Author's note: Replaces the end of Man of Steel Bars. Big thanks go to folc4evernaday for her beta-ing and valuable insights.

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters etc. belong to DC Comics, Warner Bros and December 3rd Productions. I'm not making money off this, just having some fun.

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Perry White stood at the window, watching the snow fall. Behind him, his two star reporters waited for him to speak.

Things in Metropolis were back to some state of normality; the hundred-plus degree temperatures of the previous week were but a memory, Superman had been vindicated of any responsibility for the searing heat, even Clark had returned to the Daily Planet. Everything was normal, except for one thing.

Superman.

There had been no reported sightings of the superhero since he’d shut down the leaking Lexcorp nuclear power plant- not just in Metropolis, but anywhere in the world. It was as if he’d vanished, leaving as mysteriously as he’d arrived.

He heaved a sigh and turned to Lois and Clark.

“Have either of you heard from Superman?”

Lois was the first to shake her head, Clark a beat behind her.

“Not since he disabled the plant.”

“And you don’t have any idea where he is?”

Again, the dual head shake.

“He’s disappeared before, Chief. I’m sure it’s just- temporary,” Lois offered.

Perry snorted softly, dismissing the two reporters with a reminder to keep searching for Superman. The Daily Planet’s publisher had taken to phoning hourly to ask for updates, and he was just as eager to get the scoop on Superman’s return.

***

Lois observed her partner narrowly over the rim of her coffee cup. As much as she hated to admit it, Clark had a closer relationship than she did with the Kryptonian. She usually got in contact with the superhero by getting into mortal peril; Clark seemed to have some sort of inside track- a fact that irked her from time to time, especially since he wouldn’t share how he got in touch with Superman. If anyone could contact Superman, it was Clark. Actually, when she’d had time to think about it, she’d come to the conclusion that Clark’s impulsive midnight departure had been because he’d followed the superhero into exile.

She stood up and took the few steps to the edge of Clark’s desk.

“So, do you have any idea when he might be coming back?”

Clark stopped what he was doing, leaning back in his chair to look up at her.

“What if he isn’t?”

“What do you mean?” Lois was stunned. Of course, Superman was coming back! Didn’t he know that Metropolis needed him? That she needed him?

“The city turned on him without any proof, just a half-baked theory. They didn’t even keep looking for answers to the heatwave other than Superman’s powers; they just turned him into a scapegoat. And they drove him out of his home.” Clark sounded unusually perturbed. “Think about it, Lois. If you’d been forced out of your home simply because you were different, would you want to go back?”

His phone rang. Lois backed away as he picked it up.

She’d never really thought about it before, but Clark might just be on the right track. Superman had made it very clear just a few short months ago that he considered Metropolis to be his home, and yet the city had treated him like a criminal, judging him guilty without any sort of real evidence to the contrary. Was Clark right about their motivations? Was it possible that despite proving himself to be a positive force for good, and despite the hundreds of lives he’d saved since his arrival, that the people of Metropolis were still that wary of him? Was it just human nature to be fearful of the new and the different? Superman had awe-inspiring powers, it was true. Powers that in the hands of someone else could be cause for terror.

But Superman had never shown any signs of hostility.

Or was it just mob mentality?

She hadn’t liked the necessity of publishing the now-disproven theory that Superman’s powers were responsible for the heatwave. And while she knew that every other news service had reported the outcome of that press conference, she couldn’t help but feel that the Daily Planet had helped turn the tide of public opinion against him.

She had to find him. She had to explain. And she had to convince him to come back to Metropolis.

***

“So are you any closer to a decision?” Martha Kent’s voice sounded through the telephone line.

Clark paused for a long moment, trying once again to sort through the tumult of emotions that had consumed him since he’d been forced to leave Metropolis. Hurt, betrayal, anger, all roiled inside of him, making it hard to think clearly about the situation. He’d felt compelled to return to the city, drawn by whatever it was about this place that called to him, and unwilling to sacrifice the life he’d begun to build for himself. A real life, with a real job and real friends, not the strange nomadic existence he’d led since leaving college. He thought he’d found a measure of acceptance here; that his oddities were seen as worthy of respect, not fear or anger.

He’d been wrong.

Metropolis had turned on him like a pack of vicious dogs, showing him yet again that he was too strange, too different, to be tolerated. That he’d only be accepted if he acted just like a human.

Clark heaved a sigh. “I don’t know, Mom.”

“Clark, you created Superman so you could help,” his dad reminded him. “Don’t you think the people of Metropolis still need your help?”

Clark removed his glasses and rubbed a hand across his eyes. It was the same circular argument that they’d been having for close to a week now. “And what happens the next time something goes wrong?”

It was the unanswerable question, and all three of the Kents knew it.

Clark leaned back against the wall next to the phone and looked across the room at his closet. His Suits were in there, stuffed in his old suitcase in the secret compartment he’d built. Right now, he wasn’t sure if they’d ever see the light of day again.

“Well, it’s your decision, Clark. And we’ll support you no matter what you choose,” Martha added.

“Thanks, Mom. Goodnight. Goodnight, Dad.”

“Goodnight, Clark.”

Clark hung up the phone and heaved another sigh. Could he still be Superman, knowing that most of Metropolis wouldn’t hesitate to condemn him if something else happened?

Did he even want to try?


"It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It's basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating."- Simon Pegg