PART EIGHT
Clark crumpled the sheet of paper in his hand and smoothed it out again. His vision abilities had quickly come back from the kryptonite exposure, and he had scanned the paper for any other clues. No luck. All they knew so far was that a fanatical anti-Superman group with some dangerous weapons had been responsible for two attacks in the last few days. The only known member of this group was locked away in the police station, refusing to answer questions. Because this group had never publicly identified themselves, investigating them was going to be very difficult, and would take a long time. Days of stakeouts and dead ends loomed ahead of Clark. He heard the door to the conference room open, and looked up to see Jimmy enter wearing a small frown.
“Hey CK, this symbol you gave me; you said it was used as a tattoo, right?”
“Yeah…” If Jimmy were Superman, he would have flown up in the air over his excitement.
“I knew I had seen it before somewhere! I know what tattoo parlor designed it! It’s called Rosetta Studios; I saw a guy getting it done in there.” Lois gave a smirk.
“Jimmy what were you doing in a tattoo parlor?” Jimmy squirmed under the stares of Lois, Perry, and Clark.
“I was out with a bunch of guys, and I uh… lost a bet.” He blushed. “Anyway, as I was waiting for my turn, the guy ahead of me was getting this design put on his forearm.” Clark’s spirit’s lifted. At last, a solid link to this group. Now all he and Lois had to do was go around to the tattoo parlor and ask a few innocent questions… He stopped. He couldn’t do that anymore. Thanks to Top Copy, Clark Kent was nearly as recognizable as Superman, and he could hardly afford to have the group catch wind of what he was onto. He made sudden decision.
“Jimmy, can you go back to that parlor and maybe hang around a bit? See who comes and goes and especially pay attention if anyone else gets one of those tattoos?” Lois let out an exclamation and turned to Clark.
“Clark, what are talking about? That’s something we can do, you remember, Lane and Kent: ‘The Hottest Team in Town’?”
“Lois, think about it,” Clark explained. “Every reporter in the city is on my tail right now, and I’m sure the press coverage is just as heavy on you.” She grudgingly nodded. “Hardly anybody knows that Jimmy’s close to us, he’ll be able to blend in and get some real information.” Lois looked torn. Clark sympathized. She was used to fronting investigations, diving in headfirst to get information. He had taken that away from her.
“Alright,” she grumbled. “But you better get us some good information Jimmy, and let us know what’s going on.” Jimmy grin threatened to overtake his whole face.
“No problem guys, I’ve seen you in action enough to know what to do.”
“You’ll do a good job son, I’m sure of it.” Perry patted Jimmy on the shoulder, and Jimmy turned to exit the conference room. He had almost reached the door, when Lois suddenly called him back.
“Hey Jimmy, when do we get to see the tattoo you got?” Jimmy’s face instantly heated up.
“Um… No offense Lois, but it’s not exactly in a place I’ll be showing you anytime soon.” With that, he scuttled out of the conference room, avoiding anymore comment regarding the whole scenario. Perry gave a great guffaw, and even Clark couldn’t help but smile. Leave it to Jimmy to lose a bet and end up with a tattoo on a, um… sensitive area.
Jimmy hadn’t been gone long when a very nervous messenger knocked on the door and hesitantly opened it.
“Uh, Clark? There’s a package here for you.” He held out the envelope as far away from his body as possible and shrank back as Clark stood to take the package. Clark flushed. Ensconced safely in the conference room for most of the day, he had forgotten how the rest of the world had started to treat him. Perry, Jimmy, and Lois still saw him as Clark Kent, but everyone else now saw him as the most powerful being on the planet. Flaming with discomfort, Clark quietly thanked the man, who hurriedly left the conference room. Lois, thankfully ignoring the messenger’s behavior, leaned across the table to get a better look at the brown envelope.
“What is it?” she asked. Clark pulled down his glasses, and used his X-ray vision to look inside so as not to tamper with the package.
