Lois and Clark were waiting in line for the sandwich food truck that had parked just outside the Daily Planet building. The street was busy around lunch time and a speaker on the truck was playing radio music. She noticed that a couple at the front were discussing who would pay for the meal. The woman kept insisting that she would pay for her own food. She didn't want to inconvenience him, or be a burden, or blah blah blah. Of course the woman could pay for her own meal, it's not like she was some weak little bug. But then the man took his girlfriend's hand and said, "If that's what will make you the most happy then you do that, but if I can help make your life easier by doing this service for you. By paying for your meal, I'd love to have the opportunity to do so." The man ended up paying for both of them. Lois couldn't decide if the man had used manipulation or if he had just felt that way in earnest. She wondered if she'd have to fight Clark overpaying for her own food. Clark wasn't the type to overstep boundaries though, so she really didn't need to wonder.
The speaker on the truck changed from music to news as a newscaster announced, "Flash update, following closely in the wake of a series of baffling crimes, the body of an elderly man has just been found in the marsh flats outside the city. He has been identified as the watchman at the Metropolis Munitions plant."
"There's a story or I'm no reporter," Lois mumbled to herself. Lois decided lunch could wait, she had a story to go uncover. She immediately left Clark and headed towards the munitions plant. She passed by Murph who was heading towards the food truck. Murph tipped his head and gave her a sly wink which made Lois feel gross.
Meanwhile, the newcaster continued as Clark listened patiently, "He is believed to be a victim of an organized ring of saboteurs. More news, later."
Clark was lost in his own mind for a moment, "Huh, sounds like it might be a story at the plant Lois."
Clark turned only to see that Lois had left down the street. In her place stood Louis Murphy.
Murph said, "Lois!?! Me name is Louis, not Lois. Gee wiz, everybody interpellates me name wrong. It's Louis. L-O-U-I-S. Lois, er, uh, Louise, Lucy. Now I'm so mixed up I don't know who I am!"
Clark gave Murph a polite smile then began heading towards the munitions plant. Clark had read somewhere that Mark Freichman had been involved with the ownership of the munitions plant. Maybe it was time Clark gave Mark's widow a visit because if the intel was true, then it might be time to go undercover.
…
Lois was in the munitions uniform painting numbers onto torpedos. When she had arrived they had thought that she was one of the new hires they had brought on, and Lois had decided it would be in her best interest to go along with their mistake. Along with a few other employees the company had also recently hired a new watchman. He was an older man with white hair and a medical grade face mask, but the way he walked… It was a bit familiar. She stopped him as he passed by her.
"Excuse me sir, do you know the way to the bathroom?" Lois asked.
"Oh, well I'm new myself so I don't really know but I think it's down that hall there." The man gestured.
"When did you start?" Lois asked.
"Today actually."
So then he couldn't have been involved with the incident. Lois asked, "So then you didn't know the previous watchman."
"No. It's a tragedy what happened. The other watchmen say he was the nicest man, never did anything to harm anyone. They can't understand why anyone would want to kill him."
Lois sighed, "Sounds like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"That's what I was thinking," the watchman said.
Lois took closer note of the watchman. He was just so familiar, she was sure she had met him before.
"I'm sorry, but I've met you before haven't I?" she finally asked.
The man nodded, then brushed back some of his white hairs to show that beneath was a mess of jet black. He was wearing a wig. Jet black hair, facemask, and those eyes. They were a lot bigger when he wasn't wearing his glasses. she finally connected it.
"Clark?!"
"We should go somewhere more private," Clark said and the two went to the company break room. No one was there, so the two were safe to converse freely.
"Are you here to take my story?" Lois asked. She always suspected Clark secretly envied her and saw her as competition.
"I'm here to get my own story actually. Ever heard of Mark Freichman? and I'm chasing a lead to his possible murder. Mark was one of this plant's major investors."
"Mark Freichman? Lex Luther's old partner? You think Lex might be involved."
"I do," Clark said.
"And are you going to tell me?" Lois asked.
"How about I tell you about it over dinner tonight?" Clark asked.
"Can't, I'm going out with Lex," Lois said.
"Lex?" Clark's eyes went wide. His eyes reminded her of… someone else.
Clark's voice turned urgent and serious, "Lois, you need to stay as far away from Lex as possible. He's not what he appears to be."
Lois took a step back, "Excuse you. I can judge a man for myself."
"Then you should have all the facts. He's a criminal mastermind who has killed multiple people and is plotting to take over an entire country…"
Lois stared at Clark blankly. There's no way that was true. "That's a large claim, Clark. Can you back it up?"
"I… I can. But for now you need to stay away from him."
"And if I refuse?" Lois asked. Clark was acting completely irrational. He didn't know Lex like she did. Why was Clark saying these things?
