The Return of Ultra Woman
Chapter 16
I’m hovering high above city hall looking at an overflowing crowd of press. There seems to be a significant number of non-press here as well. When I hear the clock chime out 9:00, I realize I have a serious case of butterflies. I can’t remember being this nervous before. Of course, this is the first time I’ve make a public announcement of myself in an alternate identity to the whole world.
As the clock finishes chiming the hour, I descend to the line of microphones that has been set up in front of city hall. When I land and step up to the microphones, the group goes silent. It’s at that instant I finally decide to go with Clark’s idea of having them ask me questions. I take a deep breath and begin. I have to remember, think alien! In a deliberate and somewhat monotone voice I say, “I am here to give you the opportunity to ask me questions.” Then I just wait.
Clark was right. This could be fun. After about three seconds, every reporter in the crowd tries to yell out a question at once. I let it continue for a few seconds before I address them in the most stern and mechanical tone I have. “I can not respond to many questions all shouted at once. If you can not speak to me in a way that will allow me to respond, I will leave now.”
At least they stopped shouting. After a second, a Hispanic woman I don’t recognize raises her hand. This may work after all. I point at her. “Are you Ultra Woman?” she asks.
“When I visited your planet several years ago I used that name. You should continue to call me that.”
Now there are many hands raised. I point at a man in a different area. “Do you know Superman?”
I can’t believe anyone from the press would ask such a poorly formed question. “Yes.” And I point at a woman.
She seems to get the hint to make the best of her opportunity to speak. “Why did you come back?”
“I came to see Kal. The one you call Superman.”
I take the next question from a man. “When you were here before, you wore a different costume. Now you’re wearing different colors and the same ‘S’ as Superman. Why the change in uniform and why the ‘S’?”
“I have grown since I was here before. As for the symbol you call an ‘S’, it is the symbol of the house of El. It is proper for me to wear the symbol of the house of my husband.”
That got their attention! First is a silence so extreme I almost believe I can hear crickets in the background. Then the dam burst and they are shouting at me again. Fortunately, that only continues for a short time and they go silent. I swear every hand is raised. I started picking people from the crowd almost at random.
“Do you mean you are married to Superman?”
I hate dumb questions. “Yes”
“How long have you been back?”
“I have been on your planet long enough to come to know Kal and marry him.”
“What kind of wedding did you have?”
“A private one.”
“Where were you married and who performed the ceremony?”
We knew there would be questions I would not want to answer. I simply look away and say, “Next question!” If this doesn’t work, my plan is to simply leave.
“You said that Ultra Woman is the name we should use. Do you have another name?”
“I am Lor, now of the house of El. But you should call me Ultra Woman as was done before. It is not proper for you to use my true name.” I can see how well the excess formality works. As long as I keep a picture of a female hero from another world in my mind as I answer the questions, it’s very easy. At the same time, I don’t sound anything at all like Lois Lane.
“Are you going to be stopping crime and making rescues like Superman?”
I’m glad some of the people here had good questions ready. “My activities of two days ago were an exception. The tasks to which you refer are the responsibility of my husband. I provided assistance because there was a need and he was unavailable. In the future, if similar circumstances arise, I may appear again. However, it will not be my primary activity as it is with Kal.”
“Are you going to be staying on Earth?”
“I will stay as long as Kal chooses to make this his home.”
“Do you plan to have children?”
“Yes.”
That answer triggered a minor gasp from the crowd. “Have you met Lois Lane?”
I knew the tabloid questions would come fairly quickly. “I have not met Ms. Lane.” Well, I haven’t. You can’t really meet yourself. “I know of her to the extent that when Kal first appeared, she was the member of your news organizations that had the most interaction with him.”
Another reporter seizes on this thread. “There were stories that their relationship had become personal. Do you have any comment?”
I knew I was going to have to deal with this. “I look forward to meeting her. As for any past relationship between Kal and Ms. Lane, anything that may have happened is irrelevant. I understand that she has been married for several years.”
This same reporter jumps in with another question. “But there were stories that she had been in an affair with Superman after her marriage. Would you comment on that?”
It would be so easy to lose control of the heat vision just enough to send a message about dangerous questions. I lower my voice a bit for emphasis. “No.”
