Notes: I guess I should explain where the whole idea for this fic came from. Well, basically, here was the logical progression.
1. Clark Kent is a man with issues, wearing that gaudy suit and pretending to be two different people.
2. What if he had even bigger issues, and actually believed that he was two different people?
You probably have to read the first part (Identity Crisis I: Pilot, which is pretty short) for the Clark/Superman dynamic to make any sense in this story.
-Vincent
****
Lois stared outside the window of the editor’s office while Clark played basketball with the wastebasket. In the back of Clark’s head, Superman was on much higher alert than usual, after hearing the agent say that he wanted Superman and wasn’t going to leave until Lois and Clark told him where they could find him.
“Do they honestly think that if we knew where Superman was, we’d be hanging around this place?” Lois complained.
Clark was now using his breath to levitate a trash ball over the wastebasket.
<Drop the ball, she’s turning around!> Superman suddenly yelled at Clark.
Clark let the trash ball fall into the basket. <Geez! Don’t startle me like that!> Outwardly, Clark tried to appear calm by whistling a tune.
<Sorry. I guess I’m a little on edge.> Superman apologized.
Before Clark could respond, the door opened to reveal Perry White. “OK kids, here’s the deal. They want the two of you to take a polygraph test.”
****
“You will answer yes to the first to questions. We will use this to calibrate the machine. Is your name Clark Kent?” the agent asked.
“Yes.” Clark responded.
“Are you also…Superman?”
<No, Superman is the other guy who lives in my head.> “Yes.”
The lie detector started beeping furiously while drawing waves of larger amplitude than normal.
The agent seated next to the polygraph machine breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, it’s working. I was afraid that we’d have problems with this thing again.”
“Well, Mr. Kent, we’ll proceed. Have you ever met Superman?”
****
“Since you’re now a man in hiding, I think that this would be the purrrr-fect night to have dinner at my place.” Cat purred as she stroked Clark’s tie.
<What? *She’s* your *girlfriend*??> Superman asked incredulously. <Clark, I’ve heard people around here talking about her, and->
<No, she’s *not* my girlfriend!”> Clark hissed back in his mind. Out loud, he said warily, “You and me?”
“Hmm…unless you think we need a…chaperone.”
<Oh, he will have a chaperone. Clark, don’t even *think* about it. I’ll be watching…> Superman warned.
****
“Hey, C.K. It is *all over* the newsroom. You…and the Cat Woman.” Jimmy grinned as he stood next to the desk where Lois and Clark were sitting.
<Clark, you can *not* let that *shameless* woman ruin your reputation!> Superman declared vehemently.
<Superman, it’s none of your business. Let *me* deal with it. Besides, those fake agents are way more important to us right now.> Clark replied.
Superman relented, but Clark could still hear him in the back of his mind grumbling something about “injustice”.
****
“You don’t like vegetarian, do you?” Martha asked, looking concernedly at her son’s full dinner plate.
“He’s confused. Probably doesn’t know whether to plant it or eat it.” Jonathan said.
Clark and Superman were at home, eating dinner with Clark’s parents. Superman had taken over for a bit and had flown their shared body to the Kent farmhouse after the interview with Thompson. They had both agreed that it would do Superman some good to get some fresh air after being just a passenger in Clark’s body for so long.
<They have no idea how confused I am…I mean, I’ve got a voice in my head!> Clark thought to himself.
<Hey, I heard that!> Superman thought to Clark accusingly.
<Oops. Sorry.>
Coming back to reality, Clark looked up and finished his dinner at super speed.
“Sure looks like he missed your cooking, though.” Jonathan said, amused.
“Clark, honey, you just inhaled that. Something’s on your mind, isn’t it?” Martha asked, becoming even more concerned.
“I wanna know everything about how you found me…everything.”
****
The next day brought a whirlwind of important events. Not only had Lois and Clark discovered that the agent who was after Superman was named Jason Trask, they had also learned that he was part of a shadowy organization called Bureau 39.
A subsequent interview with one of Trask’s old contacts had yielded the key to the bureau’s security system for the furniture warehouse on Bessolo Boulevard.
“Clark, do you really think this could…” Lois said off in the distance. She had gotten separated from Clark during their inspection of the warehouse.
When Clark pulled the tarp off of a familiar-looking shape, he stopped cold in recognition. As he began tracing his fingers over the object, Superman began to talk to him.
<Clark…is this your spaceship?> Superman asked tentatively.
<It is.> Clark thought back, stunned. Then his hands brushed the sand off of a familiar object.
<The symbol on my suit!> Superman exclaimed, realizing what it was.
Clark was hardly paying attention to him, however. Engrossed in his own thoughts, he reached into a nearby bag and pulled out a globe. It began to glow.
