I was reading a
tale, HappyGirl\'s "The Man Under the Suit, Part 31/31", recently and Lois & Clark were trying to come up with an explanation for why Superman did not respond to a hostage crisis.
In the
tale Clark is one of the hostages, so of course Superman can't show up and save the day.
In the L&C fanfiction 'verse bad guys are forever setting things up where they expect an instant response from Superman.
I'd love to see some short takes on events where Superman doesn't show up because by the time he hears of the problem it is all over.
Some of the routine things where Metropolis does not really need Superman, where the Police and Fire Department do a fine job.
I think it would be so much fun for a Superman interview to point out that while he has Super hearing the speed of sound is only about 768 miles per hour and if he is on the other side of the globe it could be hours before he hears the cry of "Help Superman".
Even more fun would be if Lois were repeatedly held hostage by thugs thinking she's Superman's girl friend and forced to shout "Help Superman" with no response.
Superman is doing sometime minor on the other side of the globe, say visiting sick kids at a hospital in Paris or Rome, or simply having coffee at a public place.
Of course Lois gets out of whatever crisis she's in prior to Superman's arrival, indeed it could take her an hour, and shortly her value as a hostage drops to nil.
I can picture a groups of bad guys planning foul deeds and someone suggests taking Lois hostage to insure Superman's non participation. The other bad guys shoot it down at once, pointing out that Superman never rescues her anymore, and that she, Mad Dog Lane, is more likely to disrupt their plans on her own.
