The Return of Ultra Woman
Chapter 13
After the revealing talk with Perry, I'm completely off-track to do any more writing. Since I've been back at the office I haven't heard any alarms or cries for help, but with me that doesn't mean very much. Since I'm so distracted I figure this is as good a time as any for a quick pass through the city.
I'm only a few steps out of Perry's office when I pivot and head back. I can see he's still looking at that picture so I just open the door and stick my head in. “Chief, I need to head out for a few minutes to follow up on one or two issues for the purple woman story. I should be back in less than half-an-hour.”
He just nods his head. “Sure Lois. If you get tied up in something, do we have enough story to run with?”
That's a good point. I don't think I'll find anything that will delay my return, but with the story so close to finished, I'd hate to miss the deadline for something unexpected. “The story really is almost done. Before I leave, I'll take a second and send the file to your in-box. That way, if something does come up, you'll have a story. But if someone else does have to finish it, please don't give it to Ralph.”
“You know me better than that. If you get delayed I’ll finish this myself.”
“Thanks, Chief.” I hurry over to my desk and send the file to Perry. Then I'm off to the stair well and heading for the roof.
In just a moment, I'm flying again. Taking off from the Planet is convenient, since we’re in the heart of the city. Clark warned me the location can also present a problem. The potential for eyes and cameras nearby can’t be ignored. He’s refined the process for exiting the top of the stairwell in this, or for that matter, any building. Clark's approach is to stop at the top of the stairwell and x-ray the top of the building. If no one is there, change inside the door and make the exit at super speed. By first making sure you don't bump into someone standing on the other side of the door when you exit, the process is far too fast to see.
Once I'm up in the air I’m in a better position from which to hear any about emergencies. During my first loop around the city core, all I see are a few fender-bender type accidents. I might be able to help with these, but I don't want to get distracted by things that can be handled without my intervention. It's amazingly quiet considering how it was earlier today. I think the Metropolis underworld has already given us its best shot.
Suddenly I hear a whistle-like sound that seems to be making the inside of my ears itch. I'm not hearing the sound as much as feeling it. Clark has told me about some new silent alarms he's been encountering lately. In addition to the regular police call, there is a whistle-component that acts like a super-loud dog whistle. The advertisers claim the benefit is that it will cause all of the dogs within a city block to start howling. It acts like kind of an extra level of generating attention. Whatever else it may do, it’s damned irritating! If what I’m feeling is anything like what these devices do to dogs, I feel a product safety report about to be written. It must be murder on the poor animals.
The source of the noise turns out to be a convenience store robbery. At first glance, it looks like your basic robbery with a young man waving a gun around. I’ve had so much success today with the high-speed interventions, I figure I’ll just stay with that approach. In the blink of an eye, I have the man on the ground with his hands tied behind him. The only person present is the clerk behind the counter. I shift back to normal speed to see if there is anything else to do.
As he registers my presence, his mouth drops open. “You’re her!”
I guess I’m going to get a lot of that for a while. “Are you all right? Did anyone get hurt?”
This seems to shake him out of his shock. “No, I’m fine. Nobody else was here.” He points over at the thief. “It’s like he didn’t want anything. He just came in here and started waving his gun around telling me he was going to rob the place. The strange thing was that he never made a move to try to take anything.”
I turn to look at the thief and find him looking up at me expectantly.
“Hi!” he says.
“Excuse me?”
He continues. “I’m sorry about this but I saw the news and just had to meet you. I wasn’t going to really rob anyone. The gun isn’t even real.”
This is getting stranger and stranger. I walk over to the gun and look at it closely. Sure enough, it’s a toy. I turn back to the thief. “You did this to meet me?”
“Yeah. You’re amazing! Do you have a boyfriend? Will you go out with me?”
“Are you telling me you staged this on the off-chance I would stop the robbery and then I would go on a date with you? Who do you think I am?”
His voice sounds almost frantic. “I figure you must be Superman’s younger sister. I’m really a nice guy! I saw you on the news and just had to meet you. I just knew this would work! It’s fate that led you here.”
I think he’s crossed the line from infatuated to crazy. Although I have to admit he scored a point with the “younger sister” comment. I’m trying to figure out what to do when two of MPD’s finest arrive. The older officer looks me over and utters a now familiar, “You’re her.”
Either I need to announce myself to the world soon or I’d better get used to that. I turn to the older officer. “Loverboy here staged a fake holdup. The gun over there is a toy. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what to do with him.”
