From Chapter 8…
When they landed, Lois did not speak and both Superman and Clark looked at her with concern. Without a word, Lois pointed upward and the two men turned around to see a missile coming straight toward them.
Superman took off towards it and intercepted it. He threw it skyward but a moment later it exploded, the sound and light blocking out everything for a moment. When things cleared, Superman was no where to be found.
Lois searched the sky for him and when she did not see him, she turned to Clark. “Do you think he's alright?” Lois asked him.
Clark said nothing for a moment, trying to come to grips with his own emotions. Superman was here supposedly to help him. What if he was killed by that explosion? Clark was not really sure what the limits of his abilities were. What if somewhere in a parallel universe a different Lois had just been widowed? Children just orphaned? And how would they ever know?
Looking dejected, Clark turned to Lois, “I hope so, Lois. I really hope so.”
Chapter 9
Lois and Clark made their way downstairs to the newsroom without speaking. Lois kept glancing at Clark out of the corner of her eye. She was surprised to see that Clark really did look upset. Based on his unwillingness to answer her questions the other night, she had not been 100% convinced that he was telling the truth about his friendship with Superman, but looking at him now, it was hard not to believe that the two men were friends. Clark looked sincerely worried.
It made her feel a little silly. She, too, was worried about Superman, and she knew that her feelings were in more than just a “someone who had the potential to do great things for the world may be dead” kind of way. She cared about the man, but in the face of Clark's emotions, her emotions seemed a bit superficial. Clark had had an actual conversation with Superman. She had exchanged no more than half a dozen words with him and one, actually now it was two, wonderful flights across the sky.
Even with Clark's presence there on the flight a few moments ago, Lois had felt special. Superman went to her first, and he held her in his arms, while he just asked Clark to hold on. She knew it was silly to think she was something special to him, but she wanted to believe it anyway.
And now he might be gone. She had just met him and already he may be gone. It just was not fair.
“Lois, Clark,” Perry called as they entered the newsroom. “What happened?”
“Before or after we were thrown out of the plane?” Lois asked sarcastically.
“Is Superman alright?” Clark asked, and again Lois felt a little badly about her own emotions in the face of Clark's.
“We don't know,” Perry admitted. “We're running down some witnesses.” But Perry's voice was calm. For him, this was a news story, not a story about a friend.
Lois leaned over to grab Clark's arm and pulled him towards the conference room. Clark followed without comment.
When they got inside, Lois closed the door. “Clark, are you alright?” she asked him. She felt herself flush when Clark looked at her in surprise. She had not really been very kind to him since he had been hired. Heck, she had not been very kind to him before that, either. It was not too surprising that he was surprised by her show of concern now.
After a moment, though, he nodded his head. “I'm just worried about him,” he admitted.
Lois smiled slightly. “Me, too.”
“Maybe we should go look for him?” Clark asked.
“But he could be anywhere, Clark. How will we ever find him?” Lois asked.
Lois' question made Clark realize he should not have invited her to help him anyway. He could cover much more ground flying than walking. He placed a warm hand on her shoulder, hoping to appear generous rather than like he was trying to keep her out of this. “You're right. But I have to do something. Maybe I should go look for him while you work on the story?”
“No,” Lois said. “If you need to go find him, I'll help you.”
Clark smiled brightly at her, deciding it was worth it to walk rather than fly if it meant that he would have Lois with him. For her part, Lois felt a bit guilty. She knew she was going at least as much to find Superman as to be there for Clark.
Still, when Clark placed a hand on the small of her back as they left the newsroom, in an effort to be kind, she did not brush him off as quickly as she normally would have.
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“Do you think he's right?” Lois asked Clark once they made their way outside.
“Whose right about what?” Clark asked her.
“Trask. He clearly thinks Superman is an alien. Do you think he is? He seems so… human. Like you and me.”
Clark felt a fondness for Lois in that moment that was unlike even his earlier affection for her. Since he had started to develop powers, all he had really wanted was to be like everyone else. While Lois' comment was about Superman, it so clearly labeled Clark as “normal” it made his day.
“I don't think so,” Clark said, hesitant to tell Lois about his new found knowledge about coming from Krypton as he was not ready for it to be in the papers yet. “I don't know how different he is, though. I imagine he's still a man who has feelings, even if he's not from this world.”
To his surprise, Lois placed a hand in his. “That's sweet, Clark. Really sweet.”
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They had covered much of the area around the Daily Planet and now had nearly finished covering Centenniel Park, but still no sign of Superman. Clark was starting to get eager to cover more ground by taking flight, but did not want to lose Lois' company. He was glancing at the sky longingly, when he saw it. “Lois,” he said, his voice a whisper. “Is that him?”
Lois looked up, “I think so!” she said excitedly. “Superman!” she called.
The figure flying far above them stopped suddenly, than glancing down, flew down to land beside them. “You were looking for me?” Superman asked.
“Everybody's looking for you,” Lois said.
“You're alright,” Clark said, his voice soft.
Superman turned to him with a warm smile, “You'll soon learn that very little can hurt me, Clark.”
