Author's note: This is an episode rewrite (my first try at one) of 'The Ides of Metropolis.' It's been sitting on my hard drive, forgotten for over a year. I apparently wrote 3 and a half chapters, had them beta-read (thanks KenJ!), and then abandoned it (until today).
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and storylines are property of DC Comics, Warner Bros and December 3rd Productions. Parts of the dialogue are taken directly from the episode 'The Ides of Metropolis', written by Deborah Joy LeVine. I'm just doing this for fun.
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Clark would never know what it was that made him do it. Maybe it was the stress of living a double life. Maybe it was the loneliness that came from knowing that despite outward appearances, there was absolutely no one else like him on the planet. It might have been a consequence of the growing conviction that this woman was the only woman for him.
Whatever the reason, when Lois asked him his biggest secret, he was almost as surprised as she was by his answer.
***
It had started off innocently enough. He’d been walking towards the bullpen, leafing through a folder of research that Jimmy had given him when Lois grabbed his arm and dragged him aside conspiratorially. The look on her face and the way she darted glances around them, checking for possible eavesdroppers, warned him that she was up to something.
He was starting to get used to Lois’s habit of doing impulsive things and getting into trouble, so her behaviour didn’t really surprise him. Her demand that he tell her his biggest surprise filled him with momentary panic before he rationalised that he didn’t have to tell her that he moonlighted in Spandex- how was she supposed to know that he had a bigger secret than what he chose to tell her? He made the split second decision to tell her about the thing that had been bugging him since the previous night- his mother’s suspected affair.
But when he opened his mouth to tell Lois about it, the words that came out were “Lois, I’m Superman.”
***
Lois stared at Clark in disbelief.
Had he really just said he was Superman?
Her first instinct was to laugh, to pat him on the shoulder and tell him it was very funny, now spill. She didn’t have the time or the patience today to deal with stupid jokes.
And then she took another look at him.
His whole body was tense, and the look on his face was a mixture of horror and ‘deer in the headlights’. He looked... guilty.
He looked exactly like someone who’d let slip something that they didn’t want known. And this wasn’t just anything. This was huge. Mind-blowingly, life-alteringly massive.
Her mind racing, she grabbed his arm and dragged him in the direction of the conference rooms.
***
His first thought was that he couldn’t have really said it. Surely he hadn’t just blurted out his biggest secret, arguably the biggest secret in the world, in the middle of a crowded newsroom?
From the look on Lois’s face, that was exactly what he’d done. And to make it worse, she believed him too. He didn’t have the option of laughing it off and pretending it was a joke.
Numb with horror, his mind racing, he didn’t resist as she grabbed his elbow and dragged him into a conference room. There, she pushed him into a chair, slammed the door and began pacing in front of him.
The door slamming was like a catalyst, jerking him out of his appalled silence and launching him into speech.
“I know you’re going to want to write the story, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Just let me get my folks somewhere safe first.”
She looked at him strangely.
“What?”
“I said, I’ll tell you anything you want, just let me get my parents somewhere safe first.”
She stopped in front of him, her expression avid.
“So it’s really true? You’re really Superman?”
He sighed, levitating a few inches out of his seat in reply and watching as her eyes went wide.
“Oh my God.” She dropped into a chair across from him. “You mean, I’ve been running all over Metropolis looking for Superman, and all the time he’s you?”
He nodded. Agitatedly, she got back to her feet and began pacing again. He eyed her nervously. Her pacing didn’t bother him, but her silence was becoming unnerving.
Unexpectedly, she whirled towards him, making him flinch backwards. Her expression scared him. He'd seen her on the track of a big story many times, and the gleam in her eye now was classic Mad Dog Lane, just many times brighter than he'd ever seen. He closed his eyes. It looked like one of his greatest fears was about to be realised.
“This is fantastic! What a story it'll make! The secret identity of Superman! Clark, do you realise what this means? I'll finally get that Pulitzer!”
Something snapped deep inside him. He rose to his feet, straightening up to his full height the way he did while wearing the Suit.
“That's all this means to you, Lois? A story and an award? Go for the glory and just ignore the fact that you'll be ruining three lives? My parents are human, Lois- do you think anyone wanting to get to me will think twice about harming them? And what about me? Do you really think I'll have any sort of life once everyone knows I'm Superman?”
Absolutely furious now, he let the hurt and betrayal he was feeling colour his voice as he snapped “But you don't care about any of that, as long as you get your award! You know, there's a reason they call you Mad Dog Lane.”
He spun on his heel and stormed out of the conference room, slamming the door behind him.
Lois groped blindly behind her for a chair and sunk into it slowly, her knees trembling. The look on Clark's face, blazing with fury and contempt, haunted her. She suspected that if she closed her eyes, she'd see that image etched on her retinas.
Until he'd forced her to see them, she hadn't considered the consequences of publishing her newfound knowledge. The accusation he'd flung at her had stung because it was the truth- she hadn't thought of anything but her story. Was one story and the transient glory it would bring be worth it? Was it really worth ruining the lives of three people? Martha and Jonathan Kent had accepted her and welcomed her into their home despite her supercilious attitude. And Clark... Clark was rapidly proving himself to be the best friend she'd ever had, even sharing what had to be one of the world’s most tightly held secrets simply because she'd asked him. Suddenly she found herself wondering why he'd told her his secret. She resolved to ask him that when she saw him again.
If he was still speaking to her.
***
Clark Super-sped up the stairwell to the roof and took flight, uncaring for once of who might see him. His secret was about to be out, anyway, so what was the point in hiding?
Lois’s reaction was everything he’d been dreading. This was exactly why he hadn’t told her. She was the consummate investigative reporter; he’d been unable to tell whether their friendship was strong enough, at least on her side, to override her journalistic instincts and prompt her to keep his secret. About the only thing she could’ve done to make him feel worse would’ve been to recoil from him, now that she knew he wasn’t human. But that hadn’t been likely; after all, she knew full well that Superman was an alien, and it definitely hadn’t stopped her from pursuing him.
He sighed. He really hoped she wasn’t going to transfer the hero worship she’d had for Superman onto him. That would be really hard to take, especially from the woman who was about to ruin his life. He shook himself out of his aimless flight and headed for Kansas. He was wasting valuable time; time that he needed to get his parents away safely.
His dad was going to kill him.
