And the Truth Will Set You…
Part 5
Harry Pearlman was rushing to get to work. Since his wife had died six months earlier, it seemed like he was always having to rush to get anywhere. That was mostly due to the time he spent with his seven-year-old daughter, Melanie. After his wife had died, she’d been his salvation.
But he wasn’t very good at organizing his new life, and that left him in a constant state of rushing around and trying to multitask. This particular morning, in addition to driving his car, he was drinking his coffee, reading a finance report for his department at work, and trying to find a radio station with the score from last night’s Cubs – Yankees game. Unfortunately, his eyes were elsewhere when he passed the caution sign warning of construction on the overpass. Then he was distracted when another car blew its horn after he started to wander into their lane on his left. When he realized what was happening, he tried to recover by jerking his car to the right. At this point, he had the misfortune to overcorrect at the exact point on the overpass where the guardrail had been damaged by an accident the previous day.
As Harry’s car burst through the weakened railing and he saw the other highway 60 feet below rushing to meet him, his only words were, “I’m sorry, Melanie.” Those were not his final words.
~~~***~~~
Lois loved her alarm clock. From the time she'd gotten her job at the Planet, and then an apartment of her own, she'd gotten up to the same alarm every day. The only problem was that there was no way to turn it off. Lois's alarm was the city of Metropolis. She had always been especially sensitive to the sounds the city produced. This was her city and it told her when it was time to get up.
Unfortunately, her alarm had been malfunctioning this past week. Every day this week she'd been getting up between 3:30 and 5:00 a.m. In the past when that happened, there was invariably a story breaking somewhere. This week, her system had not been working. Tuesday didn't count since that was the night of no sleep after that meeting with Clark. On Wednesday when she woke up early, she went through her routine and headed out to find the story that she was sure had called to her. It wasn't there. Thursday she'd suspected that it was another false alarm but she'd headed out anyway. Again there was no story to be found. On Friday she just stayed in bed. She could feel that there was nothing going on. It wasn't the city waking her, it was her own dissatisfaction.
Lois opened her eyes at 6:12 on Saturday morning, and the world was right again. At first she thought it was just the joy that came from getting right with Clark. While that did bring a sense of warmth and well being, there was something else. Her city had called to her. News was happening out there. For the first time in more than a week she could feel it. That made her feel almost as good as thinking about Clark.
~~~***~~~
The fire was out and the reporters were waiting. Clark hoped that any questions would be about the fire, but he knew his absence would be the topic of the moment. He'd just finished talking with the fire captain but there really wasn’t very much for Clark to report. He’d told the captain that the fire looked to be perfectly innocent and the source of the fire appeared to be electrical.
As the fire captain returned to his duties, Clark walked past the fire barrier to where the reporters were waiting. There was an immediate flurry of shouted questions, but almost all of them were variants on two issues. They were “Where have you been?” and “Why did you disappear?”
Clark held up a hand in a request for silence and was almost surprised when the reporters quieted down. “Some of you have asked why I’ve been away from the city for most of the past week. I'm afraid that I can't answer in detail. I have to point out that I was only gone a total of four days. In retrospect, I realize that I should have alerted some of the local agencies such as the police and fire departments that I would be temporarily unavailable. I will keep that in mind if circumstances require that I be away again.” Clark figured that was enough to start and wanted to see where they were going to go with the questions.
There was an immediate shout from the back of the group. “What about the people that died while you were gone?”
Clark had known this one was coming. “I’m sorry that there was a tragic loss of life while I was away. I do what I do because I value all life.”
“Do you feel responsible for the fate of those that died in the fire Thursday?” This came from a woman he didn’t recognize.
He paused for several seconds while he tried to think of an answer. Then he remembered something Lois had once said. “A good friend once told me that even I can’t be everywhere at once. I try to do the best I can.”
Suddenly Clark heard something wonderfully familiar. It was a heartbeat. Lois was here. Clark had to fight to keep a huge smile from erupting. The other reporters wouldn’t understand. Before he could look for her, he heard another question. “Where were you those four days?”
Good, back to questions he’d prepared for. “A dear friend in another part of the world died unexpectedly. I was able to be there for the end and I stayed to help the family. That’s all I’ll say for now.”
The group seemed to be trying to digest that when a most pleasant voice spoke up. “Superman, can you tell us anything about today’s fire?”
Clark could hardly believe how Lois’s voice lifted his spirit. When he made eye contact, he nearly lost his detached Superman persona. “I’m afraid that there probably isn’t anything particularly newsworthy here. I told the fire chief that this appeared to be an accidental fire due to old electrical wiring. Naturally, it will be up to the fire department to make a final assessment.”