He glances at the gun and the suspect. “Thanks, um… Miss. Even if the gun was a fake, this is still a robbery attempt. We’ll take it from here.”
“Thanks officer.” I can’t resist turning back to my misguided admirer. “I don’t fraternize with clients.” And I shift back to high-speed and go.
As I make one more loop around the city, I can’t help but think I need to have a press conference to introduce myself as soon as possible. I’m having visions of young men trying to find ways to get my attention just like that poor idiot back there. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember women doing stuff like that to get Clark’s attention when Superman first appeared. Maybe I went a little too far with the suit.
Now it’s all quiet again. Since I don’t seem to be doing much good out here, other than possibly ruining some poor misguided kid’s fantasy, I figure I can get back to the office and put a wrap on my appearance piece.
Getting back into the building is basically the same process as getting out and in less than a minute I’m inside. I swing by Perry’s office and when he looks up at me I simply mouth “I’m back.” He just nods his head and goes back to what he was working on.
When I reach my desk, I realize I’ve been gone less than ten minutes. The use of super speed really does confuse time. There’s another thing for Clark and I to talk about. I pull up my story and start back through it again. It was very close when I left, and the final parts come together quickly. Just before I submit the story, I wonder if I should add a section about ‘lover boy’ and the fake robbery. It only takes a second to discard that idea. It has a tabloid feel to it, and I worry it might spawn some copycats.
I make one more pass through the story to make sure I’m happy with it, and then send it off to Perry. There are a few other stories I’ve been following that I should get back to, but with all that’s been going on I’m just not interested in spending time on them just yet. I can’t stop thinking about the way the city quieted down after my appearance. That feels like a story worth writing. It’ll make a good companion piece to go with the Ultra Woman debut story. I’m reaching for my phone to make some calls when it rings under my hand.
I pick up the receiver and answer, “Lois Lane”.
“Lois, I just saw the news. What’s this all about?” It’s my mother.
“Hi, Mom. What are you talking about?”
“That woman! You must know about her. She’s wearing Superman’s ‘S’.”
“Yes mom. I saw her flying around the city. We’ll have an article on her in the morning paper. I can’t wait to find out who she is.” I’m trying to remind my mom that we never say anything on the phone that might reveal the secret, in case someone is listening in.
“Lois. Clark must know who she is.”
I feel like yelling at her to think about what she’s saying on the phone. “Why would Clark know? I’ve told you before that Clark and I were never as close to Superman as everyone seems to think. Since we’ve been married, I don’t see Superman except when I interview him. Mom, I’m sure I’ve told you this several times.”
The long pause makes me think I’ve finally gotten through to her. “Oh. Is there anything about this woman you can tell me?”
“Not really. I’ll tell you what. As soon as I find out anything, I’ll make sure to let you know. Clark’s in Guatemala covering Superman’s rescue efforts. Why don’t you come over for dinner when he gets back in a day or two? By then, we’ll probably know a lot more about this woman in purple.” I’m not sure I want to face her without Clark there to back me up.
Another long pause. “Okay. Let me know as soon as he’s back and we’ll get together.”
“Good. Lara will love seeing her grandma. I’ve got to go. As you can guess, this is a busy day. Bye, Mom.” As I hang up the phone I can’t help but think Clark is going to have a difficult time avoiding saying, “I told you so” on the whole tell-the-family-about-your-powers thing.
I end up spending the rest of the day on the Metropolis day-of-crime piece. I never did reach Bill Henderson but was able to get some other information from MPD that helped round out the story. I also made a few trips out to talk with some of my street contacts about the day. There was surprisingly little they were willing to say. I got enough to put a general story together but there is a lot more here to find. I can just feel it.
By the time I send that story off to Perry, it’s getting late. I never have to make another Ultra Woman appearance. The end of the day is strangely normal given all that’s happened. I spend the evening trying to find some information about how Clark is doing in Guatemala. There’s more coverage of that disaster than I had expected. Many of the reporters were using Superman’s activities to explain and speculate about my appearance in Metropolis today. I’m seeing enough about what he’s doing down there to know Clark will need same major comfort-time when he gets home. He tries so hard to help, but in these types of disasters, all too often, all he can do is help dig out the bodies. There are a few successes but he gets ground down by the death.
When I finally go to bed for the evening, I just lie there for a minute wishing I had more control over that stupid telepathy we share. I want more than anything to reach out and tell Clark how much I love him and not to be overwhelmed by the tragedy that is certainly all around.
TBC
Bob