Clark and I had agreed to let me pick the time for him to make his appearance. These questions are as good a reason as any to change the direction of this session. I glance up toward the point in the sky where Clark is hovering high overhead. I hope the movement is too subtle to be noticed as a signal. In only an instant Clark is approaching as Superman from the opposite direction that I looked. I let the crowd’s reaction to his approach trigger my response. As their heads pivot to watch Clark’s approach, I turn enough to see the final portion of his entry. His landing is the trigger for the most stressful moment of this whole show. As he touches down beside me he leans in close and we kiss.
Part of the reason for a joint appearance is to make our relationship as clear as possible. We figured a kiss… a *real* kiss, in public, should drive home that point. We’ve never kissed on a public stage like this before. The closest we’ve come to this was the kiss that I surprised Clark with when he headed off to Nightfall. This is fundamentally a “stage” kiss and, right at the beginning, it feels like it. Then I feel his arms around me pulling me into a more genuine embrace. It takes a few seconds but then it happens. The rest of the world fades into the background and it’s just me and Clark. I still miss him from the time he was gone and I can feel it in my reaction. After another second or so I feel Clark starting to pull back. It’s probably just a well he did, or the world may have learned we tend to float in times like this.
Then he turns to face the crowd of reporters. “Hello, everyone. I just wanted to drop by in case you have any questions for me about my wife. Before I take any questions, I’d like to publically thank her for covering the city while I was away yesterday. I’ll be happy to take one or two questions while I’m here.”
“Why didn’t she help out with the bridge collapse last month?”
Clark’s face turns somber. “We were caught off guard. That incident was the motivation for making her appearance now. I don’t want to speak too much for her, but we both regret not being ready when that earlier tragedy occurred.”
“How do you feel about being married?”
Clark pauses for a moment and then his expression takes on an odd mix of seriousness and joy. “I don’t think you can understand. The people of this world have been wonderful to me, but the very differences that enable me to help so much have left me terribly alone.” Right at the end his voice turns very somber. Sometimes I forget what it was like for him before. After a brief pause Clark turns to face me and continues in a voice loud enough to be picked up by the microphones. “I’m not alone anymore.”
Now I see tears starting to flow. On pure impulse my arms fly around him. Within a few seconds I’m reminded that kisses aren’t necessarily required to blot out the world. By the time awareness returns, I realize my face is wet with my own tears. I also realize we’re floating at least six feet above the podium.
“Kal, we’re floating.”
He was still lost in dreamland. “Oh, sorry.” We drift back down to the podium together. As our feet touch down, Clark steps back up to the microphones and, with a straight face says, “I like being married.”
After the display we just put on, I’m not surprised at the combination of cheering and laughter that follows. Clark waits for the clatter to die down and says, “Thank you all for the wonderful greeting you’ve provided for my wife. However, I’m needed elsewhere now.” Then he turns to me and says, “Lor, I’ll see you later.” He leans in for a very quick kiss and departs straight up until he is out of sight.
I figure I’ll give someone one more chance at a question. I step back to the microphones and let my voice take on a softer tone. “I will take one more question.” I look around the throng and notice a young woman that for just an instant reminds me of myself a few years ago. When I point at her, she drops her notepad and I wonder if we have much in common after all.
“Ultra Woman, I had some questions about your origins but somehow I don’t think that’s the real story today. You may not appreciate it, but you have married the most sought-after man on this planet. You’re the first person we have ever been able to ask, so please forgive the personal nature of the question. What is Superman like when he’s not saving people and stopping crime?”
Now that’s a question to end on. I’d better make this good. “When the other Kryptonians came here a few years ago, you saw what can happen when people have Kal’s abilities but lack his morality and compassion. Now consider what Kal has done and continues to do as Superman. Ask yourself what kind of person uses their abilities such as my husband does for no reason other than to help in ways only he can. I spent much of last evening comforting Kal, because he was grief stricken at his inability to have saved more people in that disaster. In private, Kal is the kindest, gentlest and most wonderful person I have known. He is one among billions and you – and I, are supremely fortunate to have him.” With those words, I copy Clark’s departure.
TBC
Bob