“Of course, thank you, Superman,” Lois said and turned away. She would recognize that the fire wasn’t especially newsworthy. However, her presence would allow her to use the fire as the hook for the story of his return. She had the details of the official story of his absence. In fact, she’d invented many of those details herself. Still, there was an even better story to mark his return. He needed to get word to her about the car rescue this morning. She needed to know that the fire wasn’t his first act.
A few more questions were shouted from the throng of reporters, but even if he answered them, he had no interesting information to convey. “I need to go,” he said abruptly, and headed for the sky.
~~~***~~~
Petersen had been perusing her story for over half an hour. Perry had never taken that long to approve a story. Of course, at the Planet she’d been on staff. Perry never had to decide if a story was worth paying extra.
Part of the delay was almost certainly because she’d turned in two stories. After the brief meeting with Clark at the scene of the fire, she’d been heading for the Star to add the fire elements to her already-written story of Superman’s return. While waiting at a stop light, she had felt a rush of air and found a note in her lap. The note – in Clark’s handwriting – revealed that the fire had not actually been the first action of Superman’s return. He’d saved a driver who’d crashed through a barrier on an overpass from plunging onto a busy highway. The note had provided a name and a human interest angle: the driver was a widower with a young daughter. Lois had found the man and had the story. It turned out that the accident victim, Mr. Pearlman, knew of Lois’s association with Superman and was particularly forthcoming for the interview.
The story was good. The only way it might be better would be if Clark could write the touchy-feely side himself. However, as much as she would have hated to admit it a year ago, she’d learned something about this kind of writing from working with Clark.
She’d had to reconsider her plan for the story of Superman’s return. The rescue of Mr. Pearlman was strong enough to stand on its own. She’d ended up dropping the fire completely and offering the story of Superman’s whereabouts as a stand-alone piece. Others who had been at the fire this morning had generalities. Lois had the details. Thanks to Clark, she’d just turned in two front page stories. Her chances of paying this month’s rent had just increased by a substantial margin.
“Lane!” The bellow from Petersen’s office startled her out of her muse. Lois knew she’d just made his paper. She casually stood and headed for the office.
Petersen was waiting with his door open. She went in, sat down, and waited for him to make the first move. He closed his door and went back to his own chair. After a moment, he finally broke the silence. “Two stories?”
“There were two newsworthy items this morning,” she replied casually.
“The information about Superman’s whereabouts… he didn’t say anything about China when he spoke after the fire.”
“So?” she asked.
“Are you sure? Will Superman verify this?” Petersen seemed nervous at running a story based solely on her word.
“Yes. That is if anyone else can get him to talk about it at all.” Which Lois knew would not happen. Clark had promised that he’d back the facts and that no one else would get any details.
“Have you been holding out on me? Did you know this all along?”
“No. I got this in an interview with Superman that took place within the last 24 hours. Before that, I had no more idea where he was than anyone else.”
Petersen just stared at her for a moment. Then he picked up a printout of the car accident story. “Where did you get this?”
“What do you mean? There’s a police report.”
“The report only talks about a broken railing and some unsubstantiated accounts of a disappearing car. No one else has heard of this yet. It happened twenty minutes before the fire, but there was almost no coverage of this incident. No one else on my staff even knew this had happened.”
“Do you doubt the story?” she asked.
“Not now. I had it checked out. I had to.” He looked a little defensive. “Everyone else will be saying that the fire was the first thing Superman did on his return to Metropolis.”
“Everyone else will be wrong,” Lois deadpanned.
“And the Star will be right,” he replied with a confident smile.
“We both know this was exactly the kind of story you wanted when I agreed to work with the Star.” Lois still wasn’t sure why he’d asked her to stick around. “Is there anything else?” she asked politely.
He smiled and shook his head. “How can I get you on staff?”
“I’m sorry, but I still don’t feel comfortable committing to anything beyond freelancing.”
“You’ll need a full time job,” he said. “The Planet is gone. Listen, Lois, a lot of us are working to make the Star a quality publication. We were fortunate enough to pick up several members of the Planet staff when it went down. I couldn’t believe it when we weren’t able to hire any of the Planet’s city beat team. I want some of that talent – your talent – here at the Star. Is there anything I can do to get you here on a permanent basis?”
She had to admit that it was fun getting involved again. Getting back in a newsroom had been just the thing she’d needed. To her surprise, in many ways she didn’t miss the Planet as much as she’d thought she would. She’d never been that close to most of her coworkers. Other than Clark, the only people she really missed much were Jimmy and Perry. And finally, the Star wasn’t nearly so bad as she’d imagined when she’d walked in that first day. Petersen was right – this wasn’t the same Star that she’d looked down on in years past.
