ear he said, "Uh, I think I’d better go back in and use the men's room. Nature calls."
Kara smiled at him and winked. "I'll be here, dancing!"
"I’ll be right back. I’m sorry."
"No problem."
In a few moments Clark had figured out how to get to the roof of the building.
Kara looked up as a red streak took off across the sky. She smiled. She'd wondered when he would get called away as Superman.
Part 22
Clark flew over Metropolis, feeling strange about the rescue he was about to perform. As he hovered above it, x-raying to see where the injured and endangered were, he heard the click of a gun on a building across the road. The gun was aimed at the doors of the building while the man at its helm was looking at Superman hovering above it.
Clark shot a ray of heat and melted the gun, sealing the kryptonite inside. Scanning quickly for other weapons, he satisfied himself and flew into the building.
The man who had been holding the weapon pulled his hands away as the metal of the gun liquefied in front of him, landing in a puddle at his feet. He jumped backwards and looked at his burned hands. Blisters were forming. He shot Superman a glare, but the man in the red cape had vanished. He ran back across the roof of the building to a puddle and plunged his hands in, relieved as the pain dulled slightly.
It would be awhile before he could get more kryptonite bullets. He'd had far more than he'd ever need for this job, but he'd underestimated the powers of Superman.
When his hands felt a bit better, he returned to the stairwell and headed to his car.
"He melted it, I tell you! He did! I don't know how, but I was just ready to shoot him and he looked at me and I was suddenly holding molten steel. Don't ask me how he did it."
"So you need more bullets, is that right?"
"And another gun."
"Okay, I’ll let you know when I’ve got it for you."
"Okay, page me when you're ready."
"Right."
The two thugs hung up their cell phones. The one with burnt hands watched as Superman sped in and out of the building's windows rescuing victims.
Before leaving, Clark took Henderson up to the roof where he could begin the investigation of the man who had been pointing the machine gun at Superman.
"You didn't leave me any fingerprints, Superman!" Henderson chided him.
"Next time I’ll be more careful."