"I can't stop you but I care about your safety and I don't want you to make a decision that could end up with you getting hurt," Clark said.
Finally, it dawned on Lois.
"You're jealous." Lois said.
Clark's brain took a mental tick back.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Exasperated, Lois rolled her eyes, "Men are ridiculous. You're just jealous of Lex and I. You're so jealous you're willing to make up stuff about Lex. Maybe the real one who has things to hide is you."
Clark felt like he was trying to reason with a monkey.
"You… Lois, that's crazy. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to tell you the truth." Clark said.
"And now you're trying to make it seem like I'm crazy. Like my feelings don't matter," Lois said.
"Lois, I never said your feelings don't matter," Clark said.
"You didn't have to." Clearly Clark was trying to invalidate Lois's feelings towards Lex. He was the crazy one for taking such a tactic as far as claiming Lex was a murderer. Lois said, "No, you're jealous and you want me to believe that he's a murderer. You're the crazy one and you're jealous, that's why you're saying the things you're saying. Clark, your jealousy is blinding you."
"My jealousy is not the problem. Lex Luther is the problem. And you're blind if you can't see that."
"Now you're trying to change the subject. Classic man tactics."
Finally, Clark snapped. His being a man had nothing to do with this conversation and he wasn't about to let Lois use it as an excuse, "Will you stop assuming what I'm doing for five seconds and listen to me honestly? Maybe what I'm saying actually has some merit and should be given a chance. I'm a person too and not everything I do is an unconscious attack on you as a woman. Yes, I'm a man, but maybe that inspires me to try to protect you, not hurt you."
Lois turned her back on Clark, "I'm done here. I've got work to do. Bye Clark."
Then Lois went back to her work on the torpedoes.
…
In her attempt to forget her emotions she dove herself into her work but she was still in a bad mood when the bell rang. That signaled the end of the work day today as the company was preparing for a trial run of the torpedosShe had been keeping a special eye on one of the bosses, he had bushy eyebrows and a nasty look in his eyes. As the bushy-browed boss passed an employee with large ears, Lois had to crane to hear him say, "Towards upstairs 12 o'clock. Very important."
As the men all scattered, Big Ears met up with another man with a big nose and said, "I wonder what the big shot wants."
Lois followed the men upstairs. She watched them go into one of the boss's offices. As she came closer she heard the voices of the men talking inside the office.
"That was a good job you did on the watchman last night. Now, how about that dynamite charge under the shops?" That tone of voice… was that Lex? No. Lois was just paranoid based on what Clark had told her earlier. Lois leaned in closer to hear.
"It's wired to the switch on the plant floor below. When the new watchman pulls that switch tonight the whole-"
It got quiet. Then the blinds opened up and Lois stood a glass plane apart from Lex Luther.
She ran.
The men from the office started chasing her. They blocked the exits so she used the surroundings to try climbing to one of the windows. They followed her onto the ceiling rafters. Lois was surrounded until she slid down a metal rafter beam and caught hold of a rope used for a pulley. She swung herself down and raced for the door. Just as she was almost there, a strong arm caught hold of her and a gun was pointed at her head.
"Nice of you to drop by Lois," Lex said.
"Lex, what're you doing?"
Just then the white haired watchman entered the room. Clark was here to help. He pulled out his own gun and pointed it at Lex, "Freeze!"
Lex walked slowly to the middle of the room and the watchman took a few steps closer. Then Lex nodded to Big Ears. Too late, Lois noticed the giant metal collector overhead, stacked with beams of all kinds. Big Ears switched the metal collector off and a giant load of metal fell on top of Clark, crushing him. Lois cried out but she was knocked unconscious.
When Lois woke up a little while later. She looked around and found that she was tied up against the wall in the boss's room.
A message came to the desk and over a radio Lois heard the henchmen yelling, "Sir, we've got a problem, that old watchman. He's coming out from the beams. He's Superman."
"What!" Lex grabbed Lois's arm pulling to her feet and dragged her over to the door, flinging it open. With a gun to her head, she watched as a man emerged from the metal beams, but it wasn't Clark. He was wearing red and blue. No mask. No glasses. No wigs. It was Superman. He had waited till the shop closed down before emerging from the metal.
"Take another step and Lois will die," Lex yelled down, "Men get the kryptonite."
Superman stopped moving. "Let her go Lex."
There was a long standoff between Lex and Superman. Lois was trying to process everything. Clark had fallen under the pile of metal dressed as an old man. Superman emerged. Clark was Superman. Lois was an idiot for not putting it together until just now. Not only that but Lex was a murderer, or at least he was threatening murder. Clark was right and she had been so emotional that she hadn't listened. Classic female.
…
Finally Lex's men came back with a mysterious green rock, the size of a baseball. The closer the rock got to Superman, the more he started to drop, until he was lying on the floor, unable to move.