“Very little?” Clark asked, and Superman cursed himself for his choice of words. Of course, Clark picked up on that. He was eagerly trying to learn as much about himself as he could, and if he had missed it, as shrewd as she was, Lois would have caught it.
Finally deciding that lying to Clark did not make sense, he answered, “Very little, but that's all I'm going to say about that.”
Clark nodded his head in understanding.
“I'm going to find Trask and stop him,” he told Lois and Clark, although he knew that if things continued to follow the path of his world, Trask was really going to be the one to find him.
“There's a warehouse,” Lois started, but Superman cut her off.
“It's gone, Lois,” he said, although his eyes were on Clark's.
“You know my name!” Lois said, her voice awed. “But I don't know yours.”
“Superman seems to have caught on,” he smiled at her.
“What do you mean "it's gone'?” Clark asked, more interested in the warehouse than Superman's name. Of course, that was a bit unfair. He knew Superman's real name. The thought almost brought a smile to his face. How would Lois react if Superman replied with, “My name's Clark Kent.”? But the smile could not break through the worry about what Superman had said about the warehouse.
Superman looked at him kindly. “Trask has somehow managed to empty it out. All of the things he had in there that you found yesterday – the files, the ships, all of it is gone.”
“Gone? But then we have no proof for our story!” Lois wailed. “Do you know what this means, Clark?”
Clark just looked at her sadly. She was the one who had no idea what it meant. That warehouse was his only link to finding out more about himself except for the man in front of him who was clearly committed to not telling him much of anything. With a sigh, he finally replied, “Yeah, I know.”
But Lois was not beaten down for long. With renewed vigor in her voice, she turned to Superman. “Where are you from?” she asked him. “I mean, even if you are friends, it's clear you're not from Kansas like Clark.”
Superman smiled at her in a way that made her heart beat a bit faster. “I'm from another planet,” he said. “It's called Krypton.”
Lois took out her notepad, but Clark placed a hand on her arm. “He's a person, Lois. Not a story.”
Lois looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean, Clark? Of course, he's a person. That doesn't mean that information about him isn't a story. He's a man who can fly.”
“Lois,” Clark started, but Superman placed a hand on his arm.
“It's okay, Clark. Really. I'll let you know if there's something I don't want to share.”
Lois smiled at him, glancing at Clark quickly, trying not to gloat because she won, but losing the battle. Clark could not help it. Her expression was so cute that he laughed. “Yes, Lois, you won,” he said.
For a moment, Lois was surprised that he had read her that easily. Then she remembered that she was about to get the interview of a lifetime – better even then interviewing Lex Luthor. She could deal with the fact that Kent was more perceptive than she had expected later. “You seem to have all the… parts… of a man,” she said to Superman.
Superman blushed, just slightly. “I am a man, Lois. Just like Clark.” Superman felt badly about that. This interview was one of the moments he remembered quite well from his own life. What he had said then was, “Just like you're a woman.” The line had nearly sent his wife swooning, but he figured changes in what he said were okay. Herb could not expect him to say things word for word. Plus, Clark was here, which of course was not the case in his world.
And while it may be a bit selfish, the truth was that the less he fueled Lois' crush on him, the sooner Clark would be ready to be Superman and he could go home.
“Why are you here?” Clark asked, deciding that he might as well participate in the interview.
“To help,” Superman said simply.
“Could you give us more of a quote?” Lois asked.
“Like what,” Superman replied.
“Like "I have not yet begun to fight.' Or “Damn the torpedoes.'”
Clark laughed. “Those don't even make sense here, Lois, do they?” he asked. “More like, "I am here to fight for truth or justice,'” he said to Superman.
“Hey, that's good!” Lois admitted, surprised.
Superman smiled, “Yeah, it is. You can use that.”
He noticed Clark's reaction before he heard it. Clark's head shot up in surprise and alarm crossed his features. It was as Superman was processing this strange change from Clark that he heard it, “Help, Superman!”
He took a deep breath. “I have to go,” he told them.
“Oh,” Lois looked disappointed. Clark just looked edgy. Superman felt a bit badly for him. It would be hard to hear all these cries for help and not respond.
Against his better judgment, he leaned down to kiss Lois on the cheek. “Thank you for caring enough to look for me,” he said.
Then while Lois placed a hand to her cheek in wonder, he moved to engulf Clark in a hug. “You, too, Clark,” he said. Then he added in a whisper so soft only someone with super hearing would hear it, “It's going to be okay. I'll be there in a second. Don't worry.”
Then he took off.
Lois looked at Clark with a large smile on her face.
“He's…” she floundered for a word to describe him and finally laughing lightly, she finished with “super, isn't he?”
Clark smiled at her. When he saw Superman kiss Lois on the cheek, he had felt his resentment toward the man build. It was becoming a nasty habit to resent Superman and assume the worst about him, but then it had become clear that the kiss was just a cover so it would not seem strange for Superman to give him a hug, and Clark appreciated the message more than Superman could know. Whoever had been calling sounded desperate. Clark was not sure how he would deal with these cries going forward. They were so heart wrenching.
But Superman had said he would take care of them, and clearly he meant it.
“Yes, Lois,” he finally said. “He is pretty super.”