“Clark! Clark, somebody’s coming.” Lois said as she ran up to him nervously.
Clark quickly stuffed the globe into his pocket.
“Now how did you two manage to get in here?” Jason Trask entered the room, followed by several of his goons.
****
“Superman, if you can hear me…drop what you’re doing and get over here now! Superman, help!” Lois shrieked as she fell from 20,000 feet after being pushed out of Trask’s plane.
Clark panicked as he saw Lois falling below him. <Superman, now!> he yelled frantically to his partner.
<Right. I’ll save her.> Superman replied calmly. As Clark relinquished control of the body, Superman changed into his suit and sped to the rescue.
****
“Lois…” Clark began.
“Do you realize what we’ve lost here, Clark?” Lois asked forlornly. They had gone back to Bureau 39’s warehouse, only to find that it had already been cleared out.
“Yeah. I do.” Clark said, in a subdued voice. Images of his missing spaceship flooded his mind.
<I’m sorry, Clark.> Superman said, equally subdued.
****
“I hear you’ve been looking for me.” Superman said as he stood in front of Lois. Clark had suggested that he give Lois his first interview, in order to distance himself from his creator a bit. He had agreed, a little out of sympathy for the ordeal that Lois had just gone through.
“All my life.” she instinctively replied without thinking.
<Clark, what does she mean by that? I haven’t even been around that long!>
<Nothing.> Clark replied tersely.
“Everybody’s looking for you.” Lois continued.
“I know. And I know that you almost died because of that.” Superman stated.
“Well, it did make that bungee jump I did last year seem pretty tame.”
“I’m gonna find that man, Lois. That’s a promise.”
“You know my name. But I don’t know yours.” Lois said questioningly, glancing up at his face.
“Superman seems to have caught on.” he said with an ironic smile. Truthfully, he hadn’t even possessed a name before “Superman”.
“Where are you from? I mean, you’re not from Kansas, that’s for sure.”
<Stick to the story.> Clark reminded Superman gently.
<Right. I use your extraterrestrial origins, since you’re not using them yourself.>
“I’m from another planet. A place called ‘Krypton’.”
“Do you mind if I write some of this down?”
“No.”
“Oh…You seem to, uh…have all the parts of a man…” Lois managed to get out, blushing.
“Uh, I am a man, Lois.” Superman replied, somewhat patronizingly.
<Poor Lois. She must be in a state of nerves right now. Did you *hear* what she just said?> he asked Clark.
<Yes.> Clark responded, a bit too quickly. He sounded…annoyed. Now what was *his* problem?
<Hey, don’t give me that tone of thought. Remember, it was *your* idea to give her this interview.> Superman huffed.
For some reason, his simple answer didn’t seem to completely satisfy Lois. However, she shook her head, and asked, “But, why are you here?”
“To help.”
“To help? I need a little bit more of a quote than that. Something like, ‘I have not yet begun to fight’, or ‘damn the torpedoes’. Something like that. I, I mean, if you said, ‘I am here to fight for *truth* or *justice*’…” Lois broke off, waiting for Superman to respond.
<Clark? How about “truth and justice”? Would that be OK with you?> Superman consulted with Clark.
<Yes. That sounds good. Go with that.> Clark agreed.
“Truth and Justice.” Superman said to Lois confidently. “You can use that.”
Suddenly, he heard a cry for help. Apparently, Clark heard it too. <Superman, better cut this short.> he said sharply, with a bit of…relief?
<I know.> Turning to Lois, he said, “Someone’s in trouble.”
Before Lois could respond, Superman flew off to answer the distress call.
****
Unbeknownst to Superman, Clark brooded silently to himself in the back of their mind while Superman flew them out of the newsroom. Once again, Lois had been flirting with Superman.
At least Superman hadn’t flirted back…in fact, he had been totally innocent with regard to the causes of her strange behavior. Sooner or later though, Superman would recognize Lois’s feelings for him – not even he was that naïve. And what would he do then - would he return her feelings?
Clark agonized at the situation. If Superman returned Lois’s obvious feelings of affection, would he be willing to step aside for Superman? Let Superman be the dominant personality? Or would he try to put a stop to their romance, on the grounds that it was *his* body? Would Superman start asking if he could have more frequent control of the body so that he could go out on dates with Lois?
Even if he could get Lois to fall for *him* instead, what kind of relationship could he have with her, with Superman always in the back of his head? Would he approve? Or would he insist that Clark could not carry on a romantic relationship, because he saw everything that Clark saw? Never in his life had Clark ever felt such despair. All of a sudden, he wished that he had never created Superman. However, now it was too late - Superman was a distinct persona with his own thoughts and feelings, just as he was.
****