"What's happening, what's happening to him?" Lois asked. She couldn't believe her eyes. Superman was losing and they weren't even doing anything.
"Kryptonite is the Boy's only weakness. It drains him of all his power and leaves him to his own demise," Lex said smugly, "Tie him up and bring him here!"
Big Ears, Bushy-Brow and Big Nose tied up a completely deadweight Superman. Their ties were extremely pathetic and even with the smallest amount of effort Superman would have been able to break out of them. Unfortunately Superman wouldn't be able to break out of them in his weakened state. The irony made Lex smile. Then, it took all three of them to move him over to the boss's office.
"So long as this rock is near him, he'll slowly be drained of all his energy until he's dead," Lex said. Lex clipped the rock to a chain necklace and put it around Superman's neck. "Just a simple rock like this; it's all it takes to kill you. Just like old times. Isn't that right Boy?"
Superman could barely lift his head. But he remembered. He remembered how Lex and a group of the boys had tortured him with Kryptonite. Tied him up, beat him and left him for dead.
"Please don't do this. I'll die. Please!" Boy had pleaded. Lex had just laughed as if it were all some big game showing who was the most macho of them all. Boy truly believed he would have died if he'd been left there.
The orphanage director had found him and brought him back to the orphanage. He nursed him back to health.
"You must never retaliate," the director had said, "If you do, you will be as monstrous as they expect you are."
The director was always afraid that Boy would attract some big government officials who would take Boy and turn him into a weapon. He did what he could for Boy, but he was constantly acting out of fear for the boy's welfare, not care. If he had truly cared he might have seen how isolated the boy was. Maybe the director did see. Maybe he thought that isolation was better than being treated like an object. Either way, it wasn't an ideal childhood.
"With a kryptonite rock that big, he'll be dead in minutes. Now, I have to meet up with the other executives to watch the trial experiment. On my signal, load Lois into the torpedo and fill it with real explosives. There will be no body left for anyone to find after the torpedo is launched for the experiment. Got that?" Lex told his men.
The men nodded.
"Last thing," Lex said heading out, "When the Boy finally stops breathing, do me a favor and let me know the job's been taken care of. Just a message will suffice."
The men nodded and Lex left. The men took stations, Big Nose watched over the prisoners, Bushy-Brow watched the warehouse floor and Big Ears prepped the torpedo.
"Superman… please be okay." Lois said. "Clark please…"
"No secrets now huh?" Superman said. Then his effort gave out and he stopped moving.
"Ha! No use sweetheart. The man's dying." Big Nose said. Then he sat down. Wow, he was obviously taking his job very seriously. Could Lois use it to her advantage and try to free Superman?
Lois's planning was cut short when suddenly Superman broke his weak bands and slugged Big Nose in the face, knocking him unconscious.
"Superman! You're okay!"
"How was my acting?" Superman smirked. "Being deadweight is kind of fun."
Then he threw off his kryptonite necklace and came over to Lois to break her ties.
"Lois, are you alright?"
Lois didn't have the mental space to answer his question. Her only thought turned audible when she asked, "How?"
"Truth is kryptonite only takes away my superhuman powers, it really doesn't kill me though. Of course I didn't discover that until after I was older and thus, Lex apparently never found out… Now if someone really wanted to kill me all they'd have to do is hand me some kryptonite and shoot me. You're… not going to kill me right?"
Lois slapped Superman. Then she kissed him. Then she remembered the unconscious man on the floor. Superman might have broken his nose…
"But what about him? You had superhuman strength when you took him down."
"No, that's just what a good right hook will do for those who have it. You think all these muscles are just for show?" Superman said, gesturing to the results of many gym visits.
"We have to stop Lex," Lois said, "Do you know what he's planning?"
"Put simply. You know Krimaria?"
Lois nodded.
"It's in a civil war right now and Lex plans on becoming king once the tyranny takes back control."
"Lex said Krimaria and Tixta were at war."
"No, Tixta is the rebel's allies and this munitions factory supplies weapons to the rebels. That's why he wants it blown up." Superman said.
"Where did you get this intell?" Lois asked.
"Mark's widow. Long story and I can't explain it right now."
"We have to report this," Lois said.
"It would do no good. There's not enough evidence for Lex to get convicted. He's too good at covering his tracks." Superman said.
Superman was right. How could they collect evidence of what Lex had done? Maybe that was just it. They didn't have any evidence now but they could collect evidence based on the actions they knew Lex would take now that he's shown his true colors.
"Superman, I think I have a plan. But…" Lois said.
"But what?" Superman said.
"But I'm going to need your help," Lois admitted, "And I'll need you to save me."
"I can do that," Superman said.