“It’s a videotape,” he announced. “No fingerprints, no notes, the tape’s not even labeled.”
“How-” Perry began, but quickly realized what Clark was doing.
“Well, open it,” demanded Lois. “Let’s see what’s on the tape.” Obediently, Clark ripped open the envelope, and stuck the tape in the VCR. The three of them stood in front of the TV to watch.
A person appeared on the screen. They had a black ski mask pulled over their face with no holes for eyes or mouth, and the camera was zoomed in close. The only background visible was a concrete wall that looked like part of a factory or warehouse. The person’s face filled the rest of the screen, but the lack of distinguishable features made for an eerie visual. This person looked like a blank slate, no personality or soul. Only purpose. They didn’t even know that the person was female until she began to speak.
“Superman,” she began, in clear ringing tones. “By now you’ve no doubt gotten our messages. We are the Guardians, protectors of Metropolis.” There was a pause. “Your presence here is not wanted. Unlike the rest of Metropolis, who are too afraid of your power to disobey you, we alone are willing to take a stand against your tyranny. We alone will purge Metropolis of the pollutants that inhabit her.” Bile rose up Clark’s throat. Who were these people? “I have sent you this videotape to inform you that the Guardians have declared war on the great Metropolis newspaper known as the Daily Planet. This newspaper has willingly given you a livelihood while you have paraded your alien-ness for the world to see. Although they had no obligation to do so, they have willingly given you a refuge for over a year with no force or coercion on your part. This makes the Planet far guiltier than any forced generosity from others too weak to resist. Hence, the Daily Planet is our primary attack target. Let everyone be warned. Any wishing to be spared this attack are advised to cut off all relationships with the Planet immediately and leave Metropolis.” She paused, her blank face staring out of the screen “The battle had begun, Superman.” The screen went black.
* * *
The faint hum that came from the empty TV was the only sound in the room. Lois’ eyes remained riveted on the blank screen long after it had gone dark. The racing pulse of her thoughts circled around in her head. The Daily Planet! How could they? It was a symbol of truth, of sticking up for the little guy. How could they have chosen it as a target? *Why* would they choose it as a target? Clark cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
“Chief, I’ll give you my official resignation by the end of today.” His face was ashen. “I’ll call a press conference and cut off all communication with the Planet. Maybe-”
“Clark, no!” Lois exclaimed. “You can’t just leave! You can’t…” Lois trailed off. Never had she imagined something as terrible as this happening. What did that group think they were playing at, separating the hottest team in town?
“Lois is right son,” Perry added. “Leaving the Planet won’t solve any issues with this ‘Guardian’ group. If you leave they’ll probably just come after us anyway. As far as these guys are concerned, we’ve already committed our crime.” Clark was noticeably agitated. Lois watched as he paced around the room.
“Well what do you expect me to do Chief? These ‘Guardians’ sent me this tape for a reason. Maybe it was a challenge, maybe they were just trying to taunt me, I don’t know!” He sighed. “Whatever their reasons are, I have to do something about it. I can’t just passively let this group plant bombs in the Daily Planet basement and…” He trailed off, a vacant look on his face. He must be hearing something she and Perry couldn’t, Lois thought.
“Clark?” she asked.
“Ow!” Clark hands flew up to protect his ears, wincing in response to her voice.
“Sorry,” she blushed.
“It’s okay,” he muttered distractedly. “Your voice is just kinda grating when I’m…” With a vague gesture he pointed to his ears, lapsing into silence. Grating! She huffed. She would show him- But before Lois got a chance to come up with a suitable retort, Clark had vanished from the room, creating a cyclone of papers. He returned, barely a second after smelling strongly of chemicals and smoke, carrying an unidentifiable lump of smoldering something. He blew on it, cooling the lump and placed it on the table. Even without the smoke and heat interfering her view, the remains were so burned and melted that Lois couldn’t be entirely sure that it was what she thought it was.
“Is that a…”
“A bomb,” Clark confirmed. “It was planted in the Daily Planet basement.”