At that moment, Petersen tossed the car accident story on his desk. “You know, this has a personal feel that reminds me of Kent’s work.”
She felt a flash of anger. “I haven’t seen Clark for several days and I don’t take credit for other people’s work.”
“Calm down, Lois. That’s not what I meant. The style is reminiscent of Kent’s but I can see that you wrote this. I’ve looked at your work from before you teamed up with Kent. It’s top-notch stuff, all of it, but it is all hard edges. This has a softer touch that works well for this story. Do you think some of that came from working with Kent?”
“Clark is an excellent reporter,” she replied immediately. “I’d be a fool not to have learned from the time I spent working with him.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized how different her opinion was than it had been a year ago. The Lois Lane from the pre-Clark times would have never admitted that she could learn anything. Something had changed. Now she thought of herself as part of a team. A compliment to Clark was a compliment to her as well.
Petersen was looking at the car accident story. “I was just thinking that you two made a good team.”
“We did,” she said confidently. “Perry told me that he thought we could be one of the great teams in the history of the Planet.”
“You know how much I value you as a solo contributor, and the offer of a full-time position is still on the table.” He motioned at the car accident story on his desk. “When I read this, it reminded me of how powerful a team you and Kent made.” He paused for a second and then looked up at her. His expression was one of serious business. “I’ve been talking with the suits upstairs and I’ve been given the go-ahead to create staff positions for you and Kent. I know he hasn’t found a job yet. I’m betting he’d come on board if you were here. Would that help convince you to consider joining the Star family?”
~~~***~~~
Lex looked out over his city. It was kind of Superman not to make him wait any longer. The preparations had come together quickly and their nature meant that they had a short shelf life. After a few minutes he turned and pressed the call button on his desk. Within seconds, Mrs. Cox was standing before him.
“Please give me the details of Superman’s return,” Lex directed.
“As of noon today he has been involved in six incidents of which we are aware. This represents a much higher intervention rate than the average before his disappearance.”
Lex considered that. “Good. Have our resources at LNN and other outlets present this information in a way that will suggest that he’s trying to gain forgiveness by butting in more than normal. Do we have news assets tracking incidents where he did not intervene?”
“Yes. I am aware of two people that have died today under circumstances that might have been prevented had Superman been there.”
“Find a pattern that provides a basis to argue that Superman picks and chooses who he saves. If no pattern emerges, create one. The accusations don’t need to hold up. Simply having them in circulation will serve our needs.”
Lex paused for a moment to review other details of the anti-Superman campaign. “Are our people on the ground ready for their part?”
Mrs. Cox was ready with the information and responded immediately. “We have 97 individuals ready to heckle Superman if he makes an appearance. They are distributed around Metropolis in areas that are likely Superman intervention points.”
“And operation K?”
“We are set. Production of the material is complete and we are only waiting for your word and the proper opportunity.”
Lex was again struck by the quality of Mrs. Cox’s work. “All very good. Do you have anything that requires my attention?”
“Unfortunately, I do. There has been an interruption in the surveillance of Ms. Lane.”
“Please clarify.” Lex was sure the annoyance he felt showed in his voice, but no matter.
If Mrs. Cox noticed anything in his tone, she concealed it completely. “At 10:57 last night she left her apartment and entered an alley near her building. She was not seen leaving the alley. At 12:13 a.m. all of our equipment ceased functioning.”
“Everything stopped at the same time?” Lex asked.
“Yes, Sir. The equipment was disabled or removed from both her apartment and her vehicle. The monitoring of her phone at the Star is still in place and functioning.”
Lex considered the implications of the timing. “It appears that Ms. Lane had a late-night visit from Superman. I had hoped that he might not detect our equipment, but I’m hardly surprised that he did. No matter. Continue as possible using human assets and any remaining technology.” Lex considered this development for a moment. “She’s been using her work phone in her attempts to find Kent. Did she make another call today?”
“Yes, sir. She spoke with the Smallville sheriff again. The subject was essentially the same as every other day this week. The sheriff did report being in contact with Kent’s father, but had no information about Ms. Lane’s partner”
Lex was still unhappy about Lois’s distress over her missing partner. Once he had taken care of Superman, he would be free to remove Mr. Kent as well. There was one more avenue to explore. “Mrs. Cox, I will need all the information from our purchase of the Daily Planet on my desk before the end of the day.”
TBC
Bob