…
Lois was being put into the hollow part of the torpedo that would be used for the trial of the artillery. Military officials had come to see the launch of a torpedo. There wasn't supposed to be an explosion, it was just a distance test, using an abandoned ship as a target, but Lex's men had filled the torpedo with C-4, ensuring Lois's death.
On command, the torpedo launched into the water. Lex was with the other military officials watching the trial. They saw the torpedo hurling towards the ship, then, out of the sky Superman plunged into the water and lifted the torpedo from the bottom out of the water. He flew through the air, carrying the torpedo on his shoulder as he landed safely on the ground. Superman unscrewed the torpedo and pulled Lois out for all the executives to see.
"The factory!" Lois said loud enough for all the men to hear, "They're trying to blow up the factory!"
Superman flew away to go catch Lex's henchmen.
Lois immediately began running towards the factory. She hoped Lex would take the bait. He did as she saw him sneak into the warehouse just after she entered. She pulled out her phone and started to record audio. Then she went to one of the main computers to pretend like she was breaking into it.
"That's enough," Lex said and Lois stopped what she was doing. She looked around. Lex stood at the doorway pointing a gun at her. She checked her surroundings again, had Superman arrived yet?
"Why Lex? For power, for fame? What about the people of Krimaria?" Lois said.
"How much do you know?" Lex asked.
Lois actually didn't know much, but she could bluff it fairly decently, "The Krimaria conflict is one of internal conflict, unlike the lie you tried to tell me. And it's all a ruse that'll put you on the Krimaria throne."
"I knew you were too smart. Yes, I am the heir of Krimaria but don't you see that I'm doing this for them. I will lead them to become the greatest nation on earth. They need me," Lex said.
Lois said, "And you're going to kill to make sure you rise to power."
"These few casualties are a small sacrifice for the future that is to come," Lex said.
"And am I one of these casualties? You tried to kill me by putting me in that torpedo Lex," Lois said. She wanted to make sure the recording knew who this man was that she was talking to.
"I only did what I had to. But I don't have to if you're willing to work with me. Lois, can you imagine the future I could provide you with? No woman on earth would have more power and position than you."
"Absolutely not Lex, I'm not a murderer," Lois said. Lois saw a small flash of red and blue behind Lex.
Lex shrugged, "I tried to give you an option. I really do like you Lois. But you've made your choice."
Then Lex shot the gun, pointed directly at Lois's head.
Faster than a bullet, Superman stood between Lois and Lex. He faced Lois with an outstretched fist held just in front of Lois's head. He opened his clenched fist and let the bullet drop to the ground.
"It's over Lex," Superman said.
Lois held up her phone to show that she had recorded the whole conversation.
…
Lois was reading her newest article before her date with Clark. It was her complete expose exposing Lex Luther. Lex Luther was arrested for the manslaughter of Mark Freichman among a long list of other crimes. After the warehouse incident Lois was able to talk to Mark's widow and collect more data and evidence convicting Lex. The police too, collected search warrants and found evidence of terrorist activity and crime ring association. Lex would be going to jail for a long long time.
Finally Clark arrived, big glasses, facemasks and all. Everyone else had already gone home. It was only just Clark and Lois left alone.
"Is that your newest article?" Clark asked, looking over Lois's shoulder.
Lois nodded, "The police put an end to Lex's little act." Then she reached up and pulled off his glasses and facemask. "And this puts an end to yours, Superman."
Lois kissed him and they left together.
"Where are we going?" Lois asked.
"To visit the most influential people in my life," Clark said.
Soon Lois and Clark entered a retirement home where Martha and Johnathan Kent resided. They visited for a while, the elderly couple being the most warm and kind people Lois had ever met. Then Martha, who had been recovering from surgery, asked for a moment to be alone with Lois. The men left.
"Tell me about what you think of our Clark," Martha said.
"Well," Lois started. She wanted to be honest. "He's every cliche I expected a man to be. In all reality, I should hate him. But the way he treats me is so different. He treats me really well and he supports me in a way I don't think I've ever had."
"My dear," Martha said, grabbing Lois's hand, "That's what men do. My Jonathan has given me the ability to do any and everything that I've ever wanted to do and be. He's my superman. Now I'm no career woman like you but I've had my fair share of work in a garden, on a sewing machine and in the kitchen. I know that everyday I was able to do those things because my Jonathan worked hard to support me. It has meant the world to me. Clark is a fragile boy, make sure he knows how you feel about the things he does for you." Martha said.
Lois thought about how often she was able to get the story (and not die) because Superman had been there. If not for him, she would never have been able to become what she is. He could have easily taken the story for himself but he always let her have it. He didn't want the fame as Clark Kent, he just wanted her to be happy.
Lois and Martha continued their conversation, just talking about life. They were two completely different people but they were bonded by a force of simple love and appreciation. It was then, for the first time, that Lois truly found herself being grateful for the men in life.