All anyone ever saw was the power of the office. No one ever saw the helplessness, the pain of the time when there was nothing you could do but sit and wait.
News footage was on a dozen screens, with live video of a sky lit by thousands of streaks of light. Thousands of fragments rained down; most were incinerated as they entered the atmosphere, but hundreds of larger pieces got through.
Colorado was safe, but even from here the sky was lit up like it was dawn.
Reports began flooding in from the west coast. Fragments of the meteor struck down like the judgment of God. Reports of fires, of looting, of traffic jams miles in length as people tried to escape the doomed areas. More people were dying from the panic than from the meteors. Power lines were down and a dozen western states were without electricity.
It was a nightmare, despite the low casualty count. So far it was only in the double digits, but that number would grow.
Throughout it all, Lois felt dazed. She made calls, spoke with governors and mayors and directors of Homeworld security. It was important that she remained calm and in command. Lives were at stake, and a failure here would cause panic and confusion down the line.
The military was efficient at least. This wasn’t the confrontation they’d been preparing for, but they ‘d been looking for trouble from the skies. The new air defense system was put to its first real test. Eighty percent of the remaining fragments were shattered long before they reached the earth as streaks of fire shot up from military bases and population centers.
Despite everything they could do, there were too many fragments and too few defense systems in place. Lois found herself cursing under her breath, but it couldn’t be helped. Dozens of large meteors struck the earth, at first in uninhabited areas, but increasingly headed for metropolitan centers.
It was then that one of the agents entered at a run. He leaned close to Lois and whispered.
Clark Kent had escaped.
*****************
There were flashes of the void, memories of pain and fear and desperate loss. Seeing the sky, Clark knew instinctively what it meant.
He felt a moment of fear, of hesitation. He was injured, and the fragments were poison to him. Intervening meant he could die.
Dying would mean giving up on a chance with Lois, a chance to be with her that apparently they’d missed the first time around.
The moment passed, and his purpose became clear. People were dying, and he had a chance to stop that.
He couldn’t simply sit by and let them destroy everything that he loved.
He’d become Superman for a reason, and it wasn’t for glory. It wasn’t for power. It was to make a difference, to leave the world better than what he’d found it. He didn’t have the suit, but it didn’t matter.
The shattering of the picture window was the only sign he left in his wake.
***************
It was the news reports that clued them in first. The meteors continued to fall, but reports of people being saved began to trickle in, first as a few isolated reports, then as a flood.
People trapped on the freeway, trying to escape California, stuck in cars that had become death traps. Miraculously, these people began appearing at local shelters, appearing in a blur.
He wasn’t slowing down at all, not stopping to accept thanks or give any explanations.
People pulled from buildings. He wasn’t stopping the meteors; he must have learned already that they hurt him. His only concern was human life.
The calls began to slow. Lois found herself drawn increasingly to the screen, as millions of others must be. The damage to property was incredible, but the loss of life was far less that Lois ever would have hoped.
Scientists would later talk about the relatively small arc of the shower as it hit Nevada and California. Within an hour, the shower was striking the Pacific, the country being protected at last by the curvature of the earth.
From that point in, the reports were all about the damage that had been done. There were occasional reports of ships being saved out in the Pacific, but as the last of the meteor fragments landed, Lois was dealing with reports of deaths from the small tidal wave that hit the California coast first, and then the shores of Japan.
Fires too were taxing an already overstrained system.
The reports of deaths began again, and this time there were no reports of rescues.
There were no reports of Clark at all.
Lois felt numb. She’d found him again only to lose him.
It was hours before the calls began to slow, before there were moments of peace. The news channels were showing only repeats now, the same footage over and over again.
One more scar on the psyche of an already damaged nation.
In the end, all she could do was stare numbly at her desk. At this point, sleep seemed impossible, though she was desperately tired. She wondered, not for the first time, why she’d ever wanted the job.
Oh. Right. She’d wanted to make a difference.
*****************
He retched heavily, spewing water onto the deck. Dimly he could see figures above him. He felt as weak as he’d ever felt, and he retched again.
Squinting into the sky, he relaxed as he realized that no more meteors were falling. The sky was finally at peace, and filled with a sea of stars.
He slept. When he woke again, he realized he was on a stretcher. He heard the familiar sound of flashbulbs , and he squinted, realizing that there were photographers taking his picture.
“Are the rumors about you and the President true?” one of the men shouted when he saw that Clark was awake. “Don’t you think it’s a slap in the face of the country for you to carry on like that?”
Another man shoved him aside. “Is this the first part of another attack by the New Kryptonians? “
Clark shook his head and was instantly hit with blinding pain as he struggled against his restraints. A moment later he was out again.
When he woke again, he was in a hospital, and he was in pain.
Lois was there.
***************
He looked worse than he had in the tabloid pictures. His face was pale and white, and he looked almost gaunt. He’d been unconscious for days.
Despite hard won knowledge of Kryptonian physiology, there had been little the doctors could do other than remove the fragments of meteorite that were poisoning him and chelation therapy, introducing substances into the body designed to bind with the heavy metals in his bloodstream and help him excrete them.
It wasn’t really designed for this sort of mineral, and the doctors didn’t hold out much hope.
The camera was up in the corner of the room, an ever present eye waiting for him to lunge at her. Despite all her assurances, the secret service took its work seriously. Lois was persistently aware of the two agents waiting outside the door, and the others at both ends of the hall. The agents on top of the roof, in the basement, in the stairwells and on every possible entrance to this place were an ever present nuisance.
They’d earned their right to be.
Clark stirred, and Lois felt her heart leap. There’d been some fear that he was going to be comatose.
“Lo..”
“Don’t try to talk,” Lois said. She smiled down at him, trying not to see the strain in her eyes. “I’m glad to see you back.”
They sat together, and for now it was enough.
************
Her chief of staff was waiting for her. “You can’t keep doing this. The press is having a field day.”
“I’ve done all the rejecting I can stand. He saved our lives and he deserves anything we can give him.” Lois scowled and slipped into the long, black armored car.
“It’s just going to bring up the old rumors,” The older man slipped into the seat beside her. “We can’t afford to look weak.”
“His numbers are almost up to what they were before the war. The people have forgiven him.” Lois stared out the window at the gathering crowds of people outside. She’d have to vary the timing of her visits. It wouldn’t do to be too predictable.
“That’s today. What about tomorrow?”
“We’ll deal with that when we come to it.” Lois’s voice curt, and the older man immediately backed off. He knew when to push a subject and when to drop it. It made him a valuable second in command.
“The joint chiefs want to look into using the meteorite fragments as a weapon.”
Lois frowned. Supplies of kryptonite were intensely limited. It would be best to get the fragments out of the hands of criminals and into the hands of someone who could use it.
“Do it.”
